Montgomery County Council Session – July 14, 2026
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Montgomery County Council Session – July 14, 2026
The Montgomery County Council convened on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. in the Council Hearing Room, Rockville, Maryland. The session included proclamations, interviews for a Planning Board vacancy, a consent calendar, and afternoon public hearings. The Council recessed at 11:46 a.m., reconvened at 1:06 p.m., and adjourned at 2:34 p.m.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes of the June 16, 2026 Council session unanimously (11y).
- Received and released OLO Report 2026-09, Budget Equity in Montgomery County Public Schools, and OLO Report 2026-12, A Review of the Local Small Business Reserve Program (LSBRP) and the Minority, Female, and Disabled-Owned (MFD) Business Program.
- Introduced resolutions to approve the OLO FY27 Work Program and the FY27 Schedule of Revenue Estimates and Appropriations (action scheduled for 7/21/26).
- Introduced Supplemental Appropriation #27-1 ($390,000, Youth Vaping and Nicotine Addiction Response, funded by JUUL/Altria Settlement), #27-2 ($4,251,202, FiberNet, federal aid), and #27-4 ($6,049,358, Maryland Grow Your Own Educators Grant, state grant).
- Introduced resolutions on the Dickerson Area Facilities Implementation Group membership modification and the FY27-32 CIP amendment for Resurfacing: Residential/Rural Roads.
- Introduced and adopted Resolution 20-1172 (Executive Regulation #5-26, Personnel Regulations sunset extension), Resolution 20-1173 (extension for Executive Regulation #25-25), and Resolution 20-1174 (extension for Executive Regulation #26-25).
- Adopted Resolution 20-1175 confirming 12 appointments to the Agricultural Advisory Committee and Resolution 20-1176 confirming 5 appointments to the Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Special Appropriation #26-90 (Montgomery College, $1,100,000 from Tuition and Fees): Amanda Broadnax testified in support, citing enrollment growth and the need to address library closure due to pipe bursts from an ice storm.
- Bill 27-26 (Prohibiting Unlawful Racing and Street Takeovers): John Sang (Chair, Maryland Coalition for Roadway Safety) spoke in strong support, requesting the bill not weaken state sanctions and emphasizing enforcement. Mindy Baden (Greater Olney Civic Association, Safe Roads Maryland, Families for Safe Streets) supported the bill, sharing the loss of her son in a traffic crash and requested the bill include parking lots and private property. John Becker (Americana Center homeowner) supported the bill, noting a street takeover near the council chamber and another on private property. Meredith McCain (District 6 resident) supported the bill, citing rising reckless driving and a recent fatal motorcycle crash on Norbeck Road.
- Bill 28-26 (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Commission Membership): Lisa Lorraine (Commission member) testified in support, explaining the bill strengthens representation of individuals with IDD based on the principle “Nothing about us without us.” Jake Dedinski (former Commissioner, self-advocate) supported the bill, emphasizing the importance of self-directed services seats. Susan Hartung (Commission Chair) supported the bill, noted three vacancies (nearly 15% of seats) and requested timely appointments, and advocated for restoring the Customized Employment Program.
- Bill 29-26 (Community Trust in County Employees Act): Gabriela Rivera (Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective) testified in support, citing fear among immigrant families accessing county services. Esther Wells testified in strong opposition, calling the bill inconsistent with Bill 18-26, citing missing fiscal and racial equity impact statements, and raising county budget and tax concerns.
- Bill 31-26 (VIVA White Oak Bond Authorization): Adriana Hoshberg (Acting Development Ombudsman, for the County Executive) testified in support, describing the 280-acre redevelopment, the first TIF district, and that bonds will not be a full faith and credit obligation. Redwan Chaudry (East County Citizen Advisory Board Chair) supported the bill and stressed that transportation improvements must accompany development. Teresa Stegman (MCB Real Estate) supported the bill, warning that without bond authorization progress would halt and noting $160 million in public infrastructure is needed. Shayna Davis Cook (Friends of White Oak) supported, citing estimates of $4.9 billion in annual economic output, 19,000 construction jobs, 9,000 permanent jobs, and $60 million in new annual county revenue. Anthony Stahl (Adventist Healthcare White Oak Medical Center) supported, noting housing needs for hospital staff. Barry White (North White Oak Civic Association) raised concerns, stating no updated transportation analysis exists and that the bill allocates $25 million for off-site road improvements without demonstrating adequacy.
Discussion Items
- Planning Board Candidate Interviews: The Council interviewed two candidates for appointment to the Montgomery County Planning Board: James Hedrick (incumbent) and John Schlichting. Hedrick highlighted his affordable housing finance background and service on the board; Schlichting cited his architecture, real estate development, and Gaithersburg planning experience. Candidates answered questions on housing supply, affordability, equity, community engagement, and board priorities. Councilmembers noted the county’s housing crisis, including the average cost of a single-family home exceeding $1 million and rents rising 40% since 2010. No appointment vote was taken during this session.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the consent calendar unanimously (11y).
