Council Minutes, May 2011

SECTION 5 OF THE VILLAGE OF CHEVY CHASE

COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

Date: May 10, 2011

Time: 7:30 PM

Place: 5906 Connecticut Ave. Chevy Chase Village Hall

Present: Peter Gray; Tim Hanlon; Frances L. Higgins; Nancy Pines; Chris Richardson; Greg White; 15 Section 5 residents; Ernie Baker, Pepco speaker; Kay Davis, Patch representative; Leslie Zimmerman assistant principal, Rosemary Hills Elementary School

1. Agenda Item: Minutes

   Peter moved that the April 5, 2011, annual meeting minutes be approved as revised; Nancy seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

2. Agenda Item: Oath of Office

   Nancy, Tim and Greg swore the oath of office for the office of Section 5 Council member.

3. Agenda Item: Requests for Donations

   Peter said that the item for donations in the FY2011-12 budget is $12,500 and the Council has received requests for $28,000. He recommended that each donation request be reduced. There was some discussion concerning the degree that the requesting organizations affects Section 5 residents. It was suggested that some organizations have a more substantial effect on Section residents than others. Greg offered to try to develop a better system to evaluate the relative merits of requests for donations.

   Action:
   The Council agreed to revisit the issue of donation requests at a later meeting and create some additional criteria for allocating donation monies. These additional criteria would delineate the degree to which Section 5 residents are affected directly by the efforts of the requesting organization.

   Action:
   Chris moved that Rosemary Hills Elementary School receive $3,000, Ellen's Run $2,000, B-CC Rescue Squad $2,500, Chevy Chase at Home $1,000, Wounded Veterans $1,500, and B-CC High School Foundation $2,500. Tim seconded the motion and Tim, Peter and Chris voted to support the motion and Nancy and Greg voted to oppose the motion.

4. Agenda Item: Pepco Speaker - Explanation of Electric Power Outages

   Mr. Ernie Baker, a Pepco representative, listed the three specific feeders which supply electric power to Section 5 residents. He also listed the streets which receive power from these feeders. He supplied the number of power outages which have occurred from Feb. 2010 to Feb. 2011 in Section 5.

   He said that Pepco has created a reliability enhancement plan which will alleviate the frequent electric power outages which Section 5 residents have experienced. This reliability plan provides the replacement of many hundreds of feet of electric wire in Section 5 as well as the replacement of many electric poles. The work included in this plan will be completed by Sept. 1, 2011. A resident asked Mr. Baker if he would provide Section 5 with the feeder numbers and the house addresses to which they supply power in Section 5. Mr. Baker said that for security reasons he was not certain that he could supply the specific addresses. He will contact his supervisor and provide the information that is allowable.

   Mr. Baker said that pruning trees which threaten the electric lines is also part of the reliability plan. A resident said that she objected to the proposed Pepco tree pruning program in Section 5. The manager said that an arborist for Pepco has contacted Section 5 and said that Pepco plans to prune a 7 ft. halo in each Section 5 tree which is located on the side of the street with the electric lines. Section 5's Council has objected to this pruning program and has contacted the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC). Section 5 has asked the PSC to contact Pepco because this vigorous pruning will substantially weaken the trees. This matter is being investigated.

   Mr. Baker said that the Governor has signed legislation which will impose a fine on power companies which fail to meet reliability standards.

   Action:
   The manager will obtain a copy of the recent law and a copy of the Pepco reliability plan.

5. Agenda Item: Responses to Leland Street Traffic Questionnaire

   Brian Somers and Bill Moore, Leland St. residents, created a questionnaire to determine Leland St. residents' opinions concerning traffic calming devices on Leland St. They sent their proposed questionnaire to the Council and the Council approved it. They then sent a copy of this traffic questionnaire to the Leland St. residents but as yet they have not received the responses. They will tabulate the responses and provide a report to the Council at the June meeting.

6. Agenda Item: Election of Council Officers

   Peter agreed to serve as Chairman, Chris as Vice-Chairman, Tim as Treasurer, Greg as Secretary and Nancy as Building Inspector.

7. Agenda Item: Treasurer's Report

   The manager provided the Council with a copy of the most recent revenues and expenditures. There were no expenditures which have exceeded the budget. There will be a large disbursement of State income tax money at the end of June. This payment will ensure that the expenditures for FY 2010-11 will not exceed the budget.

8. Agenda Item: Building Inspector's Report

   Permits granted:
   3806 Thornapple St. - replace sun room, rear of house
   3700 Woodbine St. - replace driveway and stone wall
   3616 Thornapple St. - replace driveway
   7205 Thornapple Pl. - replace back fence
   7309-11 Brookville Rd. - erect back fence and garden fence enclosure

9. Agenda Item: Manager's Report

   Section 5 has been notified that it must revise its Ethics law so that it is as stringent as the State's. John Higgins has offered to review Section 5's current law and provide the Council with a revision of this for its review.

   LGIT, Section 5's insurance company, has notified Section 5 that it is reducing the town's insurance rate because of its good record.

   The County is negotiating the new cable contract with Comcast; Section 5 has engaged David Podolsky to represent the town in these negotiations. In the past Comcast has paid for the legal fees involved in these negotiations; however, it may not this time and Section 5 has agreed to pay Podolsky up $2,500.00 for his services in these negotiations.

   The manager said IRS has begun an audit of Section 5's records for 2009. She is providing all the material for this audit.

   The State has notified Section 5 that it will increase the highway user fee to $6,288 for FY2012.

10. Agenda Item: Adjournment

    Peter adjourned the meeting. The next meeting will be June 14, 2011, at 7:30 PM at the Village Hall, 5906 Connecticut Avenue. Everyone is welcome. The Village Hall provides handicapped access.