More News

Route 1 development and cost-cutting were among the issues on the minds of College Park officials when they attended the Maryland Municipal League's annual convention, held Sunday to Wednesday in Ocean City.

Mayor Stephen Brayman and four City Council members — Patrick Wojahn (Dist. 1), Jonathan Molinatto (Dist. 1), Robert Catlin (Dist. 2) and Mary Cook (Dist. 4) — attended the annual conference, where local government participated in seminars and forums on topics ranging from speed cameras to waste management.

About 1,700 municipal legislators and elected officials were estimated to attend this year's convention.

"A lot of good ideas have come up," Brayman said. "And there's always networking opportunities."

The gathering gave city officials a chance to pick up new governing ideas and discuss issues affecting College Park.

One of their main concerns was future development of Route 1. The council has long sought to improve the surface of the road and its surrounding landscaping, but economic constraints have hurt the state's ability to fund new road projects.

"If Route 1 can ever get on the state's radar, we'd love to have it rebuilt," Brayman said. "I was happy to hear [Gov. Martin O'Malley] say he thought Route 1 was a good priority." There is no timeline set for potential improvements to the road.

Brayman also attended the conference as a student in the Academy for Excellence in Local Governance, a statewide certificate program that gives local officials additional training in governing and ethics. He is seeking certification in the program's municipal and county tracks.

Brayman, who is not running for re-election in November, said he would like to remain involved in government.

Cook said one of the more interesting seminars she attended was about service sharing, where municipalities share resources to help limit costs. She said College Park could benefit from sharing some police and public works services with nearby municipalities Greenbelt, University Park and Berwyn Heights.

"We do share a street sweeper with four municipalities, which is a good idea," she said. "During these economic times, it could be that we may want to do more sharing."

The mayor and council members were each allotted $1,400 from the city's fiscal 2009 budget for travel and training expenses for the convention. There was money in the budget for as many as seven council members to attend.

The mayor and council attended five training conferences during the fiscal year and were budgeted a total of $24,850 for expenses.

Both Brayman and Cook said their experiences will help them to develop new strategies to better serve their constituents.

Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich (Dist. 3), who attended the convention in 2007, agreed.

"I'd say it's definitely worth it," she said. "It's really useful to have that kind of cross-fertilization of ideas."