All right, thank you.

Welcome to the September 16th Boards and Commission subcommittee meeting.

Um aide Ken Hempel will be taking the minutes today.

Um call the meeting to order and have is there a motion for the minutes from June 17th?

Motion to approve is posted.

Second.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed.

Okay.

The minutes from our last meeting are approved.

I think this is the the longest boards and commissions uh agenda we've had in in my memory anyway.

Lots of um nominations have been in the works, I guess, through the summertime.

So for our new nominees.

Uh first we have Bishop George Benson.

Sorry, Bis Bishop George Gibson uh being nominated for the Newcastle County Housing Advisory Board in Mr.

Tools District.

And I don't I can't tell who's online or who is here, but I just turned things over to you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um Bishop Gibson was originally on the police advisory board, and um after some discussion with the council executive, uh we decided to have Mr.

Bishop.

He had resigned from the PAB and is now being nominated to the Housing Advisory Board.

And Mr.

Bishop is online.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Bishop, welcome to the meeting.

Thanks for being here with us.

Um to you.

I'm gonna turn the floor over to you to see if uh if you you're welcome to give a few words about your interest in this board and um and your background.

Well, um I've been pastoring for uh 45 years, been preaching for 50 years, been a bishop for 18.

I serve now as the president of IMAT, which is the entity nomination of ministers, action uh council of Delaware, obviously the pastors and churches in the state.

Uh I work at uh elite labor's education empowerment uh of people.

I serve as a program director for P2A, which is pathway to apprenticeship, and I also serve as a case manager.

So I'm an author and uh father, husband.

Uh I have a lot of hats, you know.

I do a lot of things.

And um my thoughts in regards to the housing board is that um we're in just a turbulent time.

Um I'm concerned about uh the housing of black and brown people in regards to those that I serve in the in ministry.

Uh you have people that won or uh in the housing, but they're having problems uh maintaining mortgages.

Uh then you have another group of people that can't ascertain mortgages, and then this whole uh idea of redlining coming back into effect.

So I'm just concerned about the housing and the safety and security uh of our people in Delaware.

So that's why I asked uh and share with the county where I would be um uh most useful.

And so we made the transition.

Terrific.

Thank you so much.

Uh Councilman Hollins.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh I think I want to make what I believe is a correction here and then a comment.

Uh I think Bishop is the title.

Not part of the name.

Yes.

That's correct.

And uh also, Bishop Gisson.

I just want to welcome you to the Newcastle County Housing Advisory Board.

I'm one of the co-chairs.

As a matter of fact, affordable housing has been foundational to my political career.

Uh and we have been recognized by Hood.

Because of two of our very outstanding groups.

We have a hot mic.

Somebody has a hot mic.

Oh, Janet, might that be yours?

Might be.

Inclusion I reserve.

So I think can you mute your own.

It'll go away.

Okay.

Continue.

Try it again, if you don't mind.

Now I'm just trying to say to Bishop Gibson that uh I'm the co-chair of community services for housing lies within that jurisdiction.

And I have been uh very committed to affordable housing for all my career.

It's been foundational.

We have been awarded by HUD, U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development for two of our programs that are sponsored, inclusionary zoning.

Meaning that any new development in Newcastle County required required by code to have inclusion for families making no more than 85 percent of AMI and 65 percent of AMI.

We also have a housing trust fund.

Those two programs are very progressive.

There's very few jurisdictions in this region that you're gonna find that have both these programs in effect that's codified.

So I'm very welcome.

I want to welcome you to the housing advisory board, and I'm willing to help you understand where we are in Newcastle County as related to affordable housing.

Well, thank you so much.

Appreciate you.

Thank you so much, Councilman Hollins.

Any other uh any further comments, questions for Bishop Gibson.

Okay.

But thank you for your being here today and for your willingness to serve on this new board for you.

Um all of the all of the nominations um on our agenda today will will not be voted on until next Tuesday evening, which you don't have to be present, but just to let you know that's when the vote will take place, not today.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you again.

And I also realized I skipped over roll call, so if I take a step back and just um I notice Councilman Tackett is online and in chambers, uh, Councilwoman George, Councilman Hollins, Councilman Carter, Councilman Toole are here, Councilwoman Kilpatrick, Council President Monique Williams Johns, Councilman Kevin Connecko, Councilman George Smiley, and Councilman Cartier are all here in chambers.

