P.O. Box 142 — Sykesville, MD 21784

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Reprint from Gazette

July 15, 2004

In observance of a summer break, there will be no FACC meeting this month. The next meeting will be August 12th and the guest speaker will be our U.S Congressional Representative, Roscoe Bartlett. The FACC will, however, hold it's bi-annual elections for officers and board members on July 15th. All FACC general membership and board meetings meetings are open to the public. The executive officers nominated are: For President: Tom McCarron, for Vice President: Richard Nacewicz, for Treasurer: Doug Metz, and for Secretary: Nicole Musgrave-Burdette.

Current President, Ross Dangel, Vice President, Mike Naused and Treasurer, Cathy Dodson are expected to stay on as board members. The balance of FACC's thirteen person board now includes: Dan Bicking, Nimrod Davis, Kim Madeja, Cathy Naused, Harry O'Sullivan and Ken Plante, who will all also stand for re-election.

Citizens organizations like the FACC are challenged these days to keep people interested in participating in local governance issues. This is perhaps even more difficult in areas like ours, where there is no municipal representation or legally representative voice in county government. By virtue of its longstanding civic participation, the FACC continues to provide a platform for Freedom citizens to effectively channel their voice and standing with state and local officials, as well as with various government agencies.

With all the time demands on people these days for family, work and other important interests, it's understandable that many find it hard to make time to volunteer for civic activities or to even attend an evening meeting once in awhile. Even so, we encourage all of our civic-minded neighbors to join the FACC to stay informed and perhaps become more involved, as we come together to make our community a better place. Many retirees, for example, may now have both the time and professional skills, which could be important assets to a volunteer organization like the FACC. Previous civic experience is not necessary, as volunteers are always needed to develop new programs and attend the variety of public meetings, which impact our community. Civic activities are a great way to give back to the community and become involved in what's going on. Annual household membership in the FACC is still only $10 and includes our bi-monthly newsletter the Informer.

This year has seen the FACC welcome speakers from county government, local service organizations and one of our elected officials. In addition to hosting our U.S Congressional Representative (Roscoe Bartlett) next month, we plan to include speakers from the public schools and other important citizens organizations this fall.

The FACC continues to support Freedom area concerns through active participation in the Council of Governments and recently concluded its service to the county's Growth Task Force, which wrapped-up by delivering its growth management recommendations this past April. Importantly for our area, these recommendations for the first time, included specific criteria to address the need for adequate facilities like roads, water, police, fire and rescue services in addition to schools, when considering new development approvals. School overcrowding and lack of available water, for example, have been cited in recent decisions to halt new development approvals in the Freedom area until 2010.

For more information about FACC, please visit us on the web at www.freedomareacitizens.org. Together, we can make a difference!