2026-10-15 - City Council (Work Session)

03:19The virtual work session of the

03:20Annapolis City Council for Thursday,

03:22October 15th, 2026 will be called to

03:25order at 5:03 p.m. At this time, would

03:28everyone willing and able please rise

03:30for the Pledge of Allegiance.

03:36>> [clears throat]

03:36>> Pledge Allegiance

03:37>> to the flag

03:38>> of the United

03:38>> States of America

03:40>> and to the Republic

03:41>> for which it stands,

03:42>> one nation

03:43>> under God,

03:44>> indivisible,

03:45>> with liberty

03:46>> and justice

03:47>> for all.

03:49Thank you.

03:50All right. Welcome back, everybody.

03:53We had a long meeting there night and I

03:55got to see many of you yesterday at the

03:58Malcolm X Memorial. And welcome back for

04:01another day.

04:02Um City Attorney Coopersmith, would you

04:03please present the first item on the

04:05agenda?

04:06>> First item on the agenda is ID 189-26

04:09Citywide Collective Agenda Strategic

04:12Planning Process.

04:14>> Thank you. Uh so we have three

04:16presenters. Happy to see you all.

04:17Welcome back. And would you please uh

04:20introduce yourselves for the record and

04:21then uh I'll turn over the presentation

04:23to yourselves.

04:25>> Great. I am Beth Langbein with Dewey's

04:27Partners.

04:30>> Kayla Hodge with Dewey's Partners.

04:34>> Laura Richards, Community Engagement

04:35Strategist, City of Annapolis.

04:38>> Thank you.

04:39And you've got the floor if you want to

04:40start your presentation.

04:41>> Great. Thank you. Um well, thank you

04:43again. I'm Beth Langbein as I said, one

04:45of the co-founders of Dewey's Partners.

04:47We're a women-owned business located

04:49right here in the city. Um and have been

04:51fortunate enough to be partnering with

04:53the City of Annapolis since we helped

04:55guide a listening session with across

04:58all staff at the end of last year. And

05:00so excited to be brought back to talk to

05:02you tonight um about this collective

05:05agenda process or community planning

05:07process that we might call it coming out

05:09of tonight's meeting. So our goal

05:11tonight

05:14is to give you a clear picture of how we

05:16plan to work together to create a

05:18citywide collective agenda or a

05:20community plan for Annapolis and to ask

05:23for your continued engagement in this

05:25process. So we'll go a little bit about

05:28the why and what. We'll share a little

05:30bit about what would the end product

05:32look like just to paint a bigger picture

05:33here. We'll talk about how we're going

05:35to get this done, who's involved, the

05:37adjustments we've made to the timeline

05:39since last time we saw you all, and then

05:41request your input and ongoing support

05:43as we move through this.

05:46So let me just start with um

05:49s- sort of an acknowledgement that this

05:52is not a strategic plan.

05:54Our goal here is not to create a

05:56strategic plan. A strategic plan is what

05:59one organization does.

06:01What we're doing is creating a

06:03collective agenda or community plan

06:06that's about what the whole community

06:08will work towards together. So, many of

06:11us have done strategic planning. So, we

06:13have a picture in our heads. I'm going

06:14to ask you to maybe just set that aside

06:16for a little bit as we walk through this

06:19um and then open it up for some of your

06:21questions and hopefully feedback and

06:23input. So, um

06:25we know that the challenges facing

06:27Annapolis are bigger than anyone entity

06:30can tackle. It's bigger than city

06:31government can tackle. And so, that's

06:34why we are recommending a process and a

06:37community plan that's created by this

06:40community and owned by this community.

06:44Real progress will only happen if all

06:46the sectors are working together. And

06:49that we identify not just our vision,

06:51but make some of those hard choices

06:52together about we what we as Annapolis

06:54can accomplish.

06:56And this plan and in this plan, we're

06:58engaging all the sectors in the

07:00planning.

07:01Because if folks help create it, they

07:04own it.

07:05And that ownership leads to their

07:07involvement and what we know is as

07:09better results.

07:11So, we've mapped out the why here. We

07:14know that we need to take a different

07:15approach to addressing our city's

07:17challenges.

07:18We also want shared ownership, a more

07:20connected city, and maybe create a

07:22model. There's others and I'm going to

07:24share example of one tonight that have

07:25gotten out in front of us, but maybe can

07:27be a model for other smaller cities.

07:31So, the end product here is again the

07:35citywide collective agenda or community

07:37plan for Annapolis. I think collective

07:38agenda is might be off-putting to some

07:40folks. Will be a shared vision,

07:44a high-level set of results and

07:45indicators, and strategies that

07:49government, nonprofit, business,

07:51residents, schools, civic association,

07:52and others

07:54will activate and mobilize together.

07:57Then coming out of that, the next step

07:59will be working with

08:02the mayor and city leadership to

08:04identify which of those strategies city

08:06government is going to be responsible

08:08for. So, you can see that from depicted

08:10in our pie chart here, that certainly

08:12the city's a key role, but all these

08:15other sectors play a key role, too. So,

08:17I don't know about you, but I'm visual,

08:18so I just created this to sort of say,

08:21Kayla and I created this to say, this is

08:23sort of what the end product would look

08:25look like. This shared vision,

08:27a set of results. I don't know that it's

08:29going to be seven, just picked lucky

08:31number seven for this visual, but a

08:33high-level set of results and

08:34strategies. So, results are

08:37what will be different in Annapolis when

08:39we achieve our vision, that big

08:41compelling picture of change we all want

08:43for this city, recognizing there are

08:45challenges and being practical along the

08:46way.

08:47Indicators are the measures that will

08:49let us know if we've achieved those

08:51results, and the strategies are the

08:53high-level sets of actions that

08:54partners, including the city government,

08:57but including myriad others, will take

08:58together to achieve the results. So, let

09:00me bring this to life a little bit

09:02better through an example couple of

09:03examples. So, one is what turned into

09:06San Antonio 2020. So, in 2010, the mayor

09:09of San Antonio set out to do something

09:10very similar. And they got 6,000

09:14residents involved, and they identified

09:1611 results. They called them calls

09:18areas, but I'm going to call them

09:19results for the sake of this

09:20conversation, under which there were 61

09:22tracked indicators. So, those were

09:25things like

09:27one of their results was downtown is the

09:30heart of San Antonio,

09:32and the heart of everyone's

09:33neighborhood. And they their indicators

09:35were things like 7,500 new housing

09:38units, 2,500 more downtown jobs, 50%

09:41less crime.

09:43Another was a health result. San Antonio

09:45residents are among the healthiest in

09:47the country. Their targets were things

09:50like 10% more residents have health

09:52insurance, 30% fewer teen births, food

09:55insecurity down by 10%. So, big

09:58population level results and population

10:01indicators.

10:02And then, they came back 10 years later

10:05and tracked those results. 70% of those

10:08indicators were moving in the right

10:09direction. And then, they set out a

10:11whole new set of 2030 results.

10:15So, just another example,

10:18um we've done something very similar for

10:21Anne Arundel County, for the Partnership

10:23for Children and Families, created a

10:24community plan with them with population

10:27level results around early child care

10:29and high-quality education, around

10:31families being economically stable,

10:33families being healthy, and communities

10:35being livable and safe. With three

10:36pre-high priorities, high-level

10:38community priorities, and sets of

10:40strategies. So, when you look at

10:42something like this, you think, "Okay,

10:44that's great, but who leads this?"

10:46Right? So, we're going to come up with

10:47this shared community plan for

10:49Annapolis. Who leads this work?

10:53And that's important because as we start

10:55to think about who we need to engage, in

10:57addition to all the residents and

10:59constituents across Annapolis, is also

11:01thinking about who might play a key role

11:03in its implementation. So, let's say for

11:05example, we have a result around

11:07reducing poverty in the city.

11:10Uh maybe Annapolis Community of Hope,

11:11through the Partnership for Children and

11:13Families, leads that strategy.

11:15Maybe there's a downtown vibrancy result

11:18that's led by the downtown partnership.

11:20And I lead give those examples to say,

11:23this is not a strategic plan for city

11:25government.

11:26This is a shared community plan for

11:28Annapolis

11:29that that hope will be co-created and

11:31then co-owned

11:33and therefore have pieces of it that

11:36others in addition to the city will

11:37carry forward to achieve what we say we

11:40want for the city

11:42while recognizing challenges in keeping

11:44our feet firmly planted on the ground.

11:47So, how are we going to go about doing

11:49this? I recognize last time we talked

11:51about this, we didn't dig deep enough

11:53into this. So, the how is this

11:56co-created process?

11:58So, our goal is to make sure moving

12:00forward that city council is engaged

12:02throughout.

12:03We recognize that we made a mistake not

12:05coming to at the beginning of the

12:06process to talk about the collective

12:08agenda committee or maybe we're going to

12:09call it the community planning

12:10committee.

12:11Um, but since discussing this with you

12:14all a couple weeks ago, have actually

12:16reshaped the whole process. We've

12:17extended it by a couple months. We've

12:19increased council engagement. Um, and

12:22we'll continue to ask for your support

12:25and and leadership throughout this. So,

12:28we're going to listen first. So, we're

12:29going to start by doing a community

12:31survey. We're going to start by

12:33hopefully interviewing each of you if

12:35you'd be willing. We'll talk about that

12:36more later.

12:37Um, and doing interviews with other key

12:39influencers across the city, which we're

12:41also going to ask for your input on.

12:43We're listening in on all the budget

12:44town halls and then we were hoping we're

12:46going to hope to do a series of

12:48ward-based conversations to make sure

12:50that this really is inclusive. Use it

12:52getting help from hopefully all of you

12:53as well as the guiding committee that

12:55we've put together to support this

12:57effort. So, this this collective agenda

12:59committee as we're now calling it

13:02was designed to reflect the full

13:03diversity of Annapolis, its communities,

13:05sectors, issue areas, and experiences.

13:09We did aim for representation from every

13:11ward, but geography wasn't the only

13:14criteria here. For example, we chose

13:17there's a ward two member that was added

13:19because of her experience in early

13:21childhood education.

13:22There was a young woman who attends um,

13:25Annapolis High School added because of

13:26the work she's done in elevating youth

13:28voice and her work in the environment.

13:31So, there were different

13:33sectors, interest areas, voices,

13:36perspectives, ages, as well as

13:38geographies that we wanted to bring in.

13:40And so, when we think about that

13:42committee, we want to think about it as

13:43a whole.

13:44And again, this committee's job is not

13:46to create a strategic plan for the city

13:47of for the city government. It's to help

13:50us engage the diversity of the city.

13:53It's to help us take in input and sift

13:56through that to lift up key themes,

13:59share those key themes with all of you,

14:01share those key themes with other city

14:04leadership and other community leaders,

14:07and to then work together to create this

14:11draft community plan.

14:13So, that's why we brought that guiding

14:16committee together. As I talked about

14:17planning sessions in each ward, and then

14:19ultimately we will work to have this

14:21align with the strategies with the city

14:23government, and really have measures and

14:26indicators associated with this. We're

14:28all here because we want to make a

14:29measurable difference in the city, and

14:31so let's create a shared community plan

14:34that gets at those shared results.

14:36So, there's a lot of roles. We've looked

14:38at this the last work session. I'm not

14:40going to belabor this, and thanks to

14:41everyone who who reviewed the slides and

14:43asked those questions ahead of time.

14:45Um,

14:46we have a core team um represented

14:49really up here, and then help from

14:51others. We do have this committee that

14:53will help guide this process. We hope

14:55all of you will help play a significant

14:57role shaping and advising throughout and

15:00play an active role. We are going to

15:01engage the city leadership and directors

15:05and partners and community residents

15:06across the city as I've talked about.

15:08So, again, just really always clear to

15:10get Oh, it's important to get clear on

15:12roles. So,

15:14as I said, I'm not going to go through

15:15the process in great detail, but I will

15:18say it's been shifted to try to be

15:20responsive and reflective to your good

15:22input. Um the goal here is to start our

15:26input gathering next week with a survey.

15:29To we're kicking off this committee at

15:31the end of October. We will bring the

15:34feedback, the synthesis of that survey

15:36back to you all. We'll share it with the

15:39directors before it goes to the the

15:41committee. And we are working to create

15:43sort of a draft together before the end

15:45of the year.

15:47And then after first of the year, take

15:48that into community and say,

15:51"This is what we heard were folks'

15:53visions and the results they wanted to

15:54see."

15:56Test that with them, get their feedback,

15:57start to talk about those high-level

15:58strategies, bring that back again to you

16:01all, bring that back to the directors,

16:02bring that back to the committee, and

16:04aim to have a final version of this by

16:06March. I know that's a busy time of year

16:08for everybody, we recognize. And then

16:10from there, we'll start to move into

16:11implementation, which is going to need

16:13to be taking this draft plan out to some

16:15of the groups and entities and partners

16:17that we are really going to need to

16:18support implementation here. And so

16:20we'll do that through some issues that

16:22will be aligned with the result areas.

