We will bring the meeting to order.
Alright, good evening everybody.
Welcome to the Queen Ens County Commissioners meeting.
This is a public meeting
that is being aired live on our local cable television
station, QAC TV seven.
These media broadcasts provide county citizens an
opportunity to watch and review
our scheduled public meetings.
In addition to our live audience this evening,
we are providing remote options for citizens to watch
and participate in county commissioner meetings.
Citizens may watch our meeting live on our website at
qac.org/live,
or on our public access governmental television channels
provided by Breeze Line Cable Services.
Also, as part of tonight's meeting,
citizens may email comments to public comment@qac.org.
All comments received will be summarized
during the present public comment period.
On tonight's agenda. We acknowledge everyone's participation
and by attending you acknowledge this session is
both recorded and aired.
Pressing. Public comment will be taken
and is limited to three minutes per person.
If you do care to speak, please stand at the inform.
Please sign up at the information table out in the hallway.
Comments longer than three minutes can be submitted in
writing for the commissioner's review.
We will now stand and be led in the Pledge of Allegiance
by commission, president Jim r,
My pledge, allegiance to be the flag
of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God and indivisible with liberty
and justice for all
silence.
So Chris was gonna do it.
Alright, commissioners.
First up we have to approve the minutes
and the agenda for tonight.
So our agenda for tonight's meeting August 25th, along
with the regular session minutes, the close session minutes,
the sanitary commission minutes,
and the Rhodes Board minutes from the August 11th meeting
have all been circulated for your review.
Do we have any additions or corrections? Yep.
Make a motion to add two additional action
items to tonight's agenda. Second,
Move a motion to second.
Any discussion? All those in favor signify the same, aye.
Aye. Aye. Opposed? So moved.
Motion to accept the agenda as amended
and the comm minutes from August 11th.
Second.
All those in favor? Aye.
Okay, thank you Commissioners.
So we just held a closed session under the general
provisions article, section 3, 3 0 5 B one for boards,
commissions, and personnel,
and section 3 3 0 5 B three for land acquisition.
So I do believe we have a, an appointment to make
I move to appoint
or reappoint Rick Sierra
to fill the vacancy on the housing authority.
This is a five year term
that will expire on June 30th, 2030. One
Second.
We have a motion to second Any discussion? See none.
All those in favor signify by saying aye a. Aye. Opposed?
So moved.
Okay. And we had
that Government services relations contract.
We have a motion for that please.
I move to execute the Cornerstone Government Affairs
Services agreement effective October 1st, 2026 to
September 30th, 2027.
Second. Second. We have a motion
and a second on this topic.
Any other discussion? Seeing none.
All those in favor signify saying aye. Aye. Opposed?
So moved.
Alright, thank you commissioners.
That brings us to the press public comment.
This is our general press public comment
session. Have anybody signed?
We have. Okay. Mr. F said,
Mr, we appreciate all citizens for taking time
to express views to the county commissioners.
Comments are limited to three minutes per person
comments longer than three
minutes can be submitted in writing.
This commission respects your desire
and right to convey your message freely.
When you come forward, please speak clearly at the state
microphone, state your name,
your address, topic of interest.
And in keeping with the dignity of our office, we ask
that all views be expressed in a
respectful and civil manner.
Thank you Commissioners. Jay Fag,
queen Ads Conservation Association.
I wanna make a comment first on Chester Haven Beach,
and I hope I can get through the whole thing,
but I'd also like to just kind of put a placeholder
for the last press and public comment
because I do have just a general sort of
community announcement that I'd like to offer.
And so I just want to make that known. Now, Mr.
Chairman, if I can add that at the very end, commissioners,
at the last commissioner meeting,
Chester Haven Beach was on the agenda.
You all voted to, not all of you,
but by a three, two vote
to extend the Public Works agreement.
I wanna make you aware of something
because I was shocked by this myself.
I posted on Facebook the outcome of that vote.
It's on there for everybody to see.
I urge you to go and look at my page, 46,000 views on
that one page alone.
If you go through the comments,
there is not one favorable comment in support
of Chester Haven Beach, not a single one.
All of them are negative.
These are all your citizens that you represent.
And so I think that there's an opportunity for you all
to reconsider, and I'll tell you what that is.
At the last meeting, you voted
to extend the Public Works agreement,
but you did so without actually having the agreement
because tonight the agreement's on the agenda.
So you all made a move to extend an agreement
that you didn't have the opportunity to read
because it's on your agenda for tonight.
And so it seems to me that
that gives you a little bit of breathing space.
And I would ask you, in light
of the overwhelming negative support towards this particular
development, in light of the fact
that this thing has come up over
and over again in light of the fact
that the Critical Area Commission says
that the developer does not have the number of lots
that he claims, I think this gives you
sufficient justification
to not extend this Public Works agreement.
And I hope that you'll reconsider it at the last meeting.
I wish I had the opportunity to rebut some of
what Mr. Stevens said, but I'll try
and take that opportunity now within just
the last few minutes that I have.
Last minute that I have, he said that all this will come
before the the Planning Commission
and you know, people will have the opportunity
to raise concerns then he's absolutely right about that.
But it is putting the cart before the horse
because at the end of the day,
the overriding authority on this is
the critical area commission.
And they say that the lots don't exist.
So you'll be putting county staff through an enormous amount
of work, going through all different kinds of things
when the authority has already said no.
So with that, I hope you'll reconsider it tonight.
There's no reason for you to continue on
with this Public Works agreement
and on that basis alone,
I hope you'll reconsider it and then reject it. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you. Would anybody else like to speak?
There's nobody else signed up. Somebody you have. Yes.
Thank you.
Sorry. All right, commissioners.
We have four emails tonight.
The first one comes from Wendy Lillian Illian.
Dear Queens County Commissioners, I'm unable
to attend the upcoming hearing because of the short notice
by I want to make concerns clear
regarding the proposed 48th month extension
of the Public Works sewer agreement.
How can the county approve an extension
for a project when the courts have determined
that the underlying growth authorization is illegal
and void, the county
and the developer should not be able to use the public works
or sewer agreement to advance the subdivision when the
underlying growth authorization was declared illegal.
Because of approximately 81 acres
of the property are located within the resource conservation
area of Maryland's critical area.
If the underlying authorization cannot legally support the
proposed development, what purpose does the extending the
agreement for another 48 months serve?
The proposed extension appears to concern infrastructure
for more than 80 homes, that based on the court's decisions
cannot legally be built.
I also urge the commissioners to consider the financial
and political consequences of moving forward
with an agreement tied
to a development that has already been found.
Unlawful County residents expect their elected officials
to protect the county's resources, follow court decisions
to make decisions that are in long-term public interest.
I hope the commissioners will also consider the history
of development controversies on Ken Island,
including the serious environmental concerns, pollution,
regulatory violations, and litigation associated
with Hian development.
Those experiences demonstrate how costly
and disruptive development disputes can become
for a community and its elected officials.
I respectfully ask that the commissioners
to carefully reconsider any extension to this agreement
and to explain how it can legally
and practically justify given the court's decisions
regarding the underlying growth authorization.
I cannot attend the hearing, but I want my concerns
to be part of the public record.
I'll be voting this year. I'll be paying close attention
to how this matter is handled.
Thank you for your consideration, Wendy.
Our next email comes from Di Quinn Reno.
I request that this statement be read aloud during press
and public comments portion
of the August 25th, 2026 meeting As I'm unable
to attend in person, I'm extremely disappointed by the vote
to extend the Public Works agreement
for Chester Haven Beach.
The negative consequences of this development
for our local community environment could not be clearer
despite significant public opposition.
The motion was approved by with no commissioner.
Discussion, my attention will be
to speak at the polls in November
and will not vote to reelect commissioners who continue
to support this development.
Next email comes from Heather Skipper.
I'm writing to express my deep concern
regarding your recent three to two vote
to extend the Public Works agreement for Chester Haven Beach
for an additional four years.
It is unclear to your constituents why the county is using
public works and sewer agreements
to advance the subdivision whose underlying growth
authorization was declared illegal and void by the courts.
Circuit courts December, 2025 ruling clearly established
that the majority of this 101 acre property,
specifically 81 acres,
resides within the strictly protected resource conservation
area, the RCA of the critical area.
This legal realty will not change.
Providing a sewer extension for a project
that cannot legally be built is a contradiction.
Furthermore, this decision sets a dangerous precedent.
It allows dormant developers
to game our planning system using antiquated
1950s era plats.
Queens County has already been consumed the, I'm sorry,
Queens County has already consumed the vast majority
of its state allotted growth allocation.
Extending agreements
for the invalid projects undermines our remaining allocation
and waste limited county resources.
It also exposes the county to predictable, costly
and avoidable legal challenges.
Lastly, I urge you to remember why transplants like myself,
chose our homes on can island.
Nearly two decades ago, we moved here for the charm
of tidal wetlands, the forest,
the wildlife, and the open shorelines.
Today, the islands being strangled by overgrowth,
displacement of the wildlife,
devaluing our cross island trail and wiping out green space.
Please consider the long-term future of our county,
the environment and the voices
of your constituents as you move forward.
Sincerely, Heather Skipper
and our final email comes from Peggy Canfield.
It is unbelievable that Chester Haven is being threatened
again, given the court's ruling.
Why would the commissioners put
this critical area in jeopardy?
Again, the commissioners that vote voted
for this do not care about the bay or the world.
Unbelievable. This is this atrocity
and this is under consideration.
Again, Peggy Canfield, that's all the emails I have.
Thank you. Would anybody else like
to speak Mr. Stevens?
In light of Joseph Stevens, as you know,
i I represent Chester Haven Beach.
And in light of some of the comments that were made,
I just need to clarify a few things.
One is, is that the public works agreement
before you is the exact same language,
but for the extension they
Can't hear you.
They can't hear you the exact same language,
but for the extension in time that was requested.
And two is is that the court decision involved only the
inclusion of the property in the county growth area in order
for it to get public water.
It had nothing to do with the lots of record.
And as I've said many times,
that will eventually, and as Mr.
Falstaff agreed, we'll eventually get decided by the courts.
So we act, asked you to act favorably
and continue with the vote that you took two weeks ago.
Thank you.
Anyone else? Seeing none,
we'll close press on public comment.
Okay.
All right, commissioners, we can move into the
presentations portion of tonight's agenda.
So first up we have our friends from the Maryland
Association of Counties, Mr. Michael Sanderson
and executive director and our president of Maco Mc Keegan.
Aso, would you come on up to the, to the table please? Yeah.
And there is a presentation in your books tab six pages one
through 16 and up on the screen as well.
Welcome. Alright, welcome. Yeah.
Okay. Do I press, do I not
press? No, it just turns off. Okay.
You press if you don't want
to be heard, otherwise you're live.
Okay. That's it. Yeah. First of all, I wanna here,
Here's a clip for the presentation.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for taking time
to hear from us this evening.
Appreciate your time, Michael
and I, I appreciate whatever you did on the bridge.
'cause we came across in lickety
sports, so thank you very much.
Driving to my, my husband's in my place in Bethany.
Sometimes we get tied up on that bridge.
And I also wanna say, I like the
whatever the county decided to do where you're,
if you get off 50, you don't get back on.
I know it makes some people crazy,
but for someone who sits there
and keeps with the screaming children in the back of the car
and the dog threatening to, you know, do whatever, it's good
to know that if someone gets off, there's no way for them
to get around the traffic and get back on.
So appreciate that.
As you know, and I am following in big shoes
and I'm trying very hard to fill them.
We, Michael and the president go around the state
and visit with all 23 counties
and the city of Baltimore, their legislative bodies,
and have a meeting to discuss what's going on in Annapolis,
what's going on at the federal level.
And the thing that I like most is
to hear from you all, what do you hear?
Clearly growth
and development is an issue in Queen Anne County as well
as it is in Frederick County.
You don't have quite the same hot button issue that we have,
but growth and development is a problem across, you can
Keep the data centers I do in your neighborhood.
We're, we're good. We're good.
That is an issue we don't wanna bring up to tonight,
but it is a, it is a problem.
And, and as you know, the
governor is pushing all the counties to do more
with developing affordable housing to do more
with educating our kids to do more with repairing our roads
and making sure that all of our people
and their services that they need to be able to live
and thrive in Maryland are operational.
And that comes down to us and budgets.
