TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS Spouses of Rockville officials must pay their own way. A-3
SPORTS: County-based girls youth rugby team wins a national title. B-1
The Gazette ROCKVILLE | ASPEN HILL | POTOMAC | OLNEY DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
1,600 workers moving n
25 cents
City stalls on pay study
Onward and upward
Plan consolidates offices BY
NEWS: JazzFest returns to Takoma Park for its 20th year. A-9
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning to consolidate several local offices into one office in Rockville’s Twinbrook neighborhood. The move is expected to bring agency employees from leased offices on Gaither Road, Choke Cherry Road, Twinbrook Parkway and Thompson Avenue into an office currently being renovated at the Parklawn Building at 5600 Fishers Lane, according to a document from the U.S. General Services Administration. Once the renovation is complete, the change will increase the number of employees at the Fishers Lane location from about 2,900 to 4,500. Among the agency operations there is HHS University, which offers online courses on a range of relevant topics, according to an agency website. Agency officials could not be reached for comment Monday. Rich Gottfried, president of the Twinbrook Citizens Association, said he’s concerned about traffic from employees going from Fishers Lane onto Twinbrook Parkway, plus the impact on Metrorail at the nearby Twinbrook station. Beyond this project, Gottfried said, officials need to look at the bigger picture and create a plan for how people are going to get in and out of Rockville.
Union workers wary of raises based on supervisor evaluations n
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STAFF WRITER
Rockville city employees will have to wait a while before learning just how much they’ll be seeing in their paychecks — and just how any raises they might get will be determined. The mayor and City Council decided Monday night to hold off on approving a new method to classify the employees and determine their pay, as some members want more information about a possible alternative. The officials had been scheduled to approve the compensation and classification study, but instead voted to table the idea until they learn more about the implications of including step raises rather than merit-based increases for the city’s police and some other workers. Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and Councilwomen Beryl Feinberg and Virginia Onley voted to hold off on a decision, while Councilman Tom Moore and Julie Palakovich Carr opposed waiting. Moore and Palakovich Carr
(Above) Neville Gaynor Jr. (left) and Adithya Girish celebrate at Thursday’s graduation ceremony for Richard Montgomery High School of Rockville at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. About 525 students graduated. The commencement speaker was U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.); the student speakers were Bintu Traore and Bailey Dinman. (Left) Julia Potter and her daughter Samantha Potter take Metro back to Rockville following Thursday’s graduation ceremony for Richard Montgomery High. With few suitable venues in Montgomery County, 22 county high schools are holding their graduations at DAR Constitution Hall this spring. PHOTOS BY BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
rmarshall@gazette.net
RYAN MARSHALL
See PAY, Page A-11
Brooke Grove breaks ground Twinbrook pool to mark 60 years this weekend
$25 million expansion expected to open in 2017 n
Rockville facility has helped residents beat the heat since 1955 n
TERRI HOGAN STAFF WRITER
Brooke Grove Retirement Village recently broke ground on a new 70bed, dedicated rehabilitation facility on its Sandy Spring campus. The new facility will replace the 48-bed Sharon wing at Brooke Grove and include the transfer of 22 certificate-of-need beds purchased from National Lutheran Village at Rockville. It was approved by the Maryland Health Care Commission and Department of Aging. The $25 million expansion will add 77,000 square feet to Brooke Grove’s Rehabilitation and Nursing Center’s 83,000 square feet and will increase capacity to 190 beds, according to Dennis Hunter, the
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STAFF WRITER
RENDERING FROM BROOKE GROVE FOUNDATION
The new 70-bed rehabilitation center at Brooke Grove Retirement Village in Sandy Spring, shown in this rendering, is expected to open in 2017. Brooke Grove Foundation vice president who is overseeing the project. The facility is designed to meet the post-acute needs of the aging population in Brooke Grove’s service area, which includes Montgomery County and parts of Howard County.
“Research indicates that specifically, the Olney-area senior population is expected to grow significantly faster than the rest of the county,” Hunter said.
See BROOKE GROVE, Page A-11
A&E B-5 B-13 A-13 A-2 B-10 A-14 A-15 B-1
RYAN MARSHALL
HEAVY SEAS Baltimore’s Clipper City Brewing is the second largest brewery in Maryland and will soon be celebrating its 20th anniversary. B-5
Just in time for the start of summer, the Twinbrook Swimming Pool in Rockville is celebrating 60 years of providing a respite from the heat and humidity. The pool will hold the celebration from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday on the pool grounds at 13027 Atlantic Ave. Although the pool is usually open to members only, the public is invited to Saturday’s celebration. A donation of $5 is suggested, with the money going toward building a new kiddie pool, said Matt Harty, president of the pool’s board
Volume 28, No. 23, Two sections, 32 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
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of directors. The pool was founded in 1955 through a land grand from the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in exchange for a $10 fee, Harty said. Local residents dug much of the pool themselves, and it quickly became a popular hangout in an era in which many homes lacked air conditioning. The pool has about 170 memberships, comprising families and about 300 people all together, Harty said. Some of the members have belonged since the pool’s beginning, he said. The bottom of the pool was recently renovated, with much of the work again done by members, he said. Saturday’s event will include a second ribbon-cutting involving local, county and state officials. rmarshall@gazette.net
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