Currently viewing the tag: "Town Hall Reports December 2017"

by James Rada, Jr.

Thurmont

End-of-Year Budget Amendments Made

The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners approved nine adjustments to the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, totaling around $158,000 in additional funding and $48,651 in transfers from other funds. Most of the amendments reflect grant funding that was received during the year and the town match required of the grants. The transfers show that for a town investment of $48,651, it received an additional $158,000 in improvements.

Stormwater Management Projects Approved

The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners will pay Arro Consulting $134,385 for retrofit design engineering of five stormwater management facilities the State of Maryland is requiring. The project will be paid for with money from the general fund.

Thurmont Boulevard Study Progresses

The plan for Thurmont Boulevard has been on the books for about 30 years, although little progress has been made on the project. The new road would relieve some of the traffic on Moser Road and Frederick Road and support development in the southern end of Thurmont. The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners approved using $53,300 in street-impact fees to continue the preliminary engineering study. The goal is to be ready to move forward with the project when a developer gets a project approved that needs the road.

Additional Park Projects Possible

The State of Maryland provided Frederick County with $6 million in local parks and playgrounds infrastructure funding. The money will be split 50/50 between the county and municipality for near-shovel-ready projects. The town needed to submit a wish list to the county of possible projects for the funding. These include: sealcoating the Thurmont Trolley Trail, building the Gateway Trail pedestrian bridge to connect Community Park to West Main Street, the new East End Park baseball field, and Eyler Road Park field lighting. The town also plans on submitting some lower-priced projects in case sufficient funding for the larger projects cannot be obtained.

Emmitsburg

Town Office Open for Walk-ins

The Emmitsburg Town Office is now open for walk-in service at the front desk. You can pay water/sewer bills, obtain fishing permits, make park pavilion reservations, all in person. Office hours are 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on Friday.

Per Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner, the following guidelines will be enforced: (1) face masks are required in the building, (2) only the service window will be open to the public, and (3) appointments are required to meet with town staff outside of regular front desk services.

You can also attend town meetings in person. Face masks are required throughout the town meetings.

ADA Curb Contract Awarded

The Emmitsburg Town Council awarded MIM Construction the contract to make the town’s sidewalk curb’s ADA-compliant at street crossings. The contract is for $623,028.50, but with allowances for change orders, it is not to exceed $705,893. The project is funded with a $685,893 Community Development Block Grant, a $10,000 town cash match, and a $10,000 town in-kind match.

Logging Contract Awarded

The Emmitsburg Town Council awarded Tipton’s of Union Bridge the contract to log forestry stand 10. The town will receive $75,100 for the timber. Ninety percent of the funds will go to the water fund, and 10 percent will be used for trail maintenance to repair and damage the logging might cause.

Concern for Bypass

Emmitsburg Commissioner TJ Burns expressed concerns about the southern bypass included in the town’s comprehensive plan. Although the project is not happening in the near future, the town and the owner of one of the properties needed for the bypass have talked about annexation.

Burns’ major concern is that the town would have to maintain the road and supply the electricity for a future traffic light on South Seton Avenue to create a way for non-town residents to get around the town.

“There’s a lot of things the town is on the hook for to create a loop around for non-residents.”

Mayor Don Briggs added his reservations, saying that it would hurt commerce downtown. However, he added that the bypass has been on the books around 14 years, and it is no closer to happening.

Town Planner Zach Gulden added that there are many hurdles to leap before it would become a reality. All the property owners would have to want their properties annexed. The town council would have to agree to the annexation. Town residents could vote against the annexation, and the Maryland State Highway Department would have to approve the connections to two state roads. Any of these could derail the project.

by James Rada, Jr.

Emmitsburg

Fewer Residents Paying Water Bills Late

Emmitsburg Town Manager Cathy Willets reported to the mayor and commissioners that by changing the due date for the quarterly water bills, fewer people are paying their bills late. The change began with the quarterly bills that went out September 17, 2017, and seventy fewer later notices had to be sent to residents.

This meant that residents saved on late fees and town staff saved on time.

“We can attribute that mostly to changing our due date to the fifth,” Willets said.

 

Emmit Garden Playground Gets Approved

The proposed Emmit Garden playground—which the commissioners would like to see as a handicapped-accessible one, like the new playground in Thurmont—received state approval for its plans. The next step is to get the town permits for it. The playground is expected to be built in the spring of 2018.

The Thurmont Civitan Club, which spearheaded the new fully accessible playground for special needs children in Thurmont, has expressed interest in creating a similar playground in Emmitsburg. Emmitsburg currently has enough money set aside to build a playground in Emmit Garden. However, since it will be located in a floodplain, the Maryland Department of the Environment needed to approve the project.

 

Brookfield Subdivision Lots Sold

Emmitsburg Mayor Don Briggs announced in December that Richmond American Homes had put a contract in to purchase the remaining forty-seven home lots in the Brookfield subdivision. As part of the purchase, the developer will also have to level out a crest on Irishtown Road. Once that is done, there can be two-way traffic between Brookfield and Pembrook.

