Forest Heights mayor out, Council to resume control

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006

Joyce Beck is no longer the mayor of Forest Heights after a Maryland judge ruled that a petition filed by citizens calling for a referendum, which could have potentially kept her in office, was not filed on time.

The decision, which was handed down by Judge Thomas Smith of the county’s Circuit Court civil division Tuesday, invalidated an injunction filed by residents earlier this month.

The ruling came as good news to the majority of the Town Council who had voted to amend resolutions to the town’s charter, one of which called for Beck to step down as mayor as of Jan. 6.

Although the outcome may have been a disappointment for some of the town’s residents who support Beck, their resiliency has not been trampled. Plaintiffs in the case said they plan to file a new petition as soon as possible to change what has been implemented.

‘‘We’ll just start over again,” said Anne Reifsneider, a former town council member and the primary plaintiff in the case. Reifsneider was one of many residents who said that while they were not upset by the judge’s decision, they were not ready to sit back and accept the verdict without a fight. ‘‘This is a law. I abide by the law, but we’re not through,” she said. ‘‘I’m fighting for the [residents] of the town. The democratic system has been ignored. This is strictly a personal vendetta ... I’m positive of that.”

‘‘We’ve made it through a pretty dark time in Forest Heights history. ... I think once people see the results it’s going to make things a whole lot better,” said Councilman Myles Spires when asked if he thought the verdict would divide the town. Spires introduced the proposed resolutions to the Town Council.

Reifsneider said that by ousting Beck and amending the charter, the Council is trying to create a collective government, something she compared to ‘‘sending a ship out to sea with no captain.”

Reifsneider and other residents filed the original petition calling for a referendum after Spires introduced 12 resolutions to amend to the town charter on November 16. In addition to calling for Beck’s dismissal, the resolutions proposed to increase the mayor’s terms and the council member’s terms from two years to four years and to transfer more authority to the Town Council overall. During an emergency town meeting on Jan. 5, the Town Council declined to validate the signatures on the petition and instead voted to immediately amend the resolutions to the town charter. Reifsneider along with seven other plaintiffs subsequently filed an injunction with the county Circuit Court.

According to Judge Smith the petition, which was signed by about 346 Forest Heights’ residents, was not filed on time according to Maryland code. It was not postmarked by certified mail nor presented to the entire Council by a deadline of Dec. 27, therefore ending the injunction and immediately amending the resolutions to the Town Charter on Jan. 17.

‘‘I think it was the correct decision,” Councilman George Wiggers said. ‘‘Hopefully the town will move forward now. The mayor and the Council were simply not working together.”

Wiggers said that Beck’s firing of the town’s police chief was one of the reasons he had problems with her leadership. ‘‘That was one of the main elements why I voted to the elements of the charter,” he said.

According to Wiggers the Council must now elect an eligible citizen to fill the remainder of the mayor’s term, but he said the Council had yet to work out a timeline for doing so. Straightening out the town’s poor financial state, conducting road repairs and bolstering an understaffed police department are some of the pressing issues Wiggers said the Council will need to grapple with. ‘‘We have a full plate ahead of us and we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work on this,” he said.

Council President Larry Stoner noted that ‘‘nothing” had been done since Beck took office in May and said the judge’s decision would finally give the Council ‘‘more control.”

After several long hours in the court room Beck exhibited resiliency as opposed to defeat.

‘‘The judge did what he was supposed to do. In not putting the [petition] in the mail we erred ... ,” said Beck, who noted that personal conflicts within the town’s legislative body were at the core of the conflict. ‘‘The council members are running business,” she said.

E-mail Erin Henk at ehenk@gazette.net.