ATTENDING: President Richard Allan, Commissioners Robert Heritage and Michael Acierno, and Clerk-Treasurer Susan Johnson. Resident Leslie Unglesbee and Terri Hogan from the Olney Gazette were also in attendance. The meeting began at 8:00 p.m. at the Brookeville Academy.

MINUTES: The minutes for August were approved.

FINANCIAL REPORT: The financial report was reviewed and accepted. Ms. Johnson stated that the annual audit is in the process of being completed by Debbie Free of Lynton, Shaffer and Co.

REGULAR ORDER OF BUSINESS:

1, Operations and Maintenance – Public Spaces – Mr. Unglesbee asked about the maintenance being done on lower Market Street (west). He asked if the brush could be cleaned up on Market Street from 313 Market Street up to the Yinger’s property located at 19801 Georgia Ave. Ms. Johnson will meet will the town landscaper and discuss this with him. There is a concern about safety to workers from traffic, as the work would have to be done from the street itself. He also was concerned about the condition of the American flags. Some of them are missing and some are in bad condition. Ms. Johnson will order additional flags. It was also decided that the flags would come down after Veteran’s Day on November 11 and go back up by May 30. Once the flags are down, we will do an inventory to see which ones need to be replaced. President Allan pointed out that the Commissioners try to keep an eye on the flags but also depend on residents who might see a flag that got torn in the wind or blown down. Mr. Unglesbee also was concerned about homeowners who are not maintaining their property. President Allan stated that this is always a difficult issue to deal with but he was in the process of writing a letter to one particular homeowner about visible storage of construction materials and related items.

Town Roads – Commissioner Acierno asked about the future maintenance of Market Street and how it was being funded. President Allan answered by stating that the Commissioners have not established a specific account for Market Street repair and repaving to this point. An estimate was recently received from Montgomery County and was in the vicinity of $140,000 to pave and repair the street from Brighton Dam Road to High Street.

2. Sidewalks. President Allan and Commissioner Acierno will be meeting with the State Highway Administration on September 15th at 1:00 p.m. regarding the proposed sidewalks on the west side of High Street (Rt. 97) from Church Street to the Longwood ball fields. Mr. Unglesbee asked if the sidewalks were going to also be installed on Market Street. President Allan responded that sidewalk installation on Market Street has always been recognized as extremely difficult because of trees, stonewalls, driveways and no right-of-way. For those reasons it is unlikely that sidewalks would be installed there in the near future.

3. Signs. The commissioners decided that the signs (schoolhouse, millstone, and angel) should be more colorful perhaps similar to the Civil War signs put up by the State of Maryland rather than the prototypes suggested by the vendor. Ms. Johnson will call the company and move forward on this new design.

4. Schoolhouse Restoration. The schoolhouse will be on the Sandy Spring Museum Tour on October 16. The Madison House and the Montgomery’s house at 211 Market St. are also on the tour. Currently, we are waiting on the renewal of an expired building permit to complete the second phase of the project - the interior. President Allan visited a schoolhouse in Lewes, Delaware on vacation and made several comments on the design, furnishings, and future use of the building as a result.

5. Market/High Streets Intersection. The SHA has been conducting a study concerning installing a traffic light at this intersection. Concern was voiced by the Commissioners as well as from several residents that the process had been moving along without sufficient notification and consultation. President Allan will work to have a meeting set up so that the Town's interests are fully taken into account.

6. Miscellaneous Management Improvement Issues. Commissioner Acierno installed the task manager software on his computer and reviewed the program with Ms. Johnson. He is working with Solutions IC, our web developer, to see if they can become the server for us so all commissioners and Ms Johnson can work on the program from any computer.

NEW BUSINESS

President Allan brought up the idea of clearing a walking path between Water Street and North Street in the near future. This would only be for pedestrians initially. He will ask the Brookeville Planning Commission to add this to its October agenda. He pointed out that the Planning Commission has already envisioned such a connection when Water Street was developed and as the new Kirby proposal for development of "upper" North Street. The Town Commissioners
Have similarly agreed to the connection.

The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for October 11, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. at the Brookeville Academy.

Respectfully submitted,