County Council - Regular Meeting

Please could go ahead and stand. And we're going to say the prayer and the pledge of allegiance of the flag. All right. Heavenly Father, we uh we as as always we thank you for this day. We thank you for this gathering of uh of all of us here, all of us watching online, just uh may uh may we accept the blessings that you uh that you bestow upon us uh in all the ways that you do. Uh Father, we like to thank you as we come out of uh Thanksgiving here and head into uh head into the holidays and celebrate you and your son. Uh just we just thank you for all those blessings that have come along with that. We thank you for uh you know the times with family and friends and just uh all that you are and all that you do and uh we just we just thank you for uh you know just for for for your love, your mercy, your grace uh your provision and all that you do here for for all of us in Talby County and throughout the state and the country. Jesus most precious and holy name we pray. Amen.

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. Okay, let's go ahead and get started on the agenda. I appreciate everybody coming here tonight. Um the council has uh the agenda before them. before them. Is there any um addition, deletions, or corrections to the agenda? Mr. Council President, I have one if I may. Yeah.

Under uh under county manager, uh we have a request here from the Sons of American Revolution for a letter of support uh for their grant application of the Maryland State Arts Council to commission, frame, and install a portion of Colonel Tench Tilman in the county courthouse. If we can uh uh add that to the uh uh to the county manager portion, I'll make a motion for that. Second. Okay, we got a motion. Second it. Madam Secretary, call the vote. Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Ste, I. Mr. Lester, I Miss Milky, I. Miss Hate, I

Okay. Anything else? Okay. Moving on to the minutes of November 25th. Council's had a chance to take a look at those. Um, is there any additions, deletions, or correction to the minutes? No. Okay. Um, hearing none, the chair moves that the minutes be accepted as unanimous consent. um dispersements of December 2nd and December 9th. Council's had a chance to look at that. Is there any additions, deletions, or corrections to the dispersements, council? No.

Okay. Hearing none, the chair moves that dispersements be accepted as unanimous consent. Okay. All right. Starting off tonight, um we got a little special little special certificate now. Recognition um uh for Maryland tourism person of the year. It's a big deal. Let's clap. There she comes. [applause] There she come. Hey there. Hi there. Thank you so much. Good to see you again. Um, Madam Secretary, could you go ahead and um read that into the record, please?

Certificate of recognition to Cassandra Vanhuser, director, Tobac County Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Maryland Travel and Tourism Summit's 2025 Maryland Tourism Person of the Year. in recognition of her consistent enthusiasm, energy, and commitment toward promoting Maryland as a world-class tourist destination, for utilizing her years of professional journalistic experience as a travel writer across the southeastern and mid-Atlantic states to assist Talbet County in strengthening regional partnerships and embarking on B bold strategies which support small businesses, celebrate local heritage, and showcase Talbet County's wonderful quality of life. and for bringing greater recognition to the role of tourism as an important economic driver in the state of Maryland. We hereby bestow upon you as a token of the esteem and gratitude of our community this certificate of recognition on this 9th day of December 2025.

Thank you, Madam Secretary. Um is there a motion? I'll I'll move for the uh awarding of the certificate. Okay. Okay. We got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan. I. Mr. Stepp. I. Mr. Leer. Hi, Miss Milky. Hi, Miss Hate. Hi. Okay. Thank you so much. Do I get to say something? Absolutely. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah.

So, um first of all, thank you very much for the the recognition. Um it's a real honor uh to be acknowledged by your peers and uh your colleagues, the county council, and and everyone. I have to say that, you know, um any person, you know, a man is not no man is an island unto himself or herself. And um I want to say thank you to the county council for all the support that you uh have given us for both economic development and for tourism. Uh sincere appreciation to uh the county manager Clay Stamp and Jessica Morris for all of their support. Um you know, we uh walk through the fire together every day and uh I just um cannot overstate how much they uh mean to us as department heads and uh to employees. And of course, um, our department, Kristen Ger is here. She's a superstar. And, uh, it's, uh, fantastic to have a wingman like her. And, uh, Ryan Snow, Tracy John's, Candace Harris, the whole team. Uh, it takes all of us, uh, to really, uh, lift up both economic development and tourism. And um I really believe it's the uh strength that economic development uh has uh brought to me. The knowledge that has given me uh to implement in tourism and that tourism has brought uh for us to help implement in economic development. It's been such great synergy and uh a real honor and an opportunity for me uh to be able to lead this department. So uh I just want to say thank you uh to you and to everyone um for uh helping me uh achieve this honor.

