County Council - Regular Meeting

started if you don't mind standing and we're going to say the prayer and then the pledge of allegiance of the flag. [snorts] Heavenly Father, as we as we open today's meeting, we just uh begin as we always with uh with with thanks uh for to you for all that you are, all that you do, for your love, your grace, your mercy uh upon Talba County, our state, and our country. Father, we just uh you know, we want to make sure that we uh we recognize you as as we head into this uh this Christmas season. This is uh this is indeed the reason uh that we celebrate here and uh let let it be known that uh that you are to uh to be praised for all uh all that you are and all that you do. Uh father bless us uh here in Talbet County. Uh all of our residents uh for those of us who are traveling uh father keep us uh keep us safe on our travels. Father let us uh let us enjoy time with family, friends, loved ones. uh and and just uh again we just thank you for uh for this season uh and the reason to celebrate you in Jesus most precious and holy name we pray. Amen. Amen.

I aliance 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. U appreciate everybody being here tonight. I appreciate it. Okay, we've got the agenda in front of the council. Um, is there any additions, deletions, or corre corrections to the agenda, council? Yes, sir.

Okay, hearing none, the chair moves that the agenda meet be accepted as unanimous consent. Next is the minutes of December 9th. We've had a chance to take a look at the minutes or the minutes. And is there any uh additions, deletions, or corrections to the minutes, council?

Okay. Hearing none, the chair moves that the minutes be accepted as unanimous consent. Next is the dispersements of December 16th. Once again, we've had a chance to take a look at those. Is there any um additions, deletions, or corrections to the dispersements council? Okay. Okay. Um hearing none, the chair moves that the dispersions be accepted as unanimous consent. Okay. First on the agenda tonight is an update um on the new hospital and and Ken, you guys want to come on up.

Good evening everybody. Good evening. How are you doing? Great. How are you? Good. As we call up the presentation, just wanted to start by saying thank you. Yeah. Thank you for giving us some time on your agenda today. We really appreciate it and we hope it's informative for you. Um, can we do a quick time check just to see how much time we have? Yep. Um, five minutes at the max. Okay. Okay. Yeah, [laughter] exactly. Well, I'm going to defer my conversation. [laughter] No, if you can kind of keep it, you know, you know, 10 to 15. 10 to 15. Yeah. You know, and then feel please feel free to ask any questions you like. Yes, sir. We'll try to make sure informed. But I want you to be able to get your point out what's important to you guys. Okay. For us to know.

Thank you. Yep. Mhm.

Uh I'm I'm hopeful everyone knows my name. I'm Ken Kosell. I'm the president for University of Maryland Shore Regional Health. I've been in this role and blessed to serve this community for 14 years as your president of the hospitals. [clears throat] I'm here today with Miss Laura Wilson. Laura is our director for um external affairs and and community relations. Uh Laura does a great job with me keeping our community informed about what we're doing. So we're going to partner on this presentation today. Okay. And uh what you'll see is is two pieces to this presentation. I'm going to give you the 10,000 foot view of the federal government and healthcare, the state government and healthcare, the University of Maryland and healthcare, and what our vision has been here at Shore Regional Health and how we're executing on that vision. Laura is going to complement that brief presentation with what we're doing specifically in Talbot County to support the new vision for health care as established by the federal government and the state government. what do they want us to become as a healthcare industry and what is Shore Regional Health doing today and will continue to do to support their vision for how we create healthier communities in our region. So, we're going to compliment each other. Uh, I guess feel free to ask any questions anytime. So, let's just stop in uh in mid-sentence if you like and we'll make sure your questions are answered.

That pretty much covers the first slide, but I'm going to I'm going to walk you through a little bit about the new model that's taking place here in the state of Maryland. So, we'll give you some details on that. I also want to share with you a little bit about the school of medicine and some of the things they're doing from a workforce perspective that's going to support our efforts in facilities here. Um and and then again Laura will pick up with the community impact update. So I I wanted to share this slide with you just as a a foundational slide that talks about rural health care across the country. We've talked about this before, but I want this to serve as a gentle reminder that rural health care is in dire straits throughout the United States. And these statistics are are pretty revealing in that almost 200 rural hospitals across the country have closed since 2005. You've got 36 just since 2000. So it's only in the last five years 36 have closed. But the additional startling facts are that those rural hospitals that are continuing to operate uh are are struggling with maintaining service levels in their communities and these are important service levels like cardiac care, cancer care, obstetrical care. So these are essential foundational services and many hospitals across the country are reducing or stopping those services in their in their rural communities. Notwithstanding that, you've got about 700 of the 2,000 rural hospitals across the country that are at financial risk for closure. Um, that is the element that's causing rural hospitals to struggle. It's it's can they make it financially in these uh in these times and up to 700 are at risk of closure financially and half of those are running at negative margins today. So that's not a great prognosis for rural healthcare for the future. But what I wanted to share with you is that Maryland has has done an outstanding job. I think the state of Maryland with how we've how we've advanced health care in the state and how we're focusing on the future of rural healthcare in our region. This is

