Questions about Geldart’s residency emerged after a personal trainer alleged Geldart grabbed him by the neck in the parking lot of a Gold’s Gym in Arlington on Saturday. Days after the encounter, the trainer reported the matter to police and swore out a criminal complaint with the county magistrate’s office, alleging assault and battery.
An Arlington County police statement on the incident said Geldart lived in Falls Church, Va., prompting concern among community leaders that the deputy mayor was violating D.C. law. Under District code, high-level appointees to the executive branch must be city residents during their time in office.
Geldart, who did not respond to requests for comment, is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 17 for an arraignment hearing on the criminal charge. He is on leave, and Bowser said City Administrator Kevin Donahue will oversee the city’s public safety agencies in the interim.
D.C. law allows the mayor to grant waivers to the residency requirement for “exceptional circumstances beyond the employee’s control,” but Bowser said Friday that she does not recall ever reviewing such a waiver for Geldart. She said she was previously aware that Geldart had a home in Virginia where his family lived.
The mayor asserted “people can have second homes,” but stressed that “our expectations are that people will meet the requirements of the law for residency.”
Under the city code, a “resident” is defined as any person who “maintains a place of abode in the District of Columbia as his or her actual, regular, and principal place of occupancy.” Public records show D.C. addresses associated with Geldart. In 2019, when Bowser nominated him to be the director of the Department of Public Works, his address was listed as being in D.C.’s Ward 6, according to a document filed in the city’s legislative management system, first reported by Washington City Paper.
The District has long struggled with questions over where government employees can live while serving the nation’s capital. In the 1980s, a law requiring city employees to reside in D.C. sparked outrage among unions for D.C. police and public schools, who said the requirement hampered the city’s efforts to hire and retain the best workers. Decades later, former D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier came under fire for owning a home in Maryland during her tenure.
Kathy Patterson, the D.C. auditor who also served three terms on city council, said there have been periodic efforts to impose a residency requirement on all D.C. government employees but they have always been met with resistance. The latest legislation in D.C. requires those earning more than $150,000 per year and hired after 2019 to reside in the city.
“There has been tension as long as I’ve been in D.C. government,” Patterson said. “Does someone have to be a D.C. resident, or do you want to get the best person for the job no matter where they live?”
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said Friday that he was concerned about Geldart’s residency.
“There is only one truth, and that needs to be sorted out, and there is a process for dealing with a violation if there is a violation,” he said. “I think I’ll leave it at that.”
Bowser’s office initially downplayed the assault allegation against Geldart, saying in a statement that “it sounds like something that happens to a lot of people” and that “we hope it is resolved quickly.” But her tone shifted by Friday, when the mayor said she had “some concerns about that interaction.”
Dustin Woodward, the 29-year-old personal trainer who said he was assaulted by Geldart, said the dispute began when the deputy mayor hit his girlfriend’s car with his own vehicle’s door. Woodward alleges the deputy mayor grabbed him by the throat, and video footage obtained by Fox 5 shows Geldart appearing to push him before Woodward shoves his arms away.
Woodward filed a criminal complaint against Geldart with the county magistrate’s office on Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of mixed emotions,” Woodward said. “At the same time, the man has got to be able to feed his family. There is a part of me that shouldn’t feel bad, but I do.”
Meagan Flynn and Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.
