I. COUNTIES

NOTE: The county officials are here divided into two groups,
Judicial and Administrative. The administrative officials are listed
according to the following functions: executive and legislative; fiscal;
election; public safety; health, education, and welfare; planning,
building, and inspection, if any; licensing; liquor control; and exten-
sion and soil conservation service.

Many counties have begun to outgrow the traditional county offices,
and two counties, Montgomery (in 1948) and Baltimore (in 1966),
have adopted charter governments with special departments and
officers that perform functions formerly centered in the Board of
County Commissioners. Even in these two counties, however, most
of the traditional offices remain, and though many of them are not
regulated by charter, they work side by side with the new depart-
ments. For this reason we have listed the officers of Montgomery
and Baltimore counties, like those of other counties, according to
function rather than according to the legal or administrative relation-
ships their charters have created.

Methods of appointment and terms of office of the officials common
to most of the counties are explained below. Such information about
officers peculiar to any one county is given in footnotes. Unless other-
wise indicated, all officers may be addressed at their respective county
seats.

METHODS OF APPOINTMENT
JUDICIAL OFFICERS

Resident Judge:

Elected by the voters of the First, Second, and Eighth Judicial
Circuits and in other circuits by the voters of the county for a
fifteen-year term.
Clerk of the Circuit Court:

Elected by the voters of the county for a four-year term.
State's Attorney:
Elected by the voters of the county for a four-year term.

Sheriff:
Elected by the voters of the county for a four-year term.

Register of Wills:
Elected by the voters of the county for a four-year term.

Judges, Orphans' Court:

Elected by the voters of the county for a four-year term.
Trial Magistrates:

Appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate for
two-year terms.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS
Board of County Commissioners:

Elected by the voters of the county for four-year terms.
Clerk to the County Commissioners:

Appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, except in
Montgomery County, where he is appointed by the County Manager
with the consent of the County Council.

Attorney to the County Commissioners:

Appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, except in
Baltimore County, where, as Solicitor, he heads the Office of Law
and is appointed by the County Administrator with the consent of
the County Executive; and Montgomery County, where he is ap-
pointed by the County Council.