Open Agenda TV Ep 10:
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 with me in the studio is
our executive producer Joe venosa Joe
thanks for coming out today pleasure Joe
so uh want to talk a little bit about
the the County council meeting coming up
and later in this episode we're going to
be joined with with Mr John Palmer who
is the um elected member of the W Comico
County Board of Education we're going to
talk about the budget process that they
went through we're going to talk about
the the the transparency of work
sessions with the Board of Education the
County Council the lack of transparency
with the county executive's office how
the the budget process really went down
how the executive actually did propose a
flat funding of Maintenance of effort
for the Board of Education and how the
County Council actually did raise the uh
the budget up of a million dollar above
maintenance of effort uh very
interesting because that's not the story
that's out in public so yeah so before
we get there let's talk about the County
council meeting the the next one's on
September 17th at 10: a.m. yes sir uh
you were at the last County council
meeting uh there were a couple hearings
uh a few folks spoke out it at at this
meeting uh there are going to be two
hearings and one introduction of
legislation and I think we should talk
about those sure uh one is the uh public
hearing in to actually uh dedicate the
the library downtown as Surplus property
um now this is part of the process to
move the library out to Shoemaker Pond
um you know what's your feelings on some
of this yeah well again this was no
surprise this has been coming for quite
a while and as you just said it is part
of the process and I think really um
what this is going to come down to
ultimately is not so much uh when or how
the libraries moved to the new location
off a Shoemaker you know where the ward
Museum
where the old W Museum uh still resides
but really the question is you know
after the fact what happens to that
space in downtown in downtown Sal and
that's going to be a I think a very long
deliberation yeah so there are um there
are some some issues with parking and
and some old buildings that'll have to
probably be torn down and then this
hundred millionar of funding that is
supposedly going to come from the state
of Maryland right yeah the the sort of
like I guess the for lack of a better
term I guess the pipe dream sort of
among some and again maybe that's
disingenuous maybe you could even just
call it the ideal is a hundred million
Performing Arts Center that would
include all variety of spaces so it's
not just sort of performance art space
but classrooms and tutorial spaces that
would theoretically tie the university
sort of
performance um culture and system with
what the library sort of currently
functions with meaning it would it would
theoretically be a it would be a a un
property but it would have a public
space integrated into it so whether you
agree with it or don't this is your
public hearing opportunity to come out
and speak your mind correct watch the
transparent aditions of your County
government work you watch it on pack 14
live correct um thankfully our County
Executive doesn't get to decide this
behind closed doors right imagine what
that would look like uh we we wouldn't
know until we found out right so uh the
other public hearing is is going to be
uh
and this has been an ongoing process the
the paid leave and and health Ben or
paid leave and vacation time for the
County Employees this is interesting
because you and I just spoke last week
about some of the concerns that have
folks from the County employees from the
county have reached out through your
your your email uh expressing concerns
now this is the the time that uh this
pamel and the Director of Finance from
uh the executive's office is going to
present this uh we're going to find out
some information and there's also I
guess a hearing attached to it as well
um I mean any thoughts on this well I
mean again it's sort of this particular
situation it's you have the executive
office that's actually having to follow
the law via the state so basically this
is about implementing A system that has
been that was passed in Annapolis last
year and it's sort of how how do they
implement it yeah and this is the
essence of it for paid leave for paid
and and this is going to impact
businesses all throughout Maryland sure
it's going to impact businesses it'll be
cost issues it also again though it's
the logistics of how you do it I think
that's the other thing that people
forget there's always a a discussion of
of cost which is obviously part of of
the discussion but but the logistical
nature of it is also important because
of who takes off when and how that
affects the workforce so it does have a
great impact so the there is Bob Bon
who's the the County Council attorney
he's going to be introducing legislation
um this has been brought forth by Josh
Hastings
for bamboo Visa bamboo Bamboo's coming
back we're GNA talk about it again buty
Joe honestly you can't say that this
hasn't been out in public I mean there
was a work session in June there was one
hearing we've watched the County Council
have a discussions listen no matter what
anybody says the bamboo issue has been
very transparent it has uh I one of the
most articulate speakers for this has
been Mr Jim Atkins he spoke about the
need for a very well defined process of
who's responsible for what correct um
and and he did that through these
hearings in public comments correct um I
mean he's a smart guy uh lives over on
the west side of the County uh I'm
pretty sure he's probably going to be at
this meeting I'm gonna guess that he
probably isn't missing this one yeah and
again it kind of shows you sort of what
the initial bill that councilman
Hastings sort of put forward and the
importance of public comment and
critique in what now the sort of close
to final product looks like because it
is a vastly different piece of
legislation if if we don't have folks
participating in our democracy then we
don't have one right correct yeah so uh
in this episode I'm actually going to
sit down with uh Mr John Palmer for the
Board of Education uh he has spoken out
often at at budgetary hearings uh
sometimes just in public comments
particularly about issues that affect
the board of education but I also had a
chance to talk with him about how does
the Republican Central Committee work in
this County Now versus maybe how it
worked when he was a bigger part of it
seven eight years ago uh the Republican
Club and even some of the other groups
that have very high influence on the
Republican Central Committee in this
County uh he's a he's a fascinating
person from a he has a perspective
that's unique to almost anyone else I
know he loves to paint uh I think he's I
think he's going to talk about painting
yeah and uh I know if he said he loved
to paint or he just painted a lot so I
guess we'll find out we're going to find
out right after this so uh stick around
you got to find out more about this
story about John Palmer and his painting
skills I promise you you're not going to
want to miss it so stick around we'll be
right
back welcome back to open Agenda I'm
here with our guest today Mr John Palmer
from the W Comico County Board of
Education thank you for joining us today
good to be here so I want to get to know
a little bit more about you uh I I know
you're from Maryland but uh you're at
some point you joined the Navy right
correct so what did you do in the
Navy well in the Navy I I joined because
at the time there was a draft going on
and I won the lottery while I was in
high school okay so before I had to put
my name on the line I signed a uh I
signed up for the Navy and after that I
uh had a delay program 90-day delay
program and then I went and joined a
navy and stayed for 21 years well thank
you for your service it was an honor but
I want to know what what's the worst job
you ever had to do with the Navy was it
peeling potatoes or paint a ship deck or
what painting I literally hate painting
okay so they sent me down into the
boiler rooms off the coast of Vietnam
and it was like 130 grees down there and
they started me painting and painting
and painting and I learned to hate
painting well I have a fun surprise for
you we're going to paint this studio
right after we we finish shooting the
segment so I'd like for you to stick
around for that will you stay no problem
I can give you a lot of pointers on that
so um I know you're enthusiastic
supporter of the Board of Education and
we're going to talk about that later but
tell me a little bit about the process
that in
2015 got you appointed to the Board of
Education well in 2015 I was on the uh
Central Committee the Republican Central
Committee and there was an appointment
that came up because somebody was no
longer on the Central Committee so we
went through a process of filling out a
an application just and a resume just
like you would for a regular job and you
go through a process of screening and
interviewing and
uh with the Central Committee members
and then three top three people are sent
up to the governor and the governor
makes a sele selection and that's how I
got involved in it now since then you
have actually been elected correct
correct so you're an elected member of
the Board of Education and one of the
things I find interesting is you you
have districts just like the County
Council and you still have two at large
members just like the County Council
right correct we mirror the uh County
Council exactly okay so uh you know when
we're when we're thinking about the
Board of Education and the role the
County Council and the county executive
play uh explain to me how that how that
interaction happens I mean you have
quarterly meetings quarterly work
sessions with the County Council correct
correct so what what else do you how how
do they know what you need we tell them
okay and I'm very open about telling
them what we need and we do it uh from
our work sessions from from what we hear
from parents from what we hear from the
state and federal government and we put
these in in our budgets and we submit
our budgets and whatever they say we
need they will give us the funding for
it so you have quarterly work sessions
with the County Council how often do you
have work sessions with the county
executive I don't believe we've had one
with the county executive yet now the
work sessions with the County Council
they're open to the public correct oh
yeah all of our meetings are open uh to
the public uh you come to the work
sessions at the school board they're
open to the public you come to our
regular board meetings they're open to
the public so uh well what about your
work sessions with the county executive
are they open to the public if we have a
work session with the county executive
uh I'm sure it's going to be open but
you haven't had one since
2015 not that I can remember so not not
particularly this County Executive but
go back to Bob Culver John pesota our
current executive I mean no work
sessions that are open to the public our
work sessions we are normally in front
of the County Council when we go uh into
their Chambers and it's open to the
public and they see everything that we
see we don't we don't do anything behind
closed doors only when there's uh legal
matters or Personnel matters will we
close the uh Clos the meetings so I I
want to talk about the budget process uh
we just wrapped up the fiscal year year
2025 budget which starts July 1st 2024
goes to June 30th
2025 uh I know you spoke at the uh
budget hearing in May you spoke as a
private citizen at that meeting uh I I
saw your comments uh at the meeting on
pack
14 talk a little bit about that process
um Laura Hurley went through the budget
and when the county executive who
actually proposes the budget the budget
was ially just funded at maintenance of
effort correct correct and did that
concern
you yes it did because the way
maintenance of effort is figured out is
doesn't account for an inflation so if
you had get the same budget that you had
last year then you're actually losing
and you're falling behind and each year
this happens you actually fall more and
more behind so in our next segment we're
going to talk specifics about the
numbers but at the May budget hearing at
this point you had not had a a a direct
meeting with the county executive yet
the county executive had turned in a
budget for the Board of Education that
was flat funded but in the end and I was
at the June meetings you all were this
year funded a million dollars above
maintenance of effort is that that's
correct that's correct so where did that
money come from that money came from the
county it comes from the uh County
expenditures and it goes directly to us
and we put it to very very good use well
who what What entity got you that extra
million dollar County Council okay so if
they had not fought for that extra
million dollars then you I don't believe
we would have got it okay that's
personal belief so would you stick
around I want to when we come back from
the next segment I want to actually dive
into the numbers there were a lot of
really good in a lot of really good
information that was put out at the
public budget meet hearings uh and I
want to dive further into that and let
get your sense of where we really should
be with our public education funding is
that okay fine all right when we return
we're going to talk to Mr Palmer a
little bit more about public education
funding more importantly about the
transparency of the process stick with
us we'll be right
back welcome back to open Agenda I'm
your host Joe White still joining me is
Our Guest
Mr John Palmer thank you for sticking
around glad to be here so I I've love
getting to know you and just how
enthusiastic you are for the Board of
Education specifically when it comes to
the funding process we touched on the
last segment that there's not uh there's
not work sessions with the county
executive yet the county executive is in
charge of turning in the initial budget
the County Council in this in this last
fiscal year actually funded a million
dollars above maintenance of effort uh
and that came from them basically
finding that money for you all but I
want to talk about the specifics from
where we really should be right now uh
the number that I heard was $8 million
above maintenance of effort um
specifically for E elll uh teachers for
for f who are learning the English
language for the first time uh some
extra support staff and and teachers in
general right right well let's let me
just give you a little insight on that
uh maintenance of effort and the extra
$1 million just last night at our
meeting it was put out that last year at
this time we had
15,100
students just going in to school
recently we now have
15,700 students plus it's growing almost
every day you we didn't plan on those
extra 600 we have you plan on some but
nothing like 600 that extra million
dollars went to hire uh teachers who are
elll teachers who can speak with these
students in order for us to to teach
them so that maintenance effort money
and the extra 1 million was well spent
do you feel like if you are attend the
County Council meetings and you speak at
the budget hearing and open comments and
I've seen you do this do you feel like
that gives you an opportunity as someone
who understands how Board of Education
funding Works to get the point across to
make sure we're funded the best we can
yes and uh when I go to this meeting
it's not only to speak to the County
Council I want to speak to the people
who watch pack 14 because I want them to
fully understand understand what's going
on within the within the Board of
Education I want them to come to our
meetings I want them to contact us and
tell us their concerns so that's when I
go and I speak sometimes I'll speak as a
board member sometime as a member just a
member of the public and I'll normally
say that the beginning of the meeting
but it's very important for people to
watch so what what will happen if if
there's not transparency in this process
I mean you you talk about in the last 18
years and uh you you show us on graphs
how the the the actual funding has gone
down in the last 18 to 20 years why why
do you think that is and and what can we
do to rectify
that the funding has gone down since in
2006 we changed from a uh County
government administrative form of uh
government to a elected County Executive
and and uh at the time the people wanted
an elected County Executive and I was
all for that I wanted to see uh more
transparency more openness to the
government and I wanted to see some uh
barter back and forth between the
legislative and the executive branch of
government well you just said earlier
there's not a lot of that so what what
have you gotten in the last 18 years for
for your efforts to to vote for having a
county executive in
2006 I've gotten a lot of disappointment
okay now why do you think having a
county executive has has has led to
there to be a a really a net less
funding for the Board of Education and
for the
schools I don't really know what's
stopping it
it it seems like no matter who's in
office whether it's a republican
Democrat if you look at the charts that
you'll see they're only uh they're going
down and they're steady going down we've
gone from 2006 from 43% of the county
budget down to
26% and we're growing uh all the time
and it's difficult very difficult to try
and keep up with what's going on
somebody has got to get together with
our County government to fund schools so
when we talk about funding schools you
and I have been talking about operating
budgets uh there is one really uh
high-end Capital Improvement U item
