Your 3/23/26 City Council Agenda

Written By Griffin Cargnel

Happy Sunday, Ward One

And happy beginning of spring! Whether you celebrate the season by burning your socks, tossing a veggie burger on the grill, going to a baseball game, or maybe (just maybe) de-winterizing the boat, I hope you’re enjoying some sunshine this weekend. This week, we saw our first osprey of the year, my personal favorite harbinger of spring.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve also had a lot of opportunities recently to educate members of the council and the public on what’s happening in city government. Thanks to the City of Annapolis TV crew, you can see these on our YouTube page. It’s a great resource to learn more about everything from sidewalks to stormwater. 

Here are the top 3 things you need to know in Annapolis:

  • The only legislation up for final passage are some pretty noncontroversial resolutions: performance standards, paddlecraft pilot, and festival approvals.

  • This week we’ve got Chesapeake Oyster Week, Maryland Day, and the opening of the Annapolis Film Festival.

  • The mayor and I will be hosting a town hall and ward walk on April 7th and April 18th, respectively. Hope you’ll join!

Updates from Harry

There are plenty of unsung heroes in city government. 

One of the new mayor’s priorities was to make sure these unsung heroes have the opportunity to sing a little themselves, by hosting town halls to hear from all the city employees. That’s now been completed, and they’re in the process of sharing the results with staff.

But today I want to recognize the unsung City of Annapolis TV crew. 

State law requires city government meetings to be publicly available. Here in Annapolis we go above and beyond by streaming every single committee and full council meeting on TV and online. All the boards and commission meetings are also generally streamed on their own channel.

That’s where the CoATV crew comes in. They record and stream every one of those meetings. It takes close-to-real-time editing of multiple camera angles, swapping in multimedia presentations, and lots of technical wizardry.

All that work is done by a nonprofit contractor for the city whose mission is “educating and entertaining…while creating awareness for social, educational and environmental issues.” This structure also ensures cost-efficiency. And of course there are the real people behind the camera who are spending late nights and weekends covering these meetings. 

You might not think it’s that hard to point a video camera and shoot, especially in today’s age where we almost all have a camera phone in our pockets. But where I’ve seen them really shine is when these technically complex, interlocking systems hit a pothole and need some help. More than once, I’ve watched the TV crew come running across the street to council chambers so they can get a mic or antenna fixed, to ensure everyone can follow what’s going on.

The reason I wanted to write about this today is that the TV studio is an integral part of how we can all stay informed. Thanks to their hard work in just the past couple weeks, you can see videos on…

Most of these get under a hundred views, even though there are 40,000 of us invested in city government. 

You can really learn a lot about almost anything you’d want to know in city government just from YouTube! And if there’s something that you think needs a deep dive, consider asking me or the relevant committee chair to schedule a hearing on it.

I’ll teach you a cool trick too, if you’re in a hurry: On any video, scroll down to click “more” then “Show transcript”. It’ll show you the text of the whole meeting, making it easier to navigate to the section you’re interested in.

You can even copy this transcript into your preferred large language model (AI) and ask it for when in the video a particular topic was discussed or what the outcome was. Standard disclaimers about fact-checking AI responses apply.

And while the TV crew focuses mostly on city business, is also responsible for some more lighthearted work too, like this video yesterday showing “them Eastport boys’…odd tradition” of burning socks to celebrate spring.

City government can seem so complicated that it’s difficult to know all the pieces. Part of that feeling is because the goal for many of our staff is to operate so seamlessly that you never think about who’s behind the camera or driving the trash truck.

But taking a few minutes out of our Sunday to acknowledge these dedicated professionals can be a great entry point to learning more about city government and getting engaged.

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

Closed Session

We’ll be getting an update on the lawsuit regarding HACA inspections.

Call To Order

Mayor Littman

Moment of Silence

Pledge of Allegiance

Mayor Littmann

Roll Call

City Clerk Watkins-Eldridge

Approval of Agenda

Note that as of Sunday morning all of the first readers seem to be lacking staff reports. Legislation is prohibited by code from being introduced without a report from the city manager. Unless we get those staff reports, some or all of the three first readers will have to be removed from the 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. 

