COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF CAROLINE COUNTY
109 Market Street, Room 106, Denton,
Maryland
MINUTES
AUGUST 23, 2011
Present: President Jefferson L. Ghrist; Vice President Larry C. Porter; Member Wilbur
Levengood, Jr.; County
Administrator Ken Decker;
Executive Assistant, Sara B. Visintainer
Invocation: provided by Reverend Buddy
Dunn, Faith Fellowship of Preston,
followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Action Agenda:
·
The open ,
legislative, administrative, and closed session minutes of August 16, 2011 were
approved by unanimous consent;
·
The changes to
the fee schedules of MDIA and First
State inspection agencies
for International Energy Conservation Code inspections were approved by
unanimous consent;
·
The transfer of
the FY2012 Local Housing Bond Allocation to the Department of Housing and
Community Development was approved by unanimous consent;
·
The letter
requesting federal funds be reserved for the Garland Road bridge replacement was
approved by unanimous consent;
·
The contract
modification for additional funds for the Emergency Food Assistance Program was
approved by unanimous consent;
·
Resolution
#2011-016, Solid Waste Disposal Facilities – Rules and Regulations, Permits was
approved by unanimous consent.
Sherriff
Randy Bounds announced that James A. Henning, II would serve as Chief Deputy for the
Caroline County Sheriff’s Office. He
gave the Commissioners a brief overview of Captain Henning’s background and
professional experience. Captain Henning
served in the United States Marine Corps before becoming a police officer. He began working for the Caroline County
Sheriff’s Office in 1996 and spent several years assigned to the Caroline
County Drug Task Force as an undercover narcotics detective. Captain Henning was then promoted to the rank
of Sergeant and spent several years as a patrol sergeant supervising daily
operations and assignments of deputies. He was recently assigned to the
Administration section to conduct planning and research for the Sheriff’s
Office. Captain Henning has a Associates Degree in Law Enforcement from Chesapeake College
with a certificate as a Crime Scene Technician, a Bachelor’s degree in Business
Management and a Masters degree in Business Leadership (MBL) from Johns Hopkins
University. He has served as an instructor for the Criminal
Justice Program at Chesapeake College, the Army National Guard, and North East
Counter Drug
Training Center
–“TOP GUN” School for Undercover Officers. Captain Henning is also a member of the
Maryland Association of Police Planners (MAPP), the International Association
of Crime Analysts (IACA), the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association, and the
local Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
He is also a published author of the book “Practical Narcotics Investigations.” The Commissioners
congratulated Captain Henning on his appointment and stated that they had a
great deal of confidence in his abilities.
They wished him well in his new role.
County Attorney’s report
provided by Mr. Crofoot:
·
The rural
counties forum at the MACo conference went well and
was well received by those in attendance;
·
The County was
dismissed from the Trice v. Nichols litigation because the plaintiff had not
exhausted their administrative remedies;
·
The North County
Water and Sewer agreement has been circulated with edits and some substantive
issues remain to be resolved. The
document will undergo an independent “practitioners review” as well.
·
He is working
with the county attorneys MACo affiliate to analyze
the implications of a Court of Appeals ruling regarding Public Information Act; and
·
The inspection of
the Law Building is scheduled for later that
week.
County Administrator’s
report: Mr. Decker reported on the following items:
·
Commended County
staff, particularly those in the Department of Recreation and Parks, for their
excellent efforts to produce Summerfest, which was a
very successful event;
·
Preparations are
underway for Hurricane Irene are underway, with the Department of Emergency
Services taking the lead;
·
He visited the
Department of Planning and Codes and observed that the staff there is bright
and efficient. Mr. Decker noted that he
would like to see the Director’s authority to grant administrative variances
expanded. He also stated that he would
like to better utilize the County’s GIS software capabilities to provide the
Commissioners with more information and would work with the Department to find
ways to reduce the turn around time on permits.
