Kudos For Decision
Editor:
I would to salute Mrs. Jacobs and Mr. Herrick in Ocean Pines for declining to attend a secret meeting as proposed by two Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors.
A closed meeting by all Ocean Pines Board of Directors is needed for such things as employee performance, etc.
Never should there be a “secret meeting” by a select few directors. I hope property owners are reading between the lines on this situation. I believe this is deceitful.
I voted for two new directors in 2014. I thought they both were against “secret meetings.” I guess I was mistaken.
Mike Graves
Ocean Pines
Governor’s Actions Prove Committment
Editor:
As I went door-to-door in the campaign and now during my constituent listening hours, it’s inevitable that someone will remind me not to forget us here on the Shore. This “One Maryland” concept has stuck with me as I work with my colleagues in Annapolis.
I believe Governor Hogan’s leadership reflects this “One Maryland” approach. A review of his recent decisions on several policy and funding issues demonstrates a fair and balanced approach benefitting all of Maryland.
For example, after rejecting the originally proposed phosphorous regulations, the Hogan Administration moved forward with regulations that struck a balance between the environment and our farm community.
Along those same lines, Governor Hogan refused to let the last Administration’s arcade regulations go into effect, which would have devastated our local family arcade and amusement owners. Instead, the new Administration is working with our local arcade operators to ensure that the new regulations do not negatively impact family arcade centers.
When it comes to transportation funding, the Hogan Administration provided $65 million in new funding to upgrade and widen U.S. Route 113, Worcester County’s current top transportation priority. In addition, the Administration’s funding plan includes $160 million to widen Maryland 404 from U.S. 50 to the Denton Bypass. Given the number of accidents and deaths on Routes 113 and 404 over the years, these highway improvements will save lives, especially during peak summer resort traffic.
Governor Hogan understands that investments on the Shore and in other rural areas in the State do not come at the expense of our metropolitan regions. In fact, Baltimore County will receive more than $500 million in funding in the Administration’s Consolidated Transportation Plan.
As I continue to work with my colleagues in the Maryland General Assembly on the State’s priorities, I am appreciative of Governor Hogan’s rebalancing of Maryland’s expenditures and regulations. The Governor’s actions show that he is considering the needs of Marylanders in every part of the State. We on the Shore will not be forgotten under Governor Hogan’s leadership.
Mary Beth Carozza
Ocean City
(The writer is a delegate for Maryland’s District 38C.)
City Solicitor Opinion Sought On Tax Case
Editor:
In the Ocean City Council’s opposition to the citizens’ initiative petition that limits property tax increases Ocean City Attorney Guy Ayres has opined that the city will prevail because of a prior decision of the Maryland Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals found in 1992 that “the exercise of the legislative initiative power (by voters) … completely circumvents the legislative body, thereby totally undermining its status as the primary legislative organ.”
While that may have been a valid opinion at the time, I believe that the June 29, 2015 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that said Arizona voters could use an initiative to establish an independent commission to redistrict political boundaries in Arizona raises serious questions as to whether the 1992 Court of Appeals decision is still germane.
In the Arizona case, the Supreme Court said the “(f)ramers may not have imagined the modern initiative process in which the people of a state exercise legislative power coextensive with the authority of an institutional legislature. But the invention of the initiative was in full harmony with the Constitution’s conception of the people as the front of governmental power.” The Supreme Court opinion went further, saying that the initiative operated entirely outside the states’ representative assemblies; it allows “voters (to) petition to propose statutes or constitutional amendments to be adopted or rejected by the voters at the poles.” The Supreme Court also found that “the power to legislate in the enactment of the laws of a state is derived from the people of the state” and that in using the initiative to bypass the legislative body, Arizona voters sought to restore “the core principle of republican government.”
In order to save the Ocean City Council from spending more of our tax dollars on ill-advised law suits, can we have Mr. Ayres explain during an open meeting of the City Council why 2015 Supreme Court decision in the Arizona case is not the controlling case regarding the voters initiative that will limit Ocean City property tax increases?
Veronica M. Potter
Ocean City