(a) Names. The head of a department or principal office is called the Director of the department or principal office, except that:
(1) the Director of Police is also called the Chief of Police;
(2) the Director of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is also called the Fire Chief; and
(3) the Director of the Office of the County Attorney is called the County Attorney.
(b) Qualifications.
(1) Each head of a department or principal office should be professionally qualified.
(2) A person holding any other position in the Executive Branch designated by law as a non-merit position must be professionally qualified for the position under a position description established by regulation under method (1).
(c) Status. Heads of departments and principal offices, and holders of any other position in the Executive Branch designated by law as a non-merit position, are County employees but are not merit system employees.
(d) Special reinstatement rule. A person who was a merit system employee of the Police Department when appointed as an Assistant Chief of Police may return to the merit system in the Department at the same rank that the person last held in the merit system. The person must elect to return to the merit system within 10 days after leaving the Assistant Chief position, by notifying the Chief Administrative Officer in writing. If the previous rank was abolished, the person must be assigned to the closest equivalent rank, and must receive the salary and benefits that would apply if the person had remained in the merit system at the previous rank and the rank still existed.
(e) Salaries. The Executive must design a compensation system to attract and retain highly competent senior leaders as heads of departments and principal offices, and other non-merit employees in the Executive Branch. Each of these employees must be paid a salary within a salary schedule proposed by the Executive and approved by the Council in the Operating Budget of the Montgomery County Government. The salary schedule may contain a provision permitting the Executive to exceed the salary schedule established for a position for an individual employee, subject to Council approval, if the Executive finds that it is necessary to attract or retain a senior leader for a specific position. The Council must establish a salary schedule for non-merit positions in the Legislative Branch as part of the Operating Budget of the Montgomery County Government.
(f) Severance pay. The Executive or a Councilmember must not authorize any payment of money or paid administrative leave to a non-merit employee in the Executive Branch or in the Legislative Branch upon separation from County employment unless the payment is expressly authorized by law. The Executive or a Councilmember must not enter into an employment agreement with a non-merit employee that provides for any type of severance pay for an employee who is terminated with or without cause. This subsection must not be interpreted to prohibit:
(1) the payout of unused leave at termination of employment;
(2) a discontinued retirement pension authorized under Section 33-45(d) or Section 33-45(e); or
(3) severance pay under Sections 33-139 and 33-140. (1986 L.M.C., ch. 37, § 1; 1987 L.M.C., ch. 28, § 4; 1993 L.M.C., ch. 44, § 1; 1995 L.M.C., ch. 13, § 1; 2000 L.M.C., ch. 6 § 1; 2006 L.M.C., ch. 33, § 1; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 4, § 1; 2020 L.M.C., ch. 41, §1.)
Editor’s note—See County Attorney Opinion dated 1/24/99 explaining that a non-merit position in the Animal Control Division need not be filled.
2020 L.M.C., ch. 41, § 2, states: Transition. The amendments in Section 1 must apply to any County employee who separates from County employment on or after the date this Act takes effect.
2016 L.M.C., ch. 4, § 2, states, in part: Effective Date. ... This Act must apply to any employee who is hired or promoted to head of a department or principal office or other non-merit position after the date the Council approves the first salary schedule required in Section 1.
2000 L.M.C., ch. 6, §§ 2 and 3, state:
Sec. 2. The Chief Administrative Officer must abolish the following occupational classes on the date that the County Council confirms the third Assistant Chief of Police: (a) police lieutenant colonel; and (b) police major. Until the classes are abolished, the Chief of Police must not appoint any other person to a position in these classes.
Sec. 3. An employee of the Department of Police must not represent the Department or the County as an attorney in any administrative, quasi-judicial, or judicial proceeding.