Two more of County Executive Marc Elrich’s cabinet nominees were confirmed Tuesday by the County Council.
Adam Ortiz, the director of the Prince George’s County Department of the Environment since 2012 and the mayor of Edmonston from 2005 to 2011, will serve as the county’s director of the Department of Environmental Protection.
The department is responsible for recycling and trash pickup, stormwater management, watershed restoration and other sustainability initiatives. He succeeds acting director Patty Bubar.
Diane Vu, the acting director of the county’s Office of Community Partnerships, will now serve that role in a permanent capacity.
The office is a liaison between the county and various religious and cultural organizations. Among the services offered are legal immigration and language services. Vu succeeds Bruce Adams, a former councilman who held the job for all 12 of County Executive Ike Leggett’s years in office.
During his interview before the council Tuesday, Ortiz said he hopes to close the county’s 24-year-old Dickerson trash incinerator — a goal Elrich announced recently during a news conference. The county executive has said he wants the plant to be closed by 2022 and that he opposed sending more trash to landfills, but isn’t yet clear what alternative method he would employ to dispose of trash.
“He’s open to and researching alternatives,” said county spokesman Ohene Gyapong.
Ortiz also said he wanted to increase the amount of composting the county does, and encourage individual home and business owners to do their own composting.
At-large Council member Will Jawando praised Ortiz for his experience as a community organizer prior to his experience in government, and asked the new director how his work would incorporate social justice into the DEP’s mission.
Ortiz said he hoped to continue his practice in Prince George’s County of working with small and minority-owned businesses on environmental initiatives, as well as making sure historically-marginalized parts of the county are included in different projects.
“We have a responsibility that no matter where you live, no matter what your tax return says, that you get environmental protection and that you have the support of your local government,” he said.
Vu said her goals included expanding her office’s use of ethnic and social media, which she said was lacking. She also said, in response to questions from council members, that she believes the county needs more outlets for celebrating its diversity aside from the annual World of Montgomery festival, which features various ethnic arts performances and foods.
She said she hopes to find ways to engage the diverse audiences she has seen at Elrich’s public forums during the last two months.
“It’s great for us to see diverse representation at these listening sessions… but then the next step is the so what. Now we have to get to the so what,” she said.
District 2 Council member Craig Rice, of Germantown, asked Vu if she would be willing to expand the county’s sister cities initiative to include a West African country, having just returned from Gondar, Ethiopia.
The sister cities program was established during Leggett’s administration to foster cultural exchange, and includes cities in El Salvador, Ethiopia, China, India and South Korea. Vu said she was open to the idea.
There are more than 30 department heads in the county executive’s cabinet, who serve at his pleasure. Elrich has yet to name new permanent directors of libraries, health and human services and housing and community affairs. A recruiting firm has been retained by the county to conduct a national search for the three positions.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
