City Council - Regular Meeting

How about we just call him?

Alright. A special meeting of the city council for Annapolis is now called to order Monday, April 27 at 06:05PM. At this time, we will have a moment of silence to prepare ourselves for the business ahead. At this time would everyone willing and able please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America

to the republic

for which it stands, one nation

under god, indivisible with liberty

and justice for all.

Madam city clerk.

Mayor Littman?

Present.

Alderman Hadley?

Here.

Alderman O'Neill? Present.

Alderman Alsop Johnson? Present. Alderman Smith Brown?

Present.

Alderman Thorpe? Present.

Mister attorney, please call the first item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is business and miscellaneous beginning with ID ninety nine twenty six, a proposed closed session pursuant to the annotated code of Maryland general provisions article section three dash three zero five b one. The discussion topic is personnel matters.

Thank you. At this time, I'd entertain a motion to move to closed session pursuant to the section just referenced by the city attorney to go into closed session. Second. Thank you. Aldwoman O'Neill, is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you. Madam Chair, Vice, saying the aye.

I'm sorry.

Will you please call the roll for closed session?

That was a

Ann Hickman?

Yes, aye.

Alderman Thorpe? Present.

This is aye. Aye.

For the closed session.

Alderman Huntley? Aye. Alderman O'Neill? Aye. Alderman Smith Brown?

Aye.

Alderman Alsop Johnson? Aye.

Thank you. Motion carries and we are now in closed session. Restart our special meeting of the night. The city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Yes. The next item on the agenda is approval of the agenda.

Thank you. At this time I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended to remove ordinance two twenty six, Moring Requirements in City Waters.

So moved.

Thank you Alderman, Huntley. Thank you, Alderman Schandelmeyer. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. The motion carries. Miss city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is ceremonial items beginning with ID 7426, a citation for captain Jennifer Kaye.

Thank you. Go ahead. Okay. This is one of our pleasures we get to do is to celebrate some of the people in the community. This is a city citation on behalf of the city council and myself.

Behalf of the residents of the City Of Annapolis, we're pleased to confer upon you the City's citation in recognition of your retirement from the Schooner Woodwind Sailing. For over thirty years Schooner Woodwind and its twin 74 foot ships have been a fixture of Eagle Alley, taking countless Annapolis residents and tourists on scenic tours of the Southern River. Ever since your parents, Ken and Eileen, I believe there are two. Ellen, sorry, Ellen. It's here correctly, just said it wrong.

Ken and Ellen Kay founded the business in 1993. You have dutifully led it through numerous trials and challenges. For your decades of hard work and for gifting countless people with treasured memories, the Annapolis community thanks you. Congratulations.

Next item on the agenda is ceremonial item ID 126, the city council citation to nurse Jackie Maloney.

This is for gonna be two people back to back for saving someone's life at who went into cardiac arrest at the Peninsula Athletic League Park, Pal Park. So we're gonna join come up front with the individuals related to this project. Please come down.

We just wanna recognize we have senior trooper Allen with us from the state Maryland State Police. We have also members of the National Fire Department, mister firefighter Lee Smith and firefighter Downey as well with us today. And with us we have a special guest today that because of bystander CPR, and this is what we wanna stress out, why it's important to learn how to do CPR, Because of the actions of these these women, mister McCabe is here present with us alive and well. So I'll let the mayor read a little bit further about what happened that day.

Thank you.

On 11/14/2025, at the Peninsula Athletic Lady's Cal Park, you responded to what was initially reported as a fainting incident that was upgraded to a cardiac arrest. As a retired nurse, you immediately took charge performing high quality CPR alongside Governor Morris security detail before emergency. On the Annapolis Fire Department's arrival, you continue to assist as delivered two jobs. Working seamlessly with medic unit forty eight, your clinical experience supported further interventions that led to the return of spontaneous circulation. The patient regained consciousness during transport and was alert upon arrival at Anne Arundel Medical Center, eventually returning home five days later.

Your swift action and professionalism as a healthcare provider represent the very best of Annapolis. Thank you for your lifesaving and quick action. Not to underscore first and second, but this exact same citation except it's presented to Tracy Patton on behalf of myself as mayor and the full city council. Thank you so much for your life saving take this.

I should not be here. That is what every health professional including all three of my cardiologists have told me. An out of hospital cardiac event survival rate is ten percent. With an AED present at the very moment it happens that that rate goes up to ninety percent and then goes down ten percent for every minute until the first shock. The first shock was at five minutes. It was already less than a coin flip. What I remember, it was one of those amazing beautiful fall days in Annapolis, my favorite time of year. I was playing pickleball with Gary, Kelly, and Courtney. It was my first time I'd ever met and played with them. We're having a lot of fun and it was Kelly's serve.

I look up, saw a bird circling, some wispy clouds in front of the sun, and then the world started spinning and darkness. I woke up to a man with a very manicured mustache that was pointy and curl curly yelling, Justin, do not close your eyes. We just got you back and need you to fight. Fight for your life. As a whirlwind of commotion happened around me and the sound of the sirens filled my ears, I thought it was a dream.

I have really crazy vivid dreams and I thought to myself I'm gonna wake up at any moment and wondered if I actually died. It wasn't until we got to the hospital my wife walked in with my pickleball bag just the way I left it that I knew it was real and had to fight to get back to reality. I vividly remember the crew from the ambulance asking me if they could go with me to the cat lab. We all crammed into the elevator and it was the first moment I felt safe. They stayed with me until the doctor claimed that it wasn't a blockage that caused the event.

I've been told that I was down for seventeen minutes. Seventeen minutes that felt to me like a blink of an eye. What I didn't know was about all the amazing people, strangers who made life saving critical decisions and actions. Gary grabbed me as I collapsed to the ground and felt me die in his arms. Jackie turned to her decades of nursing experience and started CPR. Kelly ran to the baseball field to find help. That was one of the key decisions to save my life. Tracy Patton, an ER nurse for fifteen years, and Governor Moore were watching their sons play baseball. Tracy sprinted to my side. Governor Moore hurdled chairs sprinting to his truck for the AED.

His troopers thought he was under duress and so he put them into action instead. Gary described it to me this way. We got you laid out and we're starting CPR. I didn't really know what to do and then like out of heaven, a small blonde woman showed up and started giving orders. An AED showed up next to me and four large men were there.

I looked up and a tall black man was praying next to you and I thought he looks familiar. Tracy took command and directed the four troopers to take over CPR. Their strength and commitment to push on my chest for seventeen straight minutes is the main reason why I have very little cognitive effects. Tracy also didn't hold back as she gave me mouth to mouth and continued to keep everything in control, which is why when EMS arrived, they had her continue to run the code. Seventeen minutes and five shocks.