That's great. So, thank you. So, Dave, I I'll uh I'll echo everything that was already read into it and that that's written on the uh that's written on the certificate already, but Cassandra, so uh but I I I'll emphasize on the point that you said, how the synergies between both economic development and tourism and how they kind of they they inter mesh and it's a pleasure to have uh have you lead both of them here in Talbet County. So, thank you.

Thank you. Talbet County has a distinctive and singular brand. There is no place like it. And so many people know that and recognize that brand because of you and because of the team that you have led, that you have developed. Uh and thank you for your leadership. you are key to ensuring our our current and our future prosperity in this county. So, thank you for all that you bring to your job. How can I add to that?

Thank you so much for all you do and u it's good for us and good for you that this has all happened. So, keep doing the the work. We need you. Well, we know your superpower is tourism. Um, and being recognized as person of the year is a great um, momentous occasion. So, congratulations on that. Thank you.

And I will add, we've we've been together a long time, Cassandra, and and I tell you, you you've you've really bought brought Toby County to another level. You you really have, and we're extremely proud of you. We're blessed to have you. And when when something's going on around here, you're there. And a lot of people don't realize from a lot of times from Friday to Sunday night all weekend, your weekends are taken up a lot of times on all these events and um and I' I've seen you there. I've been with you and and um I get to leave and you didn't. You know what I mean? So, I really appreciate all the time that you put in in and nights and mornings and um we're just so happy to have you and appreciate you.

Thank you. Thank you, council. Yep. Yep. So, so come on up. Yeah. Ready? Ready. [applause] [applause]

Okay. All right. Next on the agenda in introduction of a number of resolutions. Madam Secretary, you want to go ahead and start on those, please? A resolution to amend the Toba County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap Certain real property located at 801 Port Street, Easton, Maryland, shown on tax map 34 as parcel 215 from W2 S2 to W1 S1 immediate priority status pursuant to an application filed by the town of Eastston. Okay.

Well, council, just let you know, we did receive an application as well as a check processes um for the council for their review and introduction tonight. So uh and we've been we work with office of law on that. Okay. All right then. Um show a raise of hands to introduce. So this is uh Okay. This is that first one which is in East. Yes. Yes. Yep. Improved with a boat ramp and restroom. So we introduced by all of council. Okay. This will be known as resolution number 387 and the public hearing will be on Tuesday, January 13th at 5:30 p.m.

Okay, great. Good. A resolution to amend the Talbert County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap certain real property located at 7508 Cooper Point Road, Bosman, Maryland, shown on tax map 31 as parcel 78 from unprogrammed to S1 immediate priority status pursuant to an application filed by Linda Zecker Higgins.

Okay, council. Um again, on this application, we did receive the application as well as the check uh to process this um which is $750. I just note that this um this property is located just outside the u uh resolution 250 sewer service area. It's actually between two areas. We actually have a force main that connects down Cooper um Cooper Point Road. Um you're going to hear tonight, I guess there are going to be three resolutions on this. Uh this is the first of um three properties that are seeking I guess sewer service from the uh resolution 250 infrastructure. This uh parcel is 12.9 acres and it is improved. Uh we do not have anything in our files at this point in time from environmental health as it relates to their septic system, but we will get that over to environmental health to try and get that information.

Okay. And and if you need to know, it's also it's in the RC uh zoning um rural conservation. So it's a one per 20 zoning. So there wouldn't be any subdivision right for this parcel. Okay. So no information yet as to whether this is a failing septic. I do not have that in on any of them. Okay. Any other questions council? [snorts] Okay. Once again raise our hands if um introduced. So sponsored by Callahan Step Milky and Hay. Mhm. This will be known as resolution number 388 and the public hearing will be held on Tuesday, January 13th at 5:30 p.m.

Okay. A resolution to amend the Talbert County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap certain real property located at 7510 Cooper Point Road, Bosman, Maryland, shown on tax map 31 as parcel 65 from unprogrammed to S1 immediate priority status pursuant to an application filed by Linda Zecker he Higgins. Again, council uh we received the application and the uh application fee uh for this property. Uh it is 13.4 acres. Again, we have not submitted anything or we've not received anything from environmental health. We'll work to get that information. Uh they are in between um very very similar to the lot or the lot I think that they have is next door. It's uh in between the two areas that are served by the resolution 250 sewer service area. This parcel is also rural conservation and it to my knowledge it is one per 20 as well. So that's a so there would be no subdivision right for this and it's also an improved lot

but but no information as to whether it's a failing subject. I do not have that information. I'll have to get that. We don't know how long these properties have been these are adjacent properties from this and the previous one. How long they've been separately dated plots. I don't have that information. I'll get that for you. Um and at the same time we'll be presenting this to the public advisory board at their meeting on December I believe it's u 19th um if it's not this Thursday it's the next Thursday. [snorts] Okay. All right. Any other questions on this one? No. Okay. Show of hands. [clears throat] So introduced by Callahan Steppp Milky and H. Okay.

This will be known as resolution number 389. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, January 13th at 5:30 p.m. The resolution to amend the Talbert County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap certain real property located at 24114 Mount Pleasant Road, St. Michaels, Maryland, shown on tax map 32 as parcel 86 from unprogrammed to S1 immediate priority status. Pursuant to an application filed by Christina and Donald Kepler.

Again, council, we did receive an application and the fee for this. I will just point out this lot is 1.25 acres. It is in the WRC. The WRC basically provides you three upfront lots, but you only get that if you have six six acres or more. Again, it's only 1.25 acres. The neighboring property we brought into the sewer service area probably back about maybe three or four years ago. And that parcel at that actually property was served by actually an outhouse. So I this is more kind of like a you know an area that you know probably should have been served with sewer but was missed or omitted. So

any questions council on this one? Again, no information about whether this sewer is failing. It it it is currently served with septic, we think. I do believe so. Yes, sir. Um, it is improved. Um, so it is it does have a septic system. The question will be is, you know, if it's compromised or whatnot and I I'll work to get that information for you. Okay. Any other questions or concerns? Okay. Raise of hands. It's introduced by Callahan Steenh.

This will be known as resolution number 390. And the public hearing will be held on Tuesday, January 13th at 5:30 p.m. [clears throat] Resolution to amend the Toba County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan to reclassify and remap certain real property located at 7440 Cooper Point Road, Bosman, Maryland, shown on tax map 31 as parcel 326 from unprogrammed to S1 immediate priority status pursuant to an application filed by Sharon and Dwayne Echodol.

And again, this is uh the third um application that we received this on Cooper Point Road. Um again this parcel is 7 um 8 acres um and it is improved with a single family dwelling unit. Um again I do not have any information from environmental health on this but we will be seeking that information. Um and then ultimately I guess at this point in time if the council introduces that we'll be presenting this to the public advisor board for their review and recommendation. Okay. Any other questions? Okay, I'll raise the hands on this one. Introduced by Callahan, Steph, and Hath.

This will be known as resolution number 391, and the public hearing will be held on Tuesday, January 13th at 5:30 p.m. Okay, that's okay. Thanks a lot, Ray. Good job. Okay, we're a little bit ahead of schedule. Um Clay, you want to you want to you want to start? Sure. Council, good evening. Um, county manager report. The first item I have for you is a request to declare Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 a special legislative day. Okay, I'll move for the special legislative day a week from today. Second. Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Steppp, I. Mr. Leer, I. Miss Milky,

I. Miss Hay, I. Next item. council as amended um uh in the agenda. You have a request this evening from the Sons of the American Revolution, S for a letter of support for their grant application to the Maryland State Arts Council to commission, frame, and install a portrait of Colonel Tench Tilman in the county courthouse. Uh Mr. Wes Hey, president of Colonel Tench Tilman chapter S is requesting this letter of support from the county council. I believe he may be here as well this evening. Um if you'd like to speak with him. Uh the grant deadline is December 12th. So

