Category: Council Page 1 of 6

Currently, the Mayor and Council do not receive yearly salaries for the time they spend. They receive stipends. The compensation for the Mayor is $10,500 per year. Council members receive compensation in the amount of $7,000 per year.

City’s Human Resources staff reviewed public data from nearby cities and municipalities with similar population sizes and budgets.

Based on the comparison data, it is the staff’s professional opinion that a change in salary is warranted at this time.

From the City Manager’s perspective, elected officials in College Park should be compensated more comparably to Bowie, Gaithersburg, and Tacoma Park, given the dynamics of the City being home to the University of Maryland and the economic engine of Prince George’s County.

During the research, Staff discovered many municipalities had a Compensation Review Committee comprising residents to recommend elected officials’ salaries. The committees surveyed their city’s websites to seek public input and used this data to determine their recommendation on compensation for the Mayor and Council.

Someone seeks office mainly to perform a civic duty and to support their community. However, financial compensation was always a lower-ranking criterion for running for office. The Mayor and Councilmembers work many hours, sometimes averaging hours that equal a full-time job conducting city business and political and public engagement.

At next week’s meeting, the City Council will discuss Mayor and Council’s yearly compensation.

At next week’s City Council meeting, the Council will discuss the expansion of Community Outreach in Non-English Languages and opportunities to expand our language accessibility further.

Below is a list of current and expanded methods for accessing City information for residents who are non-English speakers.

1. City’s website features a Google translate widget in the bottom right corner that allows for automatic translation in more than 100 languages. As we have reduced the number of pdfs on our site by adding content to the pages themselves, much of our content can be translated automatically to increase accessibility. Most, if not all, browsers (including mobile) now feature native/automatic language translation of websites and HTML pages when the browser detects content in a language that is not the primary language assigned by the user and computer. For instance, if a user is a native Spanish speaker and has their browser/computer/mobile device set to the Spanish language when they visit our website, the browser will automatically ask the user if they would like it translated into Spanish or just automatically translate it. If on a desktop, users can also right-click on the page and click “Translate to…” to change the language or the translation icon in the URL bar. On mobile, users need to tap on the Aa icon and click on “Translate to…” if their mobile device has multiple languages set or the page is in another language.

2. In the summer of 2019, the City switched its Municipal Scene from a pdf (non-translatable document) to a digital magazine HTML5 format that would allow for automatic language translation, scalable text and reader capability. The Municipal Scene is published on the first business day of each month. Due to its timely nature, a digital method of translation was preferred so as not to delay the publication and because of its wider language and accessibility reach. Staff is working on adding a note to the monthly newsletter
informing residents how the content can be translated.

3. The Weekly Bulletin and other e-newsletters will automatically translate in email and browser applications (like websites) or by right-clicking and selecting translate. Staff is working the College Park Here and Now to enable its insert “The College Park Post” to be automatically translated/scaled/e-reader accessible. As part of our upcoming agreement with the newspaper, the City’s insert will be posted to their site (unchanged and un-edited) like their other content in HTML to allow for in-browser translation. Once this feature is ready, the City will add a note to its section informing residents how to translate the insert.

The City’s Resident Guide has historically been translated into Spanish, and a Spanish language version is available on our website to read or to print. Notice of the Spanish version is also in the booklet, and in the newest edition, one of the feature articles informs residents how to translate City publications. Other City publications like Living in College Park have also been translated and printed in Spanish for distribution.

The City hosted a Spanish-focused event, Salsa Night, at the July Friday Night Live event. Event notices for College Park Day have been in Spanish, including a Spanish language flyer that will be distributed to local schools and through the Hispanic Parent Support Group (which is managed by the City’s Department of Youth, Family and Senior Services). When available, the Hispanic Parent Support Group has had a presence at City events. Staff is looking at increasing event notices in Spanish for wider access.

Staff has been using the Language Line service for phone calls; the service provides interpreters to assist callers and City staff in real time. It is also used in the field by Code and Parking Enforcement Officers and Contract Police when immediate interpretation is needed. Since January, this service has been used 32 times, predominately for Spanish. Councilmembers may use the Language Line service for phone calls and request an interpreter for a Community meeting.

