Army Col. Kenneth McCreedy hopes his legacy as Fort Meade commander will be one that helped open the Odenton installation to the community.
To the politicians and residents in Anne Arundel, the California native accomplished his goal.
“He is the equivalent of a mayor of a small city and has done an outstanding job. He went out of his way to meet members of community, not just about BRAC,” said David Tibbetts, president of the Greater Odenton Improvement Association.
McCreedy, 52, ends his three-year tour Monday of commanding Fort Meade through the beginning years ofthe Base Realignment and Closure process, which will see roughly 5,000 new federal employees and another 5,000 defense contractors working at the fort by 2011.
BRAC will not only affect the fort, but also local counties and the state.
McCreedy came in three months before BRAC was initiated, and the influx dominated his time as commander.
“Maryland will be ready for BRAC in 2011 in large part because of Col. McCreedy?s ability to bring people and organizations together in pursuit of a common goal,” said Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who is overseeing Maryland?s BRAC expansion.
“I think I?ve been on the fort more times in the last couple of years meeting with him than at any other time in my life, and I grew up around here,” said Howard County Executive Ken Ulman.
Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold said McCreedy set the “gold-bar standard” of fort commanders and was a personable figure even when the county and the fort fought over issues, such as property development, sometimes quite heatedly.
“Above all, we could disagree agreeably,” Leopold said.
McCreedy will be replaced by Col. Daniel Thomas during a ceremony Monday. Thomas leaves his post as an intelligence director for Operation Iraqi Freedom stationed in Qatar. Thomas has commanded other intelligence groups in Baghdad and Germany.
Thomas will command the fort for the final three years of BRAC, during which buildings will rise and the infrastructure will strain under the flow of new employees.
There are concerns that a new commander will disrupt the massive amount of planning, to which McCreedy contributed, that went into preparing Fort Meade and the surrounding communities.
“We can?t replan the world when there is a new commander,” Tibbetts said.
