What's Happening MoCo?

What's Happening with Council President Kate Stewart

• Derrick Kenny • Season 10 • Episode 94

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Join us for an inspiring conversation with Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart, as we discover her political journey from resident to County Council President. She shares her favorite things about the County and her priorities in 2025 as Council president. This include support and guidance for federal government workers, LGBTQ community and resources for mental health.

Speaker 1:

Good day and welcome to what's Happening, moco, an authentic unscripted podcast from your Montgomery County government. Now here's your host Derek Kennedy.

Speaker 3:

Good day. Welcome to what's Happening MoCo. Today's episode we have a special treat we're talking to the Montgomery County Council President. Madam President, kate Stewart, hello, madam President, how are you?

Speaker 2:

today. Good morning, I'm very good, thank you.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for being here today. I think it's quite important that we learn so much about the county government, but also about our leaders, and one thing we love to do in this program. If this is OK, let's talk about your journey from being a resident of Montgomery County to being a county council president. Madam president, what was it like, what was your journey like and what inspired you to take up public service?

Speaker 2:

Great Well, thanks for the question. So my background actually is I've been in Montgomery County for a number of decades, got my master's degree from the University of Maryland in survey methodology and was working doing public opinion, research, communications for a lot of nonprofits and other groups such as, like the ACLU, planned Parenthood, environmental groups. And then one day when I was at home with my family I got a knock on the door and it was a neighbor of mine, a friend who was on the Tacoma Park City Council, and he said to me he's like you know, did you hear that our, your council member passed away and I had? She had had cancer and unfortunately passed away. And he said well, we need to find somebody to replace her and the special elections in 45 days. And he said I'm here to ask you to do it.

Speaker 2:

And I was like what you know, I had not thought about running for local office myself. You know, thought about it and one of the things that I, over the next couple of days, I kept coming back to and friends of mine kept asking me to do it is because our city council has seven people on it and they were all men and the two people running for the empty seat were two men and, you know, my friends and residents in the city were like we can't have an all-male council in the city of Tacoma Park.

Speaker 2:

And they said so, would you run? And I did. It was a very close election, but I won that election and then, as I was filling the term out for the next year and a half, the mayor decided to retire and I remember clearly him saying to me at a council meeting can you stop by my house after the council meeting? I want to talk to you about something, but it's not appropriate to talk about in the chamber, and I thought I was in trouble.

Speaker 3:

I was like oh, what did I do?

Speaker 2:

I was still fairly new and everything. What did I do? I, I was still fairly new and everything. Um and then, uh, when we talked, he said I'm gonna retire and I really think you should think about running for mayor oh wow.

Speaker 2:

And so uh again. I was like what um? And I thought about it and thought about um, the work I had been doing on the council, on uh, working on uh with our police department, on some police reform issues, housing, that were really citywide issues. So then I ran and I got to be mayor of the city. I won that election and then, you know, was mayor for a number of years, lived through the first Trump administration, was mayor during COVID, and then was thinking I would step down and give someone else an opportunity to be mayor of the city when we did redistricting here in Montgomery County and we had the new districts and I decided to run for the county council.

Speaker 2:

And so now I'm in my third year on the county council and my colleagues have, very graciously, you know, elected me to be president of the council this year.

Speaker 3:

That's fantastic. What a what an amazing journey.

Speaker 2:

It's tiring.

Speaker 3:

As I, as I. What I heard was that each time you ran, you won.

Speaker 2:

Is that correct?

Speaker 3:

Yes, so you're batting a thousand, which is unreal for any sport or any type of office, but it speaks a lot to who you are as a person and the value that you bring to each municipality that you work with, and now for the county council.

Speaker 3:

But it seems like you have a tremendous heart for the county and I've seen you in so many different places. I wonder if you maybe have a twin or something. But before I ask you all the things about what you have, what you've accomplished, what you want to accomplish as council president, what are some of the things you love about Montgomery County, maryland?

Speaker 2:

Oh gosh, what I love about Montgomery County. You know I've been here for over three decades and I really could not imagine another place to have raised my family and to live. The one thing I love is the community and again we have been through some really rough times over the last few years with COVID and other issues coming up, and it's this community Montgomery County always steps up for each other and it's really remarkable to me and also I just I love our public schools.

