City Council Meeting   9/7/2021

All right.

Ms.

Chair Walker.

All right, thank you.

Ms.

Mayor Walker?

Present.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Here.

Councillor Hill?

Here.

Madam Mayor, I would like to ask to add one thing to the agenda.

Okay.

Yes.

All right, is there agreement to add for item number 15, discussion of the ADA coordinator to the agenda?

Ms.

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Councilor Hill?

Yes.

All right.

Yeah, I have it.

On Monday, September 20, 2021, Alex Ann presents CYM, Close Your Mouth and Listen Day.

It's the fourth annual.

event.

The program can be viewed on Comcast Channel 14 from 6.30 to 7 p.m.

and at alexand.com.

All area citizens are encouraged to be still and quiet for one minute.

Take a moment and listen and think before you act.

Be mindful when speaking.

Choose words that are helpful, not hurtful.

This day and beyond allow people to share their thoughts and feelings without interruptions.

Ride, respect individual differences and expressions.

And just CYM and listen.

There are posters and stickers available

upon request, and you can visit alex-zan.com for more information.

Any other?

And congratulations, Black Knights.

I will be distracted, but yeah, that's good.

Go for them.

And so for recognitions for me, I would just like to thank Chief Brackney for her leadership and apologize on behalf of the city for a termination that has tarnished her reputation when she was doing exactly as someone who sat around the table to hire her.

and was able to participate in that democratic process, which apparently has changed now.

I would just like to thank her.

I know that during this time of being on council, a lot of very challenging topics,

the threats that I received.

I know former counselor Bellamy, Wes Bellamy, let's get these Bellamy straight, but that he received that no matter how insignificant it may have appeared to other people that she took it seriously, alerted us to, you know, things that we needed to consider to keep ourselves safe.

And I appreciate that.

To the community, I think it's going to be very important for you to decide what kind of city that you want.

I did a post on Facebook.

I've done many, but a post about this.

I think it's pretty clear that I don't just, as people have been saying, stand up for people because of their race.

But I do take particular interest to the plight of Black people, and I'll never apologize for that.

However, when you have someone who's managed to survive in an institution of policing for over 30 years and not lose themselves and be able to show up

in this city after 2017 take all the torment and ridicule that she's experienced and most of it was not based on any facts and still attempt to reform a police department that clearly doesn't want reform.

I hope that whatever the next phase of her journey is,

that people who are looking into that journey are digging much deeper than the surface level.

and not requiring her to be anything they wouldn't require of any other police chief.

So you have someone who's outspoken, direct, knowledgeable, and willing to question information that she's presented and not take it just as presented.

She's not a robot, doesn't pretend to be.

And as I like to tell people, I like for individuals to

tell me when they think I can be doing better and to challenge me.

I am not open to challenge around toning down conversations around racism, because unless I miss something, I wake up every day black.

And this world impacts us very differently because of that.

It is important for those reforms to happen.

I can't imagine, I hope I'm wrong, but I can't imagine anyone who would do the work that's most necessary because personalities, what someone felt about her tone or energy, I often ask, and I just asked Chip the information the other day, is what she's saying inaccurate?

Not that you didn't want her to bring it up at a certain time, but was the information she presented inaccurate?

I know that some of you all have used the energy from the community.

which the community won't know for years.

They say I'm not doing anything, that you all are not doing anything.

We won't know for years the efforts that we put in to make this community better and not just for the wealthy and not just allowing the wealthier members of the community to be the ones that benefit from this community after it's been built off the backs of Black and Hispanic and other low-income community members.

People try to divide race and class, but the whole class concept started after building economic institutions off the backs of black people and stealing land from indigenous people.

And I think, you know, many of the faces on the screen today are white and we are still struggling with

with understanding the true impact of structural racism, systemic, institutional, like no one, very few people understand it.

And to have someone who is not warm and fuzzy, and I would like for someone to tell me when they as long ago to be,

But a black woman is always required to be everything someone desire of her and don't have the audacity to be bold and outspoken.

And what you all have done with firing her and the way that she was fired, I have said publicly to her and to the city manager, I was no longer asking her to stay here.

It didn't seem that the community could get itself together on what they were requesting.

When there are battles with when the police chief is one of the people in the room saying I don't want to over police neighborhoods and it's a call from inside that neighborhood to over police is such a contradiction and it's not what we requested for her to come here for.

and for people to use that energy of people not getting immediately what they asked when what they're asking is doing harm and she has signed up to do no harm and to take that, allow misinformation to spread, allow a member that sits on a board and commission that we appointed

to use misinformation to think that she's the reason that they are not going to be employed and allow those things to linger and then to take what doesn't seem like much information and terminate her in this very public way, release press releases without names on it and don't claim it when you've sat in the room, the attorney is sat in the room, city manager sat in the room and two other officers and not

owned to the community that you've done that is shameful.

And Chief Brackney, I recognize as I have been, not because you're a Black woman, it is amazing for me and awesome that you are,

but that you were taking families that you didn't know have any direct contact to and you were taking into consideration the plight that they've experienced in this community since their ancestors were enslaved here and wanting to right the wrongs that were done to them and tried to show up every day even though many of them

spewed hateful and hurtful words towards you, and you still showed up, tried to create a blueprint of what 21st century policing in Charlottesville, Virginia would look like, held your officers accountable for not being able to target and abuse the most vulnerable citizens in this community,

especially Black men and Black women.

And if nobody else will applaud you and say thank you, I am here.

I am saying thank you.

I hope my record for anywhere that you will go after this will speak volumes to the people who will research and look at this.

And I hope that you continue to make this change somewhere in the world.

I wish it was here since the majority of my family is here, but since we are not going to be able to continue to do this work together here, I hope that some communities somewhere with people who have suffered the same plight

gets to benefit, not ask you to come in and be warm and fuzzy for them, not ask you to tone down who you are, everything that you've had to do to survive in an institution that probably did not want you there to reach the highest level.

But I hope they look at the fact that they never want their child, their brother, their sister shot on their couch, shot in a park as soon as they pull a gun out, walking while black, driving while black,

I'll move to the consent agenda.

Consent agenda one, minutes, July 19, closed and regular meetings, July 27, work session, August 2, regular meeting,

Two, resolution amending the FY 2020-2021 Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships Program Minor Action Plan Budget.

Second reading.

A, resolution amendment to Community Development Block Grant account $85,843.66.

B, Resolution, Amendment to Home Investment Partnership Program, $21,384.80 C, Resolution, Approving the FY 2020-2021 Minor Annual Action Plan Amendment 3, Ordinance, Amending and Reenacting the Code of the City of Charlottesville, 1990

as amended in order to remove masculine and or feminine language and to substitute gender neutral pronouns.

Second reading.

Four, resolution appropriating housing opportunities for people with AIDS, HIV, grant funds to the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless, or TJAC, $288,172, first of two readings,

Five, resolution appropriating funds from the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless, TJAC, to the Department of Human Services, $10,000, first of two readings.

Six, resolution appropriating funds for the Virginia Behavioral Health Docket Grant, $49,000, first of two readings.

Seven, resolution appropriating funds for the Charlottesville Albemarle

Adult Drug Treatment Court Grant Award, $240,000, first of two readings.

Eight, Resolution, Appropriating Bama Works Grants Funds for the Recruitment and Retention of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Foster Families, $5,000, first of two readings.

nine resolution amending and reauthorizing funds to construct a bike and pedestrian bridge from McIntyre Park $50,000 one reading 10 resolution

Appointing the City Voting Representative to Jaunt, Inc.

Shareholders' Meetings.

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor Walker.

If you'd like to address council for one of those 11 items that was on the consent agenda, please click the raise hand icon in the Zoom webinar.

If you're joining us via telephone, you can press star 9.

If you want to comment on other issues, you should wait for community matters.

First up is Jeff Fogle.

Jeff, you're on with council.

You've got three minutes.

First, I'm still in a little shock over what I thought I heard, which was the four white counselors saying we refuse to discuss what happened to the chief in public.

But really what I came to talk about in this session, because we'll get back to that later and ensuing weeks as well,

is approximately six years ago I started coming to this council and talking about how outrageous it was that people in our specialty courts had to plead guilty in order to get help.

Six years have passed and we haven't even gotten an explanation of why that is so.

The only explanation I heard, which I think is probably accurate, was from Lloyd, who said 20 years ago, the prosecutors felt that if they were going to give somebody a break, they were entitled to something back.

Well, that was 20 years ago.

This is 20 years later.

Why can't you even get an answer from the people who run the drug court or from the Commonwealth attorney about why it's necessary to make people plead guilty in order to get help?

Well, I know that there are at least four people on this council who told me they don't agree.

But those are the same four people, or three of the four people, who don't even talk about it.

For some reason, they know it's wrong, but I don't know whether they're afraid to talk about it.

They don't have enough information.

They never asked for any information.

We did ask for information about four or five years ago.

Never got it.

Never got it.

There is no reason to require people to give up their fourth, fifth, and sixth amendment rights in order to enter a specialty court.

That's all I have to say on the subject.

And I'll just add, you know, we've talked about this in the Imagining Just Civo group, and you're in that group, so you know that we haven't reached any kind of conclusion.

After the last allocation to drug court, I did reach out.

I spoke with the Commonwealth attorney, and I...

was supposed to meet with their board and receive an invitation at some point and I haven't received it yet.

So I did reach out to talk about what those changes could potentially look like.

Mayor Walker, I turned off his microphone.

Our next hand for the Consent Agenda is Tanisha Hudson.

Tanisha, you're on with counsel.

So I also want to just follow up with Jeff that the audacity of you four counselors that didn't want to second the motion to discuss the firing of Chief Brackney.

This is beyond outrageous.

This is disgusting that you all have the audacity.

Ms.

No, no, no, no, no.

This is part of the consent.

Y'all had to vote on this.

So I'm sticking to the program.

Nobody wanted to second to have that discussion.

It is disgusting that you ruin people's reputation, you ruin their work and track record.

Look away, Heather, you should.

It's disgusting.

Sena, you are the vice mayor.

You do nothing.

You show no leadership at all.

And then y'all blame all the black people for the problems.

Like it's all the black people.

And you white people play no part.

And y'all the main ones that's offing everybody.

Y'all playing Call of Duty, doing straight headshots, taking everybody out of their jobs.

It's disgusting.

And I'll finish my comments doing public comment.

Y'all should be ashamed.

It's sickening.

And you all look racist as hell.

And that go for you too, Chip, sharing personnel information since we want to have that discussion.

Mayor Walker, there are no other hands raised.

Second.

Mayor Walker?

No.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Councillor Hill?

Yes.

Thank you, Mayor.

Some follow up on previous meetings and council requests.

Staff is working on a financial report of the funds that the city provides for direct housing support to families and supportive housing services in comparison to the funding provided by the city to nonprofits and other agencies for housing initiatives.

We should have that report to you hopefully by your next council meeting.

I've got two projects that I just received request today for information we haven't been able to get an update on, one of which we were not aware of until today, but it's a status report on the bridge over the railroad on Melbourne Road.

