County Council - Regular Meeting

You just kind of want to fit her in there? We'll just say that. We'll just.

It is 5 o'clock.

It is 5 o'clock. That's what the vice said. OK. Exactly. OK. So I want to welcome everybody to the evening's, to the council meeting tonight. So let's go ahead and stand and do the prayer and the pledged allegiance of the flag.

Heavenly Father, as always, I'd like to just begin with a thank you. Simple thank you for being the loving, wonderful, merciful, and provisional God that you are. And just thank you for your blessings. Thank you for blessing this council and making decisions on behalf of everyone in Talbot County. Thank you for this beautiful weather that we've had here recently. It's clearly your work, Father. For our farmers, I know they're in need of a little bit of rain. If you could put a little bit of that in your future, we would certainly appreciate that for them and their growth, Father. We just thank you. We praise you. We love you. In Jesus' most precious and holy name we pray. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

OK, let's go ahead and get started on the agenda. The agenda is before us. Is there any additions, deletions, or corrections to the agenda, council?

Yes, President Callahan. OK. We have one addition to amend the agenda for this evening. OK. And if we could amend the agenda for an addition of a proclamation for Cassandra Van Hooser this evening.

Second. OK, we've got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Okay. Okay. Cassandra's not here, so probably what we'll do is when she comes in here, we'll start down the agenda and just kind of fill in when she gets here. Okay? Okay. That sounds good. All right. So let's start with the minutes of May 5th. Council's had a chance to take a look at the minutes. Is there any deletions or corrections to the minutes?

No. None here.

That's all good, council. OK, hearing none, the chair moves that the minutes be accepted as unanimous consent. All right, next is the disbursements of June 2nd and June 9th. We've had a chance to take a look at them. Is there any additions, deletions, or corrections to the disbursements, council? No. OK, hearing none, the chair moves that the disbursements be accepted as unanimous consent. OK, first up tonight is Ken Gazelle. Come on up. It's an up-to-date on the University of Maryland on our new hospital. How are you? I'm doing great. Great.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Yes, sir.

Good to see you, as always.

Yes, sir. Thank you for giving me a few minutes on your busy agenda today. What I thought I'd do is update you on three quick things, if time allows. I'll be brief. I thought it would be important to share with you the latest CMS star ratings, which are national ratings for how hospitals provide quality, safety, and experience across the country. So I'll give you a little brief background on the star rating system and tell you where our scores landed for sure regional health. Then I'll get into the sale of the Easton Hospital property, just so everyone is aware of the latest and greatest news on that information. And then finally, I'll give you a brief update on the construction project of the regional medical center out near the community center. And then certainly after that, can answer any questions you have. Sure, that sounds great. All right, let's start with the CMS star rating. So what you may not know is that the CMS star rating helps patients compare clinical quality across hospitals across the country. It's a public ranking that helps to simplify complex data into a star rating system. One star is the lowest score you can achieve. Five stars is the highest score you can achieve. And it's used to compare hospitals, nursing homes, and the Medicare Advantage plan throughout the United States. These are publicly reported ratings. They're on the CMS website. And they're used to evaluate multiple measures of what the hospitals do across the country. And they focus on five key elements of performance. mortality, safety, readmissions, patient experience, and timely care. Those are the five criteria that CMS looks at when they're evaluating hospitals. And four of those five are each weighted the same. They're all 22% each. The fifth, timely care, has a rating of 12%. So that totals up to your 100% rating system. And what I find interesting is When we're looking at mortality as an example, the data that CMS is looking at to rate our scores in May of 2026 is July 2021 to June 2024. So the data at its longest period is about five years old. And the shortest period, if they're taking it through June 2024, is two years old. So there's that window of time that they're looking in the past to give us an overall rating. Another example is patient experience, though. That rating starts from July 2024 to June 2025. So it's different for each of the five key metrics that are measured, but the ratings do go back in time and assess our performance back in time. So this May of 2026, we received our results from CMS for the rating system at Shore Regional Health. And I'm very proud to share that our Chester River Hospital up in Chestertown received five stars out of five. And our Easton Hospital here in Easton received four stars out of five. So just to give you a sense of how challenging achieving those scores are, only 12% of hospitals across the country receive five stars. And only 29% of hospitals across the country receive four stars or higher. So it's very tough to get that kind of high rating. And it really, I think, serves as an example of the quality of care that we provide in our organization here at Shore Regional. So just wanted to share that with you, share the pride that our team feels for achieving those scores. And just know that just as important as a regional medical center is to our community, so too is the quality of care that we provide either in our existing facility or in the new regional medical center when it's built. So I wanted to put that into perspective for you a little bit. So any questions about the CMS star ratings and the SHORE results? Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations.

Thank you. And that's good not just for SHORE Health. It's good for the community.