Council Discussion

ID-63-26      Public Works Director Burr Vogel discusses changes in City Capital Improvement  Projects this fiscal year

Consent Calendar

Business and Miscellaneous

Just approving some grants from the Maryland Department of Transportation that are over $50,000, which is the limit to put them on the consent calendar.

Ordinance First Readers

O-6-26     Oversight of the City’s Firing Range 

This simply allows the police chief to approve use of the police firing range by officers from other departments. Currently, only the mayor can issue that approval.

O-7-26     Eliminating the Requirement for Outdoor Dining Patrons to be Seated 

Currently, city code prohibits people from standing up while dining outdoors, even though it’s fine indoors. That makes no sense whatsoever to me, and it’s way below the level of how involved city government should be in telling anyone how to run their business. It’s like if the city were to fine my mom (who’s a seamstress and clothing designer) for measuring a client’s shirt while they’re seated, instead of standing. This simply removes that prohibition. I’m happy to be a co-sponsor of this legislation from Economic Matters Chair Schandelmeier.

Resolution First Readers

R-7-26      Support of Maryland General Assembly House Bill 1142, Establishing the Task Force to Modernize County and Municipal Revenue Sources 

This expresses the council’s support for a state bill creating a task force to examine how to diversify revenue sources for cities. Every year our budget manager reminds us that 60% of general fund revenues are from property taxes, which leaves us very open to budget problems if property values steeply decline. I intend to support this resolution and move that we suspend the rules to adopt it immediately, given the time sensitivity of the General Assembly session.

Resolution Second Readers

R-1-26     Fiscal Year 2027 Annual Statement of Performance Standards

These are not as precise as any of us would like, but we’ve got a good plan for making the performance standards a cornerstone of our budgeting process under this new administration beginning this fall. I’ll support passing this tomorrow.

R-4-26     Extending the Public Paddlecraft Rack Pilot Project

This just extends the existing paddlecraft rack pilot project at Truxtun Park through the end of the season. It was put in last June, and the harbormaster feels like we need a full season to evaluate it. This legislation also lowers the fees somewhat and asks for an evaluation to come to city council by the end of the year. I will support.

R-6-26     Authorizing Itinerant Merchant Sales Within the Annapolis Historic District for Approved Special Events During Calendar Year 2026

This is our annual resolution authorizing sales in the historic district, which I sponsor as the Ward One Alderman. This is mostly pared back this year due to City Dock construction, but we did add in two dates for the successful Naptown Flea that was held last fall.

Adjournment

Other news you can use

  • We’re looking for Annapolitans to serve on so many boards and commissions, including the Art in Public Places Commission. 

  • This week is Chesapeake Oyster Week! Check out specials all over town on local oysters, like Sailor Oyster Bar’s torched Orchard Point oysters with Manchego cheese, chili butter, and Fresno chiles or Federal House’s oyster po boy sliders with apple slaw. This celebration supports the Oyster Recovery Project, who works to clean up the Bay by restoring its historic natural filter population.

  • Wednesday is Maryland Day! And there’s so much to celebrate:

  • The city’s Office of Community Services and Community Legal Services are co-hosting a virtual town hall for renters at 6 PM on Thursday. It’s designed to provide Annapolis residents who rent their homes with important information regarding their rights and responsibilities through a presentation from legal experts and an opportunity for attendees to ask questions. 

  • This Thursday also kicks off the Annapolis Film Festival with opening night at 7:15 PM at Maryland Hall, followed by great films, industry panels, and more throughout the weekend.

  • Now until COB April 1st, the city is accepting applications for community grants to local nonprofits. If you know a nonprofit doing good work for the people of Annapolis, please encourage them to apply.

  • The mayor is planning town halls in every ward to hear people’s perspective and help everyone get to know city leadership. Ours will be Tuesday, April 7 from 6:30 to 8 at Asbury Methodist Church on West Street.

  • We’ll also have a “ward walk” with the mayor and me on Saturday, April 18 from 9 to 10 AM, starting at Maryland and Hanover. This will be an opportunity to look at concrete (or brick, as the case may be) issues in the ward. The town halls and walks won’t always be so close together; that’s just how it worked out this time.

Please send me any events or other information you’d like advertised to your neighbors.

Have a great week, everyone!
Harry

Griffin Cargnel
Next

Your 3/9/26 City Council Agenda