Two shows in one week? Yes! OPEN AGENDA Season 2, Episode 9 is now available! On this episode we explore soaring electric costs, shifting of teacher pension obligations from the state to the counties, the County Executive’s deceptive rationale for vetoing the Ethics Commission bill, and the NAACP redistricting lawsuit. Also, if you haven’t had a chance to view Episode 8, which was just released on Monday, it’s not too late to catch it too. Links to both episodes are below. Tune in and be informed…
Open Agenda TV S2 E9: Teacher Pensions, Electric Bills, and Vetoes Oh My
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
you're watching open
Agenda welcome to open Agenda I'm your
host Joe White in this week's episode
we're going to preview the upcoming
County council meeting on March 4th
we're also going to talk about the the
role of the the government with the
electric bills and tell you about a
workshop that's coming up at the County
council meeting this month we're also
going to talk about the teacher pensions
how that's going to affect the budget
process this coming year here and
finally we're going to wrap up the new
District Maps uh just last month the
County council did vote to approve to
pay for the settlement within
aacp and uh just kind of wrap up that
story so in the studio with me today is
Dr janosa thanks for coming out thank
you Mr Mike Goldberg from delmare thanks
for coming out bad cold keeps coming
back well it's a little bit warmer now
so maybe you'll get better now right so
uh gentlemen uh you know the agenda is
out for the March 4th
uh County council meeting and uh on
there is the consideration of the veto
override uh the county executive vetoed
the board of Ethics getting their
independent counsel um Joe I mean what
what's your thoughts on this yeah I mean
we expected this um you know my
assumption is that they're going to
override The veto um whe whether or not
it'll be a 61 or 70 vote is the only
question that I have but yeah so Mike
you were at the uh the County council
meeting where the council did vote seven
to zero I sure was to give them
independent councils the very next day
the executive vetoed that uh saying that
there's it's it's wasteful of money um
what's your thoughts on on the potential
for Waste here well her rationale for
the veto is that it's going to cost
taxpayers money and that's absolutely
absurd right now the ethics commission
is represented by the uh County attorney
now the county attorney's office is
they're independent of the county
they're not actuallyy employees they are
retained by the county they bill hourly
so um if uh under the new system there
will be an independent Council not the
uh not the County Attorney um that's a
far better setup because the County
Attorney has loyalties to the county
executive the county executive can fire
the County Attorney they work at at her
at her pleasure it won't be so simple
with an independent Council so if we
want a truly unbiased um system then we
have to have an independent Council not
someone who's going to always rule in
favor of the executive bran Joe the the
board of Ethics they don't meet on a
regular basis they meet when there's a
complaint um you know even dating back
to uh past County Executives there's
often times these these uh these ethics
complaints are actually geared at the
executive themselves um yes have you
have you witnessed any of of this well I
haven't witnessed it personally
thankfully um but I have talked to many
employees and obviously during the
course of our question a campaign we
actually created an email account where
we got more than
35 uh different complaints from either
current or former employees and a lot of
it basically was tied into ethical
lapses or ethical violations regarding
things like intimidation bullying the
misappropriation of funds these are
things that people have have said to us
um and of course the big problem is
there's nowhere for them to go there's
no recourse because as Mike put it so
well right now the only road to any
possible ethics investigation runs
through the executives good graces well
it'll be interesting to see just if
there if the County Council is is going
to consider overriding the veto and what
the final vote is and and and speaking
of things where maybe there's a conflict
of interest I mean we understand that
there's uh been three new nominations to
the liquor control board now this is the
board that actually governs the liquor
dispensary yes yes you know we we we
know that our current County Executive
would would would like to see that go
away yep uh on record that was yeah yeah
it's not speculation but the uh you know
I'm interested to see what's your what's
your understanding of what these
nominations are where is this process
right now sure so it's my understanding
that the county executive uh essentially
tried to get these nomin through up in
Anapolis um to be put forward and then
voted on uh with the support I guess of
some local officials in the delegation
although there's still some question
about who um ultimately though the thing
that really is important for the public
to understand is that two of the two of
the people that were put forward by the
executive Mr Richard Taylor and Miss
Anne Nelson both of them are personal
and very good friends of County
Executive Jordano's one of her biggest
campaign contributors the owner of
Cheers Mr Mike bizard um one of official
kind of sort of put it as you know it's
the three couples okay and um the fact
