Baltimore County Council

Baltimore County Councilman Kenneth Oliver is leading the Democratic primary to hold onto his District 4 seat by about 100 votes with all but provisional ballots counted. Challenger Julian E. Jones Jr. said he has congratulated Oliver but is not conceding defeat. He is considering a recount request, which he would have to file by Sept. 30. There are also about 160 provisional ballots from District 4 awaiting review next week. Jones had been trailing by a slim margin after all of the Election Day results were tallied.

The Baltimore County Council unanimously approved Thursday the spending plan proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz for the coming fiscal year, a $1.65 billion operating budget that includes no furloughs, layoffs or tax increases. The lean budget, which goes into effect in July, relies heavily on savings from retirements, attrition and reorganizations in county agencies. The county will have 7 percent fewer employees than in the previous year. The council emphasized that local government would have less to work with as employees try to deliver the same level of services.

Sam Moxley on Tuesday became the fourth Baltimore County councilman to say he will not seek re-election in the fall, leaving a majority of seats on the seven-member panel up for grabs. Joseph Bartenfelder and Kevin Kamenetz are expected to run for county executive. Vince Gardina plans to retire at the end of his fifth term. "There are always concerns when there is a big change," said Moxley, a fourth-term Democrat who represents Catonsville and much of Southwestern Baltimore County.

When the public became outraged that a member of the Baltimore County Council would retire with a $54,000-a-year pension for life, then-Councilman Kevin Kamenetz moved to enact limits council pensions - but not for him or any of his colleagues. When another councilman offered a proposal that would have reduced the benefits he was to receive, he voted against it. This year, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's administration is advocating state legislation that would limit the far less generous pensions earned by at least 150 who worked for Baltimore County - and, in the bill's original form, sought to do so retroactively.

The Baltimore County Council unanimously approved Thursday the spending plan proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz for the coming fiscal year, a $1.65 billion operating budget that includes no furloughs, layoffs or tax increases. The lean budget, which goes into effect in July, relies heavily on savings from retirements, attrition and reorganizations in county agencies. The county will have 7 percent fewer employees than in the previous year. The council emphasized that local government would have less to work with as employees try to deliver the same level of services.

In an attempt to push for a more accountable school board, a majority of Baltimore County Council members say they would support a move from a fully appointed school board to a partially elected one. While the council has no direct say over whether the change will be made, its backing of the measure that will come before the Maryland General Assembly in the next session could help sway legislators. The letter was written to Sen. Kathy Klausmeier and Del. Steve Lafferty, who head a legislative task force looking into whether the board structure should change, and was signed by council members Vicki Almond, Todd Huff, David Marks and Cathy Bevins.

The election for an open Baltimore County Council seat in the east side's District 6 that includes Middle River, Fullerton and Overlea has, in many respects, become a referendum on the status quo and the Democratic administration that has been in place for the past eight years. Democrat Cathy A. Bevins, 51, of Middle River, was part of that administration, working for seven years in constituent service for County Executive James T. Smith Jr., and she said she would like to carry on Smith's approach.

Councilman John A. Olszewski Sr., a first-term Democrat from Dundalk, was elected chairman of the Baltimore County Council last night. The position rotates annually and is largely symbolic - the chairman runs legislative meetings and meets more frequently with the county executive than other council members do - but it is often noted as evidence of leadership skills when council members run for higher office. Olszewski, who takes over for Councilman Stephen G. Samuel Moxley, a Catonsville Democrat, said he plans to run for re-election in the fall but will consider higher office someday.

The Baltimore County Council narrowly defeated measures last night that would have imposed building moratoriums in several older communities. A bill by Council Chairman Joseph Bartenfelder called for the county to stop issuing permits for new homes in the Overlea/Fullerton area until creation of a community growth plan. A similar bill by Bartenfelder and Councilman Vincent J. Gardina applied to the Carney and Parkville areas. Both failed on 4-3 votes. The north county's councilman, T. Bryan McIntire, the only Republican member, voted against both and said he opposed using moratoriums to derail unpopular housing projects.

The Baltimore County Council confirmed last night a new county attorney, gave a raise to the executive's second-in-command and approved the purchase of 16 acres of the Rosewood Center in Owings Mills. With the unanimous approval of the council, Pikesville lawyer Jay L. Liner will take over for County Attorney Edward J. Gilliss when he returns to private practice at the end of the month. The county attorney is counsel to the executive and the council as well as to government department heads.

Jenna Fischetti picks a seat at a Baltimore County Starbucks where she can see who's coming and going. As a transgender woman, the 47-year-old is always on guard. "My head's on the swivel," said Fischetti, a freckled brunette. When she slips into a public restroom, she tries not to talk. If she makes eye contact with other women, she smiles and nods. For Fischetti, using the bathroom is just one small part of a daily struggle for social acceptance. She says she lost her job after she began living as a woman.

So wait: Are we going to have a genitalia check in Baltimore County before we get to use the restroom at McDonald's? Help me out, somebody. I might be confused - apparently, there's a lot of that going around these days - but I'm pretty sure I read these words in this very newspaper: "If your human anatomy is male, you should go to the [men's] room. " This eloquence soared from the lips of a Baltimore County council member - John A. Olszewski Sr., Democrat of Dundalk - who apparently thinks a proposed county law that would specifically prohibit discrimination against transgender people should not apply to public bathrooms and locker rooms.

Just on their handling of council members' pensions alone, few legislative bodies in Maryland have shown themselves more richly in need of term limits than the Baltimore County Council. Councilman David Marks' recent announcement that he is introducing legislation that would cap council members to no more than three terms in office is completely understandable. After all, one of the attractions of term limits is to promote citizen legislators and discourage career politicians. Towson has seen its share of the latter, and that probably contributed to its excessively generous pension program for council members, one that allowed particularly lucrative arrangements for County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and former councilmen Stephen G. Samuel Moxley and Vincent J. Gardina.

Is it possible to be too ethical? The Baltimore County Council seems to think so. Although they voted last week to adopt a number of important reforms proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz - including a requirement that their financial disclosure statements be posted online - they balked at several provisions that would have set stricter standards to ensure their private interests don't conflict with the public interests they are supposed to...

On May 27, 2010, the Baltimore County Council voted on legislation that would reduce pension benefits for thousands of government workers. The bill, part of a plan by then-County Executive James T. Smith Jr. to shore up the finances of the pension system, limited cost-of-living increases for county retirees and raised the amount of their paychecks county workers were required to contribute. But a last-minute amendment added to the bill would turn out to be worth tens of thousands of dollars to three of the councilmen who voted it into law. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and former councilmen Stephen G. Samuel Moxley and Vincent J. Gardina, both of whom have been hired into top positions in the Kamenetz administration, are taking advantage of a new provision of the law that allows them to earn their county salaries, accrue new retirement benefits and bank their council pensions for a lump-sum payout when they retire for good.

Webster C. Dove, a retired attorney and former member of the Baltimore County Council, died of Parkinson's disease Nov. 28 at the Edenwald nursing center in Towson. He was 89 and had lived in Pikesville. Born in Baltimore and raised near Clifton Park, he was a 1941 City College graduate. He enlisted in the Navy and trained to become a pilot. After surviving two plane crashes, he joined the Army and served five years. He left military service as a captain. He earned degrees in accounting and law from the University of Baltimore.

Scrolling or flashing electronic signs on the Towson City Center would have to be 55 feet or less from the ground under legislation approved Monday by the Baltimore County Council. The measure revised a bill the council passed in October, which allows electronic signs of up to 300 square feet on the building. Fifth District Councilman David Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, sponsored both bills. He offered the height limit after working with the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations, which had complained that the October legislation would allow flashing signs that could be seen far as far away as Cockeysville and the Loch Raven Reservoir – and that county council members hadn't listened to the community's concerns.

Baltimore County Council members say they are troubled by a federal investigation into allegations that the county has violated workplace discrimination laws - a probe the council's chairman says highlights long-standing concerns about how employees are treated. Justice Department investigators have been looking into claims that the county government harassed employees with medical conditions and forced some out of their jobs, according to court documents and people involved in the cases.