Changes would strengthen council | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The most sweeping of the charter amendments would give the council authority to appoint half of the members of a key advisory committee. The most innocuous one would specify which date a bill becomes law without the county executive's signature.

The amendments "better balance some of the responsibilities between the county executive and the County Council," said council Chairman Cathy Vitale. "They also have the effect of addressing concerns that have been raised over the years about the balance of power."

Collectively, the proposals have drawn dismissive comments from a spokesman for County Executive John R. Leopold, who would lose some authority if all the amendments were approved by voters.

"They are solutions in search of problems," said Alan Friedman, Mr. Leopold's director of governmental relations. "This is micromanagement to the n-th degree."

The proposed amendments to the charter, which functions as the constitution of Anne Arundel County government, will be debated by the council next month. If council passes them, the measures will be put on the November ballot.

Councilman Josh Cohen, D-Annapolis, pushed for a change to give the council authority to appoint half of the Planning Advisory Board, a citizen group that reviews land-use changes, zoning proposals and other legislation that affects growth and development in the county.

Under his proposal, the council would appoint four of the seven board members and require the board to report to the council - both moves that would potentially give the council more pull over the board's actions.

"It's an attempt to make our gov-

ernment overall more transparent, to make sure that a body that is billed as independent truly has the independence it needs," he said.Mr. Cohen said the board's recent handling of impact-fee legislation illustrates the downside of having all the members beholden to the county executive, as they currently are. Although he emphasized his support for the current board, Mr. Cohen criticized the speed at which it reviewed Mr. Leopold's plan to increase impact fees by as much as 12 times. The board reviewed it based on the timeline Mr. Leopold spelled out, and the council later convened a formal panel to do the work some say the board should have done.

"The timeline was so compressed that even though the Planning Advisory Board did the best it could in the time it had, the administration's timeline was insufficient for the level of review that the complicated legislation required," Mr. Cohen said.

The other four charter amendments were introduced by Councilman Jamie Benoit, D-Crownsville.

In addition to the technical change over when a bill becomes law without Mr. Leopold's signature, Mr. Benoit offered an amendment to let the council appoint three of seven members of the Anne Arundel County Ethics Commission, which rules on the ethical behavior and infractions of the council and all county employees.

Mr. Benoit said another of his amendments would increase transparency of government spending by forcing any county department to seek council approval before if it shuffles more than $50,000 in its budget.

Mr. Benoit said the most egregious example of these shuffles happened several years ago when the library system chose to spend money allocated for books on raises for library employees.

Last year, county departments moved around about $5.5 million without council approval, County Auditor Teresa Sutherland said. Some of the moves cover unexpected costs, and there have been no questions of impropriety under Mr. Leopold's administration, she said.

The fourth of Mr. Benoit's proposed amendments would more clearly define the role of the attorney advising the council, at times eliminating the need for the council to consult County Attorney Jonathan Hodgson, who is appointed by the county executive.

Mr. Benoit said the changes were not meant to wrestle more power from Mr. Leopold.

"They're really designed to give the council a bigger stake in the decisions we make," Mr. Benoit said. "It's about us, not him."

The charter amendment resolutions will be heard during the council's meeting, to be held at 7 p.m. June 2 in the Arundel Center, 44 Calvert St. in Annapolis.