Aberdeen Mayor Patrick McGrady expects to bring a final city manager candidate before the city council members at their next meeting, he told them Monday night.
The mayor said the commission responsible for finding a new manager narrowed a list of 45 applications to six, and "we are working to hire the top-ranked person."
"Hopefully we will be able to hire a city manager," McGrady said, after the person is brought in at the next meeting, scheduled for May 23, to be voted on by the council.
Aberdeen has been without a city manager since Doug Miller left Feb. 10 after 10 years to become city manager in Ocean City. Initially, McGrady said he would take over city manager responsibilities, but on Feb. 25 appointed Public Works Director Kyle Torster as interim city manager. Torster is serving both roles until a new city manager is named.
Train station improvements, library parking
McGrady said he and Councilman Melvin Taylor recently met with state Sen. Robert Cassilly, a representative of U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin and other representatives of elected officials and transportation officials to look at the condition of the MARC train station.
"It was in disrepair," McGrady said, noting the facade is rotten, gutters have fallen off and the underpass "is constantly in disrepair, smelling of urine or other terrible odors."
McGrady said he walked through the facility and gave "the back-of-the-envelope pitch" of the transit-oriented development plan the city adopted in 2011.
Cassilly indicated he would fight for a parking lot that needs to be built on the east side of the train station, by Taft Street and APG Road, and state officials would "advocate for this station as a whole, as a hub, which is essential for the future of Aberdeen, if we are going to make good of this [TOD]" plan that has already "been set into motion," McGrady said.
He added Harford County Councilman Patrick Vincenti is pushing for extra parking spaces at the Aberdeen Library on Rogers Street, and "I was pleased to see Pat Vincenti work on that on behalf of the city."
According to the Maryland Department of Transportation website, however, the Aberdeen TOD parking study done in 2014 was "primarily intended to confirm the master plan's concept that existing public parking is available to meet new parking needs."
Harford County Public Library had been discussing expanding the Aberdeen Library, which falls in the "Festival square" section of the TOD designated area, in reference to Festival Park.