(12/23)
Several candidates have been approved for running for election to a remaining two-year term on a four-year vacant seat on the Thurmont Board of Commissioners.
The seat available on the board was vacated when former board of commissioners’ member Mayor John Kinnaird was elected to his current position in the election held October 29.
Three candidates were approved by the Thurmont Candidate Nomination Convention December 10 were Wesley Hamrick, Randy Cubbage, and William Blakeslee.
Hamrick, 51, who moved to Thurmont in 1969, is a Catoctin High School graduate, an active member at Weller United Methodist Church and Thurmont Lions Club, and a lifetime member of the Guardian Hose Company. He is employed as a manager for AT&T for several decades and works part-time for Stauffer's funeral homes.
Hammock told the News-Journal, “”This my first run for a public office. As far as what I would bring to the board, it would be a fresh face and a fresh perspective, and fresh ideas. I’m a conservative at heart, socially and fiscally.”
“I have high people and communicator skills,” he said. “It’s done very well for me in the business world, working with people at all levels.
Cubbage, 57, is a current chairman of the Thurmont Planning & Zoning Commission. The candidate is a native of Winter Park, Florida, and attended Seminole Junior College, Seminole, Oklahoma, and retired after 29 years in 2013 from the U.S. Park Police. Move to Thurmont 1993.
This represents Cubbage second run at a commissioner’s seat.
Cubbage told the News-Journal, “I’m looking to bring a little bit of experience in planning and zoning to the board…and (the governing administration) stays within our master plan of growth for Thurmont.”
The candidate said he would like to serve as the “continued voice on the board” for the master plan as the demographics face change in the future, and bring a little bit of the law enforcement knowledge in dealing with issues regarding the police.”
Blakeslee, 67, was a former Thurmont commissioner and former town chief administrative officer. He also had served on a number of town boards and committees, including the parks and planning and zoning commissions, as well as the charter review board.
He was discharged under unknown circumstances as the chief administrative officer in 2013, and did not run for re-election to the board of commissioners in the October election.
“I bring a lot of experience, and have been involved in many, many things in Thurmont, including the Main Street program, successful grant applications, the new police building, (even) negotiating lower electric bills.”
A special election will be held January 7 to place one of the candidates on the town Board of Commissioners.
