City Council Meeting--Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 – 7:30 PM

Tonight’s agenda will include:

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

As we do every week during Maryland’s legislative sessions, we will receive an update from Ann Ceikot.

VOTING SESSION

1. Second Reading Ordinance Approving Installation of Traffic Calming on Second Avenue (PDF)

After a lot of thought, I will abstain from voting on this ordinance. I appreciate the work that the residents did to complete this petition, however our current process is flawed. We need to upgrade to a process that doesn’t give single family home owners an unfair advantage.

Find more information about the previously passed resolution here: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/resolutions/2022/resolution-2022-41.pdf

And the Complete Safe Streets Committee Report here:

https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210310-1.pdf

2. First Reading Ordinance Approving FY 2023 Budget Amendment No. 5 (PDF)

• Revised Ordinance (3/6) (PDF)

The Budget Amendment No. 5 looks a lot different than it did when it was first presented on February 8th. It does not include salaries in our savings. This is because it is not accurate to say that the full amount of the salaries of unfilled positions went unspent. Some portion of those salaries were spent to give employees in “acting” roles, such as “Acting Deputy City Manager,” a pay differential to compensate them for a higher level of employment than that to which they are hired for. When we were presented this amendment last time, we also suggested that we increase the budget for the Tree Fund Reserve. The Tree Fund Reserve money is generated by residents who remove trees in order to replace them. That is the strict use for that fund. ARPA was left out of this amendment/report for general comprehension and due to the fact that it is a standalone fund.

3. Resolution Providing for Temporary Street Closures (PDF) (revised 3/6)

As I said last week, “These are all of the typical road closures for the Old Takoma Business Association. I recommend clicking the link to the PDF above and putting them on your calendar so that you can attend. “

WORK SESSION

4. Discussion of Council Priorities (PDF)

• Council Retreat - January 30, 2023 (PDF)

We will discuss the Council Priorities. These priorities will then be used to help the City set its budget for the next fiscal year.