Yesterday, the county council had a workshop. The first part of the workshop was a hearing on the proposed MXD bill. Only one person came to speak. The gentleman was a lawyer speaking on behalf of St. John’s Properties. He believes this bill would short circuit the entire zoning process. He also believes that it is unfair to tenants and homeowners who had previously bought their property or set up their businesses in this area. As do we! Contrary to what Billy told us the last meeting, this gentleman lets the council know that it is NOT a good idea to just pass this now and fix whatever problems come up later. That’s just not good legislating!
The majority of the workshop is devoted to budget information. Esteemed Budget Director, Rick Harcum, is in the house to talk about all the different options he is willing to give the council on the budget, as far ahead as possible, so they are able to to have any and all information to do their jobs! Will Billy still complain, abstain, and say they need their own budget analyst? Is the ocean wet?
Anyhoo, the meeting has a lot of presentations from various departments within the county, which we didn’t have time to listen to. The evening ends with a report on A Better Maryland that you can read about here.
This evening we had the shortest meeting in the history of forever!
No public comment at either end of the meeting. Billy votes against the agenda and abstains from the minutes. County Attorney, Michael Chomel, is present to have the council sign the Ballenger Run PUD. Then, Bud pulls his MXD bill! Apparently without any notice to any of his other council members! It seems to us that he could have just canceled the entire meeting since this was the only reason for the meeting to begin with! But that’s for his fellow council members to argue.
We close out with council member comments. Tony and Kirby pass. Jerry wants the public to contact him so he has the necessary information in case this MXD bill is brought back. He also wants everyone to know how successful the senior tax credit information sessions have been! Billy promotes his Classmates 4 Life, telling us that this is how kids are learning that drugs are bad! Jessica is willing to work with anyone who wants to make a new MXD bill, as does M.C. Bud is surprised that everyone is willing to work together and since some people, and he’s not naming names, were unwilling to help him with this.
The second half of last night’s meeting was a bunch of public hearings. Most of them from the desk of none other than Billy Shreve! We’ve already spoken to the fact that Billy cannot expect to do zero work for over three years, and then last minute put forth a bunch of well, nonsense, and think no one is going to notice! Let’s go through them one by one:
18-01- General Fund Mandate Reserve Increase. Lori Depies is at the mic to tell us why it would be a good idea to increase the reserve from 5% to 7%. No member of the public is on hand to testify. Jerry asks Lori if this change would be a step in keeping the county’s Triple A Bond ratings. She believes it is.
18-02- Billy wants the council members to take a planning education class. He did it online all by himself a bazillion years ago. Billy wants to know if he has to give an intro to each of his bill or can we just have the public hearing. SIGH! No one is in the house to speak to this.
18-03- Elderly and Retired Military tax credit. Ray Barnes is at the podium to tell us that the “3rd Floor” is not in support of this bill because it is more restrictive than the tax credit already in place. Mr. Barnes thinks we are better off modifying the existing program than putting this more restrictive one in place.
18-04- Zoning Violations. Billy wants a monthly report of ALL code violations so he can stay on top of things. You know since Jan is trying to put ALL the wedding venues and mulching companies out of business. Mr. Barnes is again in attendance to say the administration is not in support of this bill for a couple of reasons. First of all, this bill takes away the anonymous option to report violations. And secondly, two people have to report the violation before it can get investigated. There is an all so amusing discussion about the anonymous provision. Mr. Barnes argues that people should have the option to report anonymously, especially when they fear for their safety. In fact, about 25% are reported in this fashion. Not to the county mind you, they know the reporter’s names, but to the person that has the complaint made against them. I think we can all envision a few scenarios where this would make sense. RIGHT? WRONG according to Kirby! He thinks it is COWARDLY to make an anonymous complaint. If you need to make a complaint against your gun-toting, crazy neighbor, your neighbor should have access to your name and address. What’s the prob? Kirby says that anonymous reporting just opens the door to vindictive behavior. We can’t help but speculate that Kirby must have been on the receiving end of some anonymous complaints to be so strongly against them! Perhaps on his car wash? Or for peeing in his side yard? The possibilities are endless! Top scholar, Billy Shreve, adds that if 75% of people are fine with their name being released, so should the other 25% . What logic!
