City Council - Regular Meeting

Special meeting of the Annapolis City Council on Monday, June 22nd, 2026 will be called to order at 7 p.m. At this time, we'll have a moment of silence as we prepare ourselves for the business ahead. At this time, would everyone willing and able please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Madam City Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Yes, sir. Mayor Lipman.

Present.

Alderman Huntley. Here. Alderman O'Neill. Present. Alderman Smith-Brown. Present. Alderman Allsup-Johnson. Present. Alderman Shandemeyer.

Present.

Alderman McContee. Alderman Savage.

Present.

Alderman Thorpe.

Present.

Thank you. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

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

Thank you. At this time, I would take a motion to approve the agenda. Moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Thank you, Alderman Savage. Is there a second? Second. Alderman Shandelmeyer. Excuse me. Then I was looking at Alderman Savage. Alderman Shandelmeyer. Thank you. Any discussion? I know there was some discussion about potential amendments. I don't think there are any more. Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. The motion carries. Mr. City Attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item on the agenda is a ceremonial item, ID 14126, Annapolis' 250th anniversary celebrations and events.

Thank you. It's my honor to introduce our Annapolis Poet Laureate, a friend of mine, Jeff Holland, who is going to present a poetry reading on the history of Annapolis.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm happy to be here this evening to promote an event on Wednesday from 6.30 to 7.30 at City Dock called Poets Afloat for Annapolis 250. This is a lead up to our 250th celebration on the 4th of July weekend. In this case, the Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating will be bringing their 40-foot catamaran Dream Chaser up to the City Dock, and we appreciate their support for this. And 17 local poets will be reciting original poetry about the history of Annapolis and Maryland. It's going to be a one-hour event. It's gonna be packed with lots of fun and interesting things. The program is sponsored by the City of Annapolis, the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area, the Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating Program, the Annapolis 250 Commission and the Maryland 250 Commission. So it's going to be a lot of fun. I'd like to read a couple of poems as an introduction to this program. But first, I'd like to introduce my friend, a poet, Lely McNair Bakhtiar.

I'm Lely McNair Bakhtiar, and I am the poet in residence at Gallery 57 West, which is the home of the Annapolis Arts Alliance. I'd like to share with you a poem on Lafayette. Lafayette was in Annapolis in 1781, 1784, and 1824. An American flag is flown on his grave since 1917 at the Cimetière de Pic-Bas, Paris. Lafayette. I was there on Chesapeake's horn point. I ventured on merciless waves to anoint your shore with my blood in defense of America unseen. I would cast meaning. upon my father's lost life and me, 19, to fight tyranny with liberty, a prize I was there to stand, Annapolis otherwise, a freedom lost, a humble demise. As a ghost, I now see my men buried at St. John's Monument. Fragile was our life. Mystery, this stone, a monument to strife. Frenchmen, a jaunty parade, played fife. This death among unknown. Persuaded me to name my children George and Virginie. Uphold a scroll, the bonds of souls insigny. Lost Frenchman, it reads, ashore evermore. Far away France fitted into eternal struggle. Brooding universe as warrior for timeless dignity. They lay their bones there, infinity. I was there for my friends in perpetuity. Citizens may watch ghostly men in arms fell into the abyss while my here was home. I was there, now with you, spirit I be. Together we grasp majesty of democracy.

Now we welcome the poet Janice Booth.

I'm Janice Booth and I first want to thank Annapolis and Annapolis' Poet Laureate for supporting the arts in the wonderful way you have for the community at large, for young people, bringing more and more art and poetry and creativity to our community, which I think just makes it stronger. So thank you. I don't know if you're familiar with the Writers' Roundtable, which is a new addition to Maryland Hall, which is an opportunity for anyone who's interested in writing or supporting writing to join us once a month for readings and discussions of art and writing activities. The poem I'm going to read is about the Liberty Tree. Annapolis is very fortunate, and the state of Maryland has been wonderful in encouraging the creation or recreation of trees from the original Liberty Tree, the last one standing, which was on St. John's campus, you may recall. And so this poem is about the Liberty Tree as it began. Deep Roots On a low rise Beside a lazy creek A tulip poplar grows, and its lobed leaves murmur. Around the sapling a village emerges. Colonists gather on the knoll beside the young tree. They speak of a remote king and self-governance, and the poplar's lobed leaves nod. The colony and the poplar expand strong, deep roots. Leaders gather beneath the liberty tree and its lobed leaves whisper justice. 100 years the poplar grows strong and proud like the colonists beneath the great tree talk of liberty. The poplar's lobed leaves quake Colonial troops encamp beneath this noble liberty tree. Among the gnarled roots, coded messages are secreted. Soldiers die, and the poplars' roots absorb their blood, and dirges waft through the lobed leaves. Thirteen colonies become one nation, and the great poplar, the Liberty Tree, holds the founders' secrets and their blood, and the lobed leaves sigh. Thank you.

letter was mysteriously discovered in an archive in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It's dated from Annapolis, October 19th, 1774, and it's apparently from one young girl friend to another. Dearest Elizabeth, oh Lizzie, all Annapolis is mad with fear and dread. Yet just last Friday, Poppy took me up here to the widow's walk. It was a grand October day and the geese were swarming overhead. We watched the ship round Horn Point and land at City Dock. But now, this night, the streets re-echo with a riotous scene, torches waving, rabble screaming, burn the tea, burn the house down, tar and feathers, hang him. Is it papa that they mean? I hear the church bells tolling from all around the town. Mama ill in childbed, what fate shall her befall? No one tells me anything. They treat me like a child. A rosy glow suddenly grows across my chamber wall. I rush up to the widow's walk, the mobs roaring wild. The ship is now ablaze. There's Papa waving his hat. The fire sweeps up to the rigging and sails, all the colors flying. And she burns down to the waterline, thick smoke billowing black. And if I said I understood this madness, well, Lizzie... I'd be lying. Why did Papa burn it? And why without my say? After all, they named the ship for me, didn't they? Your loving, Peggy. See you Wednesday. Thank you.

Hey, thank you very much, Mr. Holland and our other guest poets. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is ID 14226, Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating Annual Report.

Thank you. I invite Mr. Bollinger, President and CEO of CRAB to either table or, and thank you for your presentation in advance and for your presentation this evening. Please identify yourself, even though I just said your name. You don't have to press anything.

Oh, okay. That was the oldest. Yes. I've got to say, I've not seen this much culture in this chamber in a long time. With that meeting and the warm applause, I just got outside to come up here and speak. It's absolutely amazing.

That was good timing.

You don't have to take any notes. I brought the annual report with me to give to all the members of the council. no don't give it to me they gotta watch the presentation they gotta earn their their dessert and mr mayor i've got a burgee for you thank you fly proudly in your office but uh first off i just i want to thank you for the opportunity to come and address the city council because uh in a timely fashion as we're known to do at crab we have submitted our annual audit and 990 to the city back in may but we like to make this report to you so you can see something besides the fiscal aspects of crabs operations First off, since we have new members of the City Council, which welcome, glad to have you here, and I extend a warm invitation for you to come to the Crab Annapolis Adaptive Boating Center and see it. I would love to give you a VIP tour, as I've given every single member here. I think you're still missing. I think I still need it, yeah. Yes, yes. Well, we run a three-pack, so we'll be happy to have you there. But our mission is the therapeutic benefits of sailing to people with disabilities, recovering warriors, and youth from underserved communities. And you'll see what we do here. This is the Adaptive Boating Center right here. Just in quick order, this process to build started in 2017, and we were able to build it in 13 months. My hair was brown when we started, and we got through the process. It's only a 2,600 square foot building, but 50% of the building is designed for education inside, and for people with wheelchairs, and it's 100 accessible on the entire property and it's 100 sustainable there's solar panels on the back of this roof which face south and our electric bills to bge it's hard to believe but they're 17.2 cents a month which i know drives them crazy but uh The marina exceeds ADA standards. Our boats have equipment on them so that regardless of your disability, you can be accommodated. And we have boarding equipment to get you from your wheelchair, your walker, or just to help you on board. And this is a big deal because ADA standards only dictate that the dock be five feet wide. That's it. not get you on a boat, not get you out on the water. They get you to the water and that's it. So we've exceeded it. But do we do it alone in our own little basket? No, we work with nearly 40 nonprofits across the entire region and bring them, their guests, their clients, their patients, family members to come and sail and fish and boat with crab. This is our fleet, so we have six sailboats, 22 foot, that have been modified to accommodate people with any disability. And when I say any, I mean any. And this is our 40 foot power catamaran, which you see the state capitol in the background. That's what we take guests out on fishing or for Special Olympics, we take the family members on this boat as a spectator boat so that they can see their family members sailing whereas before they never got to see them. And a new addition in the past year, the small radio-controlled sailboat. So if we have guests who don't want to leave the dock and they would like to sail a boat, they can do that. So it's really a fabulous program to have an offer. Some of the regattas that we have because our guests are very competitive. Just because they're disabled does not mean they don't want to get out and race with people. The Naval Academy, we sail with them. The sailing team, they bring their Colgate 26s out. We put wounded warriors on their boats, more able-bodied, and then the other warriors come on our boats. This is the second year in a row we're hosting Special Olympics, Maryland and Virginia here. and we're videoing it and producing a professional tape that we're sending to Special Olympics National to encourage them to make this regatta the national event for Special Olympics in the United States, which would be huge. Our biggest event is at the Eastport Yacht Club and it's called the Crab Cup and that is going to be held on August 15th and I extend a warm invitation to all members of City Council to come so you can see 600 of your closest friends there. That's how many will be there. We have about 100 sailboats in the race and then we accommodate people with any disabilities in this race. What are the real big numbers? Last year, 1,755 guests served. 62% with a disability because the other participants with them are family members or caregivers. That's who make up the 100%. Partner organization, active volunteers, 137 who donate over 5,000 hours of their time, 158 events scheduled on the water, and that's in a six-month period. because that's all we get, April to October, and then it's too cold for our guests to be out on the water, and then we have wellness programs that we offer. Our biggest hit is photography, and we have a woman who brings, it's called TheraPix, And so she brings 20 cameras and our guests with disabilities from autism to other neurological disabilities or physical disabilities take the cameras and they go out and shoot pictures. She has a printer on site. She prints the picture and then that guest has to say why they shot that picture and what it means to them. So that's all part of the therapy. that we're looking for increased impact. This is our 35th year that we're celebrating, so it is a big deal. Our 20th annual Crab Cup race that will be again August 15th at the Eastport Yacht Club. Our goal is to serve 2,000 guests this year. And weather is always a challenge because it has to be fairly nice to get our guests out. And increasing our radio-controlled sailing and fishing programs by 50% this year. This concludes this part of my program, but if I do exactly what the AV guy said, I will be able to show you a video right here from the kids sailing camp that we hosted last week for the city police department. I assume he'll start it, maybe not.

Bongo, bongo, right here

So what you're seeing there is the end of the camp when we have a knot tying contest. They have to tie a full cleat hitch correctly. We've got volunteers who've been around for 10 years and still can't do it right. And it is quite a competition. The little boy that won, I don't want to ruin his amateur status, but he did win money from it. And they absolutely love it, and it's a highlight of the camp. But right now, we're not on the budget for next year's camp. So I know this... City Council in its infinite wisdom will find a way to get these kids back out on the water at Crab and we look forward to hosting them again and to having you there to see it firsthand because we are changing lives. And as we tell them at the beginning of the kids camp, we want you to be able to walk down a dock in Annapolis and be able to say, I can sail that boat. That's what we want. It's one thing to get people to the water, city doc, that doesn't get them out on the water. And if we don't get them on boats, then we're going to raise viewers instead of doers. And these kids absolutely love it. So with that, I conclude my presentation. If there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Thank you.

First, I just wanna thank you for your presentation. Well done. I can't imagine a stronger, better advocate for CRAB than you. And I see from the video, and that was the first time I've known this, that you're hands-on yourself and you're helping the kids and raising money and keeping the rules followed and doing everything else. So thank you for what you do for the community of Annapolis. Alderman Schandlmeier and then Alderman Savage.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Fantastic presentation. And to my colleagues who haven't gotten to see their facility yet, I highly encourage you find the time. It is top notch and really an amazing thing to see. This isn't a question, but this is just to compliment the program that you guys offer at Crab. I think I've told you offline that one of my coworkers in DC, actually her son has been one of your guests at the Crab facility. You've taken him out on the water. And when I told her that you were gonna be presenting today, she insisted that I thank you for getting her family out there and the fantastic services that you offer so know that it is appreciated from folks all over maryland including in montgomery county and definitely here in annapolis thank you very much alderman thank you alderman savage thank you mr mayor just two questions for you um so as far as the camp i so it sounds like you're not able to continue that

because.

Well, no, we will have to go find money somewhere else.

So that I think previously, correct me if I'm wrong, was funded out of our community grant program. And I have to apologize, I did not realize that was cut from, I believe the finance committee cut that and I was not aware we'd lost that. And we also lost another Ward 7 camp, I think through the Maritime Museum. I would have advocated if I knew, but so I was not aware of that. But hopefully we can somehow find a solution for you. Related to that, You know, but I do want to back up a little bit and just say still very honored and privileged to have CRAB in Ward 7. I think very fortunate to have that there, serving some of our seniors and also wounded warriors. And I think your facility itself, like you said, is quite sustainable. You have electric charging. I think you have some permeable pavers there. But you didn't mention the shoreline. I believe you're...

seeking you found grant money i think from was it the state to do living shoreline project there well we we just received approval from the board of port wardens for a living shoreline restoration project what's happened is the jetty was removed between our property and our neighbors and the erosion has taken effect in front of the bulkhead and we have horseshoe crabs ducks geese and everything living and working on a very very uh shrinking shoreline now. So the Board of Port Wardens have approved it. We're at the Maryland Department of Environment right now going through permitting process, and apparently we have to go to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to apply for a grant for it. So we will be seeking a grant. We'll also go to the Chesapeake Conservancy and see about getting a grant from them for this project, because it's approximately a $60,000 project.

How much in fees did you have to pay the city?

So far we haven't paid them anything, but we're gonna owe them 400. We will owe the city $400.

Okay.

For the permit.

Okay. Thank you. Well, thanks for pursuing that project as well. Thank you, Alderman.

Alderman Burke.

Thank you. If I could ask the IT folks to go back to slide three, if we can. If not, I can just talk to it. Thank you. Thank you, IT person in disguise. Thank you. So Mr. Bollinger, I don't want to be your straight man here, but I'm going to be a little bit. And just for everybody's information, this property that you're on, like several other nonprofits in this city, you lease from the city and provide this service back, and this building that you've built and the accessible area, how did you fund that?

We received program open space funding, 1.3 million from the county, $500,000 from the city. We received a million dollars from Governor Hogan and then we received $250,000 in waterway improvement grants for the marina. So in total, public funding was about $3.1 million, and CRAB raised $3.5 million in private funding to build it. And how do you maintain that building? Very carefully. Funding-wise, we have to raise a million dollars a year. Yeah. Every year.

What I wanted to point out is thank you. Thank you for this incredible service, as the mayor mentioned, and as Alderman Savage and Alderman Schanemeyer mentioned, and sometimes when people make things look easy, it's easy to believe that it's easy, and I just really want to thank you and all of the people that work at and volunteer at Crabb for this unbelievably great service and great facility that you've created. The second thing I would like to say, and this, I, again, am being your straight man here a little bit. There's a story about a gentleman in a wheelchair who went out on, I think it was a gentleman, went out as a part of your program. And I won't get the quote right, so I'd ask you to tell me the quote, tell us the quote about the gentleman who was a benefactor of your program. And I think that just represents what you do.

I was working in the office at that time. We were sailing out of Sandy Point State Park, and we had an office on Defense Highway. And one of our younger volunteer skippers called me in the office and said, I have to tell you something that I just was told. And he said, I had a young guy out with me, and he was paralyzed. And it was an absolutely spectacular, beautiful day, and they were sailing by the Bay Bridge. And And he said he stopped and he just turned and looked at me in the face and said, I want to thank you for taking me the farthest I have ever been from my wheelchair in my life and the memories that put me in it. And I mean, I started crying right there. I still... tear up because it's so incredible when you think about someone bound to a wheelchair and now all of a sudden they can't swim. They're out in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay by the Bay Bridge sailing this boat and having a wonderful experience. And the thing is they take that with them back home and to change their lives that they can do something they never ever thought they could do. and it carries over into their work or their families. We hear it from parents and others all the time.

Thank you. Thank you to you and everybody that helps you do what you do. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Just for those especially who might not know, this is city property that Crabb operates on.

That is correct. We have a 20-year lease with two 10-year extensions, which will carry it. That was signed in 2020.

And what's the annual rent?

Nothing.

I thought it was a dollar.

We got away with that. But we'll send the dollar if the city needs it. I know there has to be quid pro quo. The city attorney would say that.

You got a dollar in your wallet, right?

Yes.

All right. And you are able to raise money on the property by renting it out for events, correct?

Yes, we do. Not a lot. Not many. Our real money is grant money that we get from foundations. We try to keep it, when you see the property, it's first class property. It makes the AYC Annapolis Yacht Club look okay. This property is very nice when you see it. And we have board meetings there from national organizations that come in. So we've hosted the Paralyzed Veterans of America there. and other groups that come in and want to hold a board meeting. They come sailing with this or boating and then they come in and hold their board meeting and a luncheon and leave. It has an 18-foot glass wall in front that's there, so anytime it's inclement weather outside, you're in there looking out, and it's very, very comfortable and relaxing to be there. The pavilion outside also can accommodate guests there. The picnic table that's still not being shown there has overhangs. and concrete pads underneath so someone in a wheelchair can roll up to the picnic table and eat with his friends or her friends and have the best view looking at Back Creek. So every single restroom is ADA. There is not anything regular on the site. Everything is 100% adaptive. So we did have a woman come there a year ago, Mr. Mayor, and I came down to her. I tried to come out of my office and meet and greet our guests. And she said, this place, it just makes me want to cry. And I was like, oh my God, what did we do? She just got here. And I said, I'm sorry, what happened? And she goes, no, no, no, no, no. How come every place can't be this accessible? and she went out sailing and came back Had a wonderful time. Alderman Smith-Brown.

Thank you for everything. We appreciate the work that you're doing. The question I had was about the members who take part in the program, particularly the children in the underserved communities. How do you go about getting them involved or engaging with their families? I know that you mentioned the police department and their programming. Is it mainly just the police department or do you have another way of reaching out to those communities and asking them to sign their children up, the families to sign their children up? How does that look?

Very good question. We do work with the city police and the county police, and they run camps and they've sponsored the camps. But we also have family sailing, which is free. They just have to come and sign up. And the biggest challenge we have, and any nonprofit has, is transportation. So if we could get micro transit in Annapolis to be able to bring people from Eastport Terrace or Harbor House or wherever to Crab, I mean, I put together a special sale for Miss Peaches, Donna Johnson, everybody knows, and she brought a group of young kids out to go sailing with this. but we need some micro transit and just someone to take responsibility. We don't have to have an escort with them or a parent with the child. That's not a challenge with us because we have a skipper and a crew member on the boat and we know the children are happy to be on the boat and we've never ever had an issue with a child on a boat. All they have to do is contact us and say, I mean, they could say the HACA family sail and we would block six boats and 12 volunteers to take them out and be able to do that and there would be no charge.

Okay, thank you for that. Now if there is, let's say you talk about summer camps, there are some of our nonprofits who offer services during the summer, who we gave the grant money to, who'd be interested in doing this. They also can just contact you and set up time to come out on those boats?

Yes, they can. The list of 33 you saw, we will provide them two sails for free after that if they want more than they have to pay because we have so much demand that we have to spread it around.

How many fits can fit on the two sails? How many people can fit on the two sails, do you know?

Well, we can take three guests per boat, so that's 18 per sail. Pretty good number of people.

