Town Council - Regular Meeting

Please silence all devices if you haven't already done so. And I want to welcome everyone. Good evening and welcome to the town of Cyville Mayor and Town Council meeting. Today is Monday, March 9th. Is that accurate? Great. This meeting streamed live to the Carol Media C Center's YouTube channel as well as the town's Facebook page. The meeting is called to order at 72 and a half. Uh we will begin with the pledge of allegiance followed by a brief moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. That brief moment of silence please.

Thank you everyone. Okay, Judy, has anyone signed up for? We have one mayor, Mr. Chris Bushman. Excellent. Please join us, Mr. Bush. Good evening. Good evening. Um, I apologize in advance that I have two things I wanted to talk with you about tonight and they both come from Chris Bushman, 532 Oklahoma Avenue for the record. Thank you. Um, two things. They both are in reference to last meeting. So they're two weeks old, but this is the chance I get to kind of re react and respond to them. So yes,

um the first is um the issue regarding the Junth celebration and Miller Cooper Park. Um I know one of the concerns was um possible complaints and it was one of those situations where there was competing perspectives and there's almost no way to avoid somebody into being unhappy with whatever decision was made. So, I wanted to start with telling you that you made the right decision. In my in my um retired professional opinion, I was getting a little bit of PTSD almost listening to the discussion because I've had lots of those discussions. Um the multi-use aspect of state parks trying all the competing interests and all that. I mean, a lot of very difficult decisions. Um closing an entire day use area of a park in a beach, a popular beach for a special event. I mean, that's that tough stuff. Closing down a very popular trail because you want to have a a bike race. Um, somebody's gonna be unhappy when you do it. But the only thing that needed to be done and the only thing you needed to do, what you did, was to make sure that you made a decision that was correct and could be defended. And more important than that, and I'll submit to anybody that will complain about any decision was made, that they should listen to the meeting last time because it was a considered, thoughtful discussion, respecting all viewpoints. The staff position was considered. Uh, Councilman Dyer, I think, made a a very good stand on that through through his comments. And I I think that you made a reference to when you were a manager um that that you would not override these recommendations unless there was a compelling interest in doing so. And uh I think you were probably a very wellrespected manager because of that type of attitude. Um so in this case um I think there probably was a compelling public interest that led to a compromise.

the staff's recommendation was respected and considered and we're not going to have both things happening at once. That operational issue was something that needed to be discussed and needed to be resolved and I think it was resolved. The next thing that came up was the whole issue of whether or not the um unique amenity was something that needed to be considered because it's a very popular amenity. Well, I'll submit to you that Millard Cooper Park is a unique amenity that has certain features that are not found in other parks and therefore if it ends up being the best and most appropriate place that puts you in a in a position where you had to make that decision. Um, so I I mean I through the discussion I kept thinking of things like, all right, well, you know, we're not talking about a private event where you have to worry about, you know, excluding the public because somebody wants to use the park. It's a town sanctioned public event that's in the has a compelling public interest to have it. And when I started thinking about that, I started thinking about the other issues which all of you brought things up, things like the Fourth of July parade. Parade, you closed down Main Street. Well, that's a public facility, but there's not really much question about, well, we're gonna have a parade for Fourth of July. Fourth of July is is a significant historical date, and we have a parade because of it. And we do what we have to do to make it safe. Well, I actually when I thought of that example, I thought, you know what, that's a really good example to use because quite frankly, not everyone got their independence and freedom on July 4th of 1776. Some people had to wait almost another century until June 19th of 1865 before they got their independence and freedom. So those two holidays to in my mind are on equal footing as a historical significance and and a

