County Executive Marc Elrich and Council Vice President Sidney Katz (D-District 3) are kicking off an initiative this week designed to gather information about how assist county businesses.

4Business–Benchmarking to Be the Best for Business will open with a series of six listening sessions with the business community and other stakeholders around the county in what’s being called “a grassroots campaign to assist businesses to locate, grow and prosper in Montgomery County,” according to a press release.

The initial session in the series will be held tomorrow (April 17) from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the third-floor hearing room at the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.

One session will be held in Silver Spring on Wednesday, May 22 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Silver Spring Civic Building.

The first phase of the initiative will consider the county’s regulatory climate, which includes codes, the permitting process, licensing, inspections, and other issues.

“We want to reexamine our processes and regulations to make sure they are sensible, fair and efficient,” said Elrich in the release. “The public’s input in this process is key. I asked Council Vice President Sidney Katz to help lead this initiative because of his small business background and I very much appreciate his willingness to work with all of us on this important endeavor.”

For those who can’t attend any of the sessions, the county has established a 4Business website where constituents can submit comments, or they can send their thoughts via email to [email protected]

In addition, a survey will be posted online to collect relevant information.

Graphic from Montgomery County.