Regular Meeting Minutes The meeting of the Pocomoke City Mayor and Council was held in Council Chambers on Monday, April 21, 2025. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm. Present: Mayor: Todd Nock Council Members: R. Scott Holland, S. Tull, D. Downing, C.L. Marshall Interim City Manager: Brandy Matthews Attorney: Andrew Illuminati City Clerk: Melinda Stafford Pledge of Allegiance, Prayer by Councilmember Tull and Call to Order Report on Closed Session Mayor Nock reads the Closed Session Statement. Review and Approval of Current List of Bills for Payment The bill list was presented for payment. Motion to approve the bills as presented by Councilwoman Holland, seconded by Councilwoman Cottman. Motion passes. Holland = aye, Downing = aye, Cottman - aye Lambertson Farming Contract Mr. Lambertson approached the podium and informed the Mayor and Council that the City Clerk had sent him a one-year contract for the farm that is on Old Virginia Rd. He stated that the farm has not been farmed for a couple years and the soil is showing a 5.0 pH, which would take two or three years to build that back up. Mr. Lambertson is requesting that a three-year lease instead of one-year. Mayor Nock informed him that he spoke with Councilman Holland about the issue that day. Motion that the Lambertson farming contract with property on Old Virginia Road be extended to three years made by Councilman Marshall, seconded by Councilman Holland. Motion passes. Mr. Illuminati stated for clarification that the lease will be extended until December 31, 2028. Holland = aye, Marshall = aye, Tull = aye, Downing = aye. Proposal for Center Street Paving Mayor Nock stated that he had been contacted by a citizen had contacted him concerning how bad Center Street had become. He had contacted Ms. Matthews and asked - there was funding to do the paving. She stated that there was and the Public Works Director, Bill East submitted a proposal for Bozman Paving and Grading, LLC. They are on our procurement list for the city, which does not require the city to have 3 bids for the project. The Mayor is asking for approval in the amount of $60,100. It is also noted that this is probably as cheap as it is going to get. It is also noted that this is an opportune time to say we're going to start with Center Street and we're going to work our way out. Councilman Holland makes the motion to accept, Seconded by Councilwoman Downing. Motion passes. Holland = aye, Marshall = aye, Tull = aye, Downing = aye Member of the audience asks from Linden and all the way around. The answer is yes. There is another question concerning where the street cleaner is. Ms. Matthews answers the street cleaner is actually being repaired. City Manager Search Update Mayor Nock informs all that SO far there are seven applicants. He will not look through their resumes. What he would like to do, we're going to narrow it down to six. Then from that six, that's when we'll do the regular interviews. Because you. We did not advertise it on Indeed. This time. I know the last time we did was a mess. We are advertising on the ICMA website, the National League of Cities website, the Maryland Municipal League website, and the government jobs website. The application deadline ends on May 15, SO on May 16, we'll be looking at some resumes. Comments a. Comments from the City Council Members 1. Councilwoman Tull = Addressed an email concerning trees on Maple. She went to look at the trees and wondered what trees the person was talking about. 2. Councilman Holland = Thinks that event permits are stagnant. Needs to be more thorough. Fairgrounds is having the rodeo this weekend. Hoping to meet about EMS very soon. 3. Councilman Marshall - Big weekend for Pocomoke. Josh Turner concert, Stampede and food vendors. Talked about having community clean up day with churches and they did outstanding work. 4. Councilwoman Downing = Question about filling in potholes at Market Street and 8th coming from the north side. Please get Bill to check it out. b. Comments from the Mayor would like to comment about the roads. Right there at the intersection by First Baptist Church. There is an awful dip. The Mayor went into it on Friday and had to get a new tire because of it. He needs them to be a little bit more diligent within all of this and get this, get this stuff fixed. Wanted to say that Ms. Matthews is now up and running as our interim city manager and she's got her work cut out for her but she is handling it well. All committee meetings are moving to 6:00 pm SO citizens can come to the meetings. Definitely want the public to be more involved. Hoping to build a partnership with Princess Anne for a circuit Rider. We have three properties right now that are sitting vacant. There's no action and there is no movement. I'm not saying what we should spend the money on, but we keep talking about wanting to fix our roads and sidewalks, and that could be the money that would indeed fix our roads and our sidewalks. We really have to take a long, hard look at this. He trusts Mr. Wyatt's expertise concerning the, concerning sales of properties, SO please get with him. Ms. Matthews, anything concerning properties, buying, selling, renting, they do not go through the planning and zoning department they come directly to your office. Concerned about multiple people living at an address. Asks Council to go into a work session and create some type of legislation that prevents these issues. Asks Ms. Matthews that our planning and zoning commission comes up with legislation SO we can handle this sooner rather than later. C. Comments from the Interim City Manager Say thank you guys for giving me this opportunity. Come up with a date for the next budget work session. It can get hammered out and get it done as quickly as possible. Also, I would like to thank our mayor for updating the city website and also creating the job application SO that now people can actually apply online. So now people don't have to come in and ask for an actual PDF of the job application. They can actually apply online. d. Comments from the Audience 1. Center Street - Throwing stones into potholes is not cutting it. Within 2 days, the stones are gone, hotmix is not doable in December. Asks for tentative date for the paving of Center Street. Will check with Bill East for a tentative date. 2. K. Jones, 14 Somerset Ave. - anybody had any questions about my request that was put in for the Juneteenth festivities or anything. Signed an agreement concerning the internet situation. 3. Derek Craig - Chesapeake Utilities, Making sure all know who he is and ask if there are any questions and wanted to let everyone know that he is the first point of contact for the area. We're already dealing with some issues with the city of Berlin, Snow Hill and stuff like that, where they're starting to get to the point of where they're reaching out to me. Motion to adjourn at 7:13 pm by Councilman Holland, seconded by Councilwoman Downing. Approved: City Clerk Agenda items may or may not be considered in sequence. This agenda is subject to change to include the addition or deletion of items, including executive/closed session.