compelling public interest to have that event and to to actually sacrifice a a a an amenity for that purpose. So anyway, I you know I heard a lot of really good things. I I heard I heard the staff recommendation being different. I heard people stepping up to say the president of the council saying, "I'll I'll sit there and answer the phones with you if you need me to. We're making the right decision. We'll answer the complaints. We have the justification we need. I'll buy the signs." The council supported that on a personal level to to come forward, not not just, you know, as the council. So anyway, I just wanted to make sure you guys knew that I was very impressed with what I I heard and that I I would say to anybody that that has an issue with it, listen to the discussion. And that's why I'm saying this now, not instead of sending an email or whatever else. It's like, I'm putting this on the record. You got one I'm telling you, you did you did it perfectly and came up with a decision that may not please everybody, but there it is. I told you it was going to second issue. Yeah, sorry. Second issue is there was some discussion about um when the public safety report was being given um about assisting out allied agencies outside the town limits and all that. Now I I mentioned this before because I I have lived here a long time and I know that has come up every now and then. My sense of it was that um the council was attempting to just re get reassurance from the chief that everything's okay on that front because you hear stuff every now and then and you want to be educated, you want to be informed to answer those inquires. Well, tonight I wanted to just support what I said before by doing it in kind of a form of a testimonial. And that is that when I was working, I was the manager, assistant manager, and then a decade later, the manager at our local state park, Tabsco. And so I participated in that. We had a mutual aid agreement with the town of Sykesville before your time. And I was on both sides of that. I mean,

I I I stopped a DUI coming down Raincliffe Road, stopped him at the gas station. Um it got a little bit um tense. Um pepper spray was getting ready to be deployed, but then Sergeant Kilgore showed up and everything calmed down. And as a matter of fact, he handled the DUI for me because we were down in the town limits. Another time I was on foot patrol down on River Road um and there's a truck driving up on the trailer where we wasn't supposed to be. Long story short, I'll try is that he he he almost ran me over. I mean, fortunately, I was able to get out of the way, so I didn't have to get to any extreme measures in regard to that, but I had enough information to start trying to track the guy down, but it was difficult. What I end up doing is I came into town. I checked with your um I don't remember when that was, but anyway, Sykesville PD, they located the guy's address. They went with me up the road and got the guy. That helped me several times, dozens of times. I'd be coming in through town and backing your officers up on a traffic stop. I helped them. Um, the guy, there was a guy right behind Beex that was resisting arrest happened to come by, help them take care of that situation. So, from a personal standpoint, I'm going tell you, I have personal experience how that um, mutual aid agreements help everybody. And as a matter of fact, I I view it as there's two kinds of community policing. That's one. I mean, we do not live in a bubble here.

So, criminals don't care about geopolitical boundaries or, you know, jurisdictions, they come and go, right? And so, if we want if we want our police to protect us, then we need to protect them and we need to help let them protect each other is the bottom line of that whole thing. And I just hope that's supplemental information to what you guys already had from the chief that you know if you get hear these things from people I I look at it the same way as people that that worry about their taxes and say well I don't I don't use that. Why you why are you why am I paying those taxes? It's community. I'm going to leave you a little story and I'm done. I don't know Mr. Bushman we

it's it it's okay it's it's very brief. When I was the manager of TAPS, it was a ranger who responded to a traffic accident and he was writing the guys some citations. He had been driving recklessly and smashed in one of the guardrails in the park. He was telling me he was also going to have to pay restitution for the guardrail. Guy said, "What? I pay tax. I already paid for that guardrail." And the ranger said, "I'm sorry, sir, but your guardrail is down the road a little. You smash somebody else's guardrail. It's community and community policing involves assisting allied agencies and receiving that assistance from them." Thank you for your indulgence. Thank you so much. I appreciate all your comments.

Okay, so that brings us to our first item of business, which is our consent agenda. This meeting is inclusive of two items. That is the minutes from February 9, 2026. I'll just call out here whether any comments or uh No. Great. So, as written. Great. Um and then the next item is actually the approval of the Women's History Month proclamation. And uh this evening before we actually read the Women's History Month proclamation, I'd like to take a moment to recognize the women that have served the Sykes Town Council throughout history. Um their leadership, their service, and their commitment to this community have shaped the town that we are today. Way back in 1945, a woman uh named Margaret Harris became the first female elected to office here in town. then followed by uh the famous Thelma Whmer in 1967. Uh McGruda Carile in 1971, June Hornin 1973, Teresa Norris 1977. And Teresa was the first black uh member and and also black female of of our of our council. Norma Hirs, my next door neighbor, now deceased, uh 1981. Joyce Kaufman, 1985. Maxine Wyhand who ended up um running for and winning um commissioner um as a Democrat in Carol County. And then we get to Julie CS 1993. Debbie Ellis 1997 to 2009. Jeannie Nichols 1999 to 2009. Leslie Reid 2009 to 2011. Julia Betts 2011 to 2019. myself 2013, Anna Carter 2013, and Elizabeth Guroff 2021, and last but absolutely not least, Alex Picket 2025. So uh in that order actually in reverse I'd like to start uh actually reading

