Town of La Plata is not being open to its citizens

At a La Plata Town Council work session on Nov. 9, 2021, I was offered by Mayor Jeannine E. James to speak for five minutes about a line item agenda regarding the HUB annexation request. This offer was rescinded at the next work session Nov. 16, 2021, for no reason.

Perhaps, a letter to the editor published in Southern Maryland News on Nov. 12, 2021, which was brutally honest and accurate and not very flattering to the mayor was the cause for this reversal. This was not the first time that the mayor had made an offer to me and later withdrew it.

In 2017, I made a request of the mayor at a meeting to which she requested I place in writing. I did and presented to town hall the next morning. She ignored it and I made this aware to the public the next meeting.

Also, in November 2020, I recommended a non-binding survey of residents with published results prior to a town council vote regarding four upcoming annexation requests. She was initially in favor. After I offered and submitted a completely neutral draft she had a change of heart. Three of these annexation requests were approved by the then town council without the benefit that these surveys could have provided.

Nevertheless, I had prepared a presentation for the Nov. 23, 2021, business meeting. In it I questioned why the town would be entertaining any annexation request from the HUB who had made commitments to our town and now denying they were ever made. One of those commitments involved their willingness to pay for a non-binding survey with published results prior to a town council vote on their annexation request. Also, I questioned the opinion of each town council member on such a non-binding survey.

Not only are our town council members unwilling to verify whether these petitioners made commitments, they don’t believe in a non-binding survey prior to their vote. What a disturbing lack of intellectual curiosity. They might as well state that they don’t care about the consensus of opinion of their constituents regarding large, permanent town altering annexations.

During the last combined work session/business meeting of Dec. 21, 2021, the mayor stated that the town council was considering no longer allowing questions to be asked during the public forum. She introduced this at the beginning of her first term in 2017.

I guess the questions are too discomforting for her and her colleagues. Also, we were informed that there may be changes to the virtual meetings in 2022. Only two residents regularly attend these meetings. For me to call into a virtual meeting is long distance. This had been resolved by the town calling me.

What’s really going on here? I contend that I am the victim of discrimination from a town that doesn’t offer a local number to be called to attend virtual meetings and may be cause for further action.

The mayor knows that offering all residents who needed to be called to prevent a long distance situation would probably result in no one else needing to be contacted. Shouldn’t our town offer every citizen living within the incorporated limits a local number to call to attend virtual meetings or provide a reasonable alternative as they once did?

The mayor and town council already enjoy having little published reporting of town business by our local newspaper. They are considering the elimination of annoying questions from pesky residents that cause them to feel uneasy. They are eliminating from attendance at their meetings those residents who serve as watchdogs for the town. Congratulations Mayor James for creating the perfect storm, and shame on you.