Commissioner - Regular Meeting

All right, I'm going to call this work session order. This our second budget work session. Um kind of in a bit of a hybrid tonight as our county administrator was called away for a family emergency. Um our president is on his way and we'll be here shortly. So you're left with me to call this to order and get it started and kicked off. Um, we're going to start off with the Well, tonight we're going to do park and wreck, public works, and board of elections, but we're going to start out with the board of elections. So, I will turn it over to Mr. Jeff. Yeah, Miss Karen, whoever's going to lead that.

Um, sure. We'll start with the board of elections tonight on pageuh 44 of your operating budget book. Um, they just have the one sheet and the only items of note are $67,000 increase for colas and u merit pay and then $105,000 increase for non- capital lease payments which um I believe is earmarked for new pole books. Is that correct? P books and voting equipment.

Yeah. Um other than that um no major increases for their in their budget. Um they do have the main reason we wanted um board of elections to visit tonight was to discuss their uh their facility that's in the works uh which is on page 27 of your capital books. And um there's $ 8.1 million programmed not next year but in uh 2028 and 2029 and um Mr. Edgar was going to um give us an update on where that facilities looking.

Right. So uh you know Christine can speak to the to the needs and the program and all that. uh public works will be collaborating with them assisting with the development of the space wherever and however it would be. At present uh the program contemplates design in FY28 and construction in FY29 through the design phase. Uh the idea is that you know we'll be able to nail down and refine at that point in time precisely the needs but uh Christy and her team have put together a good breakdown of the space needs that they have right now. Uh they're bursting at the seams in the Vincet building and also it's there's other needs for the Vincet building as well. Uh sharing the planning commission space uh for the polling and training and all that. So recognize the need for a new building. Right now, the budget numbers that you have before you contemplate their their estimates based on 11,000 square feet is the program space that they're looking for. Uh we're applying a unit cost of about $700 per square foot, which it's hard to believe we're talking about that kind of number, but in reality that's with escalation in the industry, that's where we're looking at. but also it is a relatively conservative or semi-safe figure for something that would be a combination of warehouse space as well as offices. Uh there's going to be training space as for uh for the election judges and such. Um when we get you know as it proceeds to design at that point in time we'll be nailing down with with more precision what those construction costs would be at that time. But so the budget before you right now is programming $100,000 in FY28 for design and $8 million in FY29 for construction. Uh this presumes we

would utilize county land, something that's already owned. Um and obviously there's a lot of different approaches we can take depending on the timing and and where it may be located. But important thing is I think Dan in the program uh things you want to add regarding the the needs from the

Yes. So when we initially moved into the Vincent Street building uh Lee and I were talking we already knew at that point in time it wasn't going to be enough space for the future of elections. Uh currently we don't have enough room to physically work on the equipment can do to do the maintenance or do any training within our suite. So, we are utilizing the conference room next door a lot more, which is putting a little bit more restraints on other uh boards and offices that need that space as well. So, we're looking at something that would be more conducive to our needs that would include a space that we could do our training, our maintenance and and so forth on the collection equipment in the physical warehouse as well as office suite to meet our needs. The idea is when this is done, I know right now for the last couple years it's been a challenge as they've shared the planning commission room space during uh during election season and the warehouse as it stands right now. The original idea was that you not only store the equipment but you can prepare the equipment. At this point they only have room for

storage hardly to storage. And uh so those are some of the needs. I think there's state regulations that have changed over the last couple years which have correct that have u changed the requirements for the amount of space that's needed for the equipment as well as for the office and how much that are uh so based on the equipment that we have right now and the space we're looking at about 3,000 square foot for the warehouse space which would hold the election equipment as well allow us to work physically on it without having to play Tetris. is what we call it in our office right now. Moving stuff from office to office or across the hall. Where do you store your ballots? Paper ballots.

Uh currently in the warehouse. So when we have all of the ballots in the warehouse, it's quite difficult to move around the pallets of the ballots. And how big is the warehouse? Uh it is about 800 936 square feet. So the I guess my question is will Vincent remain the polling place or will you try to utilize the new building as the polling place if it's close enough? So what we'd like to do is utilize if it's within this town area or close to it utilize that for at least early voting.

Um depending on the location it would either take away the Roosburg polling place which is 61 on election day or Centerville Elementary depending on where the location of the office would be. Gota as a temporary fix if we could find a a larger warehouse space for you. Uh we can't have the with the regulations the warehouse space and the office space need to be yeah because of the security of the election systems chain of custody on that stuff. Correct. All right. Any questions? Anybody? Nope. That's it.

All right. It is what it is. Thank you. State of Maryland. They're going to be busy soon anyway. So, you have a few things to do in the next couple months, right? Yeah. How long does the state ask us to keep paper ballots? Uh, so the retention period, we have to keep it at least 20 22 to 24 months. And then if there's a lawsuit, like we just had a lawsuit for a previous election, so we didn't get rid of 2020s until just recently. So we were holding multiple elections worth of of ballots. They still got ballots from Washington when he was elected.

Yeah. Yeah. William Packa. All right. Thank you, ladies and got anything else? You good? No, we appreciate this. It'll help great deal for our county and for the election process. So you you'll be basically up and running for the primary of 30 then time wise looks like it's in construction schedule and all that works I I'd say so okay based on based on this program that could easily be achieved thank you thank you all right next victim I mean parking wreck

DPW brick you. Well, mine has park and rec first and public works on the agenda, but the binder is in I mean I think $700 per square foot is is steep. I don't think it's We really need walk up music. Thank you. Is it possible? You can bring as many of your team up. Is that it? You got I have airport and bring up whatever you can. We got plenty of seats. M. Come on, Steve. Come up to the chair.

Is that everybody? Steve good. Y

grab one of the chairs and we had one there and we sitting down. Sorry. I think that was just I printed like one through 28. Okay. Sorry. You're good. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Is Jim alive? He texted me earlier. He didn't say he was going to be late, though. All right.

All right. So, parks begins with the Bay Bridge Airport on page 29 of your binders. Overall, the airport is projecting an approximate 9% increase in expenditures. The primary drivers of that increase are debt service, electricity, and consultant costs. Um, other than that, there weren't any u major category um changes that stood out. So, um, unless there's any questions on airport operating, we can move forward to the golf course. Patrick, we're in the operating. Sorry. Nope. Okay. Golf course. Yep.

So, the golf course budget begins on page 31. Overall, expenditures are budgeted to increase by approximately 5.5% with no significant changes or major cost drivers to note. There is however an enhancement request for a part-time assistant golf course manager uh which is not currently funded. The estimated cost for wages and benefits for this position is approximately 31,000. Uh the details for this position can be found on page 33 of your binders. And Erica, you just seen just an increase in usage and we are we golfers and that's why you need to bring another person in part time.

Correct. Yeah, we set records like three months in a row last year in in revenue. So, it's just besides that, the addition of the driving range and play on the island, you know, traffic on the island. So, it's a lot. That's not a bad thing. We encourage the other golf courses in the area to charge higher rates and then that way folks will come and play our course. Okay. Al, also, if I'm may add, correct me if I'm wrong, you know, Eric is the only full-time employee there, and the golf course is open 7 days a week from 7 up to sun down, basically.

Yeah. Sun up to sun down. So, if anything happens, you know, he's he's essentially working 24 hours a day, waiting for calls and stuff like that. The way we envision this position is to be another person of responsibility that can alleviate some of that responsib.

Sure. It would be mostly seasonal April 1st to November 1st. I mean for their majority of their hours and then obviously with daylight savings everything gets cut back in in winter. You think that's a tough position to fill or no? I mean, uh, we were going to try to do it as a as a part-time contractual first just to see if we could get someone maybe that's in the golf business that goes back and forth to Florida or something like that. Um, maybe even possibly like a PGA intern or or something from one of the schools. And

um, you know, throw the throw the hook out there and see what happens. And it looks like it there's no interest because they went full-time, then we'll be back here. asking for a full-time. But um and is it safe to say a full-time would be double that or a full-time would be more than that or where you at with a fulltime on that? Yeah, I think we quoted full-time last year and it was it was at least double. Yeah, it was probably double. Easily double I think just because of benefits that would Yeah. Okay. But again, it's a good way to test the waters to see if we can get somebody in there. And then

I just know in the past we've had with well with rangers and all that, we had a lot of difficulty getting part-time rangers. people didn't want to have part-time positions and then we wound up consolidating and creating more full-time. We've learned from the past. We might as well do it right the first time. Right. There's no argument here. I didn't think you would. Well, good luck trying to fill that. I figured it was going to be Jeff was going to argue with me more than you. A little harder to do, you know, July. It's definitely harder when at this time of year, right? And then and then again, you know, the part-time trying to find someone wants to do it part time, right? I mean, if I was that person, I'd want to do it full-time. So, retired. Come on down. No, no, no. All right.

