This special episode of Open Agenda is dedicated entirely to the public controversy surrounding the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the Wicomico County Executive with Eastern Shore Undercover (ESU), granting access to encrypted police radio. Host Joe White and executive producer Joe Venosa provide a breakdown of the rapidly developing story, from the signing to the public fallout. The episode presents extensive footage from the two major public events at the center of the issue: first, the August 6th County Council work session featuring powerful testimony from Sheriff Mike Lewis, who was joined by sheriffs from three other counties and the Salisbury Police Chief. Second, the August 8th press conference held by County Executive Julie Giordano, where she defended her decision, addressed accusations (including a $3,500 campaign donation from ESU's proprietor), and announced a "pause" on the MOU.
Open Agenda Ep 6 Part 2: MOU w ESU Work Session and Press Conference
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
You're watching Open Agenda. Here's our
host, Joe White.
Thank you for joining us here at Open
Agenda. I'm your host, Joe White.
This is a special episode dedicated to
the public work done to
bring out the lack of transparency with
a MOU that was signed with the county
executive and Eastern Shore Undercover
to circumvent the encrypted radio
service for the Wicomico County
Sheriff's Office.
Uh joining me today is our executive
producer, Joe Venosa. Thank you for
being here, Joe.
Thank you, Joe.
So,
you and I have spent a lot of time, uh
at least bearing witness whether we're
able to be there in person or watching
on PAC 14, uh the the the openness of
the legislative sessions, the work
sessions with the county council.
We've had to deal with a lot of the lack
of transparency that comes with the
executive's office executing these MOUs
without public input, without even like
a pre-emptive
uh public knowledge that this is even a
possibility, right?
Yeah.
One of the great benefits of having an
open government is the fact that
citizens, and there's more than five of
us, uh can rally around
five handsomest, to be fair.
I might not fit that mold, yeah. I'm not
sure if I make that cut. Maybe top four.
Okay.
But, you know, the the the ability of
citizens to be active participant to
make their voices heard some change. So,
today is Thursday, August 8th, and you
and I were just both present at the uh
county executive's office where she
came back and said, "Hey, we're going to
put a pause on this MOU."
But, before we get there, let's unwind a
little bit about exactly how we got to
this point, right?
Sure. Sure.
So, uh in late July, it came out on a
Friday that there was an MOU
that was signed with the uh Eastern
Shore Undercover, the proprietor of that
of that Facebook page,
that allowed that one person at the time
the only access to the encrypted radio
transmissions of the sheriff's office
main dispatch channel.
Mhm.
Um we weren't sure at the time just how
the sheriff felt, but we were fairly
certain that he wasn't involved in the
process to allow that, correct?
Correct.
So, uh in the subsequent days there was
a lot of uproar. I know that I'm talking
to the county council folks uh
of all backgrounds. This is not a
political thing at all.
Nope.
Uh there was big uproar of, you know, is
this safe? Is this is this right? Is
this just?
Is this legal?
Is it legal? Uh
So, then we we we did catch wind that
there would be an open work session,
again, not at the last minute, but you
know, days in in advance. You could make
plans to attend uh where there would the
the Sheriff Mike Lewis was was was
present. It was right after the
regularly scheduled session on on August
6th, which was this past Tuesday.
Uh
the the the tone of Sheriff Lewis's
uh speech, and we're going to show some
of that um in the next segment, was uh
really a a deep concerned for the
privacy of of the residents of Wicomico
County or even maybe even the visitors
as they come through.
Mhm.
Um
I'm just interested in some of your
thoughts on that.
On the testimony itself?
Yes.
Sure. Well, let me uh
first say that I I regret I wasn't there
in person. Ironically, my band was
playing at National Night Out in
Fruitland, so
That night.
it was a tough call, but I did have an
opportunity to watch it
afterward, and I have to say um I
thought uh the sheriff's uh
presentation, his testimony, and his
communication to the public was nothing
short of heroic. Um it makes you
understand and appreciate the importance
of having elected officials in law
enforcement like a sheriff's office in
terms of what they can do
to protect and inform the public. He
laid out, I think as many people have
seen and will see and hear more about,
he laid out the numerous numerous
ethical
legal
and fundamentally sort of just the the
communicative issues at play with this
MOU.
The fact that he was joined by all of
the local
sheriffs
That was impressive, wasn't it?
