Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Welcome to the mayor and city council meeting Monday, April 13th, 2026. If you'd please stand with me for the pledge of allegiance. Approval of the minutes from the March 9th, 2026 combined meeting. I am looking for a motion in regards to that. Motion to approve. Looking for a second. Second. Any additional comments, question, concerns by councel? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I.

All those opposed? Name. Carries. Council member statement regarding conflicts of interest on agenda items. Would any council member would like to make a statement today? Hearing none, I am proceeding forward to public comment pertaining to agenda and non-aggenda items. To comment on a specific agenda item after discussed by council, please sign up with the city clerk and you'll be asked to come forward at the appropriate time. Do we have any public comment pertaining to agenda or non-aggenda items tonight? Seeing no movement in the audience, I am proceeding forward. Resolution, ordinances, and agreements. Introduction ordinance 08-226 bicycles. I am looking for a motion of introduction. So moved. Looking for a second. Second.

Any additional comments, questions, concerns by councel. Um again, this ordinance is going to continue getting worked as it's going through the introduction phase. Once it has been introduced, we have 70 days for adoption. So it is not in its final form just yet. And we'll continue to accept comments, questions, concerns from council throughout the uh time period. I will address them. So, anybody have anything they'd like to say now or you guys just gonna We'll keep going at it over the next however long. I'm glad we're addressing it. Y sounds good. Proceeding forward. Uh or actually, sorry, looking for a We already got the motion. We got the second. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I. All those opposed name carries. It has been introduced. Up next is adoption. Ordinance 22-2025, amendment to fences and walls. I am looking for a motion in regards to this. Motion to adopt. Looking for a second. Second. Any additional comments, question, concerns by council. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. I. All those opposed? Nay. Carries. Up next, we have ordinance 03-226 bypass corridor development deferral. I'm looking for a motion in regards to this motion to adopt. Okay, here he goes. Looking for a second. Second.

Any additional comments, questions, concerns by councel? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed, nay. Carries. Up next, we have ordinance 04-226, amendment to section 193, vehicles and traffic. I am looking for a motion in regards to that section. Motion to adopt. Looking for a second. Second. Any additional comments, questions, concerns by councel hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed. Name. Carries. Up next. Resolution 2026-02 fine schedule for chapter 193 vehicles and traffic. I am looking for a motion in regards to it. Looking for a second.

Second. Any additional comments, questions, concerns by council? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. All those opposed, nay. Carries. Up next, city manager report and department reports. Jim, do you have anything new to report on those two segments? Uh, just a quick followup from Wednesday night. The question came up about a spike on expenses in December on the graph. And, uh, that's when our state retirement payments are due. So, that's explains the spike for the expenses. Thank you. Appreciate that. That's all I've got. Let's questions.

Sounds good. Uh heading down to old business. Um again, revisions to general specifications, street and storm water management facilities construction. That will be up as an introduction for a motion in uh May. So, does anybody have any comments they'd like to make tonight before that gets brought up officially in May? No. Were we going to get an executive summary or something to Yeah, we'll have that.

We'll have that go out as part of the like actual introduction packet of it. Any additional comments, questions, concerns before I proceed proceeding to welcome signs. Um, again, that is being worked into the FY27 budget and we will be working on those starting in July essentially. Any questions, comments, concerns on that hearing? None. Up next is the parking meters. So, parking meters, we wanted to uh me and Jim were talking a little bit today about this. Um, you know, we we right now there's been no enforcement regarding the parking meters. You know, that was the direction from council while we were going through this part of the uh refurbishment of the parking meters. However, me and Jim wanted to do a we suggest a test run to make sure we're not about to do a pretty large expense over a problem that might not be there. And our suggestion is we do a test run. We have to remove the meters anyways to implement the new parking system. We'd like to implement a test run of the parking meters removed to see if we see an actual problem being exacerbated by the meters being removed. Um, so you know, our qu our thing would be you want a motion, Jim, right? Some kind of motion or consensus.

I think before we actually remove the meters, I' I'd like to get a, you know, a motion in on the books to do that. Okay. But the idea basically would be to to run a kind of a pilot period. Yeah.

