Kent County is fortunate to have commissioners willing to lead. Let us give credit where it is due: the April 15 meeting called by the Kent County Commissioners was a textbook example of local government doing its job. As Kent County News reporter Will Bontrager chronicled in detail, Commission President Ron Fithian and his colleagues brought state and local officials into the public square and demanded accountability for the bureaucratic paralysis that is choking economic development in the county.
In twenty-seven years of public service, Fithian said he has never seen this level of frustration from constituents. And who could blame them? Contractors cannot build homes, developers are losing deals, and landowners are stuck in limbo—all because they cannot get a simple percolation test, the first step in obtaining a septic permit.
The permitting system is broken. And the Commissioners are saying so out loud.
The commissioners’ leadership in confronting the Kent County Health Department and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is a welcome change. The Commissioners will demand follow-through, and that is where the real test begins. Because while the commissioners have stepped up, the bureaucratic system beneath them must stop dragging its feet.
As Bontrager reported, Kent County has not had a licensed well-and-septic specialist on staff since June 2023. Meanwhile, MDE inspectors brought in to pick up the slack uncovered missing data, incomplete files, and inadequate recordkeeping going back decades. So yes, protecting groundwater is important—but what about protecting Kent County’s future?
Contrast this mess with what is happening just thirty minutes away in Middletown, Delaware. That once-sleepy town is now Delaware’s fastest-growing area, with a booming population, a thriving U.S. 301 commercial corridor, new housing developments, and even an Amazon fulfillment center. Middletown is attracting investment, families, and opportunities. Kent County, by comparison, is turning people away at the gate.
Builders here are losing business. Homeowners cannot rebuild on their own land. Developers cannot invest, because permits never arrive. A real estate agent testified to an eighteen-month wait for a single perc test—and no answers in sight. Middletown builds; Kent County waits. Middletown adds police forces and infrastructure; Kent County loses revenue and opportunity. Middletown makes growth work. Kent County makes excuses.
We are watching Kent’s economic engine sputter while Delaware accelerates past us. This is not theoretical. It is not a debate over policy. It is happening now—and we are falling behind fast.
To be fair, Health Officer Bill Webb and MDE’s Nony Howell have offered some interim solutions: clearer documentation, office hours for case-by-case issues, and continued state assistance while staffing shortages persist. These are fine first steps—but they are not structural reform. And they will not matter if the culture of delay, confusion, and cover-your-backside recordkeeping is not rooted out.
Bontrager’s reporting made it clear: Kent County residents are not objecting to environmental protections—they are objecting to incompetence. One cannot defend missing files and glacial timelines with appeals to “science.” And one cannot build a county’s future on a system that does not work.
The Commissioners have done their part by shining a light on this disaster. Now the agencies responsible must do theirs—and they must be held to it. Because right now, Kent County is becoming the place where projects die, and investments flee. And unless that changes, we will keep watching our growth, our jobs, and our young people disappear—heading north to a town that knows how to say yes.
The Kent County Commissioners have made it clear: they will not tolerate this dysfunction indefinitely, and if meaningful progress is not made soon, they appear more than willing to pursue stronger, more decisive action to ensure their constituents are not left behind.
Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a life-long Eastern Shoreman, an attorney, and former Chairman of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals. He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast that discusses politics, business, and cultural issues.
Chris Gordon says
We moved to Chestertown because of what it is, never imagining that someone would try to turn it into another Middletown which we despise. I can only hope you all fail in your attempts to ruin Chestertown and we won’t have to move again.
Beverly Birkmire says
It is not fair or helpful to always compare economic growth here to Middletown, which deliberately set out to achieve their level of development. Many of us who have lived here for a while, as I have, agree with the commissioners’ interest in fostering growth. We need to attract some businesses and some new housing so that young families will want to come here to live and work, sending their children to our public schools. Such development would add to the vitality and attractiveness of our county. County planning and zoning guidelines and our elected officials can and will ensure rational new development.
Michael H C McDowell says
“Kent County is fortunate to have commissioners willing to lead. Let us give credit where it is due: the April 15 meeting called by the Kent County Commissioners was a textbook example of local government doing its job”, says Mr. Mitchell. Truly incredible. These three mediocrities don’t “lead.” They have proven again and again that they have NO strategy to increase Kent County’s truly dismal economic growth; no understanding of long term economic planning, just plugging fiscal holes until the next one opens, in a race to the economic bottom. The economic engine of the county is Chestertown, as one of this low information trio has said, but they persist in resisting remedying the double-taxation for police and other services, etc. None of them live in the town, which has the highest municipal taxes in the whole State of Maryland, which is a disincentive to those buying houses or investing in new businesses. One of them, Fithian, at the last election publicly opposed an independent study on the tax issue, where Kent is only one of three counties in the state with the double-tax anomaly. Former Sheriff Price and Nickerson pretended at a public meeting on election eve that they would be “open” to a study but when the election was over they dragged their feet for a year, and pathetically said there wasn’t enough money to pay for it! It’s not their money! The town council then paid for the forensic study which made an overwhelming case for a correction in the tax issue. For a year, the trio ignored the report. Then Price nickled-and-dimed the report, offering piddling pittances and an anecdotal nonsensical response to the study. Come election time, NONE of these three should be returned to office. They love turning up at photo ops every week and are only rivaled by another Do Nothing champion, the one-bill-in-8-terms-in-Congress, Andy Harris. Mr. Mitchell must believe in The Tooth Fairy, if he touts the Kent Three as exemplars of governance.
Bil Anderson says
Mr. McDowell was evidently not present when George Washington passed through Chestertown on his way to Philadelphia. An anxious Mayor and a councilman attempted to extract some valuable guidance from Mr. Washington in posing the question, “What would you recommend we do to improve the town and its businesses?”
Mr. Washington’s response, because he was pressed for time on his journey, was “Don’t do anything until I return to consult with you.” Unfortunately for Chestertown, Mr. Washington did not return, and the town officials did exactly as he suggested – Nothing! Local elected officials since that time have done the same thing.
Owen Bailey says
I would caution looking to Middletown as for inspiration for Kent County. Yes, Middletown and Delaware overall are growing but it is not sustainable as they are mortgaging their future for today’s growth. This type of sprawl development requires enormous amounts of infrastructure (roads, water/sewer/stormwater, government buildings) all of which require future maintenance all of which rely on local property tax revenues. Delaware is not developing enough property values to maintain that infrastructure. It will one day make local governments insolvent since towns and counties cannot go bankrupt.
ann miller says
I think several good points were made within this article. Bottom line is this, no – no one wants Chestertown or Kent County to turn into Middletown. But what WOULD be nice is something, anything….NIMBYism is well and fine in measured amounts, but not when it is basically retarding any growth whatsoever. As to the point of the article, well waiting 18 months for a perc test is ridiculous. We raised our kids in northern Kent County. They attended elementary & middle school in Kent County. They are grown & married – one with a child on the way -and neither of them live in Kent County? Why – lack of career choices and better schools elsewhere. Look around, those of you with kids who grew up here who are now in their 20’s or early 30’s. How many of the kids they went to school with are still in the area? How many bought houses – hard pressed to say build cause, you know – no perc tests! here? The population of Kent County has essentially been stagnant over the past 10 years.