December 5 – The Maryland State Delegation from Washington County will meet with the community on Wednesday at Hagerstown Community College.
It’s an all-day meeting right before the legislation session begins to give the public an idea of what may happen in 2023 and hear public comment so concerns and priorities can be taken to Annapolis.
The public hearing will be held at 5 p.m. in the Merle Elliott Conference Center at HCC.
Jim Kercheval of the Greater Hagerstown Committee said, “Anybody’s welcome to come in and share their concerns. This will be the first look at what the priorities are for our community before the session starts.”
This is the time to have your voice heard in the state of Maryland.
Kercheval said, “Serving as an elected official myself on a local level, people a lot of times assume that we know everything when we take office. You have to learn, you have to get a really good sense of what’s happening all around and there’s things that you might not be aware of unless the public comes forward and lets you know. That’s why it’s important to do that. These are the people that we hired to be our voices in Annapolis. It’s a state that is run by the central counties in Maryland, so the rural counties, it’s important for the delegation to stick together, try to push hard for things that affect rural Maryland and by hearing directly from the citizens, that gives them the ammunition they need to take forward.”
The more people who come out and express concerns, the more that carries over.
Kercheval said, “I always said DC and Annapolis, they’re all run on sound bites. So if you can get a sound bite into a legislator’s ear, something that makes them understand just enough about that issue, they’ll carry that along. Sometimes they may not know the depth of an issue because there are so many issues they have to deal with, but just key things that affect them. I’ve seen roundtables that we’ve put together, I’ve seen feedback that happens within those carry and eventually get into law.”
