Work Session

The proposal by 3rd District County Council member Todd Huff to allow controlled deer hunting in some county parks is expected to be discussed at Tuesday’s County Council work session in Towson. Huff, a Republican who represents the northern part of the county, introduced the bill April 4, and at the time said deer are spreading Lyme disease, destroying vegetation and causing major car accidents. Republican and 5th District Councilman David Marks, who represents Towson and Perry Hall, is co-sponsoring the bill.

Proposed changes to the student behavior policy for Baltimore County schools sparked a lively debate among county Board of Education members at a work session Tuesday night - with some arguing for their immediate passage and others requesting more time to review them. The considered changes would tweak the school system's current policy, namely to allow principals to use their own discretion when considering how to punish a student for committing infractions that currently require the student be expelled or assigned to an alternative academic program.

The Howard County Council's monthly legislative work session scheduled for today has been canceled. The council will next meet June 7 to vote on legislation, including a proposed charter amendment referendum on a proposal to require a supermajority of four of the five council members to raise income or property taxes. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the George Howard Building.

Baltimore County employees would still be allowed to work for the state as well under a revised ethics reform package introduced Monday by the County Council. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz had proposed barring employees from working for the state but dropped that requirement from the legislation after County Council members expressed concern that it was too restrictive, said Kamenetz's chief of staff, Don Mohler. For instance, Mohler said, the prohibition could have prevented employees from teaching part-time at public colleges.

The Howard County Council's legislative work session, scheduled for 4: 30 p.m. today at the George Howard Building in Ellicott City, has been canceled.Information: 410-313-2022.Pub Date: 7/27/99

Westminster's mayor and Common Council will meet for a work session at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 to discuss the city's proposed property maintenance code, Mayor Kenneth A. Yowan announced at a meeting last night. The session is open to the public, but residents may only observe the process, not participate, according to Councilwoman Suzanne P. Albert. For the past decade, Westminster, like the rest of Carroll, has functioned under the county livability code, which applies to rental properties and is enforced by a single county housing inspector.

Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker will submit proposed budgets for Howard County's public agencies this month to the County Council for review and approval.All hearings will be in the Banneker Room and work sessions will be in the Ellicott or Tyson rooms of the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.The schedule of hearings is:Executive's presentation of the budget: 7: 30 p.m. April 22.Public hearing -- capital budget: 7: 30 p.m. April 23.Work session No. 1 -- capital budget: 10 a.m. April 29.Work session No. 2 -- capital budget (if necessary)

Baltimore County school board members voted unanimously last night to turn one of their twice-monthly meetings into a work session. Another proposed policy change - which would limit the number of groups given time to address members during meetings - was pulled from yesterday's agenda. Board members Earnest E. Hines and newly appointed James E. Coleman were not present for the vote. Several people, who expressed concern about the tabled policy change, lauded the board for pulling the item.

The Baltimore County Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday to conduct a work session. Topics of discussion will include the roles and responsibilities of local and state education boards and the structure of the Baltimore County public school system. State schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick is among those scheduled to participate in the session, to be held in Room 114 of the ESS Building on the Greenwood campus at 6901 Charles St. in Towson. The meeting is open to the public.

Proposed changes to the student behavior policy for Baltimore County schools sparked a lively debate among county Board of Education members at a work session Tuesday night - with some arguing for their immediate passage and others requesting more time to review them. The considered changes would tweak the school system's current policy, namely to allow principals to use their own discretion when considering how to punish a student for committing infractions that currently require the student be expelled or assigned to an alternative academic program.

WESTMINSTER - The Carroll County Planning Commission will host its next work session on the county's Master Plan update Monday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m., in room 003 of the County Office Building, 225 N. Center St., in Westminster. On the agenda is a discussion of several components of the plan, including its overall "vision statement" and community involvement, as well as aspects relating to agriculture in the county. Documents related to the master plan are available for review online at ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/compplan/masterplan2011.

To trim operational costs, Baltimore County officials may offer eligible employees a retirement incentive package that could lead to the elimination of about 200 jobs. At the request of County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, the County Council introduced a bill Monday detailing the offers that will be made to about 1,100 eligible employees in the county's workforce of about 8,000. Those eligible for and interested in the offer would have to apply no later than Dec. 30 and would end their service by Feb. 29. Members will discuss the proposal at the Sept.

As The Sun recently reported ("Task force rejects having elected Baltimore Co. school board," Sept. 10), the legislative task force considering alternatives to the board selection process "abruptly decided Friday to rule out recommending the addition of elected board members. " According to the legislation establishing the task force, the charge they were to carry out was: "to make recommendations on how many members should constitute the Baltimore County Board of Education.

There was no indication following a two-hour work session in Bel Air Thursday evening that members of the Harford County Board of Education will be inclined to significantly change the school system's 2013 Capital Improvement Program when it comes up for final approval later this month. But one of the newer board members in particular had several questions about the county government's support for the capital program, which was the subject of the work session. As proposed by the school administration, the program contains several controversial elements, including the priority for relocation of the John Archer School for special education students to the campus of Bel Air Middle School and the delayed renovation of both Youth's Benefit Elementary School in Fallston and William Paca Old Post Road Elementary in Abingdon.

The proposal by 3rd District County Council member Todd Huff to allow controlled deer hunting in some county parks is expected to be discussed at Tuesday’s County Council work session in Towson. Huff, a Republican who represents the northern part of the county, introduced the bill April 4, and at the time said deer are spreading Lyme disease, destroying vegetation and causing major car accidents. Republican and 5th District Councilman David Marks, who represents Towson and Perry Hall, is co-sponsoring the bill.

Questions about what kinds, size and placement of signs should be allowed in a rebuilt central Columbia dominated a Howard County Council work session Monday that also included discussion of plans to buy a Columbia office building and create a county Veterans Commission. Electronic, interactive video signs can be as fascinating as the giant-size changing revue of human faces that seem to spit water in Chicago's popular Millennium Park fountain, according to a consultant to the developer of downtown, or the brightly colored electronic "bricks" that line a Texas college's pedestrian tunnel and that play music when touched.

Columbia Council to hold work session on capital projects The Columbia Council will hold a work session on capital projects of $100,000 or more in the proposed fiscal year 2002 budget at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Columbia Association building, 10221 Wincopin Circle, in Town Center. The regularly scheduled council meeting will be held after the work session, which will replace the one scheduled for Saturday. Information: 410-715-3110.

School board reschedules budget session to Monday The Howard County Board of Education has rescheduled a public work session on the proposed fiscal 2005 capital budget and the fiscal 2006-2010 capital improvement program. The work session, which had been scheduled for tomorrow, will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday in the boardroom at the Department of Education, 10910 Route 108, Ellicott City. Information: 410-313-7197.

Baltimore County Councilman Todd Huff has postponed consideration of a housing development near Timonium that has drawn strong opposition from neighbors. Huff has pulled his resolution seeking council approval for 33 attached homes on Pot Spring Road near Old Bosley Road, the first of several approvals the developer will need to complete the project. The matter will not go before a council work session next week or come up for a vote the following week, as had been scheduled. An aide to Huff said he wanted to give the developer, Jeffrey C. Kirby, time to revise the proposal after a Monday night meeting that drew a crowd of about 200 residents, most of whom were opposed to the plans.

Howard County Council votes on new zoning rules for beekeepers and design standards and sign rules for Columbia's downtown redevelopment were postponed until February, though most members seemed likely to support the bee-friendly legislation. "Clearly, something has to be done," said Councilwoman Jen Terrasa, a Democrat and potential majority third vote for the beekeepers' bill on the five-member council. She, like other members, said details on the bill to relax rules for keeping bees need to be worked out at a work session Jan. 18. Ellicott City Democrat Courtney Watson said she wants "an amendment — a safety net for situations we can't even anticipate right now. " Neighbors with acute allergies or other unusual conditions need some protective process, Watson said.