County Council - Regular Meeting

uh good evening all uh i'll call the meeting to order and would you please all rise uh council uh council member hayes is offering an opening prayer and then we'll follow that with the plan let us pray father in the name of jesus we come before you on this day just thanking you for another glorious day lord we ask for blessings over each and every constituent that is in this room today we ask for your guidance and your direction for every decision that this council makes Lord, we pray for our government, from our federal government to our local to our state officials. We ask that you continue to give them wisdom, Lord, in their heart to make decisions on behalf of those that they are representing. So, Lord, we just thank you for this day. We ask that you bless this meeting. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Council has an agenda before us. To get started here, are there any additions, deletions, or corrections to the agenda?

Not here.

Hearing none, chair moves the agenda be approved by unanimous consent. With no objection, next are disbursements for August 4th and August 11th, 2026. Are there any additions, deletions, or corrections to the disbursements as presented?

No.

Hearing none, the chair moves the disbursements be approved by unanimous consent. Next up, we have a proclamation for National Health Center Week. Madam Secretary, would you please read the proclamation into the record?

National Health Center Week 2026, April 2nd through the 8th. Whereas Choptank Community Health System has served Maryland's midshore communities for more than four decades, providing comprehensive high-quality primary medical, dental, behavioral health, nutrition, women's health, pediatric, and school-based health care, regardless of a patient's ability to pay. And whereas, Choptank Community Health System now serves approximately 35,000 patients through medical offices, mobile health, and school-based health centers across Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, and Talbot Counties, helping ensure residents have access to preventive care close to home. And whereas, as a federally qualified health center, Choptank Community Health System reduces barriers to obtaining care for working families, older adults, children, veterans, agricultural workers, and individuals living in rural communities by providing affordable care regardless of insurance status. And whereas, Chop Tank Community Health System improves the health of our communities through integrated medical, dental, behavioral health, nutrition, pharmacy, and care coordination services that help patients manage chronic diseases receive preventive screenings, and avoid unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations. And whereas, Choptank Community Health System partners with local school systems to provide school-based health centers that improve student health, reduce absenteeism, and help children receive timely medical, behavioral health, dental, and nutrition services at school, where they spend much of their day. And whereas access to community-based primary care strengthens the local workforce, supports economic vitality, and helps reduce overall health care costs by emphasizing prevention and early interventions. And whereas, nationwide federally qualified health centers continue to face increasing financial pressures while serving growing numbers of patients with complex medical and behavioral health needs, making continued community partnerships and public support more important than ever. And whereas, National Health Center Week is an opportunity to recognize the vital role community health centers play in improving access to affordable, high-quality health care while celebrating the dedicated professionals, support staff, volunteers, leadership, and community partners who are committed to improving the health and well-being of our neighbors every day. Now, therefore, we, the County Council of Talbot County, do hereby proclaim August 2nd through the 8th, 2026, as National Healthcare Center Week in Talbot County, And encourage everyone to recognize the important role Chop Tank Community Health System plays in improving the health of our communities. Given under our hands in the great seal of Talbot County this 11th day of August in the year of our Lord, 2026.

Thank you. Next, we can adopt this proclamation. I need a motion to do so.

So moved.

Second. Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Ms. Moky? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

And I want to welcome Sarah Rich from Choptank Community Health System. What more can you tell us here?

I can tell you a few more things. But I just want to thank all of you for your support of Chop Tank Community Health and certainly recognizing National Health Center Week. Your partnership is so important and your commitment to improving the health and the well-being of the residents of Talbot County is certainly greatly appreciated. I did want to just share a little bit of data with you tonight in terms of the impact of Chop Tank Community Health in Talbot County. And I have to hold the paper away from me so I can see. So in 2025, we took care of 7,470 Talbot County residents. And so that represents one in five that have received care from Chop Tank Community Health. And here in Talbot County, we serve residents through our Bay 100 Medical and Dental Center, through our Easton Health Center, and certainly through our school-based health centers throughout the county, of which we have five. And certainly we provide care more than just routine primary care. We provide family medicine for all ages, adult and pediatric dental care, integrated behavioral health services. Prenatal and women's health services. We do prenatal care in our Easton location We do a lot of chronic disease management and follow-up in partnership with care coordinators and our community health workers School-based health centers are very critical. We provide sports physicals. We provide preventive care their behavioral health and certainly ensuring that we're taking care of kids when they're sick at school and that they are healthy and ready to learn and Our population health team follows up with patients who have gaps in preventive care, patients who have been in the emergency room or have had a hospital stay. We connect with them to make sure that that follow-up occurs. So that's really critical for us as well. And certainly none of this could happen without our partners. And several of those folks are here in the room tonight. We've got some representation from Talbot County Health Department. Talbot County Public Schools is certainly a huge partner in the school-based health centers. University of Maryland Shore Regional Health as well. Chesapeake College and so many other local nonprofits and organizations really make a difference. So thank you, thank you, thank you for recognizing National Health Center Week and for all of your support and addressing the health care needs of our community. And I want to leave just some of that data with you, if I may.

Thank you. Any questions or remarks for Ms. Rich?

Now just that we are certainly grateful for chopped and community health in our community and the services that you provide to our community. So we certainly love supporting efforts like these and celebrating the work that you're doing. So thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Sarah, I'll just echo the thanks and just please pass that along to the entire team.

Keep up the good work. We're with you.

And I'm one of those 7,000. Well, thank you for that as well. But also particularly appreciated and aware of the good work that you're doing in our schools with the health centers there. Thank you so much. And we have a proclamation for you.

Thank you.

I was Lynn and Lynn was me.

Okay, we have a second.

We should really do that. I was Lynn Milky for a while. No one said anything in the audience.

You shouldn't hear a lot of boos.

We have a second proclamation this evening for Children's Eye Health and Safety Month. And Madam Secretary, would you please read that proclamation into the record?

