Thinking
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First, I’ve persuaded myself both ways on this Charter Amendment at least a couple times each, because I can see the merits of two sides
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On the one hand, it’s natural that with the addition of the new Multi-Service Center (MSC) and its role in our City, that resources be strategically aligned to empower it to flourish in its mission
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On the other hand, adding to our City’s departmental count in order to create a department for something we already created a department for not even a full two years ago when we already anticipated this (i.e., CREM was formed in March 2023 with one of the principal reasons to oversee the MSC) made it harder to grasp
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The other part for me is also that it’s not so much that Human Services shouldn’t be its own Department (for which I see a lot of solid reasons), but that in this plan, Emergency Management becomes a Department of 2 people all out on its own. And while they are a critical asset for us to have as a City, their function seems better fitted to an Office rather than a Department, perhaps an Office under the Department of the City Administrator where it was before.
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So it’s not to say that there was nothing favorable in the proposal, but that in its current state, it was difficult to conclude it was a ‘complete enough’ plan to accomplish the stated objective, which is a good one, but I believe would benefit from some additional attention.
- Ultimately, our City belongs to the people. And rules around our City’s legislative process are put in place to ensure that all residents: (a) are allowed adequate notice about what’s going on in their city, and (b) are provided adequate time to reach out to their representatives to share their thoughts and have those integrated into the decision-making process.
- Especially when situations impose new requirements on citizens, or when there’s a material commitment being made by the City, these changes are required to have two (2) “hearings” – This means that the agenda item has to appear in two separate meetings and the public provided two separate opportunities to comment, propose changes, disagree, support, etc.
- Occasionally, an emergency or other compelling circumstance may arise where the legislature may consider suspending the rules to avoid adverse impacts that might otherwise occur. To accomplish, a majority of the body must vote in favor to ‘suspend the rules’.
- Absent those types of scenarios, in my opinion, a legislature should not invoke suspension powers out of respect for the prerogative of the people.
- I learned 2-3 hours before the meeting that Council would be considering suspending the required two-hearing rule for the four Resolutions on the agenda.
- The circumstance cited was that our normal Second Meeting of the month had been cancelled (and not rescheduled), since it fell on the Monday of Christmas week.
- In my judgment, our resident’s rights aren’t any less in December simply because Council opts to cancel its second meeting.
- In the short time left before the meeting, I was able to confirm from our legal counsel that there would be no adverse impact to taking up the affected Resolutions at our next scheduled Regular Meeting on January 13 as normally required. Two of the Resolutions related to the DROP program, and it was very important to me that Police and City employees rights were protected.
- The DROP program is the Deferred Retirement Option Plan and it was being considered for extension for four years. The final bits of the program had just been shared with me over the weekend, and I was in the process of digesting the information, hearing others’ thoughts, and arriving at a vote decision.
- A list of lighting products
- Helpful fact sheets to educate yourself
- Sample municipal codes
- Success stories
- And more …
- Exercises good financial stewardship of the monies entrusted to the City by its residents
- Thinks to the future on how to lay a foundation on which residents can build true community
- Promotes a spirit of unity and collaboration
- Serves as a personal connection residents can reach out to for answers and to know that their voice is heard
Announcing Passage of My Co-Sponsored Legislation on Disabilities & Seniors
I was pleased to join with Councilwoman Christine Johnson to propose, and on Monday pass, legislation that enhances the representation of those with disabilities and for senior residents here in Laurel.
Last term, while I was Chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities, I worked to re-boot the Committee and add to the committed core members. In the process, I learned that we had many experienced and dedicated individuals in Laurel that work with and even themselves experience a disability, but were unable to contribute to the work of the Committee because their residence was outside the City limits. So, in consultation with Committee members, I sought to expand our membership requirements to provide first order of preference to City residents, but that should the Committee still fall short, it would have the ability to avail of the expertise of those who have deep ties in the City, like business ownership or employment within the City limits. This would enable the goal of the Committee reaching its required quorum so that it could continue its work in advising the City Council and Mayor in the needs, programs, and supports for persons with disabilities.
