Dear Neighbors:
Here’s a link to the March 3, 2021 City Council meeting agenda: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-march-3-2021/. There are five voting items: a resolution recognizing retiring Library Director Ellen Arnold-Robbins; the Council Priorities document; the budget amendment on which we took an initial vote last week; removing some funding from the budget “hold” list; and a Police promotional process contract. In our work session, we’ll be discussing traffic calming proposals for Darwin Avenue and Wildwood Drive; reforms to our Council-appointed committees; and an update on the City Manager search process. For details on these agenda items see below. Residents who wish to speak during the public comment period will need to sign up by 5:00 PM on the day of the meeting: link to sign up for public comments.
COVID-19 UPDATE
The Takoma Park Data Dashboard has been updated with data through February 26, 2021. Key data points highlighted by City staff:
· There were 15 cases reported in Takoma Park in the last week, bringing the city's total to 1,504 and continuing the City’s and County's decline in cases.
· The Takoma Park Recreation Center administered 102 tests on Saturday, February 20, bringing the Center's total to 3,045 since early December.
· For the third week in a row, no new deaths were reported in the 20912 zip code.
Testing at the 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 through the County vaccine page: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/vaccine/. Or you can call 240-777-2982. You can also sign up for vaccines through the Maryland Vaccine Website: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/pages/vaccine.
KEY UPDATES FROM LAST WEEK’S COUNCIL MEETING
Reimagining Public Safety Task Force Appointments. https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-3-rev.pdf The Council approved the appointment of 15 members to the Task Force. They are listed in the above link. As outlined by Councilmember Searcy, who played a key role on the Council working group which screened the applicants, the members range in age from 19 - 65, and 13 of them self-describe as people of color, including Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Arab. Their professional backgrounds include civil rights and community organizations, education and government. They all live in Takoma Park, and while all Wards are represented, the membership is higher from Wards with greater concentrations of Black and Brown residents.
I was also pleased to learn that applicants who weren’t chosen for membership (there were a total of 39 applications) would be invited to participate in the Task Force’s work in some fashion. One of my concerns was the extent to which young people would be able to provide input to the Task Force. On that point, it was confirmed in the Council meeting by a representative of LINK Strategic Partners (the outside facilitator which is helping establish the Task Force and will be working with them) that there has been outreach to members of the Takoma Park Youth Council, and that there are plans through the Task Force to engage with younger Takoma Park residents through the schools and in other ways. Details on the Task Force’s schedule and other logistics will be made public shortly.
Stormwater Management Fee Structure. https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210224-2-and-6r.pdf. The Council continued its discussion of the proposed new stormwater management fee structure, which would shift from a flat $92 fee paid by all single family homeowners to a variable rate based on the amount of impervious surface on each property (similar to the commercial property fee). Under this proposal, approximately 20 percent of residents would pay less, around 24 percent would pay $100, and about 55 percent would pay a higher amount.
As I’ve described previously, while a tiered system based on impervious surface areas would be more fair, I don’t support going forward with the new fee structure unless there is also a commitment to take steps to begin addressing the broader problem of increased stormwater flow due to more intense rainfall caused by climate change. In addition, it’s vital that the process for property owners to appeal their new rates is adjusted to take into account improvements that mitigate stormwater flow. We also need to remove the requirement that an engineer or land surveyor certify the installation of such improvements.
I’m suggesting several amendments to the stormwater ordinance aimed at addressing those issues, along with a requirement for enhanced community engagement for larger projects that could affect a wider area or a substantial number or other properties. I’m also pleased Mayor Stewart suggested the idea of adopting a resolution making some commitments to taking action on the broader stormwater challenges, and I’m working on that concept as well. The Council is tentatively scheduled to discuss the fee structure on March 10, with the possibility of votes on the proposal at the two subsequent meetings.
You can see video of my portion of the discussion, where I go into more detail on some of these points, starting at the 2:53 mark: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/meetings-and-documents/city-council-video/.