the uh women's history proclamation and ask that uh that our one and only uh representative from female representative from the other side of 32 begin with with the first couple where's whereas women of every race, class and ethnic background have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our town and our nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways. And whereas women have played and continue to play critical economic, cultural, and societal roles in every sphere of life of the town and the nation by constituting a significant portion of the labor force working inside and outside of the home.

And whereas women have played a unique role throughout the history of the town and the nation by providing the majority of the volunteer labor force of the nation. And whereas women were particularly important in the establishment of early charitable, philanthropic, and cultural institutions. And whereas women of every race, class, and ethnic background served as early leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change movement. And

whereas women have served our community courageously in the military, and whereas women have been leaders not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity but also in the abolishment abolish movement the emancipation

emancipation movement the industrial labor movement the civil rights movement the peace movement and other movements which create a more fair and just society for all and whereas despite these contributions the role of women in history has been consistently overlooked and undervalued in the literature, teaching and study of America, American history. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and all the members of the town council that uh of Sykesville that the month of March 2026 is designated as Women's History Month. All in favor of approval? I I Any opposed?

We didn't get We need a motion. kind of feel like it was implied, wasn't it? I better let one of you three do that. So moved. Thank you. Thank you. Now, all in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? All right. The proclamation is now accepted. Is that for the entire consent agenda? Uh it and and it was it was absolutely 100% for the entire consent agenda.

I believe that was the motion that I had um translated in my mind to uh Mr. Dyer. Thank you guys. All right. That brings us to our first item of new business. That is the uh make sure that I'm correct and have it passed by. Correct. Uh the draft 2026 strategic plan report. Um tonight we have the presentation of the draft 2026 strategic plan report. This document reflects the work we did together during our annual strategic planning session on January 31. It captures the themes, priorities, and direction that emerged from that day and will guide both our upcoming budget discussions as well as staff level priorities for the next fiscal year. I'll turn it over to Joe.

Thank you, mayor. So, again, like the mayor mentioned, this is really just for discussion tonight uh to give feedback to make sure that what's presented there in the report is actually everyone's uh I guess remembering of that day and and the themes that came out of them. Uh we'll pay particular close attention to the uh the outcome statements. you know, those are supposed to be, you know, somewhat aspirational, uh, to make sure that those are indeed the things that you want us to be focused on over the next, you know, 12 to 18 months. Um, you'll see that a lot of the, uh, report or at least the implementation part of the report, uh, some of those projects you'll you'll recognize because they were in, uh, previous strategic planning reports. Uh, some of them have obviously been recatategorized or maybe moved to to a different area just because again, as you change the ultimate goals, uh, as we did this year, moving to the more of those those themes. Uh some of those projects actually fit either in more than one category. So I tried to put them where I thought they they were the most relevant. So again it doesn't necessarily mean that we can't uh you know duplicate them and show them in other areas just to show that there is some crossover with these uh objective statements. Um so again it's you know it's really just up for discussion. So if any council has any any feedback or if you think it's an accurate presentation or accurate representation of of the discussion then uh we'll move forward with preparing the budget. Um, and then this document will get incorporated into the budget book uh when it's presented in April.

Awesome. I'll just throw it out there in case uh someone's immediately ready for any kind of comment or input, feedback, such everybody just thinks it's perfect, Joe. There was one typo that we found it. You missed it. I missed it. Well, let's just say there's one typo that somebody sees. Okay. Well, it is probably more typo. It's a draft. It does draft.

Okay. So with that uh last call. Any other opportunities needed? Very good. Thank you. Um so again this was uh uh this requires no actual uh motion or or vote at this time. That brings us to item number four uh is the task order number eight which is the building assessment of 714 Sanduski Road. Um this uh next item is from KCI Technologies for a building assessment of 714. That's the warehouse in the parking lot behind Beex. Improving the utilization of the Sanduski Road parking lot has been a long-standing strategic priority. Earlier concepts focused on demolition and expansion, but projected development costs have shifted our focus toward evaluating whether renovation of the existing building is feasible. I'll turn it over again to Joe.

