2026-10-21 - Public Safety Committee

03:54Mhm.

04:26>> Yes.

04:27>> Right.

04:28Thank you.

04:29>> I'm going to miss public safety

04:31committee meeting on Wednesday, November

04:3321st.

04:35Um

04:38I'd like to call to order at 4:51 p.m.

04:42Um starting with our roll call to my

04:45right, Alderman Smith-Brown.

04:49>> Present.

04:50>> To my left, Alderwoman Canty.

04:51>> Present.

04:52>> And I'm present. All accounted for.

04:55Um next I'll entertain approval of our

04:57agenda.

04:59>> I

04:59move to approve the agenda.

05:01>> Is there a second?

05:02>> Second.

05:03>> All in favor, say I.

05:04>> I.

05:05>> I.

05:06All right. Agenda approved.

05:08Um next up on our agenda, I will

05:11entertain a motion to

05:14approve minutes from um September 30th,

05:172026.

05:19>> I'll move to approve those minutes.

05:21>> Is there a second?

05:22>> Second.

05:23>> All in favor, say I.

05:24>> I.

05:29>> Um

05:31next up on our agenda, we have

05:32legislation O-26-26, special residential

05:35parking districts, district lettering.

05:38Um

05:40this is my legislation, and the purpose

05:44of this legislation

05:46is currently we have uh districts 1

05:49through 5 special parking districts.

05:52Um, there it causes some confusion

05:55because districts 1 through 3 are in

05:58Ward 1.

05:59District 4 is in Ward 1 and Ward 2 and

06:02District 5 is in Ward 2.

06:05Um, and so it was requested by some to

06:10move from

06:12numbering to lettering so it would be

06:14districts A B C D E. Does anybody have

06:17any questions about that?

06:19Any concerns?

06:21Um, I'll entertain a motion for a

06:23favorable recommendation for O 26 26.

06:26>> So moved.

06:27>> Is there a second?

06:28>> Second.

06:29>> All right. Motion

06:31All in favor say I.

06:32>> I.

06:33>> I.

06:33>> All right. There's a favorable

06:35recommendation for O 26 26.

06:38Uh, next up on our agenda is O 28 26

06:41Department of Transportation fines and

06:43allowable allowing fine waivers.

06:46Um, I know that there's at least one

06:49amendment

06:50drafted by Alderman Savage

06:53and I believe that

06:56our assistant city attorney Carrie

06:58Berger would like to talk on this

07:00matter.

07:02>> Yeah, I I can

07:03Can I start now or do you guys want me

07:05to

07:06Um, I think that this legislation even

07:08not considering sort of the amendment by

07:10Alderman Savage just as is needs some

07:13fine-tuning.

07:14There's one big concern that I have is

07:16that it the way that it's drafted is it

07:18applies to all of title 12 and so that

07:21includes citations that are issued

07:22outside of just parking citations.

07:25Which also means it includes

07:27misdemeanors and by law

07:30we can't have the transportation

07:32director or any sort of city authority

07:34reduce or waive fines that are the

07:36result of a misdemeanor. Only a state's

07:38attorney can do that or a judge if it

07:40ends up going before

07:42the judge. So, we're not able to allow

07:45the transportation director to come in

07:46and and wave fines that would stem from

07:48a misdemeanor. So, an example of it is

07:49like a failure to obey a crossing guard.

07:51That falls under title 12, and I don't

07:53think that that's the intent of the

07:54legislation. I think it's just purely

07:56parking citations. So, there is a

07:58section of

08:00the parking chapter

08:03that sort of outlines the process for

08:05citations that I think we can just amend

08:07that. It's kind of in incompletely

08:09titled as failure to pay a parking fine,

08:12but it also outlines the citation

08:14process to a a limited degree, and I

08:16think we can add the intent of this

08:18legislation into that already existing

08:20provision, rather than creating a new

08:23section.

08:24Um so, that that the waving of the

08:27citations or the fines is limited to

08:29just those parking citations, and not

08:31all areas of title 12. Um there are some

08:34other issues that um in terms of like

08:36the um criteria for waivers, it says

08:39city employee instead I think probably

08:41should say city official, city like

08:43employees and agents of the city because

08:45as it's written now, it wouldn't apply

08:47to you as alderman if you guys were, you

08:49know, got a parking citation while on

08:51city business. So, fine-tuning it to

08:53make it clear that it encompasses not

08:56just city employees and city officials,

08:57if that's the intent.

08:59Um

08:59and then there's also um

09:01a provision related to

09:04uh the council being able to wave fines,

09:06and that becomes more of a of sort of

09:09blurring the lines between the

09:10separation of powers, and and is an

09:13infringement on the executive function

09:15by the legislative function, which then

09:17kind of creates this two-track system.

09:19It becomes an equity issue. So, I think

09:21that there's some things that need to to

09:23be worked out and fine-tuned and and

09:24ironed out um in the form of presumably

09:28another amendment to make sure it flows

09:30correctly, and that it's legally

09:31sufficient.

09:34Questions?

09:36Yes.

09:37Alderman Smith.

