“Carroll County saw an increase in confirmed lab reports for COVID over the summer, but we have seen a decrease in the last couple of weeks,” Maggie Kunz, health planner with the Carroll County Health Department said. “Carroll County stayed at a low hospital admissions level as well, but we have seen an increase in COVID-related deaths in the last several weeks.”

As of Sept. 4, the most recent numbers available from the state, there have been 536 deaths in Carroll County attributed to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in 2020. That number is up from 526 recorded deaths as of July 16.

COVID cases continue to increase in all parts of the U.S., with KP.3.1.1 being the predominant variant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We are promoting the updated COVID vaccines, which match more current strains of the virus,” Kunz said. “It’s important to get the updated vaccine because, like other vaccines, protection from the COVID-19 vaccine decreases with time and the new vaccines offer the best protection from current strains.”

But even those who are vaccinated have contracted the virus.

“The shots aren’t meant to prevent every COVID infection, but to protect against severe illness, hospitalization, and death,” she said. “People who recently had COVID may delay getting [another] vaccine for three months.”

The health department is expected to have a limited number of vaccines available this fall, which will be reserved for adults and children without health insurance.

More information will be available on the department’s website, https://health.maryland.gov/carroll/Pages/Flu-COVID-19-RSV-Vaccines.aspx.

Pharmacies in the county will also be administering vaccines for people 3 years of age and older, Kunz said.

People can search for nearby pharmacy information at https://www.vaccines.gov/en/.

The proposal would carve a 70-mile-long path through Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore counties. The $424 million project has a proposed date of operation of June 2027. Jason Kalwa, who manages the energy project for the Public Service Enterprise Group, said in July that the project will provide a much-needed upgrade to the energy grid, which will benefit Carroll residents and others.

The project has drawn criticism due to its potential to invoke eminent domain, harm the environment, hamper the economic productivity of Carroll farms, reduce property values, pass on costs to energy consumers, and detract from the beauty of nature. Ready stands with other Carroll lawmakers in opposing the plan.

“There have been a number of property owners who’ve been contacted by individuals who are attempting to buy up their land,” Commissioner Joe Vigliotti said at a county meeting on Thursday. “I’m not quite sure whether this is some kind of a scare tactic or a scam, or somebody looking to exploit the situation, but if somebody does try to pressure you into selling your property, say no.”

Ready said he would not tell someone what to do with their property, but he urges residents to not panic or act in fear when evaluating an offer.

“It’s not really illegal for somebody to send you an offer or to say they want to make an offer on your house,” Ready said, “but obviously there can be predatory practices, and we want to keep an eye on that for sure.”

The state senator advises residents to consult real estate or land experts before even entertaining an offer.

Joanne Frederick, director of Stop MPRP, a community advocacy group with hundreds of members and thousands of email recipients that was formed to oppose the project, said last month that agricultural land can be hard to accurately value. She discourages anyone from signing anything that would sell or grant access to their land.

“The first thing that everyone needs to know is do not sign anything,” Frederick said. “If someone knocks on your door and says, ‘We want to talk to you about using your land for power,’ just politely but firmly tell them you’re not interested in and send them on their way.”

Vigliotti asked anyone contacted to reach out to and share details with commissioners, Ready or Stop MPRP.

“All this information, as it comes to light, is incredibly important,” Vigliotti said, “because we all have to be aware of what it is we’re facing. This attempt to buy a property seems to be the latest in a series of interesting incidents.”

Ready said there are many unknown elements regarding the proposed transmission line, and it is unclear what recent property acquisition offers mean for the project, if anything.

In September 2022, Carroll County commissioners purchased 326 acres adjacent to the Northern Landfill in Westminster for about $13 million. During their weekly meeting Thursday, they were briefed on plans to improve operations at the now-526-acre Carroll County Resource Recovery Park & Northern Landfill on Baltimore Boulevard.

The county has expanded the landfill to develop more sustainable and environmentally safe options to dispose of the county’s trash for residents and businesses, Cliff Engle, chief of Carroll County’s Bureau of Solid Waste said.

