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The Wicomico County Council met in Legislative Session on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. in Council Chambers, Government Office Building, Salisbury, Maryland.

In attendance: Larry W. Dodd, Council President; Joe Holloway, Council Vice President; John Cannon, Ernie Davis, William R. McCain, and Josh Hastings. Nicole Acle participated via Zoom videoconference.

Present: Laura Hurley, Council Administrator; Robert Taylor, Council Attorney; Lynn Sande, Executive Office Associate; and Levin Hitchens, Internal Auditor.

On motion by Mr. McCain and seconded by Mr. Davis, the consent Agenda consisting of the following items was unanimously approved:

• Legislative Minutes from December 1, 2020

• Open Work Session Minutes from October 20, 2020 — Discussion on Countywide Water and Sewer

• Open Work Session Minutes from November 3, 2020 — Extending the Time Period for which the County Executive may Declare a Local Emergency

• Open Work Session Minutes from November 17, 2020 — Transfer of Payroll Function and Personnel from the Department of Human Resources to the Department of Finance

• Open Work Session Minutes from November 17, 2020 — Enforcement of Kari’sLaw • Open Work Session Minutes from November 17, 2020— Overview of Nuisance Flood Plan

A Proclamation was presented to Mr. Keith Eagle in recognition of his retirement from PAC-14.

Laura Hurley, Council Administrator

Public Hearing: Resolution No. 163-2020 — In Support of an Application for funds from the Maryland Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program for the Listed Project.

Mr. Dodd opened the Public Hearing. There were no Public Comments. Mr. Dodd closed the Public Hearing.

Mr. Jesse Drewer, Planner II,and Mrs. Cheryl Meadows, Executive Director of Salisbury Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. came before Council. Mr. Drewer said the first part of this is an update on the project Ms. Meadows already started. He explained, this has been a continuous grant every two years from the Department of Housing and Community Development. He said the first one was applied for in 2018, and Wicomico County was awarded $650,000, which was split between two projects. He said the first was a housing rehabilitation project for the County that his Department manages, and that was for $350,000, and that project is nearing completion, but is not complete yet, so they will be doing a Public Hearing for that in the coming months. He said Ms. Meadow’s project, the Down Payment Assistance Program, is now complete, and she will give Council an update on that.

Ms. Meadows said, during that funding round, Salisbury Neighborhood Housing received $300,000 to do down payment and closing cost assistance to low or moderate-income families who were purchasing a home in Wicomico County but outside the City limits of Salisbury. She said initially they projected they would assist 28 families, but they were able to serve 31 families. She said Council can see the list of addresses where the applicants purchased homes, and it is pretty much spread out throughout the County. She said, with the $300,000 they were awarded from the State, they leveraged a little over $4

1 million dollars in first mortgage loans. She said the average purchase price was about $135,000, and the average first mortgage amount was about $129,000.

Mr. Drewer said the next cycle will begin again in fiscal year 2021, and the application is due January 23, 2021. He said Ms. Meadows is currently the only applicant they have, and she is applying for more down payment assistance funds. Ms. Meadows said initially when she contacted Mr. Drewer she was requesting an additional $300,000, but then, looking back at how quickly they spent the last fund, and they had several people on the waiting list who wanted to participate, they asked if they could bump it up to $500,000 since there were no other applicants for the County this year.

There being no further discussion, on motion by Mr. McCain and seconded by Mr. Hastings, Resolution No. 163-2020 was unanimously approved.

Public Hearing: Resolution No. 164-2020 — to Amend the 2021 Operating and Capital Budget to add as a Project the Replacement of Scales and Scale House Facilities and Related Improvements at the Newland Park Landfill,and Appropriate for that Project $1,436,250 from the Unrestricted Funds Balance of the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund.

Mr. Dodd opened the Public Hearing. There were no public comments. Mr. Dodd closed the Public Hearing.

There being no discussion, on motion by Mr. McCain and seconded by Mr. Davis, Resolution No. 164- 2020 was unanimously approved.

Discussion with Eastern Shore Delegation on Legislative Updates:

Delegate Johnny Mautz, Delegate Chris Adams, Delegate Carl Anderton, Delegate Charles Otto, and Delegate Wayne Hartman came before Council. Delegate Sheree Sample-Hughes and Senator Mary Beth Carozza participated via Zoom videoconference.

Mr. Dodd said he would like them to discuss anything in the pipeline for Wicomico County. He said he knows the last Session was brief, and Council did not really get a follow up from that, so they can share anything from the last Session, and then maybe give a brief synopsis of what is going on for Wicomico County, and what each of them are working on.

Delegate Mautz said, other than Statewide Billsthey are working on that have a Statewide impact, he is not a resident of Wicomico County, he is a resident of Talbot County, so a lot of the local issues he defers to representatives who live in that County. Mr. Dodd said Delegate Mautz represents Wicomico County, and they appreciate that.

Delegate Adams said he believes their Speaker Pro Tern will have some inciteful comments, especially going into Session this year. He said the procedure is going to be different, but the work remains the same, and, in fact, some of the most difficult challenges they are going to have as a State are going to relate to budget and how they are going to fund priorities, and what that is going to look like. He said, for the County Council, he thinks they will be very interested in how they are going to get through these challenges. He said a couple of days ago the Board of Revenue Estimates met and they were talking about the issues with taxes, and it appears that the State of Maryland is not in as bad of a position as they thought they were going into the coronavirus; however, there is disparity. He said it seems like large businesses like Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowes are winners through this, but the small

2 businesses and many citizens are clearly losers in this new economy. He said, as they are looking at policy that relates to County, he thinks Council absolutely is interested in how they are going to support small businesses, and certainly citizens, tenants who are paying rent, and landlords who are providing housing for those citizens, and how they are going to help support them. He said, as a member of the House Republican Caucus, he is chairing a committee that is related to tax policy and economic development policy, and none of those Billsare ready to be presented yet, but Council should know that the House Republican Caucus takes the challenges they face very seriously. He said they split up between education, healthcare, economic development, and many of the priorities they intend to bring forward relate to tax incentives and tax credits, and how they are going to help small businesses get through this. He said his only closing comment on that is he thinks they need to look at this economic challenge through the lens of the next three to five years as it is not something that is going to get fixed quickly, but it has certainly created a lot of damage in a very short period of time, and, therefore, he thinks it is going to take some visionary Legislative thoughts about how they are going to support Wicomico County, which is already sort of at a disadvantage when it comes to trying to gain the attention of Statewide support for these sorts of things. He said they look forward to supporting Council as they help the citizens of Wicomico County, and he stands ready to support those endeavors as well.

Delegate Anderton said, as Council will see in this conversation, they have an excellent group of people representing them in Annapolis, and everybody has an expertise that he believes is unmatched, so they are very fortunate to have the group of people they have going to Annapolis for them. He said some of the Billsare specifically pertaining to the County, and some are Statewide but will benefit the County directly. He said one is highway user revenues, and they had that Billthrough the Senate over in the House last year, which extends the increase the County has received out into the future, and actually takes the limit off and pushes it indefinitely, and they are hopeful to get that through both Chambers.

Delegate Anderton said another Billis the disparity grant Legislation, which passed in both Chambers, but the Governor vetoed it as he vetoed every piece of Legislation with a fiscal note because at that time they were looking at a $1.5 billion-dollar shortfall, but that number has dramatically decreased, and he is thankful to everybody in the State for doing their part to help that number decrease. He said he is hopeful that Billwill be veto-overridden and just go right into effect, but, if not, they will have it ready to resubmit as passed. He said it is very important as it is millions of dollars for the County each year.

Delegate Anderton said there is a Billthat passed the House last year and got held up in the Senate again that dealt with transportation for students in the County. He explained, there are a lot of transient students who have to take different methods of transportation. He said they had a letter of support last year from Council on this Legislation, and that has been turned into a Statewide Bill,so he has already spoken with his colleagues in the Senate and they have a cross file that is geographically diverse, so hopefully that will make life a little easier for these students.

Delegate Anderton said they are looking at things that are unfinished as of yet right now. He said he knows Council is having discussions with the Dispensary on some different things, so he has already done some preliminary research on that just in case Legislation in Annapolis is needed, but he is hopeful and he trusts that they will be able to handle that locally. He said the other piece is the HORIZONBill that has been discussed, and he has already done some research on that ifthe County decides to move forward with that enabling Legislation. He said, at this point, he is just waiting on anything Council asks him to do, and he will be ready.

3 Delegate Otto thanked Council for the support they gave for the gas line going to Somerset County. He said that is very important, and he appreciates the regional concept they have here. He said Wicomico has had it, they have expanded it, and they want to get it, and they are going to improve the environment to two of their State institutions, save the taxpayers a lot of money, and save the atmosphere a lot of gas. He said they are going to expand on that and continue to pursue that process and economic development in the area, which is a challenge, certainly, with the closures and the challenges to their visitation and tourist industry and restaurants, so they will continue to pursue things to do that as they deal with COVID.He said the distribution of the COVIDvaccine is going to be very important. He said he is sure they will all have to take action and make their voices heard because they saw how the testing was done where the larger population areas got the testing, and they did not, and then the testing went up substantially when they finally got the tests.

