Next came youth and art month. Two drama students from Chopticon brought their presentations to apply for a drama major in college. A number of Chopticon Students are now working as professionals. Jessica Duncan was first, and Katie Peak was the second student. The BOCC gave them a proclamation in thanks. Comm Mattingly congratulated the basketball team. Dr. Icenhower came to the table to present an update on the state of health in St. Mary’s County. Icenhower said he had two issues. First is percolation tests. They need to complete 1,400 tests. Darrell Caldano is doing an excellent job. All tests have been scheduled, and the schedule has been extended to the first of May. The Health Department believes it can complete all 1,400 tests. Applications were cut off by February 21. They have had 45 additional applications after the cut off. They will make every effort to clear the board. The second item is the West Nile Virus. The Health Department is expecting more cases this year. There is no immunization for the West Nile Virus. People have to protect themselves. There will not be a collection of crows this year. The Department knows West Nile Virus is here, so there is no point is conducting more tests. The Department of Agriculture will be collecting mosquitos. The question is whether to spray. Homeowners can get together to do this. The question is whether so spray. People in Calvert County have said they don’t care what the mosquitos may carry, they don’t want the mosquitos. The cost is about $50,000. We may not know what to do. They want to put down a larvacide. The Health Department wants people to empty any container which contains water to prevent larvae from breeding. He can order spray, but needs funding for it. McKay wrinkled his brow and said it’s a difficult problem for us. Wasn’t the problem concentrated in McIntosh Run? Icenhower said State wide, the people who died were not where the dead crows were found. Many people, he said, get minor systems. We have no idea how many people have been exposed. Those who were now have immunity. Comm Mattingly asked about storm water management. Those ponds are the perfect breeding ground. Could we treat those ponds? We are creating breeding grounds. Icenhower said the Department of Agriculture is working with the Department of the Environment. Maybe we should put some guppies in the pond. The guppies are very effective. Icenhower said his department is working on storm water ponds. The ponds are wetlands for birds and fish and wildlife. Jarboe asked where someone would get the mosquito fish. Icenhower said the fish are probably one of the best and most effective ways of controlling mosquitos. Raley asked a question about citizens who call about decisions from the Health Department. He said it’s not clear that citizens are being told about their rights to an appeal process. Could you do an internal review and see if there is an appeal process. He said he was very aware of the individual in question. He pushed it as far as he could. Icenhower said his policy is to get the thing to pass if it’s legally possible. In her case we did that, but we do it in all cases.

A recording system for circuit court to replace the court reporter. Judge Kaminetz said we have been hemorrhaging money in court reporting funds. This unit can do all four courtrooms. It can be expanded at little cost. Montgomery County has 30 court rooms that have gone to this system. It works almost as well as a live court reporter. Bill Tench, Court Administrator, was there to answer questions. Tench said it will be a pleasure to handle this system. The District Courts are using this system as well. It’s a server and back up. It runs on two tracks. If one goes down, the other continues. There is an uninterruptible power supply. The system records all the audio. They can use the existing audio wiring in the court room. The system is automatic and runs all the time. The clerk will operate the system, i.e. use the hot key to tag events. If a witness is sworn, an interested party can find that witness. Montgomery county has not had one technical glitch. One can burn a cd if someone wants a copy of the record. The record for juvenile proceedings can be sealed. It has a lot of features. Little special training will be required. The system is scalable, one server can serve 4 courtrooms. The cost is about $30,000. The vote was 5 - 0. Mattingly asked about archives. Kaminetz said the record will be a cd instead of a stack of paper. McKay thanked them for the savings. He noted that Raley and Abrams need a table.

Randy Schultz brought a proposal for a policy on equal opportunity for persons with disabilities. McKay said he was surprised that this was not already in our policy. This is a requirement from the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene. McKay asked how many employees have a disability. Schultz said they cannot ask employees, but they are encouraging employees to make their disabilities knows. The vote was 5 - 0 (that was the second motion made by Comm Dement. Schultz proposed a diversity of interest group to put together a long range plan to address the needs of those with disabilities. The group will start this spring and bring suggestions to the table by the fall. There were requests for exemptions from the hiring freeze. Recs and Parks needs seasonal groundskeepers. Comm Dement said he is familiar with the need for Recs and Parks. Jarboe abstained from the vote which was 4 - 0. Sheriff Zylak asks for the senior communications specialist is not in the ‘04 budget. The Property Clerk position, said Lacer, should be filled. The senior (?) clerk is not in the ‘04 budget. The senior coordinator is in the ‘04 budget and Lacer requests that it be filled. The Senior Office Specialist is already recommended for approval. Two of these three positions were recently vacated. One is his HR person. The three positions were approved - Staff Specialist, Senior Office Coordinator, and the Senior Office Specialist. The vote was 5 - 0.

