Annapolis City Council Meeting Ends After Nearly 24 Hours

Every Malcontent in City Showed up to Speak

Annapolis (SPP) – Last night’s Annapolis City Council meeting finally ended today at about 5:40 pm, almost 24 hours after it began. The third longest council meeting within the last year was dominated by talk of the historic Market House. There was also discussion about zoning concerns, historical preservation, and a variety of citizen complaints.

Initially only scheduled for a couple hours, the meeting took on a life of its own after Mayor Gavin Buckley ceded the floor to Alderwoman Sheila Finlayson, the most senior member of the council, when discussion of the Market House property began. Mayor Buckley has recused himself from discussion on the property, as his business partner made a successful bid to run it.

Despite the fact that a private company already won a bid to take over the historic property, nearly every malcontent in the City showed up to give his opinion about what should be done with Market House. None of the speakers presented any studies or research that would assist New Market LLC, the company taking over. Instead, each curmudgeon took several minutes to tell the council his vision of what Market House should be, in line with whatever idealized memories he had of Market House from his youth.

At several occasions, it looked like proceedings would come to an end, but members of the council were disappointed when at the last minute, someone from the audience would jump up and offer an opinion, in the form of a long winded rant to the council.

Members of the Council resorted to heavy alcohol and drug use to get through the meeting. Alderwoman Finlayson and Acting City Attorney Gary Elson took turns drinking out of a large vodka bottle. Alderwoman Elly Tierney took turns stealing whiskey from Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell Charles and red wine from Alderman Fred Paone. Alderman Marc Rodriguez took hits from his bong during the meeting. And while he wasn’t in the chamber, Mayor Gavin Buckley was spotted killing time by licking frogs.

The meeting came to an end when Mayor Buckley reentered the chamber this evening and in a fit of anger screamed at the remaining citizens until they fled in terror.