February 9, 2009 Commissioners Meeting Minutes

February 9, 2009
8:00 p.m.

Commissioner President Michael Acierno, Commissioner Robert Heritage, Commissioner Katherine Farquhar, Town Clerk Cate McDonald, Academy Manager Andrea Scanlon, Treasurer Susan Johnson was away. Present during all or portions of the meeting was Gazette Reporter Terri Hogan, Town Resident Fred Teal, area resident Jamella Nooore

Minutes: The January 2009 Commissioners Meeting Minutes were approved.

Financial: The January financial report was not available.

Academy Update:

  • No new rentals to report; State Attorney’s Office canceled their rental
  • Propane: Amerigas miscalculated the amount of propane the Academy used and tank ran out of propane. Amerigas has a new propane delivery schedule to prevent outages.
  • Snow and Inclement Weather Policy: The snow / ice / rain storm the week of Jan 26th caused some disruptions for Jeff Issokson’s long term rental. Considered following MoCo closure policy for inclement weather. Academy Manager will talk with Issokson and person contracted to remove snow from Academy sidewalks to determine a policy.
  • Donna Will: Meeting with Academy Manager Feb. 10th to tour the schoolhouse and have further talks with Academy Manager about a long term rental contract for her afternoon teas and “hands on living history” programs. Academy Manager presented the Commissioners with a preliminary long term rental contract for Donna Will. Commissioners reviewed the document and would like a lawyer to review prior to Donna Will’s acceptance of the terms.

Dishwashing detergent & phosphates: Fred Teal and area resident Jamella Noore presented a request to the Commissioners: grassroots action for all Town Residents to stop using dishwashing detergent that contains phosphates. This came about as the presenters felt that change starts at the local level and the Obama Administration is encouraging citizens to make changes at the grassroots level and asking Town Residents to consider changing dishwashing detergents is a small step in this direction. The Maryland General Assembly passed legislation in 2007 to cut phosphorus pollution to the Bay by requiring low-phosphorus dishwashing detergent; implementation of this bill starts in 2010. Phosphorus is a major pollutant in the Bay. The Commissioners were supportive of the idea and asked Mr. Teal to collect more data; will help educate Town Residents via the newsletter and ask them to switch to phosphate free detergents.

Schoolhouse: Walter Blank is working on a written proposal for upkeep of the one room schoolhouse

Sidewalks: Town Clerk will solicit bids for sidewalk replacement in front of 3 High St.

District 14: Commissioners Acierno and Heritage attended the Jan. 26th Maryland Legislature District 14 Meeting in Annapolis. They met with the entire State Delegation and talked about the Bypass. County Councilmembers Knapp and Floreen were also there and were confident of the Bypass funding.

GOCA: Commissioner Acierno will attend the Feb 10th GOCA meeting.

MML Dinner: Commissioners unable to attend this month due to schedule conflicts.

The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m.

Cate McDonald
Town Clerk