Mount Rainier Police vote 'no confidence' in city manager

Police officers in one Maryland city are calling for the city manager to step down. They say they're worried his actions and retaliation are making residents unsafe issuing a formal vote of no confidence today.

MOUNT RAINER, Md. - Police officers in one Maryland city are calling for the city manager to step down.

They say they're worried his actions and retaliation are making residents unsafe, issuing a formal vote of no confidence on Wednesday.

The backstory:

This is happening in Mount Rainier, right on the border with D.C. Police say they're overworked, underpaid, understaffed and that the city manager is the one to blame.

"He's very like a dictator. He doesn't want to meet with the FOP, harassment issues, really the lack of transparency," said Joseph McDevitt, acting Union President for Mount Rainier Police.

The acting union president in Mount Rainier represents all the department's officers besides the chief and an acting lieutenant.

Dig deeper:

One of the issues they highlight is that they're budgeted for 19 officers and they currently have 12 but due to medical and other planned leaves, only seven officers are active.

Mount Rainier spans less than three-quarters of a mile, with a population of just over 8,000, and it's right on the border with Washington D.C.

Police say they also have concerns about maintenance of their vehicles and sergeants not getting paid what they're supposed to be making.

The backstory:

The city manager at issue, Kourosh Kamali, has been on the job since 2021. He was voted in unanimously by the mayor and city council after having served for years as the director of public works.

Now, the police union wants him out, saying he's retaliating against them for speaking out.

Last Friday, the officer who was the president of the union was terminated.

Thomas Moretti says he was told it was because he was still in his year-long probationary period, having been hired last September but he and his fellow officers believe otherwise.

What they're saying:

"I stood up for what was right, and now I've been terminated because I stood up," Moretti said. "We want the city and the city's residents who pay taxes one of the highest tax brackets in Maryland. We want them to know them to know what's going on with their police department," Moretti said.

FOX 5 reached out to the city manager, mayor and all of city council for a response. We only heard back from a couple of council members, who said they weren't authorized to speak on the matter - we're expecting a public statement soon.

The city’s public calendar shows a closed-session meeting of the mayor and city council to discuss a personnel matter.

FOX 5 has asked the mayor and council for additional details on the matter. We'll let you know if we hear back.