Columbia community leaders blasted five Columbia Association board members who want to renew President Maggie Brown?s contract for one year only.
“I think the position they?ve taken is unjust. It?s irresponsible. [Brown] has done an extraordinary job,” said Sherman Howell, vice president of the African American Coalition of Howard County.
“Some of us feel that there is a faction of the board that is basically trying to terminate Maggie under conditions we don?t agree with,” said Jud Malone, a former Columbia Association board member.
Howell, Malone and other leaders support renewing Brown?s $183,000-contract for at least three more years.
The Columbia Association?s administrative arm, the board operations committee, met Tuesday in closed session to debate the contract, said Columbia Association spokeswoman Karen Hawkins. Board rules allow members to enter a closed session when discussing personnel issues.
Before contract negotiations began in November, five board members, including Cynthia Coyle, Gail Broida, Philip Kirsch, Barbara Russell and Phil Marcus, said Brown did not have the qualifications to spearhead a quality assurance program that would measure whether the organization is providing good customer service.
“Ms. Brown was hired to bring peace and stability to an organization then rent with turmoil. She has done that job admirably, but now it is time for CA to move on-to modern, measurements-based proactive management in a technology-driven era,” the e-mail read.
The remaining five members have not committed to a position on Brown?s contract.
Brown?s appointment to the presidency came in 2001 after the resignation of former President Deborah McCarty, who was unpopular with residents, and a failed bid at the presidency by Michael Letcher, city manager of Sedona, Ariz.
The board was accused by some community organizations, including the African American Coalition of Howard County, of racism when Letcher, who is black, was not hired. The appointment of Brown, who is also black, quelled those complaints.
“We are asking for the same sad scenario again,” Malone said.
