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Rockville councilwoman recuses herself from vote

Questions mayor’s alleged comment on same issue

Friday, Feb. 10, 2006

Rockville City Councilwoman Anne M. Robbins bowed to pressure Monday, recusing herself from a 3-0 vote approving an exploratory application to redevelop the historic Chestnut Lodge property.

Last week, Mayor Larry Giammo said Robbins might have violated state law by discussing the issue privately with a resident. He suggested the best remedy would be for her to step down from any vote on the issue.

When her turn came to vote Monday, Robbins, who previously maintained that no ex parte violation occurred on her part, said the circumstances of the event remained unclear and she recused herself.

Later in the meeting she called her interaction with the resident ‘‘a human error.”

Her recusal came after a tense interaction that found Giammo on the defensive as to whether he violated the same state law.

Speaking during the Citizen’s Forum portion of Monday’s council meeting, Nadeem Tahir, president of the Rose Hill Homeowners Association, said the mayor privately promised to oppose a cut-through road between Rose Hill and the planned Chestnut Lodge community.

Recalling an October campaign event he held for Giammo, Tahir said the mayor promised that neither he nor the council would support such an action, calling into question whether that was a violation of the ex parte rule.

According to Black’s Law Dictionary, ex parte means done or made at the instance and for the benefit of one party only, and without notice to, or argument by, any person adversely interested.

It applies to issues before the City Council or other quasi-judicial bodies.

After public comment ended, Robbins pressed the mayor for an answer on the alleged commitment to Tahir.

‘‘Did you do that?” she asked, turning to the mayor.

Giammo said questions on issues before the council are impossible to avoid when meeting the public, but added, ‘‘It’s hard to imagine me making a promise that the City Council would never vote for this, because clearly I have no control over how the City Council votes.”

Robbins pressed, asking if anyone else in the audience had been at the campaign event.

Tahir then approached the podium to clarify.

‘‘You weren’t saying that nobody wanted to vote for it, but you said you didn’t expect anybody on your council to support this because you knew that they were not supporting this,” he said.

Councilwoman Phyllis Marcuccio then moved to end the exchange.

‘‘I appeal to your better nature,” she said, addressing a large audience that turned out in opposition to a cut-through road between Rose Hill and Chestnut Lodge. ‘‘I appeal to your strength of dignity and fairness. Please do not — do not — place any of the council members in positions where they are against others. This is not constructive.”

During the meeting, Robbins criticized The Gazette, saying the paper overplayed the possible ex parte violation with a front-page report last week.

‘‘I didn’t kill anybody, I didn’t murder anybody,” she said.

Last week’s report detailed an e-mail made public in which resident Craig Key wrote that Robbins called him ‘‘to let us in Rose Hill know that our comments to the Mayor and Council is working.”

The council, in considering applications like Chestnut Lodge, acts as a quasi-judicial body. That means its members are prohibited from unilaterally talking with one side, Assistant Attorney General Bill Varga said last week.