Boards And Commissions

County Commissioner Donald I. Dell wants the county to quit paying a planning commission member who attended a meeting last month organized by community activists who plan to oppose Dell and Commissioner Richard T. Yates in the 1998 election.Dell said his proposal to halt payments to the alternate member of the county's planning and zoning panel is "an equity issue."But he is sure many people will view the move as political retribution for Deborah L. Ridgely's presence at a "Dump Dell-Yank Yates" dinner in Eldersburg on March 3."

A shadow government of boards, commissions, advisory panels and task forces in Anne Arundel County wields enormous influence in residents' day-to-day lives.The county has more than 72 such groups with about 850 members. None was elected. Most do not have salaries, offices or staffs.Still, they run the county's six senior citizen centers, can make decisions about the safety of residences and can investigate the moral character of certain business people and public officials.Anne Arundel County is not unique.

An editorial in The Sun for Carroll yesterday incorrectly reported the population of Hampstead. The population is about 3,800.The Sun regrets the errors.THERE WAS a time when Hampstead had difficulty finding town residents to serve on its various boards and commissions. As a result, people who lived outside the town often occupied seats on important policy panels such as the planning commission, the ethics board and the board of zoning appeals. Things have changed, and the town council soon will be considering an ordinance requiring any member of a board or commission to be a town resident.

An aide to County Executive Robert R. Neall expressed concern last night that requiring members of boards and commissions to file financial disclosure forms could discourage participation.Myron V. Wotring, Mr. Neall's legislative liaison, also raised questions about a proposal to protect whistle-blowers. The proposal would allow a county employee who is retaliated against for reporting an ethics violation to sue the jurisdiction within a year."We feel that this is a major policy question," Mr. Wotring said.

Representatives of Mid-Atlantic Cable Co. are expected to ask the County Council tonight for permission to miss yet another construction deadline.A resolution that would would do just that is one of 21 pieces of legislation the council will weigh in an 8 p.m. public hearing tonight in the county office building.Under the terms of its 1988 franchise agreement, Mid-Atlantic was required to provide cable television service to 71 western Howard County subdivisions by July 1990.The company was unable to meet that deadline and the council extended it to December 1990.

Hopkins to fill vacancies on volunteer boardsThe mayor of Annapolis said yesterday he will appoint a fifth member to the city's Historic District Commission and called recent criticism of vacancies on volunteer boards "much ado about nothing."Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins said he's made 112 appointments to the city's 25 volunteer boards and commissions during his three years in office. He said he will fill a spot on the Historic District Commission and make two other appointments to volunteer boards on Monday night.

A bill that would require members of the Human Rights Commission and four other appointed boards to disclose their finances before appointment came under heavy attack Monday.The bill, sponsored by the county Ethics Commission, would require nominees to the Human Rights Commission, the Animal Matters Hearing Board, the Board of Electrical Examiners, the Board of Health and the Personnel Board to join members of 11 other boards and commissions in filling out the county's nine-page financial disclosure statement.

The County Council confirmed the following appointments to county boards and commissions Monday.Virgilio Blanco will serve on the Human Rights Commission, and Jeanne Bostwick, Steven Cohen, Sandra Corbin, and Scott Yarborough will serve on the Commission on Disability Issues.The council also received three new nominations Monday from County Executive Charles I. Ecker.Ecker nominated Michael Grasso to serve on the Health Board; the Rev. Roland Howard to serve on the HumanRights Commission, and Patricia Watson to serve on the Commission for Women.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is ousting all three members of Baltimore's fire board -- a move that will bring new policy-makers to the city Fire Department as it prepares for a possible search for a new chief and a deep reduction in staff.Mr. Schmoke broke the news to the board members over the weekend, telling them that he will not renew their terms, which expired at the end of last year."He merely said that he had been thinking about replacing the board," said David L. Glenn, the outgoing president of the fire board.

A bill that would require financial disclosure by nominees to four county boards and commissions has been put off until fall.Council Chairman Paul Farragut, a Columbia Democrat,proposed tabling the bill at the County Council meeting Monday so the council could get more information on the issue. The council voted, 5-0, to table the bill."I didn't hear from as many people as I thought I might," Mr. Farragut said yesterday.The council did hear from people who thought requiring potential appointees to fill out a nine-page disclosure statement was targeted at the Human Rights Commission.

Smith fills commission, board posts A prosecutor, a former county land appraiser and an engineering consultant are among those recently appointed by Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. to boards and commissions. Stephanie Porter, a county prosecutor, was appointed to the Child Protection Panel. William Monk, an engineering and architectural consultant, and John Dimenna, an architect, were appointed to the Design Review Panel. Donald Gabriel, a former appraiser for the county Bureau of Land Acquisition, was appointed to the Commission on Aging.

In an annual ritual of patronage, Gov. Martin O'Malley submitted his "green bag" nominations to the state Senate yesterday, naming 165 people to state boards and commissions. Among the appointments, which are subject to Senate confirmation, are his previously announced choices for the State Board of Education and new members for the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, the Maryland Stadium Authority, the state Port Commission, the Injured Workers' Insurance Fund and other unpaid policymaking and advisory bodies.

Two drivers injured in crash near Towson A car crashed into a Towson-area produce market yesterday, sending two people to area hospitals, Baltimore County police said. About 9:30 a.m., Lawrence Halbert Leuze, 85, of Lutherville was driving a 2000 Honda east in the 1700 block of E. Joppa Road when he tried to turn left into a parking lot near Harold's Produce Market, county police said. He apparently did not see an oncoming 1998 Nissan being driven west on Joppa Road by Mary Cooper, 54, of Nottingham, said Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vetoed a bill yesterday allowing the state Democratic and Republican parties to pick members of the state elections board. The bill also would require all five election board members to have been confirmed by the state Senate before they could fire the elections administrator. Democrats pushed for the legislation after Ehrlich and his allies unsuccessfully tried last year to oust state elections administrator Linda H. Lamone by placing on the state board Democrats chosen by the governor but not vetted by the party.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. appointed three new members to the Maryland Real Estate Commission this month in a move that replaced the panel's chairman and put the governor's stamp on a board that regulates almost 40,000 brokers and agents. The revamped commission will continue to focus on making the board self-sufficient during a time of record growth in home sales, the new chairman of the nine-member panel said Thursday. "The special funding [to make the board self-sufficient] is the most important issue the commission has addressed," said Steven VanGrack, the chairman.

Residents invited to fill vacancies on county boards Howard County Executive James N. Robey is seeking county residents to fill vacancies on boards and commissions. Candidates for the volunteer posts should have related personal or professional experience. Openings are available on the Adult Public Guardianship board, the Equal Business Opportunity Commission, the Mental Health Advisory Board and the Commission for Women. There is also one opening on the Historic District Commission that is available to a resident of the Lawyers Hill Historic District of Elkridge.

Vowing to leave his mark on Maryland's government, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. begins making appointments this month to some of the state's 600 boards and commissions. All but finished naming his Cabinet secretaries and top staff, Ehrlich faces the more daunting task of forming a bureaucracy in his own image -- potentially angering some Democrats who are trying to maintain their grip on power. "We won, we get to appoint our own people," said Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele. "That is how this works."

County Commissioner Donald I. Dell wants the county to quit paying a planning commission member who attended a meeting last month organized by community activists who plan to oppose Dell and Commissioner Richard T. Yates in the 1998 election.Dell said his proposal to halt payments to the alternate member of the county's planning and zoning panel is "an equity issue."But he is sure many people will view the move as political retribution for Deborah L. Ridgely's presence at a "Dump Dell-Yank Yates" dinner in Eldersburg on March 3."

A shadow government of boards, commissions, advisory panels and task forces in Anne Arundel County wields enormous influence in residents' day-to-day lives.The county has more than 72 such groups with about 850 members. None was elected. Most do not have salaries, offices or staffs.Still, they run the county's six senior citizen centers, can make decisions about the safety of residences and can investigate the moral character of certain business people and public officials.Anne Arundel County is not unique.

An editorial in The Sun for Carroll yesterday incorrectly reported the population of Hampstead. The population is about 3,800.The Sun regrets the errors.THERE WAS a time when Hampstead had difficulty finding town residents to serve on its various boards and commissions. As a result, people who lived outside the town often occupied seats on important policy panels such as the planning commission, the ethics board and the board of zoning appeals. Things have changed, and the town council soon will be considering an ordinance requiring any member of a board or commission to be a town resident.