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
Showing posts with label People Hagen-Kai Fred Co BOC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label People Hagen-Kai Fred Co BOC. Show all posts

Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Tentacle: WTE Derangement by Norman M. Covert February 5, 2009



Here’s a shout-out to Commissioner Kai J. Hagen, who needs a kind word from someone, anyone. His “noogies” have been few since objecting to the $323 million Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant proposed for Frederick County. Mr. Hagen should declare victory and admit he was “for it” before he was against it.

The Honorable Mr. Hagen took a roundhouse blow from The Gazette two editions ago in a story, yet to be reported by the local Daily Blather. The affable Mr. Hagen was guilty, reporter Sherry Greenfield recounted, of using his MacIntosh™ computer to scold his colleagues by email regarding the WTE.

Mr. Hagen wrote to colleagues and bantered with private citizens saying that county staff and a professional consultant had given them information regarding the WTE that amounted to “scientific fraud.”

Huge words for a rookie politician, who may not understand that words have meaning. When you write them down and hand them out, as in an email, they last forever. They are the ultimate example of recycling gone bad. Before you hit, “Send,” stew over it a bit.

It was a miscalculation by Mr. Hagen, whose winning electoral base may have disappeared, leaving him a minority constituency of “Groans.” His opposition campaign, including a cyber chat room, has yielded little information of substance other than a falling sky, like the fabled Chicken Little claimed.

Commissioner President Jan H. Gardner has gone the extra mile with her colleague, even to the point of accompanying him and Commissioner David Gray on a “fact-finding” trip to Boulder, CO, in June 2008. President Jan even dragged along Michael G. Marschner, director of the county Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management.


Read the entire column here: WTE Derangement by Norman M. Covert February 5, 2009

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=2999

20090205 TT
WTE Derangement by Norman M. Covert Feb 5 2009
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 29, 2008

20080219 Carroll County Commissioner Mike Zimmer Press Release: Waste to Energy and solid waste management deliberations

Carroll County Commissioner Mike Zimmer Press Release: Waste to Energy and solid waste management deliberations

PRESS RELEASE

February 20th, 2008

I have become concerned with certain advocacy I’ve observed regarding our Commissioner Board research and discussion of solid waste management. I’ve concluded that some members of our Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) have engaged in agenda based advocacy rather than factually based advocacy.

When the EAC presented their recommendations to the Board last November 15th, 2007, I expressed grave concerns about comments shared by an EAC member to our special assistants in a private briefing prior to the formal presentation. It would appear that my concerns about politicization by certain EAC members have become reality.

I have observed advocacy by individual EAC members that is not factually accurate and contributes negatively to a dialogue based decision making path. This is most unfortunate.

On the 13th day of December, we held a panel discussion meeting that included EAC members, staff and outside experts. The discussion at that time was very strong from all parties. I do not understand why some EAC members have chosen to depart from this sort of factually based interaction in favor of what I consider pure spin.

Based on emails I’ve received from those attending a recent meeting of the Carroll County Democrat Club I have concluded that EAC member Sher Horosko provided information that was not contextually accurate when she made a presentation to this group. EAC member Dan Andrews recently wrote in a letter to the editor of a local paper that a waste-to-energy facility would contribute to higher taxes in Carroll County.

I find absolutely no basis to support the claim that waste-to-energy facilities lead to higher taxes. Our current system of long haul transfer is actually one of the most expensive methods of trash disposal available to us. In a climate of rising fuel prices this is likely to get worse over time. I’m also gravely concerned with pollution associated with trucking our trash hundreds of miles away.

Once landfills in Virginia are occupied we may be forced to truck trash even greater distances with yet greater economic and environmental costs. The time is now for this Board of Commissioners to consider more thoughtful options.

I consider burning trash to create electricity to be a viable option. That doesn’t make it the sole option. There are positives and negatives associated with just about any decision that the Board of Commissioners make. I retain an open mind on the set of solution paths we might wish to take.

We have been working on this problem for many months in an open and transparent process. One of the decision points we may have to make is whether to join in a shared waste-to-energy facility with Frederick County. The current proposal is to build 1,500 tons per day facility to be located in Frederick County. Staff from both counties believes this would be a smart solution for our mutual long terms needs.

Staff and outside experts advise that 600 tons would meet current and future needs for Carroll County. They similarly target Frederick’s need at 900 tons per day. The chief advantage of joining together in a partnership of this kind would be to lower the cost per ton of burning the trash.

As a Carroll County Board of Commissioners we can only go so far with our research and deliberation into waste-to-energy as a joint project. My view is that the Frederick County Board of Commissioners must first invite us to join in this project. If no offer is made then we need to consider our other options which might include a stand alone waste-to-energy facility located in Carroll County. If the offer is made then we as a Board would have to consider the full implications of such a partnership and the particular technology being proposed.

