Inspector General Report finds no wrongdoing by HOC executive director

...It stated that Simon, when she was chair of the commission, awarded Spann a salary increase and bonus in late June 2019 “without … quarterly performance review meetings taking place.”

Carr also alleged the commission violated the state’s Open Meetings Act multiple times, but Limarzi said the state’s Open Meetings Compliance Board had already ruled on those matters.

Carr also alleged Spann was withholding information about the contracts between the HOC, Simon and her son from the public, unless the agency received over $700 for retrieving those records. Carr said the forms were “in the public interest,” making the fees excessive.

Limarzi’s report said her agency did not look into Spann not waiving fees because the state’s Public Information Act allows agencies to charge to gather and produce records...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/report-finds-no-wrongdoing-by-housing-agency-executive-director/

Berliner Gets Tobytown a Gate. Cemetery Fence to Be Removed. No Acknowledgement of Unmarked Graves.

HOC proposed gate to nowhere.

On February 23, 2017, Councilmember Roger Berliner asked the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) of Montgomery County to restore the cemetery in Tobytown “to a dignified state and to develop a plan for its on-going maintenance.”

In response to that request, HOC presented plans to the residents of Tobytown on May 23, 2017, for a gate for the Tobytown cemetery.  A drawing of the proposed gate is shown in the image to the left and the plans for the gate are shown in the documents below.  

In addition to a gate, HOC staff announced that the existing fence around the Tobytown cemetery would be removed.  The gate structure would not be connected to anything and the boundaries of the cemetery would no longer be marked under this proposal.

Many of the graves in the cemetery are unmarked and HOC staff did not present any plans to mark the graves or memorialize those that are buried in this historic cemetery.  

HOC did not present the residents with any plans for ongoing maintenance of the cemetery. 

When asked about the administration of a cemetery, the HOC staff at the May 23rd meeting refused to discuss the permitting or oversight process for Maryland cemeteries.

  2017 May 23 Tobytown Handouts by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd