Thinking
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First, I want to thank the Mayor and President for their selection of all high caliber individuals with strong knowledge of the City who I know beyond a doubt would serve professionally, impartially, and do a great job in service of our City.
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I want also to acknowledge the observations and concerns of my Ward 2 colleagues that, of the five member Committee formed to evaluate moving our City’s Ward boundaries, only one lives in Ward 2. It is my belief this was simply by coincidence in the process conducted in good faith for fulfilling the membership requirements of the Committee’s organizing resolution.
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From the perspective of the question, “How do we best represent the City in the redistricting process?", I see my colleagues' point and agree that, even if only from the point of view of assuring residents that their voice is being heard, it makes a difference to have a Committee where Ward 2 has more than one member at the table.
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Note: This is not a requirement of the Committee’s organizing resolution, but I don’t want this to be a circumstance where we’ve fulfilled the ‘letter of the law’ without having fulfilled the ‘spirit of the law’, especially when a question of Representation, so foundational to our ordered democratic society, is the question.
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Part of our duty as members of Council is the confirmation process, and while I always give deference to the appointer’s prerogative in their selection of appointees, I believe it’s a reasonable exercise of our Council duty to ask consideration that a 5-member Ward Re-districting Committee have more than one member from Ward 2.
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Based on my analysis of the City’s finances, and I’m also thankful to say, Laurel itself is in a stable and even strong position. So I’m not seeing, nor have received information, where our financial outlook appears inadequate and necessitates the search for additional tax sources.
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I’m also very sensitive to conversations I’ve had with residents, and studies I’ve seen, indicating the cost of living has really been putting the pinch on household budgets for over a couple years now – whether it’s grocery costs, utility bills, home/ car insurance, or even the new fee levels for vehicle registration renewals (all of which I know my family has felt too). In this environment, and absent a demonstrated pressure to take hard measures, I see reason to hesitate in the present.
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I have heard that other municipalities or Counties may be in a different boat, and for whom the prospect of increased sources of revenue may mean something different. But from the perspective of representing Laurel residents for the decisions impacting them, I have not been able to identify something that rises to the level to override their direct interests for other jurisdictions.
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In the back of my mind, there’s also the echo of the Comptroller of Maryland’s 2024 “State of the Economy” report describing the multiple years of domestic outmigration from our state with the primary driver being cost of living. This helps illustrate what we might suspect: that the competitiveness of geographies, and their long-term success, is very much linked to the relative levels of costs to remain there, and Maryland’s tax system competitiveness is listed among the bottom 10 in the nation by the non-partisan, educational non-profit, Tax Foundation.
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Mar 2 - 13: Week 1 voting – Eight towns will be eliminated, and eight will advance. UPDATE: Here is the voting page for Week 1.
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Mar 16 - 20: Week 2 voting – The Elite Eight will be matched head-to-head, with only four advancing on
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Mar 23 - 27: Week 3 voting – Another head-to-head round, where the Final Four get narrowed down to the Championship Match
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Mar 30 - Apr 3: The Championship Match where One Strongest Town will emerge!
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Here is an online Snow Shovel Request Form for Laurel seniors and those with limited mobility to submit a request (or have someone submit on your behalf). Note: Only your street address and shovel request description are made publicly available – however, do not submit if this would make you uncomfortable.
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Here is an online Volunteer Claim table where generous ‘snow angels’ in town can ‘claim’ a request and head out with a shovel to provide a little miracle for a senior or mobility-limited resident in need.
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Who is eligible to purchase affordable units? – The existing law provides that eligible applicants must have incomes at or below 60% of the area median. The Administration first proposed changing that to a range of 30% to 90%, and over a number of conversations, Council consensus evolved that to a figure of 80% or below.
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What is the price of affordable units? – The existing law contains a mis-statement: It reads that affordable units are priced at 30% of the market rate. But through the conversations, it was realized the original intent was to price at a 30% reduction from the market rate. (This also more closely corresponds to price differentials in other jurisdictions). So the amended language contains the edit, and I proposed an amendment to the preamble to clarify the legislative history.
