The St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners met Tuesday, June 8 and invited citizens to patriotically celebrate Flag Day on the Governmental Center Lawn on Monday, June 14. The board also proclaimed June 10 through 17 National Nursing Assistant’s Week and acknowledged the dedicated caregivers at the nursing center before getting down to business. 

A long-in-the-works project got moved forward, as the BOCC signed off on several agreements for Victory Woods Senior Housing at FDR Blvd. in Lexington Park. Department of Economic and Community Development Director Bob Schaller called it, “a milestone day,” saying, “We can be turning dirt in a matter of days.”
 
The land behind the Immaculate Heart of Mary church will provide 75 housing units with rent as low as $350. Commissioner Mattingly urged Victory Housing and Osprey Property’s executives to “staff it well,” to avoid any extra burden on the County’s volunteer fire and rescue crews.
 
Commissioner Raley said he would vote for this reluctanttly, stating, “We started down this road toward affordable workforce housing and now I question when that will be.”
 
The developers said the next phase would depend on market conditions, but workforce housing will be in the works. Victory Housing President James Brown told the board, “I think you will be proud of this public-private partnership.”
 
The BOCC moved to revert nearly $1 million from Land Acquisition to the General Fund in support of the emergency communications upgrade and signed an agreement transferring responsibility of the Adult Medical Day Care program from the County to El-Shaddai.
 
The board approved some incentive funds that exceeded the anticipated amounts for the State’s Attorney’s Child Support programs and some State grants for the Department of Aging’s Medicare outreach programs.
 
The commissioners voted to accept some Homeland Security and FEMA funding that supports training and interoperability. Department of Public Safety Director David Zylak said, “Things aren’t perfect,” acknowledging the problematic operations county-to-county in Southern Md. He explained that public safety officials are still working to establish a tri-county governance.
 
A reduction in the Welcome Center contract will pad the board’s emergency reserve, as the DECD plans to redirect funding into electronic tourism information. St. Mary’s Chamber of Commerce Chairman Frank Taylor called the Welcome Center “a very important function for tourism&quo

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