Mayor Elected To MML Board

>Ruth Hanessian has sent us some breaking news. At the Maryland Municipal League (MML) Annual Conference in Ocean City, Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio was elected as one of their ten board members, a very prestigious position.

Ruth added, “It reflects well on those of us in Rockville who elected her mayor.”

When pre-registration closed, 115 municipalities had registered. Almost 900 city, town, county and state officials, as well as corporate representatives, planned to attend. The Convention was held from June 27th to the 30th and included over 200 exhibit booths and a large display of public works vehicles. Governor Martin O’Malley spoke at the inaugural dinner for the new members on Tuesday. The workshop topics included special taxing districts, storm water management regulations, and improving economic health.

The Keynote speaker was Mark Levin who identified the benefits of pursuing an aggressive volunteer recruitment effort and what municipal officials can do to attract people as volunteers. He spoke about how to get the most from the volunteer community.

In Rockville, we are familiar with the MML because the organization sponsors the “If I Were Mayor, I Would” contest.

Congratulations to Mayor Marcuccio.

State of The City Address Full Of Facts

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I don’t usually mention the list of dignitaries at public gatherings. However, today’s State of the City address attracted a fairly large crowd in this election year. Since the address was given in the Glenview Mansion Dining Room, people were standing in the back entrances and sitting outside on the patio, which made an exact count difficult but obviously more than 80 had responded to the invitation. The introduced guests included Senator Jennie Forehand, Delegate Jim Gilchrist, Delegate Luis Simmons, Delegate Kumar Barve, Daniel Campos (Delegate Candidate), Montgomery County Councilmember Phil Andrews, Montgomery County Council President Nancy Floreen, Laura Berthiaume (School Board), John McCarthy (State’s Attorney), Loretta Knight (Clerk of Circuit Court), Darren Popkin (Deputy Sheriff), and Sally Sternbach (REDI), along with City Staff Scott Ullery, Susan Swift, Claire Funkhouser, Chief Terry Treschuk, and Craig Simoneau. Rockville Councilmembers Bridget Newton and Mark Pierzchala were seated next to the podium.

Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio began by clarifying these would be her own words and she was not speaking for the Council. Her intent was to reflect on the past six months and update residents on the current administration. She added she wanted to “tease you into some action”.

Providing a bit of background, the Mayor noted previous mayors had given State of the City Addresses with the Chamber of Commerce. Andrea Jolly, Executive Director, was on vacation and couldn’t attend but had initially worked on the event with the Mayor. Some Chamber members noted they were present.

Mayor Marcuccio’s address lasted about an hour and detailed Rockville’s demographic shifts using data from the Strategic Scan 2010 prepared by many of the departments in City Hall. Charts, graphs, and statistics displayed on a large screen. Rockville will become more ethnically diverse with an aging population and fewer school-aged residents. The City will go from the 24,327 present households to 62,476 in the year 2040. With so little buildable land, developers will build mixed-use communities for smaller families. Services will need to change to meet the needs of this dense population.

The Mayor’s overview showed Rockville is in pretty good shape compared to our neighbors and the rest of the Country. Rockville continues to be a sound employment center with unemployment rates below the County, State and Country. Single-family homes have held their value and rental vacancy rates are below County percentages. Rockville has progressed with its Green Initiatives Commitment to have LEEDS certified and energy sensitive developments. Even though the economy is still going down, the Real Taxable Assessed Value went up 1.4% this year but the Mayor noted it can’t be expected to continue. Ridership is up on the Red Line and it’s difficult to get a seat at the Rockville and Twinbrook stops in the morning. The City’s water lines are aging and fees were raised to insure the pipes don’t break.

The FY2011 Budget was recently balanced and passed based on the recommendations of staff. The Mayor noted this occurred even with reducing the property tax by one penny a year, rebuilding the retirement fund, and handling the loss of State funds for roads and police. She added the City “still managed to balance the budget without laying off any employees.” Water/sewer bills will continue to rise, 24% in 2011 and over 20% in the coming years to pay for infrastructure. The County will not be reimbursing for parking at the Rockville Memorial Library. “Next year will be much more challenging, I’m sure.” commented Mayor Marcuccio.

Highlights of Progress:

The Mayor said the City’s having “a great year in many ways” including:

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the City’s incorporation
Renaming the Rockville Library to the Rockville Memorial Library
The Opening of the Mansfield Kaseman Health Clinic
The Chamber of Commerce’s “Buy Rockville” campaign’s matching grant which “turned the whole notion of the Chamber upside down”.
Forming the Youth Commission
Including the Agendas and Actions in the Mayor and Council’s briefing book online

Works in Progress:

Grocery store in Town Center
Zoning revisions
APFO revisions
Traffic relief and pedestrian safety
Business friendly
Protecting neighborhoods from encroachment
Public safety

Near the end of her address, the Mayor spoke about the Redgate Golf Course which she described as 130 acres of the most beautiful land you would ever want to see and one of the most challenging places to play. She explained the course was created as a commitment to making sure a portion of the City stays green. She enthusiastically proclaimed “Save the green space”.

Noting the presence of the District 17 delegation, the Mayor explained the City needed to work closely with the State to clarify rules and regulations. Even in these tough times, State funds were allocated for the Senior Center. She also noted Senator Forehand’s bill requiring citizens who receive traffic tickets to request a trial upfront would cut down on the hours police officers spend in court and save Montgomery County as much as $1 million.

Speaking of police, Mayor Marcuccio recounted how she was sitting in Town Square with her sister waiting for the library to open on a Saturday morning when an officer showed up on a Segway and it was Chief Treschuk. She complimented our police department who she said were always on the scene, then proclaimed them “one of the best police forces anywhere.”

Mayor Marcuccio concluded her address by saying “Who knows what the next six months will bring?”

Sentinel Interview with the Mayor-Elect Marcuccio

This week the >Sentinel published an interview with Phyllis Marcuccio entitled Newly-elected Mayor of Rockville hits the ground running. Written by Glynis Kazanjian, the piece asks a dozen questions.

Here are some brief exerpts from the article to give you an idea of some of the topics covered in the interview. As this is a Sentinel article, I can’t reproduce it in it’s entirety but rather can only pass along some quotes. You can read the complete answers from Mayor-elect Marcuccio on their website.

When asked whether the city was running in a deficit, she answered “It depends on how you look at the term deficit.”

As to whether City Manager Scott Ullery will stay in place and if he does, will his job change, she responded, “I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t stay in place.” When discussing his responsibilities, she said “He and I talked very frankly about the fact that maybe he was put in the position of making decisions or recommending through his own initiative, or his staff’s, aspects of our policies that perhaps really belong within the Mayor and Council.”, and also, “ I do not feel there is any necessity to do anything independent of the council. That is inappropriate.”

When asked if she thought the criticisms of Councilman Gajewski were fair during the election she responded, “They weren’t strong enough in my estimation.”

When asked about crime, she said “There are some pockets of problems. Twinbrook has a little bit of edge to it right now, especially when it comes to the immigrants.” and “Because King Farm is one of the newest parts of the city, you would expect it to be squeaky clean and not have any issues. But some of the areas, we made – I think – a blunder by putting some of the low-cost housing in a pocket, the MPDU’s [(moderately priced dwelling units)] that were required when KF was developed. They are in an area and as a result, there is maybe a draw to the area from individuals that are kind of unsavory and they have caused trouble.”

Looking ahead she talks about her dream of a Science Center and a long-term goal of bringing the voice back to the citizens in the decision-making.

For the full article, visit the Sentinel.

Rockville Adopts Budget On 3-2 Vote

>Our friends at the Gazette have a very good recap of the details on the Mayor and Council’s vote Monday night to adopt a new budget for Our Fair City. The vote was three-two in favor:

The City Council on Monday narrowly adopted Rockville’s fiscal 2010 budget with an operating budget that is nearly 1 percent less than fiscal 2009 while including salary increases for all city employees.

The adopted operating budget is $101.8 million, a decrease of 0.9 percent, or $893,705.

The Capital Improvements Program is budgeted at $68.2 million, a decrease of nearly $5.5 million over last year.

Councilwoman Anne M. Robbins and Councilwoman Phyllis R. Marcuccio voted against the budget, with Robbins saying her opposition is primarily due to the cost-of-living and merit increases for city employees totaling $1.78 million that is included in the budget, a concern she has raised throughout the budget process. . . . Marcuccio’s concern was with the budget process and said she still had outstanding issues that were not addressed.

“The process we use on the budget I’m sure is very efficient and very thorough as far as the staff is concerned, but it’s not very satisfying as far as a council member is concerned,” Marcuccio said.

City Found In Violation Of Open Meetings Act

>According to the Gazette, the state’s Open Meeting Compliance Board has ruled that the when, at the end of its January 26 executive session, the Mayor and Council directed City staff to explore a lease agreement for Red Gate golf course, it “extended beyond the permissible bounds for a closed meeting under the act.”

The ruling was in response to a complaint brought by Rockville resident (and Rockville Central contributor) Joseph Jordan. “I didn’t have a problem with them discussing personnel matters or getting legal advice, but when they took a vote on what they were going to do I thought that was out of bounds,” he told the Gazette.

Mayor Susan R. Hoffmann told the Gazette she disagreed with the finding: “We were dealing with legal advice and legal advice was perfectly appropriate under [state law] to be in executive session.”

The compliance board decided that the Mayor and Council were OK getting legal advice from the city attorney, and that “much of the discussion involved matters properly considered under the personnel exception as authorized by the act.” However, the board said the they crossed the line when they told City staff to begin negotiations over a possible lease of Red Gate.

Mayor And Council On Pay Raise: "No Thanks."

The Rockville Mayor and Council voted Monday to reject the city’s Compensation Commission recommendation that the legislators’ stipends be increased by 2% based on cost of living data.>

The Gazette quotes Council Member Phyllis M. Marcuccio: “No, thank you, I suppose is the only way I can put it. . . . We certainly know this is not the time.”

The move keeps legislators’ pay at $25,750 for the Mayor, and $20,600 for Council members. Council Member Piotr Gajewski proposed a reduction in these amounts (to $19,000 and $15,000 respectively), which he said would save the City $30,000 per year. His proposal failed for lack of a second.

State Of The City Set For Weds., Feb. 11

>This from Our Fair City:

Please join Mayor Susan Hoffmann, Councilmember Phyllis Marcuccio and Councilmember John Britton for an open discussion on the “State of the City” – brief presentations on the activities of the Mayor and Council in the past year and issues that our community may address in the upcoming year.

Following the presentations, the floor will be open for questions and public discussion. In the spirit of “Buy Rockville” and to enable attendees to shop and dine prior to or after the public discussion, the “State of the City” discussion will be held in the first floor meeting room of the Rockville Town Center Library on Wednesday, February 11th at 7 p.m. All are welcome.

No Action Taken On Beall's Grant II [updated]

After a Citizen’s Forum that featured fifty speakers split almost evenly for and against, the Mayor and Council took no action last night on a proposed resolution in support of the proposed affordable housing development, Beall’s Grant II.>

The resolution in support was needed by the Montgomery Housing Partnership, the development’s sponsor, in order to apply to the State of Maryland for Low Income Tax Credits, a key piece of financing for the construction. The application is due today.

The lack of support means that MHP cannot apply for the state funding in this round, and must wait nine months. According to MHP, this will add up to $1 million in cost to the project and some observers have said it may derail it altogether.