Very poor indeed, Shreve!
18-05- Billy’s very last poorly constructed bill has to do with public safety facilities exemptions. Billy feels that volunteer fire departments shouldn’t have to pay permitting fees on their social events. Mr. Barnes, who Billy has kept very busy this evening, disagrees. He states the existing tax credits in place for fire departments are adequate and the administration doesn’t want to open the door for all non profits asking for exemptions.
Billy then asks Mr. Barnes since he hates all of Billy’s very badly constructed bills, has he written any of his own? Ummm, is that his job? We think not.
The very last hearing is on Tony’ s bill, 18-06, Temporary Limited Wood Waste Recycling In the General Commercial Zone. Mr. Barnes wants everyone to know that he doesn’t oppose every bill that comes before the council, and he cites examples! But, this one is also terrible. Temporary is supposed to mean a year, with an option to extend if necessary. And, the administration does not believe that wood mulching is a good fit with other businesses in the GC zone. Billy goes on with the old racetrack crap he tried a few months back, and we fast forward the recording because we cannot listen to that crap again!
All bills will be put forth for a final vote in the near future.
No public comment, so it’s off to council member comments. HOORAY!
Tony passes. Kirby lets us know that Jan is obstructing jobs and none of this is rocket science people! Or Kirby wouldn’t be running for the CE position in the first place! Durh! According to Kirby we shouldn’t even be here discussing these things, and if it were up to him, he would have this whole Jefferson Technology Park thing settled in 6 seconds! He leaves us with these words: “It’s ridiculous! Make a decision!”
Jerry informs us that 23% of the Seniors eligible for the county tax credit don’t take advantage of it. So, the county is hosting some information sessions to make Frederick County Seniors aware. While the AV person tries to figure out how to project the dates, this happens:
LOL! It looks as though Billy is trying to stick a pen in Jerry’s ears! It’s the simple things that make us laugh folks!
Technical difficulties are addressed and we are presented with these dates:
Billy wants to know why we were aren’t just mailing notices out to people. Isn’t it cheaper to research all the Seniors who aren’t taking advantage of the tax credit, print out letters and then send them off? We don’t know and we are SURE he doesn’t either. But, why does he have to be such a jerk about everything?
Jessica thinks we need a standardized process for all of the council bills that begin with a workshop. She also alerts us to the fact that Billy’s education bill has language in it that’s illegal. Specifically, you can’t ban council members from voting just because they didn’t take a class! Man, he’s bad at this.
M.C. has nice announcements about things going on in the community. Bud ends the meeting by letting us know he likes the new communication procedures that are being implemented between the County Executive and the council. There’s a meeting tonight between the council and the BOE. These usually go pretty well, so if anyone notices anything out of the ordinary, be sure to alert us!
The first half of the meeting ran a mere 45 minutes. Since it was so short, you may be led to believe that things must have gone pretty well.
Because they certainly did not!!
Billy votes against the agenda. One of our readers contacted Billy about this bad habit and received this reply that was then shared with us:
Uh, public comment has been restored to the beginning of the meeting for quite some time now. And, the county has a whole budget department, but waah! Billy doesn’t want to talk to them because they report to the County Executive. This is not a good explanation Billy!
Lori Depies is before the council to ask the council to renew the contract for the external auditor. All vote yes.
One County Executive appointment. Ray Barnes has been chosen to be the Chief Administrative Officer (yah!)! Well, well, well, Tony has words to say about all this! He was going to withhold his precious vote, but he didn’t want to set a bad precedent for future County Executives when it comes to them being able to chose their CAOs (what?), so instead he will pontificate. He sincerely hopes that Mr. Barnes can find it in his heart to work with this council in a non-adversarial way. Not sure what he is talking about since we have seen Mr. Barnes be nothing but respectful. Probably has something to do with a difference of opinion. Any hoo, he is confirmed with only Billy saying a very loud and annoying no.
Billy wants a workshop on council staffing and the budget. (See above I guess.)
