Frederick County Council – Page 29 – frederick local yokel

Last night’s council meeting: the good, the bad, the UGLY

May 22, 2015May 22, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

The Good

First things first, in the spirit of Cannes, the red carpet looks. Jerry looking professorial in a good way with his jacket and tie, Jessica in a delightful chartreuse, and MC with a classic scarf (bold neckwear a salute to her rapper image). Bud is elegant as always, with pinstripes in his suit. Tony is in “Friday at the office” wear, with a short sleeve plaid button up. He and Kirby forgot their county pins. It happens. Plus, Kirby can’t pin stuff on that Under Armour fabric. It leaves holes, but that’s okay since Billy wore an appliquéd school uniform with a truly enormous county seal to make up for it. A smart nod to his role as an elected official (which may fail when juxtaposed with the fact that he never acts like one). Nobody knows what they’re wearing from the waist down. Maybe bare feet like everybody else. ?

Do all the council members have these official looking outfits? Serious question.

As an added bonus, things start with a public comment from a speaker wearing a Delauter campaign shirt. Wonder what he’s gonna say. haaaaaaa

The…Undecided

We’re out to lunch on Tony Chmelik. Quality acting from him as he belabors questions about taxes that don’t increase but do. He is perfectly credible in his portrayal of a person who has never paid taxes and has no idea what happens when property assessments increase (or when they don’t). He seems fit for higher office, with his doe-eyed looks and even-tempered behavior. Which is sort of scary to start thinking, because we do not drink the tea here.

The Bad

There were numerous opportunities for Bud and the Democrats (great band name) to say some version of, “We’ve already covered all of this, and we’re not going to talk about it anymore.” To explain the logical fallacy of comparing the teachers to Kirby’s business, again. To explain that taxes pay for stuff we need, and we need 4 new deputies. That’s when we remembered Sheriff Jenkins rolled along in some earlier meeting with his “cream rises to the top” thinking and complained that he can’t afford quality, and Bud also noted that such logic applies to the school system as well.

*duh

We had to fortify with a glass of Sledgehammer before even clicking on the archives. If we had come up with a drinking game for this meeting, everyone playing would have died of alcohol poisoning. The only saving grace is that hardly anyone in the county even pays attention to this stuff, so they’d all be fine. Maybe that part should be demoted to the ugly section.

The Ugly

Now there’s going to be crazy infighting amongst your local yokel writers over who loves Bud the most, because he pulled out a most brilliant thing. He said, “You get what you pay for.” Yes he did. And we swooned.

The UGLY

Kirby started off with a tantrum and called Bud a chickenshit. By the end of the meeting he looked like he was going to explode again. Swiveling back and forth in his chair, with his elbows sticking out from behind his head.

The worst of it all is that Billy and Kirby treated the council meeting the same way they treat going on WFMD. They wasted time, they ranted and raved. They spent considerable energy pretending that they had some real ideas about the budget, but we watched that, and it was like a kindergartener doing art work. You don’t put that stuff in the Smithsonian. Their behavior is ridiculous.

Kirby blows a gasket…and now Cupid is dead.

May 21, 2015May 26, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Not only is the honeymoon over but I think this council (looking right at you Kirby!) killed Cupid tonight.

Let us begin with Kirby’s disgusting call into Tim May’s show on WFMD. Why do we call it disgusting? Because Kirby said that Bud had his head up the County Executive’s skirt. Yes folks, you heard us correctly, her skirt. Now somehow we don’t think this same statement would be made if the County Executive were male, which leaves us here at Local Yokel even more angry than we already were. But, deep breath, we shall continue. There was some more banter in which Mr. May insinuated that Bud did not have proper man parts, followed by Kirby stating that Bud better, “tread lightly around me”. So you can all see how very mature this whole interaction was. And how this set the tone for the upcoming meeting.

So the meeting. On any other place on Earth this would probably be a pretty boring thing to observe. After all, it’s a meeting to vote on the budget and property rate. That’s all. But no, no,no #KirbyDelauter has a bone to pick and he’s going to make it all about him.

