Build Mount Airy Middle and fix the old schools

     Going back to review the meeting between the county commissioners and the school board, Commissioner Doug Howard really did downplay the need to upgrade schools over time (portables are not all that bad; it was good enough for us), questioned the need to get architectural designs when a middle school is a middle school and asserted that you should be able to pull a design off the shelf.
      One size fits all.
     Those were not questions for the school board. He was asserting opinions -- probably opinions he heard at the barber shop or some similar center of wisdom.
     The only question he asked was, "How many kids go to a middle school?"
     He thinks Carroll County has built "very ornate schools."
     His colleague, Richard Rothschild, said there is no need to spend any more money on a school than you would for a business office space or a factory site.
     That comment compelled Steve Guthrie, superintendent, to stop chewing his tongue to say, in all due respect, that you cannot compare the costs of building a school to that of a shell building for business cubicles or similar flex space.
     Not what the boys down at the club want to hear, but it's closer to the truth than the perspectives the commissioners have.
     What is disconcerting is that these commissioners are not asking questions, not seeking information; they are taking their ignorance into the field as the basis for action -or inaction, as the budgets for education are being considered.
     The commissioners questioned the need to fix the roof at one building, and asserted that the maintenance proposals of the board could be pushed back a few years.
     To my chagrin, the previous board pushed those projects off the table about as long as they can be held up. In my opinion, they should have been done sooner. Money is tight, but if you don't take care of what you have, you lose it altogether.
     We have built all the new buildings we will need for awhile, except for Mount Airy Middle School. That needs to be done now, and it's a unique site that needs architectural and engineering expertise, not barbershop expertise.
     And it's time to fix old buildings. When the roof starts leaking, you lose the walls below, and the floors, and the use of the facility.
     Like the old auto maintenance commercial of years ago said, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."
     What you can't do is assume you know everything, do not want to hear otherwise, and put things off until they cost many times what they should.
     That's not frugality; that's false conservatism.

Welcome to the fray; the airport issue

     You have to give Commissioner Doug Howard credit for trying. For what seemed like a week last St. Patrick's day, he valiantly slogged through what was supposed to be a demonstration of the new board of commissioners communion with The People, knowing the airport people would be there.
     This was The Moment when the new leaders would show everyone they are Listening, and Doing The Right Thing by getting all the facts lined up before they continued the actions of the previous board to upgrade the county airport. The stated purpose of the open meeting was to hear from staff on what happens next, and what the consequences of any actions -- or inaction -- might be.
     The previous board made the decision to go ahead with upgrades to the airport, rather than shut the airport down for perhaps a year while the old runway was resurfaced. The Federal Aviation Agency had already noted that the current runway was inadequate in various ways for future use, and something was going to have to be done to retain certification.
     Citizens opposed, of course, were in attendance at the St. Patrick's Day party, and took advantage of the opportunity to speak up, even though it was supposed to be a briefing for the elected decision makers, not another public hearing. Indeed, Howard made it clear at the top of the meeting that they were not there to debate (again) the merits of the airport project, but to get information from staff and state aviation agency people on where they were in the processes, and what the options were in the future.
     Mary Kowalski and Gary Johnson were having none of it. They interrupted the meeting repeatedly, and the low came when Kowalski, who was a loser candidate for commissioner in the last election, made what some might consider libelous remarks about the airport manager, Joseph McKelvey, and suggested that he should not even be in the room.
     "We thought when you were elected that all of these staff people would be gone," was a comment caught on the audio, and another mumbled that the new board of commissioners was no better than the last.
     A woman in the audience, out of order, asserted that The People had decided that the airport project should be aborted, at which point Howard, who has portrayed himself as something of a populist, said, "I don't think you speak for all of the people of Carroll County," which I thought was the echo of something I once said, but there it is.
    It was ugly.
    But then it was ugly back when Kowalski was telling people that terrorists would use the airport to attack America. It was ugly when she and others who chose to ignore the truth were saying that planes landing at Westminster were dumping toxic fuel as they approached for landing. It was ugly then, and again last week, when Johnson, another unsuccessful candidate for commissioner, got personal and claimed to know more about the processes and the objectives and motives and potentials at the airport.
    When a state aviation spokesman testified, he was dismissed.
     In short, the intentions of the board to get information from staff in a transparent way fell on deaf ears.
     As Yogi Berra said, it was deja vu all over again.
     Bottom line: The new board got a lesson on what it's like to do the right thing for the overwhelming, but perhaps quiet, population of the county, while watching public tantrums by a very small majority armed with invalid but noisy arguments.

