An interview with a candidate for chief of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS), commemoration of the county police chief’s retirement and a public hearing on a proposed grant program to encourage companies to rent local office space top the Montgomery County Council’s agenda this week.
The council will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Stella Werner Council Office Building in Rockville for its regular weekly business meeting. Here’s what to expect:
Interview with fire chief candidate Corey Smedley
The council will interview Corey Smedley, County Executive Marc Elrich’s nominee for MCFRS chief at 10:30 a.m.
Smedley was most recently deputy chief of Prince George’s County Fire and EMS service. Prior to that, he was the City of Alexandria’s first Black fire chief, serving for more than four years, and spent over eight years with that fire department. While he was in Alexandria, he oversaw implementation of the city’s first collective bargaining agreement for firefighters. He retired from the Alexandria department in January and returned to a post with the Prince George’s County department, where he previously had served more than 20 years.
If confirmed by the council, Smedley will be the county’s first Black fire chief, as well as the first fire chief hired from outside the department, according to officials. A vote has not been scheduled.
“Corey has demonstrated leadership over a number of different areas, so he’s pretty well suited for doing this job,” Elrich said in an interview with MoCo360 in May. “I think he understands the direction we want to go into as we try to evolve this department.”
Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) Act public hearing
The council will hear from the public on the Make Office Vacancy Extinct (MOVE) Grant Program, whichwould provide office rental grants for eligible businesses that want to move to the county or expand within the county as well as county businesses looking to expand their existing office footprint.
The bill is sponsored by councilmembers Evan Glass (D-At-large), Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6), Marilyn Balcombe D-Dist. 2) and Laurie-Anne Sayles (D-At-large), who are all members of the council’s Economic Development Committee. Co-sponsors include council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) and councilmembers Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7) and Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5).
The legislation aims to eliminate the county’s office vacancy rate by providing a financial incentive to encourage businesses to rent or expand their local footprint, according to the sponsors.
“We have 76 million square feet of office space and we want to make sure that as much of that is used as possible,” Glass said during an April 15 press conference on the bill. “Filling that space is good for all of us.”
The county has a 21.9% office vacancy rate, according to statistics that officials presented during the press conference.
The MOVE Program was introduced as a pilot program in March 2014 by then-County Executive Ike Leggett (D). However, it was never codified. This bill would establish the program under the law as part of the county’s Economic Development Fund. It also would increase the maximum financial incentive that a business could receive from the county from $80,000 to $150,000 by increasing the amount of space that would be eligible for a grant. Under the program, a business can receive $8 per square foot of office space.
The revamped program also would allow county businesses to apply for the funding. Currently, only businesses looking to move into the county are eligible.
Police Chief Marcus Jones’ retirement
The council will commemorate Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones’ retirement with a proclamation on Tuesday.
Jones, 59, announced his retirement in January after serving in the department for 38 years. His last day will be July 1. Jones spoke to MoCo360 about his tenure in an interview in February.
“There has been a lot of talk in the community about reimagining policing, and there were a lot of discussions about police and community relationships,” Jones said when asked about his greatest accomplishments. “And one of the things I wanted to focus on was to make sure that we regained the public trust. …I also felt like we worked hard at increasing our transparency.”
Marc Yamada will take over as the county’s new police chief after the council unanimously voted to confirm his appointment last week. Yamada, a department veteran, is currently an assistant police chief.
