Annapolis committee votes to seek subpoena for Premium Parking after contractor no-shows; SP Plus/Metropolis provides garage data

The Annapolis Transportation Committee on July 9 heard a report from the City Department of Transportation and Parking on garage usage and validation programs, and voted to ask the city law office to draft a subpoena resolution to compel Premium Parking to produce the performance data the committee has requested.

Marcus Moore, director of transportation and parking for the City of Annapolis, told the committee that the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) has approved the city’s FY26 capital and operating budget allocation for locally operated transit, and that the city will cover the required local share. Moore said the department will continue work on capital projects and bus replacements as older vehicles reach the end of their service life.

Representatives from SP Plus/Metropolis presented parking contractor data the committee requested at its June meeting. The contractor reported length-of-stay patterns driven by hotel guests, a decline in the number of drivers leaving garages without immediate payment, and details on validation programs. The presentation identified 623 participants in the residential validation program and a total of about 3,106 validations used in the period reported; the contractor said most validations equal two hours. The contractor also reported three bed-and-breakfast participants, 41 businesses in an employee-discount program, 69 businesses purchasing "park, shop and dine" validations, and 14 business organizations purchasing comped hours for guests or clients. SP Plus/Metropolis said they will provide follow-up figures requested by the committee, including the percentage of total exits represented by unpaid exits and hard occupancy/capacity numbers for the garages.

Committee members repeatedly asked for Hillman Garage data from Premium Parking. Moore and other committee members told the group that Premium Parking declined invitations to present at the June and July meetings. Alderman members moved that the committee ask the city law office to prepare a subpoena resolution to compel Premium Parking’s attendance and production of documents. The motion to draft the subpoena resolution passed on voice vote with the committee saying "aye." The committee instructed the law office to draft language and suggested the chair review the draft before any full council action.

Committee members also asked staff to regularly include occupancy and unpaid-exit percentages in future parking updates, and to provide more detailed cost estimates for the validation programs so the committee can evaluate fiscal impact versus economic benefit.

The committee approved its agenda and minutes from the June 11, 2025 meeting at the start of the session by voice vote.

Looking ahead, staff said they will forward the original data request sent to both Premium Parking and SP Plus/Metropolis, provide the additional metrics the committee requested, and coordinate with the law office on the proposed subpoena resolution.

Ending: The committee placed the subpoena-resolution draft task with the office of law and requested follow-up data and occupancy metrics before its September meeting.