Good morning everyone and welcome to the session of the Montgomery County Council. This morning we have two proclamations. The first is a proclamation recognizing mom and pop small business day and I will turn over to Council Member Sales. All right, we're going to join by my colleague, Council Member Katz, and if I can have all of our small businesses join us or mom and pop businesses, our Chamber leaders come and join us. It's awesome that today is also Maryland Day, and we are recognizing small businesses. So I'm wearing my Maryland is open for business pin here today. And I just want to quickly invite some of our fantastic long time business leaders to introduce themselves before we get started. Hi, my name is Maria Ayers. I'm here with my mother and twin sister. We own Touchless Car Wash, which is located on Chatea Grove Road in North Frederick Avenue. We've been in the business for 38 years. My grandfather started the first car washers in DC came down from Detroit and started the business with my mother. And now, on the third generation with my sister and I trying to learn the ropes of the car wash business and just overall very grateful for the Montgomery County community helping us with things like understanding legislation and all these new things to also just meeting other businesses in the area that can commiserate and have good ideas and share ideas. So very grateful to be a third generation in the community and for everything that this everyone here has done for us. Good morning. I am Terry Hogan, Executive Director of the Only Chamber of Commerce. I'm honored to be here today to recognize mom and pop businesses. Small family and businesses are the backbone of our local economy and the heart of our community. They do more than provide goods and services. They create jobs, support local causes, and give our town its unique character. Behind every mom and pop business is a story of hard work and dedication. With me today is Jackie Lopez of Hair Effects. A salon that has I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Maria, continue to run the shop with part time help from Jackie's daughter Bella, a student that sure would high school. Despite facing the loss of their patriarch, financial challenges, a breast cancer diagnosis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to persevere. Their dedication goes beyond hairstyling. They treat their clients like family, including many senior citizens who have been loyal customers for years. At the only chamber we see the resilience and positive impact of businesses like HairFX every day. We are proud to support and advocate for them and we thank the council for recognizing the vital role of mom and pop businesses in our community. Hi, I'm Jackie. Terry said it all been in business for 30 years and we've seen a lot in the community. It's grown and it's just an amazing part of our lives now just helping the community and just being one big family. family. So, Terry. I really appreciate that and thank you, council members. You made it. My wife, well, good morning everyone. My name is Neganzalis and this is my wife Susana Gonzalez. We are honored to be here. I want to thank Council members for the wonderful invitation. We are owners of a design and build company, remodeling construction company in Gatorsburg. And we started our business from humbly from home. And two years ago, we opened our first location in Gators our first location in Gatorsburg. We are very honored to be here today and thank you for the invitation. So as you can see, Mom and Pop businesses have been around for a long long time They have staying power and they are the backbone of our community also Family run businesses represent nearly 46% of jobs nationwide and This percentage is even higher in Montgomery County with over 27,000 establishments employing 50 or fewer people. Approximately 95% of the businesses here in our county are family runs. So this is very impressive. As the daughter of small business owners and a member of the Economic Development Committee, it's so important that we not only support our small businesses on days like today, but we actively invest in our businesses that strengthen our economy through essential programs like the Microloan Program, the Small Business Assistance Program, the Impact Assistance Fund, these programs and all of the Chambers, my colleagues on the Economic Development Committee, WorkSource Montgomery, the Office of Procurement, all work together to support small businesses. And these programs are resources that we need to continuously invest in so our businesses can continue to thrive. And so before we read the proclamation, I'm going to turn it over to my colleague, Council Member Kess. Thank you very much. I first of all want to say that every day is Maryland Day here in Montgomery County. I think that should be noted. But you know, and I want to very publicly thank Council Member Sales for doing this. I, for those of you who are lucky I'm not to know me, my background is that my grandparents started a store, a mom and pop store in Gathesburg in 1918. My parents owned it and then I owned it. And really it was called Wolfson's Department Store. It was my mother's family. And it really became not only a part of our family, but a part of all of the Gathasburg area and the Upper Montgomery County area as well. We sold work clothing and it was like a social place every day. People came by, whether they were buying or not, they came by to give you advice, whether you wanted it or not. And it was really part of what the fabric of a community should be. And small businesses are 24-7 operation. I mean, whether you're in the store or not in the store or not in the business, you really live it. But it's really something that changes your lives. It changed my grandparents' lives. It changed my parents' lives and mine as well. And in Montgomery County, it was mentioned that 95% of the businesses located here have fewer than 50 employees. And that's considered a small business. To me, if you have 50 employees, you're getting pretty good size there. But in Montgomery County, the small businesses contribute significantly, significantly to the county's economy and include a wide range of self and family run businesses. And in 2022, there were 16,500 business formations and 48% of those increased from 10 years earlier. And I just want to end by saying, I can get my fingers to work here. Air County is home to many minority and women owned businesses and my family, my grandparents, both my grandmother and grandfather, RANET, just like my parents did. According to the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, we have a strong commitment to supporting minority female and disabled owned businesses through programs. And the Montgomery County Business Center, which is a part of that office of the county executive, does a great job to help businesses start and grow in air county, which is so very important. And I just hope that we all remember that though it's very convenient to go online and order from a large place, It's also important for the heart and soul of our communities to make certain that our mom and pop businesses continue and flourish. Thank you very much. You can. You can also see I'm not handed. All right. The county council of Montgomery County Maryland Whereas Mom & Pop Business Owners Day, founded in 1939, is an annual opportunity to recognize and celebrate small business owners, hard work, dedication, and entrepreneurial spirit. These businesses often family-owned and independently operated, play a unique and vital role in enriching the diversity and character of our communities. They usually