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Commissioners vote to give themselves more time to buy land for sports complex

Bertino, Bunting continue to oppose project that may gain some backing from the Maryland Sports Authority

ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

While Ocean Pines’ representatives continue to oppose the project, a majority of Worcester County Commissioners is pushing forward with planning for a new sports complex near Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin and voted to extend the closing date for their $7.5 million contract to purchase the land. In another 4-3 vote, the commissioners on Sept. 20 agreed to extend the settlement date to Jan. 31, 2023.

County attorney Roscoe Leslie presented the property purchase settlement extension, saying the commissioners need to identify a funding source for the proposed purchase of property for the sports complex. That appears unlikely to occur before the current proposed settlement date of Sept. 29, 2022.

So he drafted a contract extension that was agreed to by the property’s owners Helen F. Faucette, Hale Harrison, and John Henry Harrison.

“My understanding is the sellers are amenable to this date or potentially other dates,” Leslie said.

Commissioner Josh Nordstrom made the motion to approve the contract extension, with Bud Church offering a second, and Joe Mitrecic and Diana Purnell in support. Commissioner Chip Bertino, Jim Bunting, and Ted Elder were opposed.

Bunting asked about a news article he read that indicated the Maryland Stadium Authority was performing a study for a new field complex in Ocean City.

Mitrecic said the Maryland Stadium Authority is doing a study at the request of the Town of Ocean City. As part of that effort, MSA will consider how much funding they may be able to contribute to the county’s proposed sports complex project, he said

“If Ocean City is intending on doing it in Ocean City, then there’s no need to even extend the contract” on the Berlin land, Bunting said.

But Mitrecic said the Ocean City isn’t considering an in-town project but is simply paying for the MSA study in support of the county’s sports complex project. He said the study will provide a recommendation for the size and scope of a new facility as well as cost estimates. MSA will also indicate how much money it could contribute to the project, he said.

“We were accused of rushing this through in the beginning, and now everybody’s wondering why we aren’t moving,” Mitrecic said.

Bertino wanted to know what the procedure would be for securing that funding and whether it would be a grant or a loan to the county. “Do we know any of that? How does this work?”

He also asked if the study process takes longer than January 2023 whether the Berlin property would still be available to the county.

“If they don’t sell it to us, I don’t believe they’re going to sell it,” Mitrecic said of the property owners. He said the only reason they are interested in selling the property is because it would be used for the sports complex.

In a Sept. 28 letter to Leslie, Vince Gisriel, chairperson of People for Fiscal Responsibility, maintained a position that in order to purchase the land the commissioners must pass a resolution or bill.

“I submit that a land purchase which facilitates a major capital project requires a resolution or bill, to be voted upon, and only after proper advanced, advertised notice; and thus, subject to referendum by the people.” A majority of the commissioners voting to enter into a contract for the land acquisition following a public hearing doesn’t meet that criteria.

Gisriel also argued that the actual contract of sale, which was not seen by all commissioners before its signing, should be signed only after a separate resolution or bill is adopted. “Again, in my opinion, a simple voice vote is not sufficient.”

He also questioned why the county signed a contract to purchase the land for $7.15 million, when the capital improvement plan showed land projected at $2.38 million.

In August, the commissioners voted to spend $28,000 to study access to Route 50. Bunting and Bertino, along with Elder, were again the minority dissenters during an Aug. 2 meeting when the commissioners voted 4-3 to sign a contract for the highway access study.

Mitrecic and Church, along with Purnell and Nordstrom, continued to push the project forward.

During the meeting Weston Young, chief administrative officer, presented a proposal of $28,523.62 from Wallace Montgomery for engineering services for a Route 50 access evaluation of the 95.521-acre parcel located west of SDHS that is under contract by the county as the site for a sports complex.

“Given the location and given the rural nature of Flower Street to the south we are interested in identifying the best access points onto Route 50. We’ve identified an engineering firm that is frequently utilized by Maryland Department of Transportation and State Highway Administration specifically. And we feel they’d be the ideal firm to look at potential access points,” Young said.

He said the objective is to funnel the bulk of traffic accessing the site away from Flower Street and onto Route 50.

