Housing and Human Welfare Committee - Regular Meeting

Order the housing human welfare committee meeting. It's March 17. The time is 06:37PM. We'll start with a call just for actually, let me first make a a motion to amend the, Well, yeah. Let's start with the call. I'll then approve the agenda. Alderman Huntley?

Present.

Alderman Gay as the chair is present. Alderman Schandelmeier is en route. Next item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. But first, I'll make a motion to amend the agenda, to move, general discussion items ID six two twenty five, Robinwood, BGE discussion, energy assistant program, and the office of community services ahead of legislation and remove ID six one two five.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Thank you. Next item on the agenda I did. Yeah. Next item on the agenda is approval of the minutes from our meeting on, 02/12/2025. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from the housing human welfare committee meeting on 02/12/2025?

So moved.

Second? Oh. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Next on the on the agenda is appointments and reappointments, AP four twenty five. Appointments, miss Tara Wells to the education commission. Any discussion?

Oh, hey. Come on.

Awesome. You wanna come forward, miss Voss? We

saw you sitting back there with our officer community services staff. We thought you were with them.

And you are, joining as a representative of board four, and the term is set to expire in 06/30/2028. Any questions for miss Wells? Alderman Schandelmeyer?

Thank you, mister chairman. First of all, I apologize for my witness. Missed the early bus. It happens. So, miss Wells, thank you so much for stepping forward to serve, on this commission. Would you mind sharing with us, why you're interested in serving and what, in an ideal world, you'd like to accomplish on it?

So, I have been an educator for the last eighteen years. It's been a long road. I started out in the, federal government, and then I knew that that was not for me. And I felt happiest when I was tutoring incoming freshmen with calculus, so I ended up becoming a math teacher. But, I haven't looked back since, and I feel like every year that I go into work or even every day that I go to work, I'm out there helping somebody be somebody.

So, I just wanna continue that. Recently, in, like, the past five years, I've become a board director, and then I felt like, oh, there's other ways to serve. So this is just another stepping stone, and it's also in my city. I've been in Annapolis for the last eight and a half years.

That's wonderful to hear. My wife's also an educator, so I I appreciate that. Where where where are you, where you teach if you're allowed to stay?

Sorry. Okay. So I currently work in Prince George's County Public Schools. I'm a product of PG County Public Schools. I am actually teaching at my alma mater, Bowie High School. But I started my teaching career in Anne Arundel County at Southern for two and a half years. So it's like a full circle almost. And, I taught the last this is my first year at Bowie, but my last fourteen years was at a private school at Elizabeth Seton High School. So I've been a little bit everywhere.

Well, good to hear, you've done some great work in gorgeous Prince George's, and welcome back to working in education here in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. Thank you.

I'm impressed that you can find so much joy in tutoring people in calculus. I love calculus, but the people who don't like learning it, they really don't like learning it. So

They really don't.

Yes.

Good on you.

Thank you. Agreed. Thank you for your commitment to education and, especially nowadays with the challenges that teachers face in the classrooms. And, also, appreciate your service, as an election judge as well. We'd greatly appreciate that. Any other questions or concerns from, members of the committee? Alderman Schandelmeyer?

Mister chair, if there's no other, concerns or, questions, I'd like to make a favorable recommendation.

I'll second it.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposition? None. It'll be recommended favorably to the full body, I believe this Monday, miss Jack. Our first meeting in April, which is

Spring break? No. My

April 14.

Spring break. Y'all ready?

Yeah. It's it's up to you if you, prefer to attend the meeting at 7PM.

I have a doctor's appointment that day. I'll be here.

Okay. Cool. Cool. Not going anywhere. But, yeah, we look forward to seeing you then, and and the full council will vote then.

Alright. Thank you so much.

No. Thank you. Thank you. Greatly appreciate it. Next item on our agenda, on the agenda will be general discussion starting with ID 6225. Robin with BGE discussion energy assistance program. Thank you all for joining us. Just state name and, professional title, and then you can, move forward.

Sure. Good evening. Thank you so much for the invitation. My name is Marcia Taylor, external affairs for BGE.

Thank you so much.

Nice to meet you in person.

I know. Know. Too. Very nice to meet you as well.

Yeah. And as I've stated to you, I you've been incredibly helpful with any concerns that we've had. And I did reach out to, obviously, our state delegation or where, I spoke with Melissa, the executive director of HACA today. And so most of this have stemmed, for committee members of the general public that are not aware. The invitation was extended once we had issues, an ongoing problem in the Robinwood community.

And I'll allow her to explain, you know, what exactly happened, and where we are now and then where the responsibility lies, whether it be on BGE or the individual property owners to fix the issue, and then how can we assist. And then after that, it'd be helpful just to talk about energy assistance as a whole, and particularly, with, some of the challenges that our our, our constituents have faced in the last couple of months and very just informal, communication. This is not in any way, you know, our opportunity to bring a hammer down on BG or anything like that. And so, I'll turn it over to you. I'll allow you to, do an introductory statement and present, and then we'll ask any questions.

No. Absolutely. Thank you so much again, Alderman Gay. I really appreciate the opportunity to come and present in front of, your committee. One thing I I do wanna express is I appreciate the partnership I have with each of you.

It it makes my job a lot easier when I have someone with boots on the ground calling me and letting me know of concerns and ways that we can support the communities that we serve. Regarding the Robinhood Robinwood, I'm sorry, community, it looks like we had two outages. We had our team take a look, our reliability team take a look. We had two outages on one was January 24, and the second one was February 28. Upon investigating, we did find out that the issue was on BGE's end.

The first two outages was caused by cable fault, a secondary cable fault, which made it where that only partial residents were out. During each outage, when the repairs were done, they were made on the fault that suffered the kinda default, kinda default. What we have decided to do to mitigate and make sure this doesn't happen again is prioritize this and get a whole new cable and get this done so that, the community won't experience these type of outages. I know on the twenty fourth, January was particularly cold, and that evening was one of the coldest nights. So I appreciate, again, the partnership, and we are working to mitigate, make sure that this doesn't happen again.

And as always, as these things do occur, because sometimes they do happen, reaching out, getting me involved, and getting external affairs involved would be great so we can help push things forward. Again, the the long term fix has not been done, but it has been prioritized, And it is something that we recognize the issue was on our end, and we wanna get completed soon.

Two things on that. First, I want to, also acknowledge, director Simmons, for the office of emergency management who, obviously, emergency management works 247, and, he was, active in both nights and making sure that the council was aware of everything that was going on in our city representation as well and that we all had communication. And so I wanted to thank him as well. My question in, regarding to the cable restoration, which is a long term fit. Is that something that we can expect to happen this fiscal year, or are we talking long long term as in, like, f y twenty

No. No. No. This this will be something that's happening soon. My reason of saying long term, which is making sure it doesn't happen again, not that it's gonna take over a long period of time to to move it, and we have prioritized it. What I can do is make sure that I'm getting notified when we're gonna do the work so your office can know.

Thank you so much. Secondly, I I did and I should have included this into the email and maybe something this is you that you can follow-up follow-up with me on. I was alerted to, electricity issues as well at, the Robinwood community set. And so, again, I'm not sure if that's something that's at fault of the property owner or it's something that's, that we can, rely on VGE to work with us to kinda fix. Nonetheless, I just kinda wanna pass that on.

And I will plug that if it is something of the property owners if it is the property owner's fault, I I do think it might be a good opportunity for us to, you know, work on a a a a community project together, that obviously will rely on capital dollars for an underserved community. And I'm not sure what type of, community programming you you all do in regards to capital project improvement, but maybe that's something, that we can discuss with HACA as well. Absolutely. And just regards to keeping the lights on, no pun intended, for the rec center. And so

No. I do believe, the recreation center has a different address, so I'll have our team look into that one separately if that's okay.

That's totally fine. Any questions from the committee on the Robinwood issue and then we'll move into general energy assistance? Alderman Schandelmeier?

Thank you, mister chair. So in regards to the cable fault being the cause, is that something due to cable age, general conditions such as wind, rain, something falling on the power line? What does cable fault mean, and what is the exact cause of that?

So I am gonna have to figure that piece out. I believe this was underground, so it might just be age of the actual cable, but I will find that out and get back to your office.

I am glad you brought up age because I actually was about to ask a question on cable age. Do you have a general sense on what the average age of the cables and power lines are on the community and in the city as well? I know that's a very specific question and it's putting you on the spot.

No. No. I I will say we have aging infrastructure. BGE is 200 and something years old, and we are the oldest gas, at least, company in the country. So our infrastructure is aging. So I can't speak if that was particularly this concern, but I will get more details and follow-up tomorrow. But it it can vary, and it it would really depend on the age of the community and when we put all put all of our equipment in.

Thank you. I do know that's part of the need for some of the investments that we are having to make in our our general power grid. We have I say we as the royal we, the state of Maryland, BG in the state along with Pepco out on the more western parts of the state. I don't know who controls energy offshore in Western Maryland, but there's been a lackadaisical approach our infrastructure and now a lot of these bills are very much coming due all at once because we haven't done any type of maintenance and that's what happens when you defer maintenance so very long. It's unfortunate though that we're all now getting stuck with

the bill all at once. You're jumping into our next conversation.

I apologize. No, no, that's fine. There was a power outage, if you'll allow the small tangent. There was a power outage at Pip Moyer Rec Center about a month ago if my timeline is coming back. It was when I had the flu, so my memory is a little hazy. Was that a similar issue, cable failure?

Do you know the date or when do you remember?

I don't. I just remember you helped me out because I had a question to see if it was impacting the residential neighborhood. So no. We're we're good. It's literally just the Pit Moyer Center.

