Board of Town Commissioners - Regular Meeting

everybody ready good afternoon it is now 5 15 on july the 14th and the work session of the bella board of town commissioners is now in session and i'm going to call a roll commissioner foss present commissioner chismar here commissioner taylor here and commissioner hanley here all right all here next may i have a motion to approve the agenda

I move that we approve the agenda for the July 14th, 2026 work session meeting.

Thank you so much. And do I have a second? Second. All right. Any changes to the agenda that we need to make this evening? No? All right. In that case, Mr. Krantz?

Thank you, Madam Chair, for approval of the Baylor Board of Town Commissioners work session meeting agenda for July 14th, 2026. Commissioner Foss?

Aye.

Commissioner Chismar? Aye. Commissioner Taylor? Aye. Commissioner Hanley? Aye. And Chair Edding?

Aye.

The agenda is approved. Thank you.

So moving on with our agenda, the tentative agenda for our town meeting, which will be on July the 20th at 7 p.m., which is next Monday, the new business we will be conducting will be the purchase of the Axon body worn cameras. Chief?

Yes, ma'am. We'll have this all ready for you in the next meeting. background on this town of bel-air we initially began equipping officers with body-worn cameras in 2020 and then since then the town has entered into two additional contracts with axon enterprises who provides our body-worn cameras can you hear me okay and they support our robust body-worn camera system the last contract upgrade was completed in october of 2023 Two largest contracts were for five-year terms, however early negotiations and renewals began to support cost-saving efforts. Additionally, we want to renew this one early, and that will also enable us to consolidate efforts of two additional open contracts that were grant funded through the Governor's Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, GOCAP. These contracts had different renewal dates and were slated to conclude in the near future. Additionally, some useful features included in those contracts would have been eliminated upon the expiration. Those features will now be merged into a new five-year contract. This renewal will result in full vendor support, feature upgrades for 40 body cameras accompanying accoutrements, the cloud-based video evidence storage program, and other useful features, which I'll go into detail with you in the next meeting. Since its inception, the system has been questionably promoted in strength in officer safety, complaint reduction, department transparency, community relations, investigative findings, court prosecutions, and training demands. benefits of the early renewal contract that the one that's expiring in November 2027 that this one will replace will be a cost savings of around $27,000 per year. And the overall savings over that five year period over the next five year period will be $144,575. And there will also be a credit that I will have the exact numbers for the next meeting for the time that's left on the contract that's expiring. We're going to be going forth on a sole source justification on this since we already have Axon products and we're using them and the cost of the partnership with Axon Enterprises will be paid incrementally over five years and we'll have a total cost of $420,101 and that's approximately $84,000 a year. we were initially budgeted this next in this current fiscal year for seventy seven thousand one hundred twenty one but the actual cost will be seventy five thousand one hundred twenty one savings of two thousand dollars so I'll be presenting that to you next meeting any questions thank you yeah yeah it's nice

all right next we have the 221 north tollgate road sewer force main public works agreement mr klein thank you madam chair um as you may or may not know uh 221 north tollgate road has three single uh family homes being built on it um because of their location we do not have a sewer system that will allow them to gravity feed into our sewer system Each one of the three homes will have to purchase their own E1 pump, and the town will provide a 1,060-foot linear-foot force main, which will go from their house up to in front of the work out on George Street there. So it'll be pumped up 1,060 feet into a manhole and that will be maintained by the town but will originally be put in at the cost of the developer. So we have to have this agreement that they will put it in, it will be inspected, we will receive as both drawings for it and once it meets a one year period of time, the town will take that over from them. It also includes the development agreement that we will maintain or not maintain but oversee the building of their stormwater management facilities.

You answered my one question, which was who was going to pay for that, which was the most important one. And I know it's inspected and then we accept it as ours and continue to maintain it as we do all the rest of the similar infrastructure in the town, correct?

