Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right. A few months ago, we started uh considering the promotion of a police officer to the rank of corporal. And when we got into the weeds on it, what we discovered is that we had two officers who were very worthy of the uh position. So, tonight we're going to be swearing in two corporals for the Mount Air Police Department. And if we could have uh Dan Bridges and Kristen Maderos, please come forward. We greatly appreciate the service that you've provided uh throughout the years and uh both of you have been here a long time. I since I I think since the police department was established, you know, we're two of the first. So, we're we're very uh honored to have you here and very happy to promote you to corporal. I want you to know the lieutenant and the chief uh tried to convince us that you were worthy of it, but he really didn't have to go that far for us to realize it. So, uh it's like I said, it's it's it's my honor, it's my privilege to be up here tonight and swear you in. So, if you would raise your right hands and repeat after me. I state your name. I I Christian Maduros do swear do swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland to the State of Maryland and support the Constitution and laws thereof and support the Constitution and laws thereof and that I will and that I will to the best of my skill and judgment to the best of my skill and judgment diligently and faithfully diligently and faithfully without partiality or prejudice. without partiality or prejudice execute the office of corporal of the

Mount Air Maryland Police Department. Execute the office of corporal of the Mount Maryland Police Department. According to the Constitution and laws of this state according to the Constitution and laws of this state and the laws of the town of Mount Ary. and the laws of the town of Mount Ary. Congratulations. Thank you. Thanks. If you want to say a few words, you're welcome to. Thank you very much. Thank you everyone. All right, that's great. Yep. Yeah, that'd be great. Actually, sir, we have their badges to pin on. Outstanding. Congratulations. I just need signatures. Where are we right here? Danny. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. We have one more uh

swearing in to go. Tonight we are swearing in the town clerk of Mount Airy, Maryland. So that would be Holly. So all right. I don't think you have any badges to pin on. badges. Got any family here? My work family is here. Your work family is here. Family here. That is true. Very true. All right. So, we're swearing in Holly as a town clerk. If you would raise your right hand. I state your name. I, Holly McClary, do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland to the State of Maryland. and support the Constitution and laws thereof. and and support the Constitution and laws thereof. And that I will And that I will to the best of my skill and judgment to the best of my skill and judgment. Diligently and faithfully diligently and faithfully without partiality or prejudice without partiality or prejudice. Execute the office of town clerk for the town of Mount Air, Maryland. Execute the office of town clerk for the town of Mount Air, Maryland. according to the constitution and laws of this state. According to the constitution and laws of this state. And the laws of the town of Mount Ary. And the laws of the town of Mount Ary. Congratulations. I want a picture with you, too, actually. The council should come up here because she works for you. I want to fire around.

I'm sorry. All right, these two are you and then I'll sign mine. It is July 7th, 2025. I will now call this town of Mount Air Council meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. First up on the agenda we have our presentations portion of the uh the agenda and I will now relinquish to our mayor, Mayor Hushower. All right. Tonight we get to honor a council person who decided not to run again and moved on with their life and probably has time to do things like mow her yard and plant flowers and all those cool things. Uh Lynn, can you come on up, please? [Music] Okay. All right. Uh, Council Member Lynn, so it is my honor to give you this plaque, but before I do so, I just want to go over a little bit of history about you and myself. I think the first time I saw you was around 2004, 2005 over a annexation issue and uh, we were both out there arguing our sides of everything. I don't think we saw it totally eye to eye, but I was uh so

happy at the fact that I I could talk to Lynn. I also found out that if you bring chocolate to a meeting, that's a good thing. So, that'll that'll get you a little bit of a little bit of leeway. Uh but agree more. Yeah, we we definitely over the years as I've worked on Rails of Trails and everything, you were always very supportive, always out there uh willing to uh throw in a hand. Um, I think he got a great f family. I love Greg. Getting along with Greg. When I saw he had uh something that reflected railroading on his license plate, I was like, got to love this guy. So, still won't volunteer, but trying. Well, over the years, uh, you volunteered on the, um, on the streets and roads commission. Uh, ran that for a while. Uh, did an excellent job on that, advocating for our citizens. And then in 2021, uh, you threw your hat in the ring and became a council member at that point. So for, uh, four years, I had the honor of serving with you. Uh, you were a a breath of fresh air at the table. uh always very willing to have a nice conversation with everybody and also willing to uh raise that that flag, you know, the BS flag. And uh when when it needed to be raised and uh I just appreciate all the support that you gave me as mayor. Uh so with that, I'll go ahead and read this plaque. It says presented to Lingalleti, town council member May 2021 through May 2023, but also the council secretary from May of 2023 through May of 2025. In recognition of your devoted, hardworking, and selfless service as a Mount Airy town council member and town council secretary, the time and effort you have given to the town is greatly appreciated. And this is from the mayor, the town council, and the town staff.

So, thank you, L. Thank you. I'm hugging you. And a hugger, Mary. I'm hugging him. Thank you. You have any parting words? Nope. Thank you. All right. Yeah, you know me. I got to say something. I do want to say anybody in town, if you don't participate, you really need to participate because I was just a member of town coming to meetings when my 32-year-old was a newborn. No clue that I walked into the 1993 master plan meeting thanks to my husband. And honestly, people have no idea. The people that in front of you have been volunteering. The mayor's been volunteering long before anybody else currently involved had a clue. So, get involved. volunteer and appreciate these people, especially this guy, because he's done a fantastic job turning the town around and bringing us all back together. So, thank you. Appreciate it. [Applause] All right. Next up, we have our public comment portion of the agenda. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak tonight during public comment? All right, come on up. If you would please just state your name and address and then uh we usually have a about two to three minutes. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Councilwoman Lynn for all your service. Appreciate that. Thank you. My name is Doug Lesley. This is my wife, Chassity. A little louder. Yeah, just pull the mic up. Oh, gotcha. Yeah.

Uh, we're local business owners and property owners in the town limits. And um we are at our business 108 West Ridgeville, but the issue at hand is uh 1410 Woodenbridge Lane in Mount Ary and that's down behind the uh five guys, but close to Knesogga, but not part of Knes Stoga. Um, we got an issue of uh some water coming across uh some overflow from the recent construction and over the years where it's heavily flooded our property and it's probably like five neighbors in total that's it's affecting. But uh we spoke with the county government. They came out and did an assessment. I have uh copies of that I could give to you guys. We brought those along and I'll let my wife address the rest. So, one of the main areas I'm sorry, I don't want to get too loud. Um, we were told to contact the county because apparently they're the first point of contact. Um, after speaking to Timothy Matt, who's the inspector in this area, um, he kind of agrees with what the issue is. He said that he's working on this on a couple of different fronts, but suggested that we present this to you. Um, which is why we're here. Um, I will be happy to forward the email that he sent to me kind of outlining where they're working on these issues, but one of the things that he mentioned in the email. Um, it's just I'll kind of paraphrase a section of this. This area is badly in need of maintenance and possible regrading of the ditch to better treat storm water management to convey it safely. no work to maintain or improve this ditch has been done in six years. And so that's mainly the issue. Um, as things get built up around the area, they all contribute to drainage

areas that eventually flow down into this ditch, which then flow to a small creek that flows under my driveway or under the driveway at the property address. um because it is storm water, I can't just go in there and improve it myself. Um or I would have corrected the issue myself some time ago, but I've presented it to the town in the past. I've kind of gotten kicked back to the county um and I let it go for a while. Uh but after the county coming in and saying, "No, this definitely needs to be addressed." um they're pushing me to kind of present it back to you, which is why we're here. Um so I just wanted to make you guys aware of it. Um one of the things we mentioned in some prior conversations with the inspector was they have to prepare for hundredyear floods. While the amount of storm water that comes down across this property, every rain is a hundredyear flood. If you see the magnitude of water that downflows to this property, um I have this property has been in my family since I was a child. So I have historical knowledge of what used to be as opposed to what currently is before all of the building. Um I'm almost 50 years old. I have 50 years knowledge there. So I can say that I can assess that this is much greater now than it has been and it continues to get worse. Um, and if he's saying that some of the retrograding or retrofitting, if I'm using the wrong term, forgive me, um, has not been completed, I'm not quite sure what else that I can do as a property owner without stepping on the toes of the EPA or the county or the town or whomever that, but everyone's telling me it's not our problem, but they won't let me fix it

either. So, I'm kind of at a standstill and I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. So, I'm just seeking some help or assistance um or anything that would help to rectify this matter. So, um I have video also. This is just a quick 30 second video. 8 seconds. Um 8 to 10 seconds. Yeah, it might not even be that long. I'm just going to play. And this is what we're looking at every time it rains. and it's strong enough to move. And of course, it's not going to pick up on my So, if you don't mind, I will be happy to forward to you, but I'll also play it on my phone and just show you very quickly what we're looking at. If you want to show them, I'll Sure. This is the amount of water that comes over it every time. Where's the bridge? Yeah, absolutely. I'll be happy to. I have a 14.

