Minutes
Town Meeting
Emmitsburg Town Office
February 4, 2008

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

Call to Order Commissioner Christopher Staiger, President of the Board of Commissioners, called the February 4, 2008 Town Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

Approval of Minutes The Minutes of the January 21, 2008 Town Meeting were approved as submitted.

Commissioner Comments
Board members reported on their attendance at area events to include the new ambulance company ribbon cutting ceremony and Mother Seton School's appreciation event.

Mayor's Comments
He announced upcoming events: He and Mr. Haller will attend a BOCC meeting on behalf of UpCounty's request to change sponsorship. On March 12 seminars on customer service, handling difficult people and how to run effective meetings are being held for committees, staff, and council attendance. Also: MSM/Emmitsburg partnership comedy show, Frederick County chapter MML meeting to discuss tax equity and BOCC/municipal joint meeting.

Administrative Business
Commissioner Blanchard followed-up with Mr. Haller about the safety issue of accident deconstruction on East Main Street. The owner of the building has been contacted and if need be, public right-of-way allows for the Town to make the repair. For public broadcast information, Mr. Haller announced that, after midnight, some main water lines will be shut off for testing maybe resulting in a dip in pressure. Commissioner Staiger acknowledged Mr. Haller's list of major projects currently in process and to be updated every 60 days or so. Commissioner Staiger clarified the pension repayment matter after reviewing the tapes of the February 20, 2006 approval and reported that no specified time frame for repayment was voted upon. Commissioner Etris announced that she will not be at the next meeting. Commissioner Sweeney inquired about sited sewer line materials (not the Town's).

Reports:

Treasurer's Report - Commissioner Joyce Rosensteel. See attached report, Exhibit A.

Committee reports - Commissioner Blanchard reported that the Planning Commission had a productive meeting with attendance by Commissioner Staiger and a presentation by Mr. Haller on edu's, and reported that they are progressing on the properties development line and that Thurmont's making their decisions has helped Emmitsburg.
Commissioner Rosensteel reported that the Water Committee met January 15 and inquired as to how often leak detection is done. Mr. Haller answered that the consumption loss is compared every quarter at billing and the whole system is inspected every 3 years. They also addressed the replacement of resident water meters. Mr. Haller took this opportunity to give a water update: consumption has dropped and is in-line with last 2 years' at this same time, wells have fully recovered, reservoir is within 1 foot of the spillway, and recommended to drop restrictions. There was no opposition, and it will continue to be monitored.

Agenda Items

Review HR Consultant Audit

Sandy Krauer of Krauer Consulting was available to advise any Board inquiry re the audit report. Mayor Hoover presented that this audit evaluated human resources policies, procedures, employee manual, etc. and is pretty detailed in the recommendations i.e., new language, excepted practices, etc. He advised that he anticipates that this consultant would be the objective avenue for resolution of any complaint/grievance issue. Additionally, it produced a general "housecleaning" on current printed policy.
Commissioner Staiger discussed with the mayor how to approach different areas, that potential risk items should be the priority items, some are just housecleaning, and some will need to come back to the Board i.e., employee handbook. Commissioner Rosensteel introduced and Commissioner Staiger agreed to go forward to correct the things that create the greatest risk i.e., OSHA compliance, complaint process, resolution of defining exempt and non-exempt employee status. Staff is to work with the consultant to prioritize needs and move forward. There will be a monthly update and production of a revised handbook which will take care of some of the recommended policies.

Review FY 2008 Capital Improvement Projects Budget

Commissioner Staiger directed for Board committee representatives to give the mayor any budget needs requests. Mayor Hoover updated the Board on each planned project as to funding, completion dates and work in progress

Set Agenda Items for next Meeting

• BOA reappointment

Public Comments - none

Adjournment With no further Business, the February 4, 2008 Town Meeting was adjourned at 8:41 p.m.

Date Approved: February 18, 2008