Montgomery County task force votes to partner with MSA for sports facility study

A Montgomery County task force voted unanimously to partner with MSA to complete a study of a proposed sports facility and move the project into the Stadium Authority process.

The group approved a motion to pair with MSA, with members agreeing to brief key executive-branch contacts and pursue the Stadium Authority path if the county executive’s office can provide a signed letter by Jan. 25 to meet the authority’s February meeting. Unidentified Speaker 2, who led the study update, said, “If we start now and work diligently to get everything going in their process, according to the Stadium Authority, the work will begin in June,” and that the Stadium Authority expects a briefing to elected officials in January 2027 with a report release in “late January, early February.”

Why it matters: routing the project through the Stadium Authority puts the county on a specific timeline and gives the task force access to Crossroads as the Stadium Authority’s consultant, but it also creates a short coordination window. County staff and counsel cautioned that the County Attorney’s Office (OCA) and procurement workflows — and the typical two-week window for executive-signature processing — could push the submission past the Stadium Authority cutoff.

What members debated: the task force discussed two ways to shorten the schedule: piggybacking on the Stadium Authority’s existing contract with Crossroads or pursuing a direct contract with Crossroads (including sole-source justification). Proponents of staying with MSA said MSA provides stakeholder convening, data coordination and contract-management support that would otherwise fall to county staff; others noted a direct Crossroads contract could technically shorten the consultant timeline to 30–45 days but left unanswered who would handle MSA’s background coordination work.

Motion and next steps: the motion to partner with MSA passed unanimously (six recorded “Aye” responses). Members said they would brief Juando and Natalie and initiate conversations with the county executive’s office (the identified contact is Ken Hartman at Spada) to pursue the January 25 letter. Task force leaders said they will work with counsel to speed OCA review where possible but acknowledged there is a risk the executive signature process could push the start back by roughly a month.

The task force did not adopt a final contracting decision about direct procurement with Crossroads; members asked staff to confirm Crossroads’ willingness to enter a direct agreement and to outline how MSA’s management tasks would be covered if the county bypassed MSA.