[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] All right. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to this regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council, scheduled for Monday, October 7, 2024.
[0:15] At 6 p.m. First, on the agenda, I'm going to ask Secretary Deluca. You can please lead us in both a prayer and the pledge.
[0:24] The Lord, we are meeting today to revise personal caring, municipal services and to serve as a responsive host to our guests and residents.
[0:32] Please guide our hearts and minds in the spirit of fairness, right Thought and Speech.
[0:37] In part of your Supreme Wisdom of Honor Activity, so that our decisions may reach a successful conclusion.
[0:43] Thank you for being our source of guidance today.
[0:54] The next on the agenda, we have a special presentation on the impacts of the proposed U.S. wind offshore farm wind farm project presented by the Indian River High School Engineering students.
[1:20] Welcome, everyone.
[1:26] Thank you for having us. My name is Jordan Oboil from Indian River High School. I am an engineering teacher there.
[1:32] Anyways, a few weeks ago, I gave the students an assignment to have a mock stakeholder meeting on the positive and negative effects of offshore wind.
[1:42] Markably, after the students dug into research, the entire class 100% of the class shifted to the negative impacts of offshore wind far outweigh the positive impacts.
[1:54] Some of the data you'll see in this slide show has been updated because they met with a professional engineer on Friday. So if you want to update it version of PDF, just email me and I'll take care of you.
[2:04] My name is Noon Saratha. I'm the senior class secretary at Indian River. I was born and raised in Ocean Beach, Delaware.
[2:14] And our goal as a class is to make the government officials in the general public aware of the effects of the offshore wind farming.
[2:24] Before we begin, here's some cost effective alternatives for removing CO2. Just six trees planted can remove one ton of carbon dioxide out the environment annually.
[2:34] Now, on the other hand, one solar panel can remove up to 4.25 tons of carbon dioxide as well.
[2:40] Before we dive, it directly into the impacts of the offshore wind turbines.
[2:44] If you compare it directly to the natural gas combined cycle, it makes little to no sense why you would choose the offshore wind turbines and here's why.
[2:53] Hello, my name is Ernest Barnes and I worked on the cost of the windmills. All shore turbines without an energy backup would cost 13.65 cents for kilowatt will be unreliable as it's dependent on wind speeds.
[3:04] You had an offshore turbine with a natural gas combined cycle on land will cost 11.59 cents for kilowatt.
[3:11] It would be more reliable with still dependent on wind for the turbines. If we just use a natural gas combined cycle, it would only cost 3.394 cents for kilowatt. It would be 100% reliable.
[3:23] Now, if you look at the costs on how much it will cost to save a ton of CO2, the offshore wind turbines would cost around $1.2,000 per ton of CO2 removed, which is insane.
[3:34] Now, the middle part is the offshore wind turbines with a backup for the natural combined gas cycle on land on land, which would cost $250 per ton of CO2.
[3:44] But just the natural gas combined cycle, it would cost $200 per ton of CO2 saved.
[3:50] Now, the offshore wind turbine will save 100,000 tons of CO2 annually, while the natural gas combined cycle will save 170,000, which is a 1.7 increase.
[4:04] My name is Thomas Forman. I did the wind turbine costs. So the plan to have 116 total new generation turbines, like all land to have 410 feet blades.
[4:17] Each of these will approximately be $13 million to simply get them installed, and for all of them it will be $1.5 billion.
[4:25] These costs does not include the required land-based back-up generation or the necessary improvements for our electric grid, which $1.5 billion in the same amount for just being a couple of towns along plus 6 in Wershester County.
[4:38] So, consider that.
[4:48] Hello, my name is Dean Smith. I worked on the maintenance. 80% of the maintenance on these windmills has to be done by hand, which means you have to use power tools and other items like that.
[5:00] It has to have maintenance every 2-3 times a year.
[5:03] The very hard to serve is due to it being off of the shore and the boats that haven't had boats and helicopters to take them there.
[5:12] The parts are very hard to get due to not many of them being made and the supply chain.
[5:19] The lifespan of these is around 20 to 25 years, and most of the time it lowers with that conditions due to the salt crowding them and other things like that.
[5:27] It all needs to be changed on these every 96 months, and they also hold 6,400 gallons of synthetic and toxic oil per turbine.
[5:44] My name is Vincent Losepon and I worked on the failures. The failures will have an average shutdown time of about 6 days.
[5:51] The more power that a wind farm can produce is equivalent to the turbine failures, you'll have more of the more power you can produce.
[5:58] The oil in the turbines can leak and spill.
