Tag: Frederick Politics

However could this be?

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You can't Koko!
You can’t Koko!

Happy weekend to you Yokels! On the front page of the FNP today there is a nice little story entitled: “Delauter Backs Off Of Leasing Strategy”. We’ve written about his workshop and were all so skeptical on how building a bunch of schools now and then incurring $102 million extra in debt was advantageous. Somehow between that meeting and today the plan was re-written to include “only” $50 million more in payments. Still a perplexing proposal from someone who claims to “govern like a taxpayer today.” Now who do you think Kirby is blaming for the dissolution of his idea? We are sure you don’t have to think too hard on that one!

“There was a disagreement on the finances and costs associated with the possibility of privately funded schools,” Delauter wrote in Friday’s news release. “We have been dealing with concerns for school construction for the past 20 years. I was diligently seeking ways to build schools in the future with the least amount of impact on the Frederick County taxpayers. It has become clear to me that the County Executive is stuck in yesterday’s thinking where you always turn to the taxpayers to pay for everything. I am truly sorry to the taxpayers that we were not able to work to find new solutions to an old problem.”

How in Poseidon’s blue ocean is this plan not turning to the taxpayers?! Just because we aren’t putting the money up right this very second, doesn’t mean we aren’t going to being paying out the wazoo for this later! It’s clear from every meeting and discussion of this topic this idea will cost us more. Not today, but surely tomorrow. WAIT! Have we finally discerned the meaning of the “govern like a taxpayer today” slogan! I think we have. Whew, that took a few years but we finally cracked the code!

Now, with this idea laid to rest, hopefully some more realistic solutions can be found to solve this very real problem. And quickly because this same article ended with this:

Delauter has said he’s seriously considering running against Gardner for the county executive spot in 2018.

Hey #kirbydelauter, can we have your number?

fclocalyokel1 Comment
Little Lucy has some things to say...
Little Lucy has some things to say…

The Ole Yokel inbox was afire over a certain council member’s outrage over being asked to hand over his cell phone at meetings. It started off like this:

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And continued along these lines:

 

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Has our elite education failed us?  All of us here at the Yokel took political science and not one of us remembers being asked to keep your face out of your cell phone during a meeting a tenet of socialism. And if he likes to hear from the public, then what about us? If Bob Miller gets your number #, what about your Lady Yokels? We want to text you during meetings as well! What say you #kirbydelauter? Email us at fclocalyokel@gmail.com. We promise to keep it to ourselves.

We can be helpful!
We can be helpful!

It’s poll time-What will Shrelauter do with their break?!

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First things first, let’s close out the old poll:

Seems as though our readers believe she’ll insert her religion into school board policies. Hopefully we won’t have to test this theory out!

Afraid so Mr. Grasshopper
Afraid so Mr. Grasshopper

The county council is on a meeting break until August 15. How do you think Shrelauter is going to spend this time? Maybe writing new legislation or studying up on the issues? Ha ha! Just kidding. Let us know what you think:

 

Time keeps on ticking , ticking… your public hearing section of the July 19th meeting.

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The council reconvened at 7:00 for the public hearing to extend the fee in lieu of building Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs). This is being done in order to allow time for the completion of a housing study. This ordinance was set to expire in September but will now be continued until June 30, 2017. There was a nice presentation from Jessica, Milton Bailey (the new Director of Housing and Community Development) and three members of the public in support of the extension.

No takers for the public comment.

Jerry starts out the council member comments tonight. The new paved path is officially open through Middletown Park. There will be more information about his new bill concerning notification of re-zoning. And, he encourages people to get out to their local carnivals to support the firefighters.

Tony passes. In fact we did not hear a peep out of him the entire evening.

Jessica thanks the people who came out for the public hearing and praised the upcoming Ballenger Run project for including affordable rental units in their development plan. She also thanks everyone for having patience with the council as they modify their procedures and processes. She hopes they can continue to have positive dialogue.

Kirby congratulates the Thurmont Little League for making it to the State Tournament. Makes us aware that Little League is not only about winning but also about learning how to lose gracefully. Huh? We can only hope our beloved # learns this lesson himself. Very, very, soon.

He also discusses the new hotel bill. He has some issues with the stormwater management (shocker) and parking. He hasn’t gotten the answers he wanted from the city so he wants to know why are we pushing this forward.

Billy piggybacks on Jessica’s appreciation of people’s patience with the council. But of course, he’s going to complain about the time schedule again. He doesn’t like that the meeting begins at 4:30 and then the public hearing is to begin at 7:00. Tonight’s meeting was short enough for them to have a 2 hour break and it’s ridiculous! Unless and until Billy can predict how long the meeting will last, for we have seen some short ones and some that run all the way up to 7:00, he’s just blowing a lot of hot air. It is more convenient for the public to schedule it this way because then you know what portion of the meeting to show up for. But his time is way valuable people!

No more valuable than anyone else's Batman!
No more valuable than anyone else’s Batman!

M.C. talks about the extension of the bike path out to Rosemont Ave and commends the first graduating class of community health workers. These graduates will go out in our community to provide health care in those regions of our county where people don’t readily have access. A good program indeed.

Bud asks Chief of Staff Cherney to help Kirby get the information that he was seeking about the hotel. Mr. Otis also talks about the grant to Hood’s nursing program and the re-establishment of the I-270 coalition. He finishes up by reminding us that the Fireworks in Baker Park will be held on July 24 and a Veteran’s Rally in the Valley will be held on July 30 at the fairgrounds.

No more meetings until August 15!

 

Laissez les mauvais temps rouler! The First 1/2 of your July 19th meeting!