Plans for future improvements include:

• Additional capacity.
• Transfer station for recyclables and trash.
• Consolidated area for residents to dump trash.
• Landfill upgrades, such as a new entrance, roads, maintenance shop and scale house.
• Resource recovery park for yard waste, organics recycling and construction and demolition materials.
• Possible solar field.

Environmental assessment studies on the property have been completed, which included locating wetlands, deep slopes, water resource conservation easements, forest conservation easements and an existing rubble area that could be an obstacle to future development.

The county is now engaged in engineering, design and permitting. State permits are expected to be complete in 2027. Federal permits will be also needed, along with a permit to construct a new entrance to the landfill.

“All of those studies brings us to where can we go as far as potential development areas,” Engle said.

Cost estimates are currently being developed, he added. Public hearings and special websites to communicate updates are also under consideration.

In fiscal 2023, the county disposed of 137,000 tons of trash at the Northern Landfill. The county also recycled 19,000 tons of materials, including household and commercial recyclables, yard waste, and scrap tires during that year.

In August 2023, the county agreed to continue its more than three-decade contract for trash and recycling services with the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority — an independent state agency that assists seven counties plus Baltimore City with waste management. The commissioners unanimously approved the annual contract with the authority in the amount of $180,966.26, which is about a 3.95% increase over the fiscal 2023 membership fee, according to Engle.

Due to rising costs to process trash at the Northern Landfill the tipping fees charged to dump garbage there increased on July 1, 2023. Tipping fees are paid by those who dispose of waste, based on weight.

The cost of dumping general household trash increased from $65 per ton to $66 per ton, and the charge for the disposal of construction and demolition trash jumped from $80 a ton to $82 a ton, according to a county news release. Money collected from tipping fees goes into the county’s Solid Waste Enterprise Fund, which pays for recycling, the management of solid waste, the transfer station and operating the Northern Landfill.

Rothstein, a retired colonel and former garrison commander at the Fort George G. Meade U.S. Army installation in Anne Arundel County, said several years ago, just after he retired, a young soldier came up to him and thanked him for saving his life. The soldier reminded Rothstein of a time years earlier when Rothstein checked in on him and shared that this intervention led him to seek help for PTSD and ultimately find healing.

Rothstein said it was a surprising example of the positive affect you can have on other people, without knowing it. He shared the story after reading aloud a proclamation declaring the month of September Suicide Prevention Month in the county.

“Suicide is preventable,” Rothstein said, reading aloud the official proclamation. “Through building awareness and essential skills, anyone can support people at risk. Asking someone if they’re thinking about suicide does not increase the risk of suicide. It can open a conversation that can save a life.”

Rothstein noted that it was important for the county to discuss suicide prevention this month but emphasized prevention efforts shouldn’t end when the month does.

“We really should remind ourselves it’s a proclamation for prevention every day,” he said. “I’ve shared with you my stories … and the importance of resilience and reducing the stigma (of mental health crises), putting people in positions where they feel there’s no way out …

“We need to intervene, one person at a time, one group at a time. I believe it is our responsibility and calling in our community to intervene.”

Rothstein made the remarks while wearing a black baseball cap with a large “988” on the front, aiming to bring awareness to the existence of the 988 Helpline, which anyone can call to seek help during a mental health crisis. Confidential help is available at that phone number and online at https://988helpline.org/ 24 hours a day.

County officials emphasized Thursday that suicide prevention is a community effort, and that Carroll County has many resources in place to help.

Amy Laugelli, director of prevention services for the Carroll County Health Department, discussed the array of free services, trainings and resources available via the health department.

“We want to prioritize connecting to hope,” she said. “We want to normalize talking about this. … Trainings can help people get comfortable with recognizing warning signs of suicide.”

The county marks the first “988 Day” on Sunday, with the theme of “No judgment, just help,” and the goal of getting the word out about using the 988 Helpline. World Suicide Prevention Day is Sept. 10, and health department employees will wear yellow to show solidarity “that we are all in this together as a community,” she said.

On Sept. 14, the Out of the Darkness Community Walk will be held at Krimgold Park in Woodbine, from 9 a.m. to noon, to raise awareness about suicide prevention, in association with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Similar walks will happen all over the country that day, she said.

