County Council Candidate Q&A: Tom D'Asto

Name: Tom D'Asto

Age: 44

Lives in: Clarksville

Political Party: Republican

Occupation: D'Asto is a program manager for ATK, an aerospace and defense company with a location in Beltsville.

What are the three most important issues facing your district?

"We still have development issues. Town Center redevelopment was approved last year by the council. There's still a lot of unanswered questions regarding that. We need to have a strong leader in the council to make sure the developers adhere to what they agreed to.

"We have some old village centers that need refurbishing, like Wilde Lake, which has just been on a downhill slide for more than four years now. The current councilman hasn't already addressed that to resolve it by now.

"The development issues can also relate to other issues. The traffic congestion is already beginning to be a problem, and it supposedly is going to be addressed through the Town Center redevelopment. But, again, it's going to take someone to make sure all those new regulations are adhered to.

"And of course there's  sewage waste issues. Howard County has a lack of sewage treatment plants, and no plans going forward to rectify that situation."

What do you wish had been accomplished in Howard County in the past four years that was not?

"We should've certainly addressed the redevelopment of the village centers like Wilde Lake. That definitely needs to have a strong voice on the council to control what the owners of the business property are allowed to do. They've let it sit idly by for about four years or more, waiting, I guess, for the legislation to pass on Town Center.

"That to me is unacceptable. Businesses wouldn't have been lost that are now lost in the community.

"I also wish that the county executive would've come up with a better plan for funding the Other Post-employment Benefits, which are required by state law for the county to fund. We are now running a $800 million deficit. He's kicking that down the road for future generations to solve. The amount we have to fund now is so much greater than had we started funding it four years ago."

Why do you deserve this seat more than your opponent does?

"She's had four years to get this problem rectified. She hasn't used the bully pulpit of the office to control or pressure the county executive to get proper funding for Other Post-Employment Benefits. I don't think she's going to be as strong a leader to control the development process.

"My concern in the development process and in Town Center is that the developers are always going to be asking for waivers and deviations and exceptions. They always do that. I think she needs to be stronger. We need a stronger leader to make sure those developers adhere to the legislation that they agreed to."

On the Web:

tomdasto.org