Government Operations Committee Meeting – City of Frederick – October 5, 2026

The Government Operations Committee met on October 5, 2026, for a workshop on Frederick County Police Accountability Board operations, a mobile voting pilot proposal, and councilmember reviews of recent city studies. The agenda listed a 4:00 P.M. start. No votes on the workshop items are reflected in the transcript.

Police Accountability Board Update

• A county staff member supporting the Police Accountability Board (PAB) presented the structure required by the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021: counties must maintain a PAB, meet quarterly with law enforcement agencies, appoint civilians to the Administrative Charging Committee (ACC) and trial board rotation list, receive and review misconduct complaints, and submit an annual report.
• The ACC reviews completed investigations and decides whether to administratively charge an officer; if charged, it recommends discipline consistent with the statewide disciplinary matrix. Trial boards adjudicate cases when officers reject recommended discipline and are composed of an active/retired administrative law judge, a civilian appointed by the PAB, and an officer of equal rank. Proceedings are public, and opinions are due within 45 days.
• Covered law enforcement agencies are the Frederick Police Department, Frederick County Sheriff's Office, Brunswick Police Department, and Thurmont Police Department. The Frederick Police Department came under PAB jurisdiction on July 1, 2024, after its collective bargaining contract ended.
• The county established the PAB in April 2022; the inaugural board was appointed July 5, 2022, and first met in August 2022. Meetings were monthly initially and later became quarterly. In 2025, the PAB held four regular quarterly meetings, two administrative meetings for appointments, annual report filing, and two special meetings.
• The 2025 annual report is due by December 31 and goes to the county executive, county council, and the mayors of Frederick, Brunswick, and Thurmont.
• Complaint data presented for 2025: 44 complaints were received, with 12 applicable complaints coming directly to the PAB and 32 filed directly with a law enforcement agency. The ACC reviewed 37 complaints, including carryovers from 2024, and recommended administrative charges in six cases, mostly alleged violations of agency policies and standards.
• The 2025 report's recommendations include better complaint tracking, geographic and demographic trend analysis, record retention clarification, county and state policy alignment, tracking outreach impacts on reporting behavior, and considering state amendments to allow the ACC to recommend mandatory training even when no administrative charge is issued.
• In Q&A, staff said state law supersedes local law, complaint numbers appear low compared with Baltimore City's more than 500 backlogged trial boards, jurisdiction-level breakdowns are available in the annual report, and officers may appeal trial board outcomes to circuit court.

Mobile Voting Pilot Presentation

• Brace Bennett, grassroots director of the Mobile Voting Project, presented a proposal to add secure smartphone voting as an optional voting method. The Mobile Voting Project is a nonpartisan nonprofit that provides grants and technical support for mobile voting pilots.
• Bennett cited local turnout: in November 2025, roughly 14,000 of nearly 60,000 registered voters participated in Frederick's city election, about one in four; more than eight in ten of those who voted did so from home by mail or drop box.
• He said mobile voting could help military and overseas voters, people with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, and voters facing scheduling or last-minute obstacles, and could provide an option if mail-in voting is further restricted. He also noted Frederick runs its own elections through the Board of Supervisors of Elections and the City Clerk, making a municipal pilot possible.
• Case studies cited: Denver's 2019 municipal pilot for military voters and overseas civilians doubled turnout, and 100% of survey respondents preferred smartphone voting; a King County Conservation District election near Seattle tripled turnout, with 94% of voters returning ballots electronically even though mail and drop-box options remained available; Nevada has used electronic voting since 2014 and 20% of voters are now eligible to vote electronically.
• The process described uses an app or secure link, multi-factor identity verification, an accessible multilingual ballot interface, encryption before the ballot leaves the phone, offline decryption, paper ballot printing, and a public bulletin with tracking numbers so voters can verify their ballot arrived and was counted. The core software is free and open source.
• Bennett said the technology is designed to detect tampering, fake ballot insertion, and deletion attempts; no successful hacking attempts had been reported. Initial software costs can be $10,000 or less, and the Mobile Voting Project can provide grants for startup costs.
• Bennett requested that Frederick partner on a pilot for the 2029 city election and urge the state legislature to pass authorizing legislation. He said Frederick previously sent a letter supporting SB 727 and HB 1066; Senator Karen Lewis Young was the lead sponsor and Delegate Ken Kerr was a co-sponsor.
• In response to councilmember questions, Bennett said existing voting methods would remain available, mobile voting would be opt-in or proactively offered, no AI is baked into vendor systems, and the project is a nonprofit funded primarily by philanthropist Bradley Tusk, not by software vendors.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Stuart Harvey, a Frederick resident at 2020 Butterfield Overlook and a member of the city's Board of Supervisors of Elections, expressed skepticism about mobile voting. He said he would want to hear from officials in Denver, West Virginia, and Alaska about what worked and what did not. He noted that SB 727 and HB 1066 had a hearing but did not advance out of committee, and that Common Cause was among the opponents. He said mobile voting is speculative until authorizing legislation passes and may make the most sense for military and overseas voters because overseas mail ballots are often late and problematic.

City Studies Discussion

• The committee flipped agenda items B and C, so the mobile voting presentation came before the city studies discussion.
• Green Streets study: a councilmember reported the plan is still in draft and the proposed ordinance/study is expected to come to the council by the end of the year. Goals include reducing heat islands, increasing tree canopy cover, stormwater management, environmental site design, improving water quality, reducing local flooding, meeting MS4 permit requirements, and building community character and health. The councilmember pointed to Appendix C for recommendations.
• Housing Gap study: a councilmember said they are not opposed to affordable housing and know it is needed, but called some study numbers wonky. Over the last five years, Frederick County built about 3,500 fewer units than historically typical; the county built 296 multifamily units while the city permitted just over 2,100, making the city responsible for 87% of multifamily permitting during that period. The councilmember said the city needs to talk with the county about providing support if county production remains around 500 units or fewer per year and the bulk of housing falls to the city.
• Tree Canopy study: a councilmember recommended inviting the sustainability team, city arborist, and Mobilize Frederick to comment on recommendations A-F. These include maintaining a broad age distribution and variety of trees, community education, integrating tree canopy data into planning decisions, investing in LIDAR, reassessing the canopy every three to five years, and using field data collection to complement the assessment. The councilmember noted Frederick's tree canopy percentage is lower than Baltimore's, partly because the city annexed cornfields with little existing tree cover in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; afforestation began around 1992.

Key Outcomes

• No formal motions, votes, or resolutions on the workshop items were reflected in the transcript.
• The committee received the Frederick County PAB update for information, with the annual report due by December 31.
• Mobile voting was discussed but no decision was made; state authorizing legislation is needed before any pilot, and the request was to partner on a 2029 pilot.
• City studies were informational: Green Streets is expected before the council by the end of the year, housing gap findings point to county coordination, and tree canopy follow-up would involve city staff and Mobilize Frederick.