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It is encouraging that 19 people are running for five seats on the Frederick Board of County Commissioners in the Sept. 14 primary.

Many of them said they entered the race to help the county weather tough economic times or because they love the region so much they want to shepherd it through the next four years.

It is true that the county needs a group of five strong people to lead it through a series of complicated decisions, including how to deal with trash disposal and what to cut from an already tight budget.

New commissioners will also have to consider their visions for the county's growth, and decide whether the comprehensive plan should remain untouched or go back to the drawing board, at least in part. Passed in April, the plan lists goals, policies and action items to guide the county's growth while "maintaining its rural and agricultural heritage and its sense of community [and] balancing its growing role as an employment center," according to the plan.

In the primary, three incumbents are running. Kai J. Hagen (D), is hoping for a second term, David P. Gray (R) is running for a fifth (non-consecutive) term, and Blaine R. Young (R), who was appointed to his seat by the governor in March, hopes to be elected outright.

Voters should send all three through the primary.

Hagen and Gray both worked extensively on the comprehensive plan. Most candidates believe that the plan was thoroughly researched and is a well-crafted vision. Hagen and Gray worked extensively in crafting the plan, and both feel strongly that the plan should not be altered.

Young voted against approving the comprehensive plan due to controversial "down-zoning" of several hundred properties from residential to agricultural. Young said though he has no intention of "opening up" the plan and redoing it completely, he would allow affected property owners to petition the board to change specific zoning.

Hagen remains adamantly against the county's plan to build an incinerator, or what some people call "waste-to-energy facility" because it burns trash to generate electricity. If re-elected, he vows to overturn his colleagues' decision to go forward with building the $527 million facility with partner Carroll County.

Though he initially was against the incinerator, Gray said he now believes building it is the best plan, and that it will "pay off" in the next 20 years. Young says he can't "make the numbers work" for not building the incinerator. He supports the incinerator plan, but does not support building it at the McKinney Industrial Center; he says the EastAlco site is better.

Regarding the county's budget woes, Young said that in his first year in office he would support not creating any new rules, regulations or fees and instead would re-evaluate existing ones to ensure they are necessary. He wants to run the county like a business. Gray would make cuts to middle management positions in county government and look to combine some departments to reduce the county's budget; Hagen vows to not raise taxes while working to provide critical services.

The top five Democratic vote-getters and top five Republican vote-getters will move on to the general election in November.

For the Democrats, in addition to Hagen, Michael Kurtianyk and Linda M. Norris are excellent choices for voters.

Janice Wiles also deserves to make it through the primary in order for voters to give her further consideration. Unfortunately, the other Democratic candidates failed to inspire support to make it through the primary, though one undoubtedly will.

Kurtianyk of Middletown is a real estate consultant with extensive volunteering experience. Kurtianyk is a true leader who is willing to build consensus and who is passionate about improving his adopted hometown.

He believes the plan to build an incinerator is the best course of action. Though he believes the comprehensive plan is a "good document," he thinks some property owners were slighted, and supports address complaints on a case-by-case basis. Kurtianyk thinks the current board has done well in cutting items from the budget, and wants to raise revenue by increasing commercial parcels in the county and encourage government to be more business friendly.

As his first act if elected, Kurtianyk wants to form a committee to enact a charter government in order to get the issue on the 2012 ballot for voters. He believes if the county changes its form of government, electing a county executive to represent it in Annapolis will save money and help raise money for and awareness of issues in the county.

Norris of Lewistown is a consultant and former Frederick County government employee. She spent 10 years in the county's recycling office and is intimately aware of its trash disposal issues. She is a focused, impressive leader with an overall goal of moving the county toward "sensible decisions that last a long time."

Norris supports expanding recycling and considering a commercial food composting operation before the county makes such a huge financial commitment in building the incinerator. She believes the comprehensive plan had years of research, public meetings, written testimony and thought put into its composition, and therefore should remain untouched, except for scheduled updates to it. She lists dealing with the budget as her top priority, and says though she is not a "slicer," she is interested in efficiency and finding new ways of doing things, such as self-funded health insurance plans for county employees.

Norris wants to engage county employees to understand business owners' perspectives and train them for better customer service, which she believes can bolster industry. She thinks the county needs to streamline its permitting process to make it easier to add jobs in the county.

Wiles of Frederick has been executive director of Friends of Frederick County since 2007, where she has fought against poorly planned development and urban sprawl. Though she has an impressive knowledge of this topic, she needs to prove to voters that her abilities go beyond this issue if she makes it through the primary.

Wiles is against building the incinerator. She would invest the county's money into expanding recycling and composting operations. Wiles was intimately involved in the development of the comprehensive plan, and it is what inspired her to run for office. She wants to help implement it as it stands. Wiles lists the budget as a top concern, and supports spending only on necessities in construction and essential services. She hopes to promote job growth by expanding manufacturing and biotech industries in order to decrease the number of people who travel down to Montgomery County and beyond for employment.

For the Republicans, in addition to Young and Gray, voters should choose Robert S. Craig, Alan Imhoff and Paul Smith.

Imhoff and Smith both lost re-election to Frederick city's Board of Aldermen last fall. They served from 2005-2009, and both voted for an ill-advised early retirement incentive plan for which the city will pay for decades. Despite this decision, which both have said they would handle differently in hindsight, and considering the crop of remaining Republican candidates, both deserve voters' consideration for their extensive experience working for the City of Frederick and in other venues.

Imhoff of Frederick is retired, but teaches several courses at Frederick Community College. He has an extensive volunteer background locally and regionally, including nine years on the City of Frederick Planning Commission, and four years on the county's Commission on Aging. Imhoff was humbled by his loss in the alderman race, but could use his experience in future planning for the region to help Frederick County move forward.

He lists the budget as a top issue, and wants to help generate revenue that the county lost — in the form of property and income taxes from little to no growth of the last several years — by promoting residential and commercial growth. He believes the incinerator is a "realistic solution" to solve trash disposal problems to handle "our own waste." Though Imhoff believes overall the comprehensive plan is appropriate, he would revisit it to address individual property owners' concerns, specifically about zoning issues.

Smith of Frederick owns his own law practice. His pet issue is roads; he stresses that relieving traffic congestion around Frederick will also encourage economic growth by attracting new businesses to open here. This feeds into his other top goal — bringing top employers to the county, which he believes will fill vacant homes and pad county tax rolls.

He fully supports moving forward with building the incinerator since a better solution has not revealed itself despite extensive study. He sees three problems with the comprehensive plan as it stands — it "pays lip service" to job creation, it removes bypass roads around municipalities and the planned North/South Parallel Road, and it unfairly "down-zoned" hundreds of properties from residential zoning to agricultural.

Craig of Frederick is new to politics, but has extensive background in finance and accounting, which should help the county as it struggles to find creative ways to cut the budget. His analytical approach to solving problems and depth of knowledge in the financial world sets him apart from other candidates.

Craig believes commissioners have not been conservative enough in their budget cuts, and would take a hard look at county employees' retirement plan, as one place where savings could be found. He is skeptical about the financials of the proposed incinerator as well, and would vote to overturn the contract due to concerns about the contract and the proposed location.

Craig and his wife have been battling the Frederick County planning staff and Board of Appeals for nearly four years regarding plans to subdivide their property near Gambrill Park Road in Middletown, but he says it's not his primary reason for running. "Who wants to ride a broken bike out of spite," he says, saying the commissioners' job is going to be very tough in the next four years, and he wouldn't sign up for that type of job — or any job — just for revenge.