Mayor and Council Meeting Recap, 7-12-2010
Jul 13, 2010 9:00 - 4 Comments
Here is a brief recap of portions of >Monday night’s Mayor and Council meeting.
Present: Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio, Councilmembers John Britton, Piotr Gajewski, Mark Pierzchala. Absent: Councilmember Bridget Newton.
City Manager’s Report
- Another water main break. Over the weekend, crews successfully completed major work to repair main transmission water main. But late this afternoon, workers discovered another breach in the line. NO restrictions are in place because the City was able to quickly switch over to WSSC water. (Mayor Marcuccio pointed out that the City’s recent infrastructure improvements did not encompass the six miles of mains in question. City Manager Scott Ullery said there are extensive replacements planned for September.)
- Lakewood pedestrian bridge will be replaced beginning Thursday July 15. Design should be completed this week; hopefully the bridge will be replaced by the time school starts.
- 25th annual Rockville Rotary Twilight Runfest is Saturday, July 17 at 8:45. Council members John Britton and Piotr Gajewski will start the runners. Councilmember Britton may run the race. This event typically raises $25K for the Rockville Recreation Fund, and $20K for the Rotary Foundation.
- The first rooftop event geared toward seniors is scheduled for July 25 at 7pm. Music of 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s by Night and Day.
- Top 100. For the third time in the last ten years, Rockville has been ranked in the Top 100 Best Places to Live by CNN’s Money Magazine. More than 700 cities were evaluated, and Rockville came in as 31. (Also an Editor’s Pick in US News and World Report, which recently released its 100 best places to live.)
From Rockville Channel 11
Town Center Update
Selected items:
- The Planning Commission has approved Beall’s Grant timeline extension and Victory Housing site plan.
- Parking garages. Use by hourly parkers continues to be higher than in 2009. (e.g. 73% use vs. 35% in 2009)
- City staff have received two complaints about the volume noise at events at the Rooftop. Such events are monitored at all times to make sure it remains within limits. That said, staff are also looking at changes and are talking with Rooftop management, looking at different speaker configurations and sound attenuation.
- The installation of public art at the corner of N. Washington and Beall Ave. has been delayed. Anticipated installation is now early August.
Citizen’s Forum
Anyone can address Citizen’s Forum. The best way is to call the City Clerk at 240-314-8280 ahead of time (by 4pm), but typically anyone who shows up is allowed to speak. Monday night, four people spoke. Here are brief recaps:
- Stephanie Cromwell, who represents the Rockville Rooftop. They received their first complaint on July 2. She said they take such complaints seriously. They realize it is a hip and urban space but there are residents there too. They have planned a Thursday meeting with city staff to discuss what to do. She reiterated that they take citizen complaints very seriously. This year, 12,780 have come to the Rooftop, and it is early in the season. The Rooftop website gets 400 hits per day.
- Steve Hines. President of RSVP Signature, an event planning company. His company got its start in VisArts, and little did he know he would be coming back to develop a summer jazz series for the rooftop. He praised the wonderful space. His summer jazz festival aims at a 25-65 demographic, is non-alcoholic, and runs from 6-9:30, $20 to get in. The next one is July 14.
- Art Stigile. RedGate advisory committee is supposed to present ideas for solving financial problems of golf course next week. He announced he would be asking ten questions, to be asked bit by bit in series at this and subsequent Mayor and Council meetings. [Note: this was moved to September. We’ve asked him for the exact wording of his questions so we can publish them. Watch for them on Rockville Central.]
- Randy Alton. Thank you for the great response to the Lakewood Bridge replacement. To Gajewski: Looking forward to work with the Rockville Youth Commission. The first meeting is in September, and everything is on track. They will typically be the second Thursday of every month, but the September meeting will be 9/16. Five schools will be represented: Thomas Wooton , RMHS, Walter Johnson, Rockville, and Gaithersburg.
Councilmember Pierzchala urged the Rooftop representatives to “take noise complaints seriously. If it is so loud you can hear it half a mile away, it is too loud to speak on the Rooftop,” he said. Mayor Marcuccio pointed out that, as far as she has heard, “The complaints are not just about noise. It’s the lyrics too, which are very offensive to some, and people worry about their children.”
Culture and Entertainment Plan
Annapolis-based consultant Hollis Minor presented findings on research that was intended to set the stage for developing a cultural and entertainment plan for the City. Her firm’s work (the contract was for $29,500.) focused on gathering information and making preliminary recommendations. Two concrete recommendations included the suggestion that joining Montgomery County Heritage Area would outweigh the costs of doing so, while establishing a City “arts and entertainment district” would likely not be cost effective. (The latter is typically used to revitalize areas that need it, not in cities, like Rockville, that are generally successful.)
The proposed next steps are to move ahead and begin developing a cultural and entertainment plan, at a cost of $29,000.
The report received a tepid response from the Mayor and Council. Councilmember Pierzchala appreciated the preliminary nature of the report, but Councilmembers Gajewski and Britton asked probing questions. Bringing the harshest critique was Mayor Marcuccio. “This was a collection of stuff off the Internet and a few other places,” she said. “You have collected a lot of things, but it is more a justification for going to [the next phase] than something I can work with.”
