County Council - Regular Meeting

of the flag and the prayer.

Heavenly Father, as always, can we begin by, can we open by just, you know, offering you thanks. Thanks for all that you are, all that you do, for your love, your grace, your mercy, your provision. And just for looking over everyone in Talbot County, not just those who are making decisions on behalf of her, but all of our citizens, all of our visitors. And just thank you for everything and all that you are and all that you do. Jesus is the most precious and only name we pray. Amen.

Okay, let's go ahead and get started on the agenda. So the agenda has been before us. Is there any additions, deletions or correction to the agenda council?

Mr. President, I have two, if we may.

Okay.

First, I've got one addition and one deletion. If I could, under the addition, could I put a note under county manager's report for public works for purchase of some needed pumps? Okay. And second, if I can remove the item number E under county manager for the evaluation letter for the state hotbed. Okay.

I'll second the agenda as amended.

Okay, we got a motion and second madam secretary could you call the vote.

All right, Mister step by Mister Lusher all right, this note.

Okay, great. Next is the minutes of June 30th. We've taken a look at those and is there any deletions additions or corrections to the minutes. So OK hearing on the chair moves at the minutes be accepted as unanimous consent. Next is the disbursements of July 7th and July 14th. Once again we've taken a look at there's any the addition solutions or corrections to the disbursements. Hearing on the chair moves that the dispersant be accepted as unanimous consent. Okay. First on the agenda is behavioral health. Katie, you want to come on up? How are you guys doing? Good. Good. Thank you for having us.

Yeah, thank you. Okay.

All right.

Well, good evening. Thank you for having us. My name is Katie Dilley, and I have the pleasure of serving as the Chief Executive Officer at Midshore Behavioral Health.

Good evening. I'm Shannon Joyce, Behavioral Health Coordinator at Aging Population. Happy to be here this evening.

Okay.

And Shannon also is the Talbot County Behavioral Health Coordinator.

Okay, great.

So thank you for having us. So this evening, we're here to provide you with our annual update as well as request your support for the endorsement of Metro Behavioral Health continuing to serve as your core service agency in FY27. So we do have a letter of agreement for you as well. Usually we make our way in front of you during the month of May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month, but we're glad that we're here in July and able to get on your schedule, so thank you for having us.

Thank you.

And we have a lot of material to cover, and I know we have a limited time, so there are a couple slides that we may skip over, but you have the presentation for your review and reference if there are any questions. So we're sensitive to the time this evening.

Okay.

you should just be able to left click the left click yeah and it'll okay great so i'm going to just advance through these first couple slides on mitchell behavioral health for those who aren't aware we serve as a regional core service agency as well as a partial local behavioral health authority for the mid-shore counties Just a couple years ago, in addition to our mission and vision, we added our organizational values, which are here, which are integrity, collaboration, progressive leadership, and advocacy. So a lot of times it's kind of confusing to explain what Midshur Behavioral Health does. We are not a direct service provider. We are a local behavioral health systems manager that serves at the pleasure of, of course, our county support as well as the Maryland Department of Health under the Behavioral Health Administration. So we really have a more systems level role in how we serve the community, supporting our behavioral health providers in the region. So this is just an illustration of sort of how we fit into the system of care. We do partner formally with our five health departments in the region to do our annual planning. So we refer to our group as the Mature Planning Collaborative, and we work very closely with our health departments with their local addictions authority rule. This is just a snapshot over the last several years, the funding that Mitchell Behavioral Health has overseen and procured for the region. We are funded primarily through state general fund dollars and about 50% federal funding. This past fiscal year, we were responsible for managing just over $25 million on behalf of the five counties. So these dollars are procured, put out for bid, and support primarily programming in the region. We really only retain about just under 3% for administrative to support the organization. So this is a slide that provides a quick snapshot of all of the different services that are grant funded that that $26 million supports here in the region. So we've broken it out by we have crisis and wellness and recovery services. We have services that support primarily an adult and aging population focus. We have some specialty population services that we support. our child and adolescent and young adult services. We have a unique program that supports forensic mental health, which are individuals that have behavioral health needs that are involved in the criminal justice system. And one program that is a big part of the responsibility of our organization is we also serve as the continuum of care for the five counties, so we have a responsibility to our homeless service providers. We do receive funding from the Department of Housing and Community Development, as well as the Housing and Urban Development funds to our federal partners to support our homeless population in the region. For those of you who might be familiar with Midshor, we are very well known for our work groups and how we coordinate and convene different populations in the region. We also encourage public participation if there's interest in joining and getting more involved. I will highlight that one of our newer, or two of our newer coalitions, Shannon will touch on in a moment, but we have a Midshor Suicide Coalition, that is a newer group that we've formed over the last couple of years. And coming up in the new fiscal year, we will be starting a work group that is primarily focused on our veteran population and convening providers in the region that are supporting our veterans' needs. Now I'm gonna hand it over to Shannon.

Okay.

So we're gonna go through some regional highlights, which includes crisis response, community support partnership, needs assessment, suicide prevention, Oh, thank you. Going Purple Together, Rural Advancement of Maryland Peers. So first we'll start with crisis response. So the Eastern Shore Operations Center in fiscal year 26, and this is about six months worth of data, it served 3,671 calls. For crisis intervention training, same thing as far as the six month timeline. 30 individuals trained and 988 received backup calls texts and chat service for mobile crisis Dispatches just want to highlight as far as Talbot County having 96 dispatches and And then we do also have mobile response and stabilization services, so that's providing intensive services to children and adolescents and their support networks available in six Eastern Shore counties, which is a duration of eight weeks.

