The first meeting of Mayor Brandon Scott’s Sisson Street Task Force will be held at Baltimore City Hall, 100 N. Holliday St., on Monday, Oct. 20, starting at 7 p.m., not 6:30 p.m. as previously announced.
The meeting will be held in person. City officials had originally indicated that it would be open to the public. But according to an email message sent on Thursday from the office of City Councilman Jermaine Jones, one of the task force members, that is not the case.
“This in-person meeting at City Hall is for task force members only,” said the message from Kony Serrano Portillo, Jones’ Director of Community Relations. “While public testimony will not be taken at this meeting, the public is welcome to watch the proceedings live on Charm TV: https://charmtvbaltimore.com/live-stream.”
Scott has convened the task force to recommend the best way for the city to handle bulk trash and hazardous waste disposal if the Public Works Department closes the Sisson Street Sanitation Yard and Citizen Drop-Off Center at 2840 and 2842 Sisson Street. He has said he’d like to get the panel’s recommendations by December.
In addition to Jones, the 13-member task force includes City Council members Odette Ramos and James Torrence; a representative from the Mayor’s Office, a representative from the Public Works Department and representatives from eight community organizations.
The eight community groups are: the Greater Remington Improvement Association; the Midtown Community Benefits District; Friends of the Jones Falls; the Stone Hill Neighborhood Association; the Charles Village Civic Association; the Hampden Community Council, the Reservoir Hill Community Association and Bikemore.
During a meeting of the Hampden Community Council on Monday, resident Edward Weiss asked if members of the general public would be permitted to testify at the task force sessions. Torrence said that was still being worked out. He said Dana Moore, a senior advisor to the mayor, is leading the process.
In the email message sent out on Thursday, Portillo said that Councilman Jones “is aware of the community’s desire to share their perspectives” and that “he has reviewed all your emails and listened to your voicemails.”
The initial meeting will be closed to public testimony, Portillo said, “to give the task force an opportunity to establish its timeline, goals and structure.”
Another meeting is tentatively set for Oct. 27 at City Hall for public testimony, Portillo added. “We will send over details of that meeting when we get confirmation.”
