The district map bill?s lack of consideration during the General Assembly?s special session raised disappointment among the Carroll state senator and residents.
“We sat and twiddled our thumbs for hours at a time until 4:30 in the morning,” said state Sen. Allan Kittleman, R-District 9, referring to the early morning passage of the electricity rate proposal.
“We could have had three hours to talk about [the district map bill.] It would have been very simple to pass.”
During the special session, Kittleman had pushed for consideration of the bill that would delineate five commissioners by district.
Senate leaders, who were more focused on passing an 11-month-long, 15 percent cap on electricity rate hikes, chose not to consider the map bill, leaving voters this fall with the option of electing three commissioners running countywide instead of five by district, as called for in a 2004 referendum.
Observers say efforts to expand the commissioner board from three to five members have been complicated with disagreements over which map to use, two failed bills, party politics, a lawsuit, two appeals and a decision from the state?s highest court, which ruled in a June 2 decision that only the state legislature could decide how to divide up the county.
Residents? reactions to the districting debate ranged from not knowing anything about the issue to fence-sitting to disgust.
Chuck Mitchell, of Eldersburg, said that while he “isn?t going to lose any sleep over it,” the district map controversy shows that politics got in the way of solutions.
“I just wish [local leaders and lawmakers] would just get it straight and speak with one mind.”
Stacey Ezersky, of Westminster, said three commissioners aren?t enough to speak to the issues of residents countywide.
“It?s a huge disappointment,” she said.
“Three won?t be motivated to go out and dig deeper into areas, so it?s not representative.”
