U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski on Monday had her first meeting with the new Board of Charles County Commissioners. It was also her first visit to Southern Maryland since her re-election in November to her fifth term. The Democrat’s swearing in in January made her the longest serving female U.S. Senator in history.
Mikulski brought with her several key staffers: newly appointed State Director Jan Gardiner, a former Frederick County commissioner; Outreach Director Marianne Kreitner; Brigid Houton, who is in charge of infrastructure issues for the Senator; Nichelle Shoultz, from the Senator’s Greeenbelt office, who will be the contact person for the commissioners; and Olga Matseva, who handles non-profit and grant issues.
The commissioners relayed to Mikulski a number of funding needs, including light rail, infrastructure upgrades (water, sewer, street, sidewalks, etc.) for older neighbors such as Carrington in St. Charles, and broadband connectivity for rural areas and at the Indian Head base. Commissioner Ken Robinson told Mikulski that he was realistic about how long it would take to get light rail service, but pitched for funding for commuter train service using the existing rail lines.
Mikulski was not optimistic about any earmarks anytime soon. All earmarks, including funding to extend fiber optic cable to Indian Head, have been removed from the existing budget which still hasn’t been approved. Mikulski said, “I am so proud of Indian Head.” She hopes that Indian Head can be served from the large stimulus grant received by Maryland to extend broadband to the entire state. She said Navy leadership needed to communicate to her what the needs are for the base.
Commissioner President Candice Quinn Kelly said the county’s rural areas are most in need of broadband service, noting that many colleges offer on-line courses. Mikulski urged the commissioners to report back to her office with a detailing of the county’s broadband needs. She noted about Charles County’s overall needs: “You have a growing suburban population with rural infrastructure.”
Mikulski told the commissioners that any transportation funding requests, such as for a light rail extension; need to be coordinated through the Maryland Department of Transportation. Funding to the state is based or requests from that state agency.
When asked by Mikulski what the county’s most pressing needs were, Kelly responded with issues such as the large number of foreclosures and a looming $4 million budget shortfall, in addition to the other issues already mentioned by the other commissioners.
There will be no earmarks in the budget for the fiscal year that begins October 1. Instead Mikulski and her staff touted the need for an aggressive effort by the commissioners for grants and loans. Matseva, who works out of the Baltimore office, is the contact person for that.
Betsy Bossert, Rep. Steny Hoyer’s Southern Maryland director, said that they were working on a series of workshops for government agencies in Southern Maryland about the federal grant process. She said she hoped to work with Mikulski’s office to coordinate the effort.
Kreitner explained that the Senator’s office handles thousands of constituent cases a year involving federal agencies, such as the Social Security Administration. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, all military services, and Internal Revenue Service. Constituents need to fill out a Privacy Release Form, available on line at www.mikulski.senate.gov under “Help with Federal Agencies.”
Gardiner explained that “projects” are issues affecting a constituency, such as a group of people, a community, business or institution, such as the commissioners. Those issues are handled out of the Baltimore of