Absolutely. It's a reflection of the care and services that we provide our community. And that's what's most important. The second element is the sale of the Easton Hospital here on Washington Street. So if you haven't heard or haven't read the papers, we've actually sold. We've entered into a purchase and sale agreement to sell the hospital and the property located on 219 South Washington Street. We reached that purchase and sale agreement with Blue Point Living. And the owner and operator of Bluepoint Living is Mr. Paul Prager. So what will happen is we will retain ownership of the property and the building until we end up closing on the deal. And the closing period is 60 days from the date we relocate out of the Easton Hospital into the new Regional Medical Center. So if we're anticipating a late summer, early fall closing and relocation in 2028, then we're expecting to close sometime on or before 12-31-28. So we'll own that property until then. We'll close 60 days afterwards, at which point in time the property and building will be turned over to Mr. Prager. Because we do not expect to have any operations in the hospital once we relocate to the regional medical center. So I think that's exciting news. It's exciting news for this community. I believe it's great news for Shore Regional Health and our project because the proceeds from the sale of this sale agreement will all go towards the cost of the construction of the regional medical center. So all good on that front. Great. Good job. All right. Any questions on the sale and relocation? OK. The last thing I just wanted to get you a quick up to speed on is the progress we're making with the Regional Medical Center. I was just out there this afternoon and I'm amazed at the progress being made week after week after week with the Regional Medical Center here in the five counties of the midshore. And I can honestly tell you without hesitation that we are building the midshore community the best world-class five-star hospital system that this country has ever seen. It is going to be a state of the art facility that's going to serve the five counties of the midshore region located right here in Talbot County. I am so excited and I can't wait to offer you the opportunity to come out and see it yourselves personally because driving past it or seeing pictures just doesn't warrant what's actually going on on that site. And that's why I didn't bring pictures with me today because I figured they'd be outdated by the time I was able to show them to you. But it is incredible, the progress that we're making. And I just wanted to highlight a couple of key elements of the project that is progressing according to plan. The first is the geothermal well system that's located out in the well field on the property of the new regional medical center. That is such an important part of the project in that it will control the heating and temperature control and air conditioning system within the hospital proper. And that is most important in my world because you've got to have appropriate humidities, you've got to have appropriate temperatures in order to care for patients safely and effectively, and to do operating room cases in our operating rooms. So that's critically important. It's an investment we're making in the community, but it will pay dividends in the efficiencies that we'll gain and the operating costs that we'll experience when we open the new regional medical center. So that is going along well. All 1,728 wells have been dug and now we're going from vertical digging to horizontal digging and connecting those wells to the central utility plant, which is in the back part of the hospital. Hundreds and hundreds of miles of pipes have been dug and are being laid in order to connect this well field to the hospital property. And again, then when you look at the construction site itself, the actual building, by the end of this month, all of the concrete floors will be laid. So you'll recall in the east tower, that's a six-story facility. And the west tower will be five stories. So all of the concrete will be poured and settled on each of those floors. The exterior panels, which you might start to see if you take the back end around the hospital, are starting to go up and starting to enclose the hospital building itself. We expect that those panels will be completed by the end of this calendar year when we'll seal the outside of the building. And that will allow us to focus on the inside of the building at that point. So you're going to see by the end of this calendar year, the building is going to look like a hospital structure. And you're probably going to be asked, why aren't we moving in and seeing patients there yet? We still have a lot of work to do on the inside. It's going to take us a couple of years to get the inside building built and structured and ready for patient care. But we are progressing along those lines very well. And the last thing that's an important timeline milestone for us is the reopening of Route 50 and the intersection at Medical Center Parkway. We expect that in the month of July, we will have reopened that intersection. So we've got some repaving to do first. But once that's complete, then we'll reopen the entrance to the community center to the hospital. And at some point, likely in July, SHA will test the light system on Route 50 and then ultimately turn it on for use shortly after that. So a couple of major milestones with the geothermal system, the construction hitting our timeline targets, and with Route 50 being completed. It's just incredible to see and again I'd encourage you if you want to take the opportunity to go on a tour with us and see it up close and personal I'd encourage you to do that. So that's the update on the construction project. I did want to take a second to thank President Callahan and Mr. Clay Stamp, the county manager, for a couple of things. You guys are present at every meeting we have, and I know we have a number of meetings associated with this project, but it's important that you're there and that you're present and that you're representing the county and the midshore region. So I appreciate your time and talents and focusing on our progress and helping support our progress. But equally importantly, when the governor came out to visit us a few weeks ago, President Callahan, you were there in person. You really have a great relationship with the governor. It's great to see that camaraderie. The governor was incredibly impressed with the progress we're making, incredibly impressed with the the fact that the building is starting to take shape and we're not too far along from achieving our our vision here so i just wanted to say thank you on behalf of a grateful organization that uh for your unwavering support and for all you do on our behalf so with that i'll answer any questions you have about the regional medical center or anything else going on at shore regional yeah okay any questions

How are you doing on the schedule? You're marking this progress. This is progress that you are hitting the milestones that you are needing to hit.

We are, but there are still about two more years in this process. So at this point, if I were a betting man, I'd say late summer, early fall of 2028 is when we would see our first patient. A lot of that depends on when the building is turned over to us from the construction company itself. Because once they say go, we've got 14 weeks to prep that building and get it ready for patient use. So a lot depends on when the building's turned over to us and whatever that date ends up being. We've got about 14 more weeks of activation to work on. At this point, we experienced some delays with weather this most recent winter, so that set us back a little bit. We're looking at a patient first day sometime late summer, early fall of 2028.

I know you've been public about the way the The budget has grown a bit. Where are you on that front?

Yeah, so 99.9% of all of the bid packages associated with building this hospital are complete and signed, and they have guaranteed maximum prices associated with each one of those bids, which means that we have set the highest level of price that we're going to pay, and we budgeted for that highest level. So we are confident that the latest budget reports that came out are reflective of how much we're going to pay for this hospital. So we don't anticipate any more cost increases or overruns moving forward.

Ken, are you anticipating more staff needed to run at the new facility as opposed to the old facility?

I do. There will be some additional staff because we're going to have more beds. And those more beds need more nurses and techs to support that additional capacity and additional patient care. But beyond that, I think it's going to be the same staff with respect to the operating staff that's needed to run the hospital. We are always recruiting, though, for new providers. So I do expect that there'll be new providers that will join our team sometime between now and when we open the RMC. So those two areas, we do expect more staff, but for the balance of what we do, it'll be the same.

Just industry in general, I mean, does a new hospital kind of help in recruitment efforts to bring new folks here and possibly young doctors raising families and growing and making a home here?

It certainly does. It really does. And I can look back at stories when I'd interview candidates, physicians who wanted to work with us. And I would tour them through the Easton Hospital. And I would tell them, someday we're going to build a regional medical center. So you might want to join us now. So you're part of that team. They have a lot of choices. They don't wait for hopes and prayers. They want to see construction going on. So now that we can show them the site, we can take them on a tour, we can tell them the opening date, it is really helping with recruitment efforts. Not only for providers, too, but for nurses and for nurse techs and others needed to run the hospital. Okay.

Thank you. Well, and Ken, the feeling's mutual. I mean, you're so transparent. It's really nice every month you and I, Clay, and the town, the mayor, and Andy, we're all meeting. You're getting us up to speed on everything. You know, I really appreciate the information you're giving us and the public. And back to the tour, it's extremely impressive. to even be there and be up in the in the structure itself is amazing you know so um but it's it's hard to believe it's going to be closed in but they're moving so fast right now and they've and i see they've taken one of the big cranes down they have one of the larger of the two cranes are down so now it's the other crane that's really putting the panels up to close in the exterior of the facility And it was good to see a lot of the workers out there and all the people that, I mean, you know, there's 250 people working there. And it's going to progress to 500 people working there, construction people. That's right.

When we close in and all the subs come in to do the interior work, that's when the construction numbers will be at their highest. And I think what's important to note also is the MBE contribution we're making for this project. We set percentage targets for MBE and for local subcontractors. And in the case of MBE, we're exceeding that target that we established, which was 32% of the overall construction cost of the project would be through MBE. And I believe it was 25% for local teams also. And we're very, very close to hitting that target as well.

So that's great. That's great. So congratulations on setting some goals here and the four star and the five star. So really, congratulations. And really appreciate you being here tonight and tell the public how good you guys are doing. Thank you. Appreciate your time. And thanks again for your unwavering support. OK. You too. Appreciate you coming.

Great job.

Good job. OK. I see we got our special lady just come in here. Cassandra. Yes. Come on up here. Okay, how are you?

I'm well, thank you so much.

Okay.

Good to see you this evening.

Good seeing you. So you want to kind of tell us what your next adventure is going to be? I do.

