BALTIMORE COUNTY

OFFICE OF THE
INSPECTOR GENERAL
ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021

JULY 7, 2021

_________________________________
400 Washington Avenue | Towson, Maryland 21204 | Phone 410-887-6500 | Fax 410-832-8544
www.baltimorecountymd.gov
 Table of Contents

I. Statement from the Inspector General ....................................................................................... 3

II. Providing a Return on Your Investment ................................................................................... 4
III. The Ethics Commission ............................................................................................................ 5
IV. Inspector General ...................................................................................................................... 7
V. Goals for Fiscal Year 2022...................................................................................................... 13
VI. Contact the Office ................................................................................................................... 13

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 I. Statement from the Inspector General
It is an honor to present the second annual report of the Office of the Inspector General
(hereinafter “the Office”). The report details our efforts during fiscal year 2021, which covers the
period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. This report is required under Section 3-14-111 of the Baltimore
County Code and its purpose is to summarize the work of the Office during the preceding fiscal year.
The accomplishments highlighted in this report demonstrate the Office’s ongoing commitment to
increasing accountability and oversight in the operations of the Baltimore County government.

This past fiscal year, the Office went through a number of changes and had some meaningful
accomplishments. The Office now has a new name, a new deputy, and a permanent space in the
Historic Courthouse. The Office also hired its first two interns. The Office presided over the creation
of an online ethics training course, the design of an online system for financial disclosures, and a
significant expansion of the number of employees who are now required to file financial disclosures
with the County. During fiscal year 2021, the Office addressed 221 ethics inquiries, processed over
280 lobbying compliance documents, and handled over 500 financial disclosure statements. Also
during fiscal year 2021, the Office resolved 83 Inspector General (IG) complaints, opened 14 IG
investigations, and issued 7 comprehensive IG reports. The IG reports demonstrate the variety of
complaints received by the Office, and the value the Office can bring to the County.

Despite the Office’s progress and achievements, the Office continues to lack the necessary
resources to fully serve the citizens of Baltimore County. In the coming fiscal year, the Office will
continue to explore opportunities for additional sources of funding. Equally important is the Office’s
need to remain independent from the County government. Without true independence, the Office
will never be able to achieve its true potential. Therefore, I am committed to working with the County
Executive and the County Council to ensure that any changes to the laws governing the structure and
operations of the Office will produce long-term benefits for the County’s residents.

In August, I will be attending an inspector general certification program. The program is

sponsored by the Association of Inspectors General (AIG). The Office is already following the AIG’s
Green Book, which sets forth a general set of principles and standards to be followed by offices of
inspector general throughout the country. I look forward to collaborating with other inspectors
general, learning about their offices and work, and bringing best practices back to Baltimore County.

I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Office. With limited resources, the Office
was able to increase ethics education, modernize the financial disclosure system, and publish several
IG reports. It is my privilege to be the independent watchdog for the County, and I look forward to
continuing to work on behalf of its citizens in the coming fiscal year.

Respectfully,

Kelly Madigan

Kelly Madigan
Inspector General

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 II. Providing a Return on Your Investment
For fiscal year 2021, the Office had a budget of $290,100, one of the smallest of any
department or agency in the County. Approximately 93% of the total budget, or $270,000, went to
salaries. The remainder of the budget paid for a variety of expenses to include AIG membership fees,
investigative software, supplies, and initial furnishings for the new office. Based on Baltimore
County’s population of 827,3701, the cost to operate the Office was approximately $0.35 per County
resident.

In return for their investment in the Office, Baltimore County residents received reports
detailing: the improper decertification of a Nature Council by the County’s Board of Recreation and
Parks; twenty (20) employees who were in violation of the County’s pension rules; an ineffective and
inefficient water billing system that has cost the County millions of dollars in lost revenues and
consulting fees; the expenditure of $1.1 million by the County to acquire commercial grade farming
equipment and to build a state of the art greenhouse, none of which was put to significant use; and
numerous infractions of the County’s purchasing card policies by two management-level employees.
In addition, the taxpayers of Baltimore County helped to ensure that County employees and members
of the County’s various boards and commissions received increased ethics training, to include over
3,875 employees who participated in an online ethics course. Finally, the County’s residents enabled
the Office to implement a new online financial disclosure system that should make the County’s
government more efficient and transparent. All of this was accomplished for an amount roughly
equal to what it would cost a County resident to mail a postcard.

