Calvin Ball’s legacy is Ellicott City’s tunnel. Finishing it falls to his successor.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball won election in 2018 promising to do more to protect Ellicott City’s historic Main Street from flooding than incumbent Allan Kittleman.

Eight years later, a tunnel boring machine named Rocky has drilled through more than half a mile of granite. By the time the tunnel diverts its first drop of water to the Patapsco River next fall, Ball will be out of office.

“I’ve run my leg of the race,” the Democrat said this month.

Ball leaves Monday for a new job as Baltimore City Community College’s interim president, handing the baton on the largest infrastructure project in county history to incoming County Executive Vanessa Atterbeary.

It’s one of several projects Ball launched that define his two terms in office but remain incomplete and sometimes unfunded as he leaves office. Ball did face unexpected setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, President Donald Trump’s return to office and state budget cuts that slowed progress on his goals.

“There is a lot more to be done, whether it’s on education, affordable housing, transportation, the environment, physical and mental health,” he said. “There is always work to be done, but I’m pleased with our efforts. I’m pleased with our progress.

“I think oftentimes when someone is not successful in meeting each and every one of their goals and they take stock, the fact that they left it on the court, that they did their very best, that they gave their last measure of excellence, is something that gives peace,” Ball said.

Largest county infrastructure project ever

Ball’s Ellicott City plan aimed to preserve several historic buildings along Main Street from demolition and to construct five stormwater retention ponds as well as a massive tunnel by now.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.

Construction slowed; the project’s price tag grew. Ball raised more than $350 million in federal, state and local funding, but two retention ponds aren’t built yet.

That hasn’t stopped more than half a dozen new businesses from opening on Main Street in 2026, compared to one or two in previous years.

Mark Gasser, board president for the Ellicott City Partnership, which represents the historic district’s small businesses, credits the county for that energy.

People wouldn’t have felt as comfortable investing in or visiting Ellicott City without a project as transformative as Ball’s flood mitigation plan, he said.

“The real change happens when you have a vision and you have a plan and you stick with it,” Gasser said.

Even some of Ball’s critics on County Council, like Councilwoman Liz Walsh, who represents Ellicott City, credit him for the tunnel project.

Still, Walsh doubts the ambitious project will ever be finished completely.

“The costs have ballooned and I don’t think we have the money for it,” she said.

Mounting funding pressures

Ball’s enthusiasm for launching projects became a hallmark of his administration.

Gov. Wes Moore stood beside him as he unveiled plans for a “crown jewel” lakefront library in Columbia. The county partnered with a developer to convert the former Columbia Flier building into a community center. Ball set aside seed money to build the county’s first public ice rink at the Meadowbrook Athletic Complex in Ellicott City.

However, some critics questioned how a county facing mounting budget constraints could afford such projects.

The county had long grappled with an affordable housing crisis amid soaring rents and home prices. Some advocates argue Ball’s proposed policy solutions didn’t go far enough.

As the school system’s windfall of pandemic funding dried up and the state tightened its belt, budget cycles became a tug of war with education advocates.

“We’ve gotten the county sort of hooked on a spending model that’s going to be really difficult for next county council and administration to maintain,“ said David Yungmann, Howard’s lone Republican council member.

He acknowledged it’s “disingenuous” to criticize the county’s spending when his district secured funding for development projects, citing land purchased for a future elementary school near Turf Valley and an agricultural center being built in West Friendship Park.

“I’m part of it,” Yungmann said of the county’s spending problem. “That’s not just a Calvin thing.”

Others on the council have a less favorable view.

Walsh called spending on an ice rink “indefensible” when school buildings need repair.

Ball maintains that his allocations for county schools increased each year and said he sent more money to the system than legally required by the state.

“Everybody may not get exactly what they want, but, hopefully, they get most of what they need,” Ball said.

When Atterbeary and four new council members take office Dec. 7, they’ll face tough budget decisions, like whether to borrow money for affordable housing projects. The new administration also must decide which of Ball’s unfinished projects to fund — or shelve.

Historic tenure in Trump era

Ball’s 2018 bid for county executive came amid a blue wave election cycle during Trump’s first term.

Democrats unseated Republicans across the country, including in Howard’s top elected office. Ball became Howard’s first Black county executive.

“That was super impressive,” said Councilman Opel Jones, who was elected the same year and leaves office in December.

Even more notable was how Ball opened the door for other diverse leaders in the county, Jones said. For example, he appointed the county’s first female fire chief, first Black woman police chief and first police chief of Asian descent.

Trump’s return to office in early 2025 ushered in new pressures. The year began with a group, led by the president’s close adviser Stephen Miller, delivering letters to Howard and other Maryland jurisdictions threatening penalties for so-called sanctuary policies.

Howard stood out in Maryland for having a sanctuary law, the Liberty Act, that barred the county from committing any resources to immigration enforcement unless required by federal or state law.

The Trump administration repeatedly pressured Ball and other county officials on immigration matters over the last two years.

The tension became a crisis in January, when Ball announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was nearly finished outfitting an Elkridge office building to replace its Baltimore field office. He directed staff to revoke the project’s building permits, saying the building’s private owner and developer failed to make required public disclosures under state law.

The revelation shocked county residents and leaders, who scrambled to pass emergency legislation aimed at blocking the project.

The property owner sued. Howard’s legal team later backed down from defending the emergency legislation. A federal judge ordered the permits reinstated in August.

Construction resumed on the ICE facility and local leaders say there’s little more they can do to block it.

Walsh criticized Ball’s handling of the dispute and said it was her greatest “heartbreaker” of the last eight years.

A second Trump administration delivered other struggles to Howard, home to an estimated 50,000 federal workers and contractors. Many of them were impacted by Trump’s efforts to slash civil service jobs and several record-breaking federal government shutdowns.

Ball convened town halls for federal workers to share their needs directly with lawmakers and organized job fairs to help them search for employment.

Those were challenges Ball never expected as county executive. He also said he didn’t anticipate the increase in “negativity and vitriol.”

Still, he also was surprised by the commitment and love many community members showed despite the divisiveness. He said he’s proud of the Ellicott City flood mitigation project, the school ribbon cuttings and the programming that came to fruition during his time in office.

“I’m at peace with the progress that we made,” he said.