[6:01] 62% of failures are internal, 19% are blade failure, 9.7% is structural failure and 15% catch fire.
[6:10] This graph on the left has a lot of different failures and how often they happen, the frequency of them.
[6:17] The table in the bottom is any wind turbine under 500 kilowatts is expected to break down once a year.
[6:26] Anything over 1 megawatt is expected to be able to break down 3 and a half times a year, and the wind farm will use 20 megawatt turbines.
[6:39] When failures occur, fiberglass can be in the water which is very hard to remove, and you cannot remove all of it.
[6:46] Fiberglass can give you cuts, rashes, and if inhaled can cause thorough and stomachsornas, which even after it's cleaned up, you have to wear shoes on the beach and stuff.
[6:55] The smoke and heat pollution from when they catch fire and the very large piece is falling into the water.
[7:10] My name is Landon Aruse. I was born in Maryland and I now live in Oceanview, Delaware. I focused more on visibility and tourism and how these things are going to look from the shore.
[7:23] A lot of people were led to believe that these windmills wouldn't be visible, but really they will be very visible as they're roughly around 900 feet tall.
[7:35] They're only going to be miles offshore and the Bureau of Ocean Management just came out with a new issue which would make them 3.5 miles offshore.
[7:45] This is going to be a lot of people aren't going to like this.
[7:49] Seeing these gives our local towns the formerly been known as beach and vacation towns.
[7:56] It's going to give them an industrial look from the shore.
[8:04] Drives a lot of people out which could then possibly hurt businesses.
[8:10] And with what Vincent said about failures, beaches, closing, not as many people are going to want to be here without the beach.
[8:22] They're also pile driving these into the ground which is going to make a lot of racket and a lot of noise.
[8:28] It's going to affect the wildlife and the people on the beach are going to feel it here.
[8:37] This is just the comparison.
[8:41] National monuments and buildings in Ocean City.
[8:46] So this is going to be much taller than the century one which is the largest building in Ocean City.
[8:55] I added a picture from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from 84 years ago.
[9:04] It was like the ones that were proposed about 10 miles out.
[9:10] And UD also did a study where 40% of beach goers responded to a survey on what they would think.
[9:20] 17.4% said that they wouldn't come back if it happened when 27.2 said that it wouldn't make their vacation less enjoyable.
[9:32] The industrial look that's going to be brought upon.
[9:42] I get evening.
[9:44] My name is Akari Yarbrow and I'm the senior class president at Indian River High School.
[9:48] And I contributed by interviewing local business about how they would feel on the offshore wind farms.
[9:56] So Lily's place one of the owners said it takes months to break even after the season has ended.
[10:01] And profit is going up.
[10:04] Profit is much harder to gain after profit costs are going up.
[10:09] After the business opened in September 2021.
[10:12] Factors like COVID and the end of season.
[10:15] It heavily influenced the sales and this was the biggest summer yet for them.
[10:20] And Lily's heavily realized on tourism and when I visited them.
[10:24] It was actually empty.
[10:25] And visiting high school to lose and get talk to the team member and she felt like this is heavily realized on the tourism industry.
[10:32] Just like most businesses do in Bethany and around the city.
[10:36] Even though she thought the past summer was much slower.
[10:39] The store had gained tons of foot traffic but the sales did not match.
[10:42] And Bethany surf shop the store owner also thought that the summer was very busy.
[10:48] Their shop realized very heavily on tourism and any other aspects.
[10:53] They do not like the aesthetics of the wind farms and as a surfer.
[10:57] This would greatly affect their hobby.
[10:59] Which many people do not like this offshore wind farms for that main reason.
[11:03] And feels like maintenance would pose an issue to the wildlife as well.
[11:18] Oh, my name is Julian Harris and I was born and raised in the ocean view Delaware.
[11:25] So I talked about the wind turbine failure during hurricanes.
[11:29] So a model with the previous generation wind turbines during category two hurricanes.
[11:33] We found that up to 6% of the total turbines were actually defected.
[11:39] And there was buckling up the tower base but that's just on the base alone.
[11:43] We never talked about the components like the blade which could break down.
[11:47] These surfaces were also off the windmills that pitch.
[11:50] So they go back and forth with the wind.
[11:52] But of course the upright windmills itself would take more damage from the wind.
[11:57] Class one mills would spread fiberglass foam chunks and toxic chemicals into our atmosphere.
[12:02] Which would decrease our wildlife and harm wildlife.
[12:10] And then right here is a chart of all the hurricanes that hit along our coast from the past 50 years.
[12:16] And where the windmills are right along that coastline.
[12:19] They would be great.
[12:20] We affected and disaster could occur any second.
[12:24] Hello, my name is Marble Desenzo and I'm from Oceanview, Delaware.
[12:36] So I had to decrease reliability as you can see the wind turbines only were 20% of the time between 14 and 25 miles per hour.
[12:44] Afterwards the turbines start to shut down.
[12:47] Alternative energy sources produce that produce their many 80% of the energy is a cheaper option.
[12:53] More than 718,000 homes on the John Marble are at risk of a blackout.
[12:58] During a winter storm I see turbines rotate much lower and stop working.
[13:03] Power loss during a winter storm is up to 80% and winter winds are only rated for category 3 hurricane.
[13:12] I also did a Texas blackout in 2021.
[13:15] There's a winter storm that lasted about 9 days and more than 4.5 million worth of power.
[13:21] Also more than 240 casualties because of loss of heat and electricity.
[13:28] There was 161 deaths from extreme cold exposure related injuries.
[13:32] 158 deaths from hyperthermia and 3 deaths from frostbite.
[13:37] There was more than 1 billion dollars worth of damage.
[13:41] As you can see on this chart the wind energy use was high for 2021 and after the Texas wind storm they switched to natural gas.
[13:59] My name is Travis Gazznell I was born and raised in Oceanview Delaware and I did the negative impacts on fishing.
[14:04] The fishermen will not be able to navigate through the turbine areas causing the increase in fuel consumption.
[14:09] Offshore fisheries both commercial and sport will decline.
[14:13] There will be cables crossed over 3 hours beach and in the Indian River Bay which will cause the beach to be closed and construction in the bay.
[14:20] Other industries like restaurants, shipping and voting are also affected by this decline in fishing.
[14:26] I also did the negative impacts on wildlife.
[14:29] Marine mammals like whales, dolphins, and porperces will be affected because of the shock of their echolocation.
[14:34] It also causes both drugs because they unnecessarily breach due to the disruption in echolocation.
[14:40] Hygratory species like tuna, sharks, and billfish will also be affected and could disturb their migration patterns.
[14:47] Birds are affected because they struggle to see the blades in the tower.
[14:51] And bats are also affected because it could disturb their migration patterns.
[14:55] And four out of the ten Maryland bats species migrate.
[15:00] My name is Cole Miller. I did the military and security issues. Building, constructing the winter binds and military use waterways wouldn't interfere with the Coast Guard's ability to conduct search and rescue operations, military training, along with messing up the navigation of any military vessel in the water.
[15:26] The increased demand and services for the Coast Guard for this project would lead them to demand a $20 billion budget increase at taxpayer expenses.
[15:38] It's also worth noting that U.S. wind is owned by an Italian company known as Renexia S.P.A., which could sell the project's other nations leaving the electrical grid vulnerable.
[15:54] The winter binds would also interfere with the radar signings.
[16:06] The cyber attacks are one of the more common ways that the winter binds could be affected. I've got some examples, some reports up there from other countries.
[16:22] Before we conclude this presentation, this is our class's message. The offshore wind farm has a serious possibility to cause catastrophic impacts to stop this plan, our federal, Delaware, and Maryland governments, and every citizen of Delaware and Maryland must come together to educate those around us.
[16:39] We must demand to the higher government powers, choose land-based technology rather than offshore wind.
[16:46] These are sources of credibility, and for any of that wants an updated PDF, please contact Jordan O'Boyle.
[16:53] Thank you guys for your time.
[16:56] Anybody have any questions for us?
[17:10] You guys want to come on up and get a photo with us?
[17:40] All right.
[17:47] Just like a couple of them.
[17:53] Thank you.
[17:56] All right. Like I said, I've got two lights on here. First of all, I have a council member, Gary.
[18:04] I don't really have any questions. We've been dealing with this for a decade or more.
[18:13] This is some of the best data I've seen.
[18:19] So thank you for that.
[18:21] Guys are incredibly well prepared. I have a son who's 16 in high school.
[18:26] The daughter is 14. I can ready to go in the high school.
[18:31] And I try to teach them to be what you just exhibited.
[18:36] You are examples in our communities in great hands.
[18:41] But young men and women like you.
[18:45] So thank you for that. You presented extremely well.
[18:49] I mean, that is this is just real world stuff.
[18:54] I mean, this is critical for your lives, for our lives.
[18:58] You're going to have kids one day probably for their lives.
[19:01] So just what you're doing here matters. You should be extremely proud of yourselves.
[19:07] Keep seeking ways to present. Keep seeking ways to prepare yourselves with real world topics and issues.
[19:15] And keep doing this as much as possible.
[19:17] You're your teacher and incredible gigantic thank you.
[19:22] I know it's school, you go to school and you don't want to get up and all that stuff.
[19:28] But this is outstanding.
[19:30] So I'm incredibly, I don't know any of you.
[19:34] But I come be more proud of the group that young adults than I am right now.
[19:40] Thank you very much.
[19:46] Thank you very much.
[19:49] Yes, thank you all very much.
[19:52] I'm all about next steps.
[19:55] So my question is the Terry.
[19:58] How can we please take them one of presentations?
[20:03] We've got a schedule and take them on a presentation tour.
[20:06] First stop is anapolis.
[20:08] We're going to the governor's mansion.
[20:10] Second stop. Second stop is bone.
[20:14] The Bureau of Energy Management.
[20:16] And then the third stop is going to be the White House.
[20:19] Thank you.
[20:22] Thank you.
[20:25] Thank you.
[20:28] Thank you all very much.
[20:29] I was a council member, Gary,
[20:31] except a great presentation and we appreciate your time tonight.
[20:35] Thank you.
[20:41] Next on the agenda this evening, I have the consent agenda.
[20:44] Item A through E.
[20:46] Item A is a request to approve the minutes from our work session dated October 1,
[20:51] 2024.
[20:52] Item B is an acknowledgement of our standing committee draft agendas.
[20:56] We have the police commission on October 16th.
[20:59] Tours and commission October 21st.
[21:01] Transportation committee October 15th.
[21:04] Recreation and parks committee October 15th.
[21:08] There will not be a green team meeting in October.
[21:12] There will be a bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee meeting scheduled for October 16th.
[21:19] Item C of the consent agenda is our acknowledgement of our standing committee report.
[21:23] We have the Board of Supervisors of Elections from October 1.
[21:27] We have the mayor gave a brief update on that at our last meeting.
[21:30] Item D is a private event.
[21:32] The request for the Atlantic General Hospital Penguins swim scheduled for January 1, 2025.
[21:41] Final item E of the consent agenda is the private event.
[21:44] We have to approve the consent agenda.
[21:48] May 24, 25 June 7th and 8th.
[21:54] June 21st and 22nd.
[21:57] Section D.
[21:58] Thank you. Councilmember Knight.
[22:01] Second, the motion approved for the Senate agenda.
[22:04] All right.
[22:05] I'll check out a motion from Secretary Deluca.
[22:07] Second, my Councilmember Knight, to approve the consent agenda.
[22:10] items A through E. Any discussion?
[22:13] All those in favor?
[22:15] Aye.
[22:16] Seven in favor?
[22:18] Thank you.
[22:19] Councilmember Kerry, give a comment on the consent agenda.
[22:21] Fairly with my comment.
[22:24] Got it.
[22:26] What's the special event?
[22:28] Probably.
[22:29] One can we address this once in for all.
[22:32] But these, these, drives me nuts.
[22:34] I mean, I don't think.
[22:36] Two hundred and thirty eight dollars is going to.
[22:40] Save the penguins swim, but.
[22:45] I mean, weren't we fine with a.
[22:47] I feel bad it as can for a hundred and seventy dollars.
[22:50] Fifty cents last year.
[22:52] Much less going the four or eight.
[22:54] So.
[22:56] At least donate.
[22:58] Happy to bring it back.
[22:59] Bring it back to you in the off season on.
[23:01] Now that we've got one more week here.
[23:04] Then we.
[23:06] Operational more to plan.
[23:08] All right.
[23:11] All right.
[23:13] Maybe we can make a donation or something.
[23:15] Two hundred thirty dollars and fifty cents.
[23:18] Two hundred thirty eight dollars.
[23:20] Two hundred thirty seven dollars.
[23:22] Anyone.
[23:24] We'll deal with the next time.
[23:26] Thank you.
[23:27] Thank you.
[23:28] Next on the agenda.
[23:29] We have item number eight items referred to in presentation from the city solicitor.
[23:33] Good evening.
[23:34] We have first second reading ordinance.
[23:36] Twenty four dash.
[23:37] Twenty three to authorize the mayor and city council to issue and sell general obligation bonds.
[23:42] Not to exceed six million dollars.
[23:44] This is for the golf course clubhouse improvements.
[23:47] And the convention center improvements that were reviewed at your September 10th.
[23:51] Work session.
[23:55] Take care to look.
[23:56] Motion to adopt ordinance twenty twenty four dash twenty three.
[24:02] Number night for a second.
[24:04] Motion.
[24:05] Got a motion from secretary to look a second.
