Keep Those Christmas Decorations Up!

Toblog is going to jump into the fray over when to put up and when to take down Christmas decorations. Already the day after Christmas some citizens in our fair town were taking down their decorations. Of course, these same people had put them up by Halloween. Naturally, everyone is free to do whatever they want but what is the tradition here? Why have some put up decorations earlier and earlier? What is the reason many of us still put up decorations later and keep them up through the middle of January? All the "non-controversial" questions of commercialism versus Christian traditions come into play on this one.

The Christmas tradition that many of us grew up with had outside decorations going up in early December. And, the tree went up a week before Christmas or even on Christmas eve. Our schedule followed the traditional calender which celebrates Christmas through Epiphany (the 12th day after Christmas when the three kings arrived in Bethlehem). Using the even older Julian calender, we could keep our decorations up even longer to celebrate with our Russian Orthodox and Egyptian Coptic coreligionists. Their calender doesn't celebrate Christmas until January 7th . Of course, you need to add on the 12 days of Christmas to get to the Julian calender Epiphany. This gives you a perfect excuse to keep the holiday going until January 19th. This is a celebration with its focus on the reason for the season.

Of course, commercial interests have pushed the holiday earlier and earlier each year. Commercial Christmas once began on or right after Thanksgiving when many city and town parades ushered in the season with parades featuring Santa's arrival. Now, it's right after Halloween and many of our neighbors have jumped on the bandwagon. By Christmas itself, they are thoroughly tired of their decorations and down they come the day after. What a shame .

We as a people ought to hold on to traditions that help define our life. We shouldn't be so quick to give up centuries old celebrations in order to fatten the corporate bottom line.

It's still Christmas as far as I'm concerned. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas

No Kent Island Blues For Ridgely

Last night, the shopping center development plan for Route 480 was resubmitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Substantial changes were made to the plan and what is to be built will complement Ridgely's rich architectural heritage. The new proposal was approved and fits into the same footprint for the shopping center which was approved last spring. It has a porch and cupolas and will be one of the best buildings on this entrance into Ridgely. For those of you who are wondering, it won't have dormers. The dormer issue was much misrepresented by some, and, dormers were only one of many architectural devices that could be used to bring new Rt. 480 buildings into harmony with the rest of our town.

How many of you have passed through Kent Island and asked yourselves, how did this overdeveloped commercial eyesore come to exist? To the Planning Commission, the state of the Kent Island Rt. 50 commercial strip is a cautionary tale. It is why we are working hard to make our highway commercial strip(Rt. 480)an integral part of town instead of the type of chaotic commercial sprawl that blights too many of our American communities.

The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and Ed McMahon have provided us with much information and inspiration in our efforts to keep Ridgely the beautiful community that it is. Their work is a much needed antidote for those communities struggling to hold the line against place destroying sprawl. As the late Commissioner Jare Wallace used to frequently say (while attending our Planning and Zoning meetings), "either you design your community or the developers coming here will". Words of wisdom which we have taken to heart over the last 10 years.

Contract Controversy Concluding

The controversy that erupted over the Town Manager's contract in September is now drawing to a conclusion. The more radical and dangerous proposals which would have reversed the role of the Town Manager with regard to the Commissioners are now history.

While not perfect, the document can be lived with. It is, however, only as strong as the will of the Commissioners to enforce its provisions. The Town Manager is being given a second chance to establish residency here. The requirement takes effect in six months which is, of course, after the Commissioner election. It will be up to this group to follow-up on this and other provisions (and, living here, certainly doesn't simply mean giving the Commissioners a new drivers license with a 21660 zip -- it means really living here -- the understanding of which has has been stated by the TM at many public meetings). Remember to vote for some backbone when the time comes.

Monday the 19th at 7:00 is the Commissioner's workshop. This will be the last chance for public comment on the issue before the formal vote in December. You can also comment on this blog below.

Thanks to the many who made their voices heard about the contract. The old America is still alive and well in Ridgely. People still stand up for their rights and we still have a free press (in the form of this blog) to shine the light of reason and publicity on what was a pretty awful proposal.

