City Council Work Session - Boards and Commissions, 3:00 - 7:00 pm   5/13/2020

Mayor Walker, all members of council are present.

Thomas, will you do roll call, please?

Can you hear me?

Yes, I'm here.

Mr. Snook?

Yes.

Magill?

Ms.

Here.

Next we'll have an overview of the process and the city's perspective from Dr. Richardson.

Mr. Blair?

moderation in terms of the webinar moderator and televising these meetings and other policy considerations.

Counselor Payne and Snook, do you have any questions at this time?

No.

So Mr. Wheeler, is there anyone signed up for the public comment?

At this time, Mayor Walker, none of them are raising their hand.

All right so council discussion.

I think it applies to about four or five of them, maybe six.

OK.

That's fine.

So the first board and commission listed was the ADA advisory committee and any thoughts there?

I don't see any comments from staff.

No.

Is there a position of staff on this?

No, not at this time.

That's a priority group that we should pull together at this point.

So are we reading what they, so active streets and co-signing a letter that supports, I don't know if we're reading all of this, traveling, so they want to be able to, I guess, make some adjustments based on the closure, but I don't know if we can do that anyway, because our streets are still active, even though maybe not as active, but I guess, staff.

I don't read their comments as requesting a meeting or requesting the ability to meet.

You know, issue two is to make sure that whatever comes out of these groups that other people at least have access to the information.

But again, it's not a requirement in that instance.

For a letter to be agreed upon, though, they have to convene?

The other option would be for the committee members to email among themselves, say, do you support this letter?

And while the letter itself could not say legally that the Vicumped Committee

is writing this letter and is endorsing this letter, it could say that as the chair of the bike and ped committee, I've spoken with other committee members and here's the sense of the committee.

That's helpful, thank you.

Could each one individually sign the letter as a citizen and then a member of the committee?

They can.

So are we able to mandate that the meetings are virtually and then televised or no?

They are going to have to meet for tax appeals.

Do you want to put them to the board?

It certainly sounds like we could make it work.

I think that's one of our top priority boards.

All right, so next we have the CDBG Home Task Force.

For me, I think that's another one of the important ones, especially since they are going to be meeting about COVID funding that has a time limit and a time frame which we have to apply for.

I saw Aaron sent something.

I'm just making sure I'm clear on what's- Well we do have to appoint- I think we still have to appoint members, don't we?

We have to appoint members to the Ridge Street Task Force but not the CDBG steering committee.

Correct.

Is CDBG task force already planning to meet to discuss the new COVID money?

We do have to towards June, but obviously it would be done virtually.

So there's likely just one meeting to get you guys through this process that's left.

Yes, for the CDBG CV applications, we could probably wrap it out in one meeting.

Yes.

OK.

So what's your position on the task force, and when do you think those meetings would need to start happening?

From there, we would meet over Zoom and I'm guessing that would be, or I have it projected out to be mid-June.

Correct.

So I would think that every meeting that we would approve, that we would also be approving for that to happen.

Yes, Mayor.

Mr. Woolard, did you already look at logistics in terms of making all of this work?

And I can put up a graphic if you want to do that now or we can save it for later that goes through some of those options.

Okay, we can just let us finish the list and then let's look at that.

Sounds good.

All right, so now we're at the PAC, the Housing Advisory Committee, and they would

all right and did anyone want to have any comments about that or we just like I think a lot of community members have asked it to meet and I could envision it even being just like one time not you know multiple times all scheduled at once

Because I know that they usually have the committee meetings and the subcommittee meeting.

The subcommittee meetings of any of these boards and commissions also would have to be electronically available to the public.

Did you have any comments?

Okay.

How has it been the last two months, really, as compared to before?

So I hope that answers the question.

Yeah, I'm thinking about it.

Thomas, for us to appoint a new rep?

So I think that they're all set, and they were comfortable keeping that representative on there, even though her term has ended on place.

That was my understanding as well.

So planning commission and the board review, where did they come in together?

I think we need to re-engage the planning commission at this point.

Alex and Missy, do we have anything coming that needs to be seen by the Planning Commission soon?

Go ahead Missy.

We have not gotten any strong concern from the two public hearing items.

You said two out of those three things are fairly straightforward, you think?

We just never know, but potentially.

The third one isn't a public hearing requirement.

And so folks would have the option during matters from the public if they wanted to speak about those items.

Like how much of a backlog are you anticipating that to be?

that those items cannot be complete until the opportunity for folks to have public meetings is available.

Okay.

how all that is going to work out before we move in that direction.

to the public in our own council meeting decisions.

Would we stick to just that one meeting a month and everything would have to get taken care of there, or would we allow them to meet before the meeting and after the meeting or at other times?

with the Planning Commission or before the Planning Commission and kind of how that process works.

