Jawando lays out transition plan in Montgomery County
County Executive-Elect Will Jawando, a Democrat, is already a familiar face to many.
He’s been a Montgomery County Councilmember since 2018, and now he’s replacing County Executive Marc Elrich, who is term limited.
Jawando held a transition launch event Wednesday to lay out his plans for the next four years.
“I’m really honored to have your trust, to lead,” Jawando said.
It was a decisive win for Jawando, who captured more than three quarters of the vote.
“We’ll be focused on how do we build more housing that’s affordable, how do we bring down the cost of goods and services here, how do we make it easier to start a business,” Jawando said.
It was only a couple months ago that Jawando suffered a heart attack while playing pickup basketball. He has spoken openly about how grateful he feels to be alive and said that experience was a wakeup call that taught him the importance of work life balance and delegating.
Jawando said his transition team will include more than 100 people working on different committees like transportation, health and immigration.
“Not all of them supported my campaign. Some were very vocal in other campaigns, but all of them care about Montgomery County and have something to offer,” Jawando said.
One of the top items on his to-do list is finding a new police chief. Jawando said he’s currently interviewing candidates and hopes to make a choice by the end of the year.
News4 also asked him about Montgomery County Public Schools. Last week, the state of Maryland released a report card showing less than half of all MCPS students are at grade level for math.
“Look, it’s hard. It’s hard work,” Jawando said. “And if you look around the country and the region, math has really gone down for every student.”
Jawando said he hopes to invest more in math coaches and staff development.
As for his other plans, he said he’s sending out a survey to all residents and holding community workshops to hear people’s concerns.
Jawando also announced Wednesday he plans to move the County Executive’s Office to a different building — the historic Grey Courthouse in Rockville. It’s where Thurgood Marshall argued a civil rights case that ensured equal pay for Black teachers, and laid the groundwork for the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.
