For Immediate Release: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
President Hucker says: ‘Montgomery County will come back stronger, healthier, more prosperous and equitable'
ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 1, 2020—The Montgomery County Council today unanimously elected Councilmember Tom Hucker as president and Councilmember Gabe Albornoz as vice president. They will serve one-year terms as Council officers. Council President Hucker just completed a one-year term serving as vice president and chairs the Transportation and Environment Committee. He also is a member of the Council's Public Safety Committee.
“We will take the lessons we learned this year to guide us as we climb out of this unexpected disaster and come back stronger and better prepared for the future,” Council President Hucker said. “By this time next year, our County will be stronger, healthier, more prosperous and more equitable.”
This year, Council President Hucker will prioritize containment of the COVID-19 health crisis, the recovery of our local economy, and protecting our most vulnerable residents. He also plans to keep the pressure on the State to complete the Purple Line and fulfill the County’s legislative priorities. He will also work with his colleagues to continue the Council’s efforts to increase attainable housing options, strive for racial justice, and respond to climate change.
Hucker was elected to the Council in 2014 and represents District 5, which includes the southeast and eastern portion of Montgomery County surrounding U.S. Route 29, including Briggs Chaney, Burnt Mills, Burtonsville, Calverton, Cloverly, Colesville, Fairland, Four Corners, Hillandale, Lyttonsville, Silver Spring, Takoma Park and White Oak.
Hucker’s career has focused on helping people make government more responsive and effective. Before his service on the Council, he worked as a community organizer and nonprofit executive. Hucker was elected to the Maryland General Assembly in 2006 to represent Silver Spring and Takoma Park, and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2010.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and as the vice-chair of the Washington Suburban Transit Commission, the state body that oversees transit service in the region, including the Washington metropolitan area and the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Hucker has focused on providing workers with living wages and employment discrimination protections, ensuring that landlords provide safe and healthy living conditions for renters and implementing environmental sustainability measures. He also continues to work on police reforms to counter racial disparities, the expansion of mental health service and preventing human trafficking.
Councilmember Gabe Albornoz is chair of the Council's Health and Human Services Committee and is a member of the Public Safety Committee. He is an at-large member of the Council and served as the director of Montgomery County's Recreation Department for twelve years, prior to being elected to the Council in 2018.
Council Vice-President Albornoz looks forward to supporting Council President Hucker and the County Council to address the enormous challenges presented by this pandemic, particularly health disparities that directly impact our most vulnerable populations. In the year ahead, it is the Council’s mission to expand on existing efforts to recover our local and regional economies and cultivate vital public health resources for our County residents.
The video of Council President Hucker on his term as Council president can be seen here.