Comments on: Cecil County Charter Amendments: Voters OK Four Ballot Questions https://ceciltimes.com/2014/11/cecil-county-charter-amendments-voters-ok-four-ballot-questions/ News and Views for Cecil County and the Eastern Shore of Maryland Fri, 25 Nov 2022 14:21:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.38 By: David W https://ceciltimes.com/2014/11/cecil-county-charter-amendments-voters-ok-four-ballot-questions/#comment-31391 Sat, 29 Nov 2014 05:50:13 +0000 https://ceciltimes.com/?p=4170#comment-31391 Joe, I suggest you read the Charter again.

Allowing a new franchise for utility service requires a change to the county’s water and sewer plan. The county executive can’t do that unilaterally – the recommendation has to go before the Planning Commission, and then before the County Council for approval. (By the way, the proposed franchise is not exclusive to Artesian providing the service).

You are also wrong that the executive has sole authority to appoint board members. The Charter says the Council has to confirm appointments to boards and commissions.

Charter was supposed to be cheaper? Historically, I don’t believe that’s ever been the case, and I definitely did not hear that in the two presentations I attended. Cost neutral, yes, but not cheaper.

If you want to compare Charter to a monarchy, perhaps you should consider the role of court jester?

]]> By: Joe C https://ceciltimes.com/2014/11/cecil-county-charter-amendments-voters-ok-four-ballot-questions/#comment-31372 Thu, 27 Nov 2014 01:01:52 +0000 https://ceciltimes.com/?p=4170#comment-31372 Harold,
Unfortunately, we have created a monarchy here in Cecil County by having charter government. The name alone invokes thoughts of Kings (or Queens in our case) issuing charters to those in their favor. For example, this past August, our “Queen” issued a franchise agreement to Artesian Water Company: this allows them to provide water without competition. Now this is the same entity that provides some of the financial support to the group which help elect our entire council and executive.

The same executive has sole authority to appoint board members to the very committees that can grant even more rights to favored entities. God forbid that you get some who will stand up for the average citizen, because they can be removed at the executive’s discretion. Nice system (charter), that citizens were told would be cheaper! For whom is the question?

]]> By: Harold McCanick https://ceciltimes.com/2014/11/cecil-county-charter-amendments-voters-ok-four-ballot-questions/#comment-31353 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 16:18:38 +0000 https://ceciltimes.com/?p=4170#comment-31353 Why should we give the executive and a full-time staff more time to make a budget. They have 8 hours a day five days a week. We have the first and third Tuesday evening of the month! We just handed most of our time over to the executive. They are the spenders, we are the taxpayers. We just screwed up bad. Come on people, THINK!

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