Dear Neighbors:
Welcome to 2022 -- let’s hope for more positive news this year. Here’s the link for the January 12, 2022 City Council meeting agenda: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-january-12-2022/. This week’s meeting has several important agenda items: presentation of City staff’s recommendations for expenditure of our Federal ARPA funds; votes on ratification of the compensation agreement with Takoma Park’s workers represented by AFSCME, and on a budget amendment incorporating that agreement and related compensation changes for other City employees; and a discussion of updated City Council procedures. See below for details on these issues.
In addition, the Council will be meeting in a closed session this Thursday (January 13) at 6:00 PM to receive legal advice on the Takoma Junction development: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-closed-session-thursday-january-13-2022/. The project is on the County Planning Board’s January 20 meeting agenda: https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda-item/january-20-2022/.
We’ll continue working on ARPA and City Council procedures in upcoming meetings, along with such topics as Ward redistricting and Reimagining Public Safety. For projected schedules on key topics in January and February, please refer to the blog I posted last week: http://www.councilmemberkovar.com/blog/2022/1/4/city-council-schedule-in-january-and-february-2022. I’ll discuss other priorities for 2022 in future blogs.
Sign up to make public comments for this week’s City Council meeting by 5:00 PM on Wednesday: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d74YNdLNTTuNInSSLSrTKQ. The meeting can be viewed on City TV (RCN -- 13, HD 1060; Comcast/xfinity -- 13, HD 997; Verizon Fios -- 28), on the City Council Video Page; on YouTube, or on Facebook.
REDISTRICTING
Redistricting will be unfolding over the next month and a half or so, with a final vote on the new Ward boundaries expected in late February. You can sign up for the redistricting listening sessions tonight and tomorrow night through this link: https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/participate-in-ward-redistricting-meetings/. My January 7 redistricting statement provided more details about the process, schedule and potential boundary changes: http://www.councilmemberkovar.com/blog/2022/1/9/redistricting-message-initially-circulated-on-january-7-2022. As outlined in that message, Ward One’s boundaries WILL be changing, so please review the current draft map options and let me know what you think.
COVID UPDATE
The City’s COVID Dashboard has not been updated for several weeks owing to the continuing effects of the hack of the Maryland Department of Public Health, but there is some data available from the Department, which City staff provides as follows:
· In the last week, there were 346 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the 20912 zip code. Since the start of last month (when the MDH outage originally occurred), the number of new cases has increased every week.
· In Montgomery County, cases are up 1,678% over the last 14 days, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are up 107%, and the test-positivity rate is 11%. Utilization of hospital beds overall in the County is currently low, but the percentage of hospital beds occupied by patients due to COVID-19 is high at 32.6%. Maryland's statewide testing positivity rate is up to 28.3%, as cases continue to rise to the highest levels of the pandemic.
· As of January 5th, the at-least first-dose vaccination rate for the 20912 zip code was 73.5%, and the fully-vaccinated rate was 64.4%. As of December 10, the fully-vaccinated rate was 62.9%.
Also, in case you missed it, Takoma Park has announced a new policy requiring vaccinations for all City staff, with certain approved exceptions: https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/city-of-takoma-park-enacts-vaccine-policy-in-compliance-with-osha-ets/
In addition, Governor Hogan recently announced a major homeowner assistance fund aimed at helping residents facing challenges in keeping up with their mortgages because of COVID: https://news.maryland.gov/dhcd/2022/01/05/governor-hogan-announces-opening-of-maryland-homeowner-assistance-fund/. Per the Governor’s statement, the program will make these funds available:
Approximately $171 million to provide loans to assist homeowners who have experienced financial hardship with their mortgages and $34 million to provide grants to assist with property tax, homeowner association, and other types of delinquencies
$10 million for the WholeHome program to help homeowners with necessary repairs and energy efficiency improvements
$8 million for housing counseling agencies and $3 million for legal services providers to help homeowners navigate the foreclosure process
$22 million for program case management, administration, and marketing and outreach to ensure eligible homeowners, including minority populations and those in especially hard-hit areas, are aware of the relief
Lastly, starting today during certain hours the County Library system will be making rapid test kits available for free (two kits per person per visit): https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/testing/rapid-tests.html
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
State Property Tax Assessments: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/finance/real-property-tax/. Residents have begun receiving updated State property assessments, which will form the basis for City discussions on the local property tax rate for the next fiscal year (the fiscal year begins July 1). We’ll be discussing these issues in much more detail in the coming months, especially as part of our budget process in April and May. Meanwhile, the above link includes interactive maps showing both the updated value for every property in the City and the percentage change from the last assessment three years ago, along with details on how to submit an appeal to the State if you believe your assessment is inaccurate.