The project has moved from one side of the road to the other, which means it's over halfway complete.

but I don't have a time frame for when that work will be completed.

The other is a Ravana trail boardwalk in the Greenbrier neighborhood.

Just the notice today gave us information that that boardwalk is in need of repair.

At your next council work session a reminder Fire Chief Smith will present a report on the proximity versus availability EMS responses.

Staff has developed also additionally staff has developed the formal application process to create roadside memorials along certain city streets for family members of those fatally injured in auto accidents.

This program should be available by October 1st.

And then finally city office procedures for COVID safety protocols have been extended into October with a possible further extension.

All visitors and contractors in city facilities must have face masks and all employees must wear face masks unless an approved closed office space.

Vaccination reporting is being increased and we're exploring increased testing procedures.

Mandated vaccinations and testing remain an option according to how the COVID numbers do rise in our area in the coming days and weeks.

All right.

Yes, ma'am.

It's just a follow-up to Mr. Boyle's comment regarding the Melbourne Bridge.

That bridge, that project is anticipated to be completed towards the end of this month with both lanes of traffic open for vehicle traffic.

We've been working with the Charlottesville City School System to coordinate

bus traffic moving through that area as well as providing pedestrian access to the fields.

All right.

All right.

Next up, we have community matters.

It looks like we have eight people

signed up, and I think the first on the wait list will become number one.

Thank you.

If you'd like to get in line to address counsel, please click the raise hand icon in the Zoom webinar.

If you're on via telephone, you can press star nine.

The two people we had on the wait list, Sherry France and Harrison Brookman, you'll want to raise your hands if you want to get in line because our other eight speakers are all present.

Our first speaker will be Forrest Colland.

And let me find Dr. Colland.

Dr. Collin you're on with counsel you've got three minutes.

Good evening can you hear me?

Perfect.

I'd like to begin by introducing myself.

I rise tonight to speak about the recent proximity-based dispatching system implemented by the City Fire Department.

First of all, let me apologize for my appearance and the possibility that I could get called away.

I'm the trauma surgeon on call tonight for the University of Virginia Health System.

I am a graduate of Harvard University, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

I did 10 years of residency training.

here at the University of Virginia and at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

I am a tenured faculty member here in the School of Medicine and have published more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications in the scientific literature.

In addition to this, I was formerly the State Chair for Performance Improvement for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.

that's for trauma care and a member of the medical direction committee.

I'm here speaking tonight because I'm concerned about the proximity based dispatching system implemented by the fire department and the systematic disenfranchisement of the Charlottesville Albemarle rescue squad.

as a participant in the city EMS system.

I think that the most important message that I have to convey to all of you today is that the system that has been designed and implemented is not well conceived.

I'm going to surprise you with something I'm going to tell you next, which is that survival in an urban environment

EMS system is actually inversely proportional to the number of paramedics that are deployed out in the city and the current system has sought to employ paramedics in three different city ambulances all out providing care

by the fire department in the city and its environs.

The reason that this is a problem is that none of the providers who would participate in such a system are going to annually get enough experience to actually remain competent in their art.

There are only about 900 advanced life support calls per year in the entire city of Charlottesville.

If we divide those among a maximum of 12 people, that's only 75 calls per year per provider.

And that means one call, one and a half calls every 48 hour shift.

for a firefighter.

I would like to propose that the system that we had in place for 10 years prior to this was quite effective.

It met every performance standard that had ever been implemented.

And the last thing I want to say about it is that I hope you all are aware

that the SAFER grant from the Homeland Defense that the Fire Department has used to hire 15 firefighters to staff this system will expire in two years and you all will be implementing a budget for two million additional dollars per year to pay for those firefighters.

This has to be addressed.

Our next speaker is Elizabeth Stark, who will be followed by Gloria Beard.

Elizabeth, you're on with counsel.

Hi, everyone.

Okay, great.

Hello, Mayor Walker, Councilors, and Mr. Boyles.

I'm commenting tonight to ask that the city continue to push forward on the important work of creating a more dense, walkable, and inclusive city.

We know that the future land use map or FLUM process is heating up, and there are some in this town who do not want it to move forward.

In affluent neighborhoods across the city, homeowners are fighting against greater density in favor of a status quo that benefits them personally and financially at the expense of renters, would-be homeowners, and prospective residents.

That the so-called character they're seeking to preserve in this neighborhood is the echo of explicit racist covenants doesn't matter to them, nor does it matter that the artificial scarcity that they fight for keeps other people locked out of the housing market.

These landowners tell us that they do support racial equity, but only when moves toward an equitable future have no effect on them personally.

In other words, they support equity in a more sustainable city, just not in their own backyards.

What this boils down to is a belief that in purchasing a plot of land, they also purchase the right to direct what happens on every nearby plot of land.

We see this attitude time and again in comment and meetings.

They're concerned about traffic on their streets, but not traffic coming to town from surrounding counties.

They worry about so-called apartment people walking down their streets, but they don't care what conditions those apartment people live in.

They think that 200 signatories on pro-density letters shouldn't have the same weight as their signatures.

As we've all sat through long meetings, both here in the Planning Commission, I've been heartened to hear that many of you continue to speak out in favor of density and affordability.

Thank you.

The privilege are pulling out all the stops and have shown how far they will go to defend the status quo, whether that be comparing rezoning to the pain of a devastating crime, denigrating the intelligence of low income housing advocates,

suggesting that preserving several trees might trump the environmental benefits of a denser Charlottesville or asking why those of us who want affordable housing don't just move to the county.

As we move forward, it's time for all of us to decide which side we are on.

I am on the side of change, affordability, density, and equity.

I believe density should be focused in the neighborhoods near UVA and downtown, especially those that have the least amount of density now.

it's time to embrace a better future for everyone at Charlottesville and to quickly switch gears I'll say that the city needs and deserves an explanation as to why the police chief was terminated I also believe that Bellamy Brown went outside the purview of the PCRB when he brought up the concerns of police at the PCRB meeting I do not believe he can effectively advocate for those harmed by the police

and also advocate for the police themselves.

It's clear to me that he should not be reappointed to the PCRB.

Our next speaker is Gloria Beard, who will be followed by Jeff Fogel.

Can y'all hear me?

We can.

All right.

Well, I have a few things.

You know, my heart is heavy because...

It's for one thing, I like to know who is the hierarchy of city council or city hall, period.

Because, and this is coming from me personally, no, I'm not representing any organization right now, myself personally as a citizen.

I want to know, I'd like to have an answer tonight.

Please, y'all, I've been asking questions all along and I'll never get a response.

So I need to know some of these things, because this, see, and this coming from the decision that was made for the chief to go, and Mayor Walker didn't know about it.

She's the mayor.

Why didn't she know about the plan?

You know, it makes me feel like, okay, if I had a problem, when would I know?

They'll just come and tell me one day, you got to go?

I mean, that don't make sense.

They should have been, why wasn't she on probation?

Why did the community didn't know what was going on?

Why we shut out?

We don't know a darn thing since we had this COVID happen.

We sat in the house having these meetings on Zoom.

We don't know.

I felt like we're left out.

And I have a heavy heart tonight, seriously.

Right is right, wrong is wrong.

For one thing, I'm not ashamed to say it.

I am a Christian.

There is Christian ways to do things in this community, y'all.

I've been here 40-something years.

I'm ready to go, honestly.

I want to know, too, we are citizens and people have been talking to me because they trust me.

They have questions.

They're confused.

It seems there is no order or togetherness anymore.

I'm sure this makes our city look bad, you all.

My son lives in Ohio.

He hears all this stuff way up there in Ohio.

It travels.

Y'all might not think so.

It don't stay in Charlottesville, let me tell you.

And it's so sad.

And then, you know, when you ask questions, I mean, like I said, I like to have an answer to what's happening here.

Did y'all know about what they are doing here in our neighborhood?

They're going to raise taxes for us older people and we won't be able to keep our homes eventually.

I got somewhere to go, like I told you, but I'm not going to take a little bit of money from my house when I get ready to sell it.

because, you know, I know that people try to teach you.

They don't be honest.

And I mean, Henry took that all of this other property he bought.

It's amazing how much he's charging people to live there.

And it ain't for me because I don't have that type of money to live in none of those apartments.

And now he got the Preston Plaza.

He's taking all of that.

What's going to happen to the people in this community?

So somebody please answer some of these questions I'm asking because I have a heavy heart tonight.

I don't think things were done the way they should have been done.

Not for the public.

We are the part of this.

I still pay taxes, although I get Social Security and retirement.

I still have to file every year.

So, I mean, don't do this to us, you all.

Y'all are the leaders.

We want to look up to you.

But I can't trust anybody anymore.

I've got this heavy heart like I did 2017.

This ain't the end of what's going on.

I'm going to tell you all, y'all better watch out who y'all putting in these positions because now this is a mess and still nobody won't answer.

I haven't heard anything.

Why did this happen?

I know the woman wasn't all that.

I didn't get along that well when I was helped making the bylaws.

But why wasn't she put on probation or something just to fire somebody in midair?

You know, it can happen to either one and all of y'all that are sitting there.

God got things right.

Our next speaker is Jeff Fogel, who will be followed by Melvin Burris.

Jeff, you're on with counsel again.

Good evening.

I wonder whether you recognize how impolite

rude and insufferable you all are.

When you allow citizens to come to you with serious concerns, you just stare at them.

We expect an answer.

If you meet me on the street and you ask me a question, damn it, I'm going to answer it.

You got a problem?

Get off the council.

But damn it, don't be so goddamn rude.

I really came to speak to Mr. Boyle because you've got a lot of explaining to do, Chip.

on the one hand, you've said that you agreed with the personnel decisions that were made by the chief, that you agreed with the statement that was released by the city in response to the PBA.

You approved of those things.

The chief was the one who was reviled for doing them.

You fired her.

Doesn't that mean you should be fired too?

You knew about it.

You approved it.

You are the director of public safety.

Where is your responsibility here?

What have you been doing?

You claim to be able to find a new direction, but you don't want to tell us what that new direction is.

Do you even know?

Do you know anything about policing?

Do you know anything about 21st century policing?

Did you look at the surveys?

Thank God the mayor released the surveys that the city did.

We also looked at the surveys that PBA did, which were

particularly phrased in order to get the responses that they wanted.

And look at that response.

This police department hates the community.

It's the community they hate.

Chief Brackney will be gone and they're going to continue to hate us.

We will continue to target abusive police officers.

We will have a civilian review board.

The police want our trust?

Show us some goddamn trust and we will show it back.

But this is outrageous in the way you did it.

Why you jumped into bed with the PBA, I don't know.

Maybe there's a secret story out there about some relationship you have with the PBA.

And don't tell me you're so naive as to believe that you didn't think it had anything to do with what the PBA was saying when the temporal proximity was such as to only lead to the conclusion that you were caving into the PBA.

Now, if you cave into the PBA, I don't want you as a public safety director.

None of us do.

So you've got a lot of explaining to do, Mr. Boyle.

You know that a lot of us were upset, as were some of the members of the council, when you were hired without any transparency.

Now you claim to be the torchbearer of transparency, yet the first opportunity you have to be transparent, you aren't.

So let's try to talk out of one side of the mouth at a time.

Our next speaker is Melvin Burris, who will be followed by Tanisha Hudson.

Melvin, you're on with counsel.

You've got three minutes.

And you'll have to unmute your microphone.

There you go.

Good evening, counsel.

Thank you.

I applaud Mayor Walker for her comments on the wrongful termination of the chief.

Thank you for speaking out, Mayor Walker.

I myself is disappointed with this whole process.

With the wrongful firing or termination of the police chief back and based on hearsay, based on a bogus Pete

PBA Survey, which only had 64 respondents.

How many of those surveys went out?

And to who do they go out to, Chip?

Also on the survey that was taken back in 2020, there was 40 no's, which is a negative against the chief.

There was 25 that was positive.

15 that didn't answer.

What happened to the other 41 that there was no answer?

And each time you guys are just going on, Chip, you're going on just a negative and not dwelling into investigating the real answer behind all this.

We know what it is.

We've got a bunch of yahoos getting together and said, we're going to try to get rid of the chief.

And you're helping them do that.

And I'm really disappointed it wasn't an investigation.

counseled you and he was part of it with you on determination.

You didn't go to the council and discuss it with all of them because the acting

If you did, they're acting kind of, I don't know what happened.

Well, that's the conveyance they're giving to us.

You should do better in that, Chip.

We thought better of you when you took over this position.

I did anyway.

So I thought you were the man to step up and turn things around and make a difference here in the city of Charlottesville and be transparent.

All you're doing is what they've always been doing, is hiding the truth.

and one day the truth is going to come out.

Michael, you sit there.

I thought you were going to do something and be more proactive in seeing that things got done.

Sena, when you ran for office, you said you were going to step up and make a change.

There's no change.

The same old things are happening all over again.

And I'm going to give you, so I'm just going to say my disappointment in this whole crew

So for Mayor Walker, because she did say step up, Heather, you're going, so you don't care.

But Chip, you have to come up for a reappointment.

And before I close, Bellamy should not be, definitely should not be reappointed because there's definitely a conflict of interest what he was involved with when he spoke up against the chief.

And he's our chair of the Civil Review Board.

Our next speaker is Tanisha Hudson, who will be followed by Kara Elms.

Tanisha, you're back on with counsel.

Now, I'm not going to just take up for Chief Brackney.

I'm not just taking up for Brackney.

This has happened to every black leader that have touched this city.

It is disgusting.

It is disgusting.

And while we talking about who want to put out personnel information, every last one of y'all, every last one of y'all done did it.

every last one of y'all done did it Lloyd you was just on Jerry Miller's show talking about personnel stuff go listen to it I want all of y'all to go listen to Jerry Miller and how he was talking about stuff with planning and so forth that's personnel stuff you just said on W-I-N-A Lloyd y'all didn't know that the chief was going to be fired and in the same sentence you said it was going to happen for the last couple of months which one is it?

which one is it?

Which one is it?

Chip, I am discussed.

First you insult my intelligence when I bring you a plan to stabilize the city, which is the same plan that I gave them last year to stabilize the city and nobody listened to me and more people have left under you than Richardson.

So let's start from the beginning.

First Maurice is the only one that loses his job for the summer of hate, him and Chief Thomas.

Then Heather, you

you because it was you that started the whole process against Richardson then y'all target Richardson and everybody that played a part in it y'all know who y'all are he resigned you forced him out of there then Michelle Lee then Letitia Lee now Brackney gone it's the same stuff over and over and over and over and over again

It's disgusting.

You all have no bone of leadership in you.

You don't know how to agree to disagree.

The minute somebody tell you no or disagree with you, you ready to off them.

You ready to take them out.

Y'all want to have all these discussions in private?

with different people, different community members not telling them the truth.

I'm so glad I record conversations though and text messages.

I don't delete nothing.

My iCloud is very heavy, very heavy.

It's disgusting.

So I'm saying right here, right now in this last 23 seconds that I got to talk, hire back all of these people that you forced out.

Y'all set your differences to the side.

You agree to disagree and you stabilize this damn city.

It's about the people.

It's not about y'all.

I don't care if y'all can't scratch each other.

Lock yourself in a room.

Fight all day.

I don't give a damn what you do.

Stabilize this city because it's bigger than you.

And it's obvious that all of you are sitting on the screen.

You tried it your way.

It's not working.

It's not working.

So listen to the people in the community.

And if you had the same energy for Richardson, Shelton, Michelle, Thomas, Jones that you got for Brackney, this is for the community and some of you counselors, then we wouldn't be where we are right now.

Get a backbone.

Somebody gotta be the hero and somebody gotta be the villain.

Our next speaker is Kara Elms, and Zoom is telling me I need to promote her to be a panelist for it to work.

Great.

Perfect.

My name is Kara Elms, and I am a resident of St.

Charles, Missouri.

I really appreciate you for allowing me to speak tonight.

I as well as the St.

Charles Human Relations Commission found out that the mayor was planning to quote save the statue by seeing post on the city's Facebook page from August 13th through August 22nd the city posted daily if not multiple times a day asking for donations to a GoFundMe to obtain the Sacagawea statue the posts were met in the comment section by resounding no we do not want the statue

I learned that the statute would be a topic of discussion at the Human Relations Committee meeting.

I thought that this would be an opportunity for the HRC to give their guidance on developing a recontextualization plan, but I left the meeting in utter shock.

The Mayor did not try to gain understanding, but rather said things such as, quote, I don't care if there are 7,000 people on Facebook who say they don't like this.

He also does not seem to believe that history and diversity and inclusion should be viewed as one.

He said, quote, they, the historical society, are all about history.

So if I was going to go between the two of you to ask somebody to make a decision about the statue, I'd go to the historical society.

An HRC commissioner replied, quote, these things are mutually exclusive.

So I think it is an unfair comparison to say diversity and inclusion are different from history.

People who are well-trained in diversity, equity, and inclusion are also well-trained in history, as am I. However, one of the most egregious statements that the mayor made was, quote, I am waiting on Chief Standing Bear, who is the chief of the Osage Nation, who has it before his council.

When I receive that information, I can come to you and I can say, look, the Osage Nation does believe it is discriminatory, and I'll back off, probably.

This meeting left me upset and sad for St.

Charles.

For me, this has never been about the statue, but rather about the attitudes held by many in our area.

The road outside my subdivision has a house that had bloody mannequins with sombreros laid on the ground with a sign that said, go back home.

A gas can was hanging from the tree over the mannequins with the words, union jobs cut.

I couldn't believe that such racism was on such blatant display.

Another house nearby used to fly the Confederate flag, but now the flag changes daily.

I'm not sure what most of them represent.

I'm saddened that the people still hold such closed-minded beliefs.

In awarding the statue to St.

Charles, this would only perpetuate more closed-minded beliefs.

The mayor at a city council meeting said, quote, I am so worn out on tearing these statues down because someone got their feelings hurt.

I can hardly stand it.

It seems as though the mayor is more concerned with statues being torn down than with giving Sacagawea the respect she deserves.

I respectfully ask that you take this information into consideration when examining St.

Charles' proposal for the statue.

Just a moment.

All right, our eighth speaker is Virginia Lavelle.

And then we'll go into the other folks who've raised their hands.

Virginia, you're on with counsel.

Good evening.

I'm Virginia Level.

I'm the chief of the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad.

We received letters from both Carves and Chief Smith regarding the recent changes by CFD to the EMS dispatch protocols in the city referred to as proximity dispatching.

There's one thing on which we wholeheartedly agree.

When life-threatening emergencies occur in our community, we want the closest and highest level of care available to respond.

That has always been the standard of dispatch in the city of Charlottesville, and the citizens deserve nothing less.

For years, that system functioned well as intended and maximized the tremendous assets and partnership between CFD and CARS.

Last year, over 83% of the city's EMS calls required the lowest tier of pre-hospital care, basic life support, or BLS.

These minor injuries and illnesses were treated professionally and compassionately and transported to the hospital, but did not necessitate lifesaving interventions.

Another 11% of calls required no transport to the hospital at all.

The professional volunteers of CARS responded to 72% of all the calls and did so well within the agreed upon response time standards, freeing up CFD medics to respond to calls requiring advanced life support or ALS services.

Unfortunately, the recent dispatch changes made by CFD leadership have decreased the likelihood those ALS medic level resources will be available when needed.

There are many examples of this over the last six weeks, but I only have time for a few tonight.

On July 27th, two fire engines and a car's BLS ambulance were dispatched to an ALS level chest pain call because CFD's ALS unit was on a BLS call and unavailable.

Cars had three BLS ambulances in service and available within 1.2 miles of that BLS call at the time of dispatch.

On July 28th and 29th, CFD's ALS unit was unavailable for ALS calls because they were on BLS-level calls that Cars had three units available to cover.

And on the evening of August 24th, an individual suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on the sidewalk on Market Street.

Fire Medic 1, who would have been less than a mile away at the Ridge Street Fire Station, was instead across town on a BLS call that could have been handled by one of the three in-service cars units.

Just two hours later on that evening of August 24th, a patient presented to the fire department on Ridge Street with acute chest pain, a medic level emergency.

There was no medic or transport unit at the station or in the system because both were on scene with UVA students, one with a swollen foot and another who was vomiting.

Both of these BLS level calls would have been previously handled by cars prior to the July 24th changes, leaving two medic units available in the system for life-threatening emergencies, such as the gentleman with chest pain.

As evidence, the new dispatch protocol is an ineffective use of the EMS system in the city.

It has not resulted in improved patient care.

In fact, it puts those at the highest risk in jeopardy.

It is not serving the city or the citizens well, and it places unnecessary stress and strain on our partner firefighters at CFD, while CARS highly trained volunteers sit idle.

Despite our long history of collaborative relationships with CFD chiefs, cars received less than 48 hours notice by a deputy chief that significant dispatch changes would be occurring.

The exact nature or purpose of those changes still have not been clearly communicated despite our request to meet with Chief Smith.

Most recently, last Wednesday, on a day in which CFD had to hire back four firefighters on overtime, CFD began staffing an additional non-medic unit in the system, half a mile from the multiple fully staffed and underutilized ambulances in the cars building.

We received no communication or explanation from the leadership at CFD about these changes.

We are asking you tonight to commission and assemble an interagency board to evaluate and determine the best means of achieving 911 EMS coverage for the city in a cost-effective and patient outcome-centric means.

Mayor Walker, we have eight hands raised to finish out the next eight slots.

We have about 106 people in the audience.

Our next speaker is Katrina Turner, who will be followed by Robin Hoffman.

Katrina, you're on with counsel.

Just a quick second.

There are two people on the wait list.

And one of them has their hand raised and the other one did not raise their hand.

Okay.

Yeah, you can go ahead with Ms.

What is going on with that?

Why do you all want to stay quiet about what happened to the chief of police?

You know, Sena, I just can't believe you.

You know, everything that happened in 2017 and you're supposed to be sitting there, standing there, you know, fighting along with this community.