All right. Next, um, public landings begins on page 34. Overall, expenditures are projected to decrease by approximately 7.8% primarily due to a reduction in part-time wages to better align with historical actuals. Um, and there are no other significant changes to highlight with landings. No enhancements. He's coming in negative. We can keep going. There you go.

All right. Parks uh begins on page 36. Overall, the expenditures are budgeted to increase by approximately 9.4% uh driven primarily by payroll and related benefits along with increases in utilities. There are also three enhancements um beginning on page 39 of your binders. Um, these include the conversion of a part-time or sorry, a park technician position from part-time to full-time, which is currently funded. Uh, additional funding for the invasive weed treatment in the amount of $50,000, which is also currently funded. And a storm water maintenance agreement totaling $38,000, which is not currently funded. So, you guys have any questions on any of the enhancements? otherwise we can keep right on with them.

So Steve, what I mean obviously fuel is such a unpredictable commodity. What did you guys build into this budget um with all the grass cutting and all that? Where where did you guys I mean I saw what the percentage increase is, but what did you base that on? Because right now I just paid $46 today. So and doesn't seem like it's going the other way anytime soon. I mean at this time we at the time that the budget was submitted gas was good. So compared to today. Yes.

Compared to today. So I mean we didn't have any idea the gas was going to jump up to you know one and a half times that it is now. So unfortunately we don't have that bump number okay for what it is today. If you get that next time you come in or whatever just let us know kind of where you were on it. Okay. Because that percentage I don't think that percentage is right. Right. based on where we're at today. So, questions before we move on to recreations. Oh, go ahead. Going back to your point about learning lessons, our previous lessons about part-time to to I segued you right into that one.

You did. It was a great setup. Um, but again, this position, we've had a difficult time filling it. When we did fill it, we're only able to keep the person for about two months. So, we've just had this position sitting there for 10 about 10 months now. Okay. Um so ideally we we do need it as you know we have more and more work that's um you know being put upon us and um projects and things like that. So um this would be a a great way to utilize a position that's already in the queue to our advantage. Okay. You said that one is funded though, right? The increase to the full time that it's funded already. Yeah. For the parks. Yes. For the parks. Okay.

Yes. No. All right, moving on. Uh, recreation begins on page 43. Overall expenditures are projected to increase by approximately 6.6% driven primarily by an increase in professional services related to vendor camps. Uh, those costs are offset by a corresponding increase in budgeted revenues. And there are no other significant changes to highlight in recreation. got any questions? James James can better answer this. James better answer. I asked him.

James, you have what are so vendor camps are basically contractual camps that we bring in usually someone that of a specialtity. So like we have a marine science camp. So, we bring in a vendor and we negotiate a split and registration and we we have someone that's a more credible um vetted source as far as providing that type of information for that camp. So, it's not just science and technology and STEM and stuff type of advanced sports like do do you do STEM uh programs? We do have a STEM camp. You got drone races? We don't have drone races. We got to work on that. Yeah. Welcome to that. I know that's coming up. So, All right. Exactly what he said.

Yeah. Good. Patrick, thanks for the info. Good. Yes, sir. Just pass. All right. We can move on to capital for this group.

Jack said, "Good thing we're sitting down." And you never disappoint, Steve. Well, thank you. page. Yep. So, we can start on page one. That's just the six-year summary of the capital improvement plan and then if we have questions on like the nitty-gritty projects, we can get into it, but I was just going to go through at a very high level. Okay. So, the airport um doesn't have any FY27 requests, so we can skip over that unless anyone has any questions on the outy years. Um the golf course has two projects totaling 280,000 for irrigation improvements and other general course improvements.