Not many people get to survive that. And even fewer people get to stand here six months later and talk about it without significant cognitive reduction. My heart refraction rate was thirty three percent. That's heart failure. Sixty percent is the normal number.

After one month of cardio rehab, it was back to normal. My cardio rehab nurse quoted, we just don't see patients like you who were down for seventeen minutes and recover like this. Every decision, all the training, hard work, and dedication to serving the public by everyone that day saved my life and saved it in a manner that allowed me to be almost fully recovered after six months. Last week I went on a 10 mile bike ride with my son. Everyone that day didn't care about my age, my sex, race, religion, political views, or even if I deserved to be saved.

They said to the world, not this man, not today. But you didn't just save me. You saved a friend, a business owner, a coach, an uncle, a brother, a son, a husband, and most importantly the dad of a 12 year old boy who is unfortunately homesick today. The number one question I get is did you have an out of body experience? No, but I heard God talk to me that morning.

I wanted to go to church and play pickleball but I ended up staying up late that night. I overslept and was struggling between playing pickleball and going to church. I heard a voice in my head say, go play pickleball. God put me there at that moment and surrounded me with amazing people who went to extraordinary efforts to save me. Every day, every day, there is a moment when I stop, usually shed a tear, and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.

It might be the feel of the wind, a moment of laughter, a sunset, my wife's smile or the twinkle in my son's eyes. I stop and I think about all the people that day who had the courage to fight for me. And I will forever be grateful for everyone involved in those seventeen minutes. Thank you.

Folks this was a true team effort here. You heard the statistics that he gave you earlier about every minute that CPR is not administered is a ten percent reduction in the chance of survival. We We have excellent response times here in the city of Annapolis. By the time our units are dispatched to the time they're on call, it's usually within four to five minutes. But at five minutes, that's fifty percent chance of survival.

So the only survival rate here is when somebody starts CPR and AED is on-site and people start before we get there. American Heart Association estimates that three hundred and fifty thousand people are stricken by out of hospital cardiac arrest every year. Those cardiac arrests are not trauma related. They're heart related, and most of them occur in the home. So what I'm telling you is you need to learn CPR. Don't be afraid to get involved. If you wanna learn CPR, just go to cpr@adinnapolis.gov or you can call one of our fire stations and we'll make that happen for you. You don't have to get a certification. We will teach you hands only CPR. We'll teach you how to administer Narcan, but those seconds count.

And those seconds are what, allows us all to be here today. So the firefighters and the troopers that were there, they received awards also. One of the, most distinguished awards that I can give out as fire chief is what we call a gift of life award. And that's an award where somebody is in cardiac arrest, where they are no longer with us, and they walk out of the hospital on their own lack today. And I can tell you in the city of Annapolis, I've given out several of these awards. So I'm proud to be the fire chief. I'm proud of the men and women here. And I can only say thank you to the people from the community that got involved, but this was truly a team effort. So if you want learn CPR, cprdinapolis.gov and we'll take care of you. Thanks.

Yeah. Wasn't another one on the agenda anyway so.

Miss city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is presentation ID 10126. Nope. Just kidding. ID 10226, Friends of Stanton Center Youth Programs Fund Donation.

And before we do that, Carmen, do you wanna address here or at the table? I'm sorry, Aldwoman O'Neill. Do you wanna share your comments from here or over

there? Okay.

Presentation.

Alright.

First of all I would like to say the person who should have been receiving this check is Paulette from the Stanton Center but she's actually at another event accepting another award So that's very exciting for us that she had so many awards to be accepting. But I wanted to bring the Knights in today to present this check that they are presenting to the Friends of Stanton Center and Townsend is here to represent the Friends of Stanton Center. But the Knights do so many great things in the city of Annapolis from coat drives to bingo nights where they're doing a portion of their bingo funds to different nonprofits. And we are lucky enough that the Friends of Stanton Center, the after school club is the recipient of that. Thank you.

I also just wanna echo my comments and thanks to the Knights of Columbus. What they do at the Bengal Center, you're always constantly raising money. Mister Sears is one of the hardest working guys serving the community. So thank you for what you do. And if you'd like to say a few words.

We just would love to

thank you There's as amazing work that happens at the Stanton Center every day. And we are just honored to be a part of it. And this allows us to contribute a little bit more to the great programming that's already happening there. So thank you. It's a wonderful place.

Happy to do it.

We're just gonna hear him? Okay.

Alright. Miss city attorney, next item on the agenda, please.

Next item on the agenda is presentation ID 10126, the state budget and legislation update from our district thirty delegation.

Thank you. I would invite our state senator Shanika Henson and our delegates Dana Jones and Dylan Baylor to the center table. This is something I wanted to we're very fortunate to have this opportunity to hear from our District thirty delegation. They just concluded two weeks ago, two weeks ago tonight, their latest general assembly session and I know they've all worked very hard for us citizens of Annapolis and so I've asked them to present just on budget and legislative issues that are specific to either city government or Annapolis City. So thank you so much all of you for joining us and senator Henson, you wanna start us off, that'd be wonderful.

Thank you, mister mayor. I can't tell you all what an honor and a privilege it is for us to be here as your state delegation. I think this may be the first of its kind that the state has come back and held itself accountable to the city of Annapolis as our partners with what we've done during the legislative session, and everything you're about to hear is only possible because the excellent partnership of this mayor and city council. So we're so appreciative for your collaboration. I did just leave an award ceremony where the good older woman for Ward 6 was being honored with the Coretta Scott King award.

So I know that a number of the members, as older woman O'Neil mentioned, are there as well. But it just shows the excellence that you have here on the council and leading our city. So one of the biggest things that we can do as your state delegation is show up strong in the budget for the city of Annapolis. One of our budget items that harkens back to our former delegate and our speaker, Mike Bush, is that what he did, one of the lasting parts of his legacy, is he took the city's payment in lieu of tax, and he was able to increase that amount. And not only did he increase it for the one time, but he was able to set it on an escalator where every year it's indexed with the CPI so that that amount increases that we bring back home to the city of Annapolis.

And speaking with the mayor, one of the things that I believe he likes about that money is that it is unrestricted. When you all get that money for your budget, you can put it towards the uses and purposes that the city of Annapolis needs. But I will tell you that your delegation, the three of us, we fight very, very hard to make sure that money stays in the budget and that it's increased every year. One of the easiest ways to balance the budget is to take some of your commitments that you have written into the code and to reduce those commitments as the years go by. So to not only keep it level funded but to increase it every year takes a great deal of effort and we're really proud to report back that we were able to secure that money this year.