a very busy slide, but I just wanted to complement it with a few a few updates. First of all, the state of Maryland has signed a 10-year agreement with the federal government to extend our relationship with the federal government into the new ahead model. Ahead stands for achieving health care efficiency through accountable design. So the ahead model is the new model that the state of Maryland will be working in. We've signed that agreement. It will take place on January 1st of 2026 and will run through December 31st of 2035. So it's a 10-year period. The goal of this new model is to curb health care uh cost growth, improve population health, and promote healthier living. The aim of this new model is to increase investments in primary care, to provide financial stability for hospitals, and support connections to community resources. So, it really is using technology and innovation to try to promote healthier communities that we live in. The next slide focuses a little bit on additional funding by the federal government to support rural hospitals and rural health care systems around the country. You might have heard of the one big beautiful bill. Well, this was a piece of that bill that focuses on allocating 50 billion, that's 50 billion with a B, dollars towards rural healthcare if certain conditions are met. So, the first condition is that the states must individually apply for 25 billion of this $50 billion fund. I'm pleased to say that and share that the state of Maryland has in fact applied for the $2 billion aspect of this. If all 50 states in the country apply for this $25 billion allocation, each state will get $100 million a year for five years to put towards advancing rural healthcare in their communities statewide. So, uh, we'll find out which states have have applied and which states get accepted by the federal government by the end of this calendar

year, December 31st. So, that's an encouraging sign in that the federal government is investing some money into rural healthcare across the nation. The second allocation of $25 billion is going to be controlled by the federal government and we're going to have to apply directly for those for the use of those funds. And the next slide tells you a little bit about what the feds are thinking are important for not only sustaining rural healthcare but advancing it across the nation. And uh there's there's uh five strategic goals, but these goals really summarize by saying that uh they really want to make rural America healthy again by promoting preventative health. Uh they want to support workforce development by strengthening recruitment and retention of health care providers in rural communities. And they want to use technology and innovation to advance the health of our communities. So that is the strategy of the federal government to address some of the rural healthc care challenges that I shared with you on the first slide and that's what this 50 uh billion dollar allocation is intended to do. Next slide. So I want to bring the plane down a little bit and and talk about the state of Maryland and Shore Regional Health specifically. You can see the state slide. You can see two color variations. The greener counties are counties where the University of Maryland uh medical system has a presence either a hospital or they provide healthc care in those counties and you uh in total we're about 30,000 employees that that are part of the University of Maryland. Shore Regional Health is obviously part of Maryland. Uh and uh we cover about 25% of the total health care in the state of Maryland. So we're a big player. The other two big ones are Hopkins and MedStar. And then there's a variety of other hospitals that make up the rest. But uh University of Maryland is one of the largest in the state covering about 25% of the healthcare. You see in the red box the five counties of the midshore. Those counties represent uh Shore Regional Health's primary service area and the counties that we focus our healthcare

on. Next slide. This slide just tries to give you a sense of the population. We all know within the five counties it's about 172,000 people. Um but what I find interesting is when you look at the population and you break it down from a Medicare Medicaid perspective. Uh total uh percentages are about 54% of our five counties have either Medicare or Medicaid services. Uh you see some counties have a little higher, some lower, but on average across the five counties we're at about 54%. That's an important number because when you start to hear about health care and you start to hear about Medicare services uh and revenue from Medicare being cut, you start to hear about Medicaid services and qualifications for Medicaid changing and fewer people qualifying for Medicaid, meaning that fewer funds will flow from Medicaid. We'll have more uncompensated care as a result of that. So it all connects to to our population and to the percentages of Medicare and Medicaid services that we have to keep a constant eye on. Next slide. And this slide is really uh one slide that kind of tries to share our vision for what we've been trying to accomplish over the last 15 years or so. And that starts with each county of the five counties of the Midshore having local access to health care. And by that I mean primary care, specialist diagnostic testing, all within their local communities. And that represents about 90 to 95% of the health care that you're going to need locally. The center of this slide though focuses on the regional medical center. And that is where we're going to provide the lion share of acute care, hospital-based care in our fivecount region. Uh that's been our vision. We've put the spokes of this plan together in the five counties that we serve. And now, as you know, we're focusing on the regional medical center as the the corner piece of our vision. So, a little bit on the regional medical center. If you haven't been by the site, I drove past it today. You can actually

start to see the second floor of the structure being built uh on the and that structure represents the actual inpatient unit of the hospital. So, um pretty exciting to see the structure start to take shape and start to go up. Uh in addition to the second floor being added, uh what you probably can't see from the road, but that's happening every single day is the drilling of geothermal wells on that site. Um in total, we're going to have about 1728 wells on that site. Each of them are going to be about 400 ft deep and they are going to provide the uh ability for us to heat and cool using the grounds temperature to support the heating and cooling needs of the hospital. I believe it's the first hospital in the University of Maryland medical system and likely the state that is using geothermal technology for their facility. And in addition to on the-site work, you can also know that we're we're working on Route 50 as we speak with entering and exiting uh through uh the the Taba County Community Center entrance way. So that work is being done as well. So a lot of construction work being done on the site. You can see just uh a little less than a year and a half ago it was a green field where we uh have really done a lot of site prep work to today where you could start to see the structure take place. My sense is by this time next year you will see the full structure of the east and west wings of the hospital be built and up and running. So you'll be able to see that from route 50. Um and at this point we still envision uh an opening date seeing first patients in in and around mid 2028. So that's our target timeline. Next slide. The other thing I just wanted to share with you that may be a misconception of our community is the why why are we building the number of beds that are associated with this hospital? What is what is the rationale behind the number of beds that we are intending to build? First and foremost, the state of Maryland through our regulatory agencies

define how big we can build our hospital. Uh hospital systems can't just go and build a 400 bed facility anywhere they want. It's a co state. you have to go through a certificate of need process and you've got to get that approved. Uh in the state of Maryland, we did that. We fought a certificate of need and we actually pushed for more beds than the state typically allows in their formulas because we're rural, because we're geographically separated from the rest of healthcare in our region. They've allowed us to add another 29 beds to our licensed bed count of 118. But for me, that's not the the total answer. The total answer is yes, we've got 29 more beds. So we are building a bigger hospital, but within those 29 beds, we've got much more flexibility to move our patients through our hospital system.

