Elections Glade Valley headline 

Chad Weddle Runs for Burgess

GladeValley.net has invited each candidate to answer the same set of questions to provide voters in The Town of Walkersville with some information to help them make a decision at the polls on September 14, 2015. Mr. Weddle is running unopposed for the position of Burgess, Walkersville's Chief Executive Officer.

chadweddleTELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

Chad W. Weddle is a native Frederick County resident and resident of Walkersville since the age of six months old. He graduated from Walkersville High, Frederick Community College, Shepherd University and the University of Maryland Law School where in 1996 he obtained his Juris Doctorate.

Chad is married to Irene H. Weddle and enjoys spending time with family. He collects Maryland and United States ties and enjoys supporting University of Maryland athletics

Chad has been an active member of the Frederick County legal community for 20 years and has served as Chair of the Frederick County Criminal Defense Bar and the Frederick County Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission. In 2005 he was found “most fully qualified” to be appointed as a District Court Judge. As an attorney, Chad has taught Business Law, Wills & Estate Planning, Criminal Law, and Legal Research at Frederick Community College, Abbie Business Institute and Accutech Business School. He was previously employed as an attorney with the State of Maryland and is now a partner with William H. Poffenbarger at Poffenbarger and Weddle.

PUBLIC SERVICE

Chad has always felt the importance of giving to one’s community. Since 1996, Chad has had the privilege of serving as a Commissioner for the Town of Walkersville. He has been re-elected by the citizens 7 times and presently is in his 8th term.

 He has been an active volunteer firefighter since age 16. In 2013, Chad received commendations for assisting with a water rescue and received Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company’s “Firefighter of the Year award”.

Chad served as the Treasurer of Glade United Church of Christ for the last 16 years and has served as Treasurer of Walkersville High School Alumni Association for the last 10 years. Chad is also the Scholarship Chair for the Alumni Association.

He has served as President of Walkersville Volunteer Rescue Company Inc., President of the Walkersville High School Alumni Association Inc. and Consistory President of Glade United Church of Christ.

Chad also volunteers at the Frederick Soup Kitchen, and with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He is a member of the American Legion and the Elks Lodge. In addition, Chad is a lay ministry school graduate and was a licensed minister at Jefferson UCC for over two years. He serves as pulpit supply for many churches throughout Frederick County. He currently serves as the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company’s Chaplain. Chad and Irene teach Sunday school to the Glade UCC middle school class.

TOP ISSUES:

Later questions deal with growth and crime so I will concentrate on

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  1. Maintaining Walkersville’s low tax rate while still providing excellent services.  Walkersville’s tax rate for a Town consisting of approximately 6,000 residents is the lowest rate for any Town in Maryland with over 2,500 residents. For example, Walkersville’s rate is .15 (fifteen cents), Thurmont is .30 (thirty cents) Middletown  .23 (twenty-three cents) Brunswick .46 (forty-six cents) and Frederick .73 (seventy-three cents)
  2. Building a New Water plant that will not be susceptible to the situations Walkersville went through with contamination from a sewer spill and other contamination.  New technology will allow us to treat our water to prevent these emergency situations.

CRIME:

We are lucky to live in a Town where what is termed “serious” crime such as murder, rape and robbery are, thankfully, not present. However, what residents are experiencing are nuisance type crimes such as stealing from unlocked cars, vandalism etc.  I hope through

  1. public awareness – lock your cars, sheds and homes, consider the installation of security cameras, create a  neighborhood crime watch, report any suspicious behavior immediately not the next day, and
  2. increased police presence throughout Walkersville, that these will help deter and prevent as much crime as possible in our community.

GROWTH:

I ran in 1996 because I had personally witnessed and experienced the effect that doubling the Towns population from 1980 to 1990 (2,500 to 5,000) had on roads, schools and the fire and ambulance service in the Town. Since 1996 the Town has been on a “controlled” growth pattern of approximately 20 to 60 homes per year being built thus from 1990 to 2015 the Town’s population has seen a much slower increase (5,000 to 6,000).

Growth of a community is important to keeping the tax rate low and not being stagnant, but as the tax rates bear out from other larger communities – growth almost certainly leads to increased costs.

Traffic:

Try and leave Walkersville between 6:30 am and 8:30 am or return to Walkersville between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm and you KNOW what traffic on Route 194 is like.  Walkersville should work with the State and County to try and alleviate as much congestion from 194 and Biggs Ford road as possible so our residents spend more time in Walkersville and not on the roads to and from Walkersville.

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  1. […] time Walkersville Commissioner, Chad Weddle, is running unopposed for Burgess. The office of Burgess is Walkersville’s Chief Executive […]

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