Kuzemchak honored by Municipal League for service to city

Jun. 28—Donna Kuzemchak is the first to acknowledge that she didn't expect to spend two decades in public service when she was first elected to Frederick's Board of Aldermen in 1998.

"I thought it would be maybe eight years," Kuzemchak said Wednesday, after being named to the Maryland Municipal League's Hall of Fame Tuesday at the league's summer conference in Ocean City.

While Kuzemchak said she's honored to be recognized, she's grateful to the city's residents who have chosen her to represent them.

Kuzemchak served as an alderwoman from 1998 to 2009, and again since 2013.

The MML Hall of Fame recognizes current or former officials who have held elected municipal office for at least 20 years, Justin Fiore of MML said in an email Wednesday.

Along with Kuzemchak, the group also recognized two Myersville officials, Mayor Mark Hinkle with 23 years of service, and Councilman Wayne Creadick, Jr., with 20 years of service.

Both men have served as both a mayor and councilman in the town.

Michael Brady and Robert Reckart of the town of Kitzmiller, and Terry Seamens of Takoma Park were also added to the Hall of Fame.

Frederick Mayor Michael O'Connor praised Kuzemchak's service to the city in an emailed statement Wednesday.

"Alderwoman Kuzemchak has been a dedicated public servant for more than two decades and is more than deserving of this great honor from the Maryland Municipal League," O'Connor wrote. "I was proud to see her receive this honor, along with many of her colleagues, at the Maryland Municipal League's Summer Conference surrounded by so many of her peers and look forward to her continued service."

Kuzemchak said she first got involved in politics trying to get the mayor and aldermen to look at safety issues for children going to school, after her 11-year-old son had to cross both East and Market streets to get to his school.

She lists the development of Westside Regional Park and the removal of a bust of Supreme Court justice Roger Taney from outside City Hall as some of the things she's most proud of from her time in office.

Last elected in 2021, Kuzemchak said she plans on this being her final term in office.

She reflected Wednesday on how much the city has changed during her time in office, in which the population has nearly doubled to close to 80,000 residents.

The Whittier development on the northern side of the city was just being built when she came into office, and that area and other parts of the town have grown enormously during her time in office.

"It really was more of a small town" in the late 1990s, Kuzemchak said, with much less nightlife and activity downtown.

But while the growth has benefited the city in some ways, it has made it harder to have personal contact with constituents, she said.

When she was first in office, a woman came up to her at the grocery store and hugged her to thank her for her work on an issue.

While she still reads every email and listens to all of her messages, that kind of personal interaction doesn't happen in today's larger city, Kuzemchak said.

Opposed to growth when she first came into office, she said she's come to believe that growth should be planned around where existing infrastructure is located.

While she said losing an election in 2009 was painful, her four years out of office let her see the city's issues from the outside, and helped give her a better idea of what she wanted to do when she came back into office.

A successful Board of Aldermen has a mix of members who have some history and context of previous decisions, and newer members who can bring fresh ideas of what should be done, she said.

"You need some experience, and you need some new blood," Kuzemchak said.