Incumbent Barch Hopes for Second Council Term

Mackie Barch, 36, is a long-time Kensington resident who works in vitamin distribution. He is a current councilmember serving his first term.

Patch asked Barch questions to learn more about his campaign and plans for Kensington if re-elected.

Kensington Patch: How long have you been a resident of Kensington?

Mackie Barch: For three generations, and my brother just started the fourth.

KP: What inspired you to run for town council (re-election)?

MB: A long line of family including my Great Uncle Frank ( is named after him) and my great aunt were known for their community service. In the 1950s they moved in to the house where I now live and they were involved in community forever. They were distraught about moving out of the house and I felt a moral obligation to keep the house in the family. The house was falling down on itself. Since 2007, I worked every minute to get the house back on track. Kensington is falling down around us. people don't know where Kensington stops and Wheaton begins. Kensington is viewed as a residential community, and we let the businesses get run down. Businesses are a reflection of this community. I feel more obligation after my family has been here to get the business community up to par.

KP: What goals would you like to achieve while on the council?

MB: I chaired the revitalization committee, which was slated to work on business relations. I'd like to see passing of the sector plan and implementation of the sector plan. The implementation piece—that's going to be most difficult. There's no interest and no trajectory of where the business community is headed. We need to reach out to business community and encourage and them to come here. We have to market the sector plan and come up with our own conceptual plans. We're going to have to compete with other up and coming communities.

KP: What issues concern you about Kensington? How will you address them?

MB: Town services concern me. I don't think that we are blocking and tackling as we should be. We are kind of at this crossroads where we outsource rather than keep in house. We need to figure out what direction we're going to go because things just aren't maintained as the level as they should be.

Property taxes are another huge concern of mine. It's another argument that we haven't heard a lot of. The state and county continually are cutting back on financing of municipalities. We're going to have to grow to some degree so we don't have to raise property taxes. There are a lot of things we would like to do as a community that we can't afford to do. 

KP: Why should a resident vote for you?

MB: To continue the path forward to revitalization of this town. Kensington needs new life, needs a new generation of people who're going to understand the history of the town and take that and put it into a modern context. I know what it is like to grow up here, and what the town lacks. We need to revitalize, but do what is respectful to the history of the town. If you look at the backgrounds, I'm the only entrepreneur... I know what it takes to bring business to the town and to attract. I want to strike a chord between the two.

KP: What's your favorite part of being a Kensingtonian? 

MB: For me, it's family. My mom lives six blocks away, my dad eight blocks away and my brother is two blocks away. It makes the holidays very easy. I love the small town feel of Kensington, but I just really wish there was more to do and that we had the amenities that other communities have so we don't have to leave. I ride my bike to work every day, it's great. I love it. It's a fun, small community, but it can be so much better. that's the frustrating part of it.

Read the Q&A's from other candidates by clicking on their name: Mackie Barch | Julie O'Malley | Barry Peoples | John Thompson | Stowe Teti