So that was a planned outage, and that was to do some infrastructure work to prevent the unplanned outages.

Okay. Thank

you. But I don't have all the specifics on that, but I I could send that over. But that was a planned outage.

Thank you. As I said, that was when I had the flu, so my memory is slightly

No. No worries. Fuzzy.

Yeah. That's, all the questions I have on this specific instance, mister chair.

Thank you so much. Alderman Huntley? Thank you very much. We can move forward in our in our next discussion. Did you wanna make any comment on the general energy assistance before we act, or start to ask questions in relations to that?

I I just, again, wanna thank you for the opportunity. We understand that, energy right now is especially a large burden on our customers, ex specifically our vulnerable customers. And I I do wanna say that we are working. We are trying to figure out the best way. We are we have generation problems. We have commodity costs, and we understand. I just wanna reiterate. We understand, the impact that this has on our communities that we serve and that we wanna be partners and work together to to work through these issues.

I appreciate that. Do you a question for first, our assistant city manager, then I'll open it up to the committee. Do we have the report on our BGE or energy assistance program with the office of community service?

Yep. Jada has

Oh, okay.

So It'll be part of the presentation.

Awesome.

Yep. She's all ready.

Well, let me well, for Alderman Schoenemeyer, do you wanna kick it off first with the energy assistance, and then I'll jump in while I look for this really quick?

Well, in regards to the energy assistance program, I guess where I was just in general going with this, a lot of our residents right now have been hit very hard by the rate increases. For folks who may not be sure how rate increases work is the Public Service Commission authorizes the Maryland Public Service Commission authorizes rate increases by the utility companies statewide, And they authorized this for the various state utilities, BG and E, Pepco, other various utility companies throughout the state. I believe this rate hike was authorized five or six years ago and phased in. Is that correct? Or

2024.

'20 It's '24.

Oh. Good goals for three years ahead.

Okay. Three years ago. I was not correct, but authorized last year. And the stated goal was for infrastructure improvements and hopefully to also build new power sources in our state. Maryland is an energy net importer.

We get a lot of our energy from Pennsylvania, and we have an aging grid here. I am not going to opine on why that is at this moment in time, or why I think that is at this moment in time. But what is true is a lot of our residents are frustrated and a lot of our residents are hurting. Me personally, my power bill went up about $100 a month, and I have a small townhouse. Other residents has gone up about 200 rates or more.

And people are frustrated. There is the very real worry that this rate increase is just going to CEO pay. And I know this maybe isn't the point of the energy assistance program.

No. Think it is. I think

it's all relevant. Yeah. And this might be more of an we can't do anything about rate increases at this city level, but we can be a voice for our constituents to voice their concerns. There is a concern locally that this is all going to CEO pay. A lot of that is fueled by when there is record inflation and at the same time a whole lot of record profits and a whole lot of stock buybacks and a whole lot of CEO raises with other industries.

I can't blame constituents for being worried about this, and I don't know the average rate CEO pay of BG and E. I'm not expecting you to tell us right here and there. But do you have documentation with us today that you can maybe share ongoing, like, where these rate increases are coming from and what specifically these pays the payment is going to, whether it is going to employee salary, not necessarily CEO salary, but employee like our workers out online, the maintenance workers, What is going to new infrastructure improvements? What is going to new power plants? What is going to new power lines?

And why we need to make these investments. Because we had an outage in one of our neighborhoods during one of the coldest nights of the year because we delayed maintenance. And I understand payment delaying these these increases in rates are hurting folks, but so does the consequence of continuing to delay maintenance and not make investments. But we also need to make sure that we can voice to our constituents this money is being spent wisely. So do you have any of the documentation with you today, or do you have any of the background on, like, what is causing the rate increases or where this money is going?

No. Absolutely. There are a couple of reasons for the rate increases, and I think where you're headed is probably our distribution rates. And our distribution rates are a culmination of investments that we have to make for improvement projects, gas projects, electric projects. I'm trying to think if if I'm missing anything.

I we get this question a lot. I'm gonna you know, it it is one of those pressing questions around the profit versus affordability, and it is definitely something that we take seriously. When we're creating these rates, we're creating these rates based on what we believe the need will be. It is an open forum, the NYP. We can't come up them with them ourselves.

The PSC has to approve them, and it is a long process with a lot of input from both sides on whether we need the investments or not. A lot of our gas infrastructure, the work has to be done. We have guidelines and we are charged with making sure we are providing safe and reliable service. And for the the distribution specifically, those are the costs that go into that. The oh, go ahead.

So one of the requests I've heard from the state house from legislators has been we're making too many investments in our infrastructure. We're doing too many of these upgrades. Could you please share what happens if we do not make these investments? Does that mean we continue to defer maintenance? Does that mean we continue to not produce our own power and maybe import more power?

Does that mean everything just kind of stays as is, but we start getting more we're not able to, like, compete as efficiently? What what does not making these investments mean?

We certainly wanna keep the lights on, so we have to make the investments in the infrastructure. When it comes to the distribution rates, we also have the cost of the commodity. We also have an Empower cost for that's a mandate from the state. But when it comes to the work that we have to get done, I think it is we come up with what we believe that work should look like and and where we start, and the PSC kinda chimes in and and says whether they agree on that investment or not. But the the work that we're doing is to continue to provide the the safe and reliable services, and we have to do the work.

And I do think that we have to make choices, and we have to look at what potentially has been failing, where's the oldest infrastructure in making those decisions. While we're thinking about ways for for the long term relief for customers and looking at profit versus affordability, we're also looking at expanding our energy efficiency programs just to help support and mitigate the long term the long term overall use of energy to help drive those costs down. But when we're talking about the work that we have have to get done because we are a we're we're mandated and we're a public, you know, regulated company, we we have to do the work to make sure we're keeping the lights on and the gas flowing safely and reliably for our customers.

Now as a public utility, could our constituents, if they have concerns about these rate increases going to CEO bonuses, could they have a source to check that or at least these rates increases are going? Or is that

Good

My name is Danielle Gooden. I am the senior manager of external affairs with BGE. I wanted to, to touch on the last thing that you also said, kind of about if the work isn't done, does that mean, you know, is does that mean that the system will fail? Right? I don't wanna say yes off the break, but the work that we are doing is to make sure that we continue to make that real you know, make sure that we are reliable.

While Marshae did make mention of the system being very old, We also are BGE or Exelon is really kind of in that that last quartile in the nation when it comes down to, like, the expenditures and capital capital funds going to stride or, the infrastructure that to make the reliability best. And then back to your last mention of can is what is transparency, right, for the customers, to to make sure that the money or the rates are going to reliability much much more than someone, you know, definitely doing a a lot of the discussions that is going to our CEO's profits. Yes. I think that transparency does come from the PSC. And, while they had their their meetings and the customers and residents can come to those meetings and have that discussion, and I think that's possibly why the NYP was, was, I guess, thought of as a good transparency versus previously where the rates would just go and they would just give a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

So where can our constituents find access to these meetings? I'm gonna tell you the truth. I know two of these commissioners. I have no idea how to access these meetings.

You said you you I'm sorry. You said you asked the commissioners or you just or you know the commissioners?

I know

two of these commissioners and I personally have no idea how to access these meetings. Did I have two of them as contacts on my cell phone? How how can and if I don't know how to do that, I'm sure there are multitudes of my constituents who certainly don't know how to do that. How can our constituents access these meetings? If they wish to learn more?

Great question. And I ought to be very frank. I'm unsure if even we have, like, a link on our site to say, hey. Go go there. I'm not sure, where that easy link is for, our customers, your residents, constituents to find the PSC and to to reach out to them.

Marsha, we can you speak in the mic?

Oh, sorry. Yes. Sorry. I just was saying I would take that action item to see how we can lead customers and residents to see it and so that they could be a part of it.

Thank you. So I do appreciate you coming in, listening to us ask these questions. It is not my goal as our chair said to come in and shake our fist. I understand the need for investment, but we really need to let our constituents know that these rate increases are justified. Because if there comes out a story in the next eight months that all of this went to CEO bonuses and that a bunch of people in the c suite are getting tens of thousands of dollar end of quarter checks.

City council isn't the least of the group of politicians that are gonna be able to shake their fists. I think a whole lot of folks in Maryland are gonna be up in arms justifiably. But if there is transparency and actual investments done, it is certainly painful, but it is at least understandable. And I do wanna share a human story here because I grew up in rural Maine, very, very cold winters, and I knew a family that because of lack lack of access to power, roasted up when I was growing up. So that's not happening in my constituents this year or any that I'm aware of, but I know people that that's happened.

So there are the human consequence to things getting out of reach. And I ask that if these when these prices go up, you keep that in mind that that these investments actually get made towards the things that make the grid more reliable that we actually start trying to work to get more power produced here in Maryland so that future rate hikes don't need to be done, then and maybe we can even start bringing rates down. Thank you.

No. Thank you. And I appreciate the sentiment. I appreciate the partnership. I want to keep the communication between us open. I like the questions. I wanna get you the answers, and I just appreciate the opportunity.

If I may, I also will say that we'll send you, if we haven't already, kind of the breakdown of the drivers for the bill. Right? Because some of the drivers that are on the bill that our customers are seeing are not solely, you know, the BGE's change of cost. Right? So, you know, we have the m you know, the the RMR, the m power. There are so many things on there. And I think that I hear you and I hear our customers loud and clear. Sometimes that's a disconnect of information of of where this money is going or what it is. So we'll make sure that we get you that this week, if not tomorrow.