Okay.

So next on the agenda is um the appointment of Laura Lee Rappalai to the Newcastle County Historic Review Board from Mr.

Smiley's district.

Yes, the appointment for Ms.

Revlai was sent over by the administration.

I was pleased to see it.

And my 21 years is the first appointment out of the 7th district to the historic review board, and I welcome you and appreciate your willingness to step up and the floor is yours.

Oh let me tell you a little bit about myself, my interest as you asked the previous candidate.

Um I've been a Newcastle County resident for over 45 years.

Um before that I I lived in Maryland.

Um I have over 50 years of experience in assessing project impacts and balancing the need for improvement with preservation and historic and archaeological properties.

Um I spent 38 and a half of those years working for the New Jersey Department of Transportation in the context of transportation compliance, um, initially as their chief archaeologist, and then subsequently as head of their environmental reviews review section in terms of we had two organizations and what the site that I worked with worked very closely with counties and municipalities to achieve projects that were partially funded by federal projects.

Um I've dealt with all kinds of historic properties, um pre-cont pre-contact indigenous archaeological sites, early colonial buildings and sites, um, canal restoration of locks and other canal features, railroad components, including turntables and turbinee, um, all kinds of maritime properties.

I've worked with the restoration and repurposing of lighthouses, railway stations, gas stations, and all kinds of industrial buildings.

And um I'm really good at problem solving.

That's one of my very strong skills.

Uh my interest in being on the historic review board was I feel like every every member of our community has a responsibility, the civic responsibility to give back to the community in some way.

And this is one way that I can use the experience and the benefits from my professional career to help shape the future of our landscape in Newcastle County and the future of our communities.

Um I think that's that's really my interest, my primary interest.

Um I know that historical properties, it's well documented, that they give us a sense of place and a sense of uh of rootedness and connection, and there's lots of values to historic preservation and preservation can be anything from demolition and interpretation to repurposing and um adaptive reuse.

So I'm interested in the whole gamut of things, and I have experience all the way across the board.

Cool.

Thank you so much.

Uh I think uh with your background, you'll make an excellent thoughtful addition to the HRB, and thank you for your willingness to serve.

Any other further comments or questions?

No, Madam Chair.

From council.

Okay.

Thank you again for being with us today.

And again, we will be voting on all the nominations today in a week's time.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you again.

Uh next on the agenda is the appointment of Melissa Rufo to the Newcastle County Hoques and Design Review Advisory Committee in Jen and Kilpatrick's district.

I think I have the majority of them today.

I think you have sorry, you have all of the next few.

So the Hokeson DRAC has not been in existence with members nor meetings going on for several years now.

There's a couple of new projects that are coming to Hokeson, and the residents obviously that are interested would like to have some input on that.

And we've been working to get members.

We have between five and nine, and today we have eight, and I think there is one more out there that may come within a couple of weeks.

But if they so that this group, some of them were on DRAC before, some were not, but they have all over the summer worked together to find people that would like to serve on this committee.

So I see Melissa is online, and if she would like to come forward and just um say a few words about DRAC and her interest, would be wonderful.

I'm here.

Sorry.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, we can.

Yes.

So I'm happy to work on the DRAC committee for Hokeson area.

Uh we have four businesses that we have currently in Hokesin, and we love the area.

We have been here for over 30 years, and I'm happy to be a part of this committee in any capacity that you need.

Thank you.

Um I think Melissa may have she was appointed to DRAC at one point.

I'm not sure that they had any meetings after she was originally appointed.

So she is coming on as a new appointee as opposed to being reappointed.

So thank you, Melissa, for your time.

Of course.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here, Melissa, today.

Um other questions, comments from Council?

Okay.

Um moving on to the next one from the Hokes and DRAC is uh the appointment of Marilyn Reed.

Thank you.

Sorry if I can just um say that um Councilman Sheldon has also joined us online.

Thank you.

Um Marilyn is in chambers today.

If she would like to step up to the podium and just say a few words.

Um Marilyn has been on a variety of boards for Newcastle County.

She is not a stranger to us at all.

A brave soul.

Coming back anyway.

We just keep moving her around.

Thank you for that.

One of those volunteers that never says no.

True.

Um I I currently live in Hokeson.

This is my second time around.

Um my previous time in Hokeson, I was on the board at Gata and worked with um the committee that brought Wisfist and Wawa to Hokeson.