It was impressive, but it shows you the
severity of this frankly the scandal and
what it what it could represent
to have the sheriffs from Wicomico,
Dorchester, Somerset County as well as
our own municipality in Salisbury and
all demonstrating the the the common
concern and cause for not only why
encryption is important but why a
memorandum of understanding given out to
a private citizen with such a lack of
not just transparency but lack of
safeguards
lack of of forethought.
Well, there was there was one other
aspect too. You know, the police chief
from
the city of Salisbury
Chief Mine Shine, yeah.
Yeah, Chief Mine Shine was there and
this inherently undermined his
administration and the city government
of Salisbury.
And any municipality in the county.
Delmar is affected for absolutely.
Yeah, and so I wonder cuz I mean we're
all all of us in Wicomico County are
citizens of this county. And some of us
are citizens of our municipality.
Pittsville, Willards, Hebron, Sharptown.
Yes, sir.
When you talk about police safety that
is circumvented for the personal gain of
one person. In this instance, I mean I
know the MOU says that other people
could do it, but there was a lot of
really weird loopholes.
Yeah, I think as
I think as more information comes out
and is already out but as will be
digested by the public, I think you'll
see the extent to which
a lot of the concerns and suspicions.
So, there was one other piece of
information that came and Councilman Joe
Holloway brought it up.
And look, there's a lot of nuance and
language, but at the end of the day,
an event that our current executive
hosted was
was was sponsored or helped sponsored by
by the provider of Eastern Shore
Undercover. There was a $3,500
donation. It's in the It's in the legal
filings of
our current executives
election filings that she has to do
legally.
Yes.
And then this MOU seems custom written
exactly for this.
Correct. And the sheriff laid this out.
So, so let's just again lay out in very
simple terms what happened, right? Mr.
Earl Campbell, the proprietor of Eastern
Shore Undercover,
gave to our county executive, Julie
Giordano, a campaign donation for
$3,500,
made out to the Friends of Julie
Giordano, and
after the fact, signs this very
exclusive, very legally dubious MOU.
Yeah.
That's a fact.
Well, and then we did get some good news
today. I mean, we were at the press
conference.
It did It didn't seem like
it was, you know, very agreeable, but at
the same time there's a current pause on
the MOU.
We were both at the press conference. I
was asked I was able to ask the question
of under what circumstances could this
MOU be unpaused?
Mhm.
Quite frankly, I didn't get an exact
answer.
Yeah, and I think the reason is because
pause is not the right word. Pause is a
great human resources PR line. I think
it's canceled.
Okay.
I I I would
But you don't really know, either.
know, but but I you know, I think you've
talked enough with lawyers and state
officials, more than likely given the
situation that we're dealing with right
now in our in our county. I would say
that
that MOU, again, I could be wrong, but
you know, I I think it's more likely
that the Mets will win the World Series
this year than we'll see uh this
Well, let's hope not.
Let's hope not for both our sakes. Yes.
Yes. Speaking of tragedies. Um but no,
I think uh
in the second part of our show today,
we're going to show footage of the press
conference including some of the
questions that the local mainstream
media was able to ask. Uh even some of
the the the other uh folks who follow
these community events just like we do.
Um in this case, this wasn't open and
transparent uh
form.
But this also didn't go exactly to plan.
Correct.
For her.
Correct. Correct. I I think it reveals a
lot to the public.
Okay.
Well, when we come back, we're going to
show some of the footage from Mike
Lewis's testimony at the open work
session.
And after that, we're also going to show
footage of today's press conference that
our current executive hosted.
I think when you go to watch the
mainstream media, what you're going to
find is a lot of reporting on the
rhetoric. Um
in today's news world, that's exactly
what they do. What we're hoping for is
to give you more of the substance, more
of the as if you were there to see it
for yourself.
Obviously, we're very concerned by it,
but we want you to be able to make your
own opinions and judgment. And I think
the really cool thing is here, we're
sitting at the Pac-12 Studios. They post
these press conferences, they post these
work sessions
unedited, and we encourage you to watch
them.
We'll be right back after this.
Thanks for joining us again here at Open
Agenda. I'm your host Joe White. Want to
take a look at some of the footage from
the work session at the County Council
meeting on Tuesday, August 6th.
This work session was for Sheriff Mike
Lewis of Wicomico County along with uh
the Chief of Salisbury Police Department
and several counties in the local area
Somerset Dorchester and what what
Worcester County. This was part of an
open work session that the public could
attend and watch in full. You could also
watch it on pack 14. We'd like to show
you some of the footage and when we
afterwards we are going to show you the
footage of the press conference from our
County Executive Julie Giordano.
