Mayor Margo G. Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:47 p.m. In attendance were Councilmembers Harrison C. Bristoll, Jr., Whaland Clark, Mabel Mumford-Pautz and J. Brian Kirby, W. S. Ingersoll, Town Manager, Joan Merryman, Stenographer, and guests.

Mayor Bailey asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes of the previous meeting and executive session. Mr. Clark moved that the minutes be approved as written, was seconded by Mr. Kirby and carried unanimously.

Mayor Bailey stated that an executive session was held on Monday, October 2, 2000 at 8:15 p.m. pursuant to Sec. 10-508 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The Mayor and three Councilmembers were present and voted unanimously to go into executive session. Mr. Bristoll was absent. The meeting was called to discuss a personnel matter. The action taken was by a vote of 3 in favor, Mr. Kirby abstaining. The meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Minutes were taken and are part of the record.

Mayor Bailey called on Anne Veach. Ms. Veach said she represented the Division of Human Resources of the State of Maryland, Office of Home Energy Programs. She said there were two programs, the Maryland Energy Assistance Program and the new Electric Universal Service Program. She said eligibility was based on household income and size. She said grants are paid directly to the fuel provider or electric company and the family was placed on a monthly budget payment program. She said the new Electric program encourages energy efficiency and provides assistance in accomplishing that in the home. She said the phone number was 410-778-0820 and the Social Services Office was open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. She said beginning November 14 the office will be open on Tuesday until 7 p.m. She left brochures in the Town Office for the public. Mayor Bailey thanked Ms. Veach for her presentation.

Mayor Bailey called on Christi Nelson from the Humane Society. Mr. Ingersoll said he had asked Ms. Nelson to come to the meeting to discuss animal control in Chestertown. Ms. Nelson went over the process for dealing with nuisance animals. She said if someone calls to register a complaint, they must leave their name and telephone number. She said the Animal Control Office can go to the scene and if they witness the barking, etc. they will issue a warning to the owner. She said if the nuisance is repeated then they can issue a fine. She said if the Animal Control Office does not witness the noise, then the complainant must be willing to sign a complaint and be willing to act as a witness in order to have a citation issued. Mr. Clark said his neighborhood recently had a problem with foxes and no one would respond. He said they were referred to the Department of Natural Resources and they would not do anything. Ms. Nelson said that was where the Humane Society would refer that problem.

Ms. Nelson said there were several levels of legislation that control animals such as the requirement for rabies vaccination which was a State law, licensing which was county or town law, and there are standards for the care of animals. Mr. Ingersoll asked the e-mail address for the Humane Society. Ms. Nelson said it was humanesoc@friend.ly.net and their web site was through community on the Kent County web site.

Mayor Bailey called on the Town Manager for his report. Mr. Ingersoll said the Lion's Club and Washington College will co-sponsor the Halloween parade on Saturday, October 28, 2000 at 3 p.m. with a rain date of Sunday, October 29. The parade will form at Garnett School, go to Kent Street over to High Street, down High Street to the reviewing stand at the park. He said they are requesting that no parking be permitted on High Street from Mill Street down to Court Street. Mr. Ingersoll said we will try to grant the request for no parking, however, the merchants will not be happy and it will be hard to keep the parking spaces clear on a Saturday afternoon. He said the police will provide traffic control. Mayor Bailey asked the Councilmembers whether they would be present to judge. All Councilmembers will be able to attend, but Mayor Bailey will be away.

Mr. Ingersoll said he had distributed changes to the employee personnel manual for housekeeping matters and to begin the drug testing program. He asked the Council whether they had an opportunity to consider the changes and adopt the revised personnel manual. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz asked if the Town Attorney had gone over the changes. Mr. Ingersoll said he will have the attorney look at the drug testing program. Mayor Bailey asked for a motion to adopt the changes in the personnel manual. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz moved that the changes be adopted subject to the approval of the town attorney of the drug testing program, was seconded by Mr. Bristoll and carried unanimously.

Mr. Ingersoll said he had a letter from Tammy Sipe, an intern guidance counselor at the Garnett Elementary School asking him to participate in a career day at the Elementary School. He said the date would be November 17 from 8:30 to 11 a.m.

