City Council Meeting   3/15/2021

Councilor Hill, would you read us out of closed session, please?

Yes, I move this council certify by a recorded vote that's the best of each council member's knowledge, only public business matters, lawfully exempted from meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the closed session were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed session.

I'll second the motion.

Thomas?

Councillor Payne?

Yes.

Councillor Snook?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

All right, so I'll call the regular meeting to order.

Thomas?

Roll call, Mayor Walker?

Present.

Councillor Payne?

Here.

Councillor Snook?

Here.

Okay.

I move to approve the agenda as presented.

Second.

Thomas?

Councillor Hill?

Yes.

Councillor Payne?

Yes.

Councillor Snook?

Yes.

Okay, we have the boards and commission opportunity to make announcements there just a little bit.

All right, so that's that.

Thank you.

All right.

Mr. Bowles, are we going to turn it over to you for recognition of Diane Kuchnio's retirement from the Department of Social Services?

but we can, I think we could schedule it for the next meeting if that would be okay with council.

Keena, did this come to me?

Yep, I thought we, there was, yeah.

We did, we do have something but we didn't get it coordinated.

So the order is in from, in the office?

Yes, we've actually got the recognition here.

And Diane, are you on?

I don't see her, Mayor Walker.

See her, okay.

Yeah.

All right, so we'll just do this at the April 5th.

Thank you.

Or it may be best to do it at one of our work sessions because I know it isn't the 31st or last day.

Yes.

So we'll do it before she leaves.

Thank you.

All right, next up we have the boards and commission appointments.

Is there a second?

I second.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Snook?

Yes.

I believe that is all of them for now.

Okay, thank you.

Thomas, would you read the consent agenda, please?

One reading.

No.

Oh yeah, we're doing community matters, sorry.

Mr. Willow, would you check to see if there's anyone who would like to speak on an item on the consent agenda?

You've got three minutes.

I, along with my husband have lived in Charlottesville for 17- Oh, Ms.

This is just four items that the clerk just read.

Okay, I'm so sorry.

Thank you.

Mayor Walker, I don't see any other hands raised.

I move we adopt the consent agenda as presented.

Second.

You're on mute, Erin.

So Brennan Duncan may be able to help answer this question.

So we're just using those old studies to justify that, you know, there is a speeding problem and try and adjust it.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Councilor Snook?

Yes.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Thank you.

We carries 5-0.

Next up we have the city manager response to the community matters, Mr. Boyles.

And that's all that I have, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Boyles.

Sure.

We just received this a little while ago and I thought that it was a draft, but I just think we need to just make sure we take care of our employees.

Yes.

Any other comments?

All right, next up we have Community Matters, and I'll turn it over to Mr. Willis.

You've got three minutes.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can.

So I thank you very much.

Have a good evening.

Roy, you're on the city council and you've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Andrea, you're on with City Council and you've got three minutes.

Thank you.

So I hope that no matter what is determined to be the right course of action that we are taking care of people in this process while we are trying to meet the needs and concerns of citizens.

You've got three minutes.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Anything we can do to make it happen, we have a very energetic and motivated parent body, and we'd be thrilled to work much for your time.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

much more time passes and I'm sorry but I am I gotta say I am the city citizen who's on this Rivanna whatever it is corridor commission but our last meeting was August 2019 so we've definitely been asleep at the wheel as well thank you thank you Mayor Walker I don't see the other speaker who signed up in advance so we'll go ahead into the

You've got three minutes.

You want to hear me okay?

You're a little faint.

Can you hear me?

That's a little better.

You another one.

Hudson.

Y'all gotta do better.

You've got three minutes.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

Can you all hear me?

We can.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Next, we have a caller via telephone, and if you could tell us your name and place of residence, you've got three minutes to address the council.

Thank you for your time this evening and for your generous service to our community.

Thank you.

And if so, you've got three minutes with counsel.

Can you hear me now?

Go ahead.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Robin.

Mayor Walker, I don't see any other hands raised.

Counselors, do you all have any comments?

I coached a number of girls on the teams that I coached back back in the old days, and I hope that girls are still playing Little League Baseball because they all had a good time.

The only comments I have I'll save for the budget discussion because they all pertain to the budget and things that were raised relative to the budget during public comment.

It's hard to get everything out during that three minutes, clearly.