So what are those general course improvements? Uh we have tree removal to do some bre um bridge resurfacing. Um we have two out buildings. One has a electric and a and an old pump station in it. Um one is right now primarily storage. So they both need sided and roofs on them. They're old wood buildings. Um, we want to put some railroad ties around sections of the cart path that are close to the ponds. Okay. Right now we have some fencing that split rail fencing which carts have gone through. They don't stop anything. Um, and do some overseating. So, there's a beautifification.

If you'd like some input on some of those trees that have to be removed in the fairways, just let me know because I know a few that need to go. Those are healthy trees that you've been hitting. We can certainly so you can swing underneath. I always seem to be in the way of my ball. Swing correction will fix that. Slice. There's someone who can help you. Any more? Nope. Good. Thank you. You good on that?

Parks um capital projects begins on page seven with a total FY27 request of approximately 13 million. Uh the major the major projects included in that request are 355,000 for various capital equipment, 150,000 for parking lot paving, 120,000 for playground improvements, uh 600,000 for continued trail development, approximately 1.3 million for athletic field improvements, and 10 and a half million for a new recreation center. So, I just I I've always have have always commented that um we have a lot of great department heads and a lot a lot of great divisions of county government, but the one that really stands out in the sense that citizens get to see the immediate result of their taxpayer dollars

is the jail is the jail.

Is parks. I mean, if you think about they go to our parks, they use our landings, they use the trails. So, a lot of the things that we're doing, I mean, anytime we hear numbers like we just heard for capital, you get a little concerned about it, but again, these are these are tangible things that our taxpayers can actually see and use themselves for their taxpayer dollars. So, it's important. It still hurts a little bit. Um, I have some ideas. You and I talked about them a little bit. While we're on this subject, if I can, really quick. Um this past weekend there was a 70 baseball team tournament um that was hosted here on the shore in Queens County and huge accolades to Robbie Blackston and his his crews and getting those fields ready between games. They hung out all day long in the freezing cold um and prep those fields between each game. They did an amazing job. So please do me a favor and pass that on to the crews. Outstanding.

Definitely. Thank you. Just outstanding. That's not easy thing to do for 70 teams in a tournament. That doesn't necessarily mean I agree on these capital expenditures, but it's historic. That's all I have. I Were there any projects that we wanted to dive into the narratives on or do you want to just wrap up with publicly? So, the 12 1.2 million for athletic fields is athletic field work. Um, page seven. Page seven. Is that for turf or something?

What made it into it was two lighting projects. Um we were asked um when we met with Todd to select one or the other of of which fields whether it was bats neck or whether it was going to be White Marsh. Okay. We decided to select White Marsh um to to do two fields there along with the infrastructure. So, at a later date, it would be cheaper to go ahead and put the poles up to light up the rest of the fields if need be. So, since they're in there digging around, let's go ahead and get that taken care of.

My question, um, at Batsnet, we have that 90 foot field and of course we have the turf field that butts right up against it. We have the lights there. Is there in the future um perhaps planning to to add some lights um since I guess the infrastructure is already there for the baseball field? Can do. You'd have to run a couple more poles just because you can use the back side of the lights because we had them engineered that way. So you can hang lights on the back side. So you would need some stuff maybe down the outfield lines. Yeah. Down the lines on the third base or first base. Maybe just something to put on your So So that was part of the original request is to do White Marsh and Bateneck. And Todd had asked us to um look at what what we would prefer one of one of the two.

So we opted Does White Marsh have any lights at all? White Marsh doesn't have any baseball field lights at all. Okay. Um but we do have a dollar figure for um for bats neck and that would be 68 684 684. Yeah. And Yeah. And that would do both the fields, the 90 and the smaller field. And they have timers on them, right? Um they're set just from an app now. Yeah. We can schedule them, go right to your phone, pull up the Musco app and print one right from the and it would charge. Is that bats neck on here? Am I just not seeing it or you're not seeing it on there? It's combined with that 1.2. Okay. Line item 117. Okay.

And you said bass would be 600,000 of that roughly. Um yeah, 684 632. So you might want to just say seven just to be on the side with that reduction by um taking Bats Park, Bats Neck Park out next year. Um, we increased trail development by 300,000. U I think Todd mentioned a trail out at the county complex around the YMCA. Correct. So, we moved some of that money to that project to fund that. Huh.

