Howard County Executive Calvin Ball to become BCCC interim president
After hanging his hat as Howard County Executive, Calvin Ball will be returning to the institution he was working at before he served any political office.
Ball is set to become Baltimore City Community College's interim president. He revealed the news in an exclusive sit-down interview with WJZ and its media partner, the Baltimore Banner. He's set to start transitioning into the role in the next few weeks.
"I've always been excited about the possibilities at BCCC," Ball said. "I saw that maybe there's an opportunity to expand my service to our community, an opportunity to continue working in the Baltimore region for not only our today's, but our tomorrows."
Ball said his focus will be on the pending legislative audit on the institution, but more importantly, being the shoulder to lean on for the wider BCCC community.
"Reminding them that in me, they'll find a partner, a partner for our students, a partner for our faculty and staff, a partner for our community," he said. "A partner who wants to see the institution thrive."
Before taking office, he worked at BCCC as the director of Complete College Baltimore.
Reflecting on his time in office
Ball has been in Howard County political office for 20 years: the last eight years as County Executive, and the 12 years before that on Howard County Council.
While reflecting on his eight years at County Executive Monday, Ball said he always tried to lead with love.
"I tried to ensure that wherever we could make things a little bit better for everyone, we did," he said. "I tried to really leave it all on the court."
That meant having to respond to things he never anticipated, including another 1,000-year flood in Old Ellicott City, two record-breaking federal government shutdowns, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
But out of those things came solutions, like the Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan, a landmark flood mitigation plan made up of a series of initiatives ranging from signage, a tonal alert system, as well as the North Tunnel, which is the largest public works project in county history.
Ball said the major infrastructure and construction projects under his administration are some of the things he's most proud of, and he said they were only made possible because of collaboration.
"Some of my strongest, most ardent supporters are people who didn't necessarily support me when I became County Executive. But we had productive conversations. We talked about the things that we agreed upon, we talked about the things we didn't agree upon, and we built a stronger foundation for our community," he said.
It didn't always come easy, though. Looking back at his budget cycles, Ball said he did his best to align vision and values: where the county is and where the county wants to go.
Education typically was the most contentious item in his budgets, but this year, he nearly gave the school district its full budget request.
WJZ asked why that wasn't the case for his other budgets, to which Ball noted his administration always gave above the state-mandated requirements.
"If you look at the course of eight years, there were significant increases by not only the percentage, but the amount," he said. "I think the change is a change in tone, a change in collaboration, a change in partnership."
Ball is proud of the accomplishments he and his administration made in building up the county's affordable housing stock and efforts to stir the economy, like bringing in new businesses.
He knows the work is far from finished, but it doesn't make him any less proud of the progress.
"I've run my leg of the race. There is always more work to be done. I'm at peace with the progress we've made and I'm excited for the progress the next county executive will be able to make," Ball said.
Former state delegate Vanessa Atterbeary won the primary to be the Democratic nominee in the Howard County Executive race. Nater Kane is her lone opponent, after he filed over the summer as the Green Party candidate.
