Town Council - Regular Meeting

If everybody would check your phones, make sure they're on mute, please. Good evening. Tonight is Monday, May 11th, 2026. We're at 39 the circle for regular town council meeting. Everybody will rise for the pledge of allegiance and the invocation. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one indivisible.

Pastor Neil Eternal God, we thank you God for your love, your kindness, your mercy. Lord, we thank you God for allowing us to come in one more time. God, look upon us tonight. Give her wisdom and knowledge under your understanding. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Well, council, hopefully you've had a chance to look at the agenda. If there's no deletions or additions, I'd entertain a motion to accept. So moved. Thank you, Pen. I have a second. Second. Thank you, Christine. All in favor signify saying I. I.

Opposed? So carried. Approval of April 27th, 26 town council minutes. Hopefully council, you've had a chance to look at them in your packet. If there's no uh deletions or additions, I'd entertain a motion to accept. So moved. Thank you, Christine. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Tony. All in favor? Second by saying I. I. Opposed? So carried. Moving to council members comments. Uh just let it be known that uh Councilman Evans is out of town with an excused absence, so he won't be present tonight. Uh we're going to start with Ward One. Christine.

Uh good evening everyone. I'd like to kick off this meeting with a round and sounding congratulations to Angela Townson, Michael Briggs. Penol did a great job on his campaign. We were just kidding about that. And to everyone who was involved in either way, shape or form with any campaign, congratulations on the um privilege we have of speech and participation in government. Thank you. Thank you, Risky. Pastor Neil,

I'm just glad to see everybody here tonight. Uh prayed everybody had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday and just uh continue doing what you supposed to do. God bless you. We love you. Thank you, Councilman Barrett. It's good seeing everyone here this evening. Uh, Mr. Mayor, we didn't always see eye to eye, but I appreciate your years of service to the community and wish you the best.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Uh, next meeting will be my last and it'll be a short one where we just change the reigns. And, uh, it's been an honor to be, uh, involved with this town for 14 years, 12 years as mayor. Uh, we've accomplished a lot in this town. We've got a lot of uh good things that have come. We got a lot more things are coming. I was talking to Angie about the hospital. We got to push that. We got to look at some of these bills. House Bill 23 with the housing uh or Senate bill. We we've got to keep an eye on that. And then uh the Hope Center, it looks like Dover is going to convert the old Sheran to the Hope Center up there. So, we're the only county without one and we are the county seat. If we get it, we just got to make sure it's where we want it to be. And right now, there's two options I think is one option that I think is ideal is a classic motel. If the state would buy that and convert that to the the homeless center uh with a fence around it and guardianship, uh we can take care of a lot of problems. But the other one that I'm scared of is Howard Tienna School. With it being empty, they could they're looking for buildings that are already built and that being built. They could be looking at that place. So, just keep an eye and you just can't push your Republican representation. You've got to cross the lines and you got to talk to some of the Democratic people to try to get them on your side to help you with uh with doing this because uh uh the Republicans are weak up there. Only six senators. That's not enough to get anything done. So, we got to push as hard as we can push. But there again, it's been an honor. I'll see you in two weeks for the next meeting and the last one. But, uh it's been a joy and I hope uh people will

satisfy with a lot of things that I accomplished. So let's move on. Uh supportive housing issue. I think we got a presentation.

So this is an update from Go ahead. You do it.

Okay. Well, we have been continually meeting and uh we hope to have our final report within the next month or so. Um, I just want to say and I'm sure everybody in this room is aware of the fact that this is a moving target. Every time we turn around, there's a new report, there's a new committee, there are new issues that are raised, but when you finally look at it, it's a it's a problem that's going to be with us for a long time regardless of what we recommend because the bottom line is there aren't enough resources to do what needs to be done, especially for those people who are very difficult to reach. Um, I know they say they like living where they're living. But is that acceptable to us? What do we have to do to engage them? Some of the options are might be considered extreme. However, I think everything should be put on the table. Everybody out there is a human being. Uh and whether they want services or not, something has to be done. Anyway, we have uh invited a number of providers into the meetings and we learned a lot from them and we did find out through their presentations that of course many of them have the same philosophy. There is two disparit approaches to homelessness among providers. one that professes that shelter first is more important and another is that people have to comply with the rules in order to be helped. So those two streams of thought are out there and those two programs are out there. They're both surviving uh and um serving a lot of people who are very much in need of services.

But we had the um state service center, Everlasting Hope Ministries, First State Community Action, Georgetown Navigation Center, Springboard, Georgetown Police Department, the Georgetown Recovery Hub, Higher Ground, Love, Inc., and The Way Home. Those were all of the providers that came. They each gave a presentation. So, we learned a lot about their philosophy, their mission, their goals, how many people they serve. Um so it was really an interesting and and rewarding experience to have them in. Um recently we went through the um Delaware inter agency collaborative to end homelessness phase one report. Now this was something that um wasn't published very much down here but we did find it and we did have a copy of it and we did discuss it. So, there are a lot of issues in there that we have to continue to follow and there are a lot of um not a lot but there are several bills that we know in do that we have to keep um our fingers on. One is the homeless bill of rights that needs some tweaking if it if it goes through. I know the town has spoken up against it. Uh I don't know if it can be fixed and I think it's not out of committee, is it? No, they didn't have enough signatures to get out of committee. And the um

amendment, House Amendment One was introduced on the 30th was what? House amendment one, which was designed to um address some of the concerns from the committee hearing, but the number of votes to get it out of committee did not take place. That was May.

I think that considering what the town's position is, that that's good news. uh means they have to go back to their drawing boards and take into consideration the input from all the people that are most concerned about what that bill does and doesn't do for folks. Um we will be preparing our final report. We have an outline. We have to review. We we actually have to as our group come together and and uh reconcile what we learned and what going to be translated into the final report to the council. Um, like I said before, we're looking at late June, early July for the final report. Our meetings are, of course, open to the public. So, if you're interested in coming and listening to the reconciliation of these recommendations because we started meeting in December. So, we have a lot of information that we've tried to digest and now we have to regurgitate it into some uh fashion that will make sense to everybody. And hopefully it will have a series of recommendations that our town will stand behind in order to help u the generations of homeless people that are out there and every day I think we all recognize there are new faces every day out there uh and they're getting younger. So something's happening. So we need to find out what are there any questions. Well, that's a recommendation that I think we're going to be making and it is that you know there's a lot of overlap. Um there's communication on the client

level but not on the systems level. So there's that still does exist where you have the silos. So but that that also happens at the state level and I think that's something that uh uh Senator Pedigun and Valerie Gutler are looking at with their work in Dover. They found the same thing we found. So it's a big issue and it needs to be addressed because this the resources are just too scarce. And so if coordination can help utilize resources in a better way, then that's what we have to do. People have to give up their territory. It's very territorial.

Well, well, that's where I think the state has to come in with the funding sources that some things are going to have to be required because, you know, you can talk about these issues on a volunteer basis, but they all and they all do a lot of the same things and some of them say do serve the same people. So, you know, it has to be addressed and it has to be remedied if we're going to succeed. Anything else? I have a comment. Yeah,

if I may. Um, I want to thank you first of all for yet taking another committee. I remember uh my breaking into my council role uh sitting up on the committee with you and penwell. It's it's not an easy task. It involves a lot of time. It involves a lot of learning new things and I appreciate your time uh for doing this. I do recall asking the question and you echoing the question, who are these people accountable to and and I'm looking forward to some accountability uh from each of the organizations as to what it is that they're bringing or not bringing to this town. Um, and for us taking the responsibility to task our our representative and senator to bring the voice because we're not the only one going through this issue, but we seem to be getting our neighbors coming here because it's a lot easier to be closer to the services and it's just not feasible for for Georgetown. Yeah, we have an unfair burden that's placed upon us based on our location and what services are here, but we have to hold those other towns accountable because we hear a lot of rumors about them sending people here for services.

Well, they drive them here. Yeah. And uh that has they have to be held accountable for that. If we have information and we can substantiate that, we need to take it to uh the powers that be in those towns and put them on notice.

Yeah. Thank you though for your comments. I appreciate it. somehow stage power as progresses. Well, um, Love, Inc. has a has a model that's different from some of the other organizations and we have to kind of respect that and see what works and see what the other organizations are willing to do to either accept or adopt their uh frame of mind or come up with something else because they they do have a different philosophy than some of the other providers.

So, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes, they do. And some people just some organizations just accept people where they are without any real expectations immediately. So that's what I alluded to before about the two different models that are out there that seem to conflict with each other, but they're saving they're actually serving the same population. That's the irony of it all. Anything else?

I'm sorry. Well, we don't have it, but I can tell you that recently they did the point in time count and we can get some information from that and that'll tell the story about and they're also conflicting uh opinions about how many people are homeless here. But um with the point in time count that went into I do believe the demographics, the age and the genders. Did it not? I believe so.