It's just shy of a million dollars that'll be coming back to the city of Annapolis from the state of Maryland for your payment in lieu of tax for housing our state resources here, so we're incredibly grateful. After the presentation that was done by the city of Annapolis fire department and hearing the life saving work that's being done here in the city of Annapolis, we are so proud that one of the things that we were able to do is secure $950,000 for a new medic unit that the city's fire department will be able to use to continue that life saving care and work. So we're incredibly proud of what we were able to bring home for the city of Annapolis by way of the budget. There are just a few things I'll highlight by way of policy that I got to collaborate with the mayor and council on that I'm so proud worked out this session. One of them is we have a Capitol Police Department in the at the State House.

We have the Department of General Services has the Capitol Police. The Capitol Police, their jurisdiction has historically been all of the state buildings and then a thousand foot perimeter around the state buildings. So if you were just outside of that thousand foot perimeter, Department of General Services could not help. And I'll give you an example. We all remember when the monks came.

If you remember the monks that were marching for peace, when the monks came here to the city of Annapolis, a number of our colleagues were stuck in their car on Route 50 and could not get here because the streets were blocked. Well, the partnership that was working with them was the Annapolis City Police Department. To go up onto Route 50 to route traffic to do what they would need to do so that people could get here and witness that historic moment. Department of General Services didn't have the jurisdictional authority to do it. The city of Annapolis, their partner, didn't have the jurisdictional authority to do it.

So traffic just backed up on Route 50, and people who wanted to participate, some of them were stuck in their vehicles. So what the legislation did, it was legislation I was proud to sponsor and work in coordination with you, senate bill two nine eight. It expanded the jurisdiction of capital police. So now our capital police won't be limited to just that 1,000 foot perimeter outside of the state agencies. They'll now have statewide jurisdiction to work in coordination with their local law enforcement partners, including the city of Annapolis police department.

So you can imagine with the number of state assets that we have here, having that coordination beyond the 1,000 foot will really give them the opportunity to work together in better coordination. One of the other things, and it'll be the last bill that I highlight because I remember from my days being on that side of the council that you all have the ability to impose time limits and a big buzzer goes off.

So I don't want that.

But I will highlight a bill that I file a pass. I sponsored it and we were able to get it across the goal line, senate bill nine four one. That bill holds chronic bad acting landlords accountable. What we've seen is you'll have here your great code enforcement office will go out on a code enforcement call, someone will say they have mold, they have another issue in their home, and your code enforcement will cite that landlord and say you violated our city safety standards. It's not in compliance with building and safety codes.

And then you'll get another call from that constituent and another call and another call because sometimes these issues are chronic and there just hadn't been the incentive structure or the accountability structure to make sure some of these large landlords were held accountable but also given support to address these chronic issues. Well, what senate bill nine four one did is it brings together our office of the attorney general, office of landlord and tenant affairs, and it brings together department of housing and community development to require them to put in place an action plan for how those two agencies can respond and can deal with our larger landlords that are having these chronic issues where our local governments are doing their level best to hold them accountable, but they just need a stronger incentive structure to be able to make sure that they're being accountable to the residents who live there. So we're bringing relief to you by way of making sure the state is an active partner in keeping housing safe and we're bringing relief to you by making sure the state is an active partner in public safety and the state is an active partner in your budget here in the city of Annapolis.

Thank you.

Thank you senator.

Good Good day. Thank you mayor Lipman and it is such an honor to be here. The last time I was here was for historic preservation commission meeting so hopefully this is a little easier. I it's just such an honor and I I wanna Ben,

you mind to talk about the Burdess House?

No, it's just such an honor to be here with you all and I wanna echo senator Henson's point that I don't think any of us can do our jobs without the amazing partnership that you all offer. Whether it be constituent services or helping us navigate the budget or helping provide your input on legislation, the work product that we put forward is better because of you and, you know, none of us could do it without you. So I want to go through a little bit of my legislation and then talk a little bit about my committee's work this legislative session because I think it's relevant to the city. But this was my first full legislative session as your delegate here in District 30A. So it was my first legislative session where I was able to draft and sponsor my own pieces of legislation.

So I had 19 pieces of legislation that I sponsored and I'm proud to report that nine of those passed into law and are waiting on the governor's desk for a signature. And I want to talk about five of those or four of those that I think really impact the city. Firstly is legislation related to our heritage areas. So we know that one of the most beautiful parts of our city is our history. And our heritage areas, there's 13 of them across the state, provide critical resources to nonprofit partners and other entities to help tell that story.

Chesapeake Crossroads is the one that many of us know right here. And we were able with Senator Quarterman in the Senate, I was able to pass a bill that increased the cap to double the amount of money that our heritage areas can receive. So it'll go from 6 to 12,000,000. And I'm really excited about the what that will be able to provide, especially as we head into the two hundred fiftieth. The next bill I'd like to talk about is House Bill seven twenty eight which I think will come into play with the city because it provides a procurement exemption for the Department of General Services, the Department of Housing and Community Development, Department of Transportation, and Department of Planning to more swiftly negotiate directly with nonprofits in the preservation space.

So it was a bill that I worked on in partnership with Preservation Maryland, and the goal there is to really expedite and get state money out of the door quicker to help do more preservation work across the city. The third bill I'd like to talk about is the Maryland Housing Certainty Act, and I'd like to give a special shout out to Alderman Schandelmeier for his support of the legislation. But this is I think one of the most significant pieces of housing legislation that we have this session. And what it does is all it says is that once somebody gets a complete application in for a proposed project that the rules that you all pass that are really important whether whatever it may be, those are locked in for that project at the time. It was a governor more priority and a Department of Housing and Community Development priority, and we know that that certainty across the state will help build more housing units and really help us address the housing crisis that we're facing.

Two other quick bills. One, because I know we love our libraries in the city, I had a bill to add student members to library boards, which is really exciting to have student voices there. And for our first responders in the city, we provided a $5,000 increase to the income subtraction modification that they receive from the retirement benefits. But as I said, I was grateful that Speaker Emerita Adrienne Jones, we just saw at that event, appointed me to the Environment and Transportation Committee where I think I really have the opportunity to work on values and issues that represent our communities' values. But this session, speaker Pena Melnick shifted policy areas around.

So the biggest bill that I had the opportunity to work on as a member of the energy subcommittee was the utility relief act. Know I many of us, all of us, are hearing from our constituents about the ever increasing rates of energy, so we passed a massive bill that will both provide short term and long term solutions to meet the moment and bring down energy I'm happy I could talk about this for an hour. But I think just a few key points. Firstly, it really tackles the corporate utility side of it. We prevent corporate utilities from making us, the ratepayers, pay exorbitant corporate salaries, which I'm really excited about.

That money has to come from the corporate profits. We also ban the use of what's called a forecast test year. So that means when BG and E, when they go in and they plead their case to the Public Service Commission for rate increases, Right now they're allowed to use what's a forecast what is called a forecast test year so they can go in and they say we're gonna spend all this money in the future. What we say is we ban that, so now they have to base those rate increases on historic spending or actual spending. So there's an inherent incentive now that the spending and the rate increases that we're facing as Marylanders are directly tied to infrastructure investments that are actually meaningful, not future spending that we may or may not need.