Thank you so much. And let me I'll one second. Thank you all to mister Andermeyer first, for getting the conversation started so that we can have these discussions. And, just on the point that you made, miss, miss Danielle. Correct?

In the end, the bills are so confusing whether you get it online or whether you get it in paper. And I don't think it's the sole intent of an organization to mislead its customers, but it's unintentionally misleading customers in, what they perceive to be cost attributed to both the individual company and then cost attributed to projects, that the state, or or municipalities are pursuing. And so that's part of the change in transparency I would like to see. And I know that's some not something that you you can't do just for the city of Annapolis residents within, and this may not be something that could be done in the short term. But the the basics of a bill should just be easy to understand.

You know? My grandmother passed away a year and a half ago. She was 99, and she kept, you know, most of her electricity bills. And it was remarkable for me to see, you know, like, nineteen sixty six, they've got, like, two lines. It's like, you know, light or and whatever else they were using, it was $56 or $22 or whatever she was paying. It was incredibly cheap back then. Obviously, times have changed. But as my teacher used to say, keep it simple, stupid. You know, kiss. Like, just make it so that the average person is able to understand questions on their own.

Before I go into more, did well, did you have an opportunity? I know we chatted, briefly this morning. You said that you, brought numbers, as it related to the county. Is that something that, you wouldn't mind sharing? No.

Absolutely. I can share it. And and I did wanna say I can understand that the the bills are confusing, and everyone's not computer savvy. But on our website, we do have a understanding your bill that kinda outlines everything that was helpful for me who didn't understand it as well. So, what I'll try to do is grab some screenshots.

As I said, everyone's not savvy. Everyone doesn't go to the website, but it is an option. Also, calling our customer care team, they understand that right now every penny means a lot to every customer, so they are prepared to go through the bill and explain everything so that it's understood where and what it is they are paying. I wanna make sure I say that.

That would be great. And before you read the numbers, let me just read our numbers. This is just and this is a this is a tiny snapshot of what the office of community service, our staff here, has worked on. BGE statistics, fiscal year '24, they served 53 residents. 20 or 53 applications were submitted.

My apologies. 25 applications were accepted. We awarded $30,000 eight $30,832. An average size of the award was 1,233. Fiscal year twenty five, which we're in now, so applications should, potentially come in, 58 applications were submitted, 17 awards were made, for a total of $13,668.

The average size of the award, 805. So over the course of, the last year, our small city has, given BG and E $44,500 or Exelon. I'm sorry. I call it BG and E because when I was a kid, it was BG and E. And they

had It's still BG E. Yeah. No. No. You're

right. Okay. And to the alderman's point, while I'm not deeply concerned about executive pay, I do think that is, you know, a a huge, huge problem, and at some at some point should be looked into. But I have problems with large corporations. For example and I'm just using, statistics from online. BG and E's revenue last year was $23,000,000,000 with an operating income of $4,300,000,000 and net income of $2,460,000,000.

Mister chair

So Wait. Are you

looking at Exelon?

Yeah. Exelon or or or if you have better

I was just gonna say, Exelon is BGE parent company.

So but They're in the same it's the same thing. 20 no. No. I'm you're you're totally fine. Thank you.

My point is why can't a company walk and chew gum at the same time? I think what pisses me off more than anything is the idea that in order for individuals, and particularly our most vulnerable, to live and have a better quality of life, we have to spend more. Thus, they are charged more. And that doesn't make any sense to me at all because I look at these numbers, and I'm like, obviously, you have operating income, you have capital needs, and all of that stuff. But I just can't imagine a world in which there can't be better support for individual families, businesses, and even municipalities that are trying to meet these challenges, for their constituents.

How can that be addressed? What programs do you and as I alluded to previously, is is Exelon the parent company or BG and E providing direct capital and in which ways are are they doing so? Could you give us some examples? And and maybe if and particularly in Anne Arundel or Annapolis.

I can. And if you give me one second, I'll I'll pull a couple of numbers.

Thank you so much.

But we do make a lot of investments in all of the communities that we serve. Let me just grab something really quickly. So on Friday, I did ask our corporate community impact to send over just some information on what we we have programs through our corporate community impact that pretty much the goal is to achieve sustainable outcomes in the communities that we serve. Our priority is to ensure that BGE goals and values directly align to those of our community partners. And together, we wanna drive change in the communities that we serve, and and our corporate community impact team is responsible for that throughout our service territory.

So it looks like in 2024, that's the only numbers I have for Anne Arundel County specifically, and I may have more detailed information about Annapolis. We spent about $350,000 in 17 organizations across Anne Arundel County with 10 of these organizations located in Annapolis. And what I can do is so that I'm not just talking at you, I could probably send you a snapshot of some of the organizations that we support. But one of the things that we do make sure that we're doing is that we are partnering with our communities and making sure we're looking at those vulnerable areas and that we're making investments supporting those grassroots organizations that are in the communities that's trusted, that's doing the work, and we make sure that we're partnering and and supporting them the best we can.

I have two quick questions, and then I'm jumping straight to the alderman, and we'll wrap this up. I wanna be respectful of everybody's time. But this is a critically important issue because while we may not have main weathers, one thing we can all agree on is, global warming and climate change. And Annapolis, is directly in line directly in line to be impacted by all of that. This and the summer will be here, soon.

Have I I know you all sent out it, and I and I'm I'm so sorry I can't find the numbers now in a press release to the county. And it talked about, okay. You know, we're not doing shutoffs through February. You know, we're allowing payment plans to be set up over a twelve month period, you know, the cuss the cuss consumers can pick the you know, how it's paid out, all of that, which I think is fantastic. My question is, why not, like, just allow blanket forgiveness?

You know, this is something that's happened relatively soon as it relates to the the the rate increases and the issues that individuals have faced. And in particularly for a city of our size, it could be could range somewhere between, you know, 100 and $200,000, I'm assuming, just based off of how many people applied for rental assistance. We're we're not looking at, you know, in totality how many people are behind. I'm concerned that the warmer months are approaching, and because people have not paid off, what was structured to be paid off in February or paid off, or or on on track to pay off existing, things, they'll be shut off. And and particularly in warmer months, I'm legitimately concerned about that.

I know in in my, in my ward in Eastport Terrace Harbor House, a community of over 700 residents, there have been instances where we have had elders who have have been, you know, behind on, bills and stuff, and it's been shut off. And granted, you all have turned it on, and particularly for the ones that have oxygen and stuff, within twenty four hours. But I just I I I think that's still too nuts. So why not just do a blanket forgiveness?

Alderman, I wish I could answer that for you. I I I totally understand, and and I understand the and respect the sentiment about being concerned about warmer months because it's the rates will probably be will probably level out now that the weather's getting a lot less colder. But when we get to July and August when people are cranking their air conditioners, we're gonna be running into the same issues. I understand it. Believe me, my manager here has the same conversations.

We work externally facing. So the things that we see every day and the things that keep us up at night are the same as yours because of where we sit within the company. What I do wanna say is I cannot answer the question regarding just the the blanket forgiveness, but what I do wanna say is just some ways that we can work together and partner, some ways that we can think about how we're communicating, utilizing and this is not gonna answer your question, so don't get mad mad with me. But what I do wanna say is utilizing every tool we have and every resource. And I'm gonna ask you that when you're out talking to your constituents that you expressed how important it is to communicate with BGE as soon as there an issue there is an issue.

As soon as you know that a payment is coming and you can't afford to pay it, for those extenuous circumstances, you give me a call and say, hey. I have a family at 123 Street that needs some extra support. How can you help me? So the ways that we can help and the things that I can do in my role is partner with you to make sure that we're coming and speaking to your constituents and telling them how to use budget billing or asking them, have they used this? We have ways that you can find out if you're because this is usage. What's hitting us now is usage. It was really cold, and it's gonna be hot. So, hey. You're using a lot of energy this month. You know, waving the flag for customers.

Those are the ways that we're trying to at least get in front of customers and say, listen. You have a little bit of control here. Pay attention to these things. Sign up for these things. Take advantage of every tool available while we figure out how we can best support the customers and the residents.

I I I wanna be as genuine as I can with that answer. We take back all of these questions to our leaders, and we look at them just like how you guys are looking at us. So please know that I'm gonna take every question you all have asked back and and request an answer so that I can get back to you. But what I am gonna share right now is the best way that we're gonna be able to support our customers and your constituents is to partner, work together, call us out to community meetings, let us have the conversation. I would love to bring a open house, BGE Energy open house to Annapolis.

We had one in in, Anne Arundel County, and I know that wasn't feasible for, the residents here, but I would love to partner with you to create a location, find out where we can do it. But right now, it's gonna be communicating, having those conversations quickly so that we can support, create payment plans to do whatever we can so that people aren't turned off.

Thank you so much, and, I will do that. I will follow-up with you so that we can host that. I I yeah. And and I will be I also just follow-up. I think, again, just to hit that nail on the head one more time, we've given BG and E in the last two years, and I know this is not a lot after I've just said that you all have a or your parent company has a a net income of $2,000,000,000, $44,000, nothing.

However, when you're dealing with a a municipality of 40,000 people and a 150 or a 179,000 $179,000,000 operating budget, it gets tough. We've had to transfer money from from other purposes to put into our rental assistance and energy assistance program so that we can continue to make sure that our residents have energy. And that's something that I don't wanna keep doing because it robs other programs and opportunities. My last point and what I asked my city attorney to look into, obviously, because I worked on on state legislation that would have, authorized the state to do this and the state's, attorney general, Anthony Brown, supported the idea of a no pass through provision. And I'd like to see them give the municipalities the authority to do that.

