Town Council - Regular Meeting

The date is January 5th. If you would please stand for the pledge of allegiance [snorts] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation and justice for all. All right, we do not have any presentations this evening for the agenda, so we're going to go right into public comment. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak this evening?

Okay. Uh about two minutes each, uh if that's okay. Um I also know that we have a couple I know Sheriff Dwise is here and assistant state attorney, uh Mr. Cver. I'll have you guys come up during the speaking portion of if you don't mind. It won't limit the time to two minutes. Um [laughter] uh Mr. Marks, if you would come on up and please when you come up, please state your name and address uh for the record. Thank you. [sighs]

All right. Good evening everybody. My name is Joshua Marks, 1211 Konis Stooga Court, Mount Air, Maryland. I want to thank everybody here and the council members for allowing the efforts to bring the air siren resolution tonight. Uh, and I want to thank the town, the county, and state leadership relating to the proposed air sirens. I've been very vocal and publicly written about the sirens, adding an additional tier of safety of public health, safety, welfare notification since the cell phone notifications don't reach many areas in town. [clears throat] A lot of effort went into bringing this matter to fruition. The tireless efforts of the inclement weather task force should be evident. And please don't ignore the very factual material they have they're going to present to you and recognize the business entities and constituent written expressions supporting the initiative. I understand there are other neighboring towns looking at siren initiatives as well as a result of what happened here in July. Laurian a major presence here in town center wrote a letter of support we that I elicited and I want to quote it. Our facility cares for elderly adults and uh medically fragile individuals who are especially vulnerable to severe weather events. A reliable, easily heard alert mechanism would give us extra minutes to enact emergency procs that would ensure our residents safety. Current warning methods such as cell phone alerts and word of mouth warnings of approaching storms cannot rapidly address conditions may not reach all staff, visitors, and residents. An air siren system would benefit the entire Mount Erie community. Businesses could pause outdoor operations. Schools could implement lockdown procedures. And families would immediately know that they should seek shelter. For these reasons, I urge your office and town council to prioriti prioritize this project and take all

necessary steps to publicize the importance of installing an air siren system. The investment in the siren installation, maintenance, and testing is sure to pay dividends uh in lives protected, property preserve, and peace of mind for every Mount Erie resident. And that letter is here. I think you guys all have it. Um and that was signed by Lewis Grimmel, senior of CEO of Laurian Healthcare. Um there are many entities that support this thing. uh my friend behind me, Carol County Sheriff Jim Dwise, uh Senator Justin Reedi, District 4 Mike Giran, even support from the M uh the Maryland State Emergency Services and Carol County Emergency System officials. Just want to add, as Theodore Roosevelt famously stated, in any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. This is that defining moment, guys, for the public health health, safety, and welfare of the town constituents. I'm going to ask you guys tonight to pass that resolution, please. And if we have any shortfall in funding, I am available to help fundra for that thing. You guys have no idea what I do with the state. Uh there are some people that do know what I do. Um I have not uh indifferent to raising money for a cause that will benefit this town and the residents. And I thank you guys for letting me speak.

Mr. Evans.

Good evening. Wayne Evans, 16473 Old Frederick Road, Mount Ary. Tonight I'm representing Historical Society of Mount Airy. And it's going to be my pleasure to officially announce the five individuals who will be inducted into the Mount Airy Hall of Fame, class of 2025. It is significant honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. These inductees are being recognized for their body of work over many years. Indeed, some of these folks have committed years, sometimes lifetimes of their time and service to our community. Many have served on town commissions, some as town council members. Others have committed timeless hours to service clubs, boards of directors for nonprofits, veterans posts, scouting, teaching, and community service groups. These folks have been nominated. Most of these people this year, the nominations were multiple. Um they had been nominated by numerous different or a few different people and the they didn't the other people didn't know they were actually nominating the same people. So um this is this is a distinguished list here tonight. Um committee made up of historical society members reviewed the nominations on their own and then met to determine the five recipients. Those nominated but not chosen will have their names held over over for consideration in in uh subsequent years. Our inductees in alphabetical order this year. First is Martha Edmonston. Martha has served many years with the Kuanas Club of Mount Aery. She served on boards of directors of the American Legion Auxiliary, the Manary Volunteer Fire Department auxiliary, the Manary Disaster Relief Fund, the 55 plus club, and Martha joins a significant other Kanians that are that are in the Hall of Fame. Now, our second inductee is Palmer Grody. Palmer retired as Mountaineer's resident trooper for many years of service. Palmer stayed involved with the town still and still hosts Shop with a Cop

every Christmas for the children. Our third is Mark Moxley. Mark worked for the town of Mount area and retired after many years. He was a business owner in town and also served on numerous town commissions. Albert Schmidt. Albert is a true born and raised Mount Eerie guy. He is a Vietnam veteran Army. Albert has dedicated almost 60 years of service to the American Legion Gold Star Post 191 here in Mount Erie. Over those years, Albert has held about every position on the board of directors at the post and has served as a Maryland state level as well. He served as the commander of the state of Maryland Legion posts. The American Legion not only serves the mounting community, it also focus on veterans affairs and veterans welfare. Our final is Dick Wiltshire. Dick is a longtime member of the Rotary Rotary Club of Mount. He's held many positions on the board of directors as well as a club president. He has chaired many committees as such as the Mount Mile, Let's Talk Trash Day, the Mount Airy Duck Race in conjunction with the Mount Air Volunteer Fire Company. To say he is involved is an understatement. Dick joins many other Rotarians in the Hall of Fame. Any questions? Oh, okay. Let me go over that. Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony will be held on March 17th at St. Patty's Day. So, green attire is optional at the American Legion Hall. Tickets will go on sale at the end of January and it'll be sold at the Blossom and Basket Boutique um sometime around the end of January, beginning of February. Well, we always pack the full house, so if you're if you'd like to go, please get your tickets early. Love to see some council members there this year.

Very welld deserved.

Thank you. Congratulations to those five individuals. Uh who's next? Yes, sir. Good evening, mayor, council president, council members. My name is Dwayne Cordry, 2516 Kings Forest Trail here in Mount Ary. I'm here in regards to the proposed Warfield property annex for multifacil uh multi-port complex. soon in the coming months. I know that the planning commission will be coming to you with a recommendation whether to annex the property. Um, I can tell you from experience been around the game of baseball for [clears throat] over 50 years as a player, coach, league administrator, tournament director, and now as a as [clears throat] a high school and college umpire, um, this property is not suitable for what they want to use it for. Um, there's been traffic studies that have been performed. You'll hear about that. you'll see the results of that, but I think it's incomplete. Uh most of the focus has been on the intersection of 27 and West Watersville Road, not looking at the other way that they could come. Um coming uh westbound. Um during the summer months will be the peak baseball season, peak sports season. Um there's uh swim meets in Nottingham. It's really going to impact the traffic coming both ways. People are going to figure out the back way. There's also bicycle clubs that ride every weekend. So, there's a significant uh safety issue uh for for those folks and it's certainly going to impact our property values in the Nottingham community and the petitioner believes that this will be an economic boon to Mount Ary. Uh I disagree with that. Um if you look at our infrastructure here, we do not have the hospitality to host people coming in from out of town. Most of the people will go to Frederick most likely. I can tell you from my own experience with

travel baseball, we wouldn't stay near the ballparks. We'd go back to hotel, freshen up, and we'd go to a major league ballpark. So, the the the town of Frederick, well, actually see the economic moon because that's where the hotels are. Frederick Keys are back is a minor league complex. So, uh you can figure on a lot of people coming here causing a lot of traffic, trying to scoot out of here, going to Frederick, maybe Baltimore for an Orioles game or a nationals game. Um, so I just also ask [clears throat] before you vote uh on the recommendations from the planning commission that you take the time to go to some local complexes that are similar to what they propose. Diamond Nation in Ritton Township in New Jersey is a 65 acre sports complex. There's also Patriots Park located in Fairfax. It's a 64 acre sports complex similar to what they're going to propose. I ask that you look at the routes of egress and ingress to the facility, the infrastructure surrounding it, and you'll see that this location here that they're proposing is not suitable. Um, we're there's been a lot of talk about the planning, what they want to do. What I haven't heard at any of the planning commission meetings is what's the exit strategy because at some point they're going to get tired of it. They're going to retire. They're going to sell it. And you might even want to look at the D the um Dominion Sports Complex in Ruther Glenn. It's been through many owners and if you look at the reviews, the facility is going to a dump. So, I don't want that to happen to our community. So, I just ask when you this uh proposed annexation comes up in front of you, council, that you would personally take the time to visit at least one of those complexes. They're all within a two-hour drive. Fairfax is just just about an hour. Diamond Diamond Nation in New Jersey is two hours and five minutes. Thank you for your time.

