Meet The Candidate: Jim Miller

Jim Miller’s first exposure to Havre de Grace City Council was in 1972.

It was a homework assignment.

In the same fashion with which he operates today, Miller began to question the norm and suggest alternatives.

It was one instance in particular that caught his interest.

At that time, teens in would drink and smoke in , Miller said.

“The police didn’t really mind it because they knew where everybody was and they could keep them contained,” Miller explained. “The complaint was that the kids were leaving trash down there. So I got up and said, ‘Why don’t you put some garbage cans down there?’”

The trash cans went in, and the complaints went away.

“So I kept coming to the meetings,” Miller said.

Miller, 55, has a vast knowledge of the projects that are planned and underway in the city, and is an encyclopedia when it comes to the status of various infrastructure in the city.

He’s served three terms on City Council, and most recently has been involved in the planning and zoning committee and interpreting and dissecting the recommendations of the zoning task force.

It was because of the work with the zoning project—and other civic programs—that Miller decided to run again.

“I was debating it. I’ve done this for three years. About a month before the filing date was when I made up my mind to do it again,” he said. “I’ve put the last four years into this zoning task force, so I want to stay and I want to see that completed.”

Miller said he doesn’t play favorites and is always looking to utilize the taxpayers’ contributions wisely.

He acknowledges others may see him as gruff, but his stance on topics is matter-of-fact, he said, and often the verbalized thoughts of others.

Miller enjoys the work and improving the community around him. But it’s obvious that he’s not a fan of the political charade that takes place every spring in Havre de Grace.

In a way, it detracts from the tasks at hand, Miller said.

“It’s part of the unfortunate thing about our elections, someone is always running for re-election,” Miller said. “So on May 9, the other side of the dais starts running for re-election.”

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See more Patch coverage of the 2012 election.