County Council Meeting

An attempt to cut off approvals of new home construction near crowded schools in the Ellicott City area on June 7 -- about a month earlier than mandated by law -- failed by one vote at last night's Howard County Council meeting.The session also kicked off three weeks of hearings and discussions on County Executive James N. Robey's proposed $683 million budget for fiscal 2000, which begins July 1.Councilman Christopher J. Merdon, an Ellicott City Republican, needed four votes from the five-member council to bypass parliamentary procedure and introduce his resolution.

In a move that could give new meaning to the statement, "We know where you live," Baltimore County is considering passing a law requiring a house number on the rear of most homes.The proposal, scheduled for a vote at Monday night's County Council meeting, is intended to help county inspectors and emergency workers find houses from the alley side.But the seemingly innocuous bill has ignited a sharp debate in the council that might kill the idea before a vote. Several members voiced concerns this week over cost to homeowners and what they see as government intrusion.

Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker and County Councilman Charles C. Feaga agree that residents near a west county trash dump should get some help in hooking up to the county water system.But how much help was debated again at a County Council meeting Tuesday night that drew about 25 citizens concerned about well water near the Alpha Ridge Landfill.The county has spent $10.5 million on a water system in the area, and there have been no verifiable instances of toxic chemicals spreading to the wells.

Howard County government officials are moving to dissolve one department and create a new one a proposal that caused a few sparks during last night's County Council meeting."

The political rumor mill is hard at work, churning out gossip that Anne Arundel County Executive Bobby Neall might run for re-election, after all.In fact, the hearsay is starting to take on a life of its own. Would-be candidates, Democrat and Republican, are getting antsy about jumping into the race because they're afraid Mr. Neall may change his mind.Hooey, he says. "I'm done. You know those Perdue oven-stuffer roasters, the ones with the little timer that pops up when they're ready to come out of the oven?

Brain surgery on Baltimore County Executive Roger B. Hayden is over and "went very well," according to an announcement at a County Council meeting today.County Administrative Officer Mereen E. Kelly made the announcement as the council met to formally adopt a $1.26 billion budget.Mr. Kelly said the county executive is "in intensive care and resting comfortably." Mr. Hayden, 49, entered Johns Hopkins Hospital under an assumed name Sunday for an operation to remove malformed blood vessels from his brain, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.

It's little things such as providing ashtrays outside the building that keep the 11 members of the Florence Bain Senior Center Council busy.The council, which began in 1983 when the center opened, is intended to give senior citizens a hand in the Florence Bain center's daily operations through suggestions, criticisms and volunteer activities."

If last week's County Council meeting had a theme, it might have been growing pains. The council considered several pieces of legislation that have developed out of the needs of a rapidly growing county.Among them was an administration-sponsored bill to tighten existing regulations on posting property addresses so they will be clearly visible from the nearest roadway.Emergency operations personnel say the bill could save lives in rural areas."We're losing precious time going to the wrong driveway or going door-to-door looking for the right house, especially if someone is in cardiac arrest," said Ben Kurtz, chief of the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company.

Baltimore County is preparing to put some police duties in private hands -- writing parking tickets and transporting prisoners.Officials said the result -- assuming the contracts are approved at tomorrow's County Council meeting -- should be a dramatic increase in the number of parking tickets on car windshields, and 17 more police officers available for street patrol.One contract would pay for five parking-ticket agents to replace the one police cadet currently assigned to enforce parking laws.

Paul S. Hastmann, an agency official in the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, is expected to be named warden of the Harford County Detention Center, The Sun has learned.Harford Sheriff Robert E. Comes plans to introduce Mr. Hastmann to the County Council at its Tuesday night meeting.Mr. Hastmann has worked for about 25 years in the state `D system, Sheriff Comes said Friday.He is the executive director of the Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards, one of 12 agencies in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Baltimore County business owners emerged from a County Council meeting last night vowing to fight a decision to restrict the use of electronic billboards that display advertising. A divided council voted, 4-3, to force businesses to alter the text or images on so-called "changeable copy signs" no more than once every 15 seconds and barred them from having the signs flash, blink, oscillate, scroll or show animated pictures. The business owners had advocated text-change intervals of three seconds because, they argued, it is the only way to catch the attention of drivers going by. "This doesn't work for us," said Harry S. Cohen, owner of the Firehouse Tavern in Carney.

Rural residents of Baltimore County who object to the prospect of wider country roads and bridges are planning to give their views at a public hearing scheduled for tomorrow in Towson. For months, the residents have opposed county planners' proposals to widen some thoroughfares as a way of handling increased traffic and complying with updated safety standards. Officials say that more than 20 bridges and several roads in the county need widening, while rural preservationists see one-lane bridges and curvy roads as an effective way to slow traffic.

The constituents who packed a Baltimore County Council meeting last night for its quadrennial redrawing of the county's zoning map were silent as mice for almost the entire 90-minute gathering, during which officials gave rapid-fire assent to hundreds of proposed zoning changes. The only exception was a happy ripple of applause when council members rejected a controversial request from Theodore W. Bauer, owner of the Oregon Grille restaurant on Shawan Road, who has faced a barrage of flak - not to mention a lawsuit - from neighbors because of his desire to expand the property.

County workers and the leaders of two of their unions packed a Baltimore County Council meeting yesterday to denounce a proposed change in retirement benefits, days before a deadline for the unions to sign labor contracts. Much of the criticism centered on the administration's proposal to force current employees with less than 30 years' service to work until age 65, rather than 60, to receive full retirement benefits. County officials say the change is needed to head off a financial crisis in coming years as more and more employees retire.

From his perch at a County Council meeting, he grilled a department head about what he saw as a sloppy memo. At a work session, he admonished a fellow councilman for a proposal that he called potentially illegal. A few years ago, he accused a development firm of delivering political threats and denied its zoning request. Baltimore County Councilman Kevin B. Kamenetz, whose re-election bid is being challenged by Republican political newcomer Carol "Lisa" Marquardt, said jokingly that he sometimes wishes he had the "farmer's restraint" of one of his council colleagues.

A final vote that would make Howard County the first Baltimore-area jurisdiction to ban smoking in all public places - including bars and restaurants - is scheduled at tomorrow night's County Council meeting. The bill, sponsored by County Executive James N. Robey and west Columbia Councilman Ken Ulman, is expected to pass and would take effect in June 2007. It would make Howard the fourth Maryland county to ban smoking, joining Montgomery, Prince George's and Talbot counties, as well as Washington.

County Councilman David A. Rakes provided a key vote at a County Council meeting late yesterday that killed a plan to allow more affordable housing in eastern Howard County. Rakes, an east Columbia Democrat, voted with Republicans Charles C. Feaga and Christopher J. Merdon in a 3-2 vote that defeated a Robey administration plan to remove 100 housing allocations from the western county and transfer them to the east to bolster efforts to provide moderate income homes. In voting with the Republicans, Rakes reversed his position in June when he voted to approve the concept of moving the allocations, which regulate how many new homes builders may construct in each of five planning districts covering the entire county.

The comparison was not an unusual one. "For $2.50, you cannot buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but you can save hundreds if not thousands of lives by fully staffing fire and police," said Sara J. Naeseth. But Sara, a 16-year-old junior at Broadneck High School, is not a bureaucrat, entreating elected officials to support a tax. Rather, she was part of a group of Anne Arundel County high school students who immersed themselves in public policy and government administration through the county's Model Government program.

Harford County has moved once again to fall in line with the other executive-led jurisdictions in the metropolitan area by hiring an independent auditor to oversee its financial operations. A bill introduced at the County Council meeting Tuesday grants the council the authority to hire a part-time accountant or to contract with an accounting company and give them the full power of an independent auditor. The legislation was sponsored by Robert G. Cassilly, a Republican representing the Bel Air area, and Council President Robert S. Wagner.

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens' administration spent nearly $3,200 copying and mailing a snow removal video, which was criticized at a County Council meeting on Tuesday. "If we are so tight on money in this county, why was this mailed to me as well as all the other community leaders?" asked Marie Cook of the Provinces Civic Association in Severn. County officials said yesterday that they made 1,000 copies of the videotape and mailed it this month to 867 community associations.