The meeting begins with two barely coherent Kirby supporters (seriously readers we need to step it up and start having our own speakers because this is too much), who claim that Kirby is being hunted down and persecuted. Because this is exactly like that but let’s move on.

So Kirby claims that he is a live and let live kind of guy (cough, cough, gag. )But since the President of the Board called me a criminal and put my business on the spot (never happened,) I am going to do the only logical thing and go after Jerry and Jessica. Because FCPS is a business and they are voting on their business just like Kirby! It’s exactly the same thing, exactly! He then goes on to say that if the teachers voting on the budget isn’t a conflict of interest nothing is. NOTHING. And since they were endorsed by the union that proves they are corrupt. (I really hope he didn’t hurt himself coming up with all of this). So Jerry (our hero) once again schools him. I know, as a teacher, Mr. Donald is used to repeating himself to a bunch of high schoolers. Too bad he has to keep doing it with adults. But since we’ve previously written about what he said, we won’t repeat. Billy amusingly chimes in about his love of history. Sorry Billy we cannot write history buff next to your name. He basically makes Jan’s, Bud’s and everyone else’s point for them. He tells us that Kirby is losing millions of dollars by not getting county contracts. A Billy says what?

Then Kirby goes after our friend Bud, which we will not tolerate.

Tread lightly Kirby! We don't take too kindly to your messing with Bud. — Tread lightly Kirby! We don’t take too kindly to your messing with Bud.

Kirby accuses Bud of tossing him under the bus and creating a circus. “You are trying to put me out of business!” “I am not going to take this lying down!” And we are about to blow a freaking gasket because we all know that Kirby does not need to be a council member! Why is he a council member? Seriously, District 5, why?! And Kirby, you want the contracts there’s a simple solution…resign.

We are very proud to announce that our friend Bud can defend himself very nicely.

He tells Kirby that he stands by his opinion that he believes there is a conflict of interest. And that the question of whether or not the teachers can vote was solved by the voters when they elected them! Excellent point our friend. We are really tired of Bud being called a turncoat, but we’ve said a lot about that already. So read our past posts on this and stop it! Now! And #, if your business is so dependent on county business and food is literally being snatched from your children’s mouths then do everyone a favor and relinquish your seat.

May 19th council meeting: What did Billy do this week? And whose foot is that?

May 20, 2015May 20, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

So compared to the past few council meetings this one was relatively short. But don’t worry Billy still had plenty of time to put on a show.

Billy has a lot of trouble with procedure, and we mean a lot. We are torn between two possible explanations for his behavior. The first one is that he is purposefully trying to make things difficult for every single person on that council due to some misguided notion that in doing so he will sway others to his point of view. Or perchance he is just a really obtuse buffoon that really has no idea on Zeus’ green Earth what the hell he’s doing up there. You be the judge.

Read the charter Billy! I said read it!!!!

Every meeting begins with public comments. Every single one! So at this point Billy should know that when it’s the public’s time to talk he needs to keep his trap shut for three short minutes. Well, not Billy. When Citizen Patrick takes Billy to task for abstaining and for not serving the citizens of this fine county, Billy interrupts. He is quickly called out for said infraction and we were lucky enough to catch his reaction:

Why can't I do whatever I want whenever I want? Why? — Why can’t I do whatever I want whenever I want? Why?

Next on the agenda–every agenda–is council member comments. Comments, not questions. Well, no,no,no you commoners. Billy wants to ask questions and he wants to do it now!!! He’s really upset about all that’s been going on with the ethics commission and he wants answers right this very second! Well, our poor overworked county lawyer has to explain the difference between the words comment and question. Billy is still having none of this and tries to get Bud to make a motion to allow it. Bud refuses (thumbs up), and gets in a little verbal skirmish with Billy telling him that they would try to get to it at the end of the agenda. PER PROCEDURE!

