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Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Montgomery County urges justices to deny religious burden claim

Montgomery County validly enforced a zoning requirement that two Burtonsville landowners claim prevented a Christian group from building a church on their land, the county stated Monday in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the owners’ request that it hear their appeal.

Burtonsville Associates and Burtonsville Crossing LLC allege the county essentially blocked construction of the church in violation of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act by refusing to alter its master plan and extend sewer service to the planned building, as it had done for a secular facility.

Montgomery County, in its responsive high court filing, said Congress enacted RLUIPA to prohibit government from imposing a substantial burden on religious exercise through land use restrictions.

Lawmakers, however, did not require counties to make special accommodations for religious facilities in land use decisions, as that would violate the constitutional prohibition on governmental establishment of religion, wrote the county’s lead attorney, Howard R. Feldman.

He added that the county’s decision to stick with its master plan on sewer service did not substantially burden the church’s religious exercise because a septic system would still enable the church to have an 800-seat facility rather than its preference for one that would accommodate 2,000 congregants...

Montgomery County urges Supreme Court to deny religious burden claim (thedailyrecord.com)

Montgomery College Dual Enrollment Is Tuition Free for 2022-2023—and Beyond

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students enrolled in Montgomery College (MC) dual enrollment classes recently got good news—their tuition is free for the current academic year, and beginning in the Fall of 2023, dual enrollment students will not pay any costs associated with attending college while still in high school.

An Oct. 7, 2022, memo from Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury detailed that students will not be required to pay any portion of tuition for college (this new legislation includes WDCE classes as well as credit classes) courses they are enrolled in at MC, regardless of their financial status.

Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, students may sign up for college courses through dual enrollment at no cost to student or their families.  This includes all college tuition, fees, required textbooks, and instructional supplies.

The MC-MCPS partnership offers several unique dual enrollment programs for students:

  • The Early College program allows MCPS students to earn a college degree, attend college courses on MC's campus, and experience college life in 11th and 12th grade while completing their high school diploma requirements. 
  • Jump Start to College enables students to be admitted and enrolled in individual college courses at MC, earning college credit while still in high school. Qualifying MCPS students may take one course or a pathway of courses that allows them to continue at MC or transfer credits after HS graduation.
  • The Middle College programs provide MCPS students at Northwood, Clarksburg, and  Northwest High Schools an opportunity to earn a college degree in Business, General Engineering, General Studies, or Cloud Computing and Network Technology while still attending their home high school. Students may also participate in the Virtual Middle College at any MCPS high school, including the MCPS Virtual Academy.

Any student who wishes to apply to participate in the Early College (10th grade students only) or Virtual Middle College (8th grade students only) programs for fall 2023 must submit an MCPS Interest Form by the November 11, 2022, deadline. Students can find the link to the Interest Form on MC’s dual enrollment page.

Montgomery College Dual Enrollment Is Tuition Free for 2022-2023—and Beyond | Montgomery College, Maryland

Monday, November 28, 2022

11/28/22 -- 1:32 AM PEPCO Restored Power to All Customers Impacted by Plane Crash

How long should winter break be? Montgomery, Arlington schools working on new calendars

School officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Arlington, Virginia, are in the process of developing calendars for the next school year as some parents across the D.C. area say current calendars include too many days off.

Dana Edwards, chief of district operations in Montgomery County, said at a meeting this week that in weighing calendar options for 2023-24, there’s more to think about than when the first and last days of school should be...

How long should winter break be? Montgomery, Arlington schools working on new calendars - WTOP News

Failure to penalize troubled vendor makes Maryland a ‘laughingstock,’ lawmaker says [Unless the contract involves @mcps, then OK to not penalize vendors. MCPS process already a laughingstock.]


State lawmakers were unsparing in their criticism of the Maryland Department of Health on Tuesday, accusing the agency of failing to pursue financial compensation against a vendor that has acknowledged serious shortcomings.

One after another, members of the General Assembly’s Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee expressed astonishment that the agency decided — as a matter of policy — not to seek liquidated damages from Optum, a health claims-processing company whose shortcomings were the subject of a harsh audit last month.