And we recently applied for a mobile response and stabilization service team to specifically just serve Talbot County through the rural health funds that have been made available to Maryland in the rural jurisdiction. So we're hopeful to bring a team just for Talbot County for that mobile response and stabilization service. A newer program that has moved into the region in the last couple of years through funding that is earmarked out of Maryland's blueprint model are the Consortium on Coordinated Care Support Funds. So these are dollars that are earmarked specifically for the expansion of behavioral health services in our public school systems. So MidShore serves as the hub for all five counties to support the application and work with the school systems to identify their behavioral health priority needs to bring in additional providers into the school systems. And this has been a tremendously impactful program. We're very grateful for this additional funding. It's been a little challenging because the legislative allocation has shifted a little over the last couple of years, but we've still been able to retain just around $5 million for the region. And this has brought in several additional providers into the county that have served many of the students. Just in this past year, 3,963 students were served in the first six months of the year, which is pretty tremendous. Out of the first year of the consortium funding, we were able to partner with an organization called Due East to perform a regional across the lifespan needs assessment for the five mid-shore counties, where primarily our community members and constituents were interviewed about the needs that they find most to what's happening here in the jurisdiction. So just as a quick snapshot of some of the data that we were able to collect through that needs assessment. So specific to behavioral health, most counties identified substance use and mental health as a primary concern. An interesting trend which we saw in almost all five counties is the substance of most concern is actually alcohol. So a lot of individuals expressed concerns around the amount of alcohol consumption in the jurisdiction. Most counties identified that school mental health is a priority and that stigma continues to be an issue with why folks are reluctant to access services. Of course, housing and transportation also are top on the list, which I'm sure is no surprise to any of us. So specific to Talbot County, as I mentioned, that concern around the alcohol consumption as well as depression were the two top priority concerns that came out of the needs assessment. Also, of course, just access to care, folks slipping through the cracks, not enough providers in the region, which may contribute to hospitalization. And of course, just the ongoing concern with the higher incident of mental health needs and suicidal behaviors in our young adults is becoming a really emerging concern that we've spent a lot of time addressing in the most recent months.

And as Katie had mentioned, there is a Mid-Shore Suicide Coalition available. In partnership with Channel Marker, the efforts of the coalition provide education and awareness. So key events have included Kevin Hines' Stay Alive presentation, struggle wall training and prevention, and establishment of a lethal means subcommittee. And then as far as moving into gun safety, so 900 gun locks were distributed in FY26, highlighting a little bit of overall Maryland data. So 599 suicide deaths occurred, so that's up 1.8% from 2022, and 45% involved firearms. We do also want to highlight an upcoming event, so it's September 26th in the fall, Going Purple, which will be at Milton Park right in Tahoe County.

So this is our regional event that we do in collaboration with all five counties. Not to cast any shadow over the purple event that is kicked off on August 31st for Talbot County, but we will be closing out the month here at Moby Park. So we do travel county by county, so we are back in Talbot County this year to celebrate the regional event. One of the opportunities that we've been able to secure some funding for this year through the Department of Labor is the Rural Advancement of Maryland Peers. This is an opportunity to provide funding and transportation and training support for individuals that are interested in becoming a peer support specialist. So we just started this program over the last few months and have our first cohort convening, their first class is actually tomorrow. The hope over two years was to train 15 peers And next, our cohort starting tomorrow actually has eight individuals already enrolled. So we have a lot of enthusiasm for this. Our peer support network is a part of the behavioral health workforce that's growing rapidly. One of the unique responsibilities through this grant is that we will not only help support individuals get trained and certified, but we will help them find employment and we'll follow them through their first employment experience with that certification. So this is a really exciting opportunity that Maryland has extended that we're really glad that we were able to bring to the region. So we'll have this grant for two years. I'm gonna skip over these next couple slides because we're gonna get to the Talbot highlights. Just a highlight of some of our signature annual events that we do offer for the community. They are open to the public. They are always free and normally have continuing education units. We have our sequential intercept mapping opportunity, which we'll be hosting this November. That is looking at how individuals move through the criminal justice system from community back to reentry and getting our partners together to identify opportunities where there might be service needs or diversion opportunities. Our Across the Lifespan, we had our 15th annual conference this past spring, which we focused on suicide prevention across the lifespan. That is an opportunity we host in the spring. And then as Shannon just mentioned, we have our Going Purple Together event, which this fall I think actually marks our seventh annual. We also were able to bring some additional expanded trainings to the region this year. One I wanna highlight is the Good Samaritan Law training through Talbot County Opioid Restitution Funds. We applied for a mini grant and we were able to get a little bit of funding to support some special training here in the county to educate our community about the Good Samaritan Law as well as provide Narcan training. And we love a good visit from our state partners, so the Community Health Resource Commission came to visit us last August, and more than once this year we've had our partners from the office of the Maryland Office of Overdose Response come down and have an in-person site visit.

And we do have a couple Talbot County highlights. There are a few slides with it, so we're going to just highlight a couple here. So first is the Talbot County Safe Station. So that's funded by SOAR, serving 176 participants. Mid-shore participates on the Senior Citizen Task Force and adult community partner meetings with Talbot County Department of Social Services. The Good Samaritan Law trainings held in Cordova and St. Michael's, as Katie had mentioned. And Midshore Behavioral Health staff participates in the Santa Fun Run 5K for Hospice. Some additional include Midshor participating on the planning committee and sponsored the Out of the Darkness Suicide Awareness Walk, which was held in Easton, participating in the October 11th, 2025 event. Midshor also participated and advocated for Operation Greenlight, so an initiative to raise awareness about resources for veterans and their families. And Midshor also participated in the Talbot County Walk with county partners and agencies.

A couple of new initiatives that we are involved with. The assisted outpatient treatment program went live on July 1st. The Eastern Shore counties, all nine Eastern Shore counties are priority one rollout jurisdiction for this model, along with Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City. This is a process by which an individual may be eligible after meeting several criteria to have an assisted outpatient treatment order, which is a court-ordered process that requires an individual to participate in their care for their behavioral health needs. So we are working closely with the state, who is primarily responsible for this program with rolling this out, There may be some additional nuance to how counties are involved along the way, which I will come back and probably find time to do a more refined presentation on what that might look like. But we are definitely involved and at the table with this process. Our Rural Health Transformation Program is a wonderful opportunity that has been afforded to 18 of the 24 counties in Maryland. We recently applied for the behavioral health competitive dollars in hopes of bringing in some expanded services into the region. So we should hear any day now on the outcome of that application with the hope of rolling out some new initiatives starting in August.

