County Council - Regular Meeting

First time ever.

There you go. There you go. All right. Welcome, everybody. If we could please stand for the prayer and pledge allegiance of the flag.

Heavenly Father. If we could just open up as we always do in thanks. We just thank you for your love, your grace, your mercy, your compassion, your provision, all that you are and all that you do for us here in Talbot County, throughout the state of Maryland, our country, and our world. Father, if we could especially lift up a family of Mr. Phil Foster, who we've recently lost. and had a funeral for, of which council was blessed to be able to attend today. Father, if you just lift them, be with them, comfort them, and just offer them all, again, your love, your grace, and your mercy. Father, we just, again, as we start in thanks, let us just end in thanks for everything, all that you are, all that you do. Thank you for looking out for us here in Talbot County. Bless us as decision makers, and may we always be so in the best interest of all of our residents. Jesus, most precious and holy, we pray. Amen.

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

OK. Let's go ahead and get started on the agenda here tonight. It's before us, council. Is there any? There's a few changes on the agenda here.

Mr. Council President, if I may, under section 8, introduction of a number of resolutions, if I can make a request or a motion that we remove item C off of that, as well as under the county manager's report, item D, if we could remove that from the agenda today as well.

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

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

Okay. Any other? Okay. Hearing none, the chair moves that the agenda be accepted as unanimous consent. All right. Next on the agenda is the minutes of August 25th. Council's had a chance to take a look at it. Council, is there any additions, deletions, corrections to the minutes?

Okay. Okay.

Hearing none, the chair moves that the minutes be accepted as unanimous consent. Disbursements of September 1 and September 8 are before us. Is there any additions, deletions, or corrections to the disbursements, council? Hearing none, the chair moves that the disbursements be accepted as unanimous consent. Okay, first up tonight on the agenda is the constitutional citizenship week. Madam Secretary, could you go ahead and read that into the record, please?

Proclamation Constitution and Citizenship Week September 17th through the 23rd, 2026. Whereas the Constitution of the United States of America, the guardian of our liberties, embodies the principles of limited government in a republic dedicated to the rule of law. And whereas September 17th, 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 17th, 1787. which set our country on a bold course toward forming a more perfect union. John Adams called the drafting of the Constitution, quote, the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen, end quote. And since its ratification, this exceptional document has remained the bedrock of the rule of law of our nation. And whereas the founders understood that a self-governing republic requires a free and empowered citizenry, Through a system of limited government and checks and balances, the Constitution limits the ability of the state to become an obstacle to human flourishing, while simultaneously enabling the state to serve order, protect rights, and provide public goods. And whereas the drafters of our Constitution were committed not to a king or a government, but to a belief in the promise of America as a free and prosperous society, And to fulfill that promise, they designed a government and a constitution that could withstand the inevitable demagoguery, passions, and exigencies that would seek to unmake us as a people. And whereas, though the durability of our constitution has been tested through crises and wars, it has endured, and it is fitting and proper to officially recognize this important document on its anniversary. And whereas, Public Law 108447 requires that every educational institution which receives federal funds to hold a program on the Constitution for students on September 17. And whereas, since 1956, September 17 through September 23 of each year has been proclaimed Constitution Week, encouraging all citizens of the United States to support and reaffirm the freedoms and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. And whereas, since 2022, the midshore Constitution Alliance has played a vital role in elevating the recognition of Constitution Week in Talbot County through a series of impactful events, including an annual lecture series that brings historical figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, and most recently, Tench and Matthew Tillman to life to educate the public on the creation of our founding documents. the introduction in 2025 of the annual Midshore Constitution Bowl, which invites area high school students to test their constitutional knowledge for scholarship awards, and an annual scholarship program that encourages students to reflect on the meaning and significance of the Constitution. Now, therefore, we, the County Council of Talbot County, do hereby proclaim September 17th through September 23rd, 2026, Constitution, and Citizenship Week in Talbot County, and urge citizens to study the Constitution and to reflect on the privilege of being an American with all the rights and responsibilities which that privilege entails, and to protect the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties. Given under our hands in the great seal of Talbot County this eighth day of September in the year of our Lord, 2026.

OK, Madam Secretary, thank you. That's a good job.

Shell, you want to come on up? Mr. Cowan, I've got to get a motion first to proceed. You can come up.

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

Mr. Cowan? Aye. Mr. Steff? Aye. Mr. Lesher? Aye. Ms. Mielke? Aye. Ms. Hayes? Aye.

You're welcome to sit down. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Chuck. Yeah, no problem.

Well, this is about I think the third time we've done this now and I have to say that could you introduce yourself so people are at your home and I Founder of the country alliance and the current board director Our director is Michelle Here and say a little bit about yourself as well Yep, yep, and Paul Callahan has joined our team this year as well we been successful in growing. Just a little bit of background now. We've now given out over $15,000 in scholarships over the last two or three years. Three years, I would say. Our goal is to double that going forward. The key thing this year is a little different, however, because the Constitution Bowl, the kids were so excited last year, we decided to double down. So this year, we have recruited all eight area high schools to compete, including all public schools from Dorchester, Caroline, and Talbot. plus St. Peter and Paul, plus Gunston. So we're having four high schools compete this Saturday at the library, and four the following Saturday on the 19th, and the champion, Easton High School, by the way, defending champion, they will have a plaque, a trophy this big with their name on it, but the new winner will take the trophy, and every member of the winning team gets a $1,000 scholarship, and the second place gets a $500 scholarship, their gift cards. Our goal is to make that scholarship level grow every year. So that's what we're about. I'll let Michelle talk, but the other thing we're doing from the 17th point of view, many of you know that we had a eight-foot banner of the Declaration of Independence at Flag Day in St. Michael's for signature. During that week, we'll have the eight-foot banner of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence on view at the library during the week for people to come in and sign. So we already have many signatures on the Declaration, but we'll have the Constitution as well. no okay inviting all of you to join us this saturday um in the afternoon we started at one o'clock one o'clock yeah so we'll have reserve seats there for any county council and eastern town council members that want to be there as well okay that's great that's good i think that's pretty much it okay well council

No, I'm just glad that you're doing this and you continue to come before council to share this information because it's certainly important to the students and for them to be able to receive an award of winning is a great opportunity for them and to teach them about citizenship, of course, and the Constitution.

It's extremely important, I concur. Thank you for all you do.

Thank you for your support.

I'm looking forward to participating in this event and celebrate a constitution that in the words of the proclamation, could withstand the demagoguery, passions, and exigencies of the moment.

I'll keep in the vein of thanks, especially to our youth. If we're doing the Constitution Bowl, it's amazing. Not only is it just important for everybody, but especially our youth, the more they understand that our God-given rights are enshrined in the Constitution, and the more the better. So keep it up, please. Thank you.

And just to pinpoint that we, one of our key things is the next generation of civic leaders. So he's representing the county council, Donna Vitale, East Town Council, and Mike Detmer, Northchester County Council. do the first five Jeopardy questions at the Jeopardy ground. We actually have a full Jeopardy studio with big screen TV. Sarah Killman, the emcee for Jeopardy, will have bells and whistles. And we thank our sponsors, the Easton VFW, American Legion Dorchester, Cambridge, Burke and Herbert, Bank Foundation and Shore United Bank. They made all this possible, so we invested quite a bit in making this a pretty big show.

That's great. The veterans groups are very generous to promote good citizenship within our community.

That's great. Okay, come on up. We've got a proclamation for you.

available for signing all next week all right dave just get in just a little bit there we go very nice ready one two three

Okay, so the next proclamation is Suicide Prevention Month. Madam Secretary, could you go ahead and read that into the record?

