City Attorney

An Anne Arundel County circuit judge will hear arguments today that will help determine the future of a pair of county and citizen lawsuits trying to stop the city of Annapolis from annexing 103 acres of the Annapolis Neck peninsula.County officials, two peninsula residents and two civic groups are hoping Judge Eugene M. Lerner will rule in their favor and bar the annexation without hearing details of the cases.City officials, however, want the cases dismissed so the development can proceed.

A Baltimore lawyer has put Annapolis on notice that he plans to sue the city for $2 million on behalf of a 19-year-old man who was critically wounded by a police officer Sept. 2 in a shooting in the Robinwood community in which another man died.William H. Murphy Jr. filed the notice of intent to sue the city, its employees, agents and representatives on behalf of Vernon Eugene Estep Jr., City Attorney Paul G. Goetzke said yesterday. The law requires potential plaintiffs to file the notice; they must file the lawsuit within six months, he said.

Despite protests to the contrary, the Annapolis City Council broke no rules when it adopted a $20 million capital budget late Monday night, officials said."

Where Baltimore failed, Dallas succeeded.A year before a Frederick ordinance similar to Baltimore's curfew law was thrown out by the Maryland Court of Appeals, a measure in Dallas withstood challenge in the nation's highest court.Both the Baltimore and Dallas laws would keep minors off the street late at night. Both were adopted because of concern about crimes by and against minors.But Baltimore patterned its ordinance after the city of Frederick's law, which the Maryland Court of Appeals called too vague when it struck down the legislation June 30.The law said minors could not be on the streets after 11 p.m. weekdays and midnight weekends unless accompanied by parents, running an errand for parents, working, or attending an event sponsored by a "bona fide organization."

The union representing Annapolis police officers has asked the Anne Arundel Circuit Court to order the city to negotiate with the officers and block the city from passing the department's budget until after contract talks are completed.The suit, filed yesterday, also seeks court costs and at least $10,000 in damages. It alleges that city officials have stalled negotiations with Local 400 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents the city's 116 officers.City officials say they have offered to meet with the union and are ready to bargain.

Westminster's government spent $1,000 for a second round of legal research that produced no change in the city attorney's initial conclusion on Parr's Ridge homeowners' association's request for a tax break.Mayor W. Benjamin Brown, who directed City Attorney John B. Walsh Jr. to perform the additional work, says he saw no need to seek council approval before incurring the expense.The mayor's action prompted council members to consider tighter controls on legal expenses, but opinion on the panel is divided.

Jonathan Hodgson, Annapolis' city attorney who weathere seven years of changes under two administrations and wrote several landmark laws, announced yesterday that he is leaving to set up a private practice.Mr. Hodgson, 41, said he will continue to work full time for the city on a contractual basis until the end of Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins' term in December.The City Council voted in a closed executive session Monday night to allow Mr. Hodgson to establish a limited private practice in the meantime, provided it doesn't conflict with his job as city attorney.

Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins appointed as the new Annapolis city attorney last night a man who grew up with the mayor's own children.Paul Garvey Goetzke, whose appointment was confirmed by the City Council at last night's meeting, said the mayor used to umpire his Little League games and, later, watched as he played football with Mr. Hopkins' son, Mark, at St. Mary's High School.Excited by the appointment and because his wife, Suzie, gave birth to their first child, Harrison David, Sunday night, Mr. Goetzke said, "My life has nowhere to go but down, things are going so well for me right now."

Westminster City Councilman Stephen R. Chapin Sr. has given up his chairmanship of the finance committee to avoid a possible conflict of interest with his new role as landlord of an apartment complex where some tenants receive federal housing assistance.Mr. Chapin and his son, Stephen R. Chapin Jr., bought Ye Village Green apartment complex at Sullivan and Schaffer avenues last month. Five tenants in the 39-unit complex -- three of them elderly women -- receive subsidies from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

WESTMINSTER -- The City Council is considering going to court to force the developer of The Greens subdivision to finish work ranging from laying sidewalks to bringing the storm water pond up to city standards.John S. Kaylor, president of the subdivision's homeowners association, reported last week that city officials promised action within six months."The mayor said that the city is going to pursue Peer Construction Co. to try to finish these items," Mr. Kaylor announced at the association meeting Wednesday night.

