La Plata, MD – The first meeting of the new La Plata Town Council was not all peaches and cream Tuesday, July 25. Three legislative amendments ended up being tabled until further discussion in work sessions.
The La Plata town manager introduced the first emergency ordinance to discuss raising fees for copies of accident reports from $6.60 to $10. Brent Finagin made a motion to forward the measure, which was seconded by Councilwoman Paddy Mudd.
The proposal didn’t sit well with Councilman Matt Simpson, however, who objected to the change.
“Since when has the town allowed a rogue agency to charge whatever they want?” he asked.
Once Simpson raised his objection, the ordinance ended up going down in defeat with Mudd, who had seconded the motion originally, voting against it in the final vote.
“I think we need to find out why when someone needs a copy of an accident report that we are allowed to charge that much money when they’ve just been through the worst day of their lives,” Simpson said.
The council was meeting for the first time since the May election that ousted longtime officials and replaced them with an all-new line-up of councilmembers and a new mayor. Of the new members, only Mudd has previous experience on the town council.
“I just want to be more concise in everything we do,” Mudd said. “I would like everything to be as clear as possible. Whatever we’re trying to do, I want to be clear. I believe we need to have some order of business here and do things properly.”
Another measure to establish a new banking staff relationship with Old Line Bank also failed to pass.
The town council elected to move that issue and the fee change ordinance back to work session for further discussion.
La Plata Police Chief Carl Schinner noted that calls for service in the town have increased 6 percent over last year in the first six months of 2017. Schinner said his officers have responded to 5,234 calls so far in 2017 through June.
Mayor Jeanine James also handed out six mini-grants of $200 each to communities in the town for the annual National Night Out celebrations scheduled for Aug. 1.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com