No matter what, you matter. Suicide Prevention Month, September 2026, whereas suicide remains a significant public health concern across the United States, with 48,824 Americans dying by suicide in 2024, an average of one life lost every 11 minutes. And whereas the impact extends far beyond those deaths, with an estimated 14.3 million U.S. adults reported serious thoughts of suicide in 2024, underscoring the importance of prevention, early intervention, and access to mental health support. And whereas in Maryland, 630 residents died by suicide in 2024, highlighting the continued need for communities across the state to strengthen efforts towards suicide prevention connection and access to care and whereas the most recent maryland youth risk behavior surveillance survey taken in 2024 found that in talbot county approximately one in eight 12.4 percent talbot county high school students reported having seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous 12 months and 5.7% reported attempting suicide during that same time frame. Among middle school students, nearly one in five, 18.4%, reported seriously considering suicide, and one in 15, 6.7%, reported actually attempting suicide. And whereas suicide prevention is a shared community responsibility, connection, open conversation, timely intervention, and accessible behavioral health care can help protect lives and ensure that people experiencing emotional distress do not face it alone. Now, therefore, we, the County Council of Talbot County, do hereby proclaim the month of September as No Matter What, You Matter Suicide Prevention Month, recognize suicide as a significant public health concern, affirm suicide prevention and mental health support as priorities for our community, and encourage every resident to help create a community in which people know that they matter, that help is available, and that asking for support is a sign of strength. Given under our hands the great seal of Talbot County this eighth day of September in the year of our Lord, 2026.

Thank you, Madam Secretary. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. OK, we got a motion to second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote, please?

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

OK. Bethany, you want to come up?

Good evening.

Good evening. How are you? Good, how are you? Good, good.

Just for the record, I'm Beth Ann Dorman, the president and CEO of For All Seasons, the behavioral health and rape crisis center that serves the midshore in location and the entire state of Maryland through our telehealth program. Just wanted to come tonight and say thank you. Thank you for, this is my 10th year in front of you with our No Matter What You Matter campaign. And as the council, you have continued to bring to light a really serious issue that does impact all of us i think we've seen a great deal of conversation shift you know the numbers that were just read are from 2024 we don't have 2025 numbers or 2026 numbers and what i can tell you is that in our community alone we have deeply been impacted by suicide especially with suicides with our youth and so in addition to that I also want to call to light that part of our program is not only about bringing attention to suicide prevention but it's also about putting things in place and I'm really glad that Brian is here tonight because part of the new programming with For All Seasons is creating peer supports within our first responder community and first responders and our veterans are two communities where we are seeing a higher number of suicide rates and so we're really very proud of our Talbot First program that puts those mental health supports into our first responder communities and also that our programming has continued to rest in a space of open access so five days a week you can telehealth in or walk in our doors and no one is turned away regardless of ability to pay we don't care if there's insurance or no insurance we just want people seen and i have with me tonight sharon sharon papakai and craig who is also from our board and so i just want to give an opportunity for craig postal weight and sharon papakai to speak

So good evening. I think the proclamation stated it all. You know, in recent years we've seen more and more of the demands put on our youth through social media and other avenues of what they go through. And I think the fact of being proactive to have programs available for them is just a value that will be, you know, speechless as far as what we can give to our youth as they're coming in our schools and just everyday life. I've learned a lot from being on the board and commend Beth Ann for her leadership in having resources and being a strong partner with the school district as far as this is concerned.

Craig Postolait. I think the biggest thing that I've found is, even for myself, an awareness that people aren't aware that there's problems that are as big as they are. And I think one of the things that For All Seasons does is bring that awareness to light and also a way that people can start to talk about it, which I think is a biggest problem. Get rid of the stigma of what was years ago maybe and bring it to where people can actually have a discussion and know that there's problems out there that we all can do a little bit. I'm a builder. I'm not into mental health. business, but I can tell you that whatever I can do to help prevent a child or somebody in the military or first responder from having an issue they can't work through, I'm willing to do.

This month, I also want to make you aware that we have two really important programs. One is on the 16th of September, and it is a program that's open to the public. It's being held at the Ebenezer Theater. And we have Dr. Annie Brewster coming, and she is talking about the importance of telling our stories. She's a Harvard professor, and she has made her life's work to talk about narrative psychology and how when we share our stories, it makes a difference in finding hope. And I know all of you can resonate when you are in a conversation with someone and someone shares something and you can relate to it. And so the whole program is about prevention. And For All Seasons has also dropped through our Center for Learning an online course called Real Talk. And we use Talbot County Public School students in this video series. It's for caregivers, parents, teachers, administrators, and also for youth. But it's youth talking to youth about it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to reach out for help. And it's more than just our staff talking to children. It's kids talking to other kids. We have athletes. We have folks that are really strong in academics. We have kids that have just been, you know, through the normal walk of life, and that was really why we did the program the way we did, so that when kids log on, they get to see people that look just like them.

That's great. That's good. Okay. Well, thank you.

It's a pleasure to do this every year, as always. Just thanks for keeping getting that number coming down, and hopefully one day we'll see it where it's nothing but zeros. Thank you.

We'll never fully be able to measure the impact in... in what you prevent, but undoubtedly your impact on this community is enormous and the supports that you and your partners have in place are touching and saving so many lives. Thank you for your work. Thank you.

I'm glad that you're taking on this project and I'm curious, how do you reach out to veterans, particularly those who suffer from PTSD?

Sure, so For All Seasons actually just launched last month the new center for veteran and military families. VAMSA, the Veteran and Military Service Alliance, was an organization that was home based in Queen Anne's County. And they came to our agency and they were about to close their doors. And instead of closing and being done, they asked For All Seasons to acquire the agency. And so we now have the Center for Veterans and Military Family along with our Center for First Responders. And so it's really putting programs in place. We're working with all of our area VFWs, the American Legions, and we're also helping veterans be able to secure benefits through the VA. So it's not just about mental health services. It's also about the wraparound for our veteran and military families. also includes the spouse, the children, and the stepchildren of our veterans. And so we provided over 6,000 services last year to veterans and their families.

Great. Do you also have an education program for members of the hospital that provide emergency services?

Sure, we work really closely with the hospital. And in fact, my colleague Lisa Mulcahy, and I have gone in and we've worked with the nursing staff with the doctors, we've worked with their leadership, continuing to make sure that we're partnering, we are the place where when folks are discharged from the hospital, and they need an outpatient provider, we have a very strong partnership, especially with the emergency room. And so making sure that we are sharing in that education.

Okay, good.

Thank you, sure. So I hear firsthand how great your providers are at For All Seasons. I had someone that used to live in the area and moved to Glen Burnie, but still wants to use one of your providers at For All Seasons. So I think that goes to the level of service and trust. that people using your services feel among your providers so kudos to you your hiring staff and those that you have on board because I know you know veterans is a important place that has an important place in my heart so to see those individuals in that community, particularly the ones that Ms. Mielke mentioned suffering from PTSD is very important. And so I know a lot of veterans that are receiving your care that suffer with PTSD. So thank you for educating us and everyone else in regards to the suicide prevention. Thank you to the board members who came out this evening to share. We appreciate all the work that you do and the time that you take to help our community. So keep doing what you're doing.

Thank you.

Thank you Bethann and the committee. You guys really change lives, that's for sure. And you've been doing this for 10 years and I tell you, I can't imagine, like Mr. Lusher said, the amount of people that you've touched and possibly saved. You know, it's a good bit of the awareness and it's just so important what you guys do, the work that you guys do is so important. So I really appreciate not only thanking us, we thank you. So appreciate it. Come on in. Thanks. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay next on the agenda we've we've got a new. Department of economic development and tourism Stephanie you want to come on up.

