[0:23] .

[0:36] . .

[0:46] . . . . .

[0:52] .

[1:32] Thank you

[1:38] for coming out tonight. We'll start with our opening prayer, please.

[1:47] The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

[1:52] He needs me besides the water. He restores my soul. He needs me in a path of righteousness, but his name say

[1:59] Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

[2:03] I will fear no evil without heart with me. I rod and I staff they come with me

[2:09] Now prepare to table before me in the presence of my enemies. Now I notice my head with oil my cup from under so

[2:17] So surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, amen.

[2:26] And will please turn to pledge of our allegiance.

[2:30] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic, which extends one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[2:45] All

[2:54] right. Thank you everyone. We'll start off. We'll set the minutes for August 17th minutes. Do I hear a motion?

[3:04] So be it. Do I hear a second please? Second. Well, those in favor say aye.

[3:08] All right. Thank you very much. With that, we'll move on to the department heads and.

[3:14] So, Dan is out of the office today, so if you have any questions on his report, I'll be glad to pass them on to him and get you the answers. And then James is out sick.

[3:28] However, on James's report, I would like to acknowledge that we received over $3 million in SRF funding 100% principal forgiveness.

[3:37] we were advised last week, so I have to go closing, but this will repair the sewer main that runs on six street from West Street, headed out to town limits.

[3:47] It'll be some lining and some replacing areas of old terracotta sewer line.

[3:58] We have a couple more projects that are going before them, so we'll get that funding as

[4:05] well.

[4:05] Thank you, Jamie.

[4:07] So we'll move on to the item and court at this point.

[4:11] Judge Ruffin.

[4:13] We have one report.

[4:14] I don't have any issues with any questions.

[4:20] Anyone has any questions for Judge Ruffin?

[4:23] Thank you, Judge Ruffin.

[4:25] We'll go on to finance, Melissa, did you leave me?

[4:28] Any comments down below?

[4:29] Do you have my reports for July?

[4:38] Does everyone have any questions for Melissa and Finance?

[4:44] Just folks that have not been here before,

[4:47] we get these reports a few days in advance,

[4:49] so we're going pretty quickly,

[4:50] it's because most of us have already read them.

[4:52] So, but if there's any questions, then it comes in.

[4:56] They will move on with the chief, chief.

[4:57] I think, uh, leaving you there in council, uh, you have my report also, but I do also would like to have a couple of minutes to highlight a couple of things and bring up, uh, a requested for emotion.

[5:09] So let me, uh, let me begin with the highlights and, and so, um, during the last month, we had our brief schedule, we had 15 students that take place, um, spend 40 hours with us.

[5:21] They got to see a lot of presentations, and they got to interact with us more importantly.

[5:27] That was probably the most important part of that, that, that actually, and what you

[5:31] could see is their growth in one week, I think we were able to go ahead and see visible

[5:37] growth.

[5:38] And they have a great time, it was a very, very disciplined environment, by no means was

[5:43] an easy, they did their share of push-ups and they did their share of running, but you know

[5:48] We saw that they thrive and they had a great time and it was a great for them and for us as well

[5:54] We hope to keep that product product coming out every year at the end of the year and we'll be doing it again next year as well

[6:02] The other thing I want to mention is that we've been meeting

[6:07] Quite quite often with Mr. Shere Patel from Brian's bowl recording all night out. So Laurel night out is our community night

[6:16] It's sponsored by the Police Department in town of rural,

[6:21] but it will be highlighting

[6:22] a lot of police activities.

[6:24] There will be a lot of exhibits there, and how participated they've been in the whole

[6:31] process.

[6:32] They want to see this thing go off and be a big success, and we're promoting it pretty heavily.

[6:39] You'll see those kinds of things.

[6:43] You know, I think it's going to be a great story for the town and we're going to go ahead

[6:47] and try and push that as much as we can.

[6:49] We recently graduated a new police officer from the Delaware State Police Academy.

[6:53] His name is Greg Katz.

[6:55] And so, you know, I've been, I was a state trooper for many, many years, 26 years and I've

[7:00] been to many, many graduations and through that time I've never seen, you know, when they

[7:04] have the graduations of the recruits and I includes troopers, I've never seen more than

[7:09] one person get one award. Mr. Katz or Pant Patrolman Katz received two awards at the ceremony.

[7:18] Interesting man, if you ever get a chance to talk to him, he's 42 years old as a new recruits

[7:23] of who's in there competing with 21 and 22 year olds. And that was probably part of the reason why

[7:27] he was honored there at the graduation. I guess just a couple of stat things, I just want to throw

[7:36] out there that if you look at the at the report you see we had 10 DUIs this month and I would

[7:42] say majority of them have not been for alcohol so that just gives you an idea of indication

[7:46] of what's going on in the streets in law. The other thing I find kind of surprising is that we

[7:53] had 21 phone investigations and what kind of explanation is that is we have a new unit that's been

[8:03] work out there that are focusing mostly on gangs and drug violence in the town.

[8:09] When I come back next month, you're going to hear, well, there's before search

[8:15] warns, I'm going to talk to you about that I've already been executed, so it's already

[8:18] out there, but I'll give you the details of them at the next meeting, but we are certainly

[8:22] impacting the town problem in the town of war.