Finally, wouldn't be great to again have a town paper or blog? "Town Talk" as it used to exist couldn't be a forum that contained editorial content because it was the "official" town paper. Something which is independent is needed to air citizen concerns. My blog, as you have seen, isn't only about Ridgely. Although I'm happy to have been of assistance to the town's concerned citizens, we need something exclusively dedicated to this need. To accomplish this, it needs to be private or independent (in other words, not town financed). All blogs are public, of course, but all blogs aren't open to the type of criticism I've posted and hosted. We need to be free of the likelyhood of censorship that comes with being funded by town hall.

We don't need funding anyhow because setting up a blog is simple and free. However, maintaining it and filling it with stories can be time consuming. Many people contributed to "Town Talk" but two (Arlene Hege and Nancy Gearhart) did a huge amount of the work. We need to establish an independent and free press in this town but it does require a dedicated team to produce a quality blog. "Town Talk" can rise again on the blogosphere. Are there any volunteers out there?

Town Planning Process

There is still a lot of misinformation out there about a recent Planning Commission vote. Let me use the example of the largest proposed development project in Ridgely history, Ridgely Park, to clear up some misunderstandings about why we do what we do.

Ridgely Park is a traditional neighborhood development proposal which extends the well planned old town into adjacent farmland. It maintains our grid and alley street system and will be just as walkable as the rest of town. Its houses will be built on traditional size lots and the design of the homes is to reflect the style of our community. There are multiple entrances to the neighborhood which will disperse traffic away from any one street. It is not cut off from the rest of town. Simply put, it is a continuation of all that is good in our town plan.

We have been working on this project for two years and have approved much of it. The actual construction of streets and water sewer infrastructure is set to begin as soon as the Maryland Department of the Environment approves plans for the waste water treatment plant that the developer is building for the town. We have specific commitments about the design of the homes to be built which are written into the Developers Rights and Responsibilities agreement. However, as of yet we don't have the "official" architect's renderings of the individual house plans. What would happen if the developer reneges on the home design standards which have been proposed since day one? This is unlikely since we are dealing with a very honorable developer. However, for the sake of argument, what if? Much would depend on the town government approaching the problem united and insisting that proposals made in good faith must be honored. Unfortunately, there is a lot of money at stake here and a lot of time has been put into this project. The possibility exists that the town Planning Commission could again find itself under pressure to cave in and take what it can get because Ridgely is thought to be over a barrel. However, if we stick to our guns we would get the proposal that we were originally shown. Only if another arm of town government were to take the side of the developer, would the Developers Rights and Responsibilities Agreement (contract) be undermined.

Why have requirements if two years or two weeks down the line we don't expect them to be honored? If we aren't taken seriously to follow through, anyone can take our town for whatever they can. New London is getting closer all the time.

For it to succeed, the Planning Commission must take the long view. What is proposed and built upon in the planning process sets precedents. We have to be consistent. I wish I were an artist and able to illustrate what I mean. (One picture would certainly do better than all the words I've spent on this issue.) I would show what this town would look like, if over the last 10 years, the Planning Commission had been inconsistent, weak, and wishy-washy. The picture would be bleak with fine old homes torn down and anything goes commercial development. It would be an ugly "nowhere" that sadly can be found almost everywhere in today's America. It certainly wouldn't be the Ridgely we love!

Thank You Veterans!

On this Veteran's day let's not forget to honor those who have done so much for us. Thanks to Frank Gearhart a veteran of World War Two who was with the first wave at Utah Beach, the liberation of Paris , battle of Huertgen forest and the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. Thank you Dad!

The Whole Story About The Planning Commission Vote On The Proposed Shopping Center

For about a year, the Ridgely Planning and Zoning Commission has been working on the proposed development of a shopping center on the land next to our community cemetery. One stormy meeting hashed out the details about the proper decorum needed at such a sensitive location where many of us have relatives buried. None of the people who live in town wanted a "big mac" being ordered over a drive through speaker while one of our loved ones was being buried. The packed room was able to come up with a site plan that satisfied town residents and those from out of town promoting the project. The Planning Commission approved this phase of the project and waited for a presentation of the actual building design plans.

