Town Meeting Minutes
February 11, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 8:02 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo,  CMs Dennison, and Gourley. Mayor Pro-Tem (MPT) Lofgren was absent. Also present were Town Administrator Murphy, Detective Antolik, Treasurer Lape, Clerk Harper, Chair of the Neighborhood Watch/Emergency Preparedness (NW/EP) Jodi Culpa Eddie, PEPCO representatives Ernie Baker (Prince George's Municipal Liaison), David Gould (Reliability Team Supervisor), Jennifer Gillen (Prince George's County Staff Forrester), Clay Anderson (Media Relations Coordinator), Robert Hainy, Danielle Christian, Wyonette Brown and citizens.

Mayor Calvo led the Pledge of Allegiance.

1. Minutes

Clerk Harper read a summary of the January 14 Town meeting minutes. On a motion by CM Gourley and second by CM Dennison, the minutes were approved 3 to 0.

2. Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Lape gave the Treasurer's report for the month of January.

3. PEPCO Presentation

Mayor Calvo welcomed PEPCO representatives and said that today's presentation came about as the result of a suggestion from resident Mark Winston and frequent inquiries to the Town about power outages.

Ernie Baker said that PEPCO is pleased to present the findings of its reliability study of Berwyn Heights' power grid and introduced David Gould. Mr. Gould explained that power is delivered from generator plants into neighborhoods via substations and feeder lines. Depending on where power is disrupted on the feeder lines, more or fewer homes will be affected by an outage. If a storm has knocked out power in many places, power will first be restored to substations, and then to circuits connected to the greatest number of homes. Circuits serving only a few homes will be restored last. Berwyn Heights is served by the Branchville Road substation, which in turn has 4 feeders going into different sections of the Town, labeled A to D. Most outages occur on feeder B, serving the older, central section of the Town. This section has older wires and equipment and more mature trees. Tall trees tend to loose limbs in storms and also harbor many squirrels, which chew through lines. Other outages are due to equipment failure and lighting strikes. Feeder C serves the commercial district along Greenbelt Road and Feeder A and D serve the newer, southern section of Berwyn Heights, all of which have fewer problems.

As part of maintaining problem areas, PEPCO will install lightning arrestors, which divert overloads into the ground, protect transformers and switches with animal guards, and trim trees. PEPCO is also working on upgrading its grid throughout the County by installing smart technology. Over the next 3 years, new switches and meters will be installed, which will be able to detect a fault in an electric line automatically and redirect electrical current remotely to restore power in minutes rather than hours. The technology is currently being tested for the Oak Grove substation of Upper Marlboro.

Jennifer Gillen said that, in accordance with Department of Natural Resources guidelines, PEPCO trims trees along its lines on a biennial basis, to ensure that they have sufficient clearance. In addition, staff foresters perform hot-spotting in response to specific power events.

Mayor Calvo commented that the presentation was helpful in understanding how the Berwyn Heights grid works and why certain areas have more power problems than others. In response to Mayor Calvo's questions, Mr. Baker said that power used in Berwyn Heights comes from generating stations throughout Maryland (Chalk Point, Calvert Cliffs, Dickerson among others), and the eastern seaboard in general. PEPCO has begun to study the replacement of its old street lights and bulbs following the enactment of the Energy Conservation Act of 2005 and launched pilot projects in its service area to test new LED technology. The closest of these pilots are in Fort Washington, Prince George's County, and Wood Acres, Montgomery County. Hyattsville and University Park, which still have incandescent lights, will become LED pilots in the near future. The process for requesting additional street lights is to provide PEPCO's street light representative with the pole number, the closest address, and desired lighting (e.g. high pressure sodium. The Town will then be sent a cost estimate and can purchase the new light. The cost is approximately $2,000 per light.

In response to CM Dennison's questions, PEPCO representatives explained that the age of a power grid depends on the age of a subdivision. But upgrades are made as new homes are added or improvements made. PEPCO is investing in large scale upgrades, including smart technology, to satisfy demands for the use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar energy. Large increases in consumers' electricity bills are attributable mainly to an increase in generating costs. PEPCO, however,  is no longer a supplier of electricity but is responsible only for delivery. People who have trouble paying their electricity bills should contact PEPCO as soon as possible to arrange a suitable payment plan.

Carolyn Clemens, Assistant Director of Public Works in Greenbelt, asked if PEPCO could come to Greenbelt to discuss how to secure power to critical areas.

4. Mayor’s Report

Mayor Calvo announced that applicants are being sought for a vacancy on the Town Council. The deadline to apply is close of business tomorrow, February 12. The Council will meet in special session on February 18 to interview the applicants and select. Three residents have applied so far: Richard Ahrens, Shawn Daley and James Wilkinson. The candidates may also qualify for a Council seat that will become available when CM Gourley resigns in May. After CM Attick's resignation, departmental responsibilities were rearranged. CM Dennison moved back to head Parks and Recreation. Gourley took charge of the Code Department and, until the vacancy is filled, continues to head the Administration Department.

Mayor Calvo continued that budget season was kicked off at the last worksession with budget requests from the Police Department and the Neighborhood Watch/Emergency Preparedness. At the upcoming worksession, Code Director Solomon, Public Works Director Coleman and CM Dennison will present their department's budget requests.

Mayor Calvo continued that MPT Lofgren attended a meeting with Congressman Steny Hoyer in Greenbelt last week, at which stimulus funding was discussed. Berwyn Heights has submitted the Seminole and Ruatan Streets project for consideration of stimulus funds. The Council has also met with the State Highway Administration (SHA) officials regarding needed improvements to the Pontiac Street/Kenilworth Avenue intersection. Additionally, SHA has scheduled the reconstruction of the Indian Creek Bridge for the summer of 2010.

