Howdy Yokels! This drinking game is going to have a punch theme. First of all, punches are refreshing during really hot weather and secondly, well…we all know the other meaning of the word. Grab a copy of your sacred agenda, tune in your FCGTV and get ready to slam back the punches.
One person has chosen to take advantage of the pre-meeting public comments so far, if anyone shall share their thoughts mix up some jam juice.
If Billy should shriek no to any of the budget transfers slowly stir a pitcher of lights out punch.
Next up we have some appointment confirmations to take care of. It any of our “friends” shall throw a fit have yourself a tall hurricane punch.
There’s been a lot of discussion on charter amendments these past few weeks. They’ve been work shopped and discussed to death. We still imagine there will be a rumbling here and there. When there is, have some pom pom planter’s punch in order to keep one’s spirits up!
We have three first readings up. Zoning, cannabis, and hotel tax are all up for some changes. This is supposed to only be for informational purposes. Just. An. Introduction. So if any of our council members, who seem to have trouble following procedure or understanding simple directions, decide to sound off mix up a whole giant bowl of Adult Life Saving Drench punch.
Lastly, there is a public hearing to extend the expiration date on the ordinance that allows applicants to pay a fee in lieu of constructing Moderately Priced Dwellings.
We end, as always with public and council member comments. Grab some sparkling water and try to sober up!
Dear friends, we have noticed a petition circulating on Facebook whose subject is yet another wedding venue with zoning woes. We are very surprised that we have heard nothing about the issues facing this vendor at any recent council meetings.
We are going to admit that when reading this we had a few thoughts about why Shrelauter hasn’t brought this to the council’s attention. Keep in mind these are just guesses and as far as we know they are not facts.
Complaining neighbors are friends with # and/or Billy
Owners of said venue are not registered Republicans
Maybe Billy and Kirby just aren’t aware of this issue
We really don’t know much about this whole thing, but it seems unusual that they haven’t brought this up as a shining example of how the county is closed for business. Seeing as how #Kirby has been actively advocating that businesses sue the county for unfair treatment this silence is puzzling. Of course, it seems like this issue predates the charter government so perhaps that is the real issue. Or is this a real issue and they are only the champions of the lost cause? Enquiring minds want to know.
It’s our favorite time. Well, besides drinking game time, and picnic time and family time, and well, anyway. Let’s close out our last poll in which we asked you about Billy.
Hey, just like Kirby! Coincidence?
Since Kirby just pitched a huge fit again about Jan, we figured it would be fun to speculate on the subject of his next tantrum. It will happen before you know it.
We don’t know if the regular video person at FCGTV is on vacation, but whomever is doing it this week gave the Yokels a heart attack. After pouring a much needed cup of coffee one of your brave Yokel ladies clicked on the video archives. She was very dismayed to see that last night’s meeting registered at 6 hours long! Now we love our readers and want to keep y’all informed, but we have things to do! Thankfully the time stamp was wholly inaccurate and we came in at 45 minutes.
We start off with the agenda vote with our favorite useless at large council member voting no.
We finally have a pre-meeting public commenter! It’s Patrick! If you know Patrick, please invite him to like our page. He congratulates Jenkins on the large heroin bust. He is very pleased with the new council form of government. He wants to refresh everyone’s memory of what it was like during the dark days of the BOCC. He very specifically tells folks to delve into the November 24, 2014 meeting to see how they operated. (Look away folks!) We love his final suggestion. Anyone who has been found to have engaged in human trafficking should not be eligible for election to county offices. We are behind that 100%!
Budget adjustments- 6 for 1 abstain. (Guess who!)
No comments on the police grant.
Approval of past minutes by all.
Resident agent designation will officially be the county attorney. Billy interjects by asking how will the council will be notified of lawsuits since it hasn’t been in the past. There is some discussion about how most of the lawsuits don’t have anything to do with the council and those that do are forwarded. Somehow we don’t think this will be enough.
1st readings go off without a hitch. 3rd reading is put aside until later.
Public hearings on Spring 2016 and Sewage Plan. No public comment and it’s approved.
