City Council Meeting   9/20/2021

Thank you

Counselor, would you read us out of closed session, please?

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

Second.

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Snook?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

I call our regular meeting to order.

A moment of silence.

Thank you.

Thomas, would you do a roll call, please?

Mayor Walker Present Vice Mayor McGill Here Councilor Hill I'm here Councilor Payne Councilor Payne I'm having trouble hearing you Here Councilor Smith Here Thank you

Thank you.

And I have an amendment.

The amendment I move to approve the agenda.

I don't know what the amendment is.

And the third one is to discuss the letter that we received about the PCRB chair.

Are we going to discuss it under other business because they weren't noticed?

I mean, they came in order of the next item.

to amending to discussing the process for hiring the next chief and in particular interested in what we can do to guarantee both in that process with future the department that reforms are continued.

I support that.

so anyway I I would happily join in the discussion of the process for replacing Chief Brackney and if we want to say we're going to discuss the issue with Mr. Brown at the next meeting so that we can have a chance to have have thought about it I'm fine with that as well I just don't think it ought as a matter of fairness to the other counselors ought to be sprung on us at this point

I'll just state that about why we can't discuss it publicly.

Never mind.

So right now there's only agreement a second to amend the motion to discuss the hiring process for a new chief.

But certainly at a minimum, I think it's true that there ought to be a public discussion and some response from

City leadership about some of the specific questions that were asked last meeting to the extent they can be openly discussed as personnel matters and I would agree with that also if we want to put both of those other items on the agenda for next meeting that's great I just I get apprehensive about getting into matters of some sensitivity without having noticed that they were coming I don't have my notes here at home for example so

And by the time those are answered, maybe we would be ready to have a discussion.

I just think that that's fine.

Thomas, do you have the amendment that we're voting on, just the hiring process for new chief?

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Snuff?

Yes.

And on the full agenda as amended, Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Snow?

Yes.

Thank you.

Next up, we have announcements and we'll start with the updates from the health department.

And are you able to see the slide?

Yes, we are.

And with that, I will turn it back over to Mayor Walker and open up for questions.

But I'm wondering now with Delta and where we are, what are your thoughts about citizens who only had one dose of a vaccine?

And we would encourage everyone if they've only received one dose of Pfizer and Moderna to get that second dose so that they can get the full coverage that it offers.

And do we have any data on how many people who have been hospitalized have only received one dose?

So it does help, but I just don't know how much, especially related to hospitalizations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Dr. Bonds will be back next month, so I guess we won't see you, but thank you for joining us this evening.

Good evening.

So are there any other announcements?

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Next up, we have boards and commissions appointments.

And the Youth Council, Zania Bryant and Christopher Francino.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thomas?

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Snook?

Yes.

Thomas, would you read the Consent Agenda, please?

First of two readings.

We'll turn it over to Mr. Wheeler to see if there are any comments on the consent agenda.

Go ahead.

And if you don't have the courage simply to respond to something that simple, please leave the stage.

You've got three minutes.

Oh, sorry.

Okay.

You've got three minutes.

So can you all hear me okay?

We can.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor Walker, there are no other hands raised.

You're a second.

I'll second it.

and further comments.

But again, it's not something that we directly control, and it still seems to be better to divert people from going into jail through this program existing than if it purely didn't exist, even though it would clearly be better without requiring pleas.

and there are plenty of arguments to be made on either side and they were made 20 plus years ago when the drug court was founded and we certainly other folks other than Charlottesville City Council may well want to have that discussion but it's not ultimately our decision and it's not ultimately something that I want to endanger the entire program over so that I make that comment only because I was addressed personally in this regard

Is Mayor Walker present?

I don't see her.

She may have lost connection.

Okay.

Okay.

You know, Tay, just wait a few minutes.

She did lose connection, so I think she sent you a text, Vice Mayor?

She's back.

if you could check in you know it's probably me I'll just join that way so it won't be a break thank you did anyone did you all wait or did we move on?

I was going to say Michael and Moyes spoke and we have not moved on from the consent agenda we have a motion and a second but no vote yet

Thomas?

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Snow?

Yes.

That carries 5-0.

Next up, we have the city manager response to the community matters and to councilors.

First, there were two meetings held.

Mr. Bowles, can you read each question that was asked and state whether you are deferring to a later date or whether staff is still working on it or that you can't because of personnel?

And that's what I have, Madam Mayor.

What happened at the follow-up meeting?

And the follow-up meeting was an audio recording that I heard but did not receive anything on.

So what was on that audio recording?

It was an officer's discussions with a PBA representative.

Which officer?

We're starting to get into personnel there that I'd rather not say.

Like how did they get the discretion to your discretion to discuss personnel?

They shared their audio tape.

About an officer?

Yes.

So if you can't share who was on it, what were the contents of the audio tape?

