After 12 years as director of the Montgomery County Office of Community Partnerships, Bruce Adams will step down from his position Friday. Adams, whose tenure spans County Executive Ike Leggett’s three terms in office, will retire three days before County Executive-elect Marc Elrich is sworn in Dec. 3.
In an interview, Adams said he is ready for a change.
“It’s a great job, but if you do something for 12 years, you inevitably get stale,” he said.
The Office of Community Partnerships acts as a liaison between county government and various ethnic, religious and cultural organizations. Adams previously served alongside Leggett on the County Council from 1986 to 1994. After his eight years on the council, Adams ran unsuccessfully for county executive in 1994, losing to former Rockville mayor Doug Duncan in the Democratic primary.
Adams said he has had a close relationship with Leggett over the years.
“We met 32 years ago, we ran together for the County Council, we’ve served together, and any success I’ve had in this job is because of that relationship,” he said.
Adams added that he has known Elrich for 30 years and the incoming county executive is an “incredibly smart guy.” He said he has told Elrich and Andrew Kleine, a former budget director for the city of Baltimore who Elrich has appointed as his chief administrative officer, that he is willing to help during the transition.
“I want to make sure that Marc and Andrew are able to continue the good things that I’ve done,” he said.
Adams, 71, said he has no plans to seek another full-time job. Instead, he plans to travel by train around the country with his wife, playwright and author Margaret Engel, and tour baseball stadiums. The two wrote a baseball vacation guide, Ballpark Vacations, in the late 1990s. Adams said he hopes to write about his two passions of baseball and history. He said he is considering whether he will write about his travels in a series of blog posts or a book.
“I love to travel. I’m a history buff. I’m a baseball fanatic. So a few years ago I dreamed, ‘What if we traveled like it was 1924?’ ” he said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated that Adams plans to travel around the country once he leaves his county post.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
