Town Council - Regular Meeting

I'll call this budget workshop to order. If we would please stand for the pledge of 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. All right. At this time, I'll go and pass it over to our mayor just to explain the process and what we're all doing here this evening. All right. So, for the uh last couple Why you laughing at that this side of the table?

Uh no. Uh the staff has been working on putting this budget together for the uh last few months and uh and we met with uh uh parties outside of town hall who have an interest in this as well and uh between the town administrator, myself and the staff, we have uh created the u this budget that is being presented in front of you. The way this going to work is we'll go through Katie will go page by page on the budget. If you don't have questions, she's going to move on. If you do have questions then just stop at that point. Uh ask your questions. We'll get your answers and then keep right on moving through. The budgets divided into four section. You have a u operating budget general. You have a capital uh budget for the uh general side and then you have a a um operating side for water and sewer and then a capital side for water and sewer as well. uh in this budget they've taken into account the new water rates and uh and we're not proposing any tax raise this year or anything like that. This is a budget that works within the u uh within the taxes that are collected as well as all the grants and everything else. Uh following this meeting tonight, uh Katie will make modifications to it and bring those to the next council meeting at which point you'll be voting on the tax rate, voting on the budget, and we'll have public hearings for those once all that's passed. Then we're off and running for fiscal year um 27. So that's that's the process. And I think the sooner we get started, the sooner we may be able to get out of here. So, I turn it over to Katie.

Okay. I'll just have one question for Katie at the beginning. Are there any changes to what we have in front of us? So, no. Any changes um will be made. I mean, I do have changes to make, but they haven't been made yet. That's fine. Okay. So, real quick, we're going to go over all departments revenues first, and then we'll go over all department expenses. Correct. Well, it goes by fund. So we'll go over or general fund operating revenues and then expenses and then okay general fund capital revenue and expenses. Perfect. Take it away.

So page one of general fund operating revenue. Um there is a change under intergovernmental for county shared taxes. I did get our uh Frederick County number. They don't usually put it out until um April 15th. So, um, the number is 685,653. So, I'm going to update that. 446. Okay. What was that number again, Katie?

Um, it So, the Frederick County shared taxes number is 685,653. And then that updates our number two. So is that okay? So our new number is $978,024. So it's an additional $7,716 and $24. Okay.

I have a question. Um I guess it's the very first very first line at the top of the first page. It's the real and personal property taxes. So over in the uh right hand column it says uh additional revenue generated due to the tax increase 464,608. So that's the money that's going to pay for the police station. Correct. Correct. Okay. Did anybody have any questions about any of the other numbers?

If you could go back down to that line and give me a second. 4066. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. And then we'll let Katie explain everything page by page and then we'll hold our questions to the end and then uh and then we'll move on once we don't have any questions for that page.

And then page two is just a continuation of revenues um charges for services and miscellaneous. So that I will note that there is a big jump in the community development revenue. Um part of so Ashley had applied for an $85,000 tourism grant and um it's for different events. Uh part of the American 2 America 250 and some other things. So that's the big jump in that number. And also our M.Y.I.P. grant. Grant increased this year from 25,000 to 33,000. I'll just

I'll jump in on that. It used to be 25,000 and now it's up to 33. Is that correct, Graceful? Yes, sir. Okay. Thanks. And just what is MIP? So, it's the main street improvement program and so it pays for different Main Street programs and different things. Just I could invoke the uh general assembly rule and just say no no acronyms either. So, if I couldn't use acronyms, my notes would be five pages long.

Any questions on page two? All right. Quick question. Yes. On the uh on page two, so the the $85,000 tourism grant, do we have to pay a matching or is that we get that chunk of money and we don't pay any matching? Yeah, no match. Thank you. Great job on getting the grant.

Okay, so page three starts expenses. Um, it starts off with general government expenses. questions. Just a quick just general summary question I guess for all expenses throughout the budget. Have we taken in the increase in energy costs and fuel costs throughout the budget in general? Yeah. So you'll see um not in this page but the next page but um all of our electricity costs have uh greatly increased.

Okay. I just don't want to be keep Sorry. I just did. Yeah, I'm done. Sarah, here's a question for you and and maybe it's in the summary sheet, but and I I see you're doing this page by page where um staff related to this programmatic area, you'll say, well, this was a cost, this was a cola year or this was a step increase year, etc. What percentage of the staff this year are receiving cola and maybe more importantly step increases?

So all um so all town staff minus MAPD because MAPD um received their step increase last year and uh the rest of staff only got cola. So this year is the rest of staff.

Okay. I guess here's where I'm going with this. Are are you are you keeping good track of, you know, year by year, staff costs are going to keep going up and up and up because they're getting step increases, never mind cola increases. And so again, for for this year, the total cost for staff went up by how much and what percent? And then are you looking are you projecting are you saying you know next year these people are going to be up for a step increase because over you know over the next two to five years we might get to a point where wow our staff costs have gone up so much it's it's getting to be a bigger and bigger part of the budget. So all that being said let me go back to my first question. How much more did the total budget go up for staff this year compared to last? And what percentage does that represent?

If you don't have it now, you can give it to me later. I was going to say I I have a whole sheet that I do. So, I do have that number, but um I don't have it right this second. Okay. All right. Thank you. And we do discuss the salaries and stuff like that in private session also. So, that's fine. what prompted my question to you earlier on on email. So the I mean this I don't think you're exactly asking this Steve but the it is 5% year-over-year total right that's a prompt of my question to you what is so it all depends on what cola is so right so

yeah so a step increase is always going to be 3% so it's going to be 3% plus whatever cola is so I mean cola has been as high as 8% some in one year um and it's also been as low as 1% and I mean it's completely up to you guys if you approve the cola. So if this increases 5% and the cola is 2.8% this year according to this line, right? So so this so the in total increases would be 5.8%. Right. So the rest of that's going to be stepmmerit based increases. Okay. Yep.

All right. Anybody want to up 5102 by chance? Oh, well, I have to find find that line item. All right, we'll go and keep on moving. All right. Thought I'd throw it out there. If you want to throw it throw it out, we'll discuss it. Council council president. Just thought I'd throw it out there. All right. Thanks, page. We don't have to increase the salary. Just go pick up garbage and and you'll find it blown out of the Starbucks tip jar. Oh, no. All right. page four or three.

So, Carl, on this page is where you'll see the increase for the electricities and utility. Electricity and utilities. Thank you, K. I just wanted instead of asking every time I saw something, I just Yeah, I thought you would have, but just wanted to make sure. Thank you. Any questions? Uh this is page four, correct? Yes.

So just a question. Go down to train station expenses 5305 and the first line cleaning that says we added the 3% increase for cleaning contract. Is this happening just for the cleaning at the train station or for all of our public buildings like for town hall? So, our cleaning contract in general is um increasing 3%. Um and it's so for town hall, it's actually in the line item above under ser contracts. Okay, I see it. Yeah. Okay, so it's all going up 3%. All right, thank you. Oh, next question. Okay.

Uh bottom of the page 5306 network systems. Next to the last line under software and maintenance, you come across $13,400. And in the comment section, it says $250 security camera software. What cameras is this software for? And then I'm going to relate this question to another question I'll be asking later, which is you're adding like $7,500 for a new camera at Town Hall and at the Flat Iron Building. We also have this safety assurance initiative, which is maybe something different. So tell me what this 250 camera software is going to support. So, in in uh the upcoming some in this fiscal year to be honest and then in the upcoming this fiscal year that we're discussing right now, the FY27, we're going to be purchasing a few new security cameras uh in town. We're also going to be fixing some of the cameras in town hall right now that just aren't working anymore. Uh we're not replacing them with uh upgraded cameras. We're just replacing them with the same cameras, just ones that work. So, we do need some software upgrades for the couple of new cameras that are going to be installed um because we are moving to a uh to a um uh web-based um camera system. Okay.

