Around Maryland

An investigation into Montgomery County Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson’s conduct has expanded to include the actions of Vice Chair Partap Verma and the abrupt firing of Planning Department director Gwen Wright, County Council President Gabe Albornoz said Tuesday. A confidential complaint sent to the council on Monday and obtained by The Washington Post levied new accusations against Verma, who already had been publicly reprimanded alongside Casey and fellow board member Carol Rubin, deepening concerns about the planning agency’s governance and rattling employees as a council vote looms on a pivotal long-term growth plan.

Over the next year, the Chesapeake Bay Program will reevaluate its cleanup plan for the nation’s largest estuary — and its 2025 deadline — following a decision Tuesday by the group’s executive council. “We’ve all acknowledged that 2025 is fleeting in terms of achieving our goal,” said Michael S. Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the council’s chairperson. “And so, what we tasked our staff to do is to take a look at: What can we achieve between now and 2025? And what do we need to do to get back on track?” That review is due before next year’s executive council meeting, Regan said.

The Carroll County Board of Education’s October meeting agenda includes an expected vote on changes to public participation at school board meetings and suggestions from the school system’s Family Life Advisory Committee on changes to middle school family life and human sexuality education to remove lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity. The board is set to meet from 5-8 p.m., Wednesday, at 125 N. Court St., Westminster. The meeting will be broadcast on the Carroll County Public Schools YouTube channel. At the meeting, the board could ratify changes to its Citizen Participation Policy.

The Board of Education of Harford County unanimously approved a revised public comment and public hearing policy at its meeting Monday evening. The revised Public Participation at Board Open Meetings or Public Hearings policy strengthens the board’s disciplinary conduct enforcement for unruly or disruptive meeting attendees. The board may have any person removed from an open session if the person’s behavior is disruptive to the session, and a speaker’s privilege may be terminated for defamatory or abusive remarks if, after being warned, the person persists.

The Maryland State Archives launched a new website on Indigenous Peoples’ Day Monday that allows students, residents and visitors to research Native American tribes and events in Maryland history. To highlight some of the offerings on the website, called Mayis, treaties, other government documents and art from the 1600s were displayed at the Archives office in Annapolis. The artifacts offered a window into life in 17th century Maryland, including how Native Americans and colonists established agreements to share land (which colonists subsequently broke), documents detailing how criminal cases were handled and how tribal members signed documents with their clan’s icon.