The Minnesota-based firm processes billions of dollars in behavioral health claims each year. The review of Optum’s performance, which was conducted by the Office of Legislative Audits (OLA), uncovered numerous problems.

Auditors discovered more than $220 million in payments for behavioral health services that lacked proper documentation or haven’t been recovered, lapses that prevented the state from receiving nearly $30 million in federal reimbursement for which it was eligible. In addition, mental health providers, who have been stretched thin and subject to burnout since the pandemic began, have been forced to spend long hours reconciling payment errors.

Agency officials gamely sought to reassure lawmakers that they have penalized and withheld payments from Optum, but they acknowledged that they decided not to seek liquidated damages for fear of harming their relationship with the firm. The admission appeared to stun members of the panel.

“I think it sends the wrong message to contractors that work with the state — and makes a laughingstock of our contracting process,” said Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard), a committee co-chair. “If we enter into contracts with vendors who are unable to deliver, and yet do not pursue damages when those contractors are costing the state millions of dollars… it’s an example of what’s broken with our state procurement process.” 

Del. Kirill Reznik (D-Montgomery) called the agency’s decision “unconscionable” and a dangerous precedent...

Failure to penalize troubled vendor makes Maryland a 'laughingstock,' lawmaker says - Maryland Matters

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Montgomery Co. monitoring wastewater for COVID-19

In Maryland’s Montgomery County, wastewater is now being monitored to detect COVID-19, with the aim of getting ahead of any winter surges.

“Wastewater surveillance will be a game changer for our efforts to better predict outbreaks and prevent them from happening,” said County Executive Marc Elrich, in a news release...

Montgomery Co. monitoring wastewater for COVID-19 - WTOP News

Children’s hospitals call on Biden to declare emergency in response to ‘unprecedented’ RSV surge


 KEY POINTS

  • The Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics told the Biden administration that “unprecedented levels” of RSV combined with increasing flu circulation are pushing some hospitals to the breaking point.
  • They asked the federal government to declare an emergency to provide hospitals with added flexibility to meet the surge.
  • Infants 6 months and younger are getting hospitalized with RSV at seven times the rate observed before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2018, according to CDC data.
  • Biden asked to declare emergency over RSV, flu kids hospitalizations (cnbc.com)

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Monday, November 21, 2022

MCPS Bus Drivers, Teachers Complain of Working Conditions, Pay

During Thursday’s Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Board of Education meeting, union representatives for teachers and bus drivers expressed deep concern about their working conditions.

Kelvin Brown of SEIU Local 500 complained about a shortage of drivers, low pay and too many no school, no pay days, including during winter and spring breaks.

“Bus drivers are overworked and underpaid,” he said. Drivers sometimes must double and triple back on routes to make sure all students are transported “while not being compensated” for the extra time.

Brown also said some routes that aren’t covered due to a shortage of drivers aren’t always listed on the MCPS transportation website. Therefore, families are not warned and don’t have time to come up with alternate transportation.

He also pointed out that there sometimes is not an aide on routes carrying special education students, something that never occurred in previous years...

MCPS Bus Drivers, Teachers Complain of Working Conditions, Pay - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)


Montgomery Co. reinstates extra route bonus for school bus drivers

Maryland school districts have struggled the last two years to hold on to their school bus operators in the middle of a nationwide shortage. Montgomery County is hoping a few more bucks in drivers’ pockets will keep them at the wheel.

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight said school bus drivers will once again receive a $25 bonus for each extra route driven. If there’s an extra route in the morning and another in the afternoon that would add $50 a day to the operator’s pay.

The bonuses were paid during part of the last school year but were terminated at the end of the school year...

Montgomery Co. reinstates extra route bonus for school bus drivers - WTOP News

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Keep your children close because here's what's lurking where they play

Here's one of several uncovered electrical outlets at a county facility that numerous children use daily.  This is a violation of the electrical code and a significant safety hazard. It's been reported to the county and we're waiting for a response.

