The Greenbelt City Council continued to offer entertainment for insomniacs as its September 27 meeting again stretched to almost 1 a.m. During that meeting, council approved an election services contract, introduced an ordinance related to evictions, approved the purchase of a hybrid SUV for Animal Control and discussed the poor quality of the closed captioning of council meetings.
Election Services
The city Board of Elections estimates it will need an estimated additional $38,850 to the existing election budget of $47,000 to comply with the new mail-in voting option. This includes additional costs for mailing, poll books, necessary hardware and software and two additional drop boxes. The drop boxes will permit the city to have drop boxes in each of the three main areas of the city. Council unanimously suspended the rules and approved the resolution authorizing the negotiated purchase. Council also approved the community questionnaire, formerly known as the election questionnaire.
Evictions
Mayor Colin Byrd introduced an ordinance for first reading that would require landlords to notify the city in writing within three days of filing to evict a tenant. The information required includes the tenant’s name, address, property owner, landlord or property manager name, address, contact information and a brief description of the reason for eviction. The city would determine if assistance resources can be provided or made available to the tenant. The failure to comply would result in a municipal infraction with a fine of $100 per instance. The ordinance will be considered for adoption at the October 11 council meeting.
In an earlier agenda item, City Manager Nicole Ard reported that Franklin Park, Dr. Elizabeth Park of Greenbelt CARES and County Councilmember Todd Turner are working together to help residents facing eviction to obtain assistance. While apartment management has reached out to residents who are behind in their rent, Ard said, some have not been responsive.
Vehicle Purchase
There was an unusually lively discussion of a proposal to purchase a hybrid SUV for Animal Control. Their van no longer works and their SUV is frequently in the shop for repairs. Although the city is generally purchasing electric vehicles to reduce its carbon footprint, Assistant Director of Public Works Brian Townsend said that when the vehicle is in the shop, Public Works has not always been able to supply a replacement vehicle.
Townsend said that currently available electric vehicles are too small to accommodate the kennels needed for transporting animals and that the hybrid vehicle was the best option he could find. Further, Townsend said that all electric SUVs are new to the market so there is no secondhand market and that no new electric SUVs are currently available.
John Lippert and Steve Skolnik of GreenACES objected to purchasing a gas-powered vehicle. Lippert said hybrids are just efficient gasoline vehicles. Skolnik called on council to keep fixing the existing SUV until it can find an all-electric vehicle that meets Animal Control’s needs. With the city replacing its vehicles every 10 years, this purchase ensures that the city will be burning gasoline for that long, he argued.
After an extensive discussion council authorized the purchase on a 5 to 2 vote, with Byrd and Councilmember Rodney Roberts opposed.
Petitions
Bill Orleans asked council to reconsider the eviction moratorium that was proposed but not passed.
Captioning
Councilmember Emmett Jordan asked what staff is doing regarding the accommodations for hearing-impaired residents wishing to watch council meetings. The city is currently relying on closed captioning, which is often inaccurate. Ard said staff will be working on that but that in the meanwhile, residents can request an accommodation in advance such as sign-language interpretation. She noted that information about reasonable accommodations is listed on each agenda and in the agenda published in this newspaper.