[0:08] Convene this September 7th Town, town

[0:10] of Centerville Town Council meeting.

[0:12] We'll start with the Pledge of

[0:14] Allegiance and a moment

[0:15] of silence. Pledge of Allegiance.

[0:19] Allegiance to the flag of the United States, states

[0:22] of America, and to the Republic which stands,

[0:26] one Nation under God, indivisible, who Liberty, justice for.

[0:37] Thank you.

[0:43] Excuse is agenda review.

[0:45] Anybody have any issues with the agenda? Sandy?

[0:51] All right. Next is review of the meeting.

[0:54] Meeting minutes of past meetings

[0:57] for September 3rd, 2026.

[1:00] Anybody have any corrections on the meeting minutes from

[1:04] September 3rd?

[1:05] I thought they were very detailed and made a lot of sense

[1:08] and right on target,

[1:10] so I appreciate Yes, the excellent job.

[1:13] The quality of the execution of Becky. That

[1:15] Was your first time, right?

[1:17] Second this second. Jack. Thank you.

[1:19] Need a motion to approve the meeting minutes

[1:21] from September 3rd, 2026?

[1:22] Fred, who has to be ping pong all night?

[1:24] I'll make a motion to approve. You got to sign.

[1:26] Can you do it? Oh, can you hear us? Yes, you can hear

[1:28] Us.

[1:29] You always make the motion.

[1:31] Okay. You got, you got it. Fred wanted to help.

[1:34] Oh, go ahead. Nick need a motion.

[1:36] I, I'll be pleased to make the motion to approve

[1:39] and to move forward.

[1:42] I'll be pleased to make the second. All right.

[1:45] All in favor? Aye. Aye.

[1:48] Aye. Alright. Next is the citizen form since are

[1:52] requested to keep their comments to three minutes.

[1:55] Anybody signed up? Anybody?

[1:58] I don't think so. Really the

[2:01] Silent majority has spoken.

[2:03] Next is new business, the FY 20 20 26 end

[2:07] of year update and call Karen Lman, finance officer.

[2:16] Hi guys. Good evening. Good evening.

[2:19] I did give you a little handout tonight

[2:22] and it's just part of the, when we get to it, I'll,

[2:24] I'll kind of read it out to you.

[2:26] So I'm here tonight to give you an end of year update

[2:28] for the FY 2026 budget.

[2:31] As of June 30th, we completed the budget

[2:34] and in this timeframe, department should be at

[2:36] or around a hundred percent spent.

[2:39] On the general fund revenue side, we've taken in 106%

[2:43] of the expected budgeted revenue.

[2:46] The variables there were,

[2:47] the public utility tax came in a little higher based on the

[2:50] assessed value coming in higher after the budget closed.

[2:53] Local income tax,

[2:55] I was very conservative on the estimate this year.

[2:57] So we actually took in 223,000 more than budgeted.

[3:02] And the HUR,

[3:03] which is the highway user revenue was

[3:05] higher than anticipated.

[3:06] We brought in about 44,000 more.

[3:08] So that's why we're over the a hundred percent mark there

[3:12] On the general fund expense side,

[3:14] all accounts in the general fund,

[3:16] all departments are at a hundred percent

[3:18] or below except planning and zoning.

[3:21] This was at 105% spent,

[3:24] which was actually only about two grand over budget.

[3:28] And that was just based on legal fees coming in

[3:30] higher than anticipated.

[3:31] And I talked to Fred a little bit, basically where

[3:34] that came in, I think with Pete coming in, he's, you know,

[3:38] cleaning up the code and the charter

[3:39] and so that just caused a little more review

[3:42] on the attorney's end.

[3:43] And that's where the overage came from there.

[3:45] 2000, you say over budget?

[3:47] Yep. It's about 20. I have it in front of me.

[3:50] What was the original budget amount for legal?

[3:53] So the original budget amount

[3:55] for legal was 28,000

[3:59] and we spent 20,000, but as a whole, the entire department.

[4:03] So there was underages and other pieces of that department.

[4:06] So as a, as a whole we were only over $2,236.

[4:12] Okay. Any questions

[4:16] on the general fund side? Okay. Just to

[4:20] Help use the discussion

[4:21] before, this isn't somebody suing us,

[4:23] we just encourage some more legal costs

[4:25] and a normal process of what we're

[4:27] Doing.

[4:28] Absolutely. Okay. And so it just depends year to year

[4:29] what we have going on in the, in that department.

[4:32] But, you know, cleaning up the code this year,

[4:34] I think Peter's written a lot of policies

[4:37] and getting things more into the future.

[4:38] Everything we have was so old or just non-existent. So,

[4:43] And when there are projects associated with Sharon's time,

[4:46] those are bill backed to the, to the applicants.

[4:51] So the majority I believe

[4:53] of this was the town using Sharon Services.

[4:55] Yeah. You know, to through the process.

[4:59] Alright. On the enterprise fund,

[5:01] the revenues were at a hundred per 110% above.

[5:05] This includes all four billings for the water

[5:07] and sewer variables that that can affect this revenue

[5:11] or the timing of the billings.

[5:14] Any water and sewer allocation and interest rates.

[5:16] I will tell you the full overage was

[5:18] because we came in at 204,000 above budgeted

[5:21] for our interest earned.

[5:23] Carolyn and I were really conservative

[5:25] 'cause we don't wanna,

[5:27] the interest isn't always gonna be there in the budget right

[5:30] now we're earning such great rates at the ICS.

[5:33] So that's why we came in much higher.

[5:35] We're above, we're at three and a half percent

[5:37] and the feds actually just raised rates a quarter percent.

[5:40] So our ICS rates should be going up in the next day or two.

[5:44] Excellent. On the expense side, all departments were at

[5:48] or below a hundred percent spent, except

[5:51] for the sewer department.

[5:52] They were actually at 148%, which amounted to

[5:57] approximately 547,985 over budget.

[6:01] And so Kip isn't here tonight,

[6:04] but he had a, that's what you'll see this handout for.

[6:06] So I'm just gonna read it to you.

[6:08] It kind of explains the overage,

[6:10] the sewer department exceeded the budget primarily due

[6:13] to engineering and professional services associated

[6:16] with the wastewater treatment plant.

[6:18] A total of 888,408 in invoices for Whitman rec cart

[6:23] came in for preliminary engineering report, outfall testing

[6:27] and design services.

[6:29] These have caused the department

[6:30] to exceed its budgeted amount for contract services.

[6:32] They are project related costs that we anticipate submitting

[6:36] to MDE for reimbursement.

[6:38] So as part of the process

[6:39] and the bay restoration funding funding we will receive

[6:42] for the plant, these can be reimbursed at that time.

[6:45] Okay. So tho that and some small sewer emergency

[6:49] and unanticipated repairs

[6:51] or the reason for the overage there,

[6:53] I was wondering how much the tree root

[6:56] know issue contributed to that overage.

[6:59] Do you know what that was?

[7:01] The down at dunk down by the police state.

[7:04] I think that's in this fiscal year, not the last fiscal

[7:06] Year in FY 27. So that

[7:08] Wasn't, that overage didn't even include

[7:11] No.

[7:12] Any of this? No. Any, yeah, for the

[7:12] Current, so this was 888,000.

[7:15] Yep. Now the overage itself was only 547,000

[7:18] for the overall budget for the sewer department.

