Candidates running in the June 6 Special Election for the Ward 1 and Ward 5 City Council seats responded to questions developed by the CAN Board to ascertain their positions on selected issues. Candidate responses are presented here exactly as submitted.
WARD 1
Laurel E. Atkiss
Below is a message from CAN President, Chuck McFadden, about our Rescue Fire Company’s need for new vehicles.
Judge Stephen Rideout (ret.)
swrideout@aol.com
Dear Readers:
The Charter Commission made its presentation on Charter Change recommendations this past Monday to the County Council. The presentation went well with Phil Reed doing most of the talking. All but one member of the Commission was present for the meeting. In addition about 7 members of the public appeared to present their views on the recommendations.
All of the speakers praised the Charter Commission and the work that they had done in such a short period of time. There were a few concerns about some of the recommendations; but on the whole, those members of the public who were speaking supported the issues that the Commission was trying to address.
As the report, under normal circumstances, would have been due to the County Council in May, which is about when the Commission was allowed to start, this report in mid July has put some time pressure on County Council to make any decisions on their recommendations, as any proposed charter amendment needs to be at the State Elections Board by August 5th in order for them to make final approvals as to language for the ballot question to appear on the ballot in November.
The County Council voted to place these recommendations on the agenda for the County Council meeting on August 2nd at 6:00 p.m. for final decisions. If any of the recommendations are adopted, lawyers for the county will have just a few days to prepare appropriate language unless directed otherwise in order that the ballot question can be sent to the State Board of Election by August 5th.
We were advised that future meetings of County Council will be televised and not conducted over the phone. I am not aware how they will be televised – over the Internet or on a cable channel – so you may want to check the county web site for information on that issue. You, of course, are welcome to join the public at the meeting itself.
Steve
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
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
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