Last week was a bit of a rough meeting. Unfortunately, myself and Alderwoman O’Neil lost the vote on O-41-25, that created a new Deputy Chief of Staff position. We tried to get a postponement of only two weeks to address some of our concerns, but neither the Mayor nor enough of our other colleagues on the Council were willing to grant us that courtesy. Alderwoman O’Neal brought up the concern that we were approving a position’s pay scale without even being presented with a job description to justify that pay scale. I raised the concerns I expressed in my last newsletter, which was that I felt this should have waited until the budget when we could look at the needs of all of the branches of government at the same time, as the legislative branch (i.e. the Council) has significant needs that are not being met and we are not able to function as effectively as we otherwise could. Regardless, we lost the vote to postpone by just one vote. It’s a bit disheartening that none of my colleagues would grant us the simple courtesy of more time, and I hope this does not indicate how things will continue to operate under this new Council and Mayor.

This past Thursday we had a presentation on a proposed Comprehensive Rezoning. This effort will, for now, focus on the downtown area. Expect to see this rolled out over the next year.

The agenda for our Monday night Council meeting is light. We have a proposal to adjust the mooring requirements (O-2-26), a Council discussion on public parking (I believe this is on overview or this new Council), with two pieces of legislation being introduced: one to temporarily dissolve the Arts in Public Places Commission so it can be reconstituted from scratch with new rules, and another that would adjust the harbor lines associated with the Hawkins Cove water access improvement and shoreline restoration.

In case you are curious, at our last Environmental Matters Committee we received some excellent presentations from our city arborist and our stormwater group. Our arborist briefed us on the urban tree canopy program, and outlined how we will meet our goal of 50% tree canopy by 2050. Here are some of the benefits that our trees present to us.

Now that our tree program is covered by our watershed restoration fund, we have a dedicated funding stream and don’t have to worry about it being cut every year. Such cuts were why we were unable to meet our previous tree canopy target of 50% by 2035. One interesting tidbit is that only 7% of the Annapolis tree canopy covers impervious surfaces. This shows how and why we need to give attention to relaxing our parking requirements and converting spaces into tree wells.

On the stormwater front we received a briefing on how the fee is structured for non-residential properties, and staff explained how they will be moving to a model that is more equitable and accurately assesses the fee based on actual impervious coverage. This will also allow us to create a more effective rebate program to give property owners a way to reduce this fee if they make stormwater improvements on their property, which ties in with my previous comments about the tree canopy program.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

We don’t have much on the agenda for Monday, but there is one piece of legislation from the Mayor that I do have quite a bit of concern about. But before I get to that, you'll see two items up for a public presentation: one on houseboats and house barges from the harbormaster, and another on short term rental enforcement, presumably from Planning & Zoning.

Mayoral power grab?

O‑41‑25 proposes creating a new Deputy Chief of Staff position within the Mayor’s Office. If adopted, it would expand that office to 15 employees with a $2.1 million budget —making it the largest and most expensive Mayor’s Office in Annapolis history (up from just 7 employees in FY17). By contrast, the City Council, which serves as the legislative branch, has no staff of its own. This imbalance raises serious concerns about the separation of powers and the Charter’s clear distinction between the Mayor as the City’s chief executive and the City Manager as the chief administrative officer. Many of the duties currently performed by, or proposed for, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff fall squarely within the City Manager’s administrative responsibilities, not the Mayor’s political and executive role. And one of the roles fundamental to the Mayor's office, that of being Chair of the Council, is partially off-loaded to this new position—serving as a liaison to the City Council—and is especially troubling as the Council should not require an intermediary to communicate with one of its prime members. Big picture, expanding the Mayor’s Office without evaluating the needs of all branches risks further blurring these lines and concentrating too much power in the executive. For these reasons, I believe this legislation should be postponed until the budget process, when the new City Manager can weigh in and we can assess the needs of every branch together. While I respect the Mayor as a friend and colleague, I also swore an oath to uphold our Charter, and as written, this proposal conflicts with both its letter and its spirit, and is not the collaborative approach to governance I was hoping for and expecting.

Town Hall video

Thank you to all Ward 7 residents who attended last week’s town hall with the mayor and our directors. We had a strong turnout, although there was one disruptive individual who was not even from our City—fortunately, he wasn’t from our Ward! Otherwise, the event went very smoothly. If you have any questions following the meeting, please feel free to reach out. If you missed the town hall, you can watch it here.

Snow on sidewalks

If you see sidewalks that are still covered with snow in the City, please email [email protected]. If you see sidewalks along Forest Drive, Bay Ridge Rd, Hillsmere Drive, those are maintained by the County and they have enforcement authority. Please submit those complaints at Report a Concern | Anne Arundel County Government.

Summary of last meeting

At our last Council meeting, we approved R-2-26 – Establishing the order of succession for Mayor (I voted Aye).

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob