Worksession Minutes
October 19, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, Mayor Pro Tem (MPT) Lofgren, CMs Ahrens, Dennison and Wilkinson. Also present was Town Administrator Murphy, Director of Public Works Joe Coleman, and Clerk Harper.

1. Mayor

Announcements: Mayor Calvo attended a political fundraiser for Darryl Morgan, who plans to run for Prince George's County Sheriff, possibly against the current office holder Michael Jackson if he chooses not to run for County Executive.

Calendar: An executive session was scheduled for the November 2 worksession to discuss Directors' performance evaluations. A discussion of the Refuse Ordinance was scheduled for the November 16 worksession. The District 22 Delegation dinner was scheduled for December 2.

Minutes: On a motion by CM Ahrens and second by CM Dennison, the September 21 worksession minutes were adopted 5 to 0. On a motion by CM Wilkinson and second by CM Ahrens, the October 5 worksession minutes were approved 5 to 0.

Department reports: Mayor Calvo reported that the vacant home at 8507  58th Avenue was demolished by the County's Department of Environmental Resources (DER). In the end, there was a competition between two contractors, one hired by the County and another by the bank that owns the property, to carry out the demolition. The $12,000 cost of the demolition will be placed on the property as a lien.

Mayor Calvo last Sunday attended a tea by the Greenbelt Community Foundation, which was founded by Greenbelt residents a little less than 10 years ago. It is a donor-advised fund within the larger Prince George’s Community Foundation. By investing part of the initial $10,000 endowment and holding a yearly fund raiser, the Foundation has accumulated $50,000 in assets, from which it makes small grants to Greenbelt residents and organizations to improve the cultural, artistic, recreational, social and environmental life of the city. Having spoken to some of the members of the Greenbelt Community Foundation, he would like to try again to launch a Berwyn Heights Community Foundation, as initially proposed by the Historical Committee (BHHC). He believes it may be easier to approach individual residents and businesses rather than community organizations for donations to establish the fund. He plans to speak with BHHC Chair Jim Hudson about restarting the effort. CM Dennison commented that the Historical Committee may want to pursue the matter on its own.

Mayor Calvo said that the Berwyn Heights Fire Department made heroic rescues last Saturday in a 3 alarm fire at Cherrywood Terrace in Springhill Lake. When it arrived first at the scene, several 2nd and 3rd floor apartments were engulfed in flames with people jumping from windows. Firefighters used ladders to help a woman and her infant escape from a window and others trapped on balconies.

CM Dennison reported that the Recreation Council was finishing preparations for the Halloween Party and the Education Advisory Committee (EAC) discussed school boundary issues. She thanked Mayor Calvo for helping edit a letter of support to commence reconstruction of Greenbelt Middle School in FY 2011. CM Ahrens said that Director Solomon did a thorough job of keeping the Council informed about the demolition of the 58th Avenue home.

Citizen comments:  Mayor Calvo received a comment about a commercial vehicle being parked on the street and a thank you letter for helping to get the SECU fence rebuilt. The Council received a thank you e-mail for stopping commercial trash trucks from picking up trash very early in the morning. Chief Murphy deserves credit for researching the case. CM Dennison had one comment for and one against speed cameras, as well as comment on the once-a-week trash collection. CM Wilkinson received comments in favor of speed cameras.

Infrastructure rating system (discussed out of order): Mayor Calvo welcomed Director of Public Works Joe Coleman to discuss a street rating and renovation schedule. He explained that, apart from the next renovation project at Seminole and Ruatan Streets, the Town does not have a plan to rate streets annually. He likes College Park's approach, whereby the City rates its streets every year on the basis of which it devises a long term street renovation plan. 

At 7:45 p.m., the Council took a 5 minute break.

Director Coleman provided an updated information packet on street conditions and some options for repairing streets. The packet included:

• Illustrations of different types of road surface problems from alligator and reflective cracking, wearing away of top coat, poor utility patches, to sagging of curbs

• Map showing the condition of streets as rated on a scale of 1 (best condition) – 5 (requires resurfacing or reconstruction)

• 2009 Street rating survey, which lists streets in accordance with their condition.

• 2009 Sidewalk survey, listing the sections needing repair,

• 2009 Curb replacement listing;

• Addendum on micro-surfacing, application of a thin asphaltic top coat to seal the road surface and prevent deterioration, as a less expensive alternative to regular remove and replace of top coat;

• Addendum on crack sealing.

Mayor Calvo said that the most important document is the map showing streets rated by their condition. Approximately 2/3 of streets are colored blue for a rating of second best. These are streets resurfaced in 1996 and 1997 and paid for with an $800,000 infrastructure bond. This bond will be paid off in FY 2011 and the debt service of $80,000 will cease. Only a small portion of Town streets are rated 1 or best, including Ballew Avenue, which was done by Weygandt Construction for the Town and several sections of Seminole Street, Seminole Place, 60th Avenue and Osage Street. Osage Street, however, was not repaved properly by WSSC contractors and may experience problems within a few years. WSSC has offered the Town $100,000 in compensation.

