Open Agenda TV Ep 11: Bob Taylor
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
you're watching open Agenda here's our
host Joe
White welcome to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White with me in studio is our
executive producer Joe venosa Joe thanks
for being here today thank you Joe so I
want to talk about the County council
meeting that we just had on Tuesday
September 17th and that led into a press
conference by the county executive on
Thursday September 19th uh let's start
with the County council meeting this was
a 10: a.m. meeting uh their second one
for the month uh one of the hearings
they had to start the meeting off was uh
basically allocating the current
downtown library property as Surplus and
this is part of the process to
ultimately move the library out to
Shoemaker Pond is that is that right
correct so uh we also had uh director
herburger get up there and and and ask
for the
$330,000 in in uh in operating money uh
to to get the design and engineering
done they're applying for the state
grant that they hope to hear you know
yes or no by the end of April they feel
like the that the library has a much
better chance of getting uh the state
grants uh if they have plans in place
and quote unquote shovel ready right
correct so uh you know it wasn't a lot
of discussion there uh it all of that
passed you know fairly quickly I think
um one thing that did happen is uh
councilman Holloway and two other
councilmen did ask ask uh for an
amendment to be put in that would
essentially trigger that
$330,000 for the libraries engineering
once the state Grant was awarded right
but that measure ultimately failed three
to four um once again showing that open
transparent government they're not
always in agreement and sometimes you
can go out there and watch them fight
and that's the thing you get to see it
happen at the very least and you could
speak yourself I mean it was a hearing
you could get up there and talk yeah
absolutely as people did as they did
yeah um so you know that part of the
County council meeting uh went just
right along the the agenda lines that
that you would expect um but then I
think one of the the surprises maybe of
the council was the internal auditor uh
anelie Chantel who's she's been with the
county for about a year maybe just a
little more uh she's been in the process
of setting up workplace hotlines so
people can report you know Financial
abuse or even in workplace abuse she's
been doing fuel audits she's been doing
um equipment uses audits but the one
thing she did and this was in
conjunction with the HR department at
the for the county executive is they did
an attrition and a workplace culture
audit um so tell me a little bit about
what you heard sure well what we heard
from her presentation at the meeting and
then what we were able to read if you
were actually um predisposed to sit down
and actually um
read the report is you would have found
some very interesting statistics and
findings about what the auditor was able
to uncover and some of the more shocking
things that I think people who we know
in the community have been vocal you
know off the Record about some of the
major problems happening currently uh is
high rates of worker dissatisfaction uh
fear of retaliation uh but the two
numbers that really jumped out was that
we have nearly 25% of our current County
employees and these are the only people
who were willing to respond because many
people as we know yeah it was about 60%
response rate I believe so and again
that means that there's a whole bunch of
other folks who as we know have in some
cases been concerned about even
responding to those Anonymous um surveys
because I can tell you even from my own
experience in the workplace there is a
constant concern even if there's
reassurance for management that those
surveys are not necessarily truly
Anonymous they can be back traced they
can be back traced correct so putting
that aside 2 5% of current employees
reported being abused bullied or
harassed and
33% witnessed such Behavior that's an
amazing amount especially when you
consider that like you said some people
just may actually be afraid even though
it's supposed to be anonymous to speak
up now Angelie shintel she is a CPA she
is an auditor they are in their very
nature unbiased um you know she is a bu
the book kind of person that's a good
way to put it yeah you know I I trust
her inherently but then out of this came
a press conference that the county
executive uh held and and we attended uh
that seemed to be spurred by this report
and and some of the bad information that
was in there again that came from the HR
department of the County executive's
office correct this is not in the press
conference I feel like the county
executive insinuated that the numbers
were manipulated it's interesting
because this is in line with something
that's been apparent to many of us in
the community if you sort of watch the
the the internal workings um the county
executive made a series of statements
last year that that her argument was