And so, that will include a software update. Okay. So, that that cost is just for the few cameras we're going to be replacing for this year. We're hoping to start replacing more cameras as we go down the road uh in the next couple of fiscal years. So, this is kind of a phase project. Okay. I'll ask my other questions when we get to the pages. Thank you. Question. Will we be talking about revenue separately? Right. So, C or general fund re or operating revenue because we're already past those. Did you have a So, we can go back if you Well, it's in relation to the train station. That is that is one north main, right? That's what we're talking about.

So, and I that is still currently what? Half museum, half pharmacy. Yes. Okay. So, um and these expenses are of course for the entire building, right? Not for correct half, right? Correct. Um Okay. I guess my and the cleaning like the cleaning for the train station is only for the common area, not we're not paying to clean the pharmacy. The far that's up to them to to contract their um own. It's just the the bathroom in the common area. Right. Okay. All right. Thank you, Sean. Are you curious where that rent was going to say? I can I see the rent. You see it? Okay.

I guess my Sorry. I guess my at an appropriate time if there is one I I I guess I'm wondering as landlords um when's the I mean, have we when was the last time we viewed we reviewed competitive rent per square foot? We voted on that uh probably about eight months ago. So, it did the the lease just the lease just re renewed last year. Yeah. Um but since we took over that building, um they have continued to pay the same rent. And that's how long? So, we purchased that building 2017ish. Yeah. 2016, 2017. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you. And how long of a lease was it again? So, our leases are always three years. Okay. So, it'll come up in about two years. We're on page five or four now. Uh, we're still on page four.

Any questions? I would five. I will note that there's a decrease in the general administrative expenses and it's because the 5,000 that's in the current fiscal year for Patriot Day and other events, that's our um donation to the um the fireworks and I move that to um parks and recreation culture like uh recreation and culture for next year because it's kind of being tied into the 250 events. So that's why that number went down.

Good. All right. A quick question on the 5314. There's a line plaques proclamations volunteer appreciation. It's gone up to 4,500. How how much does the appreciation dinner cost out of that 4500? Is that the main cost there?

The appreciation dinner is definitely the largest cost out of that subcategory. Um I am not 100% sure how much this current year is because it just happened. So I haven't reconciled that one yet. Um but the actuals for that line item in fiscal year 23 was $4,389. and prices unfortunately go up, not down. Okay. But you're you're is that like 80 80% of what we're spending there is for the dinner and like 20 cent% for the plaques and such. Is that Yeah. kind of what you're thinking? Okay. All right. Thank you.

All right. So, the next page is the police um or the uh public safety budget. I don't know if you guys want to move to the um go over to the big map worksheet that kind of gives a better breakdown of each of these categories

or did you have specific questions? I guess what would be easier on you, Katie, for switch to the budget. Switch to the what I would call the police subbudget document here. I mean, that definitely has way more information than what our little like snapshot on our on our general fund operating budget. Let's let's go through this then just to make sure.

So page one of that budget is legal fees which is not very much. Um the second page of that is the um like general insurance. This number did increase and it's based on our work our workers compensation. Um it did uh increase in the current fiscal year. Um so it's just kind of a best best guesstimate. Wow. That's a big increase. That's a big increase.

Well, and you'll notice our fiscal year 25 actuals were pretty high, too. So yeah, unfortunately when we're putting these uh numbers together, we don't have like we don't have 26 actuals until now. We still um have to have our workers compensation audit and sometimes we do get some credits based on that, but it's just not complete yet. So I just have to go based on the numbers that we have right now. Yeah, that makes sense. We'll go on to page four. So electricity, a little bit of an increase. And again, all of these um numbers, especially electricity, is kind of based on what we're paying right now. So, I'm not going to go down. We'll go to page five.

Okay. So, rent, this is a big thing to note. So, the rent for the police station right now will increase in fiscal year 27. Um because we are now in that uh in the part of our lease where we can renew for um like three more years. So, this is the first renewal.

And is, excuse me, Kate. Uh, you said we're in the first of the three-year renewal period. Does the um unfortunately I can't remember the exact verbiage of the lease agreement. Does the landlord have the option for the next three years to raise it? M So the way that it works is is our renewal period actually works is you renew for 6 months. Okay. At a time. Um and then the it's the first, third, and last. Does that sound right, Barney? It's it's three options. I know it's the first six-month renewal. I think the third six-month renewal and the last six-month renewal that they can do um an increase not more than 5%.

Okay, cool. Thank you. All right. Any questions? Just one. Is is that negotiable? I mean, it's an increase not more than 5%. Does that mean it can be less than 5%, too? I'd have to read through it. I just know when I read because I knew we were coming up on it, so I just read through it and Yeah. So, if it is negotiable, maybe we we can always I mean Tom ends up negotiating it. We can always go to Tom and say, "Hey, listen." And you know, we don't want to do that. Let's try to back it off. Okay.

Yeah. If if that shows that, then that lease was signed before we were in the council. So, if it does show that it's not a mandatory 5% increase, then maybe we can Yeah. set time loose a little bit. Yeah. Okay. There's no there is no harm in asking. All right. Page six. Any questions?

Page seven. I just have one question more of a just a general wondering and I'm not sure if Katie can answer this or maybe the uh chief under training academy for new officers we have uh since we're still in the process of hiring we have zero allocated for academy for the new officers in 2027. Should there be a number there or just will we still have funding available like on an as needed basis when we hire? So I did see the other day that noted that the zero I did speak to Katie about that. Okay.

But since we're spotted for 12 officers it's accounted for in correct the overall Yeah. So o Yes. So overall within the cost for the 12 officers if because I mean we've had open positions for a while so we definitely could make up the account or the cost for the academy and within that. All right. I just didn't want to be short email. No, I understand. Cool. Thank you.

A question on uh the the next two lines down from that. These this is the new hire testing pre-employment and then the psychological evaluation. these costs went up quite a bit. Are these are these new types of evaluations that we need to do or what's So the ones for under new hire and pre-employment um there's like a whole array of things that um a new officer has to go through and so the specific psychological testing for the new hires is included in that number. Um but we're supposed to be um uh eval like our officers are supposed to be have the ability or the option um to

for wellness for wellness for wellness. Okay. So yeah, through the state we're mandated that every two years we have to have a psychological evaluation. But not only that, if any of the officers, any of our members, even civilians need to have a wellness visit that's included in their Okay, that's helpful. I I didn't know when I saw a psych evaluation, I thought it was tied to bringing on new officers, but this is wellness, right? And I can update this to say like psychological wellness evaluation. Okay. And you said for the new hireer testing and pre-employment that psyche evaluation is included in that number.

Yeah. And that um well it's 4,800 but it's 1,600 per we have three open positions. So that's why it's so high but in that 1600 that includes the new hireer because they have to go through something different than our current officers. And then the 6,000's for existing. Correct. Okay. Makes sense. K. I'm sorry. back to the um Academy for New Officers. So, are you saying that that is built into the wages line or

So, we've had a a few open positions for a while. So, a lot of times the academy only runs in September. certain times out of the year depends on Frederick or Carol County before we can use the commission and then we can outsource it again one of the community colleges as well when they run their so it really just depends on where we are in the process if there's running so currently um there was one in March and then if anything we kind of waiting till usually they run only one class through very rare.

So, I guess I'm just going to ask the question. Shouldn't that number reflect our recruitment goal for the year? I mean, if we're not to interrupt, but I feel like our this is for new. We've done pretty well at recruiting lateral officers that wouldn't have to go. Yeah, we've had much better luck recruiting laterals than uhmies or brand new officers that need to go through the academy. Okay. We've only had one person. What is our goal usually is to recruit Well, if we can get a lateral, that's good. But laterals come in at a higher opening cost. But Chief, it may help if you uh an academy costs what about $2,000? $4,000. That's just for the academy. And then all the other equipment for expenses.

Yeah.