All right, thank you again for your presentation and for what you do for Craven, Annapolis.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. It's an honor to play.

Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda. Thank you.

The next item on the agenda is Petitions, Reports, and Communications, beginning with Update from the Mayor.

Thank you. Good evening. I first want to start off my comments with a note of gratitude. This weekend showcased the best of Annapolis with the Juneteenth celebrations bringing thousands of people to our city of Annapolis. I want to thank the public safety team including police, fire, and OEM for helping to coordinate the safety aspects of the Juneteenth event at Cars Beach, the parade in downtown, and the festival at Bates. In addition, our Parks and Rec staff did an outstanding job hosting the reunion at Cars Beach with music on two stages, food trucks, and the Chesapeake Bay as a beautiful backdrop. As anyone who attended knows, it's a complicated series of things to get people to there, safely enjoy themselves, and then back out. So thank you very much to our city staff. We appreciate you. Tomorrow is primary election day, June 23rd. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Check your voter registration and find your polling place at elections.maryland.gov, but if you're listening to me, it's probably the Pitt-Moyer Rec Center. Remember, you won't see the city officials on the ballot. These are county, state, and federal elections, but I want to encourage all Annapolis residents to make their voice heard. Please get out and vote. On Thursday, This past Thursday, the Annapolis Planning Commission and Historic Preservation Commission, or HPC, held a joint meeting. A portion of that meeting was dedicated to what is known as a pre-application workshop, or pre-submission review, for an idea to redevelop properties on the lower City Dock street at City Dock turning into a hotel. The potential applicant would be a designee of the property owner, Harvey Blonder, and at the Thursday meeting, his architect offered a vision for a boutique hotel occupying the entirety of the Latitude 38 space. This was a courtesy preview, not a formal regulatory hearing where approvals are imminent. The entire purpose at this stage is just to establish a starting point for the person exploring an idea. Generally, these sessions provide an opportunity for developers to get early feedback from commissioners before sinking real money into a project with architectural renderings, engineering plans, and landscape schematics. These sessions are intentionally televised to ensure that the public is aware at the earliest stages in the process. Throughout the meeting, HPC and the Planning Commission expressed concerns regarding massing, visual impact, and encroachment onto public space at City Dock. To be clear, there is no plan or legislation on this before the Department of Planning and Zoning or the City Council. If that changes, the public will have ample notice and an opportunity to comment. And I'm sure we'll all stay carefully tuned in to this conversation and the direction of the designs. Next, between now and our next meeting, July 13th, we'll be celebrating the 4th of July in Annapolis 250. The commission was established to plan Annapolis celebrations chaired by Alderman O'Neill, and they have a packed weekend of activities, including a showing of Hamilton, the movie Hamilton, at St. John's College on July 3rd, a full slate of activities starting in the morning on July 4th and wrapping up in the day with a parade at 6.30 p.m. and fireworks over Spa Creek after the sun sets. For a full list of the events, visit annapolis.gov and go to the calendar where you will see all the events and activities spelled out. Most are free and open to the public without reservation. For emergency alerts and event information, text July 4, J-U-L-Y 4 to 38276. That's 38276 to receive event-specific texts from the City's Office of Emergency Management. As a reminder, City offices are closed that Friday, July 3, in observance of Independence Day. Next, last week, my office announced the creation of a search committee to identify candidates for our next police chief, and they are hosting their first meeting tonight, actually, as we speak, to establish a work plan. Please check the city website for details on the committee's establishment and agendas for upcoming community meetings. I want to thank City Manager Lewis for her collaboration on selecting members. I also want to thank volunteers, especially Anne Arundel County Sheriff Everett Sesker, who stepped forward to chair the committee. Next, I have two final items, both of which resolve around public safety. The first is that we had a tragic traffic fatality on Forest Drive near Quiet Waters Place on Saturday. That was a two vehicle collision in the morning. The previous day, there was a pedestrian versus car incident on Forest Drive. The pedestrian is recovering from those injuries. I want to remind everyone about the importance of safety on the roadways. It's a shared responsibility. If you're driving a vehicle, please drive defensively and always be on the lookout for pedestrians and cyclists. It's summertime and people are naturally out more often and might cross where you don't expect. If you're a pedestrian or cyclist, please follow the rules of the road and cross only at designated intersections. The pedestrian collision was not in a crosswalk. Staying safe is a collaborative responsibility. Please, let's work together on that. And lastly, I want to take a moment to address a social media post from the Annapolis Police Department last week. Following a surge of direct inquiries from residents who noticed ice activity in Annapolis, police shared what they knew. The message was simple. You asked and here's the information that we have. Immigration is certainly a hot button issue, with some residents interpreting that post as the city actively supporting federal immigration enforcement by allowing the use of the parking lot, and others read it as an objection to ICE because we acknowledged that they had come and gone. Neither interpretation is accurate. The post was made out of a basic commitment to transparency. We believe the healthiest government is one that provides honest and direct answers. We'll continue to answer your questions openly and keep our focus on exactly what residents want most, making Annapolis a safe place to call home. And with that, let's now get on to the rest of our meeting. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda. The next item on the agenda is reports by committees. Okay, would any council member like to make a report? Alderman Thornton.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The audit committee is meeting this coming Wednesday, day after tomorrow at 8 a.m. online, and we'll be discussing numerous items of importance. The senior members of the city staff have put a lot of effort into this meeting, and we'll be discussing the audit engagement letter for fiscal year 26 audit, as well as a performance metrics plan for the coming year. And third, we'll begin the discussion of creating processes for reports made on the city's website of improper procedures, irregularities, fraud, waste, and abuse. Thank you.

Thank you. Alderman Savage, and before you go, I just want to thank you, Alderman Savage, for sharing your report with council members ahead of time. It's something I've been wanting to follow up on and encourage that in the future for all council members to do. So thank you for that.

You're very welcome. So yeah, and just to summarize that since I already sent it out to folks, but we did hear from, we had a presentation from the Spock Creek Conservancy, in particular from the scientists they have doing the testing through the community college. And so they went over their findings. They've been doing this testing for, I believe it was over 10 years, and they're now doing on Back Creek as well. And as an environmental scientist myself, found it very fascinating. And I'll say that in brief summary, our water, I think, is a lot cleaner than people may realize. After some of us did the swim across Spa Creek a couple weeks ago, we had a lot of surprised remarks. But I think the data backs up the point that as long as you, if we have a big rain like tonight, just give it one or two days. And in between that, stay out of the very shallow areas. They sometimes have, some of our creeks have bacteria issues, but otherwise, as well as if you have any kind of cuts or open wounds like that, but otherwise, it's still very, clean to go into um now the spockery conservancy is trying to get some additional funding to work with i believe it was circ to try to identify the exact source of the bacteria as well as source of some of the nutrients that takes a little more analysis and also i would say yeah so beyond that we just received a briefing on the the forest conservation act changes that i'll speak to later with oh 16 20 and our next meeting i don't have the date in front of me but um we'll probably dig into amendments on this 016 when it does come before us very good all the woman o'neill

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Last week, the Public Safety Committee met on Wednesday. We had presentations from all three of our public safety departments, including from fire. The question was asked to give an update on anything that they're doing to change their summer safety plans. Fire Department discussed the need for boaters and swimmers to be safe and to follow local laws and regulations. OEM talked about building safety kits, personal kits for people in the event of a storm or something that would mean that you would have to leave your house. And the police talked about all of the ways that they're in our communities, including attending summer camps, obviously sponsoring summer camps as Mr. Bollinger discussed in his crab reports. And we also had an update report from our internal affairs department, as well as the reentry program, all of which was meant to give information to city residents. It was really interesting in the reentry update that there was a gentleman there who had participated in the reentry and is now a mentor for reentry, which was a really inspiring story. And so anybody that is interested in any of those programs should go back and watch last Wednesday's Public Safety. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Alderman. Anyone else? Okay. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is comments by the general public.

Thank you. During comments by the public, the public may not speak on the one item that we have for specific public hearing, and that's the legislation on AIPPC. So if you are here to speak on that, please wait until we get to that next item. So we have two members signed up to speak during the public comment period, Susan Margulis, excuse me, and Sven Storm. If you want to approach the podium in that order.

Hello, I'm Susan Margulies. I live at 113 Conduit Street, and I'm here to speak on 01126, the bedrooms for the people ordinance. So I am a huge proponent of renting a room in your home. A lot of my friends are able to leverage their way into a home or into a rental unit, but They don't quite have the income to hold on to it. They don't have the means of paying that rent or paying their mortgage, floating all of the home maintenance. And so they rent a room in their home. I absolutely believe in this. I'm a ferocious advocate for bringing the human race closer together by doing this. So, when I heard about this bill, I gave my friends a call. I called a retired person who lives on a fixed income and rents a room in their home. I called a single woman who floats her mortgage by renting a room in her home. I called a young man whose wife is going to graduate school, and he rents a room in their home. And I said, hey. The city wants to charge you a $125 license fee and get you to open your home to a home inspection so that you can have a roommate. And there was a pause and then they all said, This is overreach, this is gross overreach. A primary resident homeowner is not going to apply for a license to have a housemate. A primary resident homeowner is not going to open themselves to the trouble and bother of getting a home inspection. How are you going to find these people? How are you going to enforce this? We had a very merry chat imagining you going to a judge to get a warrant for the person's financials so that you could justify that money was changing hands. That gentleman is going into that woman's house and they're not even married. I mean, the enforcement is neighbor narc. Think about this. One, are they going to be narking on our newly graduated midshipmen who are TADing and looking sharp in their uniforms? Or are they going to be narking out people with head coverings of any sort? Are they going to be narking out people whose color they don't like? Or people that wear shirts celebrating pride? This ordinance is going to be selectively enforced in the grossest, ugliest possible way. You are not going to get the community to come forward because this doesn't represent any public good. There is no safety consideration here. These are guest rooms. Think about your own homes and your own couch and your own guest room. What if you had to get a license to have a guest? What if you had to get a home inspection in order to have your mother come and visit? This is overreach. Not everything needs to be licensed. Not everything needs to be inspected. Please kill this bill post-haste. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Mr. Storm.

It's one of the reasons I'm here.

I just got a text with a photograph from my... shift lead at the ice cream store. You see, I brought this to you guys before, every time it rains, because Whiting-Turner plugs up the storm drains outside of their perimeter, my store floods. So one of the promises that we were made early on when the dock project came on is that we would no longer incur this flooding. I now have more flooding than I did back when The previous administration shut off the pump system downtown. That was 120 times in the last three years. Now I have this every time it rains. I just don't think it's fair. One of the things that I've done in my lifetime from the time that I was 27 to the time that I was 42 is I built homes and I had my own excavating equipment and we follow what are called BMPs, their best management practices, and you have to follow the law. Apparently Whiting-Turner doesn't, and I have photographs to show that, and if you visit the Storm Brothers website, you'll see it. They have runoff coming from there. The last one, two Saturdays ago, had a nice oil slick on top of it. Interestingly enough, the next morning there were three huge trucks, and we have photographs of all this, that are petroleum recovery vehicles. It might be judicious to look into that. So I brought this up before and we'd really like to know who we can talk to to make a change because it really isn't fair. The other thing I'd like to address is that we were also promised, it was one of the major concerns for people that live down in the historic district, what would happen when you take 80% of our parking downtown. And of course our concern was that it was going to drive it to where we live and to the residential parking there. I pay for a pass that is worthless. The last two weekends, I have not been able to park on that first block in Prince George Street. In talking to all my neighbors down there, we would like to know who we could petition so that we could perhaps keep, there are 13 vehicles that we have. Very seldom are we able to park on our own street. Some of those people are older. They carry their groceries. There's issues. My mate's mom suffers from Alzheimer's. We were hoping to take her after we go to church at St. Anne's, and we were hoping to take her to dinner downtown. I couldn't park in my own street before noon, so those plans were cancelled, much to all of our disappointment. We'd like to see this addressed. Premium parking does not write tickets there. I was caught using the old method. I got myself a white piece of chalk and started marking all the tires because premium parking says they enforce it. For about eight of those days that I did that, those cars were all there, well over two hours, some of them all day long, and the chalk was still there. how about if we enforce the law is there any way that we can get the one side of the street dedicated to the residents there because what we were promised would not happen of course has your consideration in this matter and harry if you want to come down and take a look at it we'd love to have you down there we'd love to meet with you we'd like to correct the problem i'm not quite sure why i pay premium parking my the fee that i pay to be able to park there Thank you.

Okay, is there anyone else that would like to come speak during the general comment period? Okay, not seeing any motion in chambers, I declare the public comment period completed. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is Public Hearings, beginning with Ordinance O1426, Art in Public Places, Amending Definitions, Duties, and Membership.

Thank you. I'm going to call the first three people who have signed up to speak and then ask if anyone else would like to. The first three people are Leah Weiss, Allison Harbaugh, and Darren Gilliam. Nice to see you all. Please start with your name and address.

Good evening, my name is Leah Weiss. I live at 212 South Cherry Grove Avenue in Annapolis. I'm a musician and I've been involved with the Annapolis scene here, arts scene here for many years. I've had interactions with the AIPPC. And sadly, this ordinance is very disappointing. It feels like regulatory overreach that makes things easier for the city rather than better serving arts in the community. First, the language strips the Commission of all its decision-making power and turns it into a body that just advises and recommends to the Director of Planning and Zoning, who apparently would be responsible for those decisions going forward. Yes, there were serious, serious issues with the previous commission, but those issues persisted primarily due to lack of proper management and oversight. And I think that stripping decision-making authority does not solve that problem. And I don't see any language in this ordinance that actually does. AIPPC members should be chosen for their involvement and their expertise in art, and therefore they would be more qualified to make decisions about public art projects than whoever is in the position of planning and zoning director. Second, the funding language ignores and possibly conflicts with the 2022 Maryland state law that mandates that 3% of the city's hotel tax be used only to provide funds to the AIPPC, not to the city, not to the planning and zoning director. That law provides a massive increase in AIPPC's yearly budget allocation, easily by over 300%. And it imposes specific reporting requirements and consequences for not reporting. But none of this is in this ordinance. It only refers to the old art fund that the City allocates to the Commission and old reporting requirements and deadlines. Making the ordinance consistent with state law would streamline things and clarify to everybody what the funding processes and what the reporting requirements are. Third, the ordinance lowers the number of commission members from nine to five, diminishing the opportunity for all wards across the city to be represented. To me, this seems to go against basic principles of inclusion and diversity, which I think are really needed in public art across the city. It could also have some serious balance of power implications as well as workload issues for the volunteer commission members. The criteria for evaluating arts projects have been only more constrained and were not updated. And all I'll say to that right now is really not helpful. I have a lot of other concerns and I put some of them in writing that I can pass out to the commission now, to the council now. I want you to know that this is a very unique, this is a unique fund. There's no such thing as very unique. This is a unique fund. And there are many reasons for this. One is that there is no other money that an artist can apply for themselves without consulting or being sponsored by a non-profit organization. I request that you hold open the public comment period because I think there are a lot of people, a lot of artists in this community that don't really know what's going on. They're not connected to the regulatory process. And I think they could provide some really good input so that you can make this ordinance work for everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Horvath.

Hello, my name is Allison Harbaugh. I am an Annapolis artist, a small business owner, and the co-director of Annapolis Arts Week. I actually just came from City Dock where I was working with students on a public art sidewalk mural. I can see the paint still on my hands. Where a local artist is beautifying the area around the construction. to bring more pedestrian traffic to downtown. And this is just one reason that I'm passionate about making sure that AIPPC is rebuilt in a way that benefits our local art scene and our city. I want to echo what Leah said before me and add a personal perspective. Earlier this year, when the commission was disbanded and planning and zoning took over, we submitted a funding application for Annapolis Arts Week. We were denied, no explanation that made sense to us, no appeal process, no recourse. A planning administrator made a call about an arts event and got it wrong. That experience is exactly why I'm concerned about making this arrangement permanent. The commission works when it is made up of people who understand art. understand this community, and have a real vote. This ordinance shrinks that group, allows members who don't live in Annapolis, and strips their authority entirely. It also gives away term limits that I believe are very important, as giving fatigue is something we have seen weaken this commission in the past. As an artist and creative business owner who has relied on this program, I'm asking you to think carefully before you pass this. The arts community in Annapolis needs advocates with actual decision-making power, not just an advisory role that a planning director can override. I would also like to request that you keep public comment open on this issue so others in our community have time to weigh in. Thank you.

Good evening everyone.

Good evening.

My name is Darren Gilliam. I am a native Annapolitan, a local artist, and arts business owner. I'm also the co-director of Annapolis Arts Week. I first and foremost want to thank each of you for your service to our city. I am deeply grateful for the place that we call home, sincerely. I'm also grateful for the work that you do to create stronger and more connected communities. I also want to express my appreciation for the Arts in Public Places Commission and the positive impact it has had on our community. As someone who has previously served on the Commission and as someone who has had programming directly benefited from it, I can confidently say that the process itself has not been broken. Like any group, there have been challenges, and at times, individual dynamics have distracted from the Commission's mission. But those challenges do not outweigh the value of a collaborative, multi-voice decision-making process. In fact, they highlight the importance of maintaining a structure that reflects a diversity of perspectives, not consolidating final say into one single voice. While we respect the role of the Director of Planning and Zoning, we do not believe it should be the sole authority responsible for determining what public art and arts programming is accepted and funded in the City of Annapolis. National best practice from organizations such as Americans for the Arts, The National Civic League and the National Assembly of States Arts Agency consistently support a commission-based model with democratic voting for public arts commissions. We do our research. We are artists, but we do do our research. These models emphasize balanced representation, typically including five to nine members who consist of artists, arts professionals, architects, community members, youth representation, and city stakeholders such as yourself. This structure ensures that decisions are thoughtful, equitable, and reflective of the community. public art is not just about aesthetics it is about identity it is about storytelling it is about belonging it reflects who we are as a city and who we choose to uplift that responsibility is too important to rest with a single individual the commission is not to be made up of consultants but voices who represent the arts in annapolis I urge you to keep public opinion open and to reconsider the change of giving the director the final say in funding and programming to preserve a process that values collaboration over consolidation and community voice over individual authority. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else present who would like to speak on this issue?

Okay.

Seeing no additional Were you getting ready to stand up? Okay. I saw some movement. Seeing no one else present, I declare the public hearing on 01426 held over to the next meeting on July 13th. Mr. City Attorney, please present the next item on the agenda. Just in case, for those who spoke, in case you didn't catch that, we are acknowledging your request to continue the meeting, continue the hearing to the next meeting. So if you wanna share it with your friends, same format, roughly two weeks from now, July 13th. Thank you.

The next item on the agenda is business and miscellaneous item, fund transfers over $50,000, FT 1326. Thank you.

I entertain a motion to accept FT-1326. So moved. Thank you, Alderman Huntley. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion?

Just very briefly, I'll say this is the sort of cleanup end of year fund transfer. This is something we commonly see every year in the fourth quarter. And so this bundles a lot of different things together. And I want to really commend the members of the finance committee for doing a great job, I think, setting a framework and making sure we understood every one of the why these are necessary and how we have the money for them. And I think we worked through each one of those and felt

uh confident in it and so we gave this a favorable recommendation thank you anyone else and uh i just want to add to alderman huntley's point about the conversation we had and what uh at the finance committee meeting between the three finance committee members and the senior staff about Tightening the process to reduce this in the future and the effort that is ongoing led by the current chairman of the finance committee to use previous years budgeting. monthly closed projections and all that so that we can tighten up some of these variances that are at the end of the year. There always will be variances and we accept that, but I really appreciated the discussion at the finance committee and with the senior staff to tighten that up.

sure and i appreciate that i just want to highlight the point that you just glossed over so i just want to emphasize there will always be variances right a budget by definition by definition is a planning document that is prepared at its earliest in february march of the prior year so uh roughly 17 months before the end of the year so things will change and there will always be some cleanup but certainly we could minimize it as we get better

And we're in absolute sync. And I think with the leadership you're exerting and the senior staff effort that they're putting in to continue to track finances on a monthly basis will will go go to great lengths to reduce it but nobody's no we're not going to grade our homework on on how this is done but it's just it's all about your effort to lead better budgeting for our city thank you appreciate that any further discussion okay all those in favor say aye aye any opposed none opposed the motion carries mr city attorney please present the next item on the agenda

The next item on the agenda is Supplemental Appropriations, SA 2326, Parking Transportation.

Thank you. I'd entertain a motion to accept SA 2326.

So moved. Thank you, Alderman Huntley. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you. I'd like to turn it over to our city managers to give us an update of where we stand with this supplemental appropriation.

Thank you, Mayor. This appropriation, much like the final transfers, makes funds available to cover a year-end obligation under our parking and transportation contracts. We have the final invoices for the year in hand, but we're working to reconcile those so that we are able to have a final balance before June 30th. The Finance Committee has reviewed this matter and we've also shared with them that we're finalizing the pending payments and as such we will provide an update to them once this has taken place and the final balance is reconciled.

Thank you. So the amount that we have before us is the most that is appropriated because that is what the contractor asked for, but you're in process of negotiations and working through whether there's support for that amount, and so it very likely will be a lower amount.

That is correct.

Okay.

Thank you. Any further discussion? Alderman Savage?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, and I support, I believe, the Finance Committee's discussion I think you had on this. For myself, I just want to state that I fully support the City Manager trying to negotiate. I personally think that we need to get that down to someplace more appropriate. I just wanna make sure that's known for the public that we're not supporting this increase right off the bat.

I would just clarify, you said negotiate. It's not so much a negotiation as it is a getting support documentation. If they are entitled to it, they will get paid that amount, but it's documenting and verifying that they are actually entitled to everything they asked for. So not so much a negotiation as to do they have evidence for supporting their submission.

Thank you.

Okay, anyone else? All right, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any opposed? Thank you, the motion carries. Mr. City Attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is legislative actions on second readers, beginning with Resolution R1926, Finance Director Karen Ajayi.

Is there a motion to adopt R1926 on second reader? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Smith-Brown. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Joel, I would have expected a bigger smile on your face. There we go, that's what I was expecting to see. Similar to Ms. Buckland's smile just a few weeks ago. Madam City Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Yes, sir, Mayor Buck.

God darn it, Mayor Lipman, I'm sorry.

Alderman Alston Johnson. Aye. Alderman Shannon Meyer. Aye. Alderman Savage.

Aye.

Alderman Thorpe. Aye. Alderman Huntley. Aye. Alderman O'Neill. Aye. Alderman Smith.

Aye. Ms. Ajayi, thank you so much for joining us as finance director. Congratulations. We're very excited. And Joel, Mr. Flathgill, thank you very much for your service as acting finance director up until this time. Okay, Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is legislative actions on second readers, beginning with charter amendment CA-126, updating requirements for publication of the charter and code of the City of Annapolis.

Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt CA-126 on second reading?

So moved.

Thank you, Alderman Shandelmeyer. Is there a second? Okay, I think we have a couple amendments or at least one. Is there a motion to amend CA 126 on second reader? Alderman Savage, thank you. Is there a second? Second. All right. Alderman Savage, you want to present your amendment?

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, so Amendment 1 essentially just adds a requirement that we have to have a printed copy of the code that's on hand in the law office, just in case we do lose access to the internet or power that we do have access. But I was also informed, I believe, in the staff report that it's already included in the cost of our legistar to include, I think, three or four copies. Chagall.

that's it all right so it's a practical matter that's already what's happening yeah and this came from i should say a constituent who works i believe for the um the state archives um any further discussion on amendment one alderman can i just ask the uh i suppose to be the clerk's office that this point about being available for in public inspection during normal business hours is that something that your office is comfortable with or maybe it's office of law

Yes, absolutely. I mean, we would, of course, prefer that somebody reach out in advance so that we're ready to receive them, but I don't foresee any problems with that.

All right.

Thank you.

Anything else? Okay. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll. I'm sorry. All in favor of the amendment number one, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. Now you want to?

Okay.

Is there a motion to adopt CA-126 as amended? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Shandemeyer. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Okay. Is there a motion to adopt CA-126 on third reader as amended? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Savage. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Any further discussion? Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Yes, Mayor Lipman.

Aye.

Alderman Alston Johnson. Aye. Alderman Shannon Meyer. Aye. Alderman Savage.

Aye.

Alderman Thorpe. Aye. Alderman Huntley. Aye. Alderman O'Neill. Aye. Alderman Smith-Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. Please call the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is Ordinance 0626, Oversight of the City's Firing Range.

Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt 0626 on second reading? I think I heard Alderman Huntley, at least the loudest, if not the first. Is there a second?

That's my specialty.

Thank you. Is there any discussion? Okay. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll. Is there a motion to adopt 0626 on second reader? Already had that. Is there a motion to adopt 0626 on third reader? So moved.

Okay.

Sorry, I'm being, my mistake. All in favor, we're back on second reader. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Motion to, is there a motion to adopt 0626 on third reader?

So moved.

Thank you, Alderman Thorpe. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. And now, Ms. City Clerk, please call the call.

Yes, sir. Mayor Litman.

Aye.

Alderman Alsop-Johnson. Aye. Alderman Shandermeyer.

Aye.

Alderman Savage.

Aye.

Alderman Thorpe. Aye. Alderman Huntley. Aye. Alderman O'Neill. Aye. Alderman Smith-Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

I need a refresher on process. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is Ordinance O1026, Reducing the Human Relations Commission Membership.

Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt O10-26 on second reader? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Thorpe. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Is there a motion to adopt O10-26 on third reader? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Thorpe. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Any further discussion? Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Yes, I may.

Aye.

Alderman Alsop-Johnson. Aye. Alderman Shandemeyer. Aye. Alderman Savage.

Aye.

Alderman Thorpe.

Aye.

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

Aye.

Thank you.

Thank you. Motion carries. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is legislative actions on first readers beginning with Ordinance O1626, Forest Conservation Program Amendments to Conform with State Law.

Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt 01626 on first reader? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Schandlmeier. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. I refer 016... Finish your thought.

I'll just point out you.

Please finish your thought, Mr. Mayor. I just want to add a comment after you're done.

Sure. Thank you. I refer 01626 to the... Actually, before we refer to the Planning Commission, I just want to confirm that it is necessary to go to the Planning Commission.

It is not strictly necessary, only necessary if it involved a zoning amendment affecting an individual property. So it is not strictly necessary.

Are there any requests to refer this to the Planning Commission? Okay, seeing none, I'm not going to. I refer to it to Rules and City Government Committee. and environmental matters? I don't want to go to a third committee.

I'm not asking for that. Okay. I'm going to ask for a comment. This has to pass by the end of July, end of June or July?

So the effective date of the state legislation is July 1, and that is why we were talking about how to handle that. And so there's This legislation will not pass before July 1, and so we're in an uncomfortable position, I'd say, that we are in. That's why we were discussing, do we do a moratorium in the meantime so that we don't end up with, right now the rules are clear and there's certainty, I assume once we get done with 01626, there'll be certainty and clarity. The time in between is potentially a concern where we in Annapolis have higher standards than what's required by the state law. The state allows that, of course. The state has changed certain provisions and that's why this legislation is needed right now. Our Director of Planning and Zoning has at least given me confidence that any pending rules are already going to me and they would not be approved if they would not meet Annapolis' higher standards. And therefore, he's got comfort that we're not going to risk a possible review under lower standards in the meantime. Okay. So that answer the issue that you're getting at? Yep. Okay. So anyway, that's why there was some that we've had a lot of discussion internally and with advising or by our expert staff of what the best way forward is. The benefits of doing a moratorium are offset with the negatives of perpetuating a perception that annapolis is a hard place to do business and that we have a number of projects that have been following the rules and following strict standards that would be left waiting additional months and we don't want to cause unnecessary delay if it's not going to improve the result alderman savage

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And first of all, thank you to yourself and Office of Law for putting this together pretty quickly. We put a lot of good work. I'm pretty happy with where it is. I do know we need to work on a few remaining, potentially some issues as well as some amendments in committee. And so looking forward to working with Office of Law on that. and and just to be transparent you you're right mr mayor as far as the deadline um it's actually july yeah july 1st unfortunately i was under the impression it was july 31st but i think i just misread my emails um regardless i am going to propose another amendment later on which i need to draft up the law office and that would at one way to address this would be because we are still a late vesting state at least until october legislation passed the general assembly to make us an early vesting that doesn't take effect until october and so the benefit that is we can simply work in like we've done before actually with other forest conservation ordinances in the past an effective clause that says it takes effect on, it applies to any project that doesn't have final Forest Conservation Plan approval. I'll work on the exact wording with the Office of Law, but if we work that in, that'll basically ensure that anybody, they can't just rush things during July. If they submit in July, and this passes, they'll still have to comply with the new law that we pass. And again, the new law will include the state. I think it'll actually be the benefit of a number of the developers, because they'll have the certainty. The state works in a couple of new exemptions, one of which is for transit-oriented development, but also more applicable for us potentially would be multifamily units over 25, dwellings in one building. There are a number of other exemptions that they built in, but I also want to emphasize, back up a little bit, where this is coming from. for a long time had the forest conservation led to a net loss of forest of trees and that's where you know the mayor when he was on the council got us to the first point where we actually improved it uh and between his efforts and then our efforts we made made it into a net loss no net loss the state did adopt that eventually and they have now kind of gone beyond to a net increase I think the plus is that our law basically already is a net increase of forest, but that's kind of where it's coming from. We need to adopt some of the new principles and other provisions they have in there. It looks longer than you might think just because we have to make it work for us. Nothing substantive is added. The changes from the state law, we included as amendments separately. And so, yeah, look forward to a robust discussion moving forward. Thank you.

For the chairs of rules and environment, just ask you to consider the following. This is going to come before us for public hearing on July 13th. And so in an ideal world, we get to vote on it by July 27th. We normally do agenda setting immediately the Tuesday after. So this would be July 14th, 15th, around there. So it asks you to consider having an either additional or moving up your meeting to be closer to July 13th. Should be after the public hearing. So not before the 13th, but as close to the 13th as possible for your hearing so that we have time to consider your amendments. and get it on the agenda with um without any last minute rushes a couple weekends in a row now we put our city attorney through some labor over the weekend and i don't want to make a habit of that ultimate savage it's just if this works for you i know we have it currently on the books for july 9th at 3 p.m but i'm certainly happy to try to find an earlier one if that works better for off the wall i'm thinking it should be after the public hearing so after july 13th but as close to after the 13th as possible

Oh, I see, okay.

So you don't need to set dates right now, but just consider it. And Ms. Jackson?

Everybody's will be having. I can't hear you. Everybody will be have heard this legislation in their committees. Everyone, sorry, speak up please. All the committees will be have heard this legislation by the 27th.

Yes, but I'm trying to get it earlier than the 27th so that we, so as the committee, if they heard it, say on the 14th, then we can get amendments considered by the committee, revised if needed, which this is a little complicated, and then give the city attorney a few days to get their amendments corrected so that by the time we post the agenda for the 27th, a week or so in advance, you know that process, obviously, that's what I'm trying to get to, is get the amendments processed.

Okay.

Alderman Smith-Brown?

Yeah, so currently our meeting is scheduled for the 23rd, but maybe we can, that could be our second meeting, and we can try to squeeze in one prior to to hear it, amendment, and then be prepared for the 27th. Okay, we'll see what we can do.

And if you know that you have amendments coming, I would encourage drafting them before the public hearing, but I do value public hearing input. So, I prefer that committees don't meet until after the public hearing. All right. So we have those referrals and you also, I mean, if you're, especially if you're both setting a new meeting, I would encourage you, the two committee chairs to think about having a joint meeting and because of course city staff will need to attend both. So in the interest of respecting our city staff's efforts, if you could have a joint meeting, that would be beneficial to them. Okay, thank you. Mr. City Attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

The next item on the agenda is Ordinance O1726, right to park in front of residential private driveways.

Is there a motion to adopt O1726 on first reader? Alderman Smith-Brown? So moved. Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you. Any discussion before we go to a vote? I do wanna add just my comments on it. I support the under, well, first of all, it's First Reader, so I'm definitely gonna vote for it on First Reader. And I also want to articulate that I support the underlying intent to address this concern. I, and I think at least I'll just speak for myself, I'm concerned about a couple of the elements, but I know Alderman Smith-Brown, you're already working on solutions that we've discussed about the concerns. And so for anyone that's following this and has concerns about either enforcement or how it would work on particularly narrow streets, if some of those driveways get filled with cars, those are solutions that I know Alderman Smith-Brown is already working towards. Any further discussion? Okay, all those in favor say aye. Aye, sorry, Alderman Thorpe, sorry I didn't see you.

Sorry, a little slow on my hand. So I just want to associate myself with your remarks and also thank Alderman Smith-Brown for taking on this tough topic. And I would agree, we've chatted quite a bit. We've got to work through a lot of it. We're hearing from the residents what their feedback is, because you've gotten ahead of this and gave people the opportunity to socialize it, think about it. I've probably got about 15 resident comments already. And I think there's some tweaking that we'll work together to do. And I think it's going to be really important, as Alderman Smith-Brown has already done, Department of Transportation, Public Works, and all appropriate people in city staff, because there's gonna be impacts with numerous departments, the police department, et cetera. And so as we work together and make amendments, it's important that we continue to communicate with the community that at the end of the day, this is all about making life better for the residents. And there's a huge information, communication, education element to it, and we're committed to doing all that.

Thank you.

Alderman Huntley. I was going to stay quiet because this is his first reader, but I just wanted to add on to something Alderman Thorpe said that maybe even more important than city staff is our parking contractors to have them in the room. Because at the end of the day, even my read of this is the text is good in most cases, but we have to think about how does it actually get implemented. And no matter how good the text is, if it can't get implemented, we might need to adjust the text.

Just to confirm, I've already had meetings with our parking contractors slash partners, and we've agreed on many fronts, and this is moving forward with their support, and I'll continue to iron it out as we go along.

I know you will, thank you.

Thanks.

Anyone else, Alderman? And not to beat this dead horse, but parking enforcement will not have a proactive role. So as per the current legislation, we will not be asking parking enforcement contractors to do what they do with all other elements of parking enforcement proactively look for violations this would be a case where it would have to be reported by the property owner so i think alderman huntley your concern is very well taken from a resident standpoint i think that represents the residents concerns how we're going to make sure we get this right and what alderman smith brown has done is written it such that the all the the parking contractor would not have in their own hands to enforce this

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. I refer 01726 to the Transportation Committee and Public Safety Committee. And like my earlier comments, I would encourage the Chairs of Public Safety and Transportation to talk about doing a combined meeting if possible to minimize repetition by the staff that will be supporting you. Mr. City Attorney, please present the next item on the agenda.

Next item under the agenda is Resolution R2126, designating City Attorney Anthony P. Coopersmith as resident agent for service of process.

Is there a motion to adopt R2126 on first reader? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Thorpe. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? So moved.

Alderman Smith-Brown? Yeah, for the people to understand what this means, do you mind just sharing a little bit of background of what this is, why we need it, and why our phenomenal attorney, Anthony, should be doing it?

Sure. So in any lawsuit, you always need to have make it clear on who gets served on that lawsuit if you're suing somebody. When it's a person that you're suing, it's clear you're serving that person. When you're serving an entity, that entity is required by state law to have a designated, it's called resident agent, on file so that if anyone wants to sue a corporation or any entity that's not a person, you could look it up online to see who am I supposed to serve with my papers. For city of Annapolis, that resident agent by code is the city attorney. It is by code, unfortunately, it spells out currently that we're supposed to name that person by name. And so that's why you have this resolution. You'll see a later resolution that's going to change the code. So we don't have to name it by name. It's just whoever is the city attorney is the resident agent, but that's not what the way the code reads right now. so that's why this is necessary as a short fix but we'll clean up that code amendment or i intend to clean up that code in the meantime so that you know like when we have an acting city attorney it should just be that's the person to serve without having a resolution to name that okay anyone else all those in favor say aye aye aye any opposed motion carries i suppose that question was for you but i couldn't help myself you did a better job than i would have done thank you Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Litman.

Aye.

Alderman Alsop-Johnson. Aye. Alderman Chandler-Meyer. Aye. Alderman Savage.

Aye.

Alderman Thorpe. Aye. Alderman Huntley.

Aye.

Alderman O'Neill. Aye. Alderman Smith-Brown.

Aye. Thank you. Okay. Mr. City Attorney, please call the next item on the agenda.

The agenda is completed.

Thank you. Is there anything else for the good of the order?

Alderman Huntley. Did we just suspend the rules to pass ARC 2126? It's on first reader. Okay, so there wasn't a, okay, okay. So we just chose to do it by voice vote. That's fine.

Yeah, we just apparently did the role for first reader.

Or not do it by voice vote, I should say. Okay.

I thought you just told me you did.

All right, we'll work on our cleaning up our process. No worries, we're gonna have a lot of confusion here. We're causing confusion. All right. There. Sorry. Anything else for the good of the order? Okay. Alderwoman? No, okay. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Thank you, Alderman Chandlemire. Is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Meeting's adjourned.

there, but thank you, Jared, for kind of picking up the ball and carrying it. It means so much to Annapolis. It means so much to Anne Arundel County, to the state. This is an example of people coming together in a very, very powerful way. This was a Rubik's Cube from the beginning. I mean, it had so many different and continues to have so many different interlocking parts that require special attention. So getting these resources finally over the finish line is just, it's a huge win. And it demonstrates, I think, and you mentioned this here a moment ago, the resilience of the people of Annapolis. I mean, stepping up, how to conceptualize this, what would it mean to execute it, putting all the phases together that you're now going to see kind of rolling out over time. That was a huge accomplishment. And then the last thing I want to say is this kind of a project, this kind of a resilience project in the context of what we know are going to continue to be increasing challenges coming at us in terms of climate change and weather disruption and so forth. is going to be a model for how you do these things around the country. And Annapolis has always been a leader. It's always been a model. It's always kind of taken the lead nationally on innovative, creative approaches. This is another example of that. It's going to be a tough slog through the execution. But I know one that's going to be successful. So congratulations to the people of Annapolis, to Team Maryland, to everybody who got us to this point is going to keep moving it forward. And obviously, very much at the reins for this process going forward is going to be Mayor Littman. I want to thank him for all his great work and bring him up.

Thank you.

