Veterans Advisory Council - Regular Meeting

Get this party started. Think yes. Perfect. Alright. Let's go ahead and I will call to order. Let's go ahead and start with the pledge of allegiance. Please rise and repeat with me. My flag's everywhere. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The

United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Perfect. I

believe we have a quorum. We got Mar, got Sharon, myself, you, and Perfect. And we got another. Fantastic. So we have quorum. Mikaela circled the agenda out front and also emailed it to everybody. I will happily entertain a motion to approve the agenda that we have.

So moved.

Second. Perfect.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? So moved. We'll use this agenda. Fantastic. Go right into old business approval of the previous meeting minutes. I have it. Mikayla was perfect to, send that out to us again. We also had it posted, before the start of this meeting. Do I have a motion to approve the previous meeting's minutes?

So moved. Perfect. Second.

Second. I have

a motion and a second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? I thought last month's minutes were perfect.

Just as good as the months before it.

It looks a little bit better. Okay.

Any other discussion? I hate I hate when we have, like, approvals and just like automatic.

You gotta have some discussion with some of these things. Otherwise otherwise, we'll be done in like ten minutes and The perfect is that one space after the beard or two?

Well, you know, technically, if you're doing true military reporting, it's supposed to be two spaces even though that's not really how you're supposed to do it anymore. You still do two.

Anyways. All

those in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Perfect. I realized I didn't do that for the last one. All those in favor of approving the agenda? Aye. Aye.

Aye. You don't have to do it.

Any opposed? No. You

don't have to do it for the agenda.

Really? Even if we

get motions? Not for the agenda.

Oh, okay. You perfectly did it.

We'll go into chair chair's comments. I thoroughly enjoyed our second annual Veterans Appreciation Day. For those that were in attendance, you probably saw some of the greatest tap dancing that has ever happened in this world. We did learn some things. We learned to make sure that the computers are connected to the Internet always and that our services in Frederick County, our service members, former service members and current service members except for the Navy all know their songs.

Had it been any other that happened to it when it got done. The Marines took charge.

And and for the record

for I went on the

record with some of my Marine Corps friends that just happened to be the ones there to save my bacon. The marines for the first time ever did save the day.

Begging for controversy.

I know. Right?

It's great. It's not even worth.

Had we had a we had

a ton of vendors out there, a ton of organizations. We had a ton of veterans and their family all out there learning what Frederick County does to take care of veterans. Period. Loved it

you had great vendors there

yeah

because I everywhere I went there were folks lined up to talk to the vendors and that's a sign of a

good yeah

And I think the location was great. Like, I think it was very visitor friendly.

Didn't seem packed.

Right. And it didn't seem like people were lost.

Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah

great we do need to find

the space for song now for next year

like the the star wars theme or something probably If they're not there to represent I'm thinking more of the horrible stuff. I like that. We have

a handcraft control division top.

Right? There we go. If

they're not there to sing

their song, that's on them.

We had we had everybody. Even the Navy had someone. I know. It wasn't in the Navy sing their song.

Maybe they're all out West. Maybe they're just living.

I swear.

I'm still a little miffed that the one star admiral on-site didn't sing the Navy song. Just saying. If you're gonna wear the uniform, you gotta sing the song. Active? Yeah. He was active. Yeah. He he was standing there like a deer in headlights. It's okay. He was a nice guy. I liked him.

Anyways. Alright. From Frederick. Yeah.

He he he won't see this. It's fine.

He's from Virginia. It's okay.

Alright. So my cheer comments are complete. Thank God.

I wanna watch the Mhmm.

I always I always pull up the video afterwards just to see Yeah. How good it is. Mhmm. Usually, I'm like the second person to view it. Yeah. It's okay. Let's go into presentations. Do we have workforce

veteran workforce readiness? No. Unfortunately, no.

So hopefully, everything's well, but they had to cancel the last minute.

Understood. Too easy.

He likes to have discussion on it.

On which one?

The platoon twenty two thing.

We'll we'll get to yeah. We'll finish presentations here. Do we have Google?

Oh, I'm sorry. No. That's all one. Yeah. That's all.

Gotcha. Okay.

Sorry. All one organization. Understood.

Now I'm tracking. No presentations today. Perfect. Public comment. Yes, sir.

I have a few very simple things and then a complex one. The very simple thing is on your agenda. Please take a look at the last line. The next meeting of this group is not gonna be on July 19 at the, Frederick Health Complex. Which agenda are you looking at? That was on my printed copy.

Oh, you might have grabbed a Laurent one.

Yeah. It's 17.

March '17.

Okay. Very good. Second of all, since, Chris is not here on the September 23 from ten to two at the Goodwill Slash Platoon 22 location. There'll be a transition workforce sponsored by the Maryland Department of Labor. So please be aware of that and publicize that out.

Third item, if you're not aware, platoon twenty two essentially has lost their lease at the Goodwill Building and will be moving out of that facility on the October 1. As I was president of the Veterans Advisory Council when that whole activity took place, goodwill merging with both Tomb twenty two and then the North Arizona group coming in, I'd say that's a very difficult thing to say because the Veterans Advisory Council worked very diligently, first of all, to get the two organizations in one location. Second of all, once that location was secured, to move the state of Maryland veterans representative, veteran service officer, from their courthouse location into that facility. And that was done with a lot of behind the scenes work, shall we say, because they were very reluctant to move into a commercial facility because of the possibility of losing the lease. We were very encouraged, though, by the fact that the original lease was for five years with the opportunity to renew for four additional terms for a total of twenty years.

So it appeared that the, location of the veteran service officer from the state of Maryland would be in that location for the twenty plus years that platoon twenty two had that facility. As I said, October 1 is the last, time that the platoon twenty two will be in that building. It is interesting that they, in cohort with, goodwill, are sponsoring the transition fair on the September 23. So thank you.

For another question, did you say that the the yeah. Folks you just said that moved from the courthouse. Yes. Yes. You said they're moving out?

I did not say that.

Okay. I

did not say that. I said that we had a very difficult time getting the state to get them in that location because it was not neither city nor county owned.

Yeah. The

features of that that really really helped it along was the fact that platoon twenty two had a five year lease.

Okay. That's alright. I go.

Might I add that,

let me have you

get up to the mic. I'm sorry.

Hit me if I say something wrong. It's okay.

Might I add that, having the the VSO at the platoon twenty two service center, I I think, was very, very helpful for the veterans. There's so you had one location. There are a lot of services available right there. Most of the people that work for platoon twenty two are veterans, so they actually understand each other. You know, it's not as scary as going to a bunch of bunch of civilians that are, like, sometimes dismissive of us that are maybe a little bit because we've been blown up too many times.

So so the the the VSL was a very, very good thing to have with us, and we hope that in the new location that they'll come with us again. And I'm not authorized to speak for the board or for anybody else, We have a much more senior and polished representative right here if you have any questions about between '22.

Scott? I

don't have anything to say. I'm just Scott McCaskill. I'm the vice president between twenty two board. Fred and I actually spoke this morning, and I gave him a lot of the details of what's going on. It's a very unfortunate situation. We were expecting to be we had a twenty year lease actually in the facility. So, platoon twenty two existed before the building. Platoon twenty two will exist after the building. So we'll keep you all updated as we find our new home. Thank you.

And you said you're moving out on the you're vacating on October 1, you don't have a place yet? Is that

Sorry. We we are currently looking for a new home. So the decision to depart on October 1 was not our decision. It was sprung on us on July 3, I believe. So we are currently working with a bunch of property managers in the area, the city, the county as well, and the state of Maryland for finding a new location.

So and you but you were offered, a little closet space. Is that correct?

Essentially, yes. So, originally so there was two parts. There was the services agreement that was terminated effective immediately for that October 1 date. And without the services agreement, the twenty year services agreement, we were informed that our lease was terminated as well. So at that point, we were supposed to leave the premises, but for whatever reason, they offered us a 10 foot by 13 foot closet at the back of the Veterans Services Center as far away from the front door and as far away from the veterans as possible. We cannot fit our entire staff and all of our equipment and all of our programs in a 10 by 13 space. So, that's when we immediately started the process of looking for a new location, a new home.

