The meeting convened virtually via Zoom at approximately 6:00 pm with Council President Pro-tem James Kole presiding. The following members were also present: Councilman Martin Mitchell, 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 three (3) members of the public in attendance.

            Council President Brencis D. Smith entered the meeting at approximately 6:03 pm. 

            Councilman Sydnor asked to have the Closed Session moved to the end of the Agenda. Councilman Kole agreed.

            Agenda Item No. 4 was Report of the Mayor and City Council. Councilman Mitchell reported that he attended the Prince George’s County Housing Justice Coalition meeting on April 1, 2023; attended Palm Sunday Service at Grace to Grace Center; Grace and Temple’s Style and helped two Laurel High School students to be fitted for tuxedos to go to prom; April 8, 2023 went to Charisma Food Bank.

            Councilman DeWalt reported that he attended the March 29, 2023 virtual meeting of Prince George’s County Councilman Thomas Dernoga and County Executive Angela Alsobrooks who presented the County’s proposed budget; March 30, 2023 helped distribute food with Brighter Bites to Laurel Elementary School students and families; March 31, 2023 and April 7, 2023 was at the American Legion and volunteered for bingo; reminded constituents about No Mow April; April 2, 2023 participated with the Laurel For the Patuxent group in planting and weeding near the American Legion area by the Patuxent River.

            Councilman Sydnor reported that on March 31, 2023 he attended the Laurel Lakes Senior Expo; April 6, 2023 attended a site visit at Prosperity Clinic that recently opened in Laurel; Pastor Brent invited him to attend the Easter Sunday Service at the First Baptist Church of Laurel.

            Council President Smith wished everyone a Happy Easter and noted that he visited a few Churches in the area during the holiday; Congratulated his sister on birth of her daughter.

            Councilman Kole thanked everyone for the get well wishes last week; March 31, 2023 attended the Laurel High School LGBTQ+ Student Organization and spoke with students about participating in the City’s Pride Day Event; April 1, 2023 attended the Eggstravaganza event at Gude Lake; April 2, 2023 attended the Laurel Volunteer Fire Departments Monthly Breakfast; April 5, 2023 participated with the Laurel For the Patuxent spreading native grass seed in the area behind the Laurel Museum to help stabilize the soil there; April 7, 2023 attended the St. Mark’s United Methodist Church Variety Dinner Sale and encouraged residents to do the same; April 8, 2023 attended the Parks and Recreation River Cleanup at Riverfront Park and announced that the next cleanup would be on Earth Day at Laurel Lakes.

            Mayor Moe reported that he attended the 21^st Delegation’s Dinner in Annapolis and was happy to report that the City would be receiving an additional $2.5 million in State funding for the City of Laurel Multi-Service Center and $1.2 million for the Dam Ruins; Thanked Parks and Recreation Staff and the Laurel Lions Club for all of their work on the Eggstravaganza event; Patuxent River Cleanup, thanked all of the volunteers and the students that participated in the cleanup; held first My Time with the Mayor event and thanked staff for being there and the residents that were there; reminded everyone to please slow down and drive the speed limit, be alert and when a trash truck was stopped to please stop and wait a few seconds and not just speed around them and wait for the Department of Public Works (DPW) staff to signal them to go around; announced that the paper shredding and electronics recycling event would be held at the Fairall Foundry Public Works Safety Complex at 8:00 am on April 15, 2023; April 19, 2023 Volunteer Laurel Fair at 6:00 pm at the Laurel Municipal Center; April 22, 2023 Earth Day Cleanup at Granville Gude Park at 10:00 am.

            Mayor Moe also made the appointment of Ms. Nicole Gore to the City of Laurel Pride Day Planning Committee. The appointment was approved on motion by Councilman Sydnor, seconded by President Smith, and carried on a roll call vote of all members present.  

            Councilman Kole opened the General Public Hearing at 6:17 pm and called on Ms. Holly Hoglund, 328R Montgomery Street Laurel, Maryland 20707 to address the Mayor and City Council to encourage approval of Ordinance No 2008 to amend the existing City Code regarding the banning of plastic bags at retail establishments and looked to require establishments that provide paper bags to charge a $0.10 minimum fee for each bag provided to customers and incentivize residents to bring their own reusable shopping bags with them when shopping. There was no one else signed up to speak, Councilman Kole closed the General Public Hearing at 6:19 pm.

            The next agenda item was consideration of a Bid Recommendation- Fleet Acquisition to purchase a Ford 2020 Transit Van for the Department of Parks and Recreation Senior Van Service presented by the Department of Public Works. Director Brian K. Lee recommended the purchase of the van from Academy Ford in the amount of $49,935.00. Councilman Sydnor made a motion to approve the bid as presented. Council President Smith seconded the motion. Councilman Kole and Councilman DeWalt voted “Yes”. Councilman Mitchell fell off the call and was not present for the vote.

