TO: City Council
FROM: David J. Deutsch, City Manager
SUBJECT: Status Report/Council Poll
DATE: February 8, 2007
Status Report
1. Police Department
The following Officers will be sworn in during the Council Meeting Monday
night:
Officer Jaime T. Anderson of Upper Marlboro has two years of law enforcement experience. She was most recently employed by the Seat Pleasant Police Department.
Corporal Charles H. Brew of Crofton is recently retired after 20 years with the Prince George's County Police Department.
Officer Bennie H. Henderson of Bowie has two years of law enforcement experience. He was most recently employed by the District Heights Police Department.
Officer Patrick H. Mosely of Bowie has two years of law enforcement experience. He was most recently employed by the District Heights Police Department.
Officer Joseph J. Rose of Bowie has two years of law enforcement experience. He was most recently employed by the Metro Transit Police Department.
PFC Jennifer L. Stuehmeier of Bowie has over 10 years of law enforcement experience. She was most recently employed by the Hyattsville Police Department.
This group of six Officers brings our total number of sworn Officers in the Bowie Police Department to eight (8), including the Chief.
2. Bill Hearing
Delegate Hubbard's bill on covenants will be heard on Tuesday, February 13th
at 7:00 p.m. in Annapolis. The public hearing will take place in Room 150 of
the Lowe House Office Building. Three different County subcommittees are
hearing bills during this joint public hearing, so it is likely that the
full delegation will be present, rather than just members of the Bi-County
Committee.
3. Hall Road Rezoning Condition #5
On January 22nd, the District Council reviewed the pending request to amend
Condition #5 related to the details of the library construction, included
as a condition of the District Council's approval of A-9838-C. Revised
Condition #5 was originally drafted by the developer to allow some flexibility
regarding a possible sale-leaseback option. Although the City and area
residents opposed revising Condition #5, the Zoning Hearing Examiner (ZHE)
in September recommended approval of the change and submitted a decision
to the District Council. There has apparently been some progress made by
Councilwoman Turner on this issue; and on January 22, the District Council
remanded the request back to the ZHE for receipt of a specific detailed
proposal, to be prepared by the Office of Management and Budget and Office
of Central Services, that outlines the lease/buy agreement. The ZHE hearing
to receive the report is scheduled for February 21, 2007 and District Council
hearing of the information is scheduled for February 26, 2007. We will
provide Council with a copy of the report as soon as it is available. It
is our understanding that the District Council will likely not endorse
the revision to Condition #5 as proposed by the developer, but rather will
use the opportunity to make any revisions to Condition #5, if necessary,
that would result from their review of the newly created sale/leaseback
proposal.
4. MD 197 Update
The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) continues to study the segment
of MD 197, between Kenhill Drive and MD 450, for future lane widening and
improvement. An Alternates Public Workshop to solicit initial community
input was
held at City Hall in December 2006. SHA will be conducting more detailed
studies on the 4-lane divided and 5-lane undivided alternates over the next
year (the 6-lane alternate has been dropped). SHA staff will be holding public
meetings and hearings in 2008, before attempting to select a concept to take
through the civil engineering and design process. More information should
be available on the
project by the end of 2007 at which time additional community meetings will
be held. A City Council hearing on the alternates will not be scheduled until
sometime in early 2008. SHA staff promises to provide briefings to Council
in the interim. City staff has emphasized to SHA that they should consider
every means possible to minimize the amount of disturbance associated with
each option as the alternates are being further developed over the next year.
The attached information summarizes comments received at the Alternates Public
Workshop and also includes the results of a survey conducted at the workshop.
Eighty-three participants provided survey responses.
5. State Budget
Enclosed is an overview of the State Budget presented yesterday to the MML
Legislative Committee by Budget Secretary Eloise Foster. Secretary Foster
restated what we had been hearing from Annapolis: that the FY08 State Budget
has been cobbled together, a lot of programs are funded, nobody really "got
hurt". But FY09 remains an entirely different matter. Secretary Foster
said "everything is on the table" for FY09, which no doubt will
include some tax increases and some program cuts.
Attachments