Worksession Minutes
November 2, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, Mayor Pro Tem Lofgren, CMs Ahrens, Dennison, and Wilkinson. Also present were Town Administrator Murphy, Clerk Harper, Delegate Tawanna Gaines and Gazette Reporter Jordan Attebury.

1 Mayor

Announcements:  Following an October meeting of CM Wilkinson and MPT Lofgren with Charles Montrie, Assistant Planning Director of the County's Parks & Recreation Department, sections of the Indian Creek Trail system between Greenbelt Road and Lake Artemesia were resurfaced. The Anacostia Trail's Heritage Association (ATHA) board will meet tomorrow. Changes in management may occur.

Calendar: Mayor Calvo may be absent at the November 11 Town meeting. The date for the December 21 worksession was changed to December 15. The dates for the January worksessions were rescheduled from January 4 and 18 to January 11 and 25.

Minutes: The October 14 Town meeting minutes were distributed for review for the next Town meeting. The October 19 worksession minutes were approved on a motion by CM Dennison and second by CM Wilkinson.

Department reports: TA Murphy said that the audit is finished. MPT Lofgren reported that Public Works has been out with the leaf machine picking up loose leaves. CM Dennison reported that hundreds of children in costumes attended the Halloween party at the school. Jay the Magician again thrilled the spectators with his performance and was assisted by his newly-wed wife. The Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony is scheduled for December 5, 6:30 p.m. CM Ahrens reported that the Code Department received fines and placed liens on several properties, including for high grass violations.

Mayor Calvo reported that he, MPT Lofgren and CM Ahrens attended the Maryland Municipal League (MML) annual legislative conference, at which Municipal Budget Security was adopted as the legislative priority. The main topic was State budget cuts and how municipalities are handling them. He had a chance to talk with Eloise Foster, Governor O’Malley's Secretary of Budget & Management and John Colmers, Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene about the challenges of budget cutting.

CM Ahrens said that he learned most from an MML workshop on budgeting. One thing he took away from it was that 5% to 15% of a budget should be reserved for contingencies. Mayor Calvo said that this is the case in the Town budget, albeit under a different label. He plans to write down the Council's practices regarding reserves. MPT Lofgren said that he attended the legislative issues meeting, at which 25 legislative action requests (LAR) were presented for adoption as priorities. He thought that they included a number of worthy proposals, which, this year, were preempted by funding concerns. A workshop on Municipal Issues in the Court presented valuable legal advice for municipalities.

Mayor Calvo further noted that the Council attended a Four Cities Coalition meeting at which Metroland was discussed in detail. MPT Lofgren added that there was an interesting discussion of the technical aspects of re-lamping street lights.

Highway User Revenue discussion (added item): Mayor Calvo welcomed Delegate Tawanna Gaines, who stopped in to brief the Council on proposed legislation regarding Highway User Revenues (HUR). Delegate Gaines said that, as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation & the Environment, she hears comments during the budget process from the parties affected by proposed budget cuts. This includes testimony from local governments. During this year's session, the Maryland Association of counties (MACO) informed the Committee which State aid it least wanted to lose and recommended a $60 million reduction in HUR. Delegate Gaines accepted the recommendation, unaware that municipalities, as represented by the Maryland Municipal League (MML), had not been consulted. When she realized that MML had not been consulted, she took steps to mitigate MACO's recommendation. In conference, HUR cuts were revisited and the amount to be taken from municipalities limited to $8 million. However with State revenues continuing to plummet after the legislative session,  Governor O’Malley and the Board of Public Works made additional expenditure cuts of $281 million on July 22 and $454 million on August 26. The second round of cuts took away $211 million in local aid, most of it in transportation funds. This resulted in municipalities loosing almost all HUR funding.

Delegate Gaines continued that she is currently working with College Park to put together a legislative proposal that allows municipalities to bifurcate from counties when it comes to the appropriation of Highway User Revenues. This would require the municipalities' HUR share to be separated from the counties' share when cuts are made so that each party can see clearly what to expect. It would prevent the burden of cuts in local aid being passed to municipalities without their knowledge and input. She intends to propose a similar mechanism of separating municipal from county revenue with regard to Program Open Space. Both would be part of College Park's legislative proposal. She recommended that Berwyn Heights consider supporting the legislation.

Mayor Calvo sought clarification as to how the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) divides up HUR between State, counties and municipalities. Delegate Gaines said she believes that MDOT has a formula but does not know the specifics. Under normal circumstances, the legislature does not need to know how the money is allocated. However, when cuts are made, her legislative proposal would require that cuts to counties be shown separately from cuts to municipalities, so that all parties can speak to the issue. As it was, MACO spoke on behalf of all local governments. As most counties in Maryland do not have municipalities, many legislators did not take note.

