Almost a year ago, The Chestertown Spy got wind of news out of Rock Hall that the town’s newly elected mayor, Bob Willis, was recommending to town council that they immediately terminate Ron Fithian, the town’s long-serving town manager. That alone would have piqued interest in any newsroom, but as a newspaper that had defined itself from the very beginning as “All Things Chestertown,” the Spy initially thought the Kent County News, the county’s news source of record, would be able to cover this new development.
In this case however a few things made it difficult for the Spy to let the story go. First, Fithian also happened to be a long-serving Kent County commissioner, and more recently he had taken an outspoken position on the region’s debate on the environmentally precarious Conowingo Dam. Both of these impacted Chestertown quite directly. And if Rock Hall was going to fire their town manager without cause, a good number of people in Chestertown needed to know about it. And so it was for those reasons the Spy reluctantly decided to allocate resources to cover the Rock Hall Town Council meetings.
As a result of the excellent reporting by Dan Menefee, the Spy helped shed valuable light on this very capricious and dangerous move on the part of the mayor. The majority of the town council wisely voted down the mayor’s recommendation, and the town manager began the process of recovering from what was a direct attack on his reputation. Case closed, we thought.
But sadly, the mayor, rather than learn from the experience and start mending fences, proceeded to recommend that the town’s long-standing attorney, Chip MacLeod, be also terminated. He also requested that he be given access to the town’s bank accounts, PIN numbers, and began to monitor town employee performance.
It was with this turn of events that caused the Spy to spend a considerable amount of time documenting over the last year what can only be described as a meltdown of government process and trust. Almost every week, Spy reporting focused on yet another failed initiative on the part of the mayor or attempt to derail meetings by ignoring Roberts Rules of Order, or by disclosing confidential financial information on other council members. Very quickly, the mayor’s actions moved from a freshman mistake to a histrionic, and at times surreal, display of dysfunctionality.
The only positive effect of this ongoing circus has been that the majority of the council, members Jones, Nesspor, and Price, have increasingly asserted themselves to lead the town through these troubled waters. And, as a result, the residents of Rock Hall should know that their town continues to operate reasonably well as a direct result of their common sense leadership and staff support.
This is not an ideal solution, but certainly one that can last until the next election.. At that point, the mayor can make his case to the community—and the community can fairly judge what the best road ahead will be for Rock Hall.
In the meantime, the Spy plans to move on from our Rock Hall coverage knowing the town remains in very capable hands.
Bill anderson says
Editor,
Probably a prudent decision by the Spy, but it will without doubt leave a wide hole in the Rock Hall town government public information reporting. The Spy has been an invaluable tool because of its coverage of events at the municipal government level without which, many citizens would no doubt be less than completely aware. Many prefer to read responsible reporting of events rather than attendance at those meetings. One can only imagine what the course of events might have been but for the Spy watching and reporting.
Albert Townshend says
I would agree completely and urge the Spy to reconsider.
Gren Whitman says
Editor,
Yes, it’s true that the adults now in charge of Rock Hall’s town government—including, of course, the Town Council’s majority-of-three, our town manager, and other town employees—have benefited enormously from The Spy’s reportage on our mayor’s job performance. The town has benefited from Spy coverage of the “dollar-store” situation, as well. Yes, and it’s also true that without Spy coverage, it will be more difficult to put town government back onto even keel.
Spy, please consider this:
With (1) Mayor Willis’ dangerously rash accusation that someone forged his signature onto a federal document (under investigation by the State Police); with (2) his continuing unsubstantiated attacks on the town’s manager, attorney, treasurer, auditor, and, most recently, the county administrator; with (3) his will-o’-the-wisp notion that Kent County somehow magically owes Rock Hall $241,148 in sewage treatment fees; with (4) his ironic proposal for an ethics commission; with (5) the loosey-goosey finances for our town’s annual fireworks display under investigation by the Maryland Department of State; with (6) serious delays in our community’s desperately needed new drinking-water clarifier laid to his complaints to the federal Inspector General; with (7) the Town Council voting that he must personally pay a $1,674 bill to the auditor (a debt he shares equally with Councilwoman Francis for this unauthorized expenditure); with (8) his refusal to respond in any fashion to The June 5 no-confidence letter from 13 Town employees; and with (9) the Council voting on June 12 to deep-six his proposed FY2015 budget, there’s still a whole lotta mayoral shenanigans going on, and still much for The Spy to cover, much to report, and—yes!—much to laugh and cry about in Rock Hall.
Perhaps The Spy will re-consider its decision to “move on” and decide to stick around.
K D Johnson says
Without the Spy reporting on Rock Hall Government, there has been no truly comprehensive or totally factual coverage of town meetings, the essence of which was made very apparent to readers by your Spy reporter. The video coverage projects the truth. Please reconsider for the sake of your readers,the importance of Rock Hall’s coverage. We miss the Spy.
Mark Einstein says
Editor,
The Spy has consistently published many excellent and well written articles with thorough and evenly balanced coverage on many topics of discussion. However, with regards to coverage of Rock Hall, the articles were beginning to read more like a cheap tabloid than a respectable community publication. I would guess that the people most missing the stories will be those whose agendas are no longer being served. You don’t have to look very far to find lots of positive things happening in Rock Hall. I’m sure you will find more than a few folks who would be thrilled to read about them.