City, county officials debate water capacity and emergency services

Hagerstown Mayor Tekesha Martinez opened her remarks Tuesday at a joint meeting with the Washington County Commissioners by recounting a list of projects she said would not have been possible without the collaboration of the county government.

They included everything from the construction of the new parking deck on Antietam Street and the new field house project on the former site of Municipal Stadium to the Hagerstown Police Department's "groundbreaking" drone program.

And she said that she and the city council members — all of whom were present — and the assembled city staff were hoping for more collaboration.

"I just want to say that we are growing very quickly … but it's very important that we continue to work collaboratively together," Martinez said. "When one wins, we all win."

But while the conversation ended with verbal agreements to create city-county "work groups" to seek solutions to water capacity and public safety needs, underlying tension between the two bodies occasionally surfaced.

More water capacity is needed; what will it cost?

Hagerstown Utilities Director Nancy Hausrath outlined a number of upcoming water and sewer projects the city will need to undertake to serve customers both within and outside the city limits, which has been an ongoing discussion between the city and county governments.

They include transmission main upgrades, set to begin later this year; replacement of the Mack water tank north of the city, a potential new water treatment plant to treat water from Antietam Creek and improvements to increase capacity at the R.C. Willson Water Treatment Plant in Williamsport.

In all, she said, "we have about $235 million dollars in water and sewer infrastructure projects, and only about $35 million in funding."

Martinez suggested establishing a work group between city and county staffs to address water capacity concerns going forward.

"It sounds like you have a $200 million gap" between the costs for projects and money available to pay for them, County Administrator Michelle Gordon said. That would translate to $5 million to $16 million per year for debt service payments, she added, depending on interest rates.

Gordon suggested the city was asking the county for a $200 million investment in these projects and that a tax increase, alternative funding sources and an adjustment to water service rates to make fees charged to non-city residents more equitable would need to be considered — and perhaps even a regional water authority.

But city officials insisted they weren't asking the county for all that money, and appeared to be unenthused about establishing a regional water authority.

"I'm not here asking the county for $200 million," said Councilman Kristin Aleshire. "What I'm saying is we're going to continue to own and maintain and operate our system. And we're gonna identify the funding necessary to make those improvements."

He added that the city would maintain its rate structure, "just like all other systems operate across the state."

But Commissioner Randy Wagner contended the city couldn't raise the money required on its own. "We want to help," he said. "But if we tax our taxpayers in the county and you tax yours or however we do it, I don't know how else to say this, but you can't be king of the hill forever."

"Of course the city of Hagerstown can't do anything alone," Martinez said. "We need our county officials, our elected body, to work with us collaboratively."

"Then the city would also have to work with us," Wagner said.

"I just asked for that," Martinez said, "and then (Gordon) responded back that we asked for $200 million."

"That would be worst case," said Commissioner Derek Harvey, who attempted to change the tone of the discussion by asking what structure city officials would prefer for the city/county effort.

"What I would be looking for, what I advocate for, is just a seat at the table," Harvey said. "So what's the structure for that? … What would the organization be to formalize water decisions that impact … all of our citizens," he asked, noting that Hagerstown officials do not represent all customers of its water system.

"My view would be that there should be some organizing principle, that no one has veto power. No one can act as a dictator and force things like pre-annexation agreements; I'll just throw that out there."

"There's 157 municipalities across the state of Maryland that do exactly that, every day of the week," Aleshire replied.

"And it creates friction every place, and it it gets resolved in different ways in other places," Harvey said. "You want collaboration; what would it look like to you?"

"I believe that it would be the staff working together," Martinez said, "because we're elected; we're politicians. And I believe that the politics and the relationships get in the way of what the staff needs to be able to do on behalf of all the constituents of Washington County.

"I don't know what that looks like; we're asking you to collaborate on that process with this elected body."

Harvey suggested allowing the city and county staffs to work together to determine what kind of structure would protect the interests of both the city and the county, and offer options to consider.

Commissioner Jeff Cline suggested going forward with establishing a work group. "We're running out of time," he said, because water capacities are reaching a critical point.

Aleshire noted that a previous water/sewer infrastructure commission (in 2005) had turned into an effort by the business community and the county to take ownership of the city's water and sewer system.

Hausrath reminded the commissioners and council members that there currently is a cap of $1.5 million on grants to help with infrastructure projects, and asked both local governments to lobby state and federal lawmakers to expand that cap or find new or better grant opportunities to offset the cost of bond issues.