We spent a lot of time making sure that that landscape looked really nice, and all of the brick fencing and the trees, everybody worked with us, and it was a great experience.

It could have gone in a lot of directions, and it didn't.

And I really, really enjoyed that.

Um obviously I live there.

I'm very concerned about what goes on there.

Um I spent 10 years on the historic review board and loved every minute of that job.

Um I would really enjoy being on this committee.

I I think you have to mix reasonableness with progress.

And I would like to believe that I know how to do that, and that compromise is in there many times, and I would like to believe that I know how to do that as well.

Thank you.

And you have proven that in the past.

Thank you.

Um, no, as as Ms.

Durham said, the vote will take place next Tuesday at our regular council meeting.

You do not need to be present to do that.

But um You're welcome to be.

You're welcome to be.

But we are also online if in they they usually they come under a consent agenda, so it's just a group of people that will be read and voted on.

All right, well, thank you all very much.

But thank you for coming in today.

Sure.

Any further questions, comments?

Okay, from council.

Okay, next also from the Hokes and DRAC nominee Lynn Paxson in Janet's district, obviously.

And I see Lynn on line, if we could move her over.

Thank you.

Lynn, can you hear us?

Hopefully you can hear us.

I can.

Okay.

Thank you.

If you'd like to just say a few words about yourself and your interest in DRAC.

Yeah.

So I grew up in Hokasin and I live in Hokassin now.

And back here with my son and my family.

Hokassin has changed over that time frame.

As growing up here as a child through what it's become today.

And I also have a small business, so we are very vested in Hokasin and furthering its progress while maintaining its village environment.

Thank you.

We know the one challenge in Hokesson is Lancaster Pike, where we want to keep sort of a hometown feel, but still understanding that there needs to be growth and renovations going on.

So thank you for your interest, Lynn.

Thank you for being with us tonight or this afternoon.

Any other feels like night.

Questions, comments from County Council.

Okay, thank you.

Again, the vote will be a week from now, and uh we appreciate your willingness to serve on the DRAC.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next on the agenda is the appointment of Anna Ogunaki, and I apologize if I'm not pronouncing that correctly, but also to the Hokes and DRAC.

Yes, and Anna's online also.

There she is.

Here I am.

Hi everyone.

Hello.

I am sorry.

No, I was just gonna say you know a few words about yourself and DRAC and your interest in the city.

Sure.

My name is Anna Ogunaike.

You did a great job, Madam Chairman.

Almost perfect, not quite almost.

I have been a Hokesin resident for over 30 years.

My late husband and I raised our three boys, now young men here.

And I love the village of Hokeson.

So I don't have any experience working with the county.

I have been on the board of charter schools, I've been an educator my entire life, but I'm now retired and very happy to contribute what I can to uh maintaining the beauty of our community.

Thank you.

And we are very happy that you stepped up.

This um has been a long time in coming.

We've probably been working on putting this together for a year.

So certainly appreciate being overfilled rather than way under filled.

So thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Any further comments, questions from county council?

Okay, thank you, Anna, for being here today.

And uh we will uh someone from the county will will keep keep in touch with you after the vote next week, I'm sure.

Next is um Margaret Castorani from also for the Hokeson Design Review Committee.

Right, and she left this morning for Colorado, so she is not going to be here today, but we have talked extensively.

She's um been on DRAC before.

She owns a business and lives in Hokes and so and is a member of GADA, so she's very vested within the community.

I'm so sorry.

Is Peg not here?

You didn't listen to me.

Hey, who comes first?

So well rehearsed, too.

Yes, she she's out of town.

Okay, and we knew that previously.

But uh many of you may be familiar with Peg from her uh garden business in Hokeson.

So I certainly am so uh highly um support that nomination.

Uh so okay.

So next is Eugene Ripinski to the Newcastle County Hokes and Design Review and Advisory Committee.

And Eugene is online also.

I just sent him the promotion request.

Is he still muted?

Mr.

Rapinsky, can you hear us?

Unmute yourself.

There we go.

There we go.

Third time's a charm, I hope.

Sorry about all that.

Thank you, and welcome.

If you would just like to um give us a little idea of where you live um and your interest in DRAC.

Absolutely.

Uh thank you for the opportunity.

So I grew up in Central Florida.

I moved to Newcastle County in 1998.

