Your 4/27/26 City Council Agenda
Happy Sunday, Ward One
April showers bring May flowers, and April budget hearings bring a beautiful May budget. Right? The Finance Committee, which I chair, is currently in the midst of scrutinizing every dime (can’t say “penny” anymore) of the mayor’s proposed budget. I’ll have much more to say about that in two weeks when those hearings wrap up.
In the midst of the budget focus, work continues to address constituent concerns. Sometimes that’s just connecting someone with the ombudsman, other times it’s a call to develop a creative solution with the right director, and sometimes, as I write below, it’s turning a problem into a law that solves it.
Here are the top 3 things you need to know in Annapolis:
Tomorrow’s council meeting includes a public hearing for you to share your thoughts on the budget, and the Finance Committee will keep having hearings with directors throughout the next two weeks, all of which you can view on the city’s YouTube page.
Thursday at 8 AM at 49 West, I’m having office hours to hear from you about three pieces of legislation I’m working on: water mains, clearing snow, and sidewalk signs.
You can tune in tomorrow night for an update from our state delegation on how the legislative session went this year.
Updates from Harry
How does a bill become a law?
While the council can consider various legislative actions, like resolutions, fund transfers, appointments, and more, ordinances are our tool to change and create city laws.
The last step for an ordinance to change city code is for the council to vote on second and third reader at a full meeting of the city council. That’s when we go around the table for the “aye”s and “nay”s. Note that, unlike at the state or federal level, the mayor’s signature is not the last step; our mayor does not have veto power.
Before that, the ordinance has been considered in a committee that provides a favorable or unfavorable recommendation—or chooses to make no recommendation at all. That’s when we’ll have city staff and maybe outside experts come testify on why it’s needed and what the implications are.
Committees can only consider legislation after it’s had a public hearing before the full city council, in which anyone can provide feedback in a structured, even-footed setting. I think this is crucial as our main venue for feedback to ensure everyone gets to have an equal say.
What we call “first reader” is the vote to introduce the legislation. It’s very uncommon to vote against introducing legislation; that’s like saying “I don’t think this topic is even worth discussing.” Only occasionally do I feel like a topic is genuinely not even worth the conversation.
That process from introduction to passage takes at minimum a month, but more often it’s closer to three or four. I worry sometimes that too long of a timeline can make us inadequately responsive to resident concerns.
But there’s a lot of work that happens even before that clock can start. Legislation can’t get onto the agenda without reviews from (typically) three separate staff members for its fiscal, staffing, and legal impacts.
To write the legislation, the city council turns to our dedicated Law and Policy Analyst, who—fun fact—was previously a longtime producer for C-SPAN. Sometimes writing a law is as simple as deleting a sentence or changing a number. Other times the ordinance will be paragraphs and paragraphs that create multiple new sections.
The Law and Policy Analyst also conducts research on the topic within city government and across peer cities, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And she makes sure that our city code is written according to best practices that make it unambiguous to lawyers and readable to the rest of us.
But it all starts with hearing a problem from residents and getting their feedback on how to solve it.
I’m currently in the early drafting stages for three ordinances to address problems that have come from Ward One residents and businesses:
Water mains: There’s a $1000 fine for a contractor doing anything to a water main before getting permission from the city. We need to make this more narrow and timely, because when you have a water emergency, the last thing you want to do is wait until Monday for a city permit.
Clearing snow: Last year, we addressed the problem of repeated non-clearance of snow from sidewalks by adding an option of last resort for city staff to clear the snow and charge the adjacent property owner for that cost. My goal now is to tweak that same premise, in order to give residents a little more leeway (like allowing more time for big storms) and also make it more straightforward for staff to enforce.
Sidewalk signs: The permitting requirements for sandwich boards are currently so onerous and confusing that many don’t follow them. And yet, there aren’t good enforcement mechanisms either. The goal of this is to put clear standards in code and swift enforcement (removal of the sign) for anyone in violation of them.
I’d love to get your feedback on these early ordinances and others you might think we need. This Thursday at 8 AM, I’ll be at 49 West for you to drop by and provide some feedback. If you want to talk about them but can’t make that time, please share your thoughts by email or send me a message to find another time we can talk.