- Adopted Resolution 20-1177 approving Special Appropriation #26-90 for Montgomery College unanimously (11y), after closing the public hearing.
- Held public hearings and kept records open: Bill 27-26 (until 9/28/26), Bill 28-26 (until 7/16/26), Bill 29-26 (until 9/24/26), and Bill 31-26 (until 7/16/26). Committee worksessions are scheduled for 10/5/26, 7/23/26, 10/1/26, and 7/23/26 respectively.
- Announced that the public hearing on Sectional Map Amendment (SMA) H-161 was canceled due to a clerical error and rescheduled as SMA H-163 for September 15, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. for the University Boulevard Corridor Plan.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Montgomery County Council session. Today is July 14th, and we have two exciting proclamations. One is proclamation recognizing parks and recreation month by the County Council's Planning Housing and Parks Committee. If you are here for that proclamation, please come forward. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'll tell you all about it. I'd like to meet you with you to introduce us. Good morning. We are excited to be here for a celebration of Park and Recreation Month with just a few of our closest friends here. And our closest friend Reptile here repping. I'll just say I was thinking back to my time in Montgomery Parks and Recreation as a young person who benefited from so many of the programs and so many of the activities and feel so fortunate thinking back to some of my coaches. And I was sent a very interesting picture this morning. And it was a plaque that was located and identified in the Obama Presidential Library for Coach Obama from Montgomery Recreation for his work coaching uh his daughter's teams through Montgomery Recreation. And it shows the amount of volunteerism that takes place, not just the hardworking staff that we have in our parks department and our recreation departments, uh, but also all the community members, the the parents, the uh the mentors, the the folks uh like for me, Larry Klopeck at the community center, who coached my teams uh growing up and who was a big part of my childhood uh as well. So uh it's uh an amazing legacy that our parks and recreation department does. It's such an important part of our quality of life. Uh, we're so lucky to have uh such an amazing team here of uh a combination of volunteers and of staff members uh as well. Uh we have a lot of folks here, including uh Mitty Figueredo from the Department of Uh of Parks. Uh we have Katie Richter uh from Montgomery Parks uh Foundation, and we have a lot of representatives from Montgomery uh Parks uh Foundation uh as well. Um and uh we have uh uh Maryland Off-Road or Mid Atlantic, excuse me, off-road enthusiasts uh uh with Casey Anderson uh and and several others and uh it's just an honor to be chair of this committee, planning housing and parks, and to be here with the council president uh as well as our committee uh colleagues uh as well. So let me uh let me uh acknowledge our former uh council member who is I can't see oh I was gonna say you're directly behind me. Okay. I was like, okay. Uh who is wearing multiple hats here, including one hat that he's worn twice uh as the uh chair of the uh recreation department and uh council member Albernaz director Albernaz uh used to join me in uh presenting this uh and recognizing this uh important event, and so really uh honored to have him here uh with us uh today. Uh so let me uh turn it over to uh the council president to share a few words, then we can turn it over to uh our guests and then read the proclamation. Very quickly. Um good morning, everyone. I this is one of the most exciting proclamations that we have in in this county council, just because I love parking planning so much alongside the rec department. The only thing that I want to share is just a highlight that I was I was talking to Selena on my way here, and I was telling her about my daughter who has this passion about flag football, and she has her per first uh outside the county uh competition this weekend. Um, and it this passion came thanks to the partnership of the rec department with NCPS and parks. She started working in the flag football league that the Rec Parmi put together like three years ago. She she was the first class. And it was because of them that she loved the passion of this that she, you know, discovered this passion for the game. Um and now we have a trouble team in Montgomery County taking kids, especially girls outside the county to compete. And that is remarkable. Uh, I think we're one of the first counties in the nation that is taking lead on flag football for girls, and that it speaks about your uh how and your vision um for sports and the love that you have for the county, and how important it is the connection between the rec department, parks, and MCPS, we had to say it. Um, with that is it's a great honor. I see my colleague Will Jawondo who's here, the other member of the um PHP committee. So I'm gonna turn it to him before we continue. Okay, yeah. He'll raise good morning, everybody. Happy Parks and Rec month. Um it's it's very apropos. I was coming from dropping kids off at camp summer programs. So uh it's uh thank you for everything that you all are doing with seniors, young people across the county uh every day. I often say this, I like to remind people. Number two thing, top two things people love about Montgomery County in surveys are schools and parks. Um, and even past that, a lot of times the only way people will interact with county government sometimes is through our parks and recreation. Uh they're signing up for a class, dealing helping seniors with isolation, our young people uh at after school programs are on the weekends.
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