Anybody Mhmm. Else who you find that you said you have real estate folks out there? Or

We are. I mean, we're always looking for assistance. If Mhmm. Anyone knows of a great property, as Fred kind of alluded to as well, it's not just finding a home for platoon. We have a lot of partners that rely heavily on us. As Fred alluded to, platoon twenty two is kind of instrumental in bringing in the Maryland VA and the VSO into the location. So we've had ongoing communications with them as well. So it's not just a home for us. It's a home for all the veteran services there. So it's a little bit more than a closet.

Can can anybody give me the background data of how the VSC came about? Because I wasn't paying attention. I wasn't involved with any of that and not paying attention at the time that it happened. I know that congressional members were involved with bringing money to goodwill. Is that right?

That was goodwill and and Danny Farrar. They came up with the with the plan, initial plan. And and I think once once Goodwill of Arizona came in, once it was established, then then I'm not speaking for them. I'm just saying what I'm hearing that they don't understand the Frederick

Dynamics.

Dynamics and some issue and some things started happening. That's just what I hear. That's not my me saying that that's true. But it was Goodwill and Danny Ferrer from platoon twenty two that that initiated this entire process.

Yeah. From as long as I've been involved with platoon twenty two going on, I guess, close to ten years, the dream had always been to open up some sort of veteran services center and platoon twenty two work towards that. And then when the opportunity came up to partner with goodwill of Monocacy Valley, that's when Danny took advantage of that opportunity to get the the ball rolling and get things started. Yep.

What is Goodwill Arizona?

That's who now owns. That's who's who who it's no longer Goodwill Monarchacy. It's Goodwill Arizona.

I think Arizona is where their headquarters is. Is that correct? Yeah. Goodwill's headquarters, I think, is in Arizona. And then they, like, have That

subset, though. Yeah.

Because Goodwill Industries is its own thing, and then there's, like, multiple subsets around

The United States.

Well, to answer Garth's question, Garth, this is not an easy procedure. It bore the Veterans Advisory Council worked for five years to get this amalgam in and actually on the ground. We kept hearing, it's gonna come. It's gonna come. It's gonna And when the goodwill of Northern Arizona moved in, yes, that's when the property was acquired, dedication of the property, and then the big opening ceremony was held.

So it was not an easy task to get that. The other interesting thing for the board members is we started out with one veteran service officer for Frederick County. Lo and behold, you move that individual out of the courthouse, and the Frederick veterans beat a path to his doorstep so that very quickly, you made the appeal to the secretary of veterans affairs and the governor to increase the staff, which they subsequently did. Now we have two representatives there to handle the situations with the Frederick veterans.

So community foundation of Frederick County the Frederick County thing? Yeah. They don't have any property or Auscherman doesn't have any or the Auscherman Foundation, should say, not Auscherman, but foundation. They don't have any space that can

Sorry for the constant up and down. So that's one organization we've already talked to. We've met with them about looking for possible commercial space. Once again, it's kind of a unique space because it's not just one organization. It's possibly several. So we've worked with them. We've worked with Rupert, taking a look at what properties they have available, the city, the state, the city, the county, the state as well, and then Saint John's Properties also. Because Saint John's Properties currently is the one that owns the current facility, and then they lease that to goodwill.

What can the Veterans Advisory Council do to help?

That's a great question.

It is.

It was more just about providing an awareness this evening. We wanted to come in. I know we weren't planned to be the speaker, but we were invited to come and attend. So we wanted to attend just to share our side of the story as to what was going on. So by all means, we'll keep you updated on things. If you hear any opportunities that are out there, we're always looking for additional partnerships, additional help because the ultimate goal for all of us is just providing the services to veterans who need it. So as Fred had alluded to, even though we have this separation of the relationship with goodwill, we're continuing to provide the services right up to that very last day. And then we're even continuing the services beyond that, whether it's at a new location or somewhere else. That's our ultimate goal is just to continue the services.

And I've seen in the social media things, you guys are more than a building. So

Yeah. That's that's, one of the taglines one of our teammate our team members came up with. So that's exactly it.

That that's one of the concerns I have is the continuity of care, if you wanna call it. I mean, it's care. Right?

Yeah.

Once you built once that that lull in service is achieved, it's kinda hard to build that back up or it takes a long time to get people back and build that trust up as as they rely on you. Mhmm. I'm wondering if, Florida County government has a way of providing some assistance in that financially as they do for other nonprofits as far as grants and property available properties. I know.

Can you tell me exactly what services will be lost?

So right now, business is normal for us. So we're continuing to offer all the programs. Just two days ago, we had our breakfast banter Monday mornings. I think this afternoon or yesterday afternoon was they were able to do acupuncture therapy. They do puppy yoga, all the different programs. So any all these all these services are being still being offered at this point. Now will they be have to change moving forward potentially? Could there be delays during this transition? Possibly. That's the unfortunate part, as I'm sure you're all aware.

Ninety days is not a lot of time to pick up an entire organization and partner groups that wanna work with us. So the main focus is continuing the programs. That's the number one focus. And whether that's out of our basements or garages or at another location, we're gonna continue the services, definitely.

So you have a battle rhythm, and you have a calendar of events Mhmm. Things that are essentially on the same time slots and days. So are there any VSOs like Ambets that can provide a space for you for that

We've been in contact with a lot of organizations. What I might do is, have Nikki Falzone, our executive director, reach out to you to provide some updates on which programs are continuing, what ones may be paused for a short period of time. But she'll be able to speak better to that better than I can. That's

all. Yeah.

Again, I'm an emergency manager and continuity operations is my thing. So I like continuity.

He might be reaching out to you.

But I know there's other organizations that operate out of the VSC. They are not affected.

At at this point, we're not sure. I mean, I don't wanna speak for them. We've had constant conversations with them, and the response from, I'd say, the bulk of them have said the only reason they're there is because of platoon twenty two. So if that means platoon twenty two is leaving, does that mean they're leaving? So I'll leave it at that. There's only certain things we're allowed to say and not say. I'll put it

that way.

Interesting. And and so, Scott, would it

be appropriate to say that something about Goodwill's intention to actually

run the

Veterans Service Center without us?

At this point, it's unclear what their intentions are, that there's been very little communication. I would put it that way.

And do you think maybe

we could clarify, actually, the structure the corporate structure of of goodwill? Or would you like me to? Or

You might know it better than I do.

I think we'll study on it.

I will defer.

I do wanna be careful here only because they are They're Yes. A public organization. Oh,

I wasn't gonna lamp fast unless

Let's just make sure there This is tape. The information that we are providing is entirely truthful.

I'm I'm happy to be sworn in. So so no. This is this is really interesting because when we when we first encountered them, you you I mean, what do I know about the Salvation Army? What I know about goodwill? What I know about any these is very little except that they provide these services. But but goodwill is the national headquarters, don't believe, is in Arizona. Each goodwill, each regional goodwill, is its own separate franchise.

Mhmm.

And the goodwill of Northern Arizona has traditionally been an acquisitor, an acquirer of other goodwills. So they are sort of like a they've they've taken over other goodwills and then molded them into their own thing. And they just recently took over the San Francisco one. We were the one before that that they took over. So they they are are not the national. They are run by their franchise CEO and his ideas. And I think that's probably all I can say about that.

As a participant, not a member of the Board, I can tell you that Goodwill will continue to host the men's and women's bible study there that's populated by the veterans at 10:30 every Monday morning. They also have given their space to make the reboot classes available. This is another initiative, from the, two chaplains at the, goodwill slash platoon twenty two. This is a, eight week program where they talk about transition, PTSD, and moving forward. Previously,

they

were held at the American Legion on the 2nd Floor, which provided a very difficult opportunity for individuals with any disability because there's no elevator. But the Goodwill has opened that center for after hours for this specific program. So it's not like all the veterans' functions are leaving, just those that are very closely associated with platoon twenty two.

Thank you.

I'm Yeah. MC Keeganair. I happen to be a county council member, and I came here tonight because when all of this happened, I was contacted by a number of veterans that live in my district who were very concerned about the continuity of care and whether or not they were gonna have to start going to West Virginia for their services. So I will just tell you, since that time, the information has gone out like a crazed communication wire. The our state delegation is involved in this.