(Not so) random thoughts on current events . . .

     Sooner or later, anyone elected to office finds out that former friends become disenchanted, and it gets contentious. You simply cannot please everyone all the time. Our local commissioners are already finding that out, and increasingly seek approval from fringe elements around the country, because local support has slipped. As Abe Lincoln allegedly said, You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
     That 100-day progress report that is being sold around various venues, mostly by Commissioners Howard and Shoemaker, is not going over well.
     As I was told recently, "They keep talking about how much they have accomplished, but all I see is what they have tried to destroy."  Talking about the contract agreed to with Access Carroll for use of the so-called Wheeler building on Railroad Avenue, and the Farm Preservation program contracts with county residents that should have been approved by now.
     I will admit that I was a skeptic about the value of Access Carroll when that program began, but I am now a believer; not because of anything the county government has done in support, but because of the wide support given the program to supply vital health services to those in need. Service clubs, businesses, individuals and professionals across the political spectrum IN THIS COUNTY have contributed time and money to help this worthwhile effort, and the commissioners have treated previous work with disdain and dismissal, and I suspect it is simply because it's a way of sticking it in the eye of those who oppose their agenda.
     It would be nice if reasonable people acted on the merits of any proposal, instead of who they want to play up to.
     Approval is nice, but getting the job done is not always the popular thing to do.
     Gov. Bob McDonnell, Republican, Virginia, was on television recently saying, "Leadership takes courage and sometimes you have to make a decision that's unpopular."
     I agree with that, but wasn't he one of the politicians who supported the Tea Party, Populist movements during the last election campaigns with the theory that it doesn't make any difference what elected officials think, they should listen to We the People, even when they're wrong?
     But McDonnell, who is probably a pretty smart guy, was playing to the Right, and the comments were made in the middle of the noise about the power of teachers' unions in Wisconsin, in support of the governor.
     There is a middle road on this issue of cutting back on union pay and benefits. You can phase in the changes, grandfather some issues. Unless you want to just cut and slash to show your new power.
     Former commissioner candidate Michelle Jefferson, another who plays to the mob whenever she can get the press exposure, is telling any reporter who will quote her that the local "We The People" group says, "Yeah, me, too," to the criticism of teachers' unions, and they will post members outside the county office building to show their support for the commissioners here at budget time.
     And as usual, she plays to the other side, too, but in a back-handed and frankly lame way, asserting that she and her group are not against teachers, but "there are many bad teachers" who keep their jobs because of the strength of the local union.  Oh, yeah?  How many bad teachers in local schools? Any specific examples?
    That proves to anyone who knows anything about the local teachers' association that she knows absolutely nothing about the issue, or for that matter, local processes. She can't tell you how many is "many bad teachers" in Carroll County schools. Just jaw-flap, the primary purpose of which is to keep her in the news, all in the name of freedom of speech. You don't have to know what you're talking about to have an opinion, as Jefferson proves again and again.
    She touts the fact that "six buses" of people who think like her went to Washington to show their displeasure with the status quo -- months ago. And that anywhere from 40 to 100 attend her meetings monthly.
     Two points here: One, she also sent out a desperate-sounding email recently scolding the local group for a drop-off in participation. Keep things stirred up, she implored.        
     And two -- and this is very important -- 40 to 100 people among the 175,000 residents of Carroll County hardly speaks for The People. It only speaks for some people.  Relatively few people.

The dirty truth about redistricting

     I see where the commissioners are asking to change the rules for putting together a committee to set up redistricting. The question is, Why?
     We did this before, and the rules didn't matter then.
     It goes to motive. The idea is to be fair and equitable when making the rules by which rule makers make the rules. Silly? Duh! This is politics we're talking about, and this, aside from out and out graft, is one of the dirtier aspects of what can only be called gamesmanship.
     Yes, I am a cynic. A cynic is an idealist who has stepped on the rake of reality and had the handle smack him in the face.
     I thought our motives were noble when the board on which I served sought to have an apolitical committee to study and make recommendations on redistricting. Noble, perhaps, but naive, oh, yes.
    The Democrats were willing to work with the commissioners to vet members of the redistricting committee after the 2004 elections, but the Republicans were having none of it. They had a strategy, and when all was said and done, they got what they wanted.
    The rules were that the commissioners assign the task of naming three members apiece to the respective central committees. A chair is chosen independently of the central committees. We wanted to broaden the participation, but the GOP central committee and the more stridently conservative clubs in the county had it in mind to carve the county into districts that would accomplish two things: One, to ensure that no Democrat be elected in any of the five districts, and Two, to gerrymander the districts to weaken Julia Gouge, who had a tradition of winning the most votes in county elections, even though she was not always the top vote-getter in Hampstead and a couple of other areas.
     With some of the activists, who worked behind the scenes and were willing to back up their wish lists with money, the primary goal may have been to weaken Gouge.
     Getting it right for the benefit of the county's residents was the last thing on their list.
     We did it by the rules, and the redistricting committee did it by the rules. People in the eastern part of the county would have representation, and likewise in all the regions of the county that were linked by traditions, business and schools and churches -- it was respectful of communities.
     And then the sleazy work began. By the time it was all over, the whole process had been traded and manipulated, votes in Annapolis had been bargained back and forth, and the resulting district plan was a mess that had Manchester and Taneytown in the same district; split communities in south Carroll, and linked the country of New Windsor with the suburban sprawl of Mount Airy. And everyone who had the right to vote for a majority in the county office was now reduced to accepting a minority of one representative among five. What a deal.
     It at least achieved the goal that Del. Donald Elliott set forth when it all began:  "I don't see any reason why the county can't do things the way we do them in Annapolis."
     Just goes to show you: What he thought was an argument in favor of five commissioners by district, others of us thought was the argument against it.
     I don't blame Elliott. He really did not know any better.
     Forget the speeches by politicians who run as populists. When the decisions are made by those who have the real hammer, they'll let you know where the new districts will be.
    

Community meetings continue; go and ask questions

     It's encouraging to see that some of the new board of commissioners will continue the community meetings that were started by former commissioner Julia Gouge.
     In a press release, Commissioner Doug Howard announced he would be addressing the first 100 days of the new administration at a 7:30 p.m. meeting at the Finksburg branch of the county public library. He should expect a good turnout, because the Freedom Area Citizens' Council has been diligent in addressing issues of importance to them. He will give the same speech at the South Carroll Senior Center at noon on Monday, March 21.
     According to the press release, he will be talking about how this board has reduced the size of government and saved $427,000. I hope those in attendance will ask him specifically where those savings were made, since the costs of directors whose contracts had been closed out, with the exception of the Human Resources Director, were cut before he and his colleagues took office.
     Perhaps someone will ask what is the difference in salaries between that paid former directors and that paid now to the "bureau chiefs" who took their place. Someone has to run the department. What's the real cost savings, not the numbers shift?
     Also, perhaps he will explain how the county's withdrawal from an agreement to join with other states, counties and towns across the country and the world to pay attention to ways we can preserve the environment -- including the quality of water in reservoirs serving our own citizens, benefits the people of Carroll County.
     Will he explain how having a super majority to raise taxes will work when no such restraint exists on all the costs that the county can expect to face in the future? What about meeting obligations for maintenance of effort in schools, courts and public safety as the state continues to reduce the share it passes down to the county? Where will the money come from if four of five have to agree?
     What's the point in having five commissioners by district if three votes do not count?
     The county has had a policy of hiring contractors only if they agree to use legal workers. How is the "E-verify" system better, and is it business friendly, or is it just window-dressing to appease an anti-immigrant constituency?
     Did he direct that the five people assigned as coordinators for the five commissioners be assigned to Steve Powell, chief of staff, because he did not want to admit that the commissioners who ran on a promise to get rid of special assistants had changed their minds?
     What are the duties and salaries of the coordinators, and how much real savings is their with the new titles?
     Will the new commissioners stick by their "Fighting 59th" slogan and their intent to push back against the state's regulations even if it costs local taxpayers state funds and programs to which we would be entitled?  Why?
     In fact, the question, "Why?" should be asked often, and no spin should be tolerated.

