A showdown could be brewing between the Anne Arundel County Council and County Executive John R. Leopold over which branch of government can exercise more control over expenditures and a key board that reviews county building projects and growth plans.
Five charter amendments proposed by a pair of Democratic council members last week could chip away at the power of the county executive if they pass through the council and are approved by voters in November.
The most drastic change would give the council the power to appoint four of the seven members on the county's Planning Advisory Board - a committee that is currently hand-picked by the executive and helps determine which building projects are funded - as well as review the county development plan.
Another amendment would require the executive to get the council's approval when reallocating sums of $50,000 or more within a department.
Amendments to the charter, the county's founding document, need a supermajority - or five of seven votes - to clear the council before going to a voter referendum in November.
Leopold's office opposes the measures, said Alan R. Friedman, director of government relations, who said Wednesday that the substance and timing of the proposed changes is awkward. "I think it's a disservice to citizens to talk about charter amendments in a year when there's no county offices on the ballot," said Friedman, adding that voters will be too focused on the presidential race and the issue of slot machine gambling in Maryland to care much about the amendments.
Friedman also accused council members of trying to micromanage the government.
One of the proposed amendments would give the council authority to appoint its own legislative counsel.
Another would allow the council to appoint three members to the seven-member Ethics Commission. A third would make any bill passed by the council a law if the county executive fails to sign it within 10 days.
"If you go down this micromanagement road, when do you stop?" Friedman said.
Councilman G. James Benoit, a Piney Orchard Democrat who wrote the amendment curtailing the executive's ability to transfer money, said the changes do not reflect any bad blood between the council and Leopold's year-old administration.
