Town Charter

marlob@herald-mail.com CLEAR SPRING - As the deadline passed Monday night for candidates to file for two open seats on the Clear Spring Town Council, the number of players grew by two, signaling the first contested town election in years. After thinking about getting involved in local government for years, Terry Baker took the plunge Monday when he filed for a seat on the council. "I really like Clear Spring and I have an interest in keeping it the nice community it has always been," Baker said as the deadline for filing for the November town election passed at 9 p.m. A teacher of technology education at Western Heights Middle School, Baker, 46, has been teaching for 23 years.

By MARLO BARNHART Staff Writer Fired Smithsburg Police Chief Tommy Bowers will have a due process hearing Nov. 25 at 5:30 p.m., a U.S. District Court judge in Baltimore ruled Friday. "Sounds good to me. I just want a chance to defend myself," Bowers said after hearing the decision. Bowers' attorney, Lewis C. Metzner, said Friday that the defense may include testimony about a specific incident that allegedly occurred before Bowers' firing in August. "We believe one reason Bowers was fired was his total disagreement to put his signature on forms he feels were fraudulent," Metzner said.

Williamsport's welfare is the task at hand To the editor: Often, in the course of his official duties, an elected official must tolerate a great deal of unpleasantness: Snubs, insults and even threats from folks who disagree with a vote or a position. I know because as a Williamsport Town Council member, I have been on the receiving end of such behavior. I also know it comes with the job. Something else comes with the job as well and that is a duty to represent the people who elected me. I have a duty to spend their money wisely, to gather information and broadcast it to them and to ask questions and state the facts that are important to our town, even when other elected officials might find that behavior offensive.

By TERRY TALBERT Staff Writer Smithsburg Mayor Mildred "Mickey" Myers, who is running this spring for a second four-year term in office, said Tuesday she will campaign on her record and on her goals for the town's future. Myers has come under fire from some residents for the controversial mayor and council decision last August to fire former police Chief Tommy Bowers. She said she doesn't know if Bowers' dismissal will have an impact on balloting. "I honestly don't really have a handle on that," she said.

andrews@herald-mail.com WILLIAMSPORT - In a final move as mayor, John W. Slayman appointed James C. Kalbfleisch to an open Town Council seat Monday - drawing a rebuke from Slayman's election opponents. Slayman presided over his last town meeting after 20 years - believed to be the longest mayoral reign in Williamsport's history. But on an evening marked by salutes to Slayman, an incoming team of elected officials said Kalbfleisch was the wrong choice. Kalbfleisch, 59, is the vice president of quality assurance for Glessner Alarm and Communications in Hagerstown.

By KERRY LYNN FRALEY Staff Writer The Town of Funkstown will grow by a little more than 67.4 acres this fall when annexation of parkland belonging to the town and a private tract of land owned by Assistant Mayor Paul Crampton Jr. goes into effect, according to town attorney Robert E. Kuczynski. The Funkstown Council unanimously approved the annexation proposal during a special meeting Wednesday night. Crampton attended the meeting and answered questions but abstained from voting on the proposal.

SMITHSBURG - Mayor Tommy Bowers is slated to make Smithsburg history when he holds the community's first state of the town address. The mayor has not given a date for his speech, saying that "it will be part of the budgetary process. " Bowers is expected to present a tentative budget to council this month. An annual address detailing the mayor's plans for the town, is required according to the town charter. "I'm not sure why it was never done before," Bowers said.

by Joe Crocetta / staff photographer see the enlargement SMITHSBURG - Former Police Chief Tommy Bowers was elected Smithsburg's mayor Tuesday, defeating by an unofficial six votes incumbent Mildred "Mickey" Myers, who had fired him. --cont. from front page-- Bowers got 291 votes to Myers' 285 votes, Town Clerk Betsy Martin said. There was one write-in vote for mayor, and seven ballots that did not include votes for either mayoral candidate.

SMITHSBURG - For a police chief-turned-politician, the new year marks the time "to start being the mayor. " Mayor Thomas J. Bowers said he has spent the last seven months learning how to run a town, but his biggest challenge since taking office in May has been overcoming the ill-will spawned by a campaign laden with personal attacks. "You don't have to like somebody to do business with them," he said. "I still get anonymous hate mail, but I just laugh at their ignorance. " Although Bowers, 48, has lived in Smithsburg in the northwestern corner of Washington County since he was 5 years old, he said some of the town's 2,000 residents resent having a mayor who is not a taxpayer.

By TERRY TALBERT Staff Writer SMITHSBURG - Residents upset over the Aug. 12 firing of former police chief Tommy Bowers presented the Smithsburg mayor and council Tuesday night with a petition signed by 330 residents, demanding a special recall election within 30 days. The petition asks officials to amend the Town Charter to allow voters to recall elected officials before their terms end. Sherry Owen, member of the Smithsburg Citizens Police Advisory Committee and a petition drive organizer, said the petition was in direct response to Bowers' firing.