A former chief of staff in the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy & Environment was confirmed Tuesday as a Montgomery County government assistant chief administrative officer.
Adriana Hochberg received unanimous approval from the County Council to serve in the administration of County Executive Marc Elrich. She will oversee efforts to eliminate the county’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, increase the rate of recycling and decrease the number of commuters who drive.
Hochberg, of Rockville, spend six years in the District and previously was a presidential management fellow and environmental protection specialist from 2003 to 2007 at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Kleine, who is responsible for managing top-level staff in the county executive’s office and helping implement a long-term financial plan, said the role of three assistants would differ slightly under Elrich compared to previous administrations.
Kleine said that each would be in charge of multiple priorities that the county executive has outlined, including programs to help youths and families thrive, safe neighborhoods, environmental protection and economic growth.
During her 15-minute interview with the council, Hochberg said she was serving on the Aspen Hill Vision Zero advisory group, which has been working with staff from the county’s planning department to improve pedestrian safety and eliminate pedestrian deaths.
She said she hopes to improve communication with community partners inside and outside government. She said she also hopes to organize more town halls for proposed master growth plans.
“I think it’s important to receive input from the public throughout the planning process, not just the beginning and the end,” she said.
Hochberg, 41, said her environmental goals include working with community partners to improve stormwater management, reduce carbon emissions and beautify public spaces.
Hochberg will be paid $165,000 per year — slightly below the salary level of the three assistants who worked alongside former CAO Tim Firestine, who made between $174,000 and $177,000 in gross pay during 2018, according to dataMontgomery, the government’s online database.
Hochberg’s job, along with the other assistant CAOs, will involve working with various agency heads, such as newly-appointed environmental protection director Adam Ortiz, as well as budget staff to help implement Elrich’s goals.
Council members were complimentary of Hochberg.
“I think your experience is really on-point and you’re gonna do a great job,” said at-large council member Hans Riemer.
But Riemer, who has been known to spar with Elrich, said later in an interview that the lack of experience working in Montgomery County could pose a challenge for many Elrich’s nominees, despite the fact that many have distinguished careers in the federal government or other local jurisdictions.
“I want to make sure the departments are getting the oversight that they need,” he said. “It might work well but it could lead to departments that are unsupervised.”
Riemer said there are pros and cons to Kleine’s strategy in delegating responsibility to the new assistant CAOs.
“That’s consistent with his philosophies of management and priorities. It could be innovative and it could contribute to results or not. I think time will tell how successfully they are operationally. My immediate reaction is, sounds good, but are things gonna fall through the cracks,” Riemer said.
The two other nominees for assistant CAO positions are scheduled to be interviewed and voted on by the council on Thursday. They are:
– Alfred Jerome Fletcher II, the senior deputy director for D.C.’s Department of Small and Local Business Development
– Caroline Sturgis, deputy budget director for the City of Baltimore
Elrich has yet to appoint five senior executives to his cabinet. There are more than 30 department heads in county government who serve at the pleasure of the county executive.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
