Gabe Albornoz, Montgomery County’s new recreation director, relinquished a hard-won at-large spot on the County Council because, he said, he misses the kind of work that puts him “closer to the ground.”

Case in point, a quick exchange from his first stint as recreation director, which ended seven years ago.

A woman at a prom-style dance, hosted by Silver Spring’s Holiday Park Senior Center and Montgomery Blair High School students, thanked him.

“For what?” he recalled asking her.

“That was the first time I’ve danced since my husband passed away,” she said.

“That’s what the recreation department can mean to people in the county,“ Albornoz said. “Seeing that kind of impact, feeling that kind of impact, is really extraordinary.”

In a surprise move, Albornoz announced to his colleagues in October that he planned to leave the 11-member council to apply for his old job, heading the recreation department, a position he held from 2007-18. The council appointed him to the role again on Dec. 9.

Sixty-seven people applied to fill his council seat for the year remaining in his four-year term. Former school board member Shebra Evans got the job.

Priorities

Albornoz, 49, said his work on the council — he chaired the Health and Human Services Committee and served on the Education and Culture Committee — will help him bring his ideas for the recreation department to fruition, even as revenue projections fall and budgets tighten.

“The sad reality is, we do expect there to be reductions on the horizon, but we’ve been through this before,” he said. “We’ll get through it again, and things will improve.”

Crafting a budget, he said, he will work more closely with other parts of county government than he did when he previously led the department.

Albornoz, who grew up in the county and now lives in Kensington, said he wants to expand the recreation department’s free offerings, such as the after-school open-gym programs he used to drop in for when he was a kid and the community center weight room his parents use.

The county’s pools are particularly popular. The department counted more than 155,000 outdoor pool visits and more than 400,000 visits to the indoor aquatic center in fiscal year 2025.

After-school programs such as Excel Beyond the Bell, he said, are so sought after that they have to turn away some children who want to participate. It will be costly to add staff to expand these offerings, he said, so it’s important to show that department requests match residents’ interests.

“Recreation is at the forefront of providing strong mental health support services and programs for our children, youth and families right now,” Albornoz said, noting the federal government’s impact on county residents in the past year.

The Trump administration has slashed budgets and payrolls at county-based federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health.

Albornoz said he also wants to address the department’s aging facilities.

“A number of recreation centers started out as schools and were converted to recreation centers in the ’90s and late ’80s,” he said. “The use is really starting to show on the wear of those buildings.”

Albornoz said he intends to focus on communities with the fewest recreational opportunities. He gave the example of the Long Branch Community Center in Silver Spring, which is closed on Sundays. The Long Branch Library, starting Jan. 11, will also be closed on Sundays.

Albornoz said he has started talking to library officials to see if, between the two departments, they can come up with ways to fill the Sunday gap.

He also pointed to county residents who fear a federal immigration crackdown that has left many wondering if they will be detained or deported.

The department needs to reach them, Albernoz said: “Ensuring that people feel welcomed and have a sense of place is especially important right now with what’s happening in the world.”