Town Council - Regular Meeting

like to call to order the town council uh meeting for December 18th, 2025. Uh we'll start with the pledge of allegiance and Anthony, if you would lead us, I'd appreciate it. Well, the first thing we're going to do tonight is we uh have had the judging of the um with the brightest beacon on the bay. Uh some drive arounds and look all over town. And so um what we're going to do is we are going to uh honor the award winners. So, if you would hit the next slide, please. Thank you. The uh Brightest Beacon Orchestra of Lights. Um this is We don't have their names on here. Um but it is located in the Highlands, this house. And if you go in there and go around in the Highlands, you can't miss it because it's got enough light up there uh to light up the whole town. So, uh very uh very exciting about this. But we had a team that drove around and and judged. And so that was the first one. Um the second one, uh the second award goes to uh Mary and Bright on Hart Lane, which is in Baby Hills, if I recall correctly. And uh the third one is one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month Club, which I think is right next door. Uh so these houses are uh what's the name of that court? Heart lane. Heart lane. Yeah. Um the

next one uh is uh the brightest business. Uh and Christmas on the Chesapeake is what it is. And that's being awarded to the Rodriel. And if you haven't been down to the rod and reel to see what they've done, you need to go and see it. It's really spectacular. Um, the brightest community uh is the heart of Christmas o over in Bayiew Hills. This is the three houses together. Um, and and I remember from when I served before a decade ago and more uh that those three houses were always lit up quite well. Remember that, Eric?

Okay. So, sorry. All right. Next one uh is the uh the White Heart Chalet uh the Winter Wonderland Award. Um and I believe that's in the same area uh if I'm not mistaken. And the one following that um the most magical holiday home, uh Frost and Twinkle. And so, uh, the next one, the best use of holiday spirit, the light of, uh, Bethlehem. Um, and that one, I'm trying to remember where that one is. It's I'm I'm losing it. Sorry. I wish we had the addresses on here, uh, but I don't. Um, next is the Mary and Bright Masterpiece, All is Bright. and trying to see if I can recognize it. Huh? They won last year. Okay, they won last year.

Oh, they're in Richfield Station. I've got I'm getting a little help here, thankfully. Uh, next, the festive and fun favorite, Candy Cane Lane. Um, and then the uh the one the Santa's favorite shop is Santa and Friends uh shown on the right there. And I think that is it for the holiday lights. So, let's give all these folks a hand. A question about that.

Go ahead. Last year, um, there was a a list of the winners with addresses so that people could go around and see all the houses. Yeah, we need to put that online. Oh, it is. Okay. It just wasn't in my paperwork.

You can get a stock. Great job, Savannah. So, thank you. So, apparently on the website, you can find the addresses uh for all of these homes that won the awards and and it was fun uh riding around. We had a a whole car full of people and what's the gentleman that drove us around? What's the name of his van? Remember that? Twin beach. It's something like that. Yeah. Twin beach shuttle. And the gentleman volunteered his time in his van to drive. Uh we had what about eight of us in there. And so uh so anyway uh that was that was that. Um,

are any council member houses that any of us? Uh, I to Well, I don't know that, but uh Oh, are we not allowed to? I didn't I was told I last year I tried. You councilman last year? We residents. What does that mean? And and I will say Frost and Twinkle was yours. Yeah. You know, Frost and Twinkle, huh?

I did decorate though. And if the winners that I've just announced are here, uh if you would come forward, we have prizes for you. Who's going to uh Savannah has those? So, if you could come forward, those of you that are here, any any of the winners here? No, they're at home gardening their lights because you gave out all their addresses. All right. Well, let's move on then. Um, is there a motion to approve the agenda? Motion to approve. Second. Say I. I.

Opposed. The eyes have it. Um, this is the opportunity for public comment on any item that is on the agenda. If there's something on the agenda, uh, any member of the public can make a comment if they choose to at this particular time. Uh, hearing none, we'll move on. Uh, is there a motion to approve the minutes of the November 20th, 2025 public hearings? Motion to approve. Second. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. The eyes have it. A motion. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the November November 20th, 2025 town council meeting? Motion to approve. Second. All in favor, please say I.

I. Opposed? The eyes have it. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the November 20th uh 2025 closed session? Motion to approve. Second. All in favor say I. I opposed. The eyes have it. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the December 9th, 2025 work session? Motion to approve. Second. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. The eyes have it. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the December 9th, 2025 close session? Motion to approve. Second. All in favor say I. I.

Opposed. The eyes have it. So that just says we've had five meetings since we last met. Uh and so I I commend this council and this staff for working as hard as they're doing it. Okay. It is time for the uh town administrators report. Smeilia, thank you. The town administrator's report was submitted a part of the as a part of the agenda package and I am happy to answer any questions if there are question. It's on. Okay.

Um we had a conversation on Monday about the safe routes to school. Can you um summarize that for the public and council? So right now we are in um the final stages of trying to select the vet the the vendor that was selected by uh state highway administration. We received their pricing proposal and there were some a number of questions about the the amount that they were charging and so we were able to um negotiate the price down some because some of the things they were going to charge us for we have already have access to. That's an example of which would be survey results that we've have from previous surveys that were done. Um and so right now there are um a couple of pieces that our town engineer feels are inflated prices and so we're hoping to get better clarity on that so we can move forward with this uh a award. So um if you want specifics I can our town engineer is here and I can have him go into the details about that. But that's essentially where we are right now. Yeah, I can do it um during his report or Yeah, I'll ask him during his report for that. And and you're finalizing still on tomorrow your meeting? Yes, we we have a meeting set. It's on the calendar for tomorrow morning.

Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Hi, Silia. I guess I have a maybe a two-parter in a way. Okay. Um on our code enforcement, we have an operable vehicle. Okay. Uh last year over where I was where I live, um there was a few vehicles that were eventually determined that they weren't anybody's residence and we had a few of the snowstorms coming in. Um so I want to kind of go with the inoperable vehicle and then kind of sort of go into like our info tickets in a way.

Yeah. which I know I'm going to probably talk about that a lot, but um our info ticket, one of the things and I've submitted quite a few and uh I think the announcement that's in the in the um the newsletters there and uh it it's it's kind of like this transparency and this accountability for our town and and stuff. But one thing sometimes I've directed people here myself uh in uh with the like the rental subcommittee and it's been sort of almost like a rhetorical kind of uh statement or like okay it's pending. So maybe um if we could have like a tracker of some things. So when we have our cleared lists or if there's like x amount of days or so long to where they respond and stuff like that. Um I know that we have all the different categories and stuff like that. So maybe in the report we can say we had x amount of general things. So if there's like a redundant um information that people are putting complaints in

and then then that where that would go with the vehicle is like hey whose vehicle is this? And they send a an info tag in. Right? because it's really inconvenience when the snow comes, we get all the plow, everybody tries to move when then you have these two vehicles that nobody knows whose they are. So,

so uh on page two, there's a general report of the Zenesk tickets and how quickly we respond to them as well as uh the categories that the requests come in. And so, if there are printing a full report of 199 tickets will probably be a long report. Um, but we could talk about how to better publicize if there's a question about like, hey, code enforcement has looked at this was reported as an issue in through info at code enforcement looked into it, but no one's claiming this property. In those instances, we can absolutely include it within the town administrator report, but preemptively just including all of the unresolved tickets in the town administrative report would likely make it very long. And I don't know that that's the best way to resolve that.

