Rockville Mayor and Council Meeting – April 28, 2025: Climate Action, Procurement, and Homeownership
Rockville Mayor and Council Meeting – April 28, 2025
The Rockville Mayor and Council met on April 28, 2025, for meeting number 11-25. The meeting included a special presentation on the annual Climate Action Plan, work sessions on minority, female, disabled, and veteran-owned (MFDV) procurement policies and homeownership assistance programs, approvals of appointments and consent agenda items, and discussion of new business regarding the Rockville Town Center Master Plan.
Consent Calendar
- All consent agenda items (A-D, F-I) were approved unanimously: agreement for Gibbs Street streetery, authorization for city manager executive writer agreement for parks and playgrounds, decommissioning of Hatter of Rockville mural, authorization for release of easements, approval of College Gardens Park Mural Design (after pull and discussion), authorization for flood mitigation plan no-cost extension, CSX bridge painting agreement, forest conservation easement amendment, and approval of minutes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Margie Graf (President and CEO, Greater Rockville Chamber of Commerce) advocated for prioritizing local businesses in city bidding. She argued for a scoring system that weights local presence, community involvement, and diversity alongside cost, to invest in Rockville's economy.
Discussion Items
Annual Climate Action Plan Progress Report
- Erica Shanghera (Chief of Environmental Management) and Amanda presented the progress report. The plan, adopted January 2022, contains 42 actions (43 including electrified landscape equipment). As of 2024, 21% are completed. Highlights:
- 3,200 newsletter subscribers; 12 outreach events in 2024.
- $4 million allocated to climate action; $1.2 million in new grants.
- 204 buildings reporting energy data; 25% decrease in commercial building energy use (2018-2023).
- Rockville is first jurisdiction in DC metro to require EV charging in new multifamily/commercial buildings.
- Over 1,800 homes participated in PEPCO home energy efficiency programs.
- $50,000 in rebates through Rainscapes program; thousands of trees planted.
- 5,800 registered EVs in Rockville; city fleet has 21 battery electric vehicles.
- 114 tons of food waste composted; 43% waste diversion rate.
- Green fee waiver program in April; Solar Switch Co-op had 682 sign-ups.
- Future steps: flood resiliency master plan, EV readiness, LED street light conversions, solar procurement, and code amendments.
Work Session: MFDV Program and Local Preference
- Jessica Lewis (Director of Procurement) presented options for expanding MFDV outreach and local preference policies. Current outreach includes annual Rockville Means Business event, training, and one-on-one sessions. In FY2024, MFDV awards were 24% of mayor and council awards ($3.4 million of $80 million total procurement spend). Staff requested feedback on three questions: conducting a disparity study (estimated $300,000+), expanding or maintaining local preference (currently tie-breaker only), and expanding environmental/social procurement. Council consensus: want more data and best practices from other cities; not ready for disparity study; consider enhancing outreach and local preference with graduated options; explore integrating environmental criteria into procurement. Staff to return with options.
Work Session: Homeownership Assistance Programs
- Ryan Trout presented proposals for community down payment assistance (DPA) and employee homebuyer programs. Key proposals:
- Community DPA: target households up to 80% AMI (later discussed raising to 120% AMI), provide up to 10% of purchase price as deferred loan.
- First Generation Homebuyer Bonus: $10,000 forgivable loan after 10 years for qualified first-gen buyers.
- Opportunity Area Bonus: $15,000 loan for families with children buying in high-opportunity census tracts (most council opposed; felt it stigmatized certain areas).
- Employee Homeownership Program: $25,000 deferred loan for city employees (already $250,000 set aside).
- Program would serve about 15 households in first year, costing ~$626,000.
- Council feedback: majority supported increasing AMI to 120%, support for first-gen bonus but not opportunity bonus; prioritize city employees; gather data on utilization; consider loan vs. grant structure for sustainability. Staff directed to finalize program design for October 2025 launch.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous approval of all consent agenda items and board appointments.
- Council directed staff on MFDV program: no disparity study now; enhance outreach; bring back options for local preference and environmental procurement.
- Council provided guidance on homeownership program: increase AMI to 120%; drop opportunity area bonus; prioritize employees; launch by October 2025 with data collection.
- Council approved sending letters to MHP and HOC encouraging affordable housing development in line with Rockville Town Center Master Plan.
- Meeting adjourned at end of business (just under 10 minutes over scheduled time).
Note: The meeting did not have formal minutes available at the time of summary.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, Rockville. Today is April 28th, 2025, and we're going to begin meeting 11-25. Please join me as you're able in the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led by Troop Lead 1450, Jonathan Cole. To the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for all. Okay. We'll begin with our agenda review. Ms. Sala Terraferrow, have there been any changes? Madam Mayor and Council members, earlier today, we had a consent item uh that was removed because it was a duplicate, so that has been updated. So that is reflecting you had through um J. We it's only through I, so that was removed, and then we just updated in the last half an hour to include QA for our common action. So that's also been added. Thank you very much. Welcome, Mr. Mahalick, our city manager. Please uh proceed with the city manager's report. Mayor Ashton, members of city council, good evening. Um, two items to report tonight. Mother Nature got the best of Skate Jam last Saturday, but they're not going to take away this Saturday. So we're just inviting everybody to come to the rescheduled skate jam this Saturday, 9 to 5 at the Rockville Skate Park. There's something for the whole family, of course. The focus is going to be on boarding, but there's yoga, there's competitions, there's face painting, there's food. Hopefully, everybody can join us for a great event. And again, fingers crossed on the weather. And then I typically don't mention things that are on a consent agenda, Mayor, but I'm sure we'll be pleased to say we're really excited about the agreement between the city and CSX that will allow us to paint the bridge. That's really exciting. I know the community's been talking about that challenging bridge with all the graffiti for quite a long time, and we're just really pleased that we have a new partnership with CSX to get that work done, hopefully, this fall. That's all I have, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to, on behalf of the council, say a huge thanks to the entire team who worked on the TAF Center opening. It's improving uh quality of work experience for our employees, but also fostering greater collaboration. So great work by the entire team. Uh just also wanted to note uh Rockville Science Day was great yesterday. Um if anyone is interested in doing the green permit, you have a few days left. Uh there's a lot of opportunity to potentially help support our environment with EV solar, geothermal, uh, heat pumps. There's a lot of things you can do, permit free fee-free. And lastly, I want to mention uh a lot of nonprofits are doing important work, and Governor Moore today visited one of them, uh Mana, which is serving many people in schools around the city. So uh just wanted to acknowledge those efforts. Councilmember Van Gregg. Uh just one other note, Mayor. Uh, in addition to the skate jam happening this weekend, just want to make sure everybody is aware of the Rockville Arts Festival that's happening this weekend uh throughout Rockville Town Center come. It's a fabulous um uh program that's put on every year with over 130 different vendors throughout Rockville Town Center. So it should be a wonderful event, and hopefully the weather holds up. It will for a skate jam and arts festival. Uh and then also looking ahead, hometown holidays will be coming up, also in town center. You can learn more at Explore Rockville. Okay. All right, so we are excited to have some volunteers for boards and commissions, and we have appointments and reappointments, uh, several nominations for the community policing advisory board, education commission, the human rights commission, as well as the senior commission. So, councilmember Valeri.
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