Today’s meeting began with the Invocation and Pledge followed by approval of the Consent Agenda. We then presented proclamations for National 4-H Week, White Cane Awareness Day, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Case Management Recognition Week.
We then held a Public Hearing on an amendment to the Solar Ordinance that would allow major solar installations on protected areas if granted conditional approval by the Board of Appeals. We had four speakers who all presented interesting perspectives. We will bring this back for a decision on October 25th.
After that we approved a request for a Public Hearing for revisions to the St. Mary’s County Public Ethics Ordinance. The revisions bring the county’s Ethics Ordinance in line with the state laws enacted last session.
Entering into County Administrator time, our first item of business was review of upcoming meeting agendas. There will be no Commissioner Meeting next Tuesday, October 11th, due to the Columbus Day holiday. Second we approved the Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Grant application for the Sheriff’s Office for $94,000 for Integrating Communication Assessment and Tactics Training. Third we approved several roads into the County Roadway Network: the cul-de-sac of Festoon Court, Laurel Circle, and Carpenter Lane. Our final item of business was approval of the State Homeland Security Grant for the Department of Emergency Services for $100,582. These funds will be used for terrorism prevention oriented planning, training, exercise and equipment.
During Commissioner Time I spoke about the League of Women Voter’s Forum and several other county events. We finished the morning in Closed Session to discuss Personnel and came back into Open Session to approve a higher salary request for the Deputy Director of Land Use and Growth Management.
Happy National Taco Day!
