Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I hope everybody is doing well and enjoying the slightly humid but still beautiful weather outside. Commissioner Krebs, I believe we start with you today. What we do now.

I'm going to steal everyone's thunder, so I'll start with National Night Out. We had National Night Out on Tuesday night. I'm sure everyone participated in that. It's wonderful to see all of the law enforcement and the EMS and fire and all the local programs that come out. We had the robotics team out. We had everybody, lots of different activities. But it's a time for people to be able to talk to their fire and EMS and have conversations with them. And we gave out free french fries and we had hot dogs and some other things. every community is a time to it's time to get out and meet each other and see each other and we don't often do that enough and to also have the we had a at least a half a dozen or a dozen police officers our local town was there we ours was sponsored by the town and several our fire departments so I thank everyone for putting that together it's all volunteers free food it was a great evening so

That's it. Thank you very much. And Commissioner Gary, nothing from you.

And Commissioner Gordon? Good morning, Carroll County. I'm going to start off with a couple of things just real briefly. First off, I wanted to mention the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce business breakfast that we had at the Carroll County 4-H and FFA Fair. Always a great opportunity to meet with some of the young farmers and ag folks that are over there and what they're doing in FFA and 4-H, which was just absolutely incredible to hear some of their stories. Commissioner Kyler and I were both present for that. The thing that's really nice is, and people sometimes I think we forget a little bit, is that ag is such an important piece of not just our community, but community as a whole. Future entrepreneurs, business owners, employees, employers, and to be able to celebrate 129 years of the Carroll County 4-H and FFA Fair, just to see generations of families coming together and celebrating not only our agricultural heritage, but also preserving traditions that make our county very special. So it was a great morning to come out to that on Monday morning and interact with a number of the members of the community and get to see a little bit of the fair. As Commissioner Krebs mentioned, attending the National Night Out, which for me is almost more of a marathon than a sprint. I got to three of the five locations in Westminster this year. Almost made it to four, but we got meleed by air, slowed down by a balloon sculptor and a 40-minute wait time, which was fine because the kids were having a great time. But always wonderful to see just everybody turn out from, you know, the Boys and Girls Club, the health department, care healing. Westminster PD, Maryland State Police, Sheriff's Department, Westminster Fire, our county fire and EMS, and of course, I have to give a big thank you to the GFWC Junior Women's Club of Westminster that hosted the location at Dutterer Park. Just always a great time to get together, and we had various food vendors at location. Mission Barbecue came out. There were a number of other snow cone and snowball vendors at various community spots, but just It's good to see community get together and do what community does best, which is work together. And we are just exceptionally stronger working together than we are individually or separate. And I think this was just a great night to point that out. Also wanted to be just mentioning real quick in regards to the fair. I was unable to make it last night, but wow, talk about just absolutely amazing numbers at the cake fair, at the cake auction at the fair. So I don't know if anybody was following that, but the grand champion baked item was $15,000 this year. So congratulations to Herbert Martin for his $15,000 baked good. And then of course the total last night was $113,625. And if that doesn't tell you we don't care about community and each other, I don't know what does. So great to see that money going back to our community. Just absolutely amazing. And then also wanted to mention very briefly, coming up on August 14th from 6.30 to 9 p.m., there is an event coming up. It's the Community Harvest. It's an evening of food film and discussion to benefit Carroll County Food Sunday. that'll be at the carroll arts center minimum proceeds are five dollars a person you can donate more all of that will go to carroll food sunday and just a great opportunity to come out and support those indeed in our community and that's all for me thank you thank you very much commissioner commissioner kyle

Thank you. And I'll start with the Carroll County Ag Fair. And yeah, the breakfast was great. And 60-some people there. It was a good crowd. It was a good turnout. And it's interesting. Rhonda and I, one of us has been to the fair probably every day since it started. And it's just a great event. If you don't get out, you pay for parking. and most everything else is free there are events where they charge but um it's just a great great place to meet a lot of people last night was the cake auction and uh rhonda bought two cakes and they're upstairs and please please eat some um rhonda bought two cakes and then put me on a diet so uh um i can't eat them um and the livestock sale is friday night I think the buyer's picnic starts at 4 and the auction might start at 5. It starts pretty early. They've split it up into in the building and outside the building, two auctions going on simultaneously, plus you can do... virtual, um, and, uh, it's interesting. You, you mentioned Carroll County food Sunday. Um, you can buy an animal, even if you don't particularly want to meet and donate it to Carroll County food Sunday and several other nonprofits. So, uh, you can, uh, you can do two things at once and, and, uh, yeah, it's great fair, great people, uh, love to see them. And, uh, um not crazy i don't know what the right word is they were very ambitious the bidding last night and uh and more power to them um the turf field at carroll community college they're ready to lay the turf um we actually were set up to go watch them lay some turf and the turf didn't arrive yet So I'm not sure where it is now. I'm going to talk to them today. And I can certainly go out anytime I want and walk the field. But we'll see if there's another opportunity for a group to go there or not.

The rubbers, it looks like the rubbers down or whatever they put down. Oh, yeah. Where they put the turf.

You ride by every day. Yeah. And and on your bike, you get to go a lot more slowly. Five minutes, five minutes to look at it.

Yeah, right. A lot more time than when I drive by.

But yeah, it looks good. And I'm not sure if the tracks in or just the base for the track. And there's a lot of concrete poured, which they use as the edge for the turf field. So, yeah, it's it's it looks good. And they're they're a little bit behind schedule, but it's it's close to the end. And if you ride by, you can see it from the parking lot. You can see it from ninety seven. I mentioned National Night Out. I missed it for the first time in many, many, many years. The Kirkland Times did a photo article on Manchester's National Night Out, but Rhonda and I went to the Oriole game and they won 3-1. We have, which again, is life in the fast lane, and I don't know how much. They're knocking at the door for playoffs, but I don't know. I got a feeling at the end of the season they'll still be knocking at the door. But it's great to go and see them. It's great to see them win. We have season tickets, and between this job and campaigning, this is the first game we've been to. So even though it was national night out, we went. We had a meeting last Thursday with the health department and the new director. And that was great discussion. And I think we're going to meet quarterly, I think, as the plan moving forward and as needed. But the communication between both the state health department and the county health department and us has been great for a year or two. And that's really good. The Freedom Small Area Plan has a public meeting tonight, 5 to 7 in Eldersburg, and that should be a very active meeting. We've got some issues as usual, some gun range issues, some recovery house issues, and I just want to say to the world, if you have an issue, please contact us. and some things by law are okay, some things aren't. We'll get you the right information and a couple of the groups want to meet and talk about it and that's great and I'm trying to gather information both law and and a little bit how active the sheriff will be involved with it. They, and I feel for the sheriff and deputies, there's times obviously when they need to be very responsive and then there's times where there's nuisance calls and you need to divide between the two and they do document and They do show a history, so it's good to contact them. And please feel free to contact. And I speak for all five of us. If you have an issue, contact us. Thank you.

you very much commissioner kyler very well said very well said to all my colleagues as always i'm going to uh skip my priority carol this morning because i know we have a lot to get to and uh commissioner yes i'm commissioner krebs i just want to say one thing um commissioner kyle i thanked you for the cake but i should be thanking ronda because you said she bought them and i had a piece i was eating when you all that's why i was eating it was cinnamon cake and i had the chocolate cake back but i need a glass of milk but you mentioned the small planned amendment and i should have done that What is that? What is the small plan amendment? It's an opportunity. We're looking, we have a consultant in to look at the whole Route 26 corridor, the commercial corridor and a little bit of 32 down there that's sort of been a hodgepodge of activity for many years and we're trying to make some consistency and some um, there's some opportunities for redevelopment and we're trying to get the community's input on it. So to get the community wants and what their needs are. So it's an opportunity at the library tonight. This is like an open house to like walk around and see what's going on. But um, a small plan amendment is sort of our terminology, but it's really like what does the community want to see whether it's, guidelines or sidewalks or state highway, what we're doing with state highway. So it's, this is an opportunity to say what our needs are down there. So thank you for bringing it up and please thank, um, Rhonda for my cake. Thank you very much. Commissioner Krebs, commissioner Gordon Kyler. We know who does the work.

Commissioner Gordon, I believe you have a problem.

Yes, I do have a proclamation for the 60th anniversary of the Carroll County farm museum, but wanted to ask if anyone wanted to come up from the farm museum first to the table before we read the proclamation. Okay. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning.

I'm Jane Sewell, I'm the manager of the Carroll County Farm Museum. And with me today is Ted McNett, who is the acting president of the advisory board of the Farm Museum, and Denise Beaver, who is the director of economic development. I've also got a couple people from the advisory board behind me. I know Judy Fortin is here. Is there anyone else? And, uh, a number of the staff from the farm museum. Um, we're here to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Carroll county farm museum. Um, I want to give a very brief account as to how the poor house farm with a county home from 1853 to 1965 evolved into the farm museum in 1966. From Carroll County Master Plan, which was approved by the County's Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners, a special committee was formed called the Feasibility Committee. And on January 19th of 1965, the committee submitted a letter of transmittal to the commissioners. And I want to read just a short portion of that letter. Gentlemen, It is with a great deal of pleasure that I submit to your board the report of the feasibility study committee for the creation of a county farm museum to be located at what is presently the county home farm. After a great deal of study and research, and after contacting many of Carroll County's leading citizens, the committee has unanimously come to the conclusion that the creation of a farm museum is entirely feasible. It is pointed out that a museum property planned will serve as a tourist attraction and at the same time be of significant educational value to the county's younger generation. I think we can all understand that that has evolved the way it is today. The first museum brochure in 1966 was titled the Carroll County Farm Museum owned by the people of Carroll County in Westminster, Maryland. I think that says a lot. And it opened to the public on August the 13th, 1966, which was 60 years ago this coming week. So, Ted, do you have anything that you would like to say?

Morning, commissioners. As you all are well aware, we thank you for your support, continued support of the Farm Museum and the vision that they had back in 1966 to promote that. and promote the culture of Carroll County and the agriculture that we have here. It's a great gem for Carroll County, as well as the surrounding areas, to highlight that history of Carroll County, as well as give students the opportunity to preserve that and learn about it and promote it for the future and keep moving into the future with that. So it's a great venue for events to get people involved through other avenues, whether it's the concerts that we've evolved through and some of the festivals that we have there. But getting the people there to see what's happened in Carroll County and where Carroll County is going is a great opportunity. And thank you for your continued support for that.

Denise, anything?

Yes, actually, yeah, echo what Ted said. Thank you for your support. I think the Carroll County Farm Museum is our best gem and our best venue for visitors to come and citizens to enjoy. I've had the opportunity to bring my family many times and my grandchildren and They participated in camps this summer, and it's just a great place to explore and to learn about the agricultural history that we have here in Carroll. And I think there's many, many opportunities that we have to enjoy that place. It's special. And to expand on the activities and continue to share that with the residents and visitors alike.

So thank you for your support. Any comments from my colleagues? I just remember going to the Farm Museum in the late 60s when I was a kid and I think like eight years old. So I go way back. My aunt, my adopted aunt used to bring me up here and way up in the Carroll County. And I remember going to see the blacksmiths and been a long time. And I was from out of the county back then.

I apologize. I was remiss. Commissioner Gordon has to read the proclamation.

Great.

Okay. So we have a proclamation for 60th anniversary of the Carroll County Farm Museum. Whereas the Carroll County Farm Museum first opened its gates to the public on August 13th, 1966, with the vision of Landon C. Burns of preserving and sharing the rich agricultural heritage that has shaped Carroll County for generations. And for 60 years, the Carroll County Farm Museum has served as a living history museum where visitors of all ages experience authentic buildings, educational programs, demonstrations, exhibits, and special events. and located on the historic almshouse property where history dates to the mid 1800s, the museum has preserved an irreplaceable collection of structures, artifacts, and stories that connect today's residents with the resilience, ingenuity, and hard work of those who came before us. The museum has inspired countless children, families, students, volunteers, artisans, historians, and visitors by bringing history to life through the hands-on learning, historic trades, living history programs, agricultural education, and community celebrations. And the success of the Carroll County Farm Museum has been made possible through the dedication and vision of its staff, volunteers, advisory board, donors, community partners, and the many citizens whose commitment has ensured that this treasured institution continues to educate, preserve, and inspire future generations. and the Carroll County Farm Museum stands as a proud symbol of the county's diverse agricultural, livestock, and crop production and continues to celebrate the heritage of stewardship, community, education, and preservation while welcoming thousands of visitors each year. And as the Carroll County Farm Museum commemorates its 60th anniversary, it is fitting that we recognize six decades of preserving our past while inspiring future generations to appreciate the history, traditions, and people who built Carroll County. Now, therefore, we the Board of Carroll County Commissioners to hereby recognize and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Carroll County Farm Museum and extend our sincere congratulations and appreciation to all whose dedication has made the museum an enduring treasure of Carroll County Be it further proclaimed that all citizens are encouraged to join in celebrating this milestone anniversary to visit the Farm Museum and to continue supporting its mission of preserving our agricultural heritage for generations to come. Adopted the sixth day of August 2026, the Board of Carroll County Commissioners. and I'm gonna make a really brief comment after that proclamation, and I'm just gonna say thank you. Your people do a masterful job at maintaining that property. Your board, your staff, without question, your maintenance folks, which they really, all of them are unsung heroes, but I think sometimes people, we all kinda, come to expect things without realizing what goes into that. And your maintenance staff is beyond anything I've ever seen. They put their heart and soul in their work, as do the rest of your employees. But I just want to say thank you to them, because without all of them collaboratively, we wouldn't have this gem today. So thank you.

