Longtime Hagerstown public servant resigns council seat

Longtime Hagerstown public servant Bob Bruchey resigned from the Hagerstown City Council at the end of Tuesday's mayor and council meeting, according to a city release and a YouTube video of the meeting.

"Nothing's wrong. Everything's great. Just an opportunity for me and my family to change a little bit of direction," Bruchey said during the part of the meeting when council members comment on general matters.

Bruchey, 65, in a phone interview Wednesday, said he's taken on a new position, finance director, at Hagerstown Ford, where he's been a salesman. He said he needs to dedicate more time to the dealership with the new position.

Bruchey reflected on his time as council member and mayor as well as projects going on and in the works.

He said, "it's been a wild ride and it's been a pleasure and an honor. Hopefully, one day (you'll) see my name on a ballot again somewhere."

This was Bruchey's first term as a council member, having served as mayor on and off before then.

Bruchey was first elected mayor in 1997. He was appointed to that position in 2006 after the mayor at the time resigned. Bruchey was elected mayor again in 2009, according to his biography on the city's website.

City Administrator Scott Nicewarner said in a phone interview Wednesday morning that city leaders were caught "off guard" and weren't aware of Bruchey's plan to resign until they arrived for the meeting Tuesday. Bruchey talked to "each of them personally," and talked to Nicewarner personally and delivered the resignation letter.

In his brief resignation letter, Bruchey wrote that it was "with excitement and sadness that I submit to you my resignation, effective immediately. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve along-side of you and to serve the citizens of Hagerstown.

"I look forward to the continued progress of Hagerstown, Maryland and know that I leave the city in capable hands," he wrote.

"I hope that I had a positive impact on things that happened and I know that currently there are so many great things that are happening," Bruchey said on the phone.

'The smaller things' among what Bruchey considers his accomplishments

Nicewarner said Bruchey is "obviously going to go down, certainly in this town's history, as one of the most influential mayors, councilmen, that the city has seen in a very long time."

Nicewarner said he believes the "keystone" of that influence was Bruchey advocating for the University of Maryland to establish an education center in the city and particularly in downtown Hagerstown.

Then there's his work and advocacy for a downtown stadium, Nicewarner said.

Nicewarner said he believes "that helped pave the way" for the baseball stadium being constructed off Summit Avenue.

The Maryland Stadium Authority is involved in that project.

Downtown Baseball LLC, the ownership group for a new Atlantic League of Professional Baseball team recently revealed the name and logo for that team, the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars.

If the project stays on track, the new team could be playing in the stadium in May, Howard "Blackie" Bowen, one of the five owners, said recently.

Asked about big accomplishments during his tenure with the city, specifically the university center, Bruchey said the university center "was fantastic for the downtown."

But as far as his biggest accomplishment, he said it was "the smaller things."

"For me it’s helping the individual citizen with a problem and making sure our employees are treated right and our customers are treated right. That was the biggest thing for me," Bruchey said.

Regarding the stadium, which Bruchey said should have been built about 12 years ago, he said that project will "change the downtown for the next 50 years for the better."

"We just got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make that a success on our end," Bruchey said.

Bruchey said he couldn't thank the stadium authority, Gov. Larry Hogan, state Sen. Paul Corderman, Bowen and the other owners enough for their hard work on that project.

"They accomplished something I couldn't get done, so hats off to them," he said.

Annexations under Bruchey's service

Bruchey also noted the various annexations the city has done while he has been mayor or councilman.

Director of Planning and Code Administration Kathy Maher said she did a rough estimate of the assessed value of the annexed properties during Bruchey's service and came up with $550.35 million.

Among those annexations was the Centre of Hagerstown, the Groh annexation along Garland Groh Boulevard, the Cortland area on the north side that includes Lyles development buildings and residential properties, part of Wesel Boulevard where the bigger Amazon warehouse is, and the former Food Lion property on Eastern Boulevard that is now medical condos, she said.

"That's a big plus to continue to grow the city and grow the tax base and try to keep our taxes down for our citizens, who pay property tax, and still do all the good things that we do," Bruchey said.

Bruchey also talked about strides in public safety including the fire and police service.

While the number of sworn officers had decreased, the city is trying to be creative, including the use of drones and discussions about employing retired officers part time to handle some matters, he said.

What will happen to the vacant council seat?

Nicewarner said he thinks the mayor and council, who meet next Tuesday, will take some time to decide what to do about the vacant council seat.

That could mean leaving it empty until November 2024 when the mayoral post and all council seats are up for election.

Or they could replace Bruchey on the council.

The last council vacancy was filled earlier this year. At that time, the council accepted applications, narrowed the field during closed discussions and interviewed the finalists during a public meeting.

"It's still very odd. I haven't been a part of city government that Bob Bruchey hasn't been a part of," said Nicewarner, who has worked for the city for 20 years and been its administrator for five years.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Bob Bruchey, longtime Hagerstown public servant, resigns council seat