HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (WBFF) — Dozens of Howard County residents are demanding county leaders strengthen the Inspector General’s access to county records. Kelly Madigan, who serves as the county’s first Inspector General, told council members her office has been blocked from obtaining key documents.
During the hearing, multiple speakers criticized the ongoing dispute and questioned why the office exists if it cannot review records needed for investigations. “I’m stunned as usual,” one speaker said. Another asked, “Aren’t we tired of being embarrassed by issues like this?” A third told the council, “Basically we don’t trust you. We need to look at those records. And as voters we need to know what’s going on and if something’s wrong we should see it.”
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Madigan told county leaders she has been denied access to records while conducting probes into “waste, fraud, and abuse.” “We’ve received redacted records, been denied access to other records under the MPIA,” said Madigan.
The testimony came as the county considers a bill that would make the inspector general the custodian of county records, giving the office “the right to obtain full and unrestricted access to all records and files maintained by all officials, agents and employees of the county.” Madigan said the change would resolve specific barriers her office has encountered. “Simply by making me a custodian of records you’d eliminate these 50 documents that I’m not allowed to access,” said Madigan.
Residents repeatedly argued that without access to records, the inspector general cannot do the job voters intended. “If the IG can’t inspect the records needed to investigate you must ask why did we create the office?” one speaker said. Another added, “We didn’t vote for this office to be powerless.” A third speaker said, “If you don’t do that then you don’t have anything. You don’t protect the citizens as has been said all night and 85 percent of us voted for this so what’s the issue?”
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Council Chairman Opel Jones raised concerns about whether the proposal could withstand legal scrutiny. “I’m almost sure that 85-percent would pause if they knew it didn’t have legal sufficiency or would violate state or federal law,” said Jones.
Jones previously tried and failed to block the measure earlier this month. Councilwoman Christina Rigby raised a separate concern. “My concern now is about a pattern of behavior toward Black men in leadership.”
At the hearing, another speaker pushed back on such allegations, saying, “Anyone leveling those charges should provide specific unambiguous examples, otherwise it appears as slander.”
“Howard County has been a one-party jurisdiction and some leaders are trying their best to block the work of the I-G,” said former state Sen. Allan Kittleman.
There was no opposition to the measure, among those who testified. “If nothing is wrong you shouldn’t hide it and nobody on council should vote no cause you obviously don’t have anything to hide,” insisted one resident. “You’re all here to represent the will of the people and we have all made our position really clear.”
The council is expected to vote on the measure next week.
This post was originally published on Fox 45 by Sinclair Media Group.
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