[8:28] Finally, I just want to add one more thing, and this is kind of a like a legal thing we have

[8:33] to go through and I've got to make an official motion to the council or yesterday that we

[8:38] moved this forward. And that's that we were awarded a grant. I'm handing them out, I

[8:42] hand them every council member which I'm going to read to you. It says the law of police

[8:48] department has been awarded funding through the FY26 Delaware local JAG work allocations.

[8:56] Can Brian apply for this and apply for and successfully secure this funding and we have

[9:01] the Laurel Police Department. This they shared a ward between the Laurel, Seaford,

[9:05] Norford and George Town Police Department's Tilling 74,449 hours, with

[9:10] Laurel receiving 15,000 and 38 dollars. Police Department intends to use Laurel's

[9:16] allocation to assist without fitting a new police vehicle. This funding will

[9:20] help all set expenses that would be otherwise needed to cover, needed to be

[9:25] covered through the town funds and other various grant resources. Acceptance of

[9:30] the funding requires formal approval by the mayor and council. There is no additional

[9:34] funding being requested from the town as part of this action. So, I respectfully request

[9:39] that you make a motion for the town world to formally accept the $15,000 and $38,000 award

[9:50] to Laura Police Farm and authorize its use toward upfitting a new police vehicle.

[9:56] Do I have a move?

[9:58] No.

[9:59] I mean, we'll do that under new business so we can keep it separate.

[10:03] And that's

[10:07] all I have for having questions for the Chief.

[10:10] Chief, this weekend I was on the Internet.

[10:13] I probably shouldn't go.

[10:15] But an issue came up.

[10:18] Where did the funding come from for the slot?

[10:23] I came from a DARPA grant from probably two and a half years ago through a piece of

[10:32] run-on just results, the word is worse, the word you would go ahead and it's the time

[10:37] to cash in that grant because we have a lot of problems trying to get the polls out

[10:42] and we want people to make with that issue.

[10:45] And so really, you still have not even used a dollar that amount, but that won't be spending

[10:50] And then that one, until we go live with the camera,

[10:52] so you should be probably next month.

[10:55] Well, actually, that's definitely weeks actually.

[10:56] After the camera's already up in our inputs.

[10:59] So none of that funding came out of your budget,

[11:02] which comes from the tax payers.

[11:04] It's a total record.

[11:05] Thank you very much.

[11:09] Okay.

[11:09] We'll move on to old business.

[11:11] How many did this move?

[11:15] Before, under my report, Mayor,

[11:17] I'd like to point out that Wawa has settled on their property.

[11:20] that was done earlier this month, so hopefully we'll start seeing some stuff to

[11:25] start moving forward out there quickly. I'd also like to point out that I am and

[11:32] it's in my report, but currently working with FEMA from the second snowstorm that

[11:37] we had back in February. Hopefully you can get some reimbursement on some expenses

[11:42] is that we cannot use overtime as reimbursement,

[11:50] but we did have a couple of water leaks.

[11:52] We had some what the employee was headed in town.

[11:55] So those things have all been submitted for reimbursement.

[11:58] So far, it looks good.

[12:00] However, there's a lot of change that has to go through

[12:03] for approval.

[12:05] So we're totally in around only about $13,000.

[12:09] So all we were eligible to submit happened.

[12:12] So, fingers crossed that we do get approval on that, and that is all that.

[12:18] So, in one other thing, we just got word that the housing development that was proposed

[12:25] the 410 units on the East Side discount land road, they did receive the preliminary approval

[12:30] from Dell.

[12:31] So, James and our engineer did talk to their engineer today, and their engineer will be

[12:38] working on some of their utility designs to get the water insure it's up onto their

[12:45] property. So hopefully we'll see that. That will have to come back to planning and zoning

[12:50] for final approval once they get all their state approvals but out of the biggest one.

[12:54] So I believe we'll start seeing that move forward as well.

[12:57] And I want to thank you and James for the collaboration that you've had with that group. They were quite

[13:02] impressed. Thank you.

[13:03] Yes, sir.

[13:04] All right. I have a question on the report. Jamie, on one of your reports, you have the

[13:11] audit follow-up, Mayor and Council and Ms. Artisan. We're provided with documentation

[13:16] in regards to concerns she raised in reference to the FY24 audit, this document advised

[13:23] what steps have been taken based on the orders, recommendations, and processes. I don't see

[13:34] See that document as part of tonight's packet, and I was more than if one would be providing.

[13:39] Is that, I just want to make sure, I'm speaking on the same thing that you are, is that she

[13:47] had brought up questions about the order's recommendations on changes that needed to be made going

[13:57] on how we're going to order a process of moving these recommendations forward.

[14:03] So I know that there was a lot of questions on that I was just wondering if yes

[14:07] So it was what she presented at the last council meeting packet. I

[14:13] Tiped up the response and sent it to her and to to Mary and council. Okay, if you want copies

[14:18] Well, I was just wondering if one with one with a copy that was gonna be made. No, I don't that's not something that would normally go in the minutes

[14:24] Unless Mary and council requested it to go in

[14:31] All right, so we'll go to old business, Tom Manigas-Miffrey.