represent generations of commitment, resilience, and active community engagement and... Where as small businesses commonly known as mom and pop shops, are essential to driving economic growth and fostering into innovation. By employing nearly 46% of the nation's workforce, they play a significant role in shaping a robust and dynamic economy. Supporting these enterprises, strengthens communities, encourages creativity and entrepreneurial spirit and... Whereas small businesses play a crucial role in strengthening our local economies, they contribute 40% of the nation's gross domestic product, generate approximately two thirds of new jobs, and employ nearly half of all private sector workers. Supporting and nurturing these businesses help foster economic growth and community development and. Montgomery County's economy is a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem with more than 95% of businesses employing fewer than 50 individuals. Reflecting the county's strong support for small enterprises, as evidenced by more than 27,000 establishments with 50 or fewer employees. Such a landscape highlights local entrepreneurship and significantly contributes to the county's economic development and, you know, Whereas family owned and independently operated businesses offer unique services and products enriching the diversity and character of our communities often representing generations of commitment resilience and active engagement in our communities. And whereas mom and pop business owners day provides an opportunity to honor and appreciate the invaluable contributions of small family-owned businesses and their role in building strong communities, providing critical goods and services, creating local jobs, and sustaining the economic health and diversity of Montgomery County and beyond. Now therefore be it resolved that the County Council of Montgomery County Maryland hereby proclaims Mom and Pop Business Owners Day in Montgomery County and be it further resolved that we acknowledge the vital importance of small family run businesses in our community and encourage all residents to support them not just today but every day. Thank you. between the waves and the waves. you Thank you. Thank you so much Councilmember Sales and Councilmember Katz. Our next This is a good time to be recognized. The first one is the recommendation this morning is recognizing equity pay day and councilmember glass will be leading us on that. Okay, good morning everybody. If you are here for equal payday, please come on down. Come on in, come on in. There we go. This is a good day. Fantastic. So today is equal pay day across the country and of course here in the state of Maryland. And we know how important it is to make sure that a fair days of work is compensated fairly and equally. But we know that not every organization, not every business, quite frankly, not every government pays everybody fairly here in the state of Maryland. Women on average get paid 86 cents for every dollar of man make. That discrepancy gets even larger when we talk about black women who get paid 67 cents for every dollar a man makes. And the numbers are even worse for Latinos who get paid half of what men make at 50 cents. And six years ago when I arrived at the council and I was hiring my team and and especially my chief of staff, Valeria Carranza, she was filling out her paperwork to get enrolled in our health care, to get paid weekly. And she told me that she had to fill out her paperwork and put how much she had been paid in her previous job. And I said, that didn't make any sense. This is a new job, not predicated or based upon what your previous pay was. And when we started looking into it, we realized this was a pervasive problem across Montgomery County government. And in digging into the data, we learned an incredible discrepancy existed. We learned that within the Department of Health and Human Services, there were 13 people who had been hired within the previous two years. And within those 13 people, the single man got paid more than all 12 women who were hired at that same time. And in the worst situation, he was paid $31,000 more than the woman. And in the best scenario, it was $5,000, all for the same job classification. And so it was with that information and knowing how unfair our rules were back in the year 2019. My first piece of legislation was the Montgomery County Pay Equity Act, where we prohibited county government from asking or requesting salary history in the job hiring process to make sure that everybody got paid what the job they were applying for merited. And we learned just two years ago that after that bill became law, all new hires here in Montgomery County get paid fairly and equally and we no longer have a paid discrepancy for new employees here in Montgomery County. And so there's a lot of people here who are happy and continue fighting for workers' rights as well, and so I just want to pass the mic and everyone can introduce themselves. Good morning. My name is Astrid Diaz. I am here representing Armandad de Sigma Yota Alfa Incorporada or Sia for short. We are a national Latino sorority with a large presence here in the DMV region. And so I'm just here today to ensure that women such as me, who are represented in this region, in this state, are being paid fairly and equally, and making sure that we uplift our college students, our graduate and professional women, as well in our organization. Thank you. My name is Eva Hoyah. I live in Tuumberg, so right by here. I'm also a member of Hermanda the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more about the community, I was a little bit more centers so I'm passing it on to my colleague. Hello everyone, I'm Caterina Gasek. I am new to the labor movement. I'm also an undergrad student at UMBC and I'm very happy to be here and be a part of this new legislation. Good morning. I'm Tracy Anderson. I get to work here. I am the Chief Human Resources Officer for Montgomery County, and I'm delighted to tell you that in 2023, Montgomery County virtually achieved pay equity. age, race and sex should not be any more predictor of where you're going to end up educationally than where you should end up with your paycheck. We did a lot of work and it has not been easy. We still have a ways to go but I am very pleased to tell you that your OHR department is here and ready to do what needs to be done. I couldn't be here without thanking the OHR staff who's been tremendous for the leadership of Councilmember Glass for this August body that supports everything that we need to do. I bring you some greetings also from the County Executive Mark Elrich. I want to say two things. Pay equity is not just a moral responsibility. It's the right thing to do. Definitely it is. But it's a business imperative. We will not be able to retain, attract or innovate anything in the county without being able to offer a fairer wage. We're doing that. We're going to continue to do, and I thank you for your leadership on it. Thank you, Dr. Kierke. Thank you so much. Applause. Hi, everyone. I'm Erica Fuentes. I'm also here with Sia. And yeah, as an organization, our role is to provide a community for young professionals and also undergraduate women. And so not only do we want to support them in undergrad, but we also want to make sure that once they enter their professional fields, they are receiving that equal pay that they deserve. So thank you so much. Hi, Helen Cordero, also from Amanda de Sigma yota Alfa in Corpaldada. And I'm also from the Painters Union, IU Pat DC51, representing for painters and workers. Hi everyone, my name is Katia Matherano, I'm also with Amanda de Sigma Yota