[7:21] But the big piece of that was for the design

[7:24] and the PER, which again

[7:27] can be reimbursed once we get all the processing

[7:30] and design done for the wastewater treatment plant.

[7:33] The full amount, right? Huh?

[7:35] The full amount can be reimbursed? Yes.

[7:36] Especially for the design. The PER? Yes.

[7:39] Are we anticipating between now

[7:41] and December 31st anymore overages that we're not expecting?

[7:45] At this moment they're at 80%. The design, Jackie

[7:50] 60.

[7:51] 60%. So there, there will be some more invoices

[7:55] that will come in throughout the current fiscal year.

[7:58] Just depends on how the overall, you know, that that on top

[8:01] of any sewer issues

[8:02] that happen could put 27 at risk of being over.

[8:05] But KIPP and I try to monitor monthly just

[8:08] to kind of see where we're at.

[8:11] Yeah. And that the, the 90% design is due by the end

[8:14] of November and sent to MDEI think there's a,

[8:17] there's a December deadline to MDE to submit that.

[8:20] So by the end of the year there'll be done

[8:22] the design portion.

[8:25] And then once we're able to get past that

[8:28] and start, once we get like the permits

[8:29] and such, we can start applying

[8:31] and, well, we've already been approved

[8:32] for bay restoration funding,

[8:33] but these things can fall under that

[8:36] umbrella when we start requesting reimbursement.

[8:39] So when we look at the overage from

[8:43] where we just talked about the rest of the town budget

[8:47] through the year, are we plus

[8:49] minus, I I may have missed that

[8:51] For the FY 26 the previous year were, we're minus 5 47.

[8:56] So the, that's why we're doing the budget amendment

[8:58] for the 547,000.

[9:00] Alright, thanks.

[9:05] All right.

[9:07] Yes. Yep.

[9:09] So I have a question. So Karen,

[9:13] so these are actual costs related to design

[9:16] that you're capitalizing, correct?

[9:18] Yes. So it's just for, this is a little more

[9:22] of a nuance in detail.

[9:24] Yes. But I'm, I'm thinking about how the argument financials

[9:27] that will be presented in the near future.

[9:31] So these will capitalize on our balance sheet

[9:34] and won't be an operating expense

[9:36] because they're part of the cost of the plant.

[9:40] So, which is important as relates to market.

[9:42] Sharon and I already know financial matrix

[9:44] that I think is important for the future.

[9:46] So, so I think that's important to clarify.

[9:49] It's still matters as far as the total cost.

[9:52] It'll be reimbursed for capital,

[9:54] but it's not an operating expense

[9:57] for the, for the plan.

[10:00] So does that make sense to everyone?

[10:05] Yes. So that's a, that's an important point

[10:07] because it won't be shown as a operating loss

[10:12] for the enterprise fund in the audit financials.

[10:15] Is that correct? Catering? Yes,

[10:16] That's Correct.

[10:17] It's still capitalized. Yep.

[10:19] So it's just important to kind of,

[10:21] when you get those statements,

[10:22] 'cause that's, that's what I'd like to see to understand

[10:25] what that operating overage

[10:27] or cer, whatever it is, as it relates to operational costs,

[10:32] which is tied into the presentation

[10:34] that we gave associated the rates that we just changed.

[10:39] So it all ties together.

[10:40] So I just wanted to clarify that to Max V. Yep.

[10:45] Okay, great. Thank

[10:47] You.

[10:48] And so we're working on the audit now.

[10:49] We hope to have this published statements in the next 30

[10:53] and October 31st is when it's due to the state.

[10:59] All right. Just a couple notes.

[11:00] The pension expense for the entire year, I kind

[11:02] of just remind everybody when you see that

[11:05] you don't see it in the budget,

[11:06] but they're only paid once a year

[11:08] debt payments in the enterprise fund.

[11:11] You'll only see interest payments until we make the,

[11:14] the bigger payments, which is April, may.

[11:16] And that's, you know, the,

[11:17] the million dollars that'll come out then.

[11:20] And just a reminder, our APA funds have been obligated as

[11:24] of December of 2024.

[11:26] And we're in the process of making sure they're expended

[11:28] by December of 2026 so that we don't have

[11:31] to return any funds to treasury.

[11:35] So in the budget amendment, what we'll be asking

[11:38] for tonight, and this just balances the budget, is

[11:40] to do a budget amendment for the planning

[11:44] and zoning department and the amount of $2,236

[11:48] and a sewer department for 547,985.

[11:55] So these amendments don't represent any new expenditures,

[11:58] they just provide the necessary budgetary authorization

[12:00] to bring the budget into alignment

[12:02] with the actual expenditures incurred prior

[12:04] to the close of the fiscal year.

[12:08] And that's all I have unless you have any questions.

[12:11] I No more thanks.

[12:14] I think the arpa, the ARPA money we

[12:16] do have, we spent that, right?

[12:17] We have. We, Yeah, we're working on

[12:19] It right now.

[12:20] We're working on it that we'll actually talk about more at

[12:22] the next meeting about the ARPA funds. Okay.

[12:25] Alright. Thank you. Thank you.

[12:29] Next under new business is Ordinance 10 dash 2026 FY

[12:34] 26 Budget Amendment.

[12:36] This is to do what Karen wants to do

[12:39] and it's for an ordinance for the purpose

[12:41] of amending the town of Centerville fiscal 20

[12:45] fiscal year 2026 budget

[12:47] and all things related generally there too.

[12:50] And that's our first reason. Correct.

[12:52] There'll be a public hearing at the next

[12:54] meeting. October 1st.

[12:55] October 1st, yep. October 1st, public hearing.

[13:07] Next is resolution 15 dash 2026 renaming

[13:12] of the Wharf Wharf Park.

[13:13] And I'm gonna pass this on to town manager Carolyn Brinkley,

[13:17] to go into detail.

[13:19] So we, the Park Advisory Board

[13:24] made a recommendation to rename the Centerville work park

[13:29] after Mike Whitehill, who has been an integral part

[13:33] of Centerville as a whole.

[13:35] Not only just the town of Centerville,

[13:36] but Queen Anne County.

[13:39] He is. And we did a resolution to that

[13:42] and I was just gonna read it over it really quickly.

[13:46] Whereas the Centerville Wharf is an important historic,

[13:48] civic, recreational,

[13:49] and waterfront resource of the town of Centerville.

[13:51] And whereas the Town Council desires

[13:54] to preserve the historic identity of the Centerville Wharf,

[13:56] while also recognizing individuals whose service

[13:59] and contributions have had a lasting impact on the town.

[14:02] Whereas Michael c Whitehill has been a longtime resident

[14:06] of Centerville, whose many decades

[14:08] of service civic involvement, leadership,

[14:10] and commitment have benefited the town

[14:12] and the greater Queen Anne County community.

[14:14] And whereas Michael, Mr.

[14:16] Whitehill has served on the Centerville Parks Advisory Board

[14:19] for more than 16 years,

[14:21] demonstrating a longstanding commitment

[14:23] to the stewardship enhancement

[14:24] and enjoyment of the towns, parks and public spaces.

[14:27] And whereas Mr. Whitehill also served one term on the

[14:30] Centerville Town Council, further reflecting his

[14:32] longstanding commitment to the public service

[14:35] and the Centerville community.