And as you know, we all struggle with making sure
that we have enough money to pay for the services
that our residents demand and need to be able to thrive.
But sometimes it gets a little tight.
So we are here to hear from you to hear what we can do
to help you in Annapolis starting next January.
I am term limited, so I will be out in January
and Jack will once again be serving as past president.
So thank you Jack for stepping in for me.
And now I will turn it over to Michael
to go through the particulars.
Well, good evening and,
and thanks very much for making time on your agenda.
I know you've got a, a busy schedule for tonight.
I'm Michael Sanderson, the executive director
of the Maryland Association of Counties.
We're a nonprofit organization that serves
and supports all the county elected officials
and all the services you provide
all the way across Maryland.
We do advocacy work on behalf
of all those local services in Annapolis.
And that's what I'll focus on
for the most part this evening.
As always, I brought a big, thick presentation
and I'm not going to click step by step by step through it,
but some of it is just there.
Leave behind materials to, to illustrate some
of the issues we've been working on.
I, I wanna be economical with your time
and just hit a few big picture issues
and if there's something I miss that you'd like
to get in further drill away.
So I'll speak to a couple of things.
Sort of the big picture, focus on affordability,
the state's budget situation,
and then a couple thorny things
that we're still in the middle of as we speak.
Affordability has just been an increasing drumbeat
as a Maryland public policy challenge increasing over each
of the last several years.
As you all have been on the campaign trail,
you've been hearing about it.
There are gonna be a whole wave of either reelected
or newly elected senators and delegates
and county commissioners and council members.
And many of them will have heard most loudly
and most clearly from their residents
and their constituents about my electric bill
or about price of housing or the price of childcare
and affordability as a, as a beleaguering issue.
Here in Maryland, we've got a problem on a number of fronts.
And what's particularly challenging there is there's not,
in all candor, there's not a ton that these senators,
delegates, commissioners,
and council members can really do to tackle those issues.
It doesn't keep the general assembly from
trying on some of these matters.
And we're gonna, we're gonna continue to see some
of these areas as a focus in Annapolis,
but that's, that's peculiar
that if the number one thing you heard from residents is go
tackle this stuff and you find out
that there's really nothing in the toolbox to address
electric bills going up, that that's a supply
and demand issue that's bigger than
even the state of Maryland.
It's a multi-state approval and, and so forth.
There's, there's a lot going on there.
We did see electric rates
as a target Annapolis this last year.
They sort of concatenated multiple different little bills
and stitched 'em into one big one
and passed it as a relief act.
A lot of the rate payer relief will come from suspending
some add-on programs
that were basically paid by rate payers.
So you can take a break on a couple of those programs
and give folks some, some rate payer relief.
But 12 bucks a month isn't
what has got your residents
concerned about their electric rates.
If their rates are up $70 a month over the last year,
that's the number they've got in mind.
I don't know what the state might have in mind
for rate payer relief on electricity.
There's only so much that you can do on that front.
And in the midst of spiking demand connected technology
and data centers and so forth, that affects the whole region
independent of whether a data center lands in Frederick
County or in another one in Loudoun County, Virginia,
or if it's in West Virginia
or in across the border into Pennsylvania.
Our region is still gonna feel the,
the demand is high for electrons.
It's very high for compute.
They're big users of electricity
that's driving the market driven side of these things.
So expect that to continue to be hot.
But I think once again, Annapolis will be in search
of a solution without any particularly obvious candidates
in somewhat similar fashion.
The battle over housing
and our, our statewide shortage of housing units.
Some folks mostly focused on the affordable
and attainable tier, but we have shortages
that pretty much every tier
of affordability in housing across the state, depending on
what, what study you read, we're 80,000 units short
or 110,000 units short of what we need today
or what we need five years from now or, or whatever.
But almost everybody agrees
that we're short on housing stock
and we're probably not building as many as we need to
to sort of bring supply
and demand into, into reasonable flux.
Interest rates aren't helping us
and there's nothing a Maryland State senator can do
to change the interest rate environment for borrowing
and financing projects, both on the financing the building
and then for a buyer to, to buy a home.
That's its own challenge. There's
a number of other components.
What Annapolis can do is come
after our local permitting processes and go come
after local zoning and so forth.
We ended up finding middle ground on a couple different
bills that dealt with local zoning approvals and so forth.
I think we ended up at a reasonable place,
reasonable place on a couple of bills that made sense.
A whole lot of other ideas were, were effectively shelled.
I don't think this debate is over either.
So a couple bills passed last year.
I don't think we'll be able to count on two hands.
The bills introduced next year
that will be in on housing policy and in one way
or another affecting local governments.
Mako, as you would imagine, we principally stand up
for community driven decision making is the best way
to affect smart land use.
You just can't do the block by block work
of effective zoning from a committee room in Annapolis
or from the Department of Planning in a central building in
Baltimore or in Annapolis.
Just can't do it. So try as they might, will,
will end up having some tension,
I think over those issues continuing.
And I don't know what happens on other matters with,
with childcare and whatnot.
Maryland. Maryland is a relatively expensive place to live,
to build a home and and so forth for a variety of reasons.
And that leads to affordability, problems for childcare
and a long laundry list of other things that sort
of eases into the next point that I want to get into.
And that is the state's fiscal circumstance.
The arithmetic is bad.
I would, I would paint it this way if you like.
How on earth did this happen? I would say that for most
of my time, I've been a fiscal guy for a long time.
I did, I I did makos portfolio of budget and finance things
before I became the executive director.
And I've been following state finances
for, for 30 some years.
And in an ordinary year, if if inflation is two or 3%
and there's little population growth
and a little productivity growth,
that Maryland's economy would grow by something like four
or 5% in a typical year.
And the state revenues would track right along with that.
'cause the state state's main revenues are
income taxes and sales taxes.
That's right. Now who has a job right now
who bought a pair of shoes this week?
It's not property taxes,
which is a little slower on the uptake.
So if you have four
or 5% growth of your, of a general fund budget
that today is about $29 billion, 10 years ago was at 10
or 20, you know, 20 or something like that,
you could be thinking, all right, $20 billion budget,
we grow by four or 5 billion, four or 5% a year.
That's like a billion new dollars a year.
The state could say we have an ambitious education program,
the blueprint, and it's gonna cost the state another
$3 billion over this 10 years.
Let's phase it in
and just mentally we'll take the first 300 million of
that 800, 900, a billion of new dollars a year
and just sort of say education's first.
That's the bird that eats first
and then the rest of the nest can fight over the rest.
It's not a totally irrational way to think
of a 10 year fiscal plan,
but what happens when your growth isn't 5%, it's 1%.
And that's where the state is right now.
State revenue's growing roughly 1% a year.
Maybe it'll pick up to one and a half or two,
but there's nobody out there forecasting
green lights to four or five.
And if you've made spending commitments
that basically say we need to keep pace
with the things we're we're providing to the same people,
we're worried about folks who might lose benefits
because of federal actions.
We've lost a bunch of federal workers
and folks who supported
and surrounded them over the last couple of years.
That's been a a, an impediment in the Maryland economy.
And we've got outmigration to the south
and to the west from here.
You put all that stuff together
and the math is just not math.
And if the state is looking at growth in of the revenues
of only $300 million, they're gonna have the,
the cruise control budget requires another 700
or 800 just to maintain.
This also is the year
that they run outta money in the piggy bank to pay for the,
the blueprint program itself hasn't been really
squeezed on the general fund.
They've had an education trust fund
with casino money and other things like that.
It had a fund balance. It's being,
it's been, it's been drawn down.
It's gonna be to zero and they need general
funds this coming year.
Their working number is over two
and a half billion dollars short for the budget year ahead.
If you're a gambling man,
I would think the number will be larger than that
by New Year's Day.
So the budget that needs to be presented, iss gonna have
to resolve a problem to the two and three, three
and a half billion dollars general fund,
29,000,000,003, three and a half.
You're more than 10% of the budget.
It's just genuinely short.
Probably ends up being a combination
of all the usual suspects.
Go back to the list of revenue raisers.
You go back to funding commitments
and promises that you've made.
You see where can you, you know, move in all directions
to find some middle ground.
But those are tough times.
The state never gets
through a cycle this tough without bringing local
governments to the table as a stakeholder.
It's just, just a matter of fact,
I'm not making an oddball prediction there.
It's just never happens.
So what that looks like another round of cost shifts.
We've talked about that sort of thing before.
That's been the flavor of the month lately
to continue providing a service
and then just bill the county.
Forgive me, I didn't look up, look up the arithmetic on
what was in your last Queen Anne County budget
that was basically just an invoice
for state funded services.
But that's a meaningful number in your budget every year
that you just have to pick up the slack.
You don't have any other way to go.
I don't know what that'll look like.
It'll be difficult at every level.
So the coming year is complicated just for the general fund.
That's before you consider they're also
broke on transportation.
Transportation revenues are not keeping up with the cost
of asphalt and the maintenance of, of subways.
And they're not keeping up
with their formula on highway user revenues back to the back
to the counties and municipal governments
who take care of most of the roads.
All that's upside down.
They're also not keeping up with school construction.
They've all got some long-term liabilities lingering.
Their, their, their budget situation is the worst I've seen.
And I've been doing this a pretty long time.
So that's a little gloom and doomy.
But I mean, that's what you want to hear, right?
I mean, you, I mean, I mean it doesn't,
it doesn't make sense to come here any good news.
Yeah, no, not much in all candor.
It was a lovely evening to drive over.
Spend some time with you. I love the library.
The weather's great. Exactly.
The weather's beautiful library.
You're on the right side of Maryland.
Tell that, let me,
let me drop two more crumbs on issues that I heard a lot
of conversation around during our conference a few weeks ago
that I'll, I'll mention is ongoing issues.
One deals with state guidance for funding
of it's revenue from cannabis taxation that gets sent
to each local community.
It's the community restoration and repair fund.
We are months late in getting the specific guidance from the
state on exactly how the money is to be used.
We have a deadline coming up that each county is supposed
to match and, and have a plan together and so forth.
We have counties all over the map.
Some have said, well, we're just, we're just going ahead
and trying to get the money out the door to worthy
to worthy recipients
and nonprofits in the community and so forth.
We have others who are saying we don't wanna make a misstep
and have to pull money back.
I understand both points of view.
We have been promised that clarity is coming soon
and I hope that's true because we really need it.
We really could have used it about 90 days ago
so we could meet our deadline.
That's coming up in a few weeks.
But nonetheless, I'm hopeful
that we'll get some additional flexibility
and clarity coming soon on that front.
Another area that's a bit confusing from the state is the,
is the the paid family leave program,
family and medical leave.
The insurance program makes it F-A-M-L-I
nominally this program is supposed
to start offering benefits at the beginning
of calendar year 28, meaning they need
to start collecting payroll taxes from employers
January of 27.
Your county and all
of your counterparts across the state have expressed an
interest in being part of a cooperative to try
and provide this service outside of the state system.
Don't do it like unemployment insurance,
just pay your own way, that sort of thing.
We were never the sub the the principle motivation
for this program anyway.
Counties already give good benefits.
We're not the ones leaving folks without the
ability to take a sick day.
We're still wrapped into the program.
I don't know what the state's gonna do here.
We still don't have the guidance documents on that.
We have till November 15th
to make a decision on whether we're in or out.
And we are right now being weighed down
by some bad experiences in other states.
Minnesota State is hemorrhaging cash, Minnesota
as a state about roughly the same population as us and, and,
and some of the vaguely similar demographics and so forth.
Minnesota is hemorrhaging cash.
They're a year or two ahead of us on this.
And some of the providers who got in bed with
co you know, cooperatives
and so forth in Minnesota don't want to bid in Maryland
for fear that we'll end up going down the same path.
I don't know what happens there.
I don't know what can happen in time for our decision.
By November 15th, we, along with our partners
with the Maryland Association
of Boards Education Municipal League,
are all running in circles trying to get this sorted out.
We've got an online webinar tomorrow.
We've got somebody from each county is, is pledged to attend
that, but I'm not,
we're gonna have more questions than
answers for the, for the weeks ahead.
Nonetheless, something we're putting effort into,
is there still an opportunity to delay or defer
or deep six, the whole thing?
I don't know. In all candor,
it's been delayed a couple of times already.
There's a lot of folks who are very enamored with the goals
of this program, but it does cost the state tens of millions
of dollars to, to fund for their own employees too.
Roundabout way of saying things are challenging.
