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Amber Korell has built a career on caring about her community and getting things done. Now, with her recent appointment as Vice President of the Maryland Municipal League Conference Planning Committee, Korell is bringing Preston’s small-town voice to a statewide stage.
Korell graduated high school with a cosmetology license through the CCTC cosmetology program. Then, “I began Chesapeake College and I was working under getting a business management degree,” she said, “I wanted to own my own hair salon…that was my goal.” She became an assistant manager at a hair salon in Denton and was steadily building her career, until, “One night in February, [the owner] came in and shut the shop down, took everything out of it. We came to work the next morning, and nothing was in there,” she said.
She happened to be renting a small apartment behind Greensboro Town Hall, and she had gotten to know the Town Manager there while paying rent and chatting in the office. When a front desk position at Town Hall opened, Greensboro’s town staff encouraged her to apply, and she got the job.
That coincidence launched Korell’s now 14-year career in municipal government. She steadily moved up through the Town of Greensboro’s permitting, finance, and water departments, eventually becoming the Town Clerk. One could say she became an expert in all things town-government – perhaps that’s why she has become such an asset to the Town of Preston since becoming their Town Manager in 2020.
When asked why she thinks she is such a good Town Manager, she said, “I care about the people, and I really like to get things done. It feels good to accomplish a task, or build a park, or fix a street. People are very grateful for you in these positions.”
Born and raised in Caroline County, Korell describes her sense of responsibility as something that’s just part of who she is (a “Carolineism”, if you will). In a community as small as Preston, that personal connection is especially strong. “We are just small enough that we know all of our people and our roads, and we have relationships with these people, but we still have the same issues that all of the larger municipalities have,” she said.
Korell explained that while it is often viewed this way, municipal government is rarely boring. Between planning and zoning, parks and recreation, water and sewer, engineering, and outreach, there is always a new issue to tackle and a different “hat” to wear. She said she encourages young people to get into municipal work because it is so diverse.
The Maryland Municipal League recently announced Korell as the Vice President of the Conference Planning Committee. The committee oversees two major conferences each year: one in the fall and one in the summer. As Korell describes it, the Committee works together to identify “what’s hot” in municipal issues across the state and then builds a lineup of classes and speakers that will be most helpful to local government officials in attendance. Committee members then review a full list of proposed sessions, vote on what they think is best for their municipalities, serve as ambassadors to promote the conferences, and, of course, volunteer to work them.
Korell called MLL a “wealth of knowledge in people.” She said the networking, vendor connections, and the ongoing education about new mandates and laws MML offers to Maryland’s 157 incorporated municipalities are essential.
Korell’s appointment followed an open nomination and application process, where interested members complete a questionnaire outlining their background, qualifications, and what they can offer. A seasoned MML chair reviews the applications and selects two vice presidents, one from each side of Maryland. From Korell’s perspective, her selection matters not just personally, but symbolically for Preston and other small towns. “I feel like we get forgotten about because we’re so small… Just having a place there at that table and being able to say I’m part of that…I think it’s very important,” she said.
Her love for Preston is best shown through her work, which she said is based on the personal motto “Positive Preston.”