The project has been the source of great controversy for a number of months, after having seen smooth sailing. Despite the West End Citizens Association’s board endorsing the project in February, a number of residents say they first heard of the initiative when it came up for review at a July Planning Commission meeting. That meeting was highly contentious. Since that time, “Stop Beall’s Grant II” signs have appeared throughout the West End neighborhood as well as elsewhere. Montgomery Housing Partnership has also worked behind the scenes to garner support for the project.

In recent weeks, MHP and local residents have met to negotiate possible reductions in the scope of the project, with little evident progress.

The crowd spilled out into the hallway, where people watched on monitors. Throughout the audience, people held signs indicating their support or opposition. Twenty four citizens spoke in favor and 26 spoke against the project at last night’s Mayor and Council meeting. [UPDATE: Other accounts have 53 speakers. There were three speakers who spoke in a row employed by and representing MHP. I didn't count them.]

However, the members of the Mayor and Council focused on an issue few raised in their statements. In the hours just before the meeting, Montgomery Housing Partnership’s chief, Rob Goldman, had hit upon what he hoped would be a strategy to keep MHP’s funding application alive while still offering guarantees to the local residents that MHP would still have an incentive to continue negotiations. The strategy involved the Mayor and Council writing a letter in support to add to MHP’s application, but not passing a resolution. The Mayor and Council would defer the resolution until ninety days later, at which point it would only pass it if it felt MHP had continued negotiations in good faith.

The letter would be enough to initiate the application process, but before settling, it is a state requirement that there be a formal resolution in order for the financing to be completed.

The new strategy, while of interest to some members, raised questions for others about procedure. The group agreed that they had been laboring under the impression that last night’s meeting was the “drop dead deadline,” according to Council Member John Britton. But with the new plan, and a new deadline, Britton said, “we might have approached this evening differently.” He said he was “taken aback” by the new tactic.

Council Member Anne Robbins asked City Attorney Paul Glasgow whether the two-step plan had merit and whether it would do what MHP said it would. “I don’t know because I only found out about the idea at five o’clock today,” replied Glasgow. “I think what Paul said speaks volumes,” Robbins said. She later said she felt “ill-used” by the way the idea came up.

For her part, Council member Phyllis Marcuccio said that after a pivotal meeting in October when MHP and WECA vowed to negotiate, she “wished there had been a flurry of meetings” to work out a compromise. But meetings had only begun in the last few weeks. While some point to MHP for the delay, MHP said it had been asked to follow WECA’s lead, and WECA had not formed a committee to negotiate until only recently.

“There were missteps on both sides,” said council member Britton. “WECA was schizophrenic” about a committee, having first not created one and then created one, and MHP “had communications problems. If you wanted our support, this whole strategy should have been laid at our feet weeks ago, so we could see it.”

The two clear supporters of the Beall’s Grant II project, Mayor Susan Hoffmann and Council Member Piotr Gajewski, appeared in favor of the new idea, but there was no support for it.

As debate drew to a close, and the group was considering the original question of whether to pass a resolution in support or not, Mayor Hoffmann read with permission from a letter by Rockville resident Bill Newhouse. “I am concerned that Beall’s Grant II is being subjected to greater hurdles than other developers have to endure,” wrote Newhouse.

However, this was not enough. The agenda item died when none would make a motion to bring the resolution up for vote.

[NB: Quotations are from my notes and may not be exactly verbatim.]

Mayor And Council To Consider Beall's Grant II, Approve New Zoning Plan

Many >Rockville Central readers have been following two issues that have generated a fair share of controversy: Beall’s Grant II and the new zoning ordinance that various bodies have been working on for more than a year.

Both of these issues are scheduled to be taken up by the Mayor and Council at Monday’s regularly scheduled meeting at 7pm at City Hall.

• On Beall’s Grant II, the Mayor and Council will consider whether to pass a resolution in support of the project in order to enable it to be eligible for low income tax credits from the state.
• On the zoning ordinance, the Mayor and Council are expected to take the final action of approving it.

