Call to order the City Council regular public meeting for October 2nd, 2025.

Let us stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

One nation under God.

Indivisible.

Approval of minutes for September 4th, 2025.

Move for approval.

Second.

It's been motion by Councilmember Kazimczek, seconded by Councilmember Russell.

All those in favor.

Motion carries three zero.

We have one appointment tonight.

Approval of the appointment of Kevin Meyer as trustee for the city's pension and opid trust funds as a replacement for Joe Hare.

Is there a motion?

Move for approval.

Second.

The motion by Councilmember Kazemchak, seconded by Councilmember Russell.

All those in favor.

Motion carries three zero.

Council comments.

Councilmember Russell.

I do have a comment.

I was excited to find out today from our director of parks and recreation that they request for proposals.

So this will be for uh demolition and rebuild of the skate park as a new uh remade amenity with public art space and all kinds of exciting uh things.

So it's been a project that we've been trying to shepherd through for almost four years now, and it's exciting to see with community uh engagement that we're moving forward.

Exciting news.

Councilmember Kazemchak.

Thank you.

No comments from here.

This is an opportunity public comments.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to address this council regarding items that may or may not appear on the agenda.

Please note speakers to give their name and general address for the record.

You're reminded that these proceedings are broadcast on live TV.

And you should speak clearly and directly into the microphone.

All comments are limited to a total of three minutes per individual.

If you wish to ask a question and want to be response, that would become a part of the three-minute limit.

And if each speaker, when it's your turn to speak, please be oh, we stated that.

To ensure your uninterrupted opportunity to speak, this will be your time so that members meetings, members of the council will not be answering any questions nor engaged in discussions.gov MD.gov.

Also, if you have written materials to accompany your remarks, we encourage you to email those as well.

Those who signed up will speak first, and depending on our agenda, we may pause and resume general public comment at the end of the agenda.

Pursuant to our rules of procedure, conduct of disrupt the meeting or that interferes with the rights of members to the public to attend and observe the meeting is not acceptable.

We have also posted our code of civility in this boardroom, which is located to my left and your right.

Please take note of the exits for your safety and silence all electronic devices, please.

Thank you for taking the time to engage with us and let us begin.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you, Miss Phyllis.

Ben Maston, Frederick.

Well, um, I have a document to serve here in a minute.

It's a Maryland public information request, but before I do that, I must say I think if I know the city legal department, like I think I know them, I think they're in a celebratory mood today.

Uh because the Public Information Act compliance board recently came down with an October 1st, 2025 decision as it relates to a public information request that I filed back in February, ruling that it was something we already all knew, and that was hysterical.

That was their ruling.

Hysterical.

But the bottom line is the legal department was trying to stop me and other individuals from being able to access records that whereas the content of the record, if it had words that they didn't like, what they were trying to do was get the Public Information Act compliance board to give them sort of a legal predisposition to not produce those records.

They did not get that.

So they think they won, but they lost.

Specifically, the ruling cited that Maryland law has absolutely no way to prevent individuals from filing public information requests with words that they disagree with, and that it would have to be on a case-by-case basis.

So they think that it is a legal victory, but it is certainly not because all the relief that they got from this opinion was stating that the record that I already have, that they are do not have to produce it a second time.

So they went through this whole process, hundreds of pages of documents, probably spent tons of city resources and taxpayers' money to try to prove to themselves something that we already knew, which was that it was hysterical, it was comedy, and they didn't win anything because of the fact that it's on a case-by-case basis, and the Public Information Act compliance board does not, they're not the arbiters of the First Amendment.

They don't decide what is political redress or not.

They found that as it relates to this specific circumstance, they found that okay, maybe it's vexatious, but the bottom line is it's on a case-by-case basis.

Absolutely no relief was granted to the city attorney's office.

So with that, I would like to award the Dunscap Award to the City Legal Department.

This is for them.

This is for wasting lots of taxpayers' resources and time on something as stupid as that letter.

And uh congratulations on this.

So this is actually also a public information request as well.

So I'm gonna turn that in right now.

Thank you guys very much.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Next up is Ben Maston.

Um, next time you approach, please let us know you're approaching.

