Monday, April 29, 2013
A work group requested the funds to help start a program that would redistribute wasted food to people in need.
A program to redistribute would-be wasted food to people in need in Montgomery County may cost $200,000 to get off the ground, The Gazette newspaper reported. County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring) proposed the "food recovery" program last October. Inspired by the work of two Montgomery County students attending the University of Maryland, the program would collect unused food from events and businesses, and redistribute the food to hungry people. A work group made up of government and school officials and representatives from local food banks, grocery store chains and nonprofits was established to study the feasibility of such a program last November. The group presented an interim report to the council's health and human …
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Four Montgomery County Councilmembers agreed that the one-year-old tax was not appropriate for non-food businesses.
A sweeping measure that aimed to reduce plastic bag consumption and litter in Montgomery County may see its days numbered, at least in the current iteration. County councilmembers Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda), Craig Rice (D-Germantown) and Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) proposed Tuesday to limit the scope of the county's 5-cent bag tax to only apply to food stores, not retail businesses or take-out restaurants. Councilman George Leventhal (D-At Large) decided to co-sponsor the bill during the council meeting. "There are things we need to clean up with this bill," said Rice, noting that he has heard the tax was challenging for clothing retailers. Since the bill went into effect last January, the county has raked in more than $2 million in bag…
Friday, April 26, 2013
County Council panels vote to back pay bumps for government and public safety workers.
A freeze in cost-of-living raises for Montgomery County government and public safety employees may be thawing out. The Montgomery County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy committees voted unanimously Thursday to back a proposal to raise county employees’ salaries by up to 3.25 percent. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) negotiated the raises as part of new two-year contracts with employees’ unions and included them as part of his $4.8 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2014, which begins July 1. If approved as part of the county budget, the 3.25 percent raise for county government workers would go into effect in September. Police officers would see a 2.1 percent bump in July. Fire and rescue personnel would see a 2.75 …
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Find out the rescheduled date.
Two Montgomery County Council committees were scheduled to discuss Wheaton redevelopment Wednesday, April 24, but this meeting has been postponed to May 8, tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. The Government Operations and Fiscal Planning committee and the Planning, Housing and Economic Development committee will consider proposed amendments for two projects included in the county's CIP budget: the Wheaton Redevelopment Program and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters. Read more on Wheaton Patch about what the committees discussed when they met on April 12. Related Links:
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Montgomery County Council President Nancy Navarro laid out her concerns in a memo to County Executive Isiah Leggett Tuesday.
Montgomery County Council President Nancy Navarro took County Executive Isiah Leggett to task in a memo on Tuesday, criticizing his administration's "poor track record in its implementation of Wheaton redevelopment." During a joint committee meeting at the Montgomery County Council on Friday, councilmembers discussed plans for the new Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters in Wheaton. They decided to allow the Department of General Services more time to talk with private developers and report back on April 24. But Navarro said at the committee meeting that she was "not optimistic" about Leggett's approach, a theme she touched upon again in her memo: Your recommendation to solicit private development proposals …
Monday, April 15, 2013
Montgomery County Council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee reviews the request on Monday morning.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission is proposing a 7.25 percent rate increase for water and sewer use in Montgomery County, according to a news release from the county council's office. On Monday, April 15, at 9:30 a.m., the Montgomery County Council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee, chaired by Councilmember Roger Berliner, will review WSSC's operating budget request. Councilmembers Nancy Floreen and Hans Riemer are also on the committee. The budget request comes as an investigation examines the cause of a massive water main break on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase on March 18. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission engineers still do not know what caused the break, but they say that the fiber …
County agencies would not be relocated to Wheaton under two options being considered.
The Montgomery County Council is weighing the need for urgency in building a new Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters in Wheaton against the desire to encourage private developers to share ideas and submit proposals for the Reedie Drive and Parking Lot 13 area. Before budget decisions are made at the end of May, the county’s Department of General Services will be talking with developers who have expressed interest in building in downtown Wheaton. With cramped working conditions at a deteriorating headquarters building in Silver Spring, Park and Planning is eager to move. Meanwhile, the council is eager to signal its commitment to Wheaton revitalization, after a year of talks between the county and M-NCPPC. …
The Montgomery County Council discussed buying land adjacent to the Mid-County Regional Services Center in a closed session in March, according to Council President Nancy Navarro.
If the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission were to build a new headquarters south of Reedie Drive in Wheaton, it would need to acquire more land, M-NCPPC Chair Francoise Carrier told members of the Montgomery County Council Friday morning. As presently designed, the proposed building would extend to the edges of the property, with the possibility that taller buildings erected next door in the future could completely block M-NCPPC windows, Carrier said during a joint council committee meeting. The headquarters also would not contribute to the retail flavor of Reedie Drive that is called for in the Wheaton Sector Plan, she said. The council approved exploring the aquisition of land adjacent the Mid-County Regional Services…
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Councilmembers will consider where the new Park and Planning headquarters should be located and whether it should include significant office space for county agencies.
Two Montgomery County Council committees are meeting together Friday morning to discuss the redevelopment plans for Wheaton. The Government Operations and Fiscal Planning committee and the Planning, Housing and Economic Development committee will consider proposed amendments for two projects included in the county's CIP budget: the Wheaton Redevelopment Program and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters. Interested in listening to the discussion? You can watch the meeting online starting at 9 a.m. or come in person to the Seventh Floor Hearing Room in the County Council building in Rockville. The redevelopment plan that the County Council voted on last year for Wheaton featured a government office building …
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Plan aims to improve business competitiveness by reducing raises for county employees.
Montgomery County Councilmember Phil Andrews introduced a plan on Tuesday to reduce the 2010 increase in Montgomery County’s energy tax by 10 percent. The county's energy tax was raised by 155 percent on homeowners and by nearly 60 percent on businesses and nonprofit organizations in 2010, according to a County Council news release. A 10 percent reduction would reduce county revenues by $11.4 million in fiscal 2014, which begins July 1. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg proposes paying for the energy tax reduction by slashing the pay increases for county employees over the next two years. Andrews, who is running for Montgomery County Executive in next year's election, criticized the agreement struck between the county employees unions …
jag
11:02 pm on Tuesday, April 30, 2013
200K is almost nothing - a couple employees for a few months. Very much agree with Leventhal on the need to determine if it's worth the effort/cost: “Like everyone, we don’t want to see waste. On the other hand, this is a lot of effort to recover food,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s a bad effort — I think it’s a good effort — but we do have to do some cost-benefit analysis.” more ›