Good morning. Thank you. My name is Mayor Jared Lippman, and on behalf of the City Council members and I, it is our great honor and pleasure to thank and receive the $33 million plus the $2.5 million for FEMA. And I just, I am so relieved, frankly. I know my sleep isn't everyone's concern, but I've been sleeping a lot better the past couple nights knowing that this money is coming. And this is obviously the evolution of work from so many individuals, and they've been mentioned. But I just want to point out how our city staff continue to slog away at the financial, the technical, the environmental reviews, meeting every deadline. Answering questions from FEMA, it was a long process and it seemed to evolve and they stepped up and they've met all the burdens and requests. And their dedication has absolutely ensured our success. To go over the funding of this huge engineering and infrastructure project, We have $24 million from the concession agreement related to the building of Hillman Garage. $10 million from the state of Maryland. And I see our delegate, Delegate Jones, Delegate Baylor, and our state Senator Henson being represented here. $4.8 million in congressional earmarks, although they're not called earmarks anymore. $2 million from the county. And today's $33 million plus the $2.5 million from FEMA plus the city's bond money to ensure that we now have all the funding in place to see this project through. This is a major investment in protecting our historic waterfront, local businesses, and ensuring that our residents can continue to enjoy this wonderful area that we all love for generations and generations to come. This is an investment in the future of Annapolis. I want to acknowledge we have a lot of partners, and I recognize the city is the small player here, and so we have a lot of people I want to thank. I first want to call out the current and former city council members who stood by Mayor Buckley and I throughout this process. They all received lots of phone calls of, if this, then this, and the council, it was unanimous in supporting our efforts to move forward. Of course, our... Thank you, council members. Of course, I want to thank our federal delegation, Senator Van Hollen, Senator Alsa Brooks, who couldn't be here today, Representative Elfrith, and of course, Representative Sarbanes, who's always been a good friend. Thank you all so much for your support. Our governor and his team have been hugely instrumental as well. So I thank Governor Moore and MDEM Secretary Strickland for your support. The number of phone calls and conference and strategizing all along. And of course, again, I want to call out our state delegation, Senator Henson, delegates Jones and Baylor. I think delegate Jones gets the award for latest phone call on this matter on a Friday night in particular, too. So thank you for being available. County Executive Pittman, you've always stood behind and helped strategize. And I know that I can count on you as well. Thank you so much. Mayor Buckley, I know, had this vision, and now the hard work of going from vision to turning into reality, but that doesn't get started without the initial vision. So I thank you, Mayor Buckley. A couple of individuals that don't get a lot of limelight I want to call out. City Manager Buckland, I want to thank you. Project Manager Eileen Fogarty, seeing this through. Director and Chief Kevin Simmons and David Mandel from Office of Emergency Management. and Public Works Director Burr Vogel. Someone who never calls out for attention, but is a friend and a leader in this whole project, Matt Fleming and the Resilience Authority. Thank you for your leadership. He's one of those guys that when we strategize of who needs to do what, he's like, I got it. I got it. I got it. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate you. Looking ahead, I want to call out all the individuals who are involved. We all got involved in public service because we wanted to do good for the community. We are doing our best to serve the public. And as Congresswoman Elfrith mentioned, there are some tough days where when our efforts to do good are not necessarily treated as such. I just want to let all of us Have all of us take a moment to appreciate the enormity of today's milestone. This is the result of your hard work, your focus on serving your constituents, and seeing the big picture of what can be done when we join together. And so I just want you all to pat yourselves on the back, pat each other on the back, take a moment to appreciate this. I know that there have been a lot of press conferences. I am so looking forward to having a ribbon cutting. where we could say, come on, and it's not last minute and hurried. This work is absolutely just beginning. I know that just because we now have the money in the bank, it's not all smooth sailing. But I know with the team behind me, they've all demonstrated they're willing to answer the call, be involved, be supportive, either quietly or publicly, whatever is needed to get the job done. And that's huge. That is absolutely huge. It is my absolute honor to lead Annapolis's efforts through this. And again, I thank all of the partners involved in this work. I'm so excited to help deliver the City Dock project for all of us. And with that, I want to introduce my friends and our County Executive, Stuart Pittman.

Well, first, just congratulations to everybody. I'm not going to go through everybody and do all the same things all over again, but congratulations to all of us. We should be having a huge party right now. Maybe we will later. I had a meeting on my schedule today that got canceled. My scheduler told me, the mayor's office canceled our meeting on Friday, didn't say why. And then I got a text message, not the SOS one, got that too, but I got the good text message from Mayor Lippman. And the joy, I mean... The ability to sleep. That meeting was about we're in the middle of our budget process. We're in the middle of our capital budget process. We managed to squeeze $2 million out last year, you know, with the help of Councilwoman Rodvian for this district, for particularly the Welcome Center as part of this project to get it over the finish line. But not having the fee and my money would have meant that the project would have been scaled back. The mayor had all kinds of contingency plans, and his contingency plans included more money from the county, I think. And so it was a big relief to have that meeting canceled. I want to particularly thank our delegation, Congresswoman Elfrith, our senators, and the whole team. But I think in this time, we've almost lost faith that we have a partner in the federal government, and particularly in FEMA. It has been so, so frustrating and sad and terrifying in some cases to have FEMA no longer a partner. But these folks didn't give up. These folks continued to work relationships that they had, relationships in places we don't even want to know who they talked to to get this thing across the finish line. But thank you. Just thank you for not giving up in a time where we all just want to fight, fight, fight. Sometimes we also have to get in there and negotiate and manage to get some wins. public, for the residents of Anne Arundel County who are so looking forward to coming into Annapolis and seeing this beautiful, beautiful public space. It's going to be like a park for the whole county, which is why I'm open. I've been open to investments in it with county dollars. It is just like a little bit of sunshine. We haven't had sun all week. But it's a little bit of sunshine in a dark time and that, in fact, government can work and things can get done. So just thank you and let's celebrate. This is a wonderful, wonderful day. Congratulations. And I also want to acknowledge the former mayor, Gavin Buckley, for the work that he did to get us to this point. You know, his name would have been mud if FEMA money hadn't showed up. Right. I mean, you've got to blame somebody. But now his name is not mud. It's back to Gavin Buckley. And we can all celebrate.

Next, we're going to hear from the great Maryland Secretary of Emergency Management, Secretary Strickland. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much. This is a celebration. I really like that term. I'd first like to thank Governor Moore and Maryland's congressional delegation for your unwavering support of this critical project. I'd also like to recognize the City of Annapolis for their leadership and persistent advocacy to see funding awarded, and the Maryland Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation Team, who are adeptly shepherding this project through many stages of approval. Now I'm going to go off script for a second because there were two words that were mentioned here today, resilience and modeling. And emergency management's responsibilities, although many times at the back end of the crowd, just kind of watching and making sure everybody's safe, but it's before, during, and after a disaster that we're involved. This is before. and before is mitigation and mitigation is the center of the universe we're really really good at response and immediate recovery but mitigation is that which will improve for all the businesses in the area and will make a difference of almost a dollar invested a six dollar return when it comes time for recovery so i think that is so so important and i appreciate the words that folks have used So the mission of Maryland Department of Emergency Management is to proactively reduce these disaster risk and reliably manage consequences through collaborative work with Maryland's communities and partners. In Maryland, emergency management is a system of systems. We cannot do it alone. We are the counties and the local jurisdictions, coupled with the state, working with our state agencies and partners and with our private sector partners. We cannot do it alone. No one can, and it's only through that system of systems that we do it. The Annapolis City Dock Hazard Mitigation Project is an excellent example of this type of work, of everyone coming together. So the investment today comes as a result of years of partnership and collaboration with the residents, business owners, and governments at every level. And I have to say, we've been talking about it. It started in 2019. I started in state emergency management in 2004. This was a discussion then. It was a discussion of flooding back into the 1700s for Ellicott City, and when it comes time for a model, this will not only be a model, but there's another really, really good model in Frederick City that started with Agnes. And it took 20 years to build, and about three or four years ago, there was a flooding event, and it worked. It worked. So we know that this funding will bring a significant return on investment for every dollar invested, as I mentioned. We'll save six in disaster recovery. And while the dollars matter, what really matters is our community and our survivors. That's where our focus is. So the hazard mitigation efforts on this scale mean more days that residents and visitors can enjoy Maryland's state capitol and the beautiful waterfront, more days that local businesses have to grow and thrive, and fewer days spent mucking out livelihoods and homes or wondering if the next storm or king tide will be worse than the last one. So this project is proof that together we can do things which shape a more resilient Maryland where communities thrive and where no one is left behind. So from the emergency management community to all of you, one, congratulations. Two, thank you. And number three, we're not leaving. We are not leaving until it's done. And we'll be here for another 20 years to make sure it works so we can right that dam. All right? Thank you very, very much.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Team Maryland. Before we take questions, I do want to acknowledge a few other folks. And Sarah mentioned my former partner and colleague, Ben Cardin. He was also tenacious about this project. And we work very closely together. And just like Congresswoman Elfrith picked up the baton from John Sarbanes in the House, Angela Ulster Brooks has helped pick up that baton in the United States Senate. So I just want to thank her. She could not be here. So let's give them both a round of applause. So we're happy to answer any questions. And if not, we do have a check. Cash it fast.

Any questions?

Yeah. Can you respond to the letter that you sent to the Trump administration regarding the Legionella?

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear.

Can you respond to the letter you sent to the Trump administration relative to the Legionella?

Oh, can we talk to you after about I'm happy to do one on one or what? Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Time for the real thing. Check. All right. Should we?

I mentioned one other person. Yes, of course. I also want to call out Lieutenant General Superintendent of the Naval Academy, Mike Bork-Schulte, who was incredibly helpful. And I just want to acknowledge his efforts as well. Why don't you get in the middle here?

All right.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Ken White with the Annapolis Fire Department. This week's theme for Fire Prevention Week is Serve Up Safety in the Kitchen. So this holiday season, here are some tips from the Annapolis Fire Department that can help you serve up safety in the kitchen. Tip one, when frying, boiling, or simmering, stay in the kitchen, never leave the home, and always use a timer. Tip two, if a grease fire starts, never try to extinguish with water. Use a lid to cover over the pot, turn the burner off, and wait till the pan cools down. Tip three, always keep your cleaning and cooking surfaces free of any clutter. And tip four, remember to always keep a three foot distance around the cooking area, a three feet kid zone, as I like to call it. And remember, if you're unable to control the fire, get out of your house and dial 911 immediately. And never forget every month to test your smoke alarms, have an escape plan and practice your escape plan. Unattended cooking is a leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. For more information on tips on how you can serve up safety in the kitchen, visit www.firepreventionweek.org. Stay safe Annapolis.

I've seen so many stars at Cause Beach. Cause Beach, it'll go down in history as one of the most beautiful places there were.

You know this, come on!

When Chuck Curry came to town, or James Brown came to town, there was so much parking that you only had room for one car to move a quarter of a mile.

We saw people that got tired of waiting in traffic and they'd get out and walk and run because all the big stars came here.

They would sneak in, you know, through some type of fence. I don't know where this fence was, but, you know, because it gets so crowded and people would sneak in some type of way just to come and see the, you know, different entertainment.

We didn't have to go anywhere to see James Brown, Etta James. All the big-name stars came right here in Outback Door.

It was just a joy for time. For me and a lot of other blacks, it was just a joy for time. When we got off from work sometimes, we went to Carl's Beach. But Carl's Beach is, wow, it was a center of attraction for everybody, especially blacks. It was a center of attraction.

When the community was segregated, it's the only place that really Afro-Americans come here and have a day of fun.

Ever since my first visit here, I can remember the people dancing on the concrete pavilion and the sand on the pavilion. And those leather soles made a distinct grinding sound, but it was a rhythmic sound. that has still with me now. I am tickled today to be sitting here and hearing music and looking out in the bay. It brings back a lot of memories.

They had rides, first wheels, a merry-go-round, the cotton candy. They even had a big dance hall where we see hop albums on the bands and it would be broadcast live.

Tonight, tonight, tonight, we're hopping at them, and people came from all over, come down Carl's and Sproul's Beach, and we came for the Carl's and Sproul's Beach reunion, and this is a great reunion.

This is where it all started from, the grounds, and I don't know, it's just heavenly to be here today. It's awesome, and I'm just so delighted to be here to see this.

It was such a beautiful thing. It was a place where you had a beautiful time. Like I say, Cod Beach will live forever and it's in our hearts and it'll live in our hearts forever.

I said, sugar pie.

. . .

Hey Annapolis, it's go time. On-demand transit that takes you where you want to go. It's fast, it's easy, and it's an affordable way to get around Annapolis. Going to the doctor? It's go time. Going shopping? It's go time. Exploring Annapolis? It's go time. It's easy to schedule your ride. Use the app or call Transportation Dispatch at 410-263-7964. Set your pickup and your destination and we'll be right there. Simply track the bus on the app so you'll know exactly when we'll be there to pick you up. Pay once you're on the bus, just $2 per ride and only $1 for seniors. Or you can use your daily, weekly, monthly, or annual bus pass. Getting around Annapolis is easy with Annapolis Go Time. On-demand transit. See you on board.

Hola, soy el Capitán Zapata del Cuerpo de Bomberos aquí de la ciudad de Nápoles. En esta semana estamos hablando de prevención de incendios en la cocina. La causa principal de incendios en casa proviene del uso en la cocina. La causa principal de incendios en la cocina es falta de supervisión. Punto número uno. Cuando esté cocinando, use un reloj alarma automático. Punto número dos. Siempre mantenga una tapa cerca o a la mano cuando esté cocinando. Si está cocinando con aceite o manteca y toma fuego, ponga la tapa sobre el sartén y espere que se enfríe. Point number three, make sure to keep an area clean and organized when you're cooking. And point number four, be sure to keep a free area for children of at least three feet or one meter. Por si acaso hay un incendio que está fuera de su control, llame al 911 inmediatamente. Acuérdese de probar sus detectores de humo mensualmente. Haga un plan de escape también y practiquelo. Mantente seguro, Annapolis. Muchísimas gracias.

All those legends. We talk about James Brown. This was a place where 70,000 would come from New York, from the Carolinas to Annapolis.

You know, we talk about our history a lot in Annapolis, but we only talk about one history. And this amazing piece of history that happened for three decades is going to be here for the next generation to learn about it.

We need to pay homage to our history and our ancestors. You know, this is bringing home

You remember the carousel. You remember the bandstand. So this is bringing that dream to a reality.

What you're seeing today, as I say, is a microcosm. What we see at Cars Beach is a perfect example of that. It's the state, it's the citizens that all come together. It's very much a team effort.

Send his kisses to me, Cupid, Cupid. Tell him he belongs to me. Tell him that I'm still deeply in love.

I will do anything to get him back into my arms.

I've seen so many stars at Cause Beach. Cause Beach?

It'll go down in history as one of the most beautiful places there were.

You know this, come on!

When Chuck Berry came to town, or James Brown came to town, there was so much parking that you only had room for one car to move a quarter of a mile.

We saw people that got tired of waiting in traffic and they'd get out and walk and run because all the big stars came here.

They would sneak in, you know, through some type of fence. I don't know where this fence was, but, you know, because it gets so crowded and people would sneak in some type of way just to come and see the, you know, different entertainment.

We didn't have to go anywhere to see James Brown, Etta James. All the big-name stars came right here in Alpac Door.

It was just a joy for time. For me and a lot of other blacks, it was just a joy for time. When we got off from work sometime, we went to Carl's Beach. But Carl's Beach is, wow. It was a center of attraction for everybody, especially blacks. It was a center of attraction.

When the community was segregated, it's the only place that really Afro-Americans come and have a day of fun.

Ever since my first visit here, I can remember the people dancing on the concrete pavilion and the sand on the pavilion. And those leather soles made a distinct grinding sound. But it was a rhythmic sound that That has still with me now. I am tickled today to be sitting here and hearing music and looking out in the bay. It brings back a lot of memories.

They had rides, first wheels, a merry-go-round, the cotton candy. They even had a big dance hall where we see hop albums on the bands and it would be broadcast live.

Tonight, tonight, tonight, we're hopping at them. And people came from all over, come down Carls and Sprouts Beach. And we came for the Carls and Sprouts Beach reunion.

And this is a great reunion. This is where it all started from, the grounds. And I don't know, it's just heavenly to be here today. It's awesome. And I'm just so delighted to be here to see this.

It was such a beautiful thing. It was a place where you had a beautiful time. Like I say, Cog Beach will live forever and it's in our hearts and it'll live in our hearts forever.

I said sugar pie.

There's a little place across Spa Creek. You get there when you shuffle down Compromise Street, cross the bridge or paddle through the harbor. It's the opposite side of Annapolis proper. And when you get there, you leave your worries behind and get that laid back feeling that only you'll find in Eastport on the Bay. They're a laid-back crew there in old Eastport. They go to work all summer long in deck shoes and shorts. And if you want a millionaire's elbow to rub, he's got the shabbiest deck shoes down at Marmaduke's Pub. Or go around the corner to Leon's Barbershop and have the mayor himself take a little off the top in Eastport on the bay. So let me get across, Mr. Bridgetender, and leave it up for good for all that I care. The crab pot's steaming, we can pick us a few, and I'll shuck the oysters if you make us do. Crabbin' and sailin' with characters galore, it's a land of pleasant livin' surrounded by shore. Yuppies with puppies walkin' side by side, and things ain't a-changin' except for the tide. So come on over, leave your worries behind, and get that laid-back feelin' that only you'll find in Eastport on the bay.

. .

.

All right. Well, welcome, everybody. We're gathered here in a great American city, the great city of Annapolis, the sailing capital of the world, an historic city where George Washington resigned his military commission, symbolizing the transfer and peaceful transfer of power and making it clear that in America we have no kings, a city that's not afraid to tell all of its past, including its role in the slave trade. In Annapolis, people learn from our past. They don't try to whitewash and hide their past. A city that is the home, the proud home of the Naval Academy, a city where millions of people from all over the world come every year, but also a city that, because of climate change, has really been hurt by the flooding hitting these small businesses, impacting tourism, impacting the boat show. And so that's why we're gathered here today, to address that problem. And we have great news for a great American city, great news for the great city of Annapolis, which is after many years, FEMA has released the $35 million in funds. $35 million in funds. That includes the $33 million that was part of the original City of Annapolis grant and an additional $2.5 million to help with related upgrades for stormwater management. And this has been the result of work of Team Maryland. And you're going to hear from so many people who were part of that effort. But there were also many more who are represented here today that you won't hear from, but who you see here and others who could not join us today. including somebody who could not join us today, Mayor Buckley, the former mayor of Annapolis. And it was his vision that really set this project in motion. And I heard from him last night. He said he couldn't be here. I think he's taking one of his kids to college. But he was just thrilled, of course, that we were able to secure these funds. And to the new mayor, Mayor Lipman, and to the council, city council here in Annapolis, thank you. Thank you for carrying on that vision with absolute perseverance. I was just telling the mayor that I have right here a text message that I received from him on Valentine's Day, coincidentally. And it was an SOS message. And it began, I am writing because we are at a critical point in the city doc project. And he went on to outline the huge challenges they would face if the FEMA funds didn't come through. He also was putting together contingency plans because he understood the importance of this project. And he said in that text message, if we don't get started and try to keep this on time, we're going to see some of these businesses close. So thank you, Mayor Littman, for moving with that urgency. And that lit another fire under all of us who are members of the Maryland federal delegation. And I can say that in the Senate, we immediately renewed our push, which has been ongoing, and directly contacted DHS and FEMA. and said, we really need you to release these funds and we need it yesterday. And we got the Appropriations Committee in the Senate involved. And not surprisingly, there are other members in the House and the Senate who've also had projects held up. by FEMA. And so there was a growing backlog, but also growing frustration at what was happening with backlogs for projects all over the country. And so all of that pressure built and the dam broke. And the good news is Kristi Noem is out and the funding for the Annapolis dock is in. And let me just thank other members of the federal delegation who are part of it, because the city, we took our lead from the city, from their vision, but we have with us today John Sarbanes. Congressman John Sarbanes, who was absolutely tenacious. absolutely tenacious when it came to making sure that the city of Annapolis had what it needed and was constantly pushing and pushing. And of course, former state senator and now congresswoman, Representative Elfrith, she's been pushing really hard. And thank you to other members of the District 30 delegation and everybody who's been involved in this effort over years. To Stuart Pittman, your county executive, you've been just an amazing partner. Amazing partner. And all of us know the resources need to come from the city. They need to come from the county. They need to come from the state. And yes, this critical piece needed to come from the federal government. And so I'm also pleased that we're here and with the continuing support from the governor and the governor's team, you're going to hear from our secretary of the Department of Emergency Management, Russ Strickland. But thank you for what you're doing in this project, but also the other emergency projects around the state and FEMA. So as you can see, this is really a Team Maryland day. And this wouldn't have happened without everybody gathered here and many more people and never giving up. This is an example of perseverance and persistence at work, and that requires everybody pushing from their own angle and their own point of leverage. So without further ado, let me now turn it over to somebody who has been pushing really hard for this, first in the Maryland legislature, and hit the ground running in the United States Congress, Sarah Elfrith.