Veronica Dietz, director of crisis services at the health department, noted the success of the county’s Crisis Intervention Team, which has trained about 100 law enforcement officers from all municipal police agencies, the sheriff’s office and state police, as well as correctional deputies, dispatchers, and officers who work at McDaniel College and Carroll Community College. The officers are trained to ask six specific questions to gauge if the individual they are dealing with is at high, moderate, or low risk for suicide.

“Oftentimes people call 911 because they are in a crisis. 988 is the place to call for a behavioral health crisis, taking some of the responsibility off of law enforcement,” Dietz said. “What we understand about suicide is that there is a level of ambivalence that is pervasive. Most people don’t want to die, they don’t want to be in the extreme behavioral health crisis that they are in. What they’re dealing with are overwhelming feelings and that leads to these thoughts of suicide.”

When people are given the opportunity to talk about what they are feeling, they take it, she said.

“If we can have an officer who is compassionate and empathetic,” who can offer people a listening ear as well as resources,” Dietz said, it “will ensure that individuals in our community will get connected more appropriately and more effectively.”

According to the health department’s website, Crisis Information Team trained officers “have been given intensive training to recognize symptoms, defuse situations, and provide assistance. This way of response allows situations to be handled in a manner that reduces arrest, trauma, injury, or even death during mental health crisis calls and promotes linking people with behavioral health concerns to behavioral health professionals and programs designed to coordinate diversion from jail and/or unnecessary use of the emergency department​.”

The Carroll County Health Department partners with Carroll Community College to offer free Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid classes every month. These eight-hour courses aim to teach a 5-step action plan to offer initial help to people with signs and symptoms of a mental illness or in a crisis, and connect them with the appropriate professional, peer, social or self-help care.

In addition, the county’s Suicide Prevention Coalition just started up again, and hopes to identify local contributing factors to suicide in order to better direct funding, Laugelli said. The health department is working on communication efforts and raising awareness on social media and will soon hire a part-time staff member who will focus exclusively on doing that, Laugelli said.

Laugelli also noted the Sources of Strength program in Carroll County Public Schools, a youth suicide prevention project “designed to harness the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture, ultimately preventing suicide, bullying, and substance abuse,” according to the school system’s website.

Dietz emphasized that the community should feel empowered to talk about suicide openly, as it is the best way to help those who need it.

“It’s a myth that talking about suicide will make people think about it and go do it,” she said. “In fact, we know that asking the question, ‘Hey, have you been thinking about killing yourself? Have you ever thought about going to sleep and never waking up? Have you ever had thoughts about not wanting to be here?’ Those are the absolute questions to ask because it gives the person struggling with that relief to know that someone sees them.”

Dietz told commissioners they should “know that we are diligently working to make this completely preventable type of death extinguished.”

Find out more about the health department’s programs at https://health.maryland.gov/carroll/Pages/Behavioral-Health.aspx. Register for the free Mental Health First Aid classes at https://www.carrollcc.edu/mental-health-first-aid/.

The facility, in Keymar, formerly housed a rehabilitation academy for boys involved in the state’s justice system from 2009 to May 2022.

Rite of Passage, a Nevada-based organization that had managed Silver Oak Academy before and would operate the new facility, is in the process of ratifying a contract with Maryland’s Department of Human Services, to host up to 24 foster boys, ages 14 to 18, Rexrode said.

“We’ll still be looking at teenaged males,” Rexrode said, “but it’s a very different type of population. We are looking to serve students who need mental health support and behavior health support, as opposed to adjudicated youth in need of rehabilitation.”

“Due to concerns about staff supervision issues, youth safety, and problems within the education department at Silver Oak, all residential youth placed through DJS were removed from the program in May of 2022 and new admissions to the program through DJS were indefinitely halted,” a 2023 report from Maryland’s Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, an independent arm of the attorney general’s office, states.

Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit Director Nick Moroney said in an email that Maryland Juvenile Services has not been involved in the facility since its closure.

