Board Of Public

Counties that lose state funding for local projects may seek support from Maryland's Board of Public Works, but the final decision remains with the governor and General Assembly, the state attorney general said yesterday.In an opinion requested by Carroll County legislators, Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said county officials can ask the Board of Public Works to endorse the need for long-planned bypasses for which Gov. Parris N. Glendening has canceled funding.But even if a majority of the three-member board endorsed the projects, the governor could withhold the money under the state constitution, Curran said.

The state Board of Public Works publicly scolded the Towson University president Wednesday for her handling of a decision to cut the college's baseball and men's soccer teams and delayed approval of a contract the university requested to build a campus in Harford County. Two members of the board - Gov. Martin O'Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot - voted to postpone action on a small contract for pre-construction services related to the $25 million satellite campus until Towson's president, Maravene Loeschke, appears at their next meeting in two weeks.

The Board of Public Works delayed action yesterday on a contract with a bus company that failed to meet Maryland's minority business goals, though two of its three members said they believe the state has taken sufficient steps to ensure the company's future compliance. The contract with First Transit Inc. had raised the hackles of minority contractors because the company failed to meet the original goal that minority subcontractors perform 30 percent of the work. Last year, the company got a waiver from the Maryland Aviation Administration to reduce that goal to 13 percent on its contract to run shuttle buses that transport passengers to and from parking lots at the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The O'Malley administration has chosen a Canadian company to operate two MARC commuter train lines, passing over a competitor whose critics have tied it to Nazi Germany and avoiding a potential fight with Holocaust survivors. The Maryland Department of Transportation is expected to seek Board of Public Works approval Oct. 3 for a nearly six-year, $204 million contract with Bombardier Transportation Services to run the Camden and Brunswick lines. The lines are now owned and operated by CSX Transportation, which has long wanted to get out of the business of running a commuter railroad.

Like religious pilgrims, officials from most of the state's 23 counties and Baltimore descended upon Annapolis yesterday to pay homage to the guardians of school construction funding, the Maryland Board of Public Works.They came from as far away as Allegany County and the Lower Eastern Shore to flatter, persuade and cajole the board into funding renovations, roof repairs and new buildings dear to their constituents.During the seven-hour meeting, school superintendents, board of education members and legislators told of leaking roofs, ancient boilers, buckling floors and crowded classrooms.

IT'S CALLED checks and balances. Gov. Parris N. Glendening -- any governor, for that matter -- shouldn't be able to hand out big pay raises to high-ranking members of his administration without approval from the Board of Public Works. The system "ain't broke, and don't need fixing," to re-state a commonly observed rule in Annapolis. So, a House of Delegates-passed bill that would remove that required approval makes no sense. The Board of Public Works' safeguard is so entirely in the public interest that one wonders why a governor so often called a man of policy would propose its eradication.

The Maryland Board of Public Works yesterday approved a $1.25 million grant to help Anne Arundel County preserve a 313-acre farm in the Jug Bay sanctuary along the Patuxent River in Lothian. The parcel, known as the Riggleman property, includes one mile of coastal frontage on Jug Bay, wetlands, woods, a vineyard and a historic house. Anne Arundel officials said they were thrilled with the Project Open Space grant, because the property is a key piece in their efforts to preserve a large swath of land along the Patuxent.

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved a $111 million airport cleaning contract with a Baltimore-based charity yesterday after giving the organization's chief executive a chance to defend his high salary and the company's business deals with board members. The state board, comprising Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, unanimously approved a multiyear deal with The Chimes Inc. of Baltimore for services at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

MARYLAND'S BOARD of Public Works did the state proud this week, summoning courage amid bleak economic times to protect 25,000 acres of forestland. Few thought the second-largest land deal in modern history would get a majority - let alone unanimous approval from the state's governor, comptroller and treasurer at the board's biweekly meeting Wednesday. The vote was a boon for both economics and environment: preserving jobs and revenue from the timber industry along with 4,000 acres of wetlands, 31 miles of forested Chesapeake Bay tributaries and five square miles of wildlife habitat - most of it of the highest ecological value in the state.

Forget "beg-a-thon." The catchphrase of the day was far more akin to "love-in." Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s wife, Kendel, brought brownies to Comptroller William Donald Schaefer at the Board of Public Works meeting yesterday. The brownies were wrapped up in a box. "You may recognize this wrapping paper," the governor said to Schaefer. "It's the transcript of your speech during the inauguration where you promised to behave yourself" at board meetings. "I'm a born liar," Schaefer replied.

When a state agency tried to hire a new contractor to run a call center that fields inquiries about child support payments, an appeals panel intervened and called the process "deeply flawed" and "unreasonable, illogical and improper. " The move would have replaced the current company with a less-experienced firm that proposed running the center with about half as many live operators despite a projected increase in call volume. But in a rare move, the panel overturned the decision to award the new contract.

Richard N. Dixon, a conservative Democrat who served as Maryland's state treasurer for six years, died Thursday after suffering a stroke Tuesday, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp announced. He was 74. Mr. Dixon was the first African-American to win election by the General Assembly to the powerful post of state treasurer, which gave him a seat on the Board of Public Works and led to his election as chairman of the state pension system. Before being chosen as treasurer in 1996, Dixon served 14 years in the House of Delegates — the last Democratic legislator to be elected from conservative Carroll County.

The Maryland State Police have agreed to pay a $385,000 settlement to nine anti-abortion protesters arrested by Maryland State Troopers four years ago in Harford County. The 18 protesters, two of whom were minors, aged 14 and 17, at the time, were arrested and processed. While the minors were released, the others spent a night in the Harford County Detention Center. The state's Board of Public Works approved the payment Wednesday without discussion. The settlement means "the Maryland State Police cannot restrict speech, including speech employing images of aborted human babies, based on reactions of viewers or motorists to that speech," said Jack Ames, director of Defend Life, a Baltimore-based group.

A losing bidder for the nearly half-billion-dollar contract to build and run two new travel plazas on Interstate 95 has asked a Montgomery County circuit judge to block state officials from voting on the agreement the morning of March 7 as planned. Judge Eric Johnson has scheduled a hearing on the request by HMSHost for Friday morning, at which time he will also hear arguments from the Maryland Transportation Authority and winning bidder Areas USA to lift a temporary restraining order and allow the contract vote by the Board of Public Works.

A circuit judge blocked the award of a contract worth up to a half-billion dollars to a Miami-based company to build and operate two travel plazas on Interstate 95, saying it appeared the state did not follow its own procurement law. The decision Wednesday afternoon in Rockville by Circuit Judge Eric Johnson came hours after a vote by the state Board of Public Works to delay its contract vote for two weeks to give losing bidder HMSHost time to...

A Montgomery County circuit judge will decide by Thursday afternoon whether to block the state Board of Public Works from awarding a contract worth up to a half-billion dollars for rebuilding and operating two travel plazas on Interstate 95 north of Baltimore. The contract vote, however, is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Losing bidder HMSHost is seeking a 10-day restraining order to prevent the three-member board from sealing the deal while it reviews the winning bid documents of Areas USA. HMSHost, based in Bethesda, maintains that the Maryland Transportation Authority's bidding process was illegal and biased in favor of Areas.

The state Board of Public Works signed off on plans yesterday to erect a bronze statue of former Colts great Johnny Unitas near PSINet Stadium at Camden Yards. Lutherville sculptor Frederick Kail says he hopes to raise $250,000 through private donations for the project. With its base, the statue would stand 19 feet tall. It is expected to be ready for the 2002 football season. The Board of Public Works gave its approval for the Maryland Stadium Authority to accept the statue as a gift.

An article yesterday about a proposed computer network in Annapolis incorrectly reported the status of a state-owned energy management network. In fact, it is scheduled to be installed this year under a contract approved in November by the Board of Public Works.The Sun regrets the errors.

More than 200,000 Maryland state employees, retirees and dependents will switch to a new pharmacy plan as a result of the Board of Public Works' decision Wednesday to award the $2.4 billion contract to a St. Louis-based company. When the transition take place in May, plan members will no longer be able to fill prescriptions at one of Maryland's 58 Walgreens stores. The chain is not part of the network operated by the new provider, Express Scripts Inc. The contract was fiercely contested.

A divided Board of Public Works gave wrecking crews the green light Wednesday to demolish the 55-year-old home of the president of the University of Maryland, College Park to make way for a $7.2 million building that will serve as a residence and a location for large events. The board voted 2-1 to allow the College Park Foundation to move forward with its plans to replace the home, with Comptroller Peter Franchot opposed. Foundation officials contend that the existing 1956 structure is obsolete, hasn't been renovated since 1991 and could not meet contemporary building or safety codes.