So that means when you hear about emergency departments getting full with patients, we are now able to move those patients up to beds much more easier because one, they're all private beds. Two, we've got more of those beds that we need and use every single day, and those are the med surge beds. And three, we've got 25 more observation beds that are adjacent to the ED that allow us to to flex and use much greater capacity for our ED patients and observation patients. So, a lot more flexibility is the key for me. And the additional number is is now 147 beds total that we're building. Next slide. So, this is the artist rendering of the facility once it's been fully constructed out on the campus near Root off of Route 50 near the community center. And again, that's what's going on. So, a lot of change from a national level, a state level with extending the model with the University of Maryland and our efforts to uh create the the um the integrated delivery system that we have culminating with the regional medical center that we expect to be open in 2028. So, that's what's going on at 5,000 ft. Laura's going to tell you what's going on today and uh and then we'll answer your questions.

Great. Yes. So, I know Ken introduced um me, but I just say again, so I'm Laura Wilson. I'm the director of external affairs and community liaison. And I'm just going to go through just a few slides talking about some things that are more specific to to Tula County. But first, I'm going to start with just across the five um midshore counties. These are the numbers for fiscal 25. Um and I just want to highlight a couple a couple numbers here. So across Shore Regional Health, our five counties, we had 7,500 admissions last year. um and 71,000 emergency department visits and 118,553 primary care visits. Um, also just want to uh highlight here we had over um we reached over 1300 community members for cancer outreach in the last fiscal year and we have some really strong partnerships with our health departments, our EMS and behavioral health provider pro providers um and really really focusing on workforce development um in our pipeline. So this slide shares um how many new providers we've hired in last fiscal year. And again, you know, recruitment is really challenging in rural communities. And so um really proud of these numbers trying to to recruit um providers here. I would like to highlight that out of the 21, there's six primary care, new primary care providers were hired. Um and 15 specialists. And again for being a rural community um is something we're really proud of trying to provide that specialty care for our community and our patients. So here um obviously just want to highlight you know we have our we have three urgent cares across the midshore. We have one here in Easton and in the last fiscal year the East urgent care saw 13,727 patients. Also want to highlight here um something we're excited about that the University of Maryland urgent care system is working with uh on an alternate destination program and that's

specifically with the em the local EMS. Um and that's a really exciting program where um our ambulances will be able to evaluate and connect live with providers and determine whether the ER is the right place for them or if there's a another level of care that's best for them. Again, right place, right time for that patient. So that's really exciting. Um, and that's something that will really help the patients get the level of care that they need at the right time and something that we're really excited about. Other counties have done it, so we're um we're proud that that's coming to Talbet County. And then also again, I know I mentioned, but um really um focusing on our regional partnerships [snorts] for behavioral health. Um we know we've heard a lot about behavioral health challenges in the news. Um so working on suicide prevention, behavioral behavioral health crisis response. um and just really working with the law enforcement and the health department and other community providers to to help u meet our patients where they are. Uh two uh other programs that I want to highlight. Um one is the mobile integrated health or mobile integrated community health. Um we know that last year Talbit um launched their program and we're really excited that we have um are a part of that. We have a transitions pharmacist. Her name is Melanie Chapel and she provides um that pharmacy support to these patients as they um are reached in their home. There's home assessments. Um they can be treated at their home. They can um be connected to various resources and Melanie does a lot of work with pharmacy um assessing the medications that they have, making sure there's not interactions, making sure they're getting the the things that they need. Um and also um wanted to mention that we have do a lot of community outreach through our population health department. Um here are highlighted a couple senior center medication talks um working in community health education at Chesapeake Forum at BAM and other um great partners across Tallbit County. Um

we've done outreach events with our community health workers, blood pressure screenings and working on advanced directives. And so those are just a few things that we're doing across Talbit County and these are really designed to help us reduce unnecessary emergency department visits. So the fewer ER visits we have the easier the flow of the patient through the processes. So it's again right care, right location, right time.

And then as I mentioned when I started just really focusing on workforce development and our pipeline um great partnership with Chesapeake College. Um we do a lot of recruitment for nursing and surge tech, lab tech, rad tech, phbotomy. Um but also we're active with the um itch program which the introductions to careers in healthcare. um trying to reach middle and high school students and get them excited about careers in healthcare um and in not just doctors and nurses, which are really important, but explaining that there are a lot of jobs within healthcare that go beyond from IT and HR and communications and all sorts of things and just getting them excited about a career in healthcare. Um so I know that was a little bit rapid fire, but we would be happy to take questions if you have any for myself or for Ken. Okay, great. Um, council questions

none here. Appreciate the review. Thank you. Sure. I I just had one. The um the urgent care uh visits 13,000. Was that on all three of them or just one? That 13,000. That was just for Talbit. That was just for Talbit. Yeah. The number of ER visits across all five counties was 45,000. Okay. So, that was Okay. Thanks. You're welcome. Okay. Well, great job. Thank you. So, so one of the slides talked about our vision, and I must say that I have to thank all of our community partners who have really been helpful and instrumental in us executing on our vision.

Uh we named a few here. There's too many to name uh by name, but uh we would not be the healthcare system that we are without our community partners. incredibly important and we're going to continue to make strong relationships there on behalf of our community.

