Town Council - Regular Meeting

Eight. That's a long minute.

We call the meeting to order if everyone will rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the invocation.

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

Eternal God, we thank you, God, for your love, your kindness, your mercy. We thank you, God, for allowing us to come here one more time. So we ask you, God, to give us wisdom and knowledge, just even, Father God, to talk, tell, and be. We ask you, God, to continue to bless God. We want your spirit in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, amen, amen.

Amen. The next item on the agenda is the adoption of the agenda, and I think there's an amendment.

Yeah, I'd like to amend the agenda. I make a motion to remove option number eight, overview of town operations and projects, please.

All right, there's a motion on the floor. Do I have a second? OK.

Removing item number eight? Removing item number eight, yes.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you. I second it.

Second. Okay. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Opposed? So moved. Okay. The next item is the approval of the May 26th Town Council Minutes. Hopefully you've all had a chance to go over them and read them. Are there any corrections, deletions?

No.

Do I have a motion to approve the minutes as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Motion carried.

The next one is public comment. We have submitted correspondence from Mr. Peterson. Public comment? Yes.

Good evening. Madam mayor and members of council. My name is John Peterson and I reside at three Oh four North Bedford street. The draft resolution concerning the Georgetown historical society's display of the Confederate flag is before this body. The Confederate flag carries an established public meaning arising from its historical use. The town's public voice is the position it adopts through its ordinances, policies, and resolutions. Because the Confederate flag is displayed within the town's civic environment, its public meaning may be misattributed to the town's public voice. In the interest of the public welfare, it is appropriate the town make clear that the public meaning of the Confederate flag is not an element of the town's public voice. accordingly i respectfully request that the town state the procedure it will follow for consideration and disposition of the resolution now before it thank you madam mayor and members of council for your time and attention

We've changed up the format.

At least we don't have to wait till the end.

Sunny Guiani of Park Avenue. uh i have only two things which i've been harping for a couple of years now affordable housing and the central park for georgetown let's talk about the affordable housing today affordable housing and not free housing it is the housing that allows working people to afford a safe place to live without Choosing between rent, food, medicine, childcare, and transportation. We cannot solve homelessness without housing. A person cannot move from tent, a motel, or a couch into a home that does not exist. If we agree housing is needed, then where should it be built? If not here, where? The question for the council at this time is where should our teachers, healthcare workers, retail employees, seniors, young families live if they cannot afford Georgetown? Do we want Georgetown to be a community where people can work and live or only community where people can work? What is greater risk to Georgetown's future, building thoughtfully planned housing or becoming a town where the local workforce can no longer afford to live? the closing comments The greatest threat to Georgetown character is not affordable housing The greatest threat is becoming a town where only the wealthy can afford to live one of the suggestions which i'll make to the council and i'm sure you guys are all aware of it and at the time when you were running you guys all thought about it support policies that make it easier faster and more affordable for to build housing for working families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. Thank you. Think about the Central Park for Georgetown. There's a 15 acres land right here around the corner where all of you can come and walk and do things. So keep thinking about the Central Park for Georgetown.

Thank you.