Mayor Calvo continued that savings from doing a large project are very significant when renovating streets. He asked how much the 1996 street project would cost today. Director Coleman guessed at least twice that amount. Riverdale Park just renovated most its Town streets for $3 million. Mayor Calvo said that, in contrast, the renovation of just a couple of blocks of Seminole and Ruatan Streets may cost up to $700,000, if it includes reconstruction of the sub-base. It would seem that bonding would allow the Town to realize the economies of scale of a large project, which it cannot otherwise afford. On the other hand, it would burden the Town with additional interest payments until the bond is paid off. His preference would be to follow the College Park model, where the worst batch of streets is renovated each year and paid off. However, the pay-go approach only works if the Town receives regular Highway User Revenues from the State.

Director Coleman said that those streets rated 3 (in need of maintenance) could be salvaged by micro-surfacing at a third of the cost, extending their life span by 8 years. The method would work less well, however, at very busy intersections, such as Kenilworth Avenue and Pontiac Street. Apart from that, some crack-sealing and patching could be performed in-house as has been done in the past. Mayor Calvo said that the Council needs to get a handle on how to best finance street renovations. He asked that Director Coleman provide some cost estimates of a large-scale project based on different oil prices. Director Coleman said that he will approach the Town engineer about that.

MPT Lofgren said that it is hard to predict what one will find when digging up a street for renovation, making it hard to predict the cost of a project. He agrees that smaller projects are relatively more expensive and cannot reap the economies of scale of large projects. CM Dennison said that she would like to have a cost estimate of the micro-surfacing before it is considered as an option. She also wondered if the Seminole and Ruatan Streets would deteriorate to a point that it would cost the Town a lot more money to repair them if they are not repaired now. Mayor Calvo said that he did not think so because the current estimate already includes the reconstruction costs. CM Wilkinson proposed to check with other Towns about costs and durability of micro-surfacing.

Four Cities agenda: Mayor Calvo said that College Park will provide an economic development update on several projects within its jurisdiction, including the East Campus project, and Greenbelt would provide an update on the Metroland south core, both of which are of interest to Berwyn Heights. The Council added a discussion of State budget cuts and how the Four Cities are dealing with them.

2. Parks & Recreation

Greenbelt Middle School construction: Mayor Calvo explained that Chair of the Education Advisory Committee Beth Brittan-Powell submitted a draft letter supporting the second installment of funding for the reconstruction of Greenbelt Middle School for the Council's approval. He provided additional background. CM Dennison moved to approve the letter of support. CM Wilkinson seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0.

3. Public Safety

Speed camera legislation: Mayor Calvo explained that, measured by the feedback he received on speed cameras, support has strengthened in the last weeks. He believes that residents are becoming more comfortable with the cameras as they learn more about the limited nature of the program. He particularly wanted to discuss the provision in the Ordinance that establishes a formal process for residents to petition the Council to declare a particular area within ˝ mile of a school a school zone. This is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for having a speed camera set up. In most cases, residents petitions will probably not lead to the setting up of a speed camera, as most streets in Berwyn Heights do not have enough speed violations to make a camera viable for the vendor. Councilmembers were asked to comment.

CM Dennison asked whether 51% of property owners on a block is a sufficient majority to request a speed camera. Mayor Calvo clarified that the petition is for the establishment of a school zone. The Council reserves the right to set up speed cameras within any existing or future school zone. It also has the right to determine the speed limit within any school zone. CM Ahrens wondered if this provision is much ado about nothing, as traffic volume and speeding patterns preclude speed cameras on most Town streets. Mayor Calvo replied that it is not very useful but does no harm. For example, a resident at the last Town meeting suggested making a longer stretch of Pontiac Street a school zone because of the many students walking there. She could use the process outlined in the Ordinance to request the Council to do so. Whether a camera would actually be set up on the lower end of Pontiac Street would depend on optotraffic's speed survey. He believes that Greenbelt Road in front of Greenbelt Middle School and Edmonston Road would most likely support speed cameras. Pontiac Street may not.

MPT Lofgren said that the Council should make sure the Ordinance is not in conflict with an existing administrative order that requires notification of residents before the installation of a speed control device. He also asked for clarification of sub-section 2 (B). The sub-section was rewritten as “The Town Council approves and authorizes the use of a mobile speed monitoring system for speed enforcement within the Town as determined by the Town Council.” The Town Council changed the wording to read ”The Town Council approves and authorizes the use of a mobile speed monitoring system for speed camera monitoring enforcement within the Town, as determined by Town Council.”

Nothing was discussed under 4. Public Works, 5 Administration or 6. Code Compliance.

7. Executive Session (9:02 p.m. - 9:42 p.m.)

On a motion by CM Dennison and second by CM Wilkinson, the Council went into executive session regarding legal matters. With matters discussed, the session was ended on a motion by CM Dennison and second by CM Wilkinson.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:42 p.m. on a motion by MPT Lofgren and second by CM Wilkinson.

Signed: Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk

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