This week on OPEN AGENDA (S2 E17) we explore the County Executive’s 2025 budget shenanigans, and issues related to the forthcoming Wicomico River dredging project. Additionally, we discuss the Executive’s denial of being involved in bringing Wetipquin State Park to the county in the face of objections by nearby residents. Tune in and be informed.
Open Agenda S2 E17 County Follow the Money
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
You're watching Open Agenda. Here's our
host, Joe White.
Welcome to Open Agenda. I'm your host,
Joe White. In this episode, we're going
to talk about the county budget, where
that is in process. We do have the
county executive's proposed budget,
although we have a lot of questions. We
also want to talk about some of the
misinformation out there about the with
Typkin Park out on the west side of the
county. This the state is still moving
forward with funding a state park out
there. So in the studio with me is uh
Mr. Mike Goldberg from Delmare, Dr.
Jeanosa Salsbury. Thank you, gentlemen.
Thank you. So look, this is a crazy time
of year. We we even started talking
about this back in January that this was
going to be a a feverish time of year.
We didn't have the the audit from
2024. We were talking we had our
delegate talking about raised property
taxes, breaking the revenue cap. Uh now
our executive has made presentations all
different types of options and now even
actually proposed a budget which after
seeing the audit we actually have quite
a bit of a surplus. Uh look we're in
campaign season for sure. Right. It
seems like it's it's just it always is
campaign season. Yeah. But but the
rhetoric right now is just high. Mhm.
Is the message out there for folks that
don't take our word for it, don't take
their word for it. go find these answers
out for yourself. That that should be
it. The problem is, let's be honest, a
lot of regular people don't have the
time and resources to really dig into it
like maybe we do. And so that leaves the
public sometimes at the mercy of the
sound bites that local coverage does
give certain things for a very quick
sniff. And you know what, you're you
bring up a good point and I want to I
want to say something. I I'm really
disappointed with our local news
coverage uh the the newspaper, the two
major television stations. They
basically
regurgitated a press release that the
county executive put out about what
Tiffken didn't do any I mean to my
knowledge they didn't do any of their
own research cuz it does not equate out
to what we found with transcripts. No,
there's no investigative reporting out
out of the legacy media here. It was it
was literally a copy and paste of the
executive's point. And like one
colleague of mine put it, wow, they're
doing the North Korea, you know, like
they're making North Korea look good as
far as just paring a deer leader's line
with no no semblance of any separation
whatsoever. It would it wouldn't pass a
plagiarism test in your history class,
would it? Not in my class. Yeah. I mean,
so you know, one of my mentors in high
school, uh, who's passed away, he was a
history teacher.
uh he always spoke about hunting down
primary source. Uh so if the news
agencies aren't going to get any primary
source, I wish they would just stay out
of it. But two, you said people can't
don't have a lot of time, but they could
watch at least some of the meetings on
Pack 14, even if it's just days later.
Sure. Uh I tell you one thing I've done
is I I I listen to it like it's a
podcast. I I put it on my car. I got to,
you know, drive 30, 45 minutes. I can't
watch it, but I can listen to it. To be
fair, no one is as entertaining and
handsome as us. So, that explains part
of the draw. But I see your point. Yeah.
Well, I mean, they don't have to look.
Well, the the the other thing, too, is
kind of brought up with Tipkin. I mean,
there's the the the state is moving
forward with this $3.3 million purchase.
Uh the delegation went in front of the
county council uh just this past meeting
to talk about that they don't have any
hand in it. Uh it was odd to see Barry
Beum not really say much uh because when
when Julie was taken it's not odd if
you've watched Sessions in Annapolis but
well when she was taking credit for it
back in February there was like it it
was I guess it was cool to be part of it
and now it's not. Well he was before he
was against it right I guess as the old
line goes. Yeah. Uh, I know the other
night you went to the Salsbury City
Council. Uh, that was crazy, right?
That's Well, you know, it's we spend a
lot of time on our show obviously
critiquing and analyzing county county
politics in general, obviously. But I
got to tell you, I think I think the
city uh gives the county run for its for
its money, no pun intended. Um, because
we were treated to quite a spectacle uh
at the last city council meeting. Um, we
have several vacancies on city
commissions, right? And commissions, you
know, to some extent, they can be very
labor intensive if if a commission is
very active. I'm on one for the city.
You have a human rights commission, you
have the green team, you have um the
bicycle transportation commission. In
the last couple of sessions, there have
been um citizens who have put their
names forward on commissions um that
have had vacancies for months, if not
years. And the city council seems to
have gotten in the the recent sort of uh
habit of unilaterally or at least some
members of the city council, the
majority obviously have gotten into the
habit of denying uh some of those
citizens the chance to be on
commissions. Um and the theory that has
generally been proposed is that they are
seen as too critical of the city council
in public. Yeah, these are people who
are already active. These are people who
come to meetings who talk uh in public
about policy. Uh one of them was Mr.
John Rankin who uh was um put forward I
believe by by the mayor for the election
commission. The other was Mr. Michael
Langford who we've had on the show. Um
but he's a real avid bicyclist. Um been
very active in in the community on other
initiatives. Ideally the best kind of
person you would want on that kind of
commission. Um, at this meeting of the
city council, uh, certain members,
particularly President Deshawn Dowy and,
um, Michelle Gregory, Michelle Gregory,
District 4, uh, effectively said that
they had heard certain concerns and
criticisms of of Mr. Langford in the
community that would give them
reservation. Now, again, I can't imagine
uh, somebody freaking out to the point
where they they were worried that a
person would be put on the bicycle
commission. I mean, is the concern that
he's a Jeeper on on the weekends? No.
Somebody who helps the homeless and is
an artist and he's like now he's too
controversial for the bicycle. But let's
be very clear, folks. This needs to be
said. The the big issue that everyone
knew in that room is that Mr. Langford
like us uh and particularly me as a city
resident have been very critical of the
very unethical we feel close connections
that council president Deshan Dowy and
in particular Michelle Gregory and
council vice president Angela Blake have
had with developers and how they've
ethically run the city agenda. Uh we are
very public in that. We don't hide it.
That's our right as citizens and that's
something we encourage people who have
concerns to do more of. But they
basically said that they felt that he
and others lacked um certain qualities
or had lacked community support uh and
character to be on these commissions.
And but then uh one council member,
council member Gregory, actually said
that she would be quote happy to discuss
the matter in private. Yeah. Which is to
me mindblowing. The lack of transparent,
right? You're saying that this public
commission position that is again for
the public that needs to be done in
public uh can't be discussed except in
private or what was the reason for
denying this man. I mean I don't get it
but I understand why y'all have that on
y'all conscious cuz y'all don't do
things for the right reason. And I I do
think it is rude to come back and to to
dismiss me to to physically dismiss me
but also I think that's just that that
is just rude. And so just given that I
am going to move forward because I'm
going to move forward and then of course
we have council comments and as you
dismiss me I like it. I think this idea
of not allowing people to say their mind
has become a consistent pattern which I
think is reached a level if you let me
finish without
interrupting of not just disrespect. I
think it's starting to play to the
effect of allowing people to have an
honest debate and that's when does not
allow someone to speak their mind. Have
you not been watching back 14? The
things that have have been brought to my
life. Not only personally, I took out my
personal convictions that have things
that been brought to me personally that
have disrupted my life. I took those
out. And the decision that I made was
because other things that people have
brought to my attention. And this is
again taking out the personal grievances
that said that persons have done against
me. Deshawn Dowy and council president
Deshaawn Dowy. I took those out of this
decision and I will be happy to speak
with you offline but like President Dowy
I do not feel comfortable speaking these
things into a public meeting. Professor
I I want to ask you a question. It's not
profession. Go ahead. Well, but this one
maybe what is it about politician with
lack of ethics that makes you so thin
skinned because we have we have an
overabundance of that in this county.
And you know what's funny to go back to
a point that we've talked about before.
This is irrespective of like party and
ideology. Totally. It's just people who
fundamentally a they h they're this is
my view. They're extremely joyless
people. They take themselves seriously
to a point of parody. They have such
deep-seated insecurity and mental
illness as far as I'm concerned that
they can't even hold basic public
decorum on something as simple as
explaining their position. If they were
secure, confident people, then they'd be
able to effectively deal with being in
question and they'd make a case for
whatever their position is. But they're
incapable of doing that. So I have to
ask the question, you know, to the
people of city of Salsbury and Wcomako
County, folks, are we really selecting
the best people that we either
side party has nothing to do with it?