thank you Mr. Stamp, [clears throat] President Callahan, Vice President Leer, members of the council. My name is Wes Hey. I am the president of the Colonel Tinch Tilman chapter of the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. I'm also a member of the Talbit 250 commission because you all appointed me again. Thank you for that. Uh 15 days ago, I learned that the Maryland State Arts Council had grant funding available to support the creation of public art projects that would support the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation. That of course will be celebrated next year on July 4th, 2026. So, for the past two weeks, I've been working actually on two different grant po proposals, both issued by the Maryland State Arts Council, but in one case, the money is coming from the state of Maryland, and in the other case, it's coming from the federal government's America 250 commission. Uh the deadline for submission of the first proposal is this Friday, December 12th, 2025. Therefore, thank you for adding this to the agenda. Uh, I prepared two grant proposals uh for two different Maryland artists to paint a portrait of Colonel Tinch Tilman that our chapter would transfer ownership of to the Talbet County uh just in time for the 250th uh celebration of the founding of the country. There are few known images of Colonel Tinch Tillman because he died so relatively young. He never had his portrait painted. Nearly all the images of him are of his profile. So I worked with another member of our SAR chapter to train an artificial intelligence program with these known images to create a head and shoulders image like looking straight at you portrait of Tinch Tilman. And I believe Susan Moran has placed a color copy of that AI generated image of Tilman in your

council packets. I'm very pleased with the results and I hope you will be too. Uh I think if you look at some of the uh images of his profile, you can kind of see him turning his face right toward you. It really does resonate as being authentic. Uh I only lack the one required item to be able to submit both grant proposals. Therefore, I'm here to request that you issue me a letter granting me and the artist access to the courthouse to install, that is to hang the portrait in a place of your choosing. Uh, and I actually have a copy of such a letter here with me and would request that the chairman andor vice chairman sign it tonight. Then I can go home and upload it and submit this thing before both are due. So, that's why I'm here.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, I just like to add there are no county funds being requested. Uh, number one. Number two, um, normally the way it will work, if council does approve it, uh, we'll get you those signatures first thing tomorrow. Okay, that's good. Okay, council. And and, uh, I presume, are we working off of the, uh, the portrait of Washington as generals at Yorktown uh, for one of these and Washington Lafayette and Tilman at at Princeton for the other one? Absolutely. That's the best known image of Tilman, but again, it's his profile, right? There are a couple of etchings of Tilman again of his profile, probably taken from that portrait that hangs in the uh state house in the anti room just off the old Senate chamber.

And then there are a couple of minor pictures of him or he's a minor character and a couple of historical, you know, portraits of some historical event. And um so we we took all of those images and blended them together to create this thing. And as I said, to me it comes off as very authentic because if you look at that portrait uh of the surrender of Corin Wallace at Yorktown and you just kind of turn the face, you really feel like you're looking at him. So I think it did a great job. Okay. Yeah. Uh I'll I'll move for the letter of support. Second. Okay. We got a motion and second for a support letter by secretary. Could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan. I. Mr. Steppp. I. Mr. Leer. Hi, Miss Milky. Hi, Miss Hay.

Hi. Okay, there you go. Thank you. We'll get that to you, Mark. Thank you, council. Um, we still have a few minutes. Yep. Okay. Uh, the next item I have is, uh, as you read in your agenda packet, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is seeking a letter of support from the county for their request to the governor's office uh, inclusion in the governor's FY27 capital budget to support the replacement of the HVAC system. uh one of in one of the museum's exu uh exhibitation exhibit buildings. Um the museum is seeking $740,000 in funding. No county funds are being required. Again, this is a letter of request or letter of support. Okay. Council, is there a motion? Motion to approve the request and a second.

Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Steppp, I. Mr. Leer, abstain. Miss Milky, I. Miss Hayes I thank you councel and then I would ask your county engineer Ray Clark to come forward please. Uh Ray's here this evening asking for your approval to award um change orders one and two to bid 2311 extension of sewer from region um St. Michael's wastewater treatment plant to the Mount Pleasant area under Broad Creek and to the villages of Bosman and Nevett as outlined in that resolution. Ray going to go ahead and share information. I'll fill in where he

again this is associated with resolution 250 unfortunately our engineer um omitted these areas as part of the design so um when our contractor bid on them they were not aware of these areas so that was not included in their bids so it was an omission on um on Sentry's part ultimately this um change order one is for um 310,727 thou $727.3 change Order number two is for $117,264.98. Uh this comes to a total of $427,9921. Uh we currently have a contingency within the project budget and that contingency is five um I'm sorry um $581,345. So, we will take take that out of our contingency and ultimately it will it will leave us with about 153,352.99. I will note that we are roughly about I'm going to say maybe about 80% complete. Uh Schumer Incorporated should be wrapping up this project by February, so it's pretty close to getting done. So,

Okay, great. M mr. Clark, remind us that there there was a uh a challenge with boring under Harris Creek. Was that also a change order ACR that acred to this? That was a change order that acrewed to that, but I think it's it was interesting that change order I think was actually was sh it was not not it was Spring and Associates.

