Mayor And Council Meeting Recap 7-19-10 UPDATED

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From Rockville Channel 11

Update: Correction concerning Piotr Gajewski’s response to Morty Levine in Citizen’s Forum.

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

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

City Manager’s Report from Scott Ullery

Water transmission repair
A vote was taken to allow the City Manager to appropriate funds in excess of $100,000 for the emergency situation regarding our Rockville’s water supply. The City is currently supplying water through WSSC from various interconnects with their system because the water main, which connects Rockville’s Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to Rockville’s water customers, has been out of service since July 12 due to the water main breaks on July 7th and 12th. While the cause of the breaks is not certain, the City is examining two general areas: 1) the condition of the City’s 24-inch prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP); and 2) hydraulic surges at the water treatment plant and along the distribution lines. The Department of Public Works will not know how much repairs will wind up costing until an inspection of the pipe is completed. Three sources of money will be used. Some spending will be accelerated and other spending will be redirected to pay for the repairs. Craig Simoneau explained that these are older pipes but they are not at end of their life. Councilmember Pierzchala noted we should not have expected this to happen and don’t know the reason for the failure. The pipes breaking was the first indication of the problem.

Mr. Ullery also announced that hard copies of the adopted operating budget will be available at the Rockville and Twinbrook libraries. The FY11 budget will also be available on the City’s website.

Chamber of Commerce Update by Andrea Jolly
The Chamber is not taking summer off. A brand new website was launched with new sponsors. Businesses can learn about deals, participate in forums, and respond to events. A Mix and Mingle with three minority chambers and 270 Inc. was attended by over 200 people. Members volunteered at Stepping Stone Shelter doing yard work and putting cribs together. The Rockville Rewards program will be coordinated by Jane Meyer who was formerly with Whole Foods Rockville. Restaurant Week planning will be start at an August 9th meeting. Next Tuesday the Chamber will meet with the Environmental Commission about building green.

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:

Ted Reuther spoke about the notice from the Columbia Gas Transmission Company requiring extensive changes to his property. As 42-year residents, he has always honored the requirements of the transmission company but the extensive pruning and removal of trees on his property not in the right of way exceeds historical management practices. Removal of all the branches of large trees makes trees unsafe. Other approaches can take care of monitoring the pipeline rather than flyovers. The City has been involved with State in addressing large trees in parks where the pipeline crosses. A field agent of Columbia Gas spent hour and half in yard and described their intention to install an electronic detection system that would be placed near the surface of the soil over the pipeline. The system will be better than overhead flights to make visual determinations of dead grass possibly created by a leak. The flyovers don’t work in winter. Now they have in their hands a far better system. He hopes the City will also object to the pruning and removal of trees on our park land.

Dylan Prince spoke to advocate for keeping the Redgate Golf Course open. He learned to play two years ago with family and friends. Now golf is a favorite thing to play with their dads. It’s a good game for kids to learn because it teaches patience and focusing. Redgate is challenging and has lots of wildlife. He is looking forward to turning 16 to apply for a job at the course to get work experience and exercise. He asked for the City to keep it open for residents like him who are looking forward to playing for years to come.

David Prince joked he was at risk of being upstaged by son. He spoke about preserving the Redgate Golf Course for future generations. Since his wife and son play the course benefits his whole family. He wants everyone to consider what will happen if we develop the last large green space. Would we give up Monument Park which is by his house because it is not profitable? This would open up the possibility of putting a condo in his backyard. His suggestions were to implement better business practices like the new point of sale system and to look at ways of improving golf sales and making the restaurant real to attract more people. The practice space could also be improved so golfers don’t have to go to Olney. He thinks we should make it the best golf destination in the area.

Andrea Jolly spoke about 20% set aside for public space to be discussed during the worksession with the Planning Commission. The Chamber is interested in businesses and the City working together to come up with a compromise. They are interested in increasing the tax base not the tax rate. She asked for the Mayor and Council to take the work plan by city staff seriously and change the ordinance.

Morty Levine, President and CEO of Chestnut Lodge properties spoke about their recent request to extend the timing to complete the Ice House so the Blackmores can occupy the residence even though it is not completed. City staff said he would have to file a major site plan application. He would like the date to be the same as is specified on the application for other building permits. If all the meetings with the Planning Commission are required, the family will be out on the street. He can’t believe the zoning law is so inflexible that he can’t have extension.

