Overstaying His Welcome

Let’s tell this story with a traditional fairytale style…

Once upon a time, there was a supreme bean counter whose skills impressed people across the kingdom. But, as time went on, the people had less and less beans to count because of the bean counter. And now, the people of the kingdom want their beans back, so the bean counter needs to go away.

Too cryptic? Understood. Let’s go back to reality, then.

At one time, Baltimore County Administrator Fred Homan was the darling of the bean counters, as demonstrated in this Baltimore Sun article. But we are a far cry from those days, and there needs to be a change at the top.

Let’s look at Mr. Homan’s career path, shall we?

Mr. Homan began his career with the county in 1978. He was appointed by then executive Jim Smith in 2006 to become the next budget chief after the retirement of Anthony G. Marchione. Mr. Homan’s last promotion came at a contentious council meeting, where tempers flared as the council voted 5-0, with Councilman Joe Bartenfelder abstaining and Vince Gardina a no-show.

Why were tempers flaring, you may ask? You see, all of this took place as Mr. Homan was in the midst of a scandal regarding the firing of another county employee—one who supposedly caught him in some hanky-panky with then county attorney Suzanne Berger. 

But wait, it gets better.

Mr. Homan then came to the forefront of yet another scandal (one that is ongoing today) which has the county defending itself against a host of lawsuits involving a federal investigation into violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This latest issue has led to millions of taxpayer dollars in payouts.

Then (as if we needed more) there was the Mainsail scandal in which the county lost $25 million in about 30 days. Poof—the money was just gone with no accountability over its loss.

It makes one wonder if the county office building has been painted white…

Now, let me cut to the chase and reveal why I am stating it’s time for Mr. Homan to retire voluntary or be fired by his boss, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. Although, one has to wonder who is really running the show, because references to Mr. Homan have often been referred to as “the office of Fred.”

The straw that proverbially broke the camel’s back came when this headline appeared in the press:

More county employee info stolen

(Baltimore Sun, November 9, 2013)

To date, more than 12,000 county employees (although the number could get much higher) have had their personal data breached. Meanwhile, Mr. Homan issued a statement, saying, “At this time, there is no evidence that any employee's information was misused in any way.” That is a tough one to believe when, in fact, the suspect has been involved in prior identity theft, per the following quote:

“The man is in custody in another state and is to be extradited to Maryland to face charges in an unrelated identity-theft case.”

If anyone truly believes this is the end of the story, I have a  Government Center to sell you at a giveaway price.

Oh, by the way, I’m not the only one calling for Mr. Homan to exit stage left. You might want to read this quote from Bryan Sears’ blog on the issue.

“Del. John Cluster, a Parkville Republican, said Thursday that County Administrative Officer Fred Homan is costing county taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in pursuing ‘frivolous lawsuits’ involving the Fraternal Order of Police.”

So, if you don’t want to take my word for it, then you should listen to Del. Cluster, since he now has called for Mr. Homan’s ouster.

Finally, I received a call from someone who recently observed Mr. Homan in public. I was told that Mr. Homan did not look well and walked with a cane. As I recall, there were some issues when Mr. Homan was seriously injured after falling off a horse while riding. The question I have is this: has Mr. Homan been made to undergo the same issues he forced upon other county employees that lead to the feds investigating the ADA issue? That would be poetic justice, would it not?

So there you have it … or at least some of it. After all, there is not enough room in one blog for all of the faux pas that have been committed on Mr. Homan’s watch.

No matter how you slice and dice it, it’s time for Mr. Homan to go.

The question remains about who is running the county, and this may be the proof that we need to demonstrate that it is not our county executive, Mr. Kamenetz. If he takes action, then he’s in charge. If not, then we know who really is.