Open Letter to Marc Kilmer

Hello Marc, 

I will be signing this letter when I am done because I don't hide behind Anonymous. I am glad that you had the courage to come forward on this website to address the people. I want to thank Joe Albero for taking the effort to provide this service to the citizens of Wicomico County. It is the only true news media in Wicomico County.

I am extremely disappointed in what happened at the County Council meeting on Tuesday. My biggest disappointment was that everyone involved lost track of the Big Picture. I consider the Big Picture to be doing what everyone said they would do when they were running for office. You all said that economic recovery and jobs was your primary concern if you got into office. Well, you're there and what has happened? I haven't seen any of you come up with any plans for addressing this situation. Yet you all sat there and belittled the new county executive because he didn't have an exact, neat little plan for you. You all became side tracked with the Board of Education. You have got to realize that everything is not going to come to you in a pretty neat little package that all you have to do is sit in council chambers and vote. 

As a citizen of Wicomico County you have to realize after numerous years that all the BOE cares about is the BOE. They don't care where the funds come from as long as they get exactly what they want when they want it. They can't see that if we don't have decent businesses and jobs in our county then families with their children will not be coming here. 

If you want to do something, go to the BOE and demand the TRUE student population for the last ten years. Why do you think they've come up with all this redistricting plans and suddenly there are two (and probably there are more) schools that could be used for the BOE. And did you notice they specificity said," used to relocate the BOE". 

NOTHING was said about RE-PURPOSING the building that was to rehouse the BOE. Nothing was said about bringing all the other county entities under one roof to save the TAXPAYERS millions in rent money over the next twenty years. Bob Culver was thinking about the ENTIRE county and not just the BOE. With the exception of one person, you all have been pulled into that BOE spiderweb and don't realize it.

Marc, I couldn't believe you said and believed that the contracts for Phase Three have been signed and that there was no way of changing what was going to happen. First, if you had listened closely you would have heard Mr. Foret fumble around for words when that specific questions was asked if the contract for tearing down the building was already signed. He said that the drawings were done, well at least 95% of the drawings were done and that an A&E firm had already signed to a contract. (Can anybody out there guess who that firm might be?). He also said a mechanical had been hired for the job also. Then he did state that no contract had actually been signed for the actual demolition of the building. Did any of you, not just you Marc, on the council actually read the bond language and see what could have been done? That's what I mean when I say everything is not going to come to you in a neat little package. You might just have to get up off your council chairs and do something like trying to work outside the box and let the taxpayers know what you CAN do for them and not just tell them this is all the county executives fault and that if this was a year ago then maybe something could have been done. Be real. Where were we a year ago?

I'm not just criticizing you Marc. The county executive's side had some real problems. First of all Bob's staff should have known how much the demolition of the building would be. This should have all been laid out when they borrowed the money for Phase Three. Do you really believe that the taxpayers don't know what a bond actually is (MORTGAGE) and that a bank would lend them millions without knowing where the money was going? Now here's where it really gets interesting. Bob's staff couldn't give an estimate on approximately how much could be saved by bringing all the county funded rentals for office spaces under one roof. And this is extremely odd. How can an audit company give an accurate audit when the county doesn't know where their money is going? Better yet, does the bonding companies know that the county doesn't know how much of the taxpayers money is spent on these rentals and who it is paid to. 

I have been before the council many times over the years asking for a list of how much we spend in rent and who it's paid to. What I received was little more than a note saying they rented four spaces for the Liquor Board. Remember the fiasco a while back about how many spaces the county was renting at the Adkins's Building. 

Before the county moves on we need answers to these questions. Bob's staff does not appear to be serving his needs. The taxpayers shouldn't have to suffer because of that.

So as you can see Marc, there are plenty of challenges to over come. The question is are you up to tackling them? There are those on this council that "goes along to get along" and though Mr. Canon might not like those words all you have to do is look at yourselves on PAC-14. The people voted for change during the last election. Make it happen.

John Palmer, Delmar, Md.