Send it to you. Do you guys want a copy of these? Yeah. if you could give a copy to our town engineer to Barney. And uh yeah, he has to forward the email that I got from the county also. Thank you. Yeah, if you can forward that either to me or if you have Arie's email addressing and whoever else. Okay. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Good seeing you. Anyone else wish to speak for public comment? Yes. Uh Dick Swanson, South Main Street, Mount Ary. Uh the Carol County Environmental Advisory Council uh has announced that they're doing their annual environmental action awards and uh I brought down some information and um forms if you want to submit. It's eligible for students K through 12, citizens of Carroll County, organizations and businesses of Carroll County. The uh deadline for submitting is September 22nd, 2025. If you can't get to town hall, um you can go to the Carol County website. You go to Carol County Environmental Advisory Council and you can get all the information. Uh I would encourage you to put in for this award and get recognized for uh in your environmental efforts and stewardship in the county. Thank you Mr. Swan. Thank you sir. Anyone else for the public comment? All right hearing none. We'll move on to the next portion of our agenda which is the speakers which believe Mr. Swanson, you're on the agenda.

All right, let me change hats. I'm Dick Swanson. I am the Can you pull the mic up a little bit so it's more towards your mouth? I am the chair of the water and sewer commission and uh I have um what hopefully is a short presentation about um why the uh Mount Airy water and sewer rates need to be increased. And um the answer is yes. And here's why. Next slide. So what are the water and sewer departments? And for those that don't know, it's uh one a type of a proprietary fund. It's an enterprise fund. an enterprise fund. The key to that is that it is a governmental or quasi governmental organization that provides services and funds itself through the fees being charged and it should be run on a break even basis. Uh examples and this is from Google AI uh water and sewer utilities, public transportation, airports, the parking garages and they could be other utilities that are run by some municipalities. So next slide. So the question is do the user fees cost uh cover the costs of providing the service in Mount Ary? The answer is a definitive no. We do not meet the requirements of running water and sewer departments on a break even basis. And that's because funds are routinely taken from reserves to cover costs that are not recovered through fees. We run deficits. On top of that, and this number down here, $5717,000 is the deficit programmed in the current

budget and approved by the mayor and the town council. So, we are actually budgeting ourselves in a deficit position and that in my opinion and in the opinion of the water and sewer commission needs to change. So how does the impact of water and sewer financial status uh when you run deficits? Well, continued deficits uh reduce the water and sew sewer reserves. These are money that's accumulated and available for emergency purposes. And it also will affect our ability to finance the infrastructure and the operating costs of the water and sewer department and possibly over time our ability to meet emergencies. And this quote comes from the audited financial statement, the last published one. And it is the management position of this town. And it says, if you go down to the second sentence, consideration will include the safe level of funds to keep for emergencies or rainy day funds and other potential sources of revenue to fund future capital projects. So the capital projects are one of the things that are cause us to run deficits, although we do run some in the operating side of the house, too. However, by programming deficits into your budget, I don't think you're fulfilling the management position as expressed in the town audited financial statements. Uh, next slide. So, what do we do? Next slide. Yeah, you. There we So, what do we do? Well, we need to put the water and sewer financial house in order by increasing the water and sewer rates to get out of

this continual deficit spending. Secondly, we need to create a multi-year operating and capital budget plan. A plan that details recurring costs and required equipment projects uh for replacement and refurbishment of the current assets. And we did upgrade our infrastructure to take advantage of adv advances in technology which uh quite often accompany cost savings and we need to improve the resilience and the life of our current infrastructure. Next slide. So what do we do? We create a budget working group is our recommendation. uh create a long-term 5 years or more uh schedule of operating expenses, capital projects, equipment and infrastructure needs. That group, if created, should determine future funding requirements, prioriti prioritize projects, explore new water sources to cover growth within the town limits. And um by the way, we do not currently are not permitted currently for enough water to cover all the infill and uh refurbishment of existing property within town limits. So that that does need to be addressed over the course of time. commit to restoring water and sewer departments to a break even operation and document and measure the results and just goes on and on and uh we're recommending that you have a working group. I would suggest that it might be comprised of people like the uh head of the department of works and the town engineer possibly somebody for the water and sewer commission and an interested uh citizen private citizen of the town. Next slide. Uh just to give you some idea of the the money aspect of it. from February 22 to

May 25. And this happens to be the period of time the water and sewer commission was tracking how we're doing with our uh financial or reserves. And during that three plus years of time, those reserves went down by 1,589,000 or 27% of the total in our reserves. And this is a continuing problem as evidenced by what we see in the current budget. So how much do things cost? It gives some idea to the and this is just a poperriy of some of the projects that have gone on. Um in the capital side of the house we there was a manhole and covert for I and I which is inflow and infiltration of storm water into our sewer system improvements. That was $37,000. Uh wastewater treatment plant swale was put in there to stop storm water overflow to the tanks there. 47 almost cost $47,000. Water station number four, nitrate system replacement, $73,000. By the way, there are five water stations, so that may happen again. A pickup truck, which is every couple years they have they have to replace pickup trucks, is around 50,000. Water tower 2 repairs and refurbishment, 431,000. Uh wastewater treatment plant, sludge pump, that's just the uh pump the pump the sludge up to the plant, $14,000. Wastewater treatment plant security camera, 49. That was on the cheap side. And here's the big question mark. water and sewer m replacements uh or refurbishment of those. We just did a pro Marty what what how much was the project on uh prospect million

about a million about a million dollars paid out of ARPA? Yeah, it was paid out of ARPA. Uh but when it comes to uh our aging infrastructure and the water lines and the sewer lines, it's not cheap. And so u replacing those is going to be very expensive in the future and it is coming on the operating side of the house. This just give you an idea of where we stand. Just the chemicals to run the water in the sewer departments in a year $300,000. The electric bill and the utility bill for sewer and water is close to $300,000 a year. uh computers, the IT services, 55,000 principle on bonds. This is from this year's budget, 416,000 interest on that bond, 48,000 salaries, uh water and sewer and the uh fridge benefits for our employees who do a great job by the way. Um a million dollars a year. So it it costs a lot. I would point out by the way that over the years the cost of operating water and sewer plants has increased faster than the rate of inflation. That's that's so you can't just take the CPI and say well that's how we should increase the budget. Well, first we got to balance it. But the increase you're going to find out is usually higher. And for some reason these don't all line up. Um, if you look at this current year's proposed budget, the operating costs in the budget are 3,100,000. The water and sewer capital is 494 $4,980,000 for a total of 8,112,000. So, you have a built-in budget deficit.