Nothing to do with And and just to be
clear, I've been criticized by some, you
know, in my own sort of political
circles for the critique. And the point
that I uh have always made and and our
friend Jim Atkins and others have made
this before as well is that, you know,
the interests of the community should
always be first. And and if and if the
interest of a community comes from
somebody who might be a different party
or different ideology or just maybe I
don't even like them as a person, but
they're doing a good job in the in the
job, that's what should be, especially
on on a local level. at a local level.
This is not national polit. It's why we
don't cover that in this show because
that but let's face it, you know,
whether it's national politics or local
politics, it's all about power. And when
we have people whose objective is to is
to uh obtain and exercise power over
others. And this is what people need to
understand. There's there's a
fundamental I think evil motivation
behind all politicians. These are people
who want power. So, speaking of of of of
power and thin skinnness, let's let's
take some time. I want to bring uh Jim
Atkins in. Let's talk about the county's
executive's budget proposal and just
where that process is now and and where
it's going to finish up just mid June.
Okay. Terrific. He can have my seat. All
right. I'm going to go take a bike ride.
So, stay with us. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to Open Agenda. I'm your
host Joe White. As we approach the
budget season for Wakcomo County and
we're reviewing the county executive's
proposed budget for fiscal year 26,
there's a lot of questions and some of
the information just doesn't line up
coming out of the fiscal 24 audit we
just received. So to help cover some of
this, I brought in Mr. Jim Atkins from
Mardella, Dr. Joe Vidosa from Salsbury.
Thank you, gentlemen. Certainly. Good
morning. So it does not feel like we
have all the cards on the table as far
as uh why why the budget is proposed the
way it is uh really how much money is in
some of the accounts. I know as many
meetings as the three of us attend and
and many others in our group uh we we we
have more questions than answers right
now, but there's some some questions
that stick out further than others. And
Jim, I I know I talked to you about uh
specifically the the frontline
employees. Uh it looks like they're
getting a 3% cost of living adjustment,
a cola with a 2% raise, but that's not
across the board, right? No, that's
that's not across the board. And and
the interesting part about it
is starting July the 1st, they get the
3% cost of living cola raise. They don't
get the 2% raise until January the 1st.
Okay. six months into the six months
into the into the fiscal year. So that
is is interesting in how that was
developed and and separated. So the
majority of the the hourly employees are
getting a total of a 5% raise. Once
again, this year in the budget, we have
department heads that are looking at
between 16 and 25% increases in their
salaries. Yeah, Joe. I mean, we we just
covered this with the the Salsbury
University episode, did you? Yes. Yeah.
I know you weren't here for that
episode, but uh we had students in who
are just worried about their tuition
costs, which are like taxes for a
college student, and yet the
administrators as they're cutting their
budget, the administrators are are
seeing, you know, 20% or 10% increases
in pay. Uh I I feel like we're we're
we're seeing the same thing here from
last year. Uh, and and this is where I
have a question. Just two months ago,
our county executive is is is having
budget hearings and presentations with
the board of education and the Marva
conservative movement saying we may have
to uh break through the revenue cap and
now we're now we're off and and we see
there's a big surplus and all of a
sudden there's these big raises. So,
we're just giving certain people I don't
think we know where we're at, and I
definitely don't think our county
council has asked enough questions to
have verification that they know where
we're at. They might know where we were
18 months ago. They're playing catch-up.
Well, and we're spending money we don't
know we have. Well, one of the one of
the four options when the quote unquote
budget meeting was
held
was to flatline the county expenses in
order to pay for the board of ed. Okay.
And the executive stated she had not
done that. She had fully funded the
board of
ed and not broken revenue cap and stayed
within her limitations. But when you
start looking through the budget, you
notice that there are very few detailed
line items in departments about what
they're planning on doing this year. So
specifically plant line. You you brought
up county roads. County roads. There's a
lot of that was just put into
miscellane.
I don't know who miscellaneous is, but
she's getting an awful lot of money. It
seems she's number you know Jim showed
me she's number three on the list of uh
expenses. you know, you're, you know, as
a as a business owner, you want to
budget and and and if you have to decide
that you're not going to spend something
in one area because you had to spend it
in another, you want to know why you
made those decisions. You start throwing
large chunks of money in the miscellane.
Yeah. You then you don't have any record
of even successes you had or mistakes
you had just as a historical record.
Right. Right. Yeah. I It's very
unnerving that that much money would be
devoted to such a amorphous pot. Yeah.
