Benedict Arnold in our midst

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To hell with all traitors!
To hell with all traitors!

Who thought a local government meeting could be so informative? We have learned from some very brave citizens that we have a Benedict Arnold posing as the President of the Frederick County Council! We were not aware that a county council election was akin to an actual war, let alone a revolution. But apparently we were just being ignorant.

One very brave woman brought actual evidence to show us the error of our ways. Armed with an article from the Frederick News Post concerning the Grover Norquist tax pledge and campaign materials we were treated to quite the presentation. Apparently Bud Otis is a dishonest turncoat who doesn’t care about his legacy…and at his age?! Oh the outrage!

Apparently about five people are very upset that Bud Otis is not living up to his campaign promises. We are very confused because at the beginning of this very same meeting Shreve told us that Jan needed to stop campaigning and start governing. Maybe the rules only apply sometimes? Makes sense.

Anyway, we must put in our two cents here. We have been very pleasantly surprised at the leadership of Bud Otis. He has actually sat down with and listened to county employees and the county executive (the horror!).  He has been very polite and as far as we can tell has followed proper protocol at meetings. We must vehemently object to Bud being labeled a turncoat. A turncoat is someone who betrays their nation. Not someone who carefully considers the information before him and makes the most intelligent decisions based on that information. We are particularly amused at those who claim that Bud is rubber stamping all of Jan’s decisions. Agreement does not mean passive acceptance. And from what I could tell from the speakers last night they were mad because Bud was not a rubber stamp to Kirby, Billy and Tony’s motions. But maybe this is just another example of the rules only applying sometimes.

Sour grapes?

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This is how not to be civil.

The County Council voted to adopt a Code of Civility. This code, introduced by Jessica Fitzwater, will set a historical precedence for the expected conduct of council members and citizens coming before the council.

Respect is important and should define political actions. There should be no name calling and everyone should remember that body language counts as communication. Listen to all comments. Hearing all sides of an issue could change your opinion. Make sure if you state something as fact, that it is actually a verifiable fact and not opinion.

This sounds like common sense to us. Six council members voted Aye to adopt this. Councilman Shreve could only wonder why he wasn’t allowed to get time with staff to discuss the budget, yet Ms. Fitzwater (“I’m sure you didn’t draft this yourself”) could introduce this new legislation. He abstained from voting and asked how the code would be enforced and what penalties would there be for not complying. We can only surmise that he does not plan to play nicely in the sandbox. Gosh darn it. The budget is still an important issue and why can’t I just continue to have a tantrum since I didn’t follow proper procedure? It surely is someone else’s fault, and I’m not going to be civil about it.

Cinco de Loco

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So the beginning of the May 5th County Council meeting is off to a roaring start. Two local hero citizens addressed the board and told them (Kirby, Tony and Billy) to stop acting like babies, follow Robert’s rules of order and for the love of all that is good:COMPROMISE!

Well, Kirby “The Great Compromiser” Delauter was having none of that! He took Hero #1 to task and asked, “Did you not read my budget?” (See our coverage of that debacle)  All he does is try to compromise, why can’t you people see that?

That brings us to Billy. Billy was not pleased with Hero #2’s LTE in this past weekend’s newspaper and invited said misinformed citizen to meet with him privately. (Don’t do it Carl! It’s a trap!) He then went on to try to justify his vote to take money from the snow budget which took a terrible turn when the County Manager said, “I don’t see your point.” To which Billy replied, “I’ve made my point.” BAM! Take that all those who dare to conspire against Billy.

So then Billy refused to vote on ANYTHING. Not last meeting’s minutes and certainly none of Czar Jan’s appointments. We are really confused right now and hope to get to the rest of the meeting tomorrow to keep our dear readers informed.

He who must not be named…..

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Our resident Frederick County king of high drama is at it again! It all started last night with this post:

Side note: Why is he tagging Blaine Young? Does he still require his permission before acting?
Side note: Why is he tagging Blaine Young? Does he still require his permission before acting?

We here at Local Yokel could barely sleep last night wondering what on God’s green Earth could have Billy in such a state. Why the vaguebook post? And oh no, are we actually going to have to listen to WFMD?!

Well yes, we did. And it was horrid, but that’s  another tale for another time.  And here’s Billy’s let’s get this out on the wire news: Jan didn’t pay Aurora and a bunch of poor elderly patients are going to end up on the street. And how can Jan be such a big meanie and not care about these poor elderly patients who have no where else to go? I was lucky that I had just swallowed my coffee or I would have been out shopping for a new Ipad this afternoon. When morning host, Bob Miller, asks if he has talked to Jan, while flipping through his own Rolodex for her number that he knows he has somewhere, Billy says no but he tried to call the attorney and that jerk didn’t return his phone call.

