Who Will Win Mayoral Race?

 

Randy McClement

Jennifer Dougherty

Karen Young

The question I am asked multiple times a day is; “Who is going to win the mayoral race?” and I have always answered “I don’t know it looks like it is going to be close”.

With under a week to go to The City of Frederick election on November 5, I will offer my thoughts, based on observations over the years of many city elections.  However, there is no survey, poll or data I am relying on to make my assumptions, so that is what they will be; a best guess on my part and nothing more.

In fact, as people would ask me, who I thought was going to win, I would always end up asking them and receiving their thoughts on whom the next mayor will be.

First of all, there is no loud deafening cry coming from city voters to “throw the bums out”, as was the case in the last election when a whole new board and mayor were elected. So, this becomes a plus for incumbent Republican mayor Randy McClement.

Staying with this thought, a little further, is the added dynamic that both incumbent Democratic alderman; Kelly Russell and Michael O’Connor have performed in an exceptional manner, are well liked, and will certainly be reelected.

Leading me to give Randy another boost as voters will be tempted to vote for both popular incumbent aldermen and then add another incumbent as their choice for mayor.

However, Randy’s biggest negative is he is just not the leader or strong mayor the voters of The City of Frederick deserve.

The recent announcement from city hall there had been a $2.3 million accounting error in the city budget may also impact on the reelection of McClement.

Karen Young was quick to state "Wasn't the accounting error really $5.1million? We thought that we would start FY 2014 with a $2.8mm surplus. Then a $2.3 deficit for the Rainy Day Fund was identified. The two total $5.1mm."

She added "I find it totally unacceptable that there was a $5.1 million accounting error with little or no explanation, no apologies and no accountability."

The entry into the race by Jennifer Dougherty has made this a first time ever three way contest for mayor of the city and this also is another plus for the incumbent as it will certainly split the vote.  The incumbent typically receives a plus in a multiple candidate race.

I have known Jennifer for twenty years and like most friends and family members, we have had our differences over the years.  But, she remains a friend and someone I respect very much.

She ran her first of what will be five races for mayor in 1993, losing to Gary Hughes, the first city African American mayoral candidate, in the Democratic primary.  Former four term Democratic mayor Ron Young backed Hughes in that election.  Republican Jim Grimes would win that election.

After losing in the Democratic primary for Frederick board of county commissioner, Jennifer won the 2001 election, becoming the first woman elected mayor. She defeated two term Republican mayor Jim Grimes, who had been damaged by the infamous “Black Book scandal”. The scandal involved a local Madam and some of Frederick’s notables, with one name released being Democratic alderman Blaine Young.

Blaine did not run for reelection, reinvented himself as a conservative Republican radio talk show host and parlayed that into being elected president of the Frederick board of county commissioners.

Two big accomplishments of Dougherty’s term in office were the creation of the Neighborhood Advisory Councils and the hiring of popular and effective Kim Dine as Chief of Police.

However, her term was marred with constant battles with a less than cooperative board of aldermen and a confrontation played out in the media with Karen Korrell, president of the board of directors of the Weinberg Center, over city funding levels.

Karen Korrell, would later marry Ron Young.

The many political battles encountered during the Dougherty administration led to a challenge in the 2005 city Democratic primary by Ron Young, who after overcoming residency issues, defeated Jennifer, before losing himself to political neophyte Republican Jeff Holtzinger.

In 2009, after witnessing a stumbling Marcia Hall bow out and a youthful inexperienced Jason Judd enter the race for mayor, Jennifer would run for the fourth time for the Democratic nomination.

She would lose one more time and Judd was upset by Republican Randy McClement; the owner of a downtown Bagel shop.

Speculation was rampant after the 2005 and 2009 elections; it was disgruntled Dougherty supporters who were responsible for the narrow victories won by Republicans Holtzinger and McClement.

In 2013, Jennifer decided against trying for the Democratic Party nomination and instead gathered the necessary signatures to run as an Unaffiliated candidate for mayor.

Karen Young, a Democrat, with an impressive resume in the banking industry in marketing and financial services management, decided to run for alderman in the 2009 election. After, receiving the most votes, she became mayor pro tem.

It did not take long for Karen to assert herself on the board of alderman and it was obvious early on she was frustrated with the lack of leadership and management skills displayed by Mayor Randy McClement.

Her announcement earlier this year, she was running for mayor came as no surprise.

What wasn’t anticipated was the entry by Maryland state delegate Galen Clagett in the run for the Democratic Party nomination for mayor.

