We know that many of you are desperate for a break from politics, and more sympathetic we could not be. But remember, in two short years there will be another county council election. We need to keep paying attention and recording the actions of those who shall not lead ever again! So, as always, we will try to make watching a little more fun for you! Ready up your handy agenda, tune into Frederick’s very own reality station and watch away!
If anyone chooses to take advantage of the pre-meeting public comment, have yourself a Tequila Mockingbird.
All sorts of budget transfers coming down the line. We usually hear some grumbling when the library is on the agenda. If this should occur, mix up a strong Mark Twain, and be thankful the old man did not live to see this.
Oh dear Helena on the mountain, there’s an item to confirm members to the Ethics Commission!
Kind old monkey is much more optimistic than we are!
As we’ve written once or twice before, Kirby has a problem with the word ethics. It elicits in him an angry Pavlovian response that once released, is impossible to reign in. You many want to put yourself into a coma for this section of the evening. Having a nice Blackout or two may do the trick!
Next up is the First Reading on a Small Business Property Tax Credit. Sounds like something all should be in favor of. But whoopsie daisy, one of those pesky Democrats is the sponsor. So even though it’s something Shrelauter would, in all other universes, be in favor of we have a feeling there’s going to be some “problems”. If any are expressed slam back an Upside Down Martini.
Time to decide on the Clean Energy Program for Commerical Properties. But wait! Isn’t global warming just a huge scam? Isn’t this all liberal propaganda? If you hear any of that nonsense, mix up a gallon and a half of Hell on Earth.
Public hearing time on Water and Sewage Amendments. Any bellyaching will lead you to slamming back a Raw Sewage or two.
All that remains are public and council member comments and we have a BADDD feeling about his week. So grab a cup of your favorite herbal tea and try to stay calm!
First off, FCPS has put out two proposed 2017-2018 calendars for public comment. One has a before Labor Day start and one after. The calendar with the post Labor Day start has done away with Spring Break. That caused your Lady Yokels to gasp! Follow this link and then make sure you comment. This is local government y’all, your voice counts!
First off: Where’s Kirby? The school construction presentation would have presented him with the perfect chance to grandstand about his now defunct buy back lease idea. He usually doesn’t pass up a chance to beat that dead horse.( Or any dead horse for that matter.)
Secondly, will someone please, please tell Billy to dress appropriately and pay ATTENTION during these meetings?!
Just look to your left Billy if you can’t figure it out. And get your phone out of your lap!!!
Thirdly, congratulations on your retirement Mr. Ray Barnes. We will miss your presentations and your insight into school construction. Thank you for your 35 years of service!
And finally, Jessica most graciously solved one ,out of the many ,former BOE candidate’s witch hunts. She returned to work yesterday. Not that was anyone’s, including our, business! Good luck Ms. Fitzwater! As mommies we know how challenging the transition can be!
In today’s Political Notes, Danielle Gaines, touches on the Kirby sign controversy. (Your Lady Yokels are mentioned!) What excuse does Kirby offer for his Mantrum Facebook post?
“I took a sign off my property that was not authorized to be there,” Delauter said.
As far as the “One shot one kill” statement, Delauter said it was intended only to tell Republicans to vote only for Rose in Tuesday’s election. (There are three open seats on the ballot.)
“It has nothing to do with harming anybody,” Delauter said. The reference refers to having one shot to place a Republican on the school board. If GOP voters also vote for a Democrat, it would “kill” their support for Rose.
First off, there’s three open seats on the board. So if every Republican voted for Cindy and one or two other Democrats it wouldn’t necessarily “kill” their support for Rose. This strategy of one vote is really myopic and prevents people from exploring candidates for the other two open seats. Essentially they are allowing everyone else to choose the two other candidates that will sit on the board by encouraging them to give up those votes. Now, as to whether or not either one of those signs was authorized to be there:
The Maryland State Highway Administration removes political and other temporary signs from state roads within a general right of way. The agency considers that area to be the space between utility poles on either side of a road, SHA spokesman David Buck said. The right of way could include private land.
“No non-approved signing is allowed in our roadways. Period,” Buck said.
SHA workers will pick up signs when they see them and take them back to local shops. The agency focuses particularly on areas where drivers should pay attention, such as ramps.
“The last thing we want people to do when they should be devoting their full attention to driving is … looking at a whole bunch of campaign signs,” Buck said.
And honestly, the point of all this wasn’t really about whether the signs should be there or not. It was about the way that Kirby handled the whole situation…on Facebook..like a petulant child.