Maybe we can even come up with an Annapolis-themed update to the old Schoolhouse Rock song.
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
Proposed Closed Session
Council is getting updates from the mayor on some personnel issues.
Approval of Agenda
Ceremonial Items
Presentation
An update on the legislative session from Senator Henson and Delegates Jones and Behler.
Update from the Mayor
Mayor Littmann
Reports by 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
Note that all of this budget-related legislation will be available for public hearing for the next two meetings also.
O-8-26 Annual Budget and Appropriations and Property Tax Levy
This ordinance constitutes the city budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 2026 and ending June 30, 2027. It includes the Annual Operating Budget for the new fiscal year starting July 1, the Capital Budget, Capital Improvement Program 9planning for the next 5 years), appropriates money for all City spending over the next fiscal year, and levies the City's property taxes for FY 2027.
R-10-26 Annual Fees Schedule
The list of all the City's fees and the corresponding sections of the Code requiring each fee. Fees are a payment for a service (like inspecting a rental), while fines are a punishment for breaking part of the code.
R-11-26 Annual Fines Schedule
The list of the City's fines and the corresponding sections of the Code. Fines are a punishment for breaking part of the code (like walking around with an open alcohol container), while fees are a payment for a service.
R-12-26 Position Classification and Play Plan
The list of all the City's jobs, their pay rank, and the actual salary for each position.
Consent Calendar
Resolution First Readers
R-16-26 Fees Related to Street Cafes, a Type of Outdoor Dining
When fees were established for outdoor dining, no fee was put in code for street cafes within the parking concession area (essentially downtown), because we were still negotiating the rate with MEDCO. Everyone has now agreed to that rate, but we’ve got to put it into the law in order to issue the permits for a few restaurants downtown. I intend to move to suspend the rules and fully pass this tomorrow night, since we’re already well into the outdoor dining season.
Ordinance Second Readers
O-2-26 Mooring Requirements in City Waters
This legislation has taken a few twists and turns. It needs to be withdrawn. But it’s not technically out of the Environmental Matters Committee. So, it’s going to have to be removed from the agenda tomorrow, have no action taken in committee, and then come back on a future city council meeting agenda to be withdrawn. The Office of Law is going to keep working with the state Department of Natural Resources to come up with new legislation that will resolve this issue.
Resolution Second Readers
R-8-26 Fee Waivers for City Supported Special Events in Fiscal Year 2027
This just waives fees for well-loved city events like the St. Patrick’s parade. I fully support waiving these costs, but I’ll be asking questions during budget hearings for Public Works and Police this week about how we can keep costs the city is incurring in check.
Council Discussion
We’re reserving some time for the council to talk about the ongoing budget hearings. In particular, I want to discuss improving our process for offering amendments.
Adjournment
Other news you can use
Today is the Spring Sailboat Show (obviously). Hope you either get to enjoy it or avoid it!
St. Mary’s school play this year is The Little Mermaid, and the last showing is today at 2 PM.
The Finance Committee continues its public budget hearings this Monday (8:30–12), Tuesday (8:30–12), and Wednesday (12:30-4) in Council chambers.
Colonial Players’ presentation of Poor Clare provides a “hilarious, anachronistic telling of the real story of St. Clare” in thirteenth-century Italy through the middle of May.
The Severn River Association’s annual meeting will be taking place on April 28th at 6pm at the Atreeum on North Bestgate Road.
The city wants your input on its Climate Action Plan during the community engagement session Tuesday, April 28 at 6 PM at Council Chambers.
Friday is May Day! See the city’s instructions for putting out flowers. What the press release doesn’t know is that Presidents Hill is also participating via its own judging.
The First Sunday Arts Festival returns to West Street on May 3, from 11 AM to 5 PM.
I recently found out that Naptown Scoop publishes a schedule of trivia nights. I miss Reynold’s trivia nights, so I might have to check out one of these.
Please send me any events or other information you’d like advertised to your neighbors.
Have a great week, everyone!
Harry