that's coming up and that's the the
building of a new Primary School in
Fruitland right correct yeah so at the
budget meetings what I observed was a a
County Council that was eager to get
this school built we had already spent
almost $2 million on plans these plans
have a shelf life they they expire if
you don't build the school within two
years you had to start over another $2
million for plans we had the money in
contingency uh enough money to build the
school um our County Executive
especially through the finance director
Pam Oland will really adamant that we
use bonding for that was the Board of
Education privy to like how that quote
unquote barter was
going yes we knew the uh that the public
and uh wanted to use the money that we
already have we have the largest reserve
in history right now in fact I think we
have the largest percentage of Reserve
in the entire state of Maryland so uh I
really didn't see any reason why it
couldn't come part of it couldn't come
out of reserves but uh that's not up to
me where it comes from that's between
the county executive and the County
Council we submit what we think we need
in our budgets well in the county
executive's Capital Improvement plan was
the Fruitland Primary School in that
plan initially
yes there was what what about the
funding for that
school uh the initial funding I believe
was in there I actually I'm going to
disagree with you I don't think in the
county Executives plan the the the
budget for to build Fruitland primary
this year in fact I think she actually
said she wanted to move it back one year
uh which would have caused us to have to
redesign and redevelop that that plan
yeah but you don't you don't get all of
the money at one time you have to go
through different phases the first thing
is we got to have our plan together
together for what we need and then we
put it into an RFP where it goes out for
bid when it goes out for bid you and
it's awarded you then do it in phases
like you might not
uh you might need only $8,000 to start
with to go through with the uh A&E on it
the planning on the project buying
property if you have the buy property
all of these preliminaries have to be
done before you can even put a shovel in
the ground we've gone through these
preliminary right now and I believe we
were going to put a shovel on the ground
in December but I'm not quite sure where
that plan is right now well my
understanding is we're going to the bond
market this fall in New York to get the
to to to do the bonding for the 10.5
million that the county executive
insisted that part of of this funding
come from bonds even though the interest
rates are high our property tax credit
by the square or by the by the $100 has
gone down two cents this year but in
fact uh President John Canon actually
spoke that it could have gone down 4
cents now this is on the county side now
people's property taxes are still going
to go up because the State of Maryland's
assessing them higher in this past year
the state part of the property tax goes
up but uh we could have built this
school with Reserve funds without
raising property taxes actually lowering
them even more and without having to pay
high interest rates wouldn't you
agree yes yeah we could have so you've
been very active in the Republican party
in this County uh I'd like to spend a
little bit of time when we come back
from the next segment to talk about your
role in the Republican Central Committee
you referenced earlier prior to getting
on the board of education would you
stick around for one more segment and
talk about that sure all right we'll be
right back after
this the Upper Ferry operates on the W
Comico River and connects the west side
of the county on the peninsula between
the Nanticoke and W Comico rivers to
Eden which is situated south of
Fruitland thus bypassing the big city
the Upper Ferry is one of two public
ferry boat operations on the W Comico
River and is the first place to cross
the river south of Solsbury the Upper
Ferry helps to reduce traffic congestion
near downtown Solsbury where if not for
the ferry one would have to cross the
River on the route 50 or Fitzwater
Street draw Bridges the ride across the
river is very short only about 2 minutes
but you'll be able to enjoy a Pleasant
View while avoiding steady traffic the
Upper Ferry is a small vessel with a
maximum capacity of three cars six
passengers or 10,000 lb the ferry boat
runs along a heavy wire cable beneath
the water surface so if you're boating
on the W Comico river near the Upper
Ferry and you see it underway please
come to a full stop and wait because the
cable is pulled up to the surface as the
ferry boat cruises along and can snag
your out drive or propeller creating a
dangerous situation for both you and the
ferry boat alike the ferry boat has the
right of way at all times and is
privileged under the Inland navigation
rules as a vessel restricted in its
ability to maneuver which is visibly
indicated on the fair's Mast head during
daylight hours by three vertically
aligned geometric black shapes depicting
a ball over a diamond over a ball after
dark or in conditions of limited
visibility when the day shapes can't be
easily seen you'll see three vertically
aligned lights on the Mast head
configured as red over white over red
before your boat continues its Journey
up or down the river it's best to wait
until the ferry lands on either Bank to
ensure everyone's safety there's no no
charged ride on the Upper Ferry and it
runs 7 days per week year round but is
closed on County holidays the feries
hours of operation are adjusted
seasonally and there are times when the
boat is out of service for repairs or
when weather or river conditions cause
operations to be temporarily suspended
so it's always best to check the W
Comico County Department of Public Works
website before leaving home or you can
call the ferry hotline at 410 5432 765
for a status report this is Mike