Bunting asked how ingress and egress from Route 50 could be determined before a site plan has been developed that identifies the layout of the proposed sports complex. “How are they determining what they’re going to do without an actual site plan?” he asked.

Bunting said the county staff should simply reach out to the State Highway Administration to discuss the is-sues instead of having the county spend money on a consultant.

“For this kind of money, we don’t own the property. We don’t know what the situation is going to be with the property. Simple phone calls and communications with the State Highway will tell you whether you’re going to be able to get an access f of Route 50 or not,” he said, adding “I can tell you the plats for Route 50 only show one spot on the whole property where there was allowed access to the property and that appeared to be just for farming equipment.”

He said because there is a merge lane from Route 50 into the high school, it will be very difficult to have any type of entrance off of the highway for a sports complex.

“I just wonder if it would make more sense to talk the State Highway,” Bunting said, adding that SHA officials could provide input on the likelihood of the state granting an access point on Route 50 without the county spending any money.

Young acknowledged “there are a lot of unknowns” and the county wants to coordinate with the local SHA district office. But, he said, the decision about Route 50 access will be made by officials in Baltimore. The study will help the county communicate information to those approving officials in Baltimore.

He stated that Wallace Montgomery will develop a concept plan that the county can share with the Town of Berlin and can take to the State Highway Administration office in Baltimore to request access to the property from Route 50.

“Have we had any conversations, meetings with Town of Berlin over this piece of property?” Bertino asked. Young responded “not yet.”

“At some point, are we going to have conversations with the Town of Berlin?” Bertino then asked.

There was no indication when that might happen.

Bertino supported Bunting’s recommendation of contacting officials at the local SHA office to discuss the issue before hiring an engineer.

“We’re looking at spending $28,000 for a scope of work, a proposal when we could just pick up the phone and call someone at SHA and say ‘hey is this possible or not?’ At least that would give us a guide-line before spending this money,” he said.

Since no one has had any conversations with Berlin, the county does not own the property, it does not know what it can develop on the site, how a sports complex would be configured, or how the county is going to pay for it, Bertino was loathe to spend any funds on an access study. To Page 38

Ratepayers escape $60 flush tax

Service area reserve will pay the state $540,000 after accident sends nitrogen levels above the maximum limit allowed

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

Even though the Ocean Pines wastewater treatment plant’s failure to meet nutrient removal guidelines was the result of negligence by a Worcester County worker, the Ocean Pines Service Area will pay the more than $540,000 in bay restoration fees to the State of Maryland.

While Ocean Pines ratepayers will not directly have to shell out the $60 per equivalent dwelling unit fee from which they typically receive a waiver, the money will be taken from the OPSA reserve fund. That reserve fund is in turn funded by the same rate payers to help cover the cost of future capital expenses.

The Worcester County Commissioners on Sept. 6 voted 5-2, with only Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting in opposition, to fund the full payment for the bay restoration fund from the OPSA reserve fund.

Bertino said the county, not the residents of Ocean Pines should be required to pay the bay restoration fee since the circumstance that lead to the Ocean Pines treatment plant failing to meet the discharge permit limit was caused by a member of county staff rather than a natural occurrence or equipment failure.

“I don’t think it’s fair at all for the service area to pay for this because it was a government screw up,” Bertino said. He argued that the county holds rate payers responsible and makes them pay for problems caused by their negligence and “so too I think the government needs to step up and take responsibility for this.”

Bertino called the motion grossly unfair. “A government employee did not report this and as a result a multimillion dollar facility was put in harm’s way and as a result we lost our rating.”

Dallas Baker, county director of public works, requested commissioner approval for an intergovernmental grant for approximately $540,000 from the General Fund to the OPSA to pay the lump sum fee since the failure to meet the nutrient load requirements was caused by county staff negligence. If the BRF is not paid in a lump sum, then MDE will charge every user in the Ocean Pines sewer district $60 for the year.

Baker said he was asking for grant “because it was something that was the fault of the personnel within the department and shouldn’t be passed on to the rate payers because of an issue that was cause from internal operations.”

But a majority of commissioners balked at Baker’s suggestion. Instead Elder made motion that the funding be withdraw from the OPSA reserve fund. “Basically because of the good job that is normally done, they’re getting a discount from the state of that $60 a year,” Elder said. “Because everybody else in the county’s paying that. Including the people with septic systems.”

Baker said that is correct.

“I certainly understand my colleagues feeling the way they do,” Bertino said. But the problem that occurred was as a result of the irresponsibility of a public works worker…” That person didn’t report the problem resulting in the failure to meet nutrient requirements.

Elder said it would not be fair to county tax payers to pay the fees for the OPSA. “Every home that’s in my district pays that $60.” They should not be expected to pay for Ocean Pines’ discount too, he said.

“If I have a slip up with my septic tank or my drain field, the government’s not stepping in and paying to repair that. It’s all going to be on me,” he said.

The Maryland Department of the Environment assesses the BRF annually to treatment plants that have accepted federal or state dollars or that have not met their discharge permit limits and the fee is passed along to all rate payers in the service area. The fee is also paid by septic system owners where the systems do not meet stringent nutrient guidelines. OPSA rate payers have never been subject to the fee because the treatment plant has always meet or exceeded those nutrient load requirements until 2021.

The OPSA treatment plant did not meet its annual average nitrogen limit for calendar year 2021. Ocean Pines has an annual average nitrogen limit of 3.0 mg/L, but in 2021 the plant’s annual average was 4.3 mg/L.

Baker explained that on January 10, 2021, it was discovered that a rake head had fallen into a treatment unit, that it had clogged a pipe, and the entire treatment unit had to be drained to clear the clog. “Operators typically keep rakes on top of the treatment units to dislodge any floating debris that might get caught up on the clarifier arms,” Baker said. “We suspect that the head fell off the rake, got into the pipe, and clogged it up.”

In response to the issue, the 2-piece rakes previously used at the facility have been replaced with rakes that have the head and handle fabricated as 1-piece. “In addition, it has been reinforced to staff to report incidents such as this immediately. Timely notification can help prevent a problem before it starts,” he said.

The Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors discussed the issue briefly at its Sept. 24 meeting but didn’t have a clear understanding of what had transpired at the commissioners’ level. Director Monica Rawkoski said the county had approved a “grant” to cover the lump sum cost of the BRF so ratepayers wouldn’t have to pay the fees.

General Manager John Viola said the county has indicated that the fee would not be part of any rate increase to customers of the OPSA. Instead, he said they indicated some type of billing to the Glen Riddle Service Area for wastewater treated through the Ocean Pines plant could cover the cost.

That scenario was not discussed at the most recent commissioner meeting. From Page 36

“Because we haven’t figured all that stuff out yet,” he suggested someone make a few phone calls “instead of spending $28,000 for something that may or may not come to fruition.”

Nordstrom, made the motion to move forward with the study, supported by Church, Mitrecic, and Purnell, and opposed by Bertino, Bunting, and Elder, to accept the proposal from Wallace Montgomery for engineering services.

Calling the study and important part of the evaluation process, Nordstrom said “I think we need to move for-ward with this as soon as possible.”

Young also provided an update on the results of the phase I environmental site assessment (ESA) of the sports complex property. “It’s a high level study but it looks at prior uses of the site and digs into what they call where there any known recognized environment conditions. It provided a wonderful 150 pages to read.”

John D. Hynes & Associates, Inc. performed the ESA that identifies existing or potential environmental contamination liabilities and is considered due diligence before executing a contract to acquire the property.

RECs are defined as the presence or likely presence of any hazardous substances or petroleum products in, on, or at a property that could pose a threat.

If a study identifies significant areas of concern, a Phase 2 ESA can be pursued to evaluate subsurface evaluations to detect the potential contamination and offer remediation alternatives.

The evaluation determined the site does not have any recognized environmental conditions, but there are vague reports of potential RECs on other parcels that neighbor this site. Therefore, the environmental engineers that evaluated the site recommended that soil borings be completed on areas of the property that abut these areas.

Should the commissioners wish to move forward with closing on the contract on the property, a funding source must be determined.

Further, the costs of design and construction of this project were to be funded by a general obligation bond that is subject to a ballot question on the November general election ballot.