[14:36] Whereas the Town Council believes

[14:38] that permanently associating Mr. White Hill's name

[14:40] with the Centerville Wharf Park is an appropriate

[14:43] and lasting tribute to as many years of service, good humor

[14:46] and unmistakable presence in the life of the town.

[14:49] Now therefore, be it resolved by the Town Council

[14:52] of Centerville, that the public park presently known

[14:54] as the Centerville Wharf Park,

[14:56] shall hereafter be officially designated

[14:58] as Michael c Whitehill Park at the Centerville Wharf.

[15:02] Be it further resolved that the historic named Centerville

[15:04] Wharf will remain an integral part of the identity

[15:07] and designation of the property

[15:09] and be it further resolved that town staff are authorized

[15:12] to install appropriate signage, plaques, markers,

[15:14] or other comm commemorative features.

[15:17] And to update the town records, maps, publications,

[15:20] websites, and other materials to reflect the official name

[15:23] and be it further resolve that this naming shall serve

[15:26] as a permanent expression of the town's gratitude

[15:29] for Michael C. White Hill's service leadership wit

[15:32] and commitment to the Centerville community read

[15:35] and passed this, what is the 17th day of September, 2026?

[15:44] I, I think that is Mike made

[15:49] so many very substantial contributions to our community Yes.

[15:53] And elsewhere, but so much to our town.

[15:56] And I, I think this is just a wonderful tribute to him.

[15:59] Well deserved. Yes. And he's just, I agree.

[16:01] A high caliber, high quality. Right.

[16:04] And we're all better off for his presence here. Yes.

[16:07] What he's done. I completely agree

[16:09] In support of that a hundred percent.

[16:11] The Park advisory board didn't,

[16:13] we didn't have the necessary members

[16:14] to make a formal motion,

[16:15] but overwhelmingly the whole group there

[16:17] said we want to do it.

[16:19] And we were told by a member

[16:20] of staff that would come up tonight.

[16:21] So we backed us out a hundred percent.

[16:24] Yes. Yep. And we, I I wish he had a USB port in his brain

[16:29] 'cause I'd like to download everything Oh yeah.

[16:31] In there. But you

[16:32] Know, there's a lot there.

[16:33] Yes. There's a lot there. So yeah,

[16:35] They're actually having, this is off topic,

[16:37] they're having an auction, which I'll be at tomorrow.

[16:41] I'm sure you will be Going

[16:42] through his woodworking stuff

[16:44] and so, so it's sad that that's happened,

[16:49] that needing to happen.

[16:51] But it's just a great tribute to him.

[16:53] Yes. Yep. Yeah.

[16:54] So I just need a motion from the council

[16:57] and it, it'll be, it would be approved tonight. Thanks

[17:01] Judge.

[17:02] I'll be pleased to make a motion to approve the renaming

[17:05] of the war park under, under Michael White Hill's. Name.

[17:09] Let's Sandy get a second if issue wants.

[17:12] I second. Alright. All in favor of the resolution, aye.

[17:17] Aye. Alright.

[17:19] And I'd like to just say a few words

[17:21] 'cause I've been on the park advisory board

[17:23] and it can't be overstated.

[17:26] The impact that Mike has had on this

[17:27] community and the park system.

[17:30] He's been behind, you know, getting great funding,

[17:34] helping the town design, just everything.

[17:38] It's just amazing what he's done for the town

[17:41] and he loves the town and this is so well deserved

[17:45] and so appreciative of everything he's done related

[17:48] to our trail or parks that the community so joy.

[17:53] So thank you.

[17:55] I'm gonna say he's probably done a lot

[17:56] for the trail system in the town

[17:58] of Centerville over the many years.

[18:00] So we have, the trail system we have now

[18:02] is probably because of Michael White.

[18:04] Oh yeah, it is. Most definitely.

[18:06] I appreciate that very much.

[18:08] Alright, next is reports of boards and commissions.

[18:13] MML. Okay. Council government, no meeting.

[18:18] When's the next meeting? I can't remember.

[18:21] Should be November, right? I think it's November.

[18:23] In November. Economic development.

[18:28] Yeah, I, I've been speaking

[18:29] and representing economic development for the last year

[18:33] and I'll say a few things,

[18:34] but we also now are privileged

[18:37] to have a economic development manager.

[18:39] So I'm gonna defer more comments

[18:41] and a few have more comments

[18:42] after I make a, just a couple highlights of Phil,

[18:46] but I know you have another report later.

[18:48] So, but you're welcome.

[18:49] But it, it's, it's so great that we now have gay as Yes.

[18:53] As a full-time economic development manager.

[18:56] So that's my biggest announcement is that,

[18:59] and that she's fully on board with that.

[19:01] We do have a, a seat,

[19:04] a meeting next Tuesday on the 22nd at that meeting.

[19:09] It is just come up in the last couple days.

[19:10] We don't know, and I don't know if the email's even gone out

[19:13] yet, but we've invited all the candidates who are running

[19:17] for town council to come to our meeting

[19:20] to talk about their ideas for economic development.

[19:24] I think it's important to have a better understanding of

[19:27] what their objectives may be or ideas

[19:29] or willingness to su you know, to work with CDA

[19:32] and the town council in that effort.

[19:34] So that's, I know it's short notice since

[19:38] that's just going out, I think tonight.

[19:40] And that's at the wharf building, correct?

[19:42] It is at the wharf at seven o'clock Tuesday night. Yep.

[19:48] At that meeting. We're also trying to finalize, see

[19:52] that coming to the town council probably at the October 1st

[19:54] meeting if, if we have time

[19:56] and if they're prepared enough to ask the town council

[20:03] with suggestions on how to have other enticements

[20:07] or incentives for businesses to gain entry

[20:11] into the Centerville market.

[20:14] So we're, we're, they'll be preparing that and two

[20:18] or three of the co the CO members will be coming

[20:21] to present to that.

[20:22] So we'll, we'll try to get that wrapped up as quickly

[20:25] as possible and get that on the agenda

[20:26] if we can for the next meeting.

[20:28] We thought it was important to present to our current

[20:31] town council rather than whatever the makeup is

[20:35] of the future since we have more background on that.

[20:40] The, I think the new restaurant is called The Ordinary

[20:43] that is scheduled to be open sometime in November,

[20:47] I believe, you know, downtown.

[20:49] So we're excited about that.

[20:50] They're still making progress with that.

[20:52] And it's not the right name

[20:54] but the Taco Breakfast restaurant, bridges and Tacos.

[20:58] Bridges and Tacos is, do you know

[21:01] what the latest is for their opening? They

[21:03] Were slated before the end of September.

[21:05] That's what I thought. But I

[21:07] Have not followed up Gay.

[21:08] You'll probably have to come

[21:09] 'cause they can't hear you on TV

[21:11] And some of'em speak to it.

[21:13] Microphone, they're projected

[21:14] to open up sometime here in September or early October

[21:17] and we're looking forward to that.

[21:19] And I was happy to see that Brackish Books has,

[21:23] with some help, a new sign up in front of their building

[21:26] so there's good positive, you know,

[21:29] progress in town on the economic development side

[21:31] and we're so excited about so much more.

[21:34] Oh yeah, okay. I didn't have to say anything. I didn't

[21:39] Go back. Oh, okay. Sorry.

[21:40] Sorry. You can go back. You did it all.

[21:43] Yeah, sorry.

[21:47] That's enough a question.