Uh I've lived all over northern Newcastle County.

Uh I've moved to Hokassen back in 2007 until about 2009.

And I returned in 2020 with uh with my wife and two children.

Um I love this area.

I love Hokessen, uh, and I want to do something to give back to my community.

Uh the Ho Cass and DRAC uh seemed like a great opportunity to serve uh with my fellow residents.

Uh you know, I understand the need to strike a balance between uh progress and maintaining the small town kind of village feel and aesthetic that we have here.

Uh so I'm just really uh looking forward to uh to getting to work and uh doing doing good for for my community.

Thank you so much.

Um as we've said before, I'm sure you've been listening.

Um we will be voting on this next Tuesday at our regular meeting.

You do not need to attend the meeting either.

You're welcome to do it, but you do not need to attend either virtually nor in chambers, but we will be voting next week.

Thank you, and thank you so much for sharing your time with us today.

Thank you.

Any other further questions, comments from council?

Okay.

Thank you so much for being with us today and for your willingness to serve on the DRAC.

Um next on the list, we have a couple more from the for the Hoches and Design Review Committee.

Next is John Naylor.

And John.

There he is.

Okay.

Greetings.

If you'd love if you'd like to uh say a few words about your background and interest in the DRAC, that would be terrific.

Thank you.

Sure.

Um lived in Hokason for the last 25 years.

I mean, my my reasons are truly just because I do love Ho Casson and obviously growth for a reason, but done in the right way.

Uh I've owned small businesses in Delaware.

I have a at-home business now for the last 15 years, and uh I see a lot of things happening in Hokeson.

I would just like to be part of the part of the growth and see that it's done properly.

Thank you, John.

John and I have known each other for many, many years.

I could tell you lots of stories about him, but let that go.

And so, John, we will be voting on this next Tuesday evening.

But you there's no reason that you need to attend.

Thank you, Dan.

Thank you for sharing your time.

Comments, questions from council.

Seeing none.

Thank you so much for being with us today and for your willingness to serve on the DRAC.

We appreciate it.

Uh next on the agenda is the nomination of Dion Daisy Willford to the Hokeson DRAC.

And she is online.

Hi, good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Would you uh we can't see it?

Yeah, I can get we can hear you, but we can't see it.

Okay.

There you go.

Oh, I guess.

Now we can see her now.

Yes.

If you would just like to say a few words about um Hokeson and your interest in serving the DRAC.

Sure.

Um I've lived in Hokassin for about 14 years, specifically Yorkland.

My background is in affordable housing development.

Um I feel like I have this professional skill set to help assess site plans, development projects.

I speak developer, which I think I think is a big benefit to have.

Um I'm mostly interested in helping my community balance the needs of the community while also preserving some of the environmentally sensitive areas that we have.

Um as far as the county, I currently serve in the board of directors for the Newcastle County Hope Center, and basically I hope I can be a great assess to this board.

Thank you so much.

And we will be voting on this next Tuesday.

I'm sure you've heard eight times now.

Um there's no necessary you it's not necessary for you to be present.

It will be on a consent agenda.

So thank you so much for coming on board, sharing your time with us.

Great.

Nice to see you all.

Thank you for being here, Dion.

Any other questions, comments from council?

Yes.

Mr.

Cardi.

Thank you.

I just in general, I'd just like to uh recognize uh something that I think uh folks are under uh underappreciate, but I think what we've seen here with all of these candidates that come forward with Hokes and Design Review Advisory Committee that I think Councilwoman Kilpatrick's done a tremendous amount of recruiting and work and uh you know it's great to see uh Hokeson DRAC you know come to life and hopefully you can do some uh have some great um stakeholder input from our local residents there and you know live up to the the intent of the uh hometown overlays and their associated design review advisory committee.

So just complimenting on all the work that went on here.

It's enormous amount of work getting people to volunteer and just want to recognize that.

And again, I just want to thank all of these members because they truly worked together.

You know, I was kind of in the middle, but was getting information from all sides till it it obviously came together.

And Stephanie Moore, once we had the um the names very quickly put this through the process.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you for those comments.

Any additional comments?

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Next on the list is the appointment of Karen Felix to the Newcastle County Financial Advisory Council.

And I assume Karen might be online.

There has been some discussion leading up to this agenda item today.

The President Williams Johns is the one that put her her name forth for consideration, and she would like to be listed as prime or co-prime on the resolution.

So I don't know if we need a motion to make that happen, or we can just make that happen.

Okay, but my my motion is to be the prime, if that's okay.

Usually prime is from the district.

Yeah, I'll do it from the district.

Parliamentary inquiry.

Um I don't want to get too deep into this, but um Council of Council, can you please relay the rules of how this works?

Um the relevant rule here is Rule 4575, um, which notes that the council member in whose district, the candidate for a board resides is the council member who sponsors and advances the resolution for the candidacy.

Uh for purposes of verifying the district, the primary personal address of the candidate is how it's determined.

So for clarification, because we have had this discussion, um, I'm a council person as well.

So I live in a district, and because I sponsored and you know did the hard work to uh to get her on this advisory board, I think it's important that we make sure that I am the sponsor of this.

And I spoke to Councilman Kaneko about this, and this is a different situation and circumstances because I encouraged her.

And um I assisted her with this, so I think it's it makes sense, and I know her personally.

So I did speak to Councilman Kaneko that you know, other situations, you know, because we we live in Middletown and it's going to be many people uh that are coming from my district.

But because um I assisted uh Ms.

Felix and because I encouraged her to uh apply for this advisory, that's why I'm requesting for me to be the sponsor.

And also, you know, her being a um first uh woman of color that is on this financial advisory board.

I think that's important as well.

So I ask uh Kevin um would he mind I be to be the sponsor because according to uh 4.57 that I am still a council person and and according to Title uh nine, Chapter 11 to state is that I have the same rights as everyone else on council.

Council McCartner.

Yeah, I I mean I I hear this argument, but we struggle to get good people on our boards.

And I think we need to come together and you know work this out later and and get a qualified person on the board.

I mean it wasn't that long ago.

A typo put an eye in the fire service appointment from me that made it come from John Cartier, even though it's from my district.

And I said, well, okay, keep it moving.

John's gonna be the sponsor because we need to get these people on the board.

So I mean, I understand it's personal thing, you know, whatever, but I mean try and work it out for next week, but I I think we ought to just hear this person and try and get them on the board.

We always struggle to keep our boards full.

We have really important things to do.

Um let's get the good people on and work this other kind of stuff out later.

Yeah, I do agree with you, uh, Councilman.

You said get good people on the board, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get someone to volunteer their service.

So I think that um that's why I would like to be the sponsor.

Whatever.

Aren't there co-primes?

That's uh thank you.

I absolutely Madam President.

Yeah, I I have talked to the council president about I have no objections to being co-primes.

Apparently the council president simply wants to be the only prime.

No, I never said that.

I don't mind you being.

You're good with co-prime?

Oh, yeah, of course.

Okay, then we're in the same district.

Then we're good.

So you can obviously be added to the resolution.

We do that all the time.

That's not a problem at all.

If if need be, we can it wouldn't take place here.

My understanding is we would if we have to suspend the rules next week to, you know.

But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

But you can certainly be.

Absolutely.

I don't think that's in question.

Let's get a good person serving.

Yes.

I don't uh to my knowledge that's not in question that they can both be co-primes.

Mr.

Hollands.

I think we're at that point right now.

I think we need to clear it up because it can happen again to any of us.

I think I've initially asked for this rule change, so it'll be very clear for me personally.

I think primarily you look at districts for reporting.

And quite honestly, Madam Chair, my concern earlier was with you, and I felt that there were people coming on board from my district that in fact I had not spoken to.

You had found them.

We try to resolve this in one way.

Now I notice we're doing another whole program with going online, even though a lot of some people from my district have been identified online, so that's fine with me.

And I want to make certain that the person from the district was in fact sponsoring, that's why the rule is what it is today.

But if someone else wants to sponsor with them, that means that the president can sponsor from any other district, which is fine.

But the courtesy should go to the district council person.

Every report we get is by district.

The same issue I brought forward about my district.

I think I know the people in my district well and perhaps better than you or any other member of council.

I think is true for every council member.

But if you want to admit it straight now, I think the the question of them sharing co-prime on this resolution was in my mind not in question.

So if we've resolved that, I I think we're okay moving.

That's different than co-prime.

This is where we're getting confused.

So I I Madam President, I don't want to make a big issue of this.

All I want to say is are you asking to be the prime sponsor and maybe the co-sponsor?

