Judy Boggs holds towns meeting
By Dolores E. Pike
Approximately 60 people attended Worcester County Commissioner Judy Boggs’ town meeting at the Ocean Pines library on Saturday, April 30.
 
At the start of the meeting Mrs. Boggs addressed two separate concerns that had been presented to her prior to the meeting.  The first was about Manklin Creek Road, the only road within Ocean Pines where maintenance is the responsibility of Worcester County.  According to Parke residents, an ongoing problem in the winter is the dangerous accumulation of ice on the road.
 
“It is a skating rink in the winter,” said Phyllis Alpern. 
 
According to Mrs. Boggs, there are three houses at the end of Manklin Creek Road that are not, and do not want to be, part of Ocean Pines. Largely as a result of the efforts of these owners the road remains in the county’s hands. The Ocean Pines Association (OPA) Board of Directors and the Worcester County Commissioners hope to take a bus tour of that area, reviewing whether the road should remain a county responsibility or become a part of OPA, especially in view of the large number of Parke homes on both sides of Manklin Creek Road.
 
The other resident’s concern was about the county’s position with regard to sexual offenders or predators.  Mrs. Boggs introduced Mike McDermott of the Worcester County Sheriff’s office who is in charge of the sexual offender registry.  There are at present 60 registered sexual offenders living and working in Worcester County, with two offenders living in Ocean Pines.  There are no sexual predators registered in Worcester County.  Complete information in this regard can be obtained by logging onto the Internet either at home or at the library.  The site is www.dpscs.state.md.us.
 
“We have to be aggressive about notifying the community without making people vigilantes,” said McDermott.
 
After addressing those two concerns, Mrs. Boggs proceeded with the agenda for the town meeting.
 
Mandatory recycling
Ron Taylor, director of recycling for the county spoke about the pilot recycling program about to be launched.  Currently targeted for curbside pickup are newspapers, plastic and aluminum but not glass, which contaminates when co-mingled.  In 2004 Ocean Pines alone collected 507 tons of recyclables.  Recycling is necessary if the county is going to keep the number of landfill cells to a minimum.  The county is currently looking at building another 24-acre cell at a cost of $8 million.
 
County budget
The amount of money request by all county departments is $147 million.  Total county revenues stand at $137 million.  The board of education is requesting $4.2 million more for 2006 than it did the previous year.  In part the request, according to Mrs. Boggs, includes several additional teachers at a time when the school enrollment has shown signs of declining.
 
Water and sewer
The final report for the northern district of Worcester County is due from Dennis Escher in four weeks.  Many residents at the town meeting expressed anger about the substantial increase in the quarterly bills due to increase by approximately $35.50 per quarter.  The wastewater plant is now operating at 80% capacity and must be upgraded to 2.5 million gallons per day.  There will be a public hearing on the increase June 7 at 1:30 p.m. in Snow Hill.
 
Mrs. Boggs briefly outlined the details of the leash law for dogs that goes into effect in Ocean Pines on June 3.
 
Mrs. Boggs will hold her next town meeting on Saturday, October 22, 2005. 
 

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