Published on: Thursday, September 15, 2011

By Daryl Buchanan

ROCKVILLE - Suddenly there is a new contender vying for a seat on the Rockville City Council. Rockville resident Richard Gottfried filed as a city council candidate on September 8th and will be on the ballot in the 2011 city elections.

Gottfried said, “It seemed there was an unprecedented opportunity and a need for a citizen-focused candidate to take a place at the table.” Gottfried, 50, lives in the Twinbrook neighborhood and has served as the Twinbrook Citizens Association’s treasurer for the past four years, providing financial analysis and interpretation. Gottfried received the Good Neighbor Award from the community in 2009.

Protecting schools from overcrowding, holding the Rockville police and other public services to excellent standards, being an advocate for intelligent and realistic growth on Rockville Pike, preserving Rockville’s parks and open spaces for future residents, ensure residents’ tax dollars fund services for residents, and encourage an open, responsive, and accountable government are Gottfried’s top issues going forward into the race.

Gottfried was the leader of the Home Based Business Action Team which successfully resulted in changes to the recent zoning rewrite that protected home based business owners. He has also served on the City’s Finance and Budget Task Force and made many suggestions and recommendations to the City about the budget and financial management policies which were adopted. He has also served on Rockville’s Finance and Budget Task Force.

In addition to significant involvement in various local government issues Gottfried has worked with the Big Four public accounting firms for four years, as a director of finance for not-for-profit organizations for six years, and as a Controller at for-profit organizations for 10 years.

Gottfried is a certified public accountant and owner of a home based business as a sole practitioner specializing in individual and business tax services. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Accounting from Syracuse University as well as a Masters of Science in Taxation from Georgetown University.

“I am interested in bringing the focus of the Rockville government back to the residents. In the current financial climate, every decision should be well thought out. Elected officials need to be accountable to the voters who elect them. The chief objective of a good city council should be to safeguard our important community assets – our schools, services, and parks,” said Gottfried.

In his spare time, he is active in the local sports community as a World Team Tennis league director, Volleyball Club tournament director, and plays for the Jewish Community Center Softball League. He recently married Stacey Freeman-Gottfried.