Smooth Transition? Inside the Aberdeen Report
Despite a bitter internal feud, no review of the Aberdeen Police Department is needed. Despite being severely fined and penalized in the past, the city should once again pursue sucking more water from Deer Creek. Despite its being in day-to-day control of the city’s multi-million dollar budget, direct observation of the day-to-day operation of the city’s Finance Department is needed.
These are just a few of the highlights from a report on the City of Aberdeen’s operation and health, as conducted by the 28-member Transition Team formed to help new Mayor Mike Bennett transition into office.
The report was unveiled to the public Monday night - nearly three months after Bennett’s November election to office. Put another way, one-eighth of Bennett’s two-year term in office has already been spent compiling this report and it will probably take the remaining seven-eighths of his term to implement its recommendations.
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The Chew Review: Mamie’s Cafe - With Love
There is a new restaurant in Aberdeen causing a stir (no, not that one, this one is actually open) , although at first glance, you may have been a bit confused by it’s name. At least, that’s how I felt after seeing the sign for “Mamie’s Cafe - With Love” in the Beards Hill Plaza a few months ago. I stopped by one day while grocery shopping at Klein’s to peek in the windows, and after seeing it’s antiqued, shabby chic decor, decided it was a place I would never step foot in.
At least, until I started hearing more about it. First, there was the post on the Dining@Large blog on the Baltimore Sun’s website that listed Mamie’s as having one of the top ten burgers in the Baltimore area. Next, after posting the burger news on The Dagger’s forum, great reviews started pouring in from stacey, Dave, and The Dagger’s own Matt about how good the food was. Finally, a quick google search revealed that Mamie’s used to be in Hampden, and won the praise from many critics, including the City Paper. That was enough for me, and it was time to drop the kids off at the in-laws and check this place out.
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A Message to You Rudy: Ex-mayor may have aided decision to keep Police Chief
It looks like Randy Rudy’s job as chief of the Aberdeen Police Department is safe - at least for the time being - although it remains unclear whether Mayor Mike Bennett is giving the chief a chance or simply had his hands tied thanks to a parting gift from the city’s former mayor.
In an email written by Bennett last week and provided by Art Helton, the mayor made it clear he wants Rudy to remain the city’s police chief, but, beyond that, he wants Aberdeen’s top cop to be the one running the department. Under the administration of former Mayor Fred Simmons it was often questioned who was running the Aberdeen Police Department - Rudy or Simmons.
“Chief Rudy is a law enforcement professional whom I respect. I have had several conversations with him over the past month and shared with him my desire for him to run his dept,” Bennett wrote.
“We talked about his being placed in a secondary position over the past 2 years and I assured him that I was going to give him an opportunity to run his dept. and that unless I had a brainstorm (I do have some experience in this area) I would work through the City Manager,” he continued.
Continue reading A Message to You Rudy: Ex-mayor may have aided decision to keep Police Chief
Taking One for the Team: Can Axing a Chief Save a Sinking Ship?
We’ve all heard the old adage about a captain going down with his ship - a symbol of his being ultimately responsible for whatever the hell happened on the vessel to make it start sinking in the first place.
But there’s another nautically-themed response to save a sinking ship, literal or otherwise, that has become more fashionable in modern times - mutiny.
At issue is the tenuous position of Randy Rudy, chief of the Aberdeen Police Department for the last 8 years, who was strongly aligned with former mayor Fred Simmons. With Simmons out and new mayor Mike Bennett in, Rudy’s future is in question. Even though both come from a background of service with the Maryland State Police, Bennett may see Rudy as one of the last remaining reminders of Simmons’ two years as mayor. It wasn’t Simmons who hired Rudy, but it was Simmons, himself a gun-carrying pilot, who empowered the chief and gave him the funding and support to kick Aberdeen crime-fighting into high gear.
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Room fees, Parking charges, Taxing Districts : Solving Problems in Aberdeen
A pair of Aberdeen city councilmen believe the path to the city’s fiscal salvation can be paved through a series of new taxes, fees and charges - and they just might be right.
Appearing Dec. 18 on ‘Aberdeen Happenings,’a local radio talk show hosted by Mark Schlottman on WAMD 970 AM, city councilmen Mike Hiob and Ron Kupferman specifically detailed plans for establishing parking fees at Ironbirds games to stave off accumulating city debt on the stadium, acquiring enabling legislation from the Maryland General Assembly to charge a fee on every night’s stay in every hotel and motel room in Aberdeen and installing a special taxing district along part of Beards Hill Road to help pay for an untangling of traffic congestion in the area.
But before launching their three-pronged (tax, fee, charge) approach to righting the city’s finances, the councilmen first spoke about the future of Aberdeen given its new leader - Mayor Mike Bennett, who defeated former mayor Fred Simmons in the November election.
“Do you see a new direction for the city with a new man at the forefront?” Schlottman asked.
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29 and Counting…another Member on Mayor Bennett’s Team and it’s another Former APD Cop
The mysterious and previously undisclosed 29th member of Aberdeen Mayor Mike Bennett’s grandiose transition team was revealed last week to be none other than Joseph Bray - the one-time Aberdeen police officer and Municipal Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 128 president, who was recently terminated from both positions.
Despite his recent firing from the Aberdeen Police Department and forfeiture of his FOP presidency, Bray is expected to remain a member of the now 29-person transition team, so said team coordinator Art Helton.
Although there has been great speculation regarding why he was apparently on some sort of extended leave from APD, Bray’s firing came two weeks ago without an official reason for his dismissal.
“I can only confirm that he was terminated effective 12/06/07. I can’t comment on the reason for the termination,” APD Det./Sgt. Kirk Bane said.
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Proactive Police Protect People, Prevent Problems, Procure Praise/Prize
Though occasionally accused of being too aggressive and militaristic of law enforcement initiatives for such a small city, the Aberdeen Police Department’s surveillance camera system and Rapid Response Team (RRT) have undoubtedly helped proactively combat crime and clean up city streets.
At a ceremony in Glen Burnie on Tuesday, those efforts by Aberdeen Police were officially recognized when the law enforcement agency was the recipient a pair of crime prevention awards handed out by Gov. Martin O’Malley.
The Governor’s Crime Prevention Award for Outstanding Proactive Crime Prevention Programs in Maryland was awarded to the Aberdeen Police Department for both its Camera Surveillance Project and its Rapid Response Team Safe Street Initiative.
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Return to Sender: What do Aberdeen police have to do to get an RSVP from their mayor?
For the last three weeks, representatives of the Aberdeen Police Department and Municipal Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 128 have been trying to arrange a meeting with newly elected Mayor Mike Bennett.
In that time, at least two letters of invitation sent to Bennett from the FOP have been met with no response, yet the new mayor has found time to meet with Aberdeen’s auxiliary police department - a group in which Bennett’s unofficial and ultimately unsuccessful running mate Steve Johnson is a member.
What’s more, city police officers are now concerned about what they have been told will be the beginning of informal interviews this week conducted by members of Bennett’s 30-person transition team.
“The current concern is that we are not confident in some of the members of the transition team. We believe that there is a conflict of interest and we want to ensure we are represented fairly and accurately. Given the makeup of the team we requested the meeting to give the mayor the majority point of view,” said Aberdeen police officer and FOP Lodge 128 acting president David Swain.
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Long Term Gains: Helton Gets an Aberdeen Tax Break
Convening for its first full meeting since being sworn into office, newly elected Mayor Mike Bennett and the Aberdeen City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve a 10-year tax break for a property owned by Art Helton - the Democratic former state senator who masterminded Bennett’s triumphant ascent.
While Enterprise Zone tax credits, 10-year phased reductions in taxes due on properties located in specially designated areas like Route 40, are certainly not unique, it is unusual the city council would act so swiftly after the Nov. 6 election to approve Helton’s tax break.
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An Army of One
Newly elected Aberdeen Mayor Mike Bennett has announced the membership of his 30-person transition team, which includes his own brother, Art Helton and wife, four failed city council candidates, a former city mayor, a former Havre de Grace police chief and a handful of annexation opponents.
The group, which convened Tuesday night in City Hall and will operate under the control of Helton, has until mid-January to report back to Bennett with information about the failures in city government operation and function.
In forming his team, Bennett was apparently looking for a broad cross section of folks that represented talent in various areas as well as a population diversity representing a cross section of Aberdeen’s citizenry, according to Helton.
Evidently, there are a few names yet to be added to the list once confirmed by Bennett. Any guesses?
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