Carroll County Times Thursday, December 16, 2010, Page A9

LOCAL/REGION
Fees
From Page A1
Hampstead, Manchester,
New Windsor and Sykes-
ville all utilize county staff
to undertake their develop-
ment review processes and
use the county’s fee sched-
ule.
The county’s fee structure
was originally based on re-
couping 50 percent of the
cost to the county for
county staff hired to process
and review development
plans and all other associ-
ated costs, including over-
head that could be assigned
to the project, Cueman said.
If Union Bridge were to
use the county’s services,
the fees for the developer
would be $1,600 for the con-
cept plan plus $100 per lot,
according to Cueman’s re-
port.
Mount Airy, Taneytown
and Westminster use county
staff for partial review serv-
ices and use their own in-
house staff for other parts.
Music
Union Bridge is unusual
in that its has no town em-
ployees capable of han-
dling the development
review process, but uses
their own contractors for
all engineering, legal, plan-
ning and other technical
process of the review. Cue-
man said Union Bridge
holds applicants liable for
actual review service ex-
penses, rather than stick-
ing to set fees.
The town’s current rate
structure was established
in 1996, Cueman said, and
he recommended that it be
increased to accommodate
rising service fees for the
town and its overhead,
such as use of the town
clerk’s time, storage needs
for associated files, print-
ing materials and more.
Cueman recommended
the town double the stan-
dard fees for residential
plan reviews from $100 to
$200 per plan at each step,
and increase the per lot
fees to $20 per lot. In addi-
tion, he recommended
adding a 15 percent over-
pictures, talk about their
kids,” she said. “It’s emo- McKeever at 410- 857-7898
head charge at the conclu-
sion or termination of an
application in the develop-
ment review process.
This new structure
would put Union Bridge in
the median of Carroll’s
municipalities for develop-
ment review fees, Cueman
said, and these fees could
be closer to the total
cost that the applicants
would be charged for the
services their plans incur
throughout the review
process.
Mayor Bret Grossnickle
said he and the council sup-
port the changes, but they
wanted to have the planning
commission look at the issue
first to be sure that they are
on board.
“We all know it’s been 14
years since we’ve even
looked at it,” Grossnickle
said of the fee structure, and
it’s time to make some ad-
justments.
Reach staff writer Carrie
Ann Knauer at 410- 857-
7874 or carrie.knauer@carr
ollcountytimes.com.
Reach staff writer Megan
Audit: Pa. gaming board
secretly hired contractors
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HARRISBURG, Pa. —
State Auditor General Jack
Wagner Wednesday ac-
cused the Pennsylvania
Gaming Control Board of
violating state law by allow-
ing millions of dollars in
contracts to be executed
without approving them at
public meetings, although
the board contended it was
not required to do so.
“We think the law is pretty
darn clear,” Wagner told re-
porters in a news confer-
ence to release an audit of
the six-year-old agency re-
sponsible for licensing and
regulating the state’s casino
industry.
Wagner said his office’s
audit uncovered 19 service
contracts worth about
$7 million that should have
been approved by the
seven-member gaming
board at a public meeting,
rather than by delegating
that authority to agency em-
ployees. He said he believes
the gaming board violated
the state’s Sunshine Act,
which governs public access
to government meetings,
and is forwarding his find-
ings to the state attorney
general’s office.
Gaming board spokesman
said Doug Harbach said of-
ficials there have consulted
with executive-branch
lawyers about the agency’s
contracting practices, and
board officials believe they
are complying with the law.
“There’s a difference of
opinions on how we’re con-
ducting our contracting and
how the auditor general be-
lieves it should be done,”
Harbach said.
However, Harbach said
officials at the agency take
the findings very seriously
and, when practical, will ap-
prove contracts with a pub-
lic vote. The gaming board’s
budget is paid by the casinos
it regulates.
He also said that Wagner’s
auditors did not find that
the gaming board used con-
tracts inappropriately or
wastefully.
However, Wagner said his
office’s review of the staff’s
written justifications for
emergency or sole-source
contracts found the infor-
mation to be sorely lacking.
For instance, the gaming
board awarded a $120,000
contract for a human re-
sources contract without
competitive bidding by say-
ing that it simply was
“clearly not feasible,” the
audit said.
Auditors found no evi-
dence in the contract paper-
work to support that
contention, it said.
A check of two other
board-run public agencies
in Harrisburg, the Public
Utility Commission and the
Liquor Control Board, found
that each has a policy for
when the board votes on
contracts.

Time is R unning O ut
From Page A1 tional support, not just en- or megan.mckeever@carr
tertainment.” ollcountytimes.com.
for the holidays and leave
his wife Lisa and family at
home was a difficult one to
make.
“I waited three weeks to
tell my wife,” Reider said.
Dow ntow n W estm inster
“But she understands this CarrollCounty’s Best
Shopping Secret
is an opportunity I might
not get again.”
Although the performers
themselves aren’t given
very much information
about their accommoda- Ca ll
tions, Reider said the base Tw o Hea d ed
is a resting station for tod a y Phea s a ntTa vern
to
troops.
“They are either coming
B a rD rink Spec ia ls
from combat to stop and
recharge or they are being a d ve r tis e
Su n. -Ho s pita lity N ight-
prepped to go to combat,”
he said. “It’s a place where
y ou r B ring Yo u rServic e Ind u s try
Pa y Chec k Stu b a nd
the troops can just come
and relax and not think
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Boyle agreed that hang- Tu es . -1/2 Off B o ttled W ine
ing out with, and talking or W ed . -Ho u s e PintN ite
with, the soldiers is just as
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