It's a tough environment.
The voters are having their say in a variety of ways
that will continue to do so.
Godspeed for the work you do
and all the things you deliver back home will continue
to support and represent you in Annapolis as best we can.
But that's never an easy task.
So glad to be here to spend time with you on
that cheery, cheery note.
I'm not traveling with you anymore.
Seems right. It was better when Jack was with you.
I think when we heard the story it was pretty
depressing actually.
So the numbers just keep getting bigger.
So, so Michael, real quick, can you speak to the latest,
I guess shoot a drop on the budget with the tech tax being
basically negated now and what they may have to pay back
and what they're actually gonna lose
and projected revenue or,
We've got, we've got two different, two different sort
of novel ideas from the state
of Maryland on how to raise revenue.
Both of these have come in the spirit of saying
the Maryland economy
or just the modern economy looks different than the economy
of 1970, but for the most part,
our tax system is still mostly the 1970 tax system.
You tax income, you tax property, you tax sales, we've,
you know, we, we've had a sales tax
that's based on buying goods and services.
The bo you know, the shoes you buy shoes in the shoebox,
you pay tax on that.
But what about, you know, I just bought a video game
and I downloaded it from a streaming service
that has no physical presence
in Maryland, all that kind of stuff.
This has been an iterative process to try and be smarter
and say if we tax a
and this thing walks, walks like a duck,
maybe we tax it the same way and so forth.
Two things Maryland has done in recent years that are both,
both in legal difficulty.
One is an advertising tax for online advertisers
who have a large presence in Maryland,
companies like Facebook
or Meta who,
who may not have a physical building in the state
of Maryland, but still have, you know, surely hundreds
of thousands of users who, who access advertising
and other things that are being delivered in the state
of Maryland through ISPs here and so forth.
So do they have a presence here where that
economic activity could be subject to a state imposed tax
that's been in the courts for several years
and was effectively just thrown out in federal court?
That probably is the end of the debate.
I I, I'm not sure I would swear to that
because these, these, there were sort of drowning,
drowning vampires here that don't never quite end the story,
but I I would say the state
has been penciling in revenues,
there has been collecting some revenues
and has been penciling in forecasts to the tune
of maybe a couple hundred
million, a couple hundred million dollars.
And almost any setting is a ton of money with the state's
whatever, $3 billion problem.
It's still like a meaningful chunk
of a $3 billion problem if it, if it's 200 million worse,
that's just one more, you know, one more shovel of dirt on,
on, on the, on the big mess.
So that situation maybe not completely
resolved, but the news is bad.
The, the second one is just a couple
of years ago in the 2025 session, the,
the so-called tech tax, the idea
of a half rate sales tax on business
to business technology services was floated and passed,
but without a particularly well craft, in my judgment,
a well-crafted definition of
what was gonna be subject to the tax.
And I I honestly remember on the floor of both the House
and the Senate, various specific members would stand up
and say, hold on, is this tax gonna apply to, let me,
let me ask you about this particular
thing or that particular thing.
The answer to every one of those questions seemed to be, no,
that won't be taxed here,
but somehow the state thought they were gonna find a half a
billion dollars of revenue in business
to business taxes paying a 3% tax rate.
So this was like cloud storage and,
and you know, online cybersecurity
and you know, software as a service agreements
and other things along those lines.
Some of which I'm sure you can make an analogy,
that they are comparable to going to whatever Circuit City
and buying software in a box on a CD and installing it.
In any event, the revenue from that, instead of being
to the tune of several hundred million dollars looks like
it's coming in at like 20 or 40.
So the definitions may have been in practice way too narrow
or this may just be an area where the ability
to elude like these are all transactions happening,
you know, in cyberspace, in the cloud, in transactions
that maybe you have this be deliverable to your
Virginia Branch or, or to your Florida branch
or your Tennessee branch or something along those lines.
I I don't think we have the full story on what's happening
there, but you put these two together
and it's kind of like two swings
and a miss at the idea of let's modernize the tax structure
and, and have areas where we're growing
and where there's a lot of activity make
their contribution as well.
It's harder to pin down than it's met the eye.
So both of those are partially baked into
the current forecasts.
The, the, the, the new, the the latest news, just a couple
of weeks old on the federal courts on the,
the interstate advertising tax is another layer on top
though, so we should know by October what the, what the,
what the first picture looks like.
And I suspect the details will fall together sometimes
sometime maybe middle of November.
Sounds about right. We'll see the details
shortly after the election.
Sounds right around November, November 5th. Yeah.
Yeah, some somewhere in that, in that ballpark along with
by the way, an analysis of how the blueprint is working
and whether there might be areas where that needs
to be ratcheted and clanked here or there,
Michael, of the $3 billion
for 2028 projected at the bottom here it says
of the 3000000002.6 is blueprint roughly.
So I distinctly recall the governor at MACO
saying, we're gonna pump the brakes on blueprint
can do we know what that means?
So the governor tr governor,
in my judgment, to his credit, the governor tried
to get ahead of this and two years ago
during the 25 session, came to the Mako conference
and said, I support the goals of the blueprint.
I'm sure most of you do too.
We're running into some affordability
and we may need to make some tweaks.
The specific, I don't wanna get super deep,
but the, the specific thing that he said was,
we're having trouble filling all the teacher
jobs we have today.
One te of the blueprint was hire extra teachers
so each teacher can spend more of her
or his time out of the classroom
with professional development
and curriculum design, other things like that,
and that'll make the profession more attractive.
And that's one of the goals of the blueprint.
He said, maybe that's a piece that we should defer
because we can't hire the,
at the time the number was like 15,000
more public school teachers.
We just can't hire 'em.
So maybe that's a thing that rather than have
that be a deliverable that happens in 26, 7, 8, 9,
maybe we could have the BA 29 31 2 thing.
We just push a couple
of these things back a bit while
we fill out the other pieces.
The general assembly initially said forget it
and then finally buckled
and said, we'll give you like 30 cents on the dollar.
We'll do a partial delay but only a piece
and we'll give a little more
flexibility to the school systems.
But, but eventually we want to get there kind of on time.
I think something along those lines almost has
to be part of the solution ahead
for this coming session in my opinion.
I think this is the year it all comes together.
I think they bite the bullet and actually do raise taxes
and raise some revenues.
I think they'll go back and say some
of the promises we've pledged,
we just can't sustain 'em. Price
Taxes on what?
I don't have any idea. Everybody thinks
it's gonna be the sales tax.
I mean that's, that's the, that's the easiest thing to do is
to say we, we tax effectively 6% on that pair of shoes
or that restaurant meal.
You make it seven. We would not be an outlier state if we
had a sales tax of 7%.
The states around us are mostly in that, in that territory.
A lot of 'em have local add-on sales taxes
that turn it into eight and a half
or nine or 10 or whatever.
Sales taxes are regressive.
There'll be a number of members of the legislature
who don't like that as a matter of public policy,
but a penny on the sales tax gets
you a billion dollars cash.
Not an elusive in the cyberspace.
Maybe if it happens, that's a,
that's like a billion dollars of real stuff.
So I don't know what it will look like.
I, I think it's, I think it's really hard to imagine this
resolution not including some revenues
and some spending cuts,
But he's, he's increased the fees
and taxes a billion dollars last year and the year before
and now we're talking about doing it again.
So after the election of course is over.
I know it's not you, right? It it's just frustration, right?
I mean it's, it's a perpetual tension
in, in every state.
There's, you know, there's the question about what level
of services do you want to offer and provide and support,
and then how do you find the means to do 'em?
And it's a, you know, there's a,
there's a partisan debate there,
there's a philosophical debate there.
It that debate is gonna get connected
to Maryland's affordability issues and if there's three
or $4 billion a year at stake
and whether we're spending less
or taxing more, some folks will say, well,
this is our opportunity to do something about affordability
right here, let's spend less o other folks will say,
but you know, but this service but this family,
but these kids I, I've seen, we, we've all seen
that debate play out small stage, large stage,
it's gonna be full circle.
What I hope though is whatever the resolution is
that we don't have 27 B yet another year of kick in the can.
'cause they're awfully good at doing the bare minimum
and saying, we'll come back in a couple years
and see maybe, maybe the, you know,
the de you sex mock now the, you know,
hand from God and suddenly everything's fine.
We grow our way out of it. And so I think just do the thing,
tear off the bandaid, get it done, whatever it is,
and if we have to eat our lumps, just do it and get on.
I don't, don't love saying it that way, but,
And the challenge that passing down all those unfunded
funded mandates to the, to the counties,
forcing the county elected officials to raise taxes,
to cover all those expenses that the state used to cover
that we have to now cover, right?
IE teachers pensions, right?
Mandated to salary increases, passing the buck
And, and and where do you have to go?
Like I, I, I've forgotten the exact arithmetic,
but it's, it's like 70
or 75% of Marylanders live in a county that is already
at the 3.2 income tax ceiling.
Now they give us a tiny little sliver on top of that,
but there's, you, you don't have an income tax tool
to really go raise revenue.
It's gonna be property taxes, okay?
You're worried about affordable housing
and the idea is to go send the counties back
to the drawing board to go raise property taxes
and that's regressive
and it lands right on renters,
it lands right on the middle income.
We don't, we don't have grad gradations in the property tax
the way you do with income tax
where everybody gets a personal deduction,
then you start paying taxes later.
You pay property tax on the first nickel of your,
your property value.
It's, I mean, it's crazy policy half
of the country is out there
with ballot issues about limiting or cutting
or eliminating property taxes
because they're so unpopular, they're so regressive
and they're so anti housing.
And Maryland in effect is saying,
we're gonna shift the costs down to you all, you all just,
you got one good tool, but adds a good one anyway.
Sounds so I, we don't usually have this much
of a crowd when you come.
So this is actually a great opportunity
because I think there are, I didn't know
before I select official about Mako and what Mako does.
So I'm glad that a lot of people could hear from you
and despite sort of the, other than that Mrs.
Lincoln speech that you gave us, I I I, I'd just like
to point out for the people that are here about the sort of
what does get accomplished with Maco, I mean,
there's challenges ahead, but what a great organization
for us to represent the issues of the county.
And so for anybody who is like discouraged
with the way the state of politics in DC
or even Annapolis, I wish you could watch
how the county representatives meet at Mako
because it's not politics, it's there's a problem.
How do we try to solve the problem?
And we all really work together on committee with mc
and Jack was President Mako,
and we really are able to accomplish some great things
from a perspective of county operations.
We don't always win. Sometimes we,
we lose some, some big ones.
We fight really hard. Yeah. But we fight really hard and,
and we're down in Annapolis and we're testifying
and when we're there on behalf of Mako,
it's a very influential voice that we have.
I would encourage more citizens to get down into Annapolis
during the 90 days and,
and let their voices be heard on things like,
are we spending too much money on things?
Are we overtaxing people?
Because there's only so much we can do at the local level.
I will just tell you a story.
Several years ago we had a representative from Frederick
County who's not there anymore, who said to me, oh,
I will never run for local office
because you guys, everybody knows
how you voted on every issue.
I like being in Annapolis
because nobody pays attention to what we're doing
and I can vote however I want
and my constituents never know.
And I thought, ooh, I don't think I'd say that out loud,
but yeah, I I I get it.
We, we, we fight.
There was a time Jack and I were in a delegate's office
and we were trying to discuss solar on farmland
and at one point I thought I was gonna have to jump
between the two of them because Jack was passionate
and this delegate was passionate.
And I'm thinking there's gotta be a middle ground here
somewhere, but we're not gonna reach it right now.
So yeah, we, we, we try very, very hard
and as you said, I am from a
bluish purple county and it doesn't matter whether
you are from a conservative county or a liberal county
or a moderate county, we try
and do what's best for the counties across the state.
Yeah,
I think so.
You had asked for good news.
I wanna spend 45 seconds giving you a tiny
little silver lining story.
We always talk about these big topics
and a lot of 'em are the, are the rough ones and so forth.
A really good win that we've earned over several years is we
have way too many people who are stuck in the county jail
where they, where the place they need
to be is in psychiatric care.
And the state has not been able to do right by, by folks
who ought to be in full-time psychiatric
care in, in a pro.
It is been a back and forth, you know,
finger pointing and so forth.
But the, the state courts are, have,
have held the Maryland Department of Health accountable
for not providing the beds so we can get people out
of local jails and into the care that they need.
