News brief: Westminster to get fed stimulus grant, names arts task force

Westminster to get fed stimulus grant names arts task force http://tinyurl.com/ygpgt76

Photo caption: Westminster director of public works Jeff Glass explains

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/nd594 or here: http://kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/post/226742793/westminster-director-of-public-works-jeff-glass

Westminster director of public works, Jeff Glass, explained the Westminster water department water meter replacement initiative at the Monday, October 26, 2009 meeting of the Westminster MD mayor and Common Council meeting at Westminster city hall. October 26, 2009 photo by Kevin Dayhoff [20091026 CowMCC Mtg (11)eGlass]

Westminster to get federal stimulus grant and names arts and culture task force

By Kevin Dayhoff

Westminster announced at last Monday night’s mayor and Common Council meeting, that skillful navigation of a “sea of paperwork” enabled the city to double a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – “ARRA” federal stimulus funds, to replace aging water meters throughout town.

Westminster director of public works, Jeff Glass, explained at the meeting that last May the city applied for a grant 2009 in the amount of $400,000 for water meter replacements.

The grant application process was complicated. “To our credit we met the deadlines… To our credit others did not,” explained Glass. As a result, “the City’s grant was increased to $821,200 which is sufficient to install ‘wireless’ read capable meters for the remainder of the City’s meter inventory and cover all costs associated with the project such as required advertisement etc...,” said Glass with visible pride.

The bidding process was performed in August and September; and the Maryland Department of the Environment signed off on the project on October 13. Glass presented the council with a proposal to approve a winning bid from Ben Franklin/PHS Burgemeister Bell, Inc. in the amount of $817,139.19 to complete the water system upgrade.

Just before the council voted to approve the project, council president Damian Halstad said that the grant will “go a long way in our budget process… It is always nice to ask for $400,000 and get $800,000.”

Under new business councilman Greg Pecoraro gave a detailed six-month status report on the findings of the Tri-Street Advisory Committee.

The committee had been established by the city “on August 25, 2008 to address neighborhood issues and concerns in the area of Pennsylvania Avenue, Union Street and West Main Street, with the objective of creating an action plan for improvement,” explained Pecoraro.

One of the recommendations acted-on by the council at the end of Pecoraro’s report was “under the goal of building economic vitality.

“The report recommended the creation of a task force of representatives from the City, Carroll County Arts Council, Tri-Street Area Advisory Committee, property owners, artisans and others, to be called the ‘Arts and Culture Task Force,’ to develop an ‘arts, culture and small business overlay zone’ for the Tri-Street neighborhood. The report urged the task force to focus on the Carroll Arts Center as a critical anchor in the Tri-Street neighborhood.”

For more, read the Nov. 1 edition of the Carroll Eagle http://www.explorecarroll.com/

Read the Westminster press release on the water meter replacement project pasted below:

MEMORANDUM

TO: The Mayor and Common Council

FROM: Jeffery D. Glass, Director of Public Works

DATE: October 21, 2009

RE: Water Meter Replacement Project- ARRA Stimulus Funds

The Department of Public Works applied for a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Funds) in May 2009 in the amount of $400,000 for water meter replacements.

Due to the complicated nature of requirements and stringent deadlines, a number of applicants were culled from the initial applications. This decrease in applicants provided an increase in available funding available to the City.

As a result, the City’s grant was increased to $821,200 which is sufficient to install “wireless” read capable meters for the remainder of the City’s meter inventory and cover all costs associated with the project such as required advertisement etc.

This project was put out to bid on August 12th, 2009. Three bids were received, opened and read aloud on September 8th, 2009. The bids ranged from $817,139.19 to$1,043,752.00 with one bid disqualification. The apparent low bidder was Benjamin Franklin/PHS Burgemeister Bell, Inc. This bid was reviewed by staff and found to be complete and acceptable for forwarding to MDE for review.

The City received a letter of confirmation from MDE on October 13 2009, which acknowledges the review and approval of the project, which in general terms provides the green light to proceed. The next step is to provide the notice of award to Ben Franklin, the low bidder

I recommend The Mayor and Common Council accept the bid of Ben Franklin/PHS Burgemeister Bell, Inc. in the amount of $817,139.19 to complete the Water meter Replacement Project. This action will allow Notice of Award, and Contractual Documents to be executed.

20091026 sdosm d4 Westminster to get fed stimulus grant

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/10/news-brief-westminster-to-get-fed.html http://tinyurl.com/ygpgt76

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/nd594 or here: http://kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/post/226742793/westminster-director-of-public-works-jeff-glass

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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/) http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Budget woes dominate Westminster mayor and council meeting

To the left, please find an image of my news brief on the meeting of the Westminster mayor and Common Council on Monday, September 28, 2009. The news brief appeared in the Carroll Eagle on Sunday, October 4, 2009 on page 3.

