Harford County Council Passes EMS Funding Bill Amid Controversy

The Harford County Council passed a bill at its Tuesday legislative session that has sparked a request for an investigation by a council member.

The bill authorizes the county to transfer $7 million from the county’s general fund to the Emergency Services department in order to fund new EMT and paramedic positions, as well as new ambulances and medications.

The bill has come under fire by District B council member Aaron Penman after an audit found that the $7 million had already been transferred on May 2 prior to the council’s approval.

According to the county charter, “Transfers between agencies of the County government and within the same fund of the current expense budget may be made only during the last quarter of the fiscal year, and then only on the recommendation of the County Executive and with the approval of the Council.”

Penman’s office published a timeline of events for the transfer of the funds. Penman said his office made contact with Robert Sandlass, the county’s treasurer, on May 23 and that funds subsequently were moved back from the Emergency Services department to the general fund that same day.

Included in Penman’s release was part of a memorandum sent by Sandlass to the council,  in which Sandlass apologized for the error and wrote that the money “should not have been entered until the supplemental appropriation was approved by the County Council.”

Penman also said in the release that evidence of the  county charter violation has been sent to “appropriate State and Local authorities for investigation.”

When the council met Tuesday, Penman said he is in “complete support” of emergency medical services, but that he was abstaining from the vote due to what he saw as a charter violation.

In  a statement on May 25 to The Aegis, Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly said that the “transfer was necessary to provide sufficient funding for the additional ambulance personnel and equipment … It was not an attempt to alter the legal appropriation of DES, nor was it an attempt to supersede the authority of the County Council.”

County attorney Jefferson Blomquist addressed the council Tuesday, maintaining Cassilly’s position that there had been no misappropriation of funds.

“It’s upsetting that that’s been alleged,” Blomquist said.

He also said the county welcomes any criminal or civil investigation because there was no charter violation.

Council member Jacob Bennett said that he supported the money being moved to the Emergency Services department, but that he shared frustrations with how the process had been handled.

Six council members voted in favor of the bill; Penman abstained.

In other council news, a bill was also passed that approves homestead chickens in the county. A public hearing was held for the bill on May 2, where residents spoke in favor of the bill allowing county residents to raise chickens in their backyards.

Prior to the bill’s passage, a number of amendments were included, but one was pulled that would have increased the minimum acreage for a lot to have a chicken coop from 1 acre to 1.5 acres.

Another amendment that failed to pass would have reduced the required setback distance of a chicken coop from adjacent lots from 50 to 25 feet.

The council also withdrew a bill from consideration at the request of the county executive that would have transferred the operating standards of the county’s volunteer fire companies from the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association to the county’s Emergency Services department. The bill was introduced into the council on April 18 by Council President Patrick Vincenti at Cassilly’s request.

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