Three First Readings:
-Tony’s OTB bill
–Veteran’s Advisory Council
-Interagency Internal Audit Authority
Public hearings coming soon.
Then we are off to the drama of the evening. Bill 17-21- Permitted Uses in MXD.
Tony has an amendment that strikes out an earlier amendment. Jerry suggests that they table the bill and have another workshop. You know since it’s kind of crazy that amendments are being put forth that get rid of previous amendments. Kirby agrees! But then starts rambling on about the 3rd Floor and how this is an easy fix.
There’s many references to the 3rd Floor this evening! I guess they can’t even manage to say Jan’s name anymore. So, she will hereby be known as the 3rd Floor!
M.C. and Jessica also agree. The process is bad if amendments are made to correct earlier amendments. Well, now hold on there ladies, but this is all anti-job talk! Billy explains to us all that we aren’t talking about developers we are talking about 2,700 jobs (a number that most members of the council have never even heard before this evening) and we should just pass the bill and fix it later because 2,700 jobs! Tony doesn’t want the past brought up anymore. No more negative talk about the Young BOCC, because apparently it is irrelevant. Tony wants assurances that if he tables this bill, the scary “3rd Floor” will work with Jefferson Technology Park. “Stop the Bleeding,” he says! Billy then jumps in and says, “What’s really interesting is there is someone with 2,700 jobs.” Now wait a minute, weren’t we told there would be thousands of jobs with the original Jefferson Technology Park? WHOOPSIE! There we go bringing up the past again!
Kirby kinda agrees, but there’s other developers out there who are upset over all this and guess what? They want amendments too! Jessica points out that his conversation just proves that they need another workshop. Bud chimes in that the developer contacted him because he felt he wasn’t being heard. Bud also wishes everyone would stop living in the past. He also hopes that the “3rd Floor” will work together to find a solution. Bud advises everyone to vote for it, let the developers hash it out amongst themselves, and then we’ll fix it all nice and pretty.
M.C. DISAGREES. She begins by saying she hasn’t been a part of all of these behind the scenes talks. Billy then rudely interjects: “You are Mrs. Behind the Scenes, you are the least transparent person up here!”
She also points out that these “projected” 2700 jobs are not a reason to pass a bill that nobody understands. Billy then says that is isn’t about developers, it’s about jobs. He then uses a Trumpism: “Frederick County First.” Seriously, folks we can’t take much more of this guy. He tells M.C. that she can’t pander to developers. (!) To which she replies that this is all this bill does! Jerry wants to hear more from the biggest stakeholders-the people that actually live in Jefferson Technology Park. Billy tries to argue that this isn’t really important because the developer representative to the HOA already spoke to the council, as though that’s an accurate view!
Tony won’t pull his amendment, but he hopes this whole discussion has woken up the “3rd Floor”! Tony then decides to bash his primary opponent, Steve McKay, by dissing his comment on the bill, it was rambling or something. Keep it classy Tony! Amendment passes 4-3, but not the way you think. Jerry, M.C., and Kirby voted against it. Jessica has a question about the bill. A representative from the administration is there to answer, but she wants it in writing since they are not talking about the bill anymore this evening. Jerry says, “See how nice the administration is.” Billy replies, “Depends who is asking the questions.” Jerry retorts, “Be Nice!” We love you, Mr. Donald! But, Billy is the direct opposite of nice.
Bunch of public hearings on at 7:00. We’ll let you know what happens when we can get to it!
Your Yokel Ladies have been in and out of this meeting for the past couple of days. It’s a lot to contend with, so we are chunking it up and throwing it down, bit by bit.
No Shreve, what a relief! Meetings are always nicer without him!
Steve Horn and friend are in the house to present the Livable Frederick plan. You can go to this website to see all the details, plus the entire plan as it stands today. We say today, because there are still chances for change. If you read our drinking game, you saw that Kirby called this plan a POS. He doesn’t use exactly those words, but he does have things to say. For example, he wants Steve Horn and Co. to explain why the modeling software they use isn’t some kind of soothsayer. It is explained, ever so gently, that all modeling is, by definition, a guess. However, Mr. Horn also points out that the accuracy really isn’t the point here. The point is to see what different paths the county can take based on the possible outcomes that may occur. It’s called PLANNING. Well, Kirby isn’t done. He tells us that the market should decide where people live because the market is NEVER wrong. That’s right people: NEVER. Well, he is also very gently told why that isn’t true. Jerry clears up the erroneous notion going around that this plan is going to downzone properties. It is not. Tony complains some, but it’s pretty much nonsense. After an hour this discussion wraps up.