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What is the re-sale price of an affordable unit? – The existing law is silent on this question, and the original amendments proposed by the Administration didn’t contain language to address either. I proposed an amendment that purchasers be able to sell their unit at their purchase price plus an inflation adjustment as a way of enabling them to participate in the appreciation of their home value over time. This is especially important since the affordable home provisions apply for a 30-year period.
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How is the ability to refinance affected for affordable units? – The Administration originally proposed a refinance limit of the mortgage balance at the time of refinance, plus 25%. To my mind, this would have the unintended effect of penalizing someone who paid down their mortgage (e.g., over 20 years) and now needed to tap their home equity for a roof replacement or other significant home maintenance work. So I proposed the refinance limit be at least up to the original borrowings, and later as other provisions changed, concurred with Councilmember Kole’s proposal to link it to the re-sale value as newly defined by #3 above.
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What size of housing developments trigger the affordable housing laws? – The existing law triggers the affordable housing laws for developments of 50 or more, and the Administration proposed reducing this level to 20 or more. This amendment has remained unchanged through conversations.
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Dec 8 Council Meeting, and the
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One thing to acknowledge about the legislation, is that while it impacts new developments, it doesn’t really impact the wider Laurel housing market (which we all hope would be affordable as well).
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Some solutions being pursued by other jurisdictions around the country to impact housing prices in their general markets are: (a) streamlined process to make larger homes duplexes or similar, (b) provisions around Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs) on existing real estate, (c) infill of existing land parcels with starter home kits, (d) pre-approved starter house building plans that thereby reduce the cost of building, and similar.
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Updates to the City’s election laws
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Various pieces of legislation I’ve introduced and helped shape this year
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Tips on activities around town for families
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Current initiatives I’m working on
- A property owner/ manager of a ‘shared space’,
- A small business owner/ operator within a ‘shared space’, or
- Otherwise interested
Council Agrees to Amend Budget to $45k for Laurel Independent
At an additional Special Budget Work Session last night, Council reached consensus to amend the FY27 budget to increase The Laurel Independent service contract from $30k to $45k (compared to its FY26 level of $50k).
This will allow the City to continue reaching every resident with its monthly four-page printed insert of key information. And combined with the paper’s other service contracts, ad revenue, donor contributions, and grant funding, will enable The Laurel Independent to continue its work sharing news and stories about and throughout the Laurel community.
I know many residents had reached out to myself and fellow Councilmembers about this issue, and I’m happy to have been able to collaborate with my colleagues to help see this item through.
Some of my comments shared during last night’s conversation:
There’s a few questions I think help unpack the decision before us:
First, is this a grant or a service contract? Based on the fact that we sign a service contract, and the fact that we receive goods and services in exchange, to me it’s clear it’s a service contract. And that distinction is important in my mind.
Since if it’s service contract, the second question becomes are we receiving our money’s worth at $50k? There’s a couple angles to answer this question from. One of which is that we as a City have lots of information we need and want to be sharing with our residents on a host of topics – Being able to reach every household once a month with a printed message seems to be a very valuable communication tool to me. Another is that if we in-sourced a comparable operation, it would easily cost us $67,500+ for the year ($37.5k in postage and $30k in printing). So from that angle we’re actually getting a discount.
On a related front, it’s true that we have our City website and social media channels to share information through as well. But as many residents have shared, it’s not an equivalent or full substitute. There’s a difference from having to constantly be online scrolling to pickup all the tidbits across multiple sources -vs.- having all the key information synthesized for you in one place you can reference each month. There’s also the added questions of accessibility, equity, and impact. In my mind, a good City communication strategy leverages multiple channels and uses the uniqueness of each.