From the beginning, the design has been promoted as one that would be in tune with Ridgely's traditional architecture. We were told of a building with a clock tower and shown a sketch of a building with dormers. What finally showed up was none of the above and not accepted by the Planning Commission.

Our Planning Commission has heard it all over the years as developers come here with a whole host of promises which somehow vanish when it's time to put up or shut up. Some of us consider this bait and switch, and, we are tired of being treated as a bunch of naive bumpkins. Now, of course, we are being accused of being hostile to economic development. Nonsense!

I'm very proud of the Planning Commission. Over the years it has stood as a bulwark against those who usually don't live here from ruining our town. How many half baked plans for demolishing homes (on the architectural gem that is Central Avenue) came before us? We just said no, and now look at Central Ave. Its homes have been lovingly restored by their new owners who are proud to live in a piece of American history. The saving of Central Avenue IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. There is no way that the folks who are set to begin construction on Ridgely Park with its traditional neighborhood design would have looked twice at a Ridgely missing its Central Avenue homes. Once our new neighbors arrive, they will become customers for the businesses that will be reopened in our empty storefronts. They will also provide customers to whatever is eventually built next to the cemetery. Ridgely is hardly over a barrel on the issue.

The shopping center proposal should have been a win/win situation for all involved. It's demise certainly isn't the fault of the Planning Commission. We are all residents of the town who will continue to do what we must to protect the quality of life in our town.

Preserving The Republic One Town At A Time

"You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all the people all of the time." Abraham Lincoln

Most of us who are involved in small town government are volunteers or are paid only a token amount for our services. We are either elected or appointed to our boards, councils or commissions. We have families and jobs and are seldom political scientists or professional public servants. Not being professionals puts us at a decided disadvantage when dealing with the ever growing power of town managers over our communities. It is important to remember that it is the elected town government which employs the town manager. Increasingly, however, town managers seem to ignore this fact and act as if this arrangement was the other way around. The growth of the role of the non-resident and unelected town manager has led to many conflicts as citizens fight to keep control of their town's destiny.

Most town managers are itinerant moving from town to town over the course of their careers. This profession has one of the highest turnover rates of any occupation. There are many reasons for this. Being a professional, town managers often quickly assume an attitude of thinking that they know what's best for their employer's town. Such an attitude inevitably leads them to indulge in all kinds of Machiavellian maneuvers to manipulate various members of the community to achieve their goals. After a few years of this, enough enemies will have been made so that the manager becomes an election issue and is then sent packing.

A second reason for the high turnover is the fact that many small towns are governed by charters that never envisioned the need for town managers. Such charters don't even mention the position and are full of ambiguities that allow for all kinds of mischief. No party clearly knows what is expected of the other. Often, these charters provide for no elected mayor or long term commission president to counter the machinations of a manager. The town where I live, for example, rotates its commission president yearly, making management of the town manager difficult at best. Again, over time, ill will builds up and the manager faces the risks of growing citizen hostility.

The third reason for the instability of the position is the fact that our own American political culture is changing. Many citizens have lost their political self respect and ability to act as sovereign decision makers. Our society is run more and more on a bureaucratized or corporate model with less opportunities for the development of these traditional citizenship characteristics. People are elected to office unprepared to govern. They act as if they are serving on a charity board instead of a real flesh and blood political entity. Once again, after a few years, these folks wake up, assert themselves and it's off to the hinterlands for the town manager. This constant turnover doesn't benefit any one. The towns suffer from inconsistent management and town managers suffer from unemployment.

Let me retrofit an old saying here. "town managers, you can't live with them and you can't live without them". For our citizen volunteers charged with governing our towns, their job is no small matter. We need the town manager's expertise. Without them, we will find ourselves rudely awoken one morning by our fellow citizens, ready to lynch us because the waste water treatment plant is overflowing and their toilets won't flush. There is no question that we need these policy wonks. However, we are the ones who know what is best for our towns and set the direction of the course where we want to take our towns. We must make it absolutely clear that we are in charge. Failure to do so leads to unbalanced budgets, higher taxes and water bills and excessive ugly development. These are problems concerning the town's quality of life which our elected resident legislators must be attuned to. They are the kind of problems that get little attention from a non-resident and unelected town manager. This creates the sad opportunity for a town government to morph into the strange proposition of being (to borrow and retrofit another old saying) " a government by and for the employees". Such a proposition gets expensive and the need for tax revenues will be ever growing. It's here that schemes including eminent domain abuse to raise more tax revenues raise their ugly head. In this situation, New London, Connecticut, the pioneer of eminent domain abuse is only right up the road. What's a concerned citizen to do?