that the auditor was being weaponized
against her office that was the the term
that was used in even one piece of
literature that she left for the county
right after the referendum was put on
the ballot but what's equally troubling
about this particular um assertion is
that if you read uh Miss chael's report
it actually says that uh there was noted
hostility um by the executive's office
to her internal reporting so that that's
very significant right it is because it
was almost at the maximum level of the
rating for concern okay for for for Miss
Chantel correct yeah correct so that was
something that really should should
concern people because what it means is
that even the the legally required
ability to to dive into an internal
audit to examine what's going on the
response from the executive office was
hostile so the idea of transparency and
oversight is something that clearly
seems not to be valued um by certain
entities of our local government it'll
be interesting to see if this hostility
can persist as she works through other
parts of the the County government and
this is all in an effort to make sure
that fuel's being used for what it
should equipment's being used for what
it should Personnel is being used for
what it should this is this is not a
Witch Hunt this is this is basically to
make sure our tax dollars are spent
where they should be this is
fundamentally about not only where a tax
money goes and how it's spent and is it
being spent appropriately and legally it
also is about what's happening to our
employees because again we do have an
amazing obvious
crisis um in the sense of we have one of
the biggest vacancy rates in Maryland
County government uh we have had uh
several high-profile resignations and
departures recently from people who have
accumulated collectively hundreds of
years of institutional knowledge uh we
have a lot of these concerns coming out
in the survey about abuse and harassment
and if this were any other institution
if this was a university or if this was
a private business where these kinds of
numbers came out it would be an absolute
front page Scandal yeah it it says a lot
about the state that we're in in this
County right now under this executive
form of government well speaking of
maybe some some you know questionable
uses of of County time and everything
during this press conference it it
seemed like it turned into a campaign uh
against question a uh which is very
interesting because this this is shown
on pack 14 this is obviously in the
County council chambers um you know we
went we went from a press conference to
talk about employee retention and all
the good that's happening to question a
yeah it was a transition cuz you know
the first four or five minutes were kind
of your your your your your basic sort
of corporate PR empty language you know
I think George Orwell would have been
proud um had he had he he watched that
but then when the transition to a
campaign issue came up I think he really
got to see what I would view as the
actual ulterior motive of that press
conference yeah and and I hope that
people realize that um regardless of
where you stand on the issue right
whether whether you think we should keep
this position or not um when and
official calls a press conference on an
issue specifically about employment
excuse me employment retention salaries
benefits employee related issues and
then immediately sort of sandbags the
local media and local citizens with an
ulterior motive that is then revealed
quite openly I think we should be
concerned about that well there was one
other thing that was brought up and I
think we're going to see a lot of this
um the that that the escalation of
personal attacks now in the county
Executives mind this was these were
personal attacks against her you know
we've heard that many times um I think
we should be very open that we we're
expecting actually these attacks to come
towards our group and and towards the
the folks who want to vote for question
a well and ironically the executive
herself alluded to the fact that several
elected and unelected uh officials have
received hate mail
recently um not necessarily threats but
there are concerns that certain people
who are perhaps very committed to
keeping this position are uh in increase
or upping their rhetoric if you will in
ways that are not always healthy or
productive well today's guest is going
to be Bob Taylor uh he's a a retired
local attorney uh he even spent three
years on the County Council as their
attorney he his his time there
overlapped with the end of Bob Culver's
term in the beginning of John P's term
so he was there for the scandals that
Bob Culver had with Michelle Enis the
finance director the forging of
documents the firing of HR Director all
of that um lawsuits that came out of
that I'm noticing a pattern here maybe
yeah um but we're we're g to have a
chance to sit and talk with him about
the history of the the executive
position how the Revenue tax cap came to
to be in conjunction with the the
executive and then uh Dr Bower uh from