It's Rothschild's circle of friends that offend me

     Commissioner Richard Rothschild, in a momentary (?) lapse of propriety, used a term that -- well, it means collective masturbatory activity -- on live television. It has, of course, become viral, spinning now through the ethernet, playing on a laptop (excuse that choice of words) near you (yoiks!).
     I for one would not make too much of it.
     For one thing, we all know that any reference to collective activity is anathema to our resident Mountain Man; he scorns any hint of overly social collaboration, is the champion of the rugged individualist, espousing that one should achieve nervana by one's own wits and deft skills.
     Secondly, it would be the ultimate hypocrisy for me, of all people, to chastise another for a salty vocabulary. I can show you a blistered portion of wall in a booth at Harry's resulting from a dab of ketchup that defied my best hand-mouth coordination and landed on my brand-new, first-day-off-the-shelf yellow power tie. My former assistant, Dave Humbert, still has bad dreams from all the images I conjured up for him.
      And, yes, while you can make the case that someone who has achieved a position of high office should show more respect for the time and place of colorful expression, Mr. Rothschild maintains a certain innocence; he did not realize the meaning of the term, he says. I wonder if he ever heard a compound word beginning with "cluster," used by some to describe, perhaps, the first weeks of this board of commissioners?
     Frankly, it strains reasonable credibility to ask us to believe that Mr. Rothschild never knew the meaning of the term. This is the man who has predicated almost every contribution he has made to the public dialog with, "I have some knowledge of that," or, "I have had a great deal of experience in that area."
     You don't have to be a man of the world to know something about locker-room language. My Aunt Minnie might be clueless, but I doubt she has spent much time lately in the company of middle school boys, or the military, where they run off copies of the vocabulary list needed to survive out there among man/boys, whether it is the field of battle, golf course, or board room.
     Maybe Rothschild has led a more sheltered life that we thought. In any case, I don't fret the words. I worry about the company he keeps, the ideas he serves, the rants he goes on, and the influence he has on processes that affect really important facets of life for people he has essentially dismissed.
     It also bothers me that when there was a quick negative reaction to his public comments, he had Steve Powell, chief of staff, in what has to be a low point in his career,  issue a disclaimer -- not exactly an apology, but an excuse: Mr. Rothschild did not know what the term meant, and he was truly amazed and embarrassed when it was explained to him.
     No one but Mr. Rothschild should have to carry that bucket.

Whose money is in the commissioners' hands?

     Now watch the county commissioners closely.
     It's getting to crunch time, when they will try to live up to their own hype about cutting spending AND the tax rate. The danger is they will do something rash to make themselves look good, instead of eating a little crow.
     The truth is, while there are cuts that can be made, they don't add up to any significant savings, and might just be the wrong thing for a good conservative to do.
     What's the difference between good conservative government and most of the rest we're seeing these days?
     Conservatives understand the value of good investments in commodities and business. They can talk costs and return in dollars and cents. Good conservative government understands that, plus the value of investments in the human condition.
     The predominant rhetoric today in conservative government circles is simplisitc: Run government like a business, be true to your investors. The reality is that while you can apply many of the principles of good business practice to running a government, there is a difference between Wall Street or the local bank and local government -- any government: Government money is not just from the investors who financed an election. Government money is to be used wisely to invest in all the people who are affected by the decisions elected officials make.
     If this board goes beyond what their staff and directors recommend, it will be showing off for the folks in the grandstand, pure and simple.
     Already, some of the "savings" that board president Doug Howard is claiming are the result of unspent remnants from projects already completed, or delayed on the advice of directors, from the budgets of previous commissioners. Some savings are simply the money that will not be spent, was not going to be spent, but was available if needed through bond allowances from last year, or earlier.
     The heavy lifting has already been done.  The best thing these commissioners could do would be to go slowly, listen to staff, and try to not mess things up.
     In other words, be truly conservative, and not radically political in their decisions.
        