Children's Eye Health and Safety Month, August 2026. Whereas August is recognized nationwide as Children's Eye Health and Safety Month, an initiative supported by the Vision Council Foundation and other health partners to raise awareness about the importance of healthy vision for children as they prepare to return to school. And whereas good vision is essential for learning, growth, and success in school, yet many children experience undetected vision problems that can affect their educational and social development. And whereas, the Talbot County Health Department, in accordance with Comar, provides free hearing and vision screenings to all public school children each year. Services that play a vital role in detecting potential issues early so that students can see, hear, and learn effectively. And whereas, when children fail these screenings, follow-up care with a doctor is often required, which historically has presented barriers to essential treatment for uninsured or underinsured families. And whereas, in response, the Talbot County Health Department established an ongoing partnership with Global Vision, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Easton, Maryland, to ensure access to essential vision care for local students. And whereas, on November 22nd, 2025, a Global Vision Clinic was held in Talbot County whereby 40 children were seen, 37 of whom received eyeglasses, and three received pediatric ophthalmology referrals, all at no cost to families. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity and efforts of Dr. Zuleika Godsey, Dr. Whitney Farman, Dr. Brent Klein, Global Vision team members Kevin White, Jamie Morrell, Alex Lovell, and other dedicated volunteers, And whereas, this pioneering partnership ensures equitable access to care for all students, regardless of insurance status, reflecting the deep commitment of our local partners to the health, well-being, and academic success of Talbot County's children. Now, therefore, we, the County Council of Talbot County, do hereby proclaim August 2026 as Children's Eye Health and Safety Month in Talbot County and encourage all residents, families, and schools to prioritize children's eye health schedule regular vision screenings, and support initiatives that safeguard the health and success of our community's youth. Given under our hands in the great seal of Talbot County, that's 11th day of August in the year of our Lord, 2026.

And our next opportunity is to adopt this proclamation. I need a motion to do so. So moved.

Second.

Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

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

That's adopted and Dr. Fahmy invite you forward to tell us more.

Hi, I am Fahmy Fahmy. I'm the health officer for Talbot County. And next to me is Ms. Greenwood, Megan, who is our director for the school nursing system and the leader person for the vision activity. So I'll give the floor to her. Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you. So over this past year we were able to actually hold two clinics for our students. One which we held in April and one which we held in November and we actually totaled for both of those clinics 70 students that came through the door and received a comprehensive eye exam. We had 65 students in total who received either glasses on the spot or we had prescription glasses that were actually ordered and then we delivered them to the school for them. We also discovered four students in a combination of both of those clinics that required pediatric ophthalmology referrals, and we were able to make those referrals happen through one of our other programs at the health department. Whereas if we wouldn't have connected with these families, we might not have known that they needed this level of referral. So, you know, what began as just kind of like a targeted effort to get kids the vision care that they needed, especially after the pandemic and a lot of these resources were not available and families came in and they didn't know how to access these resources. They didn't really know what our screenings were about and what that meant and how vision directly is correlated with learning and their education. We started this in an effort to get those kids that we knew were already maybe a year or two years without that care, that we had already seen them, and said, hey, they have a vision problem. How are we going to get them follow up? So this idea actually, the way I actually knew about Global Vision was from COVID when we were over at the old Black & Decker building doing our testing and I saw all of their stuff in the warehouse and I went, Global Vision? What is Global Vision? I didn't know anything about them so I looked them up and so I made a connection actually through Kevin White, the second time I contacted him, I was like, hey, I'm just going to contact you again, see if there's anything that we can do. So him and I started brainstorming. And we said, let's do it. Let's have this clinic. Let's bring the kids in. Let's get them the vision care that we need. All we need is doctors. And I went, OK, how are we going to manage that? So he connected first with Dr. Travis Peck. And then Dr. Peck connected with Dr. Zalika Ghazi's office. And next thing you know, we had four doctors showing up, which was amazing. So they donated their time on a Saturday and they came in and they saw all these kids. And so now we have a lot more kids who can see and some of them have lost their glasses along the way. So we get phone calls from the school and we're like, okay, yeah, we'll order new ones or we'll make them new ones and we'll take them right to the school. Sometimes even two sets. Like we had one little boy that just kept losing his glasses and I said, I'm bringing you two sets, one to keep at school and one for him to take home. So, you know, this what we thought was gonna be a one-off thing has now turned into a second clinic. We're already planning our third clinic for this upcoming school year and we're finding it to be rather sustainable. We do have two donors that donated and purchased the glasses that we needed to be able to provide to these children. So we're looking forward to just continuing this. It has increased our follow-up rates the school system and that's not really why we're doing it you know the state wants to see those follow-up rates we want to see kids that can see and can learn so that is basically what we've been doing and we're looking forward to another clinic that's hopefully going to be in the fall or the spring and we're just going to keep on you know plugging away at getting these kids the care that they need

I think this venture is definitely showing the best of Talbot, not just for the kids, and this is humongous for their life and for their future, and for the community and the nation at large. It shows the people who are ready to work on a Saturday and year after year giving their own time and their own money and their own health and their own spending time with their families to do such a selfishness and humbling. Not enough gratitude from myself and from the department I represent and I think also from the whole community for their willingness to do such a wonderful thing without, and being an excellent example, whether for the kids or for their parents or for the community in general. And those unsung heroes are amazing people. I take them as an excellent example for the department.

Thank you. Any questions or comments for Dr. Fahmy?

No just that I'm glad that this effort is continuing I remember you coming in last year and I'm just glad that the partnership continues to help the students in in the local schools so thank you for bringing this together. I know it's a it probably a huge undertaking but to ensure that students are able to see and the glasses are needed. Thank you.

One more comment, if I may. Unfortunately, Global Vision was one of the entities that was affected by the recent weather turn. So, I mean, if people can volunteer and lend them a hand in recouping back to where they were, that would be a wonderful gesture.

impacted by the recent fire tornado tornado tornado yes yeah so their warehouse and trap was one of the was the one where the tornado pulled off the roof so they had to relocate all their supplies

Well, what a great story to embrace this international nonprofit that happens to be headquartered here in Talbot County to do the coordination that you do with the doctors and such to be able to bring this benefit right here to our own Talbot County students. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

All right, and we have a proclamation for you and some certificates to pass along to your stars. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have an update on the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund Awards. And I want to invite Nancy Andrew, Director of the Talbot County Office of Community Partnerships. Welcome, Nancy.

