Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

Evening. Today is Monday, 02/09/2026. We are convening meeting number four dash twenty six. We are now convening in an open session to entertain a motion to go into closed session pursuant to three dash three zero five b seven to the general provision article to the annotated code of Maryland to consult with the office of the city attorney to obtain legal advice regarding a draft zoning tax amendment. Councilmember Vallari.

Madam Mayor, I move what you said.

Thank you very much. Do we have a second?

Second.

Thank you. All those in favor? Aye. Good evening, Rockville. Today is 02/09/2026, and we're beginning meeting four dash twenty six.

Please join me as you're able in the pledge of allegiance. Good evening, all. I just want to, say a few quick things. Some of my colleagues are not here because this is an unusual day. There was a shooting at Wooten today.

I'm gonna ask the city manager to read a statement about that so we can provide the facts. But as a mother, as a community leader, this is a tough time for our entire city, and, I just wanna just my heart goes out to everyone who's still dealing with and unfolding what's happening. I'm gonna turn it over to city manager to share a few facts with you all.

Mayor Ashwin, members of city council, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Unfortunately, at approximately 02:15PM today, the Rockville City Police Department were dispatched to Wooten High School for a reported shooting. The first arriving officers located the victim in a hallway inside the school. The student victim was found with one gunshot wound and transported to an area hospital. Pleased to report to you that that victim is in stable condition.

The suspect, also a student, was quickly identified and arrested a short time later near the school. It's also important to know at this time, there's no further threat to public safety in and around the school or in the community at large. While our thoughts right now are really for the victim and the family and friends of the victim, I do wanna call out the very fast response by the Rockville City Police Department who are very well trained, knew how to handle this incident, and handle it in such a outstanding way, including apprehending a suspect immediately. That's all I have to report, mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. I wanna thank Rockville City Police, Montgomery County Police, MCPS, as well as Montgomery County's emergency response. I was on-site today and had a chance to see them all working very closely to bring resolution to the situation to make sure that, first and foremost, that the building was secured and students were safe and that they were apprehending the suspect. There are parents right now who are still waiting for their children to be rejoined with them. There are there's a pickup of unification location at Frost.

But I just want you to have a compassion and support for our community because this is a hard thing. Unfortunately, division and conflict is escalated more ever. We're seeing it at the national level, and it's playing out locally. We all need to be thinking about mental health, supporting each other through stress, as well as having a national conversation on gun safety. We cannot have another child child being shot in one of our schools.

Again, I wanna thank all emergency personnel who quickly responded and know that all of the parents who are still waiting for their children, we are praying that you get to return to your child quickly. Thank you. I do wanna acknowledge, my colleagues. So council member, Bengrack is, attending to his child, and, doctor Miles is helping him with that. And we have a council member who will be joining shortly who is not well today. She'll be

joining virtually. So in case you're wondering why you're seeing

a smaller crew here, it's not a normal day. We do have business to do, but we also are human beings first.

Alright.

Agenda review. Any changes to the agenda?

There are no changes to this evening's agenda.

Thank you. I wanna now go to community forum. This is a time for us to be able to listen to the ideas and concerns of our residents and constituents. All persons, address the mayor and council and speak in a civil and courteous manner. Members of the audience shall be respectful to each other as well. Each person is allowed three minutes, and we ask that you stick to that time allowed. There is a time clock in front of you to be able to watch for your time. You will hear an audible beep at the end of your three minutes. Please end by that time. Please state your name and if you live in the city of Rockville for the record.

The first person who has signed up is Margie Graff. Welcome.

I too have a very heavy heart today. Mayor Ashton and members of the city council, my name is Margie Graff. I'm the president and CEO of the Greater Rockville Chamber of Commerce representing hundreds of local businesses, associations, property owners, and community stakeholders. I'm here to raise serious concerns about the proposed sign ordinance language in article 10 of the staff draft zoning ordinance, specifically the prohibition of internally illuminated freestanding signs and electronic message centers or EMCs that are visible from the public right away. At a time when small and mid sized businesses are working harder than ever to attract customers, these changes would significantly disadvantage them.

Internally illuminated freestanding signs and EMCs are not cosmetic features. They are essential business tools. Internally illuminated monument pole and pylon signs provide greater visibility and legibility at night and in bad weather. For many businesses, especially those set back from the road or located in multi tenant centers, these signs are the primary way customers know they exist and where to turn. The proposed ban would affect both new While current signs may be grandfathered, any change of copy such as a new tenant, a logo update, or a name change would eliminate that status.

Even without changes, the sign must be removed after eight years, forcing businesses to absorb new costs and accept signage that is less visible and less effective. The ban on EMCs visible from the public right away is equally concerning. These are on premises digital signs. They're not billboards, but the proposed definition would include gas station price displays, drive through menu boards, and bank drive through signs already in use across Rockville. Many jurisdictions successfully regulate these signs through brightness limits, automatic dimming, and reasonable message timing.

Rockville's proposal instead places local businesses at a competitive disadvantage. Neighboring jurisdictions, including Montgomery County and Gaithersburg, allow these sign types with appropriate controls. These restrictions will disproportionately harm independent retailers, local restaurants, and service providers, and they make Rockville a harder place to do business and invest. The Greater Rockville Chamber Of Commerce urges the city to reconsider these provisions and work collaboratively with the business community to adopt sign regulations and protect community character while still allowing Rockville businesses to be seen, found, and supported. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, we welcome Ulysses. Think he may have stepped out briefly. I'll move to James Druva Kumar while Ulysses comes back.

Ma'am, before you start the clock, you guys should have a disinfectant wipes here. So for the future. Okay. Disclaimer, this is a limited access forum, so not on my thoughts. Look for more detailed information in the future on my social media accounts at boat j d k. Thank you. Now, City Of Rockland, Maryland government mayor and council, thank you for this opportunity, this open democracy forum. And I pledge allegiance to USA, America, everywhere, rule of law, rule of law. Thank you. Please note, I praise and critique all. I'm equality for all. No regress for all. No change here. Was and always like this. I've been the floor general on many occasions, explainer in chief, EIC, informed a lot, warned a lot about current and future problems.

As you are all aware, I'm evaluating candidacy for US Congress, this District 8. I need a treasurer. Please contact me. I'm bringing in billions of dollars, at least 20,000,000,000. I want all your endorsements, including those who do not like me or agree with me, 100%, thousand percent. Now very important to elaborate on this. My current legal name is Dhruva Diego Kumar, my home country. India given name by my parents was Dhruva Kumar. Mostly over there, there are no middle names. When I became a USA American citizen a few decades ago, I added the middle name Diego, as mentioned, so much meaning for me.

But also being more of a USA American, like many USA Americans, I wanted a middle name also. So Dhruva Diego Kumar. Now to have more connection and respect for and with my home nation USA and also because of our centuries long heritage here as a very relevant part of this the development of the original USA American colonies, it is time to change my name to reflect all this. So I'm in the process of legally changing my name to James Dhruva Kumar as explained. James in English is a version of Diego.

If I file for political candidacy, I will do so as JD Kumar. I discussed this last week. I'm now requesting many to call me JD also. Thank you. When filing for candidacy to use a nickname or a name different than your actual legal name, you have to show the media press refers to you as this.

In our new world, my social media accounts reflect this, and I don't know if this is sufficient while I make the legal court approved change. You can also submit an affidavit from those you know to attest the same. I'm mentioning this here as part of an open public forum, and I do not know if the board of elections will accept my information and elaboration here of they will or they will yet require other format. Additional info, no ego ego on this, just explanation. This legal name change allows me to have my original initials also d k to be now JDK.

I like the flow also, and all this not so heavy and cumbersome. Thank you for listening to me on this. Now the Elon Muskolini Bambolini. I'm running out of time. So I discussed commensurate full employment economic term. So just, in the future, come to my social media accounts about that, the h one b visas, the, and many other, subjects. I thank you for your time today. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Now welcome Ulysses Santa Maria.

Thank you.

Alright.

Okay. Good evening, members of the council and the mayor. I'm Ulysses Santa Maria, the president of Rockville Science Center, an institution that has served for over fifteen years as the heartbeat of STEM education in our city. Today, I come giving a notification that, unfortunately, we have been, displaced. Our 36 C Maryland Avenue location was unexpectedly leased to another tenant, and we, were notified that we will need to vacate in the near future.

The impact of this so far is that we have been, forced to suspend registrations for one of our bigger programs of the year, our summer camps, our stem our STEM summer camps, leaving hundreds of families in limbo with what they're gonna do, for the summer. So on our end, mostly just as a reminder that for us, we are a good asset to the city. We're a magnet for highly skilled residents, that the that the city wants to attract. We consistently receive messages and emails from people who recently move into the area, many of them who come here for work at places such as NIH or other scientific installations, recent graduates from highly esteemed universities, and, scientific professionals. They moved to the area and they immediately seek us out to try and find a community that they can that they can gel with for lack of a better term.

For us, we also, build the future workforce. We are home to the 2024 and 2025 national drone champions. And behind me are some of our FTC students who just won a first place prize in their most recent competition this past weekend. These students are part of our ninety nine ninety nine ninety trend. Ninety nine percent of our high school participants will end up going to college, and ninety percent of them end up choosing STEM majors as well.

Parents from their program as well as others describe us as a unique and essential gem that feeds their children intellectually and emotionally beyond the classroom. For us, we have a major ask this time around. We are looking for public private partnerships, and we are looking towards the mayor and council to see if you can help us find private private partners that align with our mission or will support our mission, and would be a good partner with our community. For us, in terms of physical space, needs to get us through the end of the year, we're looking for about 5,000 square feet. But for us to actually reach our aspirations that we have as an organization, we are looking towards 20,000 square feet.

And to also help with this, we have launched a $1,000,000 fundraising campaign over the next few years to try and help fund such a location. So please help us show that the Rockville City is a great place and a place for talented students and scientists.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak? I will just note since you're here, the Rockville Economic Development Inc. Is sitting right here, and they can help organizations find relocation. So please exchange cards and meet

up. Okay.

Thank you very much, and we appreciate the work. We're now moving on to Consent Agenda Item nine-one, award a contract in the form of a purchase order to Mid Atlantic Truck and Equipment of Clinton, Maryland for the purchase of one leaf collection truck in the amount of 293,000 around, consistent with the terms and conditions of the cooperative purchase of Virginia Sheriff's Association, contract number 20Six-seven11. I'd like to welcome oh, this is consent, Never mind. I saw that they put staff on here. Do my colleagues have any questions or can we move to consent?

Do have a question? I'll move it. Move it. Council Member Valeri.

Madam Mayor, I move to approve consent agenda item a.

Nine one. Nine one? Yeah. Just to be perfect. Yes. Yes. Do we have a second? Thank you. All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Excellent. Thank you.

Okay.

I vote in favor as well.

Doctor Miles is online with me, and he votes. So just wanna make sure you have that for the record. And I see council member Shah, did you vote as well? Okay. Thank you.

