Foster Seated as Chestertown's Mayor; Shoge Fills Vacant Council Seat

Published in Kent County News | Trish McGee | May 19, 2021

Promising to be an active mayor and to work collaboratively with council members in the best interest of Chestertown’s residents, David Foster virtually took his seat at the head of the table Monday night.

Less than an hour after Foster gaveled the live-streamed meeting to order, Sam Shoge, a former councilman, was tapped to fill what had been Foster’s First Ward seat.

Shoge will serve out the remainder of Foster’s four-year term, which closes at the end of the year.

This game of musical chairs, if you will, was set in motion last month when Mayor Chris Cerino abruptly resigned. He cited the emotional and physical toll of the past seven years, brought on by the stress of being mayor.

Council members Ellsworth Tolliver, Meghan Efland and Tom Herz, in that order, stood in as acting mayor at the April 6, April 19 and May 3 meetings before they and Foster agreed that rotating as acting mayor through the remainder of Cerino’s unexpired term was not an option.

The town charter required the vacancy to be filled within 45 days — either with an internal candidate or a member of the community at large — by a majority vote of the council. In the event no one was appointed within the specified 45 days, there would be a special election.

In a vote of the council at the May 3 meeting, Foster was chosen over Tolliver, 3-1, with each candidate voting for himself.

Foster was officially sworn in Monday, May 17 at 2 p.m. in town hall with his wife Barbara, Town Manager Bill Ingersoll and Town Clerk Jen Mulligan as witnesses.

His first action as mayor was to oversee the 6 p.m. budget workshop, which ended about 10 minutes before the regularly scheduled 7:30 p.m. council meeting.

After calling the council meeting to order, Foster jumped ahead on the agenda that included the monthly police report and discussion about University of Maryland Shore Regional Health’s request to close out its containment system of the decades-old oil spill at the hospital.

“I really am honored to have been selected for the position and I’m proud to have the opportunity to build on the legacy of Chris Cerino, Margo Bailey, Elmer Horsey,” Foster said. “Even if I’m only in this role for a few months, I have no intention of just being a seat warmer. I think we have important decisions to make. I think there’s a lot of work ahead of us and I plan on working with all of you to help accomplish what we can in this time.”

He continued: “Not only do we have a great team of council members, but we all bring a little different skill set and different perspectives.

“We don’t all see the issues the same way, and I think that’s good. We’re not always going to agree on things, and that’s not all bad.

“I think it’s useful to try to bring as many perspectives, as many sets of eyeballs and ears that we can to see what’s going on, what needs to be done. And I think by doing that, by looking carefully, I think we’re going to tend to make decisions that will do the best for our community.”

He said he looked forward to working with the council members, and thanked them.

Also on the agenda was discussion of how to fill Foster’s council seat, now empty with his ascent to mayor.

The application deadline was Monday, and Shoge was the only applicant.

Shoge previously served on the council, when he resided in the Third Ward.

He did not seek re-election in 2017, citing a potential conflict of interest after accepting a position as economic development coordinator for Talbot County.

Shoge and his young family moved to the First Ward three years ago, and he no longer works for Talbot’s economic development office. Since March 2020 he has been the executive director of the Kent County Chamber of Commerce.

The unanimous vote came after Ingersoll, Foster and the council acknowledged Shoge’s impressive résumé.

“I’m looking forward to working with you all and being back,” said Shoge, who served on the town’s Redistricting Committee tasked with redrawing the election wards to make them more equitable and is a current member of the Public Arts Committee.

His council term begins upon being sworn in by Foster.

The council had 45 days to select Foster’s successor; if no one was appointed within the specified time period, there would have been a special election.