Yes. The estimated price of the project is $136,000. There's a lot of nice things in the Forest Main that we like and that we've requested. and that is clean outs and so forth like that so if it ever does get clogged and so forth there's several access points in that in that force main that we're able to go in and clean it out for that's a good idea to look to future maintenance because it will be you doing it so and this this is very similar uh the way that harford county treats it when more than one person uh is hooked up to a force main And now if it was only one single lot, it would be the responsibility of the one owner to put that into our sewer system. But because it's three, the town will take that responsibility after they pay for it.

Mr. Klein, can you describe the route again? You said that there was a workout at George Street, which is all the way across 24th. Not George, Bolton. I'm sorry.

I misunderstood. Bolton there. In front of the athletic club. In front of the restaurant is the closest manhole that we have, and that's where it will go into. Sorry about that.

Mr. Klein, and then you said they're called E1 pumps? E1 pumps. They're just a standard residential type pump. And those will be the homeowner's responsibility forever. We don't take those over.

Yes, we will never take them over. They'll be their responsibility, which we like because then we feel that that will make them take care of them better. They won't put a lot of stuff down in them that would cause them to get damaged and things of that nature. No, I agree. If they're just servicing them, that's their responsibility. Exactly right. So I'd like to get your approval for that. It's a very simple agreement, more so than most of the public works development agreements that we usually deal with.

Okay. And, of course, Ms. Thompson has already taken a look at it.

Absolutely. All right. Absolutely.

There you go. Any further questions for Steve today? All right. Steve, you're like the rest of the new business, the purchase of the refuse truck with the rear loader.

Yes, ma'am. And we are now in our new FY 2027 period of time. And one of the first things that we would like to get approval is for the purchase of the refuse truck with the rear loader. We'll be buying that from Freightliner Westman Star Velcan, who we've dealt with before. And it's going to come with a rear loading body from Leach. It's going to be a 20-yard Leach rear loading body. We're very happy with the setup and everything. It is a source well contract purchase. The price is $278,248. We had originally budgeted $300,000, so we're getting it under what we originally thought we would have to pay. And we're thinking that we might get about $15,000 back at GovDeals when we go to sell it at auction.

Okay. Any questions for Steve about the purchase of the truck? All right, next we have the purchase of the F 550 flatbed truck with the plow and accessories that sounds expensive.

Not as expensive as the trash truck. I do want to make one correction though, it is not a flatbed truck, it is a dump truck actually. It's a mini dump truck, F550 mini dump. We are once again going with Apple Ford from Columbia, Maryland, who we've bought many of these trucks from before. We are piggybacking a Baltimore County contract on this purchase and The truck is, of course, a mini dump. It's a F550. The old truck is a 2012 F550 with 35,000 miles. We had budgeted $150,000, and the price came in at $144,537. So again, we're under budget, and we're going to get a brand new 2027 Ford F550 with a plow and new salt spreader, which works great in our smaller courts and parking lots.

I'm always impressed with how quickly the courts get plowed out that is something that really is important to folks and you know on a bigger scale if you're the county it takes a while to get down to the courts with six people but I know the court right across me with six people gets plowed the same time as the main loop road shamrock gets plowed the little one comes in right behind it so it's really great service to our residents

The F-550 has quite a bit of power, more than your regular standard pickup trucks. They're about the same length, not much larger. So they're much able to get around a lot quicker than the big ones and are able to push a lot of snow in the small areas. So they work out great for us.

All right.

We just purchased one of these last year, right?

We sure did, sir.

Yes.

Yep.

So we have how many of those in our, how many do we keep in our inventory?

We have three F-550s, and we have four large single-axle dump trucks in the fleet.

we'll hope that we don't have any snow like that that needs those this year but exactly last year was a big year for that all right any questions for steve about the uh dump truck all right commissioner liaison reports i'll start because the tree committee has not met since um let's see i think it was june um there's no meeting in july they don't meet during the summer so they will pick up again in the fall But the one thing I did want to mention I think I've talked to a couple people about it Before I forget with regard to the tree committee is I know we've had some calls and questions from residents when trees are being taken down when trees are being put in and Um, the tree committee has some really fabulously qualified folks who know a lot about trees, what species of trees live well together, what species live well in a, you know, a town environment with sidewalks and, and all those sorts of things. So, um, I would like to, I'm not sure how to do that, but to make it sort of an official thing that if we're taking down trees or we're going to do a park renovation and put up trees that we run those plans pass the tree committee to get their input, they could be a really valuable resource. And I think they would love to do that for us. And they just know so much about what trees and what species, particularly even if it's an oak tree, go down in the details of what is going to do well in our environment.