The new secretary of Veterans Affairs for the state, who is a friend of mine from Maryland Association of Counties, he has been involved in this. The they was a meeting with the state delegation and some of the folks in the city when we were down at the Maryland Association of Counties meetings in Ocean City last week. I don't wanna speak for what was discussed, but everybody is pulling together to try and find a way to make this work so that our veterans continue to receive the services that they need and that they were promised. And so I'm just here to say everybody's trying to pull together to make sure this this happens. I don't know exactly what happened.

I just know that from the time I was elected in 2014 until now, there seemed to be a very good relationship. Congressman David Trone did help get some federal dollars to build that building. I have not spoken to him, but I am sure he's not going to be pleased to hear this. And so but right now, our number one focus is making sure that these services continue and that our veterans are, taken care of. So, yeah, we're all working together, and we can certainly keep you apprised of what's going on.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

I I appreciate that because what we've gotta think of, as I'm sitting here, is there any way you know, I I I get the bad blood. I get the the tensions, but who's hurting? It's the veteran. And so is there any way in the meantime that there is some I don't wanna say compromise. I I don't know what that word is, but we we we can't forget the veteran.

We we need to know specifically either from platoon twenty two or goodwill or somebody what services are gonna continue no matter what? Is is, Martinsburg still gonna be working out of there? Is, Maryland VA still gonna be working out of there? Are the chaplains gonna continue to have their space? Somebody can answer that.

Patrick Pearson can't answer that. I don't I don't I don't know nothing. Somebody I assume someone in this room can can at least get the word out that the Frederick County veterans need to know that immediately because because true. We can we can put out saying, you know, services are are potentially gonna be impacted because platoon twenty two's missing or moving? Potentially. Maybe yes, maybe no. Who knows? Frederick County veterans need to know. That's that's the one thing that I've gotten out of all this is there's a lot of scuttlebutt. There's a lot of conversations going back and forth.

But really the only thing I care about is are we gonna continue to have the services that are there? If not, what do we do to make sure those services are provided somewhere else? Hey, maybe it's provided somewhere else by between '22 and it's a thousand times better. I'd love that. That'd be fantastic. I'm not asking to to get that answer to the Veterans Advisory Council now, but I'm I'm seeing a lot of head nods and and hopefully somebody can get that out. And it doesn't have to come to me. It can be put out socially. It can be put out officially. It can be put out to the to the to our state representatives.

That's that's what I would prefer to hear. But thank you all for coming out. Any other public comment? Perfect. Staff report, Mikayla. Okay.

So we touched a little bit on the Veterans Appreciation Day. So we had our second annual Veterans Appreciation Day, and that was Saturday, July 19. And as we talked about, it was a great turnout. So this year, we had 450, give or take, which was up from the first year, which was 350. So great turnout.

We had, basically, 80 vendors, exhibitors. So, like, we talked about, you know, resources, nonprofit, government agencies here in and businesses as well here in Frederick County, all services and organizations for the veterans. So it was a really great day. We're already starting to talk about 2026. So some of the things that the division of aging wanted me to pass along was so we wanted they wanted the finance ladies.

I shouldn't say ladies, but currently, there's one lady working in finance. If we could push the date up to, like, April or May, and so two dates to consider would maybe be, like, April 25 or May 2, which those are both still Saturdays. And that's just because it makes the financial end of things a lot easier because it's, I believe, the end of a quarter or the beginning of a quarter. I can't remember. And, also, it would be before the end of the county's fiscal year.

So it would make everything a whole lot easier because the way we've done it the last two years, it actually crosses fiscal years and because we're we're collecting the registration fees in one fiscal year and then having the event right at the beginning of the next fiscal year, and it just makes a nightmare for them. So so that's one thing. So if we could think about those dates and then, of course, if we wanna have it at Frederick Health Village again, we just need to make sure that that venue is available on those dates. Start thinking about a theme.

Do we have to vote on that or anything?

No. No. I'm just throwing things out because we we had an initial planning meeting over at the division. So I just kinda wanna leave you guys in so we're all on the same page and collaborating and working together. An idea that was thrown out there is because we have the big two hundred and fiftieth Mhmm. Coming up if we maybe wanna work that into the theme of the 2026 event.

Wow. The two fiftieth would've worked well this year, not next year. That's government next year. Our the services are two fifty this year.

Oh, yeah. Another idea we had was, like, veteran housing because HUD VASH vouchers, you know, we've kinda or you guys have taken up this issue, and we've got Livable Frederick, and we've got oh gosh. It's escaping me. What's the the aging in place thing, the new initiative? Anybody?

Take a look here. Thank you. Thank you. So maybe tying those all together, into something. So if anybody wants to ruminate on that and come up with a great theme on that, trying to think what else.

Yeah. I mean I mean, basically, the the the point is years one and two were great, and so we wanna do year three, and we're already starting to come up with a plan and think about it. So

Well, kudos to you, Makayla, and and the division. It was fantastic.

Yeah. Yeah. And thanks to you guys as well.

Your MC was abysmal.

Makayla, if it moves to April or May, when would you when would you need to start? Like, I mean, I know you're planning, but, like, when would

Oh, yeah.

The registration like, how soon would those registrations? Because I'm thinking, like Now. If it's, like, October, November, then we need to

Yeah.

Be mindful of how quickly things need to kind of transfer.

So finance requested for them, the best thing would be to have registration closed March 31. So if we wanted to have registration open for, like, a month, I don't know. But let's just say that that's what we wanna do. We wanna have registration open for a month. So let's say we're gonna do March 1 through March 31, then I don't know how far out would we open up the invitations.

It's probably, like, January, February ish. Right?

You can have people red register, but they just pay during March.

Yeah. Potentially I'm

just trying to think, like, in reverse timeline of things. Something that not that May 1 would be an issue necessarily, I guess, but or May 2. Excuse me. But May starts to be graduations and things, like, for high school.

So Yeah.

And colleges. Mhmm. So in the sense of people.

Yeah. So that's one thing we had a question because, like, we figured that wouldn't probably wouldn't interfere too much with high school graduations. We weren't sure about college graduations, so, like, probably need some time to, like, look those up and so maybe April 25.

It can't interfere. We get veterans that have to go that wanna go to see their grandchildren grandchildren or folks in travel to go see graduate you know, graduation. So

Yeah. I mean, we're never gonna find a perfect date. Another thing we wanted to look into is Frederick County. There's an engagement board or committee where they keep kind of a calendar of all the county events. So we need to check that to make sure there's nothing already on the books that it would interfere with. And Carolyn, the division director for DAI, was gonna check with the CE's office to see if there's anything on her calendar that might, you know, interfere. So

Oh, April April time frame is a very important date for one of us because that's when I turned 53. Okay. Yeah.

But really It could just

be a big birthday birthday party.

That's '30 Right. '37.

We'll we'll get a cupcake.

So yeah. So just, you know, stuff to start thinking about. Nothing we need to do right at the moment.

It should be a county holiday.

Good business?

Okay. So so we will have two vacancies coming up. And we did get two applicants, and I did forward those to the executive committee. So just a brief recap for those of you. The executive committee reviews the applications and interviews them, and then they present their findings to the rest of the council. And then you guys will vote on the recommendation. We you write make your recommendation to the county executive, and then she will

Appoint them.

Thank you. Yeah. Appoint them. And that hopefully, we can get all that done before October, and October is the new term.

Do we have a deadline for the new folks? Like, is there like, we have two now. If we like them, do we just say, okay. Spots are filled, obviously, go through that process, or do we have a time frame that they can submit their applications? And

Well, so the the announcement was made already back in July. So I would say it'd be good to go ahead and schedule those interviews, like, now for September and just go ahead and go through the process. If for some reason they are not eligible or you don't think they're appropriate or what for whatever reason, we can always do another round. Like, if maybe one out of two goes through, you know, we can do another round. Okay. And the the vacancies I mean, the person can stay in their position until their spot is filled. They don't have to, but they can. So

yeah.

