| MARK YOUR CALENDAR |
| Mon, Oct 26 |
City Council Special Meeting: ferry discussion; public hearing on O-30-26; final votes on CA-2-26, CA-3-26, O-11-26, O-12-26, O-17-26, O-21-26, O-25-26, R-34-26, and R-45-26 — City Hall, 7 PM; public comment at the start of the meeting
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| Sat, Oct 31 |
Día de los Muertos Festival — Maryland Hall, 3–8 PM, free
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| Tue, Nov 3 |
General Election Day — polls open 7 AM–8 PM
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| Mon, Nov 9 |
Next regular City Council meeting — City Hall, 7 PM
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| Thu, Nov 12 |
Budget Town Hall for Wards 3 and 4 (all residents welcome) — American Legion Post 141, 6:30–8 PM
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Last Meeting Recap — October 12
The October 12 meeting ran long and ended early, before most of its final votes:
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The Ateto citation. About thirty residents spoke, nearly all asking the Mayor to reverse the denial. There was no vote that night; the change of course came afterward. |
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Short-term rentals. Planning and Zoning presented the moratorium's interim report: 303 licensed rentals, 65 operating without a license, 30 active enforcement cases, and a license lottery under the blockface cap that begins November 1, 2027. Staffing and technology, not law, are the stated bottlenecks. I asked how the department squares protecting neighborhood fabric with the Comprehensive Plan's goal of mixing more uses into residential districts. |
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Public hearings held. The outdoor dining update (O-29-26) drew six speakers, most of them from Eastport, who asked the Council to slow down and get the seating and enforcement provisions right; the parking fine waiver ordinance (O-28-26) drew one, opposed. Both go back to committee, and I have amendments pending on both. Hearings on O-25-26, O-26-26, O-27-26, and CA-4-26 drew no speakers. |
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Introduced: the eviction ordinance (O-30-26) and its fines (R-37-26), the menhaden resolution (R-45-26), and two event resolutions (R-39-26, R-40-26). |
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CA-2-26 — Elections board: the substitute amendment passed; the final vote did not happen. Alderman Smith-Brown's substitute, which replaces my proportional seat design and moves appointments from the Council to the Mayor with Council confirmation, was adopted over my objection and Alderman Huntley's. I lost that vote. Before the Council could vote on the amended Charter amendment, City Hall lost power and the meeting adjourned. CA-2-26, CA-3-26, O-11-26, O-12-26, O-21-26, and R-34-26 were all carried over to Monday. |
Committees, Boards, and Commissions
The Transportation Committee, which I sit on, met October 14 and previewed the Blue Route: one bus, weekday rush hours, from the Eastport Shopping Center along Bay Ridge Avenue and Forest Drive to the Truman Park and Ride, the swim center, and Annapolis High School, where students ride free, running through the end of the school year. I asked for a stop at the Giant on Bay Ridge Road, for the bus to run the arterials rather than detour into side neighborhoods, as the adopted transit plan recommends, and for the afternoon times to be checked against when after-school activities actually end. Launch is now targeted for mid to late November; I will share the schedule when it is published. That meeting, the Spa Creek Bridge findings, and ten other boards, commissions, and committees are in Around the City: Boards and Commissions, late October. Interested in serving on a City board? The application is here, and I am always glad to hear from Ward 7 residents who want to.
Monday, October 26 — What's on the Agenda
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7:00 PM at City Hall, in person. This is a special meeting, called to finish the business left over when the October 12 meeting ended early. Televised on local cable, YouTube, Facebook, and the City website. Submit written testimony anytime at www.annapolis.gov/testimony. The full agenda is on Legistar. |
Ceremonial items
Recognition of the Maritime Republic of Eastport's Tug of War Challenge (ID-191-26) and a citation for Old Fourth Ward Unity Day (ID-192-26).
