The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Town Manager, W. S. Ingersoll in the absence of Mayor Bailey. In attendance were Councilman Jim Bristoll, Councilman Brian Kirby, Councilperson Mabel Mumford-Pautz, Joan Merryman, Stenographer, and guests. As publicly stated, the meeting was a workshop, open to the public but not necessarily for public participation.

Mr. Ingersoll stated that this was an informational meeting for the Council as Mr. Gross and Mr. Kirby were not on the Council when the Kirby Memorial property was purchased. The property was bought in 1990 for $187,000. Kirby Memorials wanted to stay for the long term and their rent was conveniently paying the debt service. He said it was purchased because the Town had nowhere to expand and the property on the other side of the Town Hall was tied up in a long term lease. That property subsequently had a fire and is now a vacant lot.

Mr. Ingersoll said Kirby Memorials changed their plans and moved. After much public input about the possibility of a visitors' center, the Town decided to hold a design contest for a visitor's center with a $3,000 prize. This was the method used to select an architect. He said the Town also applied for a $150,000. State bond issue which was not awarded last year. There were State representatives who thought there might be Department of Transportation or Tourism money available for such a project. However, there were no such capital funds available.

Mr. Ingersoll said there were seven designs submitted. Several have been taken back by the architects but he showed the designs that were still in our possession. He said they were posted in the Town Hall for several months and featured on Town meeting tapes. The winning architect was Walter Schamu of SMDA in Baltimore. The choice was based on his use of the site and features of the building design. Mr. Ingersoll said the Town budgeted $31,000 for the design which represented 7% of the estimated entire cost for the visitors' center. The UMES has awarded us a $10,000 grant towards the design and the $3,000 prize award is to come out of the total amount.

Mr. Ingersoll said we have again applies for the State bond issue this year. This, in actuality would be a grant. The State of Maryland DHCD Neighborhood Revitalization would be asked for a grant of $150,000. He said the Town has not yet asked the County for any funds in this project but we have asked for their support of the bond issue. Mr. Ingersoll said that since last year the County now has a tourism department. The Town has always felt the proposed 4,000 sq. ft. building would house the Chamber of Commerce. It should be opened for 0364 days a year. Since the tourism office has been added, it should also be there, as well as public restrooms. He said we hoped for a media center on the second floor for our channel 3 equipment, our internet and homepage operations because it would be adjacent to Rt. 213 and major fiberoptic lines. The building would be staffed on weekends or holidays using our hotel tax revenues. Chestertown received $22,000 in these fees last year and this year we should receive $50,000. This would pay debt service on the building and pay for an employee for weekends to serve the public. He said his estimate for the construction of the building was about $420,000 or about $100 a square foot. He said that would include a basement, first floor and usable second floor. He said a drawback of the design that won the contest was that the second floor was more or less useless for the tasks at hand. The first floor needs a sizeable lobby for visitors, the second floor needs offices and there will have to be an elevator to meet ADA laws. The back of the first floor should be restrooms and the building should have to be staffed for the bathrooms to be used.

Mr. Ingersoll said after the $300,000 grant funding, the debt service of $120,000 could be funded by the hotel tax revenues. He said he had figures on the debt service over a 20 year period which would be about $8-9000 a year ($7016) in interest with a total of $10,316 debt service a year.

Mr. Ingersoll said funding for the architect was in the budget and the matter of signing the contract with the architect brought about this workshop meeting. He said no vote on the architectural contract would be taken at this meeting. He said he felt this was a worthwhile project and the Council was at a point to either proceed with the project or drop it. He said he was glad to see the County into tourism now as a lot of dollars are left here by visitors especially in the hotel taxes. He said the Council will direct the architect in how they want the final design either directly or through a committee. Mr. Ingersoll said the hotel tax fees are key and there was no reason to think that the law would be rescinded by the County and those funds disappear. He said this would be a use for the funds that would benefit the people who pay the fees. There should be no cost to the local taxpayer.

Mr. Kirby asked if there was any guarantee that we would get the bond money or the Neighborhood Revitalization money. Mr. Ingersoll said there were no guarantees but we should not proceed with the project until we had guarantee on the grant funding. He said the decision to be made now was whether the Town wants to continue and get specific architectural plans. The ceiling on the Town's funding for construction would be $120,000 to $150,000 which would be paid by the hotel taxes. Mr. Kirby asked about the staffing of the facility. Mr. Ingersoll said the Chamber of Commerce would be there during the week. Mr. Kirby asked if they would be renting the facility. Mr. Ingersoll said nothing had been finalized.

Mr. Bristoll said he had served on the design selection committee. He said that it was understood that the winning design was not final and that the architect chosen would modify his plans to make it a proper building for our use.

Mr. Ingersoll asked if the Council wanted to take questions from the audience since it was a workshop meeting. The Council said they would take questions. Joyce Willis asked if there was anyone opposed to the project. Mr. Ingersoll said if there was he had no letters and did not know about any opposition. He said if there was someone present to oppose it, they should let the Town know now. Mr. Bristoll said there has been an often stated need for public restrooms through the years. Mrs. Willis asked how large the existing building was next door. Mr. Ingersoll said he thought about 25' x 25'. He said water from the eaves has run through the block on the back wall and it was collapsing. He said he would not begin a new facility with that building and we need a lot more square footage.

Chris Kennedy asked if the plans would have shelf life if the funds are spent now for the architectural plan and funding for the project does not come through. Mr. Ingersoll said we have a $10,000 University of Maryland Eastern Shore Rural Development grant to help defray the costs of design and the further we go with plans the better the chances are of us getting grant funding. He said the plans should have a long shelf life unless we used the site for something else.

Joann Fairchild said she was the Director of the Tourism Advisory Board for Kent County. She said if the Town wanted funding for the facility from the County, the first step would be to come through her, make a presentation, and she would pass it through to the County through the tourism budget. Mr. Ingersoll asked if there was money for capital projects in their Board budget. Ms. Fairchild said she did not know, no one has ever asked for any. She said she personally has mixed feelings about the project and she did not know whether it was better to enhance where they are or consider the new facility. She said the Chamber/Tourism office has two bathrooms and they are open on Saturdays from 9 to 2 from May to October. Mr. Ingersoll asked Ms. Fairchild if these were her opinions or those of the Tourism Board. He asked Ms. Fairchild if the rental situation was subsidized and whether it was a permanent situation or just GSM's being nice to the Chamber. Ms. Fairchild said she knew that they paid rent. Mrs. Mumford-Pautz made note that the Chamber office had been provided for free in the Town Hall for many years. She said a rental situation could be pulled out at any time by the owner. Mr. Ingersoll said we had the former Chamber Board's written endorsement of this project. He said the Town would not make any request to the County Tourism Board unless there were funds available and we would not want to be taking money away from something. Mr. Bristoll asked if Ms. Fairchild worked for the County or Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Fairchild said she worked for the County but right next to the Chamber and the Chamber was responsible for visitors' services, that was how they work together.

There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.

Submitted by:

Joan Merryman

Stenographer

Approved by:

W. S. Ingersoll

Town Manager

RETURN to 1998 Minutes