Good evening, Councilman.

So, Council, this is exciting. We get to introduce our new Director of Economic Development and Tourism, Stephanie Mervine. She has big shoes to fill. As you all know, Cassandra Van Hooser has moved up to take over the tourism role at state government. Those are big shoes to fill. She's worked hard. Cassandra worked hard for a number of years here. and built the program. And I do want to take the opportunity before I formally introduce Stephanie and say thank you to Kristen Goller. Kristen is her deputy, Stephanie's deputy, and does an excellent job and kind of held the reins together while we did the search. So just a thank you to Kristen as well. So Stephanie, Stephanie's an Eastern Shore girl. She's from Worcester County, same place I come from. But she had a little bit of a circular life there. She started out on the Lower Eastern Shore. She worked for Wicomico County. She went to New York. She ended up going to Oklahoma. And she wanted to come home to the Eastern Shore. And along that pathway, she learned a lot. And she developed a lot of... a lot of experience, credentials in the area of tourism and economic development, and we were very fortunate to attract her to join our team. So council, you worked with me in trying to figure out who to fill those shoes. Keisha, especially with your experience in economic development, IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE YOU INVOLVED, AND YOU PASSED THE MUSTARD WITH HER, SO THAT'S GREAT. BUT, YOU KNOW, COUNCIL, HERE WE HAVE STEPHANIE MERVINE. SHE'S OUR NEW DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOURISM There you go. Thank you.

Thank you for the warm welcome. It's an honor to return to the Eastern Shore and to serve Talbot County in such a pivotal moment. As I take a step into this role, I'm deeply committed to protecting what makes this community special. Our heritage industries, vibrant small businesses, natural beauty, and the sense of place that defines life here at the same time advancing the economic resiliency of our strategic plan. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, Keisha. You're going to let me go first? Yeah, I'm going to let you go first. Okay. I might be here for a while. No, I'm just kidding. Okay. I know. I know it.

Like Clay said, I mean, this was certainly one of the things on my list, as I shared with you, spending 25 years in the economic development world, it was important to be part of selecting our next director. And let me tell you, Chuck and I was in the room, and I'm sitting there, and I'm like,

Any of these candidates going to talk about our strategic plan?

And then here comes Stephanie. And did she come prepared with her binder, copy of the strategic plan in there, and a document to hand to us. This is what I'm going to accomplish in the next six months, I think, or a year. And I'm like, yes! That's exactly what I was looking for. And Chuck agreed. You were just what we were looking for to fill the shoes of Cassandra. So I'm so glad that you're here. I'm glad that I could be a part of it. I think you were the best person for the position. And it was just heaven sent, really, seriously. God answered our prayers. So thank you for being here. Appreciate you. it felt very natural too i wanted to say yeah and then today you know when we had our work session seeing her i'm like she's still that bubbly person that came in there let her just keep that same momentum going um so i wish you the best here um it's bittersweet for me since this is my first and final term but um please stay in touch and um i wish you all the best of serving the people of the great talbot county

Welcome aboard. Hopefully you'll like it here.

This is the last chapter.

You will. I know you will. Thank you.

Well, and delighted to see you already out and about at the Liberty Tree Planting at Frederick Douglass in the Taco Park last week. And look for your leadership and engagement in all that we do. Thanks so much.

Appreciate it.

I'd say the same. It's just welcome. We have a very unique opportunity here in Talbot County. We get some very seasoned professionals to come in and lead our departments, and it sounds like we've struck gold again. And we're just glad to have you. Welcome aboard, and I look forward to working with you.

Yeah, me too. Thank you.

And like Keisha said, when you walk through that door to us, you know, I'm dead serious about this. It wasn't 30 seconds. I knew we had something here. We really did. And you really, really, we're really blessed to have somebody like you with all your experiences and what you've done close to home. You know, you really hit it out of the park and I'm so glad that you made that choice to come with us. We're blessed to have you and all this stuff that you're going to be able to accomplish and working with council and stuff to be able to do things. I'm really, really looking forward to working with you. I really am.

And I the same. It definitely takes a team. And like Chuck was saying, Clay was saying, it's Kristen, it's Ryan, it's the team, it's Candace, it's everyone in this room. It's everybody. So I really feel that way.

Yeah, that's great. And we feel that way too about you. Yeah. Really, really appreciate you choosing to come here and working with us. And I think you're going to be really happy here. OK. All right. Yeah. OK. All right, Madam Secretary. Introduction to a numbered resolution, please.

Okay. The resolution to amend the Talbot County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap certain real property located at 27414 Ferry Bridge Road, Easton, Maryland, shown on tax map 24 as parcel 205, lot 1, from unprogrammed to S1, immediate priority status, pursuant to an application filed by Catherine G.W. Murphy.

Okay. Okay.

good evening council uh josh elliott county engineer doesn't it sound good so this amendment proposes to reclassify 27414 ferry bridge road from unprogrammed to s1 immediate priority status to allow the property to abandon its on-site disposal system and connect to public sewer The application requests one EDU for the rural conservation zoned 25.718 acre parcel. Portions of the existing septic system are situated within 100 feet of the shoreline in an area with high groundwater where system components likely penetrate the water table. As noted by the Talbot County Environmental Health Department, connection to the system is straightforward, as an existing force main runs directly adjacent to the parcel with a dedicated valve already in place. And the application satisfies all requirements under resolution 394.

OK, great. OK, any questions from council? If there's no questions, just a raise of hands.

Sponsored by council. Okay.

This will be known as resolution number 396. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, October 13th at 5.30 p.m.

Okay. Next one, Madam Secretary.

A resolution to amend the Talbot County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap certain real properties located at 5586 Leeward Lane, Tillman, Maryland, shown on tax map 44 as parcel 35, lot 7, from unprogrammed to S1 immediate priority status, pursuant to an application filed by Stephanie Allen.

All right. This amendment proposes to reclassify 5586 Leeward Lane from unprogrammed to S one immediate priority status to allow the property to abandon its on site disposal system and connect public sewer. The application is requesting one edu for the village mixed district zoned 2.39 acre lot. It is located within the Region 5 Sanitary District in Tillman. And the parcel is one of only six properties out of the total 28 on Leeward Lane that's not currently in the sewer service area. And while not formally bound by Resolution 394, the property satisfies the resolution's more stringent connection criteria, as supported by a letter from the Talbot County Health Department.

OK. Any questions, counsel? Okay. Once again, a raise of hands.

Introduce. Introduced by counsel.

This will be known as Resolution No. 397, and the public hearing will be held on Tuesday, October 13th at 5.30 p.m. Okay. Next one. A resolution to amend the Talbot County Comprehensive Border and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap 21 parcels of real property, all of which are located on Gooseneck Road, Royal Oak, Maryland, and more particularly described as follows. 25869 Gooseneck Road, shown on tax map 46 as parcel 84. 25883 Gooseneck Road, shown on tax map 46 as parcel 23. 25911 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 67. 25927 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 92. 25977 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 4. 25989 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 8. 26009 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 74. 26041 Gooseneck Road and 26043 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 61. 26079 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 9. 25882 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 65 lot 2. 25900 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 65. 25910 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 79. 25932 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 66. 25934 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 120, lot 1. 25968 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 54, lot 2. 25972 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 63. 26020 Gooseneck Road shown on tax map 47 as parcel 7. 26040 Gooseneck Road, shown on tax map 47 as parcel 59. 26048 Gooseneck Road, shown on tax map 47 as parcel 1. 26107 Gooseneck Road, shown on tax map 47 as parcel 10. And 26090 Gooseneck Road, shown on tax map 47 as parcel 57. from unprogrammed to S1 immediate priority status.

