Regular Session

Council Minutes

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The Mayor and City Council of Cumberland, Maryland, met in Public Session on Tuesday, July 24, 2007, in the Council Chambers of City Hall.   President fiedler called the meeting to order at 6:15 P.M.   

Invocation – Councilman Harold Hendershot

Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States

Call of Roll:

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

Department Heads and/or Officials Present:  Jeffrey E. Repp, City Administrator; Charles Hinnant, Police Chief; Michael Cohen, City Solicitor; Sharon S. Clark, City Clerk, Pamela Cover, Executive Associate to the Mayor and City Council and City Administrator, Raquel Ketterman, Environmental Technician, Jeff Rhodes, Director of Administrative Services; John Chapman, Assistant Director of Public Works/ Maintenance; and Paul Erikson, Natural Resource Technician.

Minutes  

            Motion was made by Councilman Rephann, seconded by Councilman Hedrick to adopt the minutes of the Regular Session of June 12, 2007.  The minutes were unanimously adopted.

Motion was made by Councilman Rephann, seconded by Councilman Hedrick to adopt the minutes of the Work Session of May 29, 2007.  The minutes were unanimously adopted.

Motion was made by Councilman Elliott that the Minutes of Administrative Sessions of the Mayor and City Council held Tuesday, May 29, 2007 be approved as written and that the minutes of today’s meeting reflect that the Mayor and City Council met in Administrative Session on May 29^th.  Councilman Elliott made the motion to go into Administrative Session conducted May 29. The motion was seconded by Councilman Hendershot and adopted on a vote of 5 to 0 to discuss personnel issues and consult with legal in accordance with Section 10-508 (1) and (7) of the State Government Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.  In attendance at the meeting were Mayor Fiedler, Councilmen Elliott, Hedrick, and Hendershot.  Also present were the City Administrator, City Solicitor, City Clerk, and Administrative Assistant to the Mayor and Council and Administrator.

The minutes were unanimously adopted.

Reports –  

(a) Routine Reports:

            Councilman Elliott made a motion to adopt the routine reports submitted.  The motion was seconded by Councilman Hedrick and unanimously accepted to adopt the following reports:

1.   Personnel Activity Report for the period July 8 – July 21, 2007

2.   Utilities Report for the month of June 2007

Presentation  -  City Administrator

            1. A request for commitment letter was presented by Paul Moyers, Director of Asset Management; Cumberland Housing Authority.   He stated that The Housing Authority was working in partnership with the Federal Correction Institute, for construction of modular type homes by prisoners with 84 Lumber supplying materials.  The letter of commitment is asking the City to donate two parcels of land, one on Sperry Terrace, where 6-9 units (townhouses) would be erected and the old Fairmont Playground.    Mayor Fiedler asked if the program was a “for-sale” program for the low-moderate family income.  Mr. Moyer responded that yes it was.  Mayor Fiedler also asked if the modular units would be constructed inside the prison area and then brought to the sites.  Mr. Moyer responded that they would be put together at the prison, brought to the sites and set on foundations that will be done by a contractor they are working with.  Mayor Fiedler then asked if The Housing Authority is taking the responsibility of the development and financing.  Mr. Moyer responded that they were and that they were working with First United Bank for preliminary financing and were putting in for a State Grant that would help construct the project.   Mayor Fiedler asked if the Sperry Terrace site would be the first site for the units.  Mr. Moyer responded that it would, and next the Fairmont site and then the Housing Authority would work with the City for other surplus land where they could build single family houses.  Mayor Fiedler asked for a Memorandum of Understanding with everyone involved with the program stating he wanted to make sure everyone knew what their part was before the land was signed over.  He stated this would be for a program and not a gift of land and if the land sat for very long it would revert back to the City. 

Mr. Repp then explained that the specific reason for the meeting at this point was to request a commitment letter of the Mayor and City Council so that they would know whether to proceed with the plan. 

Councilman Rephann asked if the Sperry Terrace location had any easements or anything that would restrict development.  Mr. Repp said, at this point, he could not answer that question since the exact piece of land had not yet been determined.  Once it is determined, an analysis would be done to see if the land would be suitable for building.  Attorney Cohen made the statement that when a title search is done, easements and any restrictions would be discovered.  Councilman Rephann asked with the Fairmont Avenue property being purchased with POS funding, if it was deactivated as open space would they be required to replace it with another property of similar size and designate it as open space and what the plans would be for that.  Mr. Repp said if they were to ask for the playground to be dedicated to them, it would be the City’s due diligence to look at that.  Mr. Moyer responded the reason they wanted to start with the Sperry Terrace location first was so that any problems with POS funding could be worked out.  Councilman Hedrick asked if any of the units would be completed and ready for occupancy before cold weather set in if the MOU was completed and financing in place.  Mr. Moyer responded that the Federal Prison says they can construct one unit in 1 – 1 ½ months making it possible for three units to be completed before cold weather if the land issues are resolved.  Upon request of Councilman Hendershot concerning the housing survey that was done, Mr. Moyer said there was a list of tenants from public housing surveyed as to whether or not they would be interested in owning verses renting which is available for review. 

