INTERAGENCY COORDINATING BOARD

Minutes of March 16, 2016 Meeting

Final

Present: Dr. Henry Lee (Chair), Ms. Sylvia McPherson, Mike Riley (alternate for Marye Wells-
Harley), Ms. Robin Confino, Mr. Mike Durso, Mr. James Song (alternate for Mr. Larry
Bowers), Mr. Steve Farber, Ms. Grace Rivera-Oven, Mr. John McLean (alternate for Dr.
DeRionne Pollard)

Guests: Ms. Jill Ortman-Fouse (MC BOE Member), Mr. Gabe Albornoz (MCRD), Ms. Vivian
Yao (County Council), Mark Pharro (MCRD Advisory Committee)

Staff: Ms. Ginny Gong, Ms. Elizabeth Habermann, Ms. Amina Harvey, Mr. Ron Maxson, Mr.
Blaise DeFazio, Mr. Eric Rasch

1.0 CALL TO ORDER

Announcements

Dr. Henry Lee, ICB Chair, convened the meeting at 8:09 a.m. in the conference room of the Office of
Community Use of Public Facilities (CUPF) at 255 Rockville Pike, Suite 201, Rockville, Maryland.
Introductions by Boardmembers, staff, and guests were made.

2.0 APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND MINUTES

Todays agenda was approved and the minutes from December 2, 2015 were approved.

3.0 CHAIRMANS REMARKS

Chair Lee stated that recommendations regarding the fund balance were forwarded to the County
Executive for his review. The County Executive was not supportive of funding artificial turf fields
and forwarded his recommendations back to the ICB. Dr. Lee is hopeful that the Board will come to
an agreement regarding the recommendations.

4.0 DIRECTORS REPORT

Ms. Gong commented on the end of winter and was hopeful that issues related to inclement weather
would not be a consideration until next year. She expressed appreciation to Mr. Song and MCPS for
their due diligence during the inclement weather season as there were many challenges throughout
this past winter. A number of non-CUPF permitted organizations have directed members of their
groups to follow CUPFs inclement weather cancellation decisions.
As such, CUPFs weekend supervisors and staff are getting calls from members of these
organizations inquiring as to the status of the decision making especially when a major tournament
is scheduled and would only happen based on CUPFs decision. We are in the midst of trying to
identify the organizations to ask their members to stop contacting CUPFs emergency line for this
purpose. The members should only contact their organization for inclement weather updates.
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No recent personnel changes have taken place but there are challenges faced with employees on
extended leave. Ms. Gong commended staff for coming together and filling the service gaps when
needed.

The CUPF internal audit field work has been completed and the final results have not been
determined but the audit should be finished by late March.

CUPFs Subsidy Pilot is being implemented. The determination is underway as to the groups that
will benefit the most from this program. Ms. Gong commended Mr. DeFazio for his efforts in taking
the lead on this pilot program. To date, ten applications have been submitted and eight have been
approved.

Construction in County Buildings has created a need to shuffle groups requesting space in the
Rockville core area. Similarly, space is limited in Wheaton with the closing of Wheaton Library.
The Executive Office Building/ Judicial Center Plaza can now be used as a venue since the
construction project is complete.

The WiFi project in the Silver Spring Civic Building is almost complete. Tri-State ice skating rink
will conclude at the beginning of April and resume in October. Fenton Street market will not
continue as a vendor but another market will take the place of the Fenton Street market.

As with previous years, CAPP funds are placed in the Community Engagement Clusters budget but
managed by CUPF. A list of awardees for the CAPP funding was included in the Directors Report.

CUPF has been added as a tenant in the Wheaton Development Project. Although it was a late
decision, change is good. Planning sessions for Program of Requirements (POR) have begun. The
projected year for the move is 2019.

Staff completed the permitting of summer programming requests. All forms submitted during the
window were processed ahead of schedule in comparison to previous years. Ms. Gong
acknowledged Mr. Maxson for his management of the Core Services Team in getting the job done
with challenges related to ActiveNet and limited resources.

Ms. Gong reflected on her 18 years with CUPF and of her respect for the vision of the County and
the Board. She noted, on a day to day basis staff is continually connecting with multiple agencies
and numerous partners. The mission of the ICB and the operations of the office are truly
interagency in nature and the potential for Countywide impact is significant.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) with M-NCPPC should be reviewed. The collaboration
established by the Council Resolution has been in place for about five years and review is
recommended. Presently, there is one full-time and one part-time Parks staff located at CUPFs
Rockville office. With this initiative, as with other scheduling efforts, CUPF serves as the middle
man and addresses challenges associated with that role. Ms. Gong re-affirmed the commitment on
the part of both Directors to the spirit and vision that is in place in order to accommodate customers
facility scheduling needs.

