Officials Split on Creating More Police Management Positions

Chief Ryan’s request for an amendment to the fiscal 2010 budget, which would allow the Elkton Police Department to exchange field positions for two management positions, had official split on the proposal at the July 22 meeting. “I would like to give back the position that was allocated for a police officer in 2010 and the current sergeant’s position . . . and add a position upgrade for an executive officer and a new lieutenant’s position in place of a sergeant,” the chief informed the board. For the management and future direction of the police department, this would assure better operational efficiency and span of control, he noted.

Two members of the board questioned the value of the staffing proposal. “You’re loading up the top of the organization . . . . I’d like to see more foot-patrols because crime is getting terrible,” Commissioner Storke remarked. “I agree with Gary. We need more foot-patrols, more officers out on the street, rather than putting more in the station,” Mayor Fisona emphasized.

As the discussion continued, the chief emphasized that it provides the accountability he needs to efficiently manage the department and build it for the future. “Why can’t you get the accountability now without going to this step?” the mayor queried. “I can’t put a sergeant in charge of sergeants. It has to have a different rank,” the police executive noted.

“This is the first time a budget amendment has come before us here because . . . If it’s within a budget we just vote on it,” Commissioner Jablonski remarked. “But we’re actually adding a position,” Storke replied. “It’s an increase in the upper echelon. How many lieutenants are there now?” Three was the reply.

Commissioner Piner observed that he relies on the department heads to know what their needs are. “We as official listen to the request and I know it’s a new position but it’s a needed position as far as I’m concerned.” “ I’m sure we need more foot-patrols, but we just can’t put them on the street, as the chief said. I’m all for it. I don’t have a problem with it.”  Commissioner Jablonski said she too was “fine with the reorganization.”

When the mayor polled Commissioner Givens, he remarked that he’d heard the chief’s proposal and the pros and cons of the discussion and he would now think it over and make his vote at the right time. “That’s all I’m going to say. I will not make a rash decision?”

As the conversation wrapped up, the mayor polled the board to see if the proposal would be presented at a regular meeting for a formal vote. Two members of the board favored more patrols, two were okay with the chief’s proposal, and one said he would weigh the evidence and vote at the right time. In a final remark, Commissioner Piner wondered about where the evidence was showing that foot-patrols are effective at stopping crime. “You’re more visible, but I don’t’ see where the difference is with the officer’s getting calls from dispatch.” Storke commented, all we’re saying is, “Do we need a lieutenant versus two officers out in cars.”  The formal vote on the chief’s request will probably occur at the next regular board meeting.

Many Interested in Mayor’s Seat as Political Buzz Starts Early in Elkton

Although Elkton’s next election is nearly a year away there’s a growing political buzz around the May 2010 election. The chatter on Main Street, at the county office building, in Chesapeake City, and other places around Cecil County, indicates that there’s a larger array of exploratory office seekers coming out earlier in the cycle. In particular, there’s a growing group of candidates interested in contesting the mayor’s seat, according to discussions we’ve had with individuals and rumors that are flying around the county seat.

Wes Walker, the owner of a couple of Elkton eateries, told Someone Noticed a few months ago, that he plans to seek the mayor’s position. Certainly Wes is familiar with the challenges in the central business district since he operates the Main Street Café across from the Courthouse. About the time the county moved its offices out to the state line, he opened Delancy Café on Route 40, near where the 200 workers are now headquartered. He thus has a unique window on Main Street to understand what can be done to strengthen the town center. Wes has been present at town meetings lately, too.

But there’s more interest in the race for the chief executive’s seat. Talk has it that a couple of former mayors have been keeping a watchful eye on the leadership position they formerly held.  One of those individuals, with a decades long, successful track record of public service, has told a number of people that he’s going to compete for his old office.

While the mayor’s post is the one grabbing the most attention, there are two open commissioners’ seats.  Readers of Someone Noticed have been posting comments, speculating on candidates. That speculation grows whenever the town makes controversial decisions, which has occurred a lot lately.

We’ll make sure we stay on this so we can present balanced local content as this develops, especially since town affairs receives almost no ink these days from legacy media.

Elkton Launches Redesigned Website

Someone Noticed was pleasantly surprised when we surfed over to the Town of Elkton Website this evening.   The town launched a redesigned virtual home at some point over the past several weeks.  Although we just discovered the improvement at www.elkton.org, we can already tell you that it is much better than the previous homepage for an improvement was badly needed.

With graphic design enhancements and much better navigation the redesigned website is positioned to do a couple of things.  First it creates a quality impression for virtual visitors checking out the town.  Second, it’s positioned to serve as a real information portal for citizens needing data from the town.  All these basic elements were missing from the old digital home of the town of Elkton, which it replaced.

 We congratulate the Town on this improvement.  When we first started monitoring Elkton affairs about a year ago, there was an enormous amount of confusion over the expense of the old website and work on the town’s computer network.   There cost overruns were staggering, allegedly work wasn’t done properly, and contracts had not been fulfilled, but no one seemed to know where authorization for work was coming from.  We were amazed at all that, but we had our hands full with the town’s attempt to sell part of the Elk Landing property so we didn’t have time to investigate the concusing matter.   We don’t know if they ever straightened out what went wrong, other than terminating a contract with a vendor.

As best we could figure it out from listening to the confusion at board meetings, the mayor was managing the technology contract in those days and had selected the vendor.  Whatever the case, the town has a taken an excellent step forward and is now beginning to enter the 21st century digital information world.  We assume management of this project is now being handled by professional staff, since it is such an improvement over the previous rollout.  Someone obviously knows what they’re doing with this and we sure didn’t leave town meetings back then thinking that the Mayor and the political leadership had a grip on what was going on.  Hopefully over time they will add many of the newest web 2.0 products that most surfers have come to expect from the modern web, but, whatever the case, they’ve taken an excellent first step.

Oh we have one more minor suggestion for the town; they really should issue press releases announcing positive steps whenever they occur. 

Enjoying Cecil County’s Revitalized Downtowns This Holiday Season

As Cecil County gets ready for Christmas on this weekend before the big holiday we’ve been to Port Deposit, North East, and Chesapeake City.  The hustle and bustle we found in each of these places was exciting to see for it reminded us of a time decades ago when downtown Elkton was packed with holiday shoppers from throughout the county. Before the 1970s, customers went to downtown merchants such as J. J. Newberry, Stanley’s Newsstand, Elkton Supply, Jacob Singman Men’s Store, Faez Apparel, McMillman’s Sporting Goods, Sears and dozens of others for just the right gift for people on their list.  But all that changed in the era of shopping malls and Internet retailing, although we see how successful some towns have been with revitalizing the old business districts in the 21st century.

Joe's Grog House Sign in Port Deposit

Friday evening we stopped in Port Deposit and found a lively scene at Joe’s Grog House.  This new restaurant, which opened about two weeks ago, specializes in Southwestern and Cajun food.  A nice crowd filled the tables and bar on the cold December evening. The eatery was first class all the way around for we enjoyed fine food, excellent drinks, and outstanding service.  We’ll become regulars at this new place which has reasonable prices.  By-the-way, a two weeks earlier we stopped into Back Fin Blues and to our great delight found an excellent five star restaurant for fine dining in the heart of the historic town, which we’ve also added to our list.  Having some selection of quality restaurants is essential for revitalization of the central business districts and Port Deposit is excelling in that area.  It now has four fine restaurants, along with a selection of pubs and semi-fast food places. 

Saturday we shopped in North East and Chesapeake City.  There are dozens of stores in these two communities providing a full selection of quality gifts for special ones on your list.  While we strolled around, Christmas music floated through the air, holiday lights glowed attractively, and people filled the streets going from shop to shop.  In North East Santa was busy greeting children in his house on Main Street, while in Chesapeake City the historic homes dressed for the holidays added to the atmopshere.  With such ambiance in these old downtowns and specialty shops filled with unique items, it was the perfect setting for creating a holiday mood as people made cash registers ring.  We also enjoyed the opportunity to stroll and talk with people as we passed a relaxing few hours, enjoying a Saturday afternoon on the day before the official start of winter. 

Anyone familiar with the recent past in these towns know that they have undergone a full evolution, which ranged from lively business districts serving local people in the middle of the 20th century to an era of decline as retailing models changed.  But now these three places, drawing on historic, cultural, and locational attributes, have revitalized their business districts, drawing shoppers from a wide area.

A Nice Day in Downtown Elkton; Crowds Fill Street for Fall Fest

Hometown Musician Bernard Purdie greets a fan earlier today.

Author Milt Diggins was busy signing his new book in front of Lions Drug Store

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a hint of autumn in the air on this sunny Saturday, the temperature peaking out in the low 70s, downtown Elkton filled with people for Fall Fest.  On such a wonderful day, we had to join in so we spent the mid-day hours strolling around town, talking to people, stopping by the North Street Hotel, and checking out the vendors.  While in town we ran into Milt Diggins, the author a new photo book on Cecil County, sitting in front of Lion’s Drug Store, where he was signing books.  While sitting in the North Street Hotel chatting with Jimmy Nicholson and George Sewell, we were pleasantly surprised to see Bernard Purdie, a world famous drummer from Elkton, walking down the street. Bernard tells us his new biography will be out soon and we’re looking forward to that.  Having seen the draft, we can’t wait to see the final product about this hometown musician.

A little later, we ran into Tony Trotta’s daughter, Patty.  That’s the fire time we’ve had a chance to talk with her since her father passed away in the spring.  Patty invited us into Tony’s old shop, a place he’d worked since the 1930s.  That was a very pleasant experience to exchange a few memories and hear that she is doing well.

We congratulate the Elkton Alliance and the Mayor and Commissioners for making an excellent fall fest possible.  It’s good to see the streets of the old town fill with pedestrians and shoppers as it did until for near the end of the 20th century. 

 We have a few more images on one of our photo pages. Click here to see those images.