October 30th, 2014 by WCBC Radio
A sparse crowd on hand Wednesday evening at the South Cumberland Library for the final candidates forum prior to next Tuesday’s election. The Associated Landlords of Cumberland (ALOC) sponsored the event which featured the candidates running for a seat on the mayor and city council and focused on only landlord/property owner issues. Three questions, all of which were provided to the candidates in advance were presented by former longtime ALOC President Jeff Hutter, focusing on regulations; tax breaks and incentives used to entice outsiders to the area, but often not made available to existing property owners; and blighted property. Four candidates participated, including mayor hopeful Mary Miltenberger who said rental properties and issues of blight need to be taken out of the elected officials hands- in favor of establishing a commission that would address the full spectrum of those issues…
City Council candidate Dustin Freas said the stiff fines that are routinely assessed to landlords is creating real problems…
City council hopeful Sylvester Young III. A Baltimore native, Young said housing issues should be handled by an independent commission, and not the elected city officials….
City Council incumbent David Kauffman said he understand there is frustration by citizens when it comes to the very dilberate process in place in addressing cases of blighted properties- theose are in place to protect the property owner rights…
Council candidate Dustin Freas and mayoral candidate Mary Miltenberger also participated in the forum. Mayor Brian Grim and council candidate Seth Bernard had prior commitments, but did send written responses to the questions- while mayoral candidate Jeffrey Grogg did not respond in any way to the invitation and was a no-show.
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