The Harford County Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday urging the state legislature to pass a law to protect county sheriff's deputies from being dismissed or demoted without just cause.
The resolution suggests that state law be changed by the next General Assembly to establish a promotional system based on merit to cover the deputies, who now serve at the pleasure of the sheriff.
"This is something that should have been done a long time ago," said District E Councilman Robert S. Wagner, who introduced the resolution, which was supported by County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann.
"This will go further than any other measure -- including the creation of a county police department -- toward removing politics from the sheriff's office," Mr. Wagner said.
"It should eliminate the political struggle those employees go through every four years," he said, citing the spate of personnel changes in the department since Joseph P. Meadows became sheriff Dec. 5.
The county sheriff's office employs about 400 people. The positions of chief deputy, major, warden and sheriff's secretary would be excluded from the revised system, but all other law enforcement, Detention Center and clerical staff would be protected.
A similar resolution was approved by the County Council last year, and the General Assembly passed a House bill affecting employees of the sheriff's office last spring. But Gov. William Donald Schaefer vetoed the bill in June.
In other business, the council:
* Agreed to send applications from five farms in the county to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation to protect about 530 more acres from development.
The farms, ranging from 58 acres to 144 acres, are applying for temporary protection as agricultural preservation "districts." The
state program requires a farm to be a designated district at least five years before its owners can apply for permanent protection through easement sales. About 28,000 acres of farmland are in the state program, the council was told by agricultural planner Mike Paone. He said 9,500 acres of that are permanently protected.
The latest applications are from John Rigdon of Bradenbaugh Road in the Shawsville area; Arvin Saddler of New Park Road near Norrisville; Douglas Smith of Madonna Road in Jarrettsville; George Reeves of Chestnut Hill Road in Forest Hill; and William Wernig Jr. of Holly Cross Road in Street.
* Unanimously approved Ms. Rehrmann's reappointment of 10 department heads.
Reappointed were Larry Klimovitz, director of administration; Robert Hockaday Jr., director of governmental and community relations; Ernest Crofoot, county attorney; James Jewell, county treasurer; William Baker, director of public works; Randall Schultz, director of human resources; Cheryl Worthington, director of community services; Richard Lynch; director of inspections, licenses and permits; Paul Gilbert, director of economic development; and Amey Epstein, director of housing.
The executive has not named replacements for former Planning Director William Carroll, who resigned last month; Parks and Recreation Director Robert Staab, leaving to join the administration of Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III; or Procurement Director John O'Neill Jr., named interim warden of the Detention Center.
* Approved several, mostly minor, changes to the County Council Rules of Procedure initiated by President Joanne S. Parrott. The most significant alters the roll call order so the president votes last instead of first, as has been the custom for the past five years.
The 4-3 vote in favor of the changes was the closest vote to date by the newly installed council. Susan B. Heselton, Mr. Wagner and Mitch Shank voted against changing the procedures.
"I just didn't think anything was broken that needed fixing," Mr. Wagner, one of three re-elected council members, said after the meeting. He said he didn't think roll call order mattered that much because anyone can pass on first call and end up being the last to vote.
He said he voted against the changes on principle: "This council's not in place three weeks and we're already changing the rules. It's ridiculous to spend time on that when we should be moving ahead with the business at hand."
* At the administration's request, introduced two resolutions on pTC the disposal of surplus county property.
One resolution would authorize the swap of 36 acres of county open space property on the north side of Fords Lane in Perryman Park to the Parker Mitchell Trust for about 37 acres of trust property on the south side of Fords Lane.
County officials said the property on the south side, with several acresof frontage on Church Creek, will be more conducive to development of recreational facilities.
In the second case, the county needs council approval to declare as surplus a tract it acquired at the Forest Hill industrial park and to transfer it to the Board of Education.
The resolution is the final step in a trade in which the county swapped a parcel of land at the Board of Education's Forest Hill Annex on Industry Lane for an adjoining tract owned by Mid-Atlantic Label Inc.
The swap provided the county additional road frontage, critical to tapping into county water and sewer lines and future expansion at the annex. In return, Mid-Atlantic gained land away from the road that will allow it to build an addition to its plant.
The county must declare the newly acquired land surplus before it can be turned over to the Board of Education. Both parcels are less than an acre.
A public hearing on both resolutions will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 in the council chambers on Level A of the courthouse.