Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the Thursday, July ninth, two thousand twenty-six open session for the Board of Carroll County Commissioners, as we always do, we'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silent reflection.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all burning up.

I wanted to mention that and then uh Phil Boone um his services were this week and uh um that was tragic um he's he's been sick for a while and uh a lot of the people probably know AP Boone and Sons Bud Boone and then uh Marilyn Printing Andrew um is is his son so uh that that was very touching and uh it's it's uh I know it's the cycle of life but it's tough when whether whether they're old young sick well um i it's tough yesterday was the opioid prevention coalition with uh Carroll County Health Department and uh that's always good information some good stats uh um updates on what the health department's doing the hospital's doing some of the police it it's a pretty good meeting and uh I try to make it when I can um farm museum summer picnic was last night with their um board and uh that's a great you you sat with them that's a great board yeah uh I did oh they're not here yet so I can say this out loud um um I did comment that they have too many lawyers on it on the board but other than that it's okay and the attorneys agreed with me you know but he can he charge you for it too yeah but a good a good board and good discussion and uh the farm museum's great they've uh they've just done some trees between the pavilions on a steep area I think I think it was combination of landscaping but also uh safety so people weren't walking on the steep slope so that that looked pretty and uh it was just uh it's nice to be out there and speaking of being out there this Saturday is the car show and uh that's at the farm museum and uh that was pretty big last year I I don't know if it'll be bigger be the same but uh it was pretty big last year and it'll be interesting.

Should we uh should we start taking bets on whether or not your judging gets overturned again this year?

Well it's it's I think that's why they like me as a judge because I'm irrelevant you know it's it's uh none of my none of my choices win so I it's easy to cater to me and listen to me and then outvote me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Kyle.

Commissioner Court morning Carroll County I'm not really sure how to follow up on that one but we'll do our best here.

First off hope everyone had a wonderful uh 4th of July and Independence Day.

Somehow interestingly enough and this was not planned but myself and two of my colleagues we uh absolutely showed up at the farm museum at Red White and Blue.

So uh we did not plan this but it was a it was a good event.

I know obviously there was some storms that came through uh quite heavy that evening as well um and I'll get to those in a moment but also uh in the celebratory uh feelings regarding the the fourth I wanted to share a picture this is Loki the rescue pity uh Loki was a dog that was a rescue from the uh humane society here in Carroll County uh Loki luckily found a really great home uh and uh he had made his way around various Carroll County uh organizations prior to uh being adopted but uh he also is an internet celebrity so if you were looking for somebody to follow on Instagram consider that also want to give a uh quick congratulations to uh Aunt on her new puppy uh she may be watching today I don't know um also a sincere thank you getting back to the storms for a second I want to a sincere thank you though to uh Carroll County Department of Emergency Management and Communications uh Carroll County Fire and EMS the volunteers law enforcement um as we all know there's been power outages not only in Carroll County but throughout the state but want to just share some numbers to give some context to what all these individuals were dealing with during these storms.

So by the numbers uh 468 911 calls 343 administrative calls handled 340 total calls processed during the busiest hour alone between 6 p.m and midnight by dispatchers coordinated 90 fire and EMS incidents 50 government related calls 126 sheriff office calls and 46 police calls.

So I just want to say an absolute heartfelt thank you to everyone from Carroll County Department of Fire Emergency Management Communications again Carroll County Fire and EMS our volunteers police law enforcement the sheriff's department everyone because it really does take all of us to keep everyone safe and you know the these individuals do it best but they also put their lives in in harm's way at times to make sure we are safe and taken care of and I greatly greatly appreciate that.

And that's a great comment.

And I forgot, and I I didn't write it down.

We're in the middle of carnival season.

So please support them all.

And I would echo that from Commissioner Kyler.

Yes, please come out and support the carnivals.

I know at times it gets a little challenging with the weather that can affect the carnivals.

But if you can't make the carnivals, find some other ways.

I know Westminster does a uh I think it's a 50-50 raffle, but in any ways you can support our volunteers because that's a huge piece of our community, and they're very, very important to all of us.

Um but just uh great group of people, and we're very lucky and fortunate and blessed to have dedicated volunteers.

Uh last night, let's see where was I?

Last night I was at the uh reading of the Declaration of Independence over at the Historic Courthouse, had the uh pleasure of being one of the speakers at that as well as Judge Hecker.

I want to thank Judge Hecker again for giving uh permission for us to utilize that space.

Uh wonderful historic uh courthouse we have in Carroll County, and at 6 p.m.

last night, not only was it read here, it was read across the nation and actually across the world.

Uh so it was 250 years later was just absolutely impressive.

Uh I want to thank the local uh Door to Virtue Masonic Lodge for their involvement and helping with this, as well as the uh local uh American Legion Post here in Westminster.

And want to thank all the community that came out.

Luckily it was a little cooler last night, but still was a little a little uh a little warm out there.

After that, I was over at uh planning and zoning last night till I think that ran until about 10 o'clock.

So very busy evening last night, but a good night.

Also wanted to uh mention some but someone because I always do talk about how we work together as a community, be it you know volunteers, whatever.

I want to give a shout out to Solarnos.

I know they're down in Commissioner Krebs' district, but it's just a testament to what we do so well in this community.

Uh they were on Facebook and they had put out some things over the weekend on Sunday for people, the neighbors that had lost power, they were telling people stop in, bring a cooler and fill up for ice for free.

And it's just it's great to see that that's how we do things in our community.

It's not all about business, it's not all about everything else, but it's about looking out for your neighbor.

I thought that was absolutely just spectacular to see.

Um this evening at 6 o'clock, the Historical Society will have their ribbon cutting for the new uh Nagana exhibition halls as well as a number of other uh dedicated spaces, and it will also be the opening of the uh Carroll uh Carroll at 250 people places in the making of history uh exhibit that exhibit will run about a year, year and a half.

Uh interestingly enough, Carroll County didn't exist 250 years ago.

So it will be touching on a lot of earlier things that occurred here pre-Carroll County and going up and going through the timeline.

There will be a few interesting surprises if you like history, definitely something to check out.

And then right after that at 6 o'clock, not to be uh out outdone by their other event.

Uh the Historical Society is holding their shaken and stirred event on Main Street at Covenance Spirits from 6 to 8.

Uh this one will be is titled The Untold Stories of the Revolution in Carroll County.

Uh it's a great lineup of speakers for that as well.

And uh that's all for me.

Thank you.

Very well said, Commissioner Gordon, and all your comments.

And you as well, Commissioner Kyler.

Commissioner Guerin.

Yeah, um good morning, Carroll County.

I'll segue into some of Commissioner Gordon's comments.