Okay, good evening. This is the Council's September Legislative Public Hearing in which we will hear testimony for legislation introduced on September 3rd, 2024. This evening is a hybrid meeting which is being conducted in person and the Awebex Teleconference. It is also available to the public through live stream on the County Council website and broadcast on channels 4499. The council will hold a work session on Tuesday, September 24th at 9.30 a.m. in the sea burning grave room. Council members, please provide agenda items for the work session to our council administrator. No later than 9 a.m. Tuesday, September 17th. A legislative session for final consideration of legislation that is the subject of this public hearing will be held on Monday, October 7th at 7 p.m. in the Bannerker room. At this time I'm going to do a roll call of council members. Ms. Walsh. Here. Ms. Rick D. Here. Mr. Younger. here. And Dr. Jones. Is he? Is he? Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Okay. We will now recite the our regular September legislative public hearing, sign up to testify on legislation that is the subject of this public hearing was done online or in person prior to the start of the session. The cutoff for testimony sign up was 7 p.m. this evening. Please note that while we are receiving testimony this evening we continue to receive written comments which will be fully considered by the council prior to taking action. Anyone who signed up to testify at this hearing will be called to testify. When you're called upon to testify, please state your name and the city or town of your home address. Representatives from non-profit organizations will have up to five minutes to speak. Individuals and other organizations have up to three minutes. Individuals who have indicated that they are testifying through an interpreter may be allowed a total of five minutes with interpreter translation. You may not yield your time to another speaker. You will be notified at the 30-second mark to begin wrapping up by the administrator and then you will be notified when your time to speak is up. You must conclude when your time is up. If you have written testimony you may also email it to council mail at Howard County MD.gov Are there any students here that are prepared to testify this evening? All right, see none Will the administrator please read the legislation for the hearing beginning with the resolutions for appointments The following legislation is introduced by the chairperson at the request of the county executive unless otherwise noted Council resolution 90 2024 appointment Christopher Maynard adult use cannabis advisory panel Mr. Maynard Is he here? Hi, good evening, Chris. We've now elevated you. Feel free to unmute yourself when you're ready. Hello. Hi, Mr. Maynard. How are you this evening? Hi, thank you for having me. Sure. Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself? Absolutely. Well, my name is Chris Maynard. I am a resident of Councilman Youngman's District. I live off of Burnside Road in the Centennial area. I have a senior at Centennial High School. So that's my community side. My work side is that I work for the TURK house and we have two facilities in Howard County, one for men, one for women, for substance use disorder. So, you know, as a resident of the community and someone that works in this field, I really want to stay active in the cannabis work group that we've created and kind of seeing this legislation through and working with all those first responders and other community members around this topic. So, it was honored to be nominated nominated and I just asked for your consideration to move forward with this group. All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Maynard. Any questions? Thank you. No, thank you for your hard work with Turk House. Both of those facilities are actually in district four, my district. Yes, they are. Thank you for your hard work with us. We appreciate you. Okay, thank you. All right, next up is... Council Resolution 108, 2024. Appointment. Carlton J. Brown, Board of Health. And Mr. Brown, are you here? He is, Virch. Hi, good evening, Mr. Brown. You've now been elevated for me to unmute yourself and begin your testimony when you're ready. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Good evening, Mr Brown. Good evening to all of you. My name is Carlton Brown. I live in Columbia in the Oakland Mills area. I'm in Councilman Jones's district. My interest in serving on the Board of Health goes all the way back to my time when I was involved with these activities when I was in the army. 70% of all, gradually, since the Revolutionary War were tied to dirty wounds, dirty water, and dirty food. So public health is important to the military. But it's also important to the civilian world as well. After I got to the army, I started working in the areas of food safety and environmental health with different companies, most notably with Safeway, being responsible for 120, the food safety for 120 grocery stores in four states. I worked very intensely with the local health departments and it made my interest in public health getting even stronger because I got to see both the private sector side and the public sector side and that continued into my last position where I was the Director of Food Safety and Environmental Health for the City of Baltimore. And that means 5,000 food service facilities. situation because I was forced to retire because of a spine surgery. And I have to tell you, it was the Howard County Department of Veterans Affairs, aging and disabilities that either gave me help directly or pointed me in the right direction. This is, service here is just my way of trying to pay that forward. That's my interest. And if anybody is young people listening to this, just think about this. Service to your county serves you as well. That's all I have. Any questions? I think we just want to thank you for saying exactly what you just did, Mr. Brown, and bringing it home. To everybody here in Howard County and being willing to pay it forward. We are grateful that Howard County was able to help you out when you were in the situation that you were in and thankful that you are looking to pay back that service by providing us with your own volunteer ship. So thank you. That was a great story. My pleasure. Council Resolution 109-2024. Appointment, Xavier V. Bruce, Commission for Veterans and Military Families. Hi, good evening Xavier. You've now been elevated. Feel free to begin your testimony when you're ready. Dr. Xavier Bruce, Columbia Maryland. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to testify today to become a member of the Howard County Commission for Veterans and Military Families. As a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with 24 years of service, I have dedicated my life to supporting our nation's military community, both in uniform and as a civilian. My career has allowed me to serve in key leadership positions, such as the Chief Financial Officer at Wright Patterson Medical Center, and as a senior scientific and technical intelligence analyst for the National Center of Medical Intelligence. These roles, they demand strategic thinking, financial, acumen, and the ability to navigate complex environments. Skills, I bring to any leadership position. After retiring from the military, my passion for veteran advocacy led me to charter the central Maryland chapter of the National Association for Black Veterans and to create initiatives like First Friday Vet Working and The Conduit, which is a care coordination clinic serving military connected communities across the state of Maryland. These efforts have been recognized by local and national media, showcasing the impact that collaboration and veteran-focused programming can have on communities. In my current role as Assistant Vice President of Veterans Programs at the University of Maryland Global Campus, I am responsible for ensuring that veteran students receive the resources and advocacy they need to succeed. I also leave self-leadership development workshops through uplift energy coaching, helping veterans and their families build resilience and persevere in live transitions. Serving on the Howard County Commission for Veterans and Military Families aligns with my lifelong commitment to uplifting veterans and their families. I believe my experience both in military service and community leadership, equips me to make a meaningful contribution to the commission. My goal is to continue advocating for veterans veterans ensuring that they receive the support and recognition that they deserve while helping them navigate the challenges of post military life together. We can build a stronger, more resilient veteran community in Howard County. Any questions? That's all I have. I would vote for you. I was a great speech. Thank you, Dr. Bruce. And thank you for sharing your background with us. It does sound like you have a very extensive background. And I have no doubt that you will be on the Veterans Commission for Howard County. Thank you. Council resolution 110 2024 appointment Nancy Chang MD Board of Health. She here. Sorry about that. Good evening, Ms. Chang. Hi, I'm Nancy Chang. I'm a 24-year resident of Howard County District 5, Clarksville, Maryland. My kids are graduates of the Howard County Public School System. My mom lives in Columbia, Maryland, and assisted living. I'm a physician, an anesthesiologist by training and I've worked for almost a quarter century in public health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA. At the FDA Center for Tobago Products, I've worked on the very pressing issues of nicotine addiction and the marketing of tobacco products to our youth. I've served on the FDA Institutional Review Board, which protects the rights and safety of human research subjects. And at the Center for Drug Evaluation Research at FDA, I've worked on drug development, benefits, risk analysis, safety monitoring, and policy and guidance development. The last seven years I've been working on FDA's research, communication, and policy initiatives to prevent, treat, and reduce the harms related to opioid and substance use and misuse. I've also been a cancer patient. I'm passionate about data, evidence, clear communication, and combating disinformation. I've been impressed how, even at the federal level, individuals can make an impact. And at the same time, the incredible power of collaboration, of listening and respect, it's a great honor to be considered to serve on the Howard County Board of Health to ensure the health and safety of those in our community. And I am committed to working towards access and equity in our health care system, including mental health. Thank you for this opportunity to testify. Thank you, Dr. Chen. Any questions? No, it does sound like you have a perfect background for this Board of Health. Thank you very much. Council Resolution 111-2024. Appointment, David NS Board of Health. David NS, you're here. You know where to sit. That's right. Thank you, Dr. Chang. My name is David NS. My name is Dave Ennis. My name is Dave Ennis. I've been a resident of Howard County since 1975 when my wife and daughter and I moved to the area. We've lived in North Laurel. We've lived in Columbia and since 1995 we've lived in the Dunlough in neighborhood of Ellicott City. I believe it's Councilmatic District 1, I think those wall sheets are, remember. My background, basically, I've a BS in an MA in education. Unfortunately, I didn't have a profession in education. I got into the field of substance abuse treatment initially in 1975, working for the Montgomery County Health Department, worked there for 10 years. Then in 84 I came out and was one of the management, part of the management team opening the Oak View Treatment Center here in Ellicott City. It was there for 10 years. During that time I was also for a period, the president of a professional association called the Maryland Addiction Treatment Providers Association. We had some significant laws passed. Don't have time to get into that. Also served in the late 80s on the Howard County, not home drug abuse advisory council. After leaving Oakfield, I worked for an offer profit, both at another residential treatment center. All my experience has been in providing inpatient residential treatment for substance abuse and psychiatric disorders. In 1999, I took over a residential treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed adolescents and did that for five years. And in 2005, took a job with the State Health Department and what is now the behavioral health administration. I was a regional manager for 10 years working with a variety of counties including Howard County from time to time during that period. I retired in 2013 and after I retired I got on the, I was appointed to the board as a board member to the Turk House and was part of the board when we facilitated the merger with Total Health Care, which has been a great asset for the Turk House. I've also done some other volunteer work since then. For the DNR, I was volunteer taking stream samples here in Howard County in the area, volunteered for the Maryland Environmental Trust, monitoring properties that were in the trust since 22 of work for the Howard County Board of Elections working on the elections as a voting judge. And I'm currently in training to be a volunteer naturalist at the Howard County Conservancy. And while that was going on, we owned the NV Salon down in historic Elicot City for about 23 years. I don't know if you're doing enough, Mr. Anis. I would like to add another board or commission to your list. It works. I don't know if you're doing enough. I would like to add another board or commission to your list. Basically why I want to do this is I've done lots of things but I haven't had an opportunity to really put my experience in healthcare delivery systems and developing quality healthcare since I retired. When I saw this on the Facebook page, I said, there's an opportunity. Here's my chance. Yes. Well, yet another person who is perfectly qualified, thank you so much for being willing to give of your service. Council Resolution 112, 2024. Appointment. Robin Jones-Gillespie, LGBTQIA plus commission. Good evening, y'all. Good evening. Okay, so am I close now? You are perfect. Firstly, I'd like to thank the county executive, Kevin Ball for the honor of nominating me as a initial commissioner. And all of you for hearing my testimony this evening and considering my appointment. My name is Robin Clisby, pronouns she and her. And I've been a resident of Elkridge, Maryland for about four years now. I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the community, I'm a member of the My academic background includes a bachelor's degree in strategic communications with the focus in public relations and a minor in political science. As a transgender woman who began living openly in February 2024, I know firsthand the unique challenges that our community in particular faces, you know, just within the broader community, and even just within the LGBTQIA plus community, our voices and needs aren't frequently acknowledged in discussions surrounding public policy, advocacy, and healthcare. And as a result, our support networks can tend to be very insular. It can be hard to find and even trust resources within the community, county sponsored or otherwise. My foremost goal as a commissioner would be to ensure that Howard County's transgender and non-binary constituents feel as safe, supported and valued by their local government as possible. the community. I want to create more opportunities for transgender and non-binary constituents to find their peers within the community and bolster their support systems or even make new ones. I would also like to create more opportunities for the wider public to learn more about our community and provide guidance in related policy discussions. I would like to thank create more opportunities for the wider public to learn more about our community and provide guidance in related policy discussions But above all, I just want to ensure that our voices are heard as a member of the LGBTQIA plus commission I would do everything in my power to make sure that our transgender and non-binary constituents and LGBTQIA plus constituents that in general feel safe and supported in their journey to live as their true selves. Thank you again for your time and consideration and I look forward to serving our community. Thank you very much, Ms. Gillespie, for coming up and testifying tonight and sharing this bit of yourself and being willing to serve and pursue these noble goals. Thank you. Council Resolution 113-2024. Appointment. Cristiana Little Human Rights Commission. Cheese virtual. I could even in Cristiana you've not been elevated. If you've done meet yourself when you're ready. Great. Good evening members of the council and thank you so much for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Cristiana Little and I'm honored to be considered for a position on the Howard County Human Rights Commission. I recently moved back to the area and now live in Longreach in Columbia but as someone who was born and raised in Howard County and a proud graduate of Wild Lake High School, I have a very deep connection to this community and I've always felt lucky to have grown up in such a diverse and welcoming area. I'm passionate about fostering a welcoming, inclusive and equitable environment for all and I hope to contribute this passion to the county by serving on the Human Rights Commission. After graduating with a master's degree in international development and a concentration on migration and human rights, I had the privilege of serving the Howard County community as a district aide for Council Member Walsh. In that role, I work closely with residents to address their concerns and find solutions to the daily challenges that they face. This experience deepened my understanding of how local government directly impacts people's lives and reinforcement belief that community engagement is key to advancing equity and social justice. Currently, I work as a senior policy associate at a global nonprofit advocating for the rights of vulnerable immigrant and refugee children fleeing violence and persecution. My work spans federal, state and local levels with a strong focus on safeguarding the rights of these vulnerable children. I'm especially dedicated to removing barriers that prevent them from receiving the protections they're entitled to, and I work closely with government agencies to ensure compliance with laws meant to protect these children. I firmly believe that local efforts have profound impact on people's lives. And an eager to leverage my experiences to support initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and social profusion in Howard County. Thank you for considering my confirmation. And I look forward to the opportunity to service community. Do you want to say anything? Miss Little, you're supposed to be in person tonight. I was going to say the same thing. I know Christie, where are you? I am so delighted to see you back. Come with all three of you equals are playing tonight. That's not an excuse. I heard your dad on Friday night. He was just because he wanted you to come see that game in person. I think we're all happy to see you return to service directly to this community from which you come and I think the the commission on human rights is so perfect for you. And you are so perfect for it that I was delighted to see your name on this list. Thank you, Chrissy. Thank you, Chrissy. Thank you. Ditto. Until Carlos, I said hello. Council Resolution 114-2024, appointment. Daniel Menager, Board of Directors of the Economic Development Authority. Mr. Medinger, good evening. Good evening. Which is so each other. You look so official now. I know, much more than so than I guess Wednesday night. Yes. Thank you. It's good to see all of you. And thank you for the opportunity to meet tonight. My name is Daniel Mettinger. I am the president and owner of advertising media plus located in Columbia, Maryland. I'm a 20-year resident of Howard County. I started my career in something known as a newspaper business when journalism was big there. And I had a great career. I covered the war in Central America, famine east Africa, Cuba, Haiti. After the fall of the war I helped put newspapers together in Lithuania, Poland, Czechs, Lovac and Slovenia. Those experiences led me to the business side of newspaper and I became a little bit more entrepreneurial there. So advertising media plus, which my wife and I started in 2009 is a full service media communications and development firm. We have clients locally, regionally, nationally, as well as internationally. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to participate on the hard-canny economic development authority. On the board, I think I'll be able to bring the perspective of small business owners and entrepreneurs. I also will be able to contribute in my experience as a professional business communicator. As you probably know, there's about 10,000 businesses in Howard County. About 7,000 of those have 10 employees or less. And half of those have less than five. Our gang is a group of seven, so we're kind of in the middle there. And we know that small businesses are the economic engine for employment and entrepreneurship in our county. I especially look forward to working with Jennifer Jones and the board to implement EDA's new strategic plan. Particularly, there are two areas in that plan that are of interest to me. One is the retention of our current businesses. In order to retain them, we need to also help them grow. And that's the second part that the EDA plan is emphasizing. For the good of our tax base, we need businesses to stay here, to flourish here, and to grow here. And EDA can make that happen. I also look forward to flourish here, and to grow here. And EDA can make that happen. I also look forward to using my expertise and experience and promotion and communications to participate at the board level of reviewing, refining, and messaging Howard County's unique opportunity to help entrepreneurs use this place as a launching pad. With a new strategic plan and a new leader at EDA, these are exciting times to take advantage of all that Howard County has to offer As I often tell people if it can be done it can be done in Howard County So I thank you for the opportunity to serve Thank you mr. Medintera. I know a very people who love Howard County as much as you do and who loves service as much as you do, and who love service as much as you do. And we are grateful that you're gonna bring your business expertise to EDA. Thank you, thank you. The economic development authority. I always catch myself using acronyms, and I know I shouldn't. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? No. Thanks. Thank you very much. Council Resolution 115, 2024 appointment. Samuel Oak, Rinner, quick, multimodal transportation board. Good evening. Thank you for inviting me to testify tonight and opportunity to serve our community on the Motai Model Transportation Board. My name is Samuel Quick. I grew up in Harrow County, graduated from Oklahoma High School, and currently live in the village of Harper's Choice in Columbia with my family. I earned a branch with a lot of arts from McDaniel College and Sociology in 2006 and a Master's in Landscape Architecture for Morgan State University in 2018. During my studies in Morgan, I studied complete street design and implementation. I studied how car, alternative modes of transportation could fit into the existing built environment and the many creative ideas that are taking shape across our global society. I currently work for the Columbia Association and the Open Space Department, Manning several teams who are responsible for the maintenance of the extensive pathway system throughout Columbia. My love for a car alternative modes of transportation grew out of the need to commute to school and work at a time when I did not have access to a car to do so. My father bought me a good bike, which I've kept and still used to this day. It is with this bike that I discovered both opportunities and the challenges that exist in our community. I discovered how important infrastructure design is to the safety of those commuters who do not have access to a car. If I can help contribute to a vision of a more connected, sustainable, and safer Harrow County through my service on the multimodal transportation board, it would be an honor. Thank you. Thank you very much. I know Miss Rigby is our complete streets guru on our county council so I could almost feel her energy as you were talking Mr. Quik. Oh complete streets. He studied it in college. So thank you very much. We appreciate your desire to serve. Council Resolution 116, 2024. Appointment. Pedro Ramirez, Board of Directors of the Economic Development Authority. Hi, good evening, Pedro. You've now been elevated. Feel free to unmute yourself and making your testimony when you're ready. Hi, my name is Pedro Ramirez. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. My name is Pedro Amiris. I'm a resident of Howard County. I've been a resident. I have a county for the last 30 years or so with the last 25 living in a library, a crescal, classroom, where my kids went to school and have all attended HCC. My public service every year, if you will, started a Baltimore County, the Department of Public Works as a civil engineer, which led to eventually serving how a county's public works board, which have been a member of actually the chairman of it for the last seven or eight years. Along the way I opened my own business in Howard County. It's a coffee roasting plant in in jesus. It is in jesus now. It's called oriental coffee and tea. We sell coffee to a lot of local businesses and supermarkets, which, you know, through dealing with the Howard County Economic Development Authority in that capacity, let me to I've been asked to serve which I'm very glad to look forward to bringing my experience out of the way to the board. Thank you Mr. Ramirez. Is your business also in Jessup? It is. It is. And Jessup and Helacanny. Okay. And my business has always been in Helicom. Okay. My business has always been in Helicom. Absolutely. Yeah, that was one of my, uh, my to-news, my moths. Oh, we love that. Um, and you mentioned, I'm just curious because Mr. Manager was testifying about how many small businesses there are and how many people work in those small businesses. How big is your business? We employ 15, 16 people, as often as. 16 people. Yes. As he was running those numbers, it sounded very familiar to me. OK. All right. And I'm glad to hear that EDA was of assistance to you as you were setting up your business. Yeah. Yeah. And that begins throughout the years. That's great. I love hearing that. Okay. Thank you very much for volunteering to serve. You're welcome. The nominee for Council Resolution 117 had a family emergency so she'll be back next month. Council Resolution 118, 2024 appointment. Allison L. Robinson Board of Health. Hi, good evening, Allison. You've now been elevated. Feel free to begin your testimony when you're ready. Okay. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Allison Robinson. I reside in Eau Laclust city district 2. I have family here in Maryland, but not in Howard County. I am a transplant from Pennsylvania. I am. What I've heard is a farm of the first transplant from Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, I actively collaborated to support state, regional, and local government initiatives leveraging environmental health and environmental sustainability. I worked with numerous nonprofits, county health departments, two regional transportation co-ops, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Health regarding community-based initiatives. I was employed as a system program director and a large healthcare system. I leverage community development standards, retail alternative transportation initiatives, urban tree, KAMP initiatives, and I sponsored numerous community events such as household hazardous waste collections, community clean-up events, adaptive playground development, and citizen science, air quality initiatives. My career overview is that I have a master's of science and environmental science and management in a PhD in environmental and occupational health. I have over 20 years in the both the non-profit and not-for-profit area focused on community health advocacy, engagement, and impact, and an especially relative to environmental health. I've view serving on the Howard County Board of Health as an opportunity to continue to in the same capacity in my new home. I want to thank you for considering my appointment. Thank you very24, appointment. Georgia M. Royalty, Board of Health. Hi. Good evening, Miss Royalty. First of all, I do want to thank you for considering my appointment to the Board of Health. I'm Georgia Royalty. I'm a relatively recent retired psychologist, and I've lived in Ellicott City for 40 years. In terms of my educational background that I think is relevant to serving on the board, I earned my PhD in psychology from the University of Maryland in 1982. I completed five years of postdoctoral training at the Baltimore Washington Institute for Psychoanalysis and I became a psychoanalyst in 2006. And then in 2014, I graduated from Andrew Wiles program and integrative health at the University of Arizona receiving my certificate and integrative health at the University of Arizona receiving my certificate and integrative health. Health has been a lifelong interest of mine and I still pursue continuing education opportunities in health and health issues. So in terms of my career, which may or may not be relevant to the board, I spent the first 10 years of my career and colleges and universities, developing an APA accredited program, Psychology Internship Program, at the George Washington University, and then subsequently served as the training director for the Psychology Interns at the University of Maryland at College Park. Then after having my second child and finding the long commutes and long hours stressful for the family, and my husband is also a psychologist and he was the director of the Counseling Center at Towson University. So every early every morning, he'd be going north to Towson and I would be going south to College Park and coming home later. And so with reluctance, I left academia and I started an independent practice here in Howard County which gave me better control of my schedule. It turned out, however, is reluctant as I was to leave academia that I was pleasantly surprised that it could still keep the activities I enjoyed, which were clinical supervision, teaching, research, while still maintaining an active and thriving independent practice in psychotherapy here in Howard County. And this may be relevant to serving on the board. The majority of my clientele were physicians and other healthcare providers. And so I have a sense of the strain of healthcare providers in Howard County and elsewhere. I was also consulted for the National Leadership Institute where I coached leaders from across the country and sometimes beyond the country, international leaders on their leadership styles and abilities. And I served as a consultant at Vantage House here, right here in Columbia, specializing in geriatric concerns. Thank you, Dr. Royalty. You sound like you have a wonderful set of skills that are unique to, would be unique to this Board of Health. And we've had three people I think tonight. I feel like you all should just be meeting each other so that you can say hello before you actually start your volunteer ship on this Board of Health but appreciate your willingness to serve. Thank you. Council resolution 120, 2024 appointment. Joanna Clay Souter, Board of Health. Another one. I could even join up. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. These are tough acts to follow. They are tough acts to follow. I have to admit. Yes. We have a lot of really qualified people and I'm sure you are as well, Ms. Satter. Well, good evening and I want to say thank you to the council for your time and consideration of my appointment to the Howard County Board of Health. My name is Joe Henne Clay Satter. I have been a resident of Howard County for the past 34 years, residing in District 2 of the Good City, Maryland. My husband and I raised off for our children here in Howard County where they received all their health care, education, participated in many extra-curricular activities. My grandchildren also received their health care right here in Howard County. Additionally, I volunteer with the Maryland Response Medical Reserve Corps Howard County unit. I'm a licensed clinical psychologist with 38 years of experience in providing both mental health and substance use services to individuals and families. I currently work at the Howard County Psychological Services in Howard County. I work with a wide range of issues that affect mental health. For example, depression, anxiety, or traumatic stress disorder in the HD, neuro-comative disorders, grief loss, LGBTQI plus, and multicultural issues. I've worked in a variety of settings, treating alcohol and substance use disorders. Outpatient detoxification programs, method on maintenance, long-term residential and alcohol drug treatment programs, partial hospitalization programs, alcohol drug research provocaust. I developed, designed and implemented, an intensive outpatient treatment program for adolescents with substance use disorders being discharged from an inpatient setting. Additionally, I have extensive experience administering and interpreting psychological assessments. I have provided disability evaluations for the state of Maryland as well as the Veterans Administration. I conducted neurocognitive assessments to diagnose and evaluate level of cognitive impairment for individuals with traumatic brain injuries, Alzheimer's disease, Baskinibor dementia, Parkinson's disease, etc. Excuse me, across many, many settings, independent living, assisted living rehabilitation centers, and nursing homes throughout the state of Maryland, and within Howard County. I understand that's a priority of Howard County to provide more treatment options for people struggling with substance abuse as well as mental health issues. There have been great strides made over the past few years, opening up of treatment centers for adult men and women. And most recently, the 16-bed residential treatment facility to assist pregnant women with substance misuse. However, I'm really passionate about assisting clowning residents and their loved ones with unique challenges associated with the diverse residents having equitable access to quality mental emotional, social, and physical health resources. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Satter. Once again, a list of accomplishments that should you bring even a small portion of them to bear in this volunteer job on the Board of Health. It would be wonderful for Howard County. I'm looking at volunteer job on the Board of Health. It would be wonderful for Howard County. I'm looking at this tonight for the Board of Health. We had Carlton Brown, Nancy Chang, David Emmis, Georgia Royalty, and Johanna Souter. And all five of you I think will be wonderful additions to our Board of Health and we're so lucky that Howard County has you here and that you're willing to serve on the Board of Health. I think you all are going to do great things. Next up. Sure. Council resolution 121-2024. Appoint appointment, Lisa L. Steptoe, commission from veterans and military families. Oh, you're here. I'm like, so used to everybody being virtual. I'm like, oh, okay. It was just up the street. All right. Well, thank you for coming in. Thank you. And what is it on? All right. Hi. Thank you. And what is it on? All right. Hi. Good evening. My name is Lisa Steptoe. And I currently reside in Ellicott City in the Dorsey Search area near Centennial. However, my family has been a resident of Howard County since 1976. Thank you for your consideration of my appointment to the Commission on Veterans and Military Families. I graduated from Oklahoma's High School in 1983, a banner year of excellence in Howard County with nine appointments to the United States Military Academy at West Point, the largest number ever admitted to the West Point class from Howard County and ranks the largest per capita of any county in the country and that record still holds. I graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1987, and that where I learned to embrace becoming a leader of character and integrity committed to the Army values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and the nation. After serving my commitment to the Army and Army reserves as a quarter master supply and logistics officer, I went on to a civilian career gaining management, operational, marketing, business, development, and sales experience in the military, healthcare, real estate and real estate industries. And I have over 30 years of extensive experience bringing new medical modalities to market in order to approve clinical outcomes and health care. I continued my military veteran and community service in the following areas. I was the chair of communications for West Point Association of Graduates Diversity and Inclusion Committee. I was on the board of directors as treasurer of West Point women. I served on Congressman Elijah Cummings Service Academy nomination board for 15 years, and I returned to the Maryland Congressional District for Congressman Quizam Fumay's Service Academy nomination board, and I still serve on that board. I am the Mid-Marrowland Triathlon Club's Board of Directors. I served as Communication Chair, Vice President, and President over seven years. I am the team manager. I was a team manager for Mid-Marilyn Triathlon's Youth Club. I am currently the Youth Coast for the Set Youth Development Team Triathlon Club team. And I am the founding investor and business consultant at Warrior Center of Health Incorporated, which empowers America's health care systems to serve America's warriors. Thank you for this opportunity to share with you, my professional and community service record with you. I've dedicated, I've been dedicated to preserving, pursuing excellence in my professional career as well as providing a lifetime of service to the community and the nation. You can rest assured that I will provide, I have the skills necessary to be an asset to the commission. So thank you for your consideration. I am very rest assured. There's no doubt about that. Listening to all that you've done, you really have done not only for our county but for our country. Thank you. And we appreciate your service. I have to ask you, what was in the water? In 1983, at Oakland Mills High School, that sent all of you to West Point. And all of us graduated too. That's amazing. And you all graduated. Did you keep up with each other? Yeah. You did. You have. Yeah. That is for your class Yeah, you have. Yeah, that is pretty like class. Did you have the JRO T? I was in the Oklahoma Mills Air Force ROTC. ROTC. Okay, I still go back right from time to time to speak to the class. Oh, that's nice. Was that one of the first years that they had the ROTC there? Yes. Yes. Okay, so maybe a lot of my volleyball coach. Oh, maybe. Okay, now we're getting a little closer. Okay. And were you one of the first women at the Academy? Oh, it was the seventh class. So the first class graduated in 80 and I graduated 87. Wow. Wow, you have really, that's remarkable that's remarkable and what a great career. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. I'm Green to serve. Okay. Council Resolution 122-2024 appointment. Mark Stevens planning board. Good evening. Thank you for your consideration for the planning board. My name is Mark Stevens. I live in Dayton, Maryland. I was raised in Montgomery County, went to DeMath High School and then University, Maryland where I got a degree in civil engineering. I come from a long line of builders and architects. It was in my blood. My father was one of the early builder developers of Columbia built many projects, including barnsides, swan point, cedar valley, just to name a few. One of my early summer jobs was, and some were was working at Hall Chevrolet on Hall Shop Road. This is where I got my first impression and began to appreciate what Howard County has to offer. My wife and I moved to Howard County 37 years ago, started an apartment in Columbia and Clarke's Forest. We then moved to a little cul-de-sac neighborhood there in Clarke's Forest. We then built a custom home in Western Howard County on a street with all three of my siblings in my first cousin. We raised our families there for 25 years. My wife who was a Howard County school teacher for 34 years recently retired and we downsize to a small rancher in Dayton. I began my career with a large home builder. I was involved in the development of Ashley Knowles, which was one of the first gang septic systems in Howard County. I then partnered with my father and brother, and we built custom homes for 20 years. Since I've since retired from doing that. And I'll just do bank inspections for construction loans and consulting. I think my experience as a custom home builder equipped me with a keen eye for detail and practical understanding of construction and design. I know what it takes to balance the interests of homeowners, developers, and the broader community. More importantly, my years of living here have given me a deep appreciation for the neat character of each neighborhood and the diverse needs of the residents. Each project that I was a part of taught me valuable lessons in collaborations, innovation, and the importance of thoughtful planning. I'm now eager to further by serving on the planning board. I believe in fostering sustainable development that respects our environment, enhances our quality of life. I believe in creating spaces that nurture community bonds, provide opportunities for all residents to thrive. My wife and I currently volunteer for Sleep and Heavenly Peace, where we build beds for people that don't have beds. The county has given myself my wife and my kids who graduated from River Hill a lot so I'm prepared to give back. So thank you for considering me. Thank you, Mr. Stevens. Any questions? Now, who are you replacing on the planning board? I don't know that. You don't know. Do you know David? What? Mind us here. Mind us here. Director, I'm sorry. Oh. Do you know? Yes. I call. Who? I call in the current chair. I was wrong. Do you know Linda? I's Colin. Who? I'd call in the current chair. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Council Resolution 123, 2024. Appointment. Paul I. Turlington, Commission for Veterans and Military Families. Good evening, Mr. Turlington, commission for veterans and military families. Good evening, Mr. Turlington. You are our final candidate tonight for a board or commission. Excellent. Good evening. Good evening, members of the County Council. I'm Paul Turlington. I live in a Ellicott City District 1 and I'm used to live in a District 3 North Laurel. It's my honor to and pleasure to testify in support of my appointment to the Howard County Commission for Veterans and Military Families. I served in the Army Reserve and the US Army between 1979 and 2003. I enlisted as a private and it was discharged as a major. I attended RTC at the University of Florida and was commissioned as a finance officer in 1983. Just have to note that the University of Florida was number one RTC program in the country in 1983. So, go get it. Now, wait a minute. I always misstep to still here. I just talked to her. She was. She was. Don't be confused with the military Academy. I'm not military Academy. I'm talking about RTC which is a different different program all. So no no conflicts there. I entered active service in September 1985 and the US Army intended to attend to my officer basic course in the filler artillery at Fort Silo, Oklahoma. My first assignment was with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. I was there for three years. I did one special duty assignment as a commedial or as on the general staff as a commedial relations officer. And I was volunteered to branch transfer to transportation and completed my advanced officer training at Fort Yusas, Virginia in December 1989. And then my first assignment as a transportation officer, I was assigned to the general staff at Fort Pocula, Ziana, as a division movement control officer. And I immediately deployed the Panama during operation, just cause and that qualified for my foreign service and supportive operations. There's continued service and that role as the, as a storm and desert shield in 1991. And then soon after that, I was was completed my staff, General Staff Officer training at 411 North Kansas and was released from Act of Duty in August 1991. My employment. So I would say this transition from Act of Service to the civilian life can be difficult. I can add a lot of credibility to that. I retired from UPS last year in June 2023. After 23 years of service, in that role I also served the UPS's Veterans Business Resource Group. I was an original member. I also was a government outreach ambassador to Chris Van Hollen and Ben Carden. You might have heard of those guys. And also, I'm now that I'm retired for over a year now. I have a passion for volunteering. I currently volunteer at the VA Maryland. I've been a driver taking veterans to their appointments from the homes who don't have transportation and I'm the past president of the Suns and the Mayor Charles Carroll of Carrollton chapter of the Maryland Society Suns and the Mayor of Ceremonia revolution. I step down as president in July 4th this year and that's when I'll able to start my volunteer roles. Thank you Mr. Terley. Thank you. I don't think there's any question that you are extremely. We'll qualify for this commission. And we appreciate all of your service, your past service, and appreciate that you will be willing to serve now. You're in Howard County on this commission. Thank you very much. I appreciate the support. All right. OK, we're going to take a five minute break. And yes, right. If you were in a pointy, feel free to leave. Okay, if you want to stay, you can if you're finding this so scintillating that you can't imagine doing anything else. But otherwise, yes, feel free to leave. Five minutes. Yes, Your Honor. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. We have nine reappointments. I will read them all. They don't have to be here to testify. Council Resolution 124, 2024. Reappointment, Brook Amber Cromby, board to promote social self-sufficiency. Council Resolution 125, 2024. Reappointment, ESAAN, Busderee, Martin Luther Jr. King, Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission. Council Resolution 126, 2024. Reappointment Tabitha Dixon Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission. Council Resolution 127, 2024. Reappointment Amma Felix Board to Promote Self-Sufficiency. Council Resolution 128, 2024, reappointment, Dr. Mariana Israel Sun, board to promote self-sufficiency. Council Resolution 129, 2024, reappointment, Rosa Angelica Mamie, advisory board on consumer protection. Council Resolution 130, 2024, reappointment, Tiffany Murray, Railford, S. Quire, Human Rights Commission. Council Resolution 131, 2024, reappointment, David M. Woodruff, board to promote self-sufficiency. Council Resolution 132, 2024, reappointment, Arnettia Rye, S. Reappointment, our Neti-Rai S-Quire MBA, Police Accountability Board. That concludes all our appointments. We're going to move quick. We're going to come back to CB 49. I know there's a bunch of you here, but we have one quick matter that we think we can get through So we're gonna move on to Council council bill 50 Council bill is that what it is council bill 50 yes council bill 50 Council bill read it go ahead council bill 50 2024 amendment to pay plan fire management and dispatcher pay scales Council Bill 50, 2024. Amendment to pay plan, fire management and dispatcher pay scales. And testifying on behalf of CB50 is Andrew Bennett, our director of HR. Ms. Bennett. Yes, good evening, Chair. Chair, Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, Mr. Benett. Yes, good evening, Chair, young and council members. With respect to Council Bill 50, we have some minor amendments pertaining to two of the schedules that were previously adopted by the council. The first change is to count by the schedule D, which pertains to dispatchers represented by Howard County Public Safety Dispatchers Association Log 107. And in this amendment, we are just simply changing the hourly rates that are presented. So in the schedule, the hourly rates are rounded to the nearest cent presently for one of the positions that was listed in senior dispatchers, they were inadvertently reflected in whole dollars. And there's an unnotable fiscal impact to this. And it's a prospective change as it affects the January 1st, 2025 schedule. The second change for the bill relates to the fire management or FM schedule. And this is the non-represented schedule. We need to make amendments to the July 1st, 2024 and the January 1st, 2025 schedules. They're being updated to recognize the 42 and 48 hour work schedules for the assistant chief positions. And the changes consistent with similar schedules are right in place for two other positions, so it's in the same pay schedule, which are the captains and battalion chief. And there's no fiscal impact. As the annual salary remains the same, it's simply per rated for the number of hours on the work schedule. Thank you. If you have any questions, I'm happy to take those. Thank you. Are there any questions? There are none. Thank you. Okay. So Ms. Bennett, would you also like to go ahead and testify or present CB 51? Sorry. I'll need to read it first. Okay. the 151 1 I'll need to read it first. Okay. Okay. Council bill 51-2024 Amendment to the Howard County Retirement Plan creation of a deferred retirement option program for participating deputy serfs Deputy Sheriff's. Go ahead, Ms. Bennett. Thank you very much. For the record, I'm she Bennett, Human Resources Administrator. I'm joined by Scott Sutheran, the county's pension coordinator, and also Deputy CAO Jamar Harry. This amendment really talks about adding a pension enhancement for the deputy sheriff. So it will be a deferred retirement option program otherwise known as a drop benefit. And it will become effective July 1, 2024. The change is consistent with the collective bargaining agreement between the sheriff and the