But you wouldn't even open your mouth to want to discuss

Why the chief of police was fired?

Wow, that's just, wow.

And Michael, wow, you've been, I've been watching you in city council for years, pounding for any and everything for this community.

But you keep quiet when the chief of police was fired.

Why?

You know,

just like August 21st 2017 business shouldn't be as normal tonight regular business should be shut down tonight because this city is going to hell and nobody wants to talk about it what about what about

Richardson, you know, what is going on with this city?

Bellamy Brown is the chair of the CRB, and you all don't even want to talk about that, how he tarnished the CRB by wanting to work with the police department.

Do you know how hard so many of us fought

to even get that CRB formed.

And you all don't want to discuss it.

You all don't want to discuss this survey to where the police officers were actually talking against the community members.

What about that?

Who matters to you all?

Your job?

what you're getting paid.

I know you might not be getting paid what you need to be getting paid, but what matters to you all for you all not to have added the discussion of the chief of police being fired.

This should not be a business as usual meeting tonight.

You need to shut everything else down and let the people speak.

And from the waiting list, we had Sherry Frantz.

Sherry, you're on with counsel.

Thank you.

Sure.

Thank you.

Sean, you're on with counsel.

Hello, Council.

Thank you for taking your time this evening to listen to all of us.

My name is Sean Tevendale.

I'm a small business owner with a bicycle store here in Charlottesville, Virginia.

I'm currently serving as the Vice President for the Charlottesville and Mar Rescue Squad, and I'm the former Program Director for the EMS and Paramedic Education at Piedmont, Virginia Community College.

In addition to these roles, I have served as an EMS provider and advocate for over 20 years in rural metropolitan and air medical systems around the country, including this system itself many years ago.

Over recent years, high quality EMS systems around the country have aimed to find better efficiency in utilization of their finite resources by implementing enhanced 911 dispatch protocols.

Through these protocols, calls are screened by trained dispatchers for the acuity of the emergency and determination is then made of what the most appropriate resources are to send and what timeline is appropriate for their response to the call.

For a large portion of calls coming into 911 centers, a basic life support ambulance can be sent without running lights and sirens to aid the individual and the person correctly.

This model serves to preserve advanced life support resources at the ready for critical calls and better allows the less urgent emergencies to be handled in a manner that does not expose providers or patients to undo time constraints and allows the system to function properly without the need to retain additional apparatus or staffing.

To put it short, it uses the right people for the right things at the right times.

It is worrisome to me that during a time in our nation of stricter budgets, tighter fiscal requirements, that instead of striving for a similar dispatch model here in Charlottesville, we are instead seeing the city sending extra ambulances and fire engines to every 911 call in a seeming attempt to overwhelm the emergency with an increased number of vehicles and people present.

While the idea of proximity dispatch may seem good on the outside, the result is an increased workload on city employees that are having to cover additional calls as well as an increased utilization of the heavy duty city fire apparatuses running lights and sirens through the streets.

All of this with the idea that they have to beat a stopwatch that has been set at an arbitrary and largely unsupported goal time of only four minutes from when the call goes off.

To be clear, the four minute call time put in place under NFPA standards applies to only high acuity ALS calls.

A more realistic model of eight minutes is also considered completely acceptable for non-emergent BLS level responses within the city as well.

The volunteers of the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad have served this community for over 60 years and they continue to do such.

Under previous models, they were able to serve as a highly efficient means

of providing the majority of BLS transports for citizens and visitors of the city to remain and other resources to remain available.

All of this is something that they do in the most cost conscious model available community based volunteers.

The current model being pushed forward is not sustainable from a cost or personal perspective and will result in burnout, increased cost of operations and difficulty for patients of the system.

We ask you as City Council to commission and assemble an interagency board to evaluate and determine the means of achieving 911 EMS coverage for the city and a cost effective and patient outcome centric means.

This will greatly aid in getting leadership of all agencies to the same table and allowing resources to be properly discussed and allocated for the good of everyone in Charlottesville.

Our next speaker is Robin Hoffman, who will be followed by Don Gathers.

Robin, you're on with counsel.

Hi, everybody.

I am also thankful very much for our mayor for speaking out and being so thorough about how everybody is feeling, I think, and also the ramifications of such an act.

whereby again, people mentioned probation or some process, but I have to say personally, I've never felt safer in my life as a woman, as a Jewish woman,

since Rochelle Brackney first entered.

And so Brian Wheeler and so Mayor has come forward and try to do process for everything.

I mean, this has been

a shock to me personally.

I mean, 2018 when the city was shut down, people were, oh no, you know, but those criminals didn't come back and they don't feel like they can come back because of Chief Brackney.

And also she has spoken to me personally on so many issues, honestly.

and given people ideas of how to move forward and how to do some sort of procedures in terms of medical or in terms of safety issues and things like that.

Chief Brackney needs to come back.

I don't understand how this has happened.

And certainly it is an embarrassment.

I mean, people from New York, New Jersey, anybody who's

who speaks with me is surprised and also alarmed because it means that we're going back.

We're going back in time to 2017.

We're erasing everything that was possible.

And I think our imaginations

could move forward and get back Dr. Richardson and Chief Brackney and allow them to manage the way they really did believe was possible because to listen to the past and not

see the possibility of a future is what we're doing by eliminating people who have been fighting for a better Charlottesville.

It is alarming.

It is.

And I think I'm a public person.

I want to be able to speak to people in Charlottesville and be able to say, well, you know, this was a mistake and that they will fix it.

Our next speaker is Don Gathers, who will be followed by Rosia Parker.

Don, you're on with counsel.

Thank you, everyone.

Good evening, first of all.

I must say I'm rather surprised and taken aback, but it reminds me that I said to you all once before, if you don't want to be accused of doing racism, then stop doing racist things.

Just the mere lack of a second to have a simple discussion

It's very telling, especially when it came when none of the four white counselors were willing just to second the motion in order to have a discussion.

I mean, people in the community are wondering what exactly is going on.

And the inaction of tonight certainly won't do anything to move that needle towards helping people.

to grasp exactly what's going on here in the city.

In a four-year span, we've had two black city managers and two black police chiefs fired.

No one seems to see a pattern here.

I cringe and I worry for Chief Smith's job.

I cringe and I worry even for Assistant City Manager Ashley Marshall's job.

This town tends to chew black leadership up and spit them out.

Now, we're all behind the scenes.

We don't know what happened, what didn't happen, why the action was taken, and that, as much as anything, is what's problematic.

The mayor ran four years ago on transparency, and that's what this community has been begging and pleading for for some time now.

And we're heading, we're regressing, we're heading in the wrong direction yet again Please, people, we deserve better than this Charlottesville deserves better than this We deserve more than what you all as a council have been willing to give us

I could go on and on, but it'll just be redundancy and then it'll be the same thing that you all have already heard.

So I'll just stop now.

But please think about your actions and in regards to tonight, think about your inactions.

Our next speaker is Rosia Parker, who will be followed by Harrison Brookman.

Rosia, you're on with counsel, I think, and you have three minutes.

Can you hear us?

I'm going to try that one more time.

Didn't seem to work.

Rosia, are you there?

All right, we're going to come back to Rosie in just a moment.

We'll try another speaker.

Harrison Brookman, you're on with Council.

You've got three minutes.

Yes, I can hear you.

So good evening, Council.

My name is Harrison Brookman.

I'm a medic and a captain at the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad.

I was born and raised in Charlottesville, so I still call it my home.

I've been in fire and EMS for over a decade in Charlottesville, Albemarle, as well as other large metropolitan counties in Virginia.

I've performed EMS system analysis and research in pre-hospital medicine and it's my passion.

I want to inform council about EMS system performance measures that actually lead to better outcomes for patients.

The consortium of US metropolitan municipalities EMS medical directors has published a statement about how to measure EMS system performance.

It states that response times do not measure EMS system performance and do not change outcomes.

Quality medicine provided by the right level of care of provider in a high performance EMS system is what actually saves patients and proves better outcomes.

I encourage council to seek out how we can provide efficient and effective EMS care with the resources we have in the city of Charlottesville to the citizens of Charlottesville.

And we'll try Rosie Parker again.

And Rosie, I'm hitting the button, but it doesn't appear that you have a microphone enabled.

You may want to look at the email when you've registered and use the dial-in telephone number and give us a call that way.

And you can certainly email me if that is not working.

Our next speaker is Gregory Weaver, who will be followed by Andrew Shelton.

Thank you.

Can you all hear me?

Good evening, City Council.

My name is Greg Weaver.

I live in Frye Spring.

The climate crisis is upon us.

Reducing the inevitable harm caused by global warming requires massive transformation in the way we live and govern.

The city has acknowledged this to some degree.

Council voted to reduce our city's greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030.

Weighing the consequences of inaction, that should be the absolute minimum goal.

And it's been two years since that vote.

Where's the urgency required to meet the crisis?

In order to face this existential threat, everything that we do as a city must be viewed through a climate first lens.

Tonight, I want to focus on transit.

According to the Community Climate Collaborative's website, 25% of Seville's emissions comes from transportation.

Our city isn't really known for its walkability, its bikeability, or its well-oiled bus system.

We have an opportunity here that we must seize.

Recently, Council voted to halt the new parking garage project, which is a step in the right direction.

However, some are still saying we need more parking, even if the project isn't as huge as originally intended.

Clearly, the fight isn't over.

Let's look at this through a climate lens.

With every action taken by the city, we should be asking ourselves,

Does this action lead us to cutting our emissions in half by 2030?

And or does it reduce the harm that will be inflicted on working class communities that are most affected by global warming?

Obviously, the answer is no for this project.

It would incentivize further reliance on personal vehicle use, leading to a likely increase in emissions.

It also actively harms working class communities by raising two local small businesses.

Therefore, more parking must be off the table.

What's the alternative?

We must transform our city's infrastructure and the habits of its citizens.

We must move away from personal vehicle use by investing aggressively in mass transit.

It's no secret that while our transit services are aiming to improve their operations, they are currently inadequate for changing citizens' habits.

People won't integrate riding buses into their everyday lives unless it is comparably convenient to driving.

We need reliable 10-minute service with extended hours.

We need to work with the Board of Supervisors to expand service into the county.

My understanding is that alongside the ongoing Albemarle County transit expansion feasibility study and implementation plan, council will soon be looking at some proposals from cat.

Part of what is being presented as an upper level package that makes headway on improved part of which is being presented as an upper level package that makes headway on improvement of service.

That package has an estimated price tag of near $600,000.

Consider that $600,000 versus the estimated 10 to $14 million price tag for the parking garage project.

It's a no brainer.

Let's go for that upper package and let's do even more.

Let's make people want to ride.

Let's start covering our bus stops.

Let's let's start increasing frequency.

Let's expand routes.

Let's increase service hours.

Let's start transforming our city and making major dents in our carbon footprint today.

Our next speaker is Andrew Shelton, and then we'll try Rosia Parker one more time.

Andrew, you're on with counsel.

Hi, thank you.

I would like to particularly speak to Minister Boyles.

