Housing and Human Welfare Committee - Regular Meeting

Alright. We are calling to order the housing human welfare committee meeting. It is Thursday, May 29. The time is 06:36PM. Let's start, with a call to order, Alderman Huntley.

Present.

Myself and, Alderman Schandelmeier will be here shortly. Can we, is there a motion to approve the, housing human welfare meeting minutes from 04:21 twenty five?

So moved.

I'll second that. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. That passes. There something I missed?

The agenda.

My apologies. Is there a motion to move the agenda as presented?

So moved.

I'll second that. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright. So there are several appointments on We will move them as a block. I'll just read through very quickly. Linda Money to the human relations commission, Joshua Hatch, the human relations commission, Janet Norman to the education commission, forty Fish Stark to the Education Commission, Corey Maple to the Education Commission, Jane Weaver to the Education Commission. I know this name. I don't wanna mispronounce it.

Miss Collison Lee, my my deepest apologies. I know your first name. I just don't wanna mispronounce that. To the education commission. Missus Odessa Ellis to the education commission.

Jessica Packard to the education commission. Pamela Bukowski to the Education Commission, Laura Graham Booth to the Education Commission, Elijah Herrick Blaine to the Affordable Housing and Development Commission, a fantastic guy, Nancy Libson, to the Affordable Housing and Community Equity Development Commission, mister Arthur, Jim Edwards, City Housing Authority of City of Annapolis, and missus Teresa Von Bond to the Affordable Housing Community Equity Development Committee. That's a really, really good committee. They do great work. Is there a motion to move all of those, APs?

So moved.

I'll second that. All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Opposed? There are none. Alright. So we'll move on to general discussion. ID 2825 starting with the Admiral Oaks update. This was just placed on, so that they could give us a briefing. We did get a report from planning and zoning, and then understood that there was some follow-up, with them. Is there a rep on from, planning and zoning that would like to see miss there we go.

Yeah. Good evening.

Good evening. Thank you very much for joining us.

Yes, sir. I you know, the latest development that we have is, you know, the the engineering firm that they hired to do the analysis of where water is coming into the building has been on-site. We've been on-site with them, but thus far, they haven't come to any conclusions yet. They haven't given us a report. They haven't updated us on their findings.

And they're well past the date that director laid out in his letter, and that moved us to the point of issuing a citation to the property manager and the owner just this week. So we are in process of getting the citation for failing to maintain a watertight foundation, walls, and roof structure. So that is the broad category of the violation. There there are a number of things cited in the letter, obviously, but we're kinda choosing the one that's most critical to the the longevity of the building and the the residents that are living in units that are impacted by water by citing the foundation in in in a watertight structure. It's a thousand dollar fine, and the provision in the code that that gives us that authority also states that we can issue that on a weekly basis if they haven't corrected it and they haven't, engaged with us to to to bring a resolution to it.

And so far, you know, they may not be aware of it yet because we have to serve it to them. So we it's kinda like they haven't had a chance to respond to it yet is where we stand.

I I greatly appreciate that, and I appreciate the enforcement, and you all following up, with that past the deadline. In a typical situation, once the, citation is served, how long do they typically comply right away, or or is this this is a special case because, with this particular, property management and development group, we've had some serious communication issues.

Correct. They're gonna have an opportunity to respond to the citation. The citation, comes with a deadline to respond to the citation. So they have, you know, probably a week to respond to that citation and say, we're gonna pay it and comply. We'll get you the report. That's one pathway. The other pathway is they could say, we wanna contest this citation. We'll we'll go to court over it. And, at that point, the citation goes over to the office of law. They start scheduling it to get on the docket at court.

And that would suspend any further issuing of us of, like, a a second citation if they if they went that route because at that point, we've got we've got the the property owner and the management company in court. They were gonna have to answer for it. We're gonna present our case. They're gonna present their situation, and, you know, the judge is gonna decide at that point. If they pay the fine and say this is our pathway to compliance, that would pretty much put us on a track of, okay.

Now we have a an end date of when they want to either pull permits or do whatever they need to do to fix the problem. It gives us an idea of what the scope of the problem is to know how extensive the work is gonna be. So that's also a pathway where we can start making decisions. We can start figuring out what's gonna happen next, how long this is gonna take, what's gonna happen. We can spread information to the the residents that might be impacted.

And so the only other avenue that things might go in this situation is the event that they don't respond to the citation, and they don't request a court date, or an opportunity to present their case in court. So they just do nothing. So that's the scenario in which, okay, if they do nothing, we've got to issue a second citation, and we'll keep issuing them every week until they either decide to go to court or they pay, and come up with their plan. So I don't think that's gonna happen. I mean, that that would be that would be unprecedented if, like, a major property owner, a major property management company just, you know, went that route.

So I have a feeling, like, as soon as they get the citation, we'll probably hear from them, and they will likely come forward with a plan. You know, I the last time I talked to director Jakubiak about the situation, I felt like they were getting closer to knowing. Like, from our progress, we've seen them in the units. They were exposing sections of wall. While we were on-site, we actually saw some water underneath, some baseboard trim along the wall, and we pointed that out and discussed it with them.

They we did see some areas where they open sheet rock up, and we saw what looked like could be mold behind there. In which case, I think it really warranted the strong action that the director took to say, okay. We're we we want you to get a major look at this. We wanna take a comprehensive look at this, and we're gonna push to get it done. I think the results that we were seeing on-site with them, warranted that activity.

And,

you know, I just can't explain why it's taking longer than expected at this point. So, I feel like they were, initially, the engineering firm was sort of gonna give us a report based on their experience without really looking underneath the covering. And when we kinda got there and told them, like, look. You're gonna

have to pull pull up

the carpet, pull back the wall, and see what's actually going on in there. They took another look and decided to bring in, a mold remediation company, that can do some cleanup work and give them the estimates on on that part of it. So, you know, I think they're they were on the right track. It's just moving too slowly.

K. I just have a couple of quick points, and then I will definitely turn it over to my colleague Zach's questions. But, again, I really appreciate, obviously, you all being there and, you going into detail about some of the things that you all seen on the property. I've you know, takes me back to October 2023 when we actually had the, Admiral Oaks residents, before our committee. And, the alderwoman, then went back out into the community, and alderwoman tyranny immediately said that there was some sort of, you know, issues with the plumbing or or or, water distribution.

She noticed it right away. And so, I guess I I have two questions. The first would be for planning, the second maybe for law. Do we start have any units been taking offline, you know, due to the the these issues? And then the second question, at what point do we take them to court, instead of, waiting just because it kinda has been, a while while while no official documentation may have been filed, I think there have been ongoing discussions, you know, between the departments and their team.

Well, the first part, you know, the we have seen some different problems. Like, over time, there have been different problems there with water that came from leaky pipes or other problems that weren't necessarily coming from foundation issues. So there there's kind of like there is multiple problems we've experienced over the years. At this point, what we've told them is that we are not issuing licenses for any of the ground floor units in the garden apartment buildings. And that that that action has been ongoing.

They're aware of it. I can't tell you if there are occupants that have been displaced over that. They may be staying in an unlicensed unit at this point. And that I I have to run down and try to find out the the ultimate status of of how many families are still there versus how many have been relocated. As far as the the issuing a citation is the step that takes them to court.

So the citation is a municipal infraction. It's a it's a municipal, citation that does two things. It it levies a fine, and it also requires them to abate the the violation. And that's where they have to come up with their plan and whatever permits they might need. But failure to do both of those things, pay the fine and come up with a plan to abate, will result in us taking it to court.

So that is the process. There there there may be other methods to take them to court. That's that's outside of what we would normally do, though. I don't know what avenue or what process that would involve.

Well, I'll defer then that later, actually, to email us something because, I know they had previously had a, you know, lawsuit that was, you know, about to be filed or something on behalf of the residents and stuff. I'll save the law questions for later and then Yep. Just defer to Alderman, Sandomier or Huntley that may have a question.

Question at this time, mister chair.

Alderman Huntley.

Keep it from me, but thank you, mister chair.

Okay. That's awesome. So, again, I I really Sorry.

If I can just also say thank you very much to mister Manasa. I know, I know you've got a a tough job trying to enforce our code, and I think this is such an example of how important it is. And so we appreciate you doing your job. Whether you're getting yelled at by the property owners or the property residents, we appreciate you.

Well, thank you.

Absolutely. Yeah. And and, again, just thanks for following up with that. We will see what happens. And if you could, yeah, let me know if there are still families in those units because, you know, while we couldn't get it passed on the city level, I think the state just requires them to be transferred to a unit of equal size.

And if the property cannot, find a unit of equal size, then they have to rehouse them. The problem that we have with the rehousing was that people were having transportation issues, getting to work, food, all of that. And that's what we were trying to get done on a city level. And so, we'll have to figure that all out. Alderman Schandermeyer?

Thank you, mister chair. I actually do have one quick question. What is the consequence if they do still have people living in an unlicensed unit?

Well, the the consequence to that is complicated. Technically, if we post it as an unlicensed unit, it gives the the tenant notice, but there really isn't a there isn't anything that compels them to get out unless we condemn the unit. So that's a separate that's a separate determination. If if we decide to condemn the unit, then they have to leave, and the the the landlord has to provide accommodation of some sort. And at this point, like, as far as I'm aware, we haven't taken the step of actually condemning the units.

Withholding the license does put them in a position where court cases have said that they they can put their rent in escrow. They don't have to pay their rent to the property owner. And that's a legal question that I don't wanna get into because I'm not as familiar with that part of it, but it has not been condemned at this point. Now if we have cause to do so, we will we will take a look at that.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Alderman Schandelmeier. Any further questions on, this ID? Hearing none, we will close this out. Again, thank you very much, mister NASA, and, we will just follow-up with you offline.

Okay. Thank you, Albert. Yeah. We'll get back to you through, the director on those issues.

Appreciate it. Awesome. Have a

good one.

You too.

