Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor and Councilmember Michele Gregory recently clashed at a council meeting revealing the strained relations that have developed during his first term. After our interview with Gregory last month Delmarva Public Media's Don Rush talked with the mayor about Gregory's critique and what lies ahead. Here is an excerpt from this week's Delmarva Today which airs this Friday at noon on WSDL and WESM.
RUSH: Salisbury City council member Michelle Gregory suspended her campaign for Wicomico County executive. But she did so after taking a shot at the mayor. This is Don Rush. The clash came after council President D'Shawn Doughty announced his resignation, spurring her to put her campaign on hold, but it was a clash at the council meeting after that announcement that appears to have sealed the deal. In this excerpt from this week's Delmarva Today, we talk with Mayor Randy Taylor about his reaction to what she had to say, but we begin with his take on Doughty's resignation.
TAYLOR: Well, I got to be honest, I really hadn't gotten a pulse of it. I knew he was working out of town and I knew that he'd gotten a job, which sounded like I'd been in the banking industry for years, 26 years. So I was surprised that he resigned. It was sold to us that he was going to be like a temporary thing. He was going to be in training and that he would be back. I wish him the best. We had our moments as the mayor and the president of the council. I wish it had been better, but I did the best I could.
RUSH: So one of the things I did not anticipate was that Michelle said that one of the reasons she decided to not pursue the county executive position was the clash that occurred between you and her, the city council meeting. And she used the word "scolding" as a way to describe how you spoke to and about the people who opposed, particularly your position when it came to the rainbow crosswalk. How do you respond to that? How do you characterize how you responded?
TAYLOR: I know what she means by that. I mean, I was basically making the case that I think people like Michelle are involved in this sort of listless virtue signaling, whereas I'm trying to say, wait a minute, guys, listen, I have no objection to people. Whatever lifestyle they want to do, that's their business, that's their life. All I'm saying is it relates to the Supreme Court viewpoint [of] discrimination is deemed to be illegal. And if I were, the context of this was she referred to me as a bigot, as did Jake [Day] (the prior administration, the prior mayor). And I think they need to look up that term because if I had been really an intolerant bigot, I would've power washed him day nine on the job. What I did do was I think I gave 'em a two year runway. I gave them an alternate approach, which they sort of scoffed at in my view. I even got pornographic designs, which was I think offensive. And at the end of the day, I had to make the decision, look, we're on this maintenance of the greenway, let's go ahead and finish it up, announce it, and we're going to be done with it.
RUSH: So where do you think this process goes from here in terms of the council and your relationship with them and the city? It does seem to be an impasse. Looking at it from the outside between you and this current city council, we'll see what the new member obviously decides to do.
TAYLOR: Well, I'd say right now we've got about 45 projects in the pipeline, of which about 12 or 13 of those will happen or get bonded, funded and designed and funded over the next 12 months. And I'm going to do and focus on that to the extent we can find common ground on stuff. I think they would just take a second, take a breath and say, wait a minute, maybe he got an idea here. Maybe this works. Maybe this doesn't work better. That's all I'm asking. I'm not asking for absolute follow me blind, but at least consider what I'm saying. And I think maybe with Deshaun out of the way in terms of his behavior and his attitude, this might help change the dynamics. We'll see.
RUSH: Mayor Randy Taylor on the resignation of the City Council president and comments made by council member Michelle Gregory, who has suspended her campaign for Wicomico County executive. The full interview can be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM, this is Don Rush for Delmarva Public Media.
