There’s a workshop this evening and we are a little afraid to watch. There’s been so much animosity this week in Frederick politics we aren’t sure how this is going to play out. (Can we say we feel really bad for M.C, Jessica , Jerry and, to some extent, Tony.) Only two items on the docket: Adopting the amendments to council procedures and a discussion of solar utility projects. We’ll let you know what happens but y’all may owe us a drink or two or three….
The big news this week was President Otis’ announcement that he was leaving the Republican Party. We wrote two pieces on this topic yesterday. We here at the Yokel don’t blame him one bit considering how he’s been treated by Shrelauter and their cronies on the watch page. We’ve watched every SINGLE council meeting and have seen first hand the rude, snarky comments these two have made towards Bud. Just search through our plentiful archives and you’ll find copious examples of their abhorrent behavior. So when we read through the FNP article about Bud’s political affiliation, we were quite perplexed by Shrelauter’s statements. Kirby wants us pretend we’re all new here:
“Bud Otis doesn’t know me very well. I don’t intimidate very easily. I will stand up for what I think is right,” Delauter said. “I ran for office to change things and make the county a better place.” He added that he doesn’t think he’s created conflicts on the council. “If you look at the tapes, I’m pretty calm. I’m speaking my mind,” Delauter said. “That’s what my constituents keep asking me to do.”
Woden hear our cries for mercy!!! Who does this guy think he’s talking to? We’ve seen him get combative with Bud during the ethics bill discussions, we’ve seen him throw a hissy fit and storm off the dais just a few weeks ago when his budget amendments were soundly defeated. We know from his BOCC days that he screamed at fellow commissioner David Gray, lashed out at a county employee and went after a middle school teacher in the FNP. Calm is the last adjective we would use to describe #kirbydelauter. In fact, he got his # nickname because he flew off the handle at a local reporter and demanded that she not use his name. Our nice little county got a lot of national press because of that hot mess. You don’t get to re-invent yourself, Kirby, just because you have your eye on the CE office. We all have your number.
Now it’s Shreve’s turn to give his insightful, articulate opinion on Bud’s decision. Just kidding!! Here’s what he had to say:
Shreve, who has said Otis is “a trained monkey by the Democrats” in Facebook posts, said he hasn’t lodged personal attacks against Otis, but he will.
“Tell him to hang on, because it’s just getting started,” Shreve said Thursday.
Oh really? Just getting started. We heard him say on WFMD that we libs monitor his Facebook page. If you call reading what comes in our feed monitoring…then YES. And in those feeds we’ve seen him call Bud names like Turncoatis on his Councilman page tons of times. Now Billy also claimed on the radio that the Democrats on the council have had it with Bud. Did he check with them? Cause it seems like M.C. has a different view:
“The citizens elected us to do our job. We were elected to be legislators. So far, there has been a dearth of legislation from the folks complaining,” Keegan-Ayer said. “You can’t just sit there and lob grenades all day long. Do the job you were elected to do.”
We mourn the passing of Bud Otis’s membership in the Frederick County Republican Party. The general climate of vindictive hostility within the county has inspired Council President Bud Otis to change his political registration to unaffiliated.
You may think it would be easy for us to be pleased by this turn of events–watching the jerks eat their own. It most assuredly is not. We need to have two functioning parties, not a rabid pack of arseholes who waste time, impede the functioning of quotidian matters we all depend upon for a good quality of life in Frederick County, and go saying insane things on air on WFMD. Some things that we frankly are not willing to even repeat. When you see where this paragraph is willing to go, you will have to wonder, “What on Earth could it be that is absolutely beyond the pale?” Then there are the apparent residents of some padded cell in a relative’s dank basement who get on Facebook’s Worst Nightmare Watch and tell anyone who disagrees with them things like they have sweat from the Council President’s testicles rubbed all over them. We have some other (apparently) BREAKING news: politics is not supposed to be about pushing people away from your point of view (follow that link back there; it is in a Republican’s own words). Bud Otis is an incredibly good and decent man, who has governed thoughtfully and responsibly on behalf of this county. He been forced out of his party by a party purity test that becomes increasingly guano psychotic. Thanks for that term. You know who you are, girlfriend.
It has become ever more alarming that we appear to be setting examples for young people who are now reaching voting age who may have never even seen the two party system do something like compromise. Failure to function, a la Ted-I’m-Taking-My-Ball-and-Going-Home Cruz, is bad enough. Being the party of bullying is worse. Billy and Kirby employ both tactics, liberally haha see what we did there! Tony is a little more conservative, but not always on the responsible side. We got ourselves a countywide nationwide guano show, people.
We are super sad. How are we supposed to say, “Look folks, there are sane people on both sides of the aisle.” Bud Otis gave us hope. We were inspired. We now rely on some involved private citizens to carry that mantle: Carl Thomas, Steve McKay, Craig Hicks, and Carol Jaar Sepe, we look to you to find the bipartisan common ground. We’re very grateful to you.
We do have utmost respect for the decision Mr. Otis felt himself forced to make. Bravo, Bud Otis. You do you. Middle finger to the haters.
We’ve finally figured it out readers! We are living in an alternative reality than Shrelauter and, on occasion, Tony. It’s the only way this all makes any sense.
First let’s thank Baby Fitzwater for allowing his/her mommy to be in attendance during this very important meeting. Without her there…shiver…we don’t even want to think what would have happened.
Tony starts off the meeting trying to get the 6th item pulled off the agenda and wants to have clarification over what is a budget transfer and what is a supplemental appropriation.
On a side note-Kirby is saying yes instead of aye now. He used to say aye, but now he’s adopted Billy’s idiotic manner of using yes. Isn’t he such a brave rebel?
After Billy predictably votes against approving past meeting minutes, we are off on a discussion on bond offerings. There will be two bond series, A and B. A will pay for government projects such as schools, roads and other improvements. B is a refinance on the note that was taken out three years ago to pay for Montevue/Citizens nursing home. And hey, we think we’ve found Billy’s Pavlovian response. Because holy hell, he won’t let it go. He has to be told by two separate people that this is to simply refinance a note that needs to be paid off, but he wants to know everything about the nursing homes right this very second. Tony gets confused about debt financing debt, which is not what this is. And it’s never easy for our county employees is it?
Now, brace yourself because it’s time to vote on the budget and capital improvement projects. Tony is right out of the gate with his: I’m very sorry but I cannot vote on this budget. Next it’s time for Kirby.
Well Yokels, we knew we wouldn’t get out of this one unscathed. It is ridiculous to Kirby that the council only cut out $210,000 from this budget. It should have been more! And did you know the county council members are just cookie cutters to the County Executive’s budget (drink!)? Of course, and let’s not forget that Kirby believes they are giving the impression that they are handling this with the savoir-faire of drunken sailors, as well.
You didn’t think he was going to let this time go without pointing out that Jessica and Jerry vote on their salaries did you?
Jerry is the star of this evening.
Jerry sees this as a teachable moment. Too bad his students are Billy and Kirby. He reminds them if they actually met with department heads and sat down with the County Executive then maybe, just maybe, they would have seen more of what they wanted in the budget. After all, the time for negotiation is before the budget is written. Jerry pointed out that Kirby wanted to pull $1 million from the education budget.* To which Kirby sarcastically replies, “The children will suffer.” He then points out that the former BOCC actually raised taxes which elicits a bait and switch comment from Kirby. Jerry then has to point out that Kirby does not know what bait and switch means (kinda like Billy doesn’t understand what a wedding crasher is). There are some more words exchanged which made your Yokel ladies wonder if there will be a fist fight later on.
Jessica adds that she will not cut the budget just for the sake of cutting. The community and department heads said they wanted to see these things in the budget, and that is what is happening. You hear that Shrelauter?! Pay better attention next year! You don’t get to pretend you did something just because you attempt to cut a million things out of the budget after the fact! Bud ends this portion of the meeting with: “We’ve had a good discussion, well we’ve had a discussion. Let’s vote” Passes 4-3.
Tax rate stays at $1.06. All except two appointments pass with 7-0, Shreve being the only hold out on two. He probably blocked them on Twitter like he did to us as well. Animal control bequest goes off without a hitch and then we have our historical designation hearing on Glenellen Farm. We had a very nice presentation about the history of this property and Lady Thompson’s school that once existed there. This will be voted on at the next meeting. Public comment is one guy that Kirby gave a sheet to read from and then it’s time for council member comments.
Shade Trees and Evergreens is the popular theme this evening.
Kirby starts off the talk with how the county has ruined these poor people’s lives. But hey he’s also not saying that people should go out and do whatever they want. Then again if they’ve gotten away with it for 10 years, then it’s fine. Since they weren’t caught, it gives them immunity, right? But even though they were in the wrong the county shouldn’t bring the hammer down on them. The county is a train wreck. A train wreck he says! Making businesses follow the rules is running them out of the county.
Bud says it doesn’t matter if nothing has happened in the past, that doesn’t excuse them. And if anything were to happen in the future shame on them all! Why can’t they see this? What is the matter with these three? Leave your diagnosis in the comments!
Frederick County politics strikes again.
