I would like to share with you some important updates on what I have been working on and details on our Monday Council meeting.

Police reform legislation to be introduced

As I detail below, I have spent the past 6+ months working on legislation I’m calling the Police Enhancement And Community Engagement (PEACE) Ordinance. This is nothing radical. It attempts to accomplish just what the name implies: peace between the public and the police by improving trust between the two. I looked at what other nearby jurisdictions, such as Montgomery County and Washington DC are doing on this front, and also looked at best practices documented by the NAACP and ACLU. Let me be clear, many of these standards are already being practiced by our police department. But many are not. New standards and standards enshrined in our City Code are needed to ensure that we do not have a local tragedy like we have seen happen all over this country to individuals like George Floyd and Brianna Taylor. As stated recently in The Capital, “There is no liberty without life. No pursuit of happiness without life. No free speech, no right to assemble, no freedom of the press or religion without life. We all have the right to life, as long as we’re somebody.”

You can read a summary of what this legislation would do here.

Running again

As I stated in my last email to you, I am running for re-election this November. Thanks to all of you who have already donated. If you haven’t, please consider donating $25 or $50 to my campaign, or signing on to be a sustainer by donating $5 or $10 a month. I would be honored and privileged to continue serving you and the City. www.robsavidge.com/donate

State of the City & Budget introduction

Stay tuned! At this Monday’s meeting the Mayor will be giving his State of the City address and introducing the proposed fiscal year 2022 budget. Don’t worry, based on what I’ve been told thus far, there will be NO increase to the tax rate, and thanks to the Biden pandemic bailout money it looks like we will NOT have to lay anyone off this year or enact furlough days. More on the budget later as we get fully briefed.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Police Enhancement And Community Engagement (PEACE) ordinance

Did you miss the virtual Ward 7 Town Hall?

First of all, I wanted to thank those of you who attended the Ward’s first virtual town hall. If you missed it, and would like to hear the updates and remarks from myself and the Mayor, you can view the meeting here. I hope to hold another one in late April or May.

I’m running again!

You may have noticed in yesterday’s Capital Gazette that I’ve declared my run for a second term. I have enjoyed serving you during my first term and I hope I can count on your continued support. Please consider donating $25 or $50 to my campaign, or sign on to be a sustainer by donating $5 or $10 a month. www.robsavidge.com/donate

Next Council meeting

There isn’t anything too exciting on the agenda for Monday’s Council meeting. New legislation is being introduced that attempts to allow greater numbers of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). If you recall, an earlier version of this legislation was withdrawn about 12 months ago. Other than that we have a number of pieces of legislation up for a final vote but nothing too controversial. I’ll provide full details below.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Before I get into the details about this Monday’s Council meeting and let you know about things that may be of interest, I wanted to remind you about the first virtual Ward 7 Town Hall meeting, coming up this Tuesday, March 9^th, from 6-7:30 pm. Mayor Gavin Buckley will be our special guest for the first half hour, and we will both give you updates on things in the Ward and City and answer any questions you may half. After that we are welcoming Eileen Fogarty with the Maritime Advisory Task Force, who will tell us about the work the task force is doing, which could greatly impact Ward 7’s industrial maritime district (i.e. the area down Edgewood Rd on the west side). I’ll paste the login information for the Zoom meeting below.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

I would like to invite you to our first virtual Ward 7 Town Hall event, coming up on Tuesday, March 9th, from 6-7:30pm. We will be having two special guests: the Mayor Gavin Buckley and Eileen Fogarty, with the Maritime Advisory Task Force.

I miss holding the in-person town hall events for Ward 7. After Alderman Arnett held a virtual one for Ward 8, it has encouraged me to give that a try for this Ward. I have a tentative date of March 9^th from 6 to 7:30pm. I’m going to try to get the Mayor to join us for this first one, and after I give a few updates we can just dedicate the rest of the meeting to open questions & answers. I may also invite Planning & Zoning to present on the Comprehensive plan, but rather than pack all of that in a single meeting I may just schedule a second town hall for April or May that is dedicated to that topic. I’ll send out more details on the 9^th when I have them.

This Monday’s Council meeting is dedicated to public hearings on a number of pieces of legislation, which I’ll detail below. Of particular note is R-3-21, the resolution accepting the report and recommendations from the Charter-required Council Compensation Commission. They are formed every 4 years to make recommendations on if and how the Mayor or Council’s compensation should be adjusted. I certainly have my own opinion on that but it’s all a moot point since I see zero chance that we would give ourselves a raise during a fiscal year where we may very well be furloughing and laying off City employees. Regardless, even if this Resolution passes at our next meeting, it only accepts the recommendations and doesn’t act on them. To actually enact the pay changes we would have to introduce a separate ordinance to do that no later than 4 months prior to the next election. Again, virtually zero chance of that.

When you get to the end of this email you’ll see a more detailed update on the budget as well as an update on the proposed Lidl development that is slated to be built on the old C&C Liquors site across from the Giant.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

We have a lot of legislation being introduced at this meeting. Not all of the staff reports have been posted so I’ll keep an eye on them as they work their way through the process. The only legislation up for a final vote are the proposed leash law adjustments that would send the enforcement of those laws to the Police Department, which I have concerns about, but fortunately I think this legislation is being withdrawn. Also of note is legislation being introduced that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to be opened in the same zoning districts that allow pharmacies.

It is still on my to-do list to setup a virtual town hall meeting in either late February or early March. Could you let me know what topics you would like to discuss and whom you may like to attend? I’m thinking of inviting the Mayor, since we haven’t heard from him in a while in this Ward, and also someone from either the City Office of Emergency Management or the County Health Department to talk about the pandemic.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

As you may have noticed in The Capital, at our last meeting we passed R-61-20 , the short-term rental license moratorium (for non-owner-occupied units), but it was amended to only last for 3 months. I’m also pleased to say that we passed R-17-20 , the annual performance standards, with my proposed amendments to create standards for our environmental programs.

Our next meeting will consist primary of public hearings on a few pieces of legislation. Read on to see if there is anything you would like to testify on.

I’m hoping to schedule a virtual town hall meeting for Ward 7 residents sometime in late February. I will see if we can get the Mayor and a representative from either the County Health Department or the City’s Emergency Management Department to participate as well. Once I get some dates from them, I’ll send out an invitation.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

 Rob

Happy New Year!

As you may have noticed, at our last Council meeting we voted against accepting the grant money from the state to develop predictive policing algorithms in partnership with the University Maryland. There are just too many questions and risks about such programs, especially with the program they were using the algorithms with.

As for Monday night’s Council meeting, we have quite a number of ordinances up for final votes.

I’ve also included links for another survey on the Comprehensive Plan and a special request from The Capital to hear about any losses your family may have experienced due to COVID.

Stay safe,

Rob

Happy Holidays everyone. This month we only have one Council meeting and it’s a special meeting scheduled for this Monday, meaning it is dedicated to public comments and public hearings. There is legislation up for comment that would put a temporary moratorium on short term rentals on whole homes in the conservation districts, as well as legislation that would shift leash law authority from Anne Arundel Animal Control to the Annapolis Police Department and make it a $250 fine for residents. I’ve posted my thoughts on these below.

Happy Holidays! (and please don’t forget to shop local!)

Rob