While we’re at it, can we point out that Fred Homan, a senior county official, admits that the Personnel and Salary Board violated the Open Meetings Act. Of course, he only admitted this after Bryan Sears, Patuxent Publishing, starting asking questions. Here’s what he found.
“A salary advisory board violated the state Open Meetings Act, a senior county official said today.
The Baltimore County Personnel and Salary Advisory Board met Nov. 18 to recommend pay increases for the county executive and members of the County Council but did not open to the public an earlier unannounced meeting during which the particulars of their recommendations were discussed.
County Administrative Officer Fred Homan acknowledged in a brief phone call made to a reporter late Friday afternoon that the board violated the act by not opening the unannounced meeting.
Salary advisory board violated Open Meeting Act
By Bryan Sears
“We do believe that, in fact, they did (violate the law) and we’re going to institute some training,” Homan said.
The county Office of Law began a review of the lawfulness of not making public the unannounced meeting after Patuxent Publishing Co., publisher of this Web site, raised questions with a county attorney.
During the board’s open meeting at 9:30 a.m. in a first-floor conference room of the county office building, members discussed a proposed 8-percent raise for both the county executive and members of the council beginning December 2010. The board recommended the 8-percent raise for the incoming county executive but only a 2-percent hike for incoming council members.
Board Chairman William Flattery said during that meeting that the board recommended only 2 percent for council members because of “of the other perks and the other benefits that go with (a County Council member’s) salary.”
But board members did not discuss or elaborate what those “perks” and “benefits” might be.
In an interview Thursday, Flattery said that three of the five-member board had gathered for a prior, unannounced meeting in a third-floor room. A fourth member joined them later.
At that time, members talked about the pension system and about a car allowance for council members, Flattery said.
When asked by a reporter if those conversations should have been open under provisions of the state Open Meetings Act, Flattery said he believed the law applied only to the regularly scheduled 9:30 a.m. meeting and not to the unannounced gathering beforehand.
The state Open Meetings Act requires that government boards hold all meetings in public. Meetings may be closed only due to specific circumstances. And the proposal to close a meeting must be voted on in a public session.
Under the law, an informal gathering would not necessarily be considered a public meeting. But when a majority of the members are present and discussing public business, such as an item on a meeting agenda, the provisions of the law are in effect.
Homan attributed the violation to the fact that salary board members were not knowledgeable about the Open Meetings Act and said the county would be conducting training on the subject.”
Days after dozens of citizens testified against the current pension program, a county board recommends a raise for our favorite civil servants. I remember a councilman shouting out in the midst of the testimonies that there was no raise on the table. So did this just spurt up out of no where? Are these guys trying to get fired?
Can they speak and things just happen? If Obama says there are 57 states, do 7 more magically appear? If they make up congressional districts to prove that Stimulus money is being spent wisely, does that mean that the States automatically get a few more Congressmen? In other words, can they speak things into existence? It’s a valid question, but the obvious answer leads me down the path of even deeper questions. For instance, where exactly did all that money go? If the people who sanctioned it can’t keep up with it, then who knows where in fact it went. Any ideas. Feel free to discuss in the comments below.
Up comes this bill to restrict the use of tanning beds for minors, presented to us by the not-so-honorable Councilman Gardina. He argued that tanning beds emit harmful radiation that causes melanoma, and therefore, we should not allow teenagers to use them. His proposed bill restricts the use of a tanning bed by a minor to those who not only have their parents permission (as written in state law) but also have a prescription from a doctor. Is this guy serious? Is he completely out of touch with reality? Does he just suppose that all parents are incapable of controlling their own children? Clearly, he doesn’t trust us. I wonder what his wife thinks about that. And seriously, did anyone think about the harmful radiation that comes from the SUN. I’m guessing that’s where he’d go next. Can you imagine? “Excuse me, miss, do you have your written parental permission and a doctor’s prescription to come to this pool (or beach)?” Ridiculous, right? Thankfully several of the board members agreed with me, probably not at the same level, but still, they agreed. The bill failed with a vote of 5-2. The yay-sayers were Kamentz & Gardina, neither of which brings me to the insulting part of my night.
), but here’s the gist. “I’ll have you know that my brother has been in the hospital for 10 weeks and I’ve only had 4 days to renovate his house. If you don’t like it, I don’t give a damn.” And then came an insulting rhetoric that involved some unkind words about us, but I can’t for the life of me remember them. I think that is due to the fact that I was literally in shock. I don’t have a ton of interaction with politicians outside of their polished TV appearances, but the two that I have had have revealed some true colors. First was O’Malley at the Fourth of July parade who was completely disrespectful and condescending as he passed by the PVRC in his motorcade. The second was last night with Gardina’s inappropriate outburst. So a few people laughed, can you blame them? They came there to testify against a lucrative pension plan that Gardina is fully benefiting from. Come on, the irony alone deserves a snicker or two, but the reaction was so far outside the realm of normal, it was more revealing of his character then anything else. How this man was elected to 5 terms is beyond me. I sat in a room with him for less than an hour before the outburst, and just by watching his body language and the way he handled the tanning bed bill, I could tell you now, he’d never get my vote. Then he attacked the very people he represents? Can someone say insecurity? He’s obviously feeling like he’s on the hot seat, and I’m not sure he can handle it. He’s become the poster child for this whole debacle, but instead of handling it with grace, he’s allowing his true colors to squeeze out under the pressure. It will be interesting to see if he offers an apology or if the media will even cover such a display.