16:24I can't

16:25prescribe what those are now, but I

16:27think we can start to make some educated

16:29guesses on what those might be and who

16:30those folks are. And then make sure that

16:32this comes back to to folks for final

16:35review and adoption.

16:37So, I'm going to stop there. We There's

16:40a few things we want your feedback on

16:42tonight related to the result areas that

16:44we want to test in the survey. We want

16:47to talk to you about um meeting with

16:50Kayla and or me for some one-on-one

16:52interviews with each of you because of

16:54the representation, incredible

16:56representation of your ward and the

16:57people in your ward, and your

16:58understanding of priorities.

17:00Um and we want to talk get your input on

17:02who some of the key influencers for the

17:04interviews could be. And actually, let

17:05me ans- answer another question Karma

17:07had, which I haven't yet. Is she said,

17:09"What's the difference between the com-

17:10folks on the committee and the key

17:11influencers?" So, um the the the

17:14committee is an ongoing advisory group.

17:17The key influencers are are separate

17:20one-time conversations that are going to

17:22let us hear from some additional voices

17:24one-on-one. So, for example, Brooks

17:27recommended somebody for the committee.

17:28She doesn't She can't commit the time to

17:30the four meetings.

17:32Um but we'll interview her cuz he's

17:34identified her as somebody whose voice

17:35is really unique and important for us to

17:37hear in addition to how we're collecting

17:39input throughout.

17:41So, let me stop there.

17:43Um

17:44thank you for letting me lay that out.

17:46And um questions before we dive in on

17:51getting your feedback on result areas

17:53and key influencers and talking about

17:55engagement moving forward. Or anything

17:57Mary you want to add?

17:58>> Thank you. Uh Beth, can you give an

18:00example or

18:02describe how this would um work with an

18:04example like affordable housing?

18:06And I have it that one in particular in

18:08my mind because I'm attending an

18:10affordable housing symposium next week

18:12that's organized by Chase Homes. And

18:15from the participants and from our role,

18:17it's something that clearly the city

18:19can't fix affordable housing by itself.

18:22And poverty is another one when you look

18:24at Dr. Pam Brown's report, poverty is

18:26plenty. And so

18:29this to your point, this is not a

18:30strategic plan by for the city by

18:32itself. It's a collaboration. So, can

18:35you just help make it more

18:37um not practical is not the word I'm

18:39looking for. Just relatable maybe is of

18:42Just using affordable housing.

18:44>> Yeah, I think affordable housing is a

18:45great example. And I again, if

18:48if this shows up in the plan, please

18:50know that I, you know, I'm not

18:51pre-prescribing it. But let's just say

18:53we result area around affordability

18:55for the city cuz we know that that is a

18:57result That's a result area we all need

19:00to focus on. And I could see a result

19:02around a a strategy around addressing

19:04affordable housing at a high level being

19:07a strategy underneath that result area.

19:10And be that being something that we know

19:13the city government, HACA, and the

19:16homelessness coalition, others are going

19:17to need to work together to address.

19:20Does that help?

19:21>> Yes.

19:22Take it one step further. So, how do we

19:24get if we think we can't do we can't

19:26solve we can do certain things for

19:27affordable housing and legislation,

19:30funding, etc. but we want these other

19:32partners. So, how are they bought into

19:33that to something as part of our plan?

19:35>> Yeah, I think it starts with engaging

19:37them in the creation of the plan itself.

19:39Um so, I think the first thing we need

19:41to do is is bring them in and hear from

19:42them. Both because some of them are

19:44going to be community residents, they're

19:45going to be partners, but when we get to

19:47talking to some of those folks around

19:48those issue areas, my guess is a a

19:50coalition of folks around housing and

19:52homelessness are going to need to be

19:53part of helping us refine and build out

19:54this plan. And then figuring out where

19:57that work's going to live. And it may

19:58have to live in more than one place

20:00based on the different missions of those

20:02groups. Or we might have to create a

20:04result action team that's coming

20:05together to figure out how we bring in

20:07the resources both from federal, state,

20:09local, and otherwise to address those

20:11issues.

20:13>> And if I'm understanding your stopping

20:14point, this is where you're open to

20:16questions but then go back to the rest

20:18of your presentation. Is that what you

20:19were opening it for?

20:20>> Yeah, what I would love to do is get

20:22some We want to get feedback from all of

20:25you on the result areas that we're

20:27including that we're going to test in

20:28the survey. We want to get your feedback

20:31on key influencer interviews if we can

20:33use this work time to do that and then

20:35just go over next steps. So, happy to

20:37dive in on those.

20:38>> Can I just add to the last So, to your

20:40question, Mayor, also, I would say if

20:44there are boards and commissions that

20:46align closely with some of these key

20:49result areas, we would obviously try and

20:51tap into existing structures that we

20:55already have to help us partner with

20:58other organizations as well.

21:00>> Yeah.

21:02>> Um so, are you opening are you ready for

21:04council questions now? Is that Is that

21:06right? Okay, great. So, council members,

21:08ultimate vote.

21:10>> [clears throat]

21:11>> Uh thank you. Thank you very much. Um

21:14it's clear that you heard us, and we

21:17tremendously appreciate that. And I

21:19think we're very fortunate to have the

21:21professionalism

21:23>> [clears throat]

21:24>> and the clear throat um

21:25>> [snorts]

21:25>> that's at the table

21:27that's at the table right now. So, thank

21:29you. Um

21:32following on some of the other

21:33conversations and and touching on your

21:36strategic plan discussion versus action

21:40um versus what you need today.

21:43One thing that I haven't mentioned to

21:44you is the ongoing effort led by Deputy

21:49City Manager uh Vicki Buckland

21:53uh to create actionable

21:56performance metrics for the city.

21:59>> [clears throat]

22:00>> It is recognizably a huge gap in what is

22:04happening. Uh and

22:07in the

22:09uh

22:1010 months and 14 days that I've been on

22:12the council, I have seen a lot of

22:15really good hard work being done by the

22:19staff.

22:20Um and

22:22with the mayor, the C by by our code,

22:26the CEO's

22:27responsibility,

22:29I've seen [clears throat] accountability

22:31become a stronger

22:34philosophy work philosophy.

22:37And I've seen great people working in

22:38the city.

22:40One thing that I would ask as we look to

22:43do this is to ensure these two efforts

22:47go together

22:49because

22:50>> [clears throat]

22:51>> I don't want to speak for individuals,

22:53but

22:54because I don't have that knowledge, but

22:56across the board, I see a lot of really

22:58good hard work going on uh on the city

23:02staff.

23:03And [snorts]

23:04there's a lot of priorities. And as

23:07leaders, our job is to ensure that we

23:10give them 5 lbs to do for their 5 lbs

23:13sack.

23:14And if right now they have

23:168 lbs for their 5 lbs sack and out of

23:20the effort that you are leading comes

23:23another pound or two without taking a

23:26pound or two out,

23:28>> [clears throat]

23:29>> then we're doomed to failure. And

23:31failure would look like not achieving

23:33what

23:35your

23:36product says to to achieve and also

23:39getting

23:40significantly

23:42uh

23:43damaging the staff. Perhaps causing

23:46resignations, perhaps low morale,

23:48whatever. And I just see the the things

23:50going in the right direction to be able

23:53to do that.

23:55Um

23:56so I think my my biggest takeaway from

23:58that is to make sure we

24:01we

24:02we on the audit committee that are

24:04working that with

24:06uh Deputy City Manager Buckland are

24:08aggressively communicating with you

24:10through this process as to what we're

24:12doing.

24:13Uh because I think that's at a tactical

24:15level of of of the effort you're you're

24:18trying to do.

24:19Um

24:21the the next topic I'd like to bring up

24:24is

24:25I want to make sure

24:27that there's a lot of credit given to

24:30what's been happening before.

24:33>> [clears throat]

24:33>> And you said it to me privately, but I

24:36want to say it publicly,

24:39which is the number of listening

24:40sessions that have been

24:43been done with the staff. Um the number

24:46of town halls both from the mayor's

24:49perspective as well as the council's

24:51perspective. Um

24:54and and the amount of synergy that's

24:56been created. Um somebody ran on a

24:59saying listen, unite, do.

25:03And it's happening. And so I as we go

25:07into this process

25:09I think it's important to to not think

25:12we're at the starting line.

25:14We are well on to this course from a

25:17knowledge level.

25:20And the third thing I'd like to to

25:22emphasize and you and I and several

25:25members of the council and I have

25:26discussed it is the role of the city

25:29council. Um

25:31and I think everybody agrees on the

25:34benefit of

25:37citizen input and

25:39they elected us to this job. We continue

25:40to get their inputs all all nine of us.

25:43Um

25:46And

25:46and at the end of the day I think as you

25:49and I have talked this this process

25:51needs to ensure that

25:56we don't chase pet rocks. Because if we

25:59turn pet rocks over to the city staff to

26:02do um

26:06we're doomed to failure. At the end of

26:08the day we're an historic city, we're a

26:10maritime city and we have two world

26:12class universities and this and the

26:14residents expect

26:17potholes to be fixed, traffic lights to

26:18work, parking due to be efficient, etc.

26:22And so as we go forward it and I I know

26:26it's I'm not supposed to use sports

26:27metaphors but you get them. But blocking

26:29and tackling it's it's that we make sure

26:32that we stay focused on what the

26:35residents want um and what they expect

26:39of their city staff. And I I know you're

26:42I don't want to speak for you but I

26:43I I don't want to sound like I'm

26:45lecturing you or anything like that. I

26:46think we've had these conversations and

26:48I I think uh Uh, so as we move forward

26:51the city council really has a major role

26:54in ensuring that we steer this

26:58to what we have heard, to what we can

27:00unite people

27:02uh, together, and then what what we in

27:05our budget role

27:06um, can finance and actually get done.

27:10Thank you.

27:10>> Councilman Thorp. Uh, Alderwoman O'Neil.

27:13>> Thank you very much. Um,

27:16you and I had a long talk and I

27:17appreciate that.

27:18Um,

27:19I I am a little bit frustrated because

27:23using the example of San Antonio that

27:25has a population of 1,572,

27:30000 360 residents,

27:33and 6,000 people

27:36responded,

27:38it means that

27:41racially, we are looking at 120 people

27:46to decide for our city.

27:50How do we expect to make the surveys and

27:55make the

27:56engagement

27:58more than

28:00the 0.03%

28:02that San Antonio saw?

28:04>> Yeah, it's a good question. Um,

28:06first of all, that was illustrative,

28:08right? And I think we'll do way better

28:10than getting 120 survey responses. I

28:13also think I can't remember the the

28:15response rate, but I think there was a

28:17really good response rate. I don't think

28:19it's Becky here. to the last survey that

28:21went out to community. I think

28:23>> There were 969

28:25responses to the parking survey.

28:28>> Okay, thank you. So,

28:30we're going to use we will use that a

28:32thousand as our goal.

28:34Um, but I here's what I also want to say

28:37is

28:38um, we

28:40are going to do as much as we can

28:43to get the word out there about the

28:45survey, and we need your help. And we

28:47recognize that not everybody responds to

28:50a survey. There's a typical demographic

28:53of people that respond to them, which is

28:55why we also are going to

28:58do a series and I I

29:00heard Alderman Thorp. When we say

29:01listening sessions, they're going to be

29:04sessions that where we are

29:06adding on to what we've already heard,

29:08and you all already know we've heard,

29:09but also listening as it points to this

29:12community plan. And so we know we've got

29:15to use those in-person sessions to

29:16really get that rich personal direct

29:18feedback. So we're going to aim to get

29:22as much response as we can.

29:25>> Just to clarify, um, on the parking

29:27survey, that was Annapolis residents,

29:29but it was also visitors, and it broke

29:30down to about 50/50. So that's something

29:34to keep in mind. Um, one thing that, uh,

29:37I will say is that the approach of

29:39Dewey's partners is one of inclusivity,

29:42and, um, the survey materials include

29:46signage to be put on, you know, um,

29:49light posts or buildings. Um, it's not

29:52just a digital thing that's going to go

29:53out, that if you're don't do

29:55[clears throat] it online from your

29:56phone, you can't participate. So,

29:58um, we're going to go into communities

30:00and reach out in physical tactile ways

30:03so that people can be heard. Um, and

30:07obviously the goal there is to get a

30:09much broader participation, um, than we

30:12would if we just sent out an email

30:14survey.

30:16>> We're going to put on our community

30:17organizer hats, and we're going to put

30:18lawn signs out and poster and all those

30:20things.

30:20>> [laughter]

30:21>> Um, so you have specific benchmarks, per

30:24se, like if the survey is out for 2

30:26weeks and we have 19 respondents, will

30:30there be an extension? Will there be a

30:31different direction? How do you plan to

30:34address things?