Oct. 4, 2009 p3 Carroll Eagle Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/kcern Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/10/budget-woes-dominate-westminster-mayor.html http://tinyurl.com/ydumjah

http://twitpic.com/kcern Westminster Eagle News Brief: Budget woes dominate Westminster mayor and council meeting http://tinyurl.com/ydumjah

Below, please find the news brief as it was filed. The “long version” of my article on the meeting has not, as yet, been posted on www.explorecarroll.com. Hopefully it will be posted on Monday, October 5, 2009… If not, I’ll post it here on the blog…

Westminster Eagle News Brief: Budget woes dominate Westminster mayor and council meeting

Westminster Eagle – http://www.explorecarroll.com/

September 28, 2009 by Kevin Dayhoff kevindayhoff AT gmail.com

Westminster City Hall - The meeting of the Westminster mayor and Common Council last Monday began with plenty of smiles, but the mood quickly turned somber as a discussion on budget woes dominated the balance of the evening.

Mayor Kevin Utz conducted a public hearing on the 2009 Comprehensive Plan for Westminster. Later in the meeting the council voted to adopt the plan after more discussion of how proud the council and staff were to have received such good feedback from the state on how well the plan was developed and written.

Council president Damian Halstad brought up “Budget Amendment No. 1” for adoption. Utz explained “this reduction in the budget came as a direct result of the governor’s reduction in highway user revenues…”

Other council member joined-in as it was explained that the state Board of Public Works recently voted to not send $818,000 in revenue due the city from taxes collected by the state designated for the city’s coffers – in order to balance the state budget.

A press release describing the budget amendment explained, “The State of Maryland reduced the Highway User Revenues from $747,580 to $74,758 and Police Aid from a budgeted $400,000 to $254,826.”

City administrator Marge Wolf said that she expects the state to withhold an additional $329,000 from the city in January.

According to the press release: “Among the cuts approved by the Common Council were cancellations of the paving contract, technology purchases and a police vehicle which totaled $267,950 in capital expenditures; diversion of the $100,000 contingency reserve to operating accounts…

“… conversion of $215,000 of Union Street property proceeds to operating accounts; reduction of departmental operating budgets by $155,086; revision of the take home vehicle policy to institute a partial employee payback of costs by $15,768; and captured $65,000 in savings from reduced tipping fees.”

Wolf tried to put a bright face on a bleak picture at that by remarking that “this is not the best of times, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have good projects underway.”

As if on cue, Lori Graham, representing the business community, gave a report on the “Midnight Madness,” downtown business celebration held in conjunction with Fallfest. She also gave an update on plans for the upcoming community ‘electric’ Christmas parade.

“The community has its share of problems but we still come together to do good things,” said Graham.

Want to learn more about the recent meeting of the Westminster mayor and council meeting? For a longer version of this story go to http://www.explorecarroll.com/.

- 30 –

Dayhoff Media Westminster Eagle, MD State Budget, People Graham-Lori, Westminster Council Meeting Notes, Westminster Council Mtgs, Westminster Finance Budget, Westminster Mayor 2009 Utz Kevin

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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/) http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

20070611 2007 Preservation Month Westminster Architectural Scavenger Hunt

2007 Preservation Month Westminster Architectural Scavenger Hunt

June 13^th, 2007

The winners for the 2007 Preservation Month Westminster Architectural Scavenger Hunt were announced at the Westminster Common Council meeting last Monday, June 11^th, 2007.

For additional posts about this year’s contest click on: History Westminster or Westminster Eagle.

Dean Camlin was kind enough to e-mail me some additional information and the winners:

The poster contest was initially proposed by HDC (Westminster Historic District Commission) member Laurie Walters.

Stan Ruchlewicz shot many of the pictures used on the poster, and Dean Camlin did an initial graphic layout.

Jerry Trescott wrote the contest clues, and Tim Rogers donated many hours of support.

The entry form ran in a full color center-spread in the Eagle May 2 & was also available at many downtown locations, including the Flower & Jazz Festival.

The Eagle provided graphic design layout and ran additional clues in subsequent weeks. All of this was free of charge, through the generous support of editor Jim Joiner.

Additional funding was provided through a Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area matching mini-grant.

The contest received uniform positive comments from the community. 57 entries were received by the May 31 deadline. Entrants received a commemorative poster (with the correct answers) and a CD of The Building of Westminster. The winners, selected from the correct entries at random, are listed below along with their prizes:

Bob Nangel - HSCC print framed by Gizmo's

Residents of Westminster Ridge - O'Lordans gift certificate

Katie & Wendy (mom) Raith - Thai Classic 3 gift certificate

Lauren Douzat - Rafael's gift certificate

David Taylor - Johansson's gift certificate

Mary Mullinix - Pour House gift certificate

Celene Steckel - Giulianova's Italian Deli gift certificate

The commemorative enlarged posters, with the correct addresses of the dozen buildings, were designed and printed by Kohn Creative. These are available at City Hall to the public.