So I have accepted the position of- Could you tell people who you are first? Oh, I'm so sorry. Okay. I'm just assuming everybody knows. Okay. My apologies. Okay. I'm Cassandra Van Hooser. I'm currently the Director of Economic Development and Tourism for Talbot County. However, I have accepted the position of managing director of the Maryland Department of Commerce Office of Tourism. So my journey will take me away from Talbot County, but I will still be living here, by the way. I still live here. So I hope to be supporting you all in a different capacity. But I want to say thank you for all of the support and all that you have done over the years. It's been an honor and a pleasure to serve in Talbot County. There's a sign that hangs over the locker room door at the University of Tennessee that says, I will give my all for Tennessee today. And I love that because it's simple and it's direct and it sets a really high bar. And I want you to know that I have always tried to give my all for Talbot County every day that I have worked here. So again, thank you for everything. The economy here is booming. I mean, you heard about our generational investment in health care. We've got a huge airport project. We've been successful. I've been on the broadband team. We are the first county in Maryland to bring broadband to every citizen. So we have done some big things. You have done some big things, and it has been my honor to support you and to help carry those initiatives forward. So I feel like that I'm handing it off to you and to the next team in really good shape. And again, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll start. I'll go ahead and start the bidding. Well deserved. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. They're lucky to have you. We're just glad here that you're coming from us. In fact, you're not going to forget where you came from, and you're still going to live here. They're going to be blessed to have you, and we're glad to have you in there on behalf of know all the things you'll be doing that uh we'll get to reap the benefits of that uh at your level now so thank you congratulations thank you can't wait to still continue to see you around here well i'll echo those congratulations from mr stepp and talbot county is

always justly proud when one of our best goes and is able to serve us at the state level for the entire state. I just want to remind you that as that has been done in the past, there's also a precedent for Talbot County's best and brightest when they go back up to the state, actually to come back to the county after some period of time. So just planting that seed. Thank you.

Cassandra, you will be missed. And I know you said that you've tried, but you've succeeded. So we will miss you desperately, and I'm glad you're moving on to something that maybe will continue to make you happy. And I'm glad you're still staying here in Talbot County. Thank you.

So this is very heartfelt for me, knowing you. I don't even know how many years you're working in Talbot County and then me in Dorchester. So it's been 10 years, yeah, to date since I left Dorchester. And I'm sure it's bittersweet for you today, or on June 22nd as it was for me. But I always said, and you put this in your email that you sent to the tourism board, that tourism is your superpower. tourism is indeed your superpower and you have so much that you've offered here in Talbot County but you have so much more that you're gonna bring to the state of Maryland and so I'm so happy for you so proud of you and the relationship that we developed in your role as director of economic development and tourism so thank you for getting the strategic plan done and Good job, good job, good job. And I just look forward to seeing all the great work that you'll do for the state of Maryland.

Thank you.

And I'll end it with, you know, it's been a pleasure for, how long have you been here? Has it been about 12? Thirteen and a half. Thirteen and a half, yep. And I've known you for at least 12, and it's been such a pleasure working with you, being on all your boards, you keeping me straight and saying, you know, Chuck, this is what you got to do. Okay, exactly. So, and it's been... a really benefit to the community, too. In the business world, tourism world, you've kept all that stuff on track. I'm not really happy with the state, though, taking it. I'm not happy with them. But, you know, you've got an opportunity, and what an opportunity that you're going to have to all your talent to spread it over the state. And it's really going to just make things better for everybody, that's for sure. So you're a special woman, you're a special person, and we really, really enjoy having you, and we're going to miss you a lot. At least we'll see you around anyway.

Of course.

But like you say, when you sort of get done with this now, you're welcome back.

Thank you.

That means a lot. But anyway, it's been a pleasure, and you've got a brightness to you and a bright future, and we wish you luck. Anything that we can do to help you.

I will give my all for Maryland today. I know you will.

I know you will. So we got OK. Go ahead. Go ahead.

We were reading.

Now, I just like to take a moment. So I've worked side by side with you, Cassandra, all 13 years as the emergency director. You were at every snowstorm, every hurricane and covid to make sure we got messages out in a timely manner. You came up with the idea of creating an economic development dashboard that not only served us, but served the whole region and probably statewide. You've done amazing things. You've always been passionate to the nth degree. And you're like a dog with a bone. And it's just been an honor. I'm so proud of you. And I know that you'll give all for the state of Maryland. I know Talbot County will make out as well. But thank you for everything, and I'm just so proud of you. Thank you.

Okay, Madam Secretary, would you like to read the recognition, please?

Certificate of recognition to Cassandra Van Hooser for her outstanding dedication and commitment to the citizens of Talbot County over the past 13 years, bringing her decade-plus professional experience as a travel writer and interviewer across the southeastern and mid-Atlantic states for Southern Living Magazine to Talbot County. first as the Director of the Office of Tourism, and since 2016 as the Director of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Joining with businesses, community organizations, and governmental partners to attract, retain, and expand the business sector of Talbot County, and to market the county as a premier destination for visitors, all while helping to preserve the exceptional quality of life that makes Talbot County unique. Her professionalism, boundless energy, enthusiasm, knowledge of valuable resources, and forward thinking on projects have earned her the respect of those with whom she has worked. at the county, state, and regional levels. From early in her tenure when she redesigned the Office of Tourism's website and expanded the county's social media presence, to helping to develop an economic indicator dashboard providing insight into the health and resilience of local economies and communities, to assisting the county with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that local businesses were financially supported to remain viable. to assisting the county with navigating the current fiscal uncertainties at the federal and state levels, to navigating the preparation and adoption of the 2026-2030 Economic Development and Tourism Strategic Plan, which will help charter the course for economic development and tourism in the future. all have been met with determination. Earning the Talbot County Office of Tourism the 2015 Maryland Office of Tourism Development's Visit Maryland Award and Ms. Van Hooser's distinction as the Maryland Travel and Tourism Summit's 2025 Maryland Tourism Person of the Year. We, the County Council of Talbot County, do hereby bestow upon you, as a token of the esteem and gratitude of our community, this certificate of recognition on this ninth day of June, 2026.

Okay, good job, Madam Secretary. Okay, we've got something for you. Come on up.

All right, you guys. Look over here.

okay um next on the agenda um sarah you want to come on up thank you we're going to do talbot county school sarah's going to talk to us about budget transfers

welcome thank you good evening good afternoon wherever we are in the day yep exactly right yep it's going to go into the evening but not my part hopefully um so i'm here so what do i do okay thank you thank you and then When I left click, that happens. Maybe right click?

No. It should be left.