Residents may request an interpreter or captioning service for City Council and advisory board meetings through the City Clerk’s Office. Three days’ advance notice is requested to allow for accommodation. When the City provides written material to the residents of Attick Towers, it is provided in English and Korean.

In the last two Municipal Elections, all election-related material provided by the City was translated into Spanish.

Major public communications, such as modified exhaust system signs, are now being provided in English and Spanish.

[City of College Park]

A requirement for the Airport’s continued operation is the maintenance of trees in the flight path of the landing strip. Tree work is required to maintain the height of the trees at both ends of the runway for safe landings and take-offs for the aircraft.

Representatives from M-NCPPC presented information to the City Council on February 4, 2020, about the planned tree work and again on May 19, 2020, to review the work in progress. The scheduled tree work near the Airport is near, if not, complete.

Representatives from M-NCPPC, which operates the airport,  will present information about the completed tree work and the next steps of the project.\ at this week’s worksession.

Personally, I felt very strongly to add 3 comments from the Council side, to address some deficiencies in the report and make it look more complete. Please see the comments I asked the Council to include here.

One particular deficiency I felt in the report was the lack of data used during the study period, as I noted in my comment #1. For example, the report could have provided a stronger and more accurate recommendation on future indoor facilities and programming needs by including facilities usage data. Specifically, College Park Community Center is the only community center within the city boundary, and GreenPlay should have collected the data of the usage and programming at this center over a period of its operation from the M-NCPPC, and use it in the study.

I commend GreenPlay for working on the study and coming up with recommendations to enhance the future recreational needs of our residents and seniors. We should also thank them for making some important edits to the latest version of the report to address some issues we discussed at our October 13 meeting.

However, it’s important to note that City used about $50,000 of taxpayers’ money on the report and, as a steward of that money, I felt that GreenPlay neglected to collect and use some very important data (in comment #1), and include other important information I noted in my comments #2 and 3.

U.S. Supreme Court building Photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

At next Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the College Park City Council will consider taking a position on the Supreme Court case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.

The case, which will be heard by the Court in the fall, concerns whether Philadelphia is required to continue to contract with a private, faith-based foster care agency, Catholic Social Services (CSS) that refuses to work with same-sex couples, despite the city’s nondiscrimination policies.

The Supreme Court decided to take the case to hear in February this year. Earlier, lower courts ruled in favor of city leaders, so Catholic Social Services appealed to the Supreme Court.

Sharonell Fulton (pictured below), a foster parent in Philadelphia, joined in a lawsuit challenging the city of Philadelphia for barring Catholic Social Services of the Philadelphia Archdiocese from placing children in foster families. The Catholic Social Services (CSS) has been operating in Philadelphia since 1797.

Sharonell Fulton, a foster parent in Philadelphia, is pictured with a young woman and children in a May 23, 2018, photo.

If approved by the City Council, College Park will participate in an amicus brief to be submitted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to the Supreme Court. An amicus brief is a legal document that can be filed in a court case by people who are not litigants in the case but have an interest in the case or subject matter.

More details about the case and the amicus brief itself can be found in the City of New York’s primer on the brief here. The primer also includes a request for information that can help demonstrate the impact of potential rulings, including examples of services provided by a jurisdiction.

This case could ultimately impact the ability of local governments to enforce nondiscrimination policies when working with contractors on a wide range of city services.

Supreme Court justices will consider whether the government violates the First Amendment by conditioning a religious agency’s ability to participate in the foster care system on taking actions and making statements that directly contradict the agency’s religious beliefs, among 2 other questions.

Several groups have recently taken positions on both sides of the case. While groups such as the City of New York are filing a brief in support of the City of Philadelphia,  34 friend-of-the-court briefs, dozens of diverse religious groups, 76 Members of Congress, 16 states, have sided with CSS and have asked the Supreme Court to protect faith-based agencies.

According to the critics, the City of Philadelphia has terminated its contract with the CSS even though no same-sex couple has ever approached CSS for an endorsement. Furthermore, they argue that if asked, the CSS would meet the adoption needs of a same-sex couple by referring to one of 29 other agencies, including several with expertise in serving LGBTQ families.

[Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of mine alone and are not necessarily those of City of College Park, or any other organization that I’m officially affiliated]