Note: This is a SUMMARY of the Commissioners Meeting for the purposes of a Press Release. These are not the official minutes of the meeting.
Review of Actions Taken in the Washington County
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
May 15, 2007
THE BOARD HONORED EMPLOYEES ON RETIREMENT AND LENGTH OF SERVICE AT THE ANNUAL EMPLOYEE AWARDS BREAKFAST
COMMISSIONERS' REPORTS AND COMMENTS
Commissioner
Bill Wivell reported on this week's meeting of the PenMar Development Corporation
(PMDC) Board that discussed several issues, including a response from the
Department of the Army on questions about how PMDC funds may be expended. The
Museum Committee presented a plan that would potentially budget $120,000 per
year for 5-years for operating costs. Museum start-up costs were also discussed
and the matter was tabled until the Renaissance Committee can undertake a comprehensive
review of all potential projects, Wivell said. Hagerstown Community College
has been in contact with PMDC about providing off-campus courses at the property.
The Finance committee reported that the Corporation currently has $7.4 million
in current assets. The final land transfer of approximately 92 acres from the
Army is expected to take place soon, the Commissioner reported. The Water
Quality Advisory Committee met recently, and recommended a meeting take place
with the County Commissioners sometime in the Fall, Wivell said.
Commissioner
Kristin Aleshire commented on a meeting last week with the Board of Education
staff and the Superintendent to discuss items in the School Board budget
request.
Commissioner
Jim Kercheval reported on a meeting of the Board of Education/Commissioners
2+2 Committee. Talks continued on developer mitigation issues, Kercheval
said. The Commissioner also thanked Maryland Secretary of Health and Mental
Hygiene John Colmers for confirmation of Earl Stoner as County Health Officer
last week.
Commissioners'
President John Barr told the Board that the YMCA True Grit Award ceremony
held last week honored many young people in the community who overcome challenges
in everyday life.
BID AWARD: SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT UNIFORMS
Washington
County Purchasing Agent Karen Luther and Sheriff's Department Major Sam Bilotti
brought this request, to approve the annual bid award for uniforms for Washington
County Sheriff’s Officers to the sole bidder Red the Uniform Tailor,
Inc., of Lakewood, NJ for the Total Sum Bid of $128,204.50, based on estimated
quantities of each uniform piece at per unit bid prices. The Sheriff’s
Office is one agency consisting of correctional, patrol, and judicial. It
is the department's belief that it is best for employee cohesiveness to standardize
and have all of the enforcement staff in the same type and color of uniform. The
uniform change can be accomplished in phases by utilizing the remainder of this
fiscal year’s uniform allowance plus next year’s requested funding. The
following year the department can provide officers with the Class “A” blouses,
and they will then be fully outfitted. The measure was approved by unanimous
vote.
CONTRACT RENEWAL: SERVICES AT LANDFILL SITES
Purchasing
Agent Karen Luther and Solid Waste Department Director Bob Davenport brought
this request, to renew Contract Services at Transfer Stations and On-Site at
the Forty-West Landfill with the sole responsive, responsible bidder, Peck’s
Refuse Disposal, LLC of McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania for trash hauling, which
includes servicing the Forty-West Landfill plus Alternate No. 1 for cardboard
transports. Total cost for FY '08 is projected at $330,520.00 an overall increase
of 8%. The contract is for a one year period that commenced August 1, 2005 with
an option by the County to renew for up to four additional consecutive one year
periods. Peck’s is requesting the price adjustments due to its increases
in operating expenses. The measure was approved by unanimous vote.
CONTRACT AWARD: PHYSICAL EXAMINATIONS
Purchasing
Agent Karen Luther and Risk Management Administrator Becky Maginnis brought
this Contract Award for Physical Examination Services before the Board. The
recommendation is to award the contract for the subject services to the sole
proposer, Health@Work of Hagerstown, Maryland, the incumbent, for its total
base proposal of $61,535.00 per year based on estimated quantities at per unit
prices for physical examinations and various other services to be performed
on employees and candidates for County employment vacancies. The contract
is for a one year period beginning July 1, 2007, with an option to renew for
up to two additional one-year periods. The total unit prices charged for all
requested services increased from $897 in the present contract awarded in 2002
to $1,021 for the FY ’08 contract year; an increase of 14%, the
first increase in 5 years. The measure was approved by unanimous vote.
OTHER BUSINESS
Appointments
to Boards and Commissions: County Clerk Joni Bittner presented requests for
appointments or reappointments to County advisory Boards or Commissions to the
Board.
Reappointment
of Gary Swartz to the Disabilities Advisory Committee (DAC) was requested by
that Committee. Swartz
has served one partial and one full term on the DAC, and has been recommended
for reappointment to a second full three-year term, retroactive to November
2006. He serves as a consumer representative. The measure was approved by unanimous
vote.
