Baltimore County Council passes inspector general legislation after chair withdraws amendments

Baltimore County legislators passed unanimously Monday a pair of bills enshrining the Office of the Inspector General into county law in a highly-anticipated vote after Council Chair Julian Jones Jr. announced he was withdrawing widely-criticized amendments that would have hamstrung the watchdog agency. The county council voted 7-0 to pass two bills that codify the three-year-old office into the county charter and require public hearings and written notice to justify any future attempts to shrink the agency’s budget.