Nine Applicants Seek Board Post
By Miranda S. Spivack | Washington Post Staff Writer | Thursday, May 28, 2009
In the coming month, the Montgomery County Council will step into the process of filling a vacant position on the Planning Board, interviewing nine applicants in a one-day marathon scheduled on June 16.
The County Council, which supervises the board, must select one of the applicants for the post, which is part time and pays $30,000 annually.
Although the rules governing board membership require some political balance, the open position can be filled by a Democrat, Republican or someone affiliated with another political party. At times, a spot on the Planning Board has served as a stepping-stone to elected office.
Unlike in most Maryland jurisdictions, the Montgomery parks and planning agency, with a $122 million budget and a staff of about 1,000, mostly on the parks side, reports to the County Council, not to the county executive, and operates semi-autonomously in its relationship with county government.
In recent years, the board has played a pivotal role in efforts to rebuild older sections of the county, manage increasing traffic and determine what should be built on the small amount of remaining buildable open space.
The agency also has been at the center of some political storms over lax oversight of development, most recently in disputes over plans for Clarksburg, Montgomery's final frontier for development. Amy Presley, one of the citizen-leaders of Clarksburg residents' efforts to pressure government to ensure compliance with county laws, was appointed to the Planning Board last year.
Council member Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) served on the Planning Board previously. Royce Hanson, who was appointed chairman in 2006, is a former board member who twice ran for Congress.
The vacancy that this year's appointee will fill arose because the term of John Robinson, a lawyer at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, expires June 14. Robinson has served two four-year terms and is ineligible for reappointment.
No more than three members of the Planning Board may be from the same political party, and all five members must be residents and registered voters of Montgomery County when appointed.
The other board members are Hanson, a Democrat; Joseph Alfandre, a Democrat; Jean B. Cryor, a Republican; and Presley, a Republican.
All those who have been invited to interview are Democrats:
Alan S. Bowser of Silver Spring; Carol Van Dam Falk of Potomac; Ilaya Rome Hopkins of Bethesda; Patricia H. Lee of Olney; Christopher Paladino of Silver Spring; Donna Mandel Perlmutter of Potomac; Roberto R. Piñero of Silver Spring; Cynthia Rubenstein of Silver Spring; and Marye Wells-Harley of Silver Spring.
Bowser, a graduate of Princeton, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown's law school, is a community activist in Silver Spring who sought appointment to the board previously. An economist and lawyer, he is president of the Park Hills Civic Association and a member of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board.
Falk is a National Public Radio reporter who covered last year's campaigns. A resident of Potomac, she is involved in community efforts to limit the density of the Johns Hopkins-proposed "science city" near Gaithersburg. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Hopkins, a Bethesda resident, is a member of the Western Montgomery Citizens Advisory Board and has degrees from Hopkins and the University of Wisconsin. She also has been a project manager and consultant and served as associate director of external affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Lee, of Olney, is a lawyer and has served as chairman and general counsel for the National Institute for Urban Entrepreneurship. She formerly worked for the Institute for Justice and as head of the Montgomery County Conflict Resolution Center. She holds a bachelor's degree and a law degree from Northwestern University.
Paladino is formerly executive director of the county chapter of the American Red Cross who served as a lead spokesman for Red Cross development activities and responses to major disasters. A Silver Spring resident, Paladino holds a bachelor's degree from Rutgers.
Perlmutter, a Potomac resident with a master's in urban planning from the University of Pennsylvania, is a member of the architectural design review committee of the Potomac Falls Homeowners Association. She has worked as a writer and editor, as well as a radio broadcaster, and has raised funds for the Montgomery Housing Partnership.
Piñero, of Silver Spring, is a senior analyst with the federal Government Accountability Office and serves as a commissioner for the Montgomery Housing Opportunities Commission and as a board member for the Town Center Apartments of Rockville, a senior low-income housing development. He holds a doctorate in city and regional planning from the University of California at Berkeley.
Rubinstein, a Silver Spring civic activist, is the executive director of Passion for Learning, a nonprofit organization that supports underserved students in Montgomery public schools. The organization raises funds to hire and supervise up to 24 after-school instructors and program assistants and recruits up to 100 volunteers. She holds a master's degree in design and housing from the University of Iowa and a bachelor's in fine arts and French from Cornell College in Iowa.
Wells-Harley, of Silver Spring, formerly served as director of parks and recreation in Prince George's County, managing an agency with more than 1,000 full-time employees, more than 2,500 seasonal employees and 30,000 volunteers. A community activist, Wells-Harley holds a bachelor's degree from Winston-Salem State University and has attended the Executive Leadership Institute affiliated with the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052701800_2.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment