Greetings!
The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) is pleased to provide Baltimore City residents and members of the business community with resources to inform participation in the upcoming Baltimore City elections as part of our election
education program.
The public information campaign highlights the responses of leading candidates in the races for Mayor and City Council President to the
policy priorities
that the GBC believes will help advance the City at a challenging time in its history.
This week's edition of
In Their Words
highlights the policy priority of using leadership to create a culture of integrity, transparency and efficiency in City government and specifically asks the candidates to outline three actions that they would take to improve transparency and efficiency in Baltimore City government. On Wednesday, we shared the
responses from the leading candidates for Mayor
.
Today, we share the responses from the leading candidates for City Council President.
The GBC does not endor
se or financially support candida
tes. However, we are committed to informing Baltimore City residents about the upcoming election and we encourage all city voters to vote in the June 2 election. For more information about the upcoming elections, see the Maryland Presidential Primary Fact Sheet
here.
As another part of our election education program, the GBC hosted a virtual
Baltimore City Council President Debate
with WBAL NewsRadio 1090 AM/101.5 FM on Thursday, May 14. See coverage of the debate
here
.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at
donaldf@gbc.org
.
Be safe, stay healthy and remain positive.
Sincerely,
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Donald C. Fry
President & CEO
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Policy Priority
Exert solid, steady leadership to stabilize Baltimore City government and create a culture of integrity, transparency, and efficiency.
Question:
What are three actions that you would take to improve transparency and efficiency in the City Council operations and across City government as a whole?
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"• Creating a City Procurement Office that centralizes procurement oversight, and introducing legislation that codifies a transparent procurement process.
• Creating offices of Contract and Project Management to ensure that major capital projects are completed on time and on budget, reducing cost variances that have contributed to Baltimore’s overspending.
• Creating the Mayor's Office of Data and Analysis to reinvigorate CitiStat and institutionalize data driven decision-making."
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"
Given the opportunity to be City Council President, I would prioritize increasing the scope of communication to all of Baltimore, regarding the services offered, forums hosted, and open-to-the-public meetings that are being held by the the City Council. I would also make it a priority to engage and collaborate with organizations around the city that are already achieving success in addressing the pressing issues that face our communities. There needs to be a structured and systematic means for effective and efficient collaboration between and among city and non-profit resources. Given recent issues of the lack of accountability in our city, especially regarding issues like the Ritz Carlton's missing water bills, I propose that we implement stricter management systems and more frequent independent audits of critical city functions and agencies."
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"1) Increasing audits of city agencies from biannual to annual.
2) Adequately funding the ethics board and give it teeth.
3) Expand City Council's oversight of critical agencies and performance measures such as 911 response time or how the City is dealing with our opioid problem and other public health issues."
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"First, I think it is time we abolish the Board of Estimates, an anachronism from 1898 that no major city in America still uses, and professionalize the contracting and hiring processes in City Hall. I realize that many people think the little show that gets put on every Wednesday morning makes this process 'transparent,' but this is a sham layered over broken, inefficient processes that take too long and are not transparent at all. There are high-quality contractors that refuse to bid on major city projects because of our process. Meanwhile, we lose tons of talent because it takes 6 months to hire them. It doesn't have to be this way.
Second, I would combine some of the resources commanded by the City Council President with those that support our small Department of Legislative Reference and create a nonpartisan, professionalized Department of Legislative Services. It is absurd that the Speaker of the House of Delegates and the Senate President in Annapolis have four or six full-time staffers while our Council President has thirty. Meanwhile, the policy process at the City Council is virtually nonexistent – major bills pass with a single, sparsely attended hearing, with no Fiscal and Policy Note providing real analysis of the pros and cons of the legislation. This is due to a lack of staff, and a lack of resources – and a lack of interest in the issue on the part of past Council Presidents, whose primary job is to wait for the chance to become mayor.
Third, I would transform the Office of City Comptroller into an Office of Government Accountability. Long ago, the Comptroller was an essential component of city government, responsible for most of its internal workings, including financial controls and human resources. But it was reduced to a largely ceremonial role when the City Charter was revised in 1964 and a proper Department of Finance was created. Ever since, that department, not the Comptroller, has been responsible for preparing the operating budget, reporting on the capital budget, ensuring budget compliance, controlling all payments and disbursements, as well as payroll and pension payments, tax collections, property assessments, tax sales, and city purchasing. What’s left for the Comptroller is auditing, and we’ve seen the problem with this – politicians do not audit their political allies. We simply don’t need this role any longer. What we do need is professionalized, nonpartisan auditing conducted by someone independent of political interest and influence."
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"True and thorough audits of city agencies and some smaller operations. Eliminating The city solicitor and the director of public works from the board of estimates. Overhaul IT operations by consulting GBC and local companies who have excellent and proven operations. (mayoral function, but will be insistent from Board of Estimates pulpit)"
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