Today’s Commissioner Meeting schedule was slightly different from our normal routine. We began at the Frank Knox Building for our Encroachment Mitigation and Prevention Joint Meeting with the commanding officer of Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Captain Derrick Kingsley. We talked about an OLDCC Installation Resilience Grant, our Intergovernmental Support Agreement (over 100 potholes repaired this year alone through this partnership!), the Fixed License Plate Reader Proposal from the Sheriff’s Office, the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, the Lancaster Park Lease Renewal, and Land Preservation Updates. I also raised the topic of the Student Unmanned Aerial Systems competition and look forward to the continued support of NAS PAX in partnership with the county and the organizers of the event.
Returning to our Commissioner Meeting Room, our regular meeting started off with my leading of the Invocation and Pledge followed by the approval of the Consent Agenda. We then presented Proclamations for Child Support Awareness Month, National Black Business Month, and National Aviation Day. We had a large number of businesses represented during the proclamation, including Uncle D’s Grill and A Heavenly Taste Bakery.
Moving into County Administrator time, we began by reviewing upcoming meeting agendas—we do not have meetings for the next two weeks. Next we heard a presentation on a Memorandum of Land Restriction for Dam or Reservoir for the Maryland Department of Environment in order to proceed with dam repairs for the Johnson Farm Pond—we had some good discussion and will follow up on this issue at a later date. Our final item of business was a presentation on the American Rescue Grant funding—we currently have $3,865,748 of unallocated funding remaining and we heard proposals from Emergency Services, Economic Development, and METCOM. I am advocating for a large portion of the remaining funding to go to Broadband Improvements in the county; I believe that allocating a large amount of funding to one larger impactful project will have an incredible benefit and be easier to accomplish now than through the normal budget process.
During Commissioner Time, I spoke about Camp Inspire, Summerstock, the upcoming National Lawnmower Races and Southern Maryland Italian Heritage Festival and tonight’s National Night Out. Have a great week!