And some statistics to highlight, so mental health consumers in Talbot County included 1,904, and there were, for substance use consumers, about 777.

So these are individuals being served through the Medicaid benefit.

And then point in time in Talbot County is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in the month of January. For a total count sheltered, there were 67 individuals. And this is from this past January.

And that's all we have. I know it's a lot. We tried to move through time a lot.

You did a great job. That's for sure. You did a good job.

We promised Susan we would try our best.

I appreciate it.

The RAMP program, is that dealing with alcohol and drugs?

It's individuals that are in recovery. So you have to have 18 months of demonstrated time in recovery to be eligible to participate in the RAMP program.

And what does this cost?

It's free.

Okay. I just wondered why AA and NA are not sufficient to meet these needs. They've been around, at least AA's been around 90 years almost.

Well, the state requires individuals that want to have that peer support certification to participate in the required trainings. So through that grant, we do have an individual trainer. that we've been able to secure that is able to do in-person as well as virtual training. And then we have a coordinator that's helping to get the individuals enrolled in the coursework and stay on track. There's a lot of hours required to get your final certification. It's a pretty involved process. Thank you, but it's free and we actually this morning we hosted the Talbot County local drug and alcohol abuse council and We're looking to see how we can partner with some individuals in detention that might be interested to get that program started Even before release to see how they can get more involved which would be a great opportunity No questions for me, but just just a note of thanks for for our

how you make these services available through all these other agencies with really remarkably little overhead. And it's important work, and thank you for all you do.

Thank you. We appreciate the support.

I got a statistics question. Sure. Back on your statistics slide. So mental health customers in Talbot County, 1,904. Is that across youth and adult?

Yes. But the adult cap stops at 65. So this is data that is primarily for the public behavioral health system. So consumers that are utilizing their Medicaid benefit, we don't get private carrier data. So these are individuals just for that one year that accessed mental health services. So that is youth through the age of 65.

Youth through 65. OK. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah.

It counts. I just like to also take the opportunity to thank Katie and her team Katie for your consistency in your passion for making a difference in our community organization does such a great job and I also like to thank you for working closely with Nancy Andrew council as you know is created the office of community partnerships and there's so much need out there in the community and you you serve a component of a very important component of that but We appreciate you engaging in this framework where all nonprofits can come together and share efforts to help those in need. So, thank you very much. Absolutely, thank you, Clay.

Thank you, Mr. Calabrese. Okay, no problem. Thanks a lot, Katie. And you said, do you need- There's a letter of agreement. Okay. Yep. All right. Thank you.

I'll make a motion and a second to approve for Clay.

Correct. So is there a motion? 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.

Okay, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

I don't know how to escape out of this with the mask. We'll take care of it. Thank you so much.

Okay, next on the agenda, introduction to our legislation. Madam Secretary, could you go ahead and read the bill please?

a bill to amend Chapter 131, Road Naming and Property Numbering of the Talbot County Code for the purposes of modernizing Talbot County's addressing standards to be next generation 911 compliant and to clarify staff responsibilities in administering the provisions of Chapter 131.

Okay, thank you. Welcome. Council, thank you. My name is Bryce Yelton. I'm the assistant director of Talbot County Planning and Zoning. Next to me is a new face to the council. It's Katie Stafford. She is our GIS technician in the Department of Emergency Services as well as our technology department. We are here today, as Susan had read out, essentially seeking a text amendment to Chapter 131. This chapter goes over the rights and responsibilities of the Planning and Zoning Department in the county to initiate all of the road naming and the address labeling and naming and numbering that goes on within Talbot County. I think it's best first to start where we actually begin with the address numbering in the county to kind of give you an idea of what has changed over the past couple years. So the way that historically the county has seen address numbering started back in 1990. We did our last manual for the actual addressing and it went over how streets are named, how county new builds and existing addresses performed through our office. What has changed in the last couple of years is that the state and the nation as a whole has changed their addressing standards to be part of this NG911 compliance. and so they have changed nationally how addressing standards have been adopted and so locally this is what we're seeking to fix and adjust our existing standards based on what we've actually been doing with a new consultant so we're here today essentially to change the responsibilities of how we do our addressing so currently when you apply for a building permit for a new house You go through our permit process. We issue a new address through the Department of Planning and Zoning. We used to send out notification letters to the property owner and to the mail service to allow them essentially to know what their new address is. That has now changed because every new address that we have has to be entered into a GIS database. It also has to be checked through another system that Katie can tell you a little bit more about through the NG911 system. and so what talbot county has been doing internally has been working with a consultant to change our 1990 addressing standards document and what we're here before you today is to change the actual responsibilities that are in that and so to go along with this document is another one that the council um has the planning officer based on this text change from time to time and that has not changed since 1990. and so did you want to talk about just a little bit about the 9-1-1 stuff with this sure so i'm just going to read from here so in 2024 to minimize addressing disruptions in the center

County addressing primary duties were moved to DES so that all of the county addressing is created and reviewed under the standards of Next Generation 911. As a result of that change and to modernize the current code, like Bryce mentioned, The county contracted with a consultant, Data Mark, who's Next Generation 911 GIS technology-based company to assist in reviewing and recommending changes to our current code and addressing the standard. These recommendations are aligned with the ongoing efforts with the National Emergency Number Association, which is NENA, to standardize and provide the best practices for 911 GIS data throughout the country, because we're all using Next Generation 911 software. And along with that, I sit on the NENA 911 Addressing Working Group along with our consultant as a local government addressing authority to ensure that all NENA standards fulfill our local PSAP duties and ensure that the first responders can adequately and efficiently LOCATE 911 CALLERS BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL FOR. THE 911 ADDRESSING DATA IS FEEDING INTO THE 911 SOFTWARE AND THAT'S HOW THE COMMUNICATION SPECIALISTS ARE LOCATING THEM WITH THE 911 CALL AND THAT'S HOW IN THE FIELD THE FIRST RESPONDERS ARE GOING TO LOCATE THEM AFTER THEY RECEIVE THE CALL.

