@$:Rockville Councilman Piotr Gajewski said he will announce his bid for mayor Saturday.

His announcement will come one day after Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio announces that she will seek a second term.

Marcuccio said in February that she will run again this year.

It also was in February that Gajewski said he was exploring a run for the office of mayor. On Monday, he said the difference between him and Marcuccio is how they go about getting things done.

“I think her approach is that she does nothing, thinking that is the way to preserve our neighborhoods,” Gajewski said.

He added, “If we do nothing, we simply will be overrun. We need to adapt to preserve what we have.”

The two-term councilman will announce his candidacy at 1 p.m. outside Rockville Memorial Library in Town Square.

Gajewski came in second in the 2009 City Council election, with 3,240 votes. He has previously stressed that in Rockville, the mayor does not possess powers different from council members.

Gajewski said he expects to have several speakers address the audience at his event.

Marcuccio previously said she would not be surprised if Gajewski ran for the mayoral seat. In 2009, Marcuccio defeated incumbent Susan Hoffmann by 313 votes for the mayoral seat. She had served two terms on the council.

Marcuccio will make her announcement Friday at 7 p.m. on the stage at Rockville Town Square.

She said Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz, State Sen. Jennie Forehand (D-Dist. 17) and former mayor Steven Van Grack will address the audience during her announcement.

“Its appropriate for me to point it out to the citizenry that I will be running again,” Marcuccio said. “I haven’t finished everything I’d like to finish and I think this is a critical period for the city.”

Gajewski previously said he was concerned over Marcuccio's handling of her differences with City Manager Scott Ullery. Last June, Marcuccio voted against renewing Ullery's contract, saying there were "issues to be discussed" but that she would not do so in an open meeting.

He also said the city's squabble with the county school system over portable classrooms at College Gardens Elementary could have been handled better.

“Let me say that there will be lots of discussion between the two of us in the next few months,” Marcuccio said of Gajewski. “I look forward to the public hearing those discussions.”

Also announcing election plans was former councilman John F. Hall Jr., who announced Sunday that he is seeking a return to the City Council.

snorris@gazette.net