The Maryland Association of County Administrative Officers and the Maryland Association of County Civil Attorneys held their annual conference at the Prince George’s County Park and Planning Commission Newton White Mansion this week. This annual event gives County Administrators and Attorneys an opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest and explore separate issues of interest in more depth.

County attorneys and county administrators from across Maryland met to discuss topics in land use, cable franchising, and coordination with the Office of the Attorney General, and hear from state agency leadership, private sector representatives, and state and local elected officials on topics of importance to county government and action areas in the upcoming legislative session.

Secretary Richard Hall of the Maryland Department of Planning led the morning’s opening session on Reinvest Maryland, describing the findings of the Sustainable Growth Commission’s report, Reinvest Maryland. Debra Daniel, Attorney for the City of Rockville continued the conversation with a discussion of comprehensive planning.

Chairman Dereck Davis of the Maryland House of Delegates Economic Matters Committee gave the keynote address, touching on the work of the Maryland Economic Development and Business Climate Commission and recommendations from the Commission that legislators might consider in the upcoming session, including working with Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development to market Maryland as a business-friendly environment, incentivizing businesses to move to Maryland, rewarding existing Maryland businesses, and improving coordination between levels of government to streamline the permitting process.

In the afternoon, the Administrators and Attorneys held two separate breakout sessions to discuss issues of interest.  The first Administrators’ session discussed the ins and outs of negotiating cable franchise agreements.  Speakers included Joanne Hovis, President of CTC Technology & Energy and Tom Robinson, Executive Vice President of CBG Communications. The second session was a round table discussion facilitated by Queen Anne’s County’s Administrator, Gregg Todd on overcoming the difficulties of recruiting staff, including the effects of the economy on county government recruitment.

The Attorneys held a round table and networking discussion with staff of the Attorney General’s Office focusing on constitutional agencies such as the Sheriffs, State Attorneys and Circuit Courts.  They also held a roundtable discussion led by Robert S. McCord, County Attorney of Harford County on county cases and current county legal issues with participants from the Local Government Insurance Trust.

MACo would like to thank its conference sponsors, Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission, SolarCity and the Local Government Insurance Trust (LGIT).