[0:02] This guy's always coming to these meetings.

[0:05] » He's like stalking us. >> Now that you're Now that you're here, we

[0:08] can get started. [laughter]

[0:22] » Time is 5:30. This meeting of the city of Frostber is called to order. Please

[0:25] stand for the pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[0:31] United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation

[0:36] under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:42] » We are thankful for the special community, for the time we share

[0:44] together in the bounty of our nation. We're thankful for the commitment of our

[0:48] people who volunteer their time and talents to make our community a better

[0:51] place to live, work, and raise a family. We know that we alone cannot meet the

[0:56] challenges or provide sufficient inspiration without community

[0:58] involvement and the dedication of all concerns to the greater good of the city

[1:01] and all who reside in it. We are thankful for the beauty, the time and

[1:05] the place that is prosper. Amen. >> You may be seated.

[1:09] » Mr. Brian, if you call the role, please. >> Mayor Log,

[1:13] » present. >> Commissioner Coburn

[1:14] » here. >> Mr. Foresight

[1:16] » here. >> Commissioner Grove

[1:17] » here. >> Commissioner Stouse

[1:19] » here. >> Okay.

[1:21] Next is the uh approval of the agenda for tonight. Do I hear a motion to that

[1:25] effect? >> I move we approve the agenda.

[1:27] » Second. >> Duly moved and seconded to approve the

[1:29] agenda for tonight's meeting. As many as in favor say I.

[1:32] » Oppos? No. >> Agenda is approved. Next is the approval

[1:36] of the minutes from July 21st. Do I hear a motion to that effect?

[1:39] » I make a motion to approve uh the minutes of July council meeting.

[1:43] » I second. >> Duly moved and seconded to approve the

[1:46] minutes of the council meeting of July 21st. Any discussion on that? Hearing

[1:49] none. As many in favor say I. >> I. I

[1:51] » opposed. No. Uh minutes of July 21st are approved.

[1:56] Uh we have nothing under uh special presentations or requests for tonight.

[2:00] So we'll move right into reports of the various city departments. Call first on

[2:04] community development. Mr. Miller was not able to join us tonight. So Mr.

[2:14] So, um development uh permits there are uh seven building permits, five use and

[2:19] occupancy permits, uh one dumpster permit, one grading permit. Uh we have

[2:23] two solicitors doortodoor um permits, one for subway, one for Edward Jones, uh

[2:28] two fence permits, and one um certificate of appropriateness from the

[2:32] historical um commission. um uh rental housing um uh had uh 70 res uh

[2:41] residential housing inspections um and those are continuing to to uh move on

[2:45] and and notify the the next round of individuals. Um as far as um other

[2:51] things with rental housing, um rental housing giving out information to um uh

[2:56] new individuals in the rental program. Um so information um for landlords as

[3:00] well as giving out information uh in the list that we keep of all the landlords

[3:03] to individual looking for um somewhere to live somewhere.

[3:07] » Are there any as far as we know unregistered uh places I know June 30th

[3:11] is usually the deadline to register your property?

[3:14] » Um so all the registrations uh are either in and uh I think all of them are

[3:19] in now and the ones that we cited for being late or having a late fee are paid

[3:24] as well. >> Um there may be one or two that are

[3:27] still we're still waiting for payment but I believe everything's in. Okay.

[3:30] Now, as far as unregistered goes, not that we're aware of, but there's always

[3:33] a chance that somebody's running something short. Um,

[3:39] uh, code enforcement. Um, we had 25 code enforcement cases. Um, uh, and we Jay's

[3:44] been doing a really good job of keeping on top of, um, some of the repeat

[3:48] offenders um, as well as going to court when needed to. Um, uh, you know, our

[3:53] goal is never to find anybody. It's for compliance. So the goal is if you get a

[3:58] a warning, whatever it is, it's taken care of, we're just going to move on.

[4:02] The ideal situation, unfortunately, that's not always the case.

[4:06] Um, and then as far as um uh boards, um the planning commission did meet to go

[4:11] over um Pritchard Farms phase 1A. Um as well as um talk about the accessory

[4:18] dwelling unit um uh law that was passed by the state of Maryland that's going to

[4:22] have some effect on us and how we're going to change our code to be in

[4:24] compliance with that. Uh I don't think it was this one. It may have been the

[4:28] one before that they're also talking about sheets is doing some renovations.

[4:31] Um and they have a temporary plan so far like a draft plan, but the I think

[4:35] either the next planning commission meeting or the one after they should

[4:38] have a finalizer. >> They should present um

[4:40] » in the most recent one. >> Yes. And the planning commission asked

[4:43] for a couple changes to present. >> Um uh and then uh board of zoning

[4:50] appeals didn't need to meet and the green team didn't meet um either. Um uh

[4:55] but they held a work uh work day at the arburitum. Um and then more recently,

[4:59] not in July, but we met about a sustainability tour which I'm sure

[5:02] commission for >> Yeah, I've been um I've been emailing

[5:05] the green team about it because uh we need to this week get kind of an outline

[5:10] to Mike Cunning of Sustainable Maryland. >> Um and uh getting some responses from

[5:17] green team members. So I think uh by the end of the week I can get him an outline

[5:21] for the tour. And the tour I just for yall the tour

[5:25] would be in October >> and it's something that the that they do

[5:29] around the state. So >> um uh and then as far as um current

[5:34] projects um for development um the comprehensive plan rewrite um has just

[5:40] about all the chapters redone. Eight or finalized uh eight out of 10 or draft

[5:45] chapters are ready for review. Um once that's done we'll do a final review of

[5:49] it before it's finalized. Um uh the stabilization grant program is wrapping

[5:54] up. We did put in a grant for $250,000 with DHC um for uh renovation,

[6:02] stabilization, and safety upgrades for um uh buildings in the what would be

[6:08] considered the downtown area. So, Main Street, Broadway, Water, uh depot,

[6:13] things like that. um uh that would allow us uh if we give the grant, we'd have

[6:16] $250,000 to give out in um grants to those uh uh businesses and property

[6:22] owners. Um there is a match to it. Um so it's not just free money. Uh it's meant

[6:26] to kind of help encourage everybody to reinvest in our property and improve

[6:29] some things. Um uh then we're also working on the North Water Street

[6:33] project. Uh uh we're going to be putting out an RFP uh to get someone to do the

[6:38] historical um documentation that's needed done for that in order for us to

[6:42] move forward and RFP for demolition. Um, and uh, we're looking at our abatement

[6:48] process. Um, we were originally going to try and have something a little bit

[6:50] quicker, realized it was a bigger conversation. So, still working on that

[6:54] as well. >> Those are the big things.

[6:56] » Um, just so that's on the record, I know that we ended up not choosing to pursue

[7:00] the grant this year, but if you talk a little bit about the grant that we chose

[7:04] not to pursue, but maybe next year for the

[7:07] » Grant Street area. >> So, so that was this grant. Um, so it it

[7:12] was this grant just we didn't go after everything we wanted to do. Um, for the

[7:17] Grant Street area >> for the the old corner market property.

[7:21] » Oh yeah. So >> just so that's on

[7:22] » DHCD. One of the things that you can uh write funding for um uh is uh money for

[7:29] uh acquisition and if need be demolition of properties. Um so we were looking at

[7:34] that and starting to look at a couple of different properties in town that may

[7:37] need that kind of support. Um uh buildings that are getting to a point

[7:41] where they're dilapidated um and people that own them in a weird position of

[7:45] wanting to get rid of them but they're not being the right kind of money for it

[7:48] and things like that or things that have been abandoned completely and that kind

[7:51] of thing. So we were looking at potentially um applying for the

[7:55] demolition one for upwards of 600 or $700,000 to do some of that work. Um uh

[8:01] we weren't ready to dive into it that quick this year. So it's something we're

[8:04] going to continue to work on in the future

[8:05] » for that particular property. >> Uh that was one of the properties. Is it

[8:09] at Are we ready for that? Because I mean the current owners were they were

[8:14] arguing amongst themselves >> and they still are. So they um John,

[8:18] correct me if I'm wrong, John found this grant as a potential solution for that

[8:22] » so that they might come to an agreement. >> So that they might come to an agreement,

[8:24] but it was a very short time period from the time he found it till it was due was

[8:28] only like three weeks. >> So we I think we're in a better position

[8:31] than we were in the past. It sounds like we just it was too quick.

