Margo G. Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. In attendance were Councilmembers Harrison C. Bristoll, Jr., W. 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 of March 5, 2001. Mr. Kirby moved that the minutes be accepted as presented, was seconded by Mr. Bristoll and carried unanimously.

Mayor Bailey stated that an executive session was held on Monday, March 5, 2001 at 8:50 p.m. pursuant to Sec. 10-508 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The entire Mayor and Council was presented and voted unanimously to go into executive session to discuss a personnel and contractual matters. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m. Minutes were taken and are part of the record.

Mayor Bailey said she would like to call for an executive session following the meeting to discuss a personnel matter. Mr. Bristoll moved that an executive session be held pursuant to Sec. 10-508 of the Annotated Code of Maryland, was seconded by Mrs. Mumford-Pautz and carried unanimously.

Mayor Bailey stated that the Mayor and Council has cash on hand and in banks of $835,747.21.

Mayor Bailey said she would start her report since she had told the guests to come at 7:45. Mayor Bailey gave the Chestertown Fire Company report for February 2001.

Mayor Bailey said she would like to nominate Ted Chase to fill the vacancy on the Ethics Commission and would take a vote on this appointment at the next meeting.

Mayor Bailey said the Town had been advised that Chester Bridge Foundation will not do their Summerfest program this year. She said Leonard Smith, who ran the program for several years was present, and he was asked to give an overview of the program to see whether it was worthwhile for the Town to pick up the program. Mr. Smith said the Summerfest program had been carried out for eight years with activities on Friday and Saturdays evenings. He said they would speak at each of the Middle Schools before the end of the school year to publicize the program and children from all over the county were eligible. He said they registered at the beginning of the summer and could participate in all events, but not all the children took part in all activities. He said the activities included movies, bowling, games at Worton park, and camping in Western Maryland with activities that kids normally would not get to do here. He said as the program progressed they changed from a week long camping trip to weekend camping every other weekend at Tuckahoe. He said at the beginning the parents were responsible for bringing the children to the activity but in later years Summerfest had vans and picked the kids up from around the county. He said Parks and Rec cooperated with them and provided the equipment needed and the program operated under the umbrella of the County's insurance. He said Summerfest did a lot of funding raising but it was a successful program. He said there were three people who were paid and supervised the program. He said the purpose was to keep the kids off the streets on weekend evenings.

Mayor Bailey said if the Town took over the program it would have to be for children who are residents within the Town because it would be paid for by local tax dollars. She asked if there would be enough children in Chestertown to justify the expense. Mr. Smith said a lot of the kids had Chestertown addresses but he was not sure of the Town boundaries.

Mrs. Mumford-Pautz asked how many children were registered in a summer. Mr. Smith said about 65 were registered but not all attended every event.

Mayor Bailey said if the Town undertakes the Friday and Saturday night activities we would have to have a person to run it because you cannot rely on volunteers. She said the Chester Bridge budget was about $10,000 each year and the Town had contributed $4500 a year. Mr. Kirby asked if Chester Bridge still had any funds. Mr. Smith said he did not know but he thought Summerfest was their main activity. Mayor Bailey said she can get that information from Alice Ritchie or George McLaughlin.

Mr. Clark asked if there was a breakdown of the kids from each Town and the County. Mr. Smith said he had done a count but did not have that specific breakdown. He said most of the participation was from Chestertown, Rock Hall and Millington. Mr. Clark asked whether we could have the other Towns pay part of the cost if it included kids from their town. Mr. Bristoll said we could ask Alice Ritchie for a list of the donors who supported the program in the past and we might do some fund raising. Mayor Bailey said she will talk to the Mayor of Rock Hall, Alice Ritchie and Parks and Recreation.

