County Economic

The Taneytown Bank & Trust Co. has formed a Westminster advisory board to provide advice and direction to business development in the community.The five appointees are:Richard L. Hull, president of Carroll Land Services Inc. and chairman of the Planning and Zoning and Public Works committees of the Homebuilders Association of Maryland/Carroll County.E. Suzan Miller, a Westminster attorney who is a director on the board of Carroll County Health Services Corp. and the Tourism Council of Carroll County.

The Anne Arundel County Council on Thursday night appointed as its new county executive Howard County Economic Development Authority chief Laura Neuman, whose drive and business savvy got her a master's degree in business when she hadn't completed high school or college. Neuman, of Annapolis, is to be sworn in at 10 a.m. Friday, succeeding John R. Leopold, who resigned this month after a conviction for misconduct in office. "We live in an extraordinary country where a person like me from East Baltimore can have this opportunity," said Neuman, an Annapolis resident for more than two decades.

Now that the Carroll County commissioners have decided to hire a full-time economic development director, they should not restrict their search to the confines of the county. Considering that this job is one of the most important posts in county government, they should cast a wide net and hire the most qualified candidate they can find.Economic development is the engine that drives virtually any municipality. Retaining existing businesses and attracting new ones has a direct bearing on the county's economic health and its livability.

Members of the Prince George's County Council and other county officials will bring a countywide town hall meeting to Laurel next week. "Growing Opportunities in Prince George's County," an economic development town hall meeting, will be held Tuesday, Oct. 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Laurel High, 8000 Cherry Lane. The meeting will include an economic development update from David Iannucci, the county's Assistant Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Economic Development; and Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Gwen McCall.

Howard County's business community has been asked to give $1 million over the next five years to the county Economic Development Authority to promote local economic development, business and county officials said yesterday.Organizers say the authority, a public-private partnership promoting economic development, would use the money to attract and retain medical, health-related and high-tech business and to expand county programs aimed at luring international businesses.The authority would spend about $580,000 of the $1 million to attract new businesses to the county.

An Annapolis Junction manufacturer that sought Howard County's backing for a $900,000 state loan will receive the money to expand its business without the county's having to secure it.In an unusual move, Marble Source Unlimited, a manufacturer of natural stone products, will be allowed to borrow the money -- without county backing -- from the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO).That organization, established by the General Assembly 10 years ago to help businesses get state loans, will secure the loan itself.

Local businesses interested in establishing relationships with minority and small businesses can meet potential clients at a business expo this week.The third annual Howard County Equal Business Opportunity Expo will be held 7: 30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at the Columbia Inn on Wincopin Circle. There is a $25 admission fee.The expo is sponsored by the county Economic Development Authority's Equal Business Opportunity Committee.County Executive Charles I. Ecker and the Economic Development Authority's chair, Donora Dingman, plan to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8 a.m.The expo is held "to link employers that, for whatever reason, want to offer procurement opportunities to the minority community," said Isabella Campolattaro, marketing and communications manager for the Howard County Economic Development Authority.

As a place for business, Carroll County attracts Hollywood filmmakers, retirement-community developers and world-recognized manufacturers.But the once-rural county remains a more popular place to live than to work, county economic development officials told Carroll political and business leaders yesterday.Carroll reportedly has the lowest wages in the Baltimore region, does not have enough industrial space and lacks jobs for spouses of new county residents."You can see why half the county leaves every day," said John T. Lyburn Jr., the county's economic development director, noting that 50 percent of the labor force works outside the county.

Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann's appeal to the private business community to step up to the plate for economic development is a call worth heeding.Existing businesses must become cooperative partners of county government in a multi-faceted approach to economic growth. "Government can't do it alone," Mrs. Rehrmann told the Harford County Chamber of Commerce last week, although her office has often claimed the credit for convincing big-name business to locate in the county.One reason for lack of enthusiasm of businesses has been the perception that Harford places much more value in attracting new firms, with tax credits and other economic incentives, than in retaining and expanding companies already here.

THIS LETTER is in response to the Feb. 18 editorial, "Ecker's record of accomplishment."I take exception to the assertion that "economic development has not prospered as much as it has in other metropolitan counties." This statement is not based on fact.Howard County leads the state of Maryland in job creation -- especially when compared with the metropolitan counties. According to the Maryland Industrial Profile issued in November by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, "From 1990 to 1995, Howard County registered the highest job gains."

United Way honors businessman United Way of Central Maryland has honored George T. Heidelmaier Jr. with the Bernard Cook Meritorious Leadership Award for his work on the United Way of Central Maryland Community Partnership of Harford County. Heidelmaier is president of It's PayDay in Bel Air. As a two-time chair of the Harford County United Way campaign and member of the partnership board, he has attracted new volunteers and re-energized the board, the organization said. The award, named after Bernard Cook, a 15-year volunteer with the organization, recognizes community volunteers who demonstrate exceptional leadership in United Way activities.

The state's new economic development chief has seen the haves and have-nots of Maryland, having worked in that capacity in both Allegany and Montgomery counties. That's why David W. Edgerley is the right person for the job, say state officials and business leaders. "He's a true economic development professional," said Donald C. Fry, president of the Greater Baltimore Committee, which represents regional business and civic leaders. Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Edgerley's appointment as secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development yesterday in Annapolis.

Maryland's top economic development official called on Harford County yesterday to pursue redevelopment in areas such as the U.S. 40 corridor - praising the transformation of a former shoe factory into an idyllic waterfront office park - while preserving agricultural land. Aris Melissaratos, secretary of the state Department of Business and Economic Development, said the county should seek "balanced growth" as it works to trade an image of warehousing and distribution for high-tech companies that will support the military of the future.

John T. Lyburn Jr., who led Carroll County's efforts to attract and retain businesses for 10 years, will step down as the county's economic development director at the end of next month. Lyburn said Friday that he is resigning to pursue his goal of opening a commercial development and real estate business in Westminster. His resignation becomes effective Aug. 1 so that he can wrap up some projects, he said. "I'm sad about leaving people I worked with, but I'm excited about the opportunity to start my own business," Lyburn said.

Hyde is indicted on child abuse, sex offense charges Former Carroll County schools Superintendent William H. Hyde, who was arrested last month and charged with molesting a young girl, was indicted on similar charges yesterday by a county grand jury. Hyde, 61, was indicted on one count of felony child abuse, punishable by up to 15 years in prison; third- and fourth-degree sex offenses; and second-degree assault, according to court records. The offenses are alleged to have takenplace in July, according to the records.

At the urging of Commissioner Donald I. Dell, Carroll's economic development department will consider changing its status from a public agency to a private entity that would have more direct authority, with added flexibility and efficiency. The Economic Development Commission, which reports to the county, appointed five of its members to a committee yesterday that will study the creation of a public-private partnership. The commissioners are here this morning and then away on other business," said Dell.

THE COUNTY that leads the state in job growth can do a better job of attracting businesses. It is not enough that Howard has a generally positive track record for economic development. Its commercial tax base lags behind goals set by County Executive Charles I. Ecker. Outside firms looking to relocate may never notice Howard County on a Maryland map, let alone learn about its virtues.Two reports released five weeks apart tell how the county can be discovered by companies that would thrive there.

SOME CARROLL TOWNS are complaining that they are ignored in county economic development promotion in order to benefit the Westminster area.While it's true that these municipalities lack industrial development, and suffer the effects of an eroding tax base, the problem in the county runs much deeper: Carroll as a whole has a painful lack of industrial/economic development. Westminster is not lapping up all the gravy.After years of simply toying with economic development, the county committed funds and a full-time director to the job of promoting it. The full fruits of that new effort remain to be tasted.

Economic development officials from four Maryland counties said yesterday that they are starting to see the effects of a depressed economy, from vacant hotel rooms and office buildings to jumps in unemployment rates. Officials from Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties, at a gathering to talk about the economic health of their communities, shared how they're dealing with the worst economic slowdown in nearly a decade. The Baltimore-Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce, which promotes business opportunities in the four counties, brings the executives together every year.

THE DAVID TAYLOR Research Center gives Anne Arundel County an excellent opportunity to bolster its technology presence, build its tax base, restore a mostly vacant site and develop badly needed premium office space in Annapolis. Two Naval Academy graduates are negotiating with the county to develop the 46-acre waterfront site, which is across the Severn River from their alma mater. One of them, Maurice B. Tose, runs an Annapolis telecommunications firm. The other, Ron K. McDonald, is a top executive of a Chicago firm that has won an award for rebuilding a military base that, like the Annapolis site, was forced to close.