The Bel Air Board of Town commissioners enthusiastically appointed Jesse Bane, who has served as the town's interim chief executive for the past six months, to the permanent post of town administrator Monday.
The board also approved a construction contract for the redevelopment of the garages behind the Bel Air Reckord Armory, despite the continued reservations about the project expressed by Mayor Robert Reier.
Bane, who served as Harford County sheriff from 2006 to 2014, was named interim town administrator in January after his predecessor, Jim Fielder, was tapped to serve in Gov. Larry Hogan's cabinet as secretary of appointments.
Bane, a Fallston resident, is a Harford County native who began working for the Sheriff's Office in 1972.
"When we were looking for an administrator, we were looking for someone who was vested in the community," Commissioner Edward Hopkins said.
Hopkins is a former Sheriff's Office employee, and his nearly 30-year career included service as Bane's chief deputy.
"We're excited to have you on board, sir," Hopkins told Bane.
Commissioner Patrick Richards said "it would be my honor" to make the motion to approve Bane's appointment as town administrator, which was approved 4-0. Commissioner Susan Burdette was absent Monday.
Richards highlighted Bane's "ability to hit the ground running and continue to be a huge value to the town as we move all of these various items and complex items, starting with the budget, which is no easy task."
"It's a huge asset to have somebody on board who knows the community inside and out," Reier said.
He also said that he has "heard nothing but the best" from department heads.
"Congratulations and welcome aboard," Reier said, followed by a burst of applause from the commissioners.
Bane did not make any comments during the meeting.
Armory Marketplace contract
The commissioners voted 3-1 in favor of spending $656,000 on a contract with Imark Builders, of Edgewood, to build the Armory Marketplace, which is designed to be a five-space office, business incubator and farmer's market facility in the existing garages to the rear of the Bel Air Reckord Armory.
Reier, who has previously expressed concerns about the project, cast the dissenting vote.
"I understand the benefits of it, but the overall project itself, I still don't have a good level of comfort with it," he said.
Reier has expressed concerns in the past about the town taking on the expense of managing the marketplace, competing with private businesses and whether farmers would set up shop at the Armory as opposed to the current Bel Air Farmer's Market in the parking lot of the Mary E.W. Risteau Multi-Service Center on Bond Street.
Reier said he respects his fellow commissioners' views on the project, "and perhaps I'll be proven wrong in the future, but that's just the way I feel right now."
Public Works Director Steve Kline said five "distinct spaces" will be built, and two will be set aside for year-round farmers' market vendors.
He said $500,000 in Community Legacy grants from the state has been allocated for the marketplace project, along with $100,000 in town funds and $96,000 from the town's Community Development Block Grant allocation.
The town has already spent $40,000 on planning and development for the project, Kline said.
Sewer rate increase approved
An average residential Bel Air sewage customer could see his or her quarterly sewer bill increase by about $3.50 in the next fiscal year, after the town commissioners unanimously approved a sewer rate increase.
No one spoke during a public hearing that preceded the vote.
The rate increase includes a 25-cent enhanced nutrient removal (ENR) fee imposed by Harford County on all sewer customers, including the Town of Bel Air, as well as an automatic 1.6 percent cost of living adjustment, or COLA, which is in line with the national Consumer Price Index.
The rate increase is scheduled to take effect when the 2016 fiscal year begins July 1.
The town is a bulk customer of the county, and it sends all sewage generated by municipal users to the county's Sod Run wastewater treatment plant.
The ENR fee is the result of legislation passed by the Harford County Council in May of 2012 to cover the capital costs of additional nutrient removal processes at the Sod Run and Joppatowne treatment plants, Bel Air Finance Director Lisa Moody said.
The fee must not exceed 25 cents per 1,000 gallons of sewage treated, and it will be used to pay down the principal and interest on debt the county has taken on to cover the cost of the ENR equipment, Moody said.
"Once the debt is paid off with Harford County, that ENR fee should go away," she said.
Moody said the town's base sewer rate will increase from $5.57 per 1,000 gallons to $5.91 cents, which includes the 25-cent ENR fee and 9 cents for the COLA.
She noted the ENR fee is expected to fluctuate annually, based on the county's debt service and sewage revenue.