County Council

For an area of such vast, peaceful space, rural western Howard County is fraught with tension. Its rich history as a farming community is unfolding to an uncertain future, and the pull between those who welcome change and those clinging to a romantic notion of the past is exceedingly strong.Ironically, many of those who have toiled the land for generations are also the ones quickest to embrace the future. As for newcomers, those who reside in mini-mansions on three-acre lots, their aspirations spring from nostalgia for a lifestyle they have only recently been able to realize.

The Anne Arundel County Council is getting a second chance to put an important charter amendment involving the fire department on the November ballot. Let's see it muster the courage to do the right thing this time.The volunteer firefighters, who oppose the amendment, are a strong political lobby. So it's not hard to see why four of the seven council members -- David G. Boschert, Virginia P. Clagett, Maureen Lamb and Ed Middlebrooks -- refused to buck them when the measure came up several weeks ago, especially when three of the four are running for higher office.

The Harford County Council this week unanimously agreed to hire Raymond A. Dearchs as its new auditor, choosing the assistant Anne Arundel County auditor over two other finalists.Mr. Dearches, 39, a certified public accountant, replaces Michael V. Treherne, who resigned in December.The auditor works on an annual contract and is paid by the hour, up to $24,000 a year, for projects assigned by the council. He helps the council with fiscal issues and reviewing the budget."What is exciting about this candidate is he has government experience with other charter governments," said Council President Joanne S. Parrott.

The Howard County Council completed the second phase of a two-year rezoning of the entire county with votes Monday night that changed land uses from the western edge of Ellicott City to Jessup along U.S. 1. Here are some of the more significant changes: A new traditional neighborhood center zone designed to encourage urban-style mixed residential and commercial uses at older shopping centers along U.S. 40 was applied to most of the Chatham Shopping Center,...

The Association of Community Services will hold its annual luncheon conversation with the Howard County Council from noon to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Meeting House in Oakland Mills Village Center, 5885 Robert Oliver Place, Columbia. The community is invited to speak with council members on issues such as the budget, senior and moderate-income housing, public transportation and human services. Admission is free. Lunch can be brought or ordered for $7 a person, payable at the door. A form to order lunch, available at www.acshoco.

The Montgomery County Council yesterday removed from the planning board Ruthann Aron, who has been charged with hiring a hit man to kill her husband and a Baltimore lawyer.Council Vice President Isiah Leggett called the unanimous vote to take away Aron's $18,500-a-year job "difficult and sad." But the council said it had no alternative for keeping the five-member planning board at full strength while Aron is in jail awaiting trial. Lawyers for Aron, a Potomac developer and 1994 Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said last week that it would be unconstitutional to remove her while she is unable to defend herself.

County Councilman Kevin B. Kamenetz, a Pikesville-Randallstown Democrat, is expected to be elected next month to a one-year term as chairman of the Baltimore County Council.Kamenetz, one of five Democrats on the seven-member council, said yesterday that the other council members have agreed to vote him in as chairman at the council's Jan. 4 session.The largely administrative job means presiding over council meetings. The position usually is rotated each year by a vote of the members -- making the two minority-party Republicans unlikely to get the post over the next four-year term.

The Anne Arundel County Council voted to approve a deal this week that allows struggling Millennium Digital Media Services to hand over its 38,000 cable customers to Comcast Corp. The agreement between St. Louis-based Millennium and Comcast needs federal approval. Kelvin Westbrook, chairman of Millennium, said endorsement by the local government is one factor federal officials consider. Westbrook said he has received "all sorts of assurances that [Comcast] will maintain the same level of service."

The County Council approved the transfer Monday night of an additional $665,000 to complete reconstruction of the Lake Waterford Dam in Pasadena.The money will be used to supplement funds that were already budgeted for the reconstruction, ordered in February because the state Department of Natural Resources declared the dam structurally unsafe. The bid was higher than recreation and parks officials expected.The total project will cost $1,272,550.The dam, which lies on the east side of the 11-acre lake in Pasadena, was built in 1929.

The Baltimore County Council last night elected Stephen G. Samuel Moxley to serve as chairman for the next year. Moxley replaces Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville-Ruxton Democrat, who at times used the post to forcefully criticize County Executive James T. Smith Jr.'s decisions, mostly over personnel issues. Although Moxley, a Democrat from Catonsville, has not always been as outspoken an opponent of the executive, he has not been one of Smith's most reliable allies, either. "I will continue to work with the county executive and his staff and continue to move the council's agenda and the county executive's agenda, as we agree, forward, and hopefully build on the relationship that Kevin has begun," Moxley said.