Ever since my family settled in its first home in Talbot County on Pleasant Street in Oxford in 1976, I have always loved Oxford and its friendly folks. Its village feel was intoxicating.
I have always understood that small towns face the same infrastructure and zoning issues as larger jurisdictions, with smaller staff.
After watching Scott Rensberger’s superbly produced and well-researched opinion video shared on the Spy, I am disappointed in Oxford’s leadership. But I am hopeful.
I urge town leaders to wake up and smell the fragrance of transparency and communication. And as former Gov. and Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer was wont to say, “Do It Now.”
It serves no useful purpose to wallow in self-imposed silence and self-pity. The town’s human environment will only get uglier.
At a regular town meeting, invite the 600-plus residents and disclose what is now considered non-disclosable. It will hurt a little. Then the air will clear. Follow the lead of other towns and cities.
Reveal the town manager’s salary. Avoid real or perceived conflict of interest. While I understand that concerned and capable town commissioners feel under siege, please escape your isolation and talk openly with town residents.
Scott Rensberger is not an enemy. The Spy is not out to disparage Oxford. Lack of communication is injurious to the town and its inherent goodness.
Though an overused term, transparency engenders trust and credibility. It improves the relationship between a government and its citizens.
Recriminations accomplish nothing. Defensiveness counters healthy communication. Hurt feelings can be healed with human dialogue and trust.
Pull down the ramparts and open an honorable discourse with residents. Ugliness needs to find another home. Trust underscores good government.
“Do It Now.” Waiting only worsens the sense of acrimony. Restoration of grace and comity is not only wholly possible but urgently imperative.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. After 44 years in Easton, Howard and his wife, Liz, moved in November 2020 to Annapolis, where they live with Toby, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who has no regal bearing, just a mellow, enticing disposition.
Al Sikes says
Thanks Howard. As a new resident of Oxford I appreciate such a wise and friendly reminder. Harmony is hard to oversell. Al
Russ Gray says
Howard,
Not sure how long you originally lived in Oxford but I have lived here for over 20 years ( not in Easton or Annapolis). During that time the town has gone through a lot of changes that have been mostly relevant to the evolution of any municipality.
Based on your commentary, one would think that there is no transparency from the town government. The town meetings are publicly listed and all residents, and anyone else, are always invited, and encouraged to attend. That is a matter of choice for mature adults to make.
The video created by Scott Rensberger was indeed professional, but was very much an opinion piece not fully supported by all the facts. Those of us who frequently attend the Commissioner’s/Town meetings actively participate and receive answers to very direct questions. Some of the answers do not serve the needs of individual concerns but the majority of the residents do not go into an emotional attack mode. Any of us can look at and separate facts that may seem to prove our point without mentioning other facts that should also be considered. Unfortunately, without all of the known and unknown data points, conclusions are not accurate. Your article and the video are perfect examples.
Accusations made that are not fully substantiated are not only in poor taste but may be subject to actions by those falsely accused. If the writer emphasizes that it is their opinion rather than factually correct (on all counts), then we are faced with a process may gather attention, but has no integrity.
Success in making things happen is never focused on aggression or innuendos. Sometimes we achieve objecives and sometimes we don’t. However, I have always felt that there are many ways to make things happen. Writing inflammatory articles or producing negative staged media never did work, except in the higher level political world. At some point you have to work with the “other”side in order to accomplish your objectives.
The Oxford Town Manager will be retiring at the end of June and the town administration is changing. If you lived in Oxford now, you would have known that. Also, if you had been to the last two Town meetings, you would have also observed the engineering plans to mitigate the issues that Scott presented in his video. As I recall, I don’t believe he was there in person but there is a recording of the meetings if your or Scott are interested in the facts and proposed issue management solutions. All of the discussions have been very “transparent”.
I believe the Oxford residents are capable of handling the issues of the town and seem to do it well. As we know, governing is tough, and is served best when those affected work together toward change. There is opportunity for more impact when Oxford residents who see things on a daily basis engage with their neighbors and town leadership. It is easy to offer criticism and isn’t it odd that we never see a willingness to discuss solutions other than general opinions of what should be done.
If anyone feels they are not properly represented or want the town leadership to work differently, I suggest they run for office. There is an election coming up and the opportunity to start the process of change is at the ballot box. Unfortunately, this option is only available to those that are town residents. However, anyone can actively support those Oxford candidates who represent their individual interests. Non-residents are encouraged to offer their opinions but when you attack the town, you also attack those of us who make our home here.
Hugh Panero says
Well said Howard. I totally agree.
Barbara Paca PhD OBE says
Thank you Howard. Scott and the Spy are doing a huge service to Oxford and its residents and I am grateful.
Mickey Terrone says
Hello Howard. I know you to be a positive, intelligent person and a thoughtful writer. This time, I think you got it bassackwards.
