State approves funding for rape crisis center
The state Board of Public Works has renewed its contract with Rape Crisis Intervention Service of Carroll County Inc., approving a $219,440 contract that will cover about 4 1/2 years of services by the nonprofit agency, a local official said yesterday.
The center in Westminster serves about 300 clients a year, adults and children older than 12, said Mary Wells, the rape center's administrative assistant, who handles its budget. The agency submitted its request in September but was told in October to reduce the amount by 10 percent, for the second year in a row, because of the state's fiscal condition, she said.
"So this is a 10 percent cut for us," Wells said. The center had asked for about $54,000 and will receive about $49,000 a year.
The center's annual budget averages $250,000, she said. In addition to the state contract, the center gets money from Carroll County government, United Way, and grants and donations from residents and corporations such as Target Inc.
Seven members named to district election panel
The Carroll County commissioners named seven people yesterday to serve on a panel that will draw the five districts for a new system of electing commissioners that was approved by voters in November.
Instead of three at-large members, the new board will have five members, one elected from each of the five new districts.
The borders must be drawn for the new districts and recommended to the county's delegation to the General Assembly by Dec. 1 in order to be approved in time for the next commission election in 2006, said County Attorney Kimberly A. Millender, who will serve as staff assistant to the committee.
County Republicans nominated to the panel are Maurice "Ed" Wheatley, a former county planning commission member; former Del. Joseph M. Getty, now director of policy for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., and David R. Peloquin, a financial planner and onetime campaign officer for former Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier.
Democrats nominated to the panel are Thomas McCarron, a Baltimore lawyer and president of the Freedom Area Citizens Council; Phillip R. Miller, a longtime Democratic Central Committee member and former mayor of Manchester, and Martin Radinsky of Eldersburg, a vice president of BB&T; bank.
Janet B. Jump, president of the county Board of Elections, is the seventh person on the panel. No meeting date has been set.
Contract OK'd, planning to start at Hampstead park
The county will begin planning for Leister Park in Hampstead. The commissioners awarded a planning contract yesterday to Patton Harris Rust and Associates of Columbia for $29,500. The fee is within the established budget for developing the 100-acre park near Hampstead's downtown, officials said.
The county has five parks projects in various stages of planning and construction. A selection committee has chosen the Columbia company and one other, from a list of 25, to do most of the work.
County schedules 4th flu-shot clinic
The Carroll County Health Department will sponsor a flu vaccine clinic from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 20 at 290 S. Center St., Westminster.
Health officials scheduled the walk-in clinic - the fourth this season - in response to the state's expanded categories for those eligible for the vaccine, including people ages 50 to 64. Shots will also be available for those who care for adults and children in high-risk groups, such as the chronically ill.
Larry L. Leitch, director of the county Health Department, said reported flu cases have increased this month and are expected to continue increasing for several weeks. Local emergency rooms are seeing more patients with flu symptoms, he said.
Information: 410-876-2152.
Open-space funding approved for Carroll
The state Board of Public Works approved Program Open Space funds for Carroll and other counties yesterday, the governor's office announced.
Carroll County projects include:
$51,580 to renovate the tennis courts, install new nets, pave the parking area, and provide signs at Union Bridge Community Park in Union Bridge.
$90,700 to reconstruct two tennis courts, relocate playground equipment, and construct a parking lot at Sulphur Springs Park in New Windsor.
$90,000 to construct ball fields and to provide related items, including backstop fencing, dugouts, goals, a storage shed, and trash receptacles at Hampstead Municipal Park in Hampstead.
County to purchase 2 tractors, 1 wheel loader
Carroll County will purchase two John Deere tractors with air-conditioned cabs for $44,321 each from Finch Services in Westminster, officials said. The tractors will be used for mowing along county roads.
The county will also replace a wheel loader lost in a fire at the county landfill last year. The commissioners authorized the purchase yesterday of the $137,092 loader from Alban Tractor Co. Inc. of Baltimore.
Insurance will pay about $55,000 of the cost to replace the equipment.