(3/21) The March City Council workshop was intended to discuss what the vision of the new Main Street Program should be. However, it ended with Council members unable to agree on the priorities.
The Council started the discussion by looking at both the vision and mission of the Main Street Program, and what that means according to the Council. With big ideas such as historic preservation, the livability for current residents and the capability of current businesses to hold open hours, it was quickly evident that the Council was thinking of big goals but missing how the Main Street Program would actually accomplish those goals.
Guidelines provided by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) state that one of the most important priorities when creating a Main Street Program is to select a Main Street Manager and having a clear definition of this role. The requirements for this position were successfully outlined at the previous meeting. Some of these requirements include a minimum of 35 hours a week and working in conjunction with the Economic Development position. At the March meeting, the Commissioners spiraled into a heated discussion over how much the position should be paid, as the City had received zero applications at the time of the meeting. The current application lists the annual pay as $40,000 to $50,000, which according to Mayor Christopher Miller, "Nobody’s coming for $40,000 to $50,000," he said. "You get what you pay for."
Councilwoman Elizabeth Chaney asked what other local municipalities pay their Main Street Manager/Economic Development Directors, but no one was able to answer the question. Wieprecht chimed in stating, "We have talked about doing a compensation study to see where we rank compared to our local market, which includes Frederick County and Adams County and York, but we never pulled the trigger to do that." The Council argued between increasing the upper range of the salary to $70,000 or basing the salary on experience with no actual monetary number posted. Ultimately, a decision was made to list the position under the latter option; to base the salary on experience with no actual monetary number posted.
The financial responsibility of the City was another hot topic for the Council.
Traditionally, the City contributes $12,000 to aid the Program with grants and donations sourced by the Main Street Board, providing the remaining funds needed. However, City Manager Jim Wieprecht pointed out that the DHCD recommends that funding should come from different streams: a from local government, a from grants and a from the local business community. Again, the Council couldn’t agree on a final number, debating between giving more than the minimum $12,000 versus basing the donation on a percentage suggested by Miller. No final decision was made on this topic.
With the 2026 Fiscal year budget review on the horizon, Miller pointed out the need for the Council to determine whether funding the Main Street revitalization is a priority or not. "We’ve been asked to keep things lean," pointed out Wieprecht. "The Mayor has asked us to try to rein things in to essentials only, as far as any discretionary line items."
Miller has pushed for the City to find ways to save money in the budget for capital projects, such as road and infrastructure repairs, which could be harder to find funding for. "It is going to be a tough time for municipalities as the Federal government constricts, as the State government constricts and as the County government constricts, we need to start thinking of having extra money set aside."
Resident and former Main Street Board member Sharon Tillman reminded the council that the program already has guidelines and to follow what they have instead of ‘reinventing the wheel’. "Main Street by definition is a grassroots program, a community driven program," she said. "My advice to you is to work the Program. Thousands of communities make this program work. Follow the Program as it is designated and designed instead of trying to reinvent the mission of the Main Street." She asked the Council to collectively set the vision for Taneytown’s Main Street by allowing the stakeholders to develop the mission in concert with the community.
Wieprecht, who has experience working on the Main Street Board in the past, said, "I’m a little bit concerned that we’re talking through all these big picture things, and I think it’s the City’s role to set the guard rails and let something get started. Appoint a new board, give them the framework to work within, and let them come up with their plan, let them come up with their goals and objectives."
With that being said, the Council finished for the evening with intentions to review staff reports to be better prepared at a future workshop. They also agreed to edit the current EDC job posting to state, base salary on experience with no actual monetary number posted.