If we are looking at activating the Planning Commission, the BAR should simultaneously be activated along with the Planning Commission, because sometimes they can look at the same project because of the location of the project.

The site plan would not be ready until probably July but the item is ready to be scheduled for the BAR.

They could just, once they meet on their own, choose what agenda items to discuss?

So I think our office, the city attorney's office, would advise the planning commission and staff that if council is saying don't do public hearings during this, we would just advise them it's not a good idea to go forward because it would likely be referred back from the council to the planning commission.

Do we have a sense for how other municipalities are working around that concern?

One difference I see is our huge emphasis on community engagement process.

We don't want to lose that.

So hopefully that's successful, even for the just comp plan and those other items.

I was also just curious on what the status is of accepting new applications and when that may shift, depending on how long this road is going to be.

So these are some of the things that also needs to be discussed as we plan to start accepting new applications.

Mr. Blair, I wasn't clear that it was our order that was preventing us from receiving new applications.

There's some nuance there but in effect City Hall is closed per both Dr. Richardson's declaration of emergency and also he's issued further communications that close City Hall to the public.

But we're accepting other applications through mail.

But at this time, the requirements for the discretionary reviews require that there be a community meeting signed off prior to the application being submitted and that opportunity is not available at this time.

So that's just, we have to just be mindful of that part of the process.

Are we still having hours to accept paper applications at India?

So the answer to your question is yes.

So the Retirement Commission says they have sensitive matters that they need to meet before the end of the month.

Yes, and I think that's a one-time thing for right now for my gather.

I guess there's a request for them to meet this month and next month.

I'm just not sure what is considered pressing.

I think they just want some feedback from council as to what if they are given the allowance to meet what would be some parameters for meeting.

for allocating staff time and resources.

I'd agree with that.

Or is that even a fair question?

I don't think it's fair.

Keep in mind, you know, the communications team is a small staff.

I'm sorry.

I'll stop there and see if you have any questions.

Um, and just now that you've presented that, I think there's a lot of opportunities now that we know it's recorded that, you know, even looking at this list, um, that a lot can fall into that left hand side.

That, um, attorney Blair, would that fall into FOIA?

and we'll broadcast this on Facebook.

Is that... The first option, yes, that Brian was kind of bringing up where it's more... Well, he's saying it's his actual webinar that would allow for public to be controlled and active, but we know who they are.

So I think there has to be some control.

So this is almost limiting input by stating that we are trying to control to make sure there isn't anyone in the meeting to be disruptive or anonymous.

And so that's why this is being recommended is my understanding.

I understand that the more that we make our decisions based on that, we are limiting transparency.

But I don't know that the difference between an open Zoom and a webinar Zoom is that different.

Well, even those things without it being streamed means that it's very limited who will have access to the information to even consider what is being discussed in the meetings, which we have a current problem with, but this would make it worse.

So again, getting an essay contest going when school's not in session, how do you get it out to everybody equitably is also difficult, so.

Because we are already up to eight

Unless they can figure out a way to meet for staff time, I'm up for holding off.

The tree commission, they didn't think anything, they had required urgent attention, but they said that the backlog of work from that meeting would

and it seems to me we've got some work to do too.

Well, Kena just messaged saying that the next appointments are scheduled for June 15.

I don't know.

So it's not as simple as, hey, did somebody appoint me to a board?

I'm glad if that's the case, I'm glad.

And so I just hope, well, I'm just going to keep seeing it, that we need to be mindful that all of this could produce equity, a lot of equity issues.

Are you suggesting that we wouldn't appoint anyone until we get to a more normal business mode?

OK.

Looks like the rest are pretty much, there were no pending issues and then there's a note from Paula Quirk at the bottom.

And the CRB, were there thoughts there?

Kina just messaged on that, that as a new board the CRB also needs orientation with the city attorney and closed session.

Yeah.

So I guess before they meet, that has to be scheduled?

But they've not had their first meeting yet.

Right.

Sure.

In this packet, we actually have an applicant for that position.

Right.

Yeah.

Is Paul, Mr. Overdoper, is he on the call?

I am.

All right, could you just share an example of that with us?

I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?

For example, if we have a project that needs to engage a neighborhood association or a stakeholder group, we will likely need support from the communications department.

And I think public engagement in terms of getting feedback from them on the issues that are anecdotal is very important and not necessarily things that we may capture through the city channels.

All right.

which that's an official board, but that's just the community and public engagement.

But I just know I think that's something we're going to get more feedback from.

I mean, I don't know.

So I would believe that, you know, while they would like to have input as to whether or not the pools would remain open, right now it's a safety concern and to me it's really an administrative decision.

But yeah, okay.

So we want to hear, do we have, I can't remember, is the agenda having public comment again before we get into our next round of discussion?