And so essentially we're just here to change the responsibilities that the code actually outlines from just the planning director's responsibility to the planning director in consultation with DES. That's one of the biggest topical changes in this tax amendment. The other is essentially just a modernization of how we do the actual addressing notifications and the readdressing notifications. So that's the first part. The second part is essentially just stating that we use OpenGov software or an online platform and we also send out a PDF document instead of a physical mail document now. And so that's really the only changes based in this text.

Any other questions Council. A raise of hands.

This is to introduce the bill introduced by Callahan step lesser milky.

Thank you, thank you.

This will be known as bill number 1652 the public hearing will be held on Tuesday August 11th at 5.30 p.m.

Okay, that sounds good. All right next is the public hearing. The hearing so. Around 30 bills, I guess it in it. 23 we got around 23. Yeah, OK so so we're going to try to go ahead and get through these is is quick as we can and that there is. Any questions on these bills, OK, you're welcome to come up here will give you 3 minutes to 2 for an individual in 5 minutes for if you're. Representing a business so please we're going to run through. So if you if you hear one, I'll pause and then we'll go to the next one you're welcome to come on up.

I think what we what we proposed was that you can ask this brand to read all the titles will do a joint public hearing and We'll just ask anybody to be clear about which bill they're commenting on. That's fine, too. That's fine, too.

All right. You can go right through them then.

Bill number 1628, 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 properties. Bill number 1629, a bill to amend bill number 1600, 1368, and 1343 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for security enhancements at facilities and properties owned by Talbot County. Bill number 1630, 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. Bill number 1631, 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. Bill number 1632. A bill to amend bill number 1595 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacement and improvement of the cart paths and paved areas at the Talbot County hog net golf course. Bill number 1633, 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. Bill number 1634, 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. Bill number 1635, a bill to authorize the replacement and improvement of the roof at Easton Middle School. Bill number 1636, a bill to authorize the exterior repair, improvement, and painting of the Talbot County Education Center facility. Bill number 1637, 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. Bill number 1638, a bill to authorize the assessment of and design for improvements to the Talbot County Courthouse Music Hall. Bill number 1639, 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. Bill number 1640, 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. Bill number 1641, a bill to authorize improvements to Deep Border Point Road, St. Michael's, Maryland. Bill number 1642, a bill to authorize improvements to county roads in and surrounding the town of Trapp. Bill number 1643, 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. Bill number 1644, a bill to amend bill number 1573 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for improvements to the vacuum collection system serving the Region 2 Martingham sewer service area. Bill number 1645, 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. Bill number 1646, 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. Bill number 1647, a bill to amend bill number 1612 and 1431 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for improvements to the region five Tillman wastewater treatment plant and enhanced nutrient removal in our technology. Bill number 1648, a bill to authorize replacements and improvements to the region two St. Michael's wastewater treatment plant and enhanced nutrient removal in our technology. Bill number 1649, a bill to authorize the sewer system extension two and implementation of an improved approach to providing safe drinking water in the village of Claiborne. Bill number 1650, a bill to authorize the rehabilitation of and improvements to the Region 5 Tillman Wastewater Treatment Collection System and accompanying pump stations.

Okay, great job take a breather okay. Okay, so right now. Madam secretary read 1628 to 1650 these bills so now that the public hearing is open, you're welcome to come up and discuss any of these bills at any time now you're welcome to come on out anybody want to come up. Just state your name and address, please.

Aaron Dawson, I live over in Hawks Hill Road. The bill about purchasing properties for the future use of the county. I think you should at least 30% of what you buy should be used for wildlife preservation in our area. I have a whole thing that can maybe wait till the end. It's a long spiel, but that just happened to line up with what I wanted to talk about a little bit. uh yeah uh it's really important that we preserve what wild lands we do have around here and even if we if even if they're in town we've got lots of rabbits we've got foxes raccoons they need a place to live too and unless you're going to offer them to live in your house with proper wildlife set up it's probably a good idea to make sure they have some areas too especially with extra water features around town as we are in a of global water bankruptcy. So I think that's pretty important for you to consider. I can wait on the other things I had to say if that's more amenable.

Well, that's fine. And you're welcome to make a copy of that and give it to us, too, if there's some stuff in there you want us to read.

I mean, yeah, definitely.

I can do it. OK, well, just take your time. It's no problem.

Okay, I mean, I'm here, I'd rather be home. So would I. Well, this is your job, so that's okay, you'll be all right. One of the issues I have and that my friends and colleagues have had with town is we've noticed the new installment of flock cameras over by Lowe's and there's some in Oxford.

So let me under help you understand we're talking about these bills now if you have any thing with the bills That's what we're talking about.

Yeah Okay, wait till the end for that.

Okay, we got to stay on that subject of if you have any problems with these bills I just want you to consider the

with taking when you're purchasing lands that maybe you should set up public gardens, it sounds good.

I appreciate you coming up here. Is there anybody else that would like to come on up and discuss any of these bills be glad for you to come up.

Okay. Sounds good. All right. You want to close the public hearing? Yep.

I want to go ahead and close the public hearing, and this is eligible to vote to the third reader.

We can take these. I will move Bill 1628 to third reader.

Okay.

Bill number 1628. bill to amend bill number 1607 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacements and improvements at community county community pools and associated property okay uh do we want to take that to the to a vote then sure the council okay with that i'm i'm fine with moving with our reader in a vote yeah let me call the role call the roll yeah mr callahan aye mr steph aye Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Milkey? Aye. Okay.

And I will move Bill 1629 to third reader. We should have a second and a vote on that. Yes.

Bill number 1629, a 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.

Call the roll in.

Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I will move Bill 1630 to the third reader.

Bill number 1630, a bill to amend Bill number 1539 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the construction of improvements to a driving range complex at the Talbot County Hog Neck Golf Course.

