Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski is throwing his weight behind increasing the size of the County Council by four members.
Olszewski signed a petition Monday to put the question on the November ballot. His support comes one week before a key deadline, when at least 10,000 valid signatures have to be turned in to the Baltimore County Board of Elections.
There are dueling proposals.
Earlier this month, the County Council approved a two seat expansion ballot question, but Olszewski said that he sees that as “a floor, not a ceiling.”
Olszewski for years has supported expanding the council, but this is the first time he has publicly supported a four-seat increase.
While Olszewski says he is fine with a two-seat expansion, he prefers doubling that.
“We have a council that has not changed in decades, even though we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of additional residents come to Baltimore County,” Olszewski said.
For more than two years, the group VOTE4MORE! has been collecting signatures to get the four-seat expansion question on the ballot. It is wrapping up the campaign with what it calls a week of action.
Volunteers are being deployed to several Walmarts to get signatures. Besides Olszewski, other high-profile officials such as House Speaker Adrienne Jones and County Councilman Julian Jones are backing the petition drive.
In the past, Jones has been non-committal about whether he supports Council expansion.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that four more council seats will be in the best interest of the citizens of Baltimore County,” Jones said.
Jones did not attend the July 1 meeting when the County Council approved the two-seat expansion question for the ballot. He said if he had been there, he would have voted against it.
VOTE4MORE chair Linda Dorsey-Walker said Council expansion is a complicated issue and volunteers are needing to explain it to voters as they are trying to get their signatures.
Dorsey-Walker said, “This actually requires that people understand what’s happening, what hasn’t happened, what the potential impact might be on their lives.”
Supporters of both a two and four seat expansion say it would increase the chances that women and people of color can get elected. The current seven member council is all male with Jones being its one Black member.
They also point out that Baltimore County has had seven council members since the charter was approved in 1956. Since then, the county’s population has nearly tripled. Each council member now represents around 122,000 people.
More than 10,200 signatures have been turned in and the group expects to have hundreds more by next week’s deadline. Then they need to be validated.
Council expansion would come at a price.
County officials estimate it would annually cost $700,000 for each new council office, which includes salaries, supplies, equipment and benefits. Officials also expect a multi-million dollar renovation of the council offices in Towson would be necessary to make room for new members.
