Aldermen want to meet with charter committee in July

Frederick’s aldermen plan to meet in July with members of the committee that considered changes to the city’s charter to discuss several of the committee’s recommendations.

The aldermen decided Wednesday to request that members of the committee come to a July 24 workshop meeting to talk through several of the committee’s 19 recommendations in the report it submitted to city officials in December.

Tom Lynch, the charter review committee chairman, said Friday he hadn’t had a chance to watch Wednesday’s meeting and hadn’t yet heard from the city, but expects he and as many members of the committee who are available will appear at the July meeting.

Some committee members have expressed frustration, saying there has been little direction or guidance from the city since the release of the report in early December.

At the committee’s final meeting on Nov. 30, Gayon Sampson, Mayor Michael O’Connor’s chief of staff, told the members that the city’s staff would take at least December and January to do fiscal, legal, equity, and other analyses of the various recommendations.

Sampson and other staff members have been present for the aldermen’s discussions.

The committee held lengthy meetings throughout 2023 and had detailed discussions, Lynch said.

Some decisions were unanimous, while others revealed some differences, but ultimately, the group’s report was unanimously supported, he said.

Any questions about what a particular member or a minority of members were thinking is reflected in recordings and meeting minutes, he said.

The aldermen have held legislative work sessions on the committee’s recommendations twice a month, before regularly scheduled workshop meetings.

The Wednesday workshop meetings provide the mayor and board a chance to discuss a designated topic, but no votes are taken or formal decisions made.

Along with the legislative sessions, the aldermen have been reserving their last Wednesday workshop of each month to discuss charter issues.

But the final Wednesday in June conflicts with the annual Maryland Municipal League convention in Ocean City, the aldermen noted Wednesday. The aldermen have occasionally wondered during their discussions about the committee’s thought process in why certain recommendations were designed as they were.

At a May 8 session, Alderman Derek Shackelford said, “We’re talking about major changes of our charter, possibly changing the structure of our government, that’s affecting our whole entire city, not only now in the current context, but in the future.”

He went on: “I think that conversation is just important in terms of us sitting up here trying to guess that.”

Alderman Kelly Russell agreed, saying, “It’s been very difficult to tease out, with some of these recommendations, the whys, and what’s the data behind it, and what’s the intention behind it. So I do feel that we’re all at a disadvantage to not have a lot of the thought process presented in the report to us verbally.”

Of not having a chance to discuss the report with the committee after it was submitted, Shackelford said, “I think it does a disservice to this process, of not following this all the way through.”

On Tuesday, Shackelford said that during his time on the Board of Aldermen, any report that has been submitted has also been given verbally, so there’s a chance for a discussion.

He said he wasn’t criticizing the committee, which he thinks has done significant work, but there should be a conversation between the two groups.

Alderwoman Katie Nash — the aldermen’s President Pro Tem who leads the legislative session discussions, which O’Connor does not attend — said Wednesday she was surprised to learn that some committee members were unhappy.

The aldermen’s discussion has always been based on trying to make sure they were accurately interpreting the committee’s decisions, she said.