I 100% agree with that, but I do want a little bit of latitude if we have some emergency situations, ma'am. Oh, for sure. If it's something that we need to take care of very quickly, hopefully we can make that determination.

Absolutely. I would certainly not want to take any of that away from Public Works. They do a great job. I know they were- down the street from me with a tree that had fallen in one of the courts over the weekend, and they were out there in the dark with the chainsaws getting the road open because the road was shut. They seemed to enjoy it. I saw a comment on Facebook that the guys seemed to have fun chopping it up, and the neighbors were thrilled to have a crew come out after dark on a weekend. So they were thrilled. So I certainly didn't mean that. I meant when we're doing a plan, like the one that was the issue was the park and some trees needed to come down.

And I think we've already tested it out. We've already put a couple in front. We had a list of remaining trees that were in the FY26 budget that we needed to carry over in the FY27 because of budgetary constraints. We've sent them already to the committee, and we've already received good feedback on which ones they feel we should take down and which ones we should second guess. That is terrific. Fortunately, the ones that fell this weekend, the one that fell this weekend was a Bradford pear, and they're not the best trees anyway, so.

I'm not sure. Was that the one in Major's Choice was a Bradford? Yes, ma'am. It was a Bradford pear, yeah. I'm not sure they have any left. I used to have two in front of my house that the town had to come because storms just shear them off. Either they split the trunk, they're terrible. far as standing up to the wind around here so and that was even one of the comments from one of the truth from the tree committee that if it was a Bradford pair you can definitely take it down yeah there you go for sure yeah anything that falls down of course you know go out and shop up or anything that's a risk to the public I certainly didn't want to do that but what we're planning taking down or planning what we're going to put in I think the tree committee is a really terrific resource so good that's great all right anyone else have a liaison report

Rockfield didn't meet in July. The Downtown Alliance did meet, but I was at the MML, so I do not have an update for that. Cultural Arts met in June and excited to book Colleen Webster for Rachel Carson, I believe, and that's one of the annual things that they do, and they're just kind of buttoning up the schedule for next year and some of the events that are coming up.

the Planning Commission meant July 2nd I think two things were on the agenda what was the Jimmy John and Dunkin Donuts project that's going in next to the behind the green drop you know right there 22 and and main so that got approved the other item was the deal with the the staggering of the commissioners terms yeah thank you good think of the word it it was it I think we'll see legislation, a resolution, because what they decided to do was shorten Jeff Stam's term by eight months, and that'll put those three, the three long-term ones, which would be Jimmy Hines and Gary, and um gary wolf and um webb and and jeff stan about a year apart in april okay the new ones that we put in i think we're just going to handle that is that instead of a five-year term we'll just line them up to be in an april of the following year type thing so we'll have them all in an april of five years in a row okay

because having several come up in one year is not the best of all ways. We had four within 12 months.

Four within 12 months is not good. And everybody agreed that's not a good thing because we don't have the experience and expertise that's there. So this way we'll stagger it. We'll move it out.

Just a quick comment, we were able to get an initial draft of that resolution prepared today, so it wasn't on your agenda for new business on the 20th, but if it's okay with the board, I think we can go ahead and ask, we'll have it ready for you to vote on on the 20th, so we can add it to that town hall meeting agenda.

I think that's fine with me. That's fine.

Yeah, I think it's great. All that resolution will do is address Jeff Stampt reduction in term rate of eight months. That's all it addresses.

All right, that sounds great. That is a real problem to be fixed. So thank you.

Historic Preservation Commission, the Find Our History historic landmark scavenger hunt that is now live and that will run until the end of the year. Committee for Seniors and Citizens in Need, we discussed the Havity Grace Thanksgiving dinner. I did not realize that you can sign up to deliver meals throughout the county. So even people in need in the town of Bel Air, you can sign up, go pick up a meal and then bring it back here. So I'm hoping to be able to do that this year.

Neither of my committees met. They're both on summer recess, both appearance and beautification as well as Economic Community Development Commission. But perhaps in my capacity as liaison to the Economic Development Department, we will be looking at some applications for Armory Marketplace for a potential new tenant pretty soon here. So we're always excited to see that continue to happen. and that's one of the great things about that place is that there is always turnover. We're sad to see people go, but we're excited to get new fresh blood in there and attract new patrons into that end of town. And then from the other department with which I liaise, I'm sure we'll talk about this later in Commissioner's comments, but I'm gonna beat everybody to it, because that's my right as the police liaison. I want to thank the Force for the wonderful job that they did to make the Fourth of July so special and so successful. I saw everybody out there working hard. Special props to Officer McCracken, who I saw expertly handle an 18-wheeler turning right off of 924 onto East McPhail Road at the intersection where the entrance to the parade staging was. and we had cars that needed to back up on McPhail to divert this 18-wheeler, because of course they couldn't continue on through Main Street. I happened to be the car that was sitting at the intersection ready to go as the 18-wheeler was coming at us, making that right turn, so I got a front row seat, and it was a very stressful situation. It was Officer McCracken and another officer who I couldn't make out who was handling the other side of the intersection, but give them both my thanks and my compliments for that because that was really a moment where it puts into perspective just how much work and how stressful it can be to manage and put on an event of that scale where you really shut down an entire town. certainly to our Department of Public Works as well for your role in that too I just happen to see officer McCracken you know moving heaven and earth to get this 18 wheeler to it to where it needed to go and not be a problem for anybody so very well done all around all right the summer doldrums are upon us because many

committees are not meeting which is great everybody deserves a break and they certainly do so I hope they enjoy it and everybody be refreshed to come back in the fall next we have our staffing update where we are going to take a look at the newly provided by Michael Krantz list of those who are coming up for renewal the only position that we have posted online at the moment is we're actively seeking police dispatchers

that job ad is scheduled to come down tomorrow, so end of the business day tomorrow, so if there's anyone out there listening that's interested in being a police dispatcher or you know someone who is, the application's up at least for another 24 hours. You may have to keep it up a little bit longer. Might have to extend it? Yeah, yes sir. Well, let me know in the morning.

Okay.

All right. And I see. Have we talked to Steve Burdette to see if he's interested in continuing the board of building? Yes, ma'am. I have.

I think the only question is, will we discuss that at the number 11 tonight a closed session? Do we want to put that in the July meeting coming up next Monday? Or do we want to wait till the 17th of August?

it's not one for the closed session but I just wanted to know if he indicated he was interested or not he absolutely is absolutely okay great then we know how we'll move forward with that Mike all right anything else on the staffing update

I did have a question just while we have it here in front of us. I think we all have a draft copy pertaining to the Planning Commission. So I see that we've got a vacancy now. And what is our intention for when we do find someone to fill this vacancy? What's our intention for when that person, what their term would run to? Have we given that thought, Steve?

Yeah, I, what we would do is, again, it wouldn't be, it wouldn't necessarily be a full five year, right? full five years, okay, that staggered. So we'd have to set the dates to make it work out.

So we would shorten it to say, April of 2028. Because I'm looking at this, and we've got Heinz in 2029, Stam in 2030, Webb 2031, our three incumbents. We've got Schleyer who's coming off in November, and we've got a vacancy now. So in order, you would either have to give someone longer than a five year term, which I don't think we can do. Right. Or you'd have to give – and we can do it this way. You could do a term that has to get re-upped in April of 27 and a term that has to get re-upped in April of 28. Right. So I guess that's the – Maybe we'll bring it up before them and see how they want to handle it and see what they want to do. Because if you don't do those micro terms up in 27 and 28, you've got – you're looking at 2032. Yeah.

And I don't know – That's more than the five years. I don't think we're empowered to appoint somebody for that long.