Hello, well, Ben Maston.

Excuse me, excuse me, Ben Maston.

Sorry, what Ben Maston is next.

Ben Mastin.

It it says B man stand.

I'm just really bad at spelling.

So, anyhow, I'm actually Washington County Commissioner Derek Harvey from Smithsburg, Maryland.

And I just came down to give some comments in regards to in the streets.

Uh in the streets.

Excuse me, we're looking for who's next.

This you're not next, if that's your name is.

No, I wrote down.

I'm I'm the one there.

Which what's your name?

Uh Commissioner Derek Hardy.

I came in incognito.

On here is B Man Standing.

Yes, I go by that as well.

I identify by multiple names.

Proceed.

Thank you.

So, anyhow, um, I'm here to talk about in the streets.

I was at in the streets, and I found out some disturbing news that candy was not able to be dispensed by the booths uh and the people in the tents at in the streets due to the fact that they needed to have a food vendor's license to hand out candy to children.

This is like individually wrapped candy, uh packs of PES, things like that.

So they weren't allowed to give out uh any candy to the children uh at the different booths and stuff.

I thought that was pretty disturbing.

Then I also found from talking to citizens that when they were doing cleanup for the Boy Scouts, the Boy Scouts were able to clean up the Minocase River, and when they would pull tires and debris out of the river, they would actually call Frederick County when they were in the county portion of the river, and Frederick County would come and pick it up.

But when they contacted the city of Frederick for that section of the Minochasi River, uh, the city of Frederick denied their request to come and get the tires and garbage out of the river because they wouldn't take it unless it had been cleaned.

So they were willing to do the labor of cleaning up the Minocase River, but the city of Frederick would not accept it.

So the river is still dirty, and they lost out on the free labor of these boy scouts who wanted to clean up the river.

Now, the next thing I wanted to talk about was uh public information act requests in Frederick.

They're horrible, they're not replying to stuff.

Uh Levi Trumbull was followed into a bathroom by a government employee at the Weinberg Center and videotaped at a urinal in a bathroom, which is actually a crime.

And when he asked for the public record of the video, they blurred out the face, even though the video was taken in the lobby.

It obviously wasn't in the bathroom.

So, anyway, I wanted to express my uh dismay with the city legal department for withholding government records that the public is entitled to.

I'm gonna drop off this uh public information act request, and then I'm gonna artistically express my opinion of the legal department of the city of Frederick.

Are you approaching what wait a minute excuse me?

Are you approaching?

Um what?

Are you approaching?

Um, I was just gonna move the uh city council to express my displeasure with the government in the city of Frederick.

Thank you for your time.

Does anyone else want to offer public comments tonight?

Please approach name and general address for the record, please.

David Azion BG, 562 boys in Barrie Lane.

In my parents' home country of Togo, and most of French speaking Africa, we have a term for the lasting neocolonial legacy in the region.

We call it France Afrique.

The effects of this are still felt today as the French state continues to gut African resources.

Patterns that are seen in the transatlantic slave trade and the colonial scramble for Africa.

You might be asking why I'm bringing this up.

I am bringing this up because corporations from the so-called United States of America are currently in occupied Palestinian territories doing business there, and in some cases, funding the technology, killing innocent Palestinian children.

Our tax dollars have gone to kill children in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, so on and so forth.

Those tax dollars have gone to attack the Sumud flotilla, if you've seen recently, where most of them were intercepted by the Israeli occupational forces.

Those tax dollars go to fund a Zionist government, which is the United States, the so-called United States federal government.

With even Shackelfords, who describes himself as a progressive reluctance to second a resolution supporting the people of Palestine.

We are not asking you to end the Palestinian genocide.

We are merely asking you to stop sending 5,281,002 worth of arms to Israel to demand a ceasefire in Palestine.

However, I do not have high hopes that you will do so.

Over the last few years, it has become clear to me that the term liberal is not a term for freedom and progression.

And it said one of ignorance and regression.

You ignore Palestinian pain, even when actual Palestinians plead to you to stop funding the Zionist state.

You have shown that you are willing to let fascist attention seeking demagogues like Sean Porter and Levi Trumbull, but cannot do an act as simple as condemning the Zionist states.

