State Agencies

If you hold a gathering of more than 50 boats in Maryland waters after June 1, you can expect to pay a "marine gathering permit fee" — the amount yet to be determined — under legislation proposed by the O'Malley administration. Need a certified copy of a marriage certificate? The cost would double from $12 to $24 under an administration proposal. Own a commercial scale with a capacity of more than a ton? The fee for registering it would increase from $75 to $100 under a bill submitted by the state Department of Agriculture.

The state's juvenile services secretary says he is considering expanding the size of privately run residential facilities for young offenders as his agency grapples with a shortage of beds. Sam Abed, who took the job in March, said youths in need of rehabilitation are languishing in detention centers as they await openings. "There is more need than there are beds," Abed said. "We're exploring ways we can increase the capacity across the state. " The comment was greeted with concern from a leading legislator on juvenile justice issues, who said the General Assembly has made clear its desire that programs be no larger than 48 beds.

Rescue workers from five state agencies were unable to communicate with each other by radio when they responded to a fatal crash on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in May, though officials said command procedures in place mitigated the issue. "We're not aware that it materially affected the incident," said John Contestabile, the Maryland Department of Transportation's director of engineering and emergency services. Battalion Chief Michael Cox, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, said rescue workers from his county and from Queen Anne's County had radios that used the same technology.

In Ted Venetoulis' recent op-ed about public/private partnerships (P3s), he correctly points out that they can be a good way to get important work done through "transferring the construction and operating risk to a private company. " But Maryland's recent decision to award the contract for the travel plazas is the wrong example for him to use. What is happening with this P3, which is now under legal challenge, illustrates their risks as well, which occur through obfuscation by bidders, lack of transparency of the process, and state agencies ignoring their own rules without oversight from the taxpayers who will be most affected.

It's just an ordinary phone, the hotline that tips the state of Maryland's bloodhounds that something's amiss in one of the agencies. It isn't red, there are no special bells and whistles, but it does get answered. And when it does, it can set off a chain of events that can topple long-entrenched bureaucrats and even — in extreme cases — put people in jail. The number of the hotline is 1-877-FRAUD-11 — or 1-877-372-8311 if you prefer. Along with its online counterpart, the phone number connects callers with the Office of Legislative Audits, an independent agency that serves as the General Assembly's check on fraud and waste in state agencies.

The state Military Department has joined the ranks of state agencies eliminating jobs to balance their budgets.Thirteen security guards at two armories will lose their jobs and a 14th vacant position will be eliminated so the department can pare $479,000 in personnel costs from its 1992 budget, Col. Howard S. Freedlander, the department spokesman, said.Today, representatives from various state agencies were to meet with the affected employees to counsel them on benefits and possible jobs at other state agencies, such as the Division of Correction.

ANNAPOLIS -- The agency charged with keeping Maryland's insurance companies safe and sound is beset with management and resource problems, according to a study. The report also found the agency unable to properly represent the interests of consumers or to be sure that companies can pay their claims.The study by the Department of Fiscal Services, discussed at a hearing before lawmakers yesterday, portrays a state Insurance Division with problems in "organizational structure, resources, management, staffing and procedures."

For more than 20 years, Hugo Mejia has operated a successful business installing temperature-controlled floors in office buildings to protect cables and other computer equipment from damage. Now, the native of Guatemala wants to open a landscaping business with the hopes of making some money manicuring the lawns of state-owned buildings. Yesterday, while attending a seminar aimed at Hispanic entrepreneurs, Mejia learned how to increase his odds of winning state business. The session was the last of four sponsored by the Maryland Department of Transportation and the secretary of state's office.

Three state agencies paid as much as 28 times more than the best-available prices for janitorial supplies from July 2001 through last November, according to a report by the Department of Legislative Services. The three agencies - the State Highway Administration, Springfield Hospital Center and Morgan State University - purchased goods worth a total of $1.4 million from 17 companies through the period that auditors identified as showing a pattern of paying exorbitant prices, the report said.

Kidded by a colleague about his "deviousness," one-time gubernatorial aide Joseph F. Steffen Jr. replied that he had "never been caught at anything," according to an e-mail released yesterday by the Maryland Insurance Administration. The e-mail, written four months before he acknowledged spreading rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's private life, was among 242 pages of documents released yesterday by the insurance administration in response to a freedom of information request by The Sun, The Washington Post and the Associated Press.

