Northwood News ♦ February 2014

County Council to Appoint Representative for Our District 5

By Jim Zepp

On 3 December 2013, with one year remaining in her term, Valerie Ervin resigned as the County Council’s District 5 Member to take a job in New York City. Although there had been speculation for months that she would not run for another term (during which she declined requests to declare her intentions), she waited until two days after the date that would have required holding a special election to determine her replacement. Consequently, the remaining eight Council Members will appoint someone to complete her term. Because they do not want to give any appointee the unfair advantage of an unearned incumbency, the Council has indicated that the appointment applicants should agree not to run for the position in the next election.

Council will conduct interviews that will be televised on the County’s cable channels and Council Website and open to the public. The Council is expected to have selected the replacement by 30 January. Ervin’s departure comes at a time when important decisions are pending at Council, including debates on the White Oak Master Plan, the Zoning Code Rewrite, and Countywide Zoning Map Amendment. The primary election for all Council seats will be Tuesday, 24 June 2014, for terms beginning January 2015. The filing deadline for candidates is 25 February.

Our Community’s Short-Term Council Representation

Eighteen individuals originally applied for the 10-month appointment, of which 13 were invited to be interviewed by the Council over a three-day period; one person withdrew his application.

17 January 2014 — Jeanette Dixon, Kim Jones, Alan Bowser, Dale Tibbets, and Michael Diegel
22 January 2014 — Arthur Jackson, Jr.; Herman Taylor; Andrew Kleine; Timothy Male; and Cherri Branson
24 January 2014 — Ronald Galvin, Jr.; Jay Hutchins; and Daniel Wilhelm

[At least two applicants live in our neighborhood.]

More information on the Council’s selection process and the applicant interviews are available at www.mymcmedia.org/council-works-to-fill-district-5-vacancy-video. One of the local blogs covering the interviews is at www.silverspringindependent.com/ 2014/01/17/watching-job-interviews-fill-district-5s-empty-county-council-seat-dont-heres-day-1-report.

During our December meeting, NFCCA members passed an emergency resolution expressing concern that our community has had a continuous turnover in Council representation since 2008 due to the deaths of Marilyn and Don Praisner and the transfer of our neighborhood from District 4 to District 5. Consequently, with the one-year appointed District 5 Council Member and the election later this year of a new District 5 Council Member, our neighborhood will have had six different individuals represent it in seven years.

The NFCCA sent a letter to all of the Council members suggesting the following criteria:

The appointee must have a history of citizen involvement with the communities located in District 5 and, in particular, the critical issues facing our neighborhoods that the Council will be voting on in the coming year.
More importantly, the appointee should reflect the views of area residents and voters as a duly-elected representative would in these matters. This also requires a commitment by the appointee to seek input from constituents and frequently communicate with residents on issues affecting District 5 neighborhoods.
Given the very limited duration of this appointment, the appointee should have an extensive working knowledge of Council procedures, operations, and staff as well as County government in general in order to effectively represent the District 5 residents. To do otherwise, would mean that this person would spend much of this time in a learning mode.

Council Member Nancy Navarro, who represented our community when she was elected to the Council for District 4 in 2009 until we were moved to District 5 in 2012, chose to ask each of the applicants about the concern raised in the NFCCA letter about the frequent turnover in representation. Unfortunately, none of the applicants interviewed on 17 January 2014 picked up on the need for citizen outreach and constituent communications, but rather used the opportunity to praise the individuals who previously held the office. As of this writing, the second and third set of interviews have not occurred.

Long-Term Council Representation

The deadline for filing as a candidate for the District 5 Council seat is 25 February 2014 so it won’t be definite until then how many individuals — and who — will be competing for the primary election on 24 June. However, several people have already filed as candidates and others have indicated their interest in running, meaning that there will be a broad group from which our residents will have to choose.

So that the candidates understand that our community needs a strong advocate for our concerns in the Council, the NFCCA — along with the South Four Corners and Woodmoor-Pinecrest Civic Associations — will be organizing a District 5 candidates forum in the coming months. ■