Next. There we go. I'm here with a request for budget category transfers for the current FY26 year. We are projecting to have a slight overage of about $400,000, which we've outlined in a letter to you. in this chart in our plan operations department we had some overruns in the we will will have had some overruns in contracted services and utilities we think by the end of this month and so to cover that we have some savings in a few other categories we'd like to utilize our other instructional costs we had some savings in the tuition that we paid at Chesapeake College that was you know a rough estimate based on expected enrollment and tuition rates and we've had some savings there we had some savings in the amounts of money that were charged by other school districts and other counties for kinship care for those children that attend our of our children that attend their schools. We did not have as many as we've had in previous years. We had a slight savings in our transportation department we'd like to utilize to cover this overage from some bus driver vacancies. And we had a category of expenditures in our operating budget called capital outlay. We saved about $136,000 there, and that was because we were able to finally use some ESSER funding, the last little bit of that ESSER funding, to build an activity court, activity courts at Easton Elementary School that we had put in our budget, and we were able to grant fund that, so we had some savings. So with all that being said, And this is a little bit hard to read. Without the transfers, how we look right now, it would appear that we would have close to a $400,000 overrun in operation of plant if we did not make a budget transfer. The other items, categories highlighted in green are where we're proposing to take some budget away from to cover that $400,000. and that would get us to a budget that looks like this where these would be the transfers that we're seeking and would end us with basically less than a $20,000 surplus for the year. We're gonna end up there probably one way or the other. The other thing that this allows us to do is it allows us to manage some of the things we need to manage in our FY27 budget with changes that we've made to that. Okay. So seeking the council's approval, our board has approved this.

Okay, great. Okay. Any other questions, council? Okay. No questions.

Just a thanks for bringing this to us at this juncture. It's nice to be able to get this closed out and see where this stands. uh with the projections that you've been able to do before the fiscal year end so i just wanted to publicly thank you for for making this you're welcome in such a timely fashion yeah yep exactly i'll make a uh i'll make a motion that we uh approve the budget transfers as uh as amended 400 from uh into one category and out of uh four others second

Okay, we got a motion second for the request. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Steff? Aye. Mr. Lusher? Aye. Ms. Mokie? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good job. Okay, next on the agenda, we've got introduction to legislation. We've got around 23 bills. We're going to try to move as quickly as we can through these. So Madam Secretary, you can help us with that. And Martha, you want to go ahead and start us off?

I sure can. OK. Martha Sparks, finance director for Talbot County. On May 26, 2026, council passed Bill 1625, an act to establish the 2026-2027 annual budget and appropriation ordinance. Per the Talbot County Charter, the county budget consists of the current expense budget, the capital budget, and capital program, which includes an itemized list of the capital projects which the agency proposes to undertake in an ensuing fiscal year. While the budget and funding sources of these projects approved by the council in the budget ordinance bill 1625, the county also creates capital enabling legislation for each capital improvement project per the county charter. And each bill is subject to the referendum provisions of the charter. Budget oversight of these programs is further monitored through the county's procurement policy. OK.

That sounds good. So Madam Secretary, do we want to go ahead and start with the first one? That'd be great. And just keep in mind, this is just to introduce, so it's a raise of hands.

A bill to amend bill number 1607 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacements and improvements at county community pools and associated property.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $33,000 for lighting at the Bay Hunter pool and door and window replacements at the George Murphy pool.

OK, council. Any questions on this bill? No. OK. Show of hands. Show of hands. Sorry.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1628. OK. I bill to amend bill number 1600, 1368, and 1343 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for security enhancements of facilities and properties owned by Talbot County.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of 220,000 to continue to improve security at county-owned properties.

OK. Any questions, council?

No.

OK, raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

This is bill number 1629. A bill to amend bill number 1539 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the construction of and improvements to a driving range complex at the Talbot County Hog Neck Golf Course.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $600,000 to complete the project.

OK. Council, any questions? Raise of hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as Bill 1630. A bill to amend Bill number 1594 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacement and improvement of the greens at the Talbot County Hog Neck Golf Course.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $320,000 to fund year two of the greens resodding project.

OK.

Any questions, council, on this project? Okay. Raise of hands.

Sponsored by council.

This will be known as bill number 1631. A bill to amend bill number 1595 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacement and improvements of the cart paths and paved areas at the Talbot County Hog Neck Golf Course.

Mm-hmm.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $500,000 to fund year two of three for cart path repaving.

OK, council. Any questions? OK. Raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1632. A bill to amend Bill Numbers 1531, 1480, 1452, and 1393 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the development of the Frederick Douglass Park on the Tuckahoe, located at 13213 Lewistown Road, Queen Anne, Maryland.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $658,000 to advance the next phase of the park development.

OK. Council, any questions on this? No. Okay, raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1633. A bill to amend bill numbers 1597, 1556, and 1533 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for improvements to the Talbot County Detention Center.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of 1.3 million to complete major HVAC upgrades and to replace fire panel systems.

Okay, council. Is there any questions on this one? Okay, raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1634. A bill to authorize replacement and improvements of the roof at Easton Middle School.

This is a new project and it authorizes up to $1,755,000 for this project.

Okay, council. Is there any questions on this one? Okay, raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1635. A bill to authorize the exterior repair, improvement, and painting of the Talbot County Education Center building.

This is a new CIP project and it authorizes spending up to $42,000. Okay.

Any questions, council? If not, raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

Okay.

This will be known as bill number 1636. A bill to amend bill numbers 1587, 1558, and 1391 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacement and improvement of HVAC systems at facilities owned by Talbot County.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $50,000 for HVAC replacement at the courthouse.

Okay, any questions on this one? OK. Raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1637. A bill to authorize the assessment of and design for improvements to the Talbot County Courthouse Music Hall.

This is a new CIP. This authorizes spending up to $250,000 for the assessment and design to improve the space.

OK. Any questions on this one? So I do have one question. I want to make sure everybody understands the musical hall. Is that the third story?

Yes. That's the second story rear of the building on the south wing.

On the South Street. I just want to make sure everybody understood that. OK. Raise of hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1638. OK. A bill to amend bill numbers 1599, 1557, 1534, 1486, and 1424 for the purpose of amending the appropriation to purchase improved or unimproved real property for future county purposes.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $300,000 to plan for future facility needs for the county.

Okay, council, is there any questions on this bill? No. Okay, raise a hand to move forward.

introduced by Council.

This will be known as Bill number 1639. A bill to amend Bill number 1605, 1507, 1361, 1332, 1307, and 1267 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the mapping, evaluation, and rehabilitation or replacement of county culverts.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $1.24 million to continue culvert rehabilitation, which is going to be mostly grant funded.

OK. Any questions, council, on this one? Hearing none, let's raise hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1640. A bill to authorize improvements to Deepwater Point Road, St. Michael's, Maryland.

This is a new CIP. This authorizes up to $247,000 for road improvements. And this will be funded by development impact fees.

Okay, and this one right here is a big deal for that road, and that's just outside of St. Michael's on the right-hand side, so it's well needed. So any questions on that?

Just a question since we have our engineering staff present. I trust that we will be doing what we can to minimize the loss of mature trees along that route, which are part of the character of that road. Thank you.

That's what he wanted to hear.

I'll be asking those questions in more detail when we get to the implementation.

Okay. I'll raise the hands and move forward.

Introduced by counsel.

This will be known as Bill number 1641. A bill to authorize improvements to county roads in and surrounding the town of Tratton.

This is a new CIP. This authorizes up to $357,000 for road improvements. And this is also funded by development impact fees.