If you look at the budget, we're going to outspend our operating by 257,000. We're going to outspend our sewer by $260,000. Total deficit that is programmed and approved $517,000, half a million dollar in this year alone, which is 6.4% of the total budget. Something needs to be done to correct this problem. So, what do we need to do? stop the bleeding and approve the proposed increase to water and sewer rates. And so I'm requesting that a ordinance be introduced at the next meeting for passage so that we can increase the rates. The water sewer commission is recommending 8% in the first year followed by 8% in the each next two years to get our financial house pack in order. Thank you. Dick, are you willing to answer any questions or would you rather not? Sure. So, I'll open up to the council. Does anyone have any questions? I mean, it's going to be uh obviously up to us to create an ordinance. Um, and if we have any questions, uh, or if we decide that we want to do it, uh, to create an ordinance to get it through the process, that's fine. But if you have any questions, I'll open the table now uh to where if we decide we don't or if we don't have enough support, meaning a second, I' I'd rather not have our attorney write it up. Um so, I'll just say we could ask questions now. Maybe I can start start by uh uh setting the stage. It's certainly something that has to be addressed and I know it's a tough pill uh to put on our citizens, but here's the bottom line. you know, we're trying to provide them with uh with water service and uh and we're

trying to stay within a budget and the costs keep going up on uh things like removing sludge from the wastewater treatment plant and uh being able to uh uh supply the chemicals and everything that go into our our water treatment. Um it's not getting any cheaper and I can tell you as a uh chief financial officer of the town, we we do have to do something. we can't keep budgeting this way. Uh so you know if we can't uh uh cut the expenses then we need to raise the rates so we can keep providing the service. So uh so I hope the the council understands and I I totally get it that you know the last thing I want to do is is take another dime out of the people's pockets but uh but we got to provide water. So anyway, thanks Dick for the presentation questions. Uh yeah, thank you. So, so I'm the new liaison to the water and sewer commission and I've I've gone to many of the meetings in the past just because I had an interest, but now I'm the official liaison and uh I don't want to give my meeting report from the last meeting here. But I did encourage the water and sewer commission and and Dick to to come and give a presentation so that it would educate the elected officials and for transparency the public can understand what what's the issue, what's the basis, what's the need, so that if we did move ahead with with an ordinance, there'd be a little bit of a background of of why this might need to be done. Um, for me the the operating plan is critical because if I'm just an average citizen, not even a council member, I want to know if you're raising my rates. I want to know what the money is going to go for and how

it's going to be spent. So for me, any any ordinance would have to stipulate that a operating plan is going to be prepared and what the goals are. for me that would have to be in an ordinance for me to support it in any way. But I appreciate Dick you coming and laying this out. I think it's important. Um and we'll just have to think about how to proceed. So thank you. Yeah. I will just say that u by creating a working group uh that to address the long-term capital side of the house as well as the operating is a big step forward. And I think you got to put the appropriate people together to do exactly what you're saying, which needs to be done. I point out, by the way, that uh former mayor Frank Johnson, I think it was 2007, 2008, actually saw the same problem, said the same things. And when they did budgets and the budget worksheets that you all use, I don't know if you extend them out, you'll see there's five uh lines in there. That's for where you put in your capital program for the next five years so that you can see what's going on. Well, you take a look at those from the last one and you'll see there's a lot of blanks, a lot of nothing in there that needs to be filled in so we have a feeling for where are we going, how much is it going to cost, and how are we going to fund it? Because um true, you can get grants for some things. Um, but basically you're running this on the user fees and your goal is to do it with a healthy and viable system and do it in a break even basis. Thank you Dick for the pre presentation was very informative and no I do agree

with you something does have to be at least looked at and addressed and start thinking about unfortunately adjusting the rate schedule because what you highlighted on is just some of the things that could potentially be coming down the pike for capital and operating. Also, we do have the uh new law mandate to replace the lead and copper pipes in into the houses that are coming up. While some state money may may be available, nothing's guaranteed right now. And it's not just us that are um I want to say in an operating financially deficits everybody. There's many municipalities unfortunately that find it find the same boat that we're in and they unfortunately have to raise the rates to sometimes far worse than the 8% that you have suggested. So I'm in favor of looking forward towards it and if the council wants to move forward with this I can volunteer my time and work with Tom to uh draft something up. Any other questions? Just a few. And if you don't have the answer for him, that's fine. I mean, we can talk offline, too. Um, obviously this council minus uh Mr. Kelly, who is on the phone now, he's phoning in. Um, but when Council Member Kleti was a part of it, we did raise the water and sewer rates uh then. Um, we also raised taxes for the first time since when? K5. Okay. So, for the first time in probably 20some years, um, in the past, I know you've been on the water and sewer commission for a long time. Has a rate increase been brought to previous councils or previous mayors or etc. and then been denied? And if so, do you remember why?

Uh, no. They've never been denied. The last major increase was back in 2008 or so. And they were running uh deficits similar to this. Um and one of the things facing us was that a lot of the money was coming in from the fees paid for new development. And of course, development slowing down. And so they're running deficits. Nobody was addressing them. and the water sewer commission came in and said we need to raise the rates 10% every year for five years to get that's how deep a hole we were in. Well, that those rates it was approved ran about three years got to break even point and then dropped the last two years. Uh we had the rate increase in 2023 was modest. That was a really modest increase. And the reason it was a modest increase and didn't address the problem then is we had ARPA money to do a lot of capital projects. And second of all, we had changed out the meters and the data that we used to see how much water is being used by who and was inaccurate and it couldn't be relied upon. But we recommended and that a small rate increase go in there to try to stabilize the financial situation. It made a modest change. The other thing was when you change meters, there's usually an expectation that old meters run slow, new meters run accurately, you get charged for more water, you pay a higher bill, we get our revenue goes up. that didn't we did not experience that to any great extent at 20 when there during 2022 2023 when when all the meters were being changed out. So that left us in a hole. We didn't make up any ground through that. So

I'm going to say it's been 15 years since the rate increase and then the 2023 modest increase and today we're back. Okay. I know in 2023 we did a a rate increase dependent upon water usage. So if you used less, your increase was less. Is this an 8% over the next three years flat across the board? Yes. Okay. That was a correction by the way to try to uh be as fair as we can in the way you apply the rates and it's progressive rate system. progressive race system for the purpose of uh encouraging water conservation, but we found out that we have a lot of seniors and and they use very little water, fixed incomes and stuff. So, we didn't want to burden the low end. And they also started off with everybody pays a uh service benefit charge, a flat fee. Well, that's a retroactive fee. So, that progressive fee, I'm sorry. And that affects the uh low water users to a greater extent than the high water users. So that was just in addition a minor increase. It was adjustment somewhat in the rates to kind of uh more equitably distribute you know who pays the bills. This therefore is just a flat 8% across the board for all water rates and all sewer rates. And um we'll take another look at the equity of the situation. And certainly we take input from anybody who has it at the water and sewer commission and talk about doing that. But now is not the time, I don't think, to go through all that analysis to determine where we should go. Okay. All right. And I guess the last thing when we get done the three years, do you think that this 8% which is actually a 24% increase by the end of it will get us back to a minimum of break even or do I mean things are obviously going up year after year. So we forecasted the annual increase, let's say, of our

sludge contract. We just approved it. It went up exponentially, 100,000. We don't have another sludge competitor to look at. They are who they are and they charge what they charge. Have we looked at the forecast based on the history of their increases and then what we look at 5 10 years from now? You know, I I I think that I'm looking at it is we're always playing catch-up. So, at what point are we going to be not playing catch-up anymore? but also not having to keep increasing. I mean, this will be the second increase that that a lot of this council's made when no other previous council's made an increase since 2008 in the water and sewer in 2004 in taxes. So, I just didn't know. I mean, do we have a forecast or over the next two months? Obviously, next month it'll be introduced and then voted on in September, but can we get something like that? you know, to to see where we're going to be for it doesn't have to be exact, but I'd like to see a forecast as to what this might do. I can give you uh what the water and sewer commission looked at, which is we end uh this was assuming that the rate increase would have started July 1st and we would have had a full fiscal year, but we've lost a quarter already, but it assumed that we might still lose some money in this fiscal year. we break even and maybe make a little bit of money and then we make some more and that does sounds like oh well we take make more we're not running out of break even well what happens is you put that into reserves and then as the rates I mean as the costs go up then you pull that money back out and over the course of time you may run a deficit one year you may run a surplus one year but overall it should balance out so we're expecting that a slight um profit would be made in the third year and probably get wiped out over the next two years. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. I

