Howard County voters will decide on whether Office of Inspector General will be established

ELLICOTT CITY -- Howard County Council unanimously approved a resolution that would allow voters to decide on November's ballot whether to create an Office of Inspector General.

Howard County Council chair Deb Jung stressed the importance of creating this office for the county.

"(The Office of Inspector General) save their local jurisdictions millions of dollars by increasing efficiency and uncovering fraud, waste and abuse," she said.

Cue CR 107, the charter amendment, will ask voters to authorize Howard County Council to establish an OIG.

Two bills by Howard County Council vice chair Liz Walsh aiming to do the same thing were discussed at last week's legislative public hearing. 

However, there were concerns about some of the language in the bills, particularly with how the citizen advisory board is picked. This board is tasked with selecting the inspector general.

"Selection of an inspector general advisory board by the county executive is not ideal. One individual with such sizable input in the selection process of an oversight entity is, in our view, problematic," one member of the public said.

Jung said they were restricted by the parameters of the county's charter.

"We heard over and over again, we would like the bill to be this way. I finally responded that we couldn't do that. The charter doesn't allow us to make those changes to the bill," she said.

The charter amendment aims to give Howard County Council more say in the advisory board selection and further lays out independence for the OIG.

It also opens the door for Walsh's bills to be reworked more to the public's liking.

"The five of us have been on the council together for six years, this is the first time where I've seen us act so quickly after a public hearing like that," Walsh said.

Walsh's bills will be revisited in September. The hope is to start appointing the advisory board in January.