Good evening Rockville. Today is March 17, 2025. We'll convene meeting 8-25 please join me as you're able in the pledge of innovation under God, individual, ability, justice, all. All right, thank you, everyone. First item is Agenda Review, Ms. Sarah Taylor-Farrell. Madam Mayor and Council members, there are no changes to the agenda for this evening. Thank you very much. Welcome to our city manager, Jeff Mehlick. Mayor Ashley, members of city council, good evening. When I woke up this morning came to work. I knew I forgot something. It was my green tie. So I apologize for that. I do have Irish heritage so I should have not forgotten but next year I promise. Just a few things report report. First, we continue to exercise or emergency operations plan. That's really important. Last week, over 50 city staff members, again, 50, and a number of numbers from our county colleagues went through a simulation of a tornado coming through the city of Baroqueville. We did a tabletop exercise to really simulate what would happen if a tornado came through town. How will we communicate, how will we marshal of resources and more importantly, how we take care of our residents and all the property. And that was a really good exercise. So no worries preparing for when an accident might happen in the future. Also, I'm excited to share with you that phase two of the Reforestation Planet Red Gate Park is now underway. will be be planting more than 800. That's right. I said 800 trees and shrubs at the park and that is through a grant through the Chesapeake Bay Trust. Not only are we beautifying a park, but we're using other people's money, which is always a good thing. And Merle, I'll also say that over the past year, this council and members of the community have helped us build and fortify a brand new brand in the city, and I couldn't talk about it, but that would be boring. So instead, let's just watch a video. It was supposed to be a little bit more of a while, but. I'm sorry. Sorry. Thank you. While you're working on that, just to fill the time, I just wanted to thank City staff for creating the Rise and Renew series. We have so many federal workers, contractors and grantees who have been impacted. There are some flyers around and on the social and web channels. But if you are a federal worker and need some help and access to recreation services, we have a series of programs for you. And there's also half-loaf memberships available. So please take a look at that. Thank you, Bill. We're just building up the big reveal. That's all we're doing. We're just building up the big reveal. That's all we're doing. We're sorry. We can't do it. We're sorry. We can't do it. Pretend it's fireworks. You're going Me just go, ooh, and it starts coming out. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to note that we have two different items on today. There is a section on community forum and there is a section on public hearing. I know that there's at least one person who has to leave, so we'll just say remarks that will apply to the public hearing. The community forum will be first. Council member, Vangrack, while we're waiting. I figure we'll be waiting. I just want to issue a number of thanks. There's an old adage that I know you hear a lot from law enforcement. That's if you see something say something. And I know that recently we had a situation just this past week where a concerned citizen and her name is Chelsa Rubin went into the city staff and specifically found and at least reported that there was a property with significant alleged and potential animal cruelty issues. And I wanna commend not only the concerns innocent, but also the City Manager's office as well as the Rockefeller City Police Department for taking quick action and to find that there were multiple animals just over the past few days that were taken into care and are currently being evaluated by veterinary care. So I wanna thank all the members of the city staff, the community and the Rockville City Police Department for their quick action to address what I need to be addressing the community. Thank you. Thank you to all, are we ready? We are ready. All right, let's go. Okay. A New Year. A New Resolve for Robb Phil Tuker. We are ready. Alright, let's go. A new year, a new result for Rockville to continue to evolve, and that starts with a new brand identity for our city. Rockville is a resilient organization of public servants with a deep commitment to our residents' growth and success. In fact, everyone is in all we do. And our new brand identity is built on creating pillars of safety and trust, connectedness, creativity, innovation, freedom, and empathy. These pillars combine, create Rockville's dynamic diversity and our new brand-eye vanity. Rockville, it's time to rise together. Let's embrace this new era of keeping Rockville the best place to live, work and play. Not just in Maryland, but across the nation. Rise together! Thank you, ma'am. Thank you! Before she leaves, thank you to Miss Kathy, a dance-ler who really helped spearhead this brand. And now she doesn't. She likes to be the person behind the scene who I really appreciate all of your efforts. I think the brand really speaks to inclusiveness and how we're gonna all improve and make this a better city, not only now but for years to come. Thank you, Mary. Thank you. So now we move on to community forum. All persons addressing the mayor and council shall speak in the courteous and civil manner. Each person will be allowed three minutes, and we ask that you stick to the three minutes allowed. There'll be a time clock in front of you, and you will hear an audible beep. So please pay attention to that. As you speak, please state your name and whether you live in the city of Rockville, and we look forward to hearing from you. The first person we have is Chris Adina. Okay. All right, Chris. All right. Next person is Trisha Tyce and Margie Dymay. Welcome. Good evening, council members. I'm a resident of the King Farm Lifetime Community in Rockefeller. Oh, thank you very much. I'm a resident of the Ingol side King Farm Lifetime Community. Last spring, I'd go out walking. He wouldn't believe it, but I do walking around the Watts Branch stormwater retention ponds with lots of wooded areas around them between King Farmble of Art and Redland Road. And I was dismayed to see all of Eines climbing all over the trees, but then in July, I read in the Rockville reports that neighborhood improvement projects could be proposed by citizens. So I submitted one last, remember, what a neat idea could get the city to work on improving our urban forests. And you know where these are. I don't have to point it out to you. I'm sure I just I want to say maintaining healthy trees in our neighborhoods is essential to cooling our streets and properties as we face an everwarming planet. Vines block the photosynthesis of the trees and inhibit their growth. They have the potential to kill the trees. And I'm not sure if you're aware, but area birders know the King Farm retention ponds are considered a birding hotspot on eBird, which is an international database of observations by thousands and thousands of birding experts all over the world. And it's citizen science, the population dynamics of these birds are used by scientists all over the world to study what's happening. And this is a spot that I can log on to Ebert and find reports on what's happening in the King Farm retention ponds, because birders walk on those trails quite frequently. So I have a minute left. I want to thank you for already getting the weed warriors out. They came and worked right adjacent to our fountain side building on King Farm Boulevard and I've got a picture of that and I want to urge you to try to get them out if you noticing this week. The little plum blossoms are starting to bloom on Picard and the trees are starting to open and pretty soon it's going to look like this. This is just Redland Boulevard if you walk all the way through from King Farm and by by, sorry, staff. Oh, you can see me up there. Okay. This is, they're not gonna be able to whack these weeds in this. And by, sorry, staff, oh, you can see me up there. Okay. This is, they're not going to be able to whack these weeds in the summer, so it needs to be done now. And I have a couple of photographs that I was hoping to give you all copies of this one that I have, which shows one of the forest retention area signs and with vines climbing all over it. And I don't have enough of those, but because I thought you could frame it and put it on the wall in your office or in your desk. And some of these other photos you have already, but I'll hand these out to you. And the big one, and if you want one with the forestry pensions sign, you can very know and put it in your mouth. I ran out of it, but my friends are too. I'm going to put it in your mouth and say more. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming. And perfectly wearing all the green. That's the invasive species though, that's not the kind of green you want to see. All right so now we have Jeffrey Gins. Good evening thank you mayor and council again for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you all. I'm here once again to speak regarding concerns of potential projects that will impact the mantra's community. I want to start by thanking council member Shaw for visiting our community last week for a neighborhood walk. We were able to show Council Member Shaw concerns, and I recall Council Member Shaw stating how seeing it in person certainly is different than looking at a proposal on a piece of paper. The Cementro-Cific Association is happy to host any of you for a neighborhood walk at any time so that you too can see for yourself how these proposals will greatly impact our community. Now I'd like to address the Congressional Lane Complete Street study. This study is looking into adding bike lanes on Congressional Lane. When considering Congressional Lane between East Jefferson and Ron's Avenue, it is hard to see how bike lanes can be done without impacting traffic and taking away much needed parking. While the study notes that the parking on this section of roadways use 34 to 66 percent of the time, I don't necessarily believe this is accurate. It appears the study was done in the fall of 2024 and done as most studies are as a snapshot in time. If you were to do parking counts in the spring and summer when recreation leagues are in full force in Montreux Park and at Peakac usage, you would find a different story regarding parking. If the parking on Congressional Lamer to go away, this would cause people to find parking elsewhere in the neighborhood, meaning on Rollins Avenue, Martha Terrace, Lorraine Drive, and other neighborhood streets. In my mind, this is unacceptable. I would also like to point out that the study indicates there are speed humps on Congressional Lame. I assure you as someone who drives this road almost daily, there are no speedhumps on congressional lane. There are other errors in flaws in the report as well, but that's not really important at this point in time. We understand the need for bicyclists to have a safe way to get around the city, but our bike lanes on congressional lane between East Jefferson and Rollins really necessary. If bike lanes were installed, where would they connect to to at the Rollins Avenue end. And in his my understanding that a study will be done to look at adding bike lanes on East Jefferson Street. So the ask would be. if bike lanes were installed, where would they connect to at the Rollins Avenue end? And it is my understanding that a study will be done to look at adding bike lanes on East Jefferson Street. So the ask would be to limit bike lanes on congressional to the section between 355 and East Jefferson where it really would not have an impact. If you see the need to include bike lanes on the section of congressional lane between East Jefferson and Rollins, we would like to know how you plan to address a loss of parking spaces. I will also once again ask as I have before how you can look at one plan or project at time without taking into account the big picture. Our planning area 10 is currently being considered for rezoning areas along with the Congressional Lane Bike Lane study, now the soon to be East Jefferson Street Bike Lane study. And when looking at these, it seems each proposal or project is being considered independently and not also looking at how what is proposed or even happening in planning area nine will impact our planning area. For instance, Wegmans will be opening the end of June and is sure to have an impact on traffic in our community. Eventually another building will be constructed next to the Milton and Wegmans causing more traffic issues. You get the idea. Thank you again for your time and I will again again remind you that Montrose Civic Association would welcome the opportunity for you to come and do a neighborhood walk with us to see our concerns firsthand. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Gina Arnett. Good evening. My name's Gina Arnett, and I'm an engineer with with public works as well as a board member of the Association of Administrative Municipal Employees or AIM. The board has repaired the following statement regarding the Commensation and Classification Study that's on tonight's agenda. AIM is a meet and confer organization representing Rockville's administrative employees and we've been advocating on behalf of these employees for over 40 years. As part of the compensation and classification study, the city committed to providing aim with a two week period to review a draft of the report and offer feedback. However, an email sent to all city staff on 4 p.m. last Friday, March 14th was the first that we'd heard of the finalized report. And as I said, it was the final report not a draft as promised. Because of this, AIM has not been able to form a complete opinion on the site's findings as we simply didn't have the opportunity for participation that was initially promised. Our view has been limited and we've had no time to discuss the findings with our members. While we appreciate the city's completion of the study and the inclusion of a cost of living increase for fiscal year 26, we believe the process itself was flawed. Despite multiple requests from Ames appointed, commentation and classification liaison communication between Ame and the city was minimal. We were not consulted during the development of the study and didn't have a chance to offer feedback. Unfortunately, this lack of inclusion mirrors our past experiences, such as with the updates to the personnel policy and procedures manual. Ames Board feels that we have not been meaningfully involved in the discussions that impact our administrative staff. The city's policies and procedures manual issued on December 19, 2023 states that city fully recognizes aim and its importance and will make every effort to discuss major issues that impact administrative employees. Specifically, those related to operations, procedures, pay and benefits. We sincerely hope that the city reaffirms this commitment moving forward. Thank you. Thank you very much. That exhaustive those who signed up in advance for community forum. Is there anyone else who would like to speak during community forum? We also have a public hearing coming up. All right. Thank you very much to everyone who presented. We'll now move on to a special presentation on compensation and classification study presented by Susan Sealig, along with analyst, Collette Anthony and Dan Ripperger. Welcome. Good evening. Thank you. Good evening. I'm delighted to present an overview of the city's recent classification and compensation study along with our Bolton partner, Dam Rittberger, who will be joining us virtually. The city is committed to ensuring that employees receive fair and competitive pay and benefits that are aligned with the regional market. The city engages in the best practice of regularly evaluating internal pay practices and benefit offerings and assessing how our pay and benefits compared to peer organizations in the region through a classification and compensation study. The classification and compensation study evaluates positions, pay, and benefits to ensure that positions are appropriately classified by skills, responsibilities, and duties to ensure that our pay is internally fair and consistent and in alignment with similar jobs in the region. And lastly, to ensure that our benefit offerings are competitive compared to similar organizations in the region. Over time job requirements and the market change. So the city is committed to regularly conducting a study to remain competitive with our peer organizations in the region. Most organizations have a compensation philosophy that informs pay practice and benefit offerings. The city's compensation philosophy aims to pay our employees at a level where salaries are higher than 60% of our recognized peers in the region for similar positions, which means that our philosophy is to offer salary and benefits that are slightly more competitive than the peer market median. The city has engaged Bolton partners and experienced firm to conduct our most recent study. I would like to introduce Dan Ripberger, president of Bolton Total Rewards Practice, to provide an overview of the study's objectives, approach, findings, and recommendations. Dan, I'm gonna hand it over to you. Thank you very much. And certainly thanks to the council and the city in general for giving Bolton the opportunity to work with you on this particular study. I think what you'll see as we look at the table of contents and walk through the study, it's, we try to be as fairly comprehensive and as we can certainly we are taking a point in time picture of where we feel jobs compared to the market compared to each other. But a little bit more broadly than that, we are reviewing the classification and total compensation system, not just the levels that are provided and where we see need for enhancements or changes to either help ensure that the system itself delivers internal and external equity, or maybe it's more efficient to utilize or more efficient to communicate. We certainly looked at all of those elements and as they break down in terms of very specific things we looked at the confirmed the compensation philosophy that that 60th percentile target looked at the system that's used to classify jobs or evaluate them. How does the city compare one job to another from a valuation perspective? We did do a very exhaustive mark of total compensation study. We took that information and reviewed the base pay structures, the design of them, how they fit the roles, those sorts of things, and looked at how they align with the market. And then we got into actual employee pay. Where do employees fall relative to the pay ranges and what makes most sense? And certainly a review of supporting policies and administrative practices. Just to give you a little bit more confidence about Bolton, we've been around in Maryland for quite a few years, actually worked nationally, but Bolton started in Baltimore about 40 years ago and almost exclusively working with public sector organizations. We started as a retirement actuary firm and we are the current pension consultant for the city, as you may know. But in addition to the pension consulting, we have divisions that like rewards, which is looking at organizational rewards and performance. But we also have a practice that is for healthcare consulting, medical insurance. We do investment consulting for fiduciary responsibility. And then we have two additional practices are newer that help with talent. So you know executive competency development, leadership placement, some of those sorts of things and then we have a communications practice as well. The rewards practice which is the I'm the head up. I've been doing this for about a little over 30 years now and we are focused on reward strategy and compensation consulting. We look at certainly classification and compensation. As the study we've done for the city is a very fundamental approach to that. But we explained that a little bit to look at organizational performance and design, you know helping employers develop a value proposition how they might that want to brand or communicate what it means to be part of the employer team, then looking at the type of rewards that are most appropriate. As I mentioned, we do get into executive performance, classification, and then looking at outsourcing and some other arrangements from a research perspective. So we are definitely a full service management consulting firm in that context. The key folks who worked on this study, I was the engagement manager, Jennifer Durham, one of our senior consultants was the project manager and worked hand-in-hand with Susan and Colette and others walking through the study. Scott Schreiber, who has been my partner for a number of years and an expert in point factor job evaluation and classification, he actually started his career at the Hay Group doing point factor evaluations, moving from employer to employer. He kind of led that piece of it and then Sandra Bruce really helped on our market research and data analysis side. So that really is the major part of the team. We have a fairly straightforward five phase process, five step process that starts with kind of discovering, making sure that in the first step that we understand the organization, we certainly had the opportunity to talk to leadership and brief everyone in terms of the study and what was coming. It certainly helped, from a communication perspective, with employees as well. Once we get through the discovery and really start to identify what the organization is what what what the organization is doing We do dig into the jobs So we had functional surveys that we asked department heads to complete We then you know interview department heads as a follow-up to that We used employee completed questionnaires to help supplement some of the job description information and then with job family and Career level assignment is a big part of our classification system. It's kind of our first step in trying to organize the work independently from how it's sitting now, you know, to kind of test it to make sure there's still some alignment. The third piece, and these certainly run concurrently, as you would expect, the third piece is really looking at the market bench marking, where we look at the, who do you want to compete against, what's your target in the market, those key items, develop a list of peers to conduct a custom survey. We supplement that data with data from published surveys that we have. I've been working in the DC market for about 25 years and was the recent head of the local compensation and benefits association. So we have a lot of great data in addition to the peer information that we were able to bring forward. And then we looked at total compensation. So you know a big part of the studies certainly looking at pay and the pay system but we also looked at how you compare qualitatively for medical benefits, for dental. We did a brief actuarial analysis just to kind of confirm our past work in terms of the retirement plan competitiveness and looked at PTO and those items as well. We bring all of that together and say, you know, what should just change is B. We work with the city to understand the implications of those and it all hopefully culminates in what the city's choosing to adopt moving forward and how they're going to do it. And then this presentation to you tonight. So hopefully as we talk through it, this is just to confirm. That was a perfect swap. Yeah, we can go to the next slide. That confirming that 60th percentile target, certainly it's within the policy that's established, and it is what we use. I think it does make sense, just as a consultative opinion, that it really allows you to target a higher caliber of talent that really reflect, I think think the needs of the city. The we invited more than 12 we had 12 respond here are the peers the peers gave us over 30,000 employees and we capture that data on a person by person basis and then we summarize that to come up with the statistics that are used in our study and in our analysis. We don't provide the actual pay data by employer. And for us, it's a compliance thing with the Department of Labor and the Federal Trade Commission. And it just has to do with antitrust and price fixing guidelines. I know it it's a strange balance with transparency and some of those sorts of things but it is one of those things that allows us to gather the data that we do because it's part of the relationship that we develop with the peers who supply information. So this is what we found. We found that the base pay ranges were slightly below market and that's what you would expect. We were looking at your pay ranges as of the current year and we're projecting them out to next year. So typically since the market moves we would expect to see some amount below market and you're 96.6% of the 60th percentile overall, or 3.4% below. And that's for all of the ranges combined. Certainly, when you get into health benefits, there are trade-offs in terms of different plan features and different levels. But overall, the health benefits, the medical dental and vision, are fully competitive the market, certainly well designed and in line. The welfare benefits, again, it's depends on how much value you place on one particular piece. But we just thought they were slightly below market, just because of the lower life insurance maximum. It's there compared to what other peers offer. I don't know that it's that big of a blip that a lot of candidates or employees would necessarily have a challenge with. When we look at the paid time off, it's just simply slightly more than competitive because of the sick time carryover and that piece being a little bit richer. Retirement is fully competitive as well. Overall, it is slightly less than competitive, and that's really primarily due to the pay ranges themselves. And that certainly I think is something that the city is looking at that, correcting for the next fiscal year. So this is just an example, a bit more detail as we looked at the different ranges since there's this variance we were mentioning by structure. So the administrative structure is 96.2% of market. The union is 96.7%. The police are 95.3 and senior management is 91.6% of market, but that's 60% out. I just want to remind everyone, I'm sure you have this. This isn't actual pay that we're looking at. So actual pay is what the folks would be making within these ranges. But this is really the policy adjustment to get to a market level. That's really what these percentages mean. So from an administrative perspective, it would be a 3.8% adjustment to the range is to bring them to the 60th percentile. No, necessarily no immediate piece. It's what happens to pay after that in terms of additional changes that any would occur. just an example of how we do the comparison. So on the administrative structure, the first job we have the senior civil engineer, four employees in that job with average service of 5.2 years. It's a grade 220, 80 to 20, and it had a midpoint of 107, 932. Based on our analysis, the midpoint, the 60th percentile was 114,275. So the simple math is 94.4%. So the midpoint is 94.4% of that market-based 60th percentile. So we look at those at other jobs as well. that the senior construction inspector is 93.4, the water treatment plan operator is 99.4, and then certainly we do this for each structure. So as you can see with the police structure, the police officer 2, the midpoint is 89.4, and that's 1 to 2.5% of the 60th percentile. So it's actually slightly above, whereas the police sergeant is 91.3%, so it's 8.7% below. Some of this is just not a pure exact science and their minor differences in what your progression or hierarchy and jobs might look like. So certainly some of this variance is to be expected. So what does this mean? Certainly I know the administrative team will talk about what it actually means from a pay and what's being recommended. And that'll be part of it. We're not recommending that the city redesign the structures or put it at least at this point put in a different construct to help manage pay. And we didn't really see any need to change the grading of specific jobs since this is just that one point in time pick. We did see kind of four areas and I don't know that these are anything other than if the administration comes back with the need to say we're beginning this project or beginning this special initiative. The first thing that we observed, particularly going through a lot of the information on the benefits programs. And if you think about this in that total rewards or total compensation, it's really that expanding the compensation philosophy, that great approach of the 60th percentile to include total rewards and really develop a bit more sophisticated way to communicate with employees around what that means. And frankly, it's the commitment that the city and the council makes in that investment. It's helping to get that message out in maybe a bit more formal fashion and more tightly organized. Second piece is job documentation. This is one of those where this is not an easy task. So we suggest this in terms of how long it takes. But we did find that the job descriptions and the consistency, clarity, all of that could certainly be improved. And we could probably say that about all the clients that we touched because job descriptions are difficult and jobs change. But I do think it would really help solidify kind of communication with your organization and the HR team and some of those other pieces. Also talking kind of that same job classification analysis front is we're recommending right now the the city uses a point factor system that was developed several years ago to you know help develop an approach to valuing jobs compared to one another and it's fairly antiquated to be to be directed and there's certainly better approaches today in terms of using things that are aligned with more career progression and allow for a better alignment with the market. And we have recommended that the city adopt or approach the classification, which is based on job families and career levels and those sorts of things. Last piece would be if any of these changes are adopted or future is to make sure that there's concurrence or integration with any other policies that are in place. So if there's a policy that talks about point factor job evaluation, it's the point at which the city adopts a different approach that that policy gets changed as well. Dean, thank you. Absolutely. I'm going to talk a little bit about what this means for the recommended FY 2026 budget. The recommended FY 2026 budget includes a 2.5% cost of living adjustment. It also for those employees who've been identified via the study as being under the competitive salary point are recommended to receive an adjustment capped at 7.5%. The estimated cost, total cost for the recommended salary adjustments is approximately $1 million. And finally, as recommended by Bolton, we will review all salary ranges to ensure that they align with the city's compensation philosophy of 60%. Thank you. Thank you very much for that presentation. I know we'll be discussing this further in the budget, but wanted to note that my colleagues and I sent some questions in advance just as an FYI for the public. Jeff, where would those responses be shared? I mean, we just got them earlier today. We provided the answers in terms of posting them online. Yeah. I'll find out in circle back. Okay. This just want to make sure we're sharing that with the public. And then just also just want to make sure that we're doing the proper engagement with employees as well. Okay, now we have consent agenda. We have a few items, consent agenda item A, approve and authorize the city manager to execute the state of Maryland capital projects grants agreements for the David Skull Park improvements, the adoption of resolution to establish maximum rate of rent increase as required by section 18194, the Rockville City Code entitled voluntary rent guidelines and notice requirements of rent increases, and the approval of minutes item Cagues, do you want to take these all at once? Okay. Do we have a motion to approve? Councilmember Valerary. Apologies. I move to that we adopt. What numbers are really not? Thank you. I appreciate it. I move that we approve items A, B, and C from the consent agenda. We have a second. Council Member Encrack seconds. All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Okay. All right. Is unanimous? Okay. All right. It is unanimous. All right. So now we're moving on to our public hearing. We are continuing our public hearing. This is public hearing number two for our FY26 budget. And before we begin, I want to welcome Dan Chambers as well well as Comfrancisco to introduce the public hearing. Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the council. This is our second public hearing on the FY 2026 operating and capital improvement program budgets. We will hold one more public hearing next Monday, March 24th, which will be the final budget public hearing for FY26, while written public testimony may be submitted until the close of the public record on April 7th. Members of the public are also strongly encouraged to take our community budget priority survey. You can find the link at www.rockvillemd.gov-budget, and that survey will also remain open until the public record closes. Again, that will be on April 7. Included in your packet this evening is the updated interim report of our survey results starting on packet page 75. This report includes analysis of the 677 responses received as of February 28th. As of today, we have over 700 responses. received as of February 28th. As of today we have over 700 responses, which is already over 100 more than we had received in total two years ago for the FY24 survey and is about 90% of the responses we had received this time last year. The survey report is followed in your packet by a summary of all public testimony received as of March 4th, as well as the public testimony exhibits themselves. We ask that Mayor and Council proceed with this public hearing and keep the budget public record open through April 7th. Thank you. Thank you. Confirming that is the deadline for both the survey as well as any comments. People may say. Perfect. Yes. Thank you. All right. We'll now move on to our budget public hearing. Please state your name and whether you live in the city of Rockville. And please adhere to the time that's posted on the clock in front of you. You will hear audible buzz when your time is up. First, welcome. While I'll just ask one question, Councillor, for our council, has this been properly noticed? Yes, Madam Mayor and Council Member, it has been perfectly advertised on the city's website and Washington Post. OK. And then just a note again, you can also testify in the 24th if you're at home and see this and wish you were here with us in the room today. But if you have any comments, please feel free to do so through April 7th. Welcome, Barbara Hobbt. Hello, Mayor Ashton and City Council members. Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify. Thank you also for advertising it and making it widely available. Again, my name is Barbara Haupt and I'm the wife of a former city of Rockville employee who worked here in serve the city for more than 16 years. David Levy. And we live in Rockville. Our children have attended Rockville employee who worked here in serve the city for more than 16 years, David Levy. And we live in Rockville. Our children have attended Rockville schools. And for the past 15 years, I have been the owner of a business based also in Rockville. So we are Rockville people. I want to first of all commend the council for amending last year's budget to include a 1% increase for retirees. Providing this increase is consistent with what many of you said during your election that you would support it. And I just want to say thank you very much for being good for your word. So thank you. It means a lot to us. And now with the new budget year, I urge you again to protect the value of the city's commitment to its retirees. For people who have served the city for so many years and really made sure that all of the city residents could get that excellent Rockville service and benefit. Unfortunately though, the 1% increase fell below the 2.9% inflation rate and when that adjustment that falls below inflation of course that means that the real amount retirees also falls. And this is rapidly eating away at the value of the city's commitment to their employees especially when people take a job with the city and they expect a certain benefit and then they don't get it. That's hard for families. And I also wanted to point out that a lot of retirees who worked for the city also live in the city. So it really is a community benefit. In comparison in October of 2024, the federal government made a 2.3% increase for one of its federal programs and a 2% increase for one of its others. And so tonight, I'm sorry, there is suddenly an echo on our audio. Colleagues, are you all muted? And I'll just ask IT question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. I are going to suffer. Unfortunately, the city manager's proposed budget, as I read it, I'm not an expert, but as I looked at it, I didn't see any sort of cost of living adjustment for retirees. But you as the council have a chance to rectify this and I hope you will consider doing that. I recognize fully that doing this is a financial commitment on behalf of the city and that every budget does have budget trade off. So I acknowledge the difficulty and yet I feel and David feels it's the right thing to do. So thank you very much and thank you for everything all of you are doing for our city and our city residents. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome, Jody Tick. Good evening. I have the privilege of being joined by my board member, Burrell. I'm Burrell, which some of you may know. Honorable Mayor Ashton and city council members, good evening. My name is Jody Tick and I have the honor of serving as the executive director of sunflower bakery. I am here tonight to provide testimony in support of sunflower bakeries funding request to the city of Rockville for your FY26 budget. But first I wanna thank you for your support of our work and special thanks to Councilmembers Jackson and VanGrak for joining sunflower bakeries first annual community Hanukkah party, which we had this past December. So as we continue to grow and evolve our programming, our social enterprise grows as well. And we were able to add donuts to our products line and last spring and then produce Souf Ganyot, which is a traditional jelly filled donut, common leading natonica. So we serve that for the first time in December and you were able to join us for that. And as you know, we are a nonprofit social enterprise. We're located on Halpine Road and as part of a working Bakery and Culinary Kitchen, more on this new development in just a second. We use food as a tool for training where we provide workforce development training to young adults and teens with learning differences and we support them in learning pastry arts hospitality and now culinary. So as part of our three-year strategic plan to grow our enrollment and provide more training opportunities for students with learning differences, we piloted a new culinary training program in January of 2024. Please, to say we formalize that in October, have our first class, and we've acquired and leased a new space, a new commercial kitchen space on Lewis Avenue, literally two doors down from Hal Pine, which is amazing, fortunate look. And we are investing in the city of Rockville and we look forward to the city continuing to invest in our important work. We have a proven track record of success and last year we celebrated 15 years as a nonprofit. Through our tenure, we've impacted the lives of over 616 young adults, many of which are residents of Rockville. And since we moved to Rockville in 2020, we've almost quadrupled our impact going from an average graduate in class of 10 to almost 40 this year, which we would love for all of you to attend our annual graduation and celebration on April 27th and you'll be getting invitations for that. But our rockville locations are really important because they allow easy access for our students to get to our training programs daily. And it's allowed for our business to thrive in rockville as well. So not only are we a maker of wonderful baked goods that are we have gluten-free items, vegan items, but now we offer kosher prepared meals and foods, which is amazing. So it's another training opportunity for our students, but it's another opportunity to expand our social enterprise. Everything we make our cell, our students have a role in in some way shape or form. So the humontation that you were provided tonight, we made 55,000 of those for PORM last week, and our students had a wonderful time creating those, prepares them for employment. So our impact extends well beyond our facility. We have worked with over 65 employer partners throughout the metropolitan area. Many in Rockville, and I'm so pleased to say that of those, we're now working with the new Tate, the new Wagmens, the new Nothing But Cakes, Verling Gips Watson is an amazing entrepreneur and a real wonderful partner at Nothing But Cakes. We've also worked with Coffee Republic, so many others, but there's more work to do. According to the US Census Bureau of 5.3% of Rockville citizens under the age of 65 have a disability. So over 3,500 local residents. And unfortunately, these individuals are three times more likely to be unemployed than those without disabilities. So Sunflower exists today for the same reason we began in 2009 to close the employment gap. We not only train, we help our students and then graduate find gainful employment in the community. So they are competing with neuro-typical individuals for entry-level jobs. And what I say is that we do nothing special. All we're doing is providing a platform for our students to realize their potential. And we produce well-trained hospitality pastures. And now we'll be culinary graduates. And from FY 23 to FY 24, we grew an enrollment in hospitality. And this is the request that we're asking for for FY 26 is to continue to grow our hospitality enrollment. There's so many opportunities for hospitality employment in Rockville and in the metropolitan area. And what our graduates bring to the table that others don't work ethic, dependability, and loyalty. And we want to help invest in that. So thank you. Thank you very much. Welcome Karen Askin on behalf of the Cultural Arts Commission. It's cold in here. Good evening Madam Mayor, Council Members. My name is Karen Askin. I'm representing the Cultural Arts Commission tonight and I am a happy resident of the City of Rockville. First of all, I wanted to thank the City Manager for recommending that one tenth of one percent of the operating budget be earmarked to support art in public places in a year where I know that there are numbers of challenges to the budget. We are all so pleased to note that the city's commitment to the arts remains steadfast. The city manager's budget sets forth several key goals for FY26 to produce special events and arts and culture programs, particularly for historically excluded art forms and communities to rewrite art in public places, implementation plan to begin cataloging art in public places, art in private development, and art in public architecture collections, and to work with a professional art consultant to assess the condition of the very large collection that you already own. What all of these recommendations presuppose is that these goals are aligned or support a larger vision about the role of arts in the city. That kind of guidance would come from a comprehensive and strategic plan for its art collections and programs. And sadly, that plan does not exist. With all of the plan development in and around town center, metro station, stone street, hunger for drive, it seems that failing to provide or to create a strategic plan is somewhat like all of us being in the same boat, but we don't all have our ores in our hands and we're not paddling in the same direction. I mean, how can we rewrite implementation plans if we don't know what we're trying to accomplish? How can we evaluate the value of working towards an arts and entertainment designation? If we aren't sure how to leverage that designation and how it might serve the community. So at risk of sounding like a broken record, you know, the study of arts and culture in the city that was done in 2019, set forth two fundamental and necessary steps that needed to be taken. The first, you have done, you have hired a arts and culture manager and you know we're very, very excited. The commission is committed to supporting Anodelle. However we can, her successes will be our successes. And the second critical step that was recommended was to undertake a strategic plan. A lot of that work, the basic work was done as part of the 2019 study with the help and support of the CAC. And as you are charged with policymaking, we ask that you provide the necessary guidance and support for a comprehensive arts and culture plan by funding a strategic plan for the arts. One, that is fair, equitable, involves our community and leverages opportunities to collaborate with private property owners so that citizens can find public art wherever they are in the city. The arts and creative industries are cost effective, are cost effective investments in the economic health of jurisdictions. We need the framework that considers economic development planning, transportation, and recreation. It is time the commission stands ready to roll up its sleeves and do whatever we can, and as always, thank you. Thank you very much. We now welcome David Hell, speaking on behalf of Rockville Sisters Cities. Yep. Contrater switch. speaking on behalf of Rockville Sister Cities. So hello, I'm David Hill, the President of the Rockville City Statistics Corporation and representing that organization to explain our community grant organization's mission for fiscal year 2026. First explaining our fiscal year 2025 grant usage, as a launching point here. We asked for them to allocate $15,000 for the current fiscal year. This was an 11% increase over the prior year because we included some city support for a new Rockville student exchange in 2025. That was about 10% of the cost of that activity and asked for a call adjustment for the Bubble Tea Festival in Rockville event, which was by the way the best attended single day event in town center in 2025. In the end, we will leave about $2,500 on the table because of the inability to use Fitzgerald Theater as an in-kind facility usage this year. Meaning our actual grant impact will be less than the prior fiscal year by seven percent. Notwithstanding a full sum year of RSCC activity. That means the city supported about 15% of RSCC costs in 2025. And that's without monetizing our extensive volunteer labor as a budget tool. That means it's a good deal for the city if you support what we're doing. Moving on to fiscal year 26 on our current grant ask, please note that six months after our October grant submission, the precision on what was anticipated for fiscal year 26 is moving around a bit. This is, I note that the RCC practice, indeed, what the grant process asks us to do is identify grant costs by particular activities. That is particularly challenging for a sister city program that mostly operates with our other sister cities about six months ahead of time, not the duration of the grant cycle. Things change in that time period. For instance, we still do not know all the details of a trip plan. Some of Mayor and Council will make dependent in Virginia, early September for the 150th anniversary that could lead to costs that must be covered. So in our FY26 grant submission with the following components, we asked for $7,000 for the 2026 bubble tea festival, roughly a third of the cost of that event, and that is the same as we asked for fiscal year 25. $6,000 in kind for facility usages with two major facility rentals in some small park and community center uses throughout the year, which is also the same as the previous fiscal year. And we're asking for a continuation of the Rockville student exchange support, which is the same as 2025. We also asked for $1,000 to support the mentioned official trip of the mayor and council to Pinnockburg for such things as city to city gifts and relevant arrangements, not including traveler lodging. This is the new expense for fiscal year 26. These mentioned items wind up being only a thousand years over the prior fiscal year, so an increase of 7%. Then one further line, one time item was a big ask on our scale, which was $10,000 to support the official visit of the mayor of Elon City and a delegation, which was under consideration for September of 2025. We asked the city for this because one, this will be a city to city official visitation. And two, time we have a smaller replacement ask only a parent since the grant request deadline. However, we can now say that this will not happen officially in 2025 due to circumstances in Elon City. We are still pursuing mother may or Chen might visit personally not officially later in the year. And as that would not be official city activity any longer, RSCC becomes the major host, not the city of Rockville. In the meantime, we have a smaller replacement ask, only a parent since the grant request deadline. And that fell 15 months prior to the event that we were talking about. This is for the city to contribute some cost to the Rockville Lantern Festival events. In FY25 grant funding, we did not utilize 2,500 of this in-kind rent for Fitzgerald theater because the theater was closed for renovations. So we cannot follow through on this in-kind facility usage, leaving RSCC holding a significant cost not budgeted. We got the event into another facility, the Tecro Cultural Center, which some of you attended and thank you, and have a ground attendance of attendance of about 500 attendees. Frankly, this is a bigger number than the Fitzgerald Theater can hold. If we are to continue to build this event year on year, we are facing having to absorb another external facility event cost and ask if the city would support some of that cost to the tune of $3,000. Another way to look at this is to let us shift $2,500 in kind ask to a $3,000 cash equivalent ask as we will not use both and which we do remains unknown near a year ahead of time. Therefore, we withdraw the $10,000 ask for official city visit support and replace that with the $3,000 ask for the Lantern Festival support. Please wrap up. Okay. If you would please wrap up. Okay. I've got just a little bit more. I'm hoping I have five minutes as a head of a community. Can you provide five? Yes. Five minutes will provide it. Really? Yeah. I'm sorry. If you would please, if you want to make a copy or email, I'll that will be great. Appreciate it. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. I believe Ms. Trisha Tysi has already spoken. So we'll use the feedback, Ms. Sarah Taylor-Farrell, from the Community Forum, and apply that to our public hearing. Next, signed up in advance, Mr. Bob Wright. Are you representing yourself as an individual? Or OK, thank you. Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council Members. I am Bob Wright, residing at 209 Watts Branch Parkway. I and my neighbors in Rockshire, Watts Branch Meadows, Cambridge Heights, Falls Me, Glenora Hills, and Carter Hill ask you to include a covered shelter with services in Mootons Mill Park in the FY2026 budget. This is not the first time this request has been made. I resummit my testimony presented in November 2023 to include a covered shelter with services in the FY 2025 budget. Given the many users of Wooten's Mill Park, the gardeners, the tennis court players, parents with children in the playground, walkers, fitness trail users, village event participants and joggers, this is a very well-used park. Many of the other covered shelters in the city are isolated. A covered shelter with services in Wooten's Mill Park would be a part of a very vibrant publicly used park. In previous fiscal year staff including the director of recreation and parks led me to believe that upcoming budgets would include the project in Mutant Mill Park. Yet in the proposed FY2026 operating budget and capital improvement program has no mention of a covered sheltered with services in Wootens Mill Park. I hope that Marin Council will direct city staff to work with the community surrounding Wootens Mill Park to develop an aggressive timeline to make this project a reality. Let's begin by including a scoping study for this project in the FY 2026 project. Thank you very much and I assume you have copies of the testimony. I'll leave this with the city clerk. Thank you very much. Next welcome, Barrel Feinberg. Thank you, Councilmember. It's an old time week here when I see some other electeds here. So thank you very much. Thank you, each of you, mayor and councilmembers, for your support and your work in public service and in wanting to make Rockville an even better place than it already is. This also goes to the staff who work very tirelessly to make Rockville a better place than it already is. For some, this is the idea of Taqoon Olam making the world a better place. I know about Sunflower since 2009 when I was working from Montgomery County Government's Office of Management and Budget. It was recommended for funding for 2009 by the county executive and then it was approved and confirmed by the approving body the county council. Since then I have followed them and I know firsthand about the work that they do and how they change lives. You already know from Ms. Jody Tick, who is the executive director about their mission. I ask that you support them again for a caregiver grant in the amount of $25,000, which is in the City Manager's recommended budget. So what has Sunflower done to make them different from other workforce development places? They've had quartered themselves in our city. And they've recently invested in Twinbrook as I look to Ms. Vellieri on Halpine, and they've expanded to vacant commercial space, which is always a positive sign when space is occupied and a group wants to continue to invest in your city and locality. They have expanded their bake shop hours this past year to now include Sundays. Another good sign of a neighborhood economic, small business and workforce development organization. They had a successful site visit from the Maryland Division of Rehabilitative Services. Again, and that's why. Continue. An outside body looking to give accreditation. They now have three programs, pastry arts, hospitality, and the recent culinary program. But as a pipeline into their programs, they now have an FY 25 team program. And lastly, as has been mentioned by the executive director, Jody, they had to extensive job preparation, job development, and job coaching. So they don't just receive employment after their graduation at a bakery or in hospitality services or culinary, but they are mentored and their job coach does a nice transition and making sure it's a good partnership and fit with the employing organization. Too many others don't have this. Please continue to fund them in the FY26 budget. Thank you very much. And they also are very innovative in their recipes. Common visit the bakery as I know some of you have. Thank you very much. Thank you, Council Member. Welcome back. Next, welcome, Angus Chen. Good evening, Madame Mayers and Council Member. My name is Angus Chen. I'm the chairperson of Rockville Swim and Furnace Center Advisory Board since 2020. And I've been on the board for 13 years now. I'm here on behalf of the RSSC Advisory Board to express our sincere gratitude for proving the necessity of additional funds for the recreation pool project. The transformation, the transformative outdoor recreation pool will become an iconic feature that Rockville will known for decades, one that residents will love. The Rockville swimming fitness centers is one of the most visited city recreation facilities. It generates over $2 million, over 350,000 customer visits annually, that's including membership visits, daily emissions, program attendance, and so forth. In 900 Rockville, Montgomery Swin, club registration, including the Rockville race, Rostrars annually. And Rockville Swing and RMSC recently ranked top 10 in the US. And the Swing Center is open 360 to days a year. We have been hearing members of our community are being impacted by reduction in force, given our proximity to affected federal government agencies. During such challenging times, it's a space where our community can maintain a healthy lifestyle, find support, and come together. We are thankful for your commitment to improving our community and for acknowledging the vital roads that the Rockvale Swim and Furnace Center plays. The current facility works well and do so much good because of amazing staff, user community, and supports from the city. That's treasure it and not taking it for granted. We are confident that without continuous support, the swimming fitness center can continue to serve the needs of all community members. Thank you again for dedication and hard work. Thank you. Thank you very much. Welcome, Eric Bernard, President of Rockville Volunteer Fire Department. I see there's a crew. I see there's a crew. I see there's a crew. There's still coming. Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. We are not an invading army. We are your Rockville Volunteer Fire Department. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight about our and your department and our ask in your FY 26 budget. And I present to you the Chiefs and Board members of the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department. I am flanked by our Fire Chief Craig Lazar, our first Deputy Chief Christopher Hind, Deputy Chief Lenny Chornoch. I have Board Members Tom Kavanaugh, Tyler March, Nicholas Peng-Meth, Tom Musgrove, Andrew Pennington, and Paul Quigley. I think I got, oh, and we have our volunteer treasure mark Livingston. All our volunteers all serve, damn it, somebody? Oh, and our General Counsel, Stan Sawyer, bar certified, also has been a firefighter for, you got over 50 years here. Not quite, let me not age him. We represent your volunteers. We have almost 370 people that serve side by side with our career firefighters, all professionals Working here in Rockville providing fire rescue and emergency medical services. We provide the calls through Montgomery County government. Who are we? We are your residents both in the city outside. We represent over 36 languages. We are 40% female, over 40% minority. We have over a dozen members currently in medical school, nursing school, or physician assistance training. We have business people, two bus drivers, we have some amazing plumbers, CPAs, and attorneys. The Rockville volunteer fire departments represents the best of what Rockville and Montgomery County has to offer. These are women and men, free of charge, providing fire rescue and emergency services. We save taxpayers here in Rockville millions of dollars. And in Montgomery County, the other 18 volunteer fire departments collectively save over $25 million a year in direct tax savings by providing the services. Our members supplied last year almost 120,000 hours. Direct standby service. We staff fire engines, those are the ones that have hoses and pump water, the fire truck, the ladder truck, which you help purchase dedicated to Sander Cohen, one of our members that was tragically killed in line at duty on Route 270 on December 8, 2017 at 33 years old. We have ambulances, paramedic units, and an advanced life support chase car, which is a Tahoe paramedic ride, then, which you also supported about eight years ago. We are so thankful for the partnership we have developed with the Mayor and Council. We are here to ask your support for the budget line items that you have for us. An ongoing $12,000 which helps us to recover some of the money that we pay in a water bill. And this year you have put in the budget the largest support for the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department in 104 years, $250,000. That's going to enable us to purchase, are ongoing purchase of heavy apparatus and chief vehicles. We have a defined apparatus replacement project, again managed by volunteers, to help us replace a fleet of many vehicles of which cost some of them over $2 million for a single rescue squad. So we're here before you to answer any questions that you may have, ask for your ongoing and continued support in this budget and to give you our commitment that our volunteers have been here for 104 years. We commit to you another 104 years of outstanding and dedicated volunteer service. And I have a challenge for you. If you haven't been to our station, come visit us. I can't promise you a Taj Mahal. I can promise you a welcoming, inviting, and a loving station of people who want to be there that work very hard, that serve our residents of this city and the county at no cost, put their lives on the line every single day. And we do that with your support. So thank you so much. And we're here if you have any questions for us. And while we have a secretary, too, I'll take a step further from what the president said, and not come visit us But come spend some time with us ride with us on the apparatus. We can't promise you a call But we will try And at least give your ride show your round and show you what we do first hand I will just say on behalf of our entire council. Thank you so much for all you do for our community Not only through through fire, but also through EMT services. So I really appreciate your work and thank you for pledging before the public that you'll be supporting us for 100 years more. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Drew Powell. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Drew Powell, Director and President Emeritus of the Rockville Sister Cities Corporation. First, I'd like to introduce the RCC directors and officers who could get here tonight. We've got President David Hill, who's doing a spectacular job and Secretary Steve Fisher. Steve, there you go. Thank you. And myself, and others would be here, but like our vice president, Gilbert Santiago, he had his gall bladder removed this morning, so he couldn't make it. So yeah, what can I say? And you'll have to forgive me if I do anything kind of crazy here, because I'm also not, I'm not feeling totally on top of things right now. So anyway, the Rockville Sister Cities Corporation is doing more than any other city initiative to include Rockville's diverse cultural communities and in both large scale and smaller scale gatherings and events where citizens can learn about other cultures and themselves. Last September, for example, as you heard from Mr. Hill, the Rockville Bubble Tea Festival hosted more than 12,000 attendees. And I do believe that's close to being a record, certainly for an organization, I do believe that's a record for an event in town square. Following the request of the City Council, RCC is exploring potential sister city relationships with cities in Africa, specifically the city of Corjogo in Cotevoix. However, relationships such as this and others, including from Central and South America, are pending city financial support, specifically the approval of grant funding, funding, which allows RCC to continue our mayor and council mandate to facilitate RCC's, the Rockville Sister City program. And at pennies for the dollar as well, we offer these services and our volunteer services. It's a good deal for the city. There are significant events on the horizon, which also need funding. They include Rockville's 70th anniversary with Pinnaburg, Germany, that's in 2027. Rockville's 10th anniversary with Elon City happening in 2029. And then of course, as city is the city of the city. The city is the city of the city of the city. The city is the city of the city of the city. The city is the city of the city. The city is the city of the city. The city is the city of the city. The city is the city of the city. The city is the city of the city out there. So we certainly thank you for your continuing support and again anything you can do to help Rockville Sister City Program. It's something, it's a program that really makes a difference in the city of Rockville for including all of Rockville citizens and diverse cultures. So thank you so much for your support. Thank you. Be well. I think I saw one more. Please join us. Please state your name and whether you live in the city of Rockville. Welcome. Good evening. Madam Mayor, council members. My name is Jacob Goodman. I have been a long time resident of the city. And I am here tonight to address concerns well partially mostly on behalf of myself, but I also serve on the board of the action committee for transit a silver spring based on profit that focuses on transit reliability and accessibility and sustainability issues. Now In your FY26 budget, there are not many items regarding multi-modal transit and you know buses out, you know anything there's a lot of information about bicycles, sidewalks, and highway and road repair. Yes, that is all important. But I feel like now more than ever, we need to be making strides to adjust that budget. So it can go towards funding for buses. And what I'm referring to is the fact that there are a lot of cities and jurisdictions within various counties in this state and around the country that have bus free circulator services or bus services within city limits despite their already being county services. So take the Towson Loop in Towson, for example, or the Bethesda Circulator in neighboring Bethesda, for example. We should have something similar that maybe connects Falls Grove to the city center, to Twinbrook, and it goes around, you know, in kind of a circular loop, or have like multiple lines, kind of like the Towson Loop. On top of that, because we also just really need to address accessibility issues citywide when we're, you know, doing sidewalk improvements. In fact, if any of you are willing to hear me out on this, I am a, I'm starting my own sustainability and accessibility consulting firm. As a person with a visual impairment who doesn't drive myself, I really feel like it is important to focus on how we can make our cities more accessible and sustainable, pertaining to the environment and accessible for individuals with disabilities. I applaud the work of sunflower bakery for doing what it does in terms of disability employment, but right now there are a lot more people with disabilities that want to work in fields or are qualified in fields beyond the four F's, food, filth, flowers, and filing. And I think we need to do more to help individuals with disabilities in the city. But going back to the transportation issue, we need to have a thorough accessibility audit of all bus stops. There are many bus stops throughout the city that don't have proper lighting and I really implore you to help to do that. So happy to help. Thank you. Thank you very much and please feel free to, I know you didn't get your information, but please feel free to reach out to a staff person in the back who can get that contact. Please join us, say your name and where they live in the city of Raffle. I'm Tom, Miss Kim, I live in Rose Hill Falls first time before the mayor and the council thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm quite, I'm writing about, I'm appearing to speak about the dear population management worked up. first time before the mayor and the council thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm calling, I'm writing about, appearing to speak about the deer population management. It worked pretty closely the last several months with the Rose Hill Falls Homeowners Group and the West End Group. I've been a late jointer to the West End Association. They told me that they've brought up the spoken and about and looked at the ways of managing the deer population. It's really gotten out of control. My experience with this has been very short, but just my background. I live in the Rose Hill Falls. I've been there about 25, 26 years. Montgomery County, I've been here for most of my life, 50 plus years now. I grew up here in the county. The county's changed, the population changed. I remember when the town was a very nice small town, it had grown exponentially, and you could get into the details there. But with that, we've seen things like the deer in the wildlife. And numerous things that come come to mind that I think have created problems, not only for Rockville, but the county and the state or the deer management. In my development alone on any given morning, you see a herd of about 10 to 12 deer. The issue with that is they're getting very close to the population, the obvious issues, the navigation, the accidents, the mishaps, getting very close to the population, school children in the morning, I noticed that becomes a problem because they're very, I think, familiar with being around humans now, it's just changed so much. So really, in the brief time that I have, my understanding from Margaret Magner, the head of the West End Community Association, is that this matter was brought consideration for the FY26 budget, and her understanding was not included as a line item. I'm just appearing tonight to see if there would be some manner ways to set up some type of mitigation program My understanding through this and and research that I did over the fall and summer is there are humane ways of managing deer You can move them you can sterilize them There are all types of Modern technological advances and reducing the deer herd I think it would be a worthwhile endeavor. I do not think that it would be very expensive. I was just sitting in here for the last half hour, 45 minutes. All kinds of great programs. The sunflower program, the program with the disabilities, the fire department, all great services. My ask or request, if you will, is probably very small. But I think it's a quality of life issue. Health and safety, a health issue really in the city, and not only for Rockville, but for the county and the state. And I think it's something that can be managed here. I don't think it would be very expensive to see if there could be some humane ways of reducing the population. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. That exhaustalist of those who have signed up in advance is there anyone else who would like to speak. I will note that members of the Mayor and Council have also received written remarks and we appreciate those and have reviewed them. Thank you very much. Mr. Mahellic, I think that we're going to take a brief five minute break before the work session is that possible? Okay. Thank you, and that'll allow you some time to set up the presentation. Thank you all for all of your testimony, and if you have not testified and you want to, March 24th is the next chance. Thank you. Good evening, Rockville. Today is still March 17, 2025. We are reconvening meeting number 8-25 and we had our public hearing on our budget. We're now moving to our FY26 budget work session to Shijik initiative's reorganization and revenue. Welcome Stacey Webster and Kim Francisco and I know that Jeff Mahalik is also going to speak. May I ask if we could do item number 11 first that would be great. Oh yes sure sure. So you want to do the introduction ordinance appropriate funds and levy taxes for fiscal year 2026. And welcome the same people. This sounds great. Thank you. Mayor members of council, thank you so much. We are truly excited to present this year's budget. Over the past several months, a lot of people in this room have worked with the finance and budget department to put together what we think is a really positive budget. I do want to provide just a couple of highlights before we move into the work session. The budget really includes a total expenditure of $175 million across 10 funds. It's a 3.9% increase overall from last year, which isn't that bad at all actually. I do want to highlight just a couple of budget highlights which really makes a point of digging deep into your strategic initiatives. First of all, there's $10 million again, $10 million of new funds for Vision Zero and for the pedestrian master plan improvements. There's $1.6 million for the Rockville Economic Development Incorporated. And what I heard quite a bit over the past several months working with all of you is that we need to continue to find ways to improve our development review process so we can have additional economic development and affordable housing. With that in mind, we are recommending five additional new positions to be funded in a budget which will allow us to do next day inspections, again, next day inspections, that allows us to move forward on those initiatives quite quickly. Also, please to tell you that we are recommending $1 million of allocated funds into our Housing Opportunity Fund. This will support the preservation and construction of affordable housing. That's the greatest allocation of funds for affordable housing in this community and its history But it also includes a very robust $33.8 million capital improvement plan which supports 65 capital projects Been a number of cities and 65 capital projects in one year is significant It includes the senior center entrance the Lincoln Park Community Center and again, improvements to the city's roadways, parks and sidewalks. And we plan on doing all of that without raising the city's tax rate. I know that's important to everybody in the city and this council. Having said all that, we also are being very cautious and are watching the impacts of the new federal administration. We're going to monitor all those items and all those policy changes that could impact our budget and our operations and we're going to be very cautious about it. What I keep suggesting to my team is that if something bad happens in that space, we're simply going to pivot, we're not going to panic. So again, with all that really brief overview without getting too far into the work session items, I do recommend introduction of the ordinance, appropriating funds and leving taxes for the fiscal year 2026. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Just wanted to see if Stacey and can have anything else to add to them. Okay, so just to clarify, we're just introducing this ordinance now. I'll take some questions in a second, but we're going to have a more detailed discussion in the next workshop. That's correct, ma'am. Okay, perfect. Councilor Van Grahet. Madam Mayor, I introduce the ordinance to appropriate funds in Levy taxes for fiscal year 2026. Excellent and we're just introducing. That's it. That's it. Thank you. All right. Now the fun. We'll be moving on. There's anything else you needed on that. Okay. Thank you. We'll be moving on to our next item. FY 2026 budget work sessions. We should take initiative as reorganization and and revenues. Welcome Kim and Stacy. Good evening Mayor Ashton and members of the council. This is the mayor and council's first budget work session related to the FY 2026 proposed operating budget and capital improvements program. During this work session staff would like to cover strategic initiatives included in the FY 2026 operating budget, the reorganization that is reflected in the budget, the operating budget by fund and proposed fees and revenues. The FY 2026 proposed operating budget for all funds totals $174.9 million. This is a modest 3.9% increase from the FY 2025 adopted budget and maintains the current property tax rates. The proposed budget also includes new CIP appropriations of 33.8 million across all program areas. As the city manager just noted, this supports a total of 65 capital projects. The general fund transfer to the capital projects fund totals 9.8 million and demonstrates the city's ongoing commitment to capital improvements and infrastructure. We would like to touch on the community surveys and the alignment of this information with the proposed budget. For the community survey, a statistical survey conducted last fall, the top five areas identified as being essential or very important included economic health, feeling of safety, utility infrastructure, transportation system, and communication. For the community budget priority survey, a non-statistical survey that is still underway, the top five priorities so far are quality neighborhoods, active living, community safety, infrastructure, and affordable housing. As we work through the budget over the next couple of work sessions, staff believe that you will find that the FY2026 budget dedicates resources to address all of these priority areas. The Community Budget Priority Survey remains open, and we encourage the public to scan the QR code or visit www.rockvillemd.gov slash budget to access the survey. Interim Survey results are included with the public hearing items and a final survey report will be attached with the budget adoption. Tonight we'll focus on the operating budget which incorporates a number of strategic initiatives that align with this mayor and council's guiding principles. The general fund makes up 67% of the operating budget for the city and is proposed to include a total of more than $5 million in new funding for initiatives that align with the guiding principles. I will briefly walk through each of those guiding principles and provide a highlight of the major initiatives planned. Under stewardship of the environment and infrastructure, the proposed budget includes funding for vehicle telematics, which will allow for real-time GPS tracking for snow and ice operations. This will include a public portal to allow for increased transparency and live tracking of snow operations. The budget also expands funding for contractual services to deal with non-native invasive species within cities, parks, open spaces, and right-aways. The budget also includes funding for upgrades to the city's network infrastructure. This includes servers, switches, wireless access points, cables, and wiring, which are due for replacement. There are 10 existing vehicle leases that will be renewed and converted to leases of electric vehicles, but there is extra excitement around the city's planned purchase of an EV bus for the senior center. Lastly, the budget proposes the use of reserves to fund a green space management plan. This plan will guide public land management strategies for the city's more than 1,000 acres of active and passive park land including approximately 765 acres of tree canopy. The plan is needed to create a strategic approach for the effective deployment of resources in city green spaces. Under economic development, the budget includes five new positions across all funds which support timely and