By Adam Pagnucco.
Last month, I wrote a column decrying the county council’s recent practice of picking planning board members behind closed doors and noting that they were once picked in the open. The council then declared that they would use an open session to pick the next round of planning board members. They were true to their word today and debated their appointments openly, taking two split votes in deciding them. Regardless of what one thinks of the new board members, the adoption of this process was a good moment for the council.
Three seats were open, one each going to a Democrat, an unaffiliated voter and a Republicans.
For the Democratic seat, Council Member Andrew Friedson nominated James Hedrick, a financial analyst, chair of Rockville’s housing agency and former Rockville city council candidate. Council Member Sidney Katz seconded the nomination. Council Member Will Jawando nominated Cherrie Branson, a former Capitol Hill staffer, county procurement director and appointed council member who was appointed as a temporary board member. Council Member Laurie-Anne Sayles seconded the nomination. Hedrick won an 8-3 vote with Jawando, Sayles and Council Member Kristin Mink voting for Branson.
For the unaffiliated seat, Council Member Natali Fani-Gonzalez nominated Mitra Pedoeem, a former permitting director and parks staffer. No other nominations were made and Pedoeem was appointed unanimously.
The Republican seat had the only whiff of controversy. Council Member Gabe Albornoz nominated Shawn Bartley, an attorney and state board of education member. Mink seconded the nomination but mentioned “some concerns about social media.” More on that below. Council Member Dawn Luedtke nominated former state transportation secretary and attorney David Winstead and was seconded by Marilyn Balcombe. The vote was split 5-5, with Luedtke, Balcombe, Fani-Gonzalez, Katz and Friedson voting for Winstead and Albornoz, Mink, Jawando, Sayles and Evan Glass voting for Bartley. Kate Stewart abstained.
Stewart then said this:
I will change my vote to Mr. Bartley. I at first abstained because originally I was going to vote for Mr. Bartley but did have concerns as some of my colleagues have pointed out and did reflect on them. This was – as with other votes today – this was a tough decision. I respect very much my colleagues up here who are supporting Mr. Bartley and at the end of the day I will support him and believe that and hope that he works to build trust with all in our community and brings respect and honor to the position on the planning board.
Bartley was then appointed on a 6-5 vote.
What was the controversy about? Two weeks ago, Greater Greater Washington wrote the following about Bartley’s tweets:
In his interview with the County Council, he said “When we avoid questions and we avoid answering…questions, it gives the perception of not being transparent.” Bartley did in fact avoid answering our questions. We’re also curious about Bartley’s purported Twitter account, and if it is indeed his account, why someone asking eleven Democrats to appoint him to public office would say Democrats are “morons” who will “ruin our country” or boast that liberals got him kicked off Facebook.
I emailed Bartley requesting comment on these tweets and he did not respond.
Bartley has an impressive resume with a lot of community service, so I understand why some council members would support him. Jawando explicitly brought up racial diversity in making the case for him as Bartley is Black. It’s clear that the council knew about his tweets from their discussion and weighed them against his strong points. We shall see how Bartley does on the board, and if he turns out to be a problem, the council has recent experience in dealing with wayward planning board members.
I am concerned about Bartley. But it’s also important to recognize the council’s step forward on process. They discussed the relative merits of the planning board candidates without disparaging any of them. Every single council member acted like an adult. They took split votes without rancor. Their appointees all had valuable experience, including Bartley. And Rockville was not consumed by a volcano after the council session ended.
Transparency is a good thing. Let’s have more of the same!