[14:35] You have the second reading of ordinance 2026-4, which is a many chapter 92 licenses for

[14:43] properties within the town.

[14:44] This allows exemptions for persons who are allowing immediate family to reside in their

[14:52] properties.

[14:53] the immediate family is defined as a parent child sibling and or spouse, as long as there's no monetary rent.

[15:00] The property owners may apply for an exemption from the rental license fees. We did include one here, the application is separate from the ordinance for you to review. And it is amended per your motion at the last meeting that regardless of, rather, any staff member knows them formally, they still have to submit the completed application.

[15:28] Once this is approved this evening, this will be, this is the final read. So then it will go into effect tomorrow.

[15:34] So do I hear a second all those in favor say aye all those opposed say no thank you

[15:46] Is that a full business on games yes sir okay let's go to new business town man just

[15:51] please yep mayor council for the last several years the town of Laurel has held our annual

[15:56] trunk or tree this year we grinds of a one center also has been holding one so this year we are

[16:02] collaborating and working together, and it's going to be the Laurel Community

[16:05] Chunkertry. It will be held at Bryan's Bowling Center on Saturday, October 24th

[16:10] from 6 to 8. And I would like to thank Alexis for her part in this as well as

[16:15] Mr. Patel, the owner of Bryan's Bowling Center for taking this on.

[16:21] Thank you.

[16:23] And then on Mayor and Council, normally just pass approval to hold Halloween.

[16:28] This year will be Saturday, October 31st from 6 to 8.

[16:32] I just need approval that we can move forward with that.

[16:40] Thank you.

[16:41] Do I have a second on it?

[16:42] Sure.

[16:43] Thank you so much.

[16:44] All those in favor say aye, please.

[16:46] Aye.

[16:47] All those opposed say aye.

[16:51] It's good.

[16:53] And I'm trying to find the date of it.

[16:56] The homecoming parade for the Laurel

[17:04] High School

[17:04] is scheduled for Friday night.

[17:08] Thank you.

[17:09] Friday night from it is line-up starts around 536 and the parade is started at 7.

[17:15] So I just need permission from Mary Council to allow them to hold the parade and of

[17:20] course you guys are invited to participate. We do because it's on a state

[17:24] maintain road, have to submit an application to build out for approval, which has

[17:28] already been done because of the timing. However, Mary Council still have to give

[17:33] final approval. Do I hear motion?

[17:36] I'll be here. Do I hear something? Thank you very much. All those in favor say aye.

[17:43] All right.

[17:46] All right. And the next thing is approval of the chief gave you from his

[17:52] grant. So if you make the motion based on his recommendation and then that way it's normal

[17:57] and go ahead and submit. They're necessary people. Do I hear a motion for Councilor

[18:03] I'd like to make a motion to approve. Thank you very much. Do I hear a second, please?

[18:08] Thank you, Jonathan. All those in favour say aye.

[18:11] All those opposed say nay. Thank you very much.

[18:15] Okay, we'll move on to Mayor and Council's comment. We'll start with Councilman Bo.

[18:22] Councilman Jonathan.

[18:23] I'm just an unusual thing to wrap up and thank the staff for all the work that you do.

[18:32] Just be safe, have a great time.

[18:39] Thank you again.

[18:39] Councilmember Calia.

[18:41] Nothing to see.

[18:42] Thank you.

[18:43] Councilmember Calia.

[18:44] Thank you, sir.

[18:45] Two items.

[18:47] First of all, I would like to make a motion that we make the answer to.

[18:54] Mr. Arsene's

[18:58] questions on the audit part of the minutes of tonight's meeting so that if the public wants to see.

[19:06] Because basically what I read is that we're just saying how we are moving forward from what the order is said and how we should do.

[19:13] So I think that's something that the public can see, how we plan on moving forward on those issues.

[19:18] If you

[19:22] have a motion, you move on.

[19:24] Oh, do I have a second?

[19:26] Second.

[19:27] Are those in favor say aye?

[19:29] Aye.

[19:30] Aye.

[19:30] Are those opposed to singing?

[19:35] All right.

[19:36] Next thing I have is on January 27th,

[19:43] Hollybrooke.

[19:44] I sent the text message on Sunday,

[19:46] DeGiole, 26th.

[19:47] I asked the mayor about a community meeting

[19:49] at Hollybrooke.

[19:51] The reply was that we should reach out

[19:53] and cancel it under the circumstances of snow.

[19:57] I was thanked for staying on top of it.

[19:59] Later I found that meeting was held,

[20:01] and I was never notified.

[20:03] February 23rd, there was a community meeting

[20:06] with the Haitian community,

[20:08] an email saying that I was not to come.

[20:13] May 7th, 26th, the Laurel-Store newspaper

[20:16] pertained it to town violence,

[20:19] town officials acknowledged the seriousness

[20:21] witnesses of the situation and confirmed that decisions are already underway with law enforcement.

[20:28] The mayor noted that a meeting had been held earlier that day with police leadership

[20:34] to develop strategies moving forward.

[20:37] We are very concerned, he said, state and public safety budget impacts and a strain on police

[20:45] resources.

[20:47] The key fact is that the Haitian community requested a meeting with the town about actions

[20:55] of legislation taken by the chief of police and its official capacity.