What was Okay, Diamond Nation in New Jersey. You already said that two hours. So I guess if I just pop in Diamond Nation in New Jersey, it should pull up the only one. Yes, sir. Parks fine. I've checked that one out during one of the council commission meet. What was the last one that you said that has gone through many? It's it's been Virginia Sports Complex and it's now I think Dominion Sports Complex. It's been owned by Perfect Game PBR, Professional Baseball Report, and some others. It's constantly changing. And a matter of fact, the uh the the the uh site manager, Patriots Park, told me when I visited with him, uh you might want to look at Ruther Glenn and look what's happened to them over the years. So, what was that last?

It's in Ruther Glenn. That's the uh Dominion Sports Complex in Ruther Glenn, Virginia. Ruth at Glenn. It's in Ruth Glenn, Virginia. Yeah. If you look up Virginia Sports Complex or or um Dominion Sports Complex, that's the facility. It's on Route One near uh north of Richmond in Ruth of Glenn, Virginia. So, it's within that two hours or whatever. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. Next. Sure.

Michael Rash 25508 Kings Forest Trail, Nottingham Community, Mount Air, Maryland. Um, similar to what Dwayne was was mentioning, I would uh first like to thank the opportunity to address the council. Uh, and I would like to let you know that I've lived in Mount Area for 15 years. Oh, is that better? [laughter]

So, yeah. So, I've lived in the town of Mount Area for 15 years along with my wife and our three kids. Uh, I would like to make a few points also about the proposed Warfield annexation for the construction of a ballfield facility. First, Nottingham, where I live, is easily in the top three largest communities in Mount Ary. Many families in Nottingham will be negatively impacted by the proposed annexation, especially those with young kids. All three of my kids have gone through the Mount Air public schools and anyone with young kids knows that the rigors of school schedules uh and knows the need for balance. The ball fields will disrupt this. Secondly, there will be no economic benefit to the town. People aren't likely to hang out or before or after ball game events. There are no hotels and there's very easy access directly to I7 to go go to go to go to other places. Third, the roads are not built for the traffic. As we I'm sure are all aware, many accidents and issues have happened at the intersection of Watersville Road and 27 over the years. The ball fields are not compatible with the existing roads. Fourth, it is doubtful that city water services can accommodate eight professional ball fields. My own water pressure is already low in my own home. Fifth, home values in Nodtingham will likely drop. Again, Nottingham is the in the top three largest communities in the town. One would hope that the town council would vote to protect our community, and I urge the council to do so by voting against the proposed annexation. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, sir. Ethan Regal, 608 Prospect Road. Thank you all for taking a second to uh hear us all out this evening and happy Monday. I want to say just a really quick word in uh support of resolution 2026-1, the weather alert siren. As I'm sure you all are aware, this is a fairly small resolution that will result in two sirens that could give just a tiny bit of additional preparedness in the event of a weather emergency. Uh, as I'm sure some of you are aware, I was an Eagle Scout and one of our big things is being prepared. If any of you find yourself on the fence at this moment, consider just airing on the side of preparedness. It's a large uh large area we have here and it's just a tiny thing you can do to help us be a little bit more prepared the next time disaster strikes. Thank you all very much. I hope you have a wonderful evening.

Thank you. Yes, sir.

[clears throat]

Uh, Lonnie Ferrell, 1806, Sterling Glenn Way. Um, nervous. I hate public speaking with a passion that I'm here. Should say something. Okay, so I'm horribly prepared because this only just kind of started up last night. Again, it's a recurring issue with our water system here. Well, again, last night we go to take showers. We're getting muddy water out of our out of our faucets again. U Jason could even pull up the post on our local thing and show you the video that I took after we had put like three inches of water in the tub. It sat for 15 minutes. I drained it and then just sprayed water around the the tubs to show how much dirt was in the tub. We made a post on the Mount Airy page. Misty took it down. We put a post on our neighborhood page. A couple of others chimed in. a lady with an infant. I couldn't figure out why my infant was dirty. This town apparently has no hydrant flushing program uh set up. No schedule for it. Never does it. We call town. We get told just run the water until it runs clear or don't use any water for 12 hours so it can settle. This happened right at shower time last night. You can't just stop life. We, you know, the I did some in some digging around. The right people are incredibly hard to get a hold of, but uh in Howard County, the Bureau of Utilities does 11,400 plus hydrant flushes a year. Every year they go through and flush every single hydrant. Uh West City of Westminster, one time per year, every single hydrant. Boonsboro, one time per year. Harford County one to two times per year. Second time as needed in, you know, like spot areas. Meyersville, um, April and October, it's actually listed right on their their website that they do it. So,

I've now shown larger cities, smaller cities. Everyone's doing it except us until we jump up and down, get enough people screaming, and then you'll come flush a couple of hydrants in the area just to keep us okay. When Rockenberg was here, this came up. He had our entire neighborhood flushed and we were good for like 5 years before we had brown water again. But we don't know what happened yesterday. The fire department says nobody tapped any of the hydrants, but all of a sudden some of us got brown water again. This needs to be addressed. We need to get a schedule going to where everybody in the town has their hydrants flushed. By doing so and getting the water column moving, I think it's like 3.4 4 feet per second. It will remove all of the sediment from that se section an area of piping which also creates an abrasive effect to the inside to remove the bofilm that just naturally occurs inside of pipes. So this is even a public health issue potentially. And what if someone just had surgery, they've got open wounds or something like that and they go to take a shower and they get a muddy shower. I know saying muddy is a little extreme, but it's dirty and it's wrong. We're looking at having to raise our water rates by a significant amount, but we need to have ensure that we all have clean water at all times, not just when we jump up and down and shout and make until somebody comes to put a band-aid on it. It needs to be addressed wholly and completely. Um, additional side note, I'm urge you all to really consider this siren. It the last time we didn't know until after it was done. The one that went through, I don't think anybody even got a notice for the one that actually went through the shopping center and took out part of Nil's farm. But we we do need to have something other than oop, sorry, cell phones.

Thank you all for letting me speak. Real quick, I'll have the mayor. Let me just make sure I got the proper uh name. So, it's Lonnie Ferrell. Yes. L O N Y F as in Frank. E R R E L L 1806 Sterling Glenway. Directly across the street from Jason. You're pretty fine. You're pretty good at public speaking, so don't be nervous. You all have no idea how much I hate Yeah, me too. So, don't worry about it. All right. Thank you.

All right. Anyone else for public comment? All right, next up we're going to move on to our speakers portion. We do have uh two uh potentially pretty important speakers here. We have uh Sheriff Dwise and Assistant States Attorney, Mr. Alan Culver. If you guys would like to speak, uh please come on up. How are you, sir? Good. Thank you for having me, Jason. Were your kids dirty also last night or you didn't say? No, you don't think

they stay dirty. [laughter] I know him and I believe that. Um, thank you for for having me speak. Uh, council president, mayor, and council. Um, listen real quick, the chief's uh, does a wonderful job down here and I certainly support his effort to enhance his K9 um, unit. It is this is a unique area in of the county. He's right. It's very difficult at times for us to get down here. So, I fully support what he does and his office does a wonderful job. I sometimes wonder if I need him more than he needs me because they they often come out and support my operations outside of town, but uh but it's a wonderful relationship. Um and and also uh I want to tell you guys that just said I go to a lot of council meetings and the commissioners meetings and and and I just have an immense amount of respect for the fact that you guys have to I only have to handle law enforcement for Carol County. you guys get a just a the the diverse issues that you have to deal with and and the way that you handle business is is pretty impressive for the massive amount of money that you get to to sit here and do this. It's very appreciated. So, um have a lot of respect for what you guys are doing there. The early warning system, I'm not just the sheriff of the county, but I grew up down here. I also policed this area for a number of years since the early 90s as a state trooper with your future hall of famer Paul McGrady and a number of resident troopers that that work through this town. And I'm I'm also a South Carol High School graduate. So I'm I'm very familiar with this area of the county and for the better part of 30 plus years. Um I've been involved in or have seen some really serious weather incidents come through here. um the most recent incident um with the unfortunate tragic death of the young young child that drowned and then uh I think it was I want to say it was November maybe of 18 um the storm that came through that took off a portion of the TJ Maxx uh roof. I was down here for that with your former chief and um prior to that for many years the different weather incidents that have come through here

where an early warning device would have really helped out um for the town. I know that it's not a cheap venture. Um, I will tell you this and I'm not sure where you're at with the budgeting of of a system like this or even if you're even um, you know, most of you are on board with the resolution to look at purchasing this, but but I will support the operation. I will support the venture with some asset forfeite money um, so I'll encourage the chief to get with me at some point in the next couple weeks so I can support the operation. There's no better way to use uh, drug dealers money um, than to support the community in in this way. So, I'll I'll throw some throw some support that way if we can. Um, but I think we can um with with Mike and and his operation. Um, but I'm fully in support of it. I think it's a it's a good device to to get that that early warning out there and and like Josh said in your other speaker. And I listen, I get the same emails you get from Josh. So, don't don't feel so don't feel like you're I'm being slighted. I get them all, too. So, he's very passionate about the issue. I know he is. Um, this isn't the only issue he's passionate about. So, um, but he means well and and I'm here to support not only what he's trying to do, the council's trying to do and the town's trying to do just simply keep this community safe. And so, it means a lot to me if you guys would pass that resolution and I certainly will answer any questions um that you have. Yes, we are out on Buffalo Road writing tickets and stopping cars. Usually, I get that question. So, but I'll yield to uh Mr. C. Yeah, I know. I get it all the time. So, um I'll yield to Mr. Cbert. He's the special counsel to state attorney Shoemaker. So,

thank you. Thank you, Sheriff. And sheriff, just thank you for the buffalo road that we can direct the questions to you, Jason. Jason and I can direct the question. Yeah, I can already. So, [laughter] I think there's a sign out there that blinks that says Sheriff Dise called. Okay. [laughter]

Good evening, council members. Mr. Mayor, um Alan Culver, special counsel to States Attorney Haven Shoemaker, and I'm here on behalf of the state's attorney's office in regards to the hazardous weather alert system. Uh the state's attorney's office is in support of the system, and you may be wondering, why is a state's attorney's office concerned about a hazardous weather alert system? Well, we may not respond out to these uh events, but we are part of the public safety sector. So, we deal with uh first responders with law enforcement on a daily basis. And whether it's just through general meetings, our command staff meetings, we meet every week. We hear about these issues. Or whether it's prepping for trial, when we're talking to first responders, listening to their experience, we re realize how important it is to give the public the heads up about what's going to occur. My personal experience about five, six years ago, I was up on a lake in upstate New York. Storm came out of nowhere. We had no idea. Thankfully, we saw it coming, but it was bad enough where it knock boats into docks and things like that. Nobody had any heads up about that. So, personally, I can generally I can certainly see the value in this, but also professionally, states attorney's office can see that this is really this would be an asset for the Mountaineer community. So, we just want to come out and give our support and I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] All right. Next up on the agenda, we have our approval of council meeting minutes, closed minutes, and other related minutes. Uh, first up is our December 2025 town council meeting minutes. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving December 2025 council meeting minutes. Please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. December 2025 closed meeting minutes first under subject litigation. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of approving the council meeting minutes for close session subject litigation. Please signify by saying I. I.

Opposed. And lastly, close session uh under subject land acquisition. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving closed meeting minutes for subject land acquisition, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have our civil air patrol report. I do not see uh Lieutenant Lavel. So, we will move on to our Mount Area Volunteer Fire Company report with Hall of Famer, [laughter] Mr. Matt Herd. How are you, sir?

Hey, happy new year everybody. Uh, town council, mayor, Mr. President. Uh last month of December, busy month, but 260 calls uh in Mount We. We had uh 162 in Carol, 80 in Frederick, 12 in Har, and six in Montgomery in our first due or in town of Mount Air box areas. Uh box 113, we had 42 ambulance or EMS, one fire. Box 114, we had six EMS. Uh box 11, 20 EMS, five fire. Box 115, 15 EMS, two fire. Box 13, we had 18 EMS, two fired. Box 14, 9 EMS, one fire. And then box 15, we had five EMS, two fire. So, it's busy month. And uh we're rocking and rolling. Don't forget the third Sunday is our eat breakfast at the Caramel Grounds. All right, any questions?

Quick quick question or clarification, Matt. Not to sure. Go that far off topic here. Yesterday when Lonnie contacted the fire department, it sounded like you said or not you, but the fire department said that no, no one drew water from any of the hydrants in that area. I just want to say, can you check to make sure that cuz I was out test driving a vehicle for maintenance and about 4:30 or something. No, it was about 2:30, 3:00 and the tanker came came down Buffalo Road. I know I know there was a brush fire yesterday, so I'm not quite sure. I reached out when I heard this and nobody responded back to me. So I I can't confirm if they drew from the hydrant or not. Yeah. I'm not saying that mount mount area did it, but somebody from another responding area could have done it.

And that's why I was trying to reach out try to solidify that answer, but I didn't get a response. So I figured you were going to ask that question. Okay. [laughter] I just want to make sure because it's whenever the neighborhood has it, it's But typically when when we do draw water, sometimes it does it stirs up a lot of stuff and that's a very common occurrence. So, and it does dissipate short time later. Yeah. So, thank you, Matt. All right. Thank you. You have a question, Matt. Sorry. [laughter] I can't be the only one that's wondering this, so I'll just wonder out loud. What is going on on this section of 70? It's just it's 7070. I mean, it's it's I mean, seems

you hear about it because we have a very great social media page, but it's all across New Market, Har County. It's always tough. It's a very difficult stretch of woods. I mean woods road uh you know we had two calls yesterday obviously unfortunately someone lost his life in between us and new market uh but you know it's always real question is is it a real uptick in volume of calls or not really it's just more no typically it's no change of calls to 70 it's still the same yeah thank you all thank you next up we have our police department report with Chief Janevver

good evening everybody and happy new year. I'll try to keep this short. So, uh for recruitment, uh we have one application that's in the background skate uh stage for a lateral position. We have one application for an entry level that is currently being processed. And uh if this individual makes it through the academy starts March of this year uh for MAPD our increased productivity overall and I'm sure everyone's seen the numbers but just to go through it for those that didn't see the numbers for 2025 for citations it was 192 traffic warnings 2061 DUI arrest 27 safety repair orders 372 traffic stops 1475 five traffic arrest 150 for our part one group A crimes. Uh there was a slight drop in the crimes which is great. Those are your serious offenses. For our part two crimes, the crimes that are obviously a little minor, there has been a slight increase to put uh somewhat of a percentage on it. If anything, I would say between a two to five increase in those minor offenses. uh for calls for service uh there was a slight increase for for the year of 2025 and this information is from 2021 to 2025 is statistically is shown on those graphs there. So, I mean, overall outstanding for the Mount Area Police Department of the increase on some things and not only that, at least the proposed thing, uh, the best part is the crimes that have dropped and those are your serious crimes, the minor offenses. I mean, they come, again, I've spoke about it before, it's more of that transient traffic again with the part one and part two crimes. Uh, again, thank you for allowing um, Officer D'Angelus to be a part of this meeting this evening, an introduction of Yuri. Uh we're pretty excited to have another K-9 resource available. And for those that have

participated in a lot of our events, again, Councilman Kelly, Councilman Mander, and Mayor Hushower to be a part of it really having an extra pair of hands on some of those things really does uh help. And not only that, it's a huge impact for the community to see you folks out there working alongside with the police department supporting the good cause for the monitoring net. So, thank you. And again, happy new year to everyone. Um, if there is any traffic complaints or anything like that, again, just a reminder, we do have a monthly initiative. I know something was shared earlier this evening uh in the Noddingham residents. So, just to be aware of those that are watching and listening, we're going to be in the Mount area Noddingham community uh this upcoming weeks. So, thank you. Does anyone have any questions?

No real questions. Just again, thank you to you, the officers, and the all the public safety officers there that take the time out of their lives and uh to protect us and uh happy and healthy and safe new year to every to everyone at the police station. Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to publicly state and uh streets and roads commission chair Regal's in the in the in the gallery here. Uh looks like [laughter] uh total traffic stops are up significantly this year. They are 25 to 30%. So uh for the post we see where you know what what are we doing? What's going on on our streets? You're out there. So thank you.

Yes, I appreciate it. And again so that also helps with manpower again filling up some of those positions that we do uh have that are filled. So I mean that does help again having the officers proactive and not only that again the community sharing the information of the problems again if we don't know something uh we're unaware of the problems so please address it and again if you are sharing those complaints uh again it is disseminated through the chain of command and that those officers are aware of it so again I know some people expect immediate results and again I can promise if I'm going to say I'm going to do something I'm going to hold myself accountable along with the officers that work with me. We're going to do what we need to do for this town. This town is great and they give a lot back to us. So, thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, sir. Next up, we have our mayor, council, and staff reports. I will start with the mayor's report and relinquish to Mayor Hashau.

