Carroll County Board of Commissioners Open Session, March 5, 2026
Carroll County Board of Commissioners Open Session – March 5, 2026
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners held its Thursday open session on March 5, 2026, in Room 311 of the Carroll County Office Building. Commissioner Thomas Gordon was absent due to illness. The board approved a drug court grant, two construction contracts, a PILOT agreement, and a Westminster annexation comment letter; heard a detailed FY2027 budget overview; and deferred the FY2027 Consolidated Transportation Plan priority letter for revision.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Catherine Adelaide, a member of the Carroll County Republican Central Committee, gave public comment. She expressed support for pro-life legislation, opposition to assisted-suicide and infanticide-related bills in Annapolis, thanked commissioners for attending the legislative breakfast, promoted the Maryland March for Life, and reminded Republicans to sign up as election judges. No other public comments were offered.
Discussion Items
- Adult Drug Court FY2027 Grant – Approved: Judge Fred S. Hecker and Drug Court Coordinator Dina Black presented the request. Since April 2007, the Carroll County Adult Drug Court has accepted 571 participants; 305 have successfully completed the 13-month program and 38 are current participants. The board approved submission and acceptance of the FY27 Office of Problem-Solving Courts Discretionary Grant application and award totaling $371,343.60, including $4,745 in county funds for grant-ineligible expenses. Commissioner Kiler praised the program and noted the county contribution was less than 1.5% of program cost.
- Priority Carroll, Proclamations, and Red Cross Month: Commissioners gave community updates. Commissioner Krebs reported that opioid overdose numbers are down 50% from last year, with two fatal overdoses in the past 12 months (a 33% decrease), zero heroin overdoses, three fentanyl, zero cocaine, eight opiate, and six prescription-drug overdoses; she also cited 56 crashes on a less-than-two-mile stretch of Route 26 last year, including one fatality, 13 personal injuries, and 42 property-damage crashes. Commissioner Kiler shared personal opinions on volunteer fire company support, a proposed billboard rule, and that, in his view, community solar "doesn't belong on AG" land. The board proclaimed March as Red Cross Month; Executive Director Lenora Henry reported the Central Maryland chapter assisted 1,778 individuals in 642 households during 361 disasters, collected 38,189 units of blood, trained 18,810 people, and provided 822 services to military members, veterans, and families; she also noted the Red Cross provides 40% of the nation's blood supply and canceled 800 blood drives due to the storm.
- Legislative Update: Legislative Liaison Pam Meister said the county is tracking about 401 bills, with the introduction deadline March 9 and crossover around March 23. She discussed the importance of clear support/oppose letters and coordinating with the delegation. No vote was taken.
- Budget Overview Presentation: Budget Director Ted Zaleski presented the FY2027 budget and FY2027-2032 plan. Current county budget is about $580 million, with a projected FY26 year-end of about $625 million. Revenues are expected to come in $44.2 million over budget; he projected about $2 million left in reserve for contingency, $36.7 million in existing unassigned fund balance, $3 million going to stabilization funds, and a 1% surplus transfer of $5.5 million, leaving about $79 million at year-end. Zaleski cautioned the county remains "over-committed," with out-year expenditures growing faster than revenue, and noted FY32 currently shows a negative balance of roughly $8–9 million. Assumptions include Carroll County Public Schools at 3% (though actual increases have exceeded that), salaries at 3.5% for FY27 and 5% in out-years, and general services at 3%. He identified state cost shifts (teacher pension, community college pension, library pension, private pre-K/MSD payments), Blueprint funding uncertainty, income-tax volatility, and federal funding changes as major risks. The recommended budget will be presented March 17. The board adopted, during this item, a motion to include a Liberty High School feasibility study (about $450,000) and a motion to include for discussion $3 million for CCPS technology refresh and building maintenance plus approximately $1.4–1.5 million for stadium lighting. A proposed Carroll Community College project was deferred to a future budget work session.
