County Officials

After a seven-year delay, Randallstown residents cheered Monday over an announcement that a Walmart will open on Liberty Road next year. Officials and residents have long hoped that the store — a planned $9 million, 160,000-square-foot supercenter with groceries and a pharmacy — would revitalize the aging commercial corridor, encouraging other national retailers and restaurants to set up shop in the affluent, largely black community....

Now there are six councilmen known to have taken football game tickets from developers, along with Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who says the tickets he got were "for his wife" ("Councilman took football tickets from developer," May 9). According to Don Mohler, Mr. Kamenetz' chief of staff, the county plans to update its ethics law soon to comply with state guidelines. Will it also comply with county laws it has ignored, such as its refusal to comply with zoning laws in one neighborhood and its refusal to enforce the posted street signs, which has put the lives of residents at risk?

Wrapping paper, milk jugs, cardboard boxes and other recyclables are piling up in some Baltimore County homes. About 82,000 county households - those whose recycling is collected on Mondays - are dealing with a three-week wait for pickup service because of Christmas and New Year off-days. The county, which contracts with private haulers for trash and recycling, doesn't offer make-up days for recyclable collections. About a quarter of households throughout the county have Monday recycling pickup service, according to figures provided by county officials.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman is expected to unveil his budget proposal April 20, despite the uncertainty of state funding. Ulman and county budget administrator Ray Wacks gave few details this week, saying the uncertainty at the state level has created an added challenge in making the county's annual operating budget. "We haven't really made up our minds," Wacks said. "The level of uncertainty is pretty high right now. " If the state's "doomsday budget" goes into effect, Howard could stand to lose about 1 percent of its budget, or as much as $9.6 million in state aid for schools, community colleges and the library system, Wacks said.

County leaders and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie-Rawlings-Blake came together Wednesday in Annapolis to fight the governor's proposal to shift part of the cost of teacher pensions to local governments, saying they would have to cut deeply into essential services to pay for such a change. "This puts a potentially devastating squeeze on local government," said Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, a Democrat. "Find the $239 million somewhere else in the budget. " The local officials pointed to libraries, public safety and education as services that could be hurt if the General Assembly transfers millions of dollars in costs to them.

The Howard County Office of Consumer Affairs is investigating Verizon's sales practices after the office received a half-dozen complaints, county officials said. Officials allege that the company's sales representatives have attempted to confuse customers and overcharge them for services they did not ask for when selling packages for cable, phone and Internet service. Sharyn Tolkach, a teacher from Columbia, said she saw an item on her bill called "cyber tube" for five months before she could get Verizon representatives to remove the $14.95 charge from her monthly statement.

The Frederick County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to adopt an ordinance making English the county's official language, the Frederick News-Post has reported. According to the newspaper, the board voted 4-1 to approve the law, which replaces a previous nonbinding resolution. The measure appears more symbolic than substantive, and does not override federal or state laws requiring the use of other languages in certain circumstances. Nor does it prevent county officials from using other languages in emergencies or to communicate with criminal suspects.

As expected, the recent proposals advanced by the Governor's Commission on Growth in the Chesapeake Bay Region drew quick criticism from overly protective county officials. Complaining of unwarranted state intervention, they oppose state guidelines in shaping new growth and preserving farmland and green spaces.Ironically, the loudest grumbling comes from jurisdictions that best make the case for such uniformity. Newly installed Howard County Executive Charles Ecker, for instance, says the plan would usurp "local control" of land use planning.

Stung by charges of insensitivity, Baltimore County officials will help rededicate a resource center in Turners Station that was initially named in honor of the wife of the county executive and has been closed for nearly seven months. Community volunteers in the historic black enclave will study a more appropriate person to honor in naming the center, which is expected to reopen soon. Leading candidates are Dr. Joseph Thomas, a physician and diplomat; Elsie Winston, a Turners Station resident who helped start Operation Head Start in the 1960s; and Osceola Smith, a respected sports coach for decades.

Maryland Department of Transportation officials will meet with Carroll County officials Monday to discuss local road projects.The meeting, open to the public, will be at 1:30 p.m. in Room 300A of the County Office Building, 225 N. Center St. in Westminster.Transportation Secretary David L. Winstead and other department representatives will explain projects and the priority given to them.The officials, who meet annually with county representatives from across the state, are likely to discuss the Route 30 and Route 140 bypasses planned in Carroll.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department acknowledged Wednesday that a statewide police criminal records database was accessed in order for County Executive John R. Leopold to investigate political opponents. The revelation came as the department released a number of files that Leopold had allegedly directed members of his taxpayer-funded police detail to maintain on the opponents. The files, obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a Maryland Public Information Act request, included information on several county residents, including a former county councilman and a Democratic candidate in the 2010 county executive's race.

County Executive Ken Ulman stood this week for a news conference, threatening to reduce library hours, cut police positions and cancel local Fourth of July fireworks if the state decides to shift the cost of teacher pensions to local governments. Ulman's warnings, repeated by about a dozen county agency heads outside the Harper's Choice Village Center on Thursday, came amid a series of similar events held by local officials throughout the state. All warned that the cost-sharing plan proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley would lead to painful decisions far beyond their school systems.

When William G. Carter, Jr. wanted to construct an indoor riding ring on his Edgewater horse farm, county officials piled on the requirements. For his proposed building, which would allow the dozen or so horses boarded at his 141-acre Dove Hill Farm to exercise indoors in inclement weather, Anne Arundel County building inspectors told Carter he would have to include emergency exits, bathrooms and a ramp for the disabled. The add-ons, for a building not used by the general public, would have cost more than $100,000 — a cost that pushed Carter to drop his plan.

Saying they are stretched too thin and face problems with a new dispatch and reporting system, Anne Arundel County police supervisor unions are blaming the administration for a situation they say is taking a toll on them and public safety. Two supervisors unions released a list of problems Friday that they say are putting the department on "the verge of crisis. " The sergeants and lieutenants groups previously voted no confidence in County Executive John R. Leopold and police Chief James Teare Sr. The unions contend the department's leadership — "especially" Leopold — has led to "a deterioration of public safety," and say that police fear a rise in crime, according to a prepared statement Friday.

The Frederick County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to adopt an ordinance making English the county's official language, the Frederick News-Post has reported. According to the newspaper, the board voted 4-1 to approve the law, which replaces a previous nonbinding resolution. The measure appears more symbolic than substantive, and does not override federal or state laws requiring the use of other languages in certain circumstances. Nor does it prevent county officials from using other languages in emergencies or to communicate with criminal suspects.

County leaders and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie-Rawlings-Blake came together Wednesday in Annapolis to fight the governor's proposal to shift part of the cost of teacher pensions to local governments, saying they would have to cut deeply into essential services to pay for such a change. "This puts a potentially devastating squeeze on local government," said Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, a Democrat. "Find the $239 million somewhere else in the budget. " The local officials pointed to libraries, public safety and education as services that could be hurt if the General Assembly transfers millions of dollars in costs to them.

Anne Arundel County officials got mixed news at the state Board of Public Works meeting yesterday in Annapolis. They received $1.1 million to preserve a horse farm in West River but failed to win support to expand a park in Harmans. County officials said they were thrilled to receive state Rural Legacy funds to protect the 179-acre Leatherbury Farm. "I cannot express how excited I am that we have been able to preserve this beautiful horse farm," said County Executive Janet S. Owens. "This preservation provides a solid block of protected land that stretches from Route 255 in Owensville nearly down to Route 258 in Deale."

County officials have delayed asking the state Board of Public Works for approval to transfer the old Wiley H. Bates High School property in Annapolis to a Baltimore developer and a private foundation.Jerome W. Klasmeier, director of central services, said he wants to meet with Leonard Frenkil, the developer, and have Annapolis Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins sign a letter of support before going to the board, which must approve county real-estate transfers.County officials, who said earlier they had hoped to seek the approval this week, now expect to ask the board to vote in October.

Anne Arundel County officials have scuttled a plan to sell a downtown Annapolis park for possible development, hoping that the city will be willing to take over management of the county-owned land. Alan R. Friedman, county director of government relations, asked the council at its Monday meeting to withdraw a plan submitted in December by County Executive John R. Leopold. Annapolis Mayor Joshua J. Cohen said he is reviewing a draft agreement that calls for the city to lease the land at no cost for the next three years, though he said he's open to potentially developing the land.

An Anne Arundel County waterfront landowner and a contractor accused of doing work without a permit have been hit with financial penalties and probation in the first two cases brought under the county's aggressive new environmental enforcement strategy. County officials and prosecutors say they will continue to go beyond traditional enforcement measures, using civil and criminal penalties to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from serious violations. "The stakes have gone up dramatically," said Joseph F. Devlin, one of the attorneys for Emanuel Krousaniotakis, the owner of waterfront property outside Annapolis.