CAMBRIDGE — Chesapeake College President Cliff Coppersmith delivered to the Dorchester County Council on Aug. 20 copies of the institution’s latest strategic plan. He also took the opportunity to formally introduce the Cambridge Center’s new Campus Director Brandon Hesson.

“I’m really excited to have joined Chesapeake College and help them,” Mr. Hesson said. “Initially, I think a lot of our concerns will be to bridge some workforce needs for some of our larger employers.”

Also on the agenda for the college is to continue adult basic education, also known as GED, to help people, Mr. Hesson said, “to find opportunities in the workforce.”

Mr. Coppersmith passed on the latest in enrollment figures. “I’ll leave you with a little good news,” he said. “We’re 1 percent up in enrollment from last fall, so we’re really pleased with that. It’s been a very good year for me, and we thank you for your support.”

In other county business:
Cambridge-Dorchester Regional Airport Director Meighan Chisholm asked for the provision of deer population control. “For years, we were able to control the airport deer population using a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Letter of Authority,” Mr. Chisholm said. “We had regular volunteers who worked with us, we turned in the required reports, and the program worked very smoothly.”

“We did have some deer-aircraft collisions,” he said. “No people were hurt. But we were able to keep the deer population reasonable and away from the runway.”

DNR has canceled the Letter of Authority program, Mr. Chisholm said, and has shifted responsibility to the Deer Cooperative program. “It’s administratively very complex to put into being. It requires an operations plan, shooter qualifications, a written test on deer ecology, all those things.”
He wanted the council to be aware that currently the airport does not have any capability to control deer incursions on the runway. Also, to move forward on the application, “We need to make sure the City of Cambridge is on board with us and approves this application,” he said.

The council voted unanimously to send a letter asking for the city government’s approval.