When Felisa Garrett walked into the Wilde Lake Village board meeting in December, residents were confused. No one knew she’d been appointed as a board member or that the board had expanded from five to six members.

The board didn’t have a quorum to meet, but residents started questioning Garrett’s appointment.

“When did that happen?”

“There was no public meeting about that.”

“I want to know why there was no public process.”

Appalled by the lack of transparency, Garrett thought to step down immediately but decided to stay and run in the April election.

“They need to get their act together,” she said in an interview.

That’s the consensus of many about the board of Columbia’s oldest village. Since three new members were elected last spring, including a critic of the election process and village governance, infighting and discord have replaced the board’s collaboration and problem-solving.

Last year, Howard County Police responded to two calls alleging assault and disorderly conduct during meetings. The disarray frustrates residents.

At a heated meeting in August, Deidre Sykes, who moved to Columbia in 1973, called out the newer members.

“I haven’t heard one thing you’re doing for Wilde Lake,” Sykes said.

She said James Rouse, the developer who established Columbia and its network of villages in the 1960s, is “rolling in his grave.”

“It’s an embarrassment,” Sykes said.

Routine infighting

Rouse, who founded Columbia as a “garden for the growing of people,” organized his planned community around residential villages anchored by shopping centers.

Village councils were established to shift decision-making from The Rouse Co. to residents. Each village council has a representative on the board of the Columbia Association, a massive homeowners association that functions much like a local government.

A June 21, 1967, dedication ceremony at Wilde Lake marked Columbia’s beginning.

The recent acrimony in Wilde Lake dates to the 2024 elections, which didn’t draw enough candidates to fill the board.

The following month, then-board members Kevin McAliley and Tina Horn conducted interviews and appointed five new members. One of them was Katharine Rathbun, who questioned the elections and how the village was run.

A dispute over whether Rathbun could access election records cost the board at least $7,000 in legal fees. In January 2025, the board voted to remove her, citing financial malfeasance.

She denied the allegations, blaming other board members and the village manager.

“I have been attacked so viciously for trying to investigate the elections,” Rathbun said in an interview.

She filed to run again last April in an election that also drew little interest; all five candidates won. Three newcomers — Rathbun, her husband, Edward Richards, and Francis Uy — joined incumbents McAliley and Brandon Cogdell. Rathbun was elected chair.

According to the board’s April 7 meeting minutes, two residents expressed concern after the election about Rathbun and Richards joining the board because they’re from the same household. The board considered limiting two household members on the board to one vote, but the board’s attorney refused to review the resolution, McAliley said.

“They were presenting these resolutions about how unfit we were and how they were going to overturn the election,” Rathbun said.

Village manager scrutinized

The new members pledged to root out board election fraud, scrutinized the village manager’s performance and complained that adults-only swim times and a lack of disabled parking around Wilde Lake’s park violate federal law.

Rathbun said she wants to “make the organization run” but can’t because Sharon Cooper-Kerr, the Wilde Lake Community Association’s executive director and village manager, “won’t give me access to the [2024 election] records.”

When Rathbun hired a new law firm for the village board, one specializing in land use and environmental law rather than homeowners associations, questions arose about whether she had done so improperly, without public notice or consulting Cooper-Kerr.

Regardless, the board voted 3-1 in July to approve hiring the firm. Rathbun, Richards and Uy voted yes, and Cogdell voted no. McAliley was not present.

The $9,290 August invoice for the firm’s services, Cooper-Kerr said, included work that “evaluated concerns regarding the village manager.”

“All of this is [about] people who want to fire me who do not know me,” Cooper-Kerr said.

Rathbun said a new contract the previous village board gave Cooper-Kerr last March was “legally improper” and violates the board’s bylaws.

In the following months, residents voiced support for Cooper-Kerr at board meetings.

On Jan. 18, the village board met for an unannounced closed meeting. Rathbun said the board voted to hire an acting treasurer and freeze nonessential spending.

According to the Wilde Lake Community Association’s articles of incorporation and bylaws, the village manager serves as the treasurer.

“Sharon Cooper-Kerr remains the manager and secretary of the corporation, and the terms of her employment have not changed,” Rathbun said in an email.

Asked about the meeting, Rathbun said she “cannot discuss confidential personnel matters.”

Cooper-Kerr, a 30-year Columbia resident who became village manager in December 2022, said she loves her job and connecting with the Wilde Lake community.

“The opportunity to lead this great organization, the first village in Columbia, is very meaningful to me,” said Cooper-Kerr, who believes she’s the first Black person to hold the role in Wilde Lake.

Police called to meetings

Bill Santos, a former Wilde Lake board member and now the village’s representative on the Columbia Association board, said he’s been shocked to see law enforcement officers called to village meetings.

Police were called Aug. 4 when board members and residents got into heated arguments over meeting procedures. Residents accused the board of violating the rules when some members unsuccessfully tried to move the public comment period — known as resident speak-out — to the meeting’s end so they could go into closed session.

In November, police responded to an alleged assault in which someone was pushed, according to county police.

Although Santos sits at the village board table, he’s not a voting member. He can ask that items be placed on the agenda, such as discussions about schools or the annual budget, but he said his requests aren’t added anymore.

Santos said school principals used to attend meetings to provide updates and ask for help. That hasn’t happened this past year.

At the November village meeting, resident Liz Schoen asked board members how they would support the community during school redistricting, which she said past boards had engaged in.

Rathbun said the village board cannot participate in school redistricting.

Santos, who spends his Sunday mornings at Wilde Lake’s popular Starbucks to stay connected with residents, has heard repeatedly from folks that “the village board is not doing what we’re asking.”

Rathbun has focused on what she describes as the Columbia Association “being wildly out of compliance” with the Americans With Disabilities Act, citing the lack of disabled parking and seating around the man-made Wilde Lake. She also claims the Columbia Association violates the Fair Housing Act by allowing adult swim times at association pools.

Julie Miller, a spokesperson for the Columbia Association, said in a statement the homeowners group “is confident that the amenities around Wilde Lake comply with all applicable ADA requirements, and that its pool operations do not violate the Fair Housing Act.”

Rathbun has filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.

Election could bring changes

State Sen. Clarence Lam, who began his career as a village board member in Harper’s Choice, said he attended a Wilde Lake meeting last fall after calls from concerned residents.

The board, Lam said, “has been very divisive and antagonistic.”

“There’s no reason why a state legislator like myself should be hearing these levels of concerns about the basic function of a village board,” he said.

Many, including Lam, hope the April 25 election brings fresh perspectives to the board.

Rathbun said in a December interview that she’s not running again but has declined since to discuss her plans.

“I am hoping the election will reset perspective to really focus the new board on the core principles and mission that the village board has always had,” Lam said.

The next Wilde Lake Village board meeting is scheduled for Monday.