Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has nine top-level department head positions to fill. But by September, the list could be down to five.
Elrich has announced nominees for three of the positions: director of the Office of Human Resources, director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and director of the Office of Housing and Community Affairs. And earlier this week he announced two finalists for police chief, although one took himself out of the running on Wednesday.
The county executive has named acting directors but has yet to nominate candidates to head the following departments:
-Libraries
-Finance
-Permitting Services
In addition, Elrich has yet to announce hires for two positions he created in February as a part of a reorganization of his office: chief technology officer and chief equity officer. The chief technology officer will advise the administration on best practices and the chief equity officer will be responsible for implementing the county executive and council’s racial equity legislation, which they hope to pass in the fall.
The nominees who are awaiting council confirmation are Berke Attila, as director of the Office of Human Resources, Angela Talley, as director of Montgomery County’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Aseem Kumar Nigam as director of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
Attila spent the last five years as the chief financial officer for the City of Baltimore’s Department of General Services. He interviewed appeared with the council on Tuesday and could be confirmed as early as next week.
Talley was named acting director by Elrich in May, replacing Robert L. Green, who was tapped by Gov. Larry Hogan to serve as secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Talley is scheduled to interview with the council at its meeting on Tuesday.
Nigam was most recently the director of real estate, finance and grants management with Fairfax, Virginia’s housing department. He is scheduled to interview before the council July 30.
Elrich is also in the process of hiring a police chief, replacing 15-year veteran J. Thomas Manger. Takoma Park Police Chief Antonio DeVaul, one of the two finalists, withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday. The only candidate remaining for the job, as of Wednesday afternoon, was Tonya Chapman, the former chief of the Portsmouth, Virginia police department. It was not clear Wednesday whether Chapman would become the new chief. Elrich has said he plans to make a hire in August. His choice is subject to approval by the council.
The council is scheduled to take its annual recess during the month of August.
Council President Nancy Navarro wrote in a memo to Elrich last month that she was worried about the slow pace at which the county executive was making appointments.
“The council has heard concerns from numerous groups and individuals,” she wrote
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that Elrich has named Aseem Kumar Nigam as his nominee for director of Housing and Community Affairs
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
