Search Committee

Westminster's mayor announced yesterday the formation of a focus group designed to bring diverse viewpoints to the process of choosing the city's next police chief. John Lewis, the president of the Carroll County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was among those chosen for the nine-member community focus group, Mayor Kevin E. Dayhoff announced. According to the announcement, other members of the group are Jean Lewis, Charles Harrison, Kevin Bell, the Rev. David Highfield, JoAnn Hare, Virginia Harrison, Darcel Harris and Liv Myers.

A group of Westminster residents is demanding a minority representative on the committee that will lead the search for a new police chief for the city. But the mayor said the selection process is more open that it has ever been and there is no reason to expand the panel. "We want an opportunity to have a voice that allows us to participate in the search," said Phyllis Hammond Black, a former president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

A group of Westminster residents is demanding a minority representative on the committee that will lead the search for a new police chief for the city. But the mayor said the selection process is more open that it has ever been and there is no reason to expand the panel. "We want an opportunity to have a voice that allows us to participate in the search," said Phyllis Hammond Black, a former president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

When Maj. Dean A. Brewer becomes acting chief of the Westminster Police Department today, officers at the county's largest municipal police force should expect very little to change. "Out of respect to the mayor and council, I'll continue to run everyday operations, and once the person comes in and fills the position, the permanent chief would be a more appropriate person to implement major changes," said Brewer, a 27-year veteran of the force who had been second-in-command of the department.

When Maj. Dean A. Brewer becomes acting chief of the Westminster Police Department today, officers at the county's largest municipal police force should expect very little to change. "Out of respect to the mayor and council, I'll continue to run everyday operations, and once the person comes in and fills the position, the permanent chief would be a more appropriate person to implement major changes," said Brewer, a 27-year veteran of the force who had been second-in-command of the department.

As the search for a new leader for Baltimore's beleaguered convention bureau stretches into its fifth month, the city is at a competitive disadvantage and rapidly losing critical ground to competing cities, experts say. "Every month that passes hurts the destination and hurts the hotel industry," said Speros A. Batistatos, owner of Destination Development Group, a Chicago-based convention and hospitality consulting company. "Baltimore starts to suffer from a lack of visibility in the marketplace."

The search for a new chief executive for Baltimore's beleaguered convention bureau has been narrowed to three candidates, and a decision could be announced as early as next week. The organization's search committee received 82 resumes from applicants for the position vacated Feb. 1 by Carroll R. Armstrong, who resigned under pressure after seven years as president and chief executive of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. "I think we've been able to draw from the best across the country," said Catherine E. Pugh, co-chair of the search committee and a City Council member.

The process to select a new chief executive to run Baltimore's beleaguered convention and visitors bureau is seriously flawed, heightening the odds that the wrong person will be hired for the job, national experts say. To begin with, those experts say, the atmosphere has been soiled by the decision to have its ousted top executive, Carroll R. Armstrong, help choose his successor. Even more troubling, the search for a top executive has been launched without the search committee knowing the details of what is believed to be a critical report on the organization's day-to-day operations.

In the latest setback in Towson University's search for leadership, a California administrator withdrew his candidacy for the school's presidency yesterday -- just three days before he was expected to be given the job. Robert L. Caret, a former Towson provost and professor, said he has decided to remain as president of San Jose State University after giving "serious thought" to returning to be Towson's president. Regents of the University System of Maryland say that the board had been planning to vote on Caret as president at its meeting Friday.

HERE WE go again. Petitions from Towson University's English and political science departments are urging the school's presidential search committee to let the sun shine on the process that will produce the school's 12th president. The petitioners don't come right out and say so, but they believe a fully open search, in which finalists come to the campus to meet openly with students, faculty and staff, might prevent selection of another Mark L. Perkins, chosen in a secretive search early last year.