That's good. Well, we really do appreciate everything you're doing and like um me and Ken and the mayor and and and and some of staff with just Clay, we meet all the time and you bring us up to um up to speed on a lot of things. Um every month, twice a month, we do meetings twice I think a month at the hospital. So there's a lot of just to let the every but the public know there's a lot of communication with with Ken and Laura and you're doing a great job. So you know anything we can do to help you please please um you know let us know. We'll do appreciate your your good job. Thanks for your support.

Y one one yeah one question. I believe the last time you were in uh you, uh you addressed the concerns over um the the the frequency with which the emergency room uh is full and has to turn away uh incoming ambulances or or others to uh to other places. Uh is that something that you've been able to move the needle on?

It is. Uh and thank you for the question and and there's really two reasons why I say it's improving. The first has to do with uh a new program that we established. We like to call it the rapid assessment zone. So the rapid assessment zone is designed for those ER patients that come into the emergency room uh that but don't need a bed, don't need to be seen and put in a bed where they'll stay for hours before the disposition is made. they can come in into a newly designated space, get triaged, get treated quickly, and get discharged safely within at most within two hours. So that really does improve the flow of patients because before that they were coming in, we were being triaged and sent right to a bed.

That was that was uh bottlenecking everything up. So that rapid assessment zone actually sees about 40% of the patients that come through the ED. So it is having an effect on reducing uh backlogs and delays in the ED. The second thing I think is important that we've done recently as of October 7th is we've hired a new hospitalist group that is that is going to take care of our inpatients. Now you might ask what that's got to do with ER and throughput. It's directly connected and in this case in the CAA in the case of Shore we hired the same hospitalist group company that runs our emergency department. So they cover both. So one company covering both our ER docs and our inpatient docs

so that they work together much more collaboratively. They have common goals. They have shared uh shared expectations and and metrics. So they are working much more collaboratively than two separate and distinct groups that are only interested in their own area of expertise. This allows for better communication, better patient flow. And while it's only started October 7th with our new hospitalist group, um we've already seen dramatic improvements in throughput and in length of stay of our patients, which also helps move patients out of the ED. So, a little bit, we're going to give this a little bit more time to make sure it's having the effect that we expect, but those two things are having a dramatic impact on our emergency department through quick. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, guys. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Okay. Okay. All right. Next um on the agenda um is is the discussion on um a zoning uh with planning and zoning and commission on a text amendment. Um Mr. Thomas, you want to go ahead and go over that for us, please? Yes. Um, so we received a request for a zoning text amendment from uh, attorney Zach Smith on behalf of his client Alfia Dulan. Um, she currently has a reserved land agreement with the county for um, an agricultural piece of land.

Uh, she wants to place the property in a mouth easement, but mouth will not allow her to do that while the county uh, agreement is in place. However, under the current county code, that agreement can only be released if there's a change in the zoning classification, which doesn't apply here. So, um Brenda Tarlton and I met with Mr. Smith and Miss Doulan, uh and suggested that they pursue a text amendment um so that the council, if it so desires, could amend the code to permit permit her what she's looking to do, which would actually believe Mr. Smith is here can explain a little bit more, but I think would actually put some stricter protections on that on use of that property. Okay. So, I'll uh see Mr. Smith is here. I want to come up and give you a little bit more information.

Good evening. Good evening.

Thank you, council. Zach Smith on behalf of Robert and Afia Dulan, a local farm family here in Cordova. And I think Mr. Thomas described the issue. It's just that this this bill, if if adopted, the language we proposed, would essentially give the county council the authority to consider releasing land from either a reserve lands agreement or a reservation of development rights agreement in instances where a property owner wants to participate in the mouth program. And so importantly, that'll give the council another tool to help support our local farm family. uh I think encourage agricultural preservation and and encourage uh property owners to participate in the program and the benefit for the property owners they would be able to get paid on the entirety of their undeveloped land through that egg preservation program.

Okay. All right. Any any any questions council? Mr. Smith, Mr. Thomas made reference to that obviously uh with the remaining landscided and so forth. uh but he alluded to further protections that malf would afford that the remaining lands agreement. Could you could you describe those?

Right. So I think if you look at the the documents side by side the uh conservation easement essentially removes all property rights other than agricultural use from a property. And so that's essentially all you can ever do with the land from that point forward is to farm it, which is somewhat different than um the reservation of development rights, which just limits residential development on the property moving forward. But if it's zoned agricultural, what what other options are there on remaining?

Yeah, I mean commercial hunting perhaps. Um always have the right to petition for a zoning change that could then allow for future development. Zoning changes, zoning laws can change. sure there's a possibility that something else could happen there. It's not perpetual like a conservation easement. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, council. Okay. So, at this at this point, we would we need we just need direction from the council if it so desires to refer the um proposed amendment to the planning commission for review and recommendation back to council. Should that come in the form of a motion? Yes, please. I will move that we refer to it refer this uh to uh this request to the planning commission for a recommendation.

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 Hate, I

Okay. Thanks, Zach. Okay. Okay. Uh, next on the agenda, um, we have bill 1623 eligible for vote tonight. Madam Secretary, could you go ahead and, um, read it into the record? Bill number 1623, a bill to amend chapter 11 of the Talbet 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 118D2. 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. Okay, I'll open open this up for discussion. Yeah, no questions. We had the public hearing last Tuesday night and um I think with that I will entertain a motion to approve. Okay. Is there a second? It's eligible for a vote. I don't think you need a motion for that. I think we just once we've discussed it, you can call the role. Okay. Madam Secretary, could you call the role? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Steppp, I. Mr. Leser, I. Miss Milky, I. Miss Hate. I Okay, sounds good.

There you go. All right. Next on the agenda is uh clay stuff. Thank you, Mr. Council, President, members of the council. Under county manager report this evening, I have several items. Um the first being board and committee appointments. Council, I would like your consideration for the appointment of Mr. William Belding to the Administrative Charging Committee. Make a motion. 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. Hi. Miss Hay. Hi.

And council. I'd like your consideration to appoint uh council member David Steppp uh as a representative to local drug and alcohol committee uh the LDAC. I will so move. Second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote, please? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Steppp, I guess I should abstain. [laughter] Mr. Leer, I. Miss Milky, I. Miss Hayes, I.

And thank you, councel. I asked Emily Gilmer to come forward. She is your director of parks and recreation. She's here this evening to request council's consideration to enter a joint use agreement between the town of trap of Maryland municipal corporation in Talbet County, Maryland and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources acting on behalf of the state of Maryland for the home run Baker Park and she'll explain what this is about and what she can't explain. Patrick Thomas is here and we'll fill in anywhere else we need to. Good evening. Yes. So, um, the ton of trap has applied for a community parks and playground. Can you Emily Gomer, a director of parks and recreation. I'll get it one day. There you go. There you go.

Um, uh, the town of Trap has applied for a community parks and playground grant. They have been, um, awarded that grant and so we've been working with Patrick on getting a joint use agreement because they are doing improvements on Home Run Baker Park with which is a county owned facility. So, they will be adding a dedicated softball field for girls or softball field dedicated for girls softball. um they are going to be running electric to the already um installed scoreboard out there and then they're also going to be adding restrooms and so it'll be um great improvements to that park. So we appreciate them doing this and we just need to go ahead and enter a um we're requesting to enter a joint use agreement.

Okay, Miss Miss Gomer, I understand that the the county owns the land. The town is uniquely eligible for community parks and playgrounds funding from the state. The county would not be eligible for that funding. So for the town to apply for that, they can't put those improvements from that grant onto this parkland without this this use agreement in place. Yes, correct. That's that's our job here. Yes. Yep. And this has all been something that's been um approved by the park board as well. So

terrific. And I just add this is similar to um how we've worked with the town of St. Michaels uh with a with a um Perry Cabin Park uh in the past. So it's a unique opportunity to display how municipal government and county government works well together. Hooray. Well, with that uh I will I will move to approve. An overwhelming second. Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote, please? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Steppp, I. Mr. Lusher. Hi, Miss Milky. Hi, Miss Hate. I

Okay. And while Emilyy's sitting here, I just want to thank her for all the work that she and her team are doing out there. An absolute amazing job. Number one, she gets an A for patients because that hospital project is like big brother just moving in, encroaching a little bit. But, uh, so they're very patient with that. But, I mean, some of the programs that they're running over the holidays are just absolutely wonderful. Could you just take a minute and talk about Skating with Santa?

Yeah. So, uh, Skate with Santa is my favorite event that we run each year. I actually got to hand over the range this year to our program coordinator, Ellie, and she did a wonderful job. Um, it's always sold out every single year. We take a hundred kids um, plus their parents and whoever else comes with them. So, the place ends up being packed. And, uh, everybody gets to meet with Santa. We Santa brings them a gift, a personalized gift for each um you know depending on their gender and their age. And we wrap all of those presents. We actually have Dave who is Dave Laramore. He is our parks staff member. He comes in and he plays Christmas music and he wraps all these presents and he does a wonderful, wonderful job. So it's definitely a team effort. Johnny Brown, he decorates the whole place up and we've got Christmas lights over. So, we It's a good time of year to be at the community center.

It's great. That's great. We appreciate all the hard work you're doing. Yep. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good Christmas. Okay. You have a good Christmas, too. Thank you, council. Uh, next, I'd ask Brian Leates to come up.

Uh, council, we're asking your consideration to uh we're recommending that you award bid number 257. Uh these are for requests for proposals for real property for Tobin County Public Safety Storage Facility. You'll note in your packet that Emergency Service is recommending award of this bid to Elfey um LLC in the amount of 1 $1,850,000 for real property located 8845 Mistletoe Drive in East. A total of five bids were received. There are sufficient funds in the FY26 budget. Brian is here to talk about that and I'll fill in wherever I need to.

Thank you, Mr. Stamp. So, uh, as Mr. Stamp alluded to is, uh, this is a request to, um, recommend a bid of 257 for a storage facility for emergency services, sheriff's department, technical services, and facilities maintenance is a joint venture with all four county departments. Uh, and it also supports our volunteer fire department. So, uh, we have large storage needs for, um, response equipment and, uh, different items that, um, throughout the year. And right now, we're leasing a building on the other side of town, um, by awarding it to this, uh, uh, property that it's right across the street from our new uh, public safety complex. So, it's not only more convenient, but it's also strategically located for any future growth. So, there is some u office space that's attached to this to this building. And um what we have a plan for is maybe putting in a future EMS station once call volumes dictate because we always make our decisions by data. So once the data really shows that we need another paramedic unit here in Easton, we've already got a a landing pad for that for that station to be to be built. So I'm happy to answer any questions or elaborate if there's anything further.

Okay. So the the location on this is right because it's next to the new public safety complex. Yes, sir. Uh the um the fact is it's already built so we don't need to do new construction which I think at one point we had contemplated for a storage building.

