Category:garrett county

— OAKLAND — Election canvass results confirm that all three of the current Garrett County commissioners were ousted by newcomers in the primary election.

Paul Edwards defeated in-cumbent Jim Raley in District 2, with 50.55 percent of the vote, or a total of 2,010 to Raley’s 1,009, according to the official results.

In District 1, Larry Tichnell unseated incumbent Gregan Crawford, garnering 49.19 percent of the votes with a total of 1,918 to Crawford’s 1,105 votes.

Tichnell will square off against Leo Martin, a Libertarian, in the November general election.

In District 3, Jim Hinebaugh beat incumbent Bob Gatto by 3.46 percent of the votes. Earning 36.76 percent of the votes, Hinebaugh had a total of 1,486 votes to Gatto’s 1,346 votes. Hinebaugh will face Democratic candidate April Hebden, who received a total of 655 votes, as well as Bill Welch, a Libertarian, and James R. “Smokey” Stanton, unaffiliated, in the general election.

District 3 Board of Education candidate Monica Rinker led the way with 2,394 votes, followed by Fred Gregg with 1,742 votes and incumbent Rodney Reckart with 765 votes. Rinker and Gregg will move on to the general election with District 1 candidates Stuart Harvey and Mathew Paugh, incumbent, and District 2 candidate Thomas Carr, incumbent. District 1 and 2 candidates will advance to the general election because there is only one candidate from District 2 and two candidates from District 1. There is one open seat in each of the three districts.

State’s Attorney Lisa Thayer Welch received 3,008 votes. Clerk of Circuit Court Timothy Miller received 3,199. Both ran unopposed. Register of Wills Rita L. Watson also ran unopposed with 3,322 votes.

Sheriff candidates Skyler Hebden, Democrat, and incumbent Robert Corley, Republican, received 583 votes and 3,455 votes, respectively. Hebden and Corley will face off in the general election.

In the race for Judge of Orphans’ Court, Fred Sanders led over incumbent Wayne Wilt with 2,769 votes to 2,732 votes.

Jeff Hovis was the only candidate who ran for Democratic Central Committee with 686 votes. In the Republican Central Committee race, Brenda Butscher led with 2,441 votes, followed by Ruth Hinebaugh Umbel, 2,355 votes; Brian Schlossnagle 2,203; Bill Bittinger 2,169; Tom Sheahen 1,830; DeCorsey Bolden 1,716; Bill Schrider and John Pucciano both had 1,518 votes.

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— OAKLAND — The Garrett County Commissioners received a $20,343 insurance settlement from the National Interstate Insurance company for costs incurred to the county as a result of the tanker truck accident on April 16.

A tanker full of 10,000 gallons of liquid propane overturned in the heart of the Oakland business district and traffic had to be detoured for Routes 219 and 135 to Sand Flat Road. The Garrett County Roads Department will receive $13,672.

The incident prompted transfer of 45 inmates of the Garrett County Detention Center to the Allegany County Detention Center where they remained incarcerated overnight prior to being returned to Garrett County. The inmates were evacuated to the Southern Garrett Rescue Squad building prior to being taken to the Allegany County jail in Cresaptown.

The Garrett County Sheriff’s Office will receive $6,671, of which $2,214 will go toward detention center overtime, $1,062 for 911 center overtime, $1,935 for Allegany County, $744for transporting the inmates, $423 for food for the inmates and for the command post and $290 for sheriff’s office overtime costs.

“There was also a lot of overtime involved for the various agencies involved and hundreds of people involved in the emergency response,” said Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator, in a previous interview.

Garrett County’s 911 calls were handled by Allegany County during the incident.

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— OAKLAND — The Garrett County School Enrollment Committee will make a recommendation on the transportation study contracted by the board of education with School Bus Consultants at the June 10 school board meeting at 6:05 p.m. at the Central Office.

The 2013-14 Facility Study made a recommendation to consider moving students from the southern end of the county north.

The transportation study was completed following the facility study and Superintendent Janet Wilson appointed a committee to analyze the data and make recommendations to assist the school system in operating more efficiently.

After the board meeting, the committee’s presentation, along with the School Bus Consultants’ report, will be posted at www.garrettcountyschools.org. The board will accept public on the School Enrollment Committee report until noon on June 16. can be submitted to areaenrollmentproposal@garrettcountyschools.org or by mail to Area Enrollment Proposal Committee, Garrett County Public Schools, Attention: Jane Wildesen, 40 S. Second St., Oakland, MD 21550.

The board will meet again June 16 at 5 p.m.

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— OAKLAND — Garrett County Commission candidates Eric Robison, Larry Tichnell, incumbent Gregan Crawford and Andrew Harvey address the biggest issues facing the county.

Both Tichnell and Robison said that the budget is one of the biggest issues facing the county. Tichnell suggested looking at each department to try to trim the fat from the budget. Robison has concerns about capital reserves being used to balance the fiscal 2015 budget.

“This will leave a structural deficit of $1.2 million for the incoming elected commissioners and kick the can down the road,” said Robison, who participated in the administrative session in which the commissioners reviewed the budget. “We should be looking at reducing the budget and working within the revenues generated, just like most households and businesses. If you make X, you can only spend X or go into debt.

“We should run government like a business and in economic hard times make difficult decisions to assure the success of the business,” said Robison. “I am willing to run government like a business; we need to budget within our means and market our assets.”

Tichnell also noted property rights and whether there should be zoning or not.

“I’m against zoning in the county,” said Tichnell.

Robison said that many issues facing the county stem from a lack of economic development.

“We need to broaden the tax base and market Garrett County to businesses that will enhance the current business base,” said Robison. “Those new businesses need to attract millennials with growing families and the ability to grow and encourage development for local employment.”

The county faces many challenges with growth and development similar to that of other rural counties across the state and the country, according to Crawford.

“Local government has had to be very reactive to changes in policies implemented by the state and the new fiscal realities of a slow recovery in rural areas,” said Crawford. “Problem solving, whether in business or government, requires innovative thinking and collaboration on all levels.”

— OAKLAND  — Site work for the Strata manufacturing facility to be located at the Keysers Ridge Business Park is about 90 percent complete, according to Frank Shap, assistant director for Garrett County Economic Development.

“We will be ready to start pouring concrete we hope within a week or two for the footers for the building,” said Shap during Tuesday’s county commission meeting. “The building materials have been delivered to the site. Beitzel Corporation is the contractor for construction of the building and they plan to start soon as they have access to the site pad.”

In November, the commissioners awarded a $589,534 contract to Excavating Associates for site work at the park. They also awarded a $1,024,000 contract to Beitzel Corp. of Grantsville for design and construction of the facility

Strata Worldwide LLC will occupy the space in October and will offer 25 jobs over the next three years, according to Shap.

For the last 20 years, Strata Worldwide has been developing innovative safety solutions for underground coal mines all over the world, according to the company’s website.

“It’s the first tenant in what we are hoping will be additional tenants in the park focused on the energy sector,” said Shap. “We are trying to market that site as something that takes advantage of the various energy resources, opportunities and alternatives that are available in the county.”

Negotiations are underway for Exelon Corp., an American energy producer, trader and distributer that is developing wind farms in the county, to occupy a space in the park.

In April 2013, the Maryland Economic Development Corp. transferred more than 180 acres of land valued at $2.5 million to the commissioners to develop the park. In September 2013, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development entered into an agreement with the commissioners, providing $625,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to partially finance the construction of a 12,000-square-foot building in the park.

The commissioners re-cently submitted a $900,000 funding request for a water treatment plant at the park to the Appalachian Regional Commission.

A plant is needed at the business park to serve both residents and businesses for the future development. Currently, residents are using septic systems and businesses are receiving wastewater service from Bruceton Farm Service, a private entity that no longer wants to provide those services, according to the preliminary project description.

Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.

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— OAKLAND — The Morgantown Municipal Airport will be providing an approach navigational signal to the Garrett County Airport that will allow instrument landings to continue at the airport, according to Jay Moyer, director of Garrett County Public Works.

The signal will replace the Grantsville VOR (VHF omnidirectional range) system on Pea Ridge Road that will be decommissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“That will allow the older planes to still use the VOR system for instrument approach. They will be able to land at the airport in foul weather,” said Moyer during the Garrett County Commission meeting Tuesday. “It’s not an issue for the much newer corporate planes, they can use the GPS system. This is important to the airport because, so to speak, we don’t always have the best weather for landing at that airport and this will provide them the system to land at our airport.”

The decommissioning of the VOR system drew opposition from Ed Kelly, manager of the Garrett County Airport, as well as the Maryland Aviation Administration. The VOR had to be decommissioned for the Fourmile Ridge wind project.

The Maryland Public Service Commission approved the Fourmile wind project, which will consist of 16 turbines on Frostburg Road, last year.

The Garrett County Engineering Department is in final negotiations for the road use agreement with Exelon for Frostburg Road. An issue with a portion of the agreement that deals with catastrophic damage is still being negotiated, according to Moyer.

“We want some language in there in the event something unforeseen happens that they will bear the expense on that,” said Moyer. “They have committed to paving all the roads involved to the tune of $563,000.”

Commissioner Jim Raley said that there had been some complaints about the road and that the county needs to continue to be proactive instead of reactive.

“In other words, getting down there checking that road on a regular basis making sure the contractor is complying with what we had agreed to,” said Raley.

There is an inspector who visits the project location on a regular basis, according to Moyer.

Garrett County Economic Development is currently in negotiations with Exelon to acquire a 2- to 3-acre plot in Keysers Ridge Business Park, according to Frank Shap, assistant director of Garrett County Economic Development. Exelon currently operates one wind project in the county and is working to develop Fourmile Ridge and Fair Wind, a 15-turbine project planned for Backbone Mountain.

“I believe those negotiations will be successful, although we don’t have a signed contract yet,” said Shap.

Exelon will probably take up a 4,000 square-foot-space in the park and four to six jobs will be created, according to Shap.

Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 22, 2014 – 4:19 am EDT

HAGERSTOWN, Maryland — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says it’s building 30 miles of new trails connecting state parks and forests in Garrett County.

GRANTSVILLE — Area residents interested in buying or selling livestock can go to either one of two places in Garrett County — Friend’s Stockyard in Accident or Grantsville Stockyards. Both are managed by Vice President Joe Friend Jr.

“I like coming here (Grantsville) because there is a variety of animals, it’s a good place to make friends and they have a good restaurant,” said Kerm Yoder, who has been attending livestock auctions for 20 years.

Yoder buys livestock in the spring and sells in the fall.

“I buy lay hens for $10 and sell them for $2,” said Yoder, who sells the hens back after they’ve laid their eggs.

A livestock auction is held every Monday at Friend’s Stockyard and an auction is held every Saturday starting at 10 a.m. at the Grantsville Stockyards. The two livestock auctions differ because Grantsville is more diversified, said Friend.

Sam Jinks, who owns a petting zoo at Blackwater Falls, W.Va., comes to Grantsville to purchase calves, pigs and lambs for the petting zoo.

“I like this auction better because this one has more quality animals. Sometimes they even have alpacas, ” said Jinks.

The Grantsville livestock auction starts with the smaller animals — ducklings, hens and rabbits. The auction for the smaller animals keeps going until all the animals are sold or until 1 p.m. when the large livestock is auctioned, according to Yoder.

During the smaller animal auction bidders hold up their cards and during the large animal auction bidders just provide the auctioneer with a last name.

Friend’s Stockyard has special feeder calf sales in the spring and fall, according to Friend.

Both auctions get about 200 sellers a week and Friend makes 3 percent of each sale.

“We survive off of it, but we don’t get rich,” said Friend.

The livestock auctions are the only ones of that magnitude in the area. The Grantsville auction is better attended because it’s held on the weekend, Friend said.

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