Three proposed charter amendments:
Notice requirement shrunk to 2 days from 2 weeks to change a bill.
Notice requirement shrunk to 2 days from 2 weeks to make a change to the budget.
Council given until May 31st to review budget.
No one came to comment. July 19th will be the third reading and then it has to be sent over to the Board of Elections by mid August to be put on the ballot for November. Citizens can also propose amendments. Mid August date still applies. Check with the BOE for the petition process.
Votes to go into closed session to interview County Executive Appointments. 7-0. This is new since Billy usually votes against it. We still haven’t cracked the code when it comes to his voting process.
Then here we are folks. Council Member comments. It’s a mixture of all we have to be proud of in this county and also our greatest shame.
Jerry goes first. Announces that the Frederick Food Bank is in desperate need of donations. Walking trail through Middletown Park will be officially opened on July 12. Brunswick has officially been designated an Enterprise Zone by the state. Reminds people to support their fire companies by attending carnivals and thanks county employees for helping him work on bills that he will propose in the future.
Jessica thanks Angela Spencer for her work on the Human Relations Commission. Encourages the public to follow all their local boards and commission.
Kirby remarks on the heroin situation here in Frederick. Another young person has succumbed to this drug.(Yokel aside- We do need to do something about our heroin problem (NOT NARCONON) and it’s going to take the whole community to brainstorm some solutions to this problem. Hopefully community involvement in tackling the heroin problem will not involve the toe stepping on law enforcement as Kirby claims studying human trafficking will do.) He then talks about three bridge dedications to our military heroes. One that recently took place and two that will occur in the future. We lady Yokels are 100% for honoring our local service people. We did see some disturbing intel on what took place at the first dedication. Some folks only wanted to invite people who were of their political persuasion and were miffed when those of other political philosophies showed up. FOR SHAME! Hopefully those involved in this disgusting behavior will not repeat it at the upcoming dedications. Then there’s the predictable rant against County Executive readings in which M.C. will address in her comments.Now it’s time for the wedding venue debacle. So Kirby’s argument is that since some county facilities aren’t up to code (his words) then what’s the prob? Why can’t private businesses violate them? From what we understand the buildings are being demolished because the actual owners of the land wanted them torn down. We don’t know what kind of government official advocates that a business continue violating safety laws because no one has been hurt yet!
He’s having a meeting today at 1 pm with the BOE and Rick Harcum to talk about his public funding idea of schools.
Tony is going to have a Town Hall in Urbana in the next 2 weeks. Date to be determined.
Shreve wants to know what kind of venue the council will have to address public needs. This is because of his complaints about the landfill. We thought it was adequately explained to him that he needs to address the public concerns by writing a bill and then having public comment on said bill, but he sat up there and called that process elitist again. So we don’t know what else to say. He then goes onto congratulate FCPS for winning a public relations award and we can barely believe our ears. But the award was partially given because of the Classmates for Life video competition. So that was really just about him.
M.C. Keegan-Ayer wasn’t going to comment, but Kirby’s statement changed her mind. She points out to him that the council has a workshop on each of the County Executive’s proposed bills before they get on the agenda. So that would be the appropriate time for him to voice his concerns. Kirby tries to argue the semantics of this, is quickly shut down. Because big surprise he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Bud talks about a brainstorming session about the new Veteran’s treatment court and reminds everyone that Frederick will have a fireworks show on July 24.
July 12th is a workshop and July 19th is the next legislative day.
We hope you had a fun 4th! After the ridiculousness that went on during last week’s workshop, we don’t have much hope for sanity this week. Grab your agenda, tune up your FCGTV and let’s do this!
We’ll be surprised if anyone comes to speak for the pre-meeting comment, since it’s failed to happen thus far. So we’ll skip ahead to one of our fave county employees, Rick Harcum. He’s here to speak of some budget adjustments. The list is long and we have little hope that our usual suspects will not grandstand. So when they do what they do, sip on your President cocktail in honor of Bud and all he has to put up with.
The High Sheriff will be in the house to discuss a joint grant application with the City of Frederick. This actually looks like some good stuff, with the money split between the Sheriff’s office and the Frederick City police. Click on the agenda to get all the details.