Uh and uh this allows us to consolidate out of a leased space. Uh it compares in size. This is larger than leased space or comparable to it. The interior uh storage space is comparable maybe slightly larger but what is larger is the uh outside fenced in area. Uh, so a lot of our trailers don't necessarily need to be inside or or temperature controlled. Um, and a lot of the sheriff's department stuff doesn't need to be necessarily inside. So, uh, it it gives us a parking lot goes from about 10 spaces to about 40 spaces. So, it gives us some room for future growth as well.

And reviewing the documents, it looked like we have uh a reasonable payback period for this uh what, 14 years or something like that over the current lease payments. I believe it was 17. Um, yes, 17 years we would break even. And we certainly plan to keep this building for probably 20 or 30 years, if not so. Sure. Well, that that seems to be uh I I appreciate all the thought that's gone into this. uh the the planning uh it seems to me that you've uh that you've hit on a a really good solution for this for the storage challenge that uh that your department but also other departments face.

Yes, sir. That's the way we feel as well. It was really a gift that this uh bid came in. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. If not, I'll move to approve. Have a second. Okay. We got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan. Hi. Mr. Steppp. I Mr. Lusher. Hi, Miss Milky. Hi, Miss Hay. Hi. Okay. Thank you all for your support as always. Okay. Thank you. Have a great day and holiday. [clears throat]

Thank you, Brian. Thank you, council. I'd ask Ray Clark, your county engineer, to come forward, please. [snorts] Ray is here this evening to request your consideration uh to utilize FY26 capital outlay funding for the purchase of equipment for the Klondike Klondike Road bioolid septage facility. Ray,

thank you. Uh council again just kind of give you a little bit brief background. The um ultimately we had u 81,189 that was appropriated as part of the capital fund uh for the bios facility. We went and researched off the um blanket purchase orders for the state of Maryland and ultimately we found a a price from Atlantic Tractors ultimately for 56,622 and so we're making a recommendation to go ahead and award that. Uh at the same time, you know, since there are funds available, we were also trying to seek a gator that would help our guys be able to travel from, let's say, the bioolids uh office area out to the spray spots and not have to take a truck or anything out there like that. So, that was um we're also requesting, I guess, that we go ahead and purchase um a gator for about for,4844 as part of this. So, just just to clarify, yeah, ju um so $56,60022 uh for a um from Atlantic tractor and this is to purchase a tractor boom lift.

And then $14,48044 um for a gator. Um and both of these items will be purchased using a a blanket uh Maryland state purchase order or piggybacking off Maryland state contract. And there are funds in place for this

council. I've I've had a uh the opportunity to tour this facility twice. Uh uh once new to council and and once this past year as part of the public works advisory board. It is uh perhaps the county's most um powerfully aromatic facility uh and uh and and and a necessary one. This is where the restaurant grease goes from uh the the traps. This is where the uh septic sludge goes from from pumpouts of all those those rural systems. Um I think it's one of those things that we we wish we didn't have to have, but this is this is something that's that's um absolutely necessary. Performs an important function for us. I'll move to approve.

Second. Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Stepp, I. Mr. Leser, I. Miss Moi. Hi, Miss Hate. Hi. Thank you, council. And Ray, if Ry will stay here, we have cause to celebrate this evening after a long a long effort to uh come to the aid of the uh preserve at Y Mills. Uh we're we're here raised here this evening to request council's consideration to award bid number 25 uh-15 to county region 4 wastewater treatment plan improvement plan for the preserve at Y mills Ray

again we again I would ask the council for their um upon their approval that this be a contingent approval based upon MDE approving the bids. Um we basic uh this is actually going to be a replacement uh wastewater treatment facility for the preserve Y mills. Uh we've got a bid in the low bidder was from Premier Service Group which is actually a local contractor and it was for $1,800,000. Uh right now we are looking at uh really trying to maintain our current rate which is $1,800 per year. Uh so that basically by awarding this that would put us in that position of doing that. One of the things we also are working with is Coke Homes. Uh they have a I believe it was about 16 or I'm sorry 13 building permits they'd like to pursue, but we can't pursue that until we've started construction on this project. So with this facility, I believe 12 building permits is something they would like to seek within the next year and that would generate about $180,000 of capital charges. So about 10% of the cost there as well.

Good. And we are this is one of the things we you know we had to do as part of the consent agreement with and Mr. Clark are we getting some MDE funding to offset

Yes. Yes. We are I I believe we're getting close to 73 to 75% U grant funding through the Bay Restoration Fund. Uh the reason we're getting that is because we've are moving away we're moving to a what was it a BNR facility to now an uh ENR uh MBR facility and so MDE looked at that and has provided us with a kind of a very nice amount of grant funding for the project. So I I can't tell you the numbers right off the bat. I think it was roughly about um 1 maybe about 1.4 4 to $ 1.5 million or 1.3 million, I'm sorry.

And and for for the public by going from a BNR to an ENR, this is a higher standard of treatment. This is the the the state-of-the-art sewage treatment such as we have at St. Michaels, such as Easton has, such as Lakeside has for that matter. This will be the same standard of treatment even though this is a relatively small plant, a relatively small serving a relatively small development.

That is correct. And then we utilizing the MBR which is a micro membrane type reactor ultimately allows us to even probably get down to almost zero or non detects for total phosphorus where [snorts] our hope is really to be about 1 milligram per liter or less for total nitrogen. Typically a BNR facility is 8 milligrams per liter for total nitrogen. ENR is three but our goal is really to drive those numbers down to about one or less. And then then this is also spray irrigated. So, it's not going into a river. It's actually going onto crops that we have out there. Okay. Is there a motion? I'll I'll move to approve. Second. Motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Calhan. Hi.

Mr. Steppp. I. Mr. Leer. I. Miss Milky. Hi. Miss Hate. I Thank you, Ray. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Council. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. And lastly, uh, well, not lastly, but anyway, next I'll ask Sarah, um, to come forward. You have a request from our office of communications to apply for an accepted grant from the Maryland 250 commission once in a generation grant program. And Sarah's here to speak to you about that this evening.

Hey guys. So, my name is Sarah Kilman and I am um, communications manager, but also one of the administrators for our TW50 commission, which is why I'm here today. Um, I think it's fitting that we're at the very last meeting talking about the 250th anniversary because next year is the official year. Um, it is not only the 250th uh birthday anniversary celebration of our nation, but also Talbot County's 365th anniversary, which is an exciting point to uh make as we go forward. Um, so I wanted to let you know uh there is we're very excited to know about a grant coming from the Maryland 250 commission which Pete Lusher is actually a member on as well. Um, and essentially what the they have decided to do is provide up to $15,000 per county to create a celebration to highlight the nation's anniversary. And in our case, we're also going to apply it to our Tal County's 365 um anniversary as well. Um, and so it's uh detailed in the letter specifically what we'd like to use the funding for. I would like to note that that could shift a little bit depending on where our commission decides to take this. The current plan is to use this for Talbet Day, which is a long-standing, well, I guess a thirdyear tradition that we have. Um, and we want to amp it up a little bit this year, um, and add potentially, um, either a parade or a community festival. Um, we're working through the details to decide exactly what that will look like. But this funding will very much help us in making that that celebration a reality. Um, I'd also like to know because uh it's been asked by the commission, the Maryland 250 commission if we're planning to do something for Fourth of July and I know

our community will also be asking. The current plan is to amp up and support what our towns do. One thing that we have that is very unique at Talaba County is that all of our towns, municipalities really get into Fourth of July. We have three firework shows at least, right? every year. Um, and they they all coordinate them, so they're on different days. So, it makes for a very nice long Fourth of July weekend. Um, so we'd like to support them through those efforts. Uh, we will support them, but we are not planning to do a a separate tall 250 event at this time. We're just going to support what the towns are doing. Um, I did also want to highlight at this time um some of our events that we have upcoming and this is for the public as well as uh the council. Um, we have basically an event happening every single month next year leading up to July 4th. Um, so in January on January 14th, we will be uh doing a special screening of the American Revolution, which is a documentary that was put together by Kin Burns and Friends. Um, and it is free to the public. It'll be a 45minute screening as well as a discussion. And so we welcome you to come out to that. If you'd like to watch the whole documentary, it's like 14 hours. So if you want just a little touch of of Ken Burns, please come to this event. It'll be a lovely time. Um, in February, on February 21st, we will do Native American Heritage Day. This event will be uh with the Waterfell Festival as well as the Talabet Historical Society. Um we're bringing together our farming community and our indigenous communities to talk about um items that you may find on your ground such as arrowheads and all that kind of stuff as well as uh doing some demonstrations that day. So it'll be

really great. Um we're also planning later in the year, April of course is when we celebrate Talbet Day. We will do these citizen and service awards will be on Thursday, April 23rd. So, uh you'll see coming out in January our our nomination forms for our citizen service awards as well as our annual poster contest. So, be prepared for that. Um we'll also have, like I mentioned, a community-based celebration, either a parade or a festival on Sunday, April 26th. Uh, we made sure to mention that Oxford Day is the 25th. So that's why we're not doing on a Saturday. We will do it on a Sunday. We'll make a whole weekend worth of celebration. Um May 6th, we will be traveling to DC on a bus trip where we will visit be visiting the Smithsonian to celebrate their America 250 exhibits. They have their historical the history museum will be a threefloor 250 related exhibit. So, we're very excited about that. Um, tickets are available now. You can purchase them on the parks and recck website. Um, we also have the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage, which is a annual a by- annual event through the um, Talbet Garden Club, Talbet County Garden Club, and they have asked us to support them in that initiative. And so, we will be following up and promoting that as well as probably providing some volunteers along the way. So, that's where we are right now. Great.

I highly anticipate there will be more events to add to the schedule, but those are the big ones to call out right now. That sounds great. Good job. Good job. Okay. Any any questions, council? No. Just just to note that uh Miss Kilman mentioned that I am on the state 250 commission. Of course, uh if if this grant comes up as a recommendation for funding, I will be recused from that vote. Darn it. I will not be able to vote on that level. But what that means is that I I I can vote on this level. So, uh I I will not recuse myself from from this vote. This is something I can support at this level. That's good. I I will I will move to uh uh to apply for and accept the grant funding.

Second. Okay, we got a motion. Second. Madam Secretary, could you call a vote? Mr. Callahan. Hi. Mr. Steppp. I. Mr. Lusher. I. Miss Milky. I. Miss Hay. Hi.

Thank you, Sarah, and thank you, council. Um, just want to um make an announcement. County office will be closed on Wednesday, December 24th, Thursday, December 25th, and Friday, December 26th for the Christmas holiday. And then finally, council, I just since this is the last meeting of the year, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you on behalf of the staff for your support of all that we've accomplished this last year, which it is a lot. And moving into next year, it's an it's going to be an exciting year because we're going to be able to allow you to cut ribbons uh on things that you initiated in the last three years. Things like the update to Chapel School, the uh the unveiling of the new 911 center at Mary's Court, the North EMS station, the library, public st uh safety storage facility, and our roads projects. Uh so there's a lot of things that are coming to uh to a conclusion next year that you all started when you started three years ago. So thank you for a good last year or this year and look forward to next year.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next on the agenda is um public comment and we have one person who signed up in advance and that is Wendy Palmer.

Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for your time this evening. No problem. I'm Wendy Palmer. Uh address is 4351 Grove Road in Track and I am the director of health interventions for the YMCA of the Chesapeake and I oversee all of the impactful programs that help our citizens stay healthy and strong in the face of chronic disease. Uh, Rock Steady Boxing is my first and foremost love because I'm a coach and a leader in that program and have been since 2018 that serves people living with Parkinson's disease at all stages of their illness.

Um, we meet them uh the minute they're diagnosed or if they've been living with the illness for many years. Um we are at the Wyatt Washington which is an older facility faced with many challenges entering that facility and some of our uh commissioners have come to visit and seen that uh the case. Um, we also serve the Livestrong cancer survivor program which is very impactful and I was really happy to hear Ken Kosal u mention community partners that help and aid uh with the health of people in facing cancer diagnosis and we are in fact doing so. Um, and another program, enhanced fitness, which is a balance and stability program for our seniors that many people participate in, find community in and keep them living independently in their homes for many years versus uh seeing falls and having uh hospitalizations. So, we're really um hopeful that what we've presented to you is a request uh for some land here. And uh we've provided you with some great testimonial letters and that kind of thing to support the need for a health intervention center uh well beyond what the current facility can provide for our future and the future of our uh citizens. many of which are uh speaking up for that support. So, I can answer any questions based on the programs. Uh and if you want to visit again, we'd be happy to have you back.

Okay. All right. I appreciate it. Any questions? Council, thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Okay. You too. Okay. Anybody else would like to come up? Public comment. Okay. Council comment, Mr. Staff. I'll uh we've heard it many times tonight. Uh we've heard Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone. So, uh I'll I'll keep uh Yeah, I'll keep in that same uh same lane. Merry Christmas to everyone. Happy holidays. Yep. Happy New Year. And uh looking forward to a great 2026.

Yep. sir. Uh I had uh I had the privilege of attending the winter makeo conference, Maryland Association of of Counties conference last week uh which is uh which is really my uh my best opportunity for continuing education as as a council member. um a number of uh a number of sessions on [snorts] uh changes uh up till now and and proposed for the blueprint for Maryland's future uh our our state's education plan which of course impacts uh our schools and and our budget. um a session looking forward with our state legislators, some of our legislative leaders looking forward to the state's uh budget situation as we move into the 2026 session. Uh and uh a really uh informative session on adequate public facilities ordinances uh which um which uh is a topic that has been raised here before and and one that uh that perhaps we should be that we should be looking into. We in fact we did have a uh a workshop on this um I can't remember whether it was this past year or or or prior but uh but but certainly some some talk about how we uh how we pay for uh county facilities moving forward as uh as a consequence of of growth in the county.

Okay. Thank you. Good job. Um, I had the privilege of attending um the lighting of the first candle for Hanukkah on Sunday at the uh at the temple and it was uh a very entertaining and pleasant um event. And so in addition to wishing merry Christmas and happy new year, I want to wish a happy Hanukkah too. Sounds good. Okay. So, just want to echo what my colleague said and merry Christmas and happy new year and blessings and prosperity over this community um in 2025 and 2026.

Great. And I'll say the same thing. I wish everybody merry Christmas, happy new year. And you know, I want to sort of jump on what Clay was saying is like I said, you guys have really done well this year making us look really good. We've worked great as a team. We've worked great as a council. Um, what's great, we we all don't agree all on everything, but at the end of the day, we bring it home. That's that's for sure. And we do a lot of great work together. Just what Clay was saying about ribbon cutings and stuff like that. I mean, we do a lot for this community and I'm proud to be part of it. Um you guys do so much for us as as staff and um it's you know we employ and had a breakfast this morning with with staff with 100 people roughly or more

and um more but you know we employ helped me out 3 400 people. Yeah, just under 400.

Just under 400. So, it's um it's great to be a part of a team and we've got special people that work for us and do hard work and you know, kudos to the road department for the last couple days on Sunday and Monday and um helping our roads and you know, when we're when we're there in the mornings and and just getting up, they've been working for several hours making sure it's safe and stuff. So, we really appreciate uh Brian and his team, Brian Moore and his team um helping us out. So, um really appreciate the good year for with with um helping us too. And and Patrick, I really appreciate the good year. You're helping council with with all your hard work and and um making sure that we say the right things and and we stay in line, you know. So, and you you keep us out of trouble. Okay. Okay. Try you try. You try. Yeah, he does his best. So, okay. Saying that,

the county council's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 12th, beginning at 5:00 p.m. The council will be convening an open session at 2:30 p.m. for a work session with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism to discuss their strategic plan and in then adjourning into close session as listed on the statement for closing that meeting. Therefore, is there a motion to adjourn this meeting and reconvene as noted? So, move second. Okay, we got a motion second. Madam Secretary, could you call the vote? Mr. Callahan, I. Mr. Steppp, hi. Mr. Lusher, I. Miss Milky, I. Miss Haye, I Okay. Thanks a lot. Merry Christmas, everybody.