Good Evening,
Summer seems to be here suddenly. I hope everyone had a great last day of school this past Friday, was able to celebrate father figures this past Sunday, and had a meaningful Juneteenth today. I begin Girl Scout camp tomorrow and am looking forward to it.
This Wednesday evening’s summer solstice meeting:
Comment in person or via Zoom*
PRESENTATION
The City’s office of Housing and Community Development will be updating us on our applications to Maryland’s Department of Housing & Community Development.
VOTING SESSION
2. CONSENT AGENDA
As I stated last week, I am in favor of purchasing this recreation bus to replace the larger recreation bus that has an accessibility ramp but requires a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). I am supportive of the Recreation Department’s efforts to provide more field trips for youth and travel opportunities for seniors.
We had a lengthy discussion about the trash trucks last meeting. It is very important that we maintain a reliable fleet to ensure that our trash pickup isn’t disrupted. As of right now, the options for electric vehicle trash trucks are expensive and unreliable. That being said, it is disappointing for all of us, Director Braithwaite included, to miss an opportunity for the electrification of our fleet. I asked her to please go back to her maintenance team to see if we can possibly hold onto one of the trucks for the time being. It would also be better if we would get out of a cycle where we have to replace two trash trucks in the same year.
As I wrote last week, while the City Council did delay some Equipment Replacement Reserve expenditures for this year, these cars are included in the scope of what we agreed to purchase. I appreciate that these will be electric vehicles as a part of the City’s priorities to electrify our fleet when financially feasible. One of these vehicles is in need of a new transmission. In order to replace that vehicle, which wasn’t scheduled to be deadlined, another vehicle has been moved off the schedule of being replaced this year.
Director Braithwaite updated us last week on this project. It will restore about 200 feet of a stream near the intersection of New Hampshire Ave and Poplar Ave. It will include both plantings and hardscaping.
Mayor Searcy is reworking some of the resolution draft from last week. I was disappointed to hear from Ann Ceikot that it seems unlikely that we can make much headway on a stop sign camera bill at this time.
WORK SESSION
We were delayed last week. I will support this project going through since the grant that is funding it is specifically for this area in Takoma Park. I look forward to working with Public Works and other council members on making the sidewalk and traffic calming measures process more equitable in the near future.
4. (Tentative) Update on Process for City Manager Search
We will likely hear an update on the process for the City Manager Search from the mayor.
It is time again for Committee and Board appointments. Most committees have vacant seats and if you have any interest I really encourage you to apply.