The new Republican majority on the Howard County Council showed its solidarity yesterday by firing council administrator Sheila Tolliver from her $73,308-a-year job.
Ms. Tolliver, an Anne Arundel Democrat who was hired by the former Democratic majority 20 months ago, was ousted by a 3-2 vote along party lines in an executive session of the council yesterday morning.
Although she called the firing "a sad ending," Ms. Tolliver was not surprised by it.
"I fully expected [Council Chairman Charles C. Feaga] would be making this change if he were elected council chairman and there was a Republican majority on the council," she said.
But council Democrats, who saw Ms. Tolliver's job as apolitical, were disappointed.
"I never asked where her political views are," said Democrat C. Vernon Gray, the previous council chairman. "It is unfortunate that we are losing her. I think Sheila was an absolutely superb manager and administrator. It's not easy to work for five independent council members."
Democrat Mary C. Lorsung, who worked with Ms. Tolliver as an administrative aide to Councilman Paul R. Farragut before succeeding him on the council, said the council may suffer from the loss of Ms. Tolliver's expertise.
"She did an excellent job, not only managing the office, but in managing the council budget in tough times," said Ms. Lorsung. "She managed to get us reasonably up to speed on computers, and in getting legislative files in a secure [computer] storage system."
Ms. Tolliver's firing had its genesis in a legislative measure she helped write shortly after joining the council staff.
That bill called for the council's three legislative assistant positions to become career jobs instead of political appointments approved by each council. The bill passed over Mr. Feaga's objection.
"He objected that it would leave only one person that the council could replace," said Ms. Tolliver.
Mr. Feaga said yesterday that, in his view, "a new group should have the ability to appoint the administrator and the three legislative assistants."
The departing administrator agreed that the job should be appointive, based on the administrator's performance, but not on politics. "I saw this as an apolitical job and I didn't participate in partisan politics in Howard County -- or any place else," she said.
At the closed-door session where they made the decision, council members agreed to let Ms. Tolliver announce her departure rather than Mr. Feaga. She broke the news to her staff at 3 p.m. yesterday.
According to her departure agreement, she may stay until the end of January or leave earlier if she chooses. She said she has not decided yet on a date.
County Auditor Ronald S. Weinstein will work with Ms. Tolliver until she leaves. As acting administrator for the third time in six years, he will guide the council through the budget process until a new administrator is hired, Mr. Feaga said.
Mr. Feaga said the council will advertise for a new administrator and will set a deadline of Jan. 15 for applications. The salary ranges from $55,918 to $80,959 a year.
The Republicans have "no one definitely in mind to fill this position," Mr. Feaga said. "We'll be looking for someone with good office skills who knows how to manage people and people feel comfortable with." The council also will be looking for someone with the ability to draft legislation, he said.
Mr. Feaga first broached the subject of Ms. Tolliver's dismissal in an executive session with three other council members Dec. 7, the morning after the council's first legislative session. Mr. Gray was unable to attend that meeting, and council members decided to wait till he could be present to deal with Ms. Tolliver's situation.
Afterward, Ms. Tolliver sent Mr. Feaga a memorandum saying he should pay more attention to the state's open meetings law when calling the council together. She suggested in her memo that some council sessions since Dec. 7 may have been held without proper notification and may have been in violation of the state's open meeting law.
Yesterday, she said "there is no problem," adding that she has given Mr. Feaga and other members a copy of the law and briefed them on their obligations.