Delegate Otto said open government is going to be an important thing for them to all be aware of with the challenges coming up and the limitations of access with using Zoom. He said he has been on very good Zoom meetings, and he has been on some that did not work too well. He said their committee meetings are going to be challenged as he takes it that they will not be in their committee rooms at all, they will be in their little offices with all the humidity, mold and mildew that is in the buildings they stay in. He said that is the challenge, so he is hoping their colleagues will be limited in what issues they want to tackle this year, but they have to do the basics — they need to pass a balanced budget, and fund education at some level that they are getting the benefit of the dollars and utilizing this technology to best educate a population that has lost a year of school.

Delegate Otto said they have environmental concerns continuing, and they have environmental threats to their agricultural industry and radicals that just want to put them out of business. He said he was on a conference call yesterday on the phosphorus management tool, and the committee voted not to delay for a year, which the Secretary and Governor certainly have full authority to do, and he would think they would consider that given the travel. He clarified, if someone cannot go to a restaurant and eat, why would they want to haul chicken manure 200 miles, so there is no equity there, and those are the issues they are going to face, just like they do in the County. He said they want to secure the County’s highway user revenues. He said the transportation fund has taken a tremendous hit, but apparently mass transit does not want to take any hit. He said they do not have 20 percent fair recovery, and they say they are losing all this money because there are no riders, so they have their challenges with that.

Delegate Hartman said he serves on the Ways and Means Committee, so a lot of his time is spent dealing with issues with education and taxes. He said last year was a big year because of Kirwan, but they do not know what is going to happen with that this year depending on if they can sustain the Governor’s veto, so that is going to be a lot of this Session. He said his subcommittees are education and early childhood, so he spends a whole lot of time on education. He said Delegate Adams mentioned the caucus subcommittee, and he serves on the Economic Development Subcommittee with him, and also Law and Order. He said last year on the Ways and Means Committee they defeated the $2+ billion-dollar potential tax increase on services, so a lot of work gets done in committee. He said, as Council has heard, this year they are going to be challenged with committees because they are going to be virtual, so they are going to lose a lot of that interaction and ability to do some of the good work, but they are going to make the best of that.

4 Delegate Hartman said, as far as Bills,he believes last year in Wicomico County they passed an ordinance prohibiting the release of helium balloons and mylar balloons, and he supported Legislation last year with Senator Lam to do that at the Statewide level. He said it passed in the House and passed in the Senate, but because of COVIDit fell short and he thinks did not go through cross service, so he has already filed it again for this Session. He said surprisingly there was a lot more support from the Farm Bureau than to just protect animals and the ocean. He said he is the only Delegate who represents the ten miles of Maryland’s coast, so he thought it was appropriate that he carry that Bill,and the Farm Bureau and others came out in support of it.

Delegate Hartman said he is going to introduce a Billto add first responders to the protected class under the current hate crimes Legislation. He said he feels strongly that they need to protect law and order in their communities, and he thinks their first responders need to know that they are appreciated, and that they have their back.

Delegate Hartman said last year he introduced a Billfor the Secretary of the Maryland State Police to automatically grant, unless someone is previously prohibited, concealed carry to certain occupations, and he will be working on that Billagain this year.

Delegate Hartman said another Billhe discussed with the Sheriff here in Wicomico County and some of the other leadership in law enforcement would be to reduce the abstinence from marijuana for potential members of law enforcement from three years to two years. He explained, right now to be considered for a career in law enforcement they have to have a three year abstinence, so even if they went to Colorado two years ago and legally consumed marijuana and came back and tried to apply for a job in the Wicomico County or Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, or the Salisbury Police, in Maryland they have to have three years of abstinence, so he is going to put in a Billto reduce that to two years. He clarified, it is not that he is a proponent of marijuana, he is a proponent of law enforcement, and right now they are struggling to hire, and a lot of times it is something as simple as that, which would automatically disqualify someone.

Delegate Sample-Hughes said it is great being with everyone through this medium, which they are all becoming very well accustomed to, and is the way they will be operating during Session. She said, to address Mr. Dodd with regards to the last Session ending abruptly due to COVID,they certainly did not walk away without making sure they had money in the rainy-day fund. She said the rainy-day fund was well established in advance so their Governor could utilize the resources to his Administration to make sure things were in place for the citizens of Maryland, so that was one thing where the Legislature walked away and at least felt like they were in a good position financially to help in that capacity.

Delegate Sample-Hughes said certainly a lot of the Billswere vetoed, so going back into Session now they are looking to override those vetoes, but which ones specifically is still to be determined because they want to make sure they know what the Senate is going to do, and what is palatable to the Senate. She said, that being said, just the mere preparation of Session has been an undertaking in itself. She said yesterday she was in the House building to look at the Annex, and their members in the House will be divided between the Chamber and Annex, which is actually the House of Delegates building on the first floor, and she was just really trying to get familiarized with it. She said each one of their members will be separated at their own desk with plexiglass and also have a specific area where they will be able to speak from when they have to speak on amendments, so the Speaker will take care of the Chamber, and

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Senator Carozza said she wants to note that she is planning to use her position on the Senate Health, Education, and Environmental Affairs Committee, her position on the Bipartisan Small Business Work Group, and her new position as the Chair of the Senate Republican Policy and Communications Committee to elevate and advocate for their Shore priorities. She said she thinks COVID-19has forced them as a Delegation, and as the different groups and caucuses, to really hone in on the priorities they need to address this Session. She said she will quickly go through them, but they could spend a whole forum on each one. She said it has already been mentioned that a top priority will be COVID-19small business recovery, especially helping small businesses with civil immunity protections, and relief on the unemployment ratings to make sure employers are not unfairly penalized for having to use their unemployment, so they will see bipartisan Billsintroduced that will help their small businesses. She said, again, as they talk about COVID-19recovery, they are about to go through an important stage. She said several of them have already been briefed, and she understands the Governor will be briefing today on the vaccine rollout, and of course they will be working with Tidal Health since healthcare workers will be the first ones to be vaccinated. She said, again, this is not Legislative related, but there is a whole effort for coordination with their Delegation and their partners here on the Shore.

Senator Carozza said an issue that comes up as a priority in every meeting she has attended is increasing broadband access, and they know COVID-19has underscored the need in all areas — education, telehealth, telework, and economic development. She said the good news is that the Tn-County Council has been working on the Lower Shore to identify specific areas, so they need to combine their efforts so that whatever rural broadband initiatives continue, they are targeted and prioritizing on the Shore. She said there is a fundamental issue that she calls fairness in budgeting, and they have to keep in mind that the one constitutional responsibility they have as members of the Maryland General Assembly is to pass a balanced budget, but it is more than that for them on the Shore. She said they want to make sure they are working together, and working doubly hard to ensure there is fairness in that funding across the board, so she thinks Council will continue to see the Delegation prioritizing Shore priorities to ensure they receive fair funding for whatever the budget numbers end up being. She added, of course Senator Eckard being on the Senate Budget Taxation Committee will play a key role in that as well.

Senator Carozza said she wants to touch on a couple of other priorities. She said they mentioned education, and they have all had the opportunity as a Delegation to meet with their Superintendents, and to meet with the Presidents of Salisbury University, Wor-Wic, and UMES,so they will be well aware of those priorities that will be elevated as they move forward. She said, of course she thinks it is going to be important to continue to work with Council on their economic development initiatives to make sure they continue to make progress with the Salisbury Airport and the Somerset Natural Gas Project as it is very important to make sure they stay on track with those because, with this COVID-19recovery, those economic development projects become even more important.

Senator Carozza said she also wants to mention sports tourism. She said Delegate Otto mentioned a regional approach to this issue, and sports tourism really brings their whole region together and

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if they recognize it is going to be a tough budget year, she thinks Mr. Holloway’s question comes back to this question about fairness in funding and fairness in budgeting to make sure the Shore receives its fair share. She said she believes they will be under pressure, and she thinks they need to put it right out there so, when projects come up they want to support, whether it is some of the bond projects they have done in the past, she thinks they have to manage expectations on what the budget numbers will look like. She said she just wants to note, this past Friday the Senate Minority Leader Brian Simonaire with Democrat Senator Doug Peters, who is the Chair of the Capital Budget Subcommittee, were here on the Shore in listening mode to their Shore organizations and community leaders. She clarified, they had to limit those meetings, obviously, because of COVID-19,but it was an opportunity to elevate the priorities, and they also were sending a clear message that this is going to be a tough budget year, and that means all of them need to be very strategic in their prioritization. She said she is sure Delegate Sample-Hughes might be able to add to that, but that is what she is picking up on the Senate side.