So that appearance led to this press release:

Looks official!
Looks official!

At this point we are hazarding to guess that he still has not talked to Jan.  So, in order to answer these accusations, Jan holds a 3 p.m. press conference, where her anger towards he who must not be named is only nominally concealed.

During this press conference Jan informs the public that no one is in danger of being kicked out of Montevue or Citizens. In fact, their bill has been more than paid for until the end of the year.The money that Billy (and apparently the CEO of Aurora calls him whenever he has an issue) questioned is currently in escrow. Why? Because the county, the group of concerned citizens that sued the county, and Aurora are in private mediation over this matter. They sit down next month and at that time they will decide what their next step should be. The CEO was made aware of this, so it’s curious as to why he would call Billy, and no one was in danger of being out on the street. In fact, Jan says that the county has more than paid the bills of the indigent patients since Aurora over estimated the number of people in their care.

Throughout the conference, Jan refused to address Billy by name, instead referring to him as “a certain irresponsible council member”. She used the terms irresponsible and fear mongering to describe this whole charade.  We are left with a couple of questions about this whole situation. Why does the CEO of Aurora call Shreve when he has a question? And why the hell does Shreve care so much about them getting paid on time? We certainly know from his past record that it is NOT because he cares about what happens to the elderly people in our community.

Frederick & Blight: Oh, the drama

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Your local yokel bloggers take a particularly dismal view toward representatives addressing citizens as though they are interlopers squeaking an un-greased wheel. The whole reason we’re banging on keyboards is to make sure local issues get attention–blight in the city is a doozy–so we’ll accept a certain amount of responsibility for loudly barking into cyberspace. To the same tune, we have come to expect a certain degree of dismissive attitude from our county. We’ve typically seen better from The City of Frederick. City officials and Mayor McClement should avoid doing anything that appears like those guys (you know the ones we mean). It’s just unbearable, and it really gets us riled up. Do we need some letterhead for city residents to use as well? Just to be sure no one forgets this is all about working together for our community.

It sounds as though it is assumed that too few people care about blight in the city for it to be a major concern. I would have expected the city to notice that people interacting with the City of Frederick’s Blight Problem Facebook Page are concerned, even when they have not heard from them directly. If you had lived/worked/passed by the Asiana Property since 2001 when it closed (14 YEARS FOLKS) you would be beyond fed up, too.  Perhaps that subtlety has been lost. Although the Asiana property is most often highlighted, other specifics to chew on include :

“The Old Carmack Jay’s” is a meaningless descriptor to anyone who has lived here less than a decade or so.

Whatever that crumbling facade is next to Downtown Piano Works, it is a mess that is preventing the core of Frederick from truly taking off, considering its proximity to the “Square Corner.” With that amazing location, it is a real shame. Given the expense that has gone into creating the lovely Carroll Creek Linear Park, it is sad to see that bringing everything down. Worse, the sidewalk is never cleared after snow. At times it is extremely dangerous.

It is absolutely true that we should endeavor to be respectful in our interactions with our representatives. This is plain good sense, and it improves the probability that we will see our desired outcomes. But, we do know that old saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. A fourteen year old wheel needs lots and lots of grease. Keep it civil, locals. It is true that frustration gets people’s tempers going. City slickers, bear in mind that is a two way street.

Grease the wheel via Mayor McClement’s email address nbamonti@cityoffrederick.com

PSA: Look Y’all, Talk to Your Kids About Online Safety (Again)

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Today your Local Yokels are pleading with parents to talk to their young ‘uns about online safety. The news that a student at Windsor Knolls Middle School was caught distributing explicit material of herself and her high school friend is–well, really, it is hard to find succinct words for distressing news with so many facets to it. Far be it for a team of bloggers to come across as Luddites, but at times we all pine for the days when young people could not so easily make and distribute pornography in their free time. Not to mention look at it. Also, feeling nostalgia for the bygone days when doing something rebellious wasn’t necessarily so darn permanent or public…

There are many resources available for addressing this subject. If you need a shorter version: don’t take images of yourself that you wouldn’t show Mom and Dad. It may also be useful to discuss the news and say, “That must be humiliating to discuss with your teachers and principal and police officers. Best avoid that.” If anything positive can come of this, may it provide a good cautionary tale to start a conversation, whether for the first time, or to revisit.

And a quick note emphasizing how to empower kids against on-line bullying. Have them take the bull by the horns and shut down the account.

 

Let’s talk about realistic drug solutions…not fairy tales.

