September 18, 2024 • 48 mins
Curious about how AI can revolutionize local government? Join us in this episode of "What's Happening MoCo" as we sit down with Marc Elrich, the County Executive of Montgomery County, live from the MACo Conference in Ocean City, Maryland. Learn firsthand how attending these conferences can spark innovative ideas and collaborations. Marc shares his insights on the transformative power of AI technology in enhancing county operations and the inspiring innovation boot camps that empower frontline workers to propose impactful improvements.
Learn about Council Member Gabe Albornoz’s legislative journey, particularly his efforts to combat ghost guns, and Councilmember Dawn Lutke's support of an innovative "Drone as First Responder" program to improve public safety. Through personal anecdotes and professional insights, this episode promises a comprehensive overview of the people and initiatives steering Montgomery County toward a brighter future. Tune in to explore how local governance meets cutting-edge innovation and community well-being.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good day and welcome to what's Happening MoCo, an
authentic unscripted podcastfrom your Montgomery County
government.
Now here's your host, derekKenney.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good day and welcome to what's Happening, MoCo.
We have a very special guesthere at the MAKO Conference in
Ocean City, Maryland.
We're here with Mark Elridge,the leader for the county of
Montgomery County.
How are you doing, sir?
I'm fine, All right as countyexecutive.
Why is it important to come toconferences like MAKO and
connect with colleagues andpeers and leaders from across?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Maryland.
It's a combination of things.
I think all of us are dealingwith similar issues, and so you
get an opportunity to talk topeople about how they're dealing
with it, what they think aresolutions for them.
I spend a lot of time talkingto people who are either vendors
(00:59):
here, because we're looking forwhat new technology we can find
, what we can bring back to thecounty that would make us more
efficient, more productive.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So there's a lot here .
What type of technology haveyou seen so far that might have
potential?
Not necessarily the vendors,but type of technology.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, the stuff that's most interesting is
probably around the AI circle,because we're all going into AI.
The county's about to releaseits internal guidance for the
rules for the use of ai in thecounty, but they're amazing use
cases, and we're beginning tosee people talk about use cases
(01:37):
that actually make people moreproductive, get more accurate
information faster, the abilityto integrate data in a level
we've never been able to dobefore, so I can geek out on
this for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And you really can.
You seem to be an early adopterwhen it comes to new
technologies.
What are some of the ways youuse AI personally to help you be
more efficient?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Well, I've looked at.
I ask you questions like I lookat what are the best best
practices for procurement?
What are the I've asked ithousing questions?
Wow, we're working on redoingour solid waste facility.
We're going to be moving towardcollecting food waste, and so
(02:23):
I've been looking at digesterswhich you know what are the most
efficient digesters, or thedigesters yet that are doing
hydrogen, or are they justmethane right now?
So I'm trying to find outwhat's in the landscape out
there and then I can bringinformation to people in my
departments who can say.
(02:44):
So this is something you canfollow up on.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And not only are you embracing innovation and
technology when it comes to justliterally technology, software
solutions or computer learning,you also have an innovation boot
camp, so to speak, for thecounty.
Talk a little bit about that,and how is that helping improve
the work environment foremployees and departments?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
So we run these boot camps, so to speak, with county
employees.
They do it a couple times ayear and we put cohorts of 30 or
more people through these andbasically people are given the
opportunity to pick a problem intheir department that they know
is not efficient, that it couldbe improved, and then they
(03:29):
design improvements and thenthey present the improvements to
the group of innovators andalso to the departments
themselves.
So it's a way for us to use theknowledge that people on the
front lines of work get fromhaving the lived experience of
having to do the work and to seethem come up with solutions
that save time, make their jobsmore efficient.
(03:51):
So I've from the beginning feltthat we don't use frontline
workers enough.
We rely on people who don't dothe job every day.
But we've got people whoactually do the job every day
and they might have ideas on howto do it better.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, well, how about that?
It's a concept.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Look, I come out of.
I worked in a co-op and it wasa worker-managed co-op, so I've
seen what the benefits are ofworker management and giving
workers a greater role indetermining how you go about
your work processes, and I thinkit can work in what was a
private sector kind of entity.
I think it can work in a publicentity.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yes, certainly, certainly.
What other ways or what otherthings do you see on the horizon
in terms of your goals for thecounty coming into this new
fiscal year?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So one of the discussions I've had down here
is uh, the county, as we'reincreasing our waste recycling,
um has to deal with a better wayof dealing with plastics in
montgomery county.
So we have a coincidentinterest with the plastics
industry and the people who doall the bottling, because they
(05:03):
know that they're they're thetarget for the source of all
this waste.
Yeah, so they're beginning tomake changes and now is in their
interest to work with us tohelp us accumulate recycled
plastics, for example, so theycan use them to make the new
bottles.
So so there are, there arethings that I've talked about
(05:27):
with folks in the industry downhere, that kind of like the
discussion I couldn't have a fewyears ago kind of a recognition
that we're going to have tohave a collective participation
in the solution as opposed tojust the government doing it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Wow, so we have a little insight into the future
when it comes to collaborationand improving the recycling
processes and reducing theamount of plastics in our
environment and in our bodiesright.
I talked recently with theclimate officer for the county.
She's been here for about sevenmonths or so, or maybe ten
months.
What brought about the creationof that position, if it is new,
(06:06):
and then what do you envisionfor that to help us do in the
county?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
So it's not new.
It's new with my administrationand the goal is to help us
educate people about climatechange and things we need to do
in the county work withcommunity groups out there that
want to do education or want todo local projects help
(06:34):
accumulate information on whatyou know.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Kind of like me what are the new things you see?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
what's happening that ?
We haven't thought about doingbefore what's happening that we
haven't thought about doingbefore.
So she's a big part of makingit real for the public and also
giving people an opportunity tohave a role instead of just
being government-driven.
The most powerful spokespeople,for example, for why you should
put solar panels on, are notthe government.
(07:02):
They're people who've actuallyput solar panels on.
Your neighbor who walks out andshows you their Pepco bill
solar panels on, are not thegovernment?
They're people who've actuallyput solar panels on your
neighbor who walks out and showsyou their PEPCO bill.
My PEPCO bill is drasticallyreduced because I have solar
panels on my house.
I couldn't get a full load onbecause of the trees around me I
live off of Sligo Creek butit's a significant amount of
(07:23):
money that it saved me and thesethings will definitely pay for
themselves.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Shameless Blood.
Sligo Creek.
Sligo Creek Golf Course one ofthe best walkable courses in
Maryland, I would like to say,and I love that course, shout
out to Sligo Creek.
They've been doing a lot ofgreat things.
They fixed their driveway andthey're taking great treatment
of their courses.
So Sham, shameless plug.
You live in a great area, veryrich, full of foliage, and when
it comes to the environment, youare a man that embodies the
(07:49):
policies that you're putting outthere.
You mentioned that you have thesolar panels.
Yep, but do you also drive?
How do you?
I have an EV.
You have an EV car.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Okay, I have I changed my gas stove to an
induction stove.
Okay, I changed my gas stove toan induction stove.
I changed my water heater froma gas water heater to an
electric heat pump water heater.
I did all this in the last sixmonths I've got radiators.
I'm looking for an air to hotwater heat pump that I can heat
(08:22):
the water from my, the waterfrom my radiators and move that
and shut down that natural gasconsumer.
So I keep telling people.
If I'm telling people they needto do this, yeah, I kind of
have to do it myself, yeah, andyou are doing it yourself, which
I think says a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It's not do, do I say not as I do it's.
It's setting an example fromthe top so the people can see
that you know you asked me toinvolve residents, including the
county executive.
What is it that you would likepeople to know?
I think people are aware ofsome of your policies and some
of the initiatives that you'vewritten, but you're also a very
interesting person that has alot of love for Montgomery
(08:58):
County, maryland.
What are some of the thingsthat you love most about the
county?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Some of the things that you love most about the
county.
So you know, I grew up in DCuntil I was 10.
And I came to the county around1960.
So I've been here 65 years.
It's frightening to say I'vebeen here a long time and I
always felt I have traveledpretty much all the lower 48
states.
I've been to some of myfavorite theoretical cities like
(09:31):
Boston, new York, san Francisco, denver.
There's still no place likethis area and there's something
cosmopolitan about it.
There's something about theamount of information that's
available here, the wealth ofnot just different cultures, but
you know it's.
It has a vibrant musical scene,not just the county but beyond
the county.
You can live here and you getthat.
(09:52):
I grew up in the days whenmontgomery county didn't have
bars and had nothing open after12 so I did all my nightlife in
dc or northern Virginia, but Istill came back here and to me
there's no place else in thecountry where you get news the
way you get it in DC, and when Iwas away I'd always feel like I
(10:14):
don't want to be away fromWashington because I want to
know what's going on in theworld and I always feel when I'm
here you're connected into allthat.
It's important.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Speaking of being connected to the world, you've
been taking a few trips to shareand learn.
Share about what you do inMontgomery County, but also
learn from other municipalitiesacross the world.
Where have you gone and whathave you learned from some of
those peers across the world?
Speaker 3 (10:39):
So we went to Taiwan first last year and the first
thing that struck us was thelevel of technological
implementation that doesn'texist here.
And you see, all the thingsthat they're doing the sensors
and the ability to detect floods, which we're now doing but all
(11:00):
these things that they are verymuch on the cutting edge of, but
all these things that they arevery much on the cutting edge of
.
We've done a lot of meetingswith people around biotech and
so what we've found which wekind of knew, which is why we
went over there is that everycountry wants to get into the US
market.
So if you've got a drug or amedical device, you want it here
(11:24):
.
Because even in China, which isanother place we went, even
though there are multiples ofour size, the market is actually
larger.
There's more disposable incomehere.
There's more money available tobuy things that people need
(11:44):
here in Montgomery County.
So people want to get throughFDA, which is here.
