At least two Montgomery County Council members have reservations about a bill that would give county executives more power to hire and fire additional high-level county employees.
During a public hearing Tuesday on the legislation County Executive Ike Leggett is pushing, Council Member Duchy Trachtenberg said she opposed converting the executive director of the Commission for Women to a non-merit position.
“Maybe my perspective is biased based on a lot of the feminist activity I’ve been involved in over the years,” she said. But, she said, the commission’s work is “not supposed to be tainted by politics.”
The Leggett-sponsored bill would convert about 15 merit positions to non-merit roles, but the change would occur after each current employee leaves.
The affected positions include executive directors of the Commission for Women, the Office of Human Rights and the Office of Consumer Protection; assistant chief administrative officers; regional service center directors; chief technology director; and the director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission.
“I’m inclined to look at some exceptions to this,” Council Member Marc Elrich said.
However, Elrich said, an advantage to the system Leggett wants is that county executives couldn’t say they inherited the employees if a “department is not doing what we expect it to do.”
County Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine spoke in favor of the bill on Leggett’s behalf.
“He should be able to appoint people to those jobs to fit the outcomes and objectives that he is trying to achieve,” Firestine told The Examiner.
Advisory Committee on Consumer Protection Chair Stephen Gurwitz and Montgomery County Commission for Women President Deborah Horan spoke for their groups against the bill as it applies to their executive directors.
In her written testimony, Horan said, “The Commission for Women was created to provide advice to the County Executive and the County Council. Its advice should not be politically constricted or directed.”
Council President Marilyn Praisner told Horan she wants more information about how the commission’s advisory function will be compromised if Leggett’s proposal earns approval. The council’s Management and Fiscal Policy Committee is scheduled to discuss the legislation April 9.
