Town Council - Regular Meeting

The date is April 6th, 2026. At this time, I will now call the Mount Town Council meeting to order. If you would please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, welcome everybody to our April meeting. Uh, a few quick things. One, we are expecting Mr. McCarron here. I guess he's probably running just a tad late. Uh, but we'll go ahead and get started with the uh, basics uh, now. And two, Council Member Kelly is present. He's on the phone. Uh so he will be uh present to vote and do his normal council duties via phone. Sean, say hi. Hello. There he is. Uh at this time, we'll go ahead and move on to presentations. And uh first up, we have proclamation to recognize the mount uh the month of April as child abuse child abuse prevention month. And I'll relinquish to Mayor Husher.

Thank you. You might have to turn that mic on, Mayor. I don't think to see battery life.

Test. Test. Okay, this all works. So, let's give Tom a big round of applause for getting here on time. meeting meeting adjourned. So, uh, no, April is a child abuse prevention month. And with that in mind, I'd like to have Claire come up here along with her entourage. Okay. And Claire, if you could do us a favor and announce who all is here with you. And if you stumble somewhere, I'm sure you'll get help. Okay. There you go. We'll help you out.

Yeah. Just come right up here and you can talk right in there and tell us who everyone is. This here is Judith Feather line, her great grandmother. Oh, okay. And this is Maryanne. And this is Pat. Okay. Jenna. And that's Jenna. And Don,

you're a natural. Good job. So, you could have been warned, right?

I know, but if I'd have warned you, you might not have come up here. So, so sometimes you got to do a sneak attack. So, but you did really good. So, we're very proud of you. So, I'm going to read the uh proclamation and then uh whoever would like to speak on behalf of the organization, that would be great. The proclamation is child abuse prevention month, April 2026. Whereas, all town and mount area citizens share a responsibility to protect our children. During the month of April, we renew our commitment to prevent child abuse and sexual assault and to work to enable our children to receive the protection, resources, and support that they need. And whereas effective child abuse prevention and support efforts to child victims and families succeed because of partnerships created among local law enforcement, human service agencies, legal experts, health care providers, mental health experts, and other agencies dedicated to improving the lives of children. And whereas Maryland has adopted laws to protect child victims rights and provide essential services, our public and private sectors must continue to work cooperatively to maintain and improve programs and legislation that will benefit these youngest and most vulnerable victims. And whereas the town of Mount Ary calls on all citizens, community agencies, medical and mental health providers, elected officials, schools, and businesses to increase their collaboration with the Child Advocacy Center of Frederick County in support of child victims of maltreatment and to prevent the child abuse and to strengthen the community in which we live. We now therefore we do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as child abuse prevention month in the town of Mount Ary Maryland and do commend this observation to all of our

citizens. And then we have a proclamation that will hang by the front door. And if you have any comments, please please come up.

Thank you for letting me speak briefly tonight. My name is Jenna Mosman. I'm with the Child Advocacy Center. For those of you who are not aware of what the Child Advocacy Center is, we are a department within Division of Frederick County government under the um division of family services. We serve children and their non-offending caregivers during allegations of child abuse. We are here to ensure that every child who experiences abuse is met with compassion, protection, and hope through strong partnerships with our multiddisciplinary team, which includes law enforcement partners, child protective services, advocates, medical professionals, prosecutors, and mental health providers. We work together to reduce trauma and help children and their families begin to heal. In 2025, we served more than 371 families and their and children and four of those families were actually from Mount Ary. Um, we had about 300 child forensic interviews, almost a thousand hours of trauma focused therapy, 60 pediatric medical exams, and more than 1,900 advocacy encounters. and our nonprofit, the Friends of the Child Advocacy Center, who are some of these members here. They supported more than 125 children, which they help with immediate needs and supportive services. We have also been focusing on our prevention work and provided body safety and education to about 200 children and 100 adults. Keeping, excuse me, helping empower young children with knowledge, building confidence to speak up, and equipping caregivers with tools to better protect and support the children in their lives. Prevention and pro and protection do not happen in one building alone. They live

in the heart of the community. Each of us has a role to play. When you stay aware, speak up, and show up for families, that helps create a place where every child feels safe, valued, and heard. This child abuse prevention month, we are asking our community to stand together because every child deserves to be protected, and that responsibility belongs to all of us. Thank you so much. If you don't mind, we'll we'll go ahead and do a quick picture. Council, I'm sure you're supportive of this effort, so come on up and be involved in this. I didn't ask, did anyone else have something to say or

Okay. All right. We'll jump up here in front of the podium. Do you want to stand up here with me? I never got We do have to pass out. Okay. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks so much. Our other presentation is not

Okay. All right. So, John, we can set this up for public comment. All right. Next up, we have our public comment portion of the agenda. Who here in the audience wishes to speak? One, two, three, four. Okay. If we could um for time, just try to limit it to about three minutes each. Uh whoever would like to go first, please come on up. And when you do come up, please state your name and address for the record. Thank you.

Dick Swanson, 1107 South Main Street. I have two things. First thing is uh on the resolution for water reserves. I have a uh suggestion for a word change. I'd like to do that when you deliberate it if you don't mind.

Uh we could probably work in some time for that. That's fine. And uh second thing is available water capacity yield. The calculation that uh you're presenting tonight in a resolution is for 19,272 gallons per day. And that uses to calculate that number what's called point of entry. For people who don't know what point of entry is, it is the point at which the water that has been gone through the uh purification process enters the water system. That is not the amount of water pumped out of the well. Uh, council member de motor at the water and sewer commission meeting last Wednesday shared a email from MDE Maryland Department of the Environment. In that email, the point of entry question was raised and responded to and MDE said that point of entry is non-compliant with MDE requirements. Therefore, if you pass that resolution, Mount Ary is in non-compliance with the MDE requirements. I suggest that you reject the resolution, send it back to staff and ask them to calculate a water capacity number that is compliant with MDE. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening. My name is Jay Lansman Jr. I'm a candidate for sheriff in 2026. U I spent uh over 30 years in law enforcement, 26 and a half years with the Baltimore County Police Department going from teenage cadet to colonel of operations before retiring in 2021. uh served in patrol, investigations, administration, overseeing vice narcotics, uh units such as tactical aviation, marine, the bomb squad, and and other uh areas of the department like employment and hiring and the equipment and facilities. Uh a good overview of of all aspects of law enforcement. When I retired in 2021, I I went to work as as a civilian uh with the Westminster Police Department for a few months uh doing uh various administrative duties. One of the things was writing a a grant application for downtown improvements where that we did get approved for $100,000 to buy cameras for the downtown area, uh crosswalk improvements, things like that. But I quickly missed uniform law enforcement. Um, and I told the chief uh that uh there were there were people in the organization that could do the job that I was doing there. Uh, and I went back to work in uniform for the Talson University Police Department in 2022 where I served as their patrol commander and later deputy chief of police. Um, in that function because there were some staffing challenges there. Um, I was not only doing the commander role, I was also doing the operational functions of investigations, writing search warrants, making arrests, um, you know, directing traffic, overseeing special events, whatever we needed to do to maintain law enforcement services on the second largest, uh, public university campus in Maryland. Um, I left that role in after we got done spring commencements and and, uh, high school graduations. I told the chief that I was going to throw all my focus into this campaign because I believe that accountability and government is

important. Uh my family's been doing law enforcement for 90 years, uh going back to 1936, four generations, uh grandfather, uncles, dad, three of my four siblings, um nieces, and now my son and not a dentist in the bunch. This is what we do. Um we have deep roots in this county. um relatives from Mount Area over to Manchester and all points in between. Um most of us in law enforcement have spent many years serving communities along Liberty Road, 140, Route 30. Um and I believe that uh I have a vision for for what's the challenges that are that are coming in the future. Uh my wife and I met working at George's grocery store, which was a a Carol County staple for for a long time. Um, we had our first date at Caroltown Movies, uh, 1992. We were married in '98 and, uh, raised our family here in Westminster. Um, I believe that accountability and government is important. I think that this time it's important. Right now, the there's some signs here. Uh, the big raise the sheriff will get in the fourth term, which, you know, it's set in law. I respect that process, but it's more than I'm comfortable taking as a retired police commander. So, that's where I plan to donate to qualified nonprofits that support public safety, uh, youth outreach, and victim services. $100,000 a year per my, uh, year of my term. The other thing is endorsing other political candidates, running on a slate. That's good for for for you folks and everything, but it takes on a different meaning when you're the law enforcement uh, officer. Just like the opening credits to Law and Order state, the people are represented by two separate but equally important groups, the police and the prosecutors. They don't need to be intertwined politically because they

are naturally close by virtue of their mutual goals of serving crime victims and producing the best results for crime victims. I'm not here to disparrage anybody's service to this county in any way. Um, I'm asking for the opportunity to execute servant leadership as your next sheriff. I know that name recognition and familiarity are a big part of campaigning and and and and politics, but leadership is about more than that. It is about accountability. It is about judgment, integrity, and a vision for the future. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you. Jay Landsman Jr.

Thank you and good luck. Uh uh I'm Dave Patt from 705 Park Avenue. I've spoken to folks before about water issues. I had the water and sewer department at one time briefly. Uh couple years ago, I spent almost a year of my time doing independent calculations for our water capacity. The thing that Mr. Swanson mentioned the point of entry is very very important because I don't know specifically for Mount Ary but when I had the water and sewer department anywhere from 10 to 30% of the water is leaked. I know we've had an enhanced leakage program in the last few years but a significant fraction of the water is in the ground. So the difference between point of entry and what's pumped is going to make the difference of whether we have any water or not. I went through the situation 20 years ago when we had a a major drought and MDE just dropped a consent agreement on us. Boom. And I went down with another council person and they once they make up their mind they they won't relent and they have as much authority to regulate and provide enforcement actions as anybody. There's nothing more sacred and holy than water and water. Um, you know what what they do at MDE to provide

clean water, the clean water act, they can find you $5,000 a day per event. If they choose to, they can uh initiate criminal actions against the town officials if they want to. What is somewhat distressing is that when I've talked to them several times and it's not easy to talk to them because they don't like to, you know, but with my past water experience and having been on the council and mayor, they would talk to me. They have one person that they trust and that person is the town engineer. So that puts the burden of integrity and honesty on that linking person. So I'm just letting you guys know you you can sort of brush this off and maybe look at Tom for legal advice if you wish. I don't think they're going to let this one lay. I think there's enough of a issue. They have bent over backwards to deal with the PAS POS and there's a persistent drought that we had the drought 20 years ago that kind of kind of came and went but there's a lot of evidence that today the drought is wrapped up in global warming and it's a different kind of drought. So I think they're they have legitimate concerns. I've talked to them enough to understand how they, you know, how they are. And I, if I were in their shoes, I would I wouldn't let this lie. I would follow up on it. Having They're doing everything they can. They're giving you um loans. They're doing everything they

can. And when you guys turn around and say there's enough water for building, that's that's a red flag to them. I'm just letting you know that you're asking for trouble. I don't know how it's going to be. I don't know if it'll be a consent agreement, but they will they will do something and they're pretty clever at how they do it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Freak. How are you?

Thank you. Um good evening uh honorable mayor uh council president um and the council members. My name is Shahed Rafi. I'm a neurologist and owner of Southside Plaza project before you today. I have a short uh it won't take much time one and a quarter page uh statement that we prepared and I can submit it if later uh needed. I would like to briefly begin by sharing the purpose of this development. I operate a neurological service practice in Frederick and many of my patients come from the mountary areas. These are individuals dealing with serious neurological conditions who often requires ongoing care as well as access to rehab services. Many of these patients have expressed how difficult it is to travel for care particularly when frequent visits are required. One of the primary reason I chose to invest in Montter is to bring these services close to the community, reduce travel burdens and improve access to care. The development is intended to serve the community. It is not a hightraic commercial use. I'm here today to respectfully address the proposed requirement of approximately $31,985 as a contribution towards the roundabout project as outlined in section six of the public works agreement. The language in the public works agreement states that the roundabout was constructed in part to address impacts from a

Chick-fil-A development and future developments along South Main Street, including this project. However, this is inconsistent with the town engineers memorandum dated May 5, 2025. In that memorandum, the purpose of the roundabout is clearly described as addressing a failing intersection at Ridgeside Drive and South Main Street along with existing safety concerns. It further explains that earlier improvement related to Chick-fil-A development were already implemented and that the roundabout is part of addressing those pre-existing traffic conditions. This is an important distinction. The roundabout was designed to address existing issues and traffic impacts associated with other development, not this project. With respect to Southside Plaza, the town town's own adequate public facilities review determined that this development would not degrade surrounding roadways or intersection beyond acceptable threshold. The finding was not the project uh finding was that the project has no significant traffic impact and passes the adequacy requirement of roads. In other words, this project did not trigger any traffic mitigation requirements. Additionally, the Southside Plaza is not located on Ridgeside Drive and traffic from the development does not contribute to the condition that led to lead for a need for this roundabout. The roundabout is already fully funded and substantially constructed. At this stage, assigning a portion of that cost to this project creates a disconnect between the purpose

of the improvement and the actual impact of the development. From our perspective, this is not simply a cost issue. It is a matter of a consistency and fairness in how development requirements are applied. The project was reviewed, evaluated, and approved based on the understanding that it did not create traffic impacts requiring mitigation. We respectfully therefore request that section six of the public's work agreement be removed so that the project can proceed based on the findings of the town's own review process and the principles of fairness and consistency. In addition, this project is serving the population of Mount Ary by providing necessary medical care close to their home and thereby therefore reducing traffic overall of for Mount Ary and the county because they won't go beyond this building towards Frederick that uh they use at this point. And so finally I would uh request that at a minimum I would request that this contribution not be tied to public first agreement so that the project can move forward while this issue is further considered. Thank you again for your time and consideration. Thank you.

Thank you sir. Good evening.

Hello. My name is Michael Rash, 25508 Kings Forest Trail in Nottingham. Um, thank you for the opportunity to address the council. I would just like to express opposition to the proposed Warfield annexation project for the purposes of building a sports complex right next to Nottingham. Um, I'd like to try to summarize kind of where we are with this uh proposal at this point. Um, first, the proposed annexation is not a done deal. Um, if Mount Ary votes it down, which many of us hope, uh, the Carol County Board of Zoning Appeals process requires a mandatory public hearing and it even allows for residents of Carol County to ask questions directly of the sports complex owners during this hearing. Secondly, the community that will be most impacted is Nottingham, which is one of the largest communities in the town. A survey of Nodingham residents showed that over 90% of the residents of Nottingham who responded um are against the project. This should count for something. The people have spoken. And finally, and probably most importantly, the Mount Ary Town Planning Commission took five months and analyzed the proposal from every conceivable angle. roads, traffic, lighting, noise, and probably most importantly, water. As we heard earlier tonight, I don't know what the water uh requirement would be to irrigate eight ball fields, but I know that it's not trivial. Um the council if it decides to reject the planning commission's recommendation would be taking a huge risk not only with the values of Nottingham residents homes but probably also with water capacity for the town. So in summary, I would like to

urge the council to vote down the proposed annexation project uh for good. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and town council members. My name is Steve Mummy and I live at 304 Arowwood Circle, directly across the street from the agricultural property now considered for annexation for the sports redevelopment. I am a mechanical engineer by trade with a master's degree in business administration and civil engineering and I am a licensed general contractor. My wife and our three children have lived and grown in Mount Airy these last 19 years. So, I want to begin by saying that I value Mount Ary deeply. My family chose to live here specifically because of its unique balance, being close enough to Baltimore and Washington for access, but still rooted in rural character, open land, agriculture, and a quieter way of life. That balance is not accidental, and it is worth protecting. Before I go further, I also want to be clear about something important. I am not opposed to youth sports. I coached 4ount Little League baseball here in our community for six years with my two sons who are now much older. I coached many of the young men whose families still live in our neighborhood today. I've seen firsthand how sports builds character, teamwork, discipline, and community connection. I understand that value deeply, both as a coach, a father, and also a neighbor. That experience is exactly why I believe that where and how we provide recreational opportunities matters just as much as providing them at all. I'm here tonight to respectfully and strongly oppose the land redevelopment of this 50 acre agricultural parcel into a privately operated athletic complex. This proposal represents a fundamental change in land use, not an incremental one. What is currently farmland would become two regulation soccer fields, an indoor training facility, a concessions area, a large parking lot, a perimeter walking trail, and would operate and would operate until as late as 1000 p.m.

requiring extensive exterior lighting. This is not a small neighborhood scale recreational space. It is a commercial regionalcale athletic facility proposed directly across from existing homes and adjacent to working farms. My concerns fall into several key categories. One, loss of rural character and community identity. Once agricultural land is converted into commercial use, it is almost never returning to the way it was. This decision would permanently alter the character of this part of Mount Airy. Our neighborhood experiences true rural quiet farm activity, open views, dark evening skies, and minimal traffic. That setting is not incidental. It is precisely why residents like me moved here and invested our lives and our resources into this community. Approving this project would set a troubling precedent that agricultural barrier areas cannot be replaced, excuse me, can be replaced with commercial development whenever a suitable buyer appears. Two, noise and lighting pollution. Operating until 10 p.m. brings predictable and ongoing noise from whistles, spectators, announcements, vehicles, and late night activity multiple evenings per week. Highintensity field and parking lot lighting would permanently alter nighttime conditions affecting residents quality of life, wildlife, adjoining farms, and the rural character of the Mount Air community. Once these impacts are introduced, enforcement and mitigation are extremely difficult. Three, traffic and road safety. Access to this site is limited to a two-lane country road, not designed for event traffic. Games, practices, tournaments, and overlapping schedules will increase congestion, create safety risks, and raise serious concerns about emergency access. There are no alternative routes, and even a single incident could block access entirely. Four, water resources

and infrastructure. Mount Airy already faces challenging challenges related to water availability for new development. Athletic fields require significant irrigation and indoor facilities, concessions, and restrooms add additional demand. Approving a high water use commercial project while acknowledging existing water constraints raises serious long-term sustainability concerns. Conversely, if the proposed fields instead use astroturf or some other synthetic rubber material that do not require water, then you have the additional problem of radically hotter air temperatures anywhere near the complexes from field surface radiation that goes out in all directions. localized heat island effects, which will almost certainly raise the temperature of the of temperatures of the homes near the complex, and storm water runoff that must be specially treated to ensure that synthetic turf chemicals do not compromise surrounding streams and water sources for nearby nearby farms and water and wildlife. Four, safety debris and quality of life. Increased foot traffic, unfamiliar visitors, late night activity, and litter are not abstract possibilities. They are routine byproducts of commercial facilities of this scale. So I want to live across from a farm, not a parking lot. I want dark skies at night, not flood lights. I want quiet evenings, not tournament schedules. These are reasonable expectations in an agricultural residential community like ours. To be clear, this is not an opposition to recreation, youth athletics, or community involvement. It is an opposition placing opposition to placing a commercialcale development in a location that is incompatible with existing homes, farms, infrastructure, and water resources. Once this land is lost, it is lost forever. Please consider not only what works today, but what kind of mount area we want our children and the children once I once coached to inherit for their children tomorrow. Thank you for your time and

for your service. Thank you. Good evening.