They like the idea of havingNIH as a resource.
We're the third largest lifesciences center.
There is a whole lot of stuffabout Montgomery County that
makes it important to otherpeople and we've not been well
known.
We've not really haven't hadmuch of an international
(12:04):
presence.
By comparison, fairfax Countyhas not only an international
presence.
They have people who work forthe county in economic
development.
They have seven of themoverseas in Asia and Europe.
So we're just scratching thesurface of what we need to do.
I keep telling people there's alot of stuff that Fairfax does
(12:26):
right.
We need to replicate it.
Because you can't look at theirsuccess and then ignore what
they've done to be successful.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And we can implement some of those things and do it
even better.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So you asked where else we went.
So after Taiwan last spring ayear ago we went to India and
Vietnam and so we've gotrelationships there with some of
the universities.
We've had companies alreadycome over from India so we're
already trying to get startupsover here.
Then last spring, this spring,we went back to Taiwan and
(13:04):
continued to meet with people,met with the universities there.
Two universities are interestedin getting space near the
Institute for Health Computingbecause they want to tie into
that.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
And then we went to South Korea and China, wow, okay
, and we found companies in bothplaces that are interested in
expanding here.
So one company we met withwhich had research in Montgomery
County, is now going to bringmanufacturing to Montgomery
County.
So, we've talked to companiesabout, you know, adding
manufacturing to things theywant to do here.
(13:41):
So you get an idea where we'rebasically trying to market the
strengths of this county andtake them international the
things they want to do here.
So you get an idea where we'rebasically trying to market the
strengths of this county andtake them international.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So we've talked a bit about economic development,
technology, talking aboutemployees, efficiencies,
innovation.
What are some of the otherpassions that you have in terms
of this next coming year?
What are some of the otherareas that you're looking at
improving around the county?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
The big elephant in the room is our transportation
system, metro.
You know it's important forMontgomery County because it
takes people ultimately into theDC, but our internal
transportation, in terms of howyou move through the county, is
a lot weaker.
And we have really a largeride-on system but it's stuck in
(14:32):
traffic all the time so it'sessential for people to use, but
we could build a moresufficient system.
So we've been working towardbuilding bus rapid transit.
We're starting to get it lookslike some of the first federal
money which we should be gettingready for and we're working on.
you know, my goal is to changethe tax structure on commercial
(14:55):
property in Montgomery County,the one that's more like
Virginia's and less.
What we do today.
Theirs actually raises moremoney for the county than
anything we do.
Their counties are bathed inmoney from their special taxing
districts.
People always say MontgomeryCounty is a high-tax place.
That's like totalmisinformation.
(15:15):
If you're a private developerand you're in Fairfax County in
Tyson's Corner, your propertytaxes are $1.52.
They're $1.04 over here, Okay.
You know it's like they havereally strong tax programs and
they use the money to buildinfrastructure.
And all this was supported bythe developers because they
(15:36):
needed infrastructure.
They couldn't do thedevelopment they wanted to do
without it.
So their tax dollars make itpossible.
They don't use the money, can'tuse it for schools, can't use
it for social programs.
It has to be focused oninfrastructure and we want the
ability to do the same thinghere.
And Maryland doesn't allowcounties to have that authority.
Municipalities have theauthority, counties don't have
(15:58):
the authority.
So we're trying to get to thepoint that we're able to raise
money more effectively, not putourselves in a situation where
we always have to increase taxeson residents, because there are
paths forward where we don'tincrease taxes on residents.
We have some proposals thatmight actually reduce taxes.
So we're looking to try to makeit a fairer tax system and a
(16:22):
more productive tax system Allright.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Well, thank you so much for being here.
I know you have a busy schedulehere at the MAKO conference as
you take a step away.
Is there anything else thatyou'd like just to say to John Q
Montgomery, average resident,as you look forward into the
FY25 or the calendar?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
year 25?
.
I think you know the county'sdoing a lot of stuff that it
hadn't done before.
We're much more aggressive onthe economic development front.
We're really aware that youcannot have more good things
unless you generate the revenuesto have those good things.
And you know the least painfulway to generate revenues is to
(17:03):
bring about economic growth here.
But we're really focused.
You know the least painful wayto generate revenues is to bring
about economic growth here, butwe're really focused.
You know it's not just anotherbuilding and another business.
We're looking for businessesthat bring decent wages and
opportunities for people,because the last thing I need to
do is subsidize low-wageemployers.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And that's what's happening at MoCo County
Executive Elrich is doing greatthings for the residents and
here at the MAKO Conference torecharge, refocus and move
forward, with great things tocome from Montgomery County,
Maryland.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Thank you, sir.
That's the plan.
All right, thank you what.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Good day and welcome back to what's Happening, moco.
We are still at the MAKOConference, ocean City, maryland
, and we are here with no oneother the council member, gabe
Albinos.
How are you today, sir?
I'm good, derek, it's great tosee you again.
All right, great seeing you aswell, and I love social media
because it allows me to be a flyon the wall and see people
(18:00):
enjoying their lives.
And I know this recently thatyou were able to go out and
enjoy the county's treasure, theMontgomery County Agricultural
Fairground.
How was your?
Speaker 5 (18:09):
experience there.
It was fabulous.
So I was born and raised inMontgomery County, so I've been
going to that event since I wasfive years old.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
And now.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
To be able to extend the tradition with my kids is
just couldn't be more special,and it just it gets better and
better every year and it makesme so proud of our community
here in Montgomery CountyWonderful.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
And now we're at the MAKO conference, so your work
hat's back on.
You're refocused and you'rere-energizing and learning best
practices, I'd assume, towardssome of the things you want to
achieve in the future.
What are some of the thingsthat you're discussing with your
peers and colleagues fromacross the state as it relates
to your function as a councilmember?
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Absolutely so.
I have the honor and pleasureof serving as chair of the
Health and Human ServicesCommittee, and so a lot of my
policy focus areas cross overinto public health, and we have
no shortage of public healthchallenges here in the state of
Maryland or in our country or,frankly, in the world right now.
But one of the major issues thatwe're trying to tackle
collectively as a state isemergency weight room times.
(19:12):
Sadly, the state of Maryland is50th out of 50 states in how
long it takes for our residentsand constituents to have to wait
in emergency rooms before theyare seen, and that, of course,
has a cascading effect overallon public health, and sadly,
montgomery County has thelongest wait room times within
(19:34):
the state, and so it's acomplicated issue.
We have six amazing hospitalsthat do really great work, but
they don't have enough bedcapacity.
They're facing staffingshortages, and this is an issue
that we're going to have totackle holistically if we're
going to make a dent.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Wow, wow.
So what do you see as the firststep as HHS?
Chair of the HHS committee,what do you see as your first
step moving forward as wereconvene in?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
September.
So there's a lot of littlesteps and then some big steps
that we're going to have to take.
Some of the little steps are weneed to take better advantage
of telehealth.
We need to work with ourprimary care providers to make
sure that they are fully staffedand that they're being staffed
more than just five days perweek, so that they don't have to
turn patients to the emergencyroom to receive care, and a lot
(20:28):
of what we're seeing is ouruninsured or underinsured
population that are being sentto the emergency rooms for
issues that aren't reallyemergencies, and so that's
taking up bed capacity.
So that's the first thing thatwe need to do is help make sure
that our primary care providersor staff the way they need to be
to handle things on the frontline, and that we are all taking
(20:49):
better advantage of technology.
But beyond that, one of thebiggest issues that is causing
this challenge is mental health.
A lot of people who are havingmental health crises are turning
to emergency rooms and, becausethere are not enough treatment
beds across the state, they arestaying in those emergency rooms
(21:09):
for sometimes days at a time,and that's taking up capacity
too.
So that's an issue that we haveto work on with the state.
That's a big issue that we'regoing to have to tackle, but it
will be important.
And then the other significantchallenge is staffing concerns.
We are still experiencingstaffing shortages at the
nursing and at the doctor level,and that doesn't even take into
(21:32):
account the culturallyappropriateness of that care.
So we have to continue to workwith our local universities,
montgomery College and otherprofessional institutes to train
and hire more of these medicalprofessionals, and we've got to
make sure they're paid well.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yeah, adequate pay is a great motivator.
Oh, yes, adequate pay is agreat motivator.
On the other side of the coin,from the slowness or, I guess,
the wait times that we have inthe emergency rooms, the quality
of care, I guess, or thequality of health in the county
is pretty good.
Yes, the county has beenrecognized as one of the
(22:08):
healthiest in the state Yep,well, it's not the healthiest in
the state and perhaps also oneof the healthiest in the state
Yep, if not the healthiest inthe state, then perhaps also one
of the healthiest in thecountry.
Yeah, what do you attributethat distinction for, the
Montgomery County being one ofthe healthiest?
Speaker 5 (22:23):
So I think it's a few things.
One, we do have a very strongpublic health infrastructure.
In addition to the sixhospitals.
Montgomery County has been veryprogressive in providing health
insurance to the uninsuredwithin our county and that, I
think, has made a difference.
We also have a big emphasis onprevention and overall health
and wellness.
We invest a lot of time andenergy and resources in our park
(22:46):
system, our recreationdepartment, libraries.
Those all contribute to publichealth and I think need to be
seen that way.
So those are.
We also work hard to make surethat the services that are
provided are culturallyappropriate, so that we're
meeting residents where they are.
That's another critical factorthat I think is important.
(23:08):
But despite how well we'redoing, we know that there's
still pockets of our communitythat are not doing as well and
that unfortunately,disproportionately impacts the
black and brown community and,in particular, our black
community, and that's somethingthat we as a county we're going
to have to tackle.
Dr Keisha Davis, our publichealth officer, who is
(23:30):
tremendously talented we are sofortunate to have her here in
our community.
She's been doing some reallygreat work very progressive work
, very innovative work in thatspace, and so I think we're
going to start bending the curveand some of these key health
indicators soon, but we're goingto have to keep working at it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
All right.
So HHS is is more.
As you mentioned a little bitearlier, there's a lot more than
physical health.
It's also behavioral health andthere's other elements.
Uh, to hhs as well, what otherareas are you?
Um, are some things that you'vebeen proud of that you've
accomplished over the last year?
Uh, what are some things thatyou're looking at targeting?
Uh moving forward aside fromthe weight room.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
So the other big concern I think all of us have
right now are our kids, ourchildren and youth.
You know the mental healthchallenges facing our country
have disproportionately impactedour young people and, as the
former director of theRecreation Department, this is
an area that's near and dear tomy heart and I'm now on the
Education and Culture Committeeon the council, so I am excited
(24:35):
about the.
I recently had the opportunityto meet the new superintendent
of Montgomery County PublicSchools, dr Thomas Taylor.
I was immensely impressed byhim and I think he has a strong
and exciting vision for how toaddress the myriad of needs
within our system, for how toaddress the myriad of needs
within our system.
So I'm spending a lot of timeand energy making sure that our
(24:57):
school system and our kids havewhat they need to reach their
full potential.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And how important is it?
You mentioned the collaborationearlier, Even as a member of
the education committee.
How important is thecollaboration between council
and other entities within thecounty to affect?
Speaker 5 (25:14):
change Absolutely.
It's actually the favorite partof my job.
So, you know the council.
It's interesting, it's when youthink about it.
It's sort of the intersectionof the public, private,
nonprofit sectors.
And you know, by by virtue ofwhere we sit and the vision that
we have of the county, we'reable to really see things and
(25:37):
where the holes are.
And by virtue of not justseeing where things are, we're
actually in a position to beable to do something about it.
But we have to do thatcollaboratively and creatively,
because no one organization orinstitution or agency is going
to solve all of our challenges.
No one organization orinstitution or agency is going
to solve all of our challenges.
I learned a long time ago weall can't do everything, but
each of us can do something toaddress the issues in our
(25:59):
community.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
All right, Now you mentioned something interesting
earlier, that you were thedirector for Recreation
Department.
Not to be confused, it's notParks and Recreation, it's
Recreation right.
That's right.
At what point in your serviceas director of the Parks and
Recreation Department did youthink that you needed to
transition and move on to publicoffice?
Speaker 5 (26:22):
So, as much as I loved working in the executive
branch and I miss the executivebranch from time to time, but I
think I realized that for truesystem-wide change and
sustainable system-wide change,it's really at the policy level
where you've got the best shotat making that larger systemic
change.
And I wanted to take all of theexperiences that I'd drawn as a
(26:46):
public official, as a residentof this county, my entire life,
as the son of immigrants workingin the public, private and
nonprofit sectors.
I wanted to take all of thoseexperiences, both professional,
personal and civic, and applythem to my work as a legislator.
And that's what I try to doevery day.
And I also try to just listen,because I certainly don't have
(27:07):
all the solutions None of us dobut I think it's really
important for us toauthentically engage with the
community and meet them wherethey are and then bring that
information back as apolicymaker Awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Now, speaking of policy, you've spearheaded a few
policies or legislative actionsduring your tenure as a council
member.
One of those was, I think,trying to reduce the amount of
ghost guns in the area yes.
One of those was, I think,trying to reduce the amount of
ghost guns in the area.
Yes, what's a ghost gun, andhow did that come about?
Speaker 5 (27:56):
I still find that interesting that that was
something we had to deal with,which a 16-year-old boy used a
ghost gun to murder in broaddaylight in front of his brother
, a young man in front of thePlumgar Community Center, and at
that point I had heard of thoseguns but I didn't know very
much about them, and I wasshocked when I learned more
about them that these are, youknow, weapons that you can buy
online.
(28:16):
At the time they were almostcompletely unregulated and
basically what happens is itcomes as a kit and you put it
together, has no serial number,it's mostly made out of plastic
and so isn't easily tracked bymetal detectors, and they're not
terribly expensive.
So, kids were getting theirhands on these weapons and just
(28:40):
easily assembling them and theyare lethal.
So luckily the federalgovernment, through an executive
order by the president, put apause or a halt on some of the
manufacturing, the marketing ofthis at the national level.
But before that happened wewere the first local
jurisdiction to ban them and wedid that through a zoning text
(29:01):
amendment kind of creatively,legislatively, and then six
months later the state bannedthem and then the federal
government Now, but it is justan executive order at the
federal level.
So but it really needs to bemade a law.
There's these.
These weapons have no businessin our communities.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Now, as you go forward into this next
legislative year, I want to callit in service as a council
member.
What do you, what do you, whatare you looking for from
residents in terms ofinformation, feedback, or what
can residents do to support yourwork as a council member in
service to them?
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Absolutely so well.
First, we strongly encourageresidents to sign up for one of
the many boards and commissionswe have at the county level.
We need your voices and we needa diverse set of perspectives.
That's important.
I would also say coming totestify before the council on
matters that are important toyou.
It's never been more easierthan it is now to testify before
(30:00):
the council.
You can do it online and fromhome, and I also think engaging
and actively participating incommunity meetings, civic
association meetings, beinginformed, I think is important.
I often give the correlation,more often than not, the most
successful schools have veryengaged parents.
(30:21):
The same is true of a community.
The most successful communitieshave very engaged constituents
and we've had that for manyyears in the county, but we got
to keep that going.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
All right, all right.
Now, as we close out, is thereany last words you'd like to
share about Councilmember GabeAlbinol that maybe someone
doesn't know?
Any interesting facts or thingsthat you think might help
people better understand who youare?
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Sure, well, I am the proud son of immigrants and, uh,
I've lived in the county mywhole life, uh, and I'm proud to
be raising four children herein montgomery county.
My, my wife is also, uh wasborn in montgomery county as
well.
Uh, we live.
Her three younger sisters alllive within a half a mile from
us and my in-laws live threedoors from us, so this is home.
(31:09):
Uh, it always will be, and I'mgonna do everything I can to
make it the wonderful place it'sbeen for me but for future
generations.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Right, and that's what's happening.
Moco family first, a greatplace to live for now and for
future generations to come.
Thank you, Council Member GabeAlvin, for also being here.
Thanks for all you do too, myfriend.
Thank you, Appreciate it Todaywith what's Happening MoCo.
We are at the MAKO Conference,Ocean City, Maryland, and we're
(31:36):
here with none other thanCouncilmember Dawn Lutke.
How are you today?
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Outstanding All right .
Speaker 2 (31:43):
It's wonderful having you here, thank you and it's
great to see you outside of thecounty doing more.
As you continue doing this, Iwant to call this the offseason.
Yes, you know, professionalathletes have an off-season.
They're charged with improvingtheir ability to do their jobs
on the field more efficiently,and I guess your attendance at
(32:04):
the MAKO conference can be nodifference.
How would you describe whatyou've learned so far at the
MAKO conference?
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Well, I love coming to the MAKO conferences because
each time I attend I'm meetingnew people.
And I know that sounds hard,because you're thinking, aren't
you all electives and you'refrom these counties.
But each time you end upconnecting with someone in one
of the presentations you're inwho you might not have met
before, and you then recognizeyou all are sharing a common
interest or you're talkingthrough things that are of a
(32:32):
concern to them.
And certainly this year it wasextra fun because I got to be a
presenter, which I enjoyed.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Now, you said you were a presenter.
What were you presenting about?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Sure, we were talking about our drone as first
responder program that we havein Montgomery County and also
about the importance of privacyprotections that need to come
along with that from a legalstandpoint.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Well, let's talk about that.
What is the drone program?
What is it meant to do?
And then, what are the concernsregarding privacy that you are
addressing?
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Sure so with respect to privacy and the use of
unmanned aerial, unmannedaircraft right.
So a drone is an unmannedaircraft.
Folks have always been wary andthere's a series of cases from
the United States Supreme Courtover time and from our federal
district courts related to useof technology and how that plays
into the Fourth Amendment rightand the privacy rights that we
have as citizens under theFourth Amendment.
(33:31):
But the drone for you know, invery late, late person's terms,
the drone that we have ascitizens under the Fourth
Amendment.
But the drone for you know, invery late person terms, the
drone that we have here inMontgomery County.
We're drones, there's more thanone.
They are set to serve specificgeographic areas and they are
only deployed for a call forservice, for certain types of
calls that come in via 911 toour emergency call center.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And so they're supposed to help law enforcement
do their job better.
Yes, how are they being used?
I think I know, but I thinkit's good for the residents to
know how they're being used.
They're not armed or anything.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
How are they being used to help the police
department or whomever?
Speaker 4 (34:11):
So I think you know sometimes we say eye in the sky,
right.
So if you've gotten a call forservice and you know what
address it is at, the drone isable to get there faster than
patrol officers.
Most of the time, in fact, thestats that we showed during the
presentation demonstrated thatour drone is able to get there
(34:33):
in typically under 60 seconds,whoa.
So once the drone is on site,often what the caller is
relaying to 911 is what theyhave seen or perceived, but
they're talking about it.
It's already happened and theperson may be moving.
The drone is able to get visualon them and help update patrol
officers as to where thesuspects movements actually are
(34:56):
going, because it's only seeingoutside, right.
So it's only capturing thingswhich are outside or visible
from outside, and then it's ableto better identify what type of
response is actually needed byour officers.
Or in some cases where theremight be a call saying someone
possesses a weapon, yeah we'vehad it happen where the drone
(35:17):
goes there and is able to honein.
It's not a weapon.
In one case, it was a cellphone oh gosh right and so if
somebody perceives a weapon,says it's a weapon.
The call center is relying uponwhat the feedback is they're
getting, but the drone canverify.
That's actually not right.
So this might be a welfarecheck situation because they
were gesturing with it in a waythat looked threatening.
