Public Safety Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. It is 06:31 on July 7, and I called to order the standing committee for public safety here in the city council chambers. And at this time, we'll have roll call. Alderman Gay, I see your lips moving, but I didn't hear you, but you're present. Alderman O'Neill.

Present.

And yours truly. We will move on to business oh, excuse me. Approval of the agenda. Any changes to the agenda should be made here. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

Motion to

All in favor? Aye. Aye. I hear no opposition. It is approved. The next order of business is business and miscellaneous approval of the minutes PSC six three twenty five special meeting minutes. Can I get a motion to approve these minutes from our June meeting?

Motion to approve. Second? Seconded.

Right. Because mister because Aldmigay wasn't here. All in favor, aye. Aye. I hear no opposition. Next order. General discussion, ID3525, Annapolis Fire Department update. And we have chief Romali and deputy chief Lomes Lopez. Excuse me.

Good evening.

Good evening.

As he's pulling that up, we'll, cover some statistics for last month. So for June, the department ran, responded to 1,198 calls for service. 871 of those were EMS calls, 291 were fire related, one hazmat, 29 rescues, and six service calls. So that's our monthly stats for June. I know that there's a lot of social media posting out there, which some of the public is getting concerned about with the fire department.

And I just wanted to reassure everybody on the council that the fire department is not doing anything different. We are responding to emergencies every day. We continue to handle the first call first. We are continuing to beat or exceed the national response times, which are the NFPA standard. A lot of the social media posts revolves around the current budget process and the approved budget where we had asked for additional personnel.

We do not meet the national standard when it comes to staffing levels. That national standards suggest four persons for an engine company, four persons for a truck company. So that is for fire suppression activities. As fire chief, I would tell you that we need to get to that level at some point. But currently, with the budget process the way it was, that would was an enhancement did not come through.

I can reassure the public, though, that we are responding to every call for service. There was some social media post about our response to the Naval Academy. The Annapolis Fire Department has a robust mutual aid agreement with our partners throughout the state, but especially with Anne Arundel County Fire Department and the United States Naval Academy, which is Naval District Washington. We respond to incidents day in and day out together. Every day, Indianapolis fire department has to have a minimum of 25 people working to staff our four fire stations.

If we get a structure fire in the city of Annapolis, we need at least 25 people on that call. We cannot handle an incident by ourselves when it comes to a structure fire. We don't have enough people working and enough apparatus and service to handle that. So our mutual aid program works very well with that. That includes responses to EMS calls.

Yes. There was a incident at the Naval Academy where they called for additional units. They got what was it's called an EMS task force, which will give you four transport units, four paramedic units, fire suppression unit, a battalion chief, an EMS officer. And actually, for that EMS task force, they also get a mass casualty bus, which comes from Anne Arundel County, which was also responding to that incident. Our battalion chief on that incident realized that all four of our transport units were tied up right away, and contacted the dispatchers, and they were having units transfer into the city.

So it's not like there's a response where nobody would have handled that call. That call would have been handled. We also send our suppression pieces because as you on the council know, we get questions all the time. Why is there a fire engine on an EMS call? It's because we're gonna send the closest EMS personnel to that, and that's gonna be the firefighters and paramedics that are riding their fire apparatus also that can provide emergency medical services and treatment.

Like I said earlier, we are meeting and exceeding the national response times for those calls. We are handling the calls every single day. Yes. The enhancement was in there for the peak time medic unit because we know with hospital wait times and the stresses on our people that we need that unit, and that unit is, where the department also views we need to be. Seventy five percent of all incidents that we respond to are EMS related calls.

But I think a lot of the social media post is related not only to the peak time medic unit, but also to the suppression personnel that need to be added to suppression pieces of the firefighters that needed to be added to get those four person crews. We meet that standard by sending so many units to calls because we can actually put two units together to create to take care of a task on an incident scene. That's how we're meeting it. But like I said, we are below the standard when it comes to those staffing levels. We'd like to continue to work with the council and National Association of Firefighters Local nineteen twenty six to see what we can do in the future to, add personnel within the department.

But you as council members know, I asked for 10 people. That's over $1,000,000 in the budget that was not approved. To get to where we need to be ultimately, we would need an additional 25 to 30 people. So we're talking at least $3,000,000 increase to the budget. So being fiscally responsible, we need to figure out how we can do that over time to get there.

But, I just thought it was important to bring that up to you because I know that there's a lot of social media posts. There's some media posts from the media itself that's been asking questions of the council people, and I think we need to continue to keep the dialogue open, continue to move forward, and I can assure you that we are responding to every call for service that comes up. I think what's going on is that what makes our department so great are the personnel that work there. They wear so many hats, and you've heard me say this day in and day out. They wear so many hats, and that's what allows us to be an all hazards organization and respond to any type of incident, whether it's a fire, EMS call, hazmat call, marine service call, bomb squad response.

It's all there, and it's because of the hats that everybody wears within the department. Sooner or later, we get to the point where we're doing so much with less that you you get to that breaking point, and I think that's where a lot of the social media post is coming from and some of the concerns that's being raised by the union. But I just felt that it was important because I knew questions were gonna come up. But once again, we, as the administration in the city of Annapolis, can reaffirm that no call is gonna be not met, and we're gonna continue to respond to incidents every single day.

Yeah. Alderman O'Neill.

Thank you very much.

Mhmm.

Thank you for that. That was going to be one of my questions for you this evening. And I I just wanna say this, during the budget hearings that we had, I feel that may perhaps in some way, there was either a misunderstanding and or a downplaying of what was actually being requested and asked for. Because when I went back through my notes, which I think notebook's full as we're talking, one of the things that led part of our discussion was the fact that we were increasing overtime because you had staff that were out either injured or sick or taking classes where we don't necessarily want to fill that position because once that person comes back from leave or comes back from their additional certification, then it would be sort of seen as excess. And I I'm understanding that you're not up to national standards as far as the number of people served.

But I I get frustrated when I see the union reps basically telling us that we didn't pay any attention to you when we had a lot of discussion about we're giving you additional overtime and making sure that the equipment that you had was there knowing full well that the ask for additional units is a $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 ask that we're just trying to find. Like so I think that as we go forward and are talking about things, having had exact numbers or perhaps talking a little bit more about what that need meant, you know, six people have heat exhaustion in the Naval Academy, we send four units. To me, that seems excessive, but I'm not a firefighter. So how it's portrayed to the public and how it's discussed with the public is just as important as what we are doing on this side of the diocese. But I appreciate that you're trying to be open and talk more about what it is exactly.

Since I've been fire chief, we've been staffing at a minimum staffing level of 25 people. Before I became chief, our staffing level was lower than that. So for the last five years, we've maintained that staffing level of 25 people. What happens is the truck company at the esports station, which is the latter truck, is the the one that bends in the middle and has drivers on both ends of it. We cross staff multiple units throughout the city, and that's that's how we can accomplish the first call of service.

That truck company, when we are out of medic units, has to get off the ladder truck and take the medic unit on the call if they're in the building. So sometimes I think that causes some frustration and concerns that, the truck is not gonna be available to respond to a call. But with that that twenty five minuteimum staffing has allowed us to keep the truck in service and and do that. The additional staffing that's needed to get to the four people and all the overtime that we talked about wouldn't cover any of that. We're we're just battling every day to maintain our minimum staffing of 25.

Now I will tell you that we're doing something right because we don't have people running out the door to leave the Indianapolis Fire Department. We are basically fully staffed. Right now, I have two openings, and that's because two people just left within the last month. We don't have the issues that some of our surrounding jurisdictions have with filling spots and putting people in the academy. We have the same issues that all jurisdictions around us have, and that's trying to find people that are already qualified as paramedics and bringing them on board.

It's sort of like the issue you have with the police department with hiring personnel, and where they have to give signing bonuses because everybody's looking for the same people. Our salaries are getting where we were we were very competitive before at that level. Our salaries are starting to fall behind when it comes to hiring paramedics. But that's just a a national concern that's out there and keep going. But I I still reiterate that we must be doing something right because people aren't leaving our department every day, and they're not going somewhere else.

I understand the frustration. I understand some of the concerns that are there. I also understand your job as a council and what you have to do to balance the budget. I, too, think there's some misnomers out there because you're hearing about how fundings was there for sidewalks and flowers. I understand that that's coming from one time funding sources. You can't hire personnel to do that. So I do believe that as we move forward and continue to work with the union and the administration, we'll have to come up with some creative ways to to move us forward. If you remember last year, the same enhancement was in there. It was for less people. It was for the peak time medic unit.

The council and the mayor allowed us to put in for federal grant to direct that would assist us with bringing people on board. But in the long run, the city would have to pick it up in the future, and that grant was a 100% salaries for two years. And then the city had would have to pick it up after there. Unfortunately, we didn't get that grant. The federal government ran out of money. Yeah. They funded so many of those positions, and we didn't get it. The grant has changed this go around. This go around is not a 100% grant. It's, there's a match to it.

So if we were to get the 10 positions under the safer grant, which is staffing for firefighters grant, the city would have to pay for 25% of those salaries for the first two years, and I believe 65% the third year, and then the fourth year has to pick up a 100% of those. But even when it comes to those grants, we're competing with jurisdictions all throughout The United States, and all the jurisdictions have the same type of issues. So, that is out there. So understanding the budget process and the concerns you have, the only thing I can say is yes. The enhancement was there.

