Meeting Transcripts
City of Charlottesville
City Council Closed Meeting 4/5/2021
City Council Closed Meeting
4/5/2021
SPEAKER_02
00:02:46
Hello.
SPEAKER_03
00:02:52
Sorry, everybody's might be there.
00:02:55
All right.
00:02:57
Good evening.
00:02:57
I called this meeting to order.
00:02:59
Ms.
00:02:59
Thomas, would you do roll call, please?
SPEAKER_04
00:03:02
Mayor Walker.
SPEAKER_03
00:03:04
Present.
SPEAKER_04
00:03:05
Vice Mayor McGill.
SPEAKER_03
00:03:06
Here.
SPEAKER_04
00:03:07
Councillor Hill.
00:03:08
Here.
00:03:09
Councillor Payne.
SPEAKER_02
00:03:11
Here.
00:03:11
Here.
SPEAKER_03
00:03:16
Thank you.
00:03:19
Councilor Hill, do you have the closed motions?
SPEAKER_00
00:03:22
I do.
SPEAKER_03
00:03:23
Okay.
SPEAKER_00
00:03:24
Pursuant to section 2.23712 of the Virginia Code, I hereby move that city council close this open meeting and convenient in a closed session as authorized by Virginia Code section 2.23711A7.
00:03:36
for consultation with legal counsel and briefing by staff members pertaining to a pending lawsuit in a separate matter involving probable litigation where such consultation or briefing and open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating litigating posture of the public body in each matter and Virginia code section 2.23711 for consultation with legal counsel regarding a process for the intended removal of the city's Confederate statues.
SPEAKER_02
00:04:03
Decker the motion.
SPEAKER_03
00:04:06
Ms.
00:04:06
Thomas?
SPEAKER_04
00:04:08
Ms.
00:04:08
Walker?
SPEAKER_03
00:04:10
Yes.
SPEAKER_04
00:04:11
Vice Mayor McGill?
SPEAKER_03
00:04:12
Yes.
SPEAKER_00
00:04:16
Yes.
00:04:19
We're having trouble hearing you, Kena.
00:04:20
Sorry.
SPEAKER_04
00:04:21
Sorry.
00:04:22
Professor Payne?
SPEAKER_02
00:04:23
Yes.
SPEAKER_04
00:04:24
Professor Sepp?
SPEAKER_02
00:04:25
Here.
00:04:25
Yes.
SPEAKER_03
00:04:28
Okay.
00:04:29
And we'll return to this link by 630.
00:04:32
Okay.
00:04:32
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01
00:07:42
And our live stream has now started on Facebook.
00:07:46
Welcome to the April 5, 2021 Charlottesville City Council meeting.
00:07:50
My name is Brian Wheeler, Director of Communications, and City Council is finishing up a closed meeting.
00:07:56
They should be joining us shortly.
00:07:58
I'm going to repeat a few of the things I told the audience on Zoom.
00:08:04
If you're watching via Facebook and you want to participate in this meeting,
00:08:07
You would go to charlesville.gov slash zoom and register for the webinar.
00:08:13
That's the only way you can participate in a public hearing is through the webinar.
00:08:17
There is a telephone option.
00:08:18
So when you register for the webinar, you will also get some telephone numbers if you need to participate in that fashion.
00:08:26
Public comment will be taken by counsel during the consent agenda at the beginning of the meeting.
00:08:32
If you want to speak to one of those three items after the clerk reads them out, you can raise your hand.
00:08:38
and Mayor Walker will entertain comments for up to three minutes on the consent agenda.
00:08:44
Community matters.
00:08:45
We have spots for up to 16 people.
00:08:49
We had eight people sign up in advance and we can take another eight.
00:08:53
Each person will get up to three minutes to address council.
00:08:56
And those comments should not be one of the public hearing items.
00:09:02
We have two public hearings.
00:09:04
The first is item number four, designation of trees
00:09:08
and their protection under the tree conservation ordinance and then the public hearing on the budget.
00:09:15
So if you want to speak to the trees or the budget, you would wait until those public hearings are opened by the mayor.
00:09:24
For any of those, you can click the raise hand icon just to get in line.
00:09:28
And if you want to be one of the eight additional speakers during community matters, just wait till we get through the consent agenda and then you can click the raise hand icon.
00:09:43
There's also another opportunity at the very end of the meeting, Matters by the Public, where additional folks can provide feedback to council for up to three minutes each.
00:09:58
During each of these public hearing opportunities, speakers only get one opportunity to address council.
00:10:06
So if you raise your hand a second time, typically what I do is notify the mayor that you've done that.
00:10:12
and the mayor will explain the rules of procedure.
00:10:34
I'll read again the list of the first eight names under Community Matters.
00:10:38
First will be Nancy Carpenter,
00:10:41
Rosemary Miller, Krista Bennett, Craig Luther, Lawrence Mann, John Edwin Mason, Chantelle Bingham, and Myra Anderson.
00:13:30
And I see we have one hand up.
00:13:31
John Mason, when we get to Community Matters, we have you as the number six speaker.
00:13:37
So we'll call on you at that time.
00:13:43
And you don't need to raise your hands right now because the consent agenda is going to come prior to Community Matters.
00:13:52
So as the meeting gets started, I'm going to lower everyone's hands.
00:14:06
Again, if you're just joining us, my name is Brian Wheeler, the city's director of communications and city council's finishing up a closed meeting.
00:14:13
They should be joining us shortly for this April 5th, 2021 city council meeting.
00:14:23
If you need a copy of the agenda, it's available at charlottesville.gov slash agenda.
00:14:29
Some other helpful links slash calendar gets you the city's calendar of public meetings.
00:14:37
slash budget gets you the city's budget information, the topic of a public hearing tonight.
00:14:55
As I mentioned earlier, during community matters, we will not be taking speakers on the budget or the tree conservation ordinance.
00:15:04
Both of those items have separate public hearings.
00:15:08
So during Community Matters you can speak on anything else besides those two things.
SPEAKER_02
00:15:50
Thank you.
SPEAKER_03
00:21:29
All right, we're all here.
00:21:31
Councilor Hill, would you read us out of closed session, please?
00:21:33
Yes.
SPEAKER_00
00:21:34
I move this council certified by recorded vote to the best of each council member's knowledge.
00:21:38
Only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom Information Act and identified in the motion convening the closed session were heard, discussed, or considered during the closed session.
SPEAKER_05
00:21:49
Second the motion.
SPEAKER_03
00:21:53
Ms.
00:21:53
Thomas?
SPEAKER_05
00:21:54
Mayor Walker?
00:21:55
Yes.
00:21:56
Vice Mayor McGill?
00:21:58
Yes.
00:21:58
Councillor Hill?
00:22:00
Yes.
00:22:01
Councillor Payne?
00:22:02
Yes.
00:22:03
Councillor Snook?
00:22:04
Yes.
SPEAKER_03
00:22:07
Thank you.
00:22:08
So I call the regular meeting to order.
00:22:11
And we'll have a brief moment of silence.
00:22:32
Thank you.
00:22:34
Ms.
00:22:34
Thomas, would you do roll call, please?
00:22:37
Mayor Walker Present