Property Tax Discussion and Presentation. https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/Documents/FY22-Property-Tax-Adjustment-Options.pdf. The City Manager made a presentation on the property tax and options for providing credits or other forms or relief to lower income residents or other populations within the City, including seniors, long-time residents, etc. The Council has designated as one of its priorities “exploring property tax credits, deferrals, and other options for residents in need.” I’m interested in hearing residents’ thoughts on this topic. You can see the video of the presentation and our discussions through this link, starting at 3:32: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/meetings-and-documents/city-council-video/.
City Manager Comments. You can see the City Manager’s official comments from last week’s meeting here: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-manager/city-manager-comments/2021/cm-comments-20210224moco.pdf
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Plant a Tree Program. https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/plant-a-tree-order-form-is-now-available-submit-by-friday-march-26/. Residents can purchase trees at reduced prices until April 20, and have them installed by City staff.
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. 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.
VOTING SESSION
Retirement of Ellen Arnold-Robbins: The resolution was not yet available at press time.
Council Priorities: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-2.pdf. Following a half-day retreat in January, the Council has held several discussions on our priorities for this year and the future, and we’ve now finalized the priorities document. For this year, we’ve identified five top priorities: continuing to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic; hiring and onboarding a new City Manager; working to address our housing affordability challenges; reimagining public safety and policing to ensure racial justice; and taking steps to mitigate climate change. Realistically, we can’t achieve everything listed on the document in one or two years, and in fact some items on the list will require work for many years even if we make steady progress on them. But I anticipate we’ll make strides on a number of other items on the list in the next two years, and I think the document also serves as an important statement of our community values, even on topics we can’t get to immediately. I’ll be voting yes.
Budget Amendment: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-3.pdf. This will be the final vote on the budget amendment, which reflects four changes with impact on 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, as I did on the first vote last week.
Budget Hold List: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-4rev.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 repairs and improvements, and personnel. City staff has recommended that the Council move forward on filling two positions (totaling $31,500 from this year’s budget) as well as releasing the hold on the street and sidewalk funds ($950,000), for a total of $981,500 (leaving around $215,000 in the “hold” category).
I’m open to addressing some of the more urgent street and sidewalk repairs, but I don’t agree with the idea of releasing all of these funds from the hold category. From what we’ve heard, a potential downturn in income tax receipts because of the pandemic may not be apparent for another year or two. In addition, there’s the potential for large numbers of evictions at some point down the road, not to mention current food security needs. So, I’d prefer to keep more funds on hold at least until we learn if we’ll be receiving funds directly from the Federal pandemic relief legislation. I’ll be exploring options for either reducing the amount removed from the hold list or waiting to make a decision until we have a clearer idea of potential federal dollars that may come our way.
Police Promotional Process Contract: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-5.pdf. This contract calls for working with an outside consultant (Resource Management Associates) to develop and administer an officer promotion system in cooperation with the City Human Resources Department. The goal is to help ensure an officer promotion process free from discrimination. I’ll be voting to approve the contract.
WORK SESSION
Traffic Calming Requests on Darwin Avenue. and Wildwood Drive: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-6.pdf. I was pleased to see an excellent turnout from residents of Darwin Avenue at last week’s public hearing on the request for traffic calming measures. As I’ve noted, Darwin is a short dead-end street, with a bend in the middle and no sidewalks. Despite its size, it gets a fair amount of traffic since it leads to several parks. These factors create safety hazards for pedestrians, and I support the idea of installing speed humps. We’re tentatively scheduled to take an initial voted on the proposal in the March 10 Council meeting, with the final vote the following week. I defer to the residents of Wildwood Drive and my colleague Councilmember Searcy on that request.
Council Appointed Committees: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-7.pdf. We’ll continue our discussion on ideas for reforming the structure, appointment process and other aspects of our Council-appointed committees, boards and commissions, including ways of improving membership diversity.
Update on City Manager Search Process: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-8.pdf. With Suzanne Ludlow scheduled to retire at the end of June, there will be a lot of activity around the process for hiring her replacement. I anticipate that most Council meetings in the upcoming months will include updates on the status of this effort.
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Viewing the Council Meeting: The public may view the meeting 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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