Our next ID is, ID 10525, which is, Play Annapolis discussion, birthed out of, obviously, some concern in the budget. We did have an opportunity to hear, from representatives from the, organization at our I think it was the council meeting on the twelfth, May 12, if I'm not mistaken. And so this is our opportunity to, again, follow-up with their concerns, hear from our department, and see if there's anything that can be remedied. Keep in mind, the amendments at at this point, any amendments that will come forward or or any amendments to the budget, you know, you need five votes. And so, I just want everybody to keep that in mind, and so no promises will be made tonight.

But from, you know, what I've heard from my colleagues and from the administration, everybody, you know, wants to to remedy this. And so I just thought it was important to follow-up on your concerns, and have the, department, address them as well, and let them, you know, speak further about some of their, their plans as well. So let's start with, first, you know, Play Annapolis. If the team wants to introduce themselves, and give any background, that'd be fantastic.

Hi, everyone. I'm Emily Tomasini. I'm board member of Play Annapolis, former member of the Recreation Advisory Board, and I spoke, on at the meeting on May 12. Thanks for having us. This is this is great. Thank you so much.

And, mister I think you're it's muted, mister Moran.

Hello, everyone. I'm Stan Womack. I'm CEO of the Indianapolis All Stars. I also spoke at that meeting. I we are a member of Play Annapolis, so I'm here tonight in representing Play Annapolis.

And I think we all have the attachment. If not, it's there if, anyone who wants to use that for reference. I guess I'll turn it over to, the team first, and then we'll just ask questions as we as we go along.

You wanna turn it to the rec and parks team, or you wanna turn it to

Oh, I'm sorry. To park Yeah. To play Annapolis. Yeah. And and if you wanted to just go off of the notes or we have here, attached in our agenda, your, slides as well.

Got it. I can probably share my screen if you give

I don't know if they allowed Yeah.

Right. Right.

Star.

I'm sorry. Can I interrupt for just a second? We we are unable to see an agenda or an attachment.

Miss Jackson, would you mind, shooting this out quickly? Yeah.

I can't see an agenda either. Okay. That'll be shared.

And I don't again, we're just going through, some of the highlights. We're not gonna, discuss the entire 28 slides. But we have had this for, I'm referencing the council. We have had had this since

the '20

Yeah.

Thank you.

No problem. Of course. She'll send that out. Alright. Miss Tomasini, you can get started, and, miss Jackson is sending that out to everybody on the agenda.

Be honest, I didn't realize this is what we were doing, so I'm working on finding that slide. Sorry to note.

No. No. You're fine. But

I'm close. Yeah. I'm not going to go through the 28 page slideshow. That is not something I'm prepared to do. But, basically, we were just at city council because, we did look at the budget that was put forth by Rec and Parks, and we feel like we have been working hard, over the last few years, to just work on recreation opportunities in Annapolis.

You know, for background, our mission is to inspire collaboration, build resources, and establish partnerships so all youth have access to recreation and sports year round. And that's what we're advocating for, with the budget at Rec and Parks. Two of the things that stood out to us were the $32,000 for the football team, which we just were surprised at because we have a very active recreation league that is offering a football program through the All Stars. And, also, we pointed out at, the city council meeting that field space is already limited. City field space is is limited, and to add another football program would really drain the resources not only in kids and coaches and money, but also, you know, affect the all stars that are running a a successful program, not to mention our other partners who are also looking for field space.

So no need for that. And then we also talked about the the floor, the Electric floor, the Stanton Center was the the E Floor, the Stanton Center was the other thing that we kind of identified that we were surprised at based on the basic needs in recreation that we've kind of been advocating for. Childcare is missing at three title one schools in the city of Annapolis, Eastport High Eastport Elementary School, Tyler Heights, and Georgetown East. I know just from being a parent in Eastport that space is an issue there, and that's part of the reason why childcare is not being offered. But I I just these schools need aftercare.

School gets out at 02:30. It is interesting surprising to me that, the other schools are able to pull it off, and these three title one schools are being left behind.

So Can I

Yeah? Go ahead. Interrupt me.

If you wouldn't mind if I ask I wanna ask a question on that point. I'm jotting notes, and we'll come back to the others, but this one in particular. So they have the funding as just a space, or do they need the funding as well?

I I'm not sure. I I'm it's offered at the other elementary schools in the city, but it is not offered at these three schools. I happen to know that at esport, because my kids go there, part of the problem is space. And for one year, the program was running at Pip Moyer, instead of esports. So there was transportation. Mister Chuckie was bringing the kids over to Pip Moyer, and that ended. And I don't know why Tyler Heights and Georgetown East don't have don't have the option.

I will, then just shoot a message to the education, Education Commission, so that we can find that out ahead of our meeting. I think that is something that, I don't know. If it has to do with financing, I think it's something, that the city council should just look into. Obviously, not making any commitments. I know the chair of the finance committee is here and has worked incredibly hard on this year's budget. So

Well, and the other the other thing is that when you look at county reken parts childcare, they are offering it at all Title One schools. So there there must be a way that they're figuring that out.

Alright. Do you wanna jump in now, do you wanna wait till the Ms. John Director Johnson?

The if if you want me to speak to, the issue that we're talking about right now, I'd be happy to address it. Lakisha Simmons will also probably have more to add. We are happy to help with the licensed after school program. Our program is licensed, which means that we have to have dedicated space. We have asked the principal for a space, and the principal does not have space.

So sans any space, it would be difficult for us to run a licensed after school program at that location. The other locations have various and different challenges. So this is probably a question better suited for Anne Arundel County Public School System, because if they don't give us the space, it's very difficult for us to be able to run a program.

I do know that when Tyler oh, go ahead.

We currently are not budgeted, for those sites, so budget is also an issue. At many of our licensed aftercare programs, part of the challenge now is actually finding dedicated staff. The staff have to have forty to sixty hours of, training, and we need them as kind of somewhat permanent part time. And the hours are a little bit tricky because it's essentially 02:00 until 06:00. So we need someone who's available to work those part time hours, which are usually in the middle of the day.

So it's difficult to find someone who works well with children, who has that training, who has the background check, and all those sorts of things. Miss, Simmons as well as mister Lloyd, kinda scour the community and the area in looking for staff. I've even asked them, well, what about the teachers? But, unfortunately, a lot of teachers work very hard during the day and don't wanna kinda continue along. And it would be very difficult for us to work in another space that is not a school system space because of the rules and regulations that the school system have worked very well with the rules and regulations of the licensing, the Maryland State, licensing program.

I will have, miss Simmons kinda add some other information, about us having enough people registered and those sorts of things.

Thank you. And I also just am curious, quickly, how many after school programs, do we currently run or that are budgeted, for the, FY twenty six budget? And then so was and then my second question was that was there ever at any point in agreement where we you know, Pipmoor was it Pipmoor or Stanton that was used to run a collaborative, effort with Eastport?

It was Pipmoor.

Okay. Yeah. Is is that was that, you know, ended because of space at Pipmore?

That predates me. I'll let Ms. Simmons speak about that. But one of the things that we did reach out to the school system initially for was to provide transportation and have Pipmore be a stop for for the bus stop, so to speak. And we talked to doctor Bedell, and at the time, he had a major transportation issue, and he could not kinda overcommit.

His main goal was getting youth to their homes. So since we have not been able to have Pip Moyer be a stop along, the way so that people could have we could have a after school program. And I'll let, Lakisha speak to miss Simmons speak to, how many sites we have and those sorts of things.

Okay. And and the fantastic thing is we also have to direct our transportation on, which, mister Moore, do you do do not feel obligated to get on camera at this point, but just, pointing that out. I'll let miss Simmons, respond, and then I'll immediately go to, Alderman Schandermeyer.

Okay. So thank you for the opportunity. We have we are currently at five sites in the city, and I will make one correction. Because we are licensed, our staff have to have ninety hours of dedicated child care services. Services. So clock hours for, training for us to remain licensed. So that is the difficulty there. We are at five sites. We were at Georgetown East. Part of the difficulty at the other schools is registration.

We have offered and opened up and tried to run the program at Georgetown East. If we don't have enough staff to, excuse me, enough registrants, we cannot run the program, and we don't have people that register for the program at that site. We offered it again last year, opened up the registration. We had one person register. We cannot run a program with one person.

I appreciate that very much. That was at Georgetown

East? Georgetown East.

Yes. Which is unbelievable because Bay Ridge Gardens, a community that has 250 kids, is, you know, immediately adjacent to that. But I know that they have expressed previously issues with, registration and other programs as well there. So Alderman Schandelmeier?

Thank you. So when we stopped offering I got two questions now. One, so when we stopped offering bus services from the Eastport area to to PIP, that came around the same time as the bus driver shortage, so that would have been around '20, 2021 then when we were dealing with all those wildcat strikes with the I'm driver sorry.

Let me, let me back up. We were running the program and transporting children to, the Pitmore Recreation Center under the Annapolis United program, and that's when, mister Lloyd was working, was a contracted employee under the Annapolis United. When that program when the school year ended and that program ended, mister Lloyd's position changed, and we didn't have the opportunity to continue that program.

What

And I will oh, I'm sorry.

You finished, ma'am.

I will add too that, we do provide transportation. Our Stanton after school program provides transportation. Lakisha, can you share the schools again? Because they pick up, I believe, from two schools and bring the youth back to Stanton. So we do not have the ability, with our vehicle to provide transportation, but we do for Stanton community. And, Lakisha, what schools are those again?

The schools where Stanton Center picks up are at Mills Parole and Georgetown East. And we currently offer childcare at Mills Parole, George, Mills Parole, Germantown, Hillsmere, West Annapolis, and Annapolis Elementary School.

Okay. And so Can you repeat those sites for me, please? Yeah. I do yes. Thank you.

Walter s Mills parole, Germantown, Hillsmere, West Annapolis, and Annapolis Elementary School.

You know, Alderman, let me just ask one thing really quickly here because I don't want us to get in a position of, pitting, school programs against one another. My question, though, if there was sufficient registration at Eastport Elementary or Tyler Heights Elementary School, you know, will you have the funding to start the program, or would one of the other programs because correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know if West Annapolis or Annapolis Elementary are title. Okay.

Annapolis Elementary is.