So that can depend on ammunition is a different expense along with uniforms. Differenties we found out through the commission require certain things. So each one has different parts of equipment that they require. The academy does not offer certain things. Uh we'll just say their uniform certain uniforms are supplied but then again the commission we had to get politely just firearms. They shoot a lot of ammo there. So that would complete our resource there.

But but if we find someone new, if we find a younger person that needs to go through the academy, then it would cost about $4,000 to register. But if we get a lateral or anybody, we still got to supply them with the weapons, the uniforms, all that other stuff. So off the top of your head, if you even know, when's the last time we sent a new hired through the academy? in 2020. 2020. So, we're we're six years removed from that and we've had $4,000 sitting in there. I mean, I think it's probably safe to I just want to scrub that. It sounds like both of you are Let's not budget it. So, all right.

If we if we if a a person came who needed to go through the academy, then we would we'd figure it out how to get them there. So, any more questions on seven? page page eight. Page eight now. Okay. That's what I was trying to figure out.

A quick question unless you're going to do any overview. No. Okay. So, the middle of the page, the AEDs, it says uh it's about $10,000 and we a target of 11 units. So, these 11 units, are they are they in the patrol cars or Okay. And then are is there one or two in the station as well? Okay. All right. Thank you.

And then the uh the body camera is the next line down. So this is is this just is this getting more? It says number of units one. So is this to get one camera or to get up updated software? What is that? What is this? I think any and Katie correct me. I think it's just overall for like the contract. Yes. So the it's a contract. So we would get I think it's 13 because you get one extra,

right? We have one on spare because we're mandated by the state to have the body cams. So we have to have one if need be that can be current body cams that we have now are becoming and this is evidentiary. So we need to have something. They're just taking a beating and we've had them for five years I think now. Um they're just not holding the charge. They're docking the stations. They're not actually I had to give one a few things considerations for the body camera replacements wear and tear the elements and temperatures and other exposures improved technology ones that I'm looking at you can call supervisor it has GPS and not only that area is being exposed to obviously other languages here in town it's able to translate langage supervisor button actually.

Oh wow. camera integrations, the data and storage and management and the legal requirements. Mainly the evidence loss for data is inadmissible evidence due to technological currently having problems with uploading with our body camera evidence and transferring data and we've contin

Okay, so here's a question for you. So, it is this enough for what you need for this year or do you need more? Are you I what I hear you saying is your body cameras are kind of getting to the point where they're getting on the fritz. I mean, so to speak. Do you need do you need more than just one replacement? So, this is for all 13, but it's a contract that you pay over five years for the to replace the whole system. Yes. Okay. All right. So this so this will give this will give you what you need. Yes sir. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you Councilman Dem. I was you picked the two lines I was going to ask but I do have another question regarding the body one. It's more towards the funding side. You've got an asterric saying uh pursuing grant funding. None of that is dependent upon us receiving the grant funding. Correct. Okay. So we'll get the the officers will get what they need if even if the grants come short or something. Okay. Cool. Thank you.

Any more questions? Let's go to page nine. Just office applause. Any questions on that? What does a copier cost? Could we have bought one by now? Leasing it for 3,400 a year. I am not sure. I think along with those leasing though, you get people to come. And that's somebody come fix it when it breaks. Yeah.

Yeah. Where when you own your own, you're kind of you have to pay separately for someone to come out. Yeah. Anytime there's anything wrong with it, someone comes out and fixes it for and they break a lot. Included, too. Exactly. All right. Cool. So, more than just renting a machine. Okay. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's only it's 3,400, but I was like over the course of five years, we could have just owned it. All right. Next page.

Maybe a question to the mayor regarding the cell phones here, but that's a I'm joking with you, mayor. The cell phones for the police officers. I wasn't I just need to bring bring that up as a history lesson. No, I have no real questions regarding it. Want to get out of here to Yes, sir. I do. You missed the page for the officers. This is for This is just for staff. This is for like um code enforcement and the property evidence tech and the PSA because they need that dual factor to get into the systems multiffactor. Page 11. Okay, we're past 10. We were just on 10.

That's That's where you made the joke that Yeah. But then what did flopping joke? The flopping jig. But Katie said something about the PSA and stuff. We missed. Yeah. So the ones when you said cell phones, the cell phones on that page for the officers, the officer cell phones fall under their equipment budget. Oh, never mind then. Never mind. I Okay, sorry. I'll bring up the failing joke again in there. Page 11, uh, general admin expenses. So, there is an increase in this one, um, for employee services because now we have officers that have hit their five years. It's the 150. Okay. Any questions?

Are there I'm sorry, they're 10 years. You get 10 um, at 10 years you get recognized. So, yes. Okay. Page 12. I had a question regarding gas and oil, but that's been answered. I mean, it is equal to the same as last year. Is that enough since prices So, I did look um at what we're spending and it's still pretty comparable. I mean, I guess our officers are just I know gas prices have fluctuated, but we also get a because they use fleet cards, we get a little bit of a break.

Okay. All right. I'm just All right, go to page 13. Easy enough. Yeah. 14. I just see my last joke failed, but I won't. I'll just I just find it interesting that the K9 tracker software is nicknamed cat.

You're going to have to hit a buzzer to speak from now on. Matt, that that was better. Okay, that was better. The bar wasn't that high. Page 15. Just a question on what what are examples of what this money is used for? I mean, is this advertising? Is this

the community outreach? So, it's for National Night Out. Um, and like similar to like the town when we have a booth, we have little chachkis to give out. So, the officer or the police department has the same thing when they have tables. Um, the safe street awareness is the program that Councilman Demoter um kind of spearheaded. And so, uh, when you see certain times of the year, you've seen signs that say slow down for your hometown. Is that what they say? Yep. Correct. So that's uh to so that 1500 is to kind of replace those signs as needed um or get more signs if needed. Um and then kind of any other special events that the police officers participate. So it's mostly marketing and signage

during um like Halloween and stuff. The officers will give out little treats. So it covers that. And the teen driver event just last weekend they had like goodie bags that people could come up and get and stuff like that too. Yeah. and they were at the wellness fair over there. So, so they attend all those events. So, got it. Page 16.

Page 17. So, this is something we usually cover when we go back to the um big budget sheet under capital items, but I mean we can discuss them here too, but this So, there's one vehicle in the um next or in the 27 budget to replace an older vehicle that's has lots of issues. Yep. Okay. If we have any questions, we we'll discuss that in the capital. Yep. I was gonna say the rest of this um we can or is very detailed in the capital budget too. So we can either discuss it now or we can discuss it when we get to it in the capital side.

You guys want to go back to the big sheet? Yeah. Okay. So we are on page six of the big worksheet. Um we've already gone through all of the um police station operating expenses. The only thing to note is that um the bond payment for the police station bond um is no longer on here uh because it moved to its own fund which we'll get to that at the end. Yep.

And then of course the fire um company contribution remained the same this year as it was last year. Can we talk about that? Sorry. Talk about anything you want. Uh I was going to let you start, but I was going to see tried to flip it. Nah, I just want to say um and last year we had a big conversation about it. I believe we have been doing some things related to the conversation during the past year, but I would like to see eventually the town instead of I want to say being dependent on some 20year-old

handshake agreement when good old boys network

controlled the town at one time. uh not control, that's poor word, but we we need more of a formal agreement between the town and the fire company to protect both sides of the uh agreement, both the fire company and the town. I would rather see a formal legal agreement and hopefully we can come to some type of understanding with the fire company to at least obtain a basic accounting of where the money goes uh to because it is a significant portion that we're given to them. And I'm not looking for a detail just to say, hey, 20% went to salaries or equipment maintenance or something of that because in the long run, we do need a functioning fire fire department.