So let’s get to the voting section of the evening. Can you guess what happened (if you were following our drinking game, you are probably in a corner drooling all over yourself right now)? Budget transfers? ABSTAIN! Meeting minutes? ABSTAIN! But, what’s this, is Billy having a change of heart? Because he voted in the affirmative to allow a hearing concerning a grant the Department of Public Works is applying for. Don’t worry, he didn’t have a full change of heart. He still refused to use the word AYE. He instead chose the more flowery YES. Because he is a petulant child man.

Now, dear readers this is at least the third instance in which we have seen council member Shreve render a county employee speechless. Not in an ” Oh Mr. Shreve you rendered me silent with your vast knowledge of this subject” way. More like a “I cannot believe I am being asked this question by a fully formed adult” kind of way.

So back to the ethics question. Billy wants answers about the separation of powers between the county executive and the council. He’s told that no such thing exists. He then starts hammering away about who would represent the council if they had a dispute with the county executive. This is when the pause occurred and our fine county attorney Mathias really had to gather his thoughts before proceeding. He explains again the duties delegated to both bodies as per the charter. But this still isn’t enough. It’s as though Billy really believes that everyone on that council is going to stand in revolt against County Executive Jan because Kirby can not bid on county projects. Like seriously believes that he can stage a coup. Except he has no idea what he is talking about at all! Per protocol.

We will leave you with two screenshots from tonight’s meeting that struck our funny bone. Who is coming to the meetings without any shoes on?

Billy Shreve…Take Three!

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

For a few days it had been quiet, almost too quiet in the land of Billy Shreve. But as a mother of young children surely knows, when it’s quiet there’s trouble a brewin’.

So this quiet time was spent “updating the facts”. Good Poseidon of the Sea that can’t be good can it?!

Stop going on the radio Billy! Just stop it!

No it was not. And oh how we apologize to Bob Miller for our critique of his morning show. Because we did not know (and wished we still did not) of the horror that awaited us on the afternoon program with Tim May. So many apologies Bob. As an example of the extreme sacrifice we go through for you let us tell you a story. A nice caller pointed out that laws and contracts get changed all the time. When people’s opinion of a matter change or a new administration comes in it isn’t unusual for changes to be made. Well this poor nice caller did not realize that he committed the high crime of blasphemy with what seemed to us perfectly rational arguments. But, thankfully Private Eye/Man of the Cloth Tim May was there to point it out. Because dear caller you know what law can never been changed? THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!!! BAM! Take that you ignorant fool, argument over.

So to continue, we come in at the 3rd hour, because as much as we love you dear readers, there is only so much in terms of our sanity that we are willing to sacrifice. At the beginning of this hour we are welcomed by the very persistant voice of our friend Mary. Mary, leader of the “How could you Bud Otis?” brigade had some very reasonable remarks about Jan. It’s too much b.s. for us to wade through on a Friday. But she did leave us with some good sound bites. Jan’s governance so far has been “hypocrisy in action” and damnit “Facts Matter”! Well thankfully that was over quickly and on comes Billy.

Now, from the looks of his Facebook status it seemed as though we were going to get some new information. But looks are often deceiving. Because all we heard was the same old, same old that we heard on the last two radio appearances. (See #1 and #2 here) He was asked why the CEO calls him instead of Jan. The best answer Billy can give is that Jan won’t reach out to him. Why she should have to do this is beyond us. But he then goes on to say that he and Kirby were in on the deal from the beginning so he feels more comfortable calling them. Which one is it?

We pointed out in an earlier post that the way the Continuing Care agreement was crafted it was very easy for Aurora to get out of treating future indigent patients. Billy as much admitted to this, saying that the county would have to pay the full rate. While he did not specify exact dollars we can only assume the full rate is a shitload of money. Billy did leave us with a couple of thoughts on the subject of Aurora. First of all, he didn’t start all this hoopla because CEO Snow called him (a departure from his earlier statements) it’s because the poor residents have been calling him personally worried about their future. Man, to be Billy’s phone. How does it not ring all day and all night? But the piece de resistance that Billy had to say about the nursing home is this: Aurora is like Disney World and the county’s is like a prison. That’s right folks, it’s all sunshine and cotton candy up in Aurora’s house. But the county run home, you might as well be in Alcatraz.

