>>thank you very much, leonardo,and thank you for those kind words. it really is great tobe with you all again. it's hard to believeit's been a year. i certainly want to thankleonardo and chairman miles coffman, and the rest of theboard and chamber staff for having us here today. and i want to particularly thankmy wife robin and our four children.
(applause) >>this year, robinand i are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary, so thankyou very much for sticking out. (applause) >>i'm not sure sheknew what she was going to get into 30 years ago,but here she is. also, my daughtermary is with us today. she actually was my super plungepartner this year at the polar bear plunge supportingspecial olympics maryland. this was my third year as asuper plunger, but her first. i told her the water reallywasn't that cold at sandy point
state park, and shesaid sure, she'd do it. so mary, thank you very muchfor being there with me. that's 24 times in 24 hours. (applause) >>and we're alsoexcited to have one of mary's closest friends, alyssa parker,with us today, who was just named to the u.s. national field hockey team. (applause) >>alyssa is a glenelggraduate who will be joining the team usa in itstraining program.
and we really hope to see herat the 2020 olympics in tokyo. alyssa, we couldn't be prouder. (applause) >>and i knowbig doug's looking down. the state of the county gives usan opportunity to reflect back on the previous year. this past year, we lost twohoward county leaders - hugh nichols, our 3rd countyexecutive, and chuck ecker, our 5th. hugh, who passed away indecember, will be remembered for
his wise and steady leadershipand dedicated public service. chuck, who passed away inoctober, was known for his easy-going nature and tirelesscommitment to public education. and i recall, at chuck'smemorial service, i think it was dick story that talked aboutthe frogs and that - chuck eckerisms. and i think about that i haveused that a lot since his memorial service because he usedthese frogs as an example of when you're dealing withdifficult issues and when you
have to do somethingyou don't really like. and his comment was if you haveto eat a frog, eat it fast. (laughter) >>and the corollaryto that - the ecker corollary is if you have to eat a lot offrogs, eat the biggest one first. (laughter) >>and i've beentrying to take that to heart, but chuck was a tremendousmentor for me and i miss him a lot. this year, i want to also startoff by offering special thanks
to the howard county employeesand dozens of others who helped the county recover from thelargest snowstorm we've ever had. (applause) >>i spent severaldays in our emergency operations center - a top-notch facility -and several nights sleeping on a cot in my office - not sotop-notch - and i wish every resident had the opportunityto see the eoc in full swing. the coordination between countydepartments, the maryland national guard, the columbiaassociation and others - it's
truly impressive. i'd like to acknowledge ourdirector of emergency management - ryan miller - for hisoutstanding leadership throughout the storm, and infact, throughout every storm and crisis we havehere in the county. i also want to thank tommeunier, our bureau chief for highways, for histremendous efforts. (applause) >>try todrive on those sometimes. i did that out at thefairgrounds last summer - it is
not easy. and also - speaking of driving asnowplow - and also i'd like to acknowledge someone whorepresents the many, many unsung heroes of the storm- darren sirk. darren, stand up please. (applause) >>darren is asnowplow driver who put in 16 hour days for 5 days to makesure our residents could get to work, to the store and totheir doctor's appointments. darren didn't see his familyfrom friday morning until
tuesday night. few people realize justhow hard these folks work. (applause) >>you know, we workedas hard as we could to get the roads cleared, but of course,some people get very frustrated when they don't get plowed out. in fact, we got somepretty colorful emails. (laughter) >>one of whichsuggested that i do something to myself that i don't thinkis physically possible. (laughter) >>but, you know,people get frustrated.
i can understand that. now friends, i'm pleased toreport to you today that the state of our countycontinues to be strong. it is strong because of thechoices we make as a community. the first budget myadministration put together had the highest education funding inhoward county history with 59 percent of the operating budgetdedicated to k through 12 education. i'd like to particularly thankthe county council, all of whom
are sitting right here, fortheir support during this process and for the firstunanimous budget vote in eight years. (applause) >>last year, istressed the importance of sustainability and thatapplies to budgets too. we're optimistic the economywill continue to improve, but i have to make one point clear. the days of substantial revenueincreases and large surpluses are over.