Okay.

Annapolis Elementary is a title one.

Okay. How many students did you

Alderman Gay, I just wanna answer your question. No. If we had the registrants, we could not at what you said Eastport. Correct?

Yeah. Eastport. Oh oh, you and you you explained earlier that the problem with Eastport was the, staffing.

Well, staffing at all additional sites. Right now, we currently have staff, but we are so short staffed and so difficult to find staff that sometimes mister Lloyd has to actually go and fill in for the teachers. And when I say teachers, the teachers in the after school program is what I'm referring to. So we would need to be able to find staffing. We would also need space, dedicated space at those two schools, and we would need registration as well. Registration, as you mentioned, and we currently are not funded, for any of that.

Okay. Alderman, Schandelmeier.

One last question. How many how many, registrants are needed to run the program?

That would depend on the site. So right now, if we have eight registrants, we can run a site.

Okay. That's all I have on this subject, mister chair.

Thank you so much. And and and and, my last question, and then we'll go to mister Womack. If you wouldn't mind, either director Johnson or or miss Simmons, provide the committee with a rough estimate of, you know, cost, for a program because, you know, if we budget it and you have the funds available and we get eight registrants, you know, there could be a successful program in the at least in the fall or whatever or how long it operates. If we budget it and you can't operate the program, you could use the funding for, other things with with council support within recreation. Alderman Hartley, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but what are your thoughts I mean, because, I mean, you are the the finance share, and so, ultimately, this has to go before you.

What are your thoughts on, the the the amendments on the second and general the the this conversation. I'm sorry.

Can can I just add before before, alderperson Huntley Alderman Huntley, the the main issue that I want to make sure that we emphasize is the staff. So if we get eight registrants, we still have to have qualified staff to run the program.

And, is the when we're talking about staff, the issue is not whether the money is budgeted, it's whether you're able to hire them. Correct? Yes. I'm seeing the director not. Correct.

Yes. So

Yes. We've had major issues, and we're not trying to be naysayers. It's just that difficult. And I've challenged my team. We've brainstormed. We've thought different ways. It's just very difficult to find essentially a unicorn.

Yep. Well and Maryland has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. So it's, at least for now, a tight labor market.

Well and and people have shared, well, there are a lot of people who are unemployed because we've reached out to them, but unfortunately, their unemployment will stop once they get a part time job. And so for them, it's not worth it. We've tried that too, just so you know.

So, Otterming Gay, I think what I'm hearing is that this is not a situation where we need a budgetary fix. As a general rule, if we were looking at a budgetary fix, I'd say that, we need to be thinking about how do we if there is if we're talking about a budgetary fix, we're talking about more money. My answer is if we're saying more money somewhere here, then we need to be fighting less money somewhere else. So, it becomes a question of where where would that come from. But, maybe the more win win solution that I'd be interested to hear from the director on this sounds like a very similar problem to what the police department is dealing with.

Right? They have a significant number of unfilled positions, and it's not in my somewhat informed opinion, it's not that they are not paying enough. It's that we have a tight labor market, and and some other maybe non budgetary issues. But one of the things that we are seeing in budget is some funding to provide hiring bonuses for the police department. So I'd be curious to get the director's response if that's something that you think would be would actually make a difference in trying to, get those people.

And and, again, director director Johnson, I'm sorry. I I want you to respond to that as well. But I I need clarification on this because I have two different things written down, and I just wanna make sure. The funding is in f y twenty six if necessary.

No. No. We don't currently have funding for additional sites in FY twenty six.

Okay. And

funding for our current sites in FY twenty six.

Okay. And so that would be the the task. And you know what? Maybe we cross that bridge later on if registrants are interested. That's why the council has supplemental appropriations. And so, alright. Please respond to Oliver Huntley's question. My apologies.

Sure. Unfortunately, I don't think it would help because we're looking at part time employees. There's traditionally no kind of contract where you have to work a year and then you get your bonus at the end. We could do something like that, but that's not advantageous to people to sign up now. They want a bonus now if you're getting people. And when you're dealing with childcare, I'd much rather prefer to get someone who's in it because that's what they want to do instead of a bonus because we're dealing with people's most valuable family members. So that poses somewhat of a challenge. Additionally, we have tried to remove barriers. The training that Ms. Simmons mentioned, they used to have to pay for it themselves.

Now we do supply the training, and any paid training that they do, we will pay for. So that's a barrier that we've worked to remove. And I think that's working very well. We can track it a little bit better, and they're not coming out of their pocket for a part time job. So we've we've done some things, to try to make it easier and more advantageous and more attractive for people to want to do this to to be, to work at our licensed childcare locations.

Good. Thank you for giving us a straightforward answer on that.

Mister Womack? Yeah. I just have one question. Director Johnson, you had mentioned that there was a a space requirement. Could you elaborate on that a little bit more? What what what are the requirements for space that you would need?

And and then after that, so that we what we'll do is, you know, refer the questions to, the committee, and then we'll allow the, the director to to respond. And I should have said at the beginning. My apologies. Go ahead, miss Johnson.

Sure. The space requirements are we need dedicated space at the school location. Once we have dedicated space at that location, licensing would then come in and look at the space and see if it passes and would determine how many youth we're licensed to have in our after school program.

So so there's not a particular amount of space that you would need. It's just based on how many kids are in the program. Is is it am I hearing that correctly?

I don't wanna speak for licensing, but, there's certain we need an an ingress and egress. We need two, you know, two ex entrances and and or exits. We need a lockable cabinet. We need there there are there are certain spatial requirements. Those are kind of listed on, I think, on their own department of licensing for department of education, those requirements. But we need dedicated space. And so the principal has not given us dedicated space, and they're saying that they're they're maxed out, and they don't have any space. And we certainly understand that.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, mister Wilmatt. I think also I'm adding a note to reach out to our board member, who who does a very, you know, good job of responding, and and has fantastic constituent services. Alright. Let's put a pin in the child care. I'll allow Ms. Tomasini, to continue where she sees fit, and then, we'll jump back, into any further questions.

Thank you. I just I do wanna make a couple notes on child care because when we did get together, as a team at Play Annapolis, some of some of these things did come up. Tyler Heights is a new school and was built with a dedicated child care space. Georgetown East is sounds like is getting bused to Stanton Center, so I wonder if that would be a solution. And for us, it was just if if more budget is needed to hire staff, the E Floor is hard is it's hard to swallow, along with the field maintenance issues.

The field maintenance issues are are long standing and have been communicated many times, and we're just looking you know, when I look today at the comp plan, one of the things I saw was lack of a modern linear field complex and that that's gonna be addressed in the master plan for recreation. So I just think and I don't think you know, playing atlas as a whole, we showed up to speak at city council to say, let's let's make sure that our basic needs are being met, and and childcare is a perfect example of that, along with field space and investments in field space. And part of the issue is that it's county owned fields being managed by the city, and so the investments are just not being made by either the county or the city. And you can look more at our slideshow. You know, it's 28 slides long.

Our executive director is very thorough, and we're thankful for that. But I just would ask that you consider, you know, all the work that that the nonprofits do to serve kids in Annapolis and and give us a seat at the table.

I appreciate that very much. And, so we'll jump into the field space later because I've just pulled up slides 22 or twenty one and twenty two and twenty three, which discusses that. Are there any other questions, in regards to anything else from my colleagues, Alderman Shandermeyer or Huntley?

Well, one thing I do wanna note on the e lore in the stand center is I think that is a bit of oversimplifying what its capabilities are going to be. It's going to add a lot of it's going to be able to turn that space into being able to use a lot of recreation opportunities in one single space. I know it does sound a little high-tech, but it's gonna allow a lot of quick and easy seamlessness that multi paint lines maybe don't. And I'm personally, I think it's a pretty innovative solution to something along with some of the other educational opportunities that I've been told it might offer. So, look, I understand it sounds a little, why do we need this?

This sounds frivolous. But with the rapid changing of the sport of the sports lines and, like, ball game the ball lines that'll be able to offer, I think it's a pretty exciting opportunity.

So alright. We'll start because I have, just three things really on my list. The program the the field space, the football program, and the e floor. So we're starting with the e floors. Quest what you have listed here, I'd like to have, maybe the director respond to, either, you know, possible solutions or ongoing projects that you all have. For example, obviously, we just discussed the transportation. Director Johnson, do you care to speak to

the sorry to interrupt, but I certainly have not gotten those slides. So any reference you're making to a document, I don't have, and I don't know whether director Johnson has.

Alright. Just give me two seconds.

Yes. I just, opened it up. So, certainly wasn't prepared for these slides, but that's okay. We are, in recreation and parks, and we're we, we pivot when we need to pivot. So, Alderman, you said slide twenty one and twenty eight. I'm sorry. Twenty one and twenty two?

Yes.

That was in reference to the the, field, but now we're actually talking about size 25.

Oh, 25. Okay.

Yeah. Which references the esports arena and jam. Some of their concerns were obviously, as opposed to, you know, we could be investing in providing transportation, simplifies in, simplifies in the scholarship process, etcetera. As you can see there, I I I really just be, curious if you could explain further some of the transportation, discussions that you all have had and and, you know, concerns there or if there are fixes and then obviously touch on the scholarship.

Okay. So, a couple of things. This is the first time I'm seeing this. I do know that, Play Annapolis has, presented or, testified at council about our scholarship or a scholarship program. So a couple of things. We are happy to work with Play Annapolis. We did do meet quarterly with miss Garrity. Many of these issues have not come up, so, you know, we're we're happy to respond. Let's see. Simplify our scholarship process.

As I've shared before, we don't have a full fledged scholarship process. I do know that Play Annapolis offers scholarships, and that's one of the things that they pride themselves in. We can only work on so many challenges at a time, and so we are ticking them off. We have a finite number of staff. We've started with, getting registration online. That was a big heavy lift. We heard from many people in the community, that they wanna be able to register from anywhere in the world. They don't wanna stand in lines at Pip Moyers, so we worked on that to make that happen. At the same time, we heard about our sports, and permitting process. And it was too cumbersome.