Mayor Fiedler asked for a motion to move to the next step in this program.  Councilman Rephann made the motion seconded by Councilman Hendershot.  It was unanimously agreed to proceed.

2. Shade Tree Commission – Raquel Ketterman, the City’s Environmental Specialist began the presentation by stating that the City of Cumberland and the Mayor and City Council committed to working with the Urban Tree Canopy Program with part of that program being an evaluation of the City’s shade trees.  She continued to say that the City was fortunate to be able to sign on with Maryland Department of Natural Resources to participate in the program and to receive a large amount of funding through them as well as a Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollar grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust which will be used to plant 200 trees and get some imagery to start the study of how many trees were in the City in the past verses today.  Mrs. Ketterman continued to say that the City was about fifty percent done with the grant with about one more year to finish all the components.  Ideally for a City the size of Cumberland it is proposed to have approximately 40% tree coverage.  She stated that in 2000 a study was done by the United States Forest Service Technical Department and that Cumberland was approximately 32.9%.  An update of tree inventory will take place both along streets and in park areas the City owns.  Study presentations will continue to keep the public informed about the importance of trees and their role in the urban ecosystem.   Mrs. Ketterman explained the importance of trees including storm water management and air quality and reviewed details of the project.  

Mr. Paul Erickson, Natural Resource Technician from the City’s Engineering Department, stated that archives in the City are what will be used for the study.   He stated that the imagery should be acquired in May and sent by the Maryland Forestry Service to the University of Vermont for analysis and results would be given to the Mayor and City Councilmen. 

Mrs. Ketterman stressed the importance of partnerships with both public and private entities, community groups, professionals and volunteers to help educate the public to achieve their goals. 

Paul Yockus – Shade Tree Commission

Paul Yockus, Chairman of the Shade Tree Commission spoke on behalf of the Shade Tree Commission concerning a letter to be entered into the record.  Mr. Yockus stated that it was understood there was a zoning update planned and that the Shade Tree Commission would like the City to take advantage of implementing a tree preservation program with contractors and developers in Allegany County. 

Ordinances and Charter Amendment Resolutions

Ordinance –

An ordinance was introduced in Title only to re-zone Parcel 7042, commonly known as Klot’s Mill on Gay Street from  I-G (Industrial-General) to R-U (Urban-Residential) to accommodate new residential construction in the area..  Councilman Elliott made a motion to approve the first reading, seconded by Councilman Rephann.

Councilman Rephann stated funding was not certain for the project at this time, and asked if they shouldn’t wait until funding is secure before changing the zoning.    Mr. Repp responded that if they don’t have the zoning in place when making application they won’t be given a chance to access the funding. 

Mayor Fiedler stated that he had visited the site and talked with the moving company.  He said he would go into further detail when the ordinance is presented for its second reading.  Councilman Elliott asked if the planning and zoning commission recommended the zoning change. Mr. Repp and Mayor Fiedler both responded they did.

The motion was unanimously adopted to accept the first reading.

            Ordinance No. 3594 – Authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute a deed to transfer City surplus property located at 9 Virginia Avenue to the Human Resources Development Commission, Inc. was introduced 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 the first reading was unanimously accepted.

            Ordinance No. 3594 was read in Title Only for its second reading.  Councilman Elliott made a motion to accept the second reading and move to the third reading after comment.  Councilman Hedrick seconded the motion. 

Mr. Repp explained the property was acquired by the City several years ago with a joint project funded by Community Legacy funding received from the State of Maryland and Community Development Block Grant received from the federal government.  The rehab of the project stalled, for whatever reason and has not moved forward at the pace the City would have liked to have seen.  Several months ago HRDC approached the City with a proposed planned, not only for this property but subsequent properties, where if the City would acquire the properties and provide the properties to them, then they would undertake the renovations and rehabilitation of the projects and find low-moderate income families for homeownership of these facilities.  A MOU was entered into at the last public meeting by the Mayor and City Council with HRDC and this will be the first transfer of property to them for their project. 

There were no further comments made and the motion was unanimously adopted.

            Ordinance No. 3594 was presented for its third reading and unanimously adopted.

Orders (Consent Agenda)

            Mr. Repp reviewed items numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 as follows:

3.  Order No. 24,600 Authorizing the Cumberland Chief of Police to execute a grant award between the Cumberland Police Department and the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention for overtime pay for sex offender compliance – Cumberland $15,000.00. 

Mr. Repp stated that the grant that the police department received, with regards to monitoring support for the training initiative involving sex offenders in the Cumberland area, was going to be implemented by the Cumberland Police Department, and the funds will be for sworn officers for overtime to do follow up as well as for training on sex offender compliance.  He continued to say that the grant was for Twenty Five Thousand ($25,000.00) Dollars and No Cent in which Twenty Thousand would go to cover police overtime and would be split with the Allegany County Sheriff’s Department and the remaining Five Thousand would go toward travel and training.

