Baltimore County Council’s potential expansion hinges on ‘fragile coalition’

The idea of adding two members to the Baltimore County Council could be on the ballot in November, though its success hinges upon a “fragile” coalition, according to Council Chair Izzy Patoka.

Patoka, a Pikesville Democrat, introduced legislation June 3 that would allow voters to approve two new council districts and council members to what is currently a seven-person legislative body.

The legislation, which seeks to amend the County Charter, requires five members’ approval. Patoka, who was first elected in 2018, campaigned on adding two members and spearheaded a task force that recommended the change in a March report.

He has been trying to broker a deal in time to pass the legislation at a meeting next Monday and have it appear on the November ballot, even as the council passed a new budget halving a $1.2 million fund intended to finance more office space for additional council members.

The bill would go into effect with the 2026 election cycle, and allow for nine council members, who would be empowered to nominate their own members to the county’s boards and commissions, like the planning board and board of appeals. Voters would need to approve adding more council members after 2026.

Patoka’s bill would also allow council members to be considered full-time positions; currently, the chair earns $77,000, and members earn $69,000, and some hold outside positions.

“We can never know how people are going to vote,” Patoka said in an interview. “All we can do is create an opportunity.”

Only a few council members have publicly spoken in support or against Patoka’s bill. David Marks, an Upper Falls Republican, and Julian Jones, a Woodstock Democrat, said they were undecided, but expressed reservations with the bill. Mike Ertel, a Towson Democrat, said previously he supports expansion and signed a petition advocating to add four more districts before he joined the council in fall 2022. Pat Young, a Catonsville Democrat, said he supported the bill, but questioned its “approach.”

Councilman Todd Crandell, a Dundalk Republican, has opposed expansion, arguing the council operates smoothly in its current state. He did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, nor did his office respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Wade Kach, a Timonium Republican, did not respond to a request for comment.

That leaves Patoka to convince Kach, Marks, and Jones to support his legislation, which he said Tuesday he was confident would pass with the required number of votes.

Patoka declined to elaborate on his strategy for getting those members to support his legislation. “I’d rather not speculate,” he said. “I’m concerned about holding together this five-member coalition. If it gets fractured, we stay at seven.”

His legislation is part of a larger conversation about whether Baltimore County — the state’s third-largest jurisdiction — adequately represents its population. Since adopting a charter-style government in 1956, Baltimore County has tripled in population, with each of the seven council members now representing about 123,000 residents. Expansion proponents say expanding the council would ease the way for women, people of color, immigrants and other minorities to participate in public life.

The county is nearly 50% residents of color, including 29.7% Black residents, and 52.4% women, but the council has only one member of color, Jones, who is Black, and no women since Cathy Bevins left office in December 2022.

Previous suggestions in 1978, 2001, and 2022 to expand the council stalled. In 2022, a federal judge ordered the county to submit a new redistricting map after the local NAACP chapter and ACLU of Maryland argued the first map violated the Fair Voting Act by disenfranchising Black voters.

Patoka’s bill includes a proposed map that would add two more districts on the eastern and western sides of the county. The proposed District 9, on the far western side of the county, would draw mainly from District 4, which Jones currently represents. The proposed District 8 would be on the southeastern side of the county, near District 5, currently represented by Marks.

While the map is subject to change, Patoka said he was confident adding one more district in the western side of the county would create an additional majority-Black district.

Jones said he had “deep concerns” with Patoka’s bill in its current form, and was considering drafting amendments. He said he was not informed until Tuesday that the proposed map would split his district.

“It’s one thing to talk about expansion,” Jones said. “Now these decisions (about adding districts) are being made in the most secretive way possible.”

Patoka and Jones are expected to run for county executive in 2026 if the current executive, Johnny Olszewski Jr., wins election to Congress in November.

“This was our attempt to keep communities together,” Patoka said of the map draft. “This will create an additional opportunity to better reflect county demographics.”

Linda Dorsey-Walker, a voting rights advocate who lives in Owings Mills, is skeptical. She is the chair of Vote4More, a coalition collecting signatures to place a question on the November ballot that would add four more districts, instead of just two.

“In theory, it would create two majority (Black) districts” but in reality, it would dilute Black voting blocs, Dorsey-Walker said, claiming that if Patoka’s bill is enacted, District 4’s majority Black population would decrease slightly.

Still, she said, expansion would allow for more public participation, pointing to the number of people council members appoint to the county’s various boards and committees, like the planning board.

Young said he was “generally in support” of Patoka’s bill, but noted reservations from residents like Dorsey-Walker and others who at Tuesday’s council meeting criticized Patoka’s push for expanding by two members over four.

“I’m still trying to figure out if it’s a good bill, if it’s the right approach,” Young said. “The folks we’re trying to appeal to are clearly not happy with this.”

Drawing up another majority Black district in Western Baltimore County could have the “unintended consequence” of creating other districts that are majority white and skew more conservative, according to Roger Hartley, the dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs.

“That could lead to policies where the majority party gets outvoted,” Hartley said.

Marks said his biggest concern is preserving Baltimore County’s political diversity. The council is currently split between four Democrats and three Republicans. Patoka’s map would siphon off part of Marks’ district and create a new one along the southeastern portion of Baltimore County near Middle River and Bowleys Quarters, which lean Republican.

Despite the advantage of a potential additional Republican district, Marks said he was concerned there was an “ulterior motive” to adding more council members, citing some Vote4More members’ ties to the Democratic Party. (Dorsey-Walker is a member of the Baltimore County Democratic State Central Committee.)

“I don’t want to see the Republican Party in Baltimore County wiped out by a Democratic supermajority,” Marks said. “Charter initiatives should be bipartisan.”