09:37>> Thank you. So, the first question I have

09:40is for the legislation

09:43specifically the first point you made

09:45about the city employee while on

09:47official city business

09:49and even the other um suggestion, are we

09:52forming that amendment? Is it already

09:54being drafted? Is Are we going to speak

09:56with the sponsor of the legislation to

09:58see if she would be willing to do a

09:59sponsor amendment or is this a

10:01recommendation for maybe one of us or

10:03this committee to um bring forth an

10:05amendment or the transportation

10:06committee to bring forth an amendment?

10:08>> I think that's up to you guys to decide.

10:09There's a couple of different ways you

10:10can go about it, all of which fall under

10:12what you just suggested. So, that's

10:14totally up to you how you want to

10:16approach it.

10:17>> All right. Well, Madam Chair, I would

10:19recommend since we are seeing it now

10:21that uh we do request that the law

10:23office and Cynthia uh could on our

10:26behalf of the committee draft um an

10:28amendment of some sort so we work

10:30together to do that.

10:32Mhm.

10:33>> Um so, my suggestion would be to have a

10:35motion to postpone um discussion on this

10:40particular and ask that both Carrie and

10:43Cynthia are um available to help us

10:46write that amendment um and then

10:50present it to the council and can be

10:52discussed at the next

10:54public safety committee meeting. Are we

10:56okay with that?

10:57>> Yep. Yes, I'll move to postpone.

10:59>> All right. Do I have a second?

11:00>> Second.

11:01>> All in favor, say I.

11:02>> I.

11:03>> All right.

11:04We'll postpone um

11:06action on this particular um

11:0902826

11:11until we've had a chance to discuss

11:13amendment.

11:15Thank you.

11:17That was

11:18nice. [laughter]

11:19Well run.

11:21That brings us to our general discussion

11:23and uh we have invited the office of

11:26emergency management to come

11:28um and talk with us um about some really

11:31interesting uh public safety

11:35funding and initiatives. Um

11:38and

11:41um

11:43Please introduce yourself. Welcome.

11:48>> Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members

11:50of Public Safety Committee. I'm Kevin

11:52Simmons. I'm the director of the Office

11:54of Emergency Management and to my right

11:56is

11:59>> Kevin Lukowski, uh grants coordinator.

12:05>> Okay, give me back in the get things set

12:07up.

12:12I asked Okay.

12:14There we go.

12:17So again, good afternoon. Um we'll talk

12:20a little bit about grants and I I have

12:22the police chief and the fire chief to

12:23join it in this conversation. After all,

12:26we're a good public safety team.

12:29But grants are important to public

12:31safety. Grants are essential to public

12:34safety in Annapolis because they bridge

12:36a critical resource gap for law

12:39enforcement, for the fire department,

12:42and for the Office of Emergency

12:43Management.

12:45Grants like the one we're going to talk

12:47about tonight can be can today can be

12:50the difference between receiving

12:51equipment, training, and resources that

12:55may not be achievable within an existing

12:59budget.

13:00Grants enhance our ability to reduce

13:02violence, manage special events,

13:05deliver fire protection and EMS,

13:07complete emergency plans,

13:10and get modern equipment upgrades and

13:12training and even more.

13:17So, um tonight we're going to talk about

13:19one particular grant and this is

13:21probably

13:23our um

13:24most our biggest lucrative grant that we

13:27get in the office of emergency

13:28management and that's called the urban

13:31area security initiative which is a

13:33federal grant. It's administered by FEMA

13:36and it's to help major population

13:38centers like the Baltimore metro region

13:42to prepare for to prevent and respond to

13:45and recover from emergencies.

13:47Uh rather than competing for isolated

13:50funds

13:51regional public safety directors vote on

13:54projects and that's what we do. It's

13:55seven jurisdictions and we vote on

13:58projects to ensure unified equipment and

14:01software standards across the region.

14:03So we what we try to do is we get a pot

14:07of funding and then we try to buy sort

14:10of the same stuff. So if Annapolis is

14:13having something barriers for us special

14:17event then we can borrow Anne Arundel's

14:19and it'll be the same type. So that's

14:21what we do. So the participating

14:23partners in the region are

14:25as follows Baltimore City and Annapolis

14:28and then the counties of Anne Arundel,

14:29Baltimore County

14:31Carroll County Harford County and Howard

14:34County.

14:37Um one more note um since uh 2016 we

14:41have

14:425.9 million

14:45in urban area security grants awarded to

14:48the city of Annapolis and that's since

14:502016. And it's even more if I count back

14:53um I came here in in 10 2010 and we were

14:58receiving this grant as well.

15:02So here are the projects for the FY25

15:05UASI grants. So you can see the projects

15:09there's 10 of them. You can see the

15:10total cost of the projects and it's a

15:13planner contractor projects 299,000

15:18OEM logistics vehicle 65,000

15:22um mobile command unit sustainment and

15:25we're going to talk about what all these

15:26grants mean and what that's what that's

15:29going to mean for the city and public

15:31safety. So, that was 40,000 fire

15:33department hazmat unit sustainment

15:3521,000

15:37fire department technical rescue

15:39sustainment 10,000 bomb squad robot

15:43235,000

15:46bomb squad sustainment 60,000

15:50Annapolis fire and police K9 support

15:52operations that's about 5

15:56thousand um

15:57Annapolis vehicle barriers 100,000 and

16:00that's an important one we want to talk

16:02about tonight.

16:03Um we were looking forward to getting

16:05the these funds to start that and in law

16:08enforcement personal protective

16:10equipment 64,000.

16:12So,

16:14let's go ahead and start with

16:16what's going to be allotted to the

16:17office of emergency management and I'm

16:19going go ahead and turn it over to our

16:21grant coordinator Kyle Overcasky.

16:26>> So, our projects for this year are for

16:28fiscal federal fiscal year 25 USC. Um

16:31our big one will be the 299,000 for uh

16:35contractors.

16:37Um so, what we're going to use this

16:38these funds for is to update existing

16:40critical plans such as the EOP the

16:42emergency operations plan and

16:44potentially the continuity of operations

16:46plan or COOP.

16:47Um so, for the EOP we're going to be

16:51using um a specialized vendor.

16:54They are the center of cyber health and

16:56hazard strategies.

16:58Um so, we've been in talks with them

17:00getting quotes um for them to start the

17:04planning process and there are meetings

17:06going on um to start updating our

17:09emergency operations plan. Um

17:11so, one of their

17:13uh offerings also is to perform a

17:15tabletop exercise upon um completion of

17:18the plan. Um So those are other options

17:21that we're kind of looking into. They've

17:23also worked with some of the neighboring

17:24jurisdictions. I know in Ronald County

17:27and Frederick County

17:29from the National Capital Region have

17:30also used them to to review some plans.

17:34Um

17:36And then our second is a logistics

17:38vehicle.

17:39So we'll use this 65,000 to purchase a

17:43pickup truck. So just some background,

17:46the uh

17:48fire department actually originally gave

17:49us a pickup truck until we used it until

17:52it was surplussed. So this will replace

17:55that missing vehicle or I guess not

17:57missing vehicle, but this will add a

17:58vehicle to our fleet

18:00at no cost to the city.

18:02So we're looking at

18:04getting some quotes and starting that

18:05procurement process sooner than later.

18:09>> So getting to the planner part,

18:12the emergency operations plan with the

18:14is the black binder that you all have

18:17with 30 some odd plans in it.

18:20That's that's not cheap to do and it

18:22Kyle, can you give them a estimate on

18:24how much that's going to be?

18:26>> Yeah, so

18:27just for the plan,

18:29it's looking to be about 98,225

18:33dollars and then with the accompanying

18:35tabletop it would be about 20,000

18:37dollars.

18:39So we're looking about 120,000 give or

18:42take to revamp that and that EOP

18:45includes probably close to 30 other

18:47plans and annexes that kind of encumbers

18:50all of

18:51emergency situations and how the city

18:53would respond and recover from those

18:56instances.

18:58>> And the current emergency operations

19:00plan is still good. It is good, but we

19:03like to update it every five years. So

19:05the last time we updated it was 2020. So

19:08it's due.

19:09It's due.

19:10>> [clears throat]

19:11>> And we we hope to have

19:13an updated plan by the spring

19:16of 2027.

19:19Is it before we go to the fire

19:22department, is there any questions about

19:24the OEM pri-

19:26projects?

19:28>> I have a quick question. So, 120 for the

19:31emergency operations plan, and then the

19:34COOP is the remaining or along with the

19:38planning and consultants?

19:40>> So, we do have some options. We haven't

19:43priced out COOP, but we know that's

19:44going to be expensive as well. Plus, we

19:47have the option to maybe get a

19:49contractor in to help us catch up on

19:52some of the plans that we're a little

19:53behind on. So, that money is pretty

19:55flexible.

19:57>> Thank you.

19:58Any other questions?

20:01Thank you.

20:03>> Hey, I'd like to invite up the fire

20:05chief

20:06to talk a little bit about

20:09the fire projects from from urban area

20:12security initiative.

20:18>> Good afternoon, Doug Krumm fire chief.

20:21Uh

20:23Out of these projects here, the mobile

20:25command vehicle is a shared city asset

20:29that requires

20:30uh services for the internet services,

20:34the satellite services, the radios and

20:36communications. Um it's shared between

20:39us, police department, emergency

20:41management, and it's available to public

20:42works if needed. So, generally, we uh

20:45maintain the upkeep of the vehicle, we

20:47house the vehicle, the police department

20:49helps with the

20:51communications equipment inside, and

20:53this is the normal sustainment for the

20:55yearly services that go along with that

20:57vehicle.

21:00Uh as for the HAZMAT unit and technical

21:01rescue units, this is just upgrade or

21:03equipment within those units. Uh they're

21:06were assets. Uh this is actually a small

21:08amount of money to help keep uh things

21:10moving. Some of the monitors that they

21:12carry are up to $100,000 piece. Uh the

21:16sensors need to be replaced, equipment

21:17needs to be replaced.

21:19Um we need to calibrate the equipment in

21:21the um the monitors that are all within

21:23that. And the technical rescue is going

21:25to upgrade some of the harnesses for ro-

21:28high angle rescue, rope rescue, uh and

21:31confined space rescue and some of the

21:33rigging equipment.

21:37The big

21:38The list here is the bomb squad robot.

21:41The city of Annapolis

21:43uh is one of 460 accredited bomb squads

21:46in the United States. We are regional

21:49asset. Um we've used federal funding

21:52throughout the existence of the bomb

21:54squad to help maintain the equipment. Uh

21:57our first robot that we bought was

21:59bought with federal funding, and that

22:00was back in 1999.

22:02Uh the current robot, which is the large

22:04robot, is probably 17 years old. The

22:07technology that goes along with these,

22:09as you know, as over years technology

22:11increases, uh advance. And uh this will

22:15allow us to replace the large robot

22:17that's currently in the inventory. Uh

22:19and no cost to the city of Annapolis, so

22:21we're very proud of that, and uh it'll

22:23enhance the safety of our personnel that

22:25are operating with explosive devices and

22:28suspicious packages.

22:30The bomb squad sustainment uh is just

22:32additional equipment. Uh as Chief

22:36Sim- Simmons said earlier that uh this

22:38is part of the Baltimore UASI. Uh

22:41Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and

22:42Annapolis all operate accredited bomb

22:44squads. I believe, and you all can

22:46correct me if possible, but all three of

22:48those jurisdictions ended up with the

22:4960,000, and that just helps uh

22:52with the ongoing equipment needs that

22:54get its outdated through the time. And

22:56the K9 support, um we recently partnered

22:59with the police department. The city of

23:00Annapolis has a K9 trainer currently,

23:03and I believe that this will assist the

23:04canine trainer with some of the

23:06equipment needed for uh both police and

23:09fire, and that's what those resources

23:11are for.

23:13>> So, Chief,

23:14if you would, I always get questions of

23:18what sustainment means. Like it says

23:20bomb squad sustainment, uh hazmat

23:23sustainment. Can you just kind of go

23:25into

23:26when something is funded

23:28for sustainment, what that means for

23:30your for your organization?

23:32>> It just helps us with some of these

23:33high-dollar items that are needed with

23:34those specialty units. Like the bomb

23:36squad has to have portable x-rays. We

23:38can come in and we can x-ray a package,

23:40digital x-rays, uh to keep those things

23:43operational. Sometimes need repair,

23:45sometimes need replacement, uh and that

23:47helps us with that. Currently in the

23:49city budget, uh it's

23:52the majority of the bomb suits that our

23:54people wear,

23:55um were federally funded. The city owns

23:58a couple of them. They have 10-year

24:00existence that after 10 years they have

24:02to be replaced for safety reasons.

24:04That's sort of like ballistic vest. This

24:06year you all actually um in the fire

24:08department budget are replacing one of

24:10those suits, but this allows us to

24:12continue to replace the other equipment

24:14uh and keep us operating on a daily

24:16basis.

24:20>> Questions for

24:22the fire department projects.

24:29>> That's exciting.

24:30>> Thank you, Chief.

24:32I'd like to invite up the police chief.

24:41>> Good afternoon.

24:48So, yes,

24:49we have a couple things. One, uh as um

24:53Chief Romali said,

24:56uh canine support operations. We

24:59currently have a joint

25:01um

25:02civilian canine trainer who helps both

25:04the police and the fire department

25:06uh canine units.

25:08And there's equipment uh this

25:11specifically

25:13is related to explosives and narcotics

25:15equipment that the dogs use um that we

25:18need to replenish on a on a regular kind

25:20of basis. So, it's more of those

25:22sustainment uh funds.

25:25Um and then law enforcement PPE, which

25:27is personal protective equipment. So,

25:30this specifically is about like

25:33um

25:34first aid uh

25:36things that the officers can carry

25:39um full-time in their vehicles um for

25:42incidents that happen, things like

25:44tourniquets and quick clot. Um so, if

25:47they are on a scene and they have some

25:50supplies until the uh medics can arrive.

25:55And then also things like uh

25:58blankets, like hypothermia blankets,

26:00things like that that that officers

26:01carry in their car and we regularly use

26:03that and then have to resupply it. So,

26:06it's really helpful to have this um

26:09addition to our budget, you know, a lot

26:12of times we

26:13uh the police department's called out

26:15cuz we have the largest departmental

26:17budget in the city, uh but the bulk of

26:19that budget goes simply to pay benefits

26:23and salaries. So, it leaves us with a

26:26very small piece of the pie to buy

26:28equipment. Um and this grant helps us

26:32basically get better equipment for the

26:35officers.

26:39And then this is the bulk of the money

26:41that from the US grant

26:44for this fiscal year. So,

26:46these are vehicle barriers.

26:50Uh they're rated um for

26:53uh

26:54so vehicles entering, uh, the areas

26:58where you don't want them to go.

27:00The system that we're getting is, uh, a

27:02series

27:04of barriers on a trailer. The trailer is

27:07actually,

27:08uh, makes it deployable without any kind

27:12of, um, specialized equipment.

27:15Basically, one person can can roll these

27:17out with a a dolly that they have, um,

27:21that moves them.

27:22The trailer actually lowers, uh,

27:26the current barriers that we have have

27:29to be lifted out by specialized

27:31equipment, so it requires public works

27:32employees to be on duty, especially

27:35during these, um,

27:37parade events. They have to deploy them

27:39where they're going to go because

27:41they're hard to move, they're heavy.

27:43Whereas these can be

27:46kind of dropped off and left to the

27:48side, and then they can be actually

27:50moved out at the time of the parade or

27:53event and things like that. There's a

27:55possibility, um, there's different ways

27:58to deploy them. You can see on the the

27:59photos, they can be linked together with

28:02with gaps, they can have gates, you

28:05know, so it allows us for multiple ways

28:07to deploy them. And they're,

28:10you know, like Director Simon said,

28:12there are other

28:13agencies regionally that are getting

28:16these, including the capital police, and

28:19so we can deploy them together with ours

28:23to create a bigger, um, footprint of

28:26these barriers when we have a larger

28:28event. Plus, um, we also applied to get

28:31additional ones in the fiscal year 26 US

28:36E funds,

28:38and we can use the same trailer to

28:39deploy multiple batches of them, so we

28:41don't have to keep getting trailers, we

28:43can just get more of these, um,

28:45to deploy.

28:50>> So, they are the 10 projects. And

28:54again, this is, um, $899,000.

28:58And

29:00that's

29:01the amount of money that the citizens of

29:03Annapolis

29:04does not have to pay co-workers.

29:07And it elevates our ability and our

29:09capabilities in public safety. And the

29:13great thing about my colleagues is that

29:16when this batch of money becomes

29:17available,

29:19we look at each other's needs, right?

29:21And then we figure out the best use and

29:24the best bang for the buck, what's best

29:26for the citizens, what's best for

29:28the three agencies, and then we come up

29:30with these projects. So, we work very,

29:32very well together, um, and kind of

29:35putting this together. And And also,

29:38I'm happy that we have this. I'm happy

29:40that the the funding was increased this

29:43year. I'm looking forward to it being

29:46the same or similar next year.

29:49>> Um, whereas this will enable us to keep

29:54our, um, residents and visitors safer,

29:57um, in a way that,

30:00um,

30:01is more efficient. And I think, um, more

30:05effective.

30:06Um, and I'm going to point out because

30:08I've

30:09done some research, um, the way they're

30:11designed is if a car were to ram that

30:14little yellow Apparently, the spikes

30:17that you see will

30:19disable the engine.

30:21>> Oh, wow.

30:22>> Yeah, basically flips,

30:23um,

30:24back and creates a a in

30:28a barrier. They are They're They're

30:32designed to limit the amount of

30:34penetration a vehicle will make into the

30:36area where they're

30:38uh

30:40They're rated very well for what they

30:42are.

30:44>> Getting eight. And what are you getting

30:45Frank?

30:46>> It's eight. Yes. With the initial order.

30:49>> Yes.

30:50Yeah, it's eight and then I think the

30:51next batch is

30:54eight or 10.

30:55>> It's It should cover eight to 10.

31:01Next year those projects um haven't been

31:03approved and released yet. Um

31:17Multiple people or multiple

31:19jurisdictions in the region have these.

31:21So, I know that the Navy Naval Academy

31:24has these as well and uses them at the

31:25stadium. Um and MCP and hopefully the

31:28whole US city um will be able to you

31:31know, use each other's

31:35>> There's some accessories as you said,

31:37like the Naval Academy had two. And

31:40there's a gate.

31:41So, they can have two separated enough

31:43for a truck to go through, but a gate to

31:45keep that truck from going through until

31:47they're ready for it.

31:49>> Yeah, you can kind of see on the bottom

31:51one there. That That netting is actually

31:55um functions as a gate as well. So, it's

31:57easy to still let in access um when you

32:01need to have a a location like that.

32:05>> We needed on West Street for for

32:07Sundays. It could be a gate

32:10>> to allow the vendors to come through.

32:12>> Or a fire department if there's an

32:13emergency.

32:14>> Or the fire department if there's

32:15emergency.

32:16Um things like that without having to

32:18deploy

32:21multiple people to move the barriers and

32:24take time

32:26add time to the emergency sit-

32:29situation. So.

32:31I'm very excited about the facts. Um

32:34I hope that you choose good colors.

32:37>> [laughter]

32:37>> Yes, so we can um there are certain like

32:40you can see there's orange, white, red,

32:43yellow, green, blue, gray, and black. We

32:45obviously want them to stand out so that

32:47drivers see them, but there's also the

32:49ability to put instead they won't say

32:52Meridian. They could have like the

32:54Annapolis seal on them or they could

32:57have you know some kind of um

33:00you know the

33:02city logo on them or the the police

33:05department, whatever we decide. Um it

33:08will not be um

33:10such a

33:12uh stand out thing, hopefully.

