The City Council holds a special meeting this Monday, September 28, at 7 PM. It is a long agenda, and several items on it come straight out of conversations I have had with many of you.

First, outdoor dining. Under the current rules, a patron who stands up in an outdoor dining area with a drink in hand is technically breaking the law, because the code requires people to be seated to be served. That was never the point of the outdoor dining program, and it produced real confusion for restaurants, patrons, and the staff asked to enforce it. O-29-26, being introduced Monday, clears that up for restaurants' seasonal parking lot dining areas, and I have signed on as a co-sponsor. I have also asked for amendments, including one that extends the same fix to the Market Space dining area, so people can keep enjoying a meal and a drink outdoors without a rulebook problem.

Second, driveway parking. I have heard from a number of you who were ticketed for parking in front of your own driveway. O-17-26, which I am co-sponsoring, is up for a final vote and would let legal occupants and their guests park in front of their own driveway on streets where parking is allowed on both sides. I have three amendments to it, including one that would let the residents of a cul-de-sac petition the City, with a majority of signatures, for permission to park perpendicular to the curb. Details below.

Third, the Council takes its final vote on three union agreements, covering the City's general employees, firefighters, and police officers. I have no quarrel with the agreements themselves. Together they add roughly $992,500 in new costs this fiscal year, and only about $191,500 of that is identified as absorbed within existing department budgets. What I have not yet seen is where the remaining roughly $800,000 comes from, and I will be asking that question Monday.

Also Monday: the Council appoints five members to the newly reconstituted Art in Public Places Commission, and holds a public hearing on O-15-26, which I co-sponsored, to let residents run small cottage food businesses from home. Further down you will find the City's free fall tree giveaway, the City's response to the federal rollback of Chesapeake Bay protections, and a full slate of fall festivals.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

It has been a while since you heard from me. The Council took its August recess, and I used the time to catch up on constituent casework, legislative requests, and drafting, and to get ready for the fall. We are back at it this Monday, September 14, at 7 PM with a full agenda, and there is a lot below.

The item I most want on your radar is the Wards 5 and 7 Budget Town Hall this Wednesday, September 16, 6:30 to 8 PM at the Pip Moyer Recreation Center. Mayor Littmann, Alderman Schandelmeier, and I will be there with City department leadership to walk through how the City budget actually gets built and to hear your priorities for the next budget cycle, which starts in April 2027. Please register at the link below and bring your questions. I also plan to hold my own Ward 7 town hall later this fall, likely in November.

Monday brings three public hearings worth your attention. One is mine: CA-3-26 adds a second paragraph to the preamble of our City Charter, with commitments to fair representation, civil and voting rights, public safety, and stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay in the face of climate change and sea level rise. The others are O-11-26, which I am co-sponsoring to create a legal path for rooming houses (what many of us call boarding houses: renting rooms in an owner-occupied home), and O-21-26, the Mayor's changes to the Resilience Authority, where I have two amendments to keep City seats in the hands of City residents and give the Council a confirmation vote on those appointments.

Monday also brings final votes on two pieces of my legislation, CA-2-26 (expanding the Board of Supervisors of Elections) and O-9-26 (fixing how legislation gets referred to Council committees), and on the Art in Public Places overhaul, O-14-26, where I will be supporting a committee compromise that keeps real decision-making with the Commission. Details on each are below, along with news on the new Edgewood Road speed camera, the City Dock timeline, the Boat Shows, and our new Harbormaster.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

We have a full City Council meeting this Monday, July 13, at 7 PM, and a Council work session Thursday afternoon. A few things I want on your radar before then.

Three ordinances are up for public hearing Monday, and I hope you will weigh in. One is mine: O-16-26 updates our Forest Conservation code to conform with the new state law while keeping the stronger standards Annapolis already had. I wrote up where things stand, including my amendments and what changed in committee, on my blog. The other two are O-14-26, the Mayor's restructuring of the Art in Public Places Commission, where I expect to offer amendments, and O-17-26, which would end the practice of ticketing people for parking in front of their own driveways. That one came straight from constituent complaints, including from Ward 7, and I am signing on as a co-sponsor.

We also open Monday by awarding the first Arnett-Finlayson scholarships. The outgoing Council authorized these, and I am glad to see them finally come to fruition for these students.

Two more updates many of you have been waiting for: we finally have target dates for the speed cameras in the Edgewood Road corridor, and the search for our next Police Chief is underway, with a community survey and two sessions this week where you can help shape what we look for. Details on both below, along with good news on the Spa Road cleanup and the County's plan to fix the Water Reclamation Facility odors, at the end.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

When I last wrote about the ordinance I introduced to update Annapolis's forest conservation code, I flagged a gap I was worried about and told you I was working on a companion measure to close it. We have since gotten an answer on that gap, and the ordinance has moved through two committees. Here is where things stand.