Delegate Sample-Hughes said, as it stands right now, there are about 700 pre-filed Bills,and at this time she certainly does not know what all of those look like, or whether or not they are ones to stimulate pushing more back to the County, but that is certainly one area they will be looking to see what those look like. She said, certainly stay tuned and work with them as well as MACOto ensure they are hearing firsthand what those concerns are. She said she has heard from some jurisdictions around the State that they are trying to figure out what is going to work within their jurisdiction. She clarified, if they are grappling with how to pay for certain infrastructure because they do not have the revenues they had anticipated, they are looking to do enabling Legislation, so she thinks they will see a little bit more of that. She clarified, that does not lock in specific Counties to take on specific things, but is certainly an opportunity to enable Legislation to figure out all the way home what works best for each County. She said, again, when they get closer into Session and have a chance to look at these Billsthat have been submitted, she thinks they need to circle back and have this conversation, and she actually would appreciate that with Council around mid-January just because she thinks they kind of need to do a check-in. She explained, the second day of Session they are starting their hearings, which is a little different than what they have done in the past. She said usually they will do a lot of briefings, but all of those briefings, for the most part, have happened during the interim, so that means Legislation starts to roll on day two, and Council’s input will be greatly appreciated as they navigate that.

Delegate Mautz said he thinks Mr. Holloway’s question was whether they are concerned about losing anything this Session, and he thinks most people are very concerned. He said, to switch roles, if they were in Council’s seats, their process would be totally different. He said the committees are going to do a lot of work by Zoom, and he thinks it behooves all local jurisdictions to double down on paying attention to what is happening. He said it is going to be very difficult for them to know what is happening on other committees they do not reside on, and, to the extent there are Billscoming out of committees that may reduce a program, or perhaps change a program, they are really going to need Council’s help this Session. He said, to the negative, it is going to be more difficult to track Billsand things like that, but on the positive, during Session usually it is very difficult to focus because there is so much going on at one time, and he thinks by doing this virtually there is going to be a lot of isolation, so there will be a good opportunity for the Council to focus their attention on one or two specific issues as they come up. He said, in the past, Billswould come up on the floor and they would all of a sudden realize there was something in the Billand they needed to lay the Billover, but hopefully, if they are proactive, they can preempt some of that and be ahead of the game. He said, to the extent they could

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to streamline and to help make development and growth easier for Wicomico County. He said he would stand strongly beside Mr. McCain, and, frankly, the entire Council, on any endeavor that helps achieve goals to streamline regulations in that regard. He then thanked Mr. McCain for bringing this up.

Mr. Davis asked if the Delegates know anybody from MDE.He said they are afraid to come here. He clarified, when they had the problem with the DAFtank, they tried to get somebody from MDEto come here, but they are afraid to come across that bridge for some reason. He said, if they do not come down here to see what they are dealing with, how can they stay up in Annapolis and put regulations on the Shore that are not the same as the Western Shore? He said, if they could get MDEto come down here, that would be a big help.

Senator Carozza said the Shore has a different situation. She said she would like to invite Deputy Secretary Suzanne Dorsey, who actually has come down to the Shore on other issues for them, specifically to meet with Council and be specific on some of these septic issues. She said she will offer to work with Council to put that meeting together and try to really narrow in on the specific Shore issues that they might be able to address on septic. Mr. Holloway responded, good luck because this battle has been going on for 30 or 40 years in Wicomico County. He clarified, he appreciates Senator Carozza’ s effort, but they have their own set of rules and guidelines they follow, and they are quick to tell people that this is the way it is. He said he hears it daily from installers and from people trying to build homes. He said MDEis an organization that rules the roost, so he will tell Senator Carozza that there are a lot of changes that need to be done in that organization before anything changes. Mr. Dodd said he agrees with Mr. Holloway, but he thinks as a Council and Delegation they need to keep fighting the good fight and cannot stop there. He said last year the Coastal Association of Realtors had some meetings on this specific topic with the Health Department, and he thinks the State was involved as well, so maybe they can continue that discussion. Mr. McCain said, if Senator Carozza can arrange that meeting, he would be happy to be a part of that. Mr. Dodd said he thinks that is a great idea.

Delegate Anderton said he has had some success working with the Secretary of MDEon some septic issues. He said he knows of two cases down in Tyaskin, and they are working on a couple now on the east side. He said, since Session ended, it has been all about unemployment and septic, and that is what they have been working on. He said he believes with this Secretary they have now that he would be more than willing to come down here and to listen to try to understand. He said he appreciates the headshakes, but he just believes in the relationships they have built with the Governor and his Administration in which any time they have needed anything they have been there, so he has no reason to doubt that now. He said he will help with the Senator in bringing the Secretary or Deputy Secretary down here. He said he thinks they deserve the Secretary, and he does not think they deserve the Deputy Secretary, but that isjust his opinion, so that is what he is going to go for, but they will have two bites at the apple, and they will get somebody down here so they can have that conversation. He said, with the case he is working on right now, the homes are right across the street from each other, but the soils are so different. He clarified, one house is able to put in a regular system, but with the other house across the street they want them to do a holding tank. He said it is so varied, but it should definitely be much more localized than a Statewide singular regulation.

Delegate Sample-Hughes requested that Council ensure that the County staff is also responsive to the citizens of Wicomico County. She clarified, recently she got a phone call from a citizen who has had difficulty since August dealing with trying to get answers from the County Department as it relates to

12 her septic. She said, just as of last week, they now have some new things moving, but Council needs to be mindful of that. She said they need to find out what some of the challenges are, and it very well could be the State to the County, or the County to the State, but, whatever the case may be, they need to look at the issue holistically. She said this woman resides on North Delano and has been struggling, and her son had to reach out and try to get some assistance. She clarified, now things are moving, but she had not heard from the County staff since August. Mr. Dodd asked Delegate Sample-Hughes to share that information with Mrs. Hurley, and said maybe they can look at it and help get that project moving.

Mr. John Psota, Acting County Executive, came to the podium and said, in order to clarify any miscommunication that is occurring, which so often happens in cases such as this, he does not want to leave the impression that they are not doing anything for citizens’ concerns.

Mr. Cannon said he is glad Mr. McCain brought that up, and he thanked him. He said what Delegate Sample-Hughes is experiencing is not uncommon to what is being experienced throughout Wicomico County. He said two days ago he had an individual ask him about what the affairs were with the Health Department because he has been waiting six months to get some consistent answers as to what he could do. He said he has another friend who is in the business, similar to Delegate Adams, who said two years ago that he will never build another house in Wicomico County, he builds everything in Sussex County, so this is a real issue. He said they made some success back in 2008 when they actually pushed back against the Health Department, but it has gone downhill since then. He said a couple of years ago a lawsuit was brought that impacted the State of Maryland as far as how septic was approved in Wicomico County. He said he does not think too many people know this, but when Delegate Sample- Hughes was talking about people calling their Health Department, more often than not they are getting a State employee. He explained, the Maryland Department of Environment is parked in their Wicomico County Health Department, and they have a whole different set of criteria than what they might want to have locally, as Mr. McCain suggested. He said there is something to say about having some sort of local autonomy in these decision-making processes, but, in his opinion, they have people from MDEwho are pretty much bringing with them a mentality that does not match what they really need here on the Eastern Shore, and it is pervasive. He said Mr. Dodd talked about the Coastal Association of Realtors, and he was at those meetings a year ago, as well as Senator Carozza, and it is absolutely amazing as to the degree of complaints that are coming out from everyone in the community, and it is very pervasive, so he thinks that is a high priority, and he appreciates them all being so attentive about that.

Mr. Cannon said he would like to thank the Delegation for their support of the Airport projects that are so important to their economy here, as well as the Board of Education. He then asked the Delegation to please stay aware of Wor-Wic Community College. He said Dr. Hoy does everything he can to get everything he can from the State of Maryland, and try to avoid additional over-regulations in the community college industry. He said Wor-Wic is the most efficient community college in the State of Maryland, and they are facing decreased enrollment, as everyone else is, but the formulas in Annapolis just need to add up a little better for the community colleges as a whole, and for Wor-Wic in particular.

Mr. Cannon said he thinks they need to stay very vigilant businesswise. He said they have been talking about COVID,and liability protections are very important for businesses right now, maybe five years’ worth of liability protections, so that is very important. He said he does not know where they are with the State corporate income tax, but he thinks that is also very important. He said they are trying to compete with Virginia, they are trying to compete with Delaware, and their corporate income tax is way

13 too high. He said, whether it is family medical leave or unemployment, he thinks they need to try to stay on top of that. He said he is sure the Delegation is working very closely with BillChambers from the Chamber of Commerce, who sometimes is in Annapolis more than he is in Salisbury.

Mr. Cannon said he is also glad Senator Carozza touched on broadband, and knows she has been at the Tn-County Council meetings, and Greg Padgham is doing a great job in trying to bring it to the attention of the State as a whole that this is a regional issue. He said of course COVIDhas made that an even greater need, so broadband is a very high priority. He said it is beginning to come down to the western area here, but, being a rural area, they need it everywhere really.

