[0:25] sh
[0:53] okay all right call me or this is the
[1:08] May 2024 work/ the mar city council for
[1:11] the city of Rossburg roll call in your
[1:13] ring Elizabeth commissioner Donnie
[1:15] Carter here commissioner Nina forsight
[1:17] here commissioner Kevin Grove here
[1:20] Commissioner Adam Richie here and mayor
[1:22] Robert flan again
[1:25] here okay the first item we have to
[1:28] discuss with you tonight is is the
[1:31] budget Elaine has presented this to you
[1:35] in the past but she'll talk to you a
[1:36] little bit about it again here tonight
[1:39] no major changes since last month but
[1:41] the public hearing as
[1:44] required um will be next Tuesday and
[1:48] that's been
[1:49] advertised so we have not made any
[1:52] changes the budget ordinance and the fee
[1:55] schedule that we discussed last month
[1:57] would be presented in its entirety again
[2:00] at your council meeting next week have a
[2:03] public hearing and then the vote so if
[2:05] you have any recommended changes that
[2:07] you not brought to my attention sooner
[2:10] please let me know so we can prepare
[2:11] those revisions but
[2:13] otherwise as we discuss
[2:16] class on my way down here I was thinking
[2:19] about the
[2:20] budget and how you know most of our
[2:24] budgetary money other than like grants
[2:25] and stuff comes from city taxes and
[2:30] money and the reason we're spending it
[2:32] is for the people and I really like the
[2:34] way that you and the rest of the staff
[2:37] are conscientious
[2:39] about getting the best quality without
[2:43] overcharging and that that balance is
[2:45] you it just seems like all really worked
[2:48] very well to serve you know City
[2:52] residents in most fiscally responsible
[2:54] way you know also Forward Thinking not
[2:57] just the cheapest thing now but you know
[2:59] planning for the future so
[3:02] congratulations well thank
[3:04] you
[3:06] that we are it you know a lot of you
[3:10] know the state and the
[3:12] county it's both been very public that
[3:14] they've faced their fiscal challenges
[3:17] this current year so um it feels really
[3:20] good to come to you with a balanced
[3:24] budget that will continue operations as
[3:27] normal without any cuts increases in
[3:31] taxes
[3:32] so continuing to provide as best of
[3:35] level of service as we can
[3:39] yes everybody good yeah all
[3:44] right next Lydia and Hayden I guess will
[3:48] talk about that we have to have a public
[3:51] hearing as required to apply to
[3:54] cdbg
[3:57] so they want to chat about their
[4:00] intentions for that
[4:01] application uh yeah basically just for
[4:03] the sake of submitting the application
[4:05] for the cdpg funding which is everything
[4:06] we talked about at PACE this year um we
[4:09] have to do a public uh hearing about it
[4:13] so U it's almost just an ID copy of um
[4:17] what we talked about at PACE it would be
[4:18] the North Grant and Center extended
[4:21] projects um both just fairly small
[4:23] postage stamp sized um sewer separation
[4:26] projects the typical ones we do we would
[4:28] if we have to get in there move water do
[4:30] that um there will be some sidewalks and
[4:32] some pavement that gets done because of
[4:34] it um but ultimately uh this this CSO
[4:39] project both of them separate will
[4:41] benefit all of Frostburg so it benefits
[4:43] all of the different um socioeconomic
[4:46] backgrounds in Frostburg because what
[4:48] starts at one end of the Town creeps
[4:50] down to the other
[4:52] um so it's just it's kind of a boon for
[4:55] everybody involved because it keeps our
[4:56] sewage treatment costs Down For What
[4:58] Cumberland builds the count the county
[5:00] builds um everything ultimately makes it
[5:03] way to right Crossing or to over the
[5:05] edge of the Hill there through eer so
[5:07] what we what we can reduce ends up
[5:10] saving everyone in froster money so I
[5:13] don't know if there's anything you want
[5:14] to add about it just in addition to the
[5:16] public hearing we'll uh need a
[5:18] resolution of your support for
[5:19] application of up to the $800,000
[5:23] allowance and I'll give sort of a brief
[5:26] quick snippet sort of like I just did
[5:28] there next week okay all right the the
[5:31] North Grand are we going to get rid of
[5:33] all the stone up
[5:44] there we're have to tie it off to
[5:47] something yeah we actually Ray and I
[5:49] were talking about that that we have to
[5:50] make some we're gonna have to do some
[5:51] elevation work but we're gonna we're
