As a small cybersecurity business owner, former teacher, and PTA Council of Howard County President, I support strong schools while living within our revenue. Building on my work with the HCPSS Operating Budget Review Committee, I will advocate for reducing transportation costs and investing in in-county special education programs to lower long-term expenses. We must also prioritize reducing non-school spending so we can address the $200 million in deferred school maintenance.

Housing affordability is a growing challenge in Howard County. We need thoughtful solutions that expand housing options while protecting quality of life. I support infill housing and mixed-use redevelopment that strengthens our community while protecting green spaces. Expanding affordable housing must be done sustainably, with attention to infrastructure and schools. We must streamline housing, licensing, and permitting processes and ensure homebuyers are not pushed out by large corporations.

Childcare and eldercare are increasingly expensive and hard to find in Howard County. I support investing in eldercare infrastructure, childcare incentives for working families, and partnering with schools to offer more programs. We must revisit regulations and funding structures that are unintentionally pushing small childcare providers out of business. Caregivers need living wages and families want reliable support. We must advocate for programs that offer opportunities to help families.

I support Howard County’s Climate Forward Plan to reduce emissions and strengthen resilience. We should continue advancing responsible investments in renewable energy production close to usage with battery storage capabilities, environmental infrastructure, and resilience initiatives. I support solar on rooftops and parking lots, energy efficiency programs, protecting forests and farmland, improving stormwater systems, and ensuring large energy users meet more of their own energy demand.

The Howard County government has a responsibility to protect residents’ Constitutional rights. I support strong coordination between human rights offices, law enforcement, and legal professionals to track and respond to civil rights violations. We must protect our neighbors from hate and unlawful acts and ensure every resident feels safe, respected, and protected under the law. I will stand with communities under attack and support policies that uphold fairness, accountability, and transparency.

Public safety means supporting our police while building trust with community outreach. Howard County officers are highly trained professionals with four-year degrees who deserve continued investment in training, staffing, and technology. Through my work on the HCPSS Safety & Security Taskforce, I helped improve communication on reportable offenses and strengthened school safety. We should also ensure officers can afford to live here in the communities they serve.

I will not raise revenue. The county is maturing and school enrollment is declining. Some spending is redundant, unnecessary, or politically motivated.

There exist opportunities to consolidate core programming, expand use of virtual learning, and save on personnel. The savings can backfill funding shortfall in core areas like fine arts and athletics.

I will immediately call for an efficiency review of all county departments to identify ways to reduce costs and improve customer service.

We need to make the county more accessible to people who want to put down roots and contribute to our county. Government has made it difficult to build homes and expensive to sell them. In the past several years, the school surcharge has increased over 500%, transfer taxes have been increased, excessive forest conservation and other land development requirements have reduced density and increased costs, and APFO has virtually halted development.

Demand exceeds the availability of these services leading to higher costs, but government alone should not be looking to solve this problem. I would support the county funding a job training program for caregivers at Howard Community College. We can also make it easier and less expensive to open these businesses by reducing regulations.

Although I am a staunch advocate of sustainability for our future generations, it should not come be cost prohibitive to our tax payers and economic development. There needs to be a balance of varying perspectives to ensure our economy is on solid footing.

Neither the Executive or Legislative branches should pass a law or create a policy that is unconstitutional. If someone believes their constitutional rights have been violated, I expect the Judicial branch to be a reliable venue for such a complaint and potential relief.

Increased crime, including District 5, is a significant concern. Everything Howard Co has to offer for residents, businesses and visitors is of little value if people do not feel safe enough to live here, visit, or maintain their business. HCPS does an incredible job solving crimes, which I would hope serves as a deterrent against future crime. We need more patrols in the rural west where out of town gangs have routinely hit neighborhoods for both auto theft and home invasions.