Aldermen can stay on grant committee

Annapolis Council votes to expand the body’s scope

An amendment removing aldermanic participation froma city committee responsible for distributing federal grant money to local nonprofits failed Monday; council members voted to approve the ordinance expanding that same committee’s scope, keeping council participation intact.

An amendment to ordinance O-38-19, introduced by Alderman Rob Savidge, D-Ward 7, at the recommendation of the Annapolis City Attorney, sought to remove the three members of the City Council Housing and Human Welfare Committee from the Housing and Community Development Committee, which oversees the city’s Community Development Block Grant Program. The program doles out grants each year for local community development projects.

The committee’s responsibilities included “executive or managerial” functions that are not legislative and could conflict with the City Manager’s powers, said City

Attorney Michael Lyles.

Terms like “develop,” “manage,” “establish,” and “direct” aren’t “legislative and would infringe upon the codified authority of the City Manager and violate the state and federal constitutional protections afforded to legislators under the principle of separation of powers,” he said.

However, another amendment introduced by Alderman Da Juan Gay, D-Ward 6, the bill’s sponsor, removed the committee’s executive function, handling the separation of powers issue, Lyles said.

Still, the debate over aldermanic participation on the committee continued, despite putting the legal issues to rest. After a lengthy discussion, it failed by a 5-4 vote.

Councilmembers should be involved in the conversation of community development “whether it’s me or someone who replaces me,” said Gay, who is the chair of both the standing council and city committees.

“They need to be included,” he said.

The debate over removing councilmembers from the committee was prompted by Gay’s legislation expanding that same committee’s scope to include reviewing and commenting on community development projects and advising the council on “strategies to improve the housing stock in the city,” as well as suggesting policy initiatives and law changes to increase fair housing. The bill also changes the name of the committee to the Affordable Housing and Community Equity Development Commission.

It passed by a vote of 6-3.

Other business

The council approved its meeting schedule for 2021. The schedule includes 20 meetings — bi-monthly from January through May and September and October; three meetings in June when the 2022 fiscal year budget will be approved; and no meetings in August and November.

The final meeting of the year on Dec. 13, 2021, would be the first following the November city elections.