All right. Thank you, uh, council president. I'll be able to talk about this more next month, but I'll bring it up today to get it on people's uh calendar. If you're watching or want to write it down, the historical society bingo is on March 7th. You can uh stay tuned to the website and also to their Facebook page to find out about how the uh how the fee structure is going to work for that. But uh it's a great time every year. It's a box and bag bingo. So, you get uh themed boxes or uh really nice bags uh for it. And Lucy's laughing because Mike won one of the gorgeous purses last year. So, uh also want to make a correction. Uh last month we had the check from the historical society and the check had the uh the check that they gave us was for $10,000 which is great. uh the check the the big cartoon check that I held up had the wrong amount on it because uh it didn't factor in the added 10,000. So to date the historical society for the flat iron building has uh offered the town given the town $32,772 not 22,000 that I reported last month. So uh so thank you to the historical society for for keeping that going. Um, since we're uh talking about the uh storm sirens and everything, uh this is kind of related to that. Uh following our July flood, we did inspect all of the storm water drains. All those inspections are complete of darn near 2,000 pipes in town. We found about 24 uh loose grates, uh 13 grates that needed a what we call a trash rack uh type of grate installed. And then there were four collapsed drains and seven

places that we thought that signage uh would be very good to put in there. The staff is working with a company called uh Stanbos. Uh they're currently doing some work in the town on other things, but we're we're looking at them to develop a remediation plan for those drains that need to be taken care of. Okay. And then the uh hero banner program is still open if anybody wants to get their uh veteran member recognized on one of our telephone polls leading into town. Uh that window is still open, but it will be closing by the end of January because we want to get them ordered and they'll go up uh up on the polls certainly by um by Memorial Day is what we're shooting for. And then they'll stay up for a year a year and a half after that. And I can never read these names too much. Uh we'll always remember the two uh September 11th casualties and Lieutenant Commander Ronald Bach and uh Chief Warren Officer Bill Ruth. And this town also has three other gold star families including PFC Ronald Kenny was the first Carroll County resident to die in the Vietnam War. uh HM2 Jordan Way and Lieutenant Jack Leatherwood who flew in World War II. And uh really that's about it for uh this month. So uh everybody have a happy new year and and let's get through 2026 in good shape.

Thank you, Mayor. Next up, we have the Water and Sewer Commission, Beautifification Commission, and the Inclement Weather Task Force with Council Member Deoter.

All right. [clears throat] Thank you. Uh beautifification commission last met on November 18th. There was no meeting held in December and our next meeting will be held on January 20th. Uh the water and sewer commission last met on December 3rd. The main focus of the meeting was to receive a presentation from the town engineer on the town's draft water and sewer rate adjustment plan. The commission informally agreed with the overall recommendations contained in the plan. The commission prepared a memorandum dated December 15th to the mayor transmitting the commission's suggestions that the final proposal should also include. And let me touch on those very briefly. Uh the first recommendation was a commitment to provide the town council with a multi-year capital and operating plan for the council's consideration during the upcoming FY2027 budget process. Also a resolution committing the town to set a target to maintain a minimum reserve amount equal to one year's operating and capital expenditures while setting a floor that reserves should not go below 50% of the target. Also to provide the council with a visual or spreadsheet showing examples of the changes in total cost of water bills at various amounts of usage over the 5-year period. Provide a breakdown of residential and commercial uses by tier. Explore ways to inform the public of proposed changes and allow for citizen input. And lastly, consider ways to ease the financial burden on users under financial stress. In addition to providing the list of civic organizations that may be able to assist users, the draft water and sewer

rate increase ordinance will be uh presented and reviewed by the commission at our January 7th meeting, which is this Wednesday evening. The commission's also in the process of reviewing a draft memo from the mayor that will be sent to all town residents regarding the status of PAS and actions being taken to address them. Um the commission will be discussing its review comments on this final draft also at the upcoming commission meeting on January 7th. And regarding the clemen weather task force, we mass last met on December 17th. Uh the meeting centered on preparations for a task force presentation that they will be making this evening to the council later this evening regarding seeking the council's support and passage of resolution 2026-1. and I think you'll be hearing more from them about their rationale for and the public safety benefits of a weather alert siren system for the town. Uh the next meeting of the task force is anticipated to take place sometime in the next several weeks of the new year to discuss next steps on this initiative. And that completes my report. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we have our planning commission with Council Member Kelly. Thank you. Uh the planning commission did not meet last month. The next meeting is uh coming up on at the end of this month, January 26th. Want to make a note that there will be a public hearing before that meeting uh for public comment on the Mount Airy portion of the Carol County water resource element. And real quick, what that is is uh that's a portion of the comprehensive uh plan from uh Carol County and it uh aims to uh align uh future growth uh planned future growth initiatives with uh water supply, water demand uh and the and resources that go along with that. So that public hearing uh is being scheduled for just before the next planning commission which is again on January 26th. That's all I have.

All right. Thank you. Next up we have our streets and roads commission commission of aging and livability and the flat iron task force with council member Mund.

All right. Thank you council president. The uh streets and roads commission has not met uh because we only meet on odd months. The next meeting will be this month. The la uh the last Tuesday of the month which will be sorry I just had it up and the last Tuesday of the month at 700 p.m. here at town hall I will be bringing a comment from a citizen regarding the intersection the Walmart intersection in Ridgeville Drive by Arby's. There might be some concerns with uh pedestrian crossing happening there. Uh, the coal task force met in December, but I believe it was after the excuse me, prior to the Oh, man. I'm messing it up tonight again. Sorry. I thought I didn't have anything to report, but I do. So, sorry. Um, I will give an update on the coal commission meeting for the December because we met one where we combined everything for the holidays. I'll give an update on that at the next meeting. and the Flat Iron Building task force. Just we're still waiting on word or to hear about uh various grants that we have applied. And again, thank you for the uh money from the historical society. That concludes my my reports, Council President.

All right. Thank you. Next up, we have the Economic Development Commission and the Recycling and Sanitation Commission with Council Secretary Evans. Thank you, Council President. um we did not meet, sustainability did not meet um since November, so I've already given that report. Our next meeting is January 21st. Uh Wednesday here at town hall. Uh May 2nd is the e-waste recycling event for the spring. I'll give you more information as that approaches. For EDC, our next meeting is January 28th, Wednesday, at town hall. We did not have a meeting in December due to the holidays. And that's all I have for the meetings.

All right. Thank you. Next up's the Board of Recreation and Parks and the Sustainability Commission. Uh neither met in December due to the holiday. Uh board of parks and recck will be meeting January 15th on Zoom at 700 p.m. And the Sustainability Commission meets on the even month. So I'll have an update on that next month. Uh next up we have our town attorney report with Mr. Tom McCarron. the uh water and sewer allocation process that the town undergoes under its code uh and uh every two years is upon us. Um I emailed the mayor and uh town staff today about that process for the town council. It will start in February uh where the council will set what's called the water capacity yield and um and the sewer capacity yield. That is to say how much water capacity sewer capacity is available to be allocated or divided among various types of development that uh uh that we set forth in our code. Um worked on uh the food truck ordinance uh which is up for introduction tonight. the revised water and sewer rate ordinance which will be before the water and sewer commission on January 7th and also worked uh really prior to this u on the ordinance for resoning standards and processes that are that is up for u introduction uh tonight uh other than perhaps for close session matters uh that's all I have to report.

All right thank you sir. We all received copies of the town administrator report, the code enforcement report, and the zoning administrator report. Anything that uh you guys would wish to add? Nothing to add from here. All right. Thank you everyone. We're on the new business. Uh first up is commission appointments and reappointments with Mayor Husher. Right. We got um one this month and that's uh Jamie Sorro to be appointed to the Economic Development Commission and she's here. So careful what you say. [laughter] Are you the first? We're very excited. Very excited that she is. What was the EDC? EDC. Yeah. All right. I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve Miss Jamie Sorrow to be appointed to the EDC. Do we have a second?