Thank you very much. Might be not turned on. How about that? Yeah, there we go. Got it. It's because you stood up and came over here. Sensed your presence. OK. Great, so again, thank you for this opportunity to present this evening, Nancy Andrew, Director of your Office for Community Partnerships. Happy to have this opportunity to give just a quick update on the inaugural round of funding from Talbot County's Community Repair and Investment Fund. Just while I have this opportunity, I'd like to remind the public about this new office, which the county established in March of this year. Thank you to Ms. Kilman for providing this graphic for us. So I have been serving with the county as the director of your local management board, but have now taken over directorship of this office, which continues to include the local management board, the community repair and reinvestment fund. and some other emerging areas of work that we'll be talking more about at another time. But to clarify, because of some concern from some of our community partners, we are not here to take over the leadership or run other nonprofits in our community. We're not here to do frontline work. I'm going to take some words that Mr. Lesher said at the annual economic development breakfast, the awards breakfast. You said that government provides the infrastructure and climate to help you, our businesses, thrive. in the same way the office is here to help our human services partners have that same infrastructure and climate to thrive. And I think the two proclamations that you gave out this evening really exemplify the kind of collective action that we want to help facilitate and foster. That kind of working together for a lot of reasons, how we're funded and other things, does not always happen naturally. It also can be slower work and has its challenges to work together differently. So we look to facilitate more of that kind of opportunity, especially as we see changes coming in state and federal funding. So just as a reminder, the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund was established by the Maryland General Assembly to reinvest cannabis tax revenue in communities disproportionately impacted by past cannabis enforcement and related disparities. So every jurisdiction in Maryland is receiving a portion of these funds based on a formula. Talbot County established its community repair and reinvestment fund through Bill 1620, which was effective in December of last year. With the commission administering the process, you name the local management board or Talbot Family Network to serve in that inaugural role as the commission. So just a little background about that first notice of funding available that we put out. That was released in January of this year with applications due in March. We decided to go with two pathways, and I will say throughout this initial funding process or offering of funds process, we really emphasized that this inaugural round was a learning opportunity for us. This is the first time that we've administered this particular pool of state dollars. These are new funds which the state is evolving in its understanding of how it would like the funds administered. So we're learning alongside them. So I'm looking at what some of the other jurisdictions did as well. We came up with a small grants pathway with a maximum amount of $10,000 and put $50,000 in that pool of funds. And then a larger community impact grant pathway. We did not put a cap on those dollars but simply allocated $150,000. We had a pre-application meeting. 32 individuals attended that meeting with 24 organizations represented. So eventually, by that due date in March, we received 19 applications. 17 of those were requesting money through the community impact pathway and seven through the small grants. Knowing that there's a lot of need in our community and also many community partners doing good work, the demand exceeded the funds available. So the total requests that came in were close to, or just a little over 867,000, up against the 200,000 of funds that we made available in this inaugural round. Our Talbot Community Repair Reinvestment Fund Commission worked with two different grant review committees and eventually made 10 awards. This is a quick overview of the awards that were made. I think just to summarize for you the categories or the themes that really came out as we looked at making these awards. One, we put a priority on, although not exclusively, but we did put some priority around the Easton 21601 area because of state guidance about focusing where the most disproportionate impact had been around cannabis enforcement. And also, the state's interest in having jurisdictions focus these funds on low-income communities, where there's the most density of low-income community members, and that would be the qualified census tract 9603 in Easton. So we followed that guidance. We did find, you'll see there's some patterns in supporting programs that invest in children, youth, and families. Also, looking at this through a prevention and early intervention lens, and also some interest in workforce development. all of which fall under the categories of guidance that the state provided and how they recommended that these funds be used. So the current state of our rollout for these dollars is we have completed notice of grants awards with all of those awardees. Some had some adjustments that needed to be made in terms of our approval process before finalizing those notice of grant awards, but that's been done. We are in the process of completing contracting. That's gone a little slower than expected in part because we're asking each program to set project specific performance measures so we can try to evaluate the impact of these dollars. Not something the state is requiring that we do yet, but that's something that the local management board does with all of its grantees. And we think that's a good skill building exercise for all of our partners to really make sure that they have that evaluation muscle in the work that they do. Some of the things that we learned in this inaugural round, and we will be applying as we go forward, we got a sense of the broad range of community needs out there based on the applications received in both pathways. We got a sense of the organizational readiness to serve the two priority populations. We also learned about some of the technical assistance that some of our partners might benefit from that would help strengthen their application for these funds and other dollars in the future. And we also saw, to the point earlier about the proclamations that you made this evening, some real opportunities for better coordination or increased collaboration between our partners. So these are all lessons that we will be taking forward to inform the distribution plan that we are now working to create with the community. We are holding next week, and the public is invited, a distribution planning session, what we're calling a stakeholder dialogue, on Tuesday, August 18th from 12 to 1.30 p.m. This information is available on the county website on the Community Reinvestment and Repair page. Any members of the public or community partners who would like to participate in that session are welcome to register to join. We will have lunch, so we do appreciate RSVPs. A public notice will be going out that the draft plan, the draft disbursement plan will be available by Friday, August 21st for members of the public to offer written comment on. And I'm providing that email here in this PowerPoint presentation. That can be found on the website. well there will be a county excuse me a public hearing at the county council's September 8th meeting and then I will be back to make our formal presentation the legislation that established our local fund required that we report once a year to the County Council so we will be back to do the approval of the disbursement plan and talk with you about the income received and how that's been used to date overall and that is it quick rundown i'd be happy to answer any questions quick questions for miss andrew

No questions, but just a comment. So I've had to work with Nancy through this project, through the Foundation of Hope, and she has truly been a delight to work with and answers any questions. And even when you have problems with the Mac and the Excel spreadsheet not working properly, she's there to help. So I just wanted to say thank you for... heading up the new office and thank you for all that you do to really bring community partners together so we truly appreciate your work and your knowledge and experience as well thank you

Maybe I missed it here. You talked about how in the first round, demand far exceeded funds available. Of course, until the applications come in, you won't know what the demand is this year. Do you yet have a sense of what the funding pool looks like?

For our next round?

For our next round.

No, although I think as we continue to educate the public about the availability of these funds, the interest will increase. And as we see state and federal funds pulling back, the demand is going to increase as well.

Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. Click to exit. Thank you. Thank you very much.

All right. Next, we have the introduction of a numbered resolution. Madam Secretary, would you please read the title of the numbered resolution into the record?

A resolution to adopt a temporary moratorium on the processing, review and approval of applications, site plans, permits and other authorizations for the location, construction and or operation of data centers for a period of 12 months to allow the county sufficient time to enact reasonable, thoughtful and lawful zoning requirements and other regulations pertaining thereto as deemed necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare.

Thank you. I know that there's been a lot of interest among our constituents and in surrounding jurisdictions over this issue. But Mr. Thomas, would you tell us where we are on this and what this will do? Frame it up for us, please.

yes so this resolution was requested by councilmember milky it is similar to previous moratoria the council has adopted by resolution regarding cannabis and solar in the past few years it imposes a 12-month moratorium that would allow the county to consider and enact regulations regarding data centers While that use is currently not permitted under the zoning code, it does allow the county to take a proactive approach in considering and enacting these regulations rather than waiting for an applicant to either argue that it is a permitted use and with the planning subject to the planning director's determination or submit a zoning text amendment that would come before the council and the planning commission and have a perhaps a bit more of a truncated review time frame.

So, Mr. Thomas, if we can dig a little deeper, I don't often wear a belt at the same time that I'm wearing suspenders. So, if it's not permitted now, let's talk a little bit about more about why a moratorium. If somebody were to, if an interest were to come in and propose a data center today, what is the process that they would go through and where would they hit the stumbling blocks?

And I can explain that and ask Mr. Tarleton to come up as well because he can also add to this discussion. So there are a couple of ways, as I just mentioned, a potential applicant could reach out to the planning office to say, I'm interested in establishing this use in the unincorporated areas of the county. Is it permitted under the zoning code? And Mr. Tarleton can answer that question, but I believe the answer is going to be no. I don't believe it's a permitted use under the zoning code, in which case that determination is subject to an appeal to the Board of Appeals and it could ultimately go to the circuit court over whether it is in fact a permitted use or the applicant could say, okay, well then I'm going to submit a zoning text amendment to request that the zoning code be changed in order to permit the use. And then that will bring it before the council and for a referral to the Planning Commission. And the Planning Commission will have a shorter time frame in which to review and make recommendations to come back to the council. I believe they have about 60 days from when they receive the referral to make their recommendation. And then the council will have to decide whether to introduce a bill. Now, of course, the council could decide they're not interested. The Planning Commission could recommend against it. The council could decide they don't want to introduce a zoning text amendment. And certainly the outcome of a moratorium could be that maybe the council doesn't want to consider it at this time. But at least having the resolution would allow that process to begin rather than waiting, being proactive as I said before.

It would give us a certain 12 month rather than a 60 day period of uncertain start time.

Yes, and the moratorium can also be extended as well. There are provisions that allow for two short extensions if needed.

Thank you. Are there other questions for Mr. Tarleton or Mr. Thomas?

No questions. Well, one of the reasons for this is that these data centers have a reputation of using a lot of water or having an effect on water. And given our watermen and their professions and that we're a water-oriented community, that would be very important for us to investigate what the center the effect of the center would be whether we confer with Shore Rivers or whatever to do some studies. So that's one of the reasons why I think it's very important to have this so that we can look at the effect of a plan and not just jump into it. So it's not, it's to benefit everybody and to not turn us into some kind of desert. There's also electric issues too with them that need to be explored and looked at and addressed. You know, how much is this going to cost taxpayers for providing the utility use for such a project? So there's a lot of good reason for this. You know, we just want to make sure that If we commit to such a center that we have the background and a plan on how we're going to do it, that's not going to upset our community.

Well, can I just say this one thing? As far as data centers go, I mean, they've been around for over a decade, with most of the concentration being in Virginia. And they are looking for areas that have the water and the electric. And so for a county that really doesn't have the zoning or the needs to meet the data center, because the county proper is not prime for commercial development anyway. If it's going to be developed, it's going to be in a municipality. And so the moratorium to review it is certainly fine, but nine times out of ten, a data center has not looked at Talbot County and more than likely than not, as the economic development professional, would not look at Talbot County for a data center.

I'm aware of one property that is a potential site and I don't want to mention it to give anybody any ideas about it so I think that there are areas that can be explored and manipulated by data center developers and I think that we have to have strong control over it to preserve our way of life and our environment which is extremely important to our county.

MR. CHARLTON, IT WAS CERTAINLY IN THE NEWS RECENTLY THAT THE TOWN OF EASTON HAS RECENTLY DONE ONE. IS THERE A PROCESS OR PERHAPS AN INTENTION BY WHICH TULPIT COUNTY MIGHT COORDINATE WITH THE TOWN TO JOINTLY GO THROUGH THIS, LOOK AT THE APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT OR NOT OF DATA CENTERS IN THE TOWN AT THE SAME TIME AS WE LOOK IN THE COUNTY?

Sorry. Brendan Tarleton, planning director for Talbot County. Certainly, I think we can have some collaborative discussions with the town of Easton as they undergo their process of reviewing potential areas or potential projects. zoning constraints or requirements surrounding data centers. I'm not sure of the level of involvement or investment that they're going through in order to conduct those studies. So in other words, I'm not sure if they're going to reach out to a private entity or a firm to conduct a more regional or more robust study or scope. But to that end, we can certainly coordinate and have some discussions with them to see how they plan to go about their period of discussion and contemplating some zoning requirements surrounding data centers in their 12-month moratorium. Likewise, we've been following along with a lot of the other counties' efforts in enacting moratoriums currently for data centers as well and keeping a close eye on some of the regulatory processes and discussions they've been having surrounding the use as well. I know PG County has, in fact, done and released a study already surrounding data centers as well that I would be happy to forward and share with you all if you have interest in that. But otherwise, we have been meeting with the MAKO Planners Affiliate Group on a pretty much regular basis, at least a monthly basis, so to speak, discussing planning-related matters. And obviously, data centers has been one of those heavier topics.

Thank you.

And Brendan, can I just add, since we have a new economic development director coming in, make sure that whatever is done that your office is coordinating and working with them as well on that. Because typically the first step for a business is to contact the economic development office in regards to coming to a community.

Absolutely, yes. I've already been in contact with Ms. Gowler and we're collaboratively working on a lot of the undergoings of projects and applicants looking at properties in the county, not specifically for data centers at this point in time, but we do plan to continue to coordinate those discussions with the Economic Development Department as well. Thank you.

Any other questions? If not, I will ask by a show of hands who wishes to introduce the number to resolution. Introduced by Steph Lesher-Milkey. And Madam Secretary, would you please announce the resolution number, date, and time of the hearing?

This will be known as resolution number 395. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, September 8th at 5.30 p.m.

Thank you very much. We now move into our public hearing and we have passed the Minimum required opening time for that. Madam Secretary, would you please read the title of Bill 1652 into the record?

Bill number 1652, 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.

Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Would you like to remind us where we are on this?

Yes, as discussed at the introduction, the chief purposes of the bill are to incorporate the Department of Emergency Services in administering the county's road naming and property numbering standards. It updates the addressing standards required to be Next Gen 911 compliant. And I believe Mr. Yelton and Ms. Stafford are here and might be able to provide a little more information.

Thank you. What more can you tell us?

Council, thank you. Bryce Yelton, Talbot County Planning and Zoning. Just as Mr. Thomas has said, this bill is very straightforward. It essentially allows members of our EMS division to work in collaboration with the planning department when we have new addresses under our subdivision standards as well as new building permits. A lot of the addressing standards have gotten a lot more technological in the last couple of years as the invention of Next Gen 911 has been rolled out. And so this is just to make sure that we're compliant with all of the state and federal requirements that get rolled out in all of those. Do you have anything to add for the technical side?

