Bob Cassilly

Bob Cassilly
Harford County Government
Harford County
https://www.harfordcountymd.gov

Bob Cassilly's leadership and determination against political resistance positively altered the course of manufacturing in Harford County. Upon election as County Executive, Bob Cassilly was determined to change Harford County’s approach to manufacturing, pivoting to provide a focused, welcoming environment for manufacturers.  He took the difficult position to suspend construction of bulk distribution warehouses within Harford. These “big box” warehouses had used large swaths of land, would continue to do so, and were easy to develop, but were not providing positive long-term economic return with good paying jobs for county residents. With strong investment in public education, he wanted highly skilled jobs accessible for local youth, to encourage them to stay in Harford for work and return for such opportunities after college. His push to terminate bulk distribution warehouses in favor of industrial manufacturing facilities received pushback from multiple directions. Bob’s tenacity and focus on the need for quality manufacturing jobs ultimately resulted, with support from the Harford County Council, in a ban on construction of distribution warehouses larger than 250,000 ft2. Harford County is no longer the default county within the greater Baltimore region for developers and brokers for big box warehousing. With this directional change, Cassilly has charged his Economic Development Department to attract manufacturers, working to add to the lineup of companies like Dunlop, Clorox, and more. This new strategy has become known within the development and broker communities, who now identify Harford, with its great schools, large labor shed, and safe communities, as optimal for Maryland manufacturers.