Mr. Boyles also is curious when will we be able to show like a more like provide the when will we be able to provide the community with this plan that we have a draft of and you've kind of summarized today just so that the community can be more aware of the details of the rollout.

We should have something out very, very shortly for the summer schedule, keeping in mind it will be tentative.

Given the interest from the private sector and even helping to provide resources for that, I would hope that we can just figure out a way to ensure that safe access, because I think that I understand there's some liability concerns, but I think there's some safety concerns if we don't have a solution to provide people with foot traffic access to the river.

So I'm very familiar with it.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

But I think I said it a little bit differently from the way it was really

So that may be helpful.

We do have somewhat limited resources and we're just trying to leverage them as best as possible to meet the most important immediate needs.

So I just think it's something that we, you know, we need to really consider.

Certainly agree.

Vice Mayor McGill and Councilor Snook, are you there?

All good.

Ready to go.

I'll turn it over to Mr. Boyles.

Thank you.

We'll open the public hearing.

Mayor Walker, I don't see any hands raised on the tax rate public hearing.

Okay, counselors, any comments?

I know that's a separate question from the real estate tax rate, but is directly related to the revenues it generates.

And Mr. Councilor Payne, we're going to have a presentation.

Well, in that case.

And at the about the assessments tonight.

Thank you.

I know no one is racing to the front of the line to pay taxes, but it is a conversation to have that not everyone is having the same experience or the pandemic has affected them in the same way.

And it's good that we're already bringing this up now so that it doesn't take people by surprise next year.

Would you like to check and see if he wants to comment on this public hearing?

Yes.

And you'll have to unmute your microphone.

It's okay.

You've got three minutes.

that you need to have a discussion about this and to look at the at the raw numbers of how we can insulate those who can't afford it and how much can we get from increasing taxes on those who can afford it and can we do it in two different measures so that's what I'm urging you to do and if you don't do it now I think you have to do it sometime if you really care about these problems thank you thank you

and there are no other hands raised, Mayor Walker.

Councilors, any comments?

I would also agree with others that over the next budget cycle, we look at our commitments, there's no way around the need for revenue increases.

So I think there's two things that need to happen there.

Do we want to get an answer perhaps from Mr. Davidson?

I'll have to check with Mr. Divers to make sure I'm speaking correctly on the nuances of those two programs, but I believe that's kind of how those kind of part of the difference between those two programs.

Is Todd here?

He was unable to join us tonight.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you.

It's no more than the amount that they would have qualified for and you know based on their tax rate.

between the two, why it would cost us more to get them in line with each other.

And so, yeah, he can explain that a lot better than I can.

Correct.

So just like in effect, how much is actually made available through each increase.

And Ryan, can you speak to the impact of the schools on that number?

However, if council, you know, if council does wish to go back and change that formula, we get, you know, that will always be an option that we can look at that differently because it's, there has been some changes in the past years, but as part of the policy right now, that's what it states.

Mayor Walker, we do need to close the public hearing.

So close the first public hearing for the real estate tax rate.

That's the only place that I know of in the state that's over about a dollar and a quarter.

And now we will open up for the public hearing for the budget presentation that you just heard.

Robertson or Mr. Bowles to make any introductions to this part of the meeting, if they think that's appropriate.

That's about all that I could add.

Hamill, did you have anything?

So there'll be two opportunities for the public to speak.

You've got three minutes.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Shelby.

Joan, you're on the city council.

The downtown mall is the third largest attraction in the area and the funds that's generated is a lot of what's being spent on the other things that are so desperately needed in this city and I just urge you don't shoot the golden goose and be responsible and honor your agreements and maybe you didn't make them but if the city can't honor agreements that it makes nobody's going to want to deal with it thank you Thank you

You've got three minutes.

Thank you for supporting your work.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You have three minutes to address counsel.

But I bring the memory of a 14-year-old girl who was almost shot the other day, and we had the opportunity to be there, but I couldn't find staff to cover it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And you have to unmute your microphone.

I'll save my time.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

last year, and I don't think anything has changed with that.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you and have a great night.

Thank you.

Hey everyone.

Thank you.

Chief Smith, you are on with the council.

Are you able to see my camera?

We just have your voice at this time.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Mayor Walker, there are no other hands raised.

Okay.