I'll second. Any discussion? [clears throat]

I will just say this is long overdue and welcome. Hearing none further. All in favor of appointing Miss Jamie Sor to the EDC, please signify by saying I. I. Welcome and thank you. Uh real quick on new business, uh just a quick heads up, I will not be at the February uh town council meeting. Uh we had a uh family incident that happened that uh I need to uh be out of town for. Uh so our more than capable council secretary, Mr. Evans, will uh will be sitting in uh and running the meeting next month. So just wanted to give a quick heads up on that. And now we're on to ordinances and resolutions. First up, we have ordinance 2026-1. This is food truck ordinance. It is for introduction and then it'll be sent to the planning commission. Uh, do we have a motion?

I'd like to make a motion to introduce ordinance 2026-1 in regards to food trucks. Do we have a second? Second. All right. This will go to the planning commission and then we heard back. Not that Mr. Gent doesn't have enough to do already. We have to make sure his new year is full of things. Next up, we have ordinance 2026-2. This is standards and process for reszoning properties. This is for introduction and also going to be sent to the planning commission for review. Uh do we have a motion?

Yes, I'd like to make a motion on this. Uh I'd like to introduce ordinance number 2026-2 for the purpose of establishing a process and standards for reclassification of properties within the town thereby adding clarity to reclassification process approvals and documentation. All right, I'll go ahead and second. Uh, and this will be sent off to the planning commission. All right, lastly, we have resolution 2026-1 for weather related alert system. This is for adoption. Uh, do we have a motion?

Yes. I would like to uh introduce resolution 2026-1 for adoption. a resolution of the town council of the town of Mount Air for the purpose of approving acquisition, implementation, operation, and maintenance of and providing educational public outreach about hazardous weather alert siren system within the town to enhance public safety.

All right, I'll go ahead and second. Um, and just a quick little wrinkle in this ordinance. Uh obviously everyone is aware that we do have a a weather inclement weather task force that has been working pretty diligently on this since they have been implemented. Um along with the mayor and council member Demoter uh as their liaison. So what we want to do is let them come up and give a presentation. um they can basically list off the importance of this the research that they did and uh they are aware that they should be uh prepared to answer any questions that the council might have uh regarding this topic. So we are in the discussion portion so I would welcome anybody from the inclement weather task force to please come to the podium and uh fill us in on what's going on. Okay, mayor, members of council, thank you for taking the time to let us speak tonight. My name is Lucy Regal and this is Jack Rden. We are here representing the inclement weather task force to ask that you pass resolution 2026-1 for acquisition of a hazardous weather alert siren system to enhance the safety of our town. Mount AR has so much to offer its residents and visitors. We have playgrounds, parks, rails to trails, mountain bike course, skate park, soccer, baseball fields, basketball and pickle ball courts, a pond to fish, walking paths, and creeks to splashing throughout the summer. All of these amenities we offer encourage both young and old to get outside and disconnect from their devices to enjoy nature and the outdoors. All these spaces are well-loved and wellused. However, many of them had limited cell access due to their location and the type of activities they offer. In fact, within town limits, there are many dead spots for cell and internet reception. Also, many children and elderly citizens

do not carry cell phones routinely with them at all times. So, they would not be able to get disaster alerts. Mount Airy, thanks to Paridge, has its own unique weather patterns. It can be storming on the east side of town and dry on the west. In the 19 years I have lived here, I have seen duratios, tornadoes, flooding rains, feet of snow, and drought, just to name a few. The inclement weather task force was formed in July of 2025 with a single goal of pursuing and installing weather alert sirens in our town after the flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas that caused the loss of at least 135 lives. many of them children. As we began our research into the sirens, Mount Ary experienced serious flash flooding of our own, resulting in the tragic death of a young town resident. This and other local events, such as the damaging tornado in 2018 served as a reminder of how of our town's vulnerability to serious hazardous weather events. Our research is now completed and we believe through consultation and agreement with Mayor Hushower that we have learned enough at this point about the operational aspects of these systems to make an informed decision to move forward. During our research, we have spoken to multiple towns in Maryland that are already using sirens to alert their residents of impending and imminent dangerous weather. Every town we spoke to noted that their citizens were happy with the effectiveness of the sirens they have in use. Most municipalities test their sirens between 4 to 12 times a year on prem predetermined days and times. Reminders of the testing could be included on water bills, reaching all the residents without occurring costs of mailing. Yard signs and social media could also be used to remind people of the scheduled tests. Several towns we

researched apply these or similar methods. As is done in other towns, we envision that the siren will be programmed with only one tone. Education will be provided to all residents, schools, and businesses in town as to when the testing would be done, why the siren might sound, and how to install National Weather Service alerts on their mobile phones. We would also educate that the main purpose of the siren would be to alert people to seek shelter indoors immediately and tune to local news stations or weather apps for information on what type of weather is eminent. Our proposal is for two sirens and we have performed analysis and identified several candidate locations. Two examples are the potential placement at the American Legion and next to the town-owned water tower off Century Drive. This placement was chosen as it allows coverage of the entire town. As is done in other towns we researched, the sirens could be activated through county emergency operations centers when a National Weather Service severe weather warning warning not watch warning is issued. It would only be activated by tornado warnings, considerable and catastrophic flash flood warnings or destructive thunderstorm warnings. There would also be the option for limited town personnel such as the town administrator, the Manor Fire Department, or the Manor Police Department to have the ability to activate the siren should it become necessary. We have spoken to three companies that make the sirens and gotten quotes for many different options. We are favoring the American Sign Corporation T130. We have been quoted for this purchase, installation, and training for two sirens of $93,500. The American Sign Corporation has

offered in writing to cover the cost of one of the sirens, providing a savings of approximately $11,000 and the reduction of the overall estimated cost just mentioned above. This is the same siren currently being used by Calvert Cliffs. The town of Brunswick, Maryland is also looking into purchase of sirens and has expressed an interest in partnering with us in a joint purchase says suggesting that by placing our orders together, we could potentially receive a favorable discount, decreasing the purchase price. We are also actively searching out donations for the poles required to mount the sirens and grant monies to help fund the purchase. Our goal is to have this life-saving warning system in place within the next year with education ongoing prior to the installation. The task force has spoken to multiple town residents and business owners over the past several months receiving overwhelming support in response. We understand this is a large line item. However, if this system only prevents the loss of one more town resident, then we feel it is worth every penny spent. We thank you again for your time tonight and ask you ask for your commitment to support the hazardous weather alert siren system to enhance public safety in the town we all call home. Thank you. And we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you. That was a lot of information. All right, I'll go and open up the floor. Uh I'll go ahead and real quick just let Steve kind of get the first crack. I know he he put a lot of work into it. So, uh, anything you'd wish to add?

Well, I I I I I appreciate the mayor establishing the task force and he was an integral part of it. He attended all the meetings. He did some of the site visits. The the task force members have done an outstanding job. We did a lot of research. We did a lot of benchmarking of other towns and their systems and and you heard from the task force members on that. Um, couple things about the cost and and we were just trying to be conservative because we we we didn't want to lowball an estimate for the council because I know how I feel when I get a lowball estimate and it comes to be not true. So, in the resolution, we actually we we took we took the realistic estimate as of today and we added 10% to that. And that's why you see 93,500 in here. But if you took if we were going to do this next week, we got an estimate of about 82 to $85,000. We're getting one of the sirens donated. That takes you down another 11 to 12,000. We're pursuing um donations of the poles to install the sirens. Um and then we are actively pursuing partnerships um with other municipalities. I spoke to uh Council Member Andy St. John in Brunswick. They're looking into these systems and they said, "Hey, if you guys are going to move ahead, let us know. Maybe we can partner on the purchases." And I learned a lot in this process. And what I learned was more towns than not actually have these systems. Uh, Lla had a very devastating tornado back in 2002 and they learned from this and shortly after that I think that's when Emittsburg and other municipalities stood up a system like

this. So, um, I can answer any other questions. Really, Jack Rudden here has been the task force chairperson. He is I'll call him an expert because he he knows a lot about this and I know they have additional materials if you have specific questions but I I think I'll just stop there. I just want to thank thank the mayor and thank the task force members for everything they've done. So thank you council Kelly.

Yeah. Uh thank you very much for all the information. Uh you answered a couple of the questions that I had written down. So thank you. Uh, one of them was about the tones and you know my question was how will the citizens know if it's a tornado or a flash flood because you do two very different things with those kinds of things but you you know it's to seek more information right? Yeah. It's it the the whole purpose of this is to say there's something about to happen in the process. Get inside. Take cover. Check your phone when you get inside.

Yeah. Yeah. So my com my only comment there is education to the community that it's not it's not necessarily a tornado right it's not necessarily one thing so um the question so and thank you council member de motor you answered my question about the cost by conservative you mean that is highend so thank you [clears throat] [laughter] um my question for the I guess town staff administrators who [clears throat] would m and who would maintain and administer this system in the town, the company will maintain it. The manufacturers will come and any maintenance that needs to be done is done by the company, the manufacturer. Is that like a yearly contract, extra costs?