Yes.

Okay.

You're not okay with co-primes?

So I don't understand this, but um ridiculous.

You know, so it's going to continue to happen.

Not necessarily.

Not necessarily, but I think it's clear.

So no, I'm not sure.

Madam President, Madam President, Kevin, I had this commentary.

Okay, Madam President, that is the 12th district.

I understand what you are saying, but that is the 12th district.

So which I'm in the 12th district.

I don't know if we have to go into executive session and talk about this, but I mean Yeah.

I mean my understanding of how this can go down without withdrawing the resolution and redoing it, or doing a motion to suspend the rules, is that you can be co-primes next week or not.

But the way the resolution has been put forward, uh, we really can't officially deal with it till next week anyway.

But with a motion to suspend the rules.

Mr.

Smiley.

I just want to say that I need to turn my mic on, that's in these last few minutes, totally negate all the prior conversations that this council has had here today about it being about getting appointees to the committee who are qualified and willing to serve.

If that's what it's really about.

Is it really if it's really about getting qualified people that are willing to step up and take their time and do it?

Then that's what it should be about.

Yep.

Not about what we're at right now.

And Ms.

Felix is here.

Why don't we turn it on?

If it's not resolved, move on.

Well, she's here, and I would like to turn the floor over to her to say a few words of her interest in the position and willingness to serve.

Can you hear?

Are you mute?

Yes, I can hear you.

Can you hear me?

Yep.

Yes, so first of all, thank you so much just for our opportunity to speak to everyone.

Um certainly it's my passion and my desire to serve on a board because I have over 30 years of financial experience, mostly in executive roles.

I've managed budgets from as small as a million dollars to uh 30 million dollars.

Well, 30 billion dollars.

Um when I left Dell, we were at 60 billion, where I was responsible for the largest other um the largest growing business units, which was storage, and if anybody keeps up with Dell, they understand that that's their number one business right now.

But more importantly, I have a a passion to serve locally.

Um I move to Newcastle County in 2008.

First I was living in Bayer.

Um I subsequently moved to um to Middletown where I currently reside in 2009.

I have a passion to help.

Um I have a small business where I focus on helping small businesses get access to capital in conjunction with that, which is also my passion.

I serve on several different boards.

Uh I was in a board of the um of Delaware Union, um, a soccer club where we serve we actually um serviced over 2,000 families within this district and throughout uh Delaware.

Um so again, I just enjoyed.

I have uh a strong background and proven track record in regards to governance of experience in uh external audit as well as internal audit.

Um and anyone that knows me even in a county know that I really believe in being a part of a solution.

I don't shy away from bringing parties together as as it relates to collaboration, um becoming a part of the solution, engaging, not just being a complainter, but literally galvanizing my neighborhood, my communities, my um just my just my entire circle of influence to bring like-minded people of value, um, integrity is is critical to me.

It's important, and I really believe in our community, um, Delaware.

Again, I I've had the opportunity to live throughout the nation and a lot of different uh communities, and I've always worked with them.

Thank you so much.

And again, I thank you for both the president as well as my local councilman.

Um, you know, again, my objective is to serve and to bring my expertise and my experience, but most important, I think my values and my ability to collaborate um with a community on complex and not always uh agreeing uh agendas.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for being with us here today.

Are there any Mr.

Smiley?

Yes, I want to thank you very much for stepping up on this.

That this uh committee is very near and dear to me.

There are still a few remaining members of council that are here that were actually the ones that spearheaded creating this committee and having it operate, and uh I think you'll find those you'll be serving with uh be a very good mix of ideas and thought processes.

So it'll be great.

So I appreciate it very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Smith.

Any further comments, questions?

I'm gonna move on to the next nominee, Connor Graham for the Newcastle County Historic Review Board in Mr.

Tools district.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um I did speak with Connor last week.

Um I think uh she recently had a name change due to marriage, but hopefully she's online and could maybe speak to us today.

I am.

Hi, I'm Connor Munzer.

Now I did get married after I applied for this position, and so my application does say my need a name.

Um I um am senior archivist at Longwood Gardens.

I'm a lifelong Delawarean.

I grew up in Dover and I went to the University of Delaware and majored in history and political science.

Um from there I worked for 10 years at the state archives as um head of their archival collections team.

Um and that is where my passion for preservation and of Delaware's history really grew.

