The Havre de Grace City Council passed three resolutions Tuesday night, two lease amendments and one for the Highland School.
Council President Randy Craig explained the lease amendments are the results of several council administration committee meetings and there will be more lease amendments in future meetings.
What was presented Tuesday, he said, is "half of what we've been working on."
"At times these lease agreements come up and most of the negotiations are done just through the department heads and the city attorney," Craig said. Now, he continued, the city is meeting with each occupant to get feedback and "help draft a lease agreement we can all live by."
The first agreement was for Chipparelli's, owned by DMC Properties LLC, for five years.
The restaurant at 400 N. Union Ave. is partially on city property and requires a lease for commercial use, according to the resolution.
The Lantern Queen, operated by River City Trading LLC, also requires a lease agreement because the riverboat operations are partially on city property at the foot of Congress Avenue near Hutchins Park.
The Lantern Queen's agreement also was approved for five years.
Craig added he is "so grateful for what they [the owners] have done with the Lantern Queen and what they've brought to our city."
Mayor Wayne Dougherty agreed, adding the owners are "great stewards of the city property it is docked at."
Through a resolution passed by the council, the city is also showing support for the Health and Fitness Boosts Academics project for the Highlands School.
The school applied to the state's Department of Housing and Community Development for approval of the project, which is a "community-wide campaign with the primary objective to teach health and fitness skills to children with learning disabilities to facilitate their education at the Highlands School," the resolution read.
Once the state approves the project, the resolution continued, it will "provide for the allocation of tax credits for business entities and individuals that contribute to the project under the Department's Community Investment Tax Credit Program."
The school hopes to raise $500,000 for operating expenses related to health and physical education, speech pathology and occupational therapy.
Graw Days Festival grows
The city's annual Graw Days festival will be expanded this year.
From 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in downtown Havre de Grace, the festival will take over parts of Congress and Pennington avenues and Washington, St. John and Franklin streets.
Havre de Grace Main Street, which puts on the festival each year, is requesting to have parts of those streets, plus parts of Lodge Lane to be closed and have the public parking lot on Lodge Lane used for vendors and other festival staff.
Secretary Shyla Glassman noted that police department and department of public works costs for the event were estimated on the high side - $10,612.50 for police and $761.25 for public works.
Dougherty added that these estimates were based off a previous request for even more road closures, and believes there will be a reduction in cost.
Shane reappointed
Robin Shane was reappointed to the city's planning commission.
Councilwoman Barbara Wagner said Shane "really plays a vital role [in] that commission and she even takes over when the chair is not there."