- PILOT Agreement for Residences at Hampstead School – Approved: WinnCompanies sought a 15-year Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes agreement for the 85-unit, 100% affordable senior property. Project Director Alex Pereira described rehabilitation beginning Q3 2026, lasting 7–10 months, with no resident displacement and rents unchanged, preserving affordability covenants for 30 years. Two options were presented: Option 1 (40% discount, flat for 15 years; about $237,000 county savings over life, $190,000 additional loan capacity) and Option 2 (50% discount with 3% annual escalation; about $223,000 county savings, $220,000 additional loan capacity). Pereira called Option 2 "a win-win"; Comptroller Jenny Hobbs said it was consistent with the county's existing PILOT. The board approved the PILOT agreement under Option 2.
- Cape Horn Park Synthetic Turf Field Design-Build Contract – Approved: The board awarded a contract to Tarkett Sports Construction for $89,920, funded within the FY26 budget, for design-build services for the new synthetic turf field at Cape Horn Park in Hampstead.
- CCSO Headquarters Early Demolition GMP – Approved: The board approved Phase 1 Guaranteed Maximum Price for the early demolition package for the new Carroll County Sheriff's Office Headquarters to Dustin Construction for $507,796. The work will remove three residential structures and one commercial structure on the five-acre site at Greenwood Avenue and Manchester Avenue.
- Westminster Annexation No. 88 (Route 309, LLC) – Comment Letter Approved: Staff presented the 2.49-acre annexation at 1199 McGregor Road. The county I-2 Heavy Industrial property would become City of Westminster I-R Restricted Industrial; no zoning waiver is required. The proposed use is an above-ground propane distribution facility by Great Valley Propane. The board approved, signed, and forwarded the county comment letter to the city. Commissioner Kiler asked about landscaping/visual barriers for the tank use.
- FY2027 Consolidated Transportation Plan Priority Letter – Deferred for Revision: Planner Clare Stewart and Deputy Director Daphne Daly reviewed changes from last year's letter, including new breakout requests for MD 26 design, a pedestrian tunnel near Center Street on MD 27, MD 97 improvements, MD 32 construction, and transit/bike-ped items. Commissioner Krebs urged rewriting the letter to emphasize safety, complete streets, system preservation, and project-readiness/match funding, and to group projects by funding phase/priority. The board did not approve the draft letter; it directed staff to work with Commissioner Krebs and bring back a revised letter before the April 1 MDOT deadline.
Key Outcomes
- Approved FY27 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant application and award acceptance ($371,343.60, including $4,745 county funds).
- Proclaimed March 2026 as Red Cross Month in Carroll County.
- Approved a 15-year PILOT agreement for Residences at Hampstead School under Option 2 (50% discount, 3% annual escalation).
- Awarded Cape Horn Park turf-field design-build contract to Tarkett Sports Construction ($89,920).
- Awarded CCSO Headquarters Phase 1 early-demolition GMP to Dustin Construction ($507,796).
- Approved forwarding the Westminster Annexation No. 88 comment letter.
- Directed the FY2027 CTP priority letter be revised and reconsidered before April 1.
- Directed inclusion of Liberty High School feasibility study and CCPS one-time funding items (tech refresh/maintenance and stadium lighting) in the FY27 budget proposal for discussion.
