St Mary's County Government, 44429 Saint Andrews Church Rd, California, MD 20619, US

The Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland was formed by an Act of the Maryland General Assembly in 2001. The purpose of the Council is to facilitate regional planning and development in Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties. As stated in the legislation, the Council is a tax-exempt public body corporate and politic and is an independent unit. The Council membership is made up of municipal, county and state elected officials as well as the county administrators from the three counties. The voting members are the five Somerset County Commissioners, five of the seven Wicomico County Council members, five of the seven Worcester County Commissioners, one municipal representative from each of the three Counties, and the members of the General Assembly who represent the region and have a majority of their districts within the three counties. Currently, there are twenty three voting members, fourteen non-voting members and the full Council meets quarterly. There is an eight member Executive Board made up of the officers of the Council, one at-large member and the immediate past chair. The officers of the Council are: Chair, First, Second and Third Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. The Executive Board meets bi-monthly. The Council has five other committees as well: Wastewater, Geographic Information Systems ( GIS ), Telecommunications, Regional Health Care and CEDS. These committees meet on a routine basis as needed. In November 2009 the Council was designated as an Economic Development District ( EDD ) by the Economic Development Administration ( EDA ) of the United States Department of Commerce. This will allow the Council ( on behalf of the Counties ) to apply directly to the EDA for funding.