Town Council - Regular Meeting

minutes. Second it. All in favor? I opposed. Okay, it carries. And also the February 10th, 2026 minutes. I'll make a motion that we accept the minutes from February or the February 2026 minutes. I'll second that. All in favor? I I opposed. Okay, that carries. Uh the receipt of the February 2026 treasures report. I'll make a motion we receive the February 2026 treasures report. I'll second that. All in favor? I opposed. And one last one, the March 2026 check register. I'll make a motion that we receive the March 2026 check register. I'll second.

All in favor? I opposed. Okay, carries. Thank you very much. Okay, I'm going to move on to the mayor's report first. Um, I'm going to do the oath of office for Sarah Salter and Ben Hamilton. If we could start with that, get that. So, if you guys Oh, okay. Raise your right hand. I Sarah,

you affirm that you will support the Constitution of the United States and that you will be faithful and will bear true allegiance to the state of Maryland and will support the Constitution and laws thereof and that you will to the best of your skill and judgment diligently and faithfully without partiality or prejudice exeute the office of Manchester Parks Foundation Board according to the Constitution of the State. I do. Congratulations.

Thank you. back to Kelly. Thank you. Okay. So, Ben is not here, so we will move on past that. Okay. Couple things. Um, tonight we'll have F FY27 budget work session will be held after the meeting for our, I believe, fourth or fifth meeting. So, that's coming along. Budget's doing well. Water bills are due Thursday, April 30th. The town has a new payment processing vendor. And then now, they now offer e checks to pay your water and sewer bill. Um, hydro flushing is April 21st and 22nd starting at 9:00 p.m. So, be aware that the next morning or later that evening, you probably will see some brown water, but it will clear up. The Charlotte Bollet Memorial Scholarship due by May 1st. Don't forget to pick up your application at Manchester Valley High School guidance office or the town hall or on our website. Um, that's a nice little scholarship there. And the MML scholarship is due by April 24th. That's the Maryland Municipal League. The Carol County chapter of the Maryland Municipal League offers three $1,000 scholarships. Again, you can go to our website for that. Yard waste pickup is Wednesdays. Huge trash will start April 8th and continue through December 16th. Yard waste consists of the grass clippings. We know about that. Branches must be bar um bundled in armful loads. Can't be mixed with mulch, dirt, any other kind of refues. no pet waste and no plastic bags. So, please follow that or they won't pick it up. Bulk trash pickup is April 15th tomorrow. You will first call Hughes um and let them know and they're very very good about that. Brush pickup is April 16th. Remember that your pile can exceed 4 feet in height, 4 feet in width, and 8 in 8 ft in length. Each property will receive one pickup which will be April 16th. Pavilion rentals will be available to rent beginning April 18th.

Dog owners, please keep your dogs on a leash, some kind of cord or whatever so they're not wandering loose. And please make sure you pick up after your dog. Uh paint cans. I know I go through this every month, but um if they if you place cans with undried paint in it, they will not they will not take that. Um the Hel's Wish Foundation dedication playground dedication. We're going to hold the grand opening and dedication of the Hel's Wish playground on Saturday, May 2nd at noon. Anybody who wants to attend, it'll be a nice gathering. and the military banner program town. We're grateful for the service and sacrifice of the men and women who protect our country. Active duty military members, veterans, and families of fallen service members who have lived in Manchester or Limeborough are invited to apply. So, please find the application online or stop by the office. We'd love to um recognize anyone who's eligible for that. Um there'll be some road repairs at White White Pine Paving. We'll be working on Grafton Street and Mindy Drive for the next two weeks. So remember that as you're making your travels. Um I have a few quick things that I want to touch on. Um which may not everyone may not love, but I'm going to clear the air real quick so that there's no more questions or concerns or they can have questions. But let's clear the air so there's no concerns or chatter on Facebook that I see all for weeks. Um so we took our skate park and we took it down. Um there it was a big expense every year which we are all about doing something with the kids but after reports from the police and several people that go back there. There are some people that do it do use it. However, the insurance was several thousand dollar a year. It was beyond repair. We had it inspected and it had to be taken down and would have to be replaced. So we chose and there was an injury which I can't get into but it didn't have to do with skateboarding. So everybody's online saying well everybody falls on a skateboard. It wasn't that. So, um, we were advised that best thing to do would be to take down the skatep

park and we're going to put something else in that area. It's already paved or concrete paved, um, paved. So, we'd like to do something else there, which hopefully we're talking about something that's also going to be kid-friendly, which would be wonderful. Um, that everybody could use. So, I've been reading a lot of Facebook comments and Instagram, and I'll be very honest with you, it's disheartening. Um, a lot of people are making statements that have no idea what they're talking about. Um, the council and I sat for a while and discussed this and we decided this was the best route to take. And when I say that we take everything into consideration and really put a lot of heart into the decisions we make, we do. So for everybody that has all their Facebook comments, you're welcome to put them, but I'd appreciate you showing at the meeting. Call us up, make your, you know, come here, say what you have to say, or get involved. Like, get involved. If you're not going to get involved, then you can make your comments, but I appreciate you don't get on Facebook because I I I can't respond to you, you know, um, and tell you what really happened. So, just ask. I'm happy to tell you what happened and why we're doing it. We're doing what we can for the town. We're trying to make the best decisions fiscally. You know, we run a very, very, very lean budget, which Kelly has worked really hard on as well as everybody else here to balance our budget. We don't have the option to have $1.3 billion dollar in deficit. It's not our option. We don't even have a budget anywhere near there. So, that's one thing. I appreciate everybody who calls with their concerns and says, "Hey, Melinda," or "Hey, mayor, you know, um, I know you took down skateboard. Can you tell me why?" Yeah, I'll be I'm happy to tell you why. Just ask me, you know. Um, so that's one thing. Also, the wastewater treatment plant. I'm going to just touch on it and I'll let Matt handle everything else, but we're getting a lot of complaints about the smell of the wastewater treatment plant. I received a call from two farmers last week that said, "I'm hearing about the