- After agenda review, the board moved into closed session for land acquisition.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Thursday, March fifth, two thousand twenty six open session for the Board of Carroll County Commissioners. I hope everybody is doing well today. And so first up on our agenda, we have a grant for FY2027 discretionary application and acceptance of award for adult drug hoard with Judge Hecker. Your Honor, good morning. Good morning. Thank you for uh accommodating my schedule, allowing me to come over so that I can get back to the business of the court. I appreciate that very much. With me today is Dina Black, who is the coordinator for the Drug Treatment Court program. I know you all know. Dina, um I know you're all familiar with drug treatment court, um, but it's uh of course a supervised drug treatment court, drug uh treatment program supervised by the court. It's available to adults, so individuals 18 years of age or older who are Carroll County residents who have uh been charged with certain offenses in uh Carroll County, uh not uh violent offenders are are not uh eligible for drug treatment court. Uh but those individuals who have clinically been determined uh to have a substance use disorder for whom uh treatment uh is likely to be successful uh and uh those individuals have to be deemed amenable to treatment. Uh we also do not uh also ineligible for drug treatment court program are those individuals who are charged with uh uh controlled dangerous substance offenses deemed to be dealers for profit. So uh but beyond that um uh the uh individuals who are eligible for drug treatment court, of course, are those who, like so many individuals that we see in the circuit court and the district court for that matter, uh whose crimes are motivated uh in some way, shape, or form by uh drugs or alcohol. And so uh the object of drug treatment court is of course to uh change uh people's uh behavior and also to uh help them lead a life of sobriety free from any further criminal behavior long after they graduate from drug treatment court. Dina and I were just talking before uh uh we were called up here to uh to address you uh about the fact that we are coming up on the 20-year anniversary of the drug treatment court. It began in April of 2007. We've had just under 600 or so participants enter our program over those 20 years, and uh our next graduation ceremony is coming up in um on April the 15th, 2026 at the Carroll Community College at 430 p.m. Uh as I've said before, we very much appreciate the Board of Commissioners allowing us to use that uh facility for our graduations. Uh really adds to the uh it really makes it a meaningful uh ceremony. So but I'm here uh this morning to ask for your approval to submit a grant to the administrative office of the courts, the Office of Problem Solving Courts for a grant for our funding in the amount of 371,343. Uh that includes uh county funds, which we are requesting in the amount of $4,745. And those uh funds are requested for to cover costs that the grant that we get from the Office of Problem Solving Courts uh does not cover. Uh so I'm happy to answer any questions about uh the program or judge. I just want to mention the program is fantastic. I'm hoping we put you out of business someday, and we don't have anybody coming to drug court. Um we had the opioid uh opioid prevention meeting yesterday. I'm gonna talk about this in priority Carroll, but um overdoses are down dramatically. Um deaths are down tremendously. We're heading in the right direction, and a lot of it's because of the preventive work we've done, also the treatment end and then drug court. But if we can stop the pipeline, hopefully we can put you out of business. And that's our goal. But what but all of those things together have helped us rein in this horrible, horrible problem that we've had. And it and you've been on that task force since the beginning, since it was, I guess, 10 years ago, uh, Governor Hogan asks everyone to put it together. And I and it's it's actually dwindling in it in attendance because we're being successful. And I think the urgency has gone away, but we have to maintain what we're doing, and you're you're a part of that. So I thank you. And one thing that in our county we always do well is everyone get together and say, how do we solve this problem? And we did, but I mean I say we did. We put our efforts together, whether it's the school system, the hospital, the the courts, the sheriff's department, the law enforcement locally, everyone, and putting a lot of effort into prevention, which we're doing at our middle schools, but also the drug court, uh, not in Carroll and all those things, and it has uh I think drug usage is down nationwide because some of the supplies being cut off, but it's still not be all because of that. It's because of the efforts of what's going on locally that work. So it's this is a piece of it. Thank you. Well, thanks for that. I certainly don't take uh credit for that. The the team that we have, the drug treatment court team is a very dedicated team. We meet weekly and discuss each and every participant in our program, and uh we uh are flexible and adapt uh treatment program to meet our participants' needs, and uh it it takes a lot of time and effort. Um some of those individuals, of course, are on our staff, but others are assigned by the State's attorney's office and the public defender's office, and they don't get paid a dime more for uh being assigned to drug treatment court, although it requires a lot of extra uh time and work on their behalf, and they do it because they believe in it. So I thank you for those comments.
openpublica.com