Then we get to talks of the budget and oh how cute, nobody can remember Bud Otis’ name. These guys are hilarious. Billy starts off by saying that the budget process was the worst process he had ever been involved in. The worst! He wants more positions and he’s still whining about not getting his meeting with the budget officer. But it’s just the same old same old we’ve heard from the past few weeks. We had some glimmer of hope we would hear something new. Right before the last break Billy was warned that he was going to be asked why he can’t be civil. But of course, they never came back to this point. Because Blaine called in and repeated the same exact lines he said on last week’s Bob Miller’s show.

So there you have it folks. Same old same old. The only updated facts was that Billy only acts in the interest of the old, poor patients of Aurora. Not CEO Snow, whom apparently has Billy’s direct line. Why he keeps torturing us with these radio appearances we cannot guess. But we’ll be here to listen so you don’t have to.

Benedict Arnold in our midst

May 6, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Who thought a local government meeting could be so informative? We have learned from some very brave citizens that we have a Benedict Arnold posing as the President of the Frederick County Council! We were not aware that a county council election was akin to an actual war, let alone a revolution. But apparently we were just being ignorant.

One very brave woman brought actual evidence to show us the error of our ways. Armed with an article from the Frederick News Post concerning the Grover Norquist tax pledge and campaign materials we were treated to quite the presentation. Apparently Bud Otis is a dishonest turncoat who doesn’t care about his legacy…and at his age?! Oh the outrage!

Apparently about five people are very upset that Bud Otis is not living up to his campaign promises. We are very confused because at the beginning of this very same meeting Shreve told us that Jan needed to stop campaigning and start governing. Maybe the rules only apply sometimes? Makes sense.

Anyway, we must put in our two cents here. We have been very pleasantly surprised at the leadership of Bud Otis. He has actually sat down with and listened to county employees and the county executive (the horror!). He has been very polite and as far as we can tell has followed proper protocol at meetings. We must vehemently object to Bud being labeled a turncoat. A turncoat is someone who betrays their nation. Not someone who carefully considers the information before him and makes the most intelligent decisions based on that information. We are particularly amused at those who claim that Bud is rubber stamping all of Jan’s decisions. Agreement does not mean passive acceptance. And from what I could tell from the speakers last night they were mad because Bud was not a rubber stamp to Kirby, Billy and Tony’s motions. But maybe this is just another example of the rules only applying sometimes.

Cinco de Loco

May 5, 2015May 12, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

So the beginning of the May 5th County Council meeting is off to a roaring start. Two local hero citizens addressed the board and told them (Kirby, Tony and Billy) to stop acting like babies, follow Robert’s rules of order and for the love of all that is good:COMPROMISE!

Well, Kirby “The Great Compromiser” Delauter was having none of that! He took Hero #1 to task and asked, “Did you not read my budget?” (See our coverage of that debacle) All he does is try to compromise, why can’t you people see that?

That brings us to Billy. Billy was not pleased with Hero #2’s LTE in this past weekend’s newspaper and invited said misinformed citizen to meet with him privately. (Don’t do it Carl! It’s a trap!) He then went on to try to justify his vote to take money from the snow budget which took a terrible turn when the County Manager said, “I don’t see your point.” To which Billy replied, “I’ve made my point.” BAM! Take that all those who dare to conspire against Billy.

So then Billy refused to vote on ANYTHING. Not last meeting’s minutes and certainly none of Czar Jan’s appointments. We are really confused right now and hope to get to the rest of the meeting tomorrow to keep our dear readers informed.

Don’t mess with Mr. Donald!!!