Right. Yeah.

So we'll just do it for the shorter term, just like we're doing. Well, most likely be it. I don't want to speak for them. Sure, sure. It's kind of their committee as to how they want to do that, I think, with our guidance or whatever we think is best, and Liz's guidance. Yeah.

I mean, it's up to us to make the appointment. Obviously, a shortening of a term is sort of an extraordinary measure that we have to take to get it, because as Liz said previously, we've got to bend one section of the code to avoid breaking the other.

Right, we're violating one way or the other, we're violating part of the code, the Maryland state code, so we gotta bend one rule so we can get back in compliance.

Yep. Okay. Well, once we actually have people in hand, we can cross that bridge when we get there. Right.

And it might even be a selling point that it's a short-term term. You can try it out, take it for a test drive if you like it. You're not locked in for five years. You can say, no, thank you, it's not for me. Or, yes, I'd like to serve a full five-year term.

That's true.

all right um anything else on staffing all right calendar um i know we all got a new calendar it's a busy calendar um we have a lot going on although it's a little less busy since we're past the fourth of july which always seems like the downside of the summer to me there is a work session on august the 11th that i will not be able to attend And I think that one is actually on the calendar as opposed to one that I failed to erase from the calendar. So might wanna have everyone take a look at their calendars to make sure that we will have a quorum. And I think that was, well of course tomorrow night we have the MML meeting at six o'clock in Port Deposit. And then coming up on the calendar is August the 4th, the National Night Out. I don't know if that's on the calendar or not.

MML is Thursday.

Yes, I'm sorry. MML is Thursday. I'm sorry. I just panicked for a minute.

I went on it.

Yeah. Let me see.

And I don't have that. Chief, is National Night Out, are we participating in that on August 4th?

Okay, because it's not on the Commissioner's calendar. And that's kind of a big deal. And we do try to calm people. So maybe August the 4th. Yes. August the 4th. All right. August the 4th, like 430 to 830. Tuesday, August the 4th, 430 to 830 at the usual location off Tolgate Road.

All right.

430 to 830 p.m. And you know attendance isn't mandatory, but it is a great opportunity to come and see like, you know dogs helicopters It's it's um, the fire department is usually there the police department will be a sheriff's office our Department other departments. I've seen Maryland Transportation Authority there Maryland State Troopers there so it's a it's a It's a nationwide event.

It started 15, 20 years ago in communities. They'd put blue lights out on their houses. People would initially and the police would stop there. So they kind of evolved into having an event that everybody could come to. And it's a good event for like the kids to come get school supplies.

right they get stickers little police badges they get to look at the equipment you know look at a helicopter up close a big old fire truck up close with the ladder extent the ladder is usually up and I was like man I'm glad I don't have to climb that so it's really a lot of fun for the community come out and meet the first responders that you know work in their community and everybody does it rather than having just the Bel Air one it's a number of agencies that are all there at the same time

That's great and you said that like you put blue lights on your porch is that something that That started years ago and it evolved into having everything come to one place rather than the police going into neighborhoods and stopping at houses that wanted to see them so that's yeah Put on your calendars also that I will not be here for the September 8 15 or 21 meeting

Okay.

Eight, right. Town Hall on the 8th, the work session 15th, and the Town Hall on the 21st.

All right. Well, it looks like I'll be here for all of those, so if everybody else is going to be here for all of those, and if not, you know, let me know just so we can take a head count for purposes of a forum. All right. anything else on the calendar that anybody can think of I'm shocked that the August the 4th national light out didn't make it to the commissioners calendar seemed like we just had it it does it does and the kids love to come and get all of the swag all the swag all right so moving on under miscellaneous we have the Chesapeake employers workers compensation

insurance company policyholder dividend yes so that uh the chesapeake employers insurance company board of directors announced and declared a 60 million dollar policyholder dividend for calendar year 2026 for qualifying policyholders of which the town was we have already received the check is 176 457 and the commissioners approved a month ago for a safety and retention bonus for town employees this has to do with workers compensation and town has had a very good year knock on wood in terms of safety so chesapeake employers has asked to come before the board to present a ceremonial check on behalf of chesapeake employers it's kind of a little after the fact since we already have the check and we distributed it but if it's okay with the board, we could have them at the next town hall meeting or the one after that, whatever's best for you.