We'll now move on to our work session, which is our midyear report, an update from the on the impact of government restructuring effects on Rockville. A huge welcome to Rockville Economic Development Inc, and I want to thank the many Board members who are here as well. Welcome, Cindy Brevard, and I want to acknowledge panelists and participants. I know we have Barack Matite here and Linda Moran. Also acknowledging Michelle Wilson, Amanda Boslin, Melissa Godier, Karen Sipple, Nancy Reglan, Bay Ma, Todd Pearson, Susan Prince, and Margie Graff.

Lavonne Torranceburg.

And Lavonne,

Thank you, Mayor and Council Members. Cindy Rivard with Rockville Economic Development. I have to make sure I know how to use this, but we're going to quickly go over a general overview of Ready, talk about some of our current market challenges, and then, go over our mid year accomplishments. Let's see. It worked, yay. Or was that you? Movement. Okay. So, Ready is, the economic development arm of the city. We help businesses launch, locate, and expand in Rockville by providing tools, resources, and guidance to support all stages of business growth.

Our mission is to identify and develop economic opportunities to help Rockville prosper. The vision is for Rockville to be a twenty first century city for business, and our values are to be proactive, be an expert, be innovative, be collaborative, and impactful. And, this is how we're organized. So, the mayor and council appoints the ready board of directors and they select the CEO and then the staff, reports to the CEO. So, this has been an unprecedented time.

The there has with the federal restructuring that started last year, The DC region has lost, 52,000 plus jobs since November 24. Maryland has lost 25,000 federal jobs, and this area the the area that includes Frederick, Gaithersburg, Bethesda, that that region, and Rockville has lost 9,900 jobs. Rockville's unemployment rate rose 4.2, from when you're looking at September 25 to September 24. And we're just starting to see some of the deferred resignations come in, so we expect that the numbers may climb. From policy and services impact, we've seen deregulation of energy, increasing tariffs that are impacting climate, health, worker production, and supply chain.

We've had disruptions to SNAP, Head Start, OSHA. Nonprofit grant cancellations have led to program suspensions and layoffs. Research data from some ages agencies has been suspended, including economic indicators like the consumer price index and the BLS employment data, which, is why there's been a lag in our being able to answer some of your questions about how things are going. On top of the federal changes, the state imposed a 3% sales tax, last year on some data and IT services to close the budget and IT was a lighthouse sector, so, that has caused some challenges in attraction and retention for, technology companies. Let's see.

So when we look at various industry sectors, for federal contracting, Montgomery County, had 11,300,000,000.0 in contracts for twenty twenty five, which was a 38% decrease from 2024, but we do see that the contractors with DOD contracts are continuing to sustain, and there are a number of firms in Rockville that that have DOD contracts. For the life sciences, there's been reduced grants that are affecting smaller firms and stunting the growth of midsize or delaying growth of midsize firms, and all the DEI related NIH grants will not be reviewed in 2026. For retail, the consumer spending is down, and lodging is slightly down, 4.9. Small scale manufacturing, is seeing less consumer spending for food products, and the tariffs have increased costs for supplying in in their supply chain disruption. Let's see.

When we look at Rockville's commercial real estate, we have 13,000,000 square feet of inventory for office. The vacancy rate of 25% is holding steady. We've had that rate for many, many, many years, so there hasn't been much change there. The current price per square foot average is $30 For industrial flex space, we have 4,100,000 square feet. The vacancy rate of 7.7% is slightly up over last year's 7%.

And the average, square footage charge, for industrial is $24 We are seeing that we have five class a office buildings that offer over 100,000 square feet or more that are offering the market opportunities for new ownership, redevelopment, adaptive reuse, or incentive driven leasing strategies. In industrial flex space, we are our rents are slightly higher than Prince George's County or Baltimore. Larger blocks of space are limited, so we're finding that, as our, occupants start to grow and, evolve into larger companies, they are not finding larger, footprints in in Rockville. And we do think that Rockville is uniquely positioned to accommodate early stage companies with space needs between three to 9,000 square feet, and we can compete with locations like Washington DC, which have limited inventory inventories and higher rents. So Ready, has sort of been ahead of the curve in this.

Before the, new administration, we started to, strategize about how to diversify our industry sectors and focus on, other areas than just federal contracting, although this area is obviously very heavily, invested in government. That includes life sciences, so we, launched the brand, initiative, and we've been expanding that, to for the biotech corridor to elevate the existing life science cluster, to create its global visibility and foster more connected ecosystem. It also creates a locational identity for Rockville as the epicenter of this third largest cluster in The United States. Let's see here. The board, created a strategy in 2023 looking for industry diversification.

So in addition to bio life sciences, we've been looking at, small scale manufacturing, we've been looking at emerging technologies, we've been looking at green tech, and I think we're starting to talk about health technology companies as well as an area maybe that we could lean into. Let's see. Sorry. With regard to small scale manufacturing, obviously, Rockville has a competitive edge because it has light industrial areas both in Rocky East and Twinbrook, and that has allowed us to create an identity for that area, for Rock East, and to provide technical assistance and do some place making to and it really has elevated people's understanding that it is a place to come with your company to do food manufacturing and other, maker type uses. So, these are our mid year accomplishments.

So in response to all the federal restructuring, MWCBC created Reboot in the summer. It was a, boot camp for federal workers and contractors to come and look at, entrepreneurship as an alternative path. We were surprisingly pleased to know that people were very interested in this. A lot of people are looking for their second act. That led to our Developing Founders Rising, which is a cohort based capacity building program for displaced federal workers and contractors.

