Author Archives: Tom Puglisi
CAN’s Unofficial Notes on July 5 P&Z Commission Meeting
Cambridge City Election (Aug 23) – Absentee Ballot Info
Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com
Dear Readers:
For those of you living in Cambridge and are registered voters, I am attaching a copy of the form and directions to request an absentee ballot in the event you are away on election and/or run off day or do not want to vote in person.
The link to this information can be found on the city website at
The first vote is scheduled for August 23rd. If none of the candidates have 50% plus one of the votes, there would be a runoff election at a later date.
For everyone on this email, even if you are unable to vote in this election, please share this information with anyone you know who lives in the city so they can be aware of this opportunity.
Thanks.
Steve
Cambridge Matters – County Charter Commission Report – July 13, 2022
Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com
Dear Readers:
The Charter Commission Report has been posted on the County Council Website. I have downloaded it, and it is attached. If you prefer to go directly to it on the County Website, I found it at
You can copy the link above and search for it directly.
I leave it to each of you who live anywhere in the County to make your own decisions about the recommendations. Each of them has with it or separately an explanation by the Charter Commission as to its reasoning. At the final Charter Commission meeting most of these recommendations were adopted 6-0. I think one was 5-1 and one was 4-0-2 with the 2 being abstentions.
I attended most of the Charter Commission meetings, and I want to compliment the Commission Members on the work that they did, especially given the short time that they were given to do their job. While I see a couple of their proposals that I would have worded differently, they worked hard and did a very good job. I think that all of the recommendations deserve consideration by you and by the County Council. Understand that any of the recommendations that are approved would be placed on the November ballot for the voters to approve or not as they choose.
The Council needs to hear your thoughts – for or against – and why. If they do not hear from you, they may think that you do not care; so email them, call them, or show up at the meeting on July 18th before 6 p.m. and sign up to speak. Under the notice, you will have 3 minutes to speak. If lots of people show up, that may be cut back.
If you are going to speak, prepare in writing what you want to say and test it out a couple of times to be sure it is no more than 3 minutes long and bring it with you.
Below is contact information of each of the the County Council Members that is found on the County website:
Council Member Newcomb
Cell: (443) 521-6957
E-Mail: jnewcomb@docogonet.com
Council Member Nichols
Home: (410) 221-1371
E-Mail: wnichols@docogonet.com
Council Member Travers
Work: 410-228-4313
Home: 410-228-1532
E-Mail: rtravers@docogonet.com
Council Member Pfeffer
Cell: 443-521-3690
E-Mail: lpfeffer@docogonet.com
Council Member Nagel
Cell: (443) 521-5469
E-Mail: lnagel@docogonet.com
Please let them know what you think.
Thanks.
Steve
CAN’s Unofficial Notes on July 11 City Council Mtg
County Council Hearing on Charter Commission Recommendations – July 18, 6:00 pm
Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com
Below is a notice from County Council regarding the date and time for a public meeting regarding the Charter Commission Recommendations to the County Council. They have not included the information for calling in, if you would prefer to do that rather than come to the meeting. Once I have the Charter Commission recommendations or a link to them, I will share them with you. I would ask that when you receive them that you take a look and consider calling the Council members or sending them an email with your support for the ones that you would like to see placed on the November ballot. We hope that they would be at least the ones that address the issues of Transparency and the County Manager that the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government have raised. The best and most productive thing you can do is to appear at the Council meeting and take time to make a public statement as noted below.
Thanks for considering these issues.
TAKE NOTICE. Pursuant to Section 603(c) of the Charter for Dorchester County, Maryland, the County Council of Dorchester County, Maryland will conduct a public hearing on July 18, 2022 at 6:02 p.m. in Room 110, County Office Building, 501 Court Lane, Cambridge, Maryland 21613, to consider the report of the Charter Review Commission of Dorchester County, Maryland of the Charter Review Commission’s review of the provisions of the County’s Charter and the recommendations of the Charter Review Commission as to the necessity for deleting, adding or amending the County’s Charter.
The public is invited to attend the public hearing and to provide comments which are generally limited to three (3) minutes per individual.
COUNTY COUNCIL OF DORCHESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND
By: Jay L. Newcomb, President
Cambridge Matters – City Charter Change – July 11, 2022
Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com
Dear Readers:
For those of you who do not get the Cambridge Spy and have an interest in matters concerning Cambridge, I thought that my article in the Spy publication today might be of interest. The link to it is below.
Steve
https://talbotspy.org/off-the-bench-cambridge-city-charter-change-by-steve-rideout/
Women’s Mural Dedication – August 13
Cambridge Matters – MidShore Mediation – July 5, 2022
Cambridge Matters – County Charter Petitions – June 29, 2022
Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com
Dear Readers:
We continue our efforts to collect signatures on the two attached petitions to provide the opportunity to place them on the Ballot for vote. They offer changes to the County Charter that will provide greater transparency for all of us in the County Council meetings (Article 6) and a more effective management of the County staff by the County Manager (Articles 405-406). We thank all of you that have signed these petitions and all of you that have helped to collect signatures.
This email and request are aimed at those of you who are registered voters and your friends, family, and neighbors here in Dorchester County that have not yet signed the petitions. We have tried to get to everyone with many different efforts, events, etc. but understand that Dorchester County is so spread out in where people live that we have not been able to get to everyone.
You have probably heard that virtually all of the candidates for election support this effort so some might think that with the elections in November, these will be put in place. While County Council can implement these changes, the next County Council can change them unless they are part of the Charter. That is why we are not resting our hopes on the outcome of the November elections.
If you come into Cambridge during the week, the best and easiest place to sign the petitions is at the Chamber of Commerce at 306 High Street during normal business hours from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on most days.
If you have a printer at your home, you can print off the signature page and the back of it that details the language that we are proposing (Article 6) or explains it (Article 405-406). Copying the document so that it is printed on the front and back of the document is required. You and your spouse, friends, relatives, and neighbors can then fill in the required information on the signature form on the right lines and then sign them in front of you. You can then fill in the certification form completely and sign it with the date that the last person placed on the form.
You do not need to fill in all 5 signature places on the form. If you have one or more empty, you can strike through them. When the signing process is complete, you can bring them to my office at 311 High Street and put them in the mail slot to the right of the front door. You can drop them off at the Chamber of Commerce. You can mail them to me at 311 High Street in Cambridge.
If you have the opportunity over this upcoming Holiday weekend to collect signatures from neighbors, that would be a big help to our effort.
Our goal is 5,000 signatures by the end of July in order to have the Board of Elections place these petitions on the ballot in November and our time is running short, so any help you can provide will be appreciated.
Thanks for considering this request. If you have questions, my cell is 703-655-6149.
Steve