(35:39):
But it was a phone, not a gun.
Oh wow, right.
And so, instead of policeofficers coming in anticipating
an armed individual, they'reanticipating a situation that
may be chaotic, but it's not anecessarily yeah, not even a
chaotic, just a hey, let's checkon that person and see if he or
she may need some other help,right?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Technology, like we're using technology to better
public safety for residents inthe county.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
How do you find this to be a best practice?
Now We've started in thecounties, is this going to be
something that's going to beused in other jurisdictions
around Maryland?
Speaker 4 (36:17):
So there were a lot of questions and a lot of
interest from otherjurisdictions at the session and
I will tell you that ourdepartment has been getting lots
of requests to you know.
Talk about what we're doingsharing with other jurisdictions
around the country.
So we're we are not the firstdepartment to do this.
(36:37):
We are, however, the largestjurisdiction in the United
States to have it.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
So that's one major thing.
I've seen quite a bit of newsthat's warranted about the drone
program, but there's otherprograms that may not have
gotten as much notice andnotoriety, or things that you've
helped to affect in terms ofpolicy over the past few years.
So what are some of the thingsthat you're proud of that you've
been a part of this lastlegislative session?
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Sure.
So I'm very proud of the bill Iintroduced about our crisis
intervention team and itsresponses.
Responses and, as a result ofthe introduction of the bill,
some of the stuff that wasalready organically happening
between our Department of Healthand Human Services, behavioral
Health Services and our policedepartment took a speed up right
(37:23):
.
They started working a littlefaster on some of the things,
because we do, here in Maryland,have a crisis intervention team
center of excellence within thegovernor's Office of Crime
Prevention and you know theyhave set policy goals for the
state.
We're trying to make sure we'regoing to get there too, and
this is a CIT, is acollaborative, interdisciplinary
(37:44):
process and it's one part ofthe larger, bigger, broader
landscape of mental behavioralhealth services that we can
provide in the county.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
That's great.
So you're talking about beingable to collaborate between two
of the larger departments in thecounty, that being the police
department and HHS.
Yes, how important is it forcounty departments because the
county is kind of big tocollaborate or to find synergy
in certain areas to be moreefficient in service?
Speaker 4 (38:13):
I think and this is my perspective from coming to
the county from state governmentright.
So I spent nine years in theexecutive branch at state
government, I very much view thecomplexity of the problems that
are facing our residents today,facing our county, our state,
the nation are best served bythat interdisciplinary work
(38:34):
because there is no one entitythat's going to tackle the
underlying problem, and so themore you're able to listen to
someone else in a differentdepartment or division who
brings a different lens andexpertise to the problem, the
better solution you're going toaffect overall.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Wow, fantastic, fantastic.
So this is the time of year Iactually ran across you.
A going to affect overall.
Wow, fantastic, fantastic.
So this is the time of year.
I actually ran across you acouple weeks ago, maybe no
earlier this week actually.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
At the fair Earlier this week at the fair.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
It's one of my favorite things to talk about
and one of my favorite things togo in August, Nine best days of
summer.
What were you doing there?
Because there's a certain thingthat I guess local politicians
and other leaders and members ofthis community are able to do.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
Sure, but I find it very cool.
What were you there doing?
And then, what else did you dothat day?
Yeah, so I my district covershalf of our agricultural reserve
in Montgomery County andCouncil Member Balcombe covers
the other half in her districtand Council Member Balcombe
covers the other half in herdistrict.
But also, I mean, I grew upgoing to the summer fairs right,
(39:39):
not here in Maryland, Iactually grew up in New Jersey,
but my mom's family is fromHarrington, delaware, home of
the Delaware State Fair.
So I would go down there everysummer and spend that time with
my aunt and my cousins and mygrandmother and spend two weeks
trotting around the DelawareState Fair.
So I love the fair.
This year on Sunday there'salways a 4-H parade as a part of
(40:03):
the fair in the opening weekend, and so I was there for that,
along with some of my colleaguesand our counterparts within the
city of Gaithersburg.
But my family was there too,riding rides.
They went on every spinny ridethat you could go on.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yeah, all the ones that make you sick, yeah, until
they were green.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
Yeah, once the kids were green, we said I think it's
time to go, and we all had funGet up nice and tired.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Take them home and have a relaxing evening.
Now, speaking of green, what inthe Ag Reserve?
What are some of the focuseswhen it comes to the Ag Reserve
or the agribusiness inMontgomery County?
Speaker 4 (40:44):
Sure, so I think you know our farmers, our producers
up in the reserve are incrediblyeager to work with our county
and with us.
We had a bill this year thathad come up about agritourism,
and Council Member Balcom and Isort of offered a counterpoint
(41:07):
which ended up being the waythat the body went with and that
will allow for overnight staysin the ag reserve on only on
properties in the reserve thatare actively farmed.
So it has to be not just in theag reserve but it has to be an
active farm and folks will beable to camp there.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Wow, amazing, yes, amazing.
So they get the full farmexperience?
Yes, but then also just have anice leisurely vacation style
experience yeah, in theMontgomery County Railroad.
It's another part of MontgomeryCounty right um.
So what do you want to see umfrom residents, or what do you
want to see as kind of likegoals for this next next session
(41:49):
?
Speaker 4 (41:50):
sure?
Um well, I think there's.
There's a couple of parts,right, you may be talking about
the council's work, and thenthere's also, of course, the
state legislative session, andyou know, I very much view it as
a part of my role to helpadvocate for things at the state
level, because we have limitedauthority delegated to us as the
(42:12):
local legislative body underour charter government.
The state has the primaryauthority in a lot of other
areas, but that doesn't meanthey're not important to my
constituents, that they're notcoming to me about them.
So one of those is, of course,traffic safety.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
And so there was a bill last year that Delegate
Wims, greg Wims and SenatorNancy King had put in about
aggressive driving aggressive,reckless and negligent driving.
I want to get them all in andit ended up not moving, but it
was just sort of later in thesession when it was introduced.
And so again in that off season, now has been the time to have
(42:49):
those conversations and figureout how to make it better and
also how to educate some otherlawmakers in advance of session
about what it is, what they'reseeking to do and how to help
and you know I'm there to helpmy state partners in any way
they can in order to help getthis across the finish line.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
So I don't think many people were aware that councils
role in advocating to movepolicy at a state level and how
that helps residents locally yes, that's very interesting are
there other instances of that?
Or are there how frequently?
Is that like just a common partof what you see as a job?
Speaker 4 (43:26):
I think it's a common part of what I see as my job
and I very much believe it's apart of my responsibility as an
elected official and also assomeone based on my background
is to help people understand therole of local government, the
role of state government, evenhow local government in its
individual departments functionsRight.
(43:48):
So you know, lay people don'talways know what is the.
What is the Maryland NationalCapital Park and Plant Like?
How does that work?
What is a by-county agency?
right Now here we are using allthe government terms, but we
really do also need to be moremindful that what is the lexicon
of a local elected official ora state official may not be what
(44:08):
, like my mom or dad, would knowright, and I want to be there
to answer their questions and tohelp break it down so that they
have the tools that they needin order to advocate for
themselves and feel empowered todo so.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
All right.
All right, so thank you for allthe great information, and
you're now basically on recess.
Yes, but is that you're workingthough?
Yes, you're on recess, you'rethe active council duties, but
you're still working.
You're here at the microconference.
You're still working.
Does the work ever stop?
Do you guys get a break forcouncil?
Speaker 4 (44:46):
No, so recess really just means we don't have
hearings.
Okay, it doesn't mean we're notworking.
And so you know, I feelcompelled to share that because
I wouldn't want somebody tothink that I wasn't working.
Then again, anybody who knowsme well knows I'm always on in
that way, right?
So even if I try to turn it off, it's very hard, and I don't
(45:11):
mean that in a bad way, in apositive way.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
I'm always attuned yeah, you're constantly serving
and you're serving the residentsof the county.
You have a mission to perform,but you also have work-life
balance yes okay, we don'tnecessarily talk about that, but
I think it's good for people toknow that you are, you know,
taking care of yourself, thatyou have a life beyond counsel.
I don't talk about it becausewe respect your privacy.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
No, no, you know what .
One of the best things as anelected official that you can do
is be normal Right, like I ammom, I am out getting my
groceries.
I run into folks in the grocerystore who have things they want
to stop and talk to me about.
So sometimes grabbing a milkmight take a little bit longer
because I run into people.
(45:56):
Um, but the things that I hearand the concerns that people
raise, whether it's sitting onthe sidelines at my kids
lacrosse game or whether it's,you know, some of the kids
themselves have their own thingsthey want to ask questions
about and share.
Um, or like I work with ourlocal Scouts troop.
I'm a merit badge counselor,but you know they all have as
(46:18):
part of their first class rankrequirement where they have to
go talk to an elected official,and you know it's kind of
comical because their troop hasan adult there who fits that
description, so they don't haveto do much logistically to make
that happen.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
That's a great benefit, and the scouts are
definitely a great resource forraising and rearing young men
and women.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Fantastic resource.
As we close out, is thereanything that you would want to
say to residents, including howthey get in touch with you and
when they should try to get intouch with you?
As we close out these episodes,sure, sure.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Well, there's never a bad time to reach out, and so
my email address iscouncilmemberludke L-U-E-D-T-K-E
at montgomerycountymdgov.
And reach out to us anytime.
I do not do this alone.
I have a fantastic team that Iwork with, so I do want to shout
out to my chief of staff, aaronKraut, who's actually here at
(47:15):
MAKO with me, my deputy chief ofstaff, sarah Wolf, my senior
legislative aide, carolineDavenport, and our front of
house guru, doug Wallach, whoactually worked with me at the
AG's office before I came tocouncil.
So we have a great fun.
I like to think we're a funoffice and we're there for you
whenever you need us.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
All right, so there you have it.
Dawn Luthke, council member,mom, team leader, with an
awesome team behind her.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
That's what's happening in MoCo.
Thanks for listening to what'sHappening, MoCo.
Please subscribe via yourfavorite podcasting platform and
follow us on Facebook.
This podcast is brought to youby County Cable Montgomery, your
source for news and informationfrom the Montgomery County
government.
Connect with us via cable,Facebook, Instagram or YouTube
(48:09):
by searching for County CableMoCo.
Good day and welcome to what's Happening MoCo, an
authentic unscripted podcastfrom your Montgomery County
government.
Now here's your host, derekKenney.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good day and welcome to what's Happening, MoCo.
We have a very special guesthere at the MAKO Conference in
Ocean City, Maryland.
We're here with Mark Elridge,the leader for the county of
Montgomery County.
How are you doing, sir?
I'm fine, All right as countyexecutive.
Why is it important to come toconferences like MAKO and
connect with colleagues andpeers and leaders from across?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Maryland.
It's a combination of things.
I think all of us are dealingwith similar issues, and so you
get an opportunity to talk topeople about how they're dealing
with it, what they think aresolutions for them.
I spend a lot of time talkingto people who are either vendors
(00:59):
here, because we're looking forwhat new technology we can find
, what we can bring back to thecounty that would make us more
efficient, more productive.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So there's a lot here .
What type of technology haveyou seen so far that might have
potential?
Not necessarily the vendors,but type of technology.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, the stuff that's most interesting is
probably around the AI circle,because we're all going into AI.
The county's about to releaseits internal guidance for the
rules for the use of ai in thecounty, but they're amazing use
cases, and we're beginning tosee people talk about use cases
(01:37):
that actually make people moreproductive, get more accurate
information faster, the abilityto integrate data in a level
we've never been able to dobefore, so I can geek out on
this for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And you really can.
You seem to be an early adopterwhen it comes to new
technologies.
What are some of the ways youuse AI personally to help you be
more efficient?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Well, I've looked at.
I ask you questions like I lookat what are the best best
practices for procurement?
What are the I've asked ithousing questions?
Wow, we're working on redoingour solid waste facility.
We're going to be moving towardcollecting food waste, and so
(02:23):
I've been looking at digesterswhich you know what are the most
efficient digesters, or thedigesters yet that are doing
hydrogen, or are they justmethane right now?
So I'm trying to find outwhat's in the landscape out
there and then I can bringinformation to people in my
departments who can say.
(02:44):
So this is something you canfollow up on.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And not only are you embracing innovation and
technology when it comes to justliterally technology, software
solutions or computer learning,you also have an innovation boot
camp, so to speak, for thecounty.
Talk a little bit about that,and how is that helping improve
the work environment foremployees and departments?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
So we run these boot camps, so to speak, with county
employees.
They do it a couple times ayear and we put cohorts of 30 or
more people through these andbasically people are given the
opportunity to pick a problem intheir department that they know
is not efficient, that it couldbe improved, and then they
(03:29):
design improvements and thenthey present the improvements to
the group of innovators andalso to the departments
themselves.
So it's a way for us to use theknowledge that people on the
front lines of work get fromhaving the lived experience of
having to do the work and to seethem come up with solutions
that save time, make their jobsmore efficient.
(03:51):
So I've from the beginning feltthat we don't use frontline
workers enough.
We rely on people who don't dothe job every day.
But we've got people whoactually do the job every day
and they might have ideas on howto do it better.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, well, how about that?
It's a concept.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Look, I come out of.
I worked in a co-op and it wasa worker-managed co-op, so I've
seen what the benefits are ofworker management and giving
workers a greater role indetermining how you go about
your work processes, and I thinkit can work in what was a
private sector kind of entity.
I think it can work in a publicentity.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yes, certainly, certainly.
What other ways or what otherthings do you see on the horizon
in terms of your goals for thecounty coming into this new
fiscal year?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So one of the discussions I've had down here
is uh, the county, as we'reincreasing our waste recycling,
um has to deal with a better wayof dealing with plastics in
montgomery county.
So we have a coincidentinterest with the plastics
industry and the people who doall the bottling, because they
(05:03):
know that they're they're thetarget for the source of all
this waste.
Yeah, so they're beginning tomake changes and now is in their
interest to work with us tohelp us accumulate recycled
plastics, for example, so theycan use them to make the new
bottles.
So so there are, there arethings that I've talked about
(05:27):
with folks in the industry downhere, that kind of like the
discussion I couldn't have a fewyears ago kind of a recognition
that we're going to have tohave a collective participation
in the solution as opposed tojust the government doing it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Wow, so we have a little insight into the future
when it comes to collaborationand improving the recycling
processes and reducing theamount of plastics in our
environment and in our bodiesright.
I talked recently with theclimate officer for the county.
She's been here for about sevenmonths or so, or maybe ten
months.
What brought about the creationof that position, if it is new,
(06:06):
and then what do you envisionfor that to help us do in the
county?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
So it's not new.
It's new with my administrationand the goal is to help us
educate people about climatechange and things we need to do
in the county work withcommunity groups out there that
want to do education or want todo local projects help
(06:34):
accumulate information on whatyou know.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Kind of like me what are the new things you see?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
what's happening that ?
We haven't thought about doingbefore what's happening that we
haven't thought about doingbefore.
So she's a big part of makingit real for the public and also
giving people an opportunity tohave a role instead of just
being government-driven.
The most powerful spokespeople,for example, for why you should
put solar panels on, are notthe government.
(07:02):
They're people who've actuallyput solar panels on.
Your neighbor who walks out andshows you their Pepco bill
solar panels on, are not thegovernment?
They're people who've actuallyput solar panels on your
neighbor who walks out and showsyou their PEPCO bill.
My PEPCO bill is drasticallyreduced because I have solar
panels on my house.
I couldn't get a full load onbecause of the trees around me I
live off of Sligo Creek butit's a significant amount of
(07:23):
money that it saved me and thesethings will definitely pay for
themselves.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Shameless Blood.
Sligo Creek.
Sligo Creek Golf Course one ofthe best walkable courses in
Maryland, I would like to say,and I love that course, shout
out to Sligo Creek.
They've been doing a lot ofgreat things.
They fixed their driveway andthey're taking great treatment
of their courses.
So Sham, shameless plug.
You live in a great area, veryrich, full of foliage, and when
it comes to the environment, youare a man that embodies the
(07:49):
policies that you're putting outthere.
You mentioned that you have thesolar panels.
Yep, but do you also drive?
How do you?
I have an EV.
You have an EV car.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Okay, I have I changed my gas stove to an
induction stove.
Okay, I changed my gas stove toan induction stove.
I changed my water heater froma gas water heater to an
electric heat pump water heater.
I did all this in the last sixmonths I've got radiators.
I'm looking for an air to hotwater heat pump that I can heat
(08:22):
the water from my, the waterfrom my radiators and move that
and shut down that natural gasconsumer.
So I keep telling people.
If I'm telling people they needto do this, yeah, I kind of
have to do it myself, yeah, andyou are doing it yourself, which
I think says a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It's not do, do I say not as I do it's.
It's setting an example fromthe top so the people can see
that you know you asked me toinvolve residents, including the
county executive.
What is it that you would likepeople to know?
I think people are aware ofsome of your policies and some
of the initiatives that you'vewritten, but you're also a very
interesting person that has alot of love for Montgomery
(08:58):
County, maryland.
What are some of the thingsthat you love most about the
county?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Some of the things that you love most about the
county.
So you know, I grew up in DCuntil I was 10.
And I came to the county around1960.
So I've been here 65 years.
It's frightening to say I'vebeen here a long time and I
always felt I have traveledpretty much all the lower 48
states.
I've been to some of myfavorite theoretical cities like
(09:31):
Boston, new York, san Francisco, denver.
There's still no place likethis area and there's something
cosmopolitan about it.
There's something about theamount of information that's
available here, the wealth ofnot just different cultures, but
you know it's.
It has a vibrant musical scene,not just the county but beyond
the county.
You can live here and you getthat.
(09:52):
I grew up in the days whenmontgomery county didn't have
bars and had nothing open after12 so I did all my nightlife in
dc or northern Virginia, but Istill came back here and to me
there's no place else in thecountry where you get news the
way you get it in DC, and when Iwas away I'd always feel like I
(10:14):
don't want to be away fromWashington because I want to
know what's going on in theworld and I always feel when I'm
here you're connected into allthat.
It's important.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Speaking of being connected to the world, you've
been taking a few trips to shareand learn.
Share about what you do inMontgomery County, but also
learn from other municipalitiesacross the world.
Where have you gone and whathave you learned from some of
those peers across the world?
Speaker 3 (10:39):
So we went to Taiwan first last year and the first
thing that struck us was thelevel of technological
implementation that doesn'texist here.
And you see, all the thingsthat they're doing the sensors
and the ability to detect floods, which we're now doing but all
(11:00):
these things that they are verymuch on the cutting edge of, but
all these things that they arevery much on the cutting edge of
.
We've done a lot of meetingswith people around biotech and
so what we've found which wekind of knew, which is why we
went over there is that everycountry wants to get into the US
market.
So if you've got a drug or amedical device, you want it here
(11:24):
.
Because even in China, which isanother place we went, even
though there are multiples ofour size, the market is actually
larger.
There's more disposable incomehere.
There's more money available tobuy things that people need
(11:44):
here in Montgomery County.
So people want to get throughFDA, which is here.
They like the idea of havingNIH as a resource.
We're the third largest lifesciences center.
There is a whole lot of stuffabout Montgomery County that
makes it important to otherpeople and we've not been well
known.
We've not really haven't hadmuch of an international
(12:04):
presence.
By comparison, fairfax Countyhas not only an international
presence.
They have people who work forthe county in economic
development.
They have seven of themoverseas in Asia and Europe.
So we're just scratching thesurface of what we need to do.
