Commissioners: Lionel Frederick, President Town of Princess Anne Shelley Johnson, Vice President 30489 Broad Street Joseph "Joey" Gardner, Commissioner Princess TOWN OF Anne Princess Anne, MD 21853 Marion "Mickey" Polk, Commissioner 410-651-1818 Ellis D. Jones, Sr. Commissioner James "Jay" Prouse, Town. Manager Christopher Smith, Attorney Work Session Minutes October 21, 2024 Location: Town Hall conference room 6:00 PM I. Call to Order 6:00 PM approximately 20 members of the community were in attendance. The following legislative members were also present Commissioners: Lionel Frederick, Shelley Johnson, Ellis Jones, Joey Gardner, Marion Polk, Town Hall depts: Jay Prouse Town lawyer: Christopher Smith. II. Pledge of Allegiance II. Moment of Silence IV. Motion to Accept Agenda- Commissioner Gardner 1st, Commissioner Johnson 2nd. . Commissioner Frederick recognized Dejaiya Jones Day as October 31st and read aloud the proclamation. V. Ethics Board Town Manager Jay Prouse read the charter out loud. Commissioner Frederick stated that charters states that boards will be 5 members and must have a quorum. He said he thought it had been written 3 yrs ago and wants it to be updated in the "E-Code" and asked if Commissioner Gardner remembered dates of when it was changed. He replied that he didn't remember but said he agreed that it should be 5 members in each board. Christopher Smith, the town lawyer, stated that it needs to be written down somewhere and will take some time to rewrite ordinances. 1 Commissioners: Lionel Frederick, President Town of Princess Anne Shelley Johnson, Vice President 30489 Broad Street Joseph "Joey" Gardner, Commissioner Princess TOWN OF Anne Princess Anne, MD 21853 Marion "Mickey" Polk, Commissioner 410-651-1818 Ellis D. Jones, Sr. Commissioner James "Jay" Prouse, Town. Manager Christopher Smith, Attorney Dale from CROPA stood up in the audience and said he thinks it was 3 yrs ago as well. He believes they had changed it to make it a staggered appointments SO they didn't all rotate in/out at the same time. Commissioner Frederick asked ifthe attorney could go back in files to confirm and that we should move forward with 5 members on all boards. We have three currently and will need to add two more. We have 7 applications on file. He stated the commissioners would like to schedule a work session for time to review applicants and it would be wise for the town to start advertising for the board positions. Audience member Ms Perry stood and stated that there were ethics board members in attendance and would the commissioners like to ask any of them questions? Commissioner Frederick stated there were procedures in place for this and it is not at this meeting. Commissioner Gardner and Johnson stated that they thought a special meeting session would be appropriate. It was decided on Friday at lpm and the vacancies should be advertised. VI. Board discussion: Commissioner Gardner said he thought Historic board was dissolved. Commissioner Frederick stated the Housing Board is only necessary when there is a major development and it is not needed right now. Election board is filled as per Warner Sumptner and he is going to check regulations about every other year in February, in even numbered years for re-election. Christoper Smith said current Election board was all brought at the time instead of staggered, it should be every other year. Dale form CROPA stated that previously the boards had gone back and said as long as people wanted to serve, they were allowed to remain on board. 2 Commissioners: Lionel Frederick, President Town of Princess Anne Shelley Johnson, Vice President 30489 Broad Street Joseph "Joey" Gardner, Commissioner Princess TOWN OF Anne Princess Anne, MD 21853 Marion "Mickey" Polk, Commissioner 410-651-1818 Ellis D. Jones, Sr. Commissioner James "Jay" Prouse, Town. Manager Christopher Smith, Attorney Jay Prouse said that going forward we would like to have spreadsheets with board info. Dale from CROPA asked ifthe town had a timeline to fill all boards and in the charter before the end oft the year? Commissioner Frederick stated the boards/vacancies are nearly full except for ethics board an they are working on that one first. Commissioner Gardner said he thought the board rule changes were before Commissioner Johnson came on and when Clayton was town manager SO he thinks about 2 yrs ago. VII. Main Street discussion started at 6:30- Commissioner Frederick says State has reached out to Princess Anne to designate Main Street Partnership. Grant money has been allocated but Main Street but the state has been unable to be reached to speak about grant money. There was a lot of discussion about emails relating to grant money allocation questions and who received the emails and who didn't. There were also a lot ofback and forth about questioning whether Main Street was "in a situation" with the state or not. Commissioner Frederick said he and the Town Manager have had meetings and emails and the state has questions about money, policy and procedures and can't reach anyone at Main St. Commissioner Gardner said the only thing they were supposed to be discussing was bringing Main St under the Town of Princess Anne and he felt uncomfortable with what was happening at the meeting. Commissioner Frederick said that communication, integrity and inclusion will be better ifiti is under the Town. Main St executive committee member Walter Woods spoke and said that Mian Street has met all the requirements and the letter of agreement has been up to date. They need the town to cooperate with them. They had a meeting with the State 3 Commissioners: Lionel Frederick, President Town of Princess Anne Shelley Johnson, Vice President 30489 Broad Street Joseph "Joey" Gardner, Commissioner Princess TOWN OF Anne Princess Anne, MD 21853 Marion "Mickey" Polk, Commissioner 410-651-1818 Ellis D. Jones, Sr. Commissioner James "Jay" Prouse, Town. Manager Christopher Smith, Attorney Representative in Frederick, Md and no one mentioned anything to them about what Commissioner Frederick is saying. Mr. Walter wants proofi in writing and authority of what Commissioner Fredrick is saying cannot be refuted. Mr Walter also wants copies of any emails that say that Main St is "in a situation" and he feels that Commissioner Frederick is misconstruing facts". Commissioner Johnson would like to see emails as well. Commissioner Fredrick said he would like to know "what Main Street actually brings to the table". The audience was very unsettled after this. Commissioner Gardner got up and left the meeting. Commissioner Fredrick said audience members were making too many disruptions, there were multiple exchanges back and forth that ignited another round of inaudible/audible audiencelcommisioner comments. VIII. Update on Street Projects- clogged drains on Beechwood. Estimate was $1300 ift they had to use camera, $900 if they didn't, needs a contract for this work to be implemented IX. Legislative agenda- Washington Inn revenue information. Housing board inquiry from the audience and the town lawyer said he would send him the ordinances by email. Washington Inn owner offered to speak about Inn with Commissioner Frederick. X. Closed Session- started at 6:50, recording on video ended Parts ofthis meeting may be closed due to Real Estate or Personnel Matters 4