Your 2/23/26 City Council Agenda
Happy Sunday, Ward One
Normally, I like to open the newsletter with a photo from an event or something I’ve been working on in Annapolis. But as I admitted in my last newsletter, I’ve spent most of the past two weeks touring farms in Portugal, which—as you can tell from my rain jacket being in all three photos—is not having much better weather than we are. Just as the last of January 25th’s snow is melting, we’re now staring down another storm that could bring anywhere from 1 to 12 inches.
And yet the work of the council continues. We’re fixing harbor lines and mooring regulations. We’re reconfiguring an important commission. And, as I talk about below, we’re looking ahead to the city budget process. I understand there will be a public after-action meeting on snow removal in the coming weeks to discuss successes and opportunities for improvement.
Here are the top 3 things you need to know in Annapolis:
Council will hear public testimony on updated mooring requirements and will introduce legislation on harbor lines for Hawkins Cove and dissolving membership of the Arts in Public Places Commission.
It’s Annapolis Restaurant Week! Where are you going for a prix fixe special? It’s not in Ward One, but I’ve got to tell you that Mi Lindo Cancun’s caught my eye.
Read to the last section for updates about the snow that’ll be coming down outside our windows starting this evening.
Updates from Harry
I had a great conversation this week with the Acting City Manager about our budget process.
We talked specifically about how to ensure that the information the Finance Committee receives during budget presentations is genuinely helpful in allowing us to shape the budget to suit our neighbors’ priorities. A presentation that just shows pretty pictures of all the nice things a department has done, without getting into the numbers, is next to useless.
As I’ve said before—and as you may have heard from the mayor and other members of the Finance Committee—we want to move towards outcomes-based budgeting. At the end of the meeting, I pulled a Sharpie out of my pocket and drew this simple matrix on the back of a handout. I said, “This is what I want to see from each Director.”
Alderman Thorp later pointed out that it would be beneficial to go back farther than just the previous year, and I agree with him.
This simple matrix for each departmental responsibility will allow us to see how the funds provided result in activities which then result in quantifiable improvements to residents’ lives. Sometimes the input is very tightly correlated with the output (eg every additional $30 is reliably one more square foot of brick sidewalk repaired), and other times they’ll necessarily be more noisy because there are factors outside of our control (eg more paramedic funding may or may not result in faster response times, depending on conditions at hospitals).
But getting a sense of the relationship between budgetary inputs and service outputs will allow us to understand what impact 5% more or 5% less funds would have in any given area. That could allow us to shift funding from where the marginal dollar is less impactful to where it would be more so. Or, if there’s an important initiative that we believe is needed but that’s not included in the mayor’s budget, the committee could understand precisely how outputs would change if funds had to be pulled from other departments to cover that new cost.
While most of those presentations focus on operating budgets, we also discussed the capital budget. An observation I’ve made (and you can disagree with me) is that the vast majority of projects in the capital improvement program tend to be worthwhile; there are very few that I outright think we should not do. What do I mean by that?
Some of the projects are funded with grants, and that’s great. A few are fully or partially paid for with “pay-go” money that’s coming from the operating budget. But mostly the capital projects are paid for by borrowing funds via bonds. Borrowing can seem scary, especially when you look at jurisdictions that have let it get out of control. But it’s really a smart way to make investments that will pay off by improving residents lives, thus increasing property values, and ultimately resulting in greater tax revenue to pay back those bonds. It’s an investment in our future. I’m of the opinion that almost all the projects clear that simple bar of a positive return on investment—although I’ve been vocal about the few that I think do not.
So, the question for the council is “When?” Does that elevator need to get preemptively repaired this year, or can it wait until next? Yeah, new park signage would be beneficial, but is it more urgent to put in a new sidewalk on a school route? In the capital budget, the information we need is less about how we could shift funds from one project to another and more about how we can shift the timing within the next five years.
That starts with having an accurate—rather than optimistic—sense of when funds will actually be spent. If we don’t know whether a project that’s funded to start construction in FY28 will actually have all the approvals to do so by then, it’s much harder for us to do that temporal prioritization. Beyond that, directors need to come with information to back up the urgency of each project and help us answer the kinds of questions I asked in the previous paragraph.