[8:33] » So it's something we could probably look at for next year. We just didn't have

[8:36] time together. I would be great to get that resolved.

[8:40] » Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else under uh or for

[8:44] community development? >> Next is the finance department, Mrs.

[8:47] Phillips.

[8:55] » Um good evening. Finance doesn't have a whole lot to report. Uh

[9:01] as I mentioned last time, uh June 30th was our fiscal year end. And uh you will

[9:06] note that our reports have our lovely little note on them again that the audit

[9:10] adjustments and year end acroals aren't complete yet. Um and that'll stay with

[9:15] us till we get done the audit which should be in October this year. That's

[9:18] what we're shooting for. Um as I also mentioned last time, July tax bills went

[9:23] out well the 2627 tax bills went out in July. Um total billings came to nearly

[9:31] 3.3 million compared to 3.1 million last year and that was due to a nearly 29

[9:36] million increase in assessment values. Um of that 3.3 million by the end of

[9:42] July we collected 428,000 or 13% which is pretty good since bills went out I

[9:48] think the 12th. So in in about two weeks we collected quite a bit. Um, just a

[9:54] reminder that for non-owner occupied properties, taxes are due in full by

[9:58] September 30th. Um, and for owner occupied properties, there are two

[10:02] installments due September 30th and December 31st.

[10:07] Um, and I think that's pretty much all I have other than the uh usual please sign

[10:12] up for e billilling and pay your bill online.

[10:15] » All right, >> any questions?

[10:17] » One question which I already told you about before. So, what was the projected

[10:21] use of fund balance for the last fiscal year? I know we didn't use it, but

[10:25] » we did not use it. Let me get to the right page here.

[10:28] [snorts] >> Um,

[10:30] we had projected to use in the general fund. Our original projection was

[10:37] 268,000. With the January amendments, we knocked that down to 239 and then we

[10:42] ended up not using any of it. Okay. But there was also um we'd estimated 180,000

[10:47] to use for the water fund and 120,000 for the water searchcharge

[10:53] fund and none of that got used. >> So we're going to put all that back in

[10:56] the back. Yep. Great. >> Yep.

[10:58] » Anything else under finance? Anything else for you?

[11:01] » Sounds good. >> Thank you, ma'am.

[11:02] » All right. Thank you. >> Public works. Mr. Lindsay, are you okay?

[11:06] » Yeah. [laughter] >> Thank you all for waiting on me. I pride

[11:11] myself on my punctuality. You got here just in time.

[11:14] » Yeah, >> I uh got some chemical degreaser in my

[11:18] eye earlier today and I ran I was going to run to urgent care, but I got it

[11:21] washed out. So, now we're here. [snorts] Um public works overview for the past

[11:25] month. Uh in parks and recreation, of course, this time of year is all in

[11:31] outdoor facilities, maintenance, grass cutting, um keeping up with those

[11:34] facilities. Uh, of course the upcoming things for us, we do have the block

[11:39] party as FSU comes back into town, uh, and getting ready for the cruise and

[11:43] main street. Actually, not necessarily parks and wreck item, but more of a

[11:46] citywide item that we help with. Uh, in the street department land, most of what

[11:50] we're doing this time of year is uh, summer construction projects like catch

[11:55] basins and then of course pothole patching and then helping with the

[12:00] paving project for the year, which Lil Brothers Asphalt is doing. Uh they are

[12:06] about 75% of the way done. Uh they will finish with the food pantry and water

[12:12] street around the armory building probably later this week and then do

[12:15] some final touch-ups early next week and then be back out of town. Uh in the

[12:19] water department, we did just extend an offer to uh our fifth position, so our

[12:25] newest hire. Um he accepted the position today and he should start in about three

[12:30] weeks. That was what texted you about today. Yep. Excited to get him in and be

[12:35] back at full staff. He'll be a very [clears throat] entry- level position,

[12:39] of course, to train him up and make him one of our own. Uh within the water

[12:42] department, actually has been a fairly tame uh month leakwise. Uh

[12:47] unfortunately, it seems like those things always get offset with other

[12:50] items. Of course, the big issue uh in the water realm for Frostber this past

[12:55] month has been the elevated levels of iron and magnes in Pine Mountain

[12:59] Reservoir. As some of you might have seen, we did make a Facebook post about

[13:03] it as well that with the elevated levels of iron and maganesees at Piney

[13:07] Reservoir, uh it did affect the aesthetic value of the water. Um the

[13:12] criterion for the water that we were putting out, the quality of the water

[13:15] that we were putting out um was absolutely the same as it's always been.

[13:19] Safe to drink, safe to use. I just would not recommend you use it do a load of

[13:23] white laundry at the time um as the water had been stained um due to the

[13:28] higher levels of iron. Um >> but that's been resolved since then.

[13:32] » Correct. We spent a good bit of time retrofitting our intake structure um in

[13:36] order to pull water from a different level in the reservoir and that seems to

[13:39] have done the trick. So we think we're on the downhill slope for that. uh

[13:43] within public works itself of course our CSO jobs are underway which we'll touch

[13:47] base on and then we are prepping for the roundabout project um and of course our

[13:53] water resiliency projects that we have the governor Moore funding for uh which

[13:57] we will talk about with some items later on that of which are the four BFD

[14:02] projects at Pine Reservoir the new expansion well the redundancy well at

[14:07] Savage Springs to put that second well pump back in and then of course the

[14:11] geodessic dome leak at the water treatment plant. Um the water treatment

[14:15] plant leak we will start probably within the next two weeks. Uh we want to get

[14:19] that one started right away now that we know that we can work with the funding.

[14:22] And then the VFD projects we will probably start within the next month,

[14:25] month and a half. Uh other than that, I know there have been some questions

[14:29] about the marks on Main Street. That is a state highway project. They are

[14:34] actually going to come through Monday night next week and Tuesday night next

[14:38] week and mill and pave those areas of Main Street. uh that are marked out.

[14:43] Those are some of the areas that have gotten pretty rough. That is not their

[14:47] extensive uh main street upheaval and paving program that they have talked

[14:52] about. That happens in 2028. This is simply just a surfacing project to get

[14:56] everything smoothed back out. >> They're going to be redoing crosswalks

[14:59] and correct. >> Correct. Where they go up.

[15:01] » Y that I think is everything. Uh if there are any questions, happy to go

[15:07] into it. >> Two things both related to signs. Sure.

[15:10] So that I guess this would fall under the street department. One I spoke with

[15:13] Chief Costello about before. I wasn't sure if it was a police issue or a

[15:15] street department issue at the uh intersection of of

[15:20] Southwater Street and Maine. >> Um where there's a

[15:24] » we have a sign that says no parking from here to corner and right under it's a

[15:27] sign that says two-hour parking. >> Yes,

[15:29] » there's a car park there right now and there there frequently is. So I think

[15:32] it's extremely confusing for people. I think the 2hour sign needs to come down

[15:36] for >> No, I mean I think I think just the the

[15:39] twohour thing just needs to come off there. Just leave it. No parking here at

[15:42] corner because I think that's what it's it's supposed to be.

[15:45] » Got it. >> It's on the same page two hours past

[15:47] this and no parking before it but because they're on the same p.

[15:51] » Got it. We talked about the other day. >> So there I guess that's a street

[15:54] department issue that they could get to that. And then another thing that's also

[15:57] related to signs, um, a week or so ago, whenever it was, I, um, I had gotten

[16:03] with you about talking to the fire department. They need, they wanted some

[16:07] assistance from the street department to mount a sign over there. Were we able to

[16:10] do that? >> Um, I actually don't I'll have to follow

[16:13] up. Emily was tackling that one. That was when all the water stuff was going

[16:16] on. Yeah. >> Um, and to my knowledge, they were going

[16:18] to set >> They may have. I'm I'm just asking.

[16:21] » I'll double check. >> Double check and see if they have. If

[16:23] not, I'll get in touch with the chief over there. Kendon,

[16:26] » I have one question. Something that came up with the plating commission in

[16:29] regards to the new sidewalks that the state's putting in on um Middle Road

[16:34] there. Is that right? >> Mid Oh, yes. Yes. Brad.

[16:38] » Yep. 7 Maryland 736 Bradock Road. [laughter]

[16:42] » Yeah. Um there were some concerns about the design of it and whether it's going

[16:48] to interfere with the turning lanes there. Wonder know if you had any

[16:52] information on that or >> as far as at Bradic Estates or

[16:56] » closer to the university they were thinking it was going to remove those

[17:00] turning lanes. >> The turning lanes will stay the parking

[17:04] lanes will go away. All that parking that where people park up on the street.

[17:08] Yeah. >> Um so where they don't have to pay that

[17:10] all goes away. >> Okay.

[17:11] » Yeah. They were concerned so they were going to cut that out and there'll be

[17:14] more traffic and stuff. >> Turning lanes themselves will stay but

[17:18] the parking on those sides will go away. Okay. Y

[17:22] » uh one thing just to add because this does seem like it was six months ago at

[17:24] this point. Um these are the the July reports. Um so I'd like to add uh for

[17:29] the 4th of July and Derby Day street department did not say anything job with

[17:33] day all day long. Same thing parks and rec crew was all around town.

[17:37] » That was a long day for those guys. >> They did um uh there's an event that

[17:40] evening at Hoff Park and all that kind of stuff. I'd like to thank the Boy

[17:44] Scouts as well, particularly uh Kevin Peterson and I believe his sons and

[17:50] maybe some of the rest of his troop I guess it would be called. Uh they did it

[17:54] they were not asked to. They just did it out of their own goodwill. They picked

[17:57] up they took bags out of the cans all day, tied them up and sat them next to

[18:01] the the cans themselves. That way our guys could just come and take the bags

[18:05] and throw them >> bags in it so they

[18:07] » So very much very much appreciated from those guys. Cool.

[18:12] » Okay. >> Thank you.

[18:13] » Anything else? Thanks, sir. And uh finally, the police department chief.

[18:25] » Good evening, mayor, commissioners. I have the report for the police

[18:29] department for July 2026. Uh, as you can see, we had 460, excuse

[18:35] me, 457 incidents, very similar to July of 2025 where we logged 437 incidents.

[18:42] Uh, four arrests were made during the month of July. two cases referred or

[18:46] handled by C3I, four documented community policing events, 22 well-being

[18:51] checks, one emergency petition, 23 assist other agency incidents, 25

[18:55] requests for a police officer, two follow-ups, 17 disturbances of various

[19:00] sorts, eight motor vehicle crashes, one DWI arrest, and 87 traffic stops. Uh, as

[19:07] always, you know, I always try to talk about some of the community events and

[19:10] positive things we've been doing in addition to our daily duties. Um,

[19:15] we uh recently visited Kids Corner down in Mountain Ridge, which is essentially

[19:19] the preschool at Mountain Ridge. They invited us. Sergeant Beaman and I went

[19:22] down there. He actually led the presentation. Did a fantastic job. We

[19:25] also had the Frostber summer day camp come and do a tour of the police station

[19:29] and our vehicles. Uh, that was led by uh, Corporal Fman and Corporal Delaney.

[19:33] Uh, I was there as well. They led the program. They did a fantastic job with

[19:37] the tours and they gave us both entities gave us some nice recognition on

[19:40] Facebook. So, it's not why we do it obviously, but we appreciate seeing that

[19:44] and like being a part of those things. Um, [clears throat]

[19:48] just the other night, uh, Sergeant Cook represented our department in an escort,

[19:52] which many of you may have heard about or seen on social media. A few of you

[19:56] told me about it in advance. That was the, uh, remains of a World War II

[19:59] veteran uh, who was brought to his hometown of Westernport. So, thanks to

[20:03] the mayor for, uh, authorizing us and encouraging us to be a part of that, and

[20:07] we appreciate Sergeant Cook representing us there that evening. Uh just some

[20:11] additional noteworthy uh police activities. We've had uh specialized

[20:15] enforcement for DWI lately under the one of the Maryland State Highway uh grants.

[20:20] And I'm sure you saw the media release. We had a motor vehicle crash with a

[20:24] pedestrian uh down at the uh essentially near Dollar General in Frostber um

[20:29] Village Shopping Center Plaza. So there was a little elevated risk because the

[20:32] lady who was struck was 88 years old. Initially, we weren't sure what her

[20:36] condition would be. We had the uh crash reconstruction team from the sheriff's

[20:40] office come out. They did a fantastic job. They brought up a large utility

[20:43] vehicle. They did they used the drones to uh essentially analyze the area. They

[20:48] checked out the vehicle. They checked out video surveillance footage. They did

[20:51] a very very nice job and we appreciated the specialized work there. So that

[20:55] would conclude my report. Certainly glad to elaborate further or answer any

[20:58] questions you may have. >> Um given the schools are public schools

[21:02] are going back into session next week. if there's anything maybe you want to

[21:04] mention about yes >> pedestrian safety or kind of what how

[21:07] your department's involved with that. >> Sure. Yes, absolutely. And things have

[21:10] changed a little bit over the last few years, but uh for many years we did uh

[21:15] designated uh traffic control duties at Mountain Ridge High School uh typically

[21:19] at arrival and dismissal time and then at Bell Elementary. Bell Elementary

[21:23] changed their traffic pattern. They did a really nice job so they don't need as

[21:27] much assistance from us. So often we'll have an officer there anyway. Uh but

[21:32] typically at Mountain Ridge, we're there for traffic control in the morning and

[21:34] afternoon. Obviously, the schools also have their own uh school police officer

[21:38] through the Alageney County Public School System. Uh we do tend to see an

[21:42] increase in speeding complaints through our neighborhoods every every uh time

[21:47] school the school year comes around early in the season. It's an influx of

[21:50] traffic, but there really is some speeding issues. So, we encourage

[21:54] everybody to slow down, leave leave home a little bit early so you don't have to

[21:58] speed down the road to get to school on time or drop your kid off and get to

[22:02] work. So, we will have officers out on patrol to uh deter and enforce traffic

[22:06] issues as well, especially uh when we see that influx of traffic here over the

[22:10] next few weeks. I should also mention that we'll uh we anticipate approval for

[22:15] the uh school resource officer grant again which essentially allows one or

[22:19] more of our officers on their offduty time to work overtime to do specifically

[22:24] uh walkthroughs of the schools to investigate activities of the schools

[22:28] essentially to supplement the school resource officer program. So that's been

[22:31] a great program that we've had for maybe seven or so years now if not longer all

[22:36] paid for almost almost entirely paid for by the

[22:40] state. There may be some nominal cost to the city, but it's it's a great program

[22:44] funded by the state. >> Sure.

[22:46] » One more thing, and we talked about this last week at work session. Obviously,

[22:48] we're not ready to take action on it yet, but if you could just for the

[22:51] record so that the public's aware, talk about what laws or ordinances are

[22:56] currently in effect as relate to ebikes and if a citizen has an issue or

[23:00] complaint or something, what steps they need to take.

