The annual St. Mary’s County Chamber of Commerce State of the County luncheon featured goodbyes and past reflections from three outgoing county commissioners and looks to the future from two incumbents. The event Tuesday at the BPO Elks Lodge 2092 in California included statements from all five commissioners plus a question-and-answer session.
Commissioner President Francis “Jack” Russell faces an election challenge form Republican Randy Guy. Noting the eventual new board majority, Russell said, “We have a lot of significant changes on the horizon.”
Russell underscored “the strengthening of our education system” as the top priority for the next four years. He noted the arrival in St. Mary’s of the University of Maryland system at Southern Maryland Higher Education Center, but said the improvements in education are more than “bricks and mortar.”
Russell sees the improvements in the education system as essential to the county’s economic diversification effort. “We are growing our own workforce,” he said.
Russell also noted the community’s “social challenges,” particularly with the growing opiate addiction problem. He observed that the commissioners had funded the Health Department’s $100,000 initiative to fight substance abuse.
The incumbent commissioner president said they are always looking for community input. “We are eager to see what other strategies people bring to us,” he said.
“By and large it has been a very rewarding experience,” said Commissioner Cynthia Jones (R: 1st) who lost a Senate bid in the Republican primary. She said the challenges for the county for the future were what prompted her to run for state office, including the push down of education and transportation funding.
She also criticized some state environmental initiatives, such as the Septic Bill. “We have to make sure we are good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars and make sure that what we are doing is actually working.” She said those environmental regulations should be based on scientific evidence.
Commissioner Daniel Morris (R: 2nd), who chose not to seek re-election, said, “I have enjoyed this job tremendously,” He noted for people running for office that it is in fact a “full-time job.”
Morris said he remains concerned about the Metropolitan Commission. “I think you as business people need to keep your eyes on them,” he said.
“I think all and all we have done okay,” Morris concluded.
Commissioner Lawrence Jarboe (R” 3rd), who is term limited as a county commissioner and also lost a Senate bid, said that county government has expanded somewhat during his tenure, but “not by great leaps and bounds.”
Jarboe focused on the county seat in enumerating his accomplishments. “I am very proud of Leonardtown,” he boasted, listing the saving of the courthouse in downtown as one of those accomplishments.
Jarboe also reminded the audience to think back to what Lexington Park was in the past, and cited the removal of the Flattops as another accomplishment.
Jarboe is breaking out the rod and reel when he leaves office. “Instead of going to Annapolis I’ll be going fishing he said,” spending the summers on the Patuxent River and the winter in Key Largo, FL.
Todd Morgan (R: 4th) who is unopposed in the general election noted the commissioners had held the line on taxes and kept their bond rating high. He said the future was dependent on what he called the “3 B’s – Big Issues, Base and Budget.”
The big issues, he said, include jobs, economic development and infrastructure.”
He said he had a unique prospective as a small businessman with a defense contracting start-up 30 years ago and now working for a large contractor that bought it out. “The base is the big gorilla in the room,” he said. “We want the big gorilla to get bigger.”
Regarding the budget, Morgan said, “I have no trouble asking hard questions.” Morgan has been a recent critic of the school board’s budget woes.
In the question and answer session, Morgan was asked about the county’s median income declining in the recent year by $10,000. He explained that was due to the Sequestration. He said, though, that the trend from contractor to civil servants was somewhat of an economic wash. The overall numbers are trailing indicators so he said the county would see the effects of federal budget decisions over the next two years.
Jarboe was asked to talk about his accomplishments. He said, in addition to the courthouse, that he is proud of the creation of waterfront parks, such as Myrtle Point Park and the recently purchased Shannon Farm. “If you can find waterfront land for $1,000 an acre (the county’s cost for the Shannon Tract) but it because I have never seen it,” he added.
Jarboe also listed holding the line on property taxes as another accomplishment.
The north county commissioner said the county should resist bring in residential development to his area. “Urban exodus brings urban values” he said of new commuter residential development.
Russell was asked why the county didn’t seek recourse from the failed Navy museum contractor. He said it was decided that there just wasn’t any money there. He likened it to getting “blood out of a turnip.”
Morris was asked if he had any regrets. He said he would have liked to have seen the Route 5 dualization in Leonardtown. Despite his efforts, “We just couldn’t get it done,” he said. He added he also would have liked to see a community for senior citizens built in the county.
Jones was asked what she felt the new board’s top priority should be. She reiterated her concerns about state funding. “We need to be very clear what our priorities are,” she noted.
Morgan, in response to a question about helping small business, said the reinstitution of the county’s Economic Development Commission, with small business representative on it, was a start.
And in response to another question about economic development, Russell reiterated that “education is the equalizer. It will do more for economic development.”
Russell noted that dependence on a new “TJ bridge” for economic development wouldn’t help anytime soon because he said he believes the bridge is two decades away.
St. Mary’s County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chair Margaret Sawyer of Old Line Bank moderated the event.
Before the presentations, during lunch, a new State of the County video produced by the county’s Public Information Office, was shown. That video can be viewed at: http://www.co.saint-marys.md.us/