Yeah. No, I I was going to say um I know the mayor and um council president Washbuda and probably some staff is heavy working on this. So So clearly we're heading towards not being pegged at 10%. So that's a step in the right direction, right? Um and I guess I I still think there's that open question of why why so much compared to others, you know, in in in the vicinity. So it's a step in the right direction. I think we that still needs to be answered because frankly the and I was actually in the I wasn't here yet. I was in the back of the hall listening. But the um but the the most tangible reason given was the vicinity to I70 and that's of course not a town road. So I for me I that's for me I really want that explored. Is that really the reason why we're giving why this town um uh is contributing so much to the fire company? And if so then there's got to be other avenues explored, right? Because it obviously it's not a town road. So, so we did you want me to give a brief summary?

Yeah, you go ahead. I'll I'll fill in. You can fill in any gaps. I'm sure there'll be some uh the mayor and I did reach out to their representation and uh and we had two meetings.

Uh the first one, you know, cuz the at the beginning of it, what was asked was where's this money going? If we're going to vote on it, the council needs to be able to explain to the town where it's going and why it's going there and why it's so much. The first meeting, I'll be very honest, they gave a very generic version of their books. Uh the mayor and and I pushed harder to get a detailed section um of exactly where and what your contributions are from the county, from the state, than from us, and where all of that money is going. Uh, so we did get a pretty good list here that I can I can pass around, you know, just so you guys can take a look before we do actually vote on the budget. Um, but you know, we didn't want to make it a a fire department versus the town thing, which it it almost turned into last year. Uh, what we were seeking was information. We were seeking transparency, and we were seeking clarity. The days of us just writing you a blank check of 10% are over. And that's, you know, what our first goal was. that expectation should not be there. It's not contractual and it's it's not necessary. So this year, as you will see, it is not 10% of our of our tax base. Um which I think is a step in the right direction without pulling the rug out from under them, right? Which I kind of felt like we were kind of teetering on last year. Um but we do have more of an idea of what their actual expenses are, what they're getting from the state, and also from the county. and uh and we can discuss, you know, all of that. So, the the information is is still not completely as much as I want, but we're we're we'll have it all before we vote, and I think that the council should be aware of every every bit of it before we do vote.

So, Mayor, I'll let you

Yeah, I'll just throw in some details. We we met with them on November 6th the first time and that's where they gave us kind of a general discussion and then we met with them on uh March 26 at which point they gave us a a um revenue and expenses sheet that I marked up over here. And then we asked them to renew that sheet uh which they did last week and gave us a new sheet and and and it shows that from the county they're getting $45,000. Okay. Uh from the town they'll get $243,000. We asked them to break down like where that money specifically went to and in in general they they kind of came through. We we know that uh roughly $156,000 of that is going toward loan payments to pay off equipment. So we kind of know where that's money money is going. And then we uh we have a breakdown of all their expenses uh similar to the police budget uh things that they have to pay for all the way through there. And of course they have a capital budget too that is extremely high just like we do. and they look for sources to go out there and and fund all of that. So, you know, they're they're always looking for money, too. They're they're never going to have enough. And, you know, uh that seems to be government's way. But, uh but having said that, uh I think we made a a good breakthrough this year. And and I know uh as the mayor, I'll just say they're happy with $243,000. I'm happy with $243,000 and I'm not going to go into another council meeting and have the council come in and say, "Gee, mayor, we changed our mind." So, so hopefully you guys are are good with that.

Yeah. And what I can say is, um, you know, if anyone has any questions about specifics, feel free to call me. Um, I mean, right now, they've got two and a half months remaining in their fiscal year budget. They've already used 90.6%. So, they're going to be over their fiscal year budget as well. Um, you know, they've got $1.295 million hitting their books. Um, for a new engine 12 and equipment expect to be delivered November of 2026. Um, firehouse upgrade, you know, volunteer and additional paid personnel live in bunk room additions, another 315,000. And and that's what we asked for. Don't give us 10 years down the road what you're looking at. I want to know this year, what are you looking at that's going to hit you? We we don't have the luxury even as a town to look 10 years. I mean, we're at a point now you're almost paycheck to paycheck. So, you tell me what your needs are now and we'll see how we can help. Don't give me 10 years down the road you're just trying to bankroll to get there. So, that's what this anticipated major expenses for fiscal year 26 and 27 are. Um, you know, and then and then we just keep keep moving from there. So, any questions, anything like that, feel free to reach out. And

yeah,

again, it it's, you know, it's it's it's a good way to remove that precedent of 10%. Um, obviously, as our tax rates, you know, move, that is not going to be expected to move. Um, I know the mayor likes this number. I was I was comfortable removing that precedent without creating havoc for them. Um, it's it's still a good number. I mean, it's a it's a good number. and you know, instead of pulling the rug out, I'm hoping as a council and maybe even with mayor and executive support, we start leaning on county commissioners um and team up with the fire department instead of against them and we go to the county commissioners and say, "Hey, you're not you're not funding the town of Mount Area enough because they're taking a major portion of your highway and that's one of their major expenses. That's not on our taxpayers. that's on you,

the state, you know, that's on the state, that's on Frederick County, because it's between non- area and new market, you know. Um, so I'd much rather get them on our side and also be on their side and we go in as a collective group and seek that funding. Just a quick comment and I I've had conversations with Commissioner Garren about this and he's he's very supportive of the fire company and I've been very supportive of the fire company and I if I'm I'm happy to hear that everyone's happy with the $243,000 that's matching I think what we gave last year or or plused up a little bit. Um it's I think it's dead on right there. I think it's exactly the same, right?

Exactly the same. And I mean I I think you know I think council president you explained it. I mean they have a lot of capital costs. They're getting new new engines, new equipment and those engines are quite costly. So um I'm happy with the number and I was hoping that it would be right around where it is. Actually, if you if you took 10% of the of our budget without the tax increase, it would take you up to about 258,000. So, we're pretty close. So, I I'm just all this by way of saying I totally support them. They're part of the fabric of the community. We need them. We should be supporting them. And I'm happy with the amount. So,

yeah. And I think I I might have even taken the wrong approach last year and asking them why do you need so much from us instead of asking you know Westminster for example they've got 140 97 you know these major major roadways well what's the county and the state giving Westminster compared to what the county and the state's giving Mount Ary so we were kind of going back and forth maybe with the wrong people um you know maybe we need to go to the state and say hey you got a major major issue on 70 on a weekly basis that's what it feels like and that's not up to our taxpayers to cover federal highway too. Correct. So, you know, I think maybe we kind of change who we're questioning and and we kind of team up and and get them funding from there to remove it

off of our taxpayers. Change narrative. Yeah. Yeah. As I said earlier, just to make sure that we can start working towards like a legal frame framework more so than this back and forth. Yeah. All right. Any more questions, concerns? And Sean, thank you for bringing that up. All right. So, I think just a thank you to the council president and the mayor to keep on it during the year this past year. So, thank you. All right, we'll go to page seven.

Um, just a quick question for Katie or maybe Barney. Um, are we up for the renewal for the trash contract yet or are we still in it? The current one? Still in the current. Okay. And they've been happy with it. Yes.

Okay. Thank you. down at um 5704 street lighting. Does that include any any of the additions I've been hearing about on Main Street lighting or is the staircase already been lit? I don't know. Are you talking about the new lights at the roundabout? No, I'm talking here on Main Street. So, you're talking on Main Street. Yeah. Is uh Graceful. Is that the one that Mamza did going? You're talking by the upper deck.

Mama did the portion on building that includes a thrift store and barber shop and a couple other small businesses and residential above that Ted York owns across the street and then the other buildings and suites. Yeah. That are held under the LLC. Is that what you're talking about? As for the portion of stairwell. That's 5050 between Is that in here or it already happened? That's already It's already in there. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And the street lighting, it's actually just the street lights. That's what that existing.

