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April 3 Board of Garrett County Commissioners Public Meeting Summary

Garrett County Government

The Board of Garrett County Commissioners held its recent public meeting on Monday April 3, 2023.

PUBLIC MEETING OPENED

In the public meeting session, Paul Edwards served as Chairman. The following items were discussed:
Proclamation: April 2023 is Child Abuse Prevention Month
Proclamation: April 5, 2023 is Arbor Day in Garrett County
The winners of the 5th Grade Arbor Day Poster Contest were announced:
1st Place County Winner, 3rd Place State Winner: Emma Secrist
2nd Place County Winner: Codyn Alvarado
3rd Place County Winner: Elodie Morel
Resolution Approval of the 2023 Garrett County Online Tax Sale Dates & Times
Registration opens May 1, 2023 and closes May 19, 2023
Bidding begins on May 22, 2023 and ends on May 26, 2023
Payments must be completed by May 26 at 4:00 PM
Bid # 23–0316 for precast concrete box culvert for a culvert replacement on Bethlehem Road was awarded to Concrete Pipe and Precast in the amount of $63,684. This project is within budget.
Bid # 23–0302 for the purchase and installation of ceramic tile at the courthouse was awarded to Success Floor Covering in the amount of $74,920.98; selecting Option 1. This project is within budget.
Bid # 23–0309 for the Friendsville Wastewater Treatment Plant roof and gutter replacement was awarded to Rough Roofing and Sheetmetal in the amount of $39,030. The project is within budget.
The 2023 Garrett County Transportation Priority Letter was approved.
Public comments were accepted.
PUBLIC MEETING CLOSED

A complete recording of the meeting can be found here.

OUTSIDE ORGANIZATION BUDGET PRESENTATIONS:

Garrett County Health Officer Bob Stephens presented the budget (beginning at 40:40 in the recording) on behalf of the Garrett County Health Department (GCHD)
Mission: To promote, protect and improve the health of citizens and visitors of Garrett County.
Vision: Garrett County, a healthier place to live, work and play
Total GCHD operating budget is $16,707,797 and the request from the county government is $2,436,815
Due to fee-for-service programs, GCHD can return money to the county
Maryland Department of Health reconciled 2022 figures and GCHD will return $915,429 to the county
Sheriff Bryson Meyers presented the budget (beginning at 56:02 in the recording) on behalf of the Garrett County Sheriff’s Department
Public safety and law enforcement is an ever-challenging environment.
Overall, the increase to the budget is $15,335
There are mandates the office has to support financially but they have found grants thus far
Body cameras aren’t mandated until 2025 but were grant funded so they are implemented
Requesting department cell phones to utilize the full functionality of the body cameras
Medicated-Assisted Treatment is now mandated; hopefully can continue to be funded by grants
Alison Sweitzer, CPA, Director of Finance and Dr. Nicole Miller, Chief Academic Officer, presented the budget (beginning at 1:04:05 in the recording) on behalf of the Garrett County Public Schools.
Many changes are occurring because of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future legislation
“To transform Maryland’s education system from early childhood through secondary education to enable performance and ensure all students receive a world-class education”
Pillar 1: Early Childhood
Pillar 2: High Quality & Diverse Teachers and Leaders
Pillar 3: College and Career Readiness
Pillar 4: More Resources for Students to be Successful
Pillar 5: Governance and Accountability
MSDE (Maryland State Department of Education) is calculating some of these formulas for the first time so it is a bit of a moving target to develop the budget request.
FY 2024 local share (county budget requirement) is $28,584,423. The complete meeting can be viewed here.
Public issues or concerns that are to be presented to the Board of Garrett County Commissioners during any Public Meeting should be scheduled with Carol A. Riley-Alexander, Executive Assistant to the Board of County Commissioners/County Administrator, by 11:00 p.m. on Monday one week prior to the Public Meeting Day.

The Board of Garrett County Commissioners next scheduled Public Meeting will be Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Garrett County Courthouse beginning at 4:00 p.m.

March 6 Board of Garrett County Commissioners Public Meeting Summary

Garrett County Government

The Board of Garrett County Commissioners held its recent public meeting on Monday, March 6, 2023.

At the administrative session proceeding the public meeting, the following appointments were made:
Youghiogheny River Advisory Board – 1 member & 1 County Representative (filling unexpired terms through 2025)


Molly Rikhye – Land Owner
Siera Wigfield – County Government
Garrett County Emergency Services Advisory Board – 3 County Representative Members (2-year terms)
Reappointment:
Lou Battistella
Bill Ingram
New Appointment
Chris Nichols
Also, a property tax exemption for the Avilton Community Association for Fiscal Year 2024 was approved, as authorized in the Maryland Tax Code, Section 9-313.

At the public meeting session, Paul Edwards served as Chairman. The following items were discussed:

Proclamation: National Vietnam War Veterans Day will be celebrated on March 29, 2023. The proclamation was presented to Denise Shay.
Bid #23–0209 Visitors Center Deck and Handrail Replacement
Bid requested five (5) options. And, after reviewing the bids for compliance, the recommendation was to reject bids for Option 1, 2, 4 and 5.
The five bids for Option 3 (Composite Lumber & Vinyl) were: Daystar Builders, Inc-$29,500, Mill Creek & Company-$27,506, Beitzel Corp-$37,344, EARN Contractors, Inc.-$45,700 and Colossal Contractors, Inc-$68,600.
Bid # 23-0209 awarded for Option 3 to Mill Creek & Company in the amount of $27,506.
Duane Yoder, on behalf of the Garrett County Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Committee, announced the availability of the Public Participation Survey (linked here: https://tripetto.app/run/F02RWK5O9Z)
PUBLIC MEETING CLOSED AND PUBLIC HEARING OPEN

PUBLIC HEARING: Siera Wigfield presented the 2023 Water & Sewer Master Plan Amendment on behalf of the Garrett County Department of Public Works – Utilities Division. This presentation is primarily “housekeeping” with text amendments and map updates:
Map Updates: Combining McHenry & Thayerville Water areas into Deep Creek Lake Service Area and Sewer Service Expansion Sewer Service in Deep Creek
Text and Map Amendments: Grantsville Water Service Updates?
Text and Map Amendments: Relating to the Trout Run/ Oakland WWTP, to replace Trout Run WWTP and combine Service for communities at a modern WWTP in Oakland ?
The complete presentation is linked here.