think um maybe as a council we should probably work with with Dick and and at least what through the liaison I would I would assume and also with Barney to see what capital projects are coming down the pike and and kind of see what what we're looking at over the course of the next three to five years. Uh and then we can make a decision off of that. And I would also recommend then uh establishing some sort of group that actually addresses uh long-term operating but particularly capital uh expenses so that we're better prepared in the future. Thank you so much for the presentation. I appreciate your time. You're welcome. Larry, do you have anything? No, I was just going to add in I do have it uh got a star next to creating a working group and I know Carl's interested. Steve is probably interested as a liaison. So, we'll we'll put something together. Thank you, Dick. Thank you again, Dick. All right. Next up, we have our approval of council meeting minutes and close minutes. So, first up, we have our June 2025 town council me meeting minutes. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. All right. Any discussion? I have one revision. Council President. All right. Go ahead. Okay. So page two, item 11, [Applause] Ordinance 2025-3. And let's go down to line six, where the first word in a line is extended. Yep. Okay. So, please I I' I'd like to make a motion to strike the word stay and insert the words remain in the ordinance

to be reszoned. So the sentence would read, "Councilman Munder had an amendment for parcels uh dot dot dot South Main Street extended to remain in the ordinance to be reszoned limited commercial. Would you like to repeat? I think we're going to be good. Uh, one more time, Sean. So, uh, so starting at line five, council member Mer had an amendment for parcels 1395, 1386, and 1116 South Main Street extended to instead of the word stay, insert remain in the ordinance to be reszoned and then continue limited commercial. Okay, got it. [Music] All right. So, we have an amendment. I'll accept. Everybody good with that? Second. Second. Okay. All right. Thanks, Sean. All right. Any further discussion? He's about to. We're about to. Yeah, you're good. And now and now you know why we reelected it. All right. So um yep. So we have a little revision there on uh number 11. All right. No further discussion. All right. Hearing none. All in favor of approving the council meeting minutes from the June 2nd 2025 meeting with the amendment. Please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. I. All right. Thank you. Next up we have

our June 2025 closed meeting minutes. uh as to consult with council to obtain legal advice with the subject is litigation. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the June 2025 closed meeting minutes under litigation. Please signify by saying I. I. I. Right. And last, we have our June 2025 closed meeting minutes. Subject was land acquisition. I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. And any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor to approve the June 2025 closed meeting minutes for land acquisition. Please signify by saying I. I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have our civil air patrol report with First Lieutenant Lavell. Good evening. How are you? I'm doing well. How about you guys? Good. All right. So, um, unfortunately, I got you guys the report a little late. Did everybody get a copy of it? Okay. All right. So, for those of you that don't know, I'm the brand new squadron commander for the Mount Airy Composite Squadron. Um, I am First Lieutenant Aaron Lavel. Um, we have unfortunately not the busiest month, but maybe that's a good thing for a first starting month. Um our most significant mission was we had members uh participate in the testing and evaluation of drone detection um and the response capabilities for two of the uh DC area air force bases. Um the the mission was part of a larger wing level support to nearby commands and security forces ahead of some several high-profile hope high-profile events such as the um army birthday parade. The squadron members um served as SUAS mission pilots and they were and supporting technicians as well. Um

additionally we had several uh staff members support the planning and execution of the wing commanders uh cup competition event which is a cadet competition. Um this was a fitness event that was held at uh South Carol High School. Um and it was quite the success. I think we brought in about 100 cadetses um from the entire state to go ahead and compete in that. There will be uh additional events as well, but this one was the fitness one. Um, regarding uh community support, uh we supported the post flood cleanup activities in Alageney County and uh apparently from what I understand it was quite the effort and it is an ongoing one as well. Um the we did not receive any requests for support um for Mount Air within the month of June, but we have uh several events we're planning for and some of whom we have already done for the month of July. Um, one ground t one ground team uh leader was qualified during the month of June. Um, we continue as always to uh to uh increase the proficiency of our SU SUAS piloting our drone pilots um both the technicians and the pilots. And um we have multiple different cadetses preparing for leadership opportunities at the summer encampment that'll be in August. four cadets participated in the um orientation flights and we are happy to report that we welcomed three new cadetses um two new senior members from Parkland Squadron um that'll be with us throughout the summer. We have another one that transferred in from Howard and I believe three more that have sent us emails all on the same day coincidentally that are interested so we'll take it. Um our mission our ground team is fully mission capable and we have more than more than a few um that are available to support the SUAS missions as well as incident command posts as needed. Um if I'm by count I believe we in the state uh for civil air

patrol have the most SUAS qualified individuals both pilots and technicians. um coming up. As I said, we have uh multiple people that are um planning to staff the encampment. We also have some that are planning to attend it as well well as multiple national cadet special activities. The squadron is planning to support and has uh well intended to support the American Spirit Parade. Um and then as well the fireworks cleanup on the 5th. And then last but not least, we are preparing for a SARX mission, a search and rescue exercise um in Cumberland this um next weekend. So, does anybody have any questions? Questions? Say one thing if you don't mind. Yep. Go ahead. I just want to thank you again, you and your team. Um when I left Thursday night, uh I didn't think there was any way that it was going to be cleaned up as fast as it was. You guys did a bangup job. Um, thank you for everything you guys did as well as public works and the town staff and everybody. I will I will tell you it is the only event that I say we're going to go ahead and clean up after the fireworks. We get more cadetses, more staff members, more everybody that comes to that. They love it. So, I'm not sure why, but we do. You gave me back about four hours of my life. So, thank you so much. No worries. All right. Thanks so much. Yeah. Yeah. Me as well. you know, I showed up on uh July 4th with a cup of coffee in my hand and you guys were already done. Uh so uh so thanks so much for that. You you saved the town a a lot of money in terms of overtime as well as public works is is working hard throughout the entire week as well as the police department and everybody else who organizes this event. So the fact that you're willing to come in on the morning of the 4th and get that knocked out for us saves us money, saves us time. Oh yeah. saves wear and tear on our people. So, thank you so much. Thank you for giving us the opportunity as well. Appreciate it. Have a lovely evening.

Next up is our Mount Volunteer Fire Company report with Matt Herd. Good evening everyone. Uh month of June, we had 256 calls to service. Uh 174 correction, 166 in Carol, 74 in Frederick, 12 in Howard, and four in McGomery. In our first two box areas, box 113, we had 34 EMS calls. 114 we had 11 EMS. Box 11, we had 23 EMS and six fire. 115, 17 EMS, and three fires. An express care, 10 ambulance calls. 1 3 10 19 EMS and four fire. 16 EMS and box 14 and box 15 at 2 EMS. So, and one fire. And as you guys know, July 21st is a big kickoff for the Manor of Hunter Fireman's Carnival. So, you know, we run for 6 days. Come on up, support us, eat some good food. You know, a lot of our businesses actually chip in and help us out as well. as well as friends and families and people come up there and they put in a lot of hard work, a lot of hard time and uh we do appreciate it. We have the auxiliary dinner start off the night and then stop by the eating stand, the pizza stand, French fries. We got Mr. Carter here. He's a big supporter of the fire company. We do the barbecue Sundays. Thank you, Chris. Uh so it's it's a good good fun time, but we're all here for one one reason is to, you know, uh support the fire company and gain some funds. So, thanks again. All right. Thanks so much, Matt. Hold on, Matt. You don't get away yet. Sorry to And what about the ride all night ride tickets? Ride all night tickets are for sale right now for one low price for 20 bucks at Wagner's and BLM basketball. Okay. If not, it cost $35 if you don't have your run all night tickets. So, get them in and and save a couple

dollars. Yes. Cash only for the ticket for the ride all night. That is correct. Yes. What nights do those pertain to? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Okay. Yep. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have our Manor Police Department report with Chief Janevra. Good evening everybody. For our community outreach, uh MAPD officers participated in the four counties Lions Carnival. That event went very well. Uh on June 10th, Officer Wright, uh myself and Lieutenant Hopkins, we participated in the Mount Airy or excuse me, Maryland law enforcement torch run that sponsored the Special Olympics. And our athlete was Mr. Eric Federline. So again, great job. Outstanding event. If you ever have an opportunity to participate in anything for the Special Olympics, I would definitely say go ahead and do so. For our recruitment process, we did initially have six entrylevel applications. We are now down to three. Our next part of our phase for that uh position is going to be their physical agility exam which that date will be set up in the near future. Our internship, we do have an intern that has started with us and I'd like to she's not currently presently here, but her name is Miss Lauren Nilo and she's from Talson University and her major study is uh forensics. For our calls of service, we had 4992 calls for service for the month of June. That's a decrease of 4.6 compared to June of uh last year. I'd like to note of a noteworthy arrest on June 6, 2025 at 11:54 p.m. around Drive and South Main Street. A traffic investigation was conducted resulting in arrest and seizure of a stolen handgun reported stolen in May of 2020 of I'm probably going to butcher this, but from

