Council Seeks Applicants for Board of Appeals

The Montgomery County Council is seeking applicants for two four-year terms on the County Board of Appeals. The terms of Stan Boyd (Democrat) and David Perdue (unaffiliated) expire in September 2015. Perdue, currently serving as chair, has completed two full terms and is therefore not eligible to apply for reappointment. Boyd will be completing his first full term, and has indicated his intent to apply for reappointment. Applications for the position must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22.

By law, no more than three members of the board shall be from the same political party. These positions can be filled by a Democrat, a Republican, a voter who is unaffiliated with a party or a voter who is a member of another party officially recognized by the Board of Elections. Because of the requirement that no more than three members be from the same political party, the Council cannot appoint two Democrats.

Current members of the board include Chair Perdue (unaffiliated), Board Member Boyd (Democrat), John Pentecost (Democrat), Carolyn Shawaker (Democrat) and Edwin Rosado (unaffiliated). Members of County boards, committees and commissions may not serve on more than one such group at a time.

Members of the board receive $15,162 annually, with the chair receiving $21,429. Salaries are adjusted annually each December to reflect 50 percent of the change in the Washington Area Consumer Price Index.

Duties of the Board of Appeals include hearing and deciding requests for variances from development standards contained in the Zoning Ordinance; hearing appeals from certain administrative decisions rendered by county government agencies; and hearing oral argument on decisions of the hearing examiner on conditional uses.

The board normally holds weekly hearings all day Wednesday and worksessions every other week. If necessary to accommodate an extended caseload or continued hearings, the board schedules hearings on other weekdays. Members are expected to prepare for the hearings by reading the cases to be heard and to share the workload of drafting and editing opinions or to follow-up on investigations on specific cases. Members work approximately 15-25 hours a week.

The principal jurisdiction of the Board of Appeals (concerning special exceptions and variances under the Zoning Ordinance) does not include the municipalities of Barnesville, Brookeville, Gaithersburg, Laytonsville, Poolesville, Rockville and Washington Grove. The normal Council practice is not to appoint residents of those municipalities to the board.

Letters expressing interest, including a resume listing professional and civic experience, political party affiliation, home and office telephone numbers and an email address, should be addressed to: Council President George Leventhal, County Council Office, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20850 or can be emailed to county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov . Applications must be received no later than 5 p.m. on July 22. It is the Council’s policy not to consider applications received after the deadline. After the application closing date Councilmembers will review the letters of application and select applicants for interviews, which will be held in September.

Letters of application and resumes are made public as part of the appointment process. Interviews are open to the public and will be televised. A financial statement of assets, debts, income and family property interests will be required of all applicants. Only the appointed candidate will be required to make the financial statement available to the public.

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