Grab your agenda and tune in tonight. Your Yokels are all kinds of holiday stressed out. No time to dream up a witty drinking game. Anyone placing bets on whether Dacey shows tonight? Just keep a bottle of your favorite winter beverage handy. We hope to see the continuance of civility tonight. Have a drink if it does, or two if it doesn’t.
Here is an exact transcript of our text messages concerning the first part of the meeting (yawn):
Then there was the zoning violation drama, which is naturally a big ol thing to the nincompoop faction, in large part because of the great wedding venue drama of 2016. Billy and Kirby are both very upset that zoning complaints can be filed anonymously and for some weird reason they are allergic to anonymous criticism (neener-neener), and so Jerry Donald had to explain to them that some people may be afraid of their neighbors–and for good reason. (Tangential thought: can you imagine if Billy Shreve or Kirby Delauter were your neighbor? And you had some sort of property dispute? Scary.) At one point M.C. made it clear that she was not even able to try and fix this. Sigh. This failed too, because obviously. Turd status: unpolishable.
Also there was the wood chipping scandal (it’s as if these bills Billy launch begin a listicle of Billy and Kirby’s prior buffoonery and proof that neither of them deserve to hold current office and certainly do not deserve to be entrusted with any additional responsibilities). Their position here, in a nutshell, is that these people have been in violation of the law for ages now, and how is it fair that someone noticed and is going to make them stop? Scandalous indeed! In fact, it becomes rather clear through Kirby’s bellyaching about County Executive Jan Gardner’s role in these zoning violations matters that he still does not understand the different branches of government under the charter. How is he going to be the county executive if he doesn’t know what that is? It will be a lot like the current status of Billy Shreve, who does not know what he is supposed to be doing ever.
This bill failed because the one business it was initially custom tailored by Councildolt Shreve to benefit–until Tony Chmelik took over the turd polishing operation–was likely to be harmed by it, and hardly anyone thought that was a good idea. At one point during the discussion of this (or it could have been the earlier bill, but no matter) Billy was so stuck in oppositional defiant mode that he started opposing his own position. It was really a scene. Billy still remembers to like his own dumb ideas in the end, though. And after all that grandstanding and noise that Kirby made here, he voted against it!
Off-track betting passed unanimously. It now has to go back for public hearing.
Grab your agenda and hold onto your liquor cabinet. It’s a short agenda this week so for your ease and ours we are recycling a bingo card for you to enjoy. We predict a whole lot of bingos!
It is sometimes difficult to tell by reading the agenda, but tonight’s meeting looks like it could be a real doozy. So take care of your liver. As always, this game is just for giggles. Actually participating in this to the fullest may result in death. You’ve been warned.
The meeting starts as always with public comments. We aren’t going to hold our breath on anyone actually showing up to speak. Just hold your beer, just in case.
A bunch of budget adjustments on first up on the agenda. Billy will complain about the library grant because everyone knows folks go to Borders instead, Kirby will kvetch about Citizens, blah, blah, blah. Mix yourself a kitchen sink.
Next up on the agenda, approval of minutes for 4 meetings. When Billy abstains mix yourself up a flaming asshole.
Now, it’s time to discuss a mutual aid agreement between the Fred Co Sheriff, Wash Co Sheriff and Hagerstown City Police. Where are the Fred City Police? Make yourself a missing in action while you ponder that.
Well, well well, it’s time to take a vote on the Maryland Association of Counties Legislative Committee County Council Representation. What? Didn’t Bud already executive decision this? Things could get snippy. Make yourself a T-bone in anticipation of Bud’s phone ringing with its Bad to the Bone ringtone.
What workshop items are in store for us? We don’t know what these are as they aren’t listed on the agenda. This might be a good time to hydrate with some good old water.
Time to look at a petition to close a portion of Old Frederick Road to improve the safety of Route 15. Pick your favorite drink and stick it in a cone when anyone complains about being inconvenienced by this proposal.
Lots of First Readings on the docket! Including those that Billy decided he better get going on before anyone brought up the fact that he did nothing but ABSTAIN during his entire tenure as a council member. Anyhoo, sip on your Lazy Daze while you endure this portion of the evening.
It’s time to vote on the dueling Forest Ordinance bills. With Bud’s voting patterns recently altered, we predict his version will be the one to make it through; Sip on your Forest Funk while you think of all the lost trees.
Before the break, they will vote to pull the Adequate Public Facilities bill, and then Billy will vote against going into closed session. If it isn’t too close to 7:00, we may get treated to Billy complaining about having to waste all his precious time at Winchester Hall.