Baltimore City took ownership of the Senator Theatre after a brief and raucous auction Wednesday, and officials say they want to move forward quickly to develop a permanent plan for the 70-year-old landmark. "The bottom line is, now it is in our hands," said Mayor Sheila Dixon. "We can move fast and aggressively to find the best, responsible business - be it profit or nonprofit - who can manage and handle this theater." City leaders want the theater to continue to show films or to showcase the performing arts and now will look for someone to own or operate the Senator.

Officials knew as early as 2004 that a city attorney was handling private legal cases during work hours, with then-City Council President Sheila Dixon pledging to investigate. The attorney, Kim Y. Johnson, continued to represent dozens of clients in bankruptcy matters and would eventually be promoted to a command staff position with the Baltimore Police Department, making $94,400 a year. She handled criminal and civil cases from across the region, including one in which a man had been charged by city police.

Annapolis city attorney recertified to practice Annapolis' acting city attorney has been recertified to practice law in the state, after what he described as an oversight left him uncertified for the past two years. Stephen Kling, who began serving as the acting city attorney in October, was recertified Monday, according to Angelita Plemmer, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Judiciary. Kling did not respond to a call requesting comment. Kling's appointment came after Gov. Martin O'Malley appointed former City Attorney Shaem C. Spencer to a judgeship in District Court.

For the past three months, Stephen Kling has served as the acting city attorney for Annapolis. He has reviewed documents, filed court papers and briefed city officials on legal issues. But there's a problem: Kling, at least for now, is not licensed to practice law in Maryland. Kling, 59, lost his state certification two years ago after he failed to turn in paperwork documenting his pro bono work. After learning about his status, the Annapolis city council scurried to an emergency session yesterday to examine the legal ramifications for the city.

Sgt. Louis H. Hopson Jr. first got in trouble in 1982. He was a rookie police officer then, and the Baltimore Police Department accused him of lying about how he obtained a search warrant, and he was stripped of 15 vacation days. In 1996, he testified on behalf of a colleague accused of rape but refused to say under oath that he had made a false report 14 years earlier. He was administratively charged with perjury and fired. A city Circuit Court judge reversed the termination, and Hopson is back on the force, working at the juvenile booking center, where he earned $90,000 in salary last year, but is barred from making arrests and testifying in court.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge rejected yesterday a lawsuit challenging the closed-door decision-making process of the city's economic development agency, a decision the lawyer for the plaintiffs immediately appealed. Circuit Judge W. Michel Pierson ruled that Baltimore Development Corp. does not have to follow the state's Open Meetings and Public Information acts. In his ruling, Pierson determined that BDC was not created by the city and "remains a private corporation with a budget that is independent from City control."

The contentious process of revitalizing the Market House in Annapolis could finally be reaching its conclusion. The city council is set to approve a proposed lease with upscale New York food retailer Dean & DeLuca when it meets tomorrow night, according to city officials. The council's Economic Matters Committee approved the language of the lease Thursday by a 3-0 vote, clearing the way for a full council vote. Aldermen George O. Kelley Sr., Louise Hammond and Michael W. Fox, the committee members, also added an amendment that prohibits a cafe in the city-owned structure.

After serving a decade as Annapolis' city attorney, Paul G. Goetzke is taking on a new job in City Hall as special counsel to the mayor dealing specifically with emergency management and homeland security issues. Goetzke, 42, was assigned the new role after an emergency management meeting last week, Mayor Ellen O. Moyer said. Assistant City Attorney Shaem Spencer, who joined the city in May, will become acting city attorney, taking over Goetzke's role at city council meetings, among other duties.

Frustrated that contract negotiations between Annapolis firefighters and the city have broken off, representatives from the firefighters union have begun courting city council members. Some council members attended a briefing last night by the union, which is seeking a shorter workweek that city officials have said they cannot afford. Mayor Ellen O. Moyer objected to the union's overtures with council members, saying the firefighters' representatives were engaging in "bad faith" negotiations by attempting to go around the city's designated negotiators.

Annapolis residents will not see a tax increase next year under the proposed budget that Mayor Ellen O. Moyer will present to the city council today. The budget for fiscal year 2003, the first of Moyer's administration, will include funding for about 10 new staff positions - about half of them in the fire and police departments - and will focus on public safety concerns, which Moyer called her "principal priority." Moyer would not go into specifics about her spending plan, but described it as a "tight budget, one that reflects interest in addressing some of the problems that we have."