4.  Order No. 24,601Accepting the bid of  Dignan Commercial Cleaning to provide Custodial Services for the City Hall, Public Safety, and Municipal Service Center buildings - $3,876.00 monthly. 

Mr. Repp stated that out of four proposals Dignan Commercial Cleaning had the lowest monthly bid.  He stated that changes to the contract were a check off list and inspection reports for work being done for accountability to answer the questions – who, what, when, where and how certain cleaning took place.  This will be provided to the City for the work that is being performed.  Mr. Repp stated a provision was added in the contract for a certified payroll to reduce the City’s liability by eliminating “under the table – cash workers”. The contract will be effective August 1, 2007.

5. Order No. 24,602 Adopting a City of Cumberland Substance Abuse Policy.  Mr. Repp stated that the Mayor and City Council had previously reviewed the upgrade on the Substance Abuse Policy which is City wide. 

The new policy is to insure a drug free work environment and if an employee is in violation then steps would be taken accordingly.  The biggest change in the policy is the random testing.  If an employee does not want to do the random tests then certain steps will be taken.  The City is also going to expand the reasonable suspicion testing where all the Supervisors and shop stewards involved in the City are going to receive detailed training to be able to detect drug or alcohol abuse on the job. There will be follow up testing on an employee who has been cited and has come back to work after disciplinary action.  Questions were received from Council and answered.  Mr. Repp stated that this effort involves the Western Maryland Health System Wellness Center who is going to be the City’s testing agency. A lot of the document language came from other policies recommended by them and they also worked with the City’s workers compensation committee in creating the policy with the hopes of affecting and bring down our rates in the future.   There were no other comments or questions.

6.                  Order No. 24,603 Granting Historic District tax incentives for property located at 49 N. Liberty Street owned by Western Maryland Builders LLC – Tax credit $10,068.10 to be used in 5 years, 10 year assessment freeze. 

Mr. Repp stated that the loft apartments Michael Joy constructed was a tax credit program that the Mayor and City Council has had in place for a long time and that it was one of the larger tax credits because the project undertaken involved almost Seven Hundred Sixty Four Thousand Dollars worth of work to a building that was documented at one time as not being worth a whole lot.

There were no questions or concerns expressed on any of the consent agenda items. Councilman Hendershot made a motion to adopt the Consent Agenda.  The motion was seconded by Councilman Hedrick and the following items were unanimously adopted:

Order No. 24,598 Appointments to Boards and Commissions of the City of Cumberland –          Joe Reinhard, Zoning Bd. Of Appeals; Rev. Alfred Deas, Cumberland Housing Authority

Order No. 24,599 Authorizing the City Administrator to execute a MOA between the City of Cumberland and the Canal Place Preservation & Development Authority concerning the operation and maintenance of certain Canal Place improvements

Order No. 24,600 Authorizing the Cumberland Chief of Police to execute a grant award between the Cumberland Police Department and the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention for overtime pay for sex offender compliance – Cumberland $15,000.00

Order No. 24,601 Accepting the bid of  Dignan Commercial Cleaning to provide Custodial Services for the City Hall, Public Safety, and Municipal Service Center buildings - $3,876.00 monthly

Order No. 24,602 Adopting a City of Cumberland Substance Abuse Policy

Order No. 24,603 Granting Historic District tax incentives for property located at 49 N. Liberty Street owned by Western Maryland Builders LLC – Tax credit $10,068.10 to be used in 5 years, 10 year assessment freeze

Order No. 24,604 To amend Mayor and City Council Order No. 24,468 accepting the proposal of ARK Systems, Inc. for the sole source purchase of components for configuration for security for City buildings increasing the dollar amount by $4,911.40 – Total cost $49,129.00

Order No. 24,605 To amend Order No. 24,586 rescinding Brabson’s bid and accepting the bid of Jones Garage as the high bidder for a surplus vehicle

Letters, Petitions, Applications, Proclamations, ETC. 

            The following Petitions and Letters were Acknowledged and entered into public record:

            Letters:

1.      MDP, Md. Historical Trust, notification of award of a Federal FY 2007 Certified Local Grant Award for development and execution of historic preservation building skills training - $10,000.00.        

Requests To Be Heard:

Mr. John Marvin of Cumberland asked the Council for their consideration in working with him to help save properties owned by his wife who suffered a mental breakdown seven years ago.    He said taxes were due on several of the properties, several are coming up for Sheriff’s sale, and they are in need of repairs.  Mr. Marvin said he is in the process of trying to take care of the taxes and make the needed repairs.  He presented the Mayor and each Councilman with thank you notes.

Adjournment

            The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m.

                                                                       Approved August 21, 2007