Crofton, Maryland

How Crofton is governed

Crofton appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from Anne Arundel County and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Crofton does have local officials.

Form of government not yet listed.

0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

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Population over time

From 27,348 in 2010 to 29,641 in 2020 (+8.4%).

History

Development

In 1963, after the Crawford Corporation accumulated over 1,600 acres (650 ha) of land, it announced that it would build a new community called Crofton. This new town and planned community was founded at the same time as Reston, Virginia (April 17, 1964) and Columbia, Maryland (1967). Crofton would be anchored by a community golf course, which later became the Crofton Country Club. Crofton was officially founded in the fall of 1964. The company considered picking an English name for the new town that "sounds well and implies that this is a pleasant place to live." It ended up picking the name "Crofton", named after a small township in Cumberland County, England. (Crofton, England was originally called Croft-town, derived from the word "Croft", as the town standing upon the Crofts.) Crofton, Maryland was founded as a community for racial exclusion.

Crofton pond snakehead fish incident

Crofton was in the national news in late June and early July 2002 after a fish called the northern snakehead was discovered in a local pond. The infestation was found in water behind the Crofton post office and the adjacent shopping center, across Route 3 from local landmark Lake Louise.

The snakehead species is highly aggressive and voracious. In order to ensure that the fish were eliminated, in September 2002 the main pond and two nearby ponds were dosed heavily with rotenone and subsequently with potassium permanganate. Six adult snakeheads and more than one thousand juvenile fish were found and destroyed.

Ultimately, the incident initiated a national discussion on invasive species. One comparison case was the mute swan, also an invasive and destructive species of the Chesapeake Bay watershed but, in comparison, quite beautiful, and which garnered support from some environmental and animal rights groups.

Several movies were inspired by this incident. Syfy aired two movies in relation to the snakehead outbreak: in March 2004, a movie called Snakehead Terror was featured, and the movie Frankenfish was aired in June 2004. Ten Pound Films also produced a feature film titled Swarm of the Snakehead which related to this incident. In 2007, a documentary titled Fishzilla: Snakehead Invasion aired on the National Geographic Channel, discussing the ecological damage that the snakeheads found in Crofton have done to surrounding areas.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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