30:35>> Yeah, I think those are very real.

30:37>> Yeah. I

30:40I think there are a number of different

30:42options

30:43and uh, I think one of them absolutely

30:46would be extending the the deadline. It

30:48may also be realizing that we need to

30:51expand the in-person listening sessions

30:53instead interviews that we're doing if

30:54the survey doesn't work. And we're going

30:56to continue as I think we've reflected

30:58thus far to be adaptive

31:00to the leadership, to the voices, and to

31:03the voices of residents as we move

31:04forward.

31:06Thank you.

31:07>> Alderman Huntley.

31:11>> Thanks so much. I

31:14Yeah, I'll do my best to not lose

31:15service while I'm talking to y'all. I've

31:17got two questions for you.

31:19The first is

31:20Well, the first is just an appreciation

31:22for

31:24the explanation of the difference

31:25between collective agenda setting and

31:27strategic planning. And I think I did

31:30not appreciate the distinction before.

31:33Um

31:35Can you explain some of why it's better

31:38to have a collective or why you think a

31:40collective agenda is better in this

31:43case?

31:44My question is the how.

31:46Uh

31:47how did we go from a strategic plan

31:50which was going to be funded in the

31:51budget to a collective agenda? And

31:55Yeah, how did It just seems like

31:57sometime between June and September what

32:01we were doing totally shifted. So, could

32:05And And maybe this is a question as much

32:06to the mayor as to

32:08the folks from New East. Could somebody

32:10explain to me how that decision got made

32:12and how that change happened?

32:17>> I don't know that it really shifted so

32:18much.

32:19Ms. Richards, do you think you can

32:21address that, please?

32:23>> Yeah, I It's really just semantics,

32:25Harry. We are on the same trajectory we

32:28always were. When we did the 19 staff

32:30listening sessions, this was always the

32:33next goal in the process was to listen

32:36to community.

32:37We we felt like we did a lot of

32:39listening to community in the campaigns,

32:42all of us, and I think Alderman Thorpe

32:44alluded to that.

32:46But now that we have been around the

32:48last 10 months, we want to make sure

32:50that, you know, what we're what we heard

32:53is

32:54still those key issues are the ones that

32:56are coming up, validate some of our

32:58hypotheses,

33:01and

33:02come up with concrete ways that we can

33:06as a community address these issues.

33:09Again, because city government can't do

33:11it all. So, I don't think it's changed.

33:13I just think we're giving you a deeper,

33:16broader explanation.

33:21>> Harry, was there a second question?

33:23>> Yes.

33:23>> I'm sorry, Alderman Tunney. My

33:24apologies.

33:26>> It's fine. You know, I'm in a T-shirt

33:28here. You can call me Harry.

33:30>> [laughter]

33:30>> Alderman

33:32follow up on Alderman O'Diels question.

33:35My concern with the survey is less

33:37that it will not have enough people and

33:40more that it won't be representative of

33:42our community. There's lots of good

33:43research showing that town halls are

33:45less representative than elections and

33:47elections are less than perfectly

33:49representative of the people who

33:52actually live here.

33:54And I was talking about this with

33:55somebody the other day who had done a

33:57survey for an alumni organization. And

34:00she said, "Yeah, we knew the older

34:02alumni were going to be much more likely

34:04to respond."

34:05And that makes sense. It was actually

34:07the Naval Academy. And so as she as she

34:08was putting it,

34:10you know, the people who are on active

34:11duty probably are going to respond at a

34:13very low rate.

34:15And I think that even with really

34:17excellent [clears throat] outreach,

34:18we're going to see that with this

34:19survey, too. Right? We can mitigate it

34:20to some extent, but it's still going to

34:22happen.

34:23So,

34:24what they did in that example I'm

34:25talking about was they had two versions

34:27of it. One was just straight everybody

34:30who replied to the survey, and then one

34:32was re-weighting it towards the

34:34demographics of what they knew their

34:36alumni actually were. So, if

34:39you ask question A, and all the young

34:41people answer one way, you get what I'm

34:43saying. So,

34:44>> It's a good idea, Harry.

34:45>> And

34:45>> Alderman.

34:47>> Uh

34:48is that something that you all would be

34:50able to do

34:51to have a version of the survey results

34:54that are weighted to our community based

34:55on you know, like making sure it's

34:57representative on race, age, and then

35:00Yes, okay, great. Thank you. That is an

35:01awesome idea.

35:02>> I Yeah, thank you for the document and

35:04feedback you shared. I think that would

35:05Yeah, I think yes, we can do it, and I

35:08think it's a great suggestion.

35:12>> Awesome, thank you. Yeah, I think we're

35:14always going to have some level of

35:16of um

35:17I'll say bias because the people who are

35:20happy with parking don't fill out the

35:21parking survey. But, uh yeah, we can we

35:25can do our best to do it in that way,

35:27and I think the demographic weighting is

35:29one way to Thank you.

35:30>> Yeah, thank you. Good suggestion.

35:32>> Alderman.

35:33You were finished, Harry. Alderman

35:35Outlaw right.

35:37Thank you. Alderman Savage.

35:39>> Thank you, Mr. Barr.

35:41Um

35:42So, yeah, I guess I'll just start with

35:44get my grievance out up front as far as

35:46I do appreciate you reaching out to us,

35:48but

35:50I am a bit alarmed that it wasn't done

35:52earlier. Um you know, this is an effort

35:54using taxpayer money,

35:57with ward representation on the

35:59committees, and

36:01in the city's name,

36:04yet we weren't even informed until I

36:05think the week before it was going to

36:06get rolled out.

36:08That doesn't really bode well.

36:10Um

36:11and it makes at least personally me

36:13feel like an afterthought.

36:14>> [laughter]

36:15>> Um

36:17I'm glad it's getting corrected, but

36:18then again, you know, it's still you

36:20have a a

36:22a the next meeting set already,

36:25instead of just putting pause on it's

36:27almost like you're still um you know, I

36:30think as you said, the same trajectory

36:31you've always were and that's that seems

36:33to be what what it's continuing to be.

36:36Um

36:37>> Um sorry, I just didn't catch the last

36:39sentence you said.

36:40>> it just seems like on the same

36:41trajectory as was mentioned I think by

36:44um

36:47So, first of all, I do think

36:50I do think this should go this body

36:51should go before the council in some

36:54manner.

36:55Again, because it is using taxpayer

36:57money, but also if something if

36:59something goes wrong, if something goes

37:01well with this, we're going to hear

37:02about it and typically these types of

37:04task forces do go through the council

37:08where we review the

37:10the mission, the timeline, the

37:12deliverables,

37:14uh the members.

37:16Um

37:17and so I you know, if you're planning on

37:19still starting, I think it was later

37:21this month, I don't we're not going to

37:22have time to go through the council. You

37:25need at least two meetings or a month to

37:27do that.

37:28Um so

37:30I guess to that point, do you have more

37:32details on

37:34are you intending to bring this back to

37:35us as an official act or action?

37:40>> So, when we um

37:43signed the contract with Dewey's

37:44partners, we signed for a specific

37:47obviously project term and project

37:49length. Um the idea was to have the bulk

37:53of the information in to influence the

37:55budget cycle. So, obviously we've built

37:58in a little bit of time so that we could

38:00come back, address concerns, make sure

38:02we were all on the same page and that we

38:03were moving forward in a way that um we

38:06could be united in the result and

38:08supporting the outcome. Um so, hopefully

38:12that's what we're achieving.

38:14To

38:16the 25 people that have agreed to commit

38:19their time

38:21um

38:21and be a part of this process. They

38:23committed and the including the staff

38:25and the directors that allocated those

38:27team members to a process that ended in

38:30February.

38:32So, there's only so long we can extend

38:34it.

38:35And so, the effort was to do the best by

38:38everybody that's involved, the city

38:40council and the CAC members and

38:42hopefully we've achieved that balance.

38:48>> Yeah, so we we did change the

38:49trajectory.

38:51We moved moved the kickoff about a month

38:53in order to try to allow time for some

38:55input from city council on the

38:58committee. And really the committee is a

39:00advisory group to us at Do East. It was

39:03not intended to be an official committee

39:07or commission of the city because this

39:09isn't a strategic plan for the city. I

39:11recognize that it's using city taxpayer

39:14dollars. And it was really formulated as

39:16sort of be a separate advisory group

39:19helping us do the engagement,

39:23sift through feedback,

39:25lift up key themes. And so, I think

39:27that's also why the process was

39:32>> But but you said it's not a strategic

39:34plan and I get that and that does help

39:35me understand a bit better. Not a

39:37strategic plan for the city,

39:39but it was just connected to the budget.

39:42You're saying that the the intention is

39:43to get feedback for the budget, I

39:44thought I heard.

39:47>> So, one of the things that when we were

39:50coming into office that

39:53we wanted to make sure that we did was

39:55have very clear priorities

39:58that could be supported. So, yes, the

40:01city is one of

40:04the collaborators of the plan, but there

40:07are many other collaborators in the

40:09community of the plan. And as

40:13such, the city would want to know

40:16how they were going to support the

40:18priorities that are coming out of this

40:20community plan. And one of the ways

40:22would be budgetarily. It would be tying

40:25the work of departments or the work of

40:28the city

40:29to

40:30the outcomes that we want to achieve in

40:34this collective agenda or

40:37Do you understand what I'm saying? Does

40:38that make sense?

40:40>> I understand, [clears throat]

40:41but

40:42I mean, I guess one of my bigger points

40:44is that I I'd rather see this money be

40:46spent on

40:48getting the body

40:50the body's collective agenda kind of

40:52acted on, helping us think through how

40:54do we enact these things that we ran on,

40:55that we committed on, we talked to in

40:57our town hall meetings.

40:59You know, some with with the mayor, like

41:00how do we get this stuff done?

41:03I That's what I would see the most value

41:06on.

41:07Um

41:07and that cuz you know, last we did it

41:09last year, we did it Frank before we

41:11were in office, and then we did it again

41:12before the budget. And I think it was

41:14brought up by one of my colleagues that

41:17we identify all these common areas, but

41:18then we felt like it didn't really get

41:20worked into the budget.

41:22That's the the part I would have

41:24personally more interest in politically

41:26in trying to get done.

41:28I feel like we could always benefit from

41:31from better teamwork. You know, I don't

41:33know

41:33how we can get stuff done together. I

41:35think if we had a product that said

41:37you know, cuz we already know I think

41:38some of our collective policy goals

41:41and values, but let's look at drawing

41:44from some of our existing plans and

41:45identifying some of these collective

41:47agendas we can put together.

41:49That's what I was hoping because

41:51you know, we already have

41:54a lot of plans in place. You know, the

41:56comprehensive plan that was done over 4

41:59years, uh 25 pre-COVID meetings, 25

42:03virtual meetings, 49 work group task

42:05force, 18 council planning commission

42:07meetings,

42:08council and planning commission

42:09meetings,

42:10seven surveys with 1,100 respondents in

42:13total. Uh

42:15you know, I could go on and on. The

42:17effort that in my mind is that is our

42:20guiding vision and that's not just for

42:22city governments, for the entire city.

42:25That

42:26and how many we haven't had any kind of

42:28work session on Okay, let's dig into

42:30that. Let's look at the recommendations

42:32from the comp plan and get that stuff

42:33implemented. That is what I would really

42:35want to do cuz we've already have that.

42:37We have the bike master plan done, the

42:39sustainability plan, climate action

42:41plan.

42:42Uh

42:43all kinds of things I keep going on and

42:45I water access plan. I'd really like to

42:47dig down and how do we get this stuff

42:49stuff done. Um and that's where I just

42:52don't quite see

42:54where this fits in with that and and

42:56frankly that that I don't see the value

42:58in it with all these other things done.

43:00Like what's it going to give us in March

43:02that we're going to be able to

43:04really act on cuz that's ultimately why

43:06we're here is to act for our

43:08constituents and get stuff done.

43:12>> Yeah, um thank you for raising that.

43:14Alderman Savage, I think what this is

43:16going to give you is a really clear

43:20framework for how all of those things

43:22fit together. And it's going to start

43:25leading to a really clear focus for

43:29Annapolis

43:31around all those issues. I I We're often

43:34brought in because there's lots of

43:36different initiatives and lots of

43:38different plans and folks really are

43:41anxious to have a clear picture about

43:43what does that all add up to?

43:46To what end?

43:48So that we can use that to then unite

43:51people around the action it's going to

43:53take to get there, whether that be

43:55community action on a

43:57certain issue or initiative or moving

44:00some policy, but this I think is going

44:02to

44:03provide clarity on

44:05what those prioritized result areas are,

44:07what we're actually aiming for,

44:10and that how we're going to get there

44:11and who's going to lead on it. So, I I

44:13hear you and I

44:15I think some of those conversations will

44:17naturally come out of this.

