Baltimore County’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division has come under fire from County Council members. They say the office is missing in action as they struggle to help people who are being left behind by the county.

What touched off the debate at Tuesday night’s Council meeting was a request by County Executive Johnny Olszewski’s administration to spend more than $280,000 on an 18 month equity assessment of county government.

Ra’Mona Brown-Carter, the county’s DEI Program Manager, told the council that the purpose of the study is “to identify the areas of opportunities throughout the county government, where equitable decision making and performance can be strengthened to best meet the needs of the community.”

But rather than a study, Democratic Councilman Mike Ertel said what the county needs from its 12-member DEI office is to be on the ground helping people.

“I have minority communities all over my district,” Ertel said. “I could use someone from DEI to help me navigate some of the programs that might be available to them. But we’re not seeing that. We talk about it, but there’s not a lot of action.”

Ertel said he wants to take DEI officials on a tour of his district, including a stop at Overlea High School which has a mostly non-white student body. Ertel said the school’s auditorium is dysfunctional. Turn on too many lights and they spark.

Ertel said, “I’m just frustrated when I point these things out and all I get is, you know, words.”

Republican Councilman Todd Crandell questioned why a study is needed at all.

“Do we need a consultant to come into Baltimore County and tell us whether we’re being fair or not?” Crandell asked. “We can’t figure that out for ourselves?”

But County Administrative Officer Stacy Rodgers pushed back, pointing out that the county didn’t have a diversity office until Olszewski created one in 2019.

Rodgers said, “This didn’t get broke in five years.”

She said before that the county government had paid little attention to equity.

Rodgers said, “This study is to help us as a government understand where we need to continue to press forward to be equitable.”

“In some parts of the country, people are trying to abolish DEI,” Rodgers said. “I take pride that the county has taken this step and that we’re moving forward.”

To make their case, County Council members pointed to an historically African American neighborhood in White Marsh that they say is not being treated equitably and is getting no help from the DEI office.

At a January 30 meeting, the council heard from people living on Bengies Road. Their septic tanks are failing. The county wants to connect 25 homes to its sewer line but the residents will have to pay for most of it, about $1.5 million over 40 years. That works out to around $60,000 a home, plus interest.

Patricia Payne lives on Bengies Road. She fears people will lose their homes because they won’t be able to pay.

“We are on fixed incomes,” Payne said. “They have worked all of their lives to keep a neighborhood, keep their children there safe. We grew up there and did not have to worry about anything at all. To do this at this point is just awful.”

Residents like Joshua Sines then suspect that developers will swoop down on undeveloped property nearby and get a free ride on the sewer line they are being asked to pay for.

Sines said, “They have a word for this. It’s called gentrification.”

A decision on the sewer line is on hold for now. County officials said this is a health and safety issue because the homes’ septic systems are failing. If there is no sewer line connection, the more expensive alternative for residents would be to have their sewage hauled away.

Republican Councilman David Marks represents the Bengies Road neighborhood. He said the $280,000 the council is being asked to approve for the equity study could instead be used to help pay for the sewer line.

“It’s one thing to produce another report that might sit on the shelf,” Marks said. “But it’s quite something else to actually put it into practice and that’s what we’re urging here.”

The Council is expected to vote next week on whether to pay for the equity study, which would be funded using COVID relief money.