Goldberg for open Agenda back to you
Joe thank you for sticking around with
open Agenda I'm your host Joe White
still in the studio with me is Mr John
Palmer from the Board of Education thank
you for staying around glad to so I want
to take some time to explain the
Republican party in W Comico County with
you you talked in 2015 that you were a
member of the Republican Central
Committee how is that different from the
Republican Club in this County the
Central Committee is an elected position
it's non-paying but it is an elected
position and we deal with the central
issues the policies and all that come
before the people so what's the
Republican Club do the Republican Club
is responsible for raising funds to
support Republican candidates and we do
it through fundraisers and different
events like our annual cred CB Feast
that we just had locally and the Central
Committee will do things like the uh
annual Lincoln Day dinner in order to
raise funds for the people who are
running for office in the Republican
party I gotta so last year at the
Lincoln Day dinner was Dr Ben Carson was
the keynote speaker fantastic I
fantastic I had a chance to listen to
him he was wonderful yeah he's great
yeah so uh now you were an elected
member of the Republican Central
Committee but you resigned your position
is that correct that's correct uh and
you weren the only one you weren't the
only one no there were uh two I think
maybe three others uh who resigned uh
right after myself yeah I don't want to
speak for them but why did you
resign well I've been with the
Republican party uh for a long time
active in the Republican party and
during the last election there were some
big changes within the party and it was
split and I didn't know whether I wanted
to continue in the party or not so uh I
just threw it up in the air during the
last election never spent a dime during
the election I only went to the quorums
and talking to the people that I knew
and I just left it up to somebody else
to decide whether I should go one or not
and lo and behold it was decided that I
should go one but the attitudes have not
changed within the Central Committee
we're still divided or we were still
divided I don't know how they're doing
now uh we were divided and it was not a
very good atmosphere to work in and
having retired twice I really don't need
the aggravation who leads the Republican
Central Committee
now I you know to tell you the truth I
don't know who was uh elected as uh as
president okay so what role does the Del
Marva conservative movement play in the
the current Republican Central Committee
and com County with the regular members
of the Central Committee resigning
they've pretty much moved in and uh
taking control to put their ideas across
the people to try to move uh their ideas
forward uh now I'm a conservative I I'm
not a member of the D Mar conservative
movement I looked at their website their
website says they're not a political
party uh would you dispute that claim
yes yeah so what role does our current
County Executive play with the
Republican Central Committee her and her
husband are both members of the
Republican uh Central Committee they're
elected members yes okay and so recently
we just had a a new delegate get
appointed um Barry beum uh when Carl
anderton resigned to take a a position
with the uh Democratic governor West
Moore on the Commerce Department
um I'm interested to get your feedback
you were at Several of these meetings I
mean who's leading the meetings of the
Republican Central
Committee right now I couldn't tell you
okay do do you think the Republican
Central Committee in wak Comico County
represents the opinion and the view of
conservatives throughout the whole
County no I don't yeah um so what what
what role do you think is is going to
get played with this Charter Amendment
um are you in favor of Charter Amendment
a I originally wanted this type of
government as I said earlier in the seg
an executive branch yeah okay the
executive form of government because I
wanted the push back between the
legislative and the executive over the
years it has shown that it's not working
for the Board of Education I'm now on
the board of education so I have to
think about what's best for them and the
central theme is what's good for the
kids what is good for the kids is it to
vote for Charter Amendment a or vote
against Charter amend well that's going
to be uh up to the people I I think uh a
lot of people want to change we don't
seem to be moving forward right now I
don't know if that's going to change um
I don't know what the plans are I see a
lot of back and forth and again I see
the divisiveness and the and the uh not
getting along going on and I don't I
don't like it and I don't know if it's
going to change so it's going to be up
to the voters to make that determine
they're going to have to decide whether
they want our Board of Education and
with the kids to keep going down or if
we're going to have a change of
Direction and start going up again so at
the end of the day though if the Board
of Education wants an open transparent
work session with the government of WAMU
County where are they going to find that
open work
session question a okay thank you very
much for your Insight thank you again
for your service with our our country uh
and with our Board of Education uh I
think you give a very unique perspective
and uh a very passionate one at that so
thank you for your time was an honor and
I'm ready to do it all over again so I
think if you want to find more
information just like Mr John Palmer has
spoken about either watch the County
Council meetings on pack 14 or ATT
they're on Tuesdays of course we're
always going to keep you updated here at
open Agenda about what's on the agenda
who voted for what and what other
hearings are coming up in the near
future thanks for joining us today have
a great
evening we think Mark Caroll is the best
editor ever
Topics:
