Montgomery Parks Foundation

The Montgomery Parks Foundation Board of Trustees elected Theresa Cameron and Kelly Groff at their March 28 Board of Trustees Meeting. Their appointment was approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday, April 19, 2012.

Montgomery Parks Foundation adds its voice to "Stop the Shift"

New Policy adopted by the Montgomery County Planning Board allows certain parks, facilities, buildings, programs and other park assets to be named or dedicated in honor of an individual in exchange for charitable contributions to the Montgomery Parks Foundation

NBA All-Star Steve Francis donates $70,000 to Takoma/Piney Branch Park

M-NCPPC Park Police arrest individual intent on disrupting the National Mall

MCPS school site selection process equates parks with vacant property (see UPDATE)

The Councils restoration of $1.5 million to M-NCPPC Montgomery Parks leaves a budget gap of over $6.5 million

The County Executive's proposed FY12 funding for Montgomery Parks is 12.3% below the funding level requested, follows a double-digit reduction in FY11, and would reduce the Parks budget to a level of more than 13% below our FY10 funding level. If the County Executive's budget is adopted as proposed, Montgomery Parks will have to cut over $10 million. The County Executive's proposed budget would result in the reduction of 129 work years over the past two years, a 19% decrease, and this number could be higher.

On Monday, April 4, in a joint session, the PHED and Public Safety (PS) Committees decided that additional study was needed before making any decision on the possible merger of Park police into County police.

On Monday, March 21, the PHED Committee will review and discuss the Organizational Reform Commission Recommendation to transfer "park user services" from Montgomery Parks M-NCPPC to County government.

On February 28, 2011, Montgomery County Planning Board Chair Francoise M. Carrier submitted to County Council the M-NCPPC response to the ORC and County Executive recommendations on restructuring.

The Planning Board Chair and Montgomery Parks staff continue to recommend against this consolidation for the reasons outlined below.

In their final report presented on February 1, the ORC recommends that "County government would assume responsibility for all: (1) recreation programming, including classes, camps, and trips; (2) programming and upkeep of sports facilities, including athletic fields, tennis courts, and ice rinks; (3) programming and upkeep of park activity buildings and amenities, including event centers, picnic shelters, boating facilities, and trains/carousels; (4) facility permitting and class registration; and (5) park law enforcement functions..."

The Organizational Reform Commission (ORC) presented their final report to the County Council on February 1, 2011. In this report, the ORC made two recommendations that directly impact Montgomery Parks

At their regular legislative review session on Monday, February 14, the County Council declined to support the bill.

The Montgomery County Executive late-filed a bill on Friday, February 4, entitled "Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission - Montgomery County - County Police Authority, Metropolitan District Tax, and Transfer of Property."