Lastly, I think the third question is: What are the intangibles we’re getting that aren’t even purely economic? And in this arena, I see two - We get the benefit of distribution to 13,700 additional households in PG Laurel for no extra cost to us (since PG Council is covering). And second, resident-after-resident stood up to tell us how the paper helps build a sense of community, how those newly moved into town more rapidly can get integrated into their new neighborhood, how the feature articles about residents around town links us to each other, how they wouldn’t have found out any other way if they hadn’t seen it in the paper, how they see and patronize local businesses they see in the paper, etc. To me, this is almost worth the price of admission alone.
So in closing, I think that if we look through this lens, we can see this line item for what it truly is: an investment in our City and a cost-effective communication tool to reach our residents in a way no other tool can. And with that perspective, $50k of a $50 million operating budget for the degree of impact is a good deal for the City and an effective use of taxpayer dollars.
On the Surprise $1 million Line Item in the FY27 Budget
At tonight’s Council Work Session, I shared concerns about a new $1 million line item that was a complete surprise to Council when we discovered it barely six days ago – below is a text version for those interested to read, and the video version can be watched, along with the subsequent Council and Mayor discussion, at this timestamp in the meeting video. (NOTE: See end of post for subsequent update.)
I want to take a moment to speak to one of the elephants in the room …
There’s a fully new, $1 million budget line item, that was a complete surprise to Council and that we only saw for the first time the end of last week (barely 6 days ago at this point).
Nowhere has the Mayor previously made a case for this $1 million program to residents; Nowhere was Council even let know it was coming, much less their input sought; It doesn’t even appear in the three-page cover letter of the budget.
We’re talking about the 4th biggest expenditure line in this budget, and one that’s entirely new out of left field (the others being standard expected ones like Finance Dept comp/Police comp, our annual Pension funding contribution, & Red Light ticket costs).
It’s fully 2% of our $50 million budget, all by itself – It would represent the largest single grant our City has ever issued – And it also represents a significant shift in our City’s financial model.
To me, this is not how we do things in Laurel – And while I’m reasonably confident it isn’t the case, I can’t help from feeling like it’s coming in a back door, trying to fly under the radar.
And there’s a lot to discuss about this one line alone – It essentially ties back to $1 million in interest income the City smartly earned on COVID funds that we now have free and clear to direct however we see fit.
To me, one of the smart questions we should be asking is: how do we best use this $1 million? Why have we decided against investing in our infrastructure? Whether it be Main Street enhancements we say we never have the money for, or handicap adaptations for Gude Park. Whether it be a COLA increase for Police or City retirees we say we haven’t been able to afford, or fixing the our City’s historic Foundry Building that’s falling apart and provides an irreplaceable touchstone to Laurel’s beginnings in the 1800s. Whether it’s paying down our own debt and saving future interest costs, and the list goes on …
At the end of the day, these are the residents of Laurel’s funds, and the people and their representatives should have been invited to the table to talk about how to best direct it – Done right, that conversation should have been much farther along at this point, but as it is, it hasn’t even been started until now.
On Council’s Role & Ability to Discuss Items for Vote
During last week’s Council Meeting, it was asserted that Council was barred from discussing a particular agenda item up for vote.
I stated at the time, and want to take a moment to re-emphasize here: The very reason for the existence of Council is to discuss, then vote on items.
This is based on our American system of self-governance: Legislative bodies, like City Council, are the forums in which we as a people directly, and through our elected representatives, consider, discuss, exchange ideas, share points of view, think through alternatives, and arrive at sufficient consensus to move forward as a community.
By contrast, to suggest that a community’s designated forum is not permitted to even discuss what they’re voting on, is, to me, to miss the mark of our democratic process. One could even say it violates the intent of the Maryland Open Meetings Act our proceedings are subordinate to – The act that requires discussions of our Council body to be held in public view and at a meeting available to the public.
This ability to talk with each other and thereby govern our lives in common, is a precious treasure, not guaranteed throughout so many parts of the world.
