Committee seeks to preserve house in Mountain Lake Park

“Their concern is that instead of our getting rid of the little white house up at Leo Martin Park, which was our tentative thoughts about a year ago, they have another opinion about that,” explained Mountain Lake Park Mayor Don Sincell. “They feel that it has historic significance to the point that perhaps it should be saved. And, they have ideas about how the building could be used...”

Mayor Sincell then gave the floor to Mark Stutzman, who represented the committee of people interested in saving the building.

“We had met a couple times up at the site of the building and we feel that it could be saved rather than taken down,” said Stutzman.

He also provided a packet that included an overview of the reasons why the building should be preserved to the council.

“One of the key features of it is that it is pretty much the first thing you will see as you turn down G Street, and the sign directs you into the historic district of Mountain Lake Park. That’s the sign that they are directing you to turn,” added Stutzman.

He proposed that the house be converted into a meeting space.

“Say there’s an event happening for Mountain Lake Park; it’s a great place to meet,” said Stutzman. “It could potentially have a public space, and it could also have amenities ... it could have two private rooms on the first floor, along with the public room, a commercially approved kitchen, or at least approved by the health department that would be usable for a catering event.”

In other business:

Following Stutzman’s presentation, the mayor addressed the agenda for the evening, starting with the financial reports.

“Lois and I met with Shane Grady, our accountant representing our accountant firm, to try to-part of the reason for our meeting was to clear up a couple of things in our financials that we did not understand,” said Sincell. “I think we reasonably accomplished that.

“In revenue, again, we are $9,000 over what we thought we would get in real property tax. ... Our earnings on our investments ... we were hoping for at least $3,000 for the whole year. We are already at $14,000, so that is a really good number.”

Following the financials and a brief GCM report, the mayor gave an update on the parks.

“With the Bethel Project, we’ve kind of set the date for the dedication of that building, and that will push us all — the contractors and whoever we have working on the project,” said Sincell. “Sept. 23, 1900, is the day that building was dedicated in Oakland by the trustees and the congregation, so we are setting Sept. 23 of 2024, 124 years to the day, to rededicate that new structure.”

Mayor Sincell also noted that they received $1,000 from the DAR chapter.

“The State Regent came up here right here, and we took a tour of the Bethel Church, also the museum,” continued Sincell. “We are going to do everything we can to get folks here all the way up to the governor of Maryland. He has designated 2024 as his personal campaign, a year to focus on civil rights. So, I’m hoping this is something he would be interested in coming to. And I should know within the next 30 days if that is going to happen.”

The council also provided an update on Veterans Park. Pickleball is underway for both men’s and women’s groups.

“They bring their own nets down to play, and they invited me to play one day and I did that,” said Mayor Sincell. “We have professional nets ordered, and we ordered them about six or seven weeks ago. They said it would take about 14 to get them here.”

The mayor also announced that the Maryland Municipal League Allegany/Garrett chapter will be holding its legislative dinner next Wednesday evening in Frostburg.

The next MLP town hall meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5.