It was just a conversation between a police officer and a PBA representative.

I gathered that, but I'm asking you specifically what information was on the tapes?

It was just the conversation between the two regarding the police department.

Do you remember the conversation?

Not really.

need some more information since I am apparently the only one concerned here about this about what the personnel discretion and when you choose to exercise it and when it can be discussed publicly just to give us a jumpstart for the next meeting and a month after this incident have occurred before we may be able to discuss it.

And so the more information I have that I can try to answer, then I can get advice from the city attorney's office of whether I can share that or not and not infringe on the personnel rights.

So if you gathered information from officers and you made a decision to remove the police chief as a result of that, is that the officer's personnel or the chief of personnel?

Their personnel writes that they have a confidentiality in sharing information.

And how many is that?

I believe that I said I'd spoken with six.

Okay.

So you are saying now that you made a decision to fire the police chief after speaking with six officers?

Well, I spoke with other people as well.

Could you share who those people were?

They were regional law enforcement leaders.

So is that including the former police chief of the city of Charlottesville?

I mean, that's something that people shared information with me knowing that I would not be sharing.

Is it still those three organizations or are there additional organizations?

Yes, those three.

and that what just a general, I think you should be able to give us a general understanding of what the complaints were and how you made a decision that those complaints were more important than reforming racist policing practices in a community that have devastated the black community in this city.

where there is not as much disciplinary action, where the response to protest events is not focused on de-escalation, where there's not continued effort on the Marcus Alert system and efforts to bring in mental health and behavioral health into the service delivery model, the police department, et cetera.

And, Councilor Payne, that is exactly our intent.

were more important than the reforms that were taking place to change policing practices in the community, which predominantly affects black citizens.

but that that direction needed to change to preserve the department so that it could continue to provide the safety and protection that our citizens deserve.

Okay.

So- Madam Mayor, I thought we had decided this was not going to be on the agenda this evening.

So I can ask these questions.

I'm just trying to figure out what your rules are because they're your rules.

We amended the agenda.

Not to include this issue.

And since it's the 20th and this happened on the 1st, there should be answers.

that you wanted to have that you apparently don't feel we can have tonight?

My questions weren't answered.

I'm just wondering whether we're going to continue the discussion when it's on the agenda.

What were the officers' issues in the surveys?

I don't remember that being a question for tonight.

So you made a decision to fire somebody and you're saying that you can't recall with the main issues of the service?

What I'm saying is I wasn't prepared to answer tonight so that I could be specific with your answers.

But you know the information so it could be a quick answer and we could move on.

It's a very complicated subject and I spent an enormous amount of time weighing a number of the issues.

Are there any other questions or comments?

But I do think this is a conversation that clearly needs to be had publicly.

you've listed that the surveys were included in your deliberation and even though there were counselors who stated at the last meeting that that wasn't a consideration and I think that more importantly if we are talking about that we were assessing or motivation behind something with someone's action or integrity that the person who made this decision's integrity should not be questionable.

Mr. Will, I'll turn it over to you.

Sarah, you're on with counsel and you've got three minutes.

Thanks for the opportunity to speak to you all.

Thank you.

Myra, you're on with council and you've got three minutes.

Can you hear me?

You might have to speak up just a little.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

And I have to regret the people that I endorsed and supported for this city council sitting there on their rear ends.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Can you all hear me okay?

You might have to speak up just a little.

And Heather, twist your head, because you're going to be the next one.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Katrina Turner, you're on with council and you've got three minutes.

I just want to say, can y'all hear me?

Yes, we can.

I just wanna know if you're gonna get rid of the chief of police for this, you need to get rid of the police for what they're out there doing.

Turner.

You've got three minutes.

so it means that you can get it through your nose and so yeah masks right now please wear your mask I'm back to being a vaccinator thank you very much for not wearing your mask okay bye thank you thank you our next speaker is Gudrun Campbell who will be followed by Peter McIntosh Gudrun you're on with counsel you've got three minutes can you hear me we can

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And you'll have to unmute your microphone.

Can you hear me now?

We can hear you.

I also served on the Parks and Rec Advisory Board in the 90s.

It sounds like you have another speaker running the meeting in the background.

Sort of like being on the radio.

And you'll have to unmute.

There we go.

That's much better.

it's a way for the public because as the prior speaker has said the people are getting into the garden it's wonderful green space and Lord knows we all the citizens of this this uh thank you area need it at this point more than before so please support the the police okay sorry I'm out of time thank you very much Mayor Walker

You've got three minutes.

Can you hear me?

We can.

I'm Mike Fox, state legislative lead of the Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

And I'm Katie Fox, the Moms Demand Action local group lead for this area.

Thank you all for taking up this important issue and for your service on city council.

Thank you.

David, you're on with council and you've got three minutes.

Can you hear me okay?

We can.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

I hope you'll answer the question as to why that was not part of the agenda today.