As the city manager, we recognize that you have the hiring and firing power and that it was ultimately your decision alone to fire the chief with very little notice or public discussion.

I would like to tell you that I think you have made a very serious mistake in the way that you went about this.

And it is going to be very difficult for members of the city, for citizens to have any real faith in any further process that might make some beneficial changes in how policing is done in this community.

It was I understand that you probably had your reasons behind the scenes and I don't have the knowledge to question those, but it came across as very arbitrary and really it's hard to not see how it is kowtowing to the police union and their ridiculous concerns about it.

I mean, we've read the the survey responses.

A lot of those folks really shouldn't be in policing.

And to see you remove the police chief who appeared to be the sole check on those folks within the police department, it is going to be, I would like to believe that we can move forward from here, but it is very difficult to see how that can be done.

and I'm incredibly disappointed.

And if I were in the position to fire you, I very seriously consider it based solely on this.

Otherwise, I've been happy.

And Rosia Parker, you're on with city council.

You've got three minutes.

I see your microphone.

You just need to unmute.

Can you hear us now, Rosia?

Mayor Walker, I'm sorry, her microphone does not seem to be cooperating.

Okay, yeah, we'll do that.

Ms.

If anyone else would like to address Council, we have one more opportunity.

You can click the raise hand icon in the Zoom webinar.

I don't see any additional hands, Mayor Walker.

Jane Smith, you're on with Council.

Jane Smith, you're on with Council.

Can you hear me okay?

We can.

Thank you.

I feel compelled to add my voice to the others who have so eloquently spoken out about the unjust firing of Chief Brackney tonight.

I felt so hopeful while she was our police chief and like Gloria Beard, my heart is heavy tonight.

I've lost that sense of hope.

I don't know what's going to happen now.

But the real bad thing to me is the shabby way that Chief Brackney was treated.

I do feel that she's owed an apology.

I thank Mayor Walker for speaking out and I want to add my voice to hers.

I apologize, Chief Brackney, for my city.

Comments?

I'd just like to offer two comments.

One about the question of whether we should have been discussing Chief Brackney and her

termination publicly.

I asked the question when we were in closed session, what would be the ground rules if we did so?

Nobody could answer.

I am concerned that if we have a public discussion without any sense of ground rules, recognizing that there are libel, blander, other procedural issues that may come up that we're

We're opening ourselves up for more problems, and I just don't know what the ground rules are.

If we have some sense of what the ground rules are, if we also have, I think one of the other pieces is you probably have to have some sense of

You know, consent to having the discussion publicly about an employee before you do it.

I just don't know what the ground rules are.

So that's the reason that I did not second it because nobody could answer that question.

We did not get an answer.

The other thing is a comment I wanted to make was about the rescue squad issue.

I raised the concern last year that I thought that what was happening last year to the rescue squad and their budget was grossly unfair to them.

I'm concerned that this year without I don't know the details.

I would like to know a lot more.

I'm concerned that we appear to be headed towards

a situation where the present EMS providers do not value the contributions of the rescue squad, which has been a beloved institution in this town for many, many, many years.

I think that we need to figure out, partly for the reason that was given, that in two years, if we're going to continue with the

with the funding that we've already got.

We're taking on a $2 million a year, 1.5 million, I don't remember what the number is, but a significant amount of money.

And if the result is that we get to that point and we have in the meantime chased out people who are doing it essentially for free,

I would just say, you know, I mentioned this in closed session, you know, one of the immediate concerns I have is, I think, at an absolute minimum, you know, the timing of this personnel decision has created a lot of doubt in community members minds around the reasons for this decision.

And in particular, was the motivation

this is a belief that efforts at discipline and reform had gone too far and was it in response to the efforts of the PBA and you know one of the immediate concerns in the interim is what are we going to do to ensure and ensure for the public

that we do not go backwards on reform.

And that is a real concern in terms of has this sent a signal that it is time to go back to the old ways of doing things?

And I desperately hope that it's not.

And in particular, I can think of some specific things just in recent years in terms of the Charlottesville Police Department ending their relationship with the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force

Jade, increased data published on the website, the approach to rallies and protests from the community compared to years past, compared the past two summers to Richmond, Fredericksburg, where tear gas was deployed and it was not focused on de-escalation.

The recent disciplinary actions taken internally within the police department that

I fully support and my understanding that city leadership had fully supported how are we going to ensure those things continued and aren't rolled back and how are we going to be able to promise that and deliver on that for the community you know is a major concern because as I already said you know I'm very worried that this sends a signal that this was perhaps motivated by that reform is not going to

went too far from what we've heard in closed session and other discussions.

I've heard and hope and pray that that's not the case.

But I think it's up to city leadership to prove that now.

And I think

Any chief of police is going to be in a near impossible situation of trying to navigate reform while leading the department while also navigating the complexities of community members in who would like to see even more extensive reform than what's happening.

And that's a very difficult, you know, near impossible position.

And I just hope that we are able to

I certainly hear those concerns and see how the public can see it that way, but I certainly have confidence that those things were not directly linked and that there are a broader range.

I just also agree with what Counselor Snook said.

These are personnel discussions and I'm really sensitive to how much we will discuss publicly at this time without really understanding what the scope of that discussion would be.

Additionally, I was one of those.

I met with the rescue squad

earlier on in the pandemic and ask some questions and do feel that we do need to have some kind of circling back and a better understanding of what that looks like.

Again, just not wanting to get the council too far involved in that, but it clearly is coming up and it certainly comes up every budget cycle when we look at that.

Okay, so I'm just going to start with your comments.

Vice Mayor McGill, do you have comments?

Okay, so Lloyd, when you say you don't understand, and I usually send you these type of emails in private, but I'm not going to do that tonight.

You just said in response to comments about the chief, fire chief,

that you thought you used the words grossly unfair.

Okay?

So maybe you don't know how to monitor yourself, but that would be a good time for you to do that.

You would need to find out more information without criticizing employees publicly when you and Counselor Hill already have a lot of information because you've been meeting with them.

So that is the type of thing that you shouldn't pretend is not occurring.

And then you should not criticize staff members publicly.

And then you should at least have enough information.

Okay, well, you didn't make that clear.

So I met with the group.

I then met with Chip.

I then talked to Chief Smith.

It was my understanding at some point, council was going to be fully briefed on, and we obviously just have gotten some letters back and forth on that, but then we were going to be given an overview as a council on this process.

I thought that was coming in the near future.

No, it is coming.

It's coming on the 20th.

I would say years, yes.

Okay, a year and a half.

Chief Smith, since his tenure here, and I'm not going to let this point go because I think whatever we, when we talk about employees, I think I'll just say for me, what I've shared with the, with CHIP and with Chief Smith is that I think that we all want the same thing.

As someone who has needed emergency services, we want people to get that service as quickly as possible.

So I hope that's all of our goal and that's what I've said.

But how do we determine that information is what we have to figure out in a fair way?

and if you're talking about changes are being made to something, we don't have that information.

If we immediately are gonna say that people who have the most, are most vocal or who are hearing from the most people, there were speakers who were, how do they know that CFD firefighters came in for overtime?

So those type of things, while the bottom line is, I think we all want the same thing is for citizens to receive adequate care as quickly as possible.

I have seen someone pass away because they didn't.

Not under Chief Smith.

I'm just saying in my time.

on earth.

I just had a traumatizing experience last July, July of 2020.

And so I think we all want the same thing, but how do we determine that?

And I just hope that it's a fair process.

I know, Chip, we had discussed this, and this is one of the incidents where you had talked about how do we get accurate information in.

I don't think that that should be

Anyway, I'm going to leave that thought.

Vice Mayor McGill, this was coming, you know, conversations about fire and the former city manager was coming up.

And I know you were spending a lot of time on your own researching other fire departments to try to figure out where, you know, what was the information that we were receiving and was it, you know, accurate information.

And so I'm just hoping that we all understand that things may change, may not, I don't know, but that we look for the information that serves the citizens best and is not aligned with

the way things have been or even the way things may be in the future if that's not the best course of action.

But if it's a fair and just equitable process in determining that and not that there's a system in place and that system needs to be maintained in some way.

I know if I call, if something happens to a friend, family, stranger, I would like for them to get care as quickly as possible so that there's not a ripple effect for whatever happened.

And so that is what I am attached to here.

I think that we all are.

I think that's the main driver for this.

Just making sure that it

I think as a community that we're coming together to make sure that we can leverage all the resources that can weigh in on this and have the best possible system.

I'm not tied to any system.

This is not my area of expertise.

I just know that we're hearing from a lot of people and there are concerns being raised.

I have...

after my meeting, I reached out and I'm just I'm going to leave it at this.

Um, my next comment is I unless I missed something in the closed session, we did not discuss ground rules.

We were advised that it was probably not the best route to take.

Um, and so but if we decided to take that route, then we could.

Um,

And so that's different from trying to determine ground rules or not.

Dr. Brackney is also on here.

Doesn't matter.

They still have rights to confidentiality.

Go ahead.

But in the case of ground rules, I agree.

I believe he's talked to more than eight people.

He said eight.

I think you asked specifically about a person with a specific background, but I am confident he's talked to more than eight people.

Because you have talked to more than eight.

Okay, all right.

Okay.

I'm going to ask my questions at the end.

I'm just saying that the concerns that have been raised fall well outside of law enforcement.

So you want to share your list?

I don't.

I have no desire to get into this.

But you have been influenced in the process.

I have not influenced this process.

I found out at the same time as the rest of this council, that decision has been made.

Do I support that decision?

Okay.

Thank you for at least being honest.

I am being honest, yes.

And you have talked about this a lot.

I talk about a lot of things a lot.

Okay.

I talk about it a lot less.

So again,

So I'm going to go through the consent agenda.

I have shared my thoughts about the cars and Chief Smith is on here too.

And I know that he's given a presentation at the 20th.

But since there were several comments about there, is there any objections to hearing three minutes worth of thoughts from him about the comments that we just heard?

No objections.

Chief Smith, you're on with Council.

You'll have to unmute.

Well, I'm prepared to say a lot more than this.

I'll follow my previous direction.

Only comment I have today.

Chief Smith, you're welcome to respond.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

Good evening.

With my over 33 years of public safety experience, I realized that improving a system requires a level of change in the status quo, which sometimes encourages stakeholders to move from how things have always been done to adopting best practices which must align with the needs of the community, our mission, and national standards.

Ultimately, the enhancements that have been adopted is appropriate for the 10 square miles in the city and is used in other regions that provide EMS and fire services.

We don't have to look far as it relates to proximity dispatch.

Albemarle County, right next to us, has implemented proximity dispatch since 2016 or 2017.

Proximity dispatch ensures that our residents and visitors get the closest

appropriately staffed ambulance and or first response vehicle based on established national standards and best practices.

As an accredited agency, CFD aims to provide an ambulance on scene within eight minutes travel time for basic life support emergencies and four minutes travel time for advanced life support emergency regardless of the neighborhood.

Since the implementation of proximity dispatch in July 24, 2021, our residents of 10th and Page, which is ranked number one for the occurrence of cardiac arrest and number three for diabetic emergencies for all city neighborhoods, have seen a response travel time improvement of 10% at the 90th percentile in the small sample set.