I think they've done this before, and I'd be happy to participate in the honorary check there that... I'm just glad we got the real check and it was a huge bonus to our employees $1,900 to those who had been here since January 2024 or something like that My advice is that we try to cash the second one and see if they'll pay double It's going to be one of those giant checks so we might have a difficult time putting it in the box Walk it across the street and see what they say

i do from last year yeah we do okay so i will coordinate with the folks at chesapeake employers extend the board commissioner's gratitude and and appreciation for this and we'll see what date is best for them if they can make it at the next town hall meeting you'll see them added under presentations

Okay.

Looking forward to it. And kudos to all the employees who were so safe that our claims experience was so good that we got, you know, money that got returned to them. So that is a win all around. And a rather large one this time. It really was. All right. Staff comments. We're going to start with the chief down there.

yes ma'am my apologies for this I have a last-minute agenda item that I'd like to get like to get done before the next meeting and this was an item that was approved in the FY 27 budget and it is the Verkada cam with command connector if you recall that this is a Verkada cloud-based platform a dashboard feature which enables integration of the non-Verkada cameras like the Bosch cameras we have It enables them to be integrated into our surveillance system, surveillance safety system. The feature platform accessory supports many of the artificial intelligence features found in the Verkada legacy, for the old legacy cameras. currently we have we'll have 22 Verkada cameras slated for activation and we'll pull the 50 legacy analog cameras into the system and they'll pull them into one one-stop shop for those cameras This is a 50-channel command connector, and it's going to cost right around $49,000, and we had a budgeted line item for $50,000 for it. And the reason I'm doing it now is because I got a call from our liaison at Ricotta and says, hey, Chuck, and it kind of fell off my radar. He said, look, you're already piloting this, and the price is going to end up going up if you don't get this presented. So I would like to get that done. I think I'll be able to have it finished. when you need it for like Monday the 20th yes ma'am oh if you're ready yeah and then one more thing on that I want to add 25 an additional command connector and we'll we'll be purchasing that through equitable sharing forfeiture funding

So we'll add that to the 20th agenda. Thank you. Apologies. No worries. These things happen. Chief, I thought we ordered, I thought we already discussed that.

We're piloting it. Or was that during the budget? Yes, sir. It was during the budget.

We just talked about it during the budget. Okay. I remember talking about the integrated and non-Vicata.

I'm glad he called today rather than telling us, hey, the price just went up. All right.

All right. Mr. Klein, we've already given you the kudos for the great work coming out in the middle of the night on the weekend to take care of a tree.

Thank you. I just want to reflect that the paving in town is going on right now. It's looking really good. So that's going to be ongoing probably for the next three or four weeks. We're really trying to make sure that all the residents know prior. We're working around storms and weather and things like that. So far it's been really good. We're putting notices on people's properties. We're putting notices in their doors to move their cars and things of that nature. So they're just not, you know, interrupted that much. So things are going great in that regard. Allison Park is coming along real good. There was a little holdup on the actual exercise equipment. So that's really not going to be in until like around mid-August until we're able to get that in. The only other thing is we're making some substantial repairs to the pavilions at Rockfield Playground, and I think you might have gotten the email about that today, that the park will be closed several days next week. We also are working with Bel Air Parks and Rec. They're putting down 200 tons of fiber mulch for safety purposes as well. So we're going to take a few days off from the park and try to clean it up and make it safer for all our residents.

I did see that email and I think it's great that you're putting on all our social media and that there'll be the park itself will actually be posted for people that don't look at social media but go to the park often they'll get noticed too and it is it is I mean you have to close it down to make it better so yeah and I'd like to thank Dave for helping us with all them social media posts thanks Dave all right Angela nothing I do like your midweek updates on what's going on in town Rachel No? All right. Michael?

I know a few folks have asked about this, but we finally did receive the Howard Park traffic study today.

