Dorchester County Council approves grants, paving contract, budget amendments and routine requests

At its Aug. 20, 2024 meeting the Dorchester County Council approved a slate of consent and action items spanning grants, contracts, budget adjustments and administrative requests.

Consent and grants: The Council approved the minutes of Aug. 6 and the disbursements (with Councilman Travers abstaining on payments to Simmons Center Market). It accepted two FY25 GOCPP grants for the Sheriff's Office — a $15,000 Warrant Absconding Program award to fund overtime addressing a warrant backlog and a $21,456 Community Grant Program award to fund deputy presence at community events — and later accepted a $9,240 FY25 STOP Gun Violence Reduction Grant to fund extra patrols and investigative work. The Council also accepted a $300,000 Maryland State Arts Council grant for the Dorchester Center for the Arts (confirmed by poll) and confirmed support for a Maryland Historical Trust grant application.

Contracts, projects and participation: Public Works Director Dave Edwards received approval to extend the county fuel contract with Cato Gas & Oil through Sept. 30, 2025; the Council approved advertising an RFP for on-call engineering services and authorized the surplus of a 2008 Chevy truck. The Council awarded a paving contract for 1.7 miles of Centennial Road (MD331 to Kraft Road) to low bidder Russell Paving Co., Inc. for $281,128.00 to be funded by State Aid ($224,902.00) and the FY24 Capital Budget - Road Paving ($56,226.00). Edwards clarified the scope is full pavement, not tar-and-chip. The Council approved a Stormwater Management Agreement for Delco Packaging's industrial building project and granted a noise variance for a private event at 5515 Waterview Drive, Cambridge, with the Sheriff's Office advising on variance requirements.

Education and finance: The Council approved the Dorchester County Board of Education Operating Budget Amendment FY2024-2, reallocating $1,972,000 among accounts (decreases: Instructional Other Costs $500,000; Special Education $636,000; Fixed Charges $836,000; increases: Administration $550,000; Instructional Supplies $165,000; Student Health Services $6,000; Operation of Plant $675,000; Maintenance of Plant $570,000; Capital Outlay $6,000). The Council also agreed to provide a letter to the Maryland Department of the Environment pledging to pay debt service on loans for McKeil Point No. 1 from benefit assessments, Water & Wastewater Reserve funds, or the County General Fund (the general fund to be used only if other sources fail), per consultant recommendation.

Other business: The Council agreed to participate in the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Forest Pest Management Program for spongy moth identification and control and approved a Memorandum of Agreement between the Dorchester County Health Department and the Department of Corrections for re-entry services under the Connecting for Success program. The Council presented commendations to the Dorchester All-Stars Junior League (Maryland State Champions) and the Star Democrat on its 225th anniversary. Council members used the comments period to report on regional meetings and flagged solar development regulation and state education funding (Blueprint for Maryland's Future) as concerns.

The meeting record shows no public comments during the public comment period and the Council adjourned after completing the agenda.