It’s no secret that we are having problems with our public school funding here in Frederick County. Part of that problem is that the Governor did not release all of the money that the Board of Education was expecting. This is a statewide problem with far reaching consequences. Of this money Frederick County Public Schools was down about 3.2 million dollars. Not enough to eradicate all of our financial woes, but enough to make an impact. So if you have a moment please sign this petition:
I had a few extra moments this morning , so for the first time I was able to watch the county’s Public Information briefing broadcast on FCGTV. On this morning’s briefing there were two items to discuss. The first item was a county first! Jan and Bud held their first public bill signing.
Congratulations Jan and Bud! Hopefully this brings some good opportunities to Frederick County so many of our citizens can stop that trek down 270.
The second half of the meeting was less celebratory. Jan and a representative from the county health department held a discussion about the heroin and opioid problem that is rampant throughout our fair state. We were made aware of these horrible statistics:
35 citizens of our fine county died as a result of heroin overdose last year.
Calls regarding heroin use have increased over 300%.
There are more heroin related deaths than homicides in our county.
Pretty terrible. What can be done? A number of suggestions were made.
First of all, if you have any prescription medicines, that you are no longer taking, you should bring them to one of these collection sites. I will take that even one step further. If you have been prescribed a medication that could become addictive, lock it up! Because honestly anyone can take it.
The county is also involved in a number of interagency partnerships in an effort to combat this problem. For example, the Frederick Police Department and the Frederick County Health Department. If the police come into contact with someone who appears to have an addiction problem they will be referred to a Peer Recovery coach who has been trained by the health department. In fact, if you are interested in becoming a Peer Recovery coach they are having a training session in October.
If you have children, make sure you talk to them early and often about the dangers of drugs. This website shares many personal stories of drug addicts and their loved ones. Because we all know that sometimes kids listen to others better than their own parents. Let’s tackle this problem together as a community. No more shaming and blaming. Drug addiction can affect anyone, and the reluctance to acknowledge and talk about that does nothing to help.
In the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt, #kirbydelauter likes to keep us informed of his thoughts through a monthly column on THAT website curiously named The Tentacle. Read it in full for yourself here.
Now sit down readers, because we aren’t in total disagreement with #. We think he makes some good points about the public comments. Has there been any good answer as to why they were taken away from the beginning of the meeting? We do agree that it is a little arduous to sit through what is sometimes a 4 hour and 40 minute meeting to get your chance to speak. Anyone with any insights on this please share, because it’s a worthy discussion to have.
HOWEVER, we do have some issues with what he had to say. We do not agree with the council man’s assertion that the council should vote on an issue right after the public hearing. In fact we think he makes our point for us when he states:
Another change that should be made is that we should vote on the issue at the public hearing. This is when things like public comment are fresh in everyone’s mind, and when you can have the debate with concerned residents. As it currently stands, we vote at the third hearing, which could be as much as a month from the date of the public hearing. That makes it very difficult to remember all of the information gathered at the hearing; and one thing you lose, in particular, is the emotion that people had at that hearing. Even if you take copious notes, it’s still difficult a month later to capture all items of importance that the hearing displayed.
An issue SHOULD NOT be decided upon because of the emotion of the situation. And that is exactly why the council should be given the time to digest what has been presented to them. EXACTLY WHY. And Mr. Delauter, if you are reading this, the county records all of your meetings so you can click here to replay all the emotions you may have forgotten.
Kirby, of course, doesn’t miss an opportunity to mention the English Language Ordinance and Aurora because blah, blah, blah..who cares? But we do love this last line:
You have to keep in mind, we’re not elected forever, so how would we want a meeting to run if we were on the other side of the dais?
Oooh when, oh when is he going to be on the other side of the dais?
So you might remember a few weeks back our own local he who shall not be named made a big stink about no longer contributing donations to location worthy causes.
The Go Fund Me Campaign was absolutely a success. At this point $2321 was raised and we are sure the totals are even higher as we know folks also mailed in fists full of dough.
The Go Fund Me Campaign said it was going to close on September 1st, but it is still open.
Some stuff we said to each other yesterday evening during the county sponsored book club meeting and recipe swap.
It was a “true colors reveal” for Tony Chmelik–not that the layers of that onion weren’t already peeling back, but his usual respectful demeanor gave way to patronizing arrogance, and he did not manage to keep his temper from getting the best of him on more than one occasion. A quick glance around the social media tubes indicates a reputation for hypocrisy developing, as his constituents complain that he is not only tardy but unresponsive in communication, and only addresses their concerns when pressed repeatedly and publicly.
Never in our lives could we have imagined Republicans so hostile to a tax incentive for business development. Black is white, up is down, what the what? It took what we had to say about reality in our drinking game for the evening into a whole new dimension. ICYMI: Democrats are nasty tax gobblers = straw man position.
Billy creates his own motif by giving the impression that he has scarcely ever read anything. Garfield allusion? They probably didn’t stock Garfield books at the long defunct Borders store on the grand opening day.
Tony knows that shall and may mean different things. Thanks be to Xenu and his disciples at Narconon, through the counsel of Mr. Chomel.
Does this Dunning-Kruger problem sound like it pertains to anyone?
Dunning and Kruger proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:
fail to recognize their own lack of skill
fail to recognize genuine skill in others
fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy
recognize and acknowledge their own lack of skill, after they are exposed to training for that skill
Great. Now what do we do? We know: lets have a workshop!