[5:53] gonna make it work so yeah I'm excited
[5:55] to get that one done those cobblestones
[5:58] provideed traction or bread
[6:02] now it's just going to be
[6:05] like um probably yeah I mean it's it's
[6:08] if we have a place to put them which we
[6:10] should up behind the water treatment
[6:11] plant um because we end up using a lot
[6:13] of that stuff for um in different places
[6:16] around town for the artistic uh
[6:18] curbstones that we have to put back in
[6:20] certain places so we end up looking for
[6:21] those at least once a year so it would
[6:23] be nice to have
[6:27] yeah questions good okay if you need to
[6:31] take
[6:33] off Good Luck get kids
[6:42] okay sorry I have like really the wrong
[6:46] thing up right
[6:48] now I'm a year behind
[6:51] times I don't know how that happened
[6:54] but
[6:56] okay
[6:58] um the
[7:00] submitted their annual uh request to
[7:03] appeal repeal the open container law for
[7:06] Derby Day uh they're planning on having
[7:10] day on Thursday July 4th not Saturday uh
[7:15] Thursday July 4th but then the rain date
[7:17] would be Saturday July
[7:18] 6th so there's any concerns with that
[7:21] commissioner Chief worked out in the
[7:24] past okay so that would be a resolution
[7:27] at your council meeting as well okay
[7:31] um Lydia is with us tonight to talk
[7:34] about
[7:35] arpa um we're winding down we're at um
[7:41] just over seven months to obligate all
[7:44] of the 8.4 million that the city has
[7:47] received in arpa
[7:49] funding and um there's a few well
[7:52] there's a project l wants to talk to you
[7:54] about and just kind of go over where
[7:57] things Li lie and um kind of our plan
[8:01] moving forward so I'll turn it over to
[8:04] Lydia and
[8:07] then so I passed around uh where we're
[8:09] at with the funding everything in the
[8:12] orange on the top right is not obligated
[8:16] they're just for General projects so
[8:18] anything that came up with Public Works
[8:21] sewer um my recommendation would be to
[8:25] kind of stop with the spending in that
[8:27] category to see where um um the Gateway
[8:30] comes in and and then we have things
[8:34] planned for purchases Capital purchases
[8:36] that we could make to to use that money
[8:39] but maybe just wait off until we hear
[8:41] about the Gateway um so that equals that
[8:43] 460 amount currently what we haven't
[8:46] earmarked for anything is the 30 almost
[8:50] 54,000 so we have around 814,000 not
[8:54] obligated to any projects currently so
[8:57] the one I wanted to talk to you guys
[8:59] about today today uh is a playground
[9:00] equipment at Glen Denning it was
[9:03] installed in
[9:05] 2003 whenever the rec complex was being
[9:08] worked on um the structure then was
[9:14] $113,000
[9:15] we applied for POS and Community parks
[9:18] and playground funding for the cost of
[9:20] the playground um we didn't get the
[9:23] community parks and playground funding
[9:25] we did receive POS funding but we had to
[9:29] reallocate a portion of that that we
[9:31] were going to use for the playground for
[9:33] the pickle ball courts whenever we
[9:35] decided to move forward with that so we
[9:39] talked with Brandon with game time they
[9:41] have a grant program that'll match 50%
[9:45] or 100% whatever we put in for
[9:47] playground equipment that's in September
[9:51] and he's just looking for a budget to
[9:53] kind of start working with a design for
[9:56] that
[9:57] playground he
[10:00] that well I guess with that and
[10:03] considering the installation cost we're
[10:05] looking at needing
[10:07] $200,000 since we didn't get the CPP
[10:09] funding uh we've already removed the two
[10:11] to fivey Old play area because it's
[10:14] deteriorated we've removed several
[10:17] slides and and stairways on the larger
[10:19] and the 200 would get us um what we
[10:23] equivalent to what we have with keeping
[10:25] the swing set so just looking to see you
[10:29] guys has had any other
[10:31] questions another thing you know the
[10:33] restrooms are not in great shape up
[10:35] there either upside the playground yes
[10:38] so I did fail to mention that I did talk
[10:40] to uh commissioner Richie about the
[10:42] restrooms I went up took some pictures
[10:44] did uh an estimate to update them it
[10:48] cost about
[10:49] $7,000 um and I think that the 200,000
[10:53] are bu we would be able to allocate the
[10:55] some of the POS money that we had
[10:57] towards the playground if we got 200 of
[11:01] our um playground equipment is very
[11:05] expensive man the the lucrative State
[11:09] funding years seem to be not there in
[11:13] the near future at least and um I think
[11:16] L Denning that playground in particular
[11:18] is probably the most popular playground
[11:20] in town um having that age children I am
[11:24] Fielding a lot of question what happened
[11:26] to the little place you know so um I
[11:30] think Brian has a sign up there saying
[11:32] improvements are
[11:33] coming um and did a Facebook post
[11:39] but it does seem like a lot of money you
[11:42] can buy a lot for 200,000 but there's a
[11:44] lot of liability that the playground
[11:47] companies have to ensure and safety
[11:50] measures and so forth and so on so um we
[11:54] felt this was a good investment of arle
[11:57] money um and just
[11:59] is something that a lot of your
[12:01] residents care
[12:03] about get a lot of good use there's
[12:05] always a lot of lot of kids up there all
[12:09] the time it's us I get the bathrooms
[12:13] dressed up and get some new playground
[12:14] stuff very
[12:18] nice any other questions okay so that
[12:21] would
[12:23] be um a resolution then to allocate that
[12:27] money all funding to the playground
[12:30] equipment obviously it wouldn't be the
[12:32] bit award yet but um we would just take
[12:35] care of that or of a resolution what all
[12:37] needs to be done to the
[12:41] bathroom in particular the partitions
[12:44] are rested so that's uh we just did a
[12:48] restroom that's about $3,200 for
[12:50] partitions um the toilets are all right
[12:53] we need new urals faucets s dispensers
[12:56] 350 for paint floor ceiling um the door
[12:59] frame restroom signs I have a category
[13:02] for miscellaneous but the one of the big
[13:04] expenses is those bathrooms are on a MAG
[13:07] lock and someone tried to pry open the
[13:10] one of the
[13:11] doors um whenever it was after it was
[13:14] locked and it bent the frame so that's
[13:17] about $1,500 to $1,800 just to replace
[13:19] the one
[13:21] door you can see the damage on but the
[13:25] ceiling was updated in the last two
[13:27] years and there's new LED lights
[13:29] fixtures and I think we'll be able to
[13:30] use all the the toilets so I think 7,000
[13:33] would cover up with us doing the
[13:40] installation thank um another one so we
[13:44] have the salt facility at
[13:48] alternate and that was as part we have
[13:50] the number on that because that was part
[13:52] of the bid um not ready to make a
[13:55] recommendation to move forward with that
[13:57] or not um the fire
[14:00] department uh came to us with a couple
[14:03] months ago and just wanted to put it on
[14:04] your radar I told him again this would
[14:07] be something that we would wait till um
[14:10] we had a clear picture of these bigger
[14:12] projects and other needs of the city um
[14:16] is replacing their like change copy sign
[14:19] at the fire department with an
[14:22] electronic um LED changeable message
[14:25] electronic messaging center is what we
[14:27] call them um
[14:29] and then they said you know if the city
[14:31] would fund that the city would have
[14:32] access so like there was an emergency
[14:35] you know we could kind of overtake it
[14:36] and put messages out on it as well um
[14:39] but then you know it could be a revenue
[14:41] source for them like they had in the
[14:44] past just managing that change copy sign
[14:46] is kind of a lot yeah they they had
[14:49] already also said that we could put our
[14:53] our events if the city was having an
[14:56] event sure that we could use that sign
[14:58] and advertise that event good so yeah we
[15:02] have they have gotten some Bas some
[15:04] basic information on that and talked
[15:06] about it so that's a potential um
[15:08] project there's some big ticket items
[15:11] that like if by some miracle that
[15:14] Gateway project the roundabout project
[15:16] comes in as expected and within the
[15:19] grant funding um we could use a new
[15:22] street sweeper that's probably
[15:24] $150,000 right there so um there's a lot
[15:28] of things that I know the outside
[15:31] departments have identified as wants not
[15:34] needs but it could be a good way to
[15:36] upgrade equipment that we have or get
[15:38] new equipment that we don't have to make
[15:40] sure we're taking advantage of spending
[15:42] everyone every last one of those dollars
[15:47] so
[15:50] but kind of holding tight um a little
[15:53] bit I mean it was really good news where
[15:54] the parking lot construction came in it
[15:57] and but
[16:00] the Gateway is kind of still what has me
[16:02] nervous I'd hate to be $300,000 short
[16:05] and just blown
[16:07] $300,000 on a new plow truck you know
[16:10] something not blown
[16:13] but it would that'd be hard hold that
[16:15] back as long as we can yeah yeah so and
[16:18] as long as it's ordered
[16:20] obligated by December 31st we're okay
[16:24] so we should have a clear picture about
[16:27] it yes I did want to add that the grant
[16:30] for the playground is in September so if
[16:32] we wouldn't end up needing all of that
[16:34] we would know by September so we can
[16:37] reallocate and then all the projects
[16:39] that I removed um from the top of the
[16:42] list and represented as completed
[16:44] projects amount they're all on the city
[16:47] website under Administration if you'd
[16:48] like to read the synopsis of what we've
[16:51] done
[16:53] okay those AR programs certainly have
[16:56] come in handy they've really helped a
[16:59] lot immensely once in a
[17:04] lifetime um there's a few other things
[17:07] uh that I just wanted to touch base on
[17:10] um many thanks to Lydia for doing so i'
[17:14] I've told some of the team here that
[17:17] sometimes it's the smallest projects
[17:18] that are the hardest projects and the
[17:21] church sign at the intersection of 36
[17:24] and 40 Lydia did the large part of a
[17:27] coordination with the churches as well
[17:29] as the sign company I got an immense
[17:33] positive feedback on Facebook um so it
[17:37] looks good so thank you
[17:40] viia um congratulations to everyone uh
[17:44] but the city won the Maryland Rural
[17:47] Water Water System of the year um award
[17:51] last week at the Maryland Rural Water
[17:53] conference
[17:54] and some of us were on the front page of
[17:56] the paper so that was good PR but um I
[18:00] think more importantly just the the
[18:02] recognition for what the city's done
[18:04] over the past 30 to 40 years with
[18:07] building the water system and then um
[18:10] supporting our neighbors to the south in
[18:13] their time of need
[18:14] so plus the gold and it's an award the
[18:20] optim you know what it's called yeah
[18:24] there's that word but it's we've met all
[18:26] three metrics uh that the EPA wants us
[18:29] to achieve in terms of source water
[18:32] protection of our of our Sur I'm sorry
[18:35] of our surface water so taking measures
[18:37] to eliminate the presence of
[18:39] cryptosporidium in our water supply so
[18:43] we were only one of four rural
[18:45] jurisdictions in Maryland to receive
[18:48] that
[18:53] so we did not win the taste of the tap
[18:57] award which means we have the best water
[18:59] but we're competing with wellwater
[19:00] communities like it's just not it's not
[19:03] Apples to
[19:07] Apples tastes
[19:12] very and then lastly um between this
[19:17] week between right now and next Tuesday
[19:19] we're going to be migrating to new um
[19:22] meeting online meeting software so we
[19:25] will no longer be using this I Compass
[19:28] product product we're actually migrating
[19:30] to the Civic plus product so it will be
[19:33] better integrated with our
[19:35] website
[19:37] um and we'll the live stream um people
[19:41] will have to go directly to the YouTube
[19:42] page to find the live stream that'll be
[19:46] the probably the biggest change but this
[19:47] is about a 50% cost savings and annual
[19:50] subscription so between the cost savings
[19:53] and the better integration with the
[19:55] website um we thought it was the most
[19:57] prudent move so um Jamie on Bethany's
[20:01] staff has kind of taken the lead with
[20:04] Bethany and I doing a little bit um but
[20:08] many many thanks to Jamie for leading
[20:11] that and uh so we'll be getting
[20:13] everything switched over and so going
[20:17] forward for people looking for the
[20:18] meeting if they would have this I
[20:20] Compass the Frostburg City whatever this
[20:23] Frostburg city. Civic web bookmarked
[20:26] they would just need to go to Frostburg
[20:28] city.org
[20:29] and then go to the meetings there so
[20:31] it'll be more similar to like the
[20:33] counties and cumberland's meeting
[20:36] software
[20:39] so um but hopefully I mean and your
[20:42] agenda will look different in terms of
[20:45] font and layout but the content will
[20:48] remain the same so but just wanted to
[20:51] give you a heads up on
[20:54] that that's all I have but I'd like to
[20:57] turn it over to you all to answer or
[20:59] address anything of
[21:06] concern all right very good thank you
[21:08] all very much have a good evening