(7/15) Rodney Davis, accused of ramming his truck into the front of the Taneytown City Hall in August 2019, causing what was then characterized as "significant" structural damage, has entered a guilty plea, according to the town attorney.
Attorney Jack Gullo told the Town Council that Davis "pled guilty to first-degree assault, which is a felony, and malicious destruction of property," during the suspect’s status hearing.
Gullo reported that, based on the plea, the judge set some guidelines for sentencing, and that the sentencing hearing will be held September 3, adding that the courts "are not doing any sentencing at this point that would lead to incarceration until after the in-person hearing in September."
The attorney further said that, "You can read between the lines that Mr. Davis is likely to be incarcerated for some period of time for the act of violence committed against the city."
The town is considering options for recouping the money spent on the repairs and renovation. However, to date, the News-Journal has not been provided with an estimate of the total amount of damages sustained by the Town Hall in the attack.
Regarding the status of the renovation and possible opening date of the Town Hall, Acting City Manager James Wieprecht told the council that the completion of the renovation is running slightly behind, but that the work should be completed by the second week of August.
"Construction is moving ahead," Wieprecht said, adding, "We did have a progress meeting this week.
The end date has been pushed back about seven days from the originally planned date, so right now, we're looking at substantial completion on August 11."
The acting town manager said that a lot of the additional work that had to be completed has been related to fire safety. "Apparently, what has been acceptable 20 years ago when the building was renovated is no longer acceptable," he stated.
He said that there has been a lot of patching of holes that were in the old plaster and drywall ceilings up above the drop ceiling that now have to be closed up for fire safety, noting that, "there was a lot of holes just basically knocked in the ceiling to run plumbing, and wiring, and all sorts of things over the years."
"All in all," Wieprecht stated, "to be only a week farther back than originally expected, I think, considering what we discovered, once the ceilings came down and we started seeing what was behind the scene, so to speak, I think we're doing very well with it (progressing with the renovations)."
He said the hall could be back in full occupation and usage sometime after the work in completed on August 11.
