COG Board Vice President and Fairfax County Supervisor Penelope Gross was unanimously elected to the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) Board of Directors during its annual conference in Chicago last week. Ms. Gross will represent the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia in this role.

“We are pleased to welcome Ms. Gross to the Board and look forward to working with her on issues of relevance and importance to regional councils and metropolitan planning organizations in the Washington metropolitan area,” said Robert Sokolowski, Executive Director for NARC. "This year is an exciting one for NARC and we are enthused about working with Ms. Gross who has extensive federal, regional and county experience.”

NARC is a national organization based in Washington, D.C. that promotes regional excellence, builds regional communities, and fosters regional collaboration. For nearly forty years, NARC has forged strategic alliances and partnerships that advance the association’s mission of regionalism.

“No matter how large or small the region, the ability to establish and maintain a dialogue between and among various interests is important to good decision-making, for now and for the future,” said Ms. Gross. “Regional cooperation is a hallmark of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and I look forward to bringing some of COG’s best practices to the attention of the NARC Board.”

COG Vice Chair and Greenbelt Mayor Judith (“J”) Davis was re-elected to the Maryland Municipal League’s (MML) Board of Directors during its annual convention in Ocean City last week.

MML represents 157 municipal governments and two special taxing districts throughout the state of Maryland and works to strengthen the role and capacity of municipal government through research, legislation, technical assistance, training and the distribution of information for its members.