Up next is naming the County Attorney as the Resident Agent for the county as required by law. If this discussion is too much for some to comprehend, mix up a Roosevelt, since he’s probably spinning in his grave.
There are some first and third readings of bills proposed by the county executive on the agenda. Kirby threw this Facebook fit earlier:
Someone hasn’t read our post about what a traitor is. And these guys have a hard time comprehending what a legislative body does. Jan cannot introduce legislation. She needs someone on the council to do it for her. And quelle horror! She actually has some people on the council who think it’s advantageous to work together. If Kirby can get over his Ted Cruz style of legislatin’ we’ll all be better off. If he brings up anything on this Facebook rant mix up a batch of Martha Washington’s punch. Since we are fairly certain that’s what the good lady would do to him.
To round things up there’re two public hearings. One on sewage amendments and the other on charter amendments. There’s gonna be words. When there are slam back your Bear Witness. Since bearing witness to this all really can be a burden.
Grab some water and hydrate for public and council member comments. This can sometimes be the hardest part of the meeting.
Oh, man. Tread carefully around the landfill workshop held at Kirby’s behest. By the time we got through the new business, day drinking seemed like an attractive option. It seems that ‘ol Hashtag thought he was going to get a constituent issue addressed by calling the Waste Management staff out so he and his drinking buddies could needle them about how they figure out if people are allowed to bring trash from outside the county and dump it in our landfill or not, which is not allowed. There’s some cautioning from staff about making imprudent decisions that could inadvertently drastically increase the amount of trash, filling the landfill faster.
There is some general agreement amongst thinking council persons and county attorneys alike that if a legislative issue is going to be solved, a bill is needed. A mystery person will have to identify the problem and draft said bill, because the person who needs to understand how all this works has no idea what everyone else might be talking about. His main point in a nutshell seems to be, “I know about a complaint my constituent has. No one else thinks it is a problem. No one else will fix it for me, but if you don’t do what I want, I will continue to waste vast amounts of time AND be a loud mouthed blowhard.”
The fact that constituent issues are not on the agenda for discussion at this time prompts a huge Delauterburst man-tantrum during the staff briefing. And you don’t have to take our word for it, because did Kirby Delauter take his tantrum to social media (also, it’s at about 43 mins on the archived video)? Well, does a bear poo in the woods? You betcha. Look at that. He didn’t even have to write this himself.
“…have never ran?” You don’t say…well, we wouldn’t say that, but whatever. Language evolves, right? Semantics also take a big role in this whole brouhaha.
Bud tries to move on and thank the staff for their help during the briefing, and Billy cuts him short to say they aren’t done yet, and then says, “It’s like Romper Room in here.” Bud quietly offers back, “Sure is.” lololololololllllllllllll (indeed).
Billy and Kirby should watch Romper Room and refresh their manners.
Jessica proposes a workshop regarding human trafficking, because several counties have task forces applicable to the issue. And between the lines, right? If we are going to have a prominent former (and yet still aspiring politician) soliciting hookers, it becomes a pet local concern. Billy then says that there are lots of groups both for and against this issue, at which point we have to feel so grateful to Jerry Donald for saying (in the appropriate appalled voice) what we were shouting at our screens, “THERE ARE GROUPS THAT ARE FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING?!?!?!?!?!” To which Billy mutters, “Well yah…depending on how you define human trafficking…” Good grief. The Confederacy lost, right? That passes 5-2 and we know you know which marionettes didn’t vote for that, right?
Billy has a whole festering bunch of ideas for workshops, making the entire New Business section of the agenda a train wreck. It’s hard to distill a word cloud of Billy’s brain into a cogent prose form. They are not even fully formed thoughts as Billy brings them forth as motions to add to the agenda, in most cases, and the others (with particular kudos to the patience of M.C. Keegan-Ayer here) try to divine what he means and reword these vague notions into something that can be worked within a “yea/nay” decision making format. This section is entirely analogous to his previous legislative priority to send to Annapolis, “Understanding what regulations impede the operation of roadside hot dog stands.” New readers, we swear we are not making this up.
