Sugarloaf Alliance
Preservation * Smarter Growth * Transparency in Government
July 16, 2024
Sugarloaf Alliance Submits PIAs
Re Leaked Draft Moratorium Legislation
Sometime in May 2024 a privileged draft of Council Member McKay's moratorium legislation apparently was leaked to at least one member of the developer community. Such a release is a significant violation of the norms of open and transparent governance.
Sugarloaf Alliance submitted two Public Information Act (PIA) requests to Frederick County government seeking emails and other records related to the alleged leak. We sought to understand the source of the leak and how the leak was handled. On Monday, July 15, 2024, Frederick County responded timely to our first PIA request with a collection of responsive email records. No records were withheld or redacted. The Alliance was not asked to pay for the processing of the request.
The released emails answer the question of who leaked the privileged draft legislation to the developer community. The emails also explain how another Council Member came to be aware of the leak.
On May 29, 2024, at 11:02am Council Vice President Duckett sent a file titled “24-05-08 McKay Growth Moratorium Bill.docx” to “Dani” at the email address danielle@frederickbuilders.org. Nancy Luna, an Executive Assistant to the County Council, was cc’d on the email. Text:
“Hi Dani,
Attached you’ll find CM McKay’s Moratorium Bill. The Council will workshop this on June 11th at 5:30 p.m.
Best,
-KD”
On May 31, 2024, at 11:07am Council Member Keegan-Ayer received an email from the address danielle@frederickbuilders.org. with the attached file “24-05-08 McKay Growth Moratorium Bill.docx”. Danielle Adams is the Executive Officer of the Frederick County Building Industry Association. The email contains no text.
Sugarloaf Alliance would like to thank the county staff, County Attorney, and Council Members for their rapid response.
The PIA request are attached here:
The responsive documents to the first request are attached here.
The response to the second request regarding how the leak was handled by the county is still in process.