It was one person. So we testified, and presented it on Tuesday how we had the sports symposium. We listened to what people said, the changes that we made, and we mirrored, Anne Arundel County recreation and parks permitting process, and what we did as far as that was concerned. So we are working on the scholarship process. And well, let me say this. We aren't working on it yet. It is on our list of things to do, but we can only handle so many things at a time. So that's something that we're working on. Provide transportation to facilities like Pip Moyer and Stanton Center. We do provide transportation to Stanton currently.

We had worked with the school system to provide, transportation to Pip because they have the built in transportation. So that's something there. We do have the bus that transportation. I know director Moore is on. He was kind enough to do all the paperwork and figure out how we could get a bus to replace one of our buses, and that was done.

Again, we have a staffing issue because our bus drivers are bus drivers who work for the school system. So we utilize them during the times when the school system isn't use utilizing their buses, which would be during the summer. And so they really work for us from the summer and transport our youth. I did want to address too Tyler Heights because we've talked with the administration at Tyler Heights, and they say they don't need an after school program because they do have clubs after school. So, you know, it's helpful for us to kinda share the conversations that we've had because I think the assumption is that we're not trying to do anything and, you know, these ideas come.

And we do explore ideas and we do, you know, have ideas of our own as professionals. As it pertains to the esports arena, the esports gym, when I first got here, I heard major complaints from the community, the Clay Street community and Stanton community, that if you look at Stanton, you look at Pip, the two don't look the same, and they don't look like they've been managed by the same department. We did the research. We looked at the information, and it's been since twenty two thousand was the last major renovation with the basketball court being installed. So that basketball court is 25 years old.

So it's not a both it's not a either or. It's really both end. We put money in the budget and requested for, a linear field, for Queenswayland to be renovated. We've been working on that for about a year and a half now to put in an artificial turf field. Alderman Gay, you were kind enough, and you had the foresight to put in $200,000 last year so we could look at Collison and the ability we may have to make that into a linear field.

And so the study is currently going on, and we we will have results back from that rather shortly. The money for the esports arena, was initially spearheaded by then delegate Henson, now senator Henson, and she she, granted the city $1,200,000. So we can't take that money and move it over to aftercare or afterschool. It's specifically for that purpose, and it's for a capital improvement purpose. So all of our constituents, we have to look at their concerns and look at their interests, and I really can't put one over another.

We have to look at them, with some type of equality. And so I've heard from the Clay Street community. Our staff have heard from the Street community and the elected officials in that community. And so this has been you know, renovations for Stanton has been something that's been ongoing, and they're certainly deserving of it too. They need renovations.

There's a young man who was actually shot on at the bus stop, and many people don't know. The same young man who was shot in the foot is the same young man whose brother was shot and killed at the Boys and Girls Club bus stop. So that poor young man, how must he feel about going to school and trying to get to school, and how does he feel about education? So we're trying to keep our youth involved and engaged in education. And I'll never forget Mitchell Silver, who was the superintendent of New York City parks, and he looked at communities that had not had an investment in of $250,000 or more in over thirty years.

And Stanton's coming up on that thirty year mark, but they put investments in. They built a new park. They had the ribbon cutting, and there was a young man waiting outside of the gates. And so director Silver was like, why are you out here? Come on in. And the little boy said, I can't come in. That park is too nice for us. We don't have anything like that in my community. And I feel as though the Stanton community feels the same way because they have not had those major renovations, and they've been overlooked for years. So, my response to Play Annapolis is that it's both end.

We're doing both, and we're looking at both. So, I think that will help the community in totality. And the long and short of it is the money that we have for Stanton can't be redirected to another program. It's for capital.

So my my only question out of that and I also have the, slot from a r p Rex and Parks, from the twenty seventh. So I've got both things going on. My, I guess I'm I'm still I'm going back to the transportation piece, because I agree with you, director, that, you know, we shouldn't have to pick or choose. Let's try to fund both. And, you know, I agree.

It's with you, the Stanton desperately needs the investment, but I agree with some of the concerns that Play Annapolis have laid out. And, particularly, I I keep coming back to the transit and linking that to recreational opportunity. So is there any and I probably should have had the education commission here to ask, this or to just be a representative as well because they work close with the school. Do does the city have a a single route that either goes directly to, you know, Title I, schools or to, you know, communities that we've labeled at risk and need, to be connected to recreational activity, is there a bus that goes, you know, out and picks up and, you know, drops off and then says, okay. Let's, you know, round everybody up at eight or whatever and then, you know, have a drive back through communities in a set route?

Is does something like that exist? And if it doesn't, is that something that you all thought about and maybe just don't have the staff at this point to, you know, kick a program off like that?

I'm not aware. Certainly, our, mission is not necessarily transportation. I do wanna kind of remind everyone that HACA has recreational had recreational opportunities in their individual communities, and so for multiple reasons, they no longer offer those. We have stepped in as requested and have been able to reopen the HACA pool, which has been a huge lift for us, particularly in light of lifeguard shortages. But counsel was gracious enough to fund that process.

And our very own Jennifer Rafique was so amazing that she was able to piece together lifeguards to run that program. And and herself, even she's you know, she works in excess of ninety hours every two weeks to be able to run those programs, and she herself even goes over in lifeguards. So, you know, I'm I'm very cautious about overextending our staff. So, you know, I would love to say, yes. Let's do it.

However, we have major challenges identifying staff. For summer, we had challenges with our summer staff. We could not find camp counselors. We revised the advertisements. We've you know, it's staff are not falling out of the sky now for whatever reason. You know, people want to work differently, And it's difficult to try to get someone to come and work outside in the heat with many kids or, you know, work these four hours when they could go to Chipotle and work in, in some instances, make more money and leave with meals for the whole family that night. So it's it's very difficult, and it has to be someone who's in it for kind of the love of making a difference in a child's life.

I will Alderman Shandomayer, see you have a question.

Yeah. Thank you, mister chair. And this is partially a kind of a question for director Johnson and partially a direct a question for director Moore. So I do understand staff shortages, but I I think that I think that maybe trying to get the transportation system going directly into some of these areas where we do actually have staff coverage is a shorter term solution at least to get us through while we try to figure out some these other investments to get everything else up to up to par or up to where we wanna keep as many folks as happy as possible. So where we currently have staff coverage, are we maxed out on what those staff members can handle as far as number of children go?

Is there room to take on more children from other areas where we're not getting coverage?

I can I can speak at all of our sites at the I'm sorry? Did would you wanna speak, director Johnson?

Please speak.

Oh, at our five sites, we are maxed out at each of our five child care sites with an active waiting list. Parents call me, email me, asking if parents even in May, if parents have withdrawn so that they can register their children at those five sites, we are maxed out at our five sites.

So even if we had effective transportation, it wouldn't matter just because they're already filled?

They're already filled, and they're at capacity with what we're licensed for at those sites.

Even if we got

more licensed by the state.

So even if we hired more staff for those sites, it would be wouldn't matter because we have the number maximum number of children, period. So it's

But not at the schools that aren't being served.

Okay.

Just there's an inequity happening Yeah. That we just are are advocating to be solved.

Yeah. I'm just I'm trying to find out where I know we have actual space that is licensed and approved and what we can do here.

And and Maybe that's what we're saying about the budget. You know? This is this is something that is missing. Not all kids are being offered the same thing from Wreck and Parks when it comes to aftercare. And that's what we're saying about the budget. We're surprised that this continues to be ignored.

Aldo Mishandemire.

I would would just like to say it's not ignored. I think

that's unfair.

I apologize. You're correct. That's unfair.

And and

she's like problem that has happened.

And the sense that I'm getting is we could and I can be corrected if I'm wrong. The sense that I'm getting is we could take every single penny that we have this budget right now, cut all of police, cut all of fire, cut all of transportation, put it all into after school care, and try to get into one of these school sites that doesn't have care right now. But that would be moot because it's just they're not licensed by the state to take it. Is is that a correct interpretation, or am I very far off?

Mean, you are correct. The state determines how much how many children we can have based on the space we're given by the system. Absolutely. And so if the there's some schools where we've asked for more space, and, unfortunately, some of our space has been decreased. And I get it. The principals have competing priorities, and they cannot they just don't have the space to offer us.

Okay. Is

Alderman, I'm wondering if, we we did have Children and Family Success for, you know, two years where nonprofits were able to, fill in that gap. And, you know, that was a grant that we ran from August, through, December. It was essentially a fall after school program grant. It was only $50,000. And so I think we only five groups ended up getting to split 10,000.

And then later on, maybe some groups fell out, so they ended up having a little more funding. But it sounds like something like that. It also sounds like what you've specifically discussed, in our council meeting Tuesday night.

Just a shortage of providers, shortage of staff on all child care options. It's private and public care. I have another question, though, on the Stanton Center Yep. Thing for the budgetary question from the state. So we have to apply that to the Stanton Center. So does it have to be for one specific type of project? Can we decide what other ways we want to renovate it in if we so choose, as long as it goes towards the Stanton Center? Like, let's say we wanna make the Stanton Center an an just an entirely indoor pool facility. Could we do that as long as we're spending it on the and this is all entirely hypothetical. I'm just trying to get a sense of what we are and are not allowed to do here with that money.

So, we have a courtesy to, Senator Henson as well. We've presented this idea to her, and she is absolutely in We could certainly change, but, you know, we would we would wanna make sure it's okay with person who kind of got us the funding, so to speak.

Because that could risk getting that pulled is the implication. Okay. Thank you.

I I just have a question. The there's the money that that's given by the state.

Miss Thomasini?

Yeah. Sorry.

No. No. You're fine. You're fine. Just one second. I'm sorry. Because, Mr. Womack had his hand, and then I'll come directly to you.

I can't raise my hand for some reason, so I'm sorry if I'm interrupting.

Oh, no. You're sorry about that, Emily. Yet on on the, Stanton Center, has there been any, thought about the the, you know, more parking at Stanton Center? Because there's none there now. You've probably got three or four spaces, and that's about it. So if we put all of this into the Stanton Center, how are people gonna gonna access it?