No, no. I was more so um more one just kind of talking in a way to kind of inform people that this is a new system in the system where everybody's kind of like, hey, I go unheard. You know that we've put a lot of work in this. I'm going to give Wendy a shout out in the VC that we had set up so we get our auto replies the status change and so it is a newer system that we're putting in place and it and we're still working out what's the best approach. So if people have suggestions on it, yeah, we'll also take that there. So can email info at Yeah, of course. Of course. But that's it. So thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments for the town administrator regarding the report? Okay. Thank you, Simon. All right. Town treasurer's report. Thank you. Good evening. I submitted a copy of my report should be your packets. I don't have anything else to add at this time. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer those. Council, any questions for the treasurer? I just have a question about the um the Victor Stanley $41,000. Are we who are we getting recouped for that? Uh yes, that will be it reimbursed from insurance. Okay.

Through an insurance claim. And so you're the person that's following up on that, the reimbursement. Okay. Thank you. Regarding that, and I don't know if you're the right person to ask, uh that seems to be dragging on forever. Um, do we have any update on when Victor Stanley is going to be producing the replacement benches? Um, we've actually received them and taken delivery of them. Jay has them, I assume, in the public works uh shop. That's good news. And uh I'm not sure what the what he's waiting on to I'm assuming he's waiting for better weather. Yeah, we do have them delivered. Yeah.

Well, that's good. It's good to I because I hadn't heard that we had received them. So, I appreciate that information. Okay, thank you. Any other questions for the treasurer? All right, public works report. Jay's on vacation. Do we have anything from public works? We have a written report, don't we? We do. Uh, you all have the written report. Any questions on or comments on that written report? You can direct them to Jay when he get Yeah. or you could raise it now. And I just had the question about the benches, but you already answered it. We're getting ahead of ourselves.

I was just going to ask him if there's any updates on IQ Fiber, but I'll I'll get with him when he gets back.

Sorry about the phone call there. my orthopedic disaster. Um, all right. Nothing else on public works. Let's move forward. Sorry for the interruption. All right. Water reclamation treatment plant report. Josh, anything you want to bring to our attention that

I'll just uh give a little bit of overview on a few topics on here. Um, I do have a clarification on the first page. I noticed I had an omission of in the fifth paragraph down at the bottom. Uh it said water reclamation treatment plants staff completed seasonal inspections of the plant building that was supposed to be plant building unit heaters. Uh we've completed work on three of them. The part ones where we needed parts. Uh one of them we need a bracket to be able to replace that uh replace the heater and another one we need an electrician to do an assessment as we have a issue with the power being supplied to it. Uh where we've lost one of the legs on the three-phase power coming in. Um the aerration blower, we assessed that blower with uh public works to try and see if they could sorted out a way to be able to pull that motor. Um looking at that, we were coming to determination that we'd have to do a little bit of extra work on there. I got a quote from DSI for the work for $1,440. um Excelsier blower, which is the ones that were going to do the uh laser alignment. Their work would have been approximately 1,100 for the labor to remove and replace, but they also would have need an electrician to do the work. Uh quote from electrician for unwiring and rewiring was about $1,600. And that would have been the same for Excelsier to do the work or us with public works. Uh we decided to go with DSI. We're able to get that work completed yesterday. uh they pulled it, replaced it with our spare motor, test it, everything should be in order. We can reach out to Excelsier to have the alignment work done and get be able to get that blower back in service. Um we have Zero Draft Electrical set up for the site light replacement project to start on December or January 26th. Uh they figured it's going to take them about a week to get all that work done to replace all the sight lights. Um,

we received a response from Long Fence regarding the damage to the gate from the contractor. Um, we are looking at mid to late January for the replacement of that gate. Um, we had North Beach uh town council and mayor do a uh tour of the plant this afternoon. uh they wanted to go in there as partners with us to see just the facility, get some information about projects we have going on and everything seemed to go pretty well with that that they were pretty satisfied with what they were able to see. Uh Blue Earth Labs we're working with to do our last filter. We have that scheduled filter cleaning that's scheduled for the week of January 12th. That will finalize that project that we have had going on. We have Sherwood Logan working on startup of our last return activated sludge pump. They are coming back on Monday to attempt to finalize the startup programming for the gateway that controls that pump. Uh we have no update on the project from IMAX for the PLC replacement. Um DSI completed the uh installation of the return activated sludge pump number two. Their original proposal was $11,891 for the work. Uh following completion, it was only $6,300 for the work. So they their proposal was estimating for any eventuality and hoping to come in a little bit lower on the project. They were able to installation or removal of the existing pump and installation of the new pump actually went pretty smoothly for them.

Right. And we have a RFP out for our lab analysis. The pre-bid conference is on Monday. We're going to be doing that virtually. And then the bid closure is I think first second week of January. And that's all I have. Anybody has any questions? Any questions? Hey, Josh. Yes, sir. Uh couple um one, your quarterly partner meetings next month, correct? I believe so. Yes. And then we'll touch base on that with the Highlands and stuff. Uh, we'll be following up with them. That has been a topic.

Of course. Of course. Uh, and then I would actually I don't think I was with the tour last year, so I wouldn't mind doing a tour there. And then we could probably talk about some of the lockout tagout procedures and different things like that. Yep. Well, maybe what I'm used to seeing and uh and how can how can like some of the stuff I've seen in working in their trades, how could maybe work in the facility. So, all right. Appreciate.

And it's a shame we didn't think about the fact that you hadn't been on the tour before and could have could have could have gone today if you had had time. I wish we had thought of it, but can't change that. So, you might you might get your own private guided tour by the superintendent. Thank you, sir. Hey, I've got one question. Yeah, sure. Go ahead. Hey, Josh. Um, you included these uh graphs at the end of this packet. Yes.