Speaker 2:

My kids had a great education and also just loved the families we got to meet and the um, just the community that mcps creates, uh was wonderful. And then you know, in addition to the people itself, um, we have some of the best recreation. Um, I mean, you can do everything in montgomery county, you can go out to the ag reserve um visit farms, go apple picking, go on a hike, apple picking.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, okay, that sounds great, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

And then you can go to downtown Silver Spring and go to the Fillmore and go to a concert, or go to the Strathmore and go to a completely different type of concert. And don't even get me started about the food that we have here in Montgomery County, and so I really think our county really does offer everything.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a great point you make. I recently spoke with Visit Montgomery and we talked about staycations.

Speaker 3:

In addition, the people should come and visit and have a great time here, but you don't need to leave here to have good food and great experiences and to receive a great education, whether that's traditionally through one of our colleges or schools, but then also just visiting places that are have rich, expressed the rich heritage of Montgomery County, maryland and the country. But, of course, again, great food, great food, and I love the ag reserve, but I didn't know about apple picking. Oh yeah, so you can pick the apples, take them home and eat them.

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely, they're good to eat. You can make applesauce, you can make apple pie, you can make applesauce.

Speaker 1:

I don't know about you, I mean.

Speaker 3:

I don't make applesauce but you can make applesauce. All right. I learn something new each time I have an episode of this, and that's one thing that I think would be a great outing as we get warmer.

Speaker 3:

Yes, we're just getting out of that very cold period. But government doesn't stop when it's cold, it doesn't stop when it's hot. Right now it's kind of moderate. So what are some of the things and I like to ask this question of people that have come in and served the county, question of people that have come in and served the county what are some of the things that you consider a feather in your cap that you are proud of accomplishing in the first three years as a council member?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, gosh. So I think there are a couple of things. One was really working with members of our LGBTQ plus community. One of the first things that we did when we came into office was ask the Office of Legislative Oversight to do a report looking at access to specifically health care for transgender members of our community, and from my own personal experience in my family and hearing from other residents, I knew many families went to DC or other counties to access care, and this report validated that.

Speaker 2:

I think one of the quotes from the report is that Montgomery County is like a desert when it comes to access to care for transgender community, and that's really important.

Speaker 2:

It was important then, but so important right now, given what's going on in our country and the actions that Governor Moore has taken to make sure that the state of Maryland is a welcoming place for families and individuals who are transgender and we need to make sure that we have the health care they need, and so that report then led to helping to fund CCI, which is a health clinic here, and they're opening a clinic soon to provide some services here in Montgomery County.

Speaker 2:

We also were able in the budget last year to provide funding for MoCo Pride, and so that was really helped be the underpinnings of pushing us further on this, and I can tell you that our HHS department, our Health and Human Services actually Dr Nina Ashford is just amazing, and all the people who work on these issues, so I think that's one of the things that I'm probably most proud of. And then we've worked on a number of issues around housing. Last year we had a zoning text amendment called the Faith ZTA and that was working with houses of worship across the county who have land that they're not using because their congregations have shrunk. Or some of our houses of worship have a great deal of land from hundreds of years and they need some money to help them.

Speaker 2:

Some of them need to make repairs to their buildings or since their congregations have shrunk and they also have a mission of helping people in our community and they see the housing crisis we're in and they want to build affordable housing. Oh, wow. But our zoning laws restrict the type of housing that many of them could build.

Speaker 2:

And so we worked with council member Friedson to change our zoning laws restrict the type of housing that many of them could build, and so we worked with Council Member Friedson to change our zoning laws to make it easier for houses of worship to build affordable housing. And there's a project with a church on Georgia Avenue that I was just at, united Methodist and Silver Spring that I was just at this past weekend to see how they're progressing on it, and it's very exciting to see all of this come together. So I think there's a lot of other things we've worked on, but those are probably the two that I'm most proud of.

Speaker 3:

That's pretty innovative, bringing a church partnership with the county, being able to empower the church to be able to help people in a different way than some people I suppose at houses of worship do. That's very good. And also we talked to Phillip from MoCoPrize and he talked about all the exciting things going on with his organization, and we also talked to Mia from Trans Maryland.

