Charter Amendment

I recently read the article titled "Bill would all City Council to dedicate funds for school facilities" written by Erica Green ( June 1). I applaud the Baltimore City Council for taking a strong and affirmative action to address Baltimore City's efforts to improve its public school facilities. The initiative taken by the City Council to set up an account to pay for school construction and athletic facilities is something I've strongly advocated for in my many years of public service.

The lawyer for an Anne Arundel County councilman who lost his seat said Daryl Jones lived in his council district— until he was convicted last year of a misdemeanor count of not paying federal taxes, and his colleagues voted to remove him out of office. The county council wrongly redefined residency, deciding that Jones' five-month, out-of-state prison term meant he no longer lived in his district and was grounds for ousting him, Linda Schuett told the state's highest court Monday, as she argued for the Court of Appeals to erase the council's action and reinstate Jones.

The Annapolis City Council approved a measure last night that allows the city to establish an independent, non-elected board to fund large-scale urban development.The council, in a 5-4 vote, approved a charter amendment that gives the city the power to create a revenue authority. Such boards finance local construction projects and urban revitalization plans privately instead of through local government.The bitterly divided council voted only to make such a revenue authority legal. Decisions about the size, scope and sweep of the city's revenue authority will come later.

Baltimore voters were poised to approve four charter amendments Tuesday, including one to move city elections to the same years that the nation chooses a president. The city would hold its next election in 2016, under one of the changes leading by broad margins in early returns. The amendment would effectively give the mayor and city council — elected in 2011 — five-year terms this time, and in the future would allow local officials to run for state office without worrying about losing their city positions.

Howard County voters on Election Day will get a chance to amend the county charter so that many zoning decisions can be brought to referendum in future elections. If the amendment is approved, it will mean a major restructuring in the way the county makes zoning changes and in the balance of power within county government.Despite the referendum's superficial appeal as a way of giving residents a direct say over land-use decisions, this is not a step that should be taken.Charter Amendment B, the so-called zoning question, should not be approved.

Foes of a proposed NFL stadium in Laurel have failed in their bid to place a charter amendment on the November ballot that would prohibit Anne Arundel County from using funds for large sports facilities.Citizens Against the Stadium II, an anti-stadium group named after an organization that fought an earlier Redskins stadium proposal in Virginia, needed to file 10,000 signatures by 5 p.m. yesterday to place the charter amendment on the November general election ballot.However, Nancy Crawford, administrator for the county board of election supervisors, said no petitions were received by the 5 p.m. deadline.

All new city government employees would have to live in Baltimore under terms of a charter amendment introduced into the Baltimore City Council last night.The measure, introduced by Councilman Wilbur E. Cunningham, would affect city employees hired after Jan. 1, 1993.The council resolution comes a month after Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke suggested that all government workers be required to live in the city.But, while Mr. Schmoke could simply issue an executive order to impose the requirement, the charter amendment could not take effect without public hearings and approval by the voters.

The new charter amendment governing Howard County's zoning process will have little effect on the day-to-day business of developers and opponents of development, now that the County Council has exempted most zoning changes from its scope.Long term, however, the amendment could mean the end of comprehensive rezoning -- the very process it was meant to improve, says Darrel Drown, a Republican council member from the First District, who chairs the Zoning Board."Saying to land owners, 'We have the possibility of court cases and referendums and all those things,' is such a scary tactic," Mr. Drown said.

ROCKVILLE -- A Montgomery County tax-revolt group finds itself in the unusual position of opposing a charter amendment to limit government spending that it worked for months to put on the November ballot.The group, Fairness in Taxation, consists of residents who balked at high property tax assessments earlier this year and sought relief through a charter amendment that would limit county property tax increases to 75 percent of the inflation rate in the area.Four County Council members, fearful of support for th proposal -- despite a 16-cent reduction in the tax rate and the statewide cap on assessments -- worked out a compromise with FIT that would limit tax increases to the area's rate of inflation.

The Annapolis city council is expected to decide tonight whether to give an unelected panel the authority to oversee public projects involving transportation and parking.The council is to vote on a charter amendment, sponsored by Democratic Alderman Ellen O. Moyer of Ward 8, that would create an Annapolis parking and transportation authority.Gathering enough votes might prove difficult, however, because many candidates have made the issue a hot topic this election year.Despite objections from some residents, the council adopted a charter amendment in May 1993 authorizing such an authority.

