Your Lady Yokels are still in and out for another week. We wanted to remind you that there is a meeting this evening. So grab your agenda, remember our standing drinking game, and post your thoughts on our Facebook or Twitter feed! We’ll be back soon!
Man, Billy must have gotten into some good stuff, because these Tweets he made could have only been crafted while under the influence of something!!
The most curious one is this Retweet from one of the world’s most terrible women:
What is Billy saying here? He wants zero immigration and he thinks most white people do as well because Ms. Crazypants shared some statistics?! Remember all this folks when this crazypants runs for Maryland Senate next year!
It is hard to stay away from our very own local reality show, even when on vacation.
We were only able to catch a few snippets so we are going to share RALE’s update for you to enjoy. It includes a link to the FNP summary of the Urbana votes as well.
Back to vacay for us.
Remember our standing drinking game. ICYMI: drink Mexican beer with a lime in the neck until every blasted fool we have to contend with is erased from memory. We will be observing (or not)–and hopefully you are too (or not)–from a hammock elsewhere. Here’s the agenda.
Anticipated highlight: Council decision on Billy’s bill that he seems to be crafting by producing something subpar and then hoping if more intense work need be done that his peers might swoop in to actually do that while he still gets credit for it (a technique familiar to anyone who hated doing group work in school). As a bonus, even the intended beneficiary of this legislation expressed disinterest in it last week. You can’t make this stuff up folks.
This may sound like a broken record, but Billy was so bad tonight. So very bad.
He votes against the agenda but then for the budget adjustments. We’ve heard him on numerous occasions say that he doesn’t vote for budget items because the council doesn’t have their own budget director! So what gives? Is it possible he doesn’t even remember his own legislative philosophy?
Minutes are passed by everyone except you know who. All County Executive appointments are confirmed. You can read about the vote breakdown on those here.
The amended council rules are finally passed. Jessica adds an amendment that states that three members can add an item to an agenda if it has a legislative component and is in writing. Wonder why she felt the need to be so specific. Tis a mystery! Billy is the only hold out on this vote. In case you don’t get it, we will spell it out for you. This was Billy’s idea, but now that he will have to be prepared, he won’t vote for it. Could he be any lazier or less prepared? I guess he knows his limits!
Now it’s time to go on a break until the public hearings at 7:00. Billy throws a fit asking what is he supposed to do for 2 hours?! We have some suggestions, but we’ll keep them to ourselves for now.
The first two public hearings are on the antique, artisan and craft shops in the industrial zone and changes to the retirement committee for county employees. Both of these discussions went quickly with people only speaking of support of the bills. We predict this will pass at a future date.
Then comes Billy’s bill. And we feel the need to take back any compliments we may have given to him for finally putting forth some kind of legislation. For what he put forth was really worse than doing nothing at all.
So, we all remember the story of the business in Monrovia that was told by the county that they couldn’t do their wood-chipping on a piece of property that is in the general commercial district. And surely, we all remember that Billy and Kirby grandstanded about how this was another example of the county executive going out and shutting down all the businesses. In order to fix this problem, Billy put forth a bill that would allow this activity in all General Commercial (GC) zoned properties. What could be the problem? Well, according to county employees plenty. Let us start with Billy’s introduction to his bill.
Billy, in remarks he surely could have refined during those two hours that he didn’t know how to spend, tells us that the county went out and said hey you can’t do this. And instead of shutting down the business (which didn’t happen by the way!), he did this! That’s his intro!
Then the business owner, who is the sole speaker on behalf of this bill, comes to the podium and asks, “What do you want to know?” Again, Billy you could have used those two hours to have a pow-wow with this fella and better articulate what both of you wanted the public and the council to know. The business owner tells us that he IS in fact looking to move, and is still operating while that process is happening. But, he still says that he wants the county to leave him alone while he looks. He also curiously adds that he is NOT looking for a change in the law.
County employee Steven Horn comes to the podium to express his concerns with the bill. Billy informs him that he only has three minutes. The problem the county, and this is also very well articulated by another county employee that speaks on this issue, has with this bill is that this special exception will allow anyone in these GC zoned districts to set up this kind of operation. Wood-chipping produces a lot of noise, vibrations and dust that can really affect neighboring businesses. The employees come armed with maps and other examples of how this bill would be very bad for the county. For if this bill passed it would not be out of the realm of possibility that a business such as this could set up shop next to a restaurant or church.