1
See https://censusreporter.org/profiles/05000US24005-baltimore-county-md.
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 III. The Ethics Commission
One of the Office’s two primary functions is to manage the daily ethics work on behalf of the
Baltimore County Ethics Commission (hereinafter “the Commission”). The Commission is tasked
with administering the public ethics laws for the County. This includes overseeing ethics education
for all employees and certain members of Boards and Commissions, providing ethics advice to
County employees as needed, ensuring compliance with financial disclosure requirements,
investigating all ethics complaints, and managing the registration and activity filings for lobbyists.
During fiscal year 2021, the Commission held ten virtual meetings. These meetings were recorded
and posted to the Office’s website.2

Ethics are the foundation of good government. Therefore, it is imperative that all individuals
who play a role in County government are familiar with and educated on the public ethics laws. This
helps to ensure that when County officials and employees make decisions, those decisions are made
with the best interests of the County and its citizens in mind. Accordingly, the Office developed an
online ethics course in fiscal year 2021. The course, which is organized by topic, uses knowledge
questions to reinforce key aspects of the material and to test the users’ understanding of the ethics
laws. This online course has been rolled out to nearly every County department and to date, over
3,800 employees have taken the course and received a certificate of completion. Because some
employees do not have access to a computer or a County email account, a hard copy of the online
course has been created, and plans to distribute the document are being finalized. With a workforce
of over 8,000 employees, there is still a lot of training to do, but the Office is committed to offering
the opportunity for ethics training to each and every County employee and certain members of Boards
and Commissions.

In addition to the online ethics training course, the Office has hosted several live WebEx
training sessions for specific County departments, boards, and commissions. The Office has also
been participating in the New Employee Orientation, which is a monthly training program for all new
Baltimore County employees. The New Employee Orientation is not only an opportunity to welcome
these employees to County government, but to introduce them to the public ethics laws that will
hopefully guide them throughout their careers.

The Office also produced and distributed a document titled “Summary of the Public Ethics
Laws” to all County employees via email and to the general public through the Office’s website. This
document, which includes key ethics terminology and important points of emphasis, helps to
summarize and simplify the ethics laws for the average person. It was developed in part based on the
types of ethics-related inquiries the Office processes each fiscal year. An ethics inquiry is a request
for ethics advice on a specified topic such as the acceptance of gifts. For fiscal year 2021, the Office
processed 221 ethics inquiries.

This past fiscal year, the number of Baltimore County employees who are required to file a
financial disclosure statement was expanded from approximately 50 employees to over 300
employees. This expansion was directly related to Baltimore County Code Article 7-1-203, which
gives the County Administrative Officer the authority to designate certain Baltimore County

2
Pursuant to Maryland General Provisions Article 3-305(b), portions of the meetings were held in closed sessions.
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employees as needing to file based on their assigned duties and responsibilities. With this expansion
and the filings of the various board and commission members, the Office processed over 500
financial disclosure statements for fiscal year 2021.
Because of the increase in the number of filings, the Office worked closely with the Office
of Information Technology to create an online system for filing financial disclosure statements.
Such a system is considered a best practice for a financial disclosure compliance program, and it is
consistent with what other jurisdictions in the area are doing. This new online system makes it
easier for those designated employees to complete their financial disclosures in a timely and
efficient manner, and for the Office and the Commission to process and review the disclosures.
The following charts summarize performance measures for the Commission for the last five
fiscal and calendar years:

