Frederick County Council unanimously confirmed Shannon Moore as director of the county’s Division of Energy and Environment on Tuesday, underscoring a confusing confirmation process.
Moore began as director in July 2022, but it wasn’t until March 7 that she was interviewed by the council and approved on Tuesday.
The reason for the delay in confirmation, county spokeswoman Vivian Laxton texted Friday, is that the department arose out of the former Office of Sustainability.
This unit was housed in the District Executive Office, so its then director, Moore, did not require council approval.
With the formation of the department last year, Moore and her office were reorganized under the county, which Laxton says later led to her appointment by county executive Jessica Fitzwater and the need for council approval.
Moore’s salary is $136,709, according to acting director of human resources Shannon Powell.
In an interview Friday, Moore, who has worked for the Frederick County government since 2002, outlined her department’s future projects. The most immediate is the introduction of a climate and energy action plan for internal operations at County Council.
According to Moore, the plan outlines strategies to reduce the county’s greenhouse gas emissions from its internal operations and measures climate risks to the county’s services.
The county has set goals to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050, Moore said, and this plan will show how to get there.
Moore said a similar plan for the broader community would begin development in late spring or early summer. This plan would outline how to build community resilience to the extreme heat and flooding associated with climate change.
Slide or act of transparency?Even with Moore’s unanimous approval and rave reviews from council members, the council still had an issue to discuss.
This was due to a request by council member Mason Carter, R, to have the minutes of the meeting unsealed from the council’s interview with Moore.
While Carter said it was an opportunity to open up to the public and recognize Moore’s quality as a suitor, others said it could lead to cloudy decisions later.
“So if this government is to be by the people, by the people and for the people, it has to be open to the people,” Carter said Tuesday. “I think we’re going to vote unanimously on that appointment because she’s a superstar … and I think everyone in the county should know that.”
Councilwoman MC Keegan-Ayer, D, said unsealing the protocol would set a dangerous precedent and disclosing an applicant’s identity could create problems between them and their employer.
“We always conducted our interviews behind closed doors. We’re allowed to do that under the Maryland Open Meetings Act,” Keegan-Ayer said. “It would have a chilling effect on future applicants for job applications.”
Council President Brad Young, D agreed with Keegan-Ayer. Young said the council would then have to defend future decisions to go into closed session on personnel matters, despite being permitted by law to do so.
“Once you set the precedent you can open up the meetings,” Young said, “it makes it difficult to argue going forward that we can pick and choose those that we want to let go.”
The act of releasing the minutes would not expose candidates to the dangers listed by Keegan-Ayer, according to Councilman Steve McKay, R. McKay said the minutes would only list participants’ names and the council would only release the minutes after the applicant’s confirmation.
“I think all releasing the transcript will do is confirm the person who was interviewed. That’s it. And I think that’s okay,” McKay said.
However, it was Keegan-Ayer who called for transparency when it came to adjusting the criteria for a property tax program, and Young, McKay, and Carter agreed on Young’s change to streamline that process.
New sanitary codeOne of the final items on the council’s agenda was a bill by Keegan-Ayer to bring the county’s plumbing code into compliance with the International Plumbing Code 2018 standards.
Keegan-Ayer said the bill would also conform to standards set at the state level and restrict the use of certain hoses to connect a gas fuel source to an appliance in a home.
In her comments, she referenced the death of Captain Joshua Laird, a Frederick County firefighter, in the summer of 2021 and said it was hoses in part that were responsible for the fire, the Laird and the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services responded.
The bill, which passed unanimously, recognizes the sacrifice made by Laird and his family while ensuring that new buildings in Frederick County are as safe as possible, Keegan-Ayer said.
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