Um, flows and force main flow. Can you touch on uh what we're looking at here and why they're included? Uh, I include those because there had been some inquiry regarding how we're tracking those when we had the rain events. So, I figured I would put the graphs in there showing the data that we collected for those events. Um, these were for a rain event from November 9th to November 10th. Uh, what the graph is showing is the average hourly flows for each of the uh, flow sources from the partners. uh Anterono County. Uh we have the one flow meter from North Beach and Calvert which is up at First Street. Uh the Ches Peak Beach Gravity and then the three Chesapeake Beach pump stations uh Ches Village, uh Mirs Avenue and Richfield Station. And then there's also a graphing of the uh tidal levels. uh use that just in case uh so I can see between rain flow rainfall or tidal level whether there could be some correlation between increases and flows. Uh looking at this you can see when the rain started at approximately 10:00 was when the more intense rainfall was occurring. Uh you can see a spike in some of the rain or the uh flow rates uh particularly the flow from North Beach and Calvert and a not quite as prominent one from Anaonda County. Uh the one from Anaonda isn't as prominent because their flow rates are not as high. They're only 200 gallons a minute versus uh uh North Beach being up to 800 gallons a minute. And that's what the second graph is is just breaking it down to just the force main flows and removing those high gravity flows. And in that case, you can see the significant spike for an county during that rain event.

Thank you. Thanks for providing the kind of information. It's very informative. Any any other questions for Josh? Um just a question. you went through a lot of repairs that you did this month and uh it sounded like they were like low low dollar values, pretty low dollar values. Um were all of these expenses budgeted? The repairs um they would have all all would have come out of our repair and maintenance project or repair and maintenance line item.

So they're ones that we set a set amount of or set amount of funds aside for this kind of work. Uh these repairs are not something we can necessarily predict. They're going to be for ones that pop up that we weren't aware of or just occur as a normal course of what we do. Yeah, that happens. And would you say you're pretty much on budget then still regardless of these repairs or do you know? I'd say we're right about where we would expect to be. Yes, we should be fine for the year at this point. Okay. But again, you can't account for Murphy.

No, I I do understand that. I have several going on in my own house. Um, do you have any updates on the Anna Rundle uh like the smoke testing and all that stuff? Uh, I haven't heard anything back from them. I did send them over some of this flow data, just their data relating to rainfall and title, just for their own information. uh they said they would forward along to the team that was working on that but I haven't had any information feedback from them. Uh I expect to get some information when we have the partners meeting next month. All right. Thanks. Any other questions for Josh?

Thank you Josh. Appreciate your hard work. Uh next we have the town engineers report. Wayne, you have my report. If any questions I will add uh for this was prepared a week ago. So for SRTS we did meet Monday uh to review their scope of their proposal. As Sama said, we did identify some items that were not necessary. Rossi is going back to take those items out of their proposal and come back with a number. Um and to clarify what Similia was saying about some um we thought were high prices, their subcontractor prices, which we don't have line item bids for and are not necessarily part of their open-end project u budget that they have for the state was the line share of the proposal. Um so we are working on um looking at alternate methods to provide those services. The town has the ability to do that. Um just so you're aware, there are two methods of contracting for a state highway administration. We are going down the one path which is an open-end contract. So state has already bid a contract to several uh consultants. Rossi was one of the successful biders. Uh we had an option to go down that path and try to use that that process if we choose to if it made sense. That's the path path we're we're heading down. It's an exped expedited bid process. Uh if we don't accept Rossy's bid, there is another another option. We can go out to bid for general bidding. It doesn't have to be this company. So that's where we are. Uh we are meeting tomorrow to see what Rossy has come up with and discuss what I've found on a couple items to date and we'll give you an update.

And the amount of money that you are suggesting is inflated is roughly how much? So, the state has a requirement that they can't award a contract to a consultant that has a price that is more than 10% higher than the construction cost estimate or sorry, the design cost estimate. I'd really rather not give you exact numbers since we're still in negotiations, but they're more than 10% higher than than the estimate.

Okay. Um to be continued. Um, I hope you bring us all the information for every route that you are recommending because everybody's waited for a long time for this uh project to be underway and um I think if state highway administration wants to own it um let them. But you'll bring back the information and uh we'll review it. And I think Sama, you said it will come up for a vote, correct?

It will be on the work session agenda for January for you all to discuss the things that we're able to discuss in open session. And if you based on that information and based on how the meeting goes tomorrow, there is an opportunity to vote how you want to move forward. But we have to get the numbers first before I can fully flesh out what that's going to look like. I hope it does come up for a vote and not another story. So I don't I haven't given any other stories than what I have in my report. So I but I understand that this has been going on for years and so that comment is probably more so directly that what has happened in the past. Absolutely.

So I I receive it as such. Um but yes, we're we're planning on having a meeting tomorrow and we will bring you information once we have it. I appreciate everybody's work. Thank you. Lane, uh the for Kellum's Field, what's the what's the permit um that you mentioned for that? Uh there was a permit which we had to obtain from Calvert County, a Calvert County grading permit to install the storm drain pipes across the field and also install the top lot.

As a part of that work, you're required to submit asbuilt plans. Basically, how the what changed from the what they permitted to what is built that goes to Cowart County. They then review those plans and provide back to us comments of they're okay or they have concerns. We're waiting for the review. Gotcha. Thanks. Other questions for the engineer.

Hey Wayne. Uh, you know, Smeilia mentioned like the past and stuff like that and I just wanted to take the opportunity, you know, to uh thank you for the diligence and the and the work and, you know, through any type of endeavor, you kind of can tell somebody and uh, appreciate the the work and that you put in to the projects at hand. Welcome. Thank you. I know I bring the Seagate up and we're not going to visit that. Uh I guess the B Street rightway. Um do we have an address on that? What's the I can get that for you.

Okay. I think it's 5315. U but we completed that work. There was a question of where the property line was and some of the town entities may be on private property. We did a survey. We did an exhibit and there was supposed to be a a deed of transfer which I don't know if it has occurred yet but our port our portion is done. Okay. And then uh the master plan was commons. Um I like seeing that on there. I'll uh appreciate it. You have a happy holidays. You're welcome. Thank you. Anybody else? Can I follow up on the master plan? Um, Kellum,

and this is really a question for Councilman Schules. Um, when will council get to uh provide some input on that? So, it's with the engineer right now to give us a design for all of us to take a look at. So, when he's done with it, he'll present to council, but you can always give input.

Well, I mean, I I assume that you know what is with Wayne, but I don't. exactly what was presented to the entire council uh right before we went to the engineer. So there's been no changes. It's what was on the diagram and then the idea is to take it's basically a feasibility of what is this realistic or not and then it'll be brought back to the council to say yes this this makes sense here makes sense there and then we can adjust uh as is but it's the it's just the slide that was presented a few uh few sessions ago. Okay. Yep. I remember it. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else the engineer? Okay, let's move on. Calbert County Sheriff's Office. Good evening, sir.

Good evening, sir. Everyone received a copy of the report? Yeah. I hear I say, yeah.

