The village of Oakland Mills has eliminated the community organizer position resulting in the village parting ways with Fred Eiland, who served in the post for the last four and a half years.
The village announced the elimination of the position and the departure of Eiland at the end of December after funding for the part-time position ran out, according to Sandy Cederbaum, Oakland Mills Village Manager.
Cederbaum said the position was funded through a grant from the village's parent organization, Columbia Association, and that a decrease in funding made available to Oakland Mills, and Columbia's other nine villages, for the position this fiscal year caused the change.
Cederbaum said in past years $20,000 was made available to each village to fund a community organizer position, but that starting in May 2014 only $10,000 was made available to each village. Oakland Mills, the only one of CA's 10 villages to apply and receive the grant, decided to use the $10,000 to keep Eiland on for six months. Cederbaum said Eiland has been fully compensated for the job.
In an email to the community dated Dec. 24, Cederbaum announced the change and praised Eiland's work.
"As Community Organizer for the past 4+ years, Fred Eiland moved forward with our community programs and created many new community outreach initiatives," she wrote. "We are all better for the role of the community organizer in Oakland Mills and thank Fred Eiland for making a huge difference in our community and in the lives of the residents."
Eiland did not return messages seeking comment this week.
While the grant program is part of CA's budget plans for fiscal year 2015, it is not likely the Oakland Mills Village Board will seek the money to bring back the community organizer post.
"Our perspective is to move forward," said Bill McCormack, co-chairman of the board. "Sandy has assured that the relevant tasks will be picked up by her staff."
McCormack added: "We as a Village Board have to live with the budget CA gives us, and that's the reality. [Eiland] served the village for four and a half years, which we were very thankful for. It's a situation that many people face in the corporate world where the position is no longer funded."
The part-time position was created in 2005, and the main duties focused on creating advocacy for issues and running certain village programs. Programs in Oakland Mills include the Street Captain program, which creates a network for the individual neighborhoods within the village, and a monthly food collection and distribution program.
County Councilman Calvin Ball, an Oakland Mills resident who was the first to serve at the post prior to his election to public office, said the position being eliminated was "unfortunate," and that the role needs to be filled by the community's others leaders.
He said a key part of the job is positive marketing.
"One of the things I did was help on some of the positive marketing," he said. "When our schools did something great ... we worked on marketing that, and I think it is incumbent on leaders who care about a community to share the positive aspects of that community story."
Eiland ran in 2014 for state delegate to represent District 13, but lost in the primary election in June.