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Extension given to interim Mount Rainier city manager

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Latasha Gatling has been given another year at the helm of Mount Rainier’s government administration, City Council announced April 13, 2020. Gatling was hired November 2019 to fill in a vacancy left by the sudden resignation of former City Manager Miranda Braatz in September 2019. Gatling’s term has been extended through at least April 30, 2021, according to the announcement. Gatling was originally hired on an interim basis to serve until at least July 2020. Gatling’s resume includes past positions served as Councilmember at Large, Council President, and City Administrator for Seat Pleasant.

Mount Rainier

Audit finds major problems in Mount Rainier’s finances

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A long-awaited audit of Mount Rainier’s 2017 finances uncovered eye-opening issues, including spotty record-keeping, poor oversight, a need for more administrative staff and a lack of official policies governing many spending decisions. While the audit focused on 2017, its authors said many of the flaws found still need to be corrected “as soon as possible.” During a three-minute discussion of the audit during its April 7, 2020, City Council meeting, Mayor Malinda Miles said “the data in that audit has to be obsolete by now.” “Hopefully over the past two years, a lot of what has been found has been fixed as they were going through and preparing to have the audit now,” said Miles. Interim City Manager Latasha Gatling aknowledged the city’s financial safeguards and policies still need work.

Mount Rainier

Just in time: Mount Rainier closes $1.5M property sale

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Just in time to avoid the possible collapse of the commercial real estate market, the City of Mount Rainier completed the sale of 3200 Rhode Island Avenue for $1.5 million to IFG Group Development and Construction. The property is approximately 33,000 square feet of vacant land the city bought more than 10 years ago for an inflation adjusted $1.1 million. IFG Group plans to build a $30 million mixed-use apartment complex. The transaction was scheduled to complete this past Friday. By Monday, the money had not yet shown up in the city’s accounts, causing some concern.

Government

Video: Mount Rainier Council lambasts Cecil for leaked emails

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Mount Rainier City Council members heavily criticized Councilor Scott Cecil for leaking emails to the media revealing internal deliberations about documents discovered missing from City Hall in late 2019. Council’s criticism came at the tail-end of its March 3, 2020, meeting, after Cecil revealed he was responsible for the leak. Cecil tried to explain his actions. Cecil noted that Route 1 Reporter had filed a Public Information Act seeking the emails, among other documents. The city’s estimated cost to produce that public information act for Route 1 Reporter exceeded $3,000.

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier sells land to developers; $30M mixed-use project planned

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It finally happened: Mount Rainier is selling a key downtown lot to a mixed-use developer for $1.5 million, city officials announced during a March 3, 2020 Council meeting. The buyer, IFG Group LLC, plans to build a $30 million, 110-unit mixed-use development on the site, with a targeted opening date of 2025. 

More than 12 years ago in December 2008, Mount Rainier bought several parcels of land at the intersection of Eastern and Rhode Island Avenues for an inflation-adjusted $1.1 million. The property has mostly sat disused, though there were well-meaning attempts to turn the lots into a pocket park. For years, city officials had hoped to redevelop the land. But impacts from the Great Recession plus the city’s own inexperience in real estate development hampered plans. 

Councilor Luke Chesek said during the meeting that the city learned a lot from its previous failures to sell the land.

Mount Rainier City Hall is seen from the distance on a bright sunny day. Solar panels top the roof.
Government

Missing files cause stir in Mount Rainier City Hall

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Mount Rainier city officials struggled with how to respond to reports of missing or stolen documents disappeared from City Hall in late 2019, according to emails obtained by Route 1 Reporter. Frustrated with that response, one Mount Rainier City Councilor says he has contacted state authorities to seek an investigation into the matter, which he describes as either a “crime” or a “theft” that could be the result of an inside-job by either city staff or elected officials. The missing documents include code enforcement files relating to some of the biggest apartment complexes in the city, as well as documents related to an “unemployment claim” from former city manager Miranda Braatz’s departure from Mount Rainier. This is not the first time in recent memory Mount Rainier city officials have had to deal with document security issues in City Hall. In the closing days of Braatz’s administration in September 2019, confidential sexual harassment reports stored in city hall were discovered to have been leaked to the press.

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier library re-opens with new look, new tech

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After more than year closed, Mount Rainier’s little library branch has re-opened. During a standing-room-only grand-opening ceremony held Jan. 27, 2020, city officials hailed the library – officially named the Karl A. Young Library after a longtime local fire chief who died suddenly – as an essential, beloved public space for the community. “This represents what we are striving for in Mount Rainier,” said Mayor Malinda Miles during the ceremony. “It speaks volumes to what a city and staff and mayor and council can do when they have partnerships.”

The library is unique in Prince George’s County that the building is owned and maintained by the city of Mount Rainier, which allows the library system to operate within.

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier says pit bull ban is ‘lowest law-enforcement priority’

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Mount Rainier City Council approved a measure declaring county laws banning pit bulls to be the ‘lowest law-enforcement priority’ for its city police officers. The measure, approved by a vote of four-to-one at Mount Rainier’s Jan. 14, 2020, meeting, instructs the police department to “deprioritize, to the greatest extent possible” enforcement of the pit bull ban. The measure is the brainchild of freshman City Councilor Scott Cecil, who introduced the resolution in late 2019. He said the measure does not prohibit city police from taking action against an individual harboring a pit bull if a situation warranted such a citation.

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Hyattsville won’t share video from fatal police shooting

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Hyattsville officials now say they cannot yet share with Mount Rainier officials body camera footage its officers recorded during the events that led to the fatal 2019 police shooting of Leonard Shand. 

In a statement read during Hyattsville’s Jan. 21, 2020, City Council meeting, City Administrator Tracey Douglas said she had been advised against releasing additional information on the incident until after Prince George’s County police completed its investigation into the shooting. Douglas’ statement was a response to a Jan. 6, 2020, request from Mount Rainier City Councilor Scott Cecil to see video from Hyattsville police officers on the scene of Shand’s death. Shand, 49, died after 11 officers, including six from Hyattsville, opened fire him at the end of a half-hour early-morning walking standoff that started Sept.

Art

High-tech ‘art incubator’ planned for Mount Rainier

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An internationally-renowned sculptor plans to build a unique art studio, built partially from shipping containers, in Mount Rainier. When complete, the facility will have 10 small studios for artists, gallery space and will provide access to 3D printers and laser engravers. The project, dubbed the High-cube Art Incubator Community, is the vision of Davide Prete, an Italian sculptor now living in Washington, D.C. His work has been shown at the Louvre and has been featured on PBS’ Craft in America series. The proposed studio will be located at 3602 Oak Lane, a small strip of land on Mount Rainier’s southern border. According to state property records, Prete bought the land back in 2014 for $37,500.