GRIEVANCE REPORT

UNPROFESSIONAL AND UNETHICAL CONDUCT

BY
MECHELLE KERNS, MEMBER, REGISTER OF PROFESSIONAL ARCHEOLOGISTS

SUBMITTED BY : PATRICK ALLEN

FREDERICK COUNTY, MARYLAND

Table of Contents
Purpose.................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Background Information......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Political Overtones of the Project........................................................................................................................................ 4
Foreground Information ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Stipulation of Violations.......................................................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 An archaeologist shall ................................................................................................................................................... 7
Represent Archaeology In a Responsible Manner ............................................................................................................ 7
Avoid Misleading or Unwarranted Statements ................................................................................................................ 7
1.2 An archaeologist shall not ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Give a Public Presentation Without Being Thoroughly Informed ...................................................................................... 8
Engage in Conduct Involving Dishonesty.......................................................................................................................... 8
Summary................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide the Register of Professional Archeologists (RPA) with indisputable
evidence of unprofessional and unethical conduct by Mechelle Kerns which violates the RPA code of conduct.
Specifically, this document will address, with supporting documentation, violations of the following:

The Archaeologist's Responsibility to the Public

1.1 An archaeologist shall:

recognize a commitment to represent Archaeology and its research results to the public in a responsible
manner;

be sensitive to, and respect the legitimate concerns of, groups whose culture histories are the subjects of
archaeological investigations;

avoid and discourage exaggerated, misleading, or unwarranted statements about archaeological matters
that might induce others to engage in unethical or illegal activity;

1.2 An archaeologist shall not:

give a professional opinion, make a public report, or give legal testimony involving archaeological matters
without being as thoroughly informed as might reasonably be expected;

engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation about archaeological matters;

The above violations, by Mechelle Kerns, will be presented in subsequent sections of this document.

Background Information
For the Register of Professional Archeologists (RPA) to fully understand the allegations levied against Mechelle
Kerns, the RPA must first understand the circumstances under which these allegations are made.
A project is currently underway in Frederick City, Maryland, to develop a downtown and hotel and conference
center project on a 1.9 acre parcel of land which has a 170 year history of industrial tanning operations which for
over one hundred years was the economic backbone of Frederick City . known as Fredericktown in the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, and into the early Twentieth century..
Mechelle Kerns (Kerns CRM Consulting) was hired by Kann Partners (Baltimore) to conduct an archeological dig in
an area on the parcel known as the Birely Tannery Corner located in the the southeast corner of the parcel.
This corner had two previous occupants
1556 : Michael Raymer Tannery, and
1764 : Matthius Nead Tannery
These tanneries operated in close proximity for approximately four decades until the early 1800s, when the Birely
family bought out the Raymer tannery as well as presumption of a buyout of the Nead tannery as well.
A fourth tannery, owned by the Kunkel family, operated on the southwest corner of the parcel. The exact dates of
operation are not clear, but it appears the Kunkel operated for forty-plus decades.
Its important to note that there is no known record of tanning methodologies regarding the operations of the
Raymer, Nead or Kunkel tanneries.
The last recorded tanning methodology by the Birely tannery was printed in the local newspaper during May, 1891.
There is no further evidence or definitive record that the Birelys continued the labor intensive and cost expensive
oak bark tanning methodologies during their last four decades of operation, rather than moving to less expensive
and more efficient tanning chemical based methodologies during the waning years and rapidly declining period of
tanning in Frederick, Maryland.
On this parcel and a parcel directly across the creek, known as Parcel G, substantial concentrations of arsenic
have been located, and in each case, either covered over (Parcel G) or trucked away (Kunkel tannery site).
It is also important to note that no known record exists regarding the subsurface geological profile (comprehensive
grid boring and / or electronic resonance), nor the subsurface geological hydraulic distribution patterns on the
parcel.

Political Overtones of the Project

The City and County of Frederick, Maryland are currently engaged in a politically controversial project to develop a
downtown hotel and conference center on a parcel of land which has a 170 year history of industrial tanning
operations during the time frame when industrial leather tanning was the economic backbone for the City and
County.
While the downtown hotel and conference center project is political in nature and substance, it is important for the
RPA to recognize that this is the context into which Mechelle Kerns inserted herself and her project sponsor funded
opinions at public meetings, on social media and emails.
This document is not intended to address the many facets of irregularities regarding procurement, process,
invoicing, etc. but, rather to specifically address the environmental concerns and public health risks to which
Mechelle Kerns has attached herself.