Mayor Calvo said that he was taken by surprise because he assumed that cuts to an appropriation in the State budget cannot exceed 25%.  However, he did not know that an appropriation is defined as an entire department’s budget rather than a line item, such as the local share of HUR. While he understands that the Transportation budget had to be cut because of the decline in revenues from gas taxes, car sales and registrations, the cut that was made far exceeded the loss in revenue. For Berwyn Heights, as a small municipality with an undiversified tax base, there is no worse loss than a cut in HUR, which constitutes 6% of the Town budget. Without it, the Town has a hard time paying for infrastructure improvements. Delegate Gaines said she believes it is not possible to fund needed road repairs solely with HUR and that municipalities are expected to subsidize roads with general funds. Mayor Calvo said there is a better chance if money is saved for a large-scale project, which yields substantial economies of scale. Personally, he is supportive of the proposal to separate municipal from county HUR and that the Council will take it up.

Delegate Gaines further noted that she made sure that bridges in need of repair in her jurisdiction were included among projects eligible for federal stimulus dollars, despite Prince George's County neglecting to file their priorities. As a result, many older bridges in the area will be rebuilt in the coming years. In response to CM Dennison, Delegate Gaines said that HUR will be back at previous levels next year. She believes that Governor O'Malley will not cut these funds again. MPT Lofgren said that for purposes of fairly distributing State aid, these funds should be 'trifurcated' instead of bifurcated to take account of the State's, counties' and municipalities' shares. All these actors with different interests need to be at the table to negotiate how various programs should be cut.

Delegate Gaines said that she will talk to all municipalities in her district as well as the PGCMA to enlist their support for the bill. However, she believes a bill will not be ready before January 2010. Mayor Calvo thanked Delegate Gaines for coming in.

Citizen comments: Mayor Calvo received complaints about a noisy party and about an altercation between two neighbors. He also received an invitation to help care for a neighbor's family after the mother's hospitalization. CM Dennison received comments about recycling containers and once-a-week trash collection. CM Wilkinson received many compliments on the Halloween Party at BHES, as well as compliments on police presence during trick-or-treating. Personally, he was dismayed by the number of drivers speeding with streets full of children trick-or-treating.

At 8:25 p.m., the Council took a 5 minute break.

Legislative dinner agenda: Mayor Calvo said he would like to follow last year's format for the dinner with the District 22 Delegation. It was agreed to lead off with a discussion of the impact of State budget cuts on the Town's budget, which increasingly relies on real property taxes for revenues, followed by issues that currently occupy the Council, such as speed cameras, restructuring of trash collection, police radios, energy conservation measures and support for local schools. With regard to legislative requests, it was agreed to focus on non-budgetary items. A formal legislative dinner agenda will be approved at the next worksession.

Speed Camera Ordinance: TA Murphy highlighted the changes in wording made to Section 2-B of the Ordinance since the last worksession. Mayor Calvo said that the Ordinance will be up for approval at the November Town meeting and asked Councilmembers to state reservations or propose other changes. CM Ahrens said that he would have preferred to wait with the implementation of speed camera monitoring as there are bound to be problems. These might be avoided if the Town waits to learn from the mistakes of other cities that are already using speed cameras. However, he is not opposed in principle and will support the adoption of the Ordinance. In a straw poll, all Councilmembers supported the adoption of the program.

Refuse Collection Ordinance: Mayor Calvo said that the Refuse Collection Ordinance No. 117 needs significant revisions if the Town implements the changes in the refuse collection program discussed at previous worksessions. Since the goal is to obtain broad compliance with refuse collection rules, the rules should be enforceable. Requirements, such as storing trash cans where they are not visible from the street, are difficult to comply with and should be removed from the Ordinance. Generally, the provisions of the Ordinance should pass the reasonableness test.

TA Murphy gave an update on changes made to the enforcement process by Public Works Director Coleman and Code Director Solomon. At this point, a new trash violation notice has been drafted that will be left by Code officials at a property found to be in violation. The violation notice will be in English on one side, Spanish on the other. The notice gives a 24 hour warning to address the violation. Public Works has a new spreadsheet, organized in the order of the collection route, on which crew check off properties that are in violation of trash disposal rules. In addition, Public Works employees are documenting the 6 worst trash violations of each day with photos that include address and date. Households that are obviously not recycling are being sent letters educating them about the Town's recycling and other trash disposal rules and requested to comply. Some troublesome problems encountered include the use of recycling cans for trash disposal, the use of trash cans without lids, which allow the collection of rainwater at the bottom, and the setting out of trash in trash bags that can break or be torn open by wild animals.

MPT Lofgren commented that often problems that appear to be simple to solve often are not. For example, one household put out cardboard boxes filled with trash on trash day. This is a violation of both recycling and trash disposal rules. The task of documenting egregious violations is also more complicated than anticipated. It requires Public Works to set up case files to track violations. Tracking violations, however, is impractical for crewmen while they are picking up trash. Apart from that, they don't want to be trash police. Therefore, a driver is sent on route before the trash truck to record violations. However, this has led to another type of problem: those leaving notices about violations are followed by crewmen, who sometimes pick up the trash designated as a violation.

