Town Hall Report - Emmitsburg
by James Rada, Jr. Emmitsburg . Town Moving Toward Property Purchase The Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners recently approved a resolution to make an application of the Strategic Demolition Fund to get funds to purchase 304 East Main Street. The property has been considered an eyesore on East Main Street for years, detracting from the town’s…
Town Hall Report - Thurmont
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Municipal Parking Lot to be Improved The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners approved a bid of $170,995 to make improvements to the municipal parking lot. Huntzberry Brothers of Smithsburg will remove and replace the current asphalt; make street improvements to the surrounding streets and alleys; and add landscaping, benches, and trash…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Changes to Municipal Parking Lot Plan Economic Development Manager Vickie Grinder provided updates on some issues that had arisen with the plan to make improvements to the municipal parking lot. The engineer working on the original plan left out stormwater management from the plan, which will add $75,000-$100,000 to the…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Thurmont Approves FY2027 Budget The Thurmont Mayor and Board of Commissioners approved the Fiscal Year 2027 budget. The budget includes a $6 million general fund, a $12.2 million electric fund budget, a $2 million sewer fund budget, and a $1.2 million water fund budget. The town’s tax rate will remain…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Sidewalk Work Ongoing The Town of Thurmont began a comprehensive sidewalk replacement project on April 14. The project, funded by a Community Development Block Grant and Maryland Highway User Revenues, will remove and replace the sidewalks on Lombard Street, Walnut Street, and Carroll Street. While the work is underway, parking…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Emmitsburg Road Flood Mitigation Project On Hold Unless a significant grant can be found to help pay for the Emmitsburg Road Flood Mitigation Project, it has been tabled. The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners discussed the project during a recent town meeting. The project has been planned, and the needed property…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Town Election at the End of October The Town of Thurmont will hold its town election on October 28 from 7 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Guardian Hose Activities Building at 123 East Main Street. The positions of mayor and two commissioners are open. They are currently held by…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Gold Star Families Memorial Considered The Mayor and Commissioners of Thurmont are considering placing a Gold Star Families Memorial in Memorial Park. Gold Star families are families who have lost a loved one in one of the country’s military conflicts. “You have a lot here that would make this a…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Town Starting To Receive PFAS Settlement Funds Bruce Poole of the Poole Law Group recently gave the Thurmont Mayor and Board of Commissioners an update on the PFAS mass tort settlement, which the town got involved with a few years ago because of the polyfluorocarbon water contamination that municipalities are dealing…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. T h u r m o n t Public Hearing Held for Budget and Tax Rates The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners recently held public hearings on the proposed tax rates and fiscal year 2026 budget. The personal property tax will remain at $.62 per $100 of assessed value. The real estate…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. T h u r m o n t Proposed Electric Rate Increase The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners recently proposed an increase to the town’s electric rates. The increase will happen in two phases. The first change was seen with a 17.3 percent increase to the power cost adjustment on April 30.…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. T h u r m o n t . Electric Rates Increasing Signifi cant increased costs involved in providing Thurmont residents with electricity have led the Town of Thurmont to have to increase its electric service rates by 12.3 percent. In addition, the town is passing through an extreme increase in…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. T h u r m o n t .Town Gets Loan to Fight “Forever Chemicals” The Maryland Department of the Environment has approved the Town of Thurmont for three forgivable loans, totaling more than $6 million, to build filtration units at each of the town’s three water treatment plants. The filtration…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Streetlight Replacement Approved The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners approved a bid from Catoctin Lighting to replace 114 streetlights in the Pleasant Acres and Bennett Estates subdivisions with LED streetlights. The cost of the contract is $48,564 and is funded by a grant from the Maryland Smart Energy Communities Grant. The…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont ARPA Funds Reallocated With the North Church Street water and sewer project substantially complete, Thurmont Chief Operating Officer Jim Humerick recommended that the remaining $272,111 for the project be reallocated to deal with one of the town’s infiltration and inflow problems. The 2,610-foot sewer line from the sewer plant to…
Town Hall Reports
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Commission Openings The Town of Thurmont is seeking volunteers to serve on the town’s planning and zoning commission, police commission, and ethics commission. Anyone interested in serving on one of the commissions should submit their interest in writing to blong@thurmontstaff.com or to the town office by July 2 6. National…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Town Moves to Twice-a-Month Meetings at Least Temporarily The Thurmont town meetings will switch from weekly to twice a month for the next three months. At that point, the mayor and commissioners will evaluate the impact of the change and decide if it should continue. For January, the meetings will…
Town Hall Report
Thurmont Town Issues Water Notice The Town of Thurmont sent a health-advisory notice to residents on town water that the Maryland Department had detected elevated levels of PFOS/PFOA in water samples MDE tested. Although residents did not need to take corrective action, the notice did advise that people with “a severely compromised immune system, have…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont For more information on the Town of Thurmont, visit www.thurmont.com or call 301-271-7313. Residents Overwhelmingly Vote Down Annexation During January’s special election, Thurmont residents voted 834-157 to not annex 16.7 acres of agricultural land into the town for high-density development. Although part of the property is already in town, and…
Town Hall Report
by James Rada, Jr. Thurmont Bond Sale Approved The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners recently approved the sale of $513,207 in bonds to finance the replacement of the Old Pryor Road water line. It is a 20-year loan from the Maryland Department of the Environment. The project will replace the old water main, install new house…