[21:49] Yes, Fred, I I am away as vacation

[21:54] and will be be there, would there be any information

[21:56] that can be provided prior to town council

[21:59] that will be discussed on Tuesday that I could receive

[22:04] Once I know it, I'll be happy to prepare,

[22:06] you know, probably share that with you.

[22:08] That's still, that'd be great.

[22:10] We've assigned three different committees

[22:12] to work on different subjects like that

[22:15] and so I'm hoping to have a recap from them

[22:20] this coming Tuesday

[22:21] and as soon

[22:22] as it may need further revisement over the next week or so.

[22:27] Once we have that y'all, I'll be happy

[22:29] to share whatever insights ahead of time

[22:31] to you Have a great vacation

[22:38] That it, that's it.

[22:39] All next Park advisory board.

[22:41] Just that they're very delighted at

[22:43] what you're doing for Mike Wilt Hill.

[22:45] Right. Okay. Thank you very much.

[22:47] No, no trees, nothing tonight.

[22:48] Would you like me to No slide sing or anything?

[22:51] I have a couple trees. Chain one next.

[22:54] Cut 'em short when you can.

[22:56] Yeah. Next is the planning commission, Sandy.

[23:00] Yeah, I have a couple things to report on.

[23:03] There's a meeting last night.

[23:04] There were two things that were discussed.

[23:08] There is a second piece associated with the trail

[23:12] that the county will be doing.

[23:16] And it was a small piece

[23:17] that wasn't discussed at the last meeting

[23:18] that I think I updated

[23:20] between Green Street and Kidwell Avenue.

[23:23] There was some discussion about that with the county

[23:26] and also there were some citizens just

[23:29] that had some concerns associated

[23:31] with the plan or the trail.

[23:35] So the county was approved by the planning commission,

[23:38] but the county's very into the competence from the community

[23:41] that's on the other side where the trail will be.

[23:44] So they're continuing to take those congress planning

[23:47] Commission approved it

[23:48] and for the county to work with Peter actually

[23:53] as it relates in the town administration

[23:55] as they move forward to make further decisions about

[23:58] that piece of the trail.

[24:00] And the other was relating short term rental ordinance,

[24:04] which was further discussion about that last night.

[24:08] One of the points that we discussed

[24:09] that we're having a quite a lengthy discussion on is parking

[24:12] and as it relates to requirements for short-term rentals.

[24:15] And I'll just say overall at a high level that

[24:19] I think it's a poor

[24:21] and their support, I think from the administrator, you know,

[24:24] from with Peter and Sharon that the ordinance

[24:27] of the conflict should be any more asked than what the,

[24:30] our private residents have to do.

[24:32] So just from a legal perspective.

[24:34] So we're, we're working through the issues.

[24:36] We're gonna be talking about 'em our next meeting,

[24:39] work session and hoping to bring it to the closer

[24:43] so there doesn't need to be any extension associated

[24:46] that ordinance 'cause we'd like not to delay it.

[24:49] Just again 'cause we don't have a hotel in

[24:51] town for people to stay.

[24:54] There's any updates.

[24:57] That it. Thank you.

[25:01] Alright, next is reports

[25:05] of department heads town manager.

[25:09] In your packets there is a letter that was submitted

[25:12] to you for your consideration.

[25:15] This is a support letter.

[25:17] So Providence Farm, the annexed property has gone

[25:20] through the county for an amendment

[25:24] to the comprehensive water

[25:25] and sewer plan, which they need to change the, the service

[25:32] to W three S3

[25:33] and that's a three to 10 year planning period.

[25:37] They also requested a termination of the zoning for

[25:41] that property, which is currently zoned

[25:42] agriculture in the county.

[25:44] So the county has to terminate that zoning in order

[25:48] for the town zoning to kick in.

[25:50] So this letter, there was a public hearing that was held.

[25:54] Sharon attended.

[25:55] Peter attended, and unfortunately I,

[25:59] Sandy typically has attended these,

[26:01] but she was unavailable that night.

[26:02] So they asked for this letter from the council to be sent

[26:06] to the county in support of the, the amendment

[26:10] to the comprehensive water and sewer plan

[26:11] and the termination of the zone of the zoning district.

[26:15] So they left the comment period

[26:18] open for their public hearing.

[26:20] They meet Monday, that public hearing closes

[26:23] and they'll make their decision.

[26:24] So if the council is in favor of this letter,

[26:29] then we will submit it to the county tomorrow

[26:33] to go in the commissioner packets. So lemme

[26:35] Take a vote and see who's in favor or just say

[26:38] You, you can Ev everybody's in favor

[26:40] of support of this letter. Yes,

[26:43] I, I read through it in detail.

[26:45] Yeah, I think it's well written and I think it's important.

[26:48] I do have a question. Do we know approximately

[26:50] how many homes they're talking about in

[26:53] that development? Or is that still on

[26:55] There is around 900 I believe.

[26:57] Yeah. So I don't know the exact number,

[27:00] but I think it's, it's around 900.

[27:03] 'cause it's interesting that the, the new coating

[27:07] or how that's gonna be classified requires certain amount

[27:10] of like parks and grasslands, open space Yep.

[27:13] That kind of thing to make a real community,

[27:15] not just a big neighbor.

[27:16] Yes. A 900 new homes. Right,

[27:19] Right.

[27:20] Yeah. It'll be like a, it's a,

[27:22] it's it's being zoned traditional neighborhood development.

[27:25] So it'll be like a traditional neighborhood, you know,

[27:29] street scapes and open space, green space trail.

[27:33] They'll have trail around it as well around the property.

[27:37] And we, we can get this letter to them before Monday.

[27:40] Yeah. Yep. Great. Everybody's in favor? Are you in favor?

[27:45] Yeah, I'm in favor. Just wanted

[27:47] to follow up in your question.

[27:49] So in the plan, the Providence property,

[27:51] they are still talking to bike pads, trails?

[27:54] That's real important. Yes.

[27:58] Alright. Yes.

[28:00] Oh, and I do have a couple of things, sorry I'm not done.

[28:02] My report this week

[28:07] has been a very busy week for staff.

[28:10] So we've, we've had a few software demonstrations

[28:14] that staff have attended.

[28:17] This past Saturday was the fishing derby

[28:20] at the Centerville Wharf that I Jackie and I attended.

[28:26] And I will let Jackie,

[28:28] Jackie's gonna report on the specifics of it,

[28:30] but I just wanted to send say a thank you

[28:34] to River Conservancy

[28:36] 'cause they are a partner with the town for this event.

[28:38] And they provide the poles, the, the bait,

[28:43] you know, they take the fish off the hook

[28:45] and put the worms on the hook, the worm.

[28:50] So they do the hard part of the, of the, the event.

[28:53] So they're a great partner for this event.

[28:56] So I just want to thank them for their participation in it.

[29:01] Monday we had a public meeting was held by dam safety.

[29:05] So this is for the expansion

[29:07] of the lagoon out at the spray field.

[29:10] And as part of that permit through the dam safety,

[29:14] there was someone that submitted a question which triggered

[29:17] an actual public hearing.

[29:18] So that was held Monday evening,

[29:23] but no one showed up to it.

[29:24] So that we closed it after 15 minutes.

[29:28] Tuesday attended this,

[29:30] the candidate forum at Symphony Village.

[29:31] That was great. Wednesday,

[29:34] we had a informational meeting last night

[29:37] with Maryland Department of the environment related

[29:40] to the town has submitted for a renewal

[29:42] of our current discharge permit for the current plant,

[29:45] which is expiring.

