Board of Town Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Good afternoon. It is July 7th. It's 6 p.m. and the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners Town Hall meeting is now in session. First, we'll start with the role. Commissioner Foss?

Present.

Commissioner Hanley?

Here.

And I'm here as well. Is Commissioner Taylor on the phone? Yes. He's he's calling in. He is I'm sorry, I apparently for apparently we forgot to tell you that. We'll wait a minute while we get Commissioner Taylor in. Yes, sir. Mr. Chismore did call in he thought the meeting was at seven so he will be here as soon as he is is able and Commissioner Taylor will be participating by phone so we will have we have a quorum even without the two of them. all right so we do have commissioner taylor here by phone and we are going to now proceed to the second item on our agenda which is the invocation commissioner hanley

Heavenly Father, we are grateful to be celebrating 250 years of independence, living in the greatest country the world has ever seen. We ask that you continue to bless our nation and the town of Bel Air. In your name we pray, amen.

Amen. All right, if everyone will please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. Next is the approval of the agenda. May I have a motion, Commissioner Hanley?

So moved.

And do I have a second? Commissioner Foss? Second. All right. Any discussion of the agenda this evening? We only have one item of new business and public and commissioner's comments, and then we'll be in closed session. Any discussion? All right. Mr. Krantz, we're ready for the vote.

Thank you, Madam Chair. For approval of the Bellary Board of Town Commissioners Town Hall Meeting Agenda, Tuesday, July 7th, 2026. Commissioner Foss?

Aye.

Commissioner Taylor?

Aye.

Commissioner Hanley? Aye. And Chair Edding?

Aye.

The agenda is approved. Thank you.

The first item under new business and the only item under new business this evening is the Bel Air Downtown Alliance Main Street designation letter approval. May I have a motion, Commissioner Hanley?

Madam Chair, I move that the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Main Street Maryland Program Agreement for designated communities with the Bel Air Downtown Alliance Incorporated be approved by the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners.

Thank you, Commissioner Hanley. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Foss. And Angela, did you want to speak to this? I know we sign this, I think it's annually.

Yes, I was actually not prepared to speak on this this evening. It is a Downtown Alliance designation, and as was mentioned in the motion, it is through the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development that the Main Street Maryland program runs. It is a feather in our cap to have a designated Maryland Main Street and to have Jenny Earhart at the head of that organization for us, both working to improve economic vitality in the town as well as putting on many, many events in the town that are successful. Funds raised at those events go back into the community to help us further promote and further develop our downtown area.

And as I recall, the Downtown Alliance has to have a governmental partner to participate in this program with the state of Maryland. That is correct, yes. And that's the reason that we are signing this letter, just to be sort of their sponsor.

It is. It's a way for us to partner together in a private-public partnership to work together for the betterment of the whole community.

All right. Thank you. Any questions for Angela? All right.

Thank you. I know Jenny will be appreciative that we've gotten that turned around so she can get it back to the state. Timing is everything. It's true.

She needs that very quickly.

Yep. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And now we are at the point of this evening where we entertain public comments. And you can comment on anything, whether it was on this evening's agenda or not. Anyone interested? Anything to say? Yes, we do have to vote to approve that. And first, are there any public comments on the Baylor Downtown Alliance Main Street designation? Okay. In that case, Mr. Krantz, we are ready.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is for the vote to approve the Baylor Downtown Alliance Main Street designation letter. Commissioner Foss?

Aye.

Commissioner Taylor?

Aye.

Commissioner Hanley? Aye. And Chair Edding?

Aye.

The approval to sign the letter is complete. Thank you.

All right. Any comments from the members of the public that we have here this evening? No? All right. Commissioner's comments. I'm going to start. I was really impressed with the parade, as always, but in the light of all the heat that we had, it was so hot. Everybody performed beautifully. A special thank you to Public Works, who was out there working hard in the heat, as well as the police department and all the members working hard in the heat with all that heavy equipment on is no fun job. And also thank you to all the other agencies. I know I saw Maryland State Police and Howard a grace I didn't know if there were any others that participated but thank you to those agencies for helping out We had a lot of help we need a lot of help on there's a lot of work We do, and it was so impressive to see everybody in the parade marching, especially the guys in uniform, full uniform, and they did a great job. And fortunately, we didn't have any, well, we had, I think, a little minor trouble, but it was really pretty well attended, given the heat, and everybody did pretty well in the heat. Plus, not only, where other jurisdictions had canceled their festivities due to the heat, Not only did we get our parade in, but we managed to sneak in those fireworks around the storms. So that was really impressive. Tiny little gap there. Tiny little gap when you use it. Because what people don't understand is like we either have them or we don't. There's no rain date for the parade or the fireworks. So it's like either go or don't. So I'm really happy that we managed to squeeze those in.

Maryland Transportation Authority. Maryland Transportation Authority.

Thank you to everybody that helped out on our parade day. Commissioner's comments. Commissioner Hanley? And I wanted to say a great big thank you to Commissioner Hanley for his fine job with his artistic eye and his green thumb apparently that I didn't know he had for putting all the flowers in the fountain. It looked very patriotic and was much improved from, I know we have problems with the fountain, it's just gotta take a little time to get it fixed and up and running, but it really looked great for the parade, so thank you.