Unsurprisingly to anyone who pays attention around here, Tony was the council member contacted to introduce legislation having to do with Off Track Betting (OTB). He brings in four representatives, including local lawyer Rand Weinberg, to discuss this pending legislation. Essentially, they want to identify a local restaurant to set up OTB, kinda like Cracked Claw before it closed down. First reading of this bill will be soon.
The Veterans Affairs Council had a lovely professional presentation that introduced the panel of distinguished advocates. Please keep doing what you do. We are relieved to see this move forward. There isn’t a lot of new information to report. Well, other than that a miracle of trans-partisanship that occurred when Bud Otis (unaffiliated), M.C. Keegan-Ayer (D), and Tony Chmelik (R) pared down the originally proposed bill, which had “timed out,” and according to the knowledgeable panel this bill is a reasonable step forward in accomplishing the goal of having a “one stop shop” for veterans to get assistance in accessing the services that are available to them. We know this is a huge problem, and the point that it is unreasonable to expect a veteran with PTSD to sit on the phone through a menu of options for 13 minutes is absolutely true. There were other ghastly anecdotes, so please know that we thank you all for working on this, and we apologize that we aren’t giving this the focus that it is due. There is just so much to say about so much today (and another meeting tonight, people!).
There was the Interagency Internal Audit Authority thing: a panel of accountants working on a bill to codify the existence, charges, and governance of their authority (the interagency aspect is the county, FCPS, and FCC). Work on this bill began in 2014 with the transition to charter government, and they are doing the formal work to ensure that the appointments to the body will not be under the control of those being audited. In other words, a county executive should never be making those appointments, nor should FCPS or FCC be sending their people to do the work. They propose that the current members will nominate future members. Sounds good.
Then we reach the issue of the proposed pipeline under the Potomac River at Hancock. Some environmentalists (yay! go Sierra Club!) ask that a letter be drafted–ideally from the Council, but if not, by individuals on the Council– asking for Governor Hogan to withhold the 401 Water Quality Certificate and request a full environmental impact review of this project from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). This is requested because:
We are downstream from an 8 inch pipeline that would tunnel under the Potomac River to connect a proposed pipeline in West Virginia with an existing one in West Virginia
A bunch of municipal governments both up and downstream have already said, “Hey, let’s be careful!” and sent their own letters, including Hagerstown, Boonsboro, Washington County, Montgomery County and P.G. County. hm.
The geology (that’s rock formations, yo) of the land they will tunnel under is extra risky, because the Karst geology (science term) is Swiss-cheesey, so if a blowout occurred, the chemicals could be dispersed in any direction. Many pipelines already go under the river, but none through this type of geological formation.
Frederick County get lots of our drinking water from the Potomac (91%). And the City of Frederick also gets some of its water supply there, too, (17%) so we would theoretically not want to risk poisoning our water supply.
The Chesapeake Bay is also downstream (for good measure).
In case you were wondering where this thing is supposed to go. You can kind of see the Eastern Panhandle Expansion converging with the Potomac there, but unfortunately the County Seal and headings got in the way of some of the relevant details on a couple of these slides.
We nicked their slides. Hopefully they don’t mind. Here is the Karst Swiss Cheese. Get the idea?
This is all well and good for the reasonable, and even seems likely for the less reasonable eventually, reluctantly, however it pains them, to agree that we shouldn’t be reckless with our drinking water. However, it must be noted that we have two drilling savants, both Republican, on our esteemed County Council, so the curt reaction to the idea of a letter from Tony Chmelik was, “It depends on what the letter says.” Well, they only asked for a letter to exhibit caution and thorough review, not to declare pipeline construction forever abolished, so the hang up is hard to understand, but thank goodness we could be treated to some gassy emissions from these guys. We probably don’t even need a pipeline, since we create our own energy like that. Fun fact: one of your local ladies used to work in the gas pipeline accounting, so we know a thing or two round here, too. Gas is tricky to account for, as a matter of fact, due to particle dispersion. That and the Swiss-cheesy thing are a double tricky combo.
