When confirmed as Baltimore County’s first inspector general in January 2020, Kelly Madigan was assigned to a cubicle in the basement of the Historic Towson Courthouse.

“No employees, a meager budget and minimal awareness among county employees and residents as to the existence of the office, let alone its intended purpose,” Madigan writes in a mandated annual report, which was posted this morning.

The report comes just hours before tonight’s scheduled vote by the County Council on whether to confirm her potential replacement, Khadija Walker, who was handpicked by interim County Executive Kathy Klausmeier.

Five Council members – Todd Crandell, Wade Kach, David Marks, Izzy Patoka and Pat Young – have publicly said they favor Madigan’s reappointment to a second term, suggesting they would vote against Walker.

So far, the nominee’s only announced supporter is 4th District Democrat Julian E. Jones Jr.

Last week, however, Pat Young (D, 1st) waffled on his commitment to Madigan, saying he must view the administration’s nominee with “an open mind,” while Klausmeier continues to insist that Walker is “the best candidate I could find.”

The proposed salary for Walker – $218,000 a year, or nearly $50,000 more than Madigan makes – has stoked further controversy.

Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming weighed in this morning, saying on X that Walker, a federal government auditor, “has never served as an IG for a day,” while Madigan “has lived, worked and went to UB law in Baltimore.”

Klausmeier’s office has responded to similar criticism by noting, “Auditors are well trained in identifying waste, fraud and abuse. Moreover, Ms. Walker has demonstrated experience leading both audits and investigations.”

94 Cents per Resident

As for Madigan, “I do not know if I will be afforded the opportunity to serve a second term,” she says in today’s report, thanking “the citizens of Baltimore County, many of whom have provided incredible support and encouragement to the office, and to me personally, during challenging times over the past five years.”

Since its humble beginnings in 2020, the office has handled over 1,000 complaints of “fraud, waste and abuse” in county government, opened 100 investigations, and issued over 50 reports, most of them available to the public.

Its FY25 budget was $874,483, of which $787,113 was spent, nearly all of it going to salaries for Madigan and five full-time employees. That amounts to a cost of 94 cents per Baltimore County resident.

Included in the report is a summary of recent investigations, including the bombshell report that former Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski’s uncle misused a county-assigned truck for personal purposes and spent hundreds of hours of county time working at Olszewski’s campaign office in Dundalk.

NOTE: Tonight’s County Council meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Historic Courthouse building. It is open to the public.