I have no thanks to to the call to a council who supports genocide.

Land back free Palestine, free Congo.

I'm out.

Are the other public comments for tonight?

Seeing none, we will move on with our consent agenda.

All items included under the consent agenda are considered routine to be routinely by the council.

They would be approved by one motion without separate discussion of each item, unless any person present presents requests an item or items to be removed from the consent agenda.

Any item removed from the consent agenda will be considered separately at the end of the consent agenda.

If you like any of the items below considered separately, please say so when the council president when I announce each category.

Release of sureties.

Move for approval.

Second.

It's been motioned by Councilmember Kazimchak, second by count Mr.

Russell.

All those in favor?

Motion carries three zero.

Grant agreements for rental licensing funds.

Move for approval.

Second.

It's been motioned by Councilmember Kazimchak, second by Councilmember Russell.

All those in favor.

Motion carries three zero.

Now onto our public hearing.

We have one item for purchase approval or contract with Showtime Sound LLC for a sound system.

This item will be sent by Greg Davis.

And Kitty Clark.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm Greg Davis.

Is it mic on Greg?

Yes.

Okay, thanks.

Yes.

I'm Greg Davis.

I'm from the Weinberg Center.

And uh yeah, the contract, we needed a new sound system.

The city, I believe, is just um kind of helping us with the bidding process.

Uh we received a 200,000 dollar bond bill from the state, and the rest of the money is coming from our board, uh, which I believe is somewhere in the range of 230 some change.

Um so yeah, we Showtime Sound is a small business and it's located in the city of Frederick.

They were the only bidders, and it was I think it came in at a very reasonable price.

Any questions?

So you had one bid, and that is it.

You had one bid.

Yes.

How many times did you go out to bid with this?

Uh we just went once with it.

Okay.

Usually if you only get one bid, you look for other people.

It's a it it was a very it's a very specific speaker system that is very so.

Some companies deal with a company called DMB, some companies deal with speakers that were bidding L acoustics, and it's a very specific.

We did put it out and invited some specific companies to bid on it.

Uh we invited uh I don't care about the specific companies.

I just want to know that there were numerous companies invited specifically to bid on it.

I actually had I had one from Annapolis come to the theater and I gave them the tour and kind of gave gave them the tour, and uh we never received a bid from that.

Okay.

Thank you.

No problem.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Is there a motion?

On this item.

Yeah.

Oh, what please please you gotta come forward, please.

Okay.

I didn't understand the program because of quote unquote public comment.

Uh is there a public comment on this item on this on this agenda item.

On this item that was just testified to that's a nature of my comment.

My comment was more than a question.

A comment was like an inquiry, and it follows up somewhat on what uh Ms.

Kuzimchek inquired about in terms of the people or the entities that submitted a bid.

And my question on this as always is the demography of the company that got the bid.

Uh that's my question as to whether that has been in the presentation on that issue.

And maybe somebody can respond to that.

Is there a motion on this?

I think the gentleman wanted to give a response to my question.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Um, I'm chair of the meeting.

Oh, you demand.

I understand you demand, but you asked whether or not anyone had in comment.

I came and made a comment.

This individual indicated that he was inclined to respond to the comment.

And I think that since you opened it up to comment, I think that just makes sense to give you a chance to do that.

Thank you.

This is their motion on this item.

So I personally find it an appropriate question, and I would be happy to have staff.

Tell us the demographics of the company.

I believe you already did that, saying it's a small business.

Certainly we're we're looking for small businesses.

But um is it women-owned or minority?

Do you know the answer to those questions?

Small business.

Please come to the great.

Thank you.

I'm having a very hard time hearing you.

That's okay.

I didn't hear what you that what you were asking.

So it's a small business.

The question is: is it women-owned or minority?

Uh it is not, it is not a women-owned.

I do know they have many women employees.

Just is it a women-owned or minority business?

No.

Okay.

That's the only question.

Thank you.

Yep.

Um, with the presentation that has been given, I move for approval.

Second.

It's my motion by Councilmember Kazemchak, second by Councilmember Russell.

All those in favor?

Motion carries 3-0.

Next on our agenda is resolution.