Perspectives and priorities

     Had dinner at the local steakhouse Saturday and had to wait for 25 minutes to get a table. By the time the four of us were walking out the door, the wait looked to be an hour or more.
     Lots of customers.
     The local economy is not good, but it must be not all bad, either, on the whole.
     Oh, it's bad if you're one of those kids getting on a school bus at the motel in Florida that they showed on 60 Minutes Sunday night.
     The motel is on the same road as Disney World. Lots of money being spent at Disney world, cars going by all the time full of happy Americans going on vacation.
     But these motel parents lost their house in the real estate crash, and the Dad chose to live in their car for awhile rather than split up males and females to separate family shelters. He did day labor until they could afford a deposit on two rooms in a motel. Not the only homeless people living there, though. So many families had lived the same story that the school system created a bus stop at the motel.
     It's tough on the 11-year-old daughter. Embarrassing.
     Another kid, a boy 13, said he used to be told he talked too much, now they say he doesn't talk enough. He has matured a lot in a very short time, he said.
     The family of five was about to lose the motel rooms, too, so Dad swallowed his pride and made a sign on a piece of cardboard and stood at the stoplight. It said Family of Five, please help.
     And the teen aged boy lost all his stuff -- video equipment, games and other things that were auctioned off when the family could not come up with a payment on the storage unit where they had stashed family photos and everything else for what they hoped would be a temporary situation.
     A woman in a fancy car stopped and heard the story and said she'd be in touch. A week later, he had a job. Not much of a job, but better than standing on the street with a homemade sign, and they keep the motel rooms. For now.
     Things are bad for those Florida folks, and all over the country. Including here in Carroll County. But there is a stark reality that is getting too little attention: This is one of the consequences of a growing gap between those who have and those who are barely getting by.
     Enjoying dinner at the steak house does not qualify you as just getting by. I was aware of that, watching that 60 Minutes piece Sunday night.
     I know people like these.  I came from such people. I've worked alongside them and been in Little League and Scouts and shopped in the same stores with them. I've lived in homes like they lost, and I remember a time, 40 years ago, when I wondered if I was going to be able to stay in a house.
     And it occurred to me that what we spent on dinner was about the equivalent of a one cent increase in the county tax rate.  Makes me wonder how many people will join the motel family if we cut the tax rate because we don't want to continue to fund some local programs in Maryland and Carroll County. Will we be seeing the school bus stopping at the motels on Route 140 and Cranberry Road?
     It's really a choice we have to make.
     My income has never been anything but middle class. My wife and I are now retired, and we just hope we have enough saved to last us the rest of our lives. We're as watchful of taxes as anyone.
     But I can dig a little deeper to keep the Carroll County family together if I have to.
     I can go to the steak house two or three less times this year to keep teachers in the classroom, keep schools from going downhill.  Or four times or six times less, if need be.
     I know the county is seeing less income, and facing financial challenges. Tough choices have been made for the past three years, and more need to be made.
     We can keep from hurting people if we maintain perspective and priorities.
     Tax dollars are the public's money and we choose and hire people to make policy on how to make best use of it.
     That public money can be a little like the water from the well. It gets pretty dry now and then, and you have to conserve, but if you shut it all down and lose the prime on the pump, you have real trouble.

Demagoguery hurts county's residents, reputation

     The seemingly innocuous decision Thursday by the Board of County Commissioners to delay easement purchases for agricultural preservation is a blow to every taxpayer -- every citizen -- of Carroll County.
     One, it besmirches the reputation, statewide and nationally, of the county's leadership for following through on agreements.
     Two, it is a slap in the face to two highly respected and dedicated county employees, who are the face of county government when dealing with local property owners who want to preserve the traditions of farming.
     Three, it increases the potential for residential sprawl and increased costs for government services that exceeds the value of revenues that can be recovered through property taxes.
     Four, it has the potential to increase the difficulty of preserving farm land if and when the leaders decide to move forward.

     Regrettably, it is totally unnecessary.

     Carroll County's farm preservation program has won national awards and respect under the leadership of Ralph Robertson and Jeff Everett. They devised a program for financing and preserving farms that has brought visitors to the county from such farming states as Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and Texas.
     By caving in to Commissioner Richard Rothschild's paranoic and extremist views on so-called property rights, the property rights of local farmers to participate in a program to keep the farms viable, and therefore less likely to be divided off into residential lots, the new commissioners have acted in bad faith, and endangered years of good work.
     It's bad policy for anyone who values agriculture as a primary land use in Carroll County, and non-farming residents who value less urbanization of the county. But it's good policy for land speculators, lenders, developers and real estate sellers.
     Farm preservation programs of such value, which are literally guaranteed to benefit taxpayers far more than the associated costs while ensuring continued quality of life for the county should be shown more consideration than was given the measure Thursday.
     But I, for one, was not surprised.
     The farm preservation program was targeted by Rothschild even before he announced running for office. Commissioners Robin Frazier and Doug Howard do not get the point, though Frazier is pro-development. I expected the actions that took place Thursday, and in all probability, most actions taken from now on by this board will be to undermine any chance of controlling the big money industry of residential sprawl.
     That's why these several new electeds, with the backing of lesser known exploiters of public policy, opposed the Pathways Master Plan, and other state and county initiatives to level the playing field for people who just want to farm, or live and work in an area that has not become so congested with housing and traffic that we wind up like a spreading anthill that devours everything green around it.

