M.C. Keegan-Ayer – Page 5 – frederick local yokel

These council member comments are going to do us in….Your July 5th meeting report!

July 6, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

We'll let you decide who we are talking about. — We’ll let you decide who we are talking about.

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:

Notice requirement shrunk to 2 days from 2 weeks to change a bill.
Notice requirement shrunk to 2 days from 2 weeks to make a change to the budget.
Council given until May 31st to review budget.

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.

Refuse the refuse: off gassing of the landfill discussion

June 29, 2016June 29, 2016 fclocalyokel6 Comments

Oh, man. Tread carefully around the landfill workshop held at Kirby’s behest. By the time we got through the new business, day drinking seemed like an attractive option. It seems that ‘ol Hashtag thought he was going to get a constituent issue addressed by calling the Waste Management staff out so he and his drinking buddies could needle them about how they figure out if people are allowed to bring trash from outside the county and dump it in our landfill or not, which is not allowed. There’s some cautioning from staff about making imprudent decisions that could inadvertently drastically increase the amount of trash, filling the landfill faster.

There is some general agreement amongst thinking council persons and county attorneys alike that if a legislative issue is going to be solved, a bill is needed. A mystery person will have to identify the problem and draft said bill, because the person who needs to understand how all this works has no idea what everyone else might be talking about. His main point in a nutshell seems to be, “I know about a complaint my constituent has. No one else thinks it is a problem. No one else will fix it for me, but if you don’t do what I want, I will continue to waste vast amounts of time AND be a loud mouthed blowhard.”

The fact that constituent issues are not on the agenda for discussion at this time prompts a huge Delauterburst man-tantrum during the staff briefing. And you don’t have to take our word for it, because did Kirby Delauter take his tantrum to social media (also, it’s at about 43 mins on the archived video)? Well, does a bear poo in the woods? You betcha. Look at that. He didn’t even have to write this himself.

STFU morans. — “…have never ran?” You don’t say…well, we wouldn’t say that, but whatever. Language evolves, right? Semantics also take a big role in this whole brouhaha.

Bud tries to move on and thank the staff for their help during the briefing, and Billy cuts him short to say they aren’t done yet, and then says, “It’s like Romper Room in here.” Bud quietly offers back, “Sure is.” lololololololllllllllllll (indeed).

Billy and Kirby should watch Romper Room and refresh their manners.

Jessica proposes a workshop regarding human trafficking, because several counties have task forces applicable to the issue. And between the lines, right? If we are going to have a prominent former (and yet still aspiring politician) soliciting hookers, it becomes a pet local concern. Billy then says that there are lots of groups both for and against this issue, at which point we have to feel so grateful to Jerry Donald for saying (in the appropriate appalled voice) what we were shouting at our screens, “THERE ARE GROUPS THAT ARE FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING?!?!?!?!?!” To which Billy mutters, “Well yah…depending on how you define human trafficking…” Good grief. The Confederacy lost, right? That passes 5-2 and we know you know which marionettes didn’t vote for that, right?

Billy has a whole festering bunch of ideas for workshops, making the entire New Business section of the agenda a train wreck. It’s hard to distill a word cloud of Billy’s brain into a cogent prose form. They are not even fully formed thoughts as Billy brings them forth as motions to add to the agenda, in most cases, and the others (with particular kudos to the patience of M.C. Keegan-Ayer here) try to divine what he means and reword these vague notions into something that can be worked within a “yea/nay” decision making format. This section is entirely analogous to his previous legislative priority to send to Annapolis, “Understanding what regulations impede the operation of roadside hot dog stands.” New readers, we swear we are not making this up.

These are various ideas along the lines of, “Understand how citizens make claims against the county, or how the county administers claims, what zoning stuff is obsolete, what it takes to file a complaint, a reasonable timeline for complaints, oh wait I mean for complying with zoning and building violations.” There are points at which Tony Chmelik seems to try and talk some sense into him, but he derides the need for word smithery. As though effective communication has no purpose in legislating. Tony notes that phone calls could be made to find out information.

Jerry Donald also suggests using email. Billy and Jerry repeatedly go at it, because Billy is peeved that you can’t just have a meeting every time he would rather not do anything like wait for a constituent concern, address it with legislation, and discuss it in a pertinent public hearing at that time. When Jerry Donald has to give an impromptu workshop on “How the County Council Works,” he gets called an elitist. It’s a point Billy throws at him repeatedly, when he continues to allude to the fact in rather diplomatic (if impatient) terms that he is wasting everyone’s valuable time. Not to be lost: knowing how to do your job is elitist in B.S. World.