Hello. I'm Nancy Hernandez with the town's parks department. And with me is Doris and Dick Wiltshire of the Rotary Club and Julia Simmons, our talented artist. We're here to remind you about the 6th annual Let's Talk Trash Cleanup contest that's taking place April 18th from noon, excuse me, from 7:00 a.m. to noon. We're hoping to get a lot of volunteers to come out and help us pick up garbage. We're competing with five other municipalities. Um, make sure I say them correctly. Gaithersburg, Hamstead, Laurel, Sykesville, and Tonny Town are going to compete with us this year. We're actually just submitting our totals for a 2-hour period, but we hope volunteers would come by anytime between 7 and noon to the railard at 1 North Main Street, and then they can select a location where they'd like to clean, either a street or a park. And we are very fortunate to have Julia Simmons here. She again designed our trophies for the contest this year. Last year, you've probably seen the birds that are in the display case, and this year, she focused on Maryland waterways. and I'm going to turn the time over to her to explain about her project.

Okay. So, I'd just like to talk about my the trophies I made this year. Um so, since Carol County is located within the Chesapeake Whed, um the pollution in our town directly affects um the water in the bay. Um so, I picked species native to the bay. Um, the line seahorse, which represents the most unique trash we find. Um, is the only seahorse species found in the Chesapeake Bay and is one of the most elusive species. Um, the oyster reefs represent our volunteers or the most volunteers. Um, they're a keystone species and hold uh so that means that they hold the ecosystem together pretty much. Um, small oysters building upon um, larger oysters create an oyster reef. Um, each adult oyster can filter 50 gallons of water each day. Um, which clears sediment and nitrogen from the bay. Um, so together we can create an effect maybe like the oysters. Um, and finally, the blue crab represents the most collect uh, the most trash collected. Um though they do not like collect objects necessarily, they collect food from the the bay floor and and help cleaning the bay floor. So those are my trophies. Thank you.

Awesome. Great. Thank you. Great job. I just want to encourage everyone watching and everyone here tonight to come out and help us win one of them back. And I'd also like to say thanks to the police department also because they're going to be supporting and protecting the volunteers while they're cleaning on the roads. Thank you.

Hey, good evening.

Thanks. Um, my name is Brian McKenna. I'm actually one of the petitioners for the annexation on Watersville Road. Um, we haven't had a chance to speak in a few months. So, I just wanted to maybe give you guys a little bit of insight of what's happening now since we are in the spring season and baseball is starting to happen where we might be able to give you guys a little bit more of an in-depth understanding of what this project could provide. Um, one of the properties that was mentioned the most was Patriot Park North in Fairfax, Virginia. They have started to host tournaments now for the spring season. And in the first tournament they hosted uh I'll just run through quickly the list of teams that were entered in the 13U tournament and where they're from. API Gambrrells, Maryland, BCC, Bethesda, Maryland. Boss baseball on Maryland. Dig in baseball, Gathersburg, Maryland. FTB Pro Prospects, Caitensville, Maryland. HCYP Raiders, Elicate City, Maryland. PA Gamblers, Aston, PA. Urban Hawks, Frederick, Maryland. Wow Premier, Frederick, Maryland. I think that kind of illustrates the need in our area for fields for baseball. I'm not going to speak to the other sports just yet, but there's been a couple comments made that people may not come to our project because they'd have to stay further away in hotels and it would be too far for them to want to come. We're not trying to cater to those people. We're trying to cater to local teams that need places to play baseball. They need quality fields and they are going all the way to Virginia to do it. And we know some of them personally and the reasons are the same over and over. We don't have enough fields. we don't have enough quality fields and I think this just goes to show that this would provide a need. I know there are players on some of those teams who actually do live in Mount Ary, so it is a local need as well. Um, but I also wanted to address that when we first started with this project, this

was never an intention to just be a tournament only from outsiders come here and use this and out out oftowners as well. We understand that there is the capability to have this also be shared with a recreation program and that was our on our goal from the beginning was to have Maya be a part of this as well. Most of the high volume you know games will be on the weekends but during the week the fields will be available. Soccer, softball, all types of sports they can be used for. When we first started this project, from our understanding and what we do in our our business, we knew there was a large need for high quality fields, especially at the older age groups. We intended to offer that to Maya first come basically scheduling at a reduced rate for as many quality fields as possible that they needed. We were able to have a brief conversation with someone who's in the baseball side of Maya. And from that brief conversation, we understood that not necessarily the high quality fields is the need, but maybe a need for more fields at a reduced rate or no rate at all. We were able to come up with a plan where we think we could provide two, possibly more fields to Maya at no expense. They would be our expense. We would maintain them. They would be their fields to use. We haven't had the opportunity to talk to them as much as we would like. um just to try to clarify and understand their needs as well as the town's needs. But I grew up playing wreck baseball in Gaithersburg, Maryland at Kelly Park. I had two older brothers. I'm not exaggerating. We probably spent five nights a week at that park. Our family lived there. I understand the value of little league of recreational baseball. We also understand that all of this can work together. um we just would hope to be able to provide as much information or as much back and forth so that we are addressing

the needs of the town as well as potentially the youth sports, but we definitely know it can work and that's what we're here to try to make happen. So, I appreciate your time and we just wanted to express that. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh thank you. I'm Tim Park. I'm one of the other uh petitioners for the Warfield annexation. Um just wanted to speak a little bit about the reason why we wanted to go through annexation to begin with. Um when we were first when we were first going about this project, we knew that we were going to be part of a community for an extended period of time. Both myself and and Brian have been in this area coaching or playing for 35 plus years. This is not something where we're trying to build and then be gone five years from now. It's something that we wanted to make long lasting part of this area, part of this region that is so desperately needed. So the reason for the annexation was we thought we were going to get a lot of community input early on. And because of that, we thought we could make a design where it would meet the needs for not only the the players in the area, the families in the area, but the community as well. We figured we build it right the first time. Now it can be good for 10, 15, 20, 25 years with doing that. So our whole our whole thought was we wanted it to be collaborative right from the start. So we could be out there saying, "Okay, what do we need? What could we make happen?" And with the annexation, it gives the flexibility. Whereas if we were going through the county, we were sort of limited to the limited to how the property was set up based on the septic areas. So annexation gave it a little bit more flexibility. So, if someone said, "We need this to be here. We need the parking lot to be here, we need the fields to be here, we need them this far off the property line," it'd make it a lot easier to design. We've probably gone through 10 different designs based on the limited feedback that we've gotten so far, but we're hoping that it's going to be more as we get more through the process. The other thing I did also want to address is we didn't we didn't search out this property. this property came for sale and we were able to make an agreement

with them to purchase the property. They're not selling it to a farmer. The listing price of that is way more expensive than it will ever be sold. So, if we don't get the property, they will sell it to someone else who is not going to farm that land. So, I just wanted to be clear that we did not actively search this out. We did not go to them and then say, "We want to change your farmland to a baseball complex." They're selling the property no matter what. we came to them and we were just able to work out a deal for what we were trying to do. So, I just wanted to make sure that cleared the air with that too. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wish to speak? All right. Thank you.

No speakers tonight, so we'll move on to approval of council meeting minutes and closed minutes. And uh this month we only have one. So, the March 2026 town council meeting minutes. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none, all in favor of approving the 2026 March 2nd. Yes, sir. Sorry, I was slow on the mute button there. I need to ask under section 10, new business.

Okay. PWA cost estimate for approval. The third bullet. That was that was removed from the agenda last month, was it not? No, it was it was postponed because we didn't have the information. Yeah. Uh postponed. Thank you. Yep. So weird. All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Uh any further discussion? All right. All in favor to approve the March 2nd, 2026 town council meeting minutes, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. I

Thank you. All right. I do not see uh First Lieutenant Lavel here. So, we're going to move on from the Civil Air Patrol report right into the Mount Volunteer Fire Company. I don't see Hall of Famer Matt Herd either. So, we're going right into our Mount Air Police Department with Chief Janev.

Good evening. Good evening. for recruitment. Uh this month here, uh we still have one lateral application that is being reviewed by the Maryland Police and Corrections Training Commission. Uh starting in May, but I'd like to introduce her is um Miss Emily Schumacher. She'll be uh starting her internship with the Mount Police Department again in May. She's currently attending Penn State University, working on completing her bachelor's degree in security and risk analysis and minoring in legal studies. Currently, the Mount Police Department has three open sworn positions available. Those that are interested can apply on police.com. for calls for service for March was 671, a 29.36 decrease in calls from last year's March of 2025 of 950 calls for service. For upcoming events, uh, as it was acknowledged earlier in a proclamation as a reminder of 2026 for April is child abuse prevention month. April 11th, State Farm Insurance Company will be handing uh excuse me, having their teen driver event from 11:00 am to 3 pm over at um 108 Twin Arch Road, the Carnival Grounds here in Mount Area. So, please definitely come out. We uh believe it or not, have more adults ask questions than some of the kids that are there. It's true. Uh April 15th, uh your taxes are due. can uh request an extension. That deadline is October 15th, 2026. I did uh in the packets and I know some of the viewers out there, there are some interesting uh factual information about some frauds and scams of that nature. As I've continuously said it, this town

here is huge with reports of fraud. When you put your trash out, ladies and gentlemen, your expectation of privacy is nil and none. As a former drug enforcement officer with Baltimore City Police Department, I've gone through numerous trash, I hate to say it, and you can find out a lot of information. So, with technology and things, computer crimes, it's it's there. It's it's a thing. The packet is quite huge. If anyone has any questions, they're more than welcome to call for an officer or you can call the station. I'll be gladly to accept the calls and help them along the lines. Recently, a new post that's out there is from the Baltimore City uh court commissioner's office along with the courts stating that um you're here to pay some fines and so on and so forth. They're not going to send you that through a text message. Ladies and gentlemen, again, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact the appropriate jurisdiction or again, you can contact the Monterey Police Department. Uh, April 18th, the Calvary United Methodist Church will host their third annual health and wellness fair from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at 403 South Main Street here in Mount Ary. Uh, there's a list of vendors that are going to be there. It's a a good experience. Uh, you can donate blood as well. They're doing a morning walk. Uh, so officers will be there. Some noteworthy information that I wanted to share. recognition for our officers here with Monterey Police Department. Uh earlier in this month of April 2nd, Officer Brandon Wright was recognized on the Frederick County side as officer of the year with uh the Monterey Police Department. So, congratulations to Officer Wright for receiving this recognition as officer of the year. Also, the Maryland's uh highway uh safety office on April 28th will be hosting a traffic safety specialist awards event. Two of our officers here

in Mount Air will be recognized for their successful completion of a traffic safety spe uh specialist and that is our K9 officer Alex D'Angelus and again officer Brandon Wright. So, congrat congratulations to both of them. Welld deserved. Also, I know I had stated earlier or actually in the past about our canine program having uh our new officer and accepting that canine officer D'Angelus along with his partner Yuri. I did post some flyers out front. I know I uh sent out a couple coins to some people too. Our new coin um again it's sponsorship for the police department along with K9 Yuri. The coins are available at uh our office. They're $25. If you were to purchase them online, there is a flat rate shipping fee that we we will mail them out to you. So, just to let you folks see some of the information. There are some flyers out there. Again, 100% of all these proceeds, they benefit Monterey Police Department along with the Community Foundation of Carroll County. So that goes for any medical treatment that the K9 would have, any equipment. And not only that, again, it supports other programs with shop with a cop or any of the other events that we have for Halloween and so on and so forth so forth that we're involved with. Um, that will be my report, sir.

All right. Thank you. Any questions, comments?

Uh, yes, just a comment, Chief. So, I want to thank you and your officers um for your continued focus on traffic and pedestrian safety. I mean, I'm looking at your operational plan for March. All all of the locations that you're stopping at, you targeted North Main, South Main Street, Prospect Road, Park Avenue, and Cross Street. I mean, these are all the, you know, all the areas where we typically, you know, have have issues and I just I appreciate your continued focus on it. And I see you did a lot of enforcement. You you issued a lot of citations and warnings on speeding and also running stop signs. So, just really appreciate the constant um attention to that. So, thank you.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Uh the safe driver event, I understand they're going to have the uh the obstacle course again for drunk driving or impaired driving. Uh yes, sir, they will. I'll be there for that. Okay. And uh I I challenge Carl challenged Carl for a time to get around that. So, I should be able to do that. Uh just if you're not impaired. If I'm not impaired, the goggles get the goggles that let's just say the goggles threw me for a loop last time. Uh but yeah, I'll just show up and you can time us because I'm or the mayor and I can set up a time to meet there. I guess the drunk driving course is running from the event.

It'll be the time of the event. Yes, sir. That is correct. I'll get with the mayor to set up a time that we can uh compete and um um Sergeant Brooks, will he be there for the simulated traffic stop? Yes, sir. Sergeant Brooks will be there and he will be doing the simulation for the car stops. Okay. That's a very valuable thing for uh for the community to go out there and see how how to deal with an officer when he pulls you over and what to do and what not to do. So, thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have our mayor, council, and staff reports. I'm going to start with our mayor report with Mayor Husher. All right. Thank you. Got a few things going on. Uh first of all, there is going to be some progress on the flat iron building based on all the uh revenue that we've been able to get through grants and um and and through u through the legislative district. So um so we are going to be moving forward with the demolition of the inside of the building. That is a something that will come before the council for approval and you may see that as early as May. So, there's money in this fiscal year to get something moving on the flat ironing building. Uh, the hometown hero banner program is closed. Uh, our town staffer, Gina, who's sitting back there, did an excellent job on it. Uh, but we also have a group of people who volunteer in town to help us with that. Mary Husher, Vicky Stroop, Patty Washaba, and Susie Way all help with that program. So, we appreciate it. And the hope is to have those new banners up by uh Memorial Day. And if we don't, then somebody's probably going to kick me right in the kester. So, um other things, uh going on are the um uh the staff and I visited the Frederick County Emergency Operations Facility. And uh I'll let council member Demoter talk more if there's anything going on with the task force, but that was to look at storm sirens and how they could be integrated into the Frederick County system. Uh it was it's very informative to go into one of those uh centers and see how they operate. Uh House Bill 34, Senate Bill 11422,

also known as Mason's Law, actually made it through the legislature and passed. And so Mason's law is in effect that requires municipalities to go around their town and look for storm drains, storm inlets that could potentially be a hazard uh during a flash flooding situation. Uh Mount Area is fortunate in in that we did jump right on it and went out there and investigated all of our drains. So, as far as the bill goes, uh we're ahead of the power curve and the town engineer and public works are um are working out there chipping away at our 49 issues that we need to remediate in some manner. And I'll close by saying congratulations to Adele Connelly for a recognition as the 2025 volunteer of the year. She was recognized at the volunteer dinner which we held on March 26. And this annual event recognizes the 90 plus volunteers serving on towns commissions, boards, and task forces. It's where we recognize everything that MAMA does for the town and also individuals who just go out there and put forth for an entire year and do something special for the town. someone like Larry Valet who goes out there and writes a book about the town's history or somebody who volunteers with the American Legion Auxiliary and the Fire Company auxiliary and does all these things, you know, to uh to help the town out. And then you got a guy like Wayne Evans who before he was on the coal commission was out there doing just about everything. I've only seen him mad once and I'll tell you what, that guy can throw a blower clear across the rail yard if it doesn't start for him. So, so, um, anyway, but he's a great guy. We got a lot of great volunteers in town, and it was an honor to have the council there and recognize all those individuals. And that completes my report.

All right. Thank you. Next up, we have the Water and Sewer Commission, Beautifification Commission, Inclement Weather Task Force, and the 250 semiquincentennial committee with council member Denoter.