wastewater treatment plant, but we just fertilized the fields with the chickens with the chicken manure. So, if you smell ammonia, that's us." And I said, "Okay, we know. We know." So, some of the complaints I think maybe people aren't aware. I mean, I don't want to say people aren't aware maybe of the difference. The wastewater treatment plant does have a smell to it. That's that's not a secret. Unfortunately, it's right near the school. So, unfortunately, when you're outside, sometimes you do smell it. As all of you know, or most of you know, we are into a project of working on our wastewater treatment plant and to the tune of 56 million right now that we are working with engineers and everybody to get the price down to do what we need to do. So, the town still keeps all of their amenities and it works well. Unfortunately, with this process, there are some things we have to deal with until we can get that done. Um, I don't want to see us put $5 million into a treatment plant that we're going to be redoing in hopefully two years. Let's hope. Um, we've been working on it for years and it's just coming down to the point now that it does need some work and we are working to get done and make the best repairs we can without spending a lot of money. So, I appreciate everybody bearing with us and having the patience that you can. I know it's not the best. I don't love it either. I live right here, too, but we're doing the best we can. So, you know, I I appreciate everybody's patience. Um, if any, like I said, anybody that wants to get involved, not as far as the wastewater treatment plant. You don't want to be involved in that. It's a big project. But as far as, you know, things around town and things that you think can better it, show up at the meeting. I'm happy to listen to you. Um, and I'll explain, you know, why we do the things we do, and maybe it would be a better understanding that a lot of people in town would understand why we do the things we do. Um, a lot of the calls I receive were from Westminster, Hamstead, things like that. And I'm happy that they come here and use our parks, but they don't pay the taxes like everybody here does and has to take care of the fees and the things that we're paying for them. So, I love everybody coming

here from all over Carol County, but I think there's a misconception that our parks here are paid for by the county. They are not. They're paid by for by us, you guys, all of us here. So, um I appreciate everybody's understanding. We're going to do something wonderful with that spot. We're working on some ideas and if you have any, bring them to us. We'd love to hear them. So, thank you and thank you for listening to me. Okay. Yeah. Oh, where? Okay. Mr. Mr. Hamilton, you want to get sworn in real quick so I don't have to hold you? Okay. Right here. We're going to stay right here. So, what I will do is I will say I repeat your name. I'll say what I have to say. I do. I will. And put your right hand up for me. I do. Or I will either.

Yes. I Ben Hamilton do affirm that you will support the Constitution of the United States and that you will be faithful and will bear true allegiance to the state of Maryland and will support the Constitution and laws thereof and that you will to the best of your skill and judgment diligently and faithfully without partiality or prejudice execute the office of Manchester Parks Foundation board member according to the constitution and laws of the state. I do. Congratulations. Will you take this? Thank you very much.

Thank you. Okay. Matt, town administrator and public works report. Okay. Good evening, mayor and council. Uh, couple things on the administrator's report for this evening. The BGE eco team is going to do a cleanup with Charlotte's Quest Nature Center on Earth Day, which will be April 22nd. I believe they're starting at 10 o'clock at the Nature Center. So, if you're available, want to stop in and help keep our beautiful nature center down there clean, uh, any help would much appreciated. On the wastewater treatment plant, this one's going to be a little bit longer this evening. Two meetings were held last month with MDE, our design engineers, uh, town personnel, state financing attorneys, and various meetings to discuss issues at the wastewater treatment plant uh, that were currently happening and to come up with a solution to those. And also, as the mayor talked about, how to reduce our potential cost of the new plant. Currently, the plant cost is roughly somewhere between 36 million for construction. And then by the time you add on the overhead profit, contingencies, and the other things that go along with a construction of that size, it pushes it towards the $56 million mark. So, the town is still currently working with the USDA to see what our funding availability is for that between grants and loans. Uh, we've also applied for some congressional funding and I hope to hear back next week if we've made the list and if we're moving forward through

them. Uh, I also would like to applaud our wastewater treatment operators uh for all the hard work they're doing to try and keep our plant running uh and try and alleviate the the odors and stuff that citizens are complaining about. Uh they have quite a task to do that. So, I'm going to step number skip number three for right now and we'll talk about that at the end here. Uh Manchester East Stormwater facility. I do not have an update at this time. The last update I had, they were still negotiating with the property owner on the purchase of that land. Uh Main Street trees and sidewalks got notification today that DNR has issued the tree removal permit. Uh our contractor also came in to see us today and advised us that they bid this project during the winter when they were slower with winter rates. And now that the foliage is on the trees, that changes uh that they also came back and said that the permit is mandating that they replace the trees that were cut down. We had put that in as we were going to replace the trees. Uh so we are working through the contractor right now to see if we can come to a resolution with both of these issues uh or if we will have to rebid the project. So I will have more at a later date on that. Uh the sidewalk or the crosswalk refurbishment project that I've been working with the state to try and get accomplished has made some progress. They were down there today and they painted a sample in front of the tattoo shop. Uh, and it looks like bricks. Now, I sent the pictures to the council for

their opinions. Uh, if the consensus is we like what has been done, they will work on getting the rest of materials and scheduling to complete all four of those crosswalks at the town square and also the ones down at 27 and 30. So, I think they look very nice what they've done. It's definitely an improvement from what is there currently. Uh, when they get finished, there will be no piano keys on that like is currently there that has been pulled up. So, that should be a nice uh improvement to the town square. The watershed action plan grant that we have for Westside Memorial Park. I don't have a whole lot to report on that this evening. uh the engineers from all the different agencies, state highway, county government, uh handover land, Papsco Valley Trout, they are all reviewing reports and studies to come up with solutions. Uh on the Hometown Heroes front, we'd like to try and see if we can get any more. Uh so if you have service members in your family, please feel free to still send us the the applications and the pictures. We would love to have them and we'd love to recognize their service. What we did have we have sent to the printer for the proofs and as soon as we get those back, the families will be able to review them and make sure they're happy with what we have and then we will get them ordered and hung around town. Uh our new website is progressing slowly uh but it is progressing. Jumping back to our POS project. So the project is progressing.

MDE is reviewing our funding application that we reapplied for the emerging emerging contaminants loan forgiveness. We will hear back about the list in early summer. and then the board down there makes their decision towards the end of the year as far as financial. So, uh, our design engineer has submitted a change order which I sent to you guys this afternoon. I'm not sure if you guys had a chance to read it or not. It encompasses uh mainly the two big things are the pipe work difference between relocating it and it was discussed that we would like to break the project into two parts. Have part one be a utility contractor to do the pipe work and then a second contractor to do the site work and building construction part of the project. So, that price came in for the change order at $220,000. And if you would like, I can I can pass this around if anybody wants to to look at it here this evening. So, uh, we also have gotten our latest round of POS testing completed and the numbers at Manchester Valley have escalated to the level where we have to make an action level. So, I still believe that that is the right path to do. Uh, so I'm not necessarily looking for a a motion this evening, but more of a discussion this evening. Uh, so does the council have any comments on that or my report in general? And I'll break there level. How did it do we have an explanation for the rise in this level?

What has changed? Yeah. So, two things. the they added a second bidding component because it's going to be two separate uh contracts. So there is a bidding component to changed it. There's also the No, I thought the PAS was worse. It got Oh. Oh, that level. Okay. Oh, that level. Yes, that level has increased to the uh above the trigger level and above the MCL. Do we have an explanation for that? We we do not have an explanation why. Has that ever happened before?

Yes. Our our test results do vary. Uh water hydraulically the water underground moves. Uh we are right next to the waterhed of Hampstead and our current waterershed connects to Hampstead too which is where we had the original high levels. So that water migrates underground through the different aquifers and and that's why your water chemistry changes. But as a specific pinpoint to say this is this is a root cause I I can't answer that. Okay. Thank you.

In regards to the change order um when we move the location which I feel was a good move and now with the levels going up at the Manchester Valley site uh it was a good move. So um I I'm all in favor of it. I really am. Okay. So, and and it'll save it'll save the operators time and uh chemicals and so on so forth. So, at at the end it will save the town money. Yes. And it'll give you a a better water quality uh with being able to blend your waters and the water chemistries that you have. Correct. Give you a better end product.

Yes. So that that change order was actually submitted to MDE when we reapplied for more loan forgiveness. So that that amount is in the paperwork for them to evaluate and and the state was on board when we told them we were thinking of doing the realignment to Manchester Valley. Correct. And they supported that. Correct. Yes. So, uh, coming back to the crosswalk refurbishment project, do you want a consensus of the council? Because I I looked at it and I thought it looked nice. I mean, you know,

I agree. I think it looks nicer. It's much brighter. What do you think, Chief? No, it looks good. Okay. Okay. Anything would look better.

I know you had I know how you felt about the last one. That's why I'm asking. And we all felt the same way. We've been trying. We we had just for a little background um our crosswalks need a lot of work and the state unfortunately handles fortunately or unfortunately handles it. So it took us a long time. They came in I guess it was a year a year year and a half ago and they decided that they were going to um repair them and the contractor that they hired came in on a Sunday evening at about 7:00. Didn't tell anybody they were coming. Had people running through it. It was awful. By Monday morning, it looked like a 5-year-old painted the crosswalk. So, obviously, we called them back out and they agreed that the cheapest bid was not the best bid and it was a problem. So, for the last year and a half, we've been dealing with the state and now we we have a good contact there. He's wonderful. And uh he's getting this taken care of. So, now we're going to have I can show you on my phone when we're done what it's going to look like, but it's like a brick red crosswalk and lined with the I don't know what you call

I call it the white iridescent. I don't know what you call them. Stripes at night that they light up. So, it's going to look a lot lot nicer and we're really trying to work on Main Street. So, that'll hopefully be a start. So, okay. Yeah. Uh I just kind of wanted a consensus of the council to make sure that they were good to proceed with the rest. So, it sounds like that's that's a positive. Uh

okay. Okay. So we also uh for this change order we we also have added that to the current next year's budget to see how that would fall and what that would look like. So, are there any other questions on the administrative report?

