State of the County Address

Delivered by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman
February 2, 2012

For the past five years I’ve come to Turf Valley and stood before you to share my thoughts on the state of Howard County. It would be easy to stand before you today and tell you that the state of our county is strong and getting stronger. After all, it is groundhog’s day.

It’s true. The state of our county is strong and getting stronger. It’s commendable. But it is not enough.

It would be easy to stand here and talk about the accomplishments of the past year. We continued our tradition of strong fiscal management and maintained both our AAA bond rating and, at 4.7 percent, the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

Our schools and quality of life are second to none. Our neighborhoods are healthy, vibrant, and safe. Our government is efficient and well-run. Our non-profit and human services agencies deliver a comprehensive web of compassion.
Our business community is robust, growing, and creating jobs.

All of this is true. But I’m not satisfied. Too many strong communities have fallen prey to complacency and watched as the times passed them by. I will not allow that to happen here.

We must seize this moment and remake our region as the model for the 21st century’s “innovation economy.”

We in Howard County can -- and must -- lead this transformation to create jobs and opportunities. And we are.

This past fall, I led an economic development trip to Palo Alto, California to better understand the culture of innovation there and how we could foster such a culture here, much like a trip I led a year earlier to another innovation capital, Austin, Texas. I was joined on this economic development trip by leaders in economic development, business and education.

While there, our notion that Maryland was well-positioned for the innovation economy was validated by business leaders, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs, with many claiming that we “own” the cyber sphere because of Ft. Meade and the NSA, our largest employer.

Even just this week Bloomberg News named Maryland a “start up hot spot” because of all our cyber activity.

In the innovation economy, idea creation leads to job creation. Ideas are generated at universities, research labs and federal institutions, and we need to be sure that when they are spun out, they have a place to thrive.

Maryland is ranked first in research in the country, but 37th in commercialization. So, while we’re generating the great ideas, we must seize the opportunity to turn those ideas into jobs.

Here in Howard, we have some of the most brilliant people in the world working at APL, Ft. Meade, universities, government agencies and countless private businesses. And from this deep pool of wisdom come ideas that have changed and will change the world – from APL alone came the heart stent, GPS, defibrillator, and even the big bang theory. I’d like to thank Dr. Ralph Semmel of APL.

Our opportunity, and the one we must commit ourselves to seizing, is creating an environment where the big ideas that surface are nurtured, supported and given the resources they need to become THE NEXT BIG THING in the market place.

My expectation is that a good idea will lead to a start up business. And that’s why we recently created the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship within our Economic Development Authority.

Our center will wrap resources around entrepreneurs and provide the road map from innovation to commercialization. The center will provide assistance with mentoring, creating a board of advisors, start-up resources, and access to capital.

Already, our center is co-leading Start Up Maryland, an effort to foster innovation and idea creation to help our state realize its full economic potential.

But we’re not just focused on start ups. We are working with our existing businesses to connect them with opportunities in the innovation economy, most notably through our Base Business Initiative.

The BBI ensures that existing businesses have access to the growth opportunities presented by BRAC and Cyber Command, and it now includes over 1,700 local companies in virtually every job sector.

It’s important to note that every business stands to gain from opportunities presented by the innovation economy. Whether construction, retail, real estate, manufacturing or professional services, when the economy is humming, it’s humming for everyone.

Let me be clear: We don’t want just high tech jobs or low tech jobs. We want jobs. Period.

But we can’t transform our economy alone. We are the center of the state, where Maryland comes together, and our fortunes are intimately linked to the fortunes of our neighbors.

That’s why we took the lead in bringing together our neighbors to create an innovative and collaborative project that is making Maryland the most digitally connected community in the country.

Here in Howard County, we saw an opportunity to access federal funds to build the only statewide broadband network in the country.

We brought 10 jurisdictions together for this project, no easy feat in itself. As president of the Maryland Association of Counties this past year, I know how hard it is to get even two counties together to do something.

But we did it, and Howard County received $72 million to create the network in those 10 jurisdictions. It’s being built right now. Already over 300 miles of fiber are in the ground, and more are being laid each week. In fact, this week throughout Maryland we’re connecting dozens of schools and other key community anchor institutions.

Fast, reliable and affordable broadband is as critical to the 21st century economy as the electrical grid and interstate highway system were to the 20th century economy.

I know in many ways a wired broadband network sounds like old news. After all, how many of us have multiple devices that connect wirelessly to broadband? Every Facebook update or tweet or email or text message requires bandwidth, and our needs are only increasing.

Actually, if you are like us with school age children at home, they are your tech experts, so I asked our ten year old Maddie what I should include in this speech and she said just ask Siri on your iphone.

So we did. Siri responded: “Ok, I give up. Should we try again?” Sounds like someone needs some more bandwidth.

Well, I can tell you that without a wired backbone, our wireless networks would be crippled. In short, we need much more bandwidth, and this network will provide it.

The power of this network will be seen throughout our state. We will have more schools connected to each other than anywhere else in the country on one of the fastest and highest capacity networks in the world. It will bring new educational resources to every classroom, whether a live feed of students from across the world or across the hall.

School systems that once lacked the resources to provide Advanced Placement or other advanced and specialized classes will now have the opportunity to provide interactive, remote learning opportunities from anywhere on the planet.

As educational tools continue to shift from pen and paper to stylus and iPad, our schools will have the bandwidth they need to take full advantage of these advancements in education thanks to this network.

The fiber backbone will also create one of the largest public health networks in the country. Medical providers from around the state – hospitals, physicians, first responders, public health professionals and others – will be able to share information and tools across the network to improve the quality and timeliness of care.

In fact, the first fiber we put into the ground connected Howard County General Hospital and Howard Community College, allowing these institutions to expand partnerships and cooperation. All of this is an extension of our focus, which we’ve had from Day One, on innovative health care solutions.

This will extend to public safety, too, as police departments, fire departments, dispatchers and emergency operations centers will interconnect to create a seamless web of coverage, enabling faster responses to emergencies and better coordination across jurisdictions.

And all of this will save taxpayers money because the network will allow for efficiency gains and better sharing of resources. Our network will save governments in central Maryland alone $28 million a year, and at the same time it is creating jobs.

Building out the network is creating 1,700 jobs during construction and tens of thousands of jobs in the future.

So, to recap, because of our broadband network:

• We will have better schools for our children
• We will get better, more affordable health care
• We will be safer
• We are creating jobs now and in the future
• And we are saving tax dollars

This network and our work to secure it for Maryland demonstrates the power of innovation in the public sector. We embrace and encourage this type of thinking in government.

But the big picture is made up of a lot of smaller pixels. In order to attract and nurture the next century’s innovators we must continue to do well what we already do well: provide great schools, safe neighborhoods and a high quality of life.

However, it has not been easy to deliver basic government services over the past several years. The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression posed tremendous challenges, and the bursting of the real estate bubble eroded our top revenue source.

And just as our own revenues were shrinking, Howard County endured dramatic cuts in assistance from the state. When I took office in 2007, we received over $30 million in annual state assistance for transportation, open space preservation, public safety, public health and other core services provided by local governments.

This year for those same services we received slightly more than $4 million, a decrease of 87%. And now the state wants to send Howard County a bill for $17 million to cover the costs of teacher pensions. If lawmakers in Annapolis fail to fight against that shift, the progress we have made here will be in serious jeopardy.

But we will protect our priorities, and no priority is higher than public education. Just look at the numbers.

Of every dollar that comes into the county, 64 cents goes to education. No other county in Maryland dedicates that level of funding to schools. And I want to take this moment to thank the members of the County Council for being our partner in supporting education.

In fact, throughout my tenure, Howard County has consistently ranked first in the state’s educational effort index, a measure of our willingness and ability to support our great schools.

And since we’re talking about Howard County’s great school system, one person needs to be singled out. Dr. Sydney Cousin has been teaching this area’s children since 1967, and running our school system since 2004.

As most of you know, Sydney has announced he will retire this year—leaving a huge hole to fill, in both education and in our hearts. Sydney leaves a school system that is the best in the state.

And when you consider that Maryland was again ranked the best school system in the country, by my math (and remember I am a proud product of the Howard County Public School System) that makes Dr. Sydney Cousin the best superintendent in the country.

Sydney, please stand up and be recognized for all you’ve done. Thanks so much.

And I believe that public education is the main reason behind our national rankings – like the second best place to live.

I wasn’t going to mention the CNN/Money Magazine ranking, but this morning while walking the girls to the bus, I asked Lily, our 6 year old, what to say today and she said, “Just say we’re the number 2 place in America to live and use all your Eden Prairie jokes.”

But there was one ranking in the last year that really rose above all others – top ten places to date a nerd. Columbia #8. These are the places in our country where the most tech savvy, highly educated people live. No wonder three of the top five are in Silicon Valley.

And while education gets the most funding, my job #1 is keeping the public safe—and again, the statistics show we do just that. I am proud of our proactive public safety departments, and the people who lead them; Police Chief Bill McMahon and Fire Chief Bill Goddard.

Our tremendous public safety team got a chance to prove itself in late summer of last year.

It all started with a simple text from our Fire Chief Bill Goddard that alerted me, “Big storm/hurricane may be headed our way—we’re monitoring, and on it.”

Not exactly my favorite kind of text message, but coming days after one that read, “Sir, FYI…that was an earthquake”---I learned beggars can’t be choosers.

Within hours, we activated our Emergency Operations Center and began meeting with all county government agencies and community partners to ensure coordinated preparation and response to the threat. And solutions – both common sense and innovative -- were quickly implemented.

When power was lost to many areas around the County, police quickly manned intersections where lights had gone out, and shelters were opened in hard-hit areas.

When information on road and business closures needed to get to residents, we pushed this information through our website, Facebook, and Twitter.

And when citizens needed information on anything storm related, the County’s Call-Center was up and running. Not with an automated voice message like many other counties, but with a County employee on the line to provide assistance.

When our engineers indicated that residents in flood plains could be in jeopardy, firefighters went door-to-door to alert residents in over 480 homes.

Yet, out of all of these important activities, and no doubt they made a difference, there is one story that demonstrates the courage and commitment of Howard County’s finest:

On September 7, PFC Nick Bingham was on patrol just as Tropical Storm Lee was bringing rushing water down the roads of historic Ellicott City.

While Officer Bingham was driving on River Road toward Main Street, he saw two citizens clinging for survival atop a pick-up truck while water gushed around them. In these instances, timing is everything, and what do you know, off-duty Howard County firefighter Josh Angelo happened to be driving the same route as Officer Bingham. Call it pure luck, or instincts, or sense of duty, but these two men came together for a specific reason – to save lives.

Angelo’s life vest was tied to Bingham’s rescue rope, and one at a time, they pulled the citizens through the strong flood current to safety. Minutes after everyone reached dry land, the pick-up truck was pulled away by flood waters.

Moments before the truck was swept away a Baltimore County swift boat rescue team was caught in the same flood waters, leading to the dispatch of a second rescue team to rescue the first.

And who was there on the scene? Nick Bingham and Josh Angelo, working alongside Baltimore County fire personnel to help pull one of Baltimore County’s own to safety.

Nick Bingham and Josh Angelo will tell you they were just doing their jobs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t call them our hometown heroes. I am pleased
Nick and Josh could be here today as my guests.

No matter how difficult the economy gets, we must always fund those priorities.

While we continue to remain conservative in our budgeting decisions, we are committed to moving forward with projects that are paramount to supporting the high quality of life every resident deserves.

Our quality of life starts with a healthy environment. To that end, we’ve invested in new technologies and alternative energy to improve the air we breathe.

We have the largest fleet of hybrid vehicles in the State of Maryland, and it is growing with the addition of two new, all-electric vehicles that are going into service today.

We also completed the first solar powered school in Maryland -- 2,000 solar panels on the capped New Cut Road landfill provide electricity to Worthington Elementary School next door.

Another environmental goal was to dramatically reduce our waste stream both to lower hauling costs and to improve our environment, and we’ve done it.

But I want to do more. We’ve made great progress because you’ve filled your big blue bins with glass, plastic and newspapers. Yes, you know how much I love those blue bins, but I’m not going to talk about them anymore today.

I want to talk about green bins.

This year, we rolled out over 1000 green bins to homes in Elkridge as part of a pilot food scraps recycling program, a first in Maryland. Preliminary data show that the families participating in the pilot are diverting one quarter of their trash from the landfill into their green bins.

So, we’re saving money on trash collection and making beneficial compost which is sold for agricultural use. So far, from these 1,000 households, we’ve collected nearly 200,000 pounds of scraps. While composting is decidedly “low-tech”, this is certainly an innovative program.

Perhaps the most important environmental issue we face locally is restoring the Chesapeake Bay. We are stewards of two of the Bay’s most important watersheds – the Patuxent and Patapsco -- and as such, we must address the primary sources of pollution – wastewater, agricultural runoff, and stormwater.

Upgrades at the Little Patuxent Wastewater Treatment plant to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus are ahead of schedule, and will be completed this year. This project will dramatically improve the water quality in our rivers and Bay.

Also last year, when land prices were lower than usual, the county made several agricultural preservation purchases. Today, almost 60,000 acres of Howard County land is permanently preserved—that’s more than one-third of the county.

Not only does land preservation ensure open spaces for future generations to enjoy, but this also helps address pollution from agricultural runoff. And we’re working in other ways with our farmers and soil conservation district to implement best practices to preserve water quality.

And last year we included $10 million for stormwater programs in our budget, the most ever. As part of this effort, we hired a new stormwater director who has been working with county agencies to help Howard County do its part to clean up the Bay.

But we have to do more, and what better place to educate ourselves about our impacts on the environment and what we can do to live more sustainably than our new Robinson Nature Center, which was recently named the “Best Sustainability Project of the Year for New Construction” by the Associated General Contractors.

We’ve also made progress in other recreational amenities over the past year.

Next month we will open phase 1 of Blandair Park, featuring three new synthetic turf sports fields, a large playground, picnic area, and much more.

Last June we opened the doors to the North Laurel Community Center, bringing under one roof health, police, senior services, and community programming to serve the southeastern part of Howard County.

To say the North Laurel community was excited on opening day is an understatement – as one staff member commented “it was like a Black Friday at the Columbia Mall times 10.”

And I can confirm that: I cut the ribbon and I had to grab my youngest daughter, Lily, to get her out of the stampede path when the doors opened.

And just a few months ago, I had the pleasure of unveiling our new Tourism Office and Welcome Center in Historic Ellicott City.

More than 20,000 people a year stopped by the County’s old Welcome Center located in the basement of the former Post Office, to learn about shops, restaurants, theaters, inns and attractions in Howard County.

The Tourism Office played a big role in Columbia and Ellicott City being ranked the #2 Best Place to Live in America, and much of that work was done from that musty, old college-dorm like basement. I gave you a new office, now get me that #1 ranking.

Much like the Welcome Center, the new Miller Branch Library, our first library, was in need of a serious expansion to better accommodate our growing community. I remember being a student at Dunloggin Middle and having trouble finding a spot to study at the old Miller Branch.

Well, a serious expansion it received. We made the financial investments to provide a place of learning and exploration for all – a 21st century library that will meet the needs of our 21st century students.

And we are laying the foundation for a stronger, more successful future by focusing on proactive land use policies. We are targeting our revitalization efforts along the Rt. 1 corridor, the Rt. 40 corridor, and Columbia’s older villages and Town Center.

In fact, an old vacant warehouse was torn down to make room for the new Wegmans under construction in Columbia. I know many of you, like me, are counting down the days to June 17.

The theme of revitalization will only grow stronger through this current process of our General Plan update. In many ways, our revitalization efforts parallel our economic development efforts. Howard County has all the right ingredients; they just need to be enhanced for a changing landscape.

Yes, we are entering a period of profound transformation, and I embrace this opportunity to shape our future. And I know you, the citizens of Howard County, do as well.

So here is the challenge before us—to do the things that keep Howard County great, even as the world changes.

We don’t shrink from this challenge, we embrace it: and that’s why we have to keep striving and pushing and trying…. and I know that I have the privilege of leading a place where our citizens look forward and to the future.

Whether you are here by choice or by chance, there is something about Howard Countians that is special…our optimism, our hard work, our acceptance of our neighbors, and our belief in a better tomorrow. Thank you.