I believe so. I think it's kind of up to us. I know of towns that do it just as needed. [clears throat] Okay. Did I say something? I'm sorry. They provide the software and the training. The software is not cheap. It's part of the package. So, American Signal I guess training and the erection provided we provide telephone and yes the town administrator and the mayor or someone designated there could monitor the system and there is supposed to be talking over right there for the town. Yes.

If they saw something coming and it wasn't on NWS, they would say, "Okay, the way that they have different tones, they have different tones for different

Lucy said the pictures. Okay. So, so it's it's basically an alert that you need to be cognizant of something that's happening and as a sidebar, I have one bar on my cell phone in this building. So, if I go into the basement down here, I'm not going to get service. Thank you. Uh so so I guess my my followup question I guess for the mayor and town administrator and st is so do we have the personnel and resources to institute this next week or would we need I mean I know there's training right but

we have the personnel the uh the question that we have now is is this is this uh the base going to be in in the fire company or is it going to be in the police department? Where are we going to put this actual uh uh control computer? Uh and we're not 100% sure of that. Now, that's something that's going to have to be uh figured out. But uh but the system operates for I I guess maybe if I just told you how Emittsburg works. Uh Emit Emittsburg has in their fire department and there's a room that is about the size of a closet has has a uh a computer in there uh has a screen in there. The screen shows where the entire county's uh weather sirens are and uh and there's buttons down in the bottom. Press screen buttons that allow you to activate it. Emittsburg has a little bit more of a sophisticated system. they could actually hit the button and play the national anthem if they wanted to. We're not looking at that. But uh uh but uh that that location is to be determined. And I would even say you know the American Legion uh you know is is a a a location we've looked at, but I'm not we're we're not 100% sure that's the ideal location at this point. So So there's still some questions out there that need to be answered, but I I guess just to close out my my comments and questions, I I think that um you know definitely I see in here that the goal is to at least get 50% of grants and uh donations and what have you. And I second that at least that um we've got some budget considerations decisions coming up here quickly. Uh so I don't I don't know that it just feels like you know 80 or $90,000 isn't isn't there right now. So that's all I'll say.

I'm done. Thank you. Oh, no. Oh, no. Councilman Kell, no. I was going to ask you because you mentioned 50%. I'm not doubting that you might have got the I'm just trying to figure out where is that cuz in the No, I don't. It is because I didn't see that because that was one of my my concerns too is the cost and grants. It's in the where's and then if you look at the formal body of the resolution on the second page, it's okay. It's not spelled out the number. Okay. It's spelled out. Okay. Item C. We go to item C.

Okay. Yeah. No, I'm just trying to Okay. Thank you. That's what's going Okay, I'll look at that, too. Oh. Oh, no. I I understand the grants, private sector donation stuff. I just was looking for the N. I see that the 50% is spelled out. It was not in the number. So, got you on that one. So, I appreciate that. First off, before Lucy kills me at the streets and roads, probably. Uh, [laughter] I am for the base, the underlying cause and reason for this. I don't have a problem with the safety. I get it. I just think in some areas it's the cart before the horse. It sounds like we still have some work to do on the placements and stuff because we could do this. Go ahead and do it. The placement of the sirens, everybody's support of it until it's not in my backyard type deal. And and I get the placement. I did some quick research on it like the American Legion's down in the valley. Is that going to impact where it is? It's just like I would like more information provided by the task force before I can make a final vote on this. Also, where's the money going to come from the 50%. So, we're still looking at approximately $50,000 out of out of the budget for the for this. So, we can work past that. I also want to see what type of grants are available, not the types, but more the cost the cost sharing grants because there's 50% of hard number. Is there something the minimum? If the grants all of a sudden all the grants we're available to get are 8020 80% our side 20% by the grantee that the cost could be on our and a lot more. So I'm concerned I know I I know you're willing to put money in into stuff.

Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Josh, real quick. Real quick, Josh. Real quick. No, no, no. Yeah. If you want to be a part of the presentation, that's fine. But we just need to have you up on the microphone. That's all. Yeah, I'm [clears throat] just trying to I mean to have you on the microphone just so it can be recorded. That's

Yeah, I mean I'm 100% for it. I just would like more information. We make sure that we're getting the best system. Is two enough? Is two not not enough? Is by placing three gives us better coverage because you brought up a lot of things, a lot of [snorts] act outside activities that I wasn't thinking of. I know the base the main purpose of a siren is just alert people are coming. Chances are they're not they are not designed to be heard in your house. It's mainly designed for people doing outside activities that might not have access to something. Uh so to hey go in, come in, check, seek shelter, come in, come inside. So I agree with all that. I just want to a little bit more firm up the numbers on it. I mean, it could be done as the council president said, um, he's not here next month, so I don't want to delay it till next month, but maybe the final vote on it the following month so we can get some better information or see the same thing they that the task force saw related to the contracts because I do appreciate saving money for everything, but it's also when you said, "Well, the company's willing to donate a siren to our calls." That gives me heartburn. Not to say I'm not against saving money, but almost looks like a bribe from American Signal to us to to use them. So, I want to make sure that we're not getting that. That's not the reason they're doing it. If we have to pay 11,000 more, I don't want to say we have to, but we have to. I appreciate it. the goal as an incentive, but we're a public entity and we shouldn't be taking incentives of that nature from any company that we'll be doing business with. That's my only concern with that.

So, I want to just make sure that no other companies offering that because then we can be accused by the company that loses the bid because by purchasing of 50,000 or more, I believe we have to go out for bid for this, don't we? I'm not sure. We can look at that. But I believe if we have to go out to bid, everybody's got to be the same. If and we we cannot predetermine a supplier of a of equipment. And by looking at saying, "Oh, we're going to go with this company because they're going to give us $11,000 signing for gratus. That looks looks like in the public eye in my eye that we've been bought off. The town's been bought off." So I appreciate No, I'm totally 100% [clears throat] behind the purpose of of this. I'm not against that. I just believe the wherees need to be straightened up some a little bit. Some of that's givingven me heartburn just due to some of the phrasing in it. Uh and it's basically saying we're committing we responsible that no matter what if we can't come up we commit to purchasing these. We could we commit this to doing it and we need to come up with the money,

right?

And that we might not have it. We're raising the water rates. We've got a $250,000 payment coming up for this year that we have to start fighting over with the fire fire department. I mean, I would love to donate uh re reallocate that payment from the fire to some of that to our police and to the and to this, but we might not have that 50 60 $70,000 right now to to do it. I'm willing to commit to providing the, you know, the support of my council, not my coun the the council, me as a council member and everything else, but I just think this needs a little bit more work and I'm willing to work on it over the next couple months and bring it back up in March for the final vote by that time. We just haven't we and you just gave us all this information tonight, too,

right? So, that's my council president. I think the mayor had I don't want to go into argument. I just that's just my thoughts on it. There's no argument. It's a discussion

well with any of us. Uh so u logistically maybe if I explain uh how how this would play out. Let's say this resolution passes tonight. Uh we're beginning work on the budget for 2026 27. Okay. that that will come up in May, which means it's got to be introduced in April. So, between now and then, uh along with staff, I'm going to be putting together the budget to present to uh the council. Uh normally what we do when we're very concerned about grant money or some sort of a 50% offset, we put all the money in the budget and then we put a a note to the side of it that says depending on on if we get a grant or we get donations or or something like that. If this resolution passes, that's my intent is to put in the $93,500 into the budget and and the council passes the budget so you guys can, you know, manipulate that that annotation to the side any way that you you want to. And certainly as we go through the budget process, I'm going to have to look at, you know, where can we get this money from? And and maybe it is negotiating with the fire company. Yeah. uh you know, I'm not sure, but uh uh but until the resolution passes, we're you know, it's uh uh that that's kind of like the first domino. Yeah.

Is getting the resolution through. Uh that's that's all I got. That's fine. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council President. Yes, sir. Go ahead.

