The latest attempt by the three ousted members of the Columbia Association’s board of directors to be reinstated was denied Monday by a Howard County Circuit Court judge.
The members, Reg Avery of Long Reach, Karin Emery of Oakland Mills and Eric Greenberg of River Hill, requested a preliminary injunction from the court to be allowed back into their respective seats as village representatives while their appeal of the decision to remove them plays out in the courts.
The trio, kicked off the board in April, were accused of weaponizing the association’s ethics policy and not cooperating with an outside investigation.
Reinstating the three would “disrupt the Columbia Association’s present business dealings,” Circuit Court Judge Maurice C. Frazier wrote in his opinion and order issued Monday.
The court found that harm would befall the Columbia Association “if it was compelled to allow directors who have been found unfit to serve on that same Board to serve once more,” Frazier wrote.
Tensions among the association’s board members reached a boiling point last September when board Chair Collin Sullivan of Town Center sent an internal memo to fellow board members and the association’s leadership that revealed Greenberg had given Columbia Association President and CEO Shawn MacInnes several zero ratings during a spring evaluation. The ratings were meant to be kept confidential.
In response, Avery, Emery and Greenberg filed a complaint accusing Sullivan and Bill Santos, Wilde Lake’s representative, of improperly sharing confidential information with MacInnes. An outside law firm hired by the ethics panel investigated and found no violations. It determined that Greenberg’s views were widely known.
At the time of the 2025 spring evaluation, Santos was board chair and Sullivan was vice chair.
The ethics panel then determined that Avery, Emery and Greenberg had acted in bad faith when they lodged the ethics complaint against Sullivan and Santos. Two weeks later, on April 23, the three were removed from the board.
On April 24, the Columbia Association released an 82-page report detailing the trio’s alleged misconduct and unwillingness to cooperate with the investigation. It also detailed seven months of board infighting.
In May, the trio sued the association, seeking a temporary restraining order to be reinstated, but that request was denied.
The board’s May meeting devolved into chaos as residents spoke either in favor of or against the board members’ removal. At one point, at least four county police officers showed up to escort an unruly audience member out.
In a statement late Monday afternoon, the Columbia Association acknowledged the latest court decision.
“The court’s ruling means that the decision of Columbia Association’s Chairman to disallow these individuals from voting themselves to serve on the FY27 Board remains in place through trial,” said Julie Miller, a Columbia Association spokesperson, in a statement.
Attorneys with McAllister, DeTar, Showalter & Walker representing the three did not respond immediately Monday to a request for comment.
A settlement conference is tentatively scheduled for May 21. A court trial could take place in September 2027.
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