First, the question of transparency is more of a mirage than anything else. The real problem in Oxford is that most of the citizens have a nearly flawless record of not attending town meetings and ignoring the town web site. Only recently, with the furor over removing our town police chief has this issue been raised. I’m still appalled at the reaction of numerous residents trashing the town manager and three commissioners 15 months ago. Many people presumed the beloved chief was unfairly removed by the town manager with the approval of the three rubberstamp commissioners. Those three commissioners have been publicly reviled and howled at. You suggested the town disclose the non-disclosable. I want you to be aware that both the town and the chief agreed mutually on the NDA. The town did so to protect the town and the chief did so to protect the chief. The chief can disclose the paperwork at will and the town cannot do so without the former chief’s approval.
From my standpoint, I was bitterly disappointed in the decision to remove the chief, whom I have known and liked for nearly a decade. Yet, I cannot bring myself to believe the town manager and three commissioners (all of whom I know and have known) would have had to conspire to remove the chief allegedly because they simply did what the town manager said to do. Further, they would have had to act over the objection of the town attorney. I don’t know the details of what happened, but I cannot believe these 5 people acted with bad personal intent to remove the chief. I believe they understood it would be an unpopular decision but sometimes that is what public leadership requires.
Since the blowup, a bloc of residents has sought the removal of the town manager. The yearlong campaign to oust her worked and she is set to retire in June. Yet this dishonorable and malicious campaign has relied upon innuendo and misinformation. Her record of success in securing grants was twisted into the accusation that she was skimming money off the top. The tactic of harassing the town manager (and staff) by producing 30 or so Freedom of Information Act demands for information produced volmninous data, most all of which demonstrated that the town manager and commissioners have managed the town effectively in terms of financial management, certified public audits and personnel management.
Yet this has gone unrecognized just as the more than $30 millions raised by the town manager over the past decade to provide Oxford with a first rate wastewater treatment plant and other infrastructure improvements that will benefit our ungrateful residents for years to come, have been forgotten.
I’m sorry that you have such a high opinion of Mr. Rensberg. This man purchased a house (second house) in a very low-lying area of town about some years ago at a relatively low price. Now he appears to be furious at the town and town manager because he allegedly can’t get all the information he needs to try to blame the town for his dire situation with low-lying ground. In the last few months he has apparently worked to endear himself to the group dedicated to removing the town manager by producing videos that depict Oxford as as some sinister place.
Among the more obscenely distorted claims he made was that the salary of the town manager was covered up. Yet he announced in his video that the salary was $170,000, even as the melodramatic background music made the plot appear to be some Gothic murder mystery. Actually, I believe the salary was just under $150,000. Anyone with personnel management experience has to understand that a small town requires a smaller staff yet all of the requisite skills required to manager larger entities, in terms of personnel, planning, finance and critically, grantsmanship. This is where our town manager has shone brightest and a big reason she is well compensated. In assessing any town manager’s pay, Mr. Rensberg failed utterly to acknowledge this and that considerably larger-sized towns and cities may have considerably larger-sized staffs.
Unfortunately for Oxford, we will have to identify people to replace our highly productive and knowledgable town manager. We must also be certain that the person hired to replace her also has the same high degree of personal integrity and professionalism to ensure that there will be so side deals or special treatment for cronies and squeaky wheels. I’d suggest that many, if not most of the complainers are “entitled” folks who have usually gotten their own way and don’t want to follow the town and state rules which town managers are paid to implement and enforce. Let me assure you that I believe this factor has a great deal to do with the effort to replace our town manager. I’d also add that there are very few “complainers” among former commissioners and active, longstanding members of Oxford committees and boards. Most of the complainers have been those least involved in the volunteer life of the town.
Howard, I suppose much of this comes as a surprise to you. I’d guess that if you were still a local resident here, you would have been appalled at the vitriol and would acknowledge the biggest failure of transparency is the residents’ own laziness and feeling that the town has been well managed. That is what the 35 Freedom of Information Act results show. Prior to the removal of the police chief, most everyone in town got along well enough and blissfully ignored town business affairs.
Scott Rensberger says
For the record, Mr. Terrone is the husband of Commissioner Susan Delean-Botkin. I’m not totally sure but I think Commissioner Delean-Botkin is the only “unelected” Commissioner in the Town’s 341 year history.
For some unknown reason Mr. Terrone and his wife seem hellbent at attacking me for being a part-time resident. It’s totally true. I’m 100% guilty of being part-time. Our 13 year old daughter goes to school in DC and we spend our weekends and summer in Oxford. We absolutely love our Oxford “low elevated” house. We can’t imagine life without Oxford.
For the first 7 years I kept my mouth completely shut until one day I learned that my neighborhood was being used as a drainage basin for the town’s higher elevation. According to a few studies around 14 acres of stormwater drains into our neighborhood. One day, a few months back, I asked the Town Manager a simple question about the Mill Street flood gate. Apparently, this gate is designed to protect our neighborhood from high water. I asked the Town Manager how often the gate is cleaned and I received no response. Nothing. Zip. So, I looked into the situation.
I learned that this drainage system doesn’t work. I was told by a former town employee, the head of maintenance, that the pipe that protects my neighborhood hasn’t been cleaned, to his knowledge, since the 1980’s.