Oh. Um, so November 2025, the Cavern County Sheriff's Office responded to approximately 224 calls for service within Chesapeake Beach. this a couple calls down from what we handled in October. Uh during that we had 782 self-initiated um calls for service, whether that be patrol checks, traffic stops, uh follow-ups for investigations we're conducting. Of the 224 calls, some of note um we had a fraud from a residence on Canon Kate Court in Ches Peak Village. Uh someone tried to open fraudulent accounts in a young lady's name. Thankfully, they did not go through. Um, so she was not out anything, but that was uh report was taken that was handled by her bank. Um, I'm sure everyone read about the traitor's incident with the fraud. That's being handled by our criminal investigation bureau, but I did get a little bit of information from them just so I could answer any questions if you all had any later on. Um, they have two suspects in that. The investigation is ongoing so I can't speak about it too much. Just the basics that I have right now. um had a theft at the CVS uh in speaking with our detectives, there was a similar incident at the CVS in Dunkerk. So, they think the two are related by the same group of people. So, that is ongoing. Um had several emergency petitions. We had uh several DUI arrests. A couple of those included CDS. One was uh driver was placed under arrest for driving under the influence when he was transported down to the detention center. A further search revealed he had narcotics on his person. Another one was in the Fishing Creek subdivision that was a uh DUI and that subject was found to have CDS paraphernalia on him as well. um handled several assaults, uh

violation of expartes, warrant service, and we had a another telephone misuse from our young lady at Silverton Lane. So, um that's all I have. Um there any questions from the council? Just CV asked, "What are they actually taking?" They're they're literally going in and taking anything that's not locked up. That's why you see a lot of them uh in the areas that surround us. Everything's under lock and key. I don't know if you've noticed. I guess is it like a deodorant ring or something that's happening right now? A lot of cosmetics, toiletries, things like that. And surprisingly, when they take that stuff, it adds up quick. See, like the in particular here was a value of $2,300 all in one bag.

Yep. Detergent. Fail swoop. They came in and took that much. So, but it adds up quickly. Expensive detergent. the two perpetrators of the theft ated uh traders, are they still in custody? I cannot speak to that. I'm not sure if they are or not. I know they were taken into custody and uh charged. Um but the investigation is ongoing. Thank you. Do you know if they do you know if the money uh was recovered? I do not. That's a lot of money. I read the article on Bayonet. It's pretty crazy. Yeah. lot of fraudulent tickets. But any other question? Good evening, Sergeant.

Yep. Um, you know, it's always so nice to see town and holiday decorated, but within the holidays, there's additional stress and stuff like that. Uh just everybody approaches holidays and this season differently and um and uh you guys are looking and kind of I guess approaching people in a in a different way looking out for that. I think there's um different emotions and different uh different items at hand just uh you know that so that thank you. I was in a giving mood today. I think I wrote only warnings. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

You have a couple people going back to different houses and just different domestic and just interpersonal kind of things and stuff like that. You know, it's uh it's just great time of year, but it's also stressful time of year. We definitely see a rise in certain calls for service during this time of year. Yes, sir. Anything else, council? I will be here till end. If I don't get to speak to any of you, have a merry Christmas. Same to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next, uh, North Beach Volunteer Fire Department.

Yeah. Good evening and, uh, greetings from Chief Stanton, President G for the record. Scott Kaiser. I'm the vice president. Um, assume everybody received the statistical report that was sent out. Yep. Uh if you have any questions, be happy to answer those. Uh just want a couple shout outs real quick. Thank you so much to public works for reinstalling or moving the hydrant. Uh did a great job. It looks wonderful. It's going to uh be very beneficial to us. Uh we're real busy with uh this month we're doing we did all the Santa runs. We're able to hit most of the neighborhoods, hit most of the streets. Seemed pretty successful. Uh there is an event at the firehouse on Sunday. It's cookies with Santa where they do pictures with Santa, Mrs. Claus and a Grinch. Have some cookies and some juices and cocoa and that kind of stuff. I believe it's from 10 to 12 something like that. It's uh free. Donations are always accepted at the place. uh our department did have the our annual elections. So there were a few changes with our leadership but most of the uh main players are still remaining in place still being the same. Everything will be released. All the new officers will be named on social media here in the next week or so. Uh we're quickly approaching 2026 which is our 100th anniversary.

So you're going to be doing a lot of stuff over the next year. a parade, a big banquet. Uh we're going to have a carnival this year. There'll be a lot of different events on social media. Uh Chief Tippet has spent a lot of time tracking down and interviewing some of the uh original members and their families and actually doing sitdown interviews with them. So, a lot of that will be played on our social media channels. So, keep an eye out for that. And other than that, if anybody has any questions,

yeah, I'd like to remind people that they still have some Christmas trees there. So, anybody that don't have any Christmas tree, there's still a few left.

We have a few, very few. Oh, and I did I did want to bring up one thing and and hopefully this reaches out that uh this is the time of the year where we're seeing a lot of like CO emergencies, carbon monoxide emergencies. And we just had an incident the other day where somebody's uh detectors kept going off and kept going off and you kind of get numb to it almost like smoke detectors. And smoke detectors is, you know, one thing because you see the smoke, you smell the smoke. These things do go bad, but carbon monoxide, you don't see, you don't you don't, you know, know it's there until it's too late. And we got a call and they said, "Hey, my detector's been going off since last night. Can you guys I think something's faulty. Can you guys come look at the detector?" We went in with our meters and uh just to give you an idea, at 35 parts per million is where we get everybody out. We get out, we start breathing our own air. Uh we went into this house. It uh the alarm started immediately going off. We were at 80 parts per million on the one floor. Uh down in the basement where the wood stove was, which was the fault. Uh the meter was running up at like 285 parts per million. 400 is lethal.

Um very very lucky, very fortunate. So, if anybody has their meters going off and they just keep ringing and ringing, call us. Please. Everybody feels like they're inconveniencing us. But please let us come by, at least run the meters through the house. If we're not getting a reading, then we know it's a faulty detector. We'll try and help you find somebody to do that. But a lot of the times we go in these houses and we we are getting readings. So, we want to we don't want to have people not wake up in the morning. So is that um please come call us. That caused by like a clogged chimney or

the the CO is is incomplete combustion and it puts it out. And I guess with the wood stove that we dealt with the other day, it was smoldering. There were logs in there smoldering and the flu pipe wasn't venting well enough. So it was venting the CO into the house. So, anything and a lot of people think, well, if I don't have a fireplace or I don't have this, even with electric appliances, you can get stuff like that. With dryers, you can get lint that is on the verge of catching on fire, but it's not quite there yet. So, you don't have a fire, but you can have CO coming out. Do you do you think it would be beneficial to work with the town to have like a small marketing thing or newsletter to go out to people to just to have things to look out for or maybe to update their um their hardware in the house maybe get digital CO2 things or any do you think it'd be be beneficial to revisit it and put another word out to people? I would I know our department is working on on putting together a post for social media

to I mean that's the way of the world I guess nowadays with everybody with social media and we are trying to put something out to remind them to uh you know like I say a lot of a lot of people feel that you know since we're volunteers and they're inconveniencing us by calling us. No, that's why we're there. We don't mind. We will come out. We you know we want to prevent that. So yeah, anything we can do that's get the word out would be great. I think it'd be wise if we partnered in some way with trying to get that word out to folks just to make sure we get it as spread out as much as possible. Maybe even talk to North Beach, too. We save a life. Yes, absolutely.

