Dear Neighbors:
Due to the public health crisis, the City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 10 will once again be held remotely. The public may view the meeting as always: on City TV (RCN -- 13, HD 1060; Comcast/xfinity -- 13, HD 997; Verizon Fios -- 28), on the City Council Video Page of the City website; on YouTube, or on Facebook. Sign-up for public comments will be open until 5:00 PM on the day of the meeting: Sign-up for Live Public Comments.
Here’s a link to the meeting agenda: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-june-10-2020/. There will be no votes. During the work session we’ll be discussing preparations for this fall’s election; the work City staff is doing to assist residents and businesses facing health or economic challenges connected to the COVID-19 pandemic; and contracts for engineering services. For more details on these agenda items see below. The Council will also recognize the Youth Council graduating seniors, and there will be a proclamation on Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/mayoral-proclamations/2020/pr-20200610-chesapeakebay.pdf
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ward One Community Discussion, Tuesday, June 9, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: This is another in the series of virtual community discussions I’ve been hosting during the pandemic as an alternative to office hours and other neighborhood gatherings. Register to participate in advance through this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIucOyprz0tGNdf2c5BROBQ9acmy2IkT5M_. You’ll receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Hazardous Waste Drop-Off, Sat., June 13, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, at Public Works Dept.: This is for household items only, and social distancing rules must be followed. This link provides the details: https://takomaparkmd.gov/public-notices/public-works-holds-household-hazardous-waste-drop-off-day-saturday-june-13-1000am-200pm/
Congratulatory Drive for Graduating High School Seniors -- Sat., June 13, 3:00 - 4:30 PM: Our City Recreation Department has organized this event for graduating seniors. You can see a map of the route through this link: https://takomaparkmd.gov/news/congratulatory-drive-for-seniors-saturday-june-13th-from-300-430pm/
UPDATE FROM LAST WEEK’S COUNCIL MEETING
Reopening Resolution.
https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/resolutions/2020/resolution-2020-13.pdf. The Council unanimously approved a resolution permitting some use of public space, including potentially portions of Laurel Avenue, Holton Lane and Anne Street, to make it easier for businesses (whether or not they are restaurants) to take part in the initial reopening steps announced by Montgomery County. I see this action as benefiting residents as well as businesses, since it’s focused on helping ensure that businesses can be safely patronized.
Even so, I thought the resolution as initially presented to the Council was missing some key details, and Councilmember Kostiuk, Mayor Stewart and I each put forward some amendments -- which I’m pleased drew unanimous support -- to add a series of important changes to the resolution. These included adding or more heavily emphasizing language on: social distancing and other public health guidelines; accessible and safe sidewalk and business access, including for those with disabilities; stakeholder engagement in developing the reopening plans; adequate parking, again including for disabled patrons; safe operation of vehicles including in adjacent neighborhoods; controlling noise in residential areas; and having public space for those who aren’t patronizing businesses. In addition, language I proposed requiring within 30 days a staff report back to the Council on the reopening activities, including to the extent possible data on business, traffic and parking, was also approved. The resolution as a whole sunsets on December 31.
I would point out that the resolution doesn’t only apply to Laurel Ave. and the other two mentioned streets. Parking spaces on other streets as well as sidewalk areas could be made available to businesses, if it can be done safely. In addition, it’s conceivable street closures could be for limited periods of time (days of the week or hours of the day). Overall, I view the resolution as something that can evolve over time, with plenty of opportunity to assess how it’s working, listen to feedback from the community, and make adjustments as we go forward.
City Manager Emergency Powers. As part of this discussion, we considered three options concerning the resolution granting the City Manager emergency powers during the pandemic: repealing it; keeping it in its current form; or revising it, in particular to make clear that the emergency powers only apply in situations when the Council is actually unable to meet.
I’m supportive of the third option. The emergency powers were granted because of the reality that the Council might be unable to meet because of the Coronavirus. Since the approval of the resolution, however, we’ve found that the remote meeting option works reasonably well. The Council has recently been able to meet as frequently as we did prior to the pandemic, with adequate opportunities for resident participation. However, given all the uncertainties about the future projections for the virus, I’m reluctant to completely eliminate the emergency powers option. To me, if we limit the application of those powers to situations in which we’re actually unable to meet because of COVID-19, then I’d anticipate the power rarely or never being used. But we’d have it as a back-up in case there’s a major resurgence of the virus at some point in the future that disrupts the Council’s ability to meet.
The City Attorney is going to review some options along these lines and report back to us later this month. Depending on what he presents, I’m hopeful we’ll be able to move toward scaling back the emergency powers as described above. Meanwhile, for those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s a link to a listing of the situations in which the City Manager has exercised the emergency power: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-manager/
WORK SESSION
Election Planning: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200610-1.pdf. This discussion will be focused on hiring a contractor to help in scanning and tabulation of votes for Takoma Park’s local elections in November. If the polls are physically open, we’ll have early voting, plus in-person voting and absentee ballots. If the polls can’t open due to the pandemic, we’d end up with an entirely mail-in election (which would also necessitate the hiring of a mail service to send out the ballots). Either way, there’s a need for a company to provide the scanning and tabulation technology.
COVID-19 Assistance: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200610-2.pdf. City personnel have been working hard to assist residents and businesses that are being negatively affected by COVID-19. The staff will be reporting on their efforts, and recommending how the City should use its newly established COVID-19 fund, which currently includes over $600,000. The recommendations include a spending plan that dedicates a significant portion of the COVID-19 funds to assisting wait-listed businesses and expanding eviction prevention efforts. Their proposal would also fill in service gaps by providing technical advice on reopening for small businesses and increasing the budget for workforce development services.
While these recommendations are a good start, I’d also like to hear about the extent to which health care needs are being met. That’s generally a County responsibility, and the City doesn’t have a health department. But these are unusual circumstances, and I think it’s important to understand if there are gaps when it comes to testing, protective equipment and other key medical aspects of the pandemic. I’d also like to get a sense for staff’s longer term estimates of community needs, including potential costs, since we have the ability to tap into additional dollars beyond the COVID-19 fund. To be specific, we have the monies put on hold as part of our recent budget work ($1.3 million), and -- at least for housing related purposes -- the Housing Reserve Fund (which currently has over $1 million in it).
Contracts for Engineering Services: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20200610-3.pdf. We’ll be discussing re-upping the contracts for two firms that have assisted the City on a range of infrastructure projects, including construction of sidewalks, traffic calming and ADA sidewalk improvements. I have several questions relating to how the contracts would work for the next year or so when we’ve decided to put much of that work on hold, given the budget uncertainties connected to the pandemic.
Please be in touch with questions or comments about any of these issues.
Peter Kovar, Takoma Park City Council, Ward One
240-319-6281; www.councilmemberkovar.com
(He, Him, His)
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