Thank you, mayor. So again, uh this is again just a study of the building itself or really it's more likely the utilities that are serving the building itself to make sure that you know whatever we decide to reuse that building for that there's either adequate uh utilities already on site or we know exactly what we're getting into if something does come along. I did want to point out that you know the study itself is is looking at a uh a brewery or a restaurant to potentially locate there. I want to make sure everybody's very clear that that is just a let's call it worst case scenario kind of thing because those are typically high utility users. So we want to make sure we know what the highest use or the most highest impact use could be at that. It's not that we have a brewery or restaurant waiting in the wings ready to step in. It's just we wanted to kind of get a really good idea of what that building's capable of holding.

Thank you. Um, we did specifically point out that, you know, we do want to uh if we're if we're keeping the building, we want to try to utilize the rooftop just because there is actually a pretty decent view from that rooftop. Uh, so we want to make sure that the uh the roof structures evaluated to see uh what potential improvements would have to be done there to to hold some sort of rooftop venue kind of thing on top. Um, but uh as far as cost uh so there is a a grant that's uh being utilized for that property. So it's a strategic demolition grant. Um that's where this uh the cost of this uh particular task order will be paid from. So that's part of the scope of the grant. Thank you. Are there any questions for staff at this time regarding this task order?

Can you remind me if the grant covers the full cost of the task order? Yes, it will 100%.

Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Um before we move on to staff's re recommendation, I want to briefly explain why this is this assessment is important to me. Um it gives us all the information we need to make a responsible decision about the future of this property. Rather than assuming demolition or assuming renovation, this study provides a clear understanding of the building's structural condition, its utility capacity, and what upgrades would be required for a modern commercial use. It positions us to pursue grants, evaluate realistic redevelopment options, and avoid making decisions based on assumptions rather than data. The staff uh recommends that we move to approve task order number eight with KCI Technologies for the building assessment of 714 Sanduski Road.

Is there a motion? Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you. So, the motion is made by Councilman Keenan and seconded seconded by Councilman Smith. Is there need for any debate? All right, with hearing nothing, I will call for a vote. All in favor of the uh motion to approve task order number eight with KCI Technologies for the building assessment of 714 Sandeski Road, please say I.

I. Any opposed? That is a unanimous uh approval of the motion. We move on to number five, task order number nine, parking utilization survey. Our uh next item is also from KCI Technologies for a downtown park utilization parking utilization survey. As downtown continues to grow in popularity, understanding how our public lots are being used and where future capacity may be needed is essential for long-term planning. Joe, thank you. Mayor, thank you.

Uh so the I guess the scope of the work would be there would be three separate weekends that would be selected uh to do a study. I think it was Fridays and Saturdays the timing would be from 9:00 a.m. through 10 p.m.

And then on Sunday it would be 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. So again, the the reason the uh I guess the cost is as high as it is for a parking utilization study is because we are doing three full weekends uh to make sure we have a a very good grasp on uh how parking is actually utilized in downtown and it's for all of the parking lots, all the public lots I should say uh in and around town. uh we anticipate you uh uh selecting weekends basically one weekend where there's no event happening downtown one weekend where maybe there's one of our uh one of the DSC premier events say art and wine or something along those lines and then one weekend where it's just like a farmers market kind of weekend. So again we get a good uh kind of overview of the three different types of weekends that we typically see in downtown particularly during um the more popular times.

Those are good samples for a good survey we hope

product. Yes. Um uh we did ask that uh areas be identified u you know if they're obviously easy easily identifiable areas uh where surface parking could be expanded. Um and then we also wanted at least an idea of where a structure would go. Do want to make it clear that you know we have necessarily no intention of putting a structure anywhere right now just because they're very expensive. Um you know a good rule of thumb and this is probably an old rule of thumb. It might be updated by now, but I always I've always been sold between 25 and $30,000 per space for a parking structure. Um so say for a hundred 100 spots downtown, you're talking between three and $5 million um just for the structure. Um but again, at least this study would give us an idea of where a structure might be able to go one day in the future.

That's um a big barrel of pork. It is indeed. Yeah, that's a that's a hefty ask for for anybody. Any questions for Steph? How flexible are they going to be with the dates as it gets closer because if it rains that's going to affect, you know, amount of people. Yeah, we'll have obviously some some flexibility. It's it'll be one of those things where if they start on a weekend, they might want to try to go ahead and finish that weekend. They might not want to break those days up, but yeah, they we haven't we haven't picked specific weekends yet. So, you know, we're they're willing to work with us for whatever we decide. Yeah, KC KCI is a longtime partner and uh um hopefully they'll be amanable to to us kind of watching the weather and it's art and wine so it'll probably rain

it will probably schedule it for art and wine point for another weekend. Very good. Any other questions? I have a question and a comment. Um question would be is if they do the impact study prior to the station opening the station being open is going to completely change that not completely but is going to add a factor to that that you're not considering.

It will I mean again it's it's all about timing. If if we decide we want to wait until the station opens that's fine. It's just we don't really know when that is. Uh if I had to guess it's going to be later in the summer if not fall. Um, and again, that's that's okay, too. We can we can certainly wait on on the parking stuff. I'd like to have all of the information so we can make a just decision. I would like to have at least one of the samples be ahead of the opening for sure. So, we have kind of almost a baseline for lack of better terms. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it could be something we always ask for a supplement later. Sure, that would be awesome, too,

if we decide. Obviously, there might be an additional cost associated with that. or do we just want to wait? Um, we can at least get some of the data collected and just Okay, I guess I would almost caution that we wait because it's going to be a permanent change to downtown. So, like a baseline before it. I'm not sure what that would do for us if if that's the permanent going forward. And the event weekend can be uh the craft beer festival.

Well, I also don't know um what the um Lib Libs Grill's hours are going to be on Sundays and Saturday mornings. Um, which is the overlayment of, you know, the farmers market that ends the last day of October or the last Sunday in October. So maybe we will have an opportunity to see both in action on one day. Um, but all food for thought staff. The farmers market does tail off into the fall. So yes, it does. The attendance really starts to kind of tail, right? But it takes out all the parking spots in front of it in front of the station right now. Not depending on where it sets up and I don't think it will this year.

It will be, but then my other comment is I know that we have a good relationship with KSI KCI. Sorry. Um they're not here. Don't worry about it. Okay. Sorry. But putting all of our eggs in one basket, are we sure that for giving us a discount.

Well, and again, I think I think the cost is more associated with the number of weekends that we decided. Um, it's not so much I think if anybody decided that we were going to do a utilization study with this many hours on just the the the physical driving around and and counting the utilized spots, um, it's going to cost basically what it is. And these these the uh per let's call it per person costs are right in line with their schedule of fees that you know that we've agreed to. Okay. So it's like it's not like it's a

u it's not like it's a moving target that depending on what project is it changes one way or another. It's like you know they have a schedule of you know each uh each employee is going to charge x amount of dollars depending on who's assigned to the project. Okay. I just wanted to ask No, that's a good question. Yeah. And um did you say this already, Joe, about funding for that will come out of our professional? Yeah. Well, so some of it the funding part is, you know, the town has been collecting uh parking impact fees for let's just say it's a decade uh or so. And we have about $30,000 in the in the parking impact fee account. And you know, obviously we just talked about a parking garage costing, you know, three to five million dollars. If we were waiting on parking impact, I'll do it 100 years.

Not even close. Not even close. Um, so it's it's well what what do we actually want to use this money for? And obviously a parking study seems to be the the most appropriate use for for what those funds are.

Uh, so this survey gives us a real measurable data about how our parking systems function under different conditions, normal weekends, event weekends, and farmer market, farmers market weekends. It uh will help us understand not just whether we need more parking, but where, when, and what type. It also informs future decisions about surface expansion, structured parking, and long-term capital planning. Without this data, we'll just keep doing what we've been doing, which is guessing. Um, so but with it, we can plan responsibly. So, uh, with any more questions for staff. All right. So the motion um that staff has recommended is to move to approve task order number nine with KCI technologies for the downtown parking utilization survey with funding from the parking impact fee reserve and the remaining balance charged to professional services. So moved. Thank you councilwoman.

Second. Thank you council woman. Uh so we have a first by councilwoman Gurov and a second by councilwoman Pickicket. And uh all in favor? I. Any opposed? Great. That is a unanimous uh approval. Then we move on to our announcements and reports. I'll begin with the fact that the next meeting of the mayor and town council will be held on Monday, March 23rd, 2026. We have volunteer opportunities uh with openings on the historic district commission planning commission, also as a crossing guard and on the police auxiliary. Email town@sexual.net for more info. and I'll turn it over to Joe once again for the beginning of our staff updates.

Thank you, mayor. Just a a quick update uh tonight. Um so, construction continues on the south end. I think today they uh pulled up the apron that connects uh well, it's called a alley to uh to Main Street. Uh they also did some of the demolition uh where the railroad tracks are so that they can uh pour new concrete and stamp that so it looks similar to the other side. Uh once all that is completed, they're actually going to jump to the other side of the road and begin the the Baldwin uh drive improvements and some of the sidewalks there in front of Firehouse before they uh do the big part, which is there's improvements needed to the Baldwin law. Baldwin Drive. Oh, Baldwin Drive. Did I say a lot? I'm sorry. No, if either way, I was trying to make a joke because you know the apron and all. Yeah. On that side.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, great. That's good. So, they're moving right along despite all of the snow and rain. Moving right along. This is Today was a good day. So, tomorrow is supposed to be a good day. So, we'll see some progress. Excellent. Uh, the only other thing I have uh is just to make the public announcement that bulk pickup has been scheduled for April 11th. I know there have been some people that have called maybe on this table that I've already said the 18th that has been shifted since there's uh something else potentially going to be scheduled on the 18th. Okay, great. We'll want to get in contact with um Habitat for Humanity for the truck event. Thank you, Carrie. You probably already have. Does that include uh Parkside? Yes. What do you think? You're the redheaded stepchild over there.

Yes, it includes Parkside. But it's a very good question for the uh edification of the public. Parkside and Rankcliffe. And Rang. We'll get them both. Awesome. Thank you, Joe. Anything else? That is all I have. Okay, great. I do have a question. Um just looking ahead, what's the plan for the council meeting on April 13th? I don't know if that's been brought up before or not. Hasn't been brought up yet. Uh there is uh some uh members of council that are likely be out of town for the uh uh what is the April 13th 13th? Yeah, the April 13th meeting for our first meeting in uh uh April. Uh we were either going to uh pick a possible rescheduling date if necessary otherwise it would just be cancelled. Thank you.

The Monday before that is Easter Monday. So just keep that in mind. And planning so it have to be after if we have And then I have a question. Um, do we have an update or when we can expect an update on the traffic study or whatever the next step is for the speed camera review assessment? I have not gotten an update on that. I will follow up with our u the potential contractor that was going to help us out with the speed cameras. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Well, that um forces me to move to the next item. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. It was a bad joke. The treasures report. Thank you, Jen.

I'm here to present April our treasures report. You will be able to see in the income statement that um adjustments have been made in the categories. Um I did not receive any questions about the income statement, but I did receive questions about the adjustments in the categories. um if you would refer to January, it was kind of a little wonky and a little all over the place. Um so alls we did was just realign our expenses. All the categories, the bottom lines of all the categories did not Yeah, it was just all consistent, did not change. So um for February, we received um income tax revenue because it's that time of year um of 273,000 And in regards to expenses, there wasn't a whole lot of expenses other than the um salaries. And as you will know, with all the snow we have, you're going to see an elevated amount of snow removal. That's pretty much the only variance from last month to this month.

So, sure. Any other specific questions for the treasur? All right, free to go. Thank you. Thank you. appreciate you. That brings us to our public safety report. Chief, please. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Good evening.

Okay, we jump right into the PSR covering February 16th through March 1st. As you can see, um relatively slow month or not even a month really, two or three weeks, two weeks to be exact. 510 total events. I did notice foot patrols are increasing and that's always a good sign with the weather breaking. I certainly expect the officers to get out there more often and get out of their cars. Um but other than that, nothing uh remarkable to speak about. Um in addition to that, we had seven incident reports during that same time period um that if you have any questions about it, we'd be more than happy to address.