Another infuriating problem through all of this is that Billy accuses the government of being dysfunctional because it is meant to follow a clear procedure, yet he seems to be on an open door lets-look-for-problems-no-one-has-identified-yet fact finding mission, so that someone–but definitely not him or Kirby—can write some new legislation.

Please, Frederick County, at the next local election let’s take out our trash.

The June 21 meeting continues…and it ain’t good folks.

June 22, 2016 fclocalyokel1 Comment

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!

Is our Billy learning? naw.

June 15, 2016 fclocalyokel1 Comment

This was a quick one, and mercifully there is no drama to report back on. Assistant County Attorney Kathy Mitchell presented a summary of the APFO bill to extend the provisions beyond the current sunset date of July 20, 2016.

We are noticing a pattern that we find kind of humorous. Billy doesn’t read anything, of course. That’s what workshops are for. Avoiding the homework. He didn’t read the APFO legislation, and certainly not the Aurora contract (which comes up in the new business). He just asks the same questions multiple times and then announces, “Exactly,” in affirmation that the person enduring this does indeed know what they are talking about. As though he has done some honorable service by elucidating the matter with his perverted version of Socratic method.

New Business was fun. If you enjoy a Joseph Heller novel, definitely watch the New Business item of “How are we supposed to add a new business item?” Billy comes up with a bunch of reasons to have a workshop, which is no surprise, and they pass sorta unanimously with 5 ayes and 2 yeses. We would like to suggest that Billy and Kirby go with yeah and naw instead of yea and nea, as is befitting of their dignity.

MC Keegan-Ayer is at one point compelled to explain the branches of local government and how they function to the ever curious former county commissioner. Here’s some School House Rock that could help a Billy out.

Also there’s a good part where Billy inadvertently explains the problems that can occur with impermeable surface construction, but of course he has no idea that he did that. He is truly a marvel of Frederick County politics.

Oh, no snark here: Jerry Donald wants a workshop on what to do with blighted properties. Sounds like a plan.

Did you ever hear the one about the two guys who walked into a workshop?

May 24, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Oh midnight, you may never come out then.

There’s a workshop this evening and we are a little afraid to watch. There’s been so much animosity this week in Frederick politics we aren’t sure how this is going to play out. (Can we say we feel really bad for M.C, Jessica , Jerry and, to some extent, Tony.) Only two items on the docket: Adopting the amendments to council procedures and a discussion of solar utility projects. We’ll let you know what happens but y’all may owe us a drink or two or three….

Is it opposite day? Because that’s the only way this makes any sense.

May 20, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

The big news this week was President Otis’ announcement that he was leaving the Republican Party. We wrote two pieces on this topic yesterday. We here at the Yokel don’t blame him one bit considering how he’s been treated by Shrelauter and their cronies on the watch page. We’ve watched every SINGLE council meeting and have seen first hand the rude, snarky comments these two have made towards Bud. Just search through our plentiful archives and you’ll find copious examples of their abhorrent behavior. So when we read through the FNP article about Bud’s political affiliation, we were quite perplexed by Shrelauter’s statements. Kirby wants us pretend we’re all new here:

“Bud Otis doesn’t know me very well. I don’t intimidate very easily. I will stand up for what I think is right,” Delauter said. “I ran for office to change things and make the county a better place.” He added that he doesn’t think he’s created conflicts on the council. “If you look at the tapes, I’m pretty calm. I’m speaking my mind,” Delauter said. “That’s what my constituents keep asking me to do.”

Woden hear our cries for mercy!!! Who does this guy think he’s talking to? We’ve seen him get combative with Bud during the ethics bill discussions, we’ve seen him throw a hissy fit and storm off the dais just a few weeks ago when his budget amendments were soundly defeated. We know from his BOCC days that he screamed at fellow commissioner David Gray, lashed out at a county employee and went after a middle school teacher in the FNP. Calm is the last adjective we would use to describe #kirbydelauter. In fact, he got his # nickname because he flew off the handle at a local reporter and demanded that she not use his name. Our nice little county got a lot of national press because of that hot mess. You don’t get to re-invent yourself, Kirby, just because you have your eye on the CE office. We all have your number.

Now it’s Shreve’s turn to give his insightful, articulate opinion on Bud’s decision. Just kidding!! Here’s what he had to say:

Shreve, who has said Otis is “a trained monkey by the Democrats” in Facebook posts, said he hasn’t lodged personal attacks against Otis, but he will.

“Tell him to hang on, because it’s just getting started,” Shreve said Thursday.

Oh really? Just getting started. We heard him say on WFMD that we libs monitor his Facebook page. If you call reading what comes in our feed monitoring…then YES. And in those feeds we’ve seen him call Bud names like Turncoatis on his Councilman page tons of times. Now Billy also claimed on the radio that the Democrats on the council have had it with Bud. Did he check with them? Cause it seems like M.C. has a different view:

“The citizens elected us to do our job. We were elected to be legislators. So far, there has been a dearth of legislation from the folks complaining,” Keegan-Ayer said. “You can’t just sit there and lob grenades all day long. Do the job you were elected to do.”

It's always something. Never, ever anything constructive from these two. Not ever! — It’s always something. Never, ever anything constructive from these two. Not ever!

A Tale of Two Counties…Your May 17th meeting rundown.

May 17, 2016May 18, 2016 fclocalyokel5 Comments

We’ve finally figured it out readers! We are living in an alternative reality than Shrelauter and, on occasion, Tony. It’s the only way this all makes any sense.

First let’s thank Baby Fitzwater for allowing his/her mommy to be in attendance during this very important meeting. Without her there…shiver…we don’t even want to think what would have happened.

Tony starts off the meeting trying to get the 6th item pulled off the agenda and wants to have clarification over what is a budget transfer and what is a supplemental appropriation.

On a side note-Kirby is saying yes instead of aye now. He used to say aye, but now he’s adopted Billy’s idiotic manner of using yes. Isn’t he such a brave rebel?

After Billy predictably votes against approving past meeting minutes, we are off on a discussion on bond offerings. There will be two bond series, A and B. A will pay for government projects such as schools, roads and other improvements. B is a refinance on the note that was taken out three years ago to pay for Montevue/Citizens nursing home. And hey, we think we’ve found Billy’s Pavlovian response. Because holy hell, he won’t let it go. He has to be told by two separate people that this is to simply refinance a note that needs to be paid off, but he wants to know everything about the nursing homes right this very second. Tony gets confused about debt financing debt, which is not what this is. And it’s never easy for our county employees is it?

Now, brace yourself because it’s time to vote on the budget and capital improvement projects. Tony is right out of the gate with his: I’m very sorry but I cannot vote on this budget. Next it’s time for Kirby.

Well Yokels, we knew we wouldn’t get out of this one unscathed. It is ridiculous to Kirby that the council only cut out $210,000 from this budget. It should have been more! And did you know the county council members are just cookie cutters to the County Executive’s budget (drink!)? Of course, and let’s not forget that Kirby believes they are giving the impression that they are handling this with the savoir-faire of drunken sailors, as well.

You didn’t think he was going to let this time go without pointing out that Jessica and Jerry vote on their salaries did you?

Jerry is the star of this evening.

It's so very hard, we feel for you Mr. Donald. — It’s so very hard, we feel for you Mr. Donald.

Jerry sees this as a teachable moment. Too bad his students are Billy and Kirby. He reminds them if they actually met with department heads and sat down with the County Executive then maybe, just maybe, they would have seen more of what they wanted in the budget. After all, the time for negotiation is before the budget is written. Jerry pointed out that Kirby wanted to pull $1 million from the education budget.* To which Kirby sarcastically replies, “The children will suffer.” He then points out that the former BOCC actually raised taxes which elicits a bait and switch comment from Kirby. Jerry then has to point out that Kirby does not know what bait and switch means (kinda like Billy doesn’t understand what a wedding crasher is). There are some more words exchanged which made your Yokel ladies wonder if there will be a fist fight later on.

Jessica adds that she will not cut the budget just for the sake of cutting. The community and department heads said they wanted to see these things in the budget, and that is what is happening. You hear that Shrelauter?! Pay better attention next year! You don’t get to pretend you did something just because you attempt to cut a million things out of the budget after the fact! Bud ends this portion of the meeting with: “We’ve had a good discussion, well we’ve had a discussion. Let’s vote” Passes 4-3.

Tax rate stays at $1.06. All except two appointments pass with 7-0, Shreve being the only hold out on two. He probably blocked them on Twitter like he did to us as well. Animal control bequest goes off without a hitch and then we have our historical designation hearing on Glenellen Farm. We had a very nice presentation about the history of this property and Lady Thompson’s school that once existed there. This will be voted on at the next meeting. Public comment is one guy that Kirby gave a sheet to read from and then it’s time for council member comments.

Shade Trees and Evergreens is the popular theme this evening.