Galen, a long time local politician and successful business owner proved to be a formidable opponent for Young.

Karen matched him in campaign donations and outworked him during the primary campaign which led to her 10 point win over Galen in the Democratic primary.

You are probably asking yourself about now, “I thought George said he was going to give us his best guess on the mayor’s race”.

And, I am.  I just felt a little of the history leading up to this vote would be helpful in understanding the dynamics at work.

I, of course, just scratched the surface, understanding you might lose interest in reading a novel or long essay on the subject.

However, let me also mention, the long anticipated “cat fight” between Jennifer and Karen never materialized.  Most likely due to both candidates being aware that is what some were expecting to happen between two strong willed women.

Okay then, another reason for the short narrative is with a small voter turnout, history and interpersonal relations have an impact on who wins.

First, the turnout is not expected to exceed 22% of the registered voters and will be around 8,000 votes.

As I stated in an earlier column about moving the city election to coincide with the presidential election cycle “I can confidently predict 10% or less of the 36,539 registered voters (as of January 1, 2013) will determine who the next mayor will be on November 5 and the mayor elect will not receive a majority of the vote.”

There is no run-off provision for The City of Frederick, so the winner will become mayor by winning only a plurality of the vote. Also disconcerting is there is no vote recount procedure which may have an impact in a close election.

The voter party registration breakdown in the city (as of January 1, 2013) is Democratic – 17,299, Republican – 10,749 and Unaffiliated – 8,164.

Out of the total registered voters, Democratic registration in the city makes up about 46%, Republican 32% and Unaffiliated 22%.

Now, at first blush, you would be correct to say, this favors the Democratic candidate for Mayor; Karen Young.  You would be right, if Democrats vote party line.

But, with Jennifer in the race, it is likely she will draw more Democratic votes than Republicans.  Also, remember Democratic Maryland state delegate Galen Clagett was defeated by Karen in the primary and was known to have supported Randy over Jason Judd in the 2009 election.

Galen has stayed out of the spotlight since losing a bitter primary election against Karen and it would not be surprising if behind the scenes, he supported Randy again.

This makes it important for Karen to pull Republican voters to counteract anticipated defections from the Democratic voters.  Not surprisingly, influential Republican leaders in the city, who are frustrated with the lack of leadership displayed by mayor McClement have held meet and greet events for Karen after she won the Democratic primary.

I believe it is highly unlikely Jennifer will pull any significant Republican votes, leaving her to have to receive enough Democratic and Unaffiliated votes to win.  This is an uphill struggle for the Dougherty campaign and why I am guessing she will receive between 20% - 24% of the vote.

Long time city election observers have told me they would be surprised if Jennifer won more than 10% of the vote.

They will be surprised, but Jennifer will lose her bid for mayor for the fourth time in five tries.

It appears Randy and Karen will be locked in an extremely close contest with both receiving between 37% - 41% of the vote.

The get out the vote effort by both campaigns will be critical in this election.

Past experience has me predicting there will be about 2% under votes resulting from people who go to the polls, vote for alderman candidates, but choose not to vote for mayor.

Who will be the next mayor?  The odds favor the incumbent in a close race and combined with all the twists and turns in this election, it is Randy’s race to lose.

However, Karen has proven to me to be a hard campaigner and a strong closer, so I have her winning by a nose.

It is the voters who make the final decision - Make sure you cast your ballot on November 5!

Stay Tuned.

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George Wenschhof is Publisher/Editor of www.FrederickPolitics.com, a political news and commentary Blog.

McClement Fails to Lead

George Wenschhof

The City of Frederick election is only a week away and with a first time ever three way mayoral race and the off year municipal election guaranteeing a low voter turnout, the race for mayor promises to be very close.

The second largest city in the state deserves leadership and vision with a path forward, not a mayor who has exhibited a lack of management and at best could be described as one who is treading water or maintaining the status quo.

Republican mayor Randy McClement boasts he has kept city taxes at the same rate and has maintained the same level of services over his four year term.  He adds this took place during a period of economic downturn across the country.

In my most recent interview with him, he told me the only service he cut was bulk trash pickup and the city only received 30-35 calls a year in response, with half of them settling for the new process.

Interestingly, alderman candidates tell me one complaint they hear most from voters, as they campaign door to door, is the elimination of bulk trash pickup, followed with their desire for it to be resumed.

The other most often heard description of the mayor is “he is a nice guy.”  In my interviews with him over his term in office, I have always found him to be cordial.

However, his management style, or lack thereof, is what his critics point to and is what led to a record number of 7 candidates for mayor in this election.

The city has a charter form of government that calls for a strong executive; the mayor and a legislative branch to provide balance; the board of alderman.

Due to lack of leadership during the McClement administration, the board of alderman has had to step up and provide administrative support which is not their role and makes for a cumbersome and sluggish way to run local government.

Watching a mayor and board workshop or meeting, Randy remains silent, never offering his position on an issue or why a yes or no vote on the issue being discussed should transpire.

The mayor, who is the elected city executive, by charter, should be leading and not expecting the board of aldermen, who are legislators, to be administrators.

Following the inability by McClement to hire an executive assistant and then reading a local paper headline stating the board of alderman hires new police chief; his lack of leadership becomes readily apparent.

The less than satisfactory manner in which the contract with the Frederick Keys was conducted and the bungled rollout of a long proposed downtown hotel/conference center are more examples of his inability to grasp the political aspect of being a mayor.

In regard to his claim to have balanced the budget and kept city taxes level, Democratic mayoral candidate Karen Young was quick to criticize.

She pointed to the recent announcement from McClement the city was $2.3 million below the legislative agreed upon level for the rainy day fund, with the explanation it was a human error by finance director Gerry Klobfleisch.

This was immediately followed by Gerry Kloblfleisch announcing he had found a surplus in the current budget ($1.9 million from the capitol improvements program) to handle the deficit in the rainy day fund.  So, all was well.

Or, is it? Following the disclosure and Kolbfleisch’s admission to an error at a city workshop, Alderman Karen Young told me she sent the following memo to the mayor:

“* Wasn't the accounting error really $5.1million? We thought that we would start FY 2014 with a $2.8mm surplus. Then a $2.3 deficit for the Rainy Day Fund was identified. The two total $5.1mm.

* How did this occur? I still haven't received an answer to this. This could not have been a simple math error. Were there erroneous assumptions? Were expenses underestimated? This is too much of a discrepancy to go without an explanation.”

You can read the response from Klobfleisch here.

When I asked Alderman Young what was the response from the mayor, she said in an email to me "Randy never responded to me." She added "I find it totally unacceptable that there was a $5.1 million accounting error with little or no explanation, no apologies and no accountability."

I agree.

Being a nice guy is not enough for the mayor of the second largest city in the state.  The City of Frederick needs a visionary leader who is comfortable with managing professional staff, setting priorities and communicating policy effectively with staff and the public.

It is time for a change and why Karen Young is the best choice for mayor to move The City of Frederick forward.

Make sure you vote on November 5.
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Dougherty: “City Budget Managed Poorly”

George Wenschhof

Jennifer Dougherty

I sat down with Jennifer Dougherty recently to get an update on her campaign for mayor.  This is the fifth time she has run for mayor of The City of Frederick and the first time as an unaffiliated candidate.

Jennifer won, as a Democratic candidate in 2001 and served one term before losing in the 2005 Democratic primary to former four term mayor Ron Young.

I asked Jennifer, who is known to go door-to-door, what she is hearing from the voters.  She told me she was receiving a positive response with voters often telling her they were supporting her because “she got things done.” 

Jennifer said they would add, “hope you get a different type of board”, referring to the contentious board of aldermen, she was often at odds with, during her term in office.  Interestingly, Jennifer added they would often ask her “who is the mayor now?”

When I asked Jennifer what was the main issue she was focused on in her campaign, she spent the remainder of the interview describing the poor fiscal management displayed by the current administration.

First, she pointed to the city rainy day fund, which she said the board voted unanimously to increase from the mandated 12% to 17% level.  Jennifer says this action resulted in an excess of $15.8 million in funds.  She said “the city was sitting on cash and not spending on services that are needed.”

She would have rather seen the city using that money to pay down the pension, other post employment benefits (OPEB) debt and for much needed road improvements.

The inability of the city to reach and maintain the current budgeted level of 141 police officers is another example of poor management.  Jennifer said she would run two police academies at the same time with split shifts, until the city reached the planned level of officers. She added the city did more outreach during her administration and in addition to that, she would examine lateral transfers as well.

Overall, Jennifer complained to me the city fund balance was under spent in each budget category with a combined fund balance of $43 million which she felt clearly displayed the current administration was not effectively managing the budget.

The change to tax differential as the way city residents pay their taxes was another example of bad management Jennifer pointed to during my interview. 

The move to tax differential was made by the current administration in an effort to avoid the duplication of taxes by city residents and the previous manner Frederick County government would rebate revenue received back to The City of Frederick.

