MINUTES

TOWN MEETING

April 20, 2015

Emmitsburg Town Office

 

Present:  Mayor Donald Briggs; Commissioners Clifford Sweeney, Joseph Ritz III, Jennifer Mellor, Glenn Blanchard and Tim O’Donnell, President.

Staff present were Cathy Willets, Town Clerk; Jerry Muir, Zoning Technician; and Dave Haller, Town Manager.

I.      Call to Order

Commissioner Tim O’Donnell, President of the Board of Commissioners, called the April 20, 2015 Town Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

 

Mayor Briggs introduced Simon Newman, President of Mount Saint Mary’s. Mr. Newman addressed the Board and gave an overview of what he would like to see accomplished in the next ten years.

 

Approval of Minutes

The Minutes of the April 6, 2015 Town Meeting were approved as presented.

 

Commissioner Comments

Commissioner(s) cited attendances, recognitions and announcements which included congratulations to the Emmitsburg Baseball and Softball league starting off new season and that the state championship will be held in Emmitsburg again this summer. Appreciation of the painting of the pool; looks good. The trails look in good shape; work done last year is still holding up well and the signage is appreciated.  There have been 100 hours of volunteer work done on the trails and that hunting season is now open. Town clerk was thanked for help in getting MML registration done for Commissioner Blanchard. It was announced that the County Executive Budget is online now. Some concerns for staff to be looked into were property at 810 W Main Street looks vacant and non-maintained as well as a lot of loose gravel on sidewalks and curbs around town.

                                               

Mayor’s Comments

Mayor Briggs cited that overall it was a good month. He attended the Mount St. Mary’s Athletic Advisory meeting; announced the sudden death of Chief Gaines of FEMA; thanked the Mount’s Rugby team.  There were teams in from Canada for a two day tournament that brought a lot of people to Emmitsburg; thanked Commissioner O’Donnell’s family for growing flowers in front of the pregnancy center and announced that the local boy scout troop out of St. Joseph’s will be maintaining the flowers across from Jubilee.

 

At this time President O’Donnell acknowledged Roger A. Wilson, Government Affairs & Policy Director, who addressed the Board briefly stating it was good to be here and that he, along with the County Executive, met with SHA TAC group on the update for the proposal on signage and there will be a meeting early May to present this.

 

Administrative Business

·         Power Star presentation by Todd Otis, Facility Resource Group, distributor of Power Star. This is an energy saving system that can reduce kWh usage. Staff would like the first phase to be at the pumping station and will cost about $17,000 dollars which is already in the budget. Mayor received support from the Board.

·         Multi-user trail- Commissioner O’Donnell handed out trail maps for review which shows they are changing the alignment. The pink trail is to be more kid friendly and the orange trail is to be more beginner friendly. There was unanimous consent from the Board for builder to move forward to start flagging trails.

·         Community garden- town staff will acquire new mulch and additional mushroom compost; will go back to the deposit program. Opening day will be May 10, 2015.

 

 

Consent Agenda - none

 

Reports:

Town Manager Report - reported on the public works department monthly activities to include a water production and consumption analysis. Mr. Haller highlighted that the wells came up 5 feet in one month; town is at a surplus of 5.5 inches over the last six month period. There were no spills this month but town did exceed the sewer plants design capacity on 11 days which are listed in the report. Town Planners Report - Mr. Haller highlighted the big project staff is working on right now is the comp plan which is scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on April 27, 2015.  Detailed report at Exhibit A.

 

Police Report - Deputy Patterson reported on March 2015 police activity.  Detailed report at Exhibit B.

 

II.        Agenda Items

 

SHIP – Students Homelessness Initiative Partnership Presentation

Mr. Long from Thurmont introduced Mr. Ed Hinde, Executive Director of SHIP, as a very caring and determined individual. Mr. Hinde addressed the Board and explained how he first became aware of student homelessness. He defined homelessness is a child without a stable place to sleep at night. There are 736 homeless students in this county and 80 are in the feeder system of Catoctin High School. He is asking the Board to consider hosting a community forum. Mayor Briggs stated that he feels Emmitsburg has the resources and volunteers to pull this together quickly.  Commissioner Sweeney asked Mr. Wilson if he could contact County Executive to see why liaisons were taken out of the school.                                                                                                                                                 

 

Presentation on savings from LED street light conversion

The Board received a copy of the stats. Jerry Muir gave a presentation using the street light numbers not infrastructure. The LED installation started in mid 2013. He stated that the town is down about 9 to 9.5 percent where they were before. He stated that this is significant in a very short amount of time. Mr. Haller thanked the Board for all their support. 

 

Review snow emergency plan - discussion

Mr. Haller reported that he received an email from the Director of Public Works stating that it is getting harder and harder to handle some of the snow. He told the Director he would get the Board to review. The existing plan was on page 17 of the packet. Mr. Haller spoke of some places in town where it is affected by the snow emergency plan; suggest installation of signage. Staff would like to come back with a draft with suggestions on how to do it listing the streets.

                                                                                                                                                                

Motion: - To approve staff to move forward in revision to the Snow Emergency Plan in draft form for Boards consideration.

Motion made by Commissioner Ritz and second by Commissioner Sweeney.      

                                      Vote: 5-0 in favor

 

Set Agenda Items for May 4, 2015 Town Meeting

1.      Resolution directing Planning Commission on the Comp Plan update

2.      Trash collection bids

3.      Modifications to the B1 Neighborhood Business District, Section 17-20-020 and Section 17-20-050

4.      Trail work construction – Administrative Business

5.      Free day at community pool on Heritage Day – Administrative Business

6.      Bike helmet pool pass discussion – Administrative Business

  

 III.     Public Comments - none  

 

IV.       SIGN APPROVED TEXT AMENDMENTS AND/OR RESOLUTIONS - none