Burns will bring experience, says he will engage community on Thurmont board

Oct. 17—After 22 years serving as an elected official in Thurmont, Marty Burns in 2021 chose to not seek re-election as a town commissioner.

Burns served as a town commissioner, then as the mayor for 12 years, then as a commissioner again. He said retiring from elected office also lined up with him retiring as a federal employee.

Although he stopped serving on the Board of Commissioners, starting about eight months ago, Burns continued to attend town meetings to voice his opinions and concerns as a resident.

After seeing the way the current board operates and decisions it has made, Burns decided to run for a commissioner's seat one more time.

"They do not have the pulse of the community," he said of the current board. "I'm one that sees a problem and wants to solve it, and I think I do have the voice of the people."

Burns is one of six candidates running for two seats on Thurmont's Board of Commissioners. The seats are currently held by Bill Buehrer and Wes Hamrick. Buehrer is running for reelection, while Hamrick is not.

The other candidates are Ed Schildt, Christopher Stouter, Bob Lookingbill and Grant Johnson.

The election will be held on Oct. 31 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Guardian Hose Company activities building at 123 E. Main St.

Burns previously was a U.S. Marine and moved to Thurmont in 1986. He first ran for elected office in 1999.

Over the 22 years he was in office, Burns pushed for Thurmont to erect a new building for the town's police department. Additionally, the town launched its website and began streaming its weekly meetings during his tenure, Burns told the News-Post in 2021.

If elected, Burns said, he has three main priorities: controlled growth, community engagement and fiscal responsibility.

Burns said the key to this year's election is the annexation the Board of Commissioners voted to approve in 2022 to rezone more than 16 acres of farmland along Thurmont's borders for high-density residential development.

Prior to the vote on the annexation, a petition opposing the annexation with more than 300 signatures was presented to the board.

After the annexation was approved, residents petitioned to hold a referendum to revisit the decision. The residents voted 834-157 during the referendum in January to reject the annexation.

Burns pointed to the fact that so many residents opposed the annexation before it was approved and showed up in numbers to reject it at the referendum as evidence that he believes the current board hasn't voted "the will of the people."

Burns said he wants to rewrite the town's zoning ordinance and redefine what growth is acceptable in differently zoned areas.

"What I've seen is, no one is against development," he said. "But the right development, the right amount, is the key."

Burns also stressed that Thurmont needs to be "overtly engaging" with residents on projects and large developments. In addition to broadly publicizing potential developments to residents, he wants to allow user participation again on the Town of Thurmont Facebook page.

In June, the current board voted to restrict all user participation, including the ability to comment and post, on the Town of Thurmont page following what board members said were problematic comments filling the page.

Burns said he is also interested in forming a citizens' commission that gathers community input and presents that information to the board, so the commissioners and mayor can understand residents' opinions and thoughts.

Burns said he and Lookingbill are running coordinated campaigns. Lookingbill also previously served as a commissioner from 2007 to 2011 while Burns was mayor.

Burns said he and Lookingbill weren't allies when they were on the board together. However, as both of them consistently attended the town's weekly meetings over the last several months, the two spoke more about their thoughts on growth and fiscal responsibility.

Burns said he asked Lookingbill to run for a commissioner position because their values on growth, community engagement and finances align, and they both want what's best for the majority of the residents.

"We don't claim to be better than them [residents] or know more than them. We want to engage with them in governing," Burns said. "I bring a lot to the table because I still have a lot to offer, but I can't do it alone."