Rockville City Hall To Reopen As COVID Cases Continue Decline

ROCKVILLE, MD — As COVID-19 cases continue to drop throughout the state, Rockville City Hall announced it will reopen to the public this Monday.

City hall has been closed since March 14, 2020, however, city services have been available virtually, with city employees working in person and, when possible, teleworking, throughout the pandemic.

If you plan to visit city hall in person starting next weeks, here's what you need to know:

Mayor and Council Meetings
The Mayor and Council will continue to hold hybrid meetings. The public is welcome to participate in person or virtually, until further notice.

Seating capacity in the Mayor and Council chambers is 42 people. Overflow seating will be available.

Community members attending in person who wish to speak during a community forum or a public hearing should sign up using the form at the entrance to the Mayor and Council chambers. In-person speakers will be called on to speak after speakers who have signed up to speak virtually by following instructions on the first page of the meeting agendas at www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter.

Meetings can be viewed on-demand or live-streamed at www.rockvillemd.gov/rockville11, and can be watched on Rockville 11 on Comcast and Verizon cable channel 11.

Visitor Information
Visitors will be required to enter through the main entrance, which faces Vinson Street, but will be able to exit via any publicly accessible door on any of the building’s three floors. The third-floor Vinson Street entrance was recently reconstructed to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and to enhance City Hall security with a single entrance for visitors.

Limiting how visitors can enter and exit City Hall is also one of several provisions the city has in place to protect the health of Rockville employees and the public and prevent the spread of COVID-19. The single entrance will allow the city to provide face coverings to visitors who request them.

Face Coverings
Face coverings are optional for city employees and visitors to all City of Rockville facilities. In announcing the policy, City Manager Rob DiSpirito cited Montgomery County’s “low” COVID-19 community level, as defined by a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tool that considers daily case count and hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.

“The city will continue to monitor changes in public health requirements and recommendations and may need to adjust our face-covering requirements as recommendations change from the CDC, Maryland Department of Health, and for certain programs licensed by the Maryland State Department of Education,” DiSpirito said.

Other Information
Rockville mandates vaccinations and booster shots for all city employees and provides frequent COVID testing opportunities.

Information about free testing and vac­cinations can be found on Montgomery County’s COVID-19 information portal at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19.

Community centers, the Rockville Swim and Fitness Center, Rockville Civic Center Park, and the Rockville Senior Center are open for in-person use.

For more information about the City of Rockville’s response to the pandemic, visit www.rockvillemd.gov and RockvilleReports.com.