Spring Plant-A-Tree Orders Accepted Through February 21: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/public-works/tree-care-and-resources/. The City offers discounted tree plantings for private property for the spring and fall planting seasons. This program is focused on native shade trees.
Caring About Residents Everyday (CARE): https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/police/services-and-programs/caring-about-residents-everyday-care-2/. This Police Department program is aimed at assisting elderly residents and those with special needs to remain independent in their homes through a daily check-in process.
Police Department Update on Animal Care Resources: I’m pleased the Police also recently provided information on various offices to contact in cases involving injured or dead animals, or those needing rescue services. Residents periodically ask about these matters, so I’m re-posting the information here.
If you discover an injured animal/deer on Takoma Park City property, contact the Takoma Park Police Department non-emergency number at 301-270-1100. If needed, Takoma Park Police will contact Montgomery County Animal Control to assist.
If you discover a deceased deer/animal on City property, contact 311 or visit this web site https://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/SolutionView.aspx?SolutionId=1-TG8QX where you can create a service request to have the animal/deer removed.
If you discover an injured and/or deceased animal/deer on Montgomery County Parks property, contact the Maryland National Capital Park Police at 301-949-3010.
If you discover an UNinjured animal/deer, but in need of rescue services, on City or Park property, contact the Second Chance Wildlife rescue hotline at 301-926-9453 or visit their web site at https://www.scwc.org/. Montgomery County Animal Control will not respond for uninjured animals.
January City Newsletter: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/news/newsletter/2022/TakomaPark_Newsletter_January_Edition.pdf. With many residents experiencing COVID and/or weather related delays in their Postal Service deliveries, I’m including a link to this month’s City Newsletter.
PRESENTATION OF CITY STAFF’S ARPA FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2022/council-20220112-1.pdf. Following extensive staff review of a range of options for use of the City’s ARPA funding allocation, the City Manager will present the recommendations. The report is extensive and very detailed, and I appreciate the amount of work that was put into its preparation. I’m continuing to review the specific recommendations, and I’m not ready at this point to express any conclusive opinions about its components. That said, while I would have preferred it if we had made more funds available sooner for direct assistance to most impacted by COVID or otherwise most at risk, I appreciate the strong emphasis in these recommendations for that type of assistance. I’m hopeful we’ll approve funding for projects along those lines as soon as possible. I’m also pleased that much of the report is centered around racial and economic equity.
There’s more for me to absorb about the plan and of course I do want to hear the presentation. My initial thinking is that it may make sense to focus first on the recommended expenditures that are more directly aimed at helping those with immediate COVID-related needs, or assistance that may be needed soon on an urgent basis (such as eviction prevention assistance). That approach would enable us to consider other recommended uses which, though still very important, may not have the same urgency. My concern is that if we try to analyze and decide on every proposal in one group, it will take longer than anticipated, and may mean further delays in the most crucial aid being released. In addition, some proposals -- while meritorious -- may simply take longer to flesh out, and I don’t want that to slow the delivery of urgent assistance.
One area on which I was anticipating more focus is stormwater infrastructure, so I’ll be looking forward to hearing more about that topic. In addition, I’d like to get a better understanding of the interplay between the funds suggested to be held in reserve, the proposed requests for revenue loss reimbursement for Fiscal Year 2021 (which would be in addition to our ARPA funds), and the recommended expenditures in the report. But I think overall the staff has put together a thoughtful document which is responsive to many key Council and community priorities connected to COVID and other top concerns. These recommendations should provide a valuable framework for our discussion on how best to utilize our ARPA funds.
VOTING SESSION
The background materials on this week’s two voting items were not yet available at blog-post time. In December the City reached a compensation agreement with AFSCME employees, with related compensation changes for other City workers. The Council must take further action to complete this work, as outlined in the City’s statement: https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/afscme-local-3399-and-the-city-of-takoma-park-reach-agreement-on-compensation/. The remaining steps are ratifying the agreement and designating the relevant funds through a budget amendment. I’ll be voting in favor of both proposals.
WORK SESSION
City Council Rules and Procedures: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2022/council-20220112-4.pdf. The Council periodically reviews and revises its rules and procedures in order to help make our meetings more effective meetings and to bring about improved outcomes for the community. The last revisions were put in place about two years ago. I was part of a Council/staff sub-group which worked on this updated version.
Although any aspect of the draft document can be amended, several sections are highlighted in yellow, indicating the need for Council discussion on those points: whether there should be a target time (10:00 or 11:00 PM?) for conclusion of Council meetings; when in the course of Council meetings general public comments versus public comments on voting items should be scheduled; and appropriate ways by which Councilmembers can express disagreement with how Council decisions may be implemented by City staff.
Please be in touch if you have questions or comments about any of the matters 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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