Bill Ryan/The Gazette

Frederick Mayor Randy McClement (R) announces his bid for re-election to another four-year term on Monday night.

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Maryland State Sen. David Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) endorses Frederick Mayor Randy McClement (R), who announced his bid for re-election on Monday.
Bill Ryan/The Gazette
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Mayor Randy McClement (R) shows off a tie that he wore to honor his friend, Dale Driscoll, while announcing his bid for re-election in Frederick on Monday night.
Bill Ryan/The Gazette
• 
Frederick Mayor Randy McClement (R) announces his bid for re-election to another four-year term on Monday night.
Bill Ryan/The Gazette
• 
Maryland State Sen. David Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) endorses Frederick Mayor Randy McClement (R), who announced his bid for re-election on Monday night.
Bill Ryan/The Gazette

Frederick Mayor Randy McClement (R) announces his bid for re-election to another four-year term on Monday night.

Bill Ryan/The Gazette

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Frederick Mayor Randy McClement has announced his bid for election to a second term, becoming the first Republican to file to run for the office in the 2014 race.

“I love this town — this town has been very good to us,” McClement, 56, said Monday night, gesturing toward his wife, Maryjane, while referring to the Market Bagel and Deli the couple owned for 12 years before selling it last year.

About 45 people attended McClement’s announcement, held at The Temple, a beauty salon and cosmetology school at 22 West Church St. in Frederick, including State Del. David Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) and Brunswick City Administrator Rick Weldon, a former county commissioner and state delegate.

McClement said this would be his only run for re-election. Regardless of whether he wins, McClement said he would not run again, that he has no interest in becoming a career politician.

“I am not running against anyone,” he said. “I’m running for the city of Frederick.”

He pointed to several achievements in his first four-year term as his proudest, including the building of a new airport tower, the Monocacy Boulevard extension and the small area plans for the Golden Mile and East Frederick.

Although the small area plans don’t show immediate benefits, McClement said he was proud of the work the five-member Frederick Board of Aldermen, city officials and the public did to create them.

“These are things that take time,” he said. “They’re long term, but you have to take the first steps.”

Brinkley spoke highly of McClement’s first term in office, praising him as a practical mayor who works to fix things in the city like potholes and doesn’t indulge in argumentative politics.

“He wants to do the things that people take for granted when they’re done correctly,” he said.

Weldon also had high praise for McClement’s first term in office, especially his handling of the budget deficits in each year since his 2009 election.

“He was making tough cuts when others were content to complain,” Weldon said. “He faced the most difficult fiscal challenge any mayor could face. Others may be more flashy ... but if you want a mayor who will do the work, who will share the credit, you want Randy McClement.”

McClement joins Alderman Karen Young (D) and Del. Galen Clagett (D-Dist. 3A), both of whom have also filed to run for the $90,000-a-year job.

Several other current and former politicians have also been mentioned as possible mayoral candidates, including Alderman Shelley Aloi (R), who was present at both McClement’s and Young’s announcements; Frederick County Commissioner Billy Shreve (R); and former Mayor Jennifer Dougherty (D), who served between 2001-2005 and ran in 2009 but lost in the primary.

On the legislative side of city government, the current board of aldermen is composed of all first-term members, including Aloi, Carol Krimm (D), Michael O’Connor (D), Kelly Russell (D) and Young.

O’Connor and Russell have filed to run for their seats on the board again.

Aldermanic candidates run at-large in the general election, with the top five vote-getters winning the seats. Aldermen earn $25,000 annually.

This year’s city primary elections will be Sept. 10, while the general election is Nov. 5.

Gary Brooks, the owner of Barley and Hops Grill and Microbrewery and a former member of the Frederick Planning Commission who was also expected to run for mayor, announced in January that he was concentrating his efforts instead on getting a ballot referendum passed to have open, nonpartisan elections in the city.

Under current election law, only registered Republicans and Democrats can vote in their respective primaries. Any attempt to get the referendum on this year’s ballot won’t affect this year’s races.

Candidates who are registered Republicans or Democrats have until July 2 to file. Unaffiliated candidates must file by May 1. Third-party candidates must be nominated by Aug. 5.

tlaino@gazette.net