Thank you. And yeah, thank all of you. And I've got the maintenance staff. Thanks for getting Brian to realize after six boys that they needed to like slow down. I don't know how he has time to work, but he works a lot. And thank you to the board, you three, the staff, and all the many, many, many volunteers you have out there. You coordinate them well. Thank you.

Very well said. Do a picture? Sure.

Can I say one thing? Yes, please, please. We have this poster that I want everyone to see. And I brought this here for you all. But this poster was created by and designed by Commissioner Vigliotti. and we are very very grateful to you commissioner thank you so much for this you're very well i am bringing for you all to have thank you very much so you you do have talent all right i'm curious though i have to ask one question about the poster is there a goat or a sheep or a chicken or something that we should have on that what about your oxen your ox yeah

I'm just giving you a hard time about this. Maybe a plastic pig. That was right. It was a plastic pig.

I couldn't remember what animal it was. Do you have... Everybody ought to be in the photo. I don't know if we need to stay up here. Everybody come up, please. Thank you very much. Oh, yeah, maybe you should hold it.

Yeah.

Come this way. Okay, photographer, boss them around like you do us.

Awesome, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you again. Thanks for everything that you did. Absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. I do believe that Commissioner Guerin has a proclamation now.

We do. We have a proclamation for Emergency Management Awareness Month, one of my favorite subjects. I know Ms. Hawkins is here with some of her crew. So welcome. Welcome, everybody. Yeah, I think emergency management and fire and EMS and everything that we do here in Carroll County is one of the commissioner's favorite subject because we do it really, really well in Carroll County. I think we're one of the best. So welcome. I do have a proclamation. I'm going to go ahead and read it first. We'll get that out of the way. But I think it's this. Is it this? Is it this month or is it okay? That's what I thought or I wasn't sure if it was in here or not. Um, so this month, August 2026 is emergency management awareness month. Emergencies and disasters can occur unexpectedly, posing significant threats to life property in the environment and the Carroll County Department of Emergency Management and Communications. dedicates countless hours to developing preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation programs to protect the lives and property of all people in Carroll County. Emergency management professionals across the nation are charged with establishing and maintaining the capabilities necessary to effectively direct, coordinate and support emergency management and disaster response and recovery efforts. Now, therefore, we, the Board of County County Commissioners, do hereby proclaim August 2026 as Emergency Management Awareness Month. Thank you for being here, Ms. Hawkins.

Thank you. Thank you for the proclamation and for your support. I am here. I'm Valerie Hawkins. I am the director of the Department of Emergency Management and Communications. I have with me up here at the table Jacob Hill. He is our assistant emergency manager. We also have our emergency management planner, Wyatt Peters. He's in the red back there. So, we weren't able to bring our entire emergency management staff, but this is a good representation of our group. We are small, but we do get a lot done. We are here to recognize Emergency Management Awareness Month, and that's something that's new. This is only the second time that we've celebrated the annual Emergency Management Awareness Month. It was founded by the International Association of Emergency Managers last year. And it's really here, we're really here to recognize and focus awareness on the capabilities of emergency management as a profession and the role of emergency managers. We have a tendency to be kind of lumped in with all of the rest of public safety and people across the nation have a tendency to think that we're the ones out most of the time in fire engines and ambulances and police cars. and there are some agencies around the country that it's a combined effort like that so it's a little bit different everywhere you go but here we're really problem solvers we're the ones that you can call 24 7 365 just like you can call 9-1-1 when an incident requires coordination across multiple agencies so when it gets bigger than the a single house fire or a single vehicle collision when we have multiple issues going on at the same time. So when it escalates up to something like a hazardous materials incident that's involving lots and lots of agencies or disciplines, or even beyond traditional public safety disciplines. The biggest one that probably comes to mind is the pandemic. We were heavily involved in that. But all sorts of different agencies are involved in emergency management. And there probably isn't an agency that is part of county government that does not have a role in emergency management when you start talking about large responses. It's a whole of government approach. We really help communities to understand their risk from disasters, to build resilience in the face of them, and to help them navigate when they happen and know what to do when a disaster does strike. Emergency managers are all over the place. They're in rural communities, large cities, jurisdictions of our size. Corporations, nonprofits, hospitals, they're everywhere. Universities. So we're really trying to help prevent, mitigate, prepare for, and recover from disasters. We really try to bridge gaps and build bridges and coordinate that response so that agencies and organizations aren't working at cross purposes. So we really are trying to foster that collaboration. Anything you want to add to those comments?

Sure. Good morning, commissioners, and thank you. I believe probably that the work of emergency management often goes unnoticed until it's needed the most. And when emergencies happen in the moment, it captures attention, but the work happens long before disaster strikes. It requires partnerships, planning, training, and exercise. We work with federal governments, state governments, nonprofits, private businesses, health department it would be impossible to name everybody that we work with but it really takes a team effort and with our staff makes us look makes us look good but they're dedicated every day and they come into work we plan we train exercise build build those bridges and close those gaps so it's definitely a team effort and it takes a lot but I think well I'm happy to work in emergency management

Yeah. And we sincerely appreciate the support that we receive from the commissioners and from all of the other agencies that we work with.

And I just want to mention, about five or six years ago, I was asked to be on a commission called Next Generation 911. Speaker of the House asked me to do it. I did it. I had no idea how important communication was, and that we were using old copper lines, and we needed to upgrade. And it took us five years, and it was one of the most valuable committees I ever worked on. And that's what made all of us raise the awareness of how important emergency service, not just the communication with, hey, you pick up the phone. In the old days, you picked up and dialed it, and it went through your copper line. Now you've got cell phones, which aren't connected. So we had to change the entire system in the state. You pay for it on your telephone bill. That's what the $911 charge is for. So everybody knows they're paying for it. But I think we all got a great – us lay people got a much greater appreciation of that communication piece and how important it is from wherever you are at that very moment. We now have texting to 911. But we also, the preparedness for all the disasters. And you're that key person in the middle, the system, the 911 operator that's faceless. And in recognition of that, we decided to make our former director a cabinet level position. And that was, I sponsored the bill. We raised that awareness that he has a seat at the cabinet now with everyone else's education because that's how important we realized that it was. So I was proud to be a sponsor of that bill. It might be a name only, but it's not. It really does elevate that we now have the Department of Emergency Management in the state of Maryland that's a cabinet level position because I certainly recognize it way more than I appreciated it in the past. And you hope you don't use all the preparedness. but you have to be and we expect it and it's also every time when you dial that number, somebody's ready and prepared and from any place where you are, even if you're out in the middle of a field somewhere. So we just automatically think it works and it doesn't. So we thank you and I way more appreciate it than I ever did before, the level of detail and professionalism of the people that all came together with the same goal. And I didn't really add anything except learned a lot and then put the bills in and tried to get a lot of different legislation passed to make it happen and the money to go with it.

Thank you, Commissioner. And what we always try to say or way I kind of put it is we want people to take for granted that they can call 911 and that we have an emergency management operation and we have an EOC when we need it. But we also don't want them to not be aware of what's available and what's going on in the background.

So one of those one of those things.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments from my colleagues?

Just thank you for what you do. You guys are pretty humble for all you do, and I appreciate that. I've done a couple tours of the place, and it's amazing to watch the people at work. And like you said, people take you for granted until there is an issue, and you guys handle it well. So thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, photo? Sure.

Yeah.

Good idea.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, up next we have item number two, renewal for support for maintenance of computer aided dispatch.

Everybody's here.

Good morning. The office of procurement cooperation, the department of emergency management and communications request your approval to award the renewal of support and maintenance of computer aided dispatch software interfaces, field, mobile applications, and licenses to Keystone public safety Inc in the amount of $278,023. This amount is approved in the FY 27 budget.

Good morning again, commissioners. I'm back for this one. And then I also have Adam Harris here with me, who is the assistant manager of operations for the Emergency Communications Center. As James mentioned, this agreement is to ensure that the county's computer rated dispatch or CAD application and all of its associated operations is supported 24 7 365 by by keystone so the whole idea behind this is to make sure that the county's emergency services dispatch operations are functioning all the time correctly continuously without interruption This includes a lot of different facets of what fire, law enforcement, emergency management, communications all do every day. So it is something that's supporting and underpinning the communications operations across the county all the time.

I move the Board of Commissioners approve the renewal for support and maintenance of computer-aided dispatch and related services to Keystone Public Safety, Inc. in the amount of $278,023. We have a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

We do have a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion passes for, yeah, honestly.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, item number three, we're gonna, the approval to submit application acceptance of award, the FY27 Violence Against Women's Act. Good morning.

Good morning, commissioners. Good morning, sir, how are you? Good, good. I guess we have a, A good news and bad news type scenario. The good news is crime in the county is at record lows, particularly over the last two years. The bad news is that we still have domestic violence that occurs in this county. So somebody has to deal with those types of cases. And that's the purpose behind this grant, because it fully funds my domestic violence prosecutor, Ray, who's seated to my right. And she handles those cases diligently and competently. So I'm going to let her say a couple words.

good morning rachel piotkevich um you see why i let her pronounce wrong last night i saw how you did that it is it is what it is didn't pick it myself i i just wanted to say um i went to law school for the purpose of handling these special victims Starting back in 2015, I was a domestic violence victim advocate for the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office, eventually made my way to Carroll, and it is such a privilege to be in this position. to serve this unique class of victim that is so unlike any other crime victim that we encounter in our work. Victimless prosecution, evidence based prosecution is so critical with these cases. As I'm sure you can imagine, there are hundreds of reasons why a domestic violence victim would be reluctant to participate enthusiastically in this public grueling process. And so we're always looking forward to new ways to enhance our cases that don't put all of the weight and the pressure of a conviction on a domestic violence victim. I'm working on a little project right now with our interns to prioritize the jail calls that we're listening to. Defendant statements are super helpful in these cases. So I'm always trying to find different ways to get the job done.

Thank you.

I move the Board of Commissioners approve the submission of the FY27 VAWA grant and accept the award.

We have a motion. Do we have a second?

Second.

We have a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay, the motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it very much.

Thanks for making it to the right counting.

Thank you. Thanks for being here. Exactly.

Okay, next we're going to discuss the memorandum of agreements with nonprofit organizations receiving county funding. Ms. Steckle here, who else we've got? Ms. Beaver, okay.

Good morning.

All right. Good morning. Quite a few items here.

Good morning, Commissioners. We're before you today as a result of you at the Board of County Commissioners directing staff to prepare agreements with nonprofit organizations designated to receive county funding during our FY27 budget deliberation process. The county attorney's office, along with the department liaisons for each nonprofit, has worked together to create the memorandum of agreements. And the following nonprofits are included in that. That's the Literacy Council of Carroll County, represented here today by Sam Greenholz. He's in the audience with us. We also have the Veterans Independence Project, represented here today by Jason Seidach and his team. We also have the Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaborative, which is MAGIC, represented here today by Kim Samuelson, and then the Historical Society of Carroll County, represented here today by Jason O'Leary. We request that the board consider executing the MOAs with these nonprofits.

I move the board execute the memorandum of agreements with the Literacy Council, Veterans Independence Project, MAGIC, and the Historical Society.

We have a motion. Do we have a second?

Second. Second.

Okay, we do have a second. Any discussion?

Just a little bit. Thank you for doing this. And I know Tim's not here, but you're here. And this is something we need to do is have these stuff in writing. However, this is pretty extensive and I'm hoping that we're not going to, some of these guys are little. And we ask for insurance and indemnity, a lot of things in here. I don't know if it's a burden on some of these small non-profits for some of these. um with the insurance and also in the future we should put in there make sure they're maintaining their their 990s um it should be in there but there's a lot of stuff at the end and it's like one one big thing so i would suggest in the future we might want to And I don't know if it's a problem. I know you all signed it, but we're not trying to put an extra burden on anybody. We're just trying to make sure that the money is accountable and that we know where we think it's going is what it's agreed to be going to. So if it is, let us know. If some of these things make it a little tough, it was not meant to be, for this little grant, it's not supposed to be like a contract for some of the big stuff that we do. And some of it should maybe have more things in it. So let us know if it's become a burden on some of the little pieces. indemnity insurance and it's just a lot of legal things in here for a little bit of money on some of these. So keep that in mind for next time. I do know you signed them all. You've read them. I tried to understand that all, but I'm not a lawyer. The verification of the 990 is as much to protect you as to us because sometimes you think you've done something and a mistake happens and It doesn't get fixed at the state level, and it keeps us all accountable, and it helps us. I know in the Lions Club, we have a foundation, and we make sure that it gets up, but sometimes it doesn't get posted right. And I worked in the state for many years, and we had one organization that was out of compliance for like three or four years, and they didn't know it. They thought they were submitting it. So sometimes it's just we're not trying to catch anybody. We're trying to make sure that things are like they should be when someone's looking at it. So it helps make us all be accountable.

Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right, the motion passes unanimously. Thank you for all your work. This has been a lot of work for staff and everybody else.

I want to discuss MOUs while we're here. Sure. And again, there's a lot of MOUs. There's a lot of nonprofits. I want to talk specifically about CC Visa. We, the commissioners, delayed the money that flows to them over an MOU, even though it's state law that they get the money. So an MOU may not be necessary, may be necessary. I love our 14 volunteer for our companies. And I didn't think the 14 of them could ever agree on anything they actually did that. They want more explanation for the MOU and and they would. And I don't know what's proper, whether we should meet with CC visa. We should allow the fire companies to come there. I've been asked to. go to a couple of the volunteers' board meetings, and unfortunately, I'll be at MACO, so I can't, but I don't think one commissioner should be the voice to them. And this one commissioner, I will apologize for us delaying your first allotment, and I don't think it was intentional. I think it was more overlooked with all the pow of MOUs, What do we do for CCV? I think all 14 of them voted they aren't interested in signing it.

You're talking about creation of more clarity or specificity for the MOUs?

Yeah, well, for CC Visa, like these four signed them as written, and I appreciate that. And you guys helped speed up the process, and now we owe you money. But we delayed the process for the volunteer fire companies. I don't know if that money's happened. We decided last Thursday it should happen, so hopefully it has. But they... They don't understand why they got an MOU, and they don't understand what exactly it means. So therefore, just like anything else, with lack of knowledge, you get offended. And they're, like I say, and they're going to yell at me for this. I didn't think the 14 of them could agree on anything, and they did on this. So we need to do something. Do we want to meet CC Visa? Do we want to? So at the moment- Have legal explain the MOU to us so we can talk to them. What do we want to do next? Well, I would like to ask- Yeah.

I think that's part of it, is to get an understanding of where the MOUs are between us and between them, just so we can understand- So they have returned it to us with edits and- Well, right, and I'd like to- Right.

And that's where it stands at the moment. Our legal team is looking at the edits along with

Chief Robinson and that's where it stands at the moment and that's why I think I alluded to every organization is different and because we don't give grants we just sort of give you money in the budget we just have some agreement what it's going to and I think maybe we could be a little more deliberate and not just have one big cookie cutter MOA for everybody because cc visa is already in state law it's already in our carroll county part what their role is the thing we were trying to do this year they wanted they needed some additional revenue and because we have the professional staff now we were trying to make sure that the revenue they were getting for extra things there was accountability and a budget process that was the same for all of them because we didn't really have it written out like um These are the things you get to claim. They would just put their budgets together and didn't have a lot of guidance. So they, we asked them themselves to, Joe Dennis, who's been in front of us several times, to go to them and say, hey, how should this work? We didn't dictate it to them. They sort of created it. These are the things we think the county should help us pay for, for the volunteers. And these are the things we should do through fundraising. And we're going to make a budget process that's similar so they're all budgeting the same. It's not just this one's budgeting for this and this one's budgeting. So they all got together. I didn't want anything to do with it. And they put together and presented it to us, and they agreed on that. And then we gave them additional funding because of that. There were some items that, there's some uniqueness to how things happen with maintenance and things, and they figured out a way to maybe handle that. Because some days you have a big, an engine breaks, and sometimes it doesn't. How do you budget for it? But they figured all of that out, and it was a great collaboration. That's what was supposed to be sort of, I don't even know if that was in the MOA or not, but there's a lot of things in here that are already in state law, and I don't know that we need all these things. I'm not disagreeing with it, but maybe we should look at each unique situation and see how extensive it needs to be or not.

It was a unique MOU. It was not a click cutter. First of all, these two ladies have nothing to do with it. No, no, no. I'm saying no. Can we have these guys go?

I apologize, please. They're done. Next year, if there's feedback from these organizations that some of this stuff is a burden, we don't want it to be a burden.

I understand. What should we do next? In close, should we review this MOU with legal? Yes. CC Visa represents the 14 volunteer fire companies and it's, like I say, I love them all, but it's cumbersome communication because it's several steps and we need to make sure we're straight with it and we communicate to all of them the same message.

So what makes sense is, as I said, that we just received a few days ago the MOU back from Visa with their comments. Legal and the Chief are looking at that, talking to each other. It was our intention then to bring that to you in a closed, because it's negotiation, and then we'd take it from there. So that was the intention.

We need to adopt the, I don't remember what we did. When Joe came to us, Dennis, should we adopt that? This is our framework for how they're going to be reimbursed and what they expect?

We'll see what the edits are. I don't know if we really got that far. Again, my opinion is we'll do exactly what the county administrator suggested. We'll take a look at that MOU. And we'll see if we need to make any changes. Every organization is unique. But I want to make it clear, this whole issue, the MOAs, MOUs, whatever you want to call it, the majority of the Board of Carroll County Commissioners agree that we were going to take a look at these because it's not our money. It's taxpayer money, whether it's going to a county department or a nonprofit. I'm sure everybody in this room understands that. So that's what this whole MOA, MOU issue is about. It was not about to make things more difficult. or to make things more laborious for any of these organizations. Because if we didn't want to give money to somebody, we wouldn't do it. So we all agree to that as well. So I just want to put the issue of the MOUAs in context. And I'm sure we'll, I'm glad you brought, I'm glad you raised this because it's very important.

It's a good thing. But we'll discuss it. It's a good thing we're looking at it, but there's unintended consequences and we need to address those. So we don't have a meeting next Thursday. Correct. So it'll be, following two weeks from today until we look at that and i'm going to share with the people that's contacted me that we are looking at it but it like a lot of things it takes time but they have the luxury of state law so money's flowing we're not holding up any money and i was even asked by one of them what about the next quarterly payment and i said we're slow but i don't think we're that slow so

And that's one of the things I wanted to look at, and some are still here. Some of the reporting is twice a year. We don't want to make that onerous either.

So keep in mind, we already have many of these agreements in place with what we consider the traditional nonprofits, and we have not found that that's a problem for them. So I doubt that we will. But if we find it to be, we will bring that back to you.

And I don't know what the original ones were, if they had the insurance requirements, but what's additional? And was it sort of similar? It would be nice to compare what we had and what—

that's what that's what we based all these on the existing agreements that we have with the other but there's no change for most of them and i want to thank the volunteers for reaching out about this because yes i'll be honest until a week ago i didn't even think about their first allotment and if they wouldn't have alerted us to it right it could still be going on so thank you for reaching out communication is always good

And thank you, Commissioner Kyler, for bringing up the MOUs of the fire companies.

I didn't realize the fire company was going to even get an MOA, but that's okay because it's in state law.

All right.

Any other thoughts on this particular topic?

All right. We'll move into item number five, contract award for Prime Care Medical Incorporated for FY2027 medical services for the sheriff's office. Morning, everybody.

Morning. Morning. Morning. Nice seeing all of you. Really? Yeah. I'm not going to be a pain. You haven't said that to me in a long time.

Mike was so happy he left. All right.

The Office of Procurement and Cooperation with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office requests approval to award a contract to Prime Care Medical Inc. for inmate medical services in the amount of $2,093,649.28. This purchase will be made utilizing Cecil County's RFP 26-006 that was competitively bid. The funds are approved in the FY27 budget.

So good morning, Commissioner. Just a few comments on this. This is our current medical provider for the detention center for all of the medical services required. They're a wonderful organization to partner with. They do a great job, a lot of responsibility, a lot of moving pieces, and a lot of people to take care of. We basically run a hospital and a hotel 24-7, 365 out of that building. So this is just a renewal. We're continuing with them. Like I said, we're very happy with what they do and their services. And we're just looking forward to continue the partnership.

This is all medical needs, so just so you know, it's pharmaceuticals that come through here, mental health, all the medical screening that comes in and out of the jail, Prime Care Medical takes care of all of that for us, MAT, Medical Assistant Program, or the Medicaid Assistant Program in Dental, so everything comes through this particular company.

Any comments, questions, or direction from the Board?

Move the Board of Commissioners approve the contract award to Prime Care Medical Inc. for the inmate medical services in the amount of $2,093,649.28. We have a motion to leave a second. Second.

We have a motion to leave a second. Is there any discussion?

I wanted to ask, how much of this is offset by Medicaid or MAT grants?

This particular thing is not. This is for just the inmate medical services. So we talked about MAT much earlier in the year for that. That's completely separately funded. This would be for their expenses that we are required to cover. So if they work on any Medicaid, Medicare, anything like that, that's all separate. That's not part of this.

They will file for that. The opioid restitution fund takes care of the MAT program, but MAT is administered by- So these are their costs and our expenses we're required to pay.

If they could bill, they do.

Even for Medicaid?

They can. Prime care works with any of the incarcerated individuals that need to depending on the program and where they are, yes.

Now, we have some people come in that are actively and need to see a cardiologist, that have diabetes, that are going to doctors, and they already have medical insurance, and they may bill that insurance company or go back and forth.

So these people are billing Medicaid? The reason I'm asking is because- If possible. Because years ago, we didn't let inmates have the Medicaid while they were in jail. And then we changed it to having it, then being able to get the Medicaid in jail. I was just trying to figure out where it offsets it. Here, or they collect additional money if they are able to, because Medicaid would cover that.

We have expenses. There's two pieces to this. There are the monthly costs to cover the fixed expenses, staffing, etc. then what also happens if there are additional pass-through expenses so for example medications that aren't covered anywhere so once all that is done the vendor then passes on the dental expenses x-rays medications anything like that so we have two pieces like the set monthly costs and then those pass-through costs so yes that's at the end after everything else is vetted and covered and paid for because even adult dental isn't adult dental covered now through medicaid

again we don't get into that that is prime care's responsibility so we just review all of the costs and what we're responsible to cover i mean just a small anecdote you think about you you come into the jail and you may have a a prescription for a low dose of of heart medicine for blood pressure we don't just take that prescription um that's got to be reviewed by this medical staff and a separate prescriptions written so that we can monitor we don't know whether it's truly heart medication or not or whatever medication you're taking so It's pretty comprehensive when an individual walks into our jail that may have some health problems. And I'll tell you, everybody that walks into our jail has some sort of health problems. There are very few that show up that don't have some sort of medical issue.

I'm just trying to make sure, when we pass the, extending it to people in the inmate population, we want to make sure, one of the reasons we supported it is so that it would relieve the counties.

Yeah, I don't think PrimeCare's making additional money off of Medicare or Medicaid. I don't think that's what's going on here.

Thank you.

All right. Any other questions from the board? We have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. All right. Up next, item number six, approval to purchase annual renewal for power DMS and new modules for the sheriff's office.

The Office of Procurement and Cooperation with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office is requesting approval to renew and purchase new modules from NeoGov in the amount of $50,619.87. This purchase will be made utilizing a source well contract 030425 that was competitively bid. This amount is approved in the FY27 budget.

So again, good morning, Commissioners. This is a renewal and then, as it stated, some additional modules. This system we use to track and manage all of our policies, all of the work that's associated with keeping track and all of that for the agency. Also, there's additional modules. We have a lot of internal administrative paperwork that is completely paper. There's a lot of reporting that has to be generated out of it. They actually have these other pieces that will help us to get away from the paper, store it securely, complete the workflows, and then be able to do the reporting and save us a lot of time with that. So they're able to manage it all together and bundle it up for us.

So real quick, what is Power DMS? One of the things that you may remember back in 2015 during the Freddie Gray incident, there were some issues with the officers involved not getting copies of policies regarding transporting Everything we do policy-wise comes through Power DMS. Deputy signs for it. It's documented. There is accountability. In that particular case, they actually went to Power DMS after that incident because they couldn't verify that the officers involved in that case actually got the policy that said this is how you transport that end of those individuals. So we've been doing power DMS ever since I've been the sheriff. So and that's 12 years and my former agency did it as well. So that's how and these modules modules are additional modules that help us with tracking and monitoring other nuances within the organization that really help us with accountability.

Any comments, questions or direction from the board?

Move the Board of Commissioners approve the purchase of Power DMS annual renewal and new modules from NeoGov in the amount of $50,619.87. Second. We have a motion, we have a second.

Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, up next, item number seven, contract award for occupational physicals, drug testing, and other medical related services for fire and EMS employees and volunteers. Morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

The Office of Procurement and Cooperation of the Department of Fire and EMS request your approval to use Carroll Occupational Health for occupational physicals, drug testing, and other medical-related services for fire and EMS employees and volunteers in the amount of $400,000 for the remainder of FY27. This purchase will be made utilizing Howard County's contract that was competitively bid. This amount is approved in the FY27 budget.

Carroll Occupational Health provides us our pre-employment and our annual occupational physicals for both career and volunteer fire and EMS providers. The comprehensive physical exam is required under the National Fire Protection Association standards, and this assures that everyone is physically capable to perform the job duties with that undue risk to either themselves or to others. In addition, this funding will cover the random and reasonable suspicion drug testing, and this year under the state legislative mandate, we're adding cancer testing to our physicals. So this will cover all of that.

Any comments, questions, or direction from the board?

Move the Board of Commissioners approve the ongoing medical services for fire and EMS employees and volunteers to care occupational health in the amount of 400,000.

Second.

We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye. All those opposed?

Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, up next, item number eight, spending authority for engineering and design services for the replacement of bridge number CL-0346.

Come on, my favorite bridge. Where is CL dash?

That's a good question. That is a good question.

0346, Chris.

On Brown Road.

On Brown Road.

Where's that?

Why did I not know that?

Which Brown Road? In the Finksburg area. All right. There we go.

The Office of Procurement and Cooperation with the Division of Engineering requests your approval to reimburse the State Highway Administration in accordance with the Master Memorandum of Understanding for the county's share of the engineering and design costs related to the replacement of bridge number CL-0346 in the amount of $641,356.35. The bridge is located on Brown Road over Roaring Run. The amount is approved in the FY27 budget.

Today we're here to request your permission to reimburse the State Highway Administration for our 20% share of the preliminary design costs for replacement of the Brown Road structure. Per the master agreement with the Maryland Department of Transportation, State Highway Administration, SHA invoices the county for the design work once it's completed by the consultant, and we're responsible for our share. The Brown Road structure was built in 1985. It's currently rated in poor condition. The Brown Road structure has been in our county's annual structural management plan for several years. This plan is submitted to SHA annually and identifies current and future projects that meet the criteria so that they're eligible in accordance with the master agreement for the federal aid funding. It's anticipated that our share of the preliminary design costs will be approximately $128,271.27. Any questions, comments, or direction from the board? So the design is like $3.2 million, if this is 20% of it.

Is that expected? Is that?

So 20% is $128,271. So the total preliminary cost is the 641. So our share of the preliminary design cost is $128,271. So the motion should be that we reimburse $128,000. Is that what you're saying? Mm-hmm. So that's what we anticipate that our costs could be.

So we're not reimbursing them 640?

No, not.

Okay, got you.

I'm more confused now. I think you said that wrong. The entire contract is for the $640,000, right?

We don't contract with a consultant because this is eligible for federal aid and per the master agreement, it's SHA's contractor. SHA pays all the bills, then they send us an invoice for our 20% of the consultant and SHA time and people and everything else that goes along that's included in the master agreement. There's lots of things that are, in order to get to 80% from the federal government, there's lots of things that SHA says that we have to do and we have to pay for in order to get the 80%. So we anticipate that the county's going to pay about $130,000.

So why are we moving with 641 if we're only paying 128?

So the motion should be not to exceed that.

We don't want to do anything inaccurate. We don't want to do open session math.

No, I know the 20% of the is $128,271.27. So that's what we're going to be approving instead of the $641. So you said $128,217.27? $271.27. And it might not be exactly that.

No, like I said. Should we say not to exceed $130? Yeah. What makes this that we don't have to vote again?

to amend the motion, right? Wait, have we? We haven't read a motion.

Oh, okay, yeah, all right. Yeah.

No, and we should. I'm sorry, amend the recommended motion.

Yeah. Right.

And in the executive summary, it would be good to clarify that the total amount is the 641. The county's share of engineering and design is.

I don't think that's accurate. Yeah.

Explain it, just explain it, Doug. He'll straighten this out.

I think the best thing to do is go with exactly what's in the motion. These are approximate costs. What we don't want to do is have to come back before you again if that cost changes comparative to design costs, construction costs. As Chris said, that's our estimate, but what we provide you is a real number. so that you know what that total cost would be. When you approve that today, we're only going to spend that 20%, but I would not lock us in to an exact dollar and cent at this point because consultant fees could change when the final bill comes in. This, again, as I look at my notes, is an estimate. And we think that it will be approximately that 128. But we will not be sure. And unfortunately, that's what happens with state and federal programs. They do very well with us to give us our 80%. We do very well to comply with them. And that's where we're at today. So that would be worst case scenario. But we will likely come in around that 128 or 130.

There's a big difference between 641 and 128.

Totally with you. And if you look at our bridge programs, that is the difference. In all of the programs that we do with the state, it is very complicated. With these projects, again, the SHA fronts this funding, which they've agreed to on this project, and then we do the 20%. But within our cost sharing agreement, we want to make sure that we can cover anything that comes up because, again, we don't want to delay this project for a bridge that's in poor condition. If you'd like us, again, to adjust it, certainly we can here on the fly, but I agree that we – We did this based on the worst-case scenario that could come in so that we comply. Certainly, we don't spend money that we don't have to. We just want to be ready to proceed because we don't want the state to come back to us and say, well, because you weren't ready or you needed another two weeks or you had to go back before your commissioners, it's delayed our project. So that's where we're at.

I don't disagree with you, Doug. And I understand how this stuff works. I'm just trying to understand. We have the planning money. We're to design and engineering. Right. And there should be the estimated cost is x, and we pay 20%. And it'd just be nice to have it a little closer, 641. And it's got to the cents. So there's obviously a number there that they've come up with. And then there's 120. It's like six times as much. It's just nice to be able to explain it.

Well, I questioned this, and I'm not comfortable with the motion as recommended. But what if we said, I move the Board of Commissioners approve the reimbursement cost for 20% of the engineering and design service? I don't think we want to do a motion implying we're spending 641. Certainly. I understand if we just say the 20% of it, then if it's 132, it's 128. Full disclosure.

We keep the full amount in because it has occurred in the past, maybe not here, but they have canceled federal funding before, which at that point would then make you go back and reallocate that much money to the budget And issues do come up that need additional funding.

I'd rather reallocate it.

That's fine. And I believe certainly the 20% absolutely makes sense. That gives us the flexibility to adjust as the price for utility cost, as you know, or other things come in a little bit differently.

When these projects are placed in the budget, that 641 number is in the budget, but it's shown as 80% funded by State Highway. So if somebody's looking at the budget and looking at this, you know,

I just don't want to stay highway to think that we are going to make sure that it's not expected that from them. Oh, they got the money allocated. Let's just put it to something else because they, that's how they pick and choose is how much I think the 20% is.

And, and I just got a voice from above. I don't care what's in the budget. It also agrees that that's a reasonable thing to do.

Okay. All right. So we're going to change. Commissioner Collier, do you want to make a motion? Sure.

I'm familiar with Brown Road vaguely. I move the Board of County Commissioners approve the reimbursement costs for 20% of the engineering and design services for the replacement of bridge in the amount of 641. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Leave the 641 out. Just 20% of the project. 20% and not do the amount of. Okay. Second.

We have a motion and a second for up to 20% of the engineering and designing services for the replacement of bridge number CL0346. Am I correct? Correct. All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion? Thank you for catching that. I'm more comfortable with it. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Up next, item number nine, contract award for the replacement of water valve bolts within the Freedom District Service area.

Good morning, Commissioner. Morning. And bolts don't cost three million either, right? Not this contract.

The Office of Procurement, in cooperation with the Division of Utilities, requests your approval to award a contract for the replacement of water valves at 69 locations within the Freedom District Service area to Mid-Atlantic Utilities Incorporated of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, in the overall amount of $207,000. $207,825. This award will be made via a competitively bid term contract. Bids were solicited from four contractors and proposals were received from two of these contractors. The proposals are summarized in your table below. The project was bid as four separate tasks to provide opportunity to our contractors. Mid-Atlantic Utilities Incorporated was the low bidder for all four tasks. The average unit cost of $3,010 compares favorably with recent water valve bolt projects and represents a fair value to the county. The bid amount is within the adopted budget.

So commissioners, this is the ongoing saga that we're dealing with with cast iron bolts within my bureau division. Um, many of the water valves installed throughout Carroll County and the surrounding area during the rapid growth period of the mid eighties through the nineties were constructed with cast iron bolt assemblies. This problem is not unique to Carroll County by any means. Over time, these cast iron bolts corrode weekend and ultimately fail either unexpectedly or when, or when the valves are actually being operated for routine maintenance and emergency system operations. So these cast iron bolt assemblies are ongoing operational challenges for my staff. With the risk of bolt failure, routine valve exercising and maintenance activities are often deferred and these reduce staff's confidence that the valves will operate when they're actually needed. This project is part of an ongoing proactive program to replace cast iron bolt assemblies with stainless steel hardware Approximately 30% or 1087 of the Freedom Districts 4300 water valves are estimated to continue to contain contain the original cast iron bolts. Upon completion of this contract 583 of those estimated publications will have been upgraded. So this will get us right over the halfway point. And we have a very good history of work experience with this contractor and this will continue with this project. Any questions for me?

Any questions, comments, direction from the board? Does this come out?

Oh, good. I met with a citizen who wanted to talk water sewer rates. And one of the things I suggested, when you compare with other counties, we have a smaller group on water and sewer than Baltimore County, Howard County, whatever. And that spreads out the cost. And I brought up the boats. And you described it pretty well. As as an example of the enterprise fund, you know costs that are thrown into it and and I said the whole country was using these bolts back when Carroll County did. We didn't do anything wrong, but we now know it's replaced. And you explained that well, but if you could explain one more thing, what's what's it cost when there's a failure if we don't replace these?

That's a very good question, Commissioner. Some of our mains have cost upwards of approximately $20,000 when we call in contractors. What's really helped us a lot over the past several years is my staff is working towards fixing many of these water main breaks internally. So my staff responds to the after hours call out directly. We only need to use contractor call-ins on very deep water main breaks or very large water main breaks. Thank you.

And I just had a question. So this does come out of the enterprise fund? It does. Because, I mean, it's on our agenda when we get time to look at the different enterprise funds and what comes in and out of them. Because I know it's become an issue in our area because water bills used to be real little. And I understand what it takes to maintain it. I appreciate that. But it's become a big part of people's budgets. They're on water and sewer. And Maryland Environmental Services does the sewer part. And I just want to make sure. um it's the most efficient way of how we're doing things because we make sure mayor environmental services is applying for the same grants that someone else could do because it's a unique situation and also on the water because i know we do have these little water systems but freedom's a big water system and we still pay when we're pretty much the second highest i think in the county and it's all different everywhere so i just got to get my arms around what it should be because people move from other places like look at my water bill and it's it's it's a lot of difference when people come from water and sewer and um just fyi if anybody's watching any more any water that you run through your tap water you get charged the sewer rate on it too because that's how we meter it so you're going to fill your pool with water from the water main you're going to pay the sewer part of it so you might think about getting a pool company or something So just be aware, and I think I just say making people aware because they might come from somewhere else, they don't do it that way. But if it's going to run through your meter, you're going to pay for it. And if you don't pay for it, everyone else ends up paying for it within the enterprise fund. So you've got to be a little careful. If you water your flowers, you're watering the flowers, it's not going into your sewer system, but you're still paying for it. So maybe just be aware, or wash the car. It might be better to go to the car wash. I'm just trying to make sure everybody understands that the water and sewer are connected with the meter. When you use the water, that's how we calculate the sewer as well.

Very correct, Commissioner Krebs. One of the big challenges that we're dealing with is with the boom of construction in the 80s and 90s, many of that piping network is approaching the end of its useful service life. There are those expenses that are built into our system.

No, and some of, I mean, some counties put other money in from general fund because they realize that those are the areas that you're putting all the growth in and they're not getting, you know, they don't have the, their taxes are higher because of the density of it. So, you know, different counties do it differently. So that's why I just want to see what's in it, how it's paid, how we look for the different areas because, you know, we are the big, I think the biggest one, the number of people on it, but yet we're still paying the higher rates. All right, but that's for another day. Thank you.

Any other comments, questions, or direction from the Board? Move the Board of Commissioners award a contract for the replacement of water valve bolts at 69 locations with the Freedom District Service Area to Mid-Atlantic Utilities Inc. in the overall amount of $207,825. Second. We have a motion, we have a second.

Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye. All those opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

All right. Up next item number 10 approval to sell five county owned properties. Good morning.

Good morning, Commissioners. Good morning. Brian Boeke, Director of the Department of Public Works. As mentioned, I'm here for approval to sell five county-owned properties. Over the years, the Department of Public Works identified properties that may be required for future projects, and if given the opportunity, have purchased them. Today, we are here to ask for your approval to sell five of these properties at our inventory because they are no longer needed. These properties were bought in the mid-80s in anticipation of the Westminster Bypass. In 2003, the Westminster bypass was removed from the master plan. The following are the tax identification numbers. Just a little bit more background, these properties have been on our books for quite some time. I know economic development had tried to sell them off maybe 15 years ago. Wasn't the greatest economy. We've been just sitting on them, taking care of them. Some of the neighbors had some sheds on them, so we got all the properties cleaned up.

working with a real estate agent now so um yes we're here today to ask your approval to go through the process of selling these five uh parcels i'm glad to see we're looking at these obviously you know unlike a stale box of twinkies they still have value and i'm glad to see that we can repurpose these for the good of uh carroll county no not unless they're uh taking up space in your closet maybe so with that i'll move the board of commissioners to approve the sale of these properties

We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any discussion? Second. Oh, you have a second? Somebody already seconded. Oh, sorry. I thought you seconded. No. Yeah. So, who seconded? There were a couple seconds.

I'll second it if nobody else did, but I have some discussion. Oh, yes, yes, please. So, all five properties are in the circle on the detached.

They're not. One of them sits on Old Manchester, has great frontage. I believe that property is about four acres that I think a couple of developers already reached out. They're interested, and they're seeing what they can do for that one. That's going to be the most profitable parcel from what I'm guessing. The other four are down a shared driveway. and have nothing on them. They sort of back to Route 27, Gale Road, that's kind of the vicinity, so there's no access on State Highway. That would probably be a pretty big battle to get that to happen.

What's the approximate acreage of those for?

Sure. Going in order, one of them is five acres, but it is tucked back with no direct access. The others are a little smaller, 1.7 and two acres.

But the four-acre one should be of interest to people. The other four, we may continue to own.

We're hoping the neighbors are interested in getting a good deal on the bars next to them.

Yes. Woody Swam used to buy land, and he's gone, landlocked property. As an attorney, he would make it into money. One of them, he wanted to sell me because it was adjacent to my property. I said, instead of 8.6 acres, I'd have 8.9. I don't care. Be ready.

I have a question. So this is all, they're all unimproved, you said?

Yes.

And then the unincorporated areas? So the people that had the sheds on, they wouldn't want to bite for their shed? We'll see. Are they all in the unincorporated areas? Yes. It's not in the town. So, and we get appraisals for these first? Yep. Okay. And then how do you decide once it's appraised?

This will go through public purchase. It'll be a closed bid. I believe that's the process, a closed bid. People that are interested submit their application, and then we take the highest bidder.

Years ago, we had a some property that was bought for Route 97. And then the project went away. And we kept it for a long time. And we sold that property at pennies on the dollar. I mean, so I don't know how whoever got the deal. I'm glad they got it. But it was a really, really nice couple lots and just make sure that it gets out there and we're getting marketed because land is valuable, especially in an area where you it's a neighborhood. So make sure we get the word out where it is and where people might want to build build a home there.

We'll do, yeah. We've been working with a real estate agent. They have some prices out there for us that we should be expecting. So if they're not close to that, we don't have to accept advance.

No, because I remember a couple years ago we were trying to sell a piece of property, my husband and I, and got very little interest in it. So we waited six months and then got way more interest. It's just a matter of timing and who's looking at that right time. So sometimes just make sure it gets advertised. Thank you.

Hopefully now's a good time.

Thank you, Commissioner. All right, so we have a motion, we have a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye. All those opposed?

Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Have a great day. Thank you. You too.

Up next, item number 11, budget transfer for scope amendment for zoning code review and revision.

Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning.

I have a couple slides here this morning I'm here to address two things with you it's item 11 and 12 they're kind of companion items and this is related to a scope amendment for the project we're working on with Michael Baker International on the code review and revisions. Just by way of a little background for those who need it, we have three primary documents that guide our development, our master plan, the Freedom Community Comprehensive Plan, and the Finksburg Quarter Plan. and some concerns have been raised that our zoning codes and development codes are not fully in line with these documents and as you know in response to some of those concerns back in december deferral was placed on four types of development in the freedom area that's planned commercial centers cluster subdivisions age-restricted housing and self-service storage facilities and In order to try to address some of those concerns, Michael Baker International was hired to evaluate our codes and make some recommendations on potential code amendments. In the course of getting into that work, what we found was that the original scope of work that was laid out, which was to address these four uses kind of concurrently and in three different phases, was not going to be the best approach in order to address the issue of which uses were higher priority than others. So what we've ended up doing is had to kind of reorient the scope of work to address the uses one at a time. And what this has meant is that we have additional meetings and coordination that's required in order to do each use in order of priority which which you all have directed us to do so what we're here to do this morning is approve a transfer of funds to cover the additional amount of money that's required in order to undertake this kind of revised scope and then to actually approve the scope amendment itself. So the original contract was for the amount of $76,743. The additional amount that we're requesting in order to complete the revised scope of work is an additional $19,968 for a total contract of $96,711.

Any comments, questions, or direction from the Board?

I'll move that the Board of County Commissioners approve Resolution O-2701 to transfer $19,968 from reserve for contingencies to Planning and Land Management Administration for consulting services.

Second. We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any discussion?

i would just like to thank you i think um keep in mind this is this work would have been pushed onto the staff and we were dipping down some planners and um one of them's being productive and bringing in more carroll county citizens so she was out for a while so and they they bring an expertise in from around more global so it's been very helpful so on everyone It's been good work, I think it was overdue, and I think everyone's learned a lot, and hopefully we're gonna get a good product out of it, and they've done a very good job. I think it's been a little bit more complex than, the devil's in the details, but it's been a long time coming, and they've done some good work. So I just want to explain that, and it sort of helps us have a broader perspective and have someone can just focus on that versus the job you have to do and everything else. And you've put a lot of time in yourself, all of you, and it's not done but we appreciate the amount of time and i also want to appreciate until the next group that when they come up the amount of time people have spent actually going and seeing seeing things on the ground so that they can understand why we're doing this and once you see it it becomes a lot more obvious of what we are what we're trying to improve improve what we do so thank you

Any other comments or questions?

Yes. I want to thank you for not awarding this when we were not legally bidding it and tried to say it was under 50 grand and it's almost double that now. So I am very glad we legally bid this and we're doing the process legally.

Any other comments, questions? We have a motion, we have a second. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right. Up next, item number 12, change order for scope amendment for consulting services for the revision of Carroll County zoning and site development codes.

The Office of Procurement and Cooperation with the Department of Planning and Land Management request your approval of a scope amendment change order to Michael T. Baker International Incorporated in the amount of $19,968. Project is providing an assessment of existing documents and best practices development of recommended code amendments and assistance in the code amendment process. Commissioner direction has resulted in changes in process and time commitments to meet expectations The four tasks previously approved by the board are approximately 75% complete. The scope amendment will allow for the completion of the project. The amount is within the adopted budget.

Any comments, questions, or direction from the board?

Move the board of commissioners approve a scope amendment change order for the revision of Carol the Carroll County Zoning and Site Development Codes to Michael Baker, Inc. in the amount of $19,968. We have a motion, we have a second. Second. We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye. All those opposed?

Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right. Up next, item number 13, exercise option to purchase agricultural land preservation using the lump sum payment option on the Jane Blow Shaw, trustee of the Jane Blow Shaw revocable living trust property.

I actually have a public comment on this. It's Ms. Shaw.

Of course. Yes, please.

Thank you. Jane Shaw. You can turn that down towards you. Yeah. There you go. Good morning.

Good morning. Jane Shaw, I just wanted to come personally and thank you for the support that you all give this program. And hopefully you'll approve the property that I own at 154 Rockland Road. I also wanted to thank you on behalf of all of us who are currently fighting the power lines. And we really appreciate your support on that also. So a big thank you.

Thank you as well. Thank you for being here.

JP, take it away. Good morning, commissioners. Good to see everybody. As you can see, Jane Shaw is here with us today. And we're here today for final approval for Jane Blow Shaw, the trustee of the Jane Blow Shaw Revocable Living Trust for Carroll County Ag Preservation Easement Program. Here's the property just outside of Westminster on 154 Rockland Road, 216.77 acres. We're retiring zero residential lot rights. There still is commercial development potential on this property. It's in District 1. Fair market value of the land only, $1,201,448.01 per hour points based appraisal. The cost of this easement will be $841,013.60, which works out to $3,879.62 per acre, which is 70% of the fair market value. Here's where the property sits with other preserved properties in the area. It's contiguous to thousands of acres of preserved land just outside of Westminster.

Absolutely beautiful.

It is a beautiful farm. Most of this entire picture is Ms. Shaw's property.

Did you say there is there was before this commercial potential? That's correct. There was commercial, but no residential lots.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. This is one of our last remainder properties. It's actually been in the works for a couple of years. But yeah, you know, they could or Michelle could do solar or a church or, you know, any number of things here in the zone. All right, once again, we're here for the final approval for Jane Blow Shaw, the trustee of the Jane Blow Shaw Revocable Living Trust, located at 154 Rockland Road in Westminster, 216.77 acres, zero residential lot rights in District 1, a cost to the county of $841,013.60.

I will make a motion to exercise an option to purchase an easement on the Jane Blow Shaw trustee of the Jane Blow Shaw revocable living trust property in the amount of $841,013.60. Second. We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any further discussion?

I just want to make a really quick comment. Ms. Shaw, appreciate you coming in today. Fantastic piece of property and just really appreciate you taking the time to consider all this and truly appreciate that.

I got a question about this, but on the remainders, they've been very controversial because of the solar. So a property like this, when they got the remainder, how did they originally get the lots off of it? I'm trying to figure out if we can do something with remainders so we're not getting all the solar and all these remainders. So, I mean, in the future. Because we allow the commercial, so they could have put, if you hadn't done this, we could have put, for ones that aren't under preservation.

Anything that's allowed in the agricultural zone could be put on those remainders.

No, but, and a remainder became because they got lots off of it to begin with, correct?

That's correct.

But if you're only allowed a certain amount of lots. It's just odd to me that they only allow a certain amount of lots for houses, but they'll let you put all this other stuff. Not they. The state of Maryland won't let you build houses, but we can put all this commercial. Now we're putting all this solar on it. Is there any way that we can do things with when people get remainders to begin with to make it less possibility to do things?

I don't know that this is a good question for JP.

It just comes up. I'm glad we're not putting solar all over it.

There are other counties that when they do development, they put it in preservation afterwards. We had a lot of talk about that with our community solar. but it would be, you know, a big process.

Yeah, we did float that as a legislative idea. I can't remember off the top of my head whether that one.

I mean, people think slum's an ag when they look and they say, oh, it's an ag, but they don't realize it's in preservation or it's not, and if it's not, we got some uses that are coming up that aren't, it's not just solar, it's other things as well, that maybe were not predicted, and I don't know if we can look at that, if it's something we should be looking at.

It's something we can look at.

No, no, but we control the zoning codes.

Let me certainly can be reviewed. Sure.

Okay. All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Any other discussion here? None. All those in favor.

Aye.

All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you very much.

All right. Up next, we have item number 14 briefing and discussion on the freedom small area plan amendment with the consultant presentation of initial findings.

We're looking to see if the alternate is termed out just like a regular member. So we'll get back to you with an answer.

I'm sure you will.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you've got a good board, we want to keep it a good board.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Good morning again. Good morning again. I'm here with Nathan Davis and Ben Levenger who are from Downtown Redevelopment Services. DRS has been contracted with to help with the Freedom Plan small area amendment. And I just want to give a little bit of background on how this project came about. And then I'm going to turn it over to Nathan and Ben to lead you through a presentation and a bit of an exercise to get your input on things. So the Freedom Community Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2018 and recommendations that were contained in that plan led to a full revision of the County Zoning Code in 2019, which included expanding the commercial zoning districts from two to three. And this change required a comprehensive rezoning of all commercially rezoned properties. Since these revisions, concerns have been raised that the commercial land use designations along the Maryland 26 and Maryland 32 corridors may need reevaluation. So what this small area plan amendment is seeking to do is to study changes that may have occurred in the commercial market since 2018 assess the retail and business needs of the community, and also take a look at the current suitability of the land use designations. And depending on how those assessments come out and the feedback that we receive from the community, this may result in a small area plan amendment to ensure that the plan and its zoning are aligned. There's also interest in creating an overlay zone for all or part of the study area so that we can help implement recommendations in the Freedom Community Conference Plan to strengthen the identity of the Freedom Commercial Core. And this overlay may address things like architectural on-site design standards, circulation and access, and potentially refine the uses allowed in the underlying zoning to better support the area's desired character. So with that intro, I'm going to turn it over to Nathan and Ben to walk you through some of their preliminary findings and lead you in a discussion on what you as the commissioners would like to see coming out of this effort.

Good morning, commissioners. My name is Nathan Davis. I am the planning lead for Downtown Redevelopment Services, working closely with staff on this project.

My name is Ben Levenger. I'm the president of Downtown Redevelopment Services. I think today I'm just the note taker.

So we have a brief presentation for you. I think due to time, we'll do questions at the end. There are worksheets, so we've given you a little bit of homework. We don't need these back directly today. You're welcome to ponder on them, think on them, and give us feedback in the next week or so. So just to briefly add to the purpose of the project, I know Daphne went into it quite a bit, but we're looking to amend that 2018 plan to address any changes that have occurred since then and address community concerns as well that have been raised, identifying what type of redevelopment should occur and where it should occur, and then preparing that overlay zoning district to codify some of those desired changes. But today, our main goal is to gain input and direction from you as a body. So for our study area, this is the broader freedom area outlined in blue. And then our study area is that red inlet or inset that's really focused on MD 26 and 32, really to the north and the west of that, but also a little bit to the south and the, excuse me, north and east, but a little bit to the south and the west. So we have a little bit of existing conditions highlights, both for just the built environment as well as the market analysis. But in this study area, household incomes are pretty significantly higher than the broader county, about 20% higher. So that really feeds into the commercial presence that we see there. The key note about this corridor is that the commercial structures in this area are aging. which a common theme throughout this presentation will be there are redevelopment opportunities on these sites, whether it be additional commercial or something else that's open for discussion.

Before we move past this one, this graphic is kind of an important one that you're going to see on this map. What you see on the map is things that are highlighted are all the parking lots. And when we talk about redevelopment parcels, this is a very important map. When you go back and you start doing your homework, looking at that parcel map of what is all parking lot is a very important thing for you to look at.

And there are other maps as well that complement this. So this is just one that's telling them of the existing conditions. But there's much more detail in the full existing conditions report that we have to staff and to Commissioner Krebs. But the area is largely built out. There are a few key parcels that will really shape the development. And that's why it's really salient that we're doing this, because as those parcels redevelop, that'll what that'll be what cements the identity of the area so getting in front of that redevelopment and looking for ways to create a sense of place and create strong commercial core will really continue to shape the identity but aside from those parcels redevelopment infill development of those existing lots is really going to be key For the market conditions, the population is continuing to grow in this broader trade area, which represents five, 10, 15-minute drive times, really just to the edge of Owings Mills, which is sort of the next largest commercial corridor area in this region. There are 23,000 units. Of that, only 1,200 are multifamily. So while there is strong demand for single-family homes, townhomes in this core study area, there is also some demand for multifamily. And so just meeting that market, possibly in some of the commercial sites, I think is really a big opportunity. Retail vacancy, office vacancy, restaurant vacancy, all below 5%. So very strong demand for commercial space as well. Over the next few slides, we're going to go through eight development typologies that may be appropriate for this core study area. One of the key things we want you to answer on your handout that we have before you are which development types do you believe are appropriate and where, which development intensities are most appropriate for each development typology, and then what transitions should be implemented.

So when you go through this process and we're going through these slides, don't think that it only has to be one. I would stress that there's gonna be a mixture of all these different typologies as this area builds out. So it's not just big box, it's not just single family residential, it's not just mixed use. It's a mixture of all of these items. And don't be afraid to say, I like this, I don't like that. You're not hurting anybody's feelings by saying those items and just being honest with us.

The transitions are going to be particularly important. One of the key themes that we've heard from Commissioner Krebs, staff, the public, is that transitioning to adjacent residential, those single-family homes sort of on the periphery, is going to be really important. And then while we do have our core study area, there's also going to be a transition area. So when we think about the overlay zoning district, how that commercial transitions to adjacent residential is really important. And so those transition standards, which we'll discuss further in detail later on in this So the first four development typologies that we have right here are big box commercial. This is just standard Walmart in the study area of Home Depot, Kohl's, HomeGoods, things of that nature. We have strip commercial, whether that's an outlot development, one of those big box sites, or standalone strip mall. Those fall under strip commercial. Residential commercial mixed use there's not a whole lot of this in the study area. There's one site Princess shopping plaza that we toured under the planned commercial centers there that allows for one floor of residential above it above that strip commercial I think this was in created with a different intention based off of conversations and to have more of a vibrant mixed-use area, but the built environment of how it's turned out has turned more into standard strip commercial with one floor of housing above it, not that vibrant mixed-use district that I think that was shown many years ago in previous planning efforts. And then commercial mixed-use, we have ground floor commercial with upper floor office. The next four are multifamily residential, so that's just standard apartment buildings. Could be condos as well, so it depends on, condos are for sale, apartments are for rent. Both have a place in the demand, certainly in the study area. Townhomes, typically a for sale product. We've seen some built to rent townhomes in recent years, but typically for sale. Small lot detached residential under current land use designation. This is four to six units an acre, more like cottage court residential homes. And then finally, we have a low density warehouse, which is, if you look at the existing land use map that's on the first page of your handout, that is that purple area that's on the northwest side, north northwest.

Those are really more industrial than anything else. Right.

So one of the key things we're asking for your guidance on is which tools should be considered. So there's a variety of regulatory and infrastructure improvements that can be recommended. I think the main goal of what our project is is looking at the regulatory and how that zoning overlay can achieve some of these public objectives. But within this category, there are transition standards adjacent to neighborhoods. So we'll talk about this a little bit more in a second, but there are a number of things that can be included in this, like larger setbacks, landscaping, buffering, various things to make sure that there's not a large commercial development directly adjacent to single-family homes. New public access roads, making sure that commercial isn't only abutting those arterials, but they join to access roads to make circulation a little bit easier for cars and those wanting to walk. I'm sure driveways and cross access so shared driveways would be on the same side of a road Same curb cut for multiple businesses or multiple strip developments And cross access is if you're looking at two points across the road across 26 or across 32 How they line up so you're not having misalignment in those cuts Streetscape improvements. I know there's been conversation with MDOT about making improvements along 26 over the past number of years And so that's one of the things we're looking at is how working with MDOT Or even working along those county roads that are in the corridor That serve as access roads can be improved for circulation of both pedestrians cyclists and drivers new sidewalks and pedestrian connections parking lot redevelopment. And when we talk about that, it's about redeveloping, um, excess parking. So where there's, um, not as much demand as there used to be due to the rise of online shopping due to changing shopping patterns. Uh, some parking lots aren't fully utilized. So redeveloping out along the corridor along 26 or 32. We've seen some of that with the redevelopment of Wawa right outside of HomeGoods, I believe it is. So that's just one example of parking lot redevelopment. Mixed use development in appropriate locations. So whether it's vertical mixed use like we saw with Princess Shopping Center or horizontal mixed use where there may be a strip mall, maybe some multifamily all-in-one property. and that's separated out into different buildings and then enhanced architectural or design standards which can sort of tie into transition standards but just making sure that buildings have a sense of place and character in this district and again like the the typologies we know you guys have been through this before with other developments and things that happen

this is not a one size fits all, please check one box. There's gonna be many things that are case by case scenarios that happen on many different parcels. We're just more interested in what type of tools should be considered across the board, and if you can check next to what you want, tell us what you think is appropriate, we can start to evaluate those items. And it's less about just having one tool that fixes everything, because that's not going to happen. You need a kind of a toolbox of tools to fix many things.

So the next one is what should the amendment prioritize for the small area plan amendment? So there are six choices. I apologize that I left off economic development, which economic development is very important on the handout design. So looking at that last page there on the left side in the red box, There's redevelopment and reinvestment, so looking at some of those aging commercial parcels and seeing how they can redevelopment, working with property owners on that. Making transportation improvements along those main corridors as well as on county roads. Obviously, the county can make requests to MDOT to make certain improvements, but it is ultimately up to them. But there's much more flexibility on what those county roads look like as well as what infill roads look like as well. housing choices delivering more housing diversity in this area one of the key things from the 2018 plan was to target growth in this area to preserve open space in the rest of the county so whether it be multi-family small lot detached residential townhomes all of those things could be an option here to preserve that open space for the rest of the county economic development making sure that people in this area have shopping employment opportunities things of that nature walkability in public space throughout the corridor the bike ped plan currently emphasizes a network of paths for bikes and pedestrians throughout the area connecting destinations whether it be the schools parks shopping destinations things like that And then corridor appearance and landscaping, making sure that when people arrive into the district, they feel a sense of place, that they recognize that this is the core of the Freedom Area. And then finally we have implementation priorities. So these are things that will require public investment or policy changes. So just understanding where the county wants to focus its resources. First of mind is updating zoning regulations. I think this is most salient because this is the core of the project to submit some of the recommendations from this plan. Capital improvements, whether it be utilities or roads or something else, public parks, things of that nature. Transportation improvements, making sure that bikes, pedestrians, motorists, drivers can all navigate the area safely and efficiently is really important. Streetscape and beautification, again creating that sense of place. Providing incentives for redevelopment as these properties look to redevelopment, if there are any public priorities for achieving any certain outcomes. They can partner with developers to provide incentives in exchange for certain things. These can be financial incentives. They can be regulatory incentives, such as providing density bonuses in exchange for some public outcome. Finally, we have public-private partnerships, and these are if a development can provide civic value, whether it be including a public park, delivering some other public facility as part of that development so the county would chip in in exchange for the development to provide that civic value. I do want to also note that we did cut it out just for the time that we had but on the first few pages of your handout there are other prompts and questions on land use economic development and transportation and public improvements if you would just peruse those and fill those out as you're going through this over the next few days I would appreciate it but now we have time for questions

I'll let them go. I asked you a lot of questions yesterday. You guys, thank you first of all for being on the ground. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to actually see on the ground. Three of our planning commission members went, got to really see on the ground. One had been there several times. I just can't imagine how you do this without actually seeing what you're talking about. And you guys use the Google photos and all, but it's nothing like being on the ground and seeing what's there. So a couple of our challenges that we start with, we saw some opportunity for infill and there were some very insightful ideas. The underlying issue is that we have not done the infrastructure that was supposed to be done parallel roads. The county has not put any of the extra roads in to take on the density. We got a study going right now, Wallace Montgomery study saying, is there any of that left that we can salvage and it's probably some but there's nothing like it was supposed to be and that's only one tiny section that's ever been completed but so that is something that does constrain us with adding even though there's space on these parking lots and I don't disagree with you we'd have to look at the amount of traffic it would bring because that's one of our biggest problems it's just it's Safety issues, congestion is not fun, but it's the safety issues when people avoid driving at certain times and it shouldn't be like that. So we've got that challenge that is a constraint that's not fixed quickly, but at least we're moving forward with a study of it and saying if we can fix some of the pieces and then at the same time, We've re-energized State Highway with some spot improvements and some funding to go with it, and then they have also committed to bringing back a corridor study that was started 30 years ago. It was ready to be finished and it got It got stopped, but they're going to bring that corridor study back for the entire corridor, and that could take a decade to actually realize it. We know the reality of that, but at least it's back on track, and they're actually going to pay for that study part themselves, which is nice, because they see all the stuff that we're trying to do, finally. They think they're going to put our... words with I guess deeds with words and so I think they feel confident that that that may occur so a lot some of that's longer term some of its short term but that's still a constraint for the short term it doesn't mean you can't I mean some of these ideas you have were good ones it just again depends on how much certain these intersections are already like you can't move so if you added any more to it unless it's something doesn't have a lot of traffic let's see Well, I want to give you a clipboard back because it's all wet from yesterday. We had intermittent rain when they said that they meant it.

So my pages all got wet, but we're grateful that it didn't downpour like it did right after it was good rain.

Everything is nice and green, but I realize I'll give you this back. But is it the same? Is this the same? I just know the front page is different. Is that the only thing that's different?

The handout and the site tour were different. The handout for today was very different from the site tour handout.

I'll just keep my little wrinkled papers. Can you email us this so we can type it in? Absolutely. I think you'll be able to read it better and we can fit more words on these little lines. I'm going to keep scratching out and rewriting it. The other thing that I mentioned yesterday, and I appreciate you Driving out further, the study area was based on something that was tried to be done years ago in our freedom plan in 2001. It was called Boulevard District and it was identified in this area. Since then, that's a long time ago, 25 years ago. Since then, it's actually pushed out a little bit further and that is not necessarily in the study area. It's a possibility, I think, that we should look at up to Clean Mill Road only because there's some unimproved area there and we don't want to repeat. If we could prevent that and do some of the planning and curb um consolidation of curb cuts before it happens it would be good instead of now trying to go backwards so i'm not sure what that would take you to drive up and see there's a couple projects that happened up there but there's some stuff there's not a huge amount there some things you're not going to touch a cemetery at church, and that's not going to happen. But there's a few areas that might be an opportunity to make sure we aren't reacting to this a few years from now, and it might not take a lot more work. So I'm putting it out there, and you already have seen that. So I'll explain that to you guys later. I want to put it on the radar screen. And then we talked about the enhanced architectural design standards. We really don't have any at this point at all. So putting those into place and making them reasonable, and we're not going to pick the color paint, but most places do have architectural design standards written so that they know ahead of time. One of the things that I'm committed to is having predictability, especially in an area like this, for our developers. here's what you can do, here's where you can go, and here's what we'd like to see. And when I say like to see, some of it's just visual and some of it i know when i bought my house 33 years ago i came right up here to the county went into the plant and looked and see what could go across the street and it was a big industrial area and all below grade and i said this is nice they had trees all around and they said that's what can go across the street is what's here already all below grade and pine trees down it it's been a good neighbor for 33 years but we don't see it but i didn't realize that was only part of that particular site plan it wasn't really written anywhere So we're getting another whole big piece of industrial. It's all gonna be sitting up right in front of everybody's homes. So how do we get that in there? Because whoever did it years ago, I guess it was written on their plan, which I didn't understand when they told us, had the foresight to say, hey, put this below grade, and it's been a great neighbor for everyone. So they were the kind of things, you don't wanna necessarily leave it up to a group of people that don't really know. The planning commission are seven lay people. sort of like we are, lay people. How do we get those types of, you talk about setbacks, but some of them are going below grade for something that would be adjacent to something. So how do we make sure that gets put in there as a condition one way or another? It might be a berm, it might be below grade, but those transitions, it makes a huge difference because I don't think anybody minds this property has been there forever because of the way it was planned and executed.

It does. And while we... While those are site specific at times, we can put in language there about the elevation and how the height of the overall building relates to the elevation of the site and just how it transitions from property to property.

Yeah, and we have another site, I think you saw it, that has caused problems because the elevation was so high and they built it up, that's causing flooding down the road. And that's a problem for an existing home that's not happy about it. So there's elevation issues. It's hard to see on a piece of paper, but we gotta make sure that we consider them so they don't become bigger problems. And you mentioned tonight Hopefully people will come. I don't know that they understand. We might have to explain to them when they come in what we're looking for because this has been good. I haven't had a lot of time to explain it. What's a small plan amendment? And just getting their ideas. But you have some of that stuff down here. But then when you mention those specific things, it's helpful to say, oh, that's what you're talking about.

Right.

We have a handout for that. When they come in, there's a handout. It's a two-sided piece of paper that explains what the evening is, the format. There's even, like you guys got, boxes in the back where if we missed something or the maps or whatever it is we're asking, didn't ask the right question, it's general information they can just fill in and hand back to us.

But you guys live and breathe this, and when you say it, it's like, oh, yeah, I agree with this, this, and this. Because a simple thing like preserving open space, people think we're talking about fancy things. When I talk about open space, I'm talking about green grass, something that is... you wanna look at. We just looked at beautiful pictures of farmland. We have no green space. I mean, there's, and if it, the only green space we count for development now is stormwater management ponds that are not attractive. We can have attractive, we just, we don't make them do anything. One property, one little property has 23 of them on there, 23 storm, and they're just dirt and stones and a ditch in the middle. And when people look, when you buy the property and you see it on this pretty map, it looks like it's nice, but it's not. You get there and they build it and you're like, oh my gosh, what did we just do? So we gotta make sure we define what counts as open space, and then how do we make sure people, when they buy it, all of a sudden doesn't get fixed around, they're like, oh, that's what I got. We don't wanna have buyer beware. We wanna be transparent. We wanna make sure open space is truly open space. or green grass between two houses instead of a ditch and a grid. So defining some of these things is going to be important. What's a reasonable thing to call open space? So I will certainly be seeing more of you and writing some of this stuff down. And if you send this electronically, I'm going to put it on the top of my list for this weekend to get it to you.

We'll absolutely send it to everyone.

Is there a time frame that you're wanting these types of things?

For the comments, we would like them back by next Friday. So we'll send the handouts today. And then if you want to send it in a Word file, however you would like to send it, we're very flexible. So if you also want to hop on a call, happy to do that as well.

And is your email in here where we're sending this to?

We have our general email, I believe, in here. But if not, I can... I'll include that in what I send out today.

The general email goes to both Nathan and I. So if he's not in and I am, one of us will get it. So I would send it there.

It's not in this handout, but it is in the site tour handout. And if anybody would like my card, I'm happy to provide that as well.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Any questions or other comments from the board?

And you may have said this and I missed it. So we have a questionnaire. When is the deadline for it? Next Friday. Next Friday. Next Friday. So I'll send that electronically.

I'll send the PDF version of that. And then I will also give you my card just after this.

However, if you want to write on there, we welcome that too. There's no issues with that.

Yeah. And I ask that this whole schedule was developed without our input. And I'm OK with that, except people One other town hall, I was at a funeral and people condemned me in emails because I wasn't there. They're clueless. And it would be nice if moving forward, we would at least see a tentative schedule and I'd like to be able to make some of the stuff, but when I have previously scheduled conflicts, I can't.

We understand and we'll work with you to let you know well in advance of any future public meetings.

and we did definitely you sent out the schedule like for tonight a few weeks ago like for the thing at the library and there's a couple other I don't know what other dates are on there but that we have there's there's more dates fill us in on those yeah so I do want to jump in sort of with some some next steps so

there's an open house tonight where the public are welcome to come there's no presentation just drop in anytime between five and seven down at the eldersburg branch public library the consultant team is going to continue to assimilate all of the feedback that they get and then we're looking at in mid-October another time when they'll come back and present some options for consideration we're working on scheduling a joint work session between you all and the Planning and Zoning Commission when we can dig into a lot more detail on what the proposals might be, what you all would like to see ultimately come out in a proposed plan amendment and or overlay zoning district. And that'll be kind of a real work session type of So I think we've pegged the week. We're just looking for the right day to get that scheduled. And that'll be a real work session type of format.

And would there be an interest or an opportunity? I know it's hard to get schedules because you have seven planning commissions, five of us. Is there an opportunity to have a smaller subset of that be like hands on or is that not just for that kind of feedback?

So I think the idea for that joint session that Daphne was mentioning is that it would be hands-on, that it would be very interactive and discussion-based, and we would have worksheets that we provide as well. I do want to note that we've identified October 13th through 16th as the next round of in-person engagement. So that'll include that workshop. That'll also include the next public meeting and some other outreach efforts as well.

I wanna, Commissioner Krebs, I'd like to address that comment. In our past of working with communities and counties and governments across the board, the most successful meetings are when we get planning and zoning and the commission all in the same room instead of us going, Planning and zoning coming to you guys. You say I want this and it goes back and forth. We can get you all at the same table and you can negotiate and discuss and come up with a plan. It does help move things along more rapidly. And I think that's kind of our goal here is to move this stuff forward.

I'm not saying I agree with you. It's just if we can't get everyone because it's hard with 12 people and it's not on a certain day. We just got to make sure we can get it done. But you've given us a few days there that we can work with.

And I think we we need to get it done because a lot of the communication hasn't included all five of us. And you guys are fully aware all five of us get to vote on this. And that's the first time I hear stuff. My vote is going to be now. So it's small groups doesn't solve much. And and 12 is as big as you want a committee to be, probably. But it's not unworkable.

And by that time, you'll have more information given to you as regular updates from the staff and things that will go through there. And you'll have handouts and materials before the meeting to be kind of prepared for the event. Our goal is to give you everything that you need ahead of time. And when we sit down as a group, everybody works together and comes up with a solution at that time. Not that it's perfect and finalized, but at least if we have a direction that everybody's marching, then we're doing good.

I assume everyone's being invited to everything, because I know the planning commission members, several were there yesterday, and I appreciated that.

Yes, appreciate it. Appreciate all your work.

Thank you very much for all that you've done.

Well, this is probably a question more for you, but can you go through the history of this? Somebody quizzed me yesterday that it said we did all this during COVID and they weren't allowed to be there, but COVID didn't start in China till December of 2019. What did we do prior to that? We did plans and then we did zoning and what's the years? And maybe you need to email us.

I can give you the high level. So the zoning code rewrites were I think actually being worked on in response to the adoption of the 2014 They had started kind of working on them in response to recommendations with that plan. But then it was really kind of solidified with the development of the Freedom Community Comprehensive Plan. When that plan was adopted in 2018, they rolled straight into the revising the zoning ordinance, starting with the commercial and industrial zoning districts. So that was... adopted in 2019 december i believe it was 2019. um and that had started in china you didn't do it in china did you sorry no now there might be some confusion because there were multiple phases of the zoning code rewrite like there was and even multiple phases of the commercial So, there was an initial phase in 2019 that was moving certain properties from the old business general and business neighborhood retail to the new C1 C2 C3 commercial districts and that just had to happen because you go from two to three you have to figure out what where everybody goes I believe it was in 2021 that a second phase of by request commercial rezonings happened that was where property owners were were allowed to submit a request for rezoning if they had commercial or industrial land. And I think that was mostly to align certain properties that were not zoned commercial or industrial at the time, but were consistent with a planned land use designation. So those may have had some virtual component to them. And then we later did amendments to the residential and ag and commercial zoning districts. I think that all wrapped up. You can come back to me if I'm wrong. 2023, maybe something like that. So it was a multi-phase, multi...

year effort and you can look in the ordinance book and it right under each one and it'll tell you all the dates that's been updated and they're all different times and like the residential was done in 2022. yeah but yeah each one tells you those dates you can follow it back right all right any other comments questions from the board all right thank you all very much thank you commissioners thank you thank you guys and the due date is friday

Next Friday. Next Friday. Next Friday. Next Friday. Not tomorrow. You got eight days. Let's not rush it. And you guys love Carroll County so far, right?

Yeah. Smart answer.

You have a Tim Hortons and an ice cream shop. I'm good. They had to stay out of town because we don't have a hotel.

It's Dan Owings Mills.

Thank you, everybody. Thank you. All right. Up next, item number 15, approval of the FY27 town-county agreements for Mount Airy, Taunty Town, Union Bridge, and Westminster. Hello, Ted.

I thought Heidi messed up, but I was wrong.

Heidi never messes up.

Okay, we've already approved, I believe, four town-county agreements. I have the remaining four here today, Mount Airy, Tawny Town, Union Bridge, and Westminster. For those listening, short explanation. The county has a long-standing revenue sharing program where some county tax collections go to the towns. There's a complicated formula that determines the amounts. And there's another little piece to this in that we have some shared expenditures between the county and the towns. Rather than send them the total check and then invoice them for money that they owe us. We net that out and send them the end result of all those activities.

So that's the difference in the two columns? Yes.

Any comments, questions, or direction from the board?

Move the Board of County Commissioners approve the FY27 town-county agreements with the towns of Mount Airy, Tawneytown, Union Bridge, and Westminster. Second.

We have a motion, we have a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. All right. Last but not least, item number 16, approval of the following resolutions for year-end adjustments. Thank you very much. Year-end adjustments, resolution 0.26.06 and resolution C.26.03.

We're handing you that now because we were literally still working on this even today. to try and get this as right as we can. And on that, well, first back up a step. The reason we do this is at the end of the year, not every budget is balanced. We have to make some changes to bring those things into balance. And we bring these to you about this time every year. This year is a little bit more difficult than others, and we're going through a transition to a new financial system. And we're feeling pretty good that we have everything, but because there were some questions about encumbrances and invoices and where things stood, I just want to at least mention the possibility to you that we didn't get something quite right and might have to come back to you again at some point. Hopefully not.

Have to come back to true something up, maybe?

Could be. Okay, so there's two pieces to this. One is operating and one is capital. On the operating side, we have a payment we need to make to the Maryland State Department of Education for the state determined share of, our share of private pre-K payments. We haven't talked about this lately, but you might remember earlier in the year the state kind of surprised us with this bill after we had adopted the budget. So this is not in the budget. So we're making this change now so that there is a budget for this payment.

Do we have any idea if this is ongoing or?

Well, it's absolutely ongoing. We don't know the number, though.

The amount.

Yeah, the problem is it's based on the number of children who register with private pre-K providers, and we have no information on that until the state provides it to us. Now, we do know that after we adopted the budget, I don't remember what we put in, but we put in a number it makes more sense to put in something rather than nothing even though we don't know what the number is going to be but the state i mean the county got two more private pre-k providers approved since then how many kids will they have if any yeah we don't we don't know that so i mean this is always going to be a bit of a guessing game for us and ted i want to make sure you understand when we well i didn't vote for blueprint for a lot of reasons

The private pre-K was supposed to be an alternative to the public pre-K, because we had a lot of good pre-Ks around. Some people wanted to send their kids in a different way. It wasn't supposed to be extra. It was supposed to, like, that kid would have gone to public school. Eventually, everybody had that opportunity to go to public school. And this was supposed to be, they wanted to not do that. They could come here. It wasn't supposed to. So I don't know. I guess when we do enrollments, we count the kids that are actually going to public pre-K. So this would have been, they're going here instead. Is that the way we should look at it? Because it wasn't supposed to be extra. It was supposed to be, hey, everybody's going. They're either going here or they're going to go there. And in many cases, the private pre-K is less. But how do we look at that?

Well, whether they're coming to a Carroll County public school or to a private pre-K provider, we don't know how many pre-K students will show up until they show up. So there's never advanced information on what that's going to be. And we've had a similar problem for many, many years with kindergarten. Once they're in the school system, there's some predictability to how many you expect there'd be the next year, not perfect, but there's some. With kindergarten, you don't know until they register. Pre-K, it just extends that problem even further now.

The kindergarten is mandatory to go to. You have to go, right? Am I correct? So everyone's supposed to go to kindergarten. And we sort of look at, can look at birth rates to figure that out. And they don't normally go to another, There's no other kindergartens available. But pre-K, there were. There's always been a lot of pre-Ks, good pre-Ks in Carroll County. So some people want to keep sending their kids to that particular pre-K. Is pre-K, eventually when we have all of the seats, will that be mandatory? Or is that just still optional, not like a kindergarten?

Under current law, it's optional. It's optional. It's available.

It's available. And a lot of people are taking advantage of it because it's expensive for daycare, and now you can go into pre-K. do you know if it's this is because we don't have pre-k in all of our schools yet maximize we're not all built out or is it just because people want to go to a different place i don't think or do we not know i don't think it has anything to do with anything that we do in the carroll county public school system uh it's it's all about are there pre-k private pre-k providers

And the answer at some time might be no. Maybe they all say no, we're not doing this. Or it might get bigger, we don't know that. And then parents are making a choice on if they're gonna send them and if they do, where they're gonna send them. But these are all variables where we have We have no information available to us until somebody makes that decision.

I mean, I know that, I mean, I know Freedom doesn't have pre-K yet, because they don't have room, and we're still building pre-Ks on to some of our schools. I'm not sure if they're accommodating those kids in the school where they are until we get the pre-K, or people are determining, like at Freedom, there's no choice, so they could go somewhere else, but they're going to stay at that pre-K.

So Blueprint was designed, now it could change, but it was designed to encourage students private pre-k and not school pre-k so I don't think it makes a difference whether or not the school system or any particular school can provide it or doesn't provide it there's no obligation to the school system so to speak that's maybe too strong to provide all of it at least so the whole point was to encourage private pre-k what we didn't realize at the time was that we were going to have the bill sent to us.

No, but if everybody had taken it, but if everybody had taken advantage of going to pre-K in the public school, if we had seats, it would still be, we have to provide it one way or another. That's what I'm saying is we don't have a choice.

Kerwin thought it was be 50-50 and it was another thing he was clueless about well I mean this that was the legislation the state yeah yeah and and the other thing is to my knowledge CCPS hasn't turned down any student they may say the specific schools full but they haven't turned down and And the additions are because, not because they don't have space, it's because pre-K and kindergarten have different kinds of classrooms.

And one of the reasons, I think a lot of people wanted to go to the private providers because we have a lot of good ones. We do. I mean, I'm not sure if everywhere does. But one of the reasons I think less people are doing that is because I think you've got to still do teacher pay a certain amount, but then other people that are in the... So if you've got to pay a teacher X amount, I can tell you at our pre-Ks, they're paid way less than that because they're private entities. So if they've got to pay a teacher X here and then the ones for the three-year-olds are making this, it's sort of difficult within your own pre-K because you still have three-year-olds. And secondly, something that happened that I was very disturbed with, many, many pre-Ks around the whole state are related to church facilities because they already have their Sunday schools. It doesn't mean they don't accept everybody. Kids go to all different ones. but we were assured that they could continue to do their program. But what they didn't tell us is that they can't do it during the school day. So if you say like, God is great during lunch, you can't do that. Well, that's why you have pre-K. I mean, that's why churches are doing it. And it's pretty much non-denominational, but you have to do it before the school day or after the school day, but not during the school day. And that sort of takes away why churches are offering the pre-gay. So some of them are just saying, no, we're not doing that, because we want to say grace. I'm oversimplifying it, but that was something that was told to us. I remember being on a conference call with one of the assistant superintendents from MSD, and he said, well, my mother's a minister, and believe me, we're going to be able to do this. But then two years later... They couldn't. So some of it is because of that, that the pre-Ks are not necessarily absorbing. Some are and some are not. They're not absorbing the absorption rates up to 50%, which was anticipated, which would have been probably less expensive to do if they just let us do it.

But the bottom line is we're being forced to pay for it.

Yes.

Keyword forced. Yes.

Okay. Any comments, questions, or direction from the board?

Okay, then in corrections. I'm sorry, Ted.

I didn't realize you were I apologize. I didn't realize you weren't done. Sorry. I can be also up to the board. Is everybody ready to take action? Or do you want some more explanation from Ted?

Is what on the contingencies? Are these the things we vote on each, like, the bottom one, the reserve for contingencies at the biggest?

This is where the money is coming from for each of all that.

Okay. Okay, gotcha. I'm looking at it wrong. So if I put my glasses on, I'd see the parentheses. Thank you.

I move the Board of Commissioners approve the following resolutions, Resolution O.26.06 and Resolution C.26.03. O's second.

We have a motion and an O's second. Is there any further discussion?

Yes. You didn't get to do much on capital budgets. Is there anything there significant or is it pretty straightforward?

nothing too interesting. Basically, we have a couple projects, three projects that were ready to close. And we have places to move them to the Farm Museum. Remember when we had to rebuild after a fire? This is finishing funding that project. The general government unallocated is kind of a capital contingency fund. We're just putting a little bit in there. And then the town fund was a mistake on our part. This funding is a percent of what we get in program open space and we didn't recalculate when we should have.

Thank you.

Absolutely. Any other questions or comments? All right. Hearing none, we have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you both very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right. We will now move into the public comment portion of the agenda. Roberta, do we have anybody here for public comment? Chris, do we have anybody on the line for public comment?

Yes, sir. We have one caller. If you could use star six to unmute, you'll have three minutes. And please identify yourself. Thank you.

Good morning, commissioners. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Thank you. Catherine Adelaide, one of nine members of the Carroll County Republican Central Committee. Hope everybody's having a great day. I really enjoyed hearing your priority, Carol. Like you, I love all things, Carol. I did attend the National Night Out in Westminster and saw Commissioner Borden there. So great on priority, Carol. Our Central Committee meeting is tonight instead of our usual fourth Thursday, which would have been August 20th. It will be tonight at 6 o'clock at the Senior Center. And that is because our Events Committee and we're all working really hard to get ready for our annual Patriot Picnic on Sunday, August 23rd at 1 o'clock at Bennett Surf Park. Sorry, I didn't hit my timer here. Somebody can stop me. There's no charge for that, but we're there to get the Republicans excited about getting Republicans elected in November. So we had a great time last year, and we hope you'll all put that on your calendar and attend that. Our other big event is the Carroll County 4-H Fair. It was a little iffy this year because we were lacking, you know, enough volunteers, but I really appreciated our new member-elect, Tara Battaglia. She really is a big 4-H gal, and she inspired me. And so Kelly and I, we volunteered on Tuesday for Children's Day, my first day at Children's Day. It was absolutely awesome. And several of our members, Tara donated the duckies and Dawn donated the little bubbles, Kelly a 250-anniversary gift. We were there from about 8.30 to probably 3 o'clock. The Trump Bears were very popular with the kids, as were all of the things. So we had a great day there. We were there last night, Wednesday, for the cake auction. I also... like to attend the Carroll County Cloggers. That's the oldest clogging group in the state of Maryland. And the governor also put out a proclamation for International and National Day of Clogging, which will be Saturday, this Saturday, August 8th. And they're having a matinee at the Carroll Arts Center to highlight the Cloggers. And when you're done doing that, you can go back to the 4-H. Our trailer will be there for the Derby in the evening. And that's the final day. So really do Carroll County Fair is definitely a great event for us all to attend. Quick pro-life news. No Carroll County Right to Life meeting in August, but we are working on volunteers for the Greenbelt Labor Day parade for our Prince George's Right to Life chapter that's opening up. And mark your calendar for Thursday, October 15th for our Maryland Right to Life banquet. And also, if you want to volunteer at the Maryland State Fair, go to the Maryland Right to Life website. And that's it for me. Everybody have a great weekend.

Thank you very much. Chris, do you have anybody else on the line for public comment?

That's all I have, sir.

All right, thank you very much. We'll now move into admin open, the administrative session open section of the agenda. And I do have something to discuss with my colleagues, and that is to set a date and a location for the public hearing for the proposed text amendments. In order to keep up with the schedule that's been established, we have to go ahead today and figure out what day and location for that. And the two available dates are either Tuesday, September 1st or Thursday, September 3rd to have the public hearing. So does anybody have a preference for either one of those days and for a location? Did you mention time? Did you mention time? Oh, it would be in the evening. I apologize. Okay.

These are all the text amendments for All relating to the deferrals. I mean, if it's possible. The three.

The three that you passed to go to public hearing last week, which is the retirement cluster and the ADUs. Yes.

I mean, if possible, I would like to do it where people are, because it's important for, and they do show up when we have it there. So if that's a possibility, even Liberty High School would probably be more parking. Because a couple times ago, people had to leave because they didn't have enough parking at the senior center. It was so fat that people told me they had to leave.

So for me, I, I could certainly make either one of those days work. I have a preference for Tuesday, but I could certainly make Tuesday or Thursday that week work. Um, and my suggestion would be to have it here in Westminster. And while I understand that the, the amendments, uh, you know, were, were inaugurated by concerns in the, the, you know, district five in the freedom area, uh, they would effectively, uh, if passed, uh, affect the entire county.

and and so i think having a central location because of the far-reaching potential of those uh changes uh would would be amenable and i'm pretty sure that tuesday september 1st is the first meeting after the summer of the one republican club that meets at the senior center and they get a they get a good crowd i think uh it would be nice not to conflict with that

Well, I certainly would. Uh, I certainly understand Commissioner Krebs concerns. I tend to agree with Commissioner Vigliotti on this and would propose that we conduct these meetings on September 3rd here in our public meeting room, which I assume is going to be the Reagan room. Okay. Which is downstairs, everybody, if you're just don't be confused when you get here. And I don't know. I don't have a physical preference for time. Whatever time seems to work best for folks. But I would advocate that we have it here on September 3rd in this building.

In the evening. I'm sorry? In the evening, you're saying. In the evening, yes. The time is like 5, 6, or 7. Yeah, whatever time.

In the daytime. So would you rather have it earlier, like 5 or 6, so that you're not – going home and coming back. I mean, it's up to you guys. It's a long day.

That's a good suggestion, actually. If we could make it as early as possible, that would be... How about 6? We can ensure people can make it. How about 6 o'clock?

That's what we're doing this other one on, at 6 o'clock. The one for... I mean, it's three things we have to do. I just don't want to be here forever. No one's...

That's a good point, too. It could be a long night. So I would propose I make a motion that we conduct these public hearings on the three remaining deferral text amendment proposed text amendments on September 3rd here in the county office building, starting at six p.m. Second.

All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All those in favor. Aye. All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, everybody. Does anybody else have anything for admin open? All right. Hearing nothing, we'll move into the agenda review section of our agenda. Good morning, Wanda. Hello, Wanda. How are you? All right. So up first, we have the week of Monday, August 10th. Monday, August 10th, we have the ribbon cutting and opening ceremony for the Tawny Town Senior Center Room Project at 2 o'clock p.m., and I am slated to attend that.

Do you know if you'll be here yet? Do you have a conflict or you think you're pretty sure you'll be there?

Oh, no, I will certainly be there.

Put me down as a maybe. I'd like to try. If you said you weren't going to be there, then I definitely.

Gotcha.

Okay. All right.

Tuesday, August 11th, the AgCenter board meeting. Wednesday, August 12th is Summer Mako, and Commissioners Gordon, Kyler, and Krebs will be representing us and representing as well as they always do. And then also on Wednesday, the Farm Museum board meeting with myself. Thursday, there is no open session on Thursday, August 3rd.

Just meeting with yourself?

That's very nice. It's you and yourself. Me, myself, and I. It's a great group.

It's a very quick meeting. That's all. Easy to come to a resolution. Thursday, August 13th, there is no open session for the Carroll County Commissioners because, again, Commissioners Gordon, Kyler, and Krebs will be representing us at Summer MAKO. 5 o'clock PM, Chamber of Commerce Carroll Biz Challenge at the Carroll County Arts Center here in Westminster. Friday, August 14th, Summer MAKO continues. Commissioners Gordon, Kyler, and Krebs. And Saturday, August 15th, Summer MAKO continues with Commissioners Gordon, Kyler, and Krebs. And Sunday, August 16th, Commissioner Gordon has the podcast.

are there any alterations or amendments to the first week of our agenda um i i just want to mention with mako the app's now available i don't know if everybody's seen it but that has a lot more detail of schedule in it for everyone cool well thank you commissioner and if you want to follow along well i can get you the app yeah i might as well yeah why not yeah it's got a lot of goods a lot of good stuff you love no thank you kenny yeah thank you no problem

All right. Up next, the week of Monday, August 17th. Monday, August 17th shows nothing on the formal calendar. Tuesday, August 18th, Commissioner Kyler has his chamber breakfast. And Wanda put me down tentative. I might try to make that. Do I get fed if I go to this? I listen to you. Yeah, I guess I could go. What's for breakfast? Yeah, what is for breakfast? Do you know?

Pretty much always the same thing. Pretty much always the same thing.

9 o'clock a.m. playing in zoning commission with Commissioner Gordon, and then at 2 o'clock p.m. veterans advisory meeting with Commissioners Gordon and Kyler. Wednesday, August 19th, Carroll Community College Board of Trustees meeting with Commissioner Kyler, and the Emergency Services Advisory Council meeting with Commissioner Guerin. Thursday, August 20th, we will have open session as Board of County Commissioners beginning at 9 o'clock a.m. Item number one, Priority Carroll. Item number two, we'll be hearing from the Board of Elections on a post-primary election report. Item number three, approval to submit the FY28 Continuum of Care Application and Mashing Funds Grant. Item number four, request to amend the Carroll County FY2027 Program Open Space Annual Program for the Town of Manchester. Item number five, LED lighting upgrades to baseball field at Sandy Mountain Park. Item number six, contract award for Piney Run Park entrance main road paving and site improvements. Item number seven, approval to purchase platform for college and career readiness. Item number eight, briefing discussion and decision on the FY26 grant for buses and bus facilities. Item number nine, approval to purchase traffic paint. Item number 10, approval to purchase bulk road salt. Item number 11, approval to purchase vehicles for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. Item number 12, approval to purchase the upfitting of vehicles for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. Item number 13, contract award for engineering services for the Miriam Drive and Bruce Court replacement water main project. Item number 14, contract awards for the FY27 sampling, laboratory testing and reporting and support services for the Division of Utilities, Water and Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Department of Public Works. Item number 15, contract awards for replacement of water service laterals within the Freedom District Service area. Item number 16, spending authority for trash removal. followed by public comments, admin open, and agenda review. Friday, August 21st, shows nothing on the formal calendar. Saturday, August 22nd, shows nothing on the formal calendar. And Sunday, August 23rd, Commissioner Guerin has the podcast. Are there any alterations or amendments for the second week of our agenda? All right, hearing.

I've got a question. For some reason, I thought today, or the first of August, we were getting the report from Rec and Parks, the inventory report. Do you know when that's coming up?

um yeah it will be um toward the end of august yeah this is the end of august uh okay so it's not on the agenda no no i just was i was looking forward today i just for some reason that was the first first month first meeting all right anything else for the good of the order all right hearing none i need a motion to adjourn so moved we have a motion to be the second second all right we have a motion we have a second to adjourn all those in favor aye all those opposed