If Comptroller Bill Henry and the other two elected members of the Board of Estimates thought that holding a virtual meeting with no in-person attendance would be a walk in the park, they had another thing coming.

A meeting was convened yesterday on Webex in place of the Hyman Pressman Room of the second floor of City Hall, due to what various aides mysteriously called “schedule conflicts.”

The actual reason: City Council President Zeke Cohen was out of town, and Mayor Brandon Scott was slated to be at a conference in Barcelona, Spain, which he had since canceled.

Henry made it known that he wanted the meeting to proceed quickly and without the media fireworks from the last meeting when Mayor Brandon Scott declared he didn’t use his city email account to conduct city business.

“Everyone knows that we have nothing but routine items today,” the comptroller proclaimed, “and that everything that is not on routine has been deferred until the 11/18 meeting.”

But Terence Dickson was having none of it. Having dialed himself into the meeting, he demanded the right to speak.

The owner of Terra Cafe, known for providing free meals to the homeless, Dickson said he was protesting a $51,000 contract for a consultant to manage social media accounts that will “highlight the work and achievements” of 12th District Councilman Jermaine Jones.

“Did you file a protest,” asked BOE Secretary Celeste Amato.

“Yes, I did,” Dickson said. “It was sent yesterday.”

“Yesterday? Oh, I am sorry,” Henry intervened.

The normal deadline for submitting a request to speak to the board is 12 noon Tuesday, but the deadline was moved back to 12 noon on Monday, Henry said, because yesterday was a holiday and no one in city government was around to receive the protest and log it into BOE records.

“I got a question”

“Then I got a question for you. Is that [rule] noted somewhere?” Dickson asked.

“Yeah, well, hum,” Henry began. As it happened, he continued, he had talked to Deputy City Solicitor Stephen Salsbury “in relation to a protest that Miss [Christina] Flowers submitted, and we don’t have any time to accommodate that.”

Undeterred, Dickson said, “I got a question. Do you have something that states in writing it needs to be in by noon Monday?”

Saying it was his understanding this was the case, Henry said he could look around in the Administrative Manual for something in writing. “But I’m not sure what we could do about that at this point.”

“So does that mean [the $51,000 contract] will go through without anybody being able to share their opinion of whether it should or not,” Dickson persisted, wondering how such maneuvers relate to government transparency.

After hearing the T word, Cohen’s voice cut through the Webex connection saying, “I appreciate that, Terence. Let me get a ruling from the law department in terms of the notice.”

“So does that mean [the $51,000 contract] will go through without anybody being able to share their opinion of whether it should or not?”  – Terence Dickson.

City Solicitor Ebony Thompson piped in to say it might be best to move the $51,000 contract off the agenda and bring it up at a future meeting.

Whereupon Henry pointed out that Christina Flowers was protesting $3.9 million in homeless grants going to local nonprofits. If the board was going to hear out the owner of Terra Cafe, shouldn’t they extend the same privilege to longtime homeless advocate Flowers, he inquired?

Reversing herself, Thompson said the board should vote on the homeless items because any delay in funding “could impact to the point that we would not be able to provide critical services.”

“That’s 3.9 million reasons”

Dickson jumped on Thompson’s new line of thinking, but from another angle.

“That’s 3.9 million reasons for us to do this a fair way and not try to find some way to navigate around it,” he vigorously argued.

After consulting with an unidentified person offline, Thompson declared that Dickson and Flowers were out of luck: the items didn’t need be deferred to the next meeting and the protesters didn’t have to be heard.

“This is not technically considered timely,” she asserted. “We do not have to acknowledge it.”

“This is not technically considered timely”  – City Solicitor Ebony Thompson.

Disregarding the city solicitor’s latest guidance, Cohen made peace by offering Dickson and Flowers two minutes each to state their case.

Dickson lost no time.

“I’m definitely against this agreement with Johnson Advisory Group for $51,183.60 for [developing] social media in District 12. You see the number of businesses that are closed in this district. We have not seen any participation by the councilperson in addressing these issues in our community.”

“That money could be a job for a young person,” he lamented. “It could help transient people. It could help the businesses that are challenged.

“But we don’t keep money in Baltimore,” pointing out that the social media company is based in Tallahassee. (The Johnson Advisory website, in fact, boasts of its ability to buff up the credentials of “the people shaping Florida.”)

Failing Homeless Outreach

Flowers said the council president, mayor and comptroller should cast a similar skeptical eye on the tens of millions of dollars dispensed yearly to local homeless providers.

“The board should really look at oversight, accountability and transparency when it comes to money going to organizations that are here to assist and house our homeless individuals” because “we’re seeing outreach not being done.

“We don’t even have navigators in the libraries no more,” she exclaimed, referring to the Housing Navigators Program that was discontinued last May at Enoch Pratt Library locations.

“Don’t you ask, where is this money going if you can’t get them off the streets right in front of your building?”  – Christina Flowers.

“You all come to City Hall every day and see people outside,” she continued. “Don’t you ask, where is this money going if you can’t get them off the streets right in front of your building?”

“I need you to wrap it up, Miss Flowers,” Cohen interrupted.

Seconds later, the board, including Mayor Scott, who barely said a word at the meeting, ratified the $51,000 contract to promote the work and achievement of Councilman Jones and collectively approved the following homeless grants:

• $1,156,163.50 to The Woman’s Housing Coalition to provide rental assistance and supportive services to 42 households experiencing homelessness.

• $1,059,933.50 to The Women’s Housing Coalition to provide supportive services to 27 households experiencing homelessness.

• $916,500 to Associated Catholic Charities to provide supportive services at a day center for 800 women and children experiencing homelessness.

• $316,627.50 to Dayspring Programs to provide supportive services to 60 households experiencing homelessness.

• $253,898 to Baltimore Safe Haven to provide transitional housing and supportive services for seven individuals experiencing homelessness.

• $158,447.50 to Episcopal Housing Corp. to provide rental assistance to nine individuals or families experiencing homelessness.

• $109,536 to Project PLASE for case management services for up to 56 Medicaid-eligible participants.