The answer is not to force the local jail
to start doing psychiatric services.
That's not the answer at all.
It's for the state to prop up the beds.
Now cash is a problem, it's gonna be a money issue
and so forth, but the state is orienting in the correct
direction rather than pointing their finger at us.
It's back at themselves.
That's the right direction on this issue.
We, we have, we have too many folks
who have substance abuse problems and mental hygiene issues,
and what they really need is care rather than being stuck in
your jail or the Baltimore County Jail
or the Frederick County Jail.
So we're going in the right direction
on that with a lot of work.
Awesome. Awesome.
Well thank you very much for having us. Yes. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you.
Safe travel luck. Safe travels. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Good luck with the rest of your agenda.
Thank you. Thank you. You don't have sewer
problems in Frederick, right?
Oh, sewer and water.
All right, commissioners. Our next presenter is Miss Laura
Reno, the executive director for Not My Child.
So Laura, come on up please. Yeah. Alright. Alright.
He's coming with me. Alright. Alright.
Thank you for your patience.
We've been trying to get you
on the agenda for quite a while.
Appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah,
I appreciate it.
Appreciate it. Is anybody
Unfamiliar with me?
I'm Anthony Reno. 2017, I founded Not my child,
I now serve on the board as the president.
What originally started off was educational,
speaking in schools, speaking in venues,
assisting families in need financially for cost
of funerals, cremations, benches, treatment.
It's, we've moved completely in a different direction over
the past several years and we're actually proud of it
and I wanna thank her for the how this thing's grown.
Our initiatives now are Choose Hope Project Restart
and Partners in the workforce.
And I'll let Laura elaborate on exactly
what these programs do that we implemented
that are helping so many people.
Thank you. And thank you for having us here today.
Project Restart was initiated in 2022
and it has become a major focus of our work.
The program helps individuals in recovery overcome barriers
to education, training and sustainable employment.
In 2026 alone, we have supported more than 50 individuals
through Project Restart.
That support looks different for every person.
Sometimes it's formal training or tuition assistance.
Sometimes it's helping someone prepare for an interview,
find employment, create a resume, advocate for themselves,
navigate resources, or simply figure out
what their next steps should be.
This year 12 individuals completed forensic peer training
and eight completed certified peer
recovery specialist training.
We currently have one participant enrolled in
community health worker training.
Two, preparing to begin GED programming
and one enrolled in the Marine Tech Technology Skilled
Trades Pro program at Chesapeake College.
And he actually called me right before I left
and he was very excited.
He just got a job in the marine tech industry,
so that was very exciting.
Those are, those are more than training numbers to us.
These are individuals in recovery, gaining credentials,
education, confidence
and pathways towards sustainable employment
and long-term stability.
Our next program was is Choose Hope.
Because substance doesn't only affect the individual,
it infects the entire family.
Our Choose Hope support groups are facilitated
by licensed therapists, providing families
and loved ones with professional support from people
who understand the complexities
of substance use and recovery.
We currently have two groups
with approximately six regular participants.
One is in Queen Anne County and one is in Kent County.
They're still in their growth stages,
but we're committed to building them into sustainable
resources for families in our community.
And beginning September 10th, we are expanding Choose Hope
through a partnership with Compass Hospice,
with experienced grief support professionals providing
workshops specifically for people grieving a
substance use related loss.
Our third program is Partners in the Workplace
and that focuses on employers
Recovery doesn't stop when someone gets a job.
Employers need tools to better understand substance use
and recovery, reduce stigma, recognize challenges,
and create workplaces where employees in recovery as well
as their family members
of those in recovery have an opportunity to succeed.
Partners in the workplace is led by a licensed therapist
who holds a PhD and specializes in addiction counseling,
bringing professional expertise into practical
conversations with employers.
We introduce this initiative through a Lunch
and learn that drew more than 30 attendees
and generated interest from several organizations.
We have a scheduled workshop in at the Kent County Library
for early 2027, and the Kent County, YMCA Compass
and Chesapeake College have also expressed interest.
We are now working to turn
that interest into consistent employer programming
through the mid shore.
We have also recently become a recovery friendly workplace
through the Maryland Department of Labor.
We felt that that was important.
If we're asking other employers to understand
and support recovery in the workplace,
we should model those practices ourselves.
As a lot of our volunteers are either in recovery
or have family that is in recovery
or struggling with substance use.
We also recently had the opportunity
to present our partners in the workplace program
to the Maryland Department of Labor for consideration to be
among their stigma related stigma reduction initiatives
and resources that they recommend
through their recovery friendly workplace.
For us, that was an important step towards potentially
expanding the reach of this program
beyond the employers we're able to connect with directly.
I also think it's important to share
how we were able to build all of this.
Much of what not my child has accomplished has been made
possible through our own fundraising events,
community donations, sponsorships,
and smaller grants that I've worked to identify
and secure, not my child has applied to Queen Anne's County
for funding on three occasions
and to date, we have not received direct county funding.
Despite that, we've continued to support
and partner with county initiatives
whenever possible, including using not my child resources
to help fund training opportunities
that benefited county employees when that training
otherwise was not funded.
I don't share that as a criticism.
I share it because I think it demonstrates our commitment
to this community and what we've been able to accomplish
with limited resources.
I would really like to see Queen Annes County become an
invested partner in this work.
We are at an at a point organization, we,
we are at an A point organizationally, we've reached a place
where our greatest barrier is making a larger impact
to making a larger impact.
Isn't the lack of need ideas or partnership, it's capacity.
We have individuals reaching out for help.
We have organizations interested in our programs.
We have employers and community
partners who wanna work with us.
But right now, the fundraising, the grant writing program,
development, administration, administration, marketing,
partnership development,
and much of the day-to-day coordination
still runs through me.
We're intentionally, we're intentionally working
to build not my child's infrastructure, such
as additional staff, stronger systems, dedicated programs,
space, better data and outcome tracking
and diversified funding.
So our ability to serve people isn't dependent on
how many hours one person can fit into a day.
We've proven that the programs can work.
Now we're trying to build the organization
that can sustain and expand them.
So tonight we're not simply asking the county
for general operating support.
We'd like to offer two very specific ways
that Queen Annes County could invest directly in recovery
and workforce development in our community.
Our first request is 8,500
to bring certified peer recovery
specialist training to Queen Annes County.
Earlier this year, Kent,
Kent County Opioid restitution funds allowed us to provide
the certified peer recovery support training in Chestertown,
where eight individuals completed the program.
We've already demonstrated
that we can identify the participants,
coordinate the training,
and help individuals take the next steps towards
certification, education, and employment.
We would now like to bring that same opportunity
to Queen Anne's County.
An investment of appro, approximately 85 8500 would allow us
to provide A-C-P-R-S training
opportunity here in the county.
Our second opportunity is partners in the workplace.
Kent County Opioid restitutions funds are also supporting
our ability to provide these professionally facilitated
workshops to Kent County employers at no cost.
We currently do not have comparable funding to offer
that same programming in Queen Anne County.
Facilitator costs are approximately $400 per workshop.
So an investment of 4,000 would allow us
to provide approximately 10 partners in the workplace
workshops to Queen Annes County employers at no cost
to the participating businesses.
In both cases, these are programs
that we're already implementing.
With the support from the opioid rest restitution funds in a
neighboring county, we would welcome the opportunity
to bring that same investment
and those same resources to Queen Annes County.
We would be grateful for the counties consideration
of either investment.
Before I close, I wanted
to appreciate the commissioner's assistance in obtaining
some clarity regarding the Queen Annes County opioid
restitution fund process.
Not my child's proposed work was included in the county's
local abatement plan last year,
and I've been trying since the beginning of this year
to understand the funding process and the next steps.
I was advised that I was advised
that my inquiry was being forwarded for follow up
and unfortunately I have not received further information.
I'm not raising, again, I'm not raising that tonight
to criticize the process, I simply wanna make sure
that I understand how to appropriately pursue these funds
and that so we have an opportunity to be considered
for funding that could directly support Queen
Annes County residents.
If someone could help me with the appropriate person
and clarify that process, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Not my child has changed tremendously,
tremendously since we began in 2017.
But our reason for this work hasn't changed.
Anthony Junior's story started not my child.
And today, every person
that we help write a chapter in their own story is
part of his legacy.
We've shown that not my child can accomplish.
We've shown what not my child can accomplish
with limited resources, strong partnerships in a community
that believes in our work.
We're not asking Queen Annes County
to build something for us.
We've built it. We're asking the county
to invest alongside us so that together we can bring more
of an impact home to Queen Annes County.
Thank you. Thank
You, thank you.
And I just wanted to add something too.
It, it really works because we,
she was talking about numbers for this year, 50 people going
through Project Restart, which was 50 people last year.
We had 24 that we worked
with in Talbot County, the health department.
Right. It works. There's a strain on employers right now
trying to find, trying to find employees.
Nobody wants to work. And
we're seeing that across the board.
You know, I have friends that have
restaurants, they can't find work.
These people that are in recovery, they wanna work,
they wanna change their lives
and instead of the, you know, vicious circle,
the halfway houses they go back to same people we're trying
to, we're we're breaking that, that that circle chain
and it, and it's, it's working.
Like we got this young man,
he just got a job today as a boat.
He's in the boat mechanic classes down at the college
for the Yamaha has a beautiful establishment down there.
And today he just got a job.
Last year we had a nurse graduate
through the nursing program at Chesapeake College.
She's at an operating room check, an analyst.
I mean it's working. So we have, there's proof, you know,
there's proof that the systems that we got in place
and there are people that really need it
and it's just a costly thing to help 'em.
So yeah.
Thank you so much. I do have these for you guys.
I you, yes, thank you. I know you have one,
but I added a couple things.
Perfect. Alright. Yeah, thank you. And you said the
Grant process hasn't, But I appreciate y'alls time.
Thanks. Yeah, no, I have you three times.
Y'all have any questions? Thank you. Thank you. No.
Alright, good. Thank you Laura. Thank you.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank y.
All right, commissioners, we had the action items
scheduled next, but we are,
we can move into the legislation portion of the meeting.
Since the hearings are scheduled,
we're at the appropriate time.
Do you wanna do the, the public hearings next? Alright.
Okay. So if you wanna turn to tab number seven.
Tab seven, item one.
We have public hearing for the Maryland Agricultural Land
Preservation Fund easements.
So Mr. Joe Pippen, you wanna come on up.
This is a public hearing to receive public comment on the
submission of 11 new agricultural land preservation easement
applications on the lands listed
and detailed in the book there.
And Joe's gonna review those.
All these applications have received favorable
recommendations from the local agricultural advisory board.
So Joe, take it away please.
Alright. My name's Joe Pipman, Quinnan
County Sole Conservation District.
We're here tonight for a public hearing for submission
of applications to the mouth board.
These are just applications, these are not offers. Okay.
So these are just submissions to,
for the farms to be appraised.
Okay. What I normally do is just read off of the,
the notice here and then we'll do public comment at that.
Alright. Notice of hearing pursuant
of agricultural article section two dash 4 0 4 CI noted code
of Maryland, the county commissioners
of Queen Annes County will hold a public hearing.
August 25th today, 6:30 PM Canine library,
200 Library Circle, Stevensville, Maryland 2 1 6 6 6.
The hearing is held to receive.
Receive public comments on the establishment
of agriculture preservation easement applications on the
lands owned by the following, petitioners as follows,
Eldridge p Crenshaw Jr.
And Linda m Truman Crenshaw six election district
tax map 37 parcel nine 105.824 acres.
James Allen Smith Jr.
Third election district tax map 61 parcel
eight a hundred eighty seven 0.689 acres.
James W American
and Darlene E American Third election district tax map 68
parcel 9 57 0.04 acres.
John Wilson Cloud Jr. And Justin Cloud.
Second election district tax map 30 parcel
1 47, 41 0.912 acres.
Laker brothers LLC First election district tax map 12
and 18 parcel one 30
and 97 totaling 153.143 acres.
Michael A and Melinda G Ledowski First election district tax
map 18 parcel thirty five a hundred sixty one 0.51 acres
Michael r Bostic Jr.
Second election district tax map 30 parcel
19 266 0.927 acres
Sylvester Farms Incorporated.
Second election district tax map 30 parcel 19 266
0.9927
or sorry, 235.95 acres.
Thomas A. Jackson first election district tax map, a parcel
6 273 0.015 acres.
