Dear Neighbors:
Here’s the link to the agenda for the February 24, 2021 City Council meeting: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-february-24-2021/. The meeting starts with public hearings on traffic calming petitions for Darwin Avenue and the 8000 block of Wildwood Drive, and on the proposed stormwater management fee structure. There are two votes this week: on appointments to the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force and on the budget amendment the Council discussed last week. Then in our work session, we’ll be discussing the Council Priorities document; the stormwater management fee structure; a Police promotional process contract; and options for adjusting the property tax. For details on these agenda items see below. Residents who wish to speak in the public hearings or in the public comment period for the regular meeting will need to sign up no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday: Link to sign up to testify at the public hearing (same as public comment link).
PUBLIC HEARING
Traffic Calming: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-1.pdf
A. 8000 Block of Wildwood Drive
B. Darwin Avenue. This street, located in Ward One, leads to a parking area used for the County-managed park and the City-owned dog park. Residents have noted that, because of these amenities, there’s a lot of automobile traffic on the street, which is a rather narrow dead end, lacks sidewalks and has a significant bend. These factors create safety hazards for pedestrians, and have led to this petition for installation of two speed bumps to keep traffic at safer speeds, an idea I support.
Stormwater Management Fee Structure: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-2-and-6r.pdf. See Work Session information below for more details.
UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
COVID-19 Update. The Takoma Park Data Dashboard has been updated with data through February 19, 2021. Some key trends highlighted by City staff
· There were 21 new cases reported in Takoma Park in the last week, as the City and County's 7 day moving average of new cases declined to early November levels.
· There were 68 new tests administered at the Takoma Park Recreation Center on Saturday February 12, bringing the center's total since December 5 to 2,943.
· For the second week in a row, there were no new deaths reported in the 20912 zip code.
Some may be interested in the Covid Atlas by the University of Chicago’s Center for Spatial Data Science, offering 3D and other visualizations of COVID-spread at the county and state levels throughout the US. Testing at the New Hampshire Avenue Recreation Center continues every Saturday, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. For other Montgomery County testing locations, visit this link. You can pre-register for vaccinations at the County vaccine page: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/vaccine/. Or you can call 240-777-2982. It’s also possible to sign up for vaccines through the Maryland Vaccine Website: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/pages/vaccine.
City Manager Search. As announced previously, City Manager Suzanne Ludlow is retiring at the end of June. On Tuesday, February 23 at 7:30 PM I’m hosting a Ward One discussion on the qualities people would like to see in the next City Manager and the way residents would like to see them approach the job. You can participate in the discussion through this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88546743891?pwd=a0U3SGI4WGJFVjhQMEVaeng4K21Rdz09.
Whether or not you can participate in the discussion, I encourage you to fill out the City Manager survey: https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/join-us-for-a-community-conversation-on-our-journey-for-the-next-city-manager-thursday-feb-4-at-600-pm/. You can also see video of the Community Conversation on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxrfp7d_I2k&feature=youtu.be
Volunteer Positions for Air Quality Experts. Through my City Council service I’m a member of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ (COG) committee that’s focused on air quality in the region. That committee -- the Metropolitan Washington Air Quality Committee (MWAQC) -- receives advice from a committee of experts known as the Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee (ACPAC). COG is looking for residents from our region with knowledge and expertise in air quality planning to join ACPAC. Residents with the requisite background (and clearly a high tolerance for abbreviations and acronyms) who wish to serve on ACPAC should submit this form by March 19: https://www.mwcog.org/environment/planning-areas/air-quality/acpac-interest-form/. You can see additional background on the committee here: https://www.mwcog.org/committees/air-and-climate-public-advisory-committee/.
Pepco Project Update. Several of my Council colleagues and I, joined by City staff, participated in a call with Pepco representatives on Friday to get an update on the status of the Takoma to Sligo underground transmission line project. There’s somewhat positive news: the major excavation phase of the project is complete, and once the weather improves sufficiently, the necessary temporary and permanent resurfacing of the affected streets will be undertaken. After that, the cable pulling process will take place. That involves temporary work in small areas around the manholes along the project’s route (typically 2 - 4 days at each of the 30 or so manholes). While this work is expected to last until early 2022, it shouldn’t require major excavation and it’s expected to involve less significant traffic disruptions. For now I’m focused on getting some remaining smaller areas of resurfacing work between Piney Branch Road and the Silver Spring border addressed.
Free Tax Preparation. The AARP Tax-Aide Program can provide free Federal and Maryland tax preparation services for low to moderate-income taxpayers who live or work in Montgomery County. This tax season, the Takoma Park Community Center will serve as a drop-off location for taxpayers. To schedule an appointment to drop-off your tax paperwork, you must first call the scheduling telephone line at 240-777-2577.
