Thurmont approves engineering study for Radio Lane water pumping station

Jun. 23—Thurmont's Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night agreed to pay an engineering firm to develop a plan for building a new water pumping station on Radio Lane that would connect the town's two water systems.

Using money the town received from the American Recovery Plan Act, the commissioners voted to pay the Hagerstown-based ARRO Consulting $72,070 to design the water pumping station and $6,230 to create a bidding process for companies to do the work.

The new station would increase the capacity of the town's water systems and allow them to interact, Public Works Department Director Harold Lawson told commissioners during their meeting Tuesday.

Currently, the town has a high-pressure water system on Eyler Road that supports Catoctin High School and the Catoctin Heights neighborhood, Mayor John Kinnaird said during an interview Wednesday. Its low-pressure system supports the rest of the town.

A final cost of the station won't be determined until the commissioners receive bids. Commissioners previously agreed to plan on using $900,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funding for the project.

East End Park projectCommissioners voted to pay $14,902 to Clarksburg-based Pleasants Construction to pave a recently installed walking path in East End Park.

Town employees have completed excavation work and placed gravel on the trail, which connects the park's playground to the skate park.

The bid from Pleasants Construction was the lowest Thurmont received to complete the work. The two other bids were from:

— RFP Company of Middletown for $21,044

— American Asphalt of Columbia, Md., for $15,365

Thurmont received a $17,500 grant for the project. The town can use money left over from paving the trail to install additional amenities along the path, such as a bench, Chief Administrative Officer Jim Humerick said.

Temporary sign ordinanceThe commissioners revisited the town's ordinance regulating temporary signs Tuesday night after Planning and Zoning Manager Kelly Duty recently received pushback from residents for trying to enforce it.

Under Thurmont's zoning ordinance, property owners aren't permitted to have more than one sign on their property that is more than 4 square feet or 5 feet tall.

To post a sign larger than these dimensions, property owners must apply for a permit from the town's planning and zoning office. They may only keep the sign up for 60 days in a residential district or 30 days in a nonresidential district, according to the ordinance.

The town often hears complaints about the sign policy when election season comes around, Kinnaird said Wednesday.

Residents have accused town employees of targeting political signs when enforcing the policy, Kinnaird said. But all signs in Thurmont are subject to the same rules and regulations, he said.

If the town were to create different rules for political signs from other types of signs, the ordinance would be unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny, according to a memo the town attorney prepared for the commissioners.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that government restrictions on speech that focus on the content of the message — "content-based" — should be scrutinized more strictly than restrictions that do not — those that are "content-neutral."

Right now, the town's sign rules are content-neutral because they regulate how big signs can be but not what their messages may say.

The commissioners agreed to continue enforcing the existing sign ordinance.

Humerick thanked the commissioners for their discussion of the rules.

"I felt it was important that our staff had the public support of the mayor and commissioners on this, because our staff are on the frontline of all the pushback that we get, and all the name calling and allegations," he said.

Hamrick agreed. The buck stops with the commissioners, he said — not with Duty or Humerick. If people want to complain, he said, they can call the mayor or come to a meeting and speak during the public comment session.

Insurance policyAlthough local governments in Maryland have been required since 2015 to have an investment policy on file with the state treasurer's office, until Tuesday night, Thurmont did not have one.

Chief Financial Officer Linda Joyce said she came across this requirement when she was researching best practices for creating such a policy.

The town's new policy, which commissioners approved Tuesday, outlines strict rules for how Thurmont is able to invest public money.

Joyce said she plans to invest the town's American Recovery Plan Act funds to generate interest before the money is used on town projects.

Follow Angela Roberts on Twitter: @24_angier