Okay. We have two contracts. Uh contracts A is Schumer, which is pretty much all of the infrastructure from Broad Creek going down to Nevat going, you know, Bosman and then Nevat. Uh contracts B was the crossing under Broadg Creek and then contract C was Church Neck and then that area there, Mount Pleasant and Church Neck. So that's the areas I think here are um [clears throat] it's on roads um Leadenham Cove Road uh train lane and then a private uh parallel road to train lane and then we also have roads to Mason and Nebat manor and roads that we'll be u getting uh the infrastructure in. Again this is a force main along with the curb valve so that we can then work to connect those houses uh once we go into phase two. So, have we previously dipped into the contingency for this particular contract?

We ha um for this one I think we um have not to my knowledge. Um this is going to be the first two change orders. So, we have not tipped into or dipped into their contingencies at this point in time. So, we have more than enough room within the right the existing appropriation. Exactly. And the other the other on spring associates the other thing is you know yes we did have a change order. I think we we ended up paying for that, but we also worked with the county council on Eastern Utilities and we got some money back from Eastern Utilities to go ahead and run a 2-in line in our line. So, we got a little credit back on that. So, and this omission was by a contract engineer.

It was Yes. It was Century Engineering, which basically was the awarded the project under a bid. They the the engineer does not share liability for this omission. uh they we did not pay them for the design. So it the the scope of work for us it had these areas in them. So it was their responsibility to do the design for those areas. Unfortunately the contractor you know didn't have any knowledge of what was there. So he didn't provide a bid for it. So it was basically an omission by the our engineer. Okay. Thank you very much.

I just have one question. Yes. So the RFP is created by who? We um we work very closely on um with the engineer, the county and also MDE and it was just you know a lot of work coming in on our end. We were trying to get sewer basically extended out to 610 properties and we just didn't see that those areas were served. So the RFP is put out by the county.

It's it was put out by the county. Yes. It was designed by Century Engineering. Um basically they're responsible for the design and all the the specifications and whatnot. So that was their responsibility. At the same time, Centry Engineering was what we call the engineer record. So it was their responsibility to do it per our scope, which basically was to have all 610 properties serless sewer. But the RFP did not include the roads. I'm I apologize. The our engineering uh RFP did. Yes. Okay. Yeah. What they bid on included all of this. Okay. what they did as part of their design of um design package design they omitted these areas those

so so they are not eligible in our opinion for any type of compensation because they bid this knowing in the scope it was to serve the 610 properties thank you okay any other questions council okay if if the council so desires we could have Patrick take a look at this to make sure that um there isn't some sort of obligation that they have for not including those areas which were outlined in the scope. We'll do our due diligence but move forward to with the change orders if yeah if approved. Thank you. I'll move to approve. Second.

Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. St. I. Mr. Leser. Hi. Miss Milky. Hi. Miss H. I Okay, sounds Thank you, council. That completes your county manager report for this evening. Thank you.

Okay. Good job. All right. Okay. Um, Madam Secretary, it's it's time for the public hearing. Um, if you want to go ahead and um start off with bill 1623. Bill number 1623, a bill to amend chapter 11 of the Talet County Code, alcoholic beverages for the purposes of permitting on premises consumption of beer, wine, and liquor at alcohol dispensary beastro, expanding the seating capacity for alcohol dispensary beastro, exempting class I licenses issued for an urban location from the market test set forth in section 1182 of the municipal. If if the municipality in which the urban location is located does not have an existing alcohol dispensary beastro holding a valid class I license and exempting Oxford Conservation Park from the 500 ft distance restriction for new offsale licenses.