Mr. Cannon said they have spent and are spending quite a bit of money on the study for Countywide wastewater treatment authority with GMB, and the study should be wrapping up hopefully within the next few months, but that is going to be a very high priority. He said there is no doubt that they will not be able to accomplish this without some type of State assistance because it will be Countywide, and it is going to be a major undertaking. He then asked that the Delegation keep those things in mind, and said he appreciates their attention to that issue as well, and for being here.

Mr. Cannon asked Delegate Otto if his District has any part of Wicomico County in it any more, to which Delegate Otto responded, not at this moment, but at the next election that could change. Mr. Cannon said he always appreciates the fact that Delegate Otto is at every event he goes to, and he appreciates the fact that Delegate Otto takes it as an Eastern Shore Delegation.

Mr. Hastings said most of his colleagues have already gone over most of what he wanted to say, but he wants to go over his thoughts quickly, and then end with a question. He said he will second Mr. Cannon that Delegate Otto is at every event and then some here in the County, and he thinks that deserves a lot of attention. He said he really respects that, and he is proud to have Delegate Otto there.

Mr. Hastings said, as a conservationist, he is always going to care about Program Open Space, and, as they all know, this is a dedicated funding source that goes to help family farms as well as critical habitat. He said this is a funding source that as of a couple of years ago was calculated that $1.1 billion dollars had been taken and never been paid back. He said they want to make sure that does not happen again, so please continue to take a look at that.

Mr. Hastings said he is a guy who cares about natural resources and parks, and there have been a lot of folks out during COVIDusing public parks, and they are talking about damage, and wear and tear in the last nine months to the tune of at least $20 million dollars across their local County and State parks. He said that is a lot of money, and this is ten years’ worth of activity in nine months, so this is going to be an area they are going to need to address sooner than later.

Mr. Hastings said he thinks everyone has talked about County water and sewer, so he will not say any more on that, but that is something they really need to be thinking about over the next couple of years.

Mr. Hastings said, on the agricultural side, they are already hearing things from the Maryland Resource Based Industries Development Corporation. He said there are a lot of resource groups like that, and a lot of their local farm communities really depend on these types of institutions, but he heard they are getting cut, and expected to not be supported in the coming year.

14 Mr. Hastings said Council has before them today the letter of support for enabling Legislation for the HORIZONprogram, or, in general, for the County to be able to create a program. He said he knows this is just enabling Legislation and is just a first step, but he would really appreciate this for all the jobs that could come to downtown development. He said they are talking about hundreds of jobs in construction, and others, and they need density downtown if they want the downtown to grow and survive, especially if they are going into an expected economic slowdown or recession.

Mr. Hastings asked how citizens will interact with the Delegation? He clarified, he has seen the pictures so far, and it looks terrible, their desks look like jail cells. He said they can all see how many people are here in the audience today, and folks want to come out and express their opinion, so what can they expect as far as that? Delegate Mautz responded, that is part of the new world they are going into, and it is kind of hard to predict how they are going to be accessible because their offices are going to be walled off, and they really do not want people coming into the office building. He said he thinks they are each going to have to do their own part on how they are going to be accessible. He said he thinks the Zoom virtual connection is going to be critical for a lot of them, and he knows he plans to try to do regular Zoom meetings, and even have meetings on the Shore. He said their schedule may be more controlled, but it is hard to predict. He said, having hearings on Zoom, they might be on computers all day and all night depending on how those hearings are controlled because more people can get on the role to testify, but how they are accessible is going to be a challenge. He said, for him personally, he intends to try to set up a regular periodic Zoom “Come talk to Johnny” type deal in addition to the standard text messages, phone calls, and emails. He said the problem is that they do not want to inundate the offices in Annapolis with emails if they really want to have a thorough conversation and they have some important things to share. He said, at the same time, they cannot have a Zoom meeting if there is one person who is very upset about something and wants to spend 30 minutes arguing about it, so they are going to have to learn how to control the dialogue to have meaningful discourse, but that is going to be a big challenge, and they will probably need the Council’s help in doing that. He said there is another way to do it too where they could flip it around and do a quick 15-minute meeting on Zoom, and invite people to join for the Zoom meeting but cap it off at 15 minutes to try to control time. He said he thinks success for a lot of folks this Session is going to really come down to how they can manage their time and not get sucked into the computer as they say.

Delegate Sample-Hughes said, just to reiterate, all of their members are required to post their office hours, so everyone in the public is aware of when their staff is physically in the building. She said, if they request a physical meeting with a member, they will be escorted by the staff to the member’s office and then escorted back out of the building, so the accessibility certainly is still there for those in-person opportunities, but certainly Zoom is something they welcome even more. She added, there will also be a listing of the times they will be in committee. She said the committee Chairs are looking to make sure that the hearings are as succinct as possible with limiting the number of persons testifying, so they can hear both sides of the issue, but also being mindful that everyone is on Zoom.

Delegate Sample-Hughes said, from January 14 to February 12 they will be modifying their Monday night Legislative Session. She explained, members are generally on the floor and go in at 8:00 p.m., but they are not going to do that starting off, they are going right into committee hearings, so they will have enough Billsto come to the floor and vote on those. She said Mr. Hastings referenced that they look like they are in jail cells, but, if he will,just for these 90 days they are going to reframe that and look at it a little bit differently and not say jail cells, they will say their own little personal bubbles just to keep the

15 flavor of positivity up. She said they could really look at this whole situation from a dismal perspective, but they have to keep up the morale of their members and try to look at things a little differently. She said, to answer Mr. Hastings’ question, they are accessible. She said the Eastern Shore Delegation meeting is still going to convene at 9:00 a.m. on Friday mornings, and they certainly welcome Council’s input at that time as well. Mr. Hastings asked if those meetings will be on Zoom, to which Delegate Sample-Hughes responded, yes. Mr. Hastings thanked the Delegation.

Mr. Holloway thanked everyone for being here and said it is a rare opportunity to get everybody together and be so relaxed. He said he heard Senator Carozza mention fairness in budgeting and funding. He then asked how they all feel about fairness in taxation, to which Delegate Adams responded, the Augustine Commission back in 2015 and 2016 went through a review of their State’s economic competitiveness with other States, and certainly each County having its own need to be competitive amongst other Counties, but also in Wicomico County that includes Sussex County. He said the second year in 2016 they addressed tax policy, and in that tax policy there were some overriding goals when it comes to making tax policy or advocating for new or changing tax policy. He said one would be how competitive it makes them as a State or County in relationship to other States or Counties, and is it fair and equitable. He said, in the Augustine Commission, they go to great lengths to talk about why it is important that tax policy be as broadly accessible to as many people as possible. He said it also needs to deliver on revenue, so, if they are advocating on tax policy, does it actually deliver what the promises are, and how they go about that, and also it needs to be simple and transparent. He said, when they have these four goals that the Augustine Commission put forward, they are actually addressing one of four goals anytime there are tax laws that have changed, or ifthey advocate for new tax laws. He said it is important going into Session this year as a member of the House Republican Caucus that any change, and he thinks this addressed Mr. Holloway’s question directly because he is thinking about this as a County priority, but as a State priority, anything they do that relates to creating relief for businesses to spur economic development need to adhere to these principles the Augustine Commission created back in 2016 because those become the impetus for getting the leadership in both the House and the Senate to agree to a tax change. He said the idea of having fairness in tax policy is one of the key components to any tax change they do as a State, City, or County, and that is the simple answer. He said, in a larger scheme, there are other things at play. He said the Augustine report that dealt with taxes was 132 pages long, and he thinks it is worth reading each of those 132 pages, and he is glad to share that with the Council. He said it was written in 2016, but it is as true now as it was then, in fact more so because everything they do as a State is predicated on economic development and prosperity, growth, and helping citizens get jobs, keep jobs, helping developers develop property, and helping businesses stay in business, especially their small businesses. He said, as a government, they will not be able to write a check to every small business and every citizen who has been hurt by the coronavirus, but what government can do in effect is help by virtue of taking regulations and making them workable for the business community. He said, on tax policy, giving the citizens and business owners relief where and when they can is always going to be good policy, especially in this year.

Mrs. Acle said she thinks those are all very good points with looking at small businesses and taxation and their public health issues that they have here, but she wants to be mindful that they have a very vulnerable population that has been affected by COVID,which is their children. She said being in front of a computer for eight to ten hours a day for the past year is going to further impact them in many ways. She said she was wondering if there was any talk on moving schools forward to reopen. She said initially

16 it was a State mandate, and now it has been somewhat left to the local school system. She then asked how they are going to support them to make that happen, to which Senator Carozza responded, last week a couple of them had the opportunity to be on Zoom with Governor Hogan. She said, when he was giving them an update on the vaccine rollout, one of the questions that came up was having teachers as part of essential workers being a category to be vaccinated on the early end in an effort to then move up and accelerate the return of students to the schools with that interaction. She said she believes there is great sensitivity to that, and there is a focus on how they do that safely, but they are hearing from many families, parents, students, and teachers on how they can return to school in a safe way as quickly as possible. She said there is a prioritization with the vaccine rollout with healthcare workers, hospitals, and nursing homes as priorities, but, as they start to define essential workers, her understanding is that teachers would be included in that in an effort to return students to the classrooms with that essential interaction. She thanked Mrs. Acle for raising that point and said it was raised with the Governor.

