Two bills proposed by Montgomery County Del. Anne Kaiser, D-District 14, to put stricter limits on contracting out county projects have received vastly different receptions.
The first, which applies to “outsourcing” the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, has moved past the county delegation and seems destined to make it through all the proper local channels on the way to consideration by the General Assembly.
Meanwhile, county delegates just dropped the bill that she authored to put restrictions on contracting out projects for the Housing Opportunities Commission.
In both pieces of legislation, Kaiser told The Examiner she hoped to provide more oversight and explanation if the agencies sought to go outside department personnel in completing projects.
Montgomery County Council members last year voted to force the county to prove that in the cases of $75,000 contracts or higher it would be cheaper to outsource than stay in-house.
The thrust of doing so was to “give employees a greater senseof job security if there’s a future recession,” the delegate said.
“We heard from unions [representing the Housing Opportunities Commission and Parks and Planning] that they were looking to provide the same support,” she said. “They came to us and we drafted these bills.”
The HOC legislation was killed off this week primarily because the department has a relatively small staff, and it was deemed unmanageable for staff to have to analyze project costs each time outsourcing was considered.
On the other hand, Parks and Planning is a larger agency, and Kaiser said the proposal could work for it.