OK. Any questions on this, council?

Preservation of trees on this one, too?

Yep. Yep. I'll send Pete out there and take a look. All right. Raise of hands. Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1642. A bill to amend bill number 1613 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the sewer system extension to the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, MEBA, engineering school.

First, I think as we go into these sanitary CIP bills, I want to note that the following bills related to the sanitary district capital projects will be funded by a combination of federal and state grants, long-term borrowing, and funds from the sanitary district fund. All costs incurred for these capital projects shall be repaid from the revenues generated from fees paid by the users and or the operation of these facilities and sewer systems. In regard to the sewer system extension to MEBA, this amends prior authorization with an increase of $30,000 to connect MEBA to the Region 2 wastewater system.

OK. Any questions on this, council? No. OK. Moving forward, raise a hand.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1643. A bill to amend bill number 1573 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for improvements to the vacuum collection system serving the region to Martingham sewer service area.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of 1.42 million.

Okay, any questions on this, Council?

No.

Okay, moving forward, raise of hands.

Introduced by Council.

This will be known as Bill number 1644. A bill to amend Bill number 1616 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for replacements and improvements to pump stations and surrounding property in the St. Michael's area in Region 2 of the Talbot County Sanitary District.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $500,000.

OK. Any questions on this bill, council? No. OK. Moving forward, raise of hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1645. A bill to amend bill numbers 1535 and 1488 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the upgrade or replacement of the wastewater treatment plant at the preserve at Y Mills.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $950,000 for plant upgrade to ENR technology.

OK. Any questions on this bill?

Council.

OK. Moving forward. Raise your hands. Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1646. A bill to amend bill number 1612 and 1431 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for improvements to the Region 5 Tillman Wastewater Treatment Plant and Enhanced Nutrient Removal, ENR, technology.

This amends prior authorization with an increase of $7.85 million.

OK, council. Any questions on this one? OK, moving forward. Raise your hands.

Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1647. A bill to authorize replacements and improvements to the region to St. Michael's wastewater treatment plant and enhance nutrient removal in our technology.

This is a new project. This authorizes up to 3.9 million for equipment refurbishments and in our upgrades.

Okay, council. Any questions on this one? Moving forward, raise your hands. Introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1648. A bill to authorize the sewer system extension 2 and implementation of an improved approach to providing safe drinking water in the village of Claiborne.

This is a new CIP. It authorizes up to $5 million for sewer extensions to region 2 and evaluation and improvement of the community's water system.

Okay, any questions on this one, Council?

Well, we've been talking with the community of Claiborne for a while about how to move forward on this. We've been through some feasibility studies. It's nice to see this next step moving forward.

It sure is, yep. Okay, a raise of hands moving forward. Introduced by Council.

This will be known as Bill number 1649.

Okay, and last one, Madam Secretary.

A bill to authorize the rehabilitation of and improvements to the Region 5 Tillman Wastewater Treatment Collection System and accompanying pump stations.

This is a new CIP. This authorizes up to $6 million for inflow and infiltration reduction, pump station upgrades, and potential construction of a maintenance storage shed.

Okay. All right. Any questions on this? Okay. Moving forward. Raise of hands.

introduced by council.

This will be known as bill number 1650. The public hearings on these bills will be held on Tuesday, July 14th at 5.30 p.m.

Okay. All right. Well, good job. Good job. Appreciate it. Good job. Mr. Council President. Martha, I'm very proud of you.

Yeah.

So, Mr. Council President, I just I do want to take a moment very briefly to just recognize Martha, Caitlin Foster, Clark, Patrick Thomas, Jessica Morris and Susan Moran for their work on this. So just just want to recognize. Yeah. Sounds good. Good job. Good job.

Okay. All right. So we're just a little bit behind here on the public hearing. So Madam Secretary, when you get straight, we'll go ahead and start the public hearing and resolution 394.

Resolution number 394, a resolution to amend resolution number 175 entitled a resolution to establish sewer service connection policies from the Unionville, Tunis Mills, and Copperville sewer service area low pressure force main collection system to the Royal Oak pump station for the purpose of providing that connection to the force main from property outside the sewer service area shall be permitted from improved properties

where public sewer is available subject to certain conditions okay you guys yep josh and ray you want to come on up

Thank you, Council. This is coming from the, I guess the Council asked us to look at this as related to 175 with a couple other resolutions. I think it was 330, I'm sorry, 389 to 391. Through that, the Public Works Advisory Board reviewed those and came back with a recommendation of making modifications to Resolution 175. We then had a work session with the County Council on April 28th. And I think what we've done is through that work session, we then had language put together that Patrick Thomas, the county attorney, basically provided you now that's before you.

Okay. All right. That sounds good. Any questions for Ray, counsel? OK. So I'll go ahead and start the public hearing. So I'll give you three minutes for an individual. And if you're representing an organization, I'll give you five. So anybody over here to my left would like to come up and talk about, I'm sorry, Bill?

Resolution 394. Yep.

Resolution 394. I'm sorry. Anybody on this side like to say anything about 394?

Okay.

So, okay, at this time, we'll go ahead and, Madam Secretary, we're ready for a vote on this.

We can close the public hearing, right? Yes.

Okay. We'll go ahead and close the public hearing, and we'll go ahead now and vote on this.

Just an item of discussion here. You know, we went over this, and I still find – some of the wording on this to be subject to interpretation or vague or difficult to understand. There are some sections that I'm not sure are even operable because of other sections, but I understand that the intent in doing this was not to rewrite this whole section, nor to amend the Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan, but to do the minimal change that was necessary to to move this forward that it pertains only to To the resolution 175 areas and those impacted which would include I believe resolution 250 areas.

Yes, that is correct Okay Okay at this time there's no other questions Council will go ahead and vote on it madam secretary. Could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan aye Mr. Steps aye. Mr. Lesher aye Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

OK. All right. The next bill, number 1626, Madam Secretary.

Bill number 1626, a bill to amend chapter 190, zoning subdivision and land development of the Talbot County Code for the purpose of exempting corporate flags from the signed permit requirements and other requirements set forth in section 190-42 of the county code subject to certain conditions.

Okay, Mr Thomas, you want to kind of tell them what we're trying to achieve here? Yes.

So this bill passed would allow for a corporate flag with a name, logo or trademark to be flown in conjunction with one or more governmental flags. The flags must be no more than 40 square feet and flown no more than 30 feet high.

Okay. That sounds good. All right, so I'll go ahead and open this up to the public hearing. So on this side here, if you want to speak about that, come on up. Yeah, come on up, Zach.

