No new stop signs, but Bay Ave. to get speed bumps

Friday, July 18, 2008

First Sgt. Mat McDonough, who patrols the beaches, said he researched the intersection and did not find a history of accidents at the intersection. McDonough said he did not see a need for the four-way stop, adding that people will ‘‘blow through stop signs if they think they are not important.”

It is important that people stop when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk, McDonough said about the crosswalks along Chesapeake Avenue.

Deputies will start closely monitoring the crosswalks along Chesapeake Avenue to ensure that people are complying with the law, he said. When asked, McDonough clarified that the law says that if someone is standing on the curb waiting to cross, a vehicle needs to stop.

Town council members and citizens present at the meeting also voiced their opinions on the ordinances that would allow the town to add temporary speed bumps along Bay Avenue. The first ordinance to be voted on was to amend a section of the town code which would allow the placement of traffic control devices such as speed bumps, according to town attorney John Shay. The council voted unanimously in favor of amending the town code, but there was much disagreement as to the necessity of speed bumps and the problems they would cause.

McDonough again took the floor, citing a host of problems speed bumps would cause, such as increasing traffic congestion, increasing emergency response times and damage to emergency vehicles and the pain they cause disabled people as they ride over them. A citizen, who said she recently had surgery on her back and was an EMT, attested to McDonough’s examples that speed bumps damage emergency vehicles and have also caused pain in her back.

Council member Lyn Striegel said that McDonough’s explanation sounded like what ‘‘we used to call, in law school, ‘the parade of horribles.’

‘‘Let’s try it, it’s not permanent, it’s temporary,” said Striegel, who has her law office on Bay Avenue.

Mayor Michael Bojokles said he agreed with McDonough. He said was against installing speed bumps, especially since they delay emergency vehicles response time.

The council voted 3-2 in favor of installing the temporary speed bumps from May 1 to Oct. 1, but after the vote public works director Don Bowen said that it may take some time before they are installed. Estimated at $200 each, it would take two to four weeks for the delivery of the speed bumps, but his staff would be able to install them once they arrive, he said.

Bond ordinances discussed

Last month town officials discussed funding the construction of the town hall and refinancing its current debt after Joe Mason of Davenport & Company LLC talked to council members about the advantages of refinancing its existing loans and raising money for the new town hall.

At last Thursday’s meeting, town attorney John Shay explained to the council that the town needed to first pass an amendment to the town charter before the town could consider raising money through issuing bonds. As it stands now, the town can only issue bonds for water and sewer projects and must go to the public for competitive bidding on all other projects, he said.

Shay also introduced an ordinance to give the town authority to borrow $2.3 million for the town hall construction by the selling of bonds through a private negotiated sale.

The council will vote July 22 on the charter amendment and then it needs 50 days before it can be amended, Shay said, and the town will also introduce refinancing the town’s present bonds because the town can get lower interest rates now.

The vote to refinance the present bonds will be in August, and the actual amount of the bond for refinancing and the town hall construction will go to vote in September, he said.

Farmers’ market receives grant

The Friday night farmers’ market received a $1,500 grant on July 10 from ‘‘So., Maryland, So Good,” program from Maryland’s Department of Agricultural, Bojokles said. ‘‘This grant process was lightning fast,” he said. It was submitted Monday and received Thursday. The farmers market has been a great success, and Bojokles thanked Diane Burr for all her hard work setting up the market.

Poole named citizen of the month

Mayor Michael Bojokles presented Sheila Poole as the citizen of the month, commending her work with the Boys & Girls Club and assisting with the children at the beach campfires each week.