A true representative government

by David Grand
October 7, 2004

That, in a nutshell, is what I view as the best selling point for increasing to five the number of commissioners in Carroll County (elected from five separate districts established demographically based on the latest census), notwithstanding the claims of the naysayers and pettifoggers that such a change is unwarranted and would only result in additional costs and more bickering on the board.      

What undercuts their argument, however, is that that there's no way of guaranteeing that future boards will work together as harmoniously as the members of the current board, voting as they do as one on nearly every issue before them. They might consider adopting the motto of the Three Musketeers: "One for all and all for one."      

That's in sharp contrast to the last board when Donald Dell and his "soul mate" Robin Frazier called all the shots and with Julia Gouge being the odd-person-out, the same role she was cast in while serving on the 1990 board with Dell and Elmer Lippy, who was the last Democrat to hold that office.      

How she must enjoy no longer being gagged and seeing many of her positions vindicated, the best examples of which are:  this board putting the kibosh to the proposed $16 million Piney Run treatment plant which she vigorously opposed; agreeing to sign the Watershed Protection Agreement with surrounding counties and Baltimore City; rescinding the previous board's motion to terminate the contract with the Humane Society to perform animal control duties; and abolishing the "character development program," which had been foisted upon county employees.      

Unfortunately, however, there was no way of undoing the damage that was done to employee morale by the wholesale purging of the of the Planning Department (with the heads of its director and his deputy falling in the basket), dismantling the Office of Environmental Protection, removing Mike Evans as Director of Public Works for no other reason than that he was supportive of Gouge's positions on growth issues. In short, it created a climate where employees wouldn't dare dissent with policy decisions for fear of having their heads placed on the chopping block.      

And there's not the slightest doubt in my mind that had there been five members on the previous board things would've have been entirely different, with such proposals as building the treatment plant, and the rezoning of the Rash brothers property dying on the vine, as would've paying the Lease brothers $850,000 for 26 acres outside of Union Bridge, which was six times its appraised value. But that's only crying in my beer.   

I believe that Delegates Susan Krebs and Donald Elliott offered the best justification for having each district of the county represented at the seat of government: As Krebs said, "having a commissioner from the five districts would allow them to better serve their constituents by bringing to the table issues of direct concern to them." And with Elliott adding, "that election by district would bring government closer to the people, and would be in line with the way congressional and legislative districts are set up."      

So, for those of you (wherever you live in the county) who feel you're underrepresented and that your concerns have not been sufficiently addressed (if at all), then I'd suggest you get off your duff and start spreading the word in your neighborhoods and bombarding the newspapers with letters of support for that proposal on the November ballot. That's called democracy in action.