we need to proceed with cautionwhen considering sizeable increases for programs,departments or initiatives because there are many competingneeds and only so much new revenue to go around. and as we work to prepare thenext budget, we will again prioritize government servicesthat are essential to our quality of life, such aseducation, public safety, maintenance of our roadsand infrastructure. and we will be mindful ofliving within our means.
the past year has broughtmany challenges and many accomplishments. it was a year of rethinking,rebuilding, reorganizing and restructuring - a process thatwill continue through the year and beyond. we're focusing our efforts onfour major areas: community services; open and efficientgovernment; revitalization and infrastructure; educationand economic development. these areas reflect ourcommitment to making real and
discernible progress to directlyimpact and improve people's lives in howard county. let's talk first aboutcommunity services. based on feedback from mytransition team, community leaders and experts, i amreorganizing the departments of citizen services and housing. i filed legislation in januaryto make structural changes to both departments. these changes will expand thedelivery of human services and
make them moreefficient and effective. the department of citizenservices will become a more robust department of communityresources and services. and in the interest oftransparency, the housing commission will move out ofthe department of housing and community development to makeit clear that it functions independently fromcounty government. we also looked at how tostrengthen services for our growing aging population.
in the next 20 years, residentsaged 65 and older will increase from 10 percent to almost 22percent of our population. we're committed to implementingthe recommendations of our 20-year plan, "creating an agefriendly community," which we released last fall. and our delivery of humanservices will follow a philosophy called "no wrongdoor," which encourages government agencies to usea comprehensive approach to improve services forpeople needing support.
for example, a person with adisability and suffering from depression and worried abouthousing shouldn't have to contact three agencies toget his or her needs met. we can avoid service silos bycreating a service delivery system that addresses thefull spectrum of issues. i am pleased to announce todaythat my next budget will include funding to support the creationof a non-profit center. (applause) >>this center willbring together the department of social services and the county'sfront-line human service
organizations. the center will allow us toconsolidate services, increase collaboration among agencies,improve the efficiency of space and enhance the visibilityof our service providers. as you know, one of mypriorities has been to improve mental health services. working with the horizonfoundation and howard county general hospital, we added abehavioral health specialist to assist with the healthdepartment's community care
teams. and we piloted a programwith way station to provide outpatient crisis stabilization. to date, in just five months, wehave served 174 people who were in need of urgent care. so thank you horizon foundation- thank you howard county general hospital. (applause) >>now we are veryfortunate in howard county to have a police department withcaring professionals who are
dedicated to keeping us safe. as recent events in harfordcounty demonstrate, we should never forget the dangersthey face every day. in september, we announcedinitiatives to combat human trafficking, and we arealready seeing an impact. we just had anotherarrest yesterday. we created a dedicated accountto fund victims' services and police training, added a secondfull-time officer to investigate human trafficking cases and werequested state legislation to
assist law enforcement effortswith monitoring massage parlors to weed out the few that arefronts for prostitution and human trafficking. i'd like to thank the howardcounty state delegation for their unanimous, bipartisansupport for this legislation. as part of our ongoing effortsin community outreach, i have consulted with the policedepartment about moving forward with a pilot program to evaluatebody cameras for our officers. following a recommendation fromthe citizens' advisory council,
police chief gary gardner isforming a work group to initiate a pilot program. this group will address manyissues that come with this technology, including cost,usefulness and policy matters, as well as transparency,accountability and privacy. while no decision has been madeabout instituting a permanent program, the pilot will be thenext step in evaluating body camera use in howard county. we have a fire and emsdepartment in howard county that
is constantly innovatingand improving. in october, we launched pulsepoint, an app designed to help save lives. we were the first county inmaryland to use the app and already have more than1,000 residents signed up. pulse point contacts people whoare trained in cpr and willing to provide assistance whensomeone nearby is having a cardiac emergency. at the same time, the appreaches out to emergency
personnel for response. preparing our community is justanother way we are making a real difference to improve people'slives in howard county. now when i was elected, ipledged an open, responsive and inclusive government and we'vemade strong progress with that. i pledged to continue my townhall meetings beyond the campaign moving them throughoutthe county and i have kept that promise. we had four last year and willdo another four this year.