All right. Thank you. I'm going to start with beautifification commission. Uh we last met on March 17th and uh the commission's discussion centered on planting and decorating ideas in support of the America 250 year-long celebration. Uh we're also getting back outside and checking the various gardens for weeds and forming new ideas for plantings. We also discuss looking at issues reported concerning dangerous trees on rails to trails with reports on several fallen trees and one instance where a citizen reported that a fallen tree almost landed on their pet. So I know there were plans for commission members to do a walkthrough of specific specific trail sections regarding this concern and consider maybe the need for signage or other actions. Our next meeting will be held on April 21st. Water and sewer commission last met on April 1st. Uh the commission discussed the new Mason's Law legislation requiring that grates be installed on storm drains. We also discussed the issues with the calculation of water capacity yield in that the water and sewer commission uses flow measurements at the wellhead in their calculations. The town engineer uses flow measurements u at the point of entry and our town code specifically states that the methodology for these calculations is to be developed by the town engineer and the water and sewer commission. So clearly it is not as such because we have two different methods or uses of parameters. So um you heard a public several public comments on this following my guiding principle of applying lessons learned in fostering continuous improvement in government and with no clarity or guidance available locally on this issue. I conducted additional research

on water supply and capacity yield and allocation. That led me to the Maryland Department of Environment and they responded with a formal email that had a number of requirements and guidance. And on this point, they stated using POE flow data underestimates actual water withdrawals and would make the system appear to be using less of its permit than it actually is. Since water appropriation limits are based on withdrawals at the source, using POE is not an appropriated substitute. So I am hopeful that our town will adopt this methodology which has been the position of the water and sewer commission. And council members, I will be handing out that that email I got from MTE formally later on on another topic.

Hey Steve, not to interrupt you real quick. Let's just stick on the report on the commission only. Exactly. We'll we'll discuss that when we get to it in the ordinance.

Okay. Thank you. Uh the commission also discussed in broad strokes and these are broad strokes. So I got a rough idea of this but uh they did talk about uh something unserviced about the town perhaps pumping less out of certain wells or shutting off certain wells having high nitrate concentrations rather than necessarily treating it and pumping more water from other wells. to compensate for the water needed. Again, I'm speaking in broad strokes here, but my point is an issue was raised that we have high nitrate in certain wells and it's a question as to how we're dealing with it and if that's the proper approach. The next meeting of water and sewer will be held on May 6th. Um inclement weather task force last met on February 24th. We're basically uh waiting uh the town engineer is going to draft an RFP for acquiring and installing the weather alert siren systems for the town. We anticipate our next meeting being uh sometime later this spring after the formal budget process has closed. Uh we're continuing to receive donations for funding and appreciate this support to the safety of our community. and then the America 250 task force. Um, I have no new information on this at this time, but just want to remind everybody you can check out the full slate of activities planned for the year. If you go to the town's website, there's a big America 250 logo and if you click on that, that'll take you to a full directory of all the activities and all the opportunities for citizens to participate. So, that is my report and I thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we have the planning commission uh with council member Kelly, and I'll go and turn it over to him.

Uh thank you very much. Uh the planning commission met on March 30th. Uh at that meeting, the Mount Airy portion of the draft red line water resource element was approved. Also, the water and sewer category allocations were approved in a 5 to1 vote. uh two new signs uh signed packages were approved uh for local businesses. One being Mount Area Wellness Center and the second one being Century Automotive pre-owned Super Center. Um lastly, there was uh further discussion on a possible recommendation for ordinance 2026-2 process and standards for reclassificate reclassification of property within the town. Planning Commission will meet next on April 27th and going forward the planning commission meetings will be starting a half hour earlier at 7 o'clock p.m. That concludes my report.

All right. Thank you. Next up, we have the Streets and Roads Commission and the Commission on Aging and Livability and the Flat Iron Task Force with Council Member Mund.

All right. Thank you, Council President. I will start off with the Cole or the Commission on Aging and Livability. The commission met on March 25th, 5:00 pm here in town hall. I'll just go over some of the uh more major points. We had a guest speaker, a Reverend Angela Furlong, who is associated with St. James Episcopal Church here in town. Uh she came to brief the uh commission on a upcoming event in that they're planning for 2027, the family festival and expo. So, please stay tuned for that or contact the church for more information or if you're willing to volunteer and help out with that. Um, is glad to report that the uh Cross County Transportation has started its pilot program. Uh, so any Mount Air resident that lives in Frederick County can call ride with us with Carol County at the following number 410753 6300 for option one to schedule a pickup and they will hopefully be able to inform you of the proper protocols for it and everything else. Uh but it's the it will take you from Mount Ary to another location in Mount Ary Monday through Friday 7 to 4:30. Mount AR to Eldersburg Monday through Friday 7 same time 7 to 3 7 to 4:30. Mount area to Westminster 710 and 2 Monday through Friday. And then back from Westminster to Mount Ary uh Monday through Friday 91 and three. All transportation is subject to availability. There will be a slight fee for that. So please, if you live in Frederick County, no matter what your age, if you need to go somewhere and

you're a mount area resident, please give call that number. Also, this is open to Carol County residents always. So if you're a Carol County resident and you need transportation from Mount Ary, please call this number. also might be a different schedule or a different service, but please call again 4107536300 to take available to take advantage of this service. If it works out, it might become permanent within the town here. Would also like to point out that there is a meeting with Carol County Commissioners tomorrow from t from 10 to 11:30 at the Westminster Senior and Community Center. 125 Stoner Avenue. It is to discuss an area plan which goes over a bunch of needs and stuff and how the uh the I want to say the what a division of aging and disabilities will set up their plans. They will be discussing key areas including meals and nutrition programs, community services, dementia navigation services, advocacy and support, case management, Medicare education and enrollment, veteran services and disability programming and support services. I will reiterate that the Calvary United Methodist Church is having a health fair for the this month on the 18th and the next meeting for Cole will be Wednesday, April 22nd at 5:00 p.m. here in town hall. The next will be the streets and roads that was held on Tuesday 3:31. The agenda, let me pull that up here. I will go over the highlights again. Uh we discussed some concerns at uh Mount Air Elementary School traffic and Twin Ridge Elementary School speeding. Uh basically the both traffic was more related issues

were topics were concerned to traffic backing up during pickup and drop drop off. So unfortunately the police can do the best they can but it's really up to the um school system to try and navigate and correct any major backups onto the uh major roads. Uh we discussed the snow removal and salt that was used this past year. It was 57.6 tons of salt was used over 11 events. Uh we discussed the uh Twin Arch and Century Road. We've had several complaints of the dip and the drop off at that location. Uh the shoulder drops off pretty deep there and there's a sizable dip in the road. The dip will be handled through normal paving operations as a patch while more long-term solution to the dip is worked out. The drop off will be handled through the I want to say the current actions that Mr. PL Mr. Pank is doing on his property. Uh so look forward to hopefully that will be concluded soon. Um let's see here. We had some concerns over the um the flashing lights that were set to be installed here on Main Street. Unfortunately, nothing really new to report on that. Um they're set up for planning somewhere in this fiscal year of 2026 2027, but it installation is dependent on federal funding. Uh so with no if we get federal funding or MDOT receives federal funding, they'll install it. If not, we'll have to try other ways to obtain funding for that. Uh, I will be contacting the state highway regarding the old, I guess, concrete footer for an old stoplight at Twin Arch and Route 27. We've had

several complaints of that, particularly with the re rebar sticking out of the concrete footer. So, we'll try and get the state highway to take care of that. And the next meeting will be May 26 at 700 p.m. here at town hall. Nothing new to report on the flat iron task force besides what the mayor reported. So those conclude my reports. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have the EDC and recycling and sanitation commission with Council Secretary Evans.

Thank you, Council President. for sanitation and recycling um from the meeting on Wednesday, March 18th. Um I'm going to send uh Jared I send you guys an email for the use of the electronic signs for a couple of these events. They're very busy over the next couple couple weeks. Um the shred event is April 25th, 2026 from 9 to noon. That's at Watkins. Uh Miss Peggy Fleming will be putting signs out around town, uh the little yard signs. Electronic Recycling Day is May 2nd from 9 to noon. Um that is at the American Legion. Um Miss Gina, thank you for the the flyers and all the the publicity for that. Curbside pickup, uh bulk pickup is May 9th and you are permitted two items and the spring national drug takeback day is April 25th, 2026. chief. Some of the commission members have expressed they're not able to do both events, so we may have to kind of reach out and try to get some other volunteers if needed. Um, our next meeting is Wednesday, May 20th here at town hall for the EDC. Uh, we met on Wednesday, March 25th. Um, April 23rd is the business card exchange at SK Printing. The search for golden egg is we know about that. um business roundt will be held on September 16th from 4:30 to 6:30 here at town hall and we welcomed the Moroccan Glow Spa right next door at 114. Um myself, Chairman Ray Miller and Graceful Action Ashley Kier and members of the Chamber of Commerce were all present to to welcome them. So, welcome to town. And next meeting for EDC is April 22nd at

7:00 right here in town hall. That concludes my meeting.

Council President, may I just add on something to uh just an add-on to Councilman Evans report for uh I want to say the trash the pickups, the recycling events and stuff. I believe Carol County is having their hazardous waste pickup day on the 25th too up in West Westminster. So, if you're a Carol County resident, please go on Carol Countyy's website, Department of Solid Waste, and see what they're willing to take. They take chemicals, paints, everything else that we won't be able to do. I believe they also have shredding there, too. I mean, it's a it's a very wellorganized event. So, if you have any old gas, two-stroke, modal, things of that nature, look online to get rid of that, too.

All right. Thank you. All right. Next up is myself with the parks and rec board and the sustainability commission. Uh first, sustainability commission. I want to congratulate uh the commission on the ribbon cutting on the uh greenhouse over in the Twin Ridge uh neighborhood garden. If you haven't seen that, uh please go ahead and take some time and go check it out along with that garden as uh I think now is pretty much the time when everyone's over there planting and and doing everything they need to do. So, congratulations on that. As far as the board's uh uh the recreation and parks, um this month's meeting was actually pretty quick. Um, we had one guest speaker, a Kylie Colbert of KIC Cares, and she was able to get conditional approval to host an event on August 15th. Uh, she's going to return to the board with more details on what that specific event is, and then I'll have, uh, an update on that next month. Uh, one other topic was briefly discussed, uh, and that's regarding leash laws in the parks for the town of Mount Ary. Um, we are going to get more information on exactly what they are and how they should be uh used and then we will get back uh to that topic this coming month. So, if anyone has any questions, concerns about leash laws in the parks or in the town of Mount Area at all, it will be discussed at the uh the next uh parks meeting. Um more so, there's actually a lot of events happening as spring comes about. So, I'm going to go down a uh a quick little gambit of events. Uh so, if you're interested in these things, please have your pens ready. Uh tomorrow, April 7th, you have a tree talk, American Chestnut. It's at 700 p.m. Manor Volunteer Fire Company, 702 North Main Street at the lower level, and it's completely free. Uh we have Love Your Park Week coming up from April 17th to April 25th. Every single day there's a different event at a different park. So, please go on to the town website and uh and see if there's any events that you're interested in and uh please try to attend. Um April 18th,

we have let's talk trash cleanup event. Uh so that is what um the Rotary Club and Nancy spoke about earlier during public comment. So that's April 18th. The event starts at 7 a.m. at the Railard, one North Main Street. Uh then we've got on May 2nd at 8:30 a.m. Minor plant swap. So, if you have extras and uh you're looking to uh share or swap, uh feel free to to come and do so then. That will be at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Arrive by 8:30. It's open to all with free plants available, not just swaps. Check Facebook for details. So, please uh keep a lookout on the town website uh for any kind of updates and uh for especially this spring. We have a lot of events coming up uh that can get you guys outside and and enjoying the weather. Uh, next up we have the town attorney report with Mr. Tom McCarron. Gentlemen, please if if you would like to speak, I could invite you to go outside. Mr. Patt, Mr. Patt, if you'd like to speak, I would invite you to go outside, please. Thank you. Um, as I've uh notified the the mayor and council and staff, uh the oral argument for the uh Pleasants Development uh appeal uh this be the Beck property uh is going to be set by the appellet court of Maryland between the dates of June 1 and June 8. We don't have an exact date uh for that yet. Um uh I attended the uh planning commission meeting uh where a major uh topic was ordinance 2026-2 on which I uh uh at the request of councilman member deoter uh did some work uh in part in response to comments from planning commission chair uh Ralph Kent. Um also uh worked a little bit on

the water and sewer allocation process. Um and you have certain resolutions before you tonight. Um in addition worked on the tax rate and budget ordinances. Also attended the board of appeals uh hearing on uh essentially a setbacks variance variance of front yard setback. Uh and that's my report. All right. Thank you. Uh we all have copies of the town administrator report, the code enforcement report, and the zoning administrator report. Does anyone have anything to add? Nothing to add.

All right. Thank you. On the new business, uh, first up, we have a road closure. Saturday, October 3rd, 8 a.m. to 8:00 PM for October Fest. This is Main Street from Prospect Road to Paradise Avenue. Uh, Mamza and Miss Kelly Patrick is seeking approval for this road closure. Uh, I will open up the table for a motion. I'll make a motion, Mr. chair to approve the street closers for Mount Air Main Street October Fest as written up in their application. All right. Do we have a second? A second. Okay. We have a motion, a second. Any discussion? All right. I feel like this is pretty standard uh yearly event. So, yeah.

Uh we do have a motion and a second. Uh no discussion. And so all in favor of approving the road closure for Saturday, October 3rd, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for October Fest, Main Street from Prospect Road to Paradise Avenue, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed me every time. Got to be quicker. Councilman Evans, the motion. All right, next up we have a PWA for approval. This is the Southside Plaza. Um, I'm going to relinquish to Mr. McCarron. But before we do so, let's get a motion and a second on the table to get us into discussion. All right, Council M. President, I'll make the motion for the uh discussion of the public works agreement regarding Southside Plaza. Motion to approve or

Oh, motion to approve. Sorry, sir. Do we have a second? I'll do a second. Okay. All right. We're in discussion. So, I'm going to go ahead and relinquish over to Mr. McCarron uh for a brief overview.

All right. Thank you, sir. So uh as mentioned earlier uh by the developer uh in public comments um I'll I'll first of all say that other than paragraph six it's a fairly standard uh uh PWA but as uh I forecasted to the council uh there was some uh controversy or disagreement over uh paragraph six uh and specifically speifically uh where it purports to assess to this development uh a portion of the roundabout uh costs that being just under $32,000 uh which represents uh the town engineers recommendation for an aortionment of those uh improvements. Um obviously uh the developer uh objects to that. Uh we did have some communications previously um on this which is obviously why we knew this would be uh um subject to some uh disagreement here. uh from the town's perspective and and from the the legal part of this uh let me first of all say that at the end of the day what's happening here is an assessment uh if it if it's passed uh under the PWA for off-site improvements that is precisely what was done uh with Chick-fil-A and Chick-fil-A was uh assessed a a percentage uh but not the entire percentage of the roundabout uh improvements. Now, I'll let uh Barney speak better to how that aortionment was made and why that aortionment was made and what justifies that. But generally speaking,

when imposing um fees or charges of this sort, uh the courts say that you may do so, but it's got to be quote roughly proportional unquote uh to the impacts that the particular development uh place uh on uh in this case uh uh the roads. Um and uh and hence put it another way to what extent uh is the development uh benefited from road improvements that uh mitigate um some of those impacts. Um I will address at least one or two things stated uh by the developer uh uh during the public comments. first uh and I'm I'm not able to directly quote him. The record will state what he says and I believe he has it in writing. There was some suggestion that the planning commission in its APFO determination determined something to the effect of that this development project will not degrade the streets and intersections. Um that is not to say though that that is a finding that this development will not impact those roads. Uh every development in some manner impacts roads and streets. It's it's a matter of degree. And so I pulled up the planning uh the staff report on which which the the town planning commission approved. And here's what it in fact says. And this is what in fact the planning commission approved. Uh and again the assessment here is is under the APFO. That is to say is there an inadequacy that would halt this development? Now that's what the narrow purpose of the APFO is from the staff report this

development project will not degrade the affected streets intersections important point by more than 2%. nor will any intersections be deemed below a D level of service. Therefore, the project passes the adequacy of roads. That does not mean there are no impacts on the roads from this development. And in fact, in two places in the staff report, the staff went on to say, quote, "Additionally, this project will be issued an invoice for its prora share of the roundabout project that's specifically stated in two spots." So in other words, the planning commission passed this development uh under the APFO in consideration of the fact that there would be forthcoming improvements and in consideration of the fact as very plainly stated in the staff report that this particular development would be issued an invoice for its proratic share of the roundabout. Uh once again that is in two places in the staff uh in the in the uh um the staff report which the planning commission uh went on to um uh to approve on those grounds. Um so uh you know I wanted to put uh specifically point that out as well. Um the other point uh that I I wanted to make is that uh it is uh accurate that when the analysis was initially made years ago and before this project indeed before the Chick-fil-A uh that uh and and the developer was sort of quoting uh from it suggesting that it concluded that there would be no impacts from this development or or something to the effect of the roundabout was not brought about by

impacts from this development. Let's remember there was a significant uh upgrade, shall we say, in this development. The developer went to the board of appeals and got variances for two buildings and other variances as well. So, you know, I again uh I'll let Barney speak to the manner by which uh we believe this assessment here in the PWA uh is uh roughly proportional quote unquote to the impacts that this development uh we feel um uh makes.

Morning, please. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. So um uh when we were starting with our calculations, we had uh Cyber Wang as a traffic consultant. They were giving us some um good information to help define this. And it wasn't around the time that Chick-fil-A was coming in, but the roundabout was talked about long before um Chick-fil-A coming in to town. uh but that was the first one that would be addressing uh the requirement. Um so uh they helped us develop and then we we further generated a spreadsheet of the parcels that they had laid out um and that included the Chick-fil-A um our existing traffic uh which would be the town's portion uh the Vazo property southside plaza WJK South Main Street parcels um South Main Street annexation that may come in theuture Um, and our assessment, which we didn't adjust, um, once we learned what the true cost of the roundabout was, was based on a $ 1.56 million roundabout project. Um, so without adjusting that, that helped keep the cost down for Southside Plaza. Um but uh based on traffic counts and based on the actual traffic counts that we had uh from uh Chick-fil-A once they showed up on the on the site plan um we did come up with a 2.1% contribution of the roundabout. Uh taking that that came up with the $31,985.

All right. Thank you. I'll open up the floor for discussion questions. I I have a couple questions and thoughts. Um I think for the town engineer or so in in our packet we were provided um there's there's this document analysis of Mount Air special assessment district for South Main Street roundabouts and it says draft across every page. What was the date that this was prepared?

Um, unfortunately, I don't know. Um, again, that that was something that Cyber Wang helped develop. Um, that document I don't think ever got to a final state. Um, but that that was the most that we had to work with. Uh, because around that time is when we hired the engineer. Um, uh, we put out for our engineering contract which we brought in um, AMT a Morton Thomas um who designed the roundabout itself um and they had traffic consultants. So uh they they became our our new consultants but we didn't have them update that document.

Okay. You you said around that date. What's around that date? When when do you think this document was prepared? I want to say about five years ago. Okay. I don't know for certain. There's another document that was part of the package. It says uh roundabout cost sharing study and it's a list of all different parcels and Chick-fil-A and such. And on here it says last updated July 25th, 2024. When was this cost sharing study document first created? Do you know?

Probably around that time. uh again it was 2020 24 I want to I want to say I don't know that there was many updates once that was developed okay so that's that's important information for me so that's this is 2024 which is fairly recent just in case it will help the PWA for Chick-fil-A was April of 2021 okay so hence some point the studies predate that okay this is this is what I have in front of me to evaluate.

So just some observations for myself and for everybody and I I understand the arguments uh both sides. I I do believe in fairness and sometimes it's hard to judge what fairness is. Um we're here to serve the public, but I believe strongly in fairness. So, I was elected onto the council. My first council meeting, I think, was May 2021. So, June June was my first get your feet wet council meeting. And that's when the traffic roundabout came up for a vote for recommendation. So, I don't know how I found this, but I went through my basement papers, which were everywhere, and I found um this is a memorandum dated June 1st, 2021, from the town engineer to Mayor Rockenberg and all the current council members. I was one of the current council members about South Main Street roundabout design project. It says, "Man area is seeking town council approval to continue South Main Street roundabout project design process. In the background, just want to read the paragraph. It says, "Recently, the town has approved the construction of Chick-fil-A on Ridge Drive. In addition to the on-site construction, off-site traffic improvements are being made to include eliminating left turns coming off Ridge Drive, only allowing drivers to make right turns on the main street, and increasing the amount of traffic going up the hill. The roundabout will also allow drivers to make a quick turnaround to get back on I7 instead of taking an alternative route. Okay. So, the messaging here in the memo to the council saying, "I

want you to approve this roundabout." The rationale presented was solely focused on Chick-fil-A and alleviating traffic from Chick-fil-A. Didn't talk more broadly about traffic dealing with Bosow or extension of South Main Street or annexing annexation in the future. I didn't hear any of that messaging during this council meeting. What I heard was the messaging that I just read. A second observation, if you I went back and looked at the 2013 master plan and I saw no mention of of the traffic circle, which maybe that's makes sense. I looked at our most current master plan and on page 115 it says South Main Street Traffic Circle. This project scheduled to begin in 2024 aims to provide a new roundabout connecting South Main Street and Rising Ridge Road in a manner that will allow faster and easier access to Maryland 27 and the I70 interchange from the busy rid. Again, the master plan didn't talk more broadly about the traffic circle being there in anticipation of large growth of South Main Street, commercial growth, annexation. Didn't say any of that. It said exactly what I just read, which matches the argument for approving the design in the June 1st, 2021 memo from the town engineer that said, "This is about Chick-fil-A, alleviating traffic from Chick-fil-A, and easier access to Route 70." So, I I understand everything that's been

said, but I have to say what was presented to me at the time I took a vote on this project and what's presented in the current master plan does not talk about this broader need of of the circle and how it has to support all these other potential uh businesses and growth and annexations. And that's an important point for me because I I'm trying to judge this on what what I heard and what was presented to me and what's in our master plan, which we say is our guiding document. So, those are just just some observations that help inform me and how I might approach this vote tonight. So, thank you for the opportunity.

Barney, can you we were discussing this earlier. Can you can you tell me the things that we have done on the roundabout that have facilitated the project that uh that the doctor is at the is putting together? Sure. If I can address Yeah, that's fine.

Councilman Demoter's uh comments. Uh if you take it back a little further, go back to the Maryland 27 quarter study. Richside Drive was identified at Ma South Main Street was identified as one of the failing intersections. There was multiple reasons for the roundabout. I'm sorry if we didn't put it all into that uh that one document in the background. Uh but it did address uh a failing intersection. It did address u new traffic coming in uh existing traffic and also future development. Uh there was lots of talk about why we're doing a twolane roundabout when right now it was only required to be one lane. and uh the two-lane it was much more economical to spend the extra few hundred thousand to do the two-lane now rather than go to the construction a second time when that that development comes in. So it was um the more economical way of of doing things. Uh but if we didn't mention all that into that background I sorry we missed that but uh it could have been expanded. I agree. Um to answer the mayor's um question and and maybe for the owner, um as part of the site plan requirements, uh the requirements um for Southside Plaza is to widen the road, um is to add the actual paving, is to add a curb along the whole frontage of the um property, add a um entrance way, add a uh sidewalk, tap into the water man, and run a service line over to the property line. Tap into the sewer main and run a service line over to the property line. All that is on the southside plaza's drawings as their requirement. However, since the roundabout went first and we want everything to be aligned and not wait for that project, the town has already done that as part of the

roundabout project. That's more than $20,000 worth of work. uh maybe closer to the 31,000 that um that they're contributing, but uh it it is a sign significant amount of of money uh of what they're contributing. Um that again to Councilman Demoter's uh thought we're always out about trying to be fair and um uh not saying we're trying to offset it for that because they're supposed to contribute to the overall project 2% uh but it does almost come out as a wash uh as as to what they would have been required to build without the roundabout. So um the mention that's yeah that's all the things that were mentioned that we talked about.

The only thing I would add to that is uh so whatever the staff report may have said in May look what was actually done in April. A PWA for Chick-fil-A that did not charge Chick-fil-A the entire cost of the roundabout. In fact, according to the PWA and its very terms with Chick-fil-A, specifically referred to the initial part of the roundabout and that Chick-fil-A's contribution to that would be 174 roughly $175,000 11.4%

whatever was said in May. Uh if you were to follow that logic, then the town town's intent should then be borne out by a PWA a month before then charging everything to Chick-fil-A. But that's not what happened. In fact, spec and again that PWA was approved by the town council. Uh maybe not exactly this makeup of the town council, but by the then town council. So, you know, yeah, I don't know what the focus of that report was, but you know, uh, a month before we see an intention to impose only a percentage of the roundabout for a piece of the roundabout most directly affected by Chick-fil-A. But that doesn't mean that all the roundabout only benefits Chick-fil-A. and nor was Chick-fil-A charged the entirety of that amount. So that's the the other thing I would add to that.

Anyone else?

Some comments here, maybe a question or two for Barney and Tom. No, I'll agree with the town attorney and town staff that the roundabout was discussed many months before this project and any applicant for the southside plaza or that development of that property was made aware of the potential charge. And I want to say also you know it wasn't hidden in anything during the discussions of the plan approval at the planning commission in stages they have they mentioned as the staff report says also also I do remember the in one form or another traffic circle has been discussed for that intersection or that corner to address safety concerns and things of that nature. While people may disagree with the traffic circle, I believe that anyone entering into the Southside Plaza will benefit from it as potentially reduced speeds if the drivers are doing the speed limit up there. Uh so most accidents have shown it's not designed as driver error. Also, um I mean anything down there will be charged some form of fee, not fee or cost share of the traffic circle. And I believe maybe the final thing Barney is during discussions prior to this you mentioned and I think this mentioned also there are other there is another portion of town that where buildings will be assessed a fee for impro road improvements. Correct. And that is uh the center street. Whenever anything is developed for Beck or on or along Sen Center Street, a building will be charged

some form of fee for a center street improvements. So you mentioned you we charged the um medical building developer that and that was decades ago when they built that. St. Andrews was it 2011 maybe? Okay. about 20 it's been a while.

It been 10 to 15 years and we're still waiting for that road to be finished. I think he charged somebody else back there too. It's like center street needs improvement. So this is the way the town funds improvements. It's like when a development comes in developer pays not for infrastructure and roads in that development. This is way I'm viewing this too. any increase or alteration to impact the developer will pay a fee to that. Even just because the road the project's done prior does not mean they are free and clear of any type of development of a charge

and we both here and in other municipalities. Yeah. If you charge 100% to one developer, what do you hear? you hear that's not fair because the road improvements that you're charging me 100% for benefit not just my development but are brought about by the impacts of the next development the next development and next development after that. So the challenge is for municipalities is okay how do you fairly aortion that because that's a that is a fair complaint. Yeah.

Uh so how does it how does one aortion those? There are a couple of tools. One is a special taxing district. You that that could have been a means by doing it. You'd need an ordinance public hearing and all of that. And there's state code provisions that relate to that. Uh but another means it's the means by which we've chosen to do it here and it's the means by which um it was done on Center Street. So there is this is not the first time has been done. Um is through a a charge for off-site improvements. Um municipalities do that uh not just for roads but impacts to their water system that may collectively with among several developments require upgrades in water and their sewer capacity. And so a lot of times in PWA you will see charges aortioned among various developments for that. So this is not particularly unique at least not in my experience.

Yeah. Council, I just want to say looking at the chart here at the end of the page that lists I want to say just some parcels and the various amount of prorated contribution. Southside and WJK which is basically right next door to the southside plaza. Those are the old two homes that you see from South Main. uh they pretty much have even though that's not developed yet or any plans have been presented for development of that property, we have estimated a pretty much an approximate and same charge for that property once it's developed. So it is fair for uh the developer of Southside Plaza in my view.

All right. Thank Thank you, Council President. That's it for me. Thank you. Um Tom, I just want to recclarify one thing. When it was approved by the planning commission, as you stated earlier, that was in that they would be invoiced with the approval in two places in the staff report, which was what the planning commission ultimately uh approved. Uh does it say that? Yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you. That was faster than I thought. Sorry, I was taking a drink. Um Sean, do you have anything? No, I'm good. Thank you. Okay. All right. Um, mayor, anything? Good.

Okay. All right. I go last as usual. So, I I will say um you know, getting as much information on this as I as I possibly could and and uh this wasn't actually this these documents were not a part of our packet. I actually asked for these documents to be printed in a copy just be at your desk for for reference. Um so, it was not a part of an agenda, but uh a part of the agenda, but but just for me to to give you guys a reference point. uh when going through it. Um you know, a few different things. One, um when when was the land purchased? Uh does anyone have a roundabout idea of of when the doctor purchased the property?

Let me see. Per year. Okay. Approximately 2023. It was purchased in May of 2022. May 10, 2022. The date of the deed. Okay. And the PWA for the Chick-fil-A was uh April of well was signed in April of 2021.

Okay. So the the Chick-fil-A the roundabout and the cost analysis of the 17% the Chick-fil-A was going to be charged was all public document and and able to be seen by anyone including Ron Thompson. Um and the fact that only a 17% uh proportionate charge I'm sorry 11.4% 4% proportion of charge was charged at Chick-fil-A would lead you to believe that anything going into that roundabout or vicinity would also be charged a percentage. So this was done a year before the land was purchased. Um this is not something that's coming up at the last minute. This is not something that is uh being thrown out um randomly. Um and the fact that there is no significant traffic impact does not mean that there is no traffic impact. In fact, the percentage of roundabout contribution is also not significant. It is 2.1%. Which matches the impact that it'll have. Minimal, but still an impact. Um, when buying the property, you know, these are things that that you look at. And I and I want to I wish I had the ability to wave certain things because it is a medical facility, because it is going to bring great things to our community. But business doesn't work that way. We cannot wave certain things just because it's a medical facility compared to if it was a vape shop. Um you can't set that precedent. Things cost what they cost and they are what they are. This is not something that has been brought about at the last minute. There is a perfect chart here to show whoever ends up wanting to buy the Vaslo property, it's going to be 9.9%. Whoever wants to buy South Main Parals, it's going to be 9.8%. the South Main Street annexation. Good luck. That's 29.4%. Based on the estimated cost of what it's going to be. The fact is this circle

would have been a single lane circle if South if all of these properties weren't going to be developed, but our master plan showed that they were. And therefore, the single lane circle had to move to a double lane circle, which costs money. and we're able to do that which can then bring this great doctor's office into our town. So those things just cost money. Um the fact that we put a lot of work into it uh that that he didn't have to pay for is is is great. Um, but I I don't see this being unfair and I don't see the fact that we don't have fortune tellers that can predict the future when creating a 2013 master plan or a Chick-fil-A roundabout that's going to see what's going to happen five, six, seven years later as a ne a negative factor or a way to say that we can't charge anybody now. Um, the fact is when this district analysis was done, you know, it was 2022, 2023 before Chick-fil-A was built, uh, and it says right in here that the town has plenty of opportunity for development and therefore it needs to be done in a way that future developments need to pay their fair share of the traffic circle. So, while I would love to not have to do it, uh, from from our perspective and and what we are obligated to do, this is something that is fair. It's something that I believe Ron Thompson missed and I feel bad for the property owner because of that. But Ron Thompson missing this uh, and and not notifying if he did or if he didn't, I don't know. I'm assuming he did not, but uh him not notifying his owner of the property is not something that the town needs to swallow $31,000 for, nor do our taxpayers. So, I I wish him the best of luck and I and I want this property to to move forward. Uh

but, you know, we can set a precedent of of waving these fees strictly for specific types of businesses. So, those are my thoughts. Any followup? Anything at all? All right. Hearing none, we have a motion on the table to approve as written the PWA for the Southside Plaza. We do have a second. We've gone through discussion. All in favor of approving the PWA as written, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Nay.

Thank you, guys. All right. Next up, we have a purchase of a budget truck. I'm sorry. per purchase of a budgeted bucket truck for the roads department. This is for approval. Uh I'll make a motion for approval of the purchase of the budgeted bucket truck for the roads department. Thanks for that, Holly. You're welcome. Tongue twister.

I'll I'll go ahead and second. Um went through the uh the documents. Um it looks like original purchase price of60,000. Um, total purchase price is actually $36179. Um, we are still $53,820.25 under budget uh with the purchase of this truck. So, uh, does anyone have any questions, concerns? I know Brian is here uh, in the audience. So, if you have any questions, concerns, uh, if he's amanable, he's more than welcome to answer.

I'll maybe Jared or Brian, I'll just have one or two qu I mean, I know it's from the uh, purchase agreement. It's a used vehicle. I guess we that fits our needs better than a purchase of a new one because it would be like more of a part-time use. That is correct. But that's no longer available to us. What? The new truck or the No, the old truck that we were renting.

Oh, that one. Yeah. Yeah. No, I figured I figured that's why I know we purchased the tradein or the of the lift that we believe it didn't work. So, we went up to the budget the Thank you, Tim. the budget truck, the the bucket truck, and just I believe it's just going to be a used every once in a while. So, a used one makes sense and a new one. And I believe we used we looked at various used vehicle used models and this was the best best one. Correct. Okay, cool. Thank you, Brian. Any further question? I have a question. Tim,

thanks. So, can you Which of these buyers orders are we looking at purchasing? And I'm looking I'm looking for a a total of $36,179.75 on each of these. And I don't see that it's the very first page on the back. Those are my three bids. Three different trucks.

I'm having a hard time hearing him. Oh, you know why, Sean? There's there's a uh less trade in value for the JLG boom lift of $25,000. So, the original purchase price is 60,000 fees of $1,17975 uh which will get you to 61,17975. You need to subtract the trade in for the JLG boom lift of 25,000 which will get you to the purchase price of 3617975. I don't see. And also on the quotes, they quoted us taxes, but we're taxexempt.

Okay. So on the quotes, we are tax exempt. So it's it's the first buyer's order. When you turn the page, on the back side of it, you'll see the vehicle sales price of 60,000. You will you will remove the 391294. Um obviously you have the 117975 in fees. Um, and then there also isn't the the $25,000 credit for the tradein. So, it's going to be the buyer's order that's right directly on the on the back side of the first page. Thank you. It's the taxes that were showing it off. Correct. So, we'll be tax exempt. So, that the the 391294 will not be there.

Okay. Do we have a tradein agreement that says $25,000? That is correct. Okay. Uh, he says yes. Okay. Thank you. Any further questions? Uh, yes. A quick quick question. So, um, was was this a need that was recently identified or was this a need that that you've you've had for quite some time? Like is this was in this was in the current budget?

That is correct. It's in the current budget. It was in last year's budget, but we were had a handshake deal with a local person to rent their bucket truck that is no longer available to us. Okay, that was kind of the basis of my question. Why why now? Why? Why one month, you know, till the end of the the the budget year? Just an observation. This happens. It seems like it happens a lot. It's like the the month before the budget closes, we get a lot of requests for the owner the owner of the bucket truck came and picked it up to take it up for DOT certification and total the truck. Yeah. Okay. Oh, wow. All right. Thank you.

All right. And and just to be clear, the the purchase is budgeted from the general fund capital budget uh streets and roads under line item 015145960, which actually has a total allocation of 90,000. So, we're still $53,8205 under budget uh for the fiscal year for this item, which is a which is a good thing. Yeah. Thank you, Council President. I was going to point that out. Thank you. Yep. All right. Any further questions? All right. I'm going to make a a quick uh table amendment to the motion. Um Carl, did you make the motion? Yeah. Let me hear

because of the the document on the back not exactly specifying. I just want to make sure that through the motion we we get it exact of the way it needs to be before we sign any documents. Okay. Yeah.

