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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.15.1986April 15, 1986 Hagerstown, Maryland 21740 The Regular Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners of Washington County was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by the President Ronald L. Bowers with Commissioners R. Lee Downey and Martin L. Snook present. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Invocation was delivered by Rev. Charles B. Weber, Grace United Methodist Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag by the full Assemblage. REAPPOINTMENTS TO CHILDRENS COUNCIL Motion made by Commissioner Downey, seconded by Snook to reappoint Ruth Llewellyn, and Thomas Palamar to serve for terms to expire February 1, 1987 and Jone Thurmond to serve for a term to expire February 1, 1988, as members of the Washington County Children's Council. Unanimously approved. SELECT UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS REPRESENTATIVE Motion made by Commissioner Downey, seconded by Snook to select the firm of Unemployment Tax Services, Inc. to represent the county in unemployment claims for an annual fee of $1,000. Unanimously approved. MINUTES OF MARCH 18, 1986 MEETING Motion made by Commissioner Downey, seconded by Snook to approve of the Minutes of the County Commissioners Meeting on March 18, 1986, as submitted. Unanimously approved. EMPLOYEES SUGGESTION PROGRAM Motion made by Commissioner Snook, seconded by Downey to amend the Employees Suggestion Program to provide for a $25.00 reward for suggestions implemented even though there are no measurable cost savings. Unanimously approved. SUPPLEMENTAL ALLOCATION - PARKS DEPARTMENT Motion made by Commissioner Downey, seconded by Snook to allocate an additional $5500.00 to the Parks Department Budget for resurfacing the multi-purpose court at Halfway Community Park, with these funds to be appropriated from Operating Contingency. Unanimously approved. MUTUAL AIDE AGREEMENT WITH FORT RITCHIE Motion made by Commissioner Downey, seconded by Snook to approve of a mutual aide agreement with Fort Ritchie, authorizing Company 25 -Air Unit to enter into the area, subject to approval of the agreement of the County Attorney. Unanimously approved. MOSQUITO CONTROL PROGRAM FOR 1986 SEASON Motion made by Commissioner Downey, seconded by Snook to participate in the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Mosquito Control Program in Washington County for the 1986 season, with all local costs in the amount of $1,075 to be paid by the communities/agencies using the service. Unanimously approved. RELEASE PORTION OF PROPERTY LEASED TO HANCOCK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Motion made by Commissioner Snook, seconded by Downey to amend the lease agreement with the Hancock Development Corporation to exclude a portion of the property in order that a separate agreement can be entered into with the Potomac Bend Medical Center for lease of the property to construct a parking lot. Unanimously approved. MAUGANSVILLE DRAINAGE PROJECT In response to the Commissioners' inquiry , the County Administrator informed them that the cost of the pipe and construction of the outlet ditch for the Greenside Apartments drainage project was estimated at a total of $12,000. He said that these should be the only costs considered for their participation. The Commissioners took the matter under advisement at this time. LINE ITEM TRANSFER - HOUSING Motion made by Commissioner Snook, seconded by Downey to approve of the following line item transfers in the Housing & Community Development budget: $175 from Architectural Services (84-425-000) and $125 from Capital Outlay (84-487-000) to Dues & Conventions (84-426-000); $300 from Legal Services (84-425-010) to Per Diem (84-429-040); $400 from Advertising (84-421-000) to Auditing Services (84-425-020); $480 from Tuition Assistance (84-429-020), $200 from Subscriptions (84-414-000), $170 from Office Supplies (84-413-000) to Telephone (84-430-000). Unanimously approved. APRIL 15, 1986 MINUTES, CONT'D. At this time Commissioner John R. Salvatore arrived at the Meeting. DISPOSITION OF FIRE & RESCUE GRANT Motion made by Commissioner Salvatore, seconded by Snook to concur with the recommendation of the Fire & Rescue Advisory Committee, and dispurse the Fire & Rescue State Grant in the amount of $75,000, equally between all the county associations, with the method for dispursement to be determined by the Fire & Rescue Loan Committee. Unanimously approved. REQUEST FOR AMENDMENTS TO PLUMBING CODE Robert Ritchie, Chairman of the Washington County Plumbing Board, along with other Board Members and Paul Sprecher, Chief Plumbing Inspector, appeared before the Commissioners to request amendments to the Plumbing Code which would exclude appliance dealers from installing appliances and homeowners from doing their own plumbing on any other properties except the ones in which they reside. The plumbing officials stated that appliance dealers are not taking out the required permits and therefor inspections are not being made which creates definite threats to health and safety. In regard to homeowners doing their own plumbing, it was pointed out that another unenforceable situation occurs when the homeowner hires an outside contractor to do the work under the homeowners' permit. The Commissioners took the requests under advisement at this time. PUBLIC HEARING - AGRICULTURAL PRESERVATION DISTRICT - LUROSE ESTATES, INC. The Meeting was convened in Public Hearing at 11:00 a.m. to permit any resident of Washington County to testify concerning the application of Lu -Rose Estates, Inc. for the establishment of an Agricultural Preservation containing 129.62 acres located on the east side of Marsh Pike, south of its intersection with Eden Road, approximately 2 1/2 miles north of the municipal limits of Hagerstown. Stephen Goodrich, Senior Planner, explained the pertinent data for the application, stating that it had received approval from the Advisory Board and Planning Commission. He also called the Commissioners attention to a private lane traversing the property which provides access to another property in the rear, and said that the State Preservation Foundation would approve of its present use being continued if the District is established, but that any widening or increase in use would be subject to its review and approval. Carl Rosenberry testified in favor of his application, stating that he had no plans to improve the lane, and that he hoped to maintain it in its current state. Denis Rocco, Norman Morin and Donald Taylor, owners of property to the rear of Mr. Rosenberry's, expressed concern about the continued use of the lane as access to their properties and whether the establishment of the District would eliminate the extension of utilities to their properties if it is subdivided. They also said that the status of their property as a subdivision is currently being decided by the courts, and requested the Commissioners to postpone their decision for a period of thirty days or until the matter is decided upon by the courts. Mr. Rosenberry, in turn, stated that there was no basis for this request since it did not involve the issues to be addressed for agricultural preservation designation. The Commissioners took the matter under advisement. The President closed the Hearing at 11:45 a.m. and reconvened the Meeting in Regular Session. Jim Young, Director of Finance, informed the Commissioners via telephone from the Offices of Baker Watts, financial consultants for the County's General Obligation Bond Issue, that bids for sale of the Bonds had been received from the following institutions: Northern Trust - interest rate of 6.84550, Alexander Brown - interest rate of 6.9790, Merrill Lynch - interest rate of 6.970, Paine Weber - interest rate of 6.980, Prudential Bache - interest rate of 7.080. MOTION made by Commissioner Snook, seconded by Downey to proceed with the sale of the Bonds, in the amount of $4,860,000, to Northern Trust who submitted the low interest rate of 6.84550. Unanimously approved. PUBLIC HEARING - WATER & SEWER PLAN The Meeting was convened in Public Hearing at 11:45 a.m. to permit any resident of Washington County to testify in regard to the adoption of the 1986 Water & Sewer Plan. Stephen Goodrich, Senior Planner, stated that at this time, he was seeking the Commissioners concurrence with requesting the State Department of Health to approve of adopting the 1983 Plan as the 1986 Plan for an additional period of six months, in order to extensively research property changes in the area. There being no one else present to speak for nor against said proposal, the Public Hearing was closed at 12:00 noon and the Meeting reconvened in Regular Session. APRIL 15, 1986 MINUTES, CONT'D. ADOPT 1986 WATER & SEWER PLAN Motion made by Commissioner Snook, seconded by Salvatore to request the State Department of Health to approve of the adoption of the 1983 Water & Sewer Plan as the 1986 Water & Sewer Plan for Washington County, for an additional six-month period. Unanimously approved. CONVENE IN EXECUTIVE SESSION Motion made by Commissioner Salvatore, seconded by Snook to convene Executive Session at 12:00 noon in regard to personnel, property and legal matters, pursuant to the authority contained in Article 76(A), Section 11(a)(6 & 7) of the Annotated Code of Maryland. Unanimously approved. RECONVENE IN REGULAR SESSION AND RECESS Motion made by Commissioner Snook, seconded by Salvatore to reconvene in Regular Session and Recess at 12:40 p.m. Unanimously approved. AFTERNOON SESSION The Afternoon Session was convened at 1:30 p.m. with President Bowers presiding and Commissioners Downey, Salvatore and Snook present. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS BUDGET HEARING The County Administrator presented the Capital Improvements Program Budget for FY 1987 in the amounts of $12,223,900 total budget, $7,246,643 local share and $1,776,643 general fund appropriation. He also explained the action on the requests as recommended by the CIP Committee, including the elimination of approximately $1,019,000 requested by the Roads and Landfill Departments and the Board of Education and for these expenditures to be made from the FY 1986 fund balance. The Commissioners made no decisions at this time. BUDGET HEARINGS The following Fiscal Year 1987 Budget Requests were presented: S.P.C.A. - submitted by Susan Smallwood and Pat Morgan in the amount of $91,300; Tourism - submitted by Bob O'Connor and Doug Wright, Jr. in the amounts as follows: Breezewood - $17,958, I-81 - $40,660, I-70 - $67,612, Tourism Office - $86,417. Support for the budgets and additional personnel requests were given by Mr. Wright, Tourism Advisory Committee Chairman, and Lee Baihley, representing Tourism, Inc. The Commissioners made no decisions at this time. CONVENE IN EXECUTIVE SESSION Motion made by Commissioner Downey, seconded by Snook to convene in Executive Session at 3:25 p.m. in regard to personnel and property matters, pursuant to the authority contained in Article 76(A), Section 11(a)(6 & 7) of the Annotated Code of Maryland. Unanimously approved. RECONVENE IN REGULAR SESSION AND ADJOURN Motion made by Commissioner Snook, seconded by Salvatore to reconvene in Regular Session and adjourn at 4:10 p.m. Unanimously approved. County Attorney Clerk