Crickets. Sure, they voted to appoint a Continuum of Care Director, but there have been no Gracedale oversight committee meetings or reports about Gracedale itself.
Why has nothing happened since then? Two words.
Ken Kraft. He is County Council President.
When Council member Dave Holland, himself a former Gracedale Administrator, proposed a Gracedale oversight committee he received a lot of pushback from the usual suspects - Zrinski, Kraft and Council members Jeff Warren and Kelly Keegan. At first, they tried to table the matter. When that failed, Kraft argued that this new committee was "over-reaching our authority as a Council." When Keegan was told the committee would provide oversight, her response was "I don't understand. That's the administration's job." Jeff Warren agreed and said he had a "significant" problem with the word "oversight." So the administration is supposed to provide oversight over itself?
In the end the resolution creating this new oversight committee was adopted by a 6-3 vote. Even Warren voted for it in the end.
Kraft, who tried to table this oversight committee and voted against it, has dragged his feet over the formation of this Gracedale watchdog, which has yet to meet. For a period of 10 weeks, the County Council website still fails to identify any members. But Zrinski let the cat out of the bag at her news conference last week. She said the committee, consisting of four members has been formed.
I've made some calls and have learned that the Gracedale Oversight Committee Chair is none other than Kelly Keegam, who voted against it. Kraft, who also voted No to the Committee, put himself on it.
It's clear that Kraft and Keegan decided to disregard the will of a Council majority and just refuse to call a meeting.
With the release of the Grand Jury report, they now will probably have to do something.
In my opinion, a Council President exists to preside over meetings. He makes committee assignments as well, but there is nothing in the Home Rule Charter that gives him this authority. In this instance, he has clearly abused his authority and has defied the will of six members of County Council. County Council has the authority to reverse Kraft and appoint members who will provide real oversight of the beleagured home instead of the charade that Kraft has created.
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