Thankfully in the end, after the raising of the parliamentary procedure question, Council did discuss the item, with members respectfully sharing their viewpoints with each other, followed by the normal next step of a motion to vote.
On the Appointment Process for the Redistricting Committee
During this evening’s regular Council Meeting, I raised a ‘Point of Order’ and also shared reflections on the appointment process for the Redistricting Committee. As a help to clarify the themes discussed, I wanted to share the below:
My Position on Maryland HB 1142
Folks may have seen in our Council agenda last week an item for the Mayor and City Council to express support for Maryland House Bill 1142 – As described in the bill, the legislation’s purpose is to form a State Task Force to:
“make recommendations regarding the authority of county and municipal governments to increase sources of revenue”
In the Work Session immediately preceding the Regular Meeting, I expressed ambivalence towards to the Bill and my struggle to find enthusiasm favoring a City Resolution in its support. Some of my thinking in arriving at this position:
In the end, while I am open to see what a Task Force proposed by HB 1142 may identify, and I have joined in the past with colleagues to express support for various state legislation, I struggled to find that same enthusiasm for this Resolution and registered my vote as an abstention for the above reasons. The Resolution itself passed with three affirmative votes.
Vote for Laurel in the "Strongest Town" Competition!
Calling all Laurelites!! 📢 – it’s time to rally the troops and show your hometown pride!
A different type of March Madness is about to take off, and this one’s for Laurel to make its way through five bracket levels and be named “Strongest Town Champion”!
Thanks to the work of Laurel resident Calvin Burns, we’ve already made it past Level 1 – Now we’ve arrived at where voting begins and where you come in: all hands are needed on deck!
I’ll update this post with voting links as they’re released, and you can also read more about the competition on the Strongest Towns competition page.
You may already be familiar, but Strong Towns (sponsor of the annual competition) is a non-profit powering a movement to help cities, towns, and neighborhoods to take local action to grow safe, livable, and financially resilient communities. They’ve garnered resources, tools, and a membership of people all across the country who are seeking to help impact their own neighborhoods for the better.
What better way to showcase your hometown pride than submitting your vote each week and seeing Laurel claim the championship trophy! 🏆And with the trophy comes a mini-documentary that will showcase the gem of our one-in-a-million City!
UPDATE 16 Mar 2026: Unfortunately Laurel didn’t quite get enough votes in Week 1 to advance, but a HUGE thanks to everyone who made the effort and a great preparation to rally the troops for another run in the future! Thank you to Mr. Burns for submitting us and to all who participated – Laurel truly is a Strong Town and it’s because of our residents: thank you! 😀
I'm now Certified by "Academy for Excellence in Local Government"
I’m excited to share that I’ve been recently certified by the “Academy for Excellence in Local Government”. The Academy is a program administered by the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and is designed to equip local elected officials with a breadth of municipal knowledge to enhance their effectiveness in carrying out their duties.
It covers nine Core Classes: Structure of Government, Municipal Budgeting, Basics of Risk Management, Conducting Effective Meetings, Consensus & Team Building, Employment Issues, Ethics, Open Meetings, and Public Information Act.
And five Elective Classes, which for me were: Inclusive Workforce; Continuity of Operations; Municipal Gov’t, Social Media, & 1st Amendment; Cybersecurity Risks; The 5P’s for AI Change Management.
I also ended up taking additional courses along the way even though they didn’t directly go to the certification.
It was quite a path to completion, I’m looking forward to the official graduation ceremony this September at the Univ. of MD Memorial Chapel, and I’m proud to be bringing that knowledge to bear for residents here in Laurel!
Online tool to connect Snow Shovel Volunteers with Senior & Limited Mobility Residents
I’ve seen & heard of so many residents reaching out a helping hand to neighbors to dig out of our snow & ice, especially our seniors and those with limited mobility – A huge thank you!
I’ve also heard there are many who are still in need and I wanted to help create a simple, entirely voluntary, method to connect snow-shoveling angels with seniors & limited mobility residents.
