The recent appointment of Malcolm Funn to the Calvert County Liquor Board has at least one local elected official concerned. Funn’s appointment to the panel was made by Governor Martin O’Malley [D] this spring following the resignation of the liquor board’s previous chairman, Alonzo Barber. The three members of what is officially known as the Board of License Commissioners serve two-year terms. Calvert’s three election districts are represented on the board and Funn, who resides in Chesapeake Beach, was appointed to represent the Third Election District. According to the Calvert County operating budget, liquor board members are paid a stipend of $300 per meeting with the chairman receiving a $350 per meeting stipend, .
Since March 2006 Funn has been a member of the Calvert County Planning Commission, a board whose members are appointed to five-year terms by the Calvert County Commissioners. He is currently serving his second term, which expires in March 2016. Planning commission members receive a stipend for their services.
Funn confirmed in a telephone interview that he was approached by County Commissioner Susan Shaw [R] prior to the opening ceremony of the Stars and Stripes Festival Saturday, May 25 and questioned about his membership on both panels. Funn recalled Shaw asked him if he intended to resign from the planning commission since serving on both boards could possibly pose a conflict. “I told her I don’t view it as a conflict,” said Funn, who is a retired attorney. He explained he was advised by another attorney that he could recuse himself from voting on an issue that posed a conflict with his service on the two boards.
In a telephone interview with Shaw, the commissioner said she spoke with the chairman of the Calvert County Ethics Commission about Funn’s simultaneous memberships. “He told me it was a violation of the ethics code because they [liquor board and planning commission] deal with the same parties,” said Shaw. “You can’t get a liquor license if there are problems with your site plan. It’s all intertwined. Both [boards] affect your business.”
Shaw cited as an example the ongoing issues with the Tiki Bar in Solomons, which has had site plan issues that have yet to be resolved
According to the Calvert County Government web site the Board of License Commissioners are charged with “administering and enforcing the provisions of Article 2B of the Maryland Annotated Code.” The provisions deal with the regulation and control of the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages.
The county’s planning commission is a citizens’ review board that deals with county planning decisions in an advisory and decision-making capacity. The planning commission does not deal with zoning violations, so is not an enforcement panel.
While
