This question seems on the minds of those reading the newspaper of late since this latest “group” has appeared. HOV, which stands for “Hear Our Voices”, is a small group, certainly less than ten people. Between lawsuits and Freedom of Information fishing expeditions, their efforts seem to be largely one of rock throwing, harassment and misinformation.

Formed ostensibly by the District 1 Supervisor, (although I’m sure they would deny her participation- as would she), the participants include a well-known cast of characters. A former Planning Commission member, two defeated Supervisor candidates, a man famous for a quote that the Chesapeake Bay had no tidal flow, a pharmacist and a disaffected real estate agent fill out the ranks of the “group.”

What they want and what they stand for are more obscure and far more difficult to determine. They claim they want smaller government and fiscal responsibility. These are things SONs may actually share, although I would make our statement that government be as fiscally responsible and small as possible. However, this is an intriguing conundrum since their leader has refused to participate in discussions regarding rationalization and consolidation of several conspicuously large budget items.

Their current claim to headlines came through their lawsuit against the County regarding the assessment. Their case was dismissed on a technicality but their argument had some limited merit. While many of us saw the results of poor quality assessments, on a County-wide basis the assessments were within the norm of statistical accuracy. Certainly, any property owner had numerous opportunities to appeal and many did.

The truth is that we actually know more about what they don’t want than what they do.

They don’t want a County sewer system. They don’t want clean water on the Seaside. They oppose the extension of the Bay Act. We suspect they will oppose Stormwater runoff controls and they will surely voice negative opinions about revisions to the zoning ordinances that will come as a result of the new Comprehensive Land Use Plan. They don’t want a Utility Cost Committee and they don’t want certain people on the Economic Development Authority. So, what do they want? The answer is unknown.

These are unfortunate positions and they are all positions with which SONs strenuously disagrees. We believe that implementation of these things will lead the County along a long term path of lower expenses, especially for costly remediation efforts, and will truly provide the opportunity for better quality, low cost housing for many people. We believe the key to economic expansion lies in the protection of the assets that give us value.

We see no reason to be obstructionist about initiatives designed to analyze costs and determine potential benefit for County residents, as the Utility Committee is now doing. We see no reason to perpetually harass members appointed to various Authorities, Committees and Commissions.

These are not the efforts of a group whose objectives, insofar as we may discern them, is to make the County a better place to live. Hear Our Voices? Why? They haven’t said anything. Over the next few weeks we are going to address specific arguments advanced by this group and we will demonstrate how we believe their arguments are fatally flawed.