Harford County Councilwoman Elected Chair of Bay Program's Local Government Advisory Committee

Harford County, Md., Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti has been elected chair of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC), a group of 21 local government officials who work to improve the role local governments play in Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts and broaden local government participation in the Bay Program.

Councilwoman Lisanti was elected to office in 2006, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley appointed her to LGAC in 2009. During her professional career, she worked for the Maryland General Assembly, the Harford County Executive, and the Harford County Department of Planning and Zoning. She has also served as city manager of Havre de Grace, Md. and as vice president and president of the Maryland Association of City and County Managers. Additionally, Lisanti is the executive director of the Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway.

Lisanti will now lead LGAC in its main task of advising the Chesapeake Executive Council, the Bay Program’s leadership body, about the best ways to engage local governments in Bay restoration. LGAC's current focus is advising the Bay Program on how to involve local governments in the development of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.

"Seventeen million people call this watershed home and local government is the closest to those people," Councilwoman Lisanti said. "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."