Mary Ann Lisanti, Harford County Councilwoman, Elected Chair of Local Government Advisory Committee

Harford County Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti was elected Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC) at their recent meeting in Washington DC. Representing over 1,800 local governments from across the Bay watershed, LGAC’s membership includes 21 local government officials from Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia.

Councilwoman Lisanti was appointed to LGAC by Governor O’Malley in 2009. Local government officials like Lisanti, who are the decision makers on land use and other Bay-related issues, are key players in helping to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay. “Seventeen million people call this watershed home and local government is the closest to those people,” comments Lisanti. “As a former City Manager and now a small business manager and elected official, I feel keenly responsible for ensuring that local needs are identified and funded, and that clean-up efforts are focused on individual actions and shared responsibilities. Local government understands that bay cleanup is all about our quality of life and economic development.”

Lisanti will now lead the Advisory Committee in its main task of providing advice to the Chesapeake Executive Council, the Bay Program’s leadership body, about the best ways to engage local governments in this work. Currently LGAC is advising the council on how to involve local governments in the development of the Bay “pollution diet” called the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). The Executive Council includes the EPA Administrator, the governors of each state, the Mayor of Washington DC, and the Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission.

Elected to office in 2006, Councilwoman Lisanti’s district includes Havre de Grace, Abingdon, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Perryman and Belcamp. She serves on the Maryland Association of Counties’ Legislative Committee and Education Sub-committee, the Council’s Personnel Committee, Citizens Nursing Home Board, Mental Health & Addictions Advisory Board and is Chair of the Bi-partisan Commission on School Construction.

During her professional career, she worked for the Maryland General Assembly, the County Executive and the Department of Planning and Zoning in the Harford County Government. She was City Manager of Havre de Grace, MD; from 1997-2002 and served as Vice President in 2000 and President in 2001 of the Maryland Association of City and County Managers. Additionally, Lisanti is the Executive Director of the Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway.