Mayor And Council Meeting Recap 8-2-2010

Seal of Rockville

Here is a brief recap of portions of Monday night’s Mayor and Council meeting.

Present: Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio, Councilmembers, Piotr Gajewski, Mark Pierzchala, Bridget Donnell Newton. Absent: Councilmember John Britton.

Mayor Marcuccio opened the meeting with the recognition that “we have lost two of our favorite sons,” referring to Carl Henn and Stephen N. Abrams.

City Manager’s Report

City Manager Scott Ullery delivered the City Manager’s report:

• Gave acknowledgment and thanks for the many City staff on the front lines, responding to the storm damage.
• The long-awaited next-to-last piece by William Cochran is nearly completed. It should be finished this week and installation work will commence immediately. We should see it this Fall. Public Art Review will be devoting a two page spread to that art work.
• National Night Out: Thirty six block parties have contacted the City. Police department will visit all of them. It is an important partnership between neighborhoods and the City.
• Police Chief Terry Treschuck has returned from a meeting with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, which annually certifies Rockville’s police department. This year, it was easily granted. We met or exceeded 99% of the standards. This is not an easy hurdle, Also received award for 15 years of outstanding work.
• Pierzchala asked about status of investigation of the recent water main breaks. Public Works director Craig Simoneau responded that the City is very near awarding a contract to physically investigate the water main. This work should begin on or about August 16.

Following the City Manager’s report, the Mayor and Council passed a Proclamation for National Night Out, reading it to Susan VanGrack and Tom Miner of College Gardens and Colette Moore of the West End.

The following people were appointed to boards and commissions:

Animal Matters Board

• Kathleen Drake (Reappointment as an alternate member until July 1, 2013)
• Margaret Callaghan (Reappointment as an alternate member until July 1, 2013)

Recreation and Parks Foundation, Inc.

• Joshua Halpern (Appointment as member until July 1, 2013)

Rockville Seniors, Inc.

• Betty Briscoe (Reappointment as Mayor and Council appointment until June 30, 2012)

Citizen’s Forum

Anyone can address Citizen’s Forum. The best way is to call the City Clerk at 240-314-8280 by 4pm, but typically anyone who shows up is allowed to speak. Monday night, people spoke. Here are brief recaps:

Mike Callahan: Asked the Mayor and Council to exercise their “inherent oversight authority” over boards and commissions, especially how the Historic District Commission’s authority is being interpreted. He recommended that the City’s commission’s work should also conform to other jurisdictions (such as county and state). He also asked that more attention be paid to the implications of historic designation on property owners.

Joe Wishengrad: Thanked the Mayor and Council for having Rockville continue running as a “sensible city.”

Ruth Hanessian: Announced that August 12 is the next Science Café, which will be held at Redgate Golf Course to observe the Perseid meteor shower. She also urged the Mayor and Council to consider establishing a new ordinance that would allow the keeping of chickens in our urban environment. She reminded them of Carl Henn’s supportive stance on chickens, which he stated at our most recent candidate forum in 2009. She presented a number of petitions calling for the allowance of up to two pet chickens per household.

Janet Hunt-McCool: Ms. Hunt-McCool, chair of the City’s historic district commission, expressed her support of the move to designate Rockville Park subdivision as an historic district. (See below.)

Art Stigile: Thank you to City staff to make Carl Henn’s memorial service so successful. Continued his questions about Redgate Golf course, skipping straight to his final question.

Brigitta Mullican: Thanked the City for Carl Henn’s memorial service. Also thanked the city for its support of the Rockville Sister Cities Corporation’s programs, which recently reached a peak of 147 members. Finally, spoke about the storm. Twinbrook was hit hard. She called city police and could not get through for upwards of 2 hours. They had a fallen tree that was blocking the road. She learned that City Hall had no power for approximately two and a half hours. Several people called 911 and could not get through, for various problems.

Responses:

Mark Pierzchala: Would be willing to hold a work session with the Historic District Commission.

Bridget Newton: Agreed that a work session with the historic district commission would be a good idea. She attended one recently and had questions about some of the decisions.

Piotr Gajewski: Not sure that oversight is actually what the Mayor and Council can exercise over the historic district commission. (City Attorney Debra Yerg Daniel answered that code changes are possible, but specific oversight over items is not possible). Gajewski said he would “always like to be in the position of following the historic district commission’s advice,” but in the past has had questions about some designations. “There’s a certain level of randomness to the whole process,” he said, and suggested a comprehensive discussion to help provide clarity.

Designation of New City Clerk

The Mayor and Council unanimously appointed Glenda Evans as the new City Clerk. “I thank you all for the confidence you have placed in me,” she said.

Designation of Rockville Park Subdivision as an historic place, placing it on the National Historic Register:

Planning Director Jim Wasilak made the presentation. The designation that is being contemplated does not restrict homeowners from making improvements. Instead, it allows homeowners to apply for tax credits for preservation. Here’s a map of where we are talking about.
View Rockville Park Subdivision in a larger map

The item on the agenda is to begin the public outreach for this possible move.

Piotr Gajewski moved to instruct staff to move ahead. The motion passed unanimously.

Initial Report on Branding Initiative

ROI

The City has contracted with two firms, Return on Investment / Community Retail Catalysts (ROI/CRC) to conduct a comprehensive branding study. (Disclosure: I was a member of the committee that reviewed initial responses to the city’s RFP.) Tonight, the firm presented its initial report on the process.

David Nellis (ROI) and Catherine Timko (CRC) made the presentation. They began with a discussion of what is, and isn’t, a “brand.” Nellis pointed out that a brand is not a logo, slogan, or color palette, though these can be elements of a brand. Instead a brand is the set of ideas that come to mind in the target audience (in Rockville’s case, residents, businesses, and others) when they come into contact with the brand owner. In other words, said Nellis, “It’s like the City’s personality. It resides outside of you, in the minds of the people who encounter your city.”

Catherine Timko discussed how important “place branding” is in today’s environment. This has only been happening since the 1990′s and it is still emerging. There are elements in place branding that are similar to branding of products (like Nike). Place branding seeks to answer:

• What do you want to be known for?
• How do you stand out from a crowd?
• What thoughts and feelings come to mind when you think about Rockville?

Prominent benefits in place branding are that it allows for easy recognition of who you are, and makes it easy to develop a management structure.

Branding takes into account demographic research data, competitive data, and stakeholder qualitative data.

Research recap:

The city of Rockville has no cohesive, prominent brand. All the Day One session participants saw Rockville as occupying a “middle” ground between small town and large, bustling city. Most also accept that Rockville suffers from long-standing perceptions rooted in the past, 25 or 30 years ago. Online surveys returned similar thoughts — “Rockville is a big city with a small town feel.”

Quantitatively,Rockville is affluent, well-educated, and diverse — and is getting more so. Majority of the population is between 25-55, and decidedly well-educated. With the exception of Potomac, Bethesda, and Fairfax, it has the highest education rate. Its median income is over $86,000. Its Internet connection rate is among the highest in the nation. 80% of residents are employed in “white collar” positions. Of the individuals who live in Rockville and work, 90% commute with an average commute of 30 minutes. 25% of those who commute do so using public transportation. This suggests that many frustrations with congestion are not just people coming into Rockville, but also includes people leaving Rockville or going across town.

In terms of business climate, “The life sciences community’s reputation is world class,” said Timko. 10 of the 25 top biosciences companies are headquartered in Rockville. Nellis pointed out that Rockville is the biggest biosciences city north of the Research Triangle.

There was much more in the presentation and I will try to get a hold of it and share it.

From here, ROI / CRC will be developing a comprehensive strategic positioning report (again, I will try to get a copy) and will begin to flesh out recommendations for possible brands. This will be a highly collaborative process and will involve public input.

The report touched off a debate that exposed a number of disagreements when it comes to Rockville’s identity and the purpose of branding, especially what seems to be one of the core tensions between some Rockville residents who are very concerned that its small town feel be maintained, and other residents who see growth coming and want to make sure it happens in a way that is most beneficial.

Councilmember Pierzchala expressed support for the process and praised the report. However, Mayor Marcuccio pointed out that, in her view, the process so far has not reached all segments of the City. “It looks like you might have just talked to business people,” she said. “Who are we trying to appeal to?” Catherine Timko replied that “This effort is not just about attracting business, but it is also about retaining residents. It is important that the people who live here embrace this brand regardless of their . . . status.” Councilmember Pierzchala also replied, pointing out that projections indicate we will grow. “The question is ‘How do we grow well?’ This branding process helps with that.”

Councilmember Newton, weighed in and asked, “Where were the community leaders? I don’t think this represented everyone. . . . It took the communications task force six months to tell us for free what you just told us. I think there is a whole segment of the population that would take umbrage at what you just told us.”

Councilmember Gajewski expressed concern about the discussion, “and about how we are treating our guests. . . . We [already] voted 4-1 for awarding this contract. The point is, we did award this contract, these folks were tasked to do this job. Our discussion should not be whether we should or should not have awarded this contract.” He continued, “What you presented exactly what I see: That there are many Rockvilles, and everybody seems to know that. My question is, how do you get through the challenge of not polarizing the city as you work through this?”

The next Mayor and Council meeting is scheduled for September 13.

UPDATED 8/4: To correct spelling of Joel Wishengrad.

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