BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — Baltimore County residents voted to take politics out of the position of Inspector General in Baltimore County.
On Tuesday, residents voted for Question C to change how the Inspector General is appointed.
Normally in the county, the county executive recommends someone for the position and county council votes on it.
But, council did not approve County Executive Kathy Klausmeier's pick for the office after she told former I.G. Kelly Madigan to reapply for her job.
County Executive-Elect Julian Jones told WMAR-2 News that showed problems with the appointment process.
"As a result of them succumbing to political pressures, we started a process where we ended up not having an inspector general for the last year," Jones said.
So far this year, we have only had two reports from the OIG.
Now, an independent board will appoint the next county watchdog.
"Then we can get that office functioning and operating at its prime and then they can do the job that we intended to have done by an inspector general," Jones said.
That board will be made up of seven members.
The county council and executive will each select one with the Chair of the Ethics Commission electing the other five.
Each member must be from specific judicial, accounting, fraud examination or academic professions.
Council Chair Mike Ertel sent WMAR-2 News a statement saying,
"We were fairly confident that the Baltimore County citizens would agree that an Independent Commission to appoint and re-appoint future Inspector Generals is a move to a better governance. Hopefully with an Independent Commission, all political motives in this process will be removed."
Ertel says the commission will likely be put together at the beginning of 2027.