I understand that energy is a public utility, and it has to be maintained, you know, through public financing. I have no issue with that. But I think to the point that the aldermen has made, when there have been, you know, decades of of of neglect, particularly in most our most vulnerable communities, and the state has to, again, get in a position of forcing, you know, of special programs, etcetera, to take care of these problems, it then puts the cost back on the on the user, the our residents. And that shouldn't happen. I think no pass through provision should exist so that BG and E, Exelon, with their $2,400,000,000 in net income, take care of those projects without passing the cost onto the user because that's exactly what's happening.

You know, I don't truly believe that they are are are putting it to the in the CEO's pocket. I just think they are, you know, woefully mismanaging, how they respond to these projects, and particularly in our, our most vulnerable communities. And and lastly, I do do also wanna just commend them. I mean, there are two African American women speaking before us in this age of Trump, and, so I I will commend them for, you know, having a diverse team. And I think that really does mean a lot to me because, I I think it's clear that you understand issues that we're talking about. So thank you. I'll turn it over to Aldebi Huntley.

Thank you.

Alright. Thank you very much. I appreciate you both being here. And and, Marcia, I just I thank you so much for how responsive you are. It seems like sometimes I email you at 10:00 and you respond to me at 10:01. So thank you. I recognize the city council and set these rates. I understand PSC is the one who is setting these programs. I'm not here to berate you guys. But what I did was ask my constituents to share questions with me that they have not been able to get an answer with.

Some of them I've I've, filtered out as things that you've given us the answers to already. I've got a handful that I am hoping we can get answers from you all tonight. I'm gonna try and make them really pithy. I hope you guys can make your responses pithy. We can all, wrap up at a reasonable hour.

So I'll just jump right in. One that I was kind of building off of something Autumn and Channelmeyer said, I wanna know a little bit about the stock buybacks from Constellation Energy. Particularly, my question is what is the trigger for the company to believe that stock buybacks are appropriate and how does that tie into revenue versus investments and other costs?

For Constellation?

Yes. I believe that's who did the recent stock buybacks.

You said for Constellation or Exelon? Constellation will be done.

I'm sorry. I did mean Exelon, not Constellation.

Okay.

Yes. Sorry.

Yeah. And can you ask that again? Because I wanna make sure I'm because I I do not have an answer for you. I wanna be transparent there.

My question is, what are the guidelines from the board of directors of Exelon that allow for stock buybacks? And under essentially what triggers the company to choose stock buybacks as a layman, my sense is that is something that happens when you are doing particularly well. And so one at a time when we recognize up here and recognize from you this need for investments and cost, that seems surprising.

I will get an answer for you.

Appreciate it. I'll try it like I said. I'll try to be fairly rapid fire. And if you don't have an answer right now, that's just fine. I wanna ask you next about gas lines, and I'll try and make this two questions in one. Well, no. Let's just start with some folks are concerned that new gas lines are being replaced. Is there I understand, of course, we have 200 year old ones that need to be replaced. Is there a minimum age of the gas lines that are getting replaced? Meaning, are there any under 10 years old that are getting replaced? Or can we confidently say all are older than x years?

I cannot confidently say that, but I will say that I am more than sure anything that's being replaced is older. There has to be the type of material or it has to have some sort of leak on it. And it could be a small leak, but we are not gonna spend funds to redo something that's new and it's not necessary to be replaced.

Okay. So our priority at this at this time, our priorities are is definitely to, to maintain those cast iron pipes that are seventy, eighty, 90 years old. So no one we're not trying to go into streets into our communities to tear up those streets in order to use capital. That is totally false. That gonna do it. But those, those infrastructure that we see are 70 years old, and I'm not don't quote me on that's the year we look for that 70. But definitely ten years, if it's doing well, we're gonna move on. We're going to our priorities so can make sure that we can continue the reliability.

Wonderful. Thank you. Appreciate it. And if you guys can come up with a sort of baseline number, that would be helpful. Sticking on the topic of gas, a constituent described to me that he has had his gas contract terminated. And I understand this is something that the Public Service Commission has allowed, but I'm just wondering if you can get into some more detail about what authorizes the termination of long term gas contracts and, yeah, what what authorizes that in terms of a BSA decision or state law who would authorize that?

There are many things. So so, you know, without knowing the, the details of this constituent, it's kind of difficult to say. Right? We you know, we've definitely seen, instances where, gas gas termination was due to not acknowledging or ignoring the calls for stride work, right, where we're tapping in everyone else and we need to put everyone on us everyone else in the community onto the line and they've had a couple of calls. Right?

Then we've seen, you know, possible depth of energy. That also is termination. So there's a lot of, there are a lot of reasons where where someone would be terminated, but everything it it varies. So without that information, we wouldn't really be able to to to tell you what happened to that gentleman. But I would love to. If you give me an give Marcia an address or us an address, we can definitely find that out for you tomorrow.

Okay. Thank you. Yeah. I'll I'll check with him and see if he wants me to share that and then follow-up with you.

Yeah. Does he I'm so sorry. Does he have does he have is he stored restored gas service now?

As I understand from this email there, his contract for gas service has been terminated.

The contract okay. Please ask him. If we can get if we can handle that for him, we would love to do that.

Okay. Will do. Thank you. Moving on, sticking sorry, moving over to sort of generation. I'm curious if there are any particular examples you can point to of not distributed like solar, but new energy generation plants, be they, I I guess it's not nuclear, but be they gas or coal or, any of those that are coming online?

Can you ask that again? I wanna make sure I give you the right answer.

Sure. Do we have any centralized, meaning not distributed solar? I'm sure we're we're bringing a new solar field. But any centralized new plants that are coming online that we can point to? Solar? No. No. Not solar. Not solar. Like, presumably, it would be natural gas. Maybe it would be coal.

What I will say is not too far from here. There's a lot of legislation going on around new generation, in Maryland since we have Brandon Shores and Tallinn getting ready to retire, which is gonna if we're importing about 40 now, we're gonna be importing about 60, so that is a hot topic. We are no longer generating because, we're just just distribution since we separated from Constellation. So, right now, we're not a part of that. But depending upon what the state moves and how they move, we shall see. But I know that that is a a priority. Did you wanna hop in?

No. No.

No. But but but generation is is a is a hot topic, and I I think by the end of this session, I may be able to better answer that.

Sure. Especially here.

Tell me if this is also not applicable because it's kind of along those same lines. But is battery storage same question but for battery storage rather than new generation.

That's a part of legislation that's going on too. There there are definitely, the lack of generation in Maryland is really important. It is driving a lot of our supply and demand issues, which impact rates as well. And, sorry. Thought you wanted to say something. So that is a part of, a couple of bills. I can't tell you the bill number, but if you would like to know specifically any bill around those, I can send those to you so you can have it tomorrow.

No. That's that's helpful. I think I was actually reading about it in the paper this morning, so appreciate it. I got three more. Trying to keep it rapid fire. Trying to understand. So just like you guys said, and this will be my my longest explanation. But just like you guys said, a lot of the issue here is is around the fact that we had a much colder winter, right? I recognize, you know, price went up, but also quantity has gone up for a lot of folks, myself included. Somebody had to know that was gonna be the the it was gonna be the case that these rates were going to go up in winter.

Right? We didn't know how cold the winter was gonna be per se, but why not have the rate increase occur at the time when there would have been the lowest usage rather than one of the times when there's a high?

I wish I had a clear answer for you on that. I I really do, but I appreciate the sentiment. I understand your point, and that is something that that I I will say everyone in my role, believe me, we're saying the same things. So, but I will, follow-up with you with an answer for that because I I I appreciate the answer.

Yeah. I I think that we'll we'll definitely work with our our regulation team. Right? So when they're going toward going with the PSC, that is not just a one you guys would know it's not a one day thing. Where they don't go to with the case and say, hey. Are we ready? Let's rock and roll. So it takes some time. So I think that's also gonna be a a subpart to that question of, like, how long did that take? When did that happen? When was it going to be put forward? Did BGE choose the state? Right? Because what we we want to do especially because, you know, we have our external affairs team here. We don't wanna have to come to the fire with our customers as well as for the company itself.

We don't want the issues that we are seeing now, the burden of of of high bills, the burden of cold months. So it has definitely been on the forefront of our mind. You'll see like, our CEO has gone out to talk about it. Our vice presidents have been everywhere in session here and in every other community and and councilmanic district to talk about these these burdens. And we did not ask or want this to happen because we do put the customers at at forefront.

Thank you. I got a quite a few older residents in my ward, and they, certainly many are not tech savvy plenty are but many are not. Some of them also don't always want to talk on the phone. You know, problems with hearing aids, a number of things. So a lot of folks want to come talk to somebody in person about their bill. I understand this is before my time, but I understand that Annapolis used to have a BG office. People could come in and talk in person. Somebody lives in Annapolis, they have questions about their bill, they wanna go talk to somebody in person. Where can they do that?

Cole Marche. No. Just joking.

She might be right. So let's talk about ways we can make that happen, and that's why I brought up the, good energy open house because what I will share is, when customers come in, I am not gonna say they're skipping out happy. That's not my point in where I'm going. But what I am saying is when they come in, they are steaming hot angry. And by the time they leave and they have spoken to someone in person and they've been heard, they leave at least a little more understanding.

They are not happy. I'm not trying to paint that picture, but they at least appreciate us showing up. They appreciate the conversation. They appreciate the transparency, and they appreciate the help. So any way and any opportunity that we can get in front of customers, we want to do that.

Sometimes they're

I

mean, okay. Okay. Sometimes they're happy.

Alright. And then my last question

I'm sorry.