Lenor County, North Carolina. It was a 9mm Walter CCP, that's the model, loaded with three rounds that were recovered. The driver was arrested and charged accordingly. I'd like to just acknowledge this officer here and this officer is one of our newly officers and this is officer Brandon Wright. an outstanding job of one recovering a handgun off the street that it's been stolen and out there circulating for quite some time. And not only that, showing that the aggressiveness with these officers that are actively out here in this community that these things are taking place. So again, if somebody sees something that doesn't look right, call us. That's what we're here for, folks. Uh we'll investigate it. We'll put we'll we'll get the information out there. Uh, I'd like to also note our parks and wrecks uh for they have the ice block sledding this July 11th over at Watkins Park. As Mr. Herd just said, the fireman's carnival, another great event. We do have the upcoming Mount Airy Mile on August 9th. I know I'm getting a month ahead here. And then we do have Celebrate Mount Airy. And the only other thing that I'd like to add is also our event for the fireworks. It was a great turnout uh this year again outstanding from not only from public works to the police department and not only that everyone else that participate and extending that to the community too because without the community's help I mean everybody's gone to different locations for fireworks and sometimes there are some disasters that take place. So I will say that this town is like self-s serving. Everybody helps, everyone participates, and thank you to those folks that supplied water to my officers. It's greatly appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Question again. So, thank you for all you guys do. Um, I do have a question. I'm looking at your group A crimes, your group B crimes.

Uh, this month you had 16 group A crimes, three group B crimes. My question is I'm interested as as a council member in understanding not just the types of crimes, but where are these crimes occurring? So, is that data that's available to me? And if if not, specific addresses, nearest intersections or roadways, I'm looking for whatever information you're allowed to provide that helps me understand where in this town those crimes are occurring. Sure. Can you provide that data? Yes, sir. I can supply that for you in town council. We can give that information. Okay. If so-called requested, but again, most of that information is obviously that takes place in the town and some of them are reported late, but they are also accounted for according to the UCR for that reporting statistics. I would I would like to get get that information. Be very helpful. Thank you. Yes, sir. Any further questions? Yes, council president. just like to say thank you for all the work you've done also and also the fireworks was very nice. He directed the traffic and particularly me into into the correct lane while leaving. Uh but no problem was easy easy out basically. So it's improved over time. And also I just want to comment that it seems like Mount Area has been getting some bad rep in the news lately. Not us in general, but just a lot of things have been happening around and related to the shooting on I7 that took place a couple weeks ago. They did um apprehend if people didn't know that the people responsible for it and they were not related to Mount Ary whatsoever. They were based out of Harold County in in Colombia. So I just want to put that out there too and I believe you all u responded to the call when it was happening too.

Yes sir, that is accurate. Mount area units did respond to that in light of uh MSP and I believe also Frederick County Sheriff's Department responded to that and I know that there was another incident just posted um that happens to be quite a few that happen when they post it stipulates that it's Mount Ary. uh if there is some threat or some endangerment to this town, I will make sure that the community is aware of any said incidents. If anyone has any questions, they're more than welcome to call or come up to the station. And if I'm not there to supply the information, Lieutenant Hopkins or Sergeant Brooks can get them the accurate information. Cool. Thank you. Yes, sir. Uh thank you again for everything. I know it was a busy month with fireworks and everything, but you guys did a great job as always. So, yes, thank you. It's participation at all levels, not just us. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Do you know like I think last year Sergeant Brooks had everybody off the premises in 30 minutes. Do you know if that was the case again this year? I know there was more people because the parking lot was closed at 6:45. I wouldn't maybe say 30 minutes for that, but it was smoother this year. Every year again, we do work out certain kinks and with the new security team that helped um they did an outstanding job. Miss Pam and her crew. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have our mayor, council, and staff reports. First up, our mayor mayor's report, Mayor Husher. All right. Thank you, uh, council president. Uh, this may save a little bit of time in discussion later on. Uh the Mount Airy Mile is uh this will occur on August 9th at 9:00 a.m. This event helps local residents who suffer financial issues due to unexpected medical costs. The event is held by the Rotary Club of Mount Ary. It is a onem run or walk from basically Anita's

Liquors down to Liquidity Ale Works. Uh for more information, you can Google Mount Airy Mile and you'll pull up uh uh the information on it. Cost is roughly $30 to participate. And uh like I said, this money goes toward uh people it it's not that it goes that uh the Rotary Club will cut a check for a hospital or an emergency room. it's that if you're uh enduring uh financial stress because of a medical emergency, they they'll offset the cost to a water bill or an electric bill or something like that. So, it's a really good uh program set up by the Rotary Club. Uh this year, uh we're including Mount Airy Millie. Mount Airy Millie is a duck that will forecast if we're going to have six more weeks of summer. The duck will be presented by Henry Bousard or is it Buzzard? Uh, the founder of Mount Ary. Uh, he will be there in costume and he will hold up the duck and we will see if the duck sees its shadow or not and that will tell us if we're going to have six more weeks of summer. So, uh, Mount Ary recognizes that we are entering our nation's celebration of 250 years as a beacon of freedom throughout the world. Uh, council member Deoter and our community development director Ashley Collier are serving as a towns leaison and facilitators of the events this year. If interested in assisting, please notify town hall or get in touch with Ashley or council member Demoter. A meeting will be forthcoming to begin planning for the year of celebration. And then the uh final thing I'll cover is a little more somber. Uh, our hearts go out to the victims of the latest catastrophic flood flooding incident near Kurville, Wimberly in the Austin area of Texas along the Guadalupi River.

This flooding happened in the pre-dawn hours of July 4th. At this time, 75 people, and I think it's increased from there, uh, just throughout today, have passed away, including 48 adults and 27 children. People are still missing. Maryland's Alageney County suffered flooding in May of this year. Fortunately, property damage was the major impact as opposed to loss of life. But Texas serves as a reminder that many communities in Maryland are vulnerable to flooding. Though we are fortunate to be on a ridge line, we are all still vulnerable as well to natural disasters, especially wind related incidents. We have a strong bond with our fellow municipalities, the counties, and the state. Should a disaster occur, know that as a town, we will do all we can to assist our community through nonprofits, manpower, supplies, and equipment. And finally, know that our empathy and offer of assistance extends to all those communities that surround us. So again, take a moment to uh reflect on that before you go to bed tonight on on just the uh level of catastrophe that occurred in Texas and be thankful uh that we're not there in the middle of it and be thankful for all those that are down there trying to help. So thank you. All right. Thank you, mayor. Next up, we have our board of recreation and parks and sustainability commission with myself. Um, my first sustainability commission meeting will actually take place on August 20th here at town hall at 7 p.m. They meet every even month uh on the 20th. And I was unable to attend my first parks and wreck meeting uh last month due to a family obligation. Uh but I will have an updated uh and very thorough uh report at our next August