Senator Carozza said she wants to address Mr. Holloway’s question on tax fairness. She said it is absolutely right, and, as a matter of fact, the Governor shared with them on that call that two of the top issues in his latest polling were COVID-19recovery and tax fairness with imposing tax increases, particularly in this COVID-19recovery, and that is why she will be supporting Governor Hogan’s veto of the digital tax increase that was vetoed to try to sustain that. She said also they are trying to put some incentives, whether it is a tourism tax credit, or incentives for volunteer firefighters trying to use the tax code and tax system to address some of these priorities the way COVID-19has hit their constituency.

Delegate Hartman said a lot of the volunteer firemen were not able to get their credits for their hours spent because of their age, so he sent a letter to the Comptroller’s Office asking for consideration for this year to recognize anybody who received their points last year for their tax credit to include them this year, plus anyone who has newly earned it.

Delegate Hartman said Mr. Holloway mentioned unfunded mandates, and coming from local government prior to serving in the House of Delegates, he is very aware of unfunded mandates and the impacts. He said he typically does not support unfunded mandates as a practice because there is already enough in local government. He said another thing they have to think about is the minimum wage Bill that came into effect. He said there was a one-time relief that the Board of Public Works could put in play, which would have delayed a year of the minimum wage increase. He said he knows this has a huge impact on Wicomico County, but, unfortunately, the Board of Public Works made it clear through the Comptroller that it is going to move forward without any delay. He said, when they are trying to prepare for what is coming their way, that is definitely going to be one thing that he can personally say he made an attempt, but it was a failed attempt, to get that relief for their small businesses in the Counties.

Mr. Dodd said this was excellent dialogue, and he appreciates everyone on Council who asked questions, and he appreciates their responses, especially Delegate Otto. He said, as Mr. Cannon said, Delegate Otto does not have to be here, but he is glad he is here because he used to represent Wicomico, and he still represents them in the region. Delegate Otto thanked Mr. Dodd for his kindness and for the invitation to be a part of this.

Delegate Sample-Hughes asked when Council anticipates knowing specifically what Wicomico County’s priorities are so they will know how to proceed, to which Mrs. Hurley responded, they have a couple of Agenda items for the next Council meeting, which will be on January 5, that Council will consider for the State to look at.

17 Submission of FY2022-2026 Capital Improvement Budget and Program:

Mrs. Pam Oland, Director of Finance, and Mr. John Psota, Acting County Executive, came before Council. Mrs. Oland said Council has been provided a copy of the CIP,and this presentation is very similar to what was presented at the Public Hearing. She said it gives the definition of what capital is from their Charter, and it also gives the timeline, and as they move forward, this is a planning document. She said this helps them plan what they are putting forward to Council during the budget process when they submit the budget in April. She said the current requirements require them to submit to Council a plan by the third Tuesday of December, which is today, so Council has it in their hands. She said Council is to accept it in February, and in April they then include what they have sufficient funding for, the plan, some of the items, or other items to the budget. She said the County has two debt limit items, one being the strict debt limit as to how much debt they can offer, and at any one time that is based on their assessable base. She said they are right around 50 percent right now as to what they have outstanding, so that is really not typically the one they bump up against. She said they have a self-imposed policy that says they should not exceed 12 percent of general fund estimated revenue for their principal and interest for general fund obligations. She said, based on fiscal 2021, they are at about 9 percent, and that was that whole conversation they had about a month ago as to doing that forecast as to how much borrowing capacity they really have moving forward.

Referring to her slide, Mrs. Oland said this is the summary page of the CIP.She said the general fund requests are for $49.3 million dollars, and the enterprise fund requests are for $22.7 million for 2022, and then they have the succeeding years after that. She said the plan that has been submitted has been presented in a slightly different format than has been the last couple of years. She said, basically, they have a summary schedule that looks just like this one, but then it has one section below it that talks about how they are going to fund all the projects, and then each Department has every project they are looking for listed as well as a narrative that describes each project so they actually know what the project is they are looking to fund with these monies.

Mrs. Oland said the very last slide is the Board of Education, which adopts their own CIPevery year, and then they come to the County and ask to include it in their plan. She said their main request was that they fund their top three items, and their top three items are included in this plan. She said the last payment for Beaver Run, the next payment for Mardela Middle and High School Renovation/Expansion, and the Westside Intermediate roof. She said the one thing they have requested on the Westside Intermediate roof is that it be funded using pay-go. She said they want to be able to start on July 1 so that this roof project will be completed before the kids get back in school in the fall. She said, in the notes about these projects, they have stated they are looking to do pay-go, but that they are considering paying themselves back with bonded debt at a later time, and, working with Lindsay Rader, they have put a disclosure that is kind of required if they are going to refund themselves later.

Mrs. Oland said the next step is to sit down with Council and go over this on a more detailed basis. She said Council just got this today, and they will have the opportunity to read it and ask questions. She said, if they have questions ahead of time, she can try to come with some of the answers at the next meeting, but she will gladly come to a Work Session on the CIPitself.

Mr. McCain thanked Mr. Psota and Mrs. Oland for getting this to Council all in time and the details are great. He said they look forward to talking about it more as they progress along.

18 Mr. Cannon said he knows the last time they met in October Mrs. Oland mentioned the fact that there was some concern that it was going to get very tight and down to the wire. He then asked if they are still looking at the projection that they will not be borrowing anything at all or not be able to do any projects in 2026, for example, to which Mrs. Oland responded, that projection at that point in time was very, very conservative. She said it had them going down in revenue and then staying flat for a five-year period. She said the Board of Estimates met on Friday and revised the estimates for the State of Maryland, and they have those estimates higher than their last set of estimates. She said, again, there is a probability that things are going to get tight. She said they gave Council a very conservative estimate at that point in time to show that there is a lot of needs in this County, and those needs are competing at this moment. She said 2022 is an aggressive year for the asks. She said between the Board of Education and the Public Safety Building, and other Department’s requests, there is a significant dollar amount in this plan. She said, if revenue comes as they are expecting, they believe they can afford 2022, but they will have to continue to look at 2023 and out.

Mr. Cannon said also at that meeting Mr. McCain expressed his concern that they may have a wastewater treatment authority huge capital expense coming in the next few years, and a lot of money is being spent right now on the study. He said those studies are only good for so many years, and he would hate to see the study being done and the money that has been expended already just go to waste if they cannot really act on this in the next three to four years, so that is a concern. Mrs. Oland responded, she does not yet know how the wastewater authority would be set up, but her guess is that it would probably be set up as an enterprise fund, so it could be part of their debt limit, but the debt policy probably would not come into play because of the fact that the revenues to pay for any debt they would have to issue would not come from general fund revenues, it would come from the authority they would be setting up and the fees they would be collecting. Mr. Cannon said he thinks in the long run that certainly would be the objective, but in the short term they are going to have to come up with some capital expenses, to which Mrs. Oland responded, and that would be a borrowing between funds.

Mr. Cannon said he has not had a chance to look at the CIPyet, but what about the Wor-Wic learning center, to which Mrs. Oland responded, it is funded in here as well, so that is included. She said, in their original submission, they asked for another building. Mr. Cannon clarified, he is not talking about the applied technology, to which Mrs. Oland responded, the learning center got pushed out, and Dr. Hoy is aware and he was comfortable with that.

Mrs. Acle said she just wants to make sure these school buildings have gone through the State approval process as she knows that was an issue before with allotting funding. She then asked if they have all been submitted to the State and approved, to which Mrs. Oland responded, the Beaver Run, obviously, has been in the process. She said the roof for Westside is 100 percent funded by the County. She said Mardela is in the process of the back and forth between the County and the State as to what funding they would get in what years.

Mr. Hastings said he likes this CIP,and it is much easier to read than previous documents Council has seen, and this is much easier to understand what is going where, how, and when. He said he is trying to figure out exactly what they are doing about the Sheriffs Office, and when and where, to which Mrs. Oland responded, the $19.6 million listed for the Sheriff’s Office is being referred to as the phase 1 building that would just house the Sherriff’s Department, and is not the secondary aspect of moving Emergency Services to that. She clarified, this would just do the first part of that. She said the

19 Emergency Services line has two separate projects in it. She said the first one listed in 2022 is a continuation project. She said they did a whole radio system where they put up towers around the County, and the last piece of that was building the radio shop, and this is the last bit of funding to be able to finalize that radio shop construction, and then the other part isjust a new project.

Mr. McCain said he knows when they had the Sheriffs Office here a month orso ago, the Emergency Services building that was proposed as part of this project that would be a second phase was about $8 or $9 million, but he does not see that anywhere in this CIP,to which Mrs. Oland responded, at this point in time it is not in the five-year plan. Mr. Dodd asked when it will be included, to which Mrs. Oland responded, as the cover letter says from Mr. Psota, each year when they present this they relook at priorities, and things can change in the current year they are planning for 2022, and in the outyears based on the necessity of the projects and other projects that are on the list. She said at this point in time it is not planned to be in the next five years, but that can change.

