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 the issue of contamination of Frederick city and county lands.
“Two years ago, the scientists said it wouldn’t be detectable in Carroll Creek,” Haan said as she addressed the Board. “They tested it and what did they find?”
The Frederick Planning Commission have made efforts to increase their development projects and move forward onto several undeveloped spots in Frederick. Both Rudy and Haan urged the Board to cease efforts moving forward in order to allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Fort Detrick scientists to take proper samples and measure the spread of contamination.
“You haven’t done your job,” Rudy said to the Mayor and Board, as he continued to go into the issues facing his group as they continue to oppose Planning Commission operations.
Rudy continued to argue against allowing the Commission to begin actually building and developing their land projects, stating that “we [the RAB] are going to be objecting to any approvals set forth by the Planning Commission.”
Rudy, in his closing comments, invited the Mayor and Board of Alderman members to attend an RAB meeting about the issue in order to gain a more complete picture than they would receive by attending a
Due to the new change in Board of Alderman meeting structure, two ‘citizen comments’ sections now exist, one at the beginning of business and one at the end, in order to better manage the flow of public comments along with session lengths.
After the addresses of Haan and Rudy, Alderman Kelly Russell commented on the issues raised and spoke in favor of increased mayoral and alderman attention on the issues at hand.
“I think it is really important that we, in this administration, start doing something to better our relationships and our understanding of what’s happening there,” Alderman Russell said. “I’d just like to suggest to the mayor that I think that having someone that is assigned to attend the quarterly meeting to the RAB is a good idea.”
Alderman Donna Kuzemchak spoke out in agreement with Alderman Russell as well.
The Board of Alderman, consisting of Josh Bokee, Donna Kuzemchak, Michael O’Connor, Kelly Russell, and Phil Dacey, is now in its 61st administration along with Mayor Randy McClement. Weekly Workshop meetings are held on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. for the Board to discuss issues and their Public Meetings are held every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at 7 p.m.
Sidebar:
Hood College Advanced Reporting students introduced themselves to the Board of Alderman at the close of the Public Meeting, talking about their studies and their interest in local government.
Stacey Axler, senior, Lloyd Thompson-Taylor, senior, and Joshua King, junior, attended the Public Meeting as a part of their assignment for Professor Atwood’s Advanced Reporting Class.
“I didn’t think I’d be addressing you all tonight,” King said, “but I want to thank you for letting us come to this meeting and take notes.”
“Thank you all for coming out,” Alderman Donna Kuzemchak said to the group. “We love having young people take part in all this.”
Alderman Michael O’Connor spoke to the group as well, taking an interest in the future of journalism while looking back on his own past.
“I spent 20 years in journalism,” he said, “so I understand how important this all is.”