Now that’s not the only goody in the Political Notes section this fine morning. Kirby wants to know who is behind ads in some local papers asking voters to support Yes on Questions A and B.
Well, the paper found out in two flashes of a kitten’s tail. County Executive Jan Gardner. After clearing it with the legal department and seeing that other jurisdictions have done the same, it was decided to run the ad in three local papers. What we love, love, love about this section the most is this quote:
In an interview, Laxton noted that the County Council voted 7-0 in support of the measure, and the ad was forwarded to the council’s leadership before it was approved for printing.
Which doesn’t exactly mesh with this quote from earlier in the article:
“I’m trying to figure out who authorized payment for that,” Delauter said in a phone interview.
Sigh. You voted for both of these charter amendments Kirby! And if you had bothered to ask just one person at Winchester Hall we bet you would have found the answer to your question. But that is not the # way is it?
Kirby please take a break this weekend. Back away from the computer, stay away from signs and just kick back and relax. We beg you!
We’ve been trying to get some answers to questions about what the real rules are regarding campaign signs. It is surprisingly confusing, and varies a lot. If the signs were on Kirby’s Kar Kleaners’ property, then he may have been infringed upon. And everyone knows that when someone does something such as put a temporary sign on a stick on your land, the first thing you should do is be klassy with a k, and the second thing you should do is react in anger, and the third thing you should do is make an angry post to your Facebook wall where the Local Yokel is going to get hold of it and bust a gut pointing and laughing at how the same guy did the same kind of dumb thing. Again!!! It’s true! We find this funny, this inability to learn from one’s own mistakes.
At no point should you call someone and alert them to a potential problem. Then they may apologize for how egregiously you were wronged, make amends, and educate whomever may have been misinformed about where they may or may not place those hideous signs. Then you might live happily ever after without having “yer prawperty” besmirched by the names of qualified adults. That would just be ridiculous!
Here. Have an MVP award:
This is so much more fun than his dead horse talking points, because even if he is right!!!! (wouldn’t’ THAT be a gas) he is only shooting himself in the foot. And maybe it ricochets over to Cindy Rose’s foot, too, since she has a reputation for a short fuse and birds of a feather and whatnot. Such a shame.
Will you just look at that flock of birds…
An alert reader provided us with the final resting place of the unfortunate sign. As you can see, it was carefully relocated by a steward of the county’s natural resources.
Never one to be concerned with the environment.
EDIT: Oh, oops, per real journalist Katherine Heerbrandt:
Looks to us like Kirby’s just a hypocrite who threw away a sign he didn’t like and left one he did.
EDIT AGAIN: Kirby still says it’s his land. Like we said, this is all very unclear. But whatever. He still acted proud to be a giant man baby.
Sorry Creampuff. We know it’s something new everyday.
In his grand tradition of posting his trangressions on social media, Kirby shared this today:
One shot one kill? What is that supposed to mean? Oh, Kirby you really should close your account. Have you learned nothing from the whole hashtag incident? Or from your friend Blaine? For your own good, shut your account down!
Is there a Yokel legal expert in the house who can explain the penalty if a current office holder were to be found stealing or destroying campaign signs?
Why didn’t the charter amendments on the ballot include one for recalls?
In order to get to the reason as to why our gaskets have been blown to high heaven and beyond, we’ll quickly breeze through the beginning of the meeting.
Agenda-passed except for Deplorable Billy.
Public comment centered on anti-fracking in Frederick and Maryland and one gentleman who is upset about ADA violations with curbs in Urbana.
Budget adjustment- 1 abstainer. Minutes are approved unanimously as is the County Executive appointment to the Fire and Rescue Board.
Roger Wilson comes to present the legislative bills and position statements. Tony doesn’t like the part about fracking because he doesn’t know how Garrett, Alleghany and Washington counties feel about it. And Good Zeus on Mt. Olympus who cares? It is an undeniably destructive practice that has no business in our State. We really don’t give a good two cents what their elected boards think about it. His motion is not seconded. So the vote to send the priorities to our State legislators is passed 4-3.
The new Nuisance Ordinance is up for a final vote. High Sheriff is in the house again. Billy doesn’t want to vote until the Sheriff’s office rewrites their procedures for using the noise meters. Jenkins says they are in the process of doing so, which is good enough for everyone else. Passes 6-1. So it appears that Billy and the Sheriff have broken up!
So very terrible indeed.
Now this is the part of the evening we knew was going to go badly. However, predicting that things will go south and then actually watching them go south are two very different things indeed. The proposed task force on human trafficking will study how we can coordinate agencies so we, as a county, can better help vulnerable populations and prosecute traffickers. It will study how law enforcement, FMH, FCPS and other agencies can come together to to eradicate this problem within our borders. We saw some very brave women share their very personal and heartbreaking stories. We heard from people who run committees and agencies who gave examples of human trafficking in our county. We heard from the Frederick Chief of Police and his chief criminal investigator. Both of whom are in very much in favor of this task force. It’s looking as though everyone sees the value of studying this problem and then getting a plan in place so maybe we can eradicate it from our borders and maybe as an added bonus other local jurisdictions can see what we have done and apply it within their area. Then the Sheriff comes to the podium. He begins by saying that we will want to stone him for saying this but he is oh so skeptical of this task force. Homeland Security is taking care of the problem when necessary and there’s no need for y’all locals to get involved. While he thinks it’s a “great idea” he doesn’t know what the end result will be. So let’s not do anything people!!!! Kirby and Billy then chime in that they don’t know what the goal is (even though it is specifically laid out right here) and yeah what the Sheriff said! Billy goes on to say why can’t we have a representative from the State Human Trafficking commission come to talk to us first. And Jessica very patiently informs him that the representative talked right to his very face during the workshop they had on this issue!
Sorry Mr. Puffs, we are embarrassed by them as well.
So Tweedledeplorable and Tweedlemoredeplorable follow Tweedlemostdeplorable’s lead and they decide not to support the formation of this task force. So they basically stuck their middle fingers up at all the women who shared their stories about being trafficked. And you know why we study these issues you most deplorable of the deplorables? So we can make things better! If Homeland Security had such a handle on things and if the Sheriff’s office knew all they needed to know then why is this still happening? STOP BEING SO AWFUL ALL THE TIME!!!!
Passes 5-2 with Tony saying he has no problem with agencies figuring out a way to coordinate with one another. Yeah, tell that to the bookends up there with ya!
Phew! Break until 7:00.
Billy comes back complaining about the break being too long. And blah, blah, boooorrring!
Second hearing on establishing a program for Clean Energy for Commercial Properties. No speakers.
Our one public commenter leads to our council member comments. There is a gentleman who has been dealing with a neighbor for a number of years. This neighbor is allegedly not keeping up with his property and therefore his neighbors are frustrated. So, he has decided to come to the council to get some relief. You would think this would be a simple case of referring him to the appropriate department or directing him to some steps he needs to take, but oh rational human being you would be so very wrong indeed!
Kirby wants details about this homeowner’s issues. Most specifcally he wants details as to how the County Executive has failed this man so he can grandstand about it. And this poor man did not know what he was walking into. Bud tries to shut it down, because first of all it isn’t a council issue and second of all it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that this is a witch hunt! So Kirby continues along this way for a little while until the gentleman is kindly directed to the oh so calm Chief of Staff whom we are sure will lead him down the correct path.
But old # isn’t done. He is going to drone on about some numbers he’s found in the Citizens and Montevue packet. He’s cherry picking like crazy and boring the hell out of everyone and their mother. When he’s finally done, Jerry steps up and makes us feel all warm and fuzzy.
After addressing the same gentleman about dilapidated properties and how he is trying to pass a bill to deal with them, he speaks of a certain council member and his Tentacle article. Kirby quickly pipes up, “That was me!” Jerry informs us all that said article had the numbers concerning the hotel TIF off by 44%. So Jerry asks why should we believe any numbers that come out of Councilman Delauter’s mouth. Why indeed?
The worst of the worst is up next. He’s complaining about his uncle’s property. And get this people, he thinks it’s a fine idea to establish a People’s Court before the council. He thinks it’s an appropriate venue for neighbors to be able to air their grievances. Shocking that Billy never learned the difference between Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers. Didn’t he ever catch an episode of Schoolhouse Rock?
Jessica thanks those who supported the human trafficking commission. She also tells Kirby that she agrees that he is not an accountant when it comes to his recitation of the nursing home numbers. And guess what, she and some other members of the council are going to the nursing homes tomorrow to talk with Aurora and see how things are going. Imagine that. She also wants to know why the outrage over the public commenter’s petition with 39 neighbor signatures but no similar reaction when the public came to them with a petition against fracking with over 1,000? Well, durh, how could they embarrass Jan with that? And get this, that petition with the 39 signatures was submitted in the summer of 2014. You know before the creation of the county council when both Billy and Kirby were on the BOCC. Where was the outrage then?
M.C. says she is going to keep her comments brief and we swear we heard Billy utter good. She laments the fact that some members of the council don’t know the function of a legislative body and really how dumb the People’s Court suggestion is. Twice during her comments Billy interupts and twice she needs to shut him down.
Really, it seems as though Jerry, Jessica, M.C. and Bud have it with with them. We suspect Tony is pulling back as well. Maybe we should ask for a bill for the five of them to get some extra hazard pay for having to deal with these two. Tis a dangerous job indeed.
Hopefully you are all recovered from your Halloween celebrations and ready to tune into your favorite reality show. There’s a goodly amount on the agenda and we are oh so sure that Billy is going to find himself on the wrong side of some issues ce soir. It’s only one week until the General Election and the closer we get the more unhinged Shrelauter becomes. So do try to remember this game isn’t meant to be taken for reals. Even though we understand the urge to drink away the idiocracy.
As always the night begins with public comment and budget adjustments. We are too bored by Billy’s ever changing nays and abstains to even a look up a drink for this portion.
Next we have a County Executive appointment, if Kirby accuses Jan of having a private chauffeur (something he did on Facebook this week ) slam back a Ms. Daisy, since that’s who she was accused of behaving like. (And of course, it isn’t true. She just happened to be in a car as a passenger. The horror!)
Roger Wilson is in the house to present the final legislative package for the 2017 session. Flipping through the pages, we don’t see too many Shrelauter suggestions. Wonder why that is? Nevertheless, there’s lots of good stuff so take a look! When Kirby objects to something have a Mad Russian, since we hear Kirby’s a great admirer of Putin.
It’s time to vote on the Noise Ordinance. Billy wanted some “unreasonable amendments” according to the High Sheriff, so we may hear some grumblings from that corner. When he cries over not be allowing to shriek loudly through the streets sip on your Screaming Banana Banshee.
We’ve written here and there about human trafficking. Billy was against having a work shop on this issue because there are groups for human trafficking.
Not ever again Billy!!!
However, more intelligent heads prevailed, and tonight there is a public hearing on this issue. If either one of our least favorite council members say anything stupid, save up your money so you can drink some Unicorn Tears.
Council will go into closed session, to which Billy will object, and then reconvene at 7:00.
There’s a second reading on a bill to create a program for clean energy for commercial properties. If we hear any talk at all about how global warming isn’t a thing, set up some shots of Kahula Earthquakes and slam away!
We end, as always, with public and council member comments. Let’s hope for the best. Don’t forget, if you haven’t voted already, please do so on the 8th. We are sure we will be reporting on some of our elected official’s reactions on the 9th! Sure of it!
After reading the title we are sure you have at least two possibilities in mind! Billy got a lot of attention last week and apparently #kirbydelauter is jealous. So, in an effort to make sure both halves of Shrelauter get enough attention we bring you this:
Now, is he being ironic or has there been a change of heart? Because if he read the entire paragraph he would have noticed that 50 years ago (you know the good ol’ days) our local officials were in favor of funding teacher salaries and backed plans for home rule!! Two issues that Kirby has been on the other side of! So when will we fix it ole #? When you and your little comrade and others like you stop being so terrible!! That’s when!
We wish that was all we had to share, but it isn’t. In the comments our most honorable District 5 representative was NOT done:
Grrr. This makes your Lady Yokels want to break all the things!
Not quite Kirby…not quite.
So readers, any guesses why we don’t have a League of Male Voters? Maybe, just maybe, it has something do with the fact that every single white male has had the right to vote since 1856. That’s right people, in 1856 North Carolina was the last State to remove property qualifications as a prerequisite to vote. Therefore, since before the Civil War there have not been any barriers for a white male to vote in this country. NONE. Women and minorities, however, were imprisoned, killed, threatened and intimidated in an attempt to keep them from the ballot box well into the 20th century. In case this is new to you Councilman Delauter , you can listen to this songthat will give you a nice little introduction to what women went through in order to secure our right to be a citizen of this great country.
So when we see someone joking about there needing to be a League of Male Voters it makes us a little cray cray. The League of Women Voters was established to get women the vote and then continued on as an organization to help women advocate for policy issues. They are non partisan, and if you have ever seen their members at our local council members you know how articulate these ladies are. Stating that there needs to be a League of Male Voters is akin to advocating for a White Men’s History Month. Every month, until we gals and minority groups decided not to stand for it anymore, was White Men’s History Month! And you would be hard pressed to convince anyone that white men’s contributions don’t figure largely in today’s history curriculum.
Tired of saying this…Kirby stop being awful on Facebook. And everywhere else for that matter! We sure hope he isn’t on the side of some Trump voters who want to repeal the 19th amendment.
PSA- Don’t forget early voting started yesterday. If you aren’t registered to vote you can still register during the early voting period. Make sure you get out and act like the good American citizen we know you are!
