OpenPublica

Accountability starts with access.

© 2026 · Filed for the public record

Use casesAboutAPIPrivacyTermsLinkedIn
Home/Rockville, Maryland/Meeting Portal
OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

2026-09-02 Rockville City Council Meeting: Agenda Planning and Landlord-Tenant Updates

Meeting Portal — Wednesday, September 2, 2026
BodyRockville, Maryland
SessionMeeting Portal
DateWednesday, September 2, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 11:57

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:12

While

Speaker 2

0:13

waiting for that, uh Jeff, I just wanted to flag I sent you a heads up on some of the items I planned to raise.

0:17

I don't think I'll have to raise all of them, but I just wanted to note.

Speaker 3

0:20

Great, thank you.

0:21

I appreciate

Unassigned speaker

0:22

that.

Speaker 3

0:27

All right, there is tonight's agenda nice and large.

0:31

I appreciate that.

0:33

We have a number of items on the consent agenda.

0:38

We have an extension of a grant agreement.

0:43

We have uh another agreement for Cisco systems um IT hardware software and upgrades.

0:56

We have another contract for athletic court maintenance.

1:02

We have a grant agreement with the Federal Highway Administration for Safe Streets and Roads for All project, yay.

1:09

And we have the minutes.

1:11

Any questions about anything on consent?

1:16

All right, we have the adoption of the King Farm Farmstead.

1:19

I might be a little bit behind on emails, but so far I've received very, very few comments on that.

1:26

Then we have approval of the uh, yeah, thanks, Barry.

1:31

The uh community development block grant.

1:33

We're gonna do a very brief presentation on that.

1:35

Uh the goal on that is just to say, you know, what our community development block grants, how does the funding work?

1:40

And then here are the here are the things that are being funded.

1:42

It'll still be short.

1:43

And then we have the item de jour, which is the chapter up team up 18 update, first of two work sessions, rental facilities, landlord tenant issues, um, transparency.

1:53

Mayor Ashton.

Speaker 2

1:56

Thank you very much.

1:57

First of all, thank you for uh pulling together the brief book uh and the items that have been long awaited.

2:03

Um really appreciate them.

Speaker 4

2:05

Yep.

Speaker 2

2:05

Uh questions.

2:07

One is for both of these.

2:08

I'm assuming that uh an update went out on Engage Rockville, correct?

Speaker 3

2:13

It sure did.

Speaker 2

2:13

I believe I saw some, but I just wanted to just double check and confirm.

2:16

Okay.

Speaker 3

2:17

It's sure it's sure.

2:18

If you're talking about the farm site in particular, that went out actually a couple weeks ago, right after um we posted the uh the plan to the website.

Speaker 2

2:26

Yes, I'm thinking about both because both I believe were on engage Rockville.

2:29

And so I just want to make sure we're in this habit of uh notifying the public when it's coming to us.

2:34

Um so just wanted to check on that, and if you could check.

2:38

I heard you say yes for King Farm Farmstead.

2:39

I believe I saw that, but I wanted to see if we did the same for the landlord tenant.

Unassigned speaker

2:43

We

Speaker 3

2:43

we

Speaker 2

2:44

did.

2:45

Okay, perfect.

2:45

Excellent.

2:46

Um, there's one item.

2:48

Uh well, I'll say I really appreciate that you brought forward some of the things that we discussed in previous work sessions for landlord tenants, um, namely the algorithm issues and the transparency and fees and several other things to protect and do education.

3:02

Um there was one thing that the majority had uh put forth that and raised uh at least two, maybe not three times, uh, which was the uh transparency on rental increases uh being required to be shared with the tenant, not just their own rental history, but the rental history prior.

3:26

And I know there was some concern about putting that on a website, but we talked about potentially that being shared prior to lease.

3:32

So I didn't see that one address, and I just wanted to make sure the team is prepared to help us understand how they plan to bring that to us since the majority of the mayor and council did support that.

Speaker 3

3:43

Yep, great question.

3:45

We'll be ready.

3:46

If not, we'll get ready.

3:47

We have another work session.

3:48

So

Speaker 2

3:49

thank you.

3:49

And can you let the team know about that just so we can get some sort of response on that issue?

3:53

Thank you.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████57%
Budget Equity Analysis█████████████17%
Rental Housing█████████████16%
Election Code Rewrite████████10%
Summary of Proceedings

2026-09-02 Rockville City Council Meeting: Agenda Planning and Landlord-Tenant Updates

The Rockville Mayor and Council met on September 2, 2026, to discuss consent agenda items, updates on the King Farm Farmstead plan and Community Development Block Grant, a work session on Chapter 18 (landlord-tenant issues), and a detailed six-month planning calendar for future meetings. Key commitments were made regarding early release of agenda materials for the January 5, 2027 meeting.

