After a little over a year since the swearing-in of the Charles County Charter Board, a charter document was presented to the county commissioners at a July 23 session.
Over the year, the chairman of the charter board, Greg Waring, reported that he had attended approximately 60 meetings and outreach events to help form the charter.
Three of five commissioners voted last year to task a charter board to look at moving from code home rule form of government to charter government. The issue will go before voters in a referendum on November's election ballots.
“We went to the public beyond the four public hearings,” Waring said to the commissioners. “Our charge, that we took seriously, was to go out to the community.”
Waring said that the charter — if approved by county residents in November — would establish a county executive and county council. The county council would have five members that would be voted in by members of their respective districts.
“There’s a lot of conversation about accountability,” Waring said. “Accountability can’t be every four years … accountability has to be throughout the term of office. The only way to have accountability is to actually have rules and requirements on your officials.”
Waring said that the charter includes term limits for the county executive and county council members, attendance requirements for the county council and ways for citizens to potentially trigger the removal of a council member if guidelines are not met, language that requires the county executive to be a full-time job and public engagement requirements for the county executive and council.
“If the council passes a law, the executive can veto it,” Waring said to give an example of checks and balances included in the document. “If the council feels that law should still move forward, with a super majority they can override [the veto].”
The charter would also establish an inspector general for the county, which would be an independent office to prevent and detect waste, fraud and abuse.
After Waring’s presentation concluded, Commissioner President Reuben B. Collins II (D) said, “No matter what side of the aisle, which side of this issue you’re on, at the end of the day, it encouraged community engagement. Within this timeframe, our residents probably learned more about their form of government than they ever had.”
Collins said that many people assumed that Charles County had a county executive.
“When I told them I was a commissioner, they thought I worked in the district court building,” Collins said. “I mean, this is a reality.”
“There’s been a lot of talk of Charles County turning into a Prince George’s County,” Commissioner Ralph E. Patterson II (D) said. “In your discussions, how much input did you have from the Prince George’s model … What sort of influences did you use?”
Waring replied, “Prince George’s and Montgomery are the two largest counties in the state, and the needs of their citizens are very different than Charles County. … We looked at the most recent charter counties as far as who we invited to come talk to us.”
“A more appropriate comparison was Frederick, was Cecil, was Harford,” Waring said in reference to the counties whose model they used.
Commissioner Gilbert “BJ” Bowling (D) did not mince words on his position, saying, “Pretty obvious that I have not been in support of the policy change, but I do appreciate the [charter board] taking on the task of putting forward what the majority of the [commissioners] wanted. Publicly, I thank you for your service.”
Bowling and Commissioner Amanda Stewart (D) had voted against the formation of the charter board in March 2023, while Commissioner Thomasina "Sina" Coates (D) joined Collins and Patterson in forming the board.
After their comments and questions, the commissioners voted unanimously to dissolve the charter board as its obligation was fulfilled.
The commissioners cannot change the charter as it was submitted to them, and the question of switching the government will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
For more information on the charter, including the final document, go to www.charlescountymd.gov/government/boards-commissions/charter-board.
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