Local police chief to step into her job
She will be replaced by Crofton Police Chief and now acting Town Manager Lawrence Schweinsburg. "She has had a very long and storied career and she deserves to retire with dignity and she deserves a rest," said retired Army Brig. Gen.
Ed Dosek, the former Crofton Civic Association president who made her town manager in 1993. Mrs. Swann's retirement comes as a result of her fight with cancer.
"Having health problems has its strong affects and was a strong decision factor (in retiring)," she said. Mrs. Swann started her career in Crofton as a part-time administrative assistant in the Town Hall and has been promoted to every position since.
Town manager is the most senior job in the Special Community Benefit District, the Crofton Triangle area roughly bound by routes 3, 424 and 450. The county designation allows the community to levy taxes to help fund a neighborhood police force and civic programs. As town manager, Mrs.
Swann worked with the Crofton Civic Association board of directors, developed and managed the $1.1 million town budget, helped the Crofton Police Department and handled sometimes thorny disputes over the town's restrictive covenants. As she recovers from her cancer treatments she will help Chief Schweinsburg learn all the finer points of the town she has devoted her life to.
"You choose someone to be her replacement, but you can't replace her," Gen. Mrs. Swann moved to Crofton with her family on Oct.
31, 1969. She spent that morning putting furniture into her house and spent the evening in her old Silver Spring neighborhood trick-or-treating with her children. "Some things you just remember," she said.
Crofton was a much different place then, not much more than a neighborhood wrapped around a golf course in the middle of farmland. "We were just a budding housing development at the time, with nothing in the area. We had to go to Bowie to go grocery shopping.
The biggest torment to my kids what that we didn't have a McDonald's," she said. At the time most of the town was within the Crofton Triangle. Since then Crofton has expanded with neighborhoods developing north of the first homes in the area.
Mrs. Swann no longer has to leave the county for a dozen eggs; she has three grocery stores within a few miles of her house. "It's been major change and major growth.
At that time one of the biggest things we got into was fighting the McDonald's on Route 3. We didn't want things like that in our area, but of course my kids did," Mrs. Swann said.
Today, McDonald's, and several other fast-food restaurants and other businesses sit in the median strip of Route 3. Mrs. Swann began working for Crofton part-time as an administrative assistant in 1970.
She mostly helped create the civic association's newsletter and managed memberships. "We used to charge a membership fee at that time," she said. Mrs.
Swann would later become comptroller and was responsible for Crofton's budget. She was named acting town manager after James Hickey left the position in 1990. She wanted the job permanently, but was passed over by the CCA in favor of former New Carrollton Mayor Jordan L.
Harding. When Mr. Harding resigned in May 1993, she applied again and was hired by Gen.
Dosek. "She was a long-time employee of the community as was her father before her," Gen. Dosek said.
As town manager she was responsible for helping develop and handle the budget, planning community activities and enforcing town covenants, Gen. Dosek said. Because Mrs.
Swann has been in Crofton for so long she had an intimate knowledge of the area that only comes with practical experience, CCA President Steve Grimaud said. "She knows who's who and what's what and where everybody stands in the county and the area," he said. This made her particularly effective in reaching out from Crofton and working with the county, he said.
With 36 years of experience, Mrs. Swann became a reference source. She had memorized budget and planning details and could explain the finer points of the town covenants on cue, Mr.
Grimaud said. As town manager, she worked 35-hour weeks and earned $47,615 annually. Chief Schweinsburg's approach to the job will be different.
"Larry is a bit more formal about it because he has more experience (with) county-level budget preparation. She has it in her head; he has it on paper," Mr. Grimaud said.
"That comes partly from being in a paramilitary organization for all these years," Chief Schweinsburg said with a laugh. Though he is sure he will have no trouble with his new job, one of the hardest parts will be filling Mrs. Swann's shoes.
"It's a challenge. Not only did she do a good job for the people who live here, she was an excellent boss for all of us," he said. Mrs.
Swann will formally retire as Chief Schweinsburg moves into his new position. While his official start date has not been determined, Chief Schweinsburg will take over sometime this winter, Mr. Grimaud said.
As Mrs. Swann regains her strength while recovering from cancer treatments, she will help Chief Schweinsburg learn the details of the job. Chief Schweinsburg's said his seven years of experience as police chief gave him a good knowledge of the town and will make for a smooth transition.
"Until Larry expressed an interest in the position I was sweating bullets," Mr. Grimaud said. Chief Schweinsburg was selected by an ad hoc committee that included Mr.
Grimaud and CCA district representatives. "My main concern was that she was going to be hard to replace," Mr. Grimaud said.
Mr. Schweinsburg worked for the Prince George's County police until 1996 when he retired as a major. He worked for private security firms for a few years before he returned to law enforcement in 1999 as police chief.
Although he was responsible for law enforcement, he also helped out Mrs. Swann. "If someone were to call me and question whether or not there was a covenant violation or tree trimming issue, or whatever it might be, he would go and check it for me.
He's been a great standby," she said.
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