Mayor Calvo reported that he has worked with State legislators to get legislation introduced that provides for more oversight of SWAT teams. After months of research on the deployment of SWAT teams, he learned that they are overused. In Prince George's County these para-military teams were dispatched 700 times in 2008, performing jobs that used to done by ordinary police officers, such as serving warrants. The legislation would require monthly reports on SWAT teams that track deployments, dates, authorization, purpose and results. He will ask the Council to support the legislation at the next worksession.

5. Department Reports

Administration: CM Gourley reported that revenues received to date equal $1,705,800 or 69% of what was budgeted. He recommended that residents purchase steering wheel locks available at the police station. Further, residents are requested to report broken street lights and, if possible, the corresponding pole numbers to TA Murphy.

CM Gourley announced that a Wounded Warriors benefit will be held on March 1, 1:00 – 6:00 p.m., at the American Legion in Greenbelt. The money raised will benefit the soldiers wounded in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Code Enforcement: CM Gourley reported that a new Code Compliance page has been added to the website. Most code forms can be downloaded there. Residents can now sign up for a courtesy code notification system, which alerts them by e-mail when a code violation has been logged at their property. Sign-up forms will be published in the next Bulletin and on the website. CM Gourley concluded with a listing of code violations for the previous month and noted that 3 new rental properties have been added to the rolls.

Parks and Recreation, Education and Civic Affairs: CM Dennison reported that she, Mayor Calvo and several other Town residents attended a community forum with Police Chief Designate Roberto Hylton, where they were able to pick up steering wheel locks for free. She offered prayers for her son's friend, who was seriously hurt in recent car accident. Further, CM Dennison reported that the Recreation Council and PTA will host a talent show on March 26, 6:00 p.m. at Berwyn Heights Elementary School (BHES). In February, the PTA completed another mural with a “glue in,” held a family reading night and a skate night. The Recreation Council is planning the next Berwyn Heights Day to be held on May 2. Volunteers are needed. Community service hours for middle and high school students are available. The Berwyn Heights Historical Committee is working on the next street marker and preparations for a museum. The Boys & Girls Club will hold registrations on February 13, 11 a.m. at the Community Center.

Public Health and Safety: Detective Antolik reported for Chief Murphy, who was recovering from surgery. There were only 4 Part I offenses for the month of January. Last week, he was assisted by Officers Moroney, Bennett and Thompson in a secret service operation. They apprehended a felon, who was charged with identity theft, and seized a vehicle. Residents were reminded to call the County dispatcher at 301-333-4000 if they need the police on weekends in a non-emergency matter.

Public Works: There was no report.

6. Committee Reports

Education Advisory Committee: CM Dennison reported for Chair Ann Harris Davidson, who was traveling out of Town. This month’s BH-EAC meeting was a special information meeting on the re-construction of Greenbelt Middle School. About 20 people were in attendance, including Mayor J. Davis and Councilmembers Ed Putens and Leta Mach of Greenbelt, PGCPS Board Member Donna Hathaway Beck (with apologies from Mayor Calvo and Board Member Rosalind Johnson). Eugene Delmar of Delmar Architects explained the plans for the school. Senior PGCPS administrators Lawrence W. Fryer (Chief Operating Officer) and Paul Taylor (Director of Planning & Architectural Services), Chuck Floeck (Construction Project Supervisor) stood ready to answer questions. This project will cost a total of $50 million, of which $35 million is for construction and $6 million for planning. The school is due to open in August 2010 and will have seats for 990 students in grades 6 to 8.  Plans are for the school to be a “green school” and achieve a minimum of a Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) rating. After several rounds of questions, Ms. Davidson thanked PGCPS administrators for taking the time to present the plans in Berwyn Heights, recognizing that Greenbelt Middle School also serves this community.

Further, applications are due on March 6, 2009 for entry to the PGCPS’s Enrichment & Specialty Programs (ESP). These programs include Montessori (with pre-school entry only, unless the child has already attended a Montessori program), French Immersion (with kindergarten entry, unless the child has appropriate experience with French), TAG (for TAG-identified children after grade 1) and Creative and Performing Arts. Details are available on the PGCPS website. The children of residents of Berwyn Heights do not need to enter the lottery to attend the Berwyn Heights Elementary School with its specialty Music & Technology Program.

The PGCPS’s Board of Education has announced a schedule of public hearings as part of its evaluation of a proposal from the PGCPS Administration that would expand and offer new programs of choice, better utilize available space, and consolidate 12 schools. The three scheduled public hearings are as follows:

All persons interested in speaking must register with the Office of the Board of Education by 3:30 p.m. on the day of the meeting by calling 301 952 6115.

Lastly, Governor O’Malley will hold a discussion of education funding (“Education and the Economy”) tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Dr. Henry A. Wise (Jr.) High School.

Historical Committee: CM Dennison reported that, in addition to the activities she mentioned in her department report, the Historical Committee is working on completing a commemorative plaque of former Councilmembers.

Neighborhood Watch/Emergency Preparedness: Co-Chair Jodi Culpa-Eddie reported that she and Joan Hayden have been confirmed as Co-Chairs of the NW/EP, Merryl Weinrich as Secretary and Shirley Attick as Treasurer. At the last meeting, a date was set to clean up the trailer and prepare it for exhibition on Berwyn Heights Day.

Recreation Council: Reported under Department Reports. 

Safe Streets Committee: Mayor Calvo announced that the next meeting will be on February 19, 7:30 p.m.

7. Unfinished Business

There was none.

8. New Business

There was none.

9. Citizens Discussion

There was none.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:48 p.m.

Signed: Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk

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