respective bargaining unit and The drop program incentivize this individual's who would otherwise become eligible for retirement to continue Employment for two to five years pass a retirement eligibility The county administration supports this change to address retention and succession planning concerns within the sheriff's office. It provides a benefit of maintaining seasoned employees who might otherwise elect to retire while we recruit for replacement. It also assists with recruitment as a drop option is consistent with pension programs for other public safety personnel, including safety personnel that's currently employed by the county in corrections, fire and police. The proposed legislation was drafted by our pension council, and the legislation was also reviewed and supported by the pension oversight commission. The pension oversight's letter of support has provided the attachment A to your testimony. The proposed legislation is highlighted in, of course, the legislation itself and the testimony have provided, but just to highlight a few points, it will apply to individuals that were hired after July 1, 2021. And it will apply only once they've attained at least 20 years of creditable service with the Howard County retirement plan. Attachment B of your document provides the actuarial estimate and costing prepared by the pension actuary, Bolton. The study was complete in February of this year and considers the FY25 actuarially determined contributions. And based on their findings, they feel the plan amendment should result in a small savings to the retirement plan. So we ask for you. If you have any questions, we're happy to take them. Thank you, Ms. Bennett. Are there any questions? No, there are not. You have a good evening. Thank you. You as well. Thank you. All right, we'll go back to. Let's, do you want to talk about your little bill? 52. The SEGRA. Well, I was wondering if we could go to 52. Okay, we'll go to 52. Okay, we'll go to 52. Okay. Council Bill 52, 2024. LGBT QIA plus commission, amendment to membership. All right, is Miss Sonia here or? She is. Here you are, way in the back. My eyes aren't good enough to see that far back. Okay. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for having me this evening. And thank you for the opportunity. Alrighty. No, you can keep going. I'll start it. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to be here to testify on Council Bill 52. No, you can keep going. Okay, just started. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to be here to testify on Council Bill 52. I've submitted my written testimony about why pass and this bill will be more inclusive and will benefit the county. I did want to share a few additional matters in addition. So this bill will allow commissioners who may not live in the county to be if they work or attend school here in the county, they would be able to join the commission. Currently, this commission only allows members who live in the county to sit on this commission. And just some other considerations, we have plenty of people here in the county who cannot afford to live in the county, but they have a vested interest in this county. They may have grown up in the county. They work here, they attend school here. And so they are very vested in serving and volunteering on this commission, but because the legislation that was passed, I created this commission and there was an amendment says that only people who live in the county are able to serve on this commission. The commissioners were the individuals that came for it. They voted, they decided that they wanted to ask the council and ask County Executive Ball to put forth this legislation to make sure that anyone else that would like to serve on this commission, they would have the opportunity to do so. When we had the work group and then when this legislation created the commission, it excluded some members that were actively serving on the commission and they could no longer serve because they did not live in the county but they grew up in the county and just could not afford to live here in the county. And we do have, I know who will be testifying after me, Chris Haffney, who was the chair of the commission last year, will also be sharing some information. But we have plenty of people in the county who just don't live here. They're vested in the improvement they invested in having additional voices at the table. And this would allow for two people who either work or attend school, and then also for the college student, which we have not had a college student yet, to have a college student who may attend HCC, but they don't live in the county. They would now be eligible to sit on this commission. And of course, any college students who may attend any other college but still reside in the county, they will also be eligible to also sit on the commission. So that is it. I hope that you pass this legislation if there's any questions, let me know. Thank you, Ms. Sonny. I only have one question. And that is, the term is three years, right? Yes. Yes. And community college, if you were to go straight through those two years. Yes. So I guess that's really my only concern is that the term is longer than what it might take for most students to go through community college and then you would be constantly looking to fill that last year of somebody's term. I Left the bill Back at the table there, but I think the student Limits our one year. So I know the high school student and I believe the college students from July to June and so that will address that concern because they could be reappointed for the two years that they're at HCC and then which we've had that before where someone was a student representative and then they actually applied to be a regular adult commissioner but that was actually a high school student who then applied to be on the commission so that would address the concern. Okay. Thank you. And the student members are served terms from July to June 30th. Okay. Which is consistent with most of the other student members of boards and commissions. Okay. That's great. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And then next up is Chris Hepty. Well hello, hello. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? Good. Well, I thank you all so much for allowing you to speak today. So as I have already been sort of introduced, I was the first chairperson of the commission when it was, you know, enacted through the legislation and approval. And currently, I am still a commissioner on the commission, so I am still active. I wanted to second the support for adding on these up to two seats. I see this as a positive for similar things that were already said, but in addition, I see that there's a little bit of a line of succession here. So we have students that may want to get involved and then see opportunity to remain here in our county, continue to do good work and to get employed here, do more things in this county, contributing to what they believe in and what they've come to this county to do, whether it was starting out school and just living up to that. We do think that it will broaden the perspectives of people because they have a bit of an outside perspective to bring to the table. They can compare and contrast. I don't because I've lived and been raised in this county forever. So I was born in Camden, but I've lived here since like, oh my goodness, since I was four. So I'm more in encampment, but I've lived here since like, oh my goodness, since I was four. So 28 now, so 24 years here. And I see that as invaluable because we can bring a lot more to the table and address issues for people coming into this county, people that are looking for opportunity to work, to live, to be educated. We can better acclimate people that are looking for opportunity to work, to live, to be educated. We can better acclimate people that are coming into this county by understanding their needs, especially as it pertains to who we consider to be our people, right? The LGBTQI plus people. Our community is interconnected, it's also intersectional, so we are meeting the needs of both racial and gender and sexual orientation based intersections within the community. And for these reasons, I see this expansion of the commission to be invaluable and something that I'm definitely in support of and hope that you would be too. Thank you. I appreciate that testimony. Any questions? I don't have any more questions. I want to answer questions. Okay Thank you so much. Have a good one. Okay All right, we're gonna move back to our original agenda So 49 to be 49 Council bill 49, 2024. Emergency appropriations, economic development authority, farmer grants. All right, so we have a number of people who have signed up to testify on this. James Zola, Jennifer Jones, Keith Olinger. I haven't seen you in a long time, Keith., Keith Olinger. I haven't seen you in a long time, Keith. I know, hello. Lin Moore, Howie Figi, James Brown, Harry Singh, Leslie Bauer, and Tim Jones. And that's the order in which I'll be calling you all. Hello, Mr. Zola. Good evening. Good evening. I don't think I think you need to get your microphone a little there. There we go. It was on already. It's a good evening. My name is James Oliver with the Office of Agriculture. This summer the administration, Kathy Johnson, the Director of Agriculture Development in EDA, and we began hearing about the significant losses our farms were incurring due to the extreme weather conditions. This summer, our agriculture community faced extreme temperatures, drought, and very important to add portally time precipitation. So tonight we have some farmers here, and I think this is a testament to how many farmers we have here tonight to testify for this that can explain in more detail their losses due to these weather patterns and also they've incurred additional losses because of the higher input costs and I'll leave that to them to explain in more detail. As we listen to the agriculture community we realize their losses were significant and not just specific to one segment of agriculture. And that's interesting to note because a lot of times we associate a drought affecting a produce farm, a flower farm, commodity crop farm, growing corn or soybean. But this actually affected our hay producers who got, you know, the harvesting was delayed and their second cutting hay, which is more valuable to a lot of livestock producers and horse farms was limited. It's going to increase the cost of that hay. And also, it's limited amount of hay they can produce. Our livestock producers who, most people wouldn't think a drought would affect them, but it does because their fields don't produce the amount of grass needed for their animals as well as they're going to have higher costs in hay. And then of course the equine industry, same thing, higher costs and hay, less pasture. So in response to these agricultural losses, the administration created this emergency bill to give a million dollars to EDA to administer grants to our farms and negatively affected by this extreme weather. We're going to do this in two ways. So there's going to be two grant opportunities for our farms. One that will provide Harrow County Farms with $5,000 after filling out a simple affidavit stating that they've been negatively affected. This way they can get the money quicker for the $5,000 to make an impact. The second one for losses greater than that $5,000 will be more involved and have an application that they'll need to fill out and stating their losses and also it'll be more involved just like EDA has done in the past for grants. The county has provided emergency grants for businesses affected by unforeseen circumstances in the past. We ask that you support this bill and our agriculture community so they can continue to farm and be a significant part of our economy. So there we go. Made it by the buzzer just barely. So Kathy Johnson's here. Jennifer Jones is online too for any questions. I have a number of questions, Mr. Zoller, and I'm not sure that I want to take up all of our time tonight. I may put this on the work session, but I just want to give you an idea of the questions. Some of which. Okay, some of which I asked Mr. Shepter this afternoon and he did not have the answers for them. One of my first questions was, are any other local jurisdictions doing this? Okay. He did not know. Another question that I had was the state is offering a loan program to support the farmers why wouldn't these same people be taking advantage of a loan program. Why isn't Howard County doing a loan program? The next question was how did this arise? The next question was about federal crop insurance. I understand