Frederick County E-Mail-Gate: Delauter Edition

By Eric Beasley

Photo by Garth Phoebus Photography

This is going to be one of those factual posts. Councilman Delauter was kind enough to forward me a sampling of the e-mails that he has received from County Staff and Council President Otis.

For ease of reading, I’m including the text of each e-mail in chronological order. Screenshots are nice, but they can be hard to read. Extraneous information has been removed, such as excessively long signature blocks.

::Puts on IT Security Hat::
You might also notice that the e-mail header information (To, From, Subject, CC) changes between the e-mails. This inconsistency is due to the e-mails being forwarded, replied, and sent to different e-mail providers, which all handle the formatting differently. I have no reason to believe that any of these e-mails are fake or fraudulent in nature.
::Takes off IT Security Hat::

From: Demosky, Kevin
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2016 9:46 AM
To: Browning, Doug <DBrowning@FrederickCountyMD.gov>; Harris, Phil <PHarris@FrederickCountyMD.gov>
Cc: Keeney, Heidi <HKeeney@FrederickCountyMD.gov>; McCain, Richard <RMccain@FrederickCountyMD.gov>
Subject: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

Doug and Phil,

Attached is a copy of the letter being sent today via USPS to Mr. Cavell, which you were cc’d.

A printed copy of the attached will be sent interoffice mail to Councilmember Delauter c/o Lee Redmond.

Kevin L. Demosky
Director, Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management

From: Keeney, Heidi
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2016 11:48 AM
To: Cherney, Ragen
Cc: Gardner, Jan; Browning, Doug; Redmond,Lee
Subject: FW: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

Good Morning Ragen,

Please see the attached letter that will be sent in today’s mail to J&J.

Thanks,

Heidi

Note: The attachment was not included within the e-mail chain. Based on the subject, we can surmise that J&J Inc, a trash hauler service in the county that serves many rural areas, is having some issues with being allowed to dispose of county refuse at the county landfill.

From: Redmond,Lee
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2016 12:53 PM
To: Delauter, Kirby
Subject: FW: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

This e-mail was blank. It appears that Mr. Redmond forwarded the previous e-mails to Mr. Delauter.

From: Delauter, Kirby
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 9:15 AM
To: Redmond,Lee
Cc: ‘Eddie Roberts’
Subject: RE: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

OK. Let Ragen I want to get with him on Tuesday an get a bill together on this to amend the code.  What DUSWM is doing is wrong.

Kirby

From: Redmond,Lee
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 10:19 AM
To: Cherney, Ragen
Subject: FW: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

Ragen,

Please see Council Member Delauter’s request to meet with you below.

Lee

On May 5, 2016, at 10:48 AM, “Cherney, Ragen” <RCherney@FrederickCountyMD.gov> wrote:

No problem.  But before we start drafting anything I’m trying to get this topic on an agenda to have a discussion between you all with Kevin Demosky and Phil Harris.

From: Delauter, Kirby
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 12:41 PM
To: Cherney, Ragen
Cc: Redmond,Lee
Subject: Re: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

Ok

From: Cherney, Ragen
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 1:45 PM
To: Delauter, Kirby
Cc: Redmond,Lee
Subject: RE: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

Bud says you need to speak to him directly to request the item be placed on an agenda.

I find it odd that Mr. Otis would elect to have his aide e-mail this to Mr. Delauter. Would it have been so hard to call him to discuss the matter?

From: Delauter, Kirby
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 3:31 PM
To: Cherney, Ragen
Cc: Redmond,Lee
Subject: RE: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

When did I ask to have something on the agenda?

From: Cherney, Ragen
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 3:31 PM
To: Delauter, Kirby
Cc: Redmond,Lee
Subject: RE: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

May 5

You can see from this e-mail chain that there was no request to have this item put on the agenda. The request was “I want to get with him on Tuesday an get a bill together on this to amend the code.”

I prefer to have a bill written before it is put on the agenda, discussed, and voted on. But maybe that’s just me…

On May 9, 2016, at 3:42 PM, Delauter, Kirby <KDelauter@FrederickCountyMD.gov> wrote:

He just needs to put in writing whether or not he will place it on the agenda.  If I get no answer by COB tomorrow, I’ll send it to the FNP.  His call.

After he threatened to work in conjunction with the CE to bankrupt my company if I didn’t “get on board” and threatened that he would hate to see something happen to my wife and family, in a private one on one meeting with he and I,  I will do no more private one on one meetings with CP Otis.

I feel for all businesses in this county right now and I certainly know how they feel.

COB tomorrow, or it will be FNP bound.  His call.

Kirby

Reading in between the lines, it appears that Mr. Delauter wanted written confirmation that if he went through the bill writing process that the bill would be placed on the agenda. Personally, I feel like this is a reasonable request. Why go through the legislative process if the Council President refuses to let the issue come to a vote?

On May 9, 2016, at 5:45 PM, “Cherney, Ragen” <RCherney@FrederickCountyMD.gov> wrote:

Would it help if Michael, I and MC also attended a meeting on this with you and Bud?

From: Delauter, Kirby
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 7:32 AM
To: Cherney, Ragen
Cc: Redmond,Lee; Shreve, Billy; Chmelik, Tony
Subject: Re: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

I need three votes to get an item on agenda. Right?

On May 10, 2016, at 7:40 AM, “Cherney, Ragen” <RCherney@FrederickCountyMD.gov> wrote:

Either the president can put an item on the agenda, or right now you would need 3 other members and yourself for a total of 4 members to add an agenda item.  Under our proposed Rule changes to be discussed tonight Billy has a proposed change (new 4-2(b)) that will allow 3 members total to add an item, but that Rule is not yet in place for the Council.

R

From: Delauter, Kirby
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 9:11 AM
To: Cherney, Ragen
Cc: Redmond,Lee; Shreve, Billy; Chmelik, Tony; Chomel, Michael
Subject: Re: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

Bud just needs to respond by email by cob today.  Approved or denied.

From: Delauter, Kirby
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 10:55 AM
To: Delauter, Kirby; Cherney, Ragen
Cc: Redmond,Lee; Shreve, Billy; Chmelik, Tony; Chomel, Michael
Subject: RE: J&J, Inc. Response §1-11-33. PERMITTED SOURCES OF REFUSE

OK, since the CP didn’t respond,  I will forward to FNP.

Thank him for his non decision.

Kirby

Another more recent e-mail exchange. From my understanding, this individual wanted to discuss some economic development here in Frederick County.

From: Delauter, Kirby
Date: Wed, May 18, 2016 4:46 PM
To: Coleman, Sherman;
Subject:Ecdc

Sherman
Can you contact Randy Cohen at XXX-XXX-XXXX

Kirby

From: Coleman, Sherman
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 8:11 AM
To: Delauter, Kirby
Cc: Propheter, Helen
Subject: Communications

Kirby,

All questions and communication from Mr. Cohen should be directed to Mr. Doug Browning.

Thank You

Sherman Coleman
Business Development Specialist
Office of Economic Development

For the casual reader, this might seem like a pretty minor thing. But as with many government issues, you have to read in between the lines. Mr. Delauter is providing constituent services. He was contacted by a local business that wants to bring jobs to the area. The CE is forcing these constituent services to go through her office, the theory being that the business owner will credit her with expanding businesses and not Mr. Delauter. Come 2018, that business owner might believe that the County Executive is responsible for the assistance, not Mr. Delauter.

While taking credit for job growth might seem like a minor thing, County Executive Gardner is going to need every possible talking point for 2018, when she runs against the accomplished Secretary Kelly Schulz.