At this time we go into open work
session in the first item on the open
work sessions a memorandum of of
understanding between the Wicomico
County of Maryland and Eastern Shore
Undercover LLC.
I would like to direct my initial
comments to Mr. Bob Benson.
Your legal interpretation
your legal analysis and the legal
summary that you just provided to the
men and women of this council and to
everyone seated behind me
and those seated next to me at this
table was on point. You nailed it and I
want to thank you for all the hard work
and all the research you've done to
bring the council men and women
up to
up to to date
on this very serious issue.
Mr. President distinguished members of
our council
and the support staff who are here
tonight.
Good evening.
I'd like to start by apologize for even
being here tonight.
Tonight is National Night Out.
A night when sheriffs across this
country are out in their counties
meeting with their constituents and
their community members.
A night where each and every one of you
should be out in your county meeting the
needs of our community.
But here we are.
Tonight I find myself in these council
chambers along with Sheriff Jimmy
Phillips of Dorchester County Sheriff
Ronnie Howard of Somerset County and
Sheriff Matt Crisafulli of Worcester
County.
Also present seated directly behind me
is Chief Dave Monchaine of the Salisbury
Police Department and his Deputy Chief
Harry Drewyer.
On Friday afternoon July the 26th of
2024
I was on vacation with my family down in
the Outer Banks in North Carolina
when an announcement came out from our
own Wicomico County government. An
announcement via press release from the
executive's office.
She announced that she had entered into
an agreement, an MOU, with Eastern Shore
Under Cover, hereinafter referred to as
ESU.
She announced an agreement had been
struck between the county and ESU.
This executed MOU would immediately
provide ESU with a county-owned police
radio, affording ESU with unprecedented
and unfettered civilian access to all
emergency police radio transmissions.
As was said earlier, I was never
consulted by my own county executive on
this MOU or any other MOU between
Wicomico County and Eastern Shore Under
Cover. No one from my office was ever
consulted on this MOU. I checked with
members of my council, and to my
knowledge, not one of you was consulted.
Not one.
There was zero collaboration between
this county executive with any other
fellow elected officials before
entering, yet again, another MOU. She
did it on her own. There were no checks
and balances, none, period. She sought
the advice of none of her own elected
officials. She ignored us all and
entered into an agreement with nothing
more than a Facebook blogger.
However, you will never read about these
protests on ESU because Earl Campbell's
possesses the ability to censor or
simply delete those who disagree with
him on anything. And he's proud of that,
and he talks about that all the time on
his blog.
When a so-called {quote} news
organization {unquote} gives a $3,500
donation to an elected official like
this for a favor, that may a direct
threat in print against an elected
sheriff, then is granted that favor,
that crosses the ethical boundaries of
what objectionable journalism is, and
certainly the colossal leadership by an
elected official. I would simply ask the
men and women of this council to explore
any and all options to remedy this
reckless and irresponsible agreement
that was single-handedly orchestrated by
the county executive and Mr. Eastern
Shore under cover.
to Wicomico County to vote yes for
Amendment A. That's what we want.
Amen.
And it's our responsibility not only to
protect our community, but to protect
the men and women
who are out here protecting everyone.
And this is just a blanket of security
for them and for the residents of your
county
and for the residents of my county.
This just isn't a Wicomico County thing.
Whoever's got that radio will be able to
listen to Worcester, Dorchester,
whoever's in those banks on that radio
system.
Yep.
Eventually Salisbury city, they'll be
able to listen to everybody. And not
only listen,
transmit if they decide to do so.
One thing I didn't see in this MOU was
any provisions for chain of custody for
the county equipment, the radio.
What
What happens when
Mr. Campbell's not operating his site?
What's to say that somebody doesn't have
access to that radio, house guests,
kids?
I didn't see it. Did I miss something in
there? I I didn't see anything.
Doesn't seem like there's a lot of
oversight.
Any
A lot? There's none.
No.
I worked in Daily Times
for 15 years
and the Summerset Harold.
And the Daily Times, and I know the
Salisbury Independent,
they have an editorial staff
that monitor
what the reporters do.
And they're called editors.
Cuz they want to make sure nothing is
slanderous
or libel where you can be sued.
Now, this person
uh Mr. Campbell is reckless.
He censors things.
So, how's he transparent?
If he's supposed to be about
transparency, how is the censoring of
what people
criticize him about?
He censored or deletes it.
I also agree the victim, if you're a
victim of a crime, you don't want your
privacy invaded.
And um I also believe that having access
to this channel could
hurt an investigation and the safety of
the officers.
I will be running for a sixth term in
Wicomico County.
We need stability. We need somebody
who's going to stand up to this bully
and hold her accountable.
Wicomico County to vote yes for
Amendment A. That's what we want.
Amen.
So, that was Sheriff Mike Lewis in his
own words, his own feelings about this
MOU and the lack of transparency in the
executive's decision to sign this. When
we come back, we're going to show you
footage from the press conference that
the county executive had on Thursday,
August 8th in response to the work
session as well as the pausing of the
MOU with Eastern Shore Undercover. We'll
be right back.
Thank you for joining us again for Open
Agenda. I'm your host Joe White. We are
going to take a look at the press
conference hosted by our county
executive Julie Giordano on Thursday,
August 8th.
This press conference was in relation to
the work session that was hosted at the
county council meeting on the 6th.
At this press conference, she did say
that she was going to pause the MOU's
signed with Eastern Shore under cover.
I did get a chance to ask her at one
point whether what circumstances would
allow her to unpause this. I didn't get
a clear answer, but let's take a look at
some of the coverage from that press
conference.
All right, I want to thank everyone for
coming out this afternoon for this press
conference.
I called this press conference to clear
up any misunderstandings and numerous
misstatements of facts.
After the press conference, I will
answer any question anyone has.
I want everyone to understand that I do
not run my meetings the way the county
council does.
We will have civility. If you have a
question that pertains to this topic, I
would be happy to answer it for anyone.
If at any point in time you become
belligerent or nasty towards me or to my
staff, you will be asked to leave.
So, first and foremost, I want to
address why I was not at the county
council meeting.
I want everyone to understand that these
meetings are held twice a month and they
are county council meetings, not a
county executive meeting.
Second, on an MOU that I was a co-signer
on, I was not invited to speak or
clarify anything.
I do find it quite concerning that an
open work session was scheduled and as a
signer of the MOU was not invited to the
table to discuss this, nor was the
vendor, nor was the county attorney who
drafted it.
As I watched the council meeting on
Tuesday evening, I was appalled at the
behavior of some of the elected
officials in this county.
Calling other elected officials names,
calling them a bully, slandering them,
or making false accusations is
absolutely inappropriate. Emailing
elected officials with threatening
statements is also inept behavior.
What was seen on Tuesday is a perfect
example of why we need a balance of
power.
Hosting a witch hunt where the accused
is not allowed to defend themselves or
state their side of the argument or
present evidence to debunk the
accusations is not the type of
leadership that we want running this
county.
Nor is it the type of leadership that
our great country was founded on.
While I very much enjoyed teaching about
the Salem witch trials in my 11th grade
American literature class, I don't want
our county government repeating that
part of history.
Our country was founded on
constitutional principles and what I
witnessed on Tuesday was the exact
opposite.
While I understand that there are about
30 upset people in the council chambers,
I have 103,000
citizens that I have to think about.
Hundreds have expressed their
appreciation for the transparency and
creative thinking within Sorry, with
working with local media.
What kind of leader would I be to cater
to 30 people and to pander to the camera
and ignore the needs of the rest of the
county?
I'm going to provide everyone a quick
background of how this event even I'm
sorry, how this even came into place.
The idea of encryption was introduced to
me and I'll be honest, I really wasn't
sold on it.
But we scheduled a meeting that was held
at emergency services that was headed up
by Lorenzo Cropper, the head of
emergency services, along with Sheriff
Mike Lewis and other heads of law
enforcement in the county, along with
our fire departments and EMS.
In the meeting, the Sheriff explained
the importance of encryption and how it
would be beneficial to officer safety as
well as making sure that sensitive
information did not go out across any
sort of scanner or radio that was in the
hands of civilians.
In that meeting, it was decided that all
of law enforcement would go to an
encrypted channel whereas fire and EMS
would not go encrypted as of yet.
I explained in the meeting that I would
support whatever decision was made, and
when we were ready to flip to full
encryption, we would stand together as a
united front and explain to the entire
county why we decided to go in this
direction.
In talking with our radio division, this
would not cost the county any money, as
the radio division was able to program
the encryption key on all of the radios.
The only cost came when our radios in
our corrections bands had to be
programmed, and the sheriff actually
covered that with his own budget.