MDX hearing is the last bit of business this evening. There’s a lot of opposition to this bill because it would theoretically allow a warehouse to go next to a school or a housing development. Mainly, it’s introduction has to do with the fact that the Jefferson Technology Park did not fill up the way the previous BOCC claimed it would. While you listen to the arguments mix up a pitcher of Nuclear Disaster, and think of all the bad things the Young BOCC have brought upon this fine county.
Public and council member comments can get a little dicey, however, you’ve been through enough for one evening.
Lots of items on the agenda for tonight’s meeting so please make sure you are properly prepared with a comfy seat. As always, take care not to overindulge. The Yokels are not responsible for any damage you may do to your livers and we really do need you to be back again for the next meeting.
First up public comments. If no one shows up, drink some ginger ale. You are going to want to coat your stomach with a preventative liner.
Next are a bunch of budget amendments. When Billy complains that he still doesn’t have a budget analyst to help him read, throw back a flaming asshole. You know why.
Business items are up next. Three meetings worth of minutes need to be approved plus confirmations, bond authorizations and new workshop items. Someone is going to abstain so get ready to drink a mojito mocktail.
Next up are first readings of four different items. Forest resources, DRRA, APF for school construction are going to be discussed. We predict tempers will flair (the 3 usual suspects). This could go long, so pick your own personal favorite beverage to slowly sip during this portion of the meeting. We still have more to get through and you will want your wits about you.
A public hearing on bonds for Mount St. Mary’s University is up next. Mix up an Irish Catholic to set the mood.
Next a third reading on the Wood Waste Recycling bill. Are you still upright??? Time for a boozy affagato. You’ll need that espresso to help you stay awake for the rest of the meeting.
Take a break until 7. If the meeting ran until 7, and you don’t get a break, grab a glass of good old fashioned water. Your liver needs a break.
Next up a second reading on the Veteran’s Advisory Council. You’ll want to mix up an American Spirit for this one. Just drink it because we all support veterans.
I can’t believe there is still more, but next comes a public hearing on rezoning the Ballenger PUD. Throw back a I’m Ya Huckleberry when Billy asks a question someone has already answered.
We are almost done. We just have to get through public and council member comments. Time to throw back a shot of C. This one is for your health. Right????
School will soon be back in session and your thoughts are surely turning to how to fill the rest of your free time while your kids are in their last summer camps and what am I going good to do with all these kids all the rest of our free time??? Never fear, your Yokels have some […]
School is out and your thoughts are surely turning to how to fill your extra long summer break with mind enriching books, or trashy beach reads to keep you from crying about the state of our nation. Regardless, your Yokels have some summer reading suggestions.
This is our third, yes third, summer list. We are so sorry to say that we are going to have to modify a suggestion that has appeared on our last 2 lists.
New for this summer:
And we really hope we don’t need the next book, but it’s better to be prepared.
Don’t forget to check out our wonderful local bookstore the Curious Iguana to find all your summer reading needs.
Today the council council and the BOE are sitting down for a pow-wow. We don’t know who decided the day after the election was a good time to do this, but so be it! Here’s the agenda, we’ll let you know if when something happens!
So if you are like us, and we are going to assume you are since you are reading, you have been anxiously awaiting the results from our last poll in which you picked out ringtones for the members of the council. We are going to have to apologize in advance to anyone who happens to be nearby when the phones ring. It could get embarrassing.
And finally our infotainment selection:
It’s pretty hard to follow up those polls. So much serious stuff is going on at the national level. Is it election day yet?
So to try to keep things light(ish), we have this week’s poll. Have you been keeping up with the proposed downtown hotel? What is your verdict?
This morning the newly lauched thefrederickextra.rocks broke a story about allegations of sexual harassment filed against Bud Otis by Billy Shreve. You can read all the details here .
Sexual harassment is a serious charge and we lady yokels find no humor in this situation. What we do find humorous is thinking how this situation would play out if the two people involved were different. Let’s pretend that Billy Shreve is practically any woman and that Bud Otis is Donald Trump. What would be happening right now? Probably a Tweet storm! These here are some actual real tweets from Mr. Big League himself.
In our scenario, it’s not hard to imagine these tweets.
I guess we can’t help but wonder if Billy feels differently about his hero now that he has felt the sting of sexual harassment. In his own words “It felt dirty. I felt sick. I was mad! I never want this to happen to anyone again.” We all remember seeing Billy in all his glory . So time to put your money where your mouth is and stop backing Trump. That might be hard for someone who is the co-chair of Trump’s local campaign. But continuing to support Trump is continuing to support someone whose actions sure seem pro-sexual harassment to us. How’d you like them apples?
To make matters, well, more hypocritical…this is a man who has tried to increase awareness of the groups in favor of human trafficking. Can anyone tell us what color magnet goes on your car for that? Maybe we can get one for our newly sensitive Councilmember.
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.
Here is the petition
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.
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.
frederick local yokel 