We started the first, cohort in November, and it's twenty twenty budding entrepreneurs who are going through a series of, trainings and really bonding with each other and supporting each other. They will be having a graduation, and thank you, Councilmember Fulton, for for speaking at that on Wednesday. So it it's been very, successful. We think that it's gonna be a a good program for us to continue to grow. We also worked with our partners in the region to create Mobilize Montgomery, which was a single resource location for all of the resources for people who were experiencing the change in their jobs to get information, to get connected with the resources here, and WorkSource Montgomery ended up creating the nation's first federal workforce career center, and we're working with their folks daily.

They're really great. So, if you need any assistance, please go to the Federal Resource Hub. So, going to the next one. So, this is just a little bit more detail on what I already touched on. The the biotech corridor, we launched at the International Bio Show last June.

We've had a lot of traction from it. We've actually had a Baltic Region delegation come and visit us with a number of businesses, and we were invited to the Italian embassy's, stakeholder invitation to talk about how they're trying to do more investment in The United States, and even without a strong marketing campaign, we get inquiries on the biotech corridor website asking for resources and and assistance. So it's it's got traction, which is exciting. In addition to the brand, we've been trying to create an ecosystem and a community in Rockville that is supportive of the businesses. We Boston does this, California does this, and we were finding that we had companies that were buying, you know, syringes from somebody somewhere else, but there's a company down the road that sells them.

So, we want to have more interaction between the companies so that they know what each other's products and services are and that they they can also support each other. It's it's a very interesting ecosystem. People are not as competitive as in other industry areas. They they they seem to all be looking towards how to make, health better for everybody. And so, Thermo Fisher has stepped up to create some exclusive executive dinners where we've been able to curate conversations like, what's happening at the FDA, how to access private capital, and we had a Bio Boost event at Share Partners to gather information from the companies about where they would like us to next build out, functionality in the website, which is going to be like a calendar of events.

It's going to be a directory and understanding each other's services and products. MWBC, has done a lot of work this year. We brought Karen Sipple on board last a year ago, and, so she's had a lot of challenges in navigating all of this. We were very lucky that our federal grants were renewed and the congress, I I'm not sure I can explain all of the legality of it, but they took action to ensure that the WBCs are a program that cannot be eliminated. So that was very exciting.

To date, Maryland Women's Business Center has had 446 unique clients, supported 548 jobs, and had, almost a 120,000 of capital infusion. This includes 59 entrepreneurs in Rockville and 64 jobs in Rockville. And then we went through, the the reboot and the Founders Rising, and we're working now on redesigning the retail incubator curriculum. We have a grant from the county that we've been working on with that and it's coming along very well. We have a cohort going through that process right now.

I do want to let you know, along with the Science Center, we are getting displaced from the shop local, location because the tenant that Morgard found is taking both spaces. So, we're looking at options with them as as to alternate locations. So for business attraction expansion and retention, so far we've done 70 business visits this half year, and we've attracted 32 new businesses. So it's, we're moving ahead despite all of the challenges and having success. For the grant programs, these are the grants we've made so far this year.

The next, grant deadline is ape April, so we have a number of people who've already filled out applications for that that round. But you can see they're across the city. Let's see. And this our our staff has been recognized at a lot of levels, which is creating, greater visibility for Rockville, elevating our profile and awareness. So, you know, we have a staff that are on boards of Visit Montgomery, the cha Greater Rockville Chamber of Commerce, Maryland Economic Development Association, Interfaith Works.

We are doing business development committee of the Downtown Frederick Partnership, through MWBC, a hundred Black Women Coalition of Prince George's County. We have, staff appointed to the Comptroller's Business Advisory Council and the Women's Empowerment Council. We have, staff involved in Women in Bio in the Capital Region and the Maryland State Innovation Team. I was named, CEO monthly, economic development CEO of the year, which is nice, and also, had a thought leadership, article in Innovate Maryland about the importance of creativity in, life sciences. M MWBC was designated a national WBC of excellence for a second consecutive year.

And I know that you all are aware of our, strategic plan for the year, but this is how we've positioned, our our work for the year. We're focusing on the bio life sciences, elevating the brand, building out the website, and building the ecosystem. We have emerging and clean technology where we are, using prospect lists to for targeted attraction. We're assisting emerging tech businesses, including Liatris, Pearl, and NextGlass who are growing and, growing this epicenter of the the green technologies, companies. We have, 26% of the country's cleantech, in Rockville.

And small scale manufacturing, we've, given this training to three cohorts at this point, and we are have designated sorry, designated manufacturing hubs for Twinbrook and Rocky East, and we've been receiving county funding for further development of of those areas and for paying for the technical assistance. And looking forward, for 2026, we want to continue to analyze and respond to the federal landscape, building our resilience and response to assisting people. We want to scale the Founders Rising program, which is doing well. We want to complete a fundraising feasibility study that we're in the middle of to figure out how to support the biotech corridor growth and launch an enhanced biotech corridor website. We're looking to also work with the fundraising, consultant to diversify MWBC's funding, and enhance communication strategies with shareholders and stakeholders.

We're also looking at data system integration and performance, measurement modernization. We're using AI and we've retooled our metrics, and thanks to Dave Gottesman for all his help. From our budget, you can see our funding sources. City of Rockville is our largest funder, but we do have funding sources supporting, most of the MWBC, activities, which are listed there, and then, 1% other, we do get some money from trainings and sponsorships and things like that. And this is what we have spent so far.

Oh, wait. This is sorry. This is the breakdown of the funding from Rockville, and it's in accordance with the budget that was approved. The categories. And this is where we are on spending to date. We're 39% of the budget has been spent. We This tracks where we were last year. We tend to, have more spending at the very end of the year because of the International Bio Show and the Global Bites campaign. So we are on schedule and I think that's it.