April 30, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

As we at Frederick Local Yokel previously reported, #KirbyDelauter feels really bad about the horrible position that Frederick County teachers Jerry Donald and Jessica Fitzwater are in. They are not bad people mind you, they just have some Sophie’s Choice-like decisions to make when it comes to voting on FCPS’s budget. And he is not envious at all!

Well, Mr. Donald did not appreciate these accusations and it was on at last night’s meeting! First let us refer our dear readers to the ethics opinion that Mr. Donald referred to in his comments.

Pretty clear, huh? We would like to think so. Both council members Donald and Fitzwater have removed themselves from any leadership positions AND any other extra positions within the school system. They have also signed a Memo of Understanding that states they will take leave without pay while attending county meetings! It is clear to us here that both council members have been absolutely above board in all their dealings. We support their efforts and wish our other council members were as forthcoming.

Councilman Donald also made the very relevant point that the Board of Education sets salaries, not the Frederick County Council. The two council members who are also teachers have no way of knowing how the money they vote on will be distributed throughout the budget.

Councilman Donald used the words “transparent” and “crystal clear” during his remarks. He must be commended for the restraint he used in looking straight ahead the entire time. We know that if it were any of us we would have turned our entire seat to our left to make sure we were being properly heard. Hopefully, all this evidence will sink in and #KirbyDelauter will end his convoluted notion that teachers’ pockets are being padded by voting on the budget.

Free Letterhead for Frederick County Residents

April 29, 2015August 31, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

Please grab me up for e-communication, too! — In order to form a more responsive county government, we seek to emphasize the importance of its constituents.

After hearing Billy Shreve remark on the Kojo Nnamdi show that his opponents were less powerful than the honeybee lobby, we got a bit hot under the collar. Some of us have received letters from members of the previous BOCC that stated that our opinions were not under consideration because they were elected with the opinions they held at the time. Could it be that a serious lack of voter participation in the county has perpetuated the idea that constituents’ opinions do not need to be routinely considered by our representatives?

We have created a quick and dirty version of letterhead for our readers. Please consider using it for written communication with council members. People matter.

Letterhead for Constituents

Lessons from economics professor #KirbyDelauter

April 28, 2015May 27, 2015 fclocalyokel2 Comments

Rarely is one properly rewarded when they slip on over to that sticky appendage of a website known as the Tentacle. But Hooey Mama we hit the jackpot yesterday! Our esteemed Councilman #KirbyDelauter had a few things to say about Jan Gardner’s budget. (Spoiler alert: He doesn’t like it.)

#KirbyDelauter’s first problem is that the property tax is not being lowered, which in his mind is a tax increase. It is extremely confusing as to how leaving an assessment alone is an increase, let alone a hidden one, I guess math is really hard sometimes. The second item of contention is the one time transfer of $2 million to cover the assumption of county buildings that he doesn’t believe should cost any money because they sit empty. One quickie look at the Jan’s budget (and please, please don’t just take our word or #KirbyDelauter’s, read it here) and lo and behold here’s the explanation:

One-time transfer to create a 2.0 million reserve fund to cover potential budget impacts from litigation (Wynne Case) and 2.0 million to cover a prior assumption of revenue from the sale of County buildings that did not materialize.

A prior assumption of revenue? And from where did this prior assumption of revenue come from? It couldn’t have been the last budget put forth by #KirbyDelatuer & Co. could it?

But the best is yet to come. The prior board privatized the maintenance of county vehicles. Jan is reinstating two of those positions with an estimated $0 cost to taxpayers. Well let’s see what #KirbyDelauter has to say about this:

The previous Board of County Commissioners outsourced fleet services for maintenance, etc. It worked great and saved the taxpayer a substantial amount of money. The executive wants to hire a full-time maintenance technician. Anyone ever see Jiffy Lube, or Quick Lube, the Lube Center, or your local garage that does maintenance on cars and trucks? Again, would you hire your own mechanic, or take your car to Jiffy Lube? You make the call.