Okay, I will move over to the public works report. So, in front of you, you have last month's water and sewer numbers. Uh we've talked about the PAS, we talked about wastewater treatment. Uh we also have a meeting tomorrow scheduled with our design engineers and the state engineers reviewing the project. Uh the wastewater treatment plant influent channel pistrit the motor is in. The gearbox has been replaced and town staff are working on putting that back together. Uh they had it running. Last I heard they just needed to flush the chamber since it was offline for so long. The grit build up and they were going to do that this week. Uh at Howie Hills Water Station, we had a a failure out there two weeks ago. The soft starter failed for the motor and Swam Electric came down and troubleshoot that for us and they are working on getting that replaced. And they also found the well pump motor uh had failed. So they are waiting for the starter to get replaced and then they will work on the motor. Randall Alexander who handles our well will be handling that portion of it. And we are also doing uh an upgrade out there to eliminate single points of failure in the communication system and do some overall site improvements while they're there. Uh number six, water tower security. Uh with everything that's going on in the world uh currently and just infrastructure security in general, we are adding door alarms to all of our tanks. Uh that way if anybody opens the door, we will be notified.

Uh and Microte and town staff will be handling this project. uh Crossroads 2 roof replacement. It was budgeted for next year. We are going to do it in this year and have a contractor do it since our current maintenance tech has accepted the promotion to water superintendent as of July 1st and we'd like to congratulate him on that. uh for parks and maintenance. Uh then we have new bleachers back at the ball fields between C and D field overlooking uh D field. So plenty of spots to come watch the ball game and see the kids. uh on our stormwater inlet and pipe repair project. White pine construction has started that the week of a is starting at the week of April 20th and they will be in town for a couple weeks doing pipe replacements and inlet repairs. Uh back here at our beautiful Christmas tree park. The mulching is in progress. The bathrooms are now open uh during the day and all weekend. And pavilion rentals begin this weekend. They are $120 for the large pavilion and $90 for the small pavilion. And we are back at zero winter events. And we have one action item for tonight, which is the window replacements at the historical center. The current bid of $14,46120 from all four exteriors is the lowest bid. Uh the reason for the basically discrepancy between the next high lowest bidder was this company is offering us a winner discount and they are they continued to hold that till now. Uh so that is why the the price difference. So,

uh, Department of Public Works is recommending that we award the above project to all four exteriors in the amount of $14,461.20. I make a motion we replace 22 windows at the historical center using all four exteriors LLC from Hamstead, Maryland for a grand total of $14,461. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I I Okay. Okay. Okay. So, the one that

one final thing I have for this evening is I filled in for Councilman Nasler at the cable regulatory commission last week and the good news that I bring back tonight is Comcast is planning on opening a store in Westminster again. Yes. So, it'll be on Center Street, I believe, by the Wendy's there in that shopping center. So that is expected to open mid June which will be nice because currently you have to go to handover Owings Mills to do anything with their equipment. So that'll be good. Uh and now is there any questions on the public works report? When were the bathrooms opened? They were open Monday. Yesterday. Yes.

Okay. Because I heard that they weren't open on Sunday which now I figured that was the case. Yep. We uh we confirmed that that uh the parks open them up Monday and they will be open now. Okay. Great. To go. clarify weekends only. Yes, correct. Yeah. Yeah. So during the week they're weekend they're only open if pavilions are rental rented. Uh yeah, there's still portaots at the park and I think right now most of the weekends have rentals. So they should be open. Thank you. And that is all I have for my reports this evening.

Chief police report. We had zero part one crime. We handled the domestic couple and intervention calls. Uh traffic enforcement. They uh up the annual on that. We had 423 traffic uh citations and warnings. I can't say this enough. We got a big problem with our residents going through the stop signs. They just don't they don't care. Uh my officers are out there. We try to give majority warnings because it's it's our town residents. But we're hitting the point now where we're going to have to start giving citations because they're not even making attempt to stop. They just blow right through. We all see it. We all live in the neighborhoods. They're going through the intersections like they're not there. And the scary part this time of the year, we got kids out there playing ball. They're riding their bicycles. And the drivers just aren't paying attention. So, we're going to have to definitely start going from warnings to citations to hopefully get the point across. I don't know what else to do with that, but uh yeah, that's that's one of our and look, that's one of our biggest problems in town, which it's not a real big problem. I just wish we could get our town people to cooperate

and hopefully pay attention to the stop signs and speed. Um the uh overdoses across the county are definitely going in the right direction. Uh we've had zero heroin overdoses. Nine of the 40 were fentanyl. We have decreases across the board. Um you know, I look at Westminster, it's the it's the big city in Carroll County. They only have nine zero uh nine to date. Our two in Manchester were prescription drug related. A lot of the overdoses now are prescription meds or over-the-counter medication. Uh when we're looking at no heroin and low cocaine and low fentanyl, I got to give kudos to the uh drug enforcement efforts across the region. We've had significant cases where they've taken out cartels with drugs and guns and that all helps because that's who's bringing it here. So those uh recent cases I think definitely impact our small county as well. So hopefully that keeps up. It'll be nice to see that number get close to zero, but they're definitely dropping across the board.

Um and I ran out. That's it. Short and sweet. Told you, Jay. It's nothing like it used to be, man. Yep. That's it. Thank you. Okay. So we're going to just have a discussion on one of the ordinances and the other uh three we're just going to introduce and then we have a resolution. So um discussion of ordinance number 272 the snow and ice uh we spoke about this last time last meeting and it's just um saying basically the update from what I in layman's terms and Matt you can correct me if I'm wrong is that by at the end of a snowstorm by 6 pm the next day the sidewalks have to be cleared of snow and ice. I mean obviously to the best of your ability.