Well, thank you to Senator Van Hollen for being Team Maryland's quarterback in the federal delegation, but also, as you see behind me, the epitome of Team Maryland when we say it's not just the federal delegation. It starts with our local partners, our county partners, our state partners, and, of course, the federal team. This is a day that I got to tell you, I try to be an optimist in this work. I think you have to be. I wasn't sure this day was going to happen, Mr. Mayor. First of all, this is my umpteenth CityDoc press conference. I think we've all been here many, many times to announce really great news, to announce state funding, $18.5 million in state funding, to announce almost $10 million in federal earmarks, to announce the Resilience Authority, to mark Congressman Sarbanes. We were here. Sorry, there's too many tall people behind me. We were here during one of the biggest floods, I think the fourth biggest flood on record, standing right here surveying the urgency of now. And that's where I wanted to start. Rising seas aren't going to wait for bureaucracy. I think we see that every single day. And as the senator said, this is more than just a climate adaption project. It has real implications for Annapolis' past, present, and future. Obviously, the historical impacts of this project, what we are preserving as the former United States Capitol, really important year that we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of this nation. But we also recognize the more challenging and difficult pieces of our history that we need to honor and respect and share and tell. The fact that where we are standing is a UNESCO site of remembrance because it was a site of the transatlantic slave trade. the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, but also the folks who worked the water, the immigrants, the families who lived right here and made Annapolis what it is today. Obviously, this moment is important because we have to preserve this city dock for our economy as well. All of the small businesses you see around here, every time there is a major flood, we are all on the phone checking in, making sure they have what they need, making sure we're corralling the state resources and local resources to get them what they need. Obviously, this is important for the present because of our United States Naval Academy. And rising seas do not respect what is city land versus what is federal land. And so what happens here very much impacts what happens there. And of course, to the alderman from Eastport, you know better than anybody, when the rising seas cut off Compromise Street, that is a real emergency management challenge for the people of Eastport. obviously the moment of now as we address climate change across this country is so real and it can sometimes feel overburdened we feel overburdened it's just such a large problem where can we even start obviously this started almost a decade ago with a vision from mayor buckley and the city council and the the staff at the city who knew that this was not a nice to have this was a must-have not just then but knowing that those seeds will continue to rise each and every year It's often said that success has a thousand fathers. I'd like to also believe there's a few mothers tucked in there as well. Obviously to Mayor Buckley for his vision, the city council for their dedication, the staff. I also want to thank the hundreds of Annapolis citizens who participated. And I don't know how many charrettes y'all had to make sure. 300 opportunities for the public to weigh in here. That's so important in this moment. To County Executive Pittman, who has just been a champion in making sure that we are all staying on task and on target, I so appreciate you. The state delegation, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the state funding started under former Speaker Mike Bush. He had the vision, he knew, and he wanted to respond with state dollars, being the capital city. And he started the trend that I had the privilege of picking up. I know Delegate Jones, Delegate Baylor, Senator Henson make sure we, in every single budget, make sure we are delivering for this project. To the federal delegation, I'm so grateful that Congressman Sarbanes is here. I also called Senator Ben Cardin the other day to share the good news. There's not a lot of good days of good news in this job. Senator Van Hollen, you didn't tell me that when I first ran. But he was thrilled and he wished he could be here today. I want to give him thanks and credit as well. It's been said that Mayor Littman has taken this project and been so thoughtful and so strategic as we met this critical moment. And I too received that SOS text message. in February. Being on the Armed Services Committee, the Naval Academy Board, along with Senator Van Hollen, he asked, can we involve the Navy? And so that was my role to play in this orchestra of support that we all lent here, is to call the Pentagon, to call the Navy, and remind them that the rising seas will also impact the readiness of our United States Naval Academy. And they made a call as well. There were so many calls that were made in the month, Mr. Mayor, since you sent that text message. And I just want to thank you for your vision and your commitment. We're going to hear in a minute from Secretary Strickland, from MDEM, who has also been just a champion of this throughout multiple administrations. I want to thank you for your support. You're also on our call sheet any time we get a major flood, so I want to thank you and your team for that. And without further ado, I want to thank my predecessor, who has been dedicated and focused to this work for his 18 years serving in the United States Congress. I'm so grateful to be able to call him and turn to him for advice more often than I thought I would in this Congress. But I'm so grateful to my friend, Congressman John Sarbanes.

Thanks very much, Sarah. This is a great day. I'm going to be brief. I promise, you know, if you let a former member of Congress up to a podium, they could go forever. But first of all, let me salute Team Maryland, Senator Van Hollen, Congresswoman Sarah Elpheth, representative of the 3rd District of Maryland. I love saying that. to Jared, to Stuart, to everybody who's been part of this. I also want to give a shout-out to Gavin Buckley. I got a lot of SOSs from Gavin over the years, so I've got a whole text string there. But thank you, Jared, for kind of picking up the ball and carrying it. It means so much to Annapolis. It means so much. to Anne Arundel County, to the state. This is an example of people coming together in a very, very powerful way. This was a Rubik's Cube from the beginning. I mean, it had so many different and continues to have so many different interlocking parts that require special attention. So getting these resources finally over the finish line is just, it's a huge win. And it demonstrates, I think, and you mentioned this here a moment ago, the resilience of the people of Annapolis. I mean, stepping up, how to conceptualize this, what would it mean to execute it, putting all the phases together that you're now going to see kind of rolling out over time. That was a huge accomplishment. And then the last thing I want to say is this kind of a project, this kind of a resilience project in the context of what we know are going to continue to be increasing challenges coming at us in terms of climate change and weather disruption and so forth. is going to be a model for how you do these things around the country. And Annapolis has always been a leader. It's always been a model. It's always kind of taken the lead nationally on innovative, creative approaches. This is another example of that. It's going to be a tough slog through the execution. But I know one that's going to be successful. So congratulations to the people of Annapolis, to Team Maryland, to everybody who got us to this point is going to keep moving it forward. And obviously, very much at the reins for this process going forward is going to be Mayor Lippman. I want to thank him for all his great work and bring him up.

Thank you.

Good morning. Thank you. My name is Mayor Jared Lippman, and on behalf of the City Council members and I, it is our great honor and pleasure to thank and receive the $33 million plus the $2.5 million for FEMA. And I just, I am so relieved, frankly. I know my sleep isn't everyone's concern, but I've been sleeping a lot better the past couple nights knowing that this money is coming. And this is obviously the evolution of work from so many individuals, and they've been mentioned. But I just want to point out how our city staff continue to slog away at the financial, the technical, the environmental reviews, meeting every deadline. Answering questions from FEMA, it was a long process and it seemed to evolve and they stepped up and they've met all the burdens and requests. And their dedication has absolutely ensured our success. To go over the funding of this huge engineering and infrastructure project, we have 24 million dollars from the concession agreement related to the building of uh hillman garage 10 million dollars from the state of maryland and i i see our delegate uh delegate jones delegate baylor and our state senator henson being represented here 4.8 million dollars in congressional earmarks so they're not called earmarks anymore two million dollars from the county And today's $33 million plus the $2.5 million from FEMA plus the city's bond money to ensure that we now have all the funding in place to see this project through. This is a major investment in protecting our historic waterfront, local businesses, and ensuring that our residents can continue to enjoy this wonderful area that we all love for generations and generations to come. This is an investment in the future of Annapolis. I want to acknowledge we have a lot of partners, and I recognize the city is the small player here, and so we have a lot of people I want to thank. I first want to call out the current and former city council members who stood by Mayor Buckley and I throughout this process. They all received lots of phone calls of, if this, then this, and the council, it was unanimous in supporting our efforts to move forward. Of course, our... Thank you, council members. Thank you. Of course, I want to thank our federal delegation, Senator Van Hollen, Senator also Brooks, who couldn't be here today, Representative Elfrith, and of course, Representative Sarbanes, who's always been a good friend. Thank you all so much for your support. Our governor and his team have been hugely instrumental as well. So I thank Governor Moore and MDEM Secretary Strickland for your support. The number of phone calls and conferences strategizing all along. And of course, again, I want to call out our state delegation, Senator Henson, Delegates Jones and Baylor. I think Delegate Jones gets the award for latest phone call on this matter on a Friday night in particular, too. So thank you for being available. County Executive Pittman, you've always stood behind and helped strategize. And I know that I can count on you as well. Thank you so much. Mayor Buckley, I know, had this vision, and now the hard work of going from vision to turning into reality, but that doesn't get started without the initial vision. So I thank you, Mayor Buckley. A couple of individuals that don't get a lot of limelight I want to call out. City Manager Buckland, I want to thank you. Project Manager Eileen Fogarty, seeing this through. Director and Chief Kevin Simmons and David Mandel from Office of Emergency Management. and Public Works Director Burr Vogel. Someone who never calls out for attention but is a friend and a leader in this whole project, Matt Fleming and the Resilience Authority. Thank you for your leadership. He's one of those guys that when we strategize of who needs to do what, he's like, I got it. I got it. I got it. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate you. Looking ahead, I want to call out all the individuals who are involved. We all got involved in public service because we wanted to do good for the community. We are doing our best to serve the public. And as Congresswoman Elfrith mentioned, there are some tough days where when our efforts to do good are not necessarily treated as such. I just want to let all of us have all of us take a moment to appreciate the enormity of today's milestone. This is the result of your hard work, your focus on serving your constituents, and seeing the big picture of what can be done when we join together. And so I just want you all to pat yourselves on the back, pat each other on the back, take a moment to appreciate this. I know that there have been a lot of press conferences. I am so looking forward to having a ribbon cutting. Where we could say, come on, and it's not last minute and hurried. This work is absolutely just beginning. I know that just because we now have the money in the bank, it's not all smooth sailing. But I know with the team behind me, they've all demonstrated they're willing to answer the call, be involved, be supportive, either quietly or publicly, whatever is needed to get the job done. And that's huge. That is absolutely huge. It is my absolute honor to lead Annapolis's efforts through this. And again, I thank all of the partners involved in this work. I'm so excited to help deliver the City Dock project for all of us. And with that, I want to introduce my friends and our county executive, Stuart Pittman.

Well, first, just congratulations to everybody. I'm not going to go through everybody and do all the same things all over again, but congratulations to all of us. We should be having a huge party right now. Maybe we will later. I had a meeting on my schedule today that got canceled. My scheduler told me, the mayor's office canceled our meeting on Friday, didn't say why. And then I got a text message, not the SOS one, got that too, but I got the good text message from Mayor Lippman. And the joy, I mean. The ability to sleep. That meeting was about, we're in the middle of our budget process. We're in the middle of our capital budget process. We managed to squeeze $2 million out last year, you know, with the help of Councilwoman Rodvian for this district, for particularly the Welcome Center as part of this project to get it over the finish line. But not having the fee in my money would have meant that the project would have been scaled back. The mayor had all kinds of contingency plans, and his contingency plans included more money from the county, I think. And so it was a big relief to have that meeting canceled. I want to particularly thank our delegation, Congresswoman Elfrith, our senators, and the whole team. But I think in this time, we don't—we've almost lost faith that we have a partner in the federal government, and particularly in FEMA. It has been so, so frustrating and sad and terrifying in some cases to have FEMA no longer a partner. And—but these folks didn't give up. These folks continued to work relationships that they had, relationships in places we don't even want to know who they talked to to get this thing across the finish line. But thank you. Just thank you for not giving up in a time where we all just want to fight, fight, fight. Sometimes we also have to get in there and negotiate and manage to get some wins. public, for the residents of Anne Arundel County who are so looking forward to coming into Annapolis and seeing this beautiful, beautiful public space. It's going to be like a park for the whole county, which is why I'm open. I've been open to investments in it with county dollars. It is just like a little bit of sunshine. We haven't had sun all week. But it's a little bit of sunshine in a dark time and that, in fact, government can work and things can get done. So just thank you and let's celebrate. This is a wonderful, wonderful day. Congratulations. And I also want to acknowledge the former mayor, Gavin Buckley, for the work that he did to get us to this point. You know, his name would have been mud if FEMA money hadn't showed up, right? I mean, you've got to blame somebody, but now his name is not mud. It's back to Gavin Buckley, and we can all celebrate.

Next, we're going to hear from the great Maryland Secretary of Emergency Management, Secretary Strickland. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much. This is a celebration. I really like that term. I'd first like to thank Governor Moore and Maryland's congressional delegation for your unwavering support of this critical project. I'd also like to recognize the City of Annapolis for their leadership and persistent advocacy to see funding awarded, and the Maryland Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation team who are adeptly shepherding this project through many stages of approval. Now I'm going to go off script for a second because there were two words that were mentioned here today, resilience and modeling. And emergency management's responsibilities, although many times at the back end of the crowd, just kind of watching and making sure everybody's safe, but it's before, during, and after a disaster that we're involved. This is before. and before is mitigation and mitigation is the center of the universe we're really really good at response and immediate recovery but mitigation is that which will improve for all the businesses in the area and will make a difference of almost a dollar invested a six dollar return when it comes time for recovery so i think that is so so important and i appreciate the words that folks have used So the mission of Maryland Department of Emergency Management is to proactively reduce these disaster risk and reliably manage consequences through collaborative work with Maryland's communities and partners. In Maryland, emergency management is a system of systems. We cannot do it alone. We are the counties and the local jurisdictions, coupled with the state, working with our state agencies and partners, and with our private sector partners. We cannot do it alone. No one can, and it's only through that system of systems that we do it. The Annapolis City Dock Hazard Mitigation Project is an excellent example of this type of work, of everyone coming together. So the investment today comes as a result of years of partnership and collaboration with the residents, business owners, and governments at every level. And I have to say, we've been talking about it. It started in 2019. I started in state emergency management in 2004. This was a discussion then. It was a discussion of flooding back into the 1700s for Ellicott City, and when it comes time for a model, this will not only be a model, but there's another really, really good model in Frederick City that started with Agnes. And it took 20 years to build, and about three or four years ago, there was a flooding event, and it worked. It worked. So we know that this funding will bring a significant return on investment for every dollar invested, as I mentioned, we'll save six in disaster recovery. And while the dollars matter, what really matters is our community and our survivors. That's where our focus is. So the hazard mitigation efforts on this scale mean more days that residents and visitors can enjoy Maryland's state capitol and the beautiful waterfront, more days that local businesses have to grow and thrive, and fewer days spent mucking out livelihoods and homes or wondering if the next storm or king tide will be worse than the last one. So this project is proof that together we can do things which shape a more resilient Maryland where communities thrive and where no one is left behind. So from the emergency management community to all of you, one, congratulations. Two, thank you. And number three, we're not leaving. We are not leaving until it's done. And we'll be here for another 20 years to make sure it works so we can write that down. All right? Thank you very, very much.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Team Maryland. Before we take questions, I do want to acknowledge a few other folks. And Sarah mentioned my former partner and colleague, Ben Cardin. He was also tenacious about this project. And we worked very closely together. And just like Congresswoman Elfrith picked up the baton from John Sarbanes in the House, Angela Ulster Brooks has helped pick up that baton in the United States Senate. So I just want to thank her. She could not be here. So let's give them both a round of applause. So we're happy to answer any questions, and if not, we do have a check. Cash it fast. Any questions? Yeah.

Can you respond to the letter that you sent to the Trump administration regarding the Legionella?

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear.

Can you respond to the letter you sent to the Trump administration relative to the Legionella letter?

Oh, can we talk to you after about... I'm happy to do one-on-one or... Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Time for the real thing. Check. All right. Should we all...

Senator, can I mention one other person I forgot to mention?

Yes, of course.

I also want to call out Lieutenant General, Superintendent of the Naval Academy, Mike Bork-Schulte, who was incredibly helpful, and I just want to acknowledge his efforts as well. Why don't you get in the middle here?

All right.

Thank you

We are here in Annapolis today celebrating the boy who harnessed the wind. A guy who overcame adversity. A young brown boy from projects.

And I'm celebrating for not just me, for many others that have came out of situations of adversity.

This is where it all started.

This is where I used to work. Maybe 10 years ago, this was my station. They used to help me out with every single thing.

Braiding and teaching how to bolt. Teaching me how to skid.

They taught me to work all the time. All of them, this is where I all ended up. Being raised with a culture of women of hairdressers that I looked up to growing up, I was heavily equipped. I used to sit in hair salons and watch the ladies work, and I really learned a lot about being a hairstylist through my mentors in front of me. I mean, I have clients like Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kelly Rowland, Yara Shahidi. I like glamorous hair. I like confident hair. I like hair that's been slept on and lived in and ruffled up. I told myself that I could dream and I told myself that I could in a situation where I wasn't supposed to. And so me standing here today is a huge honor because when I started my journey, I had no idea that this could be, but I kept going and I kept doing. Here we are today. I'm getting the keys to the city.

On behalf of the city of Annapolis, we present you with the keys to the city.

I honestly want to say thank you so much. Listen, I've been working really, really hard and I love what I do. I love Annapolis. I want to be able to create space for younger individuals to be empowered, to be uplifted, to find mentorship and to really strategize ways to really uplift. And so I am going to start a nonprofit here in Annapolis. Pair up with all of my mentors and we are going to come up with something spectacular. It means more to me than the accolade. It's really about the honor for me. I'm really honored and grateful. And that's what it means to me. I have a lot of humility for what my ancestors gave me.

So I'm looking forward to seeing you in Cambridge.

Hey, get out of there. Looks like I have to do proper trash placement training again. If you put your trash out, please place it into a bag. And tie the bag up and place it into a watertight receptacle with your address placed on it so they can be seen from the street at the end of your property for proper road collection. As a matter of fact, this recycle is done all wrong also. If you decide to place your recycling in a bag, please bring your bag to the receptacle and take all items out of the bag and place them into the can. And make sure the lid is closed, please. Let's bring back in the trash monster so I can show you things that are not recyclable. See, it's 40% non-recyclable right now. This is non-recyclable. This is non-recyclable. The metal utensils are non-recyclable. Please be mindful of your trash and recycle placement to avoid fines.

Hey, hey, hey! Get out of there! Get out of the trash! Oh, we're going to have to clean all this up again. And since we're here, I'll take the opportunity to do a training on how we're going to place the trash properly. First, we lift everything up and place it inside the trash bag. Then we tie it up and place it inside the trash can. We cover it. Since we are here, we take advantage and also look at the recycling. This bag does not have to be in the recycling. And we empty all this. Again we place the cover. So we are going to ask our garbage monster to return. And we are going to look at what it has to see if it can be recycled or not. This metal down here cannot be recycled. All this fine plastic from the garbage bags does not go into recycling either. This metal knife either. Please take into account that when you take out your trash, these are the ways to do it to avoid being notified or fined.

Hi, I'm Megan. I'm here at City Hall to talk to you about the Golden Pass. If you're 55 and older, the Golden Pass is a great opportunity for you. For just $20 a month, you can park for up to two hours a day on Maryland Avenue, Main Street, or the Mills Home and Garage without using a promo code, the pay machine, or even an app. Just park and walk away. All week this week, May 11th through the 15th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. I'm here if you have any questions, if you want to sign up in person, or if you just need a hand. Stop by, park at the Mills Home and Garage. We'll validate your parking and we'll connect in person. Thanks.

Hear them geese? They're flying high through this crystal shimmer of that October sky. Just like them, I'm flying away down the muddy waters of the Chesapeake Bay. So come on, Captain, raise that mane. Can't wait to get back again to Annapolis on the Bay. I can see the domes and spires of my little town rise from the horizon like the jewels on a crown in Annapolis on the Bay. So meet me at the city dock and give us a hug. Then we'll shuffle off to Middleton's and have some fun. Crab pots steaming, we can pick us a few. I'll shuck the oysters if you make the stew. So come on, Captain, don't make me wait. There's no ill wind that blows us away to Annapolis on the bay.

so so so so so so so so Thank you. Three, two, one.