In examining ambulance arrival times, an ambulance arrived on scene 12% faster, within 3 minutes and 48 seconds, 90% of the time.

Prior to proximity dispatch, an ambulance was reaching the scene within 4 minutes, 18 seconds.

In Whitefield, which ranks second for asthma and stroke emergencies among the city neighborhoods, residents have seen a 35% improvement in our response travel time.

We arrived within 4 minutes and 40 seconds 90% of the time, where prior to proximity an ambulance arrived in 7 minutes 12 seconds.

Fry Spring residents have also seen a 55% improvement in travel time for medical emergencies, reaching patients almost 4 minutes faster than under the previous dispatch model.

Finally, the Ridge Street Response Area, which is ranked third for cardiac arrest and alcohol related emergencies, has seen a 16% travel time improvement, which equates to our arrival of about five minutes and 24 seconds, which is about a minute and five seconds faster.

When examining about six other neighborhoods collectively, which includes UVA combined, there's been a 17% travel time improvement.

Overall, the system has seen a 6% travel time improvement and 7% unit best performance improvement based on a comparison of 357 calls before we implemented proximity dispatch and 338 calls after we've implemented proximity dispatch.

We look forward to continuing enhancement of the system here in Charlottesville.

Measuring and meeting performance measures within the city is a priority for the department.

and a timely response to every neighborhood and to the citizens is most vital.

Thank you.

And my only two questions from that, because again, I thought that we would have a meeting with the CARS team, with Chief Smith.

And from my understanding, and since I'm misremembering a lot of things, just for clarification, was this something that was going to be set up at some point in the future and had been advised against?

at this point, Ms.

Robertson, and I know there are two issues, and so was that clear for Dr. Smith?

Because I think from the letter that Ms.

France sent, they may think that they are being ignored, and I don't think it's anyone's intention to ignore them.

That's right.

There are a couple of things going on.

So CARS had an attorney contact me, and so I've had some discussions with that attorney.

Also, Chief Smith had set up a meeting with CARS or had planned to have a meeting and then recently received a letter from CARS that

was quite frankly not conducive to sitting down in a setting to talk about some of these important issues.

And so the meeting was postponed and a date was set to allow Dr. Smith to bring city council up to speed on all of the information and the data

and his thought process for why he thinks this direction for the city's EMS delivery system.

And so there is a there is an intention to meet with cars.

And in order to work this through, there will need to be that meeting.

That was honestly my main question.

I thought there was going to be a meeting of both parties and I wasn't clear if we were going to be involved or not.

It's fine if we're not.

Absolutely fine.

Because some of the, I mean, this is not my wheelhouse, I admit it, but just some of the speakers I took notes just are driving the point home around response time versus what services we need to be responding to.

Dr. Smith has gathered a lot of information and both the city manager and I have heard from Dr. Smith and he has shared some of that information with us but that's the point of the meeting with city council is that you all will then be able to hear directly from Dr. Smith some of the points and the

the policies that he believes are important for the city to adopt and but again at some point in time the city does need to sit down with cars and there had been a meeting planned it just it did not happen due to a number of circumstances before now but there has you know the issue of response times is

is very important and it's important that everybody be on the same page and that there be a service delivery model that is the best one for the city of Charlottesville.

All right.

Ms.

Beard asked, who is the hierarchy at City Hall?

And I think that's an important conversation for us to have.

It should be counsel.

I know there's been a lot of discussion about what one-fifth mean, and I know there's been a lot of confusion about the fact that I'm a very strong Black woman, and people don't like that.

And so that has nothing to do with wanting to be

the only voice, but I am a very strong and firm voice, and I do share my thoughts.

I am not boxed in, and never will be.

I think it's important, and we received Ms.

Robertson's interpretation of the code.

I think we owe it to citizens, and I've said this

before, and I said we needed to have this conversation before.

If we need to clean up what advise and consent is, because if it's my understanding, I think the Board of Supervisors, just our neighbors, are responsible for hiring their and firing their police chief and fire chief.

But if I'm wrong, if any of you know, and that it's really open to what counsel

decides.

I had a discussion with Counselor Snook this weekend where we had this conversation.

Don't start changing these things and being okay with an undemocratic process because you don't like me.

And especially when the changes that you all are making don't affect you.

Don't affect your kids.

Don't affect your friends.

and when the neighborhoods and the people who are most vulnerable to racist policing practice, you don't have contact with often.

And so, Ms.

Beard, in terms of who is in charge at City Hall, this is why I have been saying for since four city managers now,

that that is a position that needs to be elected.

Not because I see myself in the position, because of the power of that position.

And I hope the community is understanding that while that is not something that's gonna happen today, this is your community and deciding whether you want someone who doesn't have to answer your questions to be able to make decisions this important behind closed doors and never answer,

not a particular person, not former Chief Brackney, Dr. Brackney, but about process, that is something that we should have already had.

It came up back in the winter with the appointment of Ms.

Robertson and it's a deviation

Heather, since you've been here and you're okay with this now and you weren't before.

When we had Mr. Blair, hired Mr. Blair, we hired him together.

We sat down and evaluated him together.

That is not something at this point that according to Ms.

Robertson, she thinks we should do.

And that is where this discussion came up.

In terms of the city manager, we sat down as the entire council

and provided, interviewed and provided feedback to Mr. Jones about the hiring of the police chief.

So to say that none of us needs to be informed about why and be able to ask any questions about that process should be unacceptable to us all.

There's a whole list that I have.

about why I think this form of government needs to change.

And I have been clear, it's not something that I see myself in.

If that person is that powerful, they need to be elected just like the rest of us.

That has been my statement to that.

And... Okay.

You feel informed.

I thought you said you didn't know.

I was aware of circumstances.

So what process were you informed of?

A short one or over time?

I just, it was clear that there were some discussions, I thought, going both ways on the future of the department and the

I didn't.

After the chief was fired, that she was going to be fired after being told that she was doing a great job.

I don't agree with that.

That's the assessment that had been relayed.

So you are now telling me what Chip told me?

I haven't been having these direct conversations for months, no.

There were certainly conversations that happened before Mr. Boyle's tenure in this topic area, I think we're all aware.

And there's been conversations over the last several weeks, yes.

All right.

not related to any decision at all like this, no.

Just to be clear, I don't think that I said and certainly didn't intend to say if I did that I had been having discussions with Mr. Boyles about Chief Brackney for months.

I have said that there have been issues that have arisen over a number of months

Okay, a few weeks, a few weeks.

Michael didn't know.

I feel this is a decision of the city managers and we hired the city manager and

This is his job.

It is his job to run the city under our overarching policies.

I feel that he talks to us.

I feel he communicates with us.

At this point, I'm so tired.

There's because then this makes sense.

If he had his three votes and he was clear about it, you can just admit that you've been talking to him longer than receiving the information after he terminated her.

Mayor Walker, one of your fundamental premises is incorrect.

I have never

recommended to Mr. Boyles that he fire Chief Brackney.

and I've told you that and I've told you about my last conversation with him on Point where I expressed my basic concern that I did not think that changing the folks at the top was necessarily a guaranteed way of getting to a better or different result.

That's the last discussion I had with him.

Now I'll say that but I also say that what my attitude on it has always been

I will give him the benefit of my information and of my general concerns but that it is his call and I back him in his call it is something about which I believe reasonable people might disagree and I believe that given all of the facts many of which have not been made public many of which haven't even been hinted at in this discussion I believe it was a correct decision as well

You're supported.

You're talking about a major decision like the police chief, fire chief, department heads.

Are you telling me that when you all try to recruit somebody that they...

Any time a person starts a question with, are you telling me, my answer immediately is no, because what it means is you're trying to distort what I've said.

I've said what I need to say.

You don't like the way I said it.

Oh, you mean the fact that people usually want department leaders to go quietly because they have to seek another job?

Or they usually don't have people who have the same characteristics as the chief, as a council member, so that five people would have sat there and not answered any other questions to the public and labeled it a personnel decision?

Again, I'm not going to play your is that what you mean?

All right.

I have questions at the end and hopefully they will be answered, I guess, either today or at because there's a section where I can ask questions or by the next council meeting.

Are there any other comments?

All right, I'll call this meeting back to order.

Next up, we have item number 12, amending and reenacting Charlottesville City Code Chapter 19, Section 19-59 to change the length and numbers of terms for members of the City's Retirement Commission.

Good evening, Council.

This is related to the Retirement Commission member term changes.

As you know, the commission's responsible for oversight of the retirement plans.

Currently membership board is composed of member of city council, which I am, the city manager, director of finance, director of human resources, the city treasurer, and then beyond that, appointed membership, which is three employees, a retiree of the plan, and two community members.

Right now, those employees and retirees can serve two three-year terms, and community members can serve three two-year terms.

and so we have been discussing as a commission what's the appropriate like length of terms and number of terms as well as the cycle of those terms in light of council's desire to get on more of an annual basis of that of appointing folks and so right now the retirement commission honestly has people at different periods of time and rolling off it you know all over the place it seems at different months of the year as well as different years that appointment schedule creates issues with

That's continuity membership.

This is definitely a commission that does value more of a longer tenure for folks because there is a learning curve that comes with it.

And so what we're proposing here is each member of the retirement commission that's appointed would serve up to four separate two-year terms consecutively.

And after each two-year term, obviously council will have the option to reappoint or to make a different decision.

And the few advantages that we listed here are administratively.

It's simpler if all members serve in the same length of terms and have the same limits.

The appointment anniversary is staggered to prevent any turnover, too much turnover at any given time, while making it simpler and clearer to know when appointments end.

Changing the term limits allows for continuity in the commission that has a long learning curve, as I mentioned, for new members, but also allows flexibility for members who choose not to continue serving.

And then the transition proposal result in appointed members finishing in the June timeframe, which again is what council staff has been striving for us to get to.

And it's, again, important that not all appointed members rotate off at the same time, but that there's a regular anniversary of appointments when people are getting up to speed and any kind of training needs to take place.

And so I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

The ordinance is attached.

Just kind of gives a sense for right now our existing membership and what this transition would look like for them.

No one will be exceeding the amount of the terms that we're proposing here by making this transition, but took a pass at really just trying to

get the appropriate staggers of these terms and also get them on that June cycle for different years.

All right, so there's a desire to move this forward for the consent agenda for the 20th.

All right.

Next up, we have a resolution approving major design features from design public hearings for the Barracks Road Image Street Smart Scale Improvement Project.

It's one reading.

Good evening.

This is Brian Copeland.

I'm the senior project manager

consultant for the City of Charlottesville for the design of the Barracks Emmett Improvement Project.

Is the presentation ready?

Thank you, Mr. Wheeler.

Right there.

So I'm excited to share with you some of the work that we've been doing over the last two years for the Barracks Emmett Project.

I'll try to be brief and get to the details of the design public hearing that we held last month.

The project limits include the intersection of the Barracks intersection project heading west along Barracks Road to the Buckingham Road intersection.

Next.