44:20>> I I agree. It's It's still just seems

44:22like it's on the tail end. We're We're

44:24being brought in to provide feedback and

44:26and I'm just hearing you're still

44:27basically before we're

44:29I would much rather have value

44:30conversation with us about where do we

44:32want to go? What would benefit us

44:35collectively to move forward? That's not

44:37like what would we as far as the outside

44:39facilitator, I like the idea, but again,

44:41ask us what would how would this best

44:43benefit you?

44:45But again, we're just being brought in

44:46at the tail end and I'm not hearing

44:48like, okay, yeah, let's do that. I'm

44:49hearing, no, we're going to move

44:50forward, but give us your input.

44:52Um

44:53I I It's just It's not I I don't like

44:56it.

44:58>> I think part of I appreciate your

45:00comments, Alderman Savage, and and

45:01everyone's comments that have been made

45:02so far and continuing Alderman Huntley,

45:05you got your hands up again.

45:06I think one of the

45:08uh descriptions that I think helped me

45:11crystallize it is as Alderman Huntley

45:12pointed out, we could probably point to

45:15what each of our highest priorities are,

45:18and um you've pointed out some of them

45:19are overlapping, and certainly we all um

45:23ran on different goals, but those goals

45:26certainly have some competition for

45:28limited resources, and we don't always

45:31agree on the best way to achieve them or

45:33the priority of them or how to implement

45:35them, and I view this process as going

45:39from

45:41help us refine those discussions so that

45:43as we're moving forward with our

45:44policies, according to the most

45:46important policy document that we have,

45:47of course, that's the budget, but also

45:49to pull in other uh

45:52entities in the community like we've

45:53been discussing. So, I think your um

45:56your concerns are certainly well heard,

45:58and I think there is ways to make sure

46:00we're incorporating them. Um I certainly

46:02don't think you're being brought in at

46:03the tail end. It still feels very much

46:05at the beginning of this process

46:07other than

46:08the the process of selecting individuals

46:11and you know, obviously we're you heard

46:13a willingness to go back and revisit how

46:15to do that. So I think again, I think

46:18that's your points are well taken and I

46:21think we can incorporate them in the

46:22steps forward.

46:25Alderman Hutley.

46:28>> Yeah, I would just going to say I really

46:29like I I I had actually raised my hand

46:31and then put it down and then raised it

46:32again. I like the way you just described

46:34things, Mr. Mayor.

46:36I think the the fundamental problem that

46:38I think so many of us are having trouble

46:40getting past is if this is the way you

46:42just described it, then

46:46the guiding body is us. The guiding body

46:48needs to be the council, not a group

46:51that was appointed without our

46:54our support, our approval, even our

46:56knowledge. So what you just said, heck

46:59yeah, but

47:01let's have it be driven by us, not by

47:04people who we don't even know who they

47:06are.

47:07>> [snorts]

47:08>> You want to take that?

47:09>> Yeah, I mean I think what I would say is

47:10I what I'm hearing you speak to,

47:13Alderman Savage, is

47:15>> Alderman Hutley.

47:16That's Alderman Hutley.

47:17>> I was I'm sorry. I was going to respond

47:19to

47:19>> Oh, I apologize.

47:20>> I I would yeah, thank you. But I wanted

47:22to respond first to what Alderman Savage

47:24said. I did hear you, Alderman Hutley,

47:25thank you. Is

47:28what I'm hearing you speak to would be

47:30something that would be a byproduct of

47:32this community plan. Is then saying,

47:34okay, coming out of this with clarity on

47:38a shared vision and set of results of

47:40what we want to achieve together for the

47:41city, what do we as what's the role of

47:44city government in those strategies?

47:46What's the role of the city council in

47:48those strategies? What's the role of

47:50these other entities that we've talked

47:51about? So I think all those

47:54conversations happen throughout this

47:55process,

47:57but those that to me sounds like

47:59planning

48:01that would be an an output of it once

48:04we've created this community owned

48:09this this document that unites us across

48:11Annapolis around these what we've agreed

48:14to as our shared vision and results.

48:17>> I would

48:18add to that that

48:20the city council is its own layer. You

48:23are consulting the entire way along.

48:27There just happens to be this other

48:29group that Do East is getting

48:31information with as well. You're a very

48:34important layer. [clears throat] You're

48:36you are the nucleus and right around

48:38that are the directors and Bess's job is

48:41to try and pull what is important to

48:45each of you and what is important to the

48:49ward interviewees that you send to us

48:52and that's where we're pulling out those

48:55seams and aligning them with what we're

48:57hearing from these other layers in that

49:00circle she showed you.

49:03Um so the CAC's just one layer. They're

49:05not

49:07So to your point Harry of we should be

49:10listening to the council and the council

49:12should be informing the plan. That is a

49:14thousand percent part of the process. So

49:17don't think that it's not.

49:21>> Thank you. Alderman Turp.

49:23>> [cough]

49:24>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. [clears throat] Mr.

49:25Mayor, I I think I was where Alderman

49:27Savage just stated. I think I was at

49:30that point early in this discussion

49:34several [clears throat] weeks ago

49:36um

49:36and I think I think

49:39what you've tried to do today is clarify

49:41some words. Um

49:44the the words you have here on the slide

49:46collective agenda.

49:48Um and I think Alderman Savage mentions

49:50a lot of the plans that have been

49:52developed and I think our responsibility

49:55as leaders and I think this

49:58collective agenda has the the potential

50:01to produce this

50:03is to set priorities and as leaders I

50:05think we need to decide what we want to

50:07do

50:08and unfortunately we can't do everything

50:11so what we're not going to do is going

50:13to be hard and I I think

50:17if we don't go through a process like

50:19this and clearly you've got the

50:22background and the expertise having done

50:24this before

50:25there's I don't know how many ways to do

50:27this

50:28and there's one right way which is the

50:30way that an organization in engages and

50:34invests in and and so I think this idea

50:37that we can bring all of this together

50:39not limit the inputs recognizing which I

50:43you clearly are communicating today

50:47very clearly

50:49I don't know that it's different than

50:50several weeks ago

50:52that your mindset is different except

50:54for you're communicating it very

50:55differently um and the role of the city

50:58council and and I do believe as a board

51:03with a CEO who's leading this effort

51:07again who listen you know I do I mean

51:10it's

51:11I I think I I think we

51:15should look at this as an opportunity to

51:17take everything we have before us inputs

51:20from our people and create a collective

51:24agenda not a strategy not a redefinition

51:28of our great city um which

51:32I would always be afraid of and I think

51:33I hear your concern of hey yet this

51:36shouldn't be yet another plan on the

51:38stack of plans that Alderman Savage

51:40mentioned if we're successful this is

51:44the overarching document on top of a lot

51:46of plans that don't go into the detail

51:49of the mobility plan and the

51:51comprehensive plan, but rather steer us

51:55in the future

51:57as to as a plan of where to go.

52:01Is that

52:01>> I think that's I I you said it better

52:03than I did and I think to create that

52:05cohesive vision and set of results that

52:07we're trying to achieve, which then

52:09makes the subsequent decision-making

52:11easier.

52:13Yeah.

52:14>> Um

52:15Alderman uh uh

52:16>> Maybe not easier, but yeah.

52:17>> Sorry. Uh

52:18one first response to Alderman Savage,

52:20then I wanted to uh relay a question

52:22from Alderman Sheahan and then I'll get

52:24back to you. So,

52:25one um

52:27to part of your point is nothing that

52:29we're doing here limits your our ability

52:33to continue introducing legislation,

52:34passing legislation, implementing the

52:36comp plan. Um this is additive, not not

52:39instead of work we could do and we of

52:42course we must do every day multiple

52:44things on multiple levels.

52:45Um so, I just wanted to to share that

52:47thought. Um Alderman Sheahan's question

52:50is how many more open spots on this

52:52committee are there?

52:55>> Yeah,

52:56I mean I think as um Alderman O'Neal

52:59pointed out we want to make sure that it

53:00doesn't become unwieldy and too large,

53:03but I think we were leaving room for all

53:07of you to make a recommendation if you

53:09felt like you needed to do that.

53:11And so, we've gotten a couple of

53:13recommendations and asked so, I think

53:15we're hoping if there are any final

53:17recommendations to get them this

53:18evening.

53:21>> And I would just

53:23Question for this evening would be

53:25wonderful. I just want to give my

53:26colleagues some grace and say tomorrow.

53:29>> Much nicer than I am.

53:30>> [laughter]

53:32>> Um Alderman Tunney, I'm sorry, did you

53:34have your hand up again? I'm losing

53:35track.

53:36>> Yeah, just very quick question. Uh for

53:39those members, can you tell us what the

53:41time commitment is like for them?

53:44>> Yeah, it's going to be four meetings

53:47between October and March, April. And we

53:52estimated a total of 18 hours including

53:56meeting time, material review, informal

54:00exchanges, and hopefully them

54:02participating in some of the community

54:03engagement activities.

54:05And we have a detailed charter that we

54:07sent out to all of you that

54:10is is a detailed list of the roles and

54:12responsibilities and that time

54:13commitment which we can recirculate for

54:15sure.

54:17Good question. Thank you.

54:19>> Councilmember Savage, I think you had

54:20another question.

54:21>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um

54:22>> [clears throat]

54:23>> So, just

54:25I guess one one response I guess Mr.

54:26Mayor, you're saying as far as our

54:28agenda I

54:31I think I think if I'm trying to

54:33paraphrase you that

54:35we haven't quite been able to agreed on

54:37some of our direction. We may have broad

54:39areas of agreement but we haven't quite

54:40come together always on

54:42I think specific policies.

54:44Um but but again, that's what I would

54:47I would really value us trying to get to

54:48that point with a facilitator. We I

54:50don't think we've had a single work

54:52session where we've sat down and said,

54:54"Look, we know we all agree on wanting

54:55more affordable housing. Let's figure

54:57out the go through the comp plan, go

54:59through the affordable housing plan

55:00which I forgot to mention, you know, a

55:02couple years ago and and actually

55:05dig into some of find some agreement

55:07with a facilitator. I think that'd be

55:08really helpful, but it's just in my mind

55:10we haven't even tried that. I think we

55:12do have a lot of environmental too

55:14especially. I think we'd find a lot of

55:15agreement, but we just haven't had that

55:17dialogue and I just feel like we're

55:18skipping so much of that. Um

55:21because one example would be uh

55:23short-term rental. I know initially I

55:25had some disagreement with that, but

55:27I've been really impressed with how

55:28staff's handled that, right? They've

55:29they've come to us with a lot of great

55:31questions and and and reports and that's

55:34I think And engaging us in some of that

55:36dialogue. I think the next step will be

55:38even more, I think, engaging with us as

55:40far as

55:41what comes out of that, but

55:43um

55:44But, you know, again, I just to repeat,

55:47I really think our comp plan

55:50is our vision document.

55:52Um

55:54that's something we spent 4 years

55:56putting it together.

55:57Uh I really just don't think we need

55:59another

56:00another effort.

56:02Um

56:03you know, if it's said that

56:08If it's said that the council's going to

56:09be the nucleus,

56:12again, I think this should go through us

56:14officially with full public

56:15transparency.

56:17If that's the case, um cuz if not, it's

56:20just it's just a phrase. We're not the

56:21nucleus unless it's going to come

56:23through us.

56:24And right now, it's not. We're still

56:26feels like a fait accompli.

56:30I'm not hearing much as far as

56:31willingness to step back and say, "Okay,

56:33let's just kick step back, see if we

56:35want to spend taxpayer money on this cuz

56:38in the budget, I think we approved this

56:39is a part of a strategic plan, which I

56:41again I think is incredibly valuable for

56:44us." We had an initial meeting on this

56:46back early days of the

56:48campaign, but um this is something

56:51different.

56:53And I'm

56:55not quite sold at all still.

56:58>> I'm frankly pleased by some of the

56:59questions cuz your your point about um

57:02wanting to make sure we are touching

57:04each person and get their input, that's

57:07I mean, if you go to slide I'm not

57:09seeing the slides numbers,

57:10>> [laughter]

57:10>> but the slide where you have all the

57:12different uh phases, 1 2

57:14um page slide before that that page,

57:17your the next step, I believe, is

57:19essentially those interviews with

57:21council members. You're included and

57:24I'm not sure if this was I think this

57:25was revised since the last 2 weeks ago

57:27based on input, but your input is

57:30actually absolutely critical and sought

57:33after and desired and it's a way of

57:36doing exactly what you're asking for is

57:39getting your input of what your

57:40priorities are

57:41along with everyone else's and that's

57:43the whole purpose of that's collective

57:45agenda setting. So I'm

57:47I hear your hesitation.