that these two names have such a
personal relationship with people that
have given money to the executive I
think raises all sorts of ethical
questions and dilemmas and the fact that
the County Council was once again
usurped in these nominations that the
you got to remember the county executive
I don't care who it is they don't
actually have any clear-cut authority to
nominate people for the dispensary well
Mike I wanted to ask you it's coming to
question whether or not this there is a
process in place uh to that actually is
is is transparent and public to to
nominate these board members I mean you
and I come to understand that uh two of
the current board members and their term
doesn't end till the end of June uh were
were wanting to stay on um and they were
not aware that they weren't going to to
be
retained if there is a process it's very
ambiguous nobody really knows how it
works um it appears that the county
executive um is the one who nominated
her two friends essentially U to the
board um if you go to the county web
page it's impossible to find if there's
any
notification we've got we need to
solicit for some new board members if
it's there I certainly couldn't find it
and I looked it's it's buried very deep
so the the process is is uh you know
very uncertain and um you when you have
uncertainty and you have a void in a
power structure somebody's going to fill
that void and it appears that the county
executive has done so well it seems like
it's a void the size of the Grand Canyon
because as as one local resident put it
the the members of the alcohol
dispensary board are not County
employees they're not and there's
nothing in the charter that specifically
says that the executive has any
authority to put those people in in
place so the fact that not only she
would presume to do it and again let's
be generous and say okay any executive
honestly wants to put names forward
because they think they're the right
person for the job okay fine but this is
not what happened these names were put
in and they were not even told to the
County Council so imagine right the
council finds out about this because of
people up in Annapolis yeah talk about a
usurpation of not just power but
complete railroading of an entire branch
of government particularly one that has
more authority to actually put in the
nominations this is this is the typical
lack of transparency that we're getting
out of the executive branch of
government and it is pretty
disturbing so one of the things I don't
see on the agenda is uh any any
discussion any uh any any workshops or
anything talking about like Governor
West Moore his his budget proposal would
actually move
the remaining 50% of the teacher pension
mandate to the county um you
know you know right now Governor Moore's
budget is just a proposal correct uh the
the rest of the process is the general
assembly needs to go through it'll be
yeah it'll be it'll be middle of April
and and we've talked at length about how
that budget will affect our budget here
in the county sure but Joe I'm I'm just
interested to to to get your view I
mean what would this do to the taxpayers
in the in the county or maybe even um
you know the the teachers in this Comm
well actually when you look at it and
and it's big Financial impact It's
relatively minor for our County in the
sense that if you look at on Conduit
Street they did an assessment of what
the counties would pony up annually now
again annually as in I'm talking about
per year we could talk about
collectively what it adds up to but
basically about $1.5
million uh the county would have to
cover for those teacher pensions ju
suppose that with like Montgomery County
which I think has a $17 million annual
cost so we're actually getting off
pretty cheap ironically mainly because
we have such a smaller Workforce and we
tend to pay less and we have a smaller
tax base too and we have a smaller tax
base so um yeah in a sense I mean again
and you could look at this from a simple
you know I I guess the philosophy is
well you know the teachers are County
Employees so would the counties not be
responsible for picking up the tab
that's that's that's the argument for
the shift in part why are we even in
this position M well in this position
because the um uh because in Annapolis
they're spending money like crazy under
the Hogan Administration when he left we
had about A5 billion Surplus now we're
looking at a $2.8 billion deficit that
is going to grow uh Maryland Association
of counties has estimated that that's
going to almost double and I don't think
we can compare Montgomery County to W
Comico County you their population is so
much larger than ours and it's
continuing to grow so Joe if if we are
let's just let's take your angle that
okay maybe this should be a county
liability how would you propose that we
make the adjustments to afford to spend
the extra million and a half for our
teachers well it all comes on a
priorities um I think you know as I read
sort of the news about it all I could
think was well imagine how bad this
would be if we got rid of the dispensary
take you know I mean the thing is we
choose our priorities and we and I'll be
honest and nobody wants to talk about
this but I I hope people in the fop
watch this cuz I want I have a message
for them and for the County Council the
pension that's really going to bankrupt
this County if the executive gets her
way coming up next year is the fop
pension because not only of course was
there all a controversy on the actuary