We do rein in data centers in the bill. We make sure that they are paying more of a fair share for their upgrades to the grid. We do really exciting stuff with advanced transmission technologies and grid enhancing technologies to ensure that new power in the state is gonna have better efficiency. And then I think my favorite part of the bill is we allow what's called balcony solar. So it's a solar panel that you can put on your balcony and plug it in and it helps you meet your energy goals. So I know I've talked for a while. I'm trying not

to have that buzzer go off.

But I just wanna say it's such an honor to serve in this role and I appreciate the partnership with all of you and just thank you for the time.

Your delegate Baylor, delegate Dana Jones.

Thank you so very much. It is an absolute honor to be here with you all. This is truly full circle moment as I have been serving and working for you all and our surrounding and the surrounding Anne Arundel County area for the last six years. It was an incredible session, but let's be honest, over 3,000 bills introduced, everything gets a hearing, near 800 near almost like 900 were passed. We're not going to go through all of them tonight but that doesn't mean you can't reach out to the office.

Ask some specific questions because I am always there in the office, always on the email so many of you do reach out on a regular basis. I'll go over a few things that happened this session both in the office for myself, for you, and the bills that I passed and then as your appropriator here I then will go over the budget. It was as we all know we are pushing back and protecting Maryland and thereby the city from a hostile federal government. One that looks as I have said on the record more than once where when we take SNAP benefits from the most vulnerable, when we take the ability for our seniors and our children to have money to eat every month and it's not that much money, there are days where pushing back really felt like was paying the purpose in some of these federal actions. So as we continue at the state level to fortify our state and our and our our constituents that we share together, it was really about those unbelievable needs and keeping everyone afloat which, with a shot clock so I had a grandfather who was a basketball coach forever.

With a shot clock of the ninety day session, it leads to a very chaotic and seventeen hour day. So we'll just hit those those highlights. I'm honored that speaker Pena Melnick saw fit to appoint me to as deputy speaker pro tem this session and and as we're moving on, this allows me the opportunity to truly work with leadership for the needs of not only the city but then the surrounding Anne Arundel County area. You may see in the end of session letter for which I've written I talk about the nearly $60,000,000 brought home because I'm also the capital budget chair for the delegation now for several years. That would be combined with the Anne Arundel County but let's just really get into what's on your desk and you have a piece of paper that we printed out for you so you could follow along and that is gonna be the nearly $35,000,000 for which was included in the capital and then another 2 and a half million for the operating budget.

Let's get to some of these bills first. This year I'm happy to report that the number of bills passed into law in the last six years by myself is is 41. We did some work around, as I do every year on election security and, election law. I expanded it and worked with so many of my colleagues, the polling places in early voting centers so that we can have that security that we so desperately need, unfortunately, in the times that we were finding ourselves in. And we had a situation at Pitmoyer in the last election where some folks had gone in and things had gotten a little heated.

We also I worked on a bill because sometimes it's just common sense and I love to work with my my colleagues from across the aisle, Correctional Officers Retirement System. We we made some adjustments in that so those who retired but were still working as bailiffs throughout the the state really needed that, extra work and we weren't taking anymore. We would I we created a system where we no longer took from their pensions. And then I always have some Chesapeake Bay bills and that, is always through aquaculture, and the budget. The budget aside from for the state including, a ton of money for education and child care and transportation and infrastructure and health and social services, we we really wanted to again ensure that if the federal government continued to pull back money off the table and through the Department of Education through health and social services and so many other things, we were able to bolster that and ensure that people were taken care of, educated, and fed.

You'll see in your additional, piece of paper here under the nearly $35,000,000 that we made sure to spread that money across our district for the city to really bolster and lift up those. I have to remind everyone that it was we had several write downs and we were really dealing with, some budget shortfalls not at any means ones that we caused. But when you when you fire overnight in in the last year, over 30,000 Marylanders, Maryland, actually had the most federal employees who lost their jobs some seemingly overnight. It takes a lot of money out of our system. And the sandwich job in the small business down the street and the person who comes in and fixes the Xerox machine.

So with this you'll any questions that you have please reach out. We're gonna look at a ton of money or I'm proud to say, excuse me, money for our police, a bomb containment unit so they can, if need, they could they could do that work where they could get that suspicious suspicious package and put it in something, a new roof for the police department. Two brand new, ambulances that in the last moment, just wanna thank the the mayor and your staff for taking and working those things out and taking those late phone calls for me and I'm so happy that I was able to get all of that into the budget. But on top of that we see the YWCA of Anne Arundel, a tremendous investment in the Banneker Douglas Tublin Tubman Museum which is so much to be proud of all the way to Barrack J, the state troopers office in Annapolis. So all in all District 30 had a fantastic budget and we really hope that this not only continues to serve our constituency well but as always we are while not in the same chamber we are your colleagues and I'm so happy when all of you come with ideas and questions so I'm looking forward to that.

I just want to remind everybody that all three of us have our end of session letters. Many of you would have read it or gotten it in your mailboxes. And outside of that I think that pretty much covers it. I want to thank you again for this unbelievable opportunity. Thank you.

I'm so grateful the three of you not only came tonight but for your collaboration and getting us to this point over the last four or five months since I've been mayor. And I know you collaborate with my colleagues to my left and right. It's a it's a team sport and regardless of our backgrounds, we all have the same constituents essentially. And so I just really appreciate that you all work so hard for our constituents here in Annapolis and work with the city government. And I look forward to continuing to grow that over, my term and forever long we get to work together. Yes. Delegate.

Can I add one one quick thing?

Of course.

We all did get your resolution on the task force to modernize municipal revenues.

Yeah.

And that bill passed. We all supported it, and it was signed in, at the last bill signing. So I wanted to make sure we mentioned that. We definitely got your resolution. Was actually pretty cool.

Excellent. Thank so much. Excellent.

Thank you. Any council members wanna say anything? Aldo Alderman, Schandelmeyer, please.

Thanks, mayor. Team thirty, you have once again proven that we have the best and hardest working delegation in the state of Maryland, so thank you for everything. Couple questions on two bills specifically. Senator Henson, bill nine forty one, fantastic work. Is this enabling legislation that we need to do follow-up work on, or is this state now can do all its own enforcement? We just send up the complaints.

So the way that the bill is crafted, we've asked for DHCD and the OAG to get back to us with an action plan that we then will codify into law. That action plan may have some mechanisms where, hopefully, the state or the city agencies that have those chronic actors can identify them and send them to the AG's office for that additional enforcement under the Consumer Protection Act and then for additional support from DHCD if they are underfunded or for whatever reason be more consistent monitoring for compliance. So we'll get the report from them and then we'll be able to codify that to work best with our city partners.