And

I'll send out an email just reminding everybody of what their, like, term dates are and then yeah.

Okay.

The POW MIA day, I apologize. I meant to send an email to the CE's office to see because we had talked about maybe putting a POW table out in front here at Winchester Hall, and I hadn't gotten around to that before today's meeting. So I will make sure to do that.

That came up last year. Where then where did it end up going? Because it wasn't here.

So last year, what we did was at the Middletown fifty plus community center. We did it there and right before the veteran coffee social that we happened to be at the same on the same day. And if anybody has any other ideas of anything they wanna do, you know, for that okay. Well, I'll I'll reach out, and then I'll just update everybody via email for that.

I was kinda do a proclamation for that?

They did last year. Yeah. Last year, Isabella Bravo came to the Middletown Community Center and did it there. And we had a handful of folks show up for that. Yeah. It was on a Friday morning, so we didn't get, like, a ton of people or anything.

It's kinda hard to do during the day Yeah. If you're not retired.

Yeah. It'd be kinda cool if, like, restaurants this is me being crazy. It'd be kinda cool if there was a way to do it as, like, a fundraiser or something that people could donate money to pay for a table at different restaurants downtown, but that it'd be it'd be paid for, right, by a sponsor.

Like, credit partnership?

I don't I'm this is just me spitballing an idea but I just think it'd be it'd be an awareness piece and it could be something that would be cool as like a hey I'm gonna sponsor I'm gonna pay for a meal. I'm gonna sponsor this table, but it's gonna remain in in dedication.

And you mean, like, Christmas when you go to see the the the names on the Christmas tree, they pull it off and they buy.

Yeah. Like the secret

yeah. It

was just, like, just in the sense of, like, community awareness.

What's the barbecue does that, don't they? To the table of the the doesn't don't don't they do it? I know they offer. I know

Mission Barbecue does. Yeah. But I'm trying to think of other locations. Obviously, the American Legion, BFW, permanent one.

Yeah. Yeah.

Why didn't they have it here in the the in the lobby? Mhmm. Yeah. So why didn't they? Why didn't they? Why didn't they last year? I I mean, remember. Can we I And what day what day I can't forgive me. I don't remember what day it is. Do you guys know?

Man. Not that man. I don't.

I'm supposed to. I feel like that'd be an important day to rattle off.

Is it if it's before October 1 September 19. September 19. Friday. Can can the platoon twenty three and and veteran service center do something just in good faith?

It's Friday, September 18.

Nineteenth.

Oh, sorry.

'19?

Mhmm.

Okay. Alright. Well,

okay. So, yeah, I'll I'll see. I'll get back to everybody.

Brunswick Veterans Day Parade?

Okay. So, yeah, so Brunswick Veterans Day Parade, I need to do the application on your behalf. I believe we had three volunteers. So I think that might be enough to make it work. It was enough last year. Yeah. It might might be better there was four.

Planer's coming.

It

just occurred to me. I actually won't be part

of the board at that point.

You could still

You could still be

at You still I mean, I'll be there. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. If the Navy knows how to March.

Not really. No. We just walk along. Okay. Just draw a off, swim. Half of us don't.

We're paying the money for that. That should keep the ball moving.

Know we don't have it under new business and maybe it was an old business item that I just forgot to discuss. We did come up with the legislative considerations for the county executive.

Oh, you're right. That should have been on there.

Yes. Number one, we're gonna ask for to potentially just try to figure out how to improve the point in time accuracy survey, which is gonna be a little tough. We we're aware of that only because the point in time survey is mandated by HUD, which is in January. The homeless population is not very Maryland centric in January, so we're just asking to see if we can figure something out outside of January for that effort. The second be, veterans benefits expanding the county veteran service office capacity.

We have Makayla as our county veteran service officer. However, we have 17,000 veterans, and we do have other service officers here in the county. However, because of the Senator Elizabeth Dole Act, there's considerable amounts of money available for county veteran service officers and their ability to get more. So we're just saying let's make that effort a priority. And then last but not least, consumer protections combating unaccredited claim sharks.

For those that are unaware, sharks are individuals that help veterans quote unquote with their claims. However, they charge fees to do that and it is widely believed by the veteran community, in my opinion at least, that those services should be provided free of charge. So that's why you have all the VSOs, the county VSOs, the state and federal VSOs do all that work free of charge. And so just trying to put in some sort of fines or penalties against organizations that charge veterans for that help. Those are the three priorities we're gonna send up to county executive and ask her to push for this year.

Any thoughts, comments, questions on that? You

don't want to try to see if the county can augment some of the platoon twenty two's efforts.

That's not a that wouldn't go.

Yeah. This is this is more

Yes. Well, state sorry. State can do it as well. Yeah. I mean, it's 17,000 veterans. True. Hispanic control of one person.

That's kind of where I think expanding the county veteran service office capacity. That is definitely something that the county executive can directly impact there because the federal funding is now there

through Is that your intent to that?

Is specifically that one there is because the Senator Elizabeth Dole Act was passed, there is $10,000,000 or something like that available for county service offices to to get to pay county service office folks. So just trying to change that directive that we have right now of we have one county service officer for 17,000 veterans. We're asking to establish the goal of 5,000, one per 5,000. Still a lot, but it's better than one per 17,000. That's that's right math.

Right? Any air force folks?

My my question was more focused on their services, not the Sure. Of counseling services. The $1.01 $70,000 brought that up, I know. But more so the other services that they provide, still think the state can help out with that.

Essentially.

Otherwise, they're gonna be pushed off onto the state.

With these three that we have here, are there any thoughts, comments, questions, concerns?

Or how would you how would you phrase that? Like, what would you what would that look like legislatively? Like, what what if we think that through?

Steve McKay helped us last year put that in the how it should be phrased. Did you ask him this year?

No. And that's a good input. I'll we'll we'll we'll

get what he's talking doing. About.

Alright. I think they asked for the letter by September 5, so there's still a little bit more time, you know, if we just kinda go by email and get that together. Sure.

I mean, I I like the the format it's in now and funny enough, my signature goes on it. So

When he put it in what he said, you know, there's certain way that in words that help get

it Sorry. I edited the one from last year. Sorry.

You what?

I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just said Okay. It's because I took last year's letter and Sure. Copied and pasted. Right. No.

I didn't. I I see my my name's on there. So it's like, I guess, I I get to sign it, which is super exciting for me. I'll sign anything. Case in point, like, 60 page enlistment contract. Contract. I funny enough. So when I was a kid, I'll I'll be real quick. Getting out of college going off and enjoying the military, I did not have a signature until my enlistment contract. You can actually read through my enlistment contract. The first page is spelled out. Patrick Clarence John Pearson. Second page, Patrick Clarence John Pearson. Third page, Patrick Pearson. Fourth page, Patrick Pierce.

By the end of it, it's all done super quick. I learned my signature Mhmm. In my enlistment contract. Just put it out there. After page 64,

you

had one.

Anyways, yeah. We can if you don't mind cc ing me with Steve or I can email Steve and have him review it since he's our Yeah. Representative on this. Yeah.

And we may wanna ask him about the point in time survey just because I know when I cc'd the division directors on the point in time survey, they they were a little bit their their comment was that's a federal date, and so they were sure how that would go with state stuff. I mean, I'm I I don't know enough about it to be able able to say anything on it.

Even though it's a federal mandated date Mhmm. There's nothing stopping us from asking, hey, let's think about this a little bit better because you're not gonna get a proper count of homeless in Maryland in January. Yeah.

So Anybody can realize that. Way of how can we make

this at a state level?

We have something I mean, something that's probably not gonna get on the docket. Is there anything else that's available to put on there?

Well, we got three items on there. I mean, if one of them gets on there, it's better than last year's.

Anything carried over from last year?

The only thing that's carried over from last year is the ClaimShark's consumer protection one.

Well, I mean, HUD HUD VASH was on there last year, but I think last year, the way that it was phrased was just like we want HUD VASH vouchers

allocated. But

Since then, we've realized that the point in time survey is what's allegedly keeping the HUD VASH vouchers from coming to Frederick County.

Yeah. Correct way it did it.

