The County Times
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Thursday, May 28, 2009 The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.
Public Defenders Office Closed For Early Morning Fire
A 3 a.m. fire in the Public Defenders’ Office at the District Court in Leonardtown caused the office to shut down Wednesday as workers were busy cleaning up the mess. William Russell, of the Department of Public Works and Transportation, said that the cause of the fire was likely a fan that had been left on overnight that had melted down in one of the small offices in the ground-floor department. “A fan overheated and caught fire,” Russell said. The fire was a small one and only caused damage to one office, but when the sprinkler
system turned on to put out the flames, more damage ensued. “There was more water damage that fire damage,” Russell said. “Luckily no one was hurt.” Pat Buckler, office manager for the Public Defenders’ Office, said that despite damage to some of the materials there, attorneys still had their case files to defend their clients that same day. “We’re fully operational,” said Buckler. “Our attorneys are in court with their files.”
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As the Board of County Commissioners passed the fiscal 2010 operating budget Tuesday by a vote of 4-to-1, the lone dissenter again pressed for consolidations and cuts in government for next year’s budget. “I foresee things getting fairly nasty in the next couple of years when it comes to budgets,” said Commissioner Lawrence D. Jarboe (RGolden Beach). Jarboe has made proposals before to consolidate departments and eliminate some department heads, most recently last week at a budget meeting with other commissioners. His ideas were rejected, mostly because some of his colleagues felt that they came too late in the process to be adequately studied. Jarboe said he will present other proposals at next Tuesday’s meeting, in hopes that commissioners will examine them closely this summer. “That way no one can say we didn’t consider this well in advance,” Jarboe said of the debate he plans to pursue into next year’s budget cycle. Commissioner President Francis Jack Russell (D-St. George’s Island) said that commissioners would consider Jarboe’s proposals, but there would be no guarantees that their votes would turn out any differently. “I’d be willing to look at anything someone wants to bring to the table,” Russell said after a majority of commissioners approved the county’s new $199.3 million general fund operating budget, which is $3.3 million less than last years funding outlay. “We’ll definitely look at them.”
The county’s total operating budget, plus state and federal funds, topped about $337 million; the capital improvement budget reached $20.6 million. Russell said that Jarboe’s core issue this budget season, the reinstatement of the constant yield on property tax rates to ensure property owners pay the same amount despite higher assessment values, was not necessarily a top priority of his. Under the approved budget, property and income taxes stay the same. Had commissioners voted for the constant yield, it would have meant close to $6 million less in revenues. Consolidating departments like Land Use and Growth Management and Economic and Community Development might not be the best use of county government resources either, Russell said. “LUGM is a department that is already behind [on work] and Bob Schaller [economic development director] is just smothered,” Russell said. “You have to have somebody do the work; you just can’t make cuts just to make cuts.” Jarboe has said that he only wants to cut some department heads as a result of consolidations and not rank-and-file merit employees. However, under the approved budget, there are no layoffs or furloughs. One thing commissioners do agree on is that the economic road ahead is a rough one, especially with the state either not sending down or withholding various sources of tax revenue as they did this year. “We’ve had every indication [from the state] that next year they’re going to hit us just as hard,” said Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D-Great Mills)
Father’s Day County Tables New Digital Sign Rule, Curbs Off-Site Real Estate Signs Balloons
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Jarboe Wants Commissioners To Study Consolidations, Cuts Over Summer By Guy Leonard Staff Writer
Photo by Guy Leonard Sheila Sullivan, left, District Public Defender for Southern Maryland, Pat Buckler, officer manager, and John Getz, local managing public defender survey fire and water damage after a small blaze in their office.
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By Guy Leonard Staff Writer Worries over sign proliferation in the county balanced with concerns about free speech led the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners to postpone a vote on legalizing digital signs Tuesday. However, they did approve a change that now allows real estate agents and homeowners to use one off-site advertising sign to aid in the sale of a home. The original proposal called for as many as three real estate signs to be allowed. “The issue of signage can be very complicated,” said Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D-Great Mills) “You want to be fair, to be legal and still do justice to the businesses who use it.” Raley proposed tabling the text amendment to the zoning code about digital signs for discussion at the next commissioners’ meeting. Staff with the county’s Department of Land Use and Growth Management said that the entire zoning ordinance section of the county code needed the commissioners’ revision to ensure that it was fair and enforceable. “Each amendment we add makes it less cohesive,” said Land Use and Growth Management assistant director Phil Shire. The new digital sign ordinance under consideration allows businesses to advertise with
10-second intervals between messages that fade in and fade out. No blinking lights, flashing or scrolling messages are allowed. Also any message the business owner wanted to put on the sign was allowable, be it for a nonprofit business or political campaign, staff said. However, digital signs would not be allowed in the rural preservation district of the county, raising some eyebrows about fairness to longstanding businesses there. Still the main concern was proliferation of digital signs, which have received little support from the public. “My only fear is the proliferation,” said Commissioner President Francis Jack Russell (D-St. Georges’s Island). “Once we have them, everyone is going to have to have one to level the playing field.” Commissioner Lawrence D. Jarboe (RGolden Beach) echoed Russell’s comments. “It won’t make us look like Las Vegas, but it will make us look closer to Waldorf; that’s too close for me,” Jarboe said. Others said that the digital signs, while ostentatious in places like Anne Arundel County, were still a legitimate and efficient way to advertise. “The ones I’ve seen pop up here, I don’t whether they’re legal or not, but people seem to be pretty respectful about how they’re using them,” said Commissioner Thomas A. Mattingly (D-Leonardtown).