As time went on, more and more people
learned about the fact that Wicomico
County would eventually go to encrypted
channels, and many people reached out
providing articles as to why encryption
would not be a good idea.
They also provided numerous articles
showing that various states were not
allowing full encryption without having
a policy in place.
We also did some research where in
Baltimore City, they decided to go fully
encrypted, but they use a program called
Broadcastify.
That provides a 15-minute delay of any
radio transmissions, but the public is
kept informed.
The only goal of the creation of the MOU
was to keep our public informed and
safe, and doing so in a fiscally
responsible way.
At no point was this done secretly. At
no point was this exclusive. At no point
does this affect any other county, and
at no point does the MOU give the vendor
access to any other channels other than
main dispatch.
I want to address various misstatements
that were made on Tuesday night.
Based on the many assertions, I can only
assume that neither party involved uh uh
or that participated in the open work
session actually read or fully
understood the MOU.
Our attorneys put in many safeguards for
the county, and I will go through each
misstatement and provide clarity for
each one of you
to form a complete picture of this
entire issue rather than just one side.
The first misstatement was that other
counties are affected by this decision.
This is false. No channels from any
other county are programmed onto the
radio nor would they be affected by a
vendor posting what is only going out on
our main dispatch.
The second misstatement, with the MOU
the vendor has access access to all
channels including SWAT.
This is also false.
The only channels that have been added
are those for main dispatch.
There is absolutely no reason for any
vendor to have access to those channels.
Those channels inherently have sensitive
information and would never be public in
any way.
The third misstatement, that there was
no communication from my office or that
the sheriff was never consulted. This is
absolutely false.
As soon as the potential issue was
brought to me, I right away I emailed
not just the sheriff but his entire
command staff on June 24th. And I'm
going to read to you the email that I
sent him.
Excuse me one moment.
Good morning.
I met with emergency services today and
was told that encryption will happen
potentially on July 9th.
Paul Paul Wilbur, who you all know is
our attorney, was here and is concerned
about the policy or lack thereof with
encryption.
It is suggested that the sheriff's
office develop a policy as to when the
information from the calls will be
available to accredited authorized media
representatives and then also to the
general public.
Paul looked on the sheriff's office
website and saw the call log of
information that is posted but stated
that it did not meet PIA requirements.
After much research Paul suggests the
15-minute delay system Broadcastify or
something similar would be the best way
to ensure transparency and avoid
potential litigation.
The delay system will ensure officer
safety.
As you will see below, many states have
proposed and passed legislation not
allowing full encryption without media
access and rumor has it that Maryland
lawmakers are headed in that direction
in 2025, excuse me, 2025. I will defer
to you.
I'm going to repeat that. I will defer
to you all on the policy as to what will
work best for Wicomico County as you are
the experts. Thanks so much.
To me, that email proves that he and his
staff were consulted. We deferred to
them as they are the experts. To this
day, which is August 8th, no one from
the Sheriff's Office has reached out.
Nor have they acknowledged the email,
scheduled a meeting with the attorney,
or with me to alleviate some of these
concerns. I also met with one of the
captains within this time frame about
another topic, but did mention
the encryption to which I received no
response.
I also met with another member of the
command staff just last Thursday and
said I was available on Friday and on
Monday to discuss anything to which I
received no response.
This MOU was a solution due to the
concerns that were presented to me by
our county attorney and the lack of
response from the recipients of the
email.
The fourth misstatement,
the Attorney General was contacted. I
have it on good authority with the many
contacts that I have that absolutely no
one, no one from Wicomico County has
contacted the AG's office about any such
matter of what was discussed on Tuesday
night.
The fifth misstatement, this was
exclusive just for Eastern Shore
Undercover. This is also absolutely
false.
On July 22nd, an email was sent to
various local news outlets, and this is
what that stated. Good afternoon.
I know I've spoken to several agencies,
but I wanted to send this email to
everyone just in case.
As many of you as many of you are aware,
Wicomico County police radio
communications have gone encrypted for
various reasons, including officer
safety and civilian information
protection.
While we understand the importance and
the necessity of encryption, we also
recognize the importance of a of
transparency and adhering to PIA
requirements.
We wanted to reach out to the various
news agencies to see if they would like
to partner with us at the county level
to adhere to transparency and PIA.
What we are looking for in a partnership
is a news agency that, number one, is a
trademarked organization with proof,
qualified by the state and or federal
government.
Number two, will designate staff to
publish radio communications from main
dispatch channel. The radio will be
provided.
Number three, all radio communications
will be posted with a 30-minute delay.