This is just information you may or may not know. I ran it, I was watering my yard, half of it. I know we're on a water shortage. But the man, this young man stopped and he said that he moved here from Salisbury and his friend came from Pennsylvania and they're working with Sun Behavioral. So I don't know if you're aware of this program he told me about or not. But he said that, I think he called it POP, PHP, some kind of program like that. I've got the initials wrong, I'm sure. But you can go to the program, you take classes, I think he said from 9 to 1 or 1.30, and then they're gonna give you a room that you can stay in. And he said the lady he's working out there with is named Meredith. So I don't know if you're aware of that program or not, but it might help some others that are here in town. And then I went to the haircut. I know it looks awful, but I went to get a haircut on yesterday. And the young lady at Great Clips told me that when they close at night, They walk out in groups to their cars because they get approached for money and that they do not take their trash out at night anymore. because they're approached behind their buildings. So they wait until somebody comes the next morning. So I don't know if anybody's aware of that either. I didn't even know you could ride all the way around the back of the buildings. But I did after I got my hair cut just to see what it looks like. A lot of trash along that ditch back there. But anyway, so those two things. I didn't know if you were aware of either one of them. And the other one is to say thank you to the shopping cart pick her up for people this week. I heard about that. Jerry and I have talked about that before. How would we get them on the trailer? How would we hold them on the trailer? So thank you for doing that. And now that we know you do do that, we'll be calling you to tell you where they're at. And I wanted to thank Jerry and the guy that owns the liquor store on the dual highway we picked up trash again on bramhall street and um uh we didn't have anywhere to put it didn't know where to leave it you know sometimes you ride by state highways and you see them on the stop signs or something he was nice enough to let us put it there in his dumpsters they came out and unlocked it and they loaded it up for us but there was a man in front of shown lumber and there was a big pile of trash there by these trash cans and along their fence. The last time Shelly and I all went out there to pick that up, we had to use scoop shovels. There was so much, well, it's all back. But I, I looked at him and I said, did you make this mess? He goes, no ma'am, I don't throw litter down. And, um, I said, well, if you see him doing it, tell him to stop. He goes, Oh, I know who does it. He goes, and I tell him it's a lot of liquor bottles and stuff. So, so, um, but anyway, So thank you for picking that up. And Jerry didn't want to really go pick up the trash, but I was going by myself, and he ended up going with me. So thank you. And then Mr. Holm over here. is I've offered this before and I'm offering it again. Anytime they want to put a police car in my driveway or in front of my house or the daycare building to slow down speeders, feel free. I even looked this weekend at little radar guns online because it's 25. They have to be doing 50. Not just cars, trucks, semi-tractor trailers, whatever you call them. So feel free anytime. You can come hang out in my yard.

Thank you. Anyone else want to comment?

Clayton Townsend, 20293. Thanks for the words. But Matt Barlow went out with me and we picked up some carts and we went back in the woods because we kind of went on a tour, you and I, and some officers, some new officers. It's just disgusting, people. I mean, the amount of trash. I've hunted all my life. It started when I was nine years old. Dad drugged me along with an empty gun. And the smells, the aromas that I used to enjoy when I go in that woods, I'm disgusted by it. It's just piles and piles of trash and the stench in the woods just permeates, you know, basically one in two different areas. And there's many, many, many more. Our community is being destroyed from within and you know we offer helping hand and I just listed WBC before I came here to talk about there's no resources there's tons of resources in this town for those who want to use them but for the others. it's just disappointing for me and um you know we're you know i know christina's gone out with with um trash pickup over the years and and we found that there is monies available but i wouldn't recommend trying to do it now um the ticks the amount of ticks i found one on me this week and the disease they're carrying you pretty much have to wait till fall or winter to To do this. I just. It's just very disappointing and thought I'd let you know and it was just too many people around to take pictures and. We did. run into one that gave us some ration of grief. Um, but, um, yeah, that's simply, um, just want to tell you what I saw. And, um, I know shell has experienced it too and seen it and it's just disappointing.

Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

shelly wise old park avenue so i know i'm getting ready to step in this and probably make some enemies so i'm going to watch how i word this um i've been doing a deep dive into some things like all the meetings in the last few years and everything my issue is it's the flag and i understand and i see both sides my comment's not the flag it's why it keeps getting brought up um yeah absolutely yes Shut up. Sorry. But the problem with what I've noticed is that you can go back and there's months and months and months that nothing was said, but the closer it got to the election, It gets brought up. So I know it's a constant jab at you. I know what it is. It's kind of gotten personal. That's how I'm taking it and other people around the town. Maybe I'm wrong. So I'm trying to watch how I'm saying this. But that's what it seems like to me. Where was this resolution before? I mean, you weren't on council. There was plenty of people that would side with whatever the mayor wanted at that time. I think I'm correct on saying that. Where was that? Because I don't remember being brought up then. And I may be wrong if I am. I apologize. And I'm trying not to step on toes. But it's like it's the constant dig and dig and dig. And I see both sides, and I do. And I don't want people to think I don't. I do understand. My problem is that if you go back and see when it started, and I did, and I have it all written down, and the closure got to the election, and that's that one thing that's always going to be a blight that's going to be held against you. I'm sorry to say it, but that's the way it is. And I'm sorry to say this, and I'm not trying to cause any problems. But that's the way I see it. Thank you.