[21:05] That makes subject operation of the Royal Police Department.

[21:10] The Royal Charter gives town council not simply the mayor or town manager important authority

[21:18] concerning the police department.

[21:21] The charter states that council makes the rules

[21:24] and regulates necessary for the organization,

[21:27] government and control of the police force.

[21:30] Operational control of the police department's daily routine

[21:34] belongs to the chief, where the town manager

[21:37] communicates policies adopted by council to the chief.

[21:43] That makes the exclusion more a council member

[21:49] For asking to attend a meeting concerning allegations about police department Konda, in asking

[21:56] to observe, discuss something feeling within the area of which council itself has charter

[22:03] responsibilities.

[22:05] I still do not find anything in the charter establishing a general power of the mayor or

[22:11] town manager to tell elected council member that he or she may not attend such meetings.

[22:18] I was told that mayor was following protocol, I ask for the protocol in writing, the legal

[22:24] authority is supporting it.

[22:26] Section 12 gives council authority to establish its own rules in order of business.

[22:33] If there really is a council protocol prohibiting attendance, there should therefore be something

[22:40] identifiable, a council rule ordinance resolution policy or other authority, not merely an

[22:46] administrative assertion. Delaware fire for you doesn't automatically make this a public meeting

[22:55] merely because town officials and community members meet. Several council members along with

[23:02] our town manager have been present at numerous meetings related to our town. One example is the

[23:09] one-law meeting which three or more council members in the town manager attend. This is just one

[23:14] instance along with many others including SCAT, Western Chamber, and meetings with representatives.

[23:20] But there's another example that cuts against acclaimed protocol. Delaware law expressively

[23:27] provides that a public body is not held a meeting solely because of a quorum of members attending a

[23:35] meeting of another public body. An example that I have of that is if five members from the

[23:43] for town hall meeting does not constitute a quorum that we can do that.

[23:48] Thus, a council member cannot attend because his or her presence would automatically create

[23:55] a foyer violation would be an oversimplification.

[24:00] The actual facts, how many council members were present, who organized a meeting, other,

[24:06] whether the group itself was a public body and whether council business was deliberated

[24:11] is the matter. The charter repeatedly assigns authority to town council as a body.

[24:20] The larger pattern taken individually, each instance might have an innocent or legally

[24:28] permissible explanation. Taken together, however, if they raise a legitimate governance,

[24:34] questions. Question that is more precise, does anybody have to invite every council member

[24:40] to everything? The question becomes, are the mayor and the town manager controlling the

[24:47] flow of information concerning town business in a way that selectively prevents certain

[24:53] elected members of council from observing, participating in or exercising their charter responsibilities?

[24:59] The charter does not expressly say all council members must receive identical information,

[25:07] but neither does it establish the mayor as the gatekeeper of council information.

[25:13] There's also a potentially important Delaware FOIA issue of the information sharing arrangement

[25:21] results in some council members privately deliberating about town business

[25:27] is why others are excluded.

[25:29] Delaware DOJ has specifically found

[25:32] that serial communications among council members

[25:36] can create a constructive form,

[25:39] even when everyone isn't physically together.

[25:43] In a 2023 case involving Ellen Dale,

[25:47] the DOG found a four-year violations

[25:49] where council members use email exchanges to discuss

[25:53] and reach consensus on public business

[25:56] this outside of properly noticed public meetings.

[25:59] The DOJ reached a similar conclusion in 24

[26:04] on the town of Greenwood matter.

[26:07] I am raising this issue because of many occasions.

[26:10] I have told a mayor that I am available to attend meetings

[26:13] that affect our town yet.

[26:15] I have been, I have not been invited.

[26:18] I have not, I have been denied access

[26:20] to participate in these meetings.

[26:22] I have been told by mayor himself

[26:24] that he attends many meetings concerning our town.

[26:28] After many months of waiting,

[26:30] the town council still has not been briefed

[26:32] on what was discussed or the outcome of these meetings.

[26:48] That's right, I have a list of the meetings on what

[26:51] the ones I was talking about.

[26:53] And I touched on the base at the beginning of them.

[26:57] I mean, there was that first meeting that I touched on

[27:00] with the Haitian community was that

[27:03] But if the four emails back and forth, I was told that we will be updated on the outcome

[27:10] of that meeting, and that was in February, it is now September.

[27:14] And as far as I know, Mayor Council has not been updated on the progress of that meeting.

[27:21] So that's all I wanted to state is that I offer my time.

[27:25] I'm here to serve the town of Laurel as a member of the Council.

[27:32] And I wish to participate in all aspects of the town that I can and I have been, like I said in my statement, I've been locked out of meetings, I've been told I can't go to meetings, that it's just mayor and town manager.

[27:50] And that is protocol, but yet I ask for the protocol and there is no protocol. Thank you for your time.

[27:55] Thank you.

[27:59] Thank you.

[27:59] All right.

[28:04] Thank you.

[28:05] Thank you.

[28:07] Thank you.

[28:07] So thank everybody for coming out.

[28:11] We have a family-based festival that we've been working very, very hard on putting together

[28:19] September the 26th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

[28:23] Um, um, we have about 30s, six vendors coming out.