·
Enjoyed the
networking opportunities provided by the Maryland Association of Counties
conference, particularly meeting his counterparts from around the State;
·
Has taken over
responsibility for the MEA energy grant from the Department of Public Works and
will analyze the potential opportunity to use the funds for making improvements
at the jail. Many jurisdictions have had
difficulty with the detailed requirements of the grant, but Queen Anne’s County
has successfully completed their grant, so he will explore the possibility of
piggybacking on their process.
Commissioners’ comments:
·
All of the
Commissioners praised the County and Denton
staff and many volunteers who made Summerfest
possible.
·
The Commissioners
also all stated that they felt the MACo conference
was very valuable. They enjoyed the
educational sessions, as well as the opportunity to network with other county
officials and staff. The Commissioners
also noted that the exhibit hall was a valuable resource for learning about new
technologies, products, and ways of doing things.
·
The Commissioners
discussed Dover Bridge.
Linda Prochaska from Senator Mikulski’s office discussed the issue with
the Commissioners at MACo and stated that federal
funds are available, but that the project must be far enough along in the State
priority list for money to be allocated.
Because the engineering is not yet complete, obtaining those funds this
year will be difficult. The
Commissioners discussed if they should consider making Dover Bridge
a higher priority than the dualization of Route 404
and decided to make that determination before the annual MDOT meeting. Mr. Decker suggested that if the County is
able to provide some funding for the project, that
might help it move up on the State’s priority list. The Commissioners stated they would like to
talk with Talbot County about the project prior to the
MDOT meeting.
·
Mr. Levengood:
did a session in the Habitat for Humanity jail during Summerfest,
attended a Soil Conservation meeting, and went on one fire call.
President
Ghrist called for public comments
and there were none.
The
Commissioners had a general discussion about the role of County government, and
the following is a summary of that conversation:
- There is a need to
articulate and have consensus on a basic philosophy of government. That should be driven by a focus on core
services, particularly those that were not available through the private
sector. The Commissioners are
challenged by the number of unfunded mandates and things that the County
must do by law, but are not priorities for them.
- Debt service was
discussed and the Commissioners were committed to caring for the County’s
infrastructure, particularly roads, current buildings, and equipment. However, they were concerned about
taking on additional debt without a clear, long range capital plan.
- Commissioner Ghrist
stated that he felt that the Commissioners should also value services that
were utilized by more people higher than those that served just a small
portion of the population.
- Mr. Decker discussed
with the Commissioners the costs of deferring maintenance for too long and
cautioned that they would need to weigh doing things well or doing them
cheaply. He stated that in order to
have the funds needed for necessary capital improvements, the
Commissioners would have to make extremely difficult decisions about
continuing operating funding for non-necessary functions.
- The Commissioners
discussed the need to hold internal departments and outside agencies
accountable for public funds, but without getting into the details of
dictating how services are delivered and expenditures are made. Mr. Decker encouraged the Commissioners
to consider the return on investment achieved by their budget allocations. There is a need to analyze the money
spent, what kind of revenue the service produces, the value of the
service, the public support for the service, and the number of people
served.
- The Commissioners
acknowledged that the philosophical issues that drive policy and budgeting
are difficult to articulate, but that the process of discussing them was
helpful.
Closed session: at 11:35 a.m.
on motion by Mr. Porter and Mr. Levengood, the Commissioners convened in closed
session for the purpose of discussing pending litigation and to receive legal
advice regarding the same; under the authority of the 2004 Maryland Code, State
Government 10-508(8) and (7), with the Commissioners, Amy
Kreiner, Minutes Recorder, Ken Decker, County Administrator; Sara Visintainer, Executive Assistant; Ernie Crofoot, County Attorney; and Bryan Ebling,
Director, Department of Emergency Services, in attendance.
At
12:30 p.m., on motion by Mr. Levengood, seconded by Mr. Porter, the
Commissioners unanimously adjourned Closed session and reconvened in Open session.
President’s report: President Ghrist stated that during the closed
session, the Commissioners had discussed a pending lawsuit, received advice
from staff, and had directed staff to take appropriate action.
There
being no further business, the Commissioners adjourned their meeting at 12:31 p.m.
________________________
Sara B. Visintainer
Executive Assistant