First, the town manager should be a stakeholder in the community. They should be required to live in the town they will serve as a citizen and taxpayer. This doesn't mean renting an apartment to use a few nights a week. It means residency plain and simple which must be written into a contract and clearly understood before being hired. Then, residency must be enforced. The negligence of elected officials to carry through on this first step is setting the town manager up for failure. A potentially successful town manager could be wasted if allowed to ignore this important step. A strong correlation seems to exist between town manager residency and an absence of autocratic actions.

Elected officials must make it clear to the manager that they haven't hired a municipal union leader (sorry grandpa). The town manager is management and works for the elected officials serving the taxpaying town residents. This isn't to advocate not paying employees what they are worth. You won't, for example, be able to keep a police force in a small town with the state and county constantly trying to recruit your recruits with promises of more money. It is, however, about the loyalty of the town manager to the elected officials who hired him. Too often town managers view the employees as their first constituency. If the manager has somehow avoided step one and not really moved to town, what does it matter if requests for salaries and benefits for staff will far exceed the town taxpayer's median income? It's not money out of his pocket.

Development and growth for the sake of raising enough tax dollars to maintain an ever increasing payroll destroys towns. The town manager's bottom line is often in conflict with the town resident's interest in maintaining their quality of life. When a choice must be made between revenues or quality of life issues, the manager frequently favors the first. This is particularly true if he isn't a town resident. Great plans emphasizing "smart growth" and "traditional neighborhood development" will all fall by the wayside in an economic crunch. It is at this juncture that the mettle of elected officials and town planning commissions will really be tested.

Certain citizens drive autocratic town managers nuts. They are usually the better educated activist types and they overwhelmingly make up a town's volunteer commissions. These are the natural enemy for autocratic town managers because they also think they know something about how their town should be run. They also can still think and act like old fashioned American citizens. Usually they aren't of one political persuasion. One of my favorite towns has an interesting coalition including Greens and Paleo-Conservatives. As long as national issues are avoided, they work well together trying to preserve their town from what Russell Kirk termed "the enemies of the permanent things".

If your town manager is having activist troubles, expect him to exploit resentment of the activist group. Good old fashion class war works for a time. Because many of the activists are better off and new arrivals, it's not hard to fan the flames of resentment among old timers of lesser means. However, once the water bills and taxes start to rise because of town manager policies, all will reunite in opposition to their common oppressor.

Town manager misuse of the town council executive session (which is basically a secret meeting) is a serious problem. Most states allow this for personnel reasons or talking to the town attorney about litigation. Unfortunately, it's often abused. Here the town manager strikes out at dissidents or even elected officials threatening them or accusing them of just about anything. Yes, anything, and the elected officials can't go public about this tactic or risk dismissal through their own ethics board. Usually, publicity aids the elected officials but now they must remain silent. Only when the town manager puts his "anything" into action can a resistance take form. Those he has targeted will have no need to restrain themselves at this point because the consequences of the secret agenda will have made their impact. The result is outrage from the community.

Most of us don't want any of the above to happen. To start with, elected officials ought to start acting like they understand the power that they exercise on behalf of their constituents. Then, there are the ways to address the problem of inadequate old town charters which fail to address the role of the town manager. Ambiguity must be banished from these documents. A strong and consistent council presidency or mayor commission type of government must be established. This is absolutely essential to manage the town manager. It's a classic check and balance type of arrangement that can work well.

Those who should serve on a charter change commission need know something about government and should be recruited from the various volunteer boards and commissions serving the town. This should also include former commission members as well as resident business people, clergy, volunteer firemen and the town attorney. To be representative of all the town, it probably needs to be at least as large as twelve people. The commission needs people with a strong sense of their role as American citizens. We need people who understand ordered liberty and checks and balances to the concentration of power.

