Hunt Accuses Mayor Of Being Dishonest

Councilmember Timothy Hunt accused Mayor Marc Tartaro of withholding information related to the Crittendon Street Project at Monday’s City Council Meeting.

The discussion turned tense when Hunt asked the mayor why the engineering firm handling the project, Brudis & Associates, did not make a presentation before the council on the four new designs being proposed for the project.

Tartaro said the firm provided the design recommendations free of cost and that to bring them in for a presentation would cost money.

The total cost of the proposed designs, which would guide the construction process, came to $42,315 for an estimated 410 hours of work.

The designs would lay out the following:

1. A crosswalk on east side of 40^th Avenue to Magruder Park
2. A soldier pile retaining wall along Emerson Street
3. Use of pervious surfaces for sidewalks
4. Redesign of the Crittenden Street/ Route 1 intersection

Hunt said the first two requests for redesigns were acceptable, but that he needed more information to approve the last two. He said Prince George’s County Department of Environmental Resources would not force the city to use pervious surfaces.

Under PG County stormwater management guidelines listed in the council’s packet, new sidewalks would have to be pervious surfaces, which cost more, but allow water to flow through them into the soil, avoiding runoff.

Tartaro said Hyattsville might be the first city required to work under the new guidelines. He said the county might waive the requirement, at which point the funds will go back to the operating budget.

“These funds only get expended if the county says you have to do it,” said Tartaro.

“I don’t think the county will require everyone to put in pervious sidewalks,” responded Hunt, saying that he would like more information before approving the additional designs. “We can wait,” he said and added that he was “clueless” on the new designs.

Tartaro responded that the information is in the council’s packet and that the project hasn’t changed except to add these components to it.

“I want to see everything on your and Mrs. McTague’s desk.” Hunt replied, in reference to Julia McTague, the administrative assistant who helps oversee Department of Public Works’ projects for the city.

“I’m not going there,” said Tartaro.

“Then I’m not comfortable,” said Hunt.

“There’s nothing else out there,” said Tartaro.

The conversation then bounced between councilmembers. David Hiles said there was 18 pages in the packet about the design work and there was no need for a presentation.

“The engineers would be reading out loud stuff that’s in our packet already,” said Hiles. Nicole Hinds-Mofor said the council deserved a presentation.

At this point, Hunt was visibly rocking back and forth in his seat.

 “If you had a question Mr. Hunt you should have asked the question to the city administrator,” said Tartaro. 

“I have tried,” said Hunt, “What you have just said is patently dishonest... I feel like I’ve gone down the rabbit hole and the emperor is not wearing any clothes right now and he has to put some back on.”

Then Hunt asked for an amendment to provide the most current blueprints the city has on the Crittenden Street project. 

At this point, Council Vice President Hiles was visibly concerned. He motioned to censure Hunt for his accusations against the mayor. However, no one seconded the motion, thus killing it.

Then Hunt’s motion for the blueprints failed and Councilmember Eric Wingard entered the fray. He asked that the design work be put back up for approval.

Hunt responded that he still didn’t know what was being proposed for the redesign of the Crittenden St./ Route 1 intersection and that he wasn’t comfortable with the sidewalk requirements.

Council President Matt McKnight said there had already been five meetings about the Crittenden project and there were plenty of opportunities to ask questions about it.

“I don’t know what documents the imagination of Councilmember Hunt has thought up.” McKnight said.

After McKnight’s statements the council voted on the motion to approve the design work. The motion passed with Frazier, Hunt and Hinds-Mofor voting no and the other members voting yes.

Hunt previously accused Tartaro of withholding information related to the Crittenden Street project in August.

“The mayor has directed staff to withhold draft construction documents surrounding University Hills and Crittenden Street project from councilmembers who wish to view them,” wrote Hunt in a comment in response to a Patch article. 

The original plan for the Crittenden project was to reconstruct Crittenden Street from Route 1 to the intersection in front of Magruder Park and add crosswalks. In November, the council approved a $2.1 million resurfacing contract with NZI Construction to handle construction and paving for the project. Hunt and Hinds-Mofor were the only councilmembers to vote against the proposal, according to the minutes.

Editor's Note: Matt McKnight is the Hyattsville City Council President, David Hiles is the Vice-President, the two were erroneously switched in the original version of this story. We regret the error.