Jennifer told me the city accepted the formula from the county without analysis pointing to the city of Annapolis who received $25 million in savings compared to The City of Frederick who received $5 million.

Showing me her own tax bill, on a house appraised at $300,000, the average for the city, she claims she was overpaying up to $1,000 for services she was not receiving from the county.

Addressing the tax differential formula is one thing she will focus on as mayor and she will fight for city residents to receive that $1,000 in savings on their tax bill.

The city’s purchase of the Hargett farm for use of a regional park is another example of how the city is managing the budget poorly, according to Jennifer.

She says the city needs to look at all options on the Hargett farm property and complained about the debt service it is costing the city.  Jennifer said the mayor and board had not been able to make the difficult decisions, pointing out to me developers would have paid for road improvements, a school site, as well as water and sewer fees.

Jennifer said another illustration of poor budget management was when the board voted a year ago to give the board of education a portion of the Hargett farm for a school site.  Then, she said the city turned around and recently bought a site from the county for a water tower.  Her question to me was “why did this happen?”  She would have hoped, at the least, a land swap, would have been in order.

The costly availability charge to the city resulting from the Potomac River water services agreement with Frederick County government was another area Jennifer was not pleased about.  It was these terms that kept her from agreeing to the contract with the county.  She pointed out to me, Mayor Randy McClement was not happy with this expense agreed to under the Jeff Holtzinger administration.

Jennifer added she would like to reduce the Homestead tax from 5% to 3%.  She informed me she had reduced it from 10% to 5% during her administration and felt the anticipated increase in property assessments for next year, would keep revenues in line.

As we were nearing the end of a lengthy interview, Jennifer said as mayor she would also move to lower the personal property tax businesses pay in the city, by 50% and eliminate it in three years.  She told me the loss of $1.5 million in revenue would be made up by the increase of business locating in the city.

Jennifer also pointed out to me alderman Karen Young, who is the Democratic candidate for mayor, voted for every budget and the mayor and board have not been focused on the results.

In regard to the Pension and OPEB programs, Jennifer was again critical of the administration, asking why they haven’t changed the programs.  She wants the city to shoot for an 80% funding level in 10-12 years and not the 20 years the mayor and board have agreed on.

In addition, she would create a pension oversight board to review management of the pension and OPEB programs.

Jennifer told me, I have had the luxury of being mayor and knows what she would do differently if elected mayor.

Concluding the interview, Jennifer said “a sea change is needed in management”, not with employees in the city.”

 

Registered voters in The City of Frederick will elect their mayor and a five member board of alderman on November 5.

Stay tuned.

 

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Hirsch Focused on the Environment

George Wenschhof

Carol Hirsch (Middle)

My interview by phone, of Carol Hirsch; Democratic candidate for mayor of The City of Frederick, was a first for me.

Carol, who is deaf, quickly corrected me via the interpreter and asked that I refer to her as an ASL User (American Sign Language User).

I had meet Carol twice briefly, and found her to have an engaging personality. The opportunity to discuss her race for mayor was intriguing to me.

I began by asking her a little about herself and she told me she had lived in New York City, has three children and after divorce, was a single mom.  One of her children Cj, I met at the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) candidate forum held earlier in the week.

Her education included media technology and she liked film and video.  She added she has been working at Wal-Mart for the last nine years.  Interestingly, several friends of mine, when hearing I was interviewing Carol, were quick to say they knew her from shopping at the Rt. 26 store and always found her fun and friendly when they went through her line to check out.

When I asked her why she was running for mayor, Carol quickly answered with “why not? I have strong leadership skills, strong organization background and I’m good at politics.”

The area Carol mentioned she was most interested in was environmental issues and spoke of the need for recycling to become more standardized.

When I asked her if she supported Frederick County government building an incinerator to handle solid waste disposal, she referred to the Al Gore movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and said “a better understanding and more facts were needed before proceeding.”

To help promote environmental awareness, she would propose not using electricity for five minutes one day.

I also asked Carol about blighted properties in the city and she said “the mayor’s task force was a good start and she would want a strong focus on this and get it resolved.”

In regard to a downtown hotel/conference center, she felt government did not have money to help with this now and she would not support any government funding for the project.  She asked “Why do we need it?” She added “there are many other things to work at before this.”

In closing my interview, I informed Carol I had noticed she had not filed the first candidate campaign finance report due on August 12.  She said there had been some confusion and she would get it in on October 7 when the next report is due.

I thanked her for taking the time to interview with me and I also thank the interpreter services who were very helpful throughout the entire interview.

