MINUTES
TOWN
MEETING
March
17, 2014
Emmitsburg
Town
Office
Present:
Mayor Donald Briggs; Commissioners Clifford
Sweeney, Christopher Staiger, Jennifer Mellor, and
Tim O’Donnell, President.
Staff
present were Vickie Felix; Sue Cipperly, Town
Planner and Dave Haller, Town Manager.
Absent: Commissioner
Blanchard, with prior notice.
_________________________________________________________________________
I.
Call
to Order
Commissioner
Tim O’Donnell, President of the Board of
Commissioners, called the March 17, 2014 Town
Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Approval
of Minutes
The
Minutes of the
March 5, 2014
Town Meeting were approved as corrected.
Commissioner
Comments
Commissioner
Sweeney announced that there was very positive
feedback from the drug awareness program.
It was very well attended and very
informative. Commissioner
O’Donnell commended staff for the removal of the
snow.
Mayor’s
Comments
Mayor
Briggs also commented on the success and
attendance of the drug awareness program.
Representatives were present from The
Knights of Columbus, the Lions Club and Sr. Joanne
from Mother Seton School.
There may be a future presentation at
Mother Seton School.
Sr. Joanne is interested in getting parents
involved. The
town has finished two steps in a three-step
process to attack this problem.
The next step is an ordinance that staff is
working on with the attorney; the town is
addressing tenant safety.
Mayor Briggs announced the upcoming Senior
Tax Credit seminar, and that the town is working
on ADA compliance to better assist those who are
challenged.
President
O’Donnell welcomed David Dunn who was in
attendance representing the County Commissioners.
Administrative
Business - none
Consent
Agenda - none
Reports:
Town
Manager’s Report
- reported on the public works department monthly
activities to include a water production and
consumption analysis.
He highlighted that the town’s water
table rose 2 feet due to the snow amount, which is
good. The
town had a precipitation surplus of 8.4 inches
over the last six months and exceeded the
plant’s design capacity on ten days in the month
of February. Town
Planner’s Report – Ms. Cipperly reported
that the subdivision and site plan for General
Dollar has been received.
She met with George Brennan, Daughters of
Charity Facilities Manager, regarding potential
interior renovations and potential parking
revisions; and, worked on the Community Legacy
grant materials for property owners which is the
50/50 match. All
agreements were sent out, still waiting for all
them to come back signed.
Detailed report at Exhibit A.
Police
Report
- Deputy Patterson reported on February 2014
police activity.
She stated that it is important to call in
any suspicious activity at the time of occurrence.
Commissioner O’Donnell gave Deputy
Patterson information in regard to canine units.
Detailed report at Exhibit B.
II. Agenda Items
Ordinance
#14-03 - Update of Town Forestation
Ms.
Cipperly, Town Planner, stated that this item was
brought forth a month ago and explained that this
is a state law that needs to be implemented
locally. The
ordinance needed some changes to comply with the
state law. The
biggest change is that it used to apply to a lot
of 40,000 square feet or greater and now is 20,000
square feet or greater.
Language is also added that will allow a
small lot to buy an easement through a banking
program within Frederick County-- there are
designated areas already.
The easement is in lieu of reforestation.
Commissioner O’Donnell asked for
clarification of the ratio requirement and Ms.
Cipperly stated that staff sends information to a
Forestry Consultant who examines the area and
determines the solution.
Some discussion ensued in regard to
pedestrian linkages on the stream way and concerns
of all existing trees being knocked down on big
lots. Ms.
Cipperly suggested modifying the ordinance on page 23, paragraph 2G by adding the language in the first sentence
after the word, “accomplished” to read “on
the subject property, or.”
Motion:
to accept Ordinance #14-03 entitled Subdivision
as amended.
Motion
made by Commissioner Sweeney, second by
Commissioner Mellor
Vote: 4-0 in favor
Set Agenda
Items for April 7, 2014 Town Meeting
-
New
sewer plant progress update from RK&K
-
Audit
report presentation
III.
Public Comments -
none
IV.
SIGN APPROVED TEXT AMENDMENTS AND/OR
RESOLUTIONS