Kirby starts off the talk with how the county has ruined these poor people’s lives. But hey he’s also not saying that people should go out and do whatever they want. Then again if they’ve gotten away with it for 10 years, then it’s fine. Since they weren’t caught, it gives them immunity, right? But even though they were in the wrong the county shouldn’t bring the hammer down on them. The county is a train wreck. A train wreck he says! Making businesses follow the rules is running them out of the county.

Billy is so very sorry about the tax increase, folks! And the county is targeting the wedding venues. That’s right! Targeting them. Since the fire marshal has not produced any papers for Billy, Jan is a liar. And we just have to wait for the rest of this to come out!

Tony also insinuates that Jan is lying about the fire marshal. His solution? Let the venue operate until the end of the year, don’t let them use the bathrooms, and then close them down and fine the Dickens out of them!

M.C. is the first voice of reason on this subject. She wants to know if her fellow council members are really advocating for businesses to not follow the proper procedures. After all, this particular business had been warned and did nothing to correct the situation. And she is getting calls from legitimate businesses who are upset that the three amigos are advocating for a business that is run by people who thought they were above the law. She hopes that there aren’t two separate set of laws in this county.

Bud finishes off this discussion by informing us that he saw some evidence that they haven’t even had their gas lines inspected. So we are talking about a possible explosion here folks.

Bud says it doesn’t matter if nothing has happened in the past, that doesn’t excuse them. And if anything were to happen in the future shame on them all! Why can’t they see this? What is the matter with these three? Leave your diagnosis in the comments!

Frederick County politics strikes again.

* This is a correction. The county council did not take $1 million from the education budget as was previously noted. Jerry was pointing out to Kirby that his budget took $1 million dollars away from the schools. Your lady Yokels apologize for any confusion.

Robert’s Rules of Pavlov…an exploration of a county workshop.

May 10, 2016May 11, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

It's really something when that happens. — It’s really something when that happens.

We must start this post off with a hearty thanks to our Fire and Rescue volunteers and employees. The first part of the workshop was a discussion of proposed amendments to the County Code concerning Fire and Rescue Services. The gentlemen that presented the amendments were very professional and thankfully didn’t have to put up with any nonsense.

Second item on the agenda was amendments to county council procedures. M.C. was up first and she mistakenly uttered the word “ethics,” which was a GIANT mistake. She hasn’t received the memo that would have informed her when you say the word “ethics” this causes a Pavlovian response in Kirby that none of us have figured out how to control!

Even though M.C’s amendment had nothing in the world to do with Kirby’s county contracts or the new ethics ordinance or really anything to do with him, you just cannot say this word in his presence. If you do prepare for the outrage and hurt feelings and proclamations of: “Well you’ve got to just live with it.” So much nonsense. Jessica tried to explain to Kirby this was a separate conversation about a separate issue, but the damage had already been done. Seems like we are going to have to come up with a good synonym for ethics if we want to avoid a situation like this in the future. This amendment also spurs a whole Robert’s Rules tirade from Billy. He wants to borrow M.C.’s copy!!!! The Chief of Staff informs Billy that there are copies of the book in the Council’s bookshelf. And Bahaha!! Do you really expect Billy to know where that is? First off, Billy wants to know what version of Robert’s Rules we are following and if he read his own council procedures (which is only 15 pages man!) he would have seen this:

Then attorney Chomel reads off the definition of misconduct at meetings and it’s as though they have watched Billy in action! Seriously though, let’s help Billy out. Here’s an amazon link to the latest version of Robert’s Rules: http://www.amazon.com/Roberts-Rules-Order-Revised-Paperback/dp/030682020X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462919573&sr=8-1&keywords=Roberts+rules make sure you ship it to:

Councilman Billy Shreve
Winchester Hall
12 East Church Street
Frederick, MD 21701

This way Billy will never be unprepared again! Or even better, you know what might help?

Robert’s Rules for Dummies

Choose whichever one you think is more appropriate!

M.C. also wants an amendment to eliminate the Treasurer position for the council. Her argument is that the Chief of Staff can assume that as part of their duties. Tony has some objections, says that if the Chief of Staff assumes this duty rather than an actual treasurer then we are not being transparent to the public. M.C. accuses him of being disingenuous about this, and hold on there lady…Do you not know that Tony is not accustomed to being questioned by the female human? This sends him into a petulant rage for the next 15 minutes. Refuses to vote on Jessica’s motion, on a totally unrelated topic.

Lastly, Billy’s amendments. The first one is DOA, because he cannot convince enough of the members that they don’t have enough time to speak during the agenda. His second one concerning public comment at the beginning and end passes with a change. The first session of public commenting cannot exceed 15 minutes. (We enjoyed Jerry’s comment about how if a member of the public cannot be articulate in their first 2 minutes it’s unlikely they will find their inner Abe Lincoln in the third.) After all, M.C. points out, we can’t expect county staff to sit around here all evening. Council member comments will stay at the end as will unlimited time for the public to speak. New Business is also allowed to be put on the agenda with the stipulation that no discussion will take place. Billy tried to say this was necessary because of the Great Wedding Venue Debacle of 2016, but he was quickly shut down with the voices of reason. After all, time is needed to gather all the necessary information to make a rational, thoughtful decision. So yes new items can be introduced, but no yapping about them until next time!

Next week is the big budget vote!!! Frederick politics is never boring this time of year!

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to the workshop we go!

May 10, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Only two items on this evening’s workshop:

But uh-oh, there’s been some trouble lately with Kirby and the fire department concerning some amendments and criticism of the Fire Marshal’s decision to shut down a local business. So we’ll have to see how this all plays out. The Council Rules of Procedure has been bumped back a few times now. Let’s not forget Billy is trying to make it so he can talk all the time on anything without any restrictions. We’ll let you know how it all pans out. Tis another week in Frederick politics.

The dog and pony show continued…pony stomps dog to death.

May 4, 2016May 5, 2016 fclocalyokel1 Comment

As you read in our first report on the sick dog and pony show this evening Kirby spent quite some time coming up with an alternative budget. We rejoin our fine coverage at the hearing to establish the property tax rate. Not a single speaker was on hand to utter a negative word about keeping the rate at $1.06. Some fine points were made in fact, and we are very happy that people actually realize that our government funds some really necessary services for our county. And District 5 why did you saddle us with Kirby when you had an excellent alternative in Mark Long? We want answers! Final vote on the rate will be held on May 17th.

We are so very sorry, dear readers, but we cannot sit through any more of Kirby’s amendments. He tells us that Meals on Wheels is an excellent program on one hand, and with the other he has his scissors out to cut the entire $23,000 county contribution. We have to move ahead to the Council member comments.

Kirby’s up first and man oh man, hasn’t he talked enough tonight? You would think all of his dead amendments would be enough to humble him, but NOOO. He wants $150,000 for bus transportation to Mother Seton school. That’s right he wants bus transportation to a private school. He also adds that Jan should be down on her hands and knees thanking the last BOCC. Without their business friendly policies she wouldn’t have all the extra greenbacks to spend. Don’t hold your breath Kirbo! Then he ends with a very contradictory statement about how the nursing home is run pretty good right now but will still destroy us all in the end.

It’s Billy’s turn.

Sorry Princess Kitty, it'll be over soon. — Sorry Princess Kitty, it’ll be over soon.

You know something Yokels? As much as we disagree with just about everything that came out of Tony and Kirby’s mouth tonight, at least they did something. Billy had nothing to offer. Besides screaming “second” to Kirby’s amendments he had nothing original to contribute. So why should we expect anything of substance at comment time? One sentence comes out of his mouth: It’s sad we couldn’t get a Republican majority on the board…we supposedly have one. So we guess county council meetings are really just a war for Billy. R’s vs. D’s. How’s that been working out for ya? He then disappears. That’s right, he walks right out.

Jerry is up. And oh how so refreshing it is to hear a grown up talk. He points out that those members who actually sat down with the County Executive and voiced their concerns, didn’t have to make a million amendments and waste everyone’s time. Imagine that, working together to come up with a budget instead of putting on an embarrassing show. It’s revolutionary!

Jessica points out the BOCC’s budgets always went up and in fact they grew at a faster rate than those proposed by the County Executive. Huh.

Tony doesn’t have a problem raising taxes.(!) He wants us to know, however, that the economy will NEVER be like those of the past.

M.C. thanks the staff and commends them for coming out on their own time to defend their budgets against Kirby’s cuts. And yes, these poor people. To be a fly on the wall during their Happy Hour.

Bud feels bad that Kirby spent so much time and money on his budget. (Please don’t Bud!) He lets Kirby know that he feels you get further ahead when you sit down and talk to people then when you fight them from afar. Bud speaks of allowing Kirby’s amendments to be presented, to which Kirby starts his back sassing and subsequently storms out. Probably to join Billy at wherever they go to slam back the Fireballs. Bud ignores the petulant man child to finish his remarks with his usual style and grace. President Otis, you can’t reason with that man, it isn’t even worth your breath.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: