Town Council - Regular Meeting

Oh yeah. Oh my god, dude. I never close the Perry down jersey.

Too much. Too much. Are they online? Nothing to do with Here [clears throat] we go. Good evening. Tonight is February 9th. We're at 39 circle. It's 7 o'clock for the regular town council meeting meeting. If we all rise for a pledge of allegiance and invocation, please.

Ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Dear heavenly father, we come here tonight to conduct business uh for the town of Georgetown. Please look over us and guide us in making uh sound decisions and uh uh try to help us with lightening up some of this weather. Uh we we want to thank you for helping us uh find places for se 65 people that were homeless. We put some in uh the pallet village. We put some in a church in uh uh Cool Springs. Thank thank you. And we put some at the uh higher ground. So 65 people is all we have in the woods. And every one of them were uh given a a warm bed, a warm cot. The Red Cross donated donated 40 CS to me and told me to keep them. So, we've got them available now in case this weather continues uh w with the way it is. But we want to thank you for everything you do for us, giving us our breath and guiding us on a daily basis. In God's name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Christine is uh she's in Georgia visiting family. Uh Tony fell today and he's hurt a hip. So I don't think Tony be with us at all. He called me and was in a lot of pain. So I doubt he'll be with us tonight. But Christine should be online. Stephanie had some There she is. And then uh Stephanie had some business in Wilmington, but I think she's online now. Yep, I see she's online. So we're ready to get started. So, council members, hopefully you've had a chance to look at the agenda and if there's no deletions or additions, I'd entertain a motion to accept it. So, moved. Thank you, Penn. Do I have a second? Second.

Thank you, Eric. All in favor signify saying I. I. Okay. Thank you very much. Moving forward to approval of January 12th town council minutes. Council members, hopefully you've had a chance to look at the the minutes as they've been written. If there's no additions or additions, sub subtractions or comments, I'd entertain a motion to accept. So moved. Thank you, Eric. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Paniel. All in favor signify saying I. I. Opposed? So carried. Thank you. Uh, council member comment. We going to start with W two, but Tony's not here, so we'll move it on down to Ward three to Eric. Just like to welcome everybody for coming out in the cold.

Thank you, sir. Ward four T or uh Tony Daniel. It's good seeing everyone here tonight. Thank you. [snorts] We'll jump back to Ward one. Christina. [clears throat] Hello everyone. Thank you for being there tonight. Everybody must be cold. We're short and sweet. Moving on uh to number six of fiscal year 25 audit presentation. Gan members counts online. We have our auditor who's going to present the um audit results for fiscal year 2025. And thank you Jean. Can everyone hear me? Okay. Yes sir.

Uh can you see the presentation that I'm sharing on my screen? Yes sir. All right. And I'll walk through this. Uh this is high level summary of the results of the audit. So I'll be uh brief with my comments. Please feel free to jump and if there's any uh questions. Yeah.

Um, this represents our firm and industry required communications as a result of our annual financial statement audit for the town. So, we've completed the most recent fiscal year audit for the town, which is April 30th, uh, 2025. I'm Chris Leman. I was the engagement partner again this year for the financial statement audit. Sir, as I mentioned, our scope of services was the April 30th, 2025 financial statements audit for the town. In addition, we're available for year round consultation on any accounting matters. This slide here is just a highle summary of the results. We've issued a unmodified or a clean opinion on the financial statements and that would be the best opinion we could give under u professional standards. We did not discover any instances of fraud nor were we made aware of any fraud during our audit. Our audit is not a forensic audit but we are required to have a healthy skepticism that fraud could be could happen at any time by anyone. We did not uh we did not uncover any material weaknesses in any of the internal controls. And I'll have a slide coming up here shortly that walks through the significant areas that we're replacing and relying on uh from a control perspective. And then lastly, we received the full cooperation of management. All records that we requested backup for, we obtained back proper or adequate backup for those transactions. any questions that we had, we obtained uh adequate and timely responses to those questions. This slide here is just uh it's really a picture of our riskbased audit approach. And the idea is that an audit's really a funnel. We're funneling out risks of those statements being wrong as we go

through the audit. So we design audit procedures to determine where that risk of misstatement uh could lie within the financial statements. This second phase here which I'll uh give the results here on the next slide is where we design we assess the design and the operation of the internal controls. And what we're doing there is we're looking at key processes that impact the financial statements. For example, payroll and looking at time sheets and accurate pay to employees would be an example of an area we're relying on the controls. Uh cash dispersements and authorizing vendor payments and things of that nature. So this slide here is our assessment of the internal controls and there's for there to be an effective environment there's five interrelated components that need to be present and work together for there to be a functioning environment and that's the control environment. That's the risk assessment process, the control activities of the town, the information and communication and the monitoring. and we've concluded that there is an effective control environment for the period under audit. And then going into the key processes, our goal here is to determine a is the process designed effectively meaning does management have proper internal controls in place or adequate internal controls in place and then two are are the are the results being achieved. So for example, if management had a uh process to approve dispersements, then we would test and say are those transactions approved before vendors are paid. So we've assessed the treasury process and that's predominantly looking at bank statements and bank reconciliations. There's certain estimates within the financial statements. For example, the useful lives in an asset is depreciated

over that useful life period. uh the financial reporting process and the accuracy of the trial balances and the numbers that we get for the audit. We assess the dispersement and the expenditure cycle. Uh as I mentioned before, payroll as well as revenue and fixed assets and we've concluded that both the design and the operation of the controls was effective for the period under audit. Any questions so far? No sir. Mr. Cle.

Um and then here just high level summary. Uh these are uh results that were taken directly from the financial statements specifically called the management discussion and analysis section. And this gives year-over-year figures both from a governmental activity perspective which does include the general fund activity plus long-term assets and long-term liabilities. And then also the business type activities which is the water and the sewer fund. And you'll see uh just at a high level here uh total assets increased year-over-year uh from 19.6 million to 32.2 million. Largely that's the result of some debt that was issued. So there was cash that had been received that had not yet been expended related to those debt proceeds. So you'll see that uptick there in assets. And then you'll also see a similar increase in liabilities because of those debt proceeds affecting the long-term liabilities. So, uh, long-term liabilities went from 3 million up to 14 million. So, from an all-in perspective for governmental activities, the total net position or the residual amount of assets minus liabilities went from 17.5 million up to 19.2 million. So there was an increase in the town's net position related to governmental activities and then also for business type activities and that's again the water and sewer fund all in there was a net position of 33.5 million and that increased I'm sorry yeah sorry 33.5 million and increase of 34.3 million for the fiscal year and this slide here just shows Same column, same data, but from a revenue and expense perspective. And you'll see the governmental

activities revenue was at 8.3 million compared to 7.3 million in the prior year. Total expenses were at 6.6 and relatively flat with the prior year. So all in that's led to a positive increase in net position and governmental activities of 1.6 6 million compared to an increase in the prior year $411,000. And then in the [clears throat] business type activities, roughly 5.1 million of charges for service revenue for water and sewer against 4.8 or close to 4.9 in the prior period against expenses of 4.3 million or 4.2 yearover-year. So all in there was a positive increase in the business activities of uh just under $800,000 for the fiscal year. So both positive results in in both uh columns for fiscal year 2025. And then other than that, I um I I touched on some of these items as I spoke through the results, but had we had um you know, we had no audit adjustments that we proposed through the audit process, we had no We had no unreported audit adjustments. We had no fraud that we've uncovered. We had no material weaknesses during the audit process. Really nothing of a negative nature that I need to bring to your attention as governance um as a result of our audit. And then I've also included my contact information in here if there's any questions or concerns outside of audit season or during the audit and I make myself available to to uh assist with those questions about that. That's that's it for my presentation. Are there any other questions or comments?

Council, any comments? Nope. No, sir. I think you covered it all. We want to thank you uh for presenting this to us tonight. I'm I'm tickled with the increase every year. here. It looks like we're doing something right. Uh putting uh putting more people in the town. Yes, sir. Well, thank you all for uh letting me present, especially remotely given how given how cold it is out there. But I hope I hope you all enjoy the rest of your meeting. Thank you, sir. Have a good night. Yeah. Thank you. You too.

Moving on. Number seven, recommendation from the support of housing issues committee regarding affordable housing. Members of council, this is um going to be a report from count chairperson Linda Dennis from the support of housing issues committee.

Thank you and good evening. I know you did receive a packet of material which I did not receive as chairperson of the group. And if you will recall, I did send to you uh under separate uh communication an email that quoted the exact language of the motion that was made at the last housing committee meeting regarding the uh approval of the concept of tiny living. And I'll read the motion as it was made uh and passed. It was not passed unanimously. There were two dissenting votes primarily because we felt the two people that voted against the motion felt that this was a splintering off of a report that we should be making as a whole. So that was the objection. The motion that was made and passed read and I quote recommend to the town council a need for the town to approve smaller cottage style houses like in the design of the models of Little Living. This motion was not a recommendation in regard to little living or any other current projects but rather for the design type. So I want to make that clear. The information that you received from the individual I that was not was handed out at the last part of a very long meeting. There was no motion. There was no discussion of this material. I just want to make that clear. Um, I do have an update and you may know something about this, Jean or mayor. I had a conversation with Brian Pedigun, Senator Pedigen, and he's made it um made some information available which is very interesting and that is that the rural uh rural health transformation fund. Are you aware of that?

No. Okay. Well, there's $160 million coming to Delaware under this fund. And he's implying that some of this can be used for the homeless. So, I would suggest that I'm not sure if the details are all in place for him to share it specifically, but he did mention that as a possibility. What was the name of it again, Linda? It's the Rural Health Transformation Fund.

Okay. and a a substantial amount of money, 160 million. And he and Representative Glitner are looking at trying to get some of that funding for homeless because they have a parallel process going on where they have a homeless committee at the state level. So, they're looking um as a way to use this money to coordinate the efforts at the state level. Hopefully it will trickle down here to some additional resources for the programs that we have. The next meeting is on Thursday. We have three new providers coming in to give a presentation. Higher ground, the police department, and can't remember the third one.

Springboard. Oh, springboard. Yeah. So, they'll be coming in to give us a presentation as well. And I think one of the things that I will ask them and I think you alluded to it in your discussion, Mr. Mayor, um I would personally like to hear from them what they did during this c cold spell. Um I know that everybody was on high alert, so it'd be interesting to see how they coordinated efforts with each other to serve the population that were really at risk. Any questions? I I wonder if there's rural transportation money. I wonder if that's what he's calling his health health fun. Yeah. Help. I wonder if this is what he's calling to make his uh like he done up the Christian hotel

where he done the hope center. I think that's what he's looking to do in Kate County and Sussex County. He didn't reveal much because I think it was just, you know, yeah, I'll see what's going on. So, it would be helpful if you all got some information and Jean, if you could share it with us if you have anything on Thursday, it'd be great. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Uh, we got a couple other people want to talk on this subject. Uh, Dennis Wry. Good evening all. Um, by the way, the copy of the presentation which I will provide to council members here.

Thank you. Was also sent out to all committee members on January 23rd by email. Okay. And that was reviewed. I do know because get comments back from various committee members. And basically the vote from the committee was we felt that though this is not a presentation of our final report. Due to the timeliness of the considerations, we wanted to let the town council and the mayor know where we stood on it. And basically, it just says it is the recommendation of the committee that the mayor and council support and encourage cottage dwelling units and communities within the town of Georgetown. While these units and communities are affordable workforce housing and not supportive, transitional or homeless housing, they are a large part of the answer to the homelessness unhoused problem. Georgetown doesn't have a adequate affordable workforce housing. In presentations to the committee by First State Community Action, Love, Inc., and rec Recovery Hub Impact Life all stated that their program's largest obstacle was a lack of affordable housing. Okay. And there is material in there outlining the housing continuum and where affordable housing falls within that. And also uh from the National Alliance to End Homelessness and from Habitat for Humanity, there were certain comments regarding the access to affordable housing and how affordable housing helps

