Rockville Town Board shuffles up leadership positions

Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at 8:52 PM

By Paul Gable

With its first meeting of the new year out of the way, the Rockville TownBoard will have a different look when it comes to its leadership for the remainder of the year.

Liddy Dowd-Wright was elected as president of the town board in a 3-2 decision, but not before two other nominations died on the floor for lack of a second, kicking off a two-and-a-half hour marathon meeting that was contentious at times.

Former town board president Dave Brown kicked off the nomination process, making a motion for Parke Swaim to be the president. Swaim declined, citing he had too much going on currently to serve as president and the motion died without a second.

Councilman Chris McCann then nominated Brown back to his old position, but that motion also died for lack of a second.

Councilman Dr. Steve Waltz nominated Dowd-Wright and after a second, the vote was cast with Waltz, Swaim and Dowd-Wright voting in favor. Brown and McCann voted against the measure.

Waltz then made a motion that McCann serve as Vice President, which garnered a second from Dowd-Wright. The motion passed unanimously.

The board also voted in favor of retaining Nick Sauter as attorney, Jim Veach as fire chief and Bill McMichael as police chief.

Finally, the board voted in favor of keeping its meetings the first and third Monday every month at 5 p.m. at the Town Hall.