Maryland Town Manager Circuit Rider Grant Program Expands

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development has significantly expanded the Maryland Town Manager Circuit Rider Grant, a program that enables smaller municipalities to hire professional staff to assist with public administration, financial management, planning, and community development. Typically operating in rural regions of Maryland, these professional administrators “Ride Circuit” by serving several towns in the same area on a part-time basis. Plans to expand the program were developed after the Maryland General Assembly increased the program’s annual budget from $125,000 to $500,000 with approval from the Maryland General Assembly.

Under the Maryland Town Manager Circuit Rider Grant program, municipalities, counties, and regional governmental organizations can partner together to sponsor a circuit and hire professional staff who serve two or more towns. The department assists the local governments that are applying for  program funding by developing a work program for the Circuit Rider, preparing the grant application and budget, and recruiting and interviewing the candidates for the position. Once hired, the Circuit Rider professionals provide the town with administrative services, such as reviewing and updating town ordinances, drafting and submitting grant applications, recordkeeping, responding to public inquiries on behalf of town officials, assisting with the construction and maintenance of water and wastewater management systems, and developing sustainable community and other revitalization plans.

Traditionally, the Maryland Town Manager Circuit Rider Grant program funded two circuits annually. The Garrett County Community Action Agency received funding to sponsor a circuit in the county that includes the towns of Accident, Deer Park, Friendsville, Grantsville, Kitzmiller, Loch Lynn Heights, Mountain Lake Park and Oakland. The Maryland Rural Development Corporation received funding to sponsor a circuit within multiple Eastern Shore counties that includes the towns of Barclay in Queen Anne’s County, Betterton in Kent County, Brookview, Church Creek, Eldorado and Galestown  in Dorchester County, and Goldsboro, and Henderson in Caroline County.  Both circuits will continue to receive funding until the current grant agreements expire in June 2017, When the current grant expires, the circuit sponsors will be required to reapply for a new grant.

Four new circuits were approved under the program’s expansion. The Board of County Commissioners of Caroline County will sponsor a circuit in the county that includes the towns of Goldsboro, Henderson, Hillsboro, Marydel and Templeville. Pocomoke City in Worcester County will sponsor a circuit that includes the municipality as well as the City of Crisfield in Somerset County. The Town of North Beach will sponsor a circuit that includes the Calvert County town and the Town of Forest Heights in Prince George’s County. The Maryland Rural Development Corporation will sponsor its second circuit which will serve the western Maryland towns of Lonaconing, Luke and Westernport in Allegany County and Hancock and Williamsport in Washington County. Grant terms for the new circuits are two years, expiring in June 2018.

For more information about the Maryland Town Manager Circuit Rider Grant program, visit http://bit.ly/CrctRdr.