We we discussed it. It didn't move forward in the mayor's proposed budget. And then after the council deliberations, it didn't move forward there. There's reasons for that. And then coming up with the funding is what we're gonna have to continue to work on in the future. And I think everybody has the same goal. We wanna make sure that we're adequately staffed, and that the safety of our personnel is the most important. But we have to do it being fiscally responsible and figuring out how to do it if it's adding a couple people every year over the next so many years. If the council approves that, that may be the way to move forward. But we have to sit down and have serious discussions on how that can occur, and we know it.

We all know. And and the union also knows that it it they're not looking for this to happen overnight. They're not looking for you to hire 30 some people, but I just I know that the, the back and forth in the social media sometimes takes a zone of its own and continues to move forward. And that's why I thought it was important just to remind everybody that we're not doing anything different. We have an excellent department. We have the best people in the world working for us. They are dedicated. They may be a little tired, but, they're gonna continue to respond to all emergency scenes.

Thank you.

Thank you, chief. And, Alderman Gay, do you have any questions?

I do very quickly. Can you hear me fine?

Yes. Go right ahead. We can hear you.

Thank you. My first question is, you mentioned, obviously, officers being oh, I'm sorry. Fire firefighters being tired and, struggling with, you know, possible morale issues, in the department, and within the union. I'm I'm just curious. How do you navigate that? And is there something the council can do, to remedy that outside of, obviously, peak time, crude that you need.

So currently, about all we can do is continue to have the dialogue and figure out how we can improve this for future assets and responses within the city. There's not a overall magic potion or anything you can throw a bunch of money at currently that we don't have. So we have to sit down and and work through the process with them, sit down with the union. As you are aware and as part of our presentation, we're we're in the middle of doing a strategic plan, and we're looking for buy in from everybody. We have a very good core of people, and Keith Lopez will go into it a little more in our presentation that are involved in it, but we actually hired a third party to come in and help us with the strategic plan.

So this isn't Doug Ramelli's strategic plan and vision for the Indianapolis Fire Department. It's not the International Association of Firefighters Local nineteen twenty six vision of the department. It's wholehearted bringing everybody in to get together. We're bringing in a certifying agency who certifies fire services throughout The United States to assist us and help us with the strategic plan, and we are in the middle of that. And like I said, when we go into presentations, we'll talk a little bit about some of the meetings coming up and the surveys that are going out there.

And we're hoping that the strategic plan covers that and really looks at the way we're responding to incidents now. Do we need to change our responses? Do we need to change the equipment that we're running currently? So all that's a factor that we need to continue with our partnership and continue with our personnel to see what's the best interest of everybody involved.

Second, just question. The the 1,100, calls for the month, is that abnormal, or is that typical for, you know, the summer months? And then and part of that, is there training funding provided from HR? You mentioned having trouble finding, people that are, you know, certified paramedics. Is is there training provided, to your department, to get people qualified in that so then you could bring on, this the appropriate staff necessary?

So in the in the current budget, you, the budget that you approved as the council, there is training money in the budget there that if we need to send people to paramedic school, we can do that. We currently have two two people in paramedic school. One of them is in Howard County. One of them is going to Anne Arundel Community College, and we have two more starting within the next three months, I believe. So what happens is that we lose those individuals for one to two years from the field.

So they're they go to they're going away to training for that period of time to get those certifications. So that goes against our staffing levels, which you helped us with because we increased our overtime budget to cover those, but we have to pay overtime for those people because we don't have we don't have personnel just laying around that we can just throw at a position. We've have always been this way. 92% or or higher of our budget is all salaries and benefits, and that's to get the fire engines and the medic units on the street every day, and that's where it is. It's it's costly.

But, the money is within our budget if it comes time to send people to paramedic school. We're looking for people that have paramedic certification already to try to bring them on board because that saves us so much money. It's just they're they're hard to come by right now. And, no, there's not money in HR's budget that if we were gonna do signing bonuses or something, we would have to figure out how to do that similar to like you're doing for the police department.

Thank you. I I appreciate it. And and I guess just in closing, it's and, obviously, you've made it clear it's not to the point where, you know, the council would need to put emergency funds aside to, bring in staff.

Well, I'd love it if the council could find funds to get me some more additional personnel, and we would put them to work as soon as possible. But, we are not doing anything that we weren't doing last year or the year before that. We are responding to these incident scenes. We are staffing at the same level every day. We haven't been asked to reduce that number, because of budget constraints, so we we continue to respond to incidents.

Alderman Gay, any more questions?

No, ma'am. Not at this point. Okay.

Thank you.

So I have one more that you're gonna be very interested in. However, it's gonna be short notice to try to make it happen. So I've been asked for years now from the council how we can get more people from the Annapolis area involved in public safety, and we know that that's that's something hard to do. And we looked at the internship program that the city has to see if there was some way that we could train some people to be firefighters and get them involved in the service, and it's just hard to do over the summer program. But I am proud to say working with the mayor's office and the administration, HR, that we've come up with a partnership with not only the city of Annapolis, the Annapolis Fire Department, the, Annapolis Professional Firefighters Local nineteen twenty six, the University of Maryland Fire Rescue Institute, and the Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation, which is DSCI, who has a nine month program for basically interns that they this is their second cohort that they're doing.

And what happens is they bring in these interns. They go through a qualification process where they actually put in an application. They have interviews, and they're during the interview process, it's determined on what skills they might have. And then they go throughout the state to certain businesses and other other type of work jobs to really focus on 18 24 year olds that are freshly out of high school that may not be going to college that are looking for a trade. And what happens with this program is it's a paid program where you bring these people in there and you train them to the, positions that they're looking for.

And with this agreement, we are partnering with the all these agencies, and we are planning on bringing in 10 interns to put them through actually a fire school. It'd be a career fire school where they get national certifications, national training, just like any other career firefighter would go. So it's Monday through Friday. It's a forty hour work week. They're paid a minimum wage.

They're paid basically at minimum wage salaries, but they're actually being paid to learn these these trades. As fire chief, my only concern is I hate to put somebody through a program and then not not have an overall goal for them in the fire service because this is unique. This has never been done in the state of Maryland before. But we are working with our partners around us. We've talked to other jurisdictions that if there aren't any vacancies in the city of Annapolis at the time, that they'll come out with their national certifications, and they will have the opportunity to possibly be picked up with surrounding jurisdiction if we can't pick them up.

It is a pretty good commitment for us as the Indianapolis Fire Department, but we're willing to take it on and partnering with the state and Maryland Fire Rescue Institute will help bring in instructors to help with the instruction and at the the cost of the city. There is a cost involved coming out of our budget, but the, the salaries and all will be coming from the state. And, actually, if they successfully complete the program, they get a $6,000 bonus at the end of it. So it's a good program out there. Within the next couple days, I'm gonna send something to every council member so you understand what the program is.

But if you have somebody from your ward that you think would be good for public safety, now it's it's an intense program, and they have to pass every part of it. They have to be physically fit. They have to academics. But, you as council members will be able to make recommendations for for somebody also. So I'll be getting you that information, within the next couple of days. We have a meeting tomorrow because it's a it's a pretty quick turnaround. It's it starts in September, this cohort, but the opportunity is there. So that is on a side note is something that's, that's very good for the community, and, hopefully, we can get some people involved in the fire service. And they will come out with some national certifications and, hopefully, be able to get hired in the fire service.

Chief, with that being said, several things I wanna say. Number one, is there gonna be some sort well, I know there's gonna be an application process, but there's something that you can give us that we can give to those who might be interested that entices them to possibly join, this program and be a part of it.

Yeah. That's the plan of the email. I hope to get out within the next couple days, which will have a link for them to go in and to apply and also have a link that if you wanna sponsor somebody for the program that you can recommend them for sponsorship. They still have to go through the process and the interview process, and ultimately, our interview board will pick the 10 individuals involved. But, that that will all be part of it. So yes.

That's fantastic news. What I would say a couple of things. Number one, as we enter into this program, if there is some cost involved from the city side, then we as council people need to know what the cost is because if we wanna integrate it into some sort of, you know, extenuating circumstances budget, even in the upcoming budget or next year's budget, we will already be prepared because why I'm saying that is, yes, you have the $6,000 bonus, but there may be some other, I'll say, financial enticement that we can offer to make sure that those 10 stay with us. Not to say that the other departments don't need them or they may wanna go there, but we need to sweeten the pot, so to speak, to make sure that we get those 10 on board with us. And if we can do that, but also include it, and I'm sure you will, in your strategic plan because this is all part of what you're doing looking ahead and looking forward because this is really phenomenal news.

And I think this is the probably one of the best situations I've heard since being on a council where we're actually gonna have an aggressive plan to get ten ten folks to to come on board. And I think financial wise, budget wise, whatever wise you wanna call it, there should be something on our end that we can provide that, like I said, sweeten the pot for those who gonna who gonna apply.

Yeah. We're still working with the mayor's office and HR to utilize funding that is in the current budget to handle it. And then anything beyond that, we would be coming back to the council to have a discussion to see if it's something we can do.

Okay. Something on top of the the the cherry on top of that Yes, ma'am. The icing on the cake. So I think I think that's great. One other thing I wanna ask, and I think I know the answer to that this, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. I'm assuming that this issue we've been hearing about lately does not affect our class one certification.

Now currently, we are an ISO class one fire department. Part of that ISO process does include responses from mutual aid companies that allows us to get to that that level. But, yes, currently, are not in danger of losing that certification.

And can you just give us a little synopsis of why not?

