The group seeking to incorporate Columbia outlined for the first time yesterday its specific principles in trying to form what would be Maryland's second-largest city.
Rabbi Martin Siegel, vice president of the Columbia Municipal League Inc., also announced at yesterday's news conference that the group has asked the University of Maryland's Institute for Governmental Service to draft a city charter reflecting the group's goals.
In addition, Mr. Siegel said, he'll be meeting later this week to discuss mutual concerns and goals with James W. Rouse, Columbia's developer, who has come out in strong opposition to incorporation.
The incorporation group wants to replace the nonprofit Columbia Association (CA) -- the huge homeowners organization created by the Rouse Co. to provide services and facilities in the unincorporated community of more than 80,000 residents -- with a municipal government. Over the next two months, it intends to hold public meetings to discuss its plans and hear residents' comments, Mr. Siegel said.
The rabbi yesterday outlined the incorporation group's principles under five broad categories: fiscal responsibility, oversight, cooperation, accountability and local control.
The group's goal is to create a more efficient, less costly administration that would give residents more control over how money is spent and foster more participation in improving the community, Mr. Siegel said.
"People in Columbia are satisfied with services, but I think they've paid a price -- putting citizen participation and democracy to sleep," said Rabbi Siegel, adding that the group wants to "unleash the energy and creativity of people to serve the community."
"The situation has changed in Columbia. There were no people here when it started. Soon it will have 100,000. What we're trying to do really is expand the dream, not destroy it."
He said that Columbia's current system operates under "a corporate mentality," adding, "The CA process was created to allow the Rouse Co. to build a lot of stuff and not pay for it."
But the chairwoman of the Columbia Council -- the association's elected board of directors -- said the incorporation group's proposal is still too vague, adding that it recommends some goals that already are being achieved under Columbia's current system.
"I'd like to see the details. That's where you bog down," said Karen Kuecker, chairwoman of the Columbia Council, which has scheduled three symposiums of its own in March and April to discuss Columbia's governance.
"It's nice to have big concepts. But if you can't see the details, you can't get a bead on what makes it better than what we have now. . .I'm a long way from being sold."
Specifics of the incorporation group's proposal include:
* Subjecting the proposed city's annual tax rate to a vote of residents. "We need constant communication between the people paying the money and the people spending it," Mr. Siegel said. CA now has an operating budgets of about $32 million, about half raised from liens paid annually by property owners.
* Requiring referendums for major capital projects.
* Electing a mayor to run a city. "The person who held power would be politically responsible, which isn't the way it is today," Mr. Siegel said. But Ms. Kuecker said she believes that creating "partisan politics" in Columbia would be a drawback and could prompt participation by special interest groups that don't represent Columbia residents.
* Giving village boards more authority.
* Providing a city council an independent staff.
* Instituting a one-person, one-vote voting system.
* Encouraging organizations to participate in city life and seek improvements on a broad scale. "There is no real city identity," Mr. Siegel said. "A lot of these organizations don't have anything to do that enhances the overall life of the city."
In a prepared statement, Mr. Siegel said the incorporation group views Columbia as a "crucible where new approaches to pressing urban-suburban issues can be discovered and where the social and economic imbalances of our society can be addressed in new ways. "We believe that Columbia can again become a place where useful experimentation in educational, social, religious and cultural areas is possible. There is a lot at stake for ourselves and others," the statement said.
At yesterday's news conference, Mr. Siegel said that the nonprofit group is committed to developing a city charter that wouldn't have an adverse effect on Howard County's finances.
The group has collected more than 3,000 petition signatures since September in an effort to place the incorporation issue on the ballot as a referendum.
The group must collect roughly 9,000 signatures, or 25 percent of Columbia's registered voters. It then must present its petition and the charter to the County Council for approval, before the question can be put to referendum.