that federal crop, I mean, you all have taken us on a lot of farm trips. We know about federal crop insurance now. And I'm not understanding why the county is giving out money if people are also having federal crop, if they also have federal crop insurance. Sure. I don't understand. You just said, I also asked this question. You said that the affidavit will be a simple affidavit, and then somebody can just get $5,000 of county taxpayer money, which doesn't seem right to me. I think if you're gonna request $5,000 to get for what might be a crop loss, that you should do more than just sign an Aput David. That's a lot of money. I'll sign an Aput David for $5,000. I mean, that's a lot of money. You need to show what kind of crop loss you had, what was last year, what was this year. So that's similar to what we did during COVID that EDA did for grants, for farms, and for businesses. It was an affidavit in a simple form. So that's where that came from. OK, well, I'm hoping that you'll do more than that. That's a lot of money. And I'm thinking that we need to do more than just sign a piece of paper for somebody to get $5,000 per crop loss. And I guess my last question was that this bill also seems to set a precedent. And I'm wondering if this means that when there's droughts in the future, that we are going to be setting up some sort of fund every year that would have us pay farmers for prep loss. Sure. And if that's case, I think that we really need to be looking at a lot more specifics of setting up a program like that. Absolutely. We'll be able to answer them for sure at a work session. Okay. That would be great. Any other questions? I think that was a lot. It was good. We got them down. I think we've got some answers already for you. So we'll be right for you. All right. Ms. Rigby. And I think it would also be helpful to understand sort of the scope and pacing of the challenges of the weather. We had extremely high heat for extremely long periods of time, followed by buckets and buckets of buckets of water. I am no farmer. I am a simple cherry tomato grower. And I was very unsuccessful one this year at that. So really understanding the impacts of the weather this year and how it has, and I think you went into that a good bit with explaining how the inputs grow. When you don't have that forage material, you have to supplement that. But I think that some of our farmers on the ground, I'm not sure what the euphemism is, but I think you guys can really speak to that and that would be helpful. I'm sure for the body to hear. Thank you. Yeah, and I think that they would be best to answer that for sure. Great. Anything else? That's it. All right. Thank you. Okay. Next up is Jennifer Jones. I see every one she just on to in case okay. Well Jennifer, I'm sure that you heard the questions I just ask. Yeah, yeah. You're going to yeah. James and Kathy have done a lot of great research. I was at that, you know, agriculture is one of the largest drivers of the economy. And we just want to make sure that we help the farmers and anticipate any kind of unforeseen needs that they have and I also wanted to say that you know we already have a process in place where we have a grants for farmers and So we wouldn't need to do any kind of you know back office things that we would need to do for this Kathy already does a great job with innovation grants and she's on the grand listing of farmers all the time so we already have a prop in place. But mainly I just want to kind of reiterate that we have a lot of small businesses in the county and when people think about those small businesses they don't always think about our farmers, our small farmers. So we just want to make sure that we meet their needs as we meet everybody else needs in the cat. Thank you. All right. Next step is Keith Olanger. Hello, hello, hello. Sure. I do my thing here, right? Can you hear me already? I want to thank the office of ag and Jennifer, good to see you for doing this. Part of where this comes from is, you know, we've talked about all of us over the years. It's not just enough to preserve land, you have to actively work with your farming business and preserve the farmers as well. Otherwise, it's just a green space program. And by having this office, they can respond immediately to things where before it might take us years to finally do something. So that's why one of these programs like this is very timely and important. So what happened this year, the best way I can make it impactful for you to think about is if you had water to drink from January to April and then we didn't give you any until the middle of August, how would you do with that? Think about that from a human perspective. Imagine that from a plant perspective. And so the US drought monitor, which tracks all this stuff, would show you. And we have the data is that we were in abnormally dry, moderate drought, and severe drought, pretty much June through the middle 10th of August. And what that did was normally we're fine, we can get by with that, but I keep reserves of hay for our livestock. I can't just tell them, hey, we'll feed you next month. I got a feed them in water them every day. And so what happened was all the reserve bails that we had, we ended up having to pull them off the pastures to give the pastures a chance to recover because you can't just kill your pastures and graze them down to the nub. You got to leave some some root there, you got to leave some some leaf to be able to do the photosynthesis to grow. And so we ended up having to keep them off over a month and feed them hay. So that took up all of our hay reserves that we had in place for emergencies or whatever. And then in addition to that the local farmers that we always buy from, they were having problems with the grass growing as well. So instead of having the full range of hay that we needed for the year, we ended up having less than a quarter available to us right now. So I will let you know if we're able to continue farming by December. I have supposedly located some hay that I can buy. It's much more expensive. I can't just go down the road to get it. I got to now haul it in from far away. I don't have the equipment for that, so I have to pay for that. And so all that goes into this. So if no money has been exchanged, no hay bales have arrived yet. I'm hopeful, but this money would go a long way to do it. And truly, we need to get you guys out a little more on the farms because $5,000 is not going to swing anything too much except for a small operation like mine. These guys, it's dropping the bucket. So thank you for everything. We appreciate you. Thank you, Mr and we appreciate you. Thank you mr. O'Lynn Chair. Next step is Lynn Moore. Good evening. Am I on? Yes. We can hear you. All right. So my name is Lynn Moore. I'm an owner of Larry Lynn Farm in Western Howard County. Woodbine. So I'm here to talk about the weather. You know, farmers can talk about the weather all day long. And we can complain about it all day long. And most of the time it works pretty well. And it's not exactly what you want but it's close enough and things crop grow well. But honestly in 50 years of farming this has been a very unusual season. We had basically excessive rain and May. I got to the point where at our morning briefing I would say well is it going to rain today or tomorrow? It rains every day or every other day. What's going to be this day? And then May comes along and we have a drought and we see less than a tenth of an inch of water in a very crucial time of growth. Beginning of the season basically crops need a half an inch to an inch of water a week and we got a tenth an inch for four weeks so the crops didn't really even have a chance to get a root system established and get leaf growth full-size leaves fully functioning for the season and then to top off that stress in July we had 90 degrees, 92 degrees, 95 degrees, 98 degrees day after day after day. So an already weak plan is now suffering. So we are fortunate enough to have a lot of irrigation, cost a lot of money to run irrigation, a lot of time and effort, and sometimes irrigation is a band-aid more than a healing situation. It can keep the crops struggling and above death, but not necessarily producing fully and high quality crops. And then in August we had Hurricane Debbie which brought a lot of rain and for our farm it also brought a lot of disaster. There's a disease of fungal disease that can exist in your soil. Generally speaking, it doesn't have an impact. It basically is in a resting stage in spores and doesn't do anything. But if you have saturated soil for 20, 40, 48 hours, this disease can develop. And so Hurricane Debbie gave us four inches of rain in a short period of time. Our soils were saturated, phytothera developed, and I lost a pumpkin crop. This year, we've lost more crops than probably any other time over much longer stretches of time. So I was... Ms. Moula, your time is up. Can I just ask you one question? Do you keep records of this? Yes. You keep records of how much crop you grew one year and how much crop you had the next year. Yes. So if you were asked to justify your losses, you would be able to do that. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Next up is howie figgy. Hello, Councilor People. Hello, Mr. Feige. How is it going? You guys are so bright and cheerful for 830 at night. Maybe I thought farmers went to bed early and got up early. Well, we're trying, but you keep putting us off. No, wait a minute. Oh, we just had Ms. Bennett on. It was ironic that the people that wake up the earliest had to wait till the end. Well, no, they're not even at the end. They're still a couple more people. OK. But it is good to see you all. And I do hope something can be done with this. I'm going to touch on a few other things, as well as the drought itself, because there's other things adding to the drought that are been piled on top of us. So I'm here to testify for the passing of Bill No. 49. The drought's been a negative effect on all aspects of agriculture and it's been a challenge for most farmers. Due to the lack of rainfall and we have not only had lower yields but the quality of the products is suffering a lot and it's been compromised. For example the corn is got rot on some of it because of the seven inches of rain we got in August after no rain you know for June and July and then then it gets, you know, gets sprouted on some. So they get to the mill and it's rejected. So then they don't have their product that they even thought they had. So that makes it tougher, you know, on them as well. We've been facing higher costs with our primary inputs. According to the last USDA report, our total inputs are up 28% overall since 2019, and part of those inputs are energies up 35%, and labor is 24% higher, as well as fuel and insurance costs. And then on top of that, Estats's been assessing some of our properties higher, the land and the building values, which seems like a good thing. But when you're paying property taxes on the values of things that you don't make money at, that is not helping you, especially when the lending institutions are looking for cash flow, not assets. So most people appreciate the farmers who provide us with our generous and safe food supply, but now is the time to appreciate what it costs to produce that food, not only for we the people, but also for our dairy farms, beef herds, livestock poultry, and even our pets. Passing this bill helps all of us in one way or another. So, how I, I mean, I certainly understand, I mean, we were, I was here most of the summer, and you know, I saw a lot of the same effects in and around my yard. But you said something that I found really interesting that State Department of Assessments in Taxation is actually assessing your property at a higher value. The past couple of years they've been doing that. The past couple of years I can understand maybe the House because everybody's house is getting assessed at a higher rate but what how do they justify it did are they also i think you said the land as well well the the land it there there there be an up the land price but not as much as the buildings and what's happening and this is something that hit us specifically and farm bureaus been trying to work with Estat on this. We've even asked the governor to have an arms butzman to work with Estat because everything they do now is from a virtual look down on your property. So if you do a good job with your- I've got a drone, you mean they look down? Yeah, they do the satellite view. So you can't tell what's under a roof by looking down on it. And when they assessed us, they thought we had a lot of fancier, better stuff than what we had simply because we take care of the roofs, no roof, no building. So by doing that, they looked at our horse farm for an example and they doubled the value of the buildings which you can imagine what our property tax would have been. So then I had to go through we did an appeal and they were willing to take some of that down. But these are just other things besides I mean, weather's bad enough to deal with, but then we got to get hits with all these other things. And that's, I know you guys, you know, you got a lot of things to pay out and do things, but like somebody, Keith, I think said $5,000 to some of us is nothing. It's just gonna, you know, let us kick the can a little farther. Right, but again, you know, one of my big concerns is this simple affidavit. I think that it's getting $5,000 in taxpayer money that you should be able to provide some receipts for something. Oh, absolutely. And we have all those records and things. Everybody keeps those kind of things. We've got your schedule F. We can verify what we have, what we don't have, what we didn't. I keep a ledger on how many bales of hey, we make each year. And we just keep records like that, because we need to know how we progress as we go along. OK, thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, guys. All right. Let's see. Who's up next? James Brown. Mr. Brown, who hosted us last year? Yes, I did. Yes, we appreciate that. And where did I see you recently at the Howard County Farm Fairgrounds? Oh, yeah, at the fair. Yes. 11 years on its 4-H and we're very active in the fair. Yes. Well, thank you for your service to the fair and 4-H and everything else. I'm Janie Brown. I'm living Lennellel, a fifth generation farmer in Harrow County, 51 years old, lived in Harrow County for 51 years on the same farm. I'll give you records. You guys want to hear records. 