Minutes
Town Meeting
Emmitsburg Town Office
January 23, 2008

Present:  Mayor James Hoover; Commissioners Clifford Sweeney, Glenn Blanchard, Denise Etris and Christopher Staiger, President. Also present were Donna DesPres and Dave Haller, Town Manager.
Absent:  Commissioner Joyce Rosensteel, with prior notice

Call to Order  Commissioner Christopher Staiger, President of the Board of Commissioners, called the January 23, 2008 Town Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

Approval of Minutes The Minutes of the December 17, 2007 and January 7, 2008 Town Meetings were before the Council for approval. The Minutes were approved as presented.

Commissioner Comments
Commissioners Blanchard and Etris highlighted their public activities and Commissioner Sweeney pointed out that several street lights need to be repaired.

Mayor's Comments
He spoke of his attendance also to the MSM Partnership concert and the upcoming event and announced that construction is near completion on the pavilion at the pool.

Administrative Business
Commissioner Staiger and Mr. Haller discussed Frederick County processes while formulating their comp plan. Mr. Haller stated that Emmitsburg, in essence, does have a moratorium on residential development as there is no land available unless annexation takes place.

Commissioner Staiger also reported on his review of the submitted HR audit report, that this document did a superior job as to identifying needs, providing protection for employees and residents, kudos.

Other items mentioned were committee members lists (Etris), upcoming parking violation to court and accident on Main Street (Blanchard). In relation to the Main Street accident, the Mayor requested of staff that the owner be contacted re removing temporary awning supports for safety issues.

Mayor Hoover also relayed information from the Mason-Dixon country club development which consists of about 1150 homes in Pennsylvania bordering Maryland. It includes 2 golf courses- - 6-7 holes and 406 estate homes will be located in Maryland- - but it isn't as big an impact as the proposed Liberty Twp development. They already have permitting and their water supply will come from Marsh Creek, there will be some commercial impact, and does not touch Emmitsburg's growth boundary.

Reports:

Town Manager Report - reported on the public works department monthly activities to include a water production and consumption analysis.

Police Report - In DFC Gast absence (5 week Reserve duty) Sgt. Blundell presented the December report. She announced that Deputy Jones is leaving and there's no replacement yet. They conducted a big commercial vehicle operation January 22. Upon Commissioner Blanchard's inquiry, Sgt. Blundell said that the bicycle rodeo for this year, will be planned in February. Commissioner Staiger asked if any other programs are offered regarding child safety, etc. Sgt. Blundell reported that Middletown had a child police academy last year and the Department is hoping to do in the same in Emmitsburg this summer. Detailed report at Exhibit B.

Agenda Items

Planner Appointment

Mayor Hoover provided the Board an information packet of candidate and outline of the hiring process to include review of about 18 applicants. He had 2 interviews and stated that the candidate is "a good fit for this community". Mr. Haller also sat in on the interviews and commented that he was impressed with the candidate's spectrum of knowledge, "excellent addition to our staff" Commissioner Sweeney made inquiry of how much has been expended for the temporary consultant. Commissioner Staiger added that if the candidate is approved, that person will be on salary and the consultant will continue to work with the planning commission through the comp plan process. Commissioner Etris was bothered about the preliminary letter of offer subject to acceptance by board. Commissioner Staiger expressed disturbance that the process did not allow review by the commissioners, that the Board needs input to this high position.

Motion: To direct town manager to prepare a proposal that would allow the Board to participate directly in the interview and approval process for potential employees at a grade 11 or grade 12 position.
Motion by Commissioner Staiger, second by Commissioner Blanchard
Vote: 4-0 in favor

Motion: To extend the offer of employment as included in the proposal to the potential candidate, and that projects conducted by the town planner, town clerk and town manager that require more than 32 hours of their time, require the preparation of a workplan describing the plan, expectations/goals and timeline for completion; and failure of those persons to prepare those documents are potential grounds for dismissal.
Motion by Commissioner Staiger, second by Commissioner Blanchard
Mayor Hoover stated his concern with making the workplan motion in with the hiring of the individual- -that they should be 2 separate issues and dealt with separately.
Vote: 3-1, Sweeney opposed

Commissioner Staiger said that this is not anything to which someone of this caliber to provide would be a burden. He stated his desire to know what is going on with these major projects. He would first like to assign projects to the planner regarding the development ordinances.

Motion: For the planner to review the development ordinances and prepare a package of recommendation as to potential changes that currently exist in the town code.
Motion by Commissioner Staiger, second by Commissioner Blanchard
Upon Commissioner Etris' suggestion of timeline, Commissioner Staiger said that a timeline would be part of the package
Vote: 4-0 in favor

Motion: For the planner to review and make recommendation for a process for providing an APFO, sources maybe being the one previously supplied by former Commissioner O'Neil, other towns', coming up with own plan, etc.
Motion by Commissioner Staiger, second by Commissioner Blanchard
Vote: 4-0 in favor

Water Update

Mr. Haller: only 2 feet below spillway at Rainbow Lake, slowest of entity to improve, 2.8 feet below normal on wells ( have been below 9 feet), deficit is now only 2.3 inches of rainfall, consumption is still normal for this period to past years. Recommends maintaining status quo regarding restrictions, as it's not a hardship since nothing is going on outside anyway during this season. Commissioner Blanchard asked if the town still has a grease trap problem? Mr. Haller responded, yes that he is getting information from Frederick County to come up with an ordinance that would be functional for Emmitsburg i.e., making provisions for restaurants in old buildings.

FY 2007 Audit Presentation

Michele Mills, of Draper and McGinley outlined the fiscal year 2007 audit reports, pointing out that governments now must produce 2 sets of statements: government-wide and fund-level statements. She answered Board questions and entertained Commissioner Staiger's concern of the difference of pension actuary debt from the presentation date to the date of enrollment.

Set Agenda Items for next Meeting

• Review of HR audit recommendations
• Review of FY 2008 capital improvements budget

Public Comments

Adjournment With no further Business, the January 23, 2008 Town Meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

Date Approved: February 4, 2008