[24:07] By council tonight to adopt ordinance twenty twenty four dash twenty three.
[24:11] Any comments from the public on this topic.
[24:14] All right.
[24:15] Seeing none of you.
[24:16] I believe you might have hand.
[24:17] Oh, I didn't see that back there.
[24:18] Sir.
[24:19] You'd like to come up.
[24:23] Got none.
[24:24] Sixth is straight.
[24:25] When I saw this on the agenda couple months ago.
[24:28] Maybe.
[24:30] I looked at the alternatives and the alternatives seem to be don't do this.
[24:35] I think there is an alternative that is better than this.
[24:40] And that's to take it out of the.
[24:42] And that's to take it out of the reserve.
[24:45] One will save a hundred eighty thousand dollars.
[24:48] Cost of issuing the bonds.
[24:51] They would bring down the reserve's a little bit.
[24:55] People are complaining that we've got too much money in the reserves.
[25:00] I'm one of those people.
[25:02] And number three it will.
[25:08] Remove any question about the fifty percent.
[25:13] From the stadium authority.
[25:15] Contributing their contribution to the convention center.
[25:20] Improvements.
[25:29] Anyone else this evening.
[25:32] Anyone on the council.
[25:35] Seeing none.
[25:36] There are two ways that would be done on the.
[25:48] That's in favor.
[25:51] All right.
[25:52] Motion passes with a carries with seven in favor.
[25:55] And next.
[25:56] We have a resolution 20 24 dash.
[25:58] 16 authorizing the position of certain surplus personal property.
[26:02] by Council Member Knight to adopt Resolution 2024-16.
[26:07] Thank you, Council.
[26:09] I'll listen to you.
[26:10] Aye.
[26:11] Thank you.
[26:12] Thank you.
[26:13] That's all that I have.
[26:14] Thank you.
[26:15] Thank you.
[26:16] Next on the agenda we have comments from the public.
[26:19] Any person who may wish to speak on any matter at the regular meeting.
[26:22] Maybe you heard during comments from the public for a period of five minutes.
[26:25] Or such time is maybe deemed appropriate by the Council President.
[26:28] Anyone wishing to be heard?
[26:30] I'll state their name, address, and the subject on which he wishes to speak.
[26:35] Sir?
[26:37] All right.
[26:46] All right, and Brian again, one, one, nine old landing road.
[26:49] I have two short comments before I get to the main subject that I wanted to discuss today.
[26:54] I want to commend the individuals in favor of the special event zone for the future
[26:59] of the future bike weeks.
[27:02] Pretty clear that that event grew exponentially in the last year.
[27:07] We're really concerned to be the manager of our condo property.
[27:12] It was very much into voters and all that said that there were signs of groups here for that event under the guise event.
[27:26] From rather well-known and notorious states of decades when it comes to motor cycles.
[27:34] That's going to have to be looked upon really close.
[27:37] In fact, the special event zone, whatever good it will do, is worthwhile.
[27:43] My part-time job is on Philadelphia Avenue.
[27:47] And I'll tell you what.
[27:51] First of all, I was surprised that the special event zone wasn't already in force.
[27:58] To see that eight-mile stretch of road going up the Delaware,
[28:04] awfully inviting for somebody with a motor, to see those vehicles flying up that highway.
[28:11] And we all have seen the damage that they've done.
[28:16] I bless that boy who was in the hospital still.
[28:21] So I'm glad that the special event zone, whatever help it will do,
[28:25] especially increasing fines and all of that because just because.
[28:31] And I hope that also there'll be at least temporary.
[28:36] Let me freeze an any additional motor vehicle events in this town.
[28:41] Two cruisins, two bike weeks, quarter of that's what you're really not a problem.
[28:48] I believe we have monster trucks on the beach, what possibly could go around there.
[28:53] I would like to see a freeze on any additional events such as that.
[28:59] Just because there are 7,000 people living this town.
[29:04] I think their quality of life is just as important as the almighty dollar for the businesses in here.
[29:10] The other thing is the stances of the candidates on issues such as the additional motor events,
[29:19] and also more diligence on the construction going around town.
[29:24] But we're all familiar at this point with the monstrosity that's going up at the end of the dodge.
[29:30] You know, the Delaware line.
[29:32] If I were looking at homes down here, I wouldn't even think of looking at terrible designs.
[29:39] Good luck keeping people and getting the fist fights because the garages are basically 15 feet across each other.
[29:45] And somebody comes out of the garage and decides to leave their car there.
[29:49] It's going to be a few problems.
