City of Frederick Government Operations Committee Workshop on Property Disposal, Elections, and Vacancies – November 2, 2026

The City of Frederick Government Operations Committee met on November 2, 2026, in a workshop session listed on the agenda for 3:30 p.m., to discuss disposal of city property, election charter considerations, and council vacancy provisions. Committee members heard from Stuart Harvey and Mark Mitchell of the city elections board, reviewed draft edits to Resolution 12-02, and identified next steps for forwarding charter items to the full council. No formal votes were taken on policy items; the committee approved prior meeting minutes and directed follow-up work.

Consent Calendar

• The committee approved the minutes of September 28, October 5, and October 12, 2026, on a motion and second with no objections heard.

Public Comments & Testimony

• No members of the public offered comments during the meeting.

Discussion Items

Public Property Disposal (Resolution 12-02)

• Committee members discussed draft changes to Resolution 12-02 prompted by the Husky Park discussion raised by a District 3 resident. The committee was agnostic about whether the final form should be a charter change, resolution, or ordinance.
• Peter, one of the committee participants, said the existing resolution does not call for council involvement early enough in the sale process. The draft would require city council approval both before listing surplus land for sale and at the final sale-agreement stage; leasing would remain largely unchanged.
• The draft also added a right of first refusal for nonprofit organizations and would require the city facilities manager to maintain an updated list of surplus city properties. During discussion, members agreed the list should also include vacant city-owned land, such as the Airport Park property at Bowman Farm Road and Airport Drive East, and that responsibility should be assigned more broadly to the mayor and city staff rather than the facilities manager.
• Next step: staff review of the draft before it goes to a full-council workshop.

Election Charter Considerations

• The committee reviewed ranked-choice voting, open primaries, nonpartisan elections, election timing, mobile voting, redistricting, and related charter-cleanup items.
• Stuart Harvey and Mark Mitchell said the elections board was interested in ranked-choice voting but wanted to research costs, administration, and pilot-program experiences in places such as Portland, Arlington, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Takoma Park before recommending adoption. They also noted open-primaries and nonpartisan-election choices are tied to ranked-choice voting.
• Several committee members expressed support for ranked-choice voting and for eliminating the primary election in favor of a single general election. One member favored open primaries and keeping city elections separate from gubernatorial and presidential cycles; the board representatives agreed that separate timing avoids being buried on state ballots and state deadlines.
• A committee member said research from the prior charter board showed turnout in nonpartisan elections was slightly lower than in partisan elections, although another member found that counterintuitive.
• Mobile voting did not gain support; one member called it redundant with mail-in voting, and another was not ready to pursue it.
• One member noted Alaska voters were being asked to repeal ranked-choice voting in the current election, adding to the need for more research.
• The committee agreed to ask the elections board to research ranked-choice voting and open-primary models and to present findings to the full council, with a rough target of the first of the year. Redistricting will be brought back after the board can provide input following the November election and state certification.
• Committee members also noted unresolved items including non-citizen candidate language cleanup and financial-contribution considerations related to elections.

Vacancy Provisions

• Stuart Harvey suggested a model: if a vacancy occurs in the first two years of a council term, hold a special election; if it occurs later, the council appoints a replacement of the same party as the vacating member.
• The committee chair said she did not favor council appointment, and another member expressed similar concerns about party central committees filling vacancies. Harvey and legislative staff pointed to a menu of regional vacancy provisions, including Frederick County's practice of party-based appointment after 12 months and examples from Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Baltimore City.
• A participant estimated the last city election cost close to $400,000, raising concerns about special-election expense and logistics.
• The board representatives indicated they would review the vacancy-option menu and report back with any preferred approach; no decision was made.

Old Business / Charter Amendments

• The committee noted that most charter items are poised to move out of the Government Operations Committee to the full council, with some operations items still outstanding and scheduled for the next week.

Key Outcomes

• Minutes from September 28, October 5, and October 12, 2026, were approved.
• The committee agreed to move the Resolution 12-02 property-disposal draft through staff review and then to a full-council workshop.
• The committee will send a memo to the full council summarizing its election-charter discussion and will schedule a future work session when the elections board completes its research, targeted around the first of the year.
• Redistricting will remain with the Government Operations Committee pending elections-board input after the November election and state certification.
• No formal policy votes were taken on property disposal, election changes, or vacancy provisions.