These are various ideas along the lines of, “Understand how citizens make claims against the county, or how the county administers claims, what zoning stuff is obsolete, what it takes to file a complaint, a reasonable timeline for complaints, oh wait I mean for complying with zoning and building violations.” There are points at which Tony Chmelik seems to try and talk some sense into him, but he derides the need for word smithery. As though effective communication has no purpose in legislating. Tony notes that phone calls could be made to find out information.
Jerry Donald also suggests using email. Billy and Jerry repeatedly go at it, because Billy is peeved that you can’t just have a meeting every time he would rather not do anything like wait for a constituent concern, address it with legislation, and discuss it in a pertinent public hearing at that time. When Jerry Donald has to give an impromptu workshop on “How the County Council Works,” he gets called an elitist. It’s a point Billy throws at him repeatedly, when he continues to allude to the fact in rather diplomatic (if impatient) terms that he is wasting everyone’s valuable time. Not to be lost: knowing how to do your job is elitist in B.S. World.
Another infuriating problem through all of this is that Billy accuses the government of being dysfunctional because it is meant to follow a clear procedure, yet he seems to be on an open door lets-look-for-problems-no-one-has-identified-yet fact finding mission, so that someone–but definitely not him or Kirby—can write some new legislation.
Please, Frederick County, at the next local election let’s take out our trash.
If you’ve been a fan of the Yokel for some time, you know how we detest the hyperbolic language some of our county council members are so fond of. Last Spring, we had to give #kirbydelauter a lesson on what a dictator actually is. Now it looks like we are forced to do the same with Billy:
The comments so far have not be in his favor. Add your name to the chorus by looking up his Facebook page.
First of all, we are glad this Bud is for us! Secondly, let’s explore what a traitor actually is. We’ll start with the good old dictionary def:
So a person who is not loyal to country or friend, but really someone who betrays friend or country to their enemy. What examples does history lend us? Let’s explore…
Benedict Arnold
Whoa this guy! You know the guy whose name we use when it’s too much trouble to actually say the word traitor? He was one of General Washington’s fave generals. But because he wasn’t promoted or maybe because his worm tongued British sympathizer of a wife was whispering sweet nothings in his ear, he betrayed the American cause to the British. For some good old cashola and a title, bye bye American Independence. Things didn’t work out quite the way he wanted and he never did gain the respect and money he thought he would. However, he most certainly was a traitor.
Yes, a fictional character. But the internet lights up with his image when you google traitor.
Former Stormtrooper Finn betrays Kylo Renn to assist Rey and company. Depending upon what side you root for in the Star Wars series, you may consider him a traitor. However, if we go by the dictionary definition of betraying your cause to the enemy, then he most certainly is.
Robert Hanssen
For over two decades, FBI expert Robert Hanssen, was feeding the Soviets info. He did enormous damage to our national security and almost certainly got people killed. If you haven’t seen the movie Breach, it really is a must see. And yeah, absolutely, positively a traitor.
County Council President Bud Otis
Elected to an At-Large position on the County Council in 2014, Bud Otis was a long time member of the Republican Party. As a Republican he used the resources of the local party to get elected. Receiving the most votes in the election, the President position logically belonged to him. We hear from reliable sources that Billy wanted that title. Once elected Bud governed the way so many successful local politicians do. He practiced a philosophy of governing in cooperation with other local politicians, showing that he cared much more about making Frederick County a vibrant, tolerant and successful place to live. While others prefer to practice their rabid partisan and often downright bizarre politics to become the darlings of their far right Facebook spectators. Mr. Otis eventually came to the realization that he no longer had a place in a party where someone like Billy was the leader, and like the true gentleman that he is, he knew when to take his leave. Frederick County was not sold out, no one died and the dark side was not betrayed (well…).
So Mr. Shreve, who also questioningly sits as Chairman of the local Republican Central Committee, Bud is NOT a traitor. He was an old school Republican who could not function within the confines of your monochromatic definition of what a good Republican should be. As a result, Frederick County is much better off.