Um my amendment would be to approve uh the purchase price of 36,17975 for the uh bucket truck, the Louis, you know, the Superduty bucket truck from Lewis Motor Company. Um, this will include removing the tax uh uh price of $3,91294 and also must include uh a tradein value of no less than $25,000 for the JLG boom lift. I'm good with it. Okay. Do we do we need a second for that as well? Do we have a second for that amendment?

I'll second it. All right. Thank you, Sean. Okay. Good. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, we have a motion uh to approve the purchase of a budgeted bucket truck for the roads department in the amount of 36,17975. Total out the door. Uh all in favor of approving this purchase, please signify by saying I. I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you and thank you for your time. No problem. Thank you, Brian. All right. Next up, we have a commission appointments and reappointments with Mayor Hushower.

Uh, yeah, I'd like to reappoint Bill Butts to the Commission on Aging and Livability. And then the second one on here we're not going to reappoint. So, this is the only one. It's Bill Buts to Cole. All right. I'll make the uh motion to appoint to reappoint Bill Butts to the Coal Commission. All right. I'll second. Uh any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of reappointing Bill Butts to the Commission on Aging and Livability, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed.

All right. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have we're in ordinances and resolutions. First up, we have annexation resolution 2025-47. 50.98 acres more or less of land located along the north side of Watersville Road. It is strictly the annexation plan. And uh please note it does say for adoption. It is actually not for adoption. It is for acceptance. So please make the note that it is for acceptance and not adoption. And once again I want to be very very clear. We are not voting on the annexation. Whatever way this vote goes right now, it does not mean the land is being annexed. It is strictly on the plan and uh I will open the floor for a motion so we can get into discussion.

All right. I'll make a motion for approval of the annexation plan 2025-47 as described for which is also known as the Warfield property off of Watersville Road. Um do I just would like to ask Tom to do one Okay. Sorry. Afterwards. Okay. Do you have a second? I'll second. Okay. Now we're in discussion. Okay. Go ahead. Sorry about that. Council President Tom, can you just explain why we have to approve the the annexation plan in in this stage? And as as Tim says, it is not an approval of the proposed the annexation proposal itself. Correct.

That's correct. So most if not all of the annexation process is actually not governed by town code. It is governed by the state code. Among them, the fact that uh the state code mandates uh the approval of an annexation plan, which should be thought of as a comment document, to be sent out to the county and state uh departments of uh uh uh planning uh for comment on the annexation. This used to be called an annexation outline. It's now called an annexation plan. Basically what it says is that if you are going to annex, you not saying you are annexing, but if you are going to annex, it's supposed to identify those infrastructure impacts and infrastructure improvements to mitigate those impacts that have to be undertaken to accommodate the development, how they're going to be financed if if financed or charged to the developer or if you know in a big development you might issue bonds by way of example. So you would set the set set forth those kind of things. U it's not the only thing these departments get. They get really the whole package. But uh among them, according to state code, we have to have the town council accept or approve as as the case may be uh an annexation plan uh which goes out along with everything else uh to comment uh by the county and state uh planning departments. And again, that's by state statute. The whole process is by state statutes, not it's not really by code, by town code.

John, would you mind just giving a brief overview of exactly where we're at in this process? Yeah, what would happen if we vote no and what would happen if we vote yes and then the steps following. Yeah, sure. No worries. Um again, so again, the acceptance or approval of this plan would allow me to forward it with all the supporting documentation to the state of Maryland's uh Maryland Department of Planning, Carroll County, and Frederick County. Um along with that, um again, if it's accepted or approved, I would do that. Now, for if you deny it, I'm not sure exactly what, and I would refer to Tom on that. What would

steps be? state statute contemplates that you would approve some sort of annexation plan uh in order for them to comment on um uh so if I would anticip I think what the state statute anticipates is you don't like this plan you should move to adopt the plan but with the following changes so that you have a document to send to the state department state and county departments of planning again you're not committing yourself to anything. You're just saying, look, uh, in order for them to intelligently comment on this annexation, uh, you you're you're basically saying these are the plans the plan to accommodate the infrastructure improvements uh, by way of example that this particular development would require. With that, also we also um again have sort of already set the public hearing in for June 10th, 2026 at 7 p.m.

here at town hall. Okay.

So So basically to you know I'm always like let me dumb that down for myself. Um, we're we're approving a possible annexation plan to send to the county, Frederick and Carol, send to the state and all of the concerns that we've heard through Nodingham and other citizens about the road, about traffic, about water, about anything and everything that could possibly be a mitigating factor will actually come back to us from the state and both counties uh as absolute fact, which would then put the burden on the developer to make sure that those factors are mitigated, but it would also give us the most information uh for us to make a determining factor whether to annex or not.

Yeah. So when it comes back uh you'll first and foremost of course be answering the after the public hearing of course right

uh be answering the question annex yes annex no. Okay. U but if if if the determination is made uh to approve the resolution for annexation, it's going to be a conditional approval. One of the conditions that uh that that would condition the approval is entry into an annexation agreement probably 30 days hence uh to be negotiated between the town and the developer. that annexation agreement would incorporate those things that you mentioned. Um, you know, developers got to pay for this, developers got to make this road improvement, developers got to do this or that. Okay. Um, those things would go into the annexation uh agreement. Most if not all of those things identify the annexation plan would go in there. But there may be more things that you all would insist on having in an annexation agreement. Lawful things um in order to as a condition to approval of the annexation if if in fact you decide to annex. But but this is just sort of like a uh look if we annex this is how we plan to deal with it.

Okay. So, it's almost just a formality type thing to get. I doubt the state would regard it a formality, but uh but but uh you know, it's it's it's anything you do. So, right. So, if you're planning a budget, you're not adopting a budget tomorrow, but today you might say, "Look, this is how we plan to pay for the things we got to pay for." That doesn't commit you to doing it. It's just you're trying to to give some direction to this.

Okay. Yeah, just to re reiterate kind of like maybe dumb it down a little bit for me too. Uh, basically this no matter what happens, approval, denial, the state pretty much expects some form of annexation plan included in the document. Maybe this, maybe not, but something. So, it doesn't really kill the project per se going forward. It just basically I want to say the state this is something the state requires to be submitted with the packet to them by statute by statute. So it could be this could be another another one. So it doesn't really

now or later the packet will be forwarded to the state and the counties for sure. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. So any argument for or against the annexation itself is really doesn't have a place here at not yet during this acceptance of this. That's right. Okay. That comes later. Okay. Council President, were you going to talk about Oh, I was going to I have some comments, but I wanted to see what the other council members had to say, but are you going to speak to uh uh the issue with the survey and such or Okay, yeah, I got it. I I uh Okay. So just just I mean you can follow up on this thing. Sure.

Uh just quickly the planning commission uh which has one which has run very very well uh had this document uh I want to say for close to four to five months. I know we granted an extension as well and the the addendum that was given back to the council was more than extensive. It it it showed um great work, good leadership, and a lot of, you know, really really good information uh for us to use uh to make a determination when that comes about. Um but I I will be very transparent and that one of the items uh that was in the addendum I chose to remove. Um, I chose to remove a a uh not town sanctioned um uh

survey uh that was sent out to to Nottingham only. It was sent out to 46 homes I believe um just to Noddingham uh regarding this development. Um I chose to remove this item because it was not vetted by any quorum of any board. uh within the town of Mount Ary. Uh it was not paid for by the town of Mount Ary. Uh it was in fact paid for by one citizen that actually lives in the neighborhood of Nottingham. Um the fact that the planning commission itself did not agree to or read through or have any input on the questions that were being asked. Uh I didn't feel like that survey should in any way be misconstrued as a town document. It was not a town document. It was an individual research document. Um, if the individual wants to bring it to our public hearing and submit it to the council for its review as the council sees fit, I am more than happy and immuneable to to accepting that uh so that the people of Nottingham that that did take their time to submit it uh their voices can be heard. Um but what we cannot do is set a precedent uh in any way, shape or form that a document can be sent out unvetted, unpaid for and undisussed through a quorum of a body of our government uh that could be misconstrued as a town document. So with that being said, um it's my job as the council president to to set the agendas and uh I made the singular decision uh to be very transparent uh to remove it because I was not comfortable with how it with how it derived. Um you know that being said, I did talk with the mayor. I talked with the town administrator and I even talked with many members of the planning commission to give them a heads up on this uh and to be very transparent and give them my reasons why. Um to the to the people of Nottingham, uh thank you

for filling it out and thank you for coming to the podium day in and day out. Uh we want to hear from you. Uh we want to know your thoughts along with everybody in the town of Mount Airy. Um but you know the the fact is we cannot uh and we will not uh accept well I'm sorry I cannot and will not as uh the the council president accept the document that was not vetted through a quorum of anybody of our government and it was only done singularly. Uh so with that being said, I welcome um that document to to be presented at our public hearing uh as just that, a singular research document. Um and the council can do do what it will with it. Um but it it once again was not a town document. It was not paid for by the town, nor was it vetted uh by by a quorum of the town. So that is why it's removed. If you look at the addendum and you see something different than what it was at the planning commission, that's the reason why. And I am more than open to speaking to anyone about it and and the decision that I made.

Yeah, I'll jump in. I greatly appreciate your willingness to jump on a hand grenade, but uh but it was um you know when this came to my attention as well. uh I agreed to have it stricken from the uh document and and again it it was not a town sanctioned survey but I was very happy to see that uh one of our public speakers got up and mentioned the survey and and that's totally appropriate uh for that to occur and u you know so I appreciate the the feedback on that but you know a survey that goes in a packet like this should have been presented to the entire town if a survey was going to be done because somebody living over on the Frederick side of Mount Ary may may like a sports complex up there and it's uh you know and then uh but obviously if you're in the community right next to it then um you know you you're going to have a a different opinion but I agree with the council president um I have no problem with somebody standing up at the podium and waving it uh citing it uh using it in that regard for public input but as far is inclusion in the package. Uh that's that's where I drew the line. So I appreciate it.

All right. Thank you. All right. Um

yeah. Yeah. So I think I think the word for me is is concern and and and you've heard the you've heard a discussion on this, but this is the uh this is a document January 26, 2026. It says town of Mount Area Planning Commission addendum to the planning commission's recommendation on draft resolution 2025-47. This is the petition for annotation to the world property and and again the concern is and I make a habit I attend every planning commission meeting because I like to hear everything myself so I can have that as a frame of reference. And I remember it might have been the January meeting or maybe I had the the month wrong, but this survey came up and I remember some planning commission members said, "This is the first I've seen of this. I I I I didn't help derive this and this is the first I've heard it." And then in the in this report and this report is like the the compendium of all the basis for how the planning commission got to where they got to. It has all their criteria. They use a record of all the public comments and then it has a copy of the survey and and in it it says it says um an unbiased survey was developed by the chair and was reviewed by the council liaison to the commission and when I saw that I thought well it it's not unbiased because it was done I think by one person not vetted within the planning commission and it's being included under the umbrella of a formal planning commission product. And then of course I was involved in the town community survey. That survey went to every resident. The questions were vetted by the the task group members, by the council, and by

the mayor before it went out. So I'm just concerned that kind of the damage is done. I mean, this this has been out there. The public has reacted to it. they've gotten up and commented on it and used it as a basis for their views on the annexation. And it's it's just kind of a a really big concern that this was part of the to me the basis of how the planning commission got to where they got to. So that that was the concern. Then I had a a question for town staff if I could ask. So, I wanted to ask John the as the planning director, um, and I know you do staff reports for zonings and reszonings and put provide a recommendation. Did you do a a staff report on this annexation that that fed into the process? Because typically the staff report goes to the planning commission and then they consider that. Did did you do a staff report on on the annexation? Is that something that you have available? Well, the the staff report is the annexation plan. That's pretty much the staff report related to it.

This is your staff report. Yes. Okay. Because I'm looking at just because I have it, but I got it because I got it through a Maryland PIA. This is the the position description for the director of planning and zoning. And it says part of the duties review and provide input to propose annexations. So, where where is the record of your review and input to the proposed annexation? I I don't I didn't hear any comments from you at the planning commission meetings. Where where is your input to the process? I I don't see it anywhere. This you're saying this is it?

Well, I mean, again, this is part of it. Uh there's additional items that will go part part of the packet that goes to the state of Maryland uh which shows um uh basically the adequate facilities, what improvements would have to be that that would go along with what goes to the state of Maryland and the counties for review. Again, I'm just looking for you as the planning director, what were your from staff? What was your input to the review of this annexation? I guess I'm looking for a staff report.

I'm going to step in real quickly. Um, staff reports are not meant to give his personal recommendation on what the planning commissioner should do. He's giving his input on what needs to be done in order for the planning commissioner to review those documents. So, you're asking more for it sounds like his personal input in the staff report as to what the planning commission should do. And that's not what he does in the staff report. I was looking for tech a technical assessment just just as he does for resonings. But thank you for the answer. Thank you. Council, may I I mean just just one second here. John, go ahead.

You I mean you put together all of this, right? Correct. All of this is your writing, correct? All of this is your factual evidence for the requested zoning, intended purpose of the requested zoning, allowed recreational use to the R1 district, town of Mount area, master plan, access, utilities is probably going to lean over to Barney. Barney, you're going through water, sewer, background, etc. I don't know what else we're looking for other than your thoughts of yeah, I want it or no, I don't, which honestly you're that we're not we don't need that, right? And I don't have an opinion.

I I I I I see actually a pretty extensive report here just to uh kind of go against I I don't necessarily know what other information we need. Um the second thing um the damage is quote unquote the quote was the damage is already done with the survey. Um the the damage was not done because we're the only ones that are permitted to do damage. So, if you choose to look at the survey, if you choose to look at the survey, if I choose, if Jason chooses, and use it as the end- all beall for your decision, then yeah, you're doing damage. But the planning commission only can do a recommendation, and we look at what we choose to look at. There is no other board, there is no other government entity that can quote unquote do damage. My explanation of why it was removed, what it can be used for was very clear, was very blunt, and uh and I actually resent the fact that you think that damage has already been done because that survey does not sway my decision one way or another. So, please do not speak for the board that makes this decision. We're good. Uh Carl, did you have anything moving forward?

No, I was just bunny to say thank you for being honest about your reasons and taking the ser the survey out. Um, they said I would look at it if it came forward at a public hearing as something as any other type of document or a testimony submitted by the public for that and look at it as such as testimony. So, it's just a the neighborhood got together and conducted it and it's basically a neighborhood letter. So, that's it. So, thank you council president for being honest and everything. Thank you. If I may, I'll only take a minute to say this. A this is a staff report. This is the document that was created by the planning commission and presented to the council. How this sausage was made is is something that you can ask, but it's not something that it surprises me that somebody would go to all the trouble to go back there and and basically get into the weeds on on job specifications of our zoning administrator. um that's that's outside your your bounds and it's it's a little bit frustrating to have somebody continuously looking over your shoulder and trying to be the gotcha guy on on town staff, be it the town engineer, be it accounting, be it zoning administrator. It's it's getting a little bit frustrating to have somebody continuously trying to nitpick how the sausage is made and you have a document in front of you and that's that's your report.

Sean, do you have anything?

I do. Thank you. I just want to um address the um line uh in the addendum that says that the let's see uh unbiased survey was developed by the chair. True. And was was reviewed by the council liaison to the commission. That would be me. True. It does not say I approved of it. Uh chairman Gent will tell you that I immediately called him when I got the draft. We talked through some things. Um, and I I did have some reservations about some of about how the um about some of the questions and how the survey was constructed. I was frankly concerned that we weren't going to learn anything new. So, um I just wanted to um sort of uh put that into perspective. It does say reviewed by. I did see it before. I didn't have any power to stop it, but that doesn't mean I approved it.

Yeah. And and and I'm gonna be very clear. No one's throwing grenades here. The the intent uh of everything that was done is always with the highest regard. Um and and I am not one to sit up here and and question uh anyone's integrity, especially one of the best volunteers we have on the hardest commission that this town uh that exists in this town. So, so no, it it it's a simple disagreement uh between me as the council president and and uh and him as the the planning chair, but I do not question his intent. I do not question the reasoning for it being done. And I hope that he would bring it to the public hearing and present it as to where we can look at it in that way. Um so, you know, again, th this is not a a thing of casting blame or or shadow or doubt. It's just a uh a simple disagreement. And Mr. Gent here, I mean, you're welcome to to step up.

Sure. Uh before you Hey, Sean, what page was that on that you mentioned? Just so I know what you were talking about. It was on It's on page um page page three. Right smack in the middle. Page three or five? Yeah. Okay. That what paragraph? I think he's talking about the addendum, not the annexation plan. Okay. He's referencing the addendum. Yeah. Which is not included with the plan, right? Yeah. The addendum shouldn't be here. And honestly, the addendum's been revised, correct? To to remove those items. So, so the mention of the survey and and and all of that. So, what we're talking about, it's not in here. Okay. All right.

It's not this. So, so the addendum itself, it shouldn't even be discussed right now because uh the one that you're probably looking at is is the original version which uh has been revised. Mr. H. Thank you.

