5 Finalists Vying For Open Rockville Council Seat

ROCKVILLE, MD — After interviewing 21 residents, Rockville's mayor and council have selected five finalists for the council vacancy left by Julie Palakovich Carr, who now serves her constituents in the Maryland House of Delegates.

The candidates are Monique Ashton, Cynthia Cotte Griffiths, James J. Hedrick, Eugene M. Thirolf, and Robert J. Wright. City officials said they will interview the finalists on Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. Their interviews will be televised on channel 11 and live streamed at www.rockvillemd.gov/rockville11.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of Palakovich Carr's term, which ends in November.

The City of Rockville published all the applications online. Patch has taken excerpts from the finalists' applications and posted them below:

Monique Ashton

"...I have honed the following areas of expertise that I seek to utilize to support the City of Rockville, including:

• Strategic planning and implementation
• Management of multimillion dollar budgets and teams
• Community outreach and civic engagement
• Partnership development
• Stakeholder mapping and planning to understand and deliver the needs of diverse constituents
• Strategic communications and visibility to drive engagement, growth, and visibility for Rockville
• Program and initiative development to support health, human services, education, and business innovation
• Diversity and inclusion to reduce disparities
• Representing and finding consensus among diverse views
• Conflict and issues management"

More of Ashton's priorities, plans, background, and qualifications can be viewed here.

Cynthia Cotte Griffiths

"Since we never know what issues will arise in the City, my ongoing emphasis will be on listening to the community and researching options for each decision. With this in mind, my priorities will be to:

• protect the quality of our residential neighborhoods
• encourage and promote economic development to make sure the City extends a welcome mat to new businesses and adopts policies that uplift existing businesses
• ensure Rockville is safe for pedestrians and cyclists and that the City adheres to the Bicycle Master Plan
• support a range of housing opportunities so that our adult children can afford to live here in the place they have called home; our teachers, firefighters, and police can have the option of living nearby and not paying the hidden stressful cost of long commutes; and all who hold vital positions in our economic engine can choose to live here
• support initiatives to keep our seniors living securely

More of Griffiths' priorities, plans, background, and qualifications can be viewed here.

James J. Hedrick

My career has taught me that a city's progress requires teamwork, outreach, and a long-term mindset. With that, my priorities include:

Connecting Rockville: Connecting Rockville means ensuring that all corners of city, from King Farm to Twin brook, from Lincoln Park to the West End, feel like they are part of the whole. While connection means more than physical infrastructure, one aspect should include more options for access across the tracks and the Pike. This includes well-maintained, high-quality biking and walking paths throughout the city and ensuring disability assess.

Outreach and Inclusion: As a member of Rockville's Boards and Commissions Task Force, I have seen the need for more outreach, including to underrepresented populations like young folks, minority communities, and immigrants. Our boards and commissions have too many vacancies, and we, as a city, aren't hearing from all our residents. With so much talent and knowledge throughout our community, we do Rockville a disservice when we don't prioritize reaching out and asking all our neighbors to join us in guiding the city.

More of Hedrick's priorities, plans, background, and qualifications can be viewed here.

Eugene M. Thirolf

I believe we need a balanced approach to resolving the challenges of development threatening the quality of life that has made Rockville such an attractive place to live. As a litigator, I know that whether it is the Rockville Pike or the Pike and Rose or the Twinbrook Plan, the City has legal and practical limits on what it can do to limit development. Without a growing economic base, the City could lose enough tax base to limit what services it can provide to its citizens. It is essential to recognize that compromise and sacrifice will have to be obtained from all involved parties to make those planning decisions successful and legally defensible.

I believe we need to update our senior citizen agenda by first better understanding the needs of the growing number of senior citizens in the City. Since I am a senior, I know some of the issues that need attention. We should conduct a comprehensive survey of our senior's needs and then develop a plan to act on the survey to provide the services seniors want and need.

I believe that we can do a better job of recruiting African-American, Hispanic, and Asian citizens to work in the City and to fill leadership positions in the City.

More of Thirolf's priorities, plans, background, and qualifications can be viewed here.

Robert J. Wright

I promise to focus on municipal issues that affect our lives today. In the nine months I would
serve I have the following primary priorities:

1. Adopt a fiscally sustainable budget.
2. Implement vote by mail as flawlessly as possible.
3. Work with REDI to develop a strategy to help owners of commercial properties find tenants with pubic appeal and staying power, e.g., Town Center, Research Row and King Farm.
4. Work with neighborhoods and City staff to repurpose underutilized and defunct spaces, e.g., King Farm Farmstead and Rockshire Village Center.

More of Wright's priorities, plans, background, and qualifications can be viewed here.