[29:47] So they had an informational meeting on that we had,

[29:51] we had several people attend that meeting and ask questions

[29:54] and there was good discussion.

[29:58] And then I just wanted to announce,

[30:02] which we just found out today, the League of Women, league

[30:06] of Women voters will hold a candidate forum for the current,

[30:11] the three candidates running for office, for town council.

[30:14] And it'll be held on Monday,

[30:17] September 28th at six 30 here in this building.

[30:20] Which my assumption is QAC TV will also be recording.

[30:24] So once that recording, which typically is the next day,

[30:28] the town will post that video on our website.

[30:31] And so it's available for people

[30:34] to watch if they don't have a chance that night. To to,

[30:38] That's the 28th, Monday, September 28th.

[30:41] Yes. So one week before the election of election.

[30:44] The, yes, the election.

[30:48] And what time is it Caroline?

[30:49] 6 6 36. Six 30. 6 36 30. Yep. Yep.

[30:53] And just a question on the website, do you,

[30:56] how is it like communicated that there will be this

[31:01] Now?

[31:03] So we just learned about it this afternoon,

[31:04] so it's not been posted yet.

[31:05] So we'll be posting that on the website tomorrow.

[31:09] More than likely we'll have an email blast out

[31:11] or several email blasts

[31:13] because we're gonna be promoting the actual election

[31:16] and we'll, we'll put that on there as well.

[31:19] Terrific. Thank you. That's all I have.

[31:23] Can I just ask a couple quick questions? Sure. All fun.

[31:25] First of all, thanks for getting everybody there at the

[31:27] forum up at Symphony Village.

[31:29] I You were there Jackie, I, the staff. It was good.

[31:32] It's good to see we were all prepared sitting at the table

[31:34] did for tomatoes or questions and we

[31:36] Handled Yes. I'm not sure which was gonna come.

[31:38] Yeah, just a couple quick questions.

[31:41] You one, that's the biggest pain in the, you know what,

[31:43] where are we on the mill?

[31:45] I drove by about a half an hour ago.

[31:46] Four cars whole front open.

[31:48] So we did, so Cliff, our

[31:52] code enforcement officer did reach out to

[31:55] the property owner last Friday actually and spoke to him.

[31:59] The contractor is scheduled to begin though.

[32:02] It's the, I believe the, they were supposed

[32:05] to start the beginning of this week.

[32:07] The contractor was, but did not.

[32:10] So the grass did get cut this week.

[32:13] And then he did inform Cliff that

[32:17] when he is on the property the next time he is moving that

[32:21] explorer out from in the front yard, tell

[32:23] We'll push you out of the way if you want.

[32:24] Yes. So I, as soon as the, the contractor starts,

[32:29] we're just waiting on the contractor to start.

[32:31] So they were supposed to start this week,

[32:32] but obviously they did not.

[32:34] What happens, they don't start this week.

[32:36] I asked, I asked counsel and she was very good

[32:38] before the meeting, right.

[32:40] Or legal possibilities

[32:42] and they don't seem to be as good as I was hoping.

[32:44] But there is a public nuisance law that I believe we,

[32:48] there is a town and let's get the legal opinion

[32:50] or an individual can say that's a public nuisance.

[32:53] Now if we investigated that, can we do something? The

[32:56] Town can adopt public nuisance provisions,

[33:00] but we don't have those currently in our code.

[33:02] But the state law does allow that. Yeah.

[33:04] Well can we put that on the agenda

[33:05] for, you know, if we need it?

[33:07] I mean we have the governor of the state

[33:09] of Maryland coming in within the next couple weeks

[33:11] to dedicate a statue.

[33:13] He's gonna come through the town

[33:14] of Senegal and what's he gonna say?

[33:16] A lovely town, but what the heck is there?

[33:19] Four abandoned cars building that and

[33:21] You're gonna see the building at Yeah. Water and

[33:24] Yeah, I mean remember it's not the

[33:27] staff's force, it's individual.

[33:28] So we need to help. If you need us,

[33:30] that's our job to help you.

[33:32] Let's do it. If we need to help you,

[33:35] the legal help get an ordinance

[33:37] and say it's a public nuisance,

[33:38] Fred comes back from vacation hoping it was,

[33:40] it wasn't there and it was still

[33:41] there. Remember you said at last meeting

[33:43] I drove by it today.

[33:44] I did see the lawn was mowed. Yeah, yeah.

[33:47] You know, so I will give credit for that.

[33:49] But yeah, we're all tired of seeing it.

[33:52] And The public meeting out at the Symphony Village,

[33:55] it was a hot topic.

[33:56] I thought all three candidates said let's do something.

[33:58] So can I ask that, you know, if you need help

[34:00] by the next meeting, let's give you with legal advice.

[34:04] Help. And we have to pass an ordinance.

[34:05] Let's pass an ordinance. It's getting to the point's.

[34:07] Embarrassing. It really is.

[34:12] Yeah. Alright, next Chief

[34:15] of police. I have nothing. Nothing.

[34:17] Chief, can I Thank you.

[34:18] We had, I got several phone calls,

[34:20] which I think you know about.

[34:22] We had a very strange

[34:23] and suspicious vehicle

[34:25] chief, just numbers.

[34:31] We had a strange vehicle parked on Chesterfield Ave,

[34:33] which was drawing a lot of attention.

[34:35] The motor was running, the lights were on.

[34:38] I called you all and within 15 minutes

[34:41] the, an officer had gone up.

[34:42] It turned out it was a investigation going on,

[34:45] but it made a lot of neighbors calm.

[34:48] And thank you for doing that.

[34:50] Sure. No, absolutely. That's what we're here for.

[34:51] That's great. So out outside of the

[34:56] August 20, 26 monthly report from the department,

[34:59] which typically it has all our statistics on there,

[35:01] which is available not only to the council in your packet,

[35:03] but one line on the website as well.

[35:05] I don't have anything additional for the night

[35:07] for the council, unless you have questions for me.

[35:10] No. Five, five criminal arrests. Anything exciting.

[35:14] I mean, you know, what's a criminal arrest?

[35:17] Exciting. I should be, I should be criminally arrested

[35:19] every time I ride my damn bike around town.

[35:21] I think exciting might be subjective.

[35:23] What's exciting to you? Might not be exciting to ask,

[35:25] but I, I don't have the exact arrest incident.

[35:29] It just went up from three to five. I just wanted to,

[35:31] We, we have had an uptick in juvenile related issues here

[35:35] lately now with school's back in session.

[35:37] You know, we have, when the school's letting out in the

[35:40] afternoons, we're having like the flights after,

[35:43] after school's letting out.

[35:44] We have a few minor thefts

[35:45] that are occurring, things of that nature.

[35:47] Like standard, what we've been dealing

[35:49] with for the last couple years.

[35:50] So, so you know, we're hopefully we can sit down

[35:54] with maybe the superintendent, the principal,

[35:57] see if we can work something out.

[35:58] We haven't been able to in the past year. So is our,

[36:00] Is our, don't we have a committee that's supposed to meet

[36:03] with the superintendent occasionally?

[36:05] Is it meeting with him?

[36:07] I believe there was a meeting this week.

[36:09] Was there not? Yeah. Okay.

[36:10] Did you talk about the traffic round? Oh, okay.