in fact, our next town hallis scheduled for tuesday in elkridge - come on out. these meetings areopen to everyone. i'm committed to this becauselistening to you makes a difference. i learn of problems andfrustrations that need attention. and some of our best ideasand solutions come from you. and remember, i work for you.
one thing i heard about over andover was that residents wanted greater involvement andtransparency in the planning and zoning process. our department of planning andzoning suggested we create a citizens planning institute tobetter engage residents in the process. we listened, we agreed and wewill be launching the institute this year. i want to particularly thank stukohn, president of the howard
county citizens association- please stand stu. (applause) >>stu is someone whoadvocates for greater community engagement and is a leader inthe community on many, many issues. we learned that american flagswere being discarded improperly, understandably upsetting,especially to our veterans. so we created a flag retirementprogram at alpha ridge landfill to allow flags tobe properly retired. i'd like to thank the americanlegion post 156 for assisting
with this program. another way to communicatewith you is to have a more user-friendly website. i think everyone who uses thecounty's website will be happy to hear we've justcompleted a redesigned site. the new site, which went livetuesday with a soft launch, will improve your ability to findinformation whether you have a phone, a tablet or a computer. and this year...
(applause) >>...yeah, i wasactually in the office on wednesday morning and somebodysaw me in the hallway and they came up and said, i just want tothank you for that new website. and that was only a day laterso that was really great. and this year we will be kickingoff trackhoward - a performance measurement program which willallow us to use data to improve the delivery of county services. for example, the time ittakes to get a permit. using trackhoward, the actualtime it takes will be measured,
available for review andwill show areas that need improvement. strengthening our infrastructureand revitalizing our aging neighborhoods is another keypriority of our administration. we're using our availableresources and collaborating with partners in the publicand private sectors. we started with long reachvillage center, which was purchased by the countybefore my administration. after five public meetingsseeking input from residents, we
completed an urban renewal plan. the next step will be findingprivate developers to bid on the project. i would particularly like toacknowledge and thank council chairperson calvin ball for hisassistance with this process. (applause) >>we're also lookingat oakland mills village center, which, believe me, wedo not intend to buy. (laughter) >>but through acollaboration, we hope to jumpstart redevelopment there.
county government, the columbiaassociation and the oakland mills village board areworking together to complete a feasibility and design study. the study will consider whetherthe center could support a destination anchor and factor inthe impact of blandair regional park to the east and downtowncolumbia to the west. the county has also been closelyinvolved with developing a comprehensive, affordablehousing plan for downtown columbia.
it's a project that has involvedmany, many players, and we're close to the goal line. i would particularly like toacknowledge county councilperson mary kay sigaty for all her hardwork and dedication in helping to bring this plan tofruition - thank you mary kay. (applause) >>it's hard tobelieve columbia turns 50 next year. as we turn the half centurymark, there are many exciting things happening downtown.
downtown columbia is an economicengine which will help drive the county for years to come. merriweather's new stage andother improvements are starting to take shape. two new office buildings areunder construction - the first new commercial buildings builtin downtown columbia in more than a decade. i'd like to acknowledge davidcostello and kingdon gould, who are over here.
would you please stand? (applause) >>david and kingdonare partners in little patuxent square, a nine story, $75million, mixed-use building going up across fromthe columbia mall. and many of you have driven pastand wondered about the building going up on the corner ofbroken land and little patuxent parkways. we've gotten lots of questionsabout what's happening there. and today, we have amajor announcement.