Hello, Annapolis. It's Mayor Gavin Buckley here, and we are about to start the Blues soccer season at the end of this month. I can't wait to be out there with you. The atmosphere is electric, and just when you thought it couldn't get any better, this year we're bringing in a women's team, so go Blues. Kill it this season.

Hello, I'm Ken White with the Annapolis Fire Department. This week's theme for Fire Prevention Week is Serve Up Safety in the Kitchen. So this holiday season, here are some tips from the Annapolis Fire Department that can help you serve up safety in the kitchen. Tip one, when frying, boiling, or simmering, stay in the kitchen, never leave the home, and always use a timer. Tip two, if a grease fire starts, never try to extinguish with water. Use a lid to cover over the pot, turn the burner off, and wait till the pan cools down. Tip three, always keep your cleaning and cooking surfaces free of any clutter. And tip four, remember to always keep a three foot distance around the cooking area, a three feet kid zone, as I like to call it. And remember, if you're unable to control the fire, get out of your house and dial 911 immediately. And never forget every month to test your smoke alarms, have an escape plan and practice your escape plan. Unattended cooking is a leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. For more information on tips on how you can serve up safety in the kitchen, visit www.firepreventionweek.org. Stay safe Annapolis.

Hey Annapolis, it's go time. On-demand transit that takes you where you want to go. It's fast, it's easy, and it's an affordable way to get around Annapolis. Going to the doctor? It's go time. Going shopping? It's go time. Exploring Annapolis? It's go time. It's easy to schedule your ride. Use the app or call Transportation Dispatch at 410-263-7964. Set your pickup and your destination and we'll be right there. Simply track the bus on the app so you'll know exactly when we'll be there to pick you up. Pay, once you're on the bus, just $2 per ride and only $1 for seniors. Or you can use your daily, weekly, monthly, or annual bus pass. Getting around Annapolis is easy with Annapolis Go Time. On-demand transit. See you on board.

Hello, I'm Ken White with the Annapolis Fire Department. This week's theme for Fire Prevention Week is Serve Up Safety in the Kitchen. So this holiday season, here are some tips from the Annapolis Fire Department that can help you serve up safety in the kitchen. Tip one, when frying, boiling, or simmering, stay in the kitchen, never leave the home, and always use a timer. Tip two, if a grease fire starts, never try to extinguish with water. Use a lid to cover over the pot, turn the burner off, and wait till the pan cools down. Tip three, always keep your cleaning and cooking surfaces free of any clutter. And tip four, remember to always keep a three foot distance around the cooking area, a three feet kid zone, as I like to call it. And remember, if you're unable to control the fire, get out of your house and dial 911 immediately. And never forget every month to test your smoke alarms, have an escape plan and practice your escape plan. Unattended cooking is a leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. For more information on tips on how you can serve up safety in the kitchen, visit www.firepreventionweek.org. Stay safe Annapolis.

There's a little place across Spa Creek. You get there when you shuffle down Compromise Street, cross the bridge or paddle through the harbor. It's the opposite side of Annapolis proper. And when you get there, you leave your worries behind and get that laid back feeling that only you'll find in Eastport on the Bay. They're a laid-back crew there in old Eastport. They go to work all summer long in deck shoes and shorts. And if you want a millionaire's elbow to rub, he's got the shabbiest deck shoes down at Marmaduke's Pub. Or go around the corner to Leon's Barbershop and have the mayor himself take a little off the top in Eastport on the bay. So let me get across, Mr. Bridge Tender, and leave it up for good for all that I care. The crab pot's steaming, we can pick us a few, and I'll shuck the oysters if you make us do. Crabbing and sailing with characters galore, it's a land of pleasant living surrounded by shore. Yuppies with puppies walking side by side, and things ain't a-changing except for the tide. So come on over, leave your worries behind, and get that laid-back feeling that only you'll find in Eastport on the bay.

so so Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

We are here in Annapolis today celebrating the boy who harnessed the wind. A guy who overcame adversity. A young brown boy from projects.

And I'm celebrating for not just me, for many others that have came out of situations of adversity.

This is where it all started.

This is where I used to work. Maybe 10 years ago, this was my station. They helped me out with every single thing. Braiding and teaching me how to hold.

Teaching me how to steer.

Teaching me how to be the work all the time. All of them, this is where it all happened. Being raised with a culture of women of hairdressers that I looked up to growing up, I was heavily equipped. I used to sit in hair salons and watch the ladies work and I really learned a lot about being a hairstylist through my mentors in front of me. I mean, I have clients like Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kelly Rowland, Yara Shahidi. I like glamorous hair, I like confident hair, I like hair that's been slept on and lived in and ruffled up. I told myself that I could dream and I told myself that I could in a situation where I wasn't supposed to. And so me standing here today is a huge honor because when I started my journey, I had no idea that this could be. But I kept going and I kept doing. Here we are today. I'm getting the keys to the city.

On behalf of the city of Annapolis, we present you with the keys to the city.

I honestly want to say thank you so much. Listen, I've been working really, really hard and I love what I do. I love Annapolis. I want to be able to create space for younger individuals to be empowered, to be uplifted, to find mentorship and to really strategize ways to really uplift. And so I am going to start a nonprofit here in Annapolis. I am going to pair up with all of my mentors, and we are going to come up with something spectacular. It means more to me than the accolade. It's really about the honor for me. I'm really honored and grateful. And that's what it means to me. Really, I have a lot of humility for what my ancestors gave me.

Thank you.

Hear them geese? They're flying high through this crystal shimmer of that October sky. Just like them, I'm flying away down the muddy waters of the Chesapeake Bay. So come on, Captain, raise that mane. Can't wait to get back again to Annapolis on the Bay. I can see the domes and spires of my little town rise from the horizon like the jewels on a crown in Annapolis on the Bay. So meet me at the city dock and give us a hug, then we'll shuffle off to Middleton's and have us some fun. Crab pots steaming, we can pick us a few. I'll shuck the oysters if you make the stew. So come on, Captain, don't make me wait. There's no ill wind that blows us away to Annapolis on the bay.

Hey, get out of there. Looks like I have to do proper trash placement training again. If you put your trash out, please place it into a bag and tie the bag up and place it into a watertight receptacle with your address placed on it so they can be seen from the street at the end of your property for proper road collection. As a matter of fact, this recycle is done all wrong also. If you decide to place your recycling in a bag, please bring your bag to the receptacle and take all items out of the bag and place them into the can. And make sure the lid is closed, please. Let's bring back in the trash monster so I can show you things that are not recyclable. See, it's 40% non-recyclable right now. This is non-recyclable. This is non-recyclable. The metal utensils are non-recyclable. Please be mindful of your trash and recycle placement to avoid fines.

Hey, hey, hey! Get out of there! Get out of the garbage! Oh, we're going to have to clean all this up again. And since we're here, I'll take the opportunity to do a training on how we're going to place the garbage properly. First, we lift everything. and we put it inside the trash bag then we tie it and we put it inside the trash container we cover it since we are we take advantage and we also look at the recycling this bag does not have to be in the recycling and we empty all this again we place the cover so we are going to ask our monster to return from the garbage And let's see what it has to see if it can be recycled or not. This metal thing down here cannot be recycled. All this fine plastic from the trash bags does not go into recycling either. This metal knife either. Please take into account that when you take out your garbage, these are the ways to do it to be able to avoid being warned or fined.

All right. Well, welcome, everybody. We're gathered here in a great American city, the great city of Annapolis, the sailing capital of the world, an historic city where George Washington resigned his military commission, symbolizing the transfer and peaceful transfer of power and making it clear that in America we have no kings, a city that's not afraid to tell all of its past, including its role in the slave trade. In Annapolis, people learn from our past. They don't try to whitewash and hide their past. A city that is the home, the proud home of the Naval Academy, a city where millions of people from all over the world come every year, but also a city that, because of climate change, has really been hurt by the flooding hitting these small businesses, impacting tourism, impacting the boat show. And so that's why we're gathered here today, to address that problem. And we have great news for a great American city, great news for the great city of Annapolis, which is after many years, FEMA has released the $35 million in funds. $35 million in funds. That includes the $33 million that was part of the original City of Annapolis grant and an additional $2.5 million to help with related upgrades for stormwater management. And this has been the result of work of Team Maryland. And you're going to hear from so many people who were part of that effort. But there were also many more who are represented here today that you won't hear from, but who you see here and others who could not join us today. including somebody who could not join us today, Mayor Buckley, the former mayor of Annapolis. And it was his vision that really set this project in motion. And I heard from him last night. He said he couldn't be here. I think he's taking one of his kids to college. But he was just thrilled, of course, that we were able to secure these funds. and to the new mayor mayor lipman and to the council city council here in annapolis thank you thank you for carrying on that vision with absolute perseverance i was just telling the mayor that i have right here a text message that i received from him on valentine's day coincidentally And it was an SOS message. And it began, I am writing because we are at a critical point in the city doc project. And he went on to outline the huge challenges they would face if the FEMA funds didn't come through. He also was putting together contingency plans because he understood the importance of this project. And he said in that text message, if we don't get started and try to keep this on time, we're going to see some of these businesses close. So thank you, Mayor Littman, for moving with that urgency. And that lit another fire under all of us who are members of the Maryland federal delegation. And I can say that in the Senate, we immediately renewed our push, which has been ongoing, and directly contacted DHS and FEMA. and said, we really need you to release these funds, and we need it yesterday. And we got the Appropriations Committee in the Senate involved. And not surprisingly, there are other members in the House and the Senate who've also had projects held up. by FEMA. And so there was a growing backlog, but also growing frustration at what was happening with backlogs for projects all over the country. And so all of that pressure built and the dam broke. And the good news is Kristi Noem is out and the funding for the Annapolis dock is in. And let me just thank other members of the federal delegation who are part of it, because the city, we took our lead from the city, from their vision, but we have with us today John Sarbanes. Congressman John Sarbanes, who is absolutely tenacious. Absolutely tenacious when it came to making sure that the city of Annapolis had what it needed and was constantly pushing and pushing. And of course, former state senator and now congresswoman, Representative Elfrith, she's been pushing really hard. And thank you to other members of the District 30 delegation and everybody who's been involved in this effort over years. To Stuart Pittman, your county executive, you've been just an amazing partner. Amazing partner. And all of us know the resources need to come from the city. They need to come from the county. They need to come from the state. And yes, this critical piece needed to come from the federal government. And so I'm also pleased that we're here. And with the continuing support from the governor and the governor's team, you're going to hear from our secretary of the Department of Emergency Management, Russ Strickland. But thank you for what you're doing in this project, but also the other emergency projects around the state and FEMA. So as you can see, this is really a Team Maryland day. And this wouldn't have happened without everybody gathered here and many more people and never giving up. This is an example of perseverance and persistence at work, and that requires everybody pushing from their own angle and their own point of leverage. So without further ado, let me now turn it over to somebody who has been pushing really hard for this, first in the Maryland legislature, and hit the ground running in the United States Congress, Sarah Elfrith.

Well, thank you to Senator Van Hollen for being Team Maryland's quarterback in the federal delegation, but also, as you see behind me, the epitome of Team Maryland when we say it's not just the federal delegation. It starts with our local partners, our county partners, our state partners, and, of course, the federal team. Y'all, this is a day that I got to tell you, I try to be an optimist in this work. I think you have to be. I wasn't sure this day was going to happen, Mr. Mayor. First of all, this is my umpteenth CityDoc press conference. I think we've all been here many, many times to announce really great news, to announce state funding, $18.5 million in state funding, to announce almost $10 million in federal earmarks, to announce the Resilience Authority, to mark Congressman Sarbanes. We were here. Sorry, there's too many tall people behind me. We were here during one of the biggest floods, I think the fourth biggest flood on record, standing right here surveying the urgency of now. And that's where I wanted to start. Rising seas aren't going to wait for bureaucracy. I think we see that every single day. And as the Senator said, this is more than just a climate adaption project. It has real implications for Annapolis' past, present, and future. Obviously, the historical impacts of this project, what we are preserving as the former United States Capitol, really important year that we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of this nation. But we also recognize the more challenging and difficult pieces of our history that we need to honor and respect and share and tell. The fact that where we are standing is a UNESCO site of remembrance because it was a site of the transatlantic slave trade. We also have a deep obligation to tell the stories in the city, not just of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, but also the folks who worked the water, the immigrants, the families who lived right here and made Annapolis what it is today. Obviously, this moment is important because we have to preserve this city dock for our economy as well. All of the small businesses you see around here, every time there is a major flood, we are all on the phone checking in, making sure they have what they need, making sure we're corralling the state resources and local resources to get them what they need. Obviously, this is important for the present because of our United States Naval Academy. And rising seas do not respect what is city land versus what is federal land. And so what happens here very much impacts what happens there. And of course, to the aldermen from Eastport, you know better than anybody, when the rising seas cut off Compromise Street, that is a real emergency management challenge for the people of Eastport. Obviously, the moment of now as we address climate change across this country is so real, and it can sometimes feel overburdened. We feel overburdened. It's just such a large problem. Where can we even start? Obviously, this started almost a decade ago with a vision from Mayor Buckley and the city council and the staff at the city who knew that this was not a nice-to-have, this was a must-have, not just then, but knowing that the seas will continue to rise each and every year. It's often said that success has a thousand fathers. I'd like to also believe there's a few mothers tucked in there as well. Obviously to Mayor Buckley for his vision, the city council for their dedication, the staff. I also want to thank the hundreds of Annapolis citizens who participated. And I don't know how many charrettes y'all had to make sure. 300 opportunities for the public to weigh in here. That's so important in this moment. To County Executive Pittman, who has just been a champion in making sure that we are all staying on task and on target, I so appreciate you. The state delegation, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the state funding started under former Speaker Mike Bush. He had the vision, he knew, and he wanted to respond with state dollars, being the capital city. And he started the trend that I had the privilege of picking up. I know Delegate Jones, Delegate Baylor, Senator Henson make sure we, in every single budget, make sure we are delivering for this project. To the federal delegation, I'm so grateful that Congressman Sarbanes is here. I also called Senator Ben Cardin the other day to share the good news. There's not a lot of good days of good news in this job. Senator Van Hollen, you didn't tell me that when I first ran. But he was thrilled and he wished he could be here today. I want to give him thanks and credit as well. It's been said that Mayor Littman has taken this project and been so thoughtful and so strategic as we met this critical moment. And I too received that SOS text message in February. Being on the Armed Services Committee, the Naval Academy Board, along with Senator Van Hollen, he asked, can we involve the Navy? And so that was my role to play in this orchestra of support that we all lent here, is to call the Pentagon and call the Navy and remind them that the rising seas will also impact the readiness of our United States Naval Academy. And they made a call as well. There were so many calls that were made in the month, Mr. Mayor, since you sent that text message. And I just want to thank you for your vision and your commitment. And we're going to hear in a minute from Secretary Strickland, from MDEM, who has also been just a champion of this throughout multiple administrations. I want to thank you for your support. You're also on our call sheet any time we get a major flood, so I want to thank you and your team for that. And without further ado, I want to thank my predecessor, who has been dedicated and focused to this work for his 18 years serving in the United States Congress. I'm so grateful to be able to call him and turn to him for advice more often than I thought I would in this Congress. But I'm so grateful to my friend, Congressman John Sarbanes.

Thanks very much, Sarah. This is a great day. I'm going to be brief. I promise, you know, if you let a former member of Congress up to a podium, they could go forever. But first of all, let me salute Team Maryland, Senator Van Hollen, Congresswoman Sarah Elpheth, representative of the 3rd District of Maryland. I love saying that. to Jared, to Stuart, to everybody who's been part of this. I also want to give a shout out to Gavin Buckley. I got a lot of SOSs from Gavin over the years, so I've got a whole text string there. But thank you, Jared, for kind of picking up the ball and carrying it. It means so much to Annapolis. It means so much. to Anne Arundel County, to the state. This is an example of people coming together in a very, very powerful way. This was a Rubik's Cube from the beginning. I mean, it had so many different and continues to have so many different interlocking parts that require special attention. So getting these resources finally over the finish line is just, it's a huge win. And it demonstrates, I think, and you mentioned this here a moment ago, the resilience of the people of Annapolis. I mean, stepping up, how to conceptualize this, what would it mean to execute it, putting all the phases together that you're now going to see kind of rolling out over time. That was a huge accomplishment. And then the last thing I want to say is this kind of a project, this kind of a resilience project, in the context of what we know are going to continue to be increasing challenges coming at us in terms of climate change and weather disruption and so forth, is going to be a model for how you do these things around the country. And Annapolis has always been a leader. It's always been a model. It's always kind of taken the lead nationally on innovative, creative approaches. This is another example of that. It's going to be a tough slog through the execution. But I know one that's going to be successful. So congratulations to the people of Annapolis, to Team Maryland, to everybody who got us to this point is going to keep moving it forward. And obviously, very much at the reins for this process going forward is going to be Mayor Lippman. I want to thank him for all his great work and bring him up.

Thank you.

Good morning. Thank you. My name is Mayor Jared Lipman, and on behalf of the City Council members and I, it is our great honor and pleasure to thank and receive the $33 million plus the $2.5 million for FEMA. And I just, I am so relieved, frankly. I know my sleep isn't everyone's concern, but I've been sleeping a lot better the past couple nights knowing that this money is coming. And this is obviously the evolution of work from so many individuals, and they've been mentioned. But I just want to point out how our city staff continue to slog away at the financial, the technical, the environmental reviews, meeting every deadline. Answering questions from FEMA, it was a long process and it seemed to evolve and they stepped up and they've met all the burdens and requests. And their dedication has absolutely ensured our success. To go over the funding of this huge engineering and infrastructure project, we have $24 million from the concession agreement related to the building of Hillman Garage. $10 million from the state of Maryland, and I see our delegate, Delegate Jones, Delegate Baylor, and our state Senator Henson being represented here. $4.8 million in congressional earmarks, although they're not called earmarks anymore. $2 million from the county, and today's $33 million plus the $2.5 million from FEMA, plus the city's bond money to ensure that we now have all the funding in place to see this project through. This is a major investment in protecting our historic waterfront, local businesses and ensuring that our residents can continue to enjoy this wonderful area that we all love for generations and generations to come. This is an investment in the future of Annapolis. I want to acknowledge we have a lot of partners, and I recognize the city is the small player here, and so we have a lot of people I want to thank. I first want to call out the current and former city council members who stood by Mayor Buckley and I throughout this process. They all received lots of phone calls of, if this, then this, and the council, it was unanimous in supporting our efforts to move forward. Of course, our... Thank you, council members. Of course, I want to thank our federal delegation, Senator Van Hollen, Senator Alsa Brooks, who couldn't be here today, Representative Elfrith, and of course, Representative Sarbanes, who's always been a good friend. Thank you all so much for your support. Our governor and his team have been hugely instrumental as well. So I thank Governor Moore and MDEM Secretary Strickland for your support. the number of phone calls and conferences strategizing all along. And of course, again, I want to call out our state delegation, Senator Henson, Delegates Jones and Baylor. I think Delegate Jones gets the award for latest phone call on this matter on a Friday night in particular, too. So thank you for being available. County Executive Pittman, you've always stood behind and helped strategize, and I know that I can count on you as well. Thank you so much. Mayor Buckley, I know, had this vision, and now the hard work of going from vision to turning into reality, but that doesn't get started without the initial vision. So I thank you, Mayor Buckley. A couple of individuals that don't get a lot of limelight I want to call out. City Manager Buckland, I want to thank you. Project Manager Eileen Fogarty, seeing this through. Director and Chief Kevin Simmons and David Mandel from Office of Emergency Management. and Public Works Director Burr Vogel. Someone who never calls out for attention, but is a friend and a leader in this whole project, Matt Fleming and the Resilience Authority. Thank you for your time. He's one of those guys that when we strategize of who needs to do what, he's like, I got it. I got it. I got it. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate you. Looking ahead, I want to call out all the individuals who are involved. We all got involved in public service because we wanted to do good for the community. We are doing our best to serve the public. And as Congresswoman Elfrith mentioned, there are some tough days where when our efforts to do good are not necessarily treated as such. Have all of us take a moment to appreciate the enormity of today's milestone. This is the result of your hard work, your focus on serving your constituents, and seeing the big picture of what can be done when we join together. And so I just want you all to pat yourselves on the back, pat each other on the back, take a moment to appreciate this. I know that there have been a lot of press conferences. I am so looking forward to having a ribbon cutting. where we could say, come on, and it's not last minute and hurried. This work is absolutely just beginning. I know that just because we now have the money in the bank, it's not all smooth sailing. But I know with the team behind me, they've all demonstrated they're willing to answer the call, be involved, be supportive, either quietly or publicly, whatever is needed to get the job done. And that's huge. That is absolutely huge. It is my absolute honor to lead Annapolis's efforts through this. And again, I thank all of the partners involved in this work. I'm so excited to help deliver the City Dock project for all of us. And with that, I want to introduce my friends and our county executive, Stuart Pittman.