Note that the ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) will not provide any protection to a child who sticks his curious fingers along the edge of the receptacle because the exposed wiring and terminals are on the "line" side of the receptacle, before the GFCI.  The child will get a severe electric shock and could easily be killed.

And again, this is just one of the junction boxes that is missing its cover at this facility.

Incredibly, county employees pass this open outlet every day, yet no action has been taken.  It will take literally two minutes to install a new cover, but no one has bothered to do so.






Friday, November 18, 2022

Maryland, You're Up Next. Did Everyone See Netflix's The Keeper's? *** Report names 158 Catholic priests accused of abuse after investigation into Archdiocese of Baltimore

A 456-page report from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office identifies 158 Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse, including 43 that were never publicly identified by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as part of a four-year investigation into the history of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

The investigation also identified more than 600 victims of sexual abuse, according to a new court filing.

The report itself, along with the names of the priests, is not yet public. The Attorney General’s Office disclosed some details in a court filing Thursday requesting permission to release documents that the Archdiocese provided in response to a grand jury subpoena...

...“The Attorney General’s investigation uncovered pervasive sexual abuse amongst the priesthood and repeated failures by the Archdiocese to protect the children of Baltimore,” the office wrote. “Time and again, the Archdiocese chose the abuser over the abused, the powerful over the weak, and the adult over the child. Hundreds of Marylanders have suffered mentally and physically for decades because of the Archdiocese’s decisions.

“Now is the time for reckoning,” the filing continues. “Publicly airing the transgressions of the Church is critical to holding people and institutions accountable and improving the way sexual abuse allegations are handled going forward.”

The filing describes pervasive sexual abuse and a church that tried to cover up the problem. One congregation was assigned 11 sexually abusive priests over a span of 40 years, the document claims. Victims sometimes ended up reporting sexual abuse to members of the clergy who were themselves perpetrators...

...“We need to see the names of the perpetrators.” he said. “We need to hear the stories of the survivors. … That’s the only way, sometimes, you come forward. You say ‘I’m not the only one.'”  

This story will be updated...

MD report names 158 Catholic priests accused of abuse after investigation into Archdiocese of Baltimore (thedailyrecord.com)

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Watkins Mill The Current: Closing bathrooms for a week or more results in missed classes, health issues

 “May I go to the bathroom?” 

“You mean can you walk half a mile and miss half of the class..? Sure. Take a pass.”

If bathrooms are out of order, we need to do something to fix them because students need to pee. Having half of the bathrooms unavailable (or any at all) is not good for students or staff—seeing as some staff choose to use the student bathrooms because they are closer to their classes.

“Holding your urine for extremely long periods can also cause urinary tract infections due to bacteria build-up. In addition, it can increase your risk of kidney disease and in rare cases even risk your bladder bursting—a condition that can be deadly.” 

Given that students are also prohibited from leaving class in the first and last ten minutes of class, closing half of the bathrooms in the school can lead to disaster.  Holding excretions in is unhealthy for anyone, but if a student tries to hold it in during the last ten minutes of class and cannot find an open bathroom during the transition time, the risk for urinary tract infections (UTI) and other illnesses increases.

Closing the bathrooms in one half of the school also keeps kids out of class longer. If they have to walk halfway around the school to get to the bathroom, it becomes increasingly difficult to spend the maximum amount of time in class.

We do understand that things break. And safety in the bathrooms is important. But we ask that Montgomery County Public Schools work harder to repair bathrooms quickly given that this is a basic human need. And if the issue is students skipping class or misbehaving in bathrooms, please consider stationing security outside rather than closing them altogether.

Closing bathrooms for a week or more results in missed classes, health issues – The Current (wmcurrent.com) 

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Man convicted in @mcps Northwest HS graduation-eve killing appeals to Supreme Court

A convicted first-degree murderer of two Montgomery County teenagers on the eve of their high school graduation has told the U.S. Supreme Court his attorney was unconstitutionally barred from questioning a prosecution witness whose testimony the defense believes was incriminating.

