Set the Record Straight
Article Topic TransIT Rates and Taxicab Rates Article Date 06/15/2012 Article http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_editorial.htm?StoryID=136985 1. Article Topic Business Friendly Governments
Article Date 06/6/2012 Article http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=136637 City Clarification The City of Frederick strived to be business friendly on this matter before the Frederick County launched their initiative.
The City of Frederick led the way in 2011 for both the City and County to amend water and sewer impact fee payments systems to be more business friendly by allowing payments over time. The City payment plan which was approved by the City Aldermen in November, 2011 allows for 4 equal payments. The City program has already been used and is being strongly supported by the development community. To date, two businesses have taken advantage of the payment plan
In pursuing this program change seven months ago, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen clearly want to do their part to spur continued investment in Frederick and are fully aware of the challenges that many small businesses encounter when they open their doors to the community. It has become apparent that the full payment of water and sewer impact fees for certain types of high water use businesses at the time building permit issuance can place a heavy financial burden on start-up companies. Some of the most affected businesses are restaurants, laboratories, manufacturing, hair salons, gyms, and others,
With input from the community the Mayor and Board of Aldermen launched the City water and sewer impact fee payment plan which allows businesses to pay City water and sewer impact fees over time. Under the City ordinance (which is attached), the fees are paid over a three year period. The property owner and / or the business owner must pay 25% when the building permit is issues, followed by a 25% payment at the end of years one, two and three. The City also requires a commercial property owner and / or business owner provide a letter of credit to the City which mitigates the risk of a business and / or a property owners inability to pay the fees.
There are some distinctions between the County and City’s payment plans. The County limits the plan to a small business with up to 15 fixture units whereas the city plan allows any business of any size to participate. The County plan allows for the creation of a Capacity Fee Payment Plan within the water & sewer enterprise fund while allowing payments to go out for ten years whereas the city plan is restricted to three years (four payments). The City of Frederick will continue to monitor the business needs and modify the system as necessary to help the business community thrive and keep the water and sewer fund healthy.
Mayor Sells Bagel Shop After 12 Years in Business Article Date 01/11/2012 Article http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=130402 City Clarification Mayor Randy McClement said that he always knew being Mayor of The City of Frederick is a 24/7 job and would always take priority over the The Market Bagel and Deli, his former downtown business. 3. Article Topic Worman Mills Center Article Date 01/10/2012Articles http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=130364 City Clarification In the article published on January 10, 2012 regarding the Worman’s Mill development, the Planning Commission’s action on the proposed master plan amendments was mistakenly characterized as a recommendation to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen when in fact, the action taken by the Planning Commission was for approval of the changes to the master plan. Additional approval from the Mayor and Board of Aldermen is not applicable based on the type of application. At the January 9, 2012 meeting, the Commission also took action to continue the final site plan, preliminary subdivision plat, and preliminary forest conservation plans for the development to the January 23, 2012 hearing. A revised agenda for that meeting will be published no later than January 11, 2012 at http://www.cityoffrederick.com/index.aspx?nid=348 A Planning Commission workshop on these items will be held prior to that hearing at the Municipal Annex Office Building, 140 W Patrick Street, on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 2:00 pm.Additional questions, please contact Gabrielle Dunn, Division Manager of Current Planning (301) 600-1883 or For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address. 4. Articles Topic Water Treatment Plant Spill Articles Dates
12/14/2011, 12/16/2011Articles http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_editorial.htm?StoryID=129450 http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_lte.htm?StoryID=129535 City Clarification
Waste Water Treatment Plant Spill
Timeline of Events and Response
Sunday, December 11, 2011
5:30 pm – Waste Water Treatment Plant lost utility power
NOTE: The plant has three emergency generators that are tested weekly. When utility power is lost, there are controls that start the generators automatically. When this loss of power happened the generators tried to start as controlled. The operator on duty found the generators to be having issues running correctly and as mandated in a Department of Public Works (DPW) Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) called the City Maintenance superintendent.
5:50 pm – The operator called the Jason Michael, Superintendent Facilities Maintenance
6:05 pm - Jason Michael, Superintendent of Facilities Maintenance, came and started the generators but was unable to switch the plant load to them. He went directly to the control substation and found the visible damage that was fatal to the system. Calls went out immediately to Allegheny power to come on site and stop the power feed so the equipment could be opened and investigated without someone losing their life.
6:10 pm– Stona Cosner, Superintendent of Wastewater, was called and headed into the plant
6:15 pm – Jason Michael, Superintendent Facilities Maintenance, called Chip Stitley, Superintendent of Sewer Maintenance, to advise of the potential for a backup in the collection system and requested response from his department
6:19 pm – Jason Michael called Marc Stachowski, Deputy Director of Public Works, to advise him of the situation
6:35 pm – Marc Stachowski notified Mayor Randy McClement
7:00 pm -The wastewater flow that would normally enter the treatment plant backed up because of the power outage and forcibly pushed the main influent manhole off on its own. Stona Cosner and DPW staff moved them out of the way and barricaded the area for safety. No other manholes were removed by staff.
7:44 pm– Stona Cosner called Susan Harding, Public Information Officer (PIO), to alert the public via press release, Nixle, Facebook, Twitter
7:50 pm – Stona Cosner called MDE to report the bypass
8:30 pm– Potomac Edison made it safe for DPW staff to open the utility and generator switchgear equipment. Again, for DPW staff to handle this medium voltage equipment without personal injury or loss of life we had to make it safe.
9:00 pm– Staff completed an initial inspection of the equipment to assess the damage and found signs of an underground cable fault that caused water and carbon debris all through the switch gear and control equipment. The cause is still under investigation.
Note - From 9:00 pm on 12.11.11 to approx. 3:00 am on 12.12.11 – The switch gear and control equipment had to be disassembled, cleaned and tested before starting the generators because again, personnel safety and equipment safety had to be confirmed.
Susan Harding, PIO, received the first call from Stona Cosner at 7:44 PM on 12.11.11 requesting the issuance of a press release and to call the County Health Department. The PIO was on the highway enroute home and called Josh Russin, Executive Assistance to the Mayor, to see if he could contact Dr. Brookmyer which was the first he was informed of the incident.
Susan Harding received a second call from Keith Brown at 8:16 pm with the same information. Susan Harding called Dr. Brookmyer and left a message.
At 8:38 pm, Dr. Brookmyer sent Susan Harding an email stating that she had received Susan’s message as well as a call from Josh Russin.
At 8:45pm Susan Harding sent the initial press release out
At approx. 8:47 pm an alert went up on the website, the press release went up on the website, Facebook, Twitter and was sent via Nixle (the City’s online alert notification system).
In trying to initially reach Dr. Brookmyer, Susan Harding called the off hours/emergency numbers the Frederick County Health Department. Susan Harding reached the staff on call for the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), which is covered by the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) on the weekends. He said he would communicate to the proper channels.
At approximately 11:00 pm, Susan Harding received a call from Mr. George Keller, Frederick County Health Department (FCHD) Director of Environmental Health. He offered any support and said he had been in touch with City DPW. He stated that he spoke to Stona Cosner earlier that evening.
At 11:18 pm, Susan Harding, PIO sent the following to Mayor McClement, Marc Stachowski, Jason Michael, Josh Russin, Keith Brown, and Eva Cosner regarding my conversation with Mr. Keller:
Mr. Keller has given me one additional sentence to put into my next press release “Frederick County Health Department cautions citizens to avoid water contact downstream of the point of overflow which is at Carroll Creek and the Monocacy River on Gas House Pike.”
Mr. Keller will call Stona when the City enters the recovery mode and ask that water samples be taken upstream and downstream over a period of time from the point of the overflow – this is for comparison
Mr. Keller notified the MDE Duty Officer
MDE and Frederick County offers assistance in any way even if it is for moral support
Mr. Keller’s cell phone number is 240.405.2293
Monday, December 12, 2011
At approximately 3:30 am on 12.12.11, Susan Harding, PIO, received a call from Dispatch and was asked to send out a press release stating that the WWTP was on generator power and GAS House Pike was open for traffic. A press release went out at 4:01 AM, (on website, Nixle, Twitter, & Facebook)
At 4:58 am, after getting all processes running, Stona Cosner called MDE back to report the bypass had stopped at 3:00 am 12/12/11.
9:00 am, Stona Cosner had operators clean up any debris from the spill for disposal and spread 200 lbs. of lime over the area.
At 10:56 am, Susan Harding sent an update press release to Dr. Brookmyer, Mayor McClement and Marc Stachowski outlining the issue using information received from Marc Stachowski and asked for additional information and review of content.
At 11:34 am, Susan Harding received the following email from Dr. Brookmyer
Susan –
Thank you for your call asking if there was any additional content or additional public notifications needed from the local health department perspective. You have done a good job covering the critical information. Since there are no actions for the public to take other than the simple message to avoid contact with water along the route (it would be good to provide updated information as to how far the contamination is present so people will have better information about the location above which should be avoided). MDE usually requires that the waterways be posted until testing determines that background [contamination] levels have been achieved. I forgot to ask you if that has been done already. Extra signage is usually posted near parks and other areas where people take their pets and children.
My staff are following-up with MDE to confirm that MDE will be preparing or perhaps already issued a press release regarding information relevant any contamination that may be present outside of Frederick County’s boundaries. – Barbara
Barbara A. Brookmyer, MD, MPH
Health Officer
Frederick County Health Department
350 Montevue Lane
Frederick, Maryland 21702
Tel: 301-600-2509
Fax: 301-600-3111
E-mail: < For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address. >
On 12.12.2011 at 2:12 pm – Marc Stachowski sent an email to Mr. Keller asking for direction regarding sampling.
On 12.13.2011 – Stone Cosner also left a voice mail for Mr. Keller
On 12.14.2011 – Mr. Keller returned Stona’s call ( Mr. Keller was on leave 12.13.11)
On 12.14.2011 – Marc Stachowski sent Mr. Keller an email stating that Dan Seal, Supervisor of Water Quality, will be taking water samples until further notice. Mr. Stachowski will keep Mr. Keller updated.
