For Immediate Release: Wednesday, March 17, 2021
The Montgomery County Council will conduct public hearings on the following expedited bills. The public hearings will be conducted on Tuesday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. The deadline to sign-up is April 5 at 5 p.m.
Expedited Bill 12-21, Personnel - Employees’ Retirement System - Retirement Savings Plan - Group Trust – Amendments, would increase the mandatory required distribution age by which benefits must begin as permitted by a recent change to federal law; change the timing of distributions of benefits for beneficiaries as required by a recent change to federal law; change the submission timing of a beneficiary form for a GRIP, EOP or RSP participant; permit the suspension of required minimum distributions for 2020 from the Retirement Savings Plan and Elected Officials’ Plan as permitted by recent federal law; clarify the process for escheatment for certain distributions to participants in the Retirement Savings Plan, GRIP, or Elected Officials’ Plan when a participant or beneficiary cannot be located, or the participant or beneficiary has not accepted the distribution; clarify operations of the Group Trust; permit unitization of the Employees’ Retirement System held within the Group Trust to provide an investment option for defined contribution participants; and generally amend the retirement laws.
Expedited Bill 13-21, Streets and Roads - Permit to Obstruct Public Rights-of-Way and Franchising – Amendments, would expand the authority of the Department of Permitting Services to issue permits for right-of-way occupations; require a permittee to execute a certain agreement for private installation of noncommercial structure that are accessory to residential use in the public rights of way; clarify the exemption of “franchise” requirements; generally amend the law regarding permits to obstruct public rights-of-way.
Documents and information are available at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council.
NOTE: During the Covid-19 state of emergency, the public is not able to be physically present in the Council Hearing Room. Residents who would like to call in to testify at a Council public hearing need to preregister on the Council's web page at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/calendar.html. Once the public hearing sign up request form is submitted and the public hearing list is created, individuals will receive separate confirmation notifications that include the appropriate phone number to call for the public hearing.
Community members also have the option to provide audio, video and written testimony to the Council using a recently developed online testimony form on the Council's web page which can be found at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/PHSignUp.html . The testimony provided with the online option carries the same weight as testimony given at a public hearing. Councilmembers consider all comments as part of their deliberations.
Comments and suggestions are welcome online at http://tinyurl.com/zrbwh5v; via email at county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov; by sending regular mail to County Council, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850. For information or to express an opinion call 240-777-7900.
The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM) on Xfinity channels 6 and 996, RCN channels 6 and 1056; and FiOS channel 30. Also available live via streaming through the Council website at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8, Facebook Live (@MontgomeryCountyMdCouncil or @ConcejodelCondadodeMontgomery), or YouTube (@MoCoCouncilMD).
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