The City Council opted to table discussion on relinquishing a small parcel of grass along Paper Alley in order for the council to obtain more information.

Paper Alley is a strip of ground off of Carroll Heights that when the subdivision plat was created, was to be deeded to the city, which never happened, according to City Manager James Wieprecht.

Now an adjacent property owner looks to acquire the strip of grass to add to his yard. Because the land was never officially deeded to the city, the strip is still owned by the individuals who originally subdivided the land. A contract for the purchase of the strip of land by the adjoining property owner has been signed, but has been put on hold until the question of City ownership can be resolved.

The city has no interest in the parcel, according Wieprecht, but to relinquish the piece, the city must make a formal acknowledgement declaring it surplus property and waive any interest in the property.

Selling tiny sections of surplus land within town limits, "comes up rather often," City Attorney Jay Gullo said. Nevertheless, the council had mixed feelings on relinquishing title and so tabled discussion on the topic for another month to give the council time to consider the request.

Skid loader purchase approved

At its October meeting, Taneytown City Council approved the purchase of a new skid loader.

The Public Works Department has been "Salivating over skid steer loaders for several weeks now trying to determine which one they would like," Mayor Bradley Wantz said.

The city’s current skid loader has been having performance issues and "it’s basically a bit undersized for what we need it to do," City Manager James Wieprecht said.

Eager for a new unit, extensive research has been carried out by the public works, including bringing several potential units on site to be tested out. A JCB Skid Loader was selected at a cost of $90,545. The city will trade in its existing skid loader, a 2007 John Deere which has a trade in value of $23,000, making the net cost $67,545.

The boom arm on the new skid loader will allow personnel access to areas the equipment can’t ordinarily be driven into. For example. The City has an agreement with the Northwest Middle School to keep the stream area in front of the middle school mowed, "we can rarely get in there to do it," Wieprecht said. "With a piece of equipment like this, we can extend the boom arm and get farther into that area, even when it’s not dry enough to drive the mower or the skid steer in there," he said.

The Public Works Department’s existing mower deck will actually be more functional with a higher flow hydraulic system of a newer skid loader, according to Wieprecht.