frederick local yokel

Here’s your favorite Delauterburst:

Hopefully we won’t have any more to add to our list.

It’s back to school time, so for this week we want to know who you would most want as your child’s teacher.

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 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.

Roy, I’m sorry. I really am.

It’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. You’ve done everything right. I’m embarrassed for you!

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….

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:

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.

Until September 15th…

Continue reading “September 1st drinking game-MTC edition” →

Apologies, apologies! With all the #kirbydelauter nonsense last week we fell behind on our polls. First of all here’s last week’s result:

Those two have a lot in common, don’t they?

We’ve had quite a few Delauterbursts lately so we know it may be hard to pick your favorite. But go ahead and give it that old college try:

Need a reminder about a Delauterburst? Numbers corresponds with the choice on the poll.

1.http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/recent-fiascoes-have-left-frederick-county-residents-feeling-embarrassed/2015/01/10/909bd88e-8d2b-11e4-8ff4-fb93129c9c8b_story.html

2.http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/kirby-delauter-kirby-delauter-kirby-delauter/article_da85d6f4-fa3c-524f-bbf6-8e5ddc0d1c0a.html?_dc=224504425656.05045

3.http://wp.me/p615TR-oS

4.http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/political-notes-county-meeting-recessed-to-calm-shouting-match-involving/article_c408f4cd-9b95-58af-b7a5-17c825c15239.html

We have to wonder how many times, as a very wee lad, Mr. Shreve was called into the principal’s office. If his unprepared, defensive adult self is anything like the boy he once was, we have to imagine it was quite often. At today’s surprise (at least to us) meeting, Billy was on the defensive. Let’s set the scene first.

This meeting had one item on the agenda and that was to discuss the Industrial/Commercial tax credit. If you remember from last week there was a hearing on this very topic. Well, Mr. Shreve himself wanted a workshop on this bill because he had some issues. This is what we know about this bill. It’s an incentive for current and new manufacturing businesses to open up shop or expand here in Frederick County. To qualify for the credit the business must employ at least 25 people and have made a substantial investment in Frederick County. Based upon the application of the business, the County Executive can offer the business anywhere up to a 100% tax credit for up to 10 years. The office of Economic Development wants this flexibility, as opposed to a flat rate, to offer to businesses based on their size and their potential economic impact upon our region. Flexibility is the key here.  For example if you create 3 jobs and invest $100,000 in capital investments the business is eligible for a 20% credit. The more jobs you create and the more money you invest brings up the percentage you are entitled to.Now our friend #kirbydelauter had some issues with the county executive having what he deemed subjective powers. And honestly if we thought he would apply this same standard had Blaine been elected we would be able to hear him out. But we don’t. The only good that came out of his questioning (that at times bordered on snippy) was that Jessica offered that the bill read that the county executive base his or her decision on the recommendation of the economic development office. We frankly don’t believe it’s subjective considering that the percentage of the tax credit is based upon the jobs you create and money you invest. But as Kirby said, “I’m not a math whiz, I can tell you that.”

Here we must stop and once again proclaim how we love our county employees. Helen and Richard were prepared, poised and ready to answer any and all questions our council members had. It really has been a refreshing joy to know that our county is in the hands of so many well qualified, articulate people. Then there’s this:

Readers we don’t even know how to phrase this anymore. Billy wanted this meeting and then proclaimed that the meeting wasn’t what he thought it was about. You see he doesn’t want a flexible tax credit that is decided by the County Executive. He wants a flat rate that applies to all businesses, no matter what their size. Now Billy has this habit of interjecting a past hurt into a current, often irrelevant matter. Tonight it was this:

I’m not sure if we all know that the State of Virginia has an official English language ordinance. Do we use that when we compete with Northern Virginia? Has there ever been any discussion of that?

Great suffering Sappho! We can barely take this anymore! Get over it Billy! It just gets worse from there. He doesn’t think the bill is fair or transparent. Ignoring the fact that if the credit is over 60% it would get kicked back to the council for approval. The main reason he deems it unfair is that it doesn’t include small businesses. Again ignoring the fact that this bill applies to businesses with as little as 25 employees. Jessica, our heroine of the evening, brings him to task on this issue. She reprimands him for suggesting this meeting, not putting any of his wanted changes in writing for anyone to look at and calling this bill over and over again a political process. M.C. tries to smooth over Billy’s hurt feelings by discussing the small business tax credit (a separate thing) and how they can try and codify it. By this time poor Billy is all puttered out and the only word he can mutter is, “Sure”. Next time you want a meeting Billy you should prepare for what it’s actually about not what you wish it to be. You had some nerve calling the meeting a complete waste of time. (Yes readers, that’s a thing that happened.) Just because you didn’t get your way doesn’t mean it was a waste. Why do I see a WFMD appearance in our future?

While looking for the agenda for next week’s meeting we came upon this:

Of course we will tune in for you ! Just because it’s short doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of opportunity for “someone” to act up.

As if yesterday’s revelation about Kirby’s tantrum wasn’t enough now we have a new horror. Someone has reported the Go Fund Me page that our good friends at Stand Up Frederick have started as abusive. So if you try to share the link on Facebook this now happens:

So let us get this straight. A group of concerned citizens come together to rectify a problem and instead of letting that take place, someone decides to throw a wrench in it?  How is this in any way, shape, or form a smart thing to do? Please someone explain this to us.

Hopefully this link will work: http://www.gofundme.com/b5xz4ema

At last look it was over $1900!