[36:12] I mean we've got a traffic problem. I got it, I got it.

[36:15] Okay. Yep. Talk that,

[36:16] I'll talk about it in again, that could be subjective as

[36:18] to whether it's a problem or not.

[36:19] And yeah, who's, who's supposed

[36:20] to, you know, take care of those

[36:22] Issues.

[36:23] Yep.

[36:24] So Anything else for the chief? I'm good.

[36:28] Thank you sir. Thank, thank

[36:29] You very much.

[36:31] Next is, no, no ki no. I know what I'm gonna do.

[36:38] Not of time that I gotta make up for

[36:42] town clerk is next. Oh,

[36:44] That's neat.

[36:45] Okay. That a paper here.

[36:49] So fishing derby fun.

[36:52] We had 63 participants come this year.

[36:56] So it was really great to see all the families come

[37:00] and participate in that.

[37:01] The park was heavily used that day.

[37:05] Lot of, a lot of good community there.

[37:08] 15 fish were measured.

[37:11] So out of the 63 participants, 15 fish were caught.

[37:16] So the first fish

[37:18] that was caught was from Brendan Adair.

[37:21] It was a six and a half inch perch

[37:25] was the first fish documented. That's

[37:27] Eden. Very good

[37:27] Eden in the two to 5-year-old age group.

[37:32] Addie ert, I hope I'm saying that right.

[37:37] She won that one a seven

[37:38] and a three quarter inch fish

[37:41] for the six to 9-year-old group.

[37:43] Eli Wheaton got the largest at 13 inches

[37:48] in the 10 to 12-year-old category.

[37:50] We actually had a tie with Brendan Adair

[37:54] and Creed Shafer with, with a 12 inch,

[37:57] I don't know if it was the same fish or not. 12 inch fish

[38:01] Quit back.

[38:02] He called, kept switching the fish.

[38:04] And then the 13 to 15-year-old age group, CJ Nugent

[38:09] had a 12 and a half inch.

[38:11] So we got the trophies presented.

[38:14] We can certainly get the pictures shared

[38:16] with the council just as you know,

[38:18] appreciation. Are they gonna be

[38:19] Invited in?

[38:20] Do we give 'em a golden fish or anything or

[38:22] So they, they used to come in to get their trophies.

[38:26] We, it just tends to be

[38:28] that people don't show up to the meeting.

[38:31] So that the last meeting I had asked the council if they

[38:33] were okay if we gave it away at the event.

[38:36] So unless the, if the council wants to invite them in,

[38:39] we can certainly invite them in.

[38:42] I just think at some point, and Jackie and I were talking

[38:44] before, maybe in the future we set up a committee.

[38:47] You know, the best thing the board of ed does Okay.

[38:49] Is first 15 minutes of their meeting, they have employee

[38:52] of the month Energizer Bunny community service award.

[38:56] He brings in 50 people plus

[38:59] and it sets such a positive

[39:00] attitude at the start of the meeting.

[39:02] Now he did this by committee.

[39:03] You don't have Fred pick his guys or Fred's.

[39:06] You have staff and a a council person.

[39:08] You get people here for one thing

[39:10] and they do a positive, it's a positive experience,

[39:13] whether it's fish or whatever it might be.

[39:15] And we can discuss it. Yep. That's future groups. Yeah.

[39:19] So then the only other thing that I had,

[39:21] the election is coming up on October 5th.

[39:24] So that's 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM

[39:27] It will be at the Queen Ann's county office building the

[39:31] planning and zoning meeting room at one 10 Vincent Street.

[39:35] So everybody come out and vote.

[39:37] Can we, Jackie, can we do everything?

[39:39] There's a lot of confusion.

[39:41] A lot of people think the election is in November. Yes.

[39:43] That's election in November. They constantly,

[39:46] I'm sure we're doing it on a website

[39:47] to constantly remind people It's October 5th.

[39:51] We do, we send out email blasts leading up to that.

[39:54] We'll have Facebook pay posts

[39:56] and we actually have signs going up next week. Good.

[39:59] Because they need to be reminded. Yeah.

[40:02] And it's advertised in the paper

[40:04] if anyone still reads that.

[40:05] But it

[40:06] Shame, shame It's in the paper.

[40:09] Fred, you still get the paper? Can I have a canary?

[40:11] I put it down on my part of my canary. Is that

[40:15] It?

[40:16] But that is all I have.

[40:17] Oh, hey Chad. Yes ma'am. One thing

[40:19] Here there is the ability for mail-in, is that still,

[40:22] Is that accurate? Absentee ballots,

[40:24] Not mail ins.

[40:25] No, but they they can, they well they can,

[40:29] we can email, yes.

[40:30] Absentee ballots. We can email a

[40:33] application, they can submit it.

[40:35] We will mail them their ballot to them

[40:38] and then they can return it, whether it is

[40:40] by mail or drop off.

[40:42] They have up until the day of the election,

[40:45] the night 7:00 PM on the election day

[40:48] to drop off an absentee. Yeah.

[40:50] The application deadline is the 28th of September.

[40:53] Yeah. Yeah. 28th of September is the last day

[40:55] to get an absentee ballot without having an

[40:58] emergency starting the 29th.

[41:00] It has to be an emergency in order to get one.

[41:03] Thank you. Thank need to steal.

[41:08] I'm sorry Jackie. You voice that it?

[41:11] Yeah, that's it. All right, thank

[41:12] You.

[41:13] Next. I'm not forgetting you tonight.

[41:15] Economic development manager.

[41:17] I always feel bad because, no, I'm kidding.

[41:19] I'll be short. I'll be short.

[41:24] I just wanna start by just giving some event updates.

[41:29] September 26th at the courthouse Green.

[41:32] That is the revolutionary birthday bash from 10 to two.

[41:37] There'll be kid games, food, food

[41:40] and refreshments at that event.

[41:42] So we hope people will come out.

[41:44] It's the second half of the 4th of July

[41:45] that got canceled due to heat.

[41:48] So we hope to see everyone there

[41:51] on October 4th is rocking the porch.

[41:54] That event is from two to 6:00 PM

[41:59] Save the date, 10 24 October 24th

[42:02] for Centerville Day from 11 to three.

[42:04] A free event for kids.

[42:06] And we hope you guys come out

[42:07] and take advantage of pumpkin bowling, pumpkin painting,

[42:12] zucchini races, face painting, things like that.

[42:15] We're very excited for that.

[42:16] This year for Main Street,

[42:20] we had our transformation,

[42:22] our main street steering committee meeting on the 15th.

[42:26] We are working on finishing up the transformation strategy

[42:29] that will be, needs to be completed by October.

[42:31] So in a November meeting we'll present our,

[42:34] the main street strategy to the town

[42:38] been continued Centerville Day Prep.

[42:41] Also for Fridays in October from 10 to two

[42:47] I'll be walking the Main Street district

[42:49] with Main Street volunteers

[42:51] and CA volunteers if they would like to update

[42:53] and make sure our booms tracker,

[42:55] which is our internal inventory business tracker.

[42:58] So we wanna make sure all the businesses

[42:59] and all the buildings are correctly labeled

[43:01] and identified for CA.

[43:05] Again, Fred mentioned our meeting is the 22nd at the

[43:11] wharf at six o'clock.

[43:13] And the, you know, the public's

[43:14] welcome if they would like to come.

[43:17] We are working desperately to update council on our progress

[43:20] and we wanna have a presentation on October.

[43:22] So hopefully this meeting will meet those objectives.

[43:29] We have on 9 25, we have a site visit for

[43:33] possible urgent care to come to the town.

[43:36] So I have two places where I'll be taking the

[43:41] healthcare company around.

[43:43] Two. Carolyn's gonna join me and Fred if you're available.

[43:45] And any other CA members. When is that? The 25th?

[43:50] September 25th. 10:00 AM is the first

[43:52] visit on Liberty Street.

[43:54] We're gonna, we're gonna start there.

[43:56] I'll send an email out if you could. Great.

[43:59] We just got confirmation today. So good.

[44:04] And then the last thing I just wanted to quickly update.

[44:07] The town has updated their website

[44:10] and I have a quick presentation that I just wanna show you,

[44:13] tell you kind of why the website is a work in progress.

[44:17] We had to make it live

[44:18] before we had a chance to make a lot of updates.

[44:21] So we're doing that, you know, on a daily basis.

[44:26] We had to modernize our website

[44:29] because the prior platform was retiring,

[44:33] so we had to move it over.

[44:34] It was reaching its end of life.

[44:36] But we also have new DOJ

[44:38] and A-D-A-A-D-A title two requirements

[44:40] that we must be in compliant for.

[44:44] So we're ahead of that.

[44:45] And so now our website is now a DA compliant.

[44:49] It does provide a stronger platform, faster content tools

[44:53] for staff and it's mobile friendly for residents.

[44:56] So it's easier to see on their phone.

[44:59] That's the new homepage of what it looks like today.

[45:04] Our calendar and news events are, are front and center

[45:08] and then we have our agendas

[45:10] and minutes staff directories in one place.

[45:12] And accessibility is built into every page.

[45:16] We currently have audio I,

[45:18] which this is a continually scans our site against

[45:22] WCAG standards.

[45:24] So it fixes anything that's wrong with a file.

[45:28] So it can be aada a compliant.

[45:30] We also have doc access now, which converts posted PDFs,

[45:33] agendas, minutes, and notices into accessible screen reader

[45:37] friendly formats when they're uploaded.

[45:41] The new in the News flash section,

[45:43] you'll notice we have a notify me section.

[45:47] This is where residents can subscribe once

[45:49] and receive an email or text update for town news,

[45:52] meeting agendas, press releases, meetings,

[45:55] events, whatever you're interested in.

[45:58] So we encourage, we, we the town

[46:01] to sign up for these events.

[46:03] They're always so they're always aware of what's going on.

[46:07] Our agenda center is updated in every meeting that we have.

[46:11] All the agenda agendas

[46:12] and minutes are there instead of it was scattered all over.

[46:18] We have a Centerville Business and Community Hub site.

[46:21] So doing business in Centerville.

[46:24] This is the main street page.

[46:26] We do have a new business list, so that'll be going up

[46:30] as well as we'll be updating the Main Street site.

[46:34] We also have site selection on our website,

[46:36] so you can now see commercial properties that are

[46:38] for lease in the town.

[46:43] So we, if you have any questions, please reach out.

[46:46] We're actively training

[46:47] and implementing updates to the, to the website.

[46:52] The week of the 20th, we have tailored department

[46:55] by department training sessions.

[46:57] We have ongoing webmaster support.

[46:59] And by mid-October, hopefully everyone's proficient

[47:02] with the site and can keep everything updated.

[47:05] And Tom Fitzgibbon is our team,

[47:09] but that, that is all, that is why we updated our site.

[47:13] Thank you. Any questions?

[47:15] Have you seen this flyer?

[47:17] The ba the Farmer's Market's gonna have an art

[47:20] show on the 27th.

[47:22] Has anyone talked to you? There's a copy of the flyer.

[47:26] I was given that at the veterans meeting.

[47:29] It's something the town should know about

[47:30] Centerville Farmer's Market on Sunday the 27th from nine

[47:34] to one they'll have a veteran's art sale

[47:37] and the United States Colored Troops will have an

[47:40] educational display

[47:41] and the art sale on the proceeds benefit

[47:44] the, what is it?

[47:47] The United States Colored Troops Memorial.

[47:49] So come on out and check out the

[47:52] farmer's market on the 27th.

[47:54] Thanks. I hadn't, I hadn't been given that.

[47:56] Appreciate it. We'll get you one.

[47:59] That's it. That it? That's it. Last thing.

[48:01] Thank you. Last time we talked about green lights

[48:04] Veterans November.

[48:06] I have reached out to the county.

[48:07] So I'll follow up with Mr. Edgar.

[48:11] Thank you. Next, the second citizen forum,

[48:17] citizens are requested to keep

[48:18] their comments in three minutes.

[48:19] Anybody see nobody? We'll move on.

[48:22] Next is council Round table.

[48:25] I'll call council person Huffer first Have anything?

[48:30] No, no additional, no additional comments.

[48:32] Alright, council member, you I'm good, thank you.

[48:38] Cool. Weather coming next week. Yes it is. I can't wait.

[48:41] There's hope. There's, I have a couple things.

[48:46] Breakfast starts back at the firehouse this week, weekend,

[48:49] the 20, what is it?

[48:51] The 20 20th This Sunday. This is the 20th.

[48:54] So from seven 30 to 11 next

[49:00] the meeting with Dr.

[49:04] Kler and Sid Pender about the traffic concerns at Kenard.

[49:10] And they did agree that there was a traffic problem there

[49:14] and they were gonna put a sign up.

[49:16] So when you, after the parents drop their children off,

[49:19] they can go, they have to make a right hand turn

[49:22] and go down to Green Street and go out there.

[49:25] And according to the M-U-T-C-D manual,

[49:29] it's only enforceable if it has a town

[49:33] of Bel logo on it.

[49:35] So we can put a sticker on the back

[49:37] of the sign and it will be legal.

[49:41] Do you have any stickers? Send from town of center Bill?

[49:43] We have stickers. We have stickers. So town of center Bill.

[49:44] So it can be a forced, we also discussed the

[49:50] Chesterfield, but we didn't, well since the building now

[49:53] no longer belongs to the board of Ed,

[49:56] they can't control what goes in there.

[49:58] What goes around, I, I made a suggestion of going

[50:01] around the back of the building and sitting there

[50:03] and when they can see an opening on Draper

[50:05] Lane to go down in there.

[50:07] But they, I've talked to bus driver

[50:10] and a lot of people about this

[50:13] and the parents do not let, don't they don't, they don't,

[50:18] they don't, they don't care about the bus driver.

[50:20] And it's an ongoing issue

[50:22] and they're very, they're aware of it.

[50:24] Sid and Dr. K are very aware of it.

[50:26] You have to do something. Now the problem, he said,

[50:28] the problem with this is they sent emails out

[50:32] and said they, they, the kid,

[50:33] the parents dropped their kids off,

[50:35] but they get outta their cars

[50:36] and walk the kids up to the thing.

[50:38] Now their car's sitting there and

[50:39] Parking in my driveway in the front

[50:40] Of my house.

[50:41] Yes. So, so they, they, they are aware of the issue

[50:43] and they're working on it, but the sign at Canard

[50:47] could help a lot.

[50:49] I pulled up to the stop sign, tried to go across,

[50:52] there's cars here, there's cars here,

[50:54] right in the middle of the road is a bus.

