Could a run for the county executive seat be in Evan Glass’ future? When asked about the prospect, the departing Montgomery County council president was evasive.
But Glass (D-At-large) is clear about one thing: He said he wouldn’t do anything differently about his year leading the largest and most diverse council in the county government’s history and its most diverse in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and LGBTQ+ identity. His biggest advice to other elected officials, including incoming Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1)? Listen to constituents and colleagues.
Glass’ year came with big wins for his campaign agenda: a historic rent stabilization bill, passage of safe streets laws, and the implementation of a task force to address hate crimes. But Glass wasn’t immune from criticism, including from some colleagues who accused him of not being transparent during budget proceedings. Glass also penned an op-ed calling for more budget transparency from Montgomery County Schools officials, who clapped back with their own op-ed, defending their budget procedures and suggesting Glass believed a budget led by a Black woman superintendent needed more oversight.
MoCo360 sat down with Glass to discuss the ups and downs of his year as president, and his vision for the future. Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.
You’ve brought up a couple of times this year that this council worked together and got along even when there were some disagreements. Why is that important and how do you think that will continue to help this council be successful?
This is the most diverse council in our history, and that diversity is exhibited by the racial and social demographics, but it is also reflective of our political thinking. There are 11 members of this council, all of whom are Democrats, but there is a wide variety of political philosophy that exists between us. During my term as president, I wanted to make sure that everybody’s thoughts and opinions were shared, and that genuine debate occurred, but that we did not digress into the state of politics that, unfortunately, is being exhibited on Capitol Hill and in other jurisdictions. I wanted to make sure that we could disagree without being disagreeable. The council needs to work for the people of Montgomery County. I worked extremely hard to make sure that we had debate, debate ended, votes occurred and we moved on to the next business at hand.
Is there one legislative item that, specifically in terms of compromise among councilmembers, you’re really proud of?
The hardest work over the last year was updating our rules of procedure to make sure that this brand new 11-member body with a majority of new councilmembers was set up to serve our residents the best it could. One of the first things we did was expand the time for public testimony from two minutes to three minutes to return to the pre-pandemic level. I made sure to expand public hearing opportunities for as many residents who wanted to share with us their thoughts. We had a number of hearings that had upwards of 100 people testify over the course of a few days on one item, and that was a break from the norm.
The other thing that we did was we selected Planning Board members from the dais and not from behind closed doors, which had been the practice bar for as long as I can remember, before I even got to the council. Having a new council with a majority of new councilmembers was a time to rethink our policies and to update them.
What about compromise when it came to the county budget?
The county executive introduced a budget with a 10% tax increase to pay for our schools. Throughout our budget process, I made sure that we applied the highest level of oversight to determine how we paid for our services. This took an enormous amount of time on our individual offices and on the council central staff, and I want to applaud our staff for the tedious work in reviewing the proposed $6.8 billion budget. That is a lot of work to do in a brief amount of time. And ultimately, we did so much review and found considerable cost savings that we reduced the county executive’s proposed tax increase from 10% to 4.7%, reducing it by more than half and still providing him with 98% of his budget priorities and providing the school with the highest level of funding they have ever received in terms of one-time increase.
The budget was still one of the most controversial decisions among councilmembers this year. There were councilmembers who were concerned the tax hike was too low to fund everything, and there were councilmembers who were worried it was much too high and could be an issue for development. Do you think there was anything that could have been done differently?
When the county executive first introduced his budget, there was support across the board for various changes to the tax rate. At the end of the day, this council unanimously supported every labor contract and made substantial increases to our health care services and other critical departments. The unanimous votes by this council required some level of increased tax increase. Some folks wanted more than what we agreed upon, where we landed. In this age of politics, I know that compromise is sometimes considered a dirty word. But we do have to strike a balance between supporting our businesses and development of today, while also providing for the needs of tomorrow.
During the budget process, there was some criticism from some of your colleagues that there was not enough transparency from you. Can you speak to that?
I wanted to make sure that any additional spending received additional scrutiny. We had a budget process that required each committee to review new spending items, and then those proposals came to the full council for a second review. That is a break from the normal operating procedure over the last many years. If a committee made a recommendation, it was almost always adopted at the full council, but we had separate hearings and work sessions on those new spending items. Some of my colleagues are new to government and the perfect or ideal way of dealing with a $6.8 billion budget might not be possible in a six- to seven-week timeframe. I made sure that we had a heightened level of analysis and oversight and a heightened level of access and scrutiny. I’m very proud of the process by which we operated.
On the schools side, there was some tension between Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) leaders and county leaders when working on the budget. You penned an op-ed criticizing a lack of transparency from MCPS leaders. They responded criticizing your approach. What do you think that moment in time says about the county government’s relationship with the school system? Do you think you handled it well?
Last year, we provided Montgomery County Public Schools with the single largest budget increase that it has seen in a very long time. That process was predicated on changing the tax rate and finding savings in other areas in addition to the entire council unanimously supporting the teachers’ contract. It was an extremely stressful and emotional time for everybody, as we continued working towards achieving the blueprint as mandated by state law.