efficient processing of plan reviews, permits, and inspections within the city. This includes next day inspection services which combined will make Rockville a more development friendly community. In addition the budget provides funding that supports Rockville Economic Development Inc. Ready is a public-private partnership formed by the city of Rockville to strengthen and broaden the city's economic base through business entrepreneurship, expansion, retention, and recruitment programs. The budget also reserves capacity in the operating budget to support the shady growth metro annexation in the event that the mayor and council wish to move forward with this initiative in fiscal year 2026. The FY 2026 budget dedicates resources to public safety initiatives in a number of ways. Two new administrative positions and the police department will provide added capacity to manage the increased volume associated with communications operations, warrant management, invalidation, and PIA requests, red light camera citation review, and other administrative functions. The budget includes funding for the first year of a two year CCTV Modernization Initiative. This will include the deployment of high-resolution smart cameras, which will provide improved visibility, enhanced system reliability, and expanded coverage to areas and sites that are currently unmonitored. The budget also supports new software for the RSCPD, the gun buyback event, and increased officer recruitment incentives. Lastly, the budget recommends the use of reserves to provide an emergency response vehicle for the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department Pyrametic Chase Unit. As an established focus area of the Marin Council, the FY2026 proposed budget includes a new general fund transfer of $250,000 to the special activities fund housing opportunities fund. The housing opportunities fund was established in 1990 to promote affordable housing within the city but has not had a dedicated revenue source. The proposed budget also recommends a $750,000 allocation of reserves exceeding the target to the housing opportunitiesities Fund. This will in total provide a $1 million contribution that will be used to preserve and increase affordable units, launch the employee home ownership assistance program and begin the development of a home ownership down payment assistance program for the Rockville community. The proposed budget includes the addition of two positions that support the housing focus area. These positions will actively collaborate with nonprofit partners, promote the effective administration of the city's housing programs, offer financial empowerment programming, track and manage data, including program outcomes. Staff also anticipate the completion of the housing needs assessment and code revisions for tenants' rights in MPDUs during FY 2026. In the effective and efficient service delivery category, the budget includes a total of five FTE positions that support ADA compliance, enhanced communication and community engagement functions, and address other administrative needs. Funding in this area supports more frequent publishing of updates to the City Code, new software to support boards and commissions, the development of a Juddash Strategic Plan, the launch of a Neighborhood Sign-In Initiative, a pilot AI program which will explore opportunities for automation across city functions, free nature center, and swim less in programming for underserved Rockville students, and expanded mental health support focused on underserved groups and seniors. The city along with many other jurisdictions in the Washington DC metro area remain cautious about the changing economic conditions that may result from the new federal administration. This is a fluid situation and may require that we evaluate changing community needs over the year. In anticipation of growing needs, the FY26 budget provides additional support and HCD to assist with navigation services, Rockville Emergency Assistance Funding, an expansion of community services and enrichment grants and and funding for the city's recreation fund, which provides need-based support for community members facing hardships. Staff recommend keeping at least $3 million above the reserve target during this time, to help ensure that we have the resources that we need to address any emerging community needs. Budget amendments like the one last month provide us with an opportunity to allocate additional resources where new needs have been identified. The City Manager's Office recently underwent a reorganization and I'll walk us through that very briefly. The FY2026 budget reflects the recent reorganization which moved two divisions previously in the City Manager's office to stand alone departments. These departments now have separate operating sections within your budget document. As part of this change, FTEs and budget allocations shifted out of the City Manager's office and into these new departments. In addition, the community organization grant process, which was previously managed in the city manager's office, will now be centralized in the Department of Housing and Community Development. I will share a brief overview of the FY26 operating budget at a fund level. The General Fund is the General Operating Fund of the city. It is used to account for all financial resources, except those required to be accounted for in another fund. The Special Revenue Funds are used to account for the proceeds of specific revenue sources, other than major capital projects that are restricted by legal and regulatory provisions or budgeted contributions from outside sources to finance very specific activities. The city's special revenue funds are the special activities fund, the community development block grant fund and the speed camera fund. The debt service fund is used to account for the accumulation of resources for and the payment of taxpayer supported long-term debt, which includes principal interest and related costs. The general fund makes up approximately two-thirds of the entire operating budget and 78% of all regular full-time equivalent positions. The water sewer refuse parking and stormwater management funds make up 29.5% or 51.5 million of the FY 2026 proposed budget. These fund support major city operations and operate like private businesses where fees and charges are set to fully cover the total direct and indirect operating costs and all capital outlay and debt service for each respective function. The table shown notes the total appropriations and regular FTE accounts by fund. General. for each respective function. The table shown notes the total appropriations in regular FTE counts by fund. General fund revenues increase 6.9% up to 116.6 million for FYI-2021. This is very strong revenue growth, which for property tax in particular, this makes up the largest portion of all of the general fund revenues. This is driven by increases to assess values, right? Not any changes to the property tax rate. The tax will assess value grew 5.7 percent on average. Other notable areas of significant revenue increases include income tax, highway user revenue, the state police protection grant, red light camera citations, recreation program fees and investment earnings. While not shown on this slide, the city has received a tax duplication revenue update. And much to our relief, this revenue source will also demonstrate growth for FY26. General fund expenditures increased 6.4% from the FY 2025 adopted budget. Personal expenditures is the largest expenditure category and this includes 12.4 FTE additions, a 2.5% cost of living adjustment for employees, and includes capacity for compensation and classification adjustments. Operating expenditures include contractual services, utilities, small equipment, as well as funding for training and supplies. Capital LA expenditures include scheduled vehicle and equipment replacements which do vary by year. The other expenditures category includes leases, subscription agreements, and community grants. The General Fund also makes annual contributions to other funds, most notably the Capital Improvements Fund and the Death Service Fund. The General Fund forecast maintains a flat property tax rate throughout the forecast and indicates that the city will maintain its reserve levels throughout. The city currently has reserves that exceed the fund balance target, and the FY 2026 fund balance estimate accounts for all recommended uses of reserves. As part of this year's budget, the mayor and council will need to adopt new refuse and storm water management rates. The annual refuse rate is proposed to increase by $30 or $250 per month. The annual stormwater rate is proposed to increase $7 per equivalent residential unit. In the prior year, the Marin Council adopted a three-year schedule of water and sewer rates following the last cost of service study, which projects revenues and expenditures over a 10-year period. The FY2026 fee summary document organizes and summarizes all proposed user fees and charges. A number of fees and charges are proposed to increase between 2 and 6% with some fees and charges being held flat. Cost recovery guidelines, as established within the city's financial management policies, are one of several factors that influence the proposed fees for each fiscal year. The financial impact of their proposed rates, including the impact of estimated increases to assess values, approximate $206 per year, or $17 per month for a Rockville homeowner who also pays Rockville water and sewer bills. This ultimately amounts to a 4.2% cumulative increase for utility bills or $13 per quarter and a 5.6% cumulative increase for taxes and fees that are paid on the property tax bill. Staff believe that these are modest increases and will allow for the continuation and enhancement of municipal services that add value to the community. We have a work section next week next week. I'm sorry, which will focus on the city's funding to outside organizations, the fund balance forecast and recommended uses of fund balance. On April 7, we will pivot to the CIP and also cover plan debt and changes from the proposed budget to the final budget along with the final balancing exercise, similar to what we did last year. Budget adoption is scheduled for May 5th. Tonight we are focusing on the operating budget, including major initiatives and proposed fees and revenues. With that, I will turn the discussion over to you, Mayor Ashton. Thank you very much. I also want to congratulate our finance team and all the departments, because I know you work so hard on this, you've been working on it for a very long time. And Mr. Mahala congrats on your first budget in the city of Rockville. Here's to many, many more. I wanted to just say that, just to clarify, if we can keep up the schedule just briefly, so that we can talk about how we're organizing our discussion. Tonight we're talking about broadly the strategic initiatives, the operating revenues. And then next time on the 24th we'll have a public hearing. We'll go more deeply into the operating expenditures as well as reviewing some of the grants. And then on April 7th, we'll focus on the CIP, which is a very significant portion of the budget. So there are other items there, but I just wanted to say a high-level view. And then for the 24th and the 7th, we may ask for, you know, as we organize a discussion on CIP and operating, we'll go by department. Not every department will have questions on the one to just keep it so that we're not jumping between departments. So I just wanted to flag that for everyone's input and, you know, my colleagues have any other comments on that. Are we good? Councilor Miles? Okay. All right. So I wanted to just note that, you know, as noted in Mr. Mahillic's letter, many of us appear have been thinking about the environment that we're in. I do believe that our budget is strong. I want to thank the financial advisory board, the finance team, and all the city staff who've been such stewards of our budget. We are triple-a-bond rated, and we have had strong diversity in our revenue sources. And while we were able to get lots of grants, the team really worked hard on it over the past few years, so we were able to accelerate something. So I just wanted to acknowledge all of your work. The two comments that I wanted to just make as a starting, a start is we recognize that the world is changing. The Federal Workforce Impact Contractors and Grantees with people potentially uncertain about their jobs or may have lost their jobs. There may be an increased need in social services for people who may have never needed those. And I really appreciate you being thoughtful about that in adding some additional support for social services. I just also wanted to note that we're hearing challenging budget environments also at the state level. And they also reduced income projections, income revenue projections from over 4% to just about 2%. And so I just, as a starting question, because for the listening public, how do you all see us looking at potential loss in income revenue, which may have not necessarily right in the beginning of FY26 book potentially later in future years, considering what what you have budgeted in the fact that we will be maintaining some of those budget items as they're ongoing operating expenses that were set up for success without a necessarily a tax increase that you can foresee in the next three to five years. I wanna make sure I understand the question clearly. The question is what will we do if we see reductions in income tax revenue? Is that the question? Well, the state has already reduced their income revenue forecast for FY26. There may be some time before it trickles down to us, but given that there may be less income revenue because of the uncertainty and the job market the job market for some. How do you see that impact in the city of Rothville? And given where we are, do you see that we are still in a strong position for what we budgeted and not needing to do a tax increase over the next three to five years? So in your projections, you know that you always forecast a certain amount of income revenue growth, given that there may be adjustments on that, how do you see our financial standing and being able to afford what we say we want to invest in without a property tax increase? So the FY2026 proposed budget looks at our most recent collections, which if you look just from FY2025 adopted to FY 2026 proposed, it looks like there's an income tax revenue increase of more than 4%. But what we know is that every November we receive an income tax payment that serves as a base and that November payment establishes the base. We look to this most recent November payment, which is establishing the base for fiscal year 2025. And we know that FY 2025 is very likely to come in higher than what we initially anticipated using that number as the base. The FY 2026 budget is a two and a half percent increase from from that base figure. So your reference to what the state is projecting I think they're referencing the 2.6 percent increase R is 2.5 from the base figure. So your reference to what the state is projecting, I think they're referencing a 2.6% increase, ours is 2.5 from the base. So that is how we got to our projections. We right now don't have any information to indicate that we will see reductions in income tax revenue. It's something that we will have to continue to monitor closely as we go through the year. If we do find that significant parts of our community are experiencing job loss, that could have an impact, but we just don't know if it would be sustained or you know, it's a little too early. It's a very fluid situation. And so I think we need to be prepared to pivot if we start to see that there are declining revenues in one or more areas. Thank you. Interest on a related note to that just given our climate. We don't anticipate just just for the record like if there are changes in the commercial real estate space that that takes a while. It's a lag before it hits the city. So I just wanted to clarify that if that is correct, please let us know, but just want to do the way on that as well. So reductions in commercial property tax, property tax valuations, that's something that could happen, but like you said, those assessments happen every three years in cycles, right? So that's something that we, if we start to see that starting to pick up from current trends, it's something that we can monitor and we'll adjust for in future budgets. It's not something that would impact the FY 2026 budget. Thank you. And the last thing is, I know that with our Ryzen, my new program, we're already stepping forward to try to support folks who have job uncertainty and may have recently been laid off. Just wanted to check, you know, and we're also adding some additional funds into the rental assistance program. There may be other things that we're not anticipating yet but might happen. Just want to make sure that this budget is nimble enough that we could do a budget amendment in the future. Should we see additional needs to support our community? Yep. That's exactly correct. We mentioned earlier social services funding. We think that's critical. Whenever there's a work for a settlement that's in transition, we have to be thoughtful about that. So there's money in the budget for rental assistance. There's money in the budget for additional affordable housing in the future. if we need to, there's additional positions being made available. In fact, I share with a couple of you who are in the process of hiring two former federal employees right now. With additional positions in the city forthcoming, we're hoping to provide employment opportunities for those folks as well. So you're right, we're in a good position there. And as we noted at the beginning of the presentation, we're making sure that there's enough money and reserves over and above what is statutorily required to make sure that we have to pick, we'll have those revenues available. Excellent. Alright, I have some of my questions, but I want to open the floor for my colleagues. I do want to note that several of us submitted questions in advance because we would be here for five days if we ask every single one of them, but you can go on the website on that budget page and see the Mary and Council's questions asked there. Thank you. Colleagues, I want to open the floor. Do you have any larger discussions on operating revenues? Like I asked a couple on revenue. And if you have any broad reactions to the strategic priorities, we will get into depth on CIP and operating over the next two-by-dessessions. But if there are any broad feedback that is important to share this evening, please do. Is this non-departmental based? Are we talking general revenues? Are we talking general? I'm just trying to understand, because I think a lot of us have questions. I want to make sure that we're focusing on the one here. So if we maybe can look at the slides as a quick scan, and that can be a prompt. If there's anything missing on the slide or one example is vision zero, I know for myself. I thought it was, I love all the work that we're doing. I had questions about, you know, being able to list them out and articulate 10. One example is Vision Zero. I know for myself, I thought it was, I love all the work that we're doing. I had questions about, you know, being able to list them out and articulate $10 million is a lot, but up front, I saw that there was only $200,000 for sidewalk prioritization. So I just wanted to be able to see, you know, on that, at a high level, not getting into every Vision Zero Project or a capital thing, I wanted to just request that we more more closely articulate some of the major items on the Vision Zero that may not be represented in that up