Around the time I was working on the modifications, I was approached by Councilwoman Christine Johnson who has a deep commitment to Laurel’s senior residents and was exploring ways for the City to become more alert to their needs, to provide them a voice to City matters, and to act as a focal point pulling together helpful resources. After considering different options, and instead of standing up an altogether new Committee which would face common resource constraints, she proposed expanding the Committee to include senior residents. It was important to recognize that both persons with disabilities and senior residents have concerns unique to each, but that there were also areas of overlap and natural collaboration. I consulted with the existing Commitee members, and they agreed that it did indeed seem a good idea.
Text of the Resolution 1-2025 contains the specific provisions, including that 2 members be persons with disabilities (or relatives or caretakers), 2 members be persons over the age of 55 (or caretaker), 2 members of the general public, and 1 member from the City Council.
It was pleasure to collaborate with Councilwoman Johnson on this work, and I’m hopeful for its ability to further the City’s commitment to and service of persons with disabilities and our senior residents. And related – if you are, or someone you know is, interested to learn more about becoming a member of the Committee, please contact me and I’d be happy to share more information and help.
My Vote on Charter Amendment 180 on Dividing CREM Department
Thank you so much to members of the public who reached out via email and who came to tonight’s Council Meeting to share your thoughts on Charter Amendment No. 180 to consider dividing the existing City Resources & Emergency Management Department (CREM) into two departments: the Department of Human Services and the Department of Emergency Management – it is extremely helpful to hear from residents whenever a change like this is being considered for our City.
I wanted to provide a brief recap of the comments I made during tonight’s proceedings in the process of casting my vote:
In the end, my vote was “Yes”, with an ask of the Mayor to give consideration to folding the Department of Emergency Management into another Department in time to avoid un-needed financial burden on the taxpayers.
As a procedural note, a Charter Amendment cannot take effect until it goes through an extra special process including 40 days of being posted publicly and ensuring no more than 20% of qualified voters sign a petition rejection its adoption.
(Separately, something I’ve been meaning to share with folks that I think many people may not understand about the mission of the Multi-Service Center: The program of the MSC is not actually overseen by the City at all. It’s overseen by a non-City 501c3 non-profit that recruits and monitors other non-profits and government organizations to provide services. In many ways, the City is acting merely as custodian of the building, helping provide a venue through which those organizations can deliver services.)
Laurel: A Community of Communities
(An article I wrote for the Jan 2025 edition of ‘Voices of Laurel’ – See links at the bottom for the growing database of communities & how to submit yours.)
Each of us starts life in a “community” called family. And as we grow, we naturally become part of more and more communities: Aunts, uncles, cousins; Church, and its sub-communities, like choir or committees serving to those in need; School, our class grade, school groups & friend groups; Hobby and recreation groups like sports leagues, motorcycle groups, Scout troops, candle makers, and book clubs; Public service like soup kitchens, historical societies, charities; And the list goes on.
I like to think of all these communities as a rain forest ecosystem: flowers, birds, trees, monkeys, fruits, insects, jaguars, canopy, undergrowth, water, air, sun. Deep, rich, interwoven, interdependent. Communities overlapping, mutually enriched, vibrant, teeming with life and resilience.
But modern life comes with its challenges: commutes, homework, dishwashers needing repair, working late, lawn mowing, bank password resets that still don’t work. And then there’s the competitions for attention: TV & movies on demand, football & baseball season, video games, social media scrolling, the latest news updates.
It can be easy to find ourselves sliding into a mindset that ‘we’ll go out and connect with others’ later, it’s ‘just one more thing’ when the rest of life feels like a lot already. And self-care is important: we need to have cared for ourselves so that we can care for others.
But there is an odd converse too: Connecting with and caring for others, strangely and somehow stirs a part core inside us. It flips a switch and lets juices flow within our souls that aren’t touched by or activated in any other way. Ultimately, we need to reach into and expand that part of us if we are to be who we truly are — We are social beings, meant to explore and to become, precisely through our interactions with others, in community with them.