the community. Uh just multiple forces prevent communities from building needed affordable housing. Retric restrictive zoning and land use policies often rooted in discriminatory practices artificially limit where housing can be built. Community opposition nimiism not in my backyard frequently blocks affordable developments particularly in high opportunity areas. Okay. and the economic benefits of affordable homes. Okay. The economic impact of housing affordability can start a ripple effect for an entire community. When families spend less on housing, they have more to spend on goods and services. These transactions fuel communitywide econom economic growth by bolstering local businesses and the local workforce. They also contribute to the local tax base that gets invested back into the community through government programs and infrastructure improvements, resources that benefit everyone. Okay, basically that's in a nutshell what uh what we were looking at. And as I say, the sources were uh National Institute, Habitat for Humanity, and it was all based off the Delaware blueprint for solving homelessness. That's all I have to say. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Adam. Um, yeah, I just wanted to reinforce what Linda had said about the recommendation not being in regards to any specific organization or project planned or currently in works. The um the one thing in retrospect looking upon recommendations at this point of the committee um it does seem kind of like we're writing the book report before the book is being read all the way through. So, um I would just think, you know, moving forward in our committee, we should probably finish our process before making recommendations. Um because there's still tons of things to learn. Um a lot of great organizations coming before of us before us still um to give presentations on the services they provide and the struggles that they face. Thank you.

Thank you, Adam. Eddie You know, Linda Linda made mention that there was um two people that went against the recommendation. Um, I was one of them and um, like Adam said, I don't believe we should be making any kind of recommendations to you at this point. We're still in the process of figuring out what we need to do first. Um, and I just think that it's awful funny that this recommendation is coming to you at a critical time in what everybody's been voting on and what's been going on. So, I just don't think that, you know, do we need affordable housing in town? Yes. What does that look like? Not sure. Um, you know, could it be these? Absolutely. But I just know from the business that I'm in, affordable housing really doesn't end up being affordable in the long run. There's there's so many aspects that wind up in it. So, but I just don't feel that we need to be making recommendations to you guys at this point.

Thank you, sir. Moving on. Second reading adoption of ordinance uh A is ordinance 202509 signed regulations team. Oops. Just

members of council ordinance 2025-09 an ordinance to amend the town the code of the town of Georgetown chapter 230 there of entitled zoning. This is an amendment to section or chapter 230 article 22 signs specifically section 230 177 sign regulations for all districts. It's removing item number K which is political signs K four which was a time period for display and removal. It's taking out time period for display and removal. A political sign shall not be erected more than 60 days prior to any contested election and shall be removed within one week, seven days after the election or referendum date. It's just a removal of that section of the code. Pleasure. The mayor council.

Questions, comments, council. If none, I'd enter I'd entertain a motion. So move. Thank you, Eric. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Christine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Opposed. Roll call. Ward one. I. W three. I. Ward four. Hi. And I'm an I. Thank you very much. [clears throat] Moving forward. Uh, ordinance 20261 comprehensive plan. G.

Okay. Amen to council. Ordinance 2026-01, an ordinance to amend the comprehensive plan future land use map for two parcels totaling 91 plus or minus acres from commercial to single family residential and amendment to the town code of the town of Georgetown, chapter 230 thereof entitled zoning to change the zoning map for two [snorts] parcels totaling 0 91 plus or minus acres from highway commercial HC to urban residential UR1. The properties are located at 501 and 503 East Market Street, identified as Sussex County Tax Parcels 135-15.13-16.00 and 135-15.13-17.00. Again, this is an amendment to the future land use man future land use map in the comprehensive plan and a reszoning of the properties from highway commercial to urban residential one. Pleasure of the mayor and councel.

I've got some requests to speak, gentlemen, if you want to hear them before we talk about it. Uh first I have uh George. Would you like to speak? I really want to get up just to uh clear the air on some misunderstandings. I've heard in two or three meetings in the past that these houses are going to be less than 400 square feet. They're not going to have any appliances. They're going to have in fact the smallest house and there's only five of them. We're only planning on putting 20 houses on that lot if it's approved, not 34. If it's approved, five of them will be at 475 square ft. That house will have one bedroom, a full kitchen, full bathroom, washer, dryer, refrigerator, stove, internet connections, um electricity is all included in the rents, and that'll rent for about 950 a month. The twobedroom will be about 650 square ft. It'll include everything I just said, but it'll have two bedrooms. It'll be two stories. It'll also have a washer, dryer, refrigerator, stove, uh, all the electric, all the appliances and utilities will be included in the rent, and that rent will be $1,000. The threebedroom will be a little under a little over 800 square ft. and all the other all those things that I said are included. There are five one-bedroom, five twobedroom in our plan and 10 threebedroom. Um there will be um what am I missing? They're all going to be long-term rentals. We're not doing

any short-term rentals. The rentals will be at least a minimum of a year. They will only be available to people who are working or earn within 50 to 80% of the AMI, which is approximately 50 to 65,000 a year. In other words, it's workforce housing. Um, our average cost to build these houses is 120,000. We're actually using that as the basis for all of those numbers I just gave you. We have no profit. We have no salaries. Tom and I make no money. We don't have any paid employees. Everything goes right back to the town. All the money's collected will do three things. One, it'll pay the mortgage on the property. Number two, we're putting aside about 30% for reserves for future repairs down the road. So that'll include roads, roofs, siding, curbs, and then we're putting 20% aside for everyday maintenance. We're going to have a maintenance company in charge of maintaining that property and making sure that all the rules are followed. Every single penny from that rents that come into that village stays in Georgetown. None of it goes to Little Living. We don't make any money. None of us leaves this town. We pay the mortgage. Once the mortgage is paid off, we expect to be able to do another project in Georgetown hopefully and that money will be in a pool for us to do that as well. So there is no profit. I know somebody said, "I know all about real estate. How'd that happen?" Well, the reason it happens is because we don't take any money out of it. We're not making any money. Uh we've decided about five years ago that something was needed and we were all in a position where we could do this for free and even our board is totally volunteer. Even our

legal work is paid for by one of our board members. So that's how it works. Uh I think I covered everything. Did I miss anything? Tom, thank you for your time. Thank you, sir.

Mrs. Borla. I'm Sue Barlo. I 703 East Laurel Street Extended in Georgetown. [clears throat] I have a bit of a cold. Anyway, um I want you to think about the older people that home older homeowners in this town of George 7. We're are facing much higher taxes because the referendum we just passed. We know we we also have other expenses that are [cough and clears throat] going up constantly, but because of this zoning change you're talking about, the value of our property is going to plummet. We're just our all the values property values we work for all our lives is just going to go to nothing because of this particular housing development. You've got to realize that old people or older people, I refuse to believe I'm old. Older people just know that we are just one serious illness or one accident away from a long-term visit to Harrison House. The houses are the value of our homes is what we're depending on to have a a decent quality of long-term care because that's what we have worked for all our lives is the security of our homes. [clears throat]

We really deserve elected officials that will look out for our interest. the people who have worked hard all our lives in this town. We deserve elected officials who look after our interest and protect our quality of life. I'm asking you to do not sell out the residents of this town for outsiders that we know nothing about and certainly do not care a thing about the town of Georgetown. It's time that this town council started thinking about the residents who have worked so very hard to make this our homes. One small housing development is going to ruin a lot of our lives. And I'm asking you, please table this ordinance as it is or this zoning change as it is and think about it. Think of another alternative. Find someplace else. The county has plenty of money and plenty of land. Georgetown doped. Thank you. Got him. I feel like the development is a uh being sold is brought in as a Trojan horse for it's going to be veterans. I heard veterans plenty of times in the past council meetings. I'll be very interested to see how many veterans do make this their home and also say when

it's passed. We kind of wish we could bet on uh outcomes in Georgetown. I'd probably be a millionaire by now just voting for uh what the people are for and what the council stands against. Um but I just don't think rental properties are what we need. I mean, has anyone driven by the Oaks recently? There's plenty of rental properties behind Walmart. There's plenty of rental properties coming to this area. Um, but very few opportunities for affordable housing that people can buy. Um, like I said, I'm sure my couple minutes here won't change anything. It'll be gabbled down and with that gavvel, you'll be driving another nail in the coffin of the American dream of homeownership. Um, also someone can build another rental property, collect more money. Um, yes, you just said he was going to stay in Georgetown, but Georgetown's not that big. I don't think we have too many other places you could put a development like that currently in the town. Um Betty brought up great points before about, you know, we're losing commercial property that the town's already losing more of. Um opportunities to bring businesses to Georgetown, things besides accountants offices and lawyers offices would be kind of cool. But the big thing for me is and I think just being on the cusp of it being have lucky enough to have had the opportunity to purchase a home um before they really became unaffordable. Um, you know, I have plenty of friends who are in opportunities where, you know, it's it's increasingly tough six years past the COVID era and there's just not many opportunities and if we're going to take away precious real commercial real estate, I think we should look for opportunities for people to buy their homes. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Most of the people I imagine in this room are homeowners. And

that's why you come to these and that's why you care. you wouldn't care if you were renting. So, let's build a community of homeowners. Let's make Georgetown the place where you can live and own your house, not be stuck paying a landlord for all of eternity. And let's bring back the American dream. Let's give the younger generation a chance. Thank you.

Thank you, Adam. Dennis Dennis Winsen Reed, 23365 Park Avenue. Um, not coming out and saying yes, no, whatever, but I did a little homework and pulled up the affordable housing production task force final report and looking at that to see what they're recommending, what the state is looking to push forward. Okay. And the first item, okay, household income as a percentage of area median income. They're showing that Sussex County, um, yeah, 80% of AMI is 56 56,90071,200. Um, in actuality, Georgetown's is Georgetown's AMI is $49,000. So um the maximum affordable housing unit cost rent and utilities at 80% of AMI would be maximum affordable of $138 a month. Okay. So these would definitely fall right in locations to encourage developments. The locations where resident residential development should be directed include state state strategies investment levels one and two and investment level three where infrastructure exists or is planned and is or within local county local and county growth areas and zones. Georgetown is investment level in

between investment level one and two in the state state strategies infill parcels where infrastructure exists. Okay. Vacant abandoned parcels where infrastructure exists. Now I moved here in 2012 and that property was vacant and had been vacant for some time at that point in time. Okay. commercial and retail spaces, eg conversions to mixed use and other uses. So near transit or where transit is planned, there are two bus stops, one on each side of the street about 100 ft away. Okay? If the town does not do this on their own, the state will be stepping in and will be doing it. So, I think I think that having town control over what happens is a lot better than waiting for the state to come in and tell you what to do. Okay, that's basically um there's there's more in here, but if you want to take a look at the affordable housing, it's available online. So if you find other properties within town that fit these guidelines, I would say go for it. So if there's another area, yes. And by the way, it has been proven that it doesn't negatively affect property values for affordable housing. You look at other areas, other other communities within Sussex County where you have 450 square foot homes.

A block away, you have 5,000 square foot homes and the property values in Seaford right now there's uh 450 or yeah 450T home listed for $160,000 and it's selling. So, that's a damn good property value for that size home. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Just on council, anything to say?

Yeah, I've got a few things. Um, everybody knows we have affordable housing issues and I think we agree that the little living concept is not a bad concept. But I don't think or I don't see how we can sit up here and pass this ordinance knowing that that property where these tiny homes are going to go is not really a good thing for the town of Georgetown. I've talked to a lot of people in the town. Some of them are for this, but most of them they're not against the concept. They're against where it's going. Who wants to live next to Purdue? Think about it. What's going to happen is if you don't rent the 20 properties out, what are you going to do then? Is it going to be like other homes in Georgetown? I mean, I'm thinking about we need a 50 and over community like the village. It's beautiful back there. Homes are steady selling. If they come on the market, they're selling. That's what we need in Georgetown. We keep approving things like this. We're just getting further and further and further behind. And are we up here supporting the people of the town or are we up here supporting something else? I mean, because honestly, if you don't live in Georgetown, it's not your taxpaying money going towards this. I don't care if you're a resident of Georgetown. I really care. So, we really need to think before we vote on this ordinance tonight if this is going to be good for Georgetown. That's all I've got. Christine, anything.

Eric, anything?