Okay. So we'll make it available to you.

Not too many surprises in there, but they do recommend some traffic calming in a few locations. So there will be more information to come on that.

Sue Newenhouse will be very excited to hear that. Yes. She has been asking repeatedly for several months now, so she will be delighted when we can get that over to her.

And are we going to post it on the website somewhere under the planning department? I think that there's a lot of interest from the folks in Howard Park and then your department or whoever can just say it's posted, you know. Absolutely. Take a look at it. Okay. Yes, sir.

Yes, ma'am. Is there any way that we could wait on that for a little bit until I'm able to read it and also review it as well as some of the other people so we might be able to answer questions? I think it might behoove us to hold off and understand it before we send it out to the public. It's entirely up to you, but I think it might work better.

How long? I know you just got it today.

Yeah. Well, it's not very long, so I don't think it'll take, and it's not that complicated. And I know internally we'll want to talk about it in terms of some of the other traffic activities.

And we might not do everything that is suggested that we do.

That is always subject to budget and other pressures.

Yeah, there's got to be some disclaimer if we put it out that everything you see might not happen.

because they've they're making recommendations on some traffic calming things and things of that nature and when chief and i and and michael look at it we might not be the best solution for our town so right that's always uh you know the factor is like what what is right for us so i am i'm certainly not promising that everything that'll that's in there will happen right but if it's not all that complicated today's tuesday how about we post it thursday morning

And I think we need... sure yeah we have an electronic PDF of the report itself that's what I figured all right and I think it would be important like does the disclaimer needs to go out with it about about you know we're not gonna I'm saying the disclaimer needs to go out that be recommended that we're not gonna necessarily do everything but but also is are we gonna have I think it would be good to have a community if they want or what we'll have something a community in the future we don't know when but they're saying we expect to have a meeting with the community to discuss the recommendations and after everybody's had a chance to review it and of course forward so I think that needs to maybe put in the disclaimer I think that's a great idea

let everybody know there's you know new promises that this is going to happen it's going to happen today or whatever but that we will be taking community input after everybody in here gets to take a look at it and see what's appropriate what's budgetarily doable do we have any other problems that you know we internally identify as far as implementing those recommendations and tell them you know be happy to have a community meeting I think that's a great idea

Could we announce that we have it Monday and then that way it gives everybody a little bit more time to look at it and discuss?

I wouldn't go any later than the end of the day, Friday, certainly.

Me neither, only because if somebody did a PIA request, they could get it. So it's a public document, do you know what I mean? So you have it, whether you understand it, whether you have 5,000 questions, because I find when I read those things, I do have a lot of questions because I don't understand all the terms and what do they mean by this, that kind of thing. But I err on the side of like, just let people look at it. They are dying for that report in Howard Park. Oh, okay, yeah. I would just, sure.

And the disclaimer will say, you know, it's under review by the town. Right. And we're going to have a community meeting, blah, blah, blah. And so they know that's, you know, it's going to be a process.

It's a starting point.

It's a starting point. It's a process. Here's the data. Now we've got to decide what we're going to do. And that's what the disclaimer should say that, you know, and lay all that forward.

yeah that makes sense so put it out as soon as you feel comfortable yeah I would go with I would prefer Thursday morning just post it on the website and for those folks like Sue that are you know dying to read it hey she can take a look at it and as soon as it is posted let us know because I'd like to send that to her you know as soon as you know not let her stumble upon it on the website

just had one additional item under staff comments there were some commissioners who had taken pictures of overflowing trash cans by the farmers market and that appears to have been resolved to the farmers market hats off to public works as well as planning department and the folks at the farmers market themselves who have uh gotten some assistance to bag up those trash bags so this last this last farmers market on saturday i drove by on sunday and i saw the bags all neatly tied up and placed next to the can there on bond street so unless there's any other staff members any anything else to report i think that problem has been resolved

I did see your emails on that and that is terrific that is terrific it wasn't really a good look but I understood how it happened that can can only hold so much and there's nobody working on the weekend so unless they're going out to you know get a downed tree out of the road so

We made a recommendation to the farmer's market that they might want to purchase some 90-gallon toters with wheels. They could then fill them up instead of the public trash receptacles and wheel them over to where their shed is on the other side of Thomas Street. There was some question that came back whether the town was going to pay for the receptacles. And so that's where we are right now. And we were going to tell them that if they wanted to do that, they could go out and purchase the receptacles. And we would definitely pick them up on Monday morning. That way they have complete lids that fold down. And they're not in like a park-like setting.

Right. I think that's a terrific idea, Steve. Yeah.

So I think that's where we're working with the committee.

Great. All right. Any more staff comments? No? All right. Commissioner's comments. I want to let you know we're not first on the 4th of July because you missed that meeting. We were. appropriately complimentary to all the entities that you know, participate, including we had some out of town, like the Maryland State Police were here, I think however, the grace was here, helping out, which was really great, because it is a big, big event. So I appreciate that. And I've already thanked Steve and tell the guys what a great job they did. Neighborhood was thrilled to have the tree out of the road so they can, you know, go about their business. And what a what a quick response. So thank you.

It was a lot of fun doing the public reading. I know you all were at the Historical Society, and I was down at the Hayes House, and Rob McCord from the county that came down dressed in costume and has just such a voice when he did it. It was really exciting, and it was really nice to see Sandy Wallace again there. She was married the late, Robbie Wallace who hired me and hired my dad he was the editor of the Aegis so it was kind of fun connecting with that but I really enjoyed participating in that I know you probably did too

I understand Hartford County was only one of two counties in the state that did it, which surprised me on the 250 or whatever. But anyway, kudos to everybody in the county that really did that. I mean, we had at least three locations in town. And I was at the library, the Historic Center and Hayes House. And I think I know Havde Grace and I think Aberdeen did it also. Or was it Abingdon? One of the libraries. But anyway, good turnout for that. That's all I had.

And I'm sorry, Commissioner Hanley, again, I was walking with my friend on Main Street with the dogs, and she's like, did you see that, that fountain? Look how good that looks. I'm like, yes, I did see that. So it's really, a lot of people have noticed, and I just want to thank you again. You did a tremendous job on that, and you've got some skills there.

I didn't want to steal Commissioner Taylor's thunder last meeting, but congratulations to our colleague on his engagement. That's awesome. Fourth of July. Also, congratulations on both of your primary election victories. That's awesome. In case anybody has not been over towards the mall, they started putting up chain link fence and silt fence to start the demolition of the Macy's. So I drive by there every day, so I'm keeping a close eye on things over there. And then anybody following my raccoon project at Hearthstone Village, I'm up to 18 raccoons that have been trapped over by a single dumpster over there, which is pretty crazy.

So I met with the – I expect to see some hats, Commissioner.

Yeah, could make a lot of hats out of those. But I met with the HOA and the property management today, so coming up with some – potential solutions to prevent more raccoons, attracting more raccoons, and I told them they'll be expecting some new dumpsters here pretty soon from the town of Bel Air, so hopefully they're a little bit more resistant to the raccoons.

Good, awesome. They're pretty smart animals. They'll figure out how to open the gate or the doors on it.

All right. Any further commissioners comments? All right. In that case, may I have a motion to go into closed session?

Madam Chair, I move that this portion of the meeting will be closed under the provisions of the Maryland Open Meetings Act General Provisions Article 3, Section 305B1. The topics of the discussion include to discuss potential appointments to the vacant town administrator position. The reasons for closed session discussions of above topics are because public discussion of candidates' names, qualifications, experience, and background could discourage people from applying for employment or compromise their privacy rights.

Thank you. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you. Mr. Krantz, before we vote, I will just announce for the public that we will not be conducting any further public business after our closed session. We will be adjourning for the evening. And with that, we're ready for the vote.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is the vote to go into closed session. Commissioner Foss? Aye. Commissioner Chismore? Aye. Commissioner Taylor? Aye. Commissioner Hanley? Aye. And Chair Edding? Aye. The board will now go into closed session and will not be returning for any new business.