We can do both. We can as parks and recreation. Well, you you I mean

I mean if it's one million Well, look, we'll talk, but I I'd like to see lights at at that. We've already got it on the turf fields for football and lacrosse and and the baseball field sits right there. And it's not because I'm an umpire. I'm just saying it makes more sense if we could put two or three more polls there. And to me, it's $685,000 is if it's already built into the the capital for I mean I know we use 300 of it for some trail improvements, but anyway, discuss it and talk to Todd, see what he says, but I'd like to see us at least consider it.

Okay. Or an extension cord and a flood light. Over. You're back in. I think we're done now. That's it for if there's any other questions on parks that we just have public landings, which is one project. So, public landings begins on page eight with a total FY27 request of 250,000 for the Matape Peak boat ramp. And this project is expected to be fully covered by grants. So, oh grant. Yep. So nice. Fire department. Well, there's 250,000 towards the lights I need, right? Landed. Okay.

And and Linda doesn't need anything at the airport, so she's we could borrow some money from what she's not using. Look at that. We're getting there. That's not how this works. What he got? All righty. What are you doing with the map? I think I' I've used up all my time replacing it. It's bad concrete. There's a bottle to the right. Any other questions for us or just make sure you pass that message on to the cruise. Definitely. All right. Well, thank you all. Appreciate it for coming out.

Now, tell Megan you said hello and thank you for your f. Thank you for your QAC video. Oh yeah. Yeah. Wasn't that fun? I need to lose some weight, though.

I don't know. You got it, buddy. I promise. All the trees that you hit. There you go. So, you need Well, Chris couldn't. Let me try. disgusting. So, I'm guessing you had to go from like like jeans and your boots and your concrete pants and your gloves and into your Tommy Bahama stuff. I was wearing this when I left the house in the morning. What's that? Oh, Jim was going to sit there. Jim has an issue with putting his back to people just like I do. Look sharp. Where are we now?

I love this jacket. I just dug this back. Thanks. Backpack. Where did you dug from? Oh, it's not in the back. He's going to reach out to you. They're leaving you home. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, please. No, please do. Are you Thank you. You know, he's Oh, that's all right.

18 years old is what 18 years old used to be. You're a little naive. All right. Um, public works. We start on page six. Um, one thing I wanted to point out uh with these uh departmental operating budgets is that I don't even have one. Okay, that's it. Page six of the capital. No, of the operating books. We'll do the operating first and then the capital.

Oh, just start with DPW. I got you.

As I was saying, wages uh on average do up about 5.5%. Health insurance go up 6.5. Porkman's comp went up 20%. And just basic inflation of uh of commodities, you know, anywhere from 5 to 10%. So workers compensation was 29% increase average of 20%. Was that a loss ratio issue? Did we have um potentially? Yeah, I don't know exactly, but insurance in general, even our basic uh fleet and liability insuranceances are going up um you know 10 to 20%.

Generally, if you have an increase like 29 point or almost 30% in workers comp, it's because you had some some issues with some claims and and so they're adjusting your loss ratio. Okay. All right. And then

Oh, you can't help that. and then inflation of commodities you know five to 10 percent. So what I'm saying is uh departments we can expect to go up you know 5 to 9% without any enhancements whatsoever. So when we go through these if departments are you know um nine or less percent we kind of just let it ride unless you have any specific questions. Um one of those is uh public works admin on page six increases only 2.5%. So that's um more than a reasonable major no major increases other than salaries and benefits. On page seven is animal control. Um and on eight you can see it's going up 2.9%. Again reasonable and um nothing nothing stands out. on page nine's animal services continues to page 10 and it's going up 11.9% and I believe that's attribut attributable to um uh a new uh part-time veterinarian and associated costs. Does that sound

it it's associated with actually not having a veterinarian and outsourcing most of our veterary care at the moment. Is that still the best way to go for for the bang for our buck or We need to hire a vet. Um so we're still working on that. I do have somebody that will be starting very limited time though with us um next month. But yeah, we will hit the mark of um over 9 um $90,000 for this fiscal year outsourcing veterary care. So the real money savings is having our own. Absolutely. Okay, that's a no-brainer. Except they're like unicorns. You don't believe in them? You can't find them. You can't find them. Not find a vet.

