OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Finance Committee Special Budget Hearing - April 29, 2026

City Council — Wednesday, April 29, 2026
BodyAnnapolis, Maryland
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, April 29, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:45:28

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Okay.

0:02

Meeting of the finance standing committee is called to order 1233 p.m.

0:05

on April 29th, 2026.

0:08

Happy week after Earth Day.

0:12

And at this time, I'll take a roll call.

0:16

Although Roman O'Neill.

0:17

Present.

0:17

Altman Thorpe.

0:18

Present.

0:19

Altman Hulley's here.

0:21

Is there a motion to approve the agenda as written?

0:25

Oh, let the record reflect Auditor McConti's also here.

0:28

Second.

0:30

All those in favor, please say aye.

0:32

Aye.

0:34

Is there a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting as written?

0:38

So moved.

0:39

Second.

0:39

All those in favor, please say aye.

0:41

Aye.

0:42

Both motions.

0:43

Carrie.

0:44

Chief Romale.

0:45

Floor is yours.

0:46

We'll put 15 minutes on the clock.

0:48

Ask you guys to give your presentation within that time, and then we'll ask you some questions.

0:54

So you know the drill.

0:56

Good afternoon.

0:57

Thanks for having us.

0:58

Uh with me today.

0:59

To my left is Deputy Chief Matthew Lopez, who's our deputy chief of administration and professional standards.

1:05

To my right is fire administrative specialist Jeannie Coglin, who knows our budget inside and out.

1:12

And to her right is Deputy Chief John Ortley, who's in charge of operations.

1:23

You got to get the presentation going.

1:29

Do we need the two someone from the TV studio?

1:31

Or maybe we'll reset your time, don't worry.

1:40

So as they're pulling it up, um the first the first slide will be the accomplishments where we did the top top three accomplishments for the year.

1:49

Uh the first one is the one that always knock on wood because we haven't had a fatal fire in the city of Annapolis since 2010, so we're very proud of that.

1:57

And we have some aggressive firefighters and are able to get to calls very quickly, and that helps us with that.

2:03

Um also with that, the second one is our emergency response times.

2:07

We continue to meet or exceed national standards when it comes to responding to incidents.

2:12

And the third, as the council is well aware, over the last year, we were able to develop a strategic plan, and that's going to do our roadmap for the next five years.

2:20

Obviously, we've had a lot of other highlights, and one of the biggest ones there is our cadet interim program with the partnership with the state of Maryland, the city council, uh, Maryland Fire Rescue Institute.

2:32

We've been able to get eight people uh train them to be firefighter EMTs, and they are currently out in the field completing their program now.

2:39

It's been very successful for us.

2:42

Our performance measures that are in the budget, it's how we uh calculate if we're doing well or not.

2:49

Uh the first one that's up there, they these are just not in specific order, but the first one we always like to track our workers' comp or injuries on the job uh and want to reduce that, and that's what the the intent is there.

3:01

Um unfortunately we've had at least 32 people injured last year uh on the job, and this year we're right on track that we've had 15 so far, and we track the cancers in the fire service.

3:13

Cancers become the number one leading cause of firefighter deaths in the United States.

3:17

We have three active cases in the Annapolis Fire Department at the present time.

3:22

We also track our vehicle accidents.

3:24

Now, while this may seem high at 23, uh we track every time we scratch a vehicle.

3:30

We have very large fire apparatus, uh over the years we've condensed them.

3:34

We've made them city pumpers because we know our streets were made for horse and buggies.

3:38

We're trying to get around there and large apparatus and uh ambulances and medic units, and sometimes we clip a mirror and stuff.

3:45

So the majority of those are very minor incidents, but we track those and we want to reduce those.

3:50

We have a very robust driver operator program that we continue to enhance every year.

3:55

We maintain a class one ISO rating.

3:58

I believe we were reevaluated last year for five years.

4:01

That's the highest fire rating when it comes to the ISO standards.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure███████████████████████23%
Fiscal Sustainability████████████████████20%
Public Safety████████████████16%
Technology and Innovation████████████12%
Pending Litigation█████████9%
Personnel Matters██████6%
Procedural█████5%
Cannabis Regulation██2%
Economic Development██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Finance Committee Special Budget Hearing - April 29, 2026

The Finance Committee met in a special budget hearing on April 29, 2026 from 12:33 PM to 3:55 PM, with recesses, to review FY27 budgets for the Annapolis Fire Department (AFD), Office of Law, and Department of Planning & Zoning (DPZ). Alderman Huntley chaired; Alderwoman O'Neill and Alderman Thorp were present.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved the agenda as written. Motion carried on voice vote.
  • Approved the minutes from the April 28, 2026 special meeting. Motion carried on voice vote.

Discussion Items

Annapolis Fire Department (AFD) – ID-92-26

Chief Remaley, Deputy Chief Lopez, Acting Deputy Chief Ortlieb, Fire Administrative Specialist Coughlin, and Budget Analyst Turner presented. Key points:

  • Accomplishments: No fatal fire since 2010; emergency response times meet or exceed national standards; developed a five-year strategic plan; graduated eight cadets from a state partnership program.
  • Performance measures: 32 injuries last year, 15 year-to-date; three active cancer cases; 23 vehicle accidents (mostly minor); nine complaints for the year; average soft openings (personnel not in field) of 18 per month.
  • Run statistics: Over 13,000 emergency calls annually, with over 25,000 unit responses.
  • Budget enhancements: Mayor's proposed budget includes six personnel ($588,000) for a peak-time medic unit (12-hour day, 7 days/week) expected to generate $200,000–$250,000 in additional EMS billing revenue; a contractual paramedic EMS trainer; $200,000 for obsolete equipment; $15,000 for professional cleaning of turnout gear; and funding for office space planning.
  • Overtime: Budgeted $2.1 million; primarily driven by minimum staffing needs due to sick leave, injuries, and special events.
  • Staffing concerns: Minimum staffing requires 25 personnel per shift; with leave and training, the department often has 18 soft openings per month, leading to overtime.
  • Four-person staffing: Discussed adding a fourth person to suppression units, starting with the crew that cross-staffs the fire boat. The cost for that single crew would be approximately half of the $429,000 estimated for both truck companies.
  • Revenue: EMS billing brings in about $4 million annually; a new peak-time unit is expected to increase that slightly.
  • Concerns: Hospital (Annapolis Medical Center) will stop providing one-for-one medical supplies after July, adding an estimated $80,000 in costs; potential loss of federal SAFER grants.

Committee members (Alderman Thorp, Alderwoman O'Neill) asked detailed questions about overtime management, staffing factors, response time variability, fire boat adequacy, and the impact of new housing developments (800+ units). Chief Remaley provided explanations and committed to follow-up data.

Office of Law – ID-93-26

Acting City Attorney Berger, Paralegal Steel, City Clerk Watkins-Eldridge, and Budget Analyst Turner presented. Key points:

  • Litigation: Since July 1, 2025, investigated 140 claims (exclusive of workers' comp); handled 20 lawsuits entirely in-house, one mixed, and one entirely by outside counsel. Provided examples of time-intensive cases (389 filings in one pro se case; 110 hours of trial prep in another).
  • Transactional work: Drafted/negotiated 410 documents; processed 140 PIA requests (including email searches with thousands of emails); 60 municipal infraction citations.
  • Legislation: Drafted 150 bills since July 1, 55 adopted; all legislation made ADA-compliant.
  • City Clerk functions: Administered 2025 municipal election; attended and recorded minutes for 24 city council meetings and 66 standing committee meetings; processed 857 liquor license applications generating $547,000 in projected revenue.
  • Performance measures: Proposed changes: response time for legal advice within 48 hours (acknowledgment) and completion within two weeks (complexity dependent); legislative draft timeline changed from 30 days to “reasonable time”; emphasis on reducing liability exposure rather than focusing on court rulings.
  • Enhancements: Requested $3,000 for a Nexis Lexis subscription for labor/employment research; included in mayor’s budget.
  • Budget trends: Salaries and benefits higher in FY26 projected due to severance payouts; supplies decreased because items moved to ITS.
  • Elections: Estimated cost for the next municipal election may increase significantly; discussions on whether to align with county elections pending.

Alderman Thorp requested Acting City Attorney Berger to review the fee schedule resolution to solidify fees, and to follow up on resources needed for efficiency. He also emphasized tracking the input metric of “number of meetings staff and counsel were required to attend.”

