Havre de Grace councilman Shank announces run for mayor
R. Craig says he'll run for re-election to city council; four others file
Staff report from The Record
This story was updated at 9 a.m. Friday, March 11
Havre de Grace is headed for a contested mayoral race and what could be a hot battle for three city council seats in the city’s upcoming election.
City Councilman Mitch Shank announced his candidacy for mayor at Monday evening’s city council meeting and officially filed as a candidate for mayor early Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, Mayor Wayne Dougherty, who is expected to run for a third term, hasn’t filed.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Dougherty said late Wednesday afternoon about his re-election plans. “I am still in the decision-making mode. I am seeing who has been filing and what has been going on and doing some thinking right now.”
Also by Wednesday afternoon, four candidates, none of them incumbents, had filed for city council. More are expected.
Babara Wagner, Diane Lawder, Lori Maslin and James Lauer entered the council race this week. All are first-time candidates.
City Councilman Randy Craig also announced Monday he will run for re-election and planned to file later this week.
Candidates for mayor and council have until 5 p.m. Tuesday (March 15) to file for the May 2 election. Terms for the mayor and council are two years.
“My goal is not to cut more ribbons,” Craig said Monday. “I look forward to moving the city forward in a responsible manner.”
Councilman John Correri, the other incumbent council member whose term is up this year, said earlier this week he hadn’t made up his mind on running again.
The entry of Shank into the mayor’s race means incumbent Dougherty will face at least one challenger, should he choose to run. He was unopposed in the 2009 election.
It also means at least one council seat will be open in the election.
“I think we need to go in a new direction and concentrate on the taxpayers first ... I truly believe we have a great city that has been tilted the wrong way and we need to take care of the citizens first,” Shank said Monday.
Shank has a long history of involvement in Havre de Grace politics and in community affairs. He was the founder of the Havre de Grace
Decoy Museum and has been active in a number of other revitalization activities.
He also served a single term on the Harford County Council representing the Havre de Grace area from 1994 to 1998.
Shank and Dougherty have butted heads on more than one occasion during the two years Shank has been on the city council.
For council
Lauer, 52, who lives at the Paddocks in Bulle Rock, said Wednesday he moved to Havre de Grace in 2008 and is a finance manager for Burroughs Payment System, of Plymouth, Mich.
“I moved down here because it was a great place to live,” he said. “I want to help make the community an even better place to live and promote tourism and bring in dollars to keep our taxes level.”
“I have been in the business world all of my life and bring that expertise with me and my finance and accounting will help with the budget and reducing costs,” he added.
Lawder works in law enforcement outside the city.
Maslin has been active in the local business community and is coordinator of the city’s annual summer seafood festival.
Wagner, 52, filed to run Monday morning and later said people have been encouraging her to run.
“I have been very involved in the city and, to be honest, a lot of people came to me and asked me to run,” she said.
Wagner has been on the planning commission and involved with the comprehensive rezoning plan since moving to the city four years ago.
“I think we need a woman on the council. I think that’s very important. I also think it would be good to have someone who wasn’t born and raised in Havre de Grace,” she said.