medstar has not only agreed toremain in howard county, but will expand its operation andbecome the first tenant in howard hughes' crescent project,occupying 97,000 square feet. (applause) >>medstar is a leaderin health care and we are pleased that they will retaintheir headquarters in columbia - thank you howardhughes for helping. all of this new developmenthasn't distracted us from our aging infrastructure. i'd like to particularly mentiontwo projects i believe are
critical. first, our circuit courthousesimply does not meet the needs of county residents orbusinesses anymore. we are moving ahead with plansfor a public-private partnership to build a new courthouse. i'd like to thank administrativejudge lenore gelfman for her leadership and assistancewith this effort. (applause) >>second, followingmy announcement last year to appropriate funding to beginflood mitigation in historic
ellicott city, i established thehistoric ellicott city flood group, with the help of jonweinstein, which recently submitted its report to us. i look forward to continuing ourflood mitigation efforts and building on the progresswe've made this year. and i do want to thankcouncilperson jon weinstein for his continued supporton that and leadership. and also debbie slack-katz, whocouldn't be here today, but she'd chairing the workgroup - thank you jon.
(applause) >>one of the mostcritical areas of infrastructure in the county is ourtransportation system. we announced plans lastmonth to dualize rt. 32 from rt. 108 in clarksville tolinden church road. this is one of my toptransportation priorities because of the congestionand safety on that roadway. during rush hour, it is thesixth busiest stretch of road in the state - busier than manyparts of the dc beltway.
i certainly want to recognizecounty councilperson greg fox who suggested the idea oftapping into the county's unused excise tax fund, which couldonly be used for a project like this - thank you very much greg. (applause) fortunately, governor hoganheard our call and i want to thank him for his willingnessto fast track this project, splitting the cost betweenthe state and the county. now strengthening ourtransportation system is more
than just roads. in january, we presentedbikehoward, the county's bicycle master plan, which includedinput from over 750 residents. i definitely want to recognizeand thank chris tsien, for his advocacy on this issue. at the same time we announcedbikehoward, we also announced a county-wide complete streetspolicy that will serve as a guide for making roads safe andconvenient for travel by foot, bicycle, car and public transit.
complete streets is a big stepforward in creating a more sustainable community. i'd like to recognize countycouncilperson jen terrasa, a dedicated advocate in supportof transportation options. i think it's appropriate thatthe first complete streets project we're including in ourcapital budget is the savage area complete streets in herdistrict - thank you jen. (applause) >>and of course,our number one priority in our community and ouradministration is education.
we continue to support theimportant work of the howard county public school system. this year, we were again rankedas the top school system in the state and i want to thank ourteachers, staff, students, parents and school systemleadership for their hard work. since taking office, i havevisited 55 of our 76 public schools and look forwardto visiting the rest. i have enjoyed participating inread across america, steam day at thunder hill elementary,the 50-year anniversaries at
waterloo and clarksvilleelementary schools, national honor society inductions andall 12 high school graduations. and of course, there's myfavorite - the annual simulated congressional hearings wherefifth-graders learn about the constitution and theirresponsibilities as citizens. i want to recognize my goodfriend kim eggborn, coordinator of elementary social studies,who runs the program. (applause) >>and as my publicservice message of the day, please considerparticipating as a judge.
i know that kim has formsif you want to pick them up. (laughter) you'd be amazed by the level ofresearch and preparation our students put intothis every year. i've been doing it for probably13 - 12, 13 years and it really is amazing. and just - if you could take oneday to do that, it means a lot to the students, to the teachersand you'll learn a lot as well. i'm also impressed by thevariety and quality of programs
in our top-ranked howardcounty library system. i love attending the annualbattle of the books and managed to get to all five last year,even though they took place at the same time - little trick. (laughter) >>i get a specialkick out of programs like down on the farm. even though it looks like funand games, our children are learning a lot while attendingthese free programs. they're not theonly ones learning.
this year, i'd like to recognizecari gast, who oversees the library's children and teencurriculum - cari thank you. (applause) >>cari's leadershipin the design and delivery of this curriculum for young peopleis one of the reasons our library system has developed anational reputation as a trend setter. (laughter) >>i know, i know - aslonnie robbins would say, heads would roll, heads will roll. can we move on?
