Gaithersburg is getting a new mayor — on one condition

The Gaithersburg City Council has selected council member Lisa Henderson to be the city’s next mayor if current Mayor Jud Ashman wins the District 3 seat on the Montgomery County Council in November.

Ashman, a Democrat, is favored to win in heavily blue Montgomery County, where he faces Republican nominee Ricky Mui. In Gaithersburg, the mayor sits on the City Council, so an Ashman victory would open a seat on the council, which has five members plus the mayor.

Ashman, mayor since 2014, said that if he wins he will resign on Nov. 9. He beat Rockville City Council member Izola Shaw in the June primary for the District 3 County Council seat.

“I’m truly honored by the support and confidence of my colleagues on the Council. Gaithersburg is home,” Henderson told The Banner in a statement Friday. “I grew up in this community, I am a product of this community, and I’ve had the privilege of watching Gaithersburg grow and blossom into the vibrant and diverse city it is today.”

Since Henderson would vacate her current council seat to become mayor, council members would appoint a new member to serve until the next city election in November 2027.

The council has selected seven finalists to move forward to public interviews on Oct. 9:

• Matthew Robert Amon
• Alyssa Todaro Krumlauf
• Laura Kathryn Winifred Searles
• Jayson Leslie Spiegel
• Christopher James Thoms
• Carla Tanguay White
• Shanika Tanise Whitehurst

The council plans to choose the new council member during an Oct. 26 closed session and swear their choice into office on Nov. 9 if Ashman resigns, according to a council press release.

Gaithersburg used the same process when District 3 Council member Sidney Katz left his mayoral seat to join the County Council in 2014. He is not running for reelection.

Family of woman who died in Silver Spring fire advocates for fire hoods

The death of 25-year-old Melanie Diaz in a Silver Spring apartment complex fire in 2023 spurred a slew of fire safety reforms locally and statewide. More than three years later, her family is still making the trek from Florida to advocate for legislation to prevent more fire deaths.

Council member Kate Stewart introduced a bill last month that would require property owners of multifamily residential rental buildings with five or more stories to provide smoke escape hoods. Each building would be required to have enough hoods for 5% to 10% of occupants — the fire department would determine how many for each building.

Investigators concluded that Diaz died of smoke inhalation while attempting to evacuate the high-rise building, which did not have a sprinkler system. Following Diaz’s death, her family donated several smoke escape hoods to the county fire department.

“Melanie only had a short amount of time to get out of the building and out of the smoke, but because there wasn’t any kind of respiratory protection for her, she unfortunately passed because of smoke inhalation,” Diaz’s brother, Cesar Alejandro-Diaz, said at a public hearing on the bill on Tuesday. “This bill would remedy that.”

Diaz’s father, Cesar Augusto-Diaz, said that he cries on holidays when he sees his daughter’s empty seat at the table and that property owners should put lives before money.

“You can replace a car, a house, anything, but you cannot replace a life,” he said.

Hoods cost between $265 and $450 each and average around $335 per unit. They have a shelf life of five to 15 years.

The majority of speakers at Tuesday’s public hearing supported Stewart’s bill. But representatives of some property management companies said the hoods should not be the responsibility of the apartment buildings.

Chris Bruch, the CEO of Bethesda-based real estate firm Donahoe, said that while he believes the fire hoods could save lives, they should be used by firefighters and not supplied by rental properties.

“Our rental housing industry is under real strain,” Bruch said. “This is not the time to impose another costly mandate that is unlikely to achieve its goal.”

The council’s public safety committee will hold a work session on the bill on Nov. 9.

Another opportunity to hear from at-large council candidates

The National Council of Negro Women, Inc.’s Potomac Valley and Montgomery County chapters will host a forum with at-large County Council candidates next week.

“Conversations with Our Candidates… Our Voices Matter” will be held at 7 p.m. on Oct. 15 at The People’s Community Baptist Church in Silver Spring.

The event is nonpartisan and focuses on issues affecting the county. Questions may be submitted during registration, upon arrival or during the event.

Candidates Karla Silvestre, Laurie-Anne Sayles, Scott Goldberg and Marc Elrich are confirmed participants.

Attendees should register in advance, as space is limited.