Jarosinski would bring experience with activism, development to Frederick County Council

Jul. 1—Editor's note: The Frederick News-Post is profiling candidates for various public offices in Frederick County leading up to the July 19 primary elections.

Lisa Jarosinski, a self-employed tax preparer, said she would bring to the Frederick County Council years of experience in activism opposing development projects and in working with numbers.

Jarosinski, a Democrat, said the county needs to take a "holistic approach" when making decisions about development projects.

Before approving a proposal, she said, the county should consider whether a development could take away potential farmland and whether roads and schools can handle an influx of homes and people.

"We want new families, we want more people in the county, but we do need to make sure that we have proper infrastructure," she said.

Three candidates are campaigning to represent District 2, which includes New Market, Linganore, Ijamsville and parts of Urbana and Mount Airy.

Jarosinski is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for the November general election.

County Councilman Steve McKay, who works as a national security professional for GCI Inc., and Casie Chang, an administrative assistant for Frederick County Public Schools, are vying for the Republican nomination.

Jarosinski also ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in 2018, but she lost in the general election to McKay by more than 4,000 votes, or 17 percentage points.

"I just really want the job," Jarosinski said. "I can win District 2. I had 40% of the vote in the last election. So I've just got a little bit more to go."

Jarosinski was a member of Residents Advocating for Land use and the Environment, formerly Residents Against Landsdale Expansion, which fought successfully against development of a Monrovia Town Center in the early 2010's. McKay was RALE's president at the time.

She was also part of Citizens Against the Kemptown Electric Substation, which formed more than a decade ago in opposition to plans for a 275-mile, $2.1 billion system that would have included a 40-acre substation off Bartholows Road near Mount Airy, the News-Post has reported. The plan fell through in 2012.

Jarosinski grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and her family ended up moving to Baltimore, where she met her husband. The couple moved to Mount Airy in 1995 and have since lived there.

She has studied voice for more than 25 years and continues to take professional voice lessons. She sings in her church choir and for the Masterworks Chorale of Carroll County.

Jarosinski chaired a committee at her church, Frederick Presbyterian Church, in which she said she led conversations about gun violence, racism, mental health and immigration.

"Our culture has spent, I don't know, the last 30 years maybe, saying ... when you go to the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations or whatever your holiday celebration is, don't talk about religion, don't talk about politics," she said. "But what we've succeeded in doing is that people don't know how to talk to one another."

She said she would use her experience leading conversations with her church group to help people who disagree to find common ground and work together.

Jarosinski said the county should continue to increase funding for the Frederick County Board of Education above state requirements.

She said she would push for the county to maintain its property tax rate of $1.06 per $100 of assessed value, which is above the constant-yield rate of $1.02 per $100 of assessed value.

Lowering to the constant yield for next fiscal year's budget, which a number of Republican County Council candidates have advocated for, would have decreased county revenue by $13 million, according to the county's staff.

"If you're going to ask us to keep the infrastructure, do the development, take care of your firefighters, take care of your police officers, take care of your school system — we can't do that without money," Jarosinski said. "The only way you get the money for a government is tax."

Follow Jack Hogan on Twitter: @jckhogan