**Ten Minute Break because they’ve been there since 4:30; this is taking an eternity and there is a lot left.** Stay tuned. Holy moly, they’re trying to kill us, y’all. There’s another meeting tonight, you know.
So it seems kind of like Billy’s blissful absence and Kirby “#ImReallyRunning4CountyExecutive” Delauter’s recently located partial degree of restraint (NB: we didn’t watch Council Member Comments, so we could be wrong about that) freed the air for Tony Chmelik to fill the role of council insurgent. At this point we are losing all the patience that we never had, but Ray Barnes and the legal advice come with him, and also Steve McKay, think that the move to ax the section of the code pertaining to DRRAs entirely is no bueno and will cause a bunch of legal problems and their advice is to not move forward with that. They have other ideas. And obviously Tony has a problem with them going before Dog and Everyone implying that he meant to do away with DRRAs forever (“What would the developers think???” <<clutches pearls>>) when he would NEVER. He and Jerry Donald have a back and forth that is pretty priceless, wherein Jerry admits that was his goal, and he also thought that was what Tony wanted. We are pleased with Jerry Donald. He is funny but not mean. We have a hard time with that. Then Jessica Fitzwater asks the question we are wondering too, which was, to paraphrase in LocalYokel jargon, “WTF were we trying to do for real then?”
We have finally thought to ourselves somewhere in the midst of the MXD discussion: we do not like this bill either. We would all be pissed if we bought a house and then they changed the zoning and we lived next to a warehouse now. We aren’t going to listen to this anymore. We. Are. So. Done.
The council has saddled us with two meetings this week. The first one, scheduled for this evening at 4:30, has some interesting items. Steve Horn, who seems to be Billy’s mortal enemy as of late, is in the house to present the Livable Frederick plan. Here’s how Kirby feels about it:
NICE!
Next, it appears that Tony wants to bring Off Track Betting to Frederick County. There’s also some discussion of some other bills and the gas pipeline that Potomac Edison wants to run under the Potomac River so they can pump fracked gas down from Pennsylvania! What could go wrong?! We end Tuesday’s meeting with two public hearings on the MDX bill and DRRAs.
Wednesday’s meeting, scheduled to begin at 6:00, has two third readings and a public hearing on the Monocacy Scenic River plan. We cannot possibly commit to making two drinking games in a week! Therefore, we are leaving you with this handy bingo drinking game that can be used for both nights! Pick your poison, mind your liver, and drink whenever you get a bingo! Good luck!
Let’s get this party started! Billy votes against the agenda, and we have to wonder, once again, why that doesn’t boot him right off the dais? If he doesn’t approve the agenda then shouldn’t he have to leave? We vote yes!
Water and Sewer amendment is moved to the top of the agenda. Staff presents and amendment is passed.
Billy abstains from the budget adjustments, while everyone else says they are A-OK!
All of the county executive’s appointments are approved 7-0.
We have a nice presentation about transportation priorities and then there’s a vote to authorize the FY 2019 TransIT grant, which is decided with a 7-0 vote.
Tony wants authorization to go to Annapolis to testify in favor of Comptroller Franchot’s brewery bill. There’s another dueling bill that’s apparently trying to punish another brewery in Baltimore, but will actually hurt ALL state breweries. Permission is granted as long as Tony submits his comments to the other council members beforehand for their input.
Jerry and Kirby’s dueling senior tax credits are introduced. Click on their names to read them. As well as M.C.’s bill concerning recreational amenities in the MXD/PUD zone.