[23:02] » Yes, absolutely. Yep. Uh very generally speaking, uh the default state statute

[23:06] changed only within the last two years or so by by laws passed by the Maryland

[23:11] General Assembly. The default is that bicycles are allowed to ride on a public

[23:16] sidewalk unless a local municipality passes their own law saying that it's

[23:20] illegal. U aside from that, there are general laws that would apply uh

[23:26] independent of those regulatory things. So, for example, if somebody's driving

[23:30] recklessly down the sidewalk on an ebike or some kind of dirt bike and they're

[23:35] almost hitting people, that would probably constitute the crime of

[23:38] reckless endangerment, if not something more. There would certainly be grounds

[23:41] for the police to stop those people and investigate further at the scene. And uh

[23:46] I mentioned last time, we always appreciate when people call us with

[23:49] concerns, especially uh immediately because, you know, it's a relatively

[23:53] small community. There are not that many places to go. So if somebody calls us

[23:57] quickly and says, "Look, I was just almost knocked down by these people,

[24:00] flying down the sidewalk, we can probably get there, find the find the

[24:04] people on the bikes, and at least talk to everybody, investigate at the scene,

[24:08] and go from there." So there is definitely a factual component that is

[24:11] instrumental in being able to enforce existing laws. And as with any crime,

[24:16] you know, uh policing is really uh um a shared responsibility kind of in

[24:22] policing theory. You know, sometimes I nerd out from studying policing and

[24:26] going to school to study policing academically. I mean, theoretically, the

[24:29] police are paid uh full-time to enforce the laws and patrol, but they can't be

[24:34] fully effective without information from the community. It's a shared

[24:37] responsibility. If people have concerns, call us. We appreciate it. We'll be

[24:41] right there and we can take action. So, encourage that sharing and we'll

[24:44] certainly be proactive on our part and observe for those things and initiate

[24:48] anything that we can do to help. >> Anything else for Chief? I have one more

[24:53] sort of related to the the bike policy. Absolutely. Um and your resource

[24:56] officers. Um has it been thought of to, you know, we already have these officers

[25:01] in the building, >> maybe do a little bit of outreach in

[25:03] regard to, you know, the students on ebikes because there's a lot of kids

[25:07] that ride them and they recklessly, you know,

[25:10] » I think that's a great idea. Yeah, definitely. I love the educational

[25:13] component. Um yeah, I'm going to talk to our school resource officer. Maybe we

[25:18] can do maybe when he talks with classes. so much is focused on like delinquency

[25:23] and drug and alcohol and tobacco usage. I think that would be a good topic to

[25:27] incorporate in there. >> Yeah, it might be good just to let them

[25:29] know. >> Yeah. You know,

[25:31] » yeah, >> to abide by these rules, you know, what

[25:33] whatever gets sent. >> Absolutely. That's a great idea.

[25:37] » Okay. >> And the uh the chief and I had discussed

[25:40] uh once we get all this through, especially for the regular bicycles, to

[25:44] have a bicycle safety course put on by our officers. We did this for several

[25:50] years and we gave out free helmets >> to the kids that that participated in it

[25:56] so that that the younger children will know where to ride their bikes and where

[26:00] not to ride the bikes and we could actually include an ebike session in

[26:04] that. I know, correct me if I'm wrong, years ago, I mean many years ago, it

[26:08] used to be a requirement that you had to come and get your bike registered with,

[26:11] and I'm not saying that we do that or that we go back to that, but that

[26:14] » well, and that was that was an educational component

[26:16] » that was done particularly if if we found a bike on the road, which we still

[26:21] do this, and they end up back in the back of the police station and set for

[26:25] two years and then we give them away. That that that was done so that we knew

[26:29] who owned the bike, we could get it back to them, [snorts]

[26:33] » sir. Anything else for Chief Costello? >> Thank you, sir. Thank you, mayor. Thank

[26:38] you, commissioners. That concludes the city departments.

[26:41] Before we entertain a motion, um Mr. Lindsay, I have one more question. Sure.

[26:46] » Um is the the paving parking situation at Coug at Cougarfield. Is that done?

[26:52] » Yes, we have we've actually been dropping off a few piles of millings

[26:55] from this current paving program there just in case we need more throughout the

[27:00] process. get sloppy during the season, >> but it's open and they can use it now.

[27:03] » Great. >> Okay. Thank you.

[27:05] » One last uh also on Derby Day, uh police officers did a great job. I chief there

[27:10] all day. Um uh but they also responded to our banner um coming down and taking

[27:15] care of that. So yeah, they were they were on the ball that

[27:19] » All right, that is all the reports of the city departments. Do I hear a motion

[27:23] to accept? >> I accept.

[27:26] » You what? >> I accept.

[27:27] » You move to >> I move to accept.

[27:31] Second. >> There's a motion and a second to uh

[27:34] approve the reports of the various city departments. Any further discussion on

[27:36] that? Hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I.

[27:39] » Post. No. >> Reports of the city departments are

[27:42] approved. Moving on to item nine. This is the required monthly hearing for Cso.

[27:51] So again, this is the monthly public hearing for the city of Frostber consent

[27:56] decree um combined sewer overflow projects that are going on within the

[28:00] city of Frostber. Um at the moment we are underway with phase 10B and phase 10

[28:05] C. Uh we are approximately I would say 18 to 20% of the way through

[28:12] those projects um on both of them. Uh curbing went in on 10C for McCulla

[28:19] Street last week and then sidewalks actually began to go down today uh for

[28:23] McCulla Street on 10C. So the portion from Cemetery towards Mountain Ridge.

[28:30] And then for 10B uh if anybody was in the area last week, I believe it would

[28:36] have been Wednesday, uh we did set our our really big structure. We have an

[28:41] 84inch manhole on that job. Um, we actually used a couple large pieces of

[28:45] equipment to set it. Um, so that was kind of a a small town spectacle, so to

[28:50] speak. It went really well. Um, then they they've been blowing through ever

[28:54] since then. Um, again, with these projects, you guys are going to think

[28:59] I'm a broken record, but I'd just like to stress the fact that uh sidewalks are

[29:03] a part of these projects. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to talk about

[29:07] them. If not,

[29:11] » and I would have to say where some people complain about the work that's

[29:15] being done on Mclla Street since I live there, my wife has come to appreciate

[29:19] the fact, especially the days that that she babysits, that it keeps the two

[29:24] children very busy watching all the time. [laughter]

[29:28] Especially, you know, uh EA, right close to where you're at, they have some brand

[29:34] new, uh nice looking equipment, so it's fun for fun to watch. Wow.

[29:39] » Entertainment value. >> Yep.

[29:42] » There. Any other questions? >> Thank you.

[29:45] » All right. This concludes the required monthly hearing for the CSO project.

[29:48] Moving on. Item 10. There's nothing under old business. Moving into item 11.

[29:52] This will be the first reading of proposed ordinance 2026-06.

[29:58] » Yes. So, I'm taking the position of John this evening. Um, so ordinance 2026-06,

[30:05] uh, an ordinance of the mayor city council of the city of Frost, Maryland,

[30:08] entitled an ordinance to repeal and reenact sections 3.01 of appendix D of

[30:13] the city code, rental housing code pertaining to the registration of

[30:16] dwelling units as rental housing units for the purpose of clarifying those

[30:20] terms. So in section one, um, uh, the changes would include, uh, reg uh,

[30:27] section 501 registration occupancy would now A no dwelling unit may be rented or

[30:33] otherwise occupied unless it is registered and has passed inspection in

[30:37] accordance with this ordinance subject to following exceptions. Uh uh I a

[30:42] dwelling unit occupied by the owners and members of their immediate family who

[30:45] reside there rentree is not subject to the registration and inspection

[30:49] requirements. Uh two, a dwelling unit uh owned uh by a trust and occupied by the

[30:55] trust beneficiaries or members of their immediate family all of whom reside

[30:59] there rent free is not subject to the registration and inspection requirement.

[31:03] And then B occupancy limit shall be determined by the zoning ordinance

[31:06] subject to reasonable accommodations present to the fair housing amendments

[31:09] act of 1988. Um and then be further that this

[31:14] ordinance should become effective uh on the 21st day after it passage. Um so if

[31:20] you are interested I did pull this up the current um

[31:26] section D uh 3 uh 01 languages there um uh so one of uh one of the

[31:35] clarifications this does is so uh it says in this it says if the unit is

[31:39] owned by a trust the trust beneficiary and that individual's immediate family

[31:43] unless it's owned by uh unless the dwelling uh unit is occupied rentree and

[31:48] is registered. So, we have had some people trying to skirt our rental

[31:52] housing program by setting up uh things as a trust

[31:57] » and having somebody that is a part of the trust live there paying rent to

[32:00] them, but they're not like a family member. They tend to change over year to

[32:05] year. Um uh so to make sure that we're making uh ensuring everybody's getting

[32:10] the proper certifications and inspections,

[32:13] » this will clarify that language. >> Gotcha. Okay.