The new model for Silver Oak will be a treatment program aimed at transitioning participants to placements with a lower level of care, such as foster families or their parents, after about nine months. Participants may stay as long as it is determined that is what’s best for them, Rexrode said, and each resident will have an individualized plan. Youths may be involved in the community if their individual plan supports that decision.

Accordingly, students may attend local public schools if it is determined to be their best option for education. Rexrode said Rite of Passage representatives meet with school system staff weekly.

Rite of Passage also hopes to open a new Type II nontraditional academy on the site, to meet the educational needs of residential and nonresidential students, Rexrode said, although a timeline for the school is uncertain. A Type II school typically uses the curriculum and resources of the local school system while providing specialized care and education, according to Sheppard Pratt.

“This is an opportunity to serve foster youth who have experienced challenges maintaining safety in in other environments,” Rexrode said. “They might need a little extra support, so they might need a little more intensive mental health counseling, a little more intensive supervision, those kinds of things, more than they might get in like a typical foster family.”

The facility will be a type of group home that Maryland requires to have a strict child-staff ratio of at least 1:3. Rexrode said any opportunity to grow the program will be based on staffing.

Rite of Passage has maintained a license to operate from Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services since the academy closed. Rexrode said the company has evaluated need and determined that the facility could be best put to use as a residential facility for foster children.

Before Rite of Passage took over as manager of the facility in 2009, another private contractor operated Bowling Brook Preparatory School there. Rite of Passage purchased the 78-acre property for $8 million from Bowling Brook in 2009, took on $2 million of the former owner’s debts to the state, and spent another $250,000 to renovate a 20,000-square-foot vocational training center and six dormitories on the site.

“We feel like a this new population is the best type of student to live in this campus, in this location,” Rexrode said. “What hasn’t changed is our commitment to youth.”

Rite of Passage’s license is specific to serving boys, but Rexrode said there is room for growth. Girls could be housed in a separate building, and additional space could be used to expand to serve younger foster children, out-of-state youth, those with autism, or others in need of specialized education.

The organization emphasizes the importance of experiential programs, Rexrode said, including music and art therapy, and hopes to find a partner to offer equine therapy. Vocational facilities are likely to play a continued role in Silver Oak’s future, she added.

Bowling Brook Preparatory School closed in 2007 after a 17-year-old Baltimore teenager, Isaiah Simmons, died after being restrained by staff.

The state’s Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit noted problems with restraints and with classroom learning during Silver Oak’s first several years. In 2019, Silver Oak Academy drew criticism from residential neighbors, amid safety concerns regarding an increased number of student walk-offs. At the time, the academy housed 53 young men, with room for 96. Rite of Passage was licensed by Maryland DJS for about 30 of those residents, with others coming from out of state.

The property will not be fenced in, as locals once requested of Silver Oak Academy. Rexrode said there are protocols for contacting neighbors, “if the need arises, but it is our goal that that need will not arise due to strong support for the students, the students feeling like this is an opportunity to make their home in this location. These are not going to be students who feel like they are forced to come here, these are foster youth coming here for treatment, so that’s a very different philosophy.”

All staff will be trained in safe crisis management and de-escalation, Rexrode said, and the goal is to use restraint as rarely as possible. She said the practice will only be used when a student is deemed a danger to himself or others.

“It is our intent that our restraint numbers will be as low as is feasible for this population,” Rexrode said.

Silver Oak has yet to schedule a community forum, but plans to host one in the near future, Rexrode said.

“Our goal is to be a strong community partner and work with Maryland to best use this facility to meet community needs,” Rexrode said.

The Board of Carroll County Commissioners at their meeting Thursday unanimously approved a request from Mount Airy to rezone 1.3189 acres of property along Twin Arch Road, from residential to industrial. This zoning waiver approval allows the town to move closer to annexing the property into its corporate limits and increasing its industrial and commercial landscape.

“I can’t see any opposition to do this,” District 1 Commissioner Joe Vigliotti said. “I mean, the town is requesting it. It’s something that we can help make happen. We’ve been having some discussions over the last couple of weeks about ways we could cooperate with our municipalities in order to grow our commercial and industrial areas in the county, [as] a way to grow the tax base, rather than having to rely on increasing taxes.”

