Last December, The Chestertown Spy had a fair number of New Year’s resolutions for Chestertown to work on for 2013. As the town come into the holiday season, when hopefully all can put aside the toils of governance for a few weeks, it has been interesting to compare the Spy wish-list with where things stand now.
1) The Kent County Public School Board of Education will have the initiative and good luck to recruit a school superintendent with the gift of leadership to bring our schools to a level of performance that matches the community’s aspirations for its children.
While Kent County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Karen Couch is still in her first year of her new job, the odds of her becoming that gifted leader for our schools increases every day. With a practical perspective and determined style of management, Dr. Couch is carefully changing the culture of instruction in Kent County.
2) Chestertown’s Renewal Initiative will unite the town’s governmental, educational, arts, philanthropic and commercial resources to create and complete a vision for Chestertown’s future that secures financial sustainability in a compelling and creative way.
The Washington College-Town of Chestertown Task Force has yet to complete its work, but this very talented team remains a source of significant optimism in town as these centuries old allies develop a action plan for Chestertown’s long-term renewal.
3) The citizens of Chestertown will have a competitive mayoral election in November with the best ideas presented to voters to debate on the town’s future.
With seven candidates running for mayor in 2013, as opposed to one in 2009, the first part of this aspiration was phenomenally met. And this was also generally true on the idea front. Terms like community development corporations, social media and internet investment, as well urban renewal programs all came to the forefront by seven very dedicated and courageous individuals.
4) Town government of Chestertown will continue to increase financial transparency by participating in the Sunshine Review transparency guidelines and checklist program.
The quest for real transparency in civic affairs is a ongoing one for any small government, and we have been generally impressed with the Town’s good faith effort in 2013 to be increasingly conscious of the importance of this community value. There remains however many miles to go in this regard, and most of them are related to the implementation of technology to share the most information with the most citizens. We look forward to the new mayor and town council investing even more resources to come closer to this goal.
5) The University of Maryland Health Foundation will have a regional health strategy that is grounded in the practical health needs of the Upper Shore’s residents.
While regionalization has indeed taken place in the creation of the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health, as the umbrella organization for the five counties of the Mid-Shore, the health strategy part remains unclear during its first year of operation.
6) Washington College will have a welcoming egress from the newly installed Chestertown Trail to the Gibson Center for the Arts & Kohl Art Gallery, bringing a practical and symbolic bridge to the community and the College’s own developing waterfront campus.
The mystery of the missing egress continues to remain so as we come to the close of 2013.
7) A new Andy’s will emerge in downtown Chestertown that matches the extraordinary venue Andy Goddard built and maintained for twenty years.
Sometimes good things happen to nice towns. J.R. Alfree’s Lemon Leaf wins Chestertown’s Best Friend Award for 2013.
8) Chestertown will attract a new first-quality ethnic restaurant to complement the town’s increasingly diverse community.
Nada but the rumor mill is buzzing on what happens with Lemon Leaf’s old location. The community’s collective fingers should be crossed.
9) The final resolution of the Garfield Center LED sign will result in a national model for communities attempting to use new technology signage in historic districts.
What a journey the poor Garfield Center has endured. While there remains no final decision from Town Hall on the Garfield’s LED fate, a wise decision by Town Council to carefully study the role of high tech LED lightening in the historic district is a promising and welcomed development.
10) Chestertown’s shopping center owners and their tenants will bring these important retail centers up to a standard of appearance and quality that reflects the community’s expectations.
Disgracefully, the terrible twin shopping centers have shown no tangible sign of improvement this year. With the end of Fresh & Green’s unremarkable tenure ending this month at Washington Square, the sense of urgency only grows as North Chestertown degraded further in 2013.
Patti Willis says
Editor,
Not sure where the name came from but there is no University of Maryland Health Foundation so readers shouldn’t be confused that this has anything to do with the University of Maryland Chester River Health Foundation– a vibrant local foundation which does an excellent job of supporting the local hospital.
Now named University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, the community hospital is, as you mention, joined since July 1, 2013 with Shore Health to become University of Maryland Shore Regional Health, an important part of the University of Maryland Medical System– one of the top health care organizations in the state and the nation.
Leading up to that affiliation, a regional study of health needs was conducted via community listening sessions and a bi-annual Community Health Needs Assessment. The documents resulting from those assessments are posted on the websites at umshoreregional.org or available by contacting me directly. Now that data has been gathered and the affiliation has occurred, UM Shore Regional Health has just launched its first unified strategic planning process for the five county health care organization. So in effect, you can update your 2013 scorecard to reflect progress rather than uncertainty!
In other exciting news, UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown has just launched phase two of a $4.3 million expansion of the emergency department, to open in late summer 2014. The hospital is also just coming off the stellar opening of the Leh Women’s Center in October. (The Leh Center boasts the only 3D Mammography on the eastern shore! State of the art care!) Both of these projects have been admirably supported by the community donors of UM Chester River Health Foundation and fundraising continues for both local projects.
Great things are happening at our local hospitals and UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown is vibrant and facing a bright future with improved facilities and new services (endocrinology and diabetes specialists, breast health specialist– all Board certified and Fellowship trained). This is all quite a good scorecard for local health care and we are justifiably proud of these accomplishments on behalf of Kent County and Chestertown.
Janice Dickson says
Editor,
Below is a reprint of a broadcast from WBAL on 10/21/2013 where the University of MD “said it didn’t have enough money for the project right now but still wants to in the future.” So now UMMS has stripped our local hospitals (Kent and QA, and Easton Memorial Hospital, and probably the one in Cambridge), with the assurance that a new regional hospital will be built and we will all be just fine, but now, lo and behold,”The company said it didn’t have enough money for the project right now but still wants to in the future.”
What kind of gruesome run-around has been perpetrated on the citizens of the 4 or 5 counties this $250,000,000 hospital was to serve? What will happen to the $1,600,000 awarded to Talbot County? Will they put it in an escrow account indefinitely? Will they use it locally? What about the other counties that are supposed to benefit from the indefinitely postponed regional hospital?
https://www.wbal.com/article/102113/3/template-story/New-Eastern-Shore-Hospital-Gets-Federal-Support-Grant
WBAL Radio 1090 AM
New Eastern Shore Hospital Gets Federal Support Grant | Baltimore News
The Commerce Department is awarding $1.6 million to Talbot County to support the construction of a new hospital in Easton.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced Friday that the grant would help pay for the development of a wastewater system and pump station to serve the new University of Maryland Medical System/Shore Health System regional medical center.
“This $1.6 million investment is an example of the Obama administration’s commitment to supporting affordable health care for all Americans, which will strengthen our economy,” Secretary Pritzker said. “The EDA grant announced today will provide Talbot County with the critical infrastructure it needs to ensure that residents retain access to health care while supporting future business development.”
Last month, Shore Health System announced that its plans to build the new $250 million hospital are on hold indefinitelyThe company said it didn’t have enough money for the project right now but still wants to in the future.
The Commerce Department says Easton Memorial Hospital is no longer large enough to serve the mid-Shore region, and that relocating the hospital would potentially move 2,100 jobs out of the area and hurt access to health care. (end of broadcast reprint)
Mauritz "Marty" Stetson says
Editor,
Not a bad year bur we will try do even better this year.
Gerry Maynes says
Editor,
Be of good heart! According to insiders the improvements to the Chestertown Acme have been approved for 2014.