Development Office

Carroll County's Office of Economic Development will cut its workload while searching for a department director, county officials told local business people yesterday."

For nearly two years, Carroll County's economic development office has lacked a full-time director, and it shows. During a period when other Baltimore metropolitan counties have been landing large projects, Carroll, by comparison, has little to show in the way of new enterprises or expansion of existing businesses. Economic development in the county deserves much more attention than it has been receiving.Without business and commercial growth, Carroll's homeowners are living on borrowed time.

Taneytown Bank and Trust Co. recently announced the opening of its newest satellite office for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC).In response to the demand for consulting services and in an effort to become geographically more accessible, SBDC counselor Michael Fish now meets with clients in an office provided by the bank at 222 E. Baltimore St., Taneytown.The office is co-sponsored by the Taneytown Chamber of Commerce and the city.Information: 756-2655.FIRE* Union Bridge: Units from Union Bridge assisted Frederick County at a barn fire on Dolly Hyde Road yesterday.

Howard County Economic Development Director Richard W. Story yesterday pledged to make the county's new economic development authority more competitive than any rival office in the Washington-Baltimore region."

Running the economic development office of a local jurisdiction with all the resources of Howard County is a job probably any business leader with ambition and vision would love to have.The man who has it, as of this week, is Richard W. Story, a 48-year-old Reisterstown resident who has held economic development posts in both the public and private sectors around the Baltimore area since 1979.It's not hard to see why the Howard development job would be desirable. The county has a great deal going for it, including a prime location in the region and a well-educated, highly-paid populace.

Running the economic development office of a county with all the resources of Howard is a job probably any business leader with ambition and vision would love to have.The man who has it, as of this week, is Richard W. Story, a 48-year-old Reisterstown resident who has held economic development posts in both the public and private sectors around the Baltimore area since 1979.It's not hard to see why the Howard development job would be desirable. The county has so much going for it, including a prime location in the region and a well-educated, highly paid populace.

Richard W. Story, a business development manager for a Towson design and construction contracting company, will head Howard County's Department of Economic Development.The Reisterstown resident, who has held management posts in other economic development offices in the region, will begin work Sept. 20, Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker said yesterday.The new director will be paid $69,436 a year."I'm pleased that our county could attract an individual with such a high degree of economic development experience," said Mr. Ecker, referring to Mr. Story's 14 years of experience in the field.

Allegations that the county economic development office is in disarray because it can't seem to keep a director longer than TC few months are "100 percent wrong," County Executive Charles I. Ecker said yesterday."

James Fielder, director of Harford County's Office o Economic Development, said his office is making a strong bid for a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant that will be built in the United States."

Carroll's Economic Development Commission agreed yesterday to recommend that the county offices of tourism and economic development be combined, despite concerns that a merger might eventually harm efforts to attract business to the area.The proposed merger -- suggested by economic development administrator William E. Jenne and Joan Meekins, program administrator for the Office of Tourism -- must be approved by the commissioners."It's an economies-of-scale issue," Mr. Jenne said. "We both have limited staff resources, and both are involved in marketing and promoting Carroll County."