The College Park City Council has decided to pause its membership in a countywide association for municipal officials after a former treasurer of the organization allegedly embezzled more than $30,000.

Councilmembers said they will forfeit their membership in the Prince George’s County Municipal Association (PGCMA) until the group creates a security plan that will prevent future thefts. The association is conducting an internal investigation.

Cities pay about $2,500 a year to belong to the organization, which is a chapter of the Maryland Municipal League (MML), a statewide nonprofit association that lobbies the Maryland Legislature on behalf of the state’s 157 cities and towns.

“It’s our taxpayer money,” Councilmember Jacob Hernandez (District 1) told College Park Here & Now. “Our residents are paying into a tax fund that is supposedly a fund that the council is protecting. That is our job—to manage the budget. Why would we give money to an organization that is clearly lacking integrity?”

At its Nov. 12 meeting, some councilmembers insisted that PGCMA hire an outside accounting firm to conduct a formal audit, but association president Edouard Haba said an audit would be cost prohibitive for the small group. Instead, he said, the organization will submit to financial reviews.

“We know what we went through was traumatic,” Haba, who attended via Zoom, told the council. “We have tried as an organization to reorganize ourself, to put policies in place that will safeguard our joint assets so that moving forward what happened will not easily happen again.”

Haba, a member of the Hyattsville City Council, said PGCMA has formed a financial oversight committee, updated its bylaws and reviewed its dues structure, which he said has not changed in a dozen years.

He said the organization’s value is largely “camaraderie and networking” among elected municipal leaders. The association brings elected officials from various cities together to discuss best practices for issues like parking and public safety, according to PGCMA Vice President Monica Casañas, who also attended via Zoom. It also advocates for the county’s cities, holds social events for members and legislators and organizes some community service work.

“We hope that we’re stronger together,” Haba said, noting PGCMA’s officers do not believe the organization is at risk for future embezzlement. “We all want all of us to stay together and move forward.”

Casañas, the mayor of Colmar Manor, agreed.

“We all work in silos, and we shouldn’t,” Casañas said. “Our towns are stronger when we stand together and speak with one voice.”

She also noted that PGCMA and other membership organizations are “not immune” from theft. In response to questions about why the current treasurer—who is not the one suspected of theft—is not an elected official, Casañas said, “If you have that unfortunate inclination to steal, it doesn’t matter if you’re elected or not.”

College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir agreed that the association has value for city leaders.

“We have used this organization as a platform on our behalf on the shared agenda items that the City of College Park and others in PGCMA advocated for,” he said in an interview after the discussion. “We are all part of Prince George’s County and we share many things in common. Everything that happens in the county and in the state affects all of us. It’s important to talk to them, to be at the meetings, to listen to the presentations and discussion, to be part of it.”

Kabir said MML CEO Theresa Kuhns sent him a letter after the council’s discussion with Haba, outlining financial reporting mandates and transparency requirements MML will expect from PGCMA going forward.

At the meeting, Hernandez said the association has not been transparent about the theft or how the group is investigating it. He asked Haba to make a public statement about the organization’s financial irregularities, the status of its investigation and how dues from member cities are used.