"It doesn't even cover the cost of the bond itself."

That was water. Then they turned to a discussion of emergency services management in light of the county's recent dissolution of the Emergency Services Advisory Commission.

Citing redundancies, county commissioners dissolve Emergency Services Advisory Council

How should emergency services be organized?

Hagerstown's new fire chief, John DiBacco, and Deputy Chief Adam Hopkins offered a governance model for emergency services in the county. The goal, DiBacco told the commissioners, was to "develop a working group of city and county staff which would further discuss and refine this commission structure."

The strategy, he said, was to improve fire and emergency services throughout the county "by looking at things such as policy and procedures, looking at how we maximize all of our resources."

That could include response plans and aid agreements, he said, and "looking at the quality and the quantity of the service that is provided to the residents of Washington County and the city of Hagerstown."

They proposed a system with several tiers, and an advisory board with representatives of county volunteers, city firefighters, the county's Department of Emergency Services and community members, including the Community Action Council, Meritus Health and the Chamber of Commerce in order to represent a variety of needs.

Hopkins observed that the proposal "segued right from that water discussion and Commissioner Harvey's comments about having a collaborative, formalized structure that allows the input of the authorities, but no veto power."

"This sounds a lot like the model that was proposed to us from the ESAC committee before it was disbanded," Gordon said, "and that model was almost unanimously turned down by the Washington County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association."

Governance of county operations, she noted, begins with the director of Emergency Services. The next tier is the county administrator and at the top is the county commissioners.

Wagner thought the proposal was too large. "I can't get why we're going to put 30 more people in the mix with 30 more opinions … I just don't quite grasp the purpose of that yet."

"This will be providing general oversight of the entire system as a whole, where right now we are three different entities," Hopkins said.

But Harvey said he believes it's already "incumbent" on emergency service personnel "to do their jobs and work together. And if there are gaps, you guys should be identifying those gaps and working through those solutions or options."

If further authority is needed, he said, "you guys should be working together and then bringing it to us to address it."

He wasn't sure, he said, "what's not working.

"I'm not sure what the problem is we're trying to actually fix that is outside of what you already have responsibility and authority to address."

Aleshire told the commissioners that city taxpayers spend about $400 of their taxes per year on fire service in addition to the approximately $150 he said they pay for emergency services through their county taxes.

Municipalities, he said, are not required by state law to provide fire and rescue while counties are, and municipalities that do provide them get no compensation from county governments.

"I think it sounds like there's an interest to continue to work independently," he said. "I'm OK with that … what I don't believe should occur is that that city-paid operation leave the city limits, because that's a paid service that city taxpayers are paying an additional amount for to receive and be guaranteed in that process.

"So if we're gonna operate independently, I'm OK with that as long as that independent operation operates in that manner in which the tax dollars are directed."

"So let me get this straight what you just said. So if we remain independent, your vote would be for your city apparatus never to leave the city limits; is that what you just said?" Wagner asked. "That's a sad statement, Kristin, that you wouldn't come across the line if there was a fire."

"I think that whenever we ask for collaboration, there is almost like there's some type of 'we want to take away power' … and that is not what we're sitting here saying," Martinez interjected. "We want to bring everything and everyone together."

The fire chief asked for some cooperation, she said, "and the response back is, 'you know, I think we're OK with how we're working,' that kind of thing, that's why (Aleshire's) comments was what it was. It wasn't that we don't want to save lives if there's a fire happening across the street which is not in the city limits. That's not what we're saying."

Constituents need to understand "what body is causing the friction," she said, "because it's constantly 'it's the city, it's the city, it's the city.' And we're sitting here saying we want to work together."

"I believe there is a significant amount of collaboration on the county's part," Gordon said. "We don't stop at the city limits and don't provide service." Some 41 percent of the county's calls for service in 2023 were within Hagerstown city limits, she said.

The Hagerstown Fire Department, the volunteer fire and rescue association and the county's emergency services division have "different lines of authority and governance," DiBacco said, "and this is our 'ask,' that we look at the possibility of bringing those together in a collaborative method … and that's all we're asking, is to take another look at this.

"We're just looking for ways to improve our staffing, our standards of response, our coverage."

In the end, the two bodies agreed to establish work groups on both issues, and Commissioner Wayne Keefer requested a follow-up discussion, perhaps in April.

'A community problem': County's future water demands expected to cost up to $100 million

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: City, county officials debate utilities, emergency services