Rockville reorganizes city personnel code; council creates Procurement and Communications departments and amends pension coverage

The Rockville Mayor and Council on June 9 adopted an ordinance to create a Department of Procurement and a Department of Communications and Community Engagement and approved resolutions changing civil service classifications and aligning the pension plan with those changes. The actions are intended to improve administrative efficiency and strengthen recruitment and retention.

Staff presented multiple linked items: creation of the two departments; a resolution to place certain at-will classified positions in the city—s nonmerit civil service list (including deputy positions and department directors); an amendment to the July 1, 2024 pension plan document to add coverage for newly-designated positions; and a proposed rewrite of Chapter 15 of the City Code to move certain administrative approvals to the city manager and to narrow the Personnel Appeals Board—s scope.

Susan Selig, presenting the staff recommendations, told the council the changes "create additional efficiencies" and align City Code with budgeted FY26 positions, including recent decisions to fund the new departments. Staff said the pension amendment would add roughly $63,000 in annual cost, of which about $40,000 was already approved in the budget and approximately $23,000 was new and available within existing funds.

The council approved Ordinance 1 to create the two departments after a motion to waive the layover period; the adoption motion passed with all members present voting in favor. Council then adopted the related resolutions to establish the nonmerit civil service list and to amend the pension plan; those resolutions were moved by Council Member Valeri, seconded by Council Member Jackson, and approved unanimously.

Debate on the proposed Personnel Policy Manual (PPM) changes continued at length. Staff proposed moving administrative approval of the PPM to the city manager, requiring Mayor and Council approval for certain appointed-official employment contracts, allowing appointed officials to approve nonmerit civil service agreements, and narrowing the Personnel Appeals Board—s authority to findings about whether an employee violated law, city policy, rule, regulation or directive. Several council members expressed concern about removing Mayor and Council authority and about how the changes would affect checks-and-balances and employee protections.

Councilmembers discussed a separate section that currently restricted political activity by employees; City Attorney staff advised that portions of the existing Code conflicted with state law and were removed to conform with the Local Government Article. Deputy City Attorney Cindy Walters noted the PPM already includes prohibitions on political activity "during duty hours," and the city attorney reiterated state law protections for employee political activity while noting statutory penalties for coercion.

After extended discussion, the council paused on several PPM items to give staff time to prepare clarifying language and additional legal review. Council directed staff to (1) return with clarified language and a written legal opinion about whether the municipality can enact additional restrictions; (2) draft guidance and an employee-facing explanation of political-activity rules for use in orientations and trainings; and (3) provide any union responses in writing.

The council voted to adopt the departmental ordinances and the pension and nonmerit resolutions at the meeting; other PPM changes (notably the Personnel Appeals Board final-decision language) were held for further review and possible future action.