Gotcha. Or a vet that could work on them. It's particularly shelter. Yeah. I could go m I can match for serious. Same with Irish Elks.

Jack Jack's going, "What just happened here?" Exactly. That Sorry, Jeff. It's okay. Um page 11 we have engineering and uh on page 12 with a 9% increase this year engineering's flat

and that is chiefly attributed to uh benefit increases health insurance and workman's comp rate. Um on page 13 is general services and on page 14 it shows a 5.3% increase. We start shopping our work compenses other than benefits and wages. Um page 15 is property management 5.7 increase page 16 the roads division. So looking at that workman's comp just as as it's that percentage is skewed but the money is not. I mean if they raise the rate $1,000 or $800 on $2,000 that's 50%. So it just the percentages look a lot worse but the money's not that bad really.

You'll see um material changes or material increases in like sheriff's department and solid waste and roads. Uh you know the guys working out in the field on the street detention center. Oh, I I mean, I know the rate per hundred of of payroll that you pay because of the exposure. I I get it. But sometimes, you know, the work comp, they they creep up. They creep up and they just think, well, you got to have it. It's mandated. Sometimes they take care of your payroll as well. And and then they they they start taking rate on certain exposures like you just talked about. Next thing you know, they're I don't know when the last time we shopped it or if it's just comes with the insurance that we have and we really have no say, but just

yeah, a question to Dwayne about that. Um, roads 4.6% increase in revenues. Um, you can see highway users going up about 234,000 next year according to state estimates. Um, Unfortunately, I believe FY28 we're expecting a a drop off in highway user revenues. Also, Jeff, just real quick, I think I heard the question earlier about fuel. So, over the past six months, we've seen about a 40% increase in gasoline and a 92% increase in diesel.

So, even though we're pretty good this year, we got a little cushion to finish out the year. If those prices hold, we'll probably give us some trouble next year with our budgeted numbers. Just as FYI, also if we get into capital asphalt, we're going to see about a 15 to 20% rise in prices starting in April. We'll probably build up a little bit according to what we're hearing. So, can we do a because it's petroleum based, right? Yes. Yeah. Can we circle back, Jeff, just as a effort before we craft a final budget to get those numbers from you, what the projection would be if we stay on a current trajectory of

Sure. what that hole might be to fill so we can maybe put it aside and know if we don't use it great but then we don't have to hit the budget again somewhere mid year whatever things keep going the way they are because and how much do you have on hand I mean we're stockpiled our diesel saying the board we got sanitary and we have roads um so we have I think it's around uh 12 14,000 gallons we can possibly hold at one time does border alvet buys gas from us as well diesel as Oh yeah, I'm But they have all done that. It's not just because of the numbers right now are so bad. In the past they've they've also bought their fuel from from you. They have recently. Yes.

Okay. So, how long does that say? You said 12,000 12,000 gallons you said you had or I mean we have one tank that's 7,000. I have to double check what sanitary diesel tank is. I don't know if you know what that one is. So, how long I mean if they were full, how long would they last? Oh, we give fuel several times a month. A month?

Yeah. We use a lot of diesel. Okay. And on page 17, it shows a 4.7 4.6% increase for roads expenses. And on 18, we've got solid waste, which is actually going down one/10en of a percent. That's good. I think um but that just means clearly that cycling.

Well, that and and we have our rates at the at the transfer stations are probably set about where they should be then, right? Because I know in the past we've had some they were the other way where Yeah. They've held at $60 for a ticket. Yeah, for quite a while. We're covering everything with them. Y Okay, good. MES is raising the ticket book, I mean the tipping fees at mature uh this year, but it it's not enough to hurt us. It'll be fine. Don't they have an escalator built in right going forward, right? Don't they there? They're going up to 7450 a ton. And how long are they going to hold that though? I didn't get that information. I I just know it's moving up in July. I feel they have an escalator that we

What about um the tipping fees we're charging uh contractors to bring their septic or their septic tank pump outs to us? Have we done anything with those rates? Question for it go septage goes up a fifth of a cent a year. Okay. So there's an escalator. Okay. Okay. Can't be too bad they haven't called the commissioners to complain. No, they went in the voicemail.

