Town of Cheverly
Meeting Minutes
May 10, 2018
Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 8:00 pm in the Cheverly Community Center.
In attendance: CMs, Riazi, Ivey, Eldridge, Garcia and MacKenzie
Pledge of Allegiance
Agenda/Approval/Changes
Minutes – Town Meeting 4/12/18
Approved
Minutes – Worksession 4/26/18
Approved
• CM MacKenzie Motion to excuse CM Stewart. Seconded CM Riazi. Approved 5-0.
Chief’s Report
Chief Robshaw our crime is down 10% already. Please sign-up for Team Cheverly to receive information from us. Cheverly Day 3 on 3 basketball starts with sign-up at 1:30pm. We had our first Police Chief Advisory Committee on Tuesday and it lasted about 2 hours. A professor at the University of Maryland is going to give a 4 hour class on bias to our officers and I invite the Mayor and Council to attend as well. I will let you know when the date and time is set.
CM Eldridge can you give us and update on recruiting.
Chief Robshaw we have 3 in the academy right now and one going to start in July. We may only be one down when everyone is a police officer for the Town.
Town Administrator’s Report
Mr. Warrington the landscape contractor is currently working on the Cheverly Avenue bump-outs and they will be completed by Cheverly Day along with our normal areas of flower planting. If you notice one of the front doors on the building was accidently broken during mowing this morning when the mower sent a bolt that was in the grass into the door. Fortunately, our new doors are in and they will be installing them after Cheverly Day. We have a contractor for the Multi-Use Court in Town Park, but we will not begin that project until after Cheverly Day.
Mayor will we be going to the new FOB system when we install the new doors with a test period?
Mr. Warrington yes that is what we have planned to do in order to make sure there are no glitches. Once all is well we will rekey the building and the FOBs will be the way in and each has a unique fingerprint to identify the user.
Recreation Council
CM Riazi I wasn’t at the Flea Market, but people have told me it was successful.
Green Infrastructure Committee
No Report.
Cheverly Day Committee
Mayor We have a great music line-up. We thought we were going to have a big name group, but unfortunately they cancelled earlier this week. We will have another group to fill the slot just before the fireworks. We will have a midway and I want to let you know that it will be a lot of fun. We are seeking plush toy donations as prizes. We will have cornhole, bubble soccer and lazer tag. We have two food trucks coming and it should be a great time.
Planning Board Report
CM Eldridge It was a very quick meeting about Addison Road and the Zoning Update. We reviewed the Cheverly West development. Zack is departing and Paivi Spoon has left the Planning Board and she was one of the original members 20 years ago. She was an incredible value to the Cheverly Planning Board. So if you are interested in joining the Planning Board, please send them my way. We now have 5 active members. Please feel free to reach out to me or the Town Administrator if you are interested.
Citizen Input
Ms. Joyce Lange and Robin McClain shared a number of the activities regarding Peace Month activities found in the Newsletter.
Approval – Letter to the Liquor Board – Application by Sol Banquet Hall
Mayor this was Fuego on Jackson Street and the Town has been a leading advocate opposing a liquor license since this is an adult entertainment establishment. We have pushed hard on this and if you don’t have a liquor license then the liquor license inspector doesn’t come by and the police don’t enforce this as well. This is not a banquet hall, which is how they are applying for a liquor license.
CM Riazi we are assembling information for our testimony and opposition. They are applying under B rather than C where they have split the space with the adult entertainment in C.
Mayor we have been in touch with the Town of Bladensburg and we share an opinion, but it falls in between our jurisdictions.
Second Reading O-3-18 Ethics Section Amendment
Mr. Warrington the Maryland General Assembly places certain requirements on elected officials throughout the State. When they make changes during the legislature, we must incorporate those changes into our local laws. The Ordinance being introduced tonight does that in order to bring us into compliance. A lot of it does not really apply to the Town of Cheverly, since it deals with lobbyist and more General Assembly activities, but we need to place these items into our Code.
Introduction OB-1-18 FY19 Operating Budget and C.I.P and Tax Rate
Mr. Warrington This is a two part agenda item. First the State of Maryland requires the Town to adopt its budget by Ordinance. As you don’t normally introduce and adopt an Ordinance on the same night, unless it is Emergency Legislation, which means we are introducing this Ordinance in order to adopt it in June. Adopting this in June will mean we are adopting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The second part of this agenda item is setting the Tax Rate for the upcoming fiscal year.
Mayor the tax rate has been discussed for the last three Worksessions. Assessments are done every three years and six years ago the market crashed and we had to raise the rate to keep taxes flat. We have been reducing taxes for the past 2 years as assessments have increased. The tax rate and real estate taxes represent 60 to 72% of the entire budget. The other revenue sources don’t change much. We have a large income tax source and we have a hotel tax, which makes us very fortunate in Cheverly. Property tax is what allows us to operate and maintain services in the Town. We have built a solid fund balance and we have talked about keeping tax revenue flat by lowering our tax rate from 54 cents to 51 cents in spite of the fact that your assessment has increased.
CM Eldridge we have been lowering the tax rate and has been a strategy from the crash. I think that we were prudent for many years and have differed maintenance on some items. I am comfortable with 51 cents.
CM Riazi read a statement from CM Stewart regarding the tax rate of 51 cents and how that amount will allow us to maintain services.
CM Riazi we asked the Town to trust us when we raised taxes and we are doing what we promised in bringing the rate back down. I am comfortable with the 51 cents.
Mayor we will not have to have a Constant Yield Public Hearing as we are lowing taxes to actually less than that rate.
Mayor and Council Announcements
CM MacKenzie the clothing swap will be Sunday May 20th. You can take something or leave something, but you don’t need to bring something to take something. The remainder will be donated. On Cheverly Day CPRC will be hosting face painting. The first Farmer’s Market is June 2nd. CM Stewart and I are collecting stories about Cheverly.
CM Riazi the Ernest Meyer concrete processing hearing resulted in the item being remanded to the Zoning Hearing Examiner. I want to compliment all the mothers for Mother’s Day and those who have served in the role of mother.
Mayor I have an announcement from CM Stewart as the Fourth Ward Civic Association will be holding a Juneteenth celebration at Boyd Park on June 16th at 1pm. This will commemorate freedom day, which is the date two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. I want to note that three pad buildings are under consideration for Capital Plaza and with the economy on the rise this is a good thing. For the Worksession we have the following items: Bamboo legislation, Finalize the FY19 Budget and CIP, the Board of Election Supervisors will address us, Discussion for a Variance for a driveway, Applications for interview, and the County Bill addressing Short-Term rentals.
CM MacKenzie can we have a conversation about the Building Use Policy?
Mayor if we get through all of this we will attempt to discuss this matter.
CM Ivey can we have a conversation about adopting collective bargaining?
Mayor we can have a conversation about Collective Bargaining, but not about adopting collective bargaining as that is a much longer process. I want to make sure that is clear.
Town of Cheverly
Summary of Action
May 10, 2018
MOTION CM MacKenzie Motion to excuse CM Stewart. Seconded CM Riazi. Approved 5-0.
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