City of Cumberland, Maryland

Regular Session

Council Minutes

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

            The Mayor and City Council of Cumberland, Maryland, met in Public Session on Tuesday, January 10, 2006, in the Council Chambers of City Hall.   President Fiedler called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M.

INVOCATION –  Councilman Hendershot

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES

CALL OF ROLL:

            Present: President Fiedler; Councilmen Elliott, Hedrick, Hendershot, and Rephann.

            Department Heads and/or Officials present: Jeffrey E. Repp, City Administrator; H. Jack Price, Jr., City Solicitor; Jeff Rhodes, Director of Administrative Services; Kevin Hagerich, Director of Public Works; Kathy McKenney, Historic Planner; and Sharon S. Clark, City Clerk.

MINUTES:

A motion was made by Councilman Rephann, seconded by Councilman Hendershot, and unanimously adopted to accept the minutes of the Regular Session of December 13, 2005 and the Work Sessions of November 15 and December 13, 2005.

Executive Session - Councilman Elliott made a motion to approve the Executive Session minutes of the meeting held Friday, November 4 and Tuesday, November 15, 2005, and that the minutes reflect that the Mayor and City Council met in Executive Sessions on November 4^th and 15^th.   The meeting of November 4^th was held on a vote of 5 to 0 to discuss real estate issues in accordance with Section 10-508 (4) of the State Government Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, and the meeting of Tuesday, November 15, 2005 was held on a vote of 4 to 0 to discuss personnel and real estate issues in accordance with Sections 10-508 (1) and (4) of the State Government Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.  The motion was seconded by Councilman Hendershot and unanimously carried.

REPORTS:

Routine:

            1.      Personnel Activity Report submitted by April Howser, Human Resources Officer, for the period December 13, 2005 – January 7, 2006.

            2.      Permitting and Code Enforcement Report submitted by Jeff Rhodes, Director of Administrative Services, for the period December 8, 2005 – January 3, 2006.

            3.      Fire Department Report submitted by Chief William Herbaugh for the month of November, 2005.

            4.      Police Department Report submitted by Chief Robert Dick for the month of November, 2005.

            5.      Public Works Significant Events Report submitted by Kevin Hagerich, Director of Public Works, for the month of November, 2005.

            Councilman Hendershot made a motion to accept the reports.  Councilman Hedrick seconded the motion, and the vote unanimously carried.

ORDINANCES:

Ordinance No. 3544 entitled, “AN ORDINANCE REPEALING ORDINANCE NO. 3537, ADOPTED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL ON JULY 12, 2005, AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF A DEED CONVEYING TO ALCO TOWERS, LLC A CERTAIN PARCEL OF PROPERTY COMMONLY KNOWN AS ALLEGANY TOWERS, LOCATED ON GLENN STREET IN THE CITY OF CUMBERLAND, ALLEGANY COUNTY, MARYLAND,” was introduced and read in Title only.   Councilman Elliott made a motion to accept the first reading and move to the second reading.  Councilman Hedrick seconded the motion and it unanimously carried.

Ordinance No. 3544 was read in Title only for its second reading.  Councilman Elliott made a motion to adopt the second reading and move to the third reading after comment.  Councilman Hedrick seconded the motion after which City Solicitor Price explained that Council had voted in July to convey the Allegany Towers to Decatur Heights Development, LLC based on a prior lease agreement that provided for the transfer of the property for an outright purchase price of $56,720, or for improvements made to the neighborhood for at least that amount.  Decatur Heights provided evidence they did make those improvements to another building in the neighborhood called the Diehl Building, which well exceeded that amount.  Since that time, the principals of Decatur Heights Development LLC had formed another LLC known as ALCO Towers and have requested the property be titled in that name, which is the purpose of the ordinance. 

Joe Freno questioned the verification of the agreed-to amount and was advised that the Diehl Building improvement records had been reviewed and improvements had been made.  Mayor Fiedler added that two and a half of the three floors of the building were currently being rented out and the value of the property had been greatly increased, which was of great benefit to that area specifically and the city as a whole.

 There were no additional comments or questions, and the motion unanimously carried.

            Ordinance No. 3544 was read in Title only for its third reading and unanimously adopted. 

