Emails obtained by Hagerstown Rapid Response through a Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) request show that developer Cascade Town Centre Development reported paying Ellsworth Electric $53,947 while Washington County Commissioner President John Barr participated in decisions advancing county infrastructure assistance for the development. The payments went to the Barr family’s electrical contracting company.
As our earlier reporting explained, the county previously transferred roughly 63 acres of lakefront property at Fort Ritchie into the JG Group (often referred to as JGBLI) development structure and established a tax-increment financing mechanism through which future property-tax growth could support infrastructure financing. Cascade Town Centre Development is the JGBLI-related property-owning entity, a relationship the county’s own infrastructure agreement acknowledges. Washington Realty Management, Inc is also a subsidiary of the JG Group. This is relevant for clarity because Joe Lee is the Director of Operations for JG Group / JGBLI and also the President of Washington Realty Management and uses his email address from this domain to contact commissioners about the funding he expects to receive.
The sequence in the records matters.
On March 2, the developer paid Ellsworth $5,000. On March 17, commissioners held a closed session with Joe and Jung Lee listed as attendees. The public summary describes a business proposal without naming the business or explaining what was requested. Twenty-one days later, on April 7, the developer paid Ellsworth another $5,000.
On April 23, Greg Murray joined Barr, Cline, the Lees, and county officials to discuss redevelopment infrastructure. That was 28 days before commissioners voted to hire his firm as the county’s utility consultant. Barr, Murray, and the county owe residents answers: whom was Murray representing at that meeting, what did he disclose, and how did the county address any competing interests before approving his contract?
On May 21, Barr voted to hire Murray’s firm and to approve the amended JGBLI infrastructure agreement committing the county to improve the private sewer system before taking ownership.
The MPIA packet shows Andrew Serafini, a former state senator and voting member of the Edwards Fund board, writing on May 22 that “Hugh and I are advocating for support of the commercial end of the project if the infrastructure is covered from other sources.” Serafini also served as John Barr’s campaign finance chair in 2006.
Serafini and Breslin also attended the April 23 redevelopment meeting with Barr and the Lees, where the summary identified both men as assisting the Lee family’s forthcoming George C. Edwards Fund application.
In that same May 22 email, Serafini said the Edwards Board discussed Cascade Town Centre’s application and that Tri-County and ARC representatives had talked with county staff about infrastructure funding for that project. The advocacy language is explicit and comes from voting members of the funding board considering JGBLI’s submission, tying ARC infrastructure funding to the same redevelopment linked to Ellsworth in the payment timeline.
Cline also serves as vice-chair of the Tri-County Council for Western Maryland, which helps administer the George C. Edwards Fund, and previously served as a voting member of the board overseeing that fund.
On May 26, Serafini told Gordon and Murray that the George Edwards Board had reviewed JGBLI’s submission and that significant ARC funding might be available for the project. He said county commissioners were in talks with ARC. Gordon forwarded his message to all commissioners the following morning.
On June 9, Barr supported advancing the sewer funding proposal. The minutes identify an $809,820 project, with $404,910 sought from ARC and an equal county sewer-fund match. The minutes do not name JGBLI, but the MPIA emails connect that funding effort to the developer’s project. Lee’s July 16 email also connects the county’s ARC application to the sewer replacement preceding Cascade Town Centre’s road improvements.
Ten days after the June 9 vote, on June 19, the developer paid Ellsworth $43,947.
On September 15, Barr abstained from a separate $1.25 million funding application vote for the same redevelopment, saying the proposed work included an electrical system and electrical contracting was his business. Why did that business interest warrant abstention then, but not during the earlier infrastructure votes while the developer was paying his family’s company? Barr owes residents an explanation for that distinction.
Earlier this week, we reported that by February 2019, following his unsuccessful 2018 reelection bid, John Barr was identified in a county presentation as chair of the Cascade Town Centre Development Advisory Group. The presentation also identified him as Ellsworth Electric’s president. That places Barr in an advisory leadership role connected to the same development interests whose related company later reported paying Ellsworth $53,947. Barr owes residents an explanation of what that role involved and how he disclosed that relationship before participating in county decisions advancing infrastructure assistance for the development.
The same 2019 presentation identified Joe Lee as president of Washington Realty Management and Greg Murray as its CEO. Earlier reporting by Radio Free Hub City also identified Ellsworth permits for electrical work at two JGBLI residential properties in 2025.
Barr owes the public a direct explanation for voting on that infrastructure while his family’s company was being paid by the developer.