Before we have, just in case he wants to say anything about this, I would like to request from the DAIS an amendment for this, which was discussed at the... at the Planning Commission, but I think not ultimately incorporated into the recommendation that the permitted flag not exceed the size of the government flag as specified in the legislation.

so that that can that amendment can be available when we bring this up for a vote that's not a substantive change so i don't if that passes i don't see any issue with moving forward thank you okay good good evening council thank you for the opportunity uh zach smith on behalf of the preston automotive group and as the council recall we're the ones that requested this amendment um preston has a tradition and a policy of flying a corporate flag across its entire family of dealerships. It's something they do both in terms of recognition for the affiliation, but also as part of their charitable giving program. And when Preston acquired the Toyota dealership just outside of Easton, wanted to fly that flag as they've done in other locations. under the current County code we were allowed to we talked to Mister charlton's office about that they didn't seem to be an objection in this so I find it appropriate but under the current to strictly applied it was not made it into working with him and Mister Thomas you propose this text amendment which is Mister Thomas explain would allow for corporate flags in addition to the signage was subject to certain limitations and I think those limitations are important to ensure that the flags are appropriate. I would say that it's not uncommon in zoning codes to allow for corporate flags. And for example, both Easton and St. Michael's permit corporate flags in addition to other signage in their zoning codes. And also, I just wanted to mention that the Planning Commission did unanimously support what became Bill 1626. We're here to speak in support of it as well. And we would ask the council to please approve it.

Thank you. That sounds great. Appreciate it. OK. Anybody else would like to come up and talk about 1626? OK. At this time, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing on 1626. Any other questions, council?

Nope.

OK. So Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Do you have to do the amendment? Oh, we got a second reader? Yeah. Oh, OK.

This will go to the next meeting. OK. I'm sorry. OK. Next meeting then.

OK. All right. All right. So then, OK. Now, OK. All right. So we're done the public hearing. So let's move on. Yep. OK. So next, Madam Secretary. we did a presentation of the maryland agricultural land preservation found that yep you guys want to come on up good evening i'm elisa deflo planning and zoning um i wanted to

give you an update on the FY25-26 cycle that was just completed. Your match funds contribution put three First round offers under easement of almost over 500 acres. I've ranked the applications for the FY27-28 and I'm here to answer any questions if you have them.

So this is far more applications than we typically see in this round that are being recommended to advance. Are we able to do this because of that funding that we found that had been set aside for this program?

The funding that you gave last year contributed to the FY25-26. So that cycle is over. Those easements have been purchased. this um i will be coming to you again in spring or summer of fy27 for another match fund contribution and those will go towards these easements ah okay this is simply queuing it up for for next year yes okay terrific okay any other questions okay

And we need a motion. to uh to advance this the request and uh the the the planning commission and planning staff being uh has actually prepared a motion for us and since you went to the effort i will uh rather than do our usual council level uh i'll i concur with the motion of the agricultural land preservation advisory board and the planning commission to forward the 16 applications to maryland agricultural land preservation foundation mouth for the fiscal year 27 easement cycle

Okay.

I guess that's a second. Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes? Aye.

Okay. Good job. Good job. Okay. Next on the agenda is a council consideration and recommendation of the Planning Commission on request of a proposed text amendment. for the setting development agreement waivers does one just hang out for one more second.

Yes, so a few months back councilmember he had requested a text amendment to amend 190-61 of the code to provide a waiver uh for certain requirements uh pertaining to provisions and developer agreements um by the planning director upon recommendation of the planning commission uh where the showing whether for bona fide non-profits uh upon a showing of need that the waiver would be in the public interest um and then that was referred to the planning commission i believe uh brennan and elisa can speak to the planning commission's recommendations okay

For the record, Brendan Tarleton, Planning Director, Talbot County Planning and Zoning. The Planning Commission actually reviewed this back at their, was it their March meeting originally? Yes. That they considered this and offered a small amendment to the language just related to a code section reference, but ultimately voted unanimously to forward this favorably to the County Council for their consideration of approval.

Okay.

And I just want to add that a constituent within Talbot County actually contacted me in regards to this matter, and this is how the text amendment recommendation came about. Yeah, it was the Bellevue Passage Museum, Dr. Dennis DeShields. And so this is how we met with Brennan and then sent this to Planning Commission to come up with this text amendment.

Yeah, so if council recalls, I think the county at one point may have been almost two years now, entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Bellevue Passage Museum for the construction project of that museum facility at the Bellevue Park property. As part of the improvement of that museum, the developer of the museum ultimately proffered additional improvements that warranted a developer agreement that would have to be put into place. I believe that included the surfacing of a pathway that would access ultimately from the parking area the county has existing at Bellevue Landing all the way up to the museum facility as well as resurfacing the basketball courts and installing a bus pull-off space for times when classrooms from school students would be visiting the site for exhibits and just touring the museum generally the code currently requires under the developer agreement that any of those amenities would have to be bonded with a surety. That cost obviously associated with this project in conjunction with the construction of the project presented some challenging opportunities based on the funding sources they were using. So I think they contacted Council Member Haith and opportunities or ways in which the project could move forward understanding that the county will ultimately be responsible for inspecting the improvements prior to approval of the final permits for the museum facility ultimately so when those improvements are then turned over to the county they'll have already been inspected and have been brought up to the standards necessary and the county would have the responsibility of maintaining those improvements since they would be on the park property otherwise okay

all right so with with this change the uh the required improvements will still be done uh they'll still be done to the standards they'll still be uh completed to to these specifications uh what this will do is is simply relieve the the developer in this case the the uh the non-profit museum of of having to put up a performance bond for this

Yes, and ultimately it doesn't necessarily give them a blanket approval to do that. What this gives them the opportunity and option to do is request a waiver or relief of those standards in conjunction with the site plan approval for the project. Now, ultimately the site plan has been approved for the project, but they would ultimately be going back and getting a waiver of those provisions or requesting a waiver of those provisions. So it would still be at the discretion of the Planning Commission at the time of the review of an application. whether or not that waiver is warranted to be granted based on the standards that are required to be met under Section 190.62. So if those standards are theoretically not met in a future application that this may apply to, there is the opportunity for the Planning Commission to essentially deny that waiver. So it's not an ultimate approval just because you are a bona fide nonprofit.

Thank you.

Yes.

And just a quick clarification, we use the term bona fide non-profit in the verbiage. I'm assuming we're just using 501c3 status as the marker for the bona fide status?

Yes, I believe that was the general consensus we came to in drafting that language.

Okay, anybody else? All right.

So I'll ask that Patrick draft the proposed text amendment for this particular change.

OK. Second that motion. Thank you. Raise hands or? No, I just need direction. I just need direction to prepare. He's got what he needs.

I mean, Dave seconded anyways.

So we'll bring him back for introduction.

Good. OK. Thank you, counsel. Thank you, guys. Okay, now we got some play stuff. He's sitting over there just waiting. He's sitting over there waiting. I've seen you.

Good evening, council. Under county manager report this evening, I have a couple items for you under boards and committee appointments. The first one is the animal control board asking council to reappoint Karen Roberts, Donna Hadaway, and Margelle Hyatt to serve on that board.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, we got a motion. Second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Okay. Next, the Economic Development Commission requesting the reappointment of Mr. Ted Bouts.

