The January 11th 2012 Meeting

The GCC January meeting did not have a quorum, so the GCC elections were
postponed.

The guest speaker was county councilman Jamie Benoit. Since the assembled
group was rather small, GCC president, Bob Brennan, and Mr. Benoit agreed to have an informal discussion.
The first question asked concerned county councilman Daryl Jones, who is to report to federal prison on 23 January, to serve 5 months for failure to pay federal income tax.
Mr. Benoit said that the County Charter, adopted in 1965, makes no provision for the removal of a councilman. Mr. Benoit had submitted a
bill which would declare Mr. Jones' seat vacant when Mr. Jones enters
prison. He said that councilman Grasso had submitted a resolution (almost word for word) on the subject. If this matter goes to court, the bill may be struck down. If that is the case, Mr. Benoit
would abide by the judgment even if other councilpersons would seek to defy the court.
Jones removed from County Council seat
County Council Declares Jones' Seat Vacant
Judge rejects Jones' bid to retain seat on
council
Arundel council cleared to replace Jones when he enters prison
Mr. Benoit asked the members of the GCC that were present what they thought about the possible extension of Evergreen Road to Strawberry Way in Piney Orchard. The extension would traverse the
Cunningham Landfill and the firm would demand that their trucks be allowed to use the road.
Brenda Kragh of Coventry II asked for advise. She said that homeowners in Coventry II cannot sell their residences because too many members of their condominium have not paid their condominium fees.
The would be buyers could not get mortgage financing because of this. Councilman Benoit did not know whether this is because of a federal or a state law. He was sure it was not because of county
ordnance. GCC webmaster, Jean-Alex Sharland, said that something like this had happened in Coventry I, and that he thought it was because of a
federal law that applied to Freddie Mac and
the like.
Mr. Benoit said that the previous county council, elected in 2006, had been much better at working together, despite political differences, than the present council. Some of the members of the
present council have a "complete lack of sense of how government works." He said that the council "must really write the budget."
Councilman Benoit said that there were many fiscal problems in the county. He said the "sewage fund is going broke." He noted that what sewage capacity the county has is in the wrong parts of the
county. Then there is the maintenance backlog on schools. Also the stream restoration funds are seriously short.
County water is also a major concern. He noted that twenty percent of the county's is consumed by six business users, among which are
Brandon Shores,
Baltimore Washington International Airport, and
Arundel Mills Shopping Center. Also the golf courses in the county use millions of gallons of water per day in the summer. Taking
into account the infrastructure to deliver this water to these businesses, they should pay a higher rate for the county supplied water, was the councilman's opinion.
Mr. Benoit said that the county is not setting aside reserve funds to cover obligations to cover its obligations to its retired employees. He said that all these problems could lead to a financial
disaster for the county in twenty to thirty-five years.