Rose Krasnow, former Mayor of the City of Rockville, endorsing Team Rockville on March 9, 2013.

“Team Rockville” – a group of five candidates for Rockville’s Mayor and Council  – was announced yesterday at Giuseppi’s Pizza Plus in downtown Rockville.  Team Rockville consists of Mark Pierzchala for Mayor and Tom Moore, Virginia Onley, Julie Palakovich Carr, and Beryl L. Feinberg for City Council.

Rockville’s election will be held November 5, 2013; the candidates are announcing their intentions early and as a team to signal that they intend to bring expertise, productivity, energy, transparency, and diversity to the Mayor and Council as a group.

Leading Team Rockville is Mark Pierzchala for mayor.  The owner of an international consulting business based in downtown Rockville, Mark is completing his second term as a city councilmember.  He has previously served as president of the Town Center Action Team (TCAT) and as president of the College Gardens Civic Association.  Mark is also the only current office holder that voted to finance Rockville’s new Police Station, Senior Center Expansion, and new Gude Drive Maintenance Facility, and to attract the relocation of the headquarters of Choice Hotels International to Rockville.

Tom Moore is running for re-election to the City Council. Tom was elected to his first term in 2011.  He is an attorney practicing in downtown Rockville.  Before winning elective office, he served as chairman of Rockville’s Compensation Commission.  Tom served two terms on the City’s Traffic and Transportation Commission and was a leader of citizen efforts to get the Rockville Memorial Library fully funded and built on time. He and his wife Amy head up a household of six unruly children, all of whom attend Montgomery County Public Schools.

Virginia Onley is seeking election to the City Council.  She is a resident of the Americana Centre in downtown Rockville and has served on various city commissions and boards for nearly twenty years, most recently as a member of both the Charter Review Commission and the Rockville Housing Enterprises board.  She has also served on the boards of Rockville Seniors, Americana Centre Homeowners, and Peerless Rockville and is currently working at the Navy Exchange at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Julie Palakovich Carr is seeking election to the City Council.  A resident of East Rockville, she chaired the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) Committee and served as vice-chair of the City Services and Budget Working Group of the Rockville Summit.  Julie currently serves on the City’s Environment Commission, which recently helped Rockville to earn certification as a sustainable city.  She is a senior public policy associate at the American Institute of Biological Sciences, a non-profit scientific association.

Beryl L. Feinberg is seeking election to the City Council.  A resident of Orchard Ridge, she holds an MBA from the University of Maryland, is a Leadership Montgomery graduate, and currently is the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer in the Department of General Services for Montgomery County Government.  Prior to that, she worked for almost 15 years in the County’s Office of Management and Budget.  She recently served on the City’s Budget and Finance Task Force and the Board of Supervisors and Elections, and is the Chairman of the Board of Montgomery Hospice.

Although they represent a variety of perspectives, neighborhoods, and skills, Team Rockville candidates have pledged:

1. To respect all people who interact with the Mayor and Council, including residents, businesses, and City staff.

2. To work collegially and respectfully with one another.

3. To come to Mayor and Council meetings well-prepared. To profoundly understand the key issues facing Rockville and how proposed solutions would impact the City.

4. To engage in fact-based policy debate.

5. To strive for solutions that work for the entire community.

6. To make decisions with an eye on Rockville’s future as well as its present.

7. To honor Rockville’s history and natural environment and to work to preserve them.

8. To provide exceptional leadership for Rockville and to at all times communicate with residents and other stakeholders to arrive at sound decisions.

9. To honor Rockville’s form of government with the elected body working in a policy making role and with the City Staff executing its decisions.

Yesterday’s announcement attracted more than 125 community leaders and generated public endorsements from former mayors Rose Krasnow and Jim Coyle and former councilmembers Bob Wright and Jim Marrinan.

Groups such as Team Rockville allow candidates to coordinate their efforts publicly and transparently, and are specifically provided for in the City Code of Rockville.  They serve to inform voters which candidates have publicly pledged to work with each other respectfully and effectively towards specific goals, even if they may disagree with one another on a given issue. Such organizations of candidates were a mainstay of City elections from the 1950s to the 1990s.

For more information about Team Rockville and the individual candidates, visit TeamRockville.org or the individual candidates’ websites: VotePierzchala.org, Moore4Rockville.com, VoteVirginiaOnley.org, Julie4Rockville.com, and BerylFeinberg.com.