retired from the
University of Salsbury uh his his oped
in the Salsbury
independent really I think Bob Taylor
tells the other part of that story uh so
I hope I hope everyone sticks around and
gets a little bit more information there
absolutely so when we come back we're
going to sit down with Bob Taylor
retired attorney from the W Comico
County and former Council attorney under
Bob Culver and uh John P's uh terms
stick around let's see what he has to
say about question a and the referendum
coming up in November stick around we'll
be right
back welcome back to open Agenda I'm
your host Joe White with me in the
studio is our guest today Mr Bob Taylor
thank you for joining me today I'm here
so uh I want to find out just a little
bit about yourself uh I've heard that
you're uh you've been a County resident
for over 50 years is that right that's
what I always say I'm guess I'm a kind
of a semi from here now although I grew
up across the bay but I've lived here
for I think it's 53 years now I think
after 50 years they give you you're from
here pin right so you're you're a lawyer
is that correct uh I've been a lawyer
I'm more or less retired now with
handling one or two matters and that's
about it how long did you practice law
uh actively practiced where I went into
the office most days about 45 years wow
okay yeah and uh you spent three years
as the uh attorney for the County
Council I was the County council's
Attorney y'all from it was 2017 to I
think early 2021 and who was the county
executive while you were serving as the
County Attorney when I first started it
was Robert Culver okay he passed away
and then John pesota was appointed as
the active executive okay uh and I ended
uh during his tenure so you you got to
endure all the fun with the finance
director and the fora documents back at
that time s a lot so um you know we're
obviously here to talk about question a
uh the county executive's role in the
County government uh I want to get some
history what why in
2024 how have we gotten to this point I
mean the County's been around for 150
years well let me let me say this I was
kind of working on that for perhaps an
article in the Salsbury independent and
lo and behold I think it was um Julius
Caesar's ghost once said A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way to the Forum today
uh and there was an article in this
weeks Independent by Dr Harry basart and
who is he he's retired now I believe he
many years professor of political
science at Salsbury University okay so
he knows a little something about he
knows quite a bit about it uh I was able
quickly to fact check what he wrote and
found out I would have given him
probably an A+ okay for that um I uh
would like to explain a few more things
and maybe add a little bit more Gris to
the mill okay but his article that's in
the independent I would would recommend
that to anyone to get it's available at
different places around town and I also
give a shout out to the independent for
for publishing this and other things I
think they've done a the independent's
done a nice job of being balanced giv
different points of view the the new I
know editor but it's Richard KES is
doing a really good job yeah I would
agree I would agree so what was your
favorite part about Dr B Herz article
and where do you feel like maybe it fell
a little short well I I I I wouldn't
call it falling short because he had
limited space to write on but some
things that might want to be Amplified
for people he starts at the uh earliest
part talking about what's called home
rule and so people know what that term
means it means where a higher
jurisdiction allows lower jurisdictions
to have authority and it's especially
used in terms of states and counties and
municipalities because counties and
municipalities are essentially political
subdivisions of the state the state
controls them uh and it's a little
different from the control under the
Constitution federal government in the
states it's more extensive than that
yeah um and what we did in in Maryland
about oh it's been about 120 years ago
now roughly they started giving the
municipalities and the counties more
Authority they did that for a couple
reasons a 100 or so years ago it was
pretty hard to get to Annapolis and you
had to go cities and counties had had to
go to Annapolis to get legislation
passed by the general assembly there was
no Bridge yeah no no bridge and not very
many good roads either um so and the and
also the general assembly was log jammed
with this stuff okay because you know
there 24 separate jurisdictions county
level um there are now 150 plus
municipalities I think at least 100 back
then and they were they all had to come
there and get this done so why is that
important to our County now well it's
important to our County now because I
want to explain what's happened what
they did they gave all municipalities
home rule they amended this the Maryland
Constitution and just historical note
Maryland's initial Constitution was
passed before or adopted before the US
Constitution okay many of the states had