Performance Measures 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

by Fiscal Year

Number of ethics inquiries --3 -- -- 714 221

(i.e. requests for ethics advice)
Number of ethics-related 1 4 0 7 2
complaints, allegations of ethics
violations and/or investigations
Number of issuances of formal 2 7 4 1 2
opinions or waivers

Performance Measures 2017 2018 2019 2020 As of

by Calendar Year5 06/30/21

Number of Financial Disclosure 207 220 2326 491 5

Statements filed
Percentage compliance of Financial 96% 100% 100% 99%7 N/A
Disclosure Statements filed
Number of registered lobbyists 28 28 43 39 32
Number of registered lobbied 167 153 208 120 58
matters
Number of lobbyist activity reports 162 151 208 120 3

3
Prior to the creation of the Office, the Commission did not keep track of statistics for certain ethics-related activities.
Therefore, no data is available for these performance measures for calendar years 2017, 2018, and 2019.
4
Because ethics inquiries only started being tracked on January 3, 2020, this number only represents a portion of the
ethics inquiries for fiscal year 2020.
5
Going forward, the Office intends to track ethics-related statistics on a fiscal year basis. However, certain compliance-
related statistics (i.e. financial disclosure and lobbying filings) will continue to be tracked on a calendar year basis.
6
This number is larger than the figure reported in the prior annual report because of the requirement to file for a
previous calendar year pursuant to 7-1-401 of the Baltimore County Code.
7
There is only one outstanding financial disclosure statement for 2020. The Office has made several attempts to get
this individual to file, but to date, those efforts have not been successful.
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 IV. Inspector General

The Office’s other primary function is to provide increased accountability and oversight in
the operations of the County government by investigating fraud, abuse, and illegal acts. This is
accomplished by conducting investigations and when appropriate, publishing reports with findings to
the County Executive, County Council, and the public.

A. The Office’s Jurisdiction

The Office is only permitted to get involved in matters that fall within its jurisdiction.
Determining jurisdiction is a two-step process. First, the Office can only investigate matters
concerning Baltimore County government personnel and resources. This includes vendors,
contractors, and other businesses that conduct business with Baltimore County government. The
Office does not have jurisdiction over any other matters, to include Baltimore County Public Schools,
state or federal government programs, private attorneys, family law matters, or property disputes.
Second, the Office can only investigate allegations of fraud, abuse, and illegal acts; or conduct
investigations for the purpose of promoting efficiency, accountability, and integrity in County
government.

B. The Business Process

The Office is a reactive agency that responds to complaints from County employees and the
public. Complaints are received by the Office in a variety of ways: telephone calls, emails, letters,
in-person meetings, and through the Office’s online complaint form. The individual filing the
complaint has the option to request anonymity. All complaints filed with the Office are carefully
vetted to determine whether the complaint falls under the Office’s jurisdiction, as previously
described above. This year, the Office received 83 complaints. Of the complaints received, 55 were
closed and referred to other internal and external agencies because they were outside of the Office’s
jurisdiction.

If it is determined that the Office has jurisdiction over the complaint, a preliminary
investigation is performed in an effort to validate the information. Whenever possible, the person
making the complaint is interviewed so credibility and motivation can be assessed. Based on the
results of a preliminary investigation, a determination is made to either convert the complaint to an
investigation or to administratively close the complaint. During the past fiscal year, 12 complaints
were converted to investigations.

The Office conducts its investigations in accordance with a Policies and Procedures Manual
(“the Manual”) that was drafted and adopted during fiscal year 2021. The Manual incorporates
aspects of the AIG’s Principles and Standards for Offices of Inspector General also known as The
Green Book. At the conclusion of an investigation, allegations that have been substantiated are
published by the Office in a report. Initially, the report is distributed to the Administration for review
and a response. Subsequently, the report and the Administration’s response are published by the
Office on its website. The Office refers to these as External Reports. In some instances, typically

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with sensitive, personnel-specific matters, the Office limits the distribution of the report to only the
Administration. The Office refers to these as Internal Reports. This year, the Office produced five
(5) External Reports and two (2) Internal Reports.