The Board
of Social Services is requesting the appointment of David Poole to the Board
for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2007. The terms of Ellen Hayes
and Roland Smith will also expire on June 30, and the Board is requesting that
both be reappointed to their second three-year term. The measure was approved
by unanimous vote.
The terms
of Ann Corcoran, Jan Wetterer, and John Schildt on the Antietam Battlefield
Advisory Committee will expire on June 30, 2007. All three of the individuals
are interested in serving another three-year term. All three have served
two or more terms and the two-term limit policy would have to be waived; however,
there are no individuals on the list who have indicated an interest to serve
on this board. The reappointments were approved by unanimous vote.
County Administrator's
Comments: County Administrator Greg Murray told the Board that the Budget Hearing
for the proposed Fiscal Year 2008 budget will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday,
May 22nd at Kepler Theater on the Hagerstown Community College Campus, following
final discussion later in this meeting. Adoption of the FY '08 budget
could come on June 12th, Murray said. A meeting with Corporate Offices Property
Trust and County staff to discuss infrastructure matters will be held
on June 14th, Murray said, to discuss such issues as street acceptance, water
and sewer allocations and other matters that the County will have to become
involved in once the former Fort Ritchie redevelopment is complete. There were
two slight changes in the Employee Heath Insurance rates as adopted last week,
Murray said, and both were positive for County employees. A fee for dental care
was eliminated by the vendor and the family Vision Care cost decreased slightly.
Sewer allocation for a project in the North End of Hagerstown was recommended.
A commercial request for 23 EDU's of allocation was received. Three would be
allocated now, 10 after July 1st and an additional 10 allocated after January
1st, 2008, in compliance with Allocation mandates. The project would require
36 EDU's and 13 are available at an existing building on the project site. Consensus
was to move ahead with the allocation.
CITIZENS PARTICIPATION
Each week the Board of County Commissioners sets
aside time to hear from citizens of Washington County on matters of importance
to the community.
No one appeared
to make comment on this day.
REPORTS FROM COUNTY STAFF
County Chief
Engineer Terry McGee brought an update on the Maugans Avenue sinkhole before
the Board. A very large sinkhole opened on the edge of the roadway on Maugans
Avenue West of U.S. 11. Repair required the West-bound lane of traffic to be
closed and rerouted north to Showalter Road and connect with I-81. The sinkhole
was grater than 25 feet across, McGee said, and heavy equipment was brought
in from a nearby construction site. 12 dump truck loads of rock were required
to fill the hole to a level that flowable fill, a mixture of sand, water and
concrete, could be used. 140 cubic yards of that material were used, McGee said.
Repair was completed late Monday night, and the traffic pattern has been restored.
McGee said the sinkhole was caused by a series of caverns through the limestone
in the area, and was the largest in the history of the County. McGee made a
recommendation that a Geophysical consultant be brought in to make an assessment
of additional risk through the use of ground impact radar or other means.
County Risk Management Administrator Becky Maginnis
requested permission to advertise a Sign Mechanic position at the Highways Department
that will become vacant due to a retirement. The measure was approved
by unanimous vote.
Public Information Officer Norman Bassett told
the Board that the budget hearing scheduled for May 22nd will be cablecast by
Antietam Cable Television from 7-9 p.m. on Channel 99.
CONTRACT RENEWAL: HEATING, VENTILATION, AIR CONDITIONING AND AUTOMATIC CONTROLS
Purchasing
Agent Karen Luther and Bob Graff, Deputy Director of the Buildings, Grounds
and Parks Department brought this Contract Renewal for Heating, Ventilating,
Air Conditioning and Automatic Temperature Controls Maintenance Service before
the Board. The request was to renew the contract for the subject services with
Miller & Anderson, Inc. of Hagerstown, Maryland, the sole bidder, for a
Total Base Bid of $150,700.00. Repair parts and materials not included in the
specific services maintenance agreement would be billed at cost plus 25 percent.
Miller & Anderson have not previously requested any increases to the original
contract. They continue not to request any increase to the hourly labor
rates for additional services as needed. Overall requested increase for
specific services is 2.3%. The measure was approved by unanimous vote.
APPLICATION FOR REZONING: BOWMAN CAVETOWN LLC
Assistant
County Attorney Kirk Downey told the Board that this request to rezone
eight-tenths of an acre at 11840 Mapleville Road., from Residential, Rural (RR)
to Business, Local (BL) had been withdrawn by the developer.
FISCAL YEAR 2008 BUDGET DISCUSSIONS
Budget and
Finance Director Debra Murray brought further review of proposed revenues and
expenditures for Fiscal Year 2008 before the Board.
The Board
discussed a number of line item requests that had been delayed for additional
information. A decision was made to move ahead with taking the revised budgets
to Public Hearing and reserve restricted funds of $8,128,530 in Pay-Go funding
for uses yet to be determined.
Under the
Capital Improvement Program (CIP), a general discussion on the Barbara Ingram
School for the Arts in preparation for next week’s joint meeting with
the Board of Education looked at several funding scenarios for the school. Differences
remain in the Commissioners' preferred finance option and the option most recently
presented by the School Board staff. The CIP was recommended to be taken to
Public Hearing as submitted.
Under the
Operations-Non Profit Organizations category, CASA's budget was
granted a $22,622 reinstatement to correct a salary “shortage”. The
Washington County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition had presented a formal
request through the Community Action Council for $14,800. Funds were recently
recovered from other programs of that nature, and the request would come from
that funding source. The Washington County Community Partnership was recommended
to have oversight on Teen Pregnancy funds. The Maryland Theatre's formal request
for $25,000 was denied based on recent funding granted for the Miss Maryland
Pageant held at that location. A request by Leadership Washington County for
$10,000 was granted on a one-time basis. A formal request for $45,000 from
C- SAFE to match the City of Hagerstown budget appropriation was approved on
a one-time basis from the Commissioners' contingency fund.
Under State
Programs, the Washington County Health Department request to continue to fund
the $10,500 increase to the Director's State salary was not approved due to
the short length of time the new director has been in the position. The Board
approved Hagerstown Community College's requested reinstatement of $535,983
in its original budget request. The Board denied a requested reinstatement
of $18,920 cut from the Department of Social Services original request for County
support, including an additional $1,000 increase to the Director's State salary.
The Washington County Free Library had $100,000 of its original request restored,
due to agreements reached by the County and the Towns of Boonsboro and Smithsburg
to provide exterior maintenance on grass and shrubbery at the new branch libraries
located in those towns.
Personnel
issues not previously addressed included an adjustment to the Director
of Buildings, Grounds, and Parks’ salary for assuming responsibility for
Black Rock Golf Course operations, to continue at grade 18 with a $5,000 increase
was approved. An adjustment to the Director of Transportation's grade
due to a prior year's error was approved. The position was recommended to be
moved from grade 15 to grade 16 with a $4,000 adjustment. An additional personnel
request, to increase the Director of the Division of Fire and Emergency Services
salary by $5,000 was also approved.
Miscellaneous
items discussed included requests by several organizations to be added to the
non-profit Section 1-108 list to which the Commissioners may directly contribute
funds. Leadership Washington County was approved for addition to the list.
This does not guarantee funding in any manner, only a place on the list
to allow for funding as a non-profit.
Total General
Fund revenue for FY '08 is set at $195.58 million and the total General Fund
expenditure request for Fiscal Year 2008 is $195.58 million. Total from all
funds, including the Capital Improvement Program, balanced with revenues, is
$308,316,944.00.
The Board
of County Commissioners approved a motion to take the budget for FY 2008 to
Public Hearing on May 22nd at 7:00 p.m. in Kepler Theater on the Hagerstown
Community College campus.
YOUTH MERITORIOUS AWARDS
Commissioners'
President John Barr presented Washington County Youth Meritorious Awards to
middle and high school students for the month of May.
Alexandra
Bates, daughter of Debra Rauer of Clear Spring is an 8th Grade Student
at Clear Spring Middle School. Alexandra's Scholastic Achievements include
Distinguished Honor Roll and Honor Roll many times throughout middle school
as well as the STARS Award in 6th, 7th and 8th grades. She encourages others,
provides homework assistance, directs plays in her mother’s daycare, babysits,
and sells tickets for lemonade stands and bead sales for the poor. Her Community
Services include visiting nursing homes, picking up trash along the street,
singing in church and visiting elderly persons
Counselor Earl Meagher says Alexandra is a highly motivated and responsible
young person who puts forth special effort in her schoolwork. She is a kind
and caring person.
Ashley Hill,
a 12th Grade Student at North Hagerstown High School is the daughter of James
and. Kelli Hill of Hagerstown. Her Scholastic Achievements include the Honor
Club in grades 9-12, the Distinguished Honor Roll, and Honor Roll in grades
9-12. Leadership Qualities include serving as a math tutor, Captain of the varsity
cheerleading team in grades 11 and 12, participating in Best Buddies Peer mentoring
program for learning disabled students, and serving as a Counselor at “Little
Cheer Camp” for four years. She serves the community through volunteerism
with 31 hours over the last three years served at Washington County Teen Hospital
and as a volunteer classroom assistant with her mom, a teacher at Paramount
Elementary, two days a week