57:50I think that we are much more early in

57:52the process than what you're

57:53articulating but I think it is

57:56its purpose is to achieve the same

57:57purpose that you're articulating. So I'm

57:59I'm optimistic that you will be pleased

58:00with where we end up if you are

58:04would be willing to participate in the

58:05interviews and in the various stages

58:07where city council is being asked to

58:09participate. I don't know if you had any

58:10addition

58:11anything additional to add.

58:13>> I just wanted to say that I hear what

58:15you're saying

58:16um Alderman Savage and it sounds like

58:18you feel like a strategic planning

58:21process for the council alone like to

58:24look at the work of the council and the

58:26priorities and what you would like to do

58:28would be something that's very

58:29beneficial to you. And what I would like

58:32to say to you is I think what you'll

58:34find if you trust this process is that

58:37what you will come out with in terms of

58:39the council's priorities

58:41may crystallize as part of this process

58:44for you and and I hope that it does. And

58:47I also wanted to say as these priorities

58:50are are pulled out through the work that

58:52we're doing if they touch on

58:56um

58:57for example Beth had brought up

58:59environmental right? If that comes out

59:01as being a priority then any plan that

59:04we have whether it's a bike plan or

59:06whatever that that touches on that area

59:08or say it's recreation

59:11we would naturally review that plan and

59:13think about how could that

59:15be implemented to support that priority.

59:18So that's another thing that you said

59:19was really important to you. That I

59:21think that if you trust this process

59:23you're going to get a lot more out of it

59:25than your perception. And unfortunately,

59:29our bad, the way that we initiated the

59:32collective agenda committee, I think if

59:34we had initiated that differently, you

59:36might have maybe a little bit more trust

59:40in the process. So, for that, we

59:42apologize.

59:43>> Well, but again, what would help build

59:45trust is to have it go through our

59:47public transparent process where we get

59:49to have a direct say on the direction

59:52and the people on the committee.

59:54That's not being done.

59:56If you truly want that trust and

59:57cooperation, then work with us. Send it

59:59to us at the next council meeting in an

1:00:01ordinance or resolution.

1:00:05Let's do it. If that's really a value,

1:00:06let's do it. Cuz what's what's

1:00:07preventing us from doing that right now

1:00:09by having this come to us as a body?

1:00:11What Is there anything preventing us?

1:00:14Is that Is there anything that

1:00:16I know it's not required, but is that a

1:00:18bad idea? Like, why are we not having

1:00:20this come through the body?

1:00:21>> Right. That was just the only point that

1:00:22I was going to make that there is a

1:00:23section in the charter that talks about

1:00:25an ordinance being required for the

1:00:27creation of certain boards and

1:00:28committees when it's part of essential

1:00:31government operations. So, in not

1:00:33necessarily in every case does the

1:00:35creation of a task force or a committee

1:00:37that's going to be looking at an issue

1:00:39and making recommendations to the city.

1:00:41In not every case does it need to be

1:00:43established through the the ordinance

1:00:45process.

1:00:47You could elect to do something as a

1:00:49group through a resolution, but it's not

1:00:51necessarily required.

1:00:53>> I just I then lastly I just I think

1:00:55that'll also help build

1:00:57if this is going to help serve the

1:00:58community, too, it'll help build that

1:01:00trust with them as well.

1:01:04>> [clears throat]

1:01:04>> All right. Alderman Smith Brown.

1:01:06>> Uh thank you. Thank you all very much

1:01:08for the work you've done. Good to see

1:01:09you, Kayla. We go back. Um

1:01:12so, it's wonderful you're here.

1:01:13So, one of the questions I had to the

1:01:16group here is [snorts]

1:01:18in looking at who's on the CAC,

1:01:21Uh have uh some more

1:01:24>> I need names. Yeah, absolutely. Um we

1:01:27have some wards, of course, we talked

1:01:29about the uh composition per ward, but

1:01:31we also have persons that are not

1:01:33residents. What was your thinking behind

1:01:35having both non-residents as well as uh

1:01:38a non-profit who goes after grants

1:01:40within our City of Annapolis?

1:01:42>> Yeah, we wanted to make sure we in

1:01:45addition to having a number of city

1:01:48residents on here, we there were some

1:01:50folks whose voices and experiences in

1:01:53the city

1:01:54were not were important even though they

1:01:57weren't residents. So, for example, um

1:02:01the I think the person you're

1:02:02referencing who runs a non-profit

1:02:04organization that serves hundreds of

1:02:08children across the city

1:02:10through her non-profit felt like someone

1:02:12who could really bring a perspective

1:02:15that was really important because of

1:02:16where she does her work, not because of

1:02:18where she lives.

1:02:20>> Well, to that point, what if there was a

1:02:21non-profit leader who's actually from

1:02:23that community who does that work and

1:02:25even more? Why wasn't someone like that

1:02:27considered?

1:02:28>> Yeah, and I think we'd be open to adding

1:02:31that person if you have a recommendation

1:02:33to make.

1:02:33>> Okay, so a keyword there was adding.

1:02:36What is our role as a city council uh in

1:02:39encouraging or confirming these members?

1:02:41If we feel that um

1:02:43some members that were added should not

1:02:45be on this CAC since it is a guiding

1:02:47principle for us um and of course the

1:02:49mayor as well, what would that process

1:02:52be like? Are is there a way for us not

1:02:54to have certain members on this CAC or

1:02:57are the members that were selected

1:02:58without our input initially uh final and

1:03:01confirmed?

1:03:05>> I'm the on button. Um

1:03:08Alderman Smith Brown, one of the things

1:03:10when you are doing a process like this,

1:03:15you want to have

1:03:17I've I've I've heard in a previous

1:03:20meeting from some of the other people

1:03:23about not having people that don't agree

1:03:26with our perspective or so forth. So, we

1:03:30want to bring everybody under the tent

1:03:31and the only way to do that is by

1:03:33talking to them. So, we need to find out

1:03:36if they are

1:03:38you know, in opposition to something

1:03:40that we're doing. That's an important

1:03:43point. You know, it's important to have

1:03:44that perspective and address it because

1:03:46they're probably not alone. There's

1:03:48probably a group of people that have a

1:03:49similar perspective. So, I think in

1:03:53order to

1:03:55form a strong coalition, you you have to

1:03:57understand what the needs are of the of

1:03:59the population. And because this is the

1:04:02city of Annapolis community agenda,

1:04:06we have to talk to the community and

1:04:08people that don't think the same way as

1:04:10maybe we think are part of that

1:04:12community and need to be heard.

1:04:14>> Yeah,

1:04:15the only other thing I would add, thanks

1:04:17Laura.

1:04:18Um

1:04:19Alderman Smith Brown is, you know, I

1:04:22we know that this committee could never

1:04:25never be representative of every sector,

1:04:27every voice, every

1:04:29experience or geography. And that's why

1:04:31we're trying to create other ways to

1:04:34make sure folks get heard.

1:04:36Um so,

1:04:37we we want recommendations for folks

1:04:40that we should interview. We'd like

1:04:43recommendations for additional folks to

1:04:45add committee. It we we want

1:04:48recommendations for people who we need

1:04:49to reach out directly to attend the

1:04:51community planning sessions.

1:04:54Um we want to do this in a way that is

1:04:57inclusive and welcoming

1:04:59in all the different channels that we're

1:05:01inviting people in.

1:05:03>> All right, well, two pieces there. The

1:05:05first is we have someone, whoever those

1:05:08persons may be, they could have

1:05:10completed the surveys and their input

1:05:11would have been heard. So, to have them

1:05:13as membership, I think is

1:05:16a direct disagreement with some members

1:05:18who feel of the council who feel that

1:05:20not everyone on this list should be on

1:05:23this CAC. Secondly, when we talk about

1:05:26persons that may not have the same

1:05:28perspective or thoughts, uh they still

1:05:30have a role. You know, they have a role,

1:05:31they don't have to be on the CAC in

1:05:33order to give their input. And so, the

1:05:35question that wasn't necessarily

1:05:36answered is is there a removal process

1:05:38or are you sharing that that

1:05:41that we are only going to add people and

1:05:44there is no longer an opportunity for us

1:05:46to say, "Let's exchange one person out

1:05:48for another."

1:05:51It sounds like you're you you're queued

1:05:53up for an answer, but I I mean, I think

1:05:55my view is I

1:05:57the input we're getting is very

1:05:59valuable.

1:06:00Um I'd like the chance to digest and

1:06:02discuss with the the three of you on

1:06:07a more thoughtful answer than just a

1:06:09automatic response in this meeting. So,

1:06:12let me take that and then let's let's

1:06:14let take it as a point of suggestion and

1:06:16be thoughtful about it in the reply.

1:06:19Okay.

1:06:20Um

1:06:22Okay.

1:06:23Our time we're trying to do an hour for

1:06:25this and an hour for the next

1:06:26presentation. Um I know Alderman uh

1:06:29Thornton and Alderman Huntley, if you

1:06:31could

1:06:32be succinct in your questions, I'd like

1:06:33to ask for succinct answers and then uh

1:06:36Alderman Thornton is passing. Alderman

1:06:38Huntley, if you can uh be succinct in

1:06:40your question, please.

1:06:43Looks like he's passing.

1:06:44>> Okay.

1:06:46>> Are you passing or you can tell what

1:06:47you're doing there?

1:06:48>> I think Alderman Smith's point

1:06:51I think Alderman Smith-Brown's point is

1:06:54less of

1:06:56agree with more about our concern of

1:06:58people who will not operate in good

1:07:00faith and not lead to a good

1:07:02uh

1:07:03not lead to a good process.

1:07:07>> Anyone hear that well enough to repeat

1:07:08it?

1:07:10>> I think he agreed with

1:07:12>> Okay.

1:07:12>> Alderman Smith Brown that it's not that

1:07:14we're wanting people that believe the

1:07:17way we believe, but it's that there are

1:07:20people that they

1:07:21believe will be disruptive to the

1:07:23process.

1:07:24>> [snorts]

1:07:25>> Thank you, Alderman Huntley.

1:07:26>> Correct.

1:07:26>> Yeah, I'll give you the same reply that

1:07:28I just expressed to Alderman Smith

1:07:30Brown. Let us take that

1:07:32guidance and suggestion and let us

1:07:34discuss and respond thoughtfully.

1:07:37Thank you.

1:07:37>> [laughter]

1:07:38>> It's pretty cool uh

1:07:39reaction process you got there.

1:07:41All right. Um

1:07:42I want [clears throat] to thank uh first

1:07:44all the council members that are here

1:07:46and who have contributed thoughts

1:07:49before today as well um over the past

1:07:51few weeks. Want to thank the three of

1:07:53you for preparing this presentation.

1:07:55I think we are in agreement on a lot of

1:07:57things frankly on the need to um

1:08:00discuss, give opportunities for the

1:08:02council, give opportunities for people

1:08:04outside of the council for input and

1:08:06collaboration uh with an interest of

1:08:09getting something that has credibility

1:08:11not only for you council members, but

1:08:12for our strategic partners across the

1:08:14community. And so um appreciate the

1:08:16input. I realize this is something

1:08:18different than what has been done before

1:08:20and frankly that's somewhat intentional.

1:08:21It's not just refreshing of an an old

1:08:24strategic planning process that

1:08:26frankly might not be doing us so much

1:08:28good right now. So it's a different

1:08:29approach and I realize that anytime it's

1:08:31change and different it's a little hard

1:08:33to process and know what the output's

1:08:35going to be because it is different. You

1:08:36haven't experienced that before. So

1:08:38appreciate the opportunity to have the

1:08:39communication.

1:08:41Um

1:08:42we certainly want to make any necessary

1:08:43improvements that without losing

1:08:44momentum. Um

1:08:46this is a timely process. We're trying

1:08:48to get valuable input before the

1:08:49budgeting process. So um

1:08:51my thought process and deliberations are

1:08:54going to be have that perspective in

1:08:55mind. So with that thank you all for the

1:08:58presentation.

1:08:59>> Thank you.

1:09:00>> Well, to be continued.

1:09:01>> Thank you.

1:09:02>> Okay.

1:09:03Thank you.

1:09:04>> [clears throat]

1:09:10>> Okay, Mr. City Attorney, can you please

1:09:13present the next item on the agenda?

1:09:16>> The next item on the agenda is ID 19026,

1:09:21City of Annapolis branding and logo

1:09:23concepts.

1:09:24>> Thank you. We are excited to welcome our

1:09:28communications part of our

1:09:29communications team here today.

1:09:31And

1:09:33we are

1:09:35happy to have you introduce yourselves

1:09:36and get started whenever you're ready.

1:09:42Being mindful of the time, it's 6:10. I

1:09:45don't recall how long your presentation

1:09:46is and obviously want to leave ample

1:09:48time for discussion.

1:09:51>> We'll go fast.

1:09:53We we planned for an hour, but now we

1:09:54know we're 45 minutes and we want to

1:09:57leave time for questions.

1:09:58>> Exactly. Thank you.

