Montgomery County Civic Federation Delegate's Meeting
February 9th, 7:45
County Council Office Building Auditorium, Rockville, Maryland
Please try and arrive a few minutes before the meeting to make sure you can collect materials, sign in, and find a seat prior to the meeting.
Agenda (Tentative)
| 7:45 | Call to order, Cary Lamari presiding |
| 7:48 | Adoption of agenda |
| 7:50 | Announcements and Introductions |
| 7:55 | Approval of Minutes |
| 8:00 | Community Hero Award for February, Mr. Dan Tuten |
| 8:10 | Program: Affordable Housing, Montgomery Housing Partnership |
| 8:40 | Program: James Browning from Common Cause/Maryland, Stenberg Report on Voluntary Public Financing |
| 9:10 | Old Business |
| Budget: Luella Mast | |
| Electoral Reforms Committee: Dan Wilhelm | |
| Committee Reports | |
| 9:30 | New Business |
| 9:45 | Adjournment |
Meeting Minutes
by Lyle Schofield, Corresponding Secretary and Richard Zierdt, Recording Secretary
Call to Order 7:45 PM. Additions to New business: proposal
for traffic reduction; Diebold voting machine issue; Strathmore Hall funding
issue;. "Disruption of Public Facilities" bill.
Announcements. (1) Norbeck Meadows Association will have a meeting on Thurs,
Feb 26, 7 pm at Cashell Elementary School with topic "Is the ICC a fait
accompli" . (2) Reminder that forum for candidates for Board of Education
is on Thursday. Two of the candidates are former MCCF education committee
members. Recommendations from MCCF committee will be announced next week (personal
recommendations). (3) County Council Bill introduced by Tom Perez on 23rd
(flyers in back of room) concerns ethics for council members: example, will
council members who are on the Board of Strathmore Hall recuse themselves
from Strathmore Hall funding votes? Another example: campaign fundraiser thrown
by firefighters union to benefit councilmember backing Bill 36-03 which would
benefit union employees. (4) Shady Grove Civic Alliance is hosting a program
for the "other side of ICC", presenting the "pro" side
of the ICC by state sponsors of the project, 8 PM, 2/25 Millcreek Town Elementary
School.
Minutes 7:56 Minutes of last delegates meeting accepted and adopted.
Community Hero Award presented to Dan Tuten, one of founders of Neighbors
for a Better Montgomery PAC. Dan has analyzed cost effects of new annual growth
policy and shown that costs of transit and infrastructure adds a deficit of
$5000 per new home built. Very important in light of fact that county is facing
a more than $200M shortfall for this year. Dan honored in appreciation of
his commitment to civic advocacy. http://www.neighborspac.org formed to promote
candidates that have community interests in mind. Goal is to confront officials
with facts, since ethics and community interests get little consideration
in current political climate. Everything happens behind closed doors, so goal
is to shed light on decision making and make things happen for community;
to try and blunt special interest money currently flooding county elections.
Program: Voluntary Public Funding of Campaigns. 8:04 PM MCCF Election Reform Committee hosts James Browning, Director, Common Cause Maryland as speaker. Browning discussed tactics used by "End Gridlock" slate in 2002 elections to eliminate slow growth County Council members. Quirks in MD election law; companies can give unlimited $ to candidates by setting up multiple partnerships as was done by developers. Also seen by racetrack owners in current slot machine debate. There is no disclosure for large contributors as there is in federal elections (Enron used as an example) We need to know where individual contributors work.
There were coalitions formed to close some of these loopholes, but not successful
in previous round of elections. Common Cause thinks way to stop this is to
change to public funding to stop the cycle of big money special interest funding
election campaigns. Common Cause has done some research on this issue similar
to that done by NeighborsPAC at county level.
Stenberg Commission has studied issue and recommended a system of voluntary
public funding of election campaigns similar to that already in use in Maine
and Arizona. Candidates must collect a set number of small donations to qualify
as viable candidates, then able to use set amount of public funds to fund
campaign. Lots of consensus that there is something wrong with the status
quo.
Questions: Delegate Mandell introduced last year a bill for counties to set finance limits. Might not be introduced this year. What will this bill do for county office holders and what did they do for this bill. Answer: Will break ties that bind.
8:25 PM Richard Zierdt begins taking minutes.
Q: If 282 people gave $5 each, the candidate would qualify for the $10K?. Cost projections? Extremists? A: $27M for a 4-year election cycle. Extremists have not been a problem. Q: Term limits? A: Not a good solution. Q: Why 282 donations? A: The Maine model is where the 282 came from. Q: $27M estimate? A: Based on two participating candidates in each legislative seat. Q: Dale Tibbitts: How can he get formal support from the MCCF? A: (Cary) Dale is already authorized to support.
Senate bill 5-62. Dick Kauffunger moves that the MCCF support State Senate
bill 5-62. Seconded. Motion to table is withdrawn (petitioner thought there
was not enough time to read the bill).
Dick Strombotne: Moved that the MCCF support the concept of voluntary public
financing as represented by bill 5-62. Passes 25-3-4.
Treasurer's Report. Report is on table.
