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Kai J. Hagen used the social networking Web site Facebook to announce his candidacy for re-election to the Frederick Board of County Commissioners in 2010.

On Dec. 11, Hagen (D) wrote on Facebook that he filed his paperwork with the Frederick County Board of Elections.

He is the first candidate to file for county commissioner for the 2010 election.

"I opened a bank account, got a P.O. Box number and filed the paperwork," Hagen said in an interview Monday.

Candidates wishing to run in 2010 have until July 6 to file paperwork with the Board of Elections. The primary election is on Sept. 14 and general election is Nov. 2.

Stuart Harvey, Board of Elections director, said now that the City of Frederick election is over, he expects more candidates to file.

"We're a long way off from the filing deadline, but I would imagine that more people will start filing," Harvey said. "I think everyone was focused on the local city election."

Hagen, 51, first ran for commissioner in 2006, garnering enough votes to come in third on the five-member board.

During his first campaign, Hagen ran on a platform that promised to reopen the New Market Region Plan and overturn much of the new growth approved by previous commissioners.

Two years later, Hagen and the board kept that promise and unanimously adopted a new and updated plan of controlled growth for New Market and its surrounding region.

"We did it and I'm very proud of that," Hagen said. "Overall we did a fantastic job with that, by trying to preserve land. That will be a big legacy of this board and a major issue I campaigned on."

Hagen and his commissioner colleagues are also in the midst of updating the county's comprehensive plan, which plots growth for the county for the next 20 years.

This time, Hagen said he is running again to complete unfinished business.

"There is no one issue that has made a difference in my decision to run or pushed me over the edge," he said. "I ran for the first time, because I thought I had something to offer. This time I don't feel my job is done. I think we have plenty of challenges."

Hagen said there are host of issues that the next board will need to address. They include growth, social issues and the planned construction of an incinerator.

Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins (R) has already announced he is running for state delegate in District 3B. Commissioners Jan H. Gardner (D), David P. Gray (R), John "Lennie" Thompson Jr. (R) have yet to formally announce their election plans.

E-mail Sherry Greenfield at sgreenfield@gazette.net.