Number four, will publish events and
press releases from the county.
Number five, will not publish any
sensitive information, which will be
defined in the MOU agreement.
Will publish at no cost to the county.
Was number six.
We understand these stipulations are
very specific and probably very
difficult to adhere to, but we wanted to
give everyone a chance to respond if
they were interested. If you are
interested, please respond to this email
by Friday, July 26th, 2024. If not,
please just disregard this email.
We are hoping this potential partnership
will signify a step forward in
maintaining the delicate balance between
operational security and public
transparency.
Wicomico County is committed to
providing its residents with the
information they need while safeguarding
the integrity of its emergency response
operations.
I want to thank the various news
agencies for reiterating to the public
that you were asked and included in the
email correspondence.
The sixth misstatement, and this one
probably is the worst of all, that
Eastern Shore Undercover bribed me.
This is probably the most horrific and
degrading thing I have ever heard.
During my campaign, Eastern Shore
Undercover did not contribute one dime
to me.
Not one.
Not one dime.
Back in February, I held an event that
had various businesses sponsor the
event. Eastern Shore Undercover was one
of the businesses along with many
others.
I feel that many of these misstatements
happened due to the lack of
communication and the lack of response.
The silver lining out of everything that
happened Tuesday evening is that we now
know that there is a plan in the works,
which was stated by our sheriff.
And had we had that information back in
June when the original email was sent,
none of all of this could have been
avoided.
But because now we know that there is a
plan in the works, we have paused our
MOU with Eastern Shore Undercover. Not
dissolved it, but paused it.
Mr. Earl Campbell has graciously
returned the radio or the county radio
to me.
While his contract is completely valid,
he recognizes the picture that is being
painted.
My office will follow up with the
sheriff's office to discuss the plan and
our policy that he is that he says is in
place.
In the meantime, I want to thank Ms.
Mikelle Dallam
and Mr. Mike Goldberg
for mentioning Broadcastify in the
county council meeting and to my
director of administration.
While that option does cost a little bit
more than Eastern Shore Undercover, we
are very open to that idea and we look
forward to working with emergency
services to potentially move forward
with that. So, thank you both.
I want to thank everyone.
And I also want everyone to know
that none of this was done with
malicious intent.
It was not done to harm. It was not
done, you know, to hurt any person or
agency.
As I stated before, this was done to
improve the safety of our law
enforcement officers,
to improve the safety of our citizens,
to keep our citizens more informed,
and done in a fiscally responsible way.
I think the biggest lesson learned here
is that communication is key.
And when problems or concerns are
brought to us, ignoring them is really
not the best way to handle it.
As I stated in the email to all of the
local news outlets, Wicomico County is
committed to providing its residents
with the information they need while
safeguarding the integrity of its
emergency response operations.
Thank you for your time and at this time
I will take any questions that anyone
has.
Under what conditions would you unpause
the MOU that is currently paused with
Eastern Shore Undercover?
I'm sorry, say that again.
You you stated earlier
to unpause it.
unpause it.
Yeah. Um well, actually uh I I think
what it would take is if there's no
action whatsoever. So, to be told that
there's a plan and a policy in place and
if we found out that there wasn't a plan
or policy in place, we'd probably look
into something else. But um but like I
said, with residents and people
mentioning that they think Broadcastify
would be a good idea. I mean, I'm
actually for that. We were trying to
figure out um the cost and what happened
was is that uh Broadcastify, the quote
that we ended up getting, and this is
through emergency services, was
$150,000.
And the reason was is because we needed
four separate towers because of having
four separate agencies. And that's not
the cost every single year. That's a
one-time thing, and then you end up
paying a a fee, you know, whatever that
would that would be. So, in all honesty,
um if we were able to move to something
similar to Broadcastify or something
like that, there would be no need to
even start the MOU back up.
Do you Do you have a a Do you have a
plan for if you decided to start the the
plan the the MOU back up, how you would
let the public know that that was
happening?
Um I haven't even really thought about
it right now. It literally just got
paused today. So, I mean, it would be a
little bit because, like I said, you
know, if the sheriff is working on a
plan, we want to let that plan kind of
come to fruition first before we and
then have it reevaluated. Just what was
put out right now of what And I haven't
looked at this new plan or policy that
he has. What was being put out before um
was told to us by the attorney did not
meet PIA requirements. So, that was our
biggest thing is making sure that we
were adhering to that. So, it would be
hard for me to say, but um but like I
said, if we were to go to something
else, then there would be no need to do
that. Yes, Mr. Goldberg.
Uh thank you, Ms. Giordano. Um in any of
the email correspondence that you sent
to Sheriff Lewis, did you advise him
that an MOU was being considered that
would allow civilian access to police
encrypted police communications? And in
any of those emails, did you request a
future meeting or a response from the
sheriff when you sent those emails?
So, when I sent the original email
talking about um you know, the concerns
that we had, uh receiving no
nothing, you know, back from him, and
then having the communication with the
two officers, no, we did not
specifically uh talk about that. No, we
did not.
So, he was unaware of the MOU?
He was uh um well, no, I think he kind
of knew about it. Um and especially
after we had said, "Let's have a talk on
Friday or Monday prior to the council
meeting." and he chose to come to the
council meeting instead.
But there was nothing in the email.
Not in an email, no.
Follow-up conversation.
No, no. The follow-up conversation will
happen after this.
Thank you.
Yes, sure. Yes, Joe.
Um
Um pardon me for just 1 second. Um so,
is there any part of the original MOU
with Eastern Shore Undercover that is
still in effect? Because there was some
other aspects as far as county events
and county news press releases. Is any
of that still in in effect or is all of
it been paused?
So, the entire MOU has been paused, but
actually prior to this MOU when we would
send out um any press releases or things
like that, Eastern Shore Undercover is
on our press release um
site or our press release list, sorry.
Um and so, he'll continue to get them,
but it will be up to him whether he
posts them or not.
So, one follow-up question to that. Um
it's been reported by Mr. Campbell
himself that there's several folks who
he has chosen to block for for various
reasons.
Mhm.
Um so, one of the one of the key aspects
of communication with you and your
office has been your your show,
Executive Exclusive.
And it is aired on his site. In the air
of transparency, would you be willing to
air that show just in its normal form on
your official government site for for
your office?
My Executive Exclusive?
Yes.
So, it's on YouTube on Pack 14 as well.
So, the whole public has access to it.
So, I probably I probably wouldn't I
mean, I guess I could post it, but um
with it being on Pack 14 and I mean, we
would just go it through there. So, he
he chooses to
Would you consider to do it?
Putting
on on your official site?
I Yeah, I would of course I would
consider it, I guess.
Okay. What would make you not want to
have it on your official site?
I just never even really thought about
it. You mean my official Facebook page?
Yeah, just that way uh because you I
mean, you're you're the elected
official. You you know, you're
you've represented us uh as as citizens
here.
In this in that aspect for full
transparency
in the in the way that you have chosen
to to to get out information. I mean, I
I watch your show. You have a lot of
information on there. That way the whole
public has access to it in a similar
fashion that you talked about having you
know, information as far as, you know,
police communications. If it was on your
site, then then no one else would have
control over who could or could not see
it. Is that right? Would Would you Would
you do that?
Yes, I mean, I would definitely consider
it, but like I said, it's already
publicly accessible, so it's not like
the only place it's posted is East Shore
Undercover. It's on Pack 14's YouTube
site, so just as your show is.
Okay. The initial announcement was made
on a Friday
and and I'm pardon me if I'm forgetting
the date, but late July.
I I contacted my my elected councilman
in my district and I asked him for some
additional information.
He He explained to me that he emailed
your office
and was told that citizens who want the
MOU need to file a PIA request.
The hard thing with that is there's a 10
to 30-day delay. So, is that as
transparent as it could be
if as a citizen prior to this MOU being
enacted, granted it's paused now.
It prior to it being enacted, there
wasn't any pre
you know, pre
notification
that then once there is a question that
I'm forced as a private citizen to re-
request a PIA
this 10 to 30 days. And and I I take
this not just for the MOU that was
signed with Mr. Campbell, but also the
MOU that was signed with Brad Hoffman
for the Safari at the Quarry.
Is it Is it transparent as possible that
we find out these things after they
happen but then have to wait up to 30
days for additional information?
Sure. So, we're kind of saying the same
thing that PIA is PIA, but you this 10
to 30 days. So, it's better to get the
information out quicker, right? So,
we're kind of in in agreeance with that.
As far as the MOU,
um that email I remember that email. I
sent the MOU right to Miss Hurley who
had said that some members of the public
were asking for it. And I had said,
"That's fine. Here's the you know, here
it is. Let's just you know, from now on
probably should go through the PIA." And
I think it was brought up by Mr.
Holloway if uh Mr. Campbell had to
follow through and he has followed
through with every PIA. I do want to say
though that I do feel like my office
unless it's something huge and there's
like a ton of information, we do a
pretty good job of getting the
information out as quickly as we can. Um
right now AK um who typically does our
PIAs, her husband had a really bad fall
and so she's out for a little bit. So,
you know, give us some grace here um on
that. But for the most part, we adhere
to that as quickly as possible. So, um
you know, I'm from what I've understood
though for what you've asked for you you
got it relatively quickly.
I did in this case and and I can
appreciate that in the future I would do
that. I think the one difference is if
it's a if it's a county council matter,
there's going to be a 15-day window
where there's
uh transparent information sent out that
there will be a hearing and there'll be
a discussion or a work session. Um in in
the case whether it be the Safari at the
Quarry or the
the now paused MOU with Eastern Shore
Under Cover, there was not that
transparent ahead of time, "Hey look,
this is maybe coming down the pipe."
Right.
So, I think those are apples and oranges
maybe with PIA.
Uh I understand what you're saying and I
I appreciate you getting it to us so so
quickly, but the one main difference is
for the legislative body to do anything,
there has to be a a preemptive
notification that hey, come to here at
this time cuz there's several folks in
the community, not just uh our growing
numbers, but uh several of us who who
wish to be able to to be informed and
and to have a voice.
Right. Well, I and I and I feel like
we're saying the same thing just about
different matters. Like so, you want to
be informed as quickly as possible, so
do a lot of our residents. So, it's kind
of the same theme as what we're working
with here. My point is though is that we
have a process in place for a reason,
and so if there is a topic that's
brought up at the County Council
meeting, I don't think it's wise for
citizens to just reach out to their
county councilman and then go over to my
office. So, there is a process to go
through with that, and so if if we did
it that way, then there would be no need
for the PIA. People could just go
through their councilperson, who then
goes to the council administrator, who
then goes to me or my office, and then
it could and then it goes back. So,
there is a process where you can skip
all of that, and it literally goes right
to my office, and we can put it right
back out.
There is a difference between
understanding when an accident might
happen that you can't plan for, and MOU
that has had to have some time for
negotiation. So, I understand how you're
trying to make the correlation, and I
don't fully disagree with you, but
they're not actually the same. There are
times if I was going to get married,
that would be something I planned, I
would put that out there. If I was going
to slip and fall and break my neck, I
probably wouldn't inform everybody that
it was coming. Those are actually two
different things.
Uh I'm sitting here with uh Council Vice
President Jeff Merritt. Uh thank you for
joining me. Uh here we go.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So, we just left the press conference
from the County Executive uh Julie
Giordano regarding the pausing of the
MOU with Eastern Shore Under Under
Cover. Um do you have any comments about
what you just saw in the press
conference?
Well, I'm I'm glad that the MOU is
paused. It never should have been
written in the first place. Uh
you know, we keep hearing about
transparency and and all that. The
information that we're all talking about
is actually already out there. Uh
Uh every fire department, sheriff's
office, police department they have
their their websites, they have their
Facebook pages, they're on multiple
social media platforms. Sheriff's office
even has an app that you can put on your
phone. I've had it on my phone for 5
years.
And the information comes out the next
day, correct?
Correct. Yeah, your calls for service,
you can
file a complaint, there's
information about sex offenders in your
neighborhood. It's it's a very
useful app with a lot of features to
He even spoke about that at the work
session on Tuesday night with the sex
offender registry and you have pictures.
Yes.
So the the intent of that app is to keep
the community as informed as as
possible.
Yes, correct.
So what do you hope that the next steps
are as far as
the
the steps that the executive's office
would take and the sheriff's office
would take?
I hope the encryption process continues.
I'd like to see it include the fire
departments.
Because the fire and EMS personnel are
under the same challenges that the law
enforcement's under.
So that was some of the coverage from
the county executive's press conference
on Thursday, August 8th.
What we want to encourage you to do is
take a look at this for yourself. The
next county council meeting is on
Tuesday, August 20th
and at 10:00 a.m. in the morning at the
government building.
The best way to get more information is
to come yourself if you can. Pack 14
does a great job of hosting these events
live, unedited, and you can also catch
it on their YouTube page later.
We're going to keep coming back each
week to give you our information, the
the bullet points, but we encourage you
to go out and find your own information.
Thanks for joining us today for open
agenda. We'll see you next week.
We think Mark Carroll is the best editor
ever.
