Town managers in Crofton used to be the quiet people in the corner of the room who stood up at meetings, gave reports and sat back down again.
They were discouraged from driving the community car outsidethe special tax district and were not supposed to spend time in Annapolis unless the issue had a direct bearing on local affairs.
Crofton was a self-contained community, an island surrounded on three sides by major roads that resembled neutral zones between the tax district and the rest of the county.
Enter Jordan Harding, the former seven-term mayor of New Carrollton and an expert on municipal government who believes Crofton's isolationist views could work against the community.
He doesn't sit behind his desk and he doesn't avoid Annapolis. He thrives on making contacts, keeps a high public profile, doesn't shy away from a fight and protects Crofton as if it werehis child.
He has cleaned up streets and pressured shopping center owners to do the same. He has gotten county workers to fix up parksand, through donations, has spruced up Town Hall.
He is not afraid of using his political influence to get perks for Crofton, a tacticthat has drawn the ire of neighboring communities who complain county officials bend over backward to give the special tax district everything it asks for.
Harding has moved fast, sometimes jumping aheadof the board of directors. He has been criticized for changing the way Crofton police respond to calls, for trying to eliminate trash bagservice to residents and for helping a community drug program get money from a developer immersed in controversy with the county in and out of court.
Detractors say he acts more like the mayor of Croftonthan its town manager, leading the board through a period of change instead of following the direction it lays down.
But whether you love him or hate him, Harding has made his mark. The 61-year-old town manager from Potomac gets things done.
"Crofton has always been a community that people listen to," said County Councilwoman Virginia Clagett, D-West River, whose South County district includes Crofton. "But Harding has taken hold of many of the ideas that have floated around and done something with them."
When Jordan Harding arrived in Crofton about a year ago, he coined a new word to describe his tireless worth ethic. He called it "streeting."
Not satisfied to remain in his office, he likes to get out, meet the people he serves, knock on doors and personally resolve neighborhood disputes. He hasn't changed much since his days as mayor of New Carrollton.
Described as amaster of small-town politics by The Washington Post in 1979, the newspaper claimed Harding harbored "frustrated political ambitions" -- frustrated not because of an inability to get elected, but by a government job that prohibited him from engaging in partisan politics.
Harding, who has been married to Ilo-Mai for five years, has four children from a previous marriage, all of them grown and living in the area. He was born in Old Fort, N.C., and moved to Maryland in the early 1950s.
Harding started his political career in 1968 when he was elected to the New Carrollton City Council. He became mayor -- a non-partisan position -- in 1970 and served seven two-year terms.
In 1984, he went to work in the U.S. embassy in Poland. Three years later, he returned to his government job, a labor relations specialist with the U.S. Information Agency. He retired just before applying for the Crofton job.
Harding also has served as president of the Prince George's County Municipal League and as vice president of the Maryland Municipal League, which still sends out parts of the treatise on the benefits of municipal incorporation Harding wrote in the 1970s.
He has kept up his contacts over the years. On any given day, a mayorfrom some city in Poland or a space shuttle commander can be found touring Crofton.
More important than the dignitaries who go home with a plaque or a citation are the state and county officials who wander into Town Hall. Harding knows whom to call to get whatever he wants done.
But press for specifics, and Harding is reluctant to talk,fearful of drawing the wrath of neighboring communities angry at Crofton's successes.
"Why don't you give it to us?" Harding says, mocking a quote from a disgruntled community leader. "That's the problemwith mouthing off on what has come to Crofton."
From what he doessay, how he gets what he wants done is as much a lesson in civility as public relations.
"I want the man who is on the truck, the man with the chain saw -- I want to have these people in having coffee with me and I want to find out what is going on in their lives," he said. "One thing leads to another, and I get a good job."
AH: Making policy?
Jordan Harding's first run-in with the people he serves came soon after the board hired him, when he decided distributing trashbags to residents was just too much work for a beleaguered staff that depended on volunteers for survival.
The bags are part of the special service Crofton offers its residents. Town Hall buys the bags at a reduced rate and sells them to residents at the discount. But it is a lot of work. "They could go to the store and buy trash bags for all I was concerned," Harding said.
But he didn't realize what he had done by discontinuing the service. "I thought the heavens fell down on me. People were calling saying they were going to impeach me." The board of directors decided it was not Harding's decision to make and quickly reinstituted the service.
"It's a sacred cow, and it is indicative of what the association does for its community," CroftonCivic Association President Ed Dosek said. "His priorities were elsewhere."
Critics say the incident is a prime example of Harding making policy.
"He is not the mayor," said Cathy Trebelhorn, who served on the board for eight years before losing a bitter election to Dosek 18 months ago. "There is a difference. I don't think he's quite come to grips with that difference . . . but it appears the president doesn't mind him playing that role."
"He's an ex-mayor and it shows," said Tom Hasbrouck, president of the Greater Crofton Council, which represents people living outside the tax district.
"He uses hismanagerial skills. Crofton has benefited under that. At times, it would have been beneficial if it was tempered. But it's a trade-off. Ifyou want someone with his skills, you have got to realize what comeswith the territory. It is a give-and-take that I gather will last the length of the relationship."
Harding's style can open him up to errors. "He jumps in with both feet and gets to work," said board member Ken Folstein. "He makes some mistakes because of that."
One admitted mistake was dealing with The Halle Cos. to get $5,000 to help a local drug-prevention group apply for a federal grant.
At the same time the donation was made, the Crofton board was opposing a landfill the developer wanted to build nearby. That juxtaposition raised conflict-of-interest charges.
Harding said he underestimated local opposition to the developer.
"That is why some of us would like cautions," said state Delegate Marsha Perry, D-Crofton. "Some of us have been around a bit longer. He may have political connections, but I'm not sure they are local connections."
Dosek denied that Harding runs the community. In fact, he said, it works the other way around: The board uses Harding to promote progressive change.
"He needs a support staff more than a less-energetic town manager would," Dosek said. "Without the board, Jordan would be lost in a sea of hopeless confusion. He would feel frustrated for not getting anything done on a prioritized basis."
AH: Impatient to a fault
Harding is the first to admit his faults. He'll even list them for you: He's impatient with mediocrity, he's impatient with overly conservative positions, he's impatient with people who don't like to take gambles and he doesn't like the status quo.
He differs with Dosek on community vision,saying he wants to make sure Crofton gets involved in county affairsso the community isn't choked off by outside influences.
"His fear is that the Crofton mentality is going to halt progressive change,"Dosek said. "I think the community is capable of change if the residents feel it's best for them."
Harding also admits the transition wasn't easy. But he insists he is not a free-wheeling spirit doing what he pleases.
"I am a paid town manager," he said. "I am paid to carry out policy, not make it. Although I have a strong voice in the carrying out of the policy, I am a public servant. I know my place astown manager.
"Just because you are a paid employee doesn't mean you can't expect leadership. I don't respond to things. I make thingshappen. I do not sit back and watch. I'm going into the thicket of things and exert my influence. If that's not the vision you have of a town manager, then so be it."