It's a it's the third largest budget
item in her budget, miscellaneous. And
in in the past when the budget has been
more detailed and projects are shown for
each department, if something comes up,
the executive comes back to the council
and they need an amended budget. But
they're just starting off this budget
with this huge pot of money over in the
miscellaneous column. But let let's also
remember we had our appointed delegate
Barry Beichum and our county executive
just he he was about five months ago her
about two months ago crying poor that we
we didn't have enough the revenue cap
was holding us back. We've heard it from
the greater Salsbury committee oddly
we've heard it from the Wakamaku County
Chamber of Commerce which you're the
first county executive who has talked
about the elephant in the room. That all
by itself deserves applause. Thank you
for that.
the elephant in the room. We have in our
GSSE 2030 plan. We address the revenue
cap and all we ask for is that a blue
ribbon panel just like the one that
we've assembled to come and talk to you
tonight made up of community leaders
takes a look at that public policy that
was implemented more than 20 years ago
and simply ask the community is this
still appropriate public policy. Good
evening. Barry Bechum, County resident
and um as far as the um I guess the
elephant in the room here, everybody's
talking about, you know, we need funds
and the funds are lack thereof. Um I'd
say the elephant in the room is the tax
cap. And I'm just curious, how many
people here would be willing to have
their taxes, their property taxes
raised?
to support these projects to support any
project because because and that's
that's really what we need to to really
look at and you know for me to say hey
I'm in favor you know of of a tax
increase I'm really no one wants to hear
that but but the what I really like to
see everyone in this room that I looked
at raised their hand and they don't mind
property tax cap you know being taken
away cap or revenue cap I'm sorry yeah
so so you Basically, I I would say that
that's where we're going to have to
look. As much as no one wants to talk
about it, and I certainly don't want to
be the guy to raise my hand and say it,
but really that's that's where we're at.
So, maybe it is time to look at the
revenue cap and is it the best policy?
Is it the best thing? And Barry, I got
to address this with you. I'm sorry. You
sit here today and bragged about
everything you voted against up there
and I appreciate that. But you come to
our C CIP meeting and basically endorsed
getting rid of the revenue cap. Well,
let let me address that. I did I turned
around and said that's I know what you
said. I watched Okay. Well, but but but
put it in context. I said the elephant
in the room is is I just watched it
again yesterday. The revenue cap. And
the truth of the matter is that's the
only thing that can be can be the the
revenue cap can be burst over. Is that
is that correct? Education because it's
education is what I was referring to. It
can be education. Yeah. Right. Well, so
but you know the citizens voted for the
revenue cap. They didn't vote for a
revenue cap to be bust over by
education. Well, the the truth of the
matter is the 2% I think is was bad
legislation from the start because if
you look at inflation and you look at
the 2% you're you're you're you I don't
think you can hold ground. So there has
to be another motive. But but but to my
point, you go from crying poor to we
can't spend it fast enough. I'm also
looking here. We have a new chief of EMS
at a at an expense of $88,000 per year.
But what if we don't have the money next
year? You you think we're just going to
cut that position? I mean, that's a
commitment. But the second question to
that is what is that position? We have
not had that position before. It is a
new position created in this budget.
What is that person going to do? Oh, I'm
going to tell you what it's for. It's
the beginning of the volunteer fire
departments being phased out in this
county. And as as a very active member
uh not member but active citizen in my
neck of the woods, I'm telling you right
now, this is the first step of them
phasing you out. Well, and it's
interesting because given the
executives's past hostility toward the
the volunteer fire departments in terms
of basically flatfunding them and then
denying it and then, you know, rep
prioritizing these sort of initiatives.
The other question becomes not only what
the position represents as far as
attacking our volunteer fire departments
and their existence, but who will be put
in that position? Well, Julie did say at
one time that they should just go out
and start barbecuing more chicken. So,
we may How much chicken is how much
chicken is this new position? Don't see
a chicken chef on here anyway. It's a
lot of chicken. You could buy a lot of
chicken at Costco. And and if you
remember, if you go back two years to
her first year in office,
She was
requesting a EMS fire director position
in her office. It was a public safety
that but had no detail other than give
me the and and the county volunteer fire
departments are very appreciative of the
money they get. They need the money they
get to support them and to operate.
But the county does not own an
ambulance. Mhm. They do not own a fire
truck. They do not own a fire station.
So, these are all privately owned by the
11 volunteer companies in the county.
