When are layoffs a genuine effort to streamline government and when are they an excuse to change policy in a backdoor manner? In Worcester County, home to Ocean City and some of Maryland's most valuable (and sensitive) waterfront land, it appears the latter is at work.
Layoffs are uncommon in Worcester County government, but last month, a majority of county commissioners agreed to send 11 employees packing as part of a consolidation effort. All who lost their jobs in Snow Hill were employed in departments where important land use and development decisions are made.
As one critic wryly noted, this is a county that couldn't muster the votes to lay off a part-time grass cutter in a recent hearing. But suddenly comprehensive planning staff is considered expendable? And it happened behind closed doors, just as the county is rewriting its zoning ordinance and after the commissioners had already produced a balanced budget for the next fiscal year.
A generation ago, Worcester County earned a reputation for being a place where builders and real estate interests held enormous political influence. That's one of the reasons the areas west of Ocean City developed as they did and why the county must remain vigilant against projects that could threaten its valuable wetlands, streams and forests.
The danger posed by poorly regulated growth was underscored Monday by the overall C-plus grade the health of Maryland's coastal bays received in a report card released by the Maryland Coastal Bays Program and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. That's slightly better than the C-minus recently given the Chesapeake Bay in a similar review but a far cry from what these gorgeous bodies of water used to be.
Like the Chesapeake, the bays behind Ocean City and Assateague Island have suffered from excess nutrients - nitrogen and phosphorus pouring into them from such sources as poultry farms, household septic tanks, lawn fertilizers and construction sites. Too many nutrients lead to the dense algae blooms that clog the shallows and deplete dissolved oxygen, making it impossible for native plants and animals to survive.
While the report card found some positive signs - more acres of sea grass and hard clams in some spots - water quality earned a "D" in the areas farthest from the Atlantic Ocean. That can be attributed to runoff from the land, and it's an indicator of the harmful effects of development around the streams and creeks that feed into the bays.
Three years ago, Worcester County developed a comprehensive plan that was considered a model for the state. With this latest downsizing, the county is sending an entirely different message: Protecting the environment is no longer considered so important here.