Thank you very much.

Thank

you. You've been busy.

Yes. It's been an interesting year.

It has been, for many reasons. I just wanted to start out by saying thank you. I know this has been, again, a very strange year in terms of a lot of things shifting in the economic development space and the business space and just trying to understand how things change nationally and the impact on local. So I want to open up to my colleagues first. I know I have lots of questions, but I want to see if anyone has questions first.

All right. So I will say one of the biggest things that happened in this region, I know with COVID it was a big change in how people used office space. This has been a big change in the loss of federal workers and contractors. I did appreciate the information you put on unemployment in this presentation. Do you know if the numbers are Greater Rockville or if they're City Of Rockville? Because there were about 1,000 unfortunate layoffs just outside the city, but people would still maybe track that into our zip codes. I wasn't sure if that number was including the Greater Rockville or if it was specific to Rockville.

It's the Greater Rockville. It's the Census area.

Yes, because most of the HHS layoffs were just outside the city on Executive Boulevard, Fisher Lane, etcetera. So I just wanted to, we're all in this region together, but I just wanted to clarify that for the listening public. Yes. Thank you. With that said, there have been some layoffs within the city. Mostly, I've seen on the contract side.

Mhmm.

I won't name all the companies, but there are some important long standing companies who have had to really wind down. So I appreciate the work that you're doing through Founders Rising as well as connecting people to WorkSource Montgomery to help people find a job or create their own company. That's been tremendously important. Do you have a sense of what is the go get number? I always like to think with the goals for how many new jobs we need to bring in to make up for the loss in federal jobs and contract jobs? And I'll say there's a trickle as well. The federal government funds nonprofits. So I want to acknowledge that workforce too.

Don't have an answer for that. Obviously it would be ideal to have one to one replacement for the jobs lost. I think you would have to do a complex modeling to understand all of the variable industries that are affected and, you know, when does it affect your tax base. So I don't I don't have an answer for that. I don't know that anybody has an answer for that at the moment. The 9,900 jobs are from Bethesda up to Frederick. So, you know, it's it's obviously less than that.

Thank you. And how is everything going in terms with WorkSource Montgomery, helping people to find new jobs. Is there anything that you can share about how well that's working? Are there things that we should be thinking differently in addition to the work that you're doing on Founders Rising and the cohorts that you've been pulling together?

Yeah, their team is really top notch. Like I said, we talk to them very regularly when people reach out to us saying they have jobs they need to fill or they're looking for a job, they have resources to assist with all of that. Obviously, they're doing job fairs, and you can go to their website for more information, but they're very responsive.

Excellent. Thank you. And I'll just, remind the listening public that organization is called worksourcemontgomery.com. It is funded. I know there's a mixture of Montgomery County as well as some federal funding that I believe they have. And there's a partnership between all the economic development folks, and that entity is part of Mobilize Montgomery. Is there anything else you want to say about that?

No, just Mobilize Montgomery is a great resource to look at everything that's available in the region.

Okay, thank you. Councillor Fulton.

Thank you for the presentation. And yes, it has been an interesting year. So thanks for writing that out so well on behalf of Rockville. One question I have was on the investment in the biotech corridor and the accomplishment of it says on one of these slides attracting 32 new businesses. What industry, not all of them individually, but where are we at, is there a concentration that we're actually attracting more in any certain sector than the other?

I don't know that we've analyzed that. Rochelle, do you have an idea? Come

on. My

apologies. Good evening. So the mix of companies that have been attracted Rockville so far, I would say the majority of them lean towards retail companies, but we did see a large influx of office companies moving in as well. Professional services, life science, technology firms as well.

Okay. So has there been a spike in bio are we waiting for the impacts of the biotech corridor sort of investment and maybe would see more coming in then? Or some were covered in what you just said?

We are seeing life science activity, not as much as we've seen probably in, like, 2021, 2022. Okay. And a lot of it, again, to a lot of the changes that we've seen last year. So, for example, a new company that just moved in, Hansel Bio, they were already located within Montgomery County, but this is their first location within the city of Rockville. So we are seeing expansions, especially financially. They're stable, contracts are in place and things like that. Where we see it get a little bit shaky and they're a little bit hesitant to expand or to grow within the city is if any type of funding resources, whether they're coming from the federal government or whatnot, had been halted or even removed altogether.

Thanks. I appreciate

it. You're welcome.

Thank you. I was going to do you have a question? Was going to go for It

just kind of struck me in thinking about this issue. Clearly, we saw the loss of too many jobs, but we're turning the ship around. Did we see any sort of again, knowing that it's early days did we see any early indications of a population shift where people said, you know what, maybe this is my time to go somewhere else, or are people kind of sticking around and remaining a resident of the city?

I don't think we have all the data on that yet. I do think that the listings for houses in the area has gone up.

That's what I was guessing unfortunately. Thank you. Councilman Jackson.

Thank you, Mayor. Sorry about that. I had a little technical difficulty, so thank you for your indulgence. But that's why I passed on the question I had originally. So I liked your positioning of trying to attract small start up companies.

I think that's really a niche area that we're pretty good at. But when they get bigger, obviously, we look around for space, and maybe we don't have it. So can you describe what you do to coordinate and cooperate with the surrounding jurisdictions, like the county or Gaithersburg or whatnot? And do you try to keep them close, possible?

Absolutely. Yeah. Our our first goal is to keep somebody in Rockville, and if we really can't meet their needs, then, we try to keep them as close to us as possible. So we work regularly with MCEDC, with Gaithersburg, and with the Department of Commerce. You know, ultimately, if Montgomery County cannot provide the the space needs of a company, we're all trying to keep them in Maryland.

