Emmitsburg Town Commissioner Candidate Dr. Wayne Slaughter

(9/2016) Hello, my name is Wayne A. Slaughter, I am a candidate running for the office of Commissioner with the Town of Emmitsburg/Board of Commissioners. I would like your vote on September 27, 2016 so that I can help make Emmitsburg a safer and more prosperous community. I believe that I am very qualified for this position due to my successful history of significant accomplishments in federal, state, and non-profit organizations over the past 34 years within the fields of health care, vocational rehabilitation, employment and training, and post-secondary education. Since I moved from the Chicago Illinois metropolitan area to work for the Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Baltimore over 17 years ago, I have lived in the same house that I originally bought in Silo Hill back in 1999. I chose to live in Emmitsburg and make the daily 120 mile round-trip commute to work in Baltimore because, of all the towns I visited after relocating to Maryland, Emmitsburg had the most ideal mix of location, amenities, and access. Emmitsburg seemed like the perfect place to call home, situated against the Catoctin mountains with reasonable proximity to the highways and Baltimore/Washington D.C. as well as easy access to neighboring communities such as Gettysburg, Thurmont, and Frederick, it has so many desirable attributes.

For those of us who moved to Emmitsburg from other communities, we all know that Emmitsburg is a special place, that it possesses a genuine charm and a unique small town civic spirit that comes from its rich history and the residents that choose to live here. I am running for office because I want to make sure that Emmitsburg preserves and nurtures this spirit for many years to come. However, like many small communities throughout Maryland and the United States, the economic restructuring over the past 40 years has resulted in a continually diminishing manufacturing and industrial base which has seriously eroded local employment opportunities for residents and their children. Unfortunately, for most small towns across the United States there are complex macro-economic and structural reasons for this problem that are not likely to change substantially which leave the smaller bedroom communities such as Emmitsburg alone to fend for themselves. In order to remain competitive with other communities struggling to attract new residents and businesses that pay competitive wages, Emmitsburg needs to make some decisions about the direction the town will be headed over the next few decades. As you all know, nothing happens quickly with government, but the efforts to address these challenges begin with our elected officials and they need to begin now.

I have a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Illinois/Chicago, my dissertation was on Suburban Economic Development so I am very familiar with many of the issues Emmitsburg is facing now and will be in the future. During my professional career with the federal government, I was responsible for managing millions of dollars in federaI funds, making payments to providers, managing contracts and staff, and developing new initiatives to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs; I also worked for the State of Illinois and several non-profit organizations creating employment and training programs for the disabled population. In addition, I was a part-time Assistant Professor at Gettysburg College from 1999 to 2007 teaching classes in American Government and Public Policy.Throughout my professional career, I have been responsible for managing public funds and developing new initiatives to improve services while maintaining and protecting the core values and mission of the organization. As a result, I have learned to work closely with people, to listen to the stakeholders, to help people work together to solve complex problems all while keeping an eye on the budget to make sure that public funds were spent appropriately.

When I retired last December 31, 2015, I made a personal commitment to become more locally involved and active within the Town of Emmitsburg in order to help address the many challenging issues the community is facing. I feel very confident that Emmitsburg can have a bright and prosperous future as long as it is a safe and desirable place to live and raise families, therefore, continually enhancing the quality of life in Emmitsburg is an absolute priority. In order to help make this possible, I will devote my work as Commissioner to improving education, expanding social services for the poor, aggressively addressing the drug problems that plague young adults and their families, and promoting new public safety and community awareness programs. Finally, as residents, we need to decide where we want this town to be in the next 10-20 years and whether there will be sustainable opportunities for families to live and work nearby. These problems are complicated and cannot be solved within a single jurisdiction like Emmitsburg, they involve promoting effective cooperative relations with other local communities, counties, and state government; these are problems that are best addressed working together rather than as isolated communities. Addressing these problems begins with having the most qualified and energetic people governing the community; I strongly believe I can help Emmitsburg confront these challenges and I am asking for your vote on September 27 to help make that a reality.

Thank you, I sincerely look forward to working with all of you as an Emmitsburg Town Commissioner.