Alfa in Corpaldada. And I'm very happy be here, too. Hi, I'm Jeanette Felder. I'm the president of the Montgomery County chapter of the National Organization for Women. And one of our key issues is pay equity. And we've been fighting this a long, long time. And it was pointed out I was here six years ago with this bill. So anyway I'm very happy to hear that we live in Montgomery County which has made this happen and we can show the way to other other states other counties. Hello my name is Julie Wyatt Arancel I'm the executive vice president with Montgomery County National Organization for Women. Oftentimes people ask me where are you from because apparently I have an accent. So I'm not originally from Montgomery County, I'm from the Midwest. And I must say the three years that I've lived here now, I love Montgomery County, very happy to be here, but more happy to see the type of effort that this county council is making every year to ensure that the County of Montgomery is acting fair and morally. We are happy to hear that pay equity is now a thing in everyday work here in Montgomery County. As our president mentioned, it is something that we are often fighting for. And we are very happy to have young women here who also recognize this as being a very important topic that needs to continue beyond Montgomery County. So thank you very much for all your effort and work and appreciate being here. Hi I'm Susan Hurst. I'm a member of now and also a member of Montgomery County Business and Professional Women. And we've been all working for many, many years to get equal pay and equal rights. So we're still working on the ERA, but we're so happy that we live in Montgomery County. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name's Carmen Carrad, and I'm the program manager for the Commission for Women. I was actually here six years ago too as an intern and then I was hired as a full-time employee in 2020. So thank you, Kelant, Remember Glass for ensuring... Carmen Carrad, the program manager for the commission for women. I was actually here six years ago too as an intern, and then I was hired as a full time employee in 2020. So thank you, Kelant, and Timberglass, for ensuring I get equal pay when I started. Thank you, yes. Yes, thank you, it's hard not to allow. I'm so proud. Good morning, my name is Jodie Finkelstein on the executive director of the Montgomery County Commission for Women and Human Traffic Information Committee. The Chair of the Montgomery County Commission for Women, Arlanda Clark says thank you very much and sons are regards. And it's absolutely a wonderful pleasure to be here today with everyone to celebrate this momentous occasion. And I also have to say how wonderful it is to be able to do this and continue to celebrate women during women's history month. Good morning everyone. Lisa Black O'Brown, Secretary of Charter with McGeo Local 1994 and I just want to thank Council Member Glass on behalf of Local 1994. Equal pay, equality of pay is so very important. It's a common idea. It should be common sense but unfortunately it has not been. Women should be paid what they deserve for what they do, right? It's about dignity, it's about respect. It's not a woman issue, it's a human issue. And so thank you so very much for just all the work you have done. And for everyone that we represent in Montgomery County, Prince George's County, in Cumberland, we thank you. It's an honor to be here. I had no idea that even in 2019, this was still an issue. I'm here on behalf, my name is Renee Stad. I'm here on behalf of Hadassa and the Jewish Community Relations Council, Women's Equity, Fair Pay, equal health opportunities, a long list of advocacy issues have been part of both Hadassa and the Jewish community relations council for so long. And I want to deeply, deeply thank you for working and succeeding in your event here from Montgomery County. And let's hope that other counties follow suit. Thank you so much for your efforts. Hey, Bartosolá, I'm Montgomery County resident, also a proud member of McGeeo Local 1994, Executive Vice President, and also a proud Montgomery County employee for 25 years. Hi everyone, Audrey DuJay. I'm also part of local 1994, McGeeo, but I'm an HHS employee and for years, I had seen the inequity and I didn't understand it because we had these pay scales. So how do you have a pay scale, but people are starting off with higher pay, it didn't make sense to me. So I'm glad that this is a change and I appreciate it and thank you very much. Hi I'm Michelle Weiss. I am honored to be here today. Thank you council member glass for getting this over the finish line. I work with UFCW local 1994 so all of you know that we fight every day for fairness and we're going to keep going. Hi, I'm Nancy Austin. I'm a retired school nurse from HHS and yes, I was paid very well thankfully from MacGio who fought for me to get really decent wages. And so on every terror I came back to work for MacGio Local 1994 and I'm loving it. Thank you so much and I appreciate all you do. We've heard from residents, workers, taxpayers about how important this is and the fight continues. Not only here in Montgomery County, particularly within our private sector, but also county governments and state governments as well. So with that, I'm going to read the proclamation. The Montgomery County Council proclamation, whereas the first equal pay day observance was organized in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity to raise awareness of the gender pay gap by symbolizing approximately how long women need to work in order to earn as much as men. And whereas women working full-time, year-round in Maryland are paid 86 cents for every dollar their male colleague makes, with even greater disparities when disaggregated by race. Black women are paid 67 cents, Native American and Alaskan native women are paid 56 cents, and Latina women are paid 50 cents. And whereas racial and gender disparities in pay exist across all ages, industries, and education levels, and are further entrenched by factors like occupational segregation, leaving the workforce to parent and salary history. And whereas since passing the Pay Equity Act in 2019, which prohibited asking job applicants about salary history, Montgomery County has eliminated the gender pay gap for all new county employees. Now therefore it be resolved that the County Council of Montgomery County, Maryland hereby recognizes March 25th as equal payday and be it further resolved that the county calls upon local businesses and leaders at all levels of government to create a truly equitable workplace for all presented on this the 25th day of March in the year 2025 signed by myself and council president Keats Stewart. Congratulations! Thank you. you you I Alright. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you, everyone. Thank you for the proclamation and all the work that you all do day and and day out on equal pay, but on so many things you're advocating for. This morning we are joined by Miss Rockville. Rockville. I just want to acknowledge and thank her for joining us this morning. We had a great conversation on her work on mental health. So, glad she was able to join us and be here for our council meeting. And also, I just want to say, as council members has said before, in recognizing Maryland Day, I just want to do a huge shout out to our University of Maryland Terrapins, both the men and the women have made this week 16. I think it's important that we all celebrate these things these days. All right, moving on now to our general business, Madam Clerk, will you please share today's announcements? Good morning, public hearings on the proposed FY26 operating budgets and the FY26 to 31 public services program and fiscal policy for the Montgomery County Government, Montgomery College, Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, WSSC Water, and Montgomery County Public Schools will be held on Monday, April 7th, 2025 at 130 PM and 7 o'clock PM. And on Tuesday, April 8th at 1.30 PM and 7 o'clock PM. Also, the Council will hold a public hearing on additional amendments to the FY 25 to 30 capital improvements program on April 8th, 2025 at 1.30 PM. Those wishing to provide testimony for these hearings in person or virtually must register in advance via the Council's website. Written, audio, and video testimony may also be submitted via the Council's website. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you so much. There are no minutes for approval today. So our next several items are work sessions on the FY26 capital budget and amendments to the FY25 through 30 capital improvement programs. The council will vote on the CIP amendments along with the operating budget in May. And I want to note as I did last week that we did receive a number of amendments on March 14th when we also received the operating budget and so some of these committee sessions happened before we were able to look at those March 14th amendments and I think our first Department we're looking at is corrections and rehabilitation. I'll turn it over to chair cats Thank you very Madam President. The Public Safety Committee had a work session on Monday, March 10th, on the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, CIP projects, and recommended approval three to zero for the following. The Montgomery County Correctional Facilities sewer, project includes a sewer grinder, which was needed to prevent trash from entering the sewer system and reduce sewer overflow at the Whalen Lane Clarksburg pump station. During COVID, during COVID, TV headset batteries and latex gloves were being flushed down the toilets. However, the department has now implemented tablets for all inmates eliminating the need to provide batteries. And due to this change, a bar screen is no longer needed to protect the grinder at a cost decrease of $330,000. The next was the Justice Center project provides a new building that includes central processing and detention and includes other services such as mental health assessment and pretrial services assessment. The amendment to the project is an acceleration shift of $9,000 from FY26 up to FY24 and I I want to thank Susan Farag for the packet and with your indulgence Madam President Turnover to her if there's any additional information. That's good, Miss Raag. Thank you. Councilmember Katz covered everything but I did want to note as you mentioned earlier there is a March 14th amendment coming across for the Justice Center project and that will travel along with the Department of Corrections operating budget. Okay, thank you. We have the Director of Corrections here. If I don't know if you wanna say anything. Just wanted to say thank you to be here today and we were able to save some money through operational changes with them and so we're happy to be able to do that. Great. We thank you for doing that. Not seeing any speakers. We will move on to the next agenda item which is the Capital Improvements Program Amendment work session on fire and rescue services and I'll turn it over again to Council Member Katz and thank you to the folks from corrections and and Rehabilitation for being here. Thank you, Madam President. The Public Safety Committee held air work session on March 17th and recommended approval, three to zero for the following Montgomery County Fire and Rescue projects. Rockville Fire Station, number three renovation, $500,000 funding is a one time contribution from the county. The funding has been delayed to FY27 as the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department is looking into land acquisition and further exploration on other details for the project. I do think it should be noted that the city of Rockville is also at the table with them so that it's, so everyone is working in the same way. For the White Flint Fire Station number 23, this will be a new fire station in the Rockville Slash White Flint area, South East Quadrant of Route 355 and Randolph Road. The project has been a CIP since FY 15 with the original cost of 27.8 million. The total project cost have increased by 6.9 million due to last year's two year deferral of construction and escalation of cost. Construction is now expected to begin in FY27. The third was Clarksburg Fire Station number 35. This station opened last November. There was a project savings of 1.3 million. This savings was transferred to the Public Safety Communication Center phase two electrical distribution and HVAC upgrade project. There again we want to thank Ms. Farag and with your indulgence, ask if she has any additional comments. I do not. All right, seeing that we have our fire and rescue folks here as well as DGS, is there anything else you would like to add? David Dice, Director Department of General Services for those in our viewing audience I wanted to point out that the much needed and Anticipated HVAC improvements to the existing Rockville Station 3 are planned and will be underway and completed within a year Perfect. All right that is all then. Thank you for folks. Oh, I'm sorry. Councilmember Baltham, sorry. Thanks. Thank you. I appreciate this. Can we have a status on the permanent fix for the Clarksburg station in terms of WSSC? Is that done or in the works? Yes. Councilmember is referring to the sewage pumping station. As far as the fire station operations concerned, it's permanent. The ultimate requirement to service the Greater Clarksburg area downtown Clarksburg, if you will, requires offsite power to be extended to the pumping station. That was relying upon development to take place in that area, which up to this point has not happened. However, there are plans between developers, WSSC and Potomac Edison who services that area. And I understand that's in the works, but insofar as the fire stations concerned, the pumping station with reduced size pumps to service just the fire stations requirements are running and running under generators. Okay, now seeing no other comments on a thank-of-ire rescue and our Department of General Services. And our next CIP work session is the Dickerson Radio Tower and I'm turning it back again to Council Member Katz. Thank you very much. A joint committee session with Public Safety and Government Operations and fiscal policy was held on Monday, March 10th. We view the Dickerson radio tower supplemental appropriation for construction and shelter relocation of its current site on the Genon smoke stack for $1.8 million. This tower supports the antennas and microwave dishes used for air public safety radio system. The Joint Committee recommended approval for to zero. Councilmember Freetzin was absent and I'd like to turn it over to Ms. Afrog and Dr. Treg is for any additional information if he's seen in the room. Any? Ms. Afrog can do it. I just wanted to let you know that the council did review the resolution to approve the supplemental appropriation for this project last week and this is the CIP amendment. Great. Terrific. Any other updates or comments? All right. We'll take yes as the answer. Not seeing any other comments. Thank you for joining us this morning. And we will move on to to our fourth item which is a CIP work session on other public safety judicial security improvements and turn it back to chair cats. Thank you very much. The Public Safety Committee again met on March 10th to review judicial