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DENTON – The Caroline County Commissioners heard from a variety of representatives about their projects in the county, passed and introduced legislation and learned that a fish processing plant is possibly on the drawing board for the former Medifast building in Ridgely during their Tuesday, July 22, 2025, meeting in Denton.
The three Commissioners, President Travis Breeding, Vice President Larry Porter and Commissioner Frank Bartz, attended the 9 a.m. meeting.
The Commissioners approved sending a letter of support and approval of Grasonville-based BSA Seafood’s possible expansion to Ridgely. The letter was sent to the Rural Maryland Council in Annapolis for a Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund - Entrepreneurship (Agriculture Development) grant application and project.
The grant application was submitted July 10, 2025, by Caroline County Economic Development & Tourism Director Bob Zimberoff in collaboration with Amanda Williams of BSA Seafood.
The Commissioners supported “both the grant application and BSA Seafood’s intent to expand its current operation in Queen Anne’s County to Caroline County, by improving and adding cold storage to a currently vacant structure in Ridgely, Maryland, while creating 50 new jobs in Caroline County,” the letter stated.
“This multimillion-dollar project will support Caroline County’s economy, as well as regional watermen, while reducing the Chesapeake Bay’s invasive blue catfish population and bringing Maryland-caught seafood to international markets,” the letter stated.
Two landfill cells to be built
Representatives of Maryland Environmental Service were on hand to answer the Commissioners’ questions about MES’s revenue bonds to fund the costs of building out the remaining infrastructure, which includes constructing cells 1 and 5, of the Mid-Shore II Regional Landfill on Holly Road.
“The existing debt service is about $15 million to be paid off in 2031,” Gary Lasako of MES said.
Breeding confirmed that the current project will be paid off about 2042, the anticipated date of closing the Caroline landfill, at which time the next regional landfill will be opened in Queen Anne’s and Kent counties.
Expanded YMCA may be in Caroline’s future
YMCA of the Chesapeake CEO Robbie Gill discussed what would be needed to expand services for Caroline County residents. The main sticking point is location, Gill said. Once that’s settled, it’s a matter of telling the story of the local impact of a facility and soliciting further support.
The current location in Denton Plaza was opened in 2011. Porter, especially, has been vocal in his desire to negotiate for an expanded facility for the county.
Gill said in 2019 the YMCA received a $2.5 million gift to build a YMCA with a senior center in the county. The pandemic stalled negotiations, and the gift was returned to the donor in 2022 “because we really didn’t see a path forward.” And while about 3,000 residents are members of the Denton YMCA, market research indicates that 7,000 potential members are possible, he said.
Gill said at least a 6-acre donated or county-owned State Route 404 location would be preferable to an in-town location for a 60,000 square foot facility with a pool.
‘Newspaper of record’ may be redefined
Debbie Bowden, owner and publisher of the Caroline Review, asked the Commissioners to consider supporting an update of existing state legislation during the 2026 Maryland General Assembly.
The update would allow Caroline County Commissioners to define a “newspaper of record” for Caroline County. In Maryland, county public notices are required to be published in the county’s newspaper of record.
The “proposed change would be similar to language already in (Maryland Article) §1–113 that allows Prince George’s County Council to determine newspaper of record for that county,” Bowden’s letter of request stated.
Bowden said she wasn’t asking the Commissioners to designate a particular newspaper of record; rather, that they would ask the state for the legal authority to self-determine one, following the state’s guidelines.
Currently, the Easton-based Star Democrat is the county’s newspaper of record for public notices. The Times-Record is published on Wednesdays as an insert in the Star Democrat, one of several regional newspapers published by APG Chesapeake.
“I'm always trying to think about why someone would oppose this,” Porter said. “I mean, it's simply giving us the opportunity to have more of a choice of where we publish.”
“There is at least one other county in the state that has this ability, so it's not like its blazing new territory here. It's just requesting that same authority be extended to us,” Breeding said.
Deputy County Administrator and Finance Officer Daniel Fox said in fiscal year 2024, the county “spent $37,207 on public advertisement. I will caveat that with about … $23,000 of that is for the tax sale, but we have multiple required listings that have to go in circulation four or five times for four or five weeks in a row. So outside of that, you're probably looking (about) $14,000 that are spent on public hearings and the ads that go for public uses.”
The Commissioners acknowledged APG Chesapeake Executive Editor Jim Johnson who had asked to comment on the request. “Caroline County has a newspaper today as defined by the state of Maryland,” Johnson said. “So, while you have a well-intentioned proposal before you, there really is no need for additional legislation on this.”
“We're an insert in a newspaper with no location (in Caroline County),” Porter said.
Johnson said his opposition to the potential legislation was based on the state’s requiring public notices to appear in print publications, not in digital formats. Bowden reiterated that “the request for the legislative change is just that the county be able to make the determination what is the newspaper of record. I am not suggesting at this point what that looks like – not digital, not printed, not put on a billboard.”
“I think in today's digital world, we just have to have other options,” Bartz said. “I think this law is probably a little bit antiquated. Today’s rural people need more.”