Mhm. And does she actually think So,
maybe it is time to look at the revenue
cap and is it the best policy? Is it the
best thing? that an EMS director is
going to tell 11 independent companies
what they're going to do. I want to flip
that answer. Do 11 independent companies
want to have a paid county employee
trying to tell them what to do because
as as someone who goes and helps
barbecue the chicken myself sometimes uh
who helps raise some of the money uh
with them. So, well, if you buy it,
you're you're a big part of it. I'm
telling you, this is not what they want.
And if they're if they're being sold a
bill of goods, they're going to be real
surprised in a couple years. I mean, how
about even a deputy director of
emergency uh services at at a cost of a
h 100,000 plus per year in salary.
You're you're talking adding $200,000 in
salary into a county that two months ago
was talking about breaking the revenue
cap. I I'm astonished because you can't
come up with a 50-page budget overnight.
I my my point to everyone out there
right now is this is the smok and
mirrors game you're seeing. Uh and and
where the rubber is meeting the road, go
to page 48 of the of the budget where it
starts to list the 28 capital
improvement projects that the county
executive is laying out that will not be
paid out of a capital fund. They'll be
paid out of what they call PIGO. Mhm.
PGO is leftover operating expenses that
can be used. It's a savings account.
It's a savings account that you can use
to pave a road. Yeah. Go through that. I
mean, 28 projects. These are not small
things. Some of them are water towers in
Pittsville paving certain roads. But
this is how you use political influence
to benefit your close inner circle.
Correct. But not with your money. No.
With with our money. With our money.
Well, and again, and that's
unfortunately not a new thing, right?
This is the spoil system that we often
teach in history classes. But the thing
that really disturbs me to go back to
your early point is that this helps
better explain for us and and the public
why the revenue cap issue was being
banged so loudly months ago because down
the road, as you said, if they're going
to get rid of and go after our volunteer
fire departments, if they're going to
put these massive sort of politically
connected projects on the docket, it's
going to require a lot more money than
what we currently have in our accounts.
Yeah. And that maybe helps explain why
certain people close to the executive
are so gung-ho on raising taxes through
getting rid of the revenue cap. What? Go
ahead, Jeff. Well, let let me throw the
cynics opinion on
this. You cry wolf. We have no money. We
have no money. We can't do this. We
can't do that. We can't fund the board
of ed. And then two months later, oh, I
fully funded the board of ed. We've got
a balanced budget. How great are we? You
know, so you're you you've got people
thinking that you've solved a problem
that you never had to begin with. Yeah.
And you may be creating the next problem
two years from now because you blame on
somebody else. If you look at the
budget, some of the numbers in the
budget are not complete because we just
got a budget audit for fiscal year 24 a
couple weeks ago. So, how can you make a
new budget for the following year before
you found out what you did the year
before? Unless that's what you want to
do to hide the money and basically to
keep your friend miscellaneous. Well,
look, talk about hiding money or at
least it's not in plain sight. And I
think with government, you need to you
you need to be extra vigilant. All cards
on the table, right? We were just at the
last county council meeting when the uh
public works came and and asked for $2.3
million for emergency dredging of one
section, one of the three sections of
Wakcomo River. But every year almost
$400,000 gets put into an operating
fund. the council
approved somewhere in the range of
$350,000 every single year since 2020,
excuse me, in the CIP, which is a plan
document, but we also put it in the
capital budget. So, I'm not so sure uh
because I don't always know those
processes. We approve it. I assume these
monies go into some type of a So, those
have been set aside. Yes, we're set
aside. So that's about $2.1 million from
the capital budget that's been approved
from my knowledge since
2020. And so I'm I'm curious as to why
um we're all of a sudden caught off
guard. So there's a little over a
million dollars about 1.2 million should
be in there now. The request was for
2.3, but to leave alone the 1.2 that's
already in there, we're spending money
that's not in a budget. Our county
council approved this. A lot of them
identify as conservatives. I don't think
that's a very conservative move. At the
very least, you No, but it's a stupid
move. Well, I I don't know because
honestly, they didn't even have the the
the the one committee, the the water
committee to come in to talk about it.
