Mount Airy election results are in

Mount Airy election results are in: Strong, Blais elected to council Rockinberg chosen mayor.

By Kevin Dayhoff May 4, 2010 http://tinyurl.com/397w5ow

(Also see: Rockinberg becomes Mt. Airy's fourth mayor in 15 months Blais, Strong win council positions By Kevin Dayhoff http://tinyurl.com/2a62rs5 in http://www.explorecarroll.com/)

Out of the 5,657 registered voters in the small town of about 10,000 citizens, a total number of 1434 Mount Airy citizens cast their votes at the fireman's carnival grounds activities building on Twin Arch Road in Mount Airy on Monday.

Up for grabs were two council seats and the mayor’s office. Each town council member is paid $4,000 per year and the mayor is paid $8,500 a year. It was well past midnight before the results of the Mount Airy elections became known.

After the votes were tallied, newcomer Scott Strong, 38, led the field with 940 votes for one of the council seats. He will be joined by David Blais, 42, who garnered 855 votes.

The third council candidate, incumbent Chris Everich, 49, received 651 votes. The other council incumbent, Gary Nelson, choose not to run for re-election.

Patrick Rockinberg, 47, bested Wendi Peters, 46, 768 to 658 votes, respectively, to lead the municipality for the next four years.

Peters, who is currently a town councilwomen has two years remaining on her current term. She has served as an elected or appointed official for over 20-years and her father and grandfather had previously served on the town council

Mayor Peter Helt, who was voted in as mayor by the council members on Dec. 7, 2009 after the council voted out former Mayor David Pyatt, chose not to stand for election for mayor. Mayor Pyatt had taken the place of former Mayor Frank Johnson Jr., who was elected in 2006 and resigned in February 2009.

In 2009, a total of three citizens took turns in the mayor’s office in a year of public bickering and disagreement. In the last several years, Mount Airy has stayed in the news for political turmoil and intrigue, allegations of ethics violations, quarrels over growth and annexation, recreation, and water.

While issues such as the town budget, local schools, parks and recreation opportunities, recycling and trash removal were mentioned; growth, water, development, and annexation were the main items of concern on the minds of most voters and the emphasis by all the candidates.

Rockinberg, moved to the town 13 years ago, currently serves as the vice-chair of the Mount Airy planning and zoning commission.

In the March 31 League of Woman Voters candidates forum, he emphasized that he will meet with citizens every Saturday in the mayor’s office to discuss citizen concerns.

He furthermore said that he will greatly rely upon the 2007 town survey “with an overwhelming 44% response,” that he spearheaded as the Chairman of the Growth and Development Task Force.

According to his campaign literature, Strong has “21 years of business experience working in the private sector as a government contractor supporting all aspects for multiple $100+ million dollar programs,” has lived in Mount Airy for 10 years.

Strong stated that he “could make a difference in shaping policy and managing growth thereby positively benefiting not only the businesses and the town's economy…

“Mount Airy needs to be a distinct community bordered by existing agricultural farmland that protects our watershed areas rather than having our town turn into the next Gaithersburg, Germantown, or Frederick.

“I also want to work more closely with county governments and think we can have Mount Airy prosper without needing to have residential developers growing not only the population base, but also increasing the burden to existing infrastructures that are currently maintainable for the residents today, wrote Strong on his Facebook page.

Former Mayor Pyatt nominated Blais at the March 8 town nominations meeting, by noting that “he earned his Eagle Scout badge from Mount Airy’s Troop 460, graduated from Linganore High School and has served honorably in the U.S. Air Force for 24 years since 1986.”

In a candidate’s questionnaire for the Frederick Gazette, Blais noted, “I believe the town should concentrate on more commercial growth versus residential.

“The town still has over 400 homes in the pipeline to be built. We need to look hard at infill development before approving any new annexations or outer development. I will not support any commercial growth that could damage the vitality of our downtown Main Street.”

20100504 sdosmKED Mount Airy election results Carroll Co Dist Mt Airy, Elections 20100503 Mount Airy, History Mount Airy MD, People Peters-Wendi Mt Airy Council

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/05/mount-airy-election-results-are-in.html

For more information and analysis, see my The Tentacle, www.thetentacle.com, column tomorrow.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff

Mount Airy MD election results are in: Strong, Blais elected to council Rockinberg chosen mayor By K Dayhoff http://tinyurl.com/397w5ow

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