Worksession Minutes

 June 18, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, CMs Dennison, Gourley and Lofgren. Mayor Pro Tem Jewitt arrived at 7:05 p.m. Also present were Town Administrator Murphy, Clerk Harper, Chair of the Neighborhood Watch/Emergency Preparedness (NW/EP) Mike Attick, Christian Morales and citizens.

1.    Mayor

Announcements: The Boys & Girls Club will hold a picnic on June 30 at Sports Park.

Calendar: The Council scheduled upcoming policy discussions. Resumption of drafting a Commercial Clean Lot Ordinance was set for July 16. Consideration of a Noise Ordinance drafted by Mayor Calvo will begin August 6. Discussion of a fiscal policy framework begins tonight, with further discussion continuing throughout the summer. Other topics proposed for Council consideration were Charter changes and road repairs. 

Minutes: The Council reviewed the minutes. On a motion by CM Gourley and second by MPT Jewitt, the June 4 worksession minutes were approved 5 to 0 with corrections. On a motion by MPT Jewitt and second by CM Dennison, the June 11 special worksession minutes were approved 5 to 0 as presented.

Department Reports: CM Lofgren reported that tipping day is scheduled for June 20, when residents can dispose of bulky trash. CM Dennison reported on a successful Town-wide yard sale and thanked Trinity Tomsic, Lisa Keller and David Williams for organizing it. She noted that the volunteer appreciation will be held on June 20 and that any resident who volunteered is invited. MPT Jewitt reported that a number of building and dumpster permits were issued in recent weeks. Further, there were fines for high grass violations and renting without a license. CM Gourley said that the Administration Department is wrapping up the fiscal year, getting all bills paid in order to close the books for this year, and getting ready for the annual audit.  

Mayor Calvo reported that he met with County Councilmember Olson earlier today and relayed concerns about the County's historic preservation program. Yesterday, he and TA Murphy testified against changes in the Commerce Bank detailed site plans, which were proposed in a staff recommendation to County Planning Board. The changes would have required a 48' instead of a 59' setback for the Bank building resulting in a smaller parking area in the front and a higher retaining wall. The testimony caused the staff recommendation to be set aside and the 59' setback approved. Mayor Calvo also answered questions about the closing of 59^th Avenue.

Mayor Calvo continued that he, Chief of Police Murphy and TA Murphy met with Reverend Renee Mackey and the Church's property manager to talk about noisy parties in the fellowship hall of the Berwyn Presbyterian Church. The fellowship hall is available for rental to the public at $1,000 per event and has recently led to a number of late night disturbances of the neighborhood. It was agreed that the Church would better supervise these events and enforce their no alcohol policy. Further, the Church will work with the Town of Berwyn Heights in developing better rental procedures and implement shorter hours of operation.

Mayor Calvo further reported that a tenant of a Bucknell Terrace rental home was critically injured in a car explosion in front of his home, that the landlord of a rental home on Osage Street ran down one of his tenants with his car and that there was a motorcycle accident on Charlton Avenue last weekend.

Citizen Comments: CM Gourley received a complaint from a Seminole Street resident about a noisy party at Berwyn Presbyterian Church last weekend. MPT Jewitt received an inquiry about the Commercial Clean Lot Ordinance. CM Dennison received an inquiry about what items homeowners can keep in their yard per the Town's Clean Lot Ordinance. The resident has received many calls from a neighbor complaining about her yard. Mayor Calvo received comments about overcrowded homes, about middle school transportation, about the possible conversion of single family home into a rental home on Bucknell Terrace and about early Sunday morning mowing.

Mike Attick informed the Council that the next Four Cities Coalition meeting coincides with the date of the pandemic flu drill. He said that the previous Council held off on a comprehensive Charter review because it was deemed too expensive. Lastly, he asked the Council to consider adding provisions in the Clean Lot Ordinance regulating construction materials and equipment left unsecured in yards during construction projects.

Mayor Calvo noted that he plans to look into College Park's agreement with the County regarding enforcement of zoning regulations 

PGCMA legislative survey: Mayor Calvo asked if Councilmembers had any proposals for legislation that the Prince George's County Municipal Association should take up. CM Dennison said that she would like to see legislation that would provide homeland security funds for the conversion of communication equipment to 800 MHZ, ensure the future of Prince George's Hospital and broaden municipal zoning authority. Mayor Calvo proposed interoperability and County zoning enforcement. Councilmembers agreed that they will each submit their own survey. MPT Jewitt informed the Council that he will serve on the PGCMA Legislative Committee that will look at legislative proposals.

