20020822 “Mayors consider an area council” By Mary Gail Hare, Sun Staff

20020822 “Mayors consider an area council” By Mary Gail Hare, Sun Staff

http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/carroll/bal-ca.towns22aug22.story?coll=bal%2Dlocal%2Dcarroll

Mayors consider an area council

Board of towns' leaders would work with county; 'Enormous untapped talent'

By Mary Gail Hare, Sun Staff, August 22, 2002

Representatives of Carroll's eight towns, buoyed by their solidarity on growth management, are looking to form a council of town governments to work directly with the county commissioners on regional issues such as transportation, development and education.

The proposed countywide council would include mayors; town council members; school officials; and representatives from police, fire and emergency services agencies.

"We have enormous untapped talent on our councils, and we represent one-third of the county's population," said Westminster Mayor Kevin E. Dayhoff. "A council would allow us input above and beyond the quarterly mayors' meeting."

The commissioners meet with the mayors four times a year, usually late in the afternoon. Often, job demands - nearly all the mayors have careers outside of town hall - keep town leaders from these daytime meetings.

"What gets accomplished in those meetings is up to the mayors," said Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier. "The agendas are largely fixed by the towns. We use the meetings as an opportunity to share information. We are always open to their concerns."

Hampstead Councilman Haven Shoemaker Jr., president of the Carroll chapter of the Maryland Municipal League, said he would use the league's framework to expand the mayors' meetings into a county council. The sessions - which would include other county departments and would be held more often and in the evenings - would operate as an arm of the league.

"It is wiser to build on MML," said Westminster Councilman Damian L. Halstad. "This is an organization with clout, stature and credibility."

Dayhoff introduced the concept Monday as town officials gathered to formally endorse growth-control measures that call for limiting or curtailing building permits in areas coping with water shortages or with crowded schools and roads.

But town officials decided that the council issue would be diffused if they included it in a letter to commissioners meant to detail their growth-control proposals. They decided to wait until next month to tackle the proposal.

The monthlong delay will give the mayors time to discuss the issue with their town councils and gather support.

"I think everybody will go for it," said Sykesville Mayor Jonathan S. Herman. "But, if it is not effective, people will lose interest. The effectiveness of this council is more important [than] what it is."

Mount Airy Town Council President Frank Johnson developed the towns' six-point growth-management strategy, which insists that the county plan with the towns in mind. He won support for the strategy from the other seven towns and from the Finksburg and Freedom area residents councils.

"We brought the county together on this issue that affects everybody," Johnson said. "We demonstrated the importance of corroboration, cooperation and standing together. The next step is long-term problem-solving."

Johnson told his municipal colleagues the next step is a county council that would include the county staff.

"We are all part of the same county," Johnson said. "What happens in one part of this county does have an effect on other parts. There is much more of a connection and a need for ongoing communication, a problem-solving approach that brings everybody to the table."

Halstad said that the towns have not had the best relationship with the county commissioners and that selling them on the idea could be difficult. Several candidates for county commissioner are members of the municipal league and were present at the signing.

"We need a board of commissioners that is sensitive and willing to listen," Halstad said. "This organization could fly once we have that. We can get ahead of the growth curve and participate in policy planning."

Shoemaker said he will add the council proposal to the league's meeting in Union Bridge on Sept. 19.

"This is an idea that is definitely worth exploring," Shoemaker said.

Labels: Carroll Co. Council of Govts COG, People Carroll Co. Shoemaker – Haven Shoemaker, MD Municipal League Carroll Co. Chap., Westminster Mayor 200105 200505 Kevin E. Dayhoff, Dayhoff press clippings, MD Municipal League

20020811 Law enforcement officers like Carroll

Law enforcement officers like Carroll

By Jamie Schmidt, Times Staff Writer

Click here for more Carroll County News: The Carroll County Times

August 11, 2002

Some say it's the schools. Others say it's aesthetic qualities. For whatever reason, hundreds of police officers who work throughout Maryland have chosen Carroll as home.

Lt. Terry Katz, commander of the Maryland State Police Westminster barrack, said that based on anecdotal evidence, he figures several hundred police officers in Carroll work outside the county.

"There are hundreds, from Howard, Anne Arundel, the FBI, DEA, Baltimore County and Baltimore City, people I see," he said. The state police has 250 officers in Carroll and around 80 of the Westminster barrack's 102 MSP officers live in the county, Katz said.

Cpl. Leonard Mays works at MSP's headquarters in Pikesville and lives in Hampstead. Mays grew up in Anne Arundel County and moved to Carroll in 1984 when he became a resident trooper at the Westminster barrack.

"I live in a rural setting and I like that," Mays said. "The street we live in is a deadend, so we don't have traffic blowing through."

Another officer, Leonard Armstrong, also hopes that Carroll will stay country. Armstrong, captain of the field operations bureau for MSP's Pikesville office, has lived in Silver Run for the last 18 years.

"I have no plans to move," he said. "There is farmland all around me, part of an agriculture preservation program, so there is no chance of major development."

Armstrong said that the lack of violent crime in Carroll is a contributing factor to why he stays. During the first six months of 2001, Carroll had 22 general robberies, Baltimore County had 717, and Baltimore City had 2,814, according to MSP uniform crime report figures. Also in that time, there were no murders in Carroll, 12 in Baltimore County and 137 in Baltimore City.

Armstrong also prefers Carroll's quiet.

"When you live in a big development in Anne Arundel county, you have a marked police car outside, it tends to draw people to the door saying 'I just have a question,' " Armstrong said. "There comes a time when you don't want that. In 18 years [in Carroll], I've had about five people knock on my door."

Major Tom Long with the Carroll County's sheriff's office said that 44 of the sheriff's office's 52 sworn officers live in Carroll, too. Long has lived in Carroll his entire life, even when he worked as an officer in Charles County, St. Mary's County and Queen Anne's County.

"It's an attractive place to live," Long said. "A lot of troopers live here because commuting isn't a problem, especially to Maryland State Police headquarters in Pikesville. And troopers like the education here - a child isn't a number."

Long said that Baltimore County police officers who reside in Carroll have Carroll's radio channel in their police cars so they could act on calls when driving home.

"We are adding all these extra eyes to the county," he said. "When you live in a neighborhood and there is a police car parked there, it enhances your neighborhood's public safety. But one disadvantage is that police officers might see things, but whatever they get involved in, the local municipal officers or troopers have to take care of it."

Long used to live in Westminster and now resides in Union Bridge.

"I live on a farm now and the only people who can see me would have to be in an airplane," he said. "But I have had people come to my house, pre-cell phone days, when there was an accident. I am one of the crazy ones - I am listed in the phone book. A police officer is often tapped for free legal advice."

Lt. Col. William Arrington, chief of the field operations bureau with the Maryland State Police, grew up in Baltimore City but said that when he chose to live in Carroll, he was looking for a better life for himself and his family. Arrington lives in Mount Airy and works at the MSP's Pikesville headquarters.

Arrington doesn't mind his 30-minute commute; he has known officers with hundreds of miles to commute every day.

"In my position, I have responsibility for the entire state," he said. "Anywhere could be home. When I considered places to live, I thought if you are within one hour of your assignment, then you are considered close."

He said that he found a better life for himself in Carroll.

"You have country living with the convenience of a metropolitan area," he said. "I wish there was a way to stop growth, but I don't know if that would be fair. It would be denying folks the same opportunity I was looking for."

©Carroll County Online 2002