Tony wants to know if a special exception or floating zone could be made. The answer is no. He needs to do this on agricultural or industrial zoned land, like the piece he owns across the street! When legal is asked if the county executive can do anything, the answer is also no. Because people, the county executive, as is the fashion for all executives in this country, is charged with enforcing the laws made by the legislative branch! Can you imagine the uproar if Jan were to all of the sudden start telling businesses they didn’t have to follow the law? Wouldn’t that make her the dictator they claim her to be?!
Billy scrambles to save his bill. Asks Steve Horn when the complaint against this business was lodged. Steve says he doesn’t know. Billy tells him to guess. (!?) Steve refuses to do so. The business owner shouts out February. Billy then goes on a tirade about how the county has done nothing. (Remember this business is still operating and is looking for a new piece of land.) Billy is then reminded that county departments have to follow zoning ordinances and laws. However, according to Billy we don’t really need all these rules!!
Jessica steps in to remind the council that, according to their rules, council members are not supposed to interrogate county employees during a hearing. One last point before this discussion mercifully ends, the county attorney makes us aware that the property that this wood chipping is occurring on isn’t even owned by the company! What?! Sounds just like the wedding venue drama doesn’t it?
The obvious solution is that they are going to have to find the correctly zoned piece of land to do this on. The excuse that I’ve been doing it for this long does not hold water if you were violating the ordinance the entire time! As the county employees pointed out, once a complaint is made the county has to investigate and enforce the law. And Billy’s attempt to fix the law is so very bad and thankfully won’t go any further.
No Public Comment today..at all!
Tony and Kirby are silent. Jerry talks about the Opium workshop that he, Jessica, M.C., and the county executive attended. He also talks about the extended Middletown library hours and reminds people to apply for any property tax credits that they may be eligible for . Which reminds us of a discussion on Twitter we saw earlier this week. Billy claims that the Young BOCC was responsible for the senior property tax credit, but local hero Susan Reeder Jessee was not having it:
Billy has more to say. Says that county staff has come up with Zero ideas. Claims that he gets calls once a week complaining about businesses being shut down. Practically yells that county employees do nothing to help citizens and he’s sick of it!!! You know what we are sick of? Showboating and grandstanding by a guy who still doesn’t understand his role here.
He also feels the need to complain, again, about the two hour break this evening. Tells Bud that if you can’t schedule a meeting then you shouldn’t be doing it. Do we have to point out for the millionth time that it’s impossible to tell how long the first half will take? Sometimes it goes up to 7:00, sometimes it doesn’t. Does Bud possess a crystal ball that tells him how much discussion will take place? Why does Billy have to be like this? Why?
Jessica, M.C., and Bud all have nice things to say. We only wish it were enough to erase all the bad feelings we have from watching this meeting.
Next week there are two legislative days. Too much work for the summer if you ask us!
The county council is back and ready to legislate! Well, some of them are. The agenda is chock full of public hearings! Including one on Billy’s very first bill that is designed to allow one business to continue wood chipping where they should not! We noticed that Frederick Magazine had a cocktail contest in this month’s edition. In honor of some local Frederick concoctions, we will use their list for this month’s game. Do remember this game is only for fun, and it is oh so easy to dehydrate one’s self on these hot summer days.
We start off with budget adjustments, county executive appointments, and a vote on the changed council rules. If we cannot get through these mundane, simple items without an abstain slam back a tall Mysterious Ways.
Next up are three hearings on bills before the council. We have one regarding antique, artisan and craft shops. Another regarding the Frederick County retirement plan, and the last one on Billy’s wood waste bill. While we are pleased that Billy finally put something forward, though we are sure he didn’t write it himself, do we really change all the rules for one business? But what the heck, mix up a tall pitcher of The Rascal, for some effort on Shreve’s part.
Lastly, we come to public and council member comment. This is where things usually go straight to hell in a hand basket. Get yourself an old barrel and prepare many, many quarts of Fredneck Punch and drink at will!
If you’ve got two hours to devote to last night’s workshop, please have at it. If not, we are here to bring y’all up to speed!
The majority of the meeting was devoted to solid waste. Mainly the subject of composting was brought up. The suggestion from the consulting company hired to help us sort out our looming solid waste problem was to make legislation requiring people to compost their food and yard waste. This would be done slowly, with pilot programs in certain areas, before being implemented throughout the whole county. Read the story in the FNP that goes into more detail or peruse these fine slides we screenshot for you:
The next part of the workshop was to vote on some changes to county council rules and procedures.
Things are going pretty well until we get to Billy’s two amendments. He wants this added:
To promote discussion, three (3) Council members may vote, at any time, to discuss an item with the Council. The item for discussion is not required to be in writing.
