Thank Zeus on his high mountain that tonight’s meeting has been divided into two parts! We need the break! Now on to our fine reporting.
Billy’s no where to be found, ran in late. So Kirby had the sole job of objecting to budget transfers. His issue? We have no proof that the bay can be saved by trees and stuff. We’ve heard this before. Science isn’t his thing. Passes and we moved on.
Installment Purchase Program Easements get no objections. Even talk to what a fine program it is. Protecting our agricultural land!
It seems like the budget season gets the tempers a flarin’! We are going to go back to our budget posts of a year ago to see how much of the rhetoric is the same. We predict A LOT. Tony, Billy and Kirby want the constant yield to be called a tax raise, all M.C. wants to do is take a vote to have a hearing on this issue so the public can discuss. How dare she interrupt their grandstanding? Billy informs us that we should all come into his world, it’s nice there he says.
We’ll pass!
Tony wants an answer as to whether or not the hearing equates to increasing the constant yield. Exasperated lawyer says this question should have been asked before the meeting so they could research the answer. Jerry then points out two of the members were on the BOCC, so shouldn’t they know the answer to that? What’s that Kirby and Billy?:
The hearing will be on May 3 for those of you who are interested.
Now, fellow Yokels, in all seriousness we are concerned about Kirby. Has he been audited? Because we remember commending him for voting against the Trout Run historical designation way back when. But tonight he’s singing a different tune. When the resolution, which is essentially the answer to Social Betterment’s lawsuit, was presented he voted no. No explanation just no. Billy wanted to know if he really had to vote for it at all since he was the lone wolf on the original vote, to which he was informed he in fact did.
We do really hope this hasn’t happened to Kirby:
We end with a nice presentation on a Maryland Development Block Grant. Meeting reconvenes at 7:00 for a public hearing on the budget.
We thought we’d mix it up a little this week. Here’s your agenda. In case you do feel compelled to drink at any point, we’ll recommend you toss back an Alien Secretion and encourage Xenu to scamper on outta here.
Click on image to open in a separate tab for printing!
As we let you know yesterday there was a county council workshop to discuss two land use issues. We can say this: Billy and Kirby do not like it when old BOCC business is criticized. Even when given something like a million explanations as to why something should go they steadfastly refuse to do so. Have to admire their tenacity. Or not.
First off, kudos once again to our county workers. It must be the bane of their existence to have to come before the council and try to explain things to a couple of these fellas. A few of the presenters tonight seem to have had it with Billy and Kirby, as has the FNP. In the articledescribing yesterday’s meeting there was no mention of their behavior. How dare the FNP not report upon their hissy fits? This upset Billy and Kirby so much that this had to happen:
Not at all accurate, people!Oh don’t worry Billy. We watched and we decided.
So let’s deal with the Agricultural bit first. County staff has met with the State over the issue concerning our lost Tier IV Exemption status. The State, in turn, gave four options the county could utilize to remedy the situation. County staff has weighed the pros and cons of each option and decided the best one one was to repeal the ARTO. Here’s the rationale:
Well, Kirby, Billy and Tony want to have their own meeting with the State. Some nonsense about how “they can work things out”. Isn’t that what the staff’s job is? Not one of them gives any good reason as to why this ordinance should stand. Not a one. Kirby, at one point, concedes that he is not an expert on this subject. However, its not enough to make him stop arguing.
Sorry, Marmalade, we need a better reason that that.
Then it was off to the second item of business. Reinstating the old APFO process. Our poor, downtrodden county employee, Jim, explained very thoroughly how this new process , passed in 2012, helped no one in any way shape or form. Jim even went as far to suggest that perhaps the BOCC made this change because they were concerned that the make up of the Planning Commission at that time would not be friendly to some of the projects that were proposed. Billy had some sarcastic comments, but as usual, nothing of substance to back his arguments.
Being a workshop, there’s still more discussion to be had. One final question though: If Billy votes no to going into a closed session does that mean the rest of the council can lock him out? Please say yes!