I just want to thank you for coming out on the fire truck and the Grinch and everything. My kids love running out there when they come by. It's always a good time. It's fun. Our members enjoy it, too. So, it's it's a good time. Gets us in the Christmas spirit. Yeah, it's been it's all the kids love it. Yeah, it's great. And it's been uh it's been a nice season so far. So, and you we appreciate everything that you all are doing. It was cold that night, though. I was out there. Yeah.

And the uh the poor uh wrench and uh Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus having a ride outside. And I I was I was driving a nice warm fire truck we had to heat on. Uh, but yeah, I know I know where they're coming from. Um, as far as the fundraisers go, are both of the fundraisers that are at local restaurants, are they both passed or

Yes. Yes. Uh, we did one We did the one at Chipotle and then we did the one for Mod Pizza. We raised about $300, which you know doesn't sound like a lot, but for like I was telling our cadets, I said this isn't, you know, us having to do any work. This is just getting the word out and we're getting a free check. So, oh, we are going to look at doing one at Mexico and Leos and as the new year starts.

I just want to make sure you're raising money for a new ambulance. Is that correct? So, the fundraisers were for the cadet program. There are there is a fundraising group out in the community that our ladies auxiliary set up to do general fundraising and I believe they have stopped them because we were getting quite a few complaints. Well, I got two coming to my house today. I just want to make sure it was legit. They're still out there. Oh, yeah. They came to our house today, too. They had a lot of money, so How much? How much did y'all give? Huh? How much did y'all give? Since you want to talk about they came to your house, what they what y'all give? $40.

$40. Okay. That's all the money. I didn't give anything. You heard that, right? I still donated because they said North North Beach Fire Department. So, we're uh we are purchasing a new ambulance. The the fundraising goes into a general fund, a general account. Um, so everything, you know, it's not specifically earmarked for the ambulance, although they've been telling them that. They were not supposed to be okay.

Telling them that. Um, and some of their tactics, from what we've heard, were a little aggressive. So, we uh we let the lady's auxiliary know, and she, as of last week, was going to put an end to it. So, okay. I'll follow up on that. this evening to see uh what happened. I didn't want to get him in trouble, but so I thought everything was okay.

Reason I chimed in is because um they I mean they did come to my house and they represented it as North Beach Fire Department. So they didn't say they were from ladies. They didn't say any of that. They said they were North Beach Fire Department and then they had a tire that matched. So uh you know to me it was of course I'm going to donate to it. If it's a something that's not supposed to be happening then like hey

and that's what concerns me a little bit is because people will go out and we have a master list at the firehouse of the person the people's names there's about six or seven of them and actually the vehicles they drive. So when people call in we can say yes they are legit or no. Um, we've had quite a few people come through the firehouse and say, "Hey, we want to donate, but we weren't really sure, especially with some of the mannerisms they were presenting to us, so we're bringing you the check." Yeah, they they were polite and professional when they came to our house, but I would I just again I just saw checks and money, so of course it's it would just raise concern because you said they're not affiliated when they said they were. So,

well, they're a they are a professional fundraising group that hired to to go out and beat the streets for us. They hired guns. Yeah. Yeah. I was visited by a very pleasant male, so I wasn't visited by these ladies. Um, but do you do anything with um We won't use our picture. My kids are all at school. Um, but is there do you know of anybody that collects those little slips for anybody that needs a picture because there might be some people that can't afford a photo or do you guys get overwhelmed on that day anyways?

No. Um, we I don't know of anybody in need of them. That was another thing that So, when they came and they did the fundraising, they did offer the portraits. Yeah. Because that was another problem. They weren't offering those to some of the people that were coming to the houses. But no, we don't know of anybody. But I can I can check with them and if there is some kind of program where somebody wants to donate their pictures, I'm sure see I'll I'll I'll let them know and they'll I was just curious if I could pass it to somebody who could use it. So um I I think the majority of those that are handed out aren't used because it's not very busy when they do set up the pictures.

I have a one of those pictures in my wallet from about 17 years ago. Okay. Uh of my whole family, my all my nieces and nephews and my kids. So, we donate every year. Thank you. We appreciate it. Crazy. Thank you very much. Happy holidays, everybody. Yes. Same.

Right. Next, uh we have the mayor's report. Um, I do want to mention that it's been just about a month ago that the fire at uh, Courtyards took place. I see several of the residents are here, not from that building. Um, and um, the last that I heard was uh, all but three of the families uh, that were uh, made homeless by the fire have been relocated uh, by the property management company, I think. Um, and of those three uh families that are still without housing, the rod and reel continues to support those uh three families with a place to stay. So, uh, I for one I'm very, uh, grateful to the Rod and Reel for stepping up and and helping the community the way they did because they took they took a almost all of them in right at the beginning and now it's down to uh they they have three of them. So, uh, then, uh, at this point we have some slides to look at. And this was, uh, some light, you know, with regard to our Christmas lighting and so forth. And, um, as you look, the the picture on the left, obvious. Uh, the one in the center is, uh, if you just turn around, it's looking at the building from outside, looking in. Uh and then and then the new uh crab pot tree which is uh you can see right through the window over here. Um so this was the night of Santa arriving here. And so that was uh it was a whole lot of fun. Um and uh you can see Santa in the center there and uh the

Grinch is on the right. And uh it's it was it was just a fun evening. You wanted to say something, John? I said that's Savannah and her is that your relative Savannah? Okay. And this was the parade uh the Christmas parade. And there's my wife with another guy with a white beard. I I I hadn't hadn't seen that before.

Oh, okay. And then uh on the right you've got uh me riding in the parade. And that is my oldest daughter, Michelle, who teaches at Northern High School. has been there for 22 years driving the car. So, um it's been quite a week and this was just the other day when the CL sales were here. This was coming up in the turn around the corner and that was amazing how many slide sales in the Middle East and they turned out a lot of people in the Middle East to see the CL tales. It was a ton of fun and that is uh the shortest mayor's report I think I've done this year. Wow. Wow. Now, how you mean about short? That was awesome, man.