We have two bills on the third reading schedule. Amendments were added to both, so they will go back to public hearing. Here’s the FNP article that discussed both of those issues. We have some highlights as well:
-Billy has issues with County Attorney Mathias and whom he represents. Billy thinks of the whole county government setup as the council vs. the county executive, instead of what it should be: a cohesive county government with checks and balances that cooperates for the good of its citizens. Tis not the Billy way! Mr. Mathias is the county attorney, which means he represents BOTH the county executive AND the county council. So, when Billy turns on his mike to once again question where Mr. Mathias’ allegiance lies, Mr. Mathias HAS HAD IT! He raises his voice and says, “I don’t know why you keep saying that!” Then goes on to explain for the elevenbillionity time that as STIPULATED in the charter he represents BOTH! Billy then wants Mr. Chomel, who is the legal council for the council, to weigh in. Mr. Chomel tells Billy that he defers to the opinion of the county attorney. We LOLOLOL, and miraculously Billy shuts his trap.
-Numerous amendments are added to both of these bills, mainly by Tony. M.C. also has a few, some of which she withdraws due to being redundant to Tony’s. Both amendments she does propose need a second. And both times, Billy so very rudely screams no. Jerry, both times, then seconds them so they can be discussed. One of M.C.’s amendments is to allow 90% of either the residential or commercial owners in a development to vote if a zoning change is to be made in a development in which they bought property. Her theory is that property owners should have a say in something that would change the value of their property, ESPECIALLY if it is different from the original plan. Well, high brow intellectual Billy Shreve screams that this is socialism. Really and truly not understanding the meaning of that word. Her amendment fails.
Just keep on trucking Billy!
There’s a break and then we come back to hear testimony on the Forest Ordinance Bill. People are pleased that the council worked together with the county executive and the public to work this out! Imagine that, people like it when their government works together and compromises! Not Billy’s dystopian version of it when one side is always pitted against the other.
Tony and Kirby passed on their comments. So, we went to Kirby’s Facebook page and looky what he had to say about banning the AR-15 that just slaughtered a bunch of kids and teachers in Florida:
#NeverKirbyforCountyExecutive
Jerry wants his constituents to contact him regarding their opinion on the MDX bill. Billy is back, once again, with a sign about the student film contest. Jessica is very pleased with the Forest Ordinance, but wants the council to work on the time frame allowed for putting forth amendments to bills.(It’s supposed to be 3 days before the meeting.) M.C.-feel better soon! And Bud wraps up with some events he’s attended.
There’s two meetings next week people-TWO! You all may have to take us out to dinner for all this!
Our meeting starts off with a nice recognition of the Linganore High School football team. Billy votes against the whole agenda, so can’t he just leave now? We have four nice public commenters. Many are present to talk about the amendments to the Forest Ordinance Bill. Melanie Cox, of the League of Women Voters, also commends the council for putting the hearing concerning DRRAs back on the agenda. The league has researched this issue, and believes this bill is a good way to balance growth in our community.
Next up is a rather lengthly discussion from Carson Bise on impact fees. You can read the whole report if you like. Basically, elementary and high schools will be severely overcrowded by 2026-27 if we aren’t careful.
Most of the council members have thoughtful comments and questions, but not Kirby! He seems to want to argue over the cost of the study, then doesn’t. Then he tells us that WE should have planned better for all this growth!
Is he actually admitting fault, or trying to pretend he hasn’t been on the board/council since 2010? He was a significant part of the “we” who should have done this hypothetical planning. Anyhoo, Kirby doesn’t think it’s much of a crisis yet. And, we have all these homes in the pipeline and all these homes were in the pipeline in the past, so all’s good?
Billy wants to know if FCPS is going to redistrict the whole county any time soon, you know because that’s such an easy, uncomplicated process! So, Urbana folks don’t be surprised when Billy starts advocating that your kids be shipped up to Thurmont!
John Mathias, our esteemed county attorney, is here to make a presentation on the legal side of DRRAs. He explains their history, court cases, and implications for our county. He tells of a certain court case which ruled that you couldn’t change the type of development once vesting had occurred. Mostly because it isn’t fair to the people who already invested in said development. It seems as though Mr. Mathias was sent there to explain to some people how to do their job. More power to him! Tony has much to say, but we are to the point where his voice is just a buzzing noise, so you’ll have to figure all that out on your own.