I keep telling people there's alot of stuff that Fairfax does
(12:26):
right.
We need to replicate it.
Because you can't look at theirsuccess and then ignore what
they've done to be successful.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And we can implement some of those things and do it
even better.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So you asked where else we went.
So after Taiwan last spring ayear ago we went to India and
Vietnam and so we've gotrelationships there with some of
the universities.
We've had companies alreadycome over from India so we're
already trying to get startupsover here.
Then last spring, this spring,we went back to Taiwan and
(13:04):
continued to meet with people,met with the universities there.
Two universities are interestedin getting space near the
Institute for Health Computingbecause they want to tie into
that.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
And then we went to South Korea and China, wow, okay
, and we found companies in bothplaces that are interested in
expanding here.
So one company we met withwhich had research in Montgomery
County, is now going to bringmanufacturing to Montgomery
County.
So, we've talked to companiesabout, you know, adding
manufacturing to things theywant to do here.
(13:41):
So you get an idea where we'rebasically trying to market the
strengths of this county andtake them international the
things they want to do here.
So you get an idea where we'rebasically trying to market the
strengths of this county andtake them international.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So we've talked a bit about economic development,
technology, talking aboutemployees, efficiencies,
innovation.
What are some of the otherpassions that you have in terms
of this next coming year?
What are some of the otherareas that you're looking at
improving around the county?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
The big elephant in the room is our transportation
system, metro.
You know it's important forMontgomery County because it
takes people ultimately into theDC, but our internal
transportation, in terms of howyou move through the county, is
a lot weaker.
And we have really a largeride-on system but it's stuck in
(14:32):
traffic all the time so it'sessential for people to use, but
we could build a moresufficient system.
So we've been working towardbuilding bus rapid transit.
We're starting to get it lookslike some of the first federal
money which we should be gettingready for and we're working on.
you know, my goal is to changethe tax structure on commercial
(14:55):
property in Montgomery County,the one that's more like
Virginia's and less.
What we do today.
Theirs actually raises moremoney for the county than
anything we do.
Their counties are bathed inmoney from their special taxing
districts.
People always say MontgomeryCounty is a high-tax place.
That's like totalmisinformation.
(15:15):
If you're a private developerand you're in Fairfax County in
Tyson's Corner, your propertytaxes are $1.52.
They're $1.04 over here, Okay.
You know it's like they havereally strong tax programs and
they use the money to buildinfrastructure.
And all this was supported bythe developers because they
(15:36):
needed infrastructure.
They couldn't do thedevelopment they wanted to do
without it.
So their tax dollars make itpossible.
They don't use the money, can'tuse it for schools, can't use
it for social programs.
It has to be focused oninfrastructure and we want the
ability to do the same thinghere.
And Maryland doesn't allowcounties to have that authority.
Municipalities have theauthority, counties don't have
(15:58):
the authority.
So we're trying to get to thepoint that we're able to raise
money more effectively, not putourselves in a situation where
we always have to increase taxeson residents, because there are
paths forward where we don'tincrease taxes on residents.
We have some proposals thatmight actually reduce taxes.
So we're looking to try to makeit a fairer tax system and a
(16:22):
more productive tax system Allright.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Well, thank you so much for being here.
I know you have a busy schedulehere at the MAKO conference as
you take a step away.
Is there anything else thatyou'd like just to say to John Q
Montgomery, average resident,as you look forward into the
FY25 or the calendar?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
year 25?
.
I think you know the county'sdoing a lot of stuff that it
hadn't done before.
We're much more aggressive onthe economic development front.
We're really aware that youcannot have more good things
unless you generate the revenuesto have those good things.
And you know the least painfulway to generate revenues is to
(17:03):
bring about economic growth here.
But we're really focused.
You know the least painful wayto generate revenues is to bring
about economic growth here, butwe're really focused.
You know it's not just anotherbuilding and another business.
We're looking for businessesthat bring decent wages and
opportunities for people,because the last thing I need to
do is subsidize low-wageemployers.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And that's what's happening at MoCo County
Executive Elrich is doing greatthings for the residents and
here at the MAKO Conference torecharge, refocus and move
forward, with great things tocome from Montgomery County,
Maryland.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Thank you, sir.
That's the plan.
All right, thank you what.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Good day and welcome back to what's Happening, moco.
We are still at the MAKOConference, ocean City, maryland
, and we are here with no oneother the council member, gabe
Albinos.
How are you today, sir?
I'm good, derek, it's great tosee you again.
All right, great seeing you aswell, and I love social media
because it allows me to be a flyon the wall and see people
(18:00):
enjoying their lives.
And I know this recently thatyou were able to go out and
enjoy the county's treasure, theMontgomery County Agricultural
Fairground.
How was your?
Speaker 5 (18:09):
experience there.
It was fabulous.
So I was born and raised inMontgomery County, so I've been
going to that event since I wasfive years old.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
And now.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
To be able to extend the tradition with my kids is
just couldn't be more special,and it just it gets better and
better every year and it makesme so proud of our community
here in Montgomery CountyWonderful.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
And now we're at the MAKO conference, so your work
hat's back on.
You're refocused and you'rere-energizing and learning best
practices, I'd assume, towardssome of the things you want to
achieve in the future.
What are some of the thingsthat you're discussing with your
peers and colleagues fromacross the state as it relates
to your function as a councilmember?
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Absolutely so.
I have the honor and pleasureof serving as chair of the
Health and Human ServicesCommittee, and so a lot of my
policy focus areas cross overinto public health, and we have
no shortage of public healthchallenges here in the state of
Maryland or in our country or,frankly, in the world right now.
But one of the major issues thatwe're trying to tackle
collectively as a state isemergency weight room times.
(19:12):
Sadly, the state of Maryland is50th out of 50 states in how
long it takes for our residentsand constituents to have to wait
in emergency rooms before theyare seen, and that, of course,
has a cascading effect overallon public health, and sadly,
montgomery County has thelongest wait room times within
(19:34):
the state, and so it's acomplicated issue.
We have six amazing hospitalsthat do really great work, but
they don't have enough bedcapacity.
They're facing staffingshortages, and this is an issue
that we're going to have totackle holistically if we're
going to make a dent.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Wow, wow.
So what do you see as the firststep as HHS?
Chair of the HHS committee,what do you see as your first
step moving forward as wereconvene in?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
September.
So there's a lot of littlesteps and then some big steps
that we're going to have to take.
Some of the little steps are weneed to take better advantage
of telehealth.
We need to work with ourprimary care providers to make
sure that they are fully staffedand that they're being staffed
more than just five days perweek, so that they don't have to
turn patients to the emergencyroom to receive care, and a lot
(20:28):
of what we're seeing is ouruninsured or underinsured
population that are being sentto the emergency rooms for
issues that aren't reallyemergencies, and so that's
taking up bed capacity.
So that's the first thing thatwe need to do is help make sure
that our primary care providersor staff the way they need to be
to handle things on the frontline, and that we are all taking
(20:49):
better advantage of technology.
But beyond that, one of thebiggest issues that is causing
this challenge is mental health.
A lot of people who are havingmental health crises are turning
to emergency rooms and, becausethere are not enough treatment
beds across the state, they arestaying in those emergency rooms
(21:09):
for sometimes days at a time,and that's taking up capacity
too.
So that's an issue that we haveto work on with the state.
That's a big issue that we'regoing to have to tackle, but it
will be important.
And then the other significantchallenge is staffing concerns.
We are still experiencingstaffing shortages at the
nursing and at the doctor level,and that doesn't even take into
(21:32):
account the culturallyappropriateness of that care.
So we have to continue to workwith our local universities,
montgomery College and otherprofessional institutes to train
and hire more of these medicalprofessionals, and we've got to
make sure they're paid well.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yeah, adequate pay is a great motivator.
Oh, yes, adequate pay is agreat motivator.
On the other side of the coin,from the slowness or, I guess,
the wait times that we have inthe emergency rooms, the quality
of care, I guess, or thequality of health in the county
is pretty good.
Yes, the county has beenrecognized as one of the
(22:08):
healthiest in the state Yep,well, it's not the healthiest in
the state and perhaps also oneof the healthiest in the state
Yep, if not the healthiest inthe state, then perhaps also one
of the healthiest in thecountry.
Yeah, what do you attributethat distinction for, the
Montgomery County being one ofthe healthiest?
Speaker 5 (22:23):
So I think it's a few things.
One, we do have a very strongpublic health infrastructure.
In addition to the sixhospitals.
Montgomery County has been veryprogressive in providing health
insurance to the uninsuredwithin our county and that, I
think, has made a difference.
We also have a big emphasis onprevention and overall health
and wellness.
We invest a lot of time andenergy and resources in our park
(22:46):
system, our recreationdepartment, libraries.
Those all contribute to publichealth and I think need to be
seen that way.
So those are.
We also work hard to make surethat the services that are
provided are culturallyappropriate, so that we're
meeting residents where they are.
That's another critical factorthat I think is important.
(23:08):
But despite how well we'redoing, we know that there's
still pockets of our communitythat are not doing as well and
that unfortunately,disproportionately impacts the
black and brown community and,in particular, our black
community, and that's somethingthat we as a county we're going
to have to tackle.
Dr Keisha Davis, our publichealth officer, who is
(23:30):
tremendously talented we are sofortunate to have her here in
our community.
She's been doing some reallygreat work very progressive work
, very innovative work in thatspace, and so I think we're
going to start bending the curveand some of these key health
indicators soon, but we're goingto have to keep working at it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
All right.
So HHS is is more.
As you mentioned a little bitearlier, there's a lot more than
physical health.
It's also behavioral health andthere's other elements.
Uh, to hhs as well, what otherareas are you?
Um, are some things that you'vebeen proud of that you've
accomplished over the last year?
Uh, what are some things thatyou're looking at targeting?