33:17>> You were going to ask about the color.

33:19>> [laughter]

33:20>> Yeah, we want them we want them to be

33:21visible, right now, but we're we are

33:24going to consider like what's visible,

33:26but also, you know, looks at looks good

33:29in the city of Annapolis for events.

33:32You know, so we'll be we'll be working

33:33on that.

33:35>> Right. The one thing that my colleague

33:37is asking about is that in this

33:40description it doesn't

33:42uh state the quantity

33:45um of eight

33:46um and then the additional 85 would be

33:50in it for the

33:51Part of the 100,000 is for the trailer

33:53as well. So the additional 85 would not

33:55be for trailer, but for product.

33:57>> Just for more product, yeah. And they

33:59recommended like basically

34:02um

34:04per trailer

34:06like

34:07it's it makes sense to get maybe three

34:10loads of barriers max per trailer as far

34:15as ease of deployment so that you're not

34:17constantly going and loading the trailer

34:19over and over. Um

34:21but depending on what kind of system we

34:23get over the over time and how

34:26deployment works, it's

34:29it's really easy for a two-person team

34:31to kind of get the job done pretty

34:33quickly, especially with the ability to

34:35drop them off and maybe stage them on

34:38the side of a building, on a, you know,

34:40on a sidewalk temporarily until the next

34:43morning.

34:44Um, so having it be able to be deployed

34:47during someone's regular working hours,

34:49but then, you know, as far as the

34:51drop-off goes, and then when during the

34:53special event, limiting the amount of

34:54people that have to come in just to

34:56deploy barriers on that day.

34:59>> Did I answer your question?

35:01You have additional?

35:02>> Um, is there a timeline for all of this?

35:04Did we lay out really when we would be

35:06getting all of these?

35:09>> Yeah, so I actually have a timeline

35:10here. I wrote it down. Um, so our

35:13performance period has actually already

35:14started, um, just due to some of the

35:16litigation between the state and the

35:18federal government over some of the, um,

35:21I guess the requirements of the grant.

35:23Um, so

35:24the notice of funding opportunity, or

35:26the NOFO, was released back in July of

35:28'25. Um, so that's no, little delayed,

35:32but normal timeline.

35:34Um, so we actually submitted projects

35:36and, um, the UAG, or the leadership of

35:39the jurisdictions, were talking about

35:40projects to submit and, and what to to

35:43move forward in August, so just a month

35:46later.

35:47Uh, this at the beginning of this month,

35:49so October 1st, is when we got

35:51notification that

35:52the we were able to start spending down

35:54on these projects. So, the performance

35:56period's technically started in, or it

35:58did start in '25, September of 2025. So,

36:02the we have a three-year performance

36:04period until June of 2028. Um, so all of

36:08our purchases and reimbursements need to

36:10be submitted by June of 2028.

36:14So, we're already starting to move on

36:16getting quotes in the procurement

36:18process and what comes with that, um,

36:20whether that's getting sole source

36:21letters or multiple quotes, so that we

36:24can expend all these funds before June

36:27of 2028.

36:29>> And And this is

36:31This is good and we're staying on top of

36:33that and we can spend the

36:35the funds down, but

36:36technically, we were supposed to have

36:38this a year ago.

36:40And it was in litigation and all and we

36:42didn't even at at one point we gave up.

36:45We was like, we're not going to get

36:46this.

36:47And then um

36:49they settled

36:50stuff

36:52and then in July, they came to us and

36:55said, "Hey,

36:56it's coming."

36:57So, it's here. It's It's a year late,

36:59but we're going to make make the best.

37:05>> All right. Well, when Granicus is back

37:07up, of course, we'll probably have

37:08access to all these slides and it'd be

37:10great to also see the quantities for all

37:13of the items um that we're going to be

37:16purchasing. I know you I heard you say

37:17something about a logo and the city's

37:20being that it is in the process of

37:21logos,

37:23we would most likely wait till after

37:24November of this year to think about

37:27putting any logos on there. I did want

37:29to make sure that was in mind.

37:32Um

37:33but I don't really have any

37:38>> Well, I appreciate it. I know that when

37:40it was the um

37:42fund transfers brought to

37:44or the appropriation was brought to

37:45finance, there were a lot of questions

37:47about uh the funding and what it

37:49replaced and whatnot. So, this was a

37:51really nice overview of all of the

37:53projects and what the city is getting.

37:57Um and as Director Simmons stated, um

38:00we're getting all of these things, two

38:02pages worth of notes, um with no cost to

38:05the city, no additional cost to the

38:06city. So, that's really amazing and

38:09appreciate all the work that you guys

38:10did for the grant.

38:12>> Absolutely.

38:13>> Working on it.

38:14>> We appreciate your support as well, all

38:16of you.

38:17>> Thank you.

38:18>> Thank you.

38:20>> All right.

38:23Um

38:26It's not on our agenda, but we have a

38:29few minutes if um APDN uh

38:33Annapolis Fire would like to give any

38:36type of updates. I would say a 5-minute

38:38update of what's going on in the

38:39department.

