Category Archives: Cambridge Matters

Cambridge Matters – County Charter Commission Report – July 13, 2022

Posted on by

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

https://secureservercdn.net/104.238.71.109/c4d.327.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Charter-Review-Commission-Public-Hearing.pdf

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

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Cambridge Matters – County Charter Petitions – June 29, 2022

Posted on by

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

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Cambridge Matters – Trash Collection – April 29, 2022

Posted on by

Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com

Dear Readers:

I had to come back to the trash issue about which I wrote earlier this month. How our city council spends the monies that have been received and will come from the federal government are important, and it is important that your voice is heard whether you are in or outside of the city.

Steve

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Cambridge Matters — Off the Bench: Underused Resources, Resources for Youth, Judicial Roles

Posted on by

Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com

Dear Readers:

In the event you do not receive the Cambridge or Talbot Spy internet magazine, here are two of my recent articles that have been published over the past two weeks as well as the one that is scheduled to be published on Monday the 18th. It is free and also provides you with other important information about what is going on here and along the Eastern Shore.

I hope they are helpful and that you enjoy them.

Steve

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Cambridge Matters – April 14, 2022

Posted on by

Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com

Dear Readers:

I saw on a recent City Council agenda an item about extending the contract of Chesapeake Waste for six months while City Council considered what it should do about bringing that service back to city staff to perform.

Attached is my Cambridge Matters report on the history of this issue with the last city council along with the agenda documents from over a period of months that we considered.

While the article and the attached do not address all of the considerations, they do address what I think are the major ones. I hope that this is helpful to our members of city council as well as you in understanding this issue and letting your voice be heard as they make any decisions regarding this issue.

Steve

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Cambridge Matters — Proposed County Charter Change

Posted on by

Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com

Dear Readers:

I am not sending you a Cambridge Matters article today but rather some documents related to the effort by the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government to obtain enough signatures on the two petitions that are attached to allow these issues to be placed on the ballot in the November 2022 election. I am also attaching a one page explanation for why these proposals were created along with a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document. The two petitions have the proposed language on the back of Proposed Section 606 and a Summary of what is being proposed on the back of Proposed Sections 405-406 along with the complete language of those sections including current and new proposed language as required by the law.

The Dorchester Citizens for Better Government is now in the process of collecting the over 4500 signatures for each petition that are required to permit the Local Election Board to approve their being on the November Ballot. This is a monumental job in this county given how spread out we are, so in addition to the above, I am asking for your help.

First please read the attached. If you agree with what we are trying to do, think about how you could help. In order to help, the people who need to sign these petitions are registered voters. It does not matter if they live in the county outside of a city or in a city. We are all citizens of the county. What kind of help could you provide?

Would it be collecting signatures of your neighbors who are registered voters? Collecting them at church or at some group that you are involved in? Volunteering as the weather is warmer by sitting at a table in Cambridge, Hurlock, or some public event where you live and talking with your neighbors about these matters? Holding an event at your church or group and inviting me or someone from our group to come and explain why we are seeking these changes to the county charter? There is no one answer.

If you have questions and want to talk about what we are trying to do, take a look at the zoom link below which is a training video that Gene Lauer and I did to help people understand the issues and also know how to collect signatures. If that does not answer your questions, email me or call me at 703-655-6149.

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/HyS06LpIh8U-cZ4wFRDPCup2AwXiPc-NKhPT4T1YmrcsgVKl4tfiPdOcV4ZdDG0.HcL3ruwRSDg3JKwd

Passcode: B?^Dl7HC

We need to collect these signatures over the next 3-4 month in order to timely file them with the County Government and the Election Board. We also hope to be able to appear before the County Charter Commission and ask them to propose these to the County Board for placement on the November Ballot, but we are unsure if the County Board would agree to do that.

The proposed changes are not radical. They are common sense solutions to some of the challenges that we see are present in the way that county government is run.

For those of you that are already helping, thank you. For those of you who have already signed these petitions thank you. Please tell people you know why you signed them. Help us get the word out.

Thank you for considering this request.

Steve

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