Position review committee recommends two top hires; departments request dozen more positions including stormwater engineer and fire staffing

The Carroll County Position Review Committee briefed commissioners on Monday and recommended two positions as the highest priorities for FY26 funding: converting a temporary stormwater program engineer to a permanent role in Planning and Land Management and adding a fourth maintenance specialist to the Recreation & Parks community parks crew.

Deputy County Administrator Deb Effingham told commissioners the committee considered 28 requests and that each role brought to the meeting was ranked as a high priority by at least four of six committee members; the two recommended positions earned the strongest consensus.

Why it matters: these staffing additions would change daily service capacity in development review and park maintenance and carry multi‑year budget implications. The meeting also gathered presentations from departments asking the commissioners to consider a wider slate of positions during FY26 budget deliberations.

Stormwater program engineer request Chris Hine, Bureau Chief in the county’s Bureau of Resource Management, asked commissioners to make a temporary stormwater program engineer position permanent. He described a long run of regulatory changes that increased review complexity — notably the 2010 stormwater code revisions and subsequent permit (NPDES) and county responsibilities — and said that a previous restructuring had reduced stormwater review capacity. Hine recounted using contracting and a temporary county hire to control an evaluation backlog and said the temporary position’s funding expires this June. He recommended permanent status so the bureau keeps two program engineers and a review technician on staff.

Hine gave two operational reasons for the permanent post: maintaining a 30‑day turnaround target for reviews (turnaround briefly rose to 50–60 days during staff absences) and preparing for another set of MDE regulation changes expected the coming calendar year that will raise review complexity again. He also said municipalities routinely ask Carroll County to perform development reviews and that the city of Taneytown has asked the county to resume its review work for that municipality. Hine estimated the all‑in cost (salary, benefits, payroll tax, pension) of the permanent position at about $150,000 per year.

Rec & Parks: maintenance specialist Brad and Bob Hicks (Rec & Parks staff) described the county’s community parks program, which this year has maintained 27 unstaffed parks through two teams that operate out of two mobile units. The bureau has a foreman plus three maintenance specialists; the foreman frequently serves as the second member of a two‑person crew, limiting supervisory time for contract oversight, inspections and work‑order creation. Hicks said single‑person work also creates safety risks for tasks that require two staff (operating chainsaws, moving heavy picnic tables) and complicates leave coverage. The bureau requested a fourth maintenance specialist, estimated at a “mid‑eighties” ongoing cost (~$85,000), to restore supervisory capacity and reduce safety and continuity risks.

Agency hearings: other high‑priority requests Several departments presented other high‑ranked requests during a series of agency hearings. - Citizen Services / Aging & Disabilities requested an Office Associate to support five senior/community centers and over two dozen program lines. Bureau Chief Gina Valentine and a Citizen Services presenter said growth in call volume, increased grant and contract oversight under the Older Americans Act final rule and new program lines (e.g., dimension navigation, state retiree assistance) has created substantial administrative strain. Staff reported the all‑in cost at about $85,000 for a C7 classification. - Recreation and Parks requested a Recreation Coordinator for the Charles Carroll Community Center (the facility opened in FY24). Rec staff said the center has grown from opening month usage and that a dedicated on‑site staff person would help establish consistent scheduling and programming. Staff estimate the ongoing cost for a C10 coordinator (including benefits) at roughly $97,000. - Public Safety’s emergency communications section asked for two 32‑hour‑per‑week, part‑time 9‑1‑1 call‑taker positions to help with high call volumes and retention; Emergency Communications Manager Ashley Bergen said the positions would focus on call taking (not radio dispatch) and enable targeted coverage of peak hours. Each part‑time position was estimated at roughly $55,000 (all‑in), about $110,000 for the two positions combined. - Department of Fire & EMS described two priorities: two training and safety lieutenants to staff the county training center and serve as on‑scene incident safety officers, and restoring 12 “floater” field positions to reduce mandatory and voluntary overtime. County fire leadership explained that training, compliance with OSHA/MOSH and NFPA standards, learning‑management administration, credentialing and modified‑duty case management have fallen largely to a single chief of training and safety. The department estimated each training/safety lieutenant at roughly $100,000 all‑in and noted the department would repurpose existing training vehicles; the 12 floaters were estimated at roughly $100,000 each (a total near $1.2 million) as a budgetary rule‑of‑thumb used in the department presentation. Fire leadership framed floaters as a tool to reduce overtime, fatigue and attrition; commissioners asked for more detailed costing and operational analysis before decisions. - Economic Development / Workforce Development asked for a permanent administrative position (Operations and Resource Manager) currently funded by ARPA/Blueprint grants; staff said the grant funding expires in December 2025 and asked the county to consider continuing the position in general fund support. Economic Development staff noted the department has shouldered increased responsibilities since 2021 (WIOA and the county’s independent workforce area status) and that the admin post supports board operations and complex grant fiscal management. The estimated all‑in cost was about $78,000–$80,000.

Commissioner questions and next steps Commissioners raised follow‑up questions about cost‑sharing with municipalities for stormwater reviews, the current fee matrix for development reviews, the precise distribution of stormwater reviews across municipalities, and the accuracy of the fire department’s overtime‑savings calculations. Deb Effingham suggested the board could take a broader look at town‑county agreements and jurisdictional cost‑sharing as part of the budget review rather than make an immediate decision.

No formal action or votes were taken on the position requests during the hearing; commissioners asked staff to provide more detailed cost estimates, workload distributions and options for cost‑sharing so they can weigh departments’ requests during upcoming FY26 budget sessions.