Worksession Minutes
December 7, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, Mayor Pro Tem Lofgren, CMs Ahrens, Dennison, and Wilkinson. Also present were Town Administrator Murphy, Clerk Harper, and Gazette Reporter Jordan Attebury.

1. Mayor

Announcements: On the morning of December 18, a hearing will take place in Mayor Calvo's lawsuit against the County and State regarding a mistaken police raid on his home at the Hyattsville Circuit Court. The County filed a motion to stay discovery of the incident. Delegate Justin Ross sent out an e-mail requesting support for a University Park family who lost their home to a fire. He is also hosting a charity dinner for people with life-threatening illnesses on December 15 at the Galaxy Bar & Grill in Langley Park. Several Berwyn Heights Boys & Girls soccer teams participated in the Harvest Special soccer tournament. Coach Tino Menjivar's U-12 team won the championship for its age group, Coach Tom Reynold's U-14 team lost the championship game to Hyattsville, and Coach James' Wilkinson's team won 2 games and had one tie.

Calendar: The Council reviewed the calendar. No changes were made.

Minutes: The November 11 Town meeting minutes were distributed for adoption at the December Town meeting. On a motion by CM Ahrens and second by CM Dennison, the November 16 worksession minutes were approved 5 to 0.

Department reports: CM Ahrens reported that the Code Department collected $525 in fines the last two weeks. MyEye Doctor filed for an extension of its POD permit while undertaking renovations. CM Dennison thanked CM Wilkinson for getting steps put in leading from the lower school parking lot to the Community Center. She reported that the Tree Lighting turned out great. Resident Phil Ventura, who for many years has provided musical accompaniment for the carolers, was awarded a plaque of appreciation. The Education Advisory Committee (EAC) will meet on Thursday and will discuss how best to support the Performing & Creative Arts program at Hyattsville Middle School, which many Berwyn Heights children attend. The successful magnet program has been slated for elimination. The Town is waiting for the EAC to take a position before doing so as well. However, the Council raised the matter with its delegates, who promised to speak with the Board of Education about it. The Town recently sent a letter to PGCPS Superintendent Hite and the Board regarding school boundaries and BHES' conversion to a pre-K8 school. Lastly, CM Dennison will be a judge at the December 8 science fair at BHES.

MPT Lofgren said that Public Works was out salting the streets during Saturday's snow storm. There have been more cases where tree limbs and other vegetation grow into neighboring properties or Town right of way. He believes that the Town may have to revise the Urban Forest Ordinance to be able to enforce the regulations more strictly. CM Wilkinson said that the Administration Department is gearing up for the employee Christmas dinner and preparing for the budget season.

Mayor Calvo reported that he testified at the last boundary hearing in November, making the point that the school system should stay focused on the goal of restructuring middle school education by converting more schools into K-8 schools rather than getting caught up in regulations. In Police Department news, Officer Young's car was struck while he was processing an accident on the Greenbelt Road railroad bridge. He had only minor injuries but the car needs extensive repairs. Officer Roberson called in an accident, where a driver exiting Science Park had a heart attack and ran into a parked car in the Staples parking lot with engines still running. When Chief Murphy arrived on the scene, he approached the still running car, risking personal injury, knocked out the window, turned off the ignition, and pulled out the driver to administer CPR. While he was not able to revive the driver, he prevented other possible injuries to shoppers and damage to cars. Officer Roberson secured the area and kept people away. Mayor Calvo believes that Chief Murphy deserves a special commendation for this selfless rescue attempt, which defused a dangerous situation. Further, the County announced that its interoperable 800 MHz communications system is now in use. Therefore the Town needs to purchase the new radio equipment, for which it has budgeted $78,000, to be able to link up with it. Federal grants will offset about half the cost.

Citizen comments: CM Dennison received comments objecting to proposed fines for trash violations and an inquiry about declaring English as the official language by referendum. CM Ahrens received complaints about a dead tree's branches overhanging a neighbor's driveway, where it could damage a parked car if it fell off. A tree contractor was hired to take care of the problem, but took down the wrong tree. The dead tree in question, however, has power lines running through it and requires Pepco to cut down the branches interfering with the lines. MPT Lofgren said he has dealt with same type of problem in a different location. Mayor Calvo received an inquiry as to how many tickets were issued for exceeding the posted speed limit in the current school zones last year. Chief Murphy determined that 12 tickets were issued in the Pontiac Street school zone and 7 in Quebec Street's.

Proposed school zones: TA Murphy said that he sent out notifications to 454 residents regarding the proposed new school zones so that they may comment. So far he has only received one e-mail and no phone calls. Mayor Calvo said that more residents may comment at the upcoming Town meeting. Unless there is a lot of opposition, the Council is ready to adopt a resolution designating Edmonston Road North and additional sections of Pontiac Street as school zones.