Thomas r Legger Senior
and Betsy Rhodes Legger first election district tax map 18
parcel 331.408 acres.
And lastly, Edward Crenshaw
and Carolyn Lee Wallace Trust
trustee First election district tax map 18 parcel
thirty two a hundred twelve acres.
Again, as Todd said, these has be,
this has been given a favorable recommendation from our
Ag preservation advisory board.
Anyone can please direct their comments to myself.
And all sites are accessible to individuals
with disability sign language interpreters
and assistant listening, listening systems will be available
for individuals with hearing impairments.
Please contact human services at 4 1 0 7 5 8 4 4 0 6
or TDD 4 1 0 7 5 8 2 1 2 6 7 days
before the hearing if needed. You got a
Motion?
You got some, somebody signed up for the hearing. Oh,
Okay.
I have one comment here. Jay Fsad. There
You go.
I just wanted to add my support commissioners.
Jay feg Queenland Conservation Association.
This is a tremendous list. I just quickly added it up.
It's 1600 acres added to our land preservation program.
For the benefit of the public that don't know about this,
the Maryland Ag Land Preservation Fund is a fund
that everybody pays into when they have a
property, property transfer.
It is a land preservation success story
of the highest order it's been recognized nationally.
Queen Anne's County is the beneficiary of this in a big way
because we're one of the leaders in the entire state.
And more land has been preserved in Queen Anne's County.
I think that any other county we're
either number one or number two.
Number one, the reason this is so important is twofold.
One, the county is one
of the largest grain produce is the largest
grain produced in county, in the state.
And so having all this land
and preservation allows for that segment
of our economy to continue.
And one thing that always gets overlooked,
but the reason that I'm a big fan of this is
because when you look at a lot of our farms
around the county, we imagine this as just farmland.
But what's not always looked at as part
of this equation is the amount of woodland
that is part of each farm.
And so I've surveyed a lot of our farmers in the county
and some of them have as much as 50% of their
property in Woodland.
And the reason that that's important is
because that woodland harbors all kinds of wildlife,
insect life, amphibians, the stuff that we ultimately need
to protect to keep our planet healthy.
And so this is a great program, commissioners, I urge you
to support it, support all these
landowners that have applied.
There's no downside in doing so.
And yeah, let's stay as the leader in the whole state
for our land preservation efforts.
Thank you.
Anybody else wanna speak in favor of land preservation?
'cause I know people say they care about it, but Okay,
How about a motion I Move
to approve the 11 new mouth properties
for easement applications to be submitted to the mouth board
of trustees for approval and appraisal.
Second, We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
We're very proud of this
program, Joe, you're doing a great job.
Thank you gentlemen. Appreciate
It.
All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.
Opposed? So moved. Thank.
Well, so when would we know when these applications have
been approved or accepted?
So they'll get appraised the appraisal second part
of the ranking system.
'cause they want the best bang for their butt.
We have to wait for legisl
after the legislative session in the spring.
See exactly what our budget is.
Hopefully, you know, the budget stays the same as 25 and 26.
That'd be nice. So we'll see.
Be next spring. Yep.
Thanks Joe. Thank you. Thank you. Alright,
Thanks Joe.
Alright commissioners.
Our our second public hearing is for Providence Farm.
This is a public hearing for the comprehensive water
and sewerage plan amendment number 11 dash 28
for the Providence Farm application
in the town of Centerville.
So Mr. Pat Thompson can come up
and offic officiate the hearing.
Mr. Quimbee is also here if for any questions.
And this was the subject of our informational meeting two
weeks ago at the Liberty Building in Centerville.
So Mr. Thompson, please.
Thank you Todd. The, this is a public hearing being held
by the County Commission of Queen Anne County,
6:35 PM Tuesday,
August 25th, 2026 in the Ken Island Library,
200 Library Circle, Stevensville, Maryland.
The purpose of the hearing is to consider an amendment
to the Queen S County 2011
comprehensive water and sewage plan.
In addition to this hearing
and informational presentation was
to given on 8:40 AM on Tuesday,
August 11th at the county comm
meeting room in Centerville.
The proposed amendment relates to the ance farm property.
This property was recently annexed into the town
of Centerville, is a predominantly agricultural land located
between John Andrews Boulevard
and Rolling Bridge Road on Roseburg Road,
Maryland Road 3 0 4 across from the county high school,
excuse me, the property shown on tax map 44 F is parcel
60 is approximately 279 acres and sides
and sides and is currently zoned agricultural
and would be zoned by the town
as traditional neighborhood development.
The proposal is amended property from S six W six,
no plan service to S3 W three future service
and recognition of its annexation.
A future amendment to S two W2 will be required,
which will provide ultimate development
and proposal particulars.
Copies of amendments have been available at the County
Commission's Office 1 0 7 North Liberty Street,
central Maryland, or could have been maybe obtained
electronically by setting the request to aqui via qac.org.
All hearing sites are successful individual disability sign
interpreted and assist system listing systems are available.
Persons who wish to comm
to comment on the proposed amendment
may do so at this hearing.
Speakers, we limited to three minutes.
Each written testimony
of any length may be submitted before the hearing.
The Director of Public Work Safety Drive Centerville
for the record of the proceeding will be a
certificate of publication.
Indicat notes was published for two successive weeks
in the Baytown record.
Observer newspapers
of general circulation in Queen Unions County.
Mr. Speakers I have signed up for first Joe Stevens.
Thank you commissioners. Good evening. Joe Stevens.
I represent Providence at Centerville, LLC, the owners
of the Providence property.
And I'd just like to take a minute to put the request
before you into context.
This is for an amendment to the master water
and sewer plan, which will provide
for an S3 W three designation.
That's a three to 10 year planning period.
This is not an amendment to provide sewer to the property.
We'll have to be back before you once
that time becomes appropriate.
We'll have to go through a planning process at the,
at the town level and provide what's known
as a regulating plan to the town,
which includes a comprehensive array
of information and studies.
And then when that's done
and we're prepared to come back, we would come back
before you and ask for an S two S3, excuse me, S two W
to designation.
And then you would have an opportunity
to evaluate it again at that time.
The important thing about that designation is, is that,
or the designation now is it's just really the first step in
a very long and complicated regulatory process.
The property has been in the joint town
and county comprehensive plans to be annexed
and then for plan development for over 30 years.
And so this is, if I look at it this way, this is,
this is like the latter part of the middle
of probably a 45 year period of time in order for this
to be developed, the county has adopted plan
after plan now over the recent years, which limits growth
on areas like Kent Island 'cause a sewer capacity issues
and indicates that it should be within the municipalities
that have capacity, not just from a sewer
and water standpoint, but are the towns.
That's where you want your growth to be.
Again, a first step in in doing all that.
So I would ask that you act favorably on this proposal.
Doesn't grant development approval, again, we'll have
to be back before you, but it is consistent with each
and every comprehensive plan
that you've done over the past 30 years as well as the,
as well as the town's comprehensive plan.
So thank you very much. Thank you. Next Peter
Flint.
Yes,
Good evening.
I'm Peter Flint. I'm the zoning
administrator for the town of Centerville.
I kind of just want to echo what Joe, what Mr.
Steven said from the town's planning perspective,
this amendment is consistent
with both the town's comprehensive plan
and the broader policy of direct
and growth into the towns where they can be served
by public infrastructure.
Again, Providence Farm has long been part
of Centerville's future growth framework
and the property is, has been annexed in the town.
So the request for you tonight is important plan.
It's an important planning step.
I want to, I really want to go through that.
That's the, this is a planning step, right?
We've been 30 as, as Mr.
Steven said, we're 30 plus years into a planning process
with this, with this property.
So again,
moving it moves it into the more immediate planning future.
There's a bunch of other things happening with Providence.
At the same time, this amendment is not approval
of development at Providence, even at a preliminary level.
They will still have to come before the planning commission
and complete again the regulating plan.
All the things, you know, public comment's gonna be part
of all of those processes in the future
and they'd have to come back for S two W2 when those,
when those development projects
or development plants get more defined.
A little bit about the town and the town sewer.
So the town is actively advancing our
wastewater treatment plant.
The town manager unfortunately couldn't be here tonight
to tell you about that, but I'll give you just a little
bit of what I know about it.
So we've reached the 60% design mark of that project.
We expect to get the 95% design by the end of November
and then that would go into the MDE review process
and through the MDE review review process.
After it comes out of that
however long that takes, you know, then we'd be going
to look to go to RFP after that process.
And I believe the construction, you know,
end date is like 2031 timeframe
when the end of construction.
So at the same time we're carefully managing the capacity
that remains in the existing system.
In 2025,
the town council adopted resolution 12 dash 2025 amendment
to the water and sewer allocation policy, which recognizes
that the remaining capacity is limited
and establishes a controlled annual allocation process.
This is not unusual for any town in
a similar situation to us.
The policy also reflects the town's broader planning
priorities by directing limited capacity towards infill
economic development and well-designed residential projects
and housing opportunities at varied price points
including affordable housing.
Again, that's part of the, you know, the limited
allocation policy that the town council has come up with
and the town council is the only group that can actually,
you know, approve an allocation.
So when people come for any providence
or any other infill development today, that's
what the town council's looking at.
They're looking at, oh okay.
So Providence gives the town an opportunity to, you know,
accommodate our future housing needs
and it's been a long planned thing.
So for these reasons we support the amendment
and look forward to the final decision.
Thanks. Thank you.
That's all signed up. Any other public comment?
You do have one email. Okay. Yep. Public comment. Okay.
Hi Sharon Van Berg. I'm the town attorney for Centerville.
As mentioned already, Centerville does support the
request that's before you.
I'd like to briefly address the zoning for the property
because that is an important consideration
as you consider comprehensive water
and sewer plan amendments.
And then you also have a zoning waiver before you as well.
The property is zoned traditional neighborhood district.
So the town adopted its current comprehensive plan in 2023
and then began the process of implementing it
and did a complete update
to its traditional neighborhood zoning district,
which completed in 2025.
And hopefully the update to that district,
which was substantial, ensures that there's a diversity
of housing and lot sizes that the road network
and the open space and parks and it all works together.
As Mr. Stevens and I believe Mr.
Flint mentioned,
there's a regulating plan which will be a detailed document
setting forth the density, the uses, the patterns
that can be on this property.
So this is the next step in the process is what's
before you, but there is a lot more process to come.
We've gotta go through the drafting
and approval of the regulating plan,
which will be the first time we've had one.
So I'm sure that's gonna take many months to accomplish.
Then we'll also negotiate
and draft A-D-R-R-A in a public works agreement.
There will be the subdivision review process as mentioned,
the master comprehensive water
and sewer plan will need to come back
before you for W2 S two.
So you're on the next step in the process,
but there's many, many months more of process.
So we just wanna keep this moving so that we can continue to
evaluate this project and start the next steps.
But there are a lot more steps to come.
So we've asked your support for this. Thank you. Thank
You.
Thanks. Four weeks. You have a public comments
21st.
Alright, we had one email come in.
This is from Frank de Juliano, the president of the course
of Good River Conservancy,
commissioners of proposed Providence.
Farm development is a very significant one for Centerville,
for the Corsica River watershed in which it resides
and for the surrounding county area as well.
The fact that annexation
and eventual development of this acreage has been in
comprehensive plants for some time should not detract from
the significance of the proposal for you
to now incorporate into the county water
and sewer master plan.
The projected total of 910 residences
of this development will be larger than any combination
of the two largest developments in the town's history,
Northbrook and Symphony Village.
The timing of this proposal would occur simultaneously
with the end of the useful life
of the town's current wastewater treatment plant or the WWTP
and the design as well as the permitting
and funding of a new WTP replacement.
So the infrastructure context
for incorporating this large development into the master
plan has more than the usual set of risks and unknowns.
This makes your decision all the more significant
and worthy of very careful forethought.
Our conservancy has previously commented
to you about our concerns
that constraints on development elsewhere related
to the recent moratorium could bring major impacts from
rapid development in the Centerville area.
This expansion could bring harmful effects
to the the health of the watershed.
They're not being adequately anticipated.
Development in this highly sensitive environment needs
to be counterbalanced by extraordinary caution
and measures that preserve in water quality, safety,
and the integrity of the watershed.
The plan for the course code restoration to which the town
and county and state were direct partners formally
began in 2005.
This date was now far removed from the major failure
of the town's old WTP
that severely pollute the Corsica River and streams.