Tony goes into a separate discussion about engaging the public when they are giving comment and makes makes everyone LOL when he states:
I want to have intercourse with these people.
He quickly corrects himself and says discourse, but not before almost everyone is lost in a fit of giggles! It’s decided that it is not the best course of action to engage the public in any and every issue they may bring before the council.
His next and final amendment reads:
Council members may ask questions of any one testifying or other Council members at any time the Council is meeting as a group, including workshops, public hearings, and legislative days.
Jerry immediately asks, “Can’t we do this already?” Jessica answers, “Yes, we can.” Tony asks if this is clarifying language, to which Billy replies yes. M.C. then states that it is “superfluous” and not needed. She adds, “To spell it out again makes us look a little silly.”
So here we are again, watching Billy waste everyone’s time with nonsense!!! If he truly understood the charter he wouldn’t have put forth this amendment! If you didn’t hear the news, Billy told The Frederick Extra that he is going to run for Ron Young’s Maryland Senate seat. He’s super optimistic that he will win:
Of his opposition in the primary, Shreve said his name recognition gives him an advantage.
Earlier Shreve said that as co-chair of Frederick County Republicans for Trump campaign in 2016, will serve him well in 2018 if Trump is still viewed favorably by area Republicans.
Yeah, we all recognize the name Billy, but not in the way you may want us to! ICYMI, here’s some more reasons why we shouldn’t let Mr. Shreve go to Annapolis!
Kirby’s CE campaign is also off and running. He’s got some fine shirts for little girls women, for you ladies who want to wear his name all over town. And we are really looking forward to the day when he appears in front of the council with a snowball to show us all that climate change isn’t a real thing:
Jessica and Jerry are absent this evening. Thank Dionysus there wasn’t anything too important on tonight’s agenda!
No props tonight folks! We did have one public commenter who was also very angry though. Something concerning a sewer line issue on his property. This guy asks the council what good do they think they are? And you all look weak and bad! He’s also angry at the county attorney. In his closing remarks, Bud says that he will not comment on issues that are in litigation. So, though we don’t know the details of this fella’s issues, and he very well may have a legitimate claim, everyone knows that you catch more flies with honey.
Billy won’t turn on his microphone, ,but since everyone else knows how things work, we can tell that he votes against the budget adjustments and the minutes.
There is a public hearing on the “closure” of a couple of county roads. Closure is in quotation marks because the road isn’t really being closed. It’s just being transferred from county hands to private. There’s a lot of back story on this, but it only affects a few people who live in the Countryside neighborhood, all who seem to be on board. So we’ll leave these screenshots for those that want more info:
This one is approved 5-0.
No public commenters at the end of the meeting!
Kirby and Tony pass on their council member comments.
Then we think Billy has turned a new leaf. In the spirit of Jessica and Jerry, he actually talks about an event he attended. And says nice things! We are aghast! Then, he’s back.
Billy loves public comment! He wants us all to remember last week when someone came up to talk about how very angry she was with the chair! (Really, Billy how could we ever forget?) He accuses Bud of not putting things on the agenda! And then says that the “disjointed” council and “dysfunction” are going to continue until the council gets new leadership. In Billy’s twisted logic the reason the council hasn’t been able to function for the last three years is because of the leadership!!! NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM!
Bud tells us that his office is always open to any council member who wants to talk. Only one member of the council hasn’t taken him up on that offer. Poll time!
With the end of the school year, and all subsequent kid related activities, it seems as though your Lady Yokels have been running in all kinds of circles. Add in some cantankerous county council meetings, a controversial BOE policy, and the Sheriff trotting out his 287 (g) info and it’s enough to make anyone want to drink. Do remember, you only get one liver and you should take care of it. So, when you grab your agenda and fire up your feed, keep in mind this is all for your fun and entertainment!
If this week features any public commenters with props or recording devices, slap back an Angry Possum.
Budget adjustments, appointments, and council information concerning land preservation is the bulk of tonight’s meeting. Should any political grandstanding occur (these people know the election is still a year away right?) have yourself a Flaming Angry Dragon.
There’s a public hearing about closing a county road so St. John’s can expand. Should be interesting to hear the justification for all of that!
Lastly we have council member comments. If Kirby once again uses this as a chance for him to campaign, guzzle down a whole pitcher of The Mad Man.
Another week and another meeting. Your Lady Yokels are treating you to a “choose your own drink” Bingo game. So, grab your agenda, moderate yourself, and let’s watch that local government in action!
frederick local yokel 