Approval resolution 25-13 to adopt changes to the small minority and women-owned business enterprise programs in the city of Frederick.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Gerard Bowens.

I'm the contract compliance administrator here at the City of Frederick.

Coming before you this evening to present the resolution to adopt changes to the small minority and women-owned business enterprise programs in the City of Frederick purchasing policy.

Summary of those changes include the addition of a 2% service disabled veteran-owned small business goal as a standing part of a minority and women-owned business enterprise program.

It would also allow for changes to the small business reserve program where it concerns purchases over 50,000 or those that go to formal solicitation.

Happy to take any questions or further explanation.

Is there any questions for Mr.

Bowens?

Yes, so the change is actually only for small businesses over 50,000.

It's not for minority or women-owned.

That's correct.

Correct.

Right.

Okay.

I just wanted to ensure that I was reading that right.

Yes, no change will be made to the minority and women-owned business enterprise program other than the addition of the two percent service disabled veteran-owned small business.

Keeping those separated, and whenever the project is appropriate to establish those MWBE goals, we'll continue to do that.

Thank you.

Is there a public comment on this item?

Please come forward.

And one question that uh emanates from that is something that I kind of like referenced when I was up here before, is that it's my understanding that there is a small business aspect that's separate and distinct from WMBE, the women in minority businesses.

And as I look at the data, and as I do uh some questioning, it appears that that significant portion of the city contract dollars uh that goes to the small business uh uh category in that there is significant portion of the city contract dollar, or I'll say not an insignificant portion of the contract dollar that goes to the uh small business uh uh aspect of it.

Uh I think it's incumbent upon us if we're truly concerned about the concept, the precept of fairness and inclusion that we look at the composition of this small business section for the issues of diversity and inclusion.

That's an uh insignificant amount of money that goes there, and I think that if we're really committed to the precepts of fairness and inclusion, that we should capture that data.

Now that data may very well show that because it's a small business, that it is uh inundated more proportion more proportionally with women and ethnic minorities.

But we don't have that data, and that data is indeed capturable.

We can capture that data.

And again, if we're really committed to the precept of inclusion and in fairness, uh it is our position that that data should be captured and shared with the public.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

It's up here for my colleagues.

I'm sorry, I'm having computer issues here.

So I was looking my my first um my first look at this.

I don't think that I completely understood the whole um small business and comparing that to women and minority owned, how they're two they're two different things, right?

And so then I tried, I pulled up that the list.

Um, and there are actually a couple of companies that have received over $50,000 contracts that are small businesses.

Now, I had it on my iPad.

I'm trying this on my laptop right now, and something keeps covering the page.

So I can't read it right.

Um, but I was very hesitant to remove that requirement because it can be overridden, right?

Um being that we're just talking about things, small business contracts over 50,000.

We're not talking about women-owned or minority business contracts over 50,000.

I'm comfortable.

I'm comfortable with, I'm comfortable with the decision that was made.

I would like to see us certainly move further.

Um steps.

We have to take steps toward things.

And I understand how this ends up with um having to come back and get exemptions constantly at this level.

Um I've also seen the work that you've done, and I believe that you really have worked hard to ensure that we are looking at small businesses, minority-owned businesses, and women-owned businesses.

So again, I'm I'm comfortable with the changes that you want made.

You are?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Sorry, it's a it's a touch hard to hear.

I'm sorry, it's I can't pull it closer.

Sorry.

So if we're ready, I I move for approval.

Second, do we there one's the small business and the other one's to no?

It's just the one.

I can do it as one version.

You're approving a it's one motion to approve a resolution that adopts revised policies.

Okay, yes.

Thank you.

It's been a motion by Councilmember Kazimczak, second by Councilmember Russell.

All those in favor, any public.

Oh no, you're yes, I already did the all those in favor?

Motion carries three zero.

Thank you.

Well, now on to our second round of council business and comments.

Councilmember Kazimczek.

Okay.

Councilmember Russell.

No comments from the chair.

Last round of public comments.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council regarding items that may or may or not appear on the agenda.

Please no speakers should give their name in general address for the record.

Is there any public comments?

Seeing none, we are adjourned.