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	<title>Cecil Times &#187; Heather O&#8217;Rourke</title>
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		<title>New Cecil County Council Attorney, Chip MacLeod, Brings Deep Experience—and Stiff Spine—to County Legal Matters</title>
		<link>https://ceciltimes.com/2021/07/new-cecil-county-council-attorney-chip-macleod-brings-deep-experience-and-stiff-spine-to-county-legal-matters/</link>
		<comments>https://ceciltimes.com/2021/07/new-cecil-county-council-attorney-chip-macleod-brings-deep-experience-and-stiff-spine-to-county-legal-matters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Jul 2021 20:04:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nancy Schwerzler]]></dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Goins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bill Coutz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bob Meffley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cecil County council]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Charles MacLeod]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Chip MacLeod]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Dan Schneckenburger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[danielle hornberger]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Ethics Commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heather O'Rourke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lawrence Scott]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lawyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MacLeod Law Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ceciltimes.com/?p=5888</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[NEWS ANALYSIS The Cecil County Council has hired Charles “Chip” MacLeod&#8211; a Chestertown lawyer with decades of experience in local government and the founder of the Clean Chesapeake Coalition that has fought for sediment cleanup at the Conowingo Dam&#8211; as the new County Council attorney. And in his first appearance at the 7/13/2021 Council worksession, MacLeod ran verbal and legal rings around the Hornberger administration’s lawyer, Lawrence Scott, an Annapolis political consultant with limited legal experience. MacLeod replaces John Downs, an Elkton lawyer, who submitted a letter of resignation in mid-June. It was an open secret that several members of the Council were unhappy with what was seen as Downs’ lukewarm representation of the Council since the onset of Danielle Hornberger’s administration as County Executive seven months ago. Hornberger’s administration has taken multiple steps that undercut the authority of the Council, especially her unilateral and secret appointment of an Ethics Commission member after the Council had refused to confirm the appointee. [SEE CECIL TIMES Special Report here: https://ceciltimes.com/2021/06/hornberger-secretly-installs-orourke-on-ethics-panel-despite-county-councils-rejection-of-her-nomination-four-months-ago-council-members-angry-at-end-run/ ] MacLeod brings broad local government and legal experience to the Council position. He was associate director of the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) in Annapolis and served for seven years as [&#8230;]]]></description>
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		<title>Cecil County Council Strikes Out on Ethics Panel, Bond Bill and New $2.1 Million Reserve Funds Raid; Hornberger Throws Spitballs</title>
		<link>https://ceciltimes.com/2021/06/5881/</link>
		<comments>https://ceciltimes.com/2021/06/5881/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jun 2021 19:46:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nancy Schwerzler]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alan McCarthy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[campaign finance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Dan Schneckenburger]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[fund balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heather O'Rourke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[howard county]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Downs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legal]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Wicomico county]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ceciltimes.com/?p=5881</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[NEWS ANALYSIS “And it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out, at the Old Ball Game.” The Cecil County Council stepped up to the legislative plate against the Hornberger administration this week but struck out, after some verbal swings at bat, on three major issues: the secret installation of a member of the Ethics Commission after the Council had turned down her nomination; a bond bill giving the county executive unilateral fiscal powers that the Council rejected last fall; and a sudden $2.1 million raid on reserve funds for schools spending just weeks after the county executive claimed she wouldn’t raid the reserves in her new budget. On the bonds and reserve funds measures, the administration of County Executive Danielle Hornberger (but not Hornberger herself, who personally stayed far away from the fray) had the Council over a fiscal barrel by claiming the county would suffer fiscal harm if her demands were not met immediately—a loss of possible revenues from re-financing bonds at potentially lower interest rates, and an unforeseen (at least by this administration) need to come up with more money to comply with state schools funding requirements. Unlike Hornberger’s administration, county officials in Wicomico and Howard counties revised their [&#8230;]]]></description>
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		<title>Hornberger Secretly Installs O’Rourke on Ethics Panel—Despite County Council’s Rejection of Nomination Four Months Ago; Council Angry at End-Run</title>
		<link>https://ceciltimes.com/2021/06/hornberger-secretly-installs-orourke-on-ethics-panel-despite-county-councils-rejection-of-her-nomination-four-months-ago-council-members-angry-at-end-run/</link>
		<comments>https://ceciltimes.com/2021/06/hornberger-secretly-installs-orourke-on-ethics-panel-despite-county-councils-rejection-of-her-nomination-four-months-ago-council-members-angry-at-end-run/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jun 2021 23:11:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nancy Schwerzler]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alan McCarthy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cecil county]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Al Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Goins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bill Coutz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bob Meffley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cecil County council]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[county attorney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[County Council]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[county executive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Schneckenburger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[danielle hornberger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ethics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gay rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Goins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heather O'Rourke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lawrence Scott]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://ceciltimes.com/?p=5870</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A CECIL TIMES Special Report Cecil County Executive Danielle Hornberger secretly installed a former co-worker on the county Ethics Commission recently, despite the fact the County Council rejected her nomination to the panel in February. There was no notice given to the Council of the action, just a new inclusion of the woman’s name on the county website for the ethics panel and her apparent participation in a recent Zoom meeting. At the same time, there has been a veil of secrecy surrounding actions by the new ethics panel, with absent audio during the initial 4/20/2021 meeting, no posting on the county website of video from that meeting or a subsequent 6/3/2021 meeting, and failure to post minutes approved a week ago. (The County Council usually posts video of its meetings and approved minutes within 24 hours.) Council members also were not told that one of their favorite nominees to the ethics panel, Joe Graf, a former county teacher, had resigned the same day as the first meeting of the panel. That leaves a new vacancy on the five-member panel; so far Hornberger has not proposed or installed a new name for that slot. Due to the flawed handling of [&#8230;]]]></description>
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