[28:29] Good job.

[28:29] Um, I want to thank the Mayor and Jamie.

[28:32] I want to thank everybody for helping me.

[28:34] I've been up too.

[28:35] I was asleep a lot because my mind keeps racing.

[28:39] But it's all good.

[28:40] I'm excited.

[28:41] I'm ready for the day.

[28:42] And I hope all of you come out.

[28:44] That's all I have to say.

[28:45] Thank you.

[28:46] You're welcome.

[28:47] Doug, please.

[28:48] Well I can say after my first month on the job and basically drinking from a

[28:54] fire hose of information, I have a new appreciation for everybody else sitting

[28:59] at the table. It's a lot of work, it's a lot of reading, there's a lot that goes on

[29:06] behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. So I thank each one of

[29:11] them. I'm not included because I'm too new, but I'm looking forward to

[29:15] contributing to the bigger group, and I thank each one of you for the time that you put in

[29:23] for the years that you've been on the council. Now that, for instance, one thing that we've

[29:29] been tasked with is reading the zoning code for a re-write. If you have trouble sleeping at

[29:37] and I would give you your copy.

[29:39] Break through that, and it's over 100 pages long.

[29:43] So I've made it through more than half of that.

[29:46] You know, I've interrupted my phone call schedule a little bit,

[29:48] but that's a, I do have a new appreciation for, you know,

[29:52] the amount of time and effort that goes into everything

[29:56] that you see that goes on here.

[29:58] So thank you to you.

[30:00] So thank you. I encourage each one of you to get involved because I enjoy being in that chair a lot more than I enjoy being in this chair. It's easier. But when you get a chance to volunteer or anything else, definitely get involved. And it'll make it feel good.

[30:19] And speaking of volunteers, we'll need some for September 26th for the festival.

[30:26] We're going to have some events so we'll need some judges so come on out.

[30:30] Okay.

[30:30] And also on Friday the 25th, we'll have an author's event, get them in by the name of

[30:35] Leonard Pits.

[30:36] He's a Pulitzer Prize winning author that would be at the Dunbar gymnasium.

[30:42] And thanks to all the coordination from the library and everyone else involved with

[30:46] this and one of the things that happened.

[30:48] And this is also all the events at the library.

[30:53] So everything from tutoring to Tai Chi,

[30:56] to painting to whatever the case may be,

[30:59] that library is always hot and running.

[31:01] And also those that support the arc for,

[31:06] we have students in school now,

[31:08] and they need some tutoring help.

[31:09] It is free, free,

[31:13] okay?

[31:15] Things to learn, tutoring is about $50 an hour,

[31:18] most of the time.

[31:18] I mean, I just want to share some quick dates so that everybody knows two, seven, six.

[31:27] Okay. Like I said, the book events the 25th and then the festival, the 26th on October 3rd,

[31:34] purple night out, Liberia's responsive, October 10th, great work of the Laurel Police Department,

[31:41] Laurel night out as was mentioned. Those, pardon me? I got the 10th group.

[31:51] Thank you guys.

[31:51] Okay. Go first it is. Thank you. And then for those that want to support the arc on October 17th,

[31:59] they're doing the, pardon me, the hour awards will be on the 17th, also at Dunbar.

[32:07] It was already mentioned October 24th, from Katrina Treat. November 23rd, a fundraiser for

[32:12] the arc is a bake sale. She has every year to support this free program. And then the 7th,

[32:18] around the world. Another wonderful event by the library. And December 4th is the Christmas parade,

[32:24] the 719th, the Coat Drive from the library. So I just want to share all those things that are

[32:29] happening in our town. So having said all that, we'll go to the...

[32:34] May I share something that's coming up for the school?

[32:38] Yes, I just want to make everybody wear a September 22nd, which would be the third meeting.

[32:43] I mean, Laurel Middle School is having, I think it's called the Waves and the Waves is

[32:49] willingness, attendance, voice, engagement, and success.

[32:54] And their next meeting will be on September 22nd at the Laurel Middle School Library.

[33:01] And it's just going to be family-team challenges and working with the parents and children.

[33:07] Thank you, sir.

[33:08] Okay.

[33:09] We'll go with the public comments.

[33:11] So, Cheryl.

[33:15] Thank you,

[33:24] Cheryl. That was your 26th show. Yes. Thank you. All right. Public comments for those

[33:31] that don't know our public comments. We try to keep it in consideration of everyone's times

[33:35] three minutes. So if anyone has a public comment, please feel free to come to the podium.

[33:39] State your name.

[33:43] I'll start this whenever you're ready, sir. How you doing?

[33:52] My name is Richard Outwell.

[33:56] My family has been a member of this town for over 200 years.

[34:02] I've been a member of the fire company for 50 years just now.

[34:08] When my parents died, we inherited their home, my self, and my siblings, and my sister

[34:16] here now. She lives on social security.

[34:23] Three years ago, our taxes were $540.

[34:28] They jumped

[34:28] to $750, supposedly for new cops, which we don't see around. And this year, they jumped

[34:38] almost 600 bucks. Can somebody tell me why they jumped that much in one year?

[34:44] I can only assume without calling it up. It's based on the assessments this year. We are using them. I knew that's what you were doing to say the county assessment those taxes jumped 20 bucks.

