A four-member majority of the incoming Anne Arundel County Council met yesterday at the Glen Burnie law offices of council member Cathleen M. Vitale to discuss the next four years, including ways to check County Executive Janet S. Owens.

Vitale, a Republican who is expected to be elected chairwoman when the seven-member panel convenes for its first official meeting Dec. 2, organized the meeting.

Vitale said she intended the meeting to be private, but when reporters from The Sun and The Capital learned about it, she invited them to attend.

"It just seemed like a good idea to talk," Vitale said, referring to the council's new GOP-majority.

Two council incumbents lost races Nov. 5. Voters also elected a successor to council member John J. Klocko III, who died in an automobile accident last month.

The council's meeting did not violate state public meetings law because two of the four attendees - Republicans Edward R. Reilly and Ron Dillon Jr. - have not been inaugurated, said Assistant Attorney General Jack Schwartz.

It takes four sitting council members to convene an official meeting.

The incoming council members discussed serving as a strong sounding board for policies and programs introduced by the Owens administration.

"If we stick together, then we are not going to be marginalized," said Samorajczyk, who has sparred with Owens.