Okay. Any questions? Council? I do. Okay, sure.

These lots, are they already owner-occupied?

Yes, there's a house on every single lot.

So it's not for development purposes?

No.

Okay, thank you.

And so I think that answered the question that all of these are currently developed. All of them have existing septic systems, and this will have the effect of getting those off of the septic systems onto a public sewer and thereby reducing nutrient runoff into the bay.

Yep. Got it.

Yep. Okay. So being that said, I'll show a raise of hands.

Introduced by counsel.

This will be known as resolution number 398 and the public hearing will be on Tuesday, October 13th at 5 30 p.m. Okay.

Thank you, Council.

Okay.

Okay, Madam Secretary, introduction of legislation.

A bill to amend Chapter 190, Zoning Subdivision and Land Development of the Talbot County Code for the purpose of providing that notice of public hearings on new and renewal short-term rental licenses shall be provided to owners of all properties with a property line within 1,000 feet, including in line of sight within 1,000 feet across waterways of the short-term rental dwelling or the 50 properties nearest to the short-term rental dwelling, whichever is less.

Okay. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Mr. Thomas?

Yes. This bill was requested by Councilmember Stepp. Currently, the public hearing requirements for new and short-term rental license applications are to be sent to owners of all properties with a property line within 1,000 feet, including a line of sight within 1,000 feet across waterways of the proposed short-term rental dwelling. The proposed text amendment would permit notice to be sent to those properties or to the 50 properties nearest to the dwelling, whichever is less. And I note that Mr. Yelton is here and may have some additional comments based on the Planning Commission's review and recommendation to this matter.

Okay. Is he here? Yep.

Council, thank you. Bryce Yelton, Tolbert County, Department of Planning and Zoning. The council had, I believe, introduced this prior, I believe it was back in May of this year, and the Planning Commission took a look at it, along with some other short-term rental legislation in the past calendar year. The Planning Commission's recommendation was to do a distance calculation, either restricting the distance that you would have to send notices out to, so currently that distance, 1,000 feet the Planning Commission's recommendation was to find a specific and more numbers oriented way of getting around having to send out too many notices and so their recommendation was to look at 500 or 750 feet as opposed to doing a straight cap on the amount of actual persons that you have to send it out to so that was the Planning Commission's recommendation so just here to answer any questions if there are any

Okay. Any questions?

And this will go back to the Planning Commission at its October meeting?

No, the Council initially reviewed this, a Council Member Step's request, and the Council referred it to the Planning Commission for review and recommendation. So they made a recommendation and now it comes back to Council to introduce the bill. And the bill was prepared as Council Member Step requested.

Speaking more on the Planning Commission's recommendation specific to just the distance requirement, I think the Planning Commission in general was in favor of reducing the amount of persons that would have to be notified under the short-term rental regulations. So I think this is in line with sort of the spirit of what they reviewed. They were just kind of weary about how we would actually do that as staff when it comes in for review.

Yeah, at least the genesis of this. I mean, this actually came from a constituent who mentioned that he and his family spend thousands of dollars worth of certified mail because they're in more of a closer setting. I thought it just made common sense to submit In this fashion here. I did want to personally, I think it's a good idea to keep the thousand feet just because of the sound and the wet traverses waterways. I think that that makes sure there remains protections for very rural STRs that are out there and protects those that are again across waterways. but in more of a closer town setting that, like I said, every time you're renewed, you have to spend several thousand dollars on certified mail. It seems like quite a lengthy and unneeded process. So that's hence the 1,000-foot or the 50 closest properties.

Okay. Any other questions? Okay.

I'd like to request that legal staff prepare amendments on this for the other – pieces that the Planning Commission recommended having to do with the standard of review, the composition, the other items that the Planning Commission did pass on earlier. But to keep it clean, let's introduce those as separate amendments.

So you would like one amendment on each recommendation?

Yeah, so we can just break it down, pick and choose.

Okay, I can do that.

Thank you.

So on this one, Madam Secretary, raise a hand for introduction. On this one? Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Is it? I thought it was going to be combined with.

It'll be tagged on this. We'll have to introduce it first. Right. Well, we've got to introduce it first.

Okay.

Mm-hmm. Introduced by council. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

This will be known as Bill number 1653. The public hearing will be on Tuesday, October 13th at 5.30 p.m.

Okay.

Next, Madam Secretary.

A bill to amend Chapter 182, Volunteer Emergency Services Longevity Award Program. the Talbot County code for the purposes of clarifying the definition of active volunteer member and amending certain provisions for consistency therewith providing that qualifying active volunteer members shall receive monthly benefits in a minimum amount of one hundred dollars for life with the ability to earn additional monthly benefits subject to certain conditions and amending certain provisions regarding records of volunteer members and the point system for qualifying for benefits.

Okay.

Yes, this bill was requested by Council President Callahan. Currently, active volunteer members who have reached the age of 62 and have completed at least 25 years of certified active volunteer service are eligible to receive monthly benefits of $100 per month per life subject to the county budget. This bill would allow for additional benefits and the minimum amount of $50 a month for life for each five additional years of service up to a minimum of $200 per month for 45 years or more of certified service. And the bill would also authorize the council to increase those amounts as part of the county budget. Additionally, the bill also makes some changes for clarity and consistency and addresses issues such as the point system and timing for notice of certified members.

Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Brian.

Good evening, Council. Brian LaCase, Director of Talbot County Emergency Services. And with me I have Vice President Phil Starkey.

Phil Starkey, Vice President. Yeah.

So thank you for the time and hearing us on this matter. So I think Patrick kind of summed it up pretty well. This is really just cleaning up some language but also adding in a step program so that the folks that have been volunteering for a longer period of time get a little bit more in their monthly stipend than the folks that haven't been. But I'll turn it over to Vice President Starkey and see if he has any comments about this.

YEAH, SO THIS ACTUALLY STARTED OUT WITH THE STEP PROGRAM. I THINK IT'S BEEN ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF NOW THAT WE'VE PUT THIS TOGETHER. WE MET WITH ALL SEVEN COMPANIES, ACTUALLY HAD SEVERAL MEETINGS WITH THEM, AND IN THE PROCESS OF DOING THAT, WE FOUND SOME THINGS IN THE ORDINANCE THAT WE'VE CHANGED, LIKE THE TIMING, AND THERE WAS SOME WORDING THAT WE HAD CHANGED. SO WE SAT DOWN WITH ALL THE OTHER COMPANIES, PRESIDENTS, CAME UP WITH A CLEAN ORDINANCE, AND BRIAN SUBMITTED IT BACK TO CLAY. BUT STEP PROGRAM IS A GOOD TOOL, BECAUSE AFTER 25 YEARS, EVERY FIVE YEARS AFTER THAT, IT GIVES THEM A LITTLE BIT MORE BUMP UP IN THE INCOME. like this, you know, just like the service awards. So you want to try to reward the people that put more time in.

Yeah. And the changes other than the step program, the changes are really don't change intent of the program. It just changed. It brings clarity to a couple of different things in there. I would like to say that, you know, our volunteer fire departments are all 100% volunteer. They're not career. They don't get paid. They volunteer their time 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to come to respond to emergencies. And this is just a small way that once they're they've hit their 25 years and they're 62 25 years of service and they're 62 or older that we can give back to them and kind of support them in their older years so or their more experienced years so yeah yeah yeah so um any other questions council okay

I recognize the importance and the initiatives that we're taking to make sure that we can continue to recruit and, in this case, retain those volunteers. This is another important tool. I know it's already in place. I hope that this will be a valuable additional incentive as part of that program.