Okay. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Mr. Thomas, you want to go ahead and and help us explain this bill if you could? Sure. So, uh, this bill was requested by attorney Adam Lynn on behalf of a client interested in opening a new restaurant in Oxford. Uh, the the concept is a restaurant with a small market that uh, sells prepared food, snacks, beer, wine, and liquor, which would

technically make it uh, an alcohol dispensary beastro under the county's alcoholic beverages code and would require a class I license. In order to be eligible for a class I license, the restaurant would require certain amendments to be made uh to to chapter 11 of the code. Uh specifically uh pertaining to class I licenses. Um as as stated in the title, one is expanding the seating capacity from 40 to 64 people. Another is permitting the sale of beer, wine, and liquor at retail for on premises consumption uh but prohibiting the on premises consumption of packaged alcoholic beverages other than craft beer and wine. Currently, only craft beer and wine can be consumed on premises at a beastro. Other alcoholic beverages cannot be sold or consumed on that premises. Um, another will be excluding a class I license from the off sale market study for urban locations if there's not already a class I license in that location. This is similar to what the council approved for a class E offsale license to allow a liquor store in in the town of Trap a few years ago. And last would be excluding Oxford Conservation Park from the 500 foot distance restriction for new offsale licenses. Again, similar to what the council approved for uh Thompson Park in East about a year or so ago. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. So, all right. Okay. At this time, I'll go ahead and and open the public hearing. Um, I'll give you three minutes for an individual, five minutes for a business. So, anybody over here, um, to my left can can come on up and and

I'm sorry. Did you get the list? Sign up. Is there a list? Sign up sheet. Nobody signed up. Nobody signed up. Okay. Thank you guys. Um, anybody want to come up here and talk about 1623? Come on up. Okay. Anybody on this side? Yep. Yes, sir. Come on up. Um, yeah. Yeah. come on up first. Yes, sir. You want me up here? Yes, sir. Can you come on up here and and and talk into the mic, please, and introduce yourself? Okay. My name is Mark Harrison. I live in Oxford. I'm here to support the Ursand and the um new business that they're looking to create.

And I sent this email out. I understand it may be something new for the county. I'm requesting that Taba County Board approves provides this amendment to their liquor license for this business. Bo Orstein and is has is a has residence in Oxford and his son lives a very short distance away on the Oxford road. Bow and Chuch Orinstein are pillars of our community. They their current business provides generous donations for every volunteer organization in our town of Oxford. They support and participate financially in every Oxford event. When I moved into Oxford 30 years ago, this location had a liquor store and an adjoining restaurant with alcohol sales on the same exact property. As long as as a long-term resident of Oxford and Talbert County, I would like to encourage the board to provide this new venture babes with the amended license. That's all I have to say. I hope you people go along with it. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Yep.

Okay. Next. Come on up. [clears throat] Good evening. Adam Lynn. I'm the attorney representing the arisians who have uh hired me to pursue the uh code amendment. Um I feel like council Thomas did a fantastic job of summarizing um what's before the council. Um, and I really wanted to come here and reiterate and at the risk of sounding redundant of what he explained, um, I don't think that the council's doing anything um, out of the ordinary with this. This class I is pretty unique. U, Talbet County is unique in that our county council has a lot of authority with respect to the liquor code. Most counties do not have that authority. And so the class I historically was created I think 2017 um within the scope of I believe an individual restaurant and then amended again within the scope of a restaurant to allow business owners to do what they needed to do. Mhm.

And so the purpose of this amendment, while it works for allowing the Aristians to do what they would like to do, it's also, I think, broad enough where hopefully people won't have to come back uh for further changes um while also not opening the door for making it extremely easy for their um to get these licenses. Um so and then there's the issue that some people might oppose it on the basis of um competition if they've got a business and they feel like it's threatening to their business which it's not. I mean we've built this economy on competition. I think competition's good for business owners. It's good for the consumers which are the residents and visitors to to county. Um, so I think that this is a very fair and reasonable request. Um, I've had people reach out to me over the past few days. There seems to be a good amount of public support for it. Um, and so that's that. I I appreciate your time.

Okay, that sounds great.

Okay, anybody [clears throat] else would like to come up? Yes, ma'am. Come on up. My name is Pam Harrison. I live in Oxford, Maryland. And I would just like to tag on to what my husband said and what the attorney said. We moved here to Oxford about 30 years ago. And it was a quiet, sleepy town then. We had two um locations that you could buy takeout food, groceries, um convenience type things. We had two locations where you could buy alcohol, beer, wine, and liquor. And it was harmoniously dealt with then.

