May 25, 2025 Newsletter
Happy Sunday, Ward One
I’m writing this to you from downee ocean, hon. Sara and I got away for the weekend to Ocean City to relax and celebrate the unofficial start of summer. I hope you have similarly enjoyable plans to kick off the season and to remember the solemn importance of Memorial Day.
As we’ve got less than four months left until the primary election and just over five until the general, you’ll begin to see a little more about the campaign in this newsletter. Please talk to your neighbors to make sure everyone has a plan to vote, whether in-person at City Hall or by requesting a mail-in ballot when you receive an application. Note that you have to request a mail-in ballot from the City even if you are (like me) a permanent mail-in voter with the State.
Here are the top 3 things you need to know in Annapolis:
Saturday is the home opener for the Annapolis Blues, and you can win two tickets by donating any amount to my campaign or signing up for a yard signbetween now and Thursday.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, which means there’s a parade at 10 AM and that city offices are closed. Because of that, the council meeting is Tuesday.
We’re still looking for more folks to march with us in the Pride Parade next Saturday morning. Sign up here on the campaign website or just reply to this message. You might even get a mimosa out of it!
Updates from Harry
Did you know that May is National Preservation Month? I didn’t until the good folks at Historic Annapolis informed me. But I did know that May is when they always have their Paca Plant Sale. So, I was sure to stop by for that two weekends ago to pick up the tomato and pepper plants you see in the photo here.
Historic Annapolis has been guarding our city’s gems for longer than I’ve been alive—much longer! It’s part of why Annapolis has more buildings from the 1700s than any other city in the entire country—even cities much bigger than ours!
And they deserve a lot of credit for not just protecting what’s special about Annapolis but enhancing these special places and ensuring they’re open to all. That includes opening properties to tours for kids and recently adding a ramp at the Paca House.
In my conversations with Historic Annapolis’ leadership, I appreciate that we agree on dynamically preserving these spaces, making sure that our historic architecture is useful to the community and a part of the living fabric of the city.
A special piece of the connections Historic Annapolis creates is mobilizing community to show up for tough fights, like passing the first Historic District Ordinance in 1969 and protecting it countless times since. A continuous fight is to ensure the rules of the Historic District are applied fairly and evenly, no matter who owns the property.
We don’t have to agree on every piece of legislation to recognize that this is an organization working hard at a goal we all share: Preserving, Protecting, and Connecting Annapolitans and beyond to the incredible history of the city we love. If you want to celebrate Preservation Month, consider making a general donation or picking up a ticket to the Paca Girlfriends Party on June 11th.
This week and every week, I’m grateful for the honor of representing you and our whole community. Never hesitate to contact me at harry@harrymhuntley.com.
City council agenda
Call To Order
Mayor Buckley
Invocation
Alderman Gay
Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor Buckley
Roll Call
City Clerk Watkins-Eldridge
Approval of Agenda
Ceremonial Items
Update from Mayor
Mayor Buckley
Reports by Committee
Comments by the General Public
Remember, you can come to any city council meeting to tell us about what’s important to you and your neighborhood! Register here or just show up.
Consent Calendar
Public Hearings
O-6-25 Clearing Snow and Ice from City Sidewalks
This legislation, my first ordinance to be introduced, was inspired by our big snow storm. So many people said to me then “Why isn’t the city ticketing people who don’t shovel their walk?” and I told them that the truth is that many of those properties did get citations, but a citation doesn’t clear the snow. This legislation would allow the city to clear a sidewalk of snow after issuing a citation and then charge the property owner for the cost. It has a provision for the Public Works Director to waive that charge in compelling circumstances. We’re also working in the fee schedule, which will be adopted concurrently with the budget, to add this as an amendment.
O-8-25 Chesapeake Children’s Museum Lease Renewal Through June 30, 2030
The Chesapeake Children’s Museum is a valued member of our community, and they’re located on city land. This would extend their lease, now that they’ve worked through some issues for it with the Office of Law. I’m looking forward to getting all our leases under the new Department of Central Services.
O-12-25 Prioritizing Affordable Spending Through Expansion of Financial Advisory Commission Duties
It’s hard to argue against the goal of this legislation that requires a spending affordability study to be completed. But in practice I’m worried about how this would be implemented by the financial advisory commission, if the cost is worth it, and duplicating efforts better suited to the Director of Finance. I lean towards voting against this, but let me know what you think.