Council discussion: the hybrid-electric ferry
City Manager Yolanda Lewis presents the business case for the ferry pilot (ID-196-26), and the Mayor is asking the Council for direction. What is on the table: a hybrid diesel-electric passenger ferry connecting City Dock with Eastport at Fifth Street (a requirement of the federal grant), Hawkins Cove, and a Carr's Beach landing at the Annapolis Maritime Museum's Back Creek campus at Moyer Park, on the creek side rather than the Bay side, with Friday through Sunday service first. The City's request for information drew at least five qualified operators, and two requests for proposals, one for the vessel and one for the landing sites, are ready to advertise. The grant is about $3 million and reimbursable; the local match is already budgeted with the related Eastport bulkhead and Hawkins Cove work; nothing has been spent beyond staff time. My position: there is no decision point before the Council Monday, because the Council has voted for this project repeatedly, in O-40-21, in the grant acceptance, and in the plans and budgets that followed. The requests for proposals are how the City replaces estimates with real numbers, and issuing them does not sign a contract. Unless someone proposes to reverse those votes through legislation, the administration should release them and proceed as authorized. To the parking question I keep hearing from Eastport: in Baltimore's 2025 rider survey of its harbor ferry, about six in ten riders walked, biked, or scootered to the dock, and I want a bike hub at every landing. This is a discussion item, not a public hearing, so speak during the general public comment period at the start of the meeting or send written testimony to www.annapolis.gov/testimony before Monday. More in my blog post.
Public hearing — your chance to weigh in
You can testify in person Monday night or, if you cannot attend, submit written testimony in advance at www.annapolis.gov/testimony. The item then goes back to committee before a final vote.
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O-30-26 — How evictions are carried out (Alderman Schandelmeier; I am a co-sponsor). State law and the courts decide whether someone is evicted; this ordinance sets City rules for what happens once a court has ordered it. A landlord must give the tenant written notice at least 14 days before the Sheriff's repossession date (state law requires six), change the locks with a deputy present, and dispose of belongings only lawfully, never on the street or sidewalk; if they end up on City property, Public Works hauls them and bills the landlord. Anne Arundel County adopted the same 14-day rule in March, and the Sheriff carries out evictions in both jurisdictions, so this keeps the rules consistent. The companion fine resolution, R-37-26, sets $1,000 per day. If you rent, own rental property, or have been through an eviction, Monday is the night to weigh in. |
Grants and the union contract funding
Two fire grants: SA-5-27 accepts a larger FEMA award than budgeted, buying three cardiac monitors and up to 15 AEDs, and SA-7-27 accepts an $82,404 port security grant for an underwater search-and-rescue robot launched from the fireboat. Then the union contracts. FT-3-27 moves $759,000 of cash from four capital projects (two sidewalk programs, the Farragut Road sidewalk, and City Dock) into salaries to cover the cost-of-living increases in the agreements ratified in September, and SA-8-27 puts the same $759,000 back into those four projects from the Capital Reserve Fund, so no project loses money. Finance recommended both. My one question is how much remains in the Capital Reserve Fund afterward.
Being introduced Monday (first readers)
Introduction only: no debate and no final vote. Each goes through committee review and a public hearing first. Three of the five are about snow.
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O-24-26 — Clearing your sidewalk after a storm (Alderman Huntley). Today the rule is three hours after the snow stops. This sets deadlines by depth: 8 hours for under four inches, 24 hours for four inches or more, with the clock starting at 5 AM if the storm ends overnight, and the path cleared to pavement at least four feet wide. If a walk is not cleared, a Public Works inspector posts a notice; if it is still not cleared by the next 8 AM, the City or a contractor clears it and bills the owner a fee, which can be reduced for owners 65 and older or with low incomes. R-30-26 sets that fee by length of sidewalk, from $250 for up to 30 feet to $2,000 for more than 250 feet, and R-44-26 sets the fine for not clearing at $100 per day. |
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O-31-26 — Snow emergency phases (Mayor Littmann). Updates a plan that still requires tire chains. In Phase II the Public Works Director bans parking on snow emergency routes, with towing; in Phase III the Mayor limits travel to essential trips; a new Phase IV closes the streets to everything but plows and emergency vehicles. The chains-and-snow-tires requirement is repealed. Referred to the Transportation Committee. |
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R-46-26 — Cost-of-living adjustment for non-union employees (Mayor Littmann). A 2 percent adjustment for employees on the non-represented and executive pay scales, matching the union agreements, retroactive to July 2. |
Final votes Monday (second readers)
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CA-2-26 — Expanding the Board of Supervisors of Elections (my legislation, with Aldermen Huntley and Smith-Brown). The Board that runs City elections has three members, so any two are a quorum and cannot talk outside a public meeting. The Board asked for the expansion to five and the 2021 Charter Revision Commission recommended it. As I wrote last time, my version set the Board's makeup to mirror how Annapolis voters are registered and kept the appointment with the Council. Alderman Smith-Brown's substitute, adopted October 12, moves appointments to the Mayor with Council confirmation and loosens the ratios. I would still prefer CA-2-26 as written, but I lost that vote. I identified drafting errors in the substitute and sent them to the Office of Law; a corrective amendment is expected Monday, and as I understand it, I can live with the fix. The Board of Supervisors of Elections has raised its own concern about the Mayor-appoints model, and I expect that to be part of the discussion. |
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CA-3-26 — Expanding the Charter preamble (my legislation, with Alderwoman Allsup-Johnson, Alderman Schandelmeier, Alderwoman Contee, and Alderwoman O'Neill). In 2021 the Charter Revision Commission, nine residents and more than 1,000 volunteer hours, made strengthening the preamble its first recommendation. The current preamble establishes self-government, accountability for public funds, and home rule; it does not say what the City stands for. A preamble creates no rights, programs, or costs. It sets the frame for every council and every mayor that follows. The reason I introduced it is the last commitment: that the City is a steward of the Chesapeake Bay and the natural systems the community depends on, and that addressing climate change and sea level rise is part of the job, for current and future generations. I support the rest of it too: full and responsible representation, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and protection of human, civil, and voting rights. Alderman Thorp's Rules Committee amendment shortens the text to a single paragraph and keeps each of those commitments, including the Bay. I will support the legislation amended or not. |
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O-11-26 — Renting a room in your own home (Alderman Schandelmeier; I am a co-sponsor). The original rooming house framework, with licenses, inspections, and a two-room cap, got more complicated than anyone intended. Alderman Schandelmeier's Amendment 2 replaces all of it with a simple rule: an owner who lives in the home may rent one or more bedrooms for more than 90 days, by lease or informal agreement, without a rental operator's license, while the regular property maintenance, building, and fire codes still apply. Boarding houses that are not owner-occupied stay prohibited. Today, renting a room in your own house technically carries a $1,000-a-day fine. Both committees recommended it with the amendment. I am inclined to support this legislation, pending any input from you. R-17-26, the companion license fee, is no longer needed if Amendment 2 passes, because there is no license; I will vote no on it in that case. |
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O-12-26 — West Annapolis parking district (Alderwoman O'Neill). Removes Forbes Street and Monterey Avenue from Residential Parking District 5. Both committees recommended it. I am inclined to support it as written, and I remain open to input from the neighborhood. |
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O-17-26 — Parking in front of your own driveway (Alderman Smith-Brown; I am a co-sponsor). Lets legal occupants and their guests park on the street directly in front of their own driveway, with the occupant's permission, where parking is already allowed on both sides. The sponsor's revised Amendment 1 folds in my Amendments 3 and 4 and Alderman Thorp's Amendment 2, so I will not move mine: no parking that touches a red curb; an administrative appeal that voids a ticket for anyone who proves they live at the address; clear towing authority for anyone else who blocks a driveway; and an exemption for the narrow streets of the Eastport peninsula, with a required Council vote within a year on whether to extend it. Alderman Huntley's Amendment 5 keeps the permit parking districts out of the new rule. I support the ordinance with both amendments. Both committees recommended it as amended. |
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O-21-26 — Resilience Authority membership (Mayor Littmann). Conforms the City Code to the County's changes to the joint Resilience Authority, which has 32 projects under way and more than $50 million secured and will help decide which City flood and shoreline projects get funded, and in what order, including the ten priority projects of the Annapolis Maritime Resilience Initiative. As introduced it dropped the requirement that the City's three appointees live in the City. My Amendment 2 restores City residency; those three seats of twelve are the City's entire voice on the board. My Amendment 1 adds Council confirmation of the Mayor's appointees, going forward only, the same standard the Code sets for the Ethics Commission, the Financial Advisory Commission, and the Maritime Advisory Board. The Office of Law found both consistent with state law, the County Attorney raised no objection, the Authority's director confirmed no County legislation needs to change, and both committees recommended both. I support the ordinance as amended. |
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O-25-26 — Food trucks at Historic District special events (Aldermen Schandelmeier and Huntley), with its fine schedule, R-32-26. Lets food trucks take part in Historic District events run by a local business association, not only City-sponsored events. I support both. |
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R-34-26 — Main Street Advisory Task Force (Alderman Huntley). A temporary body of 7 to 13 members to guide the Main Street program while the City's Office of Economic Development runs it and to stand up an independent nonprofit to take it over. I support it with Alderman Huntley's Amendment 1, opening seats to residents, and the Economic Matters Committee's Amendment 2, which makes those two seats a pedestrian-and-micromobility voice and a youth-engagement voice; the first was my request. R-39-26 waives City costs for the Budweiser Clydesdales meet and greet on December 27, and R-40-26 authorizes a Naptown Flea vintage market in the Historic District on November 22. I support both. |
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R-45-26 — Standing up for menhaden (Alderman Huntley, Mayor Littmann, Alderman Schandelmeier, and me). Here is why this matters. Menhaden are the Bay's forage fish, the food for rockfish, bluefish, dolphins, and ospreys, and the industrial reduction fishery grinds them into fish meal and oil by the ton. The ospreys are telling us something: of roughly 100 nesting pairs on the Severn River this year, observers counted only about a dozen chicks, because the adults could not find enough menhaden to feed them. Maryland's Bay pound net harvest fell 60 percent in 2024, and the Choptank River adult menhaden index dropped sharply and stayed low in 2025. The Chesapeake is the primary spawning and nursery ground for Atlantic striped bass, the predator most sensitive to menhaden abundance. The interstate fisheries commission's menhaden board meets November 9 to 12. My Amendment 1 turns a general statement of support into specific requests the board can act on: the most conservative Bay cap option, three quota periods with payback for overages, a three-year review, and a coastwide catch limit that leaves enough menhaden for the Bay's striped bass to recover. The findings come straight from the commission's own draft addendum. The City's Maritime Advisory Board and the County's maritime board have sent their own letter supporting a 50 percent cut in the Bay cap. I support the resolution as amended. |
Community Updates
Appeals court upholds the Maritime Welcome Center approval
On October 19 the Appellate Court of Maryland affirmed the Historic Preservation Commission's 2025 approval of the Maritime Welcome Center at City Dock, rejecting Historic Annapolis's appeal of last year's Circuit Court ruling. The court found the Commission followed the zoning code, its own procedures, and the historic district design guidelines, and that its decision, including the finding that the Welcome Center is a separate waterfront structure rather than an addition to the Burtis House, was supported by substantial evidence. Construction at City Dock continues; the current target for completing the flood protection and park work is July 2027.
The City's FY2026 Annual Report
The City published its Annual Report for the fiscal year that ended in June: clean audit opinions, credit ratings reaffirmed at Aa1 (Moody's) and AA+ (Fitch and S&P), an ISO Class 1 fire department that handled more than 13,000 incidents, nearly 50,000 police calls for service, and residential permit review times cut by nearly half. The 32-page report is online as a PDF and in print at City Hall. If you want to know what your departments actually did last year, it is a good read.
Día de los Muertos at Maryland Hall
The City's Day of the Dead festival is Saturday, October 31, 3 to 8 PM, at Maryland Hall: live music and dance from Grupo Etnia, Natalia Carrasco, Heroes de la Nada, Carolyn Peña, Peru Folklore MD, and the True North Academy Bilingual Choir, plus food vendors, artisans, and family activities. Free and open to all.
Around town
Pip Moyer Recreation Center is now open 6 AM to 10 PM every day, as of October 13. The new fireboat is scheduled to arrive October 28. The Blue Route bus pilot from the Eastport Shopping Center to Annapolis High School is targeted to start in mid to late November; I will share the schedule when the department publishes it. And the Mayor's last budget town hall, for Wards 3 and 4, is Thursday, November 12, 6:30 to 8 PM, at American Legion Post 141; any resident is welcome.
Thank you, as always, for your engagement.
— Rob
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