Okay.

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I'll move bill 1631 to third reader.

Bill number 1631, a bill to amend bill number 1594 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacement and improvement of the greens at Talbot County Hog Neck Golf Course. Mr. Callahan, Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Milkey? Aye.

I'll move bill 1632 to third reader.

Bill number 1632, a bill to amend bill number 1595 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the replacement and improvement of the cart paths and paved areas at the Talbot County Hog Neck Golf Course. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Steps? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I'll move bill 1633 to third reader.

Bill number 1633, a bill to amend bill numbers 1531, 1480, 1452, and 1393 for the purpose of amending the appropriation for the development of the Frederick Douglas Park on the Tuckahoe located at 13213 Lewistown Road, Queen Anne, Maryland. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I'll move bill 1634 to third reader.

Bill number 1634, 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. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

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

I'll move bill 1635 to third reader.

Bill number 1635, a bill to authorize the replacement and improvement of the roof at Easton Middle School. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I'll move bill 1636 to third reader.

Bill number 1636. A bill to authorize the exterior repair, improvement, and painting of the Talbot County Education Center facility. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1637 to third reader.

Bill number 1637, 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. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Milkey? Aye.

I move bill number 1638 to third reader.

Bill number 1638, a bill to authorize the assessment of and design for improvements to the Talbot County Courthouse Music Hall. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1639 to third reader.

Bill number 1639, 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. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Milkey? Aye.

I move bill number 1640, the third reader.

Number 1640 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. Mister Callahan I Mister step I Mister Lesher I miss milky I move bill number 1641 the 3rd reader. Bill number 1641, a bill to authorize improvements to Deepwater Point Road, St. Michael's, Maryland. Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1642 to third reader.

Bill number 1642, a bill to authorize improvements to county roads in and surrounding the town of Trapp. Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1643 to third reader.

Bill number 1643, 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. Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Abstain.

I move bill number 1644 to third reader.

Bill number 1644, 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. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Step?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Milkey? Aye.

I move bill number 1645 to third reader.

Bill number 1645, 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. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1646 to third reader.

Bill number 1646, 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. Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1647 to third reader.

Bill number 1647, 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. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1648 to third reader.

Bill number 1648, a bill to authorize replacements and improvements to the Region 2 St. Michael's wastewater treatment plant and enhance nutrient removal in our technology. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

I move bill number 1649 to third reader.

Bill number 1649, a bill to authorize the sewer system extension to an implementation of an improved approach to providing safe drinking water in the village of Claiborne. Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Milkey? Aye.

And I move bill number 1650 to third reader.

Bill number 1650, a bill to authorize the rehabilitation of and improvements to the Region 5 Tillman wastewater treatment collection system and accompanying pump stations. Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

Okay, and do we do we give Mrs. Moran a performance, but oh yeah, yeah, absolutely good job.

Good job. Get that woman some water. When you get all set will get we've got one more bill that's eligible for vote. So when you get a chance you can start on that one if you can please.

Bill number 1627, a bill to amend Chapter 190, Zoning Subdivision and Land Development of the Talbot County Code for the purpose of providing for the partial or complete release of a reserve land agreement or a preservation of development rights agreement if the parcel is subject to an option contract with the State of Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, MALF, subject to certain conditions.

Council again, thank you. Bryce Yeldon, Talbot County Planning and Zoning. I know the council has already discussed this bill at length because it is eligible for vote tonight. I just wanted to, the last thing I wanted to say on this bill is that the bill, because these are individual contracts essentially that the landowners in the county sign, this essentially is just allowing for the person that has the reserve land agreement, in this instance it's only for one specific malfeasance, to petition the county council yourselves for that partial or complete release. And so this bill wouldn't essentially be the end all. You would see this project again if it were approved tonight. The applicant's attorney is behind me. I'd encourage him to speak or if the council has any questions, hear if the council has any more questions.

Okay, that sounds great.

So just to clarify the the narrow date range that to your date range on this is intended to your your knowledge it narrows the applicability of this language to a a single property a single application.

That is correct and that was intentionally done by the planning Commission at their request and so that was that was really the reasons because they didn't know how many of these reserve land agreements were out there in the county and we don't want to open up the box for everybody that ever had one to come back in.

And yet, Mr. Thomas, this is written in a way that it has broad applicability, and so even though we know it applies only to one property, it meets at least on the appearance of broad applicability for legal purposes. Yes. But the the owner the owner has no obligation to lose reverse the subdivision privilege in the process of removing the reserved lands agreement that is correct okay any other questions okay thank you thank you thank you counsel

Okay.

I continue to be not a fan of this legislation, even though it's had been narrowed. It strikes me as favoritism or privileged special treatment, which is counter to the way that government at any level should be administered. We acknowledge that it's not good policy to allocate scarce mount funds to lands that have already been restricted from further subdivision with a reserved lands agreement. But nevertheless, we're stepping forward to carve out with this legislation an exception for one owner for whatever reason for favoritism to that one owner. I just don't think that we should. I just don't think that we should touch this one.

Okay. Any other questions? But secretary could you call the vote.

Mister Callahan I Mister stepped high Mister Lesher night. This milky night. This hate.

Next on the agenda is placed up here body.

County manager for this evening. Good evening Council. Under board and committee appointments this evening. I have to the first one is a request for the reappointment of Mister Walter chase who has served well representing the town of trap as a representative on the economic development Commission asking for reappointment.

OK so move second. OK, we've got a motion second madam secretary could you call the vote.

Mister Callahan I.

Mister step I Mister Lusher I miss milky I. Secondly requesting the appointment of Mister Al Sykes to serve as the Oxford district representative on the police accountability ability board.

So moved second. They've got a motion second madam secretary could you go vote.

