Small changes to County Charter on ballot

Tucked into the major questions on this year's ballot are two proposals to tweak the County Charter.

One would change who appoints members of the Anne Arundel County Ethics Commission, and the other clarifies what day a bill becomes law without the county executive's signature.

The amendments offer two subtle changes to the county's founding document, and neither have drawn opposition from county leaders on either side of the aisle.

"I guess the voters can blame me for my over-attention to detail," joked County Councilman Jamie Benoit, who said he introduced both amendments because he thought it would improve public policy.

The more substantial change redistributes some power from County Executive John R. Leopold by giving the County Council three of the seven appointments to the ethics commission. Under the current charter, the county executive appoints all seven, and the council confirms them.

The change would make Anne Arundel's process more similar to the way the state government appoints the ethics board. The county executive can reject the council's nominees "for cause," a legal term that sets a high bar to reject nominees.

"I think that's good policy," Mr. Benoit, D-Crownsville, said. "It greatly reduces the possibility of the ethics commission being used as a political body rather than an adjudicative body."

Betsy Dawson, executive director of the ethics commission, said the commission supports the changes and called the ballot question "pretty straightforward."

Mr. Leopold pointed out the ethics change did not stem from any specific incident. He supports both ballot questions.

"They're not controversial," he said.

The second change fixes vagueness in the current charter about which day a council bill takes effect when the county executive doesn't sign it. The county executive has 10 days to sign or veto a bill after the council passes it. Most bills take effect 45 days after the county executive's signature.

On rare occasions, bills are returned to the council unsigned. They still become law, but it is unclear on which date the bills are effective. The amendment proposed on the ballot clarifies that the bill becomes law on the 10th day.