March
SECTION 5 OF THE VILLAGE OF CHEVY CHASE
COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
Date: March 8, 2016
Place: Village Hall, 5906 Connecticut Avenue
Time: 7:30 PM
Present: Chris Richardson, Nancy Pines, Pat Xeller, Scott Livingston, Greg White, Ashley Kavanaugh, 2 Section 5 residents
Agenda Item: Greetings and IntroductionsChair Chris Richardson called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance.
Agenda Item: Approval of MinutesChris moved that the minutes from the February Meeting be approved; there was a second and the motion passed unanimously
Agenda Item: Resident CommentsThere were no comments or concerns raised by the residents in attendance.
Agenda Item: Building Permit ReportNancy Pines stated that there were no new applications this month.
Agenda Item: Council Seat VacancyChris announced that Council Member and Treasurer Greg White would soon be resigning the Council. Greg and his family are moving to a home outside of Section 5 boundaries. Chris expressed his appreciation for Greg’s service on the Council. Greg thanked the Council and Section for the opportunity.
In the event of a vacancy on the Council, the current Council has the authority to appoint a new member to fill the seat for the remainder of that member’s term – in this case through May 2017. Chris recommended that Greg Chernack of Thornapple Street be considered for the vacancy. Greg ran for a Council seat during the previous year’s election. The Council was in agreement. Chris will contact Greg Chernack, and assuming he is willing to serve, the appointment will be made official upon receipt of Greg White’s formal resignation letter. Greg Chernack will be sworn in at the April meeting.
Discussion Regarding Qualified Voters in Section 5Chris continued the discussion regarding Qualified Voters in Section 5. At the November meeting, a question was posed by a resident concerning the ability to vote in Section 5 if not a U.S. citizen. Currently, the Section 5 charter denotes a “Qualified Voter shall mean any person who is registered to vote in Montgomery County (which requires U.S. citizenship) and who appears on the registration lists as resident of Section 5.” Neighboring Sections have differing rules. It was decided to engage the Town Attorney and ask for specific legal guidance regarding this issue. The Council also plans to seek feedback from residents regarding this issue once this additional information is available.
Agenda Item: Status of Income Tax Allocation IssueThe Town Manager reported attending a February meeting regarding updates to the Income Tax Allocation issue. As background, Section 5 had been previously notified by Montgomery County’s Department of Finance that there appears to have been an error in the coding of municipal income tax returns in Tax Years 2010-14. Certain returns were incorrectly assigned to municipalities when they were actually outside of the municipal boundaries, and to a lesser extent, some income tax returns should have been assigned to a municipality but were not. The results from the meeting indicate that Section 5 is not negatively impacted by the misallocation, but in fact will be owed money. The money will be distributed in the 2015-16 FY year. Steps are in place to more accurately verify each municipalities addresses going forward. The Council reminds residents to specify Chevy Chase Section 5 on their tax returns. A notice was placed in the The Quarterly newsletter as well.
Agenda Item: Manager’s ReportThe Town Manager gave a brief update regarding current Section 5 projects. Cross walks and stop bars are soon to be re-painted, as well as some updates to the four Section 5 signs and flower boxes. There will also be a walk-thru of Section streets to look at road work, sidewalks and trees that need to be addressed.
Work is being done to prepare for the draft FY 2017 budget. The draft will be discussed at the April Council meeting. Election notices were mailed as part of the Quarterly newsletter. Additional specific Annual Meeting information will be sent by mail as a special flyer at least two weeks in advance of the May 10th meeting.
AdjournmentChris adjourned the meeting. The next meeting will be held April 12, 2016, at 7:30 PM at the Village Hall, 5906 Connecticut Avenue. The Village Hall has handicapped access. Everyone is welcome.