ORDERS:

            President Fiedler asked for requests for discussion of any orders individually.  Jim Combs requested that Items No. 2 and 6 be addressed separately.   Councilman Elliott made a motion to adopt Items No. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 from the consent agenda and was seconded by Councilman Hendershot.  The motion was unanimously accepted, and the following were adopted:

            Order No. 24,305 -  Authorizing J. Robert Dick, Chief of Police, to execute a grant agreement between the Cumberland Police Department and the Allegany County Health Department from the Maryland Highway Safety Office of the State Highway Administration for a Highway Safety DUI Overtime Grant - $3,250.00

            Order No. 24,307 - Authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute a Long-Term User Agreement between the City and Riverside BMX, LLC for use of land at Mason Sports Complex

            Order No. 24,308 - Authorizing the City Administrator to execute Change Order No. 1 to the current contract with Thomas Construction, LLC for the Industrial Boulevard Sidewalks Extension Project - $3,749.99

            Order No. 24,309 - Accepting the proposal of Upright Fence Company for a chain link fence at the Mason Sports Complex, BMX track - $16,523.00

            Order No. 24,311 - Accept the proposal of Whitman Requardt and Associates for Engineering Services for the Evitts Creek CSO Upgrades - $376,967.00

            Order No. 24,312 - To Adopt the Virginia Avenue Corridor Redevelopment Plan prepared by The Faux Group, Inc.

            Councilman Rephann made a motion to adopt Item No. 2; Councilman Hendershot seconded the motion.  Mr. Combs questioned whether these appointments to the Zoning Board were re-appointments or new appointments.  Mr. Repp advised the Order authorized the re-appointments of Earl Royce, Stanley Goodrich and Bob Murray.    With no further comments, the motion was unanimously accepted, and the following was adopted:

Order No. 24,306 – To reappoint Stanley Goodrich, Earl E. Royce, and Robert Murray to the City of Cumberland Board of Zoning Appeals.

Councilman Rephann made a motion to adopt Item No. 6; Councilman Hendershot seconded the motion.  Mr. Repp advised that this order created a full-time Grade 12 position within the MIS division of the Administrative Services Department, which previously had been a contractual position.  He said some of the duties assigned to the position will be overseeing the information technology pertaining to the new phone system that is now part of the computer system, as well as overseeing the computers in the police department. 

With no further comments, the motion was unanimously accepted and the following was adopted:

Order No. 24,310  - Amending the Table of Organization for the Department of Administrative Services, Information Services Department.

Requests To Be Heard:

            At the request of Mayor Fiedler, Mr. Repp provided an update on the status of the June 30, 2005 audit.  On December 30, 2005, the City requested a second extension for submission of the audit to the end of May.  The City should receive the depreciation schedules from the auditors by January 15, after which paperwork can be finalized and submitted to the auditors for review.  An extension was requested as the auditing firm will be entering their busiest season as far as private sector work.

            Mayor Fiedler stated that he had personally contacted the auditing firm regarding the progress of the audit and had been advised that there were no concerns with it and that the City was in fact six or seven months ahead of the timeline from the previous year.  The 2005 audit process had begun late because the prior year’s audit had run late due to department turn over, but the eventual return to a normal schedule was foreseen.  Mr. Repp added that the City’s retirement rate and workman’s compensation rate had been increased after the budget had been set, and those rates would therefore be reflected in this year’s audit. 

            Mr. Combs asked if it would take until May to complete the audit, and Mr. Repp advised that it would depend upon the auditing firm’s schedule and the extension date the State provides.  The City’s work would be completed as soon as the depreciation schedules are received.

            Bill Taccino, Pine Avenue requested a copy of the past year’s financial statement regarding ambulance service, specifically the cost to run an ambulance outside the city limits and reimbursement received for such services.  He was advised to file a Public Information Request. Councilman Hendershot provided Mr. Taccino a copy of the Fire Department’s monthly report.   

            Mr. Taccino also requested copies of the advertisements for the sale of the Decatur Street property.  He was advised that the property had been advertised for sale two to three times several years ago.  The proposals that came in at that time, however, wanted the property for free with no taxes assessed.  Council had met and agreed to provide one or the other, but not both.  It was then promoted that way and the City received an offer according to those guidelines, which was accepted.  The property was not advertised in the paper for development this last time.  Mr. Taccino requested copies of the original advertisements, however, and Mr. Repp agreed to send them to him within the next week.

            Jim Combs asked what the City’s policy was with regard to building permits.  Jeff Rhodes advised that maintenance work does not require a permit, but new construction does.  Mr. Combs questioned why no permits had been issued for the Country Club condominiums or the second six Decatur St. units.  He was advised that it could be a result of pending issues with the architect at the Country Club project, and that construction documents were currently being reviewed for the Decatur Street site.  Mr. Combs questioned why these had been priority issues five months ago, yet no permits had been issued as of yet.  Councilman Hendershot advised Mr. Combs that there was no conspiracy afoot regarding this issue and Mayor Fiedler advised that the permit process depended a lot upon the builder.

            Mr. Combs said that according to information he had obtained from the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, none of the five units at Decatur Street had been sold and each one was still listed individually as owned by Decatur Street Associates.  City Solicitor Jack Price indicated several reasons that could account for the delay in recording.  Mayor Fiedler said that the properties were on the tax base, but when they actually changed hands was not known at this time.

              There were no further requests to be heard, and the meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

Approved February 7, 2006