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.
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.
We don’t know if the regular video person at FCGTV is on vacation, but whomever is doing it this week gave the Yokels a heart attack. After pouring a much needed cup of coffee one of your brave Yokel ladies clicked on the video archives. She was very dismayed to see that last night’s meeting registered at 6 hours long! Now we love our readers and want to keep y’all informed, but we have things to do! Thankfully the time stamp was wholly inaccurate and we came in at 45 minutes.
We start off with the agenda vote with our favorite useless at large council member voting no.
We finally have a pre-meeting public commenter! It’s Patrick! If you know Patrick, please invite him to like our page. He congratulates Jenkins on the large heroin bust. He is very pleased with the new council form of government. He wants to refresh everyone’s memory of what it was like during the dark days of the BOCC. He very specifically tells folks to delve into the November 24, 2014 meeting to see how they operated. (Look away folks!) We love his final suggestion. Anyone who has been found to have engaged in human trafficking should not be eligible for election to county offices. We are behind that 100%!
Budget adjustments- 6 for 1 abstain. (Guess who!)
No comments on the police grant.
Approval of past minutes by all.
Resident agent designation will officially be the county attorney. Billy interjects by asking how will the council will be notified of lawsuits since it hasn’t been in the past. There is some discussion about how most of the lawsuits don’t have anything to do with the council and those that do are forwarded. Somehow we don’t think this will be enough.
1st readings go off without a hitch. 3rd reading is put aside until later.
Public hearings on Spring 2016 and Sewage Plan. No public comment and it’s approved.
Three proposed charter amendments:
No one came to comment. July 19th will be the third reading and then it has to be sent over to the Board of Elections by mid August to be put on the ballot for November. Citizens can also propose amendments. Mid August date still applies. Check with the BOE for the petition process.
Votes to go into closed session to interview County Executive Appointments. 7-0. This is new since Billy usually votes against it. We still haven’t cracked the code when it comes to his voting process.
Then here we are folks. Council Member comments. It’s a mixture of all we have to be proud of in this county and also our greatest shame.
Jerry goes first. Announces that the Frederick Food Bank is in desperate need of donations. Walking trail through Middletown Park will be officially opened on July 12. Brunswick has officially been designated an Enterprise Zone by the state. Reminds people to support their fire companies by attending carnivals and thanks county employees for helping him work on bills that he will propose in the future.
Jessica thanks Angela Spencer for her work on the Human Relations Commission. Encourages the public to follow all their local boards and commission.
Kirby remarks on the heroin situation here in Frederick. Another young person has succumbed to this drug.(Yokel aside- We do need to do something about our heroin problem (NOT NARCONON) and it’s going to take the whole community to brainstorm some solutions to this problem. Hopefully community involvement in tackling the heroin problem will not involve the toe stepping on law enforcement as Kirby claims studying human trafficking will do.) He then talks about three bridge dedications to our military heroes. One that recently took place and two that will occur in the future. We lady Yokels are 100% for honoring our local service people. We did see some disturbing intel on what took place at the first dedication. Some folks only wanted to invite people who were of their political persuasion and were miffed when those of other political philosophies showed up. FOR SHAME! Hopefully those involved in this disgusting behavior will not repeat it at the upcoming dedications. Then there’s the predictable rant against County Executive readings in which M.C. will address in her comments.Now it’s time for the wedding venue debacle. So Kirby’s argument is that since some county facilities aren’t up to code (his words) then what’s the prob? Why can’t private businesses violate them? From what we understand the buildings are being demolished because the actual owners of the land wanted them torn down. We don’t know what kind of government official advocates that a business continue violating safety laws because no one has been hurt yet!
He’s having a meeting today at 1 pm with the BOE and Rick Harcum to talk about his public funding idea of schools.
Tony is going to have a Town Hall in Urbana in the next 2 weeks. Date to be determined.
Shreve wants to know what kind of venue the council will have to address public needs. This is because of his complaints about the landfill. We thought it was adequately explained to him that he needs to address the public concerns by writing a bill and then having public comment on said bill, but he sat up there and called that process elitist again. So we don’t know what else to say. He then goes onto congratulate FCPS for winning a public relations award and we can barely believe our ears. But the award was partially given because of the Classmates for Life video competition. So that was really just about him.
M.C. Keegan-Ayer wasn’t going to comment, but Kirby’s statement changed her mind. She points out to him that the council has a workshop on each of the County Executive’s proposed bills before they get on the agenda. So that would be the appropriate time for him to voice his concerns. Kirby tries to argue the semantics of this, is quickly shut down. Because big surprise he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Bud talks about a brainstorming session about the new Veteran’s treatment court and reminds everyone that Frederick will have a fireworks show on July 24.
July 12th is a workshop and July 19th is the next legislative day.
We are sorry to have to start every month off like this, but it appears that’s when Kirby’s “Guest Columnist” rant is unleashed on the world. (Question: How often does one have to write for the noodlely appendage before a guest columnist turns into an actual columnist?) Curiously this same column(with a few minor edits) also appears in the Emmitsburg News Journal.
The theme of this month’s list of complaints is how horrible Jan is. He refers to her as a “citizen activist”. If you haven’t heard Kirby has his sights on the CE office and he’s already started campaigning. As usual, it’s hard to follow. We’ve heard him complain that we’ve been talking about school construction for 40 years. But in this column, it’s 30 years, wait no it’s 20, but maybe it’s 22. Who knows? He wants us to know that Jan has ruined education when she took back the county’s nursing homes. But never fear, because Kirby is here to rescue us! Even though his last workshop on his school construction idea would cost the county tens of millions of dollars he’s still sticking with it. How does he answer his critics? Well, in his special Kirby way of course:
Executive Gardner says this won’t work, that it’s too expensive, that something could go wrong, that the sun got in her eyes, and that it’s Blaine Young’s fault.
Any other questions folks? He’s going to waste everyone’s time with another workshop. Where he will attempt to manipulate the numbers and we are oh so curious to see how he can possibly sell this idea as economically viable. One question has really bothered us here at the Yokel. If these projects are privately funded does that mean Kirby’s company will be in the running to do the excavation? Or will he remove his company from consideration since he’s the one pushing forth this idea and it would seem as though it’s a giant conflict of interest? We think Kirby has his own self interest in mind. What do y’all think? We’ll let Kirby’s own words answer that question:
We all know that it is insane to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result each time.
Hey Yokels! We received this in the good old email box today:
On August 5th we enter the next round of voting. We’ll remind you again to put a good word in for us! Thanks for getting us this far!
Kirby’s going to brief us on landfills this evening. Will this be about the Montgomery County trash or the flammable materials? Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a smidgen of both! We’ll let you know!
If you’ve been a fan of the Yokel for some time, you know how we detest the hyperbolic language some of our county council members are so fond of. Last Spring, we had to give #kirbydelauter a lesson on what a dictator actually is. Now it looks like we are forced to do the same with Billy:
First of all, we are glad this Bud is for us! Secondly, let’s explore what a traitor actually is. We’ll start with the good old dictionary def:
So a person who is not loyal to country or friend, but really someone who betrays friend or country to their enemy. What examples does history lend us? Let’s explore…
Whoa this guy! You know the guy whose name we use when it’s too much trouble to actually say the word traitor? He was one of General Washington’s fave generals. But because he wasn’t promoted or maybe because his worm tongued British sympathizer of a wife was whispering sweet nothings in his ear, he betrayed the American cause to the British. For some good old cashola and a title, bye bye American Independence. Things didn’t work out quite the way he wanted and he never did gain the respect and money he thought he would. However, he most certainly was a traitor.