Charter change is not the panacea for all of the problems towns have with their town managers. It's possible that a completely spineless mayor could be elected who actually sees nothing wrong with schemes for over development or using eminent domain to fatten tax rolls to cover overspending. However, in such cases,the citizen has a recourse through the ballot box. At least elected officials have records that can be made campaign issues. It's even possible for a charter to have a town manager who is an elected official too. Once again, the recourse to the ballot box provides a proper check to abuse.

Benjamin Franklin's observation at the conclusion of the Constitutional convention applies here. When asked what had been accomplished, he replied that: "You have a republic, if you can keep it". The history of republics is littered with failures from Rome to Weimar. All too often, it is the citizens themselves through their apathy, fear, or lack of knowledge, that allow the abrogation of their rights. We need to get to work here in our small towns to "keep" alive our part of this republic.

Toblog's Biggest Hits

Welcome to Toblog. It's time to catch up here. If you are new to this blog or are just feeling nostalgic, let me refer you to four blog posts of note. "Save Our Small Town Democracy" (9/6/07) is a complete overview of the problem presented by the town manager type of government in many small towns. If you are concerned about the corrosive effects of Political Correctness, refer to "Politically Correct Beyond Words" (10/3/07)and "Politically Correct United Statians" (9/28/07). Finally, this blog started out considering new technologies and their impact on libraries. See "Week 9, Thing 23" (8/20/07)and what the future holds for libraries.

Happy reading and commenting.

Politically Correct Beyond Words

Political Correctness is a phenomenon that increasingly reaches beyond simply neutering our language. Sadly, we now have Politically Correct toilets across the pond. Recently, British prisons, at taxpayer expense, had to remodel their restrooms so that the toilets wouldn't face Mecca. Muslim prisoners had been sitting sideways creating a number of hygienic issues for prison officials. The new toilets are now placed in a direction that no matter what business needs to be taken care of, it won't be done in the direction of Mecca. I suppose the toilets now face Washington.

This might be humorous, except that we all know what the reaction would have been if some Western sensitivity had been offended. All over the West, it's the same story as with hardly a whimper we accommodate the most frivolous demands. Political Correctness in its many manifestations weakens all Western nations. How have we arrived at this point?

What has evolved into Political Correctness has its origins in Cultural Marxism which developed after World War I. Antonio Gramsci of Italy and Georg Lucas of Hungary pioneered the idea that Western Civilization itself was the main reason for the failure of Communist revolutions. The culture itself kept the "workers" from seeing their true class interests and rising up. The trick, then, was to deconstruct the culture first and the revolution would follow.

Lucas and his ideas migrated to Germany and he become a part of a think tank called innocently enough, the Institute for Social Research. Historians now refer to this as the Frankfurt School. Here devout Marxists married their ideology with Freudian ideas which begot Critical Theory. The term Critical Theory is best described by Bill Lind as "ingenious because you're tempted to ask, "What is the theory? The theory is to criticize. The theory is that the way to bring down Western culture and the Capitalist order is not to lay down an alternative....What Critical Theory is about is simply criticizing. It calls for the most destructive criticism possible...designed to bring the current order down."

The Frankfurt School members emigrated to America with the rise of Hitler. Here a quiet academic aberration gets a new lease on life. New members Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse add the sexual liberation element and thus the finishing touches to Political Correctness. With the rise of the counter culture in the 60s it's "hey hey, ho ho, Western Culture has got to go". Yesterdays radicals made their "long march" through the universities where today they "teach" and torture future corporate executives into line. Now, Political Correctness is everywhere in the West. It's in our language, in our rewritten history textbooks and now, of course, in our toilets.

Is there a road back? It's a long difficult one where the individual Westerner confronts growing cultural amnesia. Political Correctness is the new creed of an ever increasing segment of our cultural and governing elite. The first step, however, is to "know thy enemy" and understand how this attack on our civilization came to be. In particular, if you are an American, you can start by rejecting the newest Politically Correct terms such as "United Statians" (see my blog - 9/28/07)which are attempting to move into our vocabulary. This term is particularly insidious robbing Americans of even the name by which we've been known for centuries.

Also,take the time to take a look at your children's textbooks. History books, in particular, now leave out a whole host of heroes and accomplishments that made our nations and civilization. Those who remain are subject to relentless criticism (in line with Critical Theory script) turning former heroes into villains. However, textbooks can be challenged and changed. There have been individuals who have successfully taken on school boards and won. They have been able to bring back to their school districts more balanced histories of our nations and the West.

People have passed off Political Correctness as some kind of joke but the joke has been on us. It's a very dangerous form of identity theft causing cultural amnesia and robbing us of being able to find even the words with which to defend ourselves. The very intolerant enemies of our way of life certainly aren't silent. Wake up before it's too late and we are all silenced like Theo Van Gogh.

Best Example Of The Worst

What follows is a comment by someone called "dvelcro" on my blog which you all need to think about. This is a great example of the kind of thinking that is very contrary to the interests of the citizens of any town. We can't be certain who this person is but we can sure take this case of "attitude" as a cautionary tale as our Commissioners continue work on the Town Manager's contract.

Dear concerned,
The issue at hand appears to be paragraph 2, a new contract is being negotiated.

Except it's not. I don't see any negotiation here. "Manager, sell your house (at a loss) and move to 21660 or else ..." what? We'll find someone who will move here for the sake of an at-will position at a modest wage in a small town in a rural county in the isolated hinterland of the Bo-Wash sprawl? I'd say Ridgely is over a barrel unless the town can negotiate to get what it really wants.
Residency or ownership does not equal a sense of responsibility. How many investors who own property would just as easily accomodate shady developers because their interests are in increasing the value of their investment rather than the quality of their community?
Wasting the energy groaning over gas mileage is to me a distraction from the real concern: What are the traits and actions of a manager who takes seriously the interests and concerns of the citizens he/she serves? Who is going to talk seriously about what will make Ridgely a better place at the end of 5 years than it is today?
By the way this Blogger/Google set-up is buggy, it took half an hour for it to recognize my password to send this. I will not be posting again.

New Website For Our Hometown

Look at this labor of love. The new website for Ridgely is up. Many thanks to Webmaster Arlene Hege and also Nancy Gearhart for all the work they are doing bringing Ridgley to the world. Go to: http://www.ridgelymd.org/

Citizen Blogs

Blogs are filling a gap in reporting because the mainstream media (msm) is either too politically correct or too subservient to corporate commercial interests. What passes for news is often frivolous and misses the main points concerning serious issues. Recently, in our area the msm focused on the non-issue of a "leak" of the Town Manager Contract talks at a Commissioner's open and public workshop. I suppose this was because of its human interest factor. However, the more critical issue of our town electorate effectively losing their political rights was completely ignored.

Our problem here in Ridgely isn't unique. All over the country small towns are running into problems with the town manager form of government. The national trend toward concentration of power in one (often absentee) Town Manager's hands mirrors our own. Increasingly, it is local blogs that are bringing to light these problems. This blog certainly has and will continue to play its part in trying to keep our residents in control of their town.

Somehow those of us in similar situations need to come together and share information. This is, of course, where blogs and other technologies come in. Information can be bundled together by "tags" and put all of us with similar concerns in touch with each other. Hopefully, others from around the country faced with similar challenges preserving local democracy will start blogging with us. Together we will be able to take on a problem undermining our freedom in hundreds of towns across America.

The Public's Right To Know

The contract problem has a new twist. A majority of the Commissioners now agree that the negotiations pertaining to the Town Manager's contract should be carried on during executive session. This means that we the public can't attend. Had this happened in the first place many of you in town would not even know something was wrong. Why the change all of a sudden?

Executive sessions are the place to discuss personnel problems and litigation before the town. This contract is not the kind of personnel matter that executive sessions are usually used for. Usually they're for accusations of wrongdoing or questions about job performance (which haven't been on the table). This, however, is about a contract that could RADICALLY CHANGE how our town is governed. It shouldn't be viewed like union/employer contract negotiations. It's a discussion that should be public considering this particular contract's potential impact on our way of life.

