DRAFT
Town of Cheverly
Meeting Minutes
September 10, 2009
Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 8:05 pm in the Cheverly Community Center. There were 2 residents in attendance.
In attendance: Mayor Mosley, CMs Callahan, Eldridge,Watson, Schachter, Johnson and Tevault.
Pledge of Allegiance
Agenda/Approval/Changes
Minutes – Town Meeting 8/13/09
Approved as written.
Worksession 8/27/09
Approved as written.
Town Administrator Report
Mr. Warrington reported that the Capital Improvement Program projects were underway and the 64th Avenue Bridge has been completed. Palm Reader property demolition should commence soon. The tanks are being installed to catch the rain water once the gutter system on the Town Hall gym is put in place and integrated. The rainwater will be used to water plants, trees and wash cars. Looking to capture 2,000 gallons of water, which is 8 tons of water. That was the good news. The bad news is the Governor’s cuts in Police Aid and Highway User Revenue totaling approximately $217,000 in FY 10. Audit has not begun and we will be pushing them to get going.
Mayor Mosley the total loss was more like $225,000. We have done a good job of building up our reserve, so it is not as devastating as it could have been.
CM Eldridge was there any indication that this is the last of the cuts? And what else could they cut? What is MML doing?
Mr. Warrington they have not committed themselves to saying this is it. We already knew that there would be no Program Open Space. The State waited until after budgets were passed that they let us know. There are not many other funds within their grasp that they can withhold. In defense of the Governor or State, is that these funds are to be used for road and road related projects, so municipalities depending on these funds for their operating budgets in other areas then they should not be doing that anyway. Not much MML can do other than lobbying.
Mayor Mosley the problem is with anyone who has already committed to a contract like us.
CM Watson we should assume this revenue budget level when planning for next year.
CM Schachter I’m not clear as to what this reduction in funds means to our residents. Everyone is talking about reduction of funds for the roads, but the more significant is the reduction of $17,000 for our police force. Does this mean $17,000 less that our police can spend to protect us? This is what people need to know.
Mr. Warrington You will see zero impact on your police force since this is a reduction on the overall revenue anticipated and the amount will be made up from the revenue reserves.
Mayor the Chief is looking for grants. The $207,000 hurts more because it is a large hit to our reserves.
CM Schachter the reason you are saying this is not good news, but not a disaster because we have the reserve to not be forced to reduce services. Correct?
CM Watson have we sent the dog park letter?
Mr. Warrington it is on the Worksession agenda because there were two possible positions being considered by the Mayor and Council. The position taken will determine the content of the letter.
Police Department Report
Lt. Frolich we were down to 25 total incidents last month. Crime is still down 20% and robberies are down. We had a slight increase in B&E’s. Assaults are way down. In reference to our 2 homicides, the County investigators are still at a standstill. CPACT next Tuesday at 7pm in the Police Department. Public Safety Day is September 21st at 17:30 at the Town Park and ends at 9:30. We are still looking for volunteers.
Mayor it appears that was a targeted crime. We have had a flurry of burglaries in Old Ward 4 and relative to the rest of the Town they have had a lack of these. There have been 200 burglaries just outside of Ward 4 in a relatively short time.
Lt. Frolich in old ward 4 we do have 2 suspects and are working with investigators from District 3 since we know where they are we just don’t know who they are. We are over there and a lot of police work is luck and hopefully we will get lucky.
Mayor my understanding is the Chief and another officer chased suspects into the woods.
Lt. Frolich we were given a location where the burglary was occurring and it happened to be across the street at another residence. I hope if we had the right location we would have apprehended them. I have been in the woods and creek where they were and you can hide in there forever and not be found.
CM Watson we had a dog attack on 59th Place. Do you know if it has been reported or not?
Lt. Frolich no it has not.
CM Johnson this did not occur in my Ward, but over near Cheverly and Kilmer Street where the homicide incident occurred a mother was attacked by a dog and she broke her leg. I don’t know if they don’t want to report it, but I thought I would tell you about it. It is a German shepherd. They have constantly had a problem with this dog running loose.
Mayor the resident should call Animal Control. They can call our police too, but the correct agency is Animal Control
CM Schachter I have the impression that these burglary suspects feel they can run into the woods and disappear. Can we call the County K-9 units to come out the next time they run into the woods.
Lt. Frolich Unfortunately, the County will not do that. This is the County’s new policy requires a homeowner on the scene.
Mayor and Council Announcements
Mayor Mosley announced that the Woman’s Club will have their 90th Anniversary in October. The Police will hold the Public Safety Night in the Town Park on the 21st. On Saturday there is another Farmer’s Market. On the 26th we will be closing a significant section of Cheverly Avenue for a Farmer’s Market in the street in front of Legion Park. The Mayor and Council will have a table at the Market. The Worksession is September 24th to discuss: Speed Cameras, a letter to MNCPPC regarding subregion 4, Presentation non-motorized transportation plan, a dog park position letter, planning board appointments, FY 10 budget update and local school open house. Finally, we had a very good meeting with Pepco to visit and discuss proposed
capital work to continue to upgrade service.
CM Callahan The areas in Ward 1 & 2 are in the bottom 25% of all Maryland regarding outages and reliability. The Public Service Commission is pushing them as well to improve this. There has been improvement after their very aggressive tree trimming 16 months ago. We really don’t want the big poles along Cheverly Avenue and Lake as proposed. We will continue to work with them.
CM Eldridge I am in favor of keeping the lines in the alley. Regarding the trimming they are talking about doing along Cheverly Avenue, I don’t think they are taking down trees, but there will be a change in character. It is a compromise.