[32:17] So then just to clarify, so subb doesn't change. It's just sub A. So we're

[32:22] deleting the se deleting what's currently in sub A, replacing with this

[32:25] with the two subsections. >> Yes. Replacing with this A and the two

[32:30] subsection >> one point.

[32:32] » And it's mainly just for clarification on the intent of what it was.

[32:35] » Right. Got it. So, if there's no questions, um, uh, I'd

[32:42] ask for a motion second to approve ordinance 2026-06

[32:45] on first reading, uh, and set the, uh, September 15th, 2026 council meeting,

[32:51] uh, as the advertised public hearing, um, and move forward from that,

[32:56] » right? >> And we approve Go ahead. I have to

[32:59] approve ordinance 2026-06.

[33:04] » Duly moved and seconded to approve resolution 2026-06 on the first reading

[33:08] and we will set September 15th as the uh advertised public hearing date and

[33:13] potential second reading. That is the motion. Is there any further discussion

[33:17] or comment among council on this? >> Any discussion or comment among the

[33:21] public on this ordinance before we move hearing? None. As many as in favor say

[33:26] I. >> I post. No. Ordinance 26-06 is approved

[33:30] on the first reading and the advertised public hearing date will be September

[33:33] 15th. That concludes that. Moving to resolution 26-31.

[33:42] Excellent. So, uh, resolution 2026-31 um is to reappoint a member of the Frost

[33:48] Planning Commission. Um, Mr. Ray Race um has um indicated his willingness to

[33:54] serve another [snorts] 5year term. um and is being um suggested for such from

[34:00] uh the community development office done job. See no reason not to.

[34:06] » Okay. I move we approve resolution 2026-31.

[34:11] » Second. >> Duly moved and seconded to approve

[34:13] resolution 26-31. Is there any comment or discussion among members of council

[34:17] on this? >> Were there any other applications

[34:20] besides Mr. Rice? >> I don't.

[34:22] » Thank you. Any comment or discussion among members of the public?

[34:25] » Hearing none. Not as many in favor say I. I

[34:27] » post. No. Resolution 26-31 is approved. >> Next is resolution 26-32.

[34:35] This is also community development. >> Yes. Um so uh this resolution uh is to

[34:41] approve a contract with gov um for community development software. So

[34:45] software that would cover um permitting, rental housing, and code enforcement. Uh

[34:50] we've been working um with looked at a handful of different um software uh for

[34:56] this uh process. Go well seems to be um one of the best price and one of the

[35:01] best uh kind of forward facing interfaces for for our residents. Um so

[35:07] uh it has a $16,000 annual cost and a

[35:11] onetime uh setup fee of $5,400 a contract. Um we did work with them. Um

[35:18] the goal is has implemented um after the rental housing um kind of season in in

[35:25] the early bit of the year, but before summer starts to make sure everything

[35:29] transfers over correctly. Um mainly because the summer's a big time for uh

[35:34] inspection and then code enforcement, that type of thing. So there will be a

[35:37] little bit of overlap. Um but they also uh did give us an extra 3 months free of

[35:42] charge so we can get that set up. So you would enter into the contract pretty

[35:46] much immediately. Um, but instead of 12 months for the first year, we have 15 to

[35:50] help out with that. So there we have four.

[35:53] » When does our contract expire with our current vendor?

[35:56] » Believe it's either middle of July or very beginning of August. So we would

[36:00] have the summer essentially we would have both available to us with the goal

[36:04] of using this, making sure everything's working out. The biggest concern is we

[36:07] have had software implementation issues in the past with different companies. We

[36:11] want to make sure that this is up and running because if it's not when we go

[36:14] to transfer we've caused a lot of problems. We want to give ourselves more

[36:18] period and this was budgeted to have that overlap this year if we needed to.

[36:23] [snorts] >> My understanding is that this software

[36:26] is more user friendly. [laughter] >> Yes. Uh they we've looked at a lot of

[36:33] different things and and what this can do compared to uh our current system. Um

[36:38] all developers are excited about And it's compatible with other things we're

[36:43] already doing. >> Yeah.

[36:44] » Yeah. For for the most part. Like it's not part of another software we have.

[36:48] One of the ones we did actually look at was one of the softwares that is the

[36:51] same software as our financial system. >> Um but the cost of it for setup was much

[36:57] more expensive. It would take an entire year to set up. So we

[37:01] » we pay almost 25 20 $25,000 to have that system while we had the current system

[37:07] and all that kind of stuff. And it was um a bit Yeah, that's not a good

[37:15] » I move we approve resolution 2026-32. >> Second.

[37:19] » Duly moved and seconded to approve resolution 26-32. Is there any further

[37:23] comment or discussion on council on this? Is there any comment or discussion

[37:27] among members of the public on this resolution? Seeing none, as many as in

[37:31] favor say I. I. >> Oppos? No. Resolution 26-32 is present.

[37:36] Looks like there's one more for community development resolution 33.

[37:42] » So, this is a small correction for our um uh permitting uh fees uh that are in

[37:49] the uh fee schedule. So, when we did the budget ordinance um after it was passed,

[37:54] we realized there was one uh a couple of small little errors. So, uh I'll bring

[37:59] it up for you. The uh and so everything's getting

[38:02] cheaper, which is good. [laughter] So, uh the when we transferred when John

[38:07] was transferring over some cost um the the cost listed uh under residential

[38:12] commercial accessory structures is actually for inspections the cost of

[38:16] inspections not the permits so we're just reducing them down to what the

[38:19] permit cost is so uh instead of 105 it's those numbers there on the right uh and

[38:26] then while we were clarifying that we did give one other small clarification

[38:30] um this instead of being 5,000 kilowatt um it should be 5 kVa

[38:36] which is kiler I think. Um uh and then this one should also be KBA. So

[38:42] » um uh that's just a clarification. So resolution 2026-33

[38:47] uh is to um uh correct uh those uh numbers in the FY27 budget fee schedule.

[38:55] Uh and um >> we'll change that in the system.

[39:00] Nobody's been charged $105 by the way. >> Okay. this right away. Just to do a

[39:05] resolution. >> Got it.

[39:07] » I move to approve resolution 2026-33. >> Second.

[39:12] » Moved and seconded to approve resolution 26-33.

[39:16] Is there any comment or discussion among council on this?

[39:19] Is there any comment or discussion among those present in the public on this

[39:24] hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I.

[39:27] » Oppose. No. Resolution 26-33 is approved. Moving on to public works

[39:33] resolutions. Next is resolution 34. >> Okay. So resolution 2026-34

[39:41] is a change order to combine sewer overflow cso project 10C. Uh we spoke

[39:47] about this in our work session. Um but this was an error in the initial spec

[39:52] package put together by the engineer. Um whereas in the initial spec pack package

[39:59] it called for 30 feet of 8 in uh HDP PVC pipe uh and it should in fact have been

[40:07] 300 ft of pipe. So the contractor bid on 30 ft of pipe um instead of it being 300

[40:14] ft of pipe. Of course that additional pipe that we need for the project comes

[40:18] with a cost associated with it uh to the tune of $27,000.

[40:22] Uh this would come from the contingency budget for the project which of course

[40:27] is already budgeted. Are there any questions?

[40:32] » We need the pipe. We need the pipe. >> And to clarify too, uh this would not

[40:37] have affected the bidding. Um, for instance, if this contractor had bid it

[40:43] for 30 and the next contractor had bid it for 300 or vice versa, uh, that

[40:48] wouldn't have happened because each contractor got the initial 30 ft spec

[40:53] pack package that they all bid on. So, all contractors bid on 30 ft as opposed

[40:57] to 300. >> Um, with that being said, I would ask

[41:00] for a motion and a second for resolution 2026-34.

[41:05] » I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution 2026-34.

[41:09] Second. >> Do the move and second to approve

[41:11] resolution 26-34. Is there any further discussion or comment among members of

[41:16] council? Okay. Uh comment or discussion among those present on resolution 26-34.

[41:24] » Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I.

[41:25] » Post. No. Resolution 26-34 is approved. >> Next is resolution 26-35.

