After nearly forty five minutes of deliberation at last night’s meeting, The Chestertown Town Council agreed to pass a motion allowing local coffee roaster and importer Tim O’Brien to sell his whole roast bean product, labeled “Cafetin” at the Chestertown Farmer’s Market for the remainder of the 2012 season.

The motion stipulated that O’Brien only sell his beans, upholding a prior decision to disallow the sale of brewed coffee, and that he do so only within the booth of Evergrain Bread Company, a willing partner which sells his brewed coffee and beans within their High Street storefront.

The motion to allow O’Brien to provisionally sell his locally crafted (not grown) product forced many other farmer market issues to the surface, from adequate and transparent communication between the council and the farmer’s market manager, Owen McCoy, to the logic of the current farmer’s market bylaws, which many believe to be inconsistent and unclear.

O’Brien formally requested that the town grant him a waiver to allow him to sell his beans at the market for the remainder of the 2012 summer season, given the that the bylaws were unclear and needed to be revised for the following year.

Town manager Bill Ingersoll said it was not up to the council to make the decision to grant a waiver, it was the farmer’s market manager’s job to do this. Furthermore, Ingersoll claimed that there is a “waiting list” which O’Brien would have to join. This also, according to Ingersoll, lies within McCoy’s purview.

Even though there were several requests to see this list it was not distributed at the meeting.

“The problem is, you propose to jump the queue, and knock somebody else out?” asked Mayor Bailey.

“No,” said O’Brien, “Actually, according to Owen, he thought it would be a very interesting idea and deferred to Bill, and in my understanding, Owen basically says he serves at the leisure of Bill–”

“No,’ said Mayor Bailey, “No–”

“–that’s not how it works–” added Ingersoll.

“Bill,” said O’Brien, “Owen essentially let me know that the [proposal] was ok with you–’

“Owen called me a week ago,” responded Ingersoll. “And he said that you had told him that I had approved you, was it ok with him?”

“No, I did not say that-” said O’Brien

“Well, I hope not,” said Ingersoll, repeatedly.

“I said,” said O’Brien, “that you did not approve it, and that ultimately it was his decision–”

“It is his decision–”

“–And I told him that,” O’Brien continued, “and he said that was fine, but he ultimately said when it went back to you again, that it was not…”

Ingersoll repeatedly referred back to McCoy as the town appointed farmer’s market administrator.

Responding to Ingersoll’s later question about why coffee roasted on the Eastern Shore “is different from someone else’s out there”, i.e. Play it Again Sam’s, which was denied a farmer’s market stall to sell their brewed coffee and whole (not locally roasted) beans three years ago, O’Brien said, “It’s a craft, artisanal product, just like the bread,” gesturing towards Doug Rae of Evergrain Bread Company, who was present throughout the meeting.

“Their grain doesn’t come from a local county. Last year, I bought maple syrup from western Maryland at the farmer’s market. So, I was unclear of the process to appeal a decision to possibly have a consideration, which is why Owen suggested I present my case to the town council.”

O’Brien’s ward representative, council member Linda Kuiper (Ward 2) spoke up, came to O’Brien’s defense.

“The Farmer’s Market is in Ward 2, and even if it’s supposed to be the number one in the state, it still has a lot of problems,” Kuiper said.

“Originally, it was the farmer’s market, and then the door was opened for artisans, and then for non-profits. I suggest that we have a door open for local business owners, I don’t care where his coffee beans come from, or where he’s roasting them, he is trying to move his business to Chestertown. Chestertown right now does not have the luxury of turning their backs to new businesses. I think we should bend over backwards for anybody who wants to come here and open a business.”

“What I think is lacking in this whole process” said Kuiper, “ is that we do not have a regular meeting, at least monthly, with Owen McCoy, with the Council…here’s the thing, there’s no communication.”

“Things changed this year,” said Mayor Bailey, “So the success of the market has bred a lot of problems, everyone wants to get involved now.”

“You need to reform your rules,” said Ingersoll.

“You know, it’s amazing,” said Mabel Mumford-Pautz, “You finally have something that’s successful, and now you want to change it! It’s ridiculous!”

“Let us, for the rest of the season, accommodate Mr. O’Brien in Evergrain’s booth until we have an opportunity this year, to look at the Farmer’s Market rules and receive for next year.” said Mayor Bailey. “Is that a motion?”

