COLUMBIA, 6/6/11 (Beat Byte) -- In-fighting between
members of two volunteer commissions is hampering Columbia-wide efforts to
develop comprehensive community planning guidelines, sources tell the Columbia
Heart Beat.
Shouting matches and strident email exchanges filled with ALL CAPS screaming and exclamation point excesses (!!!) are among the conflicts that have divided members of Columbia's Comprehensive Plan Task Force and Planning and Zoning Commission, in some cases over simple matters.
An April email exchange between members of both commissions featured angry
words over a meeting venue. "THIS WAS NEVER COMMUNICATED TO ME," one member
screamed. "You lied...YOU dropped the ball... I am sorry to be so harsh...but
this is not the first time this has happened."
Divide
Drivers
The internal discord has been going on so long, community watchers have
expressed concern and even distress over its negative, potentially long-term
impact.
Reportedly driving the divide: personality conflicts,
miscommunications, unanswered questions, and
unfulfilled information requests from City
Hall administrators charged with facilitating information
"who don't seem to want this community to have a comprehensive plan to
guide development," explained a person close to the situation who spoke to the
Heart Beat on condition of anonymity.
(For critics who don't like that condition, type "spoke on condition of anonymity" into Google and read from the 12,400,000 hits that include journalism institutions such as the New York Times, Associated Press, and UK Guardian).
(For critics who don't like that condition, type "spoke on condition of anonymity" into Google and read from the 12,400,000 hits that include journalism institutions such as the New York Times, Associated Press, and UK Guardian).
Columbia Planning Director Tim Teddy, development liaison
Pat Zenner, and staff liaison Denise Clark
"control what Commission members see and when they see it," the source
explained, adding that a staff song and dance inevitably ensues "whenever they
want to withhold something or shut down inquiry."
The Ol' Staff Shuffle?
A recent staff stall commenced over a Columbia Comprehensive
Planning Facebook page designed for public outreach, the source explained.
"Staff has used every excuse in the book as to why this can't be accomplished,
including that it might violate the Sunshine Law."
On May 27, an email with attachments sent to Planning and Zoning Commission
members through City Hall staff liaison Denise Clark was allegedly
stripped of extensive comments in the body of the email and forwarded
on May 31 "with only the attachments." The comments, about an elementary
school outreach effort using a children's book about planning, cited successful
approaches in other cities, including qualities that make central city
urban areas more livable.
In still other instances, staffers "won't answer Commission questions
directly, instead talking over Commissioners so much that the questions either
don't get answered or get lost in the shuffle," the source explained. Called on
the carpet by a Planning and Zoning Commissioner over one such discussion
disruption, City Hall's Zenner "got upset and walked out of the meeting."
Another chronic communications headache: "thin, incomplete meeting
minutes" that don't accurately or completely reflect agendas and discussions,
the source said. "I know Commissioners have complained about this. A lot of
important stuff gets left out."
The Heart Beat has forwarded questions to Clark, Teddy, and Zenner
regarding these issues for confirmation and clarification.
Fractious Frictions
Facilitators who won't facilitate are like oil that won't
lubricate. The end result: friction. Members on all-volunteer panels
who challenge uncooperative staffers risk alienating fellow members who fret
about "going against the establishment" or "asking too many questions."
This writer is a former member of several city commissions, including
Historic Preservation and Finance (which I chaired for a couple of years). The
paid staff/unpaid volunteer dynamic can be complex. Staffers have the
professional training and experience, and the public perceives that they are the
experts.
These qualities set up a power differential between staff and volunteers --
almost like a superior-subordinate relationship.
When staffers aren't perceived as facilitating commission and board member
service, they can create friction between those members who may feel
intimidated or don't want to rock the boat for whatever reason, and those
members who believe it's their duty to keep pushing for the facilitation,
whether it be the question that remains unanswered; the research that remains
incomplete; the meeting that remains to be set up; or the idea staff may not
like, but that seems stuck to the volunteer like glue.
This conflict can become emotionally charged, and ultimately hurtful
because the glue that holds these volunteer commissions together isn't based on
pay -- it's based on service, human society, and the good will that should
emanate from volunteerism.
Volunteers can end up feeling marginalized by the situation, rather than
empowered by the idea that they are helping their community.
Frictions have spilled out publicly on several volunteer boards and
commissions over the years, and happened with last month's conflict
of interest allegation against Planning and Zoning Commissioner Ann
Peters. Fellow Commissioner David Brodsky reportedly sought Peters' removal
from the Commission for "disruptive behavior." He later apologized, blaming the
media for "blowing
things out of proportion."
"I think we look foolish with some of the sniping that’s going on," Peters
said at a recent meeting. "I think the citizens of Columbia deserve better than
that."
(Questions are out to Commission members, Councilwoman Helen Anthony -- a
former P&Z Commissioner -- and City Hall staffers, and will be followed up
in subsequent stories).
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