Multiple residents have called on Takoma Park Mayor Talisha Searcy and City Councilmembers to be more transparent about the recent resignation of City Manager Jamal Fox, along with city budgetary practices going back multiple years.
Searcy and council members said during a meeting Wednesday that they intend to continue talking with residents about how to be more transparent, including on the city’s budget. But they added that personnel laws prevent them from getting into much detail about Fox’s Feb. 13 resignation. Fox could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Paul Huebner was one city resident who testified Wednesday. He called on the mayor and City Council to review the city’s budgets over the last 10 years, which he believes show city officials have been running deficits.
In an interview after Wednesday’s meeting, Searcy said that since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, city officials have had to deal with revenue shortages and backfill them with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March 2021.
“Now we’re having to kind of manage the return to normalcy in the budget, and so there’s just a lot of nuance in our budget that frankly can create a lot of confusion in where we are, with lots of different pots of money for different purposes,” Searcy said.
But residents who testified Wednesday said that they were concerned about prior city meetings, where Fox and city staff appeared to show issues within the city’s budget. Tom Gagliardo, a former city attorney for Takoma Park, was blunt about how he felt city officials were handling budgetary issues and Fox’s resignation.
Gagliardo pleaded with the mayor and City Council to see them not only as residents of the city, but their “neighbors” who are trying to help them move the city forward.
For the most part, things were cordial between city officials and residents on Wednesday. But shortly after Gagliardo’s testimony, Jason Small—the City Councilmember for Ward 6—walked off the dais, motioned to Gagliardo in frustration, telling him that he could contact him anytime. Small did not return for much of the rest of the meeting.
In an interview, Gagliardo said that he has concerns about the city’s recent budget practices, alleging that expenditures have exceeded revenues in every year except for fiscal year 2022, when the city received American Rescue Plan funds.
He and multiple residents—including those who testified Wednesday—have said that the city needs to be more transparent about why they believe expenditures have not exceeded revenues.
Searcy said after Wednesday’s meeting that preliminary budget totals historically have shown that the city appears to be running a deficit initially. But when actual revenues are reported later, those total revenues show the city is not running a deficit, she said.
The mayor did say that city officials could “tighten up” their expenditures when it comes to future budgets and do a better job of diversifying its revenue stream—perhaps through more economic development measures and business growth, among other areas.
Tightening up expenditures could mean cutting back on sidewalk projects or cutting back on other city services, but much more discussion would be needed before any decision is final, the mayor added.
When asked if budgetary concerns and disagreements between Fox, city staff and her and council members led to his resignation, Searcy said that she could not comment on personnel matters.
Prior city meetings featured robust discussion between Searcy, City Councilmembers, Fox and city staff about the budget. In one recent meeting, Searcy said she would like to see more information included with any potential budget amendment processes, as it should be easier for residents to track where money is being moved around in the budget whenever amendments are proposed.
When asked about city residents’ concerns about the budgeting, and whether that led to Fox’s resignation, Searcy said: “I can only speak for myself. I will say I did not have a different philosophy than the city manager in terms of budgeting, but what I did have concern about is how we were presenting information about the budget, and making sure there was clarity around what was being presented.”
Rosalind Grigsby and Greg Clark are sharing responsibilities as deputy managers until an interim city manager is announced. Searcy said Wednesday that city officials would likely hire an outside search firm to assist in that process, but added specifics about how much that would cost, and the overall timeline for picking a new city manager, weren’t immediately available.
