The budget hearing on the Baltimore Office of the Inspector General (OIG) got off to a frosty start yesterday as Councilman Eric Costello cut off IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming with a warning that her opening statement was too long.

“Madam Inspector General, you’re about a minute past your time. I’m going to ask you to wrap up, please,” Costello said.

“Okay,” Cumming responded, looking a bit startled. “No one told me that we had a time.”

“I’m the chair of the committee,” Costello shot back. “I set the time at the beginning of the committee. The time was set at seven or eight minutes. So that’s going to be the time.”

“Okey doke,” she said, plowing ahead in her presentation to the Ways and Means Committee as part of the Council’s agency-by-agency review of the 2022 budget.

It was the opening salvo at a hearing that was being closely watched in the wake of criticism lodged directly and indirectly at Cumming by Council President Nick Mosby and his wife, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

The Mosbys, their attorney and a group of supporters alleged that an IG report on Marilyn Mosby’s travel and other issues (which Mosby herself had requested) was misleading and that other OIG investigations showed racial bias.

Did the Council president, who was present during the budget hearing, have any questions for Cumming, Costello asked?

“No questions at this time, thank you,” Mosby answered.

Accountability, Independence

In her opening remarks, Cumming reminded the committee of the purpose of her office, which became an independent agency following a citywide referendum vote in 2018:

“To promote accountability, efficiency and integrity in city government by promoting trust and eliminating identifiable waste, fraud and financial abuse.”

The OIG investigates allegations of misconduct by city employees and contractors, she noted, observing that the independence of the office “is crucial to the objectivity and impartiality of the OIG’s investigations.”

Cumming also came with documentation of her office’s performance amid expanded duties, as she sought approval for a staff of 18 and a $2.2 million budget next year, up from $1.8 million in 2021.

She noted that the OIG has taken over Baltimore’s whistleblower program as well as its ethics program. The latter task initially involved scanning by hand more than 2,000 disclosure forms – and discovering in the process that 500 people who should, by law, have filed the forms had not done so.

In the first 11 months of FY21, our investigations found $7,051,000 in savings or identifiable waste  – IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming.

She said complaints to the office’s tipline have soared from 74 in 2017 to 164 in 2018, 751 in 2020 and 808 this fiscal year.

Cumming said the savings or waste found as a result of investigations have risen from $154,000 when she came into office in 2018 to nearly $3 million in 2020.

And in the first 11 months of this fiscal year, she said, the office reaped for the city $7,051,000 in savings or identifiable waste.

Salary Hike Questioned

Her appearance was less confrontational than the one that her counterpart, IG Kelly Madigan, experienced last month before the Baltimore County Council.

But Cumming did face sharp questions from Costello, who pointed to the proposed increase in her own salary, from $151,600 in 2021 to $183,800.

“That’s an increase of $32,200 from one position,” he said. “I’d appreciate if you could briefly – in a minute – describe the evolution of the increase of that salary and how that happened.”

Cumming said her office has grown in size and that “the visibility and impact of the office has grown as well.”

She said she received notice that her position was being reclassified (“I in no way asked for it”) and then produced a letter from former mayoral chief of staff Kim Morton informing her that her salary had been determined to be “not in alignment with her peers.”

When she finished reading the documentation, Costello said, “I certainly take you at your word.”

Then he added, “I know there’s certainly a lot of city employees that probably wish they got a $32,000 pay increase without asking for it.”

“A Spectacular Job”

The questioning from most other Council members was friendly, particularly Councilman Ryan Dorsey, who introduced the voter-approved measure that separated the inspector general from the mayor’s office

“You’ve done a spectacular job of raising awareness of the office,” he told her.

“I support you 100%. You’re doing just what the people who voted for you wanted you to do,” added Councilwoman Odette Ramos, marveling that the office had received some 800 complaints and answered 1,400 inquires about ethics disclosure.

“It’s been nonstop,” Cumming said, describing her office as having, in addition to 31 active cases under investigation, a backlog of 48 “pending investigations that we can’t get to.”

“That’s what worries me,” she said.

Middleton’s Concern

What worried Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton, meanwhile, was what she perceived as the need for Cumming “to maintain a healthy positive partnership” with others in city government.

“I know you did make a statement you work for the people,” Middleton chided. “I just want to reiterate that every one of us in city government works for the people.”

“I just would like you to really kind of start including people that also kind of do things that you do, but maybe just in a different form”  – Councilwoman Sharon Middleton.

She recommended that Cumming consult with Dana Moore, the city’s chief equity officer. Cumming said she has a good working relationship with Moore.

“I just would like you to really kind of start including people that also kind of do things that you do, but maybe just in a different form,” Middleton went on.

“Those partnerships are just so crucial so we can get the full gist of information before it’s even shared with the media, because sometimes that’s how things get distorted and out of place,” she observed.

Cumming said she has had “a good relationship with several of the investigative groups within the city – there are a lot of them.”

“I always tell people, ‘This city has a lot of good people working for it.’”