September 14, 2021 Commissioner Update:
Our meeting today started at 1 pm instead of the usual 9 am. The late start was due to the scheduled CALVEX drill—this is a regularly planned FEMA emergency preparedness drill with the surrounding counties in case of an accident involving Calvert Cliff’s Nuclear Power Plant. The drill went very well and hopefully the situation never occurs in real life.
Commissioner President Guy is out of town today and joined the meeting via Zoom, and he allowed me to chair the meeting while he is away. We started off the meeting with a moment of silence to remember September 11, 2001. We then had our usual Invocation and Pledge followed by the approval of the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda included a letter to the Wicomico Shores Golf Course Advisory Board regarding golf cart policy.
We presented two proclamations today. The first was for Forget-Me-Not Month to the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 26 members. The second was for Hispanic Heritage Month to representatives from the Hispanic Engagement Action Team. We also presented a commendation to the American Legion Post 255 Baseball Team in recognition of being the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Regional Champions—congratulations on an incredible season!
After that we had a presentation and formal invitation to the St. Mary’s County Fair by the President of the Fair Association, John Richards. This will be the 74th annual fair, running from September 23-26. I hope to see you there!
Our only main agenda item was approval of a request for public hearing for an amendment to the comprehensive water and sewerage plan for Property on Tap LLC, a business that intends to sell and install artificial turf grass. The amendment would change the property designation from water service in 6-10 years to water service in 3-5 years. The water service will be developer financed.
Moving into County Administrator time, we started off by reviewing upcoming meeting agendas. Second we approved the FY2022 Edward J Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Application for the Sheriff’s Office for $90,000 for the purchase of LexiPil/Cordico Shield Law Enforcement Wellness App—no county match required. Third we approved a lease agreement with NextEdge Networks LLC for space on the Ridge Radio Tower that will provide $3,000 in annual revenue to the county. Fourth we approved a resolution providing County employees with up to four hours of paid administrative leave that can be used for volunteering with charitable organizations. Fifth we approved Program Open Space project applications for various projects in our county parks totaling $1,500,000—does not require county matching funds. Sixth we approved the Calendar Year 2022 Commissioners Meeting Schedule and the FY2023 Budget Calendar. Seventh we discussed the American Rescue Plan funding allocation and agreed to allocate funding for the Fire Departments, Public Works, Information Technology, Recreation and Parks, Sheriff’s Office, and MetCom—we still have additional funding to allocate, but this was to get it started. Our final item of County Administrator business was approval of employee-tuition for Leadership Southern Maryland—this is a $3,950 cost that has typically been funded but was not funded last year due to COVID.
We then adjourned as the Board of Commissioners and reconvened as the Board of Health for a discussion with Dr. Brewster on the current status of COVID-19 in St. Mary’s County. We are still in a high transmission status in the county.
Reconvening as the Board of Commissioners, we entered into Commissioner Time. I spoke about the great time at the Ridge Carnival and the powerful September 11th memorial events I attended.
We then entered into Closed Session to discuss several Personnel issues. We re-entered open session to approve combined years of service for the Retiree Health Benefit for the County Administrator and to approve EMS Chief recruitment materials. We will be back to our regular 9 am start time next Tuesday.
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