their own con Charters and constitutions
before then yes um so anyway that's
first the municipality
ities that was automatic then they did
it for the counties the counties had
however had to pass a
referendum with the county electorate to
go to What's called the Charter system
okay which we have okay so we obviously
passed that referendum years that was in
I think 1918 they changed the Maryland
Constitution okay Baltimore was the
first they did it for Baltimore City
Baltimore city is essentially a county
level jurisdiction it's not within any
other County um and then other Counties
have come along we went as Dr basart
points out to the system in uh that was
um 1964 we did Howard County which is
where I grew up they went to it in 1968
okay uh so you know there was a trend
and it's now I think um something like
12 if you include Baltimore city
jurisdictions that have a charter form
of government there are just
incidentally there are other forms
initially every County had a
commissioner form of government County
Commissioners there's still six counties
that have that there also six counties
that have a modified form of home rule
called code home rule okay and they can
pass that without having to have a full
referendum okay so what we have is 12
counties with Charters okay one of those
six code home rule Wester County for
example is code home rule uh and then we
have still commissioner counties and um
I have a list here somewhere there are a
couple that are larger than we are
Washington County for example
hagerstown's a county seat they're still
a commissioner County so they still have
to go back to Anapolis to to get legisl
back yes and no for some they do but
over the years the general assembly has
given more and more Authority even to
the commissioner counties so so I think
part of your point and Dr Bart's point
is County government is always evolving
uh we've heard our current County
executiv say many times this is is
somehow a regressive move that's not
accurate so what's more accurate is if
you look at the history of the state of
Maryland from our Constitution that is
older than the US Constitution to rate
up to today when we're going to have a
referendum this November to to vote for
question a you have modifications to how
County governments work and they don't
all work the same we we should do it the
way benefits us the most yeah just to
elaborate on that of the 12 counties
that are Charter Baltimore City two of
them Dorchester and tolbut which are
Charter counties do not have an elected
executive okay most of them do when they
went to that form of government they
went to the elected executive system but
most most counties that have an
executive we only have a few in the
state have large large populations if
you get down to the the 10 that are left
that have an elected
executive including Baltimore city
they're all at least two to three times
larger than we
in population some of them 10 times you
have Montgomery County Baltimore County
I think they're both over a million oh
wow in population now and we're barely
over 100,000 here we're barely over I
mean just to give you an example Howard
County I mentioned they changed in' 68
we changed in' 64 at that period mid-60s
the population in both counties was the
same wow it was in the 50s 60,000 range
now we're at
105,000 Howard County is 300
30,000 well and now but but let me
elaborate I think anybody with common
sense knows it's not because they have
an elected executive it's because
they're located between Baltimore and
Washington Prime real estate exactly so
so we're we're a much more rural County
we we we fit in with have been yes and
we fit in more with rural counties
without an executive uh before we go
into some more of the history I I want
to talk a little bit about the electric
that that you talked about just a minute
ago in the last 20 years has our
population number the total number has
it changed much well I'm I'm only
speaking now of the registered voters
the population has changed some as I
said in the 60s we were about 50,000 a
little over 50,000 we've roughly doubled
in that period of time okay whereas uh
Howard County is essentially off the
charts almost 10 times yeah um but of
the voting ation in 2004 which was when
we went to the elected executive system
by a
referendum um there were I'm using Dr um
Bart's numbers I think it was roughly
44,000 registered voters they all didn't
vote but there were 44,000 who could
have today there are about 66,000 Okay
so we've had 50% at least and new
registered voters now then you have to
look at the attrition of the 2004 voting
pool and there actually some data
there's some data and I've used it from
the State Board of Elections that gave
breakdowns unfortunately it's only for a
couple years um but they broke broke it
down into cohorts age cohorts uh 18 to
24 um let me look at them 20 uh 25 to 44
44 45 to 66 and 66 and older now the
let's just talk about the 66 and older
in 2004 that was 20 years ago that
cohort would now be to assume they're
