Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Belle Grove Square

Belle Grove Square 20May2023

Another view of the clock tower

Another view of the clock tower. 20May2023

USA Today: Is honey good for you? Health benefits and comparing it to sugar

Bees are, well, the bee’s knees. They are master pollinators. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, these busy pollinators “contribute to 35 percent of the world’s total crop production, pollinating 87 of 115 leading food crops worldwide.” 

And, they create honey – a sweet, sticky, natural substance that they make as food for themselves. It also provides all kinds of benefits for humans. Sweet! ...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2023/05/20/is-honey-good-for-you-health-benefits-sugar-daily/70206040007/ 

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Westminster Flower and Jazz Festival

The Westminster Recreation and Parks Department stopped for a nutritious doughnut break during the Westminster Flower and Jazz Festival. 13May3023

Saturday, May 06, 2023

Re-elect Kevin Dayhoff to the Westminster City Council May 9th, 2023


Westminster Common Council candidate: Kevin Dayhoff

This spring three Westminster Common Council seats are up for election on May 9, 2023. Westminster council members serve four-year terms. The seats are currently held by council members Kevin E. Dayhoff, Ann Gilbert, and Gregory Pecoraro.

For this election in Westminster, four candidates have filed for the non-partisan election. All three of the incumbents, Kevin E. Dayhoff, Ann Gilbert, and Gregory Pecoraro, would like to be re-elected. One challenger, Scott Willens, has filed.


Here are Kevin Dayhoff’s responses.

The attached photo is dated April 10, 2019 courtesy of Kelly Heck.

Biographical information: Name, age, occupation, election experience:

Kevin E. Dayhoff, 69.

Occupation - Profession: Writer and artist; 19-years as a newspaper reporter – since 2004; fire, police and military chaplain; and retired farmer - 25 years farming 1974-1999. Two years of college in which I concurrently served in the Marine Corps Reserves 1971-1973. 

Election experience: 

Ten-years as Westminster elected official. I served as the Westminster mayor from 2001-2005. I served as a council member from 1999-2001 and 2019-present. I have served as a state, county and local government appointed official in various agriculture and environmental capacities since 1978. I served on the Maryland Municipal League Board of Directors annually for five consecutive years, from June 2000 to May 2005. It is a statewide election in which one is elected by other municipal elected officials. 

Why are you running?

I would like to take another turn working for the community with the Westminster staff and elected officials. It has been an honor to serve the last four years with Councilmembers Ann Gilbert and Greg Pecoraro. Along with Mayor Mona Becker, Councilmembers Dan Hoff, and Tony Chiavacci - we have a unique opportunity to take Westminster to that next step into the future and I would like to be a part of that.  I am a Westminster native. I love Westminster. I know the community, its citizens, its history, and traditions – and have a keen eye for some future changes. I offer experience, energy, accessibility, vision, a fresh perspective, new ideas, along with fiscally prudent and socially responsible leadership. I am convinced I can make a contribution and make a positive difference. 

What is the most important issue in Westminster? 

Complexity – the ever-increasing complexity of governance and business. It seems like nothing is simple anymore. We must re-imagine customer service, approaches in communication, and re-invent the delivery of municipal goods and services. In Westminster, we are meeting all these challenges, however complexity is a constant concern.

Evolving federal and state mandates, judicial decisions, changing zoning dynamics, complicated information dissemination systems, the evolution of service delivery performance evaluations, and macro-economic challenges complicate the everyday delivery of municipal services. Everything takes an incredible amount of time, costs a great deal more, and necessitates the increased time management requirements of staff.

Whether it is the need to replace our old parking meters which have hardly changed since the late 1940s, strengthening and enforcing our property maintenance codes; upgrading and maintaining aging infrastructure, updating our zoning and parking regulations, or helping a business to get established, it is frustrating to not be able to keep the ball moving to the finish line in a timely manner. 

Add to this mix the challenges of addressing the recruitment and retention of highly qualified employees – especially police officers. Of special note is the new era of employee benefits. The evolving workplace also increasingly complicates human resources operations. This, in particular, impacts the retention and recruitment of public works employees and Westminster police officers. Record inflation, new mandates and regulations, wage and price pressures, economic volatility, and international and national current events continue to increase the complexity of governance and cause additional impediments in the retention and recruitment of highly qualified employees. 

What is the best way for Westminster to work with community partners such as McDaniel College and MAGIC?

The best way for Westminster to work with community partners such as McDaniel College, MAGIC, the Carroll Arts Center, Carroll County government, the Chamber of Commerce, Carroll Hospital, Carroll Community College, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, our Delegation to Annapolis and our other civic partners, is to meet and network frequently. It is important to designate one or two individuals to maintain a direct liaison with each of our partners. We do this well with a group of talented directors, and Westminster’s council committee-driven form of deliberative government.  

Fortunately, our community is currently benefiting from having some of the best talent in history to have leadership positions in these various civic partners. Individually and collectively the elected leadership and staff of the City of Westminster genuinely enjoys working with our partners including McDaniel President Dr. Julia Jasken, MAGIC Executive Director Graham Dodge, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners and our Delegation to Annapolis, Mike McMullin, the president of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, Carroll Hospital president Garrett Hoover, Carroll Arts Center Executive Director Lynne Griffith, the president of Carroll Community College Dr. James Ball, Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees, and State’s Attorney Haven Shoemaker.

