Around Town

(June, 2010) Emmitsburg Community Day will be starting later than usual this year. The annual community celebration will still be on Saturday, June 26, but the festivities won’t be starting until 11:30 a.m. The games in Community Park usually start at 10 a.m., but bicyclists will be coming through town and using the park as part the MS Bike Race.

"We need to have the roads clear for bikers to get in and out," said Emmitsburg Councilwoman Denise Etris.

Another change to the usual events of Community Day is that there won’t be a parade through town. This is due to the fact that the first block of South Seton Avenue will most likely still be closed. The road closure also stopped the town from having the annual parade to open the Emmitsburg Baseball and Softball Association season.

Pool opens on June 15

The Emmitsburg Community Pool will be opening on June 15, the day after the last day of school. However, swimming options may be limited for little children. The town has closed the children’s pool to put in a children’s splash park.

Since the park won’t be open this season, the town council had wanted to put a divider in the shallow end of the adult pool to section off an area for little children. Mayor James Hoover got the idea from seeing the community pool in Braddock Heights.

However, Hoover has received an e-mail from the Frederick County Health Department, which regulates pool operation based on health issues.

"The health department most likely will not approve a divider for the pool," Hoover said.

He told the town council that he is trying to find out more information, particularly why Braddock Heights’ pool can have a divider and Emmitsburg’s pool can’t.

Recycling

During the previous nine months of offering recycling in Emmitsburg, the town’s tonnage of waste going into the county landfill has actually increased.

Town Manager Dave Haller compared the town’s waste tonnage for the first nine months of recycling versus the last nine months before recycling was instituted in the town. The tonnage increased from 713 tons to 718 tons or around 7 percent.

While Haller said he doesn’t know why the tonnage increased, he did say, "You have to look at what would it have been without recycling."

However, the town has managed to close a budget deficit in the trash collection budget by going to only a single trash pick-up each week. Prior to making the change, the budget ran a deficit of around $30,000 a year. Now the budget is breaking even.

Farmers market opens June 16

The Emmitsburg Farmers Market is set to open at 3 p.m. on Friday, June 16 in the vacant lot on South Seton Avenue next to the former Emmitsburg Community Ambulance building. The market will run from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. each Friday through September.

Ten vendors will be offering vegetables, beef, eggs, fruit, bird houses, honey and more.

This year the market also had the help of the Mount St. Mary’s Freshmen Seminar class to help increase the market’s visibility in the community. The students developed methods to promote connections with the university, raise funds and advertise the market.

Walls hired as zoning technician

Emmitsburg has hired Mark Walls as the town’s new zoning technician. The position is a 20 hour per week position without benefits. Walls previously worked for 20 years in Frederick City’s planning and zoning department. The salary for the position is $20,217 per year.