Editor’s note: This story was originally published at 11:28 a.m. on July 8, 2024. It was updated at 2:58 p.m. on July 8, 2024 to correct that the proposed charter amendments will be introduced but not voted on.
Proposed charter amendments regarding county executive term limits and budget votes and the confirmation of a new fire chief top the Montgomery County Council’s agenda this week.
The council will meet at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Stella Werner Council Office Building in Rockville for its regular weekly business meeting. Here’s what to expect:
Proposed charter amendments
The council will introduce three resolutions to add three proposed county charter amendments to the November election ballot.
Councilmembers Sidney Katz (D-Dist. 3) and Gabe Albornoz (D-At-large) are sponsoring a resolution that would change the number of councilmember votes needed to approve certain budget decisions.
According to the resolution:
- At least two-thirds of councilmembers would need to vote in the affirmative to pass an operating budget that exceeds the total of the previous year’s operating budget, a change from the requirement of approval by seven councilmembers;
- At least two-thirds of councilmembers would need to vote in the affirmative to pass an operating budget that exceeds spending affordability guidelines, a change from the requirement of approval by eight councilmembers; and
- At least two-thirds of councilmembers would need to vote in the affirmative to pass an increase in the property tax rate, a change from the requirement that all councilmembers must approve the increase.
Under the current model of the 11-member council, two-thirds would be equivalent to at least eight votes. For purposes of the amendment, two-thirds would be calculated by rounding up to the nearest whole number the product of multiplying the number of current councilmembers by two-thirds.
Another proposed charter amendment, sponsored by Katz, would amend the county charter to confirm automatically any appointment made by the county executive to a non-merit position if the council has not voted on the appointment within 60 days after receiving it from the executive.
The council is also required by state law to vote on a resolution that would place a referendum for a two-term limit on the county executive on the November ballot. The initiative is sponsored by the Committee for Better Government, which is chaired by former Montgomery County Republican party chair and 2022 GOP county executive nominee Reardon Sullivan. The committee has submitted a petition to the Montgomery County Board of Elections to request that the referendum be placed on the ballot.
The elections board announced Friday the petition is 626 valid signatures short of the minimum of 10,000 required to place the question on the ballot. The committee has until July 29 to submit additional signatures to the board.
No individual councilmembers are sponsoring that resolution.
The first two proposed amendments were recommended by the county’s Charter Review Commission last month. The 11-member commission is appointed by the council and is tasked with presenting a report to the council in May of every even-numbered year and to present proposed amendments to the county charter.
The commission also recommended an amendment to limit a county executive to serving a total of three terms throughout the executive’s lifetime, as an alternative to the Committee for Better Government initiative. Currently, a county executive could be elected to serve more than three terms, as long as an additional term is not consecutive with the first three. However, no councilmembers are sponsoring this proposal.
Confirmation of Corey Smedley as fire chief
As part of its consent agenda, the council will vote to confirm Corey Smedley as the new chief of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS).
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 he spent more than 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.
In an interview with the council last month, Smedley said he believes achieving success as head of MCFRS would depend on fostering relationships with union members, elected officials and those served by the department.
“Building relationships is critical. When we have trust, we can give grace to each other during difficult times,” said Smedley, who was nominated May 30 for the post by County Executive Marc Elrich. “Really, in a fire chief’s role, you’re like the facilitator, trying to bring together opposing views to accomplish the ultimate goal.”
