Salisbury City Council and the Daily Times - More of the Same

Monday's Salisbury City Council meeting was pretty much more of the same old thing. The taxpayers get to pay for the (pick one) laziness, incompetence or corruption of city government. Certain friends of the administration are invited to belly up to the public trough. The mayor and her rubber stamp "council leadership" continue to show that they have no intention of providing open government. Controversial projects are pulled from the agenda at the last minute in an attempt squelch public outcry. And, our local paper fails to provide any meaningful coverage.

One key case in point was the budget amendment passed last night. It should be noted that a similar budget amendment failed at the last council meeting only because two council members, Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen refused to buckle under pressure and political threats by councilman Gary Comegys. Because a budget amendment needs a super majority, Campbell and Cohen were able to prevent more of the city's surplus to used. Last night, the administration and their serfs on Maryland's most irrelevant legislative body were forced to cut spending in other areas to pay for their inability to budget properly.

Of course, none of this was mentioned in the Daily Times. Sure, Gannett's local presence mentioned what some of the costs were. There was no coverage of what happened to the appropriation to chemically treat Schumaker Pond. Thanks to Councilwoman Cohen, the city will save several thousand dollars AND the money will not have to come from the general fund surplus.

Interestingly, there was no coverage of the enterprise zone award to Mr. David Moore and his Manhattan Square, LLC. In an exchange that became sadly amusing at times, Mr. Moore was rude and condescending to Councilwoman Campbell (of course there was no lecture from the civility queen, Louise Smith). City Administrator John Pick suddenly thought that he was Barrie Tilghman and tried to tell Louise Smith how to run the council meeting (he couldn't do worse, but that still isn't his place) and the council again provided a subsidy that may not be legally deserving.

Mr. Moore's application was obviously prepared in haste and he lists his "improvements" as being residential condos. By his own admission at the meeting, his "improvements" were elevators and sprinklers that were directly related to the condos. Hopefully the state will be more diligent and refuse the enterprise zone tax credits to the developer, at least until a better application is made.

Stricken from the agenda was the proposed "Westside" annexation. True to form, the Salisbury City Council (as well as the Wicomico / Salisbury Planning Commission) likes to strike items from the agenda when it becomes clear that a sizable number of citizens will show up in opposition. The tactic is simple, and effective. We all know that it is difficult to motivate citizens to take time and come out to meetings. By letting them show up and then pulling the item at the last minute, the probability of a large group showing up the second (or if necessary the third or fourth) time decreases. Mayor Tilghman and her "council leadership" then don't have to face down a group of angry citizens.

This same point was re-emphasized by Salisbury resident Judy Dzimiera during the public comment section of the meeting. As she pointed out, an attempt by local slumlord Captain's Investments to subdivide a residential lot has been repeatedly pulled from the Planning Commission agenda. Of course, what's a little chicanery if it helps a friend?

cross posted at Delmarva Dealings

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