Baltimore County permit employee skips 239 hours of work, costing taxpayers $16,000

A Baltimore County inspection and enforcement officer was paid for more than 239 hours they did not work over six weeks, costing taxpayers more than $16,000, according to a report issued this week by the county’s Office of the Inspector General.

The employee, who wasn’t identified, repeatedly took their county vehicle home or left it parked for hours at park-and-ride lots, shopping centers and other locations. During those periods, the report says, other inspectors were overloaded as work piled up in the county’s notoriously slow permit approval process. The employee was part of the Department of Permits, Approvals and Inspections.

The approval process has vexed many residents who complain of long wait times to build additions, decks, bathrooms or new homes. When she took the top job last year, County Executive Kathy Klausmeier said streamlining permits and inspections to reduce wait times was a priority.

The inspector violated several policies, including rules governing the use of county vehicles and time and attendance. The report also found that the inspector’s supervisor violated policy by not regularly checking the GPS installed in county vehicles to ascertain where the inspector was and what the inspector was doing.

According to the report, the inspector and the supervisor were friendly and were engaged in a side business.

“These estimates are conservative,” the report says of the hours the inspector did not work and the resulting cost to the county, noting that they do not include fuel costs for unnecessary driving and idling. It adds that “interviews indicate this behavior has taken place for years.”

An engineer interviewed for the report “expressed concern that the Inspector drove past inspection addresses without stopping and spent unusually short periods at some inspection sites,” the report says. The engineer “stressed that thorough inspections are critical to public safety.”

The inspector general’s office did not review the safety of the inspections in question, according to the report.

Of the 49 workdays reviewed, the inspector reported completing 127 inspections. In 27 of those instances, the vehicle wasn’t near an inspection location. In seven, it passed an inspection site without stopping. Ten inspections lasted under two minutes; 44 of them lasted between two and four minutes. Twelve of those 49 days showed no inspections at all, according to office records.

The inspector acknowledged waiting at home or at parking lots and shopping centers for a call, saying they remained available to respond to work.

“The inspector admitted that on many days they simply sat in the vehicle when no problems arose,” the report says. “When reminded this occurred frequently, the inspector replied, ‘Okay. A lot of days.’ ... It was especially concerning that the inspector attempted to justify their inactivity by stating that they were ‘on call.’”

The supervisor acknowledged not checking the GPS, saying they only logged into the system periodically because they were “supposed to” instead of monitoring it consistently.

“I don’t really use it,” the supervisor said. “I log in so that I say I logged in.”

The report does not indicate whether the inspector and supervisor still work for the county. Deputy Inspector General Gregg Domroe, who conducted the report, is no longer in the position. He is an adviser, a county spokesperson said.

The county currently has no inspector general or deputy inspector general, though it is searching for a deputy, the spokesperson said via email.

The inspector general position has lacked a permanent occupant since January, when Kelly Madigan departed to start an inspector general’s office in Howard County. Her deputy, Steve Quisenberry, was the acting inspector general, but he left the office this summer. Domroe, who was Quisenberry’s deputy, announced last month he was leaving the office.

The report is the first the office has issued this year, other than a one-page summary of an “executive management referral” concerning an employee who was chosen for a position without a proper interview process.

In response to the report, D’Andrea Walker, the county administrative officer, said the permits department would “clarify as needed” the expectation that supervisors monitor GPS data and “continue to communicate” driver responsibilities to inspectors. Walker also said that “while slower periods may occur, supervisors should identify additional tasks to ensure employees remain fully engaged.”

Klausmeier has said she will not nominate anyone for the permanent inspector general position, as a new county executive will be sworn in early next year.

The Baltimore County Council will discuss legislation Tuesday that will explicitly say that the deputy inspector general can issue reports while the office’s top job is vacant. Several council members, including Julian Jones — the Democratic nominee for county executive — have expressed frustration that the deputy inspector general did not issue any full reports for several months.