* This is a correction. The county council did not take $1 million from the education budget as was previously noted. Jerry was pointing out to Kirby that his budget took $1 million dollars away from the schools. Your lady Yokels apologize for any confusion.
We must start this post off with a hearty thanks to our Fire and Rescue volunteers and employees. The first part of the workshop was a discussion of proposed amendments to the County Code concerning Fire and Rescue Services. The gentlemen that presented the amendments were very professional and thankfully didn’t have to put up with any nonsense.
Second item on the agenda was amendments to county council procedures. M.C. was up first and she mistakenly uttered the word “ethics,” which was a GIANT mistake. She hasn’t received the memo that would have informed her when you say the word “ethics” this causes a Pavlovian response in Kirby that none of us have figured out how to control!
Even though M.C’s amendment had nothing in the world to do with Kirby’s county contracts or the new ethics ordinance or really anything to do with him, you just cannot say this word in his presence. If you do prepare for the outrage and hurt feelings and proclamations of: “Well you’ve got to just live with it.” So much nonsense. Jessica tried to explain to Kirby this was a separate conversation about a separate issue, but the damage had already been done. Seems like we are going to have to come up with a good synonym for ethics if we want to avoid a situation like this in the future. This amendment also spurs a whole Robert’s Rules tirade from Billy. He wants to borrow M.C.’s copy!!!! The Chief of Staff informs Billy that there are copies of the book in the Council’s bookshelf. And Bahaha!! Do you really expect Billy to know where that is? First off, Billy wants to know what version of Robert’s Rules we are following and if he read his own council procedures (which is only 15 pages man!) he would have seen this:
Then attorney Chomel reads off the definition of misconduct at meetings and it’s as though they have watched Billy in action! Seriously though, let’s help Billy out. Here’s an amazon link to the latest version of Robert’s Rules: http://www.amazon.com/Roberts-Rules-Order-Revised-Paperback/dp/030682020X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462919573&sr=8-1&keywords=Roberts+rules make sure you ship it to:
Councilman Billy Shreve
Winchester Hall
12 East Church Street
Frederick, MD 21701
This way Billy will never be unprepared again! Or even better, you know what might help?
Choose whichever one you think is more appropriate!
M.C. also wants an amendment to eliminate the Treasurer position for the council. Her argument is that the Chief of Staff can assume that as part of their duties. Tony has some objections, says that if the Chief of Staff assumes this duty rather than an actual treasurer then we are not being transparent to the public. M.C. accuses him of being disingenuous about this, and hold on there lady…Do you not know that Tony is not accustomed to being questioned by the female human? This sends him into a petulant rage for the next 15 minutes. Refuses to vote on Jessica’s motion, on a totally unrelated topic.
Lastly, Billy’s amendments. The first one is DOA, because he cannot convince enough of the members that they don’t have enough time to speak during the agenda. His second one concerning public comment at the beginning and end passes with a change. The first session of public commenting cannot exceed 15 minutes. (We enjoyed Jerry’s comment about how if a member of the public cannot be articulate in their first 2 minutes it’s unlikely they will find their inner Abe Lincoln in the third.) After all, M.C. points out, we can’t expect county staff to sit around here all evening. Council member comments will stay at the end as will unlimited time for the public to speak. New Business is also allowed to be put on the agenda with the stipulation that no discussion will take place. Billy tried to say this was necessary because of the Great Wedding Venue Debacle of 2016, but he was quickly shut down with the voices of reason. After all, time is needed to gather all the necessary information to make a rational, thoughtful decision. So yes new items can be introduced, but no yapping about them until next time!
Next week is the big budget vote!!! Frederick politics is never boring this time of year!
Only two items on this evening’s workshop:
But uh-oh, there’s been some trouble lately with Kirby and the fire department concerning some amendments and criticism of the Fire Marshal’s decision to shut down a local business. So we’ll have to see how this all plays out. The Council Rules of Procedure has been bumped back a few times now. Let’s not forget Billy is trying to make it so he can talk all the time on anything without any restrictions. We’ll let you know how it all pans out. Tis another week in Frederick politics.
We are so sorry to have to bring this to you on a dreary Friday afternoon. We know this news is not want you wanted to see before you start your weekend. But, it’s our duty to inform. Your Yokel gals found this floating around on the interwebs today:
If this is his candidacy announcement, it needs a few tweaks! But seriously folks, even though a Delauter administration (Oh, how it hurt to write that) would keep this blog in business for quite some time, we wouldn’t wish that kind of destruction on our county. It’s time to come out strongly against this before he gets serious. We don’t need any more national embarrassments.
As you read in our first report on the sick dog and pony show this evening Kirby spent quite some time coming up with an alternative budget. We rejoin our fine coverage at the hearing to establish the property tax rate. Not a single speaker was on hand to utter a negative word about keeping the rate at $1.06. Some fine points were made in fact, and we are very happy that people actually realize that our government funds some really necessary services for our county. And District 5 why did you saddle us with Kirby when you had an excellent alternative in Mark Long? We want answers! Final vote on the rate will be held on May 17th.
We are so very sorry, dear readers, but we cannot sit through any more of Kirby’s amendments. He tells us that Meals on Wheels is an excellent program on one hand, and with the other he has his scissors out to cut the entire $23,000 county contribution. We have to move ahead to the Council member comments.
Kirby’s up first and man oh man, hasn’t he talked enough tonight? You would think all of his dead amendments would be enough to humble him, but NOOO. He wants $150,000 for bus transportation to Mother Seton school. That’s right he wants bus transportation to a private school. He also adds that Jan should be down on her hands and knees thanking the last BOCC. Without their business friendly policies she wouldn’t have all the extra greenbacks to spend. Don’t hold your breath Kirbo! Then he ends with a very contradictory statement about how the nursing home is run pretty good right now but will still destroy us all in the end.
It’s Billy’s turn.
You know something Yokels? As much as we disagree with just about everything that came out of Tony and Kirby’s mouth tonight, at least they did something. Billy had nothing to offer. Besides screaming “second” to Kirby’s amendments he had nothing original to contribute. So why should we expect anything of substance at comment time? One sentence comes out of his mouth: It’s sad we couldn’t get a Republican majority on the board…we supposedly have one. So we guess county council meetings are really just a war for Billy. R’s vs. D’s. How’s that been working out for ya? He then disappears. That’s right, he walks right out.
Jerry is up. And oh how so refreshing it is to hear a grown up talk. He points out that those members who actually sat down with the County Executive and voiced their concerns, didn’t have to make a million amendments and waste everyone’s time. Imagine that, working together to come up with a budget instead of putting on an embarrassing show. It’s revolutionary!
Jessica points out the BOCC’s budgets always went up and in fact they grew at a faster rate than those proposed by the County Executive. Huh.
Tony doesn’t have a problem raising taxes.(!) He wants us to know, however, that the economy will NEVER be like those of the past.
M.C. thanks the staff and commends them for coming out on their own time to defend their budgets against Kirby’s cuts. And yes, these poor people. To be a fly on the wall during their Happy Hour.
Bud feels bad that Kirby spent so much time and money on his budget. (Please don’t Bud!) He lets Kirby know that he feels you get further ahead when you sit down and talk to people then when you fight them from afar. Bud speaks of allowing Kirby’s amendments to be presented, to which Kirby starts his back sassing and subsequently storms out. Probably to join Billy at wherever they go to slam back the Fireballs. Bud ignores the petulant man child to finish his remarks with his usual style and grace. President Otis, you can’t reason with that man, it isn’t even worth your breath.
Well, folks, we have been digesting The Fearsome Budget Workshop of 2016 in fits and starts. A four hour long posturing about all the ways we can trim the fat off of the budget. This consists of 3 proposed budget amendments by Tony Chmelik and a whopping 18 by Kirby Delauter, few of which make any sense at all, so we will have to beg your forgiveness for not describing all of the nonsense in great detail. Further confusion ensued when Kirby tried to start with amendment #7, but we digress…
Tony Chmelik talked about how we shouldn’t pay our county employees real well because they have job security. It’s a head scratcher folks. A whole passel of em didn’t feel real secure in their jobs during the reign of terror that was our ultimate BOCC. Surely you recall? Plus also, why should we worry about attracting the most talented people to come work for us in the public sector? It would be better if it is just a crapshoot, right?
He and Kirby both have some ideas that involve it not really mattering a whole lot if some people are overworked because of layoffs and attrition, because who cares if county business is efficient. We guess. It’s hard to follow. They do and don’t want an attorney, because Chomel is good but he is busy, at least according to the people who have needed to consult him to write legislation. M.C. Keegan-Ayer directed some such remark at petulant Billy. Ya burnt!
One of the agencies that our dimwits are keen to starve is the Office of Economic Development and their FITC program (Frederick Innovative Technology Center–FITC rhymes with Mitzi, FYI). You know, the agency that promotes business development in the biotech industry, which is kind of good for the local economy (who’s gonna buy all them houses you like seeing built, boyzzzzz?). These are the most confusing Republicans. One almost suspects that they are kidding and just anticipate that Bud Otis will not let them shoot themselves and everyone else in the feet, and then they can be “fiscally conservative” while he votes responsibly to save everyone’s hide (keep this in mind in the upcoming national election when you think you will write in Ralph Nader or some analogous dreamboat, mkay?). Then they can tar and feather him for being insufficiently stupid partisan.