Um so so a couple comments. First of all, so this this resolution was prepared, vetted through the task force, vetted through the mayor. The mayor reviewed this and uh signed off on this as well. So, in terms of the wording, this has been heavily coordinated. Secondly, I want to remind uh my fellow council members what a resolution is. A resolution isn't a law. It's not an ordinance. It's a resolution. What is a resolution? A resolution is a statement of an intent to act. It is a statement of a commitment to take an action. And that's what this resolution is doing by the definition of what a resolution is. And I think the point is that that I tried to make and the task force members have made is we've done enough research now to understand more than just the lay of the land. We have a good understanding of how these systems operate, what the caveats are, how they were received by the citizens and the municipalities. So we are at a decision point. There's there's not a need for more research at this point. This is the time to say we are approving this resolution because we are taking an intent to act. We are making a decision, a commitment to pursue these systems, to acquire the funding and to move forward. That's what a resolution is and that's why it's up for adoption tonight. I would not support kicking this down the road and words smithing some whereas statements. We have enough information right now to make a commitment as a council. We're either going to move forward or we're not going to move

forward. The granularity of details on how this thing will operate will get refined and sorted out as we continue to pursue it, but we can't take those next steps until we make a decision to act. Uh those are my comments. Council President, may I hear because it sounds like Not not yet. Okay, go ahead. Sorry. Okay. Sorry. Yep.

Uh so one last thought and question that has come to mind from some of these comments. Um, have you all um spoken to or looked into maybe coordinating with Carol Frederick? Because I'm what I'm getting at is I'm very, you know, um, I want to remain aware and and sensitive to the fact that there are many people in our zip code in our town that aren't in town limits, right? They're outside of this circle, right? So, I'm just I thought have you have you all coordinated spoken to anybody in the counties about maybe expanding this and sharing services? Well, we just had Sheriff Deise here. So, that's Yeah. And and

council Okay. Sorry. Go ahead. I was going to add to his Okay, go ahead. Sorry. I recognize you want to stop the talk. Okay. Sorry. So, we did have Sheriff Dise already who publicly committed to uh helping out with some drug money, [laughter] forfeiture forfeite funds, uh which is great. Um I uh I also um I know Commissioner Garren from Carol County was heavily invested in as well. Um so I I think that's a a positive thing. I don't know as far as the Frederick County side. I haven't uh heard, but I'm sure uh I mean I don't want to expand this conversation too much, right? But again, there's a lot of citizens that are affected by what we do that are not in the circle. Correct.

That's all. The this is for the placement of two sirens. Um and this does cover the entire town. There is obviously with hills and valleys and everything, there are going to be some people way far out that get it and there are going to be some people closer in that won't get the signal. Um the locations obviously can be tweaked. Sure.

Um Twin Ridge Elementary School, uh Principal Hobbs has given us 100% support on this and is willing to have us put the siren there instead. However, that's right smack dab in the middle of a um residential area. We were trying to avoid the residential areas. Um American Legion is literally right across the street from my house, so it'll be loud, but yeah, I mean I I think and we've already said this, right? This isn't this probably won't be the final correct plan. This is a correct preconcept if you will, right? So,

right. This is just giving you an idea. I guess what I'm going at is I mean if the funding's there and the shared services the shared funding I guess with surrounding counties you could maybe justify three or four sirens right but but then you you've got econies of scale right where you're really on one computer system right even if you add on the sirens right

so the question is going to be um if it's not if it's in the town limits is it going to be Carol County or Frederick County or are the sirens going to be the one on Frederick's side going to be operated by Frederick County, the one on Carol side. It's the logistics of that. And if we go if we get one county to say yes and the other county to say no, does that mean that we can't put them on the, you know, Frederick or the Carol side? So, the more the more spoons you add to the pot, the You have I just want to point that out that hit you with some of these comments there. Yeah. Yeah. But

Okay. Uh, Council Secretary Evans.

Uh, yeah. I two quick things. Um, one thing that stands out to me, excuse [clears throat] me, is the final whereas on page two, by way of this resolution, the council commits to securing and allocated needed funding conservatively estimated by the task force. I think that should be on the task force to be involved in securing that funding, whether it's through G grants or private donors or drug money from [clears throat] Carol County or whatever the case may be. Um, but I think that puts us on the hook for making sure that we're going to pay for that whole thing. And I know it says 50% at the end of that, but I'd like to see that have some sort of implications on the task force. Um the other thing at the end of the same one is for monitoring, maintenance, software updates. Is that price is that cost included in all of this money or is that something down the road where American Signal or Siren could come back and say, "No, we're raising the cost on the maintenance plan." Or how long is the warranty? Is it one year, 5 years, 10 years? Are we going to have to replace these things again if one fails six months after the warranty, three years? Um, so those are two things. And then also we talked about adding sirens. Um, the computers, the software service that we're having, is that upgradable to maybe instead of two, adding three, four, five, six.

You mean starting with two and then Right. Does it allow for growth, you know, to add more sirens if we so desired or we got a grant or if the county wanted to add on to it? Yeah. right? Or Frederick or Carol County said, "I like the idea. Let's add another one." Um instead of buying having to buy a whole new software system, which Mr. Mark said is, you know, the cost, like the bulk of it, right?

Um so I'm fully supportive of this, but I would like to look at those couple things and just make sure that those are in line with what the pricing and the cost is um before we move forward with it. And again, I support it 100%. Like it's it's a no-brainer for me. We need something like this, but I want to make sure that, you know, the money is not going to get us somewhere two or three years down the road where we're like, "Oh crap, we didn't account for that." Right. Yeah.

Council and No, I just want to council member Kelly brought up a good point too of the locations that it could be reached to. That was a concern. Sheriff the Whis was talking here and just listening to everybody else here um talking. I came up with two locations outside that mount area residents use or could be there doing a thing and we could receive funding for the county for it too. So I'm not even sure if these locations would reach it but um the Gillis Falls Reservoir site that's a major area that people from this town use as walkable. It's bikable. Uh Winfield or one of the rec councils has a park out there too. It's probably very scarce sell service. And then the also the um off I think it's off of Prospect the Ottabbon Society

that's off Oldenapolis. Old old right across from Linganor.

Yeah. But I mean they probably a lot of mount residents use it. Surrounding people would come here too. I'm not saying that's a little bit on the far edge of it. the Autobon Society, but Gillis Falls Reservoir site could be reachable from could be hearable from the one on the eastern part, but it's also part of the county. So maybe the county is willing to put in some funding towards that, too. And that would be three. And then three, then we would have to redesign it. So I just also just want to make sure that it provides the best coverage for the most people just not sometimes I'm against you know doing stuff for the people outside of town but this is a resident this is a thing that can be beneficial to the residents outside the town too and if they're outside

who made this map I did about American single didn't they make you a map and what

yeah and and That's I think that's all I'm asking to see like what Councilman Evans brought up too. There's some questions that we we're all supporting the underlying cause from this. And I think we just have questions to make sure that we're not say 90,000 now and then somebody comes back later and says, "Oh, well, you know, we need a protection for for this. It's another okay, it's another 100,000 if we're going to get go shoot for it. shoot for the moon right now for the money, the financing, the grants, figure out how all that's coming down. And I mean, if I can wait a month for we can do the education now. I don't mind starting for the education now. That's fairly simple to start getting out there. Just simple emergency prepaid before you go out like like you know when you get get ready to go hiking before you go go out. Uh check check the weather before you go out. we can start doing that public information campaign to to get just people start getting used to listening while we're pursuing this in the area too just hey get out there make sure the weather like you hike in the canyons of Utah they say check the weather before you go for flash flooding and we can start doing that just to start prepping people to do that when they hear the siren what to do too so I'm 100% for the calls and reason I just have a couple more questions that need to be answered If you can provide us the data that you use all this, like the packet of information, I'm willing to look look at it and take another month or so to sift sift through it all. And that gives the mayor time to formalize the budget more and the money more

there. Yeah. Um first, uh Jack, uh I'm going to make you talk. [laughter] How does Howard County do it? I did all my stuff up in Emittsburg checking out Emittsburg. Does How Howard County does an entire countywide system, right? No, the only it's just Elicate City.

Okay. All right. So, Elicate City has Yeah. based on their floods. Okay. All right. Good. Um, so, um, other thing is as far as siren locations and everything, I mean, I I can sit at my house and on, you know, with the winds right and everything, I hear everything going on at memories, but I'm like on the far northwest corner. [laughter] Sean lives near me. We can hear memories from from our house. And and it just boggles my mind that we can do it. Uh my point is that um uh that more research has to be done, but uh you know, we'll put the sirens out there. In Emittsburg, uh John Canard, the mayor of Thurmont, said he can hear the Emittsburg sirens and he's miles away. So, it's it's very interesting how these things play up. Uh Sean, to your question of uh of grant support, um we do have a staff member on the task force, too. We actually have two. Uh uh Graceful has a lot of experience uh in via the Civil Air Patrol and uh and and her chosen uh career path eventually. So uh so Graceful's worked really good. So we'll have uh staff support in looking for grants uh looking for LBIS, which are legislative bond initiatives. It sounded like, you know, um I'm glad the chief threw out there that he'd throw some money. So now we'll start picking at him. So, uh, uh, but, um,

the sheriff, not the chief. Sorry. Sorry. Unless the chief can do some over there sweating. [laughter] Okay. All right. Well, anyway, um, uh, so that's all I want to add on. And I I do think you could vote tonight. I understand if you want to wait too, but uh uh but I think that uh we have about as much information as we need to have certainly to pass a resolution and know that [clears throat] the the council is working toward this. Thanks.

So, I'll go ahead and uh we all good. Okay. I'll go ahead and um kind of give my [clears throat] thoughts. Um I think we dug way down into the weeds and and and sometimes I like doing that. Um, but you know, I guess I'll ask a simple question and just a yes or no from the council would be good. Is is anyone sitting at this table right now against putting in an alert siren? Yes or no? No.

Okay. If no one here is against it, there is no reason not to pass this resolution. That's just a fact. This is a resolution. It is a green light to continue to move forward past just the planning stages. They don't know even with all the work that they've put in even if we would be agreeable to moving forward. So, you're asking questions that they haven't even started to even look at yet. And honestly, I we got more information here than I even thought we would. So, you know, the fact of the matter is it it does say yes, the council um would be quote unquote responsible for funding, but it also says that they would be looking for encourages down south under direction of the mayor to pursue outside funding sources through partnerships with other municipalities, government entities, grants, private sector. That is the very last subset of the ordinance or of the resolution. So, you know, clearly it's not going to be a $93,500 venture for the town of Mount Airy. Um, and if it was, the every single person sitting at this table when we go through the budget has the right and the ability to slash that budget then.

Go ahead. Now,

so you're asking for hard numbers when hard numbers do not exist yet. The purpose of this resolution is to say yes, we all agree. Yes, this is something that is needed and yes, this is something that is worth pursuing more than what we have already done. If you don't agree with that, that is the only reason to vote against this resolution. The questions that are being asked are going to be answered as we go through the process. So, like Council Member Kelly said, we are in quote unquote pre-concept stage. You don't know the minute details during the pre-concept stage. So if we as an entity agree, yes, this will help our citizens, yes, this is something that is needed in Mount Airy based on our history, then it's a very simple simple vote. Um, if things don't turn out the way that they hope, then we have every right as a council to cut the budget when it comes up. And we will have more answers in May. I mean, we're sitting here in January. in May when this comes up, we will know exactly or close to exactly what that budget line item might be. And then we can ask the questions that are actually black and white.

You're asking uh volunteers that have been working tirelessly since July uh to to do something for for the entity of Mount Ary and drilling them like it's their job. It's not. What you guys did, the hours you guys put in, and the information that we got is is very valuable and it's it's it's welcomed. Uh so thank you.

Um it is something that is needed and you know the details are not being finalized through this resolution. The idea and the pursuit of the idea is being finalized through this resolution. So there is nothing in this that holds us to anything. So I will not vote to extend this into any further months. Um, and I think if anyone here was actually concerned about it, you should have stated that when I asked the question, and nobody did. So, as far as I'm concerned, you know, it's something that's needed. And I'll tell you a quick little story. In 2018, when that tornado came through at the TJ Maxx, a lot of people know that I coach football. Well, we had a f, it was a Friday night. We had a Friday night lights game set up with Flag, our flag team, which consists of four and 5-year-olds. uh Linggonor came over and there was 53 kids on the field and I don't know if you remember that night but I do. It was actually a very nice weather day all the way up until the point that it wasn't.

And at that particular carnival grounds service is very very limited. So there was no warnings, there was no nothing. Um in fact my wife and my daughter were in the TJ Maxx when that happened. So, and we were right across the street at the Carnival Grounds field with 53, four and 5year-olds. A weather alert system like that, there is no questions asked. You leave the fields, you get where you're going, and you get inside. Um, there were people stuck on the road because once it started to come through, I mean, it happened like that. And people are stuck on the roads or stuck in their cars. Luckily, nobody got injured, etc. But, um, I like being proactive, not reactive. And I think even now we're still being reactive. Uh this probably could have been done a long time ago. Um so you know my personal thoughts, we don't need to extend this. We're not inking anything right now. We are saying that yes, this is a great idea. Yes, this deserves more uh pursuit and you have our support in that. Clearly, are we sitting here saying that we can give you $93,500 right now? No. And honestly, you're not asking for it. So, um, but I can tell you that if we had to, I'll do whatever I can to find it because there's a lot of things that probably aren't as important in that budget that can get cut to make sure that this happens. So, all these little minute details and stuff, if you guys want the fine details, go to one of their meetings, ask the questions there, put an input there. Don't expect them to drop it in your lap. If you want to be a part of the solution, then go to the meetings and be a part of the solution. But I don't expect them to come up here and give me every single detail for this resolution. So those are my comments. If anyone else has any more things to add, then uh that's fine. If not, I'm comfortable to vote if if everyone here is.

I just want to say thank you for that clarification and put it out there that would you know, I just don't want people to come back and say if we have a discussion about money later that we supported it now, but we don't later. But you indicated that got it out there that's saying we're not saying you're not coming here to ask for 93,000. We're not guaranteeing it. There will be discussions over it. So if all of a sudden we're not say during the budget cycle, we're not saying hammering it, but it comes up to question a lot where we stand on stuff or the mayor. It's not because we're against it at that time. we just have further more detailed questions related to the funding and the budget and things of that that nature. That's one of the points. Sorry, I was longwinded. That's just some of the stuff I wanted to get out there too because it's like and on a side note, if we're not allowed when stuff like this comes up on wherees and stuff, we as elected officials do have the right to talk about it and make changes and question whereas statements and anything in a resolution or ordinance. I didn't did not like that put out there that we have to take this that a couple people vetted it and we all of a sudden have to take what's vetted. No, that will never happen with with me. I will have questions with wherees because sometimes if I need to put my name on something, I want to agree with the statement fully and all in. And if I have questions with a warehouse, I will word smmith it or ask to word words word smmith it. So thank you council president.

Yeah and that's fine. I don't think anybody's sitting there forcing anything on anybody if you did have questions. We all received these packets actually earlier than normal and you should be prepared to redline anything and throw it out on the table which you are more than capable of doing uh right now. So if you have any red lines that you'd like to add uh you're more than welcome to before we vote. Yeah. Now, I'm willing to withhold it. I think we've discussed this long long enough. The red lines that I have are more personal. Okay. With the [snorts] wherees and some stuff. So, that's it. Thank you, Council President.

Council President, just quick quick comment and I I I didn't add this, but I I have received some uh interest from private businesses that they might want to donate some resources. So, you know, we we we have been actively, you know, talking to other municipalities, certainly grants, government opportunities, but the private sector as well. There there are some businesses in our town that that want to contribute. So, I think I think we have a good path forward.

Yeah. And I and I think with the support that the council and the mayor uh agree with this, it will actually give the businesses that want to support a means of doing so. I'm not going to write anyone a check without knowing that the people that need to make the decision are actually behind the decision that needs to be made. So um you know again there's nothing here that's inking us to 93,500. Uh to me this is a idea that we are basically saying that we are backing and that we support and that uh we will implement um if at all possible and if if we can't then we'll have that discussion at the budget session and I'm sure that if there is any questions we would invite the inclement weather task force to the budget session to speak on that line item uh to let us know an update of where they're at and then we can we can move forward with that as well. So, um, you know, if we're all good, comfortable to vote, you know, we do have a motion. We have a second. We've gone through discussion. One last time, anyone else have anything to add before? Okay. So, we have a motion and a second for the uh resolution number 2026-1. A resolution of the town council of the town of Mount Airy for the purpose of approving, acquisition, implementation, operation, and maintenance of and providing educational public outreach about hazardous weather alert siren systems within the town to enhance public safety. If you are on board with approving town council resolution number 2026-1, please signify by saying I. I opposed All right. Thank you. And thank you again very much for all your time.

Thank you.

All right. We don't have anything under unfinished business. Uh we will now move into close session under statutory authority uh general provisions 3-305B7. This will be litigation and 3-305B3 for land acquisition. At the conclusion of that close session, this meeting will be adjourned. We will roll call into close session. Council member Demoter. I. Council member Bunder. I. Council Secretary Evans. I. Council member Kelly. I. I am. And I as well. Thank you. And we'll see you next month. Happy New Year.