Thank you. Thank you. Well, we have one more thing to talk about. We have the uh now mention it, the door decorating contest. So we um what the basics like we looked at all of the doors at the classrooms in each elementary school and we saw my wife and artic went and they they really go all out three. What's the next So, that was uh that was just really uh great fun to uh to participate in the door decorating contest and we're calculating our results and so forth because there was a lot to choose from and a lot of creativity went into it. And that is the end of the mayor's report. Uh next we go into resolutions and ordinances. We're going to introduce ordinance 0-25-9, an ordinance of the town council, Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, amending the annual budget for the general fund of

the town of Chesake Beach for the fiscal year July 1, 2025 to June 30th, 2026 to allocate uh funding for and expenditure of funds for additional costs for holiday lighting. And we'll have a public hearing uh on this uh uh about five or 10 minute about 10 minutes ahead of the next scheduled town council meeting in January. Um we don't really want to do we want to say anything about this now? I mean we could I well the one thing that we'll say is we had a visit from Moscow Design who provides us with most of the fixtures and everything the the uh the lights uh in the town and the features and um the and Joel Moscow was here himself. Uh and what what happens is their business uh peaks, you know, in the summer and the fall and in January it turns into nothing. So that what they do is they offer huge discounts on items that you purchase in the first quarter of the coming calendar year because their business slows down. So, this is an opportunity for us to make an investment and and get more bang for our buck uh for Christmas amenities. So, that's what we're doing. That's what we're going to propose to do and we'll we'll talk about that uh next month.

Um it might not be a bad idea to take a little mental note of that for next budget cycle that we don't have to do amendment, you know, and something. So, right. and and that's that's what this uh is this ordinance is about. Yeah. But for next year already it's I think it's a very smart you noted it so that we can plan for it next year. Thank you. Thank you. And and um you know understanding that we're just now finishing our first year and so uh we're learning we're we're learning or relearning as we go along but uh we didn't have the contact with Moscow until just recently. So,

and we were able to get a um have Windmill Farms, who does our lighting displays, go and itemize all of our displays to figure out which things need to be replaced or updated so that when we do the budgeting uh in February when we start doing the budgeting, we're able to incorporate that into the the budget figures. Just trying to get ahead of the game. Yeah. And to serve the citizens. Yeah. I actually looked at the website after we had talked about it and stuff like that at the Mazda. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's a Well, if you want to spend money, you can do it there. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's a lot easier to spend it less of it in January like this. It's a it's a smart move.

And if I recall correctly, they're located in North Carolina. Yeah. So, anyway, um and it's nice to think about things like that going forward. All right, let's go down to um reports of officers, boards, and committees, planning and zoning commission. I see that Sarah's not here, but is there any any report? No report. Board of appeals. No report. No hearing was held. Uh Seabox, the Oyster Cultivation Society. Is there anybody has anything on that? No report. Economic development.

Yes. Uh we have our first uh I have a report here and we are looking to have our first uh subcommittee meeting for the rental on Thursday, January 15th, 2026 uh 4:30 p.m. at town hall. It is uh day before uh same day as the uh next town council meeting. So, um, again, we're directing to anybody that wants to, uh, get any comments to, uh, info at chesbe beachmd.gov and putting the subject line rental. Um, appreciate anybody take a few minutes put some stuff together and help make a policy reflects our town. Thanks.

Thanks, Dan. Uh, election committee. Uh yeah, I need to have something for that. I I understand. So Randy is our chairman, but he's not here. Oh, okay. Is here. Uh Chris is here. Would you like to talk or you want me to do it?

Okay. Um we did meet in December and um the one thing that stood out is that we really need to put a call out for uh volunteers for not just we we lost a we lost a committee member and we also lost a board of elections member and uh the board of elections um is supposed to be made up of three volunteers and we're down to one. Uh we we we do have an application in uh but we're still looking for another person at least one more person for the uh board of educa or board of elections and um we could use another person on the committee also if anyone's interested. Um but we'll be probably not meeting in January. Um uh we've we've gone over quite a bit um since we've started and um one thing we're definitely going to be have our eye on is uh North Beach's election that is coming up.

Yeah. Um they're going to be doing some things there that haven't been done before and we're very interested to see how that all goes and that will be informative to the committee. And do we have a good collaboration with North Beach on this regard? Yes, that's great. I mean, because the law changed recently that affects us for the next election, but it's affecting them for their next election.

Yeah, I think the committee should probably we we should probably work with uh work with uh Sumeilia and um give some type of report at a work session. We've got enough stuff that we've talked about that an informative session to just kind of let the council know where we are and what we've looked at might be in order. And and I I fully agree with that. I've had many conversations with Randy uh as as he's navigating through the changes in state law that are changing how we conduct our elections. So, uh I think it would be great if we could bring the council up to speed. Sure.

And so the only thing I would add is that if you are interested in being an appointed member of the election uh board, please um submit your application between now and the new year because we'll start to review applications uh in January for appointment.

Thank you. Any other questions with regard to election? Okay, green team, we have a report submitted. Uh any questions or comments on that? All right, let's move along. Revitalization, Jamie. Uh yeah, so no report really. It's just we're we're waiting to see the the results of the work that Wayne's team is doing. So again, thanks thanks for taking that on. Um and then again, we'll bring it here. Uh I do I will put it um for us to be aware that whatever plans we decide to go with. You know, there's there's money that we put into the budget in 2026. So, uh there's aspects of this plan I'm sure we will agree on. And then I'm sure there's aspects that we're going to want to tweak a little bit, but wherever we do agree, I'll probably propose something to uh amend the budget to leverage the funding that's available so we're not um not wasting time and and losing what's already in there. So, uh, and then based off of that, I will work the rest in the next budgeting cycle. So, uh, we'll have a more detailed report once we get the results and start getting feedback from the council and the the committee.

Okay. Thank you very much, Jamie. Uh, the Twin Beach Community Health Coalition, Anthony. Hey. Um, yeah, I got a couple of things I'm going summarize a bit and um, let us you can read through if you get a chance, but I'll just just to wrap it up for you. Uh, first thing is the completion of the community opioid awareness mural over at Kellfield. Um, it is complete and open to the public. uh mirrorless Katie Brinkley um did a great job and uh people are seeing it as a um symbol for remembrance and resilience and hope. Um, what we're going to do or what we're planning to do is be ready for next year for a one-year anniversary of it where we have something on our new website where we have the names that are uh within the mural where they can be uh memorialized and also a kind of behind the scenes making of the mural and all that went into it, including the time lapse of the artwork that was done. Um, on November 5th of last month, in response to delayed food stamp services, we were able to give out uh 250 bags of foods to area residents and that was made possible uh with collaboration of the Beach Buccaneers, Community Harvest Network, that's in Hunger and Cal County, Rod and Real Resort, fellow council members, Savannah Richard Center staff, and some community volunteers who came out that day. Um, it was really good for the community. Uh, really appreciate everybody pitching in. We got it together within the week after finding out that the food stamps were going to be delayed. Um, and we got rid of every bag and bushels of bananas and and snacks and everything. That was a really positive thing for us to do as a town. In 2026, we're going to have a positive messages utility box project. I've been working with Jay to identify them. Uh we now have uh councilwoman Crosby from North Beach who's going to

