The question of the evening was: Where did everybody go? At the meeting of the Greenbelt City Council two weeks earlier for the purpose of swearing in the new mayor and council, there was standing room only. But at the first regular meeting of the new council on November 25, the only audience members present were resident Bill Orleans and this reporter. Newly elected Mayor Colin Byrd had made a bold campaign promise to reduce the length of council meetings by increasing efficiency. In his first regular meeting as mayor, he was fortunate to encounter a fairly modest agenda, which included no presentations whatsoever and no city legislation. Under the Petitions and Requests segment of the meeting, Orleans made two requests. He said two councilmembers had raised issues during the recent campaign about needed revisions to the City Charter. He said he hoped for follow-up on that and wanted to propose that residents be involved in the process of a Charter review, with this effort being headed by a resident. Secondly, he asked that a worksession be held with the city Board of Elections to share information on how changes are made to ballots by board members to enable the ballots to be more easily read by a scanner when the voter’s intention is clear to a human reader. Following City Manager Nicole Ard’s administrative report, council’s first business item was to approve purchase of a 2020 Ford F-550 dump truck via a State of Maryland blanket purchase order from Apple Ford in Columbia at a cost of $84,134. This truck will replace an existing truck that is also equipped with a snow plow and spreader. The city’s budgeted replacement fund for next year includes $84,500 to cover this purchase. Councilmember Rodney Roberts did not support the purchase because he considered it to be a waste of money to have 4-wheel drive on a truck that large. In a follow-up to information and a request received from resident Molly Lester regarding plans for the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System to hire an archivist to manage its special collections, including the Tugwell Room in the Greenbelt Library, council unanimously voted to send a letter to the CEO of the library system in support of this plan.
Legislative Priorities
In December, prior to the opening of the General Assembly session, the city council hosts a dinner with the city’s state and county representatives to present the city’s top legislative priorities for the year. Proposed priorities were presented in a document prepared by Assistant City Manager David Moran. The top five priorities were listed as opposing state takeover and privatization of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, opposing widening of the Beltway, blocking maglev routes through Greenbelt and the county, funding Greenbelt Road Streetscape improvements and opposition to moving the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. Other priorities were listed as: increasing M-NCPPC funding for city recreation programs, replacing sidewalks on state roads, banning plastic straws statewide and improvement to the Greenbelt Metro Station. While council was supportive of these items, a long discussion ensued regarding reordering and possibly adding to them.
Opioid Lawsuit
An item was placed on the agenda by Byrd proposing to engage legal counsel to represent the city in joining litigation related to the impacts of the opioid crisis on city services. He named other local municipalities that are participating. While information received from the Police Department some time ago had suggested that opioid addiction was not having a big impact in Greenbelt, councilmembers agreed that more recent information from the police gives much greater cause for alarm. Following considerable discussion about the merits of joining the lawsuit, City Solicitor Todd Pounds offered to look into the matter further. Council accepted that offer and agreed to postpone the discussion until the December 9 regular meeting.
Surprise Billing
Another item placed on the agenda by the mayor was to send a letter to Greenbelt’s representatives in Congress requesting support for Federal legislation to include independent dispute resolution to help address surprise medical billing. Surprise medical billing results when patients unknowingly receive services from an out-of-network provider while in an in-network facility. This item passed without discussion.
Consent Agenda
A number of actions were taken on the consent agenda, which means the staff recommendation is accepted without discussion or a formal vote. Councilmembers may request that items be removed from the consent agenda for discussion at the beginning of the meeting if they wish. By accepting the consent agenda at this meeting council accomplished the following: granted a floating holiday for employees to take when they wish during the year rather than extending the Christmas holiday; agreed to send a letter of support for U.S. Senate bill and a House resolution to address the maintenance backlog of the National Park Service; directed that a letter be sent to the State Highway Administration regarding a missing traffic light at Hanover Parkway and Greenbelt Road; directed staff to prepare a Request for Qualifications for legal services related to the proposed maglev and highway widening projects; and approved an MOU permitting use by the Greenbelt Library of space for certain children’s programs in the Community and Youth Centers while the library is closed during December and January.
