Frederick City Police Budget Increases Due to Staffing Goals

by CMA 303 Comment Closed
By Stacey Axler The increase in the budget to over $28 million for the year is primarily due to an increase in the “Police Staffing Strategy” which suggests a raise in the salaries and staff members for the department and increases the budget for “police equipment and technology necessary for the core function of police work. At the budget meeting, Ledwell and Fiscal Affairs Manager of the Frederick City Police Heather Reader presented graphs showing that the population of Frederick city has grown steadily over the past few years, which has resulted in an increase of calls for service. According to Ledwell, these statistics suggest that an increase in hiring of officers is necessary.  The budget includes room to “over-hire” five officers to the department.  Currently, the city police staffs around 200 employees. Ledwell hopes the number of employees will increase by five per year to reflect the growing population of Frederick. Besides for officers, the budget also reflects the hiring of all...
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No Smoking On School Property

by CMA 303 Comment Closed
The General Assembly is considering a measure that will specifically prohibit smoking on public school property, indoors and outdoors.   Any individual, who violates this law, when passed, will get a first offense warning that tells the individual of the prohibition requirements. If someone gets a second offense warning, a civil penalty of $50 will have to be paid for each violation after that.   The bill defines smoking as “the burning of a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, or other device or substance that contains tobacco.”   The current law made before this bill, was that each local school system has to have a tobacco-free school environment. Most schools are already tobacco-free for students, but they excluded teachers or didn’t specifically mention teachers and staff.   Since teachers and staff had designated areas on school grounds to smoke, they could do so. This bill might’ve been proposed because parents seen that teachers and staff was smoking near their children.   The previous bill never directly stated no smoking at all...
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Public Comments Ring Out at Frederick Board of Aldermen Meeting

by CMA 303 Comment Closed
Frederick citizens speak out on a number of issues during Board of Alderman meeting Thurs. March 3, 2014 including members of the Fort Detrick Restoration Advisory Board. Taking time during the citizen comments section of the board meeting, The Fort Detrick RAB spoke out and addressed the sorts of situations they were facing, mainly their fight to track and prevent the further spread of ground and water contamination in Frederick. TCE and PCE, which Rudy and Haan cited as the main dangers facing Frederick city and county, are “volatile organic compounds” and through mistreatment and lack of attention, have made their way into the soil and bedrock of Frederick, Md. Due to their nature, they are not dissolved by water and therefore can travel through it and into both the earth and various Frederick water systems. George Rudy, a pending member of the Fort Detrick RAB and Jen Haan city resident attended the meeting on behalf of RAB in order to revive...
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Tensions Flare at Board of Aldermen Meeting

by CMA 303 Comment Closed
Community members involved with the Fort Detrick Restoration Advisory Board, known as the Fort Detrick RAB, discussed their mounting ecological concerns due to what they claim stem from government negligence at a Frederick, Md. Board of Alderman meeting Thursday evening. Two supporters of the Fort Detrick RAB, Jennifer Haan and George Rudy, addressed the Board of Alderman during the meeting to discuss, according to Haan, the “imminent ecological danger that will affect the Frederick community.” “The City government is simply not doing enough to address problems that Fort Detrick wants to help solve,” Rudy, a pending Fort Detrick RAB member and Downtown Frederick resident, said.  “[The government] hasn’t done [it’s] job.” (more…)...
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