be joining our coalition to have us have a partner on the other side where we can do things together. We're looking at the utility boxes. We're going to have um affirmative messaging within the art for the utility boxes that'll be out in the community. So we are working on that now so that we can be able to have something like that out and going next next year. Uh other than that, on August 8th of next year, we're going to have the Uplift Calbertt Wellness Festival. Um the planning is underway. It's a physical and mental wellness uh event uh that has exercise group uh demonstrations, interactive presenter tables, community centered obstacle course competition uh designed to raise fund for funds for veterans, mental health nonprofits, uh aiming to unite residents, service organizations, and wellness professionals. And last night I was hanging out with the mayor at the Legion and met with them to tell them about this and they seem like they're pretty on board to be able to handle registration for the American Ninja style uh competitions we're going to have out there to raise money for nonprofit for the veterans. And other than that, I wanted to say one special thing about Les King um who came to me about the mural completion that we did. He uh let me know that the maple tree out there, he put purple lights on uh because he was inspired by the mural to do something for opioid awareness. What I was not aware of was that he was going to put my name on the tree. And not until Savannah, who was laughing at me, showed me that the tree was dedicated to my name. And I was like, well, people going to think I had an opioid addiction. But but um it was very earnest, very sincere and a wonderful thing to do. It shows the ripple effect of going out in the

community and doing things for the community. So with that being said, what Les did is an awesome thing. And I would love to dedicate uh uh Les's work to anybody who has dealt with the aftermath of opioid addiction and or overdose. Uh, my mother wants me to take a picture with the tree, but I'm not taking the picture with that tree unless Les is with me because he is just as much a progenitor of that happening as well as everybody else in the coalition and everybody who has been supporting us so far with the mission that we have uh here in the town and in the county uh to combat opioid uh abuse and overdose. And uh that's it for me. I'll see y'all next year. I uh I salute you for all the work that you're doing in this regard and if you need help with less, I have some leverage.

Thank you very much, sir. I would appreciate that leverage or we can get the folks that's out there knocking on doors for the fire department because if I can team up with them, I can get anything done, right? Yeah. I mean, your pictures and money. Anthony, I have to say that means a lot working alongside a councilman like you. Um when you organized and put the food drive together, you know, being in service and doing stuff like that. Thank you. This is now I gota pay you now.

But I appreciate it though. I appreciate it everybody who came out. Um, and the stuff that we're doing is is great as team building and it's good for the community and people in the community. If you want to volunteer, if you want to be there, be a part of those things, please do because I mean, we can just sit up here and do nothing or we can do stuff together. So, it was up to you. Are we uh are we not doing the 5K in the spring? Uh the 5K, you would have to ask Savannah. I think that's something that's outside of us. Okay. So really, we're looking at the um we're going to kind of compartmentalize things that we continually do, but we're not going to go against anything that's already in place.

No problem. All right. Thank you. Thank you for your report. Thank you. Right. Next, the walkability committee. I offered a nice short report this time uh for everybody. That's my Christmas present. Well, thank you and merry Christmas to you, too. Yeah. So, um, we're doing long-term planning now for the next couple meetings and following up on, uh, 2025 projects. So, um, that's all I have to say right now. Great. Next, next time we have an opportunity for one-on-one, I'd like to get brought up to speed on what you have in mind going forward. Okay. Appreciate that. Waterproof committee.

Um, yeah, not much besides what I sent out in the report. We didn't meet tonight. Um, but Marilyn was able to attend the National Water Park Conference in uh, Florida. So, that was pretty cool for her her to be able to see all the different vendors and um, get some ideas for the new water park. But, yeah, that's it. All right. Any any questions for John? Thank you for that. All right. Next, we go to unfinished unfinished business. We don't really have anything listed on them. So, and under new business, we have nothing listed. Uh, so it is now time for I'm sorry.

Can share with you. Um, it's time for public comment. Is there anybody here for public comment? Mr. Dunn, please come forward. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you again.

My name is Kelvin Dunn, 3935 Gordon Standard Avenue, apartment 218. Uh just wanted to thank each and every one of you all. I did tune in to uh your work session on Tuesday and I listened to everything that was said. Samilia, thank you. I want to meet with you uh on some things that you had spoke about. Uh I got just a few points and then I'm out the way. I got a I brought a crew with me this time as y'all can see. Um and and I'm glad you did. And uh on uh on the 11th I met with Delegate Jeffrey Long. Um he came out to the community and uh I spoke with him for a while and then we uh oh I gota

you don't have squat down. Um we met for a little while and then we took a tour just kind of walk the community and I let him uh talk to some of the residents kind of get a feel of their issues, their problems and things that's that's going on. Uh he did submit a letter uh to TM Associates also to Southern Maryland Tri County. Okay. Uh, I believe he CCG you may on it. Um, I was going to send it to the info, but I didn't know what subject line to put with it uh or anything like that so that everybody could have it. Just rental or EDC.

Okay. All right. Um, but uh in his letter, one of the things that uh he did speak about in his letter uh and he gave them a deadline for December the 31st to pretty much get some things in order and get some things resolved. One of the things that he put in the letter was an updated communitywide fire safety plan. And I know Jay had been talking and you all have been discussing some things. So I kind of wanted to bridge that gap to uh get that in place to let them, you know, let TM Associates and Southern Maryland Tri County know that some ongoing efforts and some things are in place to make that happen. Uh just, you know, it's just all on them whether or not they want to do it or not. Uh the next thing I just uh the Bayet uh read that article and I just wanted to say for the record uh I'm a resident that does not receive any kind of income lowinccome uh assistance. I pay full rent. I pay $1,093 for a two-bedroom apartment. No stainless steel appliances or nothing of that sort. Um, so when I'm talking and and advocating for the community, it's for things of that reason because, uh, a lot of us don't get any kind of assistance. Even though I'm a military veteran, uh, my benefits pretty much covered my rent every month. Um, so, you know, a lot of us don't get assistance, but we still got those ongoing issues and problems that I took to Delegate Long and said, "Hey, this is what's going on." on. He got to hear it firsthand from the residents themselves and uh that sparked him to put this letter out and and get the ball rolling and if they don't comply by the 31st, we have some other things in place that we're going to continue to keep

and I've developed a good relationship with him as well. So, I mean, we can work together on this. Yep. And uh Sunday, uh he's having a Christmas party from 2 to 4:30 uh the ride and reel uh where he had the town hall meeting. So more than welcome come out meet the uh new uh senator I don't know politically the correct terms but the new senator that's coming in for district 27 right Kevin Harris I believe and some other people will be there so come on out have some fun sounds good you mind if I say one thing sure

um within the past couple of weeks u I've heard that our Latino community and our community at Fishing Creek uh have an issue you with coming to talk to the council, all members of the council. And one of those reasons are fear of retribution. Yes.