So disagree

with that statement. There's a huge parking garage there, that is utilized during the day. Very little of it is used at night. Director Moore is here, so maybe he can share, but I feel like it's at least 200 parking spaces, maybe four. I don't know. But it's a huge parking garage, right diagonally from Stanton that's within a maybe a three minute walk.

Is that is that free parking?

I think a whole lot of that community's problems happen because we put a whole lot of parking spaces in that neighborhood and tore down a whole lot of other buildings to do it.

Well, absolutely.

That's just a logistics expense issue

to add parking spaces to parking free.

Parking is not free. There's two parking garages. The one that City Asset owns is the one, called Gotts Court on Calvert. The other one, I don't know why it escapes you right now. Maybe it's the time of day. That one is free, I believe, on weekends, but we can check and get information back to you. The other, garage that we're speaking of, the closer one, to, Stanton Center. And the other one is just right across the street, so every bit of 20 more yards. These are all, you know, quarter mile less than you know you know, in distance, short walk.

I'd just throw out there's a third one that's also a short walk, which is definitely free after 5PM and on weekends.

That would be the Cal, Calvert Street, the one over on, yeah. You're right. St. John's in Calvert. Right across, Rob Boulevard.

Alright.

And I'd add too that the community, which heavily utilizes Stanton, it would be a short walk for them from their house too.

Alright. I'm a go to miss Tomasini on the last Stanton, question, then we're going to, well, miss John director Johnson's already touched on field space. I'll open up the floor to field space questions, then we'll close it out with the football. It is $7.45, and I wanna be respectful of my staff, as in the city staff, not my staff personally. But yeah.

Miss Thomasini?

Yeah. Thank you. I'll let Stan. You'll take the football and the fields. And I just I had a clarification on. So we identified $80,000 in initiative for esports arena and a gym. Is that the money that's being given by the state, or is that in addition to the money that's being given by the state?

So that is for additional staffing for Stanton Community Center. Stanton certainly, is heavily utilized. However, the staffing is not, such that is matched with PIP. Alderman Gay, you often ask me, tell me again why Stanton isn't open on holidays. And that's because of staffing. We have full time staff, very little part time staff. And so that is to allow us to begin to expand the programming, at Stanton because they have not been invested in as far as staffing is concerned to be able to run additional programs.

You say initiatives for so in the budget, it says initiatives for esports arena and gym, $80,000. That is not for capital improvement. That's for staffing.

That is correct. That's for staffing because they're understaffed. And Stanton is not in a community where we would have oh, I'm sorry. I was still speaking. Stanton is not in a community we would, have one or two people kinda run-in that center. We wouldn't do it at PIP, and we wouldn't do it at Stanton. Just wanted to be staffed appropriately so that we can meet community's needs as far as programming is concerned.

Got it. Yeah. And so then the the money for the floor is all being allocated in the grant by the state.

You look within if you look I just

This is our city. Oh, okay. I I just was clarifying for the sorry.

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. You're if you're referencing staffing money, you're looking in the operating budget, you would need to look in the capital budget for for that information.

So the the I've just the the floor is being covered. It's not being covered by city budget. It's being covered. The e floor is being covered by the grant from the state that has to be spent at Stamp.

I'd say the vast majority of the, esports floor is being covered by the the state funding. That's correct.

And is it do we know the because I I think we're what we're saying is, is there a cost that could be spent on some of our basic needs that's not being covered by the grant that could be invested into Santen Center or into our fields?

So the so that distinction that, it's not just where where which book do you look in for the information. The capital budget and the operating budget are very different pots of money, and the there are restrictions on what you can use those for. So there it's not really a case of sort of, like, all money is fungible kind of idea where you can just, like, freely move money back and forth. To to director Johnson's point earlier, there are a lot of different projects related to recreation, including fields and stuff like that that's within the capital project, within the capital budget. And and the approach has been, to her point, much more of a both and.

So there's there's money in there for all of those different things. I I think the question that I'm hearing from you is, are there, you know, are there more operating sites

that we could Well, so when I look at project four zero zero three seven, 1.625. And the money from the state, I think, is 1.2. Is that correct?

What I'm I'm I'm trying to figure out what you're where you're you're heading.

So I'm heading to one point one point six two five minus 1.2 is is money is a difference, and that's probably the difference. Right? The extra 400,000.

Right. But that 400,000

is of the capital projects.

It's it's within the capital budget.

Right.

So it needs to go to capital

Capital projects. Right. Probably not probably not, childcare, but I'll let Stan speak to to field space and and where that money could be spent, to to serve basic needs.

Well, let me, let me clarify too that this money is not just for an esports arena or gym. This money is for a whole phase of the renovations of Stanton Community Center, which has not been invested in for twenty five years. So this money is for the restrooms to be renovated. This money is for the entrance to be renovated. This money is for security so that when people come through the door, we have similar to what we have at PIP where we will be able to lock the doors, all sorts of things to upgrade this facility and bring it into 2025. So it's not just a gym floor. It's much more than that.

Absolutely. And and Playnapolis absolutely supports that. We're just hoping to to make sure that basic needs are being met.

Oh, excellent. Okay. Thank you, Emily. We heard you. You said you support it.

Yeah. Yes. It is actually in the slideshow. We support Santa Fe reservations for sure. And this is exactly you know, it just the esports floor feels and and I respect what Alderman Schindelmeyer said, but there are basic needs in our fields and in some of our other spaces that are not being met that if there is a difference between $400,000, there are kids that need fields to play on. I'll let Stan.

Let let unless yeah. Alright. So, yeah, let's go on to that, and we'll we'll table the 400,000 for right now. Let's get into the, field space and the football program, and and then we'll close this out. I want us to yeah.

I just have one more question, on, the the funding for the Stanton Center. If you if if there's some money that you don't use, for instance, you know, you don't use all of the funding, for, this fiscal year coming in, what happens to the excess?

So it's a capital project. So capital projects

Let's not one second. One second. One second. Because I don't want us to jump back into the, which is project four zero zero three seven. Let's the I'll allow really quickly for the city manager to just make the final summary on what's taking place with that funding there. And you don't please don't feel obligated to go into as much detail as we have within the budget process. This has been an open discussion Yeah. In the finance committee. So just let's close that out really quickly.

Yeah. No. I just that and that actually was gonna be kind of where I where I was headed was that the, you know, the rules around how money gets used, what it's available for, that there is there is a whole set of rules about that. The finance committee, this this is this is a big part of what they do is look at at that overall picture. Where's the money?

What can we use it for? You see that there are there are a whole series of of amendments to the proposed budget that are in there. And and that really is the the correct that's really sort of the correct venue for that. We we can definitely offline get into those details if you wanna, kind of find out more about how the how the local government finances work. Totally happy to talk about that.

But this is probably not the right place for that, and and we maybe can take that offline to let because I I feel like in some sense, like, we're we're taking over the conversation that's really a council conversation in this setting. So I I wanna make sure that focus gets back to to the council members and the and the questions that you guys have.

Yeah. And and I wanna try to, you know, let's talk about the programming and, you know, the change the changes or concerns there. And and as she just mentioned, everything else can take place offline. I do, you know, want, Mr. Wormack's concerns to be addressed, though, as it relates to, I mean, particularly the, the, football programming.

So I'll turn the floor over to him on that. I'll allow the director or her representative to respond, and then maybe we'll do, you know, one rebuttal, and then we'll close it out there. Because I don't want this to get too contentious when, you know, the real thing is, that we somehow figure out a way to, ensure that our our children's basic needs are met. So let's go with the, the flag, or the football programming so that we can figure out what is going on there. I don't want duplication of, programs either, and particularly if we could give it to said nonprofit to extend programming or whatever.

And so, mister Womack, I'll allow you the the floor and then, director Johnson or your representative.

Thank you. My concern, based on just the football program I mean, you know, we've been doing football here in the city. Actually, we started way back in '89. There was a lapse in the coverage. We came back in '21.

So one of the the the the things that the director had had testified to for her football application was that she was going into a developmental league with the county, which would be the the c league. The county does not offer a developmental league. We actually offer a developmental league. We start kids at four years old, and they play flag football from the time they're four years old to six year years old. We had three flag football teams with kids of that age last year.

And then they move into tackle football at the age of seven and eight years old. So we have a developmental program, and we have a feeder program. And the director had suggested that, her program was gonna was gonna feed our program. The issue that we take with this, and it is an issue, is that, we feel like we should have been contacted, and we should be involved if there's gonna be a competing program, to be developed with the city. We were really blindsided by this.

We didn't know that, the the city, recreation parks, was gonna do a a football program, and we just don't think it's needed, because we have a thriving program. We have over 400 kids in that program right now, and we'll probably have two two more flag football teams this year based on our registration.

Director Johnson, do you want to, discuss the, plans for Parks and Recsin? I'm sorry. I know this is redundant because you've just also done this on the twenty seventh, so my apologies.

Sure. No worries. Thank you for the opportunity. So, our program so developmental, what we consider developmental is a little bit different than from what mister Womack is considering developmental. We are playing in a league that is not as competitive as the league that the all stars play in, and there's nothing wrong with the all stars program.

We are not, you know, trying to offset it or steal their children or anything like that. They are a competitive program, which the city of Annapolis absolutely needs, and it is a thriving program. Our concern in hearing from parents, throughout the city is a couple of things. There is no developmental program. When I say developmental, I'm talking if you're eight and you decide you want to play football for the first time, or if you're 10 and you want to play football for the first time, it's very tough stepping on a competitive team.

There are rules where people where the the coaches have to play each player a certain amount of time. We're hearing that is not always the case, which is fine. There is a place for those youth, that is to come and play with us because you will get playing time. We are doing the fundamentals. We are doing punt, pass, kick, you know, play.

Our focus is not gonna be on winning. And if a child Again, I'll share our philosophy, is to expose youth to as many opportunities as possible so that they can determine what their interests are. We want to be the first place that a child who's not playing flag steps onto the football field to play tackle football and doesn't have to be scared to death, you know, blocking or, you know, tackling or getting ready to be tackled across from someone who really knows what they're doing, and they've been playing for the all stars for four or five years or, you know, another team in the county. Our goal is to have them play and say, oh, that was a good season. You know, I started the season.

