03/25/07

Important Partnerships

Imagine if you called 911 or the Sheriff’s Department and no one answered. The most fundamental cost of government is the cost of the employees who must be available to provide the services expected by citizens.

Sometimes, we are fortunate to be able to partner with other groups in St. Mary’s County who, through their civic pride and personal responsibility, volunteer to help their neighbors.

Unlike other more urban jurisdictions, our fire/rescue volunteers in St. Mary’s County take their time to provide emergency services without being compensated by a weekly paycheck. However, increasing calls are creating challenges providing continuous Advanced Life Support Service. We must deal with this problem. I am honored to sit with Commissioner Tommy Mattingly on the task force seeking a solution to this problem.

Though the Town of Leonardtown is an incorporated jurisdiction with separate planning and taxing authority, the recreational areas are available to all County citizens. Mayor Norris has insisted on open waterfront access for public use.

This week, the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved tax dollars from our Open Space funding to help Leonardtown complete their waterfront renovation project. Remember, all of us will get to enjoy these facilities while the Town Council provides the long-term maintenance. That is a pretty good partnership.

Another important partnership is the SMARTCO group that occupies the old K-Mart building in Lexington Park. Last year, our Commissioner Board provided a one-time grant for thirty five thousand dollars to help them continue to recycle computers from the Navy facilities into our community. Their success at e-cycling has been phenomenal.

They are also providing training courses to assist people like myself who are computer challenged.

The computer stations at the Lexington Park Library are so popular that there is an obvious need for more Internet access in this technologically important Development District. SMARTCO wants to partner, not compete, with our library system to provide an Internet café at their headquarters in the heart of Lexington Park where people of all ages can access the Internet in a community atmosphere.

This program also helps our Public Works Department provide the challenging recycling needs for properly disposing of this kind of electronic waste when units become unusable.

Providing this service for young and old would cost St. Mary’s Government hundreds of thousands of dollars that the volunteers at SMARTCO offer without fiscal compensation.

This past budget process for our local government has been a very difficult one to say the least. We have had to literally cut eighteen and a half million dollars from the requests. Additional cost reductions would defer hiring of key public safety personnel and even create reductions in force of present County employees.

This challenging economic situation highlights the importance of why our public/private partnerships are so important in St. Mary’s County.