Anyone? I don't have a question concerning the report, but I have a question in general. Okay. I can ask now. Yes, ma'am. Um, there are a few cars on parking lots that have expired tags. Does the police go around and get them?

As a general rule, the officers do try to uh be aware of that. If they see an expired tag, they do try to take action. Um, if you give me the exact location, we can certainly look into it. It may have been something we've we've addressed in the past, maybe not followed up with. Um, but yeah, as a general rule, they they are supposed to be on the alert for that and to take appropriate action if they see that. Okay. I'll let you know. I don't want to announce it. Oh, I'll let you know. It's not the statue in the back lot. Um, well, those three, but that's a different That's why I was asking, but there's other cars that Thank you.

So, do you guys have a question about um 32 76 000032 um and the littering? Do you know who did it? Was it just

No, unfortunately, it was somebody dumped a flat screen TV in the park. One of our auxiliary alert auxiliary officers happened to notice it and called it into us and we went out and recovered it. Uh but at this point in time, we don't know who did that. And along those lines, um if anybody has any e-waste, if you're listening and um you live in Sykesville, preferably, um we are going to be looking into a means by which we'll have a drop off at some point. um some sort of a a e-waste drive along with other hard to recycle things um that can actually be properly um received by uh organizations that will properly dismantle and properly uh recycle the the um the metals in in the in the uh e waste itself and such. But along those lines, Chief, I mean, obviously that's probably just something that's going to a resident could take it to the waste to the dump. um and drop it off.

Um our staff cannot. So, if the TV's still in hand, uh let me know. I'll take it up to the northern landfill so it doesn't go in the landfill. Thank you. Speaking of properly disposing, I'm wondering um the flag box, has that been installed? And is there a way to maybe just get a regular update on if it's working and kind of the volume that it's seeing? I'd be curious to see him. Uh, we can ask the scout though. Yeah, that'll be here. Kind of where we Sure. We owe him a picture anyway. Yes, we do. Um, I do need to reach out to him. Maybe we can catch up with each other on Wednesday. Right. Thank you. Yep.

If that's all the questions, I do have uh just a couple quick announcements and and a quick followup. Uh in light of your proclamation tonight about Women's Month, I'm very happy to report that uh we had an awards banquet this past Friday and none other than Corporal Morgan Hoa was once again uh selected as the officer of the year. Fantastic. Very happy to have her. in addition to, you know, our our two other females on patrol, um, and two females in our auxiliary unit, uh, one of whom is a supervisor. So, I think we can safely say this is the most females we've had on our police department in the in the history of this town. So,

you guys just trying to keep up with my council. That's what I'm very proud of that. Thank you, Chief. Us, too. Thank you. Uh, in addition to Corpal Hapa, uh, Sergeant Sarah was selected as a supervisor of the year. You all know Michael does a phenomenal job. Uh and auxiliary sergeant Jamie Reichlin was selected as the auxiliary officer of the year. And since he's here, not to embarrass him, but our very own beloved PSC Andrew Jacobs was uh not only did he receive an award for DUI enforcement, but he was selected as the community policing officer of the year because he does such a great job with community policing in this town. And that's across where that's inclusive of our department. Correct. And and like tell us something we don't know.

Right. All right. Uh just a quick followup on two cases. You may recall seeing these recently back in February. Um we had a theft and a fraud from our band shop here. You remember seeing that? I do. Uh once again, I'm here to t Sergeant Lacy's incredible investigative ability. He was able to track down a suspect uh in Florida who had pawned the one of the very expensive uh musical instruments and we now have a suspect and in fact uh the car guitar has been returned.

So um amazing amount of investigative uh work by Sergeant Lacy. um just incredible what he what he does and how he how he gets to the bottom of everything. That's the kind of stuff I want to hear about. That's great. I knew you would. And um and actually the owner of the store um contacted me when I was out of town and I've yet to return his call, but he said he wanted to thank he wanted me to know u what a wonderful job uh Lacy had done for him. So

on another note, another case involving Sergeant Lacy. may recall seeing back in January a I will just call him a a prominent local resident was the victim of uh he had a person an unknown person open a cell phone count account account in his name and actually purchase a cell phone. Uh again, Sergeant Lacy with literally nothing to go on was able to track down uh two suspects. Um, I won't say where they live because there are arrest warrants out for both of them right now. But this case, what what initially appeared to be a relatively straightforward and simple case has turned into a multi-jurisdictional case with a loss value in excess of 200 grand.

