Police Chief Interview, Vape Shops Hearing: Nov. 5 Council Agenda

ROCKVILLE, MD — The Montgomery County Council has a busy agenda Tuesday morning, as they tackle issues ranging from minimum work week wages to racial discrimination based on natural hairstyles. The council, which will meet at 9:30 a.m., is also scheduled to interview Acting Police Chief Marcus Jones for the position of police chief.

Here's everything you need to know about Tuesday's agenda:

County Executive's Appointee as Chief, Department of Police: Marcus Jones
A 34-year veteran of the force, Marcus Jones was among two dozen candidates vying to become Montgomery County's next police chief. The vacancy was created when longtime Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger retired in April.

Jones, the acting police chief, wasn't Elrich's first choice for the position. The two finalists were Takoma Park Police Chief Antonio DeVaul — who took himself out of the running in July — and former Portsmouth, Virginia police chief Tonya Chapman — who pulled her name from consideration a month later.

The Council is scheduled to interview Jones for the top cop position. Officials are set to vote on the nomination in the afternoon.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Bill 30-19, Human Rights and Civil Liberties - Race Discrimination – Protective Hairstyles (CROWN Act)
The CROWN Act — which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — would update the county's anti-discrimination laws to include natural hairstyles historically associated with race, such as afros, twists, curls, braids, and locks. With these protections, the bill would also ban corporate grooming policies that disproportionally affect minorities — particularly women of color.

The Council is scheduled to vote on the CROWN Act on Tuesday.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Bill 12-19, Human Rights and Civil Liberties - Building Maintenance Worker -
Minimum Work Week
The Council is also scheduled to vote on Bill 12-19, which would require an employer to offer a minimum work week of 30 hours for each building maintenance worker (i.e., janitor, security officer, doorperson, handyperson, or building superintendent at an office building that's at least 350,000 square feet).

The goal of this bill: increase the availability of full-time work with health insurance for building maintenance workers.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Resolution to support Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' regional housing targets for Montgomery County
The Council is expected to vote on a resolution to support Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' (MWCOG) regional housing targets for the county. In 2019, MWCOG surveyed cooperative employment and housing forecasts in the area and found that employment growth is outpacing housing. They also found insufficient housing undercuts economic development and that the regional transportation systems are strained.

In the proposed resolution, the new housing target includes 75,000 more units than the current forecast and allocates 10,000 of these additional units to the county.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Fiscal Year 2021 Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Spending Control Limits
The Council is expected to vote on the FY 2021 Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) Spending Control Limits. Both Montgomery and Prince George's county councils established WSSC's spending control limits process in 1994, in hopes that the councils could agree on certain budgetary limits annually on Nov. 1.

WSSC provides water and sanitary sewer service to most of Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

The Council will hold public hearings at 1:30 p.m.. Officials are scheduled to vote for each appropriate following the public hearings.

Special appropriation to the County Government's FY20 Operating Budget, Department of Recreation – $203,484 to provide Senior Adult Programming at the Wheaton Community Recreation Center
Effective December 2019, the appropriation would found personnel and operating costs (i.e., seasonal staffing, instructional costs, a five-days-a-week senior nutrition program).

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Special appropriation to the County Government's FY20 Operating Budget, Office of the Inspector General - $272,881 for implementation of Bill 11-19, Administration - Internal Audit - Inspector General - Amendments
The proposed FY20 appropriation is needed to implement Bill 11-19. It includes $174,110 in personnel expenditures for five new positions and $98,771 in operating expenditures.

According to officials, the the bill also: "requires the Office of Internal Audit to prepare an annual work plan for approval of the Chief Administrative Officer and submit the work plan to the Council for comment; requires the office to submit an annual report to the inspector general (IG); requires the IG to conduct a risk analysis of the County's internal controls and processes, and based on the risk analysis, conduct a systematic rotating group by group review of the internal accounting and contracting processes and controls used by each department and principal office in the Executive Branch; and requires the IG to audit each completed County contract funded in the operating budget with a contract value greater than one million dollars."

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

The Council will hold the following public hearings at 7:30 p.m.:

Zoning Text Amendment 19-06, Vape Shops
The Council will hold a public hearing on ZTA 19-06, which would bar vape shops that sell e-cigarettes from opening within half a mile of a middle or high school. It also would ban vape shops from selling to people under the age of 21.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Bill 29-19, Health and Sanitation - Electronic Cigarettes - Distribution, and Resolution to adopt Bill 29-19 as a Board of Health Regulation
The Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Bill 29-19 and a resolution to adopt Bill 29-19 as a Board of Health regulation. It would bar e-cigarette manufacturers from distributing them to retail stores within a half mile of a middle or high school.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Bill 31-19, Health and Sanitation - Electronic Cigarettes - Distribution, Use and Possession, and Resolution to adopt Bill 31-19 as a Board of Health Regulation
The Council is expected to hold a public hearing on Bill 31-19 and a resolution to adopt Bill 31-19 as a Board of Health regulation. It would bar the distribution of any tobacco product, coupon redeemable for a tobacco product, cigarette rolling paper, or electronic cigarette to anyone under the age of 21 (except under certain circumstances).

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

Bill 32-19, Health and Sanitation - Flavored Electronic Cigarettes, and Resolution to adopt Bill 32-19 as a Board of Health Regulation
The Council is scheduled to a public hearing on Bill 32-19 and a resolution to adopt Bill 32-19 as a Board of Health regulation. It would bar electronic smoking device manufacturers from distributing flavored electronic cigarettes to stores within half a mile of any middle or high school, park, playground, library, or recreational facility in the region.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

The Council meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon.

The Council meeting also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/ondemand/index.html.