Live Blog: County Council Discusses Ethics Reform Bill

The Baltimore County Council will discuss a number of bills during today's work session. The biggest of those is an proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

2:39 p.m.— The meeting is now officially ended.

2:38 p.m.— A representative of the family that owns the Mantau Mill Road property tells the council his clients are willing to discuss the sale with the county. He said an offer made by the county was withdrawn several years ago because of concerns of contamination that is "not the fault of the property owner."

2:37 p.m.—Correction, Olszewski re-opens the meeting for a speaker.

2:36 p.m.— Meeting ends.

2:35—Councilman Todd Huff asks if the county can afford the original offer it made if the owner of the property would want to move forward with that offer. It's not clear how much the county originally offered. County Adminstrative Officer Fred Homan could not immediately answer Huff's question. Council chairman John Olszewski Sr. asked that Homan and Huff discuss the issue after the meeting.

2:34 p.m.— The county wants to buy the property for monitoriing and possoble clean up of ground water readings realted to landfill gases.

2:31 p.m.— Murphy asking for approval of an agricultural easement on Mantau Mill Road. She also asks for approval to begin condemnation proceedings for condemnation of a more than 9 acre parcel on Stablers Church Road adjacent to the Parkton landfill. The county has appraised the value of the property at $56,325.

2:27 p.m.— Councilman Ken Oliver asks how many more properties along Rolling Road are left to be aquired. Shirley Murphy, who heads the county's land acquisition office, said "quite a few" but could not immediately provide a specific number.

2:26 p.m.— Next up are requests for approval of contracts to purchase right of ways on Cowenton Avenue and Rolling Road and a agricultural easementalong Greystone Road and a conservation easement in Long Green Valley off Long Green Pike.

2:25p.m.— Dorsey is also asking the county to approve the acceptance of a gift from the Maryland Numbers Board of $4.8 million for the county's 911 center.

2:24p.m.— The reimbursement from the federal government is expected to grow in the coming years, Dorsey said.

2:22p.m.— Budget Director Keith Dorsey is asking the council for approval to contrsact with Express Scripts for pharmacy services soe Medicare Part D eligible retired employees. Dorsey said the move would allow the county to seek some reimbursement from the federal governmen and would net the county about $8 million.

2:20 p.m.—Next up, Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainabilty asking permision to give a grant of $30,000 to the Back River Restoration Committee Inc. Money would be used for salaries and equipment related to clean up efforts on the river.

2:17 p.m.— Local management board is seeking permision to spend $30,000 to provide court-ordered supervision services and partenting skills training. The money will serve families in the Dundalk area.

2:15 p.m.— County Department of Economic Development is seeking approval to spend $23,242 for its summer youth work program. Again, no questions from the council.

2:14 p.m.— The County Department of Health and Human Services is seeking approval to spend $12,895 in state and federal funds on gifts and after prom activities to prevent underage drinking.

2:11 p.m.— The Council asked no questions of Field on the bill and made no comments. Council is now taking up an underage drinking campaign.

2:09 p.m.— The other piece that has caused some consternation, according to Field, is the gift prohibition. "The concern I was hearing a little bit...was: the initial analysis is who is proposing to give it. It's not meant to capture the types of things people do in public service."

2:07p.m.— Is going over changes to post-government employment and specifically language that some believe will prohibit some outside employment. Field said the bill would prohibit employees from working on issues or for companies that the government employee significantly participated in on the county government side.

2:04 p.m.— Meeting gavelled to order. First up the ethics reform bill. County Attorney Mike Field is explaining the bill to council members. "A lot of what's in here is driven by laws adopted by the state."