O-13-25 Compensation of Mayor, Alderpersons, and City Manager
This ordinance would actually change salaries to be in line with the Salary Review Commission’s recommendations. I have been clear that I do not support raising the city council's salaries beyond a cost of living adjustment. This is what I told the Commission, and it continues to be my position. I physically cannot work any harder for you, no matter how much more I'm paid. I would much rather any funds that could go towards raising the council's pay be spent on additional staff that would allow me to be more responsive to your concerns and to conduct more vigorous oversight and follow-through of legislation. I think also that taking this from a 30+ hour a week job down to a 15-20 hour a week job (via staff support) would expand the pool of people willing to run for the council and ultimately lead to us all having better representation. The city manager salary recommendation is in line with the Classification and Compensation study that examined the pay for that position across other jurisdictions. The recommendation for the mayor also seems fairly modest to me relative what a person competent enough to be mayor could command working fulltime in the private sector. I do not intend to support this, unless the city council changes are amended out entirely or decreased to just a cost of living adjustment.
Charter Amendment First Readers
CA-1-25 City Council Compensation Commission
This legislation mostly just reorganizes where in the charter the process for setting city council salaries is located. It also changes the name of the Salary Review Commission to better distinguish it from other processes. The only substantive change is removing the city manager from this process for setting elected officials’ pay. If this is passed, the City Manager’s compensation will be placed under the jobs & pay schedule adopted annually by the City Council. I think it makes sense to treat the city manager position more like all the other staff positions, while only having this separate process for elected officials.
Resolution First Readers
R-26-25 FY 2026 Position Classifications and Pay Plan
This resolution continues the existing position classification and pay plan—that we redid and passed a couple months ago—into FY26. I anticipate it will pass without much discussion since we just approved all the changes for FY25.
Ordinance Second Readers
O-1-25 Expansion of Child Care Options in Annapolis
When you’ve got Alderman Schandelmeier and Alderman Arnett on the same side of making changes to the zoning code, you can be pretty sure this is a good piece of legislation! It basically aligns Annapolis more closely with the state’s requirements on childcare facilities, thereby reducing some restrictions that are currently making childcare more expensive in the city. For instance, right now, we cap “Family Child Care Homes” at 8 children, while the state has a second category of “Large Family Child Care Homes” for 9-12 children, and this would put that in our code too. I think we should probably be going even further than this legislation to make childcare affordable and accessible, but I’ll fully admit that it’s not my area of expertise, so taking us to state standards seems like a safe choice for now. As he’s great at, Alderman Savidge has a couple amendments to make this bill more environmentally friendly that I intend to support as well.
Resolution Second Readers
R-24-25 Confirmation of Human Resources and Integrated Technology Solutions Directors
Tricia Hopkins and Brian Paquin became Directors when the Council passed legislation making the the HR & ITS offices into departments. The City Code says the Council must confirm all Directors, so we’re doing that.
Adjournment
Other news you can use
Yesterday, Truxtun Pool opened for the season. Who’s already been there to exercise or just splash around?
All state, county, and city offices are closed tomorrow for Memorial Day, so the council meeting is moved to Tuesday. Trash pickup is also pushed back a day.
The Annapolis Memorial Day Parade will begin at 10 AM tomorrow at the intersection of Amos Garrett Boulevard and West Street. Going down West Street, it will end at City Dock and be followed by a ceremony at the Fleet Reserve Club at 11:30.
Wednesday night will see the return of Dinner Under the Stars. Get your reservations now!
If you’re interested in walking with the campaign in the Pride Parade on May 31, please sign up on the website or by replying to this message.
GOOD NEWS: Saturday is the home opener for our local soccer team, the Annapolis Blues. BAD NEWS: I can’t be there. GREAT NEWS (for you): You can win my two tickets to the game by donating any amount to the campaign or signing up for a yard sign between now and Thursday.
On June 3rd, Forward Brewing will be releasing Berry Proud, a beer made specifically for celebrating Pride in Annapolis. 15% of sales will go to Annapolis Pride.
Some of your wonderful Ward One neighbors are hosting a meet and greet for me and Jared Littmann on Saturday June 7th. Register here, if you like hot dogs and bouncy castles.