Motion to approve.

Second. We got a motion. Second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Next will be the Ethics Commission requesting council appointment of Dr. Reginald Harrell and Mr. Vernon Jones.

So moved.

Second.

OK, we've got a motion and second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Cavanaugh? Aye. Mr. Stebb? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

And the next will be Park and Recreation Advisory Board requesting the reappointment of Mr. David Fisher, serving in an at-large position. So moved.

Second.

OK, we've got a motion and second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote, please?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye.

Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mulkey? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

And finally, the Social Services Board of Directors requesting the appointment of Jeffrey Cook and the reappointment of Dorie Gow Lambert.

Motion to approve.

Second. OK, we've got a motion and second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mulkey? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Thank you, Council. That concludes the Board and Committee appointments. I'd like to invite Mr. James Adair to come forward from the Habitat for Humanity Chop Tank. He has a request for a letter of support for a grant, and I'll fill in wherever necessary. Greetings, Mr. Adair.

Hello, Council. How are you doing this evening? How are you? Great. Welcome. If you don't mind introducing yourself. I'm James Adair. I'm the Critical Home Repair Manager for Habitat Chop Tank.

Okay.

and okay so mr adair is i'm sorry okay okay mr adair is here this evening requesting a letter of support from the county council for their grant application to the maryland department of housing and community development's local rehabilitation agency services no county funds are required and please add any additional information you'd like for council

Just we appreciate the opportunity to continue serving the citizens of the county.

Okay. Good. Good job.

Motion to approve the request.

Second. Okay. We got a motion. Second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes?

Aye. Okay. Thank you all. Thank you. Good work.

Thank you. Yep.

And now I would like to invite Mr. Brian LaCase up, your Director of Emergency Services. He's here this evening to request, which is budgeted, a replacement vehicle. He'll give you the details. I'll fill in where necessary. Good evening, Brian.

Good evening, Mr. Stanton. Good evening, Council. Thank you for having me. So this request is to purchase a 2026, sorry, I had to take my glasses off, Chevrolet Tahoe. This would be recognized, it's being purchased, if approved, by piggybacking on the Maryland state contract. It is an out-of-state vendor. We had difficulties finding vendors within the state of Maryland that had sufficient inventory. So this is a project that was approved during the FY26 budgeting process, and we've run into some challenges throughout the year trying to find a vehicle that was available, and we have... I thought the applause was for me. You were doing such a wonderful job. We got you. First applause today. So this request is for $57,829, and that is recognizing the state of Maryland contract pricing.

Okay. All right, council.

Make a motion we move forward with it.

Okay. Got a motion and a second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stebb? Aye. Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes? Aye.

Okay.

Thank you all. I appreciate you speaking. Thank you, Brian. Thank you.

Council, that concludes your county manager report for this evening. Thank you, as always, for your support.

Okay. Thank you. All righty. Moving on. Okay. We're here. Public comment.

And we have two who have signed up. First is Sherry Wilcoxon.

Okay.

Hello, my name is Sherry Wilcoxon. I'm a Talbot County resident. On January 14, 2025, Mr. Lesher made a motion, seconded by Ms. Mielke, to appoint Hugh Smith to the Talbot County Short-Term Rental Review Board. He was appointed unanimously 5 to 0. According to the Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System, Hugh Smith was Ms. Mielke's single largest campaign donor. There is no public record of that relationship being disclosed to the council prior to the vote. And Ms. Mulkey did not recuse herself. Later.

Ms. Wilcoxon, I can't have that type of language with my council.

This is a public comment. I'm reading what actually happened in your meeting minutes.

Okay. Well, people have already read it. You don't have to reread it.

I think I do have the right to reread it.

But I have the right to say if we do it or not. This is my meeting.

Okay. Well, my request is, did the Talbot County Ethics Commission review whether Ms. Mielke's failure to disclose?

See, this meeting right here with public comment, this is kind of for you and me to, we don't answer questions back and forth.

I'm not asking a question. I'm asking if the Ethics Commission would review whether the failure to disclose this donor relationship prior to the vote is a violation. Do I not have the right to ask?

That's up to them.

That's new facts.

So we don't have a right to ask as the public if something violates ethics?

I would ask. That's really a question for the Ethics Commission. It's not a matter for the county council.

No.

The county council, do they have to follow the ethics board, the county council members? Do they have to follow the ethics of the Ethics Review Board?

The ethics code where it states they have to follow the provisions of the ethics code, but that's not really An item for public comment.

For me to ask the Ethics Review Board if this is... You can ask the Ethics Commission.

I would suggest you go ask them.

Okay.

Okay.

All right. All right. Well, thank you very much.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Anybody else for public comment? Yes. Well, I think... Yes, sir. Come on up.

I was glad because his comments are always nice.

Yes.

My name is Fahmy Fahmy. I'm the Talbot County Health Officer. On June 4th, we had something very new and never happened before, to the best of my knowledge. The Health Department has opened something called the Community Garden in front of Early Head Start, which is across the street from Eastern Elementary. And I had the pleasure and honor and the privilege that I know that the whole council was supporting me. And the council sent the president with my sincere appreciation to the council and to the president. I can't say enough appreciation for your support in such an effort. The manager of the county is amazing. He has been hand in parcel in every step of the way. I'm looking at it not just as a garden. I'm looking at it as something that will help us educate the kids before their parents. What is the meaning of food? What is good food? How much is our farmers, our producers, our processing is involved, not just opening a can or eating something quick and fried. It's also interaction with the parent. That, I think, is a very important part of early childhood. This is a bucket. Besides the fact that we know what is good food, the fact that we have a high BMI, which means overweight. High BMI is a little bit more involved than just overweight. It's a form of malnutrition. Malnutrition is not just the slim and the bony. People who have their vitamin D, even though their BMI might good or even above, not unfrequently actually the majority will find that vitamin D in their blood level is deficient. So vitamin D is just a marker, just a pointer. So there is other things that we might be able to test or not that also indicate malnutrition. Okay. The other thing we're also hoping to add nutritional classes to the package. And through the rural health transformation, we already put a request for a grant to have our own pantry. So hopefully we'll have a food pantry next to the garden. We have people in the neighborhood already asking for space in the garden to have their own beds. And that makes me very, very unbelievably happy. On our way out, we gave the parents and their kids bags that will accommodate them. SOIL AND PLANTING ABILITY IN THE BACK. SO THOSE PEOPLE WHO DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH SPACE, THEY WILL BE ABLE TO DO THAT. MS. KILMOND HAVE DONE A WONDERFUL JOB IN TAKING WONDERFUL PICTURES AND I TAKE OFF MY HAT FOR HER. WE HAVE BEEN PRESENTED IN THE FRONT PAGE OF THE STAR DEMOCRAT AND IT'S VERY HUMBLING. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.

YES. THANK YOU, DR. FAMI. APPRECIATE YOU.

And we do have one other who has signed up to speak, which is our very own Sarah. Okay.