The Budget meeting began at. 2:18 PM. The first presentation was from the Public Schools. Elaine Kramer and Janette Cudmore chaired the discussion. Kramer noted there were unexpended balances to be considered as part of the capital project discussion. The next steps are to transition from the requested budget to the approved budget. Projects and their timing could be changed. Dr. Richardson, Brad Clements and Dan Carney came to the table. Dr. Richardson thanked the BOCC for supporting them at the Public Works Board two weeks ago. Brad said the State provides a $/ square foot price for school construction. Right now we are at a 70% State 30% county split for eligible expenses. Clements said prevailing wages have affected our costs. He has used less than 50% State $$$ to save money by not having prevailing wages on the Forrest Center. There is $120,000 for stadium lighting.(It was bought used in 1979). Forrest Center has $3,089,000 left to be funded. Carver Elementary, which is currently in the AICUZ, will cost $12,001,000, $5,583,000 is county funds. Richardson noted there is no set date for moving. They have committed to move as quickly as possible. Noise levels are high, she said, and interfere with learning. Comm McKay asked if there were statistics to show disruption of learning. Richardson said there are too many variables to identify the problem. There are studies, she said, to show that noise does interfere. Comm McKay asked if there had been discussion as to how it is used. Richardson said the Navy would like to talk to the County. Raley asked if the $1,148,000 cost increases were a result of the $$/sq ft and was told yes. McKay asked why Carver had been moved forward, and Clements said the purpose to was enable Carver to open sooner. They will spend the State $$ first, then the local $$. Clements said the Navy might be interested in purchasing the building. At Carver, everything stops until the plane passes. The Navy did sound level tests and it was within a level. Margaret Brent will require $16,047,000. The County will spend 11,020,000. They are rebidding without prevailing wages and the geothermal heat pump to try to get costs down. They has appealed the cash flow, asking for an additional $2,000,000 or so. The Brent 6th grade will occupy the Banneker trailers so facilitate the renovation. The Ridge elementary gym addition was appealed last week. It would cost $497,000, $201,000 of which will be County money. When McKay asked what would happen if there were not approval for Ridge. Clements said they would probably defer the project. The new gym would enlarge the cafeteria and allow for a full school assembly. Kindergarten expansion would cost $590,000, $278,000 of which is county money. The expansions would allow for all day kindergarten. Raley noted that the State program calls for all day K in 5 years and the County is trying to finish in 3 years. Richardson said they are trying to get teachers in over sufficient years. There is data that all day K helps children do better in the math and science. We have a 5 year program to eliminate the gap between minority and non-minority children. We know, she continues, that all day K helps get minority children on the right track. Richardson said a K classroom is different from a standard classroom. It is challenging to convert a regular classroom. The cooking area and sand table, the need for the room to have its own restrooms, cause difficulties. Clements answered Mattingly’s question as to whether the K rooms would pub Ridge and Oakville over capacity by saying neither of these schools was at 535. Clements said there will be a need for another elementary school beyond Carver. The Mechanicsville Elementary School Roof Renovation will be a renovation of the original roof. Since the school renovation has been moved out, the roof is critical. The State has paid its portion, the cost is $632,000, $277,000 of which is County funds. K additions to Dent and Hollywood will cost $1,180,000, $556,000 of which is County funds.