Please. Last one. And and this is the only one I'm gonna read verbatim. But Barbara said, my last fuel bill was more than double what it was last year. This is after I set the thermostat down two degrees, reinsulated the basement foundation, turned off many more lights, turned off the recirculator on the hot water heater, replaced and upgraded my hot air furnace. I'm a senior citizen. What else can I do?

We do offer a service, and it it sounds like she's, pretty savvy and thinking about already any energy inefficiency she may have in her home causing any type of, heat to leak out or seep out. But we do have a program where we can do a quick energy kinda come out, look and see if if there's some sort of way that there's some energy escaping. It's maybe an hour or two. It's it's yeah. I'm not really sure how long it takes, but, if that's something that they would be comfortable with, that may be a place to start.

Also, again, I I I hate pushing people toward apps because it's just not feasible for everyone, but, that is a great way to just watch it. And like I said, if you're using that high usage alerts are important and they're helpful, especially right now. And if someone needs to come out, because sometimes people think oftentimes people think that the meter's wrong or something's happening on that end. So if we need to do things that way to reassure that everything is working properly, there are ways, and and she can call customer service. If customer service does not give her what she's looking for, you can, contact me and and we'll see how we can support her specifically.

Thank you both again so much for being here and thanks for giving me those pithy responses. Appreciate it.

No. I I appreciate being here. Thank you so much.

Aldermy. Thank you, mister chair. I have a question in regards to upgrades in the process around it, specifically going through our process. If you if you were to do an infrastructure upgrade, whether it's a gas line update or a power line update here in the city, do you have to go through our traditional permitting process here in the city?

Absolutely. All of our work has to be permitted.

Would you describe that process as a fast one or a slow one?

Oh, wow. Well, I have a lot of friends in those offices, so I'm gonna say it's done efficiently. But, of course, permitting is an issue everywhere. It is not just here.

Not just here.

Thank you.

It is Diplomatic answer for a problem that we all know is a roadblock. What are some of the speed bumps that you most frequently encounter, to put it diplomatically, here in the city that we can look for ways. And why I ask this for folks who may be curious where I'm going on this, slow permitting, slow projects adds cost, adds time, and it makes for a less reliable network that is more expensive to run. So if we can find ways to streamline it, it can hopefully lead to a more reliable network faster and bring cost down.

I appreciate that, and everyone back at the office is gonna appreciate that. What I would like to do, if you would not mind, I would like to talk to our project managers so we can get some really good clear barriers so that it could be something that we could talk through and it can not just be me, you know, speaking anecdotally, but speaking through real process concerns and barriers that we have because I know we have them.

Thank you.

We we have them.

Thank you. Now us doing it only here in the city

can be

would only be a very small help step forward, but, it would need to be to really make this huge impact, something that all the BG and E jurisdictions need to do. But there is something to be said for making things a little bit better where we have control. And, hey, if we maybe iron out some things in utility infrastructure upgrades, maybe we can inspire some of our neighbors, and maybe that can help make things a little bit better for more people and just try to improve things.

Well, my heart just skipped a beat, and I wish I had you everywhere across our territories because the sentiment is clear. I understand it. And if we could get a meeting and if we could really sit down and have a larger conversation, we definitely wanna be a part of moving that forward.

Okay. Awesome. Thank you. And and, again, we greatly appreciate the relationship you've allowed us to establish with you and your office. It it really does mean a lot to us. I know the follow-up for me is to make sure the, Good Energy event, we find a date, probably use Pitmore and the Alderman's District because it is the most central for all constituents. Fighting fight. Yeah. And so, yeah, I I'll definitely be in touch. Any other quest alright. You're all set. We greatly greatly appreciate it. Look forward to continued discussions in the future, and and thank you. If you all are having dinner in the city, somebody call Gavin, please.

Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Alright. Next item on our agenda is office of community services. They don't have a ID, but they can come on up. Sorry to keep you waiting. But as ID 2825. I'm sorry to keep y'all waiting. But as I used to explain to one of my favorite colleagues, Lynette Farrow, when she used to work here. When you are a public servant and the constituents pay you, the least we can do is commit four hours on our twice a month or whatever the hell it is. And so I'll try to be brief with you all. You wanna give a kickoff? Or

Alright. Alright.

City's Office of Community Services. It is the most contentious and controversial office in the city.

Is it?

It is. Because I think we all realize the work that you all are doing, and I think there are several older people that wanna have their hands involved in our work, myself included. Some of us are trying to figure out how to get it to become a department, stabilize it. There are a lot of thing. And so, I think these are just a helpful One, the public obviously knows what you're all doing.

The, council knows what you're all doing, but also because it's budget season. And, obviously, all of your projects come out of amendments. I've really and and and I say that, you know, with if we don't amend the code, the office of community services doesn't have money. They have paid employees with no program, program budget. So I'll turn it over to you now, and, we'll let you go through, and and then we'll ask questions at the end so that, for time's sake.

Oh, thank you. So Ayesha Young, OCS manager. The majority of this will be done by Jada and Aaron, but I'll be here for any support. So first slide, just to go through the org chart. Myself, again, Ayesha Young, OCS manager, social work care coordinator is Erin Lee. Our community services coordinator is Dante Hill, who's back here. I don't know if you all had a chance to meet Dante, our Hispanic case navigator, Isis Mania, Our rental assistance associate, Jada, of course, and enrollment associate is Evis. Alright. I'll give it to Jada. You wanna go?

Hi. I'm Jada. Last name Boykin. So oh, is it good? Oh. Alright. So this is just a little bit of the funding and the timeline. So the funds for the rental assistance comes from the taxes. Get we stopped accepting new applications for fiscal year twenty five in October because that's how fast it went, and we opened in, like, June 22. And then we receive about 10 or more applications a day, and most applicants request between 1,000 and $6,000.

And we do get a lot of repeat applicants from previous years. So here are exact numbers. So in fiscal year twenty three, we had 200 about 219,000, but that's because we had money before the program actually started, so we had a little more. We had a 121 applicants. We were able to help a 103 with rent and then five with BGE, and the average size of the award was 2,135.

And top three neighborhoods was Bay Ridge, Annapolis Gardens, and HACA. So in '24, we had a 153 applicants, 95 rental awards, and 25 utility. So the total amount was about a 159,000 with the average size being a 681. So in '25, we had a 151 applicants, 84 rental, and 17 BGE, and the total amount was a 143 with the average size being 2,000. So as you can see, the total amount awarded went down, so we were able to help less people.

We went over this already, but for BGE, in '24, 53 people applied for BGE, We were only able to help 25, but just with 25, that was 30,000. And the average size was a 233. And then this year, we had 58 applications. We only were able to help 17, and the total amount was about 13,000.

Okay.

Alrighty. Good evening. I just wanted to take over the next portion and this was more so BGE assistance numbers that were provided from the Benevolence Coalition. So just a quick background of the Benevolence Coalition. Oh, so sorry.

Erin Lee, social work care coordinator with the Office of Community Services. But, yes, the Benevolence Coalition is actually a support network for Annapolis residents that might be in need of financial, food, or social service assistance. The coalition is made up of churches and different nonprofit organizations that are all based here in Annapolis or Anne Arundel County. Normally, will have monthly meetings, resources are shared, coalition organizations can make requests or recommendations for services. And the Office of Community Services, we were actually invited by Lori Nelson of the Annapolis Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and we're just so happy to be a part of that particular network.

So I also, brought some numbers from the, different members of the Benevolence Coalition. We did put out a quick call. These were the ones who responded. These numbers do not tell the entire story, but I think definitely take like a really good snapshot of how different nonprofits are assisting different Annapolis nonprofits are assisting Annapolis residents here. I would say some of the numbers, for example, we have the Annapolis EP Church.

We also have Saint Vincent de Paul as well as Community Action Agency here. Here are some numbers. They can they go more in detail in the slideshow that we printed out. We also have numbers from the partnership for children, youth, and families. And we do I I would say definitely every church and participant with the benevolence coalition, I would say, has probably touched at least one family, whether it be in their in their what's the word?

I'm sorry. In their group or maybe someone either asking for assistance outside of their group, whether it be one family they may help with bills over the winter up to I would say the largest amount I probably say assisted was probably through Saint Vincent de Paul Society. And I'll hand it back over to Jada.

Alright. So, we do know that we did receive the $30,000 to go back into the fund for rental. So we do plan to open it back up. However, we just have some suggestions on how to make this last. So previously, if you've seen, we helped 25 people only with BGE, and that was 30,000 right there.

And that's that can happen in one week. So we were wondering to have a better vetting process. So, for example, like, in our application, if we were to ask that someone require, like, a most recent bank statement. And that way we will be able to justify make it a little bit easier to see who may need the help more than another person?

I can let me jump in. So just to explain a little bit more, we had a conversation with partners ACDS to discuss how they do their vetting process, and it came to looking at bank stubs or, their bank accounts, I'm sorry, to figure out what they're prioritizing their spending on. You know, if if we can see that you're spending, I think, 80 on DoorDash or getting your nails done or hair done, but your rent isn't paid, especially if you receive an additional assistance from the city or from the county, then that's a conversation that we need to have. You know? So we just wanna figure out how we can vet the process because we did have some incidents where property manager said to us that one of the tenants had their rent money, but he chose not to pay it because he knew the city was gonna pay it.

So we're trying to avoid that type of situation by having a better vetting process.

Alright. And then so, also, we have a lot of people that, like, apply for a balance that's, like, six months old. So that's, like, kind of backwards because you already six months behind. So us being able to pay one month is not gonna clear your balance. So what we hope to do is they can get approved if our payment will bring them to a zero balance and not just pay something, but they're still gonna have a ongoing balance.

So, also, you have to be making payments while we're if we're gonna give you money, you're trying to pay something. Because I know some people will say, like, well, I'm not gonna pay the late fee, but then the late fee starts adding up, and then they're just like, I'm not gonna pay it. But, also, we've had a person that applied in 2023 for a BGE bill, and they were right at 3,000. So that's our max. So we paid it, and they didn't apply again until August 2024.

And the last payment that was made was our payment. So you just didn't pay because you knew you were gonna come back and ask us to pay it again. So that's kinda, like, not fair to people who actually need it. And I've also seen, like, on social media, people will say, like, why should I pay my bill if this city can? So, like, I don't think, like, you really don't need the help. You're just using it. And then Can

I ask mister Curran, you mind if I ask a question earlier? You wanna wait? Okay.

And then that's it. I

Well, moving forward, we want to of course, the programs is supposed to be for people in need, and that's something that we wanna pay attention to and also realize how are we helping the clients get to stability. So, you know, like Jada said, making sure that this brings you to a zero so that you're not constantly on that wheel of just trying to catch up. So moving forward, these are our recommendations, and that is it, I believe. Yep. We are open for questions.

And I think that just just to add to that, know, part of the question that that council had asked and that that the team has asked is, how do we make these dollars last as long as possible? And part of that is trying to make sure that they go to the people who really Who need it. Who really need it. Right? We're gonna end up spending all of it because the need there is a huge need that's out And so any amount that we can can really redirect where it'll do a lot of really a lot of good, I think, is is part of where the team is trying to trying to go. Yeah.

Then also maybe for the 30,000 that we're about to open back up soon, we might not be able to give out $3,000. We might have to keep it, like, 500 or less because if I we get 10 applications a day. If I give 10 people $3,000, it's done.

Dante Hill, community coordinator here. I think also, Aaron and I do Food Fridays with OEM, and we're out in the community each Friday talking to people, you know, and doing, giving the Food Friday baskets to people. One of the things also that we're learning is that with the economy at whole, there are people who are typically this support goes to our, lower class citizens who need the support. However, that is changing. Right?

And so we're seeing our middle class citizens who have no jobs who are also needing that same support. So we're going to it's the inevitable. Right? We know that we're going to see an increase in support. That 30,000, it goes away. Right? And so as a city, it's like, hey. 30,000 and, you know, more people are needing it. So now we're being looked at as OCS isn't you know, we're not able to provide that support. You know?

So my question is, like, you know, how can then we get more funding to be able to do this in addition to, what they're proposing to have in those systems in place? But, clearly, we all can understand that there's going to be a greater need that's coming. Right? And so if we're still in the same space, it's gonna be a continuing cycle of we don't have it. We can't help. And then people are like, oh, well, the city can't support us. You know? So I just wanted to mention that because that's coming. Yeah.

Alright. Let's let's take it from the take it from the top. Alderman Schandenmeyer, do you wanna start? Alderman Hunt.

Thanks. No. I just wanted to go back to what you guys were talking about. You said increasing or improving our vetting, and I was just wondering if you could go into a little more detail about that. And in particular, emphasize how do we do that while not overburdening you guys? I mean, don't want you to spend all day finding reasons not to pay people. That's not a pleasant way for you to work. So I guess my question is, how do we have really vetting that makes a lot of sense and do it in a way that's sufficient for your time?

Well, honestly speaking with ACD, yes, they do have a lot more staff than we do, so they are able to implement that vetting process. I just think that is a conversation we will have to have with Jada, specifically being the rental person of exactly what will be realistic for her and what we can actually, I guess, take on. We haven't had that exact conversation yet because we wanted to get you all's approval and and everything. But moving forward, that will have to be a conversation of, you know, what she can take on and then how we can support moving forward. But And

if I might have I think that how I think there are a number of ways of approaching that question. You know, there are a number of means tested programs out there that people participate in, and I think that kind of leveraging so I'm talking, like, SNAP, NF, right, where where someone has already gone through a process of establishing, you know, here's what my income looks like, here's my household size, all the rest of that. Depending upon a particular person's circumstances, there's some of that kind of work that we can leverage and just say, like, if you met the qual if you met the qualifications for this, like, we're we're fine. Right? So I think there are some ways of approaching that question, and and in particular, one of the things that I'm really happy about that that this team has done has been really reaching out to a lot of those partners across the community and in the county and stuff.

And so to the extent that we can leverage the work that they do as well, we don't have to recreate it. We don't have to recreate it wholesale. Yeah. Right? To the extent we can leverage that work of our partners, I think that's to our benefit and and to clients' benefit as well where they're not regurgitating the same story again and again.

I in my head, the way that's like, some people, like, when they apply, you can just from a pay stub, you can kinda see who really needs the help. But, like, there are some people who are, like, right at the threshold with four people in a household and everyone's working, and then those are the kind of people that we would say we wouldn't require it for every single person, but maybe if we feel like we need more information to compare you to one other person, then it'll be like, hey. Okay. Can we have this extra info additional information to see if you meet qualifications all the way? Because it would be a lot to be every single person.

And to piggyback off what Jada is saying is that I think access to information is very important. Some people don't know that this is available, that this assistance is available. So there's a small pool of people who are continuing to use the service. Right? So when we say sustainability, when we wanna do for citizens, but it's really just this same people we're seeing reassigned. So it's like, how much are we actually helping the city or are we helping the pool of people who actually know that this is available? You understand what I'm saying? And so we're running into that Yeah. Over and over and over. Right?

And so it's like, actually wanna help everybody who actually needs it. And then, again, we only have $30,000. So when that's out, it's like, okay. Man, we'll get cases where people and you know that these people need this, but based on what has been written, we have to help these people. Right? And so we don't we can't say, hey. No. We don't think that this doesn't meet the criteria. And then we get another story after the money has been spent, and it's like, ah. So how are we really helping the city? You know? Is is it access to information, or is it really us being able to support people who really are in need? You understand what I'm saying?

So Yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely.

No. I appreciate that. Thank you. One other question while we're on this topic. What is the metric by which we say this vetting process worked or it didn't, right? Like I think we kind of all have an idea in our head of what we were trying to get at. But say you do a, what do they call this? Like a binary test. You try vetting process a for a little while and then you try vetting process b for a while. How would you be able to come back to me and say, well, a worked better than b?

So we I do keep, like, a real, real

They're real.

Organized track of every single person that applies. Also, we do use a database for applications. So ArcGIS, I am able to pull these Excel numbers every fiscal year, and I do do that, and I do have a tracking sheet of all of this. So because I do it myself, I know who's repeat, but say someone else was to if they had to take over this job, they're gonna have to go back to each fiscal year at my sheet and see, like, oh, this person came back. And we say, like, every single time, how much did they request?

How much did we give? So I feel like we would know if that vetting process is working. But, also, another idea was in order to get assistance, you need to, attend some type of financial course so that we're just not keep giving you this and you're not learning anything. So if they would have to attend a course and then get assistance, I feel like that would also it would be less applicants because some people are just gonna not wanna do that.

Yes. So piggybacking off of what Jada just said. So we do have an a workshop scheduled next week with our partners ACDS to provide that financial literacy or empowerment training. And then we were approached by Isaac Vineyard, I think is his name, to do that same thing where he was in alignment with what we were thinking, meaning that they have to complete this program first in order for them to apply for the rental assistance because, again, that's how we reach sustainability. You know, we don't want you to continue.

This isn't something that you're supposed to continually apply for. This is something to help you catch up. But in the meantime, how can we also assist you moving forward so that you don't get here again? Because we also wanna get to that prevention piece. So I think moving forward, that will show us. And then the money, holding on to the money longer, you know, I think that will also prove if the vetting process is working, determining how long we keep the money because two months is extremely too quickly.

Thank you. I think you've answered my question. What I heard from you is it's about reapplications and it's about how long the money last.

Money last.

Two metrics. I'll just say for what it's worth, this is a comment not a question, but I really favor you guys getting lots of information. And then as long as you have a way to be able to check if you're working, I I like the idea of trusting you all as professionals, not having a rigorous, we have to give it to this person or that person because I think when you have that experience, I I would much rather believe in in your professional judgment rather than stick you with a overly restrictive protocol. But to do that, we gotta be able to go back and say, hey, is this work?

And I I was gonna say, and I think that's, you know, the reason that some of our partners do that vetting pricing too process too because they also wanna hold on to their money and to, you know, just have a better outcome when it comes to this program for everyone.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

No problem. Good.

Thank you. I'll stay in line with the Ronald sisters first, and then I'll move forward. I think I'm actually kinda a little mad about what I'm hearing. Mhmm. Almost sick to my stomach. We have a moral obligation as public servants to provide needs to the general public. The more important part of that is meeting the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. And that's in line even with the vision that's stated here. It says, the Office of Community Service, our vision is to foster healthier, safe, empowered, and thriving communities in Annapolis. And to do that, you need the programming.

And, obviously, to do that, you need the money. So I'll clarify that in saying I'm I'm I'm not pissed at the idea that we want sustainability, and we want our programs to last, but it's a there has to be a way in which we do so that, one, doesn't overburden, the constituent, and two doesn't put the fault of economic circumstances on the resident. Yeah. You know? Who the hell cares if you need a rental assistance or a BG in a BG assistance twice in one year?

That's not mine. That's not your. That's not anyone in this room's, I think, call, you know, to make. And and I think that's why when we created this, there was leeway, you know, in initially in how we adopted the program. And, obviously, then later we found we had to, change things so that it's, you know, once per calendar year.

