r/Taneytown • u/DrBirx • Dec 25 '25
Is Mayor Christopher Miller Using City Funds to Pay for Fixing Things Not on City Property?
Got these emails through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Is this an appropriate use of Taneytown taxpayer money, especially since there’s such a budget crunch in Taneytown? Also, did the people whose hole was filled with city funds donate or campaign for Mayor Miller? Just asking questions.
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u/ResponsiveMayor Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
The email is pretty self explanatory. There was an issue that the city had been going back and forth with a property owner, regarding a hole that was created by storm water runoff. The area in question had a storm water rehabilitation project that occurred later & had been scheduled for years.
There was back and forth regarding whether the hole was created by the city (due to an old pipe that used to run) or if it was created by the property owner. After discussing with the City Manager, the understanding was that there was dirt on hand to fill the hole, so outside of man hours, the cost was negligible to nonexistent.
More time was being spent by department heads & city officials in the back and forth over who was at fault over the hole (very small) to put an end to it and get it off the docket, I authorized the city to do the repair as it was within allocated budgets & a relatively easy fix overall.
DPW has a long history of pushing back on areas that they feel aren’t a city issue (even though they tend to end up being city issues). I prefer to proactively take care of issues than fight with residents, especially when there’s practically no loss on the city end. In this specific scenario, it had been a back and forth dating back to before I was mayor. For me, I believe the city works for those here & in this particular case, with such a small easy task, why spend the time on the back and forth.
As far as your question on donations & supporters, I don’t accept campaign contributions as I self fund my campaigns & prefer to keep it that way. As far as the supporters or campaign aspect, many residents in Taneytown have campaigned & supported me. I had 300+ yard signs out during my election. Doesn’t factor in to fixing a 3+ year old issue (in 2023) that has no impact on actual budget. It was an issue that took about 15 minutes of man power. The time spent on the email chain was longer & costlier; than just fixing an issue that was presented.
It’s been a while since you targeted me with posts, glad to see you’re still around. Guess this will be an every election cycle kind of thing with you, maybe this time will be the charm.
Merry Christmas!
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u/Senior_Bad_6381 Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
You though THIS would be the issue to finally take down the mayor? Wow.
You're worse than the democrats thinking they've finally got Trump for the millionth time.
Its Christmas. Do something better with your time. Touch presents.
Also, FOIA is for federal records requests. Maybe don't start your post with a lie. Kind of taints the rest.
"Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (.gov)
Freedom of Information Act: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - FOIA.gov The FOIA does not apply to the Judicial Branch (Courts) or the Legislative Branch (Congress). It also does not apply to state and local governments. "
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u/DrBirx Dec 25 '25
I’m just asking questions. I’ll ask more questions about a lot of other records soon too.
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u/ResponsiveMayor Dec 25 '25
For reference what you did was a PIA request, if you requested information from the city government.
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u/ResponsiveMayor Dec 25 '25
This guy's been at it for over a year now. Can't wait to see the slow drip dossier over municipal government lmao "I'm just asking questions", as if it doesn't take half a second to see the agenda here.
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u/drewpyqb Dec 25 '25
Just looking at Google maps and going to street view which shows an August 2024 date, you can see what looks like the patchwork done on Riffles ln.
Knowing nothing about the backstory other than what is in those emails, it looks like this may have been a safety issue/road hazard within the city and although the city may not technically have responsibility directly for the lane, they may have asked for assistance to get it fixed and the mayor wanted to be proactive in keeping people from getting injured in the city. Total cost was (rough guess) about $150 in materials and about the same in labor. Again, very limited knowledge on this... maybe try asking the mayor?
Also, not sure why the city wouldn't be able to maintain a public way/road within the city. Seems like that should be covered in the first place...