Association Of Counties

The mailroom at the Carroll County Office Building will reopen today and the tax office will be open for business, although its location might be moved temporarily within the building, county officials said yesterday. The two rooms were closed Monday afternoon and all day yesterday after an envelope in the tax office spilled "a white crystal-type substance," according to Westminster police, who handled the matter with the county's hazardous-materials unit. The person who mailed the envelope was contacted and the matter appeared to be resolved, but the Maryland Department of the Environment and the FBI were consulted and the substance will be tested.

The way the state's cities and towns annex property from counties might need to be altered to avoid court challenges, a joint committee of the Maryland Municipal League and the Maryland Association of Counties.County Commissioner Julia Gouge and 13 other officials from throughout Maryland met at MML headquarters here Thursday and discussed the state's annexation law and possible ways to change it."It's the legal opinion of some lawyers that the law could end upfacing a court challenge," said Steve McHenry, senior staff associate at the MML.The possible court challenge comes from a 1988 Montgomery County case in which property owners' rights came under scrutiny.

Carroll workers hope to take a truckload of building materials to victims of Hurricane Andrew in Iberia Parish, La., this week.Last month, county workers began asking home builders and other companies to donate dry wall, 2-by-4s, nails, shingles, plywood and other materials to help Louisiana residents rebuild their homes and businesses.The county received its first donation Friday: dozens of rolls of kitchen flooring from Traditional Floorcovering Inc. in Columbia, Howard County.The flooring is worth $39,000, said Ralph E. Green, chief of the county Bureau of Permits and Inspections.

With two-thirds of the county's executive and legislative branches visiting the Midwest until the end of the week, the one commissioner left behind is feeling a little more important."

K. Marlene Conaway will become acting county planning director July 1, Carroll County Commissioners have decided.Ms. Conaway, 52, assistant director for the past eight years, will take over for Director Edmund R. "Ned" Cueman, who is retiring after 25 years as director.Ms. Conaway said the commissioners told her of their decision Wednesday. Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown confirmed the choice.Thirty-seven people, including four county employees, applied for the position, said Bev Billingslea, assistant director of the Department of Human Resources and Personnel Services.

The County Commissioners are carrying a mixed message to Annapolis today about the governor's "smart growth" plan for revitalizing cities and stopping suburban sprawl.Commissioner Donald I. Dell -- or one of his designates -- plans to tell the state Senate Budget and Taxation Committee that the Rural Legacy portion of the governor's growth proposal should be enacted no matter what happens to the other parts of the legislative package.Commissioner Richard T. Yates, meanwhile, expects to let his counterparts in the Maryland Association of Counties know that the Carroll delegation will oppose everything else in the governor's plan unless it is amended to include all 10 provisions sought by the association.

Howard County Councilman C. Vernon Gray plans to make a second run for vice president of the National Association of Counties -- a job he narrowly lost last summer amid ethical questions about his fund raising for that campaign.The lobbying group, representing the nation's 3,100 counties, will hold its five-day annual convention at the Baltimore Convention Center in July, giving Gray the chance to complete a comeback 20 miles from his Columbia home.Gray, a Democrat, has rarely discussed publicly last summer's election -- which he lost at the National Association of Counties (NACo)

Carroll County's new residential growth-control ordinance will share center stage this week during a statewide gathering of county government officials in Ocean City.Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown plans to speak about the county's concurrency management ordinance before the 600 government officials who are expected to attend the Maryland Association of Counties convention.The much-touted ordinance limits residential building to 6,000 lots over the next six years. The measure allows the commissioners to direct developments to areas where schools, roads and public services are adequate, but restrict it elsewhere.

Carroll County's three commissioners will fly to St. Louis today to attend a National Association of Counties conference, where they hope to learn about growth-control measures and agricultural preservation efforts in other areas.Commissioner Donald I. Dell, who has attended several NACo conferences, said he was looking forward to the trip. This year, he will serve on the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee."I'm going out there with the idea that I'm going to learn something," said Dell.

Officials from Carroll County and other jurisdictions across Maryland say they are pleased that their complaints about state-mandated all-day kindergarten have gained attention at the highest levels of state government. State leaders have not agreed on a plan to address counties' complaints that school systems could be forced to drain their coffers for an unwanted program. But legislators say Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s discussion on all-day kindergarten with legislative leaders at a recent dinner could signal growing debate on the issue.