So- It's back up, Mayor Walker.

Okay.

You've got three minutes.

And thank you all for your time and consideration.

All right, thank you.

And Chief Smith has raised his hand, Mayor Walker.

Okay.

Chief Smith, go ahead.

So thank you.

And then counselors, are there any, do you have any comments?

But I'm just kind of curious what staff's expectations are for council tonight.

Chief Smith was participating as an attendee, but we have been inviting them to the work sessions.

So that's

a numbers level, like above or below a certain threshold versus trying to... You mean a salary amount?

I think that that is something that I don't have enough information to make the decision, but I'm definitely interested in whatever gets us to that point.

The 80,000 really is not that impressive in terms of savings.

And it's just that, because I remember a different figure when we were talking about this before.

So it's 111 if all lead team positions were full and that's basically either taking the lead team current salaries plus benefits and then the budget for the positions that are vacant we took the budgeted salary plus benefits and got to 111 if they were all full but it's unlikely that you know those seven would be full so Okay

But is there something there that makes sense in terms of a targeted increase?

If that sounds like the direction.

I don't know what other counselors think.

I do also get a little bit worried about that, you know, staff morale of people who have been working incredibly hard for this last year in particular that then people don't I just

I'm just a curiosity point just to understand where some of the big changes might come from if we have to make some tougher decisions around this.

I mean, I would rather look at if we are looking at doing something like that, saying that under a certain amount of money, we offer a 2% raise and over a certain amount of money, we're offering a 1% raise so that we're at least acknowledging that we are, that we do value everybody in the organization, but that we are hitting some financial difficulties and we want to make sure

to still offer a COLA to everyone.

Again, we're happy to run some numbers and look at these scenarios, but just food for thought on the compression issue.

And this is not to say anyone's worth, this is just talking about that the decision was being made to not give anyone a COLA and how can we make sure that the employees who are the least paid don't have to go through that a year and that's the only motivation for this conversation.

In other words, you aren't really asking us to look at increasing the total amount, give or take some, but just how it's divided up.

I'd be interested in that.

Okay, we can run those numbers for you.

undervalued and I don't want to send that message to any of our staff who have been working so hard because so many people have been keeping the ship afloat through COVID and have given up vacation time and have put the city first and so I just I don't want to unintentionally send that message that we aren't grateful for that.

That total amount of money is still unallocated, correct?

Yes.

The reduction of three full-time employees, does that reflect that change in the contract that the schools had with the CPD or has that already shown up in the budget in terms of potential savings in that area?

But we also unfunded two positions with this budget that's already been accounted for in the proposed budget.

Get into more details of whether that will be through readjusting sort of what nonprofits are in what tier or if we want to put more money into the environment community fund and just sort of what the timeline will be for us working out what we're going to do with those funding levels, because I think there seem to be consensus that they're going to be reoriented at least somewhat.

So, I mean, it would take a little while for us to work through the details of what that would look like, but we could either go that route or in an upcoming work session, begin to look at adding some funds to the applicants for the current Vibrant Community Round and then just taking away from others so that it balances.

if we're able to fund it through amendment later on it's not going to have an impact on that versus maybe there's something some things that we fund immediately before the budget deadline versus things that could wait until the amendment afterwards if that makes sense and I know we don't know what that will look like but it seems like well we may be a lot of things to figure out there yeah and we are and and I would just add we're working on three separate variables the the final amount of of the ARP money and the restrictions

to then be able to designate those funds where it's most appropriate.

you know even if indirectly because of this new money support some of these housing positions particularly around evictions and the climate action position so we've sort of already done it but I guess it would still be useful for us as a council to maybe even fully rank priorities that maybe can't be funded until that stimulus money is available but we sort of rank it so as soon as it comes in we know right away what we're ready to fund through amendments to the budget.

I think what Mr. Boyle shared with us earlier today is a good starting point if we each can kind of take that exercise and do that and provide that individually to him to compile and his team.

But that was the goal was to get you started on that path.

And, you know, it's just sort of a weird situation where we know there's money going to be available, but it's not quite here yet.

Well, I think the chief's trying to get her as she's getting set up.

Switching to headphones.

We should be able to get everything worked in to be able to get that out around the same time as these other agency payments.

And Chief Brackney, if you want to, I guess you're responding to Councilor Payne.