County Officials

Former top Anne Arundel County officials asked a federal judge yesterday to overturn a county law that would curtail their pension benefits, the latest chapter in a political battle that has riled two county administrations.Judge Andre M. Davis did not rule on the request, but indicated that he was favoring the argument of the 13 former Anne Arundel officials who in the late 1980s formed the upper echelon of county government.They claim that legislation approved last year by the County Council, which is on hold pending the suit's outcome, would illegally cut back their retirement benefits.

ANNAPOLIS -- Carroll County officials did some fast talking yesterday to try to persuade the state Board of Public Works to spend more money on two county schools.School and county officials would have spent more time detailing their requests, but Gov. William Donald Schaefer told them to hurry because the state government was going to close for the day in less than two hours.Mr. Schaefer announced during the Carroll presentation that Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. had asked him to close state offices from 3 p.m. yesterday until 10 a.m. today to conserve energy during the frigid weather.

Baltimore County officials are hoping that a team of residents, developers and government officials will decide the ultimate look of a new development on the old Kingsley Park apartments site - and test a new planning process called for under recently passed legislation along the way. With demolition on the county-owned complex in Middle River under way, officials say they want to hold a "charrette," or series of community planning meetings, in May...

OCEAN CITY -- County officials were told yesterday that Maryland's economy is lifeless and the state once again will be forced to cut its support for local services.State Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein and legislative budget adviser William S. Ratchford II delivered the painful lesson in the obvious to a standing-room-only audience at the 42nd annual meeting of the Maryland Association of Counties. They said the state's economy is stuck in the doldrums with no favorable breeze in sight."Obviously, this will mean some curtailment in state aid, possibly on a permanent basis," said Mr. Ratchford, director of the General Assembly's Department of Fiscal Services.

Showing off newly developed office parks and housing in the Middle River area yesterday, Baltimore County officials declared the region's most populous jurisdiction poised to accommodate its share of the jobs and households expected to pour into Maryland in the next four years from the national military base realignment. "We're getting ready," County Executive James T. Smith Jr. told Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown as Brown and members of the O'Malley administration's base-realignment planning "subcabinet" convened in a recently constructed business park on White Marsh Boulevard.

Everyone agrees that the spread of sidewalk cafes in Towson has added charm to the county seat."People feel like . . . they're in New York or Italy," says Doreen Ercolano of Gemelli Desserts on Allegheny Avenue, where sidewalk tables flourish at several eateries.There's just one problem: They're illegal.Spurred by complaints that outdoor tables were blocking sidewalks, county officials have scrambled to regulate Towson's dozen or so cafes -- almost a century after Baltimore tackled the problem.

A plan to give Columbia a more urban appearance by building 500 town house or apartment units in Town Center has been substantially pared by county officials, who worried that noise from nearby Merriweather Post Pavilion would disrupt future tenants.The decision weakened a plan that some believed might revitalize Columbia's quiet downtown area.But the move also baffled some community leaders who have long pushed for more-affordable housing in the affluent community. Others were perplexed because noise had not surfaced as an issue during hearings on the plan.

The Anne Arundel County Council has changed its financially troubled pension fund for appointed and elected officials by requiring longer service but increasing the rewards.Several council members said their unanimous vote Monday was an attempt to correct a 4-year-old mistake.The previous council lowered to 50 the age at which an employee can qualify for a pension. The council also increased the benefits paid by the plan. The bill that passed Monday allows retirement with pension at 55, but only if an official has 30 years of service.

Residents of an Odenton development will get their swimming pool, and the county will collect further payments on a new elementary schoolas the result of an out-of-court settlement between the developer and county officials.The settlement ends a 15-month legal battle that included charges and counter-charges of broken promises involving construction of the Seven Oaks community."The citizens will be very happy," said Stephen N. Fleischman, vice president of The Halle Cos., a Silver Spring-based company building the 4,700-unit development.

Between eating crab balls as big as baseballs and admiring the Chicago skyline last week, Carroll officials may have convinced a Midwest food distributor to move east.The company, which remains anonymous for now, would fill a 100,000-square-foot facility and employ 100 people, Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy said Friday.In five years, the business would double the size of its building and hire 50 more employees, he said, and by its 10th year, it would employ 200 people. The company needs access to the railroad, Mr. Lippy said.