Code appeal: Mayor Calvo gave an overview of the hearing process to the owner of single family home on Seminole Street. The home owner in attendance requested the waiver of a $100 fine for a high grass violation. MPT Jewitt reviewed the case. He stated that the home owner first received a warning of a high grass violation on April 25. When the property was checked again on May 2 and still found in violation, a certified letter was mailed out. The letter was signed and returned to the office on May 8. During another property check on May 18, the front yard had been mowed but not the back yard and a $100 fine was imposed.

The homeowner explained that he is a newcomer to Berwyn Heights and not yet familiar with its rules. Further, he has been going through a difficult period in his personal life, in which his business is down and he and his wife are undergoing marriage counseling. At the moment, he does not have enough money to pay someone else for yard maintenance, nor a lot of time to clean up the yard himself. Nonetheless, he wants to comply with the rules and has slowly cleaned up his yard and cut the grass since receiving the notice of violation.

In response to questions, the appellant confirmed that he understood the violation notice (his native language is Spanish) and that he owns equipment to cut grass, but it is a big job to clean up the front and back yard. Additionally, he had difficulties with occupants of his former house in Riverdale that consumes a lot of his time.

Mayor Calvo said that he is inclined to leniency because the family are newcomers and not aware of all Town rules. He pointed out, however, that in the future clean lot standards will be strictly enforced and sought assurances that the owner will not let his yard get into such bad shape again. The home owner said that he will try.

MPT Jewitt recommended reducing the fine to $50 because the owner is new in Town and showed good faith in addressing the violation. On the other hand, home owners should be held responsible for maintaining a clean lot regardless of circumstances. This home owner understood the notice and had the tools to perform the grass cutting and should pay some penalty. Mayor Calvo proposed to reduce the fine to $25. CM Dennison proposed to waive the fine to give the owner a break in a difficult personal situation. She so moved. CM Lofgren seconded. The motion passed 3 to 2, with MPT Jewitt and CM Gourley opposed.

At 8:35 p.m., the Council took a 10 minute break.

Performance evaluations: Mayor Calvo said that the Council increased total funds for merit increases by 25% to $15,000. These increases will be awarded to staff based on their performance evaluations. He hopes to avoid a situation like last year where nearly every employee received an above average rating. This throws off the grading curve and defeats the purpose of rewarding merit. Employees that meet expectations will still receive a 2.5% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) but should not receive merit increases. The grading curve goes from 1 to 5 with the baseline of “meets expectations” at 3. Grades should be awarded in increments of .5.

He asked that these instructions be forwarded to department directors. They should hand in evaluations to the Town Administrator by July 31, at which time the Council should begin reviewing the evaluations with the directors. MPT Jewitt added that department directors should discuss their employee evaluations with department heads prior to finalization and meetings with employees. Mayor Calvo agreed, noting that performance evaluations of employees are an element in the performance evaluation of directors, who should be graded on how fairly they grade their employees. The Council agreed. TA Murphy was asked to compose a memorandum outlining the evaluation process, including a timeline and sample evaluation form, for the next worksession.

Pension plan: Mayor Calvo informed the Council that the Maryland State Retirement System has revised its preliminary valuation of entry for the Town of Berwyn Heights. As a result, the cost of entry into the State Retirement system has gone from $1.4 to $1.8 million. Even if the Town were to enter into the system based on compensating employees for 1/3 of prior years of service, the entry cost is likely to be between $700,000 and $750,000. TA Murphy is in the process of finding out what the reason for the change is and expects to learn more soon. There were no further comments

Fiscal policy: Mayor Calvo said that the Council had agreed to develop a fiscal policy after the adoption of the budget. The Council began discussing the outlines of a fiscal policy. He started off with an explanation of his views saying that a fiscal policy should be a manual or “how to” guide for fiscal decisions. Fiscal policy should center on the budget including the process of developing a budget, its format and definition of budget elements as well as underlying assumptions. Beyond budget preparation, fiscal policy should extend to long-term planning for capital improvements, establishing procedures for tax collection and setting licensing fees and fines. The purpose of writing a fiscal policy is to institutionalize recently adopted as well as tried and true fiscal practices so as to provide continuity from one Council to the next Council. 

