Good policy should not have a party label. When something works, brings common sense to government, and makes life easier for taxpayers, it does not matter who thought of it first.
That is why I am paying attention to what is happening across the state line in Pennsylvania. In November 2023, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, launched a program called PAyback. It was described as a first-in-the-nation money-back guarantee for state permits, licenses, and certifications.
Under the program, state agencies cataloged every approval they issue and set clear, standard processing times for each application type. The Department of Environmental Protection alone identified 784 distinct permits or licenses, while statewide the total reached 2,482 separate government approvals. At launch, about 70 percent of Pennsylvania-issued permits, licenses, and certifications were eligible for refunds. If an agency misses its published deadline, the applicant can claim a full refund of the application fee through payback.pa.gov.
The results have been remarkable. Average processing time for business filings dropped from 14 days to one day. Doctors’ licenses dropped from 43 days to five. Pharmacist licenses went from 20 days to four, and nursing licenses dropped from 25 days to six. In fall 2025, the Department of Environmental Protection announced it had eliminated its longstanding permit backlog entirely.
What is most telling, however, is that as of early 2026, only five refunds have been issued across the entire state. The point of a guarantee is not to hand out cash. It is to put the incentive in the right place. Pennsylvania paired the guarantee with staffing, technology, funding, and procedural reforms, and public administration scholar Donald Moynihan studied the program and credited its success to public targets that motivated personnel and created accountability. The lesson is simple: when deadlines are public and enforceable, government organizes itself to meet them.
This approach has earned recognition across the political spectrum. The program won a 2024 StateScoop 50 Award for State IT Innovation of the Year. City Journal, published by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, analyzed the results, concluded that Pennsylvania went from one of the worst permitting environments in the country to one of the best, and recommended that other states study it. Other states are copying it: New Jersey’s governor recently launched similar reforms by executive order, and Iowa legislators have proposed similar permit transparency measures.
I want to adapt this same common-sense idea for Talbot County permitting.
As the former Easton Town Council President and a candidate for Talbot County Council, I talk to local residents every day about their interactions with county government. On the campaign trail recently, I spoke with a Talbot County resident who owns 20 acres and wanted to give a family member two acres to build a house. When the family inquired with the county, they reported being told it could take roughly 18 months before they could break ground.
A young family with children cannot budget around an 18-month delay. Families and small businesses need a system built on three basic principles: affordability, transparency, and predictability.
Predictability is the signature element here. Predictability allows people to budget and plan. Families and small businesses can plan around a published, reliable review timeline; they cannot plan around a black box. At the county level, we should publish firm, public review timelines for county permits, and if the permitting office misses its own published deadline, refund the applicant’s fee.
Let me be clear about what this proposal is, and what it is not. This is not a knock on county staff. The department is full of hard-working individuals who care a lot about this community. The county’s newer permitting software has already improved things. The guarantee builds on existing progress; the county is already improving, and this is how to finish the job.
We must also design it the right way: with staff input from the start, using existing records and automation so it does not add workload or paperwork for our employees. That has to be a design requirement, not an afterthought.
If elected, I would propose this initiative and work to build it alongside my council colleagues and county staff. Published timelines paired with a fee refund guarantee will give our residents the predictability they deserve while honoring the dedicated work already underway. When a good idea works, we should not care where it came from. We should just put it to work for Talbot County.
Frank Gunsallus is the former Town Council President of Easton and a candidate for Talbot County Council.
14 Responses
I really like this idea, Frank. As someone who lives here in Talbot County, I’ve seen firsthand how frustrating it can be when you’re trying to get something done and you don’t know how long the process is going to take. It’s not about blaming the people who work for the county — it’s about making the system work better for everyone.
Giving residents and small businesses clear expectations and holding the process accountable to those timelines just makes sense. Being able to plan your life, your family, or your business around a reliable timeline is incredibly important. I appreciate you looking at something that has worked elsewhere and thinking about how we can bring that same common-sense approach to Talbot County.
You are right Zach, but Republican Chuck Callahan, current Talbot Council President, promised us twelve years ago that he would deliver a 10 day turn around time for permits. And still we wait. Permitting in our county with its extensive shoreline is a very complex task. By all means we should do the best job possible, but not expect miracles.
Thank you Mr Gunsallus. This is the type of leadership that keeps our county lean and agile.
The article makes a compelling case that good policy should rise above party labels. Talbot County residents deserve that same level of predictability. Families and small businesses cannot plan around opaque, months‑long delays, and the example from Pennsylvania shows that transparency paired with a money‑back guarantee can drive real change.
Gunsallus’s support for adapting this model locally reflects a practical, resident‑focused approach: publish firm timelines, refund fees when deadlines are missed, and build the system with staff input so it improves service without adding burdens. When a policy works, the origin doesn’t matter — what matters is putting it to work for the community.
A refreshing change to see a well reasoned , articulate article , highlighting the value and virtue of good ideas relating to responsible governance
This is exactly the results oriented solution and forward thinking that we need in Talbot county!
Common sense approach! Exactly the kind of problem-solving a community can build upon that benefits everyone. Working across the aisle is key to a good government at every level and something that stopped in the 90’s and needs a book, not an article, to explain. One program, one step at a time can make it happen again, thank you for this can-do attitude, let’s build on the positive and take the advice of this forward thinker.
I hope he will be the torch carrier with bridging together a smaller gap between Democrats and Republicans. We’ve got to start somewhere and it’s amazing that he has gone out on a limb to recognize this.
Thank you for your willingness to set the party first mentality aside and show that you will work for ALL residents of this county. It takes a strong and fair candidate to say it doesn’t matter which party thought of something first, what matters is how it benefits the constituents. You have shown integrity, initiative, and ability to see bigger issues and how they impact us locally and now that you will represent all citizens fairly. You have my vote!
There is a common saying, “What gets measured gets managed.” I agree standards should be set for county permitting and know experience that the time between submission of an application and approval of a permit will be reduced. When standards are set workers will typically do everything in their power to meet them. This the best way operate and manage an organization.
Common sense is an American quality and should supersede party lines. You have my vote, Frank! Thanks for thinking outside the box!
A Guarantee Is Not a Plan
Frank Gunsallus is right that good ideas have no party. I said the same this month when I credited Sheriff Joe Gamble, a Republican, in my piece on the penny tax. (Republican Boss Wilcoxon slammed me for giving a hat-tip to the Sheriff.) So welcome to the middle, Frank. Now let’s talk about getting something done there.
Start with his own evidence. By his count, Pennsylvania’s PAyback program issued five refunds in more than two years. The refund didn’t fix anything. Pennsylvania paired it with staffing, technology and funding, and it cataloged all 2,482 of its approvals before promising a single deadline. That was a governor directing agencies he controls. The guarantee was the ribbon; the staff and money were the package.
Talbot County is not Pennsylvania, and the Council is not a governor. Take his own example: a family giving two acres of a 20-acre farm to a relative. That’s a subdivision, with a sketch plan, a preliminary plat and a final plat. The Health Department must test whether the soil can take a septic system, under state law, and on some sites only in the wet season. Near the water, state Critical Area rules apply. A county fee refund doesn’t move the water table. Much of that 18 months may not sit on any county clock.
So are our offices ready to meet a published deadline? How many reviewers do Permits and Inspections and Planning and Zoning have? How many vacancies? How long does each permit actually take? None of it is published. Pennsylvania measured first.
Permit fees also pay the reviewers. Refunding them when an understaffed office falls behind just cuts its budget further. Mr. Gunsallus is running on no new taxes, so where do the staff and technology come from?
Then there’s the twelve-year question. In 2014, Chuck Callahan’s first campaign newsletter promised to “make it a requirement that a permit be approved or rejected with a written explanation within 10 working days.” Mr. Callahan has sat on the Council ever since and is its President today. He and Mr. Gunsallus share a slate. Why hasn’t their own party delivered?
And leadership. A permit fix takes a council that works together. As Easton Town Council President, Mr. Gunsallus was overruled 4–1 by his own council. The Star Democrat said he had “repeatedly alienated his fellow council members.” He tried to delay Easton’s campaign-finance disclosure law, then promised Talbot “a more open government.” Easton voters, who knew him best, replaced him by more than two to one.
Good ideas have no party. They do have a budget, a staff, and someone accountable for results. I’d measure what we have, staff it honestly, publish real timelines, and hold ourselves to them. Meet me in the middle.
Brian Naranjo is a Democratic candidate for Talbot County Council.
Trump is so unpopular that Republicans are running away from him. I think Mr. Gunsallus’s happy talk letter is an example of that.
Trump, said: “…in state after state, the Democrat establishment has been overthrown and replaced by crazed lunatics and radicals.” He’s also called for jailing all Democrats.
The local Republican leader, Congressman Harris, said, “The Democrat party is now being infiltrated with truly communist elements. I think Americans are going to realize that the Democrats are truly the crazy party now, and the country can’t tolerate that.”
Now Mr. Gunsallus, a committed Republican, writes he’s going to sing “Kumbaya” as we solve problems together. He totally ignores the hatred and vitriol heaped upon Democrats by his political party. No hint of remorse for what his party has done. And all the Republicans writing in support of Mr. Gunsallus’s conversion fail to acknowledge the toxicity started decades ago by Newt Gingrich.
Pardon me if I’m skeptical.
Mr Gunsallus is not President Trump, nor is he Dr. Harris. This is a local election that should reflect local issues, one of which is the extraordinary time it takes to get permits approved. (It took me 16months to get a pole barn approved a few years ago.) Please stay on subject.