Hawkins: County Executive referendum viewpoints in 2024

Rick Pollitt is now the town manager for Snow Hill, but in 2006 he was elected Wicomico’s first county executive. When I interviewed him in mid-July, some weeks after the Wicomico County Council approved a referendum to consider ending the county executive experiment and returning to a council-manager form of government, he was somewhat amused that no one had yet sought his opinion on the topic. After all, Pollitt, a Democrat, served two terms as county executive, his first with a 4-3 Republican majority, the second with a 6-1 Republican majority.

His successors, Bob Culver and Julie Giordano, both Republicans, by contrast enjoyed what many would assume to be a political advantage by working with Republican-majority councils. Yet from all news accounts, Culver and Giordano had and have fraught relationships with the councils. John Psota served as Acting County Executive after Culver died in office. Psota lost to Giordano in the 2022 Republican primary.

Pollitt, on the other hand, maintains he worked well with the council, collaborating on capital projects like Bennett Middle School and bond ratings that were boosted three times over his eight years in office.

Not surprisingly, he feels the council-executive form of government is effective and should be retained. “If you get the right person in the position, it should work,” he said, though he said the Great Recession (six of his eight years) and pandemic (for later administrations) have hampered all government forms over the past 18 years.

His campaign slogan, “Building Bridges, Building Communities,” was a reflection of his commitment to collaboration and compromise, essential in his view for a successful and productive county executive.

Following the fallout from an earlier council’s decision to play revenue catch-up with a property tax increase that resulted in public blow-back that resulted in the budget strangling revenue cap, Pollitt focused on “restoring credibility in responsible fiscal management, and renewed confidence in our government.”

He disputes the likelihood of a seven-member council producing a countywide vision. “It takes collaboration between the council and the county executive to achieve a vision,” said Pollitt. “It’s a matter of seven bosses versus one boss.”

Bill McCain (D) served two terms on the Wicomico County Council, both with a county executive. He subscribes to the council-executive as the better form of government. “Theoretically and in practice, a full-time county executive should be better at running the day-to-day business of government rather than part-time legislators,” he observed.

“The biggest problem with the current form of government is that the majority of the county council has never accepted that it’s a legislative body—period,” said McCain. “The council’s only job is legislative—making laws—and approving the budget, albeit with only the power to cut the budget, not add to it (with exceptions for education). At most council meetings, often only the first 15 minutes are taken up with legislative actions,” the discussion then veers off into non-legislative issues.

He said Rick Pollitt’s terms as county executive mostly worked because of his personality, a consensus seeker. The council-executive structure as a form of government can work with the right individuals.

Ernie Davis (D), former Wicomico County councilman who lost to Julie Giordano in the county executive race in 2022, supports the council-executive form of governing but only with checks and balances for the position written into the county charter.

“The county executive has free rein to do whatever he or she wants,” said Davis. “No controls on the position lead to chaos. When the council tried to put some checks on the position (under the Culver administration), we were accused of micro-management.”

He sees the job as the chief cheerleader for the county, projecting a “positive vision that excites residents about living and working here and attracting businesses and tourists.”

Phil Tilghman, a county councilman for 16 years who opposed the 2004 referendum to switch from the council-manager form of government to the county executive system, acknowledged it was a “convincing” vote to make the change 20 years ago.

“We needed to support the county executive” once voters made their decision, said Tilghman. “After all, it appeared to work in seven other counties.”
Yet. “People considering the current referendum (to return to the council-manager form of government),” said Tilghman, “should ask themselves if the county executive system has been more or less expensive, more of less efficient. Have public officials who make executive decisions been more or less accessible?”

His answer: more costly, less efficient and mostly inaccessible. And when adding in the frequent controversies associated with the most recent county executives, the public’s confidence in this form of government is low.

“I tried to see it work,” said Tilghman, “but I still feel the same way I did initially. I will vote to go back to the council-manager.”

Josh Hastings (D), current Wicomico County councilman with a master’s in public policy from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), believes counties with budgets exceeding $100 million should have a council-executive form of government. (Wicomico’s most recent budget is some $160 million.)

“The council-executive form of governing worked well for the first eight years (under Rick Pollitt),” said Hastings. Those initial years should have been the hardest (since it was new). “But we had a county executive trained to run a government. The last two county executives have not had administrative training and their chaotic performance has resulted in a referendum to revert back to an out of date form of governing. Proper training for this job matters—a lot.”

Added Hastings: “Our future is a more youthful, multicultural population—with over 40 languages spoken by students in our schools. That future is going to be very different than the present and a council-executive form of government is best suited to successfully deal with those changes.”

John Cannon (R), current president of the Wicomico County Council, advocates a return to the council-manager form of government.

“In 18 years, (the council-executive form of governing) has not lived up to expectations,” said Cannon. “Unfortunately, unpreparedness and inefficiency have been the rule.

“It depends on one individual to have the skill and temperament to move the county forward in a positive light,” and he finds that charge lacking in past executives.

“A seven-member council is a more stable form of government in a public environment that expects transparency and objective decision making,” said Cannon. “When you judge the proclivities of one individual versus the collective consensus of a seven-member council, the council-manager model is far superior for Wicomico.”

Cannon also cites the unnecessary expense of a council-executive form of government, estimating it costs as much as $800,000 annually. “We should be able to cut that in half,” he said.

“The council has proven in the past that it can effectively manage the county government,” said Cannon. “ Let’s not forget it was a councilmanic form of government that gave us Wor-Wic Community College, Shorebirds Stadium, the Henry Parker Sports Complex, a new Civic Center, all while managing our schools and library, public safety, roads and our airport. Why have two branches of government responsible for what one branch can handle quite well?”

On the November ballot, the Charter Revision is labeled Question A. A vote “For the Charter Amendment” is to change to the County Council form of government. A vote “Against the Charter Amendment” is to keep the Elected Executive form of government.