Former Stormtrooper Finn betrays Kylo Renn to assist Rey and company. Depending upon what side you root for in the Star Wars series, you may consider him a traitor. However, if we go by the dictionary definition of betraying your cause to the enemy, then he most certainly is.
For over two decades, FBI expert Robert Hanssen, was feeding the Soviets info. He did enormous damage to our national security and almost certainly got people killed. If you haven’t seen the movie Breach, it really is a must see. And yeah, absolutely, positively a traitor.
Elected to an At-Large position on the County Council in 2014, Bud Otis was a long time member of the Republican Party. As a Republican he used the resources of the local party to get elected. Receiving the most votes in the election, the President position logically belonged to him. We hear from reliable sources that Billy wanted that title. Once elected Bud governed the way so many successful local politicians do. He practiced a philosophy of governing in cooperation with other local politicians, showing that he cared much more about making Frederick County a vibrant, tolerant and successful place to live. While others prefer to practice their rabid partisan and often downright bizarre politics to become the darlings of their far right Facebook spectators. Mr. Otis eventually came to the realization that he no longer had a place in a party where someone like Billy was the leader, and like the true gentleman that he is, he knew when to take his leave. Frederick County was not sold out, no one died and the dark side was not betrayed (well…).
So Mr. Shreve, who also questioningly sits as Chairman of the local Republican Central Committee, Bud is NOT a traitor. He was an old school Republican who could not function within the confines of your monochromatic definition of what a good Republican should be. As a result, Frederick County is much better off.
We covered the first part of last night’s meeting in detail here. The second half reconvened at 7:00 and was a hearing about the repeal of Agricultural Rights Transfer Ordinance (ARTO) that was passed by the last BOCC. We had a lot of good speakers, many friends of the Yokel. We’ll let Kimberly Brandt educate you on the subject of ARTO, since she knows way more about this ordinance and it’s effects than we do.
Lastly we had our council member comments. Jessica started off the comments on a positive note talking about her newborn son, encouraging people to visit the Pride Festival this weekend and listing off the locations where kids can get a free lunch during the summer. Kirby wasn’t ready yet, so Jerry took the helm. He took the time to thank the people that came out to talk to him during his meet and greets, gave an update about pathways through Middletown Park and suggested people go to our local carnivals.
Now Kirby is ready. It’s time to disparage the decision to buy back the nursing homes.There was no reason to do that people! He then proclaims that the reason we can’t build schools is due to this decision. But don’t worry he’s got a solution. The secret developers are coming to the rescue! (We’ve already covered it here). He then wants to know who is going to pay for the Roddy Road bridge damage. The county is going after the truck driver, as it should be.
And then there’s Billy. His first comment? Hendershots, a shooting range in Hagerstown, contacted him and is willing to give all the council members free shooting lessons. Billy asks for a show of hands. Only Tony’s goes up and Kirby shouts out: “I am already a certified NRA instructor, so we can do it that way as well.” WHAT WAY? What kind of grandstanding, idiotic council member comment is this? Is he really surprised that no one else up there took him up on his offer?
He then concludes by telling us that there’s lots of new interesting developments in the wedding venue saga. So stay tuned!
Tony’s not talking tonight. M.C. reminds us about the city/county meeting and also encourages us to go to the carnival. Bud tells us all that he’s been up to this past month and whew! We’re adjourned til next time!
These two are much cuter than the two who should be wearing them.Pre-meeting public comment has no takers…again. Billy starts right in on the agenda. Moves to remove the item concerning appointments to the ethics board. M.C. initiates a discussion with County Attorney Chomel asking if they remove the item would be they be able to discuss it later on. The answer is no, once an item is removed you can no longer talk about it. Billy then suggests to remove it and then to put it back on the agenda later for discussion. Chomel says, and I quote, that it would be “cumbersome and futile” to remove an item just to put it right back on again. And, oh, how we laughed, and laughed because cumbersome and futile is the perfect description of Billy’s style of governing.
