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