Yeah, the street lights all throughout town maintenance. Yeah. Well, it's more the it's the electricity cost. And we do and we have a contract or an agreement with PTOAC Edison where they come out like if a street light is out where something's broken or down then PTO Edison comes out and fixes it but we have but we essentially pay for the cost of the repair. And did you say that the electric bill is also on that line? It's not set it's not the like town electric bill or anything. Yeah. So the street lights that is for that's all inclusive. Yeah that's for the street lights for maintenance, electricity, everything.

Thank you. Are we good to go to the next one? Hey Jake,

ready for questions? Are you ready for questions? Page eight. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, I got a lot of lot of red marks on this page. Um, so here's a general question up on salaries and wages. Parks department. You talk about who's getting uh cost of living and steps and such and then we talk about adding summer interns and we probably add summer interns other places. Do we get special funding to fund our summer interns or is that just come out of our straight budget?

Um the only uh summer interns or interns in general that we've ever gotten special funding for is under Main Street. Um the MYIP grant covers an intern under that department. But as far as the interns under um general government and parks and even there might be one under streets and roads um those just come out of our normal salaries. Okay. So for example, this says public works summer intern. Yes. 40 hours per week for 12 weeks. And and don't get me wrong with my question. Um I love giving people opportunities to learn and grow and students and it's experience and that's great. But let me just ask what what are we getting out of this intern?

So Brian hires a summer intern to paint the fire hydrants around town. Okay. And how how much are we paying our interns? They make minimum wage. Okay. All right. Um, another question. Moving down to line 5305, park enhancements. Mulch for playground. This looks like a new line. Yes. $20,000. What uh how much mulch are we buying for that? And what's is that a want or a need? So Barney can answer that.

Definitely a need. And uh playground mulch is a lot more expensive than going to get bulk mulch for your for your landscaping. So, um I don't know what 20,000 Brian might have a better feel for what 20,000 or Nancy might have a good feel for what 20,000 will get you, but um we have a couple playgrounds that really have no mulch at all. Um it's been needing it and um so Okay. Oh, sorry. Is it some of the rubberized stuff or is it It's just a different kind of mulch. It's just different kind of mulch. Okay. Meant for playgrounds. All right. regular chip mulch.

Okay. I have more, but I can wait if if you're at the same place. Council member Mund. Oh, no. I was just going to say for your question, I think the only playground in the town that has a rubberized mulch is probably the new all all-incclusive. So, how many playgrounds do we have here in town roughly? I mean, seven, eight total at least. Probably. And they all require rejuvenation with mulch time to time.

Yeah. Even if it had mulch last year, it it it, you know, dissipates. It it's uh you definitely have to add mulch each year if if you don't have to replace the entire thing. And and u you have to have, you know, so many inches, not just like a couple inches of of mulch. You have to have enough cushion if a child falls off a piece of equipment. Has it has it been a few years it looks like since since we've done the mulch? Again, I think that's only enough to do a couple playgrounds. That's not like replacing everything. I just don't see entries for previous couple years at least. Looks like we're over might be overdue. Well, we might have had that on a different line item.

So, previously mulch was under the line item above under maintenance, and it was just kind of part of grounds upkeep and uh mulch, seed, trail maintenance, mowing, and stuff. Um, but this is something that Nancy and Drew are going to take over. Um, so that's why it moved to uh parks enhancements. But yes, it it is something that has needed to been done that's kind of been other things have taken place of that. Okay. Then I have some questions down on the uh recre recreation and culture if Okay. 58 5807. Yes. Okay.

So my observation is you know you're going from uh 7500 last year to 22,500 this year. That that's that's quite a jump. And so I look at this and I'll go through some of the items here. So, uh, movie nights. We're adding a couple more movie nights. Well, I like movie nights, but how many movie nights do we need? Um, we go down to

recreational programs, events, and promos. It used to be 3,000. Now it's up to 7,500. And there's a lot of things in here. For example, so help me understand um talk about Mount Scary Spooky Trail, trash cleanup days, and let's talk trash. So, that one in particular, why is that costing us money? Isn't Isn't that the Rotary Club event? I mean, what what is costing us money with that activity?

Well, we co-sponsored at the Rotary Club. We purchased the trophies. We purchased the trophies. So, how much does the trash cleanup days? Let's talk trash. How much is that component? Last year and some of the other

And then the art and culture line, it went from zero to 10,000. I get it. you move the $5,000 for the fireworks and the the 250 that was also included in the or the 250 money that was included in the current budget too. So we had 10,000 under general administrative and we moved both of those elements to the recreation. Okay. Culture. So it's just moved to a separate line item. Right. Yeah. But it's still a little it's it's a little high for me. That's all I'll say.

Yeah. You know, if I may, it's uh the we did plus that budget line up because it is a 250 year celebration. So, uh is this a line that Well, wait, that's going to come out of this year's fiscal year budget. the U um time capsule and yes, that'll come out of the current. Yeah, but we are uh going to need to put a plaque over the top of the time capsule and then all the uh special events uh that we're having for the 250 year in celebration. Um and Ashley, did we get any grant money for We have not as of yet. As of yet to every Yeah. Yeah. So, um, anyway,

anyway, I mean, I know it's, you know, it sounds like a little bit of money, but it all adds up. I mean, for example, you're going movie night, you're going from $500 to $1,500. Um, you could cut back that to back to $500 and then take that $1,000 and that would probably cover your 250 coin or that would cover your um time capsule or whatever. So, it's I still see extra money in there. And that's all I'll say. I'm not going to nitpick it at any

Well, on the movie nights and stuff, we do have to purchase the rights to the movie. And a good Disney movie will probably be a couple hundred for a movie movie night. And I'm sure Councilman Evans would be more than happy to take the hit on the $5,000 fireworks contribution. You want to see fireworks? Man, that so that movie night, the movie night fee is only for the licensing because the licensing is like Yeah, it's $500. So those that that 1500 is covering just the licensing to watch three movies.

Okay. I mean it's plused up this year. Next year it should be significantly lower. So with the 250 yeah once 250 um that celebration is over. So

uh just one thing I had obviously go last if you if you go up to 5304 for baseball field maintenance and upkeep. We did add a $6,000 budgetary item for um you know fields to help out the mayor, the 4 county, stuff like that. Um I just want to make sure that we're staying on schedule and that uh before that money spent we we consult with Maya and for county to see what field is going to need the most upkeep. Um, and that you know that money like we the the reason why I brought that in was because you know every couple years every field needs a good amount of dirt and then the other fields after they get it they can kind of upkeep with minor additions. I just want to make sure we're not putting this all on the same field every year and letting everything else just kind of kind of pander away. So I I definitely want to bring in the commissioners for May and for county and they let them the people that are on the boots on the ground every single day kind of say, you know, we might need it at Twin Ridge, we might need it at Watkins, we might need it at Summit, you know, who knows? And then and then kind of work with them to to utilize those those funds so that the kids are taken care of.

Thank you. Page nine. Ready for questions? Uh question. Uh go down to 5314 general administrative expenses. It's about halfway down. There's a line. It says community outreach needs assessment. That looks like a new line item. $1,200. What is this? So, that's not a new line item. That's um where your survey came out of back in 2020.

Okay. So, that's that's for the But what what are we doing in the next fiscal year that we need $1,200? We're not We're not doing another survey yet. Townwide survey. You're right. I guess I was thinking maybe that if we were going to do um a survey possibly on I'm not sure. So it can be it can be stried. Yeah, I think you must have missed that. Yeah, I I think it was missed, Steve. So that's a good catch. or or or if you don't want to, it's only $1,200.

Yeah. But if you want to park it under consulting fees because I'm a big believer that we we should be getting a little bit more diversity of thought and technical assistance within our competencies and we we almost got some consulting support uh I guess for one of the developments but we never moved ahead on it. So you can either take it out or you can put it somewhere else. here or you can put it towards something else in the budget. Whatever everybody wants to do with it. I'm okay with you putting it down in the consulting fees line because we we took out the 10,000 from that. Yeah, you did.