The following illustration depicts the business process of the Office from the receipt of the
complaint to the publishing of a report:

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 C. Statistics on Complaints

The following charts summarize the complaint data for the Office for fiscal year 2021:

Total Referred to Referred to Closed for Complaints Complaints

Complaints Internal External Insufficient Converted to Still Being
Received Agencies Agencies Predication Investigations Addressed

83 20 35 11 12 5

Complaint Data

6%

24%
15%

13%

42%

Referred to Internal Agencies (20) Referred to External Agencies (35)

Closed for Insufficient Predication (11) Complaints Converted to Investigations (12)
Complaints Still Being Addressed (5)

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 D. Statistics on Number and Types of Investigations
The following charts summarize the statistics on the Office’s investigations for fiscal year 2021:

No. of Active No. of Investigations No. of Investigations No. of Active

Investigations as of Opened During Closed During Investigations as of
07/01/2020 FY21 FY21 06/30/2021

14 14 16 12

Efficiency (1)

Accountability (5)

Abuse (6)

Fraud (2)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Types of Investigatons Opened in FY 2021

E. Statistics on Sources of Investigations

The following charts summarize the statistics on the sources of investigations for fiscal year 2021:

Baltimore Baltimore Law Private Anonymous OIG -

County County Council Enforcement Citizen Generated
Employee Member Partner

7 2 1 1 1 2

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 Sources of Investgations opened in FY 2021

7%
7%
7%
50%
14%

15%

Baltimore County Employee (7) OIG Initiated (2) Baltimore County Council (2)
Anonymous (1) Private Citizen (1) Law Enforcement Partner (1)

F. External Reports

During fiscal year 2021, the Office issued five (5) External Reports covering a wide range of
topics. Brief summaries of these reports are listed below.8

1. OIG Report 20-003

In August of 2020, the Office publicly issued OIG Report 20-003 regarding the improper
decertification of one of the County’s nature councils - the Friends of Benjamin Banneker Historical
Park and Museum (hereinafter “Friends”). The Office received a complaint regarding the denial of
recertification for Friends by the Baltimore County Board of Recreation and Parks (hereinafter “the
Board”). The complaint alleged unfair treatment of Friends by the Board, as well as a lack of due
process. The Office’s investigation showed the Statement of Policies, Bylaws and Rules of Procedure
that govern the Board did not address procedures for the recertification or decertification of nature
and recreation councils, nor did they set forth an appeals process should a nature or recreation council
be denied recertification or become decertified. Without a uniform Statement of Policies to address
these issues, the Board could inadvertently administer inconsistent treatment of the various nature
and recreation councils. The Office recommended that the Board adopt new policies and procedures
that address recertification, decertification and an appeals process for nature and recreation councils.

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Copies of all of the reports are available at www.baltimorecountymd.gov/departments/inspectorgeneral.
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 2. OIG Report 20-020

In November of 2020, the Office publicly issued OIG Report 20-020, which identified 20
Baltimore County retirees who were simultaneously receiving a salary and a pension from the County
in violation of the Baltimore County Code. During its investigation, the Office identified a lack of
communication between the Retirement Office and the Office of Human Resources, as well as
deficiencies during the County’s hiring process, as contributing factors to this Code violation. Based
in part on the Report, the County Council, with the support of the Administration, passed new
legislation that created a more efficient system for hiring retirees into certain limited positions in
County government for specified periods of time. The Report demonstrated the positive change the
Office could make through its work.

3. OIG Report 20-018

In December of 2020, the Office publicly issued OIG Report 20-018. The Report was a joint
effort with Baltimore City’s Office of the Inspector General. The Report was historic in that it was
the first joint report by two Inspector General Offices in Maryland. The Report was the result of an
investigation into multiple facets of the City of Baltimore’s water billing system, which is relevant to
both the citizens of Baltimore City and the County. The Report identified millions of dollars in waste
along with three significant findings. First, there were thousands of digital water meters in the City
and the County that were not fully functional. Second, there were more than 8,000 open “tickets”
pertaining to County water accounts that had not been addressed by the City to the satisfaction of the
County. Finally, the report highlighted the fact that the City and the County had awarded over $133
million in contracts since late 2011 for the purpose of enhancing the water system. Despite the
contract awards, major deficiencies in the system persisted; and consequently, the City and the County
had lost millions of dollars in water and sewer revenues. The Report determined that a fundamental
lack of communication between the City and the County was central to the problems that had been
plaguing the water billing system for years, and a more comprehensive and coordinated approach
would be needed to properly address these issues.

4. OIG Reports 20-014-1 and 20-014-2

In February 2021 and April 2021, the Office issued OIG Reports 20-014-1 and 20-014-2
respectively, two separate but related reports about the Baltimore County Center for Maryland
Agriculture and Farm Park (hereinafter “the Ag Center”). The first Report was a review of all major
purchases made by the Ag Center and the construction of a greenhouse on the Ag Center property.
The Office’s investigation revealed that between August 2016 and February 2018, the County spent
$511,063.08 to acquire several pieces of commercial grade farming equipment and a large truck, and
$629,594.21 to construct a greenhouse, for the purpose of growing produce at the Ag Center with the
intent to supply the produce to food distribution non-profits. While the idea of using the County’s
land and resources to grow food to help feed Marylanders was a noble endeavor, the Office’s
investigation revealed that the majority of the equipment and the greenhouse had only been put to
limited use since being implemented at the Ag Center. Therefore, the County had spent over $1.1
million dollars on assets, nearly all of which had been essentially sitting idle and therefore, were not
being productive. In addition, some of these assets were never recorded on the County’s Listing of
Fixed Assets in violation of the County’s Fixed Assets Control Policy.

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 The second Report identified 38 purchase card transactions pertaining to the Ag Center that
appeared to violate the County’s Procurement Card Policy and Procedures. These transactions
consisted of 15 split purchases totaling $28,539.47 and 23 restricted purchases totaling $8,168.53. In
addition, 10 items totaling $1,886.33, which had been purchased on procurement cards for the Ag
Center, were identified as missing. Pursuant to the Report, the Office made a series of
recommendations to the Administration including inventorying all equipment and tools at the Ag
Center, more training for the individuals who review and approve Procurement Card Activity Logs,
additional scrutiny on the purchases of a cardholder who is found to have violated the Program’s
Policy and Procedures, and small-scale, random audits of cardholder accounts that incorporate the
physical inspection of purchased items.

V. Goals for Fiscal Year 2022

The Office has several goals for fiscal year 2022. The Office wants to create an online system
for the filing of lobbyist registrations and lobbying activity reports. The Office believes that such a
system would be consistent with what other jurisdictions use to track and monitor lobbyist-related
data, and it would help ensure that all registered lobbyists who conduct business in the County comply
with the applicable rules and regulations. The Office has also been working closely with the Office
of Information Technology to create a new complaint and case management system tailored
specifically for the IG component of the Office. Currently, the Office is utilizing a combination of
Microsoft products to manage its daily operations. The Office hopes this new system will be
completed in fiscal year 2022, and that it will help the Office to more efficiently document, track, and
analyze information associated with complaints, investigations, and the Office’s administrative
functions. Finally, the Office intends to continue its outreach efforts into the Baltimore County
community to expand awareness of the Office’s function within the County government. The Office
hopes this continued outreach will lead to more quality reports and therefore, additional cost savings
for the citizens of Baltimore County.

VI. Contact the Office

Please contact the Office using one of the methods below if you have any questions about this
report, the Office and its mission, or if you have a complaint that could be addressed by our Office.
We look forward to hearing from you.

Tip Line: 410-887-6500

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.baltimorecountymd.gov/departments/inspectorgeneral

Mail: Office of the Inspector General

400 Washington Avenue, T-105
Towson, Maryland 21204

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