So the ISO classification doesn't really take into effect emergency medical responses. So that's something totally different. So what you're hearing about the peak time medic unit, that the union is telling you the truth that it's, it it doesn't affect our ISO rating because it medical responses aren't part of that. That that all is fire related, it has to do with water supply, communications, response response times, the equipment that we have. And while we are not meeting that national standard for the number of people on the suppression pieces, it's the number of people we sent to that incident scene is allowing us to continue to to maintain that certification until we get there.

Okay. I would also, I guess, recommend that we have some sort of incremental plan as we go along just globally when we're thinking about and talking about, enticing young folks to become a part of this maybe. And that's all part of the street strategic plan as well. But maybe for future, public safety meetings, we could kinda get an update on how we're progressing, along this route. If there's anybody on the council who, can add a little bit to it and what else we might think about doing, that would be great because we always evolve and we wanna add whatever we can add to make it to make it better, and that would be great.

Because, like you said, the social media is out there, but when we bring in the facts but also bring in additional information, like you've brought to us today, that should quell a lot of that. It probably won't, but I'm hopeful. But I think getting that information out and what we're doing, I think, is is extraordinarily helpful for everybody. At the very least, it calms the the emotions of of the residents and visitors and those and businesses as well. So if it does nothing more than that, which is a lot, I think it it it's well worth it.

Thank you.

Thank you. Alderman Savage, do you have any oh, Alderman Gay, you have another question?

Quickly. Yeah. First, thank you so much. Firstly, I just wanna congratulate the chief and his entire staff on the creation of that program. It sounds fantastic, and it's definitely something that you've talked about, you know, long term and and making sure that, firefighter personnel can be from this, can or from the city of Annapolis' and communities within our city. So congratulations on that. I'm extremely, you know, proud of the department there. I I did just two quick questions, as it relates to this, you know, ongoing issue. I'm wondering, you said, you know, we are obviously not meeting the national standards. Where do we fall?

And if there was a tier system, are we in the bottom half or are we in the top half with, you know, with room for improvement? And then also, can we hire like, if you were to get a million and a half this in, like, emergency supplemental appropriation or something of the sorts, would you maybe you be able to hire half of the staff to alleviate overtime costs, or do you need the entire $2,500,000 at one time?

So the it depends on where we wanna get. If we wanna get to the peak time medic unit, then the overtime costs are not gonna decrease. So, the peak time medic unit there's two conversations that need to be taken here. One is the peak time medic unit as I view it, and we'll continue to look at the stats with our planning chiefs and deputy chief Lopez. I don't necessarily and the number of people we put in for would not staff a a fifth medic unit twenty four hours a day.

We were looking at a peak time unit to cover those high volume call times that we know we have during the week. With that though, I truly believe, and we've had these conversations during the budget, that with EMS billing, that at least half of the cost for the personnel for that peak time unit would be picked up by EMS billing. So that that conversation with the peak time medic unit is totally separate than that national standard of four personnel on the fire suppression side. And we're struggling to maintain our 25 personnel daily to keep with our minimum staffing. So I don't know that hiring additional people if if we hired additional people and didn't increase our staffing, yes, the overtime cost would go down.

But if our goal is to continue to get to where we need to be be for the national standard for the suppression pieces, it's not gonna reduce any overtime cost because we need to add additional people as we have to we need more people working every day. Did I explain it well enough, do think?

I do. I I just I thought that there could be a, you know, a temporary solution. But as you do as you've just explained it, you need to hire, the additional staff, you know, overtime would not be affected. So So

I think we also need to remember that for every person we hire, every new position we put in, we have to hire 1.5 people. So if if we need two people to staff this medic unit for the peak time, if it's a day work crew, then we need to hire at least three to make that work because people take off and stuff. So, to get to that that four persons on a truck company or four four positions, so just say we're gonna take the esport truck and add a fourth person every day. So we have four different shifts, so we need to hire four people. But for those four people, we have to hire at least six to cover those four positions, if not seven.

So it's just a staffing factor that we have to keep in mind there. And there's that fine line when you talk to finance between overtime and a new position. And our overtime is is working well for us right now because we're staffing current positions. But if we're adding positions to increase our staffing, then we that's a different talk that we have to have, and I don't know that it's gonna decrease the overtime account.

Anything else, Alderman Gay?

No, ma'am. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Alderman Savage, do you have any question?

No. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Oh, continue.

Alright. Well, we'll quickly go through our presentation here.

Yeah.

So, overall, this is the the citywide response for Wards 5 And 7. We combined them. We didn't separate them, so they're all in this one presentation. So we'll go over that. We'll go over our operational challenges and give you an update on the new apparatus that was approved in the budgets over the last three years, and chief Lopez will go into the strategic plan update.

So for this Ward 5, for 2024, we had 691 responses to that ward, which was just below 9% of all calls in the city of Annapolis, and they were the eighth busiest ward in the city. So this year, you'll see that so far this year, we've had over 3,700 responses, 350 to that ward, which is just 5% of the calls there that we've responded to in it. So Ward 7, which I'm sure the older person like to hear about here. We had 797 responses in 2024, which was 12% of all city responses, and they were the fourth busiest ward, in the of all the wards out there. So this year, we've responded to over 3,000 calls, just under 4,000 calls in that area, which is well, I'm sorry.

Out of the 3,000 calls we've run, 507 have been in that area, which is about 7% and a half percent of all of our responses. That ward is unique because that ward is the first two station, is the combination station that the Anne Arundel County owns. So the fire suppression unit out of that station is run that is is a county crew, and the medic unit and EMS supervisor are actually city crews, but they are the first to respond to Ward 7, that that ward. This is just the one you see every time. 2024, we had a very low fire loss.

We'd like to continue that. So far this year, it's been pretty low. Hope so, hopefully, the fires that we respond to are not in the city of Annapolis, but I can't guarantee you that. It's always a roll of the dice. Operational challenges, truthfully, in both of those wards, majority of it is residential areas. We don't have a lot of operational concerns there. The streets are wide enough for us to make access to the buildings. It's not like the lower end of Eastport and some of the downtown areas. We can get our apparatus in and out of there, and it's not a a big challenge for us when it comes to operational concerns. Just some real quick on the apparatus updates.

That bar engine that we ordered posted three years ago is at the upfitters currently to which is building the map box and the the equipment that's gonna be attached to the unit is actually up the upfitter, so they have to make the the brackets and any other specialized equipment for that. So we hope that engine will be in service before August 1. The medic unit for the the Annapolis next station, represents Ward 7 there, that medic unit is well underway. We hope to have that in the next three months. It's going to the paint shop, and then it's gonna be placed on the chassis.

The medic for the Forest Drive station, was ordered before the medic of forty eight, probably won't be received here in the city of Annapolis until after the first of the year. And then the new fireboat, which you approved in last year's budget, will is about a year out, so we plan on CNN in probably July, but it has gone to construction. And before we get to the strategic plan, were there any questions about the wards in general? Did you have anything?

None?

All yours, chief Lopez.

Good evening. So to summarize what we've done in the past, we still started a strategic plan. The last one was in 2004. We used the CPSC, the public safety excellence model, for doing our internal process. We established a committee, diverse cross section of, members, including the union and officers.

Internal stakeholder surveys and focus groups have been ongoing. They started in the March time frame, and we just completed our last one. However, as the chief mentioned, we recently brought in a third party contractor, and the third party is the Center for Public Safety Excellence. So the the organization whose model we use for developing our internal process, we have hired to take us to the finish line. And they are, as has been publicized in our social media, holding some external surveys and focus groups.

The focus groups will be the morning of and lunchtime of the fourteenth of this month, and they will be hosted at the Eastport Firehouse Volunteer Hall. Emails have gone out to both council members and community leadership members to try and get participation. Just as a point of reference, to date, I've had two responses. Just saying. We it's open until, or what that we're trying to get as much participation for Monday.

The survey the survey has gone out. There there's a QR code and there is a link. The survey itself was developed by CPSC. We have we're sending it out. We're distributing it for them.

They are getting the information and then they will provide it to this analysis to the internal group on the fifteenth. The internal group that has been meeting for the last few months will meet with CPSC the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth at eSport for at least eight hours, three days in a row, using their model, and we'll put together a summary document which will get us to our September goal of providing a draft document to the fire chief to review, and then in October, have it presented to the city council. Yes. So as I was mentioning the two in person sessions will be Monday July 14. One session is 09:30 to eleven the other session is 11:30 to one at Eastport.

There is a QR code that we have made available for the survey, is separate from the in person session. So there's two separate ways to from the community to get information to the fire service. The survey will be open through Friday. This Friday will close. Information from the survey and then the information from the in person sessions that CPSC will lead on Monday the fourteenth will then be compiled and provided to the committee on the fifteenth so we can start working on our mission statement, our vision statement, core values, and working towards developing the remainder of the strategic plan.

Question. Yes. Just for a point of information, just FYI, can you send us the what was that? 2,005 was the last time? We 2004 that we had a survey done? Do you can you send that to us?

I have it electronically, and I can do that. Yes.

That'd be great. I'd just like Not see

a problem.

Certainly. You will see when you review it, there while we have not accomplished all of the goals from twenty years ago, we have accomplished quite a few over the last twenty years. And that is not uncommon. Thank you.

Open for questions. Alderman O'Neil. No question. Alderman Gay, do you have any questions?

No, ma'am. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Alderman Savage, do you have any questions? No. Alright. Thank you all so very, much. Great news. Really do appreciate it. Next item on the agenda is ID 3625, office of emergency management update by OEM. And we have chief Simmons. Good evening, sir.