So, um so why don't we put it down there and um and take it away from 5314. Okay. And then if I Oh, keep going unless anybody else. Um, the next line is mileage and travel and it's fine. It's 975, but it's it's a big jump up. I wondered what's what prompted almost a doubling of that number.

So, John will be going to um the APA conference which he has. I think they moved to every other year. Um, so he didn't he won't that wasn't offered this year. So, he'll be going next year. So it's just more more conferences that he's going to next year than this year. Okay. So it's more in line with with what it was two years ago that that 816. Okay. And then um go down to the line signage and we have $1,000 there. Is this for like posting reszoning signage and such like that? Correct. Okay.

Yeah. anytime we have to post any sort of public notices for anything related to planning and zoning, it comes out of the signage.

Okay, real quick comment. I I would encourage you to just look at your signage and maybe think about improving your signage because I see signs around in Frederick County and they have these nice red has a big red stripe on it and it says reszoning on it. I mean, it's very clear what the sign means and why. So, it's just a side comment is let's think about how we can make our signage more effective so people understand what what might be happening to to properties. Um, next comment. Tools, supplies, planning and zoning. Um, oh no, no, no, no. Plotter for planning and zoning. $593 a month plus extra. And it looked like last year it was similar budget. Is this something we rent or how much how much would a plotter cost a fortune? Like is does it make sense to be renting this every year or

so? It's similar to like our big copers when anything breaks they come out and like they fix it for free. They don't charge us. Um some things are included but like I think specialty like inks and papers are not included but like our normal everyday paper or something. Yeah. I think again the the toner and plotter ink and papers are all included. If you buy any kind of special um paper for like we can print banners in house now if necessary for events. Okay. Instead of going out to do do that. So we have those supplies and again it's it's just like the copers for the police. Okay. Yeah. Something we use and for town hall and for engineering uses it as well. Just our department.

Okay. Then down to line 5416 advertising. Um that's $4,000. That seems a little high. I mean I understand last year was a master plan year and such. So what what does this get us? What's the 4,000 for? That's anytime anytime we have any public hearings um if it's not reimbursed by an applicant for a specific uh advertising, if we're advertising for public hearings, etc. Um, okay. Thank you.

One quick question just for my knowledge. Traffic studies for example with the let's just say annexation or anything like that state covers that cost. I'm assuming that's why ours is zero. Yeah, that'll be paid by the developer as well.

Okay. number 10. I think I do have some questions, but let me just I think it was just more notes on me. Uh just maybe a quick question on line item 5210 under events. We mentioned that we're getting we've applied for an $85,000 tourism grant. We'll only spend it if the $85,000 grant is received. Do we know where we stand in that?

Okay. Thank you, Ashley. Other one is moved. Moved. Uh, no, I'm good. I think it was just more mental notes.

Sure. Um, first line. So, the first thing I do when I go through these is where are the big jumps? So, that's a that's a 30% jump in salaries and wages. Okay. So, what is that? So, we talk about salaries and wages in close session. Yeah. So, that'll be that detail come out later. Yeah. Thank you. And obviously you see a from 2550 to 90,000. That's for an $85,000 grant that we spent. That's right below that under events. So we're not actually budgeting 90,000. Yeah. Yeah. It's Graham. No, I I was on a different line. Oh, no, no, I know. But I was just That was the other big jump that I saw. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. I have a couple more questions. Sure.

So, um, go down to U 5212 about the middle of the page. Downtown streetscape improvements, enhancements. We're going from 2,000 up to 7,000. And it says trash cans, planters, hardscape, rain gardens. I mean, what is this a want or a need? What What do we really need here versus want? What's happening here? So that is a lot of time as well as well as I'm sure

well what what It's a big jump. I was just wondering what what's what is contributing to the largest what's the largest project that's attributable to the high to the jump to $7,000. We adding all new planters or we it says rain gardens with Carl let her answer. All the above.

I see wayfinding up there. signage is one of the main street. You'll notice people get lost area. Okay. So, if I went to the EDC or if I went to MAMZA, would they support these projects? Have you coordinated?

Okay. Okay. Very good. It's an overall beautifification kind of upgrade that we're trying to do to our main street area. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. How much? Oh, is it the Okay. All right. Thank you. And I Ashley just reminded me I did forget the grant does cover this type.

Okay. Okay, thank you. I'm ready to go to my next question, which is the downtown safety assurance initiative. I'm a little disappointed. I see last year and I remember sitting at this table a year ago and we got $3,000 in as seed money. Was anything ever done? It doesn't look like anything's ever been done. And now we're bumping it up to 4500. And my question is, it says cameras for downtown. So, let's help me understand what we're doing here. Because on the next pages, you've got you got $7,500 for a camera outside town hall. You're proposing $7,500 for a camera at the Flat Iron Building. And now we have the safety init assurance initiative. And I thought this was going to be maybe this is to provide funding to help businesses um purchase cameras or whatever. And I thought one of the objectives last year, we said we want the town to do some sort of a study because we want to make sure all the cameras will work together off the same software and it would all be blessed by MAPD so that we'd have one seamless kind of surveillance system that the MAPD could utilize for their purposes. So, let's help me understand what this $4,500 is going to buy us and how that relates to the $15,000 for these other cameras outside this building and the Flat Iron Building. Has people thought about how well this works?

Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to jump in first. Okay. appreciate you asking the question, but I I I would tell you your disappointment is unwarranted because uh Jared's been working on this and the chief has been involved and we've had a consulting company involved. I'll let Jared give you all the details. Okay. But uh but we we've been working toward putting the cameras up and getting everything done. So your your disappointment is is not warranted. Okay. Can I just real quick jump in? uh when we're talking security, safety, cameras, etc. Will this be a better conversation offline? Um

we don't have to get into details. I guess I suppose we don't have to get into details since it is security related, but I I can say this is o an overall um an overall safety project that we are trying to incorporate here in town to make sure that we have um and you'll see cameras in different sections of the budget because they're going to be used for different,

you know, one's downtown, one is internal security, wastewater treatment plant, things like that. Um, but it is an overall safety project that we're that we're trying to uh um accomplish that will do exactly what you're saying to where it will be one program that the police department can have access to and and certain admin will have access to um as far as far as overall town safety as well as specific to this um for town event safety, which is a which is a big thing for me um especially on our main street and and downtown area. Well, I'm happy to hear it's moving forward. But I just want to make sure all these cameras in the budget are all so they are being worked together.

Yeah, they'll all be one system, but especially when something's over 5,000, it has to be it's a it becomes a fixed asset and it has to be tied to where it's at. So if we're putting a building outside of town hall, then that's a town hall fixed asset. So that's why it has to be budgeted under town hall. Okay, if it's outside the train station, it needs to be there. So that's why it's it does seem like that we're doing separate things, but it is going to be all one system. They just have to be tied to the building where they're going to be. And and I I'll I'll even say even if we're doing this in different phases to where some of these may have to happen in FY28, they're still all going to be incorporated into one system. Okay? If you need a liaison for that, let me know. I'm interested in it.

I was interested last year. All right. Last quick question under sustainability. Uh that's a big bump up. Um, and a big a big purchase there is uh 48.80 for a compost program. So, help me understand what is this compost program? So, Drew wants to start a compost program at the community garden. Okay. Um, and I did have I apologize. I don't So, Ashley, are we pursuing a grant for that as well? I feel like we are. Oh, not for the compass. Okay.