meeting. We meet Thursday, July 17th uh virtually. So, uh, at 7:00 p.m. Next up, we have our planning commission with council member Kelly. Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. Yep. Gotcha. Great. Uh, the planning commission met on June 30th. The Carol County Planning uh, planner position is vacant, but a written report was submitted. Highlights include zoning text amendments that are being discussed by the county planning commission specifically for the uh employment campus district and a solar amendment that would bring the code in line with newly adopted state legislation. Also, the board of county commissioners has asked the county planning commission to revisit APFO regulations particularly regarding schools. Ms. Mareno from Frederick County reported that a bill was introduced last month to uh establish a zoning overlay district that limits the total land area for critical data infrastructure uses, aka data center development, to no more than 1% of the county's land area. Also, there are proposed zoning changes in New Market that would reszone a handful of parcels from general commercial and office research industrial to light industrial to support the investing in workers and workplaces initiative. Uh on June 30th, it was sign night at the planning commission meeting as three applications for new storefront signage were unanimously unanimously approved. Lastly, the planning commission reviewed and commented on the Carol County water resource element document. Town staff will send questions and comments back to the county and then the final draft will be sent to the town council for review. Our next meeting is July 28th. All right. Thank you very much. Next up, we have our streets and roads commission commission on aging and livability and the flat iron task force with council member Mund. All right. There was no street and roads

meeting in June because they meet uh every I want to say the last Tuesday of every odd month. So the next schedule meeting is 7:00 p.m. Tuesday 7:29 here at town hall for the flat iron task force. I just would like to say uh there has been 17 meetings roughly. Let me Oh man, here we go. There's been 17 meetings have been held since the for since the formation of the task force. Currently, we are just they are waiting for uh the results of some grant initiatives that have been placed that have been uh submitted. So, we're just waiting for the return of that and the next meeting will be scheduled when there is one that is needed. So, that concludes for the flat iron task force. Unfortunately for the commission for coal, I was unable to make the last meeting again in um June due to the fact that we were all coming back from the MML conference. So I will have a better report up in August because they decided not to meet in July. The next meeting for Cole is Wednesday, August 27th, 5:00 p.m. here at town hall. And that concludes my reports. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, we have the Economic Development Commission and the Recycling and Sanitation Commission with Council Secretary Evans. Thank you. The EDC um did not meet in June. Uh but we are still working. Ashley Kier has submitted the business survey. Um her interns are going to be working on getting that out personally delivered to all those business owners to um start a survey for input on how things are going business-wise. Uh the round table um will be on September 9th 5:00 to 7 pm at town hall and there is a link on the

website if you go to the form center where you can u fill out your information and be invited to that. The next meeting will be Wednesday, July 23rd here at town hall. Uh for sanitation and recycling, new totes are in and we are working on a plan to get those dispersed. Uh so stay tuned for that and check out the website um for any information regarding that. Yard waste pickups for July are on the 12th and the 26th and for August on the 2nd and 16th and our next meeting will be Wednesday July 16th. And that's it for my reports today. All right. Thank you. Next up we have the Water and Sewer Commission and the Beautifification Commission with Council Member Demoter. All right. Thank you. Uh beautifification commission. Uh we last met on June 17th. They've been very busy helping to prepare for the July 4th holiday. Um you probably noticed they placed the bunting along the railings along Wildwood Park. Uh they've been very busy planting and weeding in all of the town's parks and along rails to trails. Their next meeting is scheduled for July 15th. A water and sewer commission last met on June 4th. Uh they discussed a range of water management topics, reviewed water and sewer flow totals from our wells and at our wastewater treatment plant. Um I'm always learning new things. I learned regarding flows. I learned that the Shauny Shell car wash uses over 1 million gallons of our town's water per quarter. So that was an interesting factoid to me uh for a town that's concerned about about its water usage and development. Um they also discussed the continuing trend and risks of annually drawing down on the reserves to fund water and sewer capital projects and you heard from uh chairperson Swanson on that earlier about the the

background on that and the challenges and needs. Um the next meeting of the commission is scheduled for August 6th and that completes my report. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next up we have our town attorney report with Mr. for Tom McCarron over the last month have provided general advice to uh the town uh prepared the uh annexation materials that are up for introduction and referral to the planning commission. Uh also worked on um a set of findings and decision for the upcoming board of appeals um meeting on July 10. Um review the town county agreement that's on the agenda tonight. also prepared the resoning ordinance. Uh that's also up for introduction tonight. That is my report. All right. Thank you. We all have copies of our town administrator report, the code enforcement report, and the zoning administrator report. Anyone have anything to add to the reports? All right. Thank you. All right. We're on the new business. First up on a new business, we have a road closure for the Mount Mile. Saturday, August 9th, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. starting at East Ridgeville Boulevard and heading down Main Street ending at 8 North Main Street. Uh, and we have the Manor Rot Rotary Club and JD Kelly. I want to assume Council Member Kelly, is she on the phone or available? No, she is here if there are questions. Yes. Okay. All right. So, did you want to Yeah, I'll just jump in if it it might say time as someone makes a motion and seconds it if you're willing and then we can go into Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. All right. And u as I said in my report, this is uh for the Mount Airy Mile. Uh it's basically a onem run down Main Street. And we've done this uh I think JD, is this a third or fourth year? Fourth.

fourth year. Fourth year. Okay. So, u unless you have questions, uh you know, it's pretty straightforward. It's a good uh good event and goes to a good cause. Yeah, I feel like it's pretty straightforward. Um, anyone have any questions at all? You still get a beer and a chicken sandwich? Yes. Yes. So, there will be food, Jason. I will say I've seen firsthand even this month um through a friend of mine exactly what what this Rotary Club can do to to people that that are in need. So, uh you know, I'm happy to support it. I plan on being there and and hopefully we can get as many people there as uh as possible. Um so, any further discussion? No. All right. Hearing none. All in favor of the road closure for the road closure for the Manory Mile on Saturday, August 9th from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. starting in East Ridgville Boulevard and heading down Main Street ending at 8 North Main Street. Please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have to reschedule our September town council meeting. Uh September 1st is a Monday. It's also Labor Day. U like to make a proposal. I'm just looking for the ETH. All right. So, uh, make a motion to reschedule our town council meeting to Monday, September 8th to begin at 7:30 p.m. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of a All in favor of rescheduling our September town council meeting to September 8th at 7:30 p.m. here at town hall. Please signify by saying I. I. I. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have our town and county agreement. Uh this is with Carol County and with Mr. Tom McCarron. So this uh comes up every year at about this time for renewal. Uh I have reviewed the town county agreement uh proposed by Carol

uh for your consideration tonight. Uh in terms of the language, it has the same language it has had probably for 15 years. The only thing that really changes from year to year are the numbers. Um so you know the highlights uh are that uh they sets forward certain um time periods within which we must submit uh certain things like annexation uh petitions uh to give the county 60 days as opposed to what's in the state code 30 days to comment on that. Um you know development plan reviews I believe are 35 or 40 days as as set forth in the in the agreement things like that. It still retains the language uh about the south of I70 uh properties which once upon a time all applied for annexation um because the county was going to reszone that to an employment type campus uh maybe light industrial if I recall correctly. So that's still in there and has been I don't know for over a decade or more. Uh so basically it's a a the same basic agreement that's been approved over and over and over. Uh nothing really has changed, but the numbers do change obviously year to year. All right, I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the town and county agreement uh for 20 for fiscal year 2026. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Uh yes. I had a question. I'm just curious on page two under county it says it's the the first paragraph it says um if there's a subdivision or site development within one mile of the corporate limits of Mount Arery then we would be notified and given copies of the preliminary plans etc. this one mile

designation. Do you know what the basis of that is and how long it's been that way and have we ever questioned that to make that a little broader? So the the onem radius came about I believe back when what I just referred to came about. namely that people south of I7 were concerned that um the county had proposed reszoning their properties uh and the town was not even consulted about it. So we asked that uh for inclusion that any time in at least for a onem radius which included those properties or parts of those properties anyway uh that if if the county is going to do that you know please notify us so that we're least aware of it and can formulate a position on it. Uh they didn't even they really didn't do that. Okay. I mean I I think that's that's good. We we want that. I'm just curious why we wouldn't want a broader swath of more than one mile. I mean, I think about adequ adequacy of public facilities and draws on our resources like police and other things. It seems like we'd want to know a little bit more about what might be happening outside the town that could impact the town. So, that was just one question. Another final question on page three. Oh, one, two, third paragraph under services available. It says, uh, counties shall collect building permit fees for all building permits issued within the Mountain area town limits and on a quarterly basis shall remit to the town of Mount 10% of all fees collected. Have we ever How long has that 10% been there and and have we considered w wanting more of that?