The executive didn't bring them in. The
council didn't require it, and they
needed an answer that day. These are
this is how you make mistakes. So,
there's supposed to be $1.2 million in
the fund. They need 2.3, but they got
2.3, not 1.1. And I mean, it's it's it's
easy math to say, hey, look, if you only
need 2.3 and you have 1.2 in your
account, that's all you need. Well, the
the thing you need to watch with that is
that the initial briefing book spoke
that the county was going to ask for
$7.5 million. It was in the original
capital improvement plan. Yes. but also
in the briefing book that came out a
week before the council meeting. Yeah.
So, it was all it was all in there. 7.5
million for phase one and phase two.
The caveat in that was that we're asking
for 7.5 million. We may come back in May
and have to ask for more. So then they
come to the council 3 days later and
they only want 2.3 million because
they're only going to do one phase. Mhm.
Now in the budget they have $7.5 million
in the budget. Mhm. For the next phase
when they already have the 2.3 handed to
them. Yeah. So I mean you know this is
going to be a 1012 million budget
function. And it has to happen. And
nobody argues that it has to happen. The
river has to be open. It has to be
dredged. It's a major economic driver
for this county. Yeah. No one's against
the What's arguing is that nothing was
done for seven years to move this dirt
that they're going to have to pay an
outside contractor now to move. For
seven years, nobody looked at it. Nobody
saw anything. and the money that the
council gave $350,000 a year for $2.1
million.
Well, let's talk about communities for a
second. You know, to that point, that
Sharps Point community down near Futland
is now, and I I've mentioned this
before, is now slated to have 60,000
dump trucks ride by their h the homes in
the next five months. Right.
Well, another community, the Watypkin
community, is now finding out just how
involved the county executive has been
in getting a state park for this this
county. I want to take a little break.
When we come back, I want to I want to
bring in Mike Goldberg because his work
history, this is something he has a lot
of experience in and I want to talk
about just how underhanded some of the
information and the misinformation from
the county executive's office has come
out. So, we stick around. So, stay with
us. We'll be right
back. Welcome back to Open Agenda. So,
now that we've talked about the budget,
we also want to talk about another major
community item that's come up and that's
the Tipkin Park, uh, the state park,
more or less. So, in order to talk about
that, I wanted to bring in Mike Goldberg
from Delmare. Jim, thanks for sticking
around. Uh Mike, I know that you have
spent a lot of time at county parks and
uh your background in banking and and
doing due diligence. There's a there's a
lot of uh information you you've been
able to garner. Plus, we have some
transcripts and stuff. I I wanted to
talk a little bit about the conversation
that that the county executive had at
the mayor's round table just last
Friday, uh the end of April with the
greater Salsbury committee. Um, and in
that presentation, she shares that she
actually drove DNR around the county
back last November. Uh, and I'll be
honest, she hasn't come out and denied
she's done this, but she also definitely
has not spoken publicly that she has
done this. Uh, it sounded like the the
the goal of this ride around was to
maybe see if they want to do Pirates
Warf or Peton Park or even Popular Hills
coming back up. It's like Bob CER uh
comes back up around. Uh I mean what
what do you think Jim? I mean is this is
you telling the whole story here? No.
That that's the problem that the story
changes from week to week. You get drabs
and pieces of what's going on. You get
the representatives from the state, our
our representatives and our senators
come before the council, which they just
did. just did two weeks ago and were
asked at the end of their presentation
what they knew about this. There's a lot
of chatter about the proposed new state
park out at Watipkin.
Um I mean I'll be glad to so that that
is a project that was approved by the
board of public works. Um I as well as u
uh my colleagues that represent that
district in the state um are aware and
have received emails from concerned
citizens over the uh you know the state
while they got approval from the board
of public works uh they've not completed
the sale DNR will be constructive and
work with the citizens in the area
there. What I don't think is going to
happen is I don't think the project's
going to be killed and to a person they
all knew nothing about it before we knew
it. They found out at the same time.
Well, that's not maybe it's not a lie,
but it's not the truth. It's somewhere
is somewhere in the middle. This has
been going on now for at least 5 months.
