Frederick Mayor and Board of Aldermen Public Meeting - September 1, 2022
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Frederick Mayor and Board of Aldermen Public Meeting - September 1, 2022
The Mayor and Board of Aldermen held a regular public meeting on the evening of September 1, 2022, at City Hall. The meeting included approval of minutes, reports of closed sessions, consent agenda items, four public hearing items, and appointment announcements. Several aldermen offered tributes to the late Alderman William G. Hall and expressed support for businesses affected by a recent downtown fire. All votes were unanimous 5-0 unless otherwise noted.
Report of Closed Meetings
- The board reported on a closed session held August 22, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. at City Hall. On a motion by Alderman Shackelford, seconded by Alderwoman Kazemchak, the board voted 4-0 (Alderwoman Nash not present) to convene in closed session to discuss appointment, employment, and performance evaluation of an appointee. Present were Mayor O'Connor, Aldermen Russell, Shockford, Kazemchak, and McShane, along with staff. The board voted 4-0 to approve the mayor's request for removal of two members of the Frederick Community Action Agency Board of Directors and 4-0 to approve the appointment of two new members.
Consent Calendar
- Category A: Request to Serve Alcohol on City Property – Approved a request from the City of Frederick Parks & Recreation Department to serve beer, wine, and spirits at its Spooky Movie Night on the Creek event on October 15, 2022, from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Carroll Creek Linear Park Amphitheater and Site C-2. Motion by Alderwoman Kazemchak, second by Alderman Russell. Passed 5-0.
- Category B: Special Ordinances – Approved two special ordinances to amend the FY2023 budget: (1) to include revenue and expenditures for a United States Tennis Association Grow the Game Grant; (2) to include revenue and expenditures for a Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network grant. Motion by Alderwoman Kazemchak, second by Alderman Russell. Passed 5-0.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke during either of the two public comment periods. No e-comments were received.
Public Hearing Items (Discussion & Votes)
- Item 1: Memorandum of Understanding for Homeless Services – Acting City Attorney Rachel Nesson presented an MOU among the City, Frederick County Government, and the Religious Coalition for Emergency Human Needs to coordinate homeless services and provide funding for the Alan P. Linton Emergency Shelter, the only emergency shelter in Frederick County serving homeless adults. The City will award $50,000 in FY2023. Alderwoman Nash noted that this funding is in addition to other city investments in housing and human services. Alderman McShane expressed appreciation for continued city investment. Motion by Alderwoman Kazemchak, second by Alderman Shackelford. Passed 5-0.
- Item 2: Microsoft Office 365 Purchase – IT Manager Matt Bowman presented a three-year purchase of Microsoft Office 365 from Software House International (SHI) for $119,111 per year for FY23-FY25. He noted the transition to Office 365 three years ago was critical during the pandemic, enabling telework and remote meetings. Motion by Alderman McShane, second by Alderwoman Kazemchak. Passed 5-0.
- Item 3: Dark Fiber Runs for SCADA Network – IT Manager Matt Bowman presented an agreement with Lumos Network (dba Segra) for three dark fiber runs to connect city treatment plants to the SCADA network. The current T1 line is outdated. The cost is $190,000 for construction and $3,000 per month over 10 years. The upgrade will improve network uptime, efficiency, and security. Motion by Alderman McShane, second by Alderwoman Kazemchak. Passed 5-0.
- Item 4: Lease Assignment at Frederick Municipal Airport – Airport Manager Andrew Moore presented a request from Advanced Aviation Group LLC to assign the lease of Frederick Flight Center (a flight training school) to Empire Aviation Leasing LLC. Advanced Aviation has operated the center under a management agreement since 2018. The Airport Commission recommended approval, and legal review found no fiscal impact. Motion by Alderwoman Nash, second by Alderwoman Kazemchak. Passed 5-0.
- Item 5 (Pulled): A proposed State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund Grant Agreement for the Maryland Deaf Community Center was pulled from the agenda for technical cleanup.
Appointments
- The mayor announced the appointments of Cindy Freeman and Terrence Wiley to the Frederick Community Action Agency Board of Directors, previously approved in closed session. No vote was required.
Key Outcomes
- All votes on consent agenda and public hearing items passed unanimously 5-0.
- The board acknowledged the passing of former Alderman William G. Hall and expressed condolences to his family.
- The board expressed support for businesses and residents affected by a recent downtown fire and thanked first responders.
- Alderman Russell reminded the public of Car Free Day on September 22, 2022.
- The meeting was adjourned without further business.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome to the regular public meeting of the mayor and board of Alderman for the first of September 2022. We begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. We've lost the flag. 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 flags. We have minutes to approve August 4th regular public meeting. Move for approval. Second. Motion by Alderwoman Kazemchak, seconded by Alderman Shackford. All those in favor. Move for approval. Second. Motion by Alderman Kazemchak, second by Alderman Shackleford. All those in favor. Closed session summary Monday, August 22nd, 2022, 9 a.m. City Hall. And a motion made by Alderman Shackleford, seconded by Alderwoman Kazemchick. The board voted four to zero with Alderwoman Nash not present to convene in closed session for the purpose of discussing the appointment, employment, assignment, promotion, discipline to motion, compensation, removal, resignation, and performance evaluation of an appointee employee or official over whom it has jurisdiction pursuant to Section 3-305 B1I of the General Provisions Article Maryland annotated code. Present were Mayor Michael O'Connor and Alderman Kelly Russell, Alderman Derek Shockford, Alderwoman Donica Zemchak, and Alderman Ben McShane. Also present were Rachel Nesson, Acting City Attorney, Phyllis Haynes, City Clerk, Stephan McCoy, Senior Assistant Director of Housing and Human Services, and Romantic Control Director of Housing and Human Services who participated remotely. The topic for discussion was recommendation concerning certain appointees. On a motion made by Alderman McShane, seconded by Alderman McZemC, the board voted four to zero zero. The mayor's request for removal of two members of the Frederick Community Action Board of Directors. On a motion made by Alderman McZemC, and seconded by Alderman McShane. The board approved four zero of the mayor's request for the appointment of two members of the Frederick Community Action Agency Board of Directors. The meeting was adjourned at 918 a.m. respectfully submitted. Phyllis Hain, legislative clerk. Mayor's comments. This is a holiday weekend. It is labor day. It's a good opportunity for us to recall that uh labor has the reason why most of us enjoy many of the benefits we do as employees uh with whatever organization it is that we work for. And it's a great opportunity to remember the uh service and sacrifice of those who have made uh the hard-earned opportunities we have as employees possible. It's also a first Saturday, so there'll be lots of activities going on. And uh I encourage everyone. Hopefully, the weather will be pleasant enough, and there'll be opportunities for people to get out and enjoy. Maybe the coming of fall. We'll see. Aldermanic business and comments. Alderman Shackelford. Yes, Mayor, uh, two comments. One, uh, we send our prayers and condolences out to the family of Alderman William G. Hall on his uh passing uh just two Thursdays ago. And uh we thank him for his service and his family for sharing him to our for our community, our community and city is better because of his service and because of his uh frankness and because of his wisdom. So uh we continue to keep that family in in prayer. Also, we um keep our residents and business owners who were uh by the unfortunate uh fire that happened a couple of weeks ago. We are mindful of uh what's happening uh for our residents and for our small business owners, and we also thank our uh citizens and uh smaller business owners in the surrounding area who rallied around uh those uh persons who were uh on forestly um affected by by the recent incident. So we as a city we were rally and helped and support those individuals who were affected by that unfortunate incident. Thank you. Thank you.
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