Is that correct? So that's the upgrade update on it. Um that's what we're um getting passed on if possible on the ordinance of 272 tonight.

I'm all in favor of this ordinance. Um I make a motion that we accept and enact ordinance number 272 as it refers to snow and ice. A second questions. All in favor? I opposed. So it carries. Ordinance 272 passes. Okay. Yes.

We have three that we're going to introduce. Uh one is ordinance 273 to maintain the current tax rate of 216. I don't think we're going to hear any complaints about that one. Happy to say we're not going to raise taxes again this year. So, um, if anybody has any questions on that, we can certainly we'll just, you know, we'll go through that and then next week we'll, I mean, next month, excuse me, we will take a vote. Public hearing.

Yeah. After the public hearing, which I don't think we'll hear too much out of that one. Um, also the introduction of ordinance 274 increasing the water rate of 446 per thousand from 4.62 to 5.08. Just so everybody understands, we're not doing it per unit. So, we're not increasing your unit. for everybody. It's going to be on your water usage. So the more water you use, they will be the people that will pay versus the people that don't use as much water. You're not going to see your unit rates go up just because you're a citizen. Okay? So obviously everybody's water rates going up, but it's going to go per how much you use. Okay? So again, not units, not the unit rate. Um also introduction to ordinance 275 increasing the sewer rate to 72 per thousand from 720 to 792. Also, that's the sewer rate. Unfortunately, with everything going on with the wastewater treatment plant, these are necessary and there's really not a way around it. Um, also the ordinance of 275. Uh, no, I'm sorry. We just did that one. Um, is that it? Do we have the one about the percentage in here or is that it's in that?

It's okay. It's in that actual Okay. The ordinances.

All right. And then um resolution number 02-2026 to support House Bill 1142 establishing the task force to modernize county and municipal revenue sources. Um we were asked to write an ordinance for this to um hopefully make some changes and help um modernize some things with you know the revenues. And if I can read it to you if you'd like me find that one. I don't want to misspeak on that one because I don't remember exact the wording. The town of Manchester provides essential frontline services to its residents, including public safety, infrastructure maintenance, and community planning, all of which rely on stable and diversified revenues. Municipal governments are facing unprecedented inflationary pressures um on construction materials, fuel, and labor alongside increasing statemandated costs, making for the need of modern and flexible revenue services more urgent than ever. Maryland municipalities are a primary driver of economic activity and tourism in the state. Yet, the current tax structure fails to reinvest a fair share of the wealth generated within municipal borders back into the local infrastructure and supports very little growth. Maryland is only one of six states that fails to share tax revenue from the sale of goods of services and local governments or allows those governments to collect it themselves, creating an over reliance on property taxes. The current local revenue structure in Maryland has not been comprehensively updated in decades and does not reflect the modern shift towards service and digitalbased economy. The proposed task force will provide a data-driven nonpartisan forum to study to study these inequities and recommend solutions that ensure municipal governments can remain fiscally resilient without overburdening local property owners. So, we are adopting a resolution for that. So, we have to take a I would assume we're taking a motion on that and then a vote.

Yeah, this is a resolution. So, I make a motion we accept resolution we we accept and adopt resolution number 022026 as it relates to municipal revenue sources. Do we have any a second or any questions? I'll second. Any questions? Hey, all in favor? I I

opposed. Okay, so that will pass as well. Um, unfortunately, we are getting so many state and I meant to say this a little bit when I was speaking on my mayor's rant. We are having so many things handed down to us between the police department and the municipality that it's almost impossible to keep up on what they want us to, you know, the the fees and the taxes. I'm sure everybody's seeing the fees coming through. I don't need to tell you, they don't come from us. They come from the state. And, you know, we were fortunate enough this year not to have to raise taxes again by the grace of God because some of the things that have come from Annapolis are unbelievable. And um we have to do it. We don't have a choice. So, just so everybody knows, we're working hard to try to make it the best we can in Manchester. Unfortunately, sometimes there are things we have to do that's not everybody doesn't love it, but we do the best we can to make it to be fiscally responsible for everybody. So, thank you. All right, through with those. We have a spraying request by uh Mr. Cult Ryder. Did everybody read over that? It's the same one we have every year for the last probably 20 years, but he always submits it. So, we have to

I'll make a motion we accept the spray request from Mr. Cider. I'll second that. All in favor? I. Great. All right. So, for the community, um I have someone that signed up and if there's anybody else, let me know. And I apologize. I think it says Sheron Kurt Steinbacher. Is that right? Okay. Could you come up to the microphone, please? Okay. Better explain. Okay. If you can see what I'm talking