And did we add CRB to that list or not?

I mean, I'm unsure what their next steps are, but I know they've, like everyone else, got emails about them sounding like they want to meet sooner rather than later.

Did that email come from anyone who had been selected?

No, it was the People's Coalition.

The Planning Commission has the BAR wrapped in with it.

So yeah, Mr. Will, we can open it up for any public comments that we may have at this time.

Davies, can you hear us?

Thank you.

Phil, you're on with council, go ahead.

If that would take any of the sort of decrease the strain and obligation of staff for any of these meetings, I don't know how that would integrate or not, but it is certainly something that's been offered up.

Thank you.

Rory, go ahead.

Thanks.

All right, thank you.

Mayor Walker, there are no other hands raised.

Lowell.

Does it matter who the host is?

What should be done if a board or commission member says, I'd like to participate, but I don't have the means or the internet connection or bandwidth to participate?

So it has to be a part of our thought process.

If you've got a commission meeting at 2 PM on a Tuesday in the basement conference room, who is working that can attend that meeting as well?

You know it's a problem it's been a problem the way that those meetings have been run and I've been bringing that up since I've been one council.

Okay, thank you.

So it's good that we are working on that or that there's a potential.

So maybe that person knows how to do it and they can tell me offline.

Is that what you're saying?

If you would like them to school me publicly, we can call upon them.

You know that.

Oh, it was Mr. Stolzenberg who's telling me Star 9 is how a telephone participant can raise their hand.

Even to Roy.

Obviously, we're talking about it in terms of the Zoom and so on, but how is that different, aside from a little bit of technology, how is that different from the conduct of regular meetings?

received almost no real public participation but I think people are more and more being aware of those issues and certainly at least emailing council and following the proceedings of the Parking Advisory Commission more than they would have say five years ago.

Is that something we need to be concerned about?

And what is that line versus, again, somebody makes a random comment in a Zoom format.

Part of the approach we're taking right now is to mitigate some of those security and opportunities for pranksters to interfere with the meeting.

Are we requiring all of the meetings, the nine or 10 meetings that we have agreed upon, do we want them all on TV or are we saying to continue with just the four?

Given the staff commitment to that.

We'd certainly like to have that content.

So can we broadcast all the meetings, even if we don't stream them?

So we've sort of, you know, the viewers who rely on Comcast Channel 10 sort of have an expectation, you know, back pre-pandemic about when they could watch, you know, the Planning Commission, City Council.

get a lot of feedback from them, people who've never stepped foot in city council chambers.

If we're just recording it and broadcasting it later, that makes it easier.

And so keeping those as the ones that are streamed live, right?

Correct.

It would be my proposal for those, that group of meetings.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Would we have to require anything they would need to prepare for the meeting, Mr. Blair?

OK.

Their pre-meetings could just be like a webinar, because those are just done in the NDS conference room.

Yeah.

All right, so those four, and so then

As far as being on channel 10, if they're just put out afterwards, I think that's reaching out to more people than would normally have seen some of these boards.

So you would recommend that all of the boards be put into the rotation at least once?

It's pretty much only pertinent to the people involved.

but I think that people would even to become familiar with that process.

Some people may be unaware.

I mean, if we could fit things in, I'm for fitting as much, I'm for putting as much out there as possible all the time but there's also, you know, logistical things we have to work on and

with what would be required to make these boards work.

And then also,

Like if they do say, I don't have a computer, or I don't have internet access, if we are not going to purchase it, then do we even do it?

Well, if it's only like, let's say it's only, if it's like, if it's 20 people, that's going to be more difficult, then let's say it's like two or, if it's only two or three people, we might be able to get access for somebody.

It sounds like we even have this phone option as access.

And I think we do, granted it's not necessarily the most convenient, but all our library branches are Wi-Fi hotspots, right?

But they're also closed.

But there's areas outside of them that have been set up to use as hotspots, at least in Albemarle County, all the JMRL branches.

So you want somebody to drive to a library and sit outside?

And again, someone can always call in without internet.

If it's not a problem.

But do you think they would have told us that when, um, we asked the first round of questions?

I would happily take that on off of staff's plate.

we can do that with this in terms of having the chairs do that type of work.

If we contact the chair to ask them to reach out to the members and see if there would be any issues with if they have any issues with resources in terms of needs to be able to participate.

And then if we find out there is the level of the issue, then we could look at problem solving, how to help people be able to be part of it.

We would also need to consider that for the June appointments, whether that would be a consideration of contacting the people who are up for appointment to see their access as well.

or if we are going to have further, if we need to have a further discussion today, then we would need to break and then come back and have a break to continue.

The question is what needs to happen from us tonight if someone wants to schedule a meeting as soon as Friday or Monday or whenever.

And then the answer would still be made by Monday.

