By Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Calvert County Sheriff's Office patrol cars will probably get a paint job after all, starting next year.

Armed with a favorable opinion from the Maryland attorney general's office, Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans (R) brokered a deal with Commissioners President Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown) to put off changing the cars' paint job to traditional black and white until fiscal 2010 in exchange for Parran's support on the matter.

Parran's backing would bring the number of commissioners in favor of the paint job to three, a majority on the five-person board.

Parran was previously among the three commissioners who voted against the new paint scheme for the squad cars, saying that he could not support a new expenditure when the sheriff had exceeded his annual budget by more than $250,000. Parran said he will vote for the change in the fiscal 2010 spending plan, for which, he said, he hopes the sheriff will exhibit greater "budget discipline." The fiscal 2010 budget will be drawn up in spring 2009.

"I think clearly my main focus is looking at this from a budget and whether-the-county-can-afford-it standpoint," Parran said.

Evans had said that the commissioners did not have the authority to tell him how to spend money appropriated for his independently elected office. He originally intended to ask the attorney general to rule on their decision not to authorize payment for the paint scheme on newly ordered cars. He said the new arrangement is an "olive branch" to the commissioners to help facilitate a better relationship.

"All things considered, I'm going to accept it," Evans said. "I've got two more years dealing with this Board of County Commissioners."

The dispute began about two months ago, when Evans's command staff suggested that painting the sheriff's cars black and white would make them more visible and give the impression that more deputies are patrolling the road.

Three county commissioners -- Parran, Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large) and Linda L. Kelley (R-At Large) -- objected to the paint job, which would have cost $14,960 and would have been rolled out over five years as old cars were replaced. They twice voted down Evans's proposal, once intervening after Evans signed a county purchase order to try to go around them.

Evans eventually received an opinion from the attorney general's office that he said supports his position. He declined to release the letter, saying it is protected under attorney-client privilege, but he read a portion that said his office must "submit to county budget procedures, not county budget control."

Parran said his decision to support the sheriff was not influenced by the attorney general's letter, which he had yet to review. He said he was interested in brokering a positive working relationship with the Sheriff's Office, and part of the agreement is that the sheriff will come before the commissioners to present his community policing strategy.

Stinnett, who twice voted against the paint job, said she was "perturbed" by the new arrangement. She said she "wouldn't even consider" supporting the paint job, which she disparagingly called a "David Copperfield illusion." She also said she doesn't think that the sheriff, who is more than $250,000 over his budget, has the authority to make the change without the commissioners' approval.

"If you don't have any money in your bank account, you can't write checks," she said. "I hope his wife keeps his books at home."

Commissioner Susan Shaw (R-Huntingtown) and Gerald W. Clark (R-Lusby), who had supported the new paint scheme, said they likely would still support it in fiscal 2010. Shaw said she was happy the agreement would foster "a greater sense of cooperation" between the sheriff and commissioners, and Clark said he'd be curious to see what happens in a year.

"A year is like an eternity," he said. "You never know what could happen in the next year."

Kelley, one of Evans's most vocal critics on the paint job dispute, did not return a phone message seeking a comment.