Mr. Ingersoll said he prepared a grant application for the Hot Spot Nuisance Abatement program for $5,000 in tipping fees. He said the homeowners in the area would be told about pickups that would occur on Mondays (once a month) for items to clean up yards, etc. He said the tipping fees would be paid by the grant and the Town Crew would take the materials to the various landfills. He said the in-kind help would about equal the amount of tipping fees. He asked the Council if they approved him proceeding with the grant. Mr. Clark moved that the grant be filed, was seconded by Mrs. Mumford-Pautz and carried unanimously.

Mr. Ingersoll asked if the Council wished to bag the parking meters downtown from Thanksgiving to New Year's. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz moved that the meters be bagged for the holidays, was seconded by Mr. Clark and carried unanimously.

Mr. Ingersoll said he visited the County Commissioners to discuss the Visitor's Center. He said the Town had gotten the Transportation Enhancement Grant for $240,000 and we want to be sure the County was still interested in the project. He said the County Commissioners were unanimous in their desire to put the Tourism Department in the Center and supports the project. Mr. Ingersoll said the building will not be called the Chestertown Visitors Center, but either just Visitor's Center or the Kent County Visitor's Center. Mr. Kirby asked if the County was willing to state their intention to put the Tourism Department in the building in writing. Mr. Ingersoll said this was discussed and he asked about going into a contract agreement. The County Commissioners were willing to sign an agreement when we have details about the cost of the tenancy.

Mrs. Mumford-Pautz asked about the 5% mortgage grant. Mr. Ingersoll said the deadline for that grant had been October 5 not October 18 and we did not get a grant in. He said there were other programs they referred him to and there will be another funding round next year. Mayor Bailey said there will be a new program called Urban Legacy which will give communities the tools to do the work on aging buildings in aging communities. She said there will be other money available for downtown rehab with new smart code legislation.

Mrs. Mumford-Pautz asked how they can go about getting a property inspected. Mr. Ingersoll said if she gave the address, he would go through our files and see whether it was inspected and if a follow up was needed, we ccould do that do that. If it had not been inspected, we would inspect it.

Mayor Bailey gave the Chestertown Fire Company report for the past 9 months. There were 324 calls, 146 in Chestertown, 129 in the County, and 49 out of the County. The report is available in the Town Office.

Mayor Bailey said on October 5 there was a follow up to the meeting following the incident at Washington Square. She said from that meeting, five committees were formed. She said one committee, Racial Dialogue Group, run by Anne Hennesey and Reverend Robert Brown, met last week at Jane's Church. She said they had over fifty people attend and they will meet every two or three weeks. Anyone interested in working with that group should call the Mayor at the Town Hall or call Ms. Hennessey.

Mayor Bailey said the Eastern Shore Association Dinner will be October 24, 2000 in St. Michaels. Anyone wishing to attend should give their reservation to Joan.

Mayor Bailey announced that the Chestertown Arts League will have their grand opening on Cannon Street on Saturday, November 11, 2000 from 4 to 7 p.m. The ribbon cutting would be at 5:30 p.m.

Mayor Bailey said that there will be two free concerts in tribute to the Sultana. The concerts will at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Mainstay in Rock Hall on Saturday, October 28, 2000. Call for reservations for seating.

Mayor Bailey stated that a hearing will be conducted by the Maryland Department of the Environment for the proposed construction of the pier at the foot of Cannon Street. The hearing will take place on Friday, November 3, 2000 at 10:30 a.m. at the Commissioners Hearing Room, 400 High Street.

Mayor Bailey said she had gotten a call from Margaret Kalmanowicz at the Board of Education. She said they are doing conflict resolution training for bus drivers. The training sessions will be held at fire stations around the county and since the bus drivers have volunteered for the extra training, they would like to provide dinner for them. The school board has asked if the Towns would donate $150 toward the dinner. She asked if the Council would be interesting in donating the $150 toward the dinners and conflict resolution training. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz moved that the Town make that donation since there are a lot of children using bus transportation in Town. Mr. Bristoll asked where the funds would come from in the budget. Mr. Ingersoll said public relations. Mr. Bristoll seconded the motion.

