At the October 28 Greenbelt City Council meeting, the agenda included “Addressing unbecoming conduct of a councilmember.” Councilmember Kristen Weaver requested the item be on the agenda in response to a staff grievance.
Council received a memo from the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Action Team to “express concern regarding the continued pattern of disrespectful and verbally abusive behavior exhibited by Councilmember Rodney Roberts” (see article, “City’s JEDI Team Calls for Action Over Councilmember’s Behavior“). The attachment to the agenda item called for “a public rebuke of Mr. Rodney Roberts for conduct unbecoming a councilmember, including making disparaging and insulting comments about city staff in a public meeting and negatively impacting the morale and productivity of staff and the overall environment in which the city functions.”
Council voted to postpone discussion until the November 18 meeting. The reasons for the postponement were, first, Roberts requested the delay because he wanted time to meet with legal counsel and review documents. Second, members of the public and some councilmembers felt that information regarding the alleged incident had not been available in a timely manner. Greenbelt resident Bill Orleans was especially vocal in his objection to discussing this matter when the public had not been given access to the information surrounding the issue. Resident Stephanie O’Brien also objected to its inclusion on the agenda without first sharing appropriate documents.
Councilmember Silke Pope said council did not get together to discuss next steps but it was a discussion between three or four people. “We all should have been at the table,” said Pope. Weaver said she believed council has had several conversations about this and argued council and Roberts have had the memo for several weeks, that Roberts had had “much time to look at it,” and the item has been on the published agenda since early in the prior week. Roberts said he was concerned about references to other behavior of his that is not documented. He also said he did not receive notice about the current allegations until days after the rest of council, at an executive session. Council voted 5 to 2 to postpone the item, with Councilmembers Weaver and Jenni Pompi opposed.