Uh moving forward aside fromthe weight room.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
So the other big concern I think all of us have
right now are our kids, ourchildren and youth.
You know the mental healthchallenges facing our country
have disproportionately impactedour young people and, as the
former director of theRecreation Department, this is
an area that's near and dear tomy heart and I'm now on the
Education and Culture Committeeon the council, so I am excited
(24:35):
about the.
I recently had the opportunityto meet the new superintendent
of Montgomery County PublicSchools, dr Thomas Taylor.
I was immensely impressed byhim and I think he has a strong
and exciting vision for how toaddress the myriad of needs
within our system, for how toaddress the myriad of needs
within our system.
So I'm spending a lot of timeand energy making sure that our
(24:57):
school system and our kids havewhat they need to reach their
full potential.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And how important is it?
You mentioned the collaborationearlier, Even as a member of
the education committee.
How important is thecollaboration between council
and other entities within thecounty to affect?
Speaker 5 (25:14):
change Absolutely.
It's actually the favorite partof my job.
So, you know the council.
It's interesting, it's when youthink about it.
It's sort of the intersectionof the public, private,
nonprofit sectors.
And you know, by by virtue ofwhere we sit and the vision that
we have of the county, we'reable to really see things and
(25:37):
where the holes are.
And by virtue of not justseeing where things are, we're
actually in a position to beable to do something about it.
But we have to do thatcollaboratively and creatively,
because no one organization orinstitution or agency is going
to solve all of our challenges.
No one organization orinstitution or agency is going
to solve all of our challenges.
I learned a long time ago weall can't do everything, but
each of us can do something toaddress the issues in our
(25:59):
community.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
All right, Now you mentioned something interesting
earlier, that you were thedirector for Recreation
Department.
Not to be confused, it's notParks and Recreation, it's
Recreation right.
That's right.
At what point in your serviceas director of the Parks and
Recreation Department did youthink that you needed to
transition and move on to publicoffice?
Speaker 5 (26:22):
So, as much as I loved working in the executive
branch and I miss the executivebranch from time to time, but I
think I realized that for truesystem-wide change and
sustainable system-wide change,it's really at the policy level
where you've got the best shotat making that larger systemic
change.
And I wanted to take all of theexperiences that I'd drawn as a
(26:46):
public official, as a residentof this county, my entire life,
as the son of immigrants workingin the public, private and
nonprofit sectors.
I wanted to take all of thoseexperiences, both professional,
personal and civic, and applythem to my work as a legislator.
And that's what I try to doevery day.
And I also try to just listen,because I certainly don't have
(27:07):
all the solutions None of us dobut I think it's really
important for us toauthentically engage with the
community and meet them wherethey are and then bring that
information back as apolicymaker Awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Now, speaking of policy, you've spearheaded a few
policies or legislative actionsduring your tenure as a council
member.
One of those was, I think,trying to reduce the amount of
ghost guns in the area yes.
One of those was, I think,trying to reduce the amount of
ghost guns in the area.
Yes, what's a ghost gun, andhow did that come about?
Speaker 5 (27:56):
I still find that interesting that that was
something we had to deal with,which a 16-year-old boy used a
ghost gun to murder in broaddaylight in front of his brother
, a young man in front of thePlumgar Community Center, and at
that point I had heard of thoseguns but I didn't know very
much about them, and I wasshocked when I learned more
about them that these are, youknow, weapons that you can buy
online.
(28:16):
At the time they were almostcompletely unregulated and
basically what happens is itcomes as a kit and you put it
together, has no serial number,it's mostly made out of plastic
and so isn't easily tracked bymetal detectors, and they're not
terribly expensive.
So, kids were getting theirhands on these weapons and just
(28:40):
easily assembling them and theyare lethal.
So luckily the federalgovernment, through an executive
order by the president, put apause or a halt on some of the
manufacturing, the marketing ofthis at the national level.
But before that happened wewere the first local
jurisdiction to ban them and wedid that through a zoning text
(29:01):
amendment kind of creatively,legislatively, and then six
months later the state bannedthem and then the federal
government Now, but it is justan executive order at the
federal level.
So but it really needs to bemade a law.
There's these.
These weapons have no businessin our communities.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Now, as you go forward into this next
legislative year, I want to callit in service as a council
member.
What do you, what do you, whatare you looking for from
residents in terms ofinformation, feedback, or what
can residents do to support yourwork as a council member in
service to them?
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Absolutely so well.
First, we strongly encourageresidents to sign up for one of
the many boards and commissionswe have at the county level.
We need your voices and we needa diverse set of perspectives.
That's important.
I would also say coming totestify before the council on
matters that are important toyou.
It's never been more easierthan it is now to testify before
(30:00):
the council.
You can do it online and fromhome, and I also think engaging
and actively participating incommunity meetings, civic
association meetings, beinginformed, I think is important.
I often give the correlation,more often than not, the most
successful schools have veryengaged parents.
(30:21):
The same is true of a community.
The most successful communitieshave very engaged constituents
and we've had that for manyyears in the county, but we got
to keep that going.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
All right, all right.
Now, as we close out, is thereany last words you'd like to
share about Councilmember GabeAlbinol that maybe someone
doesn't know?
Any interesting facts or thingsthat you think might help
people better understand who youare?
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Sure, well, I am the proud son of immigrants and, uh,
I've lived in the county mywhole life, uh, and I'm proud to
be raising four children herein montgomery county.
My, my wife is also, uh wasborn in montgomery county as
well.
Uh, we live.
Her three younger sisters alllive within a half a mile from
us and my in-laws live threedoors from us, so this is home.
(31:09):
Uh, it always will be, and I'mgonna do everything I can to
make it the wonderful place it'sbeen for me but for future
generations.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Right, and that's what's happening.
Moco family first, a greatplace to live for now and for
future generations to come.
Thank you, Council Member GabeAlvin, for also being here.
Thanks for all you do too, myfriend.
Thank you, Appreciate it Todaywith what's Happening MoCo.
We are at the MAKO Conference,Ocean City, Maryland, and we're
(31:36):
here with none other thanCouncilmember Dawn Lutke.
How are you today?
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Outstanding All right .
Speaker 2 (31:43):
It's wonderful having you here, thank you and it's
great to see you outside of thecounty doing more.
As you continue doing this, Iwant to call this the offseason.
Yes, you know, professionalathletes have an off-season.
They're charged with improvingtheir ability to do their jobs
on the field more efficiently,and I guess your attendance at
(32:04):
the MAKO conference can be nodifference.
How would you describe whatyou've learned so far at the
MAKO conference?
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Well, I love coming to the MAKO conferences because
each time I attend I'm meetingnew people.
And I know that sounds hard,because you're thinking, aren't
you all electives and you'refrom these counties.
But each time you end upconnecting with someone in one
of the presentations you're inwho you might not have met
before, and you then recognizeyou all are sharing a common
interest or you're talkingthrough things that are of a
(32:32):
concern to them.
And certainly this year it wasextra fun because I got to be a
presenter, which I enjoyed.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Now, you said you were a presenter.
What were you presenting about?
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Sure, we were talking about our drone as first
responder program that we havein Montgomery County and also
about the importance of privacyprotections that need to come
along with that from a legalstandpoint.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Well, let's talk about that.
What is the drone program?
What is it meant to do?
And then, what are the concernsregarding privacy that you are
addressing?
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Sure so with respect to privacy and the use of
unmanned aerial, unmannedaircraft right.
So a drone is an unmannedaircraft.
Folks have always been wary andthere's a series of cases from
the United States Supreme Courtover time and from our federal
district courts related to useof technology and how that plays
into the Fourth Amendment rightand the privacy rights that we
have as citizens under theFourth Amendment.
(33:31):
But the drone for you know, invery late, late person's terms,
the drone that we have ascitizens under the Fourth
Amendment.
But the drone for you know, invery late person terms, the
drone that we have here inMontgomery County.
We're drones, there's more thanone.
They are set to serve specificgeographic areas and they are
only deployed for a call forservice, for certain types of
calls that come in via 911 toour emergency call center.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And so they're supposed to help law enforcement
do their job better.
Yes, how are they being used?
I think I know, but I thinkit's good for the residents to
know how they're being used.
They're not armed or anything.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
How are they being used to help the police
department or whomever?
Speaker 4 (34:11):
So I think you know sometimes we say eye in the sky,
right.
So if you've gotten a call forservice and you know what
address it is at, the drone isable to get there faster than
patrol officers.
Most of the time, in fact, thestats that we showed during the
presentation demonstrated thatour drone is able to get there
(34:33):
in typically under 60 seconds,whoa.
So once the drone is on site,often what the caller is
relaying to 911 is what theyhave seen or perceived, but
they're talking about it.
It's already happened and theperson may be moving.
The drone is able to get visualon them and help update patrol
officers as to where thesuspects movements actually are
(34:56):
going, because it's only seeingoutside, right.
So it's only capturing thingswhich are outside or visible
from outside, and then it's ableto better identify what type of
response is actually needed byour officers.
Or in some cases where theremight be a call saying someone
possesses a weapon, yeah we'vehad it happen where the drone
(35:17):
goes there and is able to honein.
It's not a weapon.
In one case, it was a cellphone oh gosh right and so if
somebody perceives a weapon,says it's a weapon.
The call center is relying uponwhat the feedback is they're
getting, but the drone canverify.
That's actually not right.
So this might be a welfarecheck situation because they
were gesturing with it in a waythat looked threatening.
(35:39):
But it was a phone, not a gun.
Oh wow, right.
And so, instead of policeofficers coming in anticipating
an armed individual, they'reanticipating a situation that
may be chaotic, but it's not anecessarily yeah, not even a
chaotic, just a hey, let's checkon that person and see if he or
she may need some other help,right?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Technology, like we're using technology to better
public safety for residents inthe county.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
How do you find this to be a best practice?
Now We've started in thecounties, is this going to be
something that's going to beused in other jurisdictions
around Maryland?
