Howard County voters may soon help create an Office of Inspector General

ELLICOTT CITY -- Howard County Council is looking for voters' help in creating an Office of Inspector General.

Standing outside the George Howard Building Friday, councilmembers announced they will be introducing and voting on a proposed charter amendment that would address concerns brought up at a recent legislative public hearing.

Before announcing it, 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.

The charter amendment is expected to pass unanimously on Monday, especially with all five council members' names attached.

This ensures it'll be on the November ballot, making the Howard County Board of Election's August 2 deadline.

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, we can'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.