We fear that Billy is also confused about when he should say no and when he should abstain. He gave a hearty no to the agenda, but an abstain to the consent agenda and then a yes to the meeting minutes, which is a departure from his usual fashion. It’s hard to keep things straight when when you don’t have a real consistent philosophy.
Some very nice representatives from FCC came before the council to discuss the budget of their fine school. We learned that there will be a small increase in tuition and no increase in student fees.There seems to be some loss in the dining services department and this is where the talk gets a little dicey. Kirby and Billy want to know why outside companies are not being considered. Well, the nice lady tells the story of how they looked into outsourcing the child care center and found that it was not feasible. And holy moly, I guess not everyone is on the privatization train. She even goes on to say she does not want to privatize the custodial or dining services because she would like those people to keep their jobs. Hurray! The only one to vote against the budget in the end was Billy.
Billy is the sole abstainer on the two appointees to the appeals board and then we are on to the real drama of the evening…ethics.
Let’s start off in praise of the four women who sat before the council this evening. They kept their cool under some really trying circumstances. We have seen a few of these ladies speak in their roles as representatives of the League of Women voters. Every single time they have been articulate and well just awesome. Tonight was no different.
The discussion centered around the pilot program to chose people to sit on the ethics board. It was determined that in order to sit on the board, you would have to prove yourself to be non-partisan. There are a few criteria to prove this: You cannot have held public office in the last four years, served on a central committee for the last 10, have aspirations to run for office or have been involved in a political campaign. They would also like representatives from the two local universities, the United Way, the rotary club and the Unitarian church. The Unitarian church was chosen since it encompasses a variety of faiths. The potential members would only be interviewed by the nominating committee, not the County Executive or the County Council, with final approval from the Executive. If you remember the beginning of our post we spoke of Billy trying to remove this agenda item. It was because he thinks the council should interview the members of the board. The ladies vehemently disagree with him as do the other members of the council. It shouldn’t be difficult to grasp the concept as to why an ethics board should not come before the council. Shouldn’t be being the two key words.
But of course we all know who is going to throw the biggest fit.
We’ve written before of Kirby’s Pavlovian response to hearing the word ethics, and tonight was NO different. Our esteemed council member has a suggestion as to a new question that should be asked of our potential ethics board members. Are you ready?
“If your decision is overturned by Executive Order, how will you react?”
BAM! Take that Jan! But seriously people, how long is this going to go on?
Kirby continues by saying the reason you don’t have people lining up to be on the ethics board is because they are afraid that every decision they make will be overturned by Queen Jan. One of the patient nice ladies disagrees completely with this theory to which Kirby tells her you can disagree but thems the facts. Jerry ventures out into the choppy waters to get clarification as to when the County Executive can issue Executive Orders. This causes our dear county contract-less council member to then scream: All the time! But no the answer is she can only make an order when the issue comes under the Executive’s power. Like county contracts. Kirby tries to say what she did was illegal, gets shut down again, but hey why let the facts get in the way? We keep forgetting he’s the only one in possession of the real facts.
Billy tries to disparage our fine ladies. Proclaims that two of them were involved in a lawsuit against the county. So how can they be non-partisan? And we do not know how these ladies keep their cool, but the one he seems to be addressing asks him directly to what he is referring to. Oh you know, proclaims Shreve. Well, no, no, no. The fine lady tells him that she was never a part of a lawsuit but a representative of a position for the League of Women Voters. And she wasn’t even a part of the ethics nominating committee so the big gotcha moment that Shreve thought he had totally blew up in his face. You know what Billy, citizens can have a position on a piece of county legislation with out it being a partisan affair. You know what else is a popular non-partisan affair in these here parts? Lamenting the legislating style of one Billy Shreve. The new members are appointed 6-1.
