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Area favorites Fink and Marxer throw a musical pajama party in Takoma Park. A-15
The Gazette OLNEY
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013
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Olney Library’s reopening delayed further n
Project now on track to open in March BY
TERRI HOGAN STAFF WRITER
Dec. 30 will mark three full years since the last book was checked out of the Olney Library, before it closed to prepare for an expansion and renovation project. According to county officials, it likely will be March before the facility reopens. The construction project has hit numerous snags, leaving the community frustrated. Although the library closed in 2010, construction did not begin until the spring of 2012. David Dise, director of the county’s Department of General Services, said the initial lag was the result of delays in permitting by the civil engineer. In July, work slowed to a halt just before the general contractor, Milestone Construction, based in Sterling, Va., informed the county that it was ceasing business operations throughout the region. Milestone agreed to complete the project, and the county has worked with a surety company and closely monitored the situation to get the work back on track. At the time, county officials still hoped the facility could
PHOTOS BY BRIAN LEWIS/FOR THE GAZETTE
Festival of lights Above, Rabbi Bentzy Stolik of Chabad of Olney lights the “can-orah,” a menorah made of cans of donated food, at a Hanukkah celebration Sunday at Fair Hill shopping center in Olney. The food will be given to Olney Help. The celebration included latkes, doughnuts, music and crafts for children. At right, Dan Yacubovich, 13, and his sister Alice Yacubovich, 7, both of Olney, hold candles during the celebration.
Leggett to sign wage increase Thursday BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett is scheduled to sign a bill Thursday that will raise the county’s minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2017. The County Council passed the increase 8-1 after a sometimes contentious discussion on Nov. 26. Councilman Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg, who expressed a desire to wait for a vote to see whether the General Assembly will take action on a statewide minimum wage increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour, opposed the measure. The vote will gradually raise the county’s wage by October
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1, 2017, a year later than in the original proposal sponsored by Councilman Marc Elrich (D-At Large) of Takoma Park. The first increase in the rate will be Oct. 1, 2014, when the minimum wage rises to $8.40 an hour. The bill doesn’t tie the wage to a consumer price index that would allow it to keep pace with inflation, unless the state passes an increase that’s indexed. After the vote, Elrich said he still considered the vote a victory, despite the extra year to implement it. “It would have been a victory whatever we passed,” he said. The bill’s supporters said it was necessary to allow workers
to survive Montgomery’s high standard of living, while its opponents argued that minimum wage jobs are meant to be entry-level jobs and that almost all the workers in the county make more than the current minimum. The bill requires employers of tipped workers to provide a base pay equal to half of the state minimum wage, with an obligation to make up the difference in any pay up to the county’s minimum wage; eliminates a credit for employers that provide health care to employees; exempts workers 18 years old and younger who work 20 hours a week or less; requires the county executive to delegate enforcement of
the law to a state agency that enforces the state wage laws and is authorized to enforce a county minimum wage law; prevents employers from retaliating against an employee who files a minimum wage complaint; specifies that worker in the county must be paid the wage even if their employer is based outside the county; and applies the county minimum wage to county employees. The health care exemption was removed because the passage of the federal Affordable Care Act is expected to make it easier for workers to get health care on their own. The county has about 2,200
See INCREASE, Page A-11
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PREVIEW
At the annual snow show, SHA officials show off the latest snow-fighting equipment.
Region becoming a hotbed for schools that specialize in developing top college basketball players.
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RECYCLE
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Workers install glass in the new Olney Library on Tuesday afternoon.
open by the end of the year. But in October, they announced the opening had been pushed back to January 2014. Dise now says it has been further delayed, but could not pinpoint the reasons why. He said that while Milestone has “limped to the finish,” the project should be “substantially complete” by mid-December. Once a library is completed, it is turned over to Montgomery County Public Libraries. It will take several weeks to stock the shelves and prepare it for opening. Dise said the Gaithersburg
See LIBRARY, Page A-11
Montgomery beer festivals brewing n
Montgomery seeks state permission to celebrate local brews BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County is already home to multiple wine festivals each year but the county now wants to also celebrate beer. A bill will go before the General Assembly in January to give the county permission to host up to four beer festivals each year. The legislation is one of nine local bills from Montgomery that seek to change alcohol regulations. The beer festival bill was requested by Delegation Chairwoman Anne R. Kaiser (DDist. 14) of Burtonsville on be-
half of Montgomery County. Currently, the county can host wine festivals each year, but not beer fests, said Kathie Durbin, division chief of the Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control. Seven years ago, when the wine festival license was granted by the state, the county also sought the nod for beer festivals. Somewhere between draft and approval, the word beer was removed, she said. “Now beer is trending,” Durbin said. “I think there were some folks at the time who were afraid of having a beer festival, afraid it was too high risk, too big and that only big companies would be there.” But the license the county now seeks to create for beer fes-
See BEER, Page A-11
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