[29:51] So I would like to know the candidate's stance is especially in print in the next month as far as the additional motor events.
[30:00] And also on being more diligent or construction going around town. I am not the old man down in the street telling people, you're telling kids to give off the grass. I understand that building businesses is one thing. But the quality of life of the people who live every year should mean something. The one thing I really wanted to talk to today was,
[30:30] the suspension of the trams for a winter fest. My kind of development was built 40 years ago. And a lot of the original owners are still there. Some of them had to move from the third floor to the first floor because they're getting a load and two flights of stuff is getting a bit much.
[30:51] So they really can't already because of the suspension and believe me. I can't imagine the harm of losing a young child to an accident. I can't imagine. I hope I never have to.
[31:09] The tram operations at winter fest are different from the beach, different from the boardwalk. The boardwalk has trams going in both directions. There is the possibility of problems there. A lot of these older citizens of which I'm one have said that now, because of the reaction of this, of suspension, the tram to I guess next year.
[31:38] They can no longer go to Sunfest because they usually take the tram down the boardwalk to it. But also they've discussed how with me at our owners meetings, the fact that now winter fest is all the question for them, because they're getting older.
[31:56] I mean, my 70s, you know, God has blessed me with the mobility that I could still get around. But some folks are getting up there and they can't go to winter fest now. Because the tram is not there. The tram does not operate in two different directions at winter fest. It's one trail through the lights. You do not have cross crossing of traffic.
[32:20] I think it's a safe transportation and it's a way to show a little consideration for the older folks who live here, people who are older, who are visiting for this event.
[32:33] And I would hope, and I know that the lights are probably already going up or not now, very soon, I hope it's not too late to maybe reconsider this suspension of tram transportation for winter fest.
[32:49] It would be appreciated by those of us who either are older, have physical disabilities who cannot walk that area.
[32:59] I hope a reconsideration of the tram being suspended for that event will be thought off. Thank you very much.
[33:07] Thank you. Anyone else this evening?
[33:19] My name is John Atkins. I live at 802 Caribbean Drive in Ocean City.
[33:25] I would like first off ask you all of you. Do you know what PJ M means? Anybody?
[33:37] You mean a grid? Nope.
[33:39] In the butter and jelly?
[33:41] No. When you saw the presentation about the Texas and all of the people died, Texas is one state that does not belong to interconnection.
[33:56] PJ M, the more power has belonged to that long before I joined, and I've been retired 15, I worked 30 plus years.
[34:07] We're connected with Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts.
[34:17] It's all interconnected, primary, high voltage, starting at 230,000 volts.
[34:28] And all these different stations have what we call peaking units.
[34:34] Years ago, Delmarva Power bought four gas, natural gas, turbine generators.
[34:43] The exhaust from three of them fed to fourth one.
[34:47] They were one megawatts of peace, and they were peaking units.
[34:53] When they needed extra power, you can start them up in about less than a half an hour.
[34:59] That's a part of experts that I know, but anyway, Texas doesn't belong to any of that.
[35:06] That's why I had some of this death. Okay, and I was impressed by that.
[35:11] The next thing, please vote in the election.
[35:16] Okay, I've not missed one since 1970, and more than half the people in the world would give anything to vote in note was a free and fair election.
[35:30] Okay, next thing I want to bring up is all the supervisors trucks parked out here.
[35:40] They drive up and down here, and they bring their own vehicles in, but I assume they're all supervision.
[35:50] You could convert all of them to electric vehicles.
[35:55] I own a Chevy Volt, which is an electric vehicle.
[35:59] It has, because I only charge it 80% is made more than 200 miles of range.
[36:08] It means I can go to Salzburg, Ellsbrough, and two weeks ago, I made a trip fully charged to Christy Anna to the Apple Store.
[36:21] I got back home, I had 40 miles left, and for you all, I charged after 80 o'clock at night.
[36:30] Do you realize that Delmarva Power gives me a discount on all peak hours?
[36:37] So it saves money.
[36:42] Okay, and that's just to have to fill out the paperwork, and that's how it is.
[36:50] But the city, if you watch motorweek on public service, I've seen electric buses on that show.
[37:03] And that's something we could consider, because you have the power to do it.
[37:10] It's just like a plug-minion when it gets below 100 miles.
[37:17] But I do it after 80 o'clock at night, and it's easy.
[37:22] Okay, and believe it or not, electric vehicles used are cheap.
[37:32] I paid $32,000 for that car a year ago this past May right now on Kelly Blue Books.
[37:39] It's worth about 17,000.
[37:42] It's not worth hardly anything, but the city could buy used vehicles.