Well, I just got the stop process and I'm going through it all. We have Pallet Village, which is taking in homeless people and trying to get them help and get them graduated to a higher level of living. However, they can't go to a higher level of living because there's no place for them to go to. The next apartment building that they're going to go to or next apartment is going to cost what $1,400 $1,600 here locally if they stay here in this area. Now, if these individuals are actually graduating and they're wanting to be helped and once they graduate, where do we send them? Nowhere. So, I believe that this is the next step. I've I've talked to people that in the apartments um south of the town and um they want to apply for these homes because they're having a hard time making ends meet at those apartments and those are teachers. So, I'm talking to folks that are have a actual good profession and bringing in decent money, but they would rather live in something smaller with less rent than paying for those apartments themselves. Um, I think it's the next step. I also think that we ought to look around the rest of the town and find out what lots are available. Now, everybody says, "Well, we don't want it or this or that." If I was to give you an acre and put your house on it and you could put four houses behind it and pay for it yourself and then you collect the rent. Most of you say, "Okay, great. That's the way to go." And it's not. We don't want that involvement in there. But if you was to set up a private development and be able to control it, I do believe that that works. And I think it can work. It's just going to take everybody to, you know, have a positive idea going forward. You can kill anything real easy. um just by talking bad about it. You can kill things even worse by causing rumors. And rumors are just, you know,

lies that can't be proven. So, I I really think that this will work. I I I believe that it will work and so I'm all for it. Thank you, Rick. With that, I'd entertain a motion to move forward with the accepting uh 20261. I've got one more thing before we start. Um the downtown district boundary, we extended that out. So now this property is part of that. So what benefits are they going to get off of that since we're going to expand the boundaries out covering that parcel's been in the district since it was incepted? It it looked like it was in the dotted line. No, it's been in there. Carolyn Green, the last property on that side and then back.

All right, then. That's my mistake. I missed that. Okay, it's been there. Go ahead. Get up there to the mic and tell us what's on your mind.

Hi, I'm Judy Hill and I live on 100 West Street in Georgetown. How My question can I ask them? Yeah. Okay. My question is how did you pick Georgetown to do these homes? You're not from this town, right? No. So, where is your where's your town? We live in ocean. Okay. Why not do it down your way?

Can't find land and opportunities outside. So, we've been looking trying to find opportunities to do something like this. for us or the people. I never knew anybody didn't get anything out of it. You know, I just don't understand.

I mean, what? Okay, so you're not going to do it. Ocean view or Bethany. How did you pick Georgetown? Why not Seford, Laurel, Bridgeville, Greenwood?

The land was donated to us. by a person in George that own the land and in the land the two next door were also donated to us the ground because the gentleman at home couldn't do anything with them cost them too much we already spent about 300 on on reclaiming that talking about that a commercial lot if you figure out the total cost of the reclamation would be about 600,000 is telling us that we cannot put any houses on it or any buildings on it. That is why we have parking on that spot. So if it was a commercial that was so valuable and somebody wanted to spend a million dollars on buying it, there's nothing they can do with it because they can't put a building.

So I just I just didn't understand how come you just I know you say the land was donated, you know, but [clears throat] in other towns. Other towns was the best match. This came up and it was donated to us. I mean, I you know, Georgetown has enough problems.

I guarantee you it will look better of houses on Market Street. I guarantee Well, that's because people on Market Street who probably own those houses are landlords and they don't take care of them. [clears throat] Okay. Well, you answered my question. I just didn't know how you picked Georgetown because you know it's

with that. entertain a motion to uh accept or deny the 202601 comprehensive plan change. I move to approve it. Thank you, Eric. Go have a second. Second. Thank you, Christine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? No. Roll call. Ward one. I. Ward three. Hi. Ward four. No.

And I'm an I 3 to one moves forward. And this is just a zoning change. It's still got to go through planning and all yet. There's a lot of things they've got to come up with to to approve it. And I'm tired of hearing about people don't want to live next Purdue. Half the people that talk live on that street that lives by Purdue. So I don't hear that anymore. That's no excuse. No excuse. So, uh, this will be going forward, uh, with them from planning now. So, it'll be up to the planning, uh, group to decide, uh, what recommendations they're going to make. I'm talking to them about doing less homes there. I'm talking about them at other property. But here's the main thing you got to look at and find me some property, but find me where there's a bus stop close by. find me where there's water and sewer entities already there on that property that can be hooked up. That's the things. And the property was donated. That's the other thing. And it was donated by Mr. Johnson at Laurel who was going to build a used car lot there at what I call the old brown Zarco but Denre wouldn't let him do it because uh he was going to have to disturb the ground and it was going to cost him some ungodly amount to put up a building like he wanted as a a used car lot. So that got turned down and the other gentleman had the property in the back. He was going to put up two warehouses, but he saw he was going to have problem. How would he got tractor trailers in to them two properties in the back? He wouldn't have been able to do it. That little alleyway wasn't going to hold tractor trailers. So, he was shut down with not being able to do that. So, with that, that's where this property come in and was donated to him. It wasn't because Bill West donated to him. It wasn't because anybody on this council donated to him. is because the people in

the community saw what they thought was needed and they went to them and donated it to them. So, this will move forward uh to the next uh area of the planning. So, uh keep a look at your calendar when that comes up. Departmental report, town manager dean. Okay, members, council, a couple items. Uh Parson Lane trail head and parking area. We were awarded $190,000 through the outdoor recreation parks and trails program. Our initial request was 137,000. They had extra money and they felt this was worthy. The notice to proceed will go into effect March of 2026 and it's a 180day contract. Uh working on some street lighting. So, North Bedford Street, the location has been selected. Um underneath the snow, there's a white flag that actually shows you between the alleyway and the um entrance to the circle. We met with Verizon or I'm sorry, we met with um Delm Marva Power and it's going to be a poll similar to what we have on the circle today. So, we'll have additional banner arms. Old Park Avenue, our efforts um continue through Delm Marva Power with Verizon so that we can get street lighting down Old Park Avenue and Carolyn Street is currently in process. We did take delivery of a new public works dump truck on uh January the 23rd. Was placed into service that day and it was used during the recent snow event. Um, with respect to emerging contaminants, we are in the process of, uh, putting in three test wells. These will be on property down located around the South Railroad Avenue plant. It is funded through our emerging contaminants grant, which we already are a recipient of. Total cost is $15,825 or approximately 35,275 per well. Uh we did uh work on the disposal of seven law enforcement vehicles or vehicles assigned to the Georgetown Police Department and one old ambulance that had been converted. Uh received proceeds of $57,000 as a result of the disposal. We will putting um $6,300 into a vehicle transmission to

