Residents were told it was safe to drink the water on Thursday, September 28. following a two-day "precautionary boil water notice" enforced Tuesday, September 26. A pump had malfunctioned at the water treatment plant in the early morning hours causing high turbidity in the water supply.

The alarm went off at 1:30 a.m on Tuesday morning indicating that the pump controlling the flow of one of the chemicals into the water was not working. Doug Wantz, superintendent of public works, arrived at the plant within 30 minutes to shut down the system.

He calculated that during that half hour approximately 3,500 gallons of water with a turbidity value of 23.0 got into the 500,000 gallons of water in the storage tank which has a turbidity value of .06. Further computing showed that the water turbidity was still well below the required turbidity value of .5, but the town is required by law to notify the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) after such an incident.

The MDE notified the Frederick County Health Department who put the "boil water notice" into effect and closed the town’s restaurants until the situation could be rectified. The health department offered the restaurants the use of potable water tankers, which they chose not to use.

Samples of water were taken from various areas of the water system on Tuesday and Wednesday and sent to a certified laboratory for testing. Twenty-four hours later all samples proved negative for the presence of bacteria, viruses and protozoans. With these reports showing the water was safe to drink, the MDE and FCHD rescinded the precautionary boil water notice on Thursday morning. Residents and all affected businesses were notified immediately by hand-delivered house-to-house notices, telephone calls, and TV and radio announcements.

In order to avoid a repeat of such a problem, Mayor William Carr said the town plans to eliminate the use of surface water from Rainbow Lake and will rely solely on the town’s well water. This safeguard will be taken in cooperation and effort with the Maryland Department of the Environment.

The commissioners have agreed that beginning November 1, 2000, all parking regulations will be enforced. For October only, warning tickets will be given for wrong-way parking. At the September 11 town meeting Bob Rosensteel, Jr. told the commissioners that he was displeased with the recent enforcement of parking regulations.

He said people have been parking the wrong way for years in several areas of the town and that he thought it was unfair to begin ticketing the offenders without some sort of warning. He had received a $25 ticket and hoped the commissioners would consider waiving the fee this time and give fair warning to the town that parking restrictions will be enforced. "I think the town should be user friendly, and I hope you will consider this procedure in the future," he said.

Dave Haller said the new enforcement came about because of the parking problems on Thursday evenings when hundreds of people come to Emmitsburg to attend the prayer service at St. Joseph’s Church.  Commissioner Stahley said he felt the commissioners were there to work for the community - not to penalize the residents, and that drivers do deserve a warning. The matter was referred to a workshop meeting later in the month at which time the commissioners voted that parking regulations will be enforced beginning November 1.

Little League thanks council

Lisa Krom, newly elected president of Little League, and Dean Torgerson, secretary, addressed the Town Council September 11 and thanked them for the assistance with the new dugout and commended the Town maintenance crew for the care of the fields. Mrs. Krom appealed again for help with reseeding the fields to attain a smoother playing surfaces.

Mrs. Krom outlined projects that could be accomplished jointly between the Town and Little League. The projects include: new bleachers, painting the foul poles, cut out the file lines, drainage at the first base Little League dugout, and drainage at the public restrooms. "The town and Little League have had a good working relationship. I believe this is because of the open lines of communication which I hope will continue," said Mrs. Krom.

Dean Torgerson pointed out that Little League is the major organized activity for kids and that the fields need to be in good shape because they induce a sense of pride and that the facilities are helpful to the image of the town. Mr. Torgerson also addressed several problems facing the Little League: parental participation waning, other activities are attracting the kids, and that baseball is no longer the major social event as in the past.

Dfc. Mark Cullember was assigned to Emmitsburg in August and spent several hour with Dfc. Ratliff touring the town and meeting the owners of the town’s businesses. Calls for service included patrol checks in watershed, 6; foot patrol/Main St., 20, suspicious persons, 3; assist other officers, 3; follow up, 11; theft investigations, 6; juvenile complaints, 11; traffic complaints and traffic offenses, 12; destruction of property, 1; disabled vehicles, 2; drug overdose, 1; warrant service, 2; noise complaint, 2; assault, 1; hit and run property damage, 1; parking citations, 6; harassment, 1; personal injury vehicle accident, 2; juvenile transport after curfew, 1; and 32 hours of radar training.

In other business town manager David Haller

• reported he has received a request for input from the architects designing layouts for the future town offices in the Community Center following its rehabilitation;
• announced that the Maryland Department of Environment loan for the construction of the town’s new water filtration plant has been increased;
• and that the town would have to hire a Bond Counsel to assure the proper handling of bond funds.