• Patricia M. Murret writes, City revenue drop brings hard decisions:

    Gaithersburg’s $48 million proposed fiscal 2010 budget, which outlines the city’s capital improvement plan and operating budgets, shows new priorities in capital spending, changes in community events and increased fees for senior center classes. It also includes changes to city officials’ pay, benefits and overtime, reflecting restructuring at City Hall by City Manager Angel Jones.

  • Patricia M. Murret writes, Federal probe ends of former county chiefs:

    Federal prosecutors will not file charges in the county disability retirement cases of Gaithersburg Police Chief John A. King or William C. O’Toole, Jr., both former assistant chiefs with Montgomery County Police, according to letters sent to both men last week.

    King and O’Toole receive disability retirement given to county officers injured in the line of duty.

  • Sebastian Montes writes, Five of six police stations may close to overnight visits:

    Montgomery County officials are now considering eliminating overnight front-desk staff at five of the county’s six district police stations to save about $800,000 in the fiscal 2010 budget.

  • Patricia M. Murret writes, Olde Towne Youth Center progressing:

    Construction of the Olde Towne Youth Center is 30 percent complete, reports Michele Potter, city parks and recreation director. Block and framing are finished, and the building, at the future 301 Teacher’s Way across from Gaithersburg Middle School, is due to open Oct. 10.

  • Sebastian Montes writes, Cities add questions to Gaithersburg West:

    Gaithersburg and Rockville are poised to reap vast economic and cultural benefits at their borders over the next 30-plus-years as envisioned in the Gaithersburg West master plan. But leaders from both cities fear that the county’s efforts so far in creating the blueprint to manage that growth falls short in considering its neighbors.

  • writes, Municipal Growth Plan is approved:

    City leaders voted April 6 to approve a controversial planning document expected to guide city development for decades. The new municipal growth plan, required by state law, identifies maximum potential population, job growth and physical expansion boundaries — thus, any annexation opportunities — until 2030. A draft came under attack earlier this spring by neighboring communities and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, who asked city leaders to remove property slated the Belward farm, Shady Grove Life Sciences Center and other large parcels in the county’s technology corridor. The properties remain in the document.