C The Leonardtown Renovation would cost $9,069,000, $5,098,000 of which is county funds. The purchase of relocatables, $558,000, for Leonardtown Elementary school will use $274,000 of County money. Window renovations for White Marsh and Ridge will cost $527,000, $234,000 of which is County funds. Oakville will get a new A/C system at a cost of $1,401,000, $613,000 of which is County money. Spring Ridge and Leonardtown Middle Schools will need new HVAC systems (in ‘07) for a cost of $5.4 million. They are expecting to build a new elementary school, so are deferring the renovation of Mechanicsville Elementary. Greenview Knolls is scheduled for renovation in ‘08-‘09 at a cost of $319,000, all of which is County money. There is $225,000 of parking lot renovation money to be paid by the County. $1,359,000 is scheduled to be spent by the County for relocatables in ‘04, ‘05, and ‘ 06. ADA restrooms/playgrounds will cost $2,788,000. Mattingly asked if they could do duplicate schools. Clements said they must negotiate ahead of time, and the one time he did it the architects still got all but $25,000 of their fees. McKay asked if children had to be moved to another school to meet their needs. Clements said they were usually able to provide for children. In middle school the locker has to be made accessible. Brad said that on the pink list there are two items that he wanted to discuss. He noted that the schools system encumbers the money when it comes, not when they pay it. They have more door modifications that need to be done in the summer. The Greenview Knolls parking lot is to relieve the busses that have to wait on the street to pick up children. McKay thanked them. McKay noted Clements has said that school planning hasn’t always been together with the County’s plans. Clements said the closer they work together, the better the Board of Education can plan. McKay said he hopes the director of the Dept. of Land Use and Growth Management will work with the school system. Long term planning is what it’s all about. Comm Raley asked if the $34,496,000 included adjustments. Kramer said there is an increase of $716,000 over previous ‘04 budget. Kramer said when the decisions are made the limit of debts to 10% will be calculated. Mattingly said he is working as hard as he can, but he is concerned about Leonardtown Elementary. He thinks there are a lot of people who want to live around the Leonardtown school district. Clements said the redistricting will give some relief. The new elementary school would provide more relief. He would also like to bring Leonardtown in so he knows what they are up to. Richardson said they are looking at making Lexington Park and Green Holly have contiguous districts. That will reduce the number of busses cutting through traffic as will proposed changes on start times. McKay noted that the new Carver was $12,000,000 and the Leonardtown renovation is $9,000,000. Carver will have 535 seats and Leonardtown 535 when completed (an addition of _____ seats as opposed to 535 for Carver.) Comm McKay said as Leonardtown approves 1,000 home projects, you have to look at that. McKay thanked them. Donna Sasscer came to talk about land preservation. She noted there are grant funds available in the Huntersville area and that we received no additional money, partly because the State was upset over planning issues. Donna said if the land trust is told no, the State doesn’t want to spend in St. Mary’s County or in the St. Mary’s River area. Donna said they left $50,000 because they are not sure the new St. Mary’s River rural heritage area will be approved. The Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation program. We’ve had 25 land owners apply, and would need $10,000,000 to care for them. $666,000 gets us $1,333,000 in State money. Sasscer said she has no idea whether there would be any preservation money. Sasscer said there are land owners who have received commitments from the Board of Public Works who may not receive their money. Donna’s concern is that after they have committed money to get surveys, etc, they will not get the funds committed. Raley said farmers held out from the buy out may not be able to join the buy out this year. There was to be a 5 year sign up period. Budget analysts are trying to keep any further farmers from signing up. The Tri County Ag. Committee, said their priority is the tobacco buyout farmers get their money first. Our southern Maryland delegation heard the TCC say they wanted the tobacco buyout first. Raley said the State committed that they would be able to get in the 4th or 5th year and now . . . Mattingly said the budget is a moving target. Sasscer said the pink sheets has a purchase of develop rights program to buy development rights program. Last year we used those funds to fund out matching share or the MALP program. Sasscer is trying to come up with a program for the funds. These funds could be used for matching funds or you could set up your own program. Last year there was a farm in the Amish area that went through the middle of the Amish community that went for development. They tried to buy the land. The landowner wasn’t interested in selling. Summerseat Sanctuary got an interest free loan from the Maryland Environmental Trust and a State Bond. They were look at the MALP program for funding. They need to look for another source of funding. PDR will allow you to extinguish the development rights for an important property. McKay asked what she recommended. She replied she doesn’t have a recommendation. The Ag Commission is waiting for direction. She then said put it in the budget in case you need it, then roll it into the MALP. Raley said why not do both. Sasscer said that’s what you did last year. Raley said he likes they way it was done last year. Sasscer said the decision will be made at this table. The Critical Farms Program is a revolving loan fund. If a farmer’s family needs quick money but wants to preserve the land, this program gives 75% of funds needed to the farmer and it’s repaid when MALP money comes through. Sasscer said they have not used that money this year. They want to bring both MALP and that at the same time, but they are not sure a landowner could pay it back in 5 years. If the farmer couldn’t pay it back, he would have to accept 75% of the value of the easement paid by the County as the full payment for the easement. McKay said it’s not a lot of money for a farm.