UPDATES FROM LAST WEEK’S COUNCIL MEETING
City Committee Review Process. We heard from a Council working group on the process and timetable for reviewing the structure and purposes of the City’s committees, commissions and boards, as well as efforts to improve the diversity of their memberships. You can see the details of the presentation here: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/Documents/council-appointed-committee-update.pdf
Budget Hold List. https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210217-6.pdf. In this year’s budget the Council put approximately $1.3 million “on hold” for potential use in responding to COVID-19. The funds would otherwise be allocated mainly for street and sidewalk improvements and personnel. City staff recommended that the Council move forward on filling some positions as well as initiating some of the street repairs and possibly the sidewalk improvements. I’m open to addressing a few urgent street repairs, but otherwise I’d like to see us either continue to keep these funds on hold (to address potential future increases in eviction or shortfalls in income tax revenue) or use some of the money in the near term to respond to food insecurity challenges caused by the pandemic.
City Manager Comments. You can use this link to read City Manager Suzanne Ludlow’s official comments from last week’s Council meeting: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-manager/city-manager-comments/2021/cm-comments-20210217.pdf.
VOTING SESSION
Appointments to Reimagining Public Safety Task Force: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-3.pdf. A Council working group consisting of Mayor Stewart and Councilmembers Searcy and Seamens, along with City staff and representatives of LINK Strategic Partners (our outside facilitator), reviewed the 39 applications that were submitted for membership on the Task Force. As noted in the agenda information, the criteria for review of applications consisted of residency, responses provided on the application, organization and community affiliation, diversity and inclusion, and the overall composition of the Task Force. Taking those factors into account, the reviewers are recommending 15 members, who are listed in the agenda materials. We’ll hear more details in this week’s meeting about their backgrounds, affiliations, etc.
Budget Amendment: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-4.pdf. This will be the first of two votes on the budget amendment, which we discussed last week. The second and final vote is scheduled for next week’s Council meeting. This amendment reflects four changes which affect the budget: CARES Act reimbursements; reductions in revenue due to cancellation of Recreation Department programs; higher than anticipated City Attorney workload; and lower speed camera receipts. I intend to vote in favor of the amendment.
WORK SESSION
Council Priorities: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-5.pdf
Draft Priorities Document: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-priorities-draft-2021-02-19.pdf. We’ve nearly finalized this document, which will form the basis for the Council’s work this year and in future years. At this point there are only a few outstanding issues to be resolved.
Stormwater Management Fee Structure: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-2-and-6r.pdf. As I’ve noted previously, I think switching to a tiered system that more accurately reflects the amount of impervious surface on each single family property would be fairer, and I agree we should ultimately move in that direction. However, some aspects of the proposal need to be fleshed out more, including how the appeals process would work, whether residents can get credits or other compensation for actions they’ve taken on their properties to address stormwater flows, and how we may want to phase in the potential increases for residents who are in line to pay significantly higher amounts.
More broadly, though, I don’t support going forward with the new fee structure unless we also take steps aimed at beginning to address the increased stormwater flows across private and public land we’re seeing more frequently because of heavy rainfall due to more intense storms caused by climate change. I’ll be pushing for action on that front as we continue discussing the fee restructuring.
For more details about my thoughts on the proposal, scroll down in this link to the stormwater section, which includes an interactive map: http://www.councilmemberkovar.com/blog/2021/2/16/agenda-for-february-17-2021-council-meeting-amp-more. I’d also suggest reviewing video of the February 10 Council discussion on this topic, which you can see through this link: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/meetings-and-documents/city-council-video/. The stormwater discussion starts at the 1:36 mark and my remarks begin at 2:40.
Police Promotional Process Contract: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-7.pdf. This proposal would involve contracting with an outside consultant (Resource Management Associates) to develop and administer an officer promotion system in cooperation with the City Human Resources Department. I support the goal of preventing discrimination in officer promotion, and I would like to learn more about the need to go outside our own staff structures to help ensure we can meet that goal.
Property Tax Adjustment Options: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-8.pdf. The Council has highlighted the need to consider additional ways of reducing the property tax burden on middle and lower income homeowners, particularly given the ongoing increases in average home prices that have been occurring in Takoma Park in recent years. I’m hopeful that through some of the actions we’ve identified in our housing strategic plan we can help mitigate that trend, in particular by increasing affordable homeownership opportunities in the City. Beyond that longer term approach, I think it also makes sense to look more carefully at changes we could make to our current tax credit system to provide additional financial assistance to residents facing challenges in paying their property taxes.
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Viewing the Council Meeting: 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.
Please feel free to be in touch with questions or comments about any of the topics covered in this blog.
Peter Kovar, Takoma Park City Council, Ward One
240-319-6281; www.councilmemberkovar.com
(He, Him, His)
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