County asking Md. for $5.5 million to preserve land
The Carroll commissioners approved yesterday the county's application for $5.5 million in state Rural Legacy funds, despite expectations of a tight state budget next year.
Rural Legacy is a program designed to help counties preserve wide swaths of farmland made up of many neighboring properties. The county has received and spent millions in state allocations for farms in the Little Pipe Creek area of western Carroll.
The county has also twice applied for funds to buy land in south Carroll's Upper Patapsco watershed, but those bids have been unsuccessful. The county received no Rural Legacy money this year, a decision former Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier blamed on what they described as Gov. Parris N. Glendening's political bias.
Despite that disappointment, county preservation director Bill Powel suggested the commissioners ask for about $2.8 million each for the Little Pipe Creek and Upper Patapsco areas. Because of the state's budget crunch, he said, the county is unlikely to get the full $5.5 million when the allocations are awarded in the spring.
Commissioners join Council of Governments
The Carroll commissioners joined yesterday the long-discussed Council of Governments, which will unite them with representatives from the county's eight municipalities and several community groups on a joint planning board.
Though the council will have no official power, all three commissioners have endorsed it as a way to involve more voices in discussions of county land-use and other policies. The council will probably elect officers in March and meet quarterly after that, said Frank Johnson, president of Mount Airy's Town Council and special assistant to Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge.
"This is a big step for Carroll County," Johnson said yesterday after the commissioners had voted to join the council.
Horn returning to county as planning director
Steve Horn will return as director of Carroll's planning department, the county commissioners announced yesterday.
Horn left the same position last year to become planning director for Frederick County. He said at the time that he was leaving because he would make a higher salary in Frederick. The announcement came a day after the commissioners appointed former budget director Steven D. Powell to be their new chief of staff.
With Horn returning, current planning director Jeanne S. Joiner will return to her old job as the department's second in command.