security improvement CIP projects and voted 3 to 0 for recommended approval of 1.292 million in additional funding for security improvements, including installation of security walls, doors, and devices. This is a part of a new project last year that funded security improvements to the Judicial Center, Annex North Tower for added added protection of circuit court judges. As the committee heard during a session on judicial security threats and acts of violence against judges and staff are becoming a significant issue in and around our courtrooms. While we need to continue to do more to enhance safety measures in our judicial facilities, these capital improvements are necessary to protect our judges and court personnel. And if it meets with your indulgence, Councilmember Luki served on, I guess, the whatever committee it was called, and has a long name, so I can't remember that. All right, well, we will turn it over to Councilmember Luki to talk about whatever the committee was. So whatever the committee was. The committee was. Yes, it was. It was the state's task force to ensure the security of judicial facilities. Yes, it just totally rose off the tongue. Correct. And the work of that committee, you know, it was very challenging balancing. Of course, what we know are our intense needs that we are experiencing across the state of Maryland in both our district and circuit courts and recognizing and respecting that each jurisdiction has different types of facilities and requirements. So, you know, I'm grateful for our Public Safety Committee taking the time to meet with our judges, some of our judges, and with some of the personnel who work at the state level on the district court security processes and procedures with our sheriff, because the sheriff's office provides the security inside the circuit court building. But we still have a long way to go. And this is a great step towards improvement and much needed improvements, but this is going to be an evolving situation and we need to pay great attention to that moving forward. Great, thank you, anything to add Ms. Rogg? Okay, anything else? No, All right. We will continue on to our next agenda item. Item number five. Chair Katz, council member Katz, you are off the hot seat. We are now turning it over to transportation and environment. The first item is recycling and resource management. CIP. I will turn it over to Chair of the committee, Council Member Class. Thank you very much, Madam President. The Teenie Committee met on March 17th to take up the two amendments that the County Executive transmitted and the Committee unanimously supported the County Executive's recommendations. Those two recommendations were first a cost increase of $1.7 million for the Locke's Oaks landfill leechate pre-treatment project specifically to address PFAS mitigation. And the other project was a delay in the full upgrade of the existing recycling center complex because more design work is needed. Also of important note to this body, on March 14th, the county executive and transmitting a second package of CIP amendments also included a new project, the material recycling and biological treatment facility, MRBT. There is another TNE committee that will be held at a later date to talk about this, but we will be spending the next few weeks, especially during operating budget talking about recycling and resource management. But this is just the existing CIP, so more to come later. I'll be back. Thank you, Councilman. Sorry, Mr. Lichenko. Nothing to add. Anything to add? No, we're good on that. All right. Well, thank you for joining us this morning. We're going to move on to the next item, which is a CIP work session on storm-drain projects. I'm turning it over back to Chair Glass. Thank you, Madam President. On March 17th, the Teeny Committee unanimously recommended approval of technical amendments for facility planning of storm drains specifically. The amendment for the storm drain CIP is a decrease of $378,000 related to work acceleration. And so because of that, there is a $378,000 difference because the work is underway. I yield back. Thank you, Mr. LeChanco. Yeah, just to know there was no actual change in the project, it's just being charged to 24 instead of FY25. Great, nothing else to add? We're good, all right. Seeing no comments, then we're good on this CIP work session. And our last CIP work session for this morning is door-mortar management project amendments. I'll turn it back to Chair Glass. Thank you, Madam President. Also on March 17th, the Teeny Committee unanimously recommended approval of amendments to the the board of CIP. First, the committee supported the County Executive's recommendation for an increase of $1.9 million for the stormwater management comprehensive flood management plan. And that is to move forward with phase two of modeling work to make sure that our areas at risk of flooding, we can forecast that to ensure better safety. The committee also supported shifting $1.5 million in funding for the comprehensive flood management plan to partially offset costs increases. And then the third item is something we have talked a lot about in recent years, and it's the stormwater management retrofit. And a lot of community engagement regarding stormwater and restoration projects, and we as a council and as a committee have expressed to the EPR interest in them moving their water mitigation projects more upstream so that it's not all downstream literally and DEP I want to express our appreciation has heard us and the amendment that is recommended was an increase of $2.4 million to provide for three new upstream mitigation projects to try and collect water closer to the source. So it doesn't roll down into our streams. And with that, those are our recommendations, Madam President. Great. Mr. Lachenko, anything to add? Just now we did get a significant amendment on March 14th related to the stormwater management CIP regarding the implementation of the comprehensive flood management plan. That project right now only has placeholder dollars in it and the executive is recommending a reduction in the placeholder for affordability reasons for the water quality protection charge. The committee and the council will take up the issue of the WaterCard Protection Fund as part of the operating budget in April and May. Okay, thank you. Council Member Fanny Gonzalez. Thank you, my president. I just wanted to share my appreciation to the committee on this issue. Stonewater Management is not a sexy topic, but it's a huge topic, especially in my district, Slagel Creek watershed, the Twin Brook side of my district, and it's it's highly important and I look forward to the more discussions on it and I thank you for your work. Great. Council Member Sales. Thank you Madam President and thank you Mr.. Lovechenko. We've received quite a bit of emails and testimony regarding stormwater management specifically stream restorations and just wanted to know if there's any communication going out to the community in collaboration with DEP regarding the importance of stream restoration projects and the difference between these types of projects, the storm water management projects versus restorations. just so people can be assured that we are not disrupting their beautiful ecosystem in their communities. Yeah, DEP's been getting a lot of feedback from the community, some supportive of stream restoration projects and also some very critical of stream restoration projects and supporting more upland projects like you heard from Chair Glass. DEP has worked with the critics of stream restoration and has followed up with them on the rationale for the projects in particular