Around Maryland

Howard County Delegation Chairs Sen. Clarence Lam and Del. Courtney Watson proposed, under legislation filed last week, changing the county’s all-elected school board model to include two members recommended by the state delegation and appointed by the county executive. In a Nov. 15 news release, Democrats Lam and Watson said the move would “improve the coordination and collaboration among the Howard County state delegation, the Howard County executive, and the Howard County Board of Education” and more effectively implement the $3.8 billion Blueprint for Maryland’s Future legislation.

After County Executive Steuart Pittman’s expected re-election to a second term this week, five top officials in his administration will leave at the end of Pittman’s current term, the county said in a news release Thursday. Stepping down are Matt Power, chief administrative officer, and Kai Boggess-deBruin, chief of staff; Pam Jordan, deputy chief administrative officer for health and human services, Lori Rhodes, deputy chief administrative officer for land use, and Chris Phipps, director of the department of public works, are retiring.

Baltimore County’s executive declined Thursday to share any reasons behind his police chief’s departure from the agency, a day after his team announced she and four other directors would leave county government in coming weeks. Democratic County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., who won reelection earlier this month, didn’t directly answer questions from reporters about whether he’d asked police Chief Melissa Hyatt to leave, whether she had any say in the decision or about any factors that changed since he stood behind her six months ago during a no-confidence vote by the police union representing county officers.

Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, the superintendent of Maryland State Police, will retire at the end of the year, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Wednesday. Jones became superintendent of the statewide law enforcement agency in February 2020 after four years leading the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. His retirement comes after 35 years in law enforcement, according to a news release from Hogan’s office.

In a report issued Thursday, Baltimore County’s inspector general determined the county improperly paid nearly $70,000 for a deteriorating alley in downtown Towson, almost entirely surrounded by businesses, to be repaved. The alley didn’t meet the requirements for the county’s alley paving program, which is usually reserved for residential areas, according to the inspector general’s report. But the county paid to repave the alley anyway, after the property owner brought the issue to County Council Chairman Julian Jones.

The Maryland Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to approve a new 15-year lease for the state Department of Health to move into the vacant Metro West complex. The health department is housed nearby in State Center, and the pending move is part of a broader plan by Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration to move agencies out of that aging complex of state-owned buildings and into leased buildings closer to the city’s core.

A contract to explore options for Baltimore’s conduit system was approved by the Board of Estimates Wednesday in spite of the overwhelming passage on Election Day of an amendment to the city charter barring the sale and lease of the system. Approved by a 3-2 vote, the $50,000 agreement with FMI Capital Investors will help determine the “best and highest use” of the conduit system, city attorney Hilary Ruley told the board last month, when the contract was first proposed.

Under new Baltimore County Police policies, officers whose disciplinary records are requested under the Maryland Public Information Act as well as the union representing police will be notified of such requests within two business days. The officer and a designated representative — an attorney or member of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge, for example — will then be permitted to review the documents five days before they are released to the requester.

Doctors visits can be time consuming for students, taking them away from the classroom for hours sitting in traffic and waiting rooms. But at some Howard County public schools, a pediatrician is just a click away. At the county’s 11 school-based wellness centers, students can receive onsite physicals and screenings and, at eight of the locations, connect with a local provider remotely via a telemedicine appointment.