The three Democratic candidates for mayor are Maryland state delegate Galen Clagett, city alderman Karen Young and Carol Hirsch.

The three Republican candidates for mayor are incumbent Randy McClement, city alderman Shelley Aloi and former mayor Jeff Holtzinger.

Jennifer Dougherty, who does not face a primary opponent, is a unaffiliated candidate for mayor.

The City of Frederick primary election is September 10.

Stay tuned.

 

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Clagett Defends $30,000 in Contributions from Ausherman and Pleasants

George Wenschhof

Galen Clagett

During, the NAC forum held Tuesday for The City of Frederick candidates, I asked Democratic Maryland state delegate Galen Clagett about the $30,000 he had received in contributions via real estate developers Marvin Ausherman ($20,000) and Pleasants Construction ($10,000) for his mayoral campaign.

I pointed out to him I had noticed and previously reported on the same address used from different entities to his campaign for multiple donations listed on his first campaign finance report. I informed him Democratic city alderman Karen Young, who is also running for mayor, sent me an analysis prepared by her Treasurer Kathy Rossen pointing out the connection of the addresses to entities associated with Ausherman and Pleasants.

Campaign contribution limits to mayoral candidates per entity in The City of Frederick election is $2,500 and none of the entities exceeded this figure.

I shared with Galen, Karen Young had pointed out the total of $30,000, which equaled half of his reported contributions, had essentially come from two people associated with real estate development. I added this may be troublesome to voters.

Galen bristled while responding with “I can not be bought", adding "$20,000 was a small amount (referring to the contributions received from Ausherman) and that Donnie (Pleasants) had been a long time friend.”

Clagett added Karen had also received money from Ausherman and I said yes, I had noticed a $500 contribution.

I pointed out to Karen I had seen where her campaign had received a total of $7,500 from three entities with the same address, which she readily admitted were associated with John Fitzgerald, a local businessman.  However, she said “this was a business and not a real estate developer.”

In regard to the $7,500 total contributions from entities associated with Fitzgerald, Karen told me “when he made the commitment to support her campaign financially, he told her his only expectation would be that I return his phone call should he call me.”  Karen said she responded to him by saying “she could commit to that because she returns everyone’s calls.”

She added “overall she was proud to have received 64% of her campaign contributions from individuals.”

In her Treasurer’s analysis of the Clagett campaign finance report, Karen said the Clagett campaign received 67.3% from Developers/Real Estate, 10.3% from political campaigns/PAC, 4.6% from Business, and 17.8% from Individuals.

The Clagett campaign reported raising $60,425 and the Young campaign reported raising $49,351 in their first finance report.

Clagett did not return repeated messages prior to publication.

Galen Clagget, Karen Young and Carol Hirsch are the three Democratic candidates for mayor and the Republican candidates are incumbent Mayor Randy McClement, city alderman Shelley Aloi and former mayor Jeff Holtzinger. 

Jennifer Dougherty is running as an unaffiliated candidate and does not have a primary opponent.

The primary election is September 10.

Stay Tuned.

 

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Holtzinger Wants to Return as Mayor

George Wenschhof

Jeff Holtzinger

The former one term Republican mayor of The City of Frederick wants his job back after watching Mayor Randy McClement (R) from the sidelines over the last three and one-half years.

I asked Jeff why he decided not to run for reelection and he told me “it was because he had reached the “white board” goals he had set upon becoming mayor.”  He ticked off; reaching an agreement to provide a water supply for the city, cutting back unnecessary levels of government, he reduced the tax rate twice, and had obtained the final permit for central section of Monocacy Boulevard. 

Holtzinger said he had hoped that Randy, as a small business owner, would have helped inject common sense and reduce the red tape in government, but he has seen “indecisiveness from the mayor.”

Jeff added he felt “McClement, by not making decisions, had allowed the board of aldermen to be the de facto mayor.”

While Holtzinger believes in the need to collaborate with the aldermen, he feels they are the legislative body and not administrators.

Since, deciding not to run for reelection, Holtzinger has put his law degree and engineering degree to work and is presently a consultant with The Town of Brunswick, where he is proud of the in-house work staff has done on town projects.

As mayor, Jeff said he would like the city staff to be utilized more on projects and to cut back on the costly expense of hiring consultants.  Specifically, the former mayor said the city was spending too much money on Phase II of the Carroll Creek development.

Holtzinger would like to see a more straightforward set of plans for Carroll Creek and reduce the scope of the plans.  He believes the consultant plans will lead to many change orders, driving up the construction cost of the project.

Jeff said the “city is spending $3 million an acre to develop Carroll Creek and this is too high.”

One of the goals Jeff would like to accomplish is to finish the “beltway” around Frederick by completing the missing links.  He believes this will help the circulation of traffic for residents of the city.

Again, Holtzinger came back to doing as much engineering/survey work in-house as possible, adding the city also had the capability to do minor construction.

Holtzinger also told me he was unhappy with changes in the land management code and that some regulations being added were unnecessary.  If, elected mayor, he would begin an in-house review of the land management code with perhaps some outside help, and would present changes to it in a public meeting.

He defended his controversial push for the city to purchase the costly Hargett Farm for a park, saying the city needed more active recreation parks where residents can easily walk to it.  Due to the size of acreage for the park, public announcement systems and lighting will not be an issue as it is in manner areas, because it will not be right next to residential neighborhoods.

When I brought up the concerns of the costly purchase price and off-site improvements, Jeff defended the purchase saying even with the off-site improvements, the development costs will be less than the $3 million per acre the city is spending to develop Carroll Creek.

Jeff also said his water agreement with the county was also necessary. The annual cost to the city that exceeds $1 million, even though the city is not using water was something that had to be done, according to Holtzinger.

The city did not have adequate water supply to serve development and Jeff said it costs the county money to have the water ready to go, even if the city does not draw on it.  He added the downturn in the economy has added to this problem due to anticipated growth not taking place.

In concluding the interview, I asked him about the city residency requirement for mayor and he said it may sound funny coming from him, but he supports it because he believes the mayor should be familiar with the community.

Holtzinger, who lived just outside the city limits, won the 2005 election when legal maneuvering on the residency issue allowed a temporary window when no residency requirements were in place.

He informed me he has taken the steps to do what was needed to meet the residency requirement in this election.

Stay Tuned.

 

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Aloi Wants To Get Fiscal House in Order

George Wenschhof

Shelley Aloi

Republican Shelley Aloi told me The City of Frederick is her hometown and that as mayor she would focus on “public safety and getting the fiscal house in order”.

Shelley said she had traveled around the world and had come back because Frederick is so great she wanted to ensure it continues to be a wonderful hometown for other families for generations to come.

Shelley shared with me she never thought she would be in politics and that prior to running and being elected alderman, she had traveled the world helping people in need.

She had worked in a soup kitchen in Atlanta, a para church organization “Christmas of Service” in Amsterdam where she helped homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes, and had spent three months in Germany providing humanitarian aid.

Upon returning home, Shelley attended the 2008-2009 Leadership Frederick County” class and it was during the state and local government day portion of the class, she decided “this would be a natural next step in serving people”.

She ran for alderman in the 2009 city election and came in third of the five aldermen elected.  She was most proud of the way the board of aldermen, on the most part, have worked well together and although they often have different viewpoints and perspectives, they have been respectful of one another.

As Mayor, Aloi intends to focus on everyone from children to senior citizens to provide a quality of life everyone enjoys.

When it came to public safety, Aloi said she intends to provide adequate resources for police technology, educational initiatives to support strategic policing and promote community policing.  Newly hired Police Chief Thomas Ledwell would also be retained under her administration.

Aloi was especially critical of Mayor Randy McClement on his handling of the underfunded city Pension and Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) programs.

Shelley felt the mayor did not have this as a priority and as a result, the city unfunded actuarial accrued liability for the pension, grew from $62.5 million in fiscal year 2010 to $100 million in fiscal year 2014.

With OPEB, Aloi said the city changed the way calculations were done, resulting in a reduced unfunded liability “on paper” from $128 million to $104 million.

Aloi sent me a follow up email after my interview where she said “I also fault Randy McClement for his negotiations along with Kelly Russell, Michael O’Connor and Carol Krimm for their votes obligating city taxpayers to cover 100% of retiree healthcare costs for all sworn employees hired before January 1, 2010. This is a future cost for which no financial projections were completed. A straight line estimate without an actuarial analysis makes this as much as a $44 million dollar obligation. We do not have the money to pay for this promise.”

In addition, Aloi said the mayor has touted the city reaching a level of 80% funding in twenty years, but left out the city would be contributing $7.5 million each year (for the amortization portion only) over the next twenty years.

Economic development would be another focus for Aloi, as mayor, and she quickly pointed to the importance of the city moving to Phase II of the Carroll Creek project.

She again criticized Mayor McClement for almost letting $3 million in state funding go away because he had not secured local matching funds.  Aloi said she, aldermen Carol Krimm and Karen Young scrambled to first; urge the mayor not to send the money back and second; secure the necessary matching funding for the project.

Aloi said the lease negotiation of city owned Harry Grove Stadium was also handled poorly by the mayor.  She did not understand why one of the most valuable parts of the contract “the naming rights for the stadium” was not included in the original negotiation.

Aloi would also like to help the growth of small business in the city which she feels is hampered by rules that are too onerous and costs too high to do business in the city.

Alderman Aloi will face Mayor Randy McClement and former mayor Jeff Holtzinger in the Republican primary.

The Democratic mayoral primary will include alderman Karen Young, Maryland state delegate Galen Clagett and Carol Hirsch.

Former mayor Jennifer Dougherty is running as an unaffiliated candidate and will not have an opponent in the primary election.

The City of Frederick primary election will be held on September 10.

Stay tuned.

 

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Should City Provide Funding for a Downtown Hotel?

George Wenschhof

 

Republican Mayor Randy McClement has promoted a downtown hotel/conference center since being elected and had previously expressed desire to have broken ground on the project by now.

 

Wednesday, during a City of Frederick mayor and board of aldermen workshop, a real estate consulting firm hired by the city, said there will be a funding shortfall between $10-12 million.

 

Frederick News Post reporter Jen Bondeson in an article published Thursday wrote, in part, “Developers say that when the proposed hotel comes to fruition, room rates will not be high enough to support the added features, said John Gibb, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate consultant firm.”

During tough economic times and a heavy debt service already existing with The City of Frederick, I asked mayoral candidates “whether they would support taxpayers funding the anticipated shortfall or an amount of the shortfall and if so, why and if not, why?”

 

Former mayor and unaffiliated candidate Jennifer Dougherty responded with "I don't think it makes sense from what I know today. Government services - police, trash, snow plowing, etc. have to be our priorities.

Government would be going into competition with private enterprises in the scenario described...that's a tough one to accept.

If the private sector cannot afford it, we should be careful about government getting into it. I think it's premature to commit or expect City taxpayer funds on this project."

Alderman Karen Young, who is one of three Democrats running for mayor sent me an email saying "I don't see the city filling that wide a gap. I have never been in favor of a cash supplement. I can see the city providing parking as long as it would benefit the overall community. I might also consider the city's participation in providing land under very specially defined conditions."

When I pressed her for a level of funding by the city she would support she said "That is premature. I'd have to see the total plan."

Former Republican mayor Jeff Holtzinger sent me an email saying "If a private hotel/conference center operator can make it work that would be a nice asset for downtown. I do not think the City should be in the hotel/conference center business.

There is a hotel with conference space in the City limits at the intersection of Opossumtown Pike and Thomas Johnson Drive. I do not think the City should be looking to compete with this privately owned hotel/conference center.  

The private sector will have much better insight as to whether such a facility is feasible in a downtown location and that is who should be calling the shots on this not City Hall. If a private developer does have an interest in a downtown site, the City's proper role would be to provide a predictable, consistent and fair regulatory process.  

No I do not think the City should fund any part of this shortfall. In my opinion that is not a proper role of local government to be the lending institution for a private enterprise." 

In an email, alderman Shelley Aloi, who is one of three Republicans running for mayor, said "I want to assure City taxpayers that under my leadership the City of Frederick will not pay for a downtown hotel, nor will we pay the debt service for a hotel. Instead, I see the role of City government as creating an environment that allows the private sector to flourish. The City's Department of Economic Development in cooperation with our consultant will continue to work with local partners (The Chamber of Commerce, Major Employers Group, etc.) to develop a plan of action that opens the possibility for a full-service hotel with large meeting space.

Today, large groups must travel to Washington, Baltimore and even Hagerstown to host functions. Frederick should have a share of this market and we can work toward this end in many ways that do not use City taxpayer dollars. For example, the City of Frederick already has plans for an additional parking deck. A partnership in which hotel occupants can use and pay for parking in a City owned deck would be a win-win situation.

Another scenario might be securing the use of State funding. To be clear, most State dollars are spent in other areas including Baltimore City and County, Prince Georges County and Howard County. Why should the taxpaying citizens in the City of Frederick support programs in these much larger areas? I submit that we should not. Since the State government will spend our money either way, the City of Frederick should work on behalf of citizens to bring the benefit of these State programs home to Frederick. If not, we will continue to send our money down the road to other communities."

At time of publication, Mayor Randy McClement and Carol Hirsch (D) had not responded to my inquiries.

Update: 8:00 AM - Mayor Randy McClement responded with the following: "I have said in the past and continue to say, the City will NOT build a hotel or conference center. We are facilitating in the discussions along with the private sector on the feasibility of having one in Downtown Frederick. The Hotel Advisory Group continues to move forward with examining this possibility and I look forward to their final recommendation.

I have said that if public infrastructure, such as a parking deck, was needed to help bring a facility like this to downtown AND that public infrastructure helped to serve the greater good of that service area, I would look at possibly moving that infrastruture up in the process."

Maryland state delegate Galen Clagett's office informed me he was on vacation with his wife and will respond upon returning home next week.

The manner in which the city proceeds with this project and the level of funding provided is likely to have an impact on the upcoming City of Frederick election. 

Stay tuned.

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The City of Frederick Primary Election Online Mayoral Poll

George Wenschhof

The City of Frederick primary will be held on September 10, less than six weeks away. Three Republicans and three Democrats will face off that day to determine who will move on from their political party to the general election held on November 5.

The three Democratic candidates are Maryland state delegate Galen Clagett, alderman Karen Young and Carol Hirsch.

The three Republican candidates are incumbent mayor Randy McClement, alderman Shelley Aloi and former mayor Jeff Holtzinger.

The general election will include unaffiliated candidate Jennifer Dougherty, who does not face opposition in the primary.

Over the next three days, I will be running Democratic and Republican mayoral candidate polls; located in the right hand margin.  You can only vote once and the polls will close on Monday August 5 at 6:00 AM. 

Enjoy!

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Dougherty: “Government is not the enemy”

George Wenschhof

During my ninety minute interview with Jennifer Dougherty, the unaffiliated candidate for mayor of The City of Frederick constantly focused on the issues and her leadership ability.

The former mayor informed me she was running her campaign as if she had a primary and has already knocked on 6,000 doors. By September 10, the day of the primary election, she plans to have knocked on another 4,000 doors.

One thing she heard from residents is they are not happy with the decision by the current administration to eliminate bulk trash pick up and that she would bring it back if elected mayor.

She told me “government is not the enemy and can help people in every neighborhood and business as well.”

In regard to mayor Randy McClement (R), alderman Karen Young (D) and alderman Shelley Aloi (R), who are all running for mayor, Dougherty said “they have had four years to address the big issues and she doesn’t see any evidence they would be able to make any meaningful change if they were elected mayor for the next term.”

Jennifer believes one of the biggest issues in this election is leadership experience and feels during her term as mayor she demonstrated the willingness to get things done, citing the start up of phase I of the Carroll Creek development as one example.

In this case, she appointed a task force to create development on what had long been a dormant site, named local businessman Dick Kessler as chair and facilitated the groundbreaking for La Paz restaurant and the office building on site “A”.

When I mentioned the underfunded city pension and other post employment benefit plans (OPEB), Dougherty informed me she would cut in half the amount of time Mayor McClement has established at reaching an increase from the city current 50% funding level to 80% funding level.  She wants to achieve an 80% funding level in ten years versus the twenty years proposed by the mayor.

Jennifer also wants to review the recent change by the city from tax equity to tax differential, arguing there is as much as $10 million in residential taxes being paid by city taxpayers for duplication of services under the current formula and an even higher loss of revenue when commercial is added.

In addition, the former mayor pointed out to me the city fund balance is nearly two times higher than what is needed. She told me by resolution, 12% is called for and in fact, it is currently 23%.  She would use the $16 million, resulting from the change, to plow back into needed services and to reduce the tax burden for city taxpayers.

In regard to the city purchase of the Hargett farm during the Holtzinger administration, she felt this was a mistake and huge liability to the city.  She would consider selling some of this property to reduce the debt load of the city and to cover needed infrastructure improvements.

Dougherty added another potential revenue source for the city would be to privatize the city owned parking decks.

She also said she would propose a reduction in business personal property tax by 50% over a three year period.  Businesses in the county do not currently pay these taxes and although Dougherty said it would result in a $1.2 million reduction in revenue to the city, it would spur economic development and create jobs.

In closing my interview, Jennifer shared with me she was proud of the way the neighborhood advisory councils (NACs) that she initiated when she was mayor, were working today.

She believes they can even work better and would like to begin brown bag lunch monthly meetings with NAC leaders, businesses leaders, elected officials, and high achievers from high school.

The meetings would be open with the press invited and she would discuss what was coming up on the city agenda, etc.

Stay tuned.

 

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