Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Rockville City Council met on September 2, 2026, at 5:00 PM to discuss consent agenda items, address concerns about a proposed tree donation from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and review the upcoming meeting calendar. The discussions emphasized historical sensitivity, community engagement, and efficient scheduling.
Right. There's the agenda. Thanks for making it nice and big. Some of us appreciate that. On the consent agenda, we have the jars of the American Revolution. Glenbue Mansion, we talked about that last week. We have the grant related to the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department emergency vehicle contribution. We have the water main rehabilitation program. That's good moving that forward. And we have the approval of the minutes. Councilmember Valeri. Yes. Hi. So two points on this. One on the Raffville Volunteer Fire Department. How does that uh intersect with their grant requests? Um it's it's kind of one in the same, if you will. Um that's what they've requested for funding with their grant is the is the fire vehicle. Okay, so I guess my question is why is this a separate item and not part of the budget that we approved. Yeah, this is the actual grant agreement. You guys see all the grant agreements as they come forward. Yep. Okay, that that makes sense. And then um, secondly, and uh uh thank you to uh community member John Becker for for raising this. Um I think that there are some some serious considerations with the DAR tree. Um and I I dropped the ball in remembering um Marion Anderson being denied the ability to sing at DAR constitution hall. Um so I I I do have some serious concerns. I appreciate that they want to be supportive of the city of Rockville, but they are um an entity that I think as a body we should be considering um very deeply and thoughtfully about who we are accepting these sort of things from. Thank you. Mayor Ashton. Thank you. I don't want to go into a full debate about this. Perhaps this is something we can take offline and discuss, but um there there are a lot of organizations who historically have done some not so good things or that there's a complicated pass. I'm not making any commentary about anyone in particular, but there may be ways to provide some healing, uh whether that is playing of Marion Anderson as a tree being planted or a plaque or something that respects the and and heals um the complicated history that was. So I just I think that some thoughtfulness would be good to see how do we how do we move forward if you know, and and then maybe other organizations. I can think about governments who were not good people as well, right? And we have made some steps as a government to make some acknowledgments in our entryways and how we talk about us as a city and how we do our programming. So I I just wanted to raise that um as as an opportunity for healing and discussion if you know if we're engaging any organizations that are truly coming from a place of healing and support. Yeah, I and thank you, Madam Mayor. That that definitely was my bigger uh concerns. Uh just the acknowledgement and like you mentioned. I think that it's an opportunity for healing. And I I would hope that any entity that intersects with the uh city would be appreciative of that opportunity to heal. Thanks, everybody.