Um my um background in historic home research and property research really started there.

And um now I am just over the line in Pennsylvania working at Longwood, and I moved to Newcastle County in November and really wanted um to be do something that was a part of preserving Delaware's history still, since it is a place where I am from and I'm incredibly passionate about it.

Um completely honored to be here and be considered for the historic review board.

Thank you so much for your willingness to serve.

I think you'll be an awesome addition to the HRB.

Are there any other questions, comments from council?

Okay, thank you for being with us today.

As you may have heard, the votes on all the nominations will not be until a week from now, and you don't have to necessarily be present, but someone will be in touch with you, I'm sure.

Thank you so much.

We'll make sure we get the names correct.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

On the resolution.

It's in the title.

Then we're good, maybe.

Okay.

Thank you again.

Moving on to the next the last new appointment of Robert Ott to the Newcastle County Planning Board in my district, district too.

So Mr.

Ott is with us here today, and I welcome you to come up.

Last but not least.

We thank you for your willingness to serve on the on the planning board.

I know we've been down a couple folks for a while, so appreciate it.

A little bit about myself.

I moved to Newcastle County about eight years ago with my family.

I have a wife and three children, all in the Brandywine School District, except for the little ones not quite in kindergarten yet.

Professionally, I've been a professional engineer for over 15 years, water and wastewater projects, uh working at uh a few of the large engineering companies here in Delaware, um KCI, AECOM, I'm currently at uh Arcadis in the city.

And um I've I got my undergraduate degree from Drexel.

I have a graduate degree from uh master's degree from the University of Delaware in disaster science and management.

So I'm trying to shift not only professionally but also extracurricularly into resistance type uh topics.

And so I decided to apply for the planning and zoning board because I think that that's probably the place I can do the most good uh for the county in terms of improving resilience and uh helping my community.

Thank you so much.

Yes.

Um it's probably uh very welcome to have your background there and um as we also move into uh the comp plan review, five-year comp plan review and that sort of thing as well.

So any other comments, questions from council, Mr.

Carnier.

Yeah, just um thank you for stepping up.

We did a few years ago at um hazard mitigation as part of our comp plan.

Um we're still trying to work and figure that out when I went through your background and and some of the work on resiliency.

I think it'll be a big addition moving forward.

Um some of the other engineering with water quality and and quantity issues and pumping and I know I've been digging into that with Denrec the last few days over data centers.

I think it'll be nice to have uh, particularly with what's coming, your background added to this planning board.

It's really valuable.

And um right now it's really not anyone else on there, so you're a really powerful addition, I think, to be very helpful for that group.

Thank you.

Yeah, hazard mitigation is my bread and butter.

Any other comments, questions for Mr.

Ott?

Okay, thank you.

Well, thank you for your patience and being the last up here and sitting through everything.

And I'm sure you heard that the votes are next week.

So thank you very much.

Okay, so next we just have um reappointments on the agenda.

The first is the reappointment of uh Ruth Visvardis to the Newcastle County Planning Board, and that's in Mr.

Kaneko's district.

Thank you, uh Madam President.

Uh yes, Mr.

Ms.

Vartis, excuse me, has uh been on the uh planning board for for some time.

I think a lot of people know her.

Uh she's extremely well qualified, very good community engagement.

I look forward forward to supporting her reappointment.

Any comments or questions?

Okay.

Uh moving on, the next reappointment is Geraldine Crollin Taylor to the uh library advisory board in Miss Kilpatrick's district.

Thank you.

Um I certainly support this and am very happy when people love it enough to stay on.

Any comments or questions?

This reappointment, okay.

Next is the reappointment of Jonathan Cochran to the Newcastle County Planning Board.

And you're listed first, Janet, but I know he actually lives in District 2 now.

Only lives.

This is, I think, his second reappointment, and I think we went through this the last time too.

We is he has now moved many years ago to your district.

It's fine.

I and I I certainly welcome back, welcome him back to the planning board.

So server self like that.

Server server self.

I love that.

Any other questions, comments?

Okay, thank you.

Uh next reappointment is Robert Snowden to the Newcastle County Planning Board, who is also from District 2.

And I know he's been very active member on that board and very thoughtful, and I support his reappointment.

Any comments, questions from counsel?

And last but not least of the reappointments is Matt Sarver to the Newcastle County Open Space Advisory Board from District 2.