I finished the season. We didn't win a lot of games, but I really like football. Now I feel a little bit better. I think I'm ready to go to the all stars. So, we have two very different groups that we would be targeting, and I think we would actually be a feeder system for the all stars. And I do wanna clarify, this is not my program. It's a departmental program for the city of Annapolis. Rosalyn Johnson has nothing to do with this program other than managing it. We've heard from parents, and we are responding to their concerns for their youth to be able to start playing football. So we're trying to plant the seed. They can grow the seed with the all stars.

If I could respond to that. Mister Womack, I will allow, you know, a response briefly. It is 80 1. But before you do so, I have to recognize the alderman first. He has his hand

up. Absolutely.

Thank you. So, mister Womack, the point of the all stars, you guys have, like, a pretty serious competitive program. Like, you wanna train your kids to get into really good high schools and eventually get into, like hopefully, with the goal of then getting into, like, really good college programs. Right?

Oh, absolutely.

Hell, yeah. I was a I was a Allstate center up in Maine myself, back when I was a little bit bigger, little bit healthier. Director Johnson, yours is, I could effectively call it a a goof around league. Correct?

I won't say a goof around league. Jocks and, real athletic people might I'll say it's the starter league. It's the starter league. It's it's a bench rider league. I'll go with that. So yes. But we wanna be serious about the fundamentals and about having a positive experience starting a season and finishing the season, and our focus is not gonna be on winning.

Okay. So I understand the competing for I think, really, the only main issue that we have on this front, because it does seem we're going for different it does seem we're going for different demographics on competitiveness similar to here's a really bad metaphor. There's a burger food truck that operates out of Clock Tower Plaza next to the really high end restaurant, Grapes Wine Bar. They don't eat each other's demographics or food. Very different customer base.

But I do think that we do have an issue where we're competing over space. So how because we do have a limited field space in our city. How is that managed with public the schools, the all stars versus the city's public league? What gets priority? What puts out? How how do we ensure that the All Stars get significant field space too? Because we do the city does have a vested interest in the All Stars. We have given them significant grants. We wanna make sure that they succeed. We've had a lot of success stories with kids coming up through the All Stars programs, going into high schools, going into colleges.

I don't know if any have gone pro, but if they have, awesome, and I'd love to see more of that happen. But so we wanna make sure they get access to what's what's our plan for ensuring that everybody gets a slice of that pie?

Thank you. This won't affect their access at all. We're not gonna start out and have 12 teams, eight teams, or even four teams. It's gonna take a while to build teams up. We have Collison, and we have Wings Whelan that we feel are getting ready to come online. So we have two additional linear fields that are getting ready to come online that we don't currently have. We are not gonna have enough teams to utilize both fields, so that will not be an issue either.

Okay. Will they be I apologize that this is a silly question, but will they even be playing around the same time? Will our publicly be playing in the summer and the all stars start their practices in the fall, or is this all going to be overlapping during the same season?

It will more than likely, be in the same season. So we'll be in the same we won't be playing the same teams. So it will it will be somewhat different, but it will be, excuse me. It will probably start August 1 and go up until, early winter or end of fall.

And, mister Womack, is that the same time period when the All Stars play?

Absolutely. That's the same time frame. And I need to add to that, the program that, Recreation Park City has has offered, they applied to the Football Coaches Association with Anne Arundel County, which is the same, you know, football league that we play in. First of all, they don't have a developmental league, so I'm not sure where that's coming from. If you apply to them and if you wanna go into their c league, the c league is basically just an overflow league. But these kids are still gonna be tackle tackle football. It's not gonna be kick, pass, punt, you whatever. There's no developmental league in the county. Right?

Well and it's my understanding that the county denied entry into the league.

Hold on one second. One second. One second. Sorry. We gotta raise, put put put a hand up. Alderman Schandermeyer.

That's all I got.

Ardently.

I'm gonna kind of turn the topic a little bit. Still sticking on this point of football, but a different line of questioning. So do you wanna wrap up what we were talking about before, or can I go?

You can access. I'll turn it over to mister Womack for his his final comment in response to miss Johnson, and we'll close out on this. Cool. Is it is it is 806. We've been on on this ID for some time. So

Right.

Can I I I actually, I'll direct my question to director Josh Keel? I guess you probably have the data for both. So this new league we're talking about would be open exclusively to city residents. Is that correct?

Correct.

Okay. Correct. And then, our other football teams that play or football leagues that play on city fields, what percentage of them are city residents right now, roughly?

The football teams that play on city fields? I would say they meet the 75% threshold, but I'll defer to Andrew Patterson who's on, for that number.

And, yeah, that number would have

to be based on rosters that would have to be turned into us, and then we check with MIT and and their system. We find out the actual, number that live in the city.

So it's somewhere between 75% and a 100%, but we don't know exactly.

It's about 95%. I can tell you we're the only organization that's doing football right now. 95% Gotcha. The

Great. Thank you. I I figured they would have the number on the top of their head, but appreciate you, answering that. That was the only question I had. Thank you.

Wait. So do I see on here, though, that Powell is also, they, do but I guess you're saying because they aren't in the city, you are the only team that operates in the city.

That's correct. Okay. Alright.

Right. I also said two organizations.

One second. We got, let's go, mister Womack and then miss Johnson, you'll close us out there.

When we're talking about Powell's

Miss Tom do you have a question, or I I don't know if she okay.

When we're talking about Powell, there's some overlap there because, you know, even though Powell is in technically in the county, you know, they're landlocked by the city. You you can't get to Powell unless you you go through the city. So they're gonna be pulling kids from the city if they're allowed to to play in the league. Last year, they only had one team. The requirement is is that you have at least three teams coming into the county's league. So it's kinda up in the air with them. But if they're if if they're allowed in, they will be be pulling from probably Bay Ridge Gardens and probably Robinwood and, you know, that that particular area. So there's gonna be some competition there too.

I'll let miss Johnson or director, excuse me, director Johnson go, and then we'll close out. I will also say, though, that although I've never played in confederate football here within the city, I do remember In a meeting. At one point that there were, like, Powell

Three team.

And I I could be getting wrong. I just remember, yeah, at peak, there you know, Pop Warner was very, very popular, and there were quite a few teams around. And everybody, you know, had their crews that they rocked with. I know, you know, passing your charges and cape and and and everything. And and so I obviously appreciate that we have a a home team.

You know? I I'd like that there is that the Annapolis All Stars, represent Annapolis. And, I think to the Alderman's point, you know, that's the reason that they are the primary recipients of, you know, physical activity money that we provide in community grants in particular. I can't think of any other programs that provide physical activities that are receiving funds like that. And so, director Johnson, your last comments on this and if there needs to be, continued conversation on this now, I will, make that final point.

Sure. Certainly, again, I will share that from a professional recreation and park standpoint, I think we're doing a disservice to our youth here in the city of Annapolis because we need to have the developmental spectrum. The all stars are very competitive, and then there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But I think we need to offer that startup piece. And, yes, we will be doing tackle.

Tackle is developmental, and I say that in that we are gonna not be we are not gonna be playing the competitive teams. We're gonna be playing the other, I don't wanna say goof off teams either because we we will take it seriously, but we're gonna be playing the less competitive teams. And then when the children get better, then they can go to the all stars. So I think we have two completely different demographics. There is nowhere in the city for that.

The, public school system now has middle school sports, so that continuum piece is there. But it's hard for a youth to walk onto a field for the very first time when they're old enough to be playing tackle football, and they're playing with a very competitive team. It just it does not work. Other jurisdictions do not have it that way, and we are not competing at all with the all stars. We're not gonna be trying to steal their best kids, their best players. Their best players aren't gonna wanna play for us because we're not focused on winning. We are focusing on developing those skills and providing a safe space for them. You're muted, Alderman.

Thank you so much. We have basketball too. Correct?

Yes. Which We have basketball, football, and baseball. And and Parks and

Rec says basketball too. Correct?

We we have basketball as well. We have an adult league. So we have multiple leagues. We have multiple teams, and we don't. I think the all stars actually play in, one of our leagues. So absolutely.

Okay. You know, my my my well, first off, I I do think this was this this did need to happen, obviously. Otherwise, Playing Naples would not have come to the city council, and and gave us this the slides and and expressed their concerns. And so I want to thank them, obviously, for being here and asking or sharing their perspective today. I think the three council people here agree, that we have to continue to make investments in programming and supporting recreation and parks.

And the reason that we brought this here is because the committee is housing and human welfare. Recs and parks, is a huge, huge role in in in human welfare and, the quality of life our communities rely on. And so I don't want anyone to leave discouraged. I I I hope that what I really would like is that the city's, parks and recs advisory board, you know, play a significant role in either, addressing the concerns of of of parks and RECs and rectifying them with the, the department, or if there there has to just be some collaboration, and I don't think that the, moving forward, the housing and human welfare committee should, you know, play referee. I really, really do.

We think we have to get that, commission to step in and, you know, assist if there are concerns, whether it relates to communications, or concerns about investments. I think, again, that's the prime opportunity for you all to get together and ahead of the budget and, you know, make those concerns known with the commission, and they bring them to the department. And and and that's how things are supposed to work. And, you know, clearly, something went wrong there. If nothing changes on the second, I just think that means that you have the opportunity to fix to fix that so that we can, you know, make sure those things are rectified in FY '27.

Any other further comments from my colleagues on, ID 1025? Alright. We're all set. I also do wanna thank the director and her team for joining us. You know, it's it's not easy, in particularly because this is one of the departments that, interfaces with the public every single day.

You know, they are not in, you know, offices, you know, where the public has to schedule to come in. You know? And so, I tip my hats off to your staff and the work that you all have done. You know, Parks and Recs has gone through significant transformation for the better. And so I I appreciate you all as well.

