Delegate Anthony O’Donnell

Leonardtown, MD — He’s been hearing a lot of complaints about the rising water and sewer rates of St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission (MetCom). That has prompted St. Mary’s County Commissioner Mike Hewitt [R – 2nd District] to suggest bringing the agency into county government.

Hewitt’s suggestion ran into a brick wall during the commissioners’ Nov. 17 public meeting with the county’s legislative delegation. Delegate Anthony O’Donnell [R -District 29C], the delegation’s chairman called the proposal socialistic. That’s because Hewitt has talked about all of the county’s taxpayers, instead of just MetCom’s customers, paying the bill.

Hewitt has on several recent occasions used the analogy of schools. He said he doesn’t have any children in the school system yet he doesn’t mind paying for schools. He also said he doesn’t use Chaptico Park or the Dr. Johnson Road bridge, but he also pays for them as a taxpayer.

Hewitt noted that MetCom is suffering from level growth and increasing costs which have to be borne by the existing customers, causing higher rates. The solution, according to MetCom Executive Director Scott Bundy, is more customers. But Hewitt was talking about more taxpayers footing the bill, according to O’Donnell.

“We are talking about fundamental changes–talking about something to lower costs. Telling someone on wells and septic tanks to pay for it.” He added for emphasis, “I don’t believe in socializing anything. That’s what you are talking about.”

Hewitt attempted to temper his statements by saying what he was suggesting wasn’t going to happen overnight. He also insisted he wasn’t assessing blame on anyone. “This is a discussion. There is no bad guys,” Hewitt insisted.

But the other legislators also weren’t convinced. Delegate Matt Morgan [R – District 29A] noted the commissioners appoint MetCom’s board. He observed that maybe stricter oversight of their appointed board was in order for more accountability of their actions.

Bundy, upon questioning from the delegation, said he believed that the commission could handle its current debt service. When asked whether they would support people not using their service paying for it, he quipped, “I don’t think so.” He said the solution to rising rates was more paying customers, such as those on an expanded St. Clements Shores system now under consideration.

During the often contentious discussion Hewitt said that both Calvert and Charles counties, which have water and sewer service under county government, have all county residents contribute. O’Donnell quickly denied that for his home county of Calvert. “Everybody doesn’t pay for it in Calvert,” he bristled.

County Administrator Dr. Rebecca Bridgett, who formerly held the same job in Charles, said water and sewer is in an enterprise fund that borrows money from the county’s general fund.

The governance of MetCom was also one of the subjects of discussion earlier in the day at a joint commissioner/MetCom meeting. Both boards agreed to continue to work on a solution to providing service to the failing systems in the St. Clements Shores area.

The MetCom governance wasn’t the only issue to run into a buzz saw at the joint legislative meeting. There was also opposition to the suggestions for collective bargaining for police officers, term limits for school board members and changing the county’s Open Meeting Law.

Commissioner John O’Connor [R – District 3] suggested collective bargaining as one way to stem the current turnover rate of officers. O’Connor said, “We have a great sheriff but what happens when we get a sheriff with no experience. What happens if he has a hidden agenda?”

But Morgan responded, “I think collective bargaining takes away from the voters.” He said a newly- elected sheriff could have run on a reform platform that was approved by the voters but the collective bargaining agreement may prohibit implementing those changes.

Delegate Deb Rey [R – District 29B] wanted to know who would be negotiating with the police union. O’Connor said different counties did it different ways but he said locally the FOP, which supports collective bargaining, wants the negotiations to be with the sheriff, who would then present his budget to the commissioners, as is now done.

After listening to the  discussion Senator Steve Waugh [R – District 29] called the whole idea “virtually embryonic” and needing a lot more study.

St. Mary’s County FOP Lodge 7 Trustee Bill Raddatz argued for collective bargaining. He said the agency’s annual turnover is 10 percent, a point which O’Connor says costs the county millions of dollars. “This agreement is important to us because we are losing people,” Raddatz said. He added, “I love my job. I love coming to work every single day. I just want some stability.”

O’Donnell said, “I have concerns about collective bargaining in government,” noting the problems encountered in Wisconsin by their Gov. Scott Walker, a former presidential candidate who has since withdrawn.

O’Donnell told Raddatz he supported the police in St. Mary’s County. “This may well be philosophical for me,” he explained.

O’Donnell, who is in his sixth term, has obvious problems with term limits, although he said he understood the desire to have them for the school board. He observed that the turnover in the legislature, which doesn’t have term limits, is about 30-40 percent every election. “We have a balance,” he said.

O’Connor argued for the term limits, saying if it worked for the county commissioners it could work for the school board. “I don’t think a commissioner should be in office for more than 12 years,” he said, adding constituents have brought the disparity in situations to his attention.

O’Connor and Commissioner President Randy Guy [R] have advocated for a change in the county’s unique open meetings law to make it a violation to publicly reveal information from a closed meeting. Guy said, “We’ve had some disclosures from one of our closed-door sessions.”

O’Donnell warned, “Some future board may use this as a way to do political shenanigans.” He said an allegation of violation of the open meeting law against a public official could be devastating. “A political career could be destroyed.”

O’Connor said, “As a politician we are not above the law. There needs to be culpability.”

The commissioners will now formally vote on each item in the legislative package and forward those votes to the delegation. Waugh suggested that there might be a need for a follow-up meeting to further discuss some of the items before the next session starts on the second Wednesday in January.

The meeting lasted three-and-a-half hours. At the beginning of the session O’Donnell observed there were some who favored not continuing the tradition of the joint session. He said at the end of the meeting that it was an example of how the process should work.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com