I think it did. So we we have access to that information. But it is something that we're going to have to ask a lot of the providers to help us to understand because the p it's rotating. Like I said before, we see so many new faces and they're younger. They're very young people. You see them on the street corners, you know, asking for money and that some of them look now about a year ago they were older folks. Now you look at them, right? And you're looking at I say kids uh you know in their 20s.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Anything else? Well, thank you, Linda. Thank the committee. Just want to thank the committee members that are here. Adam, Dennis, um, yes, I'm sorry, Tammy. Eddie. Yeah, I'm blind tonight. Did I miss anybody else? Really sorry if I did. Didn't mean to do that. Okay, that's it. Moving on. Second reading and adoption of ordinance uh 2026-03 fees.

Hey members of council, this is ordinance 2026-03, an ordinance to amend chapter the code of the town of Georgetown, chapter 98 there of entitled fees. This is modifying chapter 98 fees. Section 98-5 utility services. I'll just read the fees that are changing. The trash fee per quarter is now $70 per unit. That's going up from $68 per unit. Sewer availability per quarter, no change. Sewer debt service fee is uh 6.64 per 30,000 gallons of usage. Previously, it was $6.51. And the sewer usage rate in town is 623 per 10,000 gallons of usage, previously 6.04. And out of town is 9.35 per thousand gallons of usage, previously 9.06. and section 98-7 taxes. Property tax is.31 per $100 of assessed value. Uh the previous rate was $441 and the pole wire tax rate $2.35 per $100 of assessed value previously was $369. Pleasure of the mayor and council.

Council, any comments, questions? None of that has changed since our budget meeting, right? Or the meeting we had. No, that's correct. It's all the same. Thank you. With that and entertain a motion to approve ordinance 202603. So moved. Thank you penal. Do I need a second? I have need a second. Second. Thank you Christine. All in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. So carried. Moving on. Departmental reports. Town manager Gene Deorn.

Okay. Members count. Just a couple of police and public works facility building. Uh the site grading is complete. The pipe stickout is scheduled for this week starting on May 13th. Uh following that, we'll be laying out the footers for the buildings. Parson's Lane trail head and parking area. The storm water detention pond has been completed. It's actually underneath the parking area and the sidewalks on the front along Parson Lane has been installed. Uh fiscal year 2026 great fund applications are now available. We have $115,000 available. Press release was sent out on May the 5th. The application deadline is Friday, May 29th at 4:30 PM. And we did submit three applications for fiscal year 2027 community reinvestment fund. The three projects for Parson Lane Trailhead and parking lot, $85,000, Leighton Avenue. This is for sidewalk um crossings at the uh county parking lot area and lighting between um East Laurel Street and Depot Street 27,000 and pump station equipment and control panel cabinets at two pump stations 264,000. Uh any notice of award will be in early July. It's included as part of the bond bill. Upcoming events, Delaware League of Local Government Day will be Thursday, May 14th, 11:30 a.m. in Dover, hosted by Lieutenant Governor. Hometown Hero ceremony will be this Friday, May 15th, 6:30 on the Circle. America 250 committee meeting will be on Monday, May 18th, 10:30 here at Town Hall. Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, May 20th, 6 o'clock p.m. here at town hall. Georgetown Memorial Day service will be Sunday, May 24th, 1:30 on the Circle. And a reminder, town offices will be closed on Monday, May 25th in observation of Memorial Day. Now, highlights of what's happened in the general assembly. Just going to highlight the um changes or what's changed since the last report. House Bill 135 had House Amendment One introduced on April 30th. This is the homeless bill of rights. It was not released from committee and that took

place on um May the 6th. House Bill 306 dealing with chatbot notifications had House amendment three introduced and passed with the bill on May the 5th. That did also pass the House on May the 5th. It's now in the Banking Business Insurance and Technology Committee in the Senate. House Bill 310, large Energy Use Facilities, that's an exclusion for the tax credit, did pass the House on May the 5th and was assigned to Banking, Business, Insurance, and Technology May the 5th in the Senate. House Bill 363, 20 mph residential speed limit, uh, was tabled in committee that took place on May the 5th. Um the virtual meeting anchor, House Bill 339, was voted out of the administration committee in the House on May the 6th. And House Bill 407 was introduced on May the 7th. This is dealing with Brownfield's grounding groundfields grant funding and that's utilizing um a portion of the state's portion of realy transfer tax that was introduced to the re natural resources and energy committee on May the 7th. And Senate Bill 233, removal of snow and ice from vehicles with Senate amendment one was voted out of the Environment, Energy, and Transportation Committee on May the 5th in the Senate. And that's all I have. Sir,

questions, comments, council. Gan, I just got one thing. Uh, did we fail to mention that the the next town council meeting will be on the Tuesday instead of the 26th? Yes. Instead of the because Monday's a holiday. Christine, Tony, anything?

