Sen. Chris Van Hollen remarks during MACo Conference

Ocean City, Md. – Statewide organizations, legislators, local leaders and more gathered for the MACo conference in Ocean City. On Friday, Senator Chris Van Hollen spoke with local residents and leaders for an update on how legislation and executive actions are affecting Marylanders statewide.

“We all have the same constituents, and we all have an obligation to work together to make sure that we serve them the best we can,” Van Hollen said in remarks to attendees.

One of Van Hollen’s highlights was how federal emergency funds are meant to assist, particularly those on the Lower Shore, especially in Crisfield, who are at risk of severe flooding. In an interview wit WMDT, he said he has worked with FEMA to bolster environmental resiliency.

“We developed a program called brackets for resiliency. It’s to help places like Crisfield get funds to build up their shorelines and prevent flooding,” Van Hollen said.

Clint Sterling, Director of Somerset County’s Parks and Recreation Department, said it’s important for those in Congress to look at what’s happening at the local level.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to take, you know, a variety of issues that we have from confronting us and be able to have like a little bit of a different forum,” he said. Sterling said the forum enabled a way to establish connections lines of contact to use networking to the benefit of local taxpayers “to bring results.”

Holly Gilpin, the Dorchester County director of tourism, also said one of the best parts of MACo is to be able to bring the national level to the local level.

“We hope they walk away with the importance of Maryland and also being on the Eastern Shore. How important rural America is it is to Maryland. It’s so important,” she said.

The MACo conference will conclude on Saturday, Aug. 15.