We covered the first part of last night’s meeting in detail here. The second half reconvened at 7:00 and was a hearing about the repeal of Agricultural Rights Transfer Ordinance (ARTO) that was passed by the last BOCC. We had a lot of good speakers, many friends of the Yokel. We’ll let Kimberly Brandt educate you on the subject of ARTO, since she knows way more about this ordinance and it’s effects than we do.
Lastly we had our council member comments. Jessica started off the comments on a positive note talking about her newborn son, encouraging people to visit the Pride Festival this weekend and listing off the locations where kids can get a free lunch during the summer. Kirby wasn’t ready yet, so Jerry took the helm. He took the time to thank the people that came out to talk to him during his meet and greets, gave an update about pathways through Middletown Park and suggested people go to our local carnivals.
Now Kirby is ready. It’s time to disparage the decision to buy back the nursing homes.There was no reason to do that people! He then proclaims that the reason we can’t build schools is due to this decision. But don’t worry he’s got a solution. The secret developers are coming to the rescue! (We’ve already covered it here). He then wants to know who is going to pay for the Roddy Road bridge damage. The county is going after the truck driver, as it should be.
And then there’s Billy. His first comment? Hendershots, a shooting range in Hagerstown, contacted him and is willing to give all the council members free shooting lessons. Billy asks for a show of hands. Only Tony’s goes up and Kirby shouts out: “I am already a certified NRA instructor, so we can do it that way as well.” WHAT WAY? What kind of grandstanding, idiotic council member comment is this? Is he really surprised that no one else up there took him up on his offer?
Cinnamon is looking right at ya Billy!
He then concludes by telling us that there’s lots of new interesting developments in the wedding venue saga. So stay tuned!
Tony’s not talking tonight. M.C. reminds us about the city/county meeting and also encourages us to go to the carnival. Bud tells us all that he’s been up to this past month and whew! We’re adjourned til next time!
These two are much cuter than the two who should be wearing them.
Pre-meeting public comment has no takers…again. Billy starts right in on the agenda. Moves to remove the item concerning appointments to the ethics board. M.C. initiates a discussion with County Attorney Chomel asking if they remove the item would be they be able to discuss it later on. The answer is no, once an item is removed you can no longer talk about it. Billy then suggests to remove it and then to put it back on the agenda later for discussion. Chomel says, and I quote, that it would be “cumbersome and futile” to remove an item just to put it right back on again. And, oh, how we laughed, and laughed because cumbersome and futile is the perfect description of Billy’s style of governing.
We fear that Billy is also confused about when he should say no and when he should abstain. He gave a hearty no to the agenda, but an abstain to the consent agenda and then a yes to the meeting minutes, which is a departure from his usual fashion. It’s hard to keep things straight when when you don’t have a real consistent philosophy.
Some very nice representatives from FCC came before the council to discuss the budget of their fine school. We learned that there will be a small increase in tuition and no increase in student fees.There seems to be some loss in the dining services department and this is where the talk gets a little dicey. Kirby and Billy want to know why outside companies are not being considered. Well, the nice lady tells the story of how they looked into outsourcing the child care center and found that it was not feasible. And holy moly, I guess not everyone is on the privatization train. She even goes on to say she does not want to privatize the custodial or dining services because she would like those people to keep their jobs. Hurray! The only one to vote against the budget in the end was Billy.
Billy is the sole abstainer on the two appointees to the appeals board and then we are on to the real drama of the evening…ethics.
Let’s start off in praise of the four women who sat before the council this evening. They kept their cool under some really trying circumstances. We have seen a few of these ladies speak in their roles as representatives of the League of Women voters. Every single time they have been articulate and well just awesome. Tonight was no different.
The discussion centered around the pilot program to chose people to sit on the ethics board. It was determined that in order to sit on the board, you would have to prove yourself to be non-partisan. There are a few criteria to prove this: You cannot have held public office in the last four years, served on a central committee for the last 10, have aspirations to run for office or have been involved in a political campaign. They would also like representatives from the two local universities, the United Way, the rotary club and the Unitarian church. The Unitarian church was chosen since it encompasses a variety of faiths. The potential members would only be interviewed by the nominating committee, not the County Executive or the County Council, with final approval from the Executive. If you remember the beginning of our post we spoke of Billy trying to remove this agenda item. It was because he thinks the council should interview the members of the board. The ladies vehemently disagree with him as do the other members of the council. It shouldn’t be difficult to grasp the concept as to why an ethics board should not come before the council. Shouldn’t be being the two key words.
