HHS Committee Work Session Summary—Wednesday April 28th

All members of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee (Council members Trachtenberg, Leventhal, and Navarro) met today to discuss the several items within the FY11 Operating Budget Recommendations:

Following is a summary of actions:

A. Expedited Bill 12-10, Human Rights - Equal Employment Opportunity program
ACTION: Vote 3-0 to reject Bill 12-10

B. FY11 Operating Budget

(1) Human Rights Commission
ACTIONS:
(i) 3-0 vote not to shift funding and positions of HR EEO unit to OHR
(ii) Approved shifting funds [$44,200} to County Attorney Office
(iii) Had full consensus to reintroduce an Investigator III position via the Reconciliation List
(iv) Full consensus on discussing OHR Department’s performance measures

(2) Commission for Women
ACTIONS:
(i) 3-0 vote to approve the County Exec’s (CE) recommended cuts

(3) NDA: Historical Activities - Historical Society
ACTIONS:
(i) 3-0 vote to approve the County Exec’s recommended cuts with recommendation to seek private funding opportunities and to manage archiving activities

(4) DHHS: Children, Youth and Families
ACTIONS: 3-0 vote to accept the CE’s recommended reductions to the Crossroads contract

HHS Committee Meeting Worksession—Wednesday-April 28

The Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee, on which Councilmember Trachtenberg serves, will meet on Wednesday, April 28, at 9:30AM in the 3rd Floor Council Committee Room to discuss the following items within the FY11 Operating Budget:

• Expedited Bill 12-10, Human Rights - Equal Employment Opportunity program

• FY11 Operating Budget
-- Human Rights Commission
-- Commission for Women
-- NDA: Historical Activities - Historical Society
-- DHHS: Children, Youth and Families

The following individuals are expected to attend:

• Judith Vaughan-Prather, Director, Commission for Women
• Ruby Marcelo, Budget and Legislative Specialist, Commission for Women
• Pooja Bharadwaja, Office of Management and Budget
• Debbie Rankin, Executive Director, Montgomery County Historical Society
• Jennifer Bryant, Office of Management and Budget

Please contact Saschane Stephenson, Legislative Aide for Health and Human Services, at 240-777-7963 (direct dial) or saschane.stephenson@montgomerycountymd.gov with any questions regarding this HHS Committee session.

The Trachtenberg Office Attends East County Citizens Advisory Board Meeting

Naomi Bloch represented the Trachtenberg office at last night’s meeting of the East County Citizens Advisory Board which took place at the East County Regional Services Center, located at 3300 Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904.

In addition to the regular monthly meeting, where any resident is invited to attend and present any of their concerns to the Board, there were also three separate speakers:

Mr. Jim Stowe, from the Montgomery County Office of the Human Rights Commission, presented information about the wide range of issues their office works on in order to help any county resident who believes that they may have been discriminated against. He explained that it is illegal in Montgomery County to discriminate against anyone based on: age, race, age, national origin; gender identity; physical or mental disability, just to name some of the areas that they work on. It is also illegal to discriminate against anyone in housing and real estate for any reason. Their office is located at:

21 Maryland Avenue
Suite 330
Rockville, MD 20850
Tel: 240-777-8450
TTY: 240-777-8480
FAX: 240-777- 8460
Website: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/humanrights/index.asp

The second speaker was Ms. Roylene Roberts from the Department of Community Affairs, who presented an update regarding the Burtonsville Revitalization plan. The plans mainly address façade upgrades and a general beautification of the central business areas including sidewalk upgrades, landscaping and an overall unification of the look visual esthetic including signs that would mark the boundaries of the town.

The final guest speaker was Ms. Joy Patil of the Third District, Department of Crime Prevention, Environmental Design program (CEPTED). Ms. Patil let the audience know that her office works with residents, businesses and designers in order to address the environmental aspects of making an area safe from where trees and shrubs are placed to lighting and the location of parking and traffic flow in and out of the area. This is a free service offered to anyone in the community and she invited people to contact her for more information and to make an appointment for an assessment of your property or to invite her to make a presentation to your organization.

Officer Joy b. Patil can be contacted at the following address and phone number:

Department of Police
3rd District
801 Silgo Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: 301.565.5762

The regular Board meeting took place after the speakers during which time updates were also given from the three Councilmember offices; Ms. Mara Parker, from Councilmember Elrich’s office; Miti Figueredo, from Councilmember Navarro’s office and Naomi Bloch from Councilmember Trachtenberg’s office.