and also how we have to do basically all the above. If we have streams that are dealing with significant erosion issues, especially affecting properties, then that's a trigger for considering work in the stream valley areas. And also the county's NPDES permit, the Stillwater Management permit, does allow the county to get credit for stream restoration projects as part of its broader permit. So it is one strategy in the toolbox for doing that. As you've heard, there's a lot of interest in trying to contain the water closer to the source so you avoid the stream problems in the first place and DEP is trying to do that, but we have a very built out county to date. And so the opportunities to prevent some of the issues that have already happened is very challenging. So DEP is doing select stream restoration projects as part of its requirements to meet its permit. Okay, so you preempted my following question. So the upstream stormwater management projects are improving the overall stormwater management of streams across watersheds. Well, yeah, the intent of the retrofit projects is to prevent the runoff closer to the source, closer to where the rain is coming down, basically, so that you don't have streams overwhelmed by when you have impervious area development occur, you've got much, you've got quantity issues and quality issues that flow into the stream. And eventually the stream can get overwhelmed. And then you are left with an issue of both the upstream issue still, but also the stream issue. So the interest of course would be to try to prevent that from happening, but we have streams that are in certain circumstances now, where DEP is assessed that they need work now. So right now the work going on is both. You've got upland work going on and you have stream restoration work going on. No, right. Thank you so much for saying that on record. Council Member Glass. Thank you, Council Member Sales, for re-upping that because just to put a finer point on it, we have MS-4 permits that are state obligations to do this work. Last year, when we went through the six-year CIP, we had a very robust discussion. And when we brought it to DEP, this body made it known that we wanted some improvements made. And this CIP amendment recognizes our requests. And that is manifest itself by $2.4 million for three new upstream programs. The committee, just when we approved this, told DEP when they come back next year with the new six year CIP we want to see even more. So they hear us, the community hears us and it hopefully will be reflected next year's CIP as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you and I also want to thank the DEP staff who last year as the chair, I said said, we had that robust conversation, took a bunch of us out into the field to really look at the stream restoration work that they're doing and to explain in depth and answer our questions and members of the public's questions. So we appreciate the ongoing conversation on this. I am not seeing any other folks wishing to speak on this. So I think we are done with this CIP work session. Thank you for coming. Our next item is item 9. It's the consent calendar. Do I have a motion to approve this consent calendar? So move. Council vice president. So Juondo, move. Council member Sal seconded. All those in favor, please raise your hands. That is unanimous from everyone here. That is all for our morning session. We will resume this afternoon at 1.30 for public hearings in a review of the Montgomery County Public Schools CIP. Thank you everyone. Afternoon everyone and welcome back to the Montgomery County Council meeting. We have a couple of public hearings this afternoon. The first is item 10 is a public hearing and expedited bill 7-25. Common ownership communities registration fees. This bill would alter the method of a for establishing registration fee associated with common ownership communities require the publication of registration fees and generally amend the laws regarding the common ownership communities. A planning housing and parks committee work session will be scheduled at a later date. Those wishing to submit material for the council's consideration should do so by the close of business on April 3rd, 2025. There are no registered speakers for this hearing. This public hearing is now closed. Item 11 is a public hearing on expedited bill 8-25, land or tenant relations fees. This bill would alter the method for establishing annual license fees for rental dwelling units. Require the publication of license fees and generally amend the laws regarding rental housing. A planning housing and parks committee work session will be scheduled at a later date. Those wishing to submit material for the council's consideration should do so by the close of business. On April 3rd, 2025, there are no registered speakers for this hearing. This public hearing is now closed. All right, agenda, the next agenda item is a work session on the FY26 capital budget and amendments to the FY25 to 30 capital improvement programs for my Gumree County public schools. I know we have a number of folks here. I'm going to turn over to both of you first, and then we can have representatives from MCPS introduce themselves and get into the work session for this afternoon. Good afternoon. In the packet today, we have the amendments from MCPS that came over back in late de-membrory December. And then we also have included in here the executives January 15 recommendations for the MCPSCIP. There were some additional adjustments made in his March 14 transmission, which we don't get into in this, although they were relatively minor with regard to the school CIP. But today we're gonna focus on the boards request and the executive's recommendation to that, and then of course the committee recommendation. I'll turn it back to Mr. Joondo. Great, I'll turn to Council Vice President Joondo, Chair of our Education and Culture Committee. Thank you for filibuster, and appreciate that. So, on February 27th, the Education and Culture Committee reviewed, as you mentioned, the boards, and good to see Chair Yang and Superintendent and the great team. The FY2530 CIP, which maintains a six-year total of of 1.85 billion, which is the same overall funding level as originally improved, which is nice. We didn't have to do non-recommended reductions this year, but it was redistributed across specific years. The county executive recommended amendments to reflect the 1.74 billion over the six-year period, primarily due to technical adjustments for actual expenditures and some affordability reconciliation considerations. The committee unanimously recommended approval of the board's proposed amendments, pending final reconciliation with the county executives technical adjustments. And I would, with the president's acquiescence, see if the board chair Miss Yang or the superintendent want to say anything. Absolutely thank you, Madam Chair, Vice President and all the council members so glad to be here this afternoon and we're going to talk about FY26's capital budget and all of us on the board of education, our commitment, our wish, our goal all together combined is to have functional school buildings across the district for all our students. And that is why I appreciate this conversation very much so and that is why I think you have such a vital role to play as our funders. So if you look at this budget that we have put forth, we really exercise financial stewardship. Three things we try to do. Keep, we need a CIP amendment think, for a long time. I think it's setting the mood for a serious conversation. We just thought you knew that. I know that it's up for us to keep our lights open. All