Safe Streets Committee recommendations: Mayor Calvo said that the recommendations of the Safe Streets Committee can be divided into two parts: 1) infrastructure improvements costing substantial amounts of money, and 2) other recommendations that can be implemented at little or no cost. Infrastructure improvements cannot be undertaken until the Metroland compensation is paid to the Town. But other traffic safety issues such as parking in intersections, location of stop lines and speed limits can be tackled now. With respect to the Kenilworth Avenue/Pontiac Street intersection, the SHA District 3 engineer will be invited to discuss improvements.

CM Dennison said it makes sense to do those things first that the Town can afford. A list should be made and the Police and Public Works Department asked for their input. In particular, the requirement that no parking areas extend 30' from an intersection should be looked at.

Mayor Calvo asked if Councilmembers had any other traffic safety concerns they would like to be considered. CM Dennison proposed to review the Seminole Street/56th Avenue intersection, where many drivers go through the stop sign. CM Wilkinson proposed to extend double yellow lines, indicating no passing is allowed, from Edmonston Road to 63rd Avenue on Pontiac Street. Mayor Calvo proposed to review outer white lines, which are present on Edmonston Road North but not Edmonston Road South. If there are none, cars cannot be ticketed for parking in the road. Also, on Edmonston Road the outer white line along the side with homes has apparently been adjusted to provide parking space for one of the homes. However, he believes that the home in question may no longer need the parking since a double driveway was constructed on the property. On the other hand, a case can be made to delete outer white lines altogether. When they are present the road gives the impression of a race track and may induce drivers to go faster than they otherwise would.

Mayor Calvo said that the Police should review a list of the proposed changes for public safety implications and Public Works to come up with an estimate of the cost and man hours needed. Residents might also be given an opportunity to propose changes, such as adding or removing signage, painting speed limits on roads, adding lights, or trim branches to improve sight lines. When the list is finalized, the Town should notify residents with a special mailing. CM Wilkinson suggested adding numbers to each proposed improvement for ease of reference. Mayor Calvo said that there should be two lists, one for infrastructure projects and one for less expensive improvements. A notice should be placed in the Bulletin to solicit ideas from residents and Councilmembers could talk to people they know over the holidays. The results would be discussed at the first worksession in January.

At 8:13 p.m., the Council took a 10 minute break.

Refuse Ordinance revisions: TA Murphy referred Councilmembers to the revised Ordinance 117 and highlighted the changes made since the last worksession. In Section 2, definitions were tightened and put into alphabetical order. References to dimensions were taken out, with exception of yard waste. Bamboo was re-classified as household waste as it must be taken to landfills. The definitions for trash was removed and the definition for rubbish should probably removed as well. In Section 3 ((Refuse Collection Schedule), Town Council or Public Works are authorized to set times for the collection of various types of refuse. It remains to be decided whether the schedule should be taken out of the Ordinance and set by resolution.

In Section 4 (Refuse Fee Schedule), Town Council or Public Works Director are authorized to set fees for collection of refuse requiring special handling. TA Murphy proposed to require a fee for the collection of all building, construction or remodeling materials, regardless of how much is set out at a time. Currently, building debris resulting from minor home repairs may be disposed of like bulk refuse: no fee will be charged if the materials amount to less than 3 cubic yards and have been approved for collection by the Public Works Director. Mayor Calvo commented that 3 cubic yards may be too much to be disposed for free, but 1 cubic yard may be too little. He thought that one large heavy duty plastic bag filled with remodeling waste should be accepted. However,  concerns about what type and how much waste are acceptable are addressed by authorizing the Public Works Director to make that determination. If construction materials are found at the curb, the crew should leave a sorry note that asks the resident to contact the Public Works Director for inspection as soon as possible, or remove the materials from the curb. However, construction materials from a resident's work site should be treated as imported refuse, for which a fee of up to $1,000 can be assessed. Minor home repair debris should be marked as a special exception in Section 4-B.

CM Wilkinson suggested that 2 cubic yards was an appropriate limit for accepting remodeling waste. CMs Ahrens and Dennison thought that it should stay at 3 cubic yards because residents are familiar with that amount. TA Murphy said that Director Coleman would like the limit to be 1 cubic yard. Mayor Calvo proposed that construction debris should be assessed based on rates charged by private haulers. If disposal costs exceed $200 on the market, for example, the Town should charge a fee. MPT Lofgren said that the administrative effort is too much to inspect 1 cubic yard. Two cubic yards might be more appropriate. On the other hand, charging too high a fee would probably result in illegal dumping.