Mayor Bailey said on the summer recreation issue, Hanson Meikle was present to discuss the summer program run by Kent Youth called the Summer Youth Achievement Program. He said this program has been totally funded by the Department of Juvenile Justice. He said this year they are changing their stipulations and the only children who will be eligible for the program will be children who have already been arrested and in trouble with the Juvenile Justice Department. He said the program in the past has worked with kids before they get to that point. He said he would like to have the program sponsored by the Town of Chestertown, Local Management Board and Kent Youth instead of through the Department of Juvenile Justice. He said the program began in 1996, only served males, and targeted the ages from 12 to 18. He said the program was at Chestertown Middle School from Monday to Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. He said the program was athletically oriented with coaches and they do four types of sports. He said sports are done 3 nights and they have various speakers one night a week. They do take cultural and educational field trips. He said they serve 80% Chestertown children. He said they had 75 kids in the program last year with an average of 60 each evening. He said Kent Youth was putting in $5,000 along with in-kind services and he was hoping to get $5000 from Local Management Board and was hoping that the Town would contribute $5,000.

Mayor Bailey said this program worked well along with the Garnett program which was for younger children. She said the Council will review all of the information presented.

Mayor Bailey said the Kent County Commissioners had informed the towns that there would be no grant-in-aid or tax differential from the County this year. She said this was to make up for part of the costs to the towns for service that normally would be provided by a county. She said Chestertown's grant-in-aid last year was a little over $53,000. She said the County asked the Town officials to come to a meeting to talk about this. She the meeting ended with the Commissioners asking the Mayors to go back to their Councils and ask how much each Town could do without. She said in her opinion we cannot do without anything. She said it was precisely things like the summer recreation programs that we must continue. She said the towns carry the bulk of the population, the bulk of the visitors and people shopping and doing business. She asked the Council whether Chestertown can do without the grant-in-aid or how much or do we want to ask for the full amount allotted last year.

Mr. Bristoll said he thought we should ask for the whole amount. He said the County calls it grant-in-aid but basically the funds represent a tax differential payment and what it does was pay the Town slightly for the services that we provide that the County would be obligated to provide. He said a study was done a few years ago to determine what the value of the tax differential really should be and it was between five to seven hundred thousand dollars. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz agreed with Mr. Bristoll. She said the Town was called to offer more to its citizens all the time and we had not raised the tax rate for many years and we continue to do all the things for the same amount of money.

Mr. Clark agreed. Mr. Kirby said he felt the Town was entitled to the money. Mr. Clark moved that the Town write to the County Commissioners to request the same funding that we received last, was seconded by Mr. Kirby and carried unanimously. Mayor Bailey said a letter will be written.

Mayor Bailey called on the Town Manager for his report. Mr. Ingersoll said there were people in the audience interested in one of topics he will discuss. He said we had received three letters about the parking problems on Church Alley. He showed photographs of vehicles taken on a typical day that properly belong elsewhere. He said he had talked to the owner of three vehicles who said she would move them (and who has other places where the vehicles could be taken) but this has not been done. Mr. Ingersoll said he had a proposal and his recommendation that this block of Church Alley be posted for "business parking only 8 a.m. to 5 p.m." Mayor Bailey asked if it should be Monday through Friday. Mr. Ingersoll said just during the work week.

Mr. Ingersoll said he would still work on the multiple owned vehicles. He said every city he has talked to has found that the sticker parking was very hard to monitor and he would like to avoid that. He said this was a step that could be tried.

Mayor Bailey said on parking, she sent a survey to the residents of the 100 block of High Street to determine how many vehicles there are per household in relation to the number of spaces available. She said this old area of Town was not designed for cars and most residences have multiple vehicles.

Mr. Bristoll asked how the enforcement would be done for business district parking. He said someone who lives on Queen Street could just say they were doing business up the street. Mr. Kirby said you might get the three trucks moved but someone else can move in with other vehicles and enforcement would be a problem. Mr. Ingersoll said the enforcement would be done the same as on the streets marked for "resident only parking." The people who live there know their cars and they report commercial cars. He said Council would have to pass on ordinance that would define a "business district" and set the fine. He said the ordinance on residential parking states that resident may report the offending vehicles and this works well.

Mr. Bristoll said he had discussed limited time parking and he did not feel there could be complaints from the businesses there if there was two hour parking or the Town put in parking meters. Mr. Clark said meters would be easier to enforce. Mr. Kirby said he agreed but then Lawyer's Row would be the only street in the business section of Town with no meters. He said that would be the next argument made. He said the 2 hour parking could be tried and see if we get cooperation from the residents. He asked when the two hour parking would be in effect because residents in the area use it for parking at night. Mr. Clark said if the Geddes Piper House was open on the weekends so the two hour parking should be in force all week.