     If the motives are purely a matter of political views, then it is a triumph of demagoguery over the best interest of the public. If it's about money -- and I believe it ultimately is about big money, and not tax reduction -- then it is a disgrace.

Budget's not a "mess" -- Yet

    Carroll County's financial isn't the "mess" that Richard Rothschild is quoted as saying it is, but it could be if they don't stop messing with it.
    The previous board, with good help from staff, handed them a top-rated financial status among American governments.
     Yes, they also inherited challenges. First of all, it's a perfectly good idea to revisit the community investment plan to see if some projects can be delayed until revenues pick up again. And by all means, take a look at future hiring and benefits packages to see if anything needs to be changed in the longer term.
     But the new commissioners would have more credibility -- with informed citizens as well as paid staff -- if they listened to people who know more than they do about just about everything that concerns government. These folks are not only not asking for staff input enough, they're ignoring advice when it's offered.
     They'd also have more credibility if they did things less for show and more for substance. Hypocrisy tends to undermine faith.
     If they think they have a mess now, wait until they have to deal with the consequences of a required super majority vote to raise money for necessary spending.
    Just because you think that government spending should be reduced does not mean that you can ignore facts. The facts are that some spending is why you have a government in the first place, because if you left it up to a totally populist or democratic process, no one would collect taxes but everyone would insist on having roads and schools and police and fire/emergency services.
    Robert Burke, the county comptroller, tried to tell them that and they acted like they didn't believe him. If he and Ted Zaleski have no standing, what about Steve Powell, chief of staff?  Surely, he can't be sitting back and letting these five walk off a cliff with irrevocable damage to the county. Or maybe he has spoken up and was told to back off.
     This group wants to show people they're in charge, and their obvious confusion is already an embarrassment.
     Absolutism and single-minded, Johnny One-Note theories about how to run a government will not bear up under reality.
     Words and actions are not in sync. This group said they would not hire special assistants, but four people, including two new hires, have been assigned so far as  "coordinators", one to each commissioner, and another is to be named.
     They will tell you these are not special assistants, and they are not assigned to the commissioners. They are coordinators, and they are assigned to Steve Powell, who in turn assigned one each to a commissioner.
     I guess if you white-wash the barn, you can claim you didn't spend any money on paint.
     They claim to have reduced staff, and in truth, I recommended during last year's budget planning that special assistants be removed from the rolls and the work be divided among three existing clerks.
    These commissioners were going to clean house, cut and slash, reduce staff, but so far, they've only reduced staff by one. They fired one director, and the county clerk; others lost titles but still do the same jobs. The previous board released four employees whose jobs had been threatened by the incoming commissioners, so that left them with few moves to make. So, Carole Hammen, human resources director, who had only 17 months to go to retirement, was apparently sacrificed on the altar of we-told-you-we-would.
     The county clerk, Kathy Rauschenberg, was also fired, but they'll tell you it was just part of a restructuring of government. She was replaced by Shawn Reese, a transfer from another department, and an ally of commissioner Robin Frazier in Frazier's previous term in office.
     Problem is, the transfer has been given clerk status, collects the higher salary, but reportedly does not take -- or read -- short-hand, and as a result, can't transcribe minutes of the last months' meetings taken by ousted clerk, Kathy Rauschenberg. They have to bring in hired help to do that. Someone was not looking ahead.
    But then these are conservatives, good and true. Looking ahead and vision are not their calling card. They want to keep things where they are, or go back.
    Then there is the problem they're having with the planning job. Turns out it's more necessary, and more complicated, than they thought, and though Rothschild is opposed to planning and zoning of any kind, Haven Shoemaker's old side-kick from his Hampstead days, Ken Decker, may fill the bill. They've had contract talks with him, but he wants a lot, and then there is the image thing of hiring cronies.
    I think a comment was made the other day that they will not hire cronies, like the previous board. They'll bring a new style to county government and appoint search committees to look at key positions before hiring.
     That's a good idea, but it's not new. The boards I served on had committees for all key positions except chief of staff. We had advice on hirings of the economic development director, comptroller, parks and recreations director and public information director.
     It's not what you say, it's what you do.