By Josh Davis, Associate Editor
(Jan. 4, 2018) Berlin Councilman Zack Tyndall announced this week that he is running for the District 3 (Berlin) Worcester County Commissioners seat currently occupied by four-term Commissioner Bud Church, a Republican.
A former paramedic in his native Berlin, Tyndall was elected to the Town Council in 2016.
He holds a bachelor of science in management from Salisbury University and is pursuing a masters of business administration degree at the school.
Tyndall also serves on the Maryland Municipal League Hometown Emergency Preparedness Ad-hoc Committee, which encourages joint emergency preparedness across all levels of government.
He will turn 28 in February.
“I’m still relatively young, but when I went onto the council I was young,” he said. “It’s nice to work with a group of people where you get a difference of opinion. We don’t always agree, but we always move forward together as a team and I think I can bring that to the county level as well.”
His first year a councilman, he said, was a busy one. Tyndall already knew much of the history of the town, but said he was anxious to study its inner workings.
He said he learned much from Water Resources/Public Works Director Jane Kreiter and Wastewater Superintendent Jamie Latchum.
Berlin is one of five municipalities in Maryland that can generate its own electricity, and Tyndall said he also picked up plenty from Electric Utilities Director Tim Lawrence.
“I’ve covered a lot of ground and I made it point when I joined the council that, regardless of what my views were, I tried to make decisions that were in the best interest of people I represent,” he said. “I’m not up there to reflect my own, personal opinions. I’m there to work for the people and let everybody have a chance to speak, and really take and evaluate that material and make the best decisions.”
He also helped reach several notable compromises, developing and serving on groups including the Naming Parks and Public Spaces Committee, Berlin Falls Park Advisory Committee and Tattoo Ordinance Committee.
“It’s hard to get things done when the tempers start to increase a little bit,” he said. “I found that, maybe forming subset committees and being able to get everybody’s opinions and sit down and have some dialog [is valuable],” he said. “Like with tattoos, I know it’s a polarizing issue, but there are a lot of people with tattoos in this world and a 1985 policy may not be the best coverage for today.”
Tyndall said he’s running, in part, because of rumors that Church would seek election to the Maryland House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Mary Beth Carozza (R-38C) as she challenges incumbent Democratic State Sen. Jim Mathias in District 38.
“A couple months ago I was approached because there have been some rumors that Bud Church won’t be running again and may be pursuing a different seat. Some of my constituents have come up and said, ‘we like the work that you’re doing at the town and we’d like to see that continue at the county level,’ Tyndall said.
“Having somebody that’s going from a municipal level to a county level, I also understand how we can’t micromanage municipalities,” he continued. “As the layers of government increase, you’ve got to allow the other subsets to do their jobs, independently, and not micromanage … as we work throughout the county with different municipalities, we’ve got to be able to understand their concerns.”
Although he’s a Democrat, Tyndall said party affiliations mean little at smaller levels of government.
“At the municipal level, we know who is a Democrat and who is a Republican, but that doesn’t influence how we work together,” he said. “Bringing that same perspective of being able to work for people is important. I don’t get too caught up with the Democrat or Republican title.”
He has not, so far, talked to Church about his candidacy.
“I think the county, as a whole, is doing a great job and I hope that I can continue that path and that direction forward,” he added.