Sure. So Katie Stafford. I'm CAD and GIS specialist and addressing coordinator. For the most part, the biggest change is just introducing the online permitting as part of the introductory for assigning and reassigning addressing. So that is kind of the biggest change, where we're just introducing the fact that we use an online permitting software rather than mailing things out.

OK. Are there any questions for staff on the bill? If not, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. This is a public hearing. If anybody wishes to speak on Bill 1652, please come forward to the microphones, introduce yourself, and give your name and address, and you'll have three minutes. Please.

Thank you. My name is Phil Riggin. I'm a resident of Easton. My address is 29736 Sullivan Drive. I'm just trying to actually clarify for myself. The principal purpose of this is to be, I assume, to enable faster response times for EMS services to various parts of the county. Is that the deal?

We can get staff to address that. That's part of it.

Okay. All right. Basically, so you're talking about, because I see it said 9-1-1 compliance, so I assume that's a principal purpose of this legislation.

That is my understanding. Thank you.

Okay. I just wasn't quite sure what the purpose of it was, but that's all I can find.

Thank you, Mr. Regan. Before I call staff back up to address the open question, is there anybody else who wishes to testify on Bill 1652? Ms. Stafford, would you like to address that?

So the next generation 911 is a part of the introducing a different technology that will facilitate 911 calls and that includes a new data standard that goes along with addressing and that's address points and road center lines and that data does inherently allow dispatchers to see addresses and 911 callers locations faster. And that is one of the reasons why next generation 911 is such a massive improvement for public safety and why it's been standardized across the nation.

And has emergency services not played such an active role in the assignment of addresses in new developments before this initiative?

prior to the initiative emergency services was always involved in addressing the change with this initiative particularly puts addressing in emergency services where as the 9-1-1 addressing coordinator previously was in planning and zoning and they just coordinated with staff from emergency services, but now it directly involves the planning department, consulting, emergency services throughout the addressing and permitting process.

Thank you very much. Mr. Stamp, did you have something to add?

I think she did a wonderful job explaining it. But yes, emergency services has been involved since the creation of 911 and addressing. It's just exciting we've moved to a new level of use of technology. And by seeding this in the Department of Emergency Services with a very talented person at the helm with Katie is a good move. And it's an appropriate housekeeping bill to put it in the right place. So, yeah. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, if there's nobody else to testify on this bill, I'll close the public hearing on Bill 1652. Open this up for any council discussion. Hearing none, Bill 1652 is eligible for a vote on August 25th. And we do now have a bill eligible for a vote. Madam Secretary, would you please read the title of Bill 1651 into the record?

Bill number 1651, a bill to amend Chapter 190, Zoning Subdivision and Land Development of the Talbot County Code for the purposes of authorizing the planning director to grant a waiver from the requirement of 190-61.2c for a bona fide nonprofit entity subject to certain conditions and amending the criteria for evaluation of waiver applications.

okay thank you any any further questions on this we've been over this we've had the public hearing on this mr thomas do you want to do any reminder on the subject of this bill certainly so the um the zoning code provides for provisions of developer agreements uh when uh developers require to install certain improvements as a condition of approval of the site plan subdivision plan or other development approval And one of those requirements is that the developer furnish a surety, which can be an impediment for nonprofits in certain instances. So the proposed amendment would allow the planning director with the planning commission's recommendation and in accordance with the waiver provisions in the code to grant a waiver from the surety requirements for a bona fide nonprofit based upon a showing of need and where it would be in the public interest.

So it'll have to meet that high bar. It'll have to have the recommendation of the planning staff, and it will have to have the affirmative vote of the Planning Commission for this to take place.

Correct. Any questions for Mr. Thomas before we move to the vote?

Hearing none, Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll on Bill 1651? Mr. Lesher? Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

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

Aye. Mr. Callahan, who's absent tonight, did vote by absentee ballot. Thank you all. So Bill 1651 passes, and we next have council discussion of a proposed tax amendment to Section 190.63 concerning short-term rental licenses and review board. Mr. Thomas, would you like to lead us through this?

Yes. Again, this was requested by Council Member Mielke. As Council will recall, Council previously considered a zoning text amendment, Bill 1622, that was ultimately withdrawn, proposing amendments to the zoning code regarding short-term rentals. So this new proposal that's in front of you for recommendation contains only the recommendations that the Planning Commission made upon their review of Bill 1622, and none of the provisions that they struck, things like requiring the tiers of rental licenses and things like that that they had recommended against. So this is entirely consistent with what the Planning Commission has previously reviewed and recommended. Okay. But because that bill was withdrawn, it needs to go through that process again.

Got it. Okay. So questions from council on any question or discussion on this before we call for a motion?

No.

Nope.

I think Mr. Thomas has laid it out very well. Is there a motion and a second to refer the proposed text amendment to the Planning Commission?

It must be done.

Yes. That's a motion. Ms. Mulkey, is there a second? No second. Well, we will get Mr. Stepp. I will pass the gavel so that just for procedural sake, I will second the motion. And if you can, you can call for the roll.

Madam Secretary, could you call the roll, please?

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Nay.

Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haith? Nay.

Okay, motion fails in a tie vote. And thank you very much. Next up is County Manager's Report. Mr. Stamp. Good evening.

Council, I have a number of committee and board appointments that I would like for you to consider this evening and some other requests. The first would be we're requesting the appointment of Dr. Donna Nizolek to the Animal Control Board. I'll make a motion.

Second.

Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp? Aye. Ms. Moky? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Next, requesting the appointment of Steve Cahoon for the St. Michael's District to the Bike and Pedestrian Committee.

Motion to approve.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Madam Secretary, would you call the roll?

Mr. Lesher? Aye. Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

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

Next council would be for the Economic Development Commission requesting the reappointment of Dr. Michael Meyer representing the town of St. Michael's.

So moved. Second.

Madam Secretary, we have a motion to second. Would you call the roll, please?

Mr. Lusher? Aye. Mr. Stebb? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes? Aye.

The next is regarding the Police Accountability Board requesting your consideration to reappoint Mr. John Gilbert to that board.

Motion to approve. Second.

We have a motion and second. Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

Mr. Lesher? Aye. Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haith?

Aye.

And finally, we're going to the Upper Shore Workforce Investment Board of Directors requesting a reappointment of Dr. James Bell and Tarenda Thomas.

Motion to approve.

Second. Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

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

And I do have one more, counsel. This is for the Senior Citizen Task Force requesting the appointment of Father Nash.

I think we have a motion and a second there. Madam Secretary, would you call the roll, please?

Mr. Lesher? Aye. Mr. Stuck?

Aye.

