Diane Schwartz Jones, the former director of the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services, has taken a job one county to the north as the administrator of the Howard County Council.
The new hire was first reported by The Baltimore Sun.
Jones served as DPS director from 2011 until her departure this past spring and has a career in government service that dates to 1986 in Montgomery County. According to the county’s salary database, she made $218,551 in 2018.
Jones started her new position Aug. 19 and will make $162,707, according to Howard County Council spokeswoman Julia Singleton.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to assist the County Council and its members as they work to address important public policies and decisions on behalf of the residents and businesses of Howard County,” Jones said in an Aug. 20 news release.
Jones joins a number of other former county department heads who served under former Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and have left the county within the past year. While some of those former employees have since retired, others have moved on to other jobs. They include:
– Robert Green, Montgomery County’s former director of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. Green left the county in May after being appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to lead the state’s prison system.
– Alex Espinosa, Montgomery County’s former finance director, left his post in April to become chief financial officer in Stafford County, Va.
– Shawn Stokes, the former director of human resources in Montgomery County, left to become Prince George’s County’s human resources director in December according to her LinkedIn profile.
– Uma Ahluwalia, the former director of Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services, left her position in December to become a principal at a health care industry research and consulting firm in Washington.
Now holding those positions under Elrich are Angela Talley, who heads the corrections department, Health and Human Services Director Raymond Crowel and Human Resources Director Berke Attila. A permanent finance director has yet to be appointed, but Michael Coveyou has filled the role on an interim basis.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