I don't

know that it's the time. It's just is it being done? Are they being counted? They're not counting couch surfers. They're not counting. They're just counting people in tents.

That are

So that's more of a So Change how it's done rather than change the date. Well, yeah, but it's Change the parameters. It's just a weird you're not gonna

you're gonna go you're not gonna find any homeless in the public in January.

Couchsurfers and all that aren't gonna change

just because January. Well, I think I think I think it both are true. I think both statements can be true. Right? So, like, in January, they're potentially less that are exposed to the elements, which is is what it sounds like who is only being counted right now. Right? So then, therefore, it would then imply that that time of year may not be the most effective time to get a true count

Correct.

For those that are actually homeless. So is know, if if in and I have a very minute understanding of it, so bear with me. But if in order to get more HUD vouchers, if we need to have a certain number for our point in time survey, but our point in time survey is flawed, then we need to find a way to circumvent that to get the numbers that we feel are there to get the HUD vouchers. So, you know, is it that Oh. Yeah.

The Veterans Advisory Council observes that the point in time survey conducted in January is perhaps an inexact resource to get the HUD vouchers. Therefore, we ask the county executive to devote county resources to assist and further to ensure that every homeless veteran is counted on the point in time so that we can move forward and request the appropriate number of vouchers that are necessary for the veteran homeless.

Amen. I

was just gonna add. So platoon twenty two, we have the data of veterans that have come to us for services and designated as homeless. So if you need numbers, it's not a point in time. It's throughout the entire year that we have coming in. So if you'd like us to share that data with you, definitely can.

Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Yeah. Sure. Okay.

Yeah. I don't something we've been fighting for as well is we have we were able to build in Washington County a six unit facility to house veterans and to the HUD VASH program, but in Frederick County

Yeah.

We're just not able to. So we are we will happily work with you to to get that taken care of. We have the data to support it as well.

So anyway, do we need to copy down Fred Fred's great language?

It's all recorded.

It's all recorded. Well,

don't mind relaying that to Mikaela afterwards. Sure.

Yeah. That was very, very

county executives to increase the visibility and ask for county resources or, again, appeal to the nonprofits to assist in this because of its importance to the county and the veteran population.

Yeah. Mhmm.

So the change in how think outside the blocks. Remember how we got more accurate numbers when we changed the language of are you a veteran to have you ever served? That increased greatly the numbers. So it's it's changing or or making bringing awareness to those who do it to to how we do it. Yes.

But do we know what the benchmark is? Allegedly five. That's what I thought.

Yeah. It's like ridiculous and

that's yeah.

And we

got two.

Well, I think I think it's actually there is no number. I think it's like it depends on your

Yeah.

There's no hard and fast number. I think it depends on your area. I don't know. Apparently so for this last point in time, our our number is 6%. 6% homeless veterans. But I don't know for Frederick, but I don't know what that means. I don't know if 6% is the right percentage. I feel like yes.

I feel like the the language was very vague but specific. Yeah. So

but I feel like what we heard from

the last point in time results was that it sounded like we would have met the qualifications because of the number that they found. I mean, know, that being The other part of

the pieces is the the the housing authority. So we would need the city of Frederick housing authority to be a grantee from the state. So, like, HUD and the state would need to allocate the vouchers and we need to have the the we would need to have the housing authority, like, set up, and then you need the case you need, like, the case management piece and the housing authority piece. So it's yeah. Yeah.

Alright.

It's it's a

It's rough. Yeah. We'll get Fred's input on on number one there. Otherwise, I think it's great. We'll we'll send it up and

because and last time they were here, I believe the city housing authority said that they were willing to sign up. I don't know whether or not they did or not, but, like, to register as a housing authority to to administer the vouchers. Sure. So that that's something we can follow-up on.

Any other new business? No? Any announcements?

Oh, sorry. I need you guys to approve that annual report so we can submit that to the CE's office.

Have you've all seen the annual report?

I I commented back, but I can can bring it up for a vote if that's what you mean.

Oh, okay. Was there something that needed changing?

Or No. I'm just saying that you needed a vote on it.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Then I can bring it up now. Mhmm. So I I make a motion to approve the annual report as written and distributed.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Maybe that I thought I saw

the dog about it. No.

So moved. It is approved.

Okay. I'll get that

submitted We'll we'll

be done here in a second, Bob. Any announcements? Any announcements? Hearing no announcements. Anybody for adjournment?

Actually, I do.

Too late. August 28

is Fort Detrick night of Key Stadium. Also, Veterans Appreciation Day, I guess, our night is the next night.

Yeah. The twenty ninth.

Mhmm. So, hopefully, everybody will be out there on those two nights. Great. It's not a very good showing on the twentieth for Dietrich night. I don't know about Veterans Appreciation Night, but That's, like, next Friday. Alright.

Do we have a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Any

seconds? I'll second that one. Any thirds? All right. We have adjourned.

Thank you so much.

Good evening. Today is Tuesday, August 19. We want to welcome you to our legislative day. We'll be taking public comment at the beginning of the meeting for a total of fifteen minutes. We do have five people signed up, so that will be our speakers for public comment.

At the end of the meeting, we'll have another opportunity for public comment of anybody who wants to give public comment in person. Or if you want to call them by phone, you can call (855) 925-2801, intermediate code 800365, and press 3 to be put into a virtual line or 2 to leave a recorded message that will be sent to the entire reminder, our meetings are televised on Frederick County government channel nineteen on Frederick County website, government's website, federcountymd.gov/fcgtv and on our County Council website, federcountymd.gov councilmeetings. You may also listen to the meetings by calling the same number (855) 925-2801 and entering meeting code 8365. And finally, you may always email the entire council at councilmembersfrederickcountymd dot gov. At this point, we're going to start our meeting with a moment of silence.

Thank you. I'd like to ask those who can please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic which stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

For those that are listening or establish quorum.

Council member Carter.

Here.

Council member Donald. Here. Council vice president Duckett.

Here.

Council member Keegan Air.

Here.

Council member Knapp. Here. Council member McKay.

Here.

And council president

Here. All members of the council are present. At this point, we'll entertain a motion on the agenda. Council member Keegan Eyre.

I move to approve the agenda for Tuesday, 08/19/2025 as presented.

Second.

We have motion to second. Any comments? Seeing none, you can call the roll.

Council member Carter. Aye. Council member Donald. Aye. Council vice president Duckett. Aye. Council member Keegan Air. Aye. Council member Knapp. Aye. Council member McKay.

Aye.

And council president Young.

Aye. That is unanimous. At this point, we'll move the public comment. We do have five people signed up, so I could ask you all to come over here. We have Brian Fouche, Grant Otto, Kelly Schultz, Megan Schwagert, and Mike Mottle? Mikhail. I'm sorry. Mikhail. So go ahead, Brian.

Hi. Brian Fouche, 220 North Market Street, Frederick. I'm here again to talk about the data centers, and I urge you to do everything you can to stop them from coming into community. Just a few things to remind you. They serve no advantage to the community.

What are these data centers being used for? Artificial intelligence. It serves not only no purpose for our community, but even the broader community of the entire United States. We already have about 50% of our fruits, vegetables imported, and this is just making it so we're going to have less land and resources for food. These data centers just in Frederick County are using hundreds of thousands to millions of gallons of water a day. And also using massive amounts of electricity. Maybe there's gray area. Do everything you can to stop them. No one wants them. Think about future generations. There's nothing being left. Recently,

one

of the mayoral candidates, Ron Beatty, talked about how he wants Frederick City to be a smart city, to have five gs. I'll talk a little bit about five gs because I've given information about that before. It's horrible. You have the power to stop it before it gets here. Many counties across The US are stopping it and cities are having ordinances because of the health effects of five gs. This also feeds into the data centers. What is a smart city? It uses five gs to collect data and use artificial intelligence. The artificial intelligence, again, is what is driving the data centers. Again, think about the future, ten, twenty, fifty years.

Your kids, your grandkids, future generations. There will be no land or resources left. United States will not be growing any food. It would just be a desert of data centers, technology, nothing real left. If you have to, send it to courts.

Do what you can to stop the data centers. Again, anything you can. Private companies many times do whatever they want. Even if it's illegal, even if they're not supposed to, they just do it. You guys are representing us. Do whatever you can to stop these data centers. It means checking a box that maybe you think really shouldn't be, but it's best for the community, then do that and let it go to the courts. Get delayed. Maybe they'll make a decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks.

Hi. Good evening. My name is Grant Otto, and I live here in Frederick 412 Mohican Drive. I'm also here as CEO of Sentinel Roof Technologies, a Maryland business, Maryland small business. We provide roof leak monitoring systems for commercial buildings. I'm also here representing my sister company, Hansa Group, which is also a Maryland business, and they perform manual leak detection services. Data centers are an industry where our expertise is critical. These facilities can't afford downtime, and they rely on companies like ours to keep their operations secure.

How we

do that is that Hansa Group sends out trained leak detection experts during construction that are all based in Maryland, Maryland jobs to roofs like these during construction using specialized equipment to scan them for any leaks. In tandem with that, Sentinel Roof Technology sends out our specialized engineers to install and wire monitoring sensors inside the roof for a continual twenty four seven monitoring system. I've heard it said that data centers don't really add that many jobs after construction. I know you've heard from electricians and IT professionals say that this is false because data centers need nearly constant work to install, maintain, and replace equipment. But from my perspective, that is also false.

We are a full service monitoring company, meaning I have a team of employees also in Maryland monitoring each and every one of my buildings for failures. In addition, we visit every single client once a year for roof inspections and panel maintenance. So this is an ongoing opportunity for us and my employees. We have a proven track record with data centers on Loudoun County and across the nation. These data centers represent a real opportunity for both our companies and will allow us to hire more people in Maryland to meet the demand.

That means more revenue for the county and state and more employment opportunities for our residents. It's one reason why I'm speaking in support of the proposed overlay zone. This overlay focuses data center development in parts of the county where the infrastructure already exists to support it. Additionally, if history has taught us anything, it is that this land will be developed. I'd rather see data centers come in which provide minimal traffic while also providing employment opportunities than more warehouses or large residential neighborhoods, which could continue to stretch our transportation infrastructure.

It also diversifies the county sources of revenue. With state and federal budgets tightening, Frederick County needs reliable long term sources of revenue. The overlay represents a significant amount of potential investment, and it gives local businesses like mine the opportunity to grow, hire, and invest back into the community. For all those reasons, I strongly support this overlay, and I encourage you to move forward with it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening. I'm Kelly Schultz. I reside at 6773 Balmoral Ridge in Newmarket, Maryland. And I am also the CEO of the Maryland Tech Council. I'm here because we did provide public written comments to all members of the county council.

So thank you for your review of those comments. And thank you for the understanding of what an important issue this is for not only us representing the industry, but also my fellow Frederick Tonyans. The Maryland Tech Council is pleased to provide comments on the 11 proposed amendments to bill 20 five-nine regarding critical digital infrastructure. As the state's largest technology and life science trade association, association representing more than eight fifty companies, well over 40 of them here in Frederick County, we have long been engaged in conversations about data centers in Frederick County, including through the work group that was administered by the administration two years ago and our upcoming and past data center summits. We strongly support the county's goal of balancing responsible development with economic opportunity.

That being said, several amendments tonight that are under consideration undercut the careful work that has already been done. Specifically, we oppose amendments one, three, four, five, seven, eight, and nine because they would either eliminate viable sites, impose impossible standards, or undermine the intent of the overlay restricting data center development so severely that it might make future construction impossible. We do support amendments two, six, ten, and eleven because they improve clarity, protect the zoning process, and properly consider community impacts without closing the door on reasonable development. We also urge the council to add transition language to ensure projects currently in development are not unintentionally rendered nonconforming while the overlay zone map is finalized. Without that fix, problems could incur with future, insurability issues.

Just this past month, the Sage Policy Group determined that every 275 square feet every 275 square feet of data center development contributes to one high quality construction job. When the economic benefit to Frederick County can be measured in feet, it's important to consider the massive opportunity presented by data centers and the potential for loss that some of these amendments present. In short, we believe that Frederick County can and should remain open to the economic and innovation benefits that data centers bring while ensuring responsible citing and community protections. We ask the council to move forward with this balanced approach and consider the future of the revenues and the quality of Frederick County's future. And I thank you very much for your consideration.

Thank you. Good

evening. I'm Megan Swigert. I reside at 6319 Knollwood Drive. First, wanted to say thank you, all of you. Each of you are working very hard on this. We know I can't even imagine the in-depth conversations that you are going through and the amount of letters that you're receiving. So thank you for the time you're putting into it. I do have a letter I wanted to read from a local company. But before that, I just wanted to address something that I keep seeing and hearing of a lack of transparency. And I want to be very clear that the developers have this open door policy.

They are hosting events in Adamstown residents, neighborhoods. It's like an open house for them. Invite them in. You can hear from them directly. Address the questions directly with them.

So isn't really they are as transparent as can be. But I would like to I believe you received this letter, but I think it's important here from a local company. I will leave their name out. They wrote, I'm writing in support in strong support of the proposed critical digital infrastructure overlay zone, concentrating data center use in defined area with clear standards as a prudent way to grow our commercial tax base while protecting the county's rural character and farmland. Over the last few years, this company has invested heavily in Frederick, opening a downtown office and relocating leadership here because we believe Frederick County makes smart, balanced decisions that let responsible technology businesses grow here, hire here, and contribute here.

This overlay is exactly that kind of decision. A common misconception is that data centers don't create jobs. While facility headcounts can be lean, the sustained job creation happens downstream through local providers like these local tech companies. They design small number of peer firms. They design, deploy, secure, and maintain the equipment inside those buildings, servers and storage, networks and structured cabling, fiber security systems, and 20 fourseven remote hand support.

These are permanent w two roles with benefits right here in our county. Beyond this local firm, data centers consistently rely on multiple local vendors, managed services, cybersecurity, structured cabling, compliance, plus the electricians, HVAC professionals, security integrators, logistics, and other trades. That ecosystem keeps economic impact local, supports small businesses, something we all agree is the hallmark of Frederick County, and creates durable careers in high skilled fields. In short, this overlay keeps growth targeted and upside local. It enables companies like local tech firms already rooted in Frederick to continue investing, expanding our workforce, and delivering high value careers for our county residents while strengthening the tax base without the typical impacts on schools and commuter routes.

Thank you.

Thank you. And our last public speaker for the first session.

Good evening, mister chair, members of the council. My name is Mike McHale. My address is 5300 Westview Drive, 21703. I'm the business manager of IBW Local twenty four. We have jurisdiction from Frederick, Canada, Ocean City, and, I'm here tonight to talk about career building. I myself went through an apprenticeship. I graduated in 1991. Of thirty of my forty years in the trade, thirty two years of it were working with my tools at various locations in Frederick County. I worked at Medinune, if anybody remembers that name before AstraZeneca. I worked at the aluminum plant.

I worked at Fort Detrick. I worked at SAIC. And I wanna give a little bit of an update on what's going on with the jobs out there on-site. As of today, I talked to my referral agent, and we have sent 200 people to the job site on that site working for Power Solutions from Fredericton and from Baltimore and surrounding areas. In construction, it's like does the mountain go to Muhammad or do you have to go to the Mountain?

In our business, you have to go to where the job is. We have currently six seventy nine apprentices and pre apprentices registered in our program. We have two twenty first year apprentices starting. There's also a brand new prefab shop here in Frederick County that one of our employers opened in anticipation of the work coming to the data center site. What's interesting about that site is the 120 people that are working there are actually prefab and electrical materials to send out of this county.

So the work they're doing in Northern Virginia, the work they're doing in other parts of the state is being performed here. So I think it's important for everybody to remember that apprenticeship is the way to a craft, not a job, a trade. And if you have a craft, can feed yourself forever by working wherever the work is. Currently, we have, two helpers on that job site from the CTC between junior and senior year in Frederick, the Frederick CTC. We have folks from Carroll County.

