Baltimore mayor, City Council leaders vow to seek ‘alternative’ after BOPA budget hearing disappoints

Mayor Brandon Scott and two Baltimore City Council leaders issued a joint statement Friday night that delivered a stinging rebuke to the leadership of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts and that vowed to explore “alternative options.” The statement, which was signed by Scott, City Council President Nick J. Mosby and Eric Costello, chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, was in essence a vote of no confidence in the organization’s board of directors and chairman Brian D. Lyles, the board leader and volunteer who in January began to run BOPA’s day-to-day operations after the abrupt departure of former CEO Donna Drew Sawyer.