Thank you. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

This is what we ask, right? That you come here and speak to us. Hilltop across the street from us there is homes have been approved to go in and they're they're down the hill. The the problem is is that when they got that property was approved to build the homes on it, it was overlooked how trucks are going to get the building equipment and the trusses down the hill to the homes. and it was an oversight and I understand there's so many things that go into planning a development but it's a lesson learned that when you're going to build homes you got to have a route to get the material the trusses down to them and we have been having repeated damage to our front yard because trucks are not able to make the turn into the uh road this uh Juni lane and it it's gotten really frustrating And we've we've contacted the police a couple three times and I know you probably don't remember my name, but when I give you my when I say Hill Truck Drive, the responses, oh, the construction. So, I know they're familiar with with the situation and they're lovely people and it's no complaints there. But it's just gotten to the point where our our yard is being constantly torn up and it's going to continue beyond when the homes are finished because you're still going to have moving vans try to make that turn, fire trucks, trucks pulling, uh forklifts behind them, landscaping things, uh uh travel trailers pulled on a by a truck. I mean, the problem's not going to go away. And what I've done,

you've got three diagrams in front of you, one, two, and three. And what this shows is the truck, the tractor trailer. And these are actual sizes. So, this was standard truck sizes. So, these are are very much true to size. And they have to back in these trucks, especially with the trusses because there's no place down there to turn around and come back out. And when they back it down there, these trusses are huge. I mean, they are far outside the size of the the width of the truck of the trailer, they start to lift it up, the truck pulls out, and it just slides down onto the ground, and then they have to to leave, and there's no place for them to turn around. So that's why this happens this way. And these diagrams, it shows the trucks trying to back in from one direction. And then on uh the second slide, it's just doing the same thing coming in from another direction. And you can see that they are they are in our yard and especially after it rains, it's torn up. The picture you see on the front, you'll see the straw on the side of the road. That damage was done in the winter and when there was a lot of water, rain, and I mean it really tore up the yard. And the the company that owned the truck agreed to pay for the repair and they did that and it was paid for and then the work was just completed because they couldn't repair it in the wintertime. And there's got to be a better way. We shouldn't have to have our yard torn up to get down to homes to be built. And the third slide is a suggested way to fix this, but it would require moving the a telephone pole, the guywire for the pole, and a fire hydrant. Those are

the things that are stopping the vehicle from being able to maneuver down the hill to the where their u property built is being built around. And again, I we've we've talked to people. We kind of stopped him when they were out there with the delivery to make sure they didn't get into the yard. Some folks are pretty decent about it. Another one said he was going to beat up my husband. He was just trying to do his job. And you know, it it can get ugly and we're not I just I got to the point I don't know what else to do. So I thought, okay, I'm going to come and ask for help. That proposal to fix it is it's showing where the right is that developer actually has rightway as far on the other side of decided he actually to put in the lane that's there. So there's plenty of plenty of real estate to work in a wider lane. So you're saying so I understand I want to make sure I understand correctly forgetting about right this minute where you're talking about moving things

on the right side on the left side when I'm looking at the picture that's where you're saying he has all the all the land over there I don't know what you mean by just by the picture I'm looking at okay that is on the west side of the telephone as you're looking at it from our yard there's as much right away you come up here because it's recorded and we can hear you. Sorry. Thank you. Sorry. That's okay. There's as much sight on the other side of the telephone pole and that's what that second uh Hold it up. Maybe that's what this represents. There's actually a right of way on this side of the telephone pole. The existing pole is kind of right in the middle.

Okay. Of that suggestion. I think so. And it was explained to me that every house that's built has to have an access rightway of their own coming up to Hilltop Drive. So that that's why there's so much right away there, but they only used one path when they started building those houses. And it's it's just not wide enough for the kind of traffic they're getting in there with the the long trucks and trailers. Is it one builder building all the homes or I'm not sure. No, it is not. It is not. It's one person bought the property but different contractors are building on it.

Is it Is it have four homes? How many? There's two there now. I don't know. I think it's going to be four. Four. Four or five. I think so. You're saying each person that bought the property can hire their own builder because normally they do like one big builder. They're not. They all have different builders. They have different builders. I think there's been at least two different builders on the two houses that have been built so far. Yeah, definitely. I don't know if any of those builders will build the other houses or not, but there's a sign out there now. I don't recall who the

So, who who does one builder own the land and they're allowing it to or do you know? Well, when I talked to I' I've actually walked down and talked to uh the builder that built the first house and um he he tried to say that it was the developer that laid out the roads and all that and he had no and the builders have nothing to do with that, I guess. Do we know anything about that on zoning or anything? And I don't even know the name of the developer. I No, but I can find out. I might. Okay. I do know for a fact that at one time a Mr. Harold Doug Harrell. Okay.

That's the name I have as is the developer. Okay. He is the developer. Okay. Yes. I don't I didn't know whether he had sold that, but he owned the property. I didn't know whether he sold it off to a developer, but he is the acting developer. I think so. As of September, last September, he was the developer. that could have changed in the that's that's how far back this problem has gone but I've kept a log of events where police had to been we had to call the police and there's been quite a few that we just haven't but it it just spoken to

Mr. Harrell. Uh, no, I did not personally, but uh, Lieutenant Ron Garner did. I'm sorry, Corporal Ron Garner. Uh, Maryland police, he's code enforcement, and he was the first to come out and help us, talk to us, and he did everything he could, but he wasn't able to solve it. Right. And I'm not blaming him. I realize there's a lot of, there's only so many things he can do, and that, right? You know, what were we going to say?

