Wednesday, June 29, 2011

County Hires Cowger To Run Liquor Sales

SNOW HILL — The Worcester County Commissioners have hired Bobby Cowger, a former commissioner and a onetime head of the about-to-dissolve Worcester Liquor Control Board, to be the county's first director of the Department of Liquor Control.

Cowger, of Pocomoke City, has been in charge of managing the county's transition from a liquor board whose members are chosen by the governor to a system in which a county-controlled department manages retail and wholesale distribution of spirits.

Cowger has experience both as the former director of the LCB from 2001 through 2005. He is also a former Worcester County Commissioner who declined to run for re-election in 2010. He has also been an active member of the Pocomoke Volunteer Fire Company for more than 25 years, serving two terms as president.


As director of the Department of Liquor Control, Cowger's annual salary will be $85,000, a county spokeswoman said.

A campaign to disband the Worcester LCB, mounted by Ocean City business leaders who said the board gave some bars and restaurants better prices on liquor than others, led to a Maryland comptroller's investigation in 2010 that found problems in how the LCB managed and sold its inventory. A bill to end the LCB and give control over liquor sales to the county passed the legislature this spring and was signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley. It takes effect July 1.

Source;  http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110628/NEWS01/110628033/SNOW-HILL-Cowger-is-hired-by-county-to-run-liquor-sales?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Worcester County Times|s

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are the Ocean City business leaders who wanted the Worcester LCB disbanded, happy with this decision?

What is Cowger's experience?

Anonymous said...

That's wierd, if a Maryland comptroller's investigation in 2010found problems, then how come one of the very people over it as a commissioner is now gonna be Director of the Department of Liquor Control?