After a lengthy hearing in a Baltimore City Council committee hearing Thursday night, the majority of the committee voted not to confirm the acting city administrator despite the frustration from some councilmembers.

Faith Leach was tapped in January to fill the role in Baltimore City, only the second person to serve as the administrator in the newly created position but is subject to confirmation by the council. Prior to the promotion, Leach served as a deputy mayor within Mayor Brandon Scott’s Administration and lead the city’s response to squeegee kids.

During the Rules and Legislative Oversight Committee hearing, led by Councilman Isaac ‘Yitzy’ Schleifer, members of the council grilled Leach on her role in city government and why the position is necessary within City Hall.

Leach said her goal is to professionalize city government, echoing comments Mayor Scott has said his goal is as mayor as well. Prior to Leach, Christopher Shorter served as Baltimore’s first city administrator and stepped down in December.

Throughout the hearing, several councilmembers questioned the organizational chart of city government given the city administrator’s role. Leach said Baltimore City still has a strong-mayor type of government and Mayor Brandon Scott makes the final decisions for the city. Much of the debate during the hearing centered around some members’ frustrations with communication coming from Mayor Scott’s Office.

Councilmembers Schleifer, Mark Conway, Vice President Sharon Green Middleton, and Eric Costello voted against Leach’s confirmation.

“This vote is not about you, personally. Not about the work and reason why you want to take on this role. There have been people here [testifying] for you and it’s been phenomenal,” Middleton said while explaining her no vote. “The city is in disarray. It’s disorganized.”

Councilmembers Odette Ramos and James Torrence voted to confirm Leach. Torrence walked out of the chambers during the vote, claiming the vote itself was not valid since Councilman Costello voted virtually; Torrence said the rules do not allow virtual votes.

“I am disappointed in this body as it stands right now, Torrence said. “A qualified Black woman stood before this committee, in a majority-Black city, and this committee voted down her nomination. This is an election year, and this is grandstanding at it’s best.”

Councilwoman Ramos said after the hearing that Council President Nick Mosby told chairs of committees not to allow members to vote during committee hearings virtually, though she said there was nothing in writing to back up the Mosby’s comments.

“They change the rules when it suits them. This was not the way, this was not the way to do this,” Ramos said. “I will personally be exploring whether or not we can get it back because it is completely unfair to leave the city without the leadership of CAO Leach. I think she’s highly, well-qualified to make this happen.”

Councilwoman Ramos said she thought it was “insanity this vote ended up being because people are upset with what’s happening with the city administrator’s office.”

However, Councilman Schleifer said as chair, he can decide on how the members can vote and said people have voted virtually multiple times without issue.

“Everybody in the committee expressed their appreciation for Faith, she works hard,” he said. “The administration as a whole, they have not been communicating with the council, there has not been any sort of priority to be partners with the council. You saw a lot of frustration from council members.”

According to city records, Leach makes $197,676 as acting city administrator and oversees 12,000 city employees. Within the office of the city administrator, there are six employees and not one person earns less than $100,000 annually, according to the city records.

City records show the deputy city administrator earns $215,000 annually; assistant city administrator for operations earns $147,961 annually; assistant city administrator for performance and technology services earns $129,000 a year; the special assistant makes $114,000 annually and the director of external partnerships earns $104,910 a year.

Mayor Scott’s team did not respond to questions for comment on this story.