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This is Midshore Midday. I’m Jim Brady,
Cambridge area residents have watched the rift between city leaders and members of Cambridge Waterfront Development Incorporated unfold publicly for nearly a year. But what has also taken place off the radar is an ongoing effort by state officials to steer the Cambridge Harbor project back on track.
Leading the effort to intervene, Tom Hutchinson, Dorchester County State Delegate, has worked quietly to diffuse the tensions and bring about some resolutions. Tom, the lawsuit the city filed against CWDI has been settled. Some allowances have been made for CWDI to sell property to the yacht maintenance company, but there’s more left to be settled, right?
Tom Hutchinson: Well, there’s still more to be settled. I think there’s still the issue with the governance with CWDI that the mayor brought forth CWDI needs to continue to rebuild their board and overall rebuild the trust within the community, and I think we’re off to a good start to begin all that process.
WHCP: What were some of the key turning points in the negotiations with CWDI in the city?
TH: I think there was just, again, a lack of trust and a lack of transparency, and that’s really where I focus my attention on is to try to break that barrier. We’re going back a year ago that we started having what we call partners meetings with the state, the city, the county, and CWDI. Together we got to the point that we were beginning to share some confidential information that the city had requested, and I remember my last meeting where (former City Manager) Tom Carroll was still here. It was late November, and Tom was to take that information and to come back with additional questions. What happened after that is I went back to session. I was busy for 90 days. I sort of always wondered if Tom was going to come back with questions. Then the next thing I see that he was resigning. And so in the back of my mind, I think maybe at that point he had made his decision as to where he was going to go and didn’t come back with that. So a lot happened. Then once I got back out of session, I came back home.
WHCP: What exactly has CWDI agreed to do differently and what did the city have to concede?
TH: Well, I’m not really privy to all of the ins and outs of the final settlements that’s there, but I think one of the things, again, to rebuild trust, so there was a big conflict between the city and CWDI. There was a conflict between Tom and with him Matt, and so Tom did leave, and I think CWDI took a very difficult decision, made the right decision to work with Matt and to say, we also need to make a change on the CWDI side. So I think that now opens up the avenue for us to come back together and rebuild trust within the city and all the partners.
WHCP: And we’re talking about Tom Carroll, former city manager?
TH: That’s Correct, yes.
WHCP: You’ve been spearheading this intervention, but who are some of the others who have lent their direction and advice to this effort?
TH: Well, I think really everybody’s wanting to come to see a resolution here. I mean, Angie and Frank, God bless them, they’re both volunteers now.
WHCP: Angie Hanks and Frank Nar from CWDI
TH: They’re now thrown into this as volunteers. But sort of the responsibility now of being board members to work on this, the mayor, city council, the commissioners have been very engaged, wanting to try to come to a resolution, and even the county council has been involved with this. So all three partners have wanted to see a resolution. I think collectively, we all got there.
WHCP: The sudden termination of the former executive director of CWDI, we mentioned Matt Leonard. That didn’t come about without some strong messaging from the state to CWDI. Right?
TH: Well, I think in general we wanted to make sure that we had to get this back on track. And again, difficult decisions have to be made. And when you see a conflict and some loss of trust… I know Matt, I like Matt. He’s in my Friday breakfast group as well. But overall, I think for us to move forward and get the process moving forward, it was a necessary step.
WHCP: Robbie Gill, CEO of Chesapeake, YMCA has designs on putting a $30 million new building on prime space at Cambridge Harbor. And last we checked, CWDI is all for it, representing the new Y building in presentations to the state. But as you know, there’s significant opposition among city residents. What’s the outlook right now?
TH: Jim, I’m really glad you brought that up. That’s been something that’s been on my mind for quite some time. And when I first heard about the YMCA going over to Cambridge Harbor, I was actually quite intrigued and I was actually intrigued because I saw that as a potential solution to the loss of Governor’s Hall. I saw designs of where the gymnasium could be converted into public space with garage doors that could open up and flowing out into the green space. And so my first reaction was, wow, we have a potential solution for that. It’s also interesting in many communities on the eastern shore and around the Y of the Chesapeake’s region, many communities actually throw parties and celebrations when they hear that a new Y is coming. And unfortunately here, I think daggers have been thrown, and that’s very unfortunate. I certainly have listened to my constituents who certainly seems to be a lot of concern about the YMCA going at the Cambridge Harbor.
What I’m very hopeful and what I was happy to see is that the Y is entertaining bringing us a new YMCA to Dorchester County. And my focus is because I believe the residents of Dorchester County deserve a world-class YMCA. I have visited some of the other brand new facilities that they’ve opened up on the Eastern shore. They are fantastic, and we deserve the same beautiful YMCA at a wonderful location. I’m very hopeful that Robbie can work with his donors to find where is that perfect location so that we can do that.
Though, I would like to say one thing too, speaking about Robbie Gill, I have seen in both verbal and written some very ill words said about Robbie Gill. I know Robbie personally, I couldn’t meet a more passionate and compassionate person who wants the best for our children, for our seniors. He wants to see reduced diabetes rates, he wants to see lower obesity rates. He is a gentleman that has been very focused on improving the health and the wellness of all of our communities. And I have nothing but great respect for Robbie Gill.
WHCP: The city has specified, and CWDI agreed in a contract, that CWDI was to select a professional developer in a public process, but CWDI early on decided not to, and they didn’t, and instead to act as their own development company. Do you believe that we’ll see an actual development company taking on this project?
TH: I actually do. And so let me share with you what occurred when I returned from session back in the spring, that was soon after the mayor had his press release about being the sole member of CWD. I immediately reached out to Angie Hengst to Mayor Rideout, brought them together to start understanding the beginning of a negotiation process. We worked together and came up with a 14 point plan. And part of that plan was we sort of viewed it as a phase one and phase one being the left of the boat ramp. If you were to look at the water, a hotel yacht maintenance, and then that’s sort of the completion of phase one. But as you go to phase two requirement of having an RFP go out, finding a master developer and seeing what the plans would be to really finish the Cambridge Harbor area.
WHCP: What about oversight? CWDI has refused to release total expenses paid to its consulting firms and puts out very limited financial information, balance sheets, P&L statements, federal forms. Is there going to be some oversight going forward and also some review of how they have spent all these public dollars?
TH: I don’t believe that that’s true anymore. I think with the changes that have been occurring, we’re seeing transparency from CWDI. I mean, right now they’re working very hard again as volunteers to bring this all together. They’ve created a new website to put this information out. I feel very comfortable that the information will be out, and I know as long as I’m the state delegate, I’ll make sure there’s full transparency at CWDI.
WHCP: Do you get the impression that CWDI members still think they should be independent of any public body and not fully accountable to the public as a so-called private nonprofit?
TH: No, I think that’s changing as well. You got to think about it. CWDI, the whole concept of CWDI was new to all of us and with three different partners, and I’d say maybe all three different partners had a different expectation of how it was going to work together. So I think what has occurred is a very hard learning experience on how we’re going to do this and work collaboratively as one unit to develop a world-class harbor here in Cambridge.
WHCP: Do you think changes on the CWDI board will be necessary for a working cooperative relationship with the city?
TH: Oh, absolutely. So again, a learning experience. So I think each of the stakeholders put their individual board members on, but probably didn’t tell them what their expectations were. How is this board supposed to work? Who are they really accountable to? Are they accountable to the stakeholder? Are they accountable to CWDI? And so I think that came out loud and clear that there was some miscommunication there. I know the city’s working hard on replacing their board members. County still has their open position. I’m sure they’ll eventually, they’ll fill that position. And I think we have a strong individual right now at the state who I now have met and have a good line of communication with him as well.
WHCP: What do you think is the next step in the process to resolve these issues?
TH: Keep talking. Communication. I mean, that’s really been my background. And when you have difficult situations, you got to bring the parties together and you have to have trust rebuilt. And that comes out through communication and sharing information back. There should be excitement about Cambridge Harbor, not negativism, about Cambridge Harbor. So I hope that last night (hotel presentation to city council) was a change of the tide to say we have an opportunity to make Cambridge Harbor a destination that’s inclusive to all Marylanders, not just residents of Dorchester County, but people driving across that bridge are going to say, I want to stop in Cambridge, Maryland, because that’s a beautiful place to be.
WHCP: We’ve been speaking with Tom Hutchinson, state Delegate for Dorchester County. Thanks for all you do, and thanks for coming in.
TH: I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
WHCP: This is Midshore midday.