I should be at Cub Scouts that night, but I plan to attend in order to discuss Beall’s Grant II. I know that a lot of my neighbors and friends (who hold all manner of views on the issue) are planning to be there too. It should be a lively debate.

For those who are curious, and for transparency’s sake, here is the long version of what I plan to say.

Comment Period Closes Today On New Zoning Ordinance

This is just a reminder to all those who have been following Our Fair City’s efforts to reforge our decades-old >zoning ordinance.

The deadline for public comments to get into the official record, which has been extended a few times, is set to close at the close of business today.

See the City’s press release for more info on how to comment.

The Mayor and Council are set to meet to discuss the new ordinance on Monday, November 17, with a target adoption date of December 15.

Mayor And Council: More Time For Zoning, Extend Moratorium

For >Rockville Central readers who are curious how Council Member Piotr Gajewski’s proposal to “indefinitely suspend” Our Fair City’s effort to redraft the zoning ordinance fared, our friends at the Gazette have provided an update that covers the important points.

At Monday’s Mayor and Council meeting, according to their article:

By a vote of 4 to 1, the council extended the halt on new construction in the city through Dec. 31 or until the zoning ordinance goes into effect, whichever comes first. This is the fourth time the moratorium has been extended since it was first approved in November 2006.

The council also voted to extend time for a decision on the zoning ordinance until Nov. 27. The law requires the council to come to a decision within 90 days of the public hearing. The last public hearing was on June 30. Not extending the time would have allowed the application to expire and the process would have to start all over again.

The sole no vote was that of Council Member Gajewski, who said in an email last Sunday that he would prefer to use text amendments to accomplish needed zoning changes.

Gajewski Proposes Suspension of Zoning Revisions

This evening’s >meeting of the Mayor and Council may be even more interesting than one would have previously thought.

Sunday evening, Council Member Piotr Gajewski proposed via email to his colleagues on the Mayor and Council that they “step back and indefinitely suspend our work on the Zoning Ordinance.”

As many residents of Our Fair City know, Rockville is nearing the end of a lengthy review process where the overall law that governs all zoning throughout the City is being redrafted. This began with a committee called RORZOR, which included a number of citizens, who then drafted a proposal that was passed along to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission revised that proposal and passed it on the the Mayor and Council, who have final authority and responsibility for adopting it.

Tonight was slated to be a worksession on the final draft of the proposed ordinance.

Council Member Gajewski wrote, in part:

Many agree that the process to try to comprehensively revise Rockville’s zoning ordinance has been flawed from the outset.

A committee of well meaning lay-people created a first draft document that was much criticized and contained major problems.

Off to a bad start, the problems only compounded when the Planning Commission entered the arena and, after taking public input, tried to make lemonade out of the lemon it got.

The document improved some, but even by its own admission, the Planning Commission punted on many major issues.

Throughout the process, staff has had the difficult task to keep up with ever-changing new ideas and demands, so that the technical execution of the document has struggled. The document continues with major technical flaws that renders it unusable in present form.

The reality that has emerged is that Rockville is better off with the current zoning protocol than it would be with what is being proposed.

He goes on to suggest that, where changes are felt to be needed, they can be dealt with on a targeted basis, by making text amendments to the existing zoning ordinance. “Individual text amendments that focus on specific elements will allow us to delve into the necessary details more easily, allow everyone to better understand what we really intend, and ensure that we avoid unintended consequences,” Gajewski writes.

Tonight’s meeting is, as always, at 7:00 pm at City Hall. It begins with Citizen’s Forum, where any citizen can address the Mayor and Council (to do so, it is best to call the City Clerk 240-314-8280 by 4:00 p.m. to get on the list). The full meeting is televised on The Rockville Channel and will also be available through the City’s new video on demand system within a day or two.