User:Gidonb/Jan Gardner

Jan Hrinya Gardner (born September 25, 1956) is an American public administrator and politician, who serves as the county executive of Frederick County, Maryland, United States. A member of the Democratic Party, she was sworn in as the first elected executive of Frederick County, on December 1, 2014. In 2018 Gardner is one of only two women presiding over one of Maryland's counties (alongside Mayor of Baltimore Catherine Pugh) and the longest serving woman in such a position.

Early life and education
Born in Pennsylvania, Gardner earned a Bachelor in Business Administration in Finance and Economics from the University of Notre Dame in 1978 and a Master in Business Administration from Xavier University in 1991. She worked for the Quaker Oats company in a management position. Gardner moved to the County from Cincinnati in 1992.

Public service
Gardner became involved in local government as a citizen activist speaking out on school overcrowding. She was elected a County Commissioner in November 1997, a position she held for 12 years including as President of the Board of County Commissioners from 2006 to 2010. From 2011 to 2013, she served as the state director for the office of United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski.

Gardner has also served on the county Library Board of Trustees, the county's Workforce Development Board, the Frederick Innovative Technology Center, the county's Community Action Agency, the Committee for Frederick County, and the Frederick Arts Council.

Political positions
In 2006, noted for her "slow-growth" position on development,  has said that the most pressing issue in Frederick County was rapid residential growth and its associated impacts on schools, roads, and public services. Gardner has tried to reduce school overcrowding by supporting the building of new schools and making school additions. In her personal bio, Gardner says she is most proud of her work to achieve the County's first AAA bond rating, successfully introducing a new agricultural preservation program to preserve over 15,000 acres of agriculture, and supporting economic development through the Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc., Frederick's first business and technology incubator.

Although she describes herself and is widely regarded as an advocate of "slow growth," and was part of the 3-2 "slow growth" majority the Board that sat from 1998-2002, Gardner's was a sometimes swing voter, often backing business growth, while opposing residential growth. The key mechanism for slowing residential development in the County during Gardner's terms in office has been restrictions on connections to the public water supply and sewer system, homeowners in much of the still semi-rural county depend on well water and septic systems. New development on small lots would require costly expansions of the County's water and sewer systems. In 2002 Gardner was called on to justify the impact of Frederick County's slow-growth moratorium on building permits to residents of neighboring Adams County, Pennsylvania, who objected to the spill-over impact.

Gardner opposed a hotly-debated proposal to build a trash incinerator, a proposal that was later scrapped because it was viewed as having a larger negative environmental impact and higher costs than paying out-of-state landfills to take the trash.

Gardner opposed proposals to deny public services, including admission to public schools, to illegal immigrants. She opposes a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that the county sheriff implements.

Gardner supports priority scoring for the funding transportation projects.

County Executive
In November 2014, Gardner won the first ever election for County Executive in Frederick County, defeating conservative talk show host Blaine Young. However, the majority of the newly elected county council was won by Republican candidates. Gardner ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

After her 2014 election as county executive, Gardner announced the creation of four issue-based leadership teams to review the structure and organization of county government and the county executive’s office under the new charter government. The four leadership teams were proposed to address key issue areas including education, jobs, senior citizens, and community needs and were to establish the foundation for a blueprint for a four-year plan. Gardner has said that she will not recommend raising taxes but rather seeks reprioritization how the funds are spent.

In May 2018, after Frederick County was hit hard by floods, county leadership under Gardner promoted a flood damage survey.

Personal life
Gardner has been married to John Gardner for 30 years. They have three grown children, all of whom graduated from Frederick County Public Schools.