There are perfectly legitimate reasons to either accept or reject the regional waste-to-energy offer should it be put on the table. The fear that it might raise our taxes is not one of them. I’ve included a recent letter dated 14th day of February from an official from Montgomery County regarding various costs associated with their waste disposal system. I believe this letter explains very clearly that waste-to-energy has not led to higher taxes or fees for them.

There are some individuals who in my view have an anti-waste-to-energy agenda. They are taking things out of context with Montgomery County’s figures in order to further this agenda.

Folks need to keep in mind that in Carroll County people (outside of municipalities) hire private contractors to pick up their trash and recycling and deliver it to our county transfer station and landfill. In Montgomery County the government picks the trash up in the most densely populated areas. They charge a system user fee to cover all services. In other words instead of having private citizens pay a private hauler to pick up trash and recyclables the government does it directly. This service still costs money and the workers who pick up the trash still have to be paid.

How’s this for irony? Our towns follow the same billing procedure as Montgomery County.

According to Mr. Locke’s letter, the cost associated with trash disposal has remained constant between pre and post use of waste-to-energy. He relates, “When compared to inflation, they have substantially declined.”

This is a very simple concept. For particular EAC members to attempt to make political hay by spinning these facts is completely inappropriate. Volunteer members of an appointed government body need to be held to a higher standard.

I’ll repeat my advice to our EAC members. Those who want to wage political campaigns should do so in the right context. Such opportunities include political clubs, advocacy groups, central committees of either party or running for office. Folks should not take advantage of a government appointed position with efforts to spin public opinion.

I have now lost faith in some of our EAC members to contribute in a helpful way to our deliberative process on waste-to-energy. That is most unfortunate for them, for the public and for the Board of Commissioners.

Michael D. Zimmer

Commissioner

CC: Commissioner Julia W. Gouge

Commissioner Dean L. Minnich

Steve Powell, Chief of Staff

Cindy Parr, Chief of Administrative Services

Vivian Laxton, Public Information Administrator

Mike Evans, Director of Public Works

Daniel Andrews, EAC

Robyn Gilden, EAC

Sher Horosko, EAC

Jim Johnson, EAC

Karen Merkle, EAC

Kimberly Petry, EAC

David Pyatt, EAC
Brian Rhoten, EAC

Christopher Spaur, EAC

Robin Davidov, Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority

Jan Gardner, Frederick County Commissioner

David Gray, Frederick County Commissioner

Kai John Hagen, Frederick County Commissioner

Charles A. Jenkins, Frederick County Commissioner

John (Lennie) Thompson, Jr., Frederick County Commissioner

Douglas Browning, Frederick County Manager

Michael Marschner, Frederick County Director of Utilities and Solid Waste Management

County Executive David Craig, Harford County

David Bliden, Executive Director, MACo

Daniel Locke, Montgomery County, Chief of the Division of Solid Waste Services

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

20061107 Frederick County Maryland General Election Results

Hat Tip and thanks to CJ

Registered Voters 126657 - Cards Cast 66825 52.76%

Num. Report Precinct 60 - Num. Reporting 60 100.00%

GOVERNOR / LT. GOVERNOR

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

66431

Times Blank Voted

394

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Ehrlich-Cox

REP

39482

59.43%

O'Malley-Brown

DEM

26122

39.32%

Boyd-Madigan

GRN

645

0.97%

Driscoll-Rothstein

POP

133

0.20%

Write-in Votes

49

0.07%

COMPTROLLER

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

63305

Times Blank Voted

3520

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


McCarthy, Anne M.

REP

35263

55.70%

Franchot, Peter

DEM

27931

44.12%

Write-in Votes

111

0.18%

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

65148

Times Blank Voted

1677

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Rolle, Scott L.

REP

39473

60.59%

Gansler, Douglas F.

DEM

25632

39.34%

Write-in Votes

43

0.07%

U.S. SENATOR

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

66173

Times Blank Voted

652

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Steele, Michael S.

REP

38314

57.90%

Cardin, Ben

DEM

26770

40.45%

Zeese, Kevin

GRN

1058

1.60%

Write-in Votes

31

0.05%

U.S. CONGRESS 06

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

65554

Times Blank Voted

1271

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Bartlett, Roscoe G.

REP

34355

52.41%

Duck, Andrew James

DEM

29538

45.06%

Kozak, Robert E.

GRN

1613

2.46%

Write-in Votes

48

0.07%

STATE SENATOR 03

Total

Number of Precincts

37

Precincts Reporting

37

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

37472

Times Blank Voted

1326

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Mooney, Alex X.