Alright.

Excuse me, chief. Can you turn your mic on?

Can you hear me now?

Yes, sir.

Kevin Simmons, emergency manager for the city of Annapolis. So multiple meetings in public safety, we've talked about the food Friday program. That is a program that, during the pandemic, we we noticed it was food insecurity with a lot of our residents. And it was born a little before the pandemic but expanded during the pandemic. And it's a lot of value in this program and it's been it's been going strong ever since and and its numbers are increasing every year.

So we distribute approximately about 300 boxes of food every week to support 890 Annapolitans facing food insecurity. We typically do this out of Pipmoria Gymnasium. However, due to the summer programs, we've moved to the Eastport Firehouse until the end of the summer. And all the women O'Neil is the organizer who helps us out with this program. So talking about Ward 5 and Ward 7, here are their Food Friday statistics.

Boxes prepared for Ward 5 is nine, seven is 30, Total persons served 32 in Ward 5, fifty in Ward 7 that includes five families in Ward 5 and three in Ward 7. So individual boxes which take care of one to four persons. We have three in Ward 5 and twenty seven in Ward 7. And seniors, two Ward 5 and thirty two in Ward 7, and most of them are along the Edgewood Road corridor where we were picking up a lot of seniors and it seems to increase every week. And children that benefit from this from this program, it's 17 in Ward 5 and eight in Ward 7.

Ward 5 has an additional four boxes that get picked up by folks. We don't deliver to them. They come and pick it up, which serves additional seven children and one senior. Anything else on that, alderwoman O'Neil? Okay. We got things covered. So here's a here's a map of that kinda outlines with the pinkish reddish dots where we actually deliver food in Ward 5 and Ward 7. Any questions on the Food Friday program? Yes, sir.

On the seventh.

Thank you, madam chair. What kind of outreach do you do for Food Friday program?

No.

We we do it we do it on the on the website. We just updated the website and all. We do it through the Office of Community Services. We do it through, social services. Everybody kinda knows about our program. We service, folks in Annapolis only, and we service every ward.

And I mean, so it's targeted presumably towards folks who actually need it, right?

As best as best we can. Have these discussions all the time.

Yeah. And it looks like you have an ward seven high concentration in Bay Forest Apartments.

Yeah. For the seniors mostly. Yes.

Seniors. Yeah.

So it's becoming a challenge. We're increasing at a pace that we cannot meet. So what we have done is that we looked at all of the pantries in the city of Annapolis, and we're starting to pull in partners. Pastor Cheryl Menendez was was a good example. We we called on her.

And where we would go to Robinwood, we we let her take Robin Wood, and that allows us to to have more space for other folks, other places in in Annapolis. What we're doing is we're getting a a listing of all the food pantries, which pretty much get their food from the same source, the Anne Arundel County Food Bank, and we wanna partner with them instead of instead of serving the same customer. You know, we'll we'll we'll divvy it out. You know, you take Robin Wood, you take Clay Street, and then that'll open us up to service other folks instead of duplicating efforts.

That's all I have.

Any other questions on Food Friday? Let's talk a little bit about substance use disorder update, Wards 5 and Ward 7, the end of year report. Start with Ward 5. Compared to previous years, Ward Fives reported overdoses in 2024 was tied for the second lowest since we began documentation in 2015. So in 2015 ward five had one overdose and in 2022 they had two, in 2024 they had two overdoses.

So it's it's kind of tied for second and the lowest amount of overdoses that we had in in Ward 5. Are there more overdoses than two? Probably. But recorded documented overdoses, we have two. Ward 5 was tied for the lowest number of overdoses compared to other wards.

Ward the the lowest was Wards 5 And 7 at two apiece. Second was Ward 8 with five, and third was Ward 1 with seven, and then fourth was Ward 2 with nine. There was one fatal overdose reported in Ward 5 and is still pending disposition from the medical examiner. Narcan uses usage was reported to have been, used in in one of the two overdoses that Ward 5 had. So the locations of the overdoses in Ward 5, so on Forest Drive and Rockwell Court.

So if you're looking at the city as a whole last year in 2024, we had eighty overdoses with eleven fatals. Seven in Ward 1, nine in Ward 2, eighteen in Ward 3, Ward 4 had twenty two, two in Ward 5, fifteen in Ward 6, two in Ward 7, and five in Ward 8. So the demographics, if you go by age one overdose was in the twenty five to thirty four age range and the other one was in the thirty five to forty four. These age ranges align with the historical trends citywide in 2018, the twenty five to thirty four year old age range has either led or tied for the lead in overdoses in Ward 5. Historically, if you look at race, historically Ward 5 who had more overdoses reported in the white population than any other racial group.

If you look at it citywide in 2024 sixty five percent of all overdoses were African American. So one of the things that we do is that we we log with this heat map in red all the 2023 overdoses and in 2024 we see where most of the overdoses are and then we flood those areas with outreach. And so you can see how the red is overdoses and the green is also attacking those areas with with outreach with our outreach program.

Question, chief. Is that an immediate, outreach rate, or is that, over time? How how's your outreach efforts timeline wise?

It it's immediate when it's a crisis. You know, we had a crisis, I think, in Ward 6 where we had two people overdose, I think, maybe late last year, and it was fatal. And, you know, we immediately flood that area with we send folks from NAM and from the, Annapolis Police Department substance use disorder program and health department in those areas.

K. Thank you.

So let's move on to Ward 7. Compared to previous years, Ward 7 reported overdoses in 2024 to be the lowest recorded. So this is the lowest number of overdoses they've had. 2024, they had two overdoses, 2023, '4, and 2015, and that's the year we started keeping records, five overdoses. Were there more than two overdoses?

Probably, more than likely, but these were the documented overdose. Ward Ward 7 tied for the lowest number of overdoses compared to other wards. Again, we went over those numbers a few minutes ago. They had zero fatal overdoses reported in Ward 7 in 2015. 2015 was the only other year where zero of of fatal overdoses were reported.

So we didn't have anybody who overdosed and died in Ward 7 last year. Here are the locations for the overdoses. The two overdoses in Ward 7 or Victor Parkway and Forest Drive. The demographics in Ward 7 for overdoses almost the same as Ward 5 just a little bit different. We had one in the in the 35 year old, the 44 year old category, but we had the other one in the 55, the 64 category, the old category.

Historically, Ward 7, like Ward 5, has more overdoses reported with the white population than any other racial group. And again, citywide, five percent of all the overdoses are African American. Here's another here's another picture of the heat map, and the circle is Ward 7 and the work we've done in Ward 7. And I wanna finish up by just kinda reminding folks that, you know, climate change and weather change is is is really taking its toll on us and the surrounding area. We do have cooling centers, you know, we have air conditioned temporary spaces designer provide cooling relief in extreme heated heat conditions.

Daytime operations coincide with the hottest part of the day. We have only opened it up, I wanna say, June when that we had that heat wave, and we're gonna open it up tomorrow. So technically, we only had two activations. One for a Sunday through Friday heat wave, and tomorrow we're expecting the heat index to be close to a 105, and that's the threshold. We don't a lot of times we don't wait till it's a 105.

If we have multiple days in the high nineties, we'll go ahead and open it up. Do we have people who who actually go to the to this? Yes. Not a whole not a whole lot. And I don't have the the numbers of who attended in that last heat wave. We call it the heat emergency action plan. That's the plan that we have in effect to to actually manage these heat index days. So the the primary place is Pit Moyer. We also use the Bush Library. We use the senior center, and American Legion is a good partner with this.

So that concludes my report from the office of emergency management. Do you have any questions?

Thank you, chief. Alderman Gay, do you have any questions?

Just one quick question in regards to, the outreach in particular with NAHM and in coordination with the Indianapolis Fire Department that you all do in the summers. I haven't gotten any, I haven't seen any advertisements about that. I'm wondering if that's still going on. Obviously, when we had peak overdoses, they were highly successful educating the public on the options that they have, in combating, you know, harm reduction. And so is that something that's coming back this summer? Or

I know NAM has been pretty active lately with with their outreach programs and then it's outreach outreach programs from the health department and a lot of time that's that's not highly advertised because they are former users in the AA power program and they they they base their outreach based on the data and they follow the data and congratulations on your award Alderman because your award has come down considerably. But we're still out there doing outreach.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

You, Alderman Gay. Alderman O'Neill?

Just one question. Are all four of those locations active will be active tomorrow for cooling center? Or

The library does not have air conditioning. So the library is out, but the the other three are in.

They normally have air conditioning but just not right?

It yeah. They're they're in the process of fixing it. So Pipmore is good, the senior center is is good, and American Legion is good.

And is there any restrictions for people to go?

So when you go to Pittmore you can't use the the exercise equipment, you can't do those type of things basically you're escorted to a room, nice cool room, plenty of water, some snacks and you can wait it out.

And can you take that?

Not at this time. No.

Thank you.

Service animals?

Service animals, we can make a concession, but we've never had a we've never had an opportunity to do that. But if somebody comes in with a legitimate service animal, we'll make a concession.

Thank you.

Thank you. Alderman Savage?

No, ma'am.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you, chief Simmons. Appreciate it as always.

Thank you. Have a good evening.

Thank you.

You too. Nat last but not least, ID 3425, the Annapolis Police Department update APD. Good evening, chief.

Evening madam chair. Good evening members of the committee. Alderman Argue and Alderman O'Neil. Alderman O'Neil. I'm sorry.