Okay. All right. Is this time to raise our hands to introduce it?

Introduced by Council.

This will be known as bill number 1654 and the public hearing will be on Tuesday, October 13th at 530 p.m. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay, Madam Secretary, ready for the public hearing?

Yes, we have a public hearing first on the Talbot County Community Repair and Reinvestment Fund, CRRF distribution plan.

okay all right okay at this time we'll go ahead and um open the pub there she is there she is there you go sorry that's okay yeah uh good evening nancy andrew director of your office for community partnerships which also includes talbot family network as the local management board as you may recall last december county council approved bill 1620 that named or tasked the local management board with the administration of these funds and made the TFN board the commission for the community repair and reinvestment funds in Talbot County. So I just will make a few statements about kind of background and then open it up for public comment. So as some may recall, the CRRF was created by the Maryland General Assembly in 2023 to reinvest cannabis revenue in communities disproportionately impacted by past cannabis enforcement and related disparities. In 2025, the legislature passed an additional bill, Senate Bill 894, that asked jurisdictions to develop a distribution plan in consultation with their communities. And then more recently, on July 20th, the state decided to use an emergency regulation tool to put an October 1st deadline on the distribution plan. So, given that accelerated timeline, Talbot County has moved quickly to build on the existing community assessment work that Talbot Family Network already had undertaken, as well as assessments completed by other partners, data provided from state and regional sources, and used that in addition to input gathered on an August 18th stakeholder meeting to put together a draft plan that is in front of the council this evening and open for public comment. The draft identifies three initial priority areas. economic stability and mobility, housing stability, and child development and educational opportunity. Justice system involvement and its consequences are foundational lens across the plan, and the draft also recognizes behavioral health, transportation, food security, and access to services as important contributing factors. Those are elements supported by our data and the assessment work that we've been doing over multiple years. Tonight's hearing is another part of that process. Written comments received to date along with any testimony that's offered this evening or comments offered this evening along with additional state guidance will be considered before the plan returns to council for approval on September 22nd. Speaking of our friends at the state, the Office of Social Equity that oversees the implementation of CRRF has now been moved under the Maryland Department of Social and Economic Mobility, known as DOSM because in the state we love our acronyms. DOSM hosted on September 1st a statewide webinar about the emergency regulations with which I attended and the county manager has also requested a follow-up meeting with DOSM to clarify our implementation questions so we may have further guidance to bring back to council thank you okay that sounds great okay all right at this time I'll go ahead and um any questions from council

No, but I appreciated the opportunity to participate in part of the public process leading up to this. I was in the session over at the Talbot County Free Library just a couple of weeks ago. But the data coming from this report is quite shocking when you look at the economic disparity, the wide gap in median household income between white Talbot County families and black families, $50,000 per year versus $90,000 per year. Not a statistic that I'd come across in the past, and it's great that we have this data available for something as fine grained as Talbot County.

Okay, any other?

No, just agree with Mr. Lesher and certainly enjoyed the opportunity to participate at the Talbot County Free Library as well. But the statistics are shocking. I mean, when those statistics were up on the board, it was really eye-opening for a lot of reasons. So just glad to be able to be part, and thank you, Nancy, for all the work that you do.

Okay. Anybody else?

Okay. So at this time, like I said, the public hearing is open. You can come up. I'll give you three minutes. And if you're speaking for an organization, I'll give you five. So anybody over here on my left that would like to come up and talk about it, come on up.

Okay.

Nancy will come up again. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, what we'll do is we'll go ahead and, um, and keep the open public here and open, correct? Keep the public record open. Keep the public record here. Yeah. Okay. And this would this be eligible for vote vote to 22nd? Okay. Okay. So in any comments or anything like that, they can email us up until next Friday. Yes. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Next, Madam Secretary. Resolution 395.

Resolution number 395, 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.

Okay. Mr. Thomas, are you here? Yes. You want to start off with us?

Briefly. So as the title states, so this resolution would establish a 12-month moratorium on data centers to allow staff in the Planning Commission time to make recommendations to the council regarding proposed potential legislation to regulate data centers in the unincorporated areas of the county.

Okay. All right. That sounds good. All right. So this this time I'll go ahead and open the public hearing. Like I said, if you want to come up and talk about it, I'll give you three minutes and five minutes if you're representing an organization. So anybody would like to come up and talk about resolution 395. Please, please come up. Okay. Like that being said, Oh, okay. Yes, sir. Come on up.

Thank you, President Callahan. Tom Allspot, speaking on behalf of Tava Preservation Alliance. I'm a resident of Tava County, 4736 Sutter Street Court, Oxford. We would urge you to adopt this moratorium. It's a very reasonable approach to how the council might formulate means of dealing with what is a very contentious issue in some parts of the country and quite controversial. And also an issue about which I think there's a lack of understanding and lack of knowledge that needs to be explored and will take some time to explore. And I will include a lack of knowledge on my own part. Somewhat surprised to read, I'm looking now at public comment from a gentleman who was in support of these data centers. It was submitted and it's in the record, I think, already. Just in his description of what he's asking the council to do, which is to explore a partnership with the developers of these data centers. And this would be a partnership to bring small modular nuclear reactors to the Eastern Shore. Now, I have a vision of what a nuclear reactor is, and small doesn't really fit into my conception of what a nuclear reactor is and does. I could be wrong, but that needs to be fleshed out. The zoning ordinance is required to be consistent with the Talbot County Comprehensive Plan. And we have an existing comprehensive plan, even though we have a new plan under development at a glacial pace at the current time. But in the meantime, the current plan is still in effect. And our current plan makes very clear what the essence of our zoning ordinance should try to engender. It says that the primary goal of Talbot County's comprehensive plan is to promote a high quality of life and to preserve the rural character of our county and to protect the health, safety, and well-being of its citizens. And then the plan goes further and very specifically defines what rural character, the rural character that we are supposed to preserve, what it is under the definition section on page Roman numeral five of the plan. Rural character is a predominance of farm fields and woodlands, the visible presence of wildlife, an abundance of thriving rivers, streams, and wetlands, large open spaces separating functional towns, rural villages reflecting county history, low-speed roadways which run congested, access to farms and other private properties, a minimum of light pollution in the night skies, the absence of strip malls or retail outlets, large and prominent names on logos or building exteriors, and large commercial or residential developments. It could be that a proliferation of modular nuclear reactors is consistent with what I just read to you. I tend not to think so, but that's, I think, a primary example of what needs to be explored and fleshed out, because your comprehensive plan dictates what your zoning ordinance is supposed to do. And so if we're going to contemplate bringing on nuclear reactors into Talbot County, we've got a lot of work to do to figure out how we're going to reconcile that objective with the objectives of the comp plan that I just read to you. So I would urge you to adopt this moratorium to give everyone including the developers of these nuclear reactors to want to come in and talk to us about it, to have the time to reasonably consider what's being proposed, and then to develop reasonable criteria for if they are to be allowed, to what degree, and in what circumstances. So those are my comments, and I thank you very much for the time to speak to you. OK. Thank you. Appreciate it.

OK. OK. Would anybody else like to talk about resolution 395? Please come on up. You act like you would get ready to come up. No? OK. OK. OK.

He's our usual guy.

All right.

Anybody else?

