Town Hall Reports

March 2016 Emmitsburg New Website Up and Running The town has launched its new website design. You can still view it at www.emmitsburgmd.gov, but it has a new, updated look that includes many new features, such as county alerts, streaming of old meetings, a business directory, and an online incident report. “This is light years beyond what we have had in the past,” Commissioner Glenn Blanchard said after the presentation. The website went live in mid-March, and the town staff is seeking pictures that can be posted on the website, particularly pictures of town events that show people. Pumping Station Gets Power Star Power Star energy monitoring equipment will soon be installed on the Emmitsburg pumping station, which is guaranteed to decrease electric costs at the pumping station by at least ten percent. Emmitsburg Zoning Technician Jerry Muir said that the equipment is manufactured in Europe and inhibits unneeded power into the station. “If we need 426 volts, we don’t get 440, that’s where you get the savings,” Muir said. This is because even if the electricity isn’t used, if it goes to the pumping station, it still has to be paid for. Emmitsburg will be the first municipality in the country with this technology. Deputies Want to Start Rocket Club The Frederick County Community Deputies are planning on starting a rocket club for youth in Emmitsburg. The group will meet once a month to build model rockets and then launch them. “We want to encourage youth to come out and feel more comfortable with us and to have a positive impact on them,” the deputy told the Emmitsburg mayor and commissioners. Other deputies had run a rocket club once before in town and found it to be a popular club. For more information on the town of Emmitsburg, visit www.emmitsburgmd.gov or call 301-600-6300. Emmitsburg by Mayor Briggs The Doughboy is up.  What took two seconds to knock down took eight months to reinstall. After what seemed like an endless state protocol process, nationally known sculptor Gary Casteel did the repair work in three and half months. Shining, the doughboy rests atop a new 6,500 pound sandstone pedestal extracted from the same quarry as the original base. Welcome home. Stavros is open—welcome home! Go men’s Mount Rugby team. The team is ranked No. 1 in the country Small College Division and will play for the National Championship in Denver in late April. It seems every day that we lose part of history with the passing of another member of our community. Over the last month we lost Richard “Dick” Waybright, a seventh-generation dairy farmer, like few others. Dick was internationally renowned and visited over 80 countries and along with his brother, Horace, developed cutting edge technology needed for the modern dairy farmer. It’s the only dairy farm I know of with a theatre to accommodate its many visitors. We also lost Donald “Mike” Fitzgerald, the proprietor of the Shamrock Restaurant, a northern Frederick County landmark. He was a restaurateur like few others. Known for its Irish décor and menu, the restaurant drew customers from all over. Mike was also known for his strong patriotic views to which he always stood steadfast. Both men will be missed. Work on replacing sidewalks along South Seton Avenue by the State Highway Administration (SHA) is underway. This is the first installment of the Emmitsburg downtown revitalization project. When the work is complete on South Seton Avenue, the plan is to immediately shift to continue side walk replacements on North Seton Avenue. The whole Seton Avenue work is projected to be completed in two months. Emmitsburg was featured in the February 2016 edition national mountain bike magazine “Dirt Bag”. Purportedly, the magazine has a readership of over 200,000. The article was written by Brice Shirbach who grew up in the area. The mountain bike trail was developed on town owned land of which 550 acres was donated to the town in 2000 by the State of Maryland working in concert with the Conservation Fund. This is a dream project of Commissioner Tim O’Donnell. I attended the March monthly meeting of county executive, mayor and burgesses. The main agenda item was going over the results of the SHA Tourist Area and Corridor (TAC) signage program. All through the process northern Frederick County tourism stakeholders were given the opportunity to be involved in the decisions on tourist road signage that will appear in the not too distant future. Recently I participated in the “Read Across America” program at Mother Seton School. I had the honor of reading to the fourth-grade class and it was a phenomenal experience. Last year Reese Fryer from the town office, Libby and I read to first graders at Emmitsburg Elementary School which was an equally great experience.

Thurmont

New Basketball Courts Approved On March 2, 2016, the Thurmont mayor and commissioners approved a bid to have Playground Specialists build two new basketball half-courts at Pleasant Acres Park and Woodland Park. Playground Specialists presented the low bid of $37,875. Of this amount, $37,800 will be paid for by Program Open Space funds. Town to Hire Summer Maintenance Worker Thurmont will hire a seasonal employee to maintain town parks and trails this summer. The expected cost for this position is $10,560 for an employee who works forty hours per week at $12.00 for twenty-two weeks. The position’s duties include picking up trash, cleaning bathrooms, and emptying the trash cans in the parks. The purpose of this new hire will be to free up other town staff for work that requires greater knowledge and skill, such as street maintenance. Despite the additional cost, the Department of Public Works is still expected to come in under budget for the fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Thurmont Receives Clean Audit The Thurmont mayor and commissioners received their annual audit during the February 23 town meeting. McLean, Koehler, Sparks & Hammond of Frederick (MKS&H) conducted the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. Megan Baker and Barbara Walker of MKS&H presented the highlights of the audit to the commissioners and answered questions. The town received a clean, unqualified, and unmodified opinion, which is good. Total assets increased $2 million, most of which are infrastructure improvements. Total liabilities increased $3 million. Most of this comes from accounting changes that require a different way of reporting pension liabilities. Overall, revenues for the year decreased around $82,015, and overall expenses increased around $62,652. The town had $14.6 million in revenues from sources for 2015 and expenses of $12.8 million, leaving the town with a $1.8 million surplus. Although the audit was fine, a couple deficiencies were noted that need to be addressed. One is that some journal entries are needed to reconcile some accounts at year end. The audit notes, “we suggest that management perform monthly reconciliations and more routine reviews that include all funds and accounts.” Town staff has done this both individually and on an overall fund basis for the cash accounts. They are working on performing monthly reviews for the journal entries and account balances. This will hopefully be accomplished by augmenting the accounting staff. Another note on the audit was that the same person who signs checks can also write checks and post them to the general ledger. The audit recommended that “another individual should be trained to generate the checks for payment and then post the checks once they have been approved and signed.” This will also hopefully be accomplished once the accounting staff is augmented. In the meantime, Mayor John Kinnaird routinely reviews monthly bank statements and cancelled checks. For more information on the town of Thurmont, visit www.thurmont.com or call the town office at 301-271-7313.