The small piece of property is owned by Tom Pank of Pank Land LLC. It is adjacent to two other parcels, one totaling 10.35 acres, and the other 38.94 acres, also zoned industrial, and located within the town’s corporate limits.

“This is sort of cleaning up the corporate boundary line of the town,” John Breeding, director of planning and zoning administrator, said in an interview Friday. “It’s really pretty straightforward.”

Breeding said the entire 50-acre property backs up to the Mount Airy Fire Company Carnival Grounds. A vacant home is on the 1.31 acres, and another building is on the adjacent property.

“Currently, Pank Land LLC has a plan under review with the town and Carroll County for a grading-only permit to grade all three parcels in preparation for a site development plan to be presented once a prospective user for an industrial lot contacts the property owner,” a written annexation plan states.

The Mount Airy Town Council is slated to schedule a public hearing on the annexation at its meeting Monday night. The public hearing is slated for October.

District 4 Commissioner Michael Guerin, who represents Mount Airy, said he’s familiar with the area, and the heavily traveled Twin Arch Road.

“I think it’s important that the public hearing take place, so people understand the larger concept of why this is happening, in relation to some of the neighboring parcels as well … and how it’s going to affect an already very busy road,” he said.

Breeding said at Thursday’s meeting that he agreed with Guerin’s concerns. He said when a site plan for development is presented to the town, requirements for road improvements will be discussed.

The Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission and Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission have both recommended approval of the annexation.

Commissioners’ President Ken Kiler, who represents District 2, and District 5 Commissioner Ed Rothstein dispute Bouchat’s claims that the county budget was developed by staff without commissioners’ input. Despite the fact that all three lawmakers are Republicans, the commissioners say they are fed up with Bouchat’s attacks and numerous emails.

“The Board of County Commissioners have always and will always maintain 100% responsibility and authority with the development, deliberation and decision-making of the budget,” said Rothstein, who served for four years with Bouchat on the board of commissioners. “[Bouchat] thinks things are being done behind our back. We do not delegate our responsibility to anyone. He has become a complete distraction over this thing, and what we need to accomplish.”

Bouchat has accused commissioners of a lack of transparency and accountability in creating and executing the fiscal 2025 operating budget. His concerns stemmed from news last year that commissioners started the budget process with a $12.4 million budget deficit.

“If the commissioners were involved in the creation of the budget from beginning to end, we, the elected officials, would have known ahead of time with far more knowledge to manage the forthcoming fiscal crisis,” Bouchat stated in an August email. “Knowledge is power, the administration has more knowledge then the commissioners.”

Bouchat went so far as to seek legal advice from County Attorney Timothy Burke, who declined to take up the matter, since Bouchat is not a county government official. The Office of Counsel to the Maryland General Assembly agreed with that assessment, according to a letter sent to Bouchat.

Carroll commissioners passed in May a $545 million operating budget following a frustrating process that included months of discussions as they worked to eliminate the $12.4 million deficit.

“Currently the Carroll County commissioners handle the budget, our meetings and all actions in full compliance with the law,” Kiler said. “In 1971, the General Assembly passed a comprehensive law requiring the [commissioners] to establish orderly procedures for budgeting and finance, which required, among other things, the designation of a budget director to assist the BOCC in preparing a budget, a timeline for preparation and adoption, public review, hearings regarding proposed budget, a statement of debt service requirements, a balanced budget, a reserve fund, and the adoption of the budget by ordinance prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.

“Since the state law was passed, Carroll County has followed a budget resolution, amended in 1975, which incorporates all required budget adoption processes and practices mandated by the General Assembly,” he said. “Our county is in full compliance with state law regarding our annual budget adoption procedure.”

Meanwhile, two years into his first term as a state delegate, Bouchat said he does not intend to seek a second term, because he believes it’s virtually impossible to effectively lobby for his constituents in Carroll and Frederick counties as a Republican in a chamber where Democrats hold the majority.

Bouchat has argued for years that if Carroll County went from its current form of government — in which a board of five commissioners is responsible for legislative and executive policy decisions — to a charter government, in which a county executive rules with a county council, Republicans would fare better in Annapolis.