right. All right. You can continue, I think, I think it's along. Okay. Yeah. So, three things we try to do. Number one is deliver the major capital projects, keeping them whole and finish on time. That's where Cram and Northwood. Number two second thing we try to do is with the rising cost of construction. We try to keep whatever we have in the CIP program to deliver it within scope and on time. So that requires some extra investment. And number three is we have her and you too have her. We have major HVI issues in many of our school buildings. So there was there's some projects there there and major one is Lordamon Middle School. And since we are on the topic of CIP, I want to give you some update. So in the past few years, the board has always wanted to standardize operation within our school systems in many areas, including the building maintenance, and also just the general operation excellence, you know, striving for. And under the leadership of Dr. Taylor and Mr. Mammone here, they are revamping our facility index, right? Facility condition index and that work is ongoing. And at the end of summer, 2026, we hope to finish all these evaluation. And that will guide our decision for the next major CIP dialogue with the council in the following years. So thank you for giving us this time and I look forward to have the conversation this afternoon. Thank you. Is there a superintendent? Thank you Madam President. Mr. Vice President and members of the council Council I want to echo my thanks to not just the Council but also to specifically the E&C Committee. They had great questions very thorough examination and a great opportunity to catch up on our priorities. I do have a couple of points that I want to illuminate as part of this year's off cycle year CIP. Our overarching objective was to maintain the current approved CIP projects underway as Miss Yang had noted. We reallocated a lot of resources within the CIP to make this happen. We hope that this is a welcome change of business and something that we hope to make a regular fixture in our approach moving forward. We know that the council has strained resources. We know that we're trying to balance a lot of needs and we wanna be sensitive to that. And we also wanna make sure that we're keeping in mind some of the big objectives that we have that are coming ahead. So let me be very clear and say that we have a lot of work to do. We have aging infrastructure throughout our school district and we are acutely aware of the backlog of major system upgrades that we need to tackle. The need to increase accessibility throughout the county is a major priority and we have capacity issues in many spots of the district and Miss Yang pointed out one of the big ones, HVAC. So know that in future years these are going to be some of the central topics that we bring back to the table for conversation. But fortunately this year is not next year or the year after that and some of those really hard conversations but rather how do we keep our major projects intact? How do we keep the efforts that we already have underway moving in the right direction and that really is our focus for today? So I want to close by acknowledging that we had some complexities with the Charles W. Woodward High School reopening project. And this has led to some unforeseen and unfortunate outcomes in terms of our financing mix. The long-term outlook is very positive because these are funds that we can access for other future projects. I'm sure we'll get into that in today's conversation. But we hope that we've adjusted in a way that honors our relationship and honors your position as our funding partner. So with that, we just want to give you our extended thanks. And I actually want to take a moment to see if my teammates would introduce themselves before we answer questions. And we'll start with Ms. McGuire over here. Good afternoon. S. E. McGuire, Chief of Staff at MCPS. Good afternoon and then the moon, Deputy Chief of Facilities, MCPS. Good afternoon, DJ Conley, Capital Budget Manager. And Madam President, we are ready for the council's questions. Great. I had a question about a council vice president, Juwando, and say one more thing. Yeah, just wanted to point out, we kind of glossed over and I'm glad you said it. I've done seven of these consecutively, either full year or off year, every year. I think Mr. Lovchenko, we've had non-recommitted reductions and had to go back to the CIP and make adjustments. This is the first time that that has not happened. And just want to say that that's actually a big deal and it's a really good thing. I think it follows on the work we did last year in the full-ice CIP to try to prioritize systemic funding. Ms. McVire was here in her other role and I also appreciate you for shadowing that we have significant challenges. That means there's no new projects that have gone in. Things have been delayed and moved around and that there's a lot of needs as far as HVAC and other things that we're gonna have to consider next year. But this year is this year and I just wanted to point out and thank you for being great partners on that. Thank you Madam President. Thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna kick us off. I appreciate Superintendent for you raising Woodward. I think it would be helpful just because it is complex. What happened where we're going if we could spend a moment to kind of say where we are with Woodward High School and what is the plan moving forward because we get a lot of questions about it and I think this would be a good form to hear about that. I'll definitely defer to my colleagues to fill in some of the gaps, but at a very high level, we are still on schedule for a 2027 open of our major projects in the right spots. So even though Northwood is at the Woodward campus, there's still work to be done at the Woodward campus. And these projects are really trains that are on different tracks that are all going to arrive at the station at roughly the same time in the summer of 27 for an August, 2027 opening. A central feature of this CIP is finishing those projects in earnest. And as part of that, it also raises a red flag for us because we phased the Woodward project. And as a consequence of phasing the Woodward project and as much as I wanna look ahead, we do have to look back at how this was played. We had some choices as an institution and MCPS made some choices in terms of how we bid and how we awarded contracts and then what the state reimbursement look like. And in doing the projects in two phases, we introduced a layer of drama that we probably didn't need to have. We requested a state reimbursement for the second phase of the project that was beyond what the funding mix would allow. And as a consequence, we were called out on it and we needed to address it and we have brought that forward in this CIP for reconciliation. Great, any it, Mr. Amendment? Yeah, so to answer your question the opportunity I talked about. The budget. Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? Any other questions? patient so once numbers we're reviewing it because we need to get the total packets together back to the state because we're going to try to maximize what we can from the state's participation. So once we have those numbers we can be able to come back and report back to it but we're continuing to work with the state on this. Great and I just want to say thank you and my appreciation particularly to to the principal of at Northwood They've been terrific and I know There's been a lot for that community and a lot of back and forth But I just I want to say I appreciate I appreciate the communication that has gone on Since the beginning of the school year and the principal there and the families there so I will turn it it over now to Councilmember Lutkey. Thank you, Madam President. And thank you all for I know you all inherited things that you needed to work with and have done a great job trying to work through all of that. With respect to Woodward and the back and forth presently with the state on, you know, as you noted, trying to maximize what you can from what we have. Is there presently any fiscal liability or potential fiscal impact to the county relating to the way the way, or the way the contracts were calculated in the past. Or is that resolved? That is actually an ongoing issue and it's something that we are working with the state on. There's a couple of different dimensions to this. There is the actual financing of the construction process prevailing wage versus prevailing wage and what proportion the state would cover versus not cover. And then there is the issue of wages themselves and we're working with the state to resolve. Okay, and there's not an anticipated timeframe for that's just ongoing. Okay. Okay, thank you. Council member less. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you for the presentation and for the ongoing collaboration. Picking up on the themes and actually asking a question about Council Member Lutke's district, Magruder specifically. The CIP and the operating budget are balancing it, right? Looking ahead, planning for the future, but then also mitigating issues that exist today. We know that there have been some ongoing issues with Magruder. Can you share with us what those mitigating activities might be and how particularly those can feel safe? I'm glad you brought that up Councilmember Glass because that balancing act has been one that we have struggled with and we need to get back ahead of it. There are so many priorities that come before this body and come before the school system that are operating expenses and one of the things that's kind of fallen by the wayside while we've covered wages and while we've covered benefits and while we've covered some programmatic opportunities is we haven't really dealt with the pay as you go maintenance expense of some of the infrastructure and unfortunately, a lot of our buildings lack the TLC that is needed to keep them up and to keep them in the cycle for their regular useful life. And so as a consequence of that, some of our buildings look and feel a little bit older than they really are. Some of our buildings where we have students who are concerned about their building condition, parents that are concerned about their building condition, do not need a replacement building. They don't. They do need maintenance. They need work orders cleared. They need fixtures replaced. They need all of the things that would go with some kind of on go so that we don't fall into disrepair. It is a feature school districts proposed to account for some of that a little bit of a system to address that a little bit differently, but it really needs to be something wholesale that we're paying attention to so that when we do have events like a chunk of the ceiling falling out on Auditorium or another part of the building that we have a rapid response and a mechanism to respond to those events quickly. I didn't want to provide a description of what happened, but you most accurately just provided that description. So thank you. And yeah, it is a balancing act. And so it's not only with schools, but particularly within the Transportation and Environment Committee, it's our water infrastructure and our waste management infrastructure. None of this is particularly front of mind. It's not new, it's not advancement, but it's needed. And look forward to that conversation at the operating budget, which is a similar conversation within waste management, Mr. LePchenko, we'll be sitting there for both of those conversations, because they are interrelated. And so thank you for that regarding McGruder. Looking ahead to next year, the full CIP. This is your first time talking about CIP since being appointed superintendent. Curious what your thoughts are about new schools and the type of schools that we build because I I have long believed that we are continuing to build schools that are a few decades outdated. And as we continue growing as a community, as the land available for schools continues to change or decrease, and abilities continue to evolve, we need to evolve the type of buildings that we provide for learning. What are your thoughts? What a fun and rich conversation to have. Well, as our community tends to tighten around smaller pieces of land, it does force us to consider one direction for building. And there are some benefits to that too. Oddly enough, there are actually some cost savings to a vertical. Can you say that louder? Yes, there are some cost savings to a vertical orientation. I think one of the things that you can be very proud of is that the buildings that are built in Montgomery County public schools reflect the values of Montgomery County as a community. A good example of that is the Burton'sville Elementary School Reconstruction Project, which has some significant climate goals, which mirror the community's educational and value position. So I think that as we look at our portfolio and look at the projects that need to be done, I think that it's important that we do a couple of things. One, we are looking at things through a cost-conscious lens because it does allow us to do more when we look through a cost-conscious lens, but also through a values perspective and what aligns with our values and terms of our needs. What I thought you were going to ask about, and I don't mind introducing, is about using data in terms of facility condition, age, and other factors to inform some of the recommendations that we make. And this is really a big step for us. Under Mr. Mammun's leadership, we are undertaking a massive project to reassess and rank our facilities through a facility condition index, literally giving each of our buildings a score on their facility condition. This will inform everything from simple repairs that can be made to very complex renovations to whether or not a school should be reconceived. This along with planning data, this along with where we are already seeing some of our programmatic offerings will inform a lot of the recommendations that we bring back to council and will also give you some data points as we go to the community and ask for their support on some of these projects. Data-driven approach to fixing the schools that needed the most is exactly what we should be doing. And I agree, appreciate your thoughts on rethinking our physical buildings. First and foremost, we need to create safe learning environments. And that can take various shapes and forms. And so look forward to jumping ahead to next year's CIP, presuming this one clearly with my support, and everyone else's will move through, but look forward to future discussion, particularly on the ability to be nimble and spot check problems as they arise within the operating budget. So thank you, Nancy Festing. All right. I'm not seeing anyone else who wishes to speak. So thank you on behalf of the County Council. We appreciate you all being here today and your partnership on this. Thank you, Mr. Lachenko and Mr. Prudy for the packet and onward. Well, I think we'll be seeing a bit of you in the next couple of weeks. So I appreciate it. That is the last item on our agenda for the afternoon. This evening at 6.30, we will be meeting with the Maryland Municipal League and the Council Office Building. And that is it for us today. Thank you all.