Howard County advisory board approves minutes and outlines recruiter-led timeline to hire inspector general

Chair David Salem opened the April 29 meeting of the Howard County Inspector General Advisory Board by calling the roll and asking for approval of the April 10, 2025 meeting minutes; the motion to approve passed without a recorded roll-call of named votes.

The board then heard a detailed briefing from Anju Bennett, Howard County human resources administrator, and her deputy, Christy Ford, on the hiring process, candidate vetting and a proposed recruitment timeline for the inspector general position. Bennett said the packet provided to board members includes a sample job advertisement, sample interview questions and an organizational chart showing positions that would report to the inspector general.

Bennett recommended advertising the position for a minimum of three weeks and said her team’s preferred approach is a continuous advertisement “until filled,” with HR reviewing candidates as they apply and forwarding only those who meet the county’s minimum qualifications. “So my recommendation actually is to advertise it as a continuous advertisement, like continuous until filled,” Bennett said. She described a three-stage vetting approach: (1) supplemental application questions and required documents at application intake (examples: cover letter, resume, writing sample or redacted audit report); (2) HR…