Carroll County Board of Commissioners Meeting – February 5, 2026
Carroll County Board of Commissioners Meeting – February 5, 2026
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners met on Thursday, February 5, 2026, at 9:00 AM in the County Office Building, Room 311, in Westminster, Maryland. The meeting covered a wide range of topics including approval of multiple grants, discussion of zoning code revisions, planned commercial centers, proposed billboard regulations, and the presentation of a proclamation for National Marriage Week. Public comment was also taken.
Consent Calendar
- FY26 Courthouse Security Grant: Approved submission and acceptance of a $30,319.89 grant from the Administrative Office of the Courts for security upgrades; no county match required.
- Zoning Code Review Budget Transfer: Approved Resolution O-26.02 transferring $76,743 from Reserve for Contingencies to Planning and Land Management for consulting services.
- Contract Award – Zoning Code Revision: Awarded a $76,743 contract to Michael T. Baker International, Inc. for review and revision of zoning and site development codes.
- Coordinated Community Supports Partnership (CSP) Hub Grant: Approved submission and acceptance of a $3,107,678 grant to fund behavioral health services for students, with no county cost.
- Federal 2025 Continuum of Care Renewal: Approved the match ($50,037) and renewal of a $691,834 grant for homeless services, including permanent supportive housing and coordinated entry.
- Rural Health Transformation Program Grant – Whole Blood Enhancement: Approved submission and acceptance of a 5-year, $911,311 grant to expand the prehospital whole blood program; no county match required.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Diana Bergman (parent and candidate): Advocated for a feasibility study for Liberty High School, suggested budget savings through device leasing and later school start times, and encouraged use of federal grants for road projects.
- Amy Hardesty (Eldersburg resident): Thanked county and state road crews for snow clearing efforts.
- Catherine Adelaide (Carroll County Republican Central Committee): Praised transparency and thoroughness of meetings, announced upcoming events, and expressed support for the board's letter on redistricting.
Discussion Items
- Legislative Update (Pam Meister): Presented a new legislative tracking system and reviewed over 200 bills. Key issues included redistricting, the “Bambi Bill” (housing predictability), and the “Silver Starter Home” bill. The board voted to draft a letter to the General Assembly opposing mid-cycle redistricting and supporting the county’s delegation. Additionally, the board voted to send letters on the Bambi and silver starter home bills articulating county concerns about state mandates driving up housing costs.
- Planned Commercial Centers (PCCs): Staff outlined that residential uses were allowed as accessory uses in PCCs but lacked design standards, leading to poor outcomes. The board voted to direct the Planning Commission to remove residential as an accessory use in PCCs as a stopgap while the master plan process defines appropriate mixed-use guidelines. The action also provides time for community input.
- Proposed Text Amendment – Off-the-Premises Signs (Billboards): Staff and a Clear Channel Outdoor representative presented a proposal to allow consolidation of existing nonconforming billboards into larger signs (up to 672 sq ft per side, 50 ft height) to reduce the total number of signs. The board voted to schedule a public hearing after first holding an informational session for the Finksburg community, where many billboards are located. The discussion included concerns about height, lighting, sound, and traffic safety. Additional clean-up amendments for sign regulations were also noted.
- Marriage Week Proclamation: The board proclaimed February 7–14, 2026 as National Marriage Week, recognizing the contribution of strong marriages to community well-being.
Key Outcomes
- All grant applications, awards, and contracts were approved unanimously as listed in the Consent Calendar.
- Approved a motion to draft a letter opposing the redistricting bill and supporting the county's state delegation. Approved motions to send letters on the Bambi bill and silver starter home bill.
- Approved a motion to direct the Planning Commission to remove residential as an accessory use in Planned Commercial Centers, pending further master plan consultation.
- Approved a motion to schedule a public hearing for the billboard text amendment, with a prior informational session for affected communities.
- The board also discussed future agenda items including a commissioner scholarship proposal and winter Olympics activities.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Thursday, February 5th, 2026 meeting of the Board of Carroll County Commissioners. As we always see, we'll begin with a pledge of allegiance in a moment of silent reflection. So first up on our agenda today, we have a grant approval to submit application and acceptance of reward for FY26 Courthouse Security. Judge, please come forward. Approach the bench. You've been waiting all day to say that. Yeah, I have. Thank you for joining us. And thanks for uh allowing me to come in early. I have uh courtroom full of folks who uh are grateful also. So thank you. Um with me this morning also is Sixtine Cadell from IT in case you have any technical questions. But uh my request of the board this morning is for approval to uh allow us to submit a grant to the administrative office of the courts uh which will fund entirely the projects that we're asking uh to approve today, two security upgrades, one for an intercom upgrade for one of the judges' uh chambers and the other for mag locks to replace sort of an antiquated system of mag locks that we have on the door that don't function as well as they need to when we have a power outage, so we need locks that will uh secure the doors. We when we when we run our fire drills, for example, we discovered that these mag locks don't operate optimally. So we applied for a grant or want to apply for this grant to the administrative office of the courts for $30,319. It won't cost the county anything, I'm pleased to tell you. So I'm happy to answer any questions This is the kind of stuff we like. No reoccurring costs, no money, one-time funds, and so yeah, it's always easier to do that. I guess I can move that the Board of Commissioners approve the submission of the FY26 courthouse security applications and accept the award. Second. We have a motion, we have a second, any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much, Judge. Thank you again very much. Everybody have a good day, be safe. Thank you. So next we will move into the priority Carroll segment of the agenda. Commissioner Krebs, would you like to lead us off this week? Sure. Well, I had a very interesting week, fun week. Um I visited several places, and I went to Fairhaven, which I've been to many times before, but not in several years. They had a lot of improvements down there. Fairhaven is a continuing care retirement community in Sykesville, been there since about 40 years, 45 years. Um and they were their ownership ship changed a few years ago, and they got bought out by a larger company called Axe, and they have retirement communities all over the East Coast from Pennsylvania down to Florida. And they have done some phenomenal improvements down there. I mean, it really, really was a beautiful place, and it's such a um a feather in our cap to have these beautiful facilities for our seniors to go to. So I got to tour that, understand about the needs of the um continuing care retirement communities for our seniors, which our senior population is growing, and had a very nice visit down there. Um that was uh what I did part of the day. Then I went up to citizen services to the distillery building, and um we looked at the circle of caring, the homelessness board, um, Carroll County's Continuum of Care, and that was explained to me, and then I got to visit all um meet all of the folks that work there and in the building upstairs, and learned a lot about what's coming up on the agenda today, so I don't have to ask more questions today because I already asked them yesterday. So I enjoy both those visits. I also want to go one more thing about intergrace that I forgot about. Um intergrace now acts. Um one thing that was interesting down there at at Fairhaven, that it used to be a big dairy farm, the Beesman Dairy Farm. And um the um uh the executive director down there actually gave me a book about it for my husband to read and tell me what it's all about. But it just talked about it used to be a big farm, and they actually donated the farm of 300 and some acres for this um facility. I think something similar like that happened with Carroll Lutheran Village.
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