February 14 – The Hagerstown Mayor and City Council will have a work session this afternoon at 4 p.m. at 1 E. Franklin Street.
The meeting isn’t terribly long, by Mayor Tekesha Martinez will get her feet wet. She was voted unanimously in as mayor last week during the work session.
This afternoon, bids for construction for the parking deck that will be affiliated with the downtown stadium will be discussed.
Wes Decker, Communications Officer for the City of Hagerstown, said, “Some of that discussion will have to do with depending on how those bids come in the possibility of eliminating a fifth floor or a fifth level from the original thought process. We’ll see just how that plays out.”
The parking deck will be at 50 W. Antietam Street.
Decker explained, “You want to be able to accommodate any and everyone depending on how this plays out so there’s a little bit of speculation on what they think this might turn out to be in terms of attendance, the number of vehicles. Studies have been done. The fifth level was something that was sort of put in as something that could be taken out depending upon where those bids come in.”
Pat Ryan of NewsTalk 103.7FM pointed out, “A couple of things on parking decks. Number one is getting out of those things quickly and efficiently. Let’s get that down. The other thing that his an opportunity here, there are parties on parking decks that I’ve seen before where they’ve done festivals or they’ve done street kind of stuff up on top there with an overview of the city. You’ve really got to do that top deck very efficiently.”
Decker said, “I think it all comes down to how it’s constructed.”
Some parking structures have been created in such a way that it can only maintain cars, not a whole lot of people.
Decker said, “I don’t know what goes into that from a construction standpoint.”
Council will also look at a Request for Proposals for a grant management portal and customer relationship management database through the Department of Economic Development.
Decker explained, “That would make it much easier for people to get in and see what is in those particular grants. They can kind of go through them on their own. Any questions that they would have, they would certainly be able to come back and talk to someone in that department, but it would help make that process a little less difficult for them to see what’s there, what’s available and then to navigate through it.”
The group will also look at the council vacancy process since Martinez moved from a council position to the mayor’s seat.
There are currently four council members.
Decker said, “This whole situation with a mayor leaving in the middle of a term has sort of brought about some discussion, perhaps about a vice mayor in the future so that there would be an order of succession.”
A legislative update will also be provided by the city administrator in terms of how things have gone in Annapolis. For this afternoon’s agenda, click here: https://hagerstown.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/MeetingView.aspx?MeetingID=1162&MinutesMeetingID=-1&doctype=Agenda