            Agenda Item No. 7 was consideration of a Bid Recommendation for the purchase of an Econolite Video Detection System. Director Brian K. Lee, Director, Department of Public Works presented the bid stating that the recommendation was a Sole Source Purchase and would allow for a total of eleven (11) vision video detection cameras that would be installed at the intersections of Cherry Lane and Fourth Street, Cherry Lane at Ashford Boulevard, and Van Dusen Road at Killbarron Drive/Olive Branch Way. The total amount of the bid recommendation was $95,041.25. Councilman Sydnor made a motion to approve the bid as presented and President Smith seconded the motion. Roll Call continued with Councilman DeWalt, Councilman Kole, and Councilman Mitchell voting “Yes”.  

            Agenda Item No. 8 was a Bid Recommendation for Radio Grant Purchase of Twenty-seven (27) Motorola Next Generation N70 Public Safety Radios. Director James Cornwell-Shiel, Department of Information Technology, presented the recommendation stating that funding for the radios was granted to the City through the efforts of Senator Chris Van Hollen and the Justice Byrne Justice Assistance Grant. The Department of Information Technology worked with the Laurel Police Department to develop the plan to purchase the Motorola Next Generation N70 public safety radios that would provide mission critical communications and real time information utilizing Wi-Fi and cellular communications via AT&T FirstNet first responder network. The total recommended purchase in the amount of $199,919.08 would be awarded to Motorola Solutions in Beltsville, Maryland. Councilman DeWalt made a motion to approve the bid as presented and Council President Smith seconded the motion. Roll call continued with Councilman Kole, Councilman Sydnor, and Councilman Mitchell voting “Yes”.          

            Agenda Item No. 9 was Introduction and First Public Hearing on Ordinance No. 2009, an Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Laurel, Maryland Granting a Non-Exclusive Cable Television Franchise to Comcast of Maryland, LLC., to Construct, Operate and Maintain a Cable System within the City of Laurel, Maryland, Pursuant to the Provisions of Chapter 5 of the Laurel City Code, and to Approve a Cable Franchise Agreement. Councilman Kole read the title into the record. Director James Cornwell-Shiel, Department of Information Technology provided a brief summary of the request and the history of the matter. Councilman Kole opened the public hearing at 6:32 pm and there was no one signed up to speak. Councilman Kole closed the public hearing at 6:32 pm and stated that the second public hearing with possible action on the item would be at the April 24, 2023 Mayor and City Council meeting at 6:00 pm.

            Agenda Item No. 11 was Introduction and First Public Hearing on Ordinance No. 2008, an Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Laurel, Maryland to Amend Chapter 9, “Miscellaneous Provisions and Offenses,” to Modify Article X, “Disposable Plastic Bags,” to Prohibit Disposable Plastic Bags from Being Provided to Customers in Retail Establishments at the Point of Sale, and to Provide for Penalties for the Violation of this Ordinance. Councilman Kole read the title into the record. Ms. Michele Blair, Environmental Programs Manager did not have anything additional to add from the presentation at the Work Session of April 5, 2023 and was available for questions. Councilman Kole opened the public hearing at approximately 6:35 pm. Mr. Brendan Mahoney, Maryland Restaurant Association, 6301 Hillside Court Columbia, Maryland 21046 was signed up to speak. Mr. Mahoney noted that it would be difficult for food service and restaurant establishments to charge their customers $0.10 per paper bag for carryout orders and for doggie bags because most establishments, especially fast-food restaurants do not bag the food until the customer has already paid and they wouldn’t always know how many bags it was going to take to prepare the order for pickup. Mr. Mahoney said that having to charge a customer for the bags after they’ve already paid their check or paid for their order would make it seem to the customer that they were being “nickeled and dimed”. Additionally, Mr. Mahoney said that a lot of food service establishments would not put ready to eat food in a reusable bag for fear of cross-contamination if the bag had previously been used when the customer purchased raw meat or fish from a grocery store and then brought the bag to pickup their carryout order. He said that Prince George’s County was also considering a similar bill and contemplating a waiver for food establishments, and he was requesting that the Mayor and City Council do the same.

            Next, Ms. Martha Ainsworth, Prince George’s County Sierra Club Zero Waste Team spoke regarding proposed Ordinance No. 2008. Ms. Ainsworth congratulated the City on passing the original Plastic Bag Ban and noted that a survey from of Laurel grocery store shoppers indicated that plastic bag use had dropped to 0.4%. However, paper bag use had significantly increased. The purpose of the proposed bill was to incentivize residents to use reusable bags. Ms. Ainsworth said that producing paper bags requires trees to cut down and hazard chemicals and put additional pollutants into the air. A study by the Sierra Club revealed that charging a $0.05 fee per paper bag decreased the use of paper bags, but a fee of $0.10 per bag significantly incentivized people to use reusable bags which was better for the environment. Ms. Ainsworth encouraged the Mayor and City Council to pass the proposed ordinance.