Thank you. I just want to clarify for the public, there is no resolution before council, and there has not been a resolution introduced by council.

Anyone else? All right, we'll move on to the next item, which is councilman's comments. Christina, would you like to start?

The trash. I'm very familiar with the trash. I spent a lot of time around town with the trash, spent a lot of time with the people who put together the town cleanup the first year, the second year, the third year, and it has slowly moved on to just basically a few people going to do the cleanup. When people see people out there cleaning, they say we should have a cleanup more often. I don't think that's going to do it. I think changing behavior is going to do it. We're not going to flog people in public like they do some places in Europe, but I think people need to somehow be held accountable. I had a community meeting and I've talked to many people about the trash. Some people say there aren't enough trash cans around town. One of the people in the meeting suggested that perhaps the town ought to consider placing some trash cans that are sponsored by businesses. And the town manager did some work on that. And we have a an approved trash can. We haven't made public yet how to get one of those trash cans and get your name on it. I've also heard stories that renters go out and put trash And other people's trash cans because they don't want their landlords to charge them for the trash. So apparently landlords are charging for trash separately. I don't know how many of them. I don't know. I just know of a few. So don't know if that's an epidemic or not. The second is county people. I'm told, bring trash and dump them in public trash cans in town, which is the reason why we have these typical trash cans that we have in some areas. This is a continuous issue with very little suggestions with some of the people I've talked to, other than finding people with over over stuffed trash cans and while i'm not in favor of fees to change behavior in some parts that may not apply in some areas but it may apply here so we may have to consider some fees regarding that and perhaps landlords would um find some other way to deal with the trash of their tenants. And then the public, since we want people to walk the streets of Georgetown, we may be looking at where pedestrians, now that we have the bicycle path, where we might suggest that some of the business may want to adopt a trash can and so forth. But that sounds like a project for the people who are gonna be running the annual town cleanup to perhaps come up with some solutions. It is bad. I pick up trash with my bare hands, sometimes thinking I'm going to get some kind of disease. But it's just, I do it automatically, and I just don't understand people's behavior. And it's frustrating, and I recognize that with you, doing the best I can. I go out to the police department, work in their garden. It's a shame that folks would throw trash and leave empty bottles at the police department. It just feels like an insult. That's my take on it.

Thank you.

Tony.

Just glad to see everybody here tonight. I guess my agenda must stay the same, just constantly keep trying to work with the town and try to come up with different solutions. So no matter what problems we face, no matter what we deal with, we could be able to do it together. work together and learn. It's going to be some issues come up, but I think the first thing we do, we respect each other and respect each other's voices, and I think that's going to be an important factor. Myself, I don't know about nobody else, but I'm willing, I'm going to stand still and work together on every issue we have in this town to try to make this town better. I'm 70 years old now, no turning back now. I grew up in this town, so I think different solutions, listen to each other, work together, I think we can make it better. Thank you.

Thank you, Tony. Penuel?

It's good seeing everyone here this evening. One thing I've been working on, and I talked with the town manager, Harvey Gregg and Chad Spicer's monuments is finished, and he's gonna turn it over to Public Works to pour foundations out on the circle so we can get them put out there. Thank you.

