County Personnel

The NAACP and other groups are working with Anne Arundel County on strategies to hire more minority firefighters. Anne Arundel County Fire Chief Roger C. Simonds Sr. and a county personnel manager will attend the county National Association for the Advancement of Colored People meeting tonight to discuss the hiring policies and the department's stepped-up plans to recruit more minorities. The meeting is at 8 p.m. in the local chapter's Annapolis office. The focus of their debate is a county personnel code - used in some form for decades - that gives preference to hiring volunteers.

More than a dozen angry county police officers have demanded that the results of a recent promotion examination be tossed out, claiming a lieutenant passed on test information to lower-ranking officers for a price.In an unsigned letter dated May 2, the officers charged that Lt. Ronald Bateman, who charges $100 for a course to help applicants prepare for the exams, pried advance information about the March 20 test from Joseph Yunkers, the county personnel administrator who wrote the questions.

More than 800 people have applied to fill two administrative vacancies in Howard County government and the crush of applicants hasn't surprised the county personnel office one bit.Getting more than 400 applications for a budget analyst opening and 393 from people seeking to become a County Council legislative assistant during a two-week period is merely a reflection of the economy, said P. William Herndon, assistant personnel administrator. "Quite often, in the past couple of years, people will have qualifications that exceed those needed for the job."

Carroll County may be ready to adopt one of the strictest water protection laws in Maryland by June, three years after county personnel had hoped to have an ordinance ready for action by the commissioners.Catherine M. Rappe, chief of the county water resource management bureau, outlined a timetable for the water resources protection ordinance yesterday.She said she hopes reviews and public hearings can be completed by June.The draft ordinance will be reviewed by state, county and town governments; the county planning and economic development commissions; outside interest groups; and the public.

Chuck Ecker's appointment of Joanne Nelson as Howard County's new personnel director raises serious questions, once again, about the executive's vision of local government.Nelson, who took office May 1, will be responsible for running the county's personnel system -- including job classification, benefits programs and labor relations. So critical is the post that the county code specifies the person who holds it must have six years of "increasingly responsible experience in personnel management" as well as a "comprehensive knowledge of principles and practices of public personnel management."

The ad seeking applicants for the Howard council administrator's job said it pays $55,918 and up, depending upon experience.That was enough to draw 224 applicants from across the state and from as far as Florida, Alabama, Georgia and West Virginia to fill the vacancy left by the firing of former administrator Sheila Tolliver last month.The level of applications is 43 percent higher than in January 1993, the last time the council had to fill the position.At that time, a former state senator and an employee of the U.S. Supreme Court were among the 157 applicants for what was then the position of council "executive secretary."

Anne Arundel County police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan defended yesterday his decision not to promote any sergeants to lieutenant, saying that by waiting six months he will be able to choose from more candidates. The chief's decision to disregard the current list of sergeants who scored highest on written and oral exams was criticized immediately by union leaders, who are concerned that promotions will be dished out under what they called the "good-old-boy system." Shanahan said he will hire lieutenants in the fall after another round of testing in September.

SHELVING A consultant's study is nothing new in government, but it is hard to reconcile the findings contained in a 1994 study on employee compensation in Anne Arundel County government and County Executive John G. Gary's professed disinterest in its conclusions. Considering Mr. Gary's desire to hold down payroll costs, this $150,000 study should be the blueprint for overhauling compensation schedules.Perhaps Mr. Gary was not interested in the report because he did not commission David M. Griffith & Associates to review county salaries; his predecessor did. Moreover, the first draft was not in keeping with his philosophy of placing a lid on spending by holding down county salaries.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening has chosen former aide Michael J. Knapp to head the state personnel department.Mr. Knapp, the former Prince George's County personnel director, will oversee the pay, recruitment and training of more than 60,000 government employees.While aides to Mr. Glendening declined to comment on Mr. Knapp's new position, administration sources said his nomination would be among several announced in Annapolis today.Mr. Glendening also has selected Hannah Byron, a former transportation official for North Carolina, as his appointments secretary.

Baltimore County has granted a medical pension to a former Police Department lieutenant who was demoted for attempting to cover up an attempted suicide in the Wilkens District lockup, according to Sgt. Stephen R. Doarnberger, a county police spokesman.The county personnel department granted the pension to Frank P. Sirotnak, 39, on April 3. Mr. Sirotnak had spent most of the preceding 11 months on paid medical leave for stress resulting from an internal investigation into the incident. He cited stress as the reason for his medical retirement, Sergeant Doarnberger said.