Developer versus builder. It can get kind of I recall correctly, Ron and Michelle were trying to work with everybody involved and they're exactly right. So, the land owner is selling the individual lots. I think there's multiple builders coming in. So, each time that builder comes in, they go through that problem because the road is actually like a driveway. So, should the land I mean, I'm asking because I'm not a development or a contractor or anything like that. Is that something that the developer should be handling? I don't know. At the end of the day, the developer is responsible. He's the responsible person because he's selling the lots off and the builder is just building the lots. Um

I mean, I understand if there was one builder, we could kind of say, okay, well, between the two of them, but if there's they're selling if the um person that owns them is selling to everybody, they can obviously it's not like Manchester Farms, they had one builder, you know? Right. Right. Um, I know Michelle's got some detailed notes on it. And I believe, not 100%, but I think uh he's passing the buck. He's passing. There's nobody to pass it to. It's kind of like here, once you pass it to me, where else does it go? You know what I mean? Yep. But in total defense of them, it's ridiculous. So, the way it's Can we try to find out anything we can from Michelle and um now that we know? Yeah, I'll follow up with Michelle and Ronda.

Still the owner and then I don't know where we go from there. Does anybody have a suggestion or how that would work? Well, you know, I would approach it talking to the to the owner developer. You know, your your builders are causing a hardship to the neighboring properties and this isn't working out. And you know, it may be that uh deliver I'm just saying this. It may be that your delivery trucks will have to offload on Hilltop and and take the materials back to the site. Sometimes they do that after, you know, we intervene, but as far as a 40ft roofing trust goes, unless they want to stick build them on site, right?

Yeah. That'sough there's no humanly possible way for them to have those delivered. Exactly. With anything but a tractor trailer. That's correct. That's correct. But ultimately it's uh it's up to the uh owner developer. It's it's his problem. Yeah. You know, and he's causing a hardship to the to the neighboring properties. So I I have one other concern. U even after all the houses are built, if there's two more houses built down there, you're going to have fire trucks. You're going to have neighbors who live down there with camping trailers, boats. Mhm. Uh anytime a a fairly large truck from 84 Lumber or Lowe's,

if it's of any length at all, they have trouble. They all try to back down because they know they can't get down there and turn around and and they want the the loading door towards where they're offloading and they they can't turn around down there. So, some of the good drivers, they'll do three, five, and seven point turns and and and and they'll they'll get that truck in there, right? But some drivers don't care, and some drivers just don't have the skill, right? So, uh Matt, one other thing to check, make sure that this entrance met the requirements needed. That's what I was thinking. Okay. U make sure the width is correct. And you know,

you might be able to get some information from Councilman Cooney because right, you might have some of the information or Yeah, we can bring up PNZ. Yeah, we can we can ask PNZ. We should be meeting with them next week. And another thing, this is a use and common driveway. I understand. Correct. Some use in common driveways. There were pulloffs and turnarounds proposed. So, check the plans and make sure that they didn't shortcut something on this. Okay. So next week what they're saying you probably know is the planning and zoning meeting. Councilman Cooney is on planning and zoning and that's our town administrator. So between the two of them they'll see what they can find out for you and then you could leave your information before you leave tonight with Matt if that's okay and he can at least let you know what we found out.

We meet we meet next Tuesday at 7 o' same time. Tuesday at 7. You meet in this room this room. Okay. So we will do what we can. Obviously, we're not we can't make any promises, but we will see what we can do to, you know, hopefully they've done everything they're supposed to do because if they haven't, like Councilman Miller mentioned, that could be another issue. So, yeah, it just this can't continue. It's we know it can't this can't be right. Well, we're going to find out on Tuesday. That's and and if someone made a mistake and just didn't take that in consideration when they were looking at approving that building site, that happens, right? Let's try to figure it out. Yeah.

Yeah. I I was a mechanical engineer and I did project planning and more than one time because I didn't think something through far enough. A lot of work had to be undone. Everybody makes mistakes. You know, it's not I'm not saying they did. I'm just saying everybody makes mistakes. So, it's sometimes impossible to anticipate everything you're going to run into. But they'll take a look on Tuesday and see what we can find out. And Chief H, thank you for saying that we're in the right. That makes me feel a whole lot better. I don't think anybody doubts that. It's just a matter of how to how to fix how to make it right. That's what we need help with. Okay. All right. Thank you for coming in. I appreciate that. Appreciate it. Ridiculous. Is there anybody else from the community that wanted to speak?

Okay. So, Councilman Narrod, I think you said everything regarding the state uh session's over. I think we're thankful for that in some ways. Um and uh you have an election coming up uh for a primary. So everything connects the state, the mun municipalities, and even what we just got in that resolution. So um everybody just continue to communicate if in your neighborhoods if uh you have a party, please let everybody know and don't block things. Correct. Elections are June 23rd. Am I correct? June 23rd. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Set up. Councilman Miller,

uh I've been into work with Matt on capital projects and Kelly on the uh budget and the overview of the audit. Uh, I do have a few items. I'm very impressed with the code enforcement report. That impresses me. Ron is doing an excellent job and I kudos to him. Uh, also I want to remind everyone and maybe we can get it on our website and cable TV. Uh, I announced this a couple months ago in conjunction with America 250. Uh, Judge Joe Getty will be giving a history of Manchester on June the 18th at 7:30 here at town hall. And also, Dutch Corner Restaurant will be open at 5:00 p. p.m. for dinner before uh, Judge Getty's talk on the history of Manchester. So,

is that free to anybody? Yes, free. Yeah. Well, the meal, not the meal, but I mean here. Yes. What time does it start? What did you say? Uh the meal begins at 5:00 p.m. Dutch Corner and uh the uh uh speak is uh at 7:30. Okay. And maybe we can get something on cable and the website. Can we ask somebody to put that on our Facebook and the website? Okay, perfect. That's it. Thank you. Okay, Councilwoman Miller is not here this week. Council Michel, the only thing is what Matt had already mentioned regarding the nature center BGE eco team is partnering with the town to do cleanup day on April 22nd. Thank you. Councilman Kuno

Plan and zoning did not have an official meeting last month. We did have a work session with the member the representatives from Patriots Overlook. Uh still several questions are outstanding as far as some of the the work they're doing back there. So we sent them back with some more stuff to look at and wait to hear back from them. That's it. Perfect. Thank you. Primary is June 23rd. General's November 3rd. So, just want to be sure. Emma, it's your turn.