Well, first, just congratulations to everybody. I'm not going to go through everybody and do all the same things all over again, but congratulations to all of us. We should be having a huge party right now. Maybe we will later. I had a meeting on my schedule today that got canceled. My scheduler told me, the mayor's office canceled our meeting on Friday, didn't say why. And then I got a text message, not the SOS one, got that too, but I got the good text message from Mayor Lippman. And the joy, I mean... The ability to sleep. That meeting was about we're in the middle of our budget process. We're in the middle of our capital budget process. We managed to squeeze $2 million out last year, you know, with the help of Councilwoman Rodvian for this district, for particularly the Welcome Center as part of this project to get it over the finish line. But not having the fee and my money would have meant that the project would have been scaled back. The mayor had all kinds of contingency plans, and his contingency plans included more money from the county, I think. And so it was a big relief to have that meeting canceled. I want to I want to particularly thank our delegation, Congresswoman Elfrith, our senators, and the whole team. But I think in this time, we've almost lost faith that we have a partner in the federal government, and particularly in FEMA. It has been so, so frustrating and sad and terrifying in some cases to have FEMA no longer a partner. But these folks didn't give up. These folks continued to work relationships that they had, relationships in places we don't even want to know who they talked to to get this thing across the finish line. But thank you. Just thank you for not giving up in a time where we all just want to fight, fight, fight. Sometimes we also have to get in there and negotiate and manage to get some wins. for the residents of Anne Arundel County who are so looking forward to coming into Annapolis and seeing this beautiful, beautiful public space. It's going to be like a park for the whole county, which is why I've been open to investments in it with county dollars. It is just like a little bit of sunshine. We haven't had sun all week. But it's a little bit of sunshine in a dark time and that, in fact, government can work and things can get done. So just thank you and let's celebrate. This is a wonderful, wonderful day. Congratulations. And I also want to acknowledge the former mayor, Gavin Buckley, for the work that he did to get us to this point. You know, his name would have been mud if FEMA money hadn't showed up, right? I mean, you've got to blame somebody, but now his name is not mud. It's back to Gavin Buckley, and we can all celebrate.

Next, we're going to hear from the great Maryland Secretary of Emergency Management, Secretary Strickland. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much. This is a celebration. I really like that term. I'd first like to thank Governor Moore and Maryland's congressional delegation for your unwavering support of this critical project. I'd also like to recognize the City of Annapolis for their leadership and persistent advocacy to see funding awarded, and the Maryland Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation team who are adeptly shepherding this project through many stages of approval. Now I'm going to go off script for a second because there were two words that were mentioned here today, resilience and modeling. And emergency management's responsibilities, although many times at the back end of the crowd, just kind of watching and making sure everybody's safe, but it's before, during, and after a disaster that we're involved. This is before. And before is mitigation. And mitigation is the center of the universe. We're really, really good at response and immediate recovery. But mitigation is that which will improve for all the businesses in the area and will make a difference of almost a dollar invested, a $6 return when it comes time for recovery. So I think that is so, so important, and I appreciate the words that folks have used. So the mission of Maryland Department of Emergency Management is to proactively reduce these disaster risk and reliably manage consequences through collaborative work with Maryland's communities and partners. In Maryland, emergency management is a system of systems. We cannot do it alone. We are the counties and the local jurisdictions coupled with the state working with our state agencies and partners and with our private sector partners. We cannot do it alone. No one can and it's only through that system of systems that we do it. The Annapolis City Dock Hazard Mitigation Project is an excellent example of this type of work, of everyone coming together. So the investment today comes as a result of years of partnership and collaboration with the residents, business owners, and governments at every level. And I have to say, we've been talking about it. It started in 2019. I started in state emergency management in 2004. This was a discussion then. It was a discussion of flooding back into the 1700s for Ellicott City. And when it comes time for a model, this will not only be a model, but there's another really, really good model in Frederick City that started with Agnes. And it took 20 years to build. And about three or four years ago, there was a flooding event and it worked. It worked. So we know that this funding will bring a significant return on investment for every dollar invested, as I mentioned, we'll save six in disaster recovery. And while the dollars matter, what really matters is our community and our survivors. That's where our focus is. So the hazard mitigation efforts on this scale mean more days that residents and visitors can enjoy Maryland's state capitol and the beautiful waterfront, more days that local businesses have to grow and thrive, and fewer days spent mucking out livelihoods and homes or wondering if the next storm or king tide will be worse than the last one. So this project is proof that together we can do things which shape a more resilient Maryland where communities thrive and where no one is left behind. So from the emergency management community to all of you, one, congratulations. Two, thank you. And number three, we're not leaving. We are not leaving until it's done. And we'll be here for another 20 years to make sure it works so we can right that dam. All right? Thank you very, very much.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Team Maryland. Before we take questions, I do want to acknowledge a few other folks. And Sarah mentioned my former partner and colleague, Ben Cardin. He was also tenacious about this project. And we work very closely together. And just like Congresswoman Elfrith picked up the baton from John Sarbanes in the House, Angela Ulster Brooks has helped pick up that baton in the United States Senate. So I just want to thank her. She could not be here. So let's give them both a round of applause. So we're happy to answer any questions. And if not, we do have a check. Cash it fast.

Any questions?

Yeah.

Can you respond to the letter that you sent to the Trump administration regarding the Legionella?

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear.

Can you respond to the letter you sent to the Trump administration relative to the Legionella?

Oh, can we talk to you after about I'm happy to do one on one or what? Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Time for the real thing. Check. All right. Should we mention one other person?

Yes, of course. I also want to call out Lieutenant General Superintendent of the Naval Academy, Mike Bork Schulte, who was incredibly helpful. And I just want to acknowledge his efforts as well. Why don't you get in the middle here?

All right.

Thank you.

and that's why it's so important.

That's what I'm saying.

Hola, soy el Capitán Zapata del Cuerpo de Bomberos aquí de la ciudad de Nápoles. En esta semana estamos hablando de prevención de incendios en la cocina. La causa principal de incendios en casa proviene del uso de la cocina. La causa principal de incendios en la cocina es falta de supervisión. Punto número uno. Cuando esté cocinando, use un reloj alarma automático. Punto número dos. Siempre mantenga una tapa cerca o a la mano cuando esté cocinando. Si está cocinando con aceite o manteca y toma fuego, ponga la tapa sobre el sartén y espere que se enfríe. Point number three, make sure to keep an area clean and organized when you're cooking. And point number four, be sure to keep a free area for children of at least three feet or one meter. Por si acaso hay un incendio que está fuera de su control, llame al 911 inmediatamente. Acuérdese de probar sus detectores de humo mensualmente. Haga un plan de escape también y practiquelo. Mantente seguro, Annapolis. Muchísimas gracias.

Hello, Annapolis. It's Mayor Gavin Buckley here, and we are about to start the Blues soccer season at the end of this month. I can't wait to be out there with you. The atmosphere is electric. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, this year we're bringing in a women's team. So go Blues. Kill it this season.

All those legends. We talk about James Brown. Stevie Wonder. This was a place where 70,000 would come from New York, from the Carolinas to Annapolis.

You know, we talk about our history a lot in Annapolis, but we only talk about one history. And this amazing piece of history that happened for three decades is going to be here for the next generation to learn about it.

We need to pay homage to our history and our ancestors. You know, this is bringing home

You remember the carousel. You remember the bandstand. So this is bringing that dream to a reality.

You're seeing today, as I say, is a microcosm. What we see at Cars Beach is a perfect example of that. It's the state, it's the citizens that all come together. It's very much a team effort.

Tell him he belongs to me. Tell him that I'm still deeply in love.

Tonight, tonight, tonight. And that tonight goes on perpetually. Keep celebrating tomorrow and the next day. Keep encouraging one another. Don't stop.

Just keep going. And if you see my love, tell him that I'm sorry. I will do anything to get him back into my arms.

I've seen so many stars at Cause Beach.

Cause Beach?

It'll go down in history as one of the most beautiful places there were.

You know this, come on!

When Chuck Curry came to town, or James Brown came to town,

There was so much parking that you only had room for one car to move a quarter of a mile.

We saw people that got tired of waiting in traffic, and they'd get out and walk and run because all the big stars came here.

They would sneak in, you know, through some type of fence. I don't know where this fence was, but, you know, because it gets so crowded, and people would sneak in some type of way just to come and see the, you know, different entertainment.

We didn't have to go anywhere to see James Brown, Etta James, All the big-name stars came right here in Alpac Door.

It was just a joy for time. For me and a lot of other blacks, it was just a joy for time. When we got off from work sometime, we went to Carl's Beach. But Carl's Beach is, wow. It was a center of attraction for everybody, especially blacks. It was a center of attraction.

When the community was segregated, it's the only place that really Afro-Americans come and have a day of fun.

Ever since my first visit here, I can remember the people dancing on the concrete pavilion and the sand on the pavilion. And those leather soles made a distinct grinding sound. But it was a rhythmic sound that that has still with me now. I am tickled today to be sitting here and hearing music and looking out in the bay. It brings back a lot of memories.

They had rides, Ferris wheels, a merry-go-round, a cotton candy. They even had a big dance hall where we'd see hop albums on the bands and it would be broadcast live.

Tonight, tonight, tonight, we're hopping at them and people came from all over, come down Carls and Sprouts Beach and we came for the Carls and Sprouts Beach reunion and this is a great reunion.

This is where it all started from, the grounds. And I don't know, it's just heavenly to be here today. It's awesome and I'm just so delighted to be here to see this.

It was such a beautiful thing. It was a place where you had a beautiful time. Like I say, Cog Beach will live forever and it's in our hearts and it will live in our hearts forever.

Hi, I'm Megan. I'm here at City Hall to talk to you about the Golden Pass. If you're 55 and older, the Golden Pass is a great opportunity for you. For just $20 a month, you can park for up to two hours a day on Maryland Avenue, Main Street, or the Mills Home and Garage without using a promo code, the pay machine, or even an app just park and walk away all week this week may 11th through the 15th from 9 a.m to 12 p.m i'm here if you have any questions you want to sign up in person or if you just need a hand stop by park of the mills home and garage we'll validate your parking and we'll connect in person thanks

Hello, Annapolis. It's Mayor Gavin Buckley here, and we are about to start the Blues soccer season at the end of this month. I can't wait to be out there with you. The atmosphere is electric. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, this year we're bringing in a women's team. So go Blues. Kill it this season.

All those legends. We talk about James Brown. Stevie Wonder. This was a place where 70,000 would come from New York, from the Carolinas to Annapolis.

You know, we talk about our history a lot in Annapolis, but we only talk about one history. And this amazing piece of history that happened for three decades is going to be here for the next generation to learn about it.

We need to pay homage to our history and our ancestors. You know, this is bringing home

to us you remember the carousel you remember the bandstand so this is bringing that dream to a reality

You're seeing today, as I say, is a microcosm.

What we see at Cars Beach is a perfect example of that. It's the state, it's the citizens that all come together. It's very much a team effort.

Tell him he belongs to me. Tell him that I'm still deeply in love.

Tonight, tonight, tonight. And that tonight goes on perpetually. Keep celebrating tomorrow and the next day. Keep encouraging one another. Don't stop. Just keep going.

And if you see my love, tell him that I'm sorry. I will do anything to get him back into my arms.

Hey Annapolis, it's go time. On-demand transit that takes you where you want to go. It's fast, it's easy, and it's an affordable way to get around Annapolis. Going to the doctor? It's go time. Going shopping? It's go time. Exploring Annapolis? It's go time. It's easy to schedule your ride. Use the app or call Transportation Dispatch at 410-263-7964. Set your pickup and your destination and we'll be right there. Simply track the bus on the app so you'll know exactly when we'll be there to pick you up. Pay once you're on the bus, just $2 per ride and only $1 for seniors. Or you can use your daily, weekly, monthly, or annual bus pass. Getting around Annapolis is easy with Annapolis Go Time. On-demand transit. See you on board.

Hello, I'm Ken White with the Annapolis Fire Department. This week's theme for Fire Prevention Week is Serve Up Safety in the Kitchen. So this holiday season, here are some tips from the Annapolis Fire Department that can help you serve up safety in the kitchen. Tip one, when frying, boiling, or simmering, stay in the kitchen, never leave the home, and always use a timer. Tip two, if a grease fire starts, never try to extinguish with water. Use a lid to cover over the pot, turn the burner off, and wait till the pan cools down. Tip three, always keep your cleaning and cooking surfaces free of any clutter. And tip four, remember to always keep a three foot distance around the cooking area, a three feet kid zone, as I like to call it. And remember, if you're unable to control the fire, get out of your house and dial 911 immediately. And never forget every month to test your smoke alarms, have an escape plan and practice your escape plan. Unattended cooking is a leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. For more information on tips on how you can serve up safety in the kitchen, visit www.firepreventionweek.org. Stay safe Annapolis.

Hear them geese? They're flying high through this crystal shimmer of that October sky. Just like them, I'm flying away down the muddy waters of the Chesapeake Bay. So come on, Captain, raise that mane. Can't wait to get back again to Annapolis on the Bay. I can see the domes and spires of my little town rise from the horizon like the jewels on a crown in Annapolis on the Bay. So meet me at the city dock and give us a hug. Then we'll shuffle off to Middleton's and have us some fun. Crab pots steaming, we can pick us a few. I'll shuck the oysters if you make the stew. So come on captain, don't make me wait. There's no ill wind that blows us away to Annapolis on the bay.

I've seen so many stars at Cars Beach.

It'll go down in history as one of the most beautiful places there were.

When Chuck Berry came to town, or James Brown came to town, there was so much parking that you only had room for one car to move a quarter of a mile.

We saw people that got tired of waiting in traffic and they'd get out and walk and run because all the big stars came here.

They would sneak in, you know, through some type of fence. I don't know where this fence was, but, you know, because it gets so crowded and people would sneak in some type of way just to come and see the, you know, different entertainment.

We didn't have to go anywhere to see James Brown, Etta James. All the big-name stars came right here and out back door.

It was just a joy for time. For me and a lot of other blacks, it was just a joy for time. When we got off from work sometimes, we went to Carl's Beach. But Carl's Beach is, wow, it was a center of attraction for everybody, especially blacks. It was a center of attraction.

When the community was segregated, it's the only place that really

afro-americans come and have a day of fun ever since my first visit here i can remember uh the people dancing on the on the concrete pavilion with the and the sand uh on this on the on the pavilion and those leather soles made a distinct grinding sound but it was a rhythmic sound that uh that has still with me now. I am tickled today to be sitting here and hearing music and looking out in the bay. It brings back a lot of memories.

They had rides, first wheels, a merry-go-round, the cotton candy. They even had a big dance hall where we see hop albums on the bands and it would be broadcast live.

Tonight, tonight, tonight, we're hopping at them. And people came from all over, come down Carls and Sprouts Beach. And we came for the Carls and Sprouts Beach reunion.

And this is a great reunion. This is where it all started from, the grounds. And I don't know, it's just heavenly to be here today. It's awesome. And I'm just so delighted to be here to see this.

It was such a beautiful thing. It was a place where you had a beautiful time. Like I say, Cod Beach will live forever and it's in our hearts and it will live in our hearts forever.

hey get out of there looks like i have to do proper trash placement training again if you put your trash out please place it into a bag and tie the bag up and place into a watertight receptacle with your address placed on it so they can be seen from the street at the end of your property for proper road collection. As a matter of fact, this recycle is done all wrong also. If you decide to place your recycling in a bag, please bring your bag to the receptacle and take all items out of the bag and place them into the can. And make sure the lid is closed, please. Let's bring back in the trash monster so I can show you things that are not recyclable. She's 40% non-recyclable right now. This is non-recyclable. This is non-recyclable. The metal utensils are non-recyclable. Please be mindful of your trash and recycle placement to avoid fines.

There's a little place across Spa Creek. You get there when you shuffle down Compromise Street, cross the bridge or paddle through the harbor. It's the opposite side of Annapolis proper. And when you get there, you leave your worries behind and get that laid back feeling that only you'll find in Eastport on the Bay. They're a laid-back crew there in old Eastport. They go to work all summer long in deck shoes and shorts. And if you want a millionaire's elbow to rub, he's got the shabbiest deck shoes down at Marmaduke's Pub. Or go around the corner to Leon's Barbershop and have the mayor himself take a little off the top in Eastport on the bay. So let me get across, Mr. Bridgetender, and leave it up for good for all that I care. The crab pot's steamin', we can pick us a few, and I'll shuck the oysters if you make the stew. Crabbin' and sailin' with characters galore, it's a land of pleasant livin' surrounded by shore. Yuppies with puppies walkin' side by side, and things ain't a-changin' except for the tide. So come on over, leave your worries behind, and get that laid-back feelin' that only you'll find in Eastport on the bay.

All right. Well, welcome, everybody. We're gathered here in a great American city, the great city of Annapolis, the sailing capital of the world, an historic city where George Washington resigned his military commission, symbolizing the transfer and peaceful transfer of power and making it clear that in America we have no kings, a city that's not afraid to tell all of its past, including its role in the slave trade. In Annapolis, people learn from our past. They don't try to whitewash and hide their past. A city that is the home, the proud home of the Naval Academy, a city where millions of people from all over the world come every year, but also a city that, because of climate change, has really been hurt by the flooding hitting these small businesses, impacting tourism, impacting the boat show. And so that's why we're gathered here today, to address that problem. And we have great news for a great American city, great news for the great city of Annapolis, which is after many years, FEMA has released the $35 million in funds. $35 million in funds. That includes the $33 million that was part of the original City of Annapolis grant and an additional $2.5 million to help with related upgrades for stormwater management. And this has been the result of work of Team Maryland. And you're going to hear from so many people who were part of that effort. But there were also many more who are represented here today that you won't hear from, but who you see here and others who could not join us today. including somebody who cannot join us today, Mayor Buckley, the former mayor of Annapolis. And it was his vision that really set this project in motion. And I heard from him last night. He said he couldn't be here. I think he's taking one of his kids to college. But he was just thrilled, of course, that we were able to secure these funds. And to the new mayor, Mayor Lipman, and to the council, city council here in Annapolis, thank you. Thank you for carrying on that vision with absolute perseverance. I was just telling the mayor that I have right here a text message that I received from him on Valentine's Day, coincidentally. And it was an SOS message. And it began, I am writing because we are at a critical point in the city doc project. And he went on to outline the huge challenges they would face if the FEMA funds didn't come through. He also was putting together contingency plans because he understood the importance of this project. And he said in that text message, if we don't get started and try to keep this on time, we're going to see some of these businesses close. So thank you, Mayor Litman, for moving with that urgency. And that lit another fire under all of us who are members of the Maryland federal delegation. And I can say that in the Senate, we immediately renewed our push, which has been ongoing, and directly contacted DHS and FEMA. and said, we really need you to release these funds, and we need it yesterday. And we got the Appropriations Committee in the Senate involved. And not surprisingly, there are other members in the House and the Senate who've also had projects held up. by FEMA. And so there was a growing backlog, but also growing frustration at what was happening with backlogs for projects all over the country. And so all of that pressure built and the dam broke. And the good news is Kristi Noem is out and the funding for the Annapolis dock is in. And let me just thank other members of the federal delegation who are part of it, because the city, we took our lead from the city, from their vision, but we have with us today John Sarbanes. Congressman John Sarbanes, who was absolutely tenacious. Absolutely tenacious when it came to making sure that the city of Annapolis had what it needed and was constantly pushing and pushing. And of course, former state senator and now congresswoman, Representative Elfrith, she's been pushing really hard. And thank you to other members of the District 30 delegation and everybody who's been involved in this effort over years. To Stuart Pittman, your county executive, you've been just an amazing partner. Amazing partner. And all of us know the resources need to come from the city. They need to come from the county. They need to come from the state. And yes, this critical piece needed to come from the federal government. And so I'm also pleased that we're here. And with the continuing support from the governor and the governor's team, you're going to hear from our secretary of the Department of Emergency Management, Russ Strickland. But thank you for what you're doing in this project, but also the other emergency projects around the state and FEMA. So as you can see, this is really a Team Maryland day. And this wouldn't have happened without everybody gathered here and many more people and never giving up. This is an example of perseverance and persistence at work, and that requires everybody pushing from their own angle and their own point of leverage. So without further ado, let me now turn it over to somebody who has been pushing really hard for this, first in the Maryland legislature, and hit the ground running in the United States Congress, Sarah Elfrith.