People knew about it. Uh the public
works was informed of it. DNR was down
here, as you said, last fall and and did
the tour with the county executive. with
the county executive and one of
the representatives from the county told
me that
uh that was chosen with Tipkin was
chosen because the state wanted a water
access
park. Now the last I looked Pirates Warf
has a lot of water around it that's not
even fully developed yet. That's not
fully developed. has a major has a state
highway that go that takes you to
it versus county roads and with tipkin
that a lot of people if you're not a
local person don't even know where
Tipkin is or how to get there and and
Pirates Warf is 10 minutes closer to
Salsbury 10 minutes closer I'll tell you
as a taxpayer in Wakcoma County I think
Pirates Wararf would be a nice thing if
we were had money to spend but I mean
it's a lot of grass to mow a lot of park
to maintain
And it honestly it was a pet project of
of of our Bob Culver, a late executive
who's pulling a lot of the same plays or
Julie's pulling a lot of the same plays
that he pulled. And I'll be honest, it's
frustrating um beyond beyond belief to
see a press release like you have there
that states that there's this
misinformation. Then you look at the
transcript of the conference call that
she had with the public public works and
then for her to come out and say she
didn't want to challenge the governor. I
mean it wasn't the right place to
challenge the governor. It's exactly the
right venue that you ask the tough
questions. Well, not not only that, but
the board of public works on February
the 12th when she claimed she didn't
want to challenge the governor, it was
all said, done put to bed. That was a
done deal.
It it it should have been challenged
before. I wonder if the folks out with
Tipkin know that there's a new fishing
pier coming to the county with Tipkin
Park. You know, we already have a park
or boat ramp. Mike and I shot a segment
last year out there. It's a it's a nice
little park that's getting a new fishing
pier. It's getting a new soft launch for
kayak. Uh upgrades to the parking lot.
Uh upgrades to the ball kitting. to tie
this back to our delegation. I mean, our
our appointed delegate Barry Beechum and
and look, his his appointment came
through the Republican Central Committee
that's really run by the Delm Marva
conservative movement that I'm not I'm
I'm not convinced is a conservative
movement at all, at least from spending
side. Uh but you know, he sat silently,
virtually silent in that meeting when it
came up about this park. But our
understanding, at least if you look back
at Julie's post back in February in live
in real time back then, uh, was that he
was he had several conversations with
DNR. Even Julie mentions that Bunky
Laughlin, who's her director of
administration, was number two. I and I
I I don't I can't speak to that, but
there are connections in the DNR. This
this could not have been a surprise.
There seems to be a lot of mystery
that's shrouding this. You know, it
seems to me that it's implausible that
the Wakcomo County government, the
county executive had no prior knowledge
that this site, the Watyp site was under
consideration. They specific, she
specifically mentioned that they had
looked at, I believe, Popular Hill, uh,
Pirates Wararf. No mention of this, but
I find it implausible. This didn't just
come out of thin air. It would be like
you go out with a real estate agent and
you look at four homes and and and you
don't buy any of them, but you let your
realtor just pick out the fifth home for
you and you're going to go move into it.
No one would do that. It it it defies
logic. And yet she's sticking to these
guns. And and and my concern is this is
the same office that is supposed to lead
us with through a budget session. And
just as we talked in the last segment
about budget, one minute we're broke,
we're going to raise taxes on everybody.
The next minute we have a lot of money
and we're giving out 22% payraises. Is
this is is this are we campaigning
already? Is this Are we 18 months from
election season and like we're
campaigning? No. No question that she's
campaigning. First of all, she's already
announced her candidacy. That's right.
And with the way money is being shifted
around, as you were talking about in
another segment, um, you know, there's,
uh, a lot of miscellaneous, uh, line
items. You know, that that dog just
doesn't hunt in the real world. You
know, I'm accustomed to working with
construction budgets. There's no such
thing as a miscellaneous line item. You
may have a 10% contingency relative to
the total loan value, but you're not
going to have a miscellaneous line item.
Every cent needs to be accounted for.
This county government needs to run like
a business. The taxpayers have a right
to know where their tax dollars are
going. It's extremely hard to follow the
truth when you have examples such as
with Tipkin where the public found out
about it on a Facebook post about the
mean. You mean like Shadow Hills?
Getting to Shadow Hills. You have shadow
hills that the safari at the which the
public found out about on a Facebook
post. You have the if you have ever
spoken publicly against the executive or
some of her desires in this county. You
are blocked from her Facebook page. You
don't have to have ever made a comment
on that page, but you are blocked from
it. So this information is put out but
it's not put out for the entire public
to see. She's conducting government
business very selective on selectively
on a private Facebook page say she's not
using her official one because legally
she can't block people right but she is
and and and I've asked her at her press
conference last July why don't you use
the official one to announce this and
she goes I'll look into it. No, listen.
I I I'm gonna give her credit for one
thing. I think she is a very smart and
cunning politician. The thing is, we're
playing or she's playing politics with
House money that we earned. And I'm not
okay with that. I I wasn't okay when Bob
Culver was doing it. And I'm I'm a
Republican. You're a Republican. I'm I'm
not okay with this stuff. This is not
about parties. This is about what's
right and what's wrong. And we're
allowing party politics. We're allowing
whether or not you're you're for Donald
Trump to matter or or letting it matter
if you're for or against Wes Moore.
Listen, more of your uh day-to-day life
is decided here locally. Yes. And if you
don't believe that, wait four more years
when your property taxes start going up
and your services start going down
because we have misappropriated, as even
our county council has said, more and
more funds. One thing I've learned over
the past couple of years that here on
the local level, party has nothing to do
with anything. You know, people who help
to produce our show appear on the show,
we're we're from all different parties,
but we seem to have a lot of agreement
on local issues. We may vary widely at
the national and often at the state
level, but here
locally, it's it's easy to be a fiscal
conservative. and why we have a
Republican county executive who claims
to be a conservative. I I'm sorry. I I I
just don't see it. These are not
conservative policies. You know, it's Do
we think that our current county council
has the ability to ask enough questions
and does the charter allow them to hold
the executive accountable for
misappropriation of funds or even just
lack of transparency? I do not think
that the
charter grants enough authority to hold
the county executive responsible for
what they do.
It needs to be done, but there there's
there's no teeth in the charter that
allows the council to do anything but
say, "Well, you shouldn't have done
that." They can't enforce
it. And I I will give you the classic
example right now. the legislation which
was passed and went into effect on March
the 10th that all county vehicles must
have a county sealed decal on both sides
of the
car is still not being followed by the
executive as of
Friday April the
25th I believe Friday was the 25th still
not being followed the magnets come on
and off that county vehicle. Well, the
70some thousand Tahoe. I mean, not
listen, this is not your per capita uh
expense for vehicles in our county. This
is we're paying for it for her to drive
and she's not even that legislation
requires that it be permanently fixed,
but it may seem like a small thing
having a decal on a county owned
vehicle. Uh but it's not a small thing
when you take a look at the big picture
and how frequently this this executive
violates the charter and it's not a
small thing when the county council
fails to do what they can to enforce,
you know, the ordinances that they pass
and and uh to enforce enforce the
charter. There is more that they can do.
In this case, defund the uh the county
executives county vehicle. I've got no
issue with that. Yeah, but she'll just
take somebody else's. Well, but it
she'll take she'll take the deputy
administrator's vehicle, which is parked
in the parking lot because we no longer
have a deputy administrator that we
never should have had in the beginning.
Well, you know, it may not be the final
fix, but it will get voters attention
when when the council goes through these
kinds of motions. The biggest problem we
have in this county right now, in my
opinion, is the fact that the county
council consistently does not hold the
county executive accountable for her
actions. And the lines have been crossed
so many times. Well, she has promised to
run. I mean, if it is election season,
she has promised to run uh on a with a
slate of candidates. And I know I know
we debated this at question A and I'm
fine with the fact that the voters
elected to continue with an executive
form of government, but you you have one
branch that does not have the ability to
check the other one or even has a whole
slate of candidates that will abide by
whatever that one person wants to do,
which to me is terrifying. We're
troubled. Look, you take a look at the
larger problems in the state of
Maryland. We're a one party state. They
they have essentially their slate of
candidates in Annapolis. Well, here in
Wcomako County, if if the county
executive runs with a slate of uh
candidates for uh for county council,
then we have the same problem locally.
Only one voice is going to be heard in
concert with one another and opposition
will have no say. In fact, from what
we've seen, you know, the county
executive will try to crush opposition
by any means necessary. That scares the
heck out of me. Yeah. Well, thank you,
gentlemen. Appreciate all your insight.
Uh, budget season's here. Now is the
time for folks to either go show up and
uh voice their concerns or put up with
whatever decisions are made. Start
paying attention. Yes. Or watch it on
Pack 14. If you can attend, at least
watch it, see how some of your money is
being spent, where it's being spent, and
and email somebody if you don't have the
time to come to a council meeting.
Rattle rattle some keys. Let some people
know how you feel. Well, thanks for
watching this episode of Open Agenda.
We'll be back next week with another new
episode.
I know what I'm doing, man.