make a current vehicle um operable for the police department. We'll be spending 44,000 for detective admin vehicle and then we'll be doing $6,700 for vehicle up fitting. Uh the state of the state took place on Thursday, January 22nd. Uh the governor identified four areas for priorities: education, affordable housing, healthcare, and energy. Uh currently, the general assembly is in recess for the joint finance hearings. And then I'll go through the bills that we have thus far. House Bill 252 is personal use of and personal use consumption of marijuana making it a civil violation. We're neutral on that. Health and human services in the um House. House Bill 270, the mini bond bill. We supported that. That was signed by the governor on January 30th. House Bill 275, the bond bill. This is the governor's recommended. It's under review and that was introduced into the capital infrastructure committee on January 29th. House Bill 286 is a um revision to the state portion of realy transfer tax under review that's in the revenue and finance committee of the house that was introduced on January 29th. Senate bill 222 is a constitutional amendment for term limits. Uh this is the first leg. Remember constitutional amendment has to pass two different general assembly sessions not just the two terms within one session. We're neutral on that. That's in the executive committee and the senate that was introduced January 13th. Senate Bill 225 is the fiscal year 2027 appropriations bill. This is the governor's recommended budget. That's under review and that's what joint finance is working through now. Uh that was introduced on January 29th and put into the finance committee. And then uh Senate Bill 233, removal of um ice and snow off vehicles. We support that. That's in the Environment, Energy, and Transportation Committee in the Senate. And that was introduced on January 29th. Upcoming events. Supportive housing issue committee meeting will be Thursday, February the 12th, 4 p.m. here at town hall. America 250 committee will

be Monday, February 16th, 3:30 p.m. here at town hall. And any members of council wishing to attend the congressional city conference hill day, that's Wednesday, March the 18th, please let me know so I can get the RSVP in. And that's all I have, sir. Council, any comments, Jean? Yeah. How did we auction off the uh police vehicles? Um, we went through Adding Addington. Addington. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. with through who? Add Addington. Okay. And and that was the same with the ambulance. He took the ambulance, too. Why? Why? Why was we being involved with the ambulance? No, the ambulance was um donated to us. Going to convert it to a police car was going to be used for our mental health clinicians. Okay. But it wasn't strategic to our uses. Thank you.

Yes. 190,000 for the the parks and it we asked for 130 137. You know, we're lucky to get money like that because every time I go to do, all I'm hearing anymore, what's going on in Georgetown? How come there's so much hate? How come it's so much negative going on in Georgetown? The money's going to cease. They're going to stop giving us money. We keep on going the way we're going. We need to grow up and quit fighting and do things right for this town. Let's send an email because if not, the money's going to quit. The governor's already said that.

Or he'll come in on his own and put some real affordable housing like we got trouble with over there by May. Is that what we want at Georgetown? I don't think so. So, we've got to start coming together as one instead of this hatred that's going on. The web page that people have created has done nothing but made me look famous. The people in do love me to death. And any of these names that are going on that web page and and putting comments and all, don't go to them and try to ask them for money because you're not going to get it. So, Republic comments at this time. The mic is open after I read. Now is the time to hear from Republic. We welcome your comments which are very important to us. Note that all comments are limited to three minutes. As a reminder, please go to the podium to comment. Please give your name, address, and address your remarks to the chair. Note that we will not be entering into dialogue at this time. The purpose of this agenda item is for you, the public, to inform us, the council, about your views. Mic is open at this time. Good evening. Sunonny Gani, 22512 Springfield Lane off Old Park Avenue. I wanted to uh say something about uh the growth in this town, but after listening to all the little living, I just can't stay quiet about that subject. I think uh the some of the fear about property values going down is not real and uh ownership versus rental I don't think there is going to be any rental available between 950 to 1200 range with

allincclusive I was a landlord in this town so I can tell you that these guys what they're providing you're not going to be able to find it anywhere besides I looked at that property I'm a very small developer and I looked that property about a decade away ago and I know that how expensive it was and it wasn't worth developing it but that's not what I want to talk about. I want to say that yes we want to have a growth in this town. We want to bring affordable housing. We want to bring regular housing. At this point I wanted to ask uh unfortunately our counselor is not here and all the council member is not here. I how do we want to help the prospective customer which is going to be a developer or a builder whoever wants to do anything or a homeowner. What is the incentive for the city employees to expedite the process? Some of this process I I worked in most of the cities in this county and uh it seems to be the perception and sometimes the fact that it takes a little longer and some of the issues are because of the way the laws are written and the the staff is basically following what the laws are and it's it's kind of cumbersome and it needs some uh streamlining of those issues. So the process can go faster and uh it'll be interesting to make the process more uh user friendly. So if somebody comes to the town and wants to do something a small development or anything else there should be more uh

course into doing faster and you know at this time the process is very slow and it just keeps going back and forth with the engineering thing and review and the comments and going back and forth a lot of time people don't realize it how much money does it cost some of the people work for the engineering company and I'm sure it's great for them to be going back and forth and getting these things done, but from a developer point of view, especially a small developer who's going to come out and make affordable housing of five or 10 units, if they have to go through back and forth and spend a lot of money, that cost is going to get added to the cost of the housing. So, we need to work with this city and come up with a better solution to make the process a little streamlined. And I'm uh sure uh I'm going to bug uh Jean and the employees later on to come up with some ideas how to move it toward that direction. Your system is old and needs change. Do you want to change again? And you know if you some of you want don't want any progress want to stay there it's coming it's like a donut you know the growth is coming from everywhere else and Georgetown is going to grow whether you like it or not. Do you any of you up in the council and uh the do you know how long it takes to get a permit to start a job in this town? Do you know how long the inspection process and closing of the job it takes? Uh the employees who already are loaded with lot of work, you don't want to load them up with more work. There has to be some incentive for them to help the people go. All right, 3 minutes. I will put a bigger report next time and I'll put it as a subject matter and go with the detail.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. We need to bring some affordable housing, but we need to make it easier. Thank you, sir.

