In Columbia’s oldest village, many residents say they are fed up. They say they are tired of public village board meetings being abruptly cancelled and replaced with closed sessions.

They want answers and to speak to the board.

So when a board meeting that had been rescheduled for Monday was canceled hours before it was to be held, neighbors still showed up to the Wilde Lake Community Association.

Roughly 20 neighbors gathered Monday evening to express their concerns about the village’s finances, board member behavior, the treatment of the community association staff and the coming village board election.

Carol Ann Leal, an 84-year-old village resident, said she was “deeply, deeply distressed” by the recent actions of the board.

A native Southerner, Leal settled in Columbia in the late ’80s. She likened the charged political atmosphere and gridlock on the village board to the current situation in Washington.

Monday’s unofficial gathering follows a year of what critics say has been infighting and discord instead of collaboration and problem-solving on the board. Three new members were elected last spring, including Katharine Rathbun, a critic of the election process and village governance.

Referring to the newcomers, Leal said Monday night: “We must be vigilant, we must stand up to them. I’m ready for a sit-in

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

No village board members were present at Monday’s community meeting. Only Sharon Cooper-Kerr, the village manager, and Bill Santos, a former Wilde Lake board member and now the village’s representative on the Columbia Association board, were present.

Residents were notified at approximately 9:45 a.m. Monday via email that Rathbun had changed the meeting to a virtual special closed session. Rathbun wrote that the meeting would cover personnel matters and the board would consult with unnamed “staff personnel, consultants, attorneys, board members, or other persons, in connection with pending or potential litigation or other legal matters.”

At an unannounced January closed session, Rathbun said the board voted to hire an acting treasurer and freeze nonessential spending. However, according to the Wilde Lake Community Association’s articles of incorporation and bylaws, the village manager serves as the treasurer.

Cooper-Kerr expressed concern recently that some were seeking to fire her. Residents have rallied to her defense at recent meetings.

After canceling the Feb. 2 public board meeting, Rathbun called a closed session for the following day. A few residents entered the closed session, however, and, as a result, no board action was taken. Some residents present at the Feb. 3 closed session told The Banner that Rathbun attempted to announce the community association’s new treasurer and appoint a new elections chair.

Rathbun and two other new members, her husband Edward Richards and Francis Uy, were elected last April during a contest that only drew five candidates for five seats. They joined incumbents Kevin McAliley and Brandon Cogdell.

Rathbun had joined the board in 2024, but was removed in January 2025 for financial malfeasance. She indicated last year that she would not run again, but more recently she has declined to answer questions about her plans.

“At the moment I am truly concerned at a very deep level of the lawlessness of the three,” Mary Kay Sigaty, a former Howard County council member and Wilde Lake village board member, said Monday night.

Sigaty said village bylaws prohibit some of their actions.

“And the things that are timely and necessary are not getting done and to me that’s a form of lawlessness as well,” she said.

Rathbun did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The village board is expected to meet on Monday, Feb. 16, in a virtual setting. The spring election is April 25.