Thank you. Regin, thank you very much for your uh for your report. Very interesting with everything that's going on. So, uh moving on. Uh public comment. Now's the time to hear from our public. 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 you will not be entering in the 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. Hello everyone. Um, I just like to congratulate Angela Townsen and Michael Briggs um for um for being the elected officials. Um I am so proud and um thankful for this opportunity I had. It was definitely an eyeopening experience. Um and yeah, I'm just um excited and um interested and um learning more about how I can um be of service. Um and with that being said, I do want to say um I'm proud to be I'm proud to be Mexican-American. my Mexican heritage. It's an honor to be indigenous and it's a privilege to be a United States citizen. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is John.

My name is John Peterson and I reside at 304 North Bedford Street. The Antbillum South legal system, enslaved people were classified as chatt. The law treated them as movable property, the same legal category as livestock, tools, and furniture. The killing of an enslaved person by an owner was treated as a property offense, not homicide. The sexual exploitation of enslaved women was lawful because they were not recognized as persons. Enslaved people lived under the owner's authority with almost no limits. Their marriages had no legal standing. Forced family separation was lawful. They lacked legal personhood and could not sue, testify, contract, petition a court, or seek remedy. Children born of an enslaved woman were slaves at birth. The legal order, this legal order shaped Confederate Civil War policy. The 186220 Negro law exempted major slaveholders from conscription. A substitute system let wealthy men hire replacements. The poorest bore the risk while the wealthiest avoided it. Confederate soldiers called it a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. Despite its status as a border state, Delaware remained Union loyal. It never succeeded. It never raised Confederate fighting units. It was never claimed by the Confederacy unlike Kentucky and Missouri where rival government confederate governments were declared.

The Constitution defines treason as levying war against the United States or adhering to its enemies. In the 1860s, that definition was taken at its plain meaning. Delawarians who left this state to fight for the Confederacy levied war against the United States. They adhered to our enemies under the law as understood at the time. They met the definition of traitors. Because the Confederacy existed to preserve slavery, the Confederate flag at the Georgetown Historical Society carries the public meaning of human bondage, disunion, and armed rebellion against the United States. I respectfully ask this body to affirm Delaware's Union loyalty, repudiate Confederate mythology, and state that the Confederate cause and the flag hold no civic standing and no place within the authority or mission of this town. Thank you. My name is Sunonny Gani. I live off Old Park Avenue, right at the border of the city. But I love this town. A lot of people here too. Uh my old harp is the housing issue. Now at the candidate forum, I know Angie and Manuel and Michael, everybody talked about the affordable housing, workforce housing. So, let's not forget it after everything settles down. We still need to keep working on the housing issues because this not go away anytime soon. And want to thank Bill and Eric, mostly Bill, for

spending all those years and keeping it bringing all those businesses which kept our taxes low. I just got the tax bill, man. Some of them are two, three taxes. And uh so with all that money, we should be able to uh spend some uh funds to get somebody to streamline our uh permitting process. Uh we can think outside the box and try to streamline it by talking to some of the near nearby jurisdictions, talk to them and see how they are doing it. like Milsboro has a pretty straightforward system, Milford, Seafford and uh so we will get away from this stigma that Georgetown is not businessfriendly. I I mean I hear it all the time. Of course, I try to get away from here at times because of the intricacies of the laws which can be eliminated, but it will take time and we everybody get upset with the ladies up there, but they say, "Hey, change the rules. We just following what you gave us." So, we got to figure it out and you guys are the body and somebody has to figure it out how to streamline it so we can do things simply and more businesses can come in. Otherwise, I don't know if people understand it clearly or not. If you don't get bigger uh tax base, the homeowners will be paying more on their housing uh taxes. That's the only way you'll be able to support all this inflation which we are getting now. Well, thank you, Bill, for your service. And Eric is not there, but have a good retirement life. Congratulation, Angie, for the job. Michael, hopefully we are in good hands.

