"Day Trip" comes to Denton

DENTON – During his April 9 visit to Caroline County, Secretary of Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Jake Day and members of his team engaged local elected leaders, business owners, and agency officials in a conversation about meeting their needs.

Day discussed how bureaucrats need to lower regulatory barriers and gather stakeholders around the table to lighten the burden of finding funds to start and expand businesses.

It was a “Day Trip” designed for listening to those who gathered at the Wharves of Choptank Visitor and Heritage Center in Denton and at other locations around the county.

“What are the overall trends and challenges that you're seeing?” Day asked. “And how can we be of assistance knowing some of the tools that we can bring to the table?”

“That’s a loaded question,” said Caroline County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tracey Snyder.

Snyder said small businesses in the county jump through too many hoops to comply with regulations, which takes too much time and can be very expensive.

“If we can get everybody to work together – communication -- that would help our businesses a lot,” Snyder said. “There's a strong community here, a lot of strong people doing great things.”

A theme Day returned to often was expressed in his answer. “I think in government we're guilty, generally, of not having a bias toward ‘yes,’ right? Of not being easy and convenient to work with,” he said. “One of the most powerful roles that we play then is convener – getting the right people around the table to help, and that's what today is all about.”

Day told the crowd of about 40 that he wanted to know “how the state could be a better partner, whether it's MDE permits or SHA or knocking down whatever barrier exists.”

In answer to Preston Mayor and business owner Savannah Winston’s question about available funding assistance for small business needs, Day listed various grant and loan programs, and helping food-oriented businesses, particularly in “food deserts.”

“Anybody who's looking for any business lending, just give us a call and we'll set up a meeting,” one of Day’s staff members said. “We can help figure out which lane works the best for what you're trying to accomplish.”

“If some folks don't get the right business cards, I am sincerely happy to help connect you to the right people,” said Bob Zimberoff, executive director of Caroline County Economic Development and Tourism.

Day harkened back to his career as a city planner and his tenure as mayor of Salisbury to illustrate his desire to eliminate red tape and streamline the permitting process.

“I'm not here today to tell you the Maryland Department Housing and Community Development is going to solve every economic challenge,” Day said. “We could be part of the equation and get (other state agencies and regulatory entities) in the room … and have those conversations” even down to the project level.

“We’ve got to find ways to make things work for the community,” he said.

Dr. David Harper, vice president for Workforce & Academic Programs at Chesapeake College, talked about the college’s desire to “change the narrative” and incentivize local youth from the Eastern Shore with the skills and training to make a good living.

“Let's make it real,” Day said, as he described a hypothetical young Caroline countian who progresses through the Caroline County Technology Center and learns a trade at Chesapeake College.

“(That) young person … has ideas, has visions, has aspirations to what they're going to build as a business, put together a business plan and come to us for a loan just to get in their first building, buy their equipment, get started, payroll, all of the above. It's a partnership. It's a real partnership,” Day said. “This is the way it's supposed to work. There's an ecosystem. … you have to think about every stage. You can't just be like, ‘Hey, we trained you. Good luck.’ There's got to be a ‘next.’”

Matt Teffeau, manager of government affairs for Choptank Electric Cooperative, told Day he grew up in Caroline County. “One of the serious issues is housing” along with high property tax rates, low inventory, and high rent, he said.

Day said the country in general “stopped building housing … (and) the deficit has just been growing deeper. … We get into a deeper hole every year, and we're not catching up.”

“A number of factors” contribute to the lack of housing,” Day said, including labor costs, a lack of construction workers, material costs and high interest rates. “But the thing we can control is the regulatory environment.”

Legislatively, however, the situation didn’t improve at the end of the Maryland General Assembly’s session on April 7. “So here we are with the same set of rules on this side of the end of the legislative session as we had on the other, and if I sound at all irritated, you can imagine why,” Day said.

Following the discussion at the Wharves, Day toured downtown Denton.

At Patti’s Petals Florist, Gardens and Gifts in Denton’s historic downtown business district, owner Patti Wood told Day it was gratifying to see more businesses and restaurants open downtown, but that it was challenging “getting cars to stop.”

“My fear is that the development at Denton Plaza” will lead to the neglect of downtown businesses, Wood said. “People going to the Delaware beaches could come through town.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Day said. “We’ve got to get the heart of the town right.”