Um, whether it's 60, 90 days to see if we really need to pull the trigger and and invest in those parking sensors and the subscription that goes along with it. And I do have to agree with the city manager on that. Again, it is a decent expenditure. So, you know, the first trial we really didn't get any complaints regarding the non-inforcement. Um, up next, again, let's see if we remove the meters and again if people start filling those up and just not moving. Um, you know, that just helps us make sure that we're not about to spend, you know, 70,000 plus dollars on something that isn't really a problem. Um, and again, we still have other measures as well, such as the two freehour parking signs and whatnot. But the idea is uh Jim's still going to continue working through State Highway for permission to do the updated systems. So we're not lagging behind if we find it to be a problem. We want to do the updated systems. So we're going to continue working with State Highway to get that approval on that.

Does that sound Looking for a motion from council motion to remove. Look for a second. Second. Give it to Alex. Um any additional comments, questions, concerns by council. Um can I cut one of them? would be a nice little ceremony. Um, would make me happy. I'll see if I can't get something set up for you, Council Member Henry. Council member me. Um, any additional comments, questions, concerns by council. Uh, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed, nay.

Up next, Charter Resolution CR2026-01 term limits amendment. Sorry again that these two charter resolutions are just going to sit here as we're going through the process. Does anybody have any additional, you know, we received a public comment through email? I sent out a response in regards to it. Does anybody have any additional comments, questions, concerns right now? These are going to be here for a minute. So, no, not right now. Proceeding forward. Um, new business monthly financial report. Looking for a motion in regards to it. Move to accept the uh monthly financial report. Looking for a second. Second. Any additional comments, questions, concerns regarding the monthly financial report? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

All those opposed, nay. Carries. Up next, accounts payables. Looking for a motion in regards to it. Look for a second. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. All those opposed? Name? Carries. Um, up next we have the water specifications specifications. Again, these I'm not looking for anything on these tonight. Um, just be aware they're you're probably going to see them more officially in May. Um, does anybody have any comments, questions, concerns they'd like to address tonight? Um, again, we're still open for email submitt and everything like that while we're going through the process of adding them officially in May.

No, I think the only thing uh you you guys were talking about uh maybe changing the the model that we use uh whenever you guys have that'll be the water that'll be at the water discussion. We'll have that. Okay. Got it. Yeah. We'll we'll my goal is to try to present council with three different models to potentially look at and choose from.

So, we'll try to have those for you guys at the water meeting and uh there will be a packet with water details and uh again what information we have for you guys to really kind of digest before the water meeting that'll be sent out sometime this week. So, be aware of that. Um Carol County water resources element plan. Again, nothing for you guys to actually do tonight. Just continue digesting it. Does anybody have anything like they'd like to address? Jim, do you have something you want to I was considering asking uh planning director Gray to make a brief presentation at the workshop next month on that? That's fine. Just um I know Councilman Me's familiar with it from being on the planning commission, but um I thought a summary might be helpful.

Anybody else needs a hard copy? I apparently have too. if he if he is going to go ahead and do a presentation. I know there's some areas that aren't of great concern but will be in the the decade to come. If he has any proposed solutions or yourself, I'd be very eager on that and what your recommendations for the council would be. Any additional comments, questions, concerns by council hearing? None. Proceeding forward. Councilman report starting with council member Kalan. Kalan.

All right. So, first up, uh the memorial expansion project uh was approved for final site plans by state highway. Um we are appearing before the planning commission at the 427 meeting to seek their approval as well. Uh the engineer submitted the road access permit application to state highway. Uh and it's working on the joint permit application to submit to MDE for the stream crossing. Um, and they're also working on drafting a request for proposal for us. Uh, we had the Easter egg hunt on March 28th and it was a big success despite the chilly weather. Um, we special shout out to all the volunteers that helped make it possible uh as well as DPW and to McKenzie uh for covering the event. Um, Lena thinks we're about 400 attendees roughly. Uh our next event is the Earth Day Cleanup, which is on Saturday, April 25th from 1 to 3:00 p.m. Uh we'd love to have as many volunteers uh to join us as possible. Um you can show up at any one of our six developed parks and participate and uh someone will meet you with trash bags and a ticket for a free hot dog and drink. Uh this year we're competing with Mount Ary, Sykesville, Westminster, Hamstead, Laurel, and Gaithersburg in a Let's Talk Trash contest. uh categories are most trash collected, most volunteers, and most unique trash item found. Uh the winners in each of these categories will receive a handcrafted trophy made out of trash and recycled items by Carol County artist Julia Simmons. Um and then we have our annual fishing derby is set for Saturday, May 9th at Roberts Mill Park. Registration is on site and starts at 8:00 a.m. Uh fishing starts at 8:30 a.m. There's going to be four age groups. Uh contestants with the top three largest fish caught in each group get a prize. All contestants get a door prize or and

goodie bag and a free hot dog and drink. And registration is also open for our gifts and gratitude walk yoga in the park tennis tennis clinics and pickle ball clinic. Uh if you would are interested in any of those, contact Lena and she can help sign you up. Council member Miller.