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Short and sweet. The council will reconvene at 7:00 for a public hearing but here is what has happened thus far…

Billy votes against the agenda, no one signed up for pre-meeting public comment, Billy abstains from the consent agenda. Before getting into the meat of the meeting Bud commends Jerry for his suggestion on putting cell phones aside. Billy yells: “Let’s stick to the agenda.” We all know that he and Kirby cannot function up there if they don’t have the texts from the puppet master to guide their way. Oh whatever would they do?

All County Executive confirmations pass. Charter amendments will go through on the November ballot with one change. Council member Fitzwater made a motion to change 2 business days to 4 when it came to bill amendment notices. All three passed and will be grouped as two questions (One will deal with the two budget issues and the other bill amendments) for the good voters to decide upon this November.

Three bills are introduced:

  1. Jerry is working on a bill that steps up the requirements for a zoning change. This will make sure that the neighbors of a property that is asking to be re-zoned are aware of what is going on.
  2. M.C. wants to try out a medical cannabis pilot program in agricultural areas.
  3. Bud introduces a bill from the County Executive concerning changes to the hotel tax.

We’ll let ya know how the public hearing turns out!

 

How about some nice refreshing punch? Your July 19th drinking game!

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17jy2u

Howdy Yokels! This drinking game is going to have a punch theme. First of all, punches are refreshing during really hot weather and secondly, well…we all know the other meaning of the word. Grab a copy of your sacred agenda, tune in your FCGTV and get ready to slam back the punches.

One person has chosen to take advantage of the pre-meeting public comments so far, if anyone shall share their thoughts mix up some jam juice.

If Billy should shriek no to any of the budget transfers slowly stir a pitcher of lights out punch.

Next up we have some appointment confirmations to take care of. It any of our “friends” shall throw a fit have yourself a tall hurricane punch.

There’s been a lot of discussion on charter amendments these past few weeks. They’ve been work shopped and discussed to death. We still imagine there will be a rumbling here and there. When there is, have some pom pom planter’s punch in order to keep one’s spirits up!

We have three first readings up. Zoning, cannabis, and hotel tax are all up for some changes. This is supposed to only be for informational purposes. Just. An. Introduction. So if any of our council members, who seem to have trouble following procedure or understanding simple directions, decide to sound off mix up a whole giant bowl of Adult Life Saving Drench punch.

Lastly, there is a public hearing to extend the expiration date on the ordinance that allows applicants to pay a fee in lieu of constructing Moderately Priced Dwellings.

We end, as always with public and council member comments. Grab some sparkling water and try to sober up!

More wedding venue drama in the county

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Kirby and Billy can you help?

 

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.

  • Complaining neighbors are friends with # and/or Billy
  • Owners of said venue are not registered Republicans
  • Maybe Billy and Kirby just aren’t aware of this issue

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.

Governing in contradictions: Councilman #kirbydelauter edition….

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Back in 2014 we saw a lot of these signs floating around:

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We giggled because, well, it’s a pretty dumb slogan. However, we did think it probably had something to do with #kirbydelauter’s low cost bargain government philosophy. So we were a tad confused upon reading this section of the Political Notes in the FNP:

Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter encouraged a local business to file a lawsuit against the county — and he volunteered to testify against the county if a case is filed.

Delauter (R) sent an email Thursday morning to other council members, the media and J&J Trash Service.

The message was addressed to a J&J staff member.

The trash company, you’ll remember, is at the center of a debate over the county officials’ interpretation of “out-of-county” trash. The company has been told that certain truckloads it wishes to dump through the county’s landfill and transfer center are prohibited.

The council discussed the issue at a meeting last month, but didn’t resolve anything.

The county interprets the loads — surplus government furniture or parts of surplus government furniture processed by a second company — as out-of-county waste, believing it is originally brought in as potential refuse.

Delauter said he agrees with the businesses that the furniture is brought into the county under the premise that it is a purchased product and not waste.

On Thursday, Delauter said any effort at changing the county’s position through legislation may be futile since it is an issue of interpretation.

“I would say your only recourse is to sue for damages. … Good luck, I hope you win a big payday from the taxpayers since they elected people who can’t stand up for what is right and just. Let me know if you need me to testify on your behalf,” Delauter wrote to J&J.

17fylr

So instead of writing the necessary legislation to correct this problem (if there is a problem), Kirby instead encourages this business to sue the county. Not only sue, but sends out good wishes for a huge payout!? Where is our steward of our precious tax dollars today?!  It must be dependent on who he’s mad at that day. Not sure how this all fits in for him running for County Executive in a few years. It’s an interesting strategy, that much is for sure!

More news in the BOE race.

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Today Shirley McDonald announced she too is dropping out of the race. Details can be found here.

It is sad to see another qualified candidate remove herself, but it is clear there is a strategy in place. And any strategy that ensures that Joy Schaefer, Ken Kerr and Michael Bunitsky are the ones on the BoE in the Fall, is a strategy the Yokel supports. Take a minute and click on their webpages and learn a little bit about them and their educational philosophies. We think you’ll like what you see! Let’s ensure that education in Frederick County stays on a positive track!

17dwxr

 

Poll time, fun time!

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Why yes, Snuffles, we do. We do love polls!

It’s our favorite time. Well, besides drinking game time, and picnic time and family time, and well, anyway. Let’s close out our last poll in which we asked you about Billy.

 

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Hey, just like Kirby! Coincidence?

Since Kirby just pitched a huge fit again about Jan, we figured it would be fun to speculate on the subject of his next tantrum. It will happen before you know it.