The final observation of the evening comes during County Executive appointments. Billy doesn’t like the fact that one of the committees, concerning loans, does not have an expiration date. He tries to put forth a motion, that M.C. tries to parse for him. It’s here that Jessica interjects telling M.C. that she shouldn’t have to make Billy’s motion for him. He is instructed to write his motion down and his reply? He doesn’t need to write it down two other people are doing it already.
Gracious, y’all. Nothing like summer to make a random Tuesday sneak up on ya. We just about left you with nothing to drink this evening.
Yes, it’s a random Tuesday, and that normally means there’s some council stuff to attend to. For the most part the meeting doesn’t look too complicated. Barring that one sticky, sure-fire, hot button issue. Have you guessed it already?
First things first, though. If the Early Bird Special public comments section is all <<crickets>> mix up a Classy Cricket. We do think it’s probably a good idea to class it up early, because later is coming…
There’s some regular old budget transfers (Billy’s gonna abstain. Why bother even pretending he will do his job?).
There’s an opportunity for some grandstanding, since they need to pass FCC’s budget. If Billy, Kirby or Tony climb up on their soapbox, sip a clean martini. If all 3 of them chime in, slam the thing and steel yourself for the talk of…
Wait, wait not yet. Gotta get through appointments to the Board of Appeals.
Then it’s time to tango, because guess what folks, you know there’s some ethical stuff on the agenda (Review of the Selection Process, and confirmations) this evening and we are familiar by now with the Pavlovian response one #kirbydelauter has to this topic. If he throws a hissy fit. Why are we starting this sentence in a conditional construction? When he throws a hissy fit, we suggest a Murphy’s Law.
There’s more on the agenda folks. Some reappointments to numerous commissions, council information at the first reading of a bill to extend the option to pay a fee in lieu of building affordable housing units, and a public hearing about the Agricultural Rights Transfer Option (ARTO), but if we drink our way through all of these, you’ll have to call Billy for help, and nobody wants to see that happen! Remember, always drink through council meetings responsibly. Frederick County politics can kill ya!
Last night was Kirby’s chance to educate the community about his lease back school idea that he’s been cagey about these past few months. You can watch it here if you want the full experience. Up on the dais with Kirby was local business man Randy Cohen and who we must assume are the secret developers. One was John Garner (not 100% positive of his last name as it was hard to hear and not restated, but it is NOT Daniels) who didn’t speak much, and Jeff Pacy of Municipal Acquisitions. Since Jeff Pacy did a majority of the talking we think its relevant to share how his company describes itself:
So the gist of the presentation was this:
-We can make all your wildest school construction dreams come true!
-Why have 2 schools when we can give you all four? Plus shiny new laptops to boot!
-Yeah, our numbers may be off, but who needs accuracy?
-Opportunity costs of not doing this are tremendous! This will attract new teachers for how can they resist all the new buildings! (Somehow we think salaries are a tad more important).
-Yes, we must make a return on our investment and you will pay millions upon millions more than if you used a no interest government bond. But how do you expect us to compete with that?
-Prevailing wage and we assume county ethics laws would not apply to privately built structures. Hmmm.
So it kind of sounds like in order to get all these schools at once we would be paying this company millions upon millions in extra cash over the next 30 years. One of the Yokel’s favorite county employees, Rick Harcum, very politely tells Kirby and friends that as a numbers guy it just doesn’t make any sense to pay this kind of money when other, better options are available. Jan also makes sure they know that because of our AAA rating, we can borrow money at the low rate of 2.62% which throws their numbers off even more. We also hear from the COF of FCPS who has to correct some of their math on the portables. Overall, we sensed an enormous amount of skepticism from those who asked questions.
Excepting of course Billy and Tony who got up there only to try and showcase the positives of this idea. Their questions were transparent and frankly too embarrassing to even speak of.
So after months of build up, Kirby didn’t do a good job selling this idea. Says there will be another workshop, but we doubt it will lead to anything. We need good ideas on how to finance everything we need, and sorry #, but this doesn’t look like it’s the one!