[35:01] The county taxes jumped 20 bucks. Why did the tales jump almost 600? I have to look at your assessment to see what it was and what it went to.

[35:10] I can't tell you there's a lot of people here who are probably wondering the same thing.

[35:16] Well, I can't tell you what it is until I pull it up.

[35:20] I don't have that information in front of me.

[35:22] Somebody used the wrong multiplication table.

[35:25] We raised, we lowered our tax rate from $3.98 to $45.46 for $100 of the assessed value.

[35:34] So we significantly lowered our rate for the residential commercial has this separate

[35:38] right. However, I don't know what the assessment was on this property versus what it is now.

[35:44] So I can't comment on that. I can tell you that property. We believe my mother and father

[35:48] are in that property since the 40s when he got home from World War II. So it just doesn't

[35:57] make sense to me for taxes to jump that high in one year. And the town when the county's

[36:02] didn't. The county's didn't. I don't know what multiplication figure you guys use, but

[36:11] it's not right. And you wonder why people and you don't have anybody living in this town.

[36:18] I'll tell you, it's come to the point where I think we're either going to abandon or sell the

[36:22] home and move out of town.

[36:26] That's how bad it's gotten. That's totally ridiculous and I'm sure there's

[36:30] other people to feel that way.

[36:32] Thanks for listening to me.

[36:42] Thank you.

[36:43] My name is Jay-Z Hoffman.

[36:46] I live at 412 East 6th Street Mayor and Council.

[36:48] Thank you for your time.

[36:50] So I as well as Mr. Outwell there have a serious question as to what my tax dollars are doing for me at this point.

[36:58] I moved into this town, obviously I was born here.

[37:00] I was raised here until I was 12 years old and moved to South Carolina.

[37:04] I've been back in this town since 2019.

[37:06] when I moved into my home in 2019,

[37:09] I paid $740 in town tax.

[37:13] I've been charged this year $1,085.

[37:16] That's at 47%.

[37:20] I don't understand where this money goes.

[37:23] I've seen breakdowns of what our intake is

[37:26] and what our outflow is.

[37:30] My next question to the town council is

[37:32] we have 250, 245 new affordable houses

[37:36] getting ready to come to this town. Three or four years ago we hired two new police officers

[37:41] for this town with those new homes that are getting ready to come. How many more cops are

[37:46] we're going to have to employ for that? What is the tax base that's going to be generated from that?

[37:53] What is the town doing to help lower our tax burden? I can tell you now bringing affordable housing

[38:00] is not going to help lower that tax burden.

[38:05] How is that going to affect the utilities in this town?

[38:09] I heard Jamie say earlier that we've just been afforded a grant to take care of a water

[38:14] main that runs down East 6th Street, am I correct on that?

[38:16] Right?

[38:17] A sewer man.

[38:18] Right?

[38:18] So that tells me that that's old outdated equipment that needs to be replaced.

[38:23] How does 250 new homes pressure that system that's already in need of repair?

[38:29] here.

[38:32] What is the town doing to be more business friendly? There was an opportunity to bring

[38:38] a business to the corner of Route 9 and Route 13. And I'm told by representatives of this

[38:45] state that it was denied by the town for a concession of a closed system portage on

[38:51] unit that was going to be under the utility building that was going to be placed on the property.

[38:55] they needed a concession of six months and it was denied. I know Kenny Adams

[39:02] very well. Kenny Adams is a businessman. Kenny Adams would have done more for

[39:07] this town than this town has seen in probably 25 years because he is an

[39:13] entrepreneur. That would have been the only business that he brought here. The

[39:17] number of people that would have been to that business to purchase product if

[39:21] they come in the afternoon they're gonna stop by Smash and Dash. They're gonna

[39:24] want to take the time to come into town and give their business to Pizza King or Laurel

[39:29] Pizza Rita.

[39:32] We couldn't concede to six months of that, yet I go down Central Avenue right across

[39:38] from Develle's and I see a business and a utility trailer in what sits in the back corner

[39:44] of that log, visible to the public.

[39:47] A portage on was that okay by the town council, were they given the concessions to be allowed

[39:54] to put that portage on on property and if so, why? And if it's not allowed, where is our

[40:01] code enforcement at? Right? If it's going against the code of the town and there should be pro-activity

[40:07] with that.

[40:10] I moved back here in 2019 because I know this town needs help. I have given my time in

[40:17] the school system for the last three years and I can tell you now this town is in really, really bad

[40:27] 250 affordable houses is not what this town needs.

[40:30] This town needs more concessions to businesses to bring a bigger tax-based business wise and not to the people of this town.

[40:38] Thank you for your time, thank you so much.

[40:51] Thank you, thank you, name please.

[40:54] It's got a couple quick questions.

[40:57] Mainly about raising up the business license $75.

[41:04] I like to know what it is I get from that.

[41:07] But what the time does for me for the extra $75.

[41:09] I get a piece of paper.

[41:11] It says a license and that's pretty much all I get.

[41:14] And just for information for you guys,

[41:18] Delmar is only 50.

[41:19] They see for it has none.

[41:21] Dags, burls, 150 greenwood, 75, and blades is 100.