Now that plant that that replaced in the failing one is at
the end of its useful life.
Despite the best efforts of the town's public work
staff, it's showing its age.
There have been an increasing number
of operational violations.
Replacement parts must be sought on.
The secondary market has been increasingly difficult
for the plant to maintain previous levels
of nutrient reduction efficiency.
Just this month there was a significant spillage due
to a apply a blocked pipe near the plant.
The Providence Farm proposal appears
to include a phase one within the next three years that has
before the new WTP comes online.
If so, there's an expectation would use remaining
capacity of this current plant.
Meanwhile, the town seems
to have carefully considered a plan
for conserving any remaining capacity.
We believe that given the increasing strengths on the
current plant, even more caution should be exercised
and making assumptions about using the remaining capacity
for new non infill development
that might exacerbate operational integrity
and risk of malfunction.
Going forward from that more imminent focus,
the county should carefully review the status of the project
to design and develop new replacement plan.
Before making any decision on this proposal,
when the town requested the plant be incorporated into the
water and sewer master plan,
the commissioners rightfully denied approval
of the proposed discharge into the Corsica River.
Pending more information about potential impact on the
river, that analysis and decision is yet to be made.
Thus, we believe it would be premature
to incorporate the Providence Farm development into the
water and sewer plan since it would depend on a new plant
for which full design approval, permitting
and funding is still far off.
Unlike the county, Centerville does not have adequate public
facilities ordinances.
That would help ensure that the large development like
Providence Farm adequately provides a stream of funding
to fully support the incidental
and ongoing infrastructure
costs of both the town and county.
Recent problems with the municipal water
and sewer plants in the area should be caused
for careful due diligence beyond those,
beyond these usual impact costs.
CRC believes that there should be an explicit identification
of the potential environmental impacts from the Corco
watershed and measures included in the
development to offset them.
This should be a concern of both the town
and county as well as given past commitments
to the restoration and continued health
of the Corco Watershed.
Thank you for this opportunity to comment.
Thank you. We had other two other
comments come in through email.
One from Ginger Cushing of Centerville.
My name is Ginger Cushing. I live in Centerville, Maryland.
I'm writing regarding the proposed amendment
to the county's comprehensive water and sewer plan.
On the agenda August 25th, I'm asking the commissioners
who not to act on this amendment yet.
It is premature. The county needs more time
to consider other options
before making a change of this magnitude.
The amendment before we would change the plan's, plan's,
designation, language from no service to future service
for the affected areas.
That is not a small wording change.
Changing that language opens the door
to development pressures across every parcel.
The designation touches not just the ones
where a real demonstrated need exists today.
As an alternative to comprehensive amendment,
a property owner who wants to develop a specific piece
of land may request service for that parcel
evaluated on his own facts, infrastructure capacity,
environmental impact, cost to extend service
and the in effect on the effect
on the surrounding community.
Since the individual petition process is available then I
don't understand the case for rewriting the plans language
for every property at once.
Why change the wording for everything when the tool
to address individ individual cases already exists?
I would respectfully ask
that the commissioner's table this amendment tonight
and take time to compare the blanket change approach against
keeping the existing case by case petition system
before any vote is taken.
And a thorough one, which I do not have with me,
is from Mr. Callahan Callahan's gas.
He was just stating that he was a long time resident
of the town, many generations
and he felt that the development would be good for the town.
So he was a supportive of it.
I got that e email too. I got that one as well.
We're keeping it open, right? Yep.
Yeah, we're gonna leave the record open for four weeks.
We won't vote on this until September 21st.
Alright.
Okay. Alright commissioners.
Our next public hearing is for the
Southern Kent Island Sanitary Project Phase three.
This is a public hearing for the Kent Moore and cleaning
and colony subdivision existing home
special benefit assessment.
Phase three of the project.
There is a presentation in your books tab seven,
page 40 through 47.
It's supplement screen here. So Mr.
Quimbee is gonna run through this presentation quickly
and then we'll receive any public comment from
folks in this particular service area of
our South Ken Island project.
Alright, This is a public hearing being
held by the county, Mr.
Queen Indians County 6:45 PM Tuesday,
August 25th, 2026 at the Ken Island Library,
200 Library Circle, Stevensville, Maryland.
Purpose of the hearing is to fix the amount
of the sewer benefit assessment levy pursuant
to section 24 dash 29 of the code of public local laws
of Queen S County within the Southern Ken Island wastewater
Subdistrict, phase three queen and colony
and Kenmore subdivisions.
The proposed benefit assessments,
which would be effective October 1st, 2026
for class A property existing improved properties as
of May 27th, 2014.
Within the sewer service area,
it's $15,220, which consists
of a base cost of 2,320
and the septic tank affluent pump cost of 12,900.
The sum of the base costs
and step costs may be financed over a 20 year period.
At 1% definition of the classes
of properties are contained res are contained in resolution
1407 adopted
by the County Commission on
May 27th, 2014 as amended.
August 28th, 2018.
Prepayments on the assessment without
penalty will be allowed.
However, the assessment balance balance will not
be re amortized.
Only the term of the assessment will be reduced.
Information concerning the benefit assessment
and repayment options have been sent by certified mail
to all effect Class A property owners first, which to
comment on proposed amendment proposed rate
levy, they do so at the hearing speakers, we limited
to three minutes each written testimony
of any length may be submitted
before the hearing date to director of public works
testimony can also be be accomplished remotely
by email and audio.
And that information was published.
All hearing sites are accessible to individuals
with disability sign language interpreters,
assisted listening devices are available.
Part of the record proceeding will be a certificate
of publication indicating that the notice
of tonight here was published for two successive weeks prior
to the night in the Baytown record observer now.
Alright, commissioners, we'll go
through a brief PowerPoint.
Most of you have seen this before.
And actually this is the
seventh benefit assessment hearing we've held for ski.
Only have one more to go after tonight.
This is for phase three, kempt Moore Queen
and Colony subdivision.
Overall project 1,518 existing septic systems serving
homes, many of which have failed.
Again, phase three is Queen and colony
and Kempt Moore 340 existing but also includes two marinas
and two restaurants, which is fairly unique for ski.
This is the four phases.
Again, phase three you can see on the the left side.
We slipped a couple years on our schedule,
but we had some issues with COVID and other things.
But all in all,
I think we're pretty good on schedule as of tonight.
94% of the properties are connected as
of July 31st, I should say.
All will be connected by October 1st.
All properties should have received a certified letter,
although some did not go through as they never do.
Original target charge a hundred dollars per
month is maintained.
Suspended amount is two components.
The base fee of 2320,
which basically pays for the pipes in the street.
The septic tank pumps in the yard is 12,900 for a total
of $15,220.
The first billing will occur October 1st, 2026.
The assessment is transferrable at the property you're sold.
And I would like to say there was something on Facebook
about somebody who was forced to pay it all.
And that might have been the buyer's condition.
It wasn't a county issue.
And we talked to two tighter companies
and they've never seen it before.
So whatever happened there was had nothing to do with us.
Quarterly fees, a base fee of $33.
The step fee is $177 o
and m of 90 equals $300 a quarter,
as was agreed to 10 years ago.
There's a blurb from the Star Democrat
10 year, 12 years ago.
And that's the end of the presentation.
Two other, a couple other tidbits.
All the pipings completed in all of the ski area.
Phase four is steps are now being installed
as started in May.
I think the final tally
of all the vacant lots throughout ski is an even 500.
By the end of July, 85% of the improved properties in all
of ski have been connected.
And we anticipate all the ski project being complete
by the end of 2027.
I don't have anyone signed up with anyway.
Any public comments? Yes. Yes sir.
Do I just stand Up or no, come up here.
Come up to the mic. Up
To the mic.
Please state your name and your address. Yep.
Keith Hutchins.
And I am actually on behalf here for my mother,
which is in Queen Annes County High Road.
She's paying $90 a month or a quarter.
And from what I'm reading
and understanding that this is gonna be $90 plus
210, which is basically 300 hours a quarter.
And when you're set on a fixed income,
how do you make those type of jumps for people her age?
Is that what's actually happening?
Will she be going to 300 hours a month
or a quarter I should say?
That was the reason for me coming up here
to get this clarified. That's it.
There is financial assistance available.
There's the lady you need to talk to.
It was in the letter that your mother got.
Okay, so why is it jumping?
I mean is this was already in the,
The $90 simply is the o and m fee.
That's the utility fee. Okay.
The assessment renders the cost
of the capital improvements for the entire system.
So as soon as some house is connected, they start getting
to the $90 per quarter fee.
Okay. Tonight is when the extra $210 happens.
Okay? So that's not something that's negotiable.
It needs to be, it's done.
If the commissioners adopt the levity assessment, it'll
Be done.
I just think you're gonna hurt a lot of senior citizens
and that's that on fixed income. That's
Why there is a program to help 'em. Yeah,
I just So talk, talk
with her about the program for helping.
But you know how programs work,
even though my mother still works a full-time job at 83
years of age to be able to put food on her table.
If you're sitting at a certain
income, I'm sorry, we can't help you.
And that's what normally happens.
I would say talk to her first to find out Yeah.
If, if that's the case. Okay. Whether or not he qualifies.
And if it doesn't, you know, call one
of the commissioners, it will be happening after that.
But I would say your first step, talk with her. Okay.
Thank you. Is there any other public comment?
Okay,
One more.
Oh, we have one More. Oh,
Forgive me, but I'm Derek Williams.
I live in Chester. I have great sympathy for our neighbor
and I am worried now
because I heard a comment about whether
or not we can prove that the person qualifies.
And so I would like to make, I guess I have a question of
what was the process for determining who qualifies
for this this,
and is it something we need
to decide tonight Then if it's something
that's possibly not been properly advertised
to the community, who might need it most.
Like is, I guess the clarification is if this goes
through tonight and they didn't ask for help yet,
are they too late?
We don't believe so. No. Yeah,
No.
The, those who qualify for financial assistance,
that they're not foreclosed today.
That's why we have, their name is
provided in the letter that's provided out.
And so they can apply for it.
Somebody could move into a house down the road
and perhaps apply for financial systems if, if they,
if they meet it today is just so the project goes forward.
But as far as notice, like this project goes back
10 Years.
10 years more than a decade.
We got tens of millions
of dollars in grant funding from EPA in order
to reduce the cost further.
So this is sort of just a step in the process for
that overarching plan
that has been talked about exhaustively be well
before I was a commissioner.
May I have a public comment? All right,
we'll leave it open for two weeks.
Alright, thank you.
Alright commissioners, we have one last item for the
legislation tonight on the agenda Item
number four in your books.
Pages 48 through 54.
This is county ordinance number 26 14
for the cottage industry.
And this was an identified need within the county.
The commissioners identified this need to allow
for cottage industries in the Ag district as a means
to foster and provide business growth
and development on these ag parcels
with a maker minimum acreage of five acres.
So this is, can be introduced and set for a public hearing.
I'll introduce 26 14.
Alright, great. Okay.
Alright. That concludes all
of the legislation for this evening.
We can now move to the Department of Public works.
So that would be tab two.
We have two items for the sanitary commission.
So if you wanna convene as the sanitary commission,
take the motion we convene as the sanitation commission.
Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Okay, commissioners tab two item
one, pages one through four.
This is a follow up from our last meeting.
This is the Chester Haven Beach subdivision Public Works
agreement amendment number three.
As we discussed last meet, last meeting,
they are requesting 48 additional months
to initiate their construction project,
which would delay their time to actually break ground
until September 10th, 2030.
All other provisions of the PWA and amendments, number one
and two remain in full force and effect.
So this was approved essentially last last meeting.
I move to execute the public works agreement amendment
number three with Chester Haven Beach Partnership,
which will grant the development
and additional 48 months to begin con construction.
I'll second that. We have a motion and a second.
Any other discussion? Yeah,
If I can.
Yes, please. 'cause we've gotten some people
who have reached out about this email to the public comment
about not a lot of discussion when it was up last time.
And I, I'll just sort of admit,
I didn't think it was gonna spark a lot of conversation
because it was very similar to a vote that was done
two years ago, Alan, I think when we, last time we extended,
I think so last time we extended it,
and I'll just sort of give sort of my, my rational on that.
I, I voted against the prior vote
for putting Chester Haven into the growth area.
I would vote against it again
today if there was a vote on it.