Mr. Dodd thanked them for putting this presentation together and thanked all the Councilmembers who went to the CIPpresentation because it was a nice presentation. He said Mrs. Oland has come a long way in learning the Finance Department in a short period of time.

Mrs. Hurley said, just so the public is aware, the County Council is also required to have a Public Hearing on the CIP,and they are looking to do that sometime in January.

Submission of Several Appointments to the Wicomico County Youth Advisory Commission:

Mrs. Hurley said this Commission is to advise the Wicomico County Government by providing feedback and recommendations regarding public policies and programs that affect the future of Wicomico County youth, and to take leadership in creating meaningful change.

There being no discussion, on motion by Mr. Hastings and seconded by Mr. Holloway, the Consent Agenda consisting of the following Resolutions was unanimously approved:

• Resolution No. 165-2020 — Appointing Grace Acle to the Wicomico County Youth Advisory Commission

• Resolution No. 166-2020 — Appointing Margaret Harkins to the Wicomico County Youth Advisory Commission

• Resolution No. 168-2020 — Appointing Elijah Cockey to the Wicomico County Youth Advisory Commission

• Resolution No. 169-2020 — Appointing Miyona Whaley to the Wicomico County Youth Advisory Commission

• Resolution No. 170-2020 — Appointing Adithya Bhaskaran to the Wicomico County Youth Advisory Commission

• Resolution No. 171-2020 — Appointing Laina Waggoner to the Wicomico County Youth Advisory Commission

Resolution No. 172-2020 — Providing for the Issuance and Sale by Wicomico County, Maryland, upon its faith and credit, of its General Obligation Bond Anticipation Note.

There being no discussion, on motion by Mr. Holloway and seconded by Mr. McCain, Resolution No. 172-2020 was unanimously approved.

20 Resolution No. 173-2020 — Providing for the Issuance and Sale by Wicomico County, Maryland, upon its faith and credit, of its General Obligation Installment Refunding Bond.

There being no discussion, on motion by Mr. McCain and seconded by Mr. Davis, Resolution No. 173- 2020 was unanimously approved.

Resolution No. 174-2020 — Authorizing the Acting County Executive to Accept a Grant Award from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development in an Amount up to $115,000 for Citizens Needing Emergency Rental Assistance.

Mr. Dodd asked if this is in addition to a previous grant the Council accepted, to which Mrs. Hurley responded, that is correct. She said, on December 1, Council authorized the exact same grant, but the Department of Planning and Zoning just recently got news from the State that they have additional funding, and have requested an amount up to $115,000.

There being no further discussion, on motion by Mr. McCain and seconded by Mr. Davis, Resolution No. 174-2020 was approved. Mr. Cannon and Mrs. Acle abstained.

Discussion with the Liquor Control Board on the Sale of Beer and Wine at the Liquor Dispensaries:

Mr. Don Ewalt, Chairman of the Wicomico County Liquor Control Board; Mr. Justin Collis, General Manager; Ms. Melody Carter, Board Member; and Jeanette Taylor, Board Member, came before Council. Mr. Ewalt said he would like to read a statement to the Council:

We are here at Council’srequest to discuss the removal of wine from our inventory. Our Board Members, Melody Carter and Jeanette Taylor, and their General Manager, Justin Cal/is after much discussion believe this would not be in the best interest of the taxpayers of Wicomico County. We believe we have a judiciary responsibility to the taxpayers. / would like to remind the people of Wicomico County that the Wicomico County Liquor Control Board is self-sustaining. Our employees are not County employees, we are responsible for paying our employees, our leases, utilities, and store repairs. We provide our fulltime employees with health insurance and retirement programs. A reduction in inventory would require a loss of some employees. / think you would agree this is not a good time to lose your job. Since 2008, the Wicomico County Liquor Control Board has provided the County with over $7 million dollars, and this year’s contribution is $899,600. Hopefully these dollars have helped with housing projects, the Nursing Home, or other County projects. / would like to remind the Council that there are many stores in this County that sell wine, such as the Wine Rack, Acme, Royal Farms, and, therefore, our customers want us to continue selling wine.

Mr. Hastings said, when this was first brought up there was a question of whether it was about beer, and, in fact, it says that on their Agenda that this is a discussion with the Liquor Control Board about the sale of beer and wine. He then asked if they sell beer, to which Mr. Ewalt responded, in 2008 they stopped selling beer as an agreement with the Council to prevent hurting some retailers. Mr. Hastings asked, as far as wine, it has been awhile since he has bought a bottle of wine there, but do they have a wide selection, to which Mr. Ewalt responded, their selection is not as wide as the Wine Rack, Acme, or Cheers. Mr. Hastings said it is incumbent upon them to be able to bring in as much revenue as possible for the County, which is always very helpful and nearly $900,000 is a lot of money. He then asked, for his own understanding, what other items do they sell, to which Mr. Ewalt responded, they sell seltzer water, ginger ale, and things like that. Mr. Hastings asked if they are only selling liquor, certain wines,

21 and then things that go with the alcoholic drinks, to which Mr. Ewalt responded, that is correct. Mr. Collis added, and malt-based beverages. Mr. Hastings asked if that includes White Claw, to which Mr. Collis responded, yes, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and things like that. Mr. Hastings asked if that is different than beer, to which Mr. Collis responded, yes, it is classified as a malt product versus a beer. He said they have recently reduced their wine square footage at the Acme location by over 400 square feet. Mr. Hastings asked how many total locations they have, to which Mr. Collis responded, three.

Mr. Cannon said he thinks at one point in time over the last couple of months when the Council was requesting this meeting, part of what he thinks they wanted to see was whatever their specific income might be on just the beer and wine sales separately, and what that impact might be on the employees. He said it was said that losing that revenue might possibly mean they would have to lose employees, so the Council is trying to get some perspective there, but they do not have those figures, to which Mr. Ewalt responded, he does not either.

Mr. McCain asked, just for clarification, are there beer sales, because that keeps getting repeated, to which Mr. Collis responded, not since 2008 when they entered into their agreement. Mr. McCain said Mr. Cannon just actually made the statement of beer and wine, to which Mr. Cannon responded, he apologizes, but the point really is that they represent the County as a whole, and they represent businesses in the County as a whole. He said he knows they are all very familiar with the years and years and years of issues as far as the Council considering whether or not they should be in the liquor business as a whole over and above wine and everything else. He said there is a lot of pushback from a lot of people who really certainly do not feel as if the government should be in that business and competing with public enterprise, and of course he would have to say he understands that, and he would advocate for that.

Mr. Cannon said, without getting ahead of themselves, the reason they brought this up was simply because the Council was also getting complaints from businesses saying anything the Council can do would be a good relief, especially in this environment where businesses are under so many more pressures due to COVID.He said it is somewhat of an unfair advantage, he thinks, for local government to be competing with any stores on wine sales. He said they all know that the dispensary is not required to pay local income taxes on their revenue, which is somewhat of an unfair competitive advantage over those industries that are out there because they also have employees as well, and would like to maybe bring in another employee, but maybe they have not hired another employee because of the restrictions of their revenue. He said that is really the way it is, and he does not really want to create a contentious issue, he just thinks it is a very well-known concern that local businesses in Wicomico County really do not want to compete with the government, so that is the premise, and it is nothing personal. Mr. Ewalt said he does not have an answer to that because they have heard it for many years now, and this was set up years ago, apparently, by the residents of Wicomico County right after prohibition, and the argument may have been that they did not want a liquor store on every corner.

Mr. Ewalt said, in addition to their three stores, there are three others licenses out there, and one is in Pecan Square. Mr. Collis said one was at Last Call, but he believes that license has been purchased by someone else, and they have one down at Boonies. Mr. Ewalt said the understanding is that those licenses must be in a store adjacent to a restaurant, and this was set up by Delegate Conway years ago. He clarified, they have nothing to do with the licensing, that is up to the Liquor License Board.

22 Mr. Dodd asked Mr. Cannon to explain why he requested them to be here, to which Mr. Cannon responded, initially they were going to send a letter out with a request for some type of memo of understanding where they could come to an agreement that, in addition to not selling beer, they could also refrain from selling wine. He said the liquor is why they were established, and that is a whole other deal where he thinks there are only two Counties left that do it, but Mr. Ewalt is 100 percent correct that it was after prohibition, everyone was so paranoid to have a liquor store on every corner, so the government sort of took on that responsibility. He said there are still some laws on the books in reference to blue laws that they probably need to look at going away as well, but that is another issue as a whole. He said the point is, the liquor issues are probably for another year, but they were just hoping to come to some consensus where they could just stop with the competition on the smaller products. Mr. Ewalt responded, with respect, they really do not feel this is the time to lay any employees off. He said they provide health insurance and a retirement plan for their fulltime employees, and they do not want to let any employees go. He said, if they were to consider dropping wine, they would probably lose at least four employees, and they just do not want to go through that, and he thinks the Council can understand that. He then asked, why should they take health benefits from somebody when they have a situation in this country with COVID,to which Mr. Cannon responded, he can appreciate that too, and that will always be the case. He said, again, he would reiterate, there could be local businesses out there that would also possibly hire mote people if they did not have that disadvantage.

