At its October 14 meeting, Greenbelt City Council considered a resolution authorizing a 15-member task force to review Greenbelt’s charter in accordance with state guidelines.
Councilmember Kristen Weaver called for amending the stipulation that four members must come from city businesses to instead require that one of those members come from a cooperative.
Resident Bill Orleans objected to the task force since, he pointed out, council has changed the charter in the past after holding public hearings. Mayor Emmett Jordan and Weaver defended this review process as being not only required roughly every 10 years but also as more comprehensive and holistic than those piecemeal changes.
Councilmember Rodney Roberts objected to the provision that grants citizens only 40 days to collect a large number of signatures to block changes to the city charter. This, in effect, denies citizens a say in government, he said. Resident Fred Gasper supported Roberts but Weaver disagreed that there would be inadequate public feedback.
Assistant City Manager Tim George pointed out that city staff will spend at least two months getting word out to Greenbelt residents about the task force and that four public meetings are recommended at different times and places in Greenbelt to accommodate and inform its residents and to obtain feedback.
During 2023 two vacancies occurred on council due first to the resignation of Colin Byrd and then the death of Ric Gordon. In both cases, council followed Greenbelt’s charter and Election Code, which allowed them to appoint a member without a new election, though one appointment would be for approximately two months and the other almost two years.
In the first instance, council selected former councilmember Konrad Herling, who pledged not to run in the upcoming election (thus avoiding an incumbent advantage that council was reluctant to bestow in the run-up to the election).
Gordon died shortly after he was re-elected in November 2023. An application period and public forums followed and in January 2024, council appointed Amy Knesel, who had not been among the candidates running for election in November. Knesel’s appointment will last until the next election.
With input from city residents, council has since reexamined this process and Board of Elections chair Steve Gilbert with member Beth Terry presented two options based on these deliberations: that council either amend the city’s Election Code or amend section 32 of the charter so that vacancies which occur 180 days or more before the next regular election require a special election in order to fill the seat. The procedures differ depending on the number of days before the next regular election.
0 to 60 days: seat remains vacant or filled at council’s discretion
60 to 180 days: council fills seat by majority vote after public hearing within 45 days
More than 180 days: special mail-in election
Weaver noted that 180 days are needed to allow time for candidates to fulfill requirements to run and the city to prepare for residents to vote. Roberts opposes this proposed change, as he is opposed to appointments, and argued instead that even with less than 180 days the seat should remain open until residents vote to choose new members. Herling warned about council being divided 3 to 3 should a vacant seat result in six members serving over extended periods of time. Council declined to vote on the matter at this time.