1:10:00>> Great. Um, so I'm Mitchelle Stephenson,

1:10:02the public information officer for the

1:10:03City of Annapolis.

1:10:05>> Lindsey Gable, communications

1:10:06strategist.

1:10:08So tonight we want to present on the

1:10:09logo and branding guidelines with

1:10:12rollout and cost estimates. A big piece

1:10:15of why we're doing this right now is

1:10:17that in April of 2027,

1:10:19accessibility of our digital presence

1:10:21will be mandated by the federal

1:10:23government. So next slide.

1:10:25We met with some of you earlier this

1:10:27year one-on-one about the objectives of

1:10:29this project and we'll provide an update

1:10:31about that later in the uh

1:10:33briefing. We want to tell you where we

1:10:35are about the redesign of annapolis.gov.

1:10:38We want to do the branding and logo

1:10:41guidelines. We'll take feedback on the

1:10:43timeline and budget and if we can, we'd

1:10:44like to do that all at the end so that

1:10:46you have a good overview of all of the

1:10:48collateral pieces so that we can have a

1:10:50a good discussion.

1:10:53So a quick run through of the problems

1:10:55that we're trying to solve. When we as a

1:10:57city communicate with our residents, we

1:10:59currently lack consistency in our

1:11:01branding.

1:11:03So, it makes our makes it hard for our

1:11:04residents to know, our residents,

1:11:06businesses, and visitors to know what is

1:11:08coming from official city

1:11:10communications. Uh we want folks to

1:11:12immediately recognize when something is

1:11:15the city of Annapolis.

1:11:16So, before we get to our big reveal for

1:11:19the logo that we have worked with a

1:11:21vendor to design, we want to show you

1:11:23the old logo

1:11:25and a little bit of a history

1:11:28refresher. [clears throat]

1:11:29This logo that you're looking at was um

1:11:33the crown and thistle and rose honor

1:11:36Queen Anne,

1:11:38who was royalty. She never visited

1:11:40Annapolis,

1:11:41uh nor did any member of her immediate

1:11:43family.

1:11:46>> [laughter]

1:11:46>> It's not all they did, but the royal

1:11:48family was directory directly involved

1:11:50and profited from a painful chapter of

1:11:53Annapolis of the Annapolis story, and

1:11:55that's the transatlantic slave trade.

1:11:57That's not representative of who we are

1:11:59in the modern era.

1:12:01So, starting with the logo that's

1:12:03currently in use, we'll run through

1:12:04these quickly.

1:12:05Um so, you can see the various logos.

1:12:07So, first is with the current to what we

1:12:10call the tombstone logo with uh office

1:12:12of emergency management, and you'll

1:12:13notice that police and fire are very

1:12:15similar to that logo.

1:12:17This is our fire department. There's

1:12:19another fire department that's on their

1:12:20uniforms. Uh Annapolis Recreation and

1:12:23Parks.

1:12:25Economic Development.

1:12:27And then the flag.

1:12:31So, on the current mark,

1:12:34you you'll see that in all kinds of

1:12:36things. It's on our fleet vehicles, it's

1:12:37on our website, it's on most of our

1:12:39flyers.

1:12:40The tombstone was designed in the early

1:12:432000s, so it's not a historic mark by

1:12:46any means. It's the crystal crown

1:12:48thistle and rose,

1:12:49and the city seal, which is in our code,

1:12:53remains untouched for legal use. We're

1:12:55not touching the seal at all.

1:13:00The mark that we have, it's just

1:13:01impractical today. It was built in an

1:13:03analog era before we needed it for web

1:13:05design and all of those things, social

1:13:07media, and ADA accessibility standards.

1:13:10It's a complex graphic that fails on

1:13:12small screens. It scales poorly. You can

1:13:14see right here on the Instagram page

1:13:16that it it barely fits.

1:13:22We also have kind of a wild west of

1:13:23branding efforts, and we do appreciate

1:13:25that the departments create their own

1:13:27communications, but it's a little bit

1:13:29all over the map. There's no

1:13:31uh syncing up the fonts, the colors, the

1:13:34way that the the mark is used across

1:13:37channels, across departments, and it

1:13:39creates public confusion about what

1:13:41things are official city. Just slapping

1:13:45that tombstone logo on it is kind of

1:13:47where we've been calling our brand our

1:13:49brand.

1:13:52This is really what a branding guideline

1:13:54should look like. This is Luminous

1:13:55Healthcare. We'll talk a little bit more

1:13:57about their logo because that was fairly

1:13:59recently redesigned. But if you go to

1:14:01Luminous Healthcare, whether you are

1:14:03looking at a print product, a digital

1:14:04product, something on social media, a

1:14:07sign that's in the doctor's office, it

1:14:10all looks pretty much the same. You know

1:14:12immediately that even though none of

1:14:14these products really look alike, they

1:14:17all are sort of very similarly branded.

1:14:21And that's kind of what we'd like to go

1:14:22for in our city communications.

1:14:25>> Yeah, so reflecting on the problem we're

1:14:27trying to solve, the community should be

1:14:29able to recognize our logo whether it's

1:14:31on a public utility bill or a street

1:14:33sign or a digital ad. Um so we're

1:14:36excited to share with you today a

1:14:37creative solution uh in a moment, but we

1:14:40also just want to take a moment to pause

1:14:42that we also know having an internal

1:14:45governance plan as we roll out this

1:14:47logo, will be just as important as the

1:14:50creative solution that we're bringing

1:14:51because we need to make sure that

1:14:53departments know how to use it, that we

1:14:55have approval processes, and that we can

1:14:57manage this. So, we'll talk a little bit

1:14:59more about that. Um but getting to the

1:15:01solution, where we started was by

1:15:04soliciting input uh cuz we know that for

1:15:06a sustainable, successful product, we

1:15:09need something that's created by the

1:15:10people who are going to use it and the

1:15:12people it's going to serve. Um we

1:15:14reached out to all of you to give you an

1:15:15opportunity to weigh in uh earlier this

1:15:18summer, and thank you Alderman uh Savage

1:15:21and Thorp and also Conte who uh took our

1:15:24took our uh offer and joined us, and I

1:15:27think you'll see um some of what you

1:15:28shared reflected in the mark today. Um

1:15:31also as part of the process, we formed a

1:15:33cross-departmental working group. So,

1:15:35that was made up of people within the

1:15:37mayor's and city manager office, but

1:15:39also we wanted to pull in a couple of

1:15:41key people from across departments,

1:15:43department level and staff, who really

1:15:46know how this logo is being used and

1:15:48could could inform the process for what

1:15:50a successful rollout would look like. Uh

1:15:52and we've been meeting over the last

1:15:53couple of months about four times.

1:15:55They've weighed in on surveys. There's

1:15:56been various iterations of the logo that

1:15:59they've all been a part of shaping,

1:16:00which has been um great to have them on

1:16:02board.

1:16:03Um just tipping off our survey

1:16:05conversation earlier, we received 530

1:16:08responses to our online survey that we

1:16:10deployed asking people, do they know the

1:16:13brand? What do they think about it? Are

1:16:14they open to a redesign? And if so, you

1:16:17know, what does Annapolis mean to you?

1:16:18What do you want to see reflected? So,

1:16:20we got a a lot of great input. Um the

1:16:23survey respondents, 82% lived in

1:16:25Annapolis, which of course is important,

1:16:27so we know we were talking to the right

1:16:28people.

1:16:29Uh and about a fourth worked in the city

1:16:31limits. About 1% were city staff. Um so,

1:16:35just to share a couple anecdotes that

1:16:37came back from that process.

1:16:39Um the history of our logo certainly was

1:16:41prioritized, and people said that was

1:16:43important, but more people, a majority

1:16:45of people said that a balance of the

1:16:48past and sort of looking ahead to the

1:16:49future is important. So, we needed to

1:16:52make sure the way we showed up in the

1:16:53world digitally, but also, you know,

1:16:56analog was modern government that was

1:16:59sort of connected solutions for our

1:17:01constituents.

1:17:03Um additionally, we heard in terms of

1:17:06key attributes that were important to

1:17:07people, uh the city's waterfront and

1:17:10natural environment. So, that's

1:17:11certainly our sailing culture, but also

1:17:13our maritime roots of sort of our our

1:17:16working maritime and

1:17:18uh making sure that uh all of that comes

1:17:20to life with how the the visual mark

1:17:23looks. Um we heard a lot also about

1:17:25inclusivity and, you know, some people

1:17:27felt that the current mark represents

1:17:29more of Ward One, for example, and so

1:17:32wanting to make sure that we were taking

1:17:33all of our wards and uh constituents

1:17:36into uh consideration.

1:17:40Another thing we did as part of this

1:17:41process is we engaged Contrast and Co,

1:17:44which is a local design firm. They're

1:17:45based right on Duke of Gloucester.

1:17:47They've done some work with the city.

1:17:48They've worked with uh

1:17:50uh Department of Planning and Zoning.

1:17:51They worked, I believe, with Mitchell

1:17:53for Access Annapolis, but they also have

1:17:55a lot of experience with national brands

1:17:57going through just the same very

1:17:59process.

1:18:00Um so, while as the city we internally

1:18:03led all of the discovery research and

1:18:05managed the process to make sure we kept

1:18:07things cost efficient, Contrast and Co

1:18:09gave us some strategic visioning, and

1:18:11then they did all the design work that

1:18:13you'll see momentarily.

1:18:16Um first though, I want to take a little

1:18:18step back to sort of take you on the

1:18:20journey that we went on with Contrast

1:18:22and Co to really look at, okay, what is

1:18:24what is modern logo design? What does

1:18:26that mean for global brands? What does

1:18:28it mean for cities? What does it mean

1:18:29for, you know, companies? And as you can

1:18:32see here, Starbucks, a brand we all know

1:18:34well, um in 1971, it was a very complex

1:18:38mark. There's a lot of text on it.

1:18:40There's a lot of detail. And as it

1:18:42evolves through the years, it was

1:18:43simplified. And that's the case for

1:18:46Coca-Cola, Chanel, Heineken. There's

1:18:48different ways the brand shows up. Both

1:18:50have evolved through the years, but also

1:18:52there's different emblems that now

1:18:54signify what people recognize about it.

1:18:57Looking also in our backyard, um, Anne

1:19:01Arundel Medical Center,

1:19:02uh, they rebranded, I think it was in

1:19:052000 as they became part of, you know,

1:19:08collected other entities, but they

1:19:09became under this master brand of

1:19:11Luminis Health. Giant, a Maryland-based

1:19:14organization, also, uh, has gone through

1:19:16a rebrand. So, just again, you know,

1:19:18these things happen. This is This is

1:19:20part of the the process as companies and

1:19:23organizations and municipalities evolve.

1:19:25Uh, and finally, of course, it's really

1:19:28important to look at our direct peers,

1:19:30not just sort of these aspirational

1:19:32peers. And so, we dug into a lot of

1:19:35Maryland organizations, Rockville,

1:19:37Hagerstown, Bowie, but also coastal

1:19:39towns like Savannah, who recently

1:19:41rebranded in 2024, just to see what they

1:19:44were doing. Uh, again, there's sort of a

1:19:46trend towards simplification, also

1:19:48towards typography, really focusing on

1:19:50just the, uh, words themselves was a big

1:19:52trend we saw. And then the New York

1:19:55example, I think is interesting because

1:19:57NYC is pervasive across all of its

1:19:59departments, but then when you look at

1:20:01parks, which is green, or I think that

1:20:03says finance, which is blue, there's

1:20:06different ways to signify and customize

1:20:08and and communicate, uh, by department.

1:20:12Um, also wanted to take a step back and

1:20:15look at the different ways that people,

1:20:17uh, hear from us. As you all well know,

1:20:19there are 17 departments and offices

1:20:22that are all out there with their

1:20:24different messages, and, you know,

1:20:25people are engaging with them in a

1:20:27number of different ways.

1:20:28And most of those offices also have a

1:20:31number of divisions and within those

1:20:33divisions there are programs. Some of

1:20:35those programs like sustainable

1:20:37Annapolis and no harm have their own

1:20:39logos and so really trying to get our

1:20:41arms around this whole process of how do

1:20:44we make sure that when the office of law

1:20:46is communicating even though

1:20:48hierarchically

1:20:50it's based under the mayor's office, do

1:20:51we need to say that it's under the

1:20:52mayor's office or can we just say city

1:20:54of Annapolis office of law? So we've had

1:20:56lots of conversations as part of this

1:20:58working group and with our partners

1:21:00Contrast and Co to think through this

1:21:02system.

1:21:03Um and creating a system is something

1:21:06that organizations and cities and and

1:21:09entities do all the time. We're sort of

1:21:11currently operating under this house of

1:21:13brand concept where we have the city of

1:21:17Annapolis and then every department has

1:21:19its own brand if you will, but where

1:21:21we'd like to go is more towards this

1:21:23branded house which is the FedEx example

1:21:26you see. So everybody carries the FedEx

1:21:28mark, the visual, but again the colors

1:21:31and the text underneath can sort of come

1:21:33to life in different ways.

1:21:37And throughout this discovery process we

1:21:39were again grounded through how can we

1:21:42make sure that we're helping residents

1:21:44and constituents better understand and

1:21:46engage with us. That was what this was

1:21:48about is really just sort of centered in

1:21:50making things easier for us and

1:21:52delivering on the mayor and the city

1:21:54council's promise of customer service

1:21:57for our residents.

1:22:00>> Okay.

1:22:03So we're just going to look at the mark

1:22:04very quickly once again.

1:22:06Um

1:22:07The mark well that's okay. We're going

1:22:08to show you the new mark. Go ahead.

1:22:10>> [laughter]

1:22:11>> Try to rush through this.

1:22:13So this is the mark that we've come up

1:22:14with and I'll let that let that sit with

1:22:16you for a second. We're next going to

1:22:17show you um

1:22:19We'll just wait just a

1:22:25>> Mitchell, [clears throat] could you

1:22:26speak closer to microphone, please?

1:22:29>> I'm the one always telling people that.

1:22:31>> [laughter]

1:22:31>> All right, we'll go to the next slide.

1:22:33So, here's some of the design

1:22:34inspiration, the references and

1:22:35inspiration we got from this. When you

1:22:37look at that mark, you might see a boat

1:22:39hull, you might see the Blue Angels

1:22:41flying, you might see the Fresnel lens

1:22:43of the Thomas Point Lighthouse. Um you

1:22:46might see the bandstand at Carrol's the

1:22:49old bandstand at Carrol's Beach.

1:22:51Architecture from downtown, a nautical

1:22:54map. There are a lot of different uh

1:22:56things that we used as design reference

1:22:59and inspiration for this mark.

1:23:01And then we'll go to the next slide.

1:23:03And then there's a couple of different

1:23:04treatments we've done on this for fleet

1:23:07vehicles, for example, we've got City of

1:23:09Annapolis needs to be included because

1:23:10there are other uh Historic Annapolis,

1:23:13Visit Annapolis, other organizations

1:23:16within our city. Um but we've got also

1:23:19the chartered 1708. And then we've got a

1:23:21treatment here, the next one where it's

1:23:23reversed out, and we're going to talk

1:23:24about the colors and the color palette

1:23:27that were we've

1:23:28got

1:23:30the Contrasting Company came up with for

1:23:32us.

1:23:32We've also

1:23:34put it in black and white so that we can

1:23:35see that for a lot of different

1:23:37treatments, we've got a strong vertical,

1:23:39we've got more of a square logo. Um

1:23:43Fire, Police, OEM, and Rec & Parks, we

1:23:45are not going to do anything with right

1:23:46now. We'll reassess that later. Um but

1:23:49on the next slide, you can see how

1:23:51they've designed so that for all of our

1:23:53city departments,

1:23:55everyone has a little bit of a very

1:23:57simple mark. It's the mark, City of

1:23:59Annapolis, and then either the

1:24:01department or the division.

1:24:07And then we'll talk about the colors,

1:24:08yeah.

1:24:09>> piece of this, and we're throwing out a

1:24:10lot, so we can come back to it in Q&A,

1:24:13too. Uh but it's the colors. And as

1:24:16Mitchell, I think kicked us off with, is

1:24:18in April of 2027, there are

1:24:21accessibility guidelines that we are

1:24:23mandated to meet from a digital

1:24:24perspective, otherwise we're opening up

1:24:26the city to risk of being sued, that we

1:24:30are accessible in all of our digital

1:24:32communications. And so currently right

1:24:33now, the way we're communicating

1:24:34digitally does not comply. And so a big

1:24:37piece of choosing these colors that

1:24:40you'll see here is to make sure that we

1:24:41meet those requirements.

1:24:43Um so for example, the secondary color

1:24:45yellow that you see, which we often use

1:24:47a lot, is not accessible when it's used

1:24:50in certain ways. So the way that you'll

1:24:51see we've mocked it up, you know, does

1:24:54meet those requirements. We think the

1:24:55yellow is great for like a pop of

1:24:57energy, but we can only use it in

1:24:58certain ways. The primary color, um this

1:25:01has been informed by, you know, we

1:25:03wanted to have it feel some connection

1:25:06to our current brand. We didn't want to

1:25:07completely go away from where we are. Um

1:25:10and then you'll see some of the

1:25:11secondary colors are sort of these

1:25:13warmer earthy tones that take

1:25:15inspiration from downtown Annapolis and

1:25:17the environmental issues that we uh

1:25:19believe in and coastal with the blues.

1:25:22Um so that's the color palette. You can

1:25:25see the logo reversed out to white could

1:25:27be applied to our secondary and our

1:25:29primary colors.

1:25:31And then before I jump into the

1:25:32mock-ups, we sort of see how this can be

1:25:34applied, Contrast & Co is on the hook to

1:25:37still give us a brand workshop. So they

1:25:40will be meeting with all the departments

1:25:41as well as anybody that touches

1:25:43communications to roll this out, make

1:25:45sure people understand how to use it.

1:25:48You know, we've had this

1:25:49cross-department working groups, we've

1:25:50figured out a lot of those nuances, but

1:25:52there's certainly more that we haven't

1:25:54thought of, so they'll help us as part

1:25:55of this workshop and and make sure

1:25:57people are comfortable.

1:25:59Um but you can see how the logo might be

1:26:01translated to digital.

1:26:04Um this is an example of a social media

1:26:07graphic, so there's lots of colors to

1:26:09choose from here. You see the pops of

1:26:10yellow, but again, uh it's used

1:26:12sparingly to make sure it's compliant.

1:26:15Um this might be a report that DPW or uh

1:26:19ITS would use.

1:26:21And then finally, this is an example of

1:26:23a fleet vehicle updated. Um, and thank

1:26:27you to Dr. Flinner, or excuse me,

1:26:29Director Flinner and his facilities

1:26:31team. He's been really helpful over the

1:26:32last 4 weeks or so,

1:26:34um, doing an audit of all central

1:26:36service entities, all physical assets.

1:26:39They went out and counted signs and took

1:26:41pictures.

1:26:42Um, and one of the things he shared with

1:26:43us is that fleet is going to be rolling

1:26:46out sort of a new policy in December to

1:26:48make our cars more flexible and also

1:26:51make sure that on a maintenance there's

1:26:53on a regular maintenance schedule.

1:26:55That's something that's not happening to

1:26:57the degree with which apparently he

1:26:59would like. So, as part of this, we can

1:27:01sort of sync that up with the new fleet

1:27:03policy, which is exciting, and just do

1:27:05some updates on a regular, uh,

1:27:07maintenance schedule. So, we'll talk

1:27:08more about that in a moment.

1:27:12>> And we're almost done. We're just going

1:27:13to talk a little bit about the

1:27:14implementation. You can go to the next

1:27:16slide.

1:27:18So, what we've been doing right now, uh,

1:27:20with the website annapolis.gov, every

1:27:23few years we get a free update. We're

1:27:26working through that, um, to relaunch it

1:27:28as a much more streamlined and simple

1:27:32simplified website. We are clearing out

1:27:34thousands of outdated and non-ADA

1:27:36compliant pages and PDFs. Uh, want to

1:27:39give a big shout out to Ina over in the

1:27:41IT department. She has really been

1:27:43crushing it

1:27:44kind of annoyingly a little bit, maybe,

1:27:47uh, working with all of our departments,

1:27:49but she's getting it done and it's it's

1:27:51a heavy lift. Um, and then we'll also be

1:27:53sunsetting some redundant websites that

1:27:56where we send people off from

1:27:57Annapolis.gov, like for parking. You

1:28:00know, you want to go there and find

1:28:01information about parking in Annapolis,

1:28:02you search on our website, it's not

1:28:04there, we send you off to another

1:28:05website. Access Annapolis is another

1:28:07one, which is the city dock website. So,

1:28:09we want to just bring everything under

1:28:11one roof.

1:28:14And Civic Plus is our vendor, but

1:28:17let Lindsay talk about that.

1:28:18>> Yep, as Mitchell said, we have a free

1:28:20upgrade

1:28:21with the Civic Plus vendor, so we'll

1:28:23stay on the same platform.

1:28:25This is an upgrade we get every few

1:28:27years. We haven't done one in 6 years,

1:28:29so it's really time to just make sure we

1:28:31take a look at the site.

1:28:33We did stakeholder interviews for every

1:28:35single department as part of this

1:28:37process and spoke with many of you as

1:28:38well,

1:28:40but we'll be focused on modernizing the

1:28:41site design overall, streamlining the

1:28:44navigation, sort of the top buttons that

1:28:46people can choose to make sure from a

1:28:47user experience standpoint, they make

1:28:50sense. Updating the homepage, another

1:28:54thing that Ena has been focused on in IT

1:28:57is Annie, which is a bot, and to roll

1:29:00that out as part of this launch. That's

1:29:02in pilot right now.

1:29:04We've done some work to revamp our city

1:29:07calendar. We were using a different

1:29:09calendar. We were really using two

1:29:10calendars and paying for one that we

1:29:11didn't need, so we've sunsetted that and

1:29:14we

1:29:14moved everybody over to the Civic Plus

1:29:16calendar and optimized that process.

1:29:19We've enhanced the staff site directory.

1:29:22Right now you come to the website, well,

1:29:23we haven't done this yet. We're going to

1:29:24do this. You come to the website and you

1:29:26try to contact someone and there's

1:29:28instances everywhere of different people

1:29:29to contact and it's confusing, and so

1:29:31we're working on that.

1:29:33Redesigning FAQs, and then finally, one

1:29:36that you might not see visually, but is

1:29:38perhaps the most important is optimizing

1:29:40the site for search. So, since we

1:29:42haven't done an update in 6 years, we

1:29:44haven't taken into consideration that

1:29:46web crawlers do different things these

1:29:48days and that AI now needs snippets from

1:29:51content, so we need to go into the back

1:29:53end of our content and make some updates

1:29:55so it's more searchable.

1:29:57So, we'll be sharing more about the

1:29:58website in the coming months. We're

1:30:00targeting a February launch,

1:30:02but did want to bring it up in this

1:30:04context since it'll be the first time

1:30:05that the brand rolls out. Um

1:30:08And so now, just to take you through, we

1:30:11have about three or four more slides.

1:30:14Um the rollout plan for the brand, as

1:30:16mentioned, it is a digital first plan

1:30:18for part of this fiscal budget. So in

1:30:21February, the idea would be to relaunch

1:30:23the website, update social media

1:30:25profiles, and then any no-cost digital

1:30:28or print templates. So from February to

1:30:31June, uh this team will be sort of

1:30:33managing that with all of the

1:30:34departments and making sure they have

1:30:35what they need. Um the next phase of

1:30:39this would be FY28, where we would

1:30:41replace on retirement. And this is where

1:30:44Director Flinner has been helpful in

1:30:45just making sure we're have our arms

1:30:47wrapped around what this could look

1:30:48like. There's 200 vehicles, there's 450

1:30:51parking signs, uh and just making sure

1:30:53as things are outdated, we're flowing in

1:30:57the new logo. Um

1:30:58and then finally, full conversion would

1:31:00be in 2029.

1:31:02This would require more budget in

1:31:04consideration from this group. Um and

1:31:06this is at what point the logo would be

1:31:08applied to facilities and sort of

1:31:10longer-term assets, as well as wayward

1:31:13signs throughout the city, which would

1:31:14be on the more costly side.

1:31:18Uh speaking of cost, um what we'd like

1:31:20to do this fall is a is an audit. As

1:31:23mentioned, we've talked closely with

1:31:25Central Services, but we need to talk to

1:31:27every single department to get a better

1:31:28understanding of costs from them. So

1:31:31these estimates we have on here are

1:31:33purely directional, just for the purpose

1:31:35of today's conversation. Um but the the

1:31:38pilot, as we're calling it, you know,

1:31:40sort of testing how this logo will roll

1:31:43out in the fall, is no-cost. Phase one,

1:31:46you know, either no-cost or can be

1:31:48covered slightly by departments'

1:31:50existing replacement budget. And then

1:31:52once we get to this phase two in July

1:31:5427,

1:31:56um we've put an estimate in here, which

1:31:58is based on existing signage costs, uh

1:32:01what we know from previous vendors, as

1:32:03well as we would like the opportunity to

1:32:06re-engage Contrast Ink Co, the the

1:32:09creative firm,

1:32:10specifically to take a look at those

1:32:12brands that were not sunsetting, the the

1:32:15public safety brands and Rec and Park,

1:32:18and consider if those should be updated

1:32:20or how we should treat those.

1:32:22So, that's part of that budget there.