When you add all these different elements into the mix, there are going to be heightened sensitivities, and that culminated in various ways. At the end of the day, we are all public servants working to improve the quality of life for all our residents. We have been able to turn a page and continue working together and immediately began talking about improving the process for this year. That groundwork has been laid, and I am optimistic there will be more collaboration and collegiality as we work towards the FY 25 budget.
You and some of your colleagues have said there needs to greater communication from MCPS and that school system needs to take initiative and accountability in having those conversations. Do you think that relationship will be improved in the coming session?
We must improve communication and transparency between county government and Montgomery County Public Schools. Full stop. Our residents demand it, our teachers demand it, and our students deserve it. There are no other options. We have to work together and we have to do so in a collaborative, collegial and transparent manner.
There are some critics who say that the current council and county executive have not done enough to support business and development, and that rent stabilization and increases to the property tax rate undermine economic development. What is your response to these claims?
The very first action I took as council president was to create the Economic Development Committee so that we had a standalone place to engage in these deeper conversations. I put the Department of Permitting Services and Alcohol Beverage Services within the committee because these are agencies that that many businesses interact with on a daily basis. And there might be headlines about policies that some people disagree with, but there is a lot of regulatory reform and the cutting of red tape that I have been working on that there is agreement on. So we can do multiple things at the same time. We can create an environment where residents are not displaced and provide a smoother regulatory environment where we help our small businesses grow and thrive.
Regulatory reform is not sexy. But it’s essential to ensuring our small businesses are able to operate in an environment where they can focus more on their business and less on filing paperwork.
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Could you give some insight on the type of work that’s being done that’s not being done in view of the public?
The most important role for the council president is to speak with all the other councilmembers and be aware of what’s on their mind and what their policy and budget priorities are. During the budget process, that is what my staff and I were engaged in on a daily and hourly level, because the county executive proposed a large tax increase. I needed to know where people’s comfort level was with regard to increasing taxes or not. Those are all private conversations. There’s a reason why people use the sausage-making metaphor regarding legislation. But leadership is about knowing the pulse of the body, and that’s where these one-on-one conversations go.
Was there a particular piece of legislation or issue in which you were impressed by the level of the engagement from the public?
The formation of the Anti-Hate Task Force is something I’m incredibly proud of. I had been working on it for a number of months and did not know that the need for it would be as prescient as it became, due to the rise in hate crimes and antisemitism and Islamophobia. The Israel-Hamas war only accentuated the need for us to talk with each other about our individual beliefs and personal safety. The number of people in the community who have been following that discussion is very moving to me.
Rent stabilization was an incredibly powerful discussion, because I recognized that we need to keep people safely housed today, while also fostering an environment for new housing to be built for tomorrow. I affirmatively believe that the best way to have more housing that is affordable is by building more housing and advocating for the construction of more housing where we can.
At times it can be difficult to tell what your stance is on the particular legislation or issue at hand. Some members of the community have been critical of that. Do you feel you’re tight-lipped on your stances, and if so, why do you choose that approach?
Can you elaborate on your observation?
From my perspective as a reporter, with certain things that have come up, I definitely couldn’t tell which way you were going to vote. Whereas with other councilmembers, it was pretty clear to me what their view on it was.
Legislating can sometimes be messy. In a council with 11 members, there are a lot of conversations that need to be had, especially when you are the presiding officer leading those conversations and negotiations. Ultimately, my votes speak for themselves — my votes on final bills, my votes on amendments, and my work to find common ground that moves us forward. That has been my hallmark. I have been a pragmatic, progressive voice working to support our residents and our business community in a way that mirrors our values and serving on a legislative body with 11 different people with 11 different individuals with 11 different views.
There needs to be someone who works to bring people together that is what my presidency was about. I stand by the work that we’ve done reducing the proposed 10% tax increase by more than half. That was something that took a certain level of collaboration.
The role of council president is to ensure that the council operates smoothly and to the benefit of our residents. I put myself aside for the betterment of the body.
Looking back, is there something in particular that you would do differently?
I wish I had more hours in the day, but no, I don’t think there’s anything I’d do differently.
While you’re not president anymore, you still have three years in your term. What are you looking forward to working on?
I’m still chair of the Transportation and Environment Committee, and we have a lot of work ahead of us to meet our climate goals, and to create a transportation network that safely and efficiently gets people to where they want to go. We have to meet our climate goals, which require us to eliminate carbon emissions by 80% over the next few years, so we have a lot of work there.
Statewide, there are some looming budget cuts for the Maryland Department of Transportation. I’m going to have several hearings to see how that will impact our transportation goals here in Montgomery County, while we work to complete the Purple Line with the state and build out our bus rapid transit network.
At the end of that term, have you given any thought to what you want to do? Will you run for county executive?
I am currently serving my second term on the council and working extremely hard to serve all 1.1 million residents in Montgomery County. People are expressing their support for the work I’ve done and want me to continue doing it. That’s all I’ll say.