I know they have not met for a while, but um looks like we're trying to keep their appointments up to date and hopefully get a meeting scheduled soon.

So I certainly support his reappointment.

Okay.

Under other topic that was raised before that we wanted to throw out there for perhaps a brief discussion given the time.

But it's been brought up actually a couple of times today, but the discussion of dual appointments to members that are already possibly serving on a board and and are, you know, should should we or should we not be um nominating citizens to a second board?

Uh and uh just open it up for some discussion, I guess.

Because I don't I think at this point in time we don't have anyone serving on more than one board, but we do have one person serving on two boards.

But the question has come up w as nominees uh have come across our radar screen.

If and uh I I think it's simple.

If if the meeting times don't conflict and they convince us they have the time to do it and they have the qualifications.

I mean, some of the council members hold full-time jobs that serve on council, if that's what you are doing and you have the expertise and you're willing to, particularly if it's somebody good, I only get all I can out of them.

But that's just my opinion.

Mr.

Toole.

I think the question that that I had raised is now that we're paying members to be on boards and commissions, does it limit opportunity?

But I get Dr.

Carter's point as well that if they are duly qualified in in that subject matter area, that it it makes sense.

Um but I don't know if we ever brought that up when we decided to pay members.

Should we just let's we need to define payment.

It's barely a stipend, for God's sake.

Stipend members and that they're gonna be the dinner all those nights.

So I don't I don't know that it's gonna deter people.

I I think we should do our due diligence and review and make sure there's no conflicts and they're gonna have the time.

But always I think we need to do the very best we can to get the very best people we can serve.

And if there's somebody really good, good God get them because we just need them.

We need these boards, they serve important purposes.

If it's a good person and they're willing to do two, let's I I don't have any problem with it, but that's I'm just one person on counsel.

All right.

Sorry.

First Mr.

Tackett, then Mr.

Kineco.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah.

Um to Dr.

Toole's point.

Um I think uh that if we have candidates seeking these boards, certainly we should be looking at them as opposed to dual appointments.

But obviously, if we're not, then if somebody is there and they are qualified, we shouldn't turn them away.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Kaneko.

I'm just the Mr.

Kaneko here.

Just Mr.

Keneco.

Esquire.

Uh murder.

But Esquire.

No, please.

Um.

Um but to the heart of the matter, yes.

I have no, just as we're having this discussion, um I have no objection to dual appointments.

I do think we should limit it at two, though, like some language in there.

I don't know if people should be serving on like three boards.

Um but I would have no issue.

It's people serving on two boards as long as as uh Councilman Carter has pointed out, the the time frame works out and everything else.

So if this comes out uh for some type of change or whatever, uh I'm not gonna have any objection to that.

Ms.

Kilpatrick.

Thank you.

So I sort of agree with everybody.

I think if there's somebody out there that's qualified and is not on another board and they would like to serve, that that probably should take precedent over somebody that's serving on a second board.

That way we bring in more people.

Um if they are qualified, I don't care how many boards they serve on as long as they are doing a good job.

And if they're not, it's up to the chairperson of that board to come and say something to us that they believe there is a conflict.

So I have no problem with them serving on more than one board.

Madam Chair, thank you.

Um I think that we should do our due diligence.

I do agree with um Councilman Carter.

However, there are many people that are still waiting that have not received that phone call, and they are all are qualified.

So we have to make sure that we have exhausted all of the candidates that are qualified and put a time frame.

Like say three, six months.

Like say three, six months, if we have not filled that position, then we that should be second the individual in the individual, you know that's what I mean.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

All good feedback.

I think it was a good discussion so we kind of at least have had this discussion because I'm not aware that we've ever actually talked about it before.

So I appreciate having the discussion and kind of knowing where everyone stands.

So we will keep keep these points in mind I think as as we move forward and I appreciate that.

So and also I so we just wanted to let you know we actually are doing fairly well on vacancies right now as far as county council appointees we have just two seats available on the audit committee and two seats on the Open Space Advisory Committee that are open.

So if anyone has potential nominees for either of those I don't know to your point President Mooney Johnson I don't know what's in the pipeline but I do know that um as far as what our office has received we are those are the vacancies we know of.

So with that do I have a motion to adjourn?

Motion adjourned second all in favor?

Aye aye okay we are up for personnel at 3 o'clock yeah 325 in four minutes.

Thank you all