2023, I plant 350 acres of corn. In May when I plant the corn, the corn was bringing $7 a bushing. When I sold the corn at the end of 2023 into 24, I got $4.10 a bushing. That is $769.16 an acre is what I made on that corn. Average cost of plant afield of corn today is $800 an acre. That's what it cost me to plant the corn. So I lost $30.84 over $350. Acres was $10,794. 2024. We plant corn. It was about $390. We're looking to sell between $360 and $4. We've done extensive scouting in the fields just like we did last year. We were like four bushel off the last year's average by scouting. So I could be four bushel off of this year, but we look like 150 bushel crop with the mold that how he talked about. And when you have excessive heat for more than probably three days, when you're trying to pollinate corn, it does not pollinate. So along with the field corn, I grew sweet corn. We lost five acres of sweet corn from bad pollination. We never picked it. So that was $5,000 worth of sweet corn that we could never pick. Never went to farmers market. So the corn this year, I have 350 more acres out again this year. I stand to lose at $150,000 a bushel, $70,000. Two-year average will lose an $80,000. I don't know how many more years the American farmer can withstand the prices, the weather, and everything else. So the $5,000 is just the band-aid. I understand the affidavit. I'm willing to. We keep records. Everybody here keeps records. I can extensively tell you everything my operation does. All the way down to the chickens, they're not laying eggs, and I have people complaining at market because I don't have chickens laying eggs, I don't have eggs at market. Because the heat of the summer has destroyed them to the point where they've moltened. I've never had a chicken molten my life this year. I have 500 chickens molten. So it's just, everything just piles on top of each other. I'm going to leave you guys with one thing with 18 seconds left. Just remember this one thing when you go home tonight. No farms, no food. Thank you. Wait, Mr. Brown, don't leave. Yeah, I'm not leaving. Yeah. Do you carry crop insurance? I do not carry crop insurance because of this reason. So in those losses, my crop insurance would have cost me anywhere from 34 to 50 more dollars an acre. At $4 a bushel, I cannot incur 34 to 50 more dollars of crop insurance that I will not collect because even at 150 bushels, I probably wouldn't collect $15 worth of crop insurance on their makers. You have to have significant loss to collect on crop insurance. The more you pay, the more crop insurance you have, but it's still 85-50 to 85 percent losses. You don't collect on it. It's very rare that you collect on crop insurance. That's why we you my my father did crop insurance for a couple of years and never collected and said it's not worth it. So if we have, if I paid 10 years of crop insurance and collect one time, I should just put that in a savings account because it doesn't work. The numbers don't work. The crop insurance is to me a scam. Okay, thank you. Yep. All right, up next is Harry Singh. Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Singh. Thank you. Thank you for having me here. And my name is Harry Singh. And I'm a farm in Merrittsville. And I don't know if you guys remember you guys were in the room. We sure do. We remember. And if you remember, I showed all the apple trees and bee trees we had planted almost 2,500 apple trees. So they, out of that, bought four to 500 trees. We lost this summer from the heat. And we had planted almost five acres of sweet corn. Same thing what Jimmy Brown was saying. The pollination issues, they were only two to two and a half feet to three feet tall and I'm calling my seed guy asking why My cord is looking like this and that's when he was saying and we've been giving water at day and night But nothing was helping that's when he told me that they are not pollinating due to the all heat all that heat be having So he planted close to 3,500 tomatoes in four sections, like 1,500, we lost all of those. Even I've never seen that before, tomato flowers dropping and next morning, I would go and see that, why that's happening and that's when it was all result from excessive. I think we had eight days of no rain at our farm and a few of my other friends closed by. They got some and they called me, did you get any rain? I said, nope, nothing at all. It would become dark and thought it would rain. Nothing came through. Addition that bell peppers was a big thing for us that had a customer who wanted me to grow 1,500 plants of bell pepper he would buy everything. We got nothing out of that too. And five acres of pumpkins, we have nothing, didn't grow. So there's been an extremely hard year for us, especially for somebody like me who's just starting out. It's already three year old form. It is the 30 year growing season. In addition to that, I also wanted to point out, it's already three year old form, it's just a 30 year growing season. In addition to that, I also wanted to point out, I, we never expected this was gonna happen. So I have work forces through H2A Worker Visa program. So that cost is $14,000 in attorneys fees and the workers, you know, that I had to pay in January. So now I can't, I'm not, obviously we cut their hours the workers, you know, that I had to pay in January. So now I can't, I'm not, obviously we cut their hours down, but we're expecting to recover all that from these crops which we can't now. So any help from council member, this will be really helpful to us. Yeah. All right. Any questions? I will be happy to answer. And records also, we do have records from last year in this month. I do have that. OK. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up is Leslie Bauer. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Leslie Bauer and I am president of the Howard County Farm Bureau and I am here tonight testifying on behalf of our Farm Bureau membership in support of Council Bill 49. When people think about farming and agriculture, some may think of a tranquil scene from a Norman Rockwell or American Gothic painting. I think you've already heard some stories tonight, and I'm also here to paint a little bit of a different picture for you. Extreme temperatures, drought, commodity price fluctuations, supply chain delays, trade disruptions. These are just a sampling of some of the challenges that farmers face today on a daily basis. For the second consecutive year, American farmers are facing negative growth. The agricultural sector, maybe one of the top economic contributors in Maryland with 200 million in sales, roughly 15% or 30 million of that coming from Howard County. But it continues to face unprecedented challenges in rising operating costs. We all have had talks and we've heard about the rising fuel costs. These costs impact more than just what we're paying at the pump. They also impact the cost of crop inputs like seed and fertilizer, farm machinery crops, farm machinery parts, produce packaging and other essentials. In the past three years, the cost of fuel has gone up 48%, the cost of machinery has gone up 30%, the cost of fertilizer has gone up 30%. The cost of fertilizer has gone up 19%. The cost of feed has gone up 11%. And the cost of hay has gone up 6%. Most working people get an annual pay raise. Farmers put forth an immense effort to meet both quality and safety standards. We bear a huge responsibility for the feeding of America. However, when it comes time for our performance review this year, we're not going to get a raise. Instead, we're going to be taking another pay cut. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released their September 24th Farm Income, September 2024 Farm Income Forecast. It projects that net farm income for American farmers will drop down 23% since 2022, meaning we have lost nearly a quarter of our farm income in two years. I would like to ask each of you, could your household sustain a 23% reduction in income? Here in Howard County, the outlook is not much better. Small grain crops such as barley, wheat, and rye that were harvested this past June and July suffered a 20% decrease in yields, and some farms may have even seen worse than that. The loss yields were attributed to the drought we suffered earlier this year and ultimately, less yield equals less income. The summer hay harvest has also been greatly reduced this year and not only does this cause loss of income for the hay farmer but it will also lead to scarcity of hay to feed livestock this winter, creating higher feed costs. It is yet to be seen how the summer weather is fully going to impact our fall corn and soybean harvest. You've heard a little bit of talk about it here tonight. However, I've heard reports that the corn silage that's been harvested so far this year has been also about 20%. So I expect we're going to see similar decreases with that in our fall harvest. Regardless of how well our fall harvest may do, it doesn't make up for another challenge, which is commodity prices. As I've mentioned, increasing costs a few moments ago, commodity prices have dropped significantly in the past few years. You're here, Jamie talking about it. A few years ago, you know, even we were getting $8 of the bushel for a corn. Compare that to today where the farmer can get maybe $4.40 per bushel. I think about two weeks ago it was $3.75 a bushel. But if you're looking at it from the $4.40 per specte, that's like a 45% drop. Many Howard County farmers have seen the value in diversifying among a variety of crops or enterprises to try to remain viable. They've also looked to take over more aspects of production, cutting out the middle man and also hoping to cut some shipping costs when possible. While making some of these changes can help, it also presents its own unique set of challenges and is sometimes constrained by existing county regulations. As you can see, the picture that I have painted tonight and these other farmers have is not such a pretty picture. The passage of Council Bill 49 will be a great starting point to provide a little relief for Howard County farms during these challenging times. For some, this grant will help to offset a little bit of loss. For others, it may give a little bit of extra working capital that they might be able to find a new income generating opportunity and get it off the ground. Howard County has done a great job preserving farmland throughout the year and we also need to now ensure that we can preserve the farmer. Howard County Farm Bureau requests that the Council vote in support of Council Bill 49. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Ms. Bauer. Any questions? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right and the last person is Tim Jones. I get even Tim you've not been elevated feel free to begin your testimony when you're ready. Good evening, council. My name is Tim Jones. I'm the owner of Bowling Green Farm. I'm a life-hour county farmer. I guess ultimately I'm just going in to reiterate what everybody else has said here. The drought certainly hit us right at the wrong time, which has worked against me since I've just started Grass Fed beef operation and it worked against grass growing obviously. This year we've also experienced like everybody else has said our fuel cost going up, my electric cost going up, my insurance cost going up. It's just been an expensive year to continue farming. And probably been one of the worst, the money making you hit. But I guess that's about it. Thanks again for all your fine and attention. And I'm in in favor bill 49 Thank you, Mr. Jim's appreciate it Thank you Okay, that ends the testimony for CB 49 Just see our 49. What was it? Where were we? Okay CB all right and now Miss Sager. Council resolution 133-2024. Department of Planning and Zoning Fees, correction. Sure. Jennifer Sager, County Administration. This is just a correction to Department of Planning and Zoning Fees for standard revisions of $4,000 or under. The fee schedule lists both $200 and that's such a charge is based on the unit cost list, which is not the case, it's the $200 fee and not the unit cost list. So we just need to clarify that. The standard revision over $4,000 is based on the unit cost list. And that's that 30 page document with all the little charges for concrete and polls and so we just need to clear make that technical correction. All right. Thank you. Any questions? There are none. Okay. Council resolution 134, 2024. Supporting an application, Eastern Howard County Enterprise Zone designation. Okay, and testifying on this one, we have Jennifer Jones, Linda Eisenberg and Chris Costello. Ms. Jones, do you want to start? Sure. Okay. Good evening, good evening members of the County Council. The Howard County Economic Development Authority and Department of Planning and Zoning expressed their support for Council Resolution number 134, which authorizes Howard County to apply to a mail and Department of Commerce for an enterprise zone designation for certain parcels in Eastern Howard County. Enterprise zones have a tremendous impact on communities throughout our state, serving as the catalyst for growth and revitalization. Businesses operating within an enterprise zone may be eligible for a tax credit towards state income filings based upon the number of new jobs created and a tax credit on their local property taxes based upon their overall capital investment into a property. The designated area that we're looking at incorporates areas of Route 1 and the Gateway District, which aligns with the Hokeh Coco design. The Route 1 corridor is expected to remain a significant employment corridor in the county for the next 20 years. And as you know, the Gateway District, which is currently in office park, is envisioned to be an iconic model for sustainability and innovative redevelopment. The enterprise zone application includes over 2,000 acres of commercial manufacturing industrial properties that could benefit from this important designation. The Howard County Economic Development Authority and Department of Planning and Zoning consider enterprise zone designation a critical tool in the effort to retain and attract businesses, create jobs, and redevelop underutilized property. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Jones. I do have a number of questions about this application for an enterprise zone. My understanding is that this would give an 80% tax break on real property for the first five of 10 years to property not only that would move into the enterprise zone, but property that's already existing there. So that would be for Gateway and Route 1, major companies that have already extensively developed that those two areas would now, after paying whatever the commercial tax has been for as long as they've been there, would be able to obtain an 80% tax break for five years and then a descending tax break after that. They could also potentially qualify for a personal property tax break of 80% for all 10 years and they could also potentially qualify for an employment tax credit, depending on the income of the employee. I just can't understand why Howard County would be looking to cut taxes for commercial businesses while we're raising taxes on residents for water and sewer, a watershed fee, and trash collection, it just, it doesn't make sense to me. So the tax rate would be on incremental. So the current base, you have the current commercial base. Anybody that wants to make capital improvements or new job creation, that's so it would be on the increment. any of the things that are in the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of So it's capital improvements and job creation. The income tax credit. So the, yeah, so the credit is like for the end portion of it. It's not like you can't go back if you have to be doing some type of capital improvement or creating new jobs. Well, here's what I would like to do. Because I asked these questions again today of Mr. Shepter and I didn't get sufficient answers. So I would either like to meet with you are asked you to also participate in the work session next week. Yeah, I'm happy to participate in the work session. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That would be great because right now my understanding of this application, this resolution to create this application would give a pretty big tax break to businesses that are already pre-existing in these areas and that does not seem fair to me. You know, it's improvements and new jobs and then on that portion, yeah, they would be getting tax credits but then the state would reimburse for 50% on the increment. So you're not gonna, you're not getting a tax cut. You have to make significant improvements. We're getting a tax cut because they get a tax credit of 80%. The state gives us 50% back on that 80%. So we're still losing 40% or 50% of the 80% of that tax credit that is going to the commercial business that could potentially pre-exist in that area. So it's okay, so I'll be happy to have to have to have a discussion. I'll be happy to have to have a discussion. It's not on existing structure. So it's okay. So I'll be happy to have you to work session out with it. Just it's not on existing structure. So it's it's an it's a new job. But I'd be happy to participate. Okay. That would be great. Thanks. All right. Next up is Linda Eisenberg or I don't know if you were just here to ask questions, but I do have a question. All right. Good evening, Council. That was a joint testimony between Ms. Jenzen and myself, but I'm happy to try to answer any questions you may have. My question to you is I am so confused now about the Gateway Master Plan. I thought that we were supposed to be making and creating an activities center and doing all this really cool development that was going to be residential as well as commercial and entertainment and everything else under the sun. We still don't have a comprehensive, any kind of comprehensive rezoning regulations. You all refuse to come to our monthly meeting last week. And now I'm looking at this new resolution, and I'm saying this looked to me like it is trying to incentivize more commercial development. And that's literally what it says in the whereas clauses to bring more commercial development into the gateway area anyway, and onto RU-1, which also was supposed to have two activity centers along RU-1. And I see this disconnect between this resolution to create this enterprise zone and what we as a council spent eight months doing with you, Ms. Eisenberg, coming up with this general plan that was supposed to be having all this residential over in Gateway. And I know that there's a Gateway Master Plan meeting again tomorrow. So I'm sure that I will see more of that tomorrow. Yeah, there's a Gateway Master Plan meeting open to the public on Wednesday. Wednesday. Yeah, and so we will be going over the different options for the plan and the plan still does call There's a Gateway Master Plan meeting open to the public on Wednesday. Wednesday. Right. Yes. And so we will be going over the different options for the plan and the plan still does call for mixed use development of the commercial and residential components. As far as the enterprise zone and why we've selected gateways because gateway is eligible being tangent to the route one area and it's just another tool in the toolbox to spur redevelopments. And even with the Gateway Tax Credit, I mean, so even with the Enterprise Own for the Gateway Area, you can have first floor commercial and residential above in the first floor commercial as a new development as Ms. Jones said, can take advantage of that tax incentive program. But the residential on top cannot because residential does not get the advantage of this tax incentive program. But the residential on top cannot, because residential does not get the advantage of this tax risk. That's correct. And that's what I am so puzzled about, because this whole plan was supposed to be about a mixed use development, and this enterprise own does seem to me to be incentivizing more commercial business as opposed to residential. It's just a tool in the toolbox to help to grow different areas, the root one area and the gateway area. Yes, this does pertain to commercial improvements and job creation, but that's specifically, that won't stop having residential development in the gateway just because this application may go forward. Well if it incentivizes commercial development that I assume commercial development will come to gateway instead of residential there's not that much I guess the bottom line is there's really the same in gateway like it is in the rest of Howard County there's not that much land left. I mean you you all did actually a really good map. And it shows like four little brown spots in the entire map. Those are the only areas that are left for development in Gateway. So if the idea is to redevelop with residential and gateway. It looks to me like you would have, and at the same time incentivize commercial. There's not much space for that. Correct. I mean, we're working on the plan currently. So the gateway, as you know, is 1,000 acres. And we're going through different options of preferred development scenarios that the community and the business owners within the gateway area will give their opinions on and then we'll complete the plan and present an alternative options and alternatives. Okay. Chair Young. Yes, let you go. I mean, I echo what Chair Young says. I have no confidence in anything that comes to us from DPC at this point. I don't understand how it's consistent with work product that we've been asked to deliver ourselves. I don't understand how it fits into a scheme where root one and the fiasco that is root one from planning and zoning's perspective over decades versus gateway. Like those are two totally different animals. Like for us to be treating them as though they're one consolidated cohesive unit to me again, typifies what we get from DPC, which is a mess. It was very good. Well, I wanted to thank you for looking at innovative solutions to draw commercial business here because with interest rates, the way that they are, it's hard for businesses to find capital to do the work to show that their plans will pencil out. And so incentives like these make us competitive with our nearby counties. We have the housing demand, so does the anorundal, so does Montgomery. I don't think if we were to allow it, that that demand would cease to exist. As the representative of Gateway as a close attendee and a participant in the award-winning hook-o by design process. It's my understanding that there are a thousand acres there and we have a new focus on vertical development. We're not just trying to sprawl outward. So I think it's pretty essential that we do something to draw in commercial businesses, especially when we look at certain portions of Route 1 where we really pushed mixed use, but the market hasn't been there to receive it. So I think this changes those market conditions, which allow for that incentive to occur. And I do want to call out that I appreciate the tie-in to Dorsey Run Road, where a lot of our industrial is, and our plan really called for supporting our industrial community, expanding industrial. And I thought it was a smart move. So thank you for including that in that process as well. Thanks. I have no more questions, Priya. Okay. Thank you. Have a good evening. Mr. Costello, I assume he's virtual. Oh, he's okay. Well then we are done. We are adjourned. And thank you all for attending tonight.