What is your assessment of zoning in Westminster? Would you advocate for changing it or leaving it the same?

This is not our grandmother’s Westminster, and it is imperative that we thoughtfully and deliberately upgrade and update our legacy zoning and parking regulations that date back to November of 1979. I especially dislike Euclidean zoning and look forward to more overlay zones and increasing the ability of the Westminster planning staff to use administrative adjustments in order to apply common sense solutions to an ever-changing business and housing environment.  

What resources should be available to new businesses in Westminster and how rapidly should Westminster be developing? 

Recently we have added some exceptional talent to the Westminster Department of Planning and Community Development. The recent election of Westminster Councilmember Dan Hoff has also been quite helpful. Mr. Hoff has years of business experience and served for many years on the county planning and zoning commission. 

The City of Westminster also benefits from the fact that three of the current six council members are self-employed and own small businesses. Add to this some new approaches to communications and service delivery, such as providing our business and residential customers with checklists and information pamphlets to aid in navigating the complexity of municipal, county, state and federal regulations, will go a long way to help stimulate a strong economic development vibe for the city. How rapidly Westminster grows will be constrained by market forces and by the availability of finite amounts of water allocation. 
####
+++ Dayhoff Soundtrack +++

Kevin Dayhoff for Westminster Authority Caroline Babylon, Treasurer.

Carroll County Times: www.tinyurl.com/KED-CCT
Baltimore Sun Carroll Eagle: http://tinyurl.com/KED-Sun

Facebook Dayhoff for Westminster: https://www.facebook.com/DayhoffforWestminster/
Facebook: Kevin Earl Dayhoff: https://www.facebook.com/kevindayhoff

Dayhoff for Westminster: www.kevindayhoff.city
Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net
Dayhoff Carroll: www.kevindayhoff.org

Tuesday, May 02, 2023

Kevin Dayhoff, candidate for the Westminster Common Council, asks to be re-elected

  Kevin Dayhoff, candidate for the Westminster Common Council, asks to be re-elected

 April 20, 2023 – Westminster MD - Hi, I am Kevin Dayhoff. I would like to be re-elected to one of the three seats available on the Westminster Common Council in the May 9th, 2023 election. 

 It has been an honor to serve the last four years with Councilmembers Ann Gilbert and Greg Pecoraro. Along with Mayor Mona Becker, Councilmembers Dan Hoff, and Tony Chiavacci - we work for everyone in our community.

 This election offers us an opportunity to reflect upon our unique coalition in collective service to our community. We pride ourselves on our inclusive relationship with all our citizens, friends, and neighbors. And we work well with other local, county, state and nationally elected and appointed officials.


 This successful collaboration has been a tremendous partner in progress with the citizens of Westminster. We have worked together on everything from critical infrastructure maintenance and improvements - to common sense governance, quality-of-life public policies, public safety, community recreation opportunities, environmental initiatives, and other civic engagement events.


 Councilmembers Dayhoff, Gilbert and Pecoraro are the team, long with Westminster Mayor Mona Becker, and Councilmembers Tony Chiavacci, and Dan Hoff that have decades of community involvement. Three of the current Westminster elected officials own small businesses.


 We celebrate our community’s diversity. We serve all residents of Westminster. We build community, advocate for public safety, promote the historic downtown business district, economic development and local employment, and we will take our community into the future with common sense solutions and steady, uniform, and consistent leadership.


 We will take our community into the future with common sense solutions and steady, uniform, thoughtful and consistent leadership. We are excited about the opportunity to continue working together for Westminster. In the last several years we have gotten a lot accomplished with fresh new ideas based upon decades of experience and leadership in Westminster.

 It has been an honor to serve with Mayor Mona Becker, Councilmembers Dan Hoff, Tony Chiavacci, Ann Gilbert and Greg Pecoraro. However, there is still lots of work to do. I would like to roll up my sleeves, work hard, and put all of those experiences to work and do it again.

 We have been working hard to thoughtfully put together a relentlessly positive and kind campaign. If you have questions for us –  txt me at 410-259-6403 or email me at kevindayhoff@gmail.com [April 20, 2023]

 Related: Dayhoff Westminster: https://www.facebook.com/DayhoffforWestminster/posts/pfbid02FR9LUZCSLtehLKfESgu4qawBmBcWX9HmqWTMB4X44oJgNY8WfGvioNURbuB45Eedl

https://kevindayhoff.wordpress.com/2023/05/01/on-may-9th-2023-four-candidates-will-vie-for-three-seats-on-the-westminster-md-common-council/ 

 https://kevindayhoff.wordpress.com/2023/05/01/on-may-9th-2023-four-candidates-will-vie-for-three-seats-on-the-westminster-md-common-council/

+++ Dayhoff Westminster +++

Kevin Dayhoff for Westminster Authority Caroline Babylon, Treasurer.

+++ Dayhoff Soundtrack +++

Kevin Dayhoff for Westminster Authority Caroline Babylon, Treasurer.

Carroll County Times: www.tinyurl.com/KED-CCT
Baltimore Sun Carroll Eagle: http://tinyurl.com/KED-Sun

Facebook Dayhoff for Westminster: https://www.facebook.com/DayhoffforWestminster/
Facebook: Kevin Earl Dayhoff: https://www.facebook.com/kevindayhoff

Dayhoff for Westminster: www.kevindayhoff.city
Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net
Dayhoff Carroll: www.kevindayhoff.org