REP

19460

51.93%

Greenway, Candy

DEM

17917

47.81%

Write-in Votes

95

0.25%

STATE SENATOR 04

Total

Number of Precincts

23

Precincts Reporting

23

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

21959

Times Blank Voted

6068

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Brinkley, David R.

REP

21639

98.54%

Write-in Votes

320

1.46%

HOUSE OF DELEGATES 03B

Total

Number of Precincts

13

Precincts Reporting

13

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

14510

Times Blank Voted

637

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Weldon, Richard B. J

REP

8951

61.69%

Gilligan, Paul

DEM

5551

38.26%

Write-in Votes

8

0.06%

HOUSE OF DELEGATES 04B

Total

Number of Precincts

1

Precincts Reporting

1

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

1910

Times Blank Voted

150

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Elliott, Donald B.

REP

1212

63.46%

Schlauch, Timothy

DEM

697

36.49%

Write-in Votes

1

0.05%

HOUSE OF DELEGATES 03A

Total

Number of Precincts

24

Precincts Reporting

24

100.0 %

Vote For

2

Total Votes

43352

Times Blank Voted

385

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

3180


Hecht, Sue

DEM

12530

28.90%

Clagett, Galen Ronal

DEM

11225

25.89%

Hogan, Patrick N

REP

10818

24.95%

Naylor, Linda S.

REP

8753

20.19%

Write-in Votes

26

0.06%

HOUSE OF DELEGATES 04A

Total

Number of Precincts

22

Precincts Reporting

22

100.0 %

Vote For

2

Total Votes

41290

Times Blank Voted

799

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

9046


Stull, Paul S.

REP

16302

39.48%

Bartlett, Joseph R.

REP

15165

36.73%

Hays, Maggi Margaret

DEM

9700

23.49%

Write-in Votes

123

0.30%

COUNTY COMMISSIONER

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

5

Total Votes

278818

Times Blank Voted

1712

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

46747


Gardner, Jan H.

DEM

41074

14.73%

Gray, David P.

REP

35309

12.66%

Hagen, Kai John

DEM

34773

12.47%

Jenkins, Charles A.

REP

32438

11.63%

Thompson, John L. Jr

REP

32160

11.53%

Floyd, Richard M.

DEM

29010

10.40%

Cady, Mike

REP

26954

9.67%

Lovell, John R. Jr.

REP

26939

9.66%

Wolf, Ron

DEM

19665

7.05%

Write-in Votes

496

0.18%

JUDGE SPEC APPEAL AT LG

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

54288

Times Blank Voted

12537

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


YES Hollander, Ellen

48676

89.66%

NO Hollander, Ellen

5612

10.34%

STATE'S ATTORNEY

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

64001

Times Blank Voted

2824

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Smith, Charlie

REP

33463

52.29%

Poffenbarger, Bill

DEM

30507

47.67%

Write-in Votes

31

0.05%

CLERK CIRCUIT COURT

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

62815

Times Blank Voted

4010

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Dalton, Sandra K.

REP

39398

62.72%

Gibbs, Richard O.

DEM

23398

37.25%

Write-in Votes

19

0.03%

REGISTER OF WILLS

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

61524

Times Blank Voted

5301

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Fifer, Virginia P.

REP

37627

61.16%

Finefrock, Sarah E.

DEM

23858

38.78%

Write-in Votes

39

0.06%

JUDGE ORPHANS COURT

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

3

Total Votes

152479

Times Blank Voted

5965

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

30101


May, Tim

REP

35187

23.08%

Tregoning, John M.

REP

33438

21.93%

Grimes, James S.

REP

30853

20.23%

Hines, Fern I.

DEM

28242

18.52%

Norman, John H.

DEM

24587

16.12%

Write-in Votes

172

0.11%

SHERIFF

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

64113

Times Blank Voted

2712

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


Jenkins, Chuck

REP

37989

59.25%

Tobery, Charles I Jr

DEM

26023

40.59%

Write-in Votes

101

0.16%

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

4

Total Votes

183708

Times Blank Voted

12826

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

32288


Borsa, Bonnie Smith

32461

17.67%

Schaden, Mike

28326

15.42%

Smith, Jean

27782

15.12%

Boffman, Daryl A.

24219

13.18%

Mansfield, Leslie

20415

11.11%

Fish, Angie L.

18734

10.20%

Duck, Whitney McDyer

16844

9.17%

Switzer, Jonathan

14634

7.97%

Write-in Votes

293

0.16%

COUNTY QUESTION A

Total

Number of Precincts

60

Precincts Reporting

60

100.0 %

Vote For

1

Total Votes

57450

Times Blank Voted

9375

Times Over Voted

0

Number Of Under Votes

0


For the Referred Law

37580

65.41%

Against the Referred

19870

34.59%