Mayor Marcuccio asked the staff to respond during Citizen’s Forum. Staff talked to Mr. Levine on Monday and explained the provisions in the approval. Staff can’t change an adopted condition of the plan adopted by the Planning Commission. Susan Swift explained the question is whether it is minor or major. Friday was the staff’s first involvement. She already talked to the attorney and the attorney indicated it was major. They do have another application in front of Planning Commission for garages and architecture for this project and this was not included in that application. Her understanding is that unless there is a way the Planning Commission can include the change on the application it would have to be separate. Councilmember Gajewski suggested they schedule this request for the next meeting and ask the City Attorney and Planning Commission directors if there is any mechanism the Mayor and Council could use to help.

Art Stigile continued with questions about Redgate Golf Course which he has posted on Rockville Central. In his analysis he was generous and only included direct costs, not indirect costs. With indirect costs the subsidy by the City is $24 per round with a fee of $25.50. He asked questions #5 #6 and #7 and promised to come back next week and continue.

Mayor and Council Response

Councilmember Pierzchala asked the staff to respond to Mr. Reuther. The City sent a letter to Columbia Gas Company and spoke with them late last week. The City is having a discussion and requested they provide regular notice of their rights and their practices in maintaining the lines. No one on staff can recall any notices they said they sent out in past. The staff is trying to find what the easement is and what is required to maintain the pipes.

Mayor Marcuccio thanked everyone for speaking and added the young man can carry her clubs anytime.

Consent Agenda
The Mayor and Council approved the three items unanimously. Mayor Marcuccio had a question on the award for banking services and wanted to know the new cost. Finance Director Cohen explained the new cost is $60,000 and old one was $90,000 per year.

Sanitary Sewer System Rehabilitation
$754,233.60 was awarded to Construction of Sanitary Sewer System Rehabilitation AM-Liner East, Inc. of Berryville, Virginia to rehabilitate the sanitary sewer mains and manholes within Woodley Gardens Park and the Lower Cabin John Stream Valley which are in disrepair. Internal investigation found “defects such as cracks in the pipe, broken pipe segments, and root intrusion. These defects allow inflow and infiltration (I&I) of water into the sewer system, inhibit sewer flows, and have caused sewage backups. This project includes rehabilitating a total of approximately 6,000 linear feet of sanitary sewer pipes and 30 manholes via a cured-in-place liner. This rehabilitation method creates a “pipe within a pipe” and does not require any excavation.”

Comprehensive Banking Services contract
A five (5) year contract with an option to extend the contract for an additional five (5) years was awarded to Branch Banking and Trust (BB&T) bank out of Winston Salem, NC. The City’s current banking services provider is Suntrust Bank (formerly Crestar) and the contract expires on December 31, 2010. BB&T’s proposal was ranked #1 by an evaluation committee of four staff members.

Revised Letter to Ride On
The Letter was approved and will be sent to Montgomery College for signature then to Metro. The letter requests a small adjustment to Route 45 to add a loop off of Route 355 onto South Campus Drive to give riders from several Rockville neighborhoods, two Metro stations, and the Fallsgrove Transit Center direct access to the Montgomery College campus. It also requests an increase in the hours of service will allow current users and potential future users to travel to campus later into the evening for evening classes.

Other items of interest:

Possible annexation of property 15955 Frederick Road
Silverwood Investments wants to annex the Reed Brothers Used Car lot next to Carmax into the City of Rockville to build 455 multi-family units backing up to the Shady Grove Metro. The County likes the use but the most recent master plan did not include residential for this property. It would take a year to make the change and they can’t finance the change. During the discussion, the Mayor and Council were amenable to the possibility of building these residences for young, single professionals looking for a walkable environment, so the property owner will go forward with the process for annexation.

The Mayor and Council meeting also included a work session with the Planning Commission on a Zoning Text Amendment concerning public use space and open area percentages. The Amendment is scheduled for a vote at the next meeting. The Mayor and Council also discussed their views on changes to our City Charter and the timing on any action to consider changes.

The next Mayor and Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 2, 2010 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. Email to: rockvillecentral@gmail.com. If we miss a vote or leave out a bit of information you think is important, we’d like to know in comments!

