Staff Present: Sarah Gicale   Mary Lou Jacobs

Guests:  Donna Boxer, Director of Finance
              Dr. Ciriaco Gonzales, Chair, Rockville Senior Commission
              Yvonna Love, Member, Human Rights Commission

Re: Call Meeting to Order /Introductions

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m.  Ann announced that Allison Bunge had resigned from the Commission as she is moving away from Rockville.  Her position will be advertised in Rockville Reports.

Re: Guest: Donna Boxer, Director of Finance

• City Salary Structure: Donna began this discussion by handing out a list of current City contracts compiled by Eileen Morris, Contract Officer.  Donna explained that the list did not include professional contracts.  She also explained that in instances where the City piggybacks on County contracts, the County’s rules apply.  The City does not monitor these contracts. Donna said that the City would have more contracts under $50,000 than the County but she did not know the total number of employees involved or their wages.  She also said that if a vendor had several contracts, the City would know that information.  Donna said that Eileen looked into the County’s new law and the issue for the City would be auditing and reporting, i.e., monitoring the contract.  Contractors are required to post something at their worksites, which a City representative would need to go out and check.  If the Commission were to invite a Montgomery County staff person to explain how the County system works, Donna would like to attend the meeting.

Bill Goodwin asked if the list of contracts was a good indication of the total number of City contracts.  Donna said that the number tends to go up and down from year to year.  The contracts for Town Center are not on this list because the City of Rockville does not take the bids on those contracts.  Tim Stranges asked what kind of contracts the City piggybacks on.  Donna explained it is usually things like office supplies, computers, and chemicals for water treatment.  The National Association of Counties acts as a central clearinghouse for this kind of information.  The Internet has made this process much more accessible.

Donna then explained that the City has different wage scales:  one for the police, one for public works and one for administrative employees (excepting Recreation and Parks).  The lowest wage is $23,000 per year.  She had also brought with her the Recreation and Parks wage scale, which starts at $6.43 per hour.  She said that currently the City does not have anyone filling a position at that level.  Everything through grades 3 and 4 are part time.  Grade 4 ($8.73 per hour) is the first grade at which there is a significant number of people, 13 to be exact.  Donna said that there is a separate scale for Recreation and Parks in part because that department generates fees.   Bill asked for information on the City’s contribution to health care.  Donna said that the City pays 80% of the lowest provider fee.  If an employee chooses a provider that costs more, the employee pays the additional fee.  Regarding the City’s retirement plan, the City’s cost is 6-8% of salary. 

• Comparison of Rockville and Gaithersburg Appropriation Levels for Human Services Grants: Donna said that the City of Gaithersburg’s budget is $29.5 million as compared to the City of Rockville’s budget at $48.9 million.  She thought it might be useful for the Commission to look at the issue in terms of tax revenue.  Gaithersburg tax revenue is 3.8% while Rockville’s is 1.7%.  Donna said that Mark Pentz, the former City Manager, made certain that the percentage of appropriations stayed the same each year for the outside agencies.  Mary Lou Jacobs said that Rockville’s support for youth programs and senior services is much larger than the City of Gaithersburg because of those services provided directly by the City, e.g., Senior Services and Youth and Family Services.
  
  
• Publicizing REAP on the City’s Water Bills: Donna said she had spoken with Susan Lander concerning this issue.  The City is moving toward a more flexible bill and REAP will be included when the bill is redesigned.  It will be more like a laser-printed bill.  This should happen within the next year.

Re: Dr. Ciriaco Gonzales, Chair Rockville Senior Commission

• Results of Study on Senior Housing Needs and Next Steps: Dr. Gonzales said that the Senior Commission sponsors six senior citizen clubs and it is through these groups that the Commission hears about many issues related to seniors in Rockville.  Last March they also held a housing forum for seniors that was attended by about 50 people.  Another 50 seniors also responded to a questionnaire related to concerns about living in Rockville for anyone over the age of sixty.  Questions ranged from escalating costs to staying in your own home.  The Senior Commission learned that seniors who are renting are having trouble finding apartments that are both affordable and suitable, e.g., with elevators.

The Senior Commission then surveyed available housing in Rockville to determine the waiting period, the cost, and the number of units available.  The survey showed that seniors are not able to find units below market rate.  The MPDU program is unrealistic and does not help the housing shortage.  There is also an unresolved question as to whether subsidized housing should be restricted to residents of the city of Rockville or also to United States citizens.  As an example of the seriousness of the housing shortage in Rockville, Dr. Gonzales alluded to the long line of people who waited overnight recently to see if they could get on a waiting list for Heritage House.  Many of those in line were adult children of parents who are not living in this country but who they want to bring to a subsidized unit.  The rent may be as low as $500 per month.  Agnes Saenz commented that Section 8 typically requires citizenship although, perhaps, this does not include seniors.

Dr. Gonzales said that another issue for seniors is that the City will not allow them to add on to their homes in order to stay in them.  For example, they cannot add a bedroom on to the main floor to avoid climbing stairs.  Demographics trends show a dramatic drop in income as people age.  Nevertheless, a single person earning $36,000 does not qualify for an MPDU.  He/she needs to make approximately $50,000.  Most seniors with fixed incomes don’t earn that much income.  He thinks that one remedy would be placing a cap on real estate taxes for seniors.  The current law is that once you reach a certain age, your taxes can only be raised 10% per year, but with escalating house values, this is not enough.

Finally, Dr. Gonzales said that as baby boomers age, there will be a 125% increase in people over that age of sixty between 2000 and 2030.  In a speech yesterday, Councilman Silverman said that the County will build 200 units per year.  This will not be sufficient based on demographics.  Dr. Gonzales considers this a crisis in housing.  Their housing survey identified four affordable housing units in Rockville:  Heritage House, Town Center, Bethany House and the National Lutheran Home.  All are subsidized.  Heritage and Bethany House have waiting periods of about two years.  The National Lutheran Home has about 115-130 villas with an entry fee of approximately $92,000 and a waiting period of about four years.  This option is good for people wanting to downsize.  Dr. Gonzales thinks the City needs to develop a scheme to entice developers to build affordable housing.  Overall, Dr. Gonzales has four recommendations:

• Zoning laws in the city need to be changed to enable seniors to make renovations to their homes
  
• City-subsidized handyman services need to be made available to seniors
  
• MPDU regulations need to be reexamined
  
• Real-estate taxes need to be capped for seniors

The Senior Commission is finalizing its report to include these recommendations.

Re: Approve Meeting Minutes for October 12, 2004

Tim Stranges moved that the minutes for the Human Services Advisory Commission meeting of October 12, 2004 be approved as written.  David L’Heureux seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

Re: Debriefing on Recent Site Visits

Recently Mary Lou Jacobs and members of the Commission attended a site visit at the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center.  Agnes Saenz said she had attended the site visit and was impressed with the high number of volunteers at the program and the length of their service.  The agency is located in Gaithersburg; they own their own office.  They offer a variety of English classes at different sites.  Members of the site visit team observed different classes.  Agnes said the classes she observed included many young mothers who had their children with them.  She would recommend that children be in a separate room.  The classes are informal.  They accept new class members at any time during the year.

Eric Wang said that he was also a member of the site visit team.  He considers the English classes critical to the success of immigrants in this society.  He encourages young people to spend more time learning English before they start working.  Agnes said that CCACC also has various clubs for participants but, since the City funds English classes, that is what the site team focused on.  Eric wondered if high school students could tutor after school to earn service learning credits as part of their program.  Mary Lou said that could be worked out but an on-site supervisor would need to be present.

Re: Old Business

• Consultation with Council Liaison on Living Wage Research: Ann reported back on her conversation with Anne Robbins, Council Liaison to the Commission.  She does not think this is the time (or place) for the living wage issue.  Once Town Center has moved forward and Twinbrook is underway, the timing might be better.  Mary Lou said that City staff is being asked to develop options for budget cuts of 8%.  This is the result of projected shortfalls in state and county revenue as well as increased costs with respect to items like gasoline.  Departmental proposals for these budget cuts are due in December.  David L’Heureux commented that the city has seen more and more development, which translates into revenue increases.  Is there anything that could give Commission members a feel for what is actually happening?  Bill Goodwin said that the Commission has the option of including fact-finding in their annual report.  Based on Ann’s comments, the Commission is not likely to be successful if they make a full-blown recommendation, but members still need to do what they think is right.  David and Tim agreed that the issue needs to be brought out in some way.  Ann suggested making this a topic on next month’s agenda to give members an opportunity to agree on the most successful approach.
  
• Hiring Process for New Director of Neighborhood and Community Services: Mary Lou said that the Acting City Manager had appointed Chris Bartlett as Acting Director and has recommended that he fill that position for several months until the new City Manager is acclimated.  Mary Lou had invited him to come to tonight’s meeting but he had two other meetings.  She passed out a revised job description for the position.

Ann asked how the Commission could be part of the hiring process.  Mary Lou said that last time the City Manager met with the Human Services Advisory Commission so that Commission members could comment directly on the position description.  In addition the Chair was part of the interview team.  Tim offered to write a letter on behalf of the Commission suggesting that the Commission be part of the selection process.

Re: Identify Items for December Meeting Agenda

• Discuss strategy for communicating information on Living Wage
  
• Continued discussion on Rockville’s budget for human services as compared with Gaithersburg’s
  
• Review Tim’s letter re being part of the hiring process for the new Director of Neighborhood and Community Services
  
• David suggested planning a social occasion
  
• Bill asked for additional information on CMR’s newly announced goal of health care

Re: Adjourn 

David moved to adjourn the meeting.  Tim seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.  The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 p.m.

The next meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held Tuesday, December 14, 2004, from 7:30 - 9:30 p.m., in the Dining Room of the Glenview Mansion.