or or we just haven't looked at that. It's been there for probably 15 pro maybe as long as I've been town attorney. Um I'm not aware of any attempts to renegotiate that. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of approving the fiscal year 2026 town and county agreement for the town of Mount Airy, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you. And maybe we can look at a few of those things over the next next fiscal year before this one. Sure. Or before the 2020. All right. Next up, we have the recommendation of award of the A&E design for a police station. Barney, you want to give a brief overview? Sure. All right. Um, so I think everybody knows the background. We're um looking at the property at Candace and South Main Street. Um, and so we um put out an an RFQ request for qualifications and proposals um to architecture and engineering firms and we received seven accepted submissions. Uh staff reviewed them. Um uh I think um you all were at MML still and uh or just getting back from there, but we reviewed them, narrowed it down to four, set up interviews last Monday and then we held those interviews with a qualifications review committee and um from that committee um we came down with a recommendation uh which was to award the AE services to Mosley in the amount to $575,575. And you'll see the you'll see the costs

on the um uh the second sheet, but uh that's or page three, I guess. Uh but that's um you know, that's just the cost. That's not you know, all the qualifications. There's a lot lot put into the selection. All right. Thank you. Do we have a motion? I make the motion for award of the A&E design contract for the police station to AE Mosley in this uh total of 575 575 and I'd like to second that. All right. Any discussion? Yes. Mr. Mayor, did you want to say anything or I mean I like to chime in. I thought I'd defer to you first. Yeah. The only thing I would say is that uh is that we did uh have a a very good interview process of these four architectural firms and I greatly appreciate the fact that they uh they showed up well prepared, gave us PowerPoint presentations on uh Monday. We had a council member sitting on the committee as council member Demoter uh had the uh town engineer, the zoning administrator, town administrator, and uh myself. And uh like I said all all four of them gave uh excellent presentations at the end of the day our our comfort level uh based on the previous work that they had done their ability to answer uh some curve balls that we threw at them uh uh very well um you know that I'm very comfortable with with this decision. And it's not cheap to design a building, but uh uh but this, you know, I believe that they are it's more than just a building. It's going to be a monument at the north end of our town. It'll be there a 100red years from now, 200 years from now. Okay. And uh so and council member Demoter, I thought you asked very uh valid good questions. And I think I think when you look at

projects, you look at them uh uh in more of a manner of a u a monument, you know, something that's going to be there long term. So, whatever comment you have as well. All right. So, so thank you and I appreciate Mr. Mayor you asking me to uh sit in on the selection committee and and uh kind of be the liaison moving forward on this. Um I was impressed. Um, I did I I did a thorough review of the packages. I mean, all of the finalists certainly had good technical credentials. Um, I did my own due diligence. I I got my own references from Mosley and I called the references for other police stations that they had constructed. And I spoke with a deputy chief Todd Alvis and he was uh involved in the Henrio South Station in Virginia and we had a good conversation and it's like the mayor said, you know, this isn't just this isn't just a building. This this is a big deal for the town. This is this is something we've talked about for a long time. And in talking with the deputy chief from Enrico one, he gave a a a totally strong endorsement of Mosley, but he said the same thing. He said, you know, this was a big deal for our town. It wasn't just a project. It was it was a partnership. And that was one of the things that I saw in our interview process and what was validated by this external review was um Mosley is very good. I think they're going to be a good partner with us to see this thing through. Some of the other positives they commented on um there were there Mosley is very good at cost and schedule. Enrio had real

schedule concerns. their police department needed to get that building done and Mosley was very good at controlling cost and staying on schedule. Uh again, the partnership aspect. Um I did ask if they had any problems with with Mosley and the deputy said we had some problems with some fit and finish issues of the construction, but that's not a design issue. that wasn't Mosley. And actually Mosley helped to try and resolve some of those things once once the contractors were there doing work. But it he did give a good recommendation to us and that is once construction starts, make sure you have a good on-site project manager to make sure it gets done the way you want. But the design was excellent. They were very happy. They also said they'll do a good job working with us as a community to ask, you know, what do you want your police station to be for your community? What do you want it for your police and what do you want it for your community in terms of a community room or something else? So, I think we've got a good partner if we make this selection and I'm just excited about seeing the project kind of get off the ground and going. But all positive things to say about Mosley and I think we're making a safe informed selection. So thank you. All right. Any further discussion? President, go ahead. Uh quick question. So for the town staff, just general question. This $575,000 for the design of this project, this is, you know, we're still in the very early stages of this project. My general question is, does this still keep us on

track? You know, this one component, um, if we pass this tonight, is, uh, is this still, uh, keep us on track with the budget set aside for the entire project or, you know, to word it again, is this $575,000 about what they thought it was going to be for this early component of the project? Yeah. Uh, so to answer that question, um, I think we had in the budget 552,000. It was within about 4% of our projected budget for the AE services. So, we're very close. Did you hear that, Sean? What was the number that was in the budget? 552,000. So, they're within 4% of what the estimate was. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. No problem. And I I have one other comment, Council President. Yeah. So, thank you, uh, Council Member Kelly for bringing that up. I was going to I want to make two suggestions. One, um, maybe you can remind us real quickly here, but, you know, the the project is comprised of design costs, uh, property purchase costs. We're getting a bond for 4.5 million. So, I think it's important one that we're always transparent about what the costs are according to our plan. I would like to see us um create space on the town's website about this project, like starting from now so it's transparent about what's been accomplished and what's been awarded, etc. And then, Mr. Mayor, I think it would be a good idea to have a a little section in your monthly um report that does the same thing. And that way there's transparency, people can see what's going on. You know, we don't have a town newspaper. Just a way to keep everybody informed about about the project. So those are my thoughts. All right. Thank you. Any further

discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of approving the architecture and engineering design services of the Mount Police Station to Mosley in the amount of $575,575. Please signify by saying I. I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Barney. Thank you. Right. Next up, we have the recommendation of award of the IT computer services. This is also to Mr. Quinn. Just a brief overview. we uh it was time to bid our IT services and uh we did so um during the month of May and we received three acceptable submissions. Um all were found to be well qualified. The the prices did vary quite quite extensively. Uh but um the uh best bid came in from Clark Computer Services who is our current um you know uh uh vendor for uh for our computer services now. And uh we have had nothing but good reports with them. We've been pleased with them. Again, we were only bidding it because it was time to bid them out. Uh so our recommendation is to stick with Clark Computer Services. Um when you add everything up their total is $67,68324 and um I believe under a few line items that it covers it uh we have an available budget of $74,420. Okay. Um unless Kitty corrects me. Um but uh sounds like it's well within our budget. Okay. Do we have a motion? I make the motion for approval of the uh award of the contract for IT computer services to Clark Systems in the total in the amount of 67,68324.

All right. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right. Any discussion? All right. My only question was if it was in our budget. So, it is. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of approving the new IT contract with the amount of $67,68324 to Clark Computer Services, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have our commission appointments and reappointments with Mayor Husher. Okay. We uh I make the following recommendations as appointments. Uh like to recommend uh Linda Sha be appointed to the recycling and sanitation commission. All right. I'll make a motion to appoint Linda Sha to the recycling and sanitation commission. Do we have a second? Second it. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of appointing Linda Sha to the recycling and sanitation commission, please signify by saying I. I. I I opposed. All right. Thank you. Okay. Second of all, Carly Shin uh Shriner to the to be appointed to the Recreation and Parks Board. All right. I'll make a motion to approve Carly Shriner to the Recreation and Parks Commission. Uh do we have a second? I'll second it. Any discussion? In favor of approving Carly Shriner to the Recreation and Parks Commission, please signify by saying I. I. I. opposed. All right. Thank you. Next up, we're with ordinances and resolutions. First up, we have annexation resolution 2025-47. This is for 50.98 acres of land located along the north side of Watersville

