The Board of County Commissioners convened on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. in Room 311 of the County Office Building. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and Priority Carroll comments from each commissioner, followed by a series of recognitions. The board then considered seven action items—including contract renewals, land preservation approvals, grant applications, and a program open space amendment—all of which were approved unanimously. A work session on recreation and parks field restoration occupied the latter half of the open session. No public comments were made during the designated period. The board concluded the open session and moved into closed session for land acquisition.
Priority Carroll – Commissioners shared updates and announcements: Commissioner Kyler noted a Manchester Valley student crossing incident on Route 30, a state inquiry about speed cameras on state highways, and support for the 4-H Fair and volunteer fire departments. Commissioner Gordon highlighted back-to-school safety, a road construction project on MD 27, a Little Free Library in Westminster, Genova's 50th anniversary, a new book by Farm Museum staff, and a scam alert regarding fraudulent county government emails. Commissioner Guerin urged safe driving around school buses, road crews, and farm equipment. Commissioner Krebs reported on the Bill Murphy Veterans Independence Shuttle unveiling, the 911 Remembrance Run, and state-level data center and energy grid discussions. Commissioner Vigliotti added recognition of the Community Media Center's Hometown Media Award for coverage of the 128th Carroll County 4-H & FFA Fair, and presented a proclamation declaring September 2026 as Preparedness Month in Carroll County, accepted by Director Hawkins and staff from the Department of Emergency Management.
Work Session – Recreation and Parks Field Restoration – Director Bob Hicks and staff presented an overview of the relationship between the Department of Recreation and Parks and the 11 volunteer recreation councils, including governance, field inventory conditions, usage data, and challenges. Key points included:
Note: A public hearing on proposed zoning amendments (Cluster Subdivisions, Accessory Dwelling Units, Retirement Villages/Retirement Homes) was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. the same day but is not covered in this open session transcript.
As we always do, we'll begin with a pledge of allegiance in a moment of sound reflection. I hope everybody is doing well today. It is a beautiful Thursday after all. And up first on our agenda as always is priority. Carol and Commissioner Kyler, we will start with you today. Okay, thank you. And I mentioned in closed and uh I talked with uh district seven engineer yesterday some and we talked about many topics, but um one of those, and and I'll uh check with CCPS to see where they are with it. I know a Manchester Valley student was hit last year crossing Route 30, and uh I know there's grants for walks, and that is a pretty uh rough situation on Route 30. They also have an emergency gate at the back of the school, and I don't know whether they let kids use that or not, but um I'm gonna check into that. And then the other topic that came up, and I'll get more information on it, but um evidently the state of Maryland is advocating that speed cameras go up on different state highways. And uh the District 7 hasn't pursued it. But their question is do we, Carroll County, want 140 9727 pick them. Do we want speed cameras? Um, or or would we just as soon not? So think about it and uh let me know. Um I want to mention uh 4-H Fair, not because you're here, but 4-H Fair, and it's just such an awesome event, and we love supporting it. And uh this morning, which I hopefully my ties straight, Rhonda left before I did. Um she went to Stony Point to pick up our hog. And and the fair is two-edged. Hopefully we support the kids, hopefully we support 4-H and Farm Bureau and uh and and all that. But um she's taken probably three-quarters of the hog into uh salt and pepper sausage to Carroll Food Sunday. So uh it's uh it's a double donation. So uh thank you guys for what you do out there and uh and uh it's uh you're actually benefiting more people. Um Rhonda and I are gonna on a personal note, we're going to visit our daughter this week and and our grandson in two weeks, and we got Labor Day coming up. We'll be back for Labor Day because of things going on here, but hopefully that's family time and everybody enjoys Labor Day and and uh and has a good time. It's uh again it's two-edged. Um it's kind of the end of the season for the pools and for different things going on, so it's it's almost a little sad. Um Market Street, we did that public hearing, and uh, I think nine people came and spoke. Uh two or three uh in favor, and and uh two-thirds of them uh wanting it closed. We did work sessions, uh we're doing more work sessions. I mentioned District 7 already. We got a public hearing tonight at 6 p.m. And uh I encourage everybody to get there and uh comment if you're interested, and uh information's on the web and hopefully everybody knows about it. And lastly, I just want to mention again our volunteer fire departments again. I know they're having some crab feeds, they're having bingo, they're doing things to raise money, and uh carnival season's over. Well, it was fun and a good way to support them. We need to s keep supporting them. We have 14 volunteer uh fire departments. And uh wow. Their property and vehicles probably worth over 200 million. Um, and they've got a lot of volunteers. We couldn't afford, just like Rack and Parks, just like uh many of the Farm Museum Ag Center. We we couldn't afford in Carroll County with our quality of life to pay everybody that volunteers and and does for us, so we need to appreciate them and help them. Thank you. Well said, Commissioner, thank you. Commissioner Gordon? Well, thank you. Good morning, Carroll County. Uh, want to bring up first one of the things that I think is on everybody's minds this week, which started Monday, which is back to school. And uh, you know, Carroll County Sheriff's Office was heavily involved with that.