It's not even clear that the public would have a decent amount of time to review what is drawn up in an executive session before any public vote. AT MINIMUM THE PUBLIC SHOULD HAVE AN ENTIRE MONTH TO REVIEW WHAT IS TO BE VOTED ON. There is no way in the heat of the moment at a town meeting that any proposed contract can be properly reviewed and compared with the contract that came before.

Contact your Commissioners and let them know how you feel. Such an important issue needs to be kept in a public forum all steps of the way.

Newspapers, Blogs, Leaks And The Real Story

"Eyeonridgely" is right with the comment below (Contract Controversy Continued - 9/14 post) that the stories in the papers miss the main point. First, this isn't about a "leak" because there wasn't one. This blog brought to light what had been previously presented at the Commissioners' public workshop. This isn't called "leaking" but publicity. Publicity has, in this case, stopped what was about to quietly be passed. We are not out of the woods yet but heading in a better direction.

The main issue that the paper missed is that the proposed contract turns the town Charter on its head by putting the unelected and non-resident Town Manager in a stronger position than our elected and resident Commissioners. They are currently his boss and that arrangement should not change. The issues of the car and residency are important and clearly have widespread support. However, in terms of potential damage to the town, ignoring the Charter and the ordinance which created the position of Town Manager would inflict far more damage on Ridgely.

Contract Controversy Continued

So far, there have been a lot of visits but few posts on this blog. Mostly it has led to good old fashioned talks at the post office. Many are clearly concerned about the contract and have called the Commissioners about the issue. The very flawed contract that was presented at the Commissioners' workshop is now getting plenty of scrutiny and will not be passed in that form. A wake up call was needed and heeded.

There seem to be two positions on the contract. It's either "outrageous -- fire him" or "leave him alone -- what do you know about running a town?". I don't agree with either of the above. Joe has done a good job and I am proud about what we have accomplished in planning for the growth and development that has arrived at our doorsteps. He also shares a preservation ethic and realizes what a gem Ridgely is. It's a breath of fresh air, for example, to work with someone who doesn't propose demolition or removal as the only solution for old buildings or old trees in town. Not moving here and proposing such a over reaching contract has been a mistake. However, it certainly doesn't eclipse the good he has done. This can be worked out.

As for the "leave him alone" folks. I'm sorry but I guess I'm just an old fashioned American who still really believes that "We the People" govern. Of course, most of us aren't policy wonks. We do know, however, what is best for our communities. We then elect Commissioners who hire people like town managers to get the job done. It's important that no contract reverse these roles.

On this blog it has been suggested that a Charter change is needed. The current Charter doesn't even address the role of a Town Manager. I'm afraid that the questions about the role of the Manager that have come up in the past will continue to come up until a Charter change resolves the issue.

The Ridgely Town Manager's Role Defined

With the talks about the proposed contract going on, it's important to understand the role of the Commissioners and the Town Manager. Whatever contract is finally considered it must be in accordance with Ridgely law. I've pasted our town law on this below.

ARTICLE I

Manager

[Adopted 2-2-1998 by Ordinance No. 152]



37-1. Position created


The Commissioners of Ridgely hereby create the position of Town Manager and shall appoint an individual with a sincere interest in municipal government administration, who shall serve at the pleasure of the Commissioners.


37-2. Powers and duties


The Town Manager shall have such duties as shall be assigned to him or her by the Commissioners by resolution.


37-3. Compensation


The Town Manager shall be compensated for the performance of his or her duties in an amount to be fixed by the Commissioners by resolution.

Have Your Say About Your Town

Stop a very bad idea from becoming law in our town. Have your say on this blog about the proposed town manager's contract. (First, let me explain. This blog started as my work related blog on new web based 2.0 technologies. That program is now done and for the time being this blog will become a forum for the people of Ridgely.) See the blog entry below titled "Save Our Small Town Democracy". Any view is welcome but avoid profanity, personal attacks or anonymous blogging. In order to "blog", click on "comments" and then sign up with your email. Invent a password and then "blog" away. People need to talk about where our community is going.