Speaker 3:

She talked about a lot of the challenges that trans people face, but also the resources available to them in Maryland and in Montgomery County and specifically, so that's wonderful that you have a hand in empowering that underserved community. Oh wow, so we talked about your journey which is very impressive, which I'm not sure I've been really caught up in football lately. And I don't know any team. Teams are happy to have five losses in a season or you're undefeated. What now? Now you're council president.

Speaker 3:

So, you're bringing that winning. Now you're council president, so you're bringing that winning streak onto the council presidency. Madam President, what are some of your priorities this year as council president and what can we look forward to from you?

Speaker 2:

Great. So I think you know, top of the list is making sure that our community residents who are in our community are supported, that we are protecting their rights and maintaining our local authority, given the new administration in the White House as I mentioned before, I was a mayor the last time we had this person in the White House and you know we just need to make sure that, uh, we're upholding our residents rights and our local authority, and you know what does that mean. Um, if somebody is an immigrant or immigrant family, uh, make sure that they have all the documentation they need, all the information they need. Um, our school system, mcps, under the direction of of Superintendent Taylor, is doing an amazing job. There are a lot of resources available for people through our school system and we have that up on the council website.

Speaker 2:

We were just talking about LGBTQ+ and particularly the trans community, making sure they are supported now and they have information about, you know, their documents. We're already seeing the White House change policies regarding passports and everything, and it's so confusing right now. The most important thing is making sure people have access to information. Pregnant people we know. Reproductive health care abortion has been under attack. Reproductive health care abortion has been under attack and this county has made a stand for making sure that pregnant people can get access to good quality care here in Montgomery County, and that means supporting our clinics. And then we have federal workers.

Speaker 2:

We have over 70,000 federal employees who live in Montgomery County and that doesn't even include contractors or people who have government contractors County, and that doesn't even include contractors or people who have government contractors. And we are already seeing in the last couple of days it's only been a little over a week many people who don't have work anymore because of certain things that have been frozen, people concerned about having jobs in the future and so making sure that we have resources for them to help them connect to job opportunities and other things. So that's really the top priority.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, certainly.

Speaker 2:

And then one of the things that each year a council president's office usually does is uplift a specific issue, and this year we're looking at mental health, and we've begun by talking to our government agencies, like our wonderful health and human services department, as well as talking to the number of the nonprofit groups that provide services and advocacy on this issue in the, in the County, and we're going to bring people together, all those folks together, on February 21st to kind of look at what are we doing well, right now in the county.

Speaker 2:

what are the services we're providing? And then, where are the gaps that we need to fill? And one of the things that people will see already that we've been doing in our newsletter that we send out is that we have a section of our newsletter, each time it goes out, that will highlight resources and information on mental health.

Speaker 3:

Wow, and so that's one of the things I was going to ask you later, but maybe we can talk about it now. How do people sign up for your newsletter?

Speaker 2:

Great, so you can just email my office. It's councilmemberstuart at montgomerycountymdgov. And I also believe if you get on the county council website, there's a way you can navigate to where you can sign up for different alerts and information there.

Speaker 3:

Oh, wow, very good, very good. It's very appropriate. I'm not sure if it was foresight that led you to adopt mental health as one of the key issues you're focusing on. However, in light of the responses to the current administration, there may be an increased need for those type of services. What do you want residents to do, whether they have issues with leave collection or whether they have issues with health care for trans individuals and their family? How do you want them to respond in terms of looking to the county for support?

Speaker 2:

Great. Well, I was just at a neighborhood meeting the other night and someone said this like 3-1-1 is your friend All right yes, 3-1-1.

Speaker 2:

3-1-1 is your friend. So I think that's the first place and you can also go on the website search for information. But if you prefer you can go call 311. And if it's something, if you live in an apartment and you have some issues with your apartment, ask for code enforcement and that will get you directed to the correct department. If it is on access to healthcare, just say that and they'll direct you to the correct department. If, for some reason, that doesn't go as it's supposed to because you know things don't always do Right- yeah.

Speaker 2:

We like to say you know that's the first. You know that's the first. But if there is any hiccup with that or you're not getting a timely response, you know reaching out to your district council member, your council member's office. Again, we are happy to take Information in our office at councilmemberstuart at montgomerycountymdgov and then usually district council people look out for their constituents in their districts and so we're happy to address your concerns or help connect you to your district council person.

