The power struggle between Columbia's two branches of government promises to heat up tonight when Columbia Council members and village leaders meet to debate their deteriorating relations and the future shape of local rule.

Village leaders say they're extremely angry about what they view as the latest effort by the 10-member council to undermine them: an announcement that many village employees will no longer be eligible for the Columbia Association's employee benefits plan.

At a strategy meeting Tuesday night at Linden Hall in Dorsey's Search, about 25 to 30 village representatives discussed hiring a lawyer to seek a restraining order against the council. Evelyn Richardson, a member of the Dorsey's Search Village Board and a former council member for eight years, said they made no final decisions.

"You can't believe the outrage," said Earl Jones, vice chairman of the Oakland Mills Village Board. "You're talking about hatred," he said. "You haven't heard such hatred. They feel as though there is a move afoot to take away their benefits," including retirement packages, medical coverage and vacations.

"I think there's some hysteria out there," said Norma Rose, chairwoman of the council, an elected group that oversees the Columbia Association, which collects fees from property owners and provides many services. "I really understand they're upset at a big change, but there are solutions and that's what we're going to discuss [tonight]."

The rancor, which has been going on for several months, is unusual. For many years, the council and the villages -- there are 10, each with an elected board and a supporting staff -- enjoyed civil relations. Rose said CA began to examine its relationship with the villages in response to "a situation last year in one of the villages" that "brought up questions about what is the nature of the relations between the Columbia Association and the Village Associations."

Last year, an employee of the Dorsey's Search Village Association was accused of embezzling more than $120,000 in funds, according to bankruptcy court documents; no criminal charges have been filed. That raised questions about how the villages account for the grants they get from Columbia Association. In fiscal year 2000, the villages will receive a total of $1.4 million.

Richardson said the alleged embezzlement is "a pretty shoddy excuse for making changes."

"You don't throw the baby out with the bath water, that's absurd," she said.

Rose also said that when CA's attorney, Shelby A. Tucker King, examined relations between the two groups, she realized that village employees "were not eligible" for benefits.

"What was done in the past was done in good faith, but we've been told it's not correct," Rose said.

For months, a task force of the Columbia Council has been meeting to decide whether to make changes in the way the association allocates money and whether to centralize management of the villages.

"We've had no representation," Richardson said. "This has been issued to us as not debatable, and that's pretty absurd."

King sent a letter Friday to village managers stating: "Pursuant to applicable law, as it has evolved, CA and the Village Associations must now have separate benefits plans." She wrote that the villages must make a decision about alternative benefits by March 31.

She also said each village would be required to process its payroll independently of the CA, maintain its own personnel records and complete governmental reporting.

The changes would affect about 25 employees in nine villages, Rose estimated; the 10th village, Long Reach, already provides its own benefits. Village officials estimated the number of employees affected to be 40 or 50. "I do not understand the motivation for it," said Anne Dodd, village manager for Kings Contrivance. "I do not understand the way it was presented and the hastiness with which it is being accomplished. We can't understand how something that has been going on for almost 30 years suddenly needs to be changed and changed immediately."

"It's not a matter of asking them not to do this, but demanding it," said Jones, of Oakland Mills. "When you're up against a wall, you find out pretty quickly if you have power."

Village leaders said they will decide on their next step after today's meeting, at 7: 30 p.m. in the Columbia Association board room.

Pub Date: 3/04/99