Mayor and Council Meeting Recap, 7-12-2010

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.
• 25^th 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!

Mayor and Council Meeting Recap June 21, 2010

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. We could use your help.After each meeting we will report on appointments and the City Manager’s report. When we can, we’ll describe topics from Citizen’s Forum and report on any votes taken. However, 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.

As a whole, residents don’t have a public way to respond to Mayor and Council meetings together, so we hope the Recap will give residents a place to express their views about the meetings, actions, and decisions of our Mayor and Council on a regular basis. We’ll see how it goes.

As always, we welcome your feedback.

Here’s a first try for the June 21, 2010 Meeting.

Appointments

Unanimously approved Bernie Lubran to Rockville Scholarship Foundation Board of Directors until June 1, 2013 and Bryan Maust to Rockville Recreation and Parks Foundation, Inc.until June 1, 2013.

City Manager’s Report

Two items from Scott Ullery:

The Metropolitan Council of Governments and Board of Trade are seeking ideas about Metro’s governance. They want to know what we would recommend, especially any innovative models from other systems. A Public Meeting will be held on July 1, 2010 from 9AM – 11AM at the Council of Governments (777 N. Capital Street). There will be opportunities for input online and at the forum. Councilmember John Britton is going to check if the Governance Review Task Force meetings would be open to the public. WMATA might not adopt these recommendations.

A Press Release from the Governor’s Office named Twinbrook Metro a Transit Oriented Development. 14 rail stations were honored including Shady Grove. City Staff don’t know what the honor entails as far as financing opportunities, prioritization of funding, feasibility analysis, and priority consideration for State offices and labs. Staff will learn more about the opportunities and look into the criteria since the Rockville station was not named.

Citizen’s Forum

Since the RedGate Business Plan Financial Update was on the Agenda, this was the main topic for Citizens Forum.

• Joe Jordan, chair of the Redgate Advisory, was the only person to sign up in advance. He admitted the financial picture at the golf course has not improved. The number of rounds used for calculations is grossly overestimated because it includes free and complimentary rounds. Revenue only includes carts and fees when other courses include shop sales and food in revenue. He requested the work session on the golf course to be moved from July to September or October so the new Point of Sale system can be rolled out. This would allow new marketing and sales to be included in the plan for Redgate.
• Martha Klasing spoke about the demand for golf being stable and that Redgate had “good bones on which to build” so it could be a successful operation with the correct business plan to improve performance.
• Art Stigile didn’t understand how spending for essential services must be contained and $600,000 in funding for the golf course only benefits the golfers. He added it would be a “shell game” to move Redgate from an Enterprise Fund to the General Fund because the courses cost would not be transparent.

Other topics:

• Bill Commoners (sp?) who represents the Tower Companies wanted to tell the Mayor and Council they were doing something good by approving the Zoning Text Amendment to extend the timeframe for development projects. Property owners who invested in these properties can remain “ready to go” and the change will save on costs, especially his legal fees, involved with getting extensions.
• A resident of Princeton Place spoke without identifying herself and requested that when the Memorandum of Understanding is negotiated for the opening of the fence between Princeton Place and Montgomery College for the fireworks, the Mayor and Council continue to work on a resolution to keep the fence open.

Agenda Items

RedGate Business Plan Financial Update was extensive. In the end the Mayor and Council decided to hear the report from the Redgate Advisory Committee on July 19, 2010 and hold a work session in September. The discussion as to when to have the work session revolved around whether preliminary results from the new point of sale system should be included in the discussion since it would take years to see any real change.

The Communications Task Force Report was handed to the Mayor and Council just before the meeting started. The three subcommittees made their presentations. The Report should be available to the public online today. The report contained about a page of recommendations from the Citizen Outreach Subcommittee and the Mechanisms Subcommitte, and five pages of recommendations from the Development Review Subcommitte including changes to the Zoning Ordanance.

Votes

Unanimously approved the increase in parking fines for expired parking meters/stalls located in City-owned parking garages in the Town Center from $12 per ticket to $40 per ticket.

Unanimously approved the Zoning Text Amendment (TXT2010-00227) to extend the implementation period for would extend the timeframe for certain approved development projects until June 30 , 2012 for site plans, use permits, project plans, detailed applications and special exceptions that have been approved as of June 30, 2010.