Well, we’re off the rails here. Some of our council members threw us for a loop at the April 5th council meeting. For the most part, the theme of the meeting was, “All Aboard!” Most notably, Tony Chmelik was so agreeable (as we discussed in our other post about the weirdness of the meeting) that he just couldn’t wait to vote in favor of things he has been railing against for months. Not just that, though. He actually seemed jovial. Not sure what’s going on with him. To be fair, he has never had Billy and Kirby’s combative style or disrespectful tone, he just gets oddly passionate about stuff that seems very much at odds with his constituency.
Word to the wise.
Which leads us to our further astonishment. Usually the portion of the meeting in which council members make comment leads us into the dark tunnels of their minds. This is especially true when Billy and Kirby have something gnawing at them. Nothing happened! Our brains wrestled around hard with the fact that Billy seemed to have some thoughtful and interesting comments about handling our county’s pressing drug addiction problems, and highlighted first responders’ use of Narcan inhalers. Just recalling it, our jaws begin to hang slack in amazement. Nary a crazy train in sight. If they keep this up, we won’t have anything to say. We, ladies and gentlemen of the county, are not really sure what to hope for! We’ve become kinda fond of our little blogging hobby based on the wacko birds.
We continue to be grateful to Bud Otis. It was no surprise that he was thoughtful and used his position to give voice to the issues members of our community are dealing with. He has proven time and again to be the picture of dignity and positivity. His comments regarding the struggles of servers relying on tips for their income were thoughtful and inspiring. He also spoke eloquently of the needs of FCPS school students who are experiencing homelessness. He highlighted the work of a partnership running the New Horizons program so that these students have constructive activities and a good environment throughout the summer months. There is a gofundme campaign to help meet the financial needs of the program, if you are able to lend a hand.
Life is all about change. Humans, in order to survive and thrive, must be adaptable to change. If not, you end up denying indisputable climate data and supporting a candidate that promises to make everything great again. So we here at the Yokel want to be adaptable. We don’t want to end up stockpiling canned goods and squatting on National Wildlife preserves. We really don’t! That’s why we want to accept all of the changes we saw at the meeting last night no matter how hard that may be.
First we’ll start with someone who could use a bit of change.
AYE Billy AYE!
We’ve done a few posts about Billy’s oppositional defiance disorder.When he can bring himself to vote he never, ever says Aye. Everyone else can do it, but Billy likes to be a trailblazer. Nobody is going to tell him how to talk, no sirree Bob. Until Billy sends us a message explaining why he does this we’re going to refer to him as a:
Next on the agenda is some sewer talk. The two amendments to the code and one out of sequence item concerning sewer hookup to Lewistown were passed with little to no fanfare. Then came the third reading section of the evening.
First off, Jessica tables the bill concerning the changes that can be made to historical designations. Of course Xenu is playing a hand in this. And the FNP articleon it acknowledges as much. We here at the Yokel agree with Mark Long’s public comments concerning the Scientologists turning the land over to the park service. Enough is enough. We don’t want a bizarre cult recruitment center thinly disguised as a very ineffective drug treatment center in our neck of the woods.
The next bill was also tabled. This time it was medical cannabis that landed on the cutting room floor. In a separate FNP article we learn:
Keegan-Ayer said after Tuesday’s County Council meeting she didn’t have four votes among the seven council members to approve the bill. In early March, she told The Frederick News-Post she believed a majority of the council supported the legislation.
She said Tuesday that she was aware of concerns among some council members, but declined to elaborate what they were.
“In my opinion, they were not based on fact,” Keegan-Ayer said of the concerns.
What’s that you say?! Some council members hold opinions that aren’t based on facts? When did this start? Oh that’s right December 1, 2014. Come on people, enough craziness about marijuana. There’s even been research suggesting that we may not have the opioid/heroine addiction problems if Nixon hadn’t made everyone so cuckoo over marijuana and let it be researched as a pain management drug. Let’s all operate in the real world..please!!!