Excellent. And, when you said larger landlords, what does larger landlords mean? Like, what's the number and state code?

Yes. So the bill as it was originally drafted, it didn't define larger landlords But through the process of amending it, we do say the landlords that own 500 or more units. So if you are one of the larger properties, like, let's say, for instance, you have Southern Management in your district. Southern Management would be one of those properties that would be a large landlord. Housing authority of the city of Annapolis with 790 units, they would be considered a large landlord.

Thank you. And then delegate Beeler, first off, great job on the Housing Certainty Act. I'm already seeing some benefits of that in the city. So on HB six five three, tax relief for first responders, something we bumped into with with Anne Arundel County and Annapolis is if a county first responder lives in the city or a city first responder lives in the county, they can't get these benefits. With this legislation, would they be able to receive would we be able to provide them with that credit?

Yeah. If I'm remembering correctly, that's related more specifically to property taxes. This is your retirement income subtraction I

apologize for misunderstanding. I'm so focused on property taxes. And then on the utility relief act, and this is a group question because I know all of you worked so hard on this piece of legislation. Does it give us as a local government any tools to assist our constituents with increasing utility bills?

I so I've actually been thinking about this question a little bit. I think one thing I would implore you all, and I don't know if it's the right solution, but Montgomery County actually has an interesting model. I think it's called a community choice aggregator where it's a pilot program where they actually collectively negotiate on behalf of their county residents better utility rates. So that's one thing to look into. But with regard to specific authorities for you all through the utility relief act, I don't think that there is anything specifically related to municipalities in that legislation, but I'm happy to look more in-depth and follow-up.

I I think we were taking more of a a grid level PJM approach and a public service commission approach for statewide challenges. And it it's difficult, right, because BG and E has a service territory that's, like, seven jurisdictions.

Did make some increases to the funding for folks who it's a means tested program where you can qualify for energy assistance. With the LIHEAP and the OHEAP programs. We added additional funding to that, and then we beefed up the people who would be able to qualify. I think on the city level, the community action agency does the qualifications for those so you can send your constituents there, and that will have additional resources and funding and expanded eligibility so that more people are available to take advantage of it.

Well, thank you all again for your incredible work during this ninety day sprint. We all see firsthand how hard each and every one of you work and I'm proud to call all of you my state representatives.

Thank you all. Thank you so much Alderman.

Other council members? Okay. Can we give them a round of applause? Thank you. Miss city attorney, can you please call the next item on the agenda?

Next item on the agenda is petitions reports and communications beginning with update from the mayor.

Thank you. And good evening again everybody. I actually wanna start tonight's address on a solemn note. Raymond Langston, the mayor emeritus of Anne Arundel County's other municipality, Highland Beach, passed away last week. Mayor Langston served as mayor of Highland Beach from 1995 to 2003. He lived a life defined by service. First in the Navy, then as the first African American sales representative for pharmaceutical company A. H. Robbins, and has a devoted husband of sixty six years to his wife Jean. He later continued his mission of service through the role he played in preserving the Frederick Douglass Museum.

He lent his talents to Annapolis Rotary and was a mentor to young people at the Stanton Center. He'll be remembered for his service and dedication to building community and leaving the world in a much better place than he found it. Rest in peace, Mayor Langston. Let's take a moment to remember him on our own. Thank you.

We have good news for folks inconvenienced by the temporary traffic pattern in downtown for the boat show. The show's over and the traffic flow around Memorial Circle, at Main, Compromise, And Randall Streets is being restored. And of course mother nature seems to like to play cruel weather tricks on the spring sailboat show. This was no exception this year. Luckily, sailors are a hearty bunch and not the least bit intimidated by a little rain.

And I hope everyone enjoyed the show. The annual Greenscape event took place on Saturday with scores of volunteers fanning out across the city to beautify public spaces and I got time to spend with a crew in Eastport that included Alderman Thorpe and former mayor and founder of Greenscape, Ellen Moyer. I'd like to recognize coordinator Marissa Whitlinger from Recreation and Parks. Weeds were pulled, plants were planted, and fun was had by all. Last Thursday our new Deputy Chief of Staff Ian Pfeiffer got started and he's in the back of the room.

Thank you for joining us Ian. I'd like to thank this body for seeing the need. Ian is already getting to work with his background in government and legislation alongside his deep understanding of issues specific to Annapolis. As a longtime resident and former Alderman, he will play a major role in ensuring that Annapolis works. Welcome Ian.

I want to thank Alderman Conti who again is at another awards event tonight. Residents and city directors and staff who came out to our Ward 6 Town Hall last week. Each of these sessions, and we've now done seven, unique have to the ward and neighborhood. And we're seeing common threads emerge through how we can improve the delivery of services. It is helpful and I thank the public for not only attending but also sharing honest feedback. The next one is in Ward 4 with alderwoman Janice Alsop Johnson at the Bates Legacy Center. That is at 06:30 p. M. On Thursday, May 14. Alderwoman Alsop Johnson and I look forward to seeing you there.

As a reminder, these sessions are available on the City of Annapolis YouTube channel so feel free to catch up on any time. At our last City Council meeting I presented my proposed FY twenty seven operating capital budgets along with the state of the city address. We've created a state of the city portal on the city website with links to budget documents, finance committee hearings, and opportunities to submit public comment. Check it out on annapolis.gov and scroll down to the State of the City under News and Trending Topics. Since last Tuesday, the finance committee, which all three members are here, have been meeting with departments each day and I want to thank our directors for being prepared to explain their budget requests.

It's important to note that people in both this room and watching from home understand that my budget represents discipline in the budget process. As you dig into the numbers, you'll see that we have zeroed out underperforming contracts to focus on modernizations that will benefit our residents and businesses. I also want to remind everyone that our 15% reserve policy is there for a reason. It's the gold standard for a healthy city budget. By keeping our general fund at that level while avoiding property taxes, we are demonstrating fiscal discipline that prioritizes now without jeopardizing the future.

We're putting available dollars to work for residents today. Earlier this year we had a big snowstorm and it seems like forever ago but one of the things the incident raised was the need for us to work with the county on their Safe Routes to School program. Good news, this Thursday from six to 7PM the county's Department of Public Works will host a virtual meeting on the topic. Visit aacounty.org and use the keywords safe routes to school, DPW, for the link. There's also going to be an in person meeting at the Pitmore Rec Center at six p.

M. On May 12. Use either of these opportunities to help county officials identify routes that need upgrades. Springtime in Annapolis is a special time of year and we're rounding out the third leg of Annapolis Trifecta of Springtime traditions on Friday. We already had the sock burning and croquet match.

This Friday is May Day and we all look forward to seeing the colorful floral baskets hanging on doors throughout the city and being judged by the in in downtown by the Garden Club of Old Annapolis Town. If you're in the historic district and you want your basket to be considered by the judges, they want it on your door by ten a. M. With your name and theme. Blue ribbons will be handed out on the day.