Okay. So, the monthly report uh for calls of service for the Tinytown Police Department in February was 409 and in March it was 490. So, we had a little bit of an uptick in that. And then adult arrest in February was seven and and 10 in March with two juvenile arrests in March. All right. All active officers completed one hour of ambush awareness and preparation training as um on gosh what am I thinking March geez March 2nd uh officer Schultz officer Sacadellis officer Dakota Myers and officer Darby completed Taser 10 instructor course through Axon. In completing this course all four officers are now certified Taser 10 instructors. The department plans on transitioning all officers to taser 10 in May 2026. Officer Betcher completed counseling and mentoring for supervisors field training officers. This two-day course was pres presented by benchm benchmark professional seminars and is located in College Park, Maryland. The course is designed specifically for officers and/or supervisors assigned the task of mentoring a new or underachieving employee or trainee. Officer Longo attended type three rifle school in Sykesville, Maryland. At the completion of this course, one student who has the highest accumulated score throughout the week is awarded with the top gun certificate. Officer Longo did a great job representing the Tonytown Police Department and won this award. Officer Longo is now certified to carry a rifle while on duty. Officer Beck completed leading high performing teams in Sykesville, Maryland. This course is designed to enable students to build and lead lead high performing teams in their position as manager or supervisor. Topics covered included the basics of team dynamics, the stages of team

formation, motivating teams, how to utilize individual strengths to bring out the best in all team members, and collaboration techniques. And that's it for the Tinytown Police Department. Council member me.

Oh my gosh. We uh we've had both a plan a plan commission and a comp plan um meeting since last meeting. Um at the comp plan meeting, we uh we went over the first half of the comprehensive plan turned in questions. A lot of them were punctuation and grammar uh for lack of a better term. So, uh, what the consultant was going to do was take those to heart, make the changes, and then we were going to pair down the list to the actual, uh, concerns with the with the comprehensive plan. Um, and then we had the planning commission meeting where we approved the water resources element that is now in front of us. We also reviewed and sent along our uh, recommendations for the road sections in the city. Um there were no new site plans uh presented and that was about it for planning commission. We've got uh our next uh comp plan is next Tuesday um where we'll be covering the second half of the comp plan with any questions which I imagine we'll have the same a about half and half of fixing the grammar slash formatting and then uh actual questions about the content. And then uh the following Monday we will be having our uh um our next uh planning commission meeting.

Sounds good. Council member McCarron was not able to make it tonight. However, he did not have anything to express for his leaison report and council member Kelly you current is not meeting yet. So um the only thing I will say is on economic development side we have started a program for a community gift card. Um we'll make a further announcement when we do like the official launch of it, but we have had businesses signing up for it. So if you're a business in Tony Town, um you know, be sure to check it out. Emails went out to all businesses that we have registered throughout the city. Um and again, businesses are free to sign up for that. And part of the America 250th has some of those community gift cards that go out as prizes. So, um, another thing that we're working on in that regards is a, um, basically a welcome to Tiny Town orient orientation packet for not only residents, but for businesses that'll have contacts, the various departments, um, some of the code things that might be relevant to residents and the businesses separately, and basically a business guide that'll be in that as well for the resident side. Um, we anticipate that to be a summer project and go out sometime probably August, Septemberish. That's kind of another project we're working on to kind of let people know more of the businesses that are in town and let not only businesses but also the residents know some of the code things that might be more important to them in their daily lives. So those are going to be two pretty cool projects we think will u be a resounding success when they do launch. So again, those are two big things we're working on and then the community gift card. So um anybody have anything before I go looking for an um hearing none? I am looking for a motion to adjournment.

Yeah. Looking for a motion to adjournment. So move. Second. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. You are adjourned. Trying to give you one to I took your your previous second. No, they were they weren't going to second it. I wanted to say nay. Oh.