19990413 More candidates file for May elections By KEVIN GRIFFIS, Times Staff Writer

19990413 More candidates file for May elections By KEVIN GRIFFIS, Times Staff Writer

http://www.carrollcounty.com/news/tue3.htm

First published in the Carroll County Times Tuesday, April 13, 1999

More candidates file for May elections

Chapin won't seek re-election in Westminster

By KEVIN GRIFFIS, Times Staff Writer

There were only a few last-second filings Monday for Carroll's May municipal elections.

Most of the action took place in Hampstead and Taneytown, while in Westminster a city councilman who had waffled about whether he would run again decided to forgo another race.

In a town that has what could become the most interesting mayoral race this year, county political newcomers Keith A. Heindel and Denise Justus both filed to run for Hampstead city council seats the last day they could, said town clerk Pat Warner.

That brings the total candidates for the two open seats to five. Incumbents Lawrence H. Hentz Jr. and Stephen A. Holland and challenger Steven Balaz have also declared for the race. Balaz ran and lost in 1997.

Mayor Chris Nevin filed for re-election April 8, Warner said. He will battle councilman Wayne H. Thomas for Hampstead's top spot.

Nevin ousted incumbent C. Clinton Becker by running on a slow-growth platform in 1995. The mayor, though, has taken heat recently for approving a 66-condominium development in the Roberts Field housing development.

Thomas has served on the city council since 1991 and was re-elected in 1997.

In Taneytown, Henry C. Heine Jr. is running unopposed for mayor, while at the last moment Bobby Wales joined Daryl Hale and incumbent Brian Long in the race for two city council seats.

Westminster incumbent councilman Stephen R. Chapin had said he would play it down to the wire before making a decision on whether or not he would run for re-election. He said he was waiting to find out whether another fiscal conservative would file. That didn't happen, but Chapin still decided not to run again.

Chapin said he's become an advocate for term limits. It's time for some new blood, he said. Chapin, a self-described fiscal conservative and eight-year council veteran, said he hopes someone else steps forward on the council to watch the town's pennies.

There are only four candidates running for three open seats in Westminster.

In 1995, five people ran for three council seats and the city experienced the lowest election-day turnout of any municipality in the county.

City officials attributed the low turnout and dearth of election day choices in 1995 to a lack of hot-button issues and have said the same about this year's race.

Incumbents Suzanne Albert and Gregory Pecoraro are running with challengers Kevin Dayhoff and Frank Wagner.

New Windsor has three open seats and five candidates have filed to run. Councilmen Paul Garvey, Ronnie Blacksten and Terry Petry are running against last-minute filers Samuel Pierce and Kevin Null.

Potential candidates in Union Bridge, a town that passed a water rate hike in January, have until 4 p.m. today to declare their candidacy. As of Monday afternoon, only incumbents Mayor Perry L. Jones Jr. and Councilmen Bret D. Grossnickle and Donald Wilson had filed.

At the Sykesville Town Council meeting held Monday night, town council members William R. Hall, Michael Kasnia, Jeannie Nichols and Michael H. Burgoyne announced they will seek re-election. They will, however, by challenged by five other candidates. Three full-term seats [four years] and one partial-term seat [two-years] will be up for grabs. Each candidate must have been nominated in person at the meeting in order to be declared as an offical candidate.

The other candiates nominated are Charles B. Mullins, Scott Hollenbeck, Constance Lee Higgins, Cynthia DeBari Campbell and Garth Adams.