Meeting Round-Up: Mid-County Citizens Advisory Board

The Mid-County Citizens Advisory Board met at 7 p.m. on Dec. 20 at the on Reedie Drive. Their next meeting is on Jan. 17.

Here's what they discussed:

Crime

Sgt. Adam Currie of the 4th District Montgomery County Police gave a crime update to the board. “The vast majority of crime in the 4th District is property crime,” Currie said. “Violent crime is not nonexistent, but it’s very rare.” Read more about what Currie has said about The MCCAB thanked the police for their efforts in arresting a suspect in the series of abductions at Wheaton Plaza in late November.

County Budget

MCCAB’s next meeting, on Jan. 17, will be an unusual one. The county’s capital budget will be released on Jan. 15, and the Office of Management and Budget will give its first presentation on Jan. 17 to MCCAB and members of the public at the Mid-County Community Center.

MCCAB members debated over whether they would be ready to ask questions of OMB about the budget with barely two days to prepare. Therefore, the board voted to request that OMB present the budget at MCCAB’s February meeting instead of at the January meeting. The Jan. 17 town meeting will still take place, but the MCCAB meeting that follows will just be a regular one. MCCAB is also requesting that the OMB address the operating budget, in addition to the capital budget, at the February meeting.

CountyStat

Guest Chris Cihlar gave a presentation on CountyStat to MCCAB. CountyStat analyzes data for the county government, but not for the school system. Cihlar presented some figures about foreclosures, crime investigation and closure rates, 311 customer service performance and response time for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services. All of this data is available to the public online.

Community Concerns

Although time is set aside each meeting for community members to present concerns to the board, no one came forward at the December meeting.