Halbrook volunteers to serve on
Poolesville Town  Commission
Vote is Monday on replacement to fill Hoewing’s term
by Susan Singer-Bart, Staff Writer
(Article from Gazette.net)

Brice  A. Halbrook is the only candidate to offer to fill the vacancy left on the
Poolesville Town Commission by the resignation of Link  Hoewing.

If the four remaining commissioners agree unanimously at Monday night’s meeting to appoint Halbrook, he will serve out the last year of the term.

Commissioners interviewed Halbrook in closed session following  their Nov. 21 meeting.


 “I would have no problem serving with Brice,” said Paul “Eddie” Kuhlman II, president of the Poolesville Town Commission, after the meeting. “I’ve worked with Brice quite a few years on the Poolesville Day committee. I found him to be open-minded and willing to listen and to make a decision.”

Halbrook, 56, moved to Poolesville almost 12 years ago. A mortgage banker, Halbrook was working with builder D.R. Horton and drove out to look at a development under construction in Poolesville.

He and his wife, Michelle, liked the small-town feel of the community and the schools, and decided to sell their house in Montgomery Village and buy one of the D.R. Horton houses in the Woods of Tama community.

Their children, Julia, 17, Pete, 23, and Zac, 26, were in elementary, middle and high school at the time, he said.

Michelle Halbrook works in the main office at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown.

“It was a good move for us,” Halbrook said.

Halbrook coached his children’s youth athletic teams and served as chairman of the Poolesville Day committee for  five years. He stepped down from the chairmanship this year, but still serves on the committee and expects to stay involved with the September event.

“I’m not coming with an agenda,” he said. “I want to learn more about the workings of the town, where the issues are.”

He would be the first commissioner from the 75-house Woods of Tama community.

“I thought it would be a good idea to have someone from our part of the town there bringing concerns of our community,”
Halbrook said.

He was not aware of any particular issues brewing in the community, but expects once his neighbors know he is on the commission, they will seek him out.

Halbrook grew up in Havre de Grace and graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he majored in economics. As a businessman, someone with an interest in government and someone who works in finance, Halbrook thinks he has the right background for the job.

“I focus on budget and money in my daily work,” Halbrook said. ”I’m looking forward to working on that [for the town].”

He  plans to become involved with the town’s economic development committee.

“The town needs to have more support for their local businesses and new homeowners who will be moving into the two new subdivisions,” he said.

Poolesville commissioners, who are not paid for their service, have 30 days from the time Hoewing resigned to appoint someone to serve the remainder of his term. If commissioners cannot agree unanimously on a replacement by Dec. 7, the town will have to hold a special election.

ssingerbart@gazette.net