Winners will be invited to a special tea party next Tuesday. And next, the City of Annapolis's summer intern program kicked off last week with a call for resumes. And I thank Rocio Smith for getting that program started a little earlier than it was projected to. This paid internship is for high school and college students who would like to get a taste of working for the city government this summer. These opportunities are not limited to city residents but preference is given to those who live within municipal limits.

Please check the website and use the keyword intern. I'll talk more about the details at next week's council session, but commissioning week begins in a little under three weeks, May sixteenth through twenty second. Due to national security concerns, the Naval Academy has implemented new restrictions on visiting the yard. If you don't have valid military ID or an escort, you're not getting on. That's okay.

There are plenty of other places to see the Blue Angels arrive and practice on Tuesday and put on their show on Wednesday. Plan ahead. If you're enjoying the show from a boat, please pay attention to the directions from the harbor master and coast guard. If you're headed downtown, arrive early to secure your spot. Viewing can be great from street and parks, both Downtown Annapolis and in Eastport, as well as the rooftops of the city garages.

On May 25, the Monday after commissioning, the city's Memorial Day Parade will take place to honor servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to honor our nation. If your group or organization would like to participate in the parade, please email special eventsannapolis dot gov to learn more. Please note that due to the solemn nature of the parade, there is no electioneering. We just heard from our state delegation, Senator Shanika Henson, Delegate Dana Jones, and Delegate Dillon Baylor, and we're honored certainly to hear about their legislative successes. As Annapolis' capital city, we play a special role in hosting the general session each year I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to hear about their work on behalf of the residents of Annapolis.

And that concludes my remarks for the evening. Thank you. Miss city attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is reports by committees.

Thank you. Any council members wish to present? Alderman Huntley?

I'll save mine for our budget discussion later.

Okay. Very good. Alderman Schenenmeyer. Economic matters will be meeting on May 6 but I do just want to give one extra additional shout out to Captain Jenny and Schooner Woodwind. She was one of the founding participants of our wildly successful economic gardening program. Wonderful. Thank you.

Alderman Thorpe. Thank you,

mister mayor. The audit committee met on April 20 and reviewed the planning matrix that we will use to go through the city's performance measures throughout the year and the timing's perfect as we review the budget and we bring this plan to the the city directors. It'll really the intent is to have a real impact of a need for change.

Thank you, Alderman Thorpe. Alderman O'Neill.

Thank you very much Mr. Mayor. The Public Safety Committee met on Wednesday April 15. We had a presentation by Annapolis Police Department in which they went through their entire command staff and explained all of the different positions within the police departments, who is overseas, which parts of each department. We had an opportunity to ask a lot of questions about the inner workings of the police department and I encourage anybody who wants to know more about the police department to go ahead and watch that video from the fifteenth and we are canceling the May 13 sorry, the May 20 meeting of the committee due to the fact that it's Blue Angels Day.

I'll get low attendance.

Yes and most of our public safety officials will be working hard that day. Thank you.

Joyce. Thank you all the women. Any other council member committee reports? Okay. Seeing none, miss city attorney please call the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is comments by the general public.

Okay. No one signed up but if you would like to come speak, this is the general comment period. So if you're here to speak about one of the budget legislation pieces, this is not your moment. This is for anything but the budget basically. If you'd like to speak, please approach the podium now.

Please start with your name and address.

Thank you. My name is Nick Manas. I live at 84 Duke Gloucester Street. First I'd like to thank the mayor and the council people for all you do for the city of Annapolis. I'm a lifelong resident, and this is the best city in the country. Just two suggestions. One, you mentioned the traffic pattern during the boat show. As a resident and talking to a lot of my neighbors and also businesses downtown, The first I heard about the change in the traffic pattern when I saw all these barriers and fences coming up in the city, had no idea what the situation was. None of the people that I talked to either, so I would strongly suggest if

you have

to do the same thing for the powerboat shows, give ample notice so people can properly plan. Fortunately for me, I work downtown also, so I didn't have to deal with the traffic, but there are a lot of businesses that were severely impacted by the change of parking and also the traffic flow. So I would just encourage you for more communication on that. And in that same light, living on Dugald Gloucester, we're hearing a lot of comments about how Duga Gloucester is gonna be two way. Main Street's gonna be from the top down.

Everyone's talking about it, but no one knows what's going on. So I would strongly encourage continued communication on that topic too. But thank you again for all you do with the city.

Thank you for your comments.

On

the the first point, by the way, the communication, if you go to annapolis.gov, you could either sign up for the mayor's newsletter and we had posted about it was in the newsletter I believe. And sign up for the app where you get updates to all emergencies whether it's snowstorm, hurricane, or changes of boat plans. I think this was one of the updates that was pushed out.

I I realized that's but some people, for whatever reason, don't do that. I mean, I got two things in my front door telling me to participate in the May basket thing on Friday. So traffic patterns to me are more important than my May basket.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak during general comments? Okay. Seeing no movement in the chambers, I will, call general comment period closed. Miss city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is public hearings beginning with ordinance eight twenty six, annual budget appropriation and property tax levy.

Thank you. There are two people signed up to speak on this, Danielle Miller and Nick Manas. You are welcome to come speak now. Please start with your name and address.

Yes. Good evening, mister mayor and city council members. My name is Danielle Miller. I am a Ward 7 resident at 4 Mooring Point Court. I'm also the parent of two children who attend Georgetown East Elementary School and I am here tonight to make a brief comment in support of the mayor's FY twenty seven budget proposal to fund additional child care aftercare sites through Annapolis Parks and Rec. So thank you Mr. Mayor for introducing that as part of your budget. There

is

a stark inequity for children and families who live in Annapolis depending on whether or not they are fortunate enough to live in a school area that has access to Annapolis supported after school care. This must be rectified. There are eight elementary schools in Annapolis. Currently the city of Annapolis and ARPD provide aftercare at only five of those schools. The families of Eastport, Georgetown East And Tyler Heights Elementary School continue to be excluded from this necessary service.

After continued advocacy in a survey this past fall, Georgetown and Eastport families that showed a need and desire for aftercare, Anne Arundel Parks and Rec partnered with a nonprofit OIC steam to create an aftercare program at Pip Moyer. Unfortunately challenges still exist for Georgetown East parents who must transport their kids from school to Pip Moyer but by all accounts this program is thriving. It has enrollment from Eastport and Georgetown East families and I have on good authority from my kids that the mayor stopped by today to see how the robot dogs were working. This program shows the potential for creating a sustainable program for all children who attend Annapolis schools. It shows there can be collaboration between schools and can complement each other with funding from the city.