I want to respond to some of those comments that Mr. Gani just made. Linda Dennis, I was on the planning council for eight years, closer actually 10. And the problem with the process is not the process. It's the people who submit applications and don't follow the instructions. So, I can tell you if there are delays in the process, it's not because of the town and the staff. I can assure you of that. Just go and look at what it takes by the time they get their comments from the town engineer and sometimes they don't respond at all and the town has left calling them. Where are your comments? Where are your comments? Get back to us. So I you need to understand that that's very false information that you're promoting and I don't think it does well for the town to feel

for somebody who has not been a single house in this country. You know you're not you're pretty self- serving here sir. So let's be real about it. I know I'm just commenting on your comments and telling you that's enough. That's enough. I'm telling you that that's not an accurate information or a picture about how things are done here. Okay. What else you got, Linda? Anything? That's it. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else at this time?

Good evening. Good evening, sir.

I'm John Peterson. I live at 304 North Bedford Street. Telmatics is an estimated $80,000 three-year modernization of the town's fleet management architecture. It records the precise location and operational status of every police and public works vehicle, reducing life cycle cost, increasing asset availability, and strengthening Georgetown's operational posture during emergency status. It captures performance metrics, fuel consumption, idle time, and diagnostic fault codes. Telmatics enables remote diagnostics, allowing maintenance staff to identify emerging mechanical issues before they result in equipment failure. Dashboards provide real time visibility into fleet status. The Association of Equipment Management Professionals established the Telmatics data schema now codified internationally as ISO 15143-3. ISO defines required data fields, update intervals, status codes, and interoperability characteristics for mixed fleet environments. For comparison, OnStar is a proprietary General Motor system that performs well within GM's closed ecosystem, but it does not meet the ISO5143-3 interoperability requirements and therefore does not meet mixed fleet operations. Interoperable platforms in widespread municipal use include include Geotab, Verizon Connect, and Zonar.

In summary, Telmatics is a fiscally disciplined standards compliant upgrade that strengthens ple fleet performance and service reliability. It implements this. Its implementation enables police and public works to deliver faster, safer, and more dependable services to Georgetown's inhabitants. I respectfully request the Telmatics be included in the FY 2027 budget discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Eddie Wise, Old Park Avenue. Um there there's a couple things. Uh Mr. Mayor, you you said you know that you go up to do and they ask what's going on around Georgetown, why there's so much hate. I can tell you why there's so much hate. It's because when you have the public that everyone up there is supposed to represent comes up there and votes against what the constituents are telling you and you vote with outsiders. That's where all the hate comes from. You know, nobody's disagreeing that we need affordable housing. It's just how it's being done, you know. And the the thing about saying that this project's not a done deal. It is a done deal now. Yes, it has to go through go through you, but there's nothing you can say as long as it meets the code.

You know that, Eric. You work with codes,

you know. And for you to sit there and say that this this is a good idea. No, it's not a good idea. You know, we have the pallet village. It's not done everything that it was promised to do. So, what happens when this doesn't fulfill the promise that they're promising and that you're saying we're stuck with it? We're not going to get rid of it now because it's here to stay. My fear is it's going to be just like the apartments behind your house. You're going to have cars stacked upon cars stacked upon cars. Your parking lot is not going to be big enough to support 30 vehicles because if you have three three bedroomedroom homes, so how many parking spaces are you supposed to have? Two per house. Okay. So, what happens if you have three adults living in a house that have three cars? Where are they going to park? You don't know.

Let's stop the dialogue in here, okay? And ask that at the end of the night, okay? But those are the things, you know, where and you know the state coming in and mandating what we do. Well, they're not going to now. We have rules. We have a code that says we can put these on UR1 lands. You know, I I stood up here several times. That's a bad idea. You should have put it in conditional use. Then you have a say on the council has a say on what it what goes in it and where it goes. Now you have no say except for Okay. Yep. It's passed. So if you wonder where the hate comes from, that's where the hate comes from. Mr. Mayor, thank you. Anybody else at this time?

Shelley Wise, Old Park Avenue. I wasn't going to talk tonight. My watch is telling me not to because I'm about to have a heart attack because I'm so mad right now. Um, I'm going to come at this a little more personal matter. I can't get people to come to these meetings because when I ask why don't you come to town council meetings because it's like talking to a wall when I go in there. You have people that have lived in this town forever. We go way back, way back, families and everything. It's like their opinions don't matter. That's how we feel about it. We can get up here and talk and we have we've had many people come and yes, we do need affordable housing. I'll be the first person to say that. going around to the town and doing everything I've done and I've seen and I've talked to, we definitely need it and I agree with that. But when you have these people that have lived here forever and they give your opinion and it's like no one cares. We see the top of heads, no one's paying shuffling papers, no one's listening to us. So that's the problem. No one wants to come in and be involved because they're not getting heard. You're not going to get people to come in and and and work together. And you can say that you there's hatred and the name calling and all that. Well, that has to start from the top and work its way down because it's not just here. It's back there also. Walking around this town and taking pictures and talking with people, which I still talk to people and I delve into everything to try to learn what's going on. And I've learned some nasty common stuff that's going on in this town. And maybe that needs to be brought out. Thank you. Good evening, Mark Rogers, boys and

um I too wasn't going to say anything and then I just took some notes and uh from what I hear up there, Mr. Evans, you talked about the tiny houses and about all the rumors and how rumors I I didn't get your exact words, but I want to say something about rumors or lies or what spread the lies, but you didn't say what rumors was being told about the tiny houses. I've lived here my whole life. I've worked in the town of Georgetown since 2020. Been in the fire department. I probably know as many people in the town of Georgetown next to Mayor West there. I've not heard any rumors. Not none is really off the wall. I've just heard that people are against it and why they're against it. So, I'm not I'm curious about the rumors. The hate, Mr. Mayor, you're absolutely right. There's been some hatred put out on Facebook. Certainly, I've not been a part of that. I'd love to know what officials though in Dober threaten to keep money from Georgetown because of a few people putting stuff on Facebook. That's unethical. I've taken a lot of leadership class. Well, let's go back to hate. A few years ago, Councilman Barrett and Councilman Townsen probably took more hate from people standing here than any council people ever had. And then a few months ago, one or two council people got picked on and you put a stop to it. But what they went through was hate. But let's talk about hate. I've taken a lot of leadership class. When there's issues, there's problems, things are failing, whether it's a business or a town. The one thing I've learned about leadership, the first place you look is at the top. So if there's hate and there's issues, we need to look at the top. And the top starts right up there. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Fay West. I live at 309 Franklin Street and you all are talking about hate. I've go to a lot of dinners with my husband. We've been to different meetings and they come up to me and say there is hate in the town but it's not from my husband. They're saying they are racist. That's website. It's racist. They're saying the Hispanics, the blacks, they're against them. They're directing it to me that it's causing that's what's causing the hate. But there is a lot of hate. You've got to have kindness and love in your heart. You cannot start hate and attack. I'm saying everybody up here, they're doing a good job. Do you know how much they're getting paid? The councilmen are getting paid $500. The mayor, he's just got a raise after 10 years. He gets $1,000 a year. So don't talk about hate because they are doing their job. They're doing what's right for the people. It's just a handful of people. We hear from everybody in the town and I'm telling you that is not the hate that we hear it. They're saying they're hearing it. I'm talking about different towns when we go to the concerts. They're saying I've never seen so much hate in your town council meetings. But everybody else out on the street that we talk to, they do not believe that there is this much hate from my husband's heart. He does it for out of his kindness of his heart. Do you know how much he was sick when it was cold out and there were people out on the street? I had to talk for him, but he took the calls and he got everybody out. He has a kind heart, so do not talk about him being he he's not a hateful person. So, I just had to say thank you. Everybody Everybody had a chance.