[41:32] » Yes. So resolution 226-35. Again, this applies to the um

[41:39] The fiscal budget money that we received from the governor's office um and again

[41:44] it is for the water treatment plant. One of the four phases of our water

[41:48] resiliency project is the um troubleshooting and repair of the geopic

[41:53] dome leak at the water treatment plant. Uh this is basically greenlighting us to

[41:58] start spending a little bit of money um to start repairing that issue. I want to

[42:02] be clear that we don't know the exact value um of what the repairs will cost

[42:06] because we don't know the extent of the leak under the tank. It's not one that

[42:10] we can just inspect. Um but we anticipate it being approximately 20 to

[42:15] $25,000 with the worst case being around 65,000. We asked the governor for 65,000

[42:21] for that project. Um we are hoping we can come in significantly under that.

[42:25] And of course it will be a a competitive bid and quoting process to find a

[42:28] contractor. So the mayor and council will get to approve the amount before we

[42:33] actually move forward because it will be a bid process.

[42:36] » The amount for the initial investigation as to how the

[42:41] extent of the leak or >> the this here was to cut us loose to

[42:46] start the investigation process. We anticipate that being 5 to$10,000 um so

[42:52] we can just go with the contractor get a couple quotes off of our trusted

[42:55] contractors and then get going >> just to start the process rolling.

[42:58] » Correct. because we can't with the water leaking out of the tank. We don't want

[43:01] to keep letting it leak out. >> Can you remind us how many gallons

[43:04] again? >> We think about 75,000

[43:07] » of finished water. >> Um this this money would also then be

[43:13] utilized for um paying the contract if we don't have the governor's money yet,

[43:18] but we could approve to spend money before um all the paperwork's done.

[43:22] That's been allocated to us as of July one. It's just a process to get

[43:26] everything together >> and you get re reimbured afterwards.

[43:29] » Yes. And we don't want to wait until winter comes around and not be able to

[43:31] do this project as >> So if there are no other questions, I

[43:36] would ask for a motion and second on resolution 26-35.

[43:40] » I move we approve resolution 2026-35. >> Second.

[43:44] » Duly moved and seconded to approve resolution 26-35.

[43:48] Is there any further comment or discussion among members of council on

[43:50] this? >> I know we've been talking about this for

[43:53] a while. That can get started. who are wasting a lot of money but also a lot of

[43:57] water. >> All right. Uh any comment or discussion

[44:00] among those present on resolution 26-35? Seeing none as many as in favor say I.

[44:05] » I post. No. >> Resolution 26-35 is approved. That

[44:09] concludes public works and the water department. Next one under finance

[44:12] resolution 26-36.

[44:18] » Um resolution 26-36

[44:23] is for the final fiscal 2526 budget amendment that we discussed at work

[44:28] session. Um major changes are um moving several capital projects from the 2026

[44:36] budget. They've been picked up in the 2027 budget. Uh both the funding for

[44:41] them as well as the actual expenditures. Um, we also incorporated

[44:47] uh some repairs and other items that were not budgeted, specifically the HBAC

[44:52] repairs for this building. Um, couple other minor things. Um,

[44:57] the last major item that we've changed, as we discussed a little bit earlier,

[45:01] was removing the proceeds from fund balance that were not needed, which is a

[45:06] good thing. Um, so unless there's any questions, I

[45:10] would ask for a motion and a second to approve resolution 2026-36.

[45:16] » I move to approve resolution 2026-36. >> Second.

[45:20] » Duly moved and seconded to approve resolution 26-36.

[45:24] Is there any further discussion or comment among members of council on this

[45:29] » comment or discussion among those present on this resolution?

[45:33] » Seeing none, as many users are in favor say I.

[45:35] » I. I oppose. No. Resolution 26-36 is approved. Thank you, ma'am. Next is

[45:42] resolution 26-37, Mr. O'Brien.

[45:48] » Uh, so resolution uh 2036-37 um uh is to uh essentially appoint the

[45:55] ex official member of the Frostber Plan Commission. So, according to their

[45:59] bylaws, Mayor Logston um is the ex official uh member unless appoint

[46:05] someone else. We had discussion and uh Commissioner Coburn um uh showed

[46:10] interest in doing that and Mayor Lawson agreed. So, this is just a resolution um

[46:16] stating that we will be appointing uh Commissioner Coburn uh to that position

[46:21] um for the length of his service or until another individual is identified

[46:26] as the exit.

[46:30] » I move to approve resolution 2026-37. >> Second. Duly moved and seconded to

[46:35] approve resolution 26-37. Is there any further comment or discussion among

[46:39] council on this? >> You're sure you want to do this?

[46:43] » I'm positive. >> I made it after MMO the other night.

[46:46] » Oh, so very dedicated. >> Yeah.

[46:49] » All right. Is there any comment or discussion among those present on

[46:51] resolution 26-37? >> Seeing none, as many as in favor say I.

[46:56] » I. >> Oppos? No.

[46:57] » Resolution 26-37 is approved.

[47:02] believe there's one more >> under new business. This is resolution

[47:06] 26-38. >> Um so as we discussed we are doing some

[47:10] uh renovations at the damkeeper house uh up by piny. Um uh our most recent keeper

[47:17] has moved out after being there 20 plus years.

[47:20] » 22 >> 22 years. Um so it's time to do some uh

[47:23] upgrades and and some work in there. Uh one of the big things we noticed was uh

[47:26] the electrical system needing some upgrades. So, um,

[47:30] » some upgrades, [snorts] >> some major. [laughter] Um, uh, so, uh,

[47:35] Hayden, uh, was nice enough to to put, um, three quotes together, uh, for me.

[47:39] Um, since Hayden is going to eventually be living there, I'm taking care of this

[47:42] aspect of it. Um, so, uh, after looking at the quotes, um, uh, that came in,

[47:49] Stevens Electrical, um, is expected to be the lowest cost. Um, uh, we did have,

[47:54] if you look at the quotes, there's one that averages out a little bit lower,

[47:58] but includes an apprentice quote or or apprentice cost which is significantly

[48:03] lower um and that individual would be there to assist probably the actual

[48:07] electrician. So we didn't include that in the average because we were worried

[48:10] it kind of brought it down. So uh this um

[48:16] um PA power solutions uh their average uh was uh 8550 uh Stevens electrical was

[48:22] 85 and then the other one was 90 something. So, um, one of the other

[48:28] things is Stevens Electrical, um, is going to be using Turnin for this

[48:32] project. So, we know exactly what it's going to cost people. We know that,

[48:35] right? So, um, [snorts] so we're, uh, suggesting Stevens Electric for that

[48:39] work. Um, uh, not to exceed $20,000 is what we talked about. We're hoping it'll

[48:44] come in under that, but there is a lot of work to be done there. Uh, they're

[48:47] going to be completely changing out a couple of panels, um, rerunning a lot of

[48:51] wires because some of the wiring in that building is pretty old. And we've had

[48:55] Steven's Electric work with us before, so

[48:59] » Isn't it like the whole house that needs redone?

[49:01] » Just about. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[49:03] » Um uh and they can start pretty much as soon as we're done signing uh this

[49:08] resolution. So >> yeah, we need to cut them loose as soon

[49:10] as possible. >> Yeah, I think they're going to be able

[49:12] to start [snorts] Monday. They can start last week. Well,

[49:15] council hasn't even approved you yet, so you might want to wait. But yes, they

[49:19] can start. [laughter] I move we approve resolution 2026-38.

[49:25] » Second. >> Duly moved and seconded to approve

[49:27] resolution 26-38. Is there any further comment or discussion among council on

[49:31] this? >> See how eager I was to get that.

[49:33] [laughter]

[49:35] » Uh do they do they have an estimate on how long it's going to take?

[49:39] » They thought about a week. >> Okay.

[49:41] » Yeah. >> Fortunately with the basement being open

[49:45] and the ad being pretty easy access all their runs pretty quick.