In 2019, Bouchat also said he would not seek a second term on the Board of County Commissioners, after commissioners voted to hold off discussions about charter government.

Rothstein, said it makes “no sense” for Bouchat to twice use the idea of charter government as a reason not to seek a second term.

“He’s served two years of his first term, and the idea of using charter government over a commissioner form of government has no credibility,” he said. “It’s a shame.”

Rothstein defended the county’s form of government, mentioning the current controversy over the proposed Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project. The project would see 70 miles of 500,000-volt transmission lines installed through Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore counties.

Rothstein said county commissioners are working well with their counterparts in Frederick and Baltimore counties. Both of those counties are charter governments with a county executive and county council

“Most recently with the powerline situation, Carroll County has become the nucleus of bringing together Frederick County and Baltimore County, and the state legislature,” he said. “We are thoughtful in everything we do. We have strong leadership roles across the state.

“The relationship with the other elected officials, the Board of Education, and the state legislature, is transparent, and better than any other county in Maryland,” he said. “No other county has such a strong and open relationship.”

Kiler believes commissioner government is best for Carroll.

“The residents and voters of Carroll County have said that multiple times,” he said. “We have met with [the] governor, a number of his secretaries and delegates, and senators, multiple times. I don’t feel we would have a stronger voice in Annapolis if we had a county executive.”

Kiler said since 1968, county residents have voted against switching to charter government three times.

“The last charter proposal in 1998, was defeated by an almost 3-to-2 margin,” he said. “In addition, Code Home Rule was rejected by the voters three times, most recently in 2006. Based on these precedents, we can only conclude that our citizens are satisfied with the commissioner form of government in Carroll County.”

Finally, Republican Del. April Rose, who serves with Bouchat in District 5 as part of the county delegation in Annapolis, said she would welcome a discussion on charter government only if that is what residents want.

“I’m always willing to listen to constituents,” she said. “We’ve gone through this several times. I’ve seen this movie before. Traditionally our citizens have said they don’t want this and think it will be more expensive. I do not see a groundswell of people wanting a county executive.

“Certainly, as a duly elected official he is allowed to bring it up, but there’s no support for it on the delegation,” Rose said. “The delegation is not giving him what he wants, and he realizes he’s not getting it.”

The two schools are located about a mile apart, just outside the town of Sykesville in southern Carroll County.

Water fountains at both schools have been turned off and alternative water sources, including bottled and filtered water, are being provided until “a permanent solution is implemented,” according to a notice sent home with students at those schools. A notice will also be posted online, according to Gaddis.

PFAS — short for per- and polyfluo​​roalkyl substances — are human-made chemicals that have been used since the 1940s in a range of products including stain- ​and water-resistant fabrics and carpeting, cleaning products, paints, cookware, food packaging and fire-fighting foams. Known as “forever chemicals,” they do not break down.

Current research from the Maryland Department of the Environment suggests that high levels of PFAS may lead to high cholesterol; changes in liver enzymes; decreased infant birth weight; decreased vaccine effectiveness in children; increased risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women and increased risk of kidney or testicular cancer. Most Americans have likely already been exposed to some level of PFAS.

PFAS tests were conducted on July 29 at each county school whose water is sourced from a well, according to Gaddis. Runnymede, Sandymount and Mechanicsville elementary schools use well water, but water at each of those schools was deemed safe, she said.

Every other public school in Carroll County receives public water service, which makes it the responsibility of the local government to test the water and address elevated PFAS levels.

The Maryland Department of the Environment enforces federal regulations such as the National Drinking Water Regulation, which mandates that public water systems must implement solutions to reduce PFAS to meet the regulation standards by 2029. Public water systems are also required to monitor and provide the public information about PFAS levels by 2027.

“Although the (Environmental Protection Agency’s) regulations do not require any actions from our water system until 2027, we feel it is necessary to act now,” the notice states.