Mr. Davis said he is sitting here listening to this, and Mt. Cannon has said local businesses have a problem with this. He then asked if they have any stats or numbers that say that the Liquor Board is hurting their business? He said Mr. Cannon is saying “we”, but he has never seen anything come from any business in the County saying they are suffering because the Liquor Board is selling wine. Mt. Cannon said he has said before that there are businesses that have said they have an issue when they have to compete against government for the sale of wine, and they requested of him to bring it to Council, and that is why they are here today, to ask the Liquor Dispensary to refrain from that. Mr. Davis responded, again, Mr. Cannon is not showing any stats. He said, just because they are saying that, are they showing him anything that because they are selling wine it is hurting their business? He said Council does not see anything in front of them saying that, it isjust them saying they are hurting them, but they have no proof of that. He said it is just like Mr. Cannon asking them to show him proof that if they stop selling wine how much it is going to hurt them. He then asked if these businesses can show any proof that because these three stores are selling wine it is killingtheir business, to which Mr. Cannon responded, he thinks it is a law of basic economics that, ifthere is a store down the street competing against them, it is competing against them.

Mr. Dodd said he knows when this was brought to his attention the request was to ask them to stop selling beer and wine, so the Council did not even know they stopped selling beer, and he appreciates them letting the Council know that.

Mr. McCain said this is a little bit of Deja vu. He clarified, Mr. Holloway, Mr. Cannon, and himself were on Council in 2008 when they went through just what they are doing now, but the issue was beer, so the agreement was made back then that they would stop selling beer, which they have done. He said the wine was not really a concern, it was just really considered to not be an issue, but beer was the big concern, so they agreed not to do that. He said they stopped selling it, but Council is continually hearing “beer sales”. He said they have had people here making that comment, but they do not sell beer.

23 Mr. Dodd asked if they have any figures on how much wine is being sold, to which Mr. Collis responded, no. He said he asked Mrs. Hurley to pass along the request for any specific questions to be given to them ahead of time so they could bring that in.

Mr. Collissaid he wants to make a clarification that they do not have an advantage over any of the other 50 accounts in the County when it comes to wine. He said they all purchase directly from the same distributor, and they do not have to purchase wine from the dispensaries to resell it, so they all pay the same price. He clarified, they do not have a buying power advantage over them, to which Mr. Cannon responded, they may not have buying power, but they have a profit margin because they are not paying local income taxes, so that is a benefit to their company other industries in the community do not have. Mr. Collissaid he would agree with that, but they provide 401K and health benefits, which he can pretty much guess no other beer and wine store does, to which Mr. Cannon responded, he would say it is probably because they cannot afford that.

Mr. Dodd said Mr. Ewalt said the County will receive about $800,000, to which Mr. Ewalt responded, it is closer to $900,000 this year. Mr. Dodd said that is significant. Mr. Collissaid some of the increase in their net profits is due to COVID,and all the beer and wine stores, according to the salesman who represents the distributors, have had a growth year as well. He said, due to the fact that bars and restaurants were closed for a period of time, that money went to retail where the patrons took those products home, so it just shifted from one business to another.

Mr. Holloway said, as Mr. McCain said, this goes back far into the 1990s when the liquor stores were selling beer and potato chips, but they got out of that business. He said he has heard from the same people that he thinks Mr. Cannon has, but he has not heard from that many, and he expressed to Mr. Cannon and others that he went to Food Lionand asked the manager, and he said they sell wine. He said he asked if they have a problem with the liquor store, and he said they are there. He said he would suppose that they really need more people complaining than they have had complain, or more stores, but they have basically heard from one person who is really not happy about this. He said they cannot tell them not to sell wine, so he guesses they were just asked to come today to be asked not to sell wine, but he does not think they can order them, and he knows they cannot tell not to sell wine. He said he understands the revenue, and they do a great job. He said, back in 2006 there was a Committee formed that he was on and they talked about how to replace the revenue if they privatized the liquor business in Wicomico County, and they never came to a solution on that. He said, as Mr. Cannon said, he has heard complaints, and he personally has heard from one person, so he thinks there needs to be more of a grassroots effort done by the businesses in Wicomico County before the next move, which would be to send a letter to the Legislation asking for wine to be removed, if that is what the Council wants to do as a whole, but until he hears from more people complaining, he is not wanting to do that.

Mr. Ewalt said, as mentioned earlier, they feel they have a judiciary responsibility to provide revenue to the County. He said they lost the sale of beer, but have always looked for other avenues, such as lottery tickets, but Mr. Holloway and a couple other Councilmembers called and asked them not to sell that, so they probably could have added more revenue to what they give the County. He said they are trying to do it in a good way and not interfere with people, but they just have to keep their employees active.

Mr. Cannon said Mr. Holloway is asking for more support on this, and the Comptroller of Maryland said that the government should be out of the alcohol sales businesses, to which Mr. Holloway responded, that is kind of a different subject than what they are talking about. He said he agrees that they should

24 not be in the alcohol business, but this is not why they were brought here today, this was just about the wine situation. He said he agrees that there should be no businesses having to compete with the government, but that is not the discussion they are having today, to which Mr. Cannon responded, that certainly is the discussion, just on a smaller scale. Mr. Holloway said the Council asked them to come in today to talk about beer and wine sales, and they can take beer off of it because they do not sell beer, but they did not ask them to come in today about dissolving the Liquor Dispensary, to which Mr. Cannon responded, he understands, but Mr. Holloway was saying that he wanted to know about any other individuals complaining about alcohol sales, period. He said wine is alcohol, and the government is selling alcohol. He said he is a firm believer, and he thought Mr. Holloway was too, that government should not be competing with private enterprise, to which Mr. Holloway responded, he believes in that, but, like he just said, they have not seen much of a grassroots movement of people being affected by this. He said he has basically heard from one person, and he realizes there are probably other people affected by this, but until Council hears a lot of complaints, he does not know where to go with this. He said he is just not hearing it. He said he went to Food Lionand talked to them, but he could not get any action out of them. He said the reaction he got was “well, they are there”, and they are next door to them. Mr. Cannon said he can appreciate that, but the reason he put this forward is because it is a matter of principle more than anything. He said he does not need someone to come knock on his door and say they have a problem with this, it is a matter of principle whether the County can take any small measures whatsoever to keep government from competing with private industry, to which Mr. Holloway responded, he completely agrees, but how are they going to do that? He said they cannot make them do it, to which Mr. Cannon responded, a memo of understanding. He said the whole purpose of this is to avoid having to go to the State of Maryland and pass Legislation to amend the current Bill.Mr. Holloway said he realizes that, and when Council talked about that, he thinks it was his suggestion that they have them come in before they sent something to the State so they can ask them to quit selling wine.

Mr. Dodd said they stated they did not think it was a good idea, so what does Mr. Cannon want to do, to which Mr. Cannon responded, he thinks it is Council’s responsibility to send a letter out formally so they have something as a Body that states what their position is, and he would say they could make a formal response however they may choose because that is probably what the State of Maryland is going to want to see if Council cares to pursue it any further. Mr. McCain said he does not support that. He said he is like Mr. Holloway in that he is just not hearing the complaints. He said they kind of keep mentioning Council as a Body, and the discussion is fine, but he does not think they are there yet.

Mr. Dodd asked Mr. Davis if he is in support of sending a letter, to which Mr. Davis responded, no. Mr. Dodd then asked Mr. Hastings, to which Mr. Hastings responded, he does not have any strong feelings on this. He said, as a whole, he agrees that government does not need to be in this business, and that is not just liquor or alcohol, but there are a lot of other things the government does that they probably should not be involved with. He said, as for the here and now, he does not want to do anything without knowing more of what they are really talking about.

Mr. Dodd asked Mr. Cannon if he still wants to send a letter, to which Mr. Cannon responded, considering he has always been pro-business, yes, he would like to see a letter sent.

Mr. Dodd asked Mrs. Acle, to which Mrs. Acle responded, she thinks it warrants much more discussion. She said she has not heard it, and she specifically reached out to Acme, and they did not really seem to have an issue with it. She said she would like to see this coming more from the citizens. Mr. Dodd said

25 he feels the same way, and he does not think they have a majority wishing to send another letter about discontinuing the sale of wine.

Mr. Holloway said he would like to respond a little bit more on this. He said he really would like to see them quit selling wine. He said he does not think it is fair to the other retailers, but he understands the issues with the employees, and he also understands it is not a good time to do that, so he is kind of caught in the middle on this. Mr. Dodd asked if Mr. Holloway is asking them to take that into consideration, to which Mr. Holloway responded, they said they made their wine displays smaller. He then asked why they did that, to which Mr. Collis responded, more room for liquor purchases. He said they were not selling the amount that was on the shelves, so it did not warrant the amount of square footage. He said they have been slowly taking out wine in several locations just to make better use of the space. Mr. Holloway suggested maybe in the future they could proceed a little further with that so they would not have the issues they are having now, to which Mr. Collis responded, they can have that discussion in the future when possibly they could work out something with those employees being sent to other businesses and reemployed. Mr. Holloway said they do not want that to happen.