Well, thank you to Senator Van Hollen for being Team Maryland's quarterback in the federal delegation, but also, as you see behind me, the epitome of Team Maryland when we say it's not just the federal delegation. It starts with our local partners, our county partners, our state partners, and, of course, the federal team. Y'all, this is a day that I got to tell you, I try to be an optimist in this work. I think you have to be. I wasn't sure this day was going to happen, Mr. Mayor. First of all, this is my umpteenth CityDoc press conference. I think we've all been here many, many times to announce really great news, to announce state funding, $18.5 million in state funding, to announce almost $10 million in federal earmarks, to announce the resilience authority, to mark Congressman Sarbanes. We were here. Sorry, there's too many tall people behind me. We were here during one of the biggest floods, I think the fourth biggest flood on record, standing right here surveying the urgency of now. And that's where I wanted to start. Rising seas aren't going to wait for bureaucracy. I think we see that every single day. And as the Senator said, this is more than just a climate adaption project. It has real implications for Annapolis' past, present, and future. Obviously, the historical impacts of this project, what we are preserving as the former United States Capitol, really important year that we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of this nation. But we also recognize the more challenging and difficult pieces of our history that we need to honor and respect and share and tell. The fact that where we are standing is a UNESCO site of remembrance because it was a site of the transatlantic slave trade. We also have a deep obligation to tell the stories in the city, not just of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, but also the folks who worked the water, the immigrants, the families who lived right here and made Annapolis what it is today. Obviously, this moment is important because we have to preserve this city dock for our economy as well. All of the small businesses you see around here, every time there is a major flood, we are all on the phone checking in, making sure they have what they need, making sure we're corralling the state resources and local resources to get them what they need. Obviously, this is important for the present because of our United States Naval Academy. And rising seas do not respect what is city land versus what is federal land. And so what happens here very much impacts what happens there. And of course, to the aldermen from Eastport, you know better than anybody, when the rising seas cut off Compromise Street, that is a real emergency management challenge for the people of Eastport. Obviously, the moment of now as we address climate change across this country is so real, and it can sometimes feel overburdened. We feel overburdened. It's just such a large problem. Where can we even start? Obviously, this started almost a decade ago with a vision from Mayor Buckley and the city council and the staff at the city who knew that this was not a nice-to-have, this was a must-have, not just then, but knowing that the seas will continue to rise each and every year. It's often said that success has a thousand fathers. I'd like to also believe there's a few mothers tucked in there as well. Obviously to Mayor Buckley for his vision, the city council for their dedication, the staff. I also want to thank the hundreds of Annapolis citizens who participated in, I don't know how many charrettes y'all had, to make sure. 300 opportunities for the public to weigh in here. That's so important in this moment. To County Executive Pittman, who has just been a champion in making sure that we are all staying on task and on target, I so appreciate you. The state delegation, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the state funding started under former Speaker Mike Bush. He had the vision, he knew, and he wanted to respond with state dollars, being the capital city. And he started the trend that I had the privilege of picking up. I know Delegate Jones, Delegate Baylor, Senator Henson, make sure we, in every single budget, make sure we are delivering for this project. To the federal delegation, I'm so grateful that Congressman Sarbanes is here. I also called Senator Ben Cardin the other day to share the good news. There's not a lot of good days of good news in this job. Senator Van Hollen, you didn't tell me that when I first ran. But he was thrilled and he wished he could be here today. I want to give him thanks and credit as well. It's been said that Mayor Littman has taken this project and been so thoughtful and so strategic as we met this critical moment. And I too received that SOS text message in February. Being on the Armed Services Committee, the Naval Academy Board, along with Senator Van Hollen, he asked, can we involve the Navy? And so that was my role to play in this orchestra of support that we all lent here, is to call the Pentagon and call the Navy and remind them that the rising seas will also impact the readiness of our United States Naval Academy. And they made a call as well. There were so many calls that were made in the month, Mr. Mayor, since you sent that text message. And I just want to thank you for your vision and your commitment. And we're going to hear in a minute from Secretary Strickland, from MDEM, who has also been just a champion of this throughout multiple administrations. I want to thank you for your support. You're also on our call sheet any time we get a major flood, so I want to thank you and your team for that. And without further ado, I want to thank my predecessor, who has been dedicated and focused to this work for his 18 years serving in the United States Congress. I'm so grateful to be able to call him and turn to him for advice more often than I thought I would in this Congress. But I'm so grateful to my friend, Congressman John Sarbanes.

Thank you very much, Sarah. This is a great day. I'm going to be brief. I promise, you know, if you let a former member of Congress up to a podium, they could go forever. But first of all, let me salute Team Maryland, Senator Van Hollen, Congresswoman Sarah Elpheth, representative of the 3rd District of Maryland. I love saying that. to Jared, to Stuart, to everybody who's been part of this. I also want to give a shout-out to Gavin Buckley. I got a lot of SOSs from Gavin over the years, so I've got a whole text string there. But thank you, Jared, for kind of picking up the ball and carrying it. It means so much to Annapolis. It means so much. to Anne Arundel County, to the state. This is an example of people coming together in a very, very powerful way. This was a Rubik's Cube from the beginning. I mean, it had so many different and continues to have so many different interlocking parts that require special attention. So getting these resources finally over the finish line is just, it's a huge win. And it demonstrates, I think, and you mentioned this here a moment ago, the resilience of the people of Annapolis. I mean, stepping up, how to conceptualize this, what would it mean to execute it, putting all the phases together that you're now going to see kind of rolling out over time. That was a huge accomplishment. And then the last thing I want to say is this kind of a project, this kind of a resilience project in the context of what we know are going to continue to be increasing challenges coming at us in terms of climate change and weather disruption and so forth. is going to be a model for how you do these things around the country. And Annapolis has always been a leader. It's always been a model. It's always kind of taken the lead nationally on innovative, creative approaches. This is another example of that. It's going to be a tough slog through the execution. But I know one that's going to be successful. So congratulations to the people of Annapolis, to Team Maryland, to everybody who got us to this point is going to keep moving it forward. And obviously, very much at the reins for this process going forward is going to be Mayor Lippman. I want to thank him for all his great work and bring him up. Thanks.

All right.

Good morning. Thank you. My name is Mayor Jared Lippman, and on behalf of the City Council members and I, it is our great honor and pleasure to thank and receive the $33 million plus the $2.5 million for FEMA. And I just, I am so relieved, frankly. I know my sleep isn't everyone's concern, but I've been sleeping a lot better the past couple nights knowing that this money is coming. And this is obviously the evolution of work from so many individuals, and they've been mentioned. But I just want to point out how our city staff continue to slog away at the financial, the technical, the environmental reviews, meeting every deadline. Answering questions from FEMA, it was a long process and it seemed to evolve and they stepped up and they've met all the burdens and requests. And their dedication has absolutely ensured our success. To go over the funding of this huge engineering and infrastructure project, We have $24 million from the concession agreement related to the building of Hillman Garage. $10 million from the state of Maryland. And I see our delegate, Delegate Jones, Delegate Baylor, and our state Senator Henson being represented here. $4.8 million in congressional earmarks, although they're not called earmarks anymore. $2 million from the county. And today's $33 million plus the $2.5 million from FEMA plus the city's bond money to ensure that we now have all the funding in place to see this project through. This is a major investment in protecting our historic waterfront, local businesses and ensuring that our residents can continue to enjoy this wonderful area that we all love for generations and generations to come. This is an investment in the future of Annapolis. I want to acknowledge we have a lot of partners, and I recognize the city is the small player here, and so we have a lot of people I want to thank. I first want to call out the current and former city council members who stood by Mayor Buckley and I throughout this process. They all received lots of phone calls of, if this, then this, and the council, it was unanimous in supporting our efforts to move forward. Of course, our... Thank you, council members. Thank you. Of course, I want to thank our federal delegation, Senator Van Hollen, Senator also Brooks, who couldn't be here today, Representative Elfrith, and of course, Representative Sarbanes, who's always been a good friend. Thank you all so much for your support. Our governor and his team have been hugely instrumental as well. So I thank Governor Moore and MDEM Secretary Strickland for your support. number of phone calls and conference and strategizing all along and of course again i want to call out our state delegation senator henson delegates jones and baylor i think delegate jones gets the award for latest phone call on this matter on a friday night in particular too so thank you for being available county executive pittman you've always stood behind and helped strategize and i know that i can count on you as well thank you so much Mayor Buckley, I know, had this vision, and now the hard work of going from vision to turning into reality, but that doesn't get started without the initial vision. So I thank you, Mayor Buckley. A couple of individuals that don't get a lot of limelight I want to call out. City Manager Buckland, I want to thank you. Project Manager Eileen Fogarty, seeing this through. Director and Chief Kevin Simmons and David Mandel from Office of Emergency Management. and Public Works Director Burr Vogel. Someone who never calls out for attention but is a friend and a leader in this whole project, Matt Fleming and the Resilience Authority. Thank you for your sponsorship. He's one of those guys that when we strategize of who needs to do what, he's like, I got it. I got it. I got it. Thank you, Matt. Appreciate you. Looking ahead, I want to call out all the individuals who are involved. We all got involved in public service because we wanted to do good for the community. We are doing our best to serve the public. And as Congresswoman Elfrith mentioned, there are some tough days where when our efforts to do good are not necessarily treated as such. Have all of us take a moment to appreciate the enormity of today's milestone. This is the result of your hard work, your focus on serving your constituents, and seeing the big picture of what can be done when we join together. And so I just want you all to pat yourselves on the back, pat each other on the back, take a moment to appreciate this. I know that there have been a lot of press conferences. I am so looking forward to having a ribbon cutting. where we could say, come on, and it's not last minute and hurry. This work is absolutely just beginning. I know that just because we now have the money in the bank, it's not all smooth sailing. But I know with the team behind me, they've all demonstrated they're willing to answer the call, be involved, be supportive, either quietly or publicly, whatever is needed to get the job done. And that's huge. That is absolutely huge. It is my absolute honor to lead Annapolis's efforts through this. And again, I thank all of the partners involved in this work. I'm so excited to help deliver the City Dock project for all of us. And with that, I want to introduce my friends and our county executive, Stuart Pittman.

Well, first, just congratulations to everybody. I'm not going to go through everybody and do all the same things all over again, but congratulations to all of us. We should be having a huge party right now. Maybe we will later. I had a meeting on my schedule today that got canceled. My scheduler told me, the mayor's office canceled our meeting on Friday, didn't say why. And then I got a text message. Not the SOS one. Got that, too. But I got the good text message from Mayor Lippman. And the joy. I mean... The ability to sleep. That meeting was about, we're in the middle of our budget process. We're in the middle of our capital budget process. We managed to squeeze $2 million out last year, you know, with the help of Councilwoman Rodvian for this district, for particularly the Welcome Center as part of this project to get it over the finish line. But not having the fee in my money would have meant that the project would have been scaled back. The mayor had all kinds of contingency plans, and his contingency plans included more money from the county, I think. And so it was a big relief to have that meeting canceled. I want to particularly thank our delegation, Congresswoman Elfrith, our senators, and the whole team. But I think in this time, we don't—we've almost lost faith that we have a partner in the federal government, and particularly in FEMA. It has been so, so frustrating and sad and terrifying in some cases to have FEMA no longer a partner. And—but these folks didn't give up. These folks continued to work relationships that they had, relationships in places we don't even want to know who they talked to to get this thing across the finish line. But thank you. Just thank you for not giving up in a time where we all just want to fight, fight, fight. Sometimes we also have to get in there and negotiate and manage to get some wins. public, for the residents of Anne Arundel County who are so looking forward to coming into Annapolis and seeing this beautiful, beautiful public space. It's going to be like a park for the whole county, which is why I've been open to investments in it with county dollars. It is just like a little bit of sunshine. We haven't had sun all week. But it's a little bit of sunshine in a dark time and that, in fact, government can work and things can get done. So just thank you and let's celebrate. This is a wonderful, wonderful day. Congratulations. And I also want to acknowledge the former mayor, Gavin Buckley, for the work that he did to get us to this point. You know, his name would have been mud if FEMA money hadn't showed up, right? I mean, you've got to blame somebody, but now his name is not mud. It's back to Gavin Buckley, and we can all celebrate.

Next, we're going to hear from the great Maryland Secretary of Emergency Management, Secretary Strickland. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much. This is a celebration. I really like that term. I'd first like to thank Governor Moore and Maryland's congressional delegation for your unwavering support of this critical project. I'd also like to recognize the City of Annapolis for their leadership and persistent advocacy to see funding awarded and the Maryland Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation team who are adeptly shepherding this project through many stages of approval. Now I'm going to go off script for a second because there were two words that were mentioned here today, resilience and modeling. And emergency management's responsibilities, although many times at the back end of the crowd, just kind of watching and making sure everybody's safe, but it's before, during, and after a disaster that we're involved. This is before. And before is mitigation. And mitigation is the center of the universe. We're really, really good at response and immediate recovery. But mitigation is that which will improve for all the businesses in the area and will make a difference of almost a dollar invested, a $6 return when it comes time for recovery. So I think that is so, so important, and I appreciate the words that folks have used. So the mission of Maryland Department of Emergency Management is to proactively reduce these disaster risk and reliably manage consequences through collaborative work with Maryland's communities and partners. In Maryland, emergency management is a system of systems. We cannot do it alone. We are the counties and the local jurisdictions, coupled with the state, working with our state agencies and partners, and with our private sector partners. We cannot do it alone. No one can, and it's only through that system of systems that we do it. The Annapolis City Dock Hazard Mitigation Project is an excellent example of this type of work, of everyone coming together. So the investment today comes as a result of years of partnership and collaboration with the residents, business owners, and governments at every level. And I have to say, we've been talking about it. It started in 2019. I started in state emergency management in 2004. This was a discussion then. It was a discussion of flooding back into the 1700s for Ellicott City, and when it comes time for a model, this will not only be a model, but there's another really, really good model in Frederick City that started with Agnes. And it took 20 years to build, and about three or four years ago, there was a flooding event, and it worked. It worked. So we know that this funding will bring a significant return on investment for every dollar invested, as I mentioned, we'll save six in disaster recovery. And while the dollars matter, what really matters is our community and our survivors. That's where our focus is. So the hazard mitigation efforts on this scale mean more days that residents and visitors can enjoy Maryland's state capitol and the beautiful waterfront, more days that local businesses have to grow and thrive, and fewer days spent mucking out livelihoods and homes or wondering if the next storm or king tide will be worse than the last one. So this project is proof that together we can do things which shape a more resilient Maryland where communities thrive and where no one is left behind. So from the emergency management community to all of you, one, congratulations. Two, thank you. And number three, we're not leaving. We are not leaving until it's done. And we'll be here for another 20 years to make sure it works so we can right that dam. All right? Thank you very, very much.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Team Maryland. Before we take questions, I do want to acknowledge a few other folks. And Sarah mentioned my former partner and colleague, Ben Cardin. He was also tenacious about this project. And we worked very closely together. And just like Congresswoman Elfrith picked up the baton from John Sarbanes in the House, Angela Ulster Brooks has helped pick up that baton in the United States Senate. So I just want to thank her. She could not be here. So let's give them both a round of applause. So we're happy to answer any questions, and if not, we do have a check. Cash it fast. Any questions? Yeah.

Can you respond to the letter that you sent to the Trump administration regarding the Legionella?

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear.

Can you respond to the letter you sent to the Trump administration relative to the Legionella?

Oh, can we talk to you after about I'm happy to do one on one or what? Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Time for the real thing. Check. All right. Should we?

I mentioned one other person. Yes, of course. I also want to call out Lieutenant General Superintendent of the Naval Academy, Mike Bork-Schulte, who was incredibly helpful. And I just want to acknowledge his efforts as well. Why don't you get in the middle here?

All right.

Thank you

We are here in Annapolis today celebrating the boy who harnessed the wind. A guy who overcame adversity. A young brown boy from projects.

And I'm celebrating for not just me, for many others that have came out of situations of adversity.

This is where it all started.

This is where I used to work. Maybe 10 years ago, this was my station.

They helped me out with every single thing.

Braiding and teaching how to bolt.

Teaching me how to skid.

You've got to be the work all the time. All of them, this is where it all happened. Being raised with a culture of women of hairdressers that I looked up to growing up, I was heavily equipped. I used to sit in hair salons and watch the ladies work, and I really learned a lot about being a hairstylist with my mentors in front of me. I mean, I have clients like Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kelly Rowland, Yara Chahidi. I like glamorous hair. I like confident hair. I like hair that's been slept on and lived in and ruffled up. I told myself that I could dream and I told myself that I could in a situation where I wasn't supposed to. And so me standing here today is a huge honor because when I started my journey, I had no idea that this could be, but I kept going and I kept doing. Here we are today. I'm getting the keys to the city.

On behalf of the city of Annapolis, we present you with the keys to the city.

I honestly want to say thank you so much. Listen, I've been working really, really hard and I love what I do. I love Annapolis. I want to be able to create space for younger individuals to be empowered, to be uplifted, to find mentorship and to really strategize ways to really uplift. And so I am going to start a nonprofit here in Annapolis. I'm going to pair up with all of my mentors and we are going to come up with something spectacular. It means more to me than the accolade. It's really about the honor for me. I'm really honored and grateful. And that's what it means to me. I have a lot of humility for what my ancestors gave me.

Hola, soy el Capitán Zapata del Cuerpo de Bomberos aquí de la ciudad de Nápoles. En esta semana estamos hablando de prevención de incendios en la cocina. La causa principal de incendios en casa proviene del uso de la cocina. La causa principal de incendios en la cocina es falta de supervisión. Punto número uno. Cuando esté cocinando, use un reloj alarma automático. Punto número dos. Siempre mantenga una tapa cerca o a la mano cuando esté cocinando. Si está cocinando con aceite o manteca y toma fuego, ponga la tapa sobre el sartén y espere que se enfríe. Point number three, make sure to keep an area clean and organized when you're cooking. And point number four, be sure to keep a free area for children of at least three feet or one meter. Por si acaso hay un incendio que está fuera de su control, llame al 911 inmediatamente. Acuérdese de probar sus detectores de humo mensualmente. Haga un plan de escape también y practíquelo. Mantente seguro, Annapolis. Muchísimas gracias.