Under the current Charter for Dorchester County, the County Council is required to appoint a Charter Review Commission every ten years to review the Charter and recommend alterations. At the February 7, 2023, meeting, the Council agreed to reconvene the Review Commission before the 2024 election in order to consider eliminating the residency requirement for the county manager and the finance director.

The Review Commission returned with six recommendations besides the two residency questions. One of the eight, proposing term limits for the Council members, was vehemently opposed by Commissioner William Nichols, who has been on the Council since 1994. Two of the proposed amendments were combined into one, and six total were approved for the upcoming general election ballot.

The six questions are:

Question A
Administrative Review
Amendment to specify that the review of administrative structure that is required at least every four years be conducted within the first fiscal year of each County Council term.

Question B
County Budget Preparation and Adoption Dates
Amendment to change the date by which the County Council shall prepare the annual budget from May 1 to May 15 each year, and to change the date by which the Council shall adopt the annual budget from May 31 to June 15 each year.

Question C
County Manager Residency
Amendment to remove the requirement that the County Manager be a resident of Dorchester County.

Question D
County Manager Responsibilities
Amendment to clarify certain responsibilities of the County Manager, including the day-to-day operation of the County government, and establish procedures for certain vacancies.

Question E
Director of Finance Residency
Amendment to remove the requirement that the Director of Finance be a resident of Dorchester County.

Question F
Governmental Transparency
Amendment to ensure transparency of governmental functions, access to open meetings (in person or remotely), and access to public records.

Mayor Steve Rideout on Question A (Administrative Review)

“When the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government was starting, we looked at all of this before the last election,” Rideout said of the group that was formed in 2022. “One of the things was, they hadn’t met the Charter requirement that the Council appoint this board or to do this administrative review every four years or something.”

“And the decision was, well, let’s recommend that it be done at the beginning of the term of the new Council so that they can then do something with it,” he continued. “I mean, having the changes made at the end of the term for the new Council to then implement doesn’t make much sense.”

On Questions C and E (Residency Requirement)

“If you limit that the person has to live in the county, you limit who the best person might be,” said Rideout about the County Manager and Finance Director positions. “For instance, you could have somebody who lives up in Kent County or Caroline County who is terrific, but his or her spouse is a schoolteacher there, or he’s got children that are in their last year of high school and they’re going to be the valedictorian or something. And you’re going to make them move to Dorchester County. That’s going to cut off potentially the best person from being able to come.”

Rideout said there is no real reason to require either official to live in the county. “If you’re going to find the best person and you’re going to trust your elected officials to make the best decision for the citizens in the county, let them make that decision, not restrict them on what they can and can’t do there.”

On Question D (County Manager’s Responsibilities)

“Historically, what was happening was, they had the County Manager form of government, but the County Manager was really more of an administrator,” explained Rideout. “And, as such, the County Council members were making hiring and firing decisions.”

“What this now does is say that the County Manager is in charge of the day-to-day operations, and the County Council, the members, cannot tell employees what to do. That’s the job of the County Manager. Now, they can come to the County Manager and tell the County Manager, ‘Go tell Joe to do this.’ He then gets to say, ‘Yes, I will’ or ‘No, I won’t.'”

“So, it gets the employees out from under this political concern. They’re still at-will employees, but it’s the County Manager that makes that decision.”

Rideout also said that, following a County Manager’s departure, the Council was waiting a year or more to hire a new one and instead gave the job to a staff person. That part-time employee had to run the whole county, and confusion resulted. Audits and administrative reviews were not getting done.

“So, requiring that they get a new County Manager within a period of time is important, allowing for there to be an Assistant County Manager who can be assigned that task rather than a staff person, if they’ll fund that position,” said Rideout. “It’s all about efficiency and effectiveness of government.”

On Question F (Government Transparency)

Before the 2022 election, the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government group took up transparency in the county government as an issue and raised it in the community, even collecting signatures toward getting it on the ballot as a charter amendment proposal.

“And we asked the Council to put the meetings on Town Hall Streams,” Rideout said. “They wouldn’t do it. We asked, I think, at least twice, and then finally they did it under pressure.”

“Now, why do this charter amendment? Well, the next Council could go, ‘Yeah, I liked it the way they did it before.’ So, they could go back to not putting it on Town Hall Streams. This would require that it always be on Town Hall.”

Rideout also mentioned that the charter amendment would include language about documentation. If citizens should ask for particular documents, the County Manager would need to be responsive to that in a timely manner.

Ultimately, it will be up to the voters of Dorchester County to decide how important all of this is to the operation of their government.

The Cambridge City Council conducted interviews on July 15 for the vacant city manager position. The closed session was held at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay and was, in the words of Mayor Steve Rideout, “an interesting meeting.” This was necessitated by the departure in May of City Manager Tom Carroll, whose position has been held on a temporary basis by David Deutsch. 

Per the charter established in 2015, the Cambridge city manager will be appointed by a majority vote of the city commissioners based on the recommendation of a search committee, whose five members are chosen by the council.

“We set up a committee structure for the citizens to be involved with,” explained Rideout, who chairs the search committee as a voting member. “Doing interviews, looking at the potential candidates, deciding who qualifies or doesn’t qualify to be moved on to interviews with the city. So, that was the first step in the process.”

The city manager serves as Cambridge’s CEO, CFO, chief personnel officer, and public information official. So, the candidate’s qualifications are important. He or she must hold a Master’s Degree in Public Administration or Business Administration or a post-baccalaureate degree in a related field, plus have at least five years of experience as a city or county manager or assistant manager.

“So, that then requires, as part of a search for us, really, to reach out into the city manager world, county manager world, to find people that have those kinds of skills,” said Rideout. “It’s not just like Chick-fil-A, and you’re there to make chicken sandwiches and chicken nuggets and all of that. I mean, there’s building roads and sewers and water and electricity, paving roads, and making sure the community is safe.”

Along with the responsibilities of the search committee, Rideout believes it is helpful to have a professional person assist in finding the right candidates, as they have the skills and connections to locate potential managers and convince them to apply.

“When [former City Manager] Patrick Comiskey was named [in 2018], some of our commissioners would not spend the money for that professional help, and so we wound up with three candidates, and the candidates were not recommended,” said Rideout, who emphasized that Comiskey was a good choice at the time. “But my hope is that whoever we hire will be with us for a good, long time, that [he or she will] have the qualities that we all want in a city manager and will work well with the commissioners and the mayor moving forward.”

In searching for the right city manager candidate, the committee and the council are looking for someone who can not only fulfill the goals of the city but also pivot to deal with new ones. So, they talk with the applicant about the vision for the city and what the challenges are so everything is fair and transparent, and the applicant can decide whether he or she has the needed skill sets. Even if the candidate has all the skills necessary at that time, community needs can change.

“But what we have found is that the people who have been our city managers really have been very knowledgeable, experienced in running cities and in being flexible,” said Rideout. “When a new issue comes up or a new challenge comes up, they’re prepared to adjust to it.”

Part of the interview process is due diligence: checking references, performing a background check, making use of services that provide information on people, and asking important questions. The search committee will look at the internet and social media for the person’s activities and what he or she has said on various issues. But things will inevitably be missed or out of reach, including legal records, and that is unavoidable.

“If the person comes in for interviews, can you avoid all the problems?” asked Rideout rhetorically. “No.”

Cambridge’s city manager position offers a salary of $135,000 – $150,000, which is based on what the community can afford. The pay scale is also dependent on what the market provides in the way of applicant quality.

“Certainly, the higher your salary, the more likely it is that you’re going to have a more highly qualified person,” said Rideout, who also mentioned he believes the city has made significant progress since the creation of the city manager form of government. “And it’s because of the city becoming more and more engaged with and working with the city managers that we’ve had.”

Former State Senator Richard F. Colburn spoke at the July 8 Cambridge City Council meeting about a potential new fishing pier. Colburn was speaking on behalf of American Legion Post 91, of which he will be sworn in as commander on August 6. The Legion had sent a letter to Governor Wes Moore in March about the pier project, but, according to Colburn, Moore has not been shown the letter.

The Legion letter states that there are three potential sites in on the Cambridge side of the Choptank River where a fishing pier could be built to replace the old Bill Burton Pier.

“We think the current one, where the old fishing pier was, is probably the worst possible site of the three,” said Colburn, who stated that the best site, in the Legion’s opinion, would be by the Sailwinds Visitor Center.

Colburn said the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has not been communicating with the American Legion, but he has been assured that there is enough money in the budget to build piers on both the Dorchester and Talbot sides of the river. Also, DNR told Bill Christopher of the Chamber of Commerce that there would be support for a new pier if the City of Cambridge and Dorchester County were “on the same page.”

Permanent Removal of Downtown Traffic Lights

Another piece of business discussed at the July 8 Council session concerned the downtown traffic signal pilot project. Acting City Manager David Deutsch announced that the project, which involved putting up stop signs at certain intersections that have had traffic lights, was considered a success. As a result, he called for the permanent removal of the lights at the tested intersections. The Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of this motion.

On the evening of June 18th, a crowd gathered in the gymnasium of the Pauline F. and W. David Robbins Family YMCA in Cambridge for a meeting on a controversial subject. People sweated in the sauna-like conditions of the echoey gym as Robbie Gill, CEO of YMCA of the Chesapeake, presented the results of a market study on the possible future of the Cambridge Y.

“We were working on a plan, as some of you may have heard, to renovate this facility prior to the pandemic and trying to figure out how to build a bigger wellness center,” said Gill, who added that they had wanted to “really try” to make the current facility the best they could.

But then the pandemic hit in 2020, and all the services of the Y were shut down. However, at the same time, they began building a new 52,000-square-foot facility in Chestertown, which opened in January 2022. With a double gymnasium, walking track, warm water pool, and other state-of-the-art offerings, it became very popular and currently has 6,100 members.

“And it was at that point we really paused, and we said, maybe we need to get a better understanding of what Dorchester County needs from a facilities, amenities, and programs standpoint before we try to navigate a building that was built in 1929 to teach kids,” said Gill.

So, they contracted Triangle 2 Solutions for a market study of the Cambridge community to find out what potential Y members would want and need in a facility and which of three locations they would most likely wish to visit. The sites tested were the current facility on Talbot Avenue, a property on the corner of Maple Dam Road and Route 16, and the waterfront area that is intended to become the Cambridge Harbor complex. Gill made sure to reach out to Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc., which is responsible for the Harbor project, and CWDI was interested in the partnership.

Gill turned the presentation over to Lori Swann and Tom Massey, Triangle2’s CEO and president, respectively. Massey explained that their company, which was founded in 2000, works only with nonprofit organizations, churches, hospitals, boys and girls clubs, and YMCAs, the last of which they’ve conducted more than 250 studies for. Then Swann went through some data slides and explained the results of their Cambridge investigation.

Triangle2 interviewed 814 households that were not already members of the YMCA. While they did conduct a small email survey, the results Swann presented at this meeting were those of only the phone interviews. The majority of the people who participated in the survey, 68%, had lived in the county more than ten years.

Before mentioning anything about the sites, prices, or amenities, Triangle2 asked if the respondents would be interested in joining the Y, and 44% said they were likely to join, while 25% said they were “somewhat likely.” Some said they wouldn’t join because “they were too old.”

“The Y’s a lot more than exercise,” countered Swann. “But this was just community perceptions.”

People who were interested said they would want to use the cardio or strength-training equipment, participate in group exercise, or meet new people. But the most popular facility named was a warm-water pool “with fun features” (61% of respondents).

“Water exercise, exercise classes come in real close behind that,” said Swann, “but everybody wants it all when it comes to aquatics.”

It should be noted that the current Cambridge Y does not have a warm-water pool.

Swann ended her talk by stating that a building at Cambridge Harbor would double the number of people who could be served at the other two sites tested. “I’m not saying they weren’t good sites, but they’re not as good a site as the waterfront site.”

When Gill took over again, he picked up on the theme of the pool, which currently is a lap swimming pool that has no shallow entry and so cannot accommodate children who haven’t yet learned to swim. Also, people with limited movement ability have challenges in accessing the pool.

“These new pools that we build have one or two steps in a very shallow area,” Gill said.

He added that a new, larger facility would allow for a double gymnasium that could have multiple programs and features, including a track where members could walk in the air conditioning on a hot day.

“And so, in essence,” said Gill, “what we want to do is address community need, and there’s no community that’s more deserving of a newer YMCA than this one.”

A sample of the slides shown.

 

When weekend traffic from the beach to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on US 50 continually stopped as cars waited to cross the western span, hundreds of drivers would detour to MD Route 18 to save 20 minutes.

But those cars caused new congestion on residential roadways that were unequipped to handle the influx of traffic, creating a nightmare for the Kent Island community that uses that state highway for everyday needs and emergencies.

To combat this problem, Queen Anne’s County worked with the Maryland State Highway Administration and Maryland Transportation Authority to initiate the ramp management pilot project.

By temporarily closing the most popular exit points along Route 50, they hoped to encourage drivers heading westbound to the Bay Bridge to stay on US 50/301 in order to reduce congestion on Route 18 and other adjacent local roadways. Thus they could enhance traffic flow and ensure the safety and mobility for local services.

Drivers continued to have access exiting 50/301 onto Routes 8 and 18 but did not have access to enter onto westbound US 50 at three locations from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

In this 7-minute video clip (courtesy of QAC-TV), QAC Commissioner Jim Moran discusses the early results of the experiment earlier this week.