Good Evening Ward 1,
I hope you have love filled plans for this Valentine’s Day. I plan to bask in my love for our city at the City Council Meeting. I hope you’ll consider joining me.Â
Public Safety-The Takoma Park Police Department continues to provide us standout service. When comparing Takoma Park crime rates to those of the jurisdictions around us, we experience lower levels of crime. I was moved by how well TPPD handled the reckless driving event that happened this past Saturday. Please remember that being a bystander and watching displays of reckless driving is also dangerous.Â
6:30 PM
Vote To Convene In Closed Session
 The City Council will vote to convene in closed session to meet with staff and the City’s Labor Attorney to receive a briefing on and to discuss matters related to collective bargaining negotiations with Local 400. The meeting will be closed pursuant to Annotated Code of Maryland, General Provisions Article, § 3-305(b)(9) which permits a meeting to be closed to discuss matters related to collective bargaining negotiations. After the closed session, the Council will reconvene in the Auditorium for the regular meeting.
I really appreciate the work that our Department of the City Manager has been doing, even before CM DiSpirito arrived, to reach a three year contract agreement with the labor unions within the City. I cannot go into detail about what the meeting will cover, but I can say that we continue to move in a direction that has fewer closed sessions thanks to the work of the Department of the City Manager. Our City Clerk, Jessie Carpenter, will release appropriate meeting minutes in the future to cover what we are able to disclose.Â
7:30 PM
Reconvene In Open Session
General Public Comments
Comment in person or via Zoom*
*To comment on Zoom, registration is required by 5 pm on the day of the meeting. There is no registration requirement to comment in person.
Work Session
My Questions:
What can be done to support the TPPD in getting all speed cameras and red light cameras up and running? (This isn’t only a revenue source but also improves safety in our city.)
Where are we on recuperating overages on the ARPA Library project? (The report mentions that we have accrued more interest than we expected.) What other cuts are planned to make up for extra costs?