He's our usual guy.

All right, then we'll go ahead and close the public hearing on Resolution 395. And any other discussions?

Well, several of us, Mr. Yelton was present. Several of us were at the MACO conference this summer where we heard from an official in Loudoun County, Virginia, which is data center center. And what this, with his experience, what he recommended was the best practice is for jurisdictions that do not address this in the zoning code is to proceed with the moratorium, take the time, give ourselves adequate time, uh to learn about the issue uh to look at how it comports with our comprehensive plan and and and then propose any any appropriate changes to our to our zoning code so this seems to be the the right path for talbot county to take going forward is to institute this moratorium at this time

Okay. Any other questions? Discussions? Okay. All right. At this time, it's eligible to vote. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote?

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

Okay. All right. Good job. Okay. Next on the agenda is... County Manager Report.

Thank you, Council. Glad to be with you this evening. Under County Manager Report this evening, I have several items. Boards and commissions. The first one is dealing with the Administrative Charging Committee. We're requesting the reappointment of Mr. William Belding to that committee.

I'll move for Mr. Belding.

Second.

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

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

The next council, I'm requesting the appointment of Debbie Thames as the at-large member of the Emergency Services Advisory Board. Miss Thames was the representative for Shore Regional Health for a number of years and has been a strong supporter of our emergency services for years, and she would like to continue on that board, but she has retired her position at Shore Regional. There isn't a large position available, so if you would consider appointing her to that, we'd appreciate it.

Motion to approve the appointment. Second.

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

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

And finally, under Board and Committee Appointments, Talbot Family Network Board of Directors, we're requesting the reappointment of Victoria Billings, Jennifer Villacorta, and Lauren Weber to that board.

Motion to approve the request.

Second.

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

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

Aye.

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

And council, moving on, I invite Stephanie Mirvai to come forward, who can answer questions relative to this request. We have a request from Chesapeake College for a letter of support of the college's application as a regional institution strategic enterprise rise zone designation. Stephanie, I'll hand it off to you to explain what that is.

You're working already.

Yes, so the RISE Zone is a designation of geographical area that connects the resources of the college, university, other qualified institutions with local economic development efforts. um there is a application process this is literally just the step one and their following steps that they would apply for if it moves forward we support it okay and there are no county funds required for this request council okay were they designated to rise before do we know

I don't think so.

OK, this is their first application. I do believe that's the case. OK, all right. Motion to approve the request.

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

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

Excellent work, Stephanie. Thank you. OK, good job. It's not always this easy. Council, the next item I have, the Department of Public Works is requesting Council approval to submit an application for waterway improvement funding in the amount of $100,000 for mechanical spot dredging of Knapp's Narrows and Tillman. Talbot County, we allocated $30,000 in FY27 for leasing of dredge material placement sites. And Josh Elliott, your county engineer, is here to answer any questions relative to this request. And by the way, congratulations on your new role as a county engineer.

Thank you, Clay.

Thank you.

Alright, so this one is an application for $100,000 to Maryland DNR for a WIF grant to spot, dredge, nap, narrows, and Tillman. The channel sees heavy marine traffic and severe shoaling at the north entrance is restricting that traffic. The Army Corps won't have dredging funds until around 2028 or 2029. So this grant would cover an interim project to clear out the worse of the shoaling and keep the waterway open until a long-term solution is in place to stop the shoaling. OK.

And this is just from the Bayside or Western approaches to Naps and Arrows, not for both approaches, not for the Chop Tank or Harris Creek side?

Yes, the Harris Creek side does not show as we've not had the same level of problem with that side.

And remind me, is there a match? 38, did we say 38?

So the $30,000 is for us to place dredge spoil, and we can identify a place to do that. We put that in the budget. The $100,000 would be to actually fund spot dredging. I don't think there's a match. No, that's a grant. It's a full grant.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions?

I'll make a motion to submit the application as noted. Second.

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

Mr. Callahan?

Aye.

Mr. Stepp? Aye. Mr. Lester?

Aye.

Ms. Mulkey? Aye. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Thank you. And Josh, I meant to tell you a few minutes ago when you were up here. So we really appreciate you jumping in the saddle here, being head engineer now. And congratulations on that. And we're really looking forward to working with you a lot.

Of course. Thank you. And it's been busy already.

Yeah, I'm sure it has. Anything that we can do to help you, we're here for you. Absolutely. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you, Josh.

Bryce, would you like to come up, please? Thank you. uh i've asked brace uh yelton your assistant director of planning and zoning to come forward uh the department of planning zoning and uh and eastern shoreland conservancy is requesting council approval of letter support to the maryland transportation authority i'm going to allow him to continue with this request

Thank you, Clay. Council, again, Bryce Yelton, Talbot County Planning and Zoning. We're here today for a long-range planning initiative, so there's no funds being requested at the moment, but I believe that the council knows that the new Bay Bridge is coming. We don't know when that will happen, but what we do know is that they're currently finalizing their NEPA report. That's their National Environmental... act policy act policy that they actually have to sign and put into the record. So that essentially lays out where the impacts are going to be environmentally for all of the construction that they're proposing. There was 111,000 acres that were shown in their commuter shed Majority of those were in Queen Anne's County, but we were the number two most impacted county besides Caroline County. And so the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy has begun meeting with a bunch of other environmental groups, essentially pitching the Maryland Transportation Authority to see if they could put money towards preservation in the future budget for that build out of the Bay Bridge crossing. And so we're here tonight essentially to stay in the conversation hopefully and sign this coalition letter that they are proposing to send up to the MTA so that we can continue in the planning process for how those funds might be allocated in the future. So there's currently no plans, but this group has been meeting We met with the MTA. They discussed that there will be money, hopefully in the budget for the project in the late future, for environmental conservation and hopefully land preservation that can at least bolster some of our existing Talbot County stuff like our mouth program. So we're hoping to get some funds from the state when it comes to the Bay Crossing.

Okay.

Well, we've seen what happened when we built the Bay Bridge in 1952, the loss of farmland. We saw what happened, how that process accelerated with the second Bay Bridge when it opened in 1973. We can easily anticipate from that historical record what will happen when we have eight lanes of traffic coming across the Bay Bridge. And this is a move, I think, to mitigate some of those impacts. Well, I'm delighted to see this initiative to try to do some mitigation for this project moving forward. I'll move for signing the coalition letter.

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. Ms. Haight? Aye.

Okay. Council, thank you for your support. We'll keep you updated. Okay. Thank you. That's good. Appreciate that. Council, next item, I have a call on the... deputy chief of police mrs greg wright to come forward please the town of easton is requesting a letter of support to the state highway administration to install a safety corridor speed monitoring system on u.s route 50 specifically for the segment spanning from Maryland 322 Easton Parkway to the Maryland 322 Northern Junction from Maryland 322 Northern Junction to the intersection of Maryland 309 Black Dog Alley and Airport Road. Greg is here to answer any questions relative to this request.

Good morning, Council President. Greg Wrighton, Deputy Chief of Police for Easton.

OK so so so so great can you help us understand some of the language on to the letter because I want to make sure it if it's somewhat of a speed trap situation where people are going to start getting tickets and stuff it so so help us with some of this language, what's going to be monitoring device and it's similar to a speed camera. So that yes, that means you will get tickets.

If you're speeding within that range of speed, yes.

Okay.

Do we know where it's going to be specifically?

No. The town is requested from the District 2 engineer for SHA anywhere between Ocean's Gateway from southern end of the bypass or town of Easton up to Black Dog Alley. It's a whole stretch of property.