Now we come to the part of the meeting that still has us scratching our watches and winding our butts. Remember a few weeks back when Councilman Chemlik was all so against the impact fees? We recall a longsoliloquy in defense of our poor, downtrodden developers. Fast forward to last night and oh how things have changed. We like the change, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want an explanation! Tony is now for both of these fees! He was so very excited to vote for them that he screamed Aye into his microphone before the vote had even been taken. We would like to accept his vote and move on, but we can’t. What the hell happened?
Loyal readers are aware that Xenu’s lawyer’s have filed alawsuit against the entire county. That’s right folks the whole county!
Prepare to pay up!
Well, it appears that maybe a mistake was made because on the 25th they filed another suit and made sure that this time they spelled out The Frederick County Council.
How cute! County citizens thought they had a voice!
For years we labored under the delusion that the 1st amendment mattered. Along comes Roy Stanley’s lawsuit and shatters that illusion. It’s really silly to admit that we whole-heartedly believed that American citizens were allowed to assemble and petition the government. In fact, our urbanite education kinda instructed us that it was our duty to do so. Some nonsense about it strengthening our democracy and making sure the most powerful voices didn’t always win out. It makes us blush because we now realize that we have been stuck in our post adolescent idealistic phase for a couple of decades.
Perhaps we should thank Mr. Stanley for waking us up and making us face the harsh realities of the world. We get that Mr. Stanley wants to move on with his development. And while we don’t agree with his premises about C. Paul Smith’s FACT letter, nor do we think he will win, we get why he would sue the county government. What we cannot imbibe, and what has shattered our faith in American democracy, is that fact that he decided to add members of RALE to his lawsuit.
For those of you not familiar with RALE (Residents Against Landsdown Expansion), please visit their website. In short, they are a group of concerned citizens in Monrovia. They banded together because they were concerned about the amount of development and lack of improvements that were being proposed in their neighborhood. They have faithfully attended every meeting, spoke their minds (especially Steve McKay) and called foul when they believed certain political officials were not only listening to developers, but were in cahoots with them.
We here at the Yokel were lucky enough to get a copy of said lawsuit. Count III is the only part that we see that includes RALE, though we are still not exactly sure why. See for yourself:
COUNT III DECLARATORY JUDGMENT (all Defendants)
149. Plaintiff adopts by reference the allegations contained in Paragraphs 1 through 148 of this Complaint with the same effect as if herein fully set forth. 150. This is an action for declaratory judgment pursuant to § 3-409 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, for the purpose of terminating uncertainty or controversy between parties with antagonistic claims that will likely give rise to imminent or inevitable litigation. 151. There exists an actual controversy of a justiciable issue between the parties involving the rights and liabilities of the parties. The County Council is determined to force the Plaintiffs to present their rezoning application anew to the Planning Commission and then to the County Council, and the Plaintiffs maintain that the County Council has violated the Court’s March 10, 2015 Order, violated Maryland’s impermissible change of mind rule, and denied the due process to the Plaintiffs. 152. The actual controversy between the parties is within the jurisdiction of the Court. 37 153. The antagonistic claims between the parties indicate imminent and inevitable litigation. 154. A declaratory judgment by this Court will terminate the actual controversy between the parties. WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs, 75-80 Properties, L.L.C. and Payne Investments, LLC, respectfully request that the Court enter an Order: (a) Declaring that the purpose of the Court’s Order of March 10, 2015 was to direct the County Council of Frederick County to conduct further proceedings, including testimony, to resolve the issues raised in the Court’s March 10, 2015 Order, i.e., to determine what significance, if any, the FACT Letter played in the former BOCC’s approval of the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center; (b) Declaring that the statements of Councilmen Shreve and Delauter at the June 9, 2015 public meeting of the County Council that the FACT Letter did not have any impact on their decisions to vote to approve the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center, together with former Commissioner Young’s Affidavit submitted to the administrative record to the effect that the FACT Letter was not a determinative factor in Commissioner Young’s decision to vote to approve the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center, effectively resolves the question as to the significance of the FACT Letter; (c) Declaring that the testimony and Affidavit of the decision-makers, Councilmen Shreve and Delauter and former Commissioner Young, establishes that the FACT Letter was not significant in that the FACT Letter did not have any effect on the votes of a majority of the 38 former Commissioners to approve the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center; (d) Declaring that since the FACT Letter did not exist when the Frederick County Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application, the County Council violated Maryland’s impermissible change of mind rule by remanding this matter back to the Planning Commission with instructions to the Planning Commission to review the Plaintiffs rezoning application again from the beginning; (e) Declaring that County Council has taken a patently unreasonable amount of time in addressing the Court’s March 10, 2015 Order, that the County Council does not have a valid reason for the unreasonable delay, and that the delay violates the Plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment rights against deprivation of property without due process of law; and (f) Granting such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.
Are we to discern that they want the court to get rid of all antagonist influences? If others have problems with this development, are they not allowed to voice those concerns? And this FACT letter…how can anyone take Young, Shreve and Delauter’s word on this? We hope, like in the case concerning Trout Run, that our fellow citizens ,who are guilty of nothing but voicing their concerns, are stricken from this suit. Can you imagine the precedence it would set if all developers had to do was to reach into their deep pockets to silence the dissenters with litigation?
Speaking of litigation if you would like to help RALE out go to their website and click donate.
Man, how bad is it when even Donald Trump wants to distance himself from you?!
Yokels, if you’ve been with us from the beginning you know that Blaine Young is the reason that we started this little blog. As we read his letter to the FNPentitled:
Blaine Young: ‘Work together, or nothing will get accomplished’
we knew we had to do something. Our first instinct was to go on an angry, drunken rampage through the streets of Frederick. Cooler heads prevailed and we instead decided to start a blog on the corruption and down right craziness that exists in our local government. For almost a year, certain characters have kept us very, very busy. Even the one that promised we wouldn’t be hearing from him for 10 years.
In fairness, or because they wanted us to have an endless stream of material, someone at the FNP has given Blaine a column. It’s always terrible, andtodaywas no exception. Let’s begin with the title:
What does ‘open for business’ mean anymore?
Sorry Hoots, but if we had to endure it so do you.
Didn’t he hear that when Jan took down the “open for business” signs all local businesses, especially hot dog stands, were required to shut down? I mean really Blaine, get with it.
The first few paragraphs are dedicated to educating us to how Democrats ruin everything. Of course! Republicans, on the other hand, would like to get rid of ALL regulations, except those that protect the public. To do otherwise would be picking the winners and losers. Then we are treated to his views on government services (Keep in mind folks, this guy was in charge of our government for 4 years and wanted to become our County Executive. Man we dodged a nuclear weapon!):
Sometimes the government would even go into business competing against the private sector, such as a golf courses, health and fitness, aquatics, nursing homes, entertainment, hotel and conference centers — just to name some categories close to home.
So is it his contention that the government provides recreation and medical services just to stick it to local businesses? There couldn’t possibly be other reasons could there? Like cost, accountability and equal access? Hmm, let’s continue….
Sorry Sprinkles, we’re almost done.
His enlightened views on the tax code:
The tax code is a mess on all levels, local, state and the federal, but we created this mess. We desperately need tax reform and a simpler, more equitable tax code. I’d propose either a flat tax or fair tax. But this will never happen, because politicians would lose the power to directly benefit those who helped elect them.
Sigh, then he meanders his way back to Maryland. You know the most business unfriendly entity on the face of the Earth!? Because folks, no Fortune 500 companies operate out of Baltimore. Thankfully, though, the Gods of fortune have heard Blaine’s cries for help:
It was a major step to elect a governor who understands how business works. Gov. Larry Hogan actually owned and operated a business that employed people. Now, no disrespect to other small-business owners, but unless you have a business location and employ at least a handful of people, it’s hard to understand the everyday challenges that a business owner encounters. In my opinion, career politicians who have never owned a business are the core of the problem, and this needs to be addressed if we are ever really going to have a government that encourages free enterprise instead of stifling it.
Hey Guv, Blaine wants to know if there are any open positions on your staff.
We are happy to know that Governor Hogan employed people instead of let’s say baboons. Business people of course have a perspective to bring to the table. But not the only perspective. So is Blaine actually advocating that business people are the only ones qualified for public office? It sure seems so. Things haven’t been working out so well on that front though:
We have very few business people serving in elected office or who ever aspire to serve. When I look locally, I can only find one, and they are trying to drive him out of business or out of office.
Who, pray tell, is he referring to? A real stumper!
Well, Blaine has a solution to all of our anti-business woes. There’s only one person brave enough to strip all regulations, ban all governmental functions and get this country back on course again! Are you ready folks?!:
This is why I believe Donald Trump has hit a nerve in this election cycle. Some people say we need a successful business person who tells it like it is to straighten this country out. Now, we always want to start at the top to fix our problems but it’s Congress and the state Legislature that needs to be changed first.
“Some people”:
Do these mysterious “some people” really think that Trump is qualified to run the free world because he’s run a trazillion businesses into the ground? Is it a fair trade to elect a racist misogynist xenophobe to the highest office because he’s employed people? How can that be a reasonable action to propose? Oh yeah right, it’s Blaine.
If you do get a chance to read the article, MAKE sure you read the comments. They’ll give you a chuckle or two. In all fairness, not everyone was upset about this column:
Why is everyone always calling Billy? Stop it people!
The dreaded budget analyst conversation. The sole acceptable, qualified candidate for the job withdrew his name from consideration. One can only speculate why being at Billy (and Kirby)’s beck and call was unappealing. We didn’t apply for the job ourselves, that’s for dang sure.
A brief rundown of the discussion:
Right out of the gate Billy starts the sniping tone. Blah blah blah woof woof woof. Petulant child. You know the drill.
M.C. says they have endeavored to find out what is done elsewhere, looking at similar counties in Maryland. Turns out Wicomico, Cecil and Harford’s county councils don’t have budget analysts because they are legislative bodies. Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard’s have a county auditor, but that doesn’t make sense for Frederick because the council isn’t responsible for that function.
Jerry throws out a novel idea. Specifically ask the departments what they have, what they need, if things have been working out in the past, etc, etc, etc. As for these personal visits with county staff, “A number of us went to a number of things.” Jerry, ever the educator, charmingly refers to this as “the budget education process.” We are left to speculate about who amongst them made up the education seeking numbers. And also, based on the historical record, who probably didn’t.
M.C. reiterates this concept of communicating with the staff. Hiring someone takes time and money, and she points out the irony that she is taking the conservative position here (she didn’t say, “guess who isn’t,” but we’ve pointed that out before). Summing up her position, she (can do math?) doesn’t need someone to say, “Yup, those numbers balance.”
Faithful readers know that Billy loves to taunt his fellow council members with his abstentions, voting against his own motions, and asking inane questions. Now we can add voicing opposition to a project that he voted for while he was a member of the BOCC.
In today’s Political Notes, Danielle Gaines writes of the letter that Bud Otis wrote on behalf of the county council asking that the hotel tax be increased from 3% to 5%. Now Billy and Kirby were not happy about this. They countered with their own letter:
In short, it said, “Please let it be known that Council Members Billy Shreve and Kirby Delauter are not in agreement” with Otis’ letter.
“Kirby and I were like, absolutely not, we don’t support that,” Shreve said later in the week. He said the original letter gave the false impression the entire council agreed with it.
Like no way man! Like we can’t support anything that Bud does. No way no how!
Well folks, that part was predictable wasn’t it? What wasn’t was this:
Also this week, Shreve is facing questions about his apparent former support for a downtown hotel and conference center proposal that also contemplated city, county and state tax-increment financing bonds.
The Board of County Commissioners, which included Shreve and Delauter, voted unanimously on Sept. 25, 2014, to support a joint resolution with the city of Frederick in favor of the project.
What’s that now, Billy? So he was for the project knowing that public funding was on the table when he was commissioner, but now he’s against it.
His excuse:
“Blaine said it would be awesome”
Just kidding, kinda. Here’s what he really said:
Shreve said he had an incomplete picture of the project’s budget at the time. “The funding sources were not put together back then,” he said.
frederick local yokel 