The County provided a valuable service to the citizens who serve on County Boards and Commissions at the June12 meeting of the Ethics Commission. Amanda Conn of the Funk & Bolton law firm gave a training session on the Maryland Open Meetings Act and Public Information Act for the Ethics Commission, its counsel, and interested chairmen of other County Boards and Commissions.  These two laws are complex and have notable exceptions.  Ms. Conn’s presentation and accompanying handouts are important to all the County’s Boards and Commissions because they must function within the requirements imposed by these two State laws.

            The County Commissioners are to be congratulated for providing this workshop.  Ethics Matters wishes they would distribute Ms. Conn’s handouts widely, now and in the future, and make her expertise on these two laws available by phone to County Boards, Commissions, and Committees who have questions or need assistance in interpretation.  These citizen bodies -- most of which are volunteer -- save the County considerable money each year as they supply their expertise, make decisions, and/or give advice.  The County should provide the support necessary to keep them from acting in violation of State laws. 

            At its meeting before the training session, the Ethics Commission worked on a mechanism to make sure that those appointed to Boards, Commissions or jobs that require financial disclosure are aware of the financial disclosure requirement when they accept an appointment, as well as when they must file financial disclosure statements (with acceptance of appointment, then annually, and upon termination).

            Also discussed was the need for the Ethics Commission to be aware of 1) any new job, Board or Commission created by the County Commissioners that has decision-making ability and of 2) any ad hoc committees and task forces “providing advice and/or recommendations regarding acquisition, zoning or designation of land whether appointed by the Board of County commissioners or appointed by other local government boards or commissions that are authorized to make such appointments.”  These are the criteria that under the Ethics Law require financial disclosure, and those accepting a newly created position should be aware of the requirements of that law.

It should be noted that when the County Commissioners create a new board, commission, or job, they cannot modify the requirements that the Ethics Law imposes unless they do so by statute.  The Ethics Commission alone has the ability to grant exceptions and/or modify the financial disclosure, gifts, and conflicts provisions for particular situations and then only if the Ethics Commission determines that applying the provisions would:

1.      Constitute an unreasonable invasion of privacy;

2.      Significantly reduce the availability of qualified persons for public service; and

3.      Not be required to preserve the purposes of the law.

All three of the above conditions must be met.

The Ethics Commission is also beginning to look at ways to meet their statutory obligation “to conduct information and education programs about the purpose and implementation” of the ethics law.  This undertaking is especially important given the many changes to the County’s Ethics Law in the past year and a half.