The regulation issued in April sets a maximum contamination level for six PFAS chemicals commonly found in drinking water. The levels are:

• PFOA: 4 parts per trillion
• PFOS: 4 parts per trillion
• PFHxS: 10 parts per trillion
• PFNA: 10 parts per trillion
• HFPO-DA: 10 parts per trillion
• Mixtures containing two or more PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA and PFBS: Hazard index

South Carroll was found to have 15.6 parts per trillion of PFOA and 12.7 parts per trillion of PFOS while Winfield was found to have 11.5 parts per trillion of PFOA and 5.42 parts per trillion of PFOS, notices state. Another Winfield sample found 4.59 parts per trillion of PFOS.

In Howard County, tests found PFAS at seven schools and water use was discontinued at one, Lisbon Elementary, according to communications from the system. Each of the schools tested is in the northwestern region of the county and receives water from a well.

Five Harford County schools are also prohibiting students from consuming water at school after tests revealed excessive levels of PFAS. Harford County Public Schools’ upcoming capital budget request to the county will include money for remediation of PFAS-contaminated school wells, according to Manager of Communications Jillian Lader.

Maryland environmental officials in December began testing for PFAS in drinking water as schools and daycare centers served by wells. Of 200 schools and daycares tested, officials have identified at least 36 with levels of PFAS that exceed federal limits, spurring distributions of bottled water as students return to the classroom for a new school year.

Additionally, state officials recommend that anyone receiving drinking water from a well at home should test their water at least annually.

Baltimore Sun reporters Matt Hubbard and Christine Condon contributed to this article.

“I’m a businessman, and I do not see the logic of investing my time and effort, and the good people’s money, to go down there if I can’t get anything done,” said Bouchat, who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Bouchat, who represents District 5, served one four-year term on the Board of Carroll County Commissioners, representing District 4 from 2018 to 2022, before being elected to the General Assembly in 2022.

“It’s such a dead-end street to be in the 3-to-1 minority where the majority rules,” said Bouchat, who describes himself as a political science nerd. “You must follow the rules to be the most effective. What we’re faced with is an entrenched opponent who outnumbers us 3 to 1. The Democrats not only outnumber us, but also are in possession of the fortress.”

The state legislature in Annapolis is made up of 188 senators and delegates. Of that, 47 are senators and 141 are delegates. In the Senate, there are 34 Democrats and 13 Republicans. The House consists of 102 Democrats and 39 Republicans.

Bouchat has argued for years that if Carroll County went from its current form of government — in which a board of five commissioners is responsible for legislative and executive policy decisions — to a charter government, in which a county executive rules with a county council, Republicans would fare better in Annapolis.

“Nobody really cares what a commissioner says in Annapolis,” he said. “A countywide elected official has more power and can then meet with a chairman of a committee, any elected official.”

Bouchat said he will leave the General Assembly and consider running for a statewide office where he can represent all of Maryland. His life experiences make him “extremely marketable” to residents going through similar circumstances, he said. Bouchat’s daughter died of an opioid overdose in February 2017; and when he was a juvenile, he was incarcerated for assaults that occurred in Howard County. Both experiences taught him a lot, he says.

“I’m not stepping away from politics,” he said. “In two years, I will make a decision on what I want to run for.”

For months the delegate has been sending emails to his colleagues on the all-Republican Carroll delegation talking about his frustrations and calling them out.

Dels. April Rose and Christopher Tomlinson, who both represent District 5, said Wednesday they do not agree with Bouchat’s reasoning.

“There is no connection to our form of government, and whether Republicans can pick up more seats in the Maryland General Assembly,” Tomlinson said. “(Democrats) gerrymander every 10 years and that has cost us seats every 10 years. Unless they’re able to change things, nothing will happen.

“I do not feel I am ineffective,” Tomlinson said. “I introduced four bills my first term, and two passed. I introduced four bills my second term, and one passed. Eric has passed zero bills.”

Rose said she disagrees with Bouchat’s arguments and the way he makes them.

“His problem is that he wants to be a de facto county executive. We all don’t agree with what he wants to do,” Rose said, adding that she’s proud of how well she works with Democrats.

“I prefer to have an open dialogue and work with my colleagues,” she said. “We may all not agree, but I don’t believe in the name calling. The insults are unprofessional. We’re in the severe minority in the legislature, but by being a professional, by working with our majority partners, I’m not going to say we get everything done, but we try.”