So where to begin with this little gem? First of all, a county budget cannot be compared to a household budget. It’s not the same thing at all. How many cars does the average American household possess? Maybe 2? So of course it isn’t feasible or necessary for us to have our own personal mechanic hanging out in our garage ready to change our spark plugs or fix our transmissions. The county possesses a fleet of 950. That’s more than Jay Leno, who himself owns maintenance equipment to do the work in-house. We have to expect that there is the NEED for daily maintenance on those hundreds of vehicles. As a matter of convenience and efficiency it behooves the county to have their own maintenance workers, rather than having them stand in line at the local Jiffy Lube.

Next on the rap sheet of complaints is this lovely little gem:

Here’s #KirbyDelauter’s take:

Let us not forget about the Lime Kiln rehabilitation at Fountain Rock Nature Park: $600,000 to do some masonry repairs to an old lime kiln that if you took a visitor there today, they would look and say, “That’s nice” If we spend $600,000 on masonry repairs, that same visitor will look at it and say, “That’s nice”.

Don’t put words in my visitor’s mouth #KirbyDelatuer! First, of all we are big fans of Fountain Rock (and Catoctin Creek) Nature Center and see the value of keeping these county treasures open and in good repair. Having visited the Lime Kiln on many occasions we know that it is in desperate need of repair not only for the possible liability issues (in which the county of course could be sued) but also because it is a tourist attraction and tourists bring money to our stores and restaurants. I once heard it explained, “We’re Open for Business!”

But the icing on the cake, the words that we cannot believe our eyes were subjected to were these:

We have two teachers on the County Council who will vote on millions of dollars that will help their coworkers as well as themselves.

I’m not saying they’re bad people, but they are in a bad position. If they vote for these added millions to the Board of Education, the taxpayers will scream foul, claim they’re padding their own pockets. If they don’t, it will be very hard for them to walk among their peers at their schools to say the least. I don’t envy them in that position.

Well Jessica and Jerry I am sure you are beyond relieved that #KirbyDelauter does not think you are bad people! You just do bad things, like pad your wallets with all those county funds angering the tax payers from Emmittsburg down to Urbana! This coming from someone who would love to pad his wallet with county contracts.

We value open, useful discussion in our government. Especially when it comes to how our money is spent. And if our esteemed councilman had some useful words we would surely listen. However, all he wants to do is say no, no, no. We suspect this comes more from his libertarian viewpoint that government shouldn’t exist at all than it does from any real concern of how Frederick County should function.

Welcoming Xenu to Frederick County?

April 26, 2015April 26, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

According to the editorial board of the Frederick News Post, we are likely to see the historical designation needed for The Church of Scientology to run a drug rehab and/or group home pass. Shuffling uncomfortably while staring at our feet isn’t going to cut it. The editorial is meant to help us swallow the inevitable from Narconon. No methadone or antidepressants from Scientologists, just bitter pills to swallow. In order to avoid entangling the county in a lawsuit, council members will need to take the first step toward accepting a treatment program that seemingly has no steps. Despite Narconon‘s track record for scams and untimely deaths, they enjoy status as a protected religion under Scientology, and Scientology specializes in exploiting its tax status and religious freedoms in a manner quite similar to the notoriously heinous Westboro “God Hates Fags” Baptist Church.

A word of appreciation is due to Jerry Donald for his efforts to find whatever may be there to satisfy his constituents. Everyone from the Scientologists to the Honeybee Lobby is hunting for the thing that will achieve the end each sees fit, before this matter is put to a vote.

Something desperately needs to change, but it seems probable that denying the historical designation isn’t going to fly. The next steps the community can take will be to ensure that the State knows that Frederick County is watching (a No Narconon at Trout Run Facebook group is a wealth of information). Perhaps state licensing and group home designations may not be compatible with their intended facility. If regulations cannot prevent the facility from opening, regulations for operation must be vigilantly enforced.

Who loves government regulations? This guy, that’s who. Listen up, Xenu. We’ve got our eyes on you.

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