Mr. Hastings said, to be clear, malt beverages are comparable to beer, and, in fact, he imagines that is kind of the impetus for more of this conversation. He said, if they are selling more White Claws and the things that are very popular, he has a very good haunch that their books have done very well because of that, maybe less so much on wine. He said he thinks those kinds of conversations could maybe be in the future, and maybe that is where this is coming from, but he does not have particular strong feelings.

Mr. Cannon said, if Mr. Colliscould provide Council with the total of wine sales and what the revenue brings in, that would give Council a better idea of what they are looking at as far as employees are concerned as well, to which Mr. Collis responded, he can work with the auditor on that.

Mr. Taylor said he has one suggestion that may be of interest to the Council, which is whether they are using that advantage Mr. Cannon mentioned about not having to pay taxes to underprice the other people who are in the market because, if they are not, then, essentially, the gripe from the others in the market would be that there are three more stores in Wicomico County that handle the same product. He said, it they are not doing that, and, essentially, that income tax break is flowing back into the County in terms of revenue, then that would be significant, and he thinks they could probably tell Council today whether they go out and deliberately try to underprice, to which Mr. Davis responded, they already said they do not. Mr. Taylor said he goes into Food Lionand buys wine, and he goes to the liquor store and buys liquor. He said, at least for the type of wine he buys, which is called cheap, their prices are higher than Food Lion’s most of the time, so he does not see how there is much competition that way. He clarified, high-end might be completely different, but he does not buy high-end. Mr. Collis responded, he received word several years ago that Mr. Holloway had a concern that they should not be seen as competing price-wise in the wine business, so they deliberately went to every single item and raised the prices to make sure that they were not seen as trying undercut anyone else.

Mr. Dodd thanked them for taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with Council.

Public Comments:

Amber Brian came to the podium. She said there has been a great foundation already laid for the reason she is here today, which is the impact of COVIDas far as education, grants, the requirement for Zoom

26 calls, telemedicine, and employment issues. She said, in moving to this county recently she was not aware that high-speed internet was not available in the area of Pittsville where she and her neighbor, Matt Layfield, reside. She said they have four children between the two of them who are impacted by COVID,as all children are at this point, and they have a situation where they have an internet service provider who is willing to provide 50 percent of the funding for the infrastructure of extension of the current Mediacom broadband in Pittsville down to their residences. She said, at this point in time, they need the County’s participation in the application of a grant, and then also to facilitate the incoming revenue and outgoing expenses of the project. She said, basically, they are here today to advocate for what everyone else is talking about regarding the impact of COVIDand what it is doing to their children. She said they have this opportunity to expand the broadband at virtually no cost to the County, and they are here to ask the County to take a further look into being able to facilitate that since direct funds are not being requested for the grant.

Mr. Dodd said himself, Mr. Psota and Mr. Molnar will be meeting with Ms. Brian on Thursday, and, if Mr. Layfieldwould like to attend the meeting, he can attend the meeting as well to discuss the matter. He said it is an issue Countywide, and they are working on it.

Ms. Brian said she has heard two arguments time and time again, which are, if they do this for one individual or one street, they are going to have to open this up to the entire County. She said today she heard about many different programs the County funds that not all people qualify for, as not all people qualify for government assistance with food and housing. She said she knows this situation is different, and she hopes is not viewed as opening up the doorway for more work for the County because every situation is different.

Mr. Matt Layfield came to the podium and said his internet is really bad. He said he has two kids on the internet every day for school, and only one of them can be on there at a time. He said luckilythe teachers work with them, but it is a major issue.

Mr. Kenny Robinson came to the podium and said he does not really have a comment, he has a question because they are not allowed to ask questions during the meeting. He said he does not quite understand the procedure on the capital improvement plan because they have been five years in getting a roof on Westside Elementary, but the Waste Management people can come in and bypass the whole procedure and get a $1.4 million-dollar project approved immediately, and he just does not quite understand that, so maybe someone can fill him in.

Mr. John Psota, Acting County Executive, said the brief answer is, for that particular project, it was in the Capital Improvement Plan and regular budget two or three years ago, so it was approved as a budget item. He said the funds come from an enterprise fund reserve, so the funds are segregated for that specific purpose. He explained Solid Waste is an enterprise fund, so there is also a reserve fund that fees go into for purposes such as this, but, again this particular project, the scale house, was approved two or three years ago.

Mr. Cannon said he thinks the issue was that there were unexpected increases in costs. He clarified, Mr. Psota is saying that the majority of the funds that are paying for that come from their own account from the monies they raise from the fees they charge on a regular basis.

Mr. Dodd added, it is an enterprise fund.

27 Mr. Robinson said what they are telling their taxpayers when they do things like this is that their Waste Management is more important than their kids, that is what they are telling people.

Mr. Davis said the roof for Westside Intermediate was approved two years ago by the Council, and the School Board pushed that project back. He clarified, it was not a County issue, they agreed to push that back because they had another priority project they wanted done instead.

Mr. Doug Marshall came to the podium and said he is working with one of the things that he is very passionate about in the community, which is live music. He said he read the other day about the Rock and Roll Revival being canceled or moving to virtual, so he has reached out to some of the Board Members about offering his wedding venue and amphitheater for a spring outdoor show. He said he thinks conversations will likelycome across the Councilmembers’ desks, and they like whatever support they can get from the County. He said there is no money in live music, no one knows that more than he does doing outdoor concerts, but, for the community, Rock and Roll Revival is one of the foundations of their youth, and the kids are really into the show. He said he has been a corporate sponsor for years, so he has offered his venue to donate just hoping the County will be able to support that program.

Mr. Marshall said, on another note, he has sold over 500 homes in Delmar in the last 18 months, so he is very familiar with all the Department of Environment conversations, so when Council needs some advice, he can help.

Council Comments:

Mr. Davis said Choptank approved broadband and he just talked to Matt Holloway, who is on the Board of Choptank, and they have formed a corporation for it. He said that they should start installing broadband the first of the year.

Mr. McCain said, on a sad note, they had the passing of former Senator Paul Sarbanes last week. He said Senator Sarbanes served the United States Congress for 36 years, first as a congressman, and then as a five-time Senator. He said he is a native son, born in Salisbury, who got a scholarship to Princeton University and became a Rhodes Scholar, and went to Harvard Law School. He said Senator Sarbanes then found his way serving the people of this country, and he grew up right down the street, so it is the American story. He said Senator Sarbanes is the son of Greek immigrants who came here with nothing and found the American dream. He said he has one word that comes to mind to describe Senator Sarbanes, and that is integrity. He said Senator Sarbanes is someone who represented integrity, he served them well, and he was pretty special as he is a native son of Salisbury.

Mr. Hasting said Senator Sarbanes is a good friend, and he spent a lot of time with the Sarbanes family and worked on the very first campaign for John Sarbanes when he ran for Congress when Paul retired, and he got to spend some time with them in Baltimore. He said he was an amazing human being, and a real hero to him. He said he delivered the very first Articles of Impeachment for Nixon, and did a lot of amazing work and kept quiet the whole time. He said Senator Sarbanes had a very different personality than the current politics they see today where everyone is trying to grab attention. He said he just wanted to say how much his thoughts are with the Sarbanes family, and what a great person he was.

Mr. Hastings said COVIDis still a big issue as there are 300,000 deaths in the United States, 4,000 cases in Wicomico County, and recently 10 new deaths, so 69 Wicomico County resident have died because of COVID.He said they still need to try to do everything we can to stop the spread.

28 Mr. Hastings said he would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and all the other holidays, and a Happy New Year.

Mr. Holloway said he only has one thing to say, and that is Merry Christmas to everyone. He said please have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

Council President Comments:

Mr. Dodd thanked everyone for attending the meeting. He said Senator Carozza put together a meeting this past Friday with the new minority leader, Senator Simon, at the CivicCenter, and a lot of people from Wicomico County were there, and he stated the priorities they have been talking about today, such as Countywide water and sewer, broadband, education, and public safety. He said he is aware that Wicomico County has some priorities, and he is expecting to hear from them at the beginning of the year.

Mr. Dodd wished everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year.

There being no further business, on motion by Mr. McCain, Seconded by Mr. Davis, and unanimously approved, the Legislative Session was adjourned at approximately 12:30 p.m. to go into Open Work Sessions.

Larry W. Do%’ President, District 3 1d,i1iY Ie [fo away, Vice r e , District 5

Ernest F. Davis, District 1

Josh Hastings, District 4

7’ihn T. Cannon, At-Large

/7 A (,,, William R. McCain, At-Large

Laura Hurley, Councildministrator