[37:48] We'll cheat, and put them chargers is easy.
[37:54] It's not hard work.
[37:56] And you've got your own electrician.
[37:59] It's something for you to think about, to save money.
[38:02] Because electric vehicles don't require maintenance.
[38:05] No oil, no filters.
[38:08] You've got to rotate the tires once they were 12,000 miles.
[38:12] That's it.
[38:15] So that's what I say, but please, but it's one of the most important things you can do.
[38:23] Thank you.
[38:24] And the other thing is, I sent you all fill out a letter for me.
[38:32] Send it to the county commissioners.
[38:37] I sent a copy that letter for them to the state of Maryland.
[38:45] Now, one single answer to those letters.
[38:51] Now, one, the only way the county is going to change and you all meet with the legislatures in January.
[39:05] The county allows people to attend the opening meeting.
[39:10] I've been there three times.
[39:12] I gave my business card, which I'm not business, but it has name phone number to our representative.
[39:18] I still haven't got a call.
[39:20] I don't have money.
[39:23] I don't have a business, but you all need to change the open meeting law in Maryland.
[39:30] Because the commissioners, that's all they do.
[39:34] They don't allow anybody to speak, but their representatives of the people of this county.
[39:41] And to me, it's a crime that they don't let the people speak.
[39:46] You do.
[39:48] Oceanside does.
[39:50] Berlin does.
[39:51] Still hill does.
[39:53] Everybody lets the people speak after the meeting.
[39:58] But you need to change the open meeting law in the state of Maryland.
[40:02] I can't do it.
[40:03] But you all can.
[40:05] Because you have to power.
[40:07] You look at it.
[40:09] Thing we're going to have this weekend.
[40:14] You all change that law.
[40:18] You put it through the state and they changed it.
[40:22] And that's why we have low speed limits.
[40:26] You can change the open meeting law too to say they have to let the public speak.
[40:32] And to me, it's a crime that they don't let the public speak.
[40:35] I was there for the meeting with the teachers.
[40:38] And if they're one 300 air, it wasn't one.
[40:42] And I stayed there for two hours.
[40:44] Listen to it.
[40:45] I stayed longer.
[40:47] But I'm diabetic.
[40:48] And my sugar was low.
[40:50] And I didn't want to pass out.
[40:52] That's the fact.
[40:54] Not fiction.
[40:55] But you all need to change that.
[40:58] And it's the open meeting law in Maryland.
[41:01] They have to let the public speak at the end of the meeting.
[41:05] Thank you.
[41:07] Anyone else this evening?
[41:13] All right.
[41:14] Seeing none.
[41:15] We move on to comments from City Manager.
[41:18] Yes, first reminder.
[41:20] We do have a special session.
[41:22] Wednesday, October 9th, 6 o'clock.
[41:25] We consider the 2024 May municipal election candidates.
[41:30] We then will have a work session on October 15th.
[41:34] Close session.
[41:35] We're getting it noon to discuss legal matters.
[41:38] We have a proclamation recognizing October's fire prevention month.
[41:42] Comments from the public.
[41:44] Approval of the minutes from tonight's meeting.
[41:49] Approval of the Standing Committee report for the Motor Event Task Force.
[41:54] Progress report on the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.
[41:58] We're going to present it by Maryland Coastal Base and a request to proceed with
[42:02] Beach equipment franchise auction presented by the City Clerk.
[42:07] Finally, I just want to relay.
[42:10] And I, you know, I sent you all statistics.
[42:13] And I'll let you all if you want to bring any of those up of the two concerts.
[42:18] We just went through.
[42:20] I think it was extremely successful.
[42:22] I want to relay my thanks to C3 events, the promoter that puts it on.
[42:27] Again, just like last year, fantastic job by then by then very professional.
[42:33] They take care of their business.
[42:36] I also want to thank all the city departments again.
[42:39] It takes all of us to put this event on as successfully as we did.
[42:44] So please fire public works, transportation, special events, emergency services.
[42:50] Everybody was out there and pitched in to make this successful.
[42:55] So thank my team.
[43:01] Thank you.
[43:04] Next, we have comments from the City Council.
[43:06] How's my work, Eric?
[43:08] All right.
[43:11] I appreciate everyone coming out and speaking.
[43:14] So Mr. Agons.
[43:17] We have some initiatives working on for the Green Fleet.
[43:21] So every time you come up here and tell us the answer is the same.
[43:23] But I appreciate your hammering and hammering at home.
[43:27] Well, yeah, that initiative is in the works.
[43:32] And you know, you have the ultimate power because with the open meetings act,
[43:37] the power of the vote, like you said.