I have with me, the whole team tonight, absent the deputy chief, and I'll start by, my from my left side, of course, captain Lamar Howard to my immediate right, captain God Thacker to his immediate right, director Lakisha Blue, manager Lakisha Blue, and to her immediate right is captain Amy Miguez.

Welcome.

I guess I'll give an overview. I asked the two captains to speak to what we're doing. Of course, we've had to mitigate some recent violence, during our summer crime plan. We had a shooting on Benge Drive two nights ago? Three nights ago.

Saturday. Saturday night, I got informed Saturday night from the deputy chief and the individual that was shot is very critical. They could transition very quickly into a homicide investigation which you probably okay. Okay. So one's critical and and one's has been stabilized of the two shootings.

And I'll get captain Howard to talk about that in a few minutes. But we're continuing our crime plan. I was informed today that there's been some adjustments made to deal with the recent uptick and shootings that we've experienced. Like most of the shootings, it's not confined just to Annapolis. It's a lot of moving parts.

Without giving away something that would be discoverable, we'll just keep it general for this purpose right now because we do have investigative leads in the cases and we don't wanna do anything to jeopardize anything that may end up, you know, contradictory. We never like to talk until we have somebody develop from a person of it or or person or persons of interest into a full blown suspect and then we charge them their fair game to talk about the probable cause. But before I get started with that, we promoted I mean, we hired two today. We promoted one. So on that front, we're we're we're doing pretty good.

We are continuing to upgrade our policies. Most notably, we're redoing our evidence room to make sure that we stay in compliance with the standards set forth by CALEA. We're looking at our overtime policy and revising that to make sure that when we commit to sending officers to work in challenged neighborhoods that they're doing what needs to be done to especially particularly when they're representing the Annapolis Police Department. So that's in the process of being redone. And then lastly, before I turn it over to my captains, went well.

Friday I was here Saturday for the fourth of July parade. It was very well attended and I just wanna give captain Thacker a shout out. He coordinated all the efforts and we involved all of city government or most of it in terms of using, you know, vehicles for for for to make sure that nobody breached the parade route. We all know that across the country, I don't know what they call them, we have people who use their cars projectiles and have these drive ins and have mass runovers and things of that nature try to run over a lot of people. We're just living in troubled times where there's a lot of mental illness and a lot of division and there's a lot of people who, you know, for whatever reason doesn't air their grievance out in the courts, they do it out on the streets.

I shared with captain Thacker today that in the six years I've been chief, this is the best security that I've ever seen. And I felt safe and I like what I saw. So that went off well. I think the only glitch Saturday was some kids with power techniques that got a little out of hand and they were taken into custody and issued juvenile citations. And that, they got rid of that fast and the fireworks were able to go off without a hitch.

So I I I think that's all I have and I'll just let, the two captains, I don't know who wants to start first. I guess you can go over the crime numbers for Wards 5 And 7. And then after that, captain Thacker can, chime in. And then, I like you, Amy, and and and and you, Lakisha, to kinda give an overview of what's going on in your job.

Good evening. So just as an overview for war five, as you can see, war five, we had a lot of success in war five in 2024, war five and war seven. As it relates to the crime numbers, war five was eighth as it relates to overall crime. Crimes against person, war five was seventh, and crimes against property, war five was eighth. So the challenges has been is, you know, trying to replicate the successes that we've had in Ward 5 and Ward 7 and the remaining wards, and we'll continue to try to do that as we push through the hot summer months and deal with the, with the gun violence that we've seen over this past weekend.

Captain Howard, as I recall, maybe maybe about two years ago, we were having an issue with an adjoining community, in Hunt Meadow, but that seems to have mitigated.

Yes, ma'am.

And so whatever, you know, things you're doing to do that might be successful in other wards as well. So I know we had some complaints in in that community, that seems to have lessened tremendously. So whatever was do was going on there, hopefully, we can replicate it in other communities as well with maybe some tweaks or whatever.

Yes, ma'am. That's that's always the the the messaging. Wherever we have some success, you know, you try to replicate it, and and put in the hard work and the deployments to try to, you know, to see the change across the city citywide. So while note well taken, madam chair.

Thank

you. Yes, ma'am. So as we look at, the crimes against persons, Ward 5 had zero homicides last year. As a matter of fact, Ward 5 had zero discharges, zero shots fired, no contact shootings, and no homicides, for the year 2024. The rapes, we'll get some of the other, major categories as it relates to part one crime.

War five had three, rapes. All three rapes were domestics. So we're talking about two partners, one partner victimizing the other partner. As it relates to the aggravated assaults, war five had eight fourteen. So they were ranked six, and out of those fourteen, eight were domestic.

So there's a recurring theme as it relates to domestic crime, in war five as well as we've seen in some other wards. So that tells us that we need to do some considerable outreach as it relates to domestic domestic crime, you know, getting people to the house of Ruth and and and things of that nature. So, war five is is like some of the other wars that we had as it relates to the domestic crime. Robbery was fourth, was last. I'm sorry.

We had four robberies altogether. None were domestic. Burglaries, eighth again. Thefts, we're seeing another reoccurring theme, with thefts, especially with the thefts from autos. If you look, war five was fourth out of the eight wards. You see, they had twelve and seven of those, thefts models were unlocked vehicles.

Madam chair, can I ask a quick question here?

Sure. Alderman Gay.

Thank you. I just on the domestic rate, how is the obviously, I'm sure at that point other agencies are involved in, you know, prodding providing solution for the victim and, you know, then dealing with the the individual that committed the crime. It seems that we have quite a few of those, not just in war five, but in other categories. What what is the process there? Do you either handle repeat offenses or, as you mentioned, maybe to get, I don't know. I'm I'm just curious how does how how something, in a domestic rape situation works. You know, how does the department follow-up on that?

So to to answer that clearly, I would have to, drill down and see, and take a look at, the adjudication of the cases, to see if in fact, if these cases went through the court proceed went through the courts, to see if the offender was actually, prosecuted for this. We didn't drill down that far, but that is something that I can definitely follow back up on. I can get those court cases, and see where those cases are, and to take a look at some of the guidance that the state's attorney's office is recommending, for, you know, these domestic rape cases.

John Charmin.

Yes, sir. I'll just

say one more thing. Rapes have historically been under the old common law definition of rape as well as the codified version of rape. In other words, there was a time under common law not so long ago where depending on the nature of the relationship often determined how seriously the rape was taken And it discouraged women from even reporting it in the first place. Now you fast forward thirty five, forty years since we last used the the common law definition of rape in Maryland and we codified it, meaning that it went from case precedents to actual codes and punishment enacted by the legislature on the state law, the problem still remains the same. Often they report it and when it's time to prosecute, they change their mind.

And so that's something that goes beyond us. I would be interested myself in seeing how many of these cases were dropped when they reached the preliminary stage or when the prosecutor was prepared to move forward, you know, to to prosecute the case. I don't know. Maybe that's the question that Carrie Berger can answer. I don't think a prosecutor can compel statement from a victim.

I know they can compel a statement from a witness, but I don't know if they can compel a state a a a victim to testify against her accuser. But that has been historically a problem with adjudicating rape cases. That's why a lot of times we make the arrests but it leaves room for, unfortunately, people who have problems in that area to reoffend.

Thank you actually so much for that additional explanation and as well, captain Howard. And that is probably why I asked the question, just because I I know that there you know, the the past or how you've dealt with, you know, merit with this situation in marriage is is, been dealt with in a different way previously than it has been now. And I wasn't sure if it was prosecuted in the same manner as domestic violence, a case where it would you know, typically, like, an aggravated assault where the, victim can drop charges. I I wasn't sure because the seriousness of the incident, would the state just move forward, with them. But I would be happy to follow-up with that offline or at a later point.

I I appreciate that.

Yes, sir. I I think that's a very good question. And it's one, quite frankly, it piques my curiosity because beyond us doing what we have to do to bring it in court, generally, don't follow that and I I should. And we need to find out and maybe get Christina to look into that for us to start compiling data in terms of how the cases move after they were prosecuted. Because the whole definition that's a whole another subject.

Even rape by definition, when the legislature took that crime on, they redefined it. They redid you know, men, you know, same sex relationships, all of that wasn't a part of the definition of rape until recently. And now because society's changed, the whole way its approach has changed. So it's far more complex than it appears to be on the data sheet. On the data sheet, we just count the numbers, but it's a story, individual story behind why the cases were either prosecuted or the charges were dropped.

And I think that that's something that the public safety committees should be able to examine and we should be able to answer those questions. But we you have to give us time to find out. That's the new area that we have to find out. Okay.

Thank you, chief.

Should we go on to war seven or unless there's any, additional question for War 5?

Any question? Holden Savage, any question?

Okay. For Ward 7, Ward 7 like Ward 5 finished in the bottom portion of most crime categories for 2024. Crimes by Ward Ward 7 ranked six. Crimes against persons, Ward 7 was last. Crimes against property, Ward 7 ranked fifth.

For the major categories, Ward 7 had one homicide, two rapes I'm I'm sorry. Second for rapes at six. One was a domestic aggravated assault. They ranked fifth. Robbery, they had nine, and it was tied for third.

I'm with the aggravated assault, Ward 7 was ranked eighth. So they were last for the aggravated assault, and here we see another recurring theme forward domestic. The robberies, again, tied for third with one being a domestic. Burglaries, Ward 7 was ranked seventh for thefts. More specifically with the motor vehicles, Ward 7 was fifth.