“Is that okay with you, Tim?” asked Kuiper.

“Yes,” said O’Brien, “Thank you very much.”

Four out of five votes were cast in favor of the motion, excluding that of Mabel Mumford-Pautz, who represents Ward 3.

“There’s one opposed,” said councilman Gatto, slightly sighing.

“I’m naying because you’re overriding Owen McCoy,” said Mumford-Pautz.

“No,” said Mayor Bailey, “he didn’t, he said-”

“You are too!” said Mumford Pautz. “Yes you are!”

“Well, it’s our prerogative,” said Gatto.

“It is so,” added Ward 4 council member Marty Stetson conclusively, “It’s part of our job.”

With that, the council motioned for a much needed adjournment. It was close to ten o’clock, but everyone seemed energized to start their own little conversations, filing out into the muggy night on Cross Street. O’Brien stood silently by a lamp post, having never lost his temper or raised his voice throughout the meeting, his eyes were nonetheless twinkling with delight after this small triumph.

“Well,” said Kuiper, approaching O’Brien with a smile, “Will I see you on Saturday?”

“Yes,” he replied, “You most certainly will.”

EASTON, Md.- Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, and LED signs are popping up more and more in Easton.

Terry John, the owner of Mid-Atlantic Tires in Easton, also owns an electronic LED sign.

“Having a sign out there is important and we could have just put an ordinary sign out there but the advantage of an LED is being able to convey a message frequently to a broad amount of customers and get a message out frequently has been a very effective way of getting our message across,” John said.

Since installing his $10,000 sign, the town of Easton has proposed an ordinance that limits how the sign can be used. Terry said his sign should be exempt from any new regulations.

“I think all of us who purchased the LED signs under a different set of ordinances would just like to have the opportunity to do that, the big change in the ordinance was the hold time and we think it significantly diminishes the use of the sign,” John said.

The hold time of a message increased from eight seconds to 10 minutes. But now other changes have been proposed.

“Maximum light intensity to provide a dimming feature,” said Easton Councilmen Pete Lesher. Lesher understands why some business owners don’t like the new rules but says the town’s job is to find a common middle ground for all.

“It may not make everybody happy but hopefully we will come up with a compromise that everyone can live with,” said Lesher.

A vote on the LED sign ordinance could come as early as next week’s council meeting in Easton.

As the popular Chestertown Farmer’s Market builds momentum this summer, the appeal to participate has only increased for vendors from other regions of the Eastern Shore.

While the Easton Farmer’s Market has had no compunction about making slots available for Kent County merchants, such as Chestertown’s Evergrain Bread Company, the current bylaws governing who can participate in Chestertown’s local market, with their “criteria of location,” have restricted space primarily to those products made or grown in Kent and Queen Anne’s counties.

And why such a stringent criteria of location? The bylaws claim “a limited number of spaces,” thus privileging the hyper local growers, producers, and artisans over the generally local, i.e., those who may or may not have their operations in Easton or elsewhere within the Upper Shore.

Enter local(ish) coffee roaster and importer Tim O’Brien. Tim lives in Chestertown, where he is licensed to conduct his business– named Cafetin after the name of the farm community his beans come from in Costa Rica–but O’Brien isnot allowed to sell his product at the local farmer’s market.  To refer back to the farmer’s market bylaws, this would be for two obvious reasons;

1.) O’Brien’s coffee is not local, it came from Costa Rica. (Turns out there’s a reason for this, coffee generally doesn’t grow in North America.)

2.) O’Brien’s coffee is roasted in Talbot County, which despite being about 45 minutes from Chestertown, is not local enough.

O’Brien, however, doesn’t see inclusion in the Chestertown Farmer’s Market as a simple matter of local/not local. Echoing what some vendors stated this Saturday at the most recent farmer’s market, inconsistencies abound between what the bylaws say on paper and how they are applied in practice.

“Farmers markets should be incubators for local businesses,” said O’Brien, “And it’s very well known that they often slip in things in the produce market that are not from Kent County or the immediate region.”

“If I have experienced anything from my travels in international development,” continued O’Brien, who served for two years in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, “It’s that everybody suffers when the rules aren’t clear and fair.”

But to Town Manager Bill Ingersoll, the rules of the Farmer’s Market are clear enough, and have been enforced repeatedly throughout the years to limit vendors from selling anything that wasn’t grown or produced locally.

Commenting directly on O’Brien’s case, Ingersoll stated, “basically its not that the guy roasted his beans in Denton, or Easton, or Salisbury or California. It’s that we don’t grow coffee locally, here in Kent County.”

But this word “local” makes itself an easy target for scrutiny and debate. Admittedly the rubric must be adjusted to fit every product, be it vegetable produce or artisanal. But take bread for instance, which was being sold at the farmer’s market last weekend by at least three venders, the Lapp Family Bakery, Highfield Bread Oven, and Evergrain Bread Company.

Bread is a unique product. It is made from the combination of water, flour, salt, and yeast (generally). But most of the grains used by all three of the Kent County based bakeries mentioned above did not come from Kent County. They came from the midwest, most likely, where they specialize in grain production, just like this region does corn and soy. Does that make their product any less local? The answer is no, because we wouldn’t have their products without their local craftsmanship.

In other words, Tim O’Brien isn’t just interested in selling coffee beans, he is interested in introducing people to a craft of coffee bean preparation that is no less an art than baking, farming, beadery, print making or embroidery. In all of the above crafts, it would be all too easy to locate an element or material that is not local. But they remain a consistent, and welcome presence at the Chestertown Farmer’s Market all the same.

So where, if not when, can O’Brien’s product fit in at the Chestertown Farmer’s Market? Given his product is not locally grown, he can’t hope to find a place on the produce side. Meanwhile, he can’t hope to be welcomed by the artisanal side of the market either, because he does his roasting (which is a pretty meticulous, involved process) in Easton. If he moved his roastery to Chestertown (pending the construction of a natural gas line which his roaster would require to run), would things be any different? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, Mayor Margo Bailey is suggesting that a study group be formed, as part of her overall Chestertown Renewal Initiative, to help the Town Council make productive changes in how the market works.

“I think we all know we have a gem of a farmers market in Chestertown.  In order to make it even better, I think we (the Town Council) need to know what some of the best practices are with some of the  country’s most successful farmers markets, and adjust our by-laws accordingly for what makes sense for our town.  I think with the right program changes, our own market can set a gold standard in the mid-atlantic region.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOWN OF CHESTERTOWN

ARTISAN’S MARKET

2009 RULES AND REGULATIONS

 

The Chestertown Farmer’s Market has been authorized by the Mayor and Council to be held each Saturday morning from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. generally from April 1 to Thanksgiving.  Wednesday is now designated market day from noon till dusk.  The market may be authorized on other Saturdays of the year with the advance concurrence of the Town and the Town Manager.   It is the purpose of the Farmer’s Market to give local, non-commercial growers of produce and food the opportunity to provide their goods to the general public in an organized fashion.

 

The following rules apply:

1.  All vendors must have original hand crafted merchandise.

2.  Vendors are required to have on site, their Trader’s License, State and Federal Tax ID.  Sales tax due to the State of Maryland is the responsibility of each vendor and not the Town of Chestertown.

3.  Producers will pay a $5 fee per week for their space to the Market Manager, who will in turn submit this fee to the Town of Chestertown.

4.  Only one space will be allowed for each producer.  When spaces are filled there will be no new producers allowed at the Market.  Spaces will be assigned to regular Saturday vendors.  All others will set up in a designated area.

5.  There will be no commercial retailers or itinerant traders allowed.

6.  The Artisans Market participants must obey all ordinances of the Town, the rules of this document and the Farm Market Manager.  Producers shall leave their space in a clean condition upon leaving it.  Tobacco products may not be used in Artisans area.

7.  It is a privilege and not a right to participate in the Farmer’s Market, and during special events of the Town all or some of the Artisan vendors may be asked to move or vacate their operation.

All Artisan’s Market participants will be given this set of Rules and Regulations before participating in the Market and will sign a new form each year.  Failure to comply will result in immediate removal from the Market.

 

TOWN OF CHESTERTOWN

FARMER’S MARKET

2008 RULES AND REGULATIONS

The Chestertown Farmer’s Market has been authorized by the Mayor and Council to be held each Saturday morning from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. generally from April 1 to Thanksgiving.  The market may be authorized on other Saturdays of the year with the advance concurrence of the Town and the Town Manager.   It is the purpose of the Farmer’s Market to give local, non-commercial growers of produce and food the opportunity to provide their goods to the general public in an organized fashion.