Aftercare is an essential and necessary service for working families. My family and I have been very grateful for the spring aftercare program at Pip Moyer even with the transportation challenges. To sustain this program and create more aftercare opportunities in collaboration for AACPS, I ask for your support by voting to include funding for additional childcare sites in the f y twenty seven budget. Thank you so much for your

time.

I can assure you that your child was well behaved because they all were. They were a great audience.

Great to hear. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Nick Mannes? Is there anyone else that is here to speak to ordinance eight twenty six? Okay. I'm going to leave that public hearing open for the next council meeting as well. Miss city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is public hearing on resolution ten twenty six fiscal year 2027 annual fee schedule.

Thank you. And we do not have anyone signed up to speak. If you would like to speak to resolution ten twenty six, now is your time. Okay. I will declare that public hearing open as well to be continued at the next city council meeting. The city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is a public hearing on resolution eleven twenty six fiscal year 2027, the fine schedule.

Okay. We have Tracy and Ryan Paulton signed up and Justin and Mary McKayce but I'm wondering if they were here just for the presentation earlier. Okay. Not seeing them. If anyone would like to speak to r eleven twenty six, now is your opportunity. Seeing no motion in chambers, I declare this public hearing open to be continued at the next council meeting. Miss city attorney, present the next item please.

Next item on the agenda is the public hearings on resolution twelve twenty six fiscal 2027 position classifications and pay plan.

K. And no one signed up to speak to our twelve twenty six. Would anyone in chambers like to speak to it? Seeing no motion, I leave that public hearing open to be continued at the next council meeting. Miss city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is the approval of the consent calendar. The items on the consent calendar include beginning with supplemental appropriations under $50,000, SA 2026, which is a $3,000 grant from Recreation and Parks USTA Mid Atlantic Foundation. Next item is fund transfer f t nine twenty six, transfer from non allocated debt service of $32,900 to the general fund for fleet operations. Next is appointment a p nineteen twenty six, the appointment of Marsha Ormsby to the human relations commission. That's the end of the consent calendar.

Thank you. Any objection to any of the items on the consent calendar? Seeing none, I'm entertained. Any motion to approve the consent calendar? So moved. Thank you Alderman Chettlemyre. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you. Madam city clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Littman.

Aye.

Alderman Thorpe. Aye. Alderman Huntley.

Aye. Alderman Smith

Brown. Alderman Smith Brown?

I'm just saying I can't hear you Caitlyn.

His camera is off. Julian said he's not

on. Okay.

Woman Alsup Johnson. Aye. Alderman Shanden, aye.

Aye. Thank you. The motion passes. Miss city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is legislative actions on first reader beginning with resolution sixteen twenty six, fees related to street cafes, a type of outdoor dining.

Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt r sixteen twenty six on first reader?

So moved.

Thank you Alderman Huntley. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Is there a motion to suspend the rules to allow passage of the resolution at the meeting of its introduction? Moved. Thank you, Alderman. There a second?

Second.

And, before we get into the vote, I just wanna explain to anyone, listening. Actually, I've been working with this with Alderman Huntley. Do you wanna explain the context?

Sure. And I noticed there's not a sponsor on this. So could mayor Littman and I both get listed as sponsors?

I I see my name on it as a sponsor, but happy to have Oh. Happy to co sponsor it with you.

Yeah. You know, sometimes legislators anyway. So the the issue with this is that when last year the council set up the fees for outdoor dining, we were still negotiating with our with our public private partnership that we all know about for our city dock area to figure out exactly what the rates would be. I think as I understand it, our original requirement was that for anybody using these outdoor these parking space for outdoor dining or anything else, that originally we were gonna require them to pay 17 times the fee, the hourly parking fee, which would have just been like an an enormous amount. Thank you.

I I see the city attorney is nodding, so I didn't get it wrong. So and realistically, those spots are not actually full for seventeen hours if someone was parking in them. So we were able to negotiate a more appropriate fee, which is 10 times the hourly rate. We need to set that for the street cafes. Now the issue is that this got overlooked until a couple weeks ago, and we're already in the thick of outdoor dining season, and that's why we need to suspend the rules on this because otherwise, we're just holding people up for another two weeks for outdoor dining when don't think there's any controversy here, and I think we can all agree we're gonna pass it.

And I think just to tack on the context, other businesses that are similar throughout the rest of the city or have been able would be able to proceed just because the downtown businesses.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah. So it's to rectify that disparity. Any questions, Alderman Schandelmeier? Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Don't we also miss a liquor board hearing if we do not suspend the rules on this and that would delay it even further?

Even further is the right way to put that on him in Shandelmeier.

Wow. Seems like not suspending the rules would add a lot of bureaucratic complications for a thing that adds a lot of benefits. Add me as a co sponsor please.

Anyone else? Okay. All those in favor of suspending the rules please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing none the motion carries. Is there a motion to adopt R16.26 on second reading?

So moved.

Thank you Alderman O'Neill. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Madam City Clerk please call the roll.

Mayor Leitman. Aye. Alderman Thorpe. Aye. Alderman Huntley.

Aye.

Alderman O'Neill. Aye. Alderman Alsop Johnson. Aye. Alderman Schandenmeyer.

Aye. Thank you. Motion carries. Madam city attorney please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is legislative actions on second readers beginning with resolution eight twenty six fee waivers for city supported special events in fiscal year 2027.

Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt r r eight twenty six on second reader?

So moved.

Thank you Alderman Schettlemeyer. Is there a second?

Second. Second.

Second. And I believe Alderman Thorpe, you'd like to introduce a a amendment.

Yes, mister mayor. I'd like to introduce amendment number one which would include East Port Of Rockin in the list of waivers.

Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. All those in favor well, is there any discussion on the motion?

I just want to make sure we're all good procedurally with this. We have so we're putting it into the legislation. But also the legislation says that we're adopting these by reference. So is it also getting added to the staff report?

Get what I'm saying? The

the legislation the the the resolution essentially says all the all the ones that are listed in the staff report. And so I wanna make sure that as we're amending the legislation, we're also amending the staff report. Thank you.

I'm gonna give our city attorney a moment to give us some guidance.

I don't know if it was amended into the staff report.

I think we could probably just move forward. This is all of our intent, but I just wanna make sure we got our eyes on it.

Well, of the state, for the record, we certainly intend to add East Port Of Rockin' so it's being considered the same as all the other events that are in the staff report. That's all of our understanding. I suspect that's enough. Alderman Schandenmeyer?

I'm gonna premise this by saying I am supporting this amendment. This is just out of my curiosity. Has East Port Of Rockin historically been exempt from not been included in this?

It has not been included.

Oh, well about time we fix that.

You're good to proceed.

Yeah, you're fine.

Okay. All those in favor of amendment number one to R826 please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Are there any other amendments? Okay. Any discussion to R826 as amended? Okay. Is there a motion to adopt R826 as amended on second reader?

