Maryland Community Newspapers Online
When asked about his past 30 years in Riverdale Park, Town Administrator Pat Prangley speaks little about himself. Instead, he pulls out maps and explains how projects were funded, roads were built and mayor's goals were met.
Prangley is set to retire from Riverdale Park this October after a 30-year stint as the town administrator. He's enrolling in a graduate program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and this week he begins the prestigious university's three week-long Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program, which is a case study for current elected and appointed state and local government officials.
Prangley came to Riverdale Park after working two years as Berwyn Heights' town administrator, thinking he wouldn't stay in Riverdale Park for more than four years. But he was inspired by the town's history and being a public servant. His mother, Mary K. Prangley, was a former Hyattsville mayor and his father, Robert V. Prangley, served on the City Council.
"They were my driving force to go into public service," Prangley said.
Prangley's footprints are now all over Riverdale Park, from the police headquarters to his first project — Town Hall.
"You get tremendous satisfaction when you come up East West Highway and you see all these buildings there," he said. "You had your hand in this."
Former Riverdale Park councilman and mayor Guy Tiberio worked with Prangley on a number of projects since the 1970s.
"Annexation was probably one of our greatest achievements over the years and he worked very hard over the years to make sure we did everything legally and got it done right," Tiberio said.
Prangley said during his 30 years, the town's tax based increased from less than $50 million to $500 million, thanks in part to annexations of commercial land and developments like University of Maryland's M Square Research Park. He said "it's secured our financial future."
Prangley has worked under 17 different administrations. He described a large portion of his job as "serving at the pleasure of the mayor and council."
Current Mayor Vernon Archer met Prangley 13 years ago when he first became involved with the town.
"He was kind of the rock, the stability in so many instances and it was kind of me growing," Archer said.
One of Prangley's strengths was encouraging the town to interact with other towns, the county and state governments, Archer said.
"He just seemingly knows everybody. And if he doesn't know precisely who to go to, he knows the first step," Archer said.
Jim Peck, research director at the Maryland Municipal League, said it's "highly unusual" for a town administrator to work 30 years in one town and only knows of one other current town administrator in Maryland, Pocomoke City's City Manager Russell W. Blake, who has put in more than 30 years in the same town.
Peck said high turnover can be because town managers move to larger towns with higher pay scales and regular elections change town dynamics.
"I believe the average tenure for a municipal manager is perhaps as little as 2.5 years," Peck said, adding that Prangley's long tenure "says that the person has a fairly extraordinary ability to adapt to various elected officials over a long period of time and relate with them in a positive fashion."
Tiberio said he encouraged Prangley to apply for more prominent jobs "although I would have hated to lose him."
"Many times I said, ‘Pat, get out of here and go somewhere bigger.' But he stayed and I'm just proud of the guy," Tiberio said.
Archer said although he knew Prangley was thinking retiring once he hit his 30-th anniversary in the town in March, it will still be strange not to have such a common figure around anymore.
"It's clearly the end of an era," Archer said. "It does seem really odd to think that in a short period of time that he's not going to be here."
Prangley "really gets into projects that are assigned to him," Tiberio said, like his next assignment, helping the town recruit the next administrator.
It may be his final official project for Riverdale Park—he said he'll always lend a helping hand to the town— but it's one that he's just as excited about as the other projects he's worked on over the past 30 years.
"My mother told once me what's great about this job is you're behind the scenes constantly, and there's going to be a day when we give back and we want to be there for the next generation," Prangley said. "I'll have a vested interest in this community for the rest of my life."
E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.