Three hours people! Three hours we suffered tonight. Your Nasty Lady Yokels were commenting to one another throughout tonight’s fracas how boooring Kirby and Billy’s antics have become. It used to be mildy amusing to watch, then infuriating, and now we are oh so melancholy about them. It’s kind of like the five stages of grief. The five stages of watching Shrelauter:
Stage One: Benign Amusement
Stage Two: Disbelief
Stage Three: Horror
Stage Four: Clinical Depression
Stage Five: A new found purpose to make sure that these two never get elected again so we can have a functional county government.
Digression over. Let’s wrap up tonight’s display.
Vote of no from you know who on the agenda. His wonder twin utters yes as though it’s some kind of brave protest against saying the proper aye. Budget amendments passed.
High Sheriff is in the house for discussion of the noise ordinance. Seems annoyed with Shreve. Doesn’t want how often noise meters need to be calibrated written into ordinance. Wonder what stage of Shrelauter the Sheriff is on? Will be voted on November 1.
Now it’s time for the long awaited presentation about Citizens and Montevue. Here’s some slides for you to peruse:
There’s more to it, so you can always watch that part of the meeting if you want to see the whole thing. And you know that two people are going to be upset about this. Kirby admits that even though he had all of the documents pertaining to this since May, he didn’t read it because it could have changed! That’s right, no reading until Kirby is sure nothing will change. Billy pipes up, “Look how much the MOU changed.” So, basically, even though these two have complained for months that they wanted the information, they’ve had it since May! But nobody told them it wasn’t going to change!! So keep your comments to yourselves! Kirby then wastes everyone’s time talking about National vs. State vs. Aurora’s averages when it comes to different measures of the nursing home. And we are glad to hear that Aurora is doing well, since they are going to continue providing care. However, at this point, he’s just wasting everyone’s time. Billy chimes in trying to land zingers which fall to the ground like burnt out fire works. He is met on every point by Doug and Lori. Later, during his council member comments, he compares the presentation to something you would watch on TV with a beer (not sure what he’s watching), but we wholly disagree. Thanks for all you do Doug and Lori!
We break before the hotel hearing for ten minutes. Doug is back and goes over some of the changes to the MOU. There are more pro speakers than con (again). Kirby decides to read a letter from Randy Cohen into the record. Jessica wants three minutes put on the clock since technically this is public comment. Kirby and Billy throw mantantrums and shut her down. Bud asks them to treat each other with respect to which Kirby screams, “That’s right we have a civility code!” Sigh. Why does one citizen get the right to read his email into the record by a council member? Kirby claims its because he has skin in this game. But we can’t help but feel how unfair this is. If it was so important to him then Mr. Cohen should have showed up to the meeting or had a representative do so. Kirby should not be reading one citizen’s letter into the record, thereby giving the appearance that his opinion is more important. M.C. tries once again to redirect the discussion back to the task at hand. Which is approving an MOU in which the county will only contribute. $2.8 million for public improvements. The county has no hand in anything else to do with this. Tony steps in with THAT tone. You know ladies, that mansplaining tone that he only seems to get with M.C. and Jessica. WE DO NOT CARE FOR IT ONE BIT. MOU is passed 4-3.
…..Council Member Comments…….
Just horrible. Kirby’s upset. Calls Main Street money the Great Bribe Back. Lets us know that Obama Care is killing everyone. That’s right everyone! Tony’s mad about a letter that he agrees with but since he thinks it’s all about electing Democrats, it’s bad. He’s got some words about Billy’s uncle and the way he was treated. And then so does Billy, claims is the third time he’s seen this situation, but of course no details. So there!
M.C. says she goes next to last because she feels like she always needs to clean up on Aisle 5. And LOL! Is there a dust pan big enough to contain Shrelauter? Says she has documents about the whole situation on Ijamsville Road which shows some fault lies upon the homeowner. We really feel for M.C. she always tries to bring the outliers back to task. It’s a hard exasperating job, and we really appreciate her for it!
So if you are like us, and we are going to assume you are since you are reading, you have been anxiously awaiting the results from our last poll in which you picked out ringtones for the members of the council. We are going to have to apologize in advance to anyone who happens to be nearby when the phones ring. It could get embarrassing.
Ermahgerd, can you believe who is calling us???
And finally our infotainment selection:
It’s pretty hard to follow up those polls. So much serious stuff is going on at the national level. Is it election day yet?
So to try to keep things light(ish), we have this week’s poll. Have you been keeping up with the proposed downtown hotel? What is your verdict?
frederick local yokel 