Mr. Kirby said he was not against it but he did not understand why the school system could not provide this out of their large budget. He said that budget also comes from the taxpayers of Chestertown. Mr. Bristoll said he agreed in principal but it was a good thing and for $150 if they are not going to do it, it was worthwhile for the Town to do it. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz suggested it was worth it for an exchange of time to use the Garnett School for recreation. The vote on the motion was 4 in favor, Mr. Kirby opposed.

Mayor Bailey said the annual report from the Local Management Board prepared by Arlene Lee was in the Town Office.

Mayor Bailey stated that the Mayor and Council has cash on hand and in banks of $849,980.98.

Mayor Bailey said there has been much discussion lately about the problems with noise, partying and underage drinking. She said the city of College Park has some language in their ordinance which allows a citation to be issued to all attendees at a gathering. She said we have drafted an addition for the noise ordinance which we will ask the Town Attorney to review. She said she has asked Capt. Edler to give her the names and addresses of people involved in these problems. She said she will call the property owners and notify the parents. She said serving alcohol to underage drinkers and selling alcohol to underage drinkers was illegal. She said kegs are registered and there may be some recourse there. She said there was a large penalty. She said she will get this information to Gerry Roderick to share with the college students. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz discussed the vandalism being done around Town and stated that if these acts being done by people of college age, they must realize that they are of legal age and these are criminal activities. She said there might be some education on these matters by the College. Mayor Bailey said she will continue to work on these problems with Gerry Roderick and Mrs. McIntire at the College.

Mrs. Mumford-Pautz stated that at the community meeting there was a majority of the citizens present who requested that a recreation building be placed in the Town of Chestertown as opposed to any other location. She said she wanted to impress this on the local county officials and officials of other towns in the county and heed the request.

Mary Jean Hudson discussed the speeding on Rt. 213 and said she had asked that an officer sit on Water Street to monitor and enforce the speed limit of 25 miles per hour. She said Mr. Kirby did work at Water Street one evening but had seen no one else in the area. Mayor Bailey read the police report with the details of the speed enforcement on Rt. 213 at the bridge from 8/11 through 10/15/00. She said the gentleman from the State Police will be at the meeting on November 13, 200. She said we want to find out if the trucks are legally trafficking through Chestertown, what they are carrying, what their destination is as well as the speed of the trucks.

Mr. Ingersoll asked Mr. Kirby, who had worked at Water Street and Maple Avenue one evening, if he had clocked any vehicles at 50 miles per hour. Mr. Kirby said he did write a citation for one person going over 50. He said he was there an hour and a half and wrote a couple of citations and 8 or 10 warnings. He said there was a lot of noise and vibration from the traffic on the bridge. He said there are people speeding on the bridge, but there was not much of a noise difference between a vehicle going 30 miles an hours and one going 52. He said he did write warnings for people going 10 to 15 mph. over the limit and people going 20 mph. over the limit were given a citation. Mr. Kirby said anytime a police car was visible during daylight hours traffic will slow down, people will flash their lights and truckers will contact each other on CBs. He said he was not there at the specific times that Ms. Hudson had mentioned but most of what he observed was traffic going from 35 down to 25 mph.

Mr. Ingersoll said after Ms. Hudson was at the meeting before, the Town wrote the other agencies, State Police, Kent County Sheriff's Department and Queen Anne's County Sheriff asking for cooperation from them in controlling speed. He said he felt it was unfair to say we are not doing anything. Mayor Bailey said we will keep working on these problems.

Mrs. Mumford-Pautz said there were a lot of tractor trailer trucks on Lynchburg Street and on High Street. She said she has asked the owners in the industrial park to have their drivers not to use Lynchburg Street and High Street but to use Dixon Drive and the bypass and out 291. Mr. Ingersoll said we have discussed this with the business owners and will do so again. Mayor Bailey asked that these questions be discussed when the State Highway representative and Officer Garber comes to the November 13, 2000 meeting.

Mayor Bailey reminded the Council that the next meeting will be on Monday, November 13, 2000 rather than the first week of the month.

Mayor Bailey asked the Council to review the bills. Mr. Clark moved that the bills be paid as presented, was seconded by Mr. Kirby and carried unanimously.

Mrs. Mumford-Pautz moved that the meeting be adjourned at 9:00 p.m., was seconded by Mr. Bristoll and carried unanimously.

Submitted by:
Joan Merryman
Stenographer