At its monthly meeting yesterday, the Baltimore Ethics Board took no public action on a top Brandon Scott aide for being more than four months late filing a required ethics disclosure form.

The name of Calvin A. Young III, the mayor’s former campaign treasurer and now senior advisor, was never mentioned.

But Ethics Board director J. Christoph Amberger did raise the general issue at the start of the one-hour public portion of the meeting.

“We were made aware that several new employees had not filed their entry statements within the required 30 days,” Amberger began.

He was referring to the statement required of certain city hires – a list of any outside income, real estate holdings or gifts from persons doing business with the city.

The Brew disclosed last month that Young, who was hired on September 3, had not filed the statement, making him subject to a maximum $1,000 fine.

It was unclear if an appeal by Young might be delaying the board’s disclosure of the disposition of his case.

Asked today about the appeals process, Amberger quoted the city ethics law:

“Within 30 days after any late fee is assessed under this subsection, a public servant may file a written request with the Ethics Board to reduce or waive the fee for good cause.”

HR’s Role

During the meeting, Amberger pointed the finger at human resources managers, including those in the mayor’s office, for failing to properly inform new hires of their duty to turn in the form.

• Senior advisor to Mayor Scott hasn’t filed a required ethics for months after it was due (1/29/25)

• Mayor’s senior advisor entered city employment with interests in three private businesses (2/3/25)

“As you may recall, the ethics law tasks the responsibilities out to the HR departments of the individual agencies who are, by the law, instructed to inform the employees, among other things, of their ethics requirements,” Amberger said.

“Ethics is not part of the hiring process, and also, up to this point, not informed about new hires as they come forward,” he continued.

“I spoke to several HR managers, including at the mayor’s office,” Amberger went on. “And it appeared that the required information may not have been uniformly communicated or was insufficiently emphasized.”

“Ethics is not part of the hiring process, and also, up to this point, not informed about new hires as they come forward”  – Ethics Director J. Christoph Amberger.

As chairman Stephan W. Fogleman and three board members listened, Amberger went on to say he had spoken with Human Resources Director Quinton M. Herbert “to make the ethics requirements are a highly visible part of the on-boarding package.”

He went on to talk about ethics training courses and his plan to attend meetings at various agencies to remind them of ethics requirements and how “an email gauntlet” may be set up to remind new hires of their disclosure obligations.

The Brew asked Amberger what happened after the meeting adjourned and members went into a closed “administrative session.”

Was Young’s case discussed? Was the question of imposing a fine raised? Was any action taken?

The closed part of the board’s monthly meeting “is confidential,” he said.

“All I can say without violating that confidentiality is that the board addressed and resolved all matters put before them in the administrative part of the meeting.”