Elrich and Katz to Hold Second Business Forum Dec 9

County officials continue to work to improve the business climate in Montgomery County through the Benchmarking to Be the Best for Business initiative. County Executive Marc Elrich and Council President Sidney Katz are holding a meeting with businesses Monday at the Wheaton Community Recreation Center.

The initial phase of the initiative focused on engaging the business community through a series of six listening sessions held across the county from April to June and an online survey that ended Sept. 30th. Many challenges and concerns have been identified by businesses as a result of their interactions with Montgomery County government.

Now County Executive and Council President Sidney Katz are holding business forums or charrettes to work with local business owners to give input on possible changes and solutions that will help make Montgomery County an even better place to do business.

The meeting format will include an overview of the 4Business initiative and results of the initiative to date. There are five theme areas: Business Support/Economic Development, Procurement, Permitting/Public Construction Impacts/Transportation, Government Access/Communications and Regulations/Taxes/Fees.

At the meetings, participants will work in groups at the topic tables of their choosing to provide feedback on proposed improvements and develop additional ideas to be considered for implementation. At the end of the evening, each working group will make a presentation with its results.

The first meeting was held Nov. 20th in Germantown. The second meeting is scheduled for Dec. 9th in Wheaton from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Wheaton Community Recreation Center, located at 11701 Georgia Avenue.

Following the two meetings, a cross-agency work plan will be put together to address the issues raised, the solutions identified and a plan to implement improvement mechanisms. County Executive Elrich will be forming a business advisory council to monitor progress and recommend additional ideas to improve the County’s business climate.

For more information about the 4Business charrettes, including transcripts from the listening sessions, visit the Montgomery County website.

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