Vicki Almond, Reisterstown Activist, Chairs County Council

From Owings Mills pre-schools to the Baltimore County Council, Vicki Almond always saw her calling in community activism.

“From the beginning, I just wanted to make things better,” the Reisterstown resident said.

After spending the past three decades working and volunteering with schools, police, local politicians and in various other capacities, the freshman councilwoman was named the new chairperson of the Baltimore County Council Tuesday night. She is the first woman chairperson since 1983.

“As you’re sitting looking back, it’s like all things led me here, but I had no idea where it was leading me,” Almond, 62, said.

With a reputation for being a passionate community leader who works for the people, local residents are applauding her new appointment.

“I know she’ll be open to anything we have to say,” said George Harman, president of the Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council (ROG), a position Almond held twice. “Hopefully she’ll agree with it.”

Born in Catonsville, Almond moved to Reisterstown about 30 years ago, when her daughters were in pre-school. Her activism began at St. Thomas Parish Cooperative Day School in Owings Mills, where she first volunteered to design and maintain the school’s bulletin board. She soon became president of the non-profit, parent-run school.

Almond's activism followed her children as they grew up. She was PTA president at both Franklin Middle and High schools. At Franklin High, she started the variety show, now in its 20^th year, as a way to raise money for the PTA. She and other PTA members made their own costumes and sang songs by The Supremes as ‘The Supremettes.’

Her involvement in schools led her to ROG and the Baltimore County Police Department.

“I think I went from seeing school issues to seeing broader community issues that affect the schools,” she said.

Almond served as president of ROG twice and also served as its legislative liaison. It was at the police department, Almond said, where she really came out of her shell.

Working with officers Don Bridges and Joe Goralczyk, Almond helped start the county’s School Resource Officer program. After attending a national training, Almond went to community meetings to get the public behind putting uniformed officers in public schools. More than a decade later, .

“Kids were always kind of at the forefront, as far as doing things to make their lives better and [giving] the community a good quality of life,” said Almond.

Almond served on several politically appointed committees, including the Baltimore County Commission for Women, and she worked with several county executives, but it wasn’t until she was working as state Sen. Bobby Zirkin’s chief of staff that she decided to run for county council in 2010.

With longtime District 2 councilman Kevin Kamenetz running for county executive, a seat he won, Almond saw the vacant seat as her shot.

Although Zirkin was sad to see her go, he knew she would make a great councilwoman.

“I knew she’d be a good council person because she just genuinely cares,” he said. “It’s as genuine as it gets in politics with her.”

Almond was one of the first people Zirkin sought out when he first ran for office because of her reputation as an activist with her finger on the pulse of the community.

She shined in constituent services, passionately taking on individual issues, Zirkin said. That same dedication drove her in her first year as councilwoman, where she worked closely with county officials and residents on a and later scrapped, and various redevelopment projects in Owings Mills. She could also be seen at most ribbon cuttings and many community meetings.

Going forward, Almond hopes to keep Owings Mills development on track and continue to help Reisterstown’s Main Street become more economically viable as a small-town business district.

“Figuring out the best plan for the Reisterstown Road corridor, that is just really tough,” she said. “That is just really hard, attracting the right businesses, keeping the small businesses small, keeping that small town feel but allowing it to grow.”

But she is up to the challenge. It all goes back to that bulletin board at the St. Thomas school, which, at first, terrified her.

“To think I’m going to be the chair after a year on the council just blows my mind,” she said. “It is anxiety-producing, but if I can handle that bulletin board, I can handle this.”