But I voted for the amendment
and this time and, and last time.
And the way I view that is the developer has put up a
non-refundable deposit on that.
The amendment just extends a period of time.
It maintains the status quo.
It does not give the developer any rights
that they didn't have the day before the vote.
And so the whatever regulations they still have to go
through in order to get approved, they still gotta do that.
It doesn't short circuit that.
There are, I think,
and this is one of those policy decisions that we have
to make where I frankly think there's valid positions,
whether you're for or against it.
But, you know, we have comments we hear like, oh,
well if you voted to extend it,
you don't care about the world.
That's just stupid. I mean, frankly, I mean,
you have the right to say whatever you want,
but that's just stupid.
It, it really is. And,
and we get emails from people saying things like, oh well,
you know, you must be lying in your pockets.
I mean, seriously.
And you say that on social media, my mom reads that,
my daughter reads that.
Like, go f yourself seriously with that kind of stuff.
I, I just, I have no patience for that kind of nonsense.
We should be able to have policy discussions and,
and disagree on policy discussions without it being that,
oh, if somebody doesn't agree
with me on a policy discussion,
the only possible way is they must be on the take.
They must be corrupt. How narcissistic is that?
Like the only way I can agree with you is if I'm not corrupt
and I just, we, it's all the fricking time that we deal with
that stuff and it's, it's immaturity.
And then we wonder why in our schools kids teach each other,
treat each other the way they do
because you, the adults are setting the example.
Like learn how to disagree and be civil about it.
It just that,
so anyway, I voted for the amendment.
I'm not for the development,
but I don't think there's anything unfair about that.
But the negativity about it
and the way people approach it just
really irritates me a lot.
So, sorry, I wanted to get that out.
I hear you, I hear you. A round table
A little bit early, sorry.
But
Well, I mean, again, you know, I I think that
we have an obligation where we are county and,
and a nation of laws and I like to see once
and all if these are lots of record.
I mean that's, that's the whole purpose of, of why I voted
for it is because if there are not lots
of record, it's over.
If there are lots of record,
there's gonna be avenues for both sides to take.
And so be it, you know, queen County is,
you know, we get sued every now and again and you know,
and I, I don't, it doesn't bother me.
It, it, it bothers me when we have to spend that money.
But it doesn't bother me from the standpoint of
let the courts decide who's right
and if they're, you know, if, if party a,
you know, the, the winner and,
and the courts agree with them, I have no disdain about
paying them or, or whatever the, the situation may be.
So, you know, that's, that's my reason.
I mean we have an individual that, you know, has been paying
for, I don't know, a dozen years.
How many years has he been paying for the sewer?
15. Well he is got a dwelling on the property
that he is had for probably 15 years
and they bought two allocations outright in 2010
that he's been paying on and then he is paid the $315,000
Deposit.
Yeah. So, you know, we,
and we have our own, you know, rest is soul attorney that
said, these are lots of record.
So I I I, that's what I wanna see
and I, you know, I'm sorry it's gotta come to that.
But you know, I think it's, you know, we have
to be impartial and you know, and I think that's being fair.
Let it run its course through the sit courts, just like some
of these other developments have.
And you know, the outcome will dictate where it goes.
May, may I ask a question?
No sir. Sorry. So
My position on it is similar to what Jim said.
We had our land use attorney, or I mean our planning
and zoning attorney and we had our county attorney both
share with the commissioners, the sitting commissioners
that these were in fact lots of record.
So to me legal counsel has advised us.
So at this point
at I, I'd like to see the courts decide legally
if they are in fact lots of record.
There you go. Any other discussion?
No, just sir, there's at the end
of the meeting we do have public comment.
You have a chance to do public comment. Yes.
But if you want actually wanna actually a back
and forth conversation, I'll stay all will stay.
We'll talk to you after the meeting as well. Yep.
Okay, well all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
Opposed? Aye. Aye. Three to
Two.
Can I just say something to Commissioner's point?
Obviously I just voted against it. He voted for it.
I concur with everything he said.
I'm getting pissed off about the crap
that's going out on Facebook attacking us
and trying to divide us as a government
and it's inappropriate
and all the things that he just brought up is just a
Easy And it's inappropriate for, for these no growth.
Save the world people to start trashing
my, my counterparts.
So I'm asking them to stop, have a debate
but stop with the personal crap.
Alright, well moving on.
Alright, our second item
for the sanitary commission tonight
is the Queen Anne Colony Marina Public Works agreement.
And this is a public works agreement to connect the
existing Queen Anne Colony restaurant
and marina to the sewer.
This is also phase three of the Southern Canal
and sanitary project 3,653 gallons of sewer.
I move to execute the public works agreement
with Queen Ann's colony Marina LLC to allow them
to connect to the county sewer.
Second we have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Seeing none. All those in favor signify as saying Aye. Aye.
Aye. Opposed? So moved.
Alright, thank you Commissioners.
Now we can move to the action items.
Thank you commissioner for this evening. Have a good one.
Thank you Mr. Quimbee. So now you've,
if you don't mind flipping to tab number three.
So tab three item one, pages one through three.
This is board of education transfers
between major state categories
and this is essentially the Board
of Education's budget amendment for the end of FY 26.
They're just moving some funds around
between major state categories to balance the overall budget
overall for the FY 26 closeout.
I move to approve the Queens County Board
of Education transfer between major state categories.
Second, We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? So moved.
Thank you commissioners. Item two pages four through six.
This is the certification for cooperative local
state library aid for FY 27.
So in order to be eligible for our state share, we have
to match, provide an Inc income match.
The state contribution was
two hundred and twenty eight three hundred fifty nine, two hundred twenty
8,000 and the county contribution was 3.26 million.
So we've met that threshold by a long shot. Need
That To, I moved to approve
and execute the FY 2027 certification
for cooperative local state library aid programs
for Queen Annes County library. Second.
Have a motion to second. Any discussion?
I'll kick the coverage on that. Seeing none.
All those in favor signify with saying aye. Aye.
Opposed? So moved.
All. Thank you commissioners.
Item three on page seven is budget amendment number CC two
for the board of education
and this amendment increases the FY 27 budget authority
for the board of education teachers unfunded liability
by $173,425.
And we anticipated this as a result
of the state cost shifts from last year.
We didn't quite hit the estimate on target, so we have
to provide an additional 1 78 4 25 for FY 27 to meet
that objective,
I make a motion to approve budget amendment CC dash two
Second.
Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none.
All those in favor signify say aye. Aye. Opposed? So moved.
Thank you commissioners. So we have two desk items.
Desk item one is the emergency capital procurement
for the HVAC systems
and a letter of intent for Chesapeake College.
And this is for the Maryland Higher Education Commission
that the advising them the county intends
to provide our local cost share of funds to design
and construct the HVAC replacement project at Chesapeake
College in the TPAC Center.
So the system's 32 years old
and I know the,
the college folks are here if they have any questions
for them, but our share would be
$192,546.
In, in FY 28 they have applied for some grant funding.
Hopefully we'll get that grant funding to, to
supplant the project and move it forward.
I move to execute a letter of intent committing $192,546
in local funds towards the Chesapeake College Economic
Development Centers building HVAC system.
Second, we have a motion and a second.
Any discussion you want?
Say anything? I'm impressed that Cliff stood here this
Long.
Yeah, he must really want the money.
Well it is $192,000.
That's what we're thinking around for, right? That's right.
Can we talk about the technology building?
Sure, yeah. Help Yeah,
Sure. Keep you here.
Mething to do with HVAC.
And you know, in the other building
I talk about that you've both been waiting patiently.
You might get Yeah, might as well have an opportunity.
Local. Let's do his vote first before we forget. Yes.
Okay. Alright.
What are you saying? I, we motion to second.
Any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye.
Aye. Opposed? So moved. Alright,
Let's do one more thing for the college
first, then we can, then we can.
So item five is their revised FY 27 budget amendment.
So this is desk item number two.
And this is a budget amendment
that they need all five counties to agree on.
No additional funding. They just move some money around
so they can provide an additional increase in salaries
for the staff and administration at the college
I move to approve Chesapeake College is revised Ffy 2027
operating budget amended amendment
as presented. Second. Second.
Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none.
All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed?
So moved. Now. Fire away.
So what can I help you with on the tech building?
Tell, tell the audience.
Well, we're really excited. We're,
and of course Milton's in the middle of all of it right now
we have started the design process.
Process. We're currently developed schematics.
We just shared a packet with all the counties,
giving them an update on where we're at
with some really nice renderings.
What the building's gonna look like when it's done.
Design goes for another six months.
We help break ground early next year
and with completion late summer,
probably into early part of 2029.
But our construction manager tells us they might have it
done for fall 2028.
Occupation. We'll see. But under promise
It would deliver.
Yes. Yes. So we're really excited about the project.
It's making progress, you know, for all of us.
It started with this when I got here eight years ago.
It's a miracle and it's,
it's really gonna be a really nice addition to campus
and really it's gonna be a 30 year investment in,
in the eastern shore for skilled traits.
Awesome. You wanna add anything?
I like the ambitious timeline,
but we're gonna have to be cognizant
of the state funding schedule.
Mm. And their ability to fund the project.
You know, their lion share 75% of the project.
So depending on how quickly we can get the state money,
you know, certainly a major capital project.
The shorter the timeline typically sub, you know,
contractors like that, they like to, they like to,
to compress it as much as possible.
So, but I still think 16 to 18 months construction is,
is a legitimate timeframe.
Weather's gonna play a big part in it.
And timing of when we go out to bid, you know,
it's a construction management at risk project
with Bart Mallow as the CMR.
And we're optimistic, just had a meeting with their,
with them this today about their outreach right now.
And they're already outreaching to trade pack, you know,
contractors and,
and we certainly are cognizant of wanting to
engage contractors here on the shore to the extent possible.
So to the, you know, at appropriate time
we're certainly gonna outreach to existing contractors
that not only the college has dealt with,
but are participating school districts that have,
that are capable of doing state jobs.
State works because it is a different than hiring a local
contractor that's never done a state project
because of the paperwork
and the state prevailing wage rates that they have to pay.
And so it's,
and it's a much more complex project than a commer
otherwise commercial building, you know, outside
of the public sector would be.
But we're, we're excited about it
and looking forward to hopefully, you know,
staying on project on, on target
and with, I'm not quite as optimistic as him.
About 20, late 28, fall of 28, 28 opening.
I'm thinking more second semester. So,
So I know you've covered it before.
Can you share with the audience what's gonna be going in the
technology building?
Yeah, it is not all the,
the trades that we would like.
And so you have to back up, you know,
so many years prior when the state approved it as a project
and the enrollment in the, in the PA in what was there then.
So welding is gonna have its own space there.
Advanced manufacturing is gonna have the, their space there.
Electrical is having space there.
Hvac h yeah, H-H-V-A-C agriculture.
And we have a kind of a flex space that we can adjust
for things that we may be looking at down the road
that we don't even know about today.
It could be five or 10 years we're doing something we never
even thought about technology.
And it is, it is being built to,
to have a phase two down the road
because marine trades has taken off
significantly since then.
And that'll still be in the MTC building, which is
on campus as well.
But, you know, we'd love to certainly to to look
to move them into phase two at some point down the road.
So it is being designed so that the, the heart
of the building, the mechanical systems are central
to the building for along one phase, one wing
and then another wing could, could be added on later
to accommodate additional CTE programming.
Is the thought temporarily to keep nursing EMT in,
in the general area it's in now? Yeah.
The, the health professions are all located in the HPAC
and that's fairly, that's their home forever.
And that was the last major project at, at the college.
And, and that's state of the art.
It's, and we just, they've gotten some state grant money
to refresh a lot of that equipment there.
And actually this Thursday the board will be voting on some
procurement for replacing a lot of those mannequins and,
and the IV pumps that the students use.
So those are all original to the building construction
or end of life 10, 10 years old.
So they definitely need to replace the software's not
reprogram reprogrammable and they have head wear and tear.
Yeah. And that, that program is tremendous.
I mean for the last several years now that every graduate of
that nursing program has passed their NCLEX the first time
and a hundred percent pass rate.
Wow. Yeah, it's amazing.
Saw something the other night that said
that there's a shortage of 7,000 nurses in the state
of Maryland, in Maryland alone.
Wow. Yeah, in Maryland on 7,000. Wow.
Yep. Still dealing with the burnout from,
from the pandemic.
Yeah, well probably, absolutely. Yeah
Buddy.
I'm very pleased to report that we're seeing better
students, better prepared in nursing coming in
and also in electrical.
We have some of the best students we've ever seen coming in
the electrical program and that program is full
Sweet.
Awesome. Commissioner Wilson for you?
Sure. Take credit. All right. Very good. Thank you.
Well thank you. Thank
You gentlemen.
Thank you for your support of the college.
We really appreciate it. Thank you.
Anytime you just come back
with an update on the Queen Ends tech building
as we move along, just, you know, we'll
Let you know. Yeah. We'll
Appreciate it.
More than happy to come. Absolutely.
As long as maybe we can be earlier on the list.
You're getting us on the agenda tonight. You're welcome.
Thank you. Have a nice night. Thank
You.
Patience. Thank you.
And commissioners, that's all we had.
I had one technical request, the
for county ordinance 26 14 Cottage Industries.
We need a technical motion to convey that
to the planning commission in addition to public hearing.
So if I could get a motion,
I'll make a motion to convey
to the planning commission as well.
Second. Alright. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Okay. Thank you very much. That's all we had.
So we can go to pressing public comment.
All righty. Part two. Good. Jack, you wanna go first?
I promise I'll be briefed. Oh,
I promise I'll be brief, but it does expand a little bit
on what Commissioner Corino was saying earlier.
And in full disclosure, I called Commissioner Corino
and we talked about this, the Facebook post
that I made on Chester Haven Beach was
shocking for a number of reasons.
One, beyond the number of people that looked at it,
but it also, the number of people
that alleged corruption on it.
And I've seen this
before where if, if somebody disagrees with you,
all of a sudden you're on the take
or you're getting money from somebody.
And I get these emails too.
I get requests all the time from residents around the county
to intervene on X, Y, or Z.
And when my response is no, oh,
well you must have gotten a contribution from this developer
or from that developer.
And so it's outrageous.
And so to the extent that this is just a comment
for the general public, just stop that
because I've gotten to know all of you guys as commissioners
and I've never once gotten the sense
that you were being paid off or anything like that.
And it would be foolish for anybody
to even think of that right now.
We just recently had a local commissioner who's now doing 20
years in the can for taking public money
and our state's attorney
and our courts take the issue very seriously if people
have those kinds of concerns.
You've got the sheriff's office,
you've got the state's attorney,
you've got the attorney general,
you've got an ethics commission, you've got all kinds
of avenues to report that stuff.
And so don't hide
in your room at home on Facebook
and make these crazy allegations that are totally unfounded.
It's ridiculous in my view.
I know this is gonna sound like I'm blowing sunshine,
but just for the benefit of the public, all
of these commissioners at one point
or another, we've had fierce disagreements.
I've talked with all of you on the phone at some point.
We have disagreements.
There are times where we also agree
and our government is based on disagreement
and finding compromise.
That's what it's about.
Just because you find disagreement sometimes
you should not lob allegations of fraud and corruption.
This is not Tammany Hall,
this is not an alderman's office in Chicago where
padded envelopes would come in
and people are getting paid off.
That's not what Queen Anne's County is about
and it's just disappointing.
So I share this disappointment.
The reason I wanted to add comment here is the public,
I hope, will dial down that sort of rhetoric.
It's not necessary. It's not helpful.
And in fact it's very harmful
because every time somebody does that,
you're discouraging good people from wanting to run.
And it's outrageous.
Chris, I I, I share the one concern with you.
I, if I can just have 30 more seconds, I promise
there's an issue in Sellersville number of years ago.
Everybody remembers it.
I took a position opposed to that based on on legal reasons.
My kids were getting comments in school due to
Facebook comments and they have nothing to do with it.
Chris's kids have nothing to do with it.
My kids have nothing to do with your kids
and grandkids have nothing to do with it.
We can disagree on policy all day long and we have,
but we also find agreement.
This is a community. We all care about it.
We're all passionate to various degrees,
different interests, but just
because we have disagreement doesn't mean
that somebody's taking money.
And I just hope we can find a way to stop that.
It's necessary. And I hope you guys talk about this at
Roundtable because it's something
that needs continuous reminder
and we're on the same page in that regard.
And so if this comes up
and if I see it on my page, I will call it out.
And I have called it out.
I think I've forwarded you some examples of things
where I have called it out where you know this is not
necessary, it's not right
and it's not fair to make those kinds of allegations.
And if you have 'em, bring 'em forward.
Anyway, I just wanted to close on that
somewhat negative note, but just say that for the benefit
of our collective community, which we all care about,
just dial down the unhelpful rhetoric.
It's just, it's not, just not helpful. So thank you Jim.
Thanks Jay. Thank you. Thanks
Jay.
Sir, would you like to, would you like to speak?
Thank you all for your service.
Mark Canfield, 2 0 3 SW code.
Just curious about the Chester Haven thing.
If the ultimate court decision goes against a
developer, will the county owe the developer any money?
The deposit is non-refundable.
Okay. So there's no, and he knew that entered.
There's no fiduciary responsibility to the, okay.
Great. And is any of the money
that the county is now spending for its legal representation
in any way, can you say that's in the benefit of the
developer or it's just due diligence by the county?
I don't think there's any ongoing
litigation at this point in time.
And we have a, we have an attorney on staff
in the county. Okay.
Appreciate your service.
Thank you. Would anybody else like to speak?
Go. Hello, my name is Wendy Elian.
I have, I've sent off an email
and I got a pretty aggressive response from Chris
accusing me of a bunch of stuff, which now I know
what he's talking about
because I wasn't aware of the Facebook posts.
I wasn't aware that people were saying people were corrupt.
My question actually has to do with the growth allocation.
The courts have determined the growth
allocation cannot happen.
So I understand that they can do individual wells
or a group Well, but what I don't understand is that
with the size of the development,
I believe an 81 housing plan was submitted last year.
Why have we not considered decreasing the amount
of sewer allocation to the property rather than continuing
to allocate the number we're allocating when we could have
beneficial services
and commercial services
that could be be added in Queen County,
which could use those allocations.
So with them knocking it down and saying you can't do this.
Why have we not reconsidered?
Rewriting the agreement to decrease it again is basically
because I don't understand as
to why we keep giving them the same amount.
They haven't done anything over the years.
And the courts keep docking it down.
I understand it's probably gonna go to litigation.
They're probably gonna keep asking,
but I do know they're down to 81 in their request,
so I don't understand why the agreement can't be rewritten.
Thank you.
That was 90. Would anybody else like to speak?
Alright, we'll close, we'll close press on
public comment round table. How about now?
Sure. And I mean, I guess I'll stay in the vein.
That's already been served up.
So I I, I'll make, I'm not gonna be as aggressive
as that side of the room there.
They're a little bit over top. That's why we're over here.
I like to make, I like to make light
of things in, in certain instances.
It does frustrate me
and infuriate me at some of the comments
that are made on Facebook
because to both of their points, our kids, our grandkids,
our wives all have to read that stuff.
And my making light
of it is my wife says I'm doing a terrible job
of taking money because she keeps looking at a
bank account and there's nothing there.
So Apparently I'm not very good.
And I will say my 12 years I'm taking,
I won't let somebody buy me a cup of coffee.
And that's just because I feel that
that's the way it should be.
Right. We're here for public service.
So if anything, I'll buy you a cup of coffee.
But yeah, I I just, I'm with Chris.
I know it's, it's one of our biggest pet peeves is,
is the comments on Facebook.
We try to do the best job we can.
We give up 40 to 60 hours of our life every week
to do this job, 52 weeks a year
to represent the citizens of Queen S County.
And I think we do a pretty good job of it.
Many people don't understand what that means.
A time away from your family, that same family.
We're trying to protect from some of these comments.
So again, I, I agree with
what everything's been said so far.
Our kids are watching.
And so if, if you, if you're wondering why some
of this bullying, things like that, go on in school,
take a look in the mirror.
'cause you're probably part of the problem.
So that's all I got,
Patrick.
I would just say God gave us two ears
and one mouth for a reason.
We need to listen more and speak less.
The, the, the tongue can either lift up
or it can really do
damage to people.
And that's it.
Alright. You leave.
When I first ran for office 16 years ago, none of the
outgoing commissioners were seeking reelection.
But we did have an opportunity to sit down with one of them.
And the advice that he gave me resonated.
He said, if you could get 70% of it right,
you're gonna apologize for the other 30.
We try to take the information that we are given
by department heads and experts and directors and, and,
and digest that information
and determine what is best
for the greater good in our community.
And that's what drives the majority of the decisions
that we make, at least the decisions that I make in my mind.
Thank you Boss.
I think I said pretty much all of it.
I, I, I thank Jay for speaking up.
'cause you know, we tend to agree on a lot of issues
and sometimes obviously a few weeks ago you didn't agree
with my, my vote and we've, but we have good discussions
and I, I, I do that with everybody right on,
on all sides of an issue and give everybody an opportunity.
It, it just seems like we have this increasing
devolution in, in it's real, in civic discourse
and it's not getting better.
We had mentioned when, when Michael
and Mc were here earlier for Maco about how in Maco
you have different counties, blue, purple
and red, who seem to be able to get together
or talk about issues and find solutions to problems.
And there's pretty much nothing
but respect in those discussions that occur.
So it can, it can be done.
And if you think about it, you know these,
when when someone says there's someone lying in their pocket
or something like that happen, you're,
you're working against yourself.
You're creating a permission structure
for people not to participate.
Because if everything is bought off
and it doesn't matter what you say, then why participate?
It's, it's already done somewhere already got, you know,
a load of cash and,
and when you don't show up, you know,
decisions are made in your absence.
And Jay can tell you about times when there's been rooms
full of people and it has swayed a vote on an issue.
And so it really irritates me when we create situations
where people aren't participating.
And I think those allegations get people to not participate
and, and worse, I dunno if it's worse,
but equally as bad is where, where do we get new candidates
to run for office?
Like, I mean, we've, we're dummies that take the beating,
but there's a lot of other people that have common sense
and they're like, I, I've talked to people about running.
I mean, I'm, this is my last term, I'm done.
And talked to other people,
try to get some district forward.
Like, oh no, I couldn't do what you do.
I, I couldn't, I couldn't deal with that.
And I'm like, but here's
all the good things that you get to do.
But that's what discourages them.
And that's a problem because you,
as Michael explained when on the makeup presentation,
we have huge budget issues.
And I've been talking about this for on the campaign trip
the last year, big issues coming up affecting the state
and the downflow to the, to the counties.
To the counties. Yep. Having people who
can have common sense
and make good decisions is really, really important.
I mean, this, this is not an oyster shell road
county anymore, right.
The, the sheriff deputies don't pass off the gun at the end
of their shift to the other deputy.
That's how it used to be in Queens County.
It's changed and we can have discussions about
how the days were better then, but
that's just not where we are anymore.
And so we do need to encourage people to want
to be in these offices and to make good decisions
because there are really important things that get done so
Well.
I I, I agree with you a hundred percent.
You know, keep your eye on the donut, not on the whole,
and the state's coming after it.
And, and it's gonna get interesting
and, you know, our, our blessing is
we have a well run county.
We really do. I mean, the public doesn't see it,
but we're able, I mean, where we've,
where we were 12 years ago
and where we are now is just phenomenal.
I mean, you know, with, with our financing, with
what we're trying to accomplish
with our schools being fully funded, you know,
the whole nine yards when it, when it comes
to the negativity, you know, I, I I got thick skin,
but my I am, you're a marine,
It's easier for you.
But more importantly, I don't get on Facebook
because if I, my wife will sit next to me
and she'll go, what, what's this?
And I go, what? And she'll tell me one thing.
I can't get to sleep now, you know?
And so I tell her, you're not allowed.
You keep it all to yourself.
I don't want to, I don't care about it.
You know, it's Facebook. So, you know,
but I, I, I guess my only question I really have is,
you know, Todd and Chris and myself
and Phil got
to tour Hinckley's new facility at the Bay Bridge.
And I could have swore somebody said there was a boat
for me, but, you know, you get it.
I, I guess I better not take it now.
You know, it's, it's right next to Chris's helicopter. Yeah.
But I want to thank them.
They, they, that's a first class organization
and it's a feather in our cap for Queen Annes County due
to Queen Annes County that absolutely.
So, motion to, I'll
Make a motion to adjourn.
Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you. Thank you.