Smyrna Town Council briefs from Oct. 1 meeting

Here are more items that were discussed at the Oct. 1 Smyrna Town Council meeting, after the initial report about the meeting in last week's Sun-Times:

Contract negotiations

Councilwoman Joanne Masten gave an update on the town's current contract negotiations during committee reports. The committee is negotiating the Smyrna Police contracts, and salaries and benefits of the non-bargaining employees.

The committee met several times last week, including a meeting Friday with representatives from the Smyrna Police group.

Bayhealth ER update

Mayor Pat Stombaugh said there will be a ribbon cutting at the new Bayhealth 24-hour facility at their Smyrna-Clayton Medical Services location at the corner of Carter Road and Route 300.

The ribbon cutting will be on Monday, Oct. 29.

Public forum comments

A few residents approached council during the recognition of visitors portion of the meeting.

Cindy Cogar directly addressed Stombaugh. Cogar was told she was mentioned by Stombaugh in an email, and asked Stombaugh to please not comment about her and that if the mayor wants to address her, Cogar would be willing to talk.

Stombaugh responded that she would like to talk to Cogar "because I don't know what you're talking about."

Smyrna resident Edward Lehman thanked council for their support after the passing of his wife, Sharon.

Halloween trick-or-treating

Smyrna Town Council passed a resolution to set the trick-or-treating date and time for this year's Halloween, which falls on a Wednesday.

Children 12 and under can go trick-or-treating from 6 to 8 p.m.

Mobile home permit exemption

Council approved a reduction in the mobile home placement permit fee for residents 65 years old and older. The original ordinance was approved in May but council needed to decide whether or not to allow the exemption for 2013.

Town lawyer Barrett Edwards informed council that they didn't need to make a decision at the meeting, but it needed to be done by the first meeting in November. However, Town Clerk Valerie Heritage said the town needs to get the letters out to residents sooner than that.

There was some back and forth on the topic, with Stombaugh stating the exemption needs to go to the Finance Committee first.

After some back and forth on the topic, council approved for a 50 percent exemption of the $100 permit fee.

To qualify, a person needs to be a resident of Smyrna, 65 years of age or over, own and reside in a mobile home for one year, and not have an individual income exceeding $24,000 or $30,000 for applicants filing jointly.

Employee honored

At the end of the meeting, Stombaugh called up town purchasing agent Charlie Boyer to honor him for being elected president of the Delaware Volunteer Firefighter's Association. Boyer is a Dover firefighter.

"Thank you for your services to the town and for your service to the state," Stombaugh said.

Email Jennifer Dailey at jennifer.dailey@doverpost.com.