The Howard County Council on Friday said it would fast-track efforts to allow voters to decide in November if they want to create an office of the inspector general, following unanimous support and an outpouring of public backing for independent oversight of the county government.

“Holy cow,” Vice Chair Liz Walsh said at a press conference. “We agree on something and something so important and so good for government and so wonderful as an inspector general.”

Chair Deb Jung said the council would amend the county charter so the office would be created outside the control of the county executive, in response to public concerns about the political independence of the inspector general that were raised during last week’s public hearing. The current charter only allows the county executive to appoint people to an advisory board that would then pick the inspector general.

“It provides for a standing citizen committee that can be appointed by the council, county executive or any combination thereof,” Jung said. “It creates legal counsel and budgetary independence. It specifies that an ordinance will define the structure and functions of the IG office.”

The composition of the citizen committee will be unclear until the charter amendment gets passed, but Jung said the council agrees that they want some committee members to have backgrounds in an inspector general office, in a legal office or with investigatory backgrounds.

Walsh, who introduced the two inspector general bills at the beginning of July, said that the public’s input helped to make the new charter amendment happen.

Walsh said the original plan was to amend the charter after passing the bills. The council changed course to meet the Aug. 2 deadline to get the bills on the November ballot with fewer constraints.

“You all made bills 47 and 48 even better, and we thought they were pretty good to start with,” she said.

Council member Opel Jones echoed Walsh that the council heard the demands for increased transparency.

Because the amendment is a resolution, no public hearing is needed, Walsh said in an interview before the press conference.

The council will vote on the resolution July 29 to get the proposed inspector general office on the November ballot.

After the charter amendment vote next week, Walsh said the council will have a work session in September to iron out amendments to the two bills before voting on them in October.

“The referendum passes by overwhelming majority in November, and we start appointing an advisory board by the new year, January 2025,” Walsh said.

The framework of the charter will allow for collaboration within the council and with the community, which will make a more accountable and responsive government, Council member Christiana Rigby said.

“Currently there is no entity — no entity — in our county that is authorized to investigate fraud, waste and abuse,” Rigby said. “It is essential for good government.”

She said all of the responsibilities of the inspector general are named and defined in the charter.