Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Council Chairman Tom Quirk's verbal approval allows Baltimore County to jump the legal process and start using three new electric police vehicles.
Three new electric stand-up vehicles gifted to the Baltimore County Police Department aren't exactly street legal yet. But that didn’t stop county officials from putting them into service at the Towson Spring Festival, just three days after publicly showing them off at news conference. That's more than two weeks before the Baltimore County Council gets a chance to officially approve the acceptance of the $39,000 gift from Baltimore County Police Foundation. County law allows the county to accept gifts valued at $5,000 or more after sending the Council notice and giving them 14 days to decided if they want to formally discuss and vote on the gift. The Council Monday introduced a resolution seeking to approve the gift. That resolution will …
Thursday, April 25, 2013
A 2012 college teaching position held by Councilman David Marks, while legal, should have triggered an amended financial disclosure report.
Baltimore County Councilman David Marks said Thursday that a 2012 teaching job at a local university should have been part of his required financial disclosures. Marks acknowledged the job and failure to file an amended report last year with the Baltimore County Ethics Commission during an interview. "It was an oversight," Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, said after being asked about the job. The undisclosed teaching job as well as two previously disclosed consulting positions do not appear to violate county law. Marks said the teaching job will appear in disclosure forms that he has already filed that will be made public next month. Following the interview, Marks issued a statement by email: "As soon I was offered a three-month teaching …
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Baltimore County officials say the loan for a Cockeysville recycling facility from its underfunded pension system is a "win-win." But some County Council members have questions.
UPDATED (3:16 p.m.)—Some Baltimore County Council members and union officials say a $25 million loan made to the county from its own pension system raises questions. The loan will be used to pay for a new recycling facility in Cockeysville. It's the same facility for which the Baltimore County Council approved $25 million in bond sales last November. Councilmen David Marks and Tom Quirk say they now have questions about the change in how the project is financed and the lack of independent oversight. "I don't know any of the details of the arrangement at all," Quirk said. "We definitely have questions." Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, said he was withholding judgement on the changes but was asking the administration to provide a legal …
39.471931
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Recycle Way, Cockeysville, MD
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Legal work raises questions about the meaning of law governing outside employment for the county executive
In the year after Kevin Kamenetz took office, the Baltimore County executive continued to do some legal work, according to a review of county and state records. The work refocuses attention on language in the Baltimore County Charter that requires the executive to "devote his full time to the duties of the office." A county spokesman said Tuesday that the law would allow a county executive to hold outside employment so long as he works at least a 40-hour work week for the county. "The county executive is not practicing law," said Don Mohler, Kamenetz's chief of staff. "Being county executive is more than a full time job." Still, Mohler argued that the law would allow a county executive, if he so chose, to hold other employment, such as …
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Activists say it's easier to meet the state's standards for referendums than to petition a county law to the ballot.
A group of county activists wants to make it easier to petition county laws to the ballot and, ironically enough, the group's effort begins with a petition. Ann Miller, a Republican activist, is one of a number of volunteers who spent election day collecting signatures on a petition to change the Baltimore County Charter. If successful, the change to the County Charter would mean that voters seeking to challenge a law by referendum in the future would need to collect the signatures of less than 8,700 registered county voters to get an issue on the ballot. Miller and volunteers working with her are learning first-hand the difficulties in petitioning a county law to referendum as they attempt to collect enough signatures to overturn a …
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Enhanced enforcement, electronic access to financial disclosure forms all part of changes announced in the wake of controversy over Baltimore County Councilman Ken Oliver's state job.
UPDATED (2:38 p.m.)—Proposed changes to Baltimore County ethics laws will limit the ability of employees to lobby on matters they worked on, bar them from accepting gifts and clarify conflict of interest rules. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced proposed major revisions of the nearly 30-year old ethics laws and issued an executive order governing the conduct of 8,000 county employees during a Wednesday news conference in Towson. "I believe we've had generations of men and women who have served the people of Baltimore County with great distinction, but I also recognize that we have a responsibility to live up to their legacy and to serve the people of the county with the honor and dignity I know they expect and deserve," Kamenetz …
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Councilman voted on an issue relating to the Department of Business and Economic Development but didn't abstain or disclose that he worked for the state agency.
A vote on an economic development issue taken in March by Baltimore County Councilman Ken Oliver is raising ethical questions because it involved the state agency that employed the councilman. Oliver and his six council colleagues voted March 7 to approve a resolution calling on the state Department of Business and Economic Development to approve the creation of a state enterprise zone in Woodlawn. The vote was taken just weeks after Oliver began a job as a financial analyst with the same agency. The county's ethics code states that a public official "may not participate in any matter involving the county if" it involves a business entity the employs the official. Some council members and an ethics expert said that Oliver should have …
Monday, October 24, 2011
Baltimore County Council Chairman John Olszewski says colleague volunteered to resign after council members expressed concerns.
UPDATE (9:14 p.m.)—Baltimore County Councilman Ken Oliver has told a top official he will resign from his job with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. Council Chairman John Olszewski Sr. told Patch Monday afternoon that Oliver volunteered to resign from the job after council members expressed concerns that it violated the County Charter. “All of the council had concerns with the situation with (Oliver),” Olszewski said. “I told him he had to remedy this issue.” Olszewski did not know when Oliver intended to resign from the state job. “Hopefully sooner rather than later,” Olszewski said. Oliver did not respond to calls from a reporter seeking comment. Patch reported last week that Oliver has been working for the …
Friday, October 21, 2011
County Charter appears to offer no enforcement or penalties if state job violates County Charter.
Councilman Ken Oliver's state job may violate the Baltimore County Charter but county attorneys and council members say they may be powerless to do anything to resolve the issue before the 2014 election. The 55-year old charter prohibits councilmembers from holding state jobs during their terms. The document, however, does not provide a mechanism to enforce the provision. That hole in the law could set up a stand off should Oliver choose not to give up his job as a financial specialist while he continues in his third term as a councilman. "The charter does not appear to have any mechanism for dealing with a violation of the charter," said Baltimore County Attorney Michael Field. "How is this resolved? I don't know," Field said. "Who gets …
Thursday, October 20, 2011
A contract signed by the councilman makes no mention of the third-party accounting firm.
A contract between the state and Ken Oliver more clearly defines the Democratic three-term councilman's relationship with the Department of Business and Economic Development. The four-page document outlines the nature of Oliver's employment with the agency and specifies that he is not eligible for pension and health benefits as a contract worker. (See attached document.) The contract appears to contradict the Baltimore County councilman's claim that he works for an accounting firm that contracts with the state. Oliver was hired in February as a financial specialist at the department—for which he is paid $62,000, or $30.16 per hour for a 40-hour work week. A Patch story published Wednesday raised questions about Oliver's state job. The …
moe green
5:50 am on Thursday, May 9, 2013
western traffic out of the old woodlwan station had them in the early to mid 1970's more ›