Village Elections

The Columbia Council postponed last night until April 28 a vote on whether to allow eligible residents to put issues on the ballot in village elections.Any such referendum would be advisory only and not binding on council members, who function as the Columbia Association's board of directors.Most of the 20 residents who addressed the Columbia Association's governing body last night favored the idea."I am a great advocate of participatory democracy," said Helen Ruther, a longtime Columbia resident and former chairwoman of the county Planning Board.

A Columbia Council member seeking re-election has angered her opponent by insisting that renters produce proof of residency at the polls.First-term incumbent Cecilia Januszkiewicz said she is simply making sure that a long-standing requirement -- that renters bring a copy of their lease when they cast ballots -- is enforced during village-wide elections in Long Reach April 17."That's what [the rules] specify as the required document," said Januszkiewicz. "I didn't make this up."But her opponent, Deborah Tolson, who is a renter, thinks the timing of Januszkiewicz's request is suspect.

To Roy T. Lyons, last weekend's Columbia Council electio must seem like robbery. Even in the shrouded mysteries that often pass as government in Howard County's planned city, Mr. Lyons could not have expected the outcome of his race for a seat on the council.Running in the Long Reach neighborhood, Mr. Lyons had one challenger, Gail Bailey, a long-time council member. When the residential votes were tallied, Mr. Lyons was the clear winner.But when so-called corporate or bloc votes were folded into the final tally, Mr. Lyons had lost by a whopping 386 to 157 votes.

Congratulations to Roy T. Lyons. What should have been the outcome of the first election held in Columbia's Long Reach village happened the second time around. Mr. Lyons will be seated as a member of the Columbia Council during a board of directors meeting June 24. By every measure, his victory should be read as an endorsement for fair and democratic elections in Columbia.That is not what occurred several weeks ago, when Mr. Lyons ran for the Columbia Council. His opponent, long-time councilwoman Gail Bailey, managed to pull off an apparent victory when two apartment complex owners overrode the popular vote by casting ballots for each of their tenants -- in Ms. Bailey's favor.

THE COLUMBIA COUNCIL'S direction could rest in the hands of two newly elected members. The Columbia Association's governing board currently is split between members who supported borrowing heavily to build ambitious new projects like the proposed athletic club in the new River Hill village and those who would rather focus on pumping vitality into older communities.The two swing votes ought to agree to move beyond issues already decided. The reconstituted council has considerable work to do without revisiting the past.

Village elections for Columbia Council members and village board members will be Friday and Saturday. Voters may be asked to provide proof of residency. Because there are no contested races, Owen Brown is not holding an election. Dorsey's Search When: Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: Linden Hall, 4765 Dorsey Hall Drive, Ellicott City At stake: Village board -- Three seats open. Contact: 410-730-4005 Harper's Choice When: Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Outside near Safeway.

The Kings Contrivance Village Board will chip in $100 to help fund a $4,000 study on whether Columbia should be incorporated as a city, a pro-incorporation group announced yesterday.Kings Contrivance voters -- responding to questions posed during the April 20 village elections -- indicated they don't necessarily want incorporation but are willing to study the idea.Last week, the village board voted 4-2 to donate $100 to the University of Maryland's Institute for Governmental Service, which is conducting the study.

Columbia's Town Center is delaying its village elections by a week in hopes that by that time two new developments will be annexed into the village, allowing those residents to participate in the elections. The elections have been bumped from April 22 to April 29, allowing more time for a number of details to fall into place, including the approval of state legislation that would consolidate those parcels into Columbia. The Town Center board unanimously agreed Tuesday night to delay the elections for the village board and the Columbia Council.