a ARTILAND 604 City of Cambridge Council Meeting Minutes, Work Session Council Chambers - 305 Gay Street March 24, 2025, 5:15 PM Notice to Citizens: The City Commissioners are conducting city business in person. The commission meetings are open to the public unless otherwise allowed by law. The commission meeting is open to the public. Citizens may also observe the meeting by going on-line to Town Hall - Town Hall Streams Council Present: Mayor Lajan Cephas Commissioner Brett Summers Commissioner Shay Lewis-Sisco Commissioner Frank Stout Commissioner Sputty Cephas, Commission President Commissioner Brian Roche Also Present: City Manager Glenn Steckman Assistant City Manager Brandon Hesson Chief of Police Justin Todd Director of Planning Brian Herrmann Finance Director Perry Peregoy Grants Coordinator Steffanie Malkus Agenda Mayor Lajan Cephas opened the work session. Grants Update Grants Coordinator Steffanie Malkus provided an update on grants. She stated that the grants are paused at the moment. She provided a table that highlighted some of the grants that the City is waiting for. She outlined some of these grants: Engineering/Public Works Flood Mitigation Microgrid Feasibility Study Commissioner Summers asked Ms. Malkus to explain a microgrid. Ms. Malkus stated that ifwe had a natural disaster or emergency, we would have backup solar energy. City Manager Glenn Steckman said that it was a grid for a particular city building and back- up sO that we could operate. Iti is not simply diesel-generated. 1/Page City of Cambridge, Meeting Minutes Work Session, March 24, 2025 Green Infrastructure Demonstration West End Sewer Project Cannery Park Phase I Cannery Park Phase II Cannery Park Phase III Commissioner Summers asked the total cost of Cannery Park. Did the City need more or is that amount enough? City Manager Steckman said that every time Cannery Park goes out to bid, it exceeds the City's estimates, sO we began to phase it. This will break into two phases. First for the dog park and a second phase yet to go out to bid. In addition, this does not include the final phase ofwork, which is the construction ofthe skate park and pump track. The City also has half a million dollars committed to this project, which has been set aside. Ms. Malkus stated that she and Commissioner Roche had discussed some strategies to find funding for the skate park. Ms. Malkus said that the applications that have been submitted and are awaiting notification are listed on the table. She said depending on the grant cyclei it can take up to six months to hear back. The projects that were submitted/awaiting notification are the Cambridge Creek Interceptor, Trenton Street Pump Station, and Heron Blvd. Bridge Project. City Manager Steckman noted that Council had approved the congressionally directed spending dollars. However, he stated that he added another item to the list. We had been told that we had money committed to a fire vehicle for a little over a million dollars. But in the past week, we found out that there are no funds for this fire truck. Representative Andy Harris asked the City to submit a request and it was submitted. Mr. Steckman is uncertain whether it will makei it into this budget year, either. He spoke with the Fire Chief, and a new truck will cost up to $1.1 million, which will increase by five to seven percent a year. The truck will take about two to three years to receive. Mr. Steckman will be coming back to Council in the coming weeks and added that he would like to lock in the price now and keep looking for the money. Cedar Street Project, Leonards Lane Walkway, Transformational Habitat for Living Shoreline (West End), Flood Mitigation, Habitat Restoration and Green Water Stormwater Management, and Cannery Way Improvements are other grants the City is awaiting as well. Commissioner Summers asked if the City property line is on the side of the insurance company building. Mr. Steckman said yes, it appears it is Mr. Hunt's building. In addition, he is waiting to hear from Mr. Hunt, and he is aware of the issue. We are trying to figure out what the rules were and how they were changed on that property. Some trees will be taken down to open Cannery Way and increase lighting. Mr. Steckman added that we are still waiting to hear back from the State about funding. Marina - Current/Active - Floating Finger Piers on the C Dock. 2IPage City of Cambridge, Meeting Minutes Work Session, March 24, 2025 Applications that have been submitted for the marina and are awaiting notification are as follows: EFH demo and replace floating dredging, bath renovation, gates/expansion redecking with composite, and wave screen on the Cambridge Yacht Club side. Commissioner Roche asked a question about the gates/expansion. Commissioner Summers asked a question about the bathroom renovation and Finance Director Perry Peregoy answered. Mayor Lajan Cephas told the City Manager it was 5:33 p.m. and asked how much time Finance Director Perry Peregoy would need. Mr. Steckman stated that, if necessary, Mr. Peregoy could finish his report under City Manager's report during regular session. Ms. Malkus stated that the current/active grants for housing/economic development are as follows: Lead Remediation and Workforce Development. Council and City staff discussed lead paint and remediation as Council had some questions regarding the grant. Assistant City Manager Brandon Hesson said that if Council would like, he could have the Housing Department come before Council to give an update on these grants. The City has an Outreach Coordinator, Mr. Dabney, who goes door to door. HOW Program and Homeowner Helper Program are other grants that are active. Mayor Lajan Cephas provided some background information regarding the Healthy Homes. Uplift application that has been submitted and is awaiting notification. Mr. Steckman stated that there is another person who deals with grants, Valerie Mann. She assists CPD with grants. There is a need for a Fire Rescue Boat