Thurmont

Cpl. Duhan Promoted

Thurmont Police Cpl. Tim Duhan was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on November 3, 2017. He is the Thurmont Police K-9 officer and has been with the department for five years. Prior to Thurmont, he served as a Frederick City Police Officer.

 

Power Saver Retrofits Program Update

The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners were updated on how well the Power Saver Retrofits Program has been doing in the town. The program has been around for five years and was introduced to Thurmont in 2016. Homes in the program are given an energy audit to find where improvements can be made to make them more energy efficient. The program can then provide $7,000 to $10,000 to qualifying homeowners to make those improvements. Currently, fifty-five homes have used the program.

Homes that qualify for this program also automatically qualify for the Green Homes Challenge Program, an online tool to help people save energy. The tool can help estimate energy savings, gasoline savings, carbon emissions savings, and other metrics.

 

Gateway to the Cure Results

The Town of Thurmont made its presentations from its October fundraising efforts for the Patty Hurwitz Fund.

Catoctin High School Football held its 2nd Annual Pink Out Game. T-shirts were sold during the game, and $1,447 was raised. Five football players from the school made the presentation to Patty Hurwitz.

A number of town businesses participated in the Gateway to the Cure with donations and promotions. For instance, at Gateway Candyland, anytime a special chocolate breast cancer lollipop was sold, a $1.00 donation was made to the fund; next door at Gateway Liquors, anytime a bottle of pink wine sold, a $1 donation was made to the fund.

“It’s always a lot of fun,” said Maggie Doll with Gateway Candy and Gateway Liquors. “The kids always get into it out there, and we get pictures on Facebook with everybody dressed in pink. It’s a good cause, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”

Nicki Eyler with the Eyler Stables Flea Market said that ribbons were hung throughout the flea market and many vendors donated a percentage of their October sales to the fund.

“We also had a donation jar on our counter, so our customers participated as well, and we actually quadrupled what we did last year,” Eyler said.

Dr. John Moles dyed his beard pink for October and donated $1.00 for every patient who got pink on her braces.

Promotional items such as t-shirts, pinwheels, and tote bags were sold at the Thurmont Town Office.

All of the donations raised by the town and town businesses amounted to $15,000. Total donations over the four years the town has participated in the Gateway to the Cure have amounted to $43,000.

 

Criswell Gets Site Approval for Expansion

The Thurmont Planning and Zoning Commission conditionally approved the preliminary plans for Criswell Chevrolet to add a Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealership in town.

A major concern about the new dealership is the additional outdoor lighting that it will add to the area and how it will affect residents. However, the lighting also needs to be bright enough for surveillance cameras to function properly. B&R Design Group presented a plan that reduces the intensity of the lights from 150 watts to 104 watts, which is roughly the lighting intensity at the Thurmont McDonald’s.

Town Planner Chris Jakubiak felt that the intensity of the lights over the employee and customer parking area could be further reduced since those areas are empty at night and do not have inventory that needs to be protected.

Town staff will continue working with B&R Design Group to further reduce the lighting and to decide on the trees and shrubs to use for landscaping along the Moser Road frontage. The site plan also includes privacy fences to separate Criswell from the bordering residential areas.

The new dealership will be at the corner of Moser Road and Frederick Road.

 

Town Gets a Clean Audit Report

The Town of Thurmont received its annual financial audit report from Zelenkofske Axelrod, LLC. The auditor looked at the finances for Fiscal Year 2017. The town’s net position improved by $615,507, while its debt decreased by $737,316. The total revenues for the year were nearly $12.8 million for all government services, while expenses were $12.15 million.

 

Town Gets Colorfest Update

Hosting Colorfest each year costs the Town of Thurmont tens of thousands of dollars in security costs, sanitation, town staff overtime, and bus rentals. The town pays these costs primarily out of the vendor permit fees, but also from a portion of the parking fees each year.

For Colorfest 2017, permits and parking brought in $63,222. The town paid out 59,570 for all of its expenses. This left the town $3,652 in the black, which is not always the case. Also, Colorfest, Inc. donated $5,000 to the town’s general fund and $1,500 to the Thurmont Police Department out of its earnings.

“The town does not try to make anything,” said Thurmont Commission Marty Burns, during a recent town meeting. “We just don’t want to lose money.”

It was a good year for Colorfest, with seventy-two more permits being issued over 2016. Chief Operating Officer Jim Humerick also pointed out that there appeared to be record crowds on Saturday.

For the most part, things ran well. Friday evening before Colorfest, the town started experiencing some power problems in the park. Town staff fixed it only to have another problem on Saturday that had to be addressed. There was also a minor issue with U. S. Postal Service and Kountry Kitchen employee access to certain areas, but there’s a plan in place to deal with them next year.

The commissioners also discussed whether dogs were causing a problem at the event, but they were split on this.

The most significant problem that needs to be dealt with for this year’s Colorfest is to add some additional port-a-potties at Criswell Chevrolet and Deerfield Church.