Hello, guys. This is Sarah Kilman. So I come to you today as the administrator for Talbot 250. We have a lot of very exciting events coming up. So if you want to see the full slate, you can go to talbot250.org. but i did want to share specifically this weekend st michael's who has we worked with them to identify a time during the year that was not fourth of july that they could do a celebration and they chose flag day and so they have a whole slate of events planned for this weekend during flag day They have already put up lots of flags and celebrated as a community to clean up the town. And that happened the last weekend. So now we're getting into the real fun. Starting on Thursday, June 11th at 6, join us at Muskrat Park for the Concert in the Park. This is a special edition. They will be having the United States Naval Academy Band Electric Brigade joining us. Talbot 250 will be there with a table and an activity for children, and we would love you to join. On Saturday, they will do Parks and Polls Historical Walking Tour, which will highlight 13 stops inspired by the number of original colonies around the town of St. Michael's. and they'll feature most likely flags, I'm just gonna guess, but also the St. Michael's Library stop, which is being hosted by the Constitutional Alliance, will be hosting a augmented reality George Washington and Thomas Jefferson experience. So you can actually, you won't be able to talk to him, but you'll be able to see him in the room with you, and you'll be able to sign a very, very large Declaration of Independence. And finally, and maybe the most exciting, is on June 14th, officially Flag Day, they will have a Flag Day picnic and boat parade. And I don't know the final count on how many boats they had signed up, but it was a lot last time I checked with them. And it will be a free, family-friendly community event. The US Army Reserve 78th Army Band will be joining with their 9x9 ensemble. And the public viewing party of the boat parade is being held at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. And that is where you will also get a ton of activities. Looks like the YMCA is joining. Classic Cars is joining. The St. Michael's Art League. The Chesapeake Independent Blues reenactors will be there as well. So plenty of stuff to do on Sunday to celebrate Flag Day in St. Michael's.

Okay. That sounds great. Any questions, Council? No. Okay. All right. Good job, Sarah. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Okay. Okay.

How's Eastern Club East doing? Sorry? How's Eastern Club East doing?

Eastern Club East is doing just fine. Correct.

Perfect.

I appreciate your interest. I'm Phil Riggin. I live at 29736 Sullivan Drive in Eastern Maryland in Eastern Club East. I think I'm changing my idea about what my plans are this weekend after having heard just what I just heard. And I was wondering whether Mr. Lester has been honorary mayor in St. Michael's over the weekend in order to handle some of these things. I'm here to talk about two things. It appears from what little I know and what little I've learned, and I apologize for not knowing more, that the Senior Citizens Task Force is actually developing into something that I had hoped it would be and I think all of you had hoped it would be. It's a really good idea. I mean, there are lots of well-meaning, nonprofit, community-oriented people who live in Talbot County, some who are part of organizations, some who are not. But with a little bit of coordination, a little bit of leadership, those services that are being provided are done in a more efficient way. And I think the Senior Citizens Task Force appears to be, to me at least, kind of leading the charge on that. So as the only member now out in this room, Ms. Mielke, and your interest in having the thing created, congratulations. Thank you. I look forward to that. I think some really innovative ideas of what recently I just read, and you had a meeting earlier this afternoon, I think, here regarding all that. So just on housing, some pretty innovative ideas on how to try to help. I mean, I live in a community I have five widows that live near me. And it seems to me that they, I'm not saying that in a negative way. It's just that I always wondered about house sharing in terms of what they might do. The other thing I want to mention, totally unrelated, After several failed attempts, it does appear as though the State Highway Administration is going to finally come by East and Club East and talk to us next week. Great. And since we have waited so long to receive that sort of a pitch or presentation, I think there are a lot of people who are energized about getting some answers and getting some commitments. That's good. as as applies to you know your priority projects and one in particular that that affects us so uh with that uh thank you very much and uh again congratulations on the task force thank you thank you thank you appreciate it okay anybody else want to come up for for uh public comment okay okay uh all right council comment

Dave, you want to start us off?

Sure, I'll start us off. We have one more meeting before our 250th birthday of this country, and so looking forward to that. But in the meantime, we've got the ability to exercise one of our rights in this great country, which is the right to vote. And I just want to remind everyone that early voting starts this Thursday, the 11th. Early voting in Talbot County is at the... Easton Fire Hall, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every single day. So I look forward to seeing everyone out there at the polls and enjoy that process. It's an awesome part of being a citizen to be able to do that. So that's all I got.

Okay. Mr. Lesher?

I just wanted to offer congratulations to the graduates of Easton High School, St. Michael's Middle High School, and Chesapeake College. And to Ms. Haith, who was honored as the graduation speaker at the college and spoke very well. Congratulations to her. You heard the applause.

And course catalog emeritus cover. That's right. Keisha didn't get that .

I know. First, ditto that. And second, I appreciate the the comment about the Senior Citizens Task Force. It's a wonderful group. I'm glad that we got this started. We did have the workshop this afternoon before this meeting, which went very well. And we got a full report to date. And the council is going to permit a feasibility study so that we can study what our options are. with regard to providing senior homeless housing. So I'm really excited about that. So more to come. And we are going to be looking to a lot of community organizations to assist with this project. And thank you for your comments. I appreciate it.

Yeah, and I just want to echo the comments to all the graduates, Chesapeake College graduates and the graduates of St. Michael's Middle and High School, as well as Easton High School. Councilman Lesher and President Callahan and myself was able to attend the Easton High School graduation. And for some reason, every time I go to graduation, I tear up. I have no kids graduating. And it's just an amazing time to see those kids celebrating the four years that they completed at high school and now on to their new beginning. So that was a great moment. And that's all I have. I was going to say early voting. And happy to not be on the ballot this time.

Well, and don't forget, of course, Election Day being the 23rd. So that's Tuesday. So there's that early voting period. But there's that ever so important day on the 23rd.

That's right.

and that's that's the time to go out on the 23rd and i will echo the graduation it was absolutely phenomenal i was sitting there and what is special about being there at that moment is knowing that i was there 41 years ago on the same stage so you know it's it's just like yesterday you're getting old you know just like yesterday but it was a lot of fun seeing the kids and and all that stuff and just being a part of one of their most important times in their life. So it was pretty nice in seeing the families and all that kind of stuff. But being as that said, I appreciate the staff tonight, appreciate everything you're doing with the bills tonight. I know that you put a lot into that and really appreciate all that stuff. You did a good job.

Okay.

Mr. Lesher?

The county council's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 30th, beginning at 5 o'clock p.m. This is not a regular meeting night. We have postponed a week so as not to have a meeting on primary election day, June 23. The council will be convening in open session at 3.30 PM and then adjourning into closed session as listed on the statement for closing that meeting. Therefore, is there a motion to adjourn this meeting and reconvene as noted?

So moved.

Second. OK, we have a motion and a second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stump? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes?

Aye. OK, thanks a lot for coming.