Chmelik rails against holding money in an account in order to move toward upgrading our bond rating. Because, again, that’s fiscally conservative. Somehow. We feel all crazy inside. Also, he rails against it, but then votes in opposition to the amendment that would take that money out and either spend it or give it back to everyone with a letter that they can go out to dinner now, because…reasons. Oh, right, he likes to be a longwinded loudmouth about his shrink the government philosophy even when he knows perfectly well it is not making a dang ol bit of sense.
They both also have some ideas that involve not holding up our ends of a bargain (or also not upholding the law, if you want to just hang on a bit until we drown so much government in the bathtub that we become Flint, MI). Chmelik objects to replacing grant money from the state that was used in violation of the terms of the grant, and then also meeting the terms of that grant. Doing so includes a matching fund from the county, and he behaves as though this is all just a ruse to pay for the same thing twice.
But the icing on that crazy cake was when our three teapublicans get clarification that they are indeed functioning on a shoestring with regard to clean water legislation. This is permitted while they work out their differences in a circuit court proceeding. Any further reduction in compliance with the Clean Water Act means tens of thousands of dollars every day in punitive fines to both the federal and state governments, and potential prison sentences. “Oh well,” they decide. It’s a waste of cash because you can’t even see the clean drinking water you get, like you can see a road. No, we are not making ANY of this up. And “Heh heh heh,” Kirby decides let’s just hold that million dollars to the side for bail money.” Sooooo save nothing and maybe end up in jail? Cool. How do you sign up for that? Forget drowning the government. These idiots are so stupid it’s a wonder they can drink a glass of water and survive the experience.
We do hope the Boy Scouts in attendance had already been whisked away home last night before they got to witness that.
Stay tuned for more on last night’s performances…
It’s about that time again folks. Kirby has keyed up another article for that slithery appendage. Be sure to read through it a couple of times, because it takes that long to digest. If you can’t bring yourself to do so, read our nice synopsis below.
Now you know we are in for a treat with a title like this:
The Budget, Constituent Service and Schools
That’s a lot of ground to cover! First we are reminded of the time crunch between the time the County Executive has to present the budget and the time the County Council has to approve it. So Kirby, you better put forth an amendment to extend that in the charter since that’s the only way to fix it. I am sure the citizens of this fine county will be more than willing to give you more time. Then it’s the same blah, blah we don’t have any help so how do you expect us to do this? Afterwards, we are reminded that he was the ONLY one that came up with an alternative budget. And that he and Billy are once again the ONLY council members willing to do their own analysis. Now for a moment let’s fly back to last year. We found this nice little write up from the FNP. Remember when Billy did this:
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.
Thankfully that didn’t happen because remember this folks?:
That’s right we had a blizzard!!! And Jan had this to say about the changes Kirby wanted to make to the budget. She said they were:
unclear and do not maintain a balanced budget
So it’s not enough to say and do things if they are destructive and make no sense. The next section complains about he and Billy being treated like third graders.(Yes folks, he complained about feeling like a third grader put in time out). Do we have to point out that if you act like third graders that’s the way people will treat you? Kirby even admits that he lost his cool when he “used a few choice words” to express his discontent over not being allowed to talk to someone at the county dump.
From day one, these two have been uncooperative, combative and have used WFMD and their writings on the Tentacle and other “news” websites to attack their fellow members of the county government. Not to mention their behavior in meetings. We will allow that if Kirby and Billy are required to follow different protocol to talk with county staff than the other members then they may have a small point. But they have offered no proof of this. And we see the logic of individual council members not barraging county staff with one request after another. You are on a collective body that makes decisions together Kirby, you don’t get to be a lone wolf.
We are so very sorry to have to tell you that this happened again:
We guess there’s at least two more years of hearing this:
Yes, these councilmen somehow with a straight face vote on the budget that funds their employer and ultimately their own salaries. These are the same people who voted with the county executive and President Otis to disallow my company to bid on work in the county.
So we feel the need to bring out our nice little chart again:
Kirby equates this “logic” to transgender bathrooms. Surprise, surprise, he’s against them. But why he used this time to slip that in is beyond us.
Now, for the conclusion, Kirby sorta kinda has an idea for school construction. But he’s not sure, and then is sure it will be great, even if it isn’t all worked out. And of course it has to do with privatization.
frederick local yokel 