Yes. So, Ralph Gan, chair of the planning commission. Um if I could just add some context to the discussion that's underway regarding the survey. So when the commission was given this task to provide a recommendation to the annexation petition which is per the code, the uh commission spent its initial month uh developing criteria where it could fairly and thoroughly assess that and provide much of the work that we felt the council was going to have to consider when it finally came to your authority to decide upon it. So an extensive amount of criteria and also a lot of opportunity for the citizens to come and speak their minds with regard to the petition that was under our review. In those public comments, the majority of the folks coming forward were from the residential area known as Nottingham. And so it was because of that large majority of public speakers that I decided that perhaps we need to get the overall sentiment of those 420 homes on the south side directly across the street from this proposed annexation and land use for that reason. So again, let me reiterate the prepundonderance of public comment coming to us drove the idea of gaining the entire community across the street their sentiment toward this proposed um land use. Moving forward from that, I then contacted our council liaison and said, I'm going to develop this survey. We can develop the questions together. We can vet them together and you can certainly remove whatever you think would not present not present a biased survey. And so as

council member Kelly uh injected just a moment ago, um we did work together. Um, I'm sorry that he cast that now is not approving it, but there was ample opportunity to say don't continue it. But perhaps that's just a different point of view. I'll accept that. After that was developed, we then I should say I then went to the town attorney and said, "Hey, here's an idea to gather per the code, quote, other information regarding our task to provide a thorough analysis and recommendation legally and legally only." The town attorney said it was within the legal parameters of us conducting our task. Um, I'm not going to go so far as to say he personally felt it was a good idea or personally felt it was a bad idea, but I want it noted based upon the parade of public comment, based upon working with our liaison from the council, based upon counsel from the town attorney, and then lastly to make sure that I wasn't going to coordinate a survey without the HOA of Nottingham's knowledge. I coordinated with the president of the HOA and the administrator the HOA is run by. Both of them then gave me that final it's okay to gather the sentiment of the town's largest community nearest this proposed land use. So I'm I'm giving you kind of this background so you understand this wasn't just a flirtatious idea.

It was done through a methodology that tried to do some vetting to make sure that it was now I thoroughly understand the view of we ought to gather the whole town all roughly 10,000 residents when a draft ordinance or or such an item as this. But with the time that we're given, 90 days and we had to ask for an extension and we wanted to be thorough, we moved on ahead after those four checkpoints were made to gather the sentiment of the residents. Now, my last point, and I'll shut up. During the development of the addendum with the results of the survey, and the petitioner should attest to this themselves, I put that draft addendum with the enclosure F in front of everybody. The petitioner was allowed the right to reject it. Did not The commissioners were asked individually, what is it within this draft of denim that you're not comfortable with? And there were occasions where those commissioners said specific entries, specific paragraphs. And that wasn't extracted by a motion or a majority vote. It was a single commissioner not wanting a specific entry in those interactions on the draft agenda to develop the final package to the council. No petitioner rejected the survey. No commissioner rejected the survey. So I just want to make the points gentlemen. If there's a lack of confidence or if there's a sense here of an error in

judgment, I just want you to counterbalance it with what I just gave you as a rationale that it was initially put in that package. Thank you.

Understood. And I'll I'll respond uh by saying I I I was well aware you went to the newest member of our council and and talked through it with him and as well as the uh our town attorney and and the legality of the action I have never questioned. Um didn't even question the intent of it. I think the intent is true and and just and right. Um but you did go to to four different um people or four different places to get it vetted. Uh what was not done was going to the actual commission in which it was created for to get a quorum vote for it to even be done.

No, you did after. And the fact is I mean they maybe didn't feel comfortable speaking up to have it removed in a in a a normal meeting and that's on them. And if they're not, if they are comfortable with it, that's fine. Um, you are well within your rights to have it made. Um, I'm well within my rights as the council president to say I'm not comfortable with the way it was derived and I would welcome it to be subject to public comment and given to us then. Um, but the fact is no matter how we look at it, it was not a town document. It was not paid for by the town and it was not vetted through the proper channels, at least all proper channels in which a survey should go out. Um, so I I know that we disagree. I I do not uh question the ethics, the morality. I don't question anyone else's unwillingness to to say if they're comfortable or uncomfortable with it or not. But as the council president, I I did have to speak up that I I would have much preferred some quorum of some body of government, whether appointed or elected, uh be involved in the process in which it was made. Um, and a survey when you have 120 days because you got a 30-day extension, I think it's more than enough time to to vet it through every proper channel, not four of the five. So, um, I understand you think you did. I I still feel that a quorum should have agreed to a survey being sent. And I think that a quorum should have agreed to the questions that were going to be asked. And I do think that somebody, including me, if I knew a survey was going out, would question, why is it not being sent to all of the town of Mount Ary? And I understand that Nottingham was 95 to 97% of the people speaking, which tells me we know how Nodingham feels because they're the only

ones coming to the to the table. I'd love to know how the rest of Mount Airy feels and if they choose to answer it, they choose to. But at least they get the opportunity to. So those are my thoughts. And while nobody else chose to to question it, I did. I will fall on that sword. And if anyone wants to question or have a a conversation about it, I'm I'm more than happy to. Um, but I I did run it through the mayor. I run it, you know, through town staff and uh and an agreement was made. Um, and we're going to move on from this and uh, you know, I appreciate the efforts of our planning commission and the chair greatly. Uh, this is one disagreement over the course of many years of working together and sometimes that happens. It is not personal and uh, and we can move on in a in a happy manner.

Sure. Okay. I don't think everything that was done was legal. Okay, that's not a problem. Where where the error was made was if there was an error was the fact that you were hitting one community and you know I could have recognized at that point and said, "Oh, wait a minute. We we need to hit the whole town." To me, this is a it's a learning moment. There there have been numerous times and for example Dorsey Town uh your your aunt and I made uh made a blunder by going around talking to everybody over there in the community uh prior to that annexation kind of putting ourselves in the exparte position. So everything that was done was legal. It's a it's more of a judgment issue and that's something that I could have caught and I would catch in the future. Thanks. By the time we're kicked out of here, we'll know how to that's how all this stuff should work.

We're going to be our best, right? When we um we're going to move on from the from the survey uh discussion. So, if anybody has any questions regarding strictly the annexation resolution uh for acceptance. Uh yeah, I just I just want to make I heard a statement from the the DS here. I just want to say, you know, annexation resolution plan. Okay. And that's it. All right. Very good. on the annex resol. Okay, that's it. Very good. All right, thank you. Any other questions, concerns, comment on the annexation resolution plan for 2025-47? Actually, a very quick question on this topic.

So, so again, however we vote on this document tonight, it in no way reflects how we may vote on the final approval of whether to annex or not. Correct? It has no relations. That's correct. Yeah. And this does not go against the planning commission's recommendation to it was a unanimous recommendation to turn down the annexation. Okay. We're not if we vote yay on this. It does not go against the PC. It does not go against anything. And we still have a public hearing on June 10th which is going to bring a lot of information. Uh and then we still are going to get back all of the information from this plan from the state and both counties as well. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any further discussion? Just re since dumb it down again. Basically a formality only to include in the packet. Correct everybody. Formality. I did that once by myself. Not not a formality but it's required by statute for some some type of plan to be included with the packet we send to state. Yeah. And to be clear in the verbia here, what's up is voting to accept or approve the annexation plan, not the resolution. So, so it's just the plan.

Basically, this is the document we agree we will send to the planning departments of county and state in order for them to send us back comments. Okay. All right. Just want to make that before the Facebook group gets out on us. No matter how we vote. Council President, just to be clear, and Tom, you can confirm this. It only goes to Carol County, correct? Not both counties because the property in question is in Carol. That's correct. I said, I just wanted to clarify. So, it'll go to Carol County and it'll go to the state and the state. Yeah. Clarify one other thing. And how many how long do they have to get back to us with this plan?

60 days. Uh the county under the the uh town county agreement has uh required 60 days. Uh they don't always use all 60 days but they do. That is more than the state statute says. So we have contractually asked for and gotten 60 days. Just want to make sure that too. So thank you.

Hopefully everything's been uh said reset and and said again. So, uh, all right. We have a motion. Uh, we have a second to, uh, accept, not approve, but accept, uh, the Watersville Road league baseball annexation plan 2025-47 to be sent to Carol County and the state of Maryland. Uh, it's been seconded. So, all in favor to accept the annexation plan only, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? I abstain. All right. So we'll get a lot of information uh back from the state and from the county. Uh and we look forward to the public hearing

vote. Yes. Four four and then one abate. He was actually one time that time. So we will uh we'll get a lot of information back that will help uh not only this council but everyone uh know exactly what we're looking at as well as the public hearing on June 10th. Um, and we'll be looking to probably vote on this. It's going to be around the August meeting. Uh, I would assume uh when the actual annexation decision uh will be in front of this body. All right. Thank Sorry, just one quick favor. Can we take a five minute recess if we get I mean Yeah, let's do let's do a quick five and then we're gonna we're gonna kind of hopefully get through the rest of these.

Yeah, we'll do a quick fivem minute recess. Thank you. Yeah, let me get

Do we know what's Have they scored 100 points That helps. I know everybody may hear you

on point, huh?

go ahead and uh call the meeting uh for May. Are we in May? April. April town council meeting back to order. Feels like May. We've been here so long. It's been a long meeting. Yes, it has. Especially for me. All right. So, as long as CMC's back online, we'll uh we'll go and get started. Okay. All right, thank you everyone for the recess. Um, and we will go ahead and go back to ordinance 2026-5. This is a budget amendment to transfer funding and expenses associated with the police station project to a new capital project fund. Uh, this is for adoption. I'll make a motion to approve or to adopt. Do we have a second? Second.

All right. Um, Katie, any brief overview? Um, so this is because the police station is being funded with a bond and so to make sure that we are accounting for it correctly in our financial statements, it needs to be in its own fund. Um, and and not like forever until the bond's paid off, just until constru construction is complete and um the project is put in service. So basically when our officers move into the new building and then um at that point most of the funds will be spent. The only thing that we'll have left over is just the bond payment. Okay. and then that will move back to the general fund. Okay. So, it's just a simple movement of things.

It's just um the police station expenses and any funding. So, any grants or anything that we get specifically for the police station um would be accounted for under this fund. Okay. Um it's very similar to how like we have a different fund for water and sewer. It's just Okay. It's just to make account Yeah. It's just to make um everything very cleancut and clear. Good. Clean cut and clear. Any uh discussion? Uh just quick just bookkeeping in other words. Okay. Thank you.

Do have a quick question. So So we had set aside money the previous two budget years um to fund the police station and I think it might have totaled about a million dollars. But and then I know we we bought the property out out at Green Tree. I guess my question is I thought there might be a little bit of money left over still tagged for the police station. Does that money get moved to the same new account or is that somewhere else or is there none left?

So okay. So are you talking about like the money from the police or from the three cent increase that we said all of that was going to the police station? Is that what you're talking about?

No, I just I I know that in previous budget years I I I made the motion to add like 500,000 or 300,000 uh to fund the police station because we hadn't yet made that decision yet, but I made the point we have to start setting aside money if we're really going to do this. So, that money got put somewhere in the budget. I'm just asking, is there any of that money left that now has to go to this new capital project fund? So, are you talking about when we budget, like when we sit down at our budget and we budget and say we're going to spend 300,000.

So, most of that is usually spent and whatever is not spent, it doesn't go anywhere. It stays in the checking account. Um, and so there's not what has been set aside is the money that we have taken in for the tax increase that was specific for the police station. Okay. Anything that has not been spent towards something has been put in the public safety um reserve. So any leftover money it would be there. Yes. And not moved to this account.

So you will see in in the next budget cycle yes the money at the end of the general fund budget anything left over specifically for the police station which we said that we raised taxes for the police station. So you will see the full amount of the increase move over to the fund and then what is left over after all the expenses is moved to the reserves. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any further questions or comments?

All right. Hearing none. Uh all in favor of approving or adopting the budget amendment to transfer funding and expenses associated with the police station project to a new capital project fund, please signify by saying I. I. opposed. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have ordinance 2026-6. This is to adopt tax rates for fiscal year 2627. It's for introduction and to schedule a public hearing. I'll make a motion to introduce. Do we have a second? Second. All right. So, now we need to schedule a public hearing.

Yeah, I think we can just do uh the date of our next council meeting. Why don't we start at seven? Okay. So, May 4th, 7 p.m. Does that work for everybody? Should All right. All right. Good to go. All right. Next up is ordinance 2026-7 to adopt the budget for fiscal year 2627. This is for introduction and schedule public hearing and scheduled budget workshop or shops. I'll make a motion to introduce. Do we have a second? Second. Um, I guess we can do 7:15

before the May meeting. We'll do seven and 7:15 for the public hearing uh and for the budget workshop. That's usually a pretty extensive meeting uh where pizza is provided. So, put that on the record. Check in. Yeah, you go. Um, do we have any dates that first work? So, I'm a a Monday and Tuesday available guy for the rest of the month. Okay. I can be available on Mondays. Mondays probably work good because yeah, commissions, Tuesday, and Wednesdays during the last part of the month for me. I'm in May. There's not many. Monday we can't do would be the 27th because that's the planning commission.

Uh yeah, April. Sorry, I thought it was May already. Thanks, Tim. Why don't we look at uh why don't we look at uh April the 20th? Monday, April the 20th? That that works for me. April 20th. You think we can do like a 6:30ish start or earlier? I'm I'm fine with whatever time you guys are fine with. If you want to do six, I'm fine with six. Uh 6:30 is fine, too. Um 6:30 or 6? I mean, it's just most of us will be here in town anyway already, right? Is everybody good for six on the 20th? I'm good with six. Yes. Okay. Six o'clock. The box said six is good for the the talking box.

Six o'clock May 20th for the budget workshop and that is open to the public. Correct. Uh yeah, it's public. Yep. So it's a public meeting. So anyone that wants to come to it u do so. Did you say May 20th? April. Sorry. April. April. No, I said May because I'm Yeah, April 20 at 6 PM. April 20th, 6 PM here at town hall.

Council President, just want to reiterate since you someone mentioned it was is open to the public. Are there different rules for a workshop the public's allowed to attend, but it's at the sole discretion of the council president, the one that's holding to be allowed to speak at the workshop. I just don't want people to come and think they're going to be able to speak if we choose not to. Yeah, let them Is that the general rule of workshops? Generally, the workshops are among you all. Okay. I know it's our opportunity to talk to town staff, question any kind of budgetary items that we see that are, you know, kind of stick out or don't stick out or or kind of where we see. Okay.

It's a workshop. I mean, I would welcome public comment uh briefly if if anyone has it, but uh but generally um you know, we'll you know, that public comment will probably be during the public hearing or 7:15. So, all right. Cool. I would respectfully ask that you just kind of let us go through it and then you have your public hearing. All right. Thank you. All right. Next up is resolution 2026-5 to allow alcohol at the Mount Craft Beverage Festival September 30th, 2026 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Watkins Park. This is for adoption. Uh I'll make a motion to adopt. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right.

Sorry. I would like to have Gina come up and give the spiel since she's waited the whole night. Yes. Over there. So, we have I don't have to. I really don't have to. I'll go. I don't think anyone's going to say no alcohol.

All right. Well, at least you guys can know what's going on. All right. All right. Last year, the town applied for a Maryland alcohol manufacturing promotion fund grant from the state. The purpose of it, the purpose is to promote the advantages and attributes of state breweries, wineries, distilleries, and their products. As a part of the Mountaire's uh America 250 celebration, the Mount Airy Farmers Market would like to host the Mount Airy Craft Beverage Festival set for Wednesday, September 30th from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Watkins Park. We are envisioning this event as a fun outdoor happy hour that folks can enjoy after getting off work. This event would only be inviting 21771 businessbased breweries, wineries and distilleries and our libations, farmers market vendors. We will have a live band as well as many of our farmer farmers market food vendors. We we are exploring asking our regular uh vendors if they that are not food and beverage participants. As well, we would like to have a beer, wine, liquor historian on site to discuss the history of alcohol in the country. The farmers market officially ends the week before on Wednesday, September 23rd. We felt this festival would be a nice way to officially close out the summer season. The town has not heard back yet if we are the recipient of the grant, but we would like to host the festival either way. I've reached out to um Chief Janevra who has kindly offered to have an officer available to stay on site for the event. We would also post signs limiting where alcohol may be taken in the park. alcohol vendors are in charge of asking for IDs when they are selling their drinks. I have 10 21771based and or farmers market vendors interested in participating and that includes liquidity ale works. I spoke with Billy um at Liquidity about a month and a half ago and explained that this event is not meant to compete with Oktoberfest in any way. There will be no Steinh holding contest, no dress up contest, no Bavarian pretzels, etc. Liquidity works is one of the businesses that is interested in participating. This is

just a happy hour to enjoy local libations. The town would be the host and can work with participating vendors to submit letters to the Carol County Liquor Board to participate in the event. We hope you will allow it. I'll take any questions. Any questions? Go ahead. I'll let him go first. Um, council, thank you. So, this this is the first time we've we've had this kind of an event. Is that correct? Um, I believe so. Okay. I believe so. And the hours are from 3 to 7. Mhm. On a supposed be it's supposed to be similar to the farmers market. It's just an extra it's a bonus farmers market day pretty much. And it's it's on September 30th which is a Wednesday.

Yes. So how many people do you expect might attend this? Well with the farmers market I mean on a good I mean we have over 50 farmers market vendors right now coming each week. So, I would hope more than 500 on a good like on on a non rainy day, which unfortunately we did not have a lot of last year. Okay. So, I'll tell you what what what immediately hits me is this is on a this is on a weekday from 3 to 7 p.m. in Watkins Park. And the direct access route out of Watkins Park is directly under Route 27. Mhm.

Route 27 during those hours of the day are going to be heavy traffic, heavy commuter traffic, very congested traffic, lots of fast cars. And I guess I'm a little hesitant with all these people going and perhaps enjoying themselves, h having a beer, having a drink. Granted, there's food available, but 500 people, what percentage of them are going to drink? and then they get in their car and they're right there on 27 between three and seven. I'm a little concerned about the the safety aspect of this. Like when we do celebrate Mount Airy, we block off downtown and that's a little different or or October Fest, but this

we're not really blocking anything off. We're saying come drink and during rush hour traffic you'll probably go home and you're going to go right on Route 27. So I I'm a little bit concerned about it from a safety perspective. That's something that that that's fair. Yeah, those are my thoughts. Thank you. I was just going to ask a simple qu. It sounds like you said anyone from 21771. Is that home home brewers too if they have a product or is just I mean it's more business. It's more business like selling that are out like you know liquidity and um Ligonor wine sellers and those type craft beverage just like beer and wine.

