This webinar is being recorded and summarized.

Good evening, everyone.

This is the council's emergency legislative session in which we give final consideration to emergency legislation previously introduced and heard.

This emergency legislation legislative session is being conducted as a hybrid meeting, which is available in person and virtual via WebEx.

It is also available to the public through live stream on the Howard County Council website and broadcast on channels 44 and 1071.

At this time, we're going to do a roll call for the council members.

Miss Rigby?

Here.

Miss Young?

Here.

Miss Walsh.

Here.

Mr.

Youngman?

Here.

And I am Opal Jones.

We will now recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Indivisible.

Liberty and Justice.

Moving on to our agenda for this evening.

Miss Harrit, could you please read the emergency legislation for final consideration?

Council Bill 16 2026 introduced by the chairperson at the request of the County Executive, co-sponsored by Opal Jones, Deb Young, Christiana Rigby, and Liz Walsh.

Emergency legislation amending Howard County Building Code I3 use group.

I move to approve CB 16 2026.

Second.

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not moving my amendment.

Okay.

All right.

It has been moved and seconded to approve CB 16 2026.

Any discussion.

Miss Harrit, could you please call the vote?

Chair Jones.

Good evening, colleagues, advocates, and residents.

First want to thank County Executive Ball for your steadfast leadership for filing this emergency legislation, Council Bill 16 2026.

As elected leaders, it is our responsibility to meet the moment for all constituents, and Council Bill 16 achieves just that goal.

I'm proud to concert to co-sponsor Council Bill 16 with uh with my colleagues.

Most of my colleagues.

Over the past year, we have witnessed a fundamental change in our government's role on immigration enforcement at the hands of our current administration.

For weeks, my office, as others have received hundreds of calls to action from all five districts, urging this county council to take action.

For me, this is personal, as this unfit and unwelcome detention center is nestled in my district and nearly abuts my community and abuts to districts on the North District 1 and on the South District 3.

Moreover, the creation of privately owned detention facilities anywhere in our county and state raises serious concerns about public health, safety, and general quality of life for all.

Protecting our future leaders and vulnerable communities is essential and necessary for the develop for the development and growth of our budding communities.

The proposed detention center sits in an existing office park in Elkridge near health care providers, schools, parks, and neighborhoods within a one-mile radius of the following community destinations: Deep Run Elementary School, Mayfield Woods Middle School, Waterloo Park, and Troy Park.

This is simply unacceptable today, tomorrow, and forever.

We are Howard County, choosing civility over fear.

We work, live, pray, and play in a place which we are proud to call home.

As an elected official representing the unguarded and vulnerable communities, I believe that we must remain united to uphold our integrity and to preserve who we are and what we want our community to reflect for years to come.

For centuries, our immigrant brothers and sisters came to America with their first stop at Ellis Island and the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty shining as a beacon of hope for the new world and its new beginnings.

Famous American poet Emma Lazarus inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty, and you may have heard this in testimony yesterday.

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these the homeless tempest tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

These words are immortalized for all Americans and for all who wish to be a part of the American experience.

A sincere thank you to our county's immigration advocates, all of you here tonight, community leaders, students, and neighbors who shared your testimony last night and written as well.

Your collective voices were heard in abundance, and I am so proud to vote in favor of Council Bill 16 2026.

My vote is yes.

We're gonna have a lot of speeches tonight.

I just realized that.

But I think we all feel deeply about this issue, and we want to express ourselves just as you all expressed yourselves, so I hope that you will bear with each of us.