but the amount of money that that's
costing down the road is putting us on a
real financially unsustainable path that
that adds up with all these other costs
I think it's such a shame that we're at
a point where we have to take sides
teachers versus police because they're
both so essential to what we're doing
and they're members of our community too
they are but the problem is the county
historically prioritizes some of those
groups more than others just in the
budgets and this is where the state is
basically saying you know we've got all
these other issues these are your County
Employees Pony up a better share of it
again that's I think the view of
Anapolis we can debate whether that's
right or wrong but but ultimately they
are County Employees I get I think the
the question I have is if we know that
this is a conversation we have to have
why isn't our County Council talking
about this now AG why is our County
Executive silent on this we are we are
at the precipice of the budget season
and well so the we need as much
information for from our County
government and right now there's just
silence if I'm in County government if
I'm a council member if I'm a Josh
Hastings or James or God forbid if I'm
the county executive I I would fully
anticipate the ABS absolute worst case
scenario Financial projection I would
think to myself what does a 50%
reduction look like just to be aware at
our next segment we're actually going to
talk about something that hits a little
closer to home right now and really the
role that your government especially
your local government plays in it and
that's the electric bills so when we
come back we're going to talk a little
bit about how D Marva power uh is having
a workshop with the County Council and
maybe some of the things you should look
at on your electric bill so if you want
to come and ask questions you you have
the ability so stay with us we'll be
right
back welcome back to open Agenda I'm
your host Joe White and in this segment
we're actually going to tackle a very
hot topic and and to be honest with you
we're probably not going to be able to
tackle it much but we want to give you
as much information as possible talking
about electricity bills um in the studio
still with me is uh Dr venosa Mike
Goldberg thanks for sticking around
gentlemen of course good pun by the way
yeah so uh so the County Council is
going to have a work session with D arva
power at the March 4th meeting and you
know realistically The public's not
going to be able to ask questions it's
the county council's going to be able to
ask questions it's not as if anyone in
our County government uh has anything to
do with setting electric bills but I do
think it is an opportunity for at least
folks to to to get an idea of what their
other government officials are thinking
about what they're going through right
well they're making some inquiries at
least but unfortunately on the county
level I I don't think they are in a
position where they can do much to guide
this narrative or whatever the policies
are you perhaps they'll be heard to some
extent but this is coming from Annapolis
more than anything there may be some
good Grand standing though we don't know
well and and I I think that's part of
what we want to cut through right
exactly you know so so you know let's
talk about what what actually goes into
you know a high electric bill or
electric bill and uh you know one we had
an exceptionally cold January and and a
very cold February 2 for that matter uh
so you know the the thought of how
efficient heat pump systems are which is
what a lot of folks around here have
when it's this cold uh we we've been
told that if there's more than a 30 Dee
variance between what you're trying to
have the indoor temperature and what the
outdoor temperature is it's almost a
certainty that your emergency heat is on
defaults to emergency which is high cost
right right versus being cold M but we
you know Mike you and I were talking
about D regulation in Maryland happened
in 1999 but what does that really mean I
don't know that means much to them
because they're still you know paying
out the nose for for electricity so I
think we have to start examining and
exploring other ways to generate and
transmit power and deliver it at the
retail level and I I think uh here in
Maryland our systems are you pretty
archaic really so Mike you and I were
talking about how your experience in
Texas where you have Electric
Cooperative at least on the transmission
side uh at least helps keep the the cost
to the enduser down how does that work
in Texas well it it's a membership based
system um called the electric
reliability Council of Texas and they
actually generate and transmit about 90%
of of electricity within Texas now on
the retail level at your home you have
the choice of literally hundreds and
hundreds of providers so there's a
competitive system and with a
competitive system it's generally in
most Cas is going to bring your pricing
down but it sounds like your your choic
is on the generation side the supply
side which we have that in Maryland but
some of us like you and I we live in the
Chop Tank Electric Cooperative range uh
so we have Electric Cooperative and we
haven't seen much change in our electric
bill but I'm interested to see like is
is in in Texas everyone on the
transmission side is by and large is is
part of this Electric Cooperative on on
on the on the on the transmission side
that that is my understanding and the
generation side as well so the um once