You know, that I'm fine with the with the with adopting new terms, but I really, really want us to just be careful in how we use that language. Mhmm. And and and how we make the the the con the constituent feel. That's first. And I agree with you on everything that, you know, for the most part that you all have stated, and I even had had, said so to a certain extent in e in emails.

And I was glad that we waited until we got 35 and until we can have this conversation. So I'm I'm a just go through my things, and then we can obviously, an alderman, Schandermeyer, and thus forth. The first thing, I wish that we could get more than 3% of the hotel and entertainment tax. And I will explain it again. How this started was that arts and public places was awarded 3% of the hotels, art and public, the hotels, or the city's hotel and entertainment tax.

I went to then delegation, Shanika Henson, and I said, hey. They are getting this money. And and, obviously, we had ARPA at the time, so it was in the 200 thousands. They're getting this money. How can we create programs, you know, for our most vulnerable, constituents to help it? We put in this 3%. This is what happened. And and admittedly so in the beginning, It was also COVID. And so we were trying to spend it as quickly as possible because the programs that we're talking about, our our our partners in the county, either didn't have the funds or they had hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in line. No no exaggeration.

And so when we created ours, it was like, alright. Well, we have this city program for city residents, so we know we can distribute funds to them, efficiently. And so that was the whole purpose of that, and I like to stick with that framework. You know, I I don't wanna become a or what is it, on West Street? My my nemesis. No. No. The other one.

Community action.

I don't wanna become a community action agency. I don't wanna I don't wanna have to have residents, you know, trying to phone you all and set up and and the office is closed and this and you gotta go and it takes eight months to get it shouldn't be like that. Think it should stick the way it is with the, recommendation that you all have made. The very first one I'm scratching out right off the bat. And I know the policy is something that the office creates, but it it works in tandem with the the council.

And so this, I wouldn't let come in a resolution and a recommendation anyway, requiring our most recent bank statement. This isn't Plaid. You know what Plaid is? The app that runs your, bank account history? No. No. No. No. I get it. You and I I agree with you. I wanna be the best steward of these funds. I wanna make it go long term. But, again, who are we to look at someone's, you know, bank statement and say, oh, well, you spent $250 in Kohl's. Well, you shouldn't be able to qualify for this. I don't know what they're you you, buying from that store.

Mhmm. If they're spending $80 on Uber Eats, I don't know. Maybe they don't have a car. You get a a one meal from Uber Eats with the fee, with the the tax that you you're paying $30 easily. And so I get it. This is all you know, we're we're putting things on the table, but that's just not gonna fly. Alderman Shavage I mean, Alderman Shandermar. No beard. No beard. I'm sorry.

No beard. I I appreciate wanting to help as many people as possible, and I I do agree getting into the weeds on bank statements is a little intrusive, but we do need to have some type of guardrail here. Hearing the story of someone openly bragging about not paying their bills and their rent and just making the city do it. I got a constituent, 85 year old, one of my favorites, sweet as can be. She missed out on the rental assistance, and, you know, I I I don't know if these guardrails would have prevented that because there are a lot more people, certainly way more people that are using it legitimately than than there are abusing it.

But knowing that there's some folks out there that are abusing the system when I got someone who I really wanna try to do right by, miss down on it, grinds my gears a little bit. And so I is the bank statement the right way? Probably not. Because, you know, February at Kohl's, yeah, they could be buying their kids back to school clothes or something, but we gotta find a a way to do a guardrail. I think that's appropriate.

I agree. And and One

thing you got one wanna say. Mhmm. About the bank statement? Yeah.

Yes. I just wanted to go back to the, bank statement, Alderman Gay.

And and let's not get stuck

on

this.

Oh, no. No.

No. Not not to get stuck on that. And I do understand your concern with this too. I know in the helping field, there is this line that we often come to whether we are either empowering or enabling.

Mhmm.

And I do understand, you know, your concern with this as well as, you know, not looking or crossing off certain considerations. So with, Arundel Community Development Services, the reason why they get, as for lack of a better term, so intrusive is to have that nonjudgmental conversation with each applicant. They we understand that, financial situations are pretty rough for a lot of folks out there, and they they are not going to get better. We understand that. And there are other situations where folks can be helped with that knowledge, with that empowering knowledge.

And I feel that this with this, some of the long term plans that we do have, it is geared towards that. We are not here to judge. We are not here to put folks down or to make them feel ashamed for asking for help. That's the last thing. But if that help is not really helping them or if it's not actually making them more independent or being able to then support their community members, I feel that we failed. And a big part of this, you know, rental assistance BGE program is to help people, you know, get that hand up so they can then support their community.

I agree. I'm agreeing with the premise that we save more money. I'm just going I'm just saying the ways that I just don't think are the most effective. The rent balance has to be within the last thirty to forty five days. I completely agree.

I've even added note. I've I've called Melissa up because I'm like, well, if we're paying rents for, you know, HACA tenants, it should only be under very, very almost has to be a a very particular circumstance. Because one, as she explained and as Denise reminds me all the time, if and and that's part of the reason why I when we created this, you had to have employment so it that it would not be going to, you know, just any and everybody out there. But and so if you do have employment, you shouldn't be more and and if you do have employment and you're one month behind a hacker, as you've alluded to here, thirty to forty thirty to forty five days, that's fine. Anything else, they actually can go to their property management and have all of that adjusted in a way that the average citizen cannot in public housing.

Now am I saying that the property management and public housing are doing that and assisting their residents to the best of their capability? Probably not. But, again, I just don't want the burden to fall back on us so that so that we're not, spinning there. And so I agree, and I hope that the, you know, that number of of of applicants in that pool dropped. Mhmm.

You know, I agree with you also on the the pooling. You know, if, for example, you use the ex the BG and E thing somebody paid in August, then they paid in August of the last year, obviously, that's abuse of a system. And so that can be addressed or duplicated. But, again, you have to be careful with the language that you use because once you create policy, that's the policy. And you lose discretion in saying, okay. Well, yeah, you were, you know, late in January. You, you know, couldn't have paid or whatever, and and now it's April and you still need something or whatever.

Just don't

be so strained with the with the with the verbiage when you're creating this policy that we lose the ability to, you know, assist the applicant. Our payment will bring them to a zero balance. I necessarily don't agree with that. You know, it it should bring them in bring them in with with a a manageable balance, you know, because in particular, if somebody's still working, you know, our goal might not be to pay the entire, you know, $2 or whatever. We could make it so that they can, you know, pay, you know, overtime or whatever.

All things I'm sure you have all thought of. But just before I just wanna make this public before we have written policy come before us. I've mentioned the cutbacks on Hacker. Bay Ridge Gardens, I'm surprised. Three years in a row, they are the top three receivers.

Where's the communication with this property? Who's talking to the property manager and saying, hey. Your, neighborhood is taking up our rental assistance fund every single year. You have a problem on your property. That can't can be you know, continue to happen, and particularly because I know they have a very, very active, resident services coordinator, who I'm I'm sure would, you know, communicate programming with them, the financial literacy that you, that you all wanna push, all of those things.

And I'd be I I've made a note to myself personally to reach out to the property manager to find out what's going on. How did you have 17 residents in f y twenty three, 19 in f y twenty four, and 22 in f y twenty five? And then, lastly, I agree. Drop the rate. You know? When we did it again, as I said, it was peak COVID when we made this, when we adjusted, this, the rental assistance program. So $3,000 during COVID was nothing because people had $10,000, budgets. Drop the I think the max for rental assistance should be $1,500. It's unfortunate. You know, when we created it, you know, we wanted to stay within the average.

And, again, if you have a one bedroom in Annapolis, the average rent is, like, $1,900. And so, you know, that's why, the, line was so high. But, again, to conserve, you know, the money and be in line with the concerns that you all expressed, I think it should be dropped to 15, and the b g a e rate should be dropped to $800. I will take full responsibility for that stupid, stupid oversight of allowing BG and E bills of $3,000 to be paid through this program. That's something that that falls on me.

I mean, no BG and E bill should be $3,000 even with the rate increases. And so I will take responsibility for that. But, my recommendations, again, before the policy comes to the council are that the max is 15 for the rent and 800 for the BG and E. I think that just addresses my general concerns with the rental assistance. I have some other stuff, just, general outlines for the office of, community services. I I see there's a question.

So for the

Yeah.

1,500 for rent okay. So if they apply for rent in BG, are you saying they can get 800 for rent I mean, 800 BG and 1,500 for rent, or they have to stay within the 1,500?

That's another very good point. I hope went to the policy. The draft because the last time we got a draft, then it went back, and then it went to the public. And I don't know if you they they will follow that same pattern. That's another point. When we get it, I think it should be,

I think 1,500 total because some people, they come with the $300 rent, and then they'll have, like, $300 BGE. So we only given them 600, but I am able to process both because they're still within the 1,500.

I think, if if you all believe that, you know, 1,500 total is fine, that that that would be fine. I'm curious, though, And I see, this is where when you open Pandora's box, it gets so sticky because it's like, alright. Well, do you allow families of four or five to have a $22,000 maximum? Because the bill in a, you know, five person family is gonna be different than the bill for a, you know, a mother and a son or a mother and a child. And so I think that, again, the discretion I'd like to leave with the office and yeah.

I was gonna say to your point, I believe that's where the betting process comes in again. I know we don't wanna do those bank statements, but as Erin mentioned, being able to have that deeper dive of conversation. So as you also mentioned, yeah, you may be spending that $2.50 at Kohl's. We're not trying to judge you or say why didn't you prioritize your rent over Kohl's because, yeah, we don't know what's going on. But if you need that money management skills, how do we really know if we're not having a deep dive conversation with you? All we're doing is asking you to check that box on the application that says, do you need financial assistance? And then some of them do say no. But how do we really know if we do not have that deeper dive conversation with you?