1:32:24And then finally, full conversion. These

1:32:26are based on again, conversations we've

1:32:28had with various directors but also

1:32:30other cities who have done a phased

1:32:32approach. And it is worth saying that I

1:32:35think, you know, the City of Austin, for

1:32:37example, they just redid their brand. It

1:32:39was a it was a 3-year process. So, we've

1:32:41structured it this way because of budget

1:32:44and bandwidth, but also there's

1:32:45precedent for it and we feel good about

1:32:48this type of transition.

1:32:51Governance piece I mentioned earlier,

1:32:54next steps would include the city

1:32:55manager putting out a directive to staff

1:32:58with clear guidance around how this

1:33:00rollout would go.

1:33:01We would conduct the audit as mentioned,

1:33:03and then there would be a clear owner,

1:33:05which would be Mitchell, the public

1:33:06information officer, who would be in

1:33:08charge of these brand guidelines, any

1:33:10approvals,

1:33:11and connecting directly with the city

1:33:13manager on progress.

1:33:15It would also be important that every

1:33:17department denote a contact for this

1:33:20brand update, and that person will be

1:33:22responsible for confirming digital brand

1:33:24compliance, template conversion, and

1:33:27then flagging any concerns or issues,

1:33:29for example, related to physical

1:33:30replacements that might be coming up.

1:33:33And then we suggest a quarterly process

1:33:36to measure this to make sure that we're

1:33:38auditing progress and making sure that

1:33:40we're on track

1:33:41that Mitchell and the city manager would

1:33:43work closely on.

1:33:45Additionally, right now we don't have

1:33:47anything in place that requires

1:33:48departments to connect with the PIO if

1:33:51they update a logo or any brand

1:33:54elements, key brand elements, or even

1:33:57launch a website. Um so, you'll see here

1:34:00we've just listed out a few pieces that

1:34:01we think are really critical that we

1:34:03kind of put as part of our governance

1:34:05that we need to sort of get a handle of

1:34:07how the brand works and make sure not

1:34:09that we weren't going to approve things,

1:34:10but we need to know about them and think

1:34:12about them in the broader structure.

1:34:15Um so, looking forward to your feedback

1:34:19um and consideration on the timeline and

1:34:21budget specifically. What we see as next

1:34:24steps is this audit I've mentioned a

1:34:26couple times now to inform the budget.

1:34:29Uh additionally, legislation would be

1:34:31required, specifically an ordinance from

1:34:33the the mayor to adopt the new brand. Uh

1:34:36as part of that, we also wanted to and

1:34:38we've been advised by the office of law

1:34:40just to make sure there's some text in

1:34:42there about protecting uh use of the

1:34:44brand and that others can't use it. And

1:34:46so, we have you know, more to come on

1:34:48that, but we have some thoughts there.

1:34:50And then December would be about

1:34:52finalizing the budget so that we can be

1:34:53in a good shape for rolling things out

1:34:56by February.

1:35:00That will open it up to discussion.

1:35:05>> Alderman Burnett.

1:35:06>> [laughter]

1:35:06>> I'll keep this one simple. Um I I love

1:35:09it. I love the new logo. Um

1:35:11a little bit heartburn on the budget,

1:35:13but

1:35:13>> [laughter]

1:35:22[laughter]

1:35:22>> Alderman, I agree.

1:35:25>> Sorry, go ahead.

1:35:26>> No, I I love it. Just a little heartburn

1:35:28on the budget, but you know, that's

1:35:30nothing unusual.

1:35:31>> Yeah. [laughter] Yeah.

1:35:34>> Anyone else?

1:35:37Alderman Huntley, I can't see you cuz

1:35:39there's a thing now like so I can't tell

1:35:40if you have a question or you're gone.

1:35:43All right, Alderman Huntley's not on the

1:35:45call.

1:35:46Alderman Tunney.

1:35:47>> Yeah, I I want to commend

1:35:49commend you all

1:35:51um

1:35:52for the

1:35:53level of detail that you went to.

1:35:57Um

1:35:59Like any good product, you made it sound

1:36:02really easy.

1:36:03>> [laughter]

1:36:03>> Um

1:36:04and I know it wasn't. Um but

1:36:08to come up with something that gets a

1:36:10head nod across the table,

1:36:13um

1:36:15indicates that you you got it. And um

1:36:20And Mr. Mayor, I think

1:36:21>> [laughter]

1:36:22>> uh

1:36:23no slight on the team that did a great

1:36:25job to get it here, but the work starts

1:36:27now.

1:36:28Because if we don't enforce it,

1:36:32then everybody just gets to do whatever

1:36:34they want, and creativity, especially

1:36:37with technology today, is limitless. So,

1:36:39I would encourage us strongly to

1:36:42uh put teeth into this, [clears throat]

1:36:44that this is a no joke. Um we're moving

1:36:47forward, and this is Annapolis.

1:36:50>> So, appreciate the comment

1:36:52from both of you. Alderman

1:36:52[clears throat] Savage first,

1:36:54and Alderman Turley.

1:36:56Uh Alderwoman O'Neal.

1:36:57>> Thank you. Um I do like it. I didn't

1:36:59think I was going to. When I first saw

1:37:01it, I was like,

1:37:03uh it's so it's growing on me. It's a

1:37:05huge change, and I think that that's

1:37:07going to be the biggest difference. Um

1:37:08I'm excited because we can get rid of

1:37:11the white carpet in front of us that's

1:37:12already filthy, cuz I think it'll be

1:37:14navy blue with white

1:37:16>> [laughter]

1:37:16>> and lettering.

1:37:18Um

1:37:19hopefully. Um as far as well

1:37:22On that last slide, you had two Is it

1:37:25two pieces of legislation or one?

1:37:27>> This one.

1:37:28>> Okay. So, we're rolling out the

1:37:30legislation in November, but hopefully

1:37:32having it

1:37:33finalized by February. Okay. That was my

1:37:35one question.

1:37:35>> And there's really not that much in this

1:37:37fiscal year.

1:37:39Um there I don't think there are any

1:37:41special additional expenses or anything

1:37:43that we're going to have. But as we move

1:37:45into FY

1:37:4628 and 29, we will be coming back and

1:37:49asking you for some budget allocations

1:37:51to make sure that we can successfully

1:37:53roll this out.

1:37:54>> Great.

1:37:55Um as I sent you on a text today, um

1:37:58it's much your point is taken and the

1:38:01text was a flyer that's going out for

1:38:03the next town halls that you can't tell

1:38:06what city it's from because it doesn't

1:38:08say anything.

1:38:09>> [laughter]

1:38:12>> And it's in black and orange.

1:38:16>> Alderman Smith Brown.

1:38:18>> Thank you.

1:38:19Always, Mitchell. You will get the 100%

1:38:22love and support for all the work that

1:38:24you do and we appreciate you as well for

1:38:26being a part of the process. Um I will

1:38:29say

1:38:30when can we begin? I take it after

1:38:32November is when we can begin to

1:38:34incorporate in our own personal

1:38:35communications um and cuz I know

1:38:37currently we don't have access to um the

1:38:39rest of the slide presentation due to it

1:38:41being a quote unquote surprise, but when

1:38:44will we get that uh opportunity to be

1:38:45able to take or have the whole

1:38:46presentation and then begin to

1:38:48incorporate it into anything that we

1:38:50want to send out like our signatures or

1:38:51things like that.

1:38:53>> That's kind of up to you. So, once we

1:38:56get the ordinance drafted and it can

1:38:58become part of the code, then we can we

1:39:01can begin the roll out. So.

1:39:03Yep.

1:39:05>> And we'll upload the presentation

1:39:07tomorrow morning.

1:39:10>> Other questions?

1:39:12Yes.

1:39:13Alderwoman also Council

1:39:15>> I think it's

1:39:17it's simple and it means a lot, you

1:39:19know.

1:39:21It's it's exciting to me.

1:39:23Yes, cuz this yeah. I don't know what

1:39:25this mean, but now I did find out what

1:39:28this meant, but I was proud to wear this

1:39:31this emblem here, but yeah, that new one

1:39:34it's catchy, you know.

1:39:36>> cool.

1:39:36>> Yeah, it's cool. Yeah.

1:39:39>> Alderman Smith Brown. So, and I to that

1:39:42the

1:39:42the one part that really was engaging

1:39:45and cool was the slide that you had up

1:39:46that showed where the the yeah, where

1:39:50the logo was came from. Like the the

1:39:51origins, how you incorporated multiple

1:39:54types of yes, designs into the one and

1:39:58how we can imagine that in that one

1:40:00piece and that would be I think helpful

1:40:02for even our constituency, our residents

1:40:04to see uh where that came from.

1:40:06>> I'm very excited because uh the TV

1:40:08studio, Julian has some great ideas for

1:40:11creating a video that sort of weaves in

1:40:13and out of the new mark and sort of

1:40:15showcases all of these different aspects

1:40:17of Annapolis and really brings us more

1:40:19into the modern era of what it is to be

1:40:22a resident of Annapolis and what our

1:40:23future is like.

1:40:24>> It's funny uh Mayor

1:40:26>> [laughter]

1:40:26>> cuz I thought about how you know, as we

1:40:28move toward the future, things are

1:40:30getting scaled back more and more. Like

1:40:32when you go to a restaurant and the

1:40:33plates are no longer as big as they used

1:40:35to be or the packages at the grocery

1:40:36stores no no longer as much as it used

1:40:38to be. So,

1:40:40>> Shrinkflation.

1:40:41>> This is part of shrinkflation?

1:40:43>> Yeah.

1:40:43>> [laughter]

1:40:47>> Uh Alderwoman O'Neal?

1:40:48>> Just really quickly, can you go to the

1:40:50where the different uses like

1:40:53for instance, what will our new pins

1:40:55look like? Will they be square? Will

1:40:56they be rectangle? Will they

1:40:58>> It won't be a tombstone.

1:41:00>> [laughter]

1:41:02>> Yeah, we we haven't gotten there yet,

1:41:03but we will be going through a design,

1:41:05you know,

1:41:06we'll audit all of everything that we

1:41:07need to create and then

1:41:10over the next year begin to deploy

1:41:12those. So.

1:41:14>> But it seems to be more of a rectangle

1:41:17or more of a square?

1:41:18>> both. It can be the

1:41:20It's presented well, for example, there

1:41:22it's a strong horizontal

1:41:24and then in other locations there's a

1:41:25horizontal as well and then that's more

1:41:27of a sort of of a square.

1:41:30So.

1:41:32>> Thank you.

1:41:34>> Well, I want to thank you. As you both

1:41:36know, I was a a hard sell on this

1:41:39because [laughter]

1:41:40I mean, I don't claim that marketing is

1:41:42my thing at all.

1:41:44And so I was really concerned about

1:41:46where we landed on change and you know,

1:41:48we have we know how people love change

1:41:49around here. And you you you brought me

1:41:52in and you sold me on it. Frankly, for

1:41:54some of the reasons that Alderman Smith

1:41:56Brown brought up of some of the history

1:41:57of the the current um logo and the fact

1:42:00that we referred to it as the tombstone

1:42:03should be two indicators that maybe it's

1:42:05time for a change.

1:42:06And then of course the other really

1:42:07important thing is how

1:42:10this I mean, someone say this why is it

1:42:12why you focusing on this? Logo shouldn't

1:42:14be a priority when we got all these

1:42:15other things to work on.

1:42:17But the reality is to your much earlier

1:42:18point about the ADA compliance is really

1:42:22important and we want to make sure that

1:42:24we are accessible to a broad as broad of

1:42:26an audience as possible.

1:42:28And to have the simplicity that you

1:42:30have, it's clear, it could be used in

1:42:32multiple ways and that it's digital

1:42:34friendly in various sizes.

1:42:37They're all really good points that I

1:42:39didn't fully appreciate when you just we

1:42:42started with we got to change the logo.

1:42:43I'm like, really? Of all the things we

1:42:44got going on, we got to change the logo.

1:42:46Um so you brought me in and I appreciate

1:42:49your patience with me and the hard work

1:42:51as Alderman Thorpe said of including so

1:42:53many stakeholders as you develop this

1:42:54and and being so thoughtful about your

1:42:56approach. And so please extend the good

1:42:58news as I'm sure you will to

1:43:01your collaborators.

1:43:06>> And with that we might be finishing 15

1:43:08minutes early looking for

1:43:10any further comments.

1:43:12Let me

1:43:13finish it out. Alderman, I'm sorry. Mr.

1:43:15>> There it is. There it [laughter] is.

1:43:17>> What's that?

1:43:18>> That's a throwback. It's a throwback

1:43:19now.

1:43:20>> Mr. City Attorney, can you please call

1:43:22the next item on the agenda?

1:43:24>> The agenda is completed.

1:43:25>> Is there anything else for the good of

1:43:27the order?

1:43:29Nope. Okay.

1:43:31Here

1:43:32Hearing nothing else, the session is

1:43:34adjourned. Thank you.