Community Corner

Leopold Talks to Constituents at Community Connections Day

The county executive and others came out to share information with the public on Thursday.

Despite the recent upheaval in county government, it appeared to be business as usual for the county agencies represented at Thursday evening's annual Community Connections Day at

Now in its fifth year, the event is held in different parts of the county each year and allows Anne Arundel County residents a chance to meet with County Executive John R. Leopold and his cabinet in a one-on-one setting. According to Dave Abrams, Leopold spokesman, about 75 people attended Thursday's session.

Despite the recent charging Leopold with four counts of misconduct in office and one count of fraud, he sat at a table in the back of the cafeteria surrounded by people who had signed-up to speak with him. Leopold's Chief of Staff Erik Robey said about 40 people from about 25 groups or organizations met with Leopold.

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One attendee who arrived earlier in the evening with her kindergartner said the event was "kid friendly" with plenty of giveaways by the police department, fire department and others, including a ruler made from recycled plastic and jeans.

Debbie Albert of Severna Park said she met with Leopold at the event and urged him to support funding of the modernization of Severna Park High School in the budget.

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"He said that he fully supports the new High School and it would be in his budget. He strongly recommended face-to-face meetings with other council members to solicit support for a new high school," Albert wrote in an email to Patch.

Albert said in her email that she found the information on the county's recycling of bulk items, such as mattresses and refrigerators, helpful. Albert wrote that she also learned that the county will provide recycling services at private neighborhood swim clubs for a small fee.

Among the various county agencies and departments was Sara Luell of the county Health Department. She said her booth was busy with many people asking about the shingles vaccine. Another group was the police explorer program, represented by Sam Phillips, a junior at Severna Park High School, and Garrett Scholz, a sophomore, who agreed that the mentoring program was a good experience for preparing to become a future police officer. County police Reserve Officer G.T. Higgins was on hand to talk about becoming a reserve officer, open to anyone age 18 and older, with training provided.

Leopold spoke with members of the local media afterward and said he was pleased with the turnout and said that he enjoys meeting with the constituents he's served for more than 40 years.

When asked about the current allegations, he said that the only proper venue to talk about the charges is in court.

"There are two sides to every story, " he said.

As for the public's response to the charges and a Patchshowing 75 percent of the nearly 800 respondents voting in favor of his resignation, Leopold stated that more than 90 percent of the correspondence from constituents has been positive and that he has no plans to resign.


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