[49:48] » Okay. Very good. Anything further among council on this comment or discussion

[49:52] among those present on this resolution? >> Seeing none, as managers are in favor

[49:55] say I. I >> oppose. No. Resolution 26-38 is

[49:59] approved. That concludes new business. Moving on to item 12 on the agenda,

[50:04] which is open public comment. This is a chance for anyone who has something to

[50:07] bring to Mayor Council to please uh feel free to do so. If you would like uh come

[50:11] up to the podium, just please state your name and address for the record and

[50:14] we'll be happy to talk about anything you like. Ma'am, please do.

[50:30] Well, I apologize. I'm a little bit nervous.

[50:33] » Oh, please don't be. And um um my name is Becky Dwit and I've lived in Frostber

[50:39] for 20 years and we've had problems with our water and our trash. And um I came

[50:46] tonight um to ask you that um if you could um let us know ahead of time

[50:51] before you shut our water off. We we needed uh more time, but

[50:56] » as the situation turned out, our landlord did pay the water bill.

[51:00] » Okay. >> So we're okay on that. But what happened

[51:03] was we just had this big green sticker on our back door and all of a sudden I

[51:07] was like what? And I'd been working with Jay Hovatter to try and rectify our

[51:12] trash situation >> in the absence of our landlord.

[51:16] » And um all of a sudden we got a big green sticker that we're going to shut

[51:19] the water off in two weeks. So um Patrick I talked to Patrick and we get

[51:24] we got 30 extra days but still 46 days we had nowhere to go. We could not find

[51:30] anywhere to go and we could not come up with enough money to pay the bill

[51:34] ourselves. So, I am very scared and I'm still scared because we're not we're not

[51:41] it's not completely over yet because the trash has to be rectified

[51:45] » and I I'm was told that by the landlord that the water bill was paid in full.

[51:50] So, I'm hoping that is true and um I just we don't want to be in this

[51:55] situation again. Is there any way you can let us know at day one that the

[51:59] water is not paid? >> So, sort of. Um, so my my understanding

[52:04] is that you, the tenants of the building, were having a lot of trouble

[52:08] getting a hold of your landlord for a long time.

[52:10] » Yeah, we actually called the police department and did a wellness

[52:12] [clears throat] check on him >> and they called us back and said he was

[52:17] okay. And then that that very day, that evening, we called him again and he he

[52:21] did answer us. So, but still after that we [clears throat] had no contact with

[52:26] him. But, but I just talked to him on texting yesterday. So, he is around and

[52:33] he has apologized very much for everything and I accepted his apology

[52:37] and he wants to rectify everything. You know, he wants to pay the bills and get

[52:43] the a place back going again. >> So, I can tell you that I know for a

[52:48] fact that he was here and did pay his bill. I don't know if it's paid all the

[52:50] way to current, but he was here and made a significant payment because I just

[52:53] happened to be in the building whenever he showed up that day. So,

[52:56] » I'm very thankful of that, too. >> Yes. So, that's been taken care of. As

[52:59] far as the trash, I don't know if there's been an arrangement made with

[53:01] that. >> Uh he he's been working with uh Jay

[53:03] Hovet on that, our our code enforcement officer. Um uh they have an agreement

[53:08] that he's going to work on some things and we're going to hold off on any sort

[53:11] of additional fines and stuff like that worked out so that things can get worked

[53:15] out. Um but we'll follow up about that. >> Okay. So tech being a commercial

[53:19] property where technically it's a commercial property so you're not

[53:22] eligible for municipal for regular city trash pickup. As far as the water bill

[53:26] goes, I'm not sure what the legality of that is with I mean technically your

[53:30] landlord is the customer. So I'm not sure legally if we're able to disclose

[53:34] that information to anybody other than your landlord. We may be able we'll have

[53:38] to look at >> maybe not when it's initially late, but

[53:41] when it gets into the delinquent phase, we may be able to notify you then. Well,

[53:45] I've been talking to him and working with him and if anything I can do for

[53:49] him, I will >> and um because I like living here in

[53:52] Frostber, but it was quite a scare and I don't want to be homeless again. So, or

[53:58] I mean I don't want to be homeless here or I don't want that risk. We weren't

[54:03] homeless. I don't want the risk of being homeless.

[54:05] » Absolutely. We don't want that. >> So, but we called around and there's no

[54:08] there's nowhere for us to go. it was the problem too just as in in in case things

[54:14] really did fell through >> and um but um anyway that's all I have

[54:19] to say let me look at my notes here um but we'll continue to work with Jay

[54:24] Hovatter >> and then um like I said if there's any

[54:27] way you can give us a heads up you know if there's any problems coming our way

[54:31] um we did apply for a loan but we were turned down for it to try and play the

[54:35] water pay the water bill we don't have access to that much money right away

[54:40] So, um, >> yeah,

[54:41] » but anyway, we I like living here and we want to stay.

[54:44] » We appreciate that. We like having >> Yes, we like him to stay.

[54:47] » But Luke has been very apologetic and he is very concerned and he wants to get

[54:53] back on track. >> So, um, I would say hopefully you'll

[54:58] work with >> Oh, yeah. We'll continue to work with

[55:00] anybody. We said, I'm not sure that the two of you were here at the beginning of

[55:03] the meeting, but earlier we talked about another issue, and we said with any

[55:07] anything that is involved with code enforcement or any of that kind of

[55:10] stuff, we're we're not here to be punitive. We're not here to punish

[55:15] people. What we really want is compliance. So, whatever property

[55:18] owners, whether that be landlords or or or you know, single homes or whatever,

[55:23] whenever there are problems, we we do our best to work with anybody, okay? As

[55:26] much as we can because we don't want to punish people. I mean, if we will if we

[55:30] have to, but we don't, >> especially people who are not

[55:31] responsible, >> right? [laughter]

[55:34] » I mean, it's not your fault. >> Well, I just wanted to show up and let

[55:37] you know that that there are tenants, you know, there and Luke is working to

[55:42] get back on his feet again. >> Okay.

[55:43] » And um thank you for your time. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

[55:46] » You're welcome. >> Thanks.

[55:48] » One thing that we can do is so the state of Maryland says that we have to give a

[55:52] two notice, which is why that happened. Um but we did actually wait until water

[55:58] set to be shut off to do the two week notice instead of doing it two weeks

[56:01] ahead of time and shutting it off on that date

[56:03] » because residents live there. So we should be able to do at least a

[56:05] four-week notice do it two weeks earlier and then two weeks pass off. So at the

[56:10] very least we should be able to do that. I will look into it.

[56:12] » Yeah, that would be great. Okay. >> And I believe that with the notice

[56:17] tenants get a list of measures that they can take.

[56:22] » We did and I know um we didn't get that with the notice.

[56:28] gave me his card and wanted me to give his card to all the tenants and I did

[56:33] » and he wrote down this Maryland state attorney general's number on it.

[56:36] » Okay. >> So, we called them

[56:38] » and we did file a complaint. They have a landlord tenant section. Yeah. So, we

[56:44] filed with the Maryland State Attorney General's Office and they had sent me a

[56:49] copy of the correspondence they sent to my landlord

[56:54] » and they requested that he resolved the trash issue and they also I filed again

[57:01] for the water and they requested that he pay the water bill. He did pay [snorts]

[57:06] the water bill. So, >> but we're still I don't know. I I don't

[57:11] know what to do about the trash. It's either going to be a dumpster.

[57:14] you know what I mean or something >> eventually I'm assuming the contractor

[57:18] will take over >> subcontractor

[57:21] » unless the city will the city continue to pick that up

[57:25] » so we are doing that as part of an abatement process so he's getting cited

[57:29] anytime we pick up >> so it costs much more than a

[57:33] » contractor >> it would be much more cost effective for

[57:35] him to hire a contractor if he's going to do it with us it's going to cost a

[57:38] lot more >> okay

[57:41] » it's cost only $85 in overhead every time I have to pick one up.

[57:46] » Is that right? >> So, it's it's that every week plus a

[57:49] $500 citation. >> Yeah.

[57:50] » Um and that's weekly. >> I just don't want to keep going.

[57:55] » Y >> and we just have some heads up. You're

[57:57] like I cannot come up with a lot of money right away

[58:01] » to help him. >> We'll we'll continue with Jay. We'll

[58:03] we'll continue to monitor it >> to work with.