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Ms. McPherson worked closely with Mr. Maxson to reactivate the Procedures & Guidelines
Committee (P & G). Approximately 25 people were in attendance for the P&G meeting.
On the agenda were issues related to user accountability, schools responsiveness, security deposits,
and consequences for violations such as late departure, damage to room and equipment, presence of
alcohol and other exclusions. The assessment of the security deposit was eliminated due to the added
processing fee of $45 per refund (even when there is no damage to the facility), defeating the purpose
of requiring a security deposit. When and if there is damage, a decision would be made as to the
extent of damage and the cost for reparations. The sense by some of the committee members was
that large monetary fines would serve as a deterrent to hold groups accountable, but the County
Attorneys office was clear in stating that fines could not be collected. As such, focus was turned to
the development of a clear step by step process for managing infractions of permit terms.

The committee requested a designated staff person to support the scheduling of all large events who
would meet with the group, help with logistics and ensure the group has a clear understanding of the
procedures and guidelines. In addition, the turnaround time for schools to respond to CUPFs
requests was set at five business days. This process would be in place as a two-year pilot program.
Collaboration with MCPS is important to ensure proper support during these events. There will be
instances when events will need to be shut down and CUPF commits to working with MCPS and
providing necessary assistance. The committee had recommended one change to CUPFs disciplinary
step process for user violations, supporting an eighteen-month ban from the facility with the third
violation. Mr. Song concurred with the plan for a pilot program and noted the unanticipated burden
placed on MCPS staff while hosting such major events. Ms. Gong cautioned against the addition of
unreasonable staff fees for security with the proposed pilot. Monitoring the pilot over the two years
will provide insight on needed improvements.

Mr. Maxson stated the goal of the P& G Committee is to streamline the process so users are held
accountable. If consequences are in place to prevent users from violating their contract, the number
of violations would decrease. CUPF will fully support MCPS when events need to be shut down.
Ms. Gong expressed gratitude to Mr. Maxson for working diligently with Ms. McPherson to get this
pilot program started, and agrees with Mr. Maxson that the two-year timeline for this program will
allow CUPF and MCPS staff to iron out any parts of the process that may not benefit CUPF, MCPS
or users.

Ms. Gong closed by commenting on the uniqueness of situations that occur and, no matter what
process is in place, there will always be the need to consider situations on a case by case basis.

5.0 CHILDCARE REBID PROCESS

Mr. DeFazio, manager of the Childcare program, provided an update on the childcare rebid process.
Immediately following the December 2, 2015 board meeting, CUPF staff and Ms. Bell-Pearson met
jointly with Councils PHED and Ed committees. Ms. Bell-Pearson prepared a packet
recommending removal of the sunset date permanently. The Committee chose not to remove the
sunset date but engaged in a discussion to either extend the sunset to 17 months, concluding two full
cycles, or one year, concluding one full cycle and mid-way into another. Ultimately, the decision
was to extend the sunset to 17 months, allowing CUPF to complete two cycles for review.

Mr. DeFazio mentioned his meeting with the auditor and CUPF efforts to respond to the full scope of
review regarding process and materials. Implementation of the rebid for the full cycle has been
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challenging with 207 applications submitted for 22 schools, ranging from three to 15 applications per
school. Applications were uploaded onto a secured website that allowed reviewers the ability to
view the applications easily. The process has been streamlined - forms have been improved to ensure
greater accuracy in computation of scores by committee members. This rebid cycle should conclude
by the end of April. Ms. Gong acknowledged Mr. DeFazios efforts in managing the program,
meeting deadlines, and attending approximately 66 meetings over the span of a couple of months.

Mr. Song suggested a survey of stakeholders. Mr. DeFazio noted the survey is already in place for
committee members and a new survey will be sent to providers as well after the completion of this
cycle.

Dr. Lee inquired as to the feedback so far. Mr. DeFazio mentioned the feedback has been positive.

Mr. Farber mentioned that he had spoken with Mr. Broglie with regard to his participation in the
audit. He indicated he did not feel it necessary to be interviewed at this time but he would welcome
the opportunity to review the final draft. Ms. Gong noted that staff have provided the auditors with
voluminous documentation and information and is hopeful a review of the materials should serve to
produce a product that demonstrates good understanding of CUPF processes and challenges.

6.0 FUND BALANCE

Ms. Habermann reported on the fund balance by noting CUPFs continued responsible stewardship
of the funds and that the budget is off to a good start. CUPFs facilities continue to be in demand;
fees have not changed since 2010. The nice challenge to be in is the spenddown of the fund balance.
She noted the recommendations of the ICB were forwarded to Mr. Leggett. He supported most of
the recommendations but not ones involving artificial turf fields. He expressed interest in targeting
funds towards enhancement of other County facilities used by community groups. Of special note
was support for the Silver Spring Civic Building. Additional funds are being recommended for field
maintenance and for improvements suggested by Mr. Leggett.