So moved.

Thank you Alderman Thorpe. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Madam City Clerk please call the roll.

Mayor Littman. Aye. Alderman Thorpe. Aye. Alderman Huntley.

Aye.

Alderman O'Neill. Alderman O'Neill. Pardon me. Aye. Alderman Alsop Johnson. Aye. Alderman Schandenmeyer.

Aye. Thank you. Motion carries. Miss city attorney please present the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is council discussion ID 10426 to continue to review of fiscal year twenty twenty seven budget.

Thank you. So if you recall, before we had our last budget conversation is when we prepared the agenda and I assumed that we would not finish our discussion at that time so we put this on the agenda anticipating having further discussion. And we also have scheduled a work session this coming Thursday on the budget. And so first I would like to turn it over to our finance director to see if there's anything he'd like to present today with the fair warning to all of you that we didn't just have a discussion about a presentation until just a couple hours ago. So the answer might be no and in which case he might just tell us what he's going to present on Thursday.

I can present on some of the council priority type stuff but I need an HDMI cord. And so I'm asking for that right now. Didn't realize that there wasn't one there.

Why don't we save because I know because we are missing three council members at this meeting maybe we should have saved that presentation for Thursday.

Okay.

In light of missing council members and an HDMI cord. Okay. Okay.

Thursday we will be going over some of the council priorities. There was also a request to have the CIPA budget to include Ward. So we have some of that information in a summarized format and then we also have Davenport for Thursday as well to discuss that capacity. Pretty full agenda and looking forward to continuing the conversation.

Is there anything else that council member wants to ask director, the finance director to present on Thursday in addition to those things?

Yeah, I just want to make sure we're clear that we're talking about the capital budget on Thursday, right? That's the main thing. Okay. I didn't hear that said and I just wanted to make sure it was on there.

Okay. Great. So I'm open to any questions. Anything anyone would like to discuss about the budget, can leave this fairly open. Any question knowing that we had that further discussion on Thursday?

Thing discussed just to reiterate those timelines. If you are the finance director or the city manager wants to go over some of those timelines, so we set up for council members and what those mean.

We're happy to. It's a good reminder. Thank you. Give me just a second. So these days are gonna get past us fast.

And so I'd like to offer for discussion the following to the council members the following deadlines. By the close of business on Tuesday, May 5, so a week from tomorrow, City Council's deadline to submit questions for directors to answer. Second deadline, close of business the next day, Wednesday, May 6, is the director's deadline to answer those questions. Third deadline I'd like to suggest, well this isn't a suggestion because it's in the resolution, is close of business Friday May 8 is the City Council's deadline to submit budget amendments. And again that's in the resolution.

We'll get in a moment from now or in the next part of the discussion I'll share information about how to submit those budget amendments if there's any question. But I just first want to see if there's any discussion about those amendments. Working backwards you can certainly understand if with a May 8 deadline to submit amendments we want to make sure that you get answers from the directors to any questions you have before that deadline. So that's why we had the Wednesday, May 6 deadline. And working backwards from that, we want to give you the latest possible chance to ask your questions. And so that's why we offer May 5 for that deadline. This is not in code, it's not a resolution, it's just a working proposal. Any questions or suggestions? Agreement? Make sense?

Alderman Schandelmeier and then I think Alderman Smith Brown I was told has a question.

This is just for new members how we've historically done it. I don't know if we decided to change it up this go around but if you have an amendment after that deadline that was proposed, it can only come onto the floor on budget day with unanimous consent. So get your amendments in.

Thank you, Alderman Schandelmeier. And Alderman Smith Brown, do you have a question? I did not have a question, Amir Lemmon. I actually was gonna share an agreement with what you shared about moving the conversation till Thursday. That wasn't a good question. Great. Thank you, Alderman. Alright. General Alderman Huntley?

Yeah. Just along the same lines of what Alderman Schandelmeyer was saying for our newer members. When you're submitting an amendment, it doesn't necessarily have to be, oh my gosh. I have a perfect thing figured out down to the penny. You're submitting it and saying, this is this is what I'm thinking, and I'm asking for the finance department's help to get this figured out, that department's help to get it figured out. You don't want to just come with something completely, blobby, but some but it should have some form, but it also doesn't you're not expected to already have all of your estimates when you go to them with that amendment. Think that's fair to say.

So I appreciate the consensus about that time schedule. I'll ask our chief of staff, my chief of staff, Neil Garrity, to share the link in case you don't have it or just to make sure you have it. And that was shared earlier today, to me at least, by Ms. Turner, and that's the FY twenty twenty seven proposed budget amendment request form. You might all already have it, but just wanna make sure that you have it. So I bet by the time I finish this sentence you'll have it in your email. Okay. Anything else on the budget today? Short conversation. I think that goes to how much work has already been happening. Alright. Anything else? Alright. Miss city attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Agenda is completed.

Anything else for the good of the order? Yes. Alderwoman O'Neil.

I have to have something.

So thank you very much the week so you gotta

I don't have to do double. First of all, I know that she's already left but I do wanna say that wonderful nurse Jackie, which is not the same nurse Jackie that's on Netflix or HBO, who received the citation earlier is also a Food Friday volunteer. So hey, good for Food Fridays. We have amazing volunteers and I really appreciate that. But I do want to say I had an opportunity to go with director Simmons from OEM to Morris Blum this afternoon prior to this meeting.

We are going to be visiting them on a monthly basis, most likely to just talk with residents given them opportunity to learn about more about the city and resources and everything else. They were very excited. We had 25 people in attendance today, and asked a lot of questions about city services. So we're gonna be bringing in, director Moore, to talk more about, the bus and the Annapolis GO time as well as, they want to set up, a garden in back. So I'm gonna reach out to Matthew Wallace to see if he will expand or consider possibly doing something next summer, Morris Plum. So very exciting.

That's great. Thanks for sharing. Anyone else? Alderman Thorpe.

Mister mayor, I'd like to commend captain Guy Thacker and Eric Lashinsky for planning and zoning who both spoke at the Eastport Civic Association meeting last week and just did an absolutely tremendous job. Their knowledge, their willingness to answer questions, it was a tremendous meeting. I'd also like to thank the more than 100 volunteers just in Eastport, and I think they were all over the city for Greenscape. As you mentioned in your comments, you saw some of them. But Eastport looks a lot better this morning because of all the volunteer efforts and because of the city's program.

So my kudos go to Marisa and to Freda Walde who coordinated it on on our on our behalf. So it was a really great turnout and a great idea for antopolitans to be antopolitans.

Thank you. Appreciate that. And kudos for saying antopolitans, not just east Puerto Ricans. Anything else? I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Moved. Thank you Alderman Chandelmeier. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye. Thank

you. We're adjourned. Have a good evening.