front. Does that help? Okay. So any broad revenue operating revenue questions. Do you want to actually do? Council move, really. I'm just going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to go to the meeting and I'm going to and the information in recent days. But we know that there's a proposal on the county level to increase property taxes. What impact, if any, would that have on our budget? Beside the fact that once again, we get to do some education that no, no, no, that's the county. That's not us. But just wondering how that might change some of the numbers that we're seeing if as proposed it does pass. Thank you councilmember. The county's property tax has no direct impact on our budget. So we don't pay, excuse me property tax and we don't receive county property tax revenue. Okay. So like you mentioned it would would show up on residents tax bills, but we don't see any impact on our budget. Awesome. Thank you. That's really helpful. And I think it's also helpful for, in general, the public to know that as well. Because I'm sure people have opinions on that. This one is actually probably not in the revenue realm, so I will hold on to that. It's kind of a broader budget question, so I'm not sure if it's appropriate for now. I have one more revenue question. Yeah, if you want to go revenue, then I can hold. And then if anyone else has a revenue question, then Dr. Miles, I'm looking for your hand in case you raise it. Okay, you go. I know you have a question Yeah, man speaker chat. Yes, please Dr. Miles proceed. Oh, thank you, ma'am Go's more into the I guess this is the first session section under like the fees Which I guess we've generate revenues that is that fair game now or certainly is go for it. I did ask this question. I did get a response just for the publics. Take on kind of case 301. I think staff was proposing increasing building permit fees for a second year in the road. There's response I got back is that these are inflationary adjustments That are being proposed for building permit fees in order to keep costs I mean keep pace with the cost of recovery benchmarks of the regulatory programs I just want to be mindful that while I am in favor of Certainly Wasted increased revenue. I do want to be mindful of the impact. It's been a it could could potentially have on our other state it goes of voting development. And if it is a second year in row increase, I just want to, want us to perhaps have a discussion about it. I personally would probably hold on to that, but in grand scheme of things, just one of the things I wanted to bring up. The second one was more of a move point and I don't think it generates much revenue. So I'll hold for now. But that's all. It's about the public permit fees and such. Thank you. Do you have a response about the fees? I will just say in the past, sometimes we've gotten when we've looked at fees has been strategically looking at how do we compare with other jurisdictions to add to Dr. Miles' question. Does staff have a chance to take a look at, does that will remain competitiveness with the region? Because we know that's something that people think of cost of construction. So Dr. Miles is correct in his articulation of the response that he received on that question. Our financial management policies do indicate that our regulatory programs such as licensing and permitting should be fully cost recovered. And so that what that means is particularly for this budget, where we're adding capacity, adding people to help improve the timeliness of those permitting and licensing services, including plan review and things like that. It's probably all the more important that we make sure that those fees are keeping up with the cost. That being said, you're correct that there have been extensive benchmarking exercises done in the past. I can tell you that the CPDS and public works team are undergoing a fee study and that should be getting underway very soon and that will also be a very helpful resource to more broadly benchmark city fees and help ensure that they are on pace pace and on par with neighboring jurisdictions. Okay, there's nothing that's a red flag for you that is going to put us, you know, way above other jurisdictions. I know it's their minor, but just you guys feel comfortable that will still be competitive in the region. We do. Okay, Dr. Miles. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And this is a quick follow up question for clarification. So this is going to be one of the questions I bring up. I guess that either this or later, perhaps a later work session in terms of the people's 14 FTEs that were added. And I believe CPS did have a few to miss Francisco's point. So in other words, the increase in these fees will help cover the cost of those additional FTEs. Is that one way to read it? That's correct. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Miles, are you done for now? Okay, thank you. Councilman Van Graek. So I had a similar question to Dr. Miles and I just wonder if the department, like CPD S or someone from the public can clarify because I know that these are inflationary adjustments. What I would like to just make sure is that even though we're doing inflationary adjustments here, which I understand with cost recovery, whether that could have an impact with regard to anybody seeking development. And if they believe the inflationary adjustment would not have any impact that's great but if it could have any impact I just wanted to hear from the department if there's any response to that. Let us circle back to you on that one. Thank you. On the fees in addition to the construction and building permits Just noted that the adult there's most of the adult program or the recreation and park fees are minimal however There's some that went from $89 to $125 and it just seems like a big jump in a year that People's budgets may be a little tighter. So I just wanted to flag that concern personally. I don't know if my colleagues have the same. Councilman Van Graenck. No, and I think that's part of the concern that I also have. I mean, we've got residential, we've got a lot of these fees that have the inflationary adjustments. Understand the financial reason, but with regard to where things could become tight, is this the year four deflationary adjustment if it could have an impact on development and the fees and the permits that are necessary? And then for the some of the senior programs, I know that there's a cost recovery chart and there are different segments of them. Are we staying within what we've previously discussed in terms of that cost recovery? Because I did see some adjustments for senior programs as well as youth programs. Youth is same, but senior is not. I believe there's one area of senior services that is being adjusted. Just due to trends, the trends that have been observed over the last couple of years. I think there have been some challenges post COVID bringing people back in person. And I think that is where some of those minor adjustments stem but I think in previous years we've made more significant recommended changes to that structure and I think this is just one minor this year to really acknowledge the trends that we've seen over the last few years. Okay, I just want to, particularly for seniors who have a very fixed income, that's one that I just wanted to make sure that we're being over the last few years. Okay, I just want to, particularly for seniors who have a very fixed income, that's one that I just wanted to make sure that we're being very careful with. All right, colleagues, anything else on revenues? Dr. Miles. Thank you, Madam. I just jump back in on a similar note. This is page 43 of the budget in a similar vein when we look at cost recovery. It's a long-standing conversation that you and I have had in previous sessions about summer camps and affordability and thinking about the tiers that various offerings that we have are in. I do recognize, I think, in one of the prior city manager reports that to the meeting, the amount of grants and scholarship programs we have for families of modest financial means. But just wanted to bring up the discussion again about whether summer camps in particular could be looked at to move from tier three to tier two. That's all. And I was asking also about trend data just to understand with the uncertainty for many workers through the job loss. Are we seeing a pullback on some of programs or people are not sure that they can afford them? Or are you seeing still like I know in the previous years we've had issues with and we increased staff to support but that they were filling up so quickly that we were waitlisted. So I would just appreciate as we go into the next discussions to have that information, I did submit that question to the city manager, but I think that will be helpful for all my colleagues to have as well. It would be a councilman Vellieri. I want to second and echo the summer camps point that my colleague made. I would be interested in the trend data there as well. But you know, there's something that always strikes me when I look at the cost recovery summary chart that's on page 387 of the budget. And that is that childcare remains in tier four. And I think I struggle with it for a variety of reasons, but in particular, because it has an impact on the economic development in our city when we have more people that are able to be in the workforce and have the childcare that they need, then we are going to see income on the other end of things. And I really tried to stay away from the whole like considerable individual benefit and was really just trying to think of like in general some of these things through the cost recovery lens I think that similar to to summer camps as well that there definitely is a balance between The benefits there and I think even more so now Given the uncertainty Providing child care options is going to be more of a community thing as well because you'll have a lot more people that may need to look at different job schedules and so forth. So just something that I wanted to flag for consideration. I thought about it last budget season, but now it's really hitting me that that is as significant as summer camps right now as as families are trying to kind of sort out their own economics. Thank you, Mr. Mahalak. Councilmember Valeria's prophetic are summer camps are actually up to the highest levels we've seen since COVID. So she's right about that. So I just wanted to give you that data point. Excellent. Thank you. So I support my colleagues on just looking at the tiers, particularly this coming year, but I just wanted to be on record saying that. I have a revenue question. I'm just looking at hands in case there are any others. So tax duplication is something that the Maryland Municipal Economic Chapter has worked with our fellow municipalities to negotiate with the county and through expedited bill to the three-dash 22 were able to get additional revenues. I think we went from a very $2 million to an hour, almost at nine million. So just want, and I know that our financial team was involved in that negotiations. I wanted to thank you because we were able to get additional funds to support police and the services that we're providing with the county pulling some of their offices out due to staffing shortages. We've also looked at things related to transportation. We'll be going into the Quadruonial Review. so it's hard to anticipate exactly what that new formula will be, but that's something we're going to have to work together on this summer and fall. My comment on revenue is that we were able to get some additional funds beyond when you put in the book. I think it's something to the order of 300,000 a little bit more. And so I just, one of the things I was thinking about is there is something that we can, instead of saying, we're pulling out our reserves. Now that we're getting that revenue, instead of, you know, I know it's a little bit of shuffling and nomenclature, but use that revenue versus reserves. That's something we can definitely look at. And I think that once we get to our final balancing, once we hear from the body and work through any questions and any recommended changes, when we get to the final balancing, there could be an opportunity to shuffle some things around in that way. Okay, yeah, just because I like to have that healthy reserve specifically going into a time period of unknowns, so if we help to make that happen. Colleagues, any other questions on revenues, fees? Comes over, Larry? I finally found my notes and apologize for that. I'm just lugging around a binder for the heck of it. I had a couple of questions on the detail of the general fund revenue. I'm just curious. Under. questions on the detail of the general fund revenue. I'm just curious, under fines and for pictures, municipal infractions has a proposed increase of 2,905%, and was wondering what was the background there? What's up with that? Sure. We got that question on the Q&A, actually also. So that additional revenue comes from anticipated citations associated with the new code inspectors. There's zoning inspector that is included in this budget. And it is anticipated that the work that that position would do would ultimately yield in citation revenues for the city where they're finding zoning violations. No, I agree. That's significant. I'm sorry. I look forward to sorry. I look just a little bit more color over the past several months. Whether it was either legal signs, people not struggling their snow, I heard a lot from you guys. We didn't gain the compliance that we naturally thought we could and every now and then you write a few tickets and you gain greater compliance to be candid. So if we need to pull back in the future years, we'll do that. But we have to try something we'll hardly because this year we have some compliance challenges. Thanks. That makes sense. And thank you for that additional color. I won't look down again for that. I'm sorry. This issue. Do you have a different issue? I do. Okay. questions. How do you feel about that? So on these issues, we're talking about potential issues with revenue and in these areas of compliance and I don't know it seems like we're maybe just shooting all over the places of Cone, going through department. I noticed that we've got a couple different areas of violations or non-compliance issues in revenue that have not been adjusted for a while. And I don't know, I mean, both on community planning and development services in the late renewal fees and rental citations. I know we discussed last budget as well as in the police, we're talking about parking meter violations as well as the red light camera violations and the food camera violations. We've got a really late in time, and I didn't know if there was a rationale basis for those issues of revenue not being adjusted. Just wanna add, I believe some of those were updated last term. A number of these have been updated. So red light camera citations are coming in very strong and very strong and we actually made mid-year adjustments to those revenue forecasts. On the contrary, speed camera citations are not coming in very strong and so we've made mid-year adjustments just on this last budget amendment to reflect that. This budget also reflects a reduction in speed camera revenues because that is the trend we've been seeing. We do know that the police department leadership is taking a very close look at both of those camera systems to make sure not only that all the cameras are functioning, but also that our vendor is holding up their end of their contractual responsibilities. And again, I'm looking at what we're talking about the fees and the parking meter violations last year was 40, this year's 40, and we're talking about red light and speed cameras. We got 75 and 40, and the proposed is the same. I'm sorry, Council Member Van Greck. I thought she meant the total revenue projection. I didn't know you meant the fees. Correct, no, I was specific, okay, and my apologies. I'm talking about the specific fees because I know that we've heard from the police, what we've heard from finance, that there is this imbalance of recovery. But we've got since 2005, no increase in our traffic fines citations from the automatic systems. And we've got no adjustment since 2003 of the parking meter violations. So those were the specific areas that I was referring to. The speed camera and red light citations, those amounts are set by the state. We don't have any control over how much we can charge for those citations. That's that's state imposed. I'm not sure how much flexibility we have around adjustments to parking citations. I would defer to the acting chief of police. And I will just note, there were some parking citation adjustments last term. I just might be helpful to pull that out. Because I do remember that there were some that we increased. So just want to maybe pull the history on that. Am I seeing it? Yes. That's correct. OK. Thank you very much. Councilmember Fulton, and then we have more. Yeah. I just wanted to say on this point of fees, because I remember we talked about this last year, I remember thinking particularly speed cameras should be adjusted and they haven't. It goes way back farther than 2025. And I remember the answer being state, and then I remember talking about whether we could make legislative priority to advocate for a change. At the time somebody said it was a court set issue, it's not. I think there is some legislation moving this year or I heard there would be. So I understand we can't change it ourselves but I do what I put down a mark right to it last year. Anything we can do to advocate for the state to let us change that we should be doing. So thanks. Thank you. Council Member Valyrie. And that is one of the hardest things to push through to as well. I have not, I did not bring that up actually on today's meeting about crossover and that. So my, so you hit the municipal infractions one made sense to me. The other question that I had, I'm guessing I'm not going to guess. I'll just ask, on animal licenses, saw a reduction in revenue. Is that due to decreased fees or due to decreased registration? The animal license fees have been held flat. So any changes that you see in the budget on that lion item for those revenues is just based on historical activity and what we're seeing here today in recent trends. So volume-based. A just volume-based. Am I also being a good opportunity to do some public education on that as well? Because I think a lot of folks don't know that they do need to... I know because I get the notice all the time. And having many animals, it does add up. But that might just be an opportunity for like a little bit of public education. Thank you. I will echo and I was someone who did not know when I first won. Thank you. And that, but now we get noticed is once you're in the system, you get updates with people who don't know, probably still don't know. And it's not until you come across something, it could be just, you know, outreach to people who are with vets, you know, just or even putting it in an article. Because I do know that there are a lot of people who may not have that permit. And it's important not just to collect the fee, but you're trying to make sure that they're getting the necessary vaccines that like rabies vaccine, one example. Any other questions on revenue? Council member Shaw. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just had a quick question. I know that in the code, it requires landlords to not only share the notice of rent increases, 90 days with the tenant, but as well as with the director of housing. And I'm not sure if we've collected or if we have been providing any oversight with that, but I'm pretty sure that there is a lot of opportunity there in terms of citations and and money there so is there a way to look at that and like collect more money from that 90 days citation? We'll just take a look at our enforcement activities and see if see's a lag. And if so, we can pick that up. Okay. I do think there needs to be additional outreach with tenants on that. Thank you. Thank you. I have some questions related to that topic on the one we get into housing a bit more in depth. But I do know that the city does collect the rent totals at the point of the license, but there's not a lot of information asking for collection of data in between. And that is maybe a programmatic change for the city, even though the code says it. Right now, the city is really collecting through the rental license. And as I've shared before, for single family homeowners, they're every two years, but inspections from multi-family take five years to happen. Do you have any other comments for us on the fees or questions that we've shared with you on revenues? Questions of receipt tonight were great and Friday good feedback. We appreciate it. Did you have something to say, Councillor Jackson? Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'm sorry if you've already discussed this, but just to be clear, can you tell us, when we're talking about property taxes, revenues increased by 5.2%. But because of the climate that we're in, the county, the state, and maybe new taxes or whatever, can you describe for me the property tax revenues? Like how is that established? And especially for the listening public, that's an increase, but it isn't something that we did. Just describe for me what goes into the property tax revenue increase. Sure, I'd be happy to do that council member. The city is broken up into two sections. The city has two of the three state assessment areas. Properties are assessed every three years. For the budget office, we get a report every January that gives us updated, taxable assessed values. Now that's a little bit different than that notice that a homeowner might receive, right? Because that notice might say that your property had a 15% increase. Well, that's going to be phased in over three years, Those kinds of increases. It's not going to hit all at once. So what we are working from are the updated taxable assessments. We received that each January and that informs what will be taxed for the next fiscal year. We developed these projections using the city's tax rate. and all properties are assessed per $100 of assessed value So there's a little bit of an equation that goes into that but This budget and the forecast assumes that the city's property tax rate is held flat What we're seeing with this budget is that across all categories the assessed values are going of 5.7%. And so that is just a reflection of our market, you know, our environment currently. And those valuations to be clear are not conducted by any employees of the City of Rockville. That's the State Department of Assessments and Taxation who goes out and they do those valuation assessments. And so that just, that makes clear that it's not us increasing the rate is that the values have increased and that means extra revenue for the city. So thank you for clarifying. Thank you. I just would be remiss if I didn't say some people who live in the city are experiencing 20% plus increases in property values. Again, that's not set by the city, that's set by the state, but our residents still feel it. And I know that's divided by three. So maybe it's really seven percent increase if you're at 21 per year, but I just wanted to note that affects homeowners. But it also affects people who are renting because I'm sure that gets passed on. So I just wanted to flag that concern. And I know that we've had a strategic priority about increasing the tax credit for people who are seniors, people who have lower incomes and trying to add disabilities that didn't pass this year. I know that there's a very tough environment, but I just I want to acknowledge that, that is hard for people who are on fixed incomes to try to figure that out. And it's, that is a factor for everyone's personal budgets. And I just also wanted to note that the county budget did come out on potential increase with 3.5%. That is not yet accepted, that the county council will now be dealing with that. But if there is one that also something that residents feel as well. Mr. Mahillic. Thank you, Mayor. I got some additional information about one of the questions that council member Van Grack brought up regarding increase in development fees. I think it's a real concern. But one thing we're monitoring very carefully even with a recommended increase in rates, we're still saying below Montgomery County. That's important. We're in the same exact market. Our growth rates and our number of new developments, building permits, etc., continue to increase. Other parts of the county, those are actually decreasing, but we're not going to recommend raising our fee schedule to the point where we're going to be up above Montgomery County. We think that could have a chilling effect on development. That's not what we're proposing. Council member Engrake. Just as a follow up, because have we compared that rate through that rate of increase to Kethersburg? I don't have my fingertips, but we can do that. Okay, thank you. Happy to do it. Thank you. That was the question I was asking early and I know Councilor Miles was as well. Just understanding how we are and are we competitive in the region because we don't want to be less competitive than our peers. I agree. Thank you. One other revenue question for me. I know that we have set the water rates and that's an enterprise fund water and sewer. My question relates to the revenue increase for reviews. It seems minor, but it is a 5.6% increase. Can you just, you know, share what the rationale is beyond that? So like all enterprise funds, the fees are set in order to recover the costs. So those are the operating costs, including personnel. And also the capital costs. Is there any projects or any large capital equipment purchases and needs? For the Refuse Fund in particular, the Refuse Fund is, there's a number of FTEs that are there. And so there are adjustments that will need to trend with salary adjustments and benefits adjustments to meet those changes year over year. In addition, the purchase of refuse vehicles can be very expensive and while those do vary from year to year, those are part of what informs that rate setting. Another thing I would just mention is that we do try to smooth those adjustments over the five years. So if we know that there are larger purchases planned for FY 2029, we try to smooth out those increases so that there aren't dramatic spikes for our residents who are paying those fees. So are you projecting a similar rate increase for the next couple of years for refuse? Let me page flip just a second because I have that information. So what we have over the forecast is an average of 4.4% per year. Okay, so it just happens to be 5.6 this year. Correct. Okay. All questions? Council Member Larry. As far as my last one, oops, or it's not, because my music is going to play. It is another tax rate question, but this time, it's under the parking fund, the parking district tax rate. It looks like that tax rate has remained flat since 2017. Bless you. Not adjusting at all. Predating this mayor and council, was there any rationale or was or a benefit was read-leaded to economic development? Was it not? I didn't get a good sense of kind of the historical context on that one. Councilmember that might be a bigger discussion. When we talk about town square, those are the properties that pay that additional 33 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value. Basically what that revenue does is it helps offset some of the debt service that's associated with the parking garages in town square. So we have not increased that over time just because of the mixed activity that is happening in the square and the relationships we've had with the developers. But if that's something that the mayor and council want to consider as maybe a future discussion when talking about town square and what properties pay into that. And I appreciate it. I just was kind of figuring it, wondering the back story on that one. And it goes like, it's been a while. So thank you. Thank you. And I know that will come on the six month calendar because we have to get that done by June, I believe. Councillor Jackson. Thank you, Mayor. Just real quick. We've talked about these citations in terms of fees. But the red light camera citations and the speech camera citations, what is that really for? Like what do we do it? I mean it's actually a deterrent comes from projects. Yes, everything else and I I appreciate bringing it up. We do here on occasion. I'm sure you guys hear it more than we hear that it's a money grab or just trying to create revenue or pay for more police officers or something like that. That's not true at all. It's really a deterrent. We're trying to get people to pay the law and make it a safer travel way for everybody. Thank you I appreciate that and I will say say other jurisdictions work it could be a hundred dollars so it's more modest here it's really a behavioral modification effort. I did want to ask a question on revenue that I kind of alluded to in the beginning but grants are changing and I And I just wanted to just, I know that we're all having crystal balls here, but what have you looked at in terms of potential shifts and grant funding that we might have? And how does that impact our discussions going forward? I will say kudos again to team members for getting grants even as recently as the last week. So that has been very strong for us to find other sources of ways to pay for infrastructure and art and vision zero, all those things. So just huge kudos. But I just want, as we look at potentially a more challenging environment on the grant fund, how are you preparing for that? It's a very fluid situation. I think that we are expecting that grant opportunities will decrease, perhaps significantly, over the next couple of years. And so what that means is we have to be prepared to absorb more of those costs going forward when we look at our capital projects in particular, that's where most of our grants are. We still will have opportunities through state agencies, but grants at the federal level may become fewer and further between. And that means that we will need to continue our commitment to making those capital investments, whether through contributions from the general fund to the CIP, or whether through looking at opportunities to bond and finance projects and spread those costs. Generational equity is what some people call it. Spread those costs out in order to maintain the city's infrastructure and keep accelerating the city's programs and priorities. Mr. Millehlick. I'm not sure if I could say that I completely agree but Kimberly said I'll also suggest that this city's been very strategic and according a lot of grants I agree with you was impressive when I first got here. It was raining grants, real kudos to staff but we've also been smart about making sure that our grants are mainly on enhancement projects or a way for the city to move forward in in a faster fashion they haven't really been necessarily for emergency items critical operations staffing etc and I think that's really wise if all of our grants were invested in those areas I'd be more nervous but'm not at this point. I will also give kudos to the finance team because they've been very diligent when I'm telling us that grants are for one time expenditures, not for ongoing. So I just have that in my head. And I think that has been a difference maker for us compared to other areas that has put us in the good position. I know that the grant opportunities may slow down, but are you hearing anything about grants that are being pulled away or paused or not sure of? And so what is the what of magnitude on that? Well, we've been tracking it quite a bit. We have not had any of our grants pulled back unless I'm wrong about that. Looking around the room. We have not, but we check every day because we're nervous about it. But so far, frankly, we're in good shape right now. We really are. As soon as we hear about it, we'll share that with council. Thank you, Ms. Webster. I just want to add one more piece of context. We have a very reasonable level of outstanding taxpayer-supported debt, which means we do have the capacity to issue more bonds for capital if we had to in the future. And whereas most of our federal grants are centered around the capital budget that does really give that as an option, as well as using reserves because it is one time or large capital projects. I will note on an important note because that might be something that we have to do in the future. I put in each of my colleagues mailboxes the National League of City, the priorities, and one of them is interest-free municipal bonds. That is up for discussion and we may want to take a position with our elected representatives because if we're going to need that to replace other sources of revenue, we'll publish you, you know, share a voice on that topic. All right. I'm not seeing any more hands on revenues. I'm just going to pause and see. We are going to be discussing the operating expenditures and the CIP and grants. But are there any broader comments or questions that you have for staff on strategic initiatives at this time? Council Member Van Graek. So just on the broader question and in preparation of our discussions with regard to the operational expenses, I know and I appreciate the staff had very good responses to my questions with regard to the police pay and what we did in as of May in the adopted budget versus what we ultimately did a few months later in the August September period. And I understand that in the data that we're looking at in the current briefing book and that's part of the budget. And I the stat you guys explained great that that's based on what we did in May for the adopted budget and doesn't incorporate anything that we did basically for the past 10 months for the police scale. What I'm wondering is given that fact, is there a way because we've got in the operational budget with a lot of different percentages and scales based on the adopted budget. Is there a way for us to find any one of those particular expenditure adjustments that wouldn't would be different based on what our expenditures truly were for the past 10 months versus what the proposal is. So for example, I understand and it was explained out that the pay differentiation between the adopted and what we're proposing is actually smaller than what is in the briefing book because of what we did in the August September time period. Is there a way that staff could update any particular figure in the police budget to accommodate for what we did in the August of Timber time period? I think there could be opportunities for us to add language where we describe significant changes to make reference to those things that happened after the adoption of the FY 2025 budget. But I can tell you councilmember that every virtually every table in this document compares adopted figures to proposed figures. So it could be I think we can add some and narrative, but I don't know that we would start citing different questions. Okay, my thought, I'm not suggesting that we alter the budget book at all. The budget book is clearly should be adopted to adopted. So that's not what I'm suggesting. I'm suggesting is maybe even a dendum, kind of like what you guys do in the charts in response to the council member of the mayor's questions. Some additional chart just to clarify what the number and percentage increases from what has been expended for the past and the levels that we put forward, including the August of September, to what we're being proposed now. So I'm not suggesting that the budget, I'm just saying as an additional chart for us to understand what that difference is net based on what we already put forward. Does that make sense? So we'll look at options that we could put into maybe the Q&A because what we also have to do is include the Compton class adjustment. So right now that all lies in non-departmental and that needs to be divvied out into the departments that it goes to. So that's gonna impact your 26 number. So therein lies, I mean another question that I think we were probably gonna get to in the operation, where my understanding is the Comp-In class adjustments, if we're going to do it, is not part of the adopted budget, correct? That's something that's going to be put in later as a potential amendment. No, it will be in the adopted budget. So right now we have capacity built in on the non-departmental side, just because we didn't know what department it was going to go into. But now we have the data that supports that number. So we'll rerun the numbers and get those dollars into the departments for the adopted budget. Exactly. But that's going to be for all of the department because the competent class addresses all the departments. That's correct. And I guess what I'm trying to say is the police department is slightly different because they had an adjustment that we put forward in the middle of the fiscal year. Understood. And so that's what I'm trying to. So let's try to figure out a way to estimate what that would look like with that mid-year adjustment for 25 versus what the 26. So what I might suggest is we'll look at what we've improved in last year's budget. the adjustments that we did during the September timeframe, and then what we might see in addition with his recommended budget, including Comp and Class. So you all see it in one spot. We can do that in the Q&A. Well, and I guess the reason why, because if you, and I know we're giving it to specifics and data, if we're, because we're looking parallel at all the different departments Right now and the percentage increases without the comping class. So that's the actual proper comparison if we're looking for my department department assessment but if you Include that and then also include the comping class. It's not a comparable to all departments Did you know what I'm saying? do. Okay. We'll put together a answer in Q&A for that. All right. Great. Thanks. Thank you. I would just note for the narrative as well, I do think that it's important to show even over the past two years how much has been done on the recruit and on the fund. So not just in Q&A but just in that section because we've we some investments in public safety that show whether that's on call, pay, drop, and others. It tells a cumulative story that the of the investment the city has made. Mayor Feudal, I'm asking retention and recruitment. I'm sorry, adding to retention and recruitment across the enterprise. I heard that loud and clear when I got here we've made significant recommendations that including police Yeah, and I know you also added just for the record and Advertised a higher bonus correct. Yeah Councilman for Larry We're over here busy eaten sunflower bakery goodies They're delicious It's 930 we're all getting low nashy. Actually on the point regarding what we did mid year to remain so that our recruitment efforts remain competitive. I could just wrote real quickly. Do we need to put a pin in the fact that we may need to do that again? Give me, I mean, we don't know. We kind of held back because we weren't quite sure how other jurisdictions would kind of up the ante for recruitment. And it's very possible that they will do that again. And so we might be in this weird laggy space on this just till we get to like one office or for every five people in the city. I would just add that is something that we have talked about in the past because a budget