Town Hall Report

by James Rada, Jr.

Thurmont

Town Adding Surcharge for Credit Card Payments

Beginning this month, the Town of Thurmont is adding a 2 percent processing fee for all payments made by debit or credit card. Payments made via eCheck through the online portal will not have the surcharge added.

Gateway to the Cure Kickoff

Thurmont kicked off its events in October to help raise funds for its annual Gateway to the Cure to raise funds for the Patty Hurwitz Breast Cancer Fund. After 12 years, the town has raised $214,700 for the fund and expects to cross the $250,000 mark. Money is raised throughout October from a golf tournament, a 5k run/walk, merchandise sales, and business support.

Thurmont Main Street Manager Vickie Grinder pointed out that while the number of breast cancer cases continues to rise, the disease’s mortality rate is decreasing.

Town Considering Buying Property for a Catoctin Heights Park

The Thurmont Mayor and Board of Commissioners are considering purchasing 1.57 acres in Catoctin Heights to become a community park. The idea is several years old, and the town has been approved for $50,000 in Program Open Space (POS) funds to help purchase the property from John and Maggie Doll. The POS funds must be used this year, though.

The town will send a letter to homeowners who are likely to use the park and let them know the mayor and board will continue the discussion at an upcoming meeting.

Middle School Will Get a Radio Enhancement System

During remarks to the Thurmont Mayor and Board of Commissioners, Police Chief Dave Armstrong told the mayor and board that the Thurmont Police Department has received a $67,746 Fire and Justice Assistance Grant to install a radio enhancement system at Thurmont Middle School. Currently, radios for the police, fire, and EMS personnel do not work properly in the school. Personnel can’t communicate to the outside of the building. The new system will correct this issue. Frederick County Public Schools is cooperating with this project.

Snow Emergency Plan Discussion

The Thurmont Mayor and Board of Commissioners discussed once again how to deal with some of the narrow streets and cul-de-sacs in town that have on-street parking and can be difficult to plow during a snow event. The two streets named specifically as being a problem are East Street and Carroll Street. Working within the town code, the mayor and board can declare a snow emergency for specific streets. This is one of the options being discussed. The town will be sending a letter to affected homeowners that this will be a topic at an upcoming meeting.

Appointments Made

The Thurmont Mayor and Commissioners approved the following appointments to town boards and commissions:

      Ross Lillard as an alternate member to the Planning & Zoning Commission.

      Alexis Gregory and Nicholas Dankanich as members of the Charter Review Committee.

                Keith Myers, Shawn Martyak, and Cathy Maddox as members of the Police Commission.

Emmitsburg

Board of Commissioners Reorganized

Mayor Frank Davis was re-elected and new commissioner Mike Myers was elected during the recent town election. Davis, who ran unopposed, received 143 votes. Myers received 58 votes out of 161 votes cast. He defeated incumbent Commissioner Valerie Turnquist and former Commissioner Glenn Blanchard.

During the October 5 town meeting, County Clerk Sandra Dalton swore in Frank Davis, and Davis swore in Myers for his three-year term.

The board of commissioners also reorganized itself to fill the board officer positions and board liaison positions:

          President: Jim Hoover

          Vice President: Rosario Benvengi

          Treasurer: Cliff Sweeney

          Planning and Zoning Commission liaison: Kevin Hagan

          Citizens Advisory Committee liaison: Mike Myers

          Parks and Recreation Committee liaison: Cliff Sweeney

Hunting Regulation Amended

The Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners voted to amend the town’s hunting and recreational use policy. The change no longer requires people using Rainbow Lake for fishing to get a town fishing permit. State requirements still need to be met regarding fishing and hunting.

Town Transfers Land to Emmit Ridge II

The Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners approved its intent to transfer 0.4511 acres of land adjacent to the Emmit Ridge II development to the developer for the purpose of maintaining land adjacent to the existing stormwater management facility.

The town-owned property surrounds a stormwater management facility. As part of the improvement plans for Emmit Ridge II, the stormwater management facility needs to be enlarged to comply with current stormwater management regulations. The proposed improvements will require access to and use of a portion of the town-owned property.

By transferring the property, the town will no longer need to maintain it. It will become the responsibility of the homeowners’ association. It also avoids the need for additional easements and maintenance agreements associated with the stormwater management improvements.

Seton Avenue Change Order Approved

The Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners approved a change order from Huntzberry Brothers on the Seton Avenue waterline project. Additional work is needed through no fault of the contractor. The additional $51,264.50 is needed to upsize a section of storm drain, modify the size of the associated manholes, modify the size of one concrete endwall, and add a riprap plunge pool.

The Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners is continuing discussions on how to deal with the projected shortfalls in the town’s water and sewer funds. With lots of infrastructure work expected to be needed, the town is not bringing in enough money to cover those costs.

Water and Sewer Fee Discussion

Much of the discussion during the October town meeting was around the town’s tap fees. It is being proposed that the water connection fee should be $8,000, and the sewer connection should be $8,200. The funds collected from connection fees should also be restricted for capital improvements. Currently, the fees go into the general fund and can be used for day-to-day operations, although connection fees are meant for infrastructure improvements. If the town starts doing so now, it will allow for some build-up of funds to help with the expected shortfalls.

Happy Fall! The weather is quickly changing, and it’s still hard to believe that we have officially entered the end-of-year holiday months. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving in a few weeks, and I hope it’s spent with family and friends. During this time, I always like to remind people to look out for others who may not have as much during this time of the year.

October saw another Woodsboro Days weekend come and go in town. The weather, for the most part, cooperated, and I saw a lot of people out in town at the yard sales at the churches and the vendor event at the fire hall. Even though the music event in the park didn’t happen this year, it was still a nice weekend in town. October also saw a sad time in town, as our long-standing grocery store has closed, hopefully just temporarily for repairs and nothing more, and will reopen soon. Time will tell. Some of our residents depend on this grocery store, and I encourage people to support it as much as they can should it reopen.

As many have noticed, the new digital sign for the town hall and community center has been installed. It will allow us to make announcements on it more in real time, etc. We also have the community room available for residents to use during business hours with a reservation, which can be made through the town clerk. We also have started working on the major underground leaks that were found in town due to the aging infrastructure. We have had some areas that have gone without water pressure for a few days, and unfortunately, some more areas will be turned off temporarily for repairs. The town will notify all residents who will be affected by it.

The town has been approached by a nonprofit wishing to place a small food pantry box at the town hall. I like the idea a lot, and it will be discussed more at the November meeting with the town council. This will be a nice addition to the community center area to support those in our community who may have needs. The nonprofit will maintain the items in it, etc. More details to come soon.

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 emailing 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.org or by phone at 301-401-7164.