City Council Meeting Round Up, Sept. 13

Despite starting seven minutes late, the city council had a lot to cover at Monday night's meeting.

The meeting began with a moment of silence for Greenbelters who have recently passed as well as those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 2001. Mayor Judith "J" Davis said, "Let us not reflect in hatred and bigotry, but respect and resolve to make the world a better place."

There were a few presentations, the first from Council of Government Energy Outreach Campaign. COG environmental planner for Greenbelt Maia Davis explained the town was chosen along with Brookland and Cascades for their environmental and demographic differences for this pilot program.

Monday's bus strike situation was also mentioned and Greenbelt resident Bill Orleans asked council to draft a letter to authorities of the transit system to quell the situation.

The Greenbelt Middle School Task Force was also officially accepted by council and will now move toward development, however, city manager Michael McLaughlin pointed out that despite advertising for weeks they have only received one response.

Another motion was passed to purchase emergency sewer line repairs from CSG Commercial Builders in the amount of $11,820. The emergency repairs are part of fees from the June 11 sewer line break at Roosevelt Center.

A motion was also moved to approve the purchase of the Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon at the St. Hugh's crosswalk. The high-tech devise allows for safer crossing on account of LED flashing and costs $25,000, which has been budgeted in the 2011 capital projects budget.

This is not a complete round-up as several stories will come from this meeting later this week.