is get approved and we won't know until July which is why we did a review last summer. So I think it's important to note that we'll just need to review again. Councilman Van Grack I think you're saying that that's exactly where was ultimately going. So I appreciate Councilman Riverley's comment. Thank you. I just have some broad comments. And I'm not going to go into the depth that I will on operating. But I just, as we look at the strategic priorities that are listed in the budget, I mentioned earlier, just a little bit more context on Vision Zero. If you compare it to last year, it was actually a very detailed list and I felt like the breadth of what we were doing was clearer. Same thing for me on climate action and this one in particular, there are some things that we promised to do and the climate action plan that I was expecting to see here, but I didn't. And I'll go into more detail on that, but I just went on to the high level to say that I am going back to our plans to say what do we say we're going to do and what are we actually doing this year. And it may be for a variety of reasons that you have changes on that, but I think that's something we need to talk aboutation in parks, I know that's we heard quality of life and quality in the eBohedra is something that people really value. I just wanted to also to the comments we heard in the community forum as well. Looking back at our pros plan, I'm just the park pavilion is just one example of are we doing what we said we're going to do in our plans because that's that's the time to also look at our plans and compare it to our actions and make sure we're on schedule with what we promised the public. So I wanted to flag that as well. And I will just say I in terms of the revenue side one of the things we talked about previously and think we created a whole sponsorship policy, is just looking for ways since grants may be adjusted. They were the benches and trees program. I don't ever see that very well advertised, and I'm not sure if that is going what the trends of those sponsorships are since we introduced that policy, but I'd like to get more information on that. And then I'll just say I appreciate the Sushi Diccon initiatives on economic development, public safety, and housing. I will have a lot more comments on housing in the future as well, but I just wanted to pause there and see if my colleagues have anything to add or if you want to wait until we have fun on the 24th. Council Member Valeriy. I mean, I do look forward to the fun on the 24th but no I want to concur with many of your points as far as doing the comparison between our adopted plans and then what we see that we're funding what we see that is on the CIP list, the PIP list like all of our different machinations for when something is going to get done, because I definitely see and appreciate under the other major initiatives that there is, you know, the awesome eB charging stations that was part of the Climate Action Plan or is complimentary to it, but we're also looking at uncertainty in the future, where are we on the LED conversion of all city facilities, which could be an initial outlay, but a long-term cost savings. So I think that there's a lot of overlap there. My final point, and I swear it's my final point, at least on this. This question is actually kind of for our Mr. City Manager. The proposed a project and the letters that were received from community associations, civic associations. How, if any, and I know we all got in, thank you to the City Clerk team for making me a copy. I'm a visual learner. I was wondering how the ideas that came forward, and we heard some of them at Community Forum tonight, how were they incorporated into the proposed budget? How, what would be the best way in a transparent way, which would be a new initiative? How could we start a process of having the discussion of what new projects may qualify as a CIP. Maybe it wouldn't be a CIP, but are things that the community has been asking for for some time akin to what we heard from Mr. Wright on the Wooten's bill. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we have to go through and look at each one, but I think what was described earlier today is exactly right when the resident came forward and said, let's just put this out, please for him to say instead of let's build it next year, can we do a feasibility study that's really the first part and building into the CIP and then doing design engineering, community engagement and then build it. That's all part of the CIP process. We need to do that. I think we'll just try to make it a point when we go over the CIP. If there's a CIP project that really had a kernel or support within our community engagement, we'll highlight that for you guys. That's the best way to do that. I think that makes a lot of sense. I can also, if there's any sort of overlap that we can or historical requests from a community that maybe that is a place as well to say these things maybe at some point in time the city said yeah no we can work with you and maybe there's ways to course correct on this. Understood, thank you. The only thing I would add is just that there are oftentimes submissions that come through that proposal project process that are not really CIP in nature. And so when those come in, they get assigned to staff, staff look at them and make some assessments. In some cases, we're being asked to build paths in parts of town that are not in city limits. And so there are things like that that we have to navigate and take a close look at. But the Neighborhood Sign Initiative is one example in the operating budget of something that came through that proposal project over time and we were able to fold that in. And I appreciate that as someone who I think added that into testimony before she got elected, That there are a lot of things and not just in my neighborhood, but across the city that have been asked for over and and while I appreciate, there are definitely things that will have to do feasibility. There are a lot of things that are in proposed project that as we met earlier today to talk through some vision zero challenges just our regular the nuts and bolts of what our wonderful traffic and transportation team does. So I appreciate that and I think we can have a really good process a very transparent process. I have a I have a question for you on that topic. You have a chart on the proposal project, and I'm wondering just for our knowledge, are there, is there an easy notes that you could share with us? That's like we reviewed this, but this is something that we can't do for five years versus not. I just I was curious about that. And again, I know that some of them are not like I, there's one that talks about a bridge to over to Park Potomac. That's one that was very common. Maybe we can do that, but we can advocate for our community to share that with the county, for example. So I just don't want that to die through the survey or through the proposal project, but that we actually look at them and say, okay, this is something that doesn't fit this year, but we'll think about that in the future. Yeah, we actually are building that in and we've got that covered, or this is out of our jurisdiction, but we're advocating to the proper jurisdiction to make sure that happens just so that people have a sense of, you know, we're tracking. And our colleagues, my colleagues will be asked questions as we're walking about, and and it just helps us to understand the thought process. The other thing related to the, some of the survey as well as the opposite project, there are a lot of transportation and mobility projects proposed. Some of them are like stop signs or flashing lights. I mean, I'm just giving some examples, but I'm just wondering, can't similarly, can we just take a look with our public works department to see what is feasible, what you may already have covered, so that those residents concern. Some of them are, we see multiple years in the room. They might highlight a trend or something we actually need to take a look at. So I wanted to flag just a process to look at that so that we're clear and then at some point can get back to our residents. Council Member Shaw? Sorry. Council Member Jackson was first. I apologize. Council Member Jackson and then Shaw. Thank you, Mayor. So I love the proposal project. And as we heard tonight, you know, from Ms. Taas, you know, the invasive species clearing out, she proposed that project and we have the green plan that we're working on, working on as well as other programs to take up invasive species. But on the other side, so adding projects is great. And having communities suggest projects that's that's fine. But for those people who are listening, who say, well, you're adding projects, you're constantly looking to expand city government. What do you say to them? And does the city analyze which programs have the lowest protection patient rates and do they look to, or do we look to shutter them? Did we look to shift resources to programs that are more readily used by residents? Like how do we make sure that we're being good, fiscal agents to the residents? Councilor Jackson, thanks for asking that question. Yes, we do that. And we actually do it as part of the department's middle process to my office and the finance teams office. If a department comes forward with a brand new initiative, one of the first things we ask them is, how are you funding it? right? It can't be just more and more and more. And I think that's your point. So what I asked this year, but just a little bit, so as my first year is where's your stop doing list? And I think that's what you're driving at. And I think we're going to do a little bit more of that next year. But it's much easier for us to bring a project forward to you. That's a new initiative if we're doing some cost saving someplace else. We just have to do that in a more robust way. It's not just when we build the budget and make a recommendation to it's not just what are we adding what are we adding what are we adding where are we consolidating where are we changing like the the small reorganization issue why hall have that in the city manager's office etc. and some of the programmatic activity as well we heard multiple We heard multiple times, say, how successful we are with grants. And I agree. And that's really a subject matter experts we made an adjustment there. So yes, we are going through that process. But I candidly, I think we can do it in a more robust way in future years. Thank you. I wanted to just also comment on your reorganization. Thank you for looking at that and moving that forward. And also I saw that you were making some shifts between departments as well to be more efficient. So I appreciate that. Councilem Brascha. Last year, Mr. Francis, go. You did an excellent job with the equity analysis for the budget. Can you just talk a little bit more about your equity analysis this year? And also I will say too, I mean, I see a lot of that through the budget, but if you can share just some more details. Sure, from a process perspective this year was really on par with last year in terms of us asking all departments to submit equity impact statements. If for any budget enhancement that they were requesting we wanted to understand, are there any potential negative outcomes that could come from us adding or pursuing this thing? Are there any improved outcomes that we might expect in terms of equity and inclusion? The same with the CIP, every capital project submission, not just every new one, but all of them included an equity score. So all of our capital projects that our taxpayers supported receive scores and they go through a whole committee and an internal committee but those are reviewed and ranked and discussed. A prioritization, a CIP prioritization report is provided to the city manager that along with that's one piece that helps inform his decision making but every capital project that has taxpayer funding receives an equity score and an environment score for what is worth. Both of those things were folded into the budget process so that it's something that we look at and can consider before we add anything into our budget. One of my last questions is just because CIP comes so much late, I just want to get a philosophical approach question answered. So we commit to the minimum wage and and better as we talked about in comp and class. Do we anticipate that our contractors are also providing the higher minimum wage that has been approved or not? And I know we're going to have a discussion on locality preference, but if we're not, then that does create a disadvantage for local Montgomery County businesses. I wanted to just understand where we stood on that before we get into that discussion. I don't want to delve too far into procurement rules or guidelines, but the budget does not make assumptions around minimum wage changes that would impact contractual services. In many cases, we have agreements that are in place for 10 years, sometimes with optional extension periods. And so in some cases, we do have some assurances about fixed pricing, at least over the next couple of years. That being said, there are many contracts that will expire and will be subject to bid and will have to go out. We don't necessarily assume that there will be changes to those contracts because there are minimum wage adjustments. adjustments we could we have contracts with with vendors that are in other counties. We would like to thank the staff for their support and support for the staff. We would like to thank the staff for their support and support for the staff. We would like to thank the staff. We would like to thank the staff. We would like to thank the staff. We would like to thank the staff. We would like to thank the staff. We would like to thank the staff. We would like to thank the staff. We would were also being fair to businesses who try to work with the city, as well as the employees that they hire. Thank you. All right, that's Council Member Lary. Okay, this is my official last one. Last time I said this, it wasn't true. You've always explained capital improvement projects very well since I've been watching you all explain these things. Can you explain a little bit about the planned improvement projects, that process? And I know kind of the top lines, but how something maybe added to the PIP list and then how it might get from there to a CIP eventually. Sure, so in our supplemental section of the budget document, we have planned improvement projects. We also have long-range CIP projects. Generally speaking, the planned improvement projects are items that departments provide us with information on things that they see coming and they could see those things coming as a result of things that keep coming up in the proposal project process that might be one example. It could be, you know, plans that are reflected in other adopted plans that have come before the mayor and council things that are scheduled on a certain timeline or built out from there and those help us to plan for those activities that will come into the operating budget in future years. Typically what we see is that those items do eventually move forward into the adopted budget as time goes on and that gives us a little bit of a pipeline. So we can see what's coming and what's in the horizon. It doesn't mean that there's guaranteed funding for those things because of course every year our budget changes, our revenue outlook changes, our priorities change in fact, right? And so there's always going to be competing priorities, but that serves as somewhat of a pipeline for the operating budget. And the long range CIP is somewhat of a pipeline to the CIP. So we expect over time that some of those items will come into the CIP and this gives us an opportunity to have a longer outlook and see what's coming and making sure we have the adequate resources and strategies in place to deal with those. And that's that's really helpful. Thank you. I saw that it gets updated annually if I am not mistaken. I think it would be great. Maybe for all of us to consider, you know, is this as a road, you know, is this all right now that people kind of see coming down the road? And is this reflective of, you know, like you mentioned, like you see something coming because it's been mentioned and propose a project for forever. Is this reflective of that? And that might be something to consider moving forward. I know I'm going to look at this and I have been looking and got my highlighter out and everything. But to me, it seems like it almost shrunk from like previous PIP list. And it was just me and it could be my old age. But I just wanted to flag that as something that we might want to look at as part of our CIP conversation. Well, thank you all for the robust conversation and discussion. I know we have a lot more work to do. We'll be discussing again budget on March 24th. And then we that's a public hearing as well. So just want to make sure that the public is aware that we welcome your comments and feedback. If you haven't taken the survey, please do so. I want to thank you again and thank you to all the departments for all the work you have done. It seems simple when we can read it, but there are 400 plus pages of a lot of. I won't say bless what in tears, but a lot of hard work. So we appreciate all of you. Definitely. We're now moving on to Mach agenda. And I will note that the Mayor and Council have a standing leadership planning team meeting on Monday mornings at 830 on the days that we have meetings. We have had a chance to look at the mock agenda and I think we're in good shape But if anyone has any final comments Consumbing vanguard aren't we adjusting the description? I'm going to get there. We're on the same page. Yes. So, Mr. Mahalak, I know that we may change the labels of how we're dividing up the work sessions. So as discussed in our leadership plan team meeting, those adjustments we made to the future budget session descriptions on agendas, but also to the budget page. So I just wanted to make sure that we flag that. And the six month planning calendar. And if for some reason we need more time, maybe we won't, but we do have it April 28th as a potential for addition. Correct. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Just checking my colleagues. All right, moving on to old new business. We're ahead of schedule, guys. I have three quick items that I've raised before, but I'm not going to ask for discussion because I want to give people time to re-raise it. But D19 now is with potential property being developed as well as an existing apartment complex representing beyond D17. And so at some point we should probably draft a letter to say we're part of your crew and just it's great to just have more advocates for us in Annapolis, especially with some of the budget priorities my colleagues have raised today and previously. So I wanted to just make sure we're doing that warm introduction and make sure that they know that there's part of the city that is within their district. Okay. There are some letter requests that we have received Mr. Mejellik, I think sunflower bakery and Montgomery history just as they pursue grants to do the work they do in the city. I just wanted to note that just put that to your inbox and maybe circulate with the council so we can review that in the future. Looking around. All right, we'll move to do we have a motion to adjourn and happy St. Patty's to everyone? Do we have a motion to adjourn? Councilor Vangress. I'll happily give a motion to adjourn. Second. All right. Motion's been made and seconded. All's in favor. Please face your hand and say aye. All right. And for the record, Rockville has ended early. Thank you colleagues for the robust discussion. We appreciate it.