CM Callahan now is the time to speak on this matter. We are making a decision to go with operational improvements rather than the proposed technology improvements.
Mayor Mosley the technology mentioned are something they call superpoles since they are larger around and taller.
CM Watson on the Worksession item, I would like to begin talking through a rational process for FY11 for the 7 of us to bring forth CIP items.
CM Callahan as far as the Worksession item subregion 4 Master Plan there are good things being proposed and there are significant changes to the street layouts. We will do pre-work out to get Planning Board input and Ward 4 Civic Association input, so this letter can be prepared and addressed in 10 minutes at the Worksession
CM Eldridge there will be a Green Infrastructure Worksession Saturday from 1-4 to address questions and general direction.
Committee Reports
Recreation Council
Barbara Pejokovich noted the on the 22nd at 7pm the Recreation Council will meet and all are welcome. October 3rd is the upcoming Flea Market and Halloween children’s function prior to Trick or Treating.
Citizen Input
None
Mandatory Recycling
Mayor Mosley noted that the Council is seriously considering mandatory recycling. The Town Administrator and Director of Public Works have convinced this Council that $30,000 could be saved if everyone recycled.
CM Tevault asked how long items are left out, like drywall, where we don’t pick them up?
Mr. Warrington noted that we used to have folks leave appliances out on a Friday and our policy is to pick it up immediately because we don’t want them out on a weekend. We will bill persons, but that is not how we want to do this. We have a standard letter for someone giving them 24 hours. If not removed then they get fined and billed the charges for singular removal and disposal. It is a learning curve, but it doesn’t take long.
CM Tevault do you envision that for people who don’t recycle?
Mr. Warrington we will almost use the same process. There will be an administrative cost that is not favorable.
Mayor Mosley we will give people a generous amount of time in order to be aware of the new policy or law.
CM Eldridge we should think about how to market this to educate people, if we do decide to go that route.
Mr. Colaresi my suggestion rather than not taking people’s trash and when there is no recycling in a particular house, then there should be a stiff penalty. People should be heard as to why they have no recycling and your ordinance should have a goal of a percentage of recycling. After 5 trash pick-ups with no recycling then they get a fine.
Mr. Warrington said we have addressed these issues and answers many of those questions.
Mayor Mosley there are elderly residents living alone that may not recycle frequently. We are looking for the 800 pounds of paper material out on a regular trash day rather than the stray tuna cans.
Mr. Colaresi we have to write an Ordinance that reflects that and allow us to do what we want to do.
CM Watson it strikes me as not a good idea not to pick up trash if people don’t recycle. I would like Mr. Warrington to look into Recycle Bank and provide a recommendation.
CM Callahan we only pay $130,000 in disposal fees, so that is really good. This is based on weight, so we are not looking for the gum wrapper, but they are after a trash can full of bottles.
I also will be looking for some type of exception process for folks.
Mayor Mosley I would suggest that Trudy come up with a letter that starts telling people that they are not recycling and if legislation is passed this would be a violation. We can talk about this. They can put recycling out without a bin.
Mr. Warrington yes we will pick them up if separated and not in a bin.
Introduction O-5-09 Business License Ordinance
Mr. Warrington this is to close a loophole in our law from estimators giving estimates and then selling their product. It began with a citizen complaint and we are trying to address. Door-to-door solicitation is prohibited, but persons are going door-to-door and saying that they are only giving estimates and not selling anything. If they get a bite, their estimate leads to a sale. This proposed ordinance will not allow this.
Second Reading O-3-09 Speed Camera Ordinance
Mr. Warrington this amends our code to allow us to utilize speed cameras if we so desire. Mr. Colaresi has looked at the Attorney General’s opinion that would allow the Town to serve as the contractor and pay the provider of the equipment on a per ticket basis and believes that this does not oppose the law as passed by the General Assembly. The contractor we are considering will not sign a contract until he does a 30 day feasibility study to see if it is worth his while.
CM Eldridge it seems that there is one contractor that we can go with. Do we need multiple bids?
Mr. Warrington we did a public RFP and received multiple submissions, so we are okay.
Mayor Mosley declared the Public Hearing open for comments on Ordinance O-3-09. There were no comments and the Public Hearing was closed.
Second Reading O-4-09 Rental License Ordinance
Mr. Warrington explained the intent of raising the fine for renting your property without a license from $50 to $500 would be a good way of providing incentive for landlords to register their properties. We are going to adjust some internal operations to make billing dates uniform.
CM Schachter we have people in these tough economic times that are renting out a room and we should want these people to keep their houses and we should make the rental fees more accommodating to them by changing the fee.
Mayor Mosley if you wish to pursue a tier system please write something up and make a proposal at a future Worksession.
Resolution R-5-09 Debt Management Policy
Mr. Warrington explained that the State has passed legislation requiring municipalities to establish and adopt a Debt Management Policy and adopt it by Resolution. The Town has a great deal of how it handles debt in our Charter and Code and we have extracted that for our Debt Management Policy.
CM Watson I have some concern about the 10% amount noted for debt and feel that is very high. Where did you get those, I assume from some recommended source.
Mr. Warrington you can reduce that number, but it is the amount taken from the State recommendations. We don’t plan on taking on that much debt, but there are times, like purchasing the buildings across from Howard Johnson’s, where we need short-term borrowing and it allows you flexibility and I would never recommend you go that high.
- Motion CM Callahan to adopt Resolution R-5-09 Adopting a Debt Management Policy. Seconded CM Johnson. Approved.
Meeting adjourned.
Town of Cheverly
Summary of Action
September 10, 2009
- Motion CM Callahan to adopt Resolution R-5-09 Adopting a Debt Management Policy. Seconded CM Johnson. Approved.
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