38:42>> Well, I think I think last um meeting I

38:44was not here because I

38:46I had something else important.

38:49>> Conference in DC.

38:49>> Yes. Yes, on officer wellness, which was

38:51really interesting uh conference.

38:54Um but I know you all got an update

38:57about the summer crime plan. Yes. Yes,

39:00and just to let you know um I did speak

39:03with uh

39:04the capital and I believe they're going

39:06to be running a story about that and

39:08it's pretty much

39:10uh amazing news when you when you look

39:13at it. I know for the metrics that we

39:16were keeping throughout the summer, we

39:19we kind of um broke up each category.

39:23You know, we we added

39:25together

39:27um the months we were looking at the the

39:29summer months that

39:31where we usually see an increase in

39:33crime and different types of crime and

39:35we um basically to keep track month to

39:39month, we

39:40averaged out how many incidents we would

39:43we would want to see per month to kind

39:45of keep on track with the goal of

39:48reducing the amount of summer crime we

39:51saw in 2026.

39:53So,

39:54even though month to month we didn't

39:56meet some of the metrics that we were

39:58tracking, which allowed us to kind of

40:01like I said in real time make

40:03adjustments to deployment, see where we

40:05were look looking at different

40:07increases.

40:08Um when you look at the total number of

40:10incidents we had during that time, for

40:13every single

40:14uh

40:15crime event we were tracking, we tracked

40:18lower in the amount for 2026 over 2025.

40:22There was a reduction. And also, um,

40:25even though the one thing we were

40:27tracking that was more like positive,

40:29which was the amount of community

40:31events, we tracked above what we what we

40:34did in 2025. So, even though some months

40:37were lower on average than than what we

40:39had. So, um,

40:42the officers did an amazing job this

40:43summer. Uh, we saw

40:46huge reductions. So, I was looking at

40:48the data for gun violence for in

40:50particular, which is I think the most

40:52important thing in the city. It affects

40:54people the most.

40:56Um, we had a total of six incidents this

40:59summer, and they were all, um,

41:02shots fired incidents. In 2025, we had

41:0518

41:07incidents, and

41:09four of them were contact shootings, and

41:11one was a homicide in addition to the

41:13shots fired. So,

41:15um, we're definitely trending in the

41:18right direction, which is what we're

41:20seeing nationally, but I do think it's

41:22down

41:23a lot to the work of our patrol officers

41:25and our detectives.

41:27Uh, in these cases that we have

41:29with brandishing,

41:31with shots fired, where we are able to

41:33make arrests, um,

41:35you know,

41:36given in in a large part to the

41:39community information that we receive

41:41and technology that we have.

41:44>> Amazing. Thank you.

41:46Question.

41:49>> Thank you. Uh,

41:51so, the first question, um, Acting Chief

41:54McGahey, we have here is for

41:57uh, Captain Howard. I know he his last

41:59day was October the 12th. Um, he was the

42:02Operations Investigation Divisions,

42:04um, lead. Is there someone that we have

42:06taking his place, or is there someone

42:08that we have that's going to fill that

42:09role, not necessarily taking his place

42:10cuz we can't really do that, but

42:11>> Congratulations to Captain Howard. He is

42:13now uh, Deputy Chief at the Capitol

42:16Police.

42:17So, that's great.

42:18>> [laughter]

42:19>> Great for him.

42:20>> Blessings to him.

42:21>> Uh you know, there have been poaching

42:23people.

42:24>> [laughter]

42:25>> I will say.

42:26But, the

42:29acting captain of operations right now

42:31is Ryan Holby.

42:34Acting Captain Holby has been with the

42:35department since 2000. Actually, I think

42:391999. He came out of the academy in

42:422000.

42:45So, he is

42:48very well versed in investigations. So,

42:51he's hit the ground running.

42:53Obviously, it's a little

42:55We're a little short staffed with people

42:57in acting positions.

42:59The captain position is an at-will

43:01exempt position. So, it's a little hard

43:05to fill right now

43:06with the chief being an acting position

43:09as well.

43:14>> I know

43:16the chair our chair has mentioned that

43:18in November you'll come back to discuss

43:20with us the relationship between

43:24AI and the city and police

43:27use by the police department for AI

43:30robots because of the

43:32social media has posted a video of this

43:34robot downtown and a lot of people are

43:36questioning whether or not there was a

43:38connection between the use

43:41Oh, yes. So, this is in November we're

43:42going to bring this up. [laughter] Yes,

43:43so say in November we'll be bringing

43:45this conversation up about

43:47Yeah, in November we're going to I'll be

43:49discussing

43:50these I'm just going to lay out some of

43:52the things that we're going to expect in

43:54November to discuss which is that the

43:55relationship between

43:57our investment or our

43:59questioning or use of AI robots in the

44:02city for any police

44:05use force. And that's one. of the other

44:08was the use of the e-bikes, the motors

44:11the motors that we have our our youth

44:12have been riding in the city. And so

44:14what we can do

44:16police wise as well as city government

44:19wise to support and protect our families

44:21and our children. The other

44:24was ice and we were going to discuss

44:26what we can do in our city to protect

44:29and defend our families as well as to

44:31that regard

44:33and what our relationship with the

44:35county department has been on this

44:37seeing that there was an executive order

44:39by Stuart Pittman our county executive

44:41and what we can do legislatively and

44:43from your opinion your thoughts what we

44:45can do to support families. I believe

44:48those were the the three conversation

44:50pieces that we'll want to discuss in

44:52November.

