Random Rockville Reports: January 28, 2024
Playing Musical Chairs and Three-Card Monte in Rockville City Hall
The Takoma Park City Council hired Robert DiSpirito as their new City Manager effective January 22, 2024. DiSpirito was City Manager of Rockville for seven years and by coincidence, his predecessor was Barbara Mathews, who was previously the City Manager of Takoma Park. They were also both hired and fired by the Rockville Mayor and Council, which both times included Mayor Bridget Newton and Councilmember Beryl Feinberg.
DiSpirito’s departure continues to be an embarrassment of poor management by the Mayor and Council. When he resigned at the conclusion of a Closed Session (aka “secret meeting”) of the Mayor and Council on August 17, he also received a $307,093 severance package (typically resignations don’t include severance). But figuring out what was going on was kept secret illegally for several months. According to Maryland’s Open Meetings Act, the Mayor and Council must provide minutes of a closed session at its next open session (3-306), which would have been September 11 but they failed to share the minutes. It wasn’t until October 23, 2023 (three regular meetings later) that the Mayor and Council approved the August 17 minutes (Agenda, page 218), keeping the public uninformed for more than two months. Furthermore, they played a trick in the meeting minutes. The Mayor and Council approved the official minutes of the September 11 meeting as if they included the Closed Session minutes of August 17 (watch the video of September 11 meeting and you’ll see the August 17 meeting was not discussed)–but it actually didn’t happen until October 23. Hmm, looks like the Mayor and Council is playing three-card monte with the public. Clearly, the Mayor and Council violated the Open Meetings Act but also acted unethically in the preparation of their official records.
More Pedestrians Struck in Rockville Than Reported
The recent death of a 70-year old pedestrian struck by two vehicles at Atlantic Avenue and Viers Mill Road prompted me to see if this a growing problem in Rockville. Data collected by Montgomery County suggests that many more pedestrians were injured or killed in Rockville in 2023 than the eight reported at the most recent Mayor and Council meeting. Not sure the cause of the discrepancy, but county data shows the greatest numbers of incidents occur in and near King Farm, downtown Rockville, and Twinbrook. Although these high incident areas all share major highways (MD Route 355 and 586), pedestrian injuries and deaths also occurred on smaller streets in these neighborhoods, which conflicts with the City’s conclusions. Both the City of Rockville and Montgomery County have adopted Vision Zero, but they don’t seem to be working from the same data. Should pedestrian safety be a higher priority for Rockville’s Transportation and Mobility Commission?
Board of Supervisors of Elections Recommends Lowering Voting Age to 16
At its Monday, October 24, 2022 meeting, the Rockville Mayor and Council will discuss creating RHE Scarborough Square (no staff report was available when the agenda was posted). On the Consent Calendar (items approved without discussion) is a license to KBSG to construct a 47-space parking lot at King Farm Farmstead Park, among others. The Mayor and Council will also receive reports from the Board of Supervisors of Elections and the Traffic and Transportation Commission.
The Board of Supervisors of Elections is recommending a “series of amendments to the City Charter and to Chapter 8 of the City Code,” including lowering the voting age to 16 years; increasing the deadline for submitting nominations for candidates to city council from 60 to 90 days prior to the election; prohibit campaigning within 50 feet of a ballot drop box; requiring electronic filing of all campaign finance reports; and limiting campaign committees (“slates”) to one election cycle. Some of these changes will be controversial.
The Traffic and Transportation Commission is requesting its scope of responsibilities be updated from its creation in the 1970s, including two ex-officio, non-voting seats from the Bicycle Advisory Committee and Pedestrian Advocacy Committee; meetings be held quarterly; advise on “opportunities to advance a transportation and mobility network that is safe, equitable, convenient, fiscally resilient, and environmentally sustainable;” “approve the official names of newly constructed or reconstructed bridges” (but why not streets, turnpikes, highways, intersections, bus shelters, and parking lots?); and changing its name to the Transportation and Mobility Commission. So let me get this straight: there are three city commissions responsible for “transportation and mobility” in the city (Traffic and Transportation, Bicycle, and Pedestrian)? Seems like a lot more bureaucracy than needed for such a small city. Can’t they be combined with a balanced representation of all three interests? That might result in better solutions and more efficiency.
More details in the 109-page agenda packet (21 pages of which are devoted to proclamations) are available at https://www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10242022-6728.
Max for Rockville 