Save Our Small Town Democracy

Increasingly the average citizen has less and less to say about the fate of their local community. Forces of economic globalization, political correctness and the growth of federal and state bureaucracies, take away more and more of the decision making ability from local citizens and their elected representatives. This trend is bad enough but becomes maddening if the citizens themselves seem more than happy to give up what little remains of their capacity for self government.

Here in Ridgely the commissioners are considering a proposed contract for the town manager that will cede much of their authority as our elected representatives to the unelected and non-resident town manager. It's a 5 year contract that makes it impossible for the commissioners to remove the town manager without buying out what remains of his contract. Such a buyout could bankrupt Ridgely. In the event the commissioners and town manager don't agree over policy, all the commissioners could do is refuse to fund whatever it is they don't want. Gridlock could be the order of business until the contract expires and a new town manager can be brought in to do their biding.

Let me say that I like our town manager and have worked with him in my position as chairman of our planning and zoning commission. I have no evidence that he is about to acquire the New London, Connecticut disease and start eminent domain proceedings against middle class housing blocks in order to redevelop those blocks into tax revenue rich upscale mansions. However, nice guy or not, no one in American government at any level deserves unchecked power. Our system of government is not built on blind trust. It's built on checks and balances to power. America has prospered throughout its history because of the institutional bulwarks that prevent too much power from being concentrated into too few hands. We are a government of "laws and not men". The proposed contract doesn't allow our elected commissioners to either "check" or "balance" the town manager and virtually puts our town government in the hands of one man.

Ironically, the whole contract issue has come up because the town manager has not relocated to Ridgely as he agreed to and is required by his current contract. The provision requiring Ridgely residency was meant to make the town manager a stakeholder in the community for which he is making so many decisions. Yet, the proposed contract is actually rewarding the town manager for not living up to his current contract.

At this point the contract is only a proposal. There has been no vote. The Commissioners haven't had more than a public discussion of some of it. I know they have questions too. Contact them and make a point of attending their meetings. They need to know that you don't agree with what has been proposed. What has been proposed should never see the light of day or be allowed to be enacted. The next meeting is Monday, September 10th, 7:00 at Town Hall.

Week 9, Thing 23

I'm done with the "Eastern Shore Regional Library's 23 Things". This course has been quite a journey for me. I started from a position of not knowing anything about Web 2.0 technologies (except YouTube) to having set up a blog with all the wonderful gizmos I've learned about. Much of this like Flickr is fascinating and now takes a lot of my time.

Where is this all going? It's still hard to say. We are witnessing an evolutionary process that won't leave any fossil record and will someday be looked on as a means of communication that was created fully formed. (Won't that lead to an interesting debate?) For all its good and useful applications, Web 2.0 shouldn't lead any of us on a stampede to jettison the traditional written word. This should be a win/win process with old technologies merging with the new. I don't see today's books as the 8 track tapes of the future.

Week 6, Thing 15

The perspectives on Web 2.0 and the future of libraries were interesting and yet left me feeling a bit uncomfortable. Although this course has been a real eye-opener for me, it's been a case of adding new skills that will be used within the context of the existing library framework. We are not "post print" and hopefully never will be. All web based technologies are simply too ephemeral to carry on the library mission to "preserve and promote community memories". My introduction to library service was the Historical Society of Pennsylvania which is an archive with 16 million documents and images. Web 2.0 can assist in access to such collections but never replace them. Likewise, the service of a bookmobile in the very rural district where I now work remains a "hard copy" service. I certainly will use Web 2.0 to assist patrons but I will also keep all of those "just in case" books the collection needs to be complete. In fact, I just added a large number of biographies and histories that our local high school thought it no longer needed. There have been quite a few checkouts of this "just in case" material.

ESRL 23 Things -- Hello World!

Greetings from Toblog, the blog of Toby Gearhart. This blog is going to start with observations about Web 2.0 technologies and their application to the future of libraries. Can a Luddite librarian such as myself be transformed in a mere 9 weeks?

Toblog will branch out after this 9 weeks course (assuming a transformation will occur)and explore the political, cultural, musical, and even completely foolish and pointless topics that are of great importance to me.