Councilmember Pierzchala defended the value of the report. “What has been done here is fairly typical,” he said. “This has provided Mayor and Council with a checkpoint. . . . Often when you don’t know much about a particular subject matter, you have to start somewhere. You start with people who know the business. You don’t even know what to ask until you have done this preliminary stuff. They have not represented any conclusions beyond what they have done.”
Councilmember Gajewski asked City staff if they were in favor of moving ahead. Recreation and Parks Department director Burt Hall said they were recommending to move ahead. “This fact finding was done with the idea that the next phase would also be completed.”
Criticism notwithstanding, the motion to move ahead to the next phase was approved 4-0.
Snow Removal
Craig Simoneau, director of public works, was away dealing with a new broken water main. Assistant City Manager Jenny Kimball briefed the Mayor and Council on the City’s response to Snowmageddon (the December 2009 and February 2010 storms).
The report is comprehensive and well worth a read. (Link here.) In addition to the items that the Mayor and Council had to vote on, the report gives a number of actions the City is taking to improve its responsiveness and efficiency in the event of major snowstorms, including better notification, more efficient snowplow routes, and more.
City staff proposes bringing the following to the Mayor and Council for approval before the 2010 - 2011 winter season:
- Comprehensive, multiple award, Master Agreements for the brokering of services related to handling snow storm and other emergency events,
- Amendment to the City Code to allow the City Manager, upon declaration of an emergency and notification of the Mayor and Council, to award contracts up to $500,000,
- Amendments to the City Code to require property owners to clear snow from fire hydrants adjacent to their property and to give property owners 72 hours to clear snow and ice accumulation of more than 10 inches from sidewalks adjacent to their property, and
- Amendment to the snow emergency parking provisions in the City Code.
The Mayor and Council approved these 4-0.
The next Mayor and Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 19. It will begin with an executive session at 6:15 and commence public business at 7:00 pm.
Note: Mayor and Council meetings are long and can last into the wee hours of the morning. We can’t cover every decision and discussion but we’d like to provide enough information so readers know what’s happening in our City. After each meeting we will report on appointments and the City Manager’s report. When we can, we describe topics from Citizen’s Forum and report on any votes taken. We invite the community to let us know when we leave something out. We also invite anyone speaking during Citizens Forum to send their remarks to us for consideration as Contributor Opinions. If we miss a vote or leave out a bit of information you think is important, we’d like to know in comments!
The snow response report actually makes some interesting reading. Would love to be able to respond to the City on some of those, especially the parking and plowing problems, with some thoughts and suggestions. Our street was a nightmare, and having people parked on the sidewalk side of the street while the snowplows shoved the snow off the street on the side without the sidewalk would have made the street far more passable in far shorter a space of time, and with fewer passes by the plows. Instead, there were families who parked on both their side AND the opposite side, making full plowing impossible and making the street borderline-impassable for nearly two weeks after the final snowstorm - and since the City outright abandoned its snow emergency plan in the end without ever having enforced it to begin with it on our street, any of us who used the street had no recourse. Having a policy, making it known to residents possibly in languages other than solely English (would have been VERY helpful in our neighborhood, which is culturally and linguistically quite diverse), and enforcing it at least to the point of written warnings in previous years with lesser snowfalls could have set the stage for our neighborhood to cope with this past Winter’s storms more effectively.For the Rooftop noise complaints, we do hear some of the music from both the Rooftop and the concerts on the Square from our house in East Rockville (less than a mile as the crow flies), but it’s more bothersome if the bass is loud; it might be quicker and easier to simply lower the bass output on the sound systems to reduce overall perceived noise; the bass is what would be *felt* thru walls even if it’s not immediately audible otherwise. It would be interesting to see if such a simple measure would have an impact on the noise complaints.
Wow, what a great report! Thank you!As far as the rooftop and noise, I’m curious as to which event(s) elicited specific comments, at what time of night and if “lyrics” are an issue at all. Anyone know? I’ve been to two rooftop gatherings and my teens have also been to at least one-and that ended at 10 p.m. I believe. Overall, I thought they were extremely well-run and I am thrilled that there is a safe environment, close-by for my children to enjoy music and have a good time. I would hate to see certain groups or demographics be unfairly blamed or shut out of future events, especially if complaints are not substantiated. I am glad to see the mayor (and the rest of the council) is keeping a watchful eye on city finances. However, I wish the mayor would have the same focus when it comes to large ticket items, such as Red Gate; further subsidizing of this is fiscally irresponsible. I will be watching for her to show leadership and impartiality here and not cave to a few of her supporters from whom this is a pet project.Thank you, Art, for your continued diligence.
Since I recently got rid of cable, and thus can only watch on Channel 11 (which isn’t handy when I’m doing housework and chores in the evening), it’s really great to be able to find out so quickly what were the highlights of the meeting. Thanks for the recaps.
From the Gazette, posted online today:”From fiscal 1999 through fiscal 2009 the course posted a deficit of $1.1 million. In fiscal 2011, which began July 1, RedGate is projected to lose about $673,000.”http://www.gazette.net/stories/07142010/rocknew212846_32533.php