Montgomery Council Seeks Board of Appeals Applicants

The Montgomery County Council is seeking applicants to fill a position on the Montgomery County Board of Appeals. Catherine Titus’s second term will expire in September 2014. She also serves as chair of the board.

County law provides that the Council may designate a member of the board for the position of chair. The Council will select a new chair from among the current or new members of the board in conjunction with this appointment process.

Applications for the position must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Interviews for the vacancy are anticipated to be scheduled in September.

By law no more than three members of the board shall be from the same political party. The position can only be filled by a Republican or by a voter who declines to affiliate with a party; or by a member of another party officially recognized by the Montgomery County Board of Elections. In addition to Ms. Titus (Republican), the other members of the board are John Pentecost (Democrat), David Perdue (declined to affiliate), Carolyn Shawaker (Democrat) and Stan Boyd (Democrat).

Members of the board receive $15,032.30 annually, with the chair receiving $21,245.62. 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 making decisions on most applications for special exceptions as provided in the Zoning Ordinance; hearing and deciding requests for variances from development standards contained in the Zoning Ordinance; and hearing appeals from certain administrative decisions rendered by county government agencies.

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 Craig Rice, 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 16. 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.

Visit the Montgomery County Board of Appeals webpage to learn more.