Charter Review Commission to Hold Public Hearing

Do you have ideas for making our Charter better? Voice them on January 20. Here is the full press release:

ROCKVILLE, Md., December 29, 2015—The Montgomery County Charter Review Commission is seeking suggestions from County residents on possible amendments to the County Charter. The commission will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 20, in Rockville in which suggested changes to the Charter will be heard.

The public hearing will be held in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.

In case of snow on Jan. 20, the alternate hearing date will be Monday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. 

To sign up to speak at the hearing, residents can call 240-777-7928 or email charterreview.commission@montgomerycountymd.gov.

The Charter is the constitutional framework for County government. Charter Section 509 provides for an 11-member, bi-partisan Charter Review Commission to study the Montgomery County Charter. The Charter requires that the Commission next report to the County Council in May of 2016. Any recommendations for possible Charter revisions would be considered by County voters.

One issue the CRC is considering is an amendment that would allow special elections to fill any vacancies in the office of County Executive. Currently special elections are permitted for Council vacancies, but not Executive vacancies.

Residents can also testify about issues concerning the County Charter, including how tax rates are set and term limits of elected officials.

Suggestions can be submitted to the Charter Review Commission in writing to: Charter Review Commission, Montgomery County Council, 100 Maryland Avenue, 5th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850. Suggestions and comments also can be e-mailed to: charterreview.commission@montgomerycountymd.gov.

The Charter Review Commission is appointed by the Council every four years. Its meetings are open to the public. No more than six members are from the same political party. The current members are Chair Paul Bessel, Vice Chair Sharon Freeman, Wendy Cohen, Jennifer Hunt, A. Lawrence Lauer, Timothy Lighter, Joshua Lipsky, Randy McDonald, Angela Rey, Aryeh Shudofsky and Edward Wisneski.

More information about the County Charter can be found at http://www.amlegal.com/codes/client/montgomery-county_md/ or at http://bessel.org/charter/charter.htm.