Again, another recurring theme, unlocked vehicles, which is, you know, been a a a a concern with all eight wards as it relates to the theft of models that we've experienced here in, the city of Annapolis. The 2024 homicide of is was Georgetown Road, which is, if I remember correctly, we're still waiting on some information regarding this homicide to charge our suspect regarding this this this particular, investigation. And that's pretty much it, as far as Ward 7. Ward 7, again, like Ward 5, some of the things that that we've had some successes in both wards, again, without sounding like a broken record. We would like to replicate those those things and and see those same successes across the entire city.

And every man and woman that wears this uniform, they've been given that charge, and they're working hard every day. I'm just trying to make this city a little safer for the residents.

Thank you, captain. Alderman O'Neil, any quest Alderman Gay, any questions?

I'm assuming we're done with the wards and onto just general questions.

Maybe Alderman Savage might have a question about Ward 7.

Okay. You can come back to me.

Thank you, mister Sam.

Yes. Thank you, madam chair. I do have a few questions. So the robberies, I think you said Ward 7 was third tied for third. Is there any have you do you have any kind of hotspot as far as where those are happening? Is it happening around shopping centers or certain residential areas? Any relations just like street lighting, lack of lighting? Just curious what if you know what some of the motivators are there.

So yes and no. We had no emerging trends or patterns as it relates to the robberies in Ward 7. Like, the theft from autos and the motor vehicle thefts, the robberies were mostly crimes of opportunity where they caught an unsuspected victim off guard and and divested them of of their belongings. So with we really didn't experience any major trends or patterns as it related to robberies citywide last year. And thankfully, going into 2025, we're we're seeing the same thing.

No new emerging trends or patterns. Whereas some of our sister jurisdictions are seeing, you know, the upticks in the carjackings and things of that nature. Unfortunately, here in Annapolis, we're we're not seeing that.

But there aren't any like, in Ward 7, there's no concentration around, like, the the John and Shop Center or Forest Drive. This is it's are these pretty scattered then?

Yeah. So so with that as well as with with the previous question, we I would have to drill down and look at every incident to see if it's there's a a particular spot within the ward where the robberies or or or occurring more than in other locations in the in the in the the ward. But, again, just looking at crime overall, and I look at these numbers on a on probably more than I should. But just looking at the overall numbers and what we've had, again, nothing that would suggest an emergent train or pattern.

Okay. And another question. How do you you mentioned shots fired. Do you have comparing data on shots fired? And is that, I don't see that listed, but you mentioned it. And how is that determined? Is that just from complaints, matter of as far as calls for shots fired?

So it's kind of both. So if patrol gets a call for shots fired, they respond. If they find evidence that would suggest that a discharging occurred, then it's written up as such. But a lot of times, especially like this past weekend, the July 4, you know, someone may call and say, hey, we got discharged in in a certain location and then it turns out to be fireworks.

Yeah. And did you have that breakdown by ward, some of the shots and then the and the trend for shots fired?

So for each ward, we we have that broken down with the number of shots fired. Again, for your ward, no shots fired, no contact shootings, no homicides. For Ward 7, we had the one homicide on Georgetown. So, of course, you know, you have a call for that because it was a homicide by shooting. But we have we have it broken down by wards as we've talked about with the previous, discussions that we've had regarding the other wards.

So I don't know if, if you would want something more detail than that yet. And we send out a monthly report to all the older persons with the crimes. I'd send it out every month to everyone. So all of that information, that's being asked is sent in a monthly report.

I'll just look for that. I I see see director Simmons' emails about the overdoses, but I don't recall seeing I'll have to look for the from the police.

I

I read it monthly.

Okay.

It comes across.

The last question and again, this might be a new category we have to add, but I was kind of a little bit and related, but a little bit of a shift per topic. But I was told that there were some, kidnappings in the city recently by ICE. Is that it's the first I've heard of them. Have any information that can be provided at this time on if that's valid information or not? And how many we've had happen in the city as far as ICE raids?

I wouldn't characterize them as kidnappings. And and people do characterize them that way. I just wouldn't characterize them that way. That's a very complicated issue. We are we take a posture that we don't enforce federal laws so and they don't generally contact us.

I don't get contacted. In fact, I talked to a lady the other day and she didn't realize that we didn't get contacted by the federal government. And they've been here. It's one case I'm aware of where they had a a criminal arrest warrant, the federal government did, for a non related immigrant issue, but ICE came along. And I guess they were here to check the immigration status of the person named in a warrant because they talk to each other.

I'm not saying that's the only issue but the one issue was on, I think, Farr's it was on Hilltop and Hilltop and what's the Intersect and Street. I'm sorry. Spa. Yep. There you go. Hilltop And Spa. And I was sent a picture while later I was able to find out what that was all about. It was a criminal arrest warrant. I don't think anybody was deported but ICE was in the city and They were in Anne Arundel County that day too. In fact, they staged up at the Sam's Club and then they did some things in Anne Arundel County and they made their way to Hilltop And Spar Road.

Was that Fairgot? Those apartments up in that area, they they were operating up there. But when I finally found out what happened, they just took somebody into custody who was an American citizen but of Latino descent, and ICE just followed them from what I was told. But they've been in the city from time to time, not as frequently as in other cities, but they have been here. And I don't know of anybody who was kidnapped, you know, just swiped up, but they have been here.

We most of the most of the time that they are in American cities, they are agree or disagree. They are operating under the authority of federally appointed judges, magistrate judges, and district court judges at the federal level. And they have the documents from those individuals at the current administration appointed. And so as such, law enforcement, not only us most, just we we no no authority to interfere with that process. We just don't go out and look for people and check their immigration status.

We're only interested in keeping the peace in the city of Annapolis. And we have a policy that dictates when we encounter people of Latin descent, if they wanna approach us about any anything that that that any other citizen would approach us with at the local level. We don't ask immigration status or get into that. If they're alleging that they were robbed, we just take the robbery report and keep it going. Give them, the the the the information that they need if a suspect is known to them and it's such a crime that either we get a warrant or we direct them to see a court commissioner depending on the nature of the charge.

Or we take the report and tell them what they need to do. Sometimes they just want to report because equipment was stolen from a work site and they need it for insurance purposes. So we just deal with them like we engage them, I should say. That sounds better. We engage them like any other, citizen. So we haven't had a big problem in the city of Annapolis. We haven't had the level of, confrontation like Los Angeles and some of the other bigger cities.

So how does behavior of ICE compare with something like I mean, because typically when f FBI or state police have an operation here, I understand they may not tell us everything, but do they at least do they typically give a heads up that, Hey, have something going on in the city this day, or do they just you don't know at all when they're gonna be in the city?

No, sir. Not not not not, immigration custom enforcement.

I mean, just like FBI, like, so or Oh, FBI, yes, sir. They at least give you a heads up?

Yes, sir. FBI will. We have a different partnership with them, then, Yeah, we have a different partnership with the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the US Marshals Service. They help us with regular index crime. They help us with with with with, state law that may have federal interests, you know.

They they even when they can't prosecute at that level, they'll often because we have a relationship with them, they'll process evidence that we don't have the ability to process. They do a lot of things for us. They'll help us even though they the the the the the reason is not to enforce the US code, the United States code. They have a vested interest in in in in crime prevention and like to be able to say that they assisted local law enforcement. That's different than ICE.

I have met a couple years ago with the director the the supervisory agent from ICE was a gentleman, African American male, and he came to my office and we had a nice conversation. And I stated to him then that was probably almost three years ago. We don't get into that. You know. And he understood. We don't get in the way but we don't get into that because it's federal law being enforced and we don't have the authority to get in it.

But do other jurisdictions at least have other agreements that are being made with ICE? Because my understanding is they're, they're now the largest law enforcement agency in the country as far as funding. And so I imagine they're gonna be more and more interactions. So is there a precedent for establishing some kind of a not necessarily partnership, but at least a heads up because what I'm afraid of is if somebody sees I've seen the social media posts. If somebody sees an ICE agent, we'll then even know the right. They see somebody who's armed, not identified, don't have any kind of warrants they're presenting. The public may call the police, may call APD on those armed people. What do you have a procedure in place

Now, that

do do if you get if you get called out to such a situation?

Now, given that scenario, we don't know who they are. Most of the time, they they are in uniform. But if they if they come under some other circumstances, we will investigate it. We won't not go. Somebody says there's some strange people and they're armed and we don't can't identify who they are, then we'll we'll come out.

We'll even come out if, to keep the peace. We just don't get involved in the enforcement. We don't get into the nature of why they're there in terms of whether they have the authority or probable cause to make an arrest. That's between them and the US magistrate judge. And I'm not saying that because, you know, I'm not talking about my agreement or disagreement with the policy. I'm just talking about what we, you know, have the authority to do.

Yeah.

Again, I'll go on record to say that I'm sympathetic because I just think that most people of Latin descent are hard workers and they come here every day in this country, whether it be the city of Annapolis and or on the county anywhere else. They come, they pay taxes, they just want to be good citizens, most of them. Every ethnicity we got our head buried in the sand, every group commits crimes on earth. We can thank, Adam for that if you subscribe to that. Going back to the biblical days, I mean, every nobody's immune from that.

But I think that most people from Latin America, Latin descent are hardworking people and make a great contribution to cities and counties across this country. And we just wanna treat them fairly and treat them as as as as as a a people, good people, you know. It's a humanitarian thing and we just don't get into federal federal law. We have a policy to direct our officers, you know, just to to to go out and treat them like and we would treat the Neapolitan's or people from the county. So, and our policy pretty much, I'm not quoting our policy chapter and verse, but it pretty much states all of that.

