BOARD SAYS COMMISSIONERS VIOLATED OPEN MEETINGS ACT

The Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board says the Allegany County Commissioners violated a state law in a behind-closed-doors real estate deal, involving the former Luke Mill property. An April ruling noted the commissioners complied with the Open Meetings Act when they privately approved a lease of county owned land in Maryland; however, the lease approved involved land in West Virginia, and not Maryland. And, the county’s response was that the commissioners bought the 228-acre property on both sides of the state line for an economic development project.