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

I complete your board and committee appointments. I would like to invite Cliff Coppersmith, President of Chesapeake College, and Milton Nagel, Vice President of Administrative Services for Chesapeake College. They're here this evening on two matters. The first one, they're going to be discussing a situation that's developed regarding their HVAC system in one of their buildings. And I want to brief the council on that as well as a budgetary request.

Thank you very much. It's our pleasure to be with you tonight. I wish we were under better circumstances because we're looking for money. Several months ago, we began having some issues with our air conditioning system in the annex to the TPAC, which is where we have our adult basic education operation house, the WIB, of course, and the small business administration office that we have on campus. The material coming out of the vents has caused us to move people out to temporary quarters or to make arrangements for working remote. Well, we figured out a solution to the problem. Milton's been on top of this one, so I'm gonna hand it over to him for the details. I wanna thank Clay in particular and the other county managers that helped us figure out how to go about this in a way that deals with the realities of the budget schedule for the counties as well as for the college. So with that, I'm gonna hand things off to Milton.

Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to be here. It's good to see a lot of familiar faces. As Dr. Coppersmith summarized, we did relocate 21 staff out of the EDC Center. And if you're familiar with the Todd Performing Arts Center, it's connected to the Todd Performing Arts Center. It's just to the left. But it has its own independent HVAC system. It has aged out, and when the installation starts to D laminate from the interior of the ductwork and come out on folks desks that causes people to think about indoor air quality issues and and certain and understandably and so we brought guide mechanical in to do an assessment of the system and they Confirm that really it is end of site end of useful life coupled with the fact that the the ductwork is is at end of useful life and so I We did try some patchwork to put some additional filters to try to catch the insulation before it comes out of the vents, and that really put too much stress on the existing system and really is not a good long-term solution. We reached out to the Maryland Higher Ed Commission, which is our primary funding source for state projects. This does qualify as an emergency utility project. They have prioritized it for FY28. At last week's retreat of the college presidents, Dr. Coppersmith saw a spreadsheet that lists this as the number one project, new project for state community colleges, right behind existing projects that are looking for year two or year three funding. So it is receiving the highest level of recommendation to the state. And we have full assurances that it will remain such as presented to ultimately as part of the governor's budget later in the calendar year and into early January when the governor presents his budget. We have successfully relocated those 21 staff, and they're okay. Fortunately, we have pockets of space. It's not the best solution, but it is temporarily available, and folks have been very accommodating. At this point, we'll... are continuing to develop the RP will go through a bid process but we will not award the bid until we know for sure that this that this is going to be funded by the state because it is a you know a little bit north of 2.5 million dollars it and so we don't want to put You know ourselves out there fiscally without knowing that we're going to get the 75% of the state money There were some concerns raised when we met with county managers last month about the timing of this and We'll work with our own cash flow to ensure that that we can start the project at a time that we can manage the the full cost of it until next July one. It may result in us being a little bit more than a 12 month duration from now to be able to put staff back in the building, but it will allow us to not seek any additional money from the counties until next July one. Start of the fiscal year 28 budget and that's when we'd ask for your local support, which articulated in the memo would be a little more than $145,000. So that's really, the Talbot County, that's the ask here tonight is for the Talbot's portion. And the five counties share in the distribution of, let me back up, the state, we qualify for 75% state funding. on capital projects and in this case, you know, 75% is almost $2 million, which means the local share to be split amongst the five counties is $666,000 and change. And of that, Talbot's share is 21.8% and those rates are set and adjusted once every 10 years. And so that's the same percentages for the new Queen Anne's Tech building, 21.8%. And so that equates down to a little over $145,000. That number may adjust a little bit based on bid day, but it's pretty firm at this point in time based on estimates provided by Gipe, who is the firm doing all the engineering work in order to develop the RFP, Dave Hoffman and his team. We also will be going through an energy audit, if you will, because that equipment that was there was almost 40 years old. The equipment that's being spec'd that will be put in there will be much more energy efficient. The other thing is that when, definition of a state utility project once you open up the ceiling anything else above the ceiling grid that's utility defined that's out of code has to be brought into compliance so we're going to have some minor work on the fire suppression system to bring that up to the day standards as well as lighting converting old lighting structure units to LED. So that added a little bit of cost to the project but it will produce a you know state-of-the-art space approximately 7,500 square feet.

So this evening, on this matter, they're looking for the council's letter of intent to be able to fund at this point. And it may be the next fiscal year for the 145. If it happens to be before that, I would come back to council for a contingency use to address it.

We can say confidently it will not be until FY28.

Very good. OK. Any questions on the HVAC and lighting project? college if not are we ready for a motion yeah i'll make a motion we proceed as uh as recommended okay madam secretary of motion second uh for the uh letters uh of commitment uh would you call the role please mr lesher aye mr step hi miss milky hi miss hayes the council the second issue they're looking for approval for the revised fy 27 operating budget

This is a little easier. There's no additional cost. We just reallocated some funding to provide an equal compensation increase for all staff. We'd equate it with our full-time faculty, which we collectively bargained with last year. And that's why we're bringing a revised budget forward for your approval tonight.

Net zero effect on the? Net zero effect, correct.

Seems like a no-brainer to me. I'll make a motion. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Madam Secretary, would you call the roll, please?

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

Good job.

Thank you so much for your support of Chesapeake College. Thanks, gents. Class is starting in two weeks.

Oh, there you go. Thank you. Council, the next items, I have three of them before moving on, are for the Roads Department. The first, the Roads Department is requesting Council approval to purchase a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado four-wheel drive double cab work truck. with a 8-foot Boss V-plow from Hertrick Fleet Services in the amount of $56,323 by piggybacking on the state of Maryland contract. There are sufficient funds in the FY27 capital budget for this. This was approved in the budget, and it would be replacing a 2006 vehicle with 170,000 miles on it.

Is there any questions? Hearing none, are we ready for a motion? So moved.

Second.

Madam Secretary, would you call the roll?

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

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

Thank you council next for the roads department will be request of Council to approve purchase or new caterpillar many excavator using the source well group purchasing contract in the manner of $102,909 wrote by will be trading in a smaller many excavator at the value of 25,500 making the total purchase price $77,409 there are sufficient funds in the FY 27 capital budget for this purchase and it was approved in the FY 27 budget.

Any questions on the mini excavator?

No.

Hearing none, are we ready for a motion?

So moved.

Second. Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

Mr. Lesher? Aye. Mr. Stebb? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes? Aye.

Council of the Roads Department is requesting Council approval to purchase a new John Deere compact wheel loader from Atlantic Tractor in the amount of $132,872.65. Utilizing the source well group purchasing contract, the machine will support both snow removal and tree removal operations. There are sufficient funds in the FY27 capital budget for this purchase, and this item was approved in the budget.