Now if they have a warrant, for example, because I get calls all the time. If they if they if ICE has a warrant, a legitimate warrant and they're in uniform and they detain somebody because of that information, then my staff doesn't get involved in that and verify it. It's not our position. If we know them to be federal agents working for the federal government, then we just make sure that the piece is kept and nobody gets harmed. And then we lead the we have to lead the rest up to the courts, you know.

So your goal is to keep the piece without necessarily picking sides like

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Nice. Sure. I

want this mic microphone on. Can you hear me? So Captain Thacker. The Maryland attorney general's office put out really good guidance to all law enforcement agencies in the state of Maryland. We're within compliance of that that directive. That also fit with what our existing policy was. So there is no interoperability between APD and ICE agents. They're not calling us to give us a heads up that they're conducting any kind of operations. We're not joining them. Are they operating in the space?

Probably most certainly, but we're not working in conjunction with them. The guidance from the attorney general's office made a distinction between detainers, which are treated like civil matters, and warrants. And when you look at article six of the constitution and when they reference the supremacy clause, federal law trumps local law. So if they have a federal warrant, they're the enforcement agents. They're the ones that take people into custody and they go through their process. They would probably take that individual up to Baltimore. I would think is the closest processing center for them. So they're not they're not coming to our facility. They're not going to the local central booking facility in Anne Arundel County. They take them straight to the federal courthouse up in Baltimore.

It's still my my thunder. I should've known about the supremacy laws. Comes to to how the government law enforcement works. I used to teach that when I was a professor, and he's absolutely right. The supremacy clause says that, you know, we won't we don't have the authority to interfere with, because the federal government reigns supreme over local and state jurisdictions.

Thank you.

Yes, But I think we do I I would say one last thing. I think we do well. I I I'm agreeing with my captain not because he's my captain, but I think we are very compassionate and I think we're very fair in how we, treat, people of of Latin descent.

Thank you. And and I haven't heard any complaints about APD, to be clear. But, again, I did I think it may have been Ward 6. Maybe Alderman Gay knows more, but I heard that somebody's whatever you wanna call it, arrest arrested, kidnapped.

I hope all I can say is I hope that didn't happen.

Any other questions from the dive at this point?

Well, I just like if we have time for my other three and I and they can keep it brief. I I thought that captain Thacker had a lot to say to augment captain Howard's remarks and talk about the the the patrol part of the crime plan. Absolutely. That's the largest part

of the department. Absolutely. Thank you.

I'll I'll be brief. So, you know, a month and a half ago, we began our summer crime plan deployment which is heavily focused on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sundays. So the highest drivers, the data would say that that's the the volume of our work are probably on those days. It's not to say that there aren't crime indicators than any other days. Every day of the week we have deployments.

But we strengthen and bolster our deployments on the Thursday through Sunday time frames. As a consequence of that plan, we leveraged a traffic data study that we generated from 2024 and that would have indicated areas on Forest Drive and areas on West Street that would be places that have significant concern for personal injury accidents and fatalities. We were using that as one of our deployments and point considerations for the summer crime plan. We have this most recent violence down on Ben's Drive or up in Annapolis Gardens. We've done a lot of lot of work with our allied agencies for some of the most recent celebratory type days that we've had, the July 4, the Juneteenth parade, etcetera.

I I have a bit of a network and relationships with some of these other departments, and I've I've actually again asked for Anne Arundel County to come in and help us augment our deployments on Thursday through Sunday on the Forest Drive corridor. The Southern District Commander Scott McAlere has agreed to that. I put in a request with Anne Arundel County to provide air support from their helicopter, again, focusing on the Forest Drive. And the concern would be this, is that if we have an act of violence, the mode of the modality, the mode of transportation is a vehicle, and they're coming in on Forest Drive and they're exiting out on Forest Drive. So we want to do everything we can, A, to deter it with high optic deployments, but possibly if there is another act of violence that we have the resources in place to be able to actually stop those individuals and take them into custody.

So we have that kind of going on, but I've also reached out to the local Maryland State Police, Barrick Jay, and spoke with the lieutenant commander there, and they're going to help us with some and they've already started some additional patrols on the Rowell Boulevard, and that was primarily due to the the ex fill of individuals that are having a nice time in our downtown area, and they're trying to drive home, and maybe they're not in a condition to be able to drive their vehicle. So Maryland cap they have to drive those individuals would have to drive from downtown, essentially up Main Street through Maryland Capitol Police jurisdiction. I asked for their assistance. They've they've agreed. They're increasing their patrols.

And then the Maryland state police on the Route Route Boulevard, corridor too. So the lieutenant there is very agreeable, so they'll be putting deployments out for us too. In conjunction what we have on the other side of the city with Anne Arundel County, I feel really good that if we have some kind of situation that we have a lot of additional allied agency police, local state law enforcement agencies there to help us. Lastly, we've established communication with the sheriff's office and there's a pretty progressive captain over there, captain Rhodes, gonna going to meet with him to see how further we can collaborate and do do more things jointly in different areas that perhaps are a little bit different than just courthouse duties that they would get involved in. So I know captain Howard has reached out.

I've reached out, and we'll see where we can go with that. Lastly, just talking about property managers, and I know that Annapolis Gardens and Bay Ridge Gardens, although they're two different ownership groups, it's the same apartment management company that's in there and there's a very young man, Grayson Flynn, who's managing both properties right now. And we've gone on extensive walks identified deficiencies in those particular neighborhoods, things that those management companies and those owners can do to improve their properties, whether it's lighting and cameras and things of that nature. And they've agreed. And he's actually moving through the the process right now, and I think he sent you a lengthy email explaining where they are with certain certain aspects of that those those jobs that you're trying to get fixed.

Anyways, we're doing a lot. We're trying to bring in a lot of extra resources that is more than just just our APD. So there's our normal patrol deployment, but on these Thursdays through Sundays, we're augmenting it with our own detectives the detectives and the administrative staff, all the patrol support units, they're doing additional duty in the evening working the seven p to three a to try to kind of bolster up our our deployment numbers. And with that, if you take a look at the last thirty days and sixty days, I mean, there's double digit reduction in a lot of the violent crime categories and also the the property crime categories, which I'm really happy about.

Thank you, captain Thacker. One thing I wanna thank you. You and I have been joined at the hip for about the past month and a half. Yeah. Because patrol is the heart and soul. Thank you very much, of course, for for the safety assessment that we did at Safeway because we know those steps have been higher. And for last week's meeting with Coles and the asset manager and the assistant manager over there, I thought went extremely well. And that gentleman was obviously has obviously been a public safety law enforcement officer in the past. So the conversations went very well, and, I think we got a lot accomplished. And a lot of the things you said today, we talked about, there as well.

And the the relationship the enhanced relationship that we're gonna have with Southern District, County Police Department, I think, is wonderful as well. Thank you also, and a shout out to lieutenant McGriff. We did that that safety assessment. Debbie Odom, who's a resident council president in the ward three community liaison, and I went out one night because we had to do it when it was dark. Ninety minutes, we patrol the whole area, came up with with the notes from there, asked miss Odom to put them out immediately, which she did.

We sent them to the Annapolis Guards management, and, lo and behold, the unthinkable happened. And thank goodness that we had that out there because once I sent that email early Friday afternoon, July 4, to all those folks on it, they were made aware that they were aware ahead of the ahead of time before we had that incident happen, and that's always critical if we can get that information out and let them know management know that we're on it and that they need to respond in real time to get it done, and we put a timetable on it for them. And so I wanna thank you for being being ahead of that and on top of that and having those additional patrols in the areas because I know the fireworks were going off, and that's a whole another conversation, masked possibly, by what was going on in those communities. So I applaud you and your patrol division because it's been critical in in really getting to the heart and soul of what we need to do in the city of Annapolis. But I I've I've thoroughly enjoyed our conversations and our recent interactions and our meetings that we've had with the community.

It's been extraordinarily beneficial. And I think and I know that the residents feel confident. In fact, today earlier today, I went to visit the mother of the victim in Annapolis Gardens, and she was sitting on her porch. And she said, I knew you were coming. I knew you were coming.

And she didn't know I was coming today and the time that I came. And she was very encouraged by what is going on. Her son is still in the hospital, but she wanted to let you all know from her how grateful she has been for all the the support that you've given her over these past few days. And I I'm relaying to you that publicly because she has been very distraught, but she's been encouraged by what the Napa's police department has done on her behalf and her family's behalf. And so just wanna let you know that she told me that earlier today, and then after I left there, I had a family gravesite funeral I had to go to in Brooklyn Park.

So I but I wanna make sure that she was comfortable in what had gone on. And I indicated to her all of the emails that I had sent, putting them all together so everybody could paint a good picture of what is going on because we don't know what's gonna happen as a result of that and the management's responsibility or lack thereof or whatever it is and will be that they needed to know. And she felt a lot better when I left based on what you all have been doing on her behalf. So thank you.

And she you well, you know the story.

Yes. I do.

I know the story.

And in full disclosure, she and I grew up in the same neighborhood.

Right.

And I will be that's the only reason why I brought that up is because I'll be reaching out to her as well. I know her from the neighborhood Right. In Baltimore.

And she wanted me to thank you as well.

Okay. And I'll be reaching out to her before weeks and I'll let you know when I've done that. Right. And this one, Amy.