and the funding source would be FEMA/Dept. of Homeland Security. The application has been submitted and is awaiting notification. Special Projects Current/Active Façade Improvement Program 444-448 Race Street Phase II Maces Lane Construction- State Fund Demolition Old City Hall Community Room Arts and Entertainment Applications that have been submitted are Pine Street Players Cultural Programming and Maces Lane Outfit of Building. Commissioner Summers asked Ms. Malkus what she sees from Federal and State. State has a budget deficit they are trying to fix. Ms. Malkus noted that the State had been ready to open the next round of block grants. Unfortunately, the date has been pushed to TBD. DOT grants that have been funded and have DEI aspects to them will be reviewed. Commission President Sputty Cephas said that there have been conversations with both State and Federal legislators and representatives. They are saying loudly that the 31 IPage City ofCambridge, Meeting Minutes Work Session, March 24, 2025 City needs support on a municipality level. Commission Sputty Cephas asked just for transparency could Ms. Malkus indicate when 444-448 Race Street application was submitted. Ms. Malkus stated that it was submitted back inJune of 2024. Commission President Sputty Cephas reiterated this was before August of 2024, which was when candidates were able to file for election. Ms. Malkus stated "yes." Commission President Sputty Cephas and Mayor Lajan Cephas thanked Ms. Malkus for all that she does. Commissioner Lewis-Sisco stated that this information was very helpful and good to see it in the format. Finance Update Finance Director Perry Peregoy thanked Council for the opportunity to speak. He gave a quick overview of the Finance Department. The Finance Department handles accounts payable, billing and payments, general ledger management, payroll, grants accounting, and management ofbudgeting/treasuy. There are certain areas where the City can make some significant improvements. One that comes to mind is the billing and payables area. This is the area that does all the billing and payments for the water, traffic citations, municipal infractions, etc. Itis a an intensely manual process. They do over 6,000 water bills, 700 second notices on the bills, and hundreds of water cut-offs during the month. This all requires administrative staff. There is an opportunity for outsourcing, not the entire function, but certain aspects of the function which would make better use of the resources that the City has. Regarding the General Ledger at the end of last fiscal year there were two databases that have been consolidated into one. Mr. Peregoy explained that in the payroll area when he came on board, the City was doing payroll by paper. Timesheets were all paper. Now there has been a much more dynamic payroll system implemented, Paycom. Grants accounting was just established in the past 14-15 months. Grants accounting, through the cooperation and coordination with Ms. Malkus, staffhas been able to bring the lion's share of all grants into one area which has made. it easier to track and monitor grants. Commissioner Roche asked whether grants accounting went through Paycom as well? Mr. Peregoy stated that grants accounting is not done through Paycom; however, the City has the capacity through Paycom to take staff time and charge it to a grant. This was a bigi initiative. Commissioner Roche asked ift the City had specialized software that tracks grants. Mr. Peregoy stated that staff are currently exploring software. Mr. Peregoy stated that he is proud of draft financials that have been produced. He put draft on it to not raise any concern about the integrity of the numbers but to bring attention to the format. The format that he has chosen is a "leadership format.' 3> Iti is not designed to provide line-item specificity. It is intended to roll up information to the highest level sO that council will be able to understand what the activities are. He also provided background information on funding accounting. Mr. Peregoy stated that the City has three different enterprise funds: Water, Sewer, and Marina funds. All those individual funds are intended to be supported sustainably by the fees they charge for 4IPage City of Cambridge, Meeting Minutes Work Session, March 24, 2025 the serviçes they provide. Mayor Lajan Cephas stated that Council would need to adjourn the work session as it was 5:58 p.m. Mr. Peregoy said if Council was interested in revenue and ARPA there is a table. For each ofthe accounts, he can show Council what the funds were spent on within general parameters. Mr. Peregoy observed that looking at the numbers and projecting as a six- month snapshot, that the year looks good for the City. It looks like this year the City will be able to add additional funds to the City fund balance and grow it beyond what was expected in the budget. There is about a million dollars in reserves. The City is moving into the second half of the year in a very positive way. Despite the volatility of the grant world, Mr. Peregoy sees nothing that is necessarily going to deter that. Adjourn On a motion by Commissioner Lewis-Sisco and a second by Commission President Sputty Cephas the meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:00 p.m. Approved by a 5- Ovote. With no further business, Mayor Lajan Cephas adjourned the meeting at 6:00 p.m. I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and accurate account of the Work Session on Monday, March 24, 2025, insofar as I am personally aware. Aoplepae Mayor Lajan Cephas City Commission meetings are conducted in open session unless otherwise indicated. Pursuant to the. Maryland Open Meetings Act, all or a portion ofthe Commission meeting may be held in closed session by vote ofthe Commission. Please note that the order of agenda items is subject to change and that meetings are subject to audio and video recording. 5/Page City of Cambridge, Meeting Minutes Work Session, March 24, 2025