He did send me his plan and I apologize. I thought I printed it out, but I don't have it at my fingertips. That's That's okay. But he I mean, he did do a nice plan on what he plans on doing. Okay. And so, Council President, we're going to talk about salaries and staffing and stuff at a different session. That's actually it'll it'll it's tonight, but it's closed. Yeah, it's closed. Very good. I

I I am a participant at the community garden and I see the staff up there and I I I I think all of our staff do a good job, but I have to say I I think uh Drew is a good hardworking employee and he's doing a good job up there. So, just wanted to make that note. Thank you. Are we good on 10? So all looks pretty. Any questions? Yeah, it just seems to be more summary and

from everything. Yeah, general expenses. I'll I'll try and be general about this. the the health insurance line uh it's a almost a 16% increase. Is that tied directly to the wage increase on the previous or are we enhancing healthcare coverage or No, it's our normal healthcare coverage that we've had for many many years. Unfortunately, Care First is just raising their prices. We didn't do anything extra. Okay. Yeah. No changes. Not surprising. Just Yeah, that's a jump. So

it yes it was quite a shock when we when we had our annual meeting and we do shop that through a broker like that was my next question every year. Yeah. I shouldn't have assumed but I assumed. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So this kind of stops move. Um, so something new this year, well in the current year because of the uh budget amendment that we just passed, but um you'll see the transfer to the police station capital project fund. Um so as you can see that's the full amount of the um tax increase tax increase from the 3%. Yeah, 3%. Y

and then we actually have a little bit of a positive so I can update our transfer to capital. I think I do have a question regarding some operating expenses or educational but I think it's under might be under the water and so if it comes back to if I remember to bring it up at that time I will move to the capital take like a two-minut break.

Yeah. So before we get so page 12 is just a summary sheet of everything then. Okay. Let's take like a three minute break, stretch our legs, and then uh we'll come back to page one on the capital. Load up on pizza.

Got some downstairs. I think Holly might have some, too. Oh, I have some. Do you need it? What do you got? Uh, I have generic Pepsid. Oh, no. I was like, look, like a chewable something. You know, I always have it. I'm always prepared. Like, they're like toss or whatever. Those make me throw up. Look like a piece of candy. Yeah, I have those. What I have is pretty quick cuz um Oh, I guess I'll get it.

Oh, okay. If you if you don't mind. Well, yeah, we can't start without you. Take your time. Can you take it off or no? You can take it. You can take it off.

How you doing? My pain's increasing. It's going down my left arm now. Sitting here for some reason. This is getting worse. That's why I went down the

Y It's an over It's an overnight

one night overnight. It's like 23 hours probably around midnight, right? So basically I'll be starving. Hopefully it's not really surgery, but that's the way it's going to go.

How's everything else? Oh, sure. It's a It's a change. I know. Of your old routine. Completely different.

Just when you thought we were ready to move on to Connecticut or New Hampshire, New York. Can you do how many time What is he?

Yes. He's trying to turn.

You let me go right past the park. feeling more painful unless it's not in

10 protein. So 40 of that I'll be up to. It's about what? Probably a gram of protein per pound. That's what you want. Yeah. You like a one minute. One minute.

Oh, you're welcome. Yeah. I can't eat any sort of like pizza or spaghetti or anything without taking or I wake up in the middle of the night with horrible indigestion. Yeah, it kills me. Oh, good.

There's rules and regulations. All right.

Make me nervous. When Sean gets back, we'll go ahead and get started again. Newbie,

come on, Rookie. Sit down.

All right, John, you want to go ahead and record again? Yep, we're good. Okay. Oh, just kidding, Sean. All right. Um, real quick, I know Katie, we got to bounce back real quick. Yes. Okay. So, I apologize. I There was addition um that was requested that I forgot to mention. So, under parks, which is page eight, under dues and meetings, which is 51 park. So, page eight. Okay.

Um, it's park. This is parks and recreation. Um, under memberships, memberships, dues, and meetings. Um, we want to add, and I need to update this note, but we want to add $1,200 so that um, Nancy can attend the Maryland Recreation and Parks Association conference next year, you guys. Okay. So, does that line become 2300? Yes. Okay. Who attends that again?

NFPA conference. So the NRPA, so I did update it. So the NR NRPA stands for National Recreation Parks Association. Um, uh, we want to send her to the Maryland Recreation Parks Association conference. So I just updated the subcategory to incorporate both. Now, we are a member of both of those, the national and the Maryland. Okay. So, we'll just update that. H we'll just update that.

Is it okay to add Okay. So now I just have to adjust our our transfer to capital and then we can move on to capital. All right.

All right. So now we should be at page one general fund capital budget. So these are all of our revenues for capital projects for general fund capital projects. questions. I mean, I there is the I don't know if we want to talk about it on this line or the um wherever it shows up again, but the $500,000 Center Street grant.

Okay. So, we took that out of the current budget because So, the Center Street um grant expired um or would expire in um June 1st of 2027. Um but we I think uh applied to have that changed to use it for rails to trails um to cross 27. So we took it out of 27's budget because um we don't have an answer yet. But if they do approve that, then we would then have until June 1st of 20 June 1st, 2029 to expend those funds. We just requested a reallocation of those funds basically. Yeah.

So, we're not extending Center Street the next year. Is that what we're saying? Next year. All right. We'll go to page two. I think I just have a general question on line item 4525. Um, want to say the DNR program open space grant? It looks like the grant for Watkins. What is it pending or awarded yet? So, the one for Watkins is awarded. Okay.

Um, the one for East West Park is still pending. We haven't gotten um it's gotten through uh like the first round of approvals. We're just waiting for Board of Public Works. And are those matching in any way or that's just a straight grant? Yes, those are matching grants. They are matching. Yes. And uh when we get to the expenses for those specific things, it include um in the note it does have how much the match is. I think it's a 10 it's a 10% match.

Hey Katie, just a so I don't have to bring it up. Just a general question maybe if you would like under the comments when there's a matching grant or something. Can you put like I want to say like the the percentage of the match to it like I'm just pulling this out like say 2924 for east west if there's a match. It's 10 it's a 10% matching of town funds or something just so we know Yeah. what the match is. So, we're not saying, "Oh, it the 29,000's the match." No, it's not 10% of that. Thank you.

Those are also included in the uh like I have the numbers in the um Oh, okay. Oh, no. I'm good. I mean, as long as as long as the final document has something saying what the match is, I'm fine with it. Well, it's going to be in the expenses. Yeah. So, if you don't see in the expenses portion, then ask the question. Okay. Right now, you're a little early on that. Yeah. I'm just asking for the general for everything for the final document so I'm not keep bringing it up and up over and over again.

Um, real quick, and I'm sorry, this goes back to page one. Um, the permit fees, we talked about raising permit fees last year, and I don't know if we ever did because they have never been ra they're still like super super low. We did raise permit fees in um 2023. Okay. Are you talking the impact fees? Impact or No, the permit fees like when someone comes to get a permit to build Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I apologize. I was thinking impact fees because the permit fees that you're talking about are on the operating side, not capital. So, all the fees, permit fees you see in uh these revenues are all from impact fees. Okay. I apologize.

So, I apologize. That was my confusion. Um, I don't have an answer for that. Okay. Yeah, I think we were going to be looking at uh other local jurisdictions to find out what they're charging right now. I know Carol County went through that process of increasing a lot of the fees. We just haven't gotten to it yet. Okay. In house, but we can try to work on that this year.

Go to page three. I think I just have general questions regarding 5965 which is a capital improvements department of public works. uh saw that the new roofs it was indicated we reduced it the money was 671 reduced it to 50 to re-evaluate roofing needs and passion if necessary I guess I want to say that's not going to put us behind schedule or create potential dangers at the public work buildings and something if the if the roof is worse off and we miss it or something we since we cut the re-roofing budget does that make sense to you what asking

it does and it's something we talked about as well and Barney could probably answer it more technically than me but um we do feel like um that was a whole roof replacement on on all three buildings I believe it was right and maybe it's a question for Brian but going back to my memory all all the buildings yeah um so what we're doing is basically it is more of a patch job this year but um due to the amount um of capital requests we had to come down on some things yeah I mean No roof is at or past the expected end of life when it goes.

No. And we're even looking into potentially, and Barney, again, please correct me if I'm wrong because we talked about quite a lot of things. Uh there may be some potential uh some of the roofing material may be still under warranty. Did we talk about that? Yeah, I think of the newer buildings. Yeah, they should be under warranty. Yeah. So, there's just a couple reasons why we did it this way, but but um it was discuss Good question and it was discussed.