So we'll close out on ID 10525, and I appreciate everyone's time. If there are any other questions, please, email me or call me offline. Next item in the agenda is ID 9325, police behavior modification diversion program. I will, follow-up with the, acting city manager on this. What we had discussed two meetings ago in our 04/12 meeting, was that HACA would receive this funding, to, move forward with their, you know, version of lease modification that they've been doing with the nonprofit.

And I just wanna make sure that that finance is getting an is getting that money out to, HACA either through direct payment or if their supplemental appropriation needs to come to, the city council that that's done before we lose that money, because the fiscal year is about to end.

Yeah. You you and I can definitely, can definitely connect later. I'm I'm mindful of the time as well.

Perfect. Alright. Thank you again.

Yep. No worries.

Next item on the oh, any questions from my colleagues? I'm sorry. Okay. We'll close out on ID ninety three twenty five. Next on that item on the agenda is r seventeen twenty five twenty twenty five transit development plan for the city of Annapolis. And director Moore is here, and I I appreciate you too for jumping in there earlier, in in particular because that that was not your place. So I appreciate that.

Yeah. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Good evening, chair Alderman Gay and committee members, Shandelmire and Hugley. You know, I'm director of transportation parking. And as requested, I'd like to give you a kind of a brief overview of what we've done, on our transit development plan. This plan was presented, twice before, at our transportation committee meeting on the seventh, environmental matters on the eighth. So if you don't mind, I'll just kind of go through what it's all about. And I'll start with this closing statement, and I'll come back with it. But one of the things, I think you all have gotten a copy of it.

If you haven't, you can make sure you do. But adoption by the city council acceptance does not obligate the city of Annapolis or Maryland Department of Transportation, Maryland Transit Authority to fund any particular part of this improvement plan. Implementation of any improvement is a function of funding, which is, you know, what we'll look we're going through right now with our budget. So, basically, this TDP serves as a strategic road map, to kinda give us a guide of what we should be doing, what we can do over the next several years. And as I made made mention, it's a part of what we need to do to remain in good standings for federal funds through the MTA, which were a subrecipient.

So every five years, we do do this. And to kinda give an example, in our last one of 2019, on demand or microtransit was one of the things that was offered, and we got to it last year as a recommendation. So it's not a binding agreement nor does the adoption obligate us to take any, major steps. But most importantly, we we wanna see what others are looking at for, the betterment of our of our system here. So it kinda builds upon and formulates goals and objectives for the public transportation that we operate.

We review and assess current transit services. It identifies unmet transit needs, and as I mentioned, the short range goal of a five year plan. And this uses the basis for future federal and state fundings, and, I mentioned, the applications for, getting monies from the, MDOT. But the way this was all put together, it started way back in June 2024. We've had, public advisory committees that had you know, the translation committee has been a part of it, writer surveys.

There have been three face to face meetings here at our location, with drivers, riders, people that are, like I mentioned, stakeholders. And, you know, we've had the public comment, that was open where, surveys were given out onboard, and they were also on our, on our website. So, you know, what we're looking at, you know, our customers that ride, you know, different times, you know, morning, evening, just once a week, what are their type of rides, required, you know, doctor visits or the maintenance of going to, you know, stores, or is it just for leisure? I shouldn't say just for leisure, but, more leisure. Back in 2017, I believe it it was at the time, it was, older woman, Shanika Henson, who came up with the, k through 12 will ride for free during school hours or school time.

So 6AM to 6PM, that's still in existence. And then we have a summer program where it's, like, $35 for the whole summer. But students, matriculating students, so we would go with the $1 fare for those that are United States Naval Academy, excuse me, or, St. John's College. You know, so our community members who are part of these folks were, of course, our local community and what we see what we need to do and as we reroute, or make some changes to our routes that currently exist.

Alderman, Savage asked for some had some questions when it was presented at the transition committee, on the seventh, and our transportation planners are actively working on that. So I'll have an updated package for you the middle of next week. But remember, adoption of this is really it's not that you you're we're stamping anything saying that this is what we're gonna do, or we're taking anything, of what was being told or what was being suggested. One of the things we're finding, as you know, with our on demand service, MicroTransit, we're tweaking it just a little bit more each day to see what we actually can do and how it can be a feeder service, for other areas. One big thing, if everybody's still here with us with the, education committee, The majority of the students that go to Annapolis High live in Annapolis City, but the high school's in the county.

So looking at areas like that, you know, with our partners in Anne Arundel County Department of Transportation, There is a bus that actually goes there, which is the yellow. We operated it up until 2018, but it it was all county, and it goes to the mall. So our buses still go to the mall and transfer you know, they can transfer to that yellow bus as they once did, you know, once before. But sometimes you hear stories about, well, that brown route that comes down Forest Drive and makes a right on Weaver Road, can it make the left and go down to the high school? It's it's only a mile.

But you know what? During rush hour, a mile is fifteen to twenty minutes. And remember, these are connecting with other routes. So we need to look at how we do another feeder service. And, of course, this the county is

Director Moore? Yes. If you don't mind, Alderman Shandler has a question.

Oh, sir. Sorry.

Doesn't the brown route also stop at, Annapolis Town Center?

It does. It stops on that part of Forest Drive at Harker Place.

Okay. Thank you.

And then the green route, coming the other way at Naplestown Center on the West Street side also going to the mall. That's correct. Thank you.

Thank you. Just trying to get the routes ahead

of Yep. And what And and

just just clarity on. So this the, you mentioned, because I I do remember if I missed school back then, you would take the red off of Hilltop then transfer to the yellow. And so you said that it stopped in 2018. Is it back online, and does the city still own that?

No. That's a good question. When I said we stopped we stopped operating in 2018, the county took it over. So the yellow still does operate from the mall. You're absolutely right. The brown, the green, do, you know, pick up just as you mentioned the red that will go to the mall and makes those connections. I believe they kept the same schedule as we did, which left at the top of the hour. I believe an an Arundel County Department of Transportation during the beginning of school, did something called a shooter. They had a second bus that went at the bottom of the hour that went straight to the school versus making the route that the yellow would make. But I can, you know, fact check myself on that, how that yellow route is actually working.

But you are absolutely right. The browns it still exists, but it's operated by the county. But the red, you know, coming from, you know, Eastport, the brown as well, and the green, coming straight down West Street. There's still connections to the yellow at the

mall. So, I had all of my colleagues, do do you all have the transportation, everything they've sent over. Right?

Yes.

And, so are you do you any questions on any of this? Or or or okay. Well, I have two quick questions then. Mhmm. Yeah.

And I'll let him get could go after you, but I do have one question. Sorry. I just suddenly got off mute fast enough, but happy to go after you.

Okay. Alright. I'm sorry about that. I'm just looking at the slides. It has on page 11, it has says conceptual budget.

Yes.

I'm curious why something, for example, like the new Carrollton Express, would be pushed out, to year five. Obviously, I do think the microtransit is critically important and, you know, support everything that you've been doing, particularly in Eastport with that. But, I look at the like, New Carrollton is is the only, way to connection to two major cities. I'm wondering what why why that would be, something that would be out so far.

We can take a look at that and get an actual answer from in from, KFH as to why that conceptual budget was put that way for that particular one. I don't have an answer for you, so I'll I'll find out what it what the rationale was, because it's looking at, you know, like, you're reading right there year five parole New Carrollton Express, but it says possible MDOT MTA service. So that's probably what they may, you know, help us out with, there. Wouldn't really be a I would doubt that it would really be ADOT service to New Carrollton. There was a nine twenty one bus run by another company through MDOT that went, from the city of Annapolis to New Carrollton.

I don't know when it stopped, but probably just before the pandemic.

And so as it exists currently, if you want to get from New Carrollton to the city of Annapolis using public transportation, you obviously can't use our buses. And I don't expect us to have a route that connects every hour to New Carrollton. That would be a bit much. But is I'm assuming there's a, a state route that connects to, a city route. And is that in Parole, the town center, or is it Parole Annapolis?

Yeah. One of the things that the county is doing, putting together a transit center, if you will, it was gonna be the West side of the mall off of Bestgate on that side, but it looks like it may be at, Harry Truman Park And Ride because you have Greyhound that comes in, and that's where they go. You have the commuter buses that go to Baltimore and Washington, out of Annapolis, you know, during rush hour during the week, and that's where they're they'll go. So most likely, that'll be the where the hub will be. Once they build that, we will definitely have to rethink how we connect with them. Because right now, as you know, we're on, Jennifer Road by the, JCPenney side

Mhmm.

Across from the, the jewelry store. So don't think ground has been broken yet, but once it does, I think that could be a two and a half, three and a half year project. But we can definitely talk about, what they're doing as well. And I should get you guys a copy of the county's TDP, which they finished, the 2024. And the county is also working on they have a draft, I'll get that to you as well, called Safe Route to Transit.

So there's a bunch of studies that are going on that are studying how we can get there from here. So MTA number 70 bus runs every day. I think it's on a hour and twenty minute headway. That's their longest route. So going to Cromwell to make changes, going to Baltimore to make changes, but that's the long way around if you're going to Fort Meade, New Carrollton, or DC off of rush hour, during the week. Because how do you get there public transportation if it's not if it's a Saturday or middle of the day, when you don't have these commuter routes going?

I'm actually shocked that the county would move the transit hub from the mall to Perry Truman considering that the mall also you know, you wanna con I thought the whole purpose is to connect transit to, you know, the major economic hubs and where, you know, people are going to eat and and and doing business. And Harry Truman is, what, fifteen minutes from the mall by bus?

Yeah. It's, deals with mall management. They really, really wanted it. This has been going on for three or four years. Most likely, it'll still stop there, but that's just where they're gonna build their hub.

Okay.

Because they got parking and all. We will still need to stop there because you're absolutely right. Why would we bypass employment center, a meeting place where you can get so much else there with movies movies and everything else? They really wanted it on the other side, and maybe, we'll be able to get, my my counterpart, Sam Sneed, or somebody from planning, public works and the plant transportation planning to come up and, give us an update on something like that, the translation committee or this committee, wherever we see that you like.

