By Liz Holland

Liquor sales, airport expansion and library renovations were among the priorities for 2023 under discussion by Wicomico County leaders during a breakfast meeting with local legislators on Friday.

The legislative breakfast was the first hosted by Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano who was recently sworn into office after winning the seat in November’s general election.

Attendees included members of the Wicomico County Council, state senators and delegates, Salisbury Mayor Jake Day, elected officials from Sharptown, Pittsville, Mardela Springs and Delmar and representatives of several local businesses.

While the group was large, Giordano said she felt it was important to include voices from all parts of the county.

“One of the things I ran on was open communication, and I felt it was important to hear the issues,” she said.

 Liquor sales reform

 During her election campaign, Giordano said she heard complaints from the owners of stores and restaurants about the liquor dispensary system. Local stores cannot get licenses to sell hard liquor, and restaurants and bars must purchase alcohol through the county.

“They very much feel that the county’s monopoly on liquor is hurting their business,” she said.

Giordano wants to allow restaurants and bars to buy alcohol from any distributor they want and to allow local stores to get licenses to sell hard liquor alongside beer and wine. She also proposes keeping the dispensaries open.

“Opening this up is going to be a great opportunity for our small business owners,” she said. “Overall, this will help Wicomico County.”

The Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Salisbury Committee both support reforming the system, she said.

Cheers owner Mike Zizard, who sells beer and wine that he currently must purchase through the county dispensary, agreed with Giordano.

“I’m all about a fair fight,” he said. “I don’t mind if the dispensary is still there as long as I have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.”

Wicomico and Montgomery are the only counties in the state to still have liquor dispensary systems, said state Delegate Carl Anderton. Somerset County recently closed down its dispensaries and issued its first liquor license to a private store in Princess Anne, he said.

Some County Council members have long favored turning liquor sales over to private hands, but they have resisted because of the profits the county receives from the dispensaries each year, which Giordano said range from $750,000 to $800,000.

“I’m going to be very honest,” she said. “As County Executive, if I can’t generate $750,000 to $800,000 to make up for that, I probably shouldn’t be in this seat.”

In order to reform the current dispensary system, the county would need to have legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly. Local legislators who attended the breakfast warned that alcohol bills can easily get derailed in Annapolis if there is any dissent or controversy surrounding it, so local officials need to all be onboard.

It’s uncertain if the county will seek legislation for dispensary reform in the upcoming session of the General Assembly which convenes in January, said Bunky Luffman, the county’s Acting Director of Administration. First, there will need to be a work session with Giordano and the County Council to work out details.

 Airport expansion

 The county is moving forward with a plan to create jobs, maintain and grow commercial flight service and further develop the Salisbury Regional Airport, using $3.2 million through the Rural Maryland Economic Development Fund, said Dave Ryan, Director of Salisbury-Wicomico Economic Development.

The money will be used, in part, to team up with the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to offer aviation maintenance technician training,

The money also will be used to pursue “shovel-ready sites” for development at the airport, that would mean having sites designed, engineered and permitted in advance for future users, Ryan said.

The airport also is planning to extend its runway from 6,400 feet to 7,600 feet to better accommodate the American Eagle jets that fly in and out of Salisbury between the American Airlines hubs in Philadelphia and Charlotte.

 Library renovations

 While there is no money allocated at the moment for renovations to the Wicomico Public Library’s Paul S. Sarbanes branch in Downtown Salisbury, Day asked Giordano to consider moving it forward.

“It is a topic that’s been kind of back-burnered for a long time with our county executive’s office, but it’s one that I think should be moved at least to the warming area of the stove,” he said.

While the state pays roughly 85 percent of the cost of library construction, the county would need to come up with the remaining 15 percent. Day said a few years ago he toured libraries in Silver Spring and Rockville where public-private partnerships where developers were willing to pay part of the local costs.

The city recently sold the large parking lot across from the library to a developer who will build a mixed-use complex of apartments, retail and office spaces. A large town square is being built next to it.

The library’s main branch moved into a former armory on the site in 1963. There was a renovation that started in 1978 and completed in 1980, but no major work has been done to the building since then.

“I’m sure it was a great National Guard armory back in the day, but it’s not the best library building,” Day said. “Yes, it’s an asset, but the building itself is a liability.”

 Other topics

 Several other topics also were discussed during the meeting. Among them:

•         County Finance Director Pam Oland gave an overview of the proposed Capital Improvement Plan which will be presented to the County Council at their Dec. 20 meeting. The five-year spending plan includes money for public school construction projects, furnishings for the county’s new public safety building and runway extension at the airport.
•         Giordano said she would like to see a replacement for the Barren Creek Bridge in Mardela Springs that washed away in a severe summer storm several years ago. Oland said the county has $700,000 set aside, but it is likely not enough. The estimated cost a few years ago was between $1.2 million and $1.4 million, but the price tag now is probably closer to $2 million.
•         The county is expecting $9 million from the Maryland Stadium Authority for work at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, but Anderton said some money could be directed to the Wicomico Civic Center for planned renovation work there.
•         Giordano said the county should consider a bill that would allow sports gambling through private businesses as a way to bring in more revenue. County Council President John Cannon said the county won’t seek a bill until it is thoroughly vetted by the executive and legislative branches.
•         Luffman said the county might consider a bill that would allow cigar lounges. Two other counties already allow it, he said.