Hello. Can you hear me?

Yes, ma'am.

Yes. Director Lakisha Blue, internal affairs. I'll keep my my notes kinda brief and vague because of because it is police discipline. But, since the last, Police Accountability Board meeting, we received noncomplaints involving the public. Those allegations include, discourtesy, excessive force, false police report, and false statement.

We've also received five compliments through our public portal, from citizens praising officers for their professionalism. Two of them involve citizens where they were, escorted to their vehicles by police officers, and they wanted to send in, compliments through the public portal. We also received one life saving, award from one of our officers who applied a tourniquet to a shooting victim. Another update is that my, my investigators also received IEPRO training, to help build out the current version that we're currently using to help better track, the allegations and the status of the investigations. So when we pull the information for the Maryland Police Information Act, we're getting accurate information.

So we have iPro. They're just not using it to the full capability that is is, you know, able to be used. So I had, someone from iPro to come over and train them on that database. And then let's see. And that was it. That's all that I have. You have any questions for me?

None for me. Thank you, director Blue. Any from alderwoman O'Neil? Alderman Gay?

We have a question, and the our our assistant city attorney may be able to help as well. The nine complaints, obviously, that due to due to 2020 and the new state rules, all of that goes through a new system. Is that still in partnership with Anne Arundel County where, they're reviewing in in some kind of joint task force, or am I thinking of a different body?

Yes. So it's the police accountability board as well as the administrative charging committee. So, yes, that, it is that system. So the go ahead. I'm sorry.

No. No. I'm sorry. Please continue.

So yes. So the administrative charging committee reviews our review our investigations once they're complete, and then they issue the discipline based on the state, statewide matrix that's in place.

And so how does this, become publicly accessible? I'm sure at this point, it probably already is. No?

Yes. It's actually, on our website. So we have an Excel sheet, with all the data, on it.

Okay. And is the, I will check that out. If I can, I will, shoot over an email to you? Is this on trend with last year, or do there seem to be more, complaints submitted? More or less.

There are more complaints. I was not here last year, but but speaking with sergeant Hipsky, last year at the 2024, he said they had approximately 25 complaints. Currently, today, year to date, we have 27, and it's, July 7.

So we will almost likely and I I mean, because there's six months left in a year, very well could be doubled, the amount of complaints, that the general public has submitted against the police department for some sort of alleged, wrongdoing, as it relates to an arrest?

It's it's possible.

Okay. Thank you.

I would I would just add to that that, most of it's been minor. I get the letters from the accountability board. Most of it's, unfounded. There have been a few incidents, but the vast majority of it is is in full transparency, I think it would be our duty to inform the council if we saw a disturbing pattern so that we could work together to turn steer that that that that metaphorical ship around, but that's not the case. Most of it's of my my nature.

Yes. Most majority of the cases are

And I'm talking about the ones that sustain, not just the allocation. I mean, not sustain, but that's been fully investigated by the police account. And you know the difference between PAB and the ACC? ACC

is clarify for me now the the oh, I'm sorry. I'm cutting you off because my screen just went blank.

No. No. I was just gonna say real quickly it's a difference between the PAB, the Police Accountability Board, and the ACC. And she stated it. I'm just restating it really. If it's an an act and it's still all under Anne Arundel County, that would be under Anne Arundel County, government. If it's a action that occurred that involved the public, then it doesn't rest with me after you investigate, then the packing is sent to them and then they meet out discipline.

Yes, sir.

If it involves the public.

If it yes. If it involves

If it doesn't involve the public, then that rests with me. Then we can handle it internally, minor stuff. And I usually get a letter from both the PAB characterizing the state of the Indianapolis Police Department overall. And if is there there any issues that they think that I need to address personally, I get letters from them, and I also get a letter. I believe they post that on on our website, the letter that they sent me once the case has been fully adjudicated, the officer has been found.

Yes. They send it they send it to the officer.

And they send it to the officer, and I get copy of it too. So I read them. I and I do read them, and and and it's been my, I don't have numbers, but the vast majority of them are non of a non serious nature.

Awesome. I I appreciate that very much. Do I have time for one more question, elder elder woman?

Absolutely.

Thank you. Just as it relates to the are you still going to do a public, information session, for the summit summer crumpling? I know that was something, that was, in the works preholiday, obviously, and then we had the to have to had have had two shooting since, and I'm sure that that has taken up the bulk of of your time. But is that something that could be done before the close of summer or

Abs absolutely. And I still plan to. I have some perspective dates and the answer is yes. The but I have to reconcile as which days I'll be out there, but I'll make sure the information gets out through the PIO.

Thank you. And and the reason I asked that is, you know, regardless of my run ins with APD, I really think they are a fantastic, department. And I know that the two incidents that have taken place this past week, I've gotten so much feedback from the general public. Some some are not satisfied. I I just say, but from the communications that we have with, you know, deputy Bramford, I am able to, you know, get a better understanding of the work that's taking place and, see how quickly you all have responded, and and and particularly in the incident that is, that took place in Bay Ridge Gardens, this weekend.

And so that's just why I asked about that. I think it's just always and it's good for the public to be informed so they know, you know, that there are plans in place, that, you know, the the administrative team before us today is taking it serious. I do have one question in regards to the Bay Ridge Gardens incident. They we received a, you know, something that was not for dissemination. They said if we could at a later point. I'm wondering if if the police department is at that point. Just because I I again, that's something that I think could be helpful to to solve in the case.

It would be it it would depend on the information. If you

So we got in our in our, you know, there was a description of an alleged suspect

Alderman Gay, I don't know if we wanna start going down that road. I'm and I'm seeing missus Berger head head. Yeah. She's having a conniption over there.

Well, just call me offline. Can you call me, ald alderman?

Of course. I can. My bad. Thank you.

Pat McGuess, good evening.

Good evening. I'll make this as brief as I can.

Take as much time as you need.

I won't make everyone suffer. The budget continues to take up a lot of our time. The ending of the old fiscal year, the start of the new is always a busy time. A lot of things to keep track of. We're still implementing Telestaff for our payroll system, so that continues to be two systems that we're running to make sure that that is going on.

But it's working really well. The fire department switched to it a few months ago, and it's been very successful. We are hiring, hopefully, our last two PCO slots that are open. However, we do have a long time public safety employee who's retiring at the August. PCO two Pedacord, who's been here for twenty five years, will be retiring August 1.

So we'll certainly miss her, and that will create another opening in dispatch just when we're, finally getting close to full staffing. We have, three lateral officers that we're getting ready to hire. We have a number of entry level officers that were also in the middle of, finalizing their hiring. We are currently at a 112. We do have a new number max of one twenty five due to the sergeant's position that was added with this current budget.

We have one entry level officer graduating this week, in fact, from Anne Arundel County's Police Academy. So we'll be out there on Wednesday to celebrate his achievement. And then we have four continuing in a different academy currently who are not graduating yet. We've been continuing to help update policies like the chief mentioned. A lot of policies getting reviewed and updated.

Continue with our building projects around the station, including a new generator that we got funding for that central services has been helping us with as well as finishing the range renovations that we've been undergoing for about the last year. The property and evidence improvements that the chief mentioned have been going ongoing. We our training department has been having robust in house training. We just currently did a whole round for the whole department of optics training on our handguns. We also had in house standardized field sobriety training to help those officers that are out making traffic stops, detecting drivers who are driving under the influence.

We have a number of IT projects, including upgrading the security of our systems and upgrading our building security. And we continue having challenges with our fleet as far as the budget. The central services requested money for fleet across the whole city, including the police department. However, it was substantially less than what they wanted, and there's other factors that just lead to you know, it takes longer to get a fire truck, but it also takes a really long time apparently to get a just a regular board. So we're dealing with that, trying to make it as best as possible.

And I wanna say one last thing, and I know she's probably gonna get mad at me, but she made me happy today. Aim captain Miegas made me very happy. When I first came here, I wanted a history of all the police chiefs and have a wall from 1867. Of course, we know who the present chief is, but I wanted a history. I wanted the the men and women to be able to look at who served here in the past.

And much to my surprise, captain Miguez told me today around 03:30 this afternoon, we were talking about some heavy stuff that's going on. And then she said, well, chief, I'll be right back. I got something to show you. And so that's an early birthday present for me. She delivered and had I thought it was forgotten about. I forgot about it, but she delivered them from all the way from 1867. I think you only won

I don't I don't think I have quite all of them, but

Most of them.

We go into the late eight hundreds.

Yes. And so very soon, we'll have a nice wall so people get a sense of history. The people who served this great department going back a little bit after the civil few years after the civil war, and we she was able to find nice portraits. So we have most of them, I think, if not all. And so I just wanna give her a shout out. It's much appreciated. It made my day. And so very soon when you come in, you'll be able to look at the previous chiefs who served the city. And then I think it's good for very good for young people to get a sense of history. So thank you, captain Miguel.

Thank you. Oftentimes on the on the national news, have at the end, you know, there's good news today. So that's how we should end our our meetings as well with some piece of good news that's going on because with all the things that are going on, I think it's good to end on a good note. There's good news today. In spite of everything that's going on in our city and around, there is some good news and some nuggets that we need to really bring to bear. And thank you, Cap Meghaz, for doing that. That's other doozy as a side, and we appreciate that. Miss Berger, do you have anything to add today? Thank you. Anyone else for the good of the order?

Hearing none? Motion to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? I hear none. It is 08:33PM. Thank you all so much. Be safe out there.