[43:40] So there's a choice that each group can make.
[43:47] Your voice can be heard then.
[43:52] So, but we obviously support.
[43:54] We welcome you here every single meeting and.
[43:57] And keep coming and offering us your wisdom and insights.
[44:01] So thank you.
[44:02] Mr. Branigan.
[44:04] Here you go.
[44:05] Thank you.
[44:07] Yeah.
[44:09] Special events and I think that's for the bite fast.
[44:13] There's only one.
[44:15] That's right. There's only one bite bite week.
[44:17] There is no monster truck show.
[44:21] What are we having one?
[44:24] Question has to be asked.
[44:26] I was here about people that are coming down from bike festivals and all that.
[44:30] Coming down from careers and all that.
[44:32] How many people are not coming to town?
[44:34] Those weeks because of the noise.
[44:36] Because of the pollution.
[44:38] How many people are not coming?
[44:40] That question has to be asked.
[44:43] Okay.
[44:44] Like I said, I'm not the old man down in the street.
[44:46] Tell me kids go on my graph.
[44:48] Okay.
[44:49] I appreciate business being grown here.
[44:52] But some of it's out of control.
[44:54] And some of these vehicles.
[44:55] The vehicle shows.
[44:57] I'm sorry.
[44:58] It just is.
[44:59] To that.
[45:00] Mr. Bernigan, we can't go back and forth. I'm sorry, but we have to keep it to the council comments right now.
[45:09] Yeah, and I just want to do it. I mean, everybody who speaks deserves a response and, you know, a couple things, we're certainly not seeking more. I don't think any of us are seeking more.
[45:19] And really, when you think about the past, it's what is gone that, you know, as a team, the town of Ocean City, what we've done with them.
[45:30] It doesn't need to be a sanctioned event. We've seen hars from that in the past. And so we've had a lot of successes in that regard.
[45:40] And sometimes we're going with the promoters who help. I have two classic hars. I ride by your ride by your place all the time.
[45:51] You know, I try to be very respectful. I get so many thumbs up all day long from residents and people who are happy.
[46:00] Pardon me? That's right. So it's not the car. It's the people we need respectful guests.
[46:07] And sometimes it's the promoter who helps us achieve this respectful guests. We all live here too. So we want, we want average kids in that neighborhood.
[46:17] And the last thing I want is those things you're talking about. So there's a lot there's a lot of common ground there.
[46:25] And that goes right into what Terry said. I mean, this is when C3 came here the first time.
[46:35] It was part of an initiative to deal with our unsanctioned pop-up. He sat in that chair and he was going to come on that weekend.
[46:45] And I remember asking him directly, do you know what you're getting yourself into? And the initiative there was to try to book up the hotel rooms and those types of things.
[46:54] And now it's turned into this, which is just unbelievably world-class. No one who, you know, a lot of people don't like country music, a lot of people don't like alternative rock music or whatever.
[47:06] And if you don't like it, then you never would have known anyone was even in town. So there was no disruption to your point.
[47:14] We see there's respectful guests, 250,000 attendance, 14 arrests. So people don't bring problems. They'd bring smiles.
[47:29] And the team did just, we're the least of all up here. All we do is, all we do is say yes, I guess.
[47:41] What the team did was just unbelievable. Social media is just everyone raving about how great a job we did to your team, Terry.
[47:51] I don't know if it could be. They're always the improvements now on the fringes. You know, they're always things, right? And we're going to seek to be perfect every single time.
[48:02] But how that went down, especially the first night of ocean's calling and all the pain.
[48:12] I mean, this is what, like, this is what Patrick, my home's must feel like when he's hoisting a superball trophy. That's what it feels like how successful this was.
[48:26] And these are guests who are coming back with their families. And there's so much revenue coming in directly into the city.
[48:35] I mean, just one source of revenue keep in mind. We can hire or pay rather we can pay 10 police officers salaries from just one source of revenue and their multiple buckets of revenue.
[48:49] And this keeps your property taxes down. This is why when the cost of everything is risen over 30% in the last four years or so your property for residents, your property tax rates have had a marginal decrease.
[49:04] That's how. So it's smart tourism. So I don't know, Terry. I don't know how what else to say the team was just.
[49:12] Any haters out there. I mean, there's always some, but the, I can't, as the five star world class all the way, it was a sea of peaks happy people down. It was unbelievable. Congratulations.
[49:32] Anyone else secretary to look a motion to adjourn.
[49:36] But a motion from secretary to look a second by councilmember night.
[49:40] That's seven in favor at 649 p.m.