Engaging the Community: County and State Town Hall Meeting Recap

June 18, 2024

I attended the District 2 County and District 15 State combined Town Hall which I thought was really interesting because it gave attendees a very clear definition of what is handled by the state and what is handled by the county for those that didn’t already know. It also gave attendees a chance to meet their representatives and each other.

The panel consisted of District 2 Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe, D15 State Senator Brian Feldman, D15 State Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo, D15 State Delegate Lily Qi, and D15 State Delegate Linda Foley (image below from Councilmember Balcombe’s X/Twitter post about the event):

Introductions

For the first part of the Town Hall, each panelist talked about what they have been working on, what bills and budgeting they got passed and what their priorities are going forward.

I did not take extensive notes during this time, but a lot of this information should be available on their websites and social media. This piece will focus on the community questions and the answers given. There was a lot of good information during this session and I will update this piece if the video is shared and/or share the video itself separately.

However, there were a few things very interesting to me that I thought our followers would be interested in as well.

First was Delegate Lily Qi talking about independent voter rights, and specifically HB257 which she sponsored this year which I testified virtually about in Annapolis. This bill would allow unaffiliated voters (independents) to affiliate with a party at an early voting center for a primary election so that they could vote for more than just the Board Of Education positions. This is even more important as a lot immigrants, young people, and those new to the area don’t understand the voting dynamics which prevent them from voting for a full ballot without affiliation. Currently, affiliation must be changed at least 21 days prior to the primary to do so.

Delegate Linda Foley talked about two things that are very much in line with some of our advocacy. She spoke about the creation of special elections and/or other voting reforms in place of our very undemocratic appointment process which has filled so many positions in our state legislature. This is especially poignant given that Delegate Foley was herself appointed. For the Montgomery County delegation in Annapolis, 35% of them were originally appointed. Early in the session it seemed like this year may be the one for election reform but it fell through in the end.

Delegate Foley also mentioned various efforts to help and support local news which you know we will be keeping an eye on.

They both mentioned needing help from people on these issues so if you are interested in advocating on any of them, I recommended to email and connect with their office as they always need more involved community members to testify.

Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo and others mentioned discussions about White’s Ferry which has been shut down for over 3 years and Delegate Foley mentioned the legislature setting aside $1 million ear marked for future years if a solution requires some money to make happen.

Questions from the Audience 

Q1: Esther Wells – asked about what it would take at the state level to make Board of Education (BOE) district members actually be elected by their district.

There was some agreement that the BOE should be the same as County Council rules for voters with district seats being voted in by district residents only. Senator Feldman mentioned possibility of a local Montgomery County state bill (vs for the full state of Maryland) and empathized with issues about the current process. They mentioned discussions and getting buy in from current BOE members. There was a proposal related to this in 2021 initiated by Delegate David Moon and sponsored by Delegate Brian Crosby (St. Mary’s County).

Q2: Paula Ross – asked about evolving conversation with Governor Moore on I270 ?

Delegate Foley said there is not a good feeling on that because we need a lot of funding and funding is currently constrained (a topic mentioned several times in the introductions). Not everyone is on the same page on the solution here. It’s on governor to continue having the conversation and figure out these projects.

Councilmember Balcombe said there is more consensus on the American Legion Bridge project in down county which could relieve some congestion in one direction and a project on 370 is in consideration. Difference of opinion between Rockville and Gaithersburg and it’s in the long range plan from council. Needs federal funding.

Senator Feldman – if you can’t get somewhere good luck growing the economy. GDP in Maryland is lagging Virginia, the national average and Pennsylvania. Upcounty is more receptive to 270 tolls and expansion projects and inside Montgomery County beltway area it’s all about mass transit.

Q3 – Ranked Choice Voting 

Senator Feldman – Cheryl Kagan has had legislation but no buy in from the House and the Governor took no position. Would be helpful for Governor to weigh in or get consensus from House and Senate. Still can’t figure out why the special elections bill didn’t pass. RCV had same issues. 

All 3 D15 house members said to be very in favor of special elections. 

Delegate Fraser-Hidalgo – someone who never raised money or knocked doors or ran (and the vast majority of people voting for them on MCDCC never lived in district) can do 3/4 years without being elected which is wrong.

Q4 Kathy from Germantown – Bike infrastructure – Germantown not pedestrian or bike friendly, and EV bike rebates

Delegate Foley – we spend a lot of time and energy on “the last mile”. Housing incentives will be helpful. Make sure that if we put in infrastructure it is safe to walk / bike. 

Councilmember Balcombe – One problem is they are retrofitting most of these. We added a lot of bike and pedestrian infrastructure to budget but the list is endless. In this area we need a much larger community voice asking for bikes. It’s an upcounty / down county issue as well. Just not hearing community ask for that.

Q5 Patty from Potomac – climate and data centers. Seeing stupendous sized buildings with no requirements for solar and geothermal energy on these buildings. Will be cheaper to create data center and better for environment.

Councilmember Balcombe – right now there is only 1 data center in Montgomery County for a long time. There is just one proposed data center at old Dickerson plant – public hearing for that later this year (planning board then council). Regular meetings about this one data center. Zoning doesn’t allow many in Montgomery County we just don’t have the land and space for it.

Delegate Fraser-Hidalgo – you’re 100% right and lots coming with changes in AI. We found a temporary compromise and push to next session for a long term solution. We’re on notice to address this issue but we didn’t have time to. Data centers also have astronomical power consumption. We need to make sure that companies pay for more energy too and not just pass that onto the consumers of electricity because demand went up because of data centers.

Delegate Qi – It is a whole conversation about how to do data centers right. Our job not to make economic development hard but to make sure that we still are responsible. We should also take lessons from Virginia.

Senator Feldman – we spent more time on this issue than any other issue. What we said to the data center in Frederick (that public service commission shut down) and Governor Moore came in and pushed back and legislature worked on a compromise on a complicated debate. These debates pit Economic development against environmental concerns. London County Virginia is the data center capital of the world.

Q6 Will Roberts from Clarksburg – on MARC train update

Delegate Foley: it was removed from budget but worked to get it back in budget. Should go forward as planned by legislative branch 2 years ago.

Councilmember Balcombe – adds about Boyd’s depot project to get people there on MARC

Q7 MVA virtual learning – Large presence inside and outside with lots of kids in attendance. Closing of virtual academy. Anne Arundel and Fredrick county committed to funding. MCPS said they would keep it in February but then changed mind. Families have different data than MCPS data. What is being done for a statewide program? Can county council provide supplemental funding.

Marilyn Balcombe – I can imagine how frustrating it’s been for you. County council does not make decisions on how the $ is spent. We provide funding, the BOE determines how to use it. We funded almost all of the request. If we funded the full amount MCPS asked, we wouldn’t have funded our fire department, health and human services, police department, or environmental programs. Happy to meet with you if a supplemental appropriation process was started.

Senator Feldman – there probably is a play at the state level for different places at a different spot. Need bridge funding to keep it going which would be a local issue. Could be a state wide solution in the future. 

Q8 Reproductive rights is on the ballot in November. It would include minors and puts puberty blockers on same stage as abortion and trying to understand why not allowing parental rights for this amendment.

Senator Feldman – you have every right to vote no. After Dodd, it was thrown back to the states and Maryland made the decision to allow people to decide with ballot amendment.

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