There are job openings at the top of two of Montgomery County’s public safety agencies: the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service and the county Police Department are both looking for new chiefs.
Now, on the heels of the withdrawal of his pick for fire chief, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is getting a message from some council members that they want more information on how the search for the next police chief is going.
In a letter to Elrich, County Council President Andrew Friedson and the council’s Public Safety Committee Chair Sidney Katz wrote that “the process for outreach and appointment needs to be open and transparent” and that getting a sense of the timeframe in the search process is needed “to ensure a smooth and stable change of leadership.”
In his weekly media briefing, Elrich said he’s aware that the leaders within the police department and the police union “would prefer an earlier decision with a longer transition and we’re hoping we can reach a decision that achieves that.”
When asked if he believes there are potential candidates for the chief’s job within the department, Elrich said, “I think we’ve got some good potential candidates there.”
Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones announced in January that he’d retire effective July 1, 2024. Jones had been in law enforcement for nearly 40 years.
Elrich is currently in the position of trying to hire both a police chief and a fire chief.
Elrich’s nominee for fire chief, Charles Bailey, was withdrawn from consideration months after he was first identified as a candidate for the job in November. The withdrawal came days after the Office of the Inspector General issued a memo reporting allegations of misconduct by an unnamed “senior Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) employee.”
When asked if that report had any connection to the withdrawal of Bailey for consideration for the job of fire chief, Elrich told WTOP he couldn’t comment on personnel issues.
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