diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 974ea78..6fb457c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ This is meant to import .xslx files created from the Design & Analysis Software
 6. Install dependencies: ```pip install -r requirements.txt```
 
 ## Database:
+*If using a pre-existing database, skip this.*
 
 1. Copy 'alembic_default.ini' to 'alembic.ini' in the same folder.
 2. Open 'alembic.ini' and edit 'sqlalchemy.url' to the desired path of the database.
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 946da5f..5426079 100644
Binary files a/requirements.txt and b/requirements.txt differ
diff --git a/src/submissions/tools/__init__.py b/src/submissions/tools/__init__.py
index b33ea6e..ccec905 100644
--- a/src/submissions/tools/__init__.py
+++ b/src/submissions/tools/__init__.py
@@ -443,19 +443,23 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings, extra="allow"):
         if 'pytest' in sys.modules:
             output = dict(power_users=['lwark', 'styson', 'ruwang'])
         else:
+            print(f"Hello from database settings getter.")
+
             # session = Session(create_engine(f"sqlite:///{db_path}"))
-            logger.debug(self.__dict__)
+            # print(self.__dict__)
             session = self.database_session
             metadata = MetaData()
+            # print(self.database_session.get_bind())
             try:
-                tables = metadata.reflect(bind=session.get_bind()).tables.keys()
-            except AttributeError:
+                metadata.reflect(bind=session.get_bind())
+            except AttributeError as e:
+                print(f"Error getting tables: {e}")
                 return
-            if "_configitem" not in tables:
+            if "_configitem" not in metadata.tables.keys():
+                print(f"Couldn't find _configitems in {metadata.tables.keys()}.")
                 return
             config_items = session.execute(text("SELECT * FROM _configitem")).all()
-            session.close()
-            # print(config_items)
+            # print(f"Config: {pprint.pprint(config_items)}")
             output = {}
             for item in config_items:
                 try:
@@ -467,6 +471,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings, extra="allow"):
             if not hasattr(self, k):
                 self.__setattr__(k, v)
 
+
     @classmethod
     def get_alembic_db_path(cls, alembic_path, mode=Literal['path', 'schema', 'user', 'pass']) -> Path | str:
         c = ConfigParser()