44:53>> I was going to bring up the Maryland

44:55study on staffing that was completed the

44:57end of 2024 that really hasn't been

44:59discussed by the committee or the city

45:03and so I was going to bring that up as a

45:05cuz that it's going to be part of the

45:07police department

45:09enhancement requests for the next budget

45:11which we're preparing. So that was

45:13another topic. I had not heard about the

45:15robots. I don't know what you're

45:16referring to with the post about

45:19downtown with robots.

45:21>> There was a guy walking with the robot

45:22downtown and there were police

45:24surrounding it so people questioned

45:27people questioned our exact affiliation.

45:29So it's just to discuss what if we have

45:31a vision for the use of that if we don't

45:33because in other areas they are actually

45:36investing monies in

45:38police robots and so what as we move

45:40toward this age and interest of

45:42artificial technology what will our

45:45mission be? I know we're still in the

45:46process of you know converting acting to

45:49to actual standing positions but you

45:52will be a part of that conversation so

45:53that's what I think November's

45:55conversation was going to include.

45:57>> Okay. Great.

45:59>> No.

46:01>> [clears throat]

46:01>> All right. Thank you. Is that it?

46:03>> I believe those were the three.

46:05>> Any questions?

46:06Thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

46:08>> Yeah, no problem.

46:09>> Have a blessed one.

46:10>> Chief Romalli, do you have any update

46:12you would like to give? I'm kind of

46:13using this as the good of the order

46:15today, uh since you're not on the agenda

46:17for an update.

46:19So, if we're putting you on the spot, I

46:20apologize.

46:22>> You know me, I've got nothing to hide

46:24and you never put me on the spot.

46:25>> [laughter]

46:25>> I I believe I

46:27told you at the last meeting, but I'm

46:29happy to say that thanks to the council

46:32and previous budgets where you approved

46:34the purchase of a new fireboat, the

46:36city's new fireboat is scheduled to be

46:38delivered on the 28th of this month.

46:41So, we're very proud of that and that's

46:42going to be moving forward.

46:44We were at the finance committee meeting

46:46earlier today. You'll see it on Monday's

46:47agenda for a couple of

46:49additions to the budget in the

46:52the fire department, one of which was a

46:53grant that we had

46:55put in the current budget. We received a

46:58little more money than we originally hit

47:00planned on getting, so you'll see that

47:01essay,

47:02but that's going to help us replace our

47:05cardiac monitor defibrillators.

47:07As you may or may not know, we've over

47:09the last

47:11two years, we've started replacing all

47:13the cardiac monitors in the department.

47:14So, these are life-saving monitors. They

47:16cost over $65,000 a piece, but it's

47:19what's needed for cardiac care patients

47:22and defibrillators. So, we're going to

47:24be purchasing three additional cardiac

47:25monitors and up to 15 AEDs for our the

47:30other units in the city. So, we're proud

47:32of that. One you we

47:34which is an addition to the budget, and

47:37I may have brought this up the last

47:38meeting also, was

47:40uh [snorts]

47:41we received a port security grant for a

47:44underwater

47:46vessel, which is basically a robot like

47:48you were just talking about, but that'll

47:50enhance our capabilities on the water to

47:52quickly get a robot in the water with

47:56cameras. It's got a gra- a grappler on

47:59it

48:00and can be used for search and rescue

48:03and other objects. It'll have a

48:05GPS on it so we can actually

48:08mark down where the items are located so

48:10that we can do further searches. It can

48:12be used for those searches. It can be

48:14quickly deployed before a diver is

48:15actually getting on the scene. So we're

48:17proud of both of those items that you'll

48:19see on Monday night's agenda and we

48:20appreciate the approval there.

48:22That That's about all I have.

48:25>> So much.

48:26Will we have a christening for the new

48:28boat when it comes in?

48:29>> That's yet to be seen but I'm sure we

48:31will.

48:32>> Okay.

48:33>> We'll wait until warmer weather to take

48:35you out on it though.

48:36>> Yeah, there you go. Any questions from

48:37my colleagues?

48:39All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate

48:40it.

48:41>> Thanks.

48:42>> Is there anything

48:44else for the good of the order?

48:51>> So

48:53>> [sighs]

48:55>> maybe we can talk offline about this.

48:57We'll talk offline about it.

48:58>> Then I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

49:04Is there a second?

49:05>> Yep.

49:05>> All in favor say aye.

49:07>> Aye.

49:07>> Aye.

49:09Thank you so much. I appreciate you all

49:10coming.

49:11Spending your