Up to the intersection of Black Dog and 50.

So are we talking one or multiple?

As far as I'm aware, one. I apologize. I don't have that answer.

The the letter itself says letter support for safety corridor speed monitoring systems, so I'm assuming that's multiple. On US Route 50. Yes, the letter itself was kind of misleading. It sounded like they were just speed monitoring systems, not like ticketing systems. So I guess I'm assuming that suggests it's your question.

It sounds like it is. So help me out, Greg, with this. So I think the whole goal was to slow everybody down, right? Yes. I'm just asking for your opinion. So we can't find a system to try to slow people down instead of giving them a... I don't want to say if you're speeding, you're giving them a ticket. But this is really going to probably cause some issues.

Route 301, have you been down there lately since they've been doing the traffic? I mean, the construction of the bridge?

It's been really effective. The Chester River Bridge on 301?

Yes. It's been going off almost... three years, something like that, just traveling. And this is my opinion. You see the cars go from whatever speed they're going before that 60-plus mile an hour to the 45 mile an hour. And this is my observation. I've been seeing it, and I travel it frequently. So I do believe they work. Speed cameras are not discriminatory. Right. If you speed in that 12 or over, you will receive a citation. We find them effective here. Route 50 in Easton at times can be difficult to monitor as an officer and to find a safe place to stop the vehicles, especially since they widen it to three lanes. It's very impractical to be able to pull out and approach a car from behind to safely make that traffic stop. So there are some benefits to it. Definitely some benefits. And I apologize. I didn't know until this morning I was coming to speak on behalf of the mayor and Donatello and the chief of police.

Right, right. Put the speed camera on Route 50 and move that one from Goldsboro Street where locals get tickets.

Well, to Ms. Hayes' point, this is not new technology in Talbot County. We have one of these on 33. We have a couple of them in Easton already. Yes, we do. Can you talk about how, to what extent those, the goal here is to modify behavior. Yes. To get people to slow down. Right. And can you talk about how that has had that impact?

I forget his name. Chesapeake Christian. Yeah, Chesapeake Christian Academy on North Washington Street. When we first got speed cameras, we put one there because the speeds were well greater than reasonable. And we had one there for close to a year, and it dropped drastically, the numbers did. And that's what you want, you want compliance. And we were since able to move that to another location. But yeah, it's like any enforcement. You know, you hope to alter someone's behavior. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. But I've found professionally and personally that they have been effective. Being a recipient of one too, so.

Yeah, you'll remember the next time you go that way. I will.

Yeah. You sure do. That's true. Okay.

Great.

I totally understand the concept of this, but has there been any study or thought given to whether this would have a tendency to increase the traffic on the bypass and what to do about that?

I've thought about that anyway, if that's what people would start doing. Real sure. I apologize for not having that answer. The traffic on a bypass has really grown just in the last ten years, not five years. And I know that we're slated to get two more traffic lights. So that in itself is going to

Lovely.

Cut some speed down and probably prevent people from thinking it's the quicker way around.

Two more traffic lights where?

We're going to have one at Glenwood.

Excuse me?

We're going to have one at Glenwood. Okay. I'm not sure where the other one's going.

Why?

Where? Why? The state's doing it.

Yeah, I was thinking of Port Street, but Port Street's already there. Yeah, yeah.

I do know that Glenwood. Oh, that's lovely.

This might be the moment to note that I got invited to join the Department of Transportation Safer Maryland Coalition with state, county, and municipal officials across the state, including Commissioner Jim Moran from Queen Anne's County, the mayor of Berlin, and others. This is moving us toward the Vision Zero program to reduce highway fatalities across the state. There are two approaches that we can. We can change the engineering of the roads, or we can change the behavior of the drivers. And this is about behavioral change. We know that behavioral factors that cause traffic fatalities include distracted driving, includes substance abuse, and includes excessive speed. This is about excessive speed. And there is an awareness campaign which is being rolled out. This bumper sticker will be appearing on my car. Slow the F down. The F stands for fast. What were you thinking? And what's before us now is exactly the same goal, reducing highway fatalities, increasing safety by slowing drivers down, preventing that kind of excessive speed, because excessive speed kills. Yes.

I guess my point was that if it's going to transfer traffic, And overwhelm. The bypass. The bypass. Why not do it there, too?

Well, too.

The bypass is already overwhelmed, though. Traffic is already going to. Yeah.

I can't see how anybody would see that as faster.

In the bypass, the dynamics of the bypass, you got single road, single lanes. So so this would be a support letter.

so putting our support on this does that mean that no matter if it goes on or goes off that you're going to probably do it anyway I can't speak for the mayor but yeah because the only reason I was saying that is because of some of the issues that are popping up here and stuff like that would it would it would it help council that we have a work session on this

I don't know what more there is to learn about this at this juncture.

Well, you don't think it'll help? Well, it's more of a public awareness thing.

Well, one thing, I recall, Lieutenant Wright, from past practice, every time one of these goes in, there's a period of education. Yes. Could you talk about that period of education? Once a location has been identified.

My education is when I got the ticket. We haven't been paying attention.

Especially now with more social media that's out there. Once an error is identified, the public's made aware. They're required by law to have a period of just warnings. That would be well announced. It might be up to 30 days, I think. Gotcha. Before the enforcement starts. Okay.

Where's the warning? You're going to put a sign up to say a camera's coming in the next 30 days? No, I'm serious. I mean, seriously, I've never seen a warning for no speed cameras.

I told you it's the ticket. It's the warning.

That's why I got the ticket.

It'll be a media campaign.

Media campaign?

Media campaign. Media through social media, news, I mean.

I mean, supposing if people aren't on social media, right? That's what I'm saying. Sign to let drivers know on Route 50 that there's going to be a campaign.

They're required to have signs posted saying that this area is enforced by a speed monitoring system.

After or before?

Before.

Before it goes live.

after two if i'm not mistaken while it's there there will be signs announcing that there's speed cameras ahead and that's the case on 301. it's clearly marked there's a speed uh speed camera in effect in this work zone the speed the the fines go up if these lights are flashing and you do see uh as i'm sorry captain wright said uh the uh

how this modifies behavior people do slow down for this the signage is right there telling you to uh to comply uh because there's consequences and people do and i think something is needed for ocean city traffic when people are running through so i mean i have seen the increase in speed so hopefully it's well i think

And sort of the theory that I was getting with the mayor and everything, because we're going to start working on crosswalks on 50. You know, they've got new sidewalks going in. So it's this whole campaign of sidewalks, people crossing 50 now. You know, it's going to be a different feel probably in a couple years. So, you know, I'm thinking that that's the motivation of getting these cameras and stuff. Yes. Mm-hmm.

what's your thoughts mr step well and my concern here and and as it stands uh i'll be voting no on this for just just a couple reasons yeah just i mean in here like i said the way it was even the subject of the letter from uh you know from the town here came in as a letter of support for safety quarter speed monitoring systems not like speed enforcement systems on route 50 at ocean gateway and And the fact that it kind of leaves it open into the quantity that could be out there. I mean, they can go up Riddle Route 50 with these cameras, and I think that's not going to be in the favor of our public. But it also says in the letter here, MDOT SHA is currently constructing a multimillion-dollar pedestrian safety. access project along US 50 with new sidewalk crossings and traffic flow changes so we're already dealing with a multi-million dollar project that's hopefully going to improve the safety I mean that that is what it's what it's indicated here so I just think it's just another I think this is too open-ended in order to you know to vote specifically on doesn't say we have one camera and we're gonna have it here it leaves things just too wide open in my book so I'll be voting no and that's at least my reasoning why

can we um do you have a deadline on the support letter i don't think i'm not aware of one could we table it or get more information because i mean i think to support it i think we it does need to be specific like is there going to be one camera is it going to be two three or just like um Mr. Step said, yeah. Is it going to be peppered down Route 50 at every intersection or whatever? But I think we do need some specifics in regards to the number of cameras, where they're going to be, the location of the cameras as well. I mean, I'm all in favor for giving tickets if people are speeding and doing 70 through our town, of course. But I think we need some more specifics before we can.

