After reading the original e-mail, this appears to be a combination of very poor reporting and a project manager that does not have a clue how to deal with people.
From what I can gather, certain aspects of the project were directed by the legislation that authorized the freeway, or were already been decided. Such as the alignment.
The project manager may be frustrated by the committee re-visiting “old business.”
However, this is hardly the way to handle this matter. He comes across as a petty dictator. If the committee is revisiting old business, he should find out why and address that. Convince them to move on, rather than “order” them. He p——d someone off enough they went to the media. Stupid move.
Did not notice at first that it was you on this thread. :)