Department of Planning & Zoning (DPZ) – ID-94-26

Director Jakubiak, Senior Budget Analyst Johnson, and Budget Analyst Turner presented. Key points:

  • Accomplishments: Reduced average residential building permit review time from 27 to 14 days (48% improvement); reduced commercial building permit time from 16 to 9 days (44% improvement); expedited 240 simple residential permits; achieved these through one additional architectural plan reviewer and internal realignment.
  • Performance measures:
    • Zoning compliance: 83% resolved with notice or outreach; proposed benchmark 85%.
    • Major site design: 85 days FY26, proposed 80 days.
    • Minor site design (e.g., new houses in R2NC): 50 days proposed.
    • Commercial building permits: FY26 actual 15 days, proposed 15 days.
    • Residential building permits: FY26 actual 9 days, proposed 9 days (currently meeting target).
  • Enhancements in proposed budget:
    • Assistant Chief of Code Enforcement ($166,000) to prepare for retirement of current chief and improve capacity.
    • Permits Associate ($117,000) to replace contract position, improve customer service, and support permits administrator.
    • Reclassification of Assistant Chief of Historic Preservation from contract to civil service (no cost increase).
  • Fee adjustments: Proposed increase in short-term rental licensing fee from $420 to $650, and adjustment of biannual rental licensing fee, together expected to generate $150,000 to cover costs of new positions.
  • Innovation: Director Jakubiak expressed interest in using AI to pre-qualify permit applications, potentially reducing review times further. He requested $100,000 in one-time funding for FY27 to develop an AI platform.
  • Budget trends: Total DPZ budget $5.9 million, 8% reduction from projected; 67% of operating costs covered by revenue from permits and licenses.

Committee members asked about staffing for short-term rental coordination, fee justification, sustainment of permit improvements, and specific fund balances (affordable housing trust, reforestation fund). Alderwoman O'Neill requested follow-up on why FY27 proposed differs from FY26 projected for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and where the HERO program will be funded.

Key Outcomes

  • Fire Department: No formal action taken; committee requested follow-up data on overtime hours and response time factors.
  • Office of Law: Committee requested Acting City Attorney Berger to review and solidify fee schedule resolution, and to report on resources needed for efficiency.
  • Planning & Zoning: Committee requested Director Jakubiak to provide information on the Affordable Housing Trust Fund discrepancy and the HERO program funding source.
  • All departments: Presentations and discussions will inform the full council’s budget deliberations. Meeting adjourned at 3:55 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Okay. Meeting of the finance standing committee is called to order 1233 p.m. on April 29th, 2026. Happy week after Earth Day. And at this time, I'll take a roll call. Although Roman O'Neill. Present. Altman Thorpe. Present. Altman Hulley's here. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as written? Oh, let the record reflect Auditor McConti's also here. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting as written? So moved. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Both motions. Carrie. Chief Romale. Floor is yours. We'll put 15 minutes on the clock. Ask you guys to give your presentation within that time, and then we'll ask you some questions. So you know the drill. Good afternoon. Thanks for having us. Uh with me today. To my left is Deputy Chief Matthew Lopez, who's our deputy chief of administration and professional standards. To my right is fire administrative specialist Jeannie Coglin, who knows our budget inside and out. And to her right is Deputy Chief John Ortley, who's in charge of operations. You got to get the presentation going. Do we need the two someone from the TV studio? Or maybe we'll reset your time, don't worry. So as they're pulling it up, um the first the first slide will be the accomplishments where we did the top top three accomplishments for the year. Uh the first one is the one that always knock on wood because we haven't had a fatal fire in the city of Annapolis since 2010, so we're very proud of that. And we have some aggressive firefighters and are able to get to calls very quickly, and that helps us with that. Um also with that, the second one is our emergency response times. We continue to meet or exceed national standards when it comes to responding to incidents. And the third, as the council is well aware, over the last year, we were able to develop a strategic plan, and that's going to do our roadmap for the next five years. Obviously, we've had a lot of other highlights, and one of the biggest ones there is our cadet interim program with the partnership with the state of Maryland, the city council, uh, Maryland Fire Rescue Institute. We've been able to get eight people uh train them to be firefighter EMTs, and they are currently out in the field completing their program now. It's been very successful for us. Our performance measures that are in the budget, it's how we uh calculate if we're doing well or not. Uh the first one that's up there, they these are just not in specific order, but the first one we always like to track our workers' comp or injuries on the job uh and want to reduce that, and that's what the the intent is there. Um unfortunately we've had at least 32 people injured last year uh on the job, and this year we're right on track that we've had 15 so far, and we track the cancers in the fire service. Cancers become the number one leading cause of firefighter deaths in the United States. We have three active cases in the Annapolis Fire Department at the present time.

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