Any questions on the compact wheel loader? Hearing none, are we ready for a motion?

We are indeed. I'm so moved.

Second.

Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

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

The next item I have is the Facilities Maintenance Department is requesting Council approval to contract with Value Carpet 1 of Salisbury, Maryland. for the replacement of carpet at the Talbot County Free Library Easton branch in the amount of $87,292, utilizing the source well group purchasing contract. The price includes relocating the bookcases for the project. There are sufficient funds in the FY27 budget for this project.

And are we ready for a motion on this one?

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and second. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Mr. Lester? Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes? Aye.

The next two items, I'll invite your Assistant County Engineer, soon-to-be County Engineer, Josh Elliott, to come forward. The first item he has is requesting a reward of bid 2607, request for proposals for consulting engineer service for the comprehensive water and sewer plan update for Talbot County, Maryland.

Good evening, counsel. Josh Elliott, Assistant County Engineer. This bid is for engineering services to complete the update to the Talbot County water and sewer plan. The county received two proposals which were evaluated by a joint review committee from the planning sanitary and public works departments. Submissions were scored across five criteria, firm resources and experience, key staff qualifications, project approach, completeness of submission, and cost. In evaluating the submissions, vision planning and consultants merged with the most qualified proposal with their bid of $243,600 compared to Rau Incorporated at $280,480. Both firms demonstrated the capability to perform the work, but Vision Planning offered project continuity as they are currently working on our county comp plan update. Based on our review committee findings, I recommend awarding bid number 26-07 to Vision Planning and Consultants in the amount of $243,600.

Council, would it be agreeable to bring Brennan up and just talk for a moment about the synergy between this effort and the update of the comprehensive plan as they have to merge together eventually? Thank you. Thank you. Brennan, maybe you could talk a little bit about what the strategy is with the comprehensive plan and then having this merge into that.

Yeah, of course. I think we spoke a little bit about this with Council prior to engaging with Wallace Montgomery and Associates in an effort to update the county's comprehensive plan for 2020 and 6. But the idea and the intent behind kind of convening or starting the process of the comprehensive water and sewer plan update after or in conclusion of the comprehensive plan was part of an effort to hopefully align both of those two plans strategically together for future planning purposes for several reasons the continuity of those plans and the ideas and goals and objectives that come out of the comprehensive plan should inform future long-term plans that the county does have in place and continues to update over time but more importantly is the fact that The comprehensive water and sewer plan hasn't been updated for some time now. So taking a closer look at that and really diving into the comprehensive water and sewer plan to make a collective refinement to it would be important to do in conjunction with the update of our comprehensive plan and spending the money, time and effort. on updating that plan and referring back to a 2016 and soon to be outdated comprehensive plan didn't make practical planning sense in our mind so in discussions with staff department heads as well as the county manager's office we made a confident effort to align both of these plans so that at the outset or the conclusion of the comprehensive plan update coming before the planning commission and ultimately the county council for review approval and adoption

we would already be well underway in the data collection and the public outreach components of the comprehensive water and sewer plan update as well thank you yes so what i'm hearing and can you confirm please that that in no case will the con what will the comprehensive water and sewer plan update be completed until after the comprehensive plan is adopted

That's correct. So our intent here moving forward is that the comprehensive plan, the 2026 update to the comprehensive plan will be reviewed and adopted by the county council prior to any consideration of a final document or final draft format of the comprehensive water and sewer plan. and all references to the data collected through the 2026 update to the comprehensive plan will be basically brought in and carried forward into the comprehensive water and sewer plan. We do have several data heavy chapters in the comprehensive plan that will help better inform the comprehensive water and sewer plan as well. So we're hopeful that some of the time and effort that go into developing some of those portions the comprehensive water and sewer plan can be circumvented or expedited so to speak because we do have things like the water resources elements and the land use elements already kind of baked into the update of the comprehensive plan which those drafts are in the beginning stages of moving forward for their first review with the Planning Commission here shortly and we anticipate after wrapping those up we'll move forward with collectively bringing the cohesive chapters together and reviewing a draft of that comprehensive plan document collectively both with the public the planning commission as well as the county council any follow any further questions for staff on this uh recommended bid award no hearing none are we ready for a motion

So move forward to award that bid in 2607 as advised.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Haith? Aye.

Thank you, Council. Thank you. Josh is going to present a request to you to consider awarding bid number 2608, farming at the county biosolids facility located 9786 Klondike Road, Easton, Maryland. And go ahead, Josh, with the rest.

Yep. so this bid is for the farming lease of 93.9 acres at the biosolids facility on klondike road and this is a little different than most of our bids because we're being paid instead of paying so that's good news uh proposals were scored sixty percent on the use of regenerate regenerative agriculture practices and mde permit compliance and then forty percent on price That's important because it's important that the farming works with how we're land-applicating wastewater. If farming doesn't work, we run into issues with both runoff and MDE compliance thereafter. So that's why it's weighted a little heavier on the compliance portion instead of the price portion. We received two bids. The first was from Darcy Hutchison. His bid was for $149.75 per acre, which would yield $14,061.50 per year. This proposal scored 40 points on price and 58 points overall due to a lack of the bid required details on the regenerative practices and permit compliance sections of the bid. And then the second bid was from Chris Lee and Sons Inc. It was $105 per acre for a total of $9,859.50 per year. This proposal scored 28 points on price and 88 points overall as it provided a thorough environmental plan. And this is who we currently have farm the property. So he has a proven track record on the site. Based on the scoring, I would recommend awarding the bid to Chris Lee and Sons for a price of $105 per acre, totaling $9,859.50 annually.

Thank you. So for those of us who have toured the site, we're aware that there is spray irrigation on these fields and that spray irrigation is coming from our biosolids facility. This is a means of disposing of the wastewater, including a lot of the nutrient content of that wastewater that then, I presume, gets taken up by the crops.

Correct. That's exactly how the process works, yes.

Okay. Any other questions for staff on this, Mr. Elliott? Hearing none, are we ready for a motion?

So moved.

Second.

That's a motion to approve as recommended. Madam Secretary, would you call the roll?

Mr. Lesher?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp?

Aye.

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

Thank you, counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Counsel, that completes your county manager report for this week. And as always, thank you for your support.

Thank you. We now are on to public comments. Any member of the public wish to speak to us tonight, Mr. Riggin? Would you please introduce yourself for the record?

Again, my name is Phil Riggin.

