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May/June
2003
Mark Your Calendars
Important Dates:
Planning Commission - June 3, 7:30 p.m.
Commissioner’s Meetings – June 9, 8:00 p.m.
All meetings are held at the Brookeville Academy.
Election
With a good turnout despite an uncontested election,
Bob Heritage was elected to another term as Town Commissioner
under the Town's new annual staggered election format.
Bob previously has served many terms as a Commissioner
and he has also served as the Town's Clerk-Treasurer.
Bob's "voluntarism" has been an important asset
to the community.
Looking to the Future
The Commissioners strongly encourage residents who would
like to become more involved in what goes on in town
to consider serving in the future as a commissioner or
member of the Planning Commission. The best way to find
out what doing the Town's business is all about is to
attend monthly meetings of the commissioners and/or the
Planning Commission. The meetings can be interesting,
they are open, and can be a first step in gaining a feel
for what goes on in doing the public’s business.
Volunteering is crucial to the existence and vitality
of our system of local government. It can be very rewarding
and it won’t take as much time as you might suspect.
Think about it.
May Town Meeting
This year's annual meeting was reasonably well attended
and residents who showed up heard new State Delegate
(and resident) Karen Montgomery (District 14) report
on her experience in the General Assembly and what it
meant for the Town. Karen's interesting remarks were
followed by Montgomery County Councilman Mike Knapp's
(District 2) update on this year's difficult budget situation.
Both Karen and Mike also discussed the budget scenario
as it impacts on the Brookeville Bypass. Following their
reports and a question and answer period, Rick Allan,
the President of the Commissioners, presented the proposed
Town Budget for FY 2003-2004. A summary is attached to
this newsletter for your information. Copies of the draft
budget are available upon request as will the final adopted
budget when it is approved in June.
Rental Policies at the Brookeville Academy
Recently we had a weekend high school graduation party
that resulted in a number of noise complaints by Academy
neighbors (there was a live band). The police were called
after several requests to tone down the music met no
response from the renter. Not unexpectedly, questions
about our rental policies have since been raised. Our
overall rental policy approach is that the Academy is
a community center that is available for rental for all
reasonable uses. The income derived from these rentals
helps to pay operating costs and reduce our outstanding
building loan. As a public facility we do not discriminate
against any organizations or individuals but we do reserve
the right to refuse rentals for inappropriate uses. We
have not gone out of our way to solicit party business,
particularly youth parties, because of the extra wear
and tear, potentially higher costs of clean up, and security
and safety issues. Because the Academy is located in
a residential neighborhood, all prospective renters are
told that they must be sensitive to that fact and that
all events must terminate by midnight (on weekends).
Because the Academy offers an attractive venue of modest
size and very modest rental fees, it is enjoying increasing
popularity for meetings and celebratory parties, mostly
adult, often involving residents themselves. We anticipate
this trend continuing. While we believe good judgment
and vetting of prospective customers resolves most issues
before they happen, we are always fine-tuning and open
to input from the community. To date there have been
few complaints since the building opened in October 1998
and we hope to keep it that way. Nonetheless we believe
it is appropriate and important to review our user policies
from time to time. Let us hear from you should you have
any suggestions or comments.
www.townofbrookevillemd.org
Our web site has been redesigned and made easier! Please
take a tour and make it one of your "favorites." Thanks
go to the creative design ideas and operational input
of Miche Booz and Chris Scanlon and Susan Johnson's coordination
and liaison with our web designer Michael Reichgut of
Solutions Web Design. If you have ideas about what should
be added to the site or what could be improved, please
let us know.
Schoolhouse Restoration
The almost nonstop rain has delayed our contractor being
able to start on installing the standing seam metal
roof on the schoolhouse. Otherwise, carpenter Walter
Blank continues to work on the inside and has completed
all necessary preparations and repairs to roof joists
and related parts of the roof structure. The building's
four windows are being rebuilt/remade substantially
complete the restoration progress. A State Project
Open Space grant of $17,000 and a Montgomery County
Historic Preservation Commission grant of $2,000 are
also helping to fund the project
Bypass Action Needed
Governor Ehrlich's recent veto of legislation that would
have allowed Montgomery County to use a surcharge on
car registration in order to make it possible for the
County to move forward with essential road and transportation
projects also means trouble for the Bypass. The County
had been willing to fund design and engineering work
on the Bypass - normally done by the State Highway
Administration, to keep it moving forward toward future
construction funding. Because of SHA cutbacks that
funding had been in jeopardy until the County stepped
in. Now that the revenue the County was counting on
to pay for this work has disappeared, the Bypass may
once more be put on ice though the gridlock will continue
to get worse. If you want to do something about this
unacceptable situation, we urge you to write to the
Governor and the Secretary of Transportation to make
your views known. Addresses are as follows:
Governor Robert Ehrlich
100 State Circle
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
The Honorable Robert L. Flanagan
Secretary of Transportation
Maryland Department of Transportation
7201 Corporate Center
Hanover, Maryland 21076
Flags Fly Again
Our American flags are flying again throughout the town.
We wanted them up in time for Memorial Day and resident
Wayne Harding and Commissioner Les Unglesbee saw to
it. We have learned the difficulty of keeping flags
flying a this year we are using much heavier and longer
screws and special “unfurlers.” Other than
the Town’s three “gateways” where
the flags will generally always be installed, our intent
is to display the flags during appropriate holidays.
Keeping the Town Attractive
The Town employs a landscape contractor through most
of the year to maintain various public spaces, keep sidewalks
clear and weed free, gutters clean, gateways tidy, and
North Street plantings and right-of-ways orderly, mulched,
and weeded. A resident-owned business takes care of the
lawns at the Academy and at Brookeville Road. As a result
we think the Town’s appearance along with the efforts
of our residents has significantly improved over the
past year. From time to time, abominable weather and
other situations can throw maintenance schedules off
and things get left undone. We ask that you be patient
at those times. Again, we welcome suggestions on ways
to further improve or enhance the appearance of our town.
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