[41:26] Here's is a little steep.

[41:29] I don't know if anything I get from the time for it,

[41:31] and I pay property taxes, everything else.

[41:34] What's the business license get me?

[41:36] You don't have to answer the night.

[41:37] You can get up with me.

[41:38] I'm easy to find.

[41:40] And here since 1950, no, not too hard to find.

[41:43] Thank you, Kevin.

[41:46] Is there anyone else?

[41:51] I don't.

[41:54] With enough.

[41:55] Little unfortunate, I shared a sediment of a lot of people in here, my taxes went from $700 to $1400.

[42:04] I'm retired living on a fixed income.

[42:09] What justifies doubling my taxes?

[42:13] I'm sorry, assessment is not an appraisal.

[42:17] If you were to appraise my property right now, it would be par from what it assessed at.

[42:24] mainly because of what's around me.

[42:28] I'm just frustrated, like I'm not sure a lot of people are, and I don't understand how

[42:33] it can go from $700 to over $1,400 in one year, doesn't make any sense to me.

[42:42] How much is your budget going to increase percentage-wise?

[42:47] I believe it was 15%.

[42:49] Okay, so why did my taxes go up 15%, why did I go up 50%?

[42:54] I don't know, I have to look at your assessment and people's varies.

[42:58] I've had people calling and their taxes went down, but it's based off the assessments.

[43:03] Is it?

[43:03] The county did their new assessment.

[43:05] I get that.

[43:06] There's a lot of people not just me have heartburned about them all over the county, not just

[43:10] here.

[43:11] That's right.

[43:11] I get that.

[43:13] So, but what I don't understand is, with or without that assessment, if your budget is going

[43:20] up 17%? Well, take my taxes up 17%. Not from 700 to 1400 for coming out loud.

[43:31] Somebody just to find that, please. Thank you, Blair.

[43:44] Hello, Mayor and Town Council. I am for those of you that don't know, I'm the U Services Library and

[43:50] the Laura Public Library. I just wanted to kind of touch on some of the things that some of the

[43:54] Councilman and Mayor Artie, we're talking about earlier.

[43:58] So one of the things we do have is Leonard Pitt's junior

[44:00] is going to be coming to the Dunbar gymnasium on Friday.

[44:04] We're having from three to three, fourty-five

[44:06] it's going to be an adult reception to talk with the author.

[44:10] At three, fourty-five to four, fourty-five

[44:12] because there's such a time crunch with the author,

[44:15] that will be reserved for a youth discussion.

[44:18] Any youth that attends will be getting a free signed copy

[44:21] of the book.

[44:21] We have partnered with OWL with the library, one Laurel and the town in order to have this event.

[44:30] We're really lucky. Lewis is the only other one that has the history book festival

[44:35] and they were the ones that approached us out of every town in Sussex County

[44:39] that they wanted to do an event with.

[44:41] So the book is called 54 Miles.

[44:44] It's available in the Delaware Public Library Catalog.

[44:48] or Dilra, Dilra State Library, I'm sorry, as well as Laurel, we have physical

[44:52] hobbies of it as well. And we will also be having, so that's that event. If you

[44:58] need any more information, just let me know.

[45:00] The second thing that I wanted to talk about was the Del Regus Purple event. That is a statewide event that runs from September through November, and it focuses on prevention. So I have a group of teens called the kick-butch generation. They're against nicotine and tobacco usage vaping. And they have come together for this as a third year in a row now that they have planned a health fair with different resources for the town.

[45:29] and then it's attendees and also just plan the entire event to go along with their kick-butch

[45:36] generation table. So there will be at this event that they wanted to do a health fair with

[45:42] different resources. They wanted to have different activities that people could understand what it's

[45:48] like to be impaired and also everybody attending will get a free t-shirt that is designed by the teens.

[45:56] And with that said, I wanted to also bring up that we just learned that we got our American

[46:02] Language Association brand renewed again this year.

[46:05] That will be the same grant that we used to fund the story walk, that is in Market Street

[46:11] Park.

[46:11] If you haven't been out there, please go and look.

[46:13] Right now it's all posters from the Laurel Intermediate School and the Laurel Elementary

[46:18] School.

[46:19] They were all chosen winners by the teams in the kick-butch generation that are to teach

[46:25] kids not to smoke, vape, or use nicotine products. So you will be seeing more youth involved

[46:33] in the town council meetings. I'm going to invite them now that we have that grant and

[46:36] we have the funding and that we know that we can we secured that. We'll be attending the

[46:41] meeting to kind of give them an idea of, you know, how the inner work is in the town to

[46:47] try to see if we can pass certain things that might be related to tobacco and nicotine

[46:53] and it is completely teen-led. It's open to any kids that are of 13 and above and has a different,

[47:00] we meet the first and third Fridays of the month from 3 to 4 p.m. We have food, volunteer hours,

[47:07] and a chance to attend a summit in Dover this year. So we would love to have more people. We're

[47:13] going to kind of do more outreach at the schools and try to get more kids involved. So that is all I

[47:19] has for now. The Story Walk is open to the public. If you do use it, please use the QR code

[47:24] and answer some of the questions that helps with our funding. So thank you. Thank you.

