Montgomery County Organizational Reform Commission – Opening Session

I was pleased to represent my County Council colleagues this afternoon at the first meeting of the Montgomery County Organizational Reform Commission.

At the initiative of Councilmember Roger Berliner, the County Council has joined with the County Executive to establish a high-level working group that has been charged with developing recommendations to make Montgomery County work better.

The Commission members are: Christina Echavarren, Joan Fidler, Scott Fosler, Susan Heltemes, Daniel Hoffman, Vernon Ricks, Jr. Co-Chair, Len Simon, and Richard Wegman Co-Chair. Justina Ferber of the County Council staff will provide support to the Commission.

In my remarks to the group, I emphasized the critical importance of their work. Although the Council has made many difficult choices in recent years by, among other things, establishing a new reserve policy and implementing a balanced six-year fiscal plan, more work needs to be done to address the structural budget deficit, and to make government more effective and efficient through reform and reorganization.

I am confident that the Organizational Reform Commission can make a significant contribution to this goal.

Resolution No. 16-1350, that we adopted on May 18, 2010, established the Montgomery County Organizational Reform Commission to make recommendations for potential reorganization or consolidation of functions performed by County government and County-funded agencies. Its charge is to solicit suggestions for potential reorganization or consolidation of functions performed by County government and County-funded agencies from: elected officials; County residents; business and community leaders; County and agency employees; bargaining unit representatives; and other stakeholders.

The Commission must submit its final report to the Executive and Council no later than January 31, 2011. The report must contain the Commission's recommendations to reorganize or consolidate functions performed by County government or County-funded agencies. For each recommendation for reorganization or consolidation, the Commission's report must include the rationale and estimated cost savings associated with implementing the recommendation. Any organizational proposal for County government in the Commission report must take the form of a reorganization plan that the Executive could submit to the Council under Charter §217.