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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’s Law • 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 Bills they 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 Bills are 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 Bills are 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 Bill through 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 Bill is 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 Bill will 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.