May 13th, 2020 by WCBC Radio
The long discussed plan to merge Allegany County’s Economic Development Department with the Cumberland Economic Development Corporation has fallen apart- with the CEDC Board voting to reject the county’s revised memorandum of understanding. Negotiations between the city of Cumberland, Allegany County and the CEDC to combine economic development efforts have been ongoing since last fall- and in January all three parties signed off on an MOU to move forward with a projected April start-up for the reconfigured operation. After some delays, and apparently determining that the original agreement needed some tweaking, the County Commissioners on April 30th approved a revised document. Those revisions did not sit well with the CEDC board- and by a 4-0 vote Tuesday- the board rejected the county’s proposal bring at least a temporary end to the plan. CEDC executive director Paul Kelly…
Mayor Ray Morriss, a member of the CEDC board, abstained from the vote. During a city work session later in the afternoon Tuesday he expressed his disappointment with the latest developments…
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May 13, 2020 at 6:36 am, Welchy said:
What a joke. So an unelected board of rich guys blocks the city and county from saving money.
May 13, 2020 at 12:47 pm, Kevin said:
> This was not saving anyone money. Cumberland residents would be paying twice – once by an annual appropriation from the city to the county and a second one from their property taxes. The merger also would have reduced Cumberland’s presence in economic development. The agency was started because of the counties failure to do anything to help the city with economic development. Merging it was just the county robbing the city – AGAIN.
May 13, 2020 at 7:02 am, mac said:
There’s a simple solution here.
Allegany County has it’s own Economic Development Department. Just disband CEDC and give total responsibilty to the County office.
This, in effect merges the City and the County in respect to development.
It will also prevent opposing players butting heads as can be readily seen here.
CEDC wants to pick up their marbles and go home so show them the door.
May 13, 2020 at 7:28 am, Ken said:
Paul Kelly’s comment says it all.. the county deal was going to take away his government funded kingdom and uncrown him as prince of destruction for the city and he wasn’t happy being held responsible to actual elected officials.
May 13, 2020 at 7:55 am, Steve said:
> GREAT!! Kick them to the curb, let it go. There is more to this than the public knows. Morriss should NOT be on the board to begin with. I feel this goes deep & the truth may or may not ever be known. Can’t wait until the next election.
May 13, 2020 at 5:58 pm, Jay said:
Prince of destruction? There’s nothing left to destroy.
May 13, 2020 at 10:43 am, LRH said:
Sooo, Mr. Kelly is still sulking over where his office will be and how big a picture window he will have. What a joke.
May 13, 2020 at 10:58 am, Ed Dodrill said:
Heads should roll over this debacle. The county is rudderless without Butler. Unless the CEDC can create a job, it should be disbanded in favor of the old system of one individual at city hall. Cumberland can’t generate enough business interest to warrant a three-person staff costing $350,000 a year.
May 13, 2020 at 11:32 am, J Rucker said:
Thank goodness this fell thru. It was basically a way for Del Buckel to meddle in county affairs and push his lawyer buddy, Kelly, into more power (anyone else confused why both CEDC staff members don’t even live in Cumberland, or Allegany County – or even Maryland, for that matter). The county already has an EcDev department that has been doing some good things under the leadership of Butler. Of course, meddling, backdoor politics, and this fiasco effectively pushed Butler out. The CEDC has nothing to specifically show that they’ve accomplished, aside from a bunch of studies they paid city money for other people to do and a dead in the water Rolling Mill project.
May 13, 2020 at 2:41 pm, Ken said:
Agree! This was one merger that was not in the favor of the citizens. Merge emergency services perhaps or billing but the one area that this region could withstand some duplication of duties is in economic development. Give it to Kelly and Miller and they will just tear down half the county and then gloat how great their plans are. They have done absolutely nothing to further the economic woes of Cumberland, and would expect them to do less working for the county.
May 14, 2020 at 4:29 am, Ed Dodrill said:
The city of Cumberland should think about hiring someone who actually lives in Cumberland. How about walking the walk!