For more than 25 years, I have worked with Annapolis's forest conservation law, first as an environmental professional and now as your Ward 7 Alderman. So when Maryland recently overhauled its statewide Forest Conservation Act, I knew this was a moment that called for care, not a rubber stamp. This month I introduced legislation to update our City's forest conservation code, and I want to tell you what it does and why it matters.

We have a City Council special meeting this Monday, June 22, at 7 PM. A few things I want to put on your radar before then. First, I’m glad to welcome an annual report from Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB), whose Adaptive Boating Center sits right here in Ward 7 — their numbers are worth celebrating, and I’ve summarized them below. Second, I’ve included highlights from our June 11 Environmental Matters Committee meeting, which I chair, from a decade of Spa Creek water-quality data to the forest and energy work moving forward. And third, there’s a public hearing on O-14-26 (Art in Public Places) — your chance to weigh in.

On the legislative side, three items I especially want to flag. R-19-26 confirms Karen Ajayi as our Finance Director, and I am inclined to support it, pending any input from you. O-16-26 is my ordinance updating the City’s Forest Conservation law to conform with new State rules while keeping our stronger local standards — more on that below and on my blog. And O-17-26 responds directly to constituent complaints about being ticketed for parking on the street in front of their own driveway. I think the goal is right, but this one will need more dialogue in committee as we work through amendments — both to get everyone on board and to make sure we land on something staff can actually implement.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

Two quick items: first, a correction on the Gavin Buckley fundraiser I mentioned in my last newsletter — the event is this Thursday and the start time I listed was wrong. Second, my endorsements for the June 23 primary.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob S.

The FY27 budget is almost across the finish line. We adopted it on second reader after a long June 1 session and postponed final action to this Monday, June 8. Below you’ll find the wins I’m proudest of, a candid word about one process concern, what’s still ahead, and a full slate of community events. I'm also co-hosting a fundraiser for Gavin Buckley on June 18 — an evening on the water at the Annapolis Sailing School, with an environmental theme that reflects why his race for District 6 County Council matters.

A correction and apology. In my earlier comments on the Arnett/Finlayson scholarship issue, I characterized the Mayor as having opposed using the Education Commission’s expertise. After checking with both the Mayor and Alderwoman O’Neill, my recollection was mistaken — he did not oppose drawing on the Commission’s expertise. I want to set the record straight and apologize for the error.

A word on process — and the size of the Mayor’s Office. A procedural move late in our budget session ended up limiting debate on the size and cost of the Mayor's Office — something Alderwoman O'Neill and I objected to, though our colleagues saw it differently. I would have preferred to have had an open dialog about how this is the largest mayor's office in our history, but after the vote it is what it is. Over the next year I'll be watching how those positions perform and whether they deliver real value for residents, with an eye toward next year's budget conversation.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

A few items at the top of this newsletter. First, I am pleased to share that the scholarship program we approved last term — honoring former Alderpersons Ross Arnett and Sheila Finlayson — is now on a path forward. As some of you may have seen in the Capital Gazette, this took longer than it should have to resolve, but the important thing is that the eight students who were told they would receive these awards will not be left in limbo, the funds will be distributed before the fiscal year closes on June 30, and our Charter-crisis has been averted. I am grateful to Alderman Smith-Brown for stepping forward to develop draft protocols and to the Mayor for ultimately agreeing to move it forward.

Second, this Tuesday's council meeting is your LAST opportunity to testify in person on the FY27 City Budget. The public hearing closes at the end of this meeting and the Council moves into amendments at our June 1^st  meeting. Written testimony is also welcome — submit it at annapolis.gov/testimony. I have published my complete FY27 budget amendment package (v1.4, post-Finance review). You can read the full document here. You can also view what my colleagues on the council are proposing here.

Third, our Ward 7 Town Hall is Thursday, May 28th, 6:00–7:30 PM at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library. We'll cover the FY27 budget, Ward 7 capital projects, and open Q&A. If you can help distribute flyers to your immediate neighbors, please reply and I’ll let you know how to get some fliers.

Finally, if you're able to stay out a bit later on the 28th, I'd love to see you at the fundraiser for James Kitchin, who is running for Anne Arundel County Executive and has my full endorsement. James helped create Anne Arundel County's public campaign finance system — and then chose to use it himself, putting his principles into practice where many politicians would not. He has also earned the endorsement of the teachers union, and I look forward to working with him as a strong partner for our community. I'm going to do my best to wrap up the town hall early so anyone who wants to head to the Sailing School can make it. Details at jameskitchin.com/events.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob