"Ten years ago, some county officials wouldn't go into a 7-Eleven with us (builders) when we were getting lunch. They would wait outside until we were finished. Now they not only go in, they expect us to buy them lunch," he said. "You just shouldn't be seeing that. The business industry and the government are too cozy right now.

"County officials are meeting with developers and that shouldn't be going on. To get the best results for the citizens, that should be a more adversarial relationship. That way, everyone will be on their toes."

"Another thing that needs to change is mandatory disclosures of partnerships and business relationships for elected and appointed county officials. Officials can do whatever they want, as long as the citizens know about it. And mandatory disclosures would do that."

Two other concerns Koval has involve the current county commissioners. 

"With this set of commissioners, instead of listening to what they say, you have to watch what they do," he said. "For instance, the moratorium is a joke. That was evidenced last Thursday at a planning meeting. They were working on the developer's rights and responsibilities agreement for Four Seasons. They shouldn't have been working on it.

"And, another big question I have is, why do they constantly have executive sessions? I've been going to the commissioners meetings for a year now. It's my understanding that executive sessions are meant for discussing personnel and legal issues. Are they really having that many problems? I doubt it."

"It's a strange thing - those meetings. It's not like they end the commissioners meeting at a set time. There is no set start and stop time. They (commissioners) just get up and go into the hearing room, and it's announced that they're now in an executive session," he continued. "I don't think the hearing room should have a door on it. Just have everything out in the open. What are they afraid of people hearing?"

"When it appeared that two of the incumbents were going to be running unopposed in the primary, Moser (Richard Moser is candidate for county commissioner at large and president of KIDL) and I filed last minute. There was no way we could let the incumbents go unchallenged within their parties."

"In District 4, let's just say the incumbent and I have some philosophical differences. He likes to pacify people to push his agenda. Right now, he's using parks to push his agenda. If you want to know what his agenda is, just look where most of his campaign signs are ... in pending development areas."

"I'm not a politician nor did I ever really want to be one. I don't plan on running a typical campaign. Just because I like going to the circus doesn't mean I want to run away and join. But I just can't see sitting back and letting this county get run into the ground by people who aren't looking out for the best interest of its citizens," Koval said. "The citizens need a voice. We're just not getting listened to by the current three."

On the growth issue, Koval maintains "we need to limit it." He warns, "We have to limit growth so it doesn't run away like on the western shore - like Frederick, Prince George's and Montgomery counties. Their schools and roads are an absolute mess.

"We need to have caps, plain and simple. Sewer caps, building caps. You say you're only going to be doing so much per year, and when it reaches that number, no more."

"We don't need ordinances with more waivers. Right now, too much is left to the county's discretion. Ordinances ought to be more clear and concise."

"The impact fee ordinance is over 30 pages. It shouldn't be that long. They (commissioners) say everyone will be paying the same amount, but there are three or four waivers in there for residential developers. If there were no waivers the fee could be lower."

"The commissioners keep pointing to the designated growth areas, saying they comprise just six percent of the county. Well, if you do the math - using the commissioners' numbers, you see exactly what kind of growth that is," Koval said.

"Six percent of the 280,000 acres in the county equals 16,800 acres in the growth area. Densities in growth areas can go anywhere from 2.5 to 8 units per acre. Do the math."

"Right now, we have about 17,000 houses in the county and we're stretched out with respect to schools, emergency services, roads, sewage, water... how is it going to be with two or three times that number? It's not like I'm pulling those numbers out of a hat to prove a point... I'm using their numbers."

"I'm told the commissioners paid $80,000 for an emergency services study which showed that as we are now, we're 40 people short on police, EMT (emergency medical technicians), and fire personnel," Koval said. "If we don't have enough emergency service people now, how are we going to approve thousands more building lots. Isn't that putting the safety of our citizens at risk?"

"Then we have people at the state level like Harriet Tregoning, secretary of the Office of Smart Growth, who get up at meetings and say things like, 'With smart growth, we have to teach people not to drive their cars.' Not drive their cars?! How ridiculous is that statement?"

"And no one at the meetings questions that - except me. I just won't sit back and listen to them not making common sense. If it doesn't make sense, I'm going to question it."

Koval has lived on Kent Island for 17 years. He and his wife Nancy were instrumental in last summer's referendum petition drive on the Four Season's Growth allocation. They have been married for 11 years, and have a son Andrew, who is 9. 

 ©The Star Democrat 2002 

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