Howard County Executive Calvin Ball is encouraging residents to celebrate and honor Howard County’s first Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, October 12th. Ball announced last month that Howard County would recognize the holiday in place of Columbus Day moving forward.  

Today, County Executive Calvin Ball was joined by Howard EcoWorks to visit the Department of Corrections’ native plant nursery for their annual sale. The native plant sale is part of the Seeds of Change program, providing education and vocational training to detention center inmates to grow and maintain a native plant nursery. The plant sale is open Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10, between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

On Friday, County Executive Calvin Ball joined Howard EcoWorks at the Department of Corrections’ native plant nursery for their annual sale. The native plant sale is part of the Seeds of Change program, providing education and vocational training to detention center inmates to grow and maintain a native plant nursery.

The Howard County Department of Community Resources and Services will host its 10th annual coat giveaway for residents on Saturday, Oct. 10 at the North Laurel 50 + Center lower Park Pavilion, located at 9411 Whiskey Bottom Rd. in Laurel beginning at 10:00 a.m.

A developer project to reconstruct a portion of Old Frederick Road and relocate the water main near the entrance to the Patapsco Crossing development in Ellicott City, is expected to begin on Friday, October 16th at 7:00 p.m. During the project, a portion of Old Frederick Road between North Rogers Avenue and Howard Run Drive will be closed to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Today, County Executive Calvin Ball announced that a total of $109,185,000 of Refunding bonds were sold this week. This year Howard County saw significant savings compared to previous years, with an overall 1.68% interest rate and savings of $8.6 million.

The Howard County Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission is seeking nominations for its annual “Living the Dream” Award and student entrants for its 2020 essay, oratory and poster contests. The deadline for award nominations and contest entrees is 5:00 p.m., Friday, October 30th.

The Howard County Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission is seeking nominations for its annual “Living the Dream” Award and student entrants for its 2020 essay, oratory and poster contests. The deadline for award nominations and contest entrees is 5:00 p.m., Friday, October 30th. 

County Executive Calvin Ball will visit the Howard County Detention Center’s native plant sale on Friday, October 9th at 1:30 p.m.

Today, County Executive Calvin Ball was joined by Department of Recreation & Parks Director Raul Delerme in Historic Ellicott City for a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially reopen the Thomas Isaac Log Cabin and celebrate recent renovations to the Baltimore & Ohio Ellicott City Station Museum.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball is seeking applicants knowledgeable about pension administration and funding, who are interested in serving on the County’s Pension Oversight Commission. The deadline to apply is Friday, October 30th. 

 Howard County Executive Calvin Ball will be joined by Department of Recreation & Parks Director Raul Delerme, Thursday, October 8th at 11:00 a.m. at the County’s Baltimore & Ohio Ellicott City Station Museum in Historic Ellicott City for a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of renovation work at the museum.

A newly installed traffic signal at the intersection of Broken Land Parkway and Twin Rivers Road in Columbia, is scheduled to be activated around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 22.

 Two Howard County Government agencies will receive more than $1 million over the next three years from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to prevent human trafficking and to expand support for survivors.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball to be joined by the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Community Resources and Services, the Howard County Police Department, HopeWorks and other partners on Wednesday, October 7th to announce the federal grant received to fight human trafficking. 

County Executive Calvin Ball released the following statement this evening in regard to County Council Bill 51 (CB-51):

Howard County Government offices, courts, animal shelter, 50+ centers and Robinson Nature Center will be closed in observance of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day holiday on Monday, October 12. However, regular trash, recycling, yard trim and food scrap services will be in effect and the Alpha Ridge Landfill will be open. 

Today, County Executive Calvin Ball announced the execution of an agreement of sale to purchase land for the future elementary school site in the Turf Valley development. This agreement marks the end of years of effort to secure land to create sorely needed school capacity in the area.

A Howard County construction project to restore and stabilize a heavily eroded storm drain outfall channel in Ellicott City is expected to begin on or about Thursday, October 15. Weather permitting, the project is expected to be completed by late December.

Howard County Government’s 2020 Employee Awards Program honorees were named today in a virtual presentation. Employees nominated the best of their co-workers and a selection committee choose the final awardees.

Howard County now has an unemployment rate of 5.4% for August - down from 8.1% in April of this year, and 1.6% lower than the Maryland unemployment rate of 6.9%. Howard County’s rate is one of the lowest of the 24 Maryland counties. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in February, Howard County reported a 2.7% unemployment rate. 

Howard County’s Department of Housing and Community Development is now accepting applications for its Moderate Income Housing Unit program October open enrollment period, its final enrollment period of 2020. Applications are being accepted now through Friday, October 30, 2020.

Top officials from Howard County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City joined together to issue the following statement on major cuts to the Maryland Transit Administration announced today.

Howard County is partnering with Quality First Urgent Care to operate an additional diagnostic drive-through testing site at the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department, 5700 Rowanberry Dr, Elkridge, MD, Monday – Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. beginning October 12.