Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities And Admin topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County to sign letter seeking state of emergency on high local water rates; consent agenda approved including broadband and grant items
Summary
County staff presented and asked commissioners to sign a letter urging the governor to declare a state of emergency for areas facing high water rates and to request PSC and MDE action; the commission also approved a consent agenda including a USDA grant resolution, committee appointment, emergency services security work and a broadband agreement.
Administrator Bennett presented a draft letter asking the governor to declare a state of emergency for communities the county identified as experiencing exceptionally high water and utility rates (areas referenced by staff included Bel Air, Pinto, Glen Oaks and Highland Estates). The letter asks the governor to temporarily halt water shutoffs, deploy mobile water and sanitation units for short-term relief, direct the Public Service Commission to review Maryland Water Service rates and billing practices, and collaborate with the Maryland Department of the Environment to fast-track emergency funding and assistance programs. Bennett said the county will seek to deliver the signed correspondence to the governor's office between tonight and tomorrow morning.
Bennett and others supplied a rate comparison included with the letter; staff said Maryland Water Service customers' annual water cost was "a little more than $1,600" in the material they compiled, with local comparisons showing significantly lower annual costs in nearby jurisdictions. A commissioner asked that the underlying study be sent with the correspondence to the governor; staff agreed.
Separately, the commission approved the consent agenda, which staff summarized as including: adoption of a resolution for USDA grant funding for a biofuel development/rezoning/remarketing initiative at Duluth Mill (authorization to accept a grant up to $125,000 as described in the packet), appointment of Shawn Grove to the Allegany County Ethics Commission, authorization for Emergency Services to accept Midpoint Technologies' quote for $66,925 for cameras and access control at the Georges Creek Ambulance building, declaration of two sheriff's office vehicles surplus, and execution of an agreement to support broadband expansion under the Connect Maryland fiscal '24 program covering $231,000 in state grant-related infrastructure work. The consent agenda was moved and approved by voice vote.
