Friday, August 24, 2012

Letter from Cecil County Consultant, GHD








Need for a Stronger Ethics Ordinance

Letter to the Editor
Cecil Whig
November 29, 2011

“The Ethics Process will only work if it is enforced.”
This was the comment made by our current Chairman of the Ethics Commission, Michael Burns, and I agree. In 2011 there were 12 who never filed a required disclosure form and I support Mr. Burn’s recommendation that we remove those serving on boards that fail to file and ignore repeated requests. What motivation is there to file disclosures if there is no penalty?

I would also propose: 1. Department Directors file the same disclosure requirements as elected officials, 2. Appointments to committees file the same disclosure requirements as in 2011 rather than no disclosures at all, 3. Ethics Board Members file the same disclosure requirements as proposed for appointments, and 4. County Commissioners are informed when an initial complaint is filed to ensure the complaint has been addressed in a timely manner. (Details of the complaint should not be disclosed unless there is a finding of guilt.)

In my opinion these are reasonable requests that are vital to the integrity of the ethics process. I was somewhat surprised by the comments of Commissioner Hodge: “We have a responsibility to not request this information” or "Sometimes people would like to keep their personal information personal.“ And Commissioner Moore asked, “How would this make someone a better committee member?“ My answer is that transparency helps keep everyone honest.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Facts about the Artesian Deal

I did address the breaking of the sewer contract deal with Artesian but it appears there are those that want to continue to muddy the waters. Fact #1: We didn’t break the deal, that was Artesian. Fact #2: We do have a plan as our DPW Director has already addressed. Fact #3: Commissioner Hodge eluded that the dirty little secret keeping the county from getting infrastructure in the growth corridor was due to lack of political will to increase rates. The current economy reflects a lack of development activity overall.  Therefore if we don’t have demand, raising the rates won’t address the issue. Instead we should be focusing on creating demand and developing shovel ready projects in the growth corridor. Fact #4: While the sewer sale would have taken some of the aging plants off the county’s hands, Artesian would have been acquiring Meadowview Treatment Plant well below the market value along with the ability to earn nutrient credits which they were not willing to share with the County. Fact #5: All of the Commissioners agreed that they had concerns in the contract they wanted to revisit with Artesian, but Artesian declined. They included: Sale of Meadowview Plant, possible sharing of nutrient credits, County servicing the Meadowview Bond, Timeline of Wastewater infrastructure implementation in Route 40 Corridor, wastewater expansion restricted to growth corridor, provide for clarity with respect to the drafting of water and sewer plan amendments, rate increase concerns, refinement of nutrient credit provision, who has growth control and was the county properly compensated for wastewater assets. The dirty little secret wasn’t the county’s lack of political will to raise rates. It was that Artesian’s priority was to provide infrastructure where the demand was which is usually residential, the attorney representing the county did not hold Artesian to a timeline commitment for getting infrastructure in the growth corridor and that Artesian puts the burden of infrastructure costs on the users by raising rates and hook up fees. Once again, Artesian is beholden to their stockholders to earn profits and the County Commissioners are elected to look out for the common good of the county. From the very beginning, the water sewer deal was fraught with conflict of interest and lack of transparency. Which reminds me: Mr. Cochrane you were removed from your appointed Cecil County Committees for not providing the required disclosures. Can you provide now to show your motives are for the benefit of the county and not for personal gain?

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Toll Plan Bad for Business

While the revision of the toll increase plan accommodated the commuters and two-axle vehicles, everyone else doing business or recreating in Cecil County with three or more axles will see substantial increases at the Hatem Bridge due to the phasing out and eventual elimination of the discount coupon program. For example, a three-axle truck currently costs $3.20 per trip with the coupon book, on Jan. 1, 2012 it increases to $4.80, on July 1, 2012 to $7.20, on Jan. 1, 2013 to $10.80, and on May 31, 2013, the coupon books expire, increasing the cost to $16 per trip. That's $3.20 to $16.00! The toll increase will be counter productive to the goals and objectives of creating and sustaining jobs in this region and is definitely not "reasonable" as a state delegate recently claimed. I encourage all businesses impacted by these toll increases to attend and comment on how their businesses will be impacted at the Maryland Department of Transportation Meeting, scheduled at the Administration Building for Nov. 4 at 2:30 p.m.



Friday, July 20, 2012

Difference between Reporting and Propaganda

The Guardian and Cecil Times claim to be reporting the news but they are nothing more than propaganda tools. They provide stories of public interest so they can mask their other stories as legitimate. While I don’t always agree with what is printed in the Cecil Whig, they have consistently provided me an opportunity to submit a rebuttal while The Guardian and Cecil Times have consistently not printed or posted my responses.   For the best source of information, listen to the audios of the commissioner work sessions, commissioner meetings and Citizen’s Corner. You can access at www.ccgov.org under Commissioner Meetings.  Propaganda is controlling the news - not reporting it.

What is a Newspaper of Record?

Recently, there has been some discussion on how a newspaper is selected to advertise the Cecil County property tax sale and I wanted to clarify some of the key points that go into the selection process. The qualifications are found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 1, Section 28(a) and it’s pretty restrictive as to which publications would qualify to advertise the legal notices. One of the more stringent qualifications include that the publication “Is entitled to be entered as second-class matter in the United States mail”. This requires that at least 50% of the publication’s distribution are to those who have paid more than a nominal price. This makes sense because it’s the subscribers of a newspaper that make it the newspaper of record rather than a publication making a gazillion copies and then giving them away for free. The County's Attorney, Norman Wilson, provided his legal opinion that he believed The Guardian was a newspaper of record because they had a Judge's opinion to support this but later admitted Judge's do make mistakes.It didn’t take away from what is actually the law and that is what Mr. Wilson was supposed to research. He was tasked with researching what qualifies as a newspaper of record. He called 1-800-Ask-USPS and received a clerk's opinion. After I called the same number the clerk admitted he really didn't know enough about this issue and referred me to USPS Consumer Affairs and I spoke with Belinda Yates who verified that second class matter is now a periodical permit. I also found an opinion from Judge Bell that referenced free newspapers (those not receiving more than 50% of their revenue from subscriptions) are not newspapers of record. Because The
Guardian is actually free and doesn’t have a periodical permit, they do not meet the qualifications to advertise legal notices.  Another point is that the County’s responsibility is not only to determine who is legally qualified but also which publication is the most qualified. As public servants, we would not be looking out for the public’s best interest if we chose a publication just on bid price alone. We also have an obligation to make sure we select the publication which most effectively reaches the public so they will have an opportunity to pay off their property taxes before it goes to tax sale.