It was with disgust that I read the comments of the city solicitor, George Nilson, that you published in on August 7 ("City panel plans to vote down settlement for teen whom police left shoeless in Howard Co. ") regarding the rejection of a police misconduct settlement. The city's highest law officer stated in open court something that many of us knew all along - that the Board of Estimates is simply a rubber stamp for the mayor of Baltimore because majority of this Board (three out of five members)

The Baltimore City Council gave final approval Monday to a scaled-down version of a bill to require regular audits of major city agencies, some of which have not had a detailed financial review for more than a decade. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she would sign the proposed charter amendment, meaning it will go before voters on the November ballot. The amended legislation would require financial and performance audits of 13 city agencies at least once every four years.

In her recent op-ed, ("Where are the auditors?" July 30), Mary Alice Ernish reveals the failure of Baltimore City government to prepare routine financial statements much less perform annual agency audits. It's now obvious that a major turf battle between Baltimore's comptroller, mayor and City Council prevents acknowledgment of the extent of this financial dysfunction. Baltimore needs to move ahead and establish a comprehensive system that meets government financial standards. The lack of agency audits over decades is proof that the city has no standard system for proficient financial management.

Some Baltimore activists are fighting against a charter amendment that, if approved by voters in November, would align Baltimore's elections with the presidential election cycle - and in the process give the mayor and most of the city's other elected officials an extra year in office. The advocates are absolutely right that the proposal is not the ideal solution to the city's problems of unnecessary election expenses and low turnout. But given a recent state law change that controls the timing of Baltimore's primary election, voters should approve the charter amendment.

Baltimore's City Council this week voted down a proposed charter amendment that would have required that each city agency be audited every two years. And no wonder; such a proposal may be unprecedented in Maryland. A review of the charters of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Howard, Prince George's and Montgomery counties reveals that they have no such requirement. No, in those jurisdictions, the charters require that audits be conducted every year. During the debate on the amendment, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blakeformally requested that the city comptroller's office, of which the city auditor is a part, investigate some agencies, including the Department of Recreation and Parks, whose books have not been audited for decades.

The Baltimore City Council defeated legislation Monday aimed at requiring city agencies to be audited at least once every two years. The council voted 8-7 against the measure sponsored by Councilman Carl Stokes, who appeared disheartened by the outcome. "I'm almost too stunned to speak," Stokes said. "The young people, fire, police, citizens in general, they're asking me, 'You don't care enough to show us how you're spending the money we're entrusting to you? You won't be transparent?

Opponents of a proposed Redskins stadium in Laurel are vowing to continue their petition drive to place a charter amendment on the November ballot that would prohibit the use of county funds for large sports facilities, even though the Anne Arundel County Council voted down the amendment.Jeanne Mignon, president of Citizens Against the Stadium II, said after the council's Tuesday night vote that her group has nearly half the 10,000 signatures needed to put the charter amendment on the ballot.

After a monthlong controversy, the Baltimore County Council approved last night a proposed charter amendment for the November ballot that would give the county executive the power to keep his office staff outside the civil service merit system.The vote was 6-1, despite the continued opposition of a group of high-level county bureaucrats known as the Supervisory, Management and Confidential (SMC) employees, who believe any change to the county's charter deserves more time for consideration.

Facing federal and state mandates to reduce pollution washing off its streets and alleys, Baltimore city is taking the first step toward imposing a fee on residents or property owners to pay for controlling its tainted storm-water runoff. City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Youngintroduced a resolution Monday night calling for a charter amendment to create a "stormwater utility" for Baltimore. It's slated for a hearing June 12 before the council's judiciary and legislative investigations committee, chaired byCouncilmanJames B. Kraft.

When Baltimore voters go to polls Tuesday, they will decide on two charter amendments designed to address a pressing problem in the city and a lingering one. The first is an effort to tackle the estimated $2.8 billion in unmet needs for school construction and renovation, and the other is an attempt to increase political engagement in a city where few bothered to vote in the primary election and, sadly, even fewer are likely to cast ballots in Tuesday's...