still alive uh would be 85 and older yes
now it's a logical assumption that a lot
of that group that's now 85 and older
has passed away since
2004 um and that's true of the other
cohorts too although not as much because
they're not as old I think one of the
numbers you've referenced before is over
40% of the electric here now was not
here in 2006 I've I've used these
numbers from 2010 and 2012 the State
numbers for w Comico County breaking it
down into these
age age cohorts that I mentioned and
I've used some logical assumptions for
attrition and essentially as as they go
older get older in the cohorts death is
is a more significant factor of course
there's also a moving away Factor too I
mean some people do leave oh and and so
I would say right now of the
66,000 probably somewhere in between 30
and 35,000 were here
in 2004 as registered voters yeah so
it's it's in the range of 40 to 50%
probably 45 or a little higher so I take
away two points from from the numbers
you just said County governments in the
state of Maryland have ever they're ever
evolving based off the the needs and the
voting hord is always changing and our
and our voting electric right now has
changed significantly since we had the
last referendum that the County Council
brought to to put in a county
executive I want you to stick with us
for another segment I want to talk dive
a little bit more into the admissions or
the the assumptions that this is somehow
a power grab how the revenue cap came
into being just before the county
Executives position uh would you stick
around just a little bit longer so we
can dive into that
we'll be right back after this stick
around the winter place Park in
Equestrian Center is W Comico County's
largest recreational facility totaling
more than 380 Acres located near the
intersection of Old Ocean City Road and
Hobs Road next door to Beaver Run
Elementary School this park is a unique
combination of sports Fields horse
training center hiking trails and picnic
facilities the 18 18 acre W Comico
Equestrian Center portion of the park
was originally developed in the early
1970s as Winterplace Farm by James
Bradley Kaine a real estate developer
from Ocean City Maryland Winterplace was
used for the training of thoroughbred
show horses mostly hunters and jumpers
and quickly became one of Maryland's
preeminent horse training centers
winning more than 30 championships and
Class A shows and 100 blue ribbons in
1972
today the facility is used by the W
Comico equestrian club and consists of
two barns housing 52 stalls a recently
renovated Carriage House three jump
courses and four rings plenty of horse
trailer parking with electric hookups is
available if you're a fan of Active
Sports Winterplace park has everything
you could hope for the park is replete
with baseball softball soccer lacrosse
and multi-use Fields and is one of the
hosts of the USSSA Eastern National
Girls Softball Tournament every year
you'll also find basketball tennis and
pickle ball courts available for your
use if you're looking to have a family
gathering on the pleasant summer day
Winterplace has a picnic area with
grills and a pavilion as well as public
restrooms and hikers will enjoy the 3.2
mile up and back walking trail that
traverses through thick forests
interlaced with streams and non-tidal
wetlands among on other events hosted at
Winterplace Park is the W Comico County
Fair held the third weekend of August
each year this free event is among the
best county fairs in Maryland featuring
great food music livestock shows and my
personal favorite the Maryland High
School Rodeo Association competitions
for more information about Winterplace
Park and Equestrian Center this is Mike
Goldberg for open Agenda back to you
Joe welcome back to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White in studio with me for
another segment is uh Mr Bob Taylor who
retired attorney from wo County thank
you for sticking around sure so I want
to spend some time talking about the
history of the the property tax revenue
cap that was put in place just before
the county Executives position was
created in 2004 uh can you give us a
little bit of history of just that
timeline how that progressed yeah and
and Dr basart does this too in his
article but uh basically in the mid
1990s we ran into a situation where the
there was reluctance to increase the tax
rate um at that time there was still
some stagnation from the early 1990s
there was kind of a Slowdown and and uh
price appreciation of your homes so the
accessible base wasn't going up a lot
and we got to the point where I believe
it was 98 or 99 where they had to raise
the taxes a lot uh it was about 20 20%
of what was the existing tax rate so it
went up by
20% Which is a pretty large jump and
that triggered a reaction a major
reaction primarily from the Republican
party yes uh there was a group for
called Voice v i that was formed mostly
Republican they pushed through the tax
revenue cap it went to referendum and
was passed I think that was
2000 um and it it kind of kept going the
momentum kept going after that so and
well let me finish there was some there
was some thought that we'll really make
sure we don't have any more big tax
races not only will we have the cap but
just in case there might somebody want
to play funny with it we'll have an
elected executive okay and under the
charter the elected executive sets the
the budget and the tax rate under it and
the County Council can reduce things but
not increase so they can make it lower
so I mean essentially the County
Executive sets the level maximum the
county can Council can reduce that sum
now ironically our very first County
Executive was Rick pilot yeah and Rick
actually spent a lot of his time
actively trying to break through the
revenue cap is is that ACC that's that's
true I think there's a little history to
that and we had the 2008 recession
you'll remember yes and what happened
property values dropped
tremendously So Not only was the tax cap
holding Revenue down so was the the
accessible based was dropping you can
only increase the tax rate up to 2% in
any one year so it was dropping by more
than 2% and and we were essentially
stuck on this this we went through a lot
of our Reserve funds okay we had furlows
of County Employees I mean it was a
tough time for a couple years but but we
did get through it we did get through it
that's right and then even since then
we've had three other Executives too
that are elected one that was appointed
after Bob cver passing uh has there been
other attempts to break through the
revenue cap from the executive's office
um I'm not sure there's been any
significant one okay because essentially
to to really get it done and end the tax
cap you you'd have to have a referendum
vote you would have to go to unless it's
a board of education funding there is in
state law you can override the tax cap
if the override goes to education yes
there is an override for that now this
past year our accessible rate just for
the county side went down 2 cents but
because of the county executive no our
tax rate went down our tax rate went
down the assessible base went up that's
what yeah you're right so the the tax
rate went down two cents yeah but
because the county executive insisted
that the Fruitland Primary School be
funded the way it was our our tax rate
could have gone down 4 cents is is that
accurate um I'll have to stop and think
about that one what what they did for
Fruitland school they needed $20 million
in change
and initially I believe the county
executive wanted to bond all of that
wanted to go to the bond market and
rates for even Muni bonds and and
government bonds are a little higher
than they've been the last decade yes uh
people on the council were concerned
about that and they worked out finally a
split in fact they approved at this
week's meeting of the council a bond
issuance for 10 million for the
Fruitland school and the other 10
million is coming out of County Reserve
funds so how about this this notion that
that uh having the referendum to
eliminate the executive position and by
the way our current executive would
would finish out her term for two the
next two years but how about the notion
that this is somehow a power grab well I
mean why is that inaccurate let me put
it this way we've had we have periodic
Charter review committees every 10 years
when it Jes with the census the 10year
census the first one that was done in
2011 I believe it was the county
executive form had only been in for a
few years okay and there had only been
one County Executive Rick pollen okay
they more or less just said well we
don't know there's not much history
we're just going to say it's okay well
the second one 10 years later in
2021 they were charged with the County
Council to review the entire Charter
every nook and cranny they took a Buy on
the county executive form
and the reason they took a Buy on it was
because there was a feeling that the
voters had voted it in and therefore the
voters should be the ones who change it
isn't isn't that what we're going to do
in November well I was going to say and
that's to me and I haven't talked to
every council member but that's why I
think they decided Well you know if if
that's the way it's to be and we've now
had 18 years of experience under three
elected and one appointed County
Executive we have enough experience to
know whether whether it's been a good
fit or not I happen to think no but I
mean there are probably some that do uh
I would just point out we were talking
about the uh attrition in the 2004 voter
poll uh again I'm using Dr Bart's
numbers there were um
1956 who voted for it then okay if you
use the same attrition rate that is now
down to maybe 14,000 13,000 somewhere in
that range of people who voted for it in
2004 who are now part of the
66,000 voter pool so it would be like
maybe 22% yeah 20 to 25% these are
estimates and not hard numbers but
nevertheless they're based on solid
reasoning so some of the basis of having
a referendum is from the charter Review
Committee the County Council listening
to that advice and also some of the
feedback they've gotten from from the
County Council meetings I can't I can't
speak to County council members I'm not
in their mind but I mean that's what it
looks like to me the the last the last
point that I want to talk about was
there's there's been say that well we we
need to keep this because this is like
the federal
government what's wrong with the basis
of that argument for a county our size I
think there's a short answer look at the
federal government do we want to be like
that look at look at Congress and you
know in other words it automatically
breeds for tension when you have a
single person and then a group now maybe
we need that at the federal level
because Wars get declared other things
happen where you need a strong person at
a at a particular time possibly even in
the state it's the same way in the state
we have a governor we have a two body uh
House of Representatives and Senate just
like the feds do but do we really need
this where essentially the furthest
you'll be from the county seat is maybe
20 or 25 miles we don't need that yeah
and most counties do not have it in the
in the United States we're in a minority
that's under 20% of the total counties
in the United States and most of that
Minority has large population so this is
definitely something that the voters
deserve a chance to make voice heard
Maryland's always been a mystery to me
because you have a group of counties
that are the Metro core counties across
the bay they have this and I've always
thought well maybe it's because they're
close to Washington and you just kind of
see what's going on in Washington and we
want to be that way and that was part of
the reason I think that it was sold in
2004 oh we just want to be that way we
look over there there's Montgomery
County it's growing a 100,000 a year and
it was in in in the the 60s and 70s and
80s and 90s it was growing like gang
fire uh 100 roughly 10,000 a year so
every 10 years it was going up by
100,000 so you know and and that's
that's I think the Genesis for it there
was never really a in my opinion a good
discussion and looking at other counties
and what's happened and for that matter
just looking at Sussex County they they
have they don't have this form they have
you know an appointed ex uh County
Administrator so you you attend a lot of
the meetings you've you've listened to
the county Executives over the years
speak address the Board of Education
address the County Council I want to ask
you a very simple question do you think
having a county executive in Wako county
is the best service for the residents
and the taxpayers of this County in my
opinion no and I think 18 years has
shown it okay I mean I could get into
the Weeds about things that have
happened I mean you know uh for example
a former County Executive not the
current one tried to get a deals with
the state to turn the old popler Hill
Correction Facility that's been vacant
for years and is derel into a drug
treatment center that would have cost
millions and it the county has no
experience at that that they would have
had to hire somebody to run it and I
mean that deal almost got put together
until the County Council found out about
it and put the kabash on it so in the
neighborhood out in quanico they would
have been surprised here they were
plenty much unhappy I can tell similar
to maybe the uh the the the Shadow Hills
Community getting a surprise with theou
I think it's a it's a common denominator
that spans across all County Executives
that their their mission their their
ambition sometime supersedes what is
really necessary and what's needed for
the county so I mean now now we're
seeing it for the liquor dispensary the
current executive Apparently one of her
life missions is to get rid of our
liquor dispensary system which generates
about a million dollars of revenue for
the county every year just at the
legislative breakfast this this week
that was the number one legislative item
on our County Executive not not how the
roads are not the schools not the
blueprint for education
dispensary exactly that's been one of
her goals and we I think we know why I
won't get into that that's getting into
the weeds and I'm sure she'll have her
say on that you're you're going to be at
County Council meetings coming up if
people want to find out more if they go
they can speak their own mind they can
also listen to uh folks with
generational experience like yourself
there speak very articulately about all
sorts of matters I've heard you talk
about everything from libraries to to
airports to everything so if you want me
to I can talk about raising cattle and
Hogs because I did that as a kid maybe
uh maybe uh in in October we'll come
back thank you for your time I really
appreciate you taking the the the time
to come speak with us with me and uh I
wish you well sure enough thank you yeah
thank you on uh for sticking with us
here at open Agenda that's all for our
show today we'll be back next week with
another episode have a great weekend
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