Towards the end of the City Council meeting, as promised in the Daily Times, the appointment and/or re-appointment of new and present members of Fruitland City Commissions arose. City Council President Greg Olinde announced that a new procedure was now in place, whereby all appointees and re-appointees would have to submit a letter to the City Council, outlining their reasons for wishing to serve on the various boards and giving some details of their intentions, reasons for joining, background and experience. After a review by the City Council, those who passed muster would be appointed. The two new appointments to the Recreation Commission were therefore tabled, due to a lack of submitted letters from those two people.
This did not sit well with several city commission/board members, including Annette Noble (Planning Commission, up for re-appointment) and Bob Janeski (Recreation Commission Chairman). Bob Janeski told Greg Olinde that if new Rec. Comm. volunteers were forced to write letters to join, they wouldn’t. He said they would lose new members because of it. Later on, the question arose of whether or not it was the job of the Rec. Comm. to actually vet new Rec. Comm. Members and then pass the names on to the City Council for nominal approval. This has been the previous method used.
Annette Noble said that she would not write a letter in order to be re-appointed. She was clearly disgusted with the whole idea. By now, it was evident that Greg Olinde was losing control of the meeting. The Reverend Gloria Ortiz (City Council Treasurer) stated that she had never heard of this new requirement until just then. Paul Bradshaw (Board of Zoning Appeals) asked if it was true that, if in addition to letters from appointees, they would be required to submit actual resumes. Bob Marvel (Board of Zoning Appeals) expressed his annoyance with the new procedure. The question arose of the propriety of the announcement in the Daily Times, which stated bluntly who would definitely be appointed to what committee. John McDonnell (City Manager) and Greg Olinde tried to cover up for it, saying that the Daily Times had been mistaken. Greg Olinde actually went so far as to boldly say words to the effect that the DT always gets it wrong!
Ted Lokey (City Councilman) attempted to explain that letters were to help the City Council make a decision when there were multiple candidates. Ray Carey (City Councilman) suggested that the Rec. Comm. waive the letter submission requirement. The embarrassment continued as Greg Olinde waffled. Greg Olinde tried to tactfully explain that Rec. Comm. was as important as Planning Comm., but that Planning Comm. was actually more important by far. Richard Tull (City Councilman) tried to introduce a motion but received no second to the motion. Greg Olinde attempted to cool things down by explaining that short letters would be okay and Ted Lokey agreed. Andy Mitchell (City Solicitor) interjected several times that short letters would not really be helpful, people could say little or nothing in them, actually knowing the candidates would be better and so on and so forth.
The circus was still in full swing. There were numerous motions and seconds and counter-motions. It was so crazy in there that I can not be sure of the actual voting outcomes, but I believe the City Council voted to continue to not have any letter submission requirements for prospective Rec. Comm. members. One city board member told me that the perception was widespread that Greg Olinde was set on having Ed Cowell as the new Plan. Comm. appointee. When Greg Olinde found out that a majority of the City Council wanted Fred “Algy” Giles instead, he came up with the new requirements, as a means of getting his way. Greg Olinde was convinced that Fred Giles was anti-growth. A little birdie told me that they had seen Fred Giles’s letter and resume and that both were impressive to say the least.
Too bad for Fruitland. As a result, no doubt, of the amateurish performance by Greg Olinde and his treatment of Fred Giles, who perceived it as both discriminatory and loutish, the other shoe dropped. Greg Olinde called the meeting to a close as quickly as he could. “Whew!” was written all over his red face! That’s when Fred Giles went up to Greg Olinde and told him words to the effect that he wasn’t used to being treated like a Mafia gang member and that Greg could stick it! Having just removed his name from the Plan. Comm. candidates list, he strode out of City Hall, not a happy man, to say the least. Good job Greg Olinde! It is one thing to pick a candidate - it is quite another to go around scaring away talented volunteers! There are possibly several people in Fruitland who will never look at you the same way again, after that fiasco. But, on the bright side, it looks like you might get your politically correct appointee on the Plan. Comm. after all!
From a part-time Fruitland resident
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
9 comments:
I would like to commend Greg Olinde for his handling of the situation. Being a councilperson does not give you the right to meet privately (yes there was a quorum) and decide ahead of time to try and have your person shoved through the process.
What is so hard about writing a short letter to explain your reasons and interest in serving on a public committee ? I don't understand why this would be so difficult if one really wanted to serve. Greg Olinde is a decent and honest man; the original post attacking him sounds like it might have come from one of the losers--or one of their supporters--in the recent Fruitland election
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAWhat I been saying?
Really people. Are you so uncivilized that you can't sit down and write a few words about your self? You don't have to call it a resume, you can pretend it's for a press release or something.
Let the people know who you are and what your qualifications are.
Almost every committee involved with management of a municipality requires that the sitting members contribute something, be it knowledge, training, experience, about the subject with which they are charged. Just because you've been around awhile doesn't make you qualified to make decisions. Let the best person available serve.
Mr. Olinde is smart, accomplished, educated, well-spoken and articulate. Let him do his job for the city of Fruitland. AND, let in some new blood, thoughts, ideas, and perhaps ways to get things done. Just because it's always been done that way doesn't mean it's the best way to do it now.
Greg Olinde likes running things his way or no way. During the past city election he sure proved that. Now he's asking people who want to volunteer their free time to send in a resume first? The rec comm members vote for possible candidates. The city council in the past were only to approve it. If the city council is going to put their nose into the rec comm this much why not run the meetings yourselves. They just got rid of one councilman who couldn't keep his mouth shut, now Olinde wants to try to run it. Good luck getting members or getting ones you already have sticking around.
9:52 Mark, everyone knows what you've been saying. Anything that comes out of your mouth is a bunch of lies. The City Council was in worse shape back when your b*tch was on it and her boytoy Markie. Go back into your hole.
The saddest thing is that NOBODY has said that the post was untrue, distorted or otherwise factually inaccurate. Nobody.
6:54 Rec Comm members will not have to do any of this. There is a city council member at each meeting along with the town manager. It was agreed at the meeting that this new rule will not apply to the Rec Comm members.
mr. giles has a very impressive resume. read it greg, by the the way how is bank doing????looks like your stock just dropped as well. cowell may do well on the bd. i mean he's at s.u. and on the crime task force, and head of homeowners ass., sorry meant association. all mr. mr. giles wanted was to to help this town. please post who was in favor on the council of mr. giles? are isthat done in the back room???
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