Leadership Allegany County

Author Name: Jennifer Spriggs
Library System: Allegany County Library Systems

Learning Event website:
http://www.alleganycountychamber.com/about-us/committees/leadership-allegany/

Top 3 things learned:
Leadership Allegany! began in September of 2015 and since then we have met seven times for the following topic days: Quality of Life, Economic Development, Local Government, Health Care, Education, State Government, and Social Services. Although pretty much a lifelong resident of Allegany County, this has been an eye-opening experience. I feel that I am truly getting to know my community through this program. Just a sampling of some of the things

I've learned:
• Cumberland is actually not a dangerous place to live. A report came out earlier this year from a Home Security Company listing Cumberland as the 8th most dangerous city to live in Maryland. Sheriff Robertson, Cumberland Police Chief Hinnant, and Deputy State Attorney Thomas addressed this report and showed us the actual statistics. Serious crime like murder or rape is almost zero percent. What we do have a lot of is shoplifting and petty crime. They said that cell phone theft is the most prevalent. When someone resists their phone being stolen, that is counted as robbery. Also, there are a large number of abandoned buildings in Cumberland that are being broken into. That is considered a burglary, even if no one actually lives there. The Deputy State Attorney also mentioned that many counties send patients up to the Finan Center to be stabilized and then recommend that they live here when they are released because it is cheaper to live here. However, we don't have the same resources as the counties downstate have to take care of these folks. Many of them go off their meds and then the public safety officers are called in as a result.

• Public expectations of services keep going up but the dollars to fund those services keep going down. They mentioned that the loss of the highway user tax has negatively impacted our community. Money that used to come back to us now goes back downstate – apparently we lost 4.2 million overall with this change. For example, when someone fuels up at Sheetz, the tax money no longer goes to Allegany County, it goes to Prince George's county.

• Two of the biggest challenges for our area are job creation and population growth.

• The majority of the County's budget goes to education and to public works.

• The majority of the City of Cumberland's budget goes to Public Safety.

• Over 30 percent of Cumberland's citizens are now recycling. The trash company reports a significant decrease in the amount of trash that it is now taking to the landfill. This is wonderful news.

How to implement:
I shared this information with my co-workers when I came back from the Leadership Allegany! Local Government Day. The article about Cumberland being high in crime was in the news at that time. This information helped dispel some myths that were circulating. We are attempting to be more involved in workforce development. A connection was made with the IT Workforce Development Initiative at Allegany College of Maryland. As a result we are attending meetings and even took on an intern from AC's Computer Science program this spring. This information about the County budget helps staff better understand the funding challenges that we are facing.

Image:
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