Yeah. Just yeah, I just want to make sure we're not creating hazards for the employees and any chemicals stored at any of the public works buildings due to leaks or anything. Thank you. Related, I was just going to ask where the $50,000 estimate came from. Has there been there been estimates? Because it just seems I think along lines of what Councilman M was saying, it seems just it seems low. It's just an allowance uh to do some patchwork

and and I think didn't we go we went off of a we went off of a patchwork job that we had recently. Correct. I believe and again I'm going back to conversations we had a couple weeks ago, but I don't think we pulled that number out of thin air is my point. We didn't and I don't remember the project, but yeah, I know we looked at it. Yes. Okay. I didn't mean to suggest that, but No, no, no. I just wanted to let you guys know. I know you're not suggesting it, but it is it is something we did think about and we we were going off of previous uh patch jobs. Thank you. And you'll see the same thing in at the waste treatment plant. Am I right? On the water side.

Uh question on the uh flat iron building 5920 5921. Oh, okay. So, in the description, it talks about where all the funding's coming from, and it says 100K town funds for MHAA. Is this is this new is this a new $100,000 that we're putting in the pot for this fiscal year or was this money that we So, the MHAA grant was um So, we didn't get it from last year. We we applied for it last year. We did not receive it. Okay. So this is a second

this is a second goound. Um and we had to put in a 100 we had to um one to one match. Yeah, it's a one to one match. So we did have to show that we were putting 100,000 in there in order to apply for it. Okay. So that is new money. $100,000 we're putting towards the flat iron building. Correct.

Okay. Um, you got line 5920 that says phase one site improvements, traffic flow in the flat iron building vicinity and there's no real description there. And then you got the next line which is phase two building improvements to property land. And my question is does do these improvements improve pedestrian safety in any way? So, the phase one site improvements are actually the ones that have already been completed where they made um Park Avenue just a oneway instead of two-way traffic and all the changes that they made up there. So, that was the phase one.

Okay. Is phase two going to do anything about the sidewalk walkability in front of the flat iron building?

So, it it in a in a sense it um no it does not. Um, but the idea is that eventually there will be an elevator so somebody can and there will be a door on the south side of the building that you can enter, get into the elevator, go up and be able to come down um on Park Avenue. So that is one way of getting around the building. Uh, but remember the site was all taken away from the project other than putting in a handicap space. Um, some minimal site improvements, but the idea was concentrate on the building. so we can actually have something affordable that grant-wise, you know, we can make it happen. Um, and then addressing the narrow sidewalk along the building that that and uh plazas, anything else that we do u that would be another phase. But but even phase two is getting broken down into multiple parts again just to try to make it happen.

Okay, that's all I have to say. Thank you. Real quick on the 100,000 for the one to one. Last year we had it in there in case we got the grant. We did not. Right. That money was not spent. Correct. And that'll So it's not new. I think the term new money is kind of misleading. It's it's not going to be spent unless we get the Right. Understand. Okay. I was going to say the um same and also remember the historical society, the American Legion um both put money toward this project too. and and I think we were up to 30 is it 33,000 32773 yeah 327

so uh so you know there's organizations that are invested in so the 800,000 LBI oh that's in the current budget and then I had comments about the cameras and we already talked about that and that's where these other cameras are showing going up here. So, that's that's all good. Okay. Thank you. Real quick, related to the pedestrian safety, is there anything in phase two or beyond about the um the street, the width of the street at the flat iron bottleneck? Is that in scope in any of these phases to be readressed or?

Nope. Again, um because we were looking at a four or five million project, we were trying to bring it down. So, the idea was to concentrate on the building first and then address the site improvements later, but um the building would include again some pedestrian improvement by being able to use the elevator, but it doesn't improve the street itself as far as the narrowness of the lane. We could look at a couple parking spots. Well, again, this isn't the place, but you know, my my concern is we're I appreciate we're fixing up the building. We're not addressing the underlying safety issues. They're just not getting addressed. So,

any more questions budget-wise on page three?

All right. Page four. All right, I'll bring it up. the emergency alert siren under 5961. First, I'll started saying I'm supported the vote with support, but we were had questions concerning the cost and stuff during that discussion. So, that's what I'm why I'm bringing it up. Um, where are we standing with the um the grant funding for it? Because it looks like received the 10,000 donation from the sheriff's office. If I can read this properly, like two grand from the disaster relief. Are we looking for a certain percentage of donations prior to or grants prior to installing these sirens or are we still going to be looking for I want to say back back filling costs if we have to expend like 100,000 or something or and how far along are we with

the cost right now uh Barney and Julianne are working on the RFP to uh to put that out and they had their in their last meeting with the task force, they started discussing that. I'm not sure what Barney's timeline is right now on on getting that RFP out. Uh but the RFP will go out and uh uh the sheriff said he could come up with a lot of money for us. He came up with 10,000. Okay.

All right. And uh and then we got 2,000 coming from disaster relief. I I intend to move forward with the project. It'll come before the council and you guys will be able to vote on it because it's going to be more money than I can improve. Uh but we're going to put in the budget and do we have any pending grants? Okay.

Yeah. and the task force has done an excellent job and graceful and Julianne and I went out to the Frederick County. They seem a little more squared away with operating storm sirens and everything. So, uh so we would end up um you know trying to tie into their system, but there's there's questions out there that still need to be answered and we'll get them through the RFP and you know once that comes back we'll we'll figure out where to go from there. But, you know, the council is going to be involved. If if we need to expend it out of out of the town's coffers, then um you know, you're going to have a chance to question it at that point.

Oh, yeah. No, I just want to make sure that even if we did have to expend some money out of the town coffers, we would still be searching for ways to backfill it. And it sounds like we kind of are. We absolutely are. Yeah. And that's what I was trying to find out or or ask more more so to get as much re reimbursement as we can for it. Absolutely.

So I have two a question and a comment. So I do know the the res the resolution that we pass we all passed we set a target of we wanted to try and get at least at least 50% of outside funding. So we need to work towards that. And and here's my question, and you can answer it offline, but I think there are there are a lot of private businesses in Mount Ary that might be willing to help co-und this project, but we need like I I need some sort of a script or I need to know what to be able, you know, what's proper to say and not say if I approach private businesses and say, "Hey, would you be interested in helping to co-und this?" So, if you can help provide that provide that template,

put that for your elevator. Exactly. I just want to make sure if I approach businesses, I'm I'm not saying anything I shouldn't say. I'm saying it in the right way. But I don't think we've done a lot of outreach to to get private sector donations. And I think we really need to move move on that part of it. is to know the closest.

Okay. But again, just just help with this the script that I can use or any of us can use to approach a private business. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah, you're on track. And uh I I think u you know just like with with any nonprofit who's having a fundraiser or something you you know we we don't have enough information until the RFP is is on the street and uh and maybe even until the RFP you know until we start getting bids back and and at that point we know exactly what it's going to cost. it may be maybe 110,000 uh you know uh but you know we can we can send that out and you know as you're suggesting and and seek donations at that point. So

I was going to have a similar question and I guess it's more of a question. Um I was surprised to see the what we think is the entire amount in the budget, right? Okay. I know there's $12,000 there of of donations, but is it usual to have that entire amount there rather than maybe the 50% that

Yes, we So, we have to budget for the full amount the full cost because if it's 100,000, but we only budget 50, then it looks like we went over budget. So we if we get 50% of the um funds for it then we would actually do a budget amendment to add it to the revenue because on the you also don't want to have such an overage on the revenue because then it looks like you haven't budgeted enough. So yes, whenever even with grant funding, that's why um you still see the full amount of Yeah. Even if it's not town funds that are funding it, they still have to have the full expense amount.

Thank you. Are we good to move to page five? just uh I guess let