In papers filed with the justices last week, Rony Galicia stated through counsel that Maryland’s top court wrongfully deferred to the trial judge’s decision that cross-examination was unnecessary because the witness had not implicated Galicia in the slayings...

...Galicia was tried in Montgomery County Circuit Court with two co-defendants, brothers Edgar Garcia-Gaona and Roger Garcia, for murdering Northwest High School seniors Artem Zibarov, 18, and Shadi Najjar, 17, on June 5, 2017.

Prosecution witness Luz DaSilva testified to the defendants’ friendship and recounted her boyfriend, Garcia-Gaona, had confessed to her his involvement in the murders. DaSilva recalled Garcia-Gaona telling her “they just started shooting them.”

Galicia’s attorney objected to DaSilva’s use of the word broad word “they,” saying it implicated Galicia when DaSilva’s testimony was to be limited to Garcia-Gaona’s involvement.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge David A. Boynton overruled the objection and barred Galicia’s attorney from asking DaSilva about the statement. The defense said the cross-examination of DaSilva would have clarified that the “they” who started shooting referred only to the brothers and not Galicia.

The Court of Special Appeals said the Sixth Amendment was violated and overturned Galicia’s conviction. But the Court of Appeals reversed last June and reinstated the conviction, prompting Galicia to seek Supreme Court review...

...The jury at Galicia’s trial also found Garcia-Gaona guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. He, like Galicia, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Garcia’s attorney fell ill during the trial, resulting in a mistrial. Garcia was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in a separate jury trial and sentenced to 100 years in prison.

A fourth defendant, Jose Canales-Yanez, was convicted  of two-counts of first-degree murder in a separate, bench trial and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

According to the prosecution, Najjar and Zibarov were lured to the Montgomery Village cul-de-sac in the belief they were selling extra tickets to the June 6 graduation. Instead, they were shot and killed.

The prosecution said Najjar was the primary target in a revenge killing for his having allegedly stolen drugs recently from Canales-Yanez’s wife and then driving over her feet as he escaped. Zibarov was just in the wrong car at the wrong time, prosecutors added.

MD graduation-eve killer appeals to Supreme Court (thedailyrecord.com)

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

To MoCo Delegation: Covering up crimes against children is costly to classrooms and to children’s lives. Will this be the year that the Maryland legislature decides to put children first?

 

Montgomery County Joint House and Senate Priorities Hearing

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, MD 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. 

First, we would like to remind the Delegation that the Justice Reinvestment Act of 2016, included allowing sex offenders to have their records expunged and their names removed from the Maryland Sex Offender Registry.  We now have a list of former MCPS teachers who were convicted of sexually abusing school children, sentenced and put on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry who have now had their convictions and Sex Offender Registry entries expunged.  Why were sex offenders who were sentenced to lifetime registration included in this legislation? 

The Netflix documentary The Keepers focused on Maryland’s legislature and how the Maryland legislature protects sex offenders.  Is this really the international reputation that we want for Maryland? A sex offender friendly state?  

The presence of the Catholic Church’s sex offender facility in Silver Spring brings more international attention to Maryland along with concerns about reporting and registration of the sex offenders that reside at the St. Luke’s Institute. 

Second, we would like to thank the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits (OLA) for substantiating my investigation into the MCPS bus camera procurement. The OLA Report noted the MCPS bus camera procurement lacked a competitive procurement process, lacked financial terms, and didn’t monitor the vendor’s investment costs.

Third, we would like to thank the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits (OLA) for revealing the embezzlement that had been uncovered in October of 2021, involving the MCPS Transportation Department and the MCPS transportation vendor.  Without this 6-year audit would the public have ever heard about this multi-million dollar embezzlement of MCPS funds?

Fourth, not addressed by the OLA Report was that the MCPS use of electric school buses was from a company that did not participate in the MCPS RFP process and did not bid.  The company didn’t even exist until a few weeks before the Board of Education voted to award them a $168,684,990 contract.  And when the electric school bus company being used by MCPS was incorporated, it was incorporated at the same address as the diesel school bus company involved in the off the books embezzlement scheme referenced earlier by the OLA Report. Does the public have to wait another 6 years for an OLA Report to find out who owns the electric school buses that MCPS students are riding on and what is their connection to the diesel school bus company that the Board of Education is no longer doing business with?

Fifth, what is the cost of all of this subterfuge? At least $500,000 in overpayments for diesel school buses in August.  The Board of Education was told this purchase was an emergency, but we now know that this purchase was an attempt to hide the fact that the Board’s long time school bus dealer had been involved in an embezzlement scheme and a new dealer was quickly needed.

Covering up crimes against children is costly to classrooms and to children’s lives. Will this be the year that the Maryland legislature decides to put children first?

 

Janis Zink Sartucci

Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, MD

 parentscoalitionmc@outlook.com

Eleven Maryland school board candidates have faced tax liens

At least 11 of Maryland’s 155 school board candidates have had state or federal liens filed against them in the past two decades for not paying their taxes on time.

Capital News Service reporters scoured the state court records of every school board candidate in the state, and tax liens were the most common court record found.

CNS is reporting on the candidates’ tax liens because they reflect the financial habits of individuals who could soon play a major role in deciding how school districts spend their money.

But April Christina Curley, one of the four candidates running for the school board in Baltimore City, said the lien that she needs to settle stems from the fact that she’s poor.

“It is public information,” Curley said of the lien. “But at the same time, I think it’s a good reflection of how this system was created to keep regular people out.”..

Eleven Maryland school board candidates have faced tax liens – CNS Maryland

Monday, November 14, 2022

Maryland attorney general’s investigation of child sexual abuse in Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore nears completion

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office’s four-year investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s history of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests is almost finished.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Brian Frosh told The Baltimore Sun the investigation is “nearing completion,” but declined to share details. A criminal investigator for the office, former FBI agent Richard Wolf, has contacted many abuse survivors in recent weeks to tell them the report is close to done.

In 2018, the office issued a grand jury subpoena to the archdiocese for records, and Archbishop William E. Lori told clergy the state was investigating. Ultimately, the archdiocese turned over more than 100,000 pages of documents to Wolf and Special Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Embry.

The attorney general’s report, when finalized, is expected to detail child sexual abuse going back more than 80 years.

It’s unclear whether the investigation will lead to criminal charges. There is no statute of limitations on felony crimes in Maryland, but for someone to be charged in an abuse case, what’s alleged to have happened must have been classified a crime at the time it was committed...

Maryland attorney general’s investigation of child sexual abuse in Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore nears completion (msn.com)

Masks Cut Covid Spread in Schools, Study Finds

In a so-called natural experiment, two school districts in Boston maintained masking after mandates had been lifted in others, enabling a unique comparison.

Masks have been a cultural flash point since the start of the pandemic, and mask mandates in schools have been especially incendiary. Critics have argued that there is no strong evidence to prove that masks slow the spread of Covid, and that in any case children weren’t wearing the right kinds of masks or weren’t wearing them properly.

Now a research paper details a so-called natural experiment that occurred when all but two school districts in the greater Boston area lifted mask requirements in the spring. Researchers took that opportunity to make a direct comparison of the spread of Covid in masking and non-masking schools.

The bottom line: Masking mandates were linked with significantly reduced numbers of Covid cases in schools.

Infection rates were lower among masked students — even in Boston’s public schools, where many buildings are old and lack good ventilation systems, classrooms are crowded and students are more often from at-risk communities — than among unmasked students attending newer schools in communities like Cambridge and Newton...


Masks Cut Covid Spread in Schools, Study Finds - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Friday, November 11, 2022

One Incumbent Ousted as Vote Counts Continue for Board of Education

The Board of Education met Thursday as the Montgomery County Board of Elections continued counting mail-in ballots. It was member Scott Joftus’ last meeting following his apparent loss following Tuesday’s election.

As of 12:33 p.m, Joftus had 57,390 votes to Julie Yang’s 118,394 votes in District 3.

The new board will have seven female members. Arvin Kim, the student member, will be the lone male.

In unofficial results, Grace Rivera-Oven was chosen to represent District 1, following Judith Docca’s resignation at the end of her fourth term. Her last meeting also was Thursday. Rivera-Oven had 98,548 votes to Esther Wells’ 73,167...

One Incumbent Ousted as Vote Counts Continue for Board of Education - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

MCPS Bus Drivers, Teachers Complain of Working Conditions, Pay

During Thursday’s Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Board of Education meeting, union representatives for teachers and bus drivers expressed deep concern about their working conditions.

Kelvin Brown of SEIU Local 500 complained about a shortage of drivers, low pay and too many no school, no pay days, including during winter and spring breaks.

“Bus drivers are overworked and underpaid,” he said. Drivers sometimes must double and triple back on routes to make sure all students are transported “while not being compensated” for the extra time.

Brown also said some routes that aren’t covered due to a shortage of drivers aren’t always listed on the MCPS transportation website. Therefore, families are not warned and don’t have time to come up with alternate transportation...

...Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, spoke out about a teacher shortage. There are more than 200 teachers lacking proper certification have been hired for this school year, she said.

Also, she noted that as of Oct. 17. there were 268 unfilled positions, 66 of them in special education...

MCPS Bus Drivers, Teachers Complain of Working Conditions, Pay - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Judge accepts Magruder HS shooter plea deal


A Montgomery County judge accepted a plea deal Monday from Steven Alston Jr., the teenager accused of shooting another student inside a Magruder high school bathroom last January.

Alston, who was 17 years old at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to an attempted first-degree murder charge, which is a life sentence in Maryland...

Judge accepts Magruder HS shooter plea deal (fox5dc.com)

Sunday, November 6, 2022

What Are Those Mysterious New Towers Looming Over New York’s Sidewalks? [Coming Soon to Montgomery County Front Yards]


...
Marion Little, who owns Stripper Stain & Supplies, the hardware store that has operated on that corner for 17 years, said that he and his neighbors had received no warning. One day there were workers outside; then the tower materialized.

“We were shocked because we had no idea what it was,” Mr. Little said. Since it’s right outside his store, people keep asking him about it. “They’ve been emailing me, calling me weekends, Facebooking me, like, ‘Yo, what’s that?’ and I’m sitting there like, ‘I have no clue.’”

The object in question is a new 5G antenna tower erected by LinkNYC, the latest hardware in New York’s sweeping technological upgrade...


What Are Those Mysterious New Towers Looming Over New York’s Sidewalks? - The New York Times (nytimes.com)


Friday, November 4, 2022

***MD Office of Legislative Audits Substantiates Parents' Coalition Allegation of Overpayment in Bus Camera Contract.***

October 2022:
School Bus Safety Cameras [Pages 26 - 30 of Report]

As allowed by State and County law, MCPS contracted for the use of school bus safety cameras to monitor drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus. In May 2016, the Board approved a five-year contract (with five one-year renewal 
options) with a vendor to install and operate cameras that would be owned and maintained by the vendor on MCPS’ school buses. The contract also provided for cameras to monitor the conduct of drivers and students inside the bus along with global positioning units to track the buses. Prior to this contract, MCPS was 
purchasing buses with cameras inside the bus and global positioning units, which 
were replaced with the vendor’s equipment. In June 2016, MCPS entered into a 
memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Montgomery County since the 
Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) was responsible for the 
issuance of citations processed by the camera system. 

The vendor is responsible for operating the system and processing citation 
payments. The vendor’s cameras take images of vehicles (including a specific 
image of the vehicle license plate) passing a bus that is operating its alternating 
flashing red lights. The registered owner(s) of the vehicles are identified by 
vendor employees using access provided to Maryland Motor Vehicle 
Administration (MVA) databases, through the MCPD MOU. After MCPD 
verifies the image of the event constitutes a violation, a vendor employee prints 
and mails the citation to the registered owner

Citations can be paid in-person at the Montgomery County Finance Office, online 
by credit card, electronically through the internet, by phone through an interactive 
voice response system, or by mailing a check. The County Finance Office 
processes citation payments paid in-person through the vendor’s system. The 
vendor’s system stores the images of each check payment, remittance stub, 
associated correspondence, envelope and certified mail receipt. All forms of 
citation payments are deposited into a County bank account and the County 
transfers all revenue to a MCPS bank account. MCPS is responsible for 
distributing revenue to the vendor. The vendor is also required to operate a 
customer service center with a toll-free number and respond to inquiries from the 
public. 

issued a report regarding the County’s MOU with MCPS for the School Bus 
Safety Camera program. According to the report, the OIG initiated the review in 
August 2018 after the County was made aware of concerns regarding the vendor’s 
history of prior convictions involving fraud and bribery in another state where it 
operated a similar program. Although the report disclosed that employees of the 
County or MCPS did not violate a rule, law, or procedure, or had any 
inappropriate relationship with the vendor, the report identified the following two 
findings related to the County: 

1. The business case for this program was built around the desired use of a 
predetermined vendor rather than an objective analysis to design an 
effective and economical method to achieve an identified outcome. 
2. County officials relied, at least in part, on information provided by a 
criminal conspirator in vetting the vendor and they continued to rely on 
vendor supplied information when considering the future of the program.

 

Additionally, the report disclosed there was no revenue sharing agreement with 
the vendor and it was unclear as to when, or even if, the County would recover its 
investment in the program. Furthermore, the report disclosed the contract terms 
appeared to be ambiguously, and generously, tilted toward profitability for the 
vendor. Finally, as of the date of the OIG report, the County had paid more than 
$750,000 for administrative and personnel expenses related to this program and 
over $10 million in ticket revenue had been transferred to the vendor.

πŸ‘‰πŸ‘‰πŸ‘‰In addition to the concerns addressed by the aforementioned OIG report related to the County, we received an allegation on our fraud, waste, and abuse hotline that 
MCPS had entered into a contract to place monitoring cameras on school buses 

Based on our review, we were able to substantiate the allegation as the contract 
provided that all funds were to go to the vendor until the vendor recovered its cost 
of investment. As noted below, as of August 31, 2019 MCPS had paid the vendor 
$20.9 million, which exceeded the vendor’s initial $19 million estimated cost of 
investment by $1.9 million. We also found certain deficiencies with the 
procurement of the agreement, its terms, and how it was monitored; although, we 
did not identify any issues that warranted a referral to the Office of the Attorney 
General – Criminal Division. 

Finding 10 
MCPS contracted with a vendor for a school bus camera system without a competitive procurement process or a fixed total cost to be paid. In addition, the contract lacked sufficient details to enable effective monitoring of the 
amounts invoiced and paid to the vendor. 

Analysis 
MCPS entered into a contract for the use of a vendor’s school bus camera system 
without a competitive process or a fixed total cost to be paid. In addition, the 
contract lacked sufficient details to enable effective monitoring of the amounts 
invoiced and paid to the vendor. 

Lack of a Competitive Procurement 

MCPS did not conduct a competitive procurement for the camera system contract. 
Rather, a vendor approached the County and MCPS to install and operate a school 
bus camera system, including interior cameras and global positioning units that 
MCPS was already purchasing for each bus. Although MCPS prepared a 
schedule comparing four companies based on various factors (such as number of 
interior cameras, but not including a financial or cost consideration), it did not 
have supporting documentation or an indication of how the information was 
obtained. MCPS management advised us that the contract with the vendor was 
awarded under an Intergovernmental Cooperative Purchasing Agreement (ICPA) 
from another state’s school system. However, our review of the ICPA noted the 
following conditions (several of which were previously noted in finding 1 in this 
audit report): 
  •  Only a single bidder was evaluated by the other school system in awarding the ICPA.
  • The ICPA awarded by the other school system was for a 30 bus fleet, while MCPS had a fleet of approximately 1,300 buses. 
  • MCPS did not prepare a written assessment of the benefits for using the ICPA as required by State law and it did not research or compare other available ICPAs. 
  • MCPS did not use any of the key terms and conditions of the existing ICPA. Instead, it negotiated its own terms and conditions with the contractor (see comments below). 
As a result, we concluded that with the exception of the general service provided, 
MCPA procured its own unique contract with the vendor without a competitive 
procurement process and assurance that it obtained the best value for the school 
bus cameras program. MCPS ultimately awarded the contract to the company 
that approached them after visiting another state using the vendor’s camera 
system and conducting a limited pilot program. A similar condition regarding 
documentation of best value when procuring contracts was noted in our preceding 
audit report. 

Lack of Sufficient Financial Terms 
The school bus camera contract did not specify the total amount to be paid to the 
vendor. The contract provided that the vendor would receive all funds collected 
from citations issued from the cameras (initially $125 per violation and 
subsequently increased to $250 per violation) until the vendor recovered its initial 
and on-going cost of investment which included the equipment, system 
installation and operational expenses. At the time of the contract, these costs 
were estimated by the vendor to be approximately $19 million. In addition, there 
was no provision for the independent verification of the vendor’s cost of 
investment. Further, the contract did not specify the payment terms once the 
vendor’s cost of investment was recovered. Instead, the parties agreed to 
negotiate, at a later date, a revenue sharing plan that would become effective upon 
the recovery of investment costs (see below). 

Monitoring of Vendor’s Recovery of Investment Costs 
Although MCPS was monitoring the amount of citation payments made to the 
vendor, MCPS was not monitoring the vendor’s investment costs. MCPS advised 
us that the vendor did not periodically report its total actual investment costs 
(including changes), and MCPS did not ask for documentation supporting the 
investment costs since the contract did not specifically require the vendor to 
provide this documentation. As a result, MCPS was unaware if the vendor had 
been fully reimbursed for its cost of investment. As of August 31, 2019 MCPS 
had paid the vendor $20.9 million, which exceeded the vendor’s initial $19 
million estimated cost of investment by $1.9 million. 

Due to the lack of specific financial terms and the lack of documentation for the 
vendor’s investment costs, in June 2019, Montgomery County engaged a 
consulting firm to conduct a financial compliance review of the bus camera 
vendor for transactions occurring from July 1, 2016 to August 31, 2019. The 
consultant was able to verify that citation revenue totaling $20.9 million was paid 
to the vendor, but it was unable to definitively determine the amount of the 
vendor’s investment. The consultant offered four options for determining the 
investment amount which ranged from $13 million to $20 million. In response to 
the consultant’s report, the vendor offered an alternative calculation that increased 
its investment cost from its initial estimate of $19 million to $26 million

Effective October 2019, MCPS executed a contract amendment to address the 
vendor’s compensation and resolve all disputes concerning the vendor’s cost of 
investment. The amendment acknowledged the vendor had recovered its cost of 
investment without specifying an amount, and stipulated that going forward the 
vendor would not be required to provide any records concerning the cost to 
install, operate, or maintain the bus camera system. The amendment also 
provided that the County would receive an invoice credit of $1.6 million for 
certain costs incurred for processing citations. 

Finally, the amendment established citation revenue sharing whereby the vendor 
would receive 60 percent of the citation revenue going forward for additional 
future vendor costs. The remaining 40 percent was to be received by the County 
for its citation processing costs. MCPS could not provide us with documentation 
to support how the revenue sharing percentage was determined or its justification. 

As of June 30, 2021, MCPS had paid the vendor citation revenue totaling $21.9 
million and the County had received $4.8 million since the inception of the 
contract. 

Recommendation 10 

We recommend that, in the future, MCPS 

a. adhere to statutory requirements for competitive bidding, where appropriate (repeat); 

b. ensure contracts include adequate and properly defined financial termssuch as total amounts to be paid, and how costs are to be independently verified; and 

c. document the basis and reasoning for revenue sharing percentages.