I then contacted the Town Manager and asked for a 2016 Master Stormwater Plan to help me better understand our flooding situation. For some reason the town refused to give me the plan. I literally begged at a Commissioners meeting, please see online video, for this 8 year old study. Commissioner Susan Delean-Botkin, Mickey Terrone’s wife, held up a few pages at this public meeting and said, Here it is. She taunted me as she waved the plan in my face. But, she refused to give it to me. I later learned that the Master Plan is much lager than a few pages. Commissioner Delean-Botkin was simply using a few pages as a prop and for the life of me I can’t understand this type of behavior. I’m a 62 year old journalists and not a behavior specialist.
But, apparently our Town Lawyer realized the situation and had the the Master Plan released to the Town’s website around 24 hours later. However, I was never contacted. After reading the Master Plan it reinforced everything I had learned. For, more than a decade the Town Commissioners and Town Manager have ignored my area regarding the Master Stormwater Flood Plan.
Hey, I totally understand that the Commissioners and Town Manager can’t make everything a priority. In every small town money has to be tight and carefully managed. My low elevated area only has around 30 homes and I completely understand that there are several other projects of interest. In the past decade, or so, our Town leaders have been more focused on buying real estate like the bank building, post office and the MEWS. All of these projects, including the 2.8 million dollar Strand endeavor, might be more glamorous than helping my neighborhood — and I totally get it. After all there aren’t many tourist driving down Stewart Street. But, when residents like Mickey Terrone come out and criticize someone like myself for being part-time and wanting to have several ethical questions answered, for me, his words are just a distraction from getting to the truth. And, I don’t think I’m alone in this assessment. Oxford’s a pretty smart town and I’m sure everyone can see this.
I have never, not once, asked Oxford for special treatment. I don’t expect anyone to give me or my family anything — ever. As a property owner I simply need answers to help me figure out our future regarding the high water. After watching our 13 year old daughter, three dogs and a cat maneuver through a house at 3am with one foot of water — I think it’s reasonable to ask a few questions. And, when those questions aren’t answered — I think it’s reasonable to ask even more questions. So, here we are.
When we moved into the property we didn’t know we were inside the “Drainage Basin” for the Town. No one from the Town Office knocked on our door and said — Welcome to drainage basin.
I didn’t realize that past and current Commissioners totally ignored my area regarding several flood studies. For me, the irony in all of this — I truly care more about Mr. Terrone and his Commissioner wife Delean-Botkin than they care about my family and my neighborhood. If this whole thing was reversed and they both wanted transparency I’d be doing the same stories. And, if anyone doesn’t believe this, they know nothing about me. It’s totally OK to keep criticizing me. But, at some point can someone please start answering some questions?
And, by the way, Mr. Terrone your numbers in your post, for the most part, are all wrong. But, I don’t have the time or energy to address it.
Mickey Terrone says
For the record, I don’t care a whit that Mr. Rensberger is a full-time or part-time resident. In my view, he is a full-time boor and came across as such when he finally decided to come to a town meeting and stalk around the room with his cameras taking pictures from various angles, as if he really wanted to be seen. Then he went into a 5-star rant about the town manager and his plight about not quickly receiving the 2016 Stormwater Plan. After owning his property for at least 7 years and demonstrating no interest whatsoever in that plan or the town’s government activities, Mr. Rensberger’s frantic rush to see this report was sadly disingenuous.
In criticizing the management of any town, any legitimate investigative journalist would certainly have taken into account relative salary issues such as staff size, length of service in a job, personal achievements, environmental knowledge, and in the case of Oxford, Maryland, the successful grantsmanship of bringing $30 millions to this small town. Rensberger demonstrated no such honesty or integrity in his cheap, hit job. That, Howard, is why I object strenuously to your positive review of Mr. Rensberger’s work.
I believe Mr. Rensberger didn’t act alone, either. I believe some of the accusations made in his first video were likely passed along to him by the town manager’s detractors. This hit job, was a team effort, in my view. For example, he didn’t say who the former town employee was who told him the drain in his neighborhood hadn’t been cleared “since the 1980’s”.
Beyond this, my wife Susan was not the first or even second commissioner appointed to finish the term of another. Carol Abbruzzese and John Pepe were both appointed and also served with distinction. I believe both of these people served since you bought your house. This speaks to the oblivion with which your awareness of this community has been mired. Beyond that, I don’t know of any others. I just know you are still blowing smoke.
Its also my belief that before you bought your home, you were forewarned that the property sat in the lower areas of the town. I believe you were getting good sales price precisely because the land was vulnerable to tidal and storm flooding. Playing the victim at this point is very nearly ridiculous.
Speaking for myself, I care about as much for you as you care for the town manager. I wish your wife and daughter every happiness.
Kent Robertson says
Oxford needs this, thank you Mr Freedlander. This is good and necessary advice for politicians from town to city to County to State to Washington. Just give us the truth and we will sort it out. As you say, anything less breeds distrust in government and in the elected and no elected officials wo work for us, the People.