Frederick City Council Public Meeting - February 1, 2024
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Frederick City Council Public Meeting - February 1, 2024
[The meeting covered routine consent agenda items, public hearings on fee waivers and a bicycle lane MOU, and impassioned public comments from residents about a severe crash on South Jefferson Street. All votes were 4-0 with Alderman McShane absent.]
Public Comments & Testimony
- South Jefferson Street Traffic Safety: Multiple residents testified about a high-speed crash on January 24, 2024, involving six cars and two houses. Josh Faust described the incident as a pattern of neglect, stating, "People have died here, and they're going to continue to die unless you make some serious decisions." He demanded a traffic study and concrete improvements, criticizing the city for using "the same round of excuses." Alison Crawford, his partner, recounted the explosion and fire, saying she felt "shocked and helpless" and urged a speed monitoring analysis and traffic calming. Another resident, Scott Atkins, reported that his house shook three houses away and that speed data already exists from police radar showing speeds of 40–50 mph in front of a school. Lori Relusco, a 20-year resident at 22 South Jefferson Street, noted at least eight accidents on her block and suggested rumble strips to slow traffic entering the city. The mayor acknowledged the comments and said a transportation planner was in the room taking notes, promising a response but not the specifics.
Consent Calendar
- Grants: Approved a $301,525 Community Services Block Grant Agreement with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.
- Special Ordinance: Approved an amendment to the FY24 budget to include revenue and expenditures from the same grant.
- Alcohol in City Parks: Approved requests by Christ Reformed Evangelical Church to serve beer and wine at a September 14, 2024 picnic in Baker Park, and by Frederick Arts Council to sell and serve beer and wine on June 7–9, 2024 for the Frederick Festival of the Arts at Carroll Creek Park.
Public Hearing Items
- Frederick Arts Council Fee Waiver: Approved waiver of park rental fees for setup on June 7 and the event June 8–9, 2024 for the 29th annual Festival of the Arts at Carroll Creek Park. The motion cited public benefits including social, educational, networking, and entertainment opportunities that support local business and tourism.
- Children's Festival Fee Waiver: Approved a resolution to continue the partnership with Child Care Choices/Frederick County Mental Health Association for the 34th Annual Children's Festival on April 27, 2024, waiving gymnasium and park rental fees at Baker Park, with similar findings.
- Seventh Street Protected Bike Lane MOU: Approved a memorandum of understanding with the Maryland State Highway Administration for funding the Seventh Street Protected Bicycle Lane Design. Staff noted it was essentially a re-signing of a previously approved MOU due to a template change.
Discussion Items
- Charter Review Process: Alderwoman Ash updated the board on the charter review process. She noted a workshop scheduled for end of February and expected full staff analysis. She emphasized the need for a communications plan and clarity on implementation barriers for 2025 elections.
- Aldermanic Comments: Alderman Russell reminded residents of the Fire and Ice weekend downtown and traffic disruptions. Alderman Shackelford highlighted Black History Month events at the Weinberg Center. Alderwoman Ash promoted the Mobilize Frederick climate summit at Hood College on February 2–3.
Key Outcomes
- All consent agenda items and public hearing items were approved 4-0.
- The reappointment of Alyssa Boxhill to the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (term February 7, 2024 – February 6, 2028) was approved 4-0.
- The mayor directed a response to the South Jefferson Street safety concerns, with a transportation planner present to document the testimony.
- Items 4 and 5 on the agenda (agreements with GHD and WRA for water infrastructure projects) were pulled before the meeting.
Meeting Transcript
No, it's not tonight. Good evening and welcome to the mayor and board of Alderman public meeting for the first of February. We begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. One individual with the liberty and justice. We have minutes to approve January 4th, 2024. So moved. Second. Motion by Alderman Shackleberg, second by Alderman Kazemchek. All those in favor. That is 4-0 with Alderman McShane not present. Mayor's comments. None at this time, other than to wish everyone a uh happy Black History Month. I think uh use the next 29 days since this is a leap year, you get an extra one to learn something. I think that's really what Black History Month is all about. Aldermanic business and comments. Alderwoman Ash. Yes, thank you, Mayor. Um so I'm gonna use my comments tonight to just briefly talk about an issue that we've been working through or a series of issues that we've been working through, and that's the charter review process. Um it's a bit a long process coming. We have a fantastic committee that the mayor appointed that dedicated a lot of their time and their energy over the course of last year. They came up with 19 recommendations. Um in November ish, I penned a it was like late November, I pinned a letter sort of outlining some of the things that I thought we would need because I was the sort of quasi-leese on I attended a lot of the meetings to try to understand like what okay, what what are we going to need as a as a group to make decisions from here? And some of those things were like making sure that the NACs were involved, making sure that you know we had a we budgeted for the upcoming year, all that good stuff. And then about a month ago, we sat up here, the board did, and we laid out a schedule for the upcoming sort of roughly from February now to May to figure out okay, like how were we going to review our process. So I'm just sort of using my time here and my comments to hopefully get to a place where um we did get a workshop schedule that looks like we're gonna have a workshop at the end of the month of February, that is. And hopefully, at that workshop, we will have full staff analysis. Staff was present at each meeting of the Charter Review Committee last um last year. And so we we know that staff had plenty of time to take a look at these items. We're hoping to get full staff analysis to implement for 2025. And if we can't implement for 2025, the election, tell us why. What are those what are those barriers? We need that information to make our decisions going forward. We need to know you know how does the mayor feel about things. We need we need this information. So I'm using this comments to just say hopefully we will have that information, including a full communications plan for the public at the end of the month. Thank you very much. Thank you. Alderman Russell. Just uh wish everybody a happy groundhog day and remind you that this weekend is fire and ice with uh downtown Frederick Partnership. They've made it a two-day event now because it's so popular. So uh I would encourage you if you want to attend, attend, but also know that there are going to be some traffic disruptions. So uh if you're gonna be around downtown, that's what's that's what's going on. Um I have thank you. Thank you, Alderman Shackleford. Yes, February is Black History Month, and currently right now, just a block away at the Wanberg Center is a recognition and celebration for African Americans of excellence. And I'd like to highlight Mr. Bernard Brown, Mr. Seton Gordon, Ms. Mary Harris, Mr. Ted Luck, Ms.
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