But of course we all know who is going to throw the biggest fit.
We’ve written before of Kirby’s Pavlovian response to hearing the word ethics, and tonight was NO different. Our esteemed council member has a suggestion as to a new question that should be asked of our potential ethics board members. Are you ready?
“If your decision is overturned by Executive Order, how will you react?”
BAM! Take that Jan! But seriously people, how long is this going to go on?
Kirby continues by saying the reason you don’t have people lining up to be on the ethics board is because they are afraid that every decision they make will be overturned by Queen Jan. One of the patient nice ladies disagrees completely with this theory to which Kirby tells her you can disagree but thems the facts. Jerry ventures out into the choppy waters to get clarification as to when the County Executive can issue Executive Orders. This causes our dear county contract-less council member to then scream: All the time! But no the answer is she can only make an order when the issue comes under the Executive’s power. Like county contracts. Kirby tries to say what she did was illegal, gets shut down again, but hey why let the facts get in the way? We keep forgetting he’s the only one in possession of the real facts.
Billy tries to disparage our fine ladies. Proclaims that two of them were involved in a lawsuit against the county. So how can they be non-partisan? And we do not know how these ladies keep their cool, but the one he seems to be addressing asks him directly to what he is referring to. Oh you know, proclaims Shreve. Well, no, no, no. The fine lady tells him that she was never a part of a lawsuit but a representative of a position for the League of Women Voters. And she wasn’t even a part of the ethics nominating committee so the big gotcha moment that Shreve thought he had totally blew up in his face. You know what Billy, citizens can have a position on a piece of county legislation with out it being a partisan affair. You know what else is a popular non-partisan affair in these here parts? Lamenting the legislating style of one Billy Shreve. The new members are appointed 6-1.
The final observation of the evening comes during County Executive appointments. Billy doesn’t like the fact that one of the committees, concerning loans, does not have an expiration date. He tries to put forth a motion, that M.C. tries to parse for him. It’s here that Jessica interjects telling M.C. that she shouldn’t have to make Billy’s motion for him. He is instructed to write his motion down and his reply? He doesn’t need to write it down two other people are doing it already.
Gracious, y’all. Nothing like summer to make a random Tuesday sneak up on ya. We just about left you with nothing to drink this evening.
Yes, it’s a random Tuesday, and that normally means there’s some council stuff to attend to. For the most part the meeting doesn’t look too complicated. Barring that one sticky, sure-fire, hot button issue. Have you guessed it already?
First things first, though. If the Early Bird Special public comments section is all <<crickets>> mix up a Classy Cricket. We do think it’s probably a good idea to class it up early, because later is coming…
There’s some regular old budget transfers (Billy’s gonna abstain. Why bother even pretending he will do his job?).
There’s an opportunity for some grandstanding, since they need to pass FCC’s budget. If Billy, Kirby or Tony climb up on their soapbox, sip a clean martini. If all 3 of them chime in, slam the thing and steel yourself for the talk of…
Wait, wait not yet. Gotta get through appointments to the Board of Appeals.
Then it’s time to tango, because guess what folks, you know there’s some ethical stuff on the agenda (Review of the Selection Process, and confirmations) this evening and we are familiar by now with the Pavlovian response one #kirbydelauter has to this topic. If he throws a hissy fit. Why are we starting this sentence in a conditional construction? When he throws a hissy fit, we suggest a Murphy’s Law.
There’s more on the agenda folks. Some reappointments to numerous commissions, council information at the first reading of a bill to extend the option to pay a fee in lieu of building affordable housing units, and a public hearing about the Agricultural Rights Transfer Option (ARTO), but if we drink our way through all of these, you’ll have to call Billy for help, and nobody wants to see that happen! Remember, always drink through council meetings responsibly. Frederick County politics can kill ya!
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