Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier’s new team includes a chief of staff and a husband and wife with decades of experience in county government.
Valerie and Patrick Roddy began working for the administration on January 13.
Patrick Roddy is Klausmeier’s director of government relations. He has had various positions in county government over nearly two decades.
More recently, he was a State House lobbyist. Roddy retired from the firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC in 2021 after nearly 20 years.
Roddy will be paid $125,000 annually.
Klausmeier resigned from her seat in the State Senate after the Baltimore County Council selected her earlier this month to replace Johnny Olszewski as county executive.
Olszewski resigned to take the seat he won in Congress.
Valerie Roddy, Klausmeier’s deputy chief of staff, spent more than 20 years in various roles in Baltimore County government. She is making an annual salary of $150,000.
Amanda Stakem Conn, Klausmeier’s chief of staff, most recently was the general counsel for WSSC, which provides water in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. Conn also once served as an assistant county attorney in Baltimore County.
Conn started on Thursday and will make an annual salary of $220,500.
In a statement Klausmeier said, “I’m confident that Amanda, Valerie and Pat will utilize their wealth of experience and unique skill sets to grow and strengthen our enterprise in these key positions, and continue to make Baltimore County a special place to live, work, and enjoy.”
Meanwhile, Klausmeier announced Friday that she is keeping the annual series of budget town halls that was started by her predecessor.
Town halls will be held in each of the seven Council districts.
The first is going to be February 6 in Catonsville. The full schedule can be found here.
When former County Executive Johnny Olszewski started the annual town halls in 2019, hundreds of people showed up.
Olszewski said that was an indication that up until then people had felt shut out of county government.