2018, the city was awarded $8.6 million in VDOT smart scale funding that had some pretty specific improvements that were laid out.

The scope of the project included an additional northbound right turn lane on Emmett Street, an additional westbound left turn lane to allow for concurrent left turns on Barracks Road, some traffic signal improvements, improvements to pedestrian refuge areas within the intersection, as well as some upgraded bike and pedestrian facilities on the Barracks Road, on Barracks Road, up Hilltop Road, and a new cat bus shelter on Barracks Road.

As of today,

The project is fully funded, is currently on budget and on schedule.

Over the last two years, we've gone through the scoping and visioning phase, including survey, traffic analysis, forming of a steering committee with which we've had several meetings with and developed a preferred concept through a robust public engagement endeavor that I'll talk a little bit more about.

From there, we went in the winter of 2020 to our 30% design, including approval from City Council and Planning Commission that the project is in substantial performance with the comp plan.

We're currently in the detailed design phase, working through a lot of the design details with VDOT, and then hopefully with your approval tonight, that will give us the ability to move forward with right-of-way authorization and starting to move utilities.

Next I'll talk about some public engagement that we've gone through.

Approximately two years ago we started meetings with individual property owners.

We formed a steering committee with which we've had three meetings to gain feedback from local stakeholders.

We had a public workshop all gained on all focused on getting input from the public.

We also had a public survey where we gave the public several options for providing bike and pedestrian

improvements along Barracks Road, had several meetings with the Place Committee as well as the Tree Commission at the time.

We at the end of last year or actually the end of 2019 we had a public open house sharing results of those survey of the survey results and then met with City Council had a final steering committee and then just last month held our BDOT design public hearing virtually.

Next I'll go through some of the major design features of the project.

Focusing in on the intersection of Barracks Road, Emmett Street intersection, on the right hand side of the image you'll see that we've added a second dual left turn lane.

This allows for concurrent left turns for westbound left turns and eastbound left turns.

That is focused on improving operations through the intersection.

We've also proposed to incorporate a slip lane for the northbound right turn lane that will provide for shorter pedestrian crossings.

One of the challenges with the intersection being skewed like that is to accommodate large tractor trailers and large trucks.

So we feel like that will better accommodate large trucks as well as provide shorter crossing distances and refuges.

The medians have all been widened to six feet, provide acceptable pedestrian refuge for all legs.

We've realigned each of the crosswalks to further shorten the crossing distances for each crosswalk.

And we've also basically we're replacing the entire traffic signal with an upgraded signal.

Along Barracks Road, we had a strong focus on Barracks Road.

One of the biggest things that we heard through public engagement was trying to preserve the tree canopy that gives Barracks Road its neighborhood feel.

And so we sought to kind of repurpose some of the wide travel lanes out there.

One of the biggest benefits of doing that is it not only seeks to maximize use the right of way and minimize impacts to the property owners and trees, but also has a traffic calming effect.

Another thing that we heard was that enforcement of the 25 mile an hour speed limit on Barracks Road can be a challenge.

With this, we're incorporating a 10 foot shared use path and a three foot grass buffer strip to allow for greater separation as well as roadway signage.

And finally, we have a retaining wall.

that we're incorporating along pretty much the entire length to help minimize impact to the canopy as well.

This is a picture of Barracks Road looking downhill close to Hilltop and Buckingham Road.

Next.

This rendering kind of shows the narrowing of the travel lane, the grass strip, the shared use path, as well as the sidewalk.

The retaining

Wall.

This wall will have be a form liner brick pattern that you see here.

And we did, through the process, have a well-known manufacturer or form liner contractor provide a sample that was kept on one of the properties next door to allow people to come out and look at it, feel it, touch it, look at it and get a feel for what this will look like when the project's finished.

Next.

Another interesting component of the project is the lighting.

So as opposed to having traditional street lamps that run in the buffer strip, we want to try to limit the amount of lateral obstructions that we had adjacent to the turn lane to incorporate lighting into the wall.

Next, we'll get into some of the feedback and takeaways from the design public hearing.

We had 35 people.

attend the virtual public meeting, and we received 33 comments.

We did receive general and repeated support for the implementation of bike and pedestrian improvement along Barracks Road.

Not unexpectedly, we did, you know, rehear a lot of concerns about vehicle speeds and impact to the pedestrian safety crossing Barracks Road, which we tried to address with narrow travel lanes, trying to control and maintain that 25 mile an hour speed limit.

We did hear concerns about the slip lane and its safety relative to pedestrians crossing.

So we have signalized both the northbound and the southbound right turn slip lanes to provide a signalized stop condition for pedestrians to cross in those locations.

We did have some concerns with a stand of Hollies that exist along Buckingham Road.

And so we're going to take some steps to minimize impacts to those.

We also had concerns with where the Shero markings were terminating at Meadowbrook Road.

The westbound lane will contain Shero markings, and so we're proposing to go ahead and extend those all the way to the intersection.

And we also had concerns with, you know, what a form liner type retaining wall might look like relative to real brick.

And so that was the purpose behind having a contractor bring a sample out.

So with that, we are recommending approval of the major design features as shown with the three changes that we heard most resoundingly.

And those three changes being signalized, signalization southbound right turn lane.

We had originally proposed to signalize the northbound slip lane, which is the new slip lane with the project.

We're going to also signalize the southbound, which is an existing slip lane to provide equal level of protection.

And like I had mentioned, adding the share roads all the way to the Barracks Road intersection, Emmett Street intersection, and minimizing impacts to the holly trees that I mentioned at Buckingham Road.

Thank you.

I have one question.

This is

comes up in the community feedback of, you know, all these design projects, but just, I know there's that one separated multi-use path, but for the area where there's shared bike paths with the road, what are the reasons that those aren't protected bike lanes with a physical barrier between that lane and the cars?

There was a lot of compromise made in the cross-section that we implemented.

The

Like I mentioned, the thing we heard more often than anything else was preserving the tree canopy, limiting impacts to the trees.

And obviously, if you've driven through there, it's a beautiful road.

I mean, there is tree canopies that hang over the road and every tree.

We basically sought to minimize as much as we could any impact.

And the addition of a dedicated bike lane on that side would have added five feet of additional width to the overall cross section.

and push those improvements further into the trees on the south side.

You may also be familiar, if you've driven through there along heading westbound, there's a very steep slope that heads up one side with a lot of trees that are basically growing into the slope and for all intents and purposes, holding that slope in place.

And so if you ended up widening to the north side, you would be getting into impacting that slope

having a lot of utility relocations and really having significant impact on the budget, which the budget would not be able to absorb a change like widening on the north side and the south side to provide that.

Nope.

At this point, I feel pretty familiar with this whole project.

Thank you for all the effort.

All right.

A second?

Ms.

Thomas?

Mayor Walker?

Vice Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Councilor Hill?

Yes.

All right, that carries 5-0.

Thank you all.

Next up, we have an update on the disposition of the Lewis Clark, Sacagawea and Confederate statues and the ratification of the Council's July 10, 2021 decision.

Thank you, Mayor Walker and Council.

As you stated, there are two separate items on this.

One is just an update of where we are with receiving the letters, statement of interest and proposals.

on acquisition of the Lewis and Clark Sacagawea statue, and then the second is to ratify actions that you had already taken.

We held an emergency meeting in July, and this is just to confirm the approval to remove that statue and base on that date.

On August 27th, we received the offers from, I believe we have seven

proposals from all around the country.

I have included in your packet a list of those seven proposals.

They range from public

entities to private entities and nonprofit and even local government and Native American tribe that are interested in acquiring.

They also range from strict donation to a payment to the city as high as $325,000 for the acquisition of the sculpture and vase.

All of the respondents did respond that they would move the statue and base at their own cost as well.

So those are before you.

We aren't asking for any type of decision on this tonight.

One of the things that I will be providing you, we've begun to process here, is identifying website links for each one of these entities interested in this sculpture.

We'll provide that to you.

And the recommendation we would make is that a committee be formed with one or two council members to work with staff.

and then with any community members who may choose to be involved so that we could come back to you with a recommendation of the final disposition of the sculpture.

There are quite a number of variables.

It's not very easy to compare each one of these criteria.

So having a community group to make the recommendation back to you, we feel would be of the best interest.

and it would help to determine what Council's priorities are for the final disposition of this sculpture.

So that's just for you and for you to provide guidance to us how you would like for us to come back with the recommendation of which which one of these offers we should take, if any.

The second of course is just to confirm the vote that you held previously in July on the removal of the statue and the base which we did as we were moving the Confederate statues and we've been storing the Lewis and Clark Sacagawea statue and base at the Lewis and Clark

Museum and Activity Center at the Dardentale Park.

I will be glad to answer any questions that you may have.

We are taking a vote to ratify the resolution.

No, ma'am.

We just need your guidance on how you would like for us to come back and make a recommendation.

I will say in terms of the disposition of the statue that I think seeing it, you know, in its space in the park, I know that it is some community members desire to have it there.

But while I'm glad that it's no longer on Main Street, I do have concerns about that location, too.

But I also

would hope that we wouldn't send it to another location either.

So based on the information that I have here, I still have some concerns about all seven proposals.

I'm happy to volunteer.

If others feel stronger and want to be there then that's fine too but I am happy to volunteer.

I thought is fine with the committee if it helps us get to a decision, I would say

As I've said before, my only interest is in having the final disposition be to a group that's going to work closely with descendants of Sacagawea and the Indigenous community to determine how it ends up and how it's contextualized and arranged permanently.

I guess I would generally agree with what Michael just said.

I have noted from some of the comments that we've received that it appears as though the sentiment among the Native American community is not unanimous, and there are some members of the

the Native American community who have a different view of the statue and its significance and whether it's derogatory or not.

I don't need to get into that.

Okay.

I'll leave it at there's a difference in how it ought to be treated and how it ought to be handled.

I normally I've been very involved in it, but I'm also not interested in participating in any where symbolism is more important than day to day actions that we've seen throughout history.

So I'm not volunteering for it.

But I hope as I have tried to maintain conversations with the family and make sure that they were here so that we would hear from them that ever committee is formed, that they are

and any local members.

One is right in the, you know, city manager's office, a member of one local tribe, and there were other, two other members from the university that represented local tribes that have relationships with their families too.

So I hope that they are Grace and, I'm drawing a blank,

But I can get those names if you all don't have them.

Well, if there's a sense that we need to have two members of council, I'm willing to be the second.

With a second.

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Councillor Hill?

Yes.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good evening, Mayor Walker and Councilors.

This item is being brought to you in support of our effort to regain compliance with our ADA transition plan.

As you know, in recent years, we've been challenged to maintain consistent long-term employment in the ADA coordinator position.

We are internally working on a plan to transform our process to better workflow ADA inquiries.

We're currently interviewing candidates for the coordinator position and we expect to have someone who can manage the day to day and work to implement features of our new plan that will come for your approval in the near future.

In the interim, I have asked Alex Ikafuna to serve as Acting ADA Coordinator.

Alex is more than capable of managing this process while continuing to work in its current capacity.

The goal is to immediately land some consistency to receive inquiries, collect technical responses internally, coordinate official responses, and to

Revised Plan for a better process.

The need has been unmet for too long and Alex will immediately join the internal working group to assist in planning a full update to our management of ADA inquiries and obligations.

We expect to return to a permanent hire.

We expect to return with a permanent hire for your approval in the coming weeks.

The idea is to have that person work with Alex for a few weeks upon starting.

And at that time, Alex will resume his other duties full time.

And people may not remember that this is actually one of the very few such positions that is supposed to be actually named by council.

So most of the time, staff is free to do what staff needs to do.

In this particular instance, this particular job is one that the transition plan itself says we appoint.

All right.

Any other questions or comments?

All right.

Is there a second?

Second.

Ms.

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Councilor Hill?

Yes.

All right.

Thank you.

That carries.

And Mr. Sanders, thank you.

Counselors?

So I do have some questions for the council's follow-up and I just want to ask the questions that I have asked and that I haven't received answers to and some of the stuff that I don't think was cleared about the police chief position

and whether they're answered or not, I would like them on the record.

And I would just like for us to think about the fact that we just had a ADA coordinator board for us and that we're asking for the permanent person to come back so that we know that these rules have been created by someone and that they can be changed by someone.

So as we move forward, whatever long term looks like, I hope that we keep that in mind.

But my questions are based on what information has been presented by Mr. Brown and the platform that he has used and that Bellamy Brown and that that process started

and his collaboration it seems with the PBA because he did not get the position with the PCRB.

I asked staff repeatedly to address that because I felt targeted and

Chief Brackney was targeted.

And we were not, I wasn't even on the first panel.

And unless I missed something, she could not make that decision in isolation.

And so I would hope that that one is made clear to him at some point, because it's not fair to leave that out, even though it should have been addressed a long time ago.

But we also need to talk about that platform being used

for this purpose and that it was never addressed by staff and based on the conversations that we've had today if council needs to determine when council should respond to something or when the people with the most information is going to respond to it because they are our appointees I would like an answer to that.

The August 20th press release was also unsigned and that was a concern where people thought this was something that the chief forced out.

And so I would like a public response to who worked on that survey and why the name was left off of it.

Specifically for the city manager, why wasn't your name on it?

And if you didn't approve the press release

How did it reach the communications?

This is not a incident where like Tyler is still here and they have their own press and that still was a collaboration with our communication office.

And I understand that part of the concerns and what has been put out in the community has been that Mr. Wheeler was out

on vacation and Mr. Rice shouldn't have put the statement out.

And if that is true, then I would like for somebody to answer that question.

If it's untrue, I would like for someone to answer that question.

I also have the question on what occurred between the August 20th press release and the August 30th press release.

I would like to know when it was discussed for Major Mooney to take the interim position and was the decision made to just place the chief on leave instead of totally firing her so that council would not have to appoint that position.

Mr. Bowles, you said to me that there were three things that Major Mooney requested for his retirement.

I would like for you to at least send that information to council if that is protected information.

And how was his retirement able to be reversed so quickly if that is personnel information?

I think it is a question that council, even if it's in private,

should be able to have the information on it.

I would like to know how many meetings were had with Michael Wells and if he was secretly recording Major Mooney, who has seen those tapes and what's on those tapes.

As you all know, I sent the email that he sent to us

to their, the office, I guess their regional office in Georgia.

And I got no reply about the information on their tapes directly to them.

I don't think that that was something that did not influence this decision.

And I think that is something that we should be able to ask.

already answered, asked that one.

I have questions around the direction of reforms that everyone in there, Counselor Snook in his interview, Mr. Bulls, that you have said.

And so if Chief Brackney was leading the organization with the most important factor, changing a police department,

and the way that the most vulnerable communities are treated by that police department, which there is not a higher goal that any of us should have than that.

How was police officers' concerns, how did they trump that?

And I would like an answer to that.

I also would like some information as I requested in my email about how many police officers that were if it was based on these surveys I have a lot of questions about how it was determined that command equated chief because it clearly was specific towards captains consistently the internal survey

and then if we are factoring in the PBA survey that had grave concerns about both community and command and what did you do to determine how valid those concerns were and I think that should be a question that we would hopefully have the answer to by the time that we are asking anyone else to take this position

Seriously, especially if we think and I don't know how we are going to get anyone who is reform oriented.

I know I'm probably missing something because I am exhausted.

But I have sent emails with a ton of questions too.

So I would like those emails

and the questions that I asked in the emails, especially related to how it was determined that officers' concerns were valid.

Were the exit interviews, the information Heather is refuting that there were eight individuals talked to?

Who are those individuals?

Should you be able to keep external sources secret in a decision this grave?

And if so, why?

I'd only add what specific plan and steps and actions will be taken to ensure that reforms that have been happening are not rolled back and how, again, what specific plan and steps will be taken to ensure that the department

And I have questions around in terms of supervision of the positions.

if there is, in terms of meeting with the chief and former chief, Dr. Brackney, and informing her of the concerns that you had, the feedback that was given to you from these internal, external sources, and why

on September 1st, if this has been an ongoing discussion, if you didn't want the public to tie what had been going on for weeks, which shouldn't have been allowed to linger, why the decision that day and in that way?

Thank you, Mayor Walker.

We're at Matters by the Public.

If you'd like to address counsel on any topic, please click the raise hand icon in the Zoom webinar to get in line.

Each person will have up to three minutes to address counsel.

Our first speaker is Ange Khan.

Ange, you're on with counsel.

Hi, thanks.

Yeah, so first, I want to thank you for demonstrating

to the community why police reform doesn't work and how benefactors of oppressive institutions will at any cost uphold white supremacy.

You, along with your cohorts, have made a firm case for dismantling the CPD.

listening to the comments and concerns in tonight's meeting.

The counselors that refuse to answer questions posed by the public or otherwise, opting out of vital concerns that our community members have because it makes you feel uncomfortable,

especially in regards to decisions that will impact them and their loved ones is not an option for you all.

So that's all I have to say on that.

On another note, I do have some questions regarding housing vouchers.

My first question is why is there a three-month time frame for recipients to use their vouchers?

Is this a time frame for every recipient?

My second question is how are these timeframes determined?

My third question is low income housing is scarce in Charlottesville.

Was this taken into consideration when putting these timeframes in effect?

My fourth question is, how many people have lost their housing voucher due to these timeframes, barrier questions on rental applications, not having the funds for application fees and or lack of housing options?

My fifth question, are there rental application assistance funds available other than, well, I don't think there are any actually.

So are there rental application assistance funds or is there a plan

to form some type of funding for rental applications since the vouchers are being given to low-income individuals.

Looks like she dropped off, Mayor Walker.

Okay, I see that Mr. Sales is on here.

I think they are important, especially when we're talking about in this climate home.

Do we mind elevating him for a second just to, well, she's back.

Oh, I'm definitely finished.

I'm just watching white supremacy and patriarchy work at one time.

All right.

Thank you.

Yeah, I'll bring on John Sayles.

Good evening, Council.

So to answer Ms.

Collins' question, federal policy initially gives 60 days for voucher holders to search for housing.

They can get up to another 60 days for an extension if they are unable to find housing in the first 60 days.

The current funding does not allow for security positive assistance or application assistance to waive fees.

But with the new housing vouchers, which are the emergency housing vouchers through HUD, we have 15 of them.

We're working with TJAC to issue those.

that funding does provide security deposit assistance and application assistance fees to help with some of the fees and also some utility allowance can deposit fees and funds and housing assistance so if a family needs assistance finding housing we can hire someone or work with another agency to help them find housing

but that's only for the emergency housing voucher.

Our typical voucher does not have the additional funds behind it to provide those additional services or waived fees for security deposit or application.

We've got eight hands raised.

Our next speaker is Tanisha Hudson, who will be followed by Don Gathers.

Tanisha, you're back on with counsel.

I want to focus on a couple of things.

First and foremost, I'm glad Mr. Sales is on here.

I'm also glad the housing issue came up.

Let's discuss how Ashley and Sam are telling CRHA they need to find their own funding.

and Lean Away from Getting Funded from the City.

That's unacceptable.

We house most of the low income people in Charlottesville Redevelopment Housing Authority.

And before you come to a new city and try to make demands about where people should get funding from and they should lean away from the city, you should know why we're in this position anyway, number one.

Number two,

Sena, you said you support the city manager and this is his job and you all should allow him to do his job.

Did you feel that way about Richardson?

Because weren't you the one that told Richardson, take your money and go take care of your family?

Didn't you say that?

I think you did.

And I think that this is very similar to Richardson's situation, where you all were having these secret meetings, because Heather, Nakia, Murphy, Baxter, Daley, and everybody else, Teresa Weiss-Moore, Kaki Demick, and everybody else that wanted him out of here, y'all did the same secret meetings.

So we can't advocate for one Black leader and we leave the rest of them out.

And none of you advocated for Letitia Shelton to stay.

It's unacceptable.

It's unacceptable.

Heather, you didn't influence the decision.

You definitely influenced the decision with Richardson.

And you know you did.

Lloyd

confidentiality.

You share so much stuff in the nine minutes that you did that W-I-N-A interview.

You share so much stuff.

One minute you said y'all didn't know, the next minute you said you knew it was coming for months.

Which one is it?

Which one is it?

Y'all all petty.

You support Chip's decision, but you're scared of a big black man.

You support Chip's decision, but you're scared of a black police chief.

You support Chip's decision, but you question Hedstein being a fire chief.

It is sickening.

All of y'all should just go ahead and give it up.

Just walk away.

Just walk away.

You left out a lot of information when I talked to you, and you know you did.

You ain't going to call me no more because you know you messed up.

You know you messed up big time.

You had the final say in that press release.

It was on you.

And while everybody keep trying to throw shots over at Mooney, they need to throw them at you because you were her boss.

You had the final say.

You were the boss of the police chief.

It's sickening.

And why y'all want to point the finger and do all this extracurricular stuff that don't matter?

What are your solutions?

What are you going to do to stabilize the city?

Tell your new people that you brought here that you hired that the last thing they should be doing is telling somebody about funding that houses more than 80 percent of the poor people in this city.

It's unacceptable.

Tell them to go stop funding Sunshine and PHA and AHIP.

Our next speaker is Don Gathers, who will be followed by Michael Wells.

Don, you're back on with counsel.

Thank you, and good evening again.

I greatly appreciate the questions that Mayor Walker posed.

They're very poignant and important questions, and I hope that she and the community gets answers to those.

I had one other question or comment or however you would like to view it.

If we are truly geared towards and interested in racial equity and diversity and inclusion, why did we not just go ahead and it's not a slight on Officer Mooney, but why not just let him go ahead into his retirement and appoint Captain Durrett or Major Durrett

to the position of interim chief.

He has some 30 plus years on the force.

He's in a command position.

And I just don't understand why we didn't look at at least or consider appointing him to that position since Mr. Mooney, Officer Mooney or interim chief Mooney had already indicated his desire to retire.

If we can't claim to be interested in racial equity, inclusion and diversity on one hand,