Right now, we're a much more vibrant town. And we have one place that you can buy liquor. And I don't, you know, I think that it's it's definitely necessary that we have even more choices in the town. I'm sure every business likes to have a monopoly and be the only one. But I think with as much as the town has grown and as much as it has it's drawing so many people from the county and out of town, it's become an entertainment dining location or destination. And I really believe that the more competition the better. And it's it's positive for everybody in this town. And this family does so much, not just for Oxford, but even Eastston, their business here. They donate, they give to the community, they give to nonprofits, and I just really think they're an asset to any town that they're in.

Okay. Thank you.

Yep. Hello, my name is Sheri Wiloxson. Uh I live in Eastston. Um I just want to echo what has just been said. Um I think this family's contributed greatly to the Tuta County. Uh they run first class establishments. uh they've done an excellent job um of serving our community and I think that we should reward them with um with letting them continue to serve in Oxford and help make Oxford even more vibrant. Um I think they could use another location and be a win-win for the citizens as well as the entire community. So, thank you all so much. I hope you vote uh to approve this. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anybody Anybody else would like to come come up and Yes, sir. [cough]

Good evening. Uh my name is Scott Baker. I currently live in Oxford, grew up in Easton, and I've had uh probably over 20 years in the restaurant business, and I own a local business now. And one of the things earlier tonight you guys celebrated an individual here for uh tourism and economic development. And I think something like this, a new the change in the liquor code could bring more economic development and for this small business with the riskians have I think it'd be beneficial to the whole county to have something new for that could be throughout the whole countywide know based upon the approval. But I am support of this new liquor law or new new liquor license if it goes forward that I'm in support with the wristians and and and supporting small businesses.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else like to come up and talk about bill 1623? Okay. Anybody over here on this side? Okay. All right. So, Madam Secretary, um, go ahead. We We're going to keep the record. We were going to keep it open. Yep. It's It's um close the hearing, but we're going to close the hearing, but we're going to keep it open because it's eligible for vote next meeting. Okay. Correct. [cough] Do we want to vote for it tonight? Keep it open.

I I I I think keeping keeping the the [cough] record open and and voting on it next week is the That would be our normal order. Okay. All right. As council good with that. Okay. All right. So, we'll go ahead um madam secretary keep this open um close the hearing tonight and um keep it open and um emails and everything can go into to next Friday. Correct. This Friday. This Friday. I'm sorry. This Friday. Yep. Okay. All right. Next is bill is 1621. Madam Secretary, could you read that into the record, please?

Bill number 1621, the bill to amend chapter 190, zoning, subdivision, and land development, sections 190-252, table of land uses, and 12029, commercial uses regarding funeral homes and crematoria. Okay. Um, would you like to would you like to go just give an overview on that one, Mr. Thomas, please. That would be great. Hear me for one second. Mhm. Let everybody leave. [cough] Yeah. Okay. Good. Good. Um,

yeah. That's good. Again, this bill uh came forward as a result of a a proposed amendment on behalf of a local business.

Um it proposes to um provide for a funeral home in crematoria in the AC district uh subject to certain regulations. Uh the minimum property size must be 40 acres. The property must abut a principal or minor arterial roadway and the use must be operated in conjunction with a public cemetery that offers services to the general public. Um, this language was uh reviewed and recommended to the council by the planning commission. Okay. All right. I'll go ahead and um open this uh to the public. We this is this is we've had this is just eligible for the Oh, okay. I got you. Okay. All right. So for any council discussion?

Yeah, that was Yeah, I was getting ready. Yeah. Any discussion council? No. Okay. I I I am remain divided on this one and uh not convinced that uh that operating crematoria and funeral homes on carters like like Route 50 are are an appropriate expansion of of cemeteries. Uh, I had expressed before the the concern about uh about uh unintended consequences with this and and I'll acknowledge that the bill has been rewritten to uh address some of those concerns, but um but I'm I I still remain uncomfortable with this one.

Okay. Any other discussion from council? Okay. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Stepp I Mr. Leer nay. Miss Milky. Nay. Miss Hay. I Okay. All right. Madam Secretary. Next on the agenda is bill 1622. Read that to the record.

