Mass Resignation at Montgomery County Planning Board

Following recent scrutiny, the Montgomery County, Maryland planning board has issued their mass resignation, which was accepted on Wednesday by the County Council. According to a DCist article by Callan Tansill-Suddath, “The board, which serves as the council’s chief adviser on land use and and community planning, is one of two separate planning agencies in the county; the other is Montgomery Planning, which the board oversees, and which recently made headlines for voting to remove Gwen Wright as its Director a few months shy of her planned retirement.”

As Tansill-Suddath explains, “The recent drama involving the Montgomery County Planning Board includes an investigation into the actions of Vice Chair Partap Verma, according to a complaint made to the county council and obtained by the Washington Post.” 

The complaint centered on two issues. “The first investigation looked into whether Anderson cultivated a ‘toxic’ work environment by using sexist and inappropriate language; the second involved a report that Anderson kept a stocked bar in his office.” Additionally, “The complaint also alleged Verma violated the Hatch Act, which forbids federal employees from partaking in partisan political activity; in this case, asking for donations for county council candidates.”

The article continues, “Sonia Healy, a Legislative Information Officer with the Montgomery County Council, says despite the shakeup, the council is still planning to move ahead this month with voting on THRIVE  Montgomery 2050, the county’s general plan for the next 30 years, which the county has been working on since 2018.”