Two Howard County Council members are advocating tougher qualifications for a new county environmental administrator's job likely intended for a key aide to County Executive Ken Ulman.
Leading the critics is Councilwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, a west Columbia Democrat who has fought several political battles with Ulman, and who beat the aide, Joshua Feldmark, in the 2006 primary election despite Ulman's support for him. Ulman beat Sigaty in the 2002 council election, and Jessica Feldmark, Joshua Feldmark's wife, is a top Ulman aide.
The council is to vote Monday on a bill to create the Office of Environmental Sustainability and creating the new administrator's job -- recommendations of a citizens committee of environmentalists appointed by Ulman last year.
Feldmark has held the administrator's job on an interim basis for the past year and is the likely appointee, though more stringent qualifications could eliminate him as a candidate.
After the council discussion, Sigaty denied an attempt at political payback.
"I'm not trying to block him," she said, though she added, "There certainly could be that perception." She said she has worked well with Feldmark over the past year.
Western county Republican Councilman Greg Fox joined in Sigaty's critical questioning, but the other three council members appeared unsympathetic. Chairman Courtney Watson, an Ellicott City Democrat, challenged Sigaty to propose a specific amendment.
"What is the bottom line here? Let's put it on the table," she said.
Councilwoman Jen Terrasa, a Kings Contrivance Democrat, said a specialist trained in one area of environmental studies could be too narrowly focused, eliminating an eager and capable person.
"I'd hate us to box us out of hiring someone because they don't have one year of bio-diversity," she said.
Councilman Calvin Ball, an east Columbia Democrat, pointed out that the bill reflects the wisdom of many experts in various environmental fields who served on the citizens committee that studied the issue.
"Should we go against the experts?" he asked.
County Chief Administrative Officer Lonnie Robbins bristled at one point at what he considered council interference in executive office prerogatives.
"With all due respect," he said to Sigaty, "to some degree there's a separation-of-powers issue." The executive would not try to interfere in whom council members choose for their staff positions, he said.
Robbins, who is acting as executive this week while Ulman is on an economic development visit to Bangalore, India, said the environmental coordinator's job qualifications are in line with those for similar executive branch appointees, such as the director of purchasing or communications director.
In the bill, the environmental coordinator's qualifications are described as someone with "considerable knowledge of the principles and practices of air and water quality, energy use, land preservation and environmental education ... [and] at least five years of increasingly responsible experience in environmental sustainability work, including at least two years in a supervisory role."
"We envision this position as being one for a generalist," Robbins told the council.
Fox replied that he saw the detailed questions as part of the "checks and balances" in which power is divided between executive and legislative branches.
"We should be asking questions about all of our appointments. They keep adding job after job after job in this administration," he said.
Sigaty was not deterred.
"I think this position should be a scientific position. This is not a scientific position," she said during the council discussion. Hiring a generalist to coordinate county environmental policy might be a "feel-good" move, but the county needs someone with specific scientific knowledge, she said. "I would require more expertise and education," Sigaty said.
Joshua Feldmark did not attend the meeting.
"Honestly, I guess I choose not to really think about whether this is personal or not. All I can do is do the job to the best of my ability," he said last week.
Feldmark served as coordinator for the citizens committee on the environment, which Ulman created in February last year, and has remained to work on environmental legislation as Ulman's $75,200-a-year executive assistant while legislation to create an office was prepared.
"I think I'm very qualified for this position," Feldmark said, noting his experience over the past year and his work over five years for the Center for Environmental Citizenship in Washington.
larry.carson@baltsun.com