Well maybe Mr. Wheeler is saying they don't need time.

Well, I think if the direction from council is that these nine or 10 bodies, you've approved them having meetings, then I think, you know, you delegate that to staff and between, you know, Mr. Blair, Dr. Richardson and myself, we can work with all the staff who interact with those bodies and figure out what's the best approach with the resources we have.

vote yea to know how much time that is going to be take from staff so that's what I don't know if you can give us that now based on this I think you need some time to look at it so that's why I was recommending that we hold off Monday but I'm not sure with the other counselors.

I only ask because I'm on the Historic Resources Committee and I see that that's not on here.

Responses, OK.

I can't remember every board I'm on right now.

Yeah.

We definitely know that.

as quickly as possible without also adding additional burden to staff.

I just think that we should trust the staff to take the next whack at it and tell us if there's a problem.

But if you all are saying we are just approving these nine and this is what you are comfortable voting on and you're going to tell staff to figure it out, that's what they're going to do.

The staff commitment for setting up a Zoom webinar versus hosting an actual meeting?

I want to make sure that staff is okay with what we have and their time commitments before I can make that statement.

I mean I know we've got two board, the Board of Equalization and the Retirement Board have to meet soon it sounds like for the Board of Equalization for legal reasons and then the Retirement Committee sounded like it was something that needed to get done in a time before the end of the year right so we made that decision Monday they would still have time yeah no I just you know I'm not and I'm not sure when the electoral when the electoral board meets normally

So I guess we just need to, because I'm going to need to take a break if we are going to, we just need to figure out if we are telling them these are the boards, make them all work, or we're asking them for more information about how it would impact their schedules and time before we tell them.

I want to know how much it's going to affect their schedules and time before making a full decision.

We can wait till Monday.

I want to be guided by what they say they can do.

Yeah, and we have these nine, so like I said, we'll look over the next two days and figure it out and have it back by Monday.

Well, and two of them sound like they only need to meet this month.

So that wouldn't be hopefully a major time commitment, but some of the other ones.

I think we need to be really cautious of that to make sure that we understand that we've got to come up with some sort of process, I guess, that will get that public participation in a post-COVID world.

Counselor Payne?

But I'm trying to wait to see all of them.

I'm wondering, given that HAC was one of the ones that's come up again and again, and they even wanted to post a meeting this week, could we let them publicly post the meeting for next Wednesday, which is their regularly scheduled HAC meeting, knowing that on Monday we'll make a decision, but at least they don't have to then wait to get off schedule or to wait more days?

I would wait.

Would that be workable with Brian's schedule?

Supposed to be a webinar meeting.

Well, but I also think in terms of if we're talking about like demands, we would, if we're already prioritizing that one, we're adding that one in with the other four versus looking at that fairly with all the information that we get on Monday.

I'm just I'm bringing it up because there was an ask to have it on this week and so I was like we know we can't do it this week but we can at least have the flexibility to do it as soon as possible after Monday if it's approved we're just offering some flexibility I'm not married to it I'm just off just know that has been something that was expressed and I know that Councillor Payne shared that interest

I would want to wait on that.

This is just more COVID focused on the funding we have.

OK, Mr. Will, I guess, are there any additional people who would like to speak?

and Mayor Walker, no one is raising their hand at this time.

We're gonna wait for more information from staff for Monday and that we will make the final decision during the council.

Fine.

Doing other business.

I guess we're saying the Planning Commission should meet, but are we saying it should discuss everything as normal, like only certain things?

Staff to figure that out at this point because I don't think there's a safe way to do that.

To me, it's still unclear what specifically crosses that line of being too much.

And then we can say that we agree with that.

I couldn't tell that there was a voice from the Planning Commission on that chart.

the application process and how it's hindered by that.

And that shouldn't be falling on our staff.

All right, any other comments?

I'm not gonna hold things up to prevent it from being evaluated Monday.

Mr. Fuller, okay.

So I would appreciate feedback from the city attorney and others on the ADA part of it.

Okay, yeah, and could you all give us, yeah, I don't even know what all of that entails, so that would be helpful just to know what we would be considering.

Are there deadlines for CDBG?

That's for the COVID money.

Hard deadlines for the non-COVID part.

Aside from that, there's nothing else from the end.

And do you need to have a public meeting before you submit the other application on Monday?

For the COVID money?

No.

Mr. Willard, is there anyone out who would like to speak for public comment?

Mayor Walker, no one has raised their hand.

So staff, are you clear on what needs for Monday?

Yes.

Okay.

I'm also curious, like, what are we expecting from our agenda on Monday?

And then, I guess, to discuss this again.

So there's nothing else on the agenda?

Oh, and then we have, I think we have an executive session, closed session, I'm sorry.

That's right.

I'm happy to assist.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.