And I'm just going to put this on the record. You can talk to people, you know, who I hire up in office during election year cuz they're going to fall hand over foot to make sure that they look good. And I'm not saying that that's what's happening in this case, but we do know that tends to happen. But if you don't reach out to us before things get bad, if you don't pull the coattails of your neighbors who sit up on this dis, if you don't bring the people in so that we can assure you that you are safe with us and that we care about you, then we don't get the opportunity to help. Now I'm sitting up here putting a little color on this D and I very seldomly hear from people of color. Now, I get white problems all the time, but I don't hear from my people. And I'm saying it right here in the microphone while it's being recorded. Come talk to us. Reach out to me. Let us advocate for you and be a part of making our community better for all of us. That's what has to happen. People have to get on this side of it and people have to be on your side of it, but we need to connect with each other. Well, let let me interject one thing. Mr. Dunn and I have known each other for over a year now and uh we have been communicating and Wendy Patton has been deeply involved on on the staff level. But I think what you're

Oh, you know what I'm saying. I Well, yeah, but I Well, I know what you're saying. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. I know what I'm saying. But I'm But I'm I'm saying I'm glad to hear you say talk to me because I think all of you need to know. All all of the council members need to know everything that's going on with regard to the situation that you and I h have discussed and you stayed in close contact with Wendy about. So, thank you.

Thank you, Anthony. Let me earn my keep. Let us all earn our keep. We get paid a little bit of money every month. Let us earn our keep. And this goes for everybody, even the four people at home watching it. Everybody needs to know that we are here and it matters. And we hear from people who got certain issues, but we don't hear from people who got, you know, one thing that I told Wendy when this was going down is that the people who need help the most aren't the ones that's going to show up to ask for it because they're used to struggling. They're used to just dealing with it. They're used to just persevering. Right. But you need help.

Yes. and you need people who sit in the room who make decisions to be able to step up to help you because that's what you all voted us in here for. So please, please, when Wendy says, "Hey, let's get the conversation going. Let's get town hall for night. Bring the people out. Work with us. Let's do that. Let's make sure that happens." I'm glad you went on record to say that because I would love to do that.

Oh, I'm going to go on record, brother. and and I would love to uh be a bridge to try to pull more people in. Uh also, Delegate Long did state that in that letter that uh that if any backlash or anything from people trying to uh you know put out complaints or talk about what needs to be repaired, we we got there's something in place for that as well. But also, I'm trying to be a bridge on all levels because I want everybody involved to know what's going on and not leave anybody out for whatever level of government. So, that's why I'm here and I tried to make myself present. Let's make that effect bigger. All right. All right. Thank you, bro. Thank you.

I I appreciate you coming up. Here's my card. That's that's my number on there. So, this is what I've done for multiple people. if someone does feel it because even though it's a law that says there's no retribution whether it's a law or not there is that fear right

I have more than once this week taken what somebody had and submitted through my town council email through the info for them their text and submit it so there is no retribution it's you come to me you somebody has something I'll submit it in like this is that's a it's a pretty good system that we're trying to have it there. Wendy has brought some information up and it is part of our overview. Anthony is with on the subcommittee with me it it's not placating. We want to help. We want to be there for each other.

I appreciate it. I I I want all the help we can get. A good neighbor approach. That's what we want this town to be. We want to be good neighbors to each other. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I want to applaud you to reaching out to everybody at all levels. I think that's completely appropriate. So, reach out to us and if you reach out to Delegate Long or whoever you want to get your problem solved, you absolutely should do that. And thank you for stepping forward and coming to us. Thank you all. I appreciate you all. Thank you, Mr. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. Truly appreciate your stepping up. Happy holidays. Thank you. All right.

You got a hand up. Yes. Yes, sir. Please come forward. I just I don't know if it's okay, but I just want to advocate for a group for I'm seeing more and more people. And your name, sir? I'm sorry. Michael Harvey. I talked to you yesterday. Okay. The other day, but anyway, uh it's getting cold out there and I'm with I'm the president of the board for On our own. Everybody heard of On our Our Own.

Okay. On our own Own. We take in people during the day, feed them, get them help from the county people and stuff like that. And it's just I'm seeing more and more homeless people out here. And I feel bad for them. and we have a bus that will actually come and pick them up from down here and stuff like that and they can have a a day to go up there and whatever they got to do each day. Um I maybe this isn't the venue but I just want to put it out for home the homeless people if you know any and you they're struggling please let them know about us. Okay. Do we know how to do we know how to reach on our own? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's in the

Oh, you Okay. Yeah. Okay. Great. Well, thank you for being here. Thank you. Appreciate that. Is there anybody else that wants to uh make public comment? Hearing none, let's move on to the lightning round. Let's see. Where should we start? Let's start with Eric. We got a just uh I don't really have much. Just want to wish everybody uh happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, whatever you celebrate. Um and uh I just want to applaud the uh council on the shortest meeting yet. Not over yet.

Not over yet, but I still think we're going to be there. Yeah. Good job, man. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy new year. Uh thank you for the public comment. Thank you to the town staff u colleagues. Everybody have a prosperous new year. Amy, I'll keep it simple. Merry Christmas. Have fun. Thank you, John.

Yeah, it's been awesome uh attending all the town events like light up the town and watching my wife uh carolling out there and the the North Beach parade and everything. So, happy holidays and merry Christmas. Great. Laura, uh, I also forgot that we were doing the lightning round because we added it back a couple months ago, but um, just off the top of my head, I really appreciate public participation in government. We need that. That's what makes our government work. So, thank you to everybody who comes to a public meeting. Um, we appreciate your comments and we need them to highlight issues. Thank you.

I'm just going to uh mirror Eric's sentiments. Happy everything to everybody. Be good to each other. Enjoy yourselves. And that's it.

And I will say um I would to wish everybody the the greetings of the season and to celebrate the season for what it stands for. I want to express my gratitude to this council. I've said this numerous times and I'm going to keep saying it. I've never worked with a council as good as and thoughtful as this one and I feel like the town has been blessed to have these people up here to serve you. And so, thank you all. And uh with that, uh we are going to go into close session. Uh but before we do so um and when in the closed session we're it's going to be we need to have in addition to the members of the council uh Wayne, Melissa, Samilia and Sharon. Uh so I would entertain a motion to go into close session.

Motion second. Is there all in favor say I. I propose the eyes have it. We are going to adjourn into close session. Thank you all for being here tonight. Thank you for coming and participating uh in your government and um have a happy holiday and merry Christmas. Thank you.