A Connecticut native who grew up in New Jersey, Todd Anderson spent his early career in the human services department for Morris County, New Jersey. Although he has never held elected office, Anderson pointed to his 15 years of work supporting the federal government, as well as his education and previous jobs in local government, as evidence of his experience. Anderson serves as director of management consultant for HeiTech Services, a Landover company that offers business processing and information technology services to federal government agencies.He has a master’s degree in political science from the University of Rhode Island.

The City has a general policy of support for inclusion of women and ethnic minorities in its overall contracting. Do you support that concept, and in particular, do you support women and ethnic minority contract and employment inclusion appropriate in the proposed Hotel Conference Center Project?

This is an issue of concern. The city workforce should reflect our city demographics. We need to do better and work to build diversity in race, gender, ethnicity, and age within our city staff, throughout our various boards, and particularly in management positions. Studies have shown that organizations that encourage diversity, especially in leadership positions create a culture that is more collaborative and better at problem solving. Having an inclusive and diverse city

workforce is not only the right thing to do, but it also brings a lot of benefits including:

It provides the opportunity for access to a broader array of viewpoints;
It increases tolerance for different traditions and ideas; and
It leads to greater productivity, improved performance and a city government that is more responsive to all its residents.

Even with a solid diversity culture and policy, the actual hiring of a diverse workforce is also challenging. I would like to propose that the city adopt the “blind hiring” process. This allows recruiters and hiring managers to be more objective when evaluating a candidate’s skills, knowledge and potential to succeed while remaining free from bias related to the candidate’s race, gender, age and educational level. Only when the top candidates are selected and asked in for an interview, would the personal information be disclosed.

The city should also do everything it can to recruit more minorities and women including:

Advertising vacancies on job boards dedicated to diversity hiring;
Attending job fairs dedicated to minority and women applicants; and
Reaching out to various organizations and colleges to identify potential candidates.

There have been a disturbing number of shootings in neighborhoods in the city. Do you find this of concern, and if so, what measures would you deem appropriate in this matter.

Gun violence is something that every city has to address and any incidents of shootings in any neighborhood in the city is disturbing and a cause for concern. In addition to the traditional approaches such as an increased police presence and expanded lighting and surveillance cameras, we need to consider other, more innovative ways to keep our neighborhoods and parks safe. Below are just a few examples to consider:

Do More Community Policing. This involves a collaboration between the police and the residents to identify and solve problems, usually requiring officer patrols to be assigned one area of the city.
Introduce a Park and Neighborhood Patrol program. Volunteers are trained by law enforcement on ways they can assist the police department in keeping parks and neighborhoods safe, especially after dark.
Consider a Summer Night Lights program. The City of Los Angeles introduced this program in which parks and recreation centers remain open until 11:00 pm, and volunteers and staff facilitate safe, healthy activities for children and families. At these events, city and county departments and nonprofit organizations provide everything from nutritious meals to Zumba lessons.
Support Public Art like “Fight Crime with Neon.” A couple of artists in Philadelphia installed “neon mural” in a South Philly block. The mural is now a social-media destination after dark which brings more eyes on the street when the area needs it the most. While neon art may not be the right answer, creative solutions should always be considered.

Do you support a Living Wage for the City of Frederick?

Although I support the concept of a living wage, this is something that should be implemented at the state or national level, rather than the city level. I worry about the potential negative effects that implementing a living wage would have on workers in the city including:

Businesses could relocate outside of the city risking the jobs of their current workers;
Employers could reduce the hours of their workers, offsetting the benefit of a higher wage; or
Businesses could raise prices for their products to offset the increase and customers might take their business elsewhere in the county or state.

Do you support the City of Frederick becoming a Sanctuary City?

I support efforts to continue the Frederick city and community's commitment to preserving its resident’s human and civil rights and I am proud of the fact that Frederick’s police department already has a policy in place preventing officers from asking anyone they encounter about their immigrant status.

Unfortunately, because the Frederick Police Department does not currently have its own jail, we are forced to send these individuals to the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office who have been overly aggressive in deporting undocumented immigrants.

Do you support cumulative voting for City Elections?

I support the ideal of increasing the opportunities for minority representation, but I am concerned that cumulative voting provides the potential for misallocation of votes and over-nomination of one candidate. For this reason, I believe that Ranked Choice Voting, along with traditional “Get Out the Vote” efforts, is a better alternative.

Todd Anderson, Democratic Candidate for Frederick City Alderman

Todd Anderson

Jan Gardner, Candidate for County Executive

Kathy Afzali, Candidate for County Executive

Earl Robbins, Candidate for County Executive

As I See It | Letter to the Editor

Shannon Bohrer, Candidate for County Council (District 5)

Lisa Jarosinski, Candidate for County Council (District 2)