Actions By Frederick Mayor Raise Questions

George Wenschhof

It was reported in the last Thursday edition of the "Frederick Gazette", Mayor Jeff Holtzinger had instructed staff to disregard a decision made by the (HPC) Historic Preservation Commission. You can read the story here.

It appears the decision made by the commission may have been somewhat frivolous in that it pertained to the removal of lettering that would not have been visible after approved new signage had been installed to the building.

However, the commission disagreed and fined the owner for removal of the lettering spelling out "The Professional Building". For many longer term residents, that is how we always referred to that building and where Mom took us to see the Doctor when we were sick. In fact, when I fractured my foot playing volleyball when I was in my mid twenties, the late Dr. Pilgrim whose office entrance was in the lower right of the building took care of me.

The question is not so much that the decision made by the HPC was reasonable, but more as to what the consequences of the Mayor's actions may be to the city. First, is the question does the city charter provide the mayor with the authority to instruct staff to disregard commission decisions. Secondly, does Holtzinger's actions open the city to lawsuits from property owners who adhered to previous HPC decisions and paid fines when issued or filed appeals, unaware they could appeal directly to the Mayor. A third issue is does this set a precedent pertaining to decisions made by other city boards and commissions.

If the Mayor requested guidance from the city legal staff, it would be interesting to see their opinion. If legal guidance was not requested by the mayor, perhaps the city legal department could provide justification for his actions. If not, the aldermen would be well served to request a legal interpretation of a Mayor's ability to override a city commission's decision.

Another confusing action by Mayor Holtzinger, who recently withdrew his candidacy for reelection, was his veto of a vote by the aldermen to investigate the early retirement pension plan. The Frederick News Post has a story on his veto last Thursday night here.

It certainly appears the motion was somewhat politically motivated as the motion was made by Democrat Donna Kuzemchak and received a "yes" vote by fellow Democrats David Koontz and Marcia Hall. The two Republicans; Alan Imhoff and Paul Smith voted against the motion.

Again, while the motion might not have been necessary or without political motivation, it flat out looks bad to the average voter who is already questioning why so many city employees received early buy out funds, only to be rehired back by the city.

While I do not question fraud or corruption played a part in the decision by the city mayor and alderman to pass this plan, the mayor would have been better served to allow the motion to pass. Mayor Holtzinger could have even pointed out some aldermen who voted for the investigation also voted for the plan they were committing scarce city funds to investigate. He could have finished with how he felt this was a fools errand but was confident no evidence of corruption or fraud would come to light from the investigation.

However, that was not what he did and by issuing a veto, the mayor keeps alive questions voters have on the whole process surrounding the approval and implementation of the early retirement buy out plan.

The decision by Mayor Holtzinger not to seek reelection certainly changed the dynamics of the race. While both Democratic and Republican candidates could have previously railed about his poor decisions on various issues and how they will do better, now they will have to point out what they stand for and the reasons to vote for them as opposed to why not to vote for Holtzinger.

Many would argue that back in the 2001 election, due to the lingering "Black Book" scandal and other issues, the voters were more against Mayor James Grimes than they were "for" Jennifer Dougherty who would go on to win that election. Interestingly, in the world of politics and voter opinion, later the Dougherty administration would take a similar stance as the Grimes administration had taken in regard to the release of information in the "Black Book" scandal but received no immediate negative fallout from city voters from doing so.


And so it goes.... Stay Tuned.

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