[50:57] And I threw my hands up and I said, what, what, what?

[51:00] And she threw her hands up.

[51:02] I said, well at least you could get on one

[51:03] side of the road or the other.

[51:05] And she goes, I can't get any further over.

[51:07] She was 10 feet away from the curb and gutter.

[51:09] And I said, this is, this is where the problem is.

[51:12] So I actually didn't say anything else.

[51:14] I just kept my, my business kept on going.

[51:17] But I said, yeah,

[51:18] but anyway, so they're addressing the canard issue first

[51:23] and then we'll try to work on the,

[51:26] and I didn't ask him about this and I don't know.

[51:30] So you get the, the school bus stoplight camera,

[51:34] there's a fee a fine that gets there.

[51:37] It is $250 I do believe. Right.

[51:39] And I don't know where that money goes.

[51:42] So I'm trying to find out where that money goes.

[51:44] So if they could hire, train some people

[51:46] to do direct traffic, they, he, Dr.

[51:49] Kiers told me, I don't wanna put teachers out there

[51:51] because they don't know have the direct traffic.

[51:54] So I said, if I can get, find out where this funding goes

[51:58] to get some train,

[52:01] cross crossing guards are traffic directors out there.

[52:04] I'm up here to exacerbate this, this meeting tonight

[52:07] and make it any longer than needs to be.

[52:09] We'll tell you is, and a little bit of information

[52:10] for the council is, I don't know why this county is,

[52:13] is not wanting to stick a teacher out there

[52:14] with every other county teams to not have a problem with it.

[52:17] So, and I used to, we did a very quick study

[52:20] and again, not to throw too much information

[52:22] 'cause this might be a, a discussion for another time,

[52:24] but throughout the whole entire Eastern shore,

[52:26] just about every municipality

[52:27] or county either puts a teacher out there

[52:29] or a personnel from the, the school board to direct traffic.

[52:33] They can take a, a week long, two week long

[52:35] or whatever, long traffic direction school

[52:38] and get certified to be one

[52:40] and stand out there with a vest like anybody else can.

[52:42] Okay. So I mean,

[52:43] I'll address it. I'm, I'll, I'll

[52:45] Talk As far as, as far as funding for it.

[52:47] I mean they're, they're paying the staff anyway. They don't

[52:49] Okay. Jeff,

[52:50] There's grants, et cetera. So

[52:51] We have in town, I coach at the high school from

[52:54] two to five.

[52:57] Chief knows at 2 25 for the next 15 minutes

[53:01] that coming outta that high school.

[53:03] Talking to high school. Now it's dangerous. Right.

[53:06] You have inexperienced drivers

[53:07] and I saw a near miss today when I pulled out Canard

[53:11] Disaster and Center.

[53:13] You zoning for like the Kenard

[53:15] and Chesterfield are only for about an hour a day.

[53:18] Yeah. In the mor an hour in the

[53:19] morning. An hour in the afternoon.

[53:21] But if you see what I see every day I sit in the porch

[53:23] is where my office is.

[53:25] We've got chief notes, they double parked.

[53:27] Bubba tries a park and his pickup truck,

[53:29] It's ongoing.

[53:30] We're gonna talk to him again about it.

[53:31] It's just, I mean, this buck can be passed all the way

[53:34] around to everybody and yeah, you can have a little piece

[53:36] of pie, but at the end

[53:37] of the day we've had everything from SROs from the county

[53:39] that were responsible for too.

[53:42] You know, teachers that have been out there.

[53:43] So there's been multiple

[53:44] people involved with this

[53:45] throughout the years. So they used to

[53:46] Put, put teachers with yellow vest, little signs

[53:49] For years.

[53:50] They did it down, they did it on Canal.

[53:52] And when the buses left Stevensville Middle School

[53:55] put a, a teacher on each end.

[53:57] Stop the traffic. Sure. Well that used to

[54:00] Be at duty. You had that duty.

[54:01] Yes, I would. I'll just talk to him. He's very nice.

[54:06] You can talk to him and I, I will sit down

[54:08] and talk to him again about the, the issues and

[54:10] Sure.

[54:11] And if I need to be president

[54:12] or you'd like for maybe president,

[54:13] please let me know, sir and we'll make time.

[54:15] Yep. So thank you. Yep, no problem.

[54:17] And the only other thing I have now is I forgot about this.

[54:22] What's going on with the SHA property?

[54:25] Did we acquire it yet or is it still No. In the work? So we

[54:28] Can't do it. We had a

[54:30] SHA pro SHA property property down at, we're trying to,

[54:33] we were wanted to buy, it's across from Red Zone.

[54:36] It's how many acres? Seven acres.

[54:38] Seven little over. A little over seven acres. Acres.

[54:41] So we, so as you remember the, the issue

[54:45] with the property, we were actually on the agenda

[54:49] for the Board of Public Works to go to settlement.

[54:53] There were covenants that were written.

[54:55] 'cause there a portion of it is a mitigated area.

[54:57] So this is property that State Highway bought when they

[55:01] as a mitigation area.

[55:04] When they did the overpass on 3 0 1,

[55:06] they were required by Army Corps.

[55:09] And so there were covenants that were placed on the property

[55:12] that Army Corps and State Highway came up with.

[55:16] The funding for that, for the town to purchase

[55:19] that property is through program open space.

[55:21] When the people at program open space read the covenants,

[55:25] they were Basically would not be

[55:30] funding the purchase of the property.

[55:32] So, 'cause the covenants basically said you can't do

[55:35] anything on this property in the mitigated area.

[55:37] So we reached out to State Highway, Peter and I

[55:41] and Army Corps.

[55:43] It took us a while to get ahold of somebody at Army Corps.

[55:45] We met with them, we toured the area where

[55:50] the town was planning to have, this is where part

[55:54] of Mike White Hill's plan a wilderness trail

[55:56] through this part with a kind of,

[56:03] with a bridge over,

[56:05] but a very rustic bridge over, over the stream there.

[56:09] Once we did that, they both came up with some ideas as to

[56:13] where we could, they could identify an area

[56:15] of reserved rights where the town could scrub that area

[56:19] for the trail.

[56:21] I had actually reached out to both of them earlier this week

[56:25] to see Pete had Mccr come out and,

[56:28] and mark off the trail.

[56:30] We sent that information to them and we hadn't heard back.

[56:32] So, so we have a

[56:36] call next week.

[56:39] Nick from Army Corps reached back out to,

[56:42] we had a call with State Highway earlier.

[56:43] They're kind of just waiting for Army Corps

[56:45] to decide how they want to do this.

[56:47] So next week Pete

[56:48] and I have a call with Army Corps to see what else we need

[56:53] to do so we can proceed with, you know this.

[56:55] But yeah, we're still in the process.

[56:58] I mean it's only been like, I don't know,

[56:59] five years we've been working on this. Yeah,

[57:02] I know. It's been a, been a while.

[57:04] And can I actually make one more, I forgot to mention one.

[57:08] So there's Corsica River Day is this Sunday

[57:12] at Conquest Beach from 12 to three.

[57:16] The town participates. We'll be there with a booth.

[57:20] So I just wanted to, to,

[57:24] That's it.

[57:26] Anything else? I've got nothing. Thanks for Adur. Second.

[57:32] We'd adjourned. Good job, Jack. Good job.

Centreville Town Council || 09/17/2026

Transcript