Mayor Calvo said that Sections 3 and 4 should be combined into one Refuse Collection Schedule & Fees Resolution. The introduction should read: “the following fees, times and manner of collection are determined by the Town Council (or Public Works Director) by resolution.” The provision for imported refuse should read: “importing refuse is strictly prohibited and subject to a fine of up to $1,000.” In cases where residents put the contents of their home at the curb before moving out, the Town should have the authority to abate the refuse immediately and charge the home owner, if needed by placing a lien on the property. In an eviction, the Town should wait longer so that those evicted can move the things they want to keep elsewhere. MPT Lofgren said that the Town should not make a distinction between residents abandoning a home and being evicted. Neighbors will start complaining immediately when they see a pile of trash and ask Public Works to remove it. CM Dennison said that the Town should find out which County regulations govern evictions and incorporate them.

CM Dennison had further comments. She asked to replace the word “putrescible,” with another that is more widely understood. She objected to the requirement that loose leaves raked to the curb be free of acorns and to charging fees for extra trash. She also had reservations about fining residents for not recycling. CM Wilkinson agreed on acorns. Further, he asked to highlight that bamboo is not yard waste and that it should be placed away from yard waste and other refuse at the curb. He asked to allow paper bags for disposing leaves and yard waste in addition to plastic bags. MPT Lofgren said that plastic bags are allowed at the College Park composting facility. Mayor Calvo said that the Town should also accept paper bags. All agreed.

Mayor Calvo said some important decisions, such as buying toters (trash cans that can be picked up by trucks with an automatic lift) and buying a new trash truck, remain to be made. The Town should get toters first to gain some experience before moving to once-a-week trash collection. He would like to discuss toters the first worksession in January, so that they can be included in the FY 2011 budget. The purchase of a new trash truck is due in the next budget. Implementation of once-a-week trash collection must wait until a new truck and toters have been bought, at the earliest in June 2010. Then the refuse collection schedule can also be finalized.

Budget calendar: TA Murphy went over the budget calendar, highlighting important deadlines. He noted that Directors will be given the budget guidelines on December 16, at which time  they also receive his estimates on salaries, benefits, insurance, utility and gasoline expenditures. Directors will put their budgets together in January and submit requests in February. The Town Administrator's  proposed FY 2011 budget will be submitted on the last Friday in February and presented at the first worksession  in March. The Council will consider the budget during March and April, introduce it at the April Town meeting, and adopt it at the May Town meeting. No budget worksession has been scheduled the week of the Town Council election. The budget process ends with the adoption of FY 2010 budget amendments at the June Town meeting,.

Mayor Calvo said that the budget process has been streamlined over the years but most of the work is done in March. Some information needed for finalizing the budget, however, only becomes available in late April or May, including rates for health insurance, workers compensation and other insurance.

Budget guidelines: TA Murphy gave an overview of the budget guidelines, which help department directors prepare their budgets. They include a set of budget forms and instructions on how to use them. The budget change form is used when a major change is made to an appropriation, such as a capital purchase or program change. In conjunction with the guidelines, TA Murphy also furnishes all salary, benefits, insurance, utility and gas estimates the directors use for their department budgets. In response to CM Wilkinson, Mayor Calvo explained that the each line item has an explanation of what it represents, but the focus is on those items that see a large increase or decrease in funding. The budget spreadsheet includes actuals going back two years, as well as the budgeted and estimated expenditures for the current fiscal year. CM Dennison raised the question whether the Town would receive Highway User Revenues. Two different budgets may have to be prepared for each scenario.

Nothing was discussed under 2. Public Works.

3. Administration

Bulletin cover: The following items were approved for the January Bulletin cover: New Year theme and greeting from Council and staff, call for election judges and Berwyn Heights Day volunteers, jumps to holiday trash schedule and office hours, scholarships and snow removal.

4. Code Compliance

MyEye Dr. POD permit: Mayor Calvo explained that, when the Council required permits for Portable Temporary Storage Units (PODs), a time limit of 60 days was set. However, an extension can be obtained if the property owner formally applies for it and gives a good reason. If this is the case, the basic fee of $25 per week will be assessed. If no request for extension is filed, the fee goes up to $100 per week after 60 days. MyEye Dr. applied for an extension, citing remodeling delays as an explanation. Mayor Calvo proposed to extend the permit for 2 month at the $25 per week rate. There were no objections. On a motion by CM Wilkinson and second by CM Dennison, the permit was approved 5 to 0. 

Nothing was discussed under 5. Code Compliance or 6. Parks & Recreation.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 p.m.

Signed: Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk

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