If you hold a gathering of more than 50 boats in Maryland waters after June 1, you can expect to pay a "marine gathering permit fee" — the amount yet to be determined — under legislation proposed by the O'Malley administration. Need a certified copy of a marriage certificate? The cost would double from $12 to $24 under an administration proposal. Own a commercial scale with a capacity of more than a ton? The fee for registering it would increase from $75 to $100 under a bill submitted by the state Department of Agriculture.

It's just an ordinary phone, the hotline that tips the state of Maryland's bloodhounds that something's amiss in one of the agencies. It isn't red, there are no special bells and whistles, but it does get answered. And when it does, it can set off a chain of events that can topple long-entrenched bureaucrats and even — in extreme cases — put people in jail. The number of the hotline is 1-877-FRAUD-11 — or 1-877-372-8311 if you prefer. Along with its online counterpart, the phone number connects callers with the Office of Legislative Audits, an independent agency that serves as the General Assembly's check on fraud and waste in state agencies.

Michael Dresser 's fine article "Foes, supporters clash over Plan Maryland" (Dec. 12) finally made clear to me the statist, collectivist underpinnings of this "plan. " Reading about it on the Internet was futile because I was unable to penetrate the political camouflage. Mr. Dresser quotes Maryland Planning Secretary Richard Hall as saying "the plan does not create new law. " But Senate Minority leader E.J. Pipkin says "it should be a bill. " Herein lies the crux of the deception by the proponents of the "plan.

More than 40 charities, nonprofits and government agencies in Maryland this week will learn if they are to receive anywhere from $5,000 to more than $300,000 as part of a settlement with Bank of America. Just in time for the holidays! The $67 nationwide settlement was announced about a year ago. According to Maryland Attorney General  Douglas F. Gansler, Bank of America was part of a scheme to “rig bids and engage in other anti-competitive conduct that defrauded state agencies, county governments, and non-profits in their purchase of municipal bond derivatives.”  Overall, Bank of America agreed last year to pay a total of $137 million to settle with states as well as the SEC, IRS, the Fed, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Nutcracker will grace the stage of the Amoss Center in Bel Air as Harford Dance Theatre presents the holiday production Nov. 26 and 27 and Dec. 4. There will be a full-length performance on Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. In addition, there will be matinees for youth ages 5 to 12 with post-show events on Nov. 27 and Dec. 4 at 1 and 4 p.m., when audience members can meet Clara and her Nutcracker Prince, Mother Ginger, the Sugar Plum Fairy and Uncle Drosselmeier....

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold is skeptical of the decision to move two state agencies out of his county - and for good reason. In the case of the Department of Housing and Community Development's planned relocation to Prince George's County, he raises legitimate questions of cost and political favoritism that deserve closer scrutiny. But don't expect that closer scrutiny to come from the General Assembly. The DHCD's move to New Carrollton, announced nearly one year ago, has all the look of a political decision - the fulfillment of a five-year-old campaign promise from Gov. Martin O'Malley that fellow Democrats are unlikely to question, no matter how expensive it turns out to be or how much fuss a Republican county executive might make in the media.

Citizens seeking public information from Maryland government agencies are likely to be denied more than a third of the time, according to a study by a newspaper organization. The Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association sent people to 15 agencies to request 25 public records that might be of interest to citizens. The "auditors" did not receive 10 of the 25 records within the 30 days prescribed in the Maryland Public Information Act, according to the report. Jim Donahue, executive director of the press association, said the results were especially disappointing because a similar audit of local and state agencies showed widespread compliance problems three years ago. "What this audit shows is that 40 percent of the time, public officials aren't complying with the law," Donahue said.

The state treasurer's office, which monitors how state agencies handle taxpayer money, has failed to properly oversee some agency banking procedures, according to a state audit released Friday. The review from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Audits, covering a three-year period ending on June 30, 2009, found that the treasurer's office failed to ensure that all bank accounts maintained by state agencies were authorized and in banks that had proper contracts. Agencies held at least 22 accounts at five unapproved banks at the end of the monitoring period, according to the audit.

So much for transparency in Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration. Mr. CityStat cum StateStat professes a love for data but shrouds the truth with the same gusto with which he bares his biceps in sleeveless T-shirts. Take the planned move of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) from Anne Arundel County to Prince George's County. Discussions surrounding the change have been going on for over a year and earlier this month became almost final with the selection of a developer and location.

The Maryland Transportation Authority gave final approval Thursday to the largest package of toll increases in the state's history, which will double the cost of a round trip through the Baltimore harbor crossings to $8 by July 2013. In another move, the agency also decided to move forward with a Baltimore County interchange it had previously eliminated from its $1 billion project to add express toll lanes to Interstate 95 in the White Marsh area. Officials said the restoration of the interchange at Route 43 was not related to the toll increase.