Strange Bedfellows

Another County Councilman is weighing in on the issue of possible pension reforms for council members.

Bryan McIntire, the council’s lone Republican, said he believes the current council will have to confront the issue.

“It’s out there,” said McIntire, who represents the 3rd district, including Parkton, part of Cockeysville, and Kingsville. “The public is concerned about it, and it must be addressed.”

McIntire made his comments during a Thursday night phone interview. All seven councilmen were called about the pension issue. (more…)

Fred Homan’s influence on county budget and policy is widely discussed among county employees and elected officials, who frequently refer to county operations as “The World of Fred.”

But is the former budget director and current county administrative officer so important that his absence could require the council to stop meeting?

The council was halfway through its 18-minute meeting Monday night and had just finished voting on the five bills on its agenda when Councilman Bryan McIntire asked the question. (more…)

Local elected officials who support deer hunting could be targets at the ballot box next year if one local animal rights activist has her way.

Enid Feinberg, a Phoenix resident who has opposed deer hunting in the Loch Raven reservoir, said she would like to see three county officials unseated in 2010 because of their support of deer hunting — Democratic Sen. Jim Brochin, and Del. Joseph Boteler and Councilman Bryan McIntire, both Republicans.

“Knowing what I know about them, they’re certainly high on my list,” Feinberg said.

Brochin and McIntire have been supportive of expanded deer hunting in the reservoir area. And Boteler sponsored a bill in the General Assembly last year that would have allowed hunting on Sundays on private property in Baltimore County. Boteler’s bill did not pass.

“In my opinion, hunting is legalized animal cruelty,” said Feinberg.

Feinberg said she has joined an organization called  Maryland Votes for Animals. Carolyn Kilborn, who is the only attributed writer on the Web site, was not immediately available for an interview. The site states that the group has “one overriding mission: To create an ever-growing voting bloc of animal advocates who will elect representatives willing to champion and vote for animal protection legislation, and to hold politicians accountable to their constituents.”

The organization lists a Towson mailing address on it’s Web site, but Kilborn lives in Annapolis.

“There’s no way to win for animals other than at the ballot box,” said Feinberg, who said she was speaking for herself, not for Maryland Votes for Animals.

“Our politicians are truly failing us,” Feinberg said.

Feinberg said one strategy could be the formation of a political action committee that could provide financial support to candidates who favor issues such as stronger laws against animal cruelty or are against hunting.

Maryland Votes for Animals formed a political action committee to participate in the 2010 state elections. State Board of Elections records show that Votes For Animals registered as a PAC on June 15. Kilborn is listed as the chairman of the committee, Jared DeMarinis, director of candidacy and campaign finance for the State Board of Elections.

Republican Councilman Bryan McIntire had debt on the brain — specifically the growing state debt.

The County Council unanimously approved Monday night a debt policy statement that is now required to be submitted to the state.

The General Assembly passed a law earlier this year requiring each jurisdiction to provide a document that governs how bonds are issued and which types of debt are used in each county. (more…)

Prior to the Tuesday evening vote on speed camera legislation, a few councilmen took the time to explain why they were about to vote the way they were about to vote.

Councilman Vince Gardina, a Democrat who represents the 5th District, said his vote was based, at least in part, on what he explained as a month-long “unscientific experiment.”

“Over the last month or so I’ve been trying to drive the speed limit all the time,” said Gardina, who represents Perry Hall, Carney and Towson. (more…)

Councilman Bryan McIntire had an idea when it comes to dealing with all the restaurant fliers and other advertisements that Councilman John Olszewski Sr. says are littering his district: Pick them up and throw them out.

Olszewski is sponsoring a bill — intended to prevent unwanted advertising circulars from becoming litter. The bill would require that businesses using fliers and circulars as advertising to maintain a toll-free number that residents could call to end delivery. The bill would also make it illegal to place those fliers or circulars on cars. (more…)

Opposition to a bill that would exempt some rural properties from the county’s Rental Registration program caused Republican Councilman Bryan McIntire to wax a little nostalgic at today’s council meeting.

McIntire, who represents most of the rural land in the county, sponsored a bill that would exempt homes on the National Register of Historic Places and the county’s inventory of historic places from rental registration, as well as homes on the preliminary or final landmarks list and any home not connected to public water or sewer. (more…)

Frustration boiled over during Thursday’s council budget hearing on the school system budget, as councilmen attempted to find out if air conditioning was ever planned for the recently renovated Ridgely Middle School. (more…)

If the County Council had a protocol expert or an official historian, either job would no doubt fall to Councilman Bryan McIntire.

McIntire, the council’s lone Republican, has fashioned himself a reputation on the council in both these areas.

Want to know the origin of the flag that looks like a Maryland flag with a Union Jack inset in the upper left-hand corner? McIntire is your man. Want to know the proper placement of the U.S. flag? Again, ask the councilman. (more…)

The site of a former gas station in Towson is slated to be the next honor for the county’s Olympians.

County Executive Jim Smith announced over the weekend that he wants to turn the site of the former Shell Station off the Towson Roundabout into Baltimore County Olympic Park.

Smith, in remarks made during Saturday’s festivities honoring Michael Phelps and other Maryland Olympians, said he would re-dedicate the empty lot currently now Towson Circle Park.

“This park will have special recognition of all Baltimore County’s Olympic medalists,” Smith said in an Oct. 5 release of his remarks from the night before.

The land used for the park has a somewhat controversial history.

In August 2007, the county paid $500,000 to Motiva Enterprises. The agreement came after about three months after Smith announced he would use the county’s condemnation powers to acquire the site. Motiva Enterprises, which operated a Shell station on the site, has been involved in cleaning up gasoline contamination there and is expected to continue those efforts through 2009.

Councilman Vince Gardina, a Democrat who represents the 5th District, including Towson and Perry Hall, praised the idea. When the initial announcement was made in 2007, Gardina said he expected the spot would become “a quiet oasis.”

“When you’re in the midst of a desert, anything can be an oasis,” Gardina said.

Bryan McIntire, Gardina’s Republican council colleague, painted another image of the future greenspace at one of the county’s busiest intersections.

After voting to approve the sale in 2007, McIntire suggested another name to me for the park - “carbon monoxide park.”

Given media reports of heavy smog in Beijing during the Olympics this summer, perhaps McIntire’s name is apropos.