Since the inception of this blog we have watched every single council meeting. None as torturous as what we witnessed this evening. The same point was made over and over and over again. And it felt as though M.C. was being badgered into changing her motion. (Good job standing your ground Mrs. Keegan-Ayer!) Oh let’s just begin.
M.C. puts a motion on the floor to start the process regarding MTC over from the beginning (meaning it would go back to the planning commission). To make things easier for the developer, she also included that fees be waived and that the time limit for this process is to take no longer than six months. This FACT letter and the question as to why it was introduced at the 11th hour and what influence it had is the main focus. Now for the next two hours this is discussed. Here are the highlights:
Kirby is embarrassed for the developer. His words not ours.
Kirby is the first to weigh in and surprise, surprise he totally disagrees. At this point he decides his best course of action will be to apologize to the developer of this property.
Now it doesn’t seem quite appropriate for a county council member to apologize to a developer because the board that he sits on wants answers to questions. Questions we may add that a judge remanded to the council. Then again, many things Kirby does don’t seem appropriate to us.
It’s difficult to put what Tony did this evening into words. Really hard. Without being as redundant as he was, we will try and paraphrase his questioning. He objects vehemently to reopening this process. He doesn’t understand at all why anyone would have any problem with believing Blaine and Co.’s affadavits, and he badgers, badgers and badgers M.C. about laying her motion aside. Even after his amendment is defeated 4-3, he still persists. Now during one of Tony’s first diatribes, Kirby pipes up with this:
Logic and reasoning is not going to matter
Good jumping grasshoppers! Do our ears deceive us? Thankfully Jessica jumps right in:
That is incredibly insulting. I can read and have a brain.
Seriously, Kirby. You have some nerve. I guess if people don’t see things your way there must be something wrong with their brain process. Because, Mr. Delauter, you obviously corner the market on logic and reason. Obviously.
Jerry makes some very good points about the affidavits. Because we all know that just because someone makes a sworn statement doesn’t necessarily mean they are telling the truth. If you were doing something underhanded from the start, the stuff you do to cover your butt does not change the way you were going to vote. That’s no reason to assume it didn’t influence the decision to determine your butt was sufficiently covered to go ahead. Oh the nuances. Court cases are not decided solely on what the players say under oath. We all know that right? Right?!
Readers….
Are there really three more years left on his term? Really?
Sometimes we think we shouldn’t give him any more attention; his Oppositional Defiant Disorder probably feeds off of it. We would be remiss if we didn’t. Sigh. Of course he doesn’t agree with M.C.’s motion. It’s unnecessary to get into details, because we are sure you can imagine. The end of this discussion, though: Billy starts yelling about making the development 100% age restricted. Why can’t we make it age restricted? Why? Bud tells him he can’t make this motion when another one is already on the floor. (Where oh where have we heard that before?) And he doesn’t stop. On and on about this age restriction. At the end of the discussion? What is going on in that head of his? (Don’t answer that!) After almost two and a half hours Bud calls for the vote. 4-3. Goes back to the planning commission.
We like that the council deliberates. We like that they want to come to a good answer on this. We do not like, however, the badgering techniques and rude language some council members used toward one another. To insinuate that someone doesn’t know what they are thinking and that they are not using logic and reason just because they don’t subscribe to your point of view is abhorrent.
Other items of the agenda:
After the break Bud wants to move to the hearing out of order on the agenda so those who have been waiting don’t have to wait any longer. Billy throws a complete fit! He-who-doesn’t-vote-on-the-agenda is upset that Bud wants to make things easier on those waiting. Pouty boy wins, and we go on to the vote on the Business Tax Credit (Democrat crafted, Republican opposed–yes, you read that right). It passed, by the way! Even though Kirby says it is rife for corruption. We know readers, we know. Irony overload. Tony questions it and tries to propose a flat 60% rate, but is explained away. And eventually he votes for it.
Next up. A hearing on the proposed sale of the old school building at 520 North Market Street. The proposed use will be low rent apartments for our teachers, police, firefighters and disabled citizens. Now that sounds like something some of our friends on the council will automatically be on board with. Well you would be mistaken. Kirby wants to know why we hear citizen’s complaints about the MTC but won’t listen to the people who live near this building? And Tony wants to know why he wasn’t personally contacted as a property owner near that property. Is that a thing? When you sell your property do you need to contact everyone around you? Anyway, passes.
Almost done, we promise! Jerry needs four votes in order to move on with discussion on the waterbody buffer legislation he hopes to put forth. Basically stating the natural forest land is the best filter for nutrients and other chemicals that could potentially go into our waterways. Kirby and Billy want to know the science, how many staff members Jerry has dared to talk to and my oh my people this is just a vote to discuss it. So passed.
Public comments were pretty tame but we do have to recognize this guy:
Hi Steve!
All his hard work has paid off. Who knows what will happen, but at least it’s come this far, and his respectful public recognition of the council members and their efforts was inspiring.
Council member comments consist of Tony being very upset that he isn’t getting a response from county staff. Doug Browning says they are finding it very hard to keep up with the requests from the council. But it does seem to be a legitimate problem and we hope that everyone finds a way to work together.
Lastly, we cannot believe that today of all days we agree with Billy on something. Medical marijuana needs to be available in this county. So if Billy is the one that is going to spearhead that, then so be it. Hopefully we will see some good discussion on this soon.
frederick local yokel 