LARGE Spending: County Commissioners to Consider $10k Lobbyist Despite Recent Criticisms

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HAGERSTOWN, MD News (11/22/2024) – The Washington County Commissioners are set to deliberate on the retention of a government relations consultant and lobbyist for the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session during their November 26 meeting. The move comes only one month after the Hagerstown City Council was publicly criticized for similar activities.

This article is part of our Local and Regional Government Efficiency (LARGE) Spending tracking initiative, which aims to shed light on local and regional government spending by looking at unusual expenses.

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The proposal recommends the continued engagement of Bruce C. Bereano, who has served in this capacity for the county over the past eight years. Under the proposed agreement, Bereano would provide a range of services, including monitoring legislation, facilitating meetings with state officials, and offering counsel on political and legislative matters. According to the county agenda, his presence in Annapolis is intended to ensure the county has representation in delegation meetings, bill hearings, and other legislative events. The proposed engagement fee is $10,000, plus a $100 lobbying registration fee, with services covering the calendar year 2025.

*Social media image posted by the Washington County MD Republican Central Committee on Facebook*

This consideration follows recent controversy involving the Hagerstown City Council, which faced criticism from the Washington County Republican Central Committee for hiring a lobbyist to advocate for its projects. The posts stated that the city council wasted money hiring the lobbyist for “pet projects”. To date, the committee has not issued a statement regarding the county’s potential retention of the lobbyist.

The decision, if approved, would allocate $10,100 from the Commissioners’ contingency fund to support Bereano’s services.

Associated documents for this story are available in our Public Information Archive.

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