Rules and City Government Committee Meeting – May 7, 2026
Rules and City Government Committee Meeting – May 7, 2026
The Rules and City Government Committee of the Annapolis City Council met on May 7, 2026, at 6:32 PM in City Council Chambers. The meeting was called to order by Alderman Smith-Brown and adjourned at 7:11 PM. Present were Aldermen Smith-Brown, Schandelmeier, and Thorp. The committee considered three agenda items—one appointment and two pieces of legislation—all of which were postponed to the next meeting on June 4, 2026.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Agenda and Minutes: The agenda was approved by voice vote. The minutes of the April 2, 2026 regular meeting were also approved by voice vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Discussion Items
- AP-20-26 – Reappointment of Thomas Sfakiyanudis to the Planning Commission: The committee discussed the reappointment, noting that Mr. Sfakiyanudis’s current term does not expire until June 30, 2027. Alderman Schandelmeier expressed a desire to invite the appointee to future meetings for transparency and to clarify the reason for the early reappointment. The item was postponed to the June 4, 2026 meeting.
- CA-1-26 – Updating Requirements for Publication of the Charter and Code: Assistant City Attorney Berger explained that the legislation modernizes language and removes outdated physical copy requirements, allowing electronic publication. An amendment by Alderman Savidge still requires some physical copies. No urgency was identified, and the committee postponed the item to June 4, 2026.
- O-6-26 – Oversight of the City’s Firing Range: This ordinance would allow the Police Chief, along with the Mayor, to approve use of the police firing range. Deputy Police Chief Stan Brandford and Acting Captain Hill O’Herily explained that currently only the Mayor can authorize outside use, causing delays. The committee debated whether to delegate authority to the Chief or a designee (e.g., Deputy Chief). Alderman Thorp questioned whether the Chief should be the lowest appropriate authority, while Alderman Schandelmeier supported keeping the Chief as the final sign-off for accountability. The committee agreed to postpone to June 4, 2026, to allow the Police Chief to weigh in on the language.
Key Outcomes
- All three agenda items (AP-20-26, CA-1-26, O-6-26) were postponed to the next regular meeting on June 4, 2026, by voice votes.
- The committee noted upcoming bills related to expanding the Board of Supervisor of Elections and reducing the Human Relations Commission membership.
Meeting Transcript
May 7th, 2026 at 6 31 p.m. I will have roll call. Is Alderman Frank Thorpe present? Present. All right. Alderman Shandemeyer is on the way. And myself, I am also here. We have the agenda. Is there a motion to approve of the agenda? So moved. All right. A second. All in favor of that approval. Thank you. Moving forward, we have the approval of the minutes. Is there a motion to approve of those minutes from our meeting on April 2nd, 2026? So moved. All right. If there are no objections, we're going to move on that motion. Thank you. Today we have on the agenda AP 2026, a reappointment of Thomas to the Planning Commission. Now and looking at the resume, this is someone who is appointed to the planning commission. They've served since 2022. I believe they may be award two resident. So the question would be: is there a motion to have recommendation for this appointment to the planning commission? I will share that myself, I will not be uh supporting or opposing this reappointment. But is there a motion to do so? Um Mr. Chairman, I've never met this individual, nor do I know if there's a recommendation. We appoint him. Um we can move to postpone and I know we've invited him because I think moving forward, one that will be transparent moving forward, especially when it comes to appointments, we are going to be inviting or at least we're recommending that we invite the members who would like to be appointed to these commissions and task force or boards, especially as we begin to iron out a more um clear process for our commission's boards and task force. So uh I would like to uh request again that we invite him if possible to our next meeting. Um the question that I do have if this is uh appropriate, when we postpone uh any appointments, do these members still serve? Because I believe that this person has been serving on the commission currently. So how does that work just for clarity of the people? Yeah, I mean, generally they they remain and they're voting pending the reappointment, or if there is no reappointment, then they would no longer serve, but they still act as a yeah, through their term in sometimes beyond the term, too, if it the term runs out and there's quorum issues, and their term ends on the 30th of June. So we still have uh the new term would be the 30th of June 2020. So when is this current term uh end for for do we have that at all? When the current term will end for Thomas, I know we can get that quickly. Um let's try to get that information just out of the chairman. Yes, I do notice that there is a letter from the mayor recommending um Mr. Safiana this to the so uh purposes of respect and um continuity and keeping everything going. Uh I I'm in total agreement with you that uh it would be good to have the appointee appear here and answer a couple questions, like especially when we're talking about the planning commission, I would like to hear their commitment to the code. Right. And uh in this case, you know, we do have two choices. The mayor has uh reappoint, would like to have recommended reappointing him. So we do have the mayor's appointment. Um, we also his term doesn't end till June. So we could to your point, we could bring him in in June. Um, and just and you know, maybe working with with Laura.
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