Address is 29736 Sullivan Drive in Easton. I'm going to talk about three things real quickly. First of all, It's remarkable the number of issues that get discussed among residents of Talbot County, but anywhere in the world, and that's not Talbot County, based upon they said this and they said that and whatever, whatever, whatever was basically rumor. There are two issues here that you folks have dealt with that would be great to put before some of these folks who choose never to come to a meeting like this, but have all the opinions in the world in terms of what's going on and what's not going on in the county. I think it's important for the, some people are still nervous in some way, shape or form, maybe personal experience or whatever about cannabis, the whole cannabis issue in the state of Maryland. I do think it's important that, that it, that the fact that there is cannabis tax revenue that is being put back into the public consumption pool, if you will, in the manner that was described here earlier tonight, be publicized. because otherwise it's all cannabis, nothing's gonna happen, whatever, whatever. Because rumors love to drive off other rumors. So I recommend that. Data centers, another one of these issues where everybody has an opinion, nobody, very few people have the facts. The fact that you have decided You're not going to rush into this thing. You're going to seek a moratorium, a 12-month period of time, to consider whatever proposal you get. There is more misinformation in the world about data centers, probably, than there is information, at least 50%. And it's important not all data centers are the same. But they consume a lot of energy and make their rise. Electricity prices go up, whatever. I should probably talk slower if you can do this. In any case, the second example of what people can learn by simply being here and listening. The third item I have is last year, The county your your department's heads combined effort Produce what I consider a high quality annual report and I described it in my own opinion here at that time I do hope that there is Something being considered in terms of a follow-up on that for this year's annual report and certainly got a good base document to work from I thought it was remarkable that bulleted for the bulleted format presentation of facts presentation of relevant numbers and not consumed by unnecessary narrative was what drove that document. And I would love to see it again because I can tell you that I'm one person who actually used that by handing it to friends of mine or to show it to friends of mine that there was particular numbers. Again, most of the time to control rumors. I hate to say this over and over, but it's true, and it's true everywhere. It's rare that anybody wants to learn a fact, because if it's going to get in the way of a juicy rumor, it's just not as important.

That's true.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Reagan.

Thank you.

Finally, we have council comment. Ms. Haith, would you like to kick us off?

Sure, well this will be in line with what Mr. Riggin just shared, fact versus fiction. And I just want to provide some comments and some context to the July 14th discussion of a pause of the impact fees that was here and I was absent for. First, this request was not to shift the cost onto the taxpayers' backs, as those running for office would like us to believe. This is not accurate. This matter was brought to the attention of the council because the Foundation of Hope, an organization that I work for, Project here in Talbot County as a result of that project an email came from the planning office and We were advised that our current impact fees was seventeen thousand forty eight dollars and twenty cents until June 30th after June 30th unannounced to me and I believe the council didn't know either that as of July 1st impact fees would be increased and And so bringing our total to $17,561.70 for no reason other than the fact that July 1st was coming and building permits had not been issued by the town of Easton, which is the municipality where we will be doing our work. And so that amount, will be due once the town of Easton issues our permits. And I firmly believe that there should be an option for some type of relief for nonprofits. And as Mr. Lesher and myself visited today, for all seasons is a nonprofit here in Talbot County, but we also have other nonprofits here as well. And so the July 14th decision not to pause the impact fee increase should not be the end of this conversation. The county should recognize that nonprofit construction is fundamentally different from private development designed to generate a profit. Many Talbot County nonprofits are building or expanding facilities because our community needs them. They provide housing, services, education, healthcare, and assistance to vulnerable residents and other essential resources. Every additional dollar they are required to spend on construction is a dollar that cannot be used to serve the people who depend on them. And by the way, $500 is basically five weeks of food for our program to adolescents here in Talbot County. We are not asking the council county to abandon impact fees or undermine its ability to fund infrastructure. We are asking for a fair and targeted solution for qualified nonprofit projects. And so I wanted to clarify that because there were comments about President Callahan and him being a builder. This did not come about because of President Callahan or Councilman Stepp. This came about because of the project that I personally am working on. And if I was here to take the vote, of course, because of my connection, I would have had to recuse myself. However, if I did not have to do that recusal, I would have stand with Councilman Stepp and Callahan to pause that increase until we can find a way to have some type of other way that nonprofits can request to have that impact fee reduced or some type of waiver from those fees. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Haith. Miss Mielke?

I'd just like to comment on my disappointment about the short-term rentals, that what this really is about is preserving a community, that the movement, as we've heard over the years, is that certain residents in certain communities feel that their privacy is being intruded upon with these short-term rentals. And they want to preserve their sense of community. So that's what we were trying to do. And it's a disappointment that we couldn't do that, get that achieved. So that's all I have to say.

OK. Thank you. Mr. Stepp?

Yeah, I think I'll pick up where Councilwoman Haith left off in regards to this impact fee issue. Like you said, it's interesting. We make this vote and try to propose fees. Me personally, if anyone goes back and looks at the record, it was just basically about the unfairness from moving fees from one year to the other. And then people run with that, run to the press. And ironically, an individual who's running for a seat on this council takes that out to the media and portrays myself and President Callahan as we're in developers' back pockets and other garbage like that, which is 100% not true. So go back and watch on the 14th for my personal comments. Like I said, I'm just for conveying, for making sure it's fair to everyone. You heard Councilwoman Hayes' example as being a nonprofit and how that affects her and her initiatives outside of the council. It affects anyone building a home on land headed down to them by a farming community or a farming family that they want to build a home on. and can take fees just year over year and just escalate them, which that's what I said was unfair. The gentleman who misquoted me in the spy said I said it was unfair for developers. That is 100% false. That is a lie. And if anyone's interested for the actual truth, go back and watch the county meeting videos. They're being recorded just like they are right now, and I'd encourage you to do so. So appreciate the thoughts and comments on that, Councilwoman Heath. Other than that, that's all I have.

Thank you all. I just wanted to remember a citizen of Talbot County who we lost just recently. Dr. Michael Fisher was honored by this council just this spring for his extraordinary volunteer work in this community. a retired pediatrician. He did so much around this community. He was on the board of Talbot County Public Schools Education Foundation, the Shore Regional Health COVID Response Team, the Shore Regional Health Strategic Planning Committee, the Clarent Foundation Board, and the Talbot Hospice Board. And it was particularly on the Talbot Hospice Board, I think, where he really expanded the work of that organization. crucial community institution and touch the lives of so many. We will sorely miss Dr. Michael Fisher in this community. With that, The county council's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 25th, 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 this statement for closing that meeting. Therefore, do we have a motion to adjourn and reconvene as noted? So moved.

Second.

Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Mr. Lester?

Aye. Mr. Stepp? Aye.

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