Yep, happy to make it look pretty. I do have to give a shout out to Delegate Archon. She was the one who sent me the video and said, here's what you guys need to do to make this look good. So yeah, but 4th of July, it was awesome. Shout out to all our town employees, police, public works. It was really hot, but I was surprised at how many people still did show up. I mean, everybody was huddling to the shaded areas. That's where everybody was hanging out, but it was a good day.

Yes, thanks again. Chief and everyone in the Independence Day Committee did a phenomenal job. And Jones, those were awesome Jeeps. I really enjoyed being in my first parade this year, Independence Day parade. I've been in the winter one before. Also, my mother is so impressed with the fountain, she said it looks like a giant urn. She goes, this is gorgeous, so great job on that. Also wanted to give a big congratulations to Wake Robert Foss, who won the watermelon eating contest. He's six years old, so he came really close last year, but he won it this year, so that was really exciting.

I've neglected to mention that Maggie Guy, my 11-year-old granddaughter, was third in the Uncle Sam Says for the 11 to 14 division, and she's 11 and thought it was really tough because she was competing against much older kids. Oh, that's no joke. She came in third, so I'm really proud of her. So they had a great time. They had a great time eating watermelon, doing Uncle Sam Says, the whole thing. And they volunteered. They were short some banner carriers. So two of Maggie and her older brother, who's close to 14, SJ, were pressed into service. They were voluntold to carry a banner, and they carried out their duties very well for Klein Shoprite. Didn't drop the banner, didn't collapse in the heat or anything. So they got a well-deserved ice cream after the parade, and they were happy to help out.

I also wanted to thank the police department for their great, I don't even want to say great work, phenomenal work on catching the, I don't know, should I say alleged, yeah, forget it, yes. Thank you so much for that, how you did that. That's amazing how that was done, so that was exciting.

48 hours from the incident to an arrest yes amazing that is just phenomenal police work you're right you had the right word commissioner taylor you're on the phone is there anything you want to share jake are you interested in any commissioner comment sure i had a particularly excellent fourth of july and i'll save that for

our next in-person meeting when I'm there, but I would like to thank Chief Moore for all that he did to make 4th of July so special for the town of Bel Air.

You're welcome, sir. Yep. No problem. Good night.

Commissioner Chismar.

Well, I think everybody, you know, the activities were great. Starting off with the morning flag raising at 645. I found out that there are two 645s in one day. So that was a good thing. You know, not normally. It's not my time of day usually, since, since I'm retired or whatever. So it's, it was good. And you know, everybody did a great job. I mean, Commissioner

Candley, thanks for doing the so many other people say, well, the fountain looked good after some of the comments that were on Facebook, but you know, they came through on that.

And you know, both DPW, the police department did a great job with with the town and street seepers, which street sweeper was out early Sunday morning.

Absolutely.

And he was doing his job and cleaning up the town. And it looked great as usual. So thanks to you guys for all that and the police department for all their work and the overtime work that everybody did. That's a big day for us. It's a lot of overtime. And I know the families don't get to spend time with the workers' families. The workers don't get to spend time with their families. But, you know, it's great activity for them. So I want to thank all of them for that. So anyway.

I think that was about it.

Anyone else have anything, any more comments? All right, in that case, may I have a motion to move into closed session?

Yes, Madam Chair, I move that we move into closed session.

Read the whole thing.

Okay, this portion of the meeting will be closed under the provisions of the Maryland Open Meetings Act General Provisions, Article 3-305, B3, 7, and 8. Topics of discussion. To consider the acquisition of real property for a public purpose and matters directly related thereto. to consult with counsel to obtain legal advice regarding the Hartford County Circuit Court case number C-12-CV-26-000281, Town of Bel Air, Maryland, versus 121 South Bond Street, LLC. to consult with legal, to obtain legal device, I mean to consult with counsel to obtain legal device regarding the Hartford Circuit Court case number C-12, CV-25-001030, Hartford County, Maryland, versus the town of Bel Air, Maryland, and the request for extension of Hickory Flats building permit. reasons for the closed session discussion of the above topics because public discussion of sensitive information regarding potential property negotiations including pricing location and strategic considerations could adversely affect the public bodies negotiating position lead to speculative Speculative activity or inflated property values undermine the public interest in securing property at a fair and reasonable cost. And because public discussion of confidential information and legal strategies can compromise the attorney-client privilege and inhibit the ability of the public body to receive candid and uninhibited legal advice, guidance.

All right. So we are going to move into closed session. We will not be conducting any further public business. We will merely be adjourning after our closed session. So this will be the conclusion of our meeting that is public. Second. I'm sorry. Did I get a second?

I will second that.

And we need a vote. Mr. Krantz.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is the vote to go into closed session. Commissioner Foss? Aye. Commissioner Chismore? Aye. Commissioner Taylor? Commissioner Hanley? Aye. And Chair Edding?

Aye.

The board will now go into closed session, and as Mayor Edding mentioned, we will not be returning for any further business. Thank you.

Michael, for my purposes, I'll leave it to you. I need Mr. Bayer, Ms. Diener, Mr. Klein. I don't know if you need Ms. Robertson or Chief. Everybody? Is everybody? Okay. Okay, I didn't want to hold them up.