[58:06] » Absolutely. Yes, ma'am.

[58:10] » Thank you. >> Anything further? Anyone else? present

[58:13] that would wish us to speak. Commissioner Gats,

[58:16] » ex commissioner. >> Okay. Former commissioner.

[58:17] » Former commissioner [laughter] that

[58:23] » have five commissioners. >> Once you're a commissioner, you know,

[58:26] » you're always a commission. [snorts]

[58:30] » It's kind of like being a jet.

[58:39] » Good evening, Mayor Commissioner. Um, I'm Woody Gats. I'm a resident of Bradic

[58:45] Heights, a former commissioner of public works and founder of the city's green

[58:50] team. So, last week at your work session when I heard about sustainability and

[58:55] such, my ears kind of perked up and I'm volunteering to be on whatever effort

[59:01] the city is taking on that. I hope it actually gets opened up to anybody in

[59:06] the city who's a resident and has some background, interest, whatever. Uh

[59:11] sustainability is no small effort and it doesn't like happen and then it's over.

[59:16] So uh if if that's going to happen, I'd be very willing, desirous to be part of

[59:22] that. Do you have plans right now for how that not specifics, but in general

[59:29] [snorts] might be addressed by the city? >> I'm not sure which sustainability

[59:34] initiative you're referring to because we have several.

[59:37] » Well, it was on last week's agenda. It said micro grid and sustainability

[59:44] » and that's the first that I had heard of it since I had not been attending

[59:48] meetings too much. >> Um

[59:52] [snorts] >> so it has to do with our micro grid

[59:55] project. >> It was item

[59:56] » the resiliency project. >> It's item G says micro grid and

[1:00:00] sustainability update. Um

[1:00:03] » yeah, there were there were several grants that we were dealing with, two

[1:00:06] grants and what one of which >> we have applied for um in amended form

[1:00:13] and another one that we have turned down with the um prospect of applying for a

[1:00:23] replacement for that one um that will open up in September.

[1:00:30] » There's a lot of work to be done on that.

[1:00:32] Right. [snorts] Uh, and I looked online. I actually saw some things online, but

[1:00:37] different ones were open and not in terms of having the number to pull plug

[1:00:42] in to to get access and all those kinds of things. So, uh, yeah, if there's a

[1:00:47] meeting coming up, please, please let me know. We're announcing to the, you know,

[1:00:51] at these meetings so that people can know. Some of the articles that I've

[1:00:55] been reading recently where talk about the whole idea of the more people you

[1:00:59] get involved before there's an emergency,

[1:01:02] » the smoother it all all goes. You know, you can almost have like neighborhood

[1:01:07] » mini groups or something like that. Of course, the not

[1:01:11] » such that it's got so many resources building wise that, you know, you can

[1:01:16] have it all over the place, but you know, get some good buildings identified

[1:01:20] and people identified, organizations [cough]

[1:01:23] » [clears throat] >> So sir, let me know.

[1:01:25] » Thank you, sir. >> Thank you.

[1:01:28] » I have a question. I don't need to even go up there.

[1:01:31] » Okay. >> What happened to our very cool large

[1:01:35] flag? >> So on July 24 on it. I remember because

[1:01:41] it was the day of our July council meeting. So last month when we were here

[1:01:44] and if you remember because you were here.

[1:01:46] » Oh, it was terrible. >> We had a terrible rainstorm.

[1:01:48] » I stayed home because of >> Yes. So we had So we had a terrible

[1:01:51] rainstorm that day and a combination of the rain and the wind and I guess the

[1:01:55] flag was it's big so it was very heavy and wet. It um broke the pulley at the

[1:02:01] top of the pole that help holds it up and it fell.

[1:02:03] » So the city does not own that flag pole or the land there that that little park

[1:02:09] » belongs to the um American Legion. So we've been in contact with them and

[1:02:14] offered our assistance whenever they're whenever they have a plan for how

[1:02:17] they're going to fix it or what they're going to do. We've offered our

[1:02:19] assistance, but they're they're not ready yet or they they don't have to

[1:02:22] what they need yet. >> Okay.

[1:02:23] » Yeah. It broke the rope and the pulley and everything.

[1:02:26] » So, for the 250 celebration, we had actually ordered a a replacement big

[1:02:31] flag because the flag that was up there was a bit older.

[1:02:33] » Um that didn't come in on time. They're backward because it's the 250 stuff. So,

[1:02:37] the Legion put that flag up. Um because it's older, it may be made of like a

[1:02:41] thicker material. >> So, with the rain and the wind, it may

[1:02:44] have soaked up with their water and just became extra heavy.

[1:02:48] Luckily, I think the the new flag is in. So, we do have a a new one as well, but

[1:02:52] right now the pole in the room. >> Is it going to be big?

[1:02:56] » Yeah, I think we got one as big as the one that was on

[1:02:58] » because that one was just older and was starting to get a little

[1:03:04] » anything else members of the public wishing to come forward.

[1:03:08] » Commissioner Coburn, do you have anything you'd like to say?

[1:03:10] » Um, I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. Um, and I also want

[1:03:14] to thank the great staff who's been working, especially Mr. Lindsay, um, who

[1:03:19] put in a pretty hard week last week and I believe the week before.

[1:03:23] » Um, water situation.

[1:03:27] » Thank you. [snorts]

[1:03:30] » Thank you, sir. Commissioner, one more thing, too. Um, Commissioner Forsight

[1:03:34] and I attended the ribbon cutting um for Midland.

[1:03:37] » Yeah. Their multi-purpose building. Yeah.

[1:03:39] » Um, it was very nice. Nicely attended. Um, Yeah, they had a good program.

[1:03:44] » Yes, it was very nice. >> Very good.

[1:03:47] » Commissioner Forsight, >> just want to announce some things coming

[1:03:50] up. Uh though maybe you were planning on [laughter]

[1:03:53] » um on September 3rd, uh Thursday, the Cruise and Main Street takes place from

[1:03:58] 5 to 10. On Sunday, September 6, we have the very popular Western Maryland Craft

[1:04:04] Beverage Festival up at Havlin Park from noon to 6. On Wednesday, September 9th

[1:04:09] is the block party from 6:00 to 9. And then on Saturday and Sunday, September

[1:04:15] 12th and 13th, marking the end of the pool season, is the dog splash. So, all

[1:04:21] the pups are all ready getting all excited.

[1:04:24] » When is the last day for the pool for human beings?

[1:04:26] » For human beings. Uh, well, there's just weekends from the start of school. So,

[1:04:32] then right before then, I didn't write down

[1:04:37] » Labor Day. >> Yeah.

[1:04:40] Aren't they also open weekends? >> Yeah, it's weekends until Labor Day.

[1:04:44] Yeah. >> Okay.

[1:04:47] » Thank you, Commissioner Grove. >> Yeah. Just another comment about the

[1:04:50] construction work on Mccala Street. Uh obviously, it's a difficult time for

[1:04:55] people who live on Mclla Street, but uh I'd like to thank EA Construction

[1:05:00] because after every day they work, they clean up completely and make that road

[1:05:06] that that people can get get through. They're very professional with what

[1:05:09] they're doing. >> Nice to hear.

[1:05:11] » It's worth saying as well that if you live in that area and you need to get to

[1:05:14] your home that they are they will let you get to your home. You just might

[1:05:19] have to flag it out and ask. >> Very good. Commissioner Smouse,

[1:05:23] » just want to remind everyone just like um Chief said earlier, just remember

[1:05:27] school's coming back. There's going to be buses. There's going to be little

[1:05:30] kids. Just be careful and cautious. >> Very good. Only thing I would add to

[1:05:34] that is just welcoming back the students on behalf of this council, everyone at

[1:05:37] this table, and everyone in town, welcoming back not only our public

[1:05:40] school students, but the folks at FSU. Glad to have them back. And just a

[1:05:44] reminder that on Monday, uh, September 7th, all city offices, with the

[1:05:47] exception of the police department, will be closed for Labor Day. Anything else?

[1:05:52] » 6:35 meetings adjourned.

Mayor and Council Meeting

Transcript