So, a follow-up question. So, the incubators, I know that that's a program that you really put a lot of time and effort in. And I think you had success with the bio life sciences sector. Are you planning on kind of building out or looking for similar success in other sectors? And what are your plans for for for that, for incubating those?

Yeah. So, I mean, there's a number of incubating. So the county incubation system, that has the Rockville Incubation Center over at VisArts, does have a lot of data companies there. The people who need lab space are really going to Germantown in that system, but but hopefully, you know, they're establishing themselves as companies in our area. We don't provide technical assistance on the science.

We really provide technical assistance on people who need to know how to do a business plan, how to do a marketing plan, for small scale manufacturing, to do supply chain, those kinds of things. So, I wouldn't say per se we're incubating bio life science companies, we're just trying to convene them together. But the incubators like the BioBoost and the sorry, not BioBoost, Founders Rising, those are helping people across a lot of different types of business ideas develop their concept to get it going, get it legally registered, figure out where they want to go, if they need funding, we help them figure out what they need to provide for the lender to be able to get funding, those kinds of things.

And I understand, speaking of incubators, there is a meeting or a facility you had a tour, I think, in March, incompetent space down in D. C.

Oh, yes, with Gaithersburg, yes.

Yeah. So what is that? Can you tell us a little bit more?

I don't know as much as probably more than you do, but I know a Gaithersburg council member was interested in having us all go down and see this model, and it looks very interesting. I was disappointed it got rescheduled to but I'm excited to go see what it is and what his ideas are.

No, it sounds pretty interesting. So, last question, because we try to rotate them around. It's a new, unofficial policy. How much capacity for growth does the bio or life sciences have? I mean, we've been working on this life sciences corridor for a while. So I know that people are asking the question, you know, what is the potential for growth? Have we approached it yet? So I I want to kind of dive into that a little bit.

Sure. And that's a complex question because it also involves what is the market doing, but we do have space. We have plenty of lab space, we have plenty of office space for the use. We continue to be an epicenter because of our proximity to FDA, NIH, and the fact that the companies are really clustering in Rockville. I think you saw the heat map I sent around on Friday that really shows the orange spot is Rockville.

And that I liken it to, like, you're leasing a mall, all of the stores want to be near the Nordstrom Wing, and that's sort of what we are. Everybody wants to be near us, because they want the interaction with the other companies. They want the talent pool thatis here, and people do switch companies here, but thatis really our biggest attraction, is the quality of the workforce and the talent that we have here.

Thank you. Councilman Van Gruk.

Thanks, and I apologize for not being there. I'm actually currently in the reunification line here at Frost.

Okay.

So I apologize for not being there currently. So a question that I did have with regard to the presentation, and I apologize. I was not able to hear everything because of the noise that's happening. But can you tell me a little bit I think you touched on it slightly, but can you tell me a little bit about how city investment in some of the either infrastructure areas or areas throughout Rockville can be beneficial to economic development?

Yeah. Absolutely. I think creating a sense of place and a place where people want to be is very important. I mean, in addition to the talent pool that's here, the next leading driver is where does the CEO and their partner want to live, and where do they want their family to live. So what amenities do they want, and what do they want the community to be like that they're going to be in.

So, our mural project in Rock East was in part, to create that visual sense of being somewhere, create a little bit more life and activity, so people recognize that it's a light industrial area and a maker's district. And we're doing the same with the Biotech Corridor, letting the companies know that they're part of something and that it's a community and that they want to be there because it has what they identify with.

So, I mean, can you help me? What are some of the either issues or things that you could see the city that might be able to do or invest that could be specifically beneficial to courting companies or making people want to use the services and stores within the city?

Well, me if I'm off base, but I know we talked a lot about the importance of having an aesthetic experience, understanding how to navigate. So I know this body has talked a lot about the way finding and being able to figure out where you're going and understand that there are things to go see that you can't see immediately, like in Town Center, redoing the Rockville Metro Center, I think is a great opportunity for creating that sense of place, the sense of arrival, and letting people know that if they can get from the Metro Station to Town Center and and town square. Was that what you were looking for?

Yeah. So, I mean, I guess then let me ask kind of as a follow-up, maybe coordination. I mean, I'd ask the city manager If we were gonna implement something that talked about either these types of either infrastructure based or beautification aspects to kind of encourage people to wanna be here or that type of infrastructure, what type of either plan would you suggest that we could go forward and implement?

City manager.

Yep. Thank you, Mary. I appreciate it. I did I do think we spent a lot of time and energy talking about placemaking over the past year or so.

And we've done some work too.

And we have done some work, yep, which we're very proud of. We can do more, but I think if we're gonna do it, citywide, then we absolutely need a plan. So it's it's a connected set of different improvements that have, similar themes. That's a big initiative, but it's also something we can do. But we'd absolutely need a plan to put that together to make sure we're investing properly.

Thank you. And I will note there's been a lot more that's happened in the past two years with asphalt art and murals and signage leveraging bridges to do that work. And then I know that Cultural Arts Commission has been working very hard to put murals up all across the city, and they have more to roll out. I know that we still need to do more wayfinding and signage. It's something that's a carryover that we've been trying to get done, and I know you're looking at signs throughout the city as well. So I appreciate your update there. And I believe that's something that you've started and you have planned for part of this fiscal year and moving into next. Is

that right?

Yes. Yes. And yes. Okay.

Councilmember Shah.