C Richard Rohrbaugh came to discuss the Facilities program. In 2000 the Space Needs Committee recommended use of the temporary courthouse, updating the A/C system , a large meeting room addition to the Governmental Center to replace the room in the Carter Building that is now a Court room. Renovation of the Governmental Center was recommended. He has $450,000 of repairs in the outyear budget, but it was cut from this year’s budget. There are structural problems with the old Sheriff’s Office building so it will need repairs. The FY’04 proposed Governmental Center renovation proposes to take care of the temperature humidity problem, renovate the Gov Center building, and add a meeting room. There was a space needs study in 1990 and the update in 1999, there were square footage adjustments were close to the study. Adjustments were done. Utilizing existing facilities, the County developed the 2000 space needs plan. There is an updated proposal which includes the fact that the old Information Technology (IT) building cannot be used for temporary space. McKay noted that we lost the area where P & Z was. Mattingly said the library is vacant; the old Sheriff’s Office is vacant. Rohrbaugh noted that the St. Andrews facility is to replace an aging, rusting fuel station ($150,000). The upper level of the Leonardtown Library is to be renovated ($200,000). The archives will be moved to the old Sheriff’s Office, along with Judge Kenney’s chambers. There is a load bearing issue for putting the archives on the second floor, so they are now on the first floor. They have to put in an elevator to meet ADA requirements if they use the second floor. Judge Kenney’s chambers are not in the back of the old meeting room. When the new judge is appointed, that space will not longer be available. Mattingly said he would like to know what is happening in the Carter Building. Lacer said at some point they will appoint a second district judge and Kenney will have to move. They are recommending a master plan for the adult detention center ($50,000). The County’s portion of the Tudpr Hall development grant is $1,500,000. Carver feasibility study (to determine how the building should be used ($50,000). College of Southern Maryland ($7,728,000) gets a wellness center and pool. (county funds $1.932 million) health Department gets renovation and relocation at a ocst of $365,000, $200,000 is FY’04). There are $722,500 of airport improvements in FY ‘08) Marcey House is to relocate Marcey House when lease expires. (10 12 years in FY ‘06 and ‘07 at a cost of $1,750,000). CSM Telecom has been replaced with a study. Building 4 is to be demolished in ‘07 at a cost of $50,000. A facilities management facility is to be built in ‘08 at a cost of $1,025,000. Charlotte Hall library has a renovation scheduled for FY ‘07 at a cost of $200,000. Mattingly says if bldg 4 is to be demolished, then it should be moved up in the budget. He said we could use temporary trailers. Jarboe reminded them that the building is probably 50+ years and would have to be approved for demolition. Lacer said during the cooling season there is a humidity issued. The air has been tested. We have to move off the existing, adopted program one way or another, he added. Jarboe said maybe this is the time to notifiy the Historic Preservation Commission. Tourist Information Center and Farmer’s market improvements at a cost of $1,000,000 are in FY ‘09. Advanced Life Support Exp;p is to be moved to the old Marcey House at a cost of $308,010. California Library is to be built in ‘09 at a cost of $4.5 million. Parking and site improvements are budgeted for $250,000 at $50,000 a year from’04 - ‘08. ADA upgrades are budgeted at $175,000, $40,000 in ‘04 & ‘05, $30,000 in ‘06 & ‘08, $35,000 in ‘09. There is $1,385,000 over 6 years for building maintenance and repair. Raley asked if the College of Southern Maryland will be ready for its next project in ‘04 & ‘05. Lacer said he thought it was ambitious. Raley said the college won’t be ready to do construction then.