The Town has appointed a Farmer’s Market manager who makes all week-to-week determinations concerning the eligibility of the producers, their non-commercial status and their residency.  The Manager reports directly to the Town Manager about problems and issues in the Market.

The following rules apply:

1.  The Chestertown Farmer’s Market is a producers only market and all participants must produce what they sell.  No producer will sell any meats, eggs, or seafood unless the farm source of the product is specifically approved by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Office of Food Protection And Consumer Health Services, Permits and Licenses for a On-Farm Home Processing License resulting in a Food Processing Plant License and all the responsibilities to food safety that go with that license.  No producer will sell commercially processed food.  There will be no arts and crafts sold at the Farmer’s Market.

2.  Producers will pay a $5 fee per week for their space to the Market Manager, who will in turn submit this fee to the Town of Chestertown.

3.  Only one space will be allowed for each producer.  When spaces are filled there will be no new producers allowed at the Market.

4.  There will be no commercial retailers or itinerant traders allowed.

5.  The Farm Market participants must obey all ordinances of the Town, the rules of this document and the Farm Market Manager.  Producers shall leave their space in a clean condition upon leaving it.

6.  Due to a limited number of spaces, the opportunity to sell at the market may be denied using the criteria of location of the farm in relation to Chestertown, the type of product sold, the length of time and the regularity of appearing at the market, the size of the operation and the degree to which it might be considered commercial.  It is a privilege and not a right to participate in the Farmer’s Market, and during special events of the Town all or some of the market vendor may be asked to move or vacate their operation.

PRODUCE

All Farmer’s Market participants will be given this set of Rules and Regulations before participating in the Market and will sign a new form each year.  Failure to comply will result in immediate removal from the Market.

 

By Authority of W. S. Ingersoll, Town Manager

Vendor signature Date

Queen Anne’s County Commissioner David Dunmeyer agreed to sit down with the Spy for a talk in the basement of the Liberty Building last week.

As a self described conservative-conservationist, Dunmeyer’s other job is as a contractor, which gives him a unique insight into the philosophy and pragmatics of sustainable development which he espoused during the interview.

In the first video,  Dunmeyer explains his views on the efficacies of the current Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, the threat of Big Box development, the work of the Queen Anne’s Conservation Association (QACA), and his opinion of the controversial “English-Only” mandate passed in Queen Anne’s County which made English the official language.
In the second video, Dunmeyer discusses his role on the county’s Watershed Implementation team, which works with E.P.A. mandates on nitrogen reduction and wastewater management strategies for the local Corsica and Chester River watersheds.

“It’s not just about finding credits and getting by by meeting our requirements for nutrient reduction–its not just that, its part of it,” said Dunmeyer. “I feel that the bigger picture is clean water. Without clean water, you have nothing. We lose industries, we lose our fishery industry, recreational boating. You should be able to go out in that water without fear of getting a disease or bacteria, and sadly, that is not the case now.”

Dunmeyer remains sensitive however of the importance of farming to the Queen Anne’s County economy, despite the fact that the industry on average is responsible for about 75% of all the nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay.

” I don’t want to lose another acre of farmland in this county….farming is a way of life in Queen Anne’s County, it’s the biggest industry we have, and we need to protect the farms,” he said. “But we all know that farms have the biggest impact on our water quality. Queen Anne’s County farms do a lot in reduction, they do tremendous amounts, and over a lot of the other counties, especially in other states. We are doing a good job. Can we do better? Yes we can. I think if we work together as a team, we can make some better things happen….[the farmers] know the benefits.”

Last night the Goodwill Fire Department responded to a call for a fire in one of the historic Captain’s Houses, located near Centreville’s wharf. While the actual causes of the fire are still under investigation by the fire marshall, authorities have determined that the fire started on the third floor.

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“The people living there tried to put the fire out with their garden hose,” said Lieutenant Miel of the Centreville Police Department. “Of course, that didn’t work.  So the fire marshall was called and the fire department had to put it out.”

photos by Kellen McCluskey. For more photos of the fire, visit Kellen’s blog.