Speaker 4 (36:17):
So there were a lot of questions and a lot of
interest from otherjurisdictions at the session and
I will tell you that ourdepartment has been getting lots
of requests to you know.
Talk about what we're doingsharing with other jurisdictions
around the country.
So we're we are not the firstdepartment to do this.
(36:37):
We are, however, the largestjurisdiction in the United
States to have it.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
So that's one major thing.
I've seen quite a bit of newsthat's warranted about the drone
program, but there's otherprograms that may not have
gotten as much notice andnotoriety, or things that you've
helped to affect in terms ofpolicy over the past few years.
So what are some of the thingsthat you're proud of that you've
been a part of this lastlegislative session?
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Sure.
So I'm very proud of the bill Iintroduced about our crisis
intervention team and itsresponses.
Responses and, as a result ofthe introduction of the bill,
some of the stuff that wasalready organically happening
between our Department of Healthand Human Services, behavioral
Health Services and our policedepartment took a speed up right
(37:23):
.
They started working a littlefaster on some of the things,
because we do, here in Maryland,have a crisis intervention team
center of excellence within thegovernor's Office of Crime
Prevention and you know theyhave set policy goals for the
state.
We're trying to make sure we'regoing to get there too, and
this is a CIT, is acollaborative, interdisciplinary
(37:44):
process and it's one part ofthe larger, bigger, broader
landscape of mental behavioralhealth services that we can
provide in the county.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
That's great.
So you're talking about beingable to collaborate between two
of the larger departments in thecounty, that being the police
department and HHS.
Yes, how important is it forcounty departments because the
county is kind of big tocollaborate or to find synergy
in certain areas to be moreefficient in service?
Speaker 4 (38:13):
I think and this is my perspective from coming to
the county from state governmentright.
So I spent nine years in theexecutive branch at state
government, I very much view thecomplexity of the problems that
are facing our residents today,facing our county, our state,
the nation are best served bythat interdisciplinary work
(38:34):
because there is no one entitythat's going to tackle the
underlying problem, and so themore you're able to listen to
someone else in a differentdepartment or division who
brings a different lens andexpertise to the problem, the
better solution you're going toaffect overall.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Wow, fantastic, fantastic.
So this is the time of year Iactually ran across you.
A going to affect overall.
Wow, fantastic, fantastic.
So this is the time of year.
I actually ran across you acouple weeks ago, maybe no
earlier this week actually.
Speaker 4 (39:01):
At the fair Earlier this week at the fair.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
It's one of my favorite things to talk about
and one of my favorite things togo in August, Nine best days of
summer.
What were you doing there?
Because there's a certain thingthat I guess local politicians
and other leaders and members ofthis community are able to do.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
Sure, but I find it very cool.
What were you there doing?
And then, what else did you dothat day?
Yeah, so I my district covershalf of our agricultural reserve
in Montgomery County andCouncil Member Balcombe covers
the other half in her districtand Council Member Balcombe
covers the other half in herdistrict.
But also, I mean, I grew upgoing to the summer fairs right,
(39:39):
not here in Maryland, Iactually grew up in New Jersey,
but my mom's family is fromHarrington, delaware, home of
the Delaware State Fair.
So I would go down there everysummer and spend that time with
my aunt and my cousins and mygrandmother and spend two weeks
trotting around the DelawareState Fair.
So I love the fair.
This year on Sunday there'salways a 4-H parade as a part of
(40:03):
the fair in the opening weekend, and so I was there for that,
along with some of my colleaguesand our counterparts within the
city of Gaithersburg.
But my family was there too,riding rides.
They went on every spinny ridethat you could go on.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yeah, all the ones that make you sick, yeah, until
they were green.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
Yeah, once the kids were green, we said I think it's
time to go, and we all had funGet up nice and tired.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Take them home and have a relaxing evening.
Now, speaking of green, what inthe Ag Reserve?
What are some of the focuseswhen it comes to the Ag Reserve
or the agribusiness inMontgomery County?
Speaker 4 (40:44):
Sure, so I think you know our farmers, our producers
up in the reserve are incrediblyeager to work with our county
and with us.
We had a bill this year thathad come up about agritourism,
and Council Member Balcom and Isort of offered a counterpoint
(41:07):
which ended up being the waythat the body went with and that
will allow for overnight staysin the ag reserve on only on
properties in the reserve thatare actively farmed.
So it has to be not just in theag reserve but it has to be an
active farm and folks will beable to camp there.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Wow, amazing, yes, amazing.
So they get the full farmexperience?
Yes, but then also just have anice leisurely vacation style
experience yeah, in theMontgomery County Railroad.
It's another part of MontgomeryCounty right um.
So what do you want to see umfrom residents, or what do you
want to see as kind of likegoals for this next next session
(41:49):
?
Speaker 4 (41:50):
sure?
Um well, I think there's.
There's a couple of parts,right, you may be talking about
the council's work, and thenthere's also, of course, the
state legislative session, andyou know, I very much view it as
a part of my role to helpadvocate for things at the state
level, because we have limitedauthority delegated to us as the
(42:12):
local legislative body underour charter government.
The state has the primaryauthority in a lot of other
areas, but that doesn't meanthey're not important to my
constituents, that they're notcoming to me about them.
So one of those is, of course,traffic safety.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
And so there was a bill last year that Delegate
Wims, greg Wims and SenatorNancy King had put in about
aggressive driving aggressive,reckless and negligent driving.
I want to get them all in andit ended up not moving, but it
was just sort of later in thesession when it was introduced.
And so again in that off season, now has been the time to have
(42:49):
those conversations and figureout how to make it better and
also how to educate some otherlawmakers in advance of session
about what it is, what they'reseeking to do and how to help
and you know I'm there to helpmy state partners in any way
they can in order to help getthis across the finish line.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
So I don't think many people were aware that councils
role in advocating to movepolicy at a state level and how
that helps residents locally yes, that's very interesting are
there other instances of that?
Or are there how frequently?
Is that like just a common partof what you see as a job?
Speaker 4 (43:26):
I think it's a common part of what I see as my job
and I very much believe it's apart of my responsibility as an
elected official and also assomeone based on my background
is to help people understand therole of local government, the
role of state government, evenhow local government in its
individual departments functionsRight.
(43:48):
So you know, lay people don'talways know what is the.
What is the Maryland NationalCapital Park and Plant Like?
How does that work?
What is a by-county agency?
right Now here we are using allthe government terms, but we
really do also need to be moremindful that what is the lexicon
of a local elected official ora state official may not be what
(44:08):
, like my mom or dad, would knowright, and I want to be there
to answer their questions and tohelp break it down so that they
have the tools that they needin order to advocate for
themselves and feel empowered todo so.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
All right.
All right, so thank you for allthe great information, and
you're now basically on recess.
Yes, but is that you're workingthough?
Yes, you're on recess, you'rethe active council duties, but
you're still working.
You're here at the microconference.
You're still working.
Does the work ever stop?
Do you guys get a break forcouncil?
Speaker 4 (44:46):
No, so recess really just means we don't have
hearings.
Okay, it doesn't mean we're notworking.
And so you know, I feelcompelled to share that because
I wouldn't want somebody tothink that I wasn't working.
Then again, anybody who knowsme well knows I'm always on in
that way, right?
So even if I try to turn it off, it's very hard, and I don't
(45:11):
mean that in a bad way, in apositive way.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
I'm always attuned yeah, you're constantly serving
and you're serving the residentsof the county.
You have a mission to perform,but you also have work-life
balance yes okay, we don'tnecessarily talk about that, but
I think it's good for people toknow that you are, you know,
taking care of yourself, thatyou have a life beyond counsel.
I don't talk about it becausewe respect your privacy.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
No, no, you know what .
One of the best things as anelected official that you can do
is be normal Right, like I ammom, I am out getting my
groceries.
I run into folks in the grocerystore who have things they want
to stop and talk to me about.
So sometimes grabbing a milkmight take a little bit longer
because I run into people.
(45:56):
Um, but the things that I hearand the concerns that people
raise, whether it's sitting onthe sidelines at my kids
lacrosse game or whether it's,you know, some of the kids
themselves have their own thingsthey want to ask questions
about and share.
Um, or like I work with ourlocal Scouts troop.
I'm a merit badge counselor,but you know they all have as
(46:18):
part of their first class rankrequirement where they have to
go talk to an elected official,and you know it's kind of
comical because their troop hasan adult there who fits that
description, so they don't haveto do much logistically to make
that happen.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
That's a great benefit, and the scouts are
definitely a great resource forraising and rearing young men
and women.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Fantastic resource.
As we close out, is thereanything that you would want to
say to residents, including howthey get in touch with you and
when they should try to get intouch with you?
As we close out these episodes,sure, sure.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Well, there's never a bad time to reach out, and so
my email address iscouncilmemberludke L-U-E-D-T-K-E
at montgomerycountymdgov.
And reach out to us anytime.
I do not do this alone.
I have a fantastic team that Iwork with, so I do want to shout
out to my chief of staff, aaronKraut, who's actually here at
(47:15):
MAKO with me, my deputy chief ofstaff, sarah Wolf, my senior
legislative aide, carolineDavenport, and our front of
house guru, doug Wallach, whoactually worked with me at the
AG's office before I came tocouncil.
So we have a great fun.
I like to think we're a funoffice and we're there for you
whenever you need us.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
All right, so there you have it.
Dawn Luthke, council member,mom, team leader, with an
awesome team behind her.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
That's what's happening in MoCo.
Thanks for listening to what'sHappening, MoCo.
Please subscribe via yourfavorite podcasting platform and
follow us on Facebook.
This podcast is brought to youby County Cable Montgomery, your
source for news and informationfrom the Montgomery County
government.
Connect with us via cable,Facebook, Instagram or YouTube
(48:09):
by searching for County CableMoCo.
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