Mayor Bailey asked if the Council wished to make on motion on this. Mr. Ingersoll said if two hour parking were to be on Church Alley, he would suggest it be done on Lawyer's Row as well. Mr. Kirby said at one time the spaces on the Court House side of Lawyer's Row were marked for two hour parking. He suggested that the two hour parking be continued on that side of Lawyer's Row. Mr. Clark moved that the Mayor and Council designate the Court House side of Lawyer's Row and Church Alley be posted for two hour parking from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. The motion was seconded by Mr. Kirby and carried by unanimous vote.

Mr. Ingersoll said he had previously discussed the condition of the street sweeper and the need to replace it. He said he had a proposal from Mid-Atlantic Waste Systems for a Tymco street sweeper with about 20 hours on it that normally sells for $112,000. They have marked it down to $103,336 with a trade-in of $10,000 on our 1990 sweeper for a total price of $93,336. He said he prepared a budget revision on February 5 stating that highway revenue had increased by $33,000, the unused FY budget on street repaving and the shop building and a couple of other items giving a total of $83,043 towards the sweeper. He said we are near budget time but he did not think we would be able to get this value after the budget time. He said the cost for fixing the vacuum part of our current sweeper would be about $70,000. He said he has proposals for leasing and lease purchases but the proposal to purchase was the most advantageous.

Mr. Bristoll said there had been attempts to have people vacate the street at a specific time in order to allow the sweeper to really clean the streets. He said notices could be put up asking people not to park on this side and give the date and do it every two or three weeks. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz moved that the street sweeper be purchased for $93,336, was seconded by Mr. Bristoll. Mr. Kirby asked if there was money in the budget for the $10,000 difference between the cost and the budget revision form submitted. Mr. Ingersoll said there was and he would produce another budget revision for the whole thing. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

Mr. Ingersoll showed pictures of the launching of the Sultana that he had taken with the Town's digital camera. He said there will be a display of the photos in the Town Hall.

Mr. Ingersoll said last year we were inspected by MOSH and by our insurance carrier and two of the items we needed to provide were hand rails going into the Police Station. He said he has a metal working company making the rails and had a budget revision form for the cost of the rails. He said the funds would come from meeting and travel money from the police budget which will not be spent this year. He said the rails will cost $2800 and the Town crew will install them. Mr. Clark moved that the rails be put on the police station in accordance with the budget revision, was seconded by Mrs. Mumford-Pautz and carried unanimously.

Mr. Ingersoll reported that Mr. Bristoll and he had met with the Humane Society regarding the dog ordinance. He said the Humane Society was having problems with the payment of their County citations. Mr. Ingersoll said he will meet with Doug Crites and has already talked to the State's Attorney about the citations. The State's Attorney's office has not had citations come to them for enforcement for some time. He said before the Town enacts an ordinance that uses county citations he will make sure there will be a smooth track for the citations so fines get paid.

Mr. Ingersoll said we had received a letter in January suggesting that the Town had not considered Chestertown Landing's effect on the number of voters and the balance of the wards. He said he recently checked the voter registration rolls and the numbers for the wards are: 1) First Ward: 730; 2) Second Ward: 470; 3) Third Ward: 602; and 4) Fourth Ward: 509. He said Chestertown Landing was in the 4th ward and it has not made that ward larger than any other. He said it was anticipated that the buildings would be built there. He said these are registered voters and of course there are potential registered voters which was something that had to be considered when redividing the wards. He said, for example, the 2nd was an under-registered ward. He said he felt our electoral districts were well balanced.

Mayor Bailey announced that the Prince Theatre will present the Peabody Ragtime Ensemble in Concert on Saturday, May 12, 2001 with a reception at 7 p.m. and concert at 8 p.m. She said this was the Old Chester Theatre at 210 High Street and it was exciting event to see the old theatre coming back to life. She said for tickets one may contact the Kerns Gallery.

Mayor Bailey commented on the move and the launching of the Sultana on Friday, March 23 and 24, 2001. She said not only should the Sultana group be praised, but so should the citizens of the community for the cooperation and volunteer service.

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

Mr. Kirby moved that the meeting be adjourned at 8:30 p.m., was seconded by Mr. Bristoll and carried unanimously.