Which leads to a further realization too: We are community - community isn’t ’out there’, it’s us. Ain’t nobody here but us people. What we do, is what our community is, you, me, and all of our neighbors, taken together. Whether it’s taking a couple extra minutes to shovel the sidewalk for our elder neighbor next door, asking our neighbor across the street to help retrieve an Amazon delivery when we’re out of town, sharing about our family’s health ups & downs, offering some fresh made iced tea to the contractors, actively slowing down at the crosswalk near the grocery store — each one of these small acts, these are community. Part of the rich tapestry.
And a natural next step is joining a community with others. Whether it’s the new Reader’s Theater group at the Selbourne House and open to all, where members rehearse scripts under the able direction of Mr. Charles Clyburn, then do dramatic reading performances for the community. Or the indoor radio-controlled car racing hosted at Hobby Works that starts in January. Or the Hooked on Crochet group formed by Heidi Temple that meets Sundays at Panera. Or the Laurel 4th of July Committee that puts on such a fantastic event each year, but who themselves are in need small and big helping hands to ensure this tradition can continue for our town next year.
So a note of encouragement: There is so much good going on around our wonderful town, and so many wonderful people. But I also observe communities growing thin, and folks searching for the depth they know can’t come from behind our screens, but only from authentic, patient human connection in the groups in which we can share our small moments and the path of our life lived together.
Ultimately, our community needs you, needs me, needs all of us together — a community of communities, teeming with life and resilience, mutually enriched, and vibrant.
(Note: Help build a living list of ‘community groups’ that call Laurel their home — It’ll provide folks a wonderful insight into the rich tapestry we have, and also be a place folks can come to find a community to connect to. To have your group added, please complete this simple online form. And thank you to the many communities and community members that make up our hometown Laurel!!)
A Christmas Reflection
Christmas is a time to reflect on life. Somehow, most of society mutually agrees that we should take time aside, pause, and celebrate the transcendent.
Sure, there’s cookies, wine, eggnog, gift wrapping, and more. But they seem to come from some thing different; they aren’t the thing itself, but something connected to ‘the thing’.
A part of us senses about life that there’s gotta be something more, something it’s all about. I once heard humans described as ‘meaning-seeking’ creatures, and after reflecting on, it stuck - we are: we look for purpose, for significance, for meaning. We know our struggles, our joys, our connections, our yearnings, they’re linked to some thing.
This time of year, that thing seems to have a peculiar palpability — it feels closer to our touch, within reach for us to grasp. Maybe it’s because there seems to be an extra dose of ‘good will’ in the air. Or maybe it’s connected to the sparkling lights we see here and there. Or the scents, sounds, and shuffling about on errands for others instead of ourselves.
Whatever it is, it feels ‘with us’. It draws us closer if we’re attentive, waiting. Like the bright star piercing the night sky, crossing the expanse of the universe, traveling at the speed of light … all to be seen by our eyes, to fill us with a glow, to bring a smile to our faces. There, as we stand in the midst of the cold night, warmth is felt, we get a glint, a reflection.
Then we go back inside, hug those who are closest to us, and hold that moment in our souls, keeping its embers alive and rekindling the fire for the night ahead.
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May his peace be with you this Christmas and all the nights of the year, and wishing you health & true prosperity in the new year ahead!
My Vote Against Rules Suspension at Tonight’s Council Meeting
Those tuning into tonight’s Council Meeting may have seen that I voted three times against suspending rules that safeguard the passage of legislation. Those rules call for two “hearings” before a vote can be taken on Resolutions, and the Council was short-circuiting that to one. For anyone who may be interested further on why, I’ve provided the below.
Big picture:
Particular to tonight’s agenda:
In my opinion, the safeguards around the passage of legislation exist for a reason, and that is to ensure the people have their voice. To me, even if many times no one is present in the room, we always need keep them forefront in our mind and protect their space for whenever it is needed.
