Board of Town Commissioners - Regular Meeting
The Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners approved the Bel Air Downtown Alliance Main Street designation letter and discussed the town's Fourth of July celebrations. The meeting then moved into a closed session to discuss real property acquisition and legal matters.
About this meeting
- Government Body
- Board of Town Commissioners
- Meeting Type
- Board Of Town Commissioners
- Location
- Bel Air, MD
- Meeting Date
- July 7, 2026
Published excerpts
Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.
24 sections (from 27 segments)
Good afternoon. It is July 7th. It's 6 p.m. and the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners Town Hall meeting is now in session. First, we'll start with the role. Commissioner Foss?
And I'm here as well. Is Commissioner Taylor on the phone? Yes. He's he's calling in. He is I'm sorry, I apparently for apparently we forgot to tell you that. We'll wait a minute while we get Commissioner Taylor in. Yes, sir. Mr. Chismore did call in he thought the meeting was at seven so he will be here as soon as he is is able and Commissioner Taylor will be participating by phone so we will have we have a quorum even without the two of them. all right so we do have commissioner taylor here by phone and we are going to now proceed to the second item on our agenda which is the invocation comm
Heavenly Father, we are grateful to be celebrating 250 years of independence, living in the greatest country the world has ever seen. We ask that you continue to bless our nation and the town of Bel Air. In your name we pray, amen.
Amen. All right, if everyone will please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. Next is the approval of the agenda. May I have a motion, Commissioner Hanley? And do I have a second? Commissioner Foss? Second. All right. Any discussion of the agenda this evening? We only have one item of new business and public and commissioner's comments, and then we'll be in closed session. Any discussion? All right. Mr. Krantz, we're ready for the vote.
The first item under new business and the only item under new business this evening is the Bel Air Downtown Alliance Main Street designation letter approval. May I have a motion, Commissioner Hanley?
Madam Chair, I move that the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Main Street Maryland Program Agreement for designated communities with the Bel Air Downtown Alliance Incorporated be approved by the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners.
Thank you, Commissioner Hanley. Do I have a second? Thank you, Commissioner Foss. And Angela, did you want to speak to this? I know we sign this, I think it's annually.
And as I recall, the Downtown Alliance has to have a governmental partner to participate in this program with the state of Maryland. That is correct, yes. And that's the reason that we are signing this letter, just to be sort of their sponsor.
All right. Thank you. Any questions for Angela? All right.
Thank you. And now we are at the point of this evening where we entertain public comments. And you can comment on anything, whether it was on this evening's agenda or not. Anyone interested? Anything to say? Yes, we do have to vote to approve that. And first, are there any public comments on the Baylor Downtown Alliance Main Street designation? Okay. In that case, Mr. Krantz, we are ready.
All right. Any comments from the members of the public that we have here this evening? No? All right. Commissioner's comments. I'm going to start. I was really impressed with the parade, as always, but in the light of all the heat that we had, it was so hot. Everybody performed beautifully. A special thank you to Public Works, who was out there working hard in the heat, as well as the police department and all the members working hard in the heat with all that heavy equipment on is no fun job. And also thank you to all the other agencies. I know I saw Maryland State Police and Howard a grace I
Thank you to everybody that helped out on our parade day. Commissioner's comments. Commissioner Hanley? And I wanted to say a great big thank you to Commissioner Hanley for his fine job with his artistic eye and his green thumb apparently that I didn't know he had for putting all the flowers in the fountain. It looked very patriotic and was much improved from, I know we have problems with the fountain, it's just gotta take a little time to get it fixed and up and running, but it really looked great for the parade, so thank you.
Yep, happy to make it look pretty. I do have to give a shout out to Delegate Archon. She was the one who sent me the video and said, here's what you guys need to do to make this look good. So yeah, but 4th of July, it was awesome. Shout out to all our town employees, police, public works. It was really hot, but I was surprised at how many people still did show up. I mean, everybody was huddling to the shaded areas. That's where everybody was hanging out, but it was a good day.
Yes, thanks again. Chief and everyone in the Independence Day Committee did a phenomenal job. And Jones, those were awesome Jeeps. I really enjoyed being in my first parade this year, Independence Day parade. I've been in the winter one before. Also, my mother is so impressed with the fountain, she said it looks like a giant urn. She goes, this is gorgeous, so great job on that. Also wanted to give a big congratulations to Wake Robert Foss, who won the watermelon eating contest. He's six years old, so he came really close last year, but he won it this year, so that was really exciting.
I've neglected to mention that Maggie Guy, my 11-year-old granddaughter, was third in the Uncle Sam Says for the 11 to 14 division, and she's 11 and thought it was really tough because she was competing against much older kids. Oh, that's no joke. She came in third, so I'm really proud of her. So they had a great time. They had a great time eating watermelon, doing Uncle Sam Says, the whole thing. And they volunteered. They were short some banner carriers. So two of Maggie and her older brother, who's close to 14, SJ, were pressed into service. They were voluntold to carry a banner, and they c
I also wanted to thank the police department for their great, I don't even want to say great work, phenomenal work on catching the, I don't know, should I say alleged, yeah, forget it, yes. Thank you so much for that, how you did that. That's amazing how that was done, so that was exciting.
48 hours from the incident to an arrest yes amazing that is just phenomenal police work you're right you had the right word commissioner taylor you're on the phone is there anything you want to share jake are you interested in any commissioner comment sure i had a particularly excellent fourth of july and i'll save that for
our next in-person meeting when I'm there, but I would like to thank Chief Moore for all that he did to make 4th of July so special for the town of Bel Air.
Well, I think everybody, you know, the activities were great. Starting off with the morning flag raising at 645. I found out that there are two 645s in one day. So that was a good thing. You know, not normally. It's not my time of day usually, since, since I'm retired or whatever. So it's, it was good. And you know, everybody did a great job. I mean, Commissioner
And you know, both DPW, the police department did a great job with with the town and street seepers, which street sweeper was out early Sunday morning. And he was doing his job and cleaning up the town. And it looked great as usual. So thanks to you guys for all that and the police department for all their work and the overtime work that everybody did. That's a big day for us. It's a lot of overtime. And I know the families don't get to spend time with the workers' families. The workers don't get to spend time with their families. But, you know, it's great activity for them. So I want to thank all of them for that. So anyway.
Anyone else have anything, any more comments? All right, in that case, may I have a motion to move into closed session?
Yes, Madam Chair, I move that we move into closed session.
Okay, this portion of the meeting will be closed under the provisions of the Maryland Open Meetings Act General Provisions, Article 3-305, B3, 7, and 8. Topics of discussion. To consider the acquisition of real property for a public purpose and matters directly related thereto. to consult with counsel to obtain legal advice regarding the Hartford County Circuit Court case number C-12-CV-26-000281, Town of Bel Air, Maryland, versus 121 South Bond Street, LLC. to consult with legal, to obtain legal device, I mean to consult with counsel to obtain legal device regarding the Hartford Circuit Court
All right. So we are going to move into closed session. We will not be conducting any further public business. We will merely be adjourning after our closed session. So this will be the conclusion of our meeting that is public. Second. I'm sorry. Did I get a second?
These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.