Lastly, before the council breaks, Jessica and Tony introduce some amendments to the County Executive’s Forest Ordinance Bill. With input from the community they came up with some compromises. The amendments pass, with Billy and Kirby voting no. It will now go back to a public hearing.
Bud then moves to have his forest bill removed from consideration. He tells us that he wishes there was more discussion before hand, before he felt the need to write his own bill. He states that compromise is good for the community and the country. And, we would really like to know, Bud, when things all broke down. We are still perplexed and angry over all that’s gone down lately. Bill is removed with Billy abstaining and Kirby voting no.
The council then goes into closed session, we hear that more shenanigans went down with the DRAA hearing. Stay tuned!
We haven’t had much time to recover from last week’s meeting, but hey who said keeping up with this county council was for the faint of heart? We’ll see if the spirit of St. Valentine fills the hearts of our favorite local characters, or if we are going to have a situation more along these lines:
Oh dear!
Grab your agendaand follow along, but do remember to take care. Billy isn’t coming to help any of our fans!
Lots of presenters to start off the evening! Impact Fee Report, Report on Developer Rights and Responsibilities (DRRA), and Interagency Internal Audits! Let’s toast to all of our hard working county employees who take a lot of abuse at the hands of some of our council. Mix up a big Love in a Glass in their honor!
It’s Forest Resource Ordinance time! Will the bills be reconciled or will there still be two? Mix up a pitcher of Love/Hate as the answer to that one is revealed to us!
Time to go behind closed doors to discuss a county executive appointment! Then we are back at 7:00 for more happy fun time! Grab some water to rehydrate!
We thought this was tabled, but things have a way of creeping back on to the agenda lately. We suppose the public pressure really paid off, for we return with a hearing on the DRRA bill. Will this hearing result in more badgering of the public by Tony? Will the developer’s lawyers once again be given unlimited time to answer questions? Is anyone running anything around here anymore?! Anyhoo, mix up a barrel of Love Gone Sour, since a lot has changed, and not for the better, with this council lately!
The public has a chance to speak and then we have some council member comments. This is always a crap shoot, so go ahead and make a row of Love Hurts shots, and fire at will!
This is a busy month for the council, and by extension us! So we’ll let you know what happens and then we are right back here on February 20th for another edition of your favorite local reality show. Happy Valentine’s Day!
The public hearing on the MDX amendment to “the Zoning Ordinance to specify additional permitted uses in the Mixed Use Development District” is an instance when zzzzzzzzoning is unfortunately not boring. To briefly touch on this, the perception is that this amendment is hand crafted to target the Jefferson Tech Park area and that to adopt it would mean these people end up with distribution centers such as what we see out on Buckeystown Pike in their neighborhood, to the detriment of their property values. Since Steve McKay, who has frequently spoken on zoning issues in the Monrovia area, and Stand Up Frederick have already posted thoughts on this, please see those links for information while we focus on how much we were confused by what happened at the lectern last night. (P.S. you probably know that Steve McKay will be running against Tony Chmelik in the District 2 Republican Primary, and after Chmelik’s abominable behavior this evening we could not be more pleased that he is doing so.) If Mr. McKay and Lisa Jarosinski, who is running in the Democratic primary, are the candidates in the D2 general election, that will be one lucky D indeed. Those are two fine candidates.
First of all, it was a great joy to hear from The Public at this meeting. The Public is a lot more interesting than Our Regular Cast of Characters. Ray Barnes spoke on behalf of County Executive Gardner and gave three concerns. He was questioned at length by Billy, who kept trying to rile Mr. Barnes up with his circular dislogic. Mr. Barnes kept his cool throughout this display, and was ultimately dismissed by Bud who claimed he never heard these concerns before tonight and he wants to know hear from the public. The Lawyer for the Jefferson Tech Park–why did he get his three minutes, plus many, many more minutes of chit chat? Is this how it is supposed to work? We don’t get that. That does not seem reasonable to us. This guy tries to bog us down with legalese, claiming it’s in the interest of public safety that the council approve this bill. He also throws out the term “belts and suspenders legislation,” to which we can only think, “When has that fashion combo ever been a good idea?”
