Former Main Street Manager and Current Economics Director Jay Meashey and City Manager Jim Wieprecht created the list of recommendations. They used the suggested format by the Department of Housing and Community Developments (DHCD) for Main Street programs as well as staff surveys, conversations with Main Street business owners and examples from other Main Street Towns.

The recommendations were designed with the assumption that Main Street Taneytown would potentially one day achieve standalone status as its own 501c3 with its own funding streams.

The recommendations range from adopting ordinances to specifically outlining the relationship between the Main Street Program and the City to how the program will be funded. They cover the actual size of the Main Street area and the sub-committees under the Main Street advisory boards’ control.

A big part of the program is the preservation of historic buildings in the downtown area with an emphasis on improving the appearance of the downtown area and promoting tourism as well as walkability of the City.

Previously a survey was sent to the Main Street businesses that was designed to understand where local businesses felt they were and where they wished to go under the program’s guidance. Although not many businesses replied to this survey Wieprecht pointed out that the Comprehensive Plan survey could also benefit the Main Street program by identifying what all the residents want to see from their City not just the Main Street business owners.

Councilman Christopher Tillman suggested the council consider looking at where the program is headed and what they really wanted to do before looking at each recommendation alone. "I think the first question is why do we want to be a Main Street Community." he asked. "What do we get out of this?"

He pointed out past comments where council members wondered if the City is even in a place to be in the Main Street program right now. "We have to create the vision and what the mission of the program is before we can start moving," he suggested.

This comment aligns with one of DHCD’s main suggestions where they encourage all participants to have 80% of the Main Street framework in place before the City hands control over to the board. With this in mind, the council agreed to have a workshop in the third week of January to discuss, in fine detail, the Main Street program and its future in Taneytown.