Mister Callahan I Mister step I Mister Lusher I is milky I.

dr deshield would you like to come up i believe next thing council the bellevue passage museum is requesting a letter of support for their grant application to the maryland historical trust in the amount of 121 000 for the museum project no county funds are required and dr deshields is here and i know i probably stole your thunder but i'm sure council would love to hear from you

Yes. Hi. My name is Dennis Shields. Thank you. We are applying for another grant through MHT for also completion of our capital project for the Bellevue Passage Museum. We are planning on breaking ground on August 5th, 930 to 11. I will be sending out invitations to you as well. And I just want to say thank you for all the support for making this process happen.

Sounds great. Okay. I'll move for the issuance of the letter of support. Okay.

Second. Okay, 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.

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Steele.

Thank you.

Next Council I have a light. Josh Elliott your assistant County engineer soon to be County engineer Department of Public Works has a request for the purchase of a vehicle. I'll let you go from here and fill out you fill in where necessary.

Evening Council, Josh Elliott assistant County engineer. Included in the fiscal year 27 budget is the purchase of a pump truck for the sanitary district. Russell Lease has reached out to Mid-Atlantic Truck and Equipment based in Cordova. They have a state contract with the state of Virginia's heavy equipment procurement program. And Mid-Atlantic can supply the required truck through this bid. The budget includes $200,000 for this pump truck. The price for Mid-Atlantic truck and equipment is $185,567. And I'm happy to answer any questions you have about it.

Any questions on the pump truck? OK. I'll move approval of the request. Second. Yeah, we're going to motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

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

Thank you, Josh. Appreciate that.

Thank you.

Council, the next item I have is requesting council approval to send a letter to the Maryland Aviation Administration opposing the application of coastal seaplanes to establish a seaplane base on the Miles River.

Okay.

I'll make a motion.

Second.

I fail to understand why the county is meddling in this.

Okay. Well, we'll get my vote on it. All right. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan?

No.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Mr. Lesher?

Nay.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

Madam Secretary, I need to change my vote.

Okay.

It's against correct. So yes, I'm sorry. It's yeah, okay, sorry.

Thank you council. Next item I have is invite Martha sparks up. And Brian you are great film. They're here this evening to for direction from Council regarding the automatic annual adjustment to the development impact fees outlined. In section 64 dash 13 see of the Talbot County code. Martha embrace go ahead not fill in where necessary.

Okay. Martha Sparks, finance director for Talbot County. I'd like to briefly highlight why continuing the annual adjustment of development impact fees is both necessary and consistent with county policy. Impact fees were established in 2005 to ensure that new development contributes to the public facilities it relies on, roads, bridges, parks, schools, and libraries. As the county grows, these facilities must expand and construction costs continue to rise each year. The authority for these fees is set forth in Chapter 64, Section Article 3 of the Talbot County Code. In Section 6413C, the code requires that impact fees be adjusted annually based on the engineering news record construction cost index. This ensures the fees remain aligned with actual construction costs and maintains the integrity of the policy adopted more than two decades ago. The county has historically made this adjustment every year with the only recent exceptions occurring during administrative transitions in 23 and 24. The annual adjustment is not a fee increase in the traditional sense. It is an inflation alignment that keeps the fee at the same real value it had when the ordinance was adopted. Without it, existing taxpayers end up subsidizing infrastructure needed for new development. Maintaining the adjustment protects residents by ensuring growth continues to fund its appropriate share of the costs. This practice is fundamentally about fairness and fiscal responsibility. When fees are not updated to reflect rising costs, the gap between what development requires and what it contributes grows, and that gap shifts onto existing taxpayers. Continuing the annual adjustment ensures that growth pays its fair share and that the county can responsibly fund needed infrastructure without overburdening residents or future budgets. This is not a change in policy, it's a long standing codified procedure that preserves the county's ability to plan effectively, maintain essential infrastructure, and uphold the original intent of the impact fee ordinance. It's for these reasons that I recommend that the county continue the annual inflationary adjustment as required by section 64-13C. Doing so protects the county's fiscal health, supports responsible planning, and ensures fairness among all who benefit from growth.

Okay, good job. Right. She was a finger. Council. Thank you. We're still in total county planning and zoning. My office and planning and zoning is really just responsible for the actual acceptance on behalf of the county of those impact fees. And so when you apply for a building permit the way that it works in both the towns incorporated in the county. that we have the developer whoever is constructing the house or development can be commercial as well they actually come to our office and submit a impact fee sheet that essentially gets calculated what the actual impact fee is going to be it's different depending on whether it's commercial whether it's in town in the county and so our office is responsible for the intake of those and the change that Martha is discussing every year happens around this time where If your permit is not issued before July 1st of the year, those impact fee changes increase. And so if you gave the county a check for the impact fee for this year and you have not had your permit issued by July 1st, that increase actually takes into effect. And so we reach out to those applicants if they're building permits and both the town and the county haven't been issued and ask for that increase because that's what the county has in the code. And so that's what my office is responsible for every year.

Okay. All right. Any other questions about impact fees? Everybody knows I'm not a big fan of it.

Well, obviously it's important because, as our finance director said, without this adjustment, existing taxpayers subsidize infrastructure. We socialize the costs and shift them onto existing taxpayers. The costs are still paid, but we recall at budget time how the cost of schools and this time around the library, we were able to offset that and not burden existing taxpayers with a portion because we had those funds set aside from from new development.

It's an important principle. Yeah, I agree. But it's also very important that we take another look at this, I think. I think in the future we should do something and help understand, because it is a burden on the developers and the contractors and the homeowners when it comes to this stuff. So I've got a little bit of a different approach when it comes to impact fees if we really need them or don't need them understand I mean what you said I do understand I just think I just think it's nickel and diming people I just think it is and it's just sort of where I'm at and what I've grown up with and I just don't like it.

But we're still paying for those schools and we're still paying for those roads.

And you don't think that developers should have to pay any of the impacts? Some people don't feel like they need to be paying for schools because they're not in the schools. They don't have kids in the schools. So you can argue that too. And they have to pay for schools. And they don't have anything to do with schools.

Only if it's residential.

Okay, that's my point.