Then uh pages 20 through 22 is sanitary water with a 16.6% increase and most of that is uh chiefly due to uh let's see the fourth line from the bottom the last page uh buildings additions and alterations. There's 250 thou or 212,000 increase which is for uh administration building security upgrades and Graysonville water treatment plant upgrades um which are part of the operating budget. On page 23 through 25 is sanitary wastewater. Um only have.7% waste water.

Nothing really stands out. On page 26 we have passenger. We'll talk about it in a minute. Do you need them to stop or keep going? Okay. Okay. You can continue to Okay. He was he you were discussing something with Allan. He So, he waited for you. That's all. Just want to make sure all

it was just um 26. We've got uh two position enhancements. One is for a utility worker collections. The other is chief wastewater operator. Uh the chief wastewater operator um was funded. I believe for the utility worker uh we're able to move some positions around or we had a vacancy that we can use. Okay. We had a vacancy.

Yeah. Um but the uh chief wastewater operator was covered I think for uh assignment in Sersville. Is that primarily? Yes. Yum. And on um on page 28, we've got the sanitary southern island wastewater division uh with a 32% increase chiefly due to um an increase in uh debt payments. um of uh about 375,000. So as the program progresses, the debt will um gradually increase year-over-year. And that's it for the operating for the public works. Um, their capital program starts on page one of the capital book about halfway down um, under engineering general services. I'll touch upon the uh the the projects with funding. And if you want to hold up and have some more questions, we've got a a uh a narrative in the back of the book uh with the page numbers that we can um dive in a little bit more deeply. First pro uh first project is county facilities uh 450,000 which is an ongoing program we have every year and I've had it for decades that um uh is for uh major maintenance of county

facilities. Uh the next program um MS4 storm water management the request was for 300,000. Uh we didn't grant it because what we did was take money out of the wetlands mitigation project and move that to the MS4 storm water management project uh for funding next year. $50,000 for a traffic study. uh $4 million uh of bond money for the historic courthouse project. Um 100,000 for EMS station 400 renovations which is the station at the old MSP helicopter hanger. 150,000 for uh health department roof replacement. On page two, you can see we've got funds program for a new share facility, but not until 2028. Um, the next one, uh, Beverly requested uh some funds for county daycare facility. Um, but we pushed that out three years. Um, board of elections facility we spoke about earlier. uh Crumpton building 300,000. I believe the plan is to uh utilize that facility for the new North County Library branch. And we have uh 300,000 in in a state grant funds allocated for that. 250,000 for design of uh animal services building. um 300,000 to public safety property acquisition,

which is another rolling fund we have. And every other year we um put $300,000 in the in the pot to accumulate funds for future um acquisition of property. And um the Queen's County Library North branch um we've got a $65,000 grant of which we match with 65 to put another 130 into that project at the Crumpton old Crumpton Senior Center. Um from there, go to page three, please. And um got animal services uh capital equipment of 20 $25,000 um which is for cat kennels. And then from there, um, need to go all the way to page eight. Solid waste about halfway down 479 for capital solid waste capital equipment and 50,000 for general transfer station improvements. At the bottom of that page, we start roads asphalt overlay program. Uh 1.5 million devoted to that. Page nine. The next project with funding is Roads Capital Equipment. And uh next is Thompson Creek connector. Uh we've got a $1.8 $8 million U federal grant. Then the pedestrian bridge total of uh

3.2 million. I know it says 3,60,000 there, but 140,000 of that is um inind u inind salaries that we don't actually put in the budget. The balance is a 2.5 million federal grant and then 500,000 from bond and then the bottom four projects are uh road road special assessment projects. Finally um sanitary wastewater program 1.25 25 for ski phase three, 3.5 for ski phase 4, 500,000 for Marlin Farms Dominion sewer extension, and $3 million um state grant for Southernersville wastewater ENR improvements. And that is it for all the public works projects. If you'll have any questions specific to any project, let us know. Like I said, there's more detailed information in the back of your books, a sheet for each project. Alan, how close is Sersville to penciling out to where we're how close to penciling out to the positive? I mean, I know it's with 3 million going in there. Where are we at? Well, that's just to improve the performance of the sewer plant, which has never worked as designed. So, and 3 million grand came from the state, but we think it's going to cost a little more than that. That's worth a million. So, basically, KN&NSG would be lending Suttersville money to get that project done. I'm not sure that answers your question, though.

Well, I was just see when there's the other community that's online there, Slesville, will be made whole in terms of uh how much we're pumping through there, right? in terms of volume to make it to where it's um in terms of being an enterprise and it'll be you're going to have to raise rates this other though. Okay, that's you answer my question. That's that's an absolute my opinion or else you're going to have to subsidize it. Yeah. Or because of that. No, no, that's what I asked. So your question was how many years out till we see I mean positive with that additional development is that how much how much is that going to help? I mean obviously

absolutely if that ever happens. Yeah. Yeah. But um is is there anything planned in the near future up there? Yeah. They got a 250 home community right now that's through in the planning stages. Oh really? Planning commission and all that. So Mike's waiting for MDE to break ground. Yeah. That's the one we're talking about. 167 or something. All right. Their finances are so uh dire. It's going to be a while to dig out of that hole with a new development or not. All right. And on a good note,

right? If it helps. I I know I had a look on the historic courthouse. I just did want to add some perspective to that because at the last budget cycle, I know Jim, you had asked a very good question. Does it need to happen now? And and need is a very strong word. It it does not need to um we're advocating for starting with it soon because the the drawings are where they are so we won't have to update them for changes in code. more critically as we look at some of the other major capital projects coming down the pike, detention center, eventually a sheriff's department, board of elections, I'll make sure that my engineering team that we're we're able to manage the projects in order. And uh then a reminder too that it would be housing not only the board of elections, but our midcount router uh which is going to be the redundant uh system that it can address that a little bit better. But right now, if you know the internet's only coming from the one location, the idea is that bringing it from across the uh the west as well. So there's better protection for the internet service for the county as well as allowing independence for the backup 911 center to truly serve as an independent center. And at the moment, it still relies on its home base. So those projects will achieve that as well as flex space in the basement that could be used for um relocating other agencies when they need some space or redundancies as well as conference room and of course continuing with the ceremonial function. So just want to put that out there. It's it's more than just updating the building and moving one department. It that that's the idea behind it.

Uh ceremonial functions. So for instance, swearing in using the courtroom. They don't do that in the new courthouse anymore. They still do it here across the street. The it's two courtrooms, but each one is about half the size of that courtroom. So when we have large events, swearing in ceremonies and such, the capacity to hold those events in the new circuit courthouse is is not as got conducive. And people seem to love the old building. not tradition there. Yeah. And when in there

uh moving register of wills and orphans court would allow us to readapt space in the Liberty building which I know is always at a premium and reallocate those resources well. So those are all the many aspects of it if it if it helps as you're looking of elections. He did he meant register of wills. I'm confused about that too. It's not board of elections for services background. Register of wills and orphans court. Okay. Y but that's 4 million. That's I thought it was closer to nine. It is. There's another year. Two years. Two years. Okay. How's the How's the roof on the courthouse?

It needs to be replaced. And so if the project doesn't proceed, we would likely utilize some of the existing What do you think? Prior balance to replace the roof. plan.

We have two desks upstairs when they're they're both uh letters, Jim, u for us to sign as support for some grant application requests. One's Tower Gardens, Living Shoreline, and Jetty Project. And then the other one was whatever. But they have semi trucks coming here and they destroyed the tower is one they need byper sign

I make a motion that the commissioner sign a letter of support for a grant application to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. the community um would like to put in a living shoreline and jetty project down at Tower Gardens as an improvement to their community. They just need a letter of support from the commissioners for the project to qualify for the grant. So, I make a motion that we sign the letter. Second. Got a motion to second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I.

I move it. And I'm going to make a motion that we sign a letter of support for a grant to offer uh submitted by Hope for All Incorporated for the Whitico Wright Veterans Home Rehabilitation Restoration Project in Queen Ans County. Second. Got a motion second. Any discussion on this item? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed four and one. Stephanie, thank you for jumping on those. Of course. Anything else? No. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. And as always, finance staff, Jeff, you guys.

Thank you. Thank you. with that that tax reduction down to 80 cents