Ms. Habermann shared her concerns about the fee adjustments within ActiveNet. This has
necessitated the need to review the bundling of fees. The $25 cancellation fee will no longer be in
effect because of issues created within the system. An additional $200,000 a year is being assessed
because we are charged for each credit card, check, and internal chargeback transaction.
CUPFs hope is that growth will continue and the fund balance will not experience major cutbacks
with the various changes in fee structures. She expressed appreciation for the ICBs cautious
approach to the spenddown. With careful monitoring so as to not over extend commitments, the fund
balance should be spent down in a responsible manner.

Ms. Rivera-Oven asked if there is an increase in fees for for-profit users. Ms. Gong mentioned that
with the spenddown of the fund balance in mind, and the desire of some ICB members to reduce fees
when possible, staff opted to not raise fees at this time. For example, when trying to align fees
among for-profit entities, and there was an option to increase fees in ActiveNet for the large versus
smaller for-profits, staff elected to not raise the fees of smaller for-profits to match the large but
rather reduced the large to match the smaller ones.
Ms. Habermann also stated we would rather give the users more advanced notice, if and when the
fees would be increased, with all the changes in place with ActiveNet.

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Ms. Gong noted the challenge with funding of subsidy programs (such as CAP) utilizing the
Enterprise funds and expressed the need for continued monitoring. Dr. Lee expressed his concern as
well with funding subsidies with funds from user fees.

Ms. McPherson inquired as to why the County Executive chose to not allocate funding for artificial
turf fields. Ms. Gong noted that the County Executive elected to increase his support of
maintenance of the fields and renovations of County facilities instead.

Mr. Albornoz added that the County Executive does not object to synthetic turf fields but that he
feels there are other higher priorities that need funding at the moment.

Mr. Riley noted the assessment underway by M-NCPPC focused on monitoring fields and wildlife.
This assessment will provide information on which fields are being used more than others and help
with determining the maintenance levels of school fields.

7.0 ACTIVENET UPDATE AND PROCESS CHANGES

With the many workarounds that had to be in place with Active and the many challenges along the
way, CUPF has managed to go live in October with Libraries, in November with Government
buildings, and in February with fields, as projected. Schools will go live prior to the start of the
school year. A significant amount of work has been done behind the scenes to make sure we are
prepared. Weve changed the bundled fees and modified fundraising rates for non-profits utilizing
the SSCB as well as removed the premium fee on Friday nights. Historical priority will create issues
with some users since Active does not accommodate priority for historical use.

Mr. Maxson stated the priorities will remain the same with a few exceptions: School and MCPS,
licensed childcare providers, PTA, government, administrative bodies, public recreation and other
public supported programs, nonprofit, for-profit and then out-of-county. Only high volume groups
identified as sports leagues, athletic sports clubs, weekend religious and cultural groups and summer
camps will receive historical priority use - other groups will not. Individual groups will be self-
booked on a first come, first serve, basis which actually creates opportunities for groups that have not
been able to book previously. Ms. Gong noted that Boardmembers may receive complaints,
questions, and concerns regarding the loss of historical use status for some groups. Mr. Maxson
stated Newsletters have been sent to users to inform them of this change and forums are being held to
give detailed information and address the concerns regarding historical use.

Ms. Habermann referred the Board to three resolutions that incorporate necessary changes to CUPF
procedures. Two are included as part of the offices transition to Active. The first, Resolution 16-
001, Fees for Use of School Facilities in ActiveMONTGOMERY, finalizes the recent fee changes.
The second, Resolution 16-002, Priority of Use - ActiveMONTGOMERY, addresses the priority of
use for processing requests.

Mr. Song motioned and Ms. Rivera-Oven seconded. All were in favor of adopting the fee changes
without further discussion.

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The third, Resolution 16-003, Procedural Change in Administering the Maintenance/Equipment

Reimbursement to Montgomery County Public Schools, relates to the process of giving maintenance
equipment reimbursements to the schools. Past and current practice has been for schools to submit a
list of how the previous years reimbursement funds were spent. CUPF would review to ensure
compliance and issue checks for the current year to schools provided the schools account was in
good standing. This was a very labor intensive process and, at times, placed CUPF in the difficult
position of disapproving expenditures that were not in compliance with policy. The process
proposed is to issue checks to schools with the assumption that expenditures are aligned with policy.
This is an opportunity to free up CUPF staff time; replacing it with an honor system process. MCPS
auditors would address violations as an internal issue. Dr. Lee motioned, seconded by Ms. Rivera-
Oven. The Board voted and all were in favor of adopting Resolution 16-003.

Ms. Rivera-Oven advised that outreach to the community regarding the ActiveNet changes target the
minority community in a cultural and linguistically sensitive manner. Staff was in agreement.

8.0 NEW BUSINESS

No New business.

Meeting adjourned at 9:40am.

Respectfully submitted by,

Amina Harvey
Administrative Specialist II
Community Use of Public Facilities

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