By Adam Pagnucco.
County Executive Marc Elrich has vetoed the county council’s appointment of James Hedrick to the planning board. Hedrick is a Democrat, a senior financial analyst with the Federal Housing Finance Agency and is chair of Rockville Housing Enterprises, the City of Rockville’s public housing agency. He ran for the Rockville City Council in 2019.
The council appointed Hedrick on an 8-3 vote. State law requires 9 votes from the council to override an executive veto of a planning board appointment. Let’s see if Hedrick’s supporters can pick up an extra vote.
This is not the first time an executive has vetoed a planning board appointment, but it’s an unusual event. The last planning board veto I know of occurred in 1986. That’s a great story that resulted in the rise of one of the most influential county leaders of the last 20 years, Nancy Floreen.
I don’t have a statement from the county executive’s office. But I have confirmed the veto with multiple sources and I have the statement below from Council President Evan Glass.
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Statement from Council President Glass on County Executive Elrich’s Disapproval of Planning Board Appointee James Hedrick
ROCKVILLE, Md., March 24, 2023—Montgomery County Council President Evan Glass made the following statement today in response to County Executive Marc Elrich’s disapproval of James Hedrick’s appointment to the Montgomery County Planning Board:
“I am disappointed that County Executive Elrich disapproved James Hedrick’s appointment to the Montgomery County Planning Board. Mr. Hedrick received affirmative votes from a supermajority of councilmembers to become a Planning Board member on Feb. 28. The Council will discuss County Executive Elrich’s decision on Tuesday, March 28 during our regularly scheduled meeting.”
“The Council takes the role of appointing individuals to the Planning Board extremely seriously. We will act swiftly and deliberatively, as we remain focused on maintaining the essential work of the Planning Board.”
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