The Maryland Rural Counties Coalition, a Chapter Organization within MACo, has been courting additional counties to join its ranks. The Coalition has expanded to 15 member counties, and has met with officials elsewhere to further its reach.

From coverage in the Southern Maryland Newspapers Online website:

St. Mary’s has been invited to join the Maryland Rural Counties Coalition, a group that seeks to give more of a voice in Annapolis to the jurisdictions on the peripheries of the state.

There are 15 member counties today in Western Maryland, the Eastern Shore and in the northern tier of the state, but none in Southern Maryland yet.

“We would regard you as Sweet 16, a very positive thing,” Doug Howard, coalition chairman, told the St. Mary’s commissioners.

The majority of the St. Mary’s commissioners appeared receptive to joining when briefed Tuesday.

The Carroll County Times also has covered the Coalition’s recent expansion efforts:

Elected leaders of a group of counties who say they’re intent on making sure the rural perspective is not lost when the state is making policy and legislation are trying to add counties in Southern Maryland to their coalition.

During a Maryland Association of Counties conference held last week in Ocean City, officials from St. Mary’s and Calvert counties showed support for the Maryland Rural Counties Coalition and its goals. The Rural Counties Coalition is pursuing adding both, as well as Charles County, to its ranks, said Carroll Commissioner and Chairman of the coalition Doug Howard, R-District 5.