Three running for two seats in Myersville council election; mayor unopposed

Three people are running for two town council seats in Myersville’s election on Monday.

Councilman Daniel Long and Councilwoman Michelle Sweet are running for reelection.

Lauren Vandergrift, a newcomer, also is vying for a council seat.

Mayor Mark Hinkle is running unopposed for reelection.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Myersville Town Office, Town Clerk Kathy Gaver said.

Results will be announced Monday night, she said.

Mayoral and council terms are four years.

The mayor is paid $650 a month, Michelle Ramos, the town’s finance officer, said. Councilmembers are paid $90 per meeting.

Daniel Long

Daniel Long

Myersville Councilman Daniel Long is running for one of two council seats in the town election on Monday.

Daniel Long said he is not a status quo kind of person.

“I won’t always look back and assume just because we made that decision two years ago that it’s still the right decision today because things may have changed,” he said.

As a councilman, Long said, he wants to maintain the town’s slow growth. Surrounding areas are starting to grow faster, he said, but residents have made it clear they want to maintain its slow growth rate.

He also wants to improve communication and engagement within the town, he said.

The town has a quarterly newsletter that is sent out with water bills, and the town posts on social media, but it doesn’t seem like messages are getting out, he said.

He would like to see a weekly message that goes out to residents, either through an opt-in email or text message.

He said he believes in educating and engaging the community, including children, since he’s a teacher at Myersville Elementary School.

“Involving the children of the school in simple ways of events and projects or contests, things like that,” he said, “just engages community at a greater level, and I think gives a greater awareness to the students at the school, but also to the community at large what the town is actually up to and doing to try and improve the lives around them.”

He said he will always listen to others and be open to learning to solve problems in the town.

Michelle Sweet

Michelle Sweet

Myersville Councilwoman Michelle Sweet is running for one of two council seats in the town election on Monday.

Michelle Sweet said she still has a lot to give to the community.

Appointed to a vacant seat six months ago, Sweet said she wants to keep the seat.

“I feel like I have more input to give to the town. I feel like I can represent the citizens as a whole,” she said.

While she believes there are key issues in the town, she doesn’t have specific goals she wants to meet, other than listening to residents and achieving their goals.

If elected, she wants to fix the town’s zoning ordinance to include limits to building sizes allowed in the town.

This is in response to clashes about a proposal to build a Dollar General-affiliated grocery store in the town, she said.

Sweet said she wants to look at updating aging infrastructure in the town, like streets.

Frederick County is trying to make the town responsible for maintaining those streets, Sweet said, but she is trying to push back on that notion.

The town’s water infrastructure also needs work, she said, so town residents and others can have a clean, safe, reliable water source.

The town is working on upgrading a well that was shut down due to high levels of PFAS, known as “forever chemicals.”

“It’s also making sure that the quality of water is what the citizens deserve,” she said.

Speeding is another issue in the town, she said. Sweet said the first step is to look at the problem holistically, then come up with a plan to handle it.

Lauren Vandergrift

Lauren Vandergrift

Lauren Vandergrift is running for one of two council seats in Myersville's town election on Monday.

As the only newcomer in the race, Lauren Vandergrift said she believes she can bring a fresh take to the town council.

Vandergrift said she has grown increasingly frustrated with the town and wants to take her experience in Frederick County government into town government.

Vandergrift is the director of risk management in Frederick County’s Office of Risk Management.

“I feel like there’s some improvements that can be made,” she said.

The first thing she’d like to improve is communication. She said the town could be more transparent, timely and clear. For example, she said, more news could be posted on social media or the town’s website.

Vandergrift wants to look into bringing trees back to Main Street. With the repair of sidewalks and loss of trees, Main Street lost some of its historic charm, she said.

The town could look at grants to fund that, she said. As one vote on a council of five, she said, she would work with other councilmembers to make it happen.

A lot of her experience in her day job would translate well as a Myersville councilmember, she said.

“We’re trying to mitigate losses everywhere we can to save the taxpayer dollars as much as possible. So in that respect, I feel like my experience would transition perfectly because I would love to do the same thing for Myersville,” she said.

Mark Hinkle

Mark Hinkle

Myersville Mayor Mark Hinkle is running unopposed for reelection in the town election on Monday.

Mayor Mark Hinkle has a record of service in the community.

He’s been in local government for 24 years, he said, and has volunteered with the Myersville Volunteer Fire Company since 1998.

“Service is in my blood,” he said.

One of the key issues Hinkle said he would like to continue addressing is keeping the water and sewer infrastructure in the town up to date.

The town has addressed a lot of issues with water infrastructure, he said, but it’s time to look at sewer infrastructure, like reducing some water filtration in the system, so the plant isn’t overworked.

Since water and sewer infrastructure is funded through water and sewer bills, he said, it might take a few years to complete the project.

Hinkle said he would like to beautify Main Street. The town did some work on Main Street, but had to pull out mature trees in the process since they were damaging sidewalks and water lines.

“When you lose that, you kind of lose a little character and lose a little softness, so it’d be nice to see some more of that,” he said.

Hinkle said he would continue with conservative budgeting.

“When you’re dealing with taxpaying citizens and the money that they’re paying, we need to be good stewards of the money and make sure that it’s going to the right programs and needs and sometimes wants of the community,” he said.