Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The City Council of Frederick, Maryland, held a public meeting on October 15, 2026, beginning at 6:00 PM. The meeting included a proclamation for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, approval of a consent agenda, public hearing items for various purchases and a hangar lease, second readings of land use ordinances, and introductions of bond and data center moratorium ordinances.
Call this um City Council meeting for October 15th quarter. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. 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 the things that we're gonna have to do. Well, thank everyone for coming out this evening. We're going to start with presenting a proclamation for domestic violence awareness month. So uh if I can have the rest of the council members join me up front and folks from Hartley House who are gonna receive a proclamation. Come on, somewhere. Is that everyone who's um we have our proclamation here from the from the city? Um it has a lot of uh awesome little clauses. I'm gonna summarize so that we're not here all day. So uh whereas domestic violence is a pervasive and often hidden public health issue affecting individuals and families across all communities, regardless of age, race, gender, or socioeconomic status, and whereas domestic violence violates an individual's privacy, dignity, security, and humanity through physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse, including including harm to children. And whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that one in three women, one in four men, one in three teens, and one in two LGBTQ plus individuals experience violence in an intimate relationship. Now, therefore, we, Major Mark Michael O'Connor, and the City Council of the City of Frederick, Maryland, hereby recognize October as the Mexican Violence Awareness Month, and acknowledge the tireless efforts of local organizations, law enforcement agencies, and community members who support survivors through shelters, hotlines, counseling service, and legal aid offered by Hartley House. Yes, thank you. Let me um yeah, hang on one second. I have to take it out of my pocket. Um, I'm Nikki Thrash. I'm the executive director of Hartley House. Our organization has been supporting victims and survivors of intimate partner violence for over 47 years. We began in 1977 when a group of women, members of the junior women's club of Frederick, recognized the issue and began reviewing incidents of spousal abuse in our community. That was the start. Since then, Hartley House has grown and evolved into an agency that now services survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child abuse. Over four plus almost five decades, we've expanded our programs and grown our staff and increase our impact across Frederick County. A lot has changed at Hartley House since a small group of women got together in 1977, but some things remain the same. The violence continues. It's more intense and severe than it ever has been. And Hartley has is still here. We want to thank the City of Frederick for their continued support of our work through grants, event coordination, law enforcement collaboration, and for giving us space like this to share our work with county citizens with city city, the whole world. Okay. In fact, this Saturday is our walk a mile in there shoes event in Baker Park. There's more than 200 people already registered, which is amazing. But Baker Park is a huge place, and there's room for a lot more. So I hope I can see you all there and all your friends and family too. The truth is that we couldn't pull that event off every year without the beside behind the scenes help from the City Parks and Rec department. So thank you, Mayor O'Connor, and thank you, City Council, for taking the time to elevate this important issue by proclaiming domestic violence awareness month and for the opportunity to work together to make the City of Frederick a safer place for everyone who lives and works here. Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Here we go. All right. Up next is the approval of the October 1st, 2026 regular public meeting minutes. Motion to approve.