Brown was an agent of change in city and county politics in the 1980s and 90s.
Former Westminster mayor and county commissioner W. Benjamin “Ben” Brown, 66, died on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore following a heart attack.
Brown began his political career in Carroll County when he served as a member the Westminster Board of Zoning Appeals from 1983 to 1985 and then chaired the board from 1985 to1989.
On May 11, 1987, Brown made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Westminster Common Council in a crowded field that included Edward S. Calwell, Samuel V. Greenholtz, Kenneth John Hornberger, Michael B. Serio, and Mark S. Snyder. In that contest, Greenholtz, Snyder, and Hornberger prevailed.
Two-years later, in the May 8, 1989 Westminster municipal elections, Brown upset former Mayor LeRoy L. Conaway by 12 votes. Conaway, who had served as the mayor of Westminster for 16 years, since May 21, 1973, was assumed, at the time, to be able to easily win re-election; however Conaway only received 230 votes to Brown’s 242.
It was considered to be further irony, at the time, that it was Conaway who had appointed Brown to the zoning appeals board and had given Brown his start in local politics.
Brown entered City Hall “loudly,” according to various newspaper articles in 1989. “Part of the problems were born” during the 1989 mayoral election campaign. It was widely reported “Brown campaigned hard for the job, criticizing then-mayor (and very the popular) LeRoy Conaway for his performance and lack of leadership.”
During the 1989 election campaign, Brown pledged to run the city “using the same management style he’s used in hospitals and candy stores…”
Shortly after taking office, Brown exhibited bold leadership and showed the public that he meant business when he said that he would do things differently and break from the past.
One of his first acts was to paint over an historic mural that had covered the walls of the mayor’s office in the historic city hall, built by Colonel John K. Longwell in 1842.
Immediately upon taking office he sent out a letter asking for the resignation of every appointed member of every city board or commission, and it was widely said at the time that he asked all of the city department heads to resign.
A newspaper account at the time reported, “… when it comes to city business, Ben Brown carries a big stick.”
On June 8 1989, Brown garnered national attention for Westminster when he held a press conference and proclaimed “official support for demonstrating Chinese students” at Tiananmen Square. The press conference was widely covered by television. It was a first for the city to have TV crews blanketing the grounds of City Hall.
Brown drew “criticism from the public, particularly war veterans, according to a newspaper account at the time, for the proclamation of support “and lowering the flag (at City Hall) to half staff.”
According to yet another newspaper article that appeared shortly after he took office; “When campaigning door-to-door, Brown said, residents indicated they didn’t think a new person would make a difference.
“‘Now is when I need to be showing I am different,’ he said.”
Two-years later, in the subsequent Westminster council election on May 13, 1991, all three incumbent council members up for re-election were defeated in a particularly rancorous and contentious election which witnessed and unprecedented 1, 224 votes cast in the election. Incumbents Greenholtz and Snyder, frequent critics of Brown, were denied another term. Hornberger choose not to run for re-election.
The election campaign, in 1991, which saw Stephen R. Chapin, Jr., Rebecca A. Orenstein, and Kenneth A. Yowan, swept into office, centered upon the Common Council’s relationship with the mayor and the Common Council’s decision to hire a city manager.
In yet another unprecedented political move, Brown had endorsed and actively campaigned for the voters to replace the incumbent councilmembers. Brown mailed a letter to every city voter recommending the incumbents be replaced by Yowan, Orenstein, - and Frazier, who only lost gaining the third seat by a relatively small number of votes.
Other hot topics in 1991 were lowering property taxes, a 21 percent increase in sewer rates, and a new housing development between Uniontown Road and Furnace Hills, in which it was proposed to build 280 houses on 74 acres.
Also, whether or not the city ought to renovate City Hall or build a new municipal headquarters with the $1.6 million the city had saved for the project was foremost on the minds of the voters.
At the May 13, 1991 meeting of the Common Council and the mayor, Brown threatened to veto the budget, lower the tax rate, not build or refurbish City Hall and fire the existing city manager, Philip Hertz.
Brown easily won re-election to the mayor’s office on May 10, 1993 in an election in which he ran unopposed.
After taking office for a second term as mayor, Brown immediately embarked on a campaign to run for a seat in the Carroll County commissioners’ office.
In his 1994 election campaign literature, when Brown was running for county commissioner, his literature noted, “But in the cumulative sense, Brown has earned a … term in office. Few politicians have provoked such dramatic changes in such a short period of time.”
In 1994 Brown was elected to the then three-member Carroll County board of commissioners.
In Brown’s campaign literature for the commissioners’ office, in August 1994, Brown boasted that in 1989, he had beaten “16-year incumbent LeRoy Conaway by the slimmest of margins, (and) encountered a city government indifferent to the public it served, (and) uninterested in strong leadership from the mayor’s office.
“Brown insisted on providing that leadership and promoting more citizen involvement in city government, sparking two years of bitter disputes between his office and the city (Common) council.
“In fact,” the campaign literature continued, “it was just three years ago that the council demanded Brown’s resignation. His cardinal sin: he had dared to release the proposed city budget to the public before the evening of the only public hearing scheduled to discuss the budget…”
In his campaign, as a Republican, for county commissioner in 1994, titled, “Carroll County… better, not just bigger!,” his campaign literature outlined a “commitment to real growth management, including: full impact fees; zoning that means what it says; and agricultural preservation.
“A commitment to ending the crowding in Carroll’s schools.
“A commitment to providing quick-response policing throughout Carroll County.
“A commitment to offering low cost trash collection and disposal, including yard wastes and recyclables, to every Carroll household.
“A firm commitment to protecting Carroll’s environment.”
He also noted a Hanover Evening Sun editorial, “Ben Brown is a mayor who won’t knuckle under,” from May 14, 1993, which said, in part: “Much has changed (since he took office as mayor.) Voters placed three new members on the council two years ago, assuring that the mayor’s proposals would be evaluated on their merit rather than their origin.
“The changes are most evident at the bi-weekly council meetings. Citizens can now voice concerns at the beginning of those meetings rather at the end. The council explains each action before it votes. Public hearings are far more frequent.
“A resident visiting a council meeting today would feel that he or she is an integral part of city government. A resident visiting the same meeting four years ago would feel more like an unwelcome intruder at a private gathering.
And Brown has proven a highly capable leader, whether he is promoting curbside recycling, lobbying the State Highway Administration for road improvements in Westminster or advocating a stronger city police department in the wake of a drug-related slaying last winter.”
After one term in office as a county commissioner, Brown chose to run instead for Maryland State Delegate – and lost.
In September 1998, when he was running for the Maryland House of Delegates, a campaign letter highlighted his commitment to “slowing the Carroll’s rate of growth, and preserving our quality of life.”
The letter included charts about “New Residential Building Permits,” and “Carroll County Agricultural Preservation Easements. Easements Purchased – Acreage Preserved.”
“The charts show two things,” wrote Brown. “First, that the building permits issued for new house construction last year were little more than one-half the number issued the year before I took office in 1995…
The second chart is closely related to the first. It shows the commitment of the current Board of Commissioners has made to preserve Carroll’s farmlands for agricultural use alone. It shows that development rights to nearly 7,000 acres have been purchased during my term (1995-1998); as opposed to only 1,435 acres preserved by the previous Board of Commissioners.”
Brown, who had “an extensive background in child welfare,” was born July 9, 1944 in Graham, Tennessee. He was the son of the late Jesse D. and Sina L. England Thornton.
He was a member of the Westminster Optimists and the Westminster Moose. In addition to serving as the Westminster mayor and county commissioner, Brown was a member of the Carroll County Economic Development Commission beginning in 1989; vice president of the Carroll County chapter of the Maryland Municipal League from 1993 to 1994 and secretary of the chapter from 1991 to 1993.
He was the husband of Margaret Gray Vicinus Brown whom he married November 24, 1973. He was adopted at the age of 3 by Rosemary Brown (now of Sykesville, MD) and raised in Lakeland, FL, according to information obtained from his obituary.
He earned his B.S in Social Services at Towson State University in 1970 and his Master’s degree in social administration and a certificate in gerontology, at the University of Maryland in 1977.
He spent a number of years as a social worker for the State of Maryland in various positions, including at Springfield State Hospital. He then pursued other occupations, including owning and operating a candy store in Westminster, according to his obituary.
According to a newspaper account at the time, “After working in social work administration at Spring Grove Hospital, a state psychiatric facility, (Brown) moved to Carroll County in 1980.” Shortly after arriving in Westminster he is reported to have remarked that he moved to Westminster to change things and “move it out of the dark ages.”
After working at Spring Grove, Brown operated “Elderberry,” a residence for the elderly until 1984 when he then got into the retail chocolate business. In 1986, Brown changed the candy store business model and went into the wholesale candy business.
According to his obituary, “In 1998, he left public service and retired to pursue his personal interests, including authoring a novel and spending time with his family.”
Surviving in addition to his wife and adopted mother are son Jesse Brown of Albany, NY; daughter and son-in-law Margaret and Brian Abts of Pikesville, MD; brothers Kenneth and David Thornton of Lakeland, FL; sisters Myrtle Thornton of Oxford, FL, Anne Wyman of Fayetteville, NC and Mary Stuart of Palmetto, FL. He was predeceased recently by sister Ruth Anderson of Lakeland, FL.
A Graveside Service will be held on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. in Westminster Cemetery to be followed by a Memorial Service at 1:00 pm at the Grace United Methodist Church, 55 Albright Dr., Hanover, PA 17331.
If desired, memorial contributions may be to Foresight Vision, 1380 Spahn Ave., York, PA 17403. Arrangements by Pritts Funeral Home and Chapel, 412 Washington Rd., Westminster.
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