it comes to your home and then you you
have various uh various independent
dealers essentially to sell it to you at
the retail level right and a very
Diversified energy economy and people
tend to forget this but Texas has the is
the largest wind and solar producer in
the country but that has not worked out
very well for Texas unfortunately I
think the biggest mistake that Texas
made and we saw it two years ago and had
a very harsh winter in north Texas is
that the the wind farm simply could not
generate enough electricity it as a
secondary source a backup Source perhaps
it makes sense but as a primary source
it's mighty dangerous well orom also
didn't weatherize a lot of their grid
historically which is part of the
problem well they didn't because you
know if you take a look at the weather
PS they typically did not have to but uh
but this is the irony with that system
is Texas is very unique right in that
because it's its own grid it goes we see
some of that here on the Eastern Shore
you take the town of Berlin for instance
they are their own Electric Cooperative
in themselves now they're you know D
Marva power transmits a lot of the of
their electricity but they do have the
ability to produce their own uh you
might call it a backup but I wouldn't
say they call it a backup they call it
the ability to produce electricity uh if
you look on their website at wholesale
prices for their customers which are
their citizens or taxpayers yeah where
in in here in Maryland uh some people
have the the the fortunate luck I guess
to be on an electric cooperative's grid
where some people are on a grid that's
for a for-profit company and right we
got to remember D AR Power at one time
was a local company that was basically
here to serve the community they have
since been bought out by a company
across the bridge much like bg& has been
bought out by Exelon sure Joe I'm
interested to see are you looking at the
Public Service Commission at the state
level the PSC as they're called are you
looking for them to step in and and
fight for us do you think that that's a
that that's something that they're
likely to do I don't think they're going
to fight in the sense of get immediate
results I think part of the problem and
we've talked about this off camera
obviously is
that who actually on the Public Service
Commission and what they're able to do
is is is to some extent sort of hemed in
by a lot of inertia but they are they
are appointed by the governor and they
have to be approved by the Maryland
Senate they do is this where our local
leaders have the ability to discuss this
with our local delegation if we have a
local delegation that really does want
to get influence in Annapolis on the
issue they certainly have the ability to
have that conversation my own view on it
again clear bias is is that what I've
seen locally is people have made hay
over going after wind and solar
exclusively just using that to bash in
appus with you could do that all day but
in the end you're going to be outvoted
so it probably more effective to have a
conversation where if our delegates are
legitimately interested in in getting
influence on some of
that regulation uh that they have to
approach it that way by actually
focusing on the board and focusing on
and keep in mind nothing prevents the
state of Maryland from putting price
controls on stuff like there are things
that could be done overnight in the
short term that are not really being
thought about so Joe if you don't have a
lot of uh faith in the in the Public
Service Commission yeah uh you know
folks around here we we've reached out
to our our Congressman uh in in the in
the first district Andy Harris yeah what
has been the response from him what was
his what was his well yeah it's a it's a
default position so if you look at some
of the communications he sent out you
know he you know it's it's the greatest
hit so you blame Green New Deal blame
Biden blame the Democrats in Anapolis
okay fine but then basically the actual
answer is go to the state resources that
can help people but pay some of these
bills so basically check out Empower
Maryland which again tells me that you
have politicians who are basically going
to make hey about a policy that they
really can't change but then they're
going to say uh go and see if you can
get government sub subsidies which means
they really don't don't have any
intention or expectation that it will be
changed well isn't that one of the
policies that has come under criticism
from uh our politicians I mean that it's
because other people didn't pay their
bills well it's interesting but if you
look at like what the actual Empower
Maryland bill or um portion on your bill
is it's relatively minor to what the
actual you know costs are but that has
often been one of the targets they'll
say well it's be you know you're paying
more because undeserving poor people are
getting it through Empower Maryland land
they'll blame the wind and solar again
you can make that point if you're going
to do it but here's the problem and our
delegates if if any of them watch you
know they they know this but maybe they
don't sort of understand the
effectiveness of it you can approach
that but you're still going to be in the
permanent minority in Annapolis I I I
think really even more concise way to
say your point is don't let any
politician from either side feed you a
bunch of rhetoric that only self serves
election campaign and let me go back on
that then too because you brought up a
really good point right if I'm going to
make and there are a couple of people
that we know in our community you know
who are working for certain um you know
uh reps on the other side of the aisle
and when they get a question about you
know what do we do about the the the the
rates now I'm talking about Democrats
right again I'm an old school FDR
Democrat right which means I believe in
regulation I believe that a government
has to protect the citizens from the uh
excesses of corporate power they're
going to tell you not anything about
price controls or about doing audits or
anything that would you know in the
short term try to address the price or
are they going to tell you well we're
facing a climate crisis and we have to
sort of expand green energy and all
these things they're going to give you a
line about an energy industry from a
different angle but they're not going to
answer the question and they're not
going to help you with the immediate so
Mike I think one of the solutions that
people should look into is because in
Marland you don't have choice on your
transmission but you do on your supply
is ask whoever is bringing you your
electric and even if you're a Chop Tank
member you can still still select your
supply some people just by default are
still with Del Marva power but they may
actually do better by locking in a rate
with Del Marva power if that's where
they want to stay uh I personally have
sent that question to the County Council
to ask get them to ask that question at
the work session now this is one of the
reasons why I like open transparent
government There's an opportunity to
send them a question ahead of time even
though I can't ask it I'd love for that
to be the case but someone who is who
was just locked in at dumb Mar a power
are they getting the same rate a better
rate or Worse rate than someone who's
just hey you just happen to be our
customer here's some energy here's a
bill well there's some options out there
obviously um and people are probably by
and large Una aware that they do have
some options and I think this is where
the local government can help by uh
making it more public you know advising
people that you you do have a subsidy
program available you can do some rate
lock-ins with whoever your provider is
um so beyond that I'm not so sure what
they can do we have a structural problem
here with how energy how electricity is
is uh created how and how it's
distributed Ed at the retail level and I
think that's where we're missing the
mark of course I take a very different
view than than you do on this um I I do
not see government as being the solution
I don't want to see government doing
anything beyond making it a fair and
Level Playing Field and I take a look at
the amount of money that I feel is being
Flushed Away with a green bad deal uh I
mean green New Deal uh you know offshore
wind it simply is not cost effective um
and uh it's unreliable and there is a
plethora of environmental issues that go
along with it to your point real quick I
do think that the the public needs to
understand this because you said we have
a structural problem I think the big
structural problem too is that counties
don't really have the authority to
address energy costs well so okay you
say that but then we can also look at
towns like Seaford Berlin who who who
have collectively said hey we're going
to hedge our bet and not just from uh
grid standpoint but also a wholesale
production standpoint and are they
serving their communities better than
maybe we're being served here right now
so me rephrase that we have a structural
problem with regard to our County's
ability or inability to regulate prices
as they're currently developed however
the options for finding other mechanisms
of energy sources and Transmissions are
a possibility so at a time we need
leadership we're probably going to get
rhetoric but if you really want to get
the best the most upto-date answer
answer this Tuesday 6:00 we can all
agree on one thing we're going to have a
lot of rhetoric yeah yeah all right so
in our last segment uh we're going to
wrap up the NAACP lawsuit with the
county give a a final explanation about
just how these these districts are going
to be shaped where you can find more
information and really just what the
lasting Legacy may be as we go into the
2030 census so stay with us we'll be
right back
welcome back to open Agenda in the final
segment we really want to wrap up
exactly what happened with the NAACP
lawsuit with the County Council as and
the Board of Education the new District
maps and what that might mean to you
gentlemen thanks for sticking around for
the final segment thank you so uh you
know want to back up for one minute
there when when Kevin karpinsky the the
lawyer the the the special counsel for
the go for the W comu County was going
to the uh to do these negotiations there
was still this Supreme Court case that
had not been decided this lacky versus
stinny uh that has since had a decision
uh I I I think we all agree that the the
the council or the county needed to to
switch to uh seven districts they were
they were always going to lose that case
right Joe yeah yeah um and and Mike you
you know you talked about how this has
far-reaching
uh consequences such as the board of of
Education also has the same map which is
as you've said in in previous episodes
seven districts uh all with one
Representative no at large we're we're
we're just seven districts right yes and
then some ways that's unfortunate each
of us used to get to vote for three
County council members the one that
represents our district plus two at
large now we can only vote for one
council member well in in Bob Taylor who
was who was on last week's episode uh at
County Council meetings when they were
having you know the the the public
hearing which was basically just to
update everybody where we were uh the
the decision already been made he he
referenced this this Supreme Court case
which has now uh been passed 7 to2 um
saying that in these cases the the
government entity is not responsible for
paying the legal fees unless it goes to
court and this actually didn't go to
court right yeah so again this raises a
important question do we not have to pay
well I I believe and i' I followed up
with a couple County councilmen I
believe that the the the settlement has
already been agreed upon they have not
actually gone and and and signed it okay
uh the county executive has said that
that she would support this this isn't
necessarily something she voted on but
uh I I guess this kind of goes back to
you know what what would have been the
most transparent way to let the public
know this was happening
because the lawsuit was filed in 2023
yeah but the first public hearing
actually didn't happen till early 2025
did you feel like you ever had a chance
to be up to speed on what was going on
not particularly um I remember the
initial rally where they announced the
lawsuit because it happened right
outside of the government office
building and then basically there was
silence and then the
council um and the executives office
never seemed to be um taking initiative
on informing the public until the
settlement happen so it was it was again
it was kind of done behind the scenes so
I mean I I think we all agree that that
you know ultimately this is the right
step to put these districts and whether
it's the right step to pay the legal
fees of some really big lawyers we we
also have our insurance company for the
county covers our legal expenses up to
$50,000 and they don't expect Uh Kevin
karpinsky legal bill to be above that
but we're still on the hook for $135,000
total and and and the question is was
there was there a public process or
should should some of these closed
meetings been actually done in public
well I think they're they should have
been done in public I I think the the
public uh the taxpayers were largely
unaware look at this point in the scheme
of things 135,000 bucks yeah I'd like to
have that in my pocket too but in order
to go back to court to um to try to
settle the issue in accordance with the
this recent Supreme Court Court decision
it' probably wind up costing more than
that anyway I think we're just going to
have to grin and bear it unfortunately
and that was the that was the result we
were given it was like Hey look you know
it could be 135,000 or it could be
900,000 let's let's do it and yeah I
think you know maybe the bigger thing to
think on um and this is my view of it is
that you know and maybe this explains
why the council did what they did or
didn't do what they didn't do I just
think there's a there's a aversion
there's a real fear in in society and
particularly here to really talk about
race and talk about the ramifications of
what these districts and and the new map
would be I just think they want to talk
about it you know regardless of where
you feel about it I just think they
didn't want to talk about it okay so
let's talk about it let's talk about so
before we had five districts and you
could say by and large one District was
a a majority minority District yeah um
district one district one the other four
were were not that they were they were
uh you know very they're predominantly
white predominantly white now we're
going to have seven districts two of
them are are actually a majority
minority District but also two of them
are it's almost negligible about the the
the the population split right well and
actually at that meeting uh which again
where the council finally kind of
brought out the settlement and and had
Kevin kinsky and others talk about it I
think it was Mr Jim Atkins who made a
really good point he said you know if
you're looking if you're going to slice
and dice just based on numbers you could
actually create three minority majority
districts and maybe in the census of
2030 they're going to have to entertain
that but yeah the the rates are now
negligible in some of those other areas
um and so it'll be interesting to see
what the ramifications of this are as
far as voting for both Council seats and
of course the Board of Ed well even in
the majority minority districts it it
doesn't ensure that you're going to have
a person of color who is actually going
to get elected sure I think I think the
there's one other thing to consider too
this lawsuit is a is a result of the
lack of transparency from the
2020 redistricting committee MH and
we're only 5 years away from the next
census and the 2030 redistricting
committee M I do think it's time for
folks in the community to pay attention
to the fact that some relatively
Anonymous three districting committee
although a lot of those folks are now
politicians themselves yeah were
connected to the party atus yeah so look
it up yep and not let this slide I mean
no one wants anyone in our community to
be marginalized but we also don't want
another $135,000 bill if not more yeah
well thank you gentlemen thanks for
coming out this week thank you we'll be
back next week with another new episode