We've organized folks in Frederick County who can now afford to buy homes in Frederick County. This fall, we will start night classes here in Frederick County for the folks that wanna go to apprenticeship here. And it's my intent, and, we will be successful starting day school here in Frederick County next year for our apprentices. So I suspect when this is all said and done, we'll have several 100 apprentices enrolled here in Frederick County. And I can tell you as far as the jobs that are coming, I met with the employers.

We have three on-site right now, not not to mention a substation company. And one of them needs 600 people by the end of the year. And if you take that for the other two and divide it in half, that's another 600. So by this time, heck, end of first quarter next year, we'll probably have 1,200 people on-site out there. It is my goal and my intent to make sure a lot of those folks are Frederick County residents. And I thank you so much for your time, and we're here to support twenty five zero nine. Thank you.

Comment for now, we'll come back to it at the end of the meeting. We'll move on to our agenda. First up, we have the approval of minutes of council member Keegan Eyre.

I move to approve the minutes for 07/22/2025 as presented.

Second.

We have motion and a second. Any comment? If not, we'll call the roll.

Councilmember Carter. Aye. Councilmember Donald. Aye. Council Vice President Duckett.

Aye.

Councilmember Keegan Air. Aye. Councilmember Knapp. Aye. Councilmember McKay. Aye. And Council President Young.

Aye. That is unanimous. We move on to budget amendments. Council Member Donald.

I move that we approve budget adjustments j twenty five four twelve, emergency management division, j twenty five four twenty one, aging and independence division, j twenty six zero sixteen, division of public works, j twenty six zero nineteen, finance division, accounting department j 26024, Frederick County Sheriff's Office j 26030, finance division, accounting department j 260 32, Frederick County Sheriff's Office j twenty six zero forty one, division of energy and environment, department of climate and energy j 26 0 43, accounting, board of education school Construction Amendment number 20 six-one. J26-forty five, Division of Aging and Independence.

Second.

I think

we have a second there. Any discussion on any of those? Hearing none, you can call the roll.

Councilmember Carter. Aye. Councilmember Donald. Aye. Council vice president Duckett. Aye. Councilmember Keegan Air. Aye. Councilmember Knapp. Aye. Councilmember McKay. Aye. And council president Young.

Aye. That is unanimous. We'll move on to our first reading calendar. We have the bill to amend the Rustic Roads Commission. Councilmember Carter.

Thank you, Mr. Press. I'm glad to see so many people here for my amendments to the Rustic Roads Commission. Thank you guys for being here. But with that, I officially submit my bill Burns first reader.

Great. Thank you. With that, we'll move on to our third reading calendar. Tonight, we have Bill 2,509, establishing a critical digital infrastructure overlay zone. Councilmember Knapp.

I would like to move Bill 2,509.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Do we have amendments? Council Member McKay.

Thank you. I'd like to move amendment one to Bill 20 five-nine. Second. Thank you.

Can you speak to your motion?

Will do. Alright. I I have to say that I think this is going to be one of the most important amendments that we consider tonight and I hope you'll give it due consideration.

Can you get closer to the mic so folks can hear you?

Sure. I'll get the mic closer to me. So in short, what this bill does is it says that the overlay cannot be a join or include any residentially zoned or residentially classified property. Does that in a couple different places. So in Section 119.8402, it deletes the paragraph BC, which currently contains the language about allowing it next to allowing CDI next to residential with the setback, right?

Originally of 200 proposed to be 500 feet in this bill. So it deletes that. This issue is not addressed in Section four zero three digital infrastructure electric substation for some reason. It's just not there. Didn't have to worry about it.

And that creates a new provision in the actual CDI overlay zone Section 119 -eleven hundred, which says the tract of land where the critical digital infrastructure overlay zone is proposed may not include or abut land that is zoned residential or is designated residential on the comprehensive plan land use map. And then finally, this was a little cleanup that needed to be addressed in the portion of the bill. It's actually the last bill where there is a reference in the design requirements section. There is that little footnote except as provided in the section of four zero two that this bill deletes. So that's why that's there.

For the longest time, as we've been discussing this issue going all the way back to fall, I thought we were all on the same page that CDI shouldn't adjoin residential. Okay? When we the very first workshop last fall where we talked about this, that was an issue I raised. It was embraced by the administration. It was in all of their version subsequent versions of legislation.

Okay? It all that all situation all changed when a certain amendment was voted on in Bill 2,505, much to my surprise. That was then, this is now. Because now when we consider what having the overlay adjoining residential developments means we have now a very particular place that we can look at because we only know where that overlay is going to be at the Eastalco community growth area. And therefore, when we include language in the bill that allows it to be adjacent, we know what that means because there are four particular parcels that are adjacent.

Could you bring that up, please? That are adjacent to residential that were potentially not that one, the one with the arrows. It's the last one I sent you. And we don't have it. We can we can move forward without it because it is a graphic that I talked to.

I guess it just didn't make it into the sorry about that. I should have seen that when you first showed it to me. But if you look at the top there, you'll see there's a couple of residential areas near the top of the map and there's a couple of parcels, one which, not both, is currently under consideration for the overlay. And then at the bottom, there are another couple of parcels that abut up against Adamstown that are actually not part of the proposed map. But the language allows them to be considered.

And that's what we're concerned about here today. The language in the build because the language in the build drives what the map can be. I know we're not here talking about the map, but the words matter for the exercise. Yes. And the arrows point those parcels out. Thank you. And I mean, I don't know how else I can put it, only that these are incompatible adjoining uses. There's no other way around it. If we learn nothing about the history of data center development in Northern Virginia, we should learn that. And whether we're talking about 200 feet, 500 feet, frankly, 1,500 feet, they're always going to be incompatible adjoining uses.

And actually, in our normal zoning practice, we always try to keep separate intensive industrial use from residential use. We might have general commercial or ORI in between them. We try not to put intensive industrial uses adjoining residential as a matter of principle. It's a good idea. We should adhere to it here.

If you allow the overlay to join these residential communities, even if you want to minimize it and say, well, it's just that little neighborhood up there. I think that matters to that neighborhood, by the way. But if you keep it in the language, you keep open the door that the Planning Commission or this council yourselves could consider additional map amendments that allows the overlay to butt up against Adamstown or to go further to the north. And if you do, it'll decrease the quality of life for those communities. It'll decrease their property values.

And it opens the door for and this we'll talk about it more in amendment three, but it opens the door for a much larger overlay than I think we should be considering. So for all those reasons, I hope you'll support this amendment. Thank you.

Thank you, council member Knapp. If you if you have an extra Thank

you all for being here this evening. This is an issue. So here's what I did over my three week recess. I went back to the beginning to 2022 and watched all of the planning commission meetings and the workshops and the data center work group meetings to sort of reestablish. We're not really in Chapter two of this story. We're in Chapter four. If you take Chapter one would be Bill 2,205. Chapter two would be the data center work group. Chapter three, you could say, was Bill 2,509. And then here we are in Chapter four.

And I encourage everybody to go back and watch as many of these meetings as possible. They're free. It might not be the most exciting summer series you're going to watch, but it's important. So starting with Bill 2,205, we had no additional or special setbacks for CDI use. In fact, the previous counsel passed 2,205 and established critical digital infrastructure as a by right use in general industrial and light industrial.

So when we move to Chapter two, the data center work group, one of their recommendations, and it's on page eight, I believe, if you follow along at home the way that I do, they recommended a 100 foot setback or double the height of the building, of the data center building. If you move on to Bill 2,505, that setback was increased to 200 feet, and now we're moving again to 500 feet. Additionally, we have with the additional requirements that were passed in Bill 2,505, including view shed requirements, landscaping, berming to mitigate impacts to residential areas. There is additional accommodation that can be had, that can be proposed by the Planning Commission. And that has already taken place, it's my understanding, to mitigate sound and vibration that the setbacks have been increased to, I think, 800 I don't want to say that 800 feet plus.

So I think that's an important consideration for where we are now to sort of move forward. We are where we are. That's true. But we got here in a series of steps. And that's what I did in the past three weeks, revisiting all of this material again.

Others have comments on some members?

Well, just

Alright.

Okay, please.

Did you want follow-up to what she said?