In discussions, MPT Jewitt said that fiscal policy serves to standardize budget terminology and format so that processes are the same across Town departments. But it should integrate other non-budgetary processes such as an investment strategy. CM Dennison said that fiscal policy should focus on the budget process, but include consideration of salary and benefit plans, investment and purchasing policies, as well as notifying and receiving input from the public. CM Lofgren said he believes a fiscal policy should confine itself mostly to the budget and keep other financial practices separate.

Mayor Calvo said he believes that a fiscal policy should not be limited to budget preparation, but extend to implementation and budget management throughout the year. For example, a more broadly conceived fiscal policy would not only make an estimate of personal property tax revenues for a given year, but ensure that it is collected promptly and to the fullest extent by sending out reminder letters and imposing fines for overdue payments. However, he believes that such a policy cannot be completed in one year, but ought to be written like chapters of a manual that is fleshed out over time. MPT Jewitt added that both budget preparation, which appropriates money for a defined line item, and execution, which tracks expenditures pertaining to the line item, should be part of fiscal policy.

CM Lofgren said that many government agencies have manuals for various categories of fiscal policy, e.g. the budget, accounting, financial management, which the Council might utilize as a template. MPT Jewitt said writing a manual does not have to be overwhelming, but would put in writing many current practices. Mayor Calvo agreed, saying that many topics, such as income tax collection, could be dealt with in a paragraph or two. At this point, only a framework needs to be developed, which can be populated over time. He asked Council to think about components of fiscal policy that should be part of the manual.

2.    Parks and Recreation

No items were discussed.

3.    Public Safety

Pandemic flue exercise (moved down on agenda)

5. Administration
Bulletin cover: The Council approved the following items for the July Bulletin cover: Happy 4^th of July, announcement of the pandemic flu exercise, and National Night Out. An appreciation of employees should be carried on the inside pages.

3. Public Safety (discussed out of order)
Pandemic flu exercise: Mayor Calvo asked the Chair of the Neighborhood Watch/Emergency Preparedness Committee, Mike Attick, to present the plans for a July 31 – August 2 pandemic flu drill. Mr. Attick said that he would mainly like to get the Council's feedback on background material and plans he has provided them. He explained that the State and Federal government launched a program to prepare for a potential flu pandemic and is working with local governments and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) to run flu simulation drills. The Town of Berwyn Heights was selected for the drill by the State to represent the “average Town.” The goal of the drill is to gather information as to how the flu might spread through the Town and how the population might respond and cooperate with official instructions.

Mr. Attick continued that the plan is to provide Berwyn Heights residents with information about the drill, instructions on how to participate and signs to post in their windows saying how many persons are sick in a particular home. The number posted is made up by individual homeowners. These might be distributed through the Bulletin or a special mailing prior to the event. At this point, there is a draft of a letter explaining the exercise and a template for the window signs. The drill could involve the entire Town or just a section.  He is seeking the Council’s input on how to maximize participation and make it work best

Mayor Calvo said that, in order to get good participation, there would have to be some door knocking to explain the drill face to face. He suggested beginning with a full page of information in the Bulletin about the drill including an announcement of a future mailing of materials. This mailing, for which the State is likely to pay, would go out in mid-July. The CERT team would then follow up with a door-knocking campaign and again distribute informational materials in case a resident no longer has them. The team may also want to reach out separately to people that are active in the community using listservs and other means of outreach.

In response to MPT Jewitt, Mr. Attick said that notification by telephone is not permitted as part of the drill. In response to CM Lofgren, he explained that CERT team members could make up numbers and forward them, but that it wouldn't measure how well people cooperate with official instructions. CM Lofgren said that the publicity should have started earlier if the goal is to maximize participation. Mayor Calvo said that the goal is not so much to achieve 100% participation but measure participation following a good effort to mobilize the Town. Results will be used by health departments and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on how to organize treatment of flu patients

The Council and Mr. Attick agreed to publicize the event as outlined by Mayor Calvo, with information published in the July Bulletin followed by a mass mailing of window signs (potentially colored) and further instructions, and a door-to-door campaign by CERT members.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m.

Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk