The uncensored audit of the millions of dollars spent on renovating the Rocky Point Golf Clubhouse cites potential charter and code violations by the Olszewski-Klausmeier administrations in their successful effort to divert public funds to underwrite a pet project championed by County Executive Johnny Olszewski before he left office.

The full March 27, 2026 audit, obtained by The Brew, says that the process for moving $6.6 million in capital program to support the clubhouse project “is not clearly documented and the relationship between those actions and the underlying legal authority for such fund movements is not clearly articulated.”

Noting that the Baltimore County Council specifically barred the use of general funds for the clubhouse renovations, the audit recommends that lawmakers request “a detailed timeline from the administration, supported by documentation, identifying key decision points, approvals, funding determinations and agreement execution steps related to the Rocky Point project.”

The report places County Attorney James R. Benjamin Jr. on the hot seat, saying he should be asked by the council to issue a formal opinion on “whether applicable legal requirements governing the use and disbursement of County funds have been satisfied.”

The redacted version of the audit had hid these points and many more expressing the auditor’s significant concerns about the project.

“This is absolutely outrageous,” said Fred Homan, a retired county administrator who released the full audit to The Brew.

“First, the county executive took taxpayer money the council had removed from the budget to renovate a clubhouse that, by law, is supposed to be self-supporting. Then he and his successor CE went to great lengths to cover up and prevent public knowledge about it,” Homan said.

Until now, the public has known little about County Auditor Elizabeth Irwin’s report and recommendations.

That’s because the final five pages of her 10-page report were blanked out when it was released last May to Homan in response to his Maryland Public Information Act request. (See the lead illustration.)

BELOW: Unredacted Text of the Clubhouse Audit

The MPIA says that government officials should always err on the side of full disclosure and transparency, but can redact portions of public documents that contain personnel records, private financial information, investigatory records compiled for law enforcement, and attorney-client-privileged material.

None of these restrictions appears to apply to the Rocky Point audit.

Instead, the pages redacted by Council Secretary Thomas Bostwick include:

• “Key Observations” of the budgetary and grant maneuvers used by the administration to hide funds accumulated for the clubhouse rebuild.

• “Legal and Approval Considerations” that point to apparent violations of both the County Charter and County Code.

• “Potential Council Actions/Next Steps” to help lawmakers to get to the bottom of the deceptions.

“Deep-sixed” critique

So far, the council hasn’t followed any of Irwin’s recommendations, while Bostwick wiped away evidence of those recommendations in the redacted report.

“They deep-sixed an audit the administration didn’t like. This was not accidental – those redactions were deliberate,” asserted Homan, who has appealed the redactions to Lisa Kershner, the state public access ombudsman, for mediation.

In a letter to Homan, Bostwick justified the redactions by saying that “the county auditor must be able to freely provide honest, straightforward and frank analysis and advice to the Council members – and to the Executive.”

Bostwick said disclosure of the full audit findings “would have a chilling effect on this free exchange and would inhibit creative debate and discussion or impair the integrity of the Council’s decisionmaking process.”

Reacting to stories in The Brew about the clubhouse renovations (here and here), six former county lawmakers, led by ex-Catonsville Councilman Tom Quirk, urged the council chair, Mike Ertel, to release the full audit.

Ertel has not done so, although the full audit was distributed to council members and other government officials. (Quirk said he received a copy yesterday of the unredacted audit from a “source” and not from Ertel.)

Calling the report a well-done complement to the Brew’s reporting, he said, “There is no question that this situation needs to be looked at much more carefully by the council.”

“Obviously, there were charter violations involved here”  – Former Councilman Tom Quirk.

“Obviously, there were charter violations involved here,” Quirk continued. “I think the council needs their own legal counsel to look at what happened because the county attorney is in conflict with itself, and, unfortunately, the office of inspector general is not functioning.”

In her report, Irwin detailed how funds for the Rocky Point project were hidden under the guise of parking garage improvements, then were defined as a “grant” by County administrator D’Andrea Walker after Klausmeier succeeded Olszewski as county executive in 2025.

(Olszewski is now running for a second term in the 2nd Congressional District, while Klausmeier will leave office after voters select a new county executive in November.)

Irwin wrote that documents and an interview with Kenneth Mills, executive director of the Baltimore County Revenue Authority, identified “questions regarding the relationship between Council appropriation authority and subsequent Executive actions taken in conjunction with the project.”

Section 716 of the County Charter says that capital projects cannot start – and funds cannot be committed or expended – by the Revenue Authority “without advance written notice to both the County Council and the County Executive.” And Article 3, Title 10 of the County Code requires the county council to have advance written notice of any grant funding.

Irwin said these requirements were not followed in the case of the clubhouse renovations.

Helping a Close Friend

In October 2024, Olszewski announced with great fanfare the expansion and renovation of the clubhouse, located at Rocky Point Park in Essex.

“We are committed to delivering world-class opportunities for our residents to play, compete and explore Baltimore County’s natural beauty, especially along our scenic and historic eastern waterfronts,” he said in a press release.

Improvements would include a new commercial kitchen, 12,000 square feet of new event space to seat 180 people, a 24-30 seat mixed grille area, new restrooms, a pro shop and storage space that would cost a total of $8.25 million.

The Baltimore Banner reported that Robert J. Romadka was an active member of the clubhouse and the main impetus behind the renovation.

A longtime lawyer and Eastside powerbroker, Romadka helped the county buy the farms that comprised the future golf course and was a close friend and political benefactor to both Olszewski and his father, a former county councilman.

“He made sure we got going with a new clubhouse at Rocky Point Golf Course”  – now Congressman Johnny Olszewski.

Following Romadka’s death earlier this year, Olszewski paid tribute to the 95-year-old:

“Bob got me back on my feet [after losing a state Senate race] – helping me literally and figuratively get elected as Baltimore County Executive.”

“He made sure we got going with a new clubhouse at Rocky Point Golf Course. . . I carry him with me every day. Rest in peace, my friend. Thank your for everything.”

No Monitoring of Expenses

In announcing the clubhouse renovations back in 2024, Olszewski said the county government routinely pays for places like Rocky Point that don’t bring in enough revenues from operations to finance major capital improvements.

In fact, the Revenue Authority is legally required to operate county-owned facilities, including golf courses like Rocky Point, as a self-sustaining, self-supporting enterprise.

In a critical aside redacted by Bostwick, Irwin noted that “the allocation of financial risk between the county and the Revenue Authority” was never clearly defined, and the executive branch did not identify “a county agency or official responsible for administering or overseeing [clubhouse improvements], including responsibility for monitoring expenditures.”

In another passage redacted by Bostwick, Irwin called on the council to hold a work session to examine the issues identified in her memorandum , including “compliance with capital budget requirements” and “clarity regarding approval requirements.”

None of these tasks have yet been undertaken by the council.