I'll keep things a little brief tonight. Um, don't have much, but um, sorry if I look a little frazzled. I came straight from rehearsal for Matilda the Musical, which opens this Friday and Saturday at 7 o'clock on this Friday and Saturday. And then there's also a 1:00 show on Saturday. And we also have shows on the 24th and 25th. And so that's next Friday and Saturday. All of our actors are very, very hard at work for that. Um, it's going great. Speaking of that, or sorry, tickets are $12 online and $15 at the door. So, if you come in day of or you make a last minute decision to come see the show, $15, but $12 if you pre-order and pick your seats ahead of time. Um, along with that, we are collecting gently used books for a book sale because we're doing Matilda, so very much involved in like books and the magic of knowledge and all of that. And those can be dropped off at the North Carol branch of the public library. Or there's a drop off tomorrow at the school from 4 to 6 o'clock. So any new or used books that you would like to donate, they have to be somewhat school appropriate, but kids or adult books, we're taking everything. On May 13th, Manchester Valley High School is hosting their first ever talent show. Um, it's hosted by the BSU, so the Black Student Union, and there's going to be cash prizes for the student winners. I'm not sure about time for that, but the meetings on or the um next town meeting is the 12th. So, right.

Yes. So, then I'll have more information by then. Um on the 10th, uh Manchester Valley High School boys track placed second at their invite in Hershey and they had students placing first and second in the 200 and first and second in the 1600. Prom tickets go on sale next week for um the event and that's May 9th and that's going to be at the Gettysburg Windham which that's from 7 to 10 and that's going to be a lot of fun. Can I ask how much prom tickets are now? I'm curious. Uh, so our prom tickets are $50. Um, but they're doing an early bird sale, so if you buy it like the first couple days of next week, they're only 40.

Oh, that's good. I thought it was a lot less, but that's fundraising obviously. Yeah. Next year, next year prom tickets are going to be a little more expensive, but that's okay. This year they're pretty low. Yeah.

Um, the performing arts boosters are hosting a flea market on May 2nd. Um, if you're interested in selling any of your old stuff, you can buy a spot for $20. And there's also a baseball game that day. And so there'll be a lot of foot traffic if you want to get rid of some stuff. Um, troop 7825, which is our school's international thesian society troop. If you didn't know, we made it to um, nationals. We qualified to attend nationals in Indiana this summer. And so we're doing a lot of fundraising for that. We hit our $10,000 goal. our original $10,000 goal and that was solely on our GoFundMe, which is incredible. Um, but we're not done fundraising yet because that covered the students that couldn't afford to go. Now we have 19 other students that are still paying $2,000 a piece to attend. We had our cabaret for that a couple weeks ago. Um, and it was very successful. We we raised over $1,600 in one night. Um, and so that was a lot of fun. and I was in charge of organizing that. So, I'm very proud of that. Um, but we are hosting a benefit performance on May 3rd at the Carol Arts Center. Um, I am almost positive tickets are $10 and that's at the door. Um, Carol Arts Center in Westminster if you're not familiar, but um, we're going to be doing a one night only performance of our award-winning show, The Price. Um, and it's for really it's in honor of Mother's Day because it's a show about a mother and about a mother's love. And so we wanted to do something that ties in a little with the holiday. And so that's definitely going to be great. And tomorrow, um, tennis, baseball, and softball all have games against FSK. And that's all I have for tonight.

Thank you very much. Don't forget about, you know, our our um Black Friday, you know, singing. I'm I'm working on getting everyone together. That's my job to remind every month we have time. And one more thing, we have a Pippy fundraiser um joined with the fire department on I think that's May 30th. Let me check my calendar on May 30th. And that's a Saturday. And so the pre-order link for that will be coming out soon. We're selling pit beef, pit turkey, and pit ham. Nice. And French fries. That's all. Thank you very much. Okay. So, just a reminder, Haley's Wish Playground dedication is Saturday, May 2nd. Who? Anybody? At 11:30.

Can I make one announcement? So, um I just wanted to say as she's talking about all the things that are happening with the school, um we I'd like to let everyone know that there is a special granddaughter, Addison Meyer, who got athlete of the week. um their team has beaten the um current 4A state champion Broadneck. They beat the current 3A champions, Merit Ridge, and they just beat um Broadneck. And so they are they're on a roll. She's on a tear, and I'm excited about it. And I don't think she got it from her grandmother. Everybody know it's Chief's granddaughter, but we do know that she got all of her athletic ability from her grandmother. But we do but we still give him recognition. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. The criminals aren't getting away. She's fun to watch.

I'm just kidding. She just beat South Carol too. 15 to five. Yeah, she's amaz tonight. Good. So, she's amazing. Um, so the Haley's Wish, don't forget about that. Also, the town council meeting on Tuesday, May 12th. So, can we have a motion to adjurnn? Motion. I make a motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I I. Great. Thank you. And don't forget, we're standing after for budget meeting.