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We here at the Local Yokel have previously written our concerns regarding the Trout Run property being transformed into a drug treatment center by the deranged followers of Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. Our friends over at “No Narconon at Trout Run” on Facebook supply a wealth of information about the dangers of Narconon and what Frederick County will inevitably be in for if they are allowed to set up shop here. However, unlike some of our county council members, we don’t want to just say no, no, no without talking about some real solutions.

So being a thinking sort of people, we would like to discuss the positive efforts that have been put forth to combat the very real drug problem that we have here in Frederick County. In yesterday’s Frederick News Post we were delighted to learn of a partnership between the Frederick Police  and the Frederick County Health Department. In a pilot program scheduled to begin June 1st, the two departments will work together to pair a recovery coach with an addict. Most of these recovery coaches have overcome a similar addiction and will be made available to help an addict regain control of their lives. We enthusiastically applaud any and all efforts by our governmental agencies when working together to make our community a better place to live.

We would also like to see recovery and treatment programs based on scientifically proven methods open their doors in our fair county. The work of Dr. Lance Dodes is a great place to start. The treatment of drug addiction is as individual as the addict. We need to have a wide variety of PROVEN treatments available to our neighbors who suffer from addiction, not ones that are preying on our most vulnerable citizens in an effort to make them a part of their alien fairy tale.

In closing, we would like to make our readers aware of the Town Hall Meeting scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 28th at 6:00:

It's curious that we don't see Narconon or Scientology anywhere on this list.
It’s curious that we don’t see Narconon or Scientology anywhere on this list.

Yes, let’s talk about solutions. Real ones.

Frednecks Hash a Budget

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Last evening the council advanced a slightly trimmed budget to County Executive Jan Gardener. Ironing this out over the past week has been a titillating mixture of the painful boredom that goes along with budget crunching discussions, as well as fabulous fodder for this brand new local gossip blog. Critics have alleged for years that Billy Shreve and Kirby Delauter have just been doing the bidding of Blaine Young, and people wondered what would arise as they moved forward without him in the executive role. They should work harder at shedding the puppet reputation, because watching them navigate the budget talks left the distinct impression that these re-elected councilmen were the least experienced at the table.

At one point, Councilman Jerry Donald asked about the impact of following Shreve’s suggestion to completely eliminate a $1.2 million allocation for snow removal. “What would happen if it snows?” he asked. “We’d pray it didn’t,” said Doug Browning, the county’s chief administrative officer. Frederick News Post, Bethany Rodgers

Chmelik voted along with them. They are obviously a block opposed to taxing, spending, and providing services, so that is no surprise. Chmelik kept his calm yesterday, though, and his demeanor is a departure from what has been seen in the past (and continues in the present) from his like-minded council members. Even in insisting that a stable tax rate was a tax increase, he did press the issue without so much as raising his voice. For that we find ourselves grateful. Big drama means more subject matter for us to pounce on, but for the sake of the  county a cool head is a good thing. Bud (swing voter) Otis is like our very own local yokel Justice Kennedy. When some of his fellow council members were hell bent on cutting the permit office’s budget, he reminded them of the complaints they made to him concerning the amount of time it took to process permits. Otis brought up the reality that a budget cut would only cause things to get worse. This is the voice of reason that was sorely lacking in the last administration, and we are more than happy that Mr. Otis is there to fill this role.

Congratulations Tony Chmelik

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a beard does not make a philosopher
Congrats and welcome to the Frederick County Council

 

We really hope we don’t have too many opportunities to hand these out. Chmelik belabored this point at yesterday’s meeting. I am not sure what you would call the process of lowering the taxes, were such a thing to come about. It sure presents a potential for a messaging dilemma. Via the Frederick News Post:

Delauter, along with councilmen Tony Chmelik and Billy Shreve, want the tax rate lowered. Chmelik said Wednesday he sees Gardner’s budget as a tax increase, although her budget is based on leaving the current tax rate untouched at $1.06.

This is because the budget is above the constant yield tax rate of $1.045. Constant yield is the rate that would generate the same amount of revenue for the county as the year before. Because of rising property values next budget year, the unchanged rate is expected to generate higher revenue compared with this budget year.

The councilmen want the rate to be set even with constant yield, which would require about $4.2 million in cuts.

The prior Board of County Commissioners, which included Shreve and Delauter, adopted tax rates above the constant yield rate in fiscal 2014.

 

Email Bud Otis

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It has come to our attention that our favorite Republican Councilman, Bud Otis, is the subject of an email campaign launched by our not so favorite Republican Councilmen.  It appears that when he signed the Grover Norquist tax pledge this past summer he was the only one who saw it for the grandstanding farce that it was. We stand with you Bud, and I am sure many of our readers do as well.  But email him at BOtis@FrederickCountyMD.gov just to make sure.

Stay strong. Vote your conscience.