Foreground Information
I strongly urge the RPAs investigative committee to include the following facts, as an integral context component,
in their evaluation and consideration of the allegations against Mechelle Kerns:

The Frederick, Maryland downtown hotel and conference center project, to include the Birely tannery dig, is
an emotionally charged issue in Frederick County, Maryland, insofar as it has been proposed and planned
as a public-private-partnership, involving taxpayer dollars.

Every person, proponent, sponsor and / or contractor / sub contractor associated with this project, including
Mechelle Kerns, has their words and actions subjected to public scrutiny by the taxpayers.

The 1.9 acre parcel of land, onto which the Birely tannery exists and the downtown hotel and conference
center is proposed to be developed has substantial environmental uncertainties regarding the sub-surface
geology, the sub-surface geology hydraulic distribution patterns.

The 1.9 acre parcel of land has hosted a minimum of four (4) industrial tanning operations, over a 170 year
period of time when environmental protections and industrial chemical usage oversight was non-existent.

There is no definitive record of tanning methodologies by three of the four tanneries operating on the
parcel.

The last known record of tanning methodology for the Birely tannery was in 1891. The Birely tannery
continued operations for another four (4) decades, during a period of rapid decline for tanning as the
economic backbone for Frederick City (known as Fredericktown) and Frederick County.

There is no definitive record, from June, 1891 to the mid-1920s regarding the possible and suspected
alterations in the Birely tanning operations from oak bark to chemical supported methodologies to reduce
the labor and cost intensive oak bark approach to a more cost efficient and profit sustaining chemical
approach.

Arsenic has been identified in the sub-surface geology directly associated with the Birely and Kunkel
tanneries which operated on this parcel of land. It is important to note that one arsenic finding was covered
over, the other remediated.

It is important to note that this area of Frederick City, referred to as the industrial district during the second half of
the 1700s, 1800s and the first quarter of the 1900s, has a history of chemical contamination in the subsurface
geology from industrial tanning and commercial fertilizer production operations as noted in the following.

Following comprehensive grid pattern boring and electronic resonance testing, the engineering firm concluded
there was sufficient hydrogeology uncertainties to install three (3) contamination monitoring wells at the Frederick
County Public Schools (FCPS) HQ building, several blocks distance from the controversial FNP / Birely parcel of
land.

Stipulation of Violations
The stipulation of violations must begin with a review of three separate news articles, written by Nancy Lavin
(nlavin@newspost.com) for the Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Maryland) a company which owns the only local
hardcopy news outlet, and also has a stake in the downtown hotel and conference center project as the property
owner of the alleged contaminated parcel. Links to the articles:

City Notes: Hotel project consultant fires back on Facebook

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/levels_of_government/municipal/citynotes-hotel-project-consultant-fires-back-on-facebook/article_7b57a48b-1a04-5e31-bae9a862229e3c67.html

City Notes: Hotel consultant threatens lawsuit based on Facebook feud

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/levels_of_government/municipal/citynotes-hotel-consultant-threatens-lawsuit-based-on-facebook-feud/article_6da70252-88da-5308-8a0958202b693fd5.html
City Notes: Local resident refuses to apologize under threat of lawsuit from hotel consultant
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/downtown_hotel/city-notes-local-residentrefuses-to-apologize-under-threat-of/article_96ef5d31-1ae0-534d-bab2-8176049be09f.html

NOTE : Nancy Lavin, Reporter, Frederick News-Post has engaged in telephone and email correspondence with
Mechelle Kerns, which by contacting Ms. Lavin may be of benefit to the RPA investigation.