We have three law enforcement agencies that can write tickets on Route 50. We've got Town of Easton that can do it out on 50 within town limits. We've got the sheriffs who can enforce anywhere in the county, and then we have state police who can do that as well. I mean, they know when the heavy traffic patterns are. We just went through one this past weekend, and I'd like to continue to rely on their great work just to enforce. I think this is too wide open right now.

I think he was saying because of the lanes on the highway, there's nowhere to really pull people off. I see them pulling over where the interior decorator is, where the Exxon used to be on Route 50 down from the McDonald's. So I do see that.

I understand that. Any respectful driver should pull off of Route 50, in my opinion, pull into an establishment and keep the officer safe. That's just me personally. I'd encourage anybody to do that. It bothers me every time I see one of you guys on Route 50 and people not slowing down to respect you guys, enforcing the law.

So could there be something done where we beef up the presence of police and start giving out tickets on Route 50 versus, I mean, at first, as a first step?

That's been an attempt since I've been with the department. Sometimes other priorities take place. take place.

Like Chuck said, where are they going to be?

No, I'm talking about the presence of police officers.

Yeah, I mean, where are they going to be?

Well, they sit up there by the McDonald's. Is there a roadway? Well, they sit everywhere. Believe me.

So you think Greg that you could go ahead and go back to the mayor if you could and maybe kind of discuss some of the concerns we had and we table this and maybe you guys come back in a few weeks and kind of give us another report and try to get us a little bit more comfortable with what's going on and I think it's going to be know pretty important for awareness of it you know especially for the and I don't want to make it sound like we're going speeding through there but for the local people and stuff you know yeah and just just just have a little bit more awareness of what's going to happen and maybe the awareness is what we're actually doing on Route 50 because a lot of people don't even know what's getting ready to happen they don't even know what the barrels are for You know, so maybe we need to get a little bit better on helping understand what's going on out there, if you would, please. So I'd like to go ahead and just table this for Tom and Ben.

How about we continue this to the next meeting? It's fine. September 22nd. That's fine.

Yeah, that's good. Yep. And then if there's a deadline on the letter. Right. Just let us know. I mean, if there's a deadline where you need the letter from us. Right.

can fender the district engineer for this area right he said the love I think you have yeah that's present right the second. It looks like it was just just last week September 3rd. Here's one asking for letters of support from us and from the county as well. So I think we have time to answer.

Okay.

Would council feel a little bit better?

So is it a state highway initiative or a town?

So this is an opportunity. The town is asking the state to be able to do this because this section of highway has been designated to address, to mitigate issues. And Easton is interested in the state doing something. And I think this was an early request. I don't think it's been designed out. But we can certainly, as staff, work with them to bring clarity to the matter and bring it back to you. Yeah, I think that's the way to handle it.

I think we're all striving for the same thing. It's just, how do we get there?

And what was the why behind the request? Do we know? Have we seen a lot of fatalities on Route 50? Are there a lot of tickets being issued on Route 50?

We've had three in the last five years, just under 900 traffic accidents.

So there is criteria around the designation of these areas along U.S. Route 50, the state highway criteria or Maryland Department of Transportation. I don't have that tonight, but we can certainly have that as part of the discussion.

That would be great.

Yeah, I think you're right. I think this is pre-planning. Absolutely. Let's get ready to happen.

Absolutely. Yeah, just have more information.

Okay.

And I'm writing these questions down to share.

You've done a great job. We didn't want to put you on the spot, but it would help, and you've done a great job, and I appreciate it. So if we could go back to that and reconvene here in a couple weeks and get this thing taken care of.

Sounds like a good plan.

Okay, thanks. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. And, Council, the last piece of business is kind of exciting. I'll start out by just asking you, making the request, and then talk a little bit about it. Requesting Council... to approve to enter a contract for the purchase of 25826 Orchard Terrace in Bellevue in the amount of $535,000. This is a 1.6 acre piece of property that if you're coming across the Oxford Ferry toward Bellevue and you look to your right of the park, there's an island there and then there's the adjacent property that's about 1.6 acres. And we have an opportunity to acquire that property using program open space money. Initially, the general fund would fund the purchase, then we would look to use program open space to replenish the general fund. This would allow for us to expand the Bellevue Park take that island, which already has the approval to put a pier off that island in the future, put in a boardwalk with some crabbing opportunities and interpretive panels that talk about the working waterfront in Bellevue. It's an excellent opportunity, and I'm looking for council's permission to enter a contract to acquire that property tonight.

Well, this is really a wonderful opportunity, as Mr. Stamp says. It's artificial land. It's built up of oyster shells along the Bellevue waterfront where the former William H. Valiant and brother plant stood. uh the uh at one point this is probably bulk headed that's long disappeared i think that tide and and storms have changed the shape of it it's no longer rectilinear uh in shape but because it is built this artificial peninsula extending out into tread after river it's mostly shoreline and it prov it will provide uh a really expanded opportunity for future Talbot County residents to enjoy a little bit piece of publicly accessible shoreline. So I really relish this opportunity.

Agreed. Agreed. I'll just add with the, especially with the Bellevue Passage Museum coming online here soon. I think that would be a heck of a one-two punch down there in the village of Bellevue.

I'll move to enter into the contract of sale and purchase.

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

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

Thank you, council. I know that Dr. DeShield and all those wonderful people that we saw down there several weeks ago will be incredibly appreciative. So thank you. Thank you very much. Council, that concludes your county manager report for this week. And as always, I thank you for your support. Okay, great job.

Good job. Okay, next on the agenda is public comment. Yes, we don't have anybody, right? Nobody signed up. Okay. Does anybody like to come up for public comment? Please come on up. OK. All right. We'll go ahead to the next thing, would be council comment. Start off with you, Mr. Staff. How about that? I'll keep you get on me if I don't do that. I'm good. You're good? I'm good, Mr. President.

Thank you.

Nothing further from me. OK.

Nothing further from me.

I'm going to be the odd one out. I'm going to be the odd one. No, I just want to.

I can't give up at time, too.

I know. I had it already written down, though.

As Mr. Lesher, I believe, stated earlier, we had the opportunity to attend the funeral of Phil Foster. And I just want to encourage everyone to just keep his family lifted up in prayer during their time of bereavement. Phil was a complex guy, if I must say, but I remember speaking to him probably about three weeks ago, but prior to that, four years ago during the election, he called me and he said, what do they call the fifth council person on the council? And I said, I don't know, Phil, what do they call him? And he said, Councilwoman. And so he was indicating, doesn't matter, you know, fifth or first, you know, you're still taking that seat. So he was really an encourager and huge in politics. So just want to keep the family lifted up in prayer during this time. Good comment.

Good job.

Okay.

All right. The county council's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 22nd, beginning at 5 o'clock p.m. The council will be convening an open session at 3 o'clock p.m. for a meeting with Maryland Association of Counties and then adjourning into closed session as listed on the statement for closing that meeting. Therefore, is there a motion to adjourn this meeting and reconvene as noted?

So moved.

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

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

Okay, thanks a lot. I appreciate it.