The public comment period will be open until Tuesday, March 21, 2023. To make a comment, please email gccomments@garrettcounty.org or swigfield@garrettcounty.org or call 301-334-7477.

PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED AND PUBLIC MEETING OPENED

Public Comments were accepted
Public issues or concerns that are to be presented to the Board of Garrett County Commissioners during any Public Meeting should be scheduled with Carol A. Riley-Alexander, Executive Assistant to the Board of County Commissioners/County Administrator, by 11:00 p.m. on the Monday one week prior to the Public Meeting Day.

The Board of Garrett County Commissioners’ next scheduled Public Meeting will be Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at the Garrett County Courthouse beginning at 4:00 p.m.

Welcome Back, Maryland Welcome Centers!

ANNAPOLIS, Md. –(AP) -Gov. Larry Hogan is announcing the reopening of tourist welcome centers in far western Maryland and the Eastern Shore that the previous administration closed six years ago for budget reasons.

Hogan said in a statement Thursday that the Youghiogheny (yahk-ih-GAY’-nee) Overlook center in Garrett County and the Bay Country center in Queen Anne’s County will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays.

For more, click here.

Adventure Sports Center International Now Part Of Garrett Co. Government

Mar. 29, 2012

It’s official. Garrett County government has taken ownership of the Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI). The county commissioners announced their decision during a press conference Tuesday morning at the courthouse. Their vote to accept the deed, operations, facilities, assets, and a portion of the man-made whitewater course’s debt was unanimous.

Effective March 27, the Marsh Mountain center is an agency/department of Garrett County government.


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About 50 local residents were on hand for the announcement, with many voicing their objections to the acquisition.

“I think you bought a white elephant,” Oakland area resident Steven Friend told the commissioners.

Mountain Lake Park mayor Leo Martin said he thought the commissioners made a bad decision.

“It’s going to put us in a mess for years,” Martin said.

ASCI Inc.’s board of directors, a nonprofit corporation, offered full title to all of its facilities to the commissioners on Jan. 5. But the offer included a $3 million debt. The board had borrowed the money from First United Bank & Trust and Susquehanna Bank to cover unexpected costs during the construction of the facility. ASCI became operational in 2007 through public (federal/state/county) and private funds amounting to about $24 million.

“Since that date (Jan. 5), the county has considered the ASCI offer, reviewed all information available to the county concerning ASCI’s facilities, its assets, its liabilities, its current and long-term value to the county and the community, and has consulted with ASCI’s financial partners,” Commissioner Gregan Crawford said.

He said the two banks agreed to accept the assignment of debt in the sum of $600,000 in full satisfaction of ASCI’s debt obligations. Crawford called the banks’ offer a “generous” opportunity to resolve the debt issue.

“Based upon the ASCI offer and with the assistance of the financial institutions, the county has agreed to terms with the ASCI board of directors, which will permit the county to operate ASCI,” he said.

The $600,000 will be split between the two banks and will come from the county budget’s general fund. The fund will be replenished through the local hotel/motel tax. The current tax rate is 5 percent, with the revenue allocated to the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce and Garrett County Department of Economic Development. In fiscal year 2011, the tax garnered $1.3 million for the county.

Local lawmakers introduced legislation in this year’s General Assembly session that would allow the commissioners to increase the tax to 6 percent.

The commissioners indicated in a press release that questions have been raised about the commissioners appropriating additional funds to prevent three elementary schools from closing.

“[The] accommodations tax cannot be used to fund the school system, so there will be no funding conflict,” Crawford said.

The commissioners stressed the importance of preserving taxpayers’ investment in ASCI and its economic potential to the county.

Since ASCI is a nonprofit, Crawford said, the county is one of the few institutions that could have stepped in and assumed ownership and control of the center.

Several residents asked the commissioners how they expected to be successful running the center when the ASCI board was not. Commissioner Jim Raley said the board could not make it profitable and pay down its debt at the same time.

“Once the debt is resolved, ASCI can begin to concentrate more of its resources on its core functions and end the preoccupation surrounding the debt solution,” Crawford said. “Because public funds were used, I firmly believe that we have a responsibility to make it succeed. The easy way out would be to turn our backs and walk away and watch $24 million of capital costs slip away. But whose interest would that serve then?”

Not counting the debt service, Commissioner Bob Gatto said, ASCI is able to cover its operations and labor costs, plus make a very small profit.

“We want to grow the facility,” Gatto said, noting that the center’s 550-acre Fork Run area could be used year-round for educational and recreational purposes. In addition to rafting, ASCI also offers rock climbing and mountain biking.

ASCI will open for the 2012 season on April 28. Crawford noted that 90 events are planned, including the SavageMan Triathalon and the Maryland Open Canoe and Kayak Championships. He indicated that educational opportunities for school children and college students will continue to grow, as well as international exposure. The International Canoe Federation will hold its world championships at ASCI in 2014.

“We cannot allow ourselves to give up on this project,” Raley said about ASCI. “I think this project is still in its infancy. I think we can grow this project, and I think if you work with us we can make that happen.”

But improvements to ASCI operations are needed, he indicated.

More here.

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