Wow. So, phenomenal job. search warrants, subpoenas, cell phone records, uh tracking two suspects down, and we anticipate their arrest in in the the very near future. Well, whoever the uh guilty parties are or the um presumed uh what would the right word be? Let's just call them guilty parties. I'm good with that. Whoever they are uh did not realize that they were messing with a prominent figure and uh and a police department like ours. So that's really amazing. That's that's great work. Yeah. Very happy. Yes. And thank you for the redactions on that one report. I really appreciate that. Thank you for catching me.

And along those lines, it might be something I don't know if if you think can be scanned for in some way before that carbon copy ends up in even in our hands and perhaps on the on our website um as part of the documentation. Does the PSR actually is that public? Is is that Yeah. um because we only look at it like because we get a link for it. I've never gone looking at um for it uh absent of that. So with that being said, if that's something you think your administrator would be able to um I don't know how you do that scan for certain layout of dos or um

mayor I generally review those and I just missed this. I generally am looking for juveniles because of course we want to redact that. We do have a way that we we can redact through our system where you don't have to actually take a a Sharpie and do it do it the oldfashioned way, right? But that one slipped through the cracks. So, um that's that's on me. Very good. No, and it wasn't a criticism as critic criticism as much as you know an opportunity for for improvement, but it sounds like it was just a goof. So, um cool. Anything else for the chief? Great. Thank you guys. Thank you everyone.

Okay. Um that brings us to the opportunity for any council member here at the table to provide us with any type of commission liaison or any news of for the good of the order. I'm not going to even point whoever has anything to say just start. So I can start please. So HDC met we did not have a quorum um but discussed the demolition of u the building behind basically the vans shop parking. Is the quorum an issue common recently or is that an anoff? Um, it's been an issue. Okay. Thank you. Uh, I heard a start over here.

Yeah. So, uh, planning commission met and, uh, we did the approval for the, uh, 744 7488 Springfield Road. Uh, the parking changes and the, uh, and the, uh, I guess the buildout. Yes. Uh, approvals for that. Awesome. So, thank you. Uh, anyone over here? Yes. Uh, so the next park meeting is Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. If you haven't done so already, mark your calendar for the great Easter egg hunt at Miller Super Park on Friday, April 3rd at 10:00 a.m. sharp. Fantastic. You're up, Leo.

Thanks. Uh, DSC, the Cocoa Crawl was held on February 28th, a downtown business event that was supported by the DSC. It sold out, brought 700 visitors to downtown Sykesville, and it was great support for our small businesses and increased foot traffic throughout the district. Uh, the DSA partnered with the town to turn the event into anformational opportunity for the community by sharing visuals of completed projects and highlighting key key accomplishments. And thatformational frame is still at the distillery for people to view. We had our annual retreat and strategic planning session last Saturday. Uh we as part of that we reviewed the um town strategic plan and we're working to co-mingle our DSSE strategic plan with the town's plan so that everything's aligned. And we're also looking already starting to plan the 20 26 to 2027 work plan so that we can get everything on board and ready for that in time. Awesome.

Thank you. I appreciate the u thoughtful approach there with the DSC um and the the uh idea that sometimes inconveniences are for real good reasons and um and being able to for the public to see the project that's being done right now and what what the finished idea and concept is is uh very helpful. So, thanks to the DSSE for for putting that together with staff. Um I know that um parks and recck coordinator was was helpful with that process as well. That brings us to what I would like to call a recess because we are having a closed session. It'll be brief.

It will be brief. Wonderful. So I will announce as necessary that this meeting is being proposed to be closed pursuant to the general provisions article of the annotated code of Maryland section 3-305B3 to consider the acquisition of real property for a public purpose and matters directly related there too and in this specific case real property consideration of purchasing property within town limits I will call for a fivem minute recess and give all those in the gallery who don't want to be part of and can't be part of this wonderful close session and opportunity to leave. We are in recess. Thank you everybody. No, it's not.