            Councilman Sydnor asked Ms. Blair if the paper bags being provided to customers in the City were recyclable and she indicated that they were. Mr. Sydnor agreed with Mr. Mahoney regarding the concern about cross contamination of food caused by reusable bags that were not cleaned and then used for carryout for ready to eat food. Councilman Sydnor said that he also thought it would be contradictory to ban plastic bags everywhere else in the City but allow them to be used in restaurants and food service establishments and that everything needed to be considered and investigated more before passing an amended ordinance.

            Councilman Kole said he had forgotten to close the public hearing and did so at 6:43 pm and then open it up from the Council.

            Councilman Mitchell wanted to confirm that he heard the following from Mr. Mahoney in the opposition to the bill: sanitation, punitive, punishment and being consistent with regulations in the County. He also wanted to ask Ms. Ainsworth about the reduction in the City’s footprint since the ban and wanted to know if there were compostable bags. Ms. Blair said that there were compostable bags like the ones the City uses in composting, but that they were not the solution for the matter. Mr. Mahoney said that the items that Councilman Mitchell noted were the main points he was making. Councilman Mitchell asked Mr. Mahoney if there was some middle ground that his clients would consider that would help with the plastic bag issue and the issue regarding the fee. Mr. Mahoney said that most of his clients had successfully transitioned to paper bags but collecting the fee was very problematic for restaurants and they were requesting an exemption. Councilman Mitchell asked Ms. Ainsworth to answer his previous question. Ms. Ainsworth noted the information had been provided in the written testimony she had submitted to the Mayor and City Council prior to the meeting and provided a brief summary of the information.

            Councilman Sydnor asked Mr. Mahoney to clarify what type of bags the restaurants were currently using the City of Laurel and he said they were mostly using paper. Councilman DeWalt said that for leftover food someone might want to take home from a restaurant, it typically would be put into a plastic container that could just be carried out without being put into a bag at all and that if someone wanted a paper bag, he didn’t think $0.05 or $0.10 was a lot to charge.

            Mayor Moe asked that if the Council had any ideas to please send them to the Administration and that he thought there was a comprise that could be made. Mayor Moe said that when the original ordinance was passed Ms. Blair visited a lot of the stores and restaurants and at the time there would have been a fee required for the paper bags but that the fee at the time was considered a tax, but since then the Sierra Club provided the City with an opinion from the Attorney General’s Office that charging a fee for a bag was not considered a tax, it was a fee so municipalities could require a business to charge the fee under their current authority. Mayor Moe said that he expected the ordinance and Ordinance No. 2010 on mandatory composting to take a few Work Sessions so that the City could get feed back from residents and businesses.

            Councilman Kole said the Environmental Affairs Committee would be reviewing both ordinances as well to provide comments.      

            Agenda Item No. 7 was Introduction and First Public Hearing on Ordinance No. 2010, an Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Laurel, Maryland to Amend Laurel City Code, Chapter 7 “Garbage, Waste, Weeds, Recycling, etc. to Include the Mandatory Diversion of Organics from the Waste Stream and Providing for an Effective Date. Councilman Kole read the title into the record for the first reading. Ms. Michele Blair, Environmental Programs Manager did not have anything additional to add from the presentation she gave on the item at the April 5, 2023 Work Session. Councilman Kole opened the public hearing at 6:57 pm. There was no one signed up to speak on the item and the public hearing was closed at 6:57 pm. Councilman Sydnor said he wasn’t against the ordinance but noted that the legislation called for educating the residents about the ordinance in 2024 and the ordinance would be effective in January 2025, but he felt that the City needed to education the residents prior to the ordinance being passed. Mayor Moe said that the Administration was working to get the word out to residents and that the City would be putting the information out in the Laurel Ledger Newspaper that was delivered to each residence. Councilman Sydnor thanked the Mayor for his comments, and he agreed that it was important for the Council to help get the word out to the residents, but that it would be too soon to pass the ordinance on April 24, 2023 and more time was needed to get feedback. Mayor Moe agreed. Councilman Kole said that the item would be moved to a future Work Session.

            The final agenda was Possible Adjournment to Closed Session to consult with legal Counsel. Councilman Kole read the following statement into the record: “The reason for adjourning to a Closed Session is to consult with Counsel to obtain legal advice. The authority for this Closed Session is contained in the General Provisions Article Subsection 3-305 (b) (7). Councilman Keith R. Sydnor made a motion to adjourn to Closed Session that was seconded by Council President Brencis D. Smith. Councilman Kole voted “Yes” and Councilman Mitchell and Councilman DeWalt had already moved to the Closed Session meeting prior to the vote. The regular meeting was adjourned to Closed Session at approximately 7:02 pm.

            The regular meeting reconvened at 7:27 pm. Councilman Kole, Council President Smith, Councilman Keith Sydnor, Mayor Craig A. Moe, and Ms. Sara A. Green, CMC, City Clerk returned to the regular meeting. Councilman Sydnor made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Council President Smith seconded the motion.   

            There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 7:27 pm.

Approved:     Sara A. Green, CMC, City Clerk                                                                         Date:   June 12, 2023