Speaker 3:

Wonderful, wonderful. And let's talk a little bit about your social media. I'm on social media quite a bit. And I really enjoy Instagram and I look at the reels and I look at the stories for the day and your Instagram is very active.

Speaker 2:

Were you impressed by my Lunar New Year pictures? Yes, I was.

Speaker 3:

I'm kind of impressed with those and I actually am going to a Lunar New Year lunch with Tebz today. Technology Enterprise Business Solutions after this, so I'm looking forward to learning more about the Chinese culture but, then also celebrating, talking about Montgomery County's food, the wonderful buffet, and the last time we did it, it just had octopus, so I didn't do it last year I'm going to look at it again this year and see if I try it. We'll see. So what's your Instagram handle and how you know what we will share her Instagram handle.

Speaker 2:

She'll share it In the video version on Facebook. So check out our.

Speaker 3:

Facebook group what's Happening MoCo? Or what's Happening MoCo podcast on. Facebook, our business page. We'll have her links to her Instagram. I will say it's very up-to-date and great pictures and great information, so I'll make sure that we share that with you guys.

Speaker 2:

Right, and we're also on Blue Sky.

Speaker 3:

Blue Sky.

Speaker 2:

We are on Blue Sky now Trying to lean into that a little more and I will say that we are moving away from X. We still post there because we know people. There are some people there and we usually post if there is updates or vital information. But just for folks to know that we'll probably be posting less and less to that and leaning more into Blue Sky, instagram and Facebook in the future. And also just on thinking about social media, if it is a constituent issue, it is great to email us or call our office. Email is really helpful because we may miss something on social media and sometimes it's a lot easier to get into the details of something and get more information from you than doing it on social media. So we do ask folks, if it's a constituent issue or something you're seeing that needs addressing in the community, to please email us.

Speaker 3:

And no DMs, no DMs. We just don't.

Speaker 2:

It's hard to monitor all that, of course.

Speaker 3:

And.

Speaker 2:

I don't want to miss something and I can tell you. We have folks who are monitoring our email pretty much all the time. It's great, sometimes it's hard with all the social media channels and everything else to miss a DM, and I don't want somebody who is facing a crisis, whether it's eviction or food insecurity or something else, to reach out to us that way and for us to miss it.

Speaker 3:

Wonderful. That's great that you're making sure people understand. Enjoy the Instagram, but if you have an issue, contact her via email at councilmembersstewart at montgomerycountymdgov.

Speaker 3:

And if you wanted to visit the council website, which has a host of information, including live council meetings, where you can see her in action as council president, and the other council members and each committee. So nothing happens in the dark in Montgomery County, maryland. You can see everything on, of course, the cable channel, the websites. We want to make sure everything and all the information is available to our residents in a fashion they can use it and digest it whichever way they'd like to. Thank you, council Member Stewart.

Speaker 3:

Before you go, let's see if we can give someone something they may want to. It's a little controversial, okay, can you answer a?

Speaker 2:

controversial question.

Speaker 3:

Sure, absolutely commanders or ravens, oh, oh, okay, no, so I that's.

Speaker 2:

That is so uh, you know, I will admit, not a huge football okay family, um, but I will say, in the last couple of weeks we were following, uh, the commanders because of the tight end. Ertz, who's married to Julie. Ertz, the women's soccer player.

Speaker 3:

Because in our family.

Speaker 2:

If you have a connection to women's sports, we'll then follow the men.

Speaker 3:

All right, there you go, so for us to follow men's professional teams.

Speaker 2:

You kind of have to have a link to women's sports.

Speaker 1:

There you go so for us.

Speaker 2:

We were kind of leaning towards the commanders the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 3:

So he's a winner even before he hits the football field because he married the right woman.

Speaker 2:

That's right. He makes good choices.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and that's what's happening. Moco. Montgomery County, made a good choice by electing Council President Stewart as a council member and, of course, to come apart to making great decisions all along. Thank you for all your service to the county and, as always, we ask you out there to listen to this podcast like share, and please ask the question what's happening in MoCo? Because we provide the answers.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Thanks for listening to what's Happening MoCo. Please subscribe via your favorite podcasting platform and follow us on Facebook. This podcast is brought to you by County Cable Montgomery, your source for news and information from the Montgomery County Government. Connect with us via cable, facebook, instagram or YouTube by searching for County Cable MoCo.