Photo by Sara Gorfinkel.   Senator Mary Beth Corozza and delegates Charles Otto and Wayne Hartman provided a briefing on the upcoming General Assembly session in Annapolis to Mayor Zack Tyndall and the council members on Monday night.

By Cindy Hoffman, Staff Writer

(Dec. 14, 2023) State Senator Mary Beth Carozza and Delegates Charles Otto and Wayne Hartman came before the Berlin Council and Mayor Zack Tyndall Monday night to share their views on the upcoming session of the Maryland General Assembly.

Carozza said that one of her main priorities in the next session will be public safety and crime, and in that vein has prefiled a bipartisan public safety bill to address violent and juvenile crime and expects to receive an early hearing.

Her legislation will provide exceptions to allow law enforcement to question juveniles when a crime is violent or involves a firearm. That practice is currently not allowed.

She also noted that Gov. Wes Moore said this will be a tough budget year, which will affect state highway and transportation projects.

“We will do everything we can to hold our own on these funds. The top of our list is to work to ensure that our shore receives its fair share of its dollars,” Carozza said.

There will be an 8 percent reduction in transportation across the board according to Hartman.

He saw nothing that will affect Worcester County, but has his staff reviewing the information again to make sure.

On education and the state’s Blueprint for Education plan, Carozza hopes to get some revisions to the plan now that it is in the implementation phase. She said some of the funds from this program could be freed up for transportation and housing and give local school systems more flexibility.

The blueprint has a goal of 45 percent of graduating seniors have youth apprenticeships or industry-related credentials. The plan has an ambitious goal to enroll 60,000 youth and adults into apprenticeships by 2030.

Hartman was recently appointed to the Maryland Tourism Development Budget Board, which manages a budget of $12 million annually. There are 25 destination markets that receive about $10 million for marketing and advertising. He said he will keep the town posted as he learns more.

The entire delegation was supportive of the replacement of Buckingham Elementary and reversing Interagency Commission on School Construction’s initial denial of the Worcester County Board of Education’s funding request.

“We are putting together good factual information and making the case as it is a simple case of fairness,” Carozza said.  Ocean City Elementary was built in 2005 and Showell Elementary in 2018 under the same adjacent school formula.

“We based on our plans on a formula and you don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. It’s a matter of fairness. Buckingham students and the whole Buckingham community deserve its own replacement school.  The facts are on our side. We just have to make the case,” she said.

Added Hartman, “Worcester County is one of the highest rated school systems. We have room to make our case. We are on top of this.”

A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for Thursday.

All representatives were also supportive of Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety efforts. The town received design funds but was not successful in obtaining construction funds through the M-DOT Bikeways for Rails to Trails. Mayor Zack Tyndall is looking at other bipartisan infrastructure funding and asked for help from the representatives for exploring other options.