[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.