After swearing in the new members, the Council’s first act of business was to vote for the "Mayor Pro Tem", essentially the backup for Mayor Christopher Miller if he is absent or unable to perform his duties. Rachael Miller was nominated and accepted the position.

Council liaison appointments were next on the new Council’s docket. Kalinock will be working with Parks and Recreation, R. Miller with the Police Department, Meade will be on the Planning and Zoning Council, Councilman Christopher Tillman will be assigned to the Economic Development Council and Councilman James McCarron rounded out the appointments by working with Public Works.

The new Council immediately began working on introducing and approving various Ordinances and Resolutions. The first was the introduction of the FY-26 Operating Budget, which required immediate attention as it will take effect in July. The budget covers all the revenue streams, expenditures and grant monies that the City will need to support itself for the next year.

The introduction of the FY-26 Water and Sewer Rates prompted much discussion over whether the Fund could support a 5% decrease in rates as proposed by Mayor Miller. The Council also approved the introduction of an Ordinance to create a yearly workshop in April to discuss the Water and Sewer rates and whether to increase or decrease them accordingly.

The FY-26 Tax Rate was up for emergency adoption. Although it will not change from its existing rate of .37 cents per $100, by adopting it immediately the City can begin filling out the necessary paperwork.

The introduction of the Police Manual Ordinance was up next, it will allow the Chief of Police to adopt an official police manual that is updated by Lexipol, a company that provides state-specific public safety policies and training solutions. Mayor Miller stated that the Ordinance has been sitting "on a back burner for over a year". The Ordinance will also allow the Chief to make changes to the manual and allow the Council to view the changes.

An ordinance to determine police protection standards was also introduced. This ordinance sets police staffing minimums at 16 officers and gives the Chief the ability to sign off on a proposed development even if the minimum of 16 has not been reached. "If there’s a development coming through and they still believe they can provide adequate police protection it's giving him the ability to still sign off on that," said Mayor Miller.

The City Attorney Requirement Ordinance was changed to state that the City Attorney may be "requested instead of required" to attend Council meetings. Making this change would save the City money by eliminating attorney costs for meetings that do not need the Attorney’s attendance.

The Council next discussed the introduction of an ordinance to create an Executive Administrative Assistant position that would essentially be a "Jack of all trades". This person would be able to cover the job duties of different positions in the City, such as the Economic Development Director, if needed. It would also reduce the abundant workload placed on Jim Wieprecht, the City’s Manager.

The first amendment to the Code introduced by the new Council involved Signs and how they would be managed in the City. This was the first major point of discord for the new Council. The current Code only allows signs to be placed where the activity is occurring, but the amendment will allow signs to be placed throughout the Community with requirements on removal, approval process, maximum number allowed and size. Tillman expressed concern over the proposed changes saying, "I think our sign Ordinances are outdated, but let’s be smart," he said. "I just don’t think that this particular Ordinance is ready to move forward." The introduction passed with a vote of three to two, Tillman and McCarron against.

Both Tillman and McCarron opposed the Ordinance that would allow the Mayor to suspend the enforcement of an Ordinance for up to 60 days and then be reviewed by the Council. A written notice stating why the Ordinance was suspended would be required to be sent to the Council and the City Manager. Mayor Miller explained why he introduced this change, "The issue with this is we have a bunch of ordinances here in the City of Taneytown that, realistically, we don’t have the enforceability for." The ability to suspend an ordinance would force the Council to review said ordinance and make it more enforceable. The Mayor further explained that the Council would have the power to affirm whether the suspended ordinance is doing its job, and if so, be able to place it back into effect immediately. Despite Tillman and McCarron’s disapproval, the other Council members outnumbered them, and the Ordinance passed.

The repeal of campaign finance requirements was a hot topic for the new Council. Mayor Miller explained it as an overhaul of election requirements, especially the campaign finance section. Tillman was adamantly against the repeal stating, "This is the wrong way to do it, you don’t want to repeal this legislation and then have nothing," he said. Meade agreed and the introduction failed.

The new Council addressed three resolutions, which are less formal decisions made by the Council. The first was to decide on a list of the Council’s priorities which include hiring an Economic Development Director and creation of the Main Street Program’s framework. They also discussed details for the creation of a monthly newsletter that will be available by mail or online. Wieprecht pointed out, "Postage is not in the budget for this. We cut postage to fund some of the other stuff so we need to figure that out." Lastly, the naming of the Police Department building after previous Zoning & Code Enforcement Officer Darryl Hale was also approved by Council.