Steve McKay spoke knowledgeably, per usual, as did Kai Hagen.
Then Kai also got the many, many more minutes of chitchat “privilege.” We chuckle a bit that Kai is never succinct (and of course, we recognize that this is because he is thoughtful and diplomatic, so he makes an effort to be thorough and careful) but this really wasn’t about him at all. Because it was about Tony Chmelik being rabid, ranting, obnoxious, asking him questions in a rude and angry tone and then talking over him every time he tried to answer. We don’t typically give Tony Chmelik too much grief, because as compared to the Shrelauter bookends, he tends to stand out in the more normal grownup conduct spectrum. Well, not last night! And then we have no one stopping it. M.C. Keegan-Ayer tried to introduce a point of order in all this, and was completely ignored. we were under the impression that someone wields a gavel at these things and is supposed to maintain order? Who is that? It took far too long for any effort to be made to curtail this behavior. Kai may be an At-Large candidate for the Council, but currently he is The Public. The Public doesn’t deserve to be treated with such rudeness.
Tony sniped that Kai hasn’t taken responsibility for this issue. Well. We have thoughts. That thought is that as an elected representative in this county it is currently Tony Chmelik’s responsibility to shirk. If he wants to make this a special responsibility of Kai Hagen’s, we can all follow his dreams. We can do so by electing Kai Hagen to our County Council. So there’s a thing to think up on. It appears to be the one simple trick to respecting everyone involved here.
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Bud starts off the meeting reassuring us that he supports any actions the council can take to stop human trafficking, so he still has that going for him! County Executive candidate Kirby Delauter is absent…again. We have to say we were so impressed with the presentation this evening. Kudos must go out to Jessica Fitzwater for brining this to everyone’s attention. So many knowledgable, articulate folks came in front of the council to give us information about this sickening problem. You can read the entire report here or just look at our highlights:
This is a heat map. What is shows are where the hotline calls regarding human trafficking are coming from. Notice that Frederick is in the red. That means there’s a lot of activity going on in our area.This nice lady works for the State Prosecutor’s Office. She made us aware of the fact that many agencies do not have good information to pass on to victims of human trafficking. Something that this task force wants to remedy.Oh, why oh why can’t our High Sheriff be more like Frederick Police Chief Hargis?(PSST, our High Sheriff was not in attendance this evening, probably because he was NOT in support of this task force, he believed that everything that could be done was already being done—VOTE KARL BICKEL!)
Frederick mayor Michael O’Connor told us some of the recommendations of the committee:
Mandatory training for lodging employees to help identify human trafficking victims.
Making sure all bodyworks establishments are properly licensed. (This is the only time Billy pipes up this evening-he wants to have a definition of bodyworks, we can only imagine what must have been going through that mind of his.)
Penalties for landlords and tenants who knowingly allow human traffickers to operate.
The creation of a survivor services fund created from the confiscated property of the human trafficker(s).
Creation of signs that alert the public to what human trafficking looks like, both sex and labor trafficking. In other words: “If you see something, say something”!
Chief Hargis likened this problem to domestic violence 30 years ago. 30 years ago (and this is really hard to stomach folks), domestic violence wasn’t on anyone’s radar. It wasn’t seen as a law enforcement problem. That’s how the issue of human trafficking has been treated..as someone else’s problem. But it isn’t, its a human problem that all humans should be concerned about. Contrary to what the High Sheriff or Billy or Kirby would lead us to believe, this isn’t just a problem for the federal government to solve. If a victim is found in Frederick County, and there have been numerous cases here, it’s a Frederick County problem. If you want more information about human trafficking visit the Polaris site. And after you read that, don’t ever, ever forget that Billy Shreve said that there are groups in favor of this. We don’t need a voice like that representing us in Annapolis.
Late in the day, the council agenda was changed to reflect this addition:
There was no clickable link, so we didn’t have any other information to go on. When it came time to vote we get this breakdown:
Yay-Jessica, M.C., Bud, Tony, Jerry
Abstain-Billy
Partying it up in Punta Cana-Kirby
Now, we have no idea what in the world is going on with this! Anyone who can enlighten us please send us a line!
frederick local yokel 