The citizens of Talbot County deserve thoughtful and trustworthy leadership from our County Council. We do not have it.
This Council must be remade in 2018 because Ms. Williams and her allies offer no strategic vision, have failed to lead, and in important ways demonstrate a worrying lack of trustworthiness. Fixing this requires action right now.
February 27th is the last day to register to run for office! Whether Republican, Democrat, or unaffiliated, we urgently need a few knowledgeable, committed candidates to get this fixed. Otherwise, Talbot County is going to remain rudderless and in jeopardy for another 4 years. (Some organizational steps are needed before the 27th; call the Election Board at 410-770-8099.)
As to party affiliation: at the County level, who cares? Why does it matter what a Council member thinks about DACA, drilling for oil in Alaska, or the NAFTA trade agreement? Ideological “party issues” are hardly germane to the tasks in front of the Talbot County Council. Party aside, we need people who come to the table every day with ideas that will make Talbot a better place—the most desirable in Maryland, in fact—in harmony with our Comprehensive Plan.
The “Comp Plan” is far from the only issue, but it is one key to understanding why Council leadership—Ms. Williams and her allies in particular—must be replaced. Look closely and one sees actions designed to erode the basic principles of the Comp Plan they enacted just 2 years ago, the key elements of which reflected demands of Talbot’s citizens that they opposed all along. But it’s not all land-use; there are other important failures of this Council too, like a total lack of strategic vision and the absence of any leadership, any backbone whatever, in addressing the revenue cap issue they identified 2 years back as a fundamental problem.
Maybe the circus in Washington is the distraction, but there has not been enough thoughtful analysis and opinion about what’s been happening—and not happening—here in our community. I for one think we’re in real jeopardy if Ms. Williams and others on this Council are permitted, through inattention or inertia alone, to continue to hold power in Talbot County.
Dan Watson
Easton
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.