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RoCo checks out some of the services, public and private, available to HoCo residents.

Services

RoCo checks out some of the services, public and private, available to HoCo residents.

Overseeing HoCo’s Elections, With Ann Balcerzak

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The day I was set to meet Ann Blacerzak to talk about running smooth elections in Howard County, I realized that she and I had a date and a time we’d be meeting up, but we hadn’t picked a rendezvous spot. “Do you want to come to my house, Colleen?” she asked in a text message conversation on the topic. I’d told her that I was wary of places that were too loud for fear that the audio of our chats would be unintelligible on the recordings I made on both my iPhone and the digital voice recorder that Robert … Read more

Marcus Harris, Howard County Sheriff

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One way that RoCo’s setting down roots in Howard County is that we’ve become members of a local community supported agriculture (CSA) coop. Our first pickup date was the same day I was set to meet Sheriff Marcus Harris at his office to talk about what’s new for the newly-elected Howard County Sheriff. The word “community” came up in my chat with Marcus a lot. Husband Dearest, a.k.a, Robert said he’d take Moses, our dachshund-boxer mix, for a walk around Lake Kittamaqundi. So he and I left the Sheraton downtown at the same time. I was on my way to … Read more

Rec and Parks Director John Byrd

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Howard County Recreation and Parks (R&P) Director John Byrd and his staff are across the board kind, helpful, and knowledgeable. Their offices are rather intimidating, however. I approached the front desk of their ultramodern facility on Oakland Mills Road–all bright colors and expansive windows–and told a young man with a friendly smile that I had a 9:30 a.m. appointment to see Mr. Byrd. He placed an index finger gingerly on his headset and said, “Colleen Morgenthau, here to see John.” He said the director would be right with me and motioned for me to have a seat in a chair … Read more

Trash-Talking With Jeff Dannis, Chief, Operations Division, Alpha Ridge Landfill

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As my sporty little Ford Focus puttered down Route 99 from the trailer park in HoCo’s Legislative District 9A that Robert and I have been parked in for the last week, on my way to “talk trash,” as he put it, with Jeffrey Dannis, the Chief of the Operations Division at Alpha Ridge Landfill (ARL), I thought of an article Robert had shown me once. It was about the archeological study of trash as a window into how past cultures lived. As interesting as Robert finds wastewater treatment, so I, Colleen, find solid waste removal. “Studying ancient trash from around … Read more

A Chat With Robert Hindt of Savage’s Wastewater Treatment Plant

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In case you were wondering, people named Robert are–right off the bat, because of our names–the best. Some, like Robert Hindt, the Administrative Manager at the Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant, have a highly-advanced skill set, a winning managerial style, and a generous spirit to boot. I visited him (heretofore known as Hindt) and his staff at the plant to get an idea of how our water goes from looking like what one of his coworkers described as chocolate milk to some of the cleanest in the nation. One of the main reasons we need a robust sanitation system in … Read more

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