That'd be fantastic. And then my last question, because we talk so much about it with Rex and Parks and and, Playanopolis. With what you've created, which is really, really good, and I'm looking here, with the the microtransit routes and, you know, creating these mobility hubs is, you know, kind of positioning the city into these blocks. How further can funds used, that we'll receive from grants from the state, etcetera, be used to, connect us better to recreational facilities within the city and county, really? And in particularly, just maybe even one one, you know, route that is specifically designed, to connect and connect only to, maybe after school care, in the evenings.

That's a really good question. And what's happening here and even the MTA, Maryland Transit Association, which, agency, which is the thirteenth largest in the country. Anytime you get federal funds, you can't use your service for any kind of charter, whether it's for hire or for free. So it would have to be on a a regularly established route. So the building, they will come, but it's gotta be there.

We could put another bus on there, but rerouting something. And that's what this team was doing. The CDP was looking at what what the needs are, where where we have these unmet needs. And, of course, the the high school is is a big one, because the kids, the majority of them, are coming from our area, within the city. I would say a good 85%.

So what we could, you know, look at as far as building other other routes, or build out, I think we have some money that's maybe, in our amendments that will look at studies from, let's say, for example, even though it's maybe not where you're specifically speaking of, but Bay Ridge to Edgewater. Forest Drive Porter is a big one because we wanna look at safety things of how crosswalks and bus shelters and bus stops line up with everything where it's safer to go. You know, with that shared asset, belonging to the county, the state, and the city, you know, just getting things like, snow removal was, you know, kind of hard for us to to do, you know, safe route for the kids that come off Taylor going right to the middle school. And that's one of the big things that, you know, Parks and Recs and DPW, you know, helped out the county to make sure our kids were safe safe. So we we may wanna look at things that we can actually do that makes sense and how do you actually run it.

Because what the on demand service did was replace two underperforming routes. One was the orange route, which only work only operated Monday through Friday. So we could look at something that we need to do just Monday through Friday. The the thing is with a pulse, you don't your your goal is to run something every thirty minutes. Every forty five minutes to an hour, you know, you get lucky with it, but it's not really taking you where you wanna go when you wanna go.

So looking at the thirty minutes, but on demand service is gonna take you when you wanna go when it's operating. Like, right now, at 08:34, I have a micro transit out there. Our goal is once you make the reservation on your phone or you call the office here, you if you have the downloaded the service, it'll tell you where your bus is and, you know, our goal is twenty minutes or less. And I would say 90% of the time, we're getting twenty minutes less barring traffic, weather, or anything else. Yes.

We've had thirty minutes, you know, certain things going on, boat show or other other, hiccups downtown. But that would be something we wanna do and look at how we expand that geofence to pick up more in the area that you just made mention. So there's opportunities on how we do that from an operating budget. And as Vicky, you know, helped us ex you know, explained to us what, you know, the capital expenditures with, you know, buying land, buying buses, buying things of of that nature, but operating a new route, changing a route that would be, you know, falling under our operating expenses to do this. And one last thing, if I may, looking at transit, like a service, which we are, like a library, which we're not, but, you know, the fares that we get, you know, do clearly do not cover our operating expenses.

So, you know, when we look at, okay. What what about the fare free? But we do take in a fair amount of money also with organizational paid fares like, department of gum DGS and other smaller ones like the detention center, lighthouse shelter, Arundel Lodge. All that combined is about, you know, 290,000 plus our fares. So we go fare free. It'll be our job to kinda figure out where we're gonna make up that, you know, $590,000.

So If we go fair and, Alderman Hartley, I'm so sorry, but the fair free if we go fair free, why would we have to, cut off contract, contractual services? I mean, doesn't the county use a form of fair free and and or do they have to cut off contractual services with these nonprofits?

Or

Well, I think they're probably getting well, see, they're paying us. The the county gives us money because we operate in the county. The other monies that we'll be getting in, which is they're paying for fares for the government or the state employees, so they don't have to go for reimbursement. Those that work in the, government, offices downtown and park at the, stadium. That's called the state shuttle that operates Monday through Friday.

The other ones are paying for the service to give to those folks that are in the, lighthouse shelter, detention center. So if it's free, there's no need to give them anything. So that's the thing that I hear what you're saying. Well, if it's a pilot, maybe they'll still give us money. Well, we can only ask that of the state, but chances are if it's free, somebody in their accounting office is gonna say, well, why are we paying?

Okay. I get that. Yeah.

It's a thought. You know, it's a possibility. The county may still give us money, but those that agency paid, organizational paid fares, I doubt it. Because they're paying for the fare, you know, that's there.

Okay. I I really appreciate, you you you take taking this time. Alderman Huntley?

I was just going to ask because we were talking earlier about, the transit to schools. Director Moore, this is not in the plan, but, I grew up in Baltimore where we didn't have school buses. Right? We just the public transit takes you to school. And given what you're saying about the majority of the residents for Annapolis High going to or, sorry, coming from the city where we have a fairly robust public transportation system, I know we're always working on making it better.

And also knowing that the county for a long time has had a really hard time getting enough school bus drivers, has anybody floated the idea of city students taking city public transit to their high school rather than taking school buses?

Yeah. That's their personal choice, and they do. They have, done it. And as I made mention with, a delegate well, it was, you know, older woman, Shanika Henson, making it even easier. I can actually provide you with statistics because we have a electronic fare box that we count categories of riders of how many, ride each day, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or each day.

I get a report each month that'll show me how many students wrote in, let's just say, the month of April. It's over a thousand. They are riding, but it's free, like I made mention, from 6AM to going to 6PM for the after school stuff. Outside of those hours, it's $1. But I think, we have all the other schools covered, whether it's Bates, you know, Georgetown East, Annapolis Middle Elementary.

Most are middle schools that are well, Annapolis Middle is the one that's most heavily used. And, Bates, coming up down West Street, with on the on the green and the, magenta shuttle. The high school, like I said, is a little trickier because you gotta transfer at the mall. They can get off at the corner of Forest And Riva, and it's, you know, maybe three quarters of a mile. They gotta cross Riva, but, yeah, they're in high school now.

But that hearing, Alderman Huntley, that is something that we'd like to, you know, look at a little deeper, and, I think the county has as well. But there's continues to be more studies that, are being put together from other transportation planners on both sides, currently from I forgot the the name of the organization that the county is using right now.

Interesting. Yeah. Thanks. I just, was kind of thinking, look. If if they're struggling, excuse me, if they're struggling to meet service and we have a way that we could be meeting it, maybe it makes sense to have them spend some of that money that they're spending on school buses, on our buses, and strengthen city transportation networks while inculcating good public transit habits in our, young people. But just, just sort of throwing it out there.

Yep. Still a very good option for sure.

Thank you.

Alderman Sandenbauer.

Thank you, mister chair. I have two one question and one point. So one, I do really wanna push back on the whole. It takes us fifteen minutes to go down Riva for these buses. I'm on Reva three days a week, man.

Not done. Because I I go out of Truman Park and Radford by a commuter ride bus, and we really are having a gap in service to getting our kids into Annapolis High. And, I do think the benefits of going that route outweigh the cons. The actual planning of how and what the circulation goes, I I do leave to the professionals, but I really think we need to add that as a full time route to the benefit of our students.

We can look at it. And I I didn't mean it takes fifteen minutes to get there. It's like you're you're you're throwing it off from where you're getting to the mall to connect with the other routes. We just have to make changes with the other. It's only, three quarters of a mile down, and certain times making those turns to come out of, the heritage turnaround. Because now your terminus point to go back the other way is still the mall. So going down, no, it doesn't take fifteen. You're absolutely right. You might be able get there in three or four, but then making your way back down to the mall, your your whole route could be off, you know, twelve to fifteen minutes or maybe just ten. But just ten, when we have bad traffic, starts throwing the monkey wrenches. But that's something worth looking into for sure.

Yeah. The second question is, so is that federal funding and the need for these development of a plan every five years, is that why it's so hard to just change routes and adapt on the fly when we see these needs pop up?

No. Not at all. They're they're just giving a look on what to do, because they're not you know, they they can come up with what you see conceptual budget. We can do anything along the way with the monies, that we have, because, you know, it may just, you know, cost a little bit more for operation operation operational cost may be a little bit more. Another driver, another, bus, another, you know, gallon of gas per hour, per day, per route, you know, kind of thing when you look at your budget.

But, no, we don't have to wait for that. It's this is just required for, you know, to be in compliance with, the budget, excuse me, the federal funds that we get. Now we can make, we can study something now and look at, you know, making doing a pilot with it in, you know, x amount of time once we look at what that cost would be, staffing, you know, operationally, what does that look like? So, no, we don't have to wait. No. We don't have to wait five more years for sure.

Right. Thank you.

I I the thing I just find most interesting about this is that a thousand students a month ride the bus. That's insane. And, I think, again, we this has been a productive conversation from the front that everything we have discussed tonight is in in surrounded by our kids, and their need to, you know, access, efficient transportation. And I don't know. I think but I think we're moving in the right direction, though, for sure.

I know a lot of people that take advantage of the on demand, rides and particularly in Eastport. And so, yeah, I I I appreciate this. Any other questions from the committee on the transit development? Seeing none, director Moore, did you wanna close out with anything?

No. I just wanted to have the opportunity, and thank you, Alderman, Gabe, for giving me that to, share more about what's actually going on in the transit world and the transit development plan, what it means, but talking more with our, our our peers, over in the county and how we can make this work for everyone. That's our biggest thing. These invisible borders need to be knocked down. The county has a little bit deeper pockets than we do as a city. And as we go into the county, we would hope that they could come in more into the city to do that reciprocal environment, to do something like that.

Thank you very, very much. I guess, this will be then our 1725 is gonna go to the full council because it went to the other three committees. I was the last to hear it, so, it should be there in, the June meeting.

That's June 9.

June 9. June Alright. No other questions. We will close out on, forgetting what ID this is. Sorry.

This isn't an ID. It's a resolution, mister chair.

So we I'm sorry. Yeah. We'll close out our resolution. R seventeen twenty five. Is there a motion to make a favorable recommendation to the, full council?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Is there a motion to make a motion to is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, none. Have a good one.

Bye, everybody.