WORK SESSION

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

6:00 PM

VIRTUAL ZOOM MEETING

MEETING MINUTES

            The meeting convened virtually via Zoom at approximately 6:00 pm with Council President Brencis D. Smith presiding. The following members were also present: Councilman James Kole, Councilman Carl DeWalt, Councilman Keith R. Sydnor and Craig A. Moe, Mayor.  

            The following staff members were also present: Christian L Pulley, CPM, City Administrator, Joanne Barr, Deputy City Administrator, Sara A. Green, CMC, City Clerk, Ana Navarro, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, Bill Bailey, Director, Department of Parks and Recreation, Audrey Barnes, Director, Department of Communications, James Cornwell-Shiel, Director, Department of Information Technology, Brian K. Lee, Director, Department of Public Works, Robert Love, Director, Department of Economic and Community Development, Deputy Chief Mark Plazinksi, LPD, S. Michele Saylor, Director, Department of Budget and Personnel Services, Danny Selby, Director, Office of the Fire Marshal and Permit Services, Larry Taub, City Solicitor, and Chrissy Cornwell, Emergency Manager. There were no members of the public in attendance.  

            Agenda Item No. 1 was a bid recommendation for a fleet acquisition of the Department of Public Works for the purchase of two (2) 2024 Freightliner 10-ton Dump Trucks. Mr. Brian K. Lee, Director, Department of Public Works presented the bid recommendation stating that the dump truck(s) would be outfitted with a pre-wetting system allowing the use of brine application for road treatments prior to inclement weather that would allow the Department to use less salt on the roadways. Councilman Kole asked Mr. Lee to provide more information on the pre-wetting system. Mr. Lee said that the system would use brine and that the Department had already purchased the brine equipment with ARPA funds. The Council agreed to award the contract at the March 13, 2023 Mayor and City Council meeting.

            Agenda Item No. 2 was Resolution no. 4-2023, A Resolution to Accept the Report of the City of Laurel No-Kill Community Animal Shelter Task Force, Authorizing the Mayor to Move Forward with the Planning, Funding, and Providing a Timeline for Completion of a No-Kill Community Animal Shelter. Mayor Moe presented the resolution stating that it was in line with the Task Force’s recommendations. Councilman DeWalt asked Mayor Moe if he had identified land for the shelter and Mayor Moe said that there were a few properties he’d looked at but nothing official. Council agreed to introduce and hold the first public hearing on the item at the March 13, 2023 meeting of the Mayor and City Council.

            The next agenda item was Resolution No. 5-2023, a Resolution of the Mayor and City Council of Laurel, Maryland to Set the Date, Time, and Polling location for Early Voting in the City of Laurel for the General Election of November 2023. Ms. Sara A. Green, CMC, City Clerk presented the resolution stating that it would mark the first time that the City of Laurel would have two (2) Early Voting locations, one (1) in Ward 1 at the Laurel Municipal Center and one (1) in Ward 2 at the Robert J. DiPietro Community Center. The Council had no questions and agreed to introduce and hold the first public hearing on the item at the March 13, 2023 meeting of the Mayor and City Council.

            Agenda Item No. 4 was Ordinance No. 2007, an Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Laurel, Maryland to Amend the Laurel City Code, Chapter 18, to Update the Permit Requirements for Sediment and Erosion Control Plans and Providing an Effective Date. Mr. Danny Selby, Director, Department of the Fire Marshal and Permit Services presented the ordinance stating that the amendment would put the City’s regulations in line with Prince George’s County. Councilman Sydnor asked Mr. Selby to clarify that the amendment was to make the City Code match the County Code and Mr. Selby said that during the Department’s last audit by the Prince George’s County Department of the Environment, the County requested the change be made. There were no further questions from the Council and agreed to introduce and hold the first public hearing on the ordinance at the March 13, 2023 meeting of the Mayor and City Council.  

            The next agenda item was Charter Resolution No. 177, a Charter Resolution of the Mayor and City Council of Laurel, Maryland Amending Article 400 “Administration” of the Charter of the City of Laurel to Reflect the Creation of a New Department Entitled the Department of Community Resources and Emergency Management (CREM) and adding Section 469 “Director of the Department of Community Resources and Emergency Management (Emergency Manager). Ms. Christian L. Pulley, CPM, City Administrator presented the Charter Resolution stating that the Administration sought to combine the Laurel Helping Hands services, the City of Laurel Multiservice Center, and Emergency Management into one City Department and appoint a Director of the new Department. Councilman Sydnor stated that when he thought of Helping Hands, he thought of that as social services; when he thought of the Multiservice Center, he thought of social services so he could understand removing them out of the Department of Parks and Recreation but that when he thought of Emergency Management, he thought of actual emergencies, disasters, etc. and thought of that as separate from social services and he did not agree that all three (3) should be combined. Councilman DeWalt asked Ms. Pulley how many employees total would be in the new department. Ms. Pulley said that there would be the Emergency Manager/Director, Director of the Multiservice Center, the Clinical Director of Helping Hands with its five (5) employees who were not all full-time employees, and then any additional staff of the Multiservice Center. Mayor Moe said that he just wanted to state that part of Emergency Management was not waiting for an incident to happen, but rather to help prepare people in advance of disaster and to coordinate services when an incident does occur, so that was the Administrations thinking on creating the Department. There were no additional questions and the Council agreed to introduce and hold the first public hearing on the item at the March 13, 2023 meeting of the Mayor and City Council.

            The final agenda item was an Alley Update Briefing. Mayor Moe provided an update regarding Alley #8 (Alley Street) stating that several community meetings were held regarding Alley #8, the City communicated to the community that if the City moved forward with repairing the alley, trash collection would be moved to the front of the homes so that the heavy trash trucks would not be driving on the alley, and that temporary construction easements were needed from the property owners that backed to the alley.

            KCI Technologies, the City’s Engineering firm had completed borings of the alley and developed a plan for repair and improvement of the alley that was presented at the community meetings and that would be moving forward with the plan in conformance with the alley policy that was approved by the Mayor and City Council previously. A brief discussion ensued regarding the technical engineering and water runoff of the proposed alley plan.

            Councilman Martin Mitchell entered the meeting at approximately 6:25 pm.           

            There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 6:35 pm.

Approved:

Sara A. Green, CMC

City Clerk

Date Approved: May 22, 2023