Road. This is for introduction and referral to the planning commission. I will make a motion to introduce. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right. So, this will go to the planning commission and then come back to us at a later date. Next up, we have ordinance 2025-16, the reszoning of four properties on South Main Street. This is for introduction. Do we have an introduction? I'd like to introduce ordinance 202516, reszoning of four properties on South Main Street. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right. So, we'll see that next month. Next up, we have ordinance 2025-17, uh, emergency budget amendment to add $110,000 for rails to trails east of Maine, cover culvert and paving. This is for adoption. Um, I'll make a motion to intro or to adopt ordinance 2025-17. Do we have a second? I'll second it. All right. Any discussion? Uh, yes. A few questions on this. So um so first this is this is adopting this as an emergency ordinance. Correct. Correct. What is the emergency um before us for this work? Give a a very brief history. We try to do this in um FY24 um and we uh had to go to a redesign. We had to get calculations. So we had to get additional engineering. Uh so we we submitted a design ourselves inhouse. Uh it wasn't approved by MD. So we had to get because they wanted calculations. So we had to get a consultant on board. We

got the consultant on board. That was last spring and um we didn't get approval until the first week in June of this year. And so because of the the long delay, we had to move the move it into this coming year, FY26. In order to get the project done this year, um one of the limitations is we're working in the stream. If you're working in a trout stream, um you can't work in this trout stream from October 1st to April 30. So, seven months you cannot work in it. So, you only have five months. And now, since we didn't get approval till early June, we lost April and we we've lost June. Here we are starting July. We only have three months, July, August, September to get it done um before we're limited again. So if we push it back a month, introduce it this we would only have two months and that would really be tight because once you once we get your approval then we have to award it to the contractor they need a few weeks to set up and then they're doing concrete and and with curing time it it just makes it real tight. So that's the only reason for the emergency. Okay. And then another question. So the the cost breakout here is about 38K coming from the grant and 72K coming from Parks Reserve account. And I'm looking at our budget under the line item that you identify here 01-516-5951. And in our budget spreadsheet, it has budgeted $95,000. Is that correct? So from from the current year we have 95,000. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This past year. Yeah. So that so the number you're referring to was for fiscal year 25 which ended on June 30th. Okay.

So we have 95,000 green column. There was nothing there. Okay. So there there was nothing budgeted for for this year. We were hoping to get it done before June 30th, but just we were anticipating getting MDU's approval in March. Okay. And that probably would have given us plenty of time to get it done by June 30, but it didn't happen. So, so we had 95,000 and then we're thinking with the paving what the paving, we don't have an updated paving number, but we have a feeling that that number is going to go up. Um, so we threw an extra 15,000 in there to uh cover that to Okay. So, so all of the money that's coming from the town, there was nothing budgeted for 26 and all the money is coming out of the parks reserve account. It's coming out of what? Either the 252 or 266, one of those two accounts. Okay. Um, is there any effort? Could we get more grant money somehow to cover this? I mean the the ratio of grant money to town money is is quite quite low. I was just curious if we were trying to get more grant money. So the grant money that we have is actually money that was not used for the Summit Ridge that we were trying that we're trying to have reallocated to that project. Um, usually when you have grant when you're funding something with grant monies, you cannot use two grants, especially when um the grant has a a cost like a town cost. You can't cover the town cost with another grant. They won't award you the initial grant money. Okay. And then the last question is, I mean, again, I'm very supportive of Rails to Trails. Uh I I'm learning from an MML presentation I gave where I had to learn a lot more about Rails of Trails and we've got about 1.1 miles completed and

we want to get 2 miles as our end state. But is there a project plan that says okay here are the remaining tasks and how much they're going to cost to complete Rails to Trails? I mean I know for example we we might need to purchase some property as an example. I know we want to put a tunnel or a bridge or something. We want to get across Route 27. That may incur some costs. I'm not looking for those big costs, but are there other dribbs and drabs that we need to fund to complete all the other parts of Rails to Trails? And is there a plan that lays out that money? Yeah. I mean, finishing this again, there's a trail there now. We're trying to make it better. We're paving it. Um it was kind of a a promise to State Highway when we got a grant from them to build the boardwalk that that would be a paved trail um all the way out to Watkins um because we were considering it a handicap access um and they don't consider the stone handicap access. So, um we're finishing that out and then the two major is is is to get the um the portion along cold storage and then crossing a 27 uh and then perhaps paving the first portion of the uh trail back to the treatment plant where the the back half is is already paved. Um so those are the major pieces I would foresee. I don't know if Yeah, I mean I would jump in there. It's it's hard to um uh to to look at some of the unknowns. What we do know is that uh is that this section that we started in 2013 from Watkins Park to Main Street uh has been something that's primarily been done

through volunteer efforts. Uh in the very beginning of that process, uh it didn't take long for ADA compatibility to become an issue. Uh and we explained that we were building a nature trail, but ultimately we wanted it ADA compatible. Uh this is uh this is the home stretch on that section of trail. Uh we have managed to uh to build a wooden bridge. We managed to modify the wooden bridge. We managed to build a a bulkhead. We managed to modify the bulkhead over time. So, it's a it's certainly not a it's unlike the6 mi that we've done on the east side of Hill Street where we knew there was contamination. We had to go in and remediate it clean. It cost a heck of a lot of money to get it done. But, uh but that's something that we had budgeted out. And then we had to pull some rabbits out of the hat to um uh to accomplish that through uh some ARPA funding, but also through program open space and and luckily the governor at the time put some money in for us. Uh this will complete us through from Main Street to Watkins Park. As far as the other two properties, we have a a ballpark idea of what it would cost to reme remediate coal storage, but in order to access that property, that's something that, you know, is occurring uh behind the scenes. As far as uh looking at things beyond Highway 27, the biggest cost of that is is going to be getting across Highway 27 through a tunnel or or going through a pedestrian bridge to, you know, once you're over on the other side, if you have access to the uh to

the storm water management uh road, then it's pretty simple because it's already paved. There is some gravel in there, but that gets us all the way out to the wastewater treatment plant, but again, that's uh that's something that has to be negotiated with the with the current owner. Um, so there there's unknowns. Okay. Now, I just noticed that again looking at the budget there there are a lot of parks and wreck projects that they're kind of being held maybe poor term in reserve. I mean, there's no work being done on them. They're kind of costly. And so there's other projects in the queue to me, which is fine, but we're we're kind of prioritizing the trail as a a higher priority than some of these other projects. And we're drawing money out of reserves to help pay for this project and not that takes money out of the reserves for those other projects. So, it's it's they're just observations. Um but but I think it's I think it's fine. So, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And I totally understand what you're saying that that particular section of trail had so much uh volunteer effort put toward it. Um you know um 110,000 is a uh is a tough pill to swallow at one time, but based on uh based on the amount of volunteer effort that went into that section of trail, we're we're actually doing pretty good in in my opinion. All right. Any further discussion, questions? Just a quick thank you and a question to Barney. Uh, just thank you for answering my questions over the holiday weekend regarding this or ordinance. Thank you. And basically, we're under the time crunch for this be because the little fishies over in the trout trout stream. We can't affect the living habits from October to April for the most part. and

to get it done hopefully by you know whether by October before the cuto off we need the emergency amendment to get it done and that would allow proper usage for anyone that is uh mobility restricted uh for the u trail to get from Watkins to down downtown. So I'm in favor of the emergency amendment because it's either now or later wait till the next next spring when the cost could go up even more. So, I'm in favor of this. Thank you, Mr. President. Yep. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of adopting ordinance 2025-17 to add $110,000 for Rails of Trails East of Maine, Culvert, and Paving, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you. I want to say ordinance 202518 was only if the emergency adoption did not pass and that was just going to be for introduction. So we can go ahead and scratch D. That is no longer needed. We do not have any unfinished business. Uh at this time we will now roll call into our close session. Uh our first close session will be under 3-305 subsets B and 7 for litigation and our second will be 3-305B3 for land acquisition. We will roll call into close session and then at the adjournment of our closed session, this town council meeting will be adjourned. What do I need to do? We good to go. We do need a second. Okay, second. Perfect. I knew you were looking at me funny, so I knew I forgot something. All right, so we'll So we'll roll call into this closed session. Council member Deoter, hi. Council member Mund, I. Council member Kelly, I. Council Secretary Evans, I I am an I as well. And we will see everybody next month. Thank you. Okay. And don't