Montgomery Council to hear bills adding executive appointees and moving 16 senior jobs out of merit system

By Everett Calloway

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Montgomery County Council will take public testimony Tuesday on two expedited bills that would give the county executive more political appointees at the top of county government, including a measure that would move at least 16 senior jobs — from the deputy county attorney to four fire and rescue division chiefs — out of the merit system, according to a Council staff list.

The deadline to sign up to testify at the 1:30 p.m. hearing is 2 p.m. today, Monday, Oct. 26, according to the Council’s hearing notice.

Both bills are sponsored by at-large Councilmember Will Jawando, with Councilmembers Shebra Evans, Evan Glass, Sidney Katz and Kristin Mink as cosponsors, the Council said when they were introduced Oct. 13.

What the bills would do

Expedited Bill 49-26 would raise the number of assistant chief administrative officers in the Office of the County Executive from four to six by repurposing two existing positions in that office. The Council’s summary says the change is proposed “because the County government has grown,” and that six assistant CAOs “would manage a more reasonable portfolio of duties and provide each department with a senior leader.”

Expedited Bill 50-26 goes further. Under current law, some deputy directors in county departments are merit-system employees while others are non-merit appointees named by the executive and confirmed by the Council. The Council staff report by Chief Legislative Attorney Christine Wellons lists the positions that would become executive appointments subject to Council confirmation:

The bill includes a transition clause: an employee who holds one of the five non-principal-office director jobs or one of the fire and rescue division chief jobs on the effective date keeps merit-system rights, and the position converts only when that person leaves it. In his Oct. 5 memo requesting introduction, Jawando wrote that executive directors serving when the bill takes effect would be grandfathered, while “the deputy-level positions would convert on the bill’s effective date.”

“Previous administrations and Councils have already converted most of the County’s deputy leadership, and this bill completes that work,” Jawando wrote. “Residents judge the County government by whether it works: whether the permit gets issued, the call gets returned, and the program does what we said it would do. These bills strengthen County government by giving every department clear leadership that answers for results, with the Council confirming who those leaders are.”

Because they are expedited, both bills would take effect as soon as they become law. The staff report notes that legislation creating new non-merit positions needs the votes of seven of the Council’s 11 members under Section 401 of the county charter, and that each new non-merit job will need a position description adopted by regulation. The draft of Bill 50-26 lists an expiration date of Dec. 7, 2026, if it is not enacted.

Also on Tuesday

The Council will also hear testimony on a $100,000 supplemental appropriation to the fiscal 2027 operating budget for the Labor Management Relations Committee non-departmental account, to be paid from undesignated general fund reserves, the hearing notice says.

Residents can testify in person or remotely after preregistering on the Council’s website, or submit written, audio or video testimony, according to the notice. Testimony can be mailed to the County Council at 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850. The hearing will be carried on County Cable Montgomery and streamed on the Council’s website, Facebook and YouTube.

No committee worksession date had been posted for either bill as of Monday morning. The staff report lists the Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee as the reviewing committee, at a date to be determined.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from Councilmember Jawando’s office, the Council’s public information office, the County Executive’s Office of Public Information and UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO, which represents many county government employees.