So you know. You know there's just you know I I just I just think it needs to be looked at in the future, maybe not you know with this this Council, but the next Council probably on the sort of aware of what's going on with it, but at this stage I'd like to I'd like to pause it at the at the moment keep it as is and relook at this next year.

If I can put in a kind of a parlay off of that. So to your point, Josh, when you mentioned. So the impact fees are still there, right? The matter at hand here is whether to increase the impact fees or not, according to what you guys said. But the one thing I don't necessarily see as fair is if we have someone who's put in a permit or a request. So let's just say they put it in June 1. and they don't hear back by july 1. and they they paid x now we're going to ask them for x plus y because they if we said yes they would have went up you know i i think if if we need to do anything as a council i think we should probably implement something to where we say okay if your permit is in by july 1 you know you're grandfathered into you know the rates that were in effect at that point

right that's just my thought and then anything that's put in july 1 or after we would move that am if am i off base in any way or is there anything like that that exists right now so i think that as bryce mentioned it's common practice throughout all governments towns municipalities counties that that when you put that application so what let me give you a hypothetical where a developer has bought a piece of property and they're going to develop and put in 10 lots but they know and so that could be a significant amount of development impact fees so they come in real quick on june 1 and put that application in for all those and they pay the existing fees for that at june 1 and so july 1 is when the increases come that could be a significant impact to the county it is a little different when it's a single homeowner but still you have to be careful and make sure that the field is level for all people that apply for these permits and

Yeah, the only other thing I'd add is that the state, in more recent years, through their legislative bodies, have been actually pushing for, in DHCD, the Department of Community and Housing Services for the state, has been really pushing a lot of bills that actually change the cost burden for developers on when those development impact fees are done. And so the state has already been talking about this extensively through their departments. And I think MAKO actually brought this up at last year's conference. And internal talks with their planning staff. And so I think this is something that the state has a lot of information on. It's kind of pushing for more of what Mr. Step is kind of pointing out here.

Yeah, I mean, I would think that, you know, use the developer with 10 lots, right? I mean, OK, if you're by that, you've got your initial part. I'm sure there's something once constructed because I mean, it's why I guess it's one thing to buy something and then sit on it for a while and. Just pay the fees up front and then sit on it for 10 years, and then those fees are a little different. I mean, I could see a carve-out for something like that, but it just seems a little unfair if we ask this of folks beforehand and then say, oh, we need a little bit more. That just seems a little off-base to me.

The other thing that I would add is this somewhat mirrors our property tax cap, our revenue cap. Each year our charter says that we can add 2% to our revenues. That used to contain an adjustment for an inflationary adjustment. And the county had not used that for years. And actually, the county wasn't able to get that 2%. So then when that was taken off, That's when we started experiencing 3 and 4% inflation and that would have had a significant impact on the property tax revenues that we were able to get. None of us, our goal is, I mean, I'm a taxpayer. My dad was a general contractor. We live with, I've heard rocks thrown about impact fees as well. And I have a husband that doesn't like to pay the fees that are necessary to to build. So I come from that perspective. I understand it. But we also need to focus on the county and the needs of the county. And we have very limited ability to raise revenues through our property tax. And this is another it's to take that adjustment away or to suspend it for a long period of time could have a significant impact on our resources. So it's just something to consider.

So council, I think this breaks into two issues here. Well, one is whether council wants to waive the increase, yes, yes, no. The second is whether you want to change policy that says when somebody applies for a permit, whether the fee, if they apply in June, that the new fee doesn't apply. That's a procedural question that Patrick will have to examine and probably can't answer right now.

No, I can look into it.

So what we can ask Council tonight is whether you want to waive the fee or not. And we can get back with you on whether procedurally requiring an amendment to the bill or whether procedurally we could do that administratively. And we could answer that at the next meeting.

Okay, so the first one, the first ask is...

is whether you are directing us to waive the increase of the impact fee this year. It's been set in code by previous councils that automatically each year it adjusts up based on inflation, and that's what has been done, but council obviously in law has the ability to waive that, and that's the question tonight. And then secondly, we will look into that and report back to see how we might address the other that Mr. Stepp brought up.

Okay.

There's no there's no motion. Okay, there's no motion. Okay, so it would require a motion to waive. Yes. Okay, so we'll move on.

Unless there's a motion to waive. Right.

So does council have a motion to waive the automatic increase in the impact fees?

Yeah, I me personally I'd like to make that motion just because I you know for for the other mentions are for the reasons that I mentioned. I think we need to to look at policy in place for that I just don't want to be unfair. I'm not saying that you know not going to look at what we what's already in place as far as the the yearly increases because obviously you impact we should go towards our schools are roads and things like that which They are. They're still going to continue. This is just waiving that increase right now. So I'll make a motion that we waive the fee increase. Is there a second?

I'll second it. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan?

No. Or I.

Sorry. So again, yes to waiving. Yes to waiving, yes. Then I'm a yes for that. I'm a yes for that. Mm-hmm.

Mister Lester.

Miss milky now OK motions defeated, yep.

OK Council, thank you. Thank you, Martha. Thank you, Frank. Thank you, Council. Next item I have is requesting Council approval for the first enter into a contractor agreement for Mr Victor Butanis to serve as a trial board judge in an upcoming coming trial board case. So moved.

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

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

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye.

Okay. And finally, Council have one more request. Talbot County Sanitary District is requesting Council approval to order 10 E1 pumps from Friedmeier Associates in the amount of $41,618.56 for inventory purposes or sufficient funds in the budget. And Josh Elliott's here to add any additional that might be necessary.

Yep, following the recent storms are stock of replacement grinder pump pumps was depleted the sanitary district is ordered 10 pumps to restore inventory. These pumps serve single family homes which have limited on site tank capacity and keeping them on standby ensures we can replace failed units quickly and they avoid the expense of parking a pump truck at someone's home to continuously pump them out. As Clay said, we're requesting approval to issue a PO for the invoice total of $41,618.56. Okay, is there a motion?

And Mr. Elliot, these are ultimately paid for by the rate payers of the sanitary district, not by the taxpayers at large.

Correct, yes.

And we do not want to not have these on stock, so with that, I'll make a motion. Second.

Okay, we got a motion and a second.

Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

Mr. Callahan? Aye. Mr. Steff? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mulkey? Aye.

And finally Council just in the form of an announcement. I am overly glad to say that on. July 23rd at 10AM there will be a ribbon cutting at the North EMS station in Cordova. 21st. Yeah, Tuesday, July 21st at 10AM you'll be cutting the ribbon at the new EMS station in Cordova.

That's great.

Congratulations to you and your teams.

Yeah, thank you and that that concludes the county manager. Okay, good job.

Okay. Next on the agenda is public comments.

Okay, yes, come on up.

Public comments. We give you 3 minutes. This and the coaches that you can just introduce yourself.

I'm Erin Dawson, I live on Hawks Hill Road.

Okay.

I'm very concerned about the flock cameras that are by Lowe's and at Oxford. I want to give you some statistics from the ACLU.

Can you tell me, I can't quite, you're talking so fast, you have to slow down so I can understand you.

The flock cameras in front of Lowe's and in Oxford are a big concern for me and I want to give you some statistics from the ACLU about these flock cameras.

Let's say can you help me understand what that means a flock can.

What what is that.

It is a license plate reader. Their parent company is Palantir. They use AI tools to mark cars that less than 1% of cars scanned by flock cameras are connected to any crime or wrongdoing. One in 10 license plates scanned by these flock cameras are misread. and they have problems with lack of transparency, oversight and regulation into how they collect, store and use our data and how they hold public and private investors accountable if they abuse it. It's quite frankly concerning to see tools of the surveillance state in my hometown. ICE and the CBP repeatedly use these cameras to go after immigrants without warrants. And again, their parent company Palantir is complicit in using it. Excuse me. They're complicit in the genocide in Gaza, providing advanced data analytics and AI tools that supposedly provide precision targeting only to kill mass civilians. And I really don't want Talbot County to be associated with this company. It's frankly disgusting. Not only that, the AI used in here and the rise of AI in our mainstream and all over town. I see them in ads and flyers and that's just a, you know, that's no good either. We need to protect our wild lands as I said earlier and AI is a massive waste of electricity and water. I just drove by the ponds behind, not Health and Human Services.

Social Services.

Social Services, thank you. And it's dry. I've never seen it. I've been here mostly my whole life. I've been here for about 25 years, 26. And I've never seen it, the water that low, at that and in the river. I grow ever concerned about the extremely precarious position of our environment's data centers. While none are currently planned here, I very much oppose it and I very much encourage you guys to knock down any contracts that may come in the future. I think that anyone who approves of them is evil, stupid, or corrupt. While older data centers use less than 50 megawatts of electricity, new centers include proposals for massive complexes that would demand 1,000 to 4,000 megawatts of electricity. And unchecked, this will cause health and climate harming pollution, deplete our water supplies, which these new data centers require anywhere from one to five million gallons of water a day to run for what? Some generative AI that was stolen off of artists without compensation. Communities suffer air and water pollution, electronic waste, and noise pollution. As the world enters an era of global water bankruptcy, it is more important Nate fundamental to protect our waters for us and our future generations keeping we have so many important species here on the eastern shore and I I would like for you to go ahead and wrap this up please. Okay, I only have one more paragraph, and I seem to be the only public commenter. I think we can accommodate 30 more seconds. Okay. The waterplain base, I don't think that's a great idea either. Our coastal wetlands are so pivotal to our environment, and we need to be protecting them, not building a place for airplanes that run on gas, which is a finite resource that we will run out of one day, that seems like a complete waste of money. And I ask that you Say no to any new data center contracts. I ask that you take down the flock cameras and end your contracts with them. You implement policy that forces contractors to use environmentally friendly materials and plan for ecosystem coexist plans like water features, native plants, ETC. I ask that you no longer work with look through the financial contracts that are Israeli-owned companies, because there are some here in town, no longer work with them, make sure ICE follows policy with proper warrants, because I know they're in this town and they're not following the law. I ask that you expand expand public transport to mitigate our carbon footprint. We love our buses. My kids love the bus. It's really good. We need more public sidewalks, electronic bikes that like the ones they have in the big cities. I think that would be a great improvement to town. I ask that you protect our wild lands a minimum of 30%. Just keep them pristine and don't develop them. Put people in our environment over profit so that not only we can enjoy these things, But the generations ahead of us, we love our waterfowl festival so much. We need to keep expanding protections for the environments of the beautiful waterfowl that we so cherish. So.

Okay. Thank you.

Easy stuff, I think.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else want to come up and say anything? Be glad to have you up here. Okay. Let's move on to the next would be. Council comments. I am.

I'm good. You're good.

Yeah, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's just jumping around on me.

That's all right. That's all right. Thank you, Tom.

Yesterday. ice agents disappeared another Talbot County resident. This time it came closer to home because it was the mother of one of the Eagle Scouts in my troop. Mrs. Morales was neither a danger to our national security nor a threat to public safety or a convicted criminal of undocumented aliens and gang members as described in the website of Enforcement and removal operations for ICE as their priority. This is not making us safer or greater. This is simply terrorizing our community.

Okay.

The only thing I wanted to mention is following up on a comment. that one of the issues that I'm going to be exploring in the coming weeks is data, a moratorium on data centers and the county task force to explore that.

Okay and did you want to say something you're like look yeah, you're good. Okay, you're good. Okay. Well, I hope everybody had a great 4th of July and a 250 that went over well, I think and I think the whole nation come together at least that weekend that's for sure and I was glad to see how positive that was for for everybody to come together and how important

this nation is and that's what it's about everybody can express their thoughts and feelings and that's what it's about so other than that the county council's next meeting will be held on tuesday july 28th beginning at 5 o'clock p.m the council will be convening an open session at 3 30 p.m 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 Second.

Okay. Madam Secretary, I've got to call the vote. Sorry.

Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

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

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate everybody showing up.