Are there any questions or comments?

I have one more.

I know that Counselor Snook had some questions just procedurally about this, considering, you know, this is something that we have to understand more broadly about what the process should be, but I did not consider this to be an issue that we'd get resolved.

So when are you all planning to get your question answered so that we can get to a resolution?

I'm happy to take the follow up just on the questions that we've already posed to get those answers this week.

So when she made the comment, just do everything possible, I just want to make sure that she isn't expecting that something is going to change.

that's been part of the discussion I know for for several years that was just it was a mistype it was using an older form letter but to our knowledge there is absolutely no video that would be available that she has asked for in the past okay that's all my questions any other questions or comments

I will be prepared to talk about it in two weeks if you want it on the agenda then.

That's the first time since you've been here.

I've never denied you that prerogative.

I asked both weeks knowing full well what I could do for you all to do what you claim you were going to do when you were elected.

I don't even understand what you just said, Mayor Walker.

I don't know what you had planned to do when you were elected, so you're going to have to answer that.

Well, obviously you did because you just said that I had all these plans that I'm not following through on.

and unless you are motivated by getting more clients for you to provide inept defense for, you should be concerned about how police treat citizens in this community, as I told you before.

I have things at the office that if I had known we were going to be discussing, I would have made sure I brought home.

Like what?

Like notes, past emails, et cetera.

So you can't pull them up?

I'm trying to pay attention to this meeting.

Heather, he brought the comment up, so I'm just saying, I asked you all, I know that I could have put something on the agenda.

and it would have been very helpful if you had.

You need advance notice to be able to discuss something?

To be fair to the people who will be listening to what we have to say, yes.

because you have told so many tales, you have to see, make sure they're consistent.

I think it's time for our recess.

We could have avoided this conversation if you have kept your comment to yourself.

Are we taking a recess, Madam Mayor?

Are there any other comments? 915.

Mr. Bowles, are you back?

All right.

And yeah, there you go, Mr. Tack.

I am available for any questions you guys may have.

comments?

like just do we follow up long term to see like the success of those ventures?

I can check to see what the long-term success rate, if you have a particular program in mind that you wanted to see.

and that the requirement those government's recommendations that came through the affordable housing plan that even though I know the government has its own basis that we are just making sure that we're spending wisely.

We're still trying to tackle that situation.

Any other comments?

So we'll open the public hearing.

Joy, can you hear me?

I apologize.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

We all around do better, do better.

Thank you.

You've got three minutes.

Thank you.

Mayor Walker, there are no other hands raised.

I also just miss attack do you have like the history of just like can you remind us again I thought you would kind of kind of talked about it just how long we've been in these two neighborhoods and the neighborhoods that preceded them and what kind of just at a high level what drove that decision making just real quick before you answer just to say I'll close the public close that that's clear but good yes so red streets has been

And then it jumps to five Phil has been 2013 2014 2012 2011 And then it jumps to Rose Hill and 2010

There's been a longer history than I realized of them having continuous support into one neighborhood over the course of multiple years with the hope of making a greater impact on some of the larger projects.

I mean, it does take multiple years worth of entitlement funding to bring that type of activity to life, if that makes sense.

Are there any other questions?

Okay.

Um,

questions that I have expressed throughout the entire time I've been here about how the home funds are used and whether the citizens are receiving the best service possible.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Snow?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Tack, and have a good evening.

And there will be a public hearing at the second reading.

Mr. Boyle is my understanding that you know at a future date there will be further discussions around this kind of operationally the the usage agreement um I just want to make sure that's clarified as something that's separate from this discussion yes that that would be separate and it would be so that making sure that all of the community has access to the park um and and at a reasonable amount and um and that would be that would be in partnership with the city thank you

I have just questions about the, are those items that you just mentioned, the pedestrian bridge and the stream restoration, are they already in the CIP budget or do they?

No, ma'am.

Okay.

And the restoration is both a match and a grant.

Okay.

Are there any other questions or comments?

And that would be added for the second reading and the public hearing.

And Mr. Bowles, in terms of the CIP, is this on the current list or is this on the current unfunded list?

I think if Chrissy may be on, she would probably remember.

Oh.

The trail and restoration.

I think he's on.

That was part of the original master plan agreement with the city that the city would have built a trail regardless of the garden to provide public access to the entire park.

So it'll be done in phases?

Yes, ma'am.

Any other questions or comments?

possibilities and it's I'm just really excited that we're at this point because every year when we've heard from from stakeholders that really wanted us to be able to fund the infrastructure for these facilities it's just been clear that we just haven't been able to make it a priority but yet if you know something that there has been commitments towards and so just get a lot of credit to the gardens for the work that they've done throughout the pandemic just in a you know much of volunteer capacity and just the momentum that they have and just excited that we have this opportunity for this partnership

Ms.

Okay.