Change is the one inevitable thing in life, to the point of unpredictability. In the case of a county searching to embrace its past, present and future, change is sometimes a certainty. Politics, especially in Charles County, will for at least this election year be an exercise in change.

One dynamic at work in this particular election is the broad spectrum from which Charles County voters will have to choose, business people, a school teacher, a former federal worker, a former delegate, a former commissioner, a Navy veteran, a former AP reporter, current commissioners, a former social worker and parole officer, and ordinary citizens frustrated with high taxes and fiscal mismanagement. It is a tribute to the citizens of the county that this elaborate field of individuals care enough to step forward and participate in the political process.

The Board of Charles County Commissioners may certainly see change in a number of districts, or will things remain similar? There is no crystal ball, certainly, but in the case of commissioner president, with Candice Quinn Kelly seeking a delegate’s seat in Annapolis, her chair will certainly see a new occupant, and as District 3 Commissioner Reuben Collins seeks Kelly’s former position, his former district will be occupied from a field of newcomers.

There are underlying forces at work in this particular election not obvious to the casual observer, but certainly at play. In the past three months, citizens have raged at the current board for their inability to pass a balanced budget without placing the burden on the backs of its citizens. Tom DeSalbla, running on the Republican ticket for commission president, declared at a recent commissioner’s forum that since he moved his family here in 2009, his taxes have risen every single year.

Taxes, education and transportation are echoed repeatedly as the top three issues facing the county, but their symptoms are much more underlying. A populace which largely leaves the county for employment in the Metropolitan-Washington area create unique challenges for county leaders and for those as well who labor to serve its citizens, educate their children and provide basic services.

Citizens have also repeatedly called for controlled growth to give the county a chance to catch up on infrastructure needs and protect the environment. This is, however, not a call for no-growth but growth in the right places.

Three incumbents on the current board (Reuben Collins, Debra Davis and Bobby Rucci) have been singled out repeatedly at public hearings as having betrayed the public trust and not listening to the voices of its citizens: Collins, running in the commission president race against fellow Democrat Peter Murphy, will have to overcome the fact that he is on probation for one year due to a DWI earlier this year.

Citizens at public hearings have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction over Collins, Davis and Rucci’s voting records for projects the public at large spoke in opposition to.

Criticism over Davis and Collins&rsqu