Public hearings can complicate things
The Baltimore County Revenue Authority publicly supported a Senate bill that would require a public hearing before the quasi-governmental agency can close, sell or transfer facilities. But, that support doesn’t mean there weren’t concerns.
Don Hutchinson, a current board member and former state senator and county executive, wondered aloud during the board’s March 26 meeting if hearings “cause complications with communicating with the county.”
“It impacts our ability to make good faith arrangements with your partners or the public,” Hutchinson said the morning after authority Chief Executive George Hale testified in Annapolis in support of the bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Andy Harris.
The authority had not had the chance to decide on whether it would support the measure or not before Hale testified in favor of it.
Harris sponsored the bill after golfers and others complained that they had no input in a deal that closed Gunpowder Falls Golf Course and then transferred the facility to the county for use as a park.
Hutchinson said hearings, such as those required by the bill, could give the public the impression they have an opportunity to ultimately have a say in the matter.
“If you have a handshake agreement with Jimmy Smith and then have a hearing, you’re lying to the public,” Hutchinson said.
Hannan Sibel, chair of the five-member board disagreed and said it would have “no effect on our relationship with the county.”
Les Pittler, another board member, urged the board to support a public hearing.
“For a quasi-public entity to say to a state senator ‘We don’t want a pubic hearing,’ that’s a little ridiculous,” Pittler said.
Hutchinson later urged the board to “remain silent and whatever (the Senate) imposes on us, we’ll deal with.”
Harris said Hutchinson has it all wrong.
“They have it exactly backwards,” Harris said. “They should go to the community first.”
Harris said he was concerned the authority was too close in it’s dealings with the county executive.
“They’re supposed to be autonomous,” Harris said. “I don’t know why they’re making handshake deals.”
Harris’ bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 45-0 on March 29. The bill is now stalled in the House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee — most likely a death sentence for the proposal given that the session ends at midnight on Monday.
But you never know. Stranger things have happened in the closing moments of past sessions.