Important note: This is not an official program of the City – It is entirely a volunteer effort of neighbors-helping-neighbors. For that reason, there are no liability protections, no vettings, etc. and everybody should exercise their own personal judgement throughout as they would for anything else. It is premised on the honesty and kindness of our town’s residents – thank you!
Thank you again neighbors and volunteers! – pulling together will help us get to the other side of this in strong shape!
Changes to City’s Affordable Housing Laws
The City first adopted affordable housing legislation in 2023, and following three months of conversations, updates to that law are expected to be presented for First Public Hearing at Monday’s Council Meeting.
The law passed in 2023 required new developments in the City with 50 or more residential units to set aside 8% of them to sell at an affordable price.
Amendments to that law were proposed by the Administration in November, many of which dealt with ensuring the affordable units remained similar in appearance, size, amenities, and other features as their market-priced counterparts.
Other amendments, which have evolved over the conversations, include:
There’s a few other odds-and-ends in the legislation, which you can review in full as part of the meeting packet for the Council Meeting for Monday, Jan 12.
And please reach out to me with any thoughts, questions, suggestions, etc. so I can take those into consideration as we go through the remaining steps of the legislative process. As it stands, Ordinance 2052 is expected to have a First Hearing on Jan 12 and then be voted on following its Second Hearing on Jan 26.
(N.B., Also see my blog post titled “Ideas for bringing about Affordable Housing in Laurel”
My Christmas Reflection
My wife has a very strict rule about Christmas songs before Thanksgiving – absolutely ‘no go’. And thankfully, now that we’re into the ‘approved Christmas music’ period, my humming, singing, and track-playing is no longer met with a resounding ‘Noooo!’ around the house from the kiddos and spouse alike. 🙂
For some reason, I’ve noticed with increased acuteness this year, how the various songs transport me down different memory lanes. For instance, how the sounds of Johnny Mathis singing “Sleigh Ride” have me sitting on the couch in my growing-up home while my mom shuffles around the kitchen cooking Christmas goodies.
Another of her favorites: Julie Andrews' album, “The Sounds of Christmas”. Since 2021, when my mom passed, I play the YouTube version of this each year as a way to spend some Christmas moments with her.
Then there’s the Pentatonix version of “Carol of the Bells” – first released about 13 years ago, it reminds me of my close friend and then-roomie, as I played the song track in our dining room and we both marveled at the vocal feat being accomplished by only five acapella voices.
The list could go on, and I’m sure you have songs of your own in this category too.
Christmastide is almost like a time-warp, a bend in space-time where we’re transported back-and-forth across Christmas moments – I guess akin to Dickens' Scrooge and the Spirit of Christmas Past. And although we’re hopefully in a much different state than he was going into that fateful night, it seems to me there’s something we might garner from our time travels, something the memories of Christmas past may remind us of and call us to.
So, as I sit here now listening to Johnny Mathis' “O Holy Night”, I raise an eggnog to your memories of Christmas past, present, and future – May they hold true wonder, joy, and thankfulness and foreshadow peace to come in the new year!
Ideas for bringing about Affordable Housing in Laurel
Right now Council is exploring the Administration’s proposed amendments to Laurel’s affordable housing legislation passed back in 2023.
If you’re curious to see the conversations thus far, I’ve queued up the following two videos to the related agenda items at the:
In addition to thoughts shared there, I also thought it might be helpful to mention additional ideas for bringing about affordable housing in Laurel:
These types of solutions help create supply on multiple rungs of the ‘housing ladder’, and set anchor points at the low end, which has the effect of creating a much broader impact on housing prices. I suspect these ideas and ones like them may also be part of a solution to creating affordable housing for all.
My thanks for HDC Resident Fee return to $-0-
Residents of the Historic District may have noticed that effective July 1 of this year, their HDC application fee returned back to $-0- (from the $25 fee newly introduced last year).
It’s a topic I approached Mayor Sydnor about during last term, and I wanted to be sure to share my sincere thanks to him for his openness to converse about and to collaborate together on. A few residents had brought the original change to my attention, and I wanted to look into further on their (and their neighbors') behalf –
For those who may not be familiar, residents in the Historic District have an added step to complete when they go to do a home maintenance or improvement item to the exterior: Most things in this category (e.g., re-painting faded shutters) require pre-approval of the Historic District Commission (HDC) before work can begin. And upon HDC approval, many must undergo a second step applying for permits and paying permit fees (e.g., a fence permit).
In practice, this can translate into paying twice for the same improvement project, or even just paying to do regular house maintenance.
It’s important share: there’s good reason for the HDC approval step – it helps preserve the look-and-feel of our Historic District, enabling the important goal of retaining a touchstone to Laurel’s past.
What I hoped to achieve by returning the HDC resident fee back to $-0-, however, was to signal that we, as a City, recognize residents in the Historic District already have an added burden of an additional approval step, and that we want to encourage them in the maintenance their homes by avoiding layering multiple fees for the same thing, or charging fees simply for doing regular home maintenance.
So my deep thanks again to Mayor Sydnor for your collaboration, and a warm encouragement to all residents of the Historic District as you help to preserve a bridge to our City’s history!
My Reflections from Swearing-In Ceremony on "Being Laurel"
I was pleased Monday to renew my oath to serve Laurel as a Councilmember for this coming term, and to join with my colleagues, their friends, and family.
Following the swearing-in, I also had an opportunity to share a brief reflection, which I invite you watch in the queued-up video linked below:
If helpful, here also is a transcript, edited for some tidiness. :)
Thank you President Smith.
I did want to share a little bit of a reflection tonight. You know, in some ways tonight’s the conclusion of the election with the swearing-in, and there were a couple thoughts that I shared with supporters following the election, that I thought might be good to share tonight at large.
One of the things that struck me as I was standing on the sidelines on Election Day – and it is sort of interesting in an election that as candidates you’re standing on the sidelines. and that’s appropriate because the voters are the ones that who are the actors during the election, who are the movers – and as I watched the residents stream in and out of the polling place, I was struck by the fact that this thing we call “community”, it doesn’t just “happen” all by itself.
It takes people willing to take time out of their day to come out and to vote and to be a part. It takes people who want to take time out of their day to walk down the street to take the package that was misdelivered at your door to your next door neighbor. It takes people who take time out of the day to volunteer to coach their kid’s sports teams. It takes people to take time out of their day to stay after and join their church choir. Or also to collect and distribute food to those in need. And to come out and vote on Election Day.
A community is not just one person. It’s not even just five people. These few up here cannot carry what it means to be a community. It’s a vibrant ecosystem of people at all levels that make a community strong. The teachers, the shop owners, the bus drivers, the seniors, the pastors, the families, the artists, the architects, and the list goes on. If that ecosystem is strong, a community will carry itself regardless.
And so my encouragement is this: To “be Laurel”, to be proud to be Laurel, to be part and parcel of our life and our space here in our town, finding a way to connect to those around you. Laurel is richer and stronger for what you bring to it.
So, thank you to the witness to everyone who came out on election day to vote, to the testament of your belief in Laurel – And I’ll do my best to keep making decisions to best support you so that together we can be Laurel and to help it flourish. 🙂
Thank you, Mr. President.
My latest Council Connections Interview
Here’s a video of my latest interview for Council Connections, LaurelTV’s show series with members of Council to help share updates and goings-on direct from Councilmembers.
In this show I share about:
(Note: Although I recorded the interview on June 30, there was an accidental delay in its release, so you may notice some of the “current initiatives” are actually items that have already worked their way through Council.)
Hope you enjoy and as always, reach out to me anytime with questions or comments!
A Field of Community Fun at Touch-A-Truck + Helicopter Visit
I couldn’t help but be struck by the view as I walked across McCullough Field with my kiddos on Tuesday –
A group of families were wrapping up a youth football practice, a bunch of men were playing an energetic game of pick-up soccer, there were kids out on the playground swinging & running around, doubles teams having a good volley out on the tennis courts, and across the field was the amazing sight of a Maryland State Trooper helicopter that had just landed and was giving tours & photos as part of the City’s Touch-A-Truck event. I even stopped to take a short video pan of the moment:
I was struck by the feeling: this is what community is all about. People spending time with each other, having fun, creating stories, meeting new friends, all doing different things, but all part of the same thing.
A big smile came across my face – and I also captured this pic courtesy of the Parks & Rec team as a family memory for our photo album. Cheers Laurel! 🍻
I’m Exploring Updates to Use & Occupancy Permits for Small Businesses
I shared in Monday’s Council Meeting that I’m currently working on a project to explore updates to our Use & Occupancy Permit code as it relates to the relatively newer types of commercial spaces loosely described as ‘shared spaces’ (e.g., like ‘co-working’ offices).
I’ve had some initial conversations with property owners, small businesses, as well as the City team, and am in the midst of exploring and researching various alternatives that can fit these types of spaces to achieve the dual goals of: (a) keeping our residents safe, and (b) promoting our local small business economy. Through a collaborative effort, I believe there’s a great opportunity here to further equip Laurel with a strong infrastructure and as a platform for small businesses growth.
To that end, if you’re:
Please use this form to ask to be kept in the loop and/or to share your thoughts. Based on my initial work, as many as 300+ small businesses in Laurel may be affected, and everyone’s perspective, help, and ideas is an important contribution. Thank you! 🙂
My Proposed Updates to Compost Ordinance Enforcement Provisions
In a previous post, I shared that in 2023, the then-sitting Council adopted a mandatory composting program for the City with the goals of creating a healthier environment and saving the City money on tipping fees.
I also mentioned that this month, the current Council is considering updates to the Ordinance during its meetings. The edits cover a few different topic areas, and as part of the updates, I was interested to revisit the enforcement approach described in the original Ordinance to ensure it was balanced.
My goal was that with the City adopting this program, the enforcement provisions should be no more expansive than those already followed by our Code Enforcement team - A big first step being: always begin with a notice (and not a penalty). This allows for building awareness, conversations, and is a much more human/ personal first step when compared with the existing Ordinance provision allowing to jump straight to penalties without any requirement for notice.
The other key piece for me is that, especially in light of the new trash truck equipment Council approved last fall, any inspections can occur curb-side during trash collection and there’s no need to enter a resident’s yard, deck, fence, etc. For me, this comes from a principle that residents should have a reasonable expectation for peaceful enjoyment of their property that should only be overridden by an adequately serious circumstance, like a ‘life safety’ concern. To me, composting does not rise to this level, and practically speaking, it’s more effectively and efficiently accomplished through the simpler means.
As always, your voice helps me shape legislation and make decisions, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any thoughts or ideas. And composting is a relatively new program for the City, so please also feel free to ask questions, seek answers, gather information, and provide feedback to the City team as they rollout the program - they are looking to facilitate and help.
UPDATE: This legislation passed by unanimous vote at the 28 Jul 2025 Council Meeting.
Join me in taking The Dignity Pledge for Political Discourse
I’m recently back from the Maryland Municipal League summer conference (an annual gathering of municipal leaders in the state), and one of the biggest highlights for me was the opening keynote given by Tim Shriver centered on The Dignity Index.
In his talk, Mr. Shriver described the ‘contempt industrial complex’ that’s evolved over the years, where, as described by sociologists like Arthur Brooks, we’ve unfortunately created an ‘addiction to contempt’ and which is taken advantage of by media and algorithms to drive ‘engagement’ to their platforms but also sadly driven us apart.
But, as Mr. Shriver quoted from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘you can’t use hatred to defeat hatred’. Part of the solution he proposed: Commit to honoring everyone’s dignity, even (or especially), when things get heated. How can you do this? It begins with recognizing where your own language falls on The Dignity Index illustrated below – conversations characterized by phrases “5” and above can be helpful and productive, while conversations exhibiting the phrases from “4” or below can be harmful or even dangerous.
Being able to exhibit and promote healthy conversation has been a critical cornerstone for me, and I really resonated with Mr. Shriver’s message. Added to that, I’ve taken The Dignity Pledge to exhibit these principles in my public service.
You can learn more about The Dignity Index and their work with schools, businesses, youth, organization and more at their website, and I humbly encourage you to also consider joining me in taking The Dignity Pledge.
I’ve introduced Legislation to Update Elderly & Veteran Tax Credit
I’m pleased to introduce legislation this month to the Laurel City Council to update the City’s Elderly & Veteran Property Tax Credit ->
The City’s existing Elderly & Veteran Tax Credit, first adopted in 2020, provides a 20% credit against the City property taxes for qualifying residents. General qualification are: (a) age 65+ and/or a veteran, and (b) lived in the residence for 10+ years.
The catch is that the credit was only available for 5 years, after which a resident could no longer apply for it. This was due to a constraint in the enabling legislation passed at the State of Maryland level.
Thankfully, Maryland later lifted the 5-year limit in 2022, but our residents can’t experience that benefit until we pass legislation at the City level too.
So I’ve introduced Ordinance 2040 to accomplish this, a copy of which can be found in the City Council Meeting packets available from the City’s Agenda page (and a direct link to the Mar 24 meeting packet here).
I’m thankful for support shared by fellow members of Council and hopeful for its passage, but do feel free to share your support with Council and/or send me any questions.
And looking forward to the help it can provide elderly residents in our community to age-in-place and and to thank veterans for their service.
UPDATE: I’m happy to say this Ordinance passed unanimously at the 24 March 2025 Council Meeting with immediate effect. 😀
Announcing Passage of My Co-Sponsored Legislation on Disabilities & Seniors
I was pleased to join with Councilwoman Christine Johnson to propose, and on Monday pass, legislation that enhances the representation of those with disabilities and for senior residents here in Laurel.
Last term, while I was Chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities, I worked to re-boot the Committee and add to the committed core members. In the process, I learned that we had many experienced and dedicated individuals in Laurel that work with and even themselves experience a disability, but were unable to contribute to the work of the Committee because their residence was outside the City limits. So, in consultation with Committee members, I sought to expand our membership requirements to provide first order of preference to City residents, but that should the Committee still fall short, it would have the ability to avail of the expertise of those who have deep ties in the City, like business ownership or employment within the City limits. This would enable the goal of the Committee reaching its required quorum so that it could continue its work in advising the City Council and Mayor in the needs, programs, and supports for persons with disabilities.
Around the time I was working on the modifications, I was approached by Councilwoman Christine Johnson who has a deep commitment to Laurel’s senior residents and was exploring ways for the City to become more alert to their needs, to provide them a voice to City matters, and to act as a focal point pulling together helpful resources. After considering different options, and instead of standing up an altogether new Committee which would face common resource constraints, she proposed expanding the Committee to include senior residents. It was important to recognize that both persons with disabilities and senior residents have concerns unique to each, but that there were also areas of overlap and natural collaboration. I consulted with the existing Commitee members, and they agreed that it did indeed seem a good idea.
Text of the Resolution 1-2025 contains the specific provisions, including that 2 members be persons with disabilities (or relatives or caretakers), 2 members be persons over the age of 55 (or caretaker), 2 members of the general public, and 1 member from the City Council.
It was pleasure to collaborate with Councilwoman Johnson on this work, and I’m hopeful for its ability to further the City’s commitment to and service of persons with disabilities and our senior residents. And related – if you are, or someone you know is, interested to learn more about becoming a member of the Committee, please contact me and I’d be happy to share more information and help.