Andrea Willie, 124 Burton Street. Myself or my parents have lived at 124 Burton Street since 1964. 10 houses in a quiet neighborhood for a long time. Now we have 32 homes, a not so quiet neighborhood full of fast cars and trucks and lots of little children playing in the street which is a dead end street and I fear for them. I have talked to the proper channels and that's being worked on. We have seen lots of changes in 62 years. This town has ne has many changes and it will never be what it used to be. But that's what happens, excuse me, with growth and people moving here. It's not going to be that quaint, quiet, small town that we grew up in. Our homeless population will always be here, not just in Georgetown, but all over. The resources are here, and therefore, they will be here. They are our neighbors. Now, Leviticus 19:18 says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Matthew 22:37, Jesus identifies the greatest commandments, loving God with all one's heart, soul, and mind, and loving one's neighbor as oneself. Luke 10:27, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." The Bible says we have to love our neighbors. I personally want to thank Mayor West for all he has done for this town past 12 years. All the hard work, the countless hours that he's put into it. I've said many times to him, "Why do you put up with

all of this mess?" And we all know there's been a lot of mess lately. I didn't realize that my hometown had turned into so many hateful, nasty people until I really started to pay attention past few years. And it's sad. Now, a new mayor will take over. Congratulations, Angie. And I hope that the people are nicer to you than they were to Mayor West. Billy, enjoy your retirement. You deserve it. I hope that you and Fay have many roads left to travel. And enjoy those grandb babies cuz they're the best thing ever. Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, Andrew.

Good evening. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Jane Huffington and who sorry, Miss Jane. I had to do that.

You know, listen, I'm ignoring him. Okay, we're just going to ignore him. Shame on you. And I live at 204 South Railroad Avenue. I have property at 204 and 206 South Railroad Avenue. And first, I want to congratulate all of those who ran for office. And I know I'm cold, too. And uh I'm just looking forward to whatever is going to take place. But I'm here tonight with a concern in that these were individuals were elected to care for the entire town of Georgetown. and I don't know anything about make Georgetown greater again but I saw where the organization posted on Facebook the winners of the election but went on to expound on the fact that Christine has already said that she was not going to run and it was time to find somebody to replace Tony. I'm like what is going on here? Make Georgetown great again which was been formed and has brought concerns to me as to what their intentions are. I'm seriously concerned about what it is that the Make Georgetown Great Again is planning to do as far as my community is concerned. Are we following the pattern of of Washington and try to remove every non-white person from from the council, is that what their intent is? Or are they insinuating that making Georgetown again will mean that individuals of color need to remember our place? And see, I'm 75 years of age. I know what people have gone through. I know what I've been through. I'm not going to speak for anyone else but for myself because I know. And it doesn't mean that once again, black men can't walk in a circle after 10:00. Will any other parent have to go through what I went through? And I know you won't. When the police pulled a gun to my son's head because someone said they had been robbed and him being 16 years of age was tall for his age, his father was tall. And and make him drop his pants in the middle of the road. that these are things that concern me as a parent of

what my children are going to be subjected to and or will the chief be persecuted because of the fact that he he holds his his officers in line. The fact of the matter is is that and you're representing Georgetown. You represent us each and every one and to make Georgetown great again may not remember the racism suffered because of the color of my skin. And as I said, I'm 75. I remember not being considered good enough to attend schools. I remember what it is. I can still remember the the members of the council didn't even want us to celebrate Junth. Didn't want to make it a holiday here in town. I I'm I I the woman that stood on my front steps one day uh getting ready to go in and I saw a truck and with the big wheels and everything coming by and because he saw me, the group that was in the car and they had a Confederate flag, they threw their beer cans at me and and called me some names that are just to that that are horrendous. But I'm like and I'm like, what in the world is this going on? I mean, why do I have to live like this? I mean, I've been through all the things in the 60s and and and everything and all the uh being shut out of this and being called names. I think it needs to stop. And my concern is I know who Angie is and I I I work with these people. I've been in Georgetown for 30 years. Enough already. You know, we've had discussions about the Confederate flag. To some, the Confederate flag is just a flag. But see, you don't know what it means to me because you have not been subjected to the things that I, Jane Hington, and we had sat and we had talked and we had come to an understanding until one person felt that had the audacity to come and say that black people are supposed to be slaves and it was in the Bible. And bless the Lord, my husband's a pastor. And if there's nothing else I know, okay, if there's one thing I know, I know the word of God. And I know that

now we're in the Bible to say that. And in my last thing, I'm here to say that uh as newly elected board that I shall be black until the day I die. And I feel I will hold each of you responsible to care for everybody in this town. And you need to understand something. I don't just represent black people. I have white children as well. And I will be here. I can't come every week because of uh I'm I'm not able to come every to every meeting. But I represent all of our children here in this in in Georgetown. So, uh I'm sorry, but you took up some of my minutes. So, that's why I I represent all of these children.

15 seconds is all I used. Oh, so whomever and Angie, whoever make Georgetown great again is, just let them know that we are human and and and so you can't take out your opinion and things like that because I will hold council accountable for the things that are happening in our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Jane. Clayton Townsen 20293. Jane, I appreciate what you said. Um, but racism does run on both sides. Um my son when he was um freshman in high school at Laurel, he had um three young black boys held him down and stuck a stuck a lighter in his face. They threatened to burn him and they tried to steal his Duke starter coat. He had just bought him. Um and then when he was in the army um his superior officer or his superior non um commissioned officer um falsified records um against him and he had to take and um he went in angry and um and they got him calmed down and when they did they found out that this guy had broke federal law and he had 24 years end. Now, my son was one of those fast trackers. He was extremely bright and he still is today. And I have to brag on him. He got his NBA Friday and we went down in University of North Carolina. So, yes, I I'm I'm not trying in any way because it was wrong what happened to the black community back 150 175 years ago. It's terrible. And it it lasted a long time. But again, it it happened to me, Mike, because my son is me. And um we dealt with it and he went and the guy that had 24 years was stolen out of the army. Um because he was getting ready to go to Iraq and when he and got over there, the guy approached him trying he said, "You're trying to

ruin my career." He swung him at son. It was a terrible mistake on his part because my son leveled him. and um they sent him back and and gave him a discharge. So yes, it happens and but again it happens on both sides and we just got to get over it and and try to you know Angie's whole campaign was about being a community. Um she spent Saturday night for an hour and a half speaking to Lety trying to come to get our community together. How can we bring in the black community, the Hispanic community, the white community, and find a something that's going to bring us together as one? That's all we want. You know, we want to change. We I'm tired of this racial stuff, and I'm tired of reading about my country. They they they dislike our country. You know, I saw that recently. that upset me more than anything because I sent my son into a situation where he got bullets chunked at him and um didn't like it for a second. Um they degraded my country, degraded my state and um I can take a lot of things in politics, but I draw the line there and and uh it's just the way I am.

Thank you, Clayton. Well, I'm I'm a little bit younger than Billy. He's a He's older than I am. Even though we went to school together, he's so much older. Um, and we haven't always seen eye to eye on things in this town. Um, but for anybody up there, any of you, even I've told Gan a hundred times, I don't know how he does this, but for anybody that sits up there and gets the pay that they get, they deserve respect. if nothing else for that because all of us are sitting out here. We're nuns sitting up there. Um the young lady that's the attorney, I don't know how she bites her tongue so long during the meetings without I told her one night I said, "Do you drink?" I said, "Cuz this is a lot." But it is a lot. But it is these people that were elected, Angie, Mr. Briggs over there, probably young enough to be one of my kids. penal didn't didn't have to do so much work this time. But for all of you that were elected, we're putting our hope in you and we're going to hold you all accountable. You've heard us come up here and fuss at this group. So, we're holding you accountable that you're going to bring hope back to this town and you're going to listen to all the people that are here because I think that's the biggest complaint is that people said that we weren't heard and um I there's uh people that made comments during the meet and greet. I'd never come up here for that before and um they said, "Oh, we're always available by phone or text or email. Just call us if you have any questions. That is that is not true because that person that said that I have emailed and left messages for and I have never yet I could go back and count. I've

never yet got a response. Jean will respond. I think I've talked to Panuel a few times on the phone. Billy's responded a few times and that's it. But we deserve that. At one point I said to Jerry, I said, "Maybe it's a rule. Maybe nobody up there is allowed to speak but Jean. Maybe they're afraid they'll say something that's not appropriate for the town, so they're told to shut up and only Jean can answer questions. But then you all sit up there during that meet and greet and said, "Call us. We'll talk. We'll we'll share your concerns." So hopefully that will change because I know Jean's tired of getting all my emails. Nice haircut by the way, Jean. Billy, good luck. Thank you. And you are older than me. No. Yes, you are.

When's your birthday? November 2nd. Oh, yeah. I am. Uhhuh. Go ahead. But I don't look this old, right? You didn't sitting on the bench. What? You didn't have sitting on the bench. I didn't understand. Oh, no. I No, I don't have the patience for that job. Billy. Hey, Billy. Oh, you want to come up here? Are you sure?

Um, I'm Linda Dennis. I live in the village of Cinderberry. And sometimes when I listen to the people that come up here, I think I live in an alternate universe. I have spent a lot of my personal time being involved with the town from the time I moved here and it's the only way that I know to have an impact or to sometimes I'm listened to most of the time I'm not however I do not give up and I say to anybody in this room rather than trying to put all the burden on these elected officials get involved come to these meetings come on volunteer for these committees. We need all the brain power we can get. That's the only way we're going to come together with a common agenda and leave the other stuff at the door. But come if you're if you're really talking about making an improvement in this town, then come and join the committees. Volunteer. I know it's it takes a lot of time, but most of the people in this room do not work. So, we got time and I I invite you all to to uh take a position on a committee, make it work, volunteer, give your brain power because we need to make improvements and it doesn't fall on the five people that are up there alone. They listen. Hopefully, they will listen to us. So, we have to have that voice. Thanks,

Adam Machowski, 200 South Bedford Street. Um, I would like to start by saying, u congratulations to the winners of the recent elections. Um, and also to the mayor, thank you for your service. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but 12 years of doing this is something to be said. Um, not many people are willing to spend that amount of time and effort. I went home and drank a lot. Should have gave me a call. We could have had a couple beers. No, I didn't.

Um, but in regards to some of the other things that were uh brought up tonight, this will be very short and sweet tonight. Um, I'm just going to pull a sentence from the uh beginning of the preamble of the United States Constitution and what this country was founded on was in order to form a more perfect union. Um, so while yes, we should look back to our past because those who do not study history are bound to repeat its mistakes. Um, I think we do have to go with the spirit that this country was founded on in building a more perfect union. And to build off what Linda said, that does involve people coming up here and doing things. Um, you can't just rely on the town council to fix all the problems. Um, I've had a lot of fun getting involved with the government. Um, you know, on my second committee right now, you know, and hoping to have an opportunity to get into more. Um, because you do have to put your money where your mouth is eventually and you do have to step up. Um, I was a little disappointed by the voter turnout in the election for how many people are uh, you know, do complain. Um, but when it's time to to do something about it, they sit on their hands. Um, so yeah, I'd love to see more people out. I'd love to see this room filled. I'd love to see this room filled with the divi diverse makeup of this town. Um, just not me and the old folks. Sorry, guys. But yeah, it's it's time for this town and younger people in it to get involved and uh

but this this is a great town and I'm I'm couldn't be happier to be part of it and you know I hope we can get new faces out here and new members of the community to be a part of it. So good luck Angie. Good luck again Penuel and Michael and Bill. I hope you enjoy your retirement sir. Thank you, sir. Have a great night. Anybody else at this time?

Shelley Wise, Park O Park Avenue. Um, I'll talk about Make Georgetown Great again. 10 months ago, I stood up here with an issue of something that was happening out on the street. I came, I think, to two or three more meetings and talked about the same thing, and I didn't feel like anything was getting done. I am impatient. I'll admit that. So I went out and did start taking pictures. It skyrocketed and went on MGJ and everything from there. It was strictly done to make people aware of what was going on in the town because a lot of people weren't going out. I went out, walked the streets in the dark, did everything. I wanted people to see what was going on because a lot of people didn't know. So a lot more people are aware now what was going on. That's what it was done for, to make you aware of what was going on with the homeless where they were at. It wasn't to shame. It wasn't to make people angry. Yes, things happened on there. A lot of it people got mad about. Um, but it was to shed light. I was told to document. I did. I think I did a good job. People saw what was going on. So, you're aware what's going on. I actually learned an awful lot and I got to go in and talk with people. I understand their situation. I went into some of these places and they taught me. I went out and I learned. And that's what I tell everyone to learn. You can talk about it all you want. Unless you go out and hit the streets and talk to them and get their stories, you're not going to understand. I can take all the pictures in the world. I can make comments or whatever, but until you actually get face to face and and I've taken a few people around and let them let them meet them and talk. You've got to learn what's going on in your town. You just can't come in and complain about it. You got to get out there and do it. And every I love hearing the laughter tonight. Everyone coming together with laughter. I think that's great. And maybe we can have a new start and come together and work together as one and get on committees and do this. I admit I wasn't coming up 10 months ago. I wasn't

coming up and doing this. And it took something to happen to make me mad and come out and do this and it snowballed and it really got out of hand and it's made more people aware. Was there some things people don't like? Absolutely. But some good came out of it also. So now more people are aware of what's going on in this town and I'm proud of that because no one else did it. So with that being said, I hope we do all come together and work together and not have the bickering, but work together. It's not going to get done with one year when they are fighting. We've got to come together and do this. And I'm hoping that's what's going to happen. Bill, good luck with your retirement. Po, thank you for hanging in. Thank you. Hi, Tammy Hardy Kesler, James Street. Um, just want to make you aware that uh I pull down statistics all the time because that's part of the stuff that I do. And I look back in since 2007, there was a population of about 20% African-American in this town. It has now dropped down to 11%. Educated folks like my children that has their doctorate, the other one has their masters and the other one has their bachelor is not interested in moving in this town because they see the Confederate flag. They they feel the the hatred in this area and we need to improve. I grew up in an area just like this here Williamstown, New Jersey. And what happens is the old heads die off and then new people finally come in and change the culture and the dynamics of the place. It's unfortunate that it generally happens that way. In a way, we have a reverse kind of gentrification that's going to probably occur in Georgetown and because of the comments that are made on some of the social media platforms that I'm now blocked because I said we need transparency um and I I came up with specific things

that were posted um so they blocked me and that's cool because if you don't want to know the truth that's fine um but we need to come together for real for real because eventually you're going to get pushed out anyway. Okay. Um, no one's going nowhere, okay? Because everybody fully knows what people are about. Um, what's happening is the property values, houses are staying on the market longer in Georgetown because of the social media posts. That's what people do nowadays. They go on social media and they look at what's happening. And some of the properties are in pretty bad disrepair and it's from people living in them for 30 years and they never upgraded anything. Okay. So, we're hurting ourselves or you guys are hurting yourselves with your social media and not investing into your properties. You want $350,000 and the house is basically a shack. Um, so we need to make some improvements with that. Um, also, um, congratulations. I pray you do a good job. Me and you have never seen eye to eye. Um, I'm not going to be um, you know what you had said to me about the Confederate flag. I'm not feeling that. I'm not going to feel it, okay? Because you don't understand it. Um, and I think that you don't want to understand other people's feelings about it. If you did, you would try to do something to take that flag down so that you can bring more educated African-Americans to come into this community. You're losing a really great population because of that flag, whether you want to believe it or not. Thank you very much. And Bill, good job.

Nope. Hi, I'm Lisa Roing. We live on Swum Court in Georgetown. And I just um want to say that I ride my bike often. Probably not often enough, but often. And I've noticed there are some houses that are newly renovated or fixed up. Some are in South King Street. I saw a couple um while I was over that way. I saw one across from Dollar General um on Market Street there. And so I I was curious and I found out that the two on South King Street are actually owned by very young Latino men and in their 20s. And we were talking about housing and unaffordability. Um, but these young men found a way to find an old house and fix it up and and and they're beautiful. I don't know if you've been down there or not. And I'd like to see more of that. Um, I spent 20 years of my life as a public health nurse in Sussex County. Most um been in Georgetown in every neighborhood in every spot that there is in every neighborhood. And I have seen the good, the bad, the ugly. I've seen electric wires stapled to outside of buildings and been scared for the people that live inside that if a firefighter ever had to go in that that type of a building, somebody was not going to come out alive. Probably a fireman if they're in there trying to rescue people. I've been up in third floor attics where people lived without um without any flooring up there, just just slats for boards and and um aluminum foil with hot plates on it. And I've seen a lot of things um with that. One of the things that I did um in public health was a windshield survey. We we took a community and we

did a windshield survey, meaning you look through the windshield of your car in each quadrant. See what's going on. What are the strengths of that quadrant? What are the weaknesses of that quadrant? Um what um what are the complaints of the people of the quadrant? What would they like to see in their quadrant? And I think it's really important to gather that information from the people that live in that quadrant. One of the things that I heard so much during this campaign is um you know we are proud Latinos and we're being ignored. Well, probably um and and also um another thing that I heard was they don't you don't understand what's going on in our ward. So if you bring that information um have you know availability um to speak with the people in your quadrant, what what do they like about it? What would they like to see in your ward? what would what is going well in your ward. what can we duplicate in ward two that's in ward four that's working there things like that but you really need to get out um as council people and talk to the people in your ward um and find out what's going on you know I have empty lots in my in my ward um you know are there positive things that can happen in those lots or we have a a lot that's empty and negative things are happening in there how can we flip that over let's you know um but we need to hear what's going on in your words in order to do that.

Thank you. Anybody else at this time? Motion to adjourn. So moved. Thank you. Po second. Second. Thank you, Tony. All in favor by saying I. I. Opposed? So carried. Have a good evening, ladies and gentlemen.