BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Restoring access to records for the Office of Inspector General may hit a roadblock inside City Hall as a member of City Council pushed a charter amendment Monday.
The charter amendment, introduced as a bill by Councilman Mark Conway during Monday’s Council meeting, seeks to designate the Office of Inspector General as a co-custodian of city records.
“If we want our city to thrive and succeed, we do need to hold folks accountable when there is fraud or abuse or waste,” Conway said Monday.
The move comes after the Inspector General, Isabel Cumming, received heavily redacted documents and amid an investigation into the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and then had subpoenas ignored. She then sued City Hall over access; that litigation is ongoing.
Cumming emphasized the importance of access to records for her office, which she said has handled nearly 5,000 hotline complaints and over 200 investigations since 2018. She said Conway’s charter amendment would allow the office to continue doing the job it’s been doing for years.
“In those same eight years we have had three different mayors, four different council presidents, four different solicitors,” Cumming said. “During all those changes, the office has performed the same work with the same access, serving as a constant for this city. This office has tried to be responsive always, always to the people it serves.”
But the effort is already facing hurdles; several charter amendment proposals were also introduced Monday by other members of the council, including Council President Zeke Cohen and Charter Review Special Committee Chairman Ryan Dorsey.
Cohen said while he supports the work Cumming has done, especially investigations into working conditions for Department of Public Works employees, he said he has legal concerns with Conway’s proposal.
“What I cannot do is support a bill that I don’t know whether it’s legal or not,” he said. “And the opinions of at least the attorneys that I’ve spoken to seem to indicate that it’s not, that it would have to be done at the state level.”
In Annapolis, there is legislation that would clarify the inspectors general access issue, exempting watchdogs from the Maryland Public Information Act, MPIA. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, in both chambers, have introduced legislation but the efforts have stalled in committee.
FOX45 News has questioned Senate President Bill Ferguson for weeks about the effort and given the fact that lawmakers will adjourn Sine Die on April 13, it’s not clear if the effort will get done in time.
“Still working through the details,” Senate President Bill Ferguson said Friday when questioned by FOX45 News. “From the very beginning, I’ve said this a little bit more complicated than just saying yes or no.”
When asked if he’s had conversations with Senate President Ferguson about the bill, Cohen said he had, along with other members of the City Council.
Meanwhile, the Association of Inspectors General sent a letter to the Mayor and City Council in support of access for the OIG. The AIG said it’s followed the “alarming steps taken in Baltimore City to deny or severely limited” Baltimore City’s watchdog’s “longstanding direct access to government records.”
The organization said inspectors general “must have direct access to government records that reveal how government agencies have transacted business or exercised authority on behalf of the taxpayers they represent.”
The lack of clear support from other members of the council for Conway’s proposal didn’t come as a surprise to him, who said he “fully expect[ed]” the Law Department “to block this bill under the guise of legal sufficiency.”
“People are going to be very, very hesitant to disagree with the mayor,” Conway said, noting Mayor Scott’s popularity. “But I would say, it’s exactly in a moment like this, it’s exactly when we have a popular mayor that have made maybe decisions that he should not have made, that we should be able to stand up and be an equal branch of government and be a strong council and stand up for transparency and accountability.”
It’s not clear when, or if, Conway’s bill will be heard in Dorsey’s committee.
“I am urging the citizens to please support this bill. Reach out to your council-people,” Cumming said. “This if this can’t move forward this way, the only other way is we get 10,000 signatures.”
Follow Political Reporter Mikenzie Frost on X and Facebook. Send tips to mbfrost@sbgtv.com.
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