The Howard County Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution to put the question of whether to establish an inspector general’s office on the November ballot.
“When all five of our names are on something, it’s usually a good day,” Council member Opel Jones said.
The council could have established an inspector general on its own, but members of the public expressed concern about whether the office would be truly independent if the IG were selected by an advisory board appointed by the county executive.
Residents expressed overwhelming support for the idea of having an inspector general at public meetings.
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“I am so proud of all of us,” Chair Deb Jung said Monday. “I’m almost emotional about what we accomplished, because it is a really big deal to get a charter amendment passed to begin with, and then to get a charter amendment passed in the short period of time that we did was truly remarkable.”
The current charter only allows the county executive to appoint members of an advisory board that would then pick the inspector general, but that would change under the charter amendment.
“It provides for a standing citizen committee that can be appointed by the council, county executive or any combination thereof,” Jung said at a news conference Friday. “It creates legal counsel and budgetary independence. It specifies that an ordinance will define the structure and functions of the IG office.”
During Monday’s meeting, the council also agreed on language that limits the ability of the county executive to make changes to the office.
Council member Liz Walsh earlier this month introduced two bills to establish the inspector general’s office. The council tabled those bills and will have a work session in September to iron out amendments before voting on them in October.
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Walsh said last week that 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.
“I know that the ultimate bill that we work on will be a much better bill going forward, because we now have given ourselves the ability to do things that we didn’t have previously under our charter,” Jung said.
She said she hopes that county residents vote “yes” on the charter amendment in November.
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