Well, thank you so much for the presentation and congratulations on your award. I had a few questions around the displaced federal employees. I know you shared the numbers. I think you said there was about 9,900 or so, within our area. Could you share the numbers of how many former federal employees received jobs from the programs, from those those four programs, WorkSource Montgomery, Mobilize Montgomery, the Founders Rising, and I think there was another program.

Yes, so Founders Rising is a pilot right now with 20 entrepreneurs and I believe how many are from Montgomery County? 15? 15 of those are Montgomery County and five are from Prince George's County. I don't have the numbers for the success for WorkSource Montgomery, we could certainly reach out to them and see what they can tell you and we can circulate that afterwards. Bio Boost, I know we just, I don't remember the numbers, but it was maybe 50 people each? The boost, the 50. About 50. 89 total.

Okay. Yeah. I would I would appreciate if you could share those numbers. I just know that, you know, our region has been disproportionately impacted by the layoffs, so it would be good to know just in terms of the success of those those really great programs.

Definitely. Councilmember Fulton, then councilmember O'Leary.

Building on some of the questions about how we can make it an attractive place. We talked about, obviously, place making. You talked about the people who want to work and live there. How are the schools? How are the facilities? How are the amenities? I assume that people are also thinking about how accommodating is it to start and run a business in that jurisdiction?

Yes.

So building on what council member Van Grag said about what can the city do from a are we creating any unnecessary friction in places that you would feel comfortable advising us that we could help in that regard?

I think most of it is in, you know, that you're addressing with the zoning code rewrite, and you've done a lot of work reducing some of those barriers. I have not heard other things. Most of the challenges come at a state level, you know, with the tax structure and things like that, which we can't fix at this level.

Fair enough. Okay. So we're doing what we can do in that regard. Thanks.

Councilmember Valeri. Yes. Thank you.

So we did actually, during the last was it the last one? Might be the one before. One of our strategic sessions where we kind of talk through priorities and come up with ideas, we did come up with an idea that made it to the final round. And that is supporting and making it easier for retailers to utilize their exterior walls for retail related murals and other sort of art. It's in a public place, but it's a private entity.

And kind of expanding upon what we see more of coming in through Morgard's work in Rockville Town Center, really trying to expand that because I think that that is something that does bring a lot of character and vibrancy, especially to some of our older shopping centers and so forth. I did have a question in general, just because I do try to stay on top of things. And if you don't have the answer to this, I totally understand and I apologize. I just literally thought of it sitting here. Given the county executive's recent comments about data centers and acknowledging the limitations there are looking at things like micro data centers, small scale.

Is that something that could make Rockville in particular attractive to individuals looking for those kind of spaces?

Yeah, know that was brought up at our retreat last year, and we haven't really done a lot of thinking around that, but I think it's an interesting idea.

I

can't remember when the comments were made, probably within the last week or so,

that

there would be some moratorium on allowing for any new data centers in the county, but maybe that's something that we can.

Yeah, obviously exploring what the utility costs and energy costs and all that sort

of Absolutely, but a rising tide will lift our boat. Thank you.

Thank you. I wanted to acknowledge, I know that we had the Hilton opening and Women in Bio organization was there and we're able to match them up and now they're going to have the conference here in Rockville. Thank you for helping them to follow through on that because that's sort of creating a convener hub opportunity to bring people into the space. So I wanted to acknowledge that. I've also seen that some of the existing biotechs are buying more buildings.

So we visited one where they went from two buildings to three, and I think they may have five now. Six. So that is also positive momentum to see how do we help companies grow here and do more like that. So I wanted to acknowledge and what was interesting is that some of these companies are actually manufacturing here in So I thought that was quite neat. You would be surprised to see those buildings look normal on the outside but they may be a satellite

a lot

of cool stuff

of happening in research techniques happening on the inside. Other big one that's coming in is You fills the art space, Young Artists of America. I know there's been a hard year with the federal workers, which absolutely we need to keep driving at. I wanted to celebrate some of those wins. I think that we're gonna have to do a hustle to bring a lot more companies in because we want our federal workers to stay here and to give them meaningful work.

They have such educated and great life experience that we want to see how can we help them to be here. And I know some of them are already moving and finding jobs, I have heard stories from the Workforce Montgomery where they were able to get higher paying jobs. Some are still looking. It's just everyone is in a different journey on that struggle, and that's something we have to continue to manage and support. You talked about some of the companies that are coming in. I was surprised to see so many IT companies as as that category and even, like, health not AI did not data centers, but AI sort of small companies

Mhmm.

That are trying to innovate in that space. So that that was an interesting observation for me. In terms of what can we do, I I am I know that we've we've been doing a lot in terms of trying to change the zoning, and and we looked at our permitting processes. I I do want just the world to know that we are still open to learning and to doing better. So if people have ideas, if your experience is different than we think process is, please talk to our city manager.

Please let us know. We are open to innovating to make sure that we are the best place to do business. Also, know we're looking at the approval process, and another thing we've been talking about with city manager is the navigation services, so that as you're working with the city, you also can get support navigating the county and the state. Sometimes you need approvals from different levels of government. The last thing I was going to mention on that, what can we do, We always want to make sure that the businesses stay here when they're in a growth stage and catching them before they look someplace else.

I know this whole body is very supportive of the retention tours and if there's anything that we can do collectively to support you, I have seen the impact it makes when a business one of us shows up at their doorstep and they're just excited and then you are doing all this great follow-up. It really creates a relationship to want to stay here. We want to be that kind of city where we know our businesses, they're creating jobs for our people, and people are creating businesses and creating jobs for other people. If there's anything that we can do better to support you in that effort, please let us know.

No, and we appreciate every time one of you is able to come to meet a business, they get so excited and it's really impactful to meet you and to know that they have elected officials who care. I do want to, put out there too, we are we've scheduled our annual retreat for Saturday, April 25. As usual, it's 8AM sharp to noon. We try not to keep anybody beyond that, but it's very important to have everybody at the table, you know, with brainstorming and the ideas so that we can collectively create the path for the next year.

Thank you. And we can't talk about economic development without also thinking about people's lived experience as they're walking about the city. I have seen some neighborhood shopping centers fill up, like the Woodley Garden Shopping Center has new energy with the new business that has come in and people are super excited about that. There's some work happening in Rockville Town Center, but I just wanted to get what are you thinking about the neighborhood shopping centers? Is there anything that we need to be doing differently there? What's your read on that landscape?

I mean, I think retail is softening a little, but our small business impact fund is a real unique tool for our businesses, knowing that they have the support of the mayor and council to help them sustain and grow in their businesses. So I think we just continue doing that. I know that Josh from Morgard is going to be in town this week, so hopefully he's meeting with a number of you to let you know what's going on there. He hasn't been ready to announce a bunch of things. And I don't know, any other thoughts?

I was going say if there's some displacement on the community service leases he has, it means there must be some new leases coming in. Good problem to have.

It is. And we are so thankful to have had free rent for five years. It was really very, very kind of them.

Awesome. Councilmember Jackson, and then I just want to see if any of my other colleagues have questions.

No. Thank you, mayor. And I'm so looking forward to your your retreat. It's gonna be a perfect way to spend my birthday.

Oh, dear. We'll get you a cake.

So I just want to say, you know, a couple of years ago, when we were first elected and came in onto this council, one of the things that we talked about was actually the MOVE grants and the small business funds. And basically, should include all of Rockville. And I think that you've really done a good job of doing that, of giving these grants across the city. And so I just wanna commend you for that and and say, keep it keep it up. It's great.

To the point that the mayor was making on neighborhoods, shopping centers, and and others, It's important, I think, to attract new businesses, but the businesses that are established are really crucial as well. And so to dig in on her point a little bit, how can we get Ready's message out or programs or resources that you have that would help them to stay, to thrive? I know I've asked it before, but I just have you thought any more about how you actually get out to these businesses and let them know about the programs and resources that you have?

Yeah, we have walked almost all of them and given out packages of information. You know, they don't always trust us, so I know that you all are some of our best ambassadors. So I know I've given the mayor business cards and things you can pass out if anybody needs any more. I think I put a bunch in your boxes six months or so ago. But if you need more, please just tell them, because they do trust you all. That's very helpful for you to say, Hey, go to Ready.

I will say sometimes it takes three to five touch points, because people have been burned or think the process is too complicated or they can't believe that something is really good for them. Someone's really trying to help them. And then also you have entrepreneurs that are just busy. They're trying to make it and survive. And they don't always like to admit when they need help. None of us like to admit when we need help. We're like, really, we're here to help. Let us know. So if you have a business out there and need help, please know that you have the Merrill Lynch Business Center ready, as well as the chamber to support you. And I'll just give a plug again, you have grants that you do throughout the year, you offer technical assistance and some of the incubation hubs to offer, so please take a look.

And relocation assistance.

Absolutely. We can help you find a space.

We can help you find a space. Thank you so much. I wanted to just say one other thing. Something that you mentioned, small scale manufacturing. I'm still trying to noodle on this because when we were doing the comprehensive plan, it's like, okay, just take everything and do more housing, which we need more housing. But then you also look at how do we create some manufacturing space in special places in the city. So that's something I think we all need to grapple with and just keep us posted on the trends.

There's demand for it,

for sure.

That was a big change from 2021, So I if you are seeing trends that we need to be better reacting to as a government, please let us know.

Absolutely. Karen just texted me for Councilmember Shaw, the Federal Workforce Career Center saw 175 clients in the first ten weeks.

Alright.

Well Thank you.

Go go ahead, councilor Michelle. Thank

you, madam mayor. So, I was asking about so that was that's a great, that's a great number. If you could just follow-up and find out how many jobs

Sure.

They received. Yeah. Thank you. Yep.

Yeah. And I know that's something I've talked to WorkSource Montgomery about and something I think many of us would be interested in is just how is it going? Yeah. I know that they were putting some systems to track that. Obviously finding a job can be a long lead situation and when I've asked questions about what are the biggest challenges is the applicability of all that great federal national level thinking to are there additional local certifications or what are the challenges that federal workers are experiencing when they're trying to go into other marketplaces. That would be good to just know more about as well.

Definitely.

Thank you to the entire Board. Thanks for all of your work. We really appreciate all that you're doing. And I know that we'll be at the retreat on April '20 also want to acknowledge the city is developing an economic development plan that will tie in land use and the work that REDDI is doing. And then county, Montgomery County Economic Development Corp, is also developing their strategic plan.

And the chambers and Ready and others are working together in the ecosystem to try to feed into that so that we're connected. And then we're planning a joint economic development session with Gaithersburg on June 29. Lots of discussion on economic development opportunity and job creation. Thank you. All right, that concludes our work session unless anyone has any final comments or questions.

Just checking for final hands here. Okay, perfect. We will now move on to mock agenda. We have reviewed that this morning. I think that we had no changes or there was one potential question that we got a response on today. Thank you for that, City Manager. Old new business. Do we have a motion to adjourn? Councilmember O'Leary?

Madam Mayor, I move that we adjourn.

Thank you. Do we have a second? Councilmember Jackson seconds. Hands up fast on these two. All those in favor, please say aye and raise your hand. Aye. It is unanimous. Thank you.