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Howard County Council elects Opal Jones chair, Christiana Rigby vice chair
Summary
At its December legislative session the council elected Dr. Opal Jones as council chair and Christiana Rigby as vice chair; the body also filled several internal leadership roles for advisory boards and read dozens of appointment resolutions.
Dr. Opal Jones was elected chair of the Howard County Council during the council’s December legislative session and will serve in that role through Dec. 7, 2026. The council confirmed Christiana Rigby as vice chair.
The council opened with a roll call and the Pledge of Allegiance before moving to internal elections. After nominations were offered from the dais, members voted by voice and roll call to select Jones as chair. Jones acknowledged the appointment and thanked colleagues: “Thank you so much,” she said.
Jones then nominated Councilmember Christiana Rigby for vice chair; the council approved the nomination without further debate. The council also nominated and approved chairs and vice chairs for several external and internal bodies, including the zoning board and the Board of License Commissioners, and named representatives to the Maryland Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties.
The elections are primarily procedural but set the leadership who will oversee the council’s committees and committee referrals for the coming year. The council also read a long slate of appointment resolutions — naming candidates to boards and commissions such as the Environmental Sustainability Board, Public Ethics Commission, Human Rights Commission and multiple reappointments — and approved them in a single batch following a brief amendment that corrected an appointee’s name.
The council adjourned the procedural portion of the meeting and moved into substantive business including zoning, library matters and consumer-protection legislation, which the body debated later during the session.