Uh you might just suggest somebody like yeah first and foremost 21771 but there are some breweries that are just outside of our borders. So maybe if they want to join in also too. Okay. Uh because I'm not sure like you know Milk not milk. Yeah, Milk House. Milk House is in is Okay. And there a couple other that far out. I'm not exactly sure how far out they agreed. Yeah. Goes up that way. But there's a couple in Damascus too. I know they're outside but they surprisingly there's busy ones down there too. Okay. Thank you. And wine too I guess. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions from the council? Sean, you have anything? No, I'm good. Thank you,

Gina. The grant aspect of it. Just explain the grant one more time. Okay. I did not write the grant, so I'll just say I'll be honest about that. Um, it's supposed to um it's this is just one part of the grant. It's I think it I believe it was for 25,000 and this would just be a small portion of that grant and it's just to promote the advantages and attributes of state breweries, wineries, distilleries and their products. So this would be promoting um the breweries, wineries and distilleries um in the 21771 zip code.

Okay. Is is this event grant dependent? If we don't get the grant, would the event still occur? We could still have it. I mean, we could have, you know, just not get as much entertainment and Okay. All right. Sounds good. There's a last quick question, Council President. Yeah. Um, so again, I'm looking at the title of the resolution, and it does say a resolution to authorize the consumption and possession in open containers of alcoholic beverages. So, it's not just they're going to go there and learn about the breweries and take things home. They're they can drink right there on site. Is that correct? Yes.

Okay. But we will have signs posted of where they can take their alcohol. Like we're going to have signs up to say like you can't go past a certain point. Hey Tom, just to refresh my memory on town code and stuff, we have to since it's a town park, we do have to uh approve the resolution for consumption in town property just like the roads and stuff. And this the wording is just general wording on the topic because it's consumption of alcohol open containers and things of that nature. But by law by our code, we need a resolution and by state code. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, we have in front of us resolution 2026-5 to allow alcohol at the Mount Airy Crafted Beverage Festival September 30th, 2026 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Watkins Park. This is for adoption. Um, we have a motion, we have a second. All in favor of adopting resolution 2026-5, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Thank you.

I would uh I would agree with Council Member Demoter though that that I hope that people govern themselves accordingly and uh and that the uh people that are going to be there serving make sure that they're aware of uh the state of the people that they're serving too. This is a first. Uh let's make sure if everyone does it correctly, it doesn't have to be a last. All right. Next up, resolution 2026-6. This is establishing and maintaining a water and sewer reserve balance. This is for adoption. I'll make a motion to adopt. Do we have a second? Second.

All right. Um brief overview. Um I want to thank town staff uh especially Jared um and uh the mayor Carl. Um this was the same one uh that we looked at last month. There was a little bit of executive overreach in my opinion. Um, I I worked with Carl uh and the staff and and removed that what I thought was executive overreach through legislation. Um, and so that's kind of where we are at now. Um, so we have a motion to second. I will go ahead and open up for comment.

Uh, I have a question on a comment. So tell me if the following statement is factually correct. So, as council members, we we can ask for an update on the water and sewer reserve fund balance. We can ask for that information at any time. Is that is that correct? I would say yes. And we also get a copy of it every month in our our report. So, okay. It's I mean it's public information, correct? Okay.

Um the only and I I think I will support this. My my only comment two comments. Um so first under B the first line it says the council resolves to maintain a water and sewer reserve fund containing a maximum amount equal to one year blah blah blah blah blah. So what we're saying is we don't want to see that fund grow to anything above what would be one year's worth of reserves. Is that is that a correct statement? Correct.

Okay. Um, and then the next just comment under D, the fourth line down, it says this is where we can request a report from the mayor or the representative on a plan to rebuild the reserves back to the minimum amount listed in section B of gov. The only comment is it may be the case if we wait until we get to the minimum amount, which would be right now like $2.1 million, it may start to get a little bit late in terms of the emergency actions you may need to take. Like if if the fund if we wait until it gets below half of the reserve, um it may be harder to take the immediate actions that we we need to take. That's that's the only thought. Yeah, I I um I understand that sentiment and and um

you know, for the last 10 plus years uh we've been underwater in it and um you know the council uh or the water and sewer commission at any point uh can request information, request numbers and and you don't have to necessarily wait for uh to be below the minimum uh in order to seek uh advice on on what the plan is to make sure we don't fall below the minimum. what what my purpose and I believe Carl's purpose and and kind of just re-evaluating uh a lot of the work that you did initially Steve and and and I agreed with the sentiment was to make sure that if we do fall below the minimum that a set of actions start to happen but those actions um should not come legislatively to then basically boss the executive side around. So what we basically did was instead of going to the mayor or the town administrator, uh we changed it to where we actually will enact the town clerk who is the only sworn um person that works for the town of Mount Ary, which therefore also works for the council. So still on the legislative side, she is to notify the council that hey, you fell below the minimum and you know, you should ask for a a plan, a CIP, uh to to see how we're going to not keep going below this minimum and and end up here. So, it's it's a stop guard, uh, but it's not an end- all beall to where if you start to see us getting into a deficit that future councils, mayors, and anybody for that matter, um, can't say, "Hey, let's get a CIP going before we hit this threshold."

It it's really just like a a bare, you know, minimum. When you hit here, we got to do something. But it doesn't mean that's the only time you can do something. And as far as the maximum, you know, if if we start to get above one year, past one year in our reserves, you at that point, you have to look at your rates and you have to wonder, are we overcharging people for water? Because, you know, we have people a lot smarter than us, at least me, saying that you should be somewhere within 6 to 12 months of your operating budget for a fiscal year in your reserves. Um, if we're getting above that, then then that should signify, hey, we got to relook at these rates and probably stop charging people as much. So, that's why I said that it's a maximum of that amount. If you exceed that maximum, then that should then put you into a position of let's examine the rates and maybe look to lower them a little bit so that we don't end up with just an inflated fund of unnecessary money.

No, that's that's that's outstanding. That's I think that's good wording. So, Okay. All right. Any other questions, concerns? Council President. Yes, sir.

On that note, I was going to uh piggy back on Councilman Deodor's initial question about the maximum sort of I understand it's a resolution, right? But what happens if we get to a maximum or over it? Um what does that imply? What is the town supposed to do? And you sort of just answered it. I I guess the the only question comment I have there is feasible that at some point a a moderatelysized development with impact fees could vault us over one year's worth of reserves, right? So, at that point, we're really not going to want to reduce rates or we'll get back to where we were six months ago,

right? And that's why it's not specifically said that you have to reduce rates the same way it's, you know, it doesn't say if you exceed the maximum the town clerk is supposed to notify and look at a CIP plan to to to reduce rates because there could be many mitigating factors that might get us there for a year or so. What what I'm saying is if we are in excess for the specific reason of overcharging uh then then we absolutely need to need to re-evaluate those rates and uh and that's why the wording is what it is. Um I would say that the impact fees that that we're going to get that might put us over for a year are actually going to be spent on the impact uh from the new development anyway. So that's going to kind of even itself out. Um, but that's why I didn't put in the wording that any such action should happen on a maximum. I would uh I would just expect that that wording would signify let's see why we are here, why we are exceeding uh what we're told we should have and then evaluate there. If it's obviously if it's a another community like Nottingham where it's okay that's impact fees, this isn't going to be sustainable, then that's one thing. But if it's year over year, no new building and yet we're still bringing in access funds, you know, then then we absolutely as a council and whoever that is should evaluate the the current rate structure and and uh and act accordingly.

So just like going under a year or under half a year um would trigger an unanalysis, going over a year should trigger an analysis too. Going over a year, but I would say dependent on conditions. Again, like you said, impact fees and such, I think that that's all pretty pretty self-explanatory. But if you're if you're year-over-year exceeding what your what your maximum is, then yes, that should absolutely um start to make you question. And and let's be honest, what mayor and politician wouldn't want to lower rates?

So, I don't think that's going to be a uh an issue that that anyone's going to fight. Um so, so that's why the wording is is what it was. And and I do want to thank Jared. I want to thank town staff, the mayor. This was a collaborative effort and and I want to thank Steve for the initial uh thought process of bringing this forward. Um, you know, I think uh I think it's going to put us in a good spot and it's going to help the legislative side uh understand kind of where we're at uh if we get below a a certain threshold. So, thank you everyone. Any further discussion? This isn't the allocation. No, this is on the reserve.

Did you want to speak on this or did you want to speak on the on the water allocation that's last on the agenda reserve? Oh, okay. Sorry. I thought you I thought you wanted to speak on the uh the other.

I will if you want me to. Uh Dick Swanson, I'm the chair of the Water and Sewer Commission. Uh, I've heard all the conversation and I agree with everything said up there except I'm suggesting you take the word maximum out and the reason is that it does indicate that I have to take some sort of action um where if you're going to go over the reserve if you happen to have you know some development while you're also you know if you increase the rates you've got 3% in additional of how much you want which is a cushion for that but you may go over that by you know $200500 million and I don't think you want to have the implication that you're going to reduce rates to do that because when you go up and down up down with rates it it really can create a lot of confusion. So I would suggest you you just say take the word maximum out of there and I think it's known that when you start going over that maximum, you should take a look at it, decide why, decide whether it's going to continue and then take action if necessary. But to put the word in there really puts more of an impetus on you to take some action. Hey, look. We're we're taking in a little more money than we thought we're going to. You know, shame on us. We better do something. Um and and I don't think you want to give that kind of impression. You just want to say we want to get it to a level where we're at around one year and um we'll obviously look at it. the water and sewer commission. I assume that staff would look at it and say, you know, we we seem to be getting a little high there and u take some recommend

some sort of action, but I think the word just implies too much. All right. Thank you. Any further discussion? Any table amendments? All right. Uh resolution 2026-6 establishing and maintaining a water and sewer reserve balance. This is for adoption. I have made the motion. Council member Mar seconded. All in favor of resolution 2026-6 as written, please signify by saying I. I. I.

Opposed. Thank you. Next up, resolution 2026-7 in support of House Bill 1142-SB establishing the task force to modernize county and municipal revenue sources. This is for adoption. Do we have a motion? I'll make the motion for uh resolution 2026-7 to mod to uh for in support of House Bill 1142 establishing the task force to modernize county and municipal revenue sources.

All right, do we have a second? I'll second. All right, we're in discussion. Any discussion? Um yeah, I'm just going to say just make sure people know that this is a um Maryland General Assembly bill put in I believe by the Maryland Municipal League. Uh mainly due to the fact that I want to say municipal sources of funding haven't been looked at or updated in decades and I mean a lot of decades. So, this would just establish a task force um for the state to look at or try and figure out ways in conjunction with municipalities to raise other forms of re revenue besides taxes. All right, that's a good thing.

Yeah, I know Jared might have some insight this Jared, did you have any insight on this resolution as well? No, just that the I agree with Carl. It's something the state's asking us to do um in support of this House bill. So, um I will say I believe it's it has passed the House and is and it's with the Senate. Did you say all that already? I'm sorry.

No, no. I was going to say say something after the uh hopefully passing of this approval of this resolution, but yeah. So, this is we're putting a task force together to to work collaboratively to figure out ways to bring in funds outside of just keeping raising taxes. Not other other sources of refund of of uh revenue for for for municipal uh government. Yeah. Not the not the town, but the state. I just want to re reiterate it's a state task force, not a town correct task task force. We are just this is in support of that task creating that task force. All right. Any further questions, discussion?

All right. Hearing none. Uh, resolution 2026-7 in support of HB1 1142. All in favor of adopting, please signify by saying I. I.olution. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have resolution 2026-8 to allow alcohol at October Fest, October 3rd, 2026 from 11:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. downtown for adoption. I'll make a motion to adopt it. We have a second. Second.

That was fast, Sean. The box was quick. All right, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? All right, hearing none. All in favor of resolution 2026-8 to allow alcohol at October Fest, October 3rd, 2026 from 11:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. in downtown Mount Air, please signify by saying I. I opposed. All right. Thank you. Next up, resolution 2026-9 for the purpose of allocation of the town's available water and sewer capacity yield among allocation categories for 2026 2027. This is for adoption. Uh do we have a motion to adopt?

Do we have a motion to adopt resolution 2026-9? All right, town council president, I'll make the motion for adoption of resolution 2026-9 regarding the u town's available water and sewer capacity yield among the uh allocation categories. All right, I'll go ahead and second. We'll get us into uh discussion. Um

I mean I'm just going to say this is the um as I said the where section every beginning 2014 and every two years thereafter a regularly scheduled meeting in March with due notice and after public hearing. uh and consideration of town's engineers recommendations, the town council is tasked with either with uh approving I want to say uh you know recommending to the town council as to the allocation of towns available water capacity yield and so capacity among the allocation categories. Uh the allocation categories are basically the I want to say the different let's say forms types or categories of development. It could be residential, re redevelopment, commercial, infill. It's just a way for us to be able to uh divvy up the amount of water that we have been um that we have left over from our allocation. Um and this if something finds out to be incorrect or another development comes in or something, we do have the authority, I believe, to reallocate the amount to the different categories throughout the year. Is that correct, Tom? or just once.

Yeah, I believe it's once in between the two years I think the ordinance calls for. Okay, thank you. Um floor. Oh, I'm fine. Yeah, if I can chime in. This might help us get through this a little bit quicker. I mean, my suggestion, uh, the council's already approved a quantity, which I believe was 19,200 pound gallons or something that was sent to the planning commission which came back with a favorable Yeah. decision. Okay.

All right. And I understand there's an email out there which I think will get shared with us by the uh council or by the commission chairman or possibly council member Demoter so we can actually see what that uh what that MDE email says. Um our town engineer has an email outstanding as well waiting for a response from the MDE. Um my recommendation is that you you vote on the resolution per the water quantity that has already been approved uh and using the system of point of entry which has been used since around 2005. Um and and if I I haven't seen this email so I don't know who wrote it. I don't know the context of it. Uh, I know that Barney's waiting on that email to return. If the MD comes back and says, "Hey, listen, you know, you guys have been going the wrong way about this," then we can make that change between now and the next allocation. Um, so that is the um, you know, maybe that'll help us get through it. I'm not saying that that you know, perhaps MDE has taken a closer look at it and said you need to check every well. uh but to um get us through tonight if if we can use a number that has already been generated and accept the fact that we may have to take a look at it afterwards and change our process with it. Um and and to to get to align the commission with our town engineer at that I I get that. So thanks.

I mean I I would actually throw out uh the ability uh because we have the ability at this table to do a table amendment. um which can basically say I'll make a table amendment uh that for the purpose of allocation of the town's available water and sewer capacity yield among allocation categories 26 27 for adoption. It's obviously already been vetted by this board. It's been sent to the planning commission and came back favorable. Um so as of right now we're speaking on the 19,000 uh that that our town engineer says. Um, but I would make a table amendment that once we hear back, the town hears back from MDE with MDE letterhead and a direct message that we are in fact incorrect in that water capacity yield number. Then we need to revisit it at the next council meeting. It needs to be on the agenda. Uh, and then we need to act accordingly. Um, you know, I think if you want to accept that table amendment,

I'll accept that table amendment. It makes makes sense because emails and stuff are good, but it does say I mean so I'm I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. our amendment sorry I accept council president's amended table table amendment that if we receive a formal notice from MDE on official letter head signed by the correct departmental officials indicating that we have been incorrectly calculating the water and the number that has been presented to us is incorrect that and to whatever we revisit the number at the next council meeting after the next council meeting after receiving that letter.

So Okay. So you got two issues that are going on at the same time. Okay. So first of all, you currently have pursuing to actually a second resolution. This body has set the amount that is to be allocated and it's based on that that the town engineer recommended a division among the allocation categories. The planning commission went ahead and recommended that and hence that's come back before this body. Um what the statute says or I'm sorry not the statute the ordinance says uh is that at the April meeting the town council is to uh take up and either modify approve or disapprove and send back to the planning commission the planning commission's recommendation as to the division among those allocation uh categories. So you're really talking about two different things. So if if this body is going to revisit the amount that's available to be allocated, it seems to me to be consistent with the ordinance, what you'd then do is you would come back with a resolution, perhaps not tonight, next time to restate how much is totally available and then at this meeting reject the planning commission's recommendations. If you know in May you get something back from the MDE that gives you a comfort level to stick at 19,000 then the planning commission can take up the recommendation again and make whatever recommendations they're going to make about its division. But it it I I think that the way the ordinance's framework is is that you know you what

you know if you're going to revisit the total amount that's available to be allocated which you can really can't do until you've I gather here completely and wholly from the MDE then it seems to me what what what you ought to do is is at this time reject and send back the the planning commission's recommendations on its division And the reason for it is that you're still mulling how much is going to be totally available, if that makes sense. I mean, that's what I think the ordinance contemplates doing here. So, let me ask you, if we've been doing something wrong, when I say we, I mean the town of Mount Air, not us specifically. If

we've been doing something wrong for 20 plus years, as someone said in the public comment, why is the MDE not said anything? Why why is it all of a sudden now this major issue? Why are we I mean, if the MDE says that something is wrong, which they haven't yet, but we've been doing it a certain way for 20 plus years, why all of a sudden is this issue being derived? My guess is that the MDE does not review every two years your allocations. It it came to the MD's attention this time.