(laughter) >>it's a littlelonger than i thought it was there mr. miller. our community college alsoenjoys a stellar reputation and continues to develop newprograms and initiatives to meet the demands of studentsand today's workforce. i'd like to recognize threefolks who are here - mark edelen, dave hinton,and athar rafiq. are they over here? oh, there they are.
(applause) >>these three guysat howard community college, in partnership with the howardcounty economic development authority, will be creating anew 3-d innovation hub at the community college- very exciting. this effort demonstrates theperfect nexus of economic development and education. stay tuned for more on this. at this time, i'd also like toacknowledge and remember patti keeton.
patti keeton made tremendouscontributions to this project we just talked about and alsoimpacted our community as a whole. as you may know, pattiunexpectedly passed away earlier this week. so please keep her and herfamily in your prayers. we are truly fortunate to havean amazing educational resources in howard county. but, as lucky as we are, westill have families who struggle
every day - to make a living, topay the rent and to help their children succeed in school. there are steps we can taketo improve outcomes for all students. we understand that to succeedin school, children have to be school ready. and much of that is a result ofthe stability - economically and socially - of their families. this is where partnerships,collaboration and innovation can
make a difference. in september, i met with thelocal children's board and asked them to focus their efforts onboth the governor's priorities for children and my priority ofeliminating the achievement gap for all studentsin howard county. i believe there is a need toexpand successful programs to improve school readiness forchildren from birth to age five. for example, through our officeof children's services, we are increasing the capacity of our"parents as teachers" home
visiting model. earlier, i talked about howeconomic development is important to sustainingour quality of life. we are in an enviableposition in howard county. our unemployment rate is thelowest in the state at 3.8 percent. our median income isamong the highest. our commercial vacancy rates arelow and our commercial tax base grew by $180 million last year.
we've leveraged the use of theintercounty broadband network to provide free wi-fi in publicareas, such as main street ellicott city, the columbialakefront and our county parks and to increase distancelearning opportunities for our schools, communitycollege and libraries. and for those of you in westernhoward county, who have struggled without high-speedinternet service, last week we announced a public-privatepartnership to bring high-speed internet service to householdsand businesses that didn't have
it. i'd like to recognize davidfurman - david please. (applause) >>davidlives in mount airy. for two years, david tried toget internet service to his neighborhood without success. he didn't give up andthankfully he didn't. he worked with his neighbors andthe county to help develop this public-private partnership- thank you very much. folks, we're making a real,positive difference improving
lives of peoplein howard county. sustaining our future requiresa sustainable economy. we've prioritized economicdevelopment, and i'd like to thank the many companies thathave decided to locate or expand here. i'd like to highlight just one. tenable, which is headquarteredin columbia, recently announced a $250 million dollarinvestment in the company. tenable's expansion will mean300 new jobs over the next few
joanne rasch, is here, vicepresident of corporate communications... (applause) >>...fortenable network security. joanne, i just want to thank youand also the ceo, ron gula - i know he couldn't be here - forinvesting in howard county - thank you very much. in addition to our largeemployers, our locally-owned, small businesses continue to bethe backbone of our economy. in november, i signed anexecutive order to establish the
local business initiative whichencourages the use of local businesses forgovernment contracts. i'd like to acknowledgejason peay - is jason here? jason - thank you jason. (applause) >>jason is thepresident of versatech. jason's company, which providesinformation technology, engineering support andmanagement services, was the first business to self-certifyunder the new program. our maryland center forentrepreneurship continues to
spur local, small businesses. today, we're excited to haveevan lutz, ceo of hungry harvest - please stand evan. evan started his businessthrough the center and not only is he running an innovativecompany that cuts food waste and donates healthy food to peoplein need, he was recently, as you see, on the tv show "shark tank"and secured a $100,000 deal. that was a fun night evan. evan is an example of a howardcounty innovator who makes a
real difference thatimpacts people's lives. we've got a lot going on inhoward county and it's all exciting. i'm committed to fostering astrong business environment in howard county. i have charged the eda to workwith county departments to make it easier for companies toexpand or relocate here. i also kept my word to residentsand businesses regarding the unfair and unnecessarystormwater fee.
along with councilpersongreg fox, we have submitted legislation to the countycouncil to eliminate the fee - by 50 percent in fiscal year2017 and completely in fiscal year 2018, while ensuring thatwe have the resources to meet the federal mandates. now you'll notice there -that was no-shave november. (laughter) >>and not my bestlook, but i do want to thank those - there are a lot offolks in this audience who participated in no-shavenovember so thank you very much
for doing that. it was a good cause. i don't know ifi'll do it again. (laughter) >>last year, wetalked about the need for sustainability in economicdevelopment, infrastructure and agriculture. we've made strides in economicdevelopment and infrastructure, and in this year, we also havemade progress on agricultural sustainability.
we held two roundtables withcounty farmers and future farmers from the 4h program;launched the farm academy to teach residents to learn moreabout our farm tradition and expanded the local foodpurchases for the roving radish. we challenged our staff toutilize local produce and products, and they haveincreased the amount purchased from howard county farms from5 percent in 2014 to almost 38 percent in 2015. i know how important our farmingcommunity is to our economy.
soon, i will name an ombudsmanfor the agricultural community. this individual will develop anagricultural subcabinet to help me support ouragricultural economy. (applause) >>it has been anamazing, humbling experience to be county executive of the placei have called home for more than 50 years. as i said, the state ofour county is strong. maintaining that strength willdepend on how we manage the challenges we face.
i am confident that we areon the right track and by continuing to work together, wecan keep howard county great. as i close, i'd like to talkabout something that is very important to me personally andalso the county as whole - the harriett tubman school. a reminder of our county'ssegregated past, this school had been closed as an academicinstitution and is being used as a maintenance facility forthe public school system. for more than two decades, manyin our community have been
fighting to preserve thisimportant landmark with little success. well, we've taken thefirst important step. we have agreed to an arrangementwith the school system to transfer the ownership to thecounty so that we can work with our community partners topreserve this building as a cultural and educational center. my capital budget will includea new project that will ensure that this happenson a set schedule.
i'd like to recognize two peoplewho are very important to this - bessie bordenave, a graduate ofthe school and president of the harriett tubman foundationof howard county... (applause) >>...and rev. dougsands - another tubman graduate. (applause) >>they are two ofthe many people who worked tirelessly to save thisimportant piece of history. and i also want to note dr. fussand the school board for your support with this because itcertainly wouldn't have happened without the collaborationso thank you.
(applause) we need this. we need it now -maybe more than ever. there's a resurgence of angerand hostility that we've got to address. openly expressed anti-muslimsentiment - openly expressed anti-african americansentiment - this has to stop. i was raised by a civil rightsleader who fought for equality it saddens and angers me that somany great leaders fought and sacrificed to stop injustice anddiscrimination in our county.
people such as silas craft,morris woodson, elhart flurry, leola dorsey, rev. john hollandand of course douglas sands. but, today, here in howardcounty, we are still dealing with racism in our community. this is not acceptable. as residents of this diversecounty, as community leaders, as parents, as role models, weneed to work harder to promote acceptance and civility. and just as my father did, iwill talk about this whenever
and wherever i can. this will not be done overnight. but it will be done. why? because i believe in howardcounty - i know that we are a caring community. a community committed to justiceand equality and together, we will demonstrate that howardcounty is a place where every person is valued aspart of our family.64300:32:55,266(applause) thank youvery much for listening.