Mayor Calvo said that these things will need to be worked out over time. Now, the Town is mostly gathering data about trash disposal habits and targeting some egregious violators. Later, the Town will need to do a comprehensive public education campaign to inform residents of new trash collection procedures. CM Dennison commented that she favors a prolonged public education campaign before starting to issue fines. Ever since she has lived in Town, residents were pretty much allowed to throw out what they wanted and were not monitored for recycling. They should be given time to learn a new process. Otherwise, they might resent the stricter rules. Personally, she has reservations about charging residents for disposing large amounts of trash because this may end up punishing families with many children.

Mayor Calvo assured CM Dennison that the Town will continue to educate residents. It is already doing so with letters and home visits to egregious violators. There will be opportunities for residents to comment before the Ordinance is amended. He would like to schedule one of the upcoming worksessions for a line by line review of the Ordinance. Input from the Public Works and Code Director, in particular, will be welcome. MPT Lofgren cautioned not be too specific about what should be recycled and how, because there may well have to be changes throughout the years.

Nothing was discussed under 2. Public Safety or 3. Public Works.

4. Administration

Bulletin cover: The December Bulletin cover was approved as presented, with holiday greetings as a theme and announcements for the Tree Lighting, Holiday Decorating Contest and holiday trash schedule.

Variance request – 5806 Quebec Street: TA Murphy explained that the Council recently approved a variance request for exceeding the net lot coverage limit by 5.3% on the condition that the homeowner mitigate the increased storm water runoff by directing the runoff  from the rear section of the roof into the back yard, not into the street. The homeowner has explored the feasibility of draining water into his backyard but has learned that this requires water infiltration and permeability tests for the construction of a dry well, which would cost a minimum of $5,000 to construct and up to $5,000 in engineering fees. The owner has offered to install a pervious driveway instead of building the required drainage system.

Mayor Calvo said that he would like to see a pervious driveway in the Town. This type of driveway would allow more rainwater to seep into the ground and reduce runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. He considers this a worthy counteroffer because it achieves the same goal, e.g. the reduction of storm water runoff. CM Wilkinson recalled that, in the case of a previous variance request, the Council required the installation of a pervious driveway as a condition of approval. However, the pervious driveway turned out to be twice as expensive as a regular driveway and prevented the home owner from following through. He worries that this may happen here and the Council will be asked to revisit its decision. Mayor Calvo said that, in this case, the homeowner made the offer to install the pervious driveway, which is likely less expensive than the dry well. He asked for a motion to replace the requirement for back yard drainage with requirement for a pervious concrete driveway.  CM Ahrens so moved. CM Wilkinson seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0.

Nothing was discussed under 5. Code Compliance.

6. Parks & Recreation

BHES boundaries letter of support:  CM Dennison explained that, while no changes to the boundaries of Berwyn Heights Elementary School (BHES) were proposed for Phase II of the PGCPS boundary hearings, stakeholders were invited to give their input. The Education Advisory Committee (EAC) has since taken the position that BHES should be converted to a pre-K8 school, as planned by former Superintendent Deasy. EAC Chair Beth Brittan Powell and Mayor Calvo have written a letter to state this position to Superintendent Hite.

Mayor Calvo elaborated that the letter makes two recommendations: 1) to return to the traditional, pre-1981 boundaries for BHES, which exclude the Riverdale Heights neighborhood; and 2) to convert BHES from a K6 to a pre-K8 school. A host of reasons are given why this makes sense. However, a new wrinkle has developed. College Park's EAC proposed to likewise make Paint Branch Elementary School a pre-K8 school, with College Park Estate and Yarrow students, who currently attend BHES, districted to Paint Branch for middle school. This would be a detriment to Berwyn Heights and would most likely be opposed by most College Park Estates and Yarrow residents. But at this point, the College Park City Council has not discussed the matter or taken a position.

Mayor Calvo asked for a motion to authorize him and Ms. Brittan Powell to send the letter with the positions outlined as well as make drafting changes, as may be required to respond to developments regarding a Paint Branch Middle School. CM Dennison worried that there may be plans for Berwyn Heights' children to be sent to a Paint Branch Middle School to which she is opposed. Mayor Calvo said that he believes that the issue has not been thought through, and that the CP-EAC may not be aware of Berwyn Heights' position. The problem can probably be solved by both parties communicating with each other, which he intends to do. CM Ahrens moved for Ms. Brittan Powell and Mayor Calvo to write a letter outlining the Town's position on boundaries. CM Dennison seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0

7. Executive Session (9:45 p.m. - 10:58 p.m.)

CM Wilkinson moved, and CM Ahrens seconded to go into executive session to discuss department directors' evaluations. With evaluations discussed, the session was ended on a motion by CM Wilkinson and second by CM Ahrens.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:59 p.m.

Signed: Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk

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