Yeah, just a little minor. Okay. Two points. I think the the fact that there has been this progression of trying to push the data centers further and further away from residential is significant because it's an acknowledgment that that's an issue and rather than just trying to tinker with the numbers we should just say they just shouldn't have joined. And the second point with respect to the Planning Commission's authority to increase setbacks. That's something they actually requested of us and it's something to give them that authority, which I think is important and it's in subsequent amendment that we can talk about.

So councilor McKay just a question if you had a thousand acre property next to that abutted a residence, what would be would you say thousand acres is ineligible?

What I'm saying is the overlay should just not go next to residential. That's all I'm saying.

What what is an acceptable setback from distance from where it should be from residential?

I don't think there's an acceptable setback. They should just not join each other in the rest in fact, what we should be talking about isn't setbacks from from zones. We should be talking about setbacks from structures.

So an additional question

my other amendment will actually it will talk about setbacks in the context of sensitive structures.

So if in fact you voted we voted down the 500 feet, would it be possible for somebody to subparcel off the piece that was there and end up with a data warehouse within 100 feet of the residence?

I honestly don't know about hypothetical scenarios, but we have

That's not a hypothetical scenario.

We have in front of us for this area.

Oh, I'm saying

And we can talk about it in that context.

I am talking about it in that context. If you take that parcel and we we didn't have this, they subdivided off a 100 foot buffer on one side and made that a separate property. Now it doesn't abut. And without this, then they could build within 100 or 200.

That won't that really depend on what this council says in terms of the zoning that would go along with such a subdivision?

Subdivision doesn't come through us.

No. But if they change the zoning, they would have to change the zoning for this to actually be material for this discussion. That that's comes to us.

And and that's but even but even if it was that you're talking about the ag pieces, but even if it was a LI or GI piece and it abutted and they subdivided off, then they could be within a 100 feet.

I mean, listen. We can talk about

I'm just saying it's it's a possibility. Scenarios. Well, that's

what we're talking about. Okay. So we can talk about it. But there's still a fundamental issue to address.

And the question is

these uses are compatible. They're not.

Alright. Other questions? Councilmember Carter, please stop

the applause for Councilmember Carter.

Also, let me know I'll let you know for the record that all four of the properties that have the arrows pointing to it have not nor do not have an active application for data center. And at least the top two don't have the zoning. Okay. None of those are doing. So then all that would have to come back to the council

Yes.

For rezone.

Yes. That that is absolutely correct. But we know that the top right arrow is on the proposed map. And, yes, it will come back here. You know? And you know what? We we will have those discussions then. But why not have them now? Because the language of the bill is what will dictate what's possible when we do have that map discussion. So let's make the decision now. And the idea you think it's okay for data centers to adjoin residential or you don't. That's what's on the table right now.

Anyone else? Councilmember Folks, we don't have call outs from the audience. Thank you.

Thank you, mister president. Myself and council member Carter were the members that brought forward the amendment to change the setback to 200 feet. I'm not sure why it came as a surprise as the amendments were already linked to the agenda. Maybe I was surprised that it passed. I don't know.

But Yes.

Okay. I just wanna be very clear that there should not have been a surprise there that we were very transparent in bringing that forward. I would go on to say that I think 500 foot setback from a residential property provides a clear buffer to preserve quality of life, minimize noise and visual impacts and maintain community integrity. I'll go further to say that the 500 foot is not the end all be all because as we just heard from council member Knapp, there are other requirements and things that need to be met that that 500 foot could be increased. So I think we're sending out this misnomer that 500 feet is the end all be all

and I

don't think that's the case.

Other folks we don't call from the audience.

Well, would remind you that it was the Planning Commission under under their site plan review authorities that requested the ability to increase the setback. That was one of their specific requests.

And I believe within the regulations, already have that to some degree. When we have staff come up do and have for sight and vibration.

They will.

So Alright.

Other questions or comments from council? You can call the roll on amendment one.

Councilmember Carter.

Nay.

Councilmember Donald. Aye. Council Vice President Duckett.

Nay.

Councilmember Keegan Air.

Nay.

Councilmember Knapp. Nay. Councilmember McKay. Council president Young?

Nay. Motion fails. Amendment two

I'd like to move amendment number two to build twenty five zero nine.

We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. You can speak to amendment two. Alright. So

there was a a very interesting policy proposal made by the county executive when the overlay was rolled out. That would call for, you know, in the future, once the overlay is established, if anyone wants to come in and ask for a piecemeal rezoning, that would change land from ag to LI or GI and thus be then eligible to develop data centers under the overlay that there would have to be an agreement, a separate agreement between the developer and the county executive such that they would provide funding for agricultural preservation, not an allocation of land someplace else, actual dollars. In the amount of the equivalent amount of five acres preserved for every one acre that is rezoned. Okay. It's a very intriguing idea.

And and whether we talk about one to five, the planning commission requested that be increased from one to 10. I think that's a very intriguing idea. The problem that I have is that in Maryland, we have this concept called contract zoning. And if a zoning request like that piecemeal rezoning request that would have to come about in the future is somehow tied to a a a financial request such as this, that that's illegal. And the fact and so my problem my problem isn't that there could be this community benefit agreement with that negotiation between the county executive and the developer.

I don't have a problem with that. I encourage it, go forth and conquer, I say. The problem I have is that it's the language is in this bill. And it says, it is the intention of the county, which includes the county council, that this happen. And in a bill about establishing the overlay talk then talking about if you wanna do a piecemeal rezoning, you're gonna have to pay this this ag protection fee.

That ties these two things together. There's no escaping that when we come come forward with a and hear a piecemeal rezoning request in the future, our lawyers are going to be jumping up and down that we never ever ever ever ask whether this was done. And yet, here it is as our intention. How can we not ask it? And yet if we do and if it's on the record, even if some of you ask the question in your comment, it's on the record for that proceeding, and it will always taint those proceedings.

And it will set us up for appeals against our decisions. Let's say someone and by the way, as one of the county attorneys mentioned in the Planning Commission review, this will be purely voluntary on the part of the developer. They're not bound to do any of this stuff. We're just at their good graces, I think was the term used. And so let's say they say no. No, I don't want to pay that. I don't want to do a community benefit agreement. Just give me my piecemeal rezoning. And then the council, for whatever reasons we have, then says no to the piecemeal rezoning. Well, now that developer's got a reason for appeal.

They were trying to basically blackmail me into paying this contract zoning fee. Well, let's say that we say yes. Let's say they've paid the agreement, whatever, and the council approves piecemeal rezoning for whatever legitimate reasons we have. Then we're open to appeal on the other side of the equation. You know? Sugarloaf Alliance over there. They might come to court and say, no. No. No. No. This was contract zoning. That's illegal. You have to rescind that approval. Listen. This is I think it's a fine idea. It's a fine policy direction to go. It has no place being in this bill, and that's why I've I've proposed that it just be simply deleted. Thank you. Any comments?

Councilmember Kiguider.

Could we have legal come to the table, please? Whether it's, miss Keller or mister Black. My understanding from legal is this is allowed, that this is not a problem.

Is that correct?

I mean, as Council Member McKay indicated, we cannot compel Correct. These parties to enter into a community benefit agreement. The goal with this language is again intentional to say what we would like to see happen, but it was to create a distance between the executive's office and the council so that we don't cross that line of what could be perceived as contract zoning.

And can the council restrict what the public asks when they come to the dais? I mean, come to the podium to ask a question during their public comment?

In the terms of a rezoning or at a regular meeting? It would depend on the context, right? Mean, rezoning as a quasi judicial matter, typically cross examination is limited to the information that is presented at the rezoning.

Correct. So if there is no information presented about a community benefit agreement of any sort or any kind, the public really can't even bring that up. Correct?

It it could be ruled a a question that's out of order beyond the scope of what the testimony was.

Which means the council themselves cannot ask that. Correct?

Again, the the intention is to keep those Two separate. Two separate things apart. And if there's no testimony about it, cross examination should in question should be limited to the testimony that's presented.

So, therefore, if nothing is discussed and it cannot be brought up as a question, I'm not sure where the conflict arises.

Again, goal is to make sure that there is not a conflict.

I understand. Mean, we you there's there's only so much we can do as