I want to be the last person.

Angie Townson 20293 Andis Road. I'm not going to talk about hate because we're all not going to get along all the time. We're all going to have a matter of opinions and sometimes those opinions are on opposite ends of the spectrum. But what I want to talk about and I have for weeks been up here is why Georgetown always has to settle for what we get. Tiny homes. Oh, it's wonderful. Yeah, let's put them in Georgetown. But after the last meeting and I spoke about that, why are we settling? I talked to Bill and I told him about other tiny home developments across the country and they're beautiful. They're gated communities, but they're not in the middle of town. They're off. Bill even agreed. The biggest complaint we have with the tiny homes is the location. Why can't we find another piece of property that is not on our main street in town, East Market or Bedford Streets? Town owns 74 acres. I'm sure that has water and sewer. Some of those parcels. Dedicate an acre to this project. If you're so enamored with it and you want it so badly, donate an acre of land. put it out there on South Road Avenue. You were going to look for a piece of property, Bill. You knew a gentleman that you were going to talk to, see if he would donate a piece of property because you even said you knew the residents were against that property down there. And the planning commission is going to come before them again. And they voted against it at the first one to change the zoning. It was unanimous. They voted against it to change the zoning on that piece of property. So, what's left? planning commission does their job and they follow the code but when it comes before these gentlemen not you penal when it becomes before these gentlemen they disregard what the planning commission wants so in a way

why even have planning commission if you're not going to follow their judgment or their knowledge so that's all I have thank you Adam Buchchkowski, 200 South Bedford Street. Um, first and foremost, I'd like to wish Council Member Neil a speedy recovery and hope to see him at the next council meeting. Um, the light fixture is still not fixed up there. Um, if that hits someone, like a lawyer is going to have a heyday with me being here for the last two months saying that that thing's hanging. It's really negligent at this point. I don't think people should should turn to hate, but it is obvious that when your voices are ignored for so long, what else are you going to do? Um, I mean, past hate is violence, and no one wants to see that. No one wants to see hate. Um, we hear about theoretical people on the street that are, you know, happy with the way things are going. Um, and I think you we need to see more people come here. It was uh, you know, while I enjoy getting a seat these days, um, I loved coming in here and seeing 80 people wrapped around the room because it mean people cared. They cared enough to come on a Monday night. And, uh, you know, there's a lot of things people would rather do than come to the council meetings. I know like I have a blast here, but I don't think everyone does. But you need to come out and you need to voice your make your voice heard. And when you do and you're ignored, it does get frustrating. And I would say the majority of the voices that are coming forward are not in line with the voting record of our council and mayor. And that's that's frustrating. It it

really is frustrating. Um, I think more political discourse would help resolve a lot of our issues. Um, I heard recently Milton does their public comment sections prior, you know, in the beginning of the meeting. I think that's a pretty cool idea. Um, I'd love back and forth rather than just coming here, staring at the wall, talking for my three minutes, and then sitting back down like nothing ever happened. Um, because it does feel that way very regularly. Um, but talking to each other and just feeling like your voice is heard sometimes because it it surely doesn't. It feels like it falls on deaf ears for a lot of us in this town. And it is very frustrating. I think you heard everyone up here tonight saying, "I don't disagree with the idea of small affordable housing." Just like with the police station, no one disagreed with we need a new police station. There was concerns about the cost of the police station, the location of the police station, but it was just we have to ram it through or you know the classic if we don't do this then the state's going to come in [snorts] threatening us with that because you know the state solely makes all of their decisions on what little Georgetown does. the entire state of Delaware looks to us for guidance. It's pretty cool. But yeah, let's let's use our ears some more and be cordial. Disagree with each other. It's our right to disagree. It's all right to, you know, think someone's opinion is wrong, but you still listen to them. And, you know, you might change your opinion, you might not. You might meet halfway in the middle somewhere. Um, but just yelling online or yelling here and talk talk and listen. We can do

this. We're a cool town. We're an awesome town and uh I think we get forward to the next level by listening to each other. Thank you very much. Thank you, Adam.

I I hope to end this on some positivity. Um 21 weeks ago, we hired five people to go through the Delaware State Police Academy. February 19th, uh two weeks from now, I guess, um four will graduate, uh which will take us total of 24 officers for the town of Georgetown. Uh and I want to thank all the council, uh town manager, and the community for supporting us, getting us through there. It's a it's a lot of work just to get somebody hired uh and then to get them to go through 22 23 weeks of the academy. Um so thank you very much for for uh supporting us. Thank you for the police department and the public works. People forget there's a public works place out there too. Uh so I just want to say thank you for that and hopefully we'll get these uh four gentlemen uh on the streets uh off of field training and you'll get a you'll I'm sure you'll see better service. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else at this time? Well, this ends the council meeting. I'd ask for a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Thank you. Panual second. Yep. Thank you, Eric. All in favor signify saying I. I. Oppose. So carried. Ladies and gentlemen, have a good evening.

It's been what? Yes.