From the Mayor

Thurmont

Mayor John Kinnaird

Mayor John Kinnaird was unable to submit his column for this month.

Emmitsburg

Mayor Frank Davis

I do not want to jinx us, but I think the worst of winter may be over. The baseball fi eld has been full of young players, the dog park is barking, and the playgrounds are in full swing. Get out and enjoy the beautiful weather, as spring has arrived.

The warm weather also brings the start of a few construction projects around town. The DePaul waterline project has begun its final stage of work. I know this caused some hardships and inconveniences to the residents in the area, but this was a much-needed project to improve our water infrastructure. The contractor has been great to work with and, for the most part, has gone above and beyond to meet the needs of the neighborhood. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the town office. Remember, no one on Facebook can fi x your problems.

As we work to prepare the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, we are doing our best to take into consideration the tax and fee increases levied by the county and state.

We will do our best to tighten our spending belts and at the same time ensure your needs are met with your everyday needs.

Lastly, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support you showed for the “Spending A Day in Their Shoes” fundraiser. As of now, we have raised close to $9,000 and taken in over 1,000 food items. As always, Emmitsburg and our surrounding communities stepped up to help those in need.

If you have any questions or concerns, please give me a call.

Woodsboro

Burgess Heath Barnes

Greetings and welcome to spring! As a reminder, the April meeting where we will discuss the upcoming budget will take place on April 1 at 7:00 p.m. instead of April 8, due to scheduling conflicts of some of the commissioners.

This meeting will also be the nominating convention for anyone who wishes to run for either of the two commissioners’ seats or the burgess seats, which are open for election. If you have lived within town limits for a minimum of 12 months and wish to run for office, you must be nominated at this meeting to be on the ballot. Nominations can be made by any other town resident. If you have questions about the requirements or the positions, please reach out to me or Mary at the town office. We are always looking for people to serve on the Planning and Zoning Committee (P&Z) and the Board of Appeals as well. I encourage you to

get involved. Elections will take place on May 10, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The burgess and two council member seats will be up for election. Commissioner Eckenrode will not be running again. Commissioner Case has decided to run again. I also ask for your support, as I plan to run again for burgess.

Mark your calendars for April 12 for the Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Company and the Town of Woodsboro’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt. The egg hunt will take place at 2:00 p.m. in the park. If you would like to donate can dy that will fi t into

eggs or pre-stuff ed eggs, they can be dropped off at the town office until April 6, or I can meet you and pick them up. Please see the advertisement in this month’s edition of the paper on page 30 for more details.

Commissioner Rittelmeyer laid out a very detailed state of the water and sewage system—which have both been asked about a lot in recent meetings—and high points of interest as far as needed repairs and costs of those repairs, etc.

A lot of this anxiety, I believe, comes from a meeting last summer where we had a list of things from ProStart of needed repairs up to over a million dollars. After Commissioner Rittelmeyer and I met with the ProStart team, we soon realized that many of the items were not a necessity but more of a wish list. He met with them two more times on his own, and according to his words at the March meeting, our water and sewage system have never been better. After digging deep into the repairs, there are about $175,000 in repairs that are a higher priority and will need to be repaired over the next couple of y ears. We already

budgeted $120,000 in repairs in the annual budget, so we are no t far off from that. In addition, we have some extra money in those accounts that will cover it. This was very good news to hear. We are in a financially good place with the

water and sewage systems.

Woodsboro Days will be October 18 this year. I am looking for one to two people who would be willing to help plan and or ganize Woodsboro Days with me. For the last three years, I have tried to do it almost alone, but it has gotten

too big for one person to do it by themselves.

As always, I encourage everyone to support Glade Valley Community Services (GVCS) if you have clothes or food donations, as they are always in need of items for members of the community. For more information, please contact GVCS by email at gvcs.inc@verizon.net or by calling 301 -845-0213.

If you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or compliments, please feel free to reach out to me at hbarnes@woodsboro.or g or by phone at 301-401-7164.

Woodsboro town meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. In addition, planning and zoning meetings are at 6:00 p.m. on the first Monday of the month, as needed. If you have an item for the agenda, it needs to

be submitted 14 days before the P&Z meeting. The current location for meetings is the St. Johns United Church of Christ, located at 8 N. 2nd Street, Woodsboro, MD 21798. The public is always invited to attend.