I think I can address it. Um again um unless we're over 80% of our water um if we're using more than 80% of our water appropriated uh which we are not. Um if you look at the numbers the maximum number for 2025 was a 732,000 I think it is. Uh we have 927,000. We're actually below the 80% though we are approaching it. Uh and we're well aware of that. um they don't review our calculations. We're not required to put in a cap capacity management plan. Uh that sort of thing. So um that's that's why they they're really not interested in reviewing our calcs or you know they have no need to review them. Now the way we do our calcs is kind of up to the town that they won't tell us how we have to do them except that we need to reserve 10% drought and u you know couple stipulations like that. um one of the um just going back to the 20 years ago that you know when we got approved when we actually did submit a CMP a capacity management plan for water um that um the reasoning that I can come up with that they allowed our using of the POE is twofold is one we're using point of entry okay it's not the wells metering coming out of the ground but it's what's actually going into the system. There's a small discrepancy about 1% of our flow that uh gets goes through a backwash system and goes right to back to the drain. Uh that's just at one of five plants. Um that um is offset by the fact that we reserve 12% for drought um and where the state only requires

10%. So we're actually, if you look at our numbers and compared to MDE guidance, we're actually more conservative than MDE guidance. So we're actually saving more water, reserving that more water than what their guidance because their guidance would be 10% plus, you know, if if they say we have to use the well meters, that doesn't make up as much difference as that 2%. So we're already being more conservative. So I think that 19,000 is a good number. Um but uh we can adjust our calcs um if they come back and say we should do the other. But I think it shouldn't be let's change it now. Let's change it in 2028 the next cycle uh two years from now.

Well, let me ask you. Go ahead. I don't mean to interrupt.

We could start changing our calcs now, but I I wouldn't change the 19272 number. Um, if if we did change our calcs next month or couple months from now, I would keep that number, use that for the two-year cycle, uh, we're expecting 34,000. And I just learned who the person that, uh, Councilman Demoter had gotten the email from, showed up on my desk. I saw it less than two hours before the meeting. Um it is the same person that told me that we are getting 34,000 gallons a day for well 9. That's what's recommended. Just needs to go through a public um comment period. U we have yet to see that but I've been hearing that since August

and it's from again the same same uh person from the water supply program. So we're definitely expecting that. Again that's another thing that will more than offset that 9,000 gallons difference that we're talking about. Okay. So, I I think the 19272 is a good number that we can use moving forward for the next two years. Okay. That would be my recommendation.

Yeah. There was one statement you made that that uh stood out to me and that was the fact that the town can decide which number it chooses to use. Right. So, does that mean that we are not being told by MD you must use this number? And we're not being told by them because we are not being flagged by going over our allocation.

Yeah. And again, the uh the reasoning from that is they don't want to be burdened or um liable for how we calculate things. All they look at is the final number uh until again we get to where we have to submit a capacity management plan. But they're looking at the final number. Are we exceeding our capacity? Right? The answer is no. We've never exceeded our capacity. Okay? And we actually have two more percent extra in reserve than what they would even tell us to have. We have 12% where they would say 10. That's correct.

Okay. So there's nothing stating the MDE is telling us we have to use a certain number. Why are we making this more difficult? Guys, we're we're we haven't exceeded our allocation. We haven't red flagged the MDE and the MDE is not the one that tells us what number to use. That is up to the town of Mount Ary, so I'm not quite sure. And if I could just add, maybe I'm lost here. I don't know. But I I I I don't understand uh kind of kind of what we're discussing. I

I have no problem with the amendment that you were suggesting. I would just add that we would adjust at the 2028 cycle, not not adjust it like a month from now. That way we can move forward with what we have. May May I when it's the opportunity I'd like to Yeah. Go ahead.

Okay. So, how how did we get here and why did we get here? Well, because you know, if you read our town code, it says the methodology needed needs to be posted to the town website. The town did not follow its own town code. It did not do that. Then I learned that the methodology between the water and sewer commission and the town engineer was different and it and it centered on the use of flow at the wellhead versus POE. Why did this come up? Because I like to follow the town code. The town code says the methodology shall be derived between the town engineer and all caps I'll use them the water and sewer commission. So clearly here I am as a leaison saying, "Wait a minute. I got the water and sewer commission saying X. I got the town engineer saying Y. The code says they're supposed to do this together. We have a discrepancy in how they're doing this." So that's when I looked for more information and said, "I'm not getting a straight answer anywhere out of the town of Mount Ary." I reached out to MDE with questions. They provided an email reply back on a number of questions I had and I'll pass this around for everybody and you can look at page four which is the email that came back. A couple things. First of all, I don't know how in good conscious my fellow council members can do what you're proposing to do. First, if you look at this resolution, it says in here, the allocation scheme are attached here to as exhibit one. And on the second page, item number two, it says that the town's available water capacity shall be divided among the

allocation categories described in section 109 4C as set forth in exhibit one to the planning commission resol resolution attached here too. I I guess my question is are we supposed to have an exhibit that shows how the planning commission a agreed their recommendation as to where the water goes to different categories because it's not part of this resolution. So I don't know first of all how you all can with good conscience vote for this at all without seeing that. Second related comment. I went to the PC commission the PC meeting and they approved the allocations. I didn't hear a peep. They didn't even look at them. They just blindly said we approve. So they're blindly approving it. I hope you don't blindly approve it. The town engineer said essentially what's the difference? It's only 1% difference between 19,000 and whatever and 98.886 86 or whatever. It makes a big difference when you're down to this small amount of water. The difference between 19,000 and something and 9,000 and something, you know, now you're down, that's a big difference. Now you only have nine 9,800 gallons to allocate. That's hardly any water. 19,000 versus 9,000. You're just rearranging the chairs on the on the the deck chairs on the Titanic. You've got only a little bit of water to allocate. And if you were to allocate all 19,000, I believe to be 9,000 if you use the right flow data. If you do that this year, you will have no water left two for two years from now. When we get this 30,000 gallons from MDE, that will be great. But we do not have it in our hand yet, and we shouldn't be counting on that yet.

Um, I heard the town engineer said, 'Well, we're not at the 80% trigger to develop a capacity management plan. I'd like to know the exact percentage because my calculations are we're at 80% if you use the 98 66 number or whatever. You're at 79% if you use the 19,000 gallons per day. Okay, you're that close. A a as a as a conservative um protective government, don't you want to heir on the side of conservatism and and go ahead and develop a capacity management plan? And the MDA guidance says if you're using even 20% of your capacity, it's recommended that you develop one of these plans. The town did do a CMP back in 2007. And that was like 19 years ago. I think it's time to to freshen that up. Um, so and I want to say that I understand the the concern about well this this is just an email from MDE and you wanted something on official letterhead from a senior representative. So I've I've taken your guidance. I have contacted MDE again today and I am pursuing getting an e a letter from them on MDE letterhead from a senior leader within MDE. So rest assured I am pursuing that and uh I've expressed my concerns to them about this particular issue and the reluctance of not just following the MDA guidance which which they provided in the email that's their guidance to what the town should be doing. Um

the difference is again we had an original resolution. We had an original resolution in January that proposed 63,850 gallons per day. I didn't vote for that because I couldn't see the methodology which was required to be on the town website. You passed a new resolution in February for 19,272 gallons per day and I brought up the issue of wait a minute, I got two different methods. I'm not going to approve that. And everybody passed that. So, we've gone from 63,000 down to 19,272. And now, if we use the flow at the wellhead, we're down to 9,668 gallons per day. So, um, that's not much water. So, and and you don't even show me the exhibit that I'm supposed to vote for that shows the allocations of where you're putting the water. And I looked at those allocations because I looked at the uh this is a March 18th, 2026 memo from the town engineer to the planning commission and where they the engineer recommends where where to put this water and into what categories. Um, and I hope you guys do what I'm asking is don't pass this thing because you don't even know where the water's going and and you haven't even seen the recommendation from from the planning commission. But I will tell you what what the town engineer proposed is about um 67% of the water going to industrial use and commercial use. Then there's 7.8% 8% going to public facilities and the rest are kind of

sprinkled around here and there. So, my recommendation I I will offer an amendment. I'll get the wording down, but my recommendation is we should do as the town engineer as as the town attorney said, we need to first go back. We need to reject this. Then we need to bring a new resolution with the correct what I believe to be the correct water capacity yield of uh 9,668 gallons per day. And then the town engineer can decide how that small amount gets allocated, take that to the planning commission, they review it, and then that comes comes back here. Um, I I have to say I've been in government I've spent my career in government in environment safety and health and the notion that an email from a senior compliance engineer an MDE isn't good enough in terms of telling you what the requirements and guidance are. I'm I'm I'm just flabbergasted. But but rest assured, I am going back to senior senior leadership with an MDE and I'm asking them for the letter that you want and I'll let them determine if if uh they're going to say no, the 19,272 is okay with point of entry. So, so should I make my my my motion to amend that original motion? Do you want me to formally make it?

So, I apologize that the allegation categories didn't get put into that. Um, I don't know why you didn't get that, but there it is. I just made a copy of it for you. Um, it should be pretty straightforward. We've done done it every couple years. Um and then um I heard while I was making those copies that didn't understand where the 80% was coming from or wasn't 80%. Again, the number is 732,000 was our max use of the last five years average divided by 927 comes out to 79%. Yes.

Not 80%. We we understand we're borderline. Do we understand that that's coming? Do we need to jump right in and do it before we were required to? No. The answer is no. If we were at 81%, we say the other way that we shouldn't have to do it. The answer is we're not at 80%. So that's why we haven't done that. Um do we have a capacity management plan already know and how we're going to calculate that? Yes. The answer is yes. We have we have a calculation that we have and we know how that capacity management plan was done. We did it once before and we could do it again. It's it's just a matter of throwing that back into the spreadsheet. Um so when we're at 80% we can do that. But part of not getting to that 80% is why we asked for additional appropriation on well 9ine and that's been I think over three years now. We're expecting that to come in. We've been told as almost a year ago now that um we're going to get 34,000 of the 50,000 that we requested. That's going to drive us further away from that 80% give us a little little more breathing room. Uh again, it's going to allow you to be able to approve some uh things uh commercial growth. If if somebody in town wants to improve their business and need a little bit of water, they can do that. if somebody wants to bring in a restaurant to replace a retail, they could do that. Um, so, you know, you want to have some breathing room for that and and that's that's the reason why we we had requested that. So, that's um we're not at 80%, we're trying and intending not to get to 80%.

So, let me ask a a question. Um, you have a a water and sewer commission supposed to work with a a town engineer and you have the two that are just at a stop point. How does that get resolved? Is that on you to resolve it? Because this is an executive Yeah. name on both sides.

So, first of all, we've been doing it this way since 2005. Has not been questioned, but now it is. I'm willing to to look at things and figure out how how to fix it. And obviously, you know, the town engineer and the water commission should be in sync. I'm okay with making that correction. What I'm not okay with is the fact that we're sitting at a table and an entire council of five people is making decisions, but one council member has decided to go behind the executive's back straight to the MDE, start looking for answers to questions that don't exist so that he can get you in the gotcha moment and corner staff and and say you've been doing it wrong since 2005. It's the manner in which it's being done. I don't disagree with with with the fact that it needs to be in sync between the water commission and the town engineer. I don't disagree with that at all. Uh I just question the way that it is being thrown out here to put other people under the bus to fix the problem. It's something that could have been handled in a different manner. So what I'll say is uh

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what I will say is that this is a executive uh town employee and an executive commission. This council I have no place in the middle of this. You two figure it out. But the fact of the matter is this council two months ago voted on the number we're using and I expect you to stop challenging that. You did it at the planning commission meeting trying to tell them not to vote on it, which does nothing but circumvent this council's decision. You are on the wrong side of that decision. And I was going to let it go, but now I'm not. You guys figure it out. And mayor, figure it out. It's an executive thing. Our legislative has no business between Barney and the water commission. If you guys disagree, figure it out. But the number that we decided on, the number of those sent to the planning commission and the number that was returned from the planning commission with a favorable was the 19,000. We are not revisiting that anymore. So the facts are the facts. If the MDE has allowed us to do something wrong for 20 years, that's on them. And if you guys need to sit down and do kumbaya and figure it out, then do it. But I'm not solving and this body is not solving that issue. So maybe get a a meeting together or whatever, but I've had enough of going back and forth with you guys. He's our town engineer. He is paid for by the town to steer us in the right direction. That's who personally I'm listening to. And the fact of the matter is I'm not going to play referee between two executive operations. So we are no longer discussing the 9,000 the 19,000 and you know council member deer that is no different than the issue I had with Ralph Gent sending out a survey that the

town did not approve of. If you really wanted to get the point across you come in you work with town staff together. You send the email and that way it's an official town document. This is nothing more or nothing less than your research. the same way. It was nothing more or nothing less than Ralph Gan's research and that's just the fact. If you don't see it that way, that's fine. That's how I see it. So, that is why I want and I think this council as a consensus wants, speak up if I'm wrong, a legitimate town-derived answer from the MDE that is not suggesting we use a certain number, but is mandating we use a certain number and telling us you are doing it wrong. You need to fix this. Otherwise, the town of Mount Air is well within its rights to use the number it sees fit. Yeah. And I am no longer going to allow this body to throw town staff under the bus and do it on purpose. I've bit my tongue for far too long. I'm not doing it anymore. You want to work with them? Work with them. You want to work against them. I'm not going to be a part of it because it gets nothing solved. Your email proves nothing more than you did it just to say, "Hey, I got something that you didn't." That's my opinion. And that email holds just as much weight as the survey that went out for Nottingham.

May I respond? No. Cuz we did have a meeting with the town. Sir, I said no.

All right. Please sit down. This council has already made a decision on the number to use. We are not revisiting it. If for some reason the MDE after 20 years flags the town of Mount Ary and says, "You're doing it completely wrong and you're going to run out of water in two years." Then we revisit. But in 20 years, that hasn't happened. And if it does, that's on the executive side to figure out. But I am not going to play referee between an executive commission and an executive employee, nor will I entertain this council doing so. So, this conversation stops. We've already approved the number we're using. The planning commission has already come back to it. Now, we're going to vote. Council President, I'd like to make an amended motion.

I think I'm allowed to do that. Am I not? You're allowed to make your amended motion. Carl, you were the original movement, so you will have to agree.

Okay. So, I I I make a motion to amend the original uh movement that we should reject this allocation and send it back to the planning commission. create a new water capacity yield resolution with a capacity as recommended by the Maryland Department of Environment and then once that is done ask the town engineer to decide upon the allocations and send that back to the planning commission. That is my motion.

Tom, just to clarify, the original movement being Carl, he would have to accept and then we would have to second. That's correct. Okay. Nope. Okay. All right. Right now, we're on resolution 2026-9, the allocation of the town's available water and sewer capacity yield among allocation categories for 26 and 27. This was the number was decided upon two months ago. It was sent to the planning commission. The planning commission returned with a favorable uh recommendation to do so. Is there any further discussion uh from anyone? Sean, sorry. Uh Dean, you have anything? I don't have anything additional now. Okay, J.

Yeah. So, in the email and I know the email doesn't hold weight. Um but is this something you know that you guys are going to look at now with the flag being thrown up because I I don't if they're telling us we're doing it wrong even after it's been 20 years. I think we have to look at that. Correct. I I agree. Yeah. And that's that's what we're saying. We'll we'll do that and we can start making modifications if if they determine that. Okay. And that's not part of a motion that anyone was going with. That's just part of that. Yeah. I think what everyone's saying here is that the time to bring that argument forward was two months ago when we decided on using 19,000 gallons. Agreed.

But we're not going to circumvent a council vote by going to a planning commission and holding up legislation. So that being said, resolution 2026-9 for the purpose of allocation of the town's available water and sewer capacity yield among allocation categories for adoption. All in favor of adopting, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Nay.

Thank you. All right, that's it for the agenda. There is no unfinished business. Um before we before we go, I'm I'm going to as the council president just just kind of give a brief um recommendation to the council um when going to uh specifically planning commission meetings. Um you know, I have I have stood up for the planning commission in the past and and uh even even centered one of my own council members. So, uh, I'm I'm I'd like to think that I'm fair and and, uh, in in doing that, but I I want to, uh, state to the council that, you know, there are certain rules and regulations and there are certain lanes that every body needs to stay in. When I say body, I mean the bodies of government. Uh the planning commission is is an appointed executive body of government that certain legislation needs to go to for a recommendation. Note I said recommendation. This council and its members has no use or need to negotiate with the planning commission. The planning commission is not there to influence legislation. The planning commission is not there to rewrite legislation which has been done in recent months. The planning commission is simply there to analyze the documents sent before them and it's favorable or unfavorable. If it's unfavorable, I welcome a quorum of the planning commission's recommendations to change the document to more something more that they see fit. But we are in no way, shape or form expected to negotiate or to hold workshops because frankly that is way outside of their bounds. The only body that can create legislation is sitting at this

table and whether it's favorable or unfavorable will not influence the legislation at hand. So, I just want to remind the council that while we always want the planning commission's favorable approval, it is not needed. And if you are confident enough in your legislation to bring it to this council to have it seconded to even get to the planning commission, then you should be confident enough to take their feedback. And if something's better, you even then do not have the ability to change that document until it's back among this board, reintroduced, and then a table amendment is made based on the planning commission's recommendation. In saying that, if that's the the way that we go moving forward, it will definitively speed up the legislation process that has to go to the planning commission. Um, I respect them. I respect their role. Um, but their role is not to expect us to negotiate legislation. And if we do that, we almost overpower them. They were not elected to legislate legislation. They were appointed to a planning commission. And so, I'm just asking, please remember that. And while we want their support, it is not necessary. and we will still make the judgment that that we see fit and what we were elected to do. So, thank you for that. Um, we are going to move into uh close session uh under statutory 3-305B and 3 for land acquisition and also 3-305B and 7 for litigation. At that time, uh this council meeting will be adjourned. I will roll call into close session. Council member Deoter.

Hi. Council member Mund. Hi, Council Member Evans. Hi, Council Member Kelly. I mean, I as well. We'll see everybody next month. Thank you.