Election Reform Committee report by Dale Tibbitts: Tibbitts shows petition to put Charter Amendment on November ballot to elect all nine members from 9 districts by the 2006 election. County attorney has signed-off on it. Copies must contain both sides. 10,000 valid signatures required by August. March 2 primary election a great place to collect signatures. Cary asks for volunteers. Q: Who draws the nine districts? A: A County Council-appointed commission. Robin Ficker will have two other questions on the ballot.
Tibbitts discusses State Senate Bill 5-65, which closes the multiple-corporation
loophole. Dale thinks it has enough votes to get a floor hearing. Motion made
for MCCF to oppose House bill 7-32(?) which would relax electronic campaign
financing reports. Motion passes 25-0-5.
Program on Montgomery County Partnership. Bob Abrams introduces Rob Goldman,
president of MHP (Montgomery Housing Partnership). Longbranch community: housing
prices have increased dramatically. Creates problems for rental property.
MHP started in 1989. 1st project was a 109-unit complex off Rt 29 (Dring's
Reach). Owns 883 units throughout the County. Owns about 70 MPDUs. Started
Community Life Programs. MHP sponsors after-school activities. MHP takes graffiti
seriously. A Wheaton mural has not been defaced since it was painted. MHP
helps to buy run-down houses and renovate them. MHP helps in community re-vitalization.
Q: Has MHP taken a position on MPDU buy-outs? A: MHP is concerned about MPDU
buy-outs. Q: What is MHP's annual budget? A: About $1M/year. MHP is private;
HOC is public. Q: Rosemary Village? A: Mr. Golman was not involved in that
community (before he became president). Q: Where does your funding come? A:
Foundations, private donations, fees, County (less than 2%). Q: Staff is highly
professional, highly trained. A: 15 people are on staff now. Q: Is there any
movement to tie housing to employment? A: Some jurisdictions have done that.
"Walk-to-work" proposals. Q: In Potomac, two areas, reserved for
new schools, are targets for affordable housing. Q: End of the buyout program?
One-to-one replacement of affordable housing? Does MHP take positions on these?
A: Doesn't think MHP took formal positions. MHP is concerned about loss of
affordable housing.
Committee Reports continued. Transportation. Dan Wilhelm. Speed humps: two types: parabolic (15-MPH) and "flat-top" (25-MPH). Motion made to ban the parabolic-style humps. Seconded. Bill Schrader speaks in favor of keeping both styles; emergency vehicle access is important, but so is residential safety; people drive too fast they endangering residents; humps do not damage cars unless cars drive too fast. Motion passes 23-5-3.
Budget. Charles Lapinski: Urge the County Council to restore roads maintenance funds.
Election voting machines. Dean Ahmad. Problems with electronic voting machines: no paper trails; computer crashes; possibility of crashes and hackers committing fraud. Asks that this issue come up next meeting. Deborah Volmer: MCCF should support House Bill 53, a bill that would require a paper trail. Motion is made to give Dean and Deborah flexibility to pursue this issue. Passes almost unanimously. (Yeas, "a lot", Nays & abstentions, 3-3.
Strathmore Hall funding. Marvin Weinman: County Council to give $3M more for completion. Motion is made to oppose the County's $3M The County owns the property. Dean moves that the MCCF oppose any additional taxpayer funding for Strathmore Hall. Seconded. Motion fails 11-15-2. Wayne moves that MCCF support the HHS committee's recommendation to pay $3M, with expected repayment later. Motion passes 18-7-4.
Senior Flight. Dick Strombotne: bill before the General Assembly that would establish a task force to study why seniors leave Maryland after retirement. Dick moves that the MCCF support legislation to establish a task force to conduct a comprehensive and objective study of the dynamics of migration of the elderly. Seconded. Motion passes, 15-6-2.
Nominations for the Awards Committee. Cary nominates Wayne Goldstein, Peggy Dennis, Arny Golden, Lyle Schofield, and Charles Pritchard. Peggy declines.
Nominating Committee. Cary asks for volunteers. Luella nominates Peggy Dennis to serve.
Bill on Disruptive Behavior in Public Places. Larry Dickter, county employee, works in Silver Spring Library, speaks in favor of County Bill 1-04. Wayne Goldstein testified on MCCF's behalf. There are serious issues in our public buildings and in transit areas. This is a citizen protection bill. Citizens should expect safe rides, and effective use of county facilities without fear. Dan Wilhelm takes over as chair. Cary states that the bill does not define what disruptive behavior is. Violators can be banned from public facilities for 90 days. Richard moves that MCCF support bill 1-04. Seconded. Dean feels that the police should be called; constitutional protections should not be violated. Dan Wilhelm: this gives police explicit authority. Dick Kauffunger: Really? Dan: Yes. Arnie: We should study this issue more. We should table this. Motion to table is made. Motion to table passes by "a-lot"-3-0.
Bethesda development: Jim Humphrey: Woodmont Triangle housing. Four developers want two properties re-zoned (increased building heights from 64 to 90 feet in one case). Jim moves that MCCF oppose developer-driven land use planning that excludes citizen participation. Seconded. Local merchants would be displaced. MCCF oppose any ex parte application to County Council members for any land use planning prior to the developer's submission before the Park and Planning Commission. Seconded. Passes "a lot"-2-0.
10:44 pm meeting is adjourned.
This Page Last Edited: March 3, 2004 .