Attn:
John Cannon Wicomico County Council, President, AT Large
Jeff Merritt, Wicomico County Council, Vice President, CD 2
Laura Hurley, Wicomico County Council, Administrator
Robert Benson, Esq.
Hello Councilman/ President Cannon and Councilman / Vice President Merritt:
We respectfully write to the Wicomico County Council regarding proposed “emergency legislation” regarding issues over the Wicomico County Nursing Home.
While lots of “accusations and claims” were made by folks at the last Wicomico County Council meeting about issues going on at the nursing home.
Before you go and pass “knee jerk & reactionary” legislation it’s always better to “take a step back from the situation” and work to get facts and answers from the people actually in charge, that way you have let both sides in a public forum put their voice on the record on an issue.
My suggestion the next step should be a “public and open” work session with the Wicomico County Nursing Home Executive Director & representatives from the Executives Office to be able to “publicly “and in the name of “transparency” answer the claims & accusations that were made by folks about issues pertaining to the nursing home.
What you most likely find is that between the two sides the truth usually falls somewhere “in the middle”. What usually comes with “Emergency – Reactionary – Knee Jerk” legislation it creates “more problems” than solutions down the road.
Several examples of this are the kennel bill from last year, from Annapolis the police reform bills in 2021, & most recently what the legislature just passed to “mid cycle” redraw the States congressional maps.
It will be more beneficial for the businesses and citizens of Wicomico County to get all the facts together with input from all the stakeholders involved to help best “craft” quality legislation, sometimes what you will find in doing it that way; there may be no need for any legislation at all.
So from all of this is why we respectfully ask the Council to “table” this legislation for now & call for a public open work session with all the stakeholders present, so all the facts can be put on the table & a robust discussion can be had to better help determine the best course of action going forward.
Thank You & Respectfully,