[47:28] Thank you, Stacy, and the library. Yeah, thank you.

[47:34] If there's no one else, please. Good afternoon. My name is Cian Deer and I'm new to Lauren.

[47:43] All right, so I just came to this wonderful town. I really don't know much about the town.

[47:49] But I bring a business here to the tone. I just rent a place down here in Polar Street,

[47:55] Papua Street. So we before last, the enforcement command, they shot it now. So they shot the

[48:02] business owner and they said, I need some stuff in the building, which I didn't know of.

[48:07] I need all those stuff. So anyway, the gentleman said to me that my food trailer that I have

[48:13] in the building, the building is set up for a food trailer, have water, electric, everything

[48:17] is set up for that particular unit. And they tell me that I cannot have a future in the

[48:22] tone of Laura. I have to move it like no. The guy even come and he took no mess and

[48:26] after all everything. And he said I have to shut it down immediately. So I said to him,

[48:32] next door to the industry is a food trailer. I have a toilet outside in the open. My business

[48:39] have everything that comes with, you know, everything that is sanitary is there. And the gentleman

[48:44] months and listen, you know, you have to move your trailer. I said, walk into the guy next door

[48:48] with his trailer with everything that's supposed to say listen, somebody bigger than me have them

[48:53] there, but you have to move your own. And I'm like, you know, that's kind of unfair. So all this

[48:58] stuff that I buy, I buy over $1500 a month and everything, and everything was quiet, gotta put them

[49:03] in a trash. And the guy said, listen, that trailer is there and I can't touch it, but your trailer

[49:09] profitable. So I'm like, it's kind of unbalanced because I'm bringing in business to the

[49:14] tones. And I said, I'm about business, right? And so, so while I'm saying, no, if I'm

[49:20] going to bring business to the tone, that's telling me that you guys don't want me here.

[49:24] I come all over from New Jersey, I'm bringing in business here, right? I bring a lot of stuff here.

[49:29] I've wanted to talk to the kids about because I'm an author as well, my diesel engineer as well.

[49:33] And I wanted to talk to the kids about domestic violence about mental health. But, you know,

[49:40] It looked to me like they don't want business in this town.

[49:43] So for me, I don't know what next should I do.

[49:46] Because right now if my trailer, if I got to move my trailer, I got to move my business

[49:51] so I got to go somewhere else.

[49:53] And I'm just saying that's kind of an even against the ball field because why that guy should

[49:57] be right there next door to me and he good to stay but for me that have everything that

[50:02] I need, everything is called for the trailer, the villain was designed for the trailer and

[50:07] said, I can't stay there. And I'm off the road. I mean, a private property. And they said,

[50:13] I can't stay there. But the guy who was on the side of the street, they said, oh, we

[50:17] can't touch him because somebody bigger than us tell him to stay. So I don't know what

[50:22] my next option is because I lost a lot. So thank you very much for following me.

[50:36] Okay. There's no one else. Uh, do we have a motion to close the meeting? Just recess that we've got to know. Yeah, right. We have a closed session. So we'll have a recess of three minutes. Please.

[50:48] Thank you.

[51:56] You know, now is it not trying to be all up in your business, but do you have a mortgage

[52:02] on one hand?

[52:03] Okay.

[52:04] Because I didn't have the mortgage on one hand.

[52:12] So

[52:17] you're new assessment.

[52:20] 312.

[52:22] So.

[52:24] I have a huge job.

[52:36] Okay.

[52:37] You know what else I got?

[52:40] You know, so

[52:42] Right, it's

[52:45] 17,000

[52:48] I know

[52:55] you don't want to hear, you know, it's based on how much the assessment mean

[53:01] that it's right on. Oh, I don't do these

[53:30] They

[53:43] shouldn't be in the last few years. They're assessment of very little

[53:47] If it's an overhome or has it had a renovation, a nature renovation done in a while

[53:53] Those are the people that were hit with a bigger

[54:01] Now what I would suggest you do, and I'm not going to fix it for this year, is you appeal it to the county.

[54:09] And so what we did to get our taxes to, like, I have a list of profits that you're not looking to accept.

[54:16] And we're back, and I can't set a rate for every end of this property.

[54:20] So you're only going up to 10%, and we haven't had one set rate.

[54:25] And unfortunately, because your assets went up, that's super crazy.

[54:29] it hit you harder than it may have hit some other people.

[54:34] I'm gonna rely on you.

[54:37] And I'm not, I'm just like giving you the facts,

[54:40] so I know they're not there to eat.

[54:44] And

[54:51] then there's others that have gone dead

[54:56] because their text don't exist.

[55:01] Well, it's just like that.

[55:03] I've just been on it.

[55:04] I'm going to give you a round of applause.

[55:12] Yes, ma'am.

[55:14] How's the new pictures?

[56:08] Anything else you want to say?

[56:13] The truth does not negate for me.

[56:28] What is it?

[56:57] The percentage of the next second.

[56:59] But I would only have a problem with you.

[57:01] More like this gentleman.

[57:02] After I came back, he went from 17 to...

[57:14] Well, let me look it up and I'll give you a moment.

[57:17] Thanks, sir.

[57:21] Have a good night.

Laurel, DE meeting

Transcript