Attorney Beaman offered and the commissioners approved an amendment to Code Home Rule Bill 2-25, the county's proposed update to local public-ethics rules, changing the bill's effective date from immediate to 45 days after passage and adding language to clarify disclosure of confidential information. Beaman said the changes were submitted to the State Ethics Commission for preliminary review and that the Attorney General's office had approved the amended language.

The amendment's key wording, as described by Beaman, would make the bill effective "45 days after passage" and add the phrase "or former official or employee" to the section on disclosure of confidential information. Beaman recommended holding tonight's public hearing on the bill as amended and scheduling a second public hearing at the next meeting to allow people to comment specifically on the amendment.

At the public hearing, Kit Pepper Lascolat of Frostburg urged the commission to restore language that limits which elected officials must file county-level disclosures and to require broader financial-disclosure filings for senior county employees. Lascolat said many other counties list dozens of job categories that must file and criticized modeling the county after jurisdictions she described as having "the least amount of transparency." She said the change in draft language that would apply the code to "all Allegany County officials" reduces clarity and urged the board to favor greater disclosure.

The commissioners moved, seconded and recorded a voice vote of "Aye" to adopt the offered amendment to Bill 2-25. Beaman said the amended bill will be returned to the board for further public comment at the next meeting, which he and the chair scheduled for December 18.

What happens next: The amendment was adopted by voice vote tonight and will be part of the bill during the next public hearing; final adoption requires whatever further procedural steps the board follows and any required approvals by state agencies noted by staff.