Let's I Can I I just jump in?

We got about thirty minutes, so Okay. I start to

Yeah. Just one other thing. I mean, one of the things that I think is really beautiful about having a a local program like this

in the meeting.

Is, you know, most of the social services programs that are out there, they're deep end crisis services. Right? And they don't they don't have time, and they're not funded to get upstream of the crisis. That is an opportunity that we have that, you know, Department of Social Services, that's not their primary mission. Right?

And so, you know, one of the things that I appreciate, they've been like, Dante was talking about, you know, being part of Food Fridays and stuff, but they're taking the the van with them, and they're doing a lot more trying to connect with people so that it's not just the transaction. It's not just come in, we'll we'll evaluate for a check, and then, like, maybe see you later. Right? Maybe we'll catch up with you at some point. Having that larger connection, I think, facilitates that more longer term conversation and helps get upstream.

So it's not I think that question I I take your point about feeling intrusive, and I think that part of what the team has has been doing has been thinking of ways to build a partnership with people, you know, to build on that that case management, you know, what's the family situation, what is the various ways in which someone, might need services, and making sure that they're aware, not just of the city services, but there's a there are a bunch of different things out there. That's why those connections with, like, the benevolence group and stuff like that's really important. And we have this opportunity in some ways of of having a local program that has some flexibility, to your point, that that enables a deeper conversation. And I and I think that one of the things in terms of this conversation that is important to keep in mind is that, hopefully, it's not just a transaction. Right?

It's not just we're gonna write a check and then, you know, away you go. And I think that context, I think, helps both with the flexibility of knowing when to have discretion, but then also helps something that might be an uncomfortable conversation be less uncomfortable because it's with someone that you know.

So I'm I'm sure there are other ways that that can be done without requiring a bank statement. And and so,

like No.

No. No.

I I take Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I take your point about I'm not

And and the literacy, point, though, to the financial literacy point, I I agree. I I very, very much agree. And you sent that, very well crafted email to myself and Aldo and O'Neil laying out the points excellently. And I think we both shared the same opposition in that, hey. If you're if I'm applying for, you know, the rental assistance, I you know, it might not have to turn around for the class or whatever. And so, I I don't know. Maybe if we put, you know, hey. If you receive this assistant, you know, you have to go to this, you know, financial literacy course within three months of us processing this check. If you don't, you gotta pay the city back. We could do stuff like that all the time.

I mean, that that's how municipalities can can operate. And so, again, because I don't want you to think when leaving out here that I'm opposed to us preserving our our our programs. I'm opposed to making a hard situation worse. You know? That's all. And I just wanna make sure that, you know, the city takes care of this obligation to, you know, be good stewards of the of the the tax money without the cloud of our constituents being on you know, upset by it, maybe. You know? Let's do this really quick. Any questions on rental assistance? Okay.

I just have one more. Because 95% of of the rental assistance is, like, in war six. But, you know, that's fine, and I think it makes sense because when you look at, you know, things like the Annapolis 2040 plan and they break down war statistics, the wealth disparities in this city is no secret. And so that's another reason why, you know, we have some repeat offenders, etcetera. And so

I mean, we if we look at it at we don't have to do any of this, but then also just understand that this money will be gone in one month. Like, it just we can help every single person that applies and give them $3,000, but when someone comes we have council members that email like, hey, what happened to the money? That was really quick. Yeah. It is 10 applicants a day. If I give all of them $3,000, I'm 30 doll 30,000 in one day, and I'm really not kidding when I say, like, 10 applicants a day, if not more.

Just a question for the as as I'm sorry. Did you have a I see you on the day. Did you have a question?

Yeah. Mike. Yeah. Mike. Resources and partners who are willing to give the time. So when we talked about you may not have the time to go to the class, we'll come to you. We'll come to your neighborhood. We'll come to your so it's like, we're we're willing and ready. We just need the approval to do so. You understand? So it's not that we are too busy or we can't no. Like, we'll we'll we'll come to your door. I, like, again, I come through Fridays. I'm talking to citizens. I'm knocking on their doors.

That's what I'm paid to do. So allow us to do the work. You understand? So if if we can come and sit in your home and give these courses, but it's like if we're not giving the ability to do that, then are we enabling again or are we helping? We wanna help. We're not stuck on the the the the what we're talking about, the the pay stubs. We're really not worried about that. It's more so, hey, we also have people and and all of us have family members and people who are also a part of the community, so we totally understand, you know. But also it's are we educating, you know, and helping? Like, sustainability is our thing.

Right? And so it's like a lot of these people don't have the information. They don't know, you know, and so it what they do know is that the city has the money, but the information that we can provide and help is there. It's right there. And that's what we wanna do to help empower these people. You understand? For those communities that we know need the assistance and we need the support and we need the help.

So are you should, is there an organized, obviously, like, department plan, six month, year plan? Where are we in that? What phase of construction for the Office of Community Services are we in? Because, you know, I agree with him as well, that I you know, we'd like the idea of being present in the community, and but there's also a bandwidth there. And so I know that we're we're sending out some stuff to nonprofit organizations.

I think there also is a a lot of reduplication of funds, to be honest with you, and reduplication of efforts. Is that do is where are we in the office of community services plan where because in my opinion, a lot of these things, you don't need the council's authority. You know, if you want to and if you have the funds to and you and you wanna say, hey. Like, this is our goal. We're gonna create, you know, a six week financial literacy tour or whatever.

Though those things that the council doesn't need to be involved in. So is it the funding? Is it the bandwidth issues? Is it just overall trying to organize the office and and being able to firmly establish, you know, the the mission and goals?

So I'll start with I've only been here a year, so I'm still learning everything. Mhmm. And right now, what our focus on our, vision right now or mission, I should say, is our visibility. So the events that I've been to and and ran into some of the community members, they think we're either community action agency or they haven't heard of us at all. So that we have to separate ourselves from that.

Just like you said, you know, we don't wanna be community action agency. We wanna be our own entity. So my goal right now is for us to work on our increased visibility, which is why we have Dante using the van to support with Food Friday so that he could actually be out in the communities. They can see him with the boxes. They can come up to him and talk to him, and he can actually speak to the community members. So that is our first goal that we wanna work on is increasing that visibility and then also that community partnership and collaboration. So that goes back to with the increase in the visibility. So now we're connected with the community. Now we're partnering more with other organizations. Well, I should say strengthen because you guys already had that partnership when I came, but it wasn't as strong as I feel like it should have been.

So now we're strengthening those partnerships. So we're doing that financial empowerment with ACDS, like I mentioned, and then also just trying to touch base with everyone else that you had partnerships with that kinda well, I shouldn't say that wasn't strengthened, but, you know, given the transition from me being here to Laura leaving. So just trying to establish those partnerships and make sure that, you know, we're using our resources so that we can refer them to other resources, you know, when they do reach out to us. I hope that answered your question.

Man, that's a good that's a good summary. I got restless, councilman. So what we're going to do is we'll put a pin in this. Let's set up something offline. Let's work out this policy, like, yesterday because what I also wanna, hopefully do is have yeah.

No. So let's do, you know, at least by assignee dive, which is twenty two days away, we should have the application portal up and running again. I I I have questions still that I've written down, so we'll follow-up. And, any other questions for the Office of Community Services? Alright. Thank you so much. You all are

Thank you.

Thanks to the public for sticking with us as well. I think this is a 180% within our purview. Our title is the housing and human welfare. Human welfare has to do with quality of life. You can't have a good quality of life without basic needs.

So next item on the agenda is, legislation r two twenty five. What I will do is make a motion to recommend this favorably. Actually, miss Beck, do we have the amendments from, environmental matters? I thought they submitted amendments to this.

Alright.

Let's postpone this until, our next meeting in, April, and this is r two twenty five. Alderman Stanton?

Yes, mister chair. This is a relatively simple piece of legislation. Is. Fiscal note's only 5,000. Unless the amendments are really, really shifting this, I'm perfectly content voting in favor of this and taking a look at the amendments later. Do do the amendments significantly shift this? Or it's your legislation, so if you wanna wait for the amendments to vote up or down,

I will follow your lead. But Yeah. I wasn't prepared to introduce amendments from this committee, unless we had extended public comment commentary, which we did not. And so, I'm comfortable with, the amendments from environmental, matters. I talked to Alderman Savage.

We have a general idea of kinda where we wanna go on the cost, and then I've also type talked with deputy director Giles, who is also working on some other, points of clarity within the legislation, and particularly who manages this because right now, it's not assigned to a particular, department. So I am comfortable making the recommendation to get this out favorably, and we'll rely on the amendments from the committee because I will have extended conversation with them. We'll we'll rely on the amendments that come to the floor then on of the council. Is that fine? Is that fine with you as well, miss Rooter? It's our bill.

It's our committee. It's our bill.

Well, she's gonna have to do the amendments, I and so

don't want

so, I would like to make a favorable recommendation,

mister chairman. Is there a second? Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. It's been, recommended to the full body. We're now in a general discussion. Any general comment?

Also, mister chair, I appreciate you having BG and E here today. I think that was a really important thing to add to the agenda.

Of course. No problem at all. I, look forward to continue robust conversations over the next couple of months and just trying to put on the table what our constituencies constituents who wanna hear the most. So with that, I'll make a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All those in favor, say aye.

I'm sorry.

Get out of there. Looks like I have to do proper trash placement and cleaning again. If you put your trash out, please place it into a bag.