Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich was sworn in to his second term and the members of the County’s first 11-member County Council also wore sworn in at the Montgomery County Inaugural Ceremonies on Dec. 5 at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda.
The County now has the 20th version of the Council under the current form of County government. The previous County Council had nine members—four at-large and five district Councilmembers. Voters passed a Charter Amendment to change the Council composition to 11 members—four at-large and seven district Councilmembers. The Council districts were reapportioned to accommodate the district change.
This will be the first time the Council has a female majority.
The Councilmembers sworn in include incumbents Gabe Albornoz (at-large), Evan Glass (at-large), Will Jawando (at-large), Andrew Friedson (new District 1) and Sidney Katz (new District 3). Newly elected Councilmembers include Laurie-Anne Sayles (at-large), Marilyn Balcombe (new District 2), Kate Stewart (new District 4), Kristin Mink (new District 5), Natali Fani-González (new District 6) and Dawn Luedtke (new District 7).
County Executive Elrich, who is the County’s seventh County Executive, and outgoing Council President Albornoz made remarks during the ceremonies. Lt. Governor-elect Aruna Miller, who is a County resident, also spoke at the event.
WUSA9 anchor Lesli Foster was the event’s master of ceremonies. She also is a County resident.
The recorded broadcast of the ceremonies can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGsaNHxYXeU.