Halpin blamed the council's difficult year, which included a search for a president that fell apart, for his loss. They were votes against the acrimony and the divisiveness that plagued the current council. Pine said those days are over. I think the members that have been elected are capable of doing that. Critics say Columbia, which is not an incorporated city and therefore not subject to the state's open records law, is not operated democratically.
Some villages allow only one voter per household no matter how many registered voters live there.
Half the members on the council will be new as a result of the nonpartisan election. And it can't be brushed off. The council also must grapple with flat revenue. Years of residential construction generated a growing stream of income from the association's property lien. But River Hill, the last of Columbia's 10 villages, is nearly done.