I like to think of it like the old Motel 6 commercial, grounded in good hospitality: “We’ll keep the light on for you.” To me, when we short-circuit the rules, we usurp the power that is the people’s. And absent a sufficiently compelling reason, we’ve sacrificed for convenience’s sake the very trust we purport to uphold.
Preserving the Beauty of our Night Sky
Earlier this fall, a resident shared with me a resource she found called Dark Sky International – I then ran into it again a month later at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum when I visited with my son for his birthday. Wouldn’t it be cool if our city’s night sky looked like this?
This is Flagstaff, Arizona – The first city certified in the U.S. as a “Dark Sky Community” in 2001. The idea is that with thoughtful lighting both from municipality and residents, we can all look up at night and marvel at the sky. 🙂🔭 (Btw, did anyone catch the aurora borealis earlier this year?)
A big part is just knowing the basics, like: (a) what types of lights are best, and (b) the 5 principles of outdoor lighting, as illustrated below:
And there’s absolutely no need to sacrifice safety – In fact, studies show that properly lighted areas that aren’t ‘over-lit’ are actually safer for pedestrians, homeowners, and businesses. (Ever get blinded by a car’s headlight at night and couldn’t see anything around the perimeter of the lit area? – Same thing can happen around your house or business.)
Dark Sky’s website has a plethora of resources, like:
So hopefully something in here has sparked your interest too, to search for and help preserve our ability to wonder at the sparks of beauty in our night sky! 🌃
“Thank God for this Thanksgiving Day” song
Over the last few years, my family has adopted a new small part into our Thanksgiving traditions of watching Ben Rector’s “The Thanksgiving Song”. He’s an artist we’ve really enjoyed as a family, and he wrote this song during COVID - It expresses so many sentiments from then and now that help set the stage and day for Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoy it too, and all your family’s Thanksgiving traditions as well!
“50 Best Places to Live in US”? #1 Silver Spring, MD
After evaluating 2,000 cities across almost 200 data categories, Fortune Magazine found Silver Spring, Maryland as #1.
Here’s a great 3-minute video synopsis of their findings:
Categories they looked at included: livability, financial health, resources for aging adults, education, and wellness. The winners are communities that are sustainable for their youngest and oldest residents – including many fast-growing suburbs and edge cities that find creative ways to improve people’s well-being
“What people are looking for is that balance of ‘I can afford to live here, so I don’t have to work all the time, but then in my free time, there are actually people to connect with and things to do.”
Of course, I can’t help but notice parallels to our own town here in Laurel, and that makes me smile. The video and accompanying article also gives me thoughts on directions where we as a City can enhance further (i.e., not rest on our ‘Laurels’). 😉
“We know that health isn’t just what’s happening inside your body,” says Rickles. “It’s your social connections, your perceptions of safety, and there’s a lot that goes into what makes a city well.” The index is a “person-centric” metric and considers social determinants of health, such as access to transportation, green spaces, parks, libraries, and community.
When 51-year-old Pazit Aviv walks her dog in her Silver Spring, Md., neighborhood, it takes an extra 30 minutes as she inevitably gets lost in an impromptu chat with a neighbor.
A great vision for what a city can be!
Amazing, surreal, honored
Amazing, surreal, honored. Three of the many emotions I felt tonight in the process of being selected to fill the vacant Ward 1 seat on the City Council.
Thank you to the Council for your confidence. And thank you to the voters and residents for your support in last fall’s election - Although we came up just short at the time, your strong support in the last election cycle (highest among all unseated candidates) was a major factor in tonight’s result. Please accept my heartfelt thanks! :)
During my closing statement, I shared my vision for the role of a Councilmember - One who:
I now take it as my task to live these out on behalf of you and our City. And I want to encourage us all to continue building our friendships, churches, neighborhood organizations, small businesses, hobby clubs, civic organizations, and more — Each one of the small moments shared between people is truly what makes Laurel great!
And happy 4th of July! :)
(Photo credit: City of Laurel)
