Commissioners of St. Mary’s County: standing (l to ) Commissioners Jarboe, O’Connor and Hewitt; seated (l to r) Commissioner Morgan and President Guy. Photo courtesy of St. Mary’s County Government.
Leonardtown, MD — And the winner is — Hayden Farm. The often strident debate that divided the county in the end split the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County as well. The final vote was 3-2 for the Hayden Farm over a downtown Leonardtown site for a new library for the central part of the county.
Commissioner President Randy Guy [R] and Commissioners Mike Hewitt [R – 2nd District] and John O’Connor [R – 3rd District] voted for the Hayden Farm site and Commissioners Tom Jarboe [R – 1st District] and Todd Morgan [R – 4th District] voted for the downtown Leonardtown location.
Each of the commissioners took time before the final vote to make statements. In the end the abortive meeting with the owner of the downtown site became an issue and the comments featured criticism of Leonardtown Mayor Dan Burris.
Morgan led off the discussion by saying, “The good thing is – a library is coming.” Morgan said that each site had traffic problems and each site was within walking distance of an elementary school, issues brought up by both sides in the debate. But Morgan said that there were three access points to the downtown site versus one for the county-owned Hayden Farm, one of the deciding factors in his decision.
Morgan added that the new board has strongly advocated for economic development and diversification and the downtown Leonardtown site offered the best opportunity for that.
Hewitt then interjected into the debate the cancelled May 8 meeting with Tudor Hall Farm property owner Don Pleasants. That meeting, which had been scheduled by Hewitt and to which Guy was invited, was cancelled when Morgan showed up, which would have constituted a quorum and would have required an open meeting and 48-hour notice.
Hewitt took pains to explain that he likes to meet one-on-one with people involved in issues and he likes to invite another commissioner as a witness to what transpired. Hewitt said calling the meeting involved “no back room deal. It was research. It was doing our homework.”
Regarding the cancellation of the meeting with Pleasants and Mayor Dan Burris, he said, “I didn’t get this job to break the law.” Hewitt said up to that point he was undecided. He called the cancelation of the meeting “unfortunate.” He observed, “I never got to look that man in the eye.”
“I can’t commit taxpayers’ dollars on land we don’t own,” Hewitt insisted.
Hewitt blamed Mayor Burris for not intervening to prevent the meeting from being cancelled. “The mayor of Leonardtown did a disservice to all of us,” he said. He added, “He should have made that meeting happen.”
Hewitt spoke in favor of exploring locating a sports complex in the downtown area, perhaps on Pleasants’ 200-acre property. The town also owns land on the site. He said such facility would draw people to town for tournaments and other events.
Next up, Commissioner Jarboe defended Burris, saying, “I wouldn’t throw the mayor under the bus.”
Jarboe said he looked at the issue in terms of which site would garner the “best return on investment.” He pointed out the potential savings of infrastructure costs with the downtown site and also its advantage in terms of access.
Jarboe said using the Hayden site for the library and senior center could impact the future location on the site of a middle school. He said the county may also have to pay a portion of a traffic light at Hayden Farm, costing the county extra money.
Pointing to the argument made by Hayden Farm supporters that 70 percent of library patrons were from outside Leonardtown, Jarboe said he doubted going a mile farther would be an impediment to them, particularly if there was plenty of parking at the library location.
Jarboe also noted that when requested, the Department of Land Use and Growth Management chose the downtown site as preferable, although Commissioner O’Connor later refuted that claim, saying they concluded there wasn’t enough information to base a decision one way or the other.
Guy spoke next in favor of Hayden Farm. “We have the land in hand. We own it,” Guy said. By comparison he said the county didn’t own the downtown site. “I don’t feel good about that,” he said.
Guy pointed out that he and Hewitt had visited the new library in Havre de Grace, the hometown of State Director of Planning David Craig, who supports the downtown location. Guy said Harford County was larger, with more libraries. Of the Havre de Grace Library, he said, “It’s more like a civic center.”
Guy said he supported combining the library and senior center at the Hayden Farm site. Just before the decision the commissioners voted to put monies for both projects in the capital budget.
O’Connor was the tiebreaker for the Hayden Farm decision. He said he has been inundated with emails. “I think I received more emails than I did votes in the primary,” he quipped.
O’Connor then quickly cast the tie breaking vote.
Jarboe, who was on the losing side, said all of the commissioners would stand behind the decision and not try to interfere with progress for the new facility.
Contact Dick Myers at news@thebaynet.com