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FEDERALSBURG – The deadline to file for candidacy in the Federalsburg Town Council race has come and gone, and now the general election date of November 3 is approaching. Two seats – one in Federalsburg’s District 1 and one in District 2 – are up for election. These seats are currently held by Councilmembers Ian Ferguson and Brandy James.
Voting in the municipal election will take place on Tuesday, November 3 at Federalsburg Town Hall, located at 118 N Main Street. As they prepare for election day, Caroline Review.News has pledged to publish open letters from the candidates to their current or possible future constituents, published in the order they were received.
Ian Ferguson, incumbent candidate for Federalsburg’s District 2 representative:
“I believe it was the water tower issues that really got my goat. Then it was of course the roads. Then the straw the broke the proverbial camels back was the debate on increasing the towns property tax rate. I was tired of sniping from the sidelines on Facebook and realized if I wanted some change I needed to find a way to work "for the town". So when my position that I hold now became vacant, I decided "what the hell, I can't make it worse than it already is".
In the last year and half I have learned a lot and feel that I should further put my money where my mouth is and continue to help the town move forward in the direction that I think will be the best. I have decided to run for my position in District 2 for Federalsburg town council.
My focus will be entirely around three points, probably the biggest one is focusing on job opportunities, training and working with community leaders in order to work on downtown development. My goal will be to bring landlords and business owners throughout the town in a round table discussion to find what is working for them and importantly, what is not working for them. Then find how the town can help them move forward in getting tenants as well as businesses into vacant buildings as well as reinvest in themselves. Small businesses are the lifeblood of a small town and with so much opportunity in our town we should grow in areas that are available from that. My goal would be to develop a position in the town of a town planner and grant writer…once we get some projects moving and revenue. I would [like to] see one person focus primarily on redeveloping downtown and working with those business leaders as well as working on events and event planning. The other would be focused primarily on grant writing in order to not just work in partnership with that downtown redeveloper, but also the town manager in order to secure funding for repairs and revitalization.
That of course cannot be done without, not just our audit being passed, but the forensic audit being passed, completed and the town acting on its recommendations. That is probably by far the most important thing that needs to get done [during] our next session. We can't move forward without clearing up the past and I think that the entire town supports that. Now that we have our financials in much better shape than we were when I first came on board, we can look to the firms that we sent the RFP out to and adjust if needed to get that financial forensic audit complete.
The last thing I'll be focusing on is roads which ties somewhat in that second point but being that we have monies set aside with our last budget. We have a starting point to begin to go after grants to focus on roads. My goal would be to look at 3 to 5 areas to repair, set our timeline and once its work is completed, we will do a look back and figure out what challenges we faced and how we can reduce cost and identify three to five new locations. At first it will be a slog. It'll be a slow process, but I think that once people see something physical and tangible that they will see that progress is being made and that if we can build on that inertia more can come out of it.
Of course, I'm not limited to just those three. One of the bigger, broader and squishier tasks is the beautification of our town. This kind of comes into a couple of those three points but my thing is that if people don't own something they don't have any stake in it. If we give a reason to want to have ownership, momentum will build on that. Small things such as decorations beyond just Christmas, looking at our green spaces and figuring out how they can be used not just as activity areas but also areas that people want to continue to use. This might be as simple as the bump outs in downtown and making sure that their planters are full and maintained, curbs are painted, storefront windows when vacant don't look like they are vacant, etc. How can we work with those owners to ensure that our downtown at least looks welcoming for prospective businesses as opposed to their current state?
The last year and a half I have forgone my salary. It was one of the first things that I did when I was appointed. My thought is that this is a public service and, especially if I'm appointed, it's even more so public service. In doing so, I realize that with our finances the way they are, there's no reason for me to take a pay. If I'm elected, I will either forego pay or invest my pay into a budget line item for either a special scholarship for a young resident and or to be used to assist individuals in their water bills and or other financial matters regarding the town.
And looking back in the last year and a half, particularly with the data center recently, I realized that part of the frustration that people have is they're tired of being tired. They're also tired of being poor and/or associated with that. So when something like the Data Center comes in that offers such broad and sweeping promises that people get wrapped up in that even when those promises are just that. I'm a fan of doing the hard work and building things organically. So in order to ensure that that is done of which what comes out of it is more stable and structured. I've decided to continue to serve my community and run for not just for District 2 but also to help the town move forward to a better future.” - Ian Ferguson
More letters will be published as they are received.
