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Michael Mann is a Greensboro resident, a 25-year Service Technician with Gray’s Gas, a current and/or former member of Caroline County’s Trades Board, Board of Licensed Commissioners (Liquor Board), Recreation and Parks Advisory Board, and Board of Zoning Appeals, and now a 2026 candidate for Caroline County Commissioner.
Mann’s experience on the aforementioned county boards has taught him a lot about how county government works, but he said he is running for Commissioner because he wants “to serve the people of the county in a greater way.” “I love helping protect the citizens of the county,” he said, “I was not born in Caroline County but I moved here when I was 15 years old and I've loved Caroline County from the first day…I just felt like this was home.”
As a Commissioner, Mann said he will try to balance property owners’ rights “to do what is right with their property” with what is best for the future of Caroline County. “The county is giving out a few more mining permits than I would care to see because we're leaving farmland…but the government shouldn't overreach and tell landowners what they can and can't do as long as it's within the zoning rules of the county,” he explained.
One of his biggest concerns for the future of Caroline County is budgetary impacts forced by the state. “I fear that because of the overspending by the state of Maryland, Caroline County will have to budget for the things the state will not be paying for,” he said. He is equally afraid that the state of Maryland will “take more control away from the county” – especially when it comes to data centers. “Right now the Governor is saying that he's against data centers, but I fear that maybe after the first of the year, that might change, and he might do the same to us with the data centers that he did to the county with the solar, and mandate that certain amount of property be used for data centers,” he said. As for the budget, “I believe the county prepares for a lot of unforeseen things…the county has seen a lot of extra things that they've had to pick up that the state has stopped paying for.” Mann said he would like to see the Board of Commissioners prepare for potential backsliding in tax revenue, “so that the taxpayers don't get a large increase of service fees to make up that difference,” he said.
While Mann believes the county is mostly prepared to handle growth in the coming years, he foresees the county having to get into the water and sewer service business to handle more residences, as right now all these systems lie in the municipalities. “My biggest concern is, will they be able to go on septics and wells, or will the county have to expand their services,” he said, “from what I understand, the county really doesn't want to, at this point in time, get into controlling the wastewater. So I worry if the municipalities will be able to handle an influx of people if they have to go on to local water and sewer.” He referenced the fact that other neighboring counties like Talbot, Dorchester, and Queen Anne’s, do have industrial wastewater treatment facilities.
Each of those other counties also have a five-person Board of County Commissioners. Mann said he is open to both adding Commissioner positions and potentially creating districts. “If call to action was to say that the county really needed [five Commissioners], then what I would hope we would do would be get representation from the north end of the county, the central end of the county, and the south end of the county, and then have two members of the board that are at large, so that the county gets better representation,” he said. He added that “it’s hard to do business” as a three-member Board if one of the Commissioners can’t make a meeting. While he is “not opposed” to increasing the number of elected Commissioners, he also acknowledges an increased taxpayer cost, especially considering the recent raise in compensation for County Commissioners. “That's more of a burden to the residents, so it's a double-edged sword,” he said.
“I want to serve the people in a larger way,” Mann said of his campaign for Commissioner, “I love being on the boards, but I want to do more.” Mann also said that he looks forward to “working together with the community to make sure that we have a safe and successful future.”
