Selby’s Market Closing

It appears clear now in talking to some folks I know are pretty informed that Selby’s will begin the close down process this coming week. I’ve known the Selby family for many years and they have been major institutions in our community. Not only has their store been a central part of our business community, Roy and his father before him were very community spirited. The times Selby’s helped out the booster club or PTSA with food and other necessities at cost is beyond recall. They were always willing to pitch in. As a local, family owned business, it is even sadder to say goodbye. I will miss my normal Saturday jaunts into Selby’s.

State of the Town – Interesting Stats

As I noted, I attended the State of the Town meeting a few weeks ago and there were many interesting statistics regarding the town’s operations. Here are a few that impressed me:

The town’s summer recreation program served 130 kids this summer! They had visits from a host of leaders and organizations including our local volunteer firemen and the Montgomery County Police. This program only started a few years ago and to serve this many kids is impressive. The reports about the program’s impact are impressive too.

The Community and Economic Development Committee’s work load doubled this past year. The CEDC helps create and staff many of the community and economic development programs – such as the annual lighting ceremony – that do so much to make our town a wonderful place to live. The CEDC added the Spring Fest and Business Fair programs in recent years and they have been major successes.

This year, the town pumped 144 million gallons of water for the use of town residents. That’s an average of 399,000 gallons a year. There were five water breaks last year which sounds like a lot but for a town our size it is below average.

The wastewater plant process hundreds of thousands of gallons of waste water a day and only has two operators.

Many of the town employees are Poolesville natives. That is impressive too because you could hear the commitment and love of the town in their presentations. The staff who run the wastewater, water and parks operations were very open to and even encouraged citizens to tell them if they see problems or have concerns.

It was an impressive night overall and the town staff once again was impressive in their presentations and in the results of their activities.

Stats at the State of the Town Meeting

I have been traveling but will post shortly some of the amazing statistics about the town I heard at the State of the Town meeting recently. It is quite amazing to hear how much water is processed each year at the sewer plant, how many gallons of water are pumped each year and how much grass is cut each year. What I was truly impressed with once again – as I was when I was a Commissioner – was just how dedicated our town staff are and how many of them are natives from the Poolesville area. They tend to be very responsive to complaints or concerns they hear because they have been here their whole lives. I don’t know if any of you have stories from your personal experience about how town staff have performed but it would be interesting to hear.

The Economy and the American Heartland

I am Iowa at the funeral of my dad’s only sibling, my uncle. I have not been back to Iowa since 1986 or thereabouts. We are in a town called Burlington on the Mississippi River about a third of the way up the state from the south. Just south of here is a little town called Keokuk, Iowa, an old former manufacturing town located on lock 19 on the Mississippi. I am going to the funeral in a little while but will have some impressions of life and the economy in the heartland when I return. In the Washington area, we have pockets of poverty in the current economic climate but nothing like you see here where manufacturing plants have closed and houses are crumbling in disrepair. It is useful to have this sort of perspective from time to time. Things are not bad uniformly throughout the midwest – North Dakota is literally booming – but in many former manufacturing and farming towns, it is very tough.

Poolesville – A “Jewel”

One commenter who lives down county and comes up to the Poolesville area to ride horses commented on how unique Poolesville is. She called the town and the area a “jewel”, unique to this region. And it is. If you look back to the 1960′s when the County’s so-called “wedges and corridors” master plan was developed, the idea was to focus development along the “corridors” – the main highways such as Interstate 270 – and leave the “wedges” as lightly developed as possible. At the same time, the plan created one entire “wedge” – the Ag Reserve – as an area that would be devoted to the preservation of farming, open land and forests.

The plan was derided by some but the idea now seems more prescient then ever. In today’s world where concerns about the environment – particularly the release of gasses into the atmosphere by modern society that can lead to the warming of the planet – having a “carbon sink” where green house cases can be absorbed is a significant advantage. Plants and trees do absorb carbon on a massive scale and if you look at maps of our area, the Ag Reserve around Poolesville is one of the last major undeveloped swaths of land in this area. It is sort of like the “Central Park” of our region.

On Monday night, George Coakley, the Planning Commission Chairman for Poolesville, talked about the new master plan for the town that was just adopted. He noted that the top issue for Poolesvillians in the adoption of the plan was to maintain the small town character we have. We have done that successfully and the continued focus on that goal is what is going to help preserve not only the character of our town but the beauty and rural character of the entire Ag Reserve. The town fits the Ag Reserve well in its size, character and “feel”. All of this was brought back to me in the comments of one down county resident who appreciates what we have in our town and our region.

State of the Town – An Annual Meeting That Is Worth Attending

On January 9th, the Town will hold its annual “State of the Town” meeting. This is a great to find out about the Town’s financial, program and operational condition. Here is what is on tap as outlined by Jim Brown, my former partner and Town Commissioner:

Our town auditors will give an overview of the town’s finances and accounting procedures.

Project Updates—Presenter and Town Engineer John Strong will give us an update on the town’s infrastructure and future needs.

Community Economic and Development Committee (CEDC) and Recreation—-Town Events Coordinator Cathy Bupp will review the past year and give an overview on future events and recreation initiatives.

Parks and Streets—-Director Preston King will give us the scoop on roads, trees, ballparks, and fields.

Water and Sewer—–Our directors will give us the latest on our most precious resource (water) and how the town processes it at our facility after it’s been used (waste-water).

Planning Commission—-Chairman George Coakley will let us know what the PC has worked on this past year as well as a wrap-up on the new Master Plan for the town.

Parks Board—Chairperson Doug McKenney will update us on the status of past park projects as well as future plans for the new parks as well as park revitalization projects.

