Before we know it school will be starting, and in an election year that typically signals the true start of Frederick County’s political races.
For those who have been paying attention during the forty-five days since the filing deadline closed (and I don’t blame those who have not!), many candidates have been making the effort to get their messages out. The traditional methods of door knocking, carnival visits, fundraising gatherings and direct mail pieces have been used.
Now that we are officially entrenched into the second decade of the 21st century, many of the candidates have found their way on the world wide web. Of the 19 contenders, seventeen have published email addresses, eleven have established websites (including one that is “under construction”), 10 have Facebook pages and from the research we’ve very few have delved into the Twitter universe … all of which I believe are essential as a means of getting the message out Frederick County voters.
With the less than a month before the September 14th primary election, it is time to pay attention!!!
Some forums have been held and many groups and periodicals have sent out questionnaires of the candidates, and some have already come out with endorsements, such as the Frederick County Association of REALTORS.
Of the questionnaires that I have reviewed, the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce has offered some good and challenging inquiries of the candidates. Here are some of the ones that I am particularly looking forward to reading the responses:
1. What specific steps would you take to make Frederick County more attractive to business investment, create jobs, expand our tax base, and ensure our future economic competitiveness?
2. How would you improve Frederick County’s image as a business friendly jurisdiction?
3. Do you believe some action should be taken by the Board of County Commissioners to address adverse consequences suffered by those whose properties have been downzoned in the Comprehensive Plan?
4. Do you support the decision of this past Board of County Commissioners to impose a moratorium upon certain kinds of growth for a two year period?
5. Frederick County currently operates under a Commission form of government, instead of a Charter form, in which there is an elected County Executive and County Council. Do you support changing our form of government to a Charter?
6. In light of the current fiscal crisis the County is facing, do you believe our primary focus should be:
a. Creating more jobs and growing our tax base without raising tax rates;
b. Imposing more cuts to County programs and services and/or deeper reductions in employee compensation and benefits; or Increasing taxes on residents, businesses, or a combination of both?
These are very good questions, but are still a couple more that we want to ask as well … so this weekend a couple of meaty inquiries that relate to real estate will go out via email to the 17 candidates with email addresses … and letters to the two for which we have not been able to find a connection to the Internet.
I’m hopeful that all will be willing to part take … as the responses will be found here in a future post for our 3,000 plus subscribers to consider.
If there are a question of two that you have not seen addressed as yet, add a comment here or send me an email with your thoughts. In the meantime stay tuned to the MacRo Report Blog for our thoughts on who will best serve the future of Frederick County, Maryland.
The author: Rocky Mackintosh, President, MacRo, Ltd., a Land and Commercial Real Estate firm based in Frederick, Maryland.