Inside City Hall
A charter amendment to repeal term limits, pushed by Councilman Dorsey, won’t go before voters in November
At its final session for the fiscal year, the City Council is set to approve a measure asking voters to transfer the region’s water and sewer systems to a new agency
Above: Baltimore City Hall. (Mark Reutter)
The effort to repeal term limits approved by voters four years ago won’t be on the November ballot. A spokesperson for Council President Zeke Cohen confirmed that Bill 26-0199, introduced by Ryan Dorsey and Mark Parker last month, won’t be heard at a special Council meeting later today, thereby missing the July 1 deadline to secure a place on the November ballot.
In 2022, more than 70% of city voters approved “Question K” that limited the mayor, council members and other local officeholders to two terms.
The charter amendment riled elected officials including Dorsey, who last month described its approval as the handiwork of “a wealthy man who doesn’t live in Baltimore City and who has a lot of media control.”
He was referring to David D. Smith, chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group and co-owner of The Baltimore Sun, who funneled over $500,000 of personal funds into the term limit initiative.
Even as chair of the Charter Review Special Committee, Dorsey was unable to get the bill out of committee, as some lawmakers privately fretted that repealing a popular issue among voters could backfire on incumbents.
Complicating matters was the last-minute decision to separate three other ballot initiatives cobbled into a single bill by Dorsey’s committee. The “mega bill” was withdrawn by Council President Cohen, who ordered the charter amendment broken into three separate voter questions.
David D. Smith, Sinclair Broadcast Group executive chairman in 2024, confronted in Harbor East by members of the Baltimore Sun Guild. (Fern Shen)
No-Bid Contracts
Two of these charter amendments are relatively technical, involving changes in the Board of Estimates budget approval process and the handling of “minor privileges” impacting public property.
A third proposed charter amendment, however, marks a major change in city governance.
It would eliminate competitive bidding, the longtime rule that large-scale projects and other contracts must be formally bid and publicly announced before the Board of Estimates, then awarded to “the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.”
Noting that the process has been abused by contractors, who midway through a project will demand “Extra Work Orders” to boost a project’s price, lawmakers say the change will improve efficiency without causing harm.
But the Charter Review Special Committee has not explained how city agencies should choose or reject contractors – and evaluate their proposed prices – except to say that decisionmaking should be “based on the actual value they offer.”
Former Department of Public Works Equity Director Linda Batts has criticized the measure as ill-conceived, saying it lacks safeguards and accountability and may negatively impact minority-owned, women-owned and veteran-owned businesses.
“During community listening sessions, residents requested the underlying business case and supporting data, yet no evidence demonstrating systematic abuse or projected taxpayer savings were presented,” she wrote in a letter to the Council.
The sprawling Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Dundalk would be managed by a new city department under a charter amendment coming before a final City Council vote today. (Brew file photo)
Setting up a Water Department
A fourth charter amendment, establishing a Department of Water and Wastewater separate and apart from the Department of Public Works, will be acted upon at the Council’s special meeting this afternoon.
The proposed department, serving 1.8 million city and surrounding county residents, would operate as a self-sustaining system funded by ratepayers rather than co-joined with the priorities and funding of DPW.
A stand-alone agency, say proponents like Comptroller Bill Henry, would lead to faster and more-focused decision-making, ultimately improving service delivery and operational efficiency.
The current arrangement has led to bond rating downgrades and seemingly perennial problems in customer billing and collecting overdue accounts.
Before going on the November ballot, the four charter amendments must be signed by Mayor Brandon Scott, who has not expressed any qualms about the legislation.
Rejected by Lawmakers
A final proposal, initiated by Councilman Mark Conway, would have re-affirmed the right of the Baltimore Inspector General to inspect city documents while investigating complaints of fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.
The measure would have allowed voters to wade into the battle between IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming and the Scott administration that erupted in January and has resulted in a high-stakes lawsuit before Circuit Court Judge Pamela J. White.
It called for the IG office to be made a co-custodian of city records, giving the watchdog agency access to information that City Solicitor Ebony Thompson says is off-limits under the Maryland Public Information Act and the 2011 Shropshire court ruling.
Opposed by Scott and Cohen, the Council rejected the charter proposal at its May 11 meeting, with Conway the only “aye” vote.