Thus far, the Wilde Lake Village Board (WLVB) has had a productive
term.
Allow me to step back for a moment for my non-Columbia-based
readers. According to my site statistics,
there are many of you…most notably in Ukraine although the Taiwan numbers have
been soaring of late.
So, returning to Square One: It is important to remember
that those who serve on village boards are volunteers. Moreover, village boards – in my estimation –
are quasi-private committees that serve quasi-public functions (except, of
course, when they are acting like quasi-public bodies that contend with
quasi-private obligations and responsibilities).
The key element is that Columbia village boards need to
advocate for their community interests.
The first paragraph of our Wilde Lake Community Association Mission
Statement captures this philosophy rather succinctly:
“Wilde Lake Community Association was organized and is
operated exclusively for the promotion of the health, safety, common good, and
social welfare of the owners of property in, and the residents of, that area of
the community of Columbia known as the Village of Wilde Lake.”
With that as a guiding animating principle, the current
Board (elected in April of 2014), has had a good year. Two accomplishments of note include:
1) Advocating for the development of a pathway that connects
Howard Community College and the Wilde Lake Village Center.
This
was something that was discussed when I served on the WLVB and I am delighted
that the current Board is moving ahead on this.
Although our Village Center is close to HCC, it doesn’t necessary feel that close
to the College…a direct path (along with some clear signage) would help promote
a more walkable Columbia, with benefits for HCC students and staff as well as
our Village Center merchants.
I strongly encourage the WLVB to continue working with all relevant
parties to help bring this proposed pathway into existence.
2) It is now possible to attend the Wilde Lake Village
Board meetings via video call. This
embrace of newer technology should help provide additional opportunities for
information sharing and citizen engagement in our community.
I support placing digital recordings of the WLVB
meetings online so our property owners and residents can listen to the sessions
when it is most convenient for them. Thus
far, the Columbia Association meetings podcasts have registered 2,284 plays
over the course of 76 episodes. In the
interest of sharing “news you can use” and promoting transparency, Wilde Lake
should follow suit.
Hopefully, progress can be made on both fronts, as well as on
other pressing community needs, over the course of the next few months.
And don’t forget, village elections are in April.
Stay tuned, as more will follow.
Have any of the Wilde Lake residents expressed any apprehension with recordings being placed online? Specifically, any privacy concerns where names and addresses are often mentioned in meetings? Would recordings be publicly available or behind a community sign-in portal?
ReplyDeleteFair questions. I would support placing the idea on the agenda, so residents could have their input on the suggestion, prior to any Board vote. Bear in mind of course that WLVB meetings, agendas and minutes are all open to the public [except, of course, for closed sessions]. I would expect that any recordings of open meetings would also be available to the public.
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