Even after its disbanding, issues concerning the Main Street Advisory Board continue to haunt the City Council. At the September 4th City Council meeting, a month after the Board was dissolved, Councilman Christopher Tillman pushed for more descriptive meeting minutes regarding the August Main Street discussion. "A two-hour discussion was reduced to one non-descript sentence," he said. He demanded the minutes be more informative and reflect what was said and by whom, especially during public comment when both residents and Main Street Advisory Board members spoke. Mayor Christopher Miller pointed out that there is a full video recording of the meeting for reference, so the need for detailed minutes would be unnecessary.
Miller also questioned City Manager Jim Wieprecht on how the City usually writes the minutes. Wieprecht said they usually reflect the actions taken and not discussion details. He mentioned the minutes also depend on how closely the Council wants to follow "Robert's Rules of Order," which are a set of rules for conducting meetings in an orderly and fair fashion.
According to Wieprecht, the Council used to have more detailed minutes a few administrations ago, but they were having issues with council members being too particular. The Council could decide to make the minutes more detailed again if they believe it is necessary. He also pointed out that the minutes could be split between "New Business" and "Public Comment," since there was activity under both regarding the Board.
Another issue that concerned Tillman was the work Economic Development Director and former Main Street Manager Jay Meashey was currently doing. According to Miller, Meashey is working on free parking signs for the holidays and the framework on a study about Main Street for the Council.
Tillman, who is a Main Street business owner, voiced frustration over these activities when there is no longer a board. "The appearance is that you use the process to remove the troublemakers and you're just moving on ahead with the people you like to work with anyway," he said. He was adamant that the Council was trying to brush the Main Street issues "under the rug."
However, even without a board, there is still a Main Street Taneytown and, as Economic Development Director, Meashey is responsible for boosting the City’s economic health, thus the Main Street businesses. This means someone would need to continue some of the work the board was responsible for until a new board is formed.
Although Tillman left the September 4th meeting abruptly after Miller said he was creating unnecessary conflict, he was present at the following meeting and presented the Council with an amendment to the August meeting minutes.
His changes under "New Business" made sure to point out the extensive discussion regarding the Main Street Advisory Board’s dysfunction and the reasons behind it, its resulting disbandment, and the intention to create a plan for moving forward; these were approved without edit. A compromise was struck under Tillman’s second amendment under "Public Comment" to show that members of the public made comments regarding the Main Street issues instead of a more detailed version Tillman had originally suggested.