The balance of this section of the due diligence report will focus on alleged violations of RPAs code of conduct as
stipulated below:
The Archaeologist's Responsibility to the Public
1.1 An archaeologist shall:

recognize a commitment to represent Archaeology and its research results to the public in a
responsible manner;

be sensitive to, and respect the legitimate concerns of, groups whose culture histories are the
subjects of archaeological investigations;

avoid and discourage exaggerated, misleading, or unwarranted statements about archaeological

matters that might induce others to engage in unethical or illegal activity;

1.2 An archaeologist shall not:

give a professional opinion, make a public report, or give legal testimony involving archaeological
matters without being as thoroughly informed as might reasonably be expected;

engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation about archaeological

matters;

1.1 An archaeologist shall

Represent Archaeology In a Responsible Manner
On August 17, 2016, Mechelle Kerns, based on a stipulation of her archaeological credentials to meeting
attendees, stated emphatically that contamination on the site is a fallacy
The statement was recorded in the local newspaper and to citizens concerned with environmental issues and public
health risks, Ms. Kerns statement was irresponsible and a bridge too far. The historical evidence does not support
Mechelle Kerns opinion, given that her opinion was based on an incomplete record of facts.
Environmental activists, including other archeologists, do not agree with Kerns assertions or conduct in misleading
taxpayers regarding the environmental issues and public health concerns associated with this parcel.

Avoid Misleading or Unwarranted Statements

This violation is two-fold. As noted in 1.1 An archaeologist shall - Represent Archaeology In a Responsible
Manner, Mechelle Kerns clearly misled the public by contradicting historical evidence of arsenic on the parcel.
Secondly, following the Kerns assertion of contamination is a fallacy, citizens went to social media and posted a
satirical cartoon in advance of the planned archaeological dig.

In response to posting of this satirical

cartoon, Kerns comment on social
media, directly below the cartoon,
which unethically and unprofessionally
implies Mr. Allen to be a pathological
liar.
NOTE: There is nothing in this cartoon to
incite a professional archaeologist to make
such an unwarranted comment.

1.2 An archaeologist shall not

Give a Public Presentation Without Being Thoroughly Informed

This violation, as a shall not, is compatible with the shall code of conduct violation presented in item 1.1 An
archaeologist shall - Represent Archaeology In a Responsible Manner noted above, as well as presented in
Background Information and Foreground Information sections of this document.
The fact there are no definitive hydrogeology records directly pertaining to the parcel, combined with the industrial
history of activities on the parcel, poses significant uncertainties regarding environmental issues and public health
risks . none of which was addressed by Mechelle Kerns in her public presentation. Instead, she simply stated,
contamination on the site is a fallacy.
.
Engage in Conduct Involving Dishonesty

The above social media posting clearly demonstrates unethical, unprofessional and dishonest conduct by Mechelle
Kerns.
Rather than posting numerous screen scrapes of social media postings by Kerns, which she may speculate in her
defense have been PhotoShop edited, I refer the investigative committee to the Frederick News-Post articles in
which Mechelle Kerns goes on the record as using purposeful misinformation to yank the chain of a private
citizen.
City Notes: Hotel project consultant fires back on Facebook
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/levels_of_government/municipal/citynotes-hotel-project-consultant-fires-back-on-facebook/article_7b57a48b-1a04-5e31-bae9a862229e3c67.html

City Notes: Hotel consultant threatens lawsuit based on Facebook feud

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/levels_of_government/municipal/citynotes-hotel-consultant-threatens-lawsuit-based-on-facebook-feud/article_6da70252-88da-5308-8a0958202b693fd5.html

Summary
As stated at the beginning of this document, the project which Mechelle Kerns has been hired to participate in is an
emotionally charged issue in Frederick City / County, Maryland.
Mechelle Kerns, as a professional, should have understood the environment into which she injected herself and
taken any scrutiny of her work, or challenges to her assertions, as a possible / probable eventuality.
I strongly believe that Mechelle Kerns recoiled from citizens initial challenges to her assertions of contamination is
a fallacy and she crossed the line of professional conduct, stating in a social media posting, My issue with Mr.
Allen is not political, its personal.
Her consistent and incessant social media postings, containing degrading and condescending remarks not only
raises serious questions regarding Mechelle Kerns herself, but has resulted in additional emotionally charged
rhetoric to a taxpayer funded project.
Regardless of Ms. Kerns resume and / or previous achievements, her conduct while contracting into a local project
with so many uncertainties, environmental issues and public health risks, is reprehensible, unethical and absolutely
unprofessional.