As a Commissioner, I enjoyed these annual sessions. They are the only opportunity to hear in one sitting the “State of the Town” as presented by our town employees, contract employees and volunteer leaders. Come out and listen. And feel free to highlight what you liked, question or have problems with on the blog after the session.

The Armchair Quarterback praises Falcons, near and far

By Ralph Hitchens

First, a belated congratulations to two of our Poolesville Falcons football stars – wide receiver Jonah Hessels and quarterback Kirby Carmack. Both were named Honorable Mention All-Gazette here in Montgomery County, and Hessels was also named All-League Montgomery 3A/2A by the Washington Post. It’s tough to get noticed on a losing team, and even tougher when you miss a couple of games due to injuries, as did each lad. Well done, Jonah and Kirby!

Then there are the Falcons of the US Air Force Academy, who came up short in a thriller against Toledo University in the Military Bowl at RFK this week. Man and boy, the Armchair Quarterback has been a fan of Falcons football. Although I did not attend the Air Force Academy I grew up there, with an Air Force father who was one of the Academy’s original faculty members; I also served in the Air Force for more than 20 years, active and reserve – the “wild blue yonder” is in my blood. USAFA, like the other service academies, is a small school playing with the big boys in Division I-A. The Falcons have been generally successful on the gridiron lately, competing in the Mountain West Conference where their inability to put 300-pound linemen on the field is less of a liability than it would be elsewhere. And like their sister academies the Falcons have long embraced the option offense, which makes for exciting play. Air Force finished 7-5 during the regular season, including wins over both Army and Navy, thereby keeping custody of the much-prized Commandant’s Trophy. The Military Bowl game against Toledo was a wild offensive shootout. Air Force scored with less than a minute remaining in the 4th quarter to make it 42-41, and a safe PAT kick would have put the game into overtime. Instead the Falcons, like our own Poolesville Falcons several weeks ago against Pikesville, courageously elected to “man up” and play for all the marbles. Breaking from a kicking formation they attempted to run for a two-point conversion, only to have a lateral go out of bounds. Heartbreaking it surely was to lose such a close one, but no one can doubt that the Falcons left the field with heads held high.

With that thought I wish all Falcons fans, near and far, a happy New Year.

New Financial Problems Hit Towns and Cities

The Washington Post has a story this week about the next financial crisis in the U. S. The states have already gone through – and are still enduring – serious financial problems due to the slow economy and the resulting slow down in sales tax revenues in particular but also income tax revenues. Income taxes have been strained in part due to lower levels of employment meaning fewer people are paying income taxes right now.

But property taxes are a bulwark of local financing and until recently, due to the reduction in housing values that only slowly works its way through the property tax valuation system, they remained fairly steady. But now, the recession has been going on for several years and property tax valuations that set tax collection levels are dropping. Poolesville’s property values are down as well but so far, the total property tax levels have not been affected much. Income tax returns last year were higher than the budget anticipated. And the Town has an adequate rainy day fund. But we should all be watching this year to see if property tax valuation levels finally begin to affect our Town’s revenues. This could be the year that happens.

Water System Breaks at an Historic Low

The Post today has a story about the major reduction in water main breaks this year. The Post attributes the reduced number of breaks in major area water systems including Montgomery County to the mild weather. This makes sense since deep freezes tend to make the ground shift in various ways as water in the soil freezes and expands the earth. This clearly can push against pipes causing breaks. I am going to check to see if the same trend is affecting Poolesville.

The same story however had another ominous point. The number of breaks on average has been increasing in recent years. This may well be due to the aging of the systems and the lack of modernization. Major studies – such as one a year ago by the American Civil Engineering Society – has rated the public infrastructure of the U.S. including water, sewer and road systems. The survey found that most of our nation’s infrastructure is in poor condition due primarily to the lack of continued investment in upgrades and maintenance. The collapse of the bridge in Minnesota a couple of years back is only the most obvious example.

Poolesville’s water system is generally in good shape. The Town has invested substantially to keep it running well including upgrades to monitoring systems and improvements in various wells in terms of pumps and filters designed to ensure better water. While maintenance and investments in infrastructure can be dull in terms of budgeting and don’t often reward politicians (because something that does not break due to good maintenance never is not noticed and politicians are not given credit for it), it is crucial to keep up with infrastructure maintenance. We still have work to do on our infrastructure, especially our sewer pipes which have been upgraded in many ways but continue to have pockets of problems. But in general, the Town does a good job of infrastructure maintenance including the roads and sidewalks.

Outside In – Poolesville from Beallsville

I’ve been living now in Beallsville for a couple of weeks and I must say I am saddened when driving through Town on my way home from work. We lived in Poolesville for much of my adult life and I was involved in either the PTSA, the Jaycees, church work or Town government affairs in some capacity for most of that time. It used to be that my life was driven in part by evening meetings at the Town hall or the school or with some other volunteer group. I almost feel like I’m cheating in some way not to have meetings scheduled in the evening any longer.

I will begin to go to Town meetings to cover events but I thought it would be better to give the new Town Commissioner who took my place a bit of a breather before I showed up again. Poolesville is the heart of our area and living in Beallsville now I am coming to appreciate that even more. Ralph Hitchens has a nice piece on the local ballet and its production of “A Christmas Carol” demonstrating once again how active our community is. It remains important to me to stay involved and what may now be an important role is to make the blog a place where more ideas and suggestions for improving the Town are vetted. I urge all of you to submit such suggestions. The Town budget is now being prepared for next year and it is the main policy mechanism driving Town government activities. I will be covering the budget discussions and I’m sure it will spur some good discussions.

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