Consent Calendar

  • Extension of a grant agreement.
  • Agreement for Cisco systems IT hardware, software, and upgrades.
  • Contract for athletic court maintenance.
  • Grant agreement with the Federal Highway Administration for Safe Streets and Roads for All project.
  • Approval of meeting minutes.

Discussion Items

  • King Farm Farmstead Adoption: Mayor Ashton noted very few public comments had been received so far. The item was scheduled for adoption.
  • Community Development Block Grant: A brief presentation was planned to explain the grant program and funded projects.
  • Chapter 18 Update (Landlord-Tenant Issues): Mayor Ashton expressed appreciation for the work session materials, particularly regarding algorithm issues, transparency, fees, and education. However, she noted that a previously supported measure—requiring landlords to share not just rental history of the tenant but also prior rental history with the tenant before lease signing—was not addressed in the current update. She asked the staff to prepare a response for the next work session. Staff confirmed they would be ready.
  • Six-Month Planning Calendar: The council reviewed upcoming agenda items through early 2027, including:
    • December 15, 2026: TOD designation for Rockville Metro Station, pasture rail program application, Green Building Code regulations, and fire code.
    • January 5, 2027: Rules of procedure and work session on budget priorities.
    • January 12, 2027: Tree preservation code.
    • February 2, 2027: Adoption of green building regulations.
    • February 9, 2027: Mid-year report.
    • A second work session on Chapter 18 as needed.
  • Mayor Ashton raised concerns about the timing of the January 5th agenda materials falling during the Christmas holiday and requested either swapping the agenda topics with January 12th or firm commitment to release materials by December 18, 2026. Councilmembers Jackson and Van Grack supported this approach. Staff agreed to release materials by December 18th, with a fallback to swap topics if not possible.
  • Mayor Ashton also flagged several pending items not appearing on the six-month calendar: human needs assessment next steps, election code summary and earlier discussions, streets/roads/right-of-way update, Talbot Street Park, child care, and template for EV charging for those without driveways. She had emailed the staff with full details.

Key Outcomes

  • Staff committed to releasing agenda materials for the January 5, 2027 meeting by December 18, 2026; if unable, the agenda topics will be swapped with January 12th.
  • Staff will prepare a response for the next Chapter 18 work session regarding the requirement to share prior rental history with tenants.
  • The council will continue to track the outstanding items raised by the Mayor for inclusion in future calendars.

Meeting Transcript

While waiting for that, uh Jeff, I just wanted to flag I sent you a heads up on some of the items I planned to raise. I don't think I'll have to raise all of them, but I just wanted to note. Great, thank you. I appreciate that. All right, there is tonight's agenda nice and large. I appreciate that. We have a number of items on the consent agenda. We have an extension of a grant agreement. We have uh another agreement for Cisco systems um IT hardware software and upgrades. We have another contract for athletic court maintenance. We have a grant agreement with the Federal Highway Administration for Safe Streets and Roads for All project, yay. And we have the minutes. Any questions about anything on consent? All right, we have the adoption of the King Farm Farmstead. I might be a little bit behind on emails, but so far I've received very, very few comments on that. Then we have approval of the uh, yeah, thanks, Barry. The uh community development block grant. We're gonna do a very brief presentation on that. Uh the goal on that is just to say, you know, what our community development block grants, how does the funding work? And then here are the here are the things that are being funded. It'll still be short. And then we have the item de jour, which is the chapter up team up 18 update, first of two work sessions, rental facilities, landlord tenant issues, um, transparency. Mayor Ashton. Thank you very much. First of all, thank you for uh pulling together the brief book uh and the items that have been long awaited. Um really appreciate them. Yep. Uh questions. One is for both of these. I'm assuming that uh an update went out on Engage Rockville, correct? It sure did. I believe I saw some, but I just wanted to just double check and confirm. Okay. It's sure it's sure. If you're talking about the farm site in particular, that went out actually a couple weeks ago, right after um we posted the uh the plan to the website. Yes, I'm thinking about both because both I believe were on engage Rockville. And so I just want to make sure we're in this habit of uh notifying the public when it's coming to us. Um so just wanted to check on that, and if you could check. I heard you say yes for King Farm Farmstead. I believe I saw that, but I wanted to see if we did the same for the landlord tenant. We we did. Okay, perfect. Excellent. Um, there's one item. Uh well, I'll say I really appreciate that you brought forward some of the things that we discussed in previous work sessions for landlord tenants, um, namely the algorithm issues and the transparency and fees and several other things to protect and do education. Um there was one thing that the majority had uh put forth that and raised uh at least two, maybe not three times, uh, which was the uh transparency on rental increases uh being required to be shared with the tenant, not just their own rental history, but the rental history prior.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com