by Geoff Fox
This past year, there were a number of projects the Town of Hancock took on and in this new year, there are going to be a few more.
Town Manager Mike Faith said 2024 went well for the town with the major project being the splash pad.
The town also received money for and work started on the roof at Town Hall. There are still a couple things left for the work on the roof and Town Hall.
“Those were our two biggest project,” Faith said.
Faith also pointed to the water line project where a water line was laid to Blue Goose. A line was added to the State Highway Lab as it wouldn’t make sense to add a new line and not upgrade the lateral line to the lab.
That waterline, which was a few hundred more yards added on, also finished the water line project to the BFS travel plaza.
Faith said the line that was replaced was around 50 years old.
There were a few hiccups during that project, but in the end, everything was working.
Faith said line extension out to the Blue Goose wasn’t expected, but it made sense to do so while the company was already working in that area repairing the line.
One thing that wasn’t on the town to do but was a project by the state was the Western Maryland Rail Trail getting repaved a few months ago.
Last year, the town planted over 1,000 trees in conjunction with the DNR to reforest some of the areas in Widmeyer Park, Joseph Hancock Park, along the Rail Trail, and Kirkwood Park.
That money came from the state.
When it came to the budget, Faith said the town stayed within the budget when doing projects last year and the town had a successful audit last year.
“We just finished our audit this year,” Faith said, noting there was a delay and it wouldn’t be completed until later in January.
While the audits have been good, there are some housekeeping things the town has to do.
Faith added the operating agreement with Trulieve has been redone and cleaned up, spending some time in 2023 ironing everything out.
“That’s going to be very beneficial for the taxpayers,” he said.
“It wasn’t expected, but it was the right thing to do,” he said.
There are a few projects that still haven’t been finished, such as the stairs from Joseph Hancock Park to the Rail Trail and the roof work on the pavilions in Widmeyer Park.
The money for the pavilions came last year through Project Open Space.
Faith said there are also plans and funds to repave the municipal parking lot on Canal Street.
Also in 2025, Faith said work would continue on Town Hall in finishing the skirting on the roof and the porch roofs.
For the last couple months, the elevator in Town Hall hasn’t been working due to a fire alarm attached to it that keeps malfunctioning.
Faith said the elevator inspection company and the town has been trying to fix it, but the system is so old.
A plan had been submitted to repair part of it, however the State Fire Marshall told them they’ll need a new sys-tem.
Because of that, the town would be looking to spend between $50,000 and $60,000 to replace the elevator system.
Faith said there could be money secured for it.
Other upgrades for Town Hall include looking at possibly putting in a sprinkler system and upgrades to the senior center area.
There have been staffing issues at the site, but a few of the seniors have been utilizing the room and socializing.
If there were to be unexpected projects come up this year, Faith said there is a cash reserve they could tap into should something come up.
The money, which is 10% or better of the budget sitting in a CD, that is liquid and the town would have access to it immediately.
“We’re going to leave that alone. We’re just going to leave it where it is,” Faith said. “We’re in pretty good shape.”
However, the incident would have to be some kind of emergency, such as a catastrophic failure of a system, a natural disaster, before the town would have to tap into the money.
There is the possibility the town could look into a backup generator for the community center so they could use the building as a shelter since there’ s enough room.
In the event they go that route, the kitchen area of the senior center could be upgraded to a commercial kitchen, as it would add to Town Hall being a resource for the town.
Faith said Martha’s House is available but it’s limited in what space is available and Town Hall could handle overflow.
“We’re in good shape,” Faith said. “We just have a lot of things that need to be done.”
Faith said, as an example, the wastewater pump stations all have backup generators so if the power goes out, people can still flush their toilets and avoid spillage into the river.
The town, Faith said, doesn’t have a backup power supply for the water system, which could be troubling if the power would go out for an extended period of time.
While the town won’t raise it’s tax rate, but people could see their tax rates go up due to the state taxes.
“If we were going to raise the tax rate, we’ d have to have public hearings and everything else,” he said.
There are no plans on raising the water and wastewater rates, but that could be coming down the road.
Faith said it could depend on funding for the MDE in regards to the new water and wastewater system being installed.
MDE will eventually look at the town’ s books and billing and may tell the town they’ll have to charge more for the services.
“We’re just holding our breath on that,” Faith said. “We’re going to wait until somebody tells us we have to make a move.”
The reason being is it may take additional revenue to maintain the new plant as there could be more employees working there.
Hancock, Faith said, is a unique municipality in Washington County.
Compared to other towns, Hancock has its own police department and water and wastewater facility. Some have police, but their water and/or wastewater is through Washington County.
Except for Hagerstown, Hancock has more town employees than any other town in Washington County.