Published: October 16, 2009 11:49 pm      

Public meeting with delegation delayed one week

CUMBERLAND — The District 1 legislative delegation’s meeting with the public has been pushed back one week due to multiple schedule conflicts.

Sen. George Edwards announced Friday the meeting with Allegany County residents is now scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at Allegany College of Maryland. The delegation regularly meets with the public prior to the start of the legislative session, which begins in January. Next month’s meeting will take place inside the college auditorium.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Nov. 10, but that conflicted with the Reagan Dinner, hosted by the Women’s Republican Club at the Mount Savage Volunteer Fire Department. The following day was next proposed, but that conflicted with a conference down state to be attended by Allegany County Sheriff David Goad. Both Delegates Kevin Kelly and LeRoy Myers, chairman of the House delegation, rejected Nov. 12, and Kelly said Nov. 13 also would not work.

Kelly said Goad plans to attend the public meeting, where the subject of the county commissioners’ move to expand the Bureau of Police and transfer road patrol duties to that agency is expected to take center stage. Kelly has been the lone delegation member voicing public support for a referendum on the Code Home Rule bill passed into law in June 2007 by the commissioners. That bill created the Bureau of Police. Residents or stakeholders had up to 40 days to petition the issue to referendum — some felt it was a first step toward a new county police force — but Gary Moore, whom the commissioners appointed police chief, said “the creation of the Bureau of Police is in no way going to replace any law enforcement department in the county, but will augment and assist other departments as asked,” in a June 15, 2007, Times-News report.

In that same article, Moore said the bureau’s scope of responsibility would be limited to the Great Allegheny Passage and security at the county office buildings.

“Anything else will be the responsibility of existing law enforcement agencies,” Moore said.

In August 2008, the commissioners attempted to end annual budget battles with Goad and effectively transferred 14 deputies to the Bureau of Police. On Aug. 14, the expanded agency began conducting road patrols. On July 1 this year, Moore stepped down as police chief and, at his recommendation, the commissioners appointed then-Deputy Chief Bobby Dick, retired Cumberland Police Department chief, as his replacement.

Kelly introduced a bill during the 2009 General Assembly that might have sent the issue to referendum in the 2010 election. However, Kelly failed to gain the support of his three delegation colleagues.

Edwards, chairman of the four-member delegation, rejected Kelly’s request for a 7 p.m. start time for the public meeting. Kelly had argued the 30-minute delay would ensure the “maximum number of Allegany County citizens are afforded the opportunity to attend (and) participate in the forum.”

Kelly also had argued for a separate meeting for the referendum issue, one set apart from the annual prelegislative gathering with residents. That effort failed by a 3-1 vote, with Kelly being the lone dissenting vote.

Edwards said the delegation has scheduled its public session with the Allegany County Board of Education for 10 a.m. Nov. 2 at the central office on Washington Street. The lawmakers will meet with the county commissioners at 10 a.m. Nov. 6 at the County Office Complex on Kelly Road.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.