Bill number 1622. A bill to amend chapter 190 zoning subdivision and land development of the tool county code for the purposes of providing for classes of short-term rental licenses and amending certain provisions pertaining to short-term rental licenses including one the composition and term of the short-term rental review board. Two, contents of new applications, three hearings, decisions and appeals. Four, renewal. Five, grounds for denial. and six additional restrictions. Okay. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Um, Council, open for discussion.

This one here. Well, uh, I, uh, I was one of the ones who, uh, sponsored this bill, and I've, uh, on reflection, I realize that that this does not address, uh, all the concerns on and on on one side, and it raises, uh, concerns on the other. And I think that uh that we should go back and uh take another look at this issue. And I am at this point withdrawing my sponsorship. Okay. And as the um [clears throat] the other sponsor Yeah. Um

as revealed by the comments about this legislation, about twice as many citizens supported the bill in its present

um version. Um then and the opposition really was STR owners who were not citizens of Tulba County. [snorts] And indeed um the majority of those um who opposed are this were not to county residents. 75% of the short-term rentals are either owned by LLC's or out of state residents and 22% of them um by entities. Um it it was clear that those citizens who supported the bill lived in the uh TR and the TC zones. uh Bentley Hay um and um other other areas. Um and uh they were not addressed in this legislation. And I feel that one of the things we need to to do is to amend this um and have it then subsequently reviewed by the the planning commission to um have provisions for the um TR and the TZ TC zones. Um there's a statewide trend um to revisit and amend STR laws and that's that's what we're about here. Queen Ants County for instance just enacted one I believe in January. Um Ocean City is is struggling with it. Um and most recently Annapolis is working on it. Um housing shortage is one reason um for um reconsideration uh particularly in the T-zones. Um it depletes workforce housing um for purchase and for rent. Um opponents haven't produced any documentation about their statistics. Um and uh although they promote that this is a benefit to tourism um we have to

find a balance between that promotion and and the needs for workforce housing um both rental and ownership. Um so for that reason I think um we want to amend this to at least address the TR and the TZ zones um and how they might be affected by um the uh short-term rentals and um come back um through the process on on those on those changes. Okay. Any any other discussions? Okay, we're good. Okay. Well, with no sponsors, I

So, just to clarify, if there are no sponsors for the bill, then it dies for lack of a sponsor. And even without that, it would die on July 1st. Okay. I'm sorry. July 1st. Gez. January 1. I'm thinking summer. Um, warmer weather. I Yeah, January 1st. If it's not acted upon, that would be great. Okay. Okay. That sounds good. We'll be back. Okay. Um, all right. Next on the agenda is going to be uh public comment. Anybody want to come on up and anything? Any public comment? Any public?

Um, Sherry Wilcox and Eastston. I just want to say merry Christmas and happy new year to the county council and thank you all for all the work that you do and we are we appreciate it. Sometimes it might not seem like it but we really do appreciate all your hard work, energy and effort. So merry Christmas and happy new year. Okay Christmas. Thank you. Okay. Any anybody want to come on? Any anybody else want to come on up public comment? Okay. All right. Now we'll start with uh uh council come down here first. I'll I'll uh stay in that same vein of I know we'll be meeting again uh next week, so we'll have another opportunity to uh to wish everyone a merry Christmas. I'll echo that and a happy new year to everyone as well. Y

well, we'll still meet another time this month, but uh before then, this Sunday uh starts Hanukkah and for those who celebrate, I want to wish you a happy Hanukkah. Okay. Yes. [laughter] Okay. Okay. All right. That's all I've got. Okay. Yeah. No comments. No comments. Okay. Well, we appreciate everybody coming tonight and um keep in mind we've got another another meeting um this time next Tuesday. So, to end up um end the year. So, okay. Thanks a lot.

Well, the county council's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 16th, which has been declared a special legislative day beginning at 5:00 p.m. The council will be convening open session at 3:30 p.m. and then adjourning into close session as listed on the statement for closing that meeting. Therefore, is there motion to adjourn this meeting and reconvene as noted? So moved. And a second. Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan. I. Mr. Steppp. Hi. Mr. Lusher. Hi. Miss Milky. Hi. Miss. Hi. Okay. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.