MINUTES
TOWN
MEETING
May
5, 2014
Emmitsburg
Town Office
Present:
Mayor Donald Briggs; Commissioners Clifford
Sweeney, Christopher Staiger, Jennifer Mellor,
Glenn Blanchard and Tim O’Donnell, President.
Staff
present were Vickie Felix; Sue Cipperly, Town
Planner and Dave Haller, Town Manager.
_________________________________________________________________________I.
Call to Order
Commissioner
Cliff Sweeney, Vice-President of the Board of
Commissioners, called the May 5, 2014 Town Meeting
to order at 7:30 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance was
recited.
Commissioner
O’Donnell, President arrived at the meeting at
7:35 p.m. with prior notice.
Approval
of Minutes
The
Minutes of the April 21, 2014 Town Meeting were
approved as presented.
Commissioner
Comments
Commissioner(s)
cited attendances, recognitions and announcements
to include: upcoming Frederick County Library
event with the town for the community gardens;
should be able to have bike ride this year on
Heritage Days, just need to work out schedule;
birthday wishes to Gracie Blanchard.
Mayor’s
Comments
Mayor
Briggs cited attendances, recognitions and
announcements to include: the completion of the
sidewalk on West Lincoln has made it nice for
walking through town and to the trails; attended
the Athletics Advisory meeting at Mt. Saint
Mary’s, the men’s rugby team placed 4th
in the nation; attended the College of Liberal
Arts advisory meeting; The Grotto advisory board
meeting; nine people attended the senior tax
seminar.
Administrative
Business
·
No
parking signs – Replace the words No
Parking with Reserved
Parking and put from and until dates on
notice.
·
LED
lights – painting the inside of the domes to
reduce glare from LED lights. Staff will do a
sample and will follow up with Commissioner
Staiger.
·
Meeting
with David V. Cotton, Regional Planner of the
Maryland Department of Planning in regards to comp
plan.
Consent
Agenda
Appoint
Keith Suerdieck to Planning Commission – Board
approved the proposed appointment unanimously.
Reports:
Treasurer’s
Report
– Commissioner Blanchard reported on April 2014
cash activity. Detailed report at Exhibit A.
Planning
Commission Report
- Commissioner Sweeney reported that the Planning
Commission did not meet in April 2014. The next
meeting will be May 27, 2014. They will be having
the continuation of the site plan for the General
Dollar Store.
II.
Agenda Items
Phase
II Solar Presentation
Mr.
Haller presented some bullet points for the
proposed Phase II Solar Project. He highlighted
that the size of the project will be approximately
6 acres; 1.289 mega watts; rate structure at .079
per KWH…2% annual escalator for the term of the
contract. The proposed completion date is the end
of September 2014. Standard Solar will pay the
utility bills from UGI from October, 2014 up to
the end of June, 2015 (when the new wastewater
treatment plant goes online). The town should
receive a lump sum payment for the value of the
excess energy generated from Phase II (during the
noted period). This is calculated at the wholesale
rate for electricity and should be about
$40,000.00. A graphic map was also included in the
packet for the board to review. About
half of the field will be dedicated to solar
arrays. Standard Solar will come the first meeting
in June for a more formal presentation. Mr. Haller
entertained some questions from the Board and
encouraged the board to bring their questions to
the formal presentation in June. He
stated that town will receive energy grants to
help reimburse for cost. Commissioner
O’Donnell directed Mr. Haller to advise Standard
Solar that the board has some questions in regards
to the rate so they can address them during the
formal presentation.
Budget
and Tax Rate Presentation
Mayor
Briggs presented the proposed 2014-2015 budget for
the Board to review for the next meetings in June.
He proposed to maintain the constant yield tax
rate at $.36 per $100 of assessed value and
proposed a 2% COLA for employees. He would like to
build up the underfunded CIP reserves especially
in the area of street repairs and vehicle
replacements as earlier agreed by the council. The
CIP transfers have increased by $57,000 due to the
governor’s one time HUR allotment to the town.
Increased sewer revenue reflects phase II of the
previously approved rate increase to cover
operating cost expectations of the new sewer
plant. There is provision for a possible launch of
a new town website and monies set aside for
painting of crosswalks. He also highlighted some
of last year’s budget items
Cluster
Development Ordinance – discussion
Ms.
Cipperly gave a power point presentation on Open
Space/Cluster subdivisions; this was recommended
in the 2009 comp plan. She stated these are more
prudent for the town and have beneficial impact
for residents and the environment. A cluster
development maintains a significant portion of a
development site as common open space by
minimizing individual lot sizes, while still
allowing the overall density of the development as
specified in the zoning ordinance. Ms. Cipperly
presented some examples of a conventional
subdivision compared to open space/cluster
subdivision and highlighted the cluster
advantages. She said you go about this process by
doing an inventory of the land, identify areas to
preserve and then figure out where it would be
good to put the streets and lots. There are no
cluster subdivisions in the town at this time.
Some concerns brought up during board discussion
were narrower streets for rescue services; flow of
neighborhoods and unaffordable housing. Staff has
a partial draft at this time and would like to
review some things with the town attorney before
moving forward. She just wanted to present it this
evening as an overview to educate the council.
Trail
Route Presentation
Commissioner
O’Donnell reported that he is still waiting for
the trail map to be finished and was not able to
make a route presentation. He was able to hike the
route and stated it is user friendly. There is
also some concern of a parcel of property that was
identified to be town property but is actually
owned by a private owner. He has since spoken with
the property owner and they were amenable to
having the trail on their property; this is being
reviewed. The trail has been flagged to the
property. He updated the council on the recent
trail work day. This
agenda item will be brought back at the next town
meeting.
Set
Agenda Items for May 19, 2014 Town Meeting
1.
FY 2015
Budget review
2.
Trail
Route presentation
At
this time Mayor Briggs announced that there is a
need for an alternate on the planning commission
for anyone interested; some education is needed.
III.
Public Comments-
none
IV.
SIGN APPROVED TEXT AMENDMENTS AND/OR
RESOLUTIONS - none