All right, I guess it's my turn. I have been busy since I got sworn in. I have a great deal to do that's in front of me. And I have a lot of support behind me. I've been busy since I've gotten sworn in. I've been to a SCAT meeting. I made a lot of good contacts there. Of course, I went to a concert. I had a meeting at Dunkin' Donuts. I met with ministers in town that want to form a coalition to help with the homeless and to reach out with Love, Inc. to see what they're capable of doing. I went to a CDAC meeting at Splash Laundromat. That was very informative, and I'd like to bring a representative from town for the next meeting, either Brian or Jamie or Jean, to report on what's happening in town, what developments are coming in, what projects are out there on the radar. um wednesday i have a meeting with the chamber i've been very involved with them since i was sworn in the navy is coming to town in october for a week so they want to plan all different events and activities for the whole week i believe it's october 19th through the 25th but the navy is coming to town so we're going to meet with representatives on wednesday and people from the county, and I think Tony's gonna make it to the meeting. It's at 10 o'clock at the chamber office, but we're gonna meet with representatives to see what they have planned for our town. My husband and I, and with the help of Rusty, we took four officers and we went into the encampments along the railroad tracks. I've never been back to the encampments, and it was very enlightening Most of the people were very, very friendly. Joel Diaz described the encampments like an ant farm. If you've ever seen an ant farm behind glass, all the little trails, because you walk on a trail, you don't leave the trail because when you leave a trail, you don't know what you're going to step in outside the trail. These trails were not made overnight. Trails are very wide. They're all dirt. So they've been there for a long time. But you walk and you'll see some tents. Sometimes there was individuals there, sometimes they were vacant. and then you walk a little further with another trail that goes off this way, and one trail goes off that way. No matter what trail you take, there's camps, three or four tents, three or four tents. Some of the campsites were very, very neat. I met a gentleman who wanted to be a landscaper. He said, if you bring me trash bags, I will clean up. I came back to Jean and I said. I need trash bags, so we're going to have a meeting on Thursday and we're going to get the help of her state community actions involved because they have all the resources if we need a dumpster. But like Mr Townsend said earlier, we do. We could get money from Brian and Valerie for the cleanup and it won't be the townwide cleanup is just in that area. There are. I don't know how many Modelo beer cans along the railroad tracks, needles, water bottles. Most people were very nice. I met a gentleman. He has a job, but he can't find a place to live. He wants to try to get in with the pallets. I want to call Justin to see what the requirements are. or if they have room for him, or if it's possible he can live there while he works. I don't know. But most of the people I met were very, very friendly. The officers were very nice. I want to explore more. Behind North Georgetown Elementary and behind the Meadows, because I've heard there's encampments there, so I'm going to also check those out. I like to work with the town. Because we have codes. That it's illegal to live in a tent on town property. And if it is, then why are we allowing it? and i'm going to work with three members from county council we want to have a meeting and discuss what the county has in place for rules and regulations of living in a tent on county land so those are on my radar friday we have another ribbon cutting out to unami the new restaurant out there I want to start in the future of having a coffee hour like Brian and Valerie do here at Town Hall. I've had a lot of people come and say during public comment, they can speak their opinion, but they can't ask questions we can't answer. So I'd like to have a question to answer, something very informal. You can come in and ask whatever questions you want. So I'd like to think about having coffee hours. And I also mentioned a jean. I loaded them up. The house on North Bedford Street, it used to be a house where Dennis Schrader lives. It's terrible. The windows are boarded up. The shrubbery all around that house is overgrown. I said, maybe I could get the homeless guy to come and work. He wants to be a landscaper. Hey, here's your chance. Start trimming bushes. So I kind of like to make it a community project and get people involved. to take some pride in your town and help kind of clean up so that was one thing but that's what i've done so far that's what i've done so far um i know i'm gonna have stephanie answer this her opinion matters more than my opinion and her word on something carries more weight than mine but um the thing with the flag, it's always brought up about the AG's office and the ruling. So I'm gonna let Stephanie explain the result of the AG ruling.

Yeah, just to clarify the history and maybe everybody wasn't here when this was going on. It was 2022. There was an AG's opinion. I'm sorry, an AG's complaint filed and the AG's office issued an opinion September 15th, 2022. And it had to do with meetings which allegedly took place before a check was cut from the Great Fund to the Historical Society. the AG did find a FOIA violation and the recommendation was that council convene a public meeting in compliance with FOIA that is publicly noticed to reconsider the action order on this matter. Um, that was September 15th, 2022. So on September 26th, 2022, there was a publicly noticed discussion and vote to approve the, um, great fun grant to the historical society. It was a three to two votes. So that in my opinion, the ages opinion was complied with.

So we're cleared with the AG's office for the record. We did have the public integrity office come in. I remember it distinctly because it was the night we voted on the pallets. Public integrity, I asked them to come down and give a presentation of just rules and regulations when we serve on council of recusing yourself when an item comes up that I was always taught you made the announcement, you were going to recuse yourself. You got up and you left the room, and you did not vote. So we all got instructions from her, and hopefully we're all following those in the future, and we will be. And if not, Stephanie's going to remind us that you need to recuse yourself from a vote.

I just have to know about the conflict. There you go.

I WAS ASKED TODAY, JEAN, ALSO, COULD WE HAVE ANOTHER REPRESENTATIVE FROM DELDOT COME IN AND EXPLAIN ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON ON 113 WITH THE OVERPASS AND THE LOOP. IT'S IN YOUR REPORT. OH, HE'S AHEAD OF IT. OKAY. THANK YOU. ANOTHER THING I'VE BEEN DOING IS I'M NOT THAT KNOWLEDGEABLE IN FINANCES. I was here for the budget hearing that my husband and I were here and no one else showed up. I thought it was a very important meeting to attend when you're talking about the finances of the town to have more people involved to come to a public hearing. And I'm not that knowledgeable. I've worked with money all my life as a bookkeeper, but finances, I'm not that knowledgeable. I've had a good friend of mine look over our budget, and there's some questionable things that come up. It seems like we're always spending more than we've budgeted. And I want to maybe perhaps, I don't know, doing a public hearing, uh, a workshop to sit down and look at the budget now as it stands, um, to see about in the future, because I think once the police department is done, that's $18 million is going to be added. Um, and make sure we can pay for it. Um, towns normally. do not, are not in the business to raise money and show a profit. We're more public-based. And I think it's very, very important for me right now that I get a hold on the finances of the town. I'd like to involve more residents in the budget decisions. I know we have people in town that work in the financial fields to see if there's anything else we can come up with. And I'm not sure about when the budget is started for each department if they start at a zero. and work their way up for expenses that year but i'm finding it hard when i look at the budget that we're we over budget over close to a million dollars every year so we're not budgeting that well so i'd like to have gene form have a public hearing committee, whatever we need to do. Take volunteers to help work with this budget to see if there's any other ideas or other things we should be doing. Not that Gene's not doing his job, but I just think there's other avenues out there we could be doing with the budget that we're not doing now. And I would feel more comfortable if we'd look at it now before it's too late. I think that's it. Thank you very much.

So just for everyone's knowledge, on the town's website, you can go under financial transparency, and it has our budget for the last seven years. It has everything broken down by department and budget and actual. It also has an open checkbook. You can see every check that we write. And we post once a month actual versus budget by line item for each specific department and for the total town. That information is out there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Next item is discussion of placement of public comment on agendas. I know everybody took notice that we kind of rearranged the agenda tonight. I think we looked, I've spoken to Pennual. Pennual made the suggestion that other towns put the public comment in the beginning of the meeting, which, you know, I can see. And I think it's, a lot of people don't know if you want to speak on an item during the agenda, you need to fill out a form. If you don't fill out a form, then you don't really, you can't speak when that item comes up. This way, if you want to form your opinion and speak on it before we get to that item, you've already spoken, so we can take that into review. And that's one of the reasons why. And a lot of times during public comment, we're not supposed to get confrontational, but sometimes it's very hard to sit here and be spoken about in certain terms and not be able to say anything. Just nod your head and say thank you, next. So that's one of the reasons.

was one of the reasons why we decided to move public comment before councilman comments anything you want to add no my biggest thing was if you guys had a concern at least we can address it that night versus waiting two or three weeks to the next meeting and then address your concern at least we're jumping on it now and hopefully it speeds things up because we all know there's issues in this town and the quicker we can get a hold of some things the better off we're all going to be

I have a comment. It is practice in many places to have an option whether or not to have your comments before. Some places use it to minimize the amount of time that some meetings go on forever and ever. And so I don't have any issues with that. I do agree that it does give an opportunity to address some issues like we did today with the trash. My concern is as it regards to dialogue back and forth as to whether or not we're following rules of order, which specifically talks about engaging between your constituents and yourself and when does a thing become an item on the agenda and when does it not become an item on the agenda. And are we then promoting that we have endless meetings? So just being the devil's advocate. But I do appreciate the fact that at least people get an opportunity to talk about something when it comes on the agenda, specifically if they have an issue. And I don't think people who have constructive comments to give should be given specific times when they do have constructive comments. The issue I have is when you send singers, personal singers across the way, and we're supposed to sit here and just gobble it up. I don't like it. I don't think anybody else likes it either, as you mentioned. And that's my comment.

All right. And I do have to say, during the public comment, I forgot to read the introduction about the rules and regulations, so I'll get that next time. Tony, you have anything?

I got a problem with it. changing it to whatever but uh thing that is uh just make sure that even when the public comments come forward that we respect them and they respect us right to me that goes a long way so

Okay. Thank you.

If I can just add, there seems to be maybe some misunderstanding. Council isn't prohibited from engaging in some dialogue. What you can't do is take action or, you know, basically put something on the agenda spur of the moment based on a comment. But you can certainly engage in dialogue.

Okay. Thank you. Jean? No comment. No comment.

Okay.

All right. All right. The next item, departmental reports. Jean?

Any members of council with a couple items? First one is Parsons Lane Trailhead and Parking Area. There were four alternatives that were awarded based on funding that we received. This will complete the fencing, concrete pad and amenities, electrical work for lighting and landscaping. The total cost is $191,758. That's covered through two years worth of outdoor recreation parks and trails grant and two years worth of community reinvestment dollars. The police and public works facility, the column and footer installation is in process and utilities starting with sewer followed by storm water management followed by water will follow. So here's just some pictures of the reinforcement being put down, some concrete pillars and the starting of some of the forms. Route 113 and State Route 18-404 grade separated intersection construction will be starting mid this month. The advanced utility work is currently in process. They've relocated the utility lines that were overhead. Delmarva Power has been doing that. They'll be doing some of the in-ground work. The work is being completed over 14 phases, and it's scheduled to take 25 months. Our America 250, so our signature event is this Saturday, June 13th. That's our Artisan and Craft Fair. And we have three other items that are taking place. The crosswalk art has been completed. The fire hydrant painting has been completed. And the building mural at number nine, East Market Street, is currently in process. Upcoming events, America 250 Committee will be meeting tomorrow, June the 9th, at 3 o'clock p.m. here at Town Hall. They'll be meeting again Thursday, June 11th, 10 a.m. at Town Hall. The Arts and Craft Festival is Saturday, June 13th, starting at 10 a.m. It'll take place on South Ray Street. Planning Commission meeting will be on Wednesday, June 17th, 6 o'clock p.m. here at Town Hall. Town offices will be closed on Friday, June 19th, in observation of Juneteenth. The town's Juneteenth celebration will be on Saturday the 20th. And do my legislative update, the bill tracking that was updated today, and there's 10 legislative days remaining in the current General Assembly. Just gonna highlight what's changed since the last report. So House Bill 454, which is protections for Delawareans experiencing homelessness, was introduced on June the 4th and put into the House Housing Committee. This appears to be a replication of house bill 135 make sure i say with house amendment one not sure why we introduced a new bill but they did uh senate substitute one for senate bill 161 dealing with behavioral health treatment and oversight that did pass the senate for my last report but it was assigned on june 4th to health and human development health and human development in the house Senate Bill 310 deals with an establishment of a disaster recovery fund that did pass the Senate on May 20th and was assigned on May 21st to administration in the House. And Senate Bill 338, removal of the cap on poles and wires tax. was introduced and assigned to the executive committee on may the 28th of 2026 i believe since 2018 by law we've had to keep um polls and wires tax exactly the same as it was that year so that would be a good bill for us and that's all i have when what's the difference with the the helmets bill the new one sure it looks like it's the exact same bill just a different number and some language at the beginning

OK.

I don't think there was anything that was changed. There was a section they took out, but I don't think it was. I think it was what the House Amendment had in it. So again, I'm not quite sure why they introduced a new bill. But we have 10 days to watch. Could be.

Yeah, probably. That was interesting. That was interesting to go and listen to that day.

Very interesting.

Anything else from anyone? Next item is adjournment.

Make a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. All right. Aye.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Thank you.