This conversation was about process, not priorities, but I do want to thank those of you who have shared your priorities with me for the upcoming city budget. Broadly, I’ve grouped those into 1) infrastructure improvements, 2) tax cut, and 3) customer service. We’re also looking ahead to developing a more routinized way for everyone to weigh in early in the process with something like the county’s town halls. That will likely start this coming fall.
This was just one meeting. What goes onto a Powerpoint during our weekslong marathon of budget presentations does not exactly make for a flashy headline in the Capital Gazette. But this is how we lay the groundwork for better management, better budgets, and an even better Annapolis.
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 Littmann
Moment of Silence
Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor Littmann
Roll Call
City Clerk Watkins-Eldridge
Approval of Agenda
Ceremonial Items
Update from Mayor
Mayor Littmann
Reports from Committees
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.
Public Hearings
O-2-26 Mooring Requirements in City Waters
As the staff report says, current city code is intended to mandate that all moorings be located at least 75 feet from the shore, any structure, or another mooring. However, the current language inadvertently makes every vessel secured to a legally installed mooring a violation. This legislation seeks to correct the ineffective wording, clarify the standard, and ensure that all newly installed moorings adhere to the same requirements as existing ones, thus preserving safe, navigable water.
Presentation
ID-42-26 Public Parking Discussion
Since we have a light agenda, this work session topic got added to the council meeting agenda. We’ll receive a presentation about all of the city’s paid parking assets.
Consent Calendar
Ordinance First Readers
O-3-26 Annapolis Harbor Lines at Hawkins Cove
Since this is in Ward 8, I’ll quote Alderman Thorp’s newsletter directly:
This is part of the process to obtain approval for the Hawkins Cove Restoration project which will provide more water access for our residents. Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requires all options for moving forward to be allowable within city code. Currently, the harbor lines prevent the option that extends the pier. This legislation authorizes changing the harbor lines so that the City can move forward on pursuing multiple options on the Hawkins Cove Restoration project.
O-4-26 Temporary Dissolution and Restructuring of the City of Annapolis Arts in Public Places Commission
If you read the news, you know the Art in Public Places Commission has had a lot of troubles over the past four years or so. While we passed legislation to improve the processes, it needs a personnel refresh as well. This legislation will remove all current members, providing six months to refill the Commission with an effective membership. I intend to support this.
Adjournment
Other news you can use
Emergency routes should be cleared of cars by 1 pm today. Garages will be open to the public to facilitate this, but—unlike the last storm—we do not anticipate leaving them open for many days.
For information on Annapolis’ general policies for snow, check out the most recent update (as of noon Sunday) on the city’s website. If you have specific questions, call the Annapolis Call Center at 410-260-2211.
Trash tomorrow is moved to Tuesday pickup; Tuesday pickup is moved to Wednesday. City offices will open late tomorrow, but the council meeting is still on.
Annapolis restaurant week is all this week! Great deals on prix fixe menus across the city from breakfast through dinner and a half-priced bottle of wine. Be sure to take a look at the dozens of restaurants participating, and maybe try out a new local spot this restaurant week.
Naptown Philharmonic is presenting music from Brahms and Ravel, played by William Bloomquist and featuring the Broadneck High School orchestra at 3 PM today.
St. John’s College is having their Lunar New Year Celebration with martial arts, acrobatics, and dance at 3 PM today also.
Monday afternoon, Hammond Harwood House is hosting a lecture on “Voices of the Enslaved-Charles Ball” at 2 PM.
Singer-songwriter and former spokesman for Mayor Ellen Moyer, Ray Weaver, is playing at Rams Head 8 PM on Tuesday.
The speaker this Friday at the Almost 7:30 Democratic Club is Courtney Buiniskis, candidate for Register of Wills.
Saturday, Feb 28 at 4 PM is Navy Men’s Basketball vs Colgate.
Please send me any events or other information you’d like advertised to your neighbors.
Have a great week, everyone!
Harry