City Council Meeting   10/18/2021

Ms.

Thomas.

Mayor Walker.

Yes.

Vice Mayor McGill.

Yes.

Councilor Hill.

Yes.

All right.

Thank you.

That carries.

We'll have a moment of silence.

Mayor Walker?

Present.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Here.

Councillor Hill?

Here.

Next up, is there a motion to approve the agenda?

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Vice Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Councillor Hill?

Yes.

All right.

I'd like to congratulate the city staff on winning three environmental awards for sustainability.

A public announcement just came out.

Wow.

I'm trying to pass on congratulations to hard work.

Well done.

Any other?

Next up, we have recognitions and proclamations.

Are there any other sides?

All right.

So I have three items.

So the city of Charlottesville has received a commendable set of recognitions for its work towards its Green City vision during 2020.

a year filled with challenges that have demanded persistence, dedication, and performance.

In July, the city was announced as a winner of the 2020-2021 Better Business Challenge hosted by the local nonprofit C3.

This year competition included 75 area businesses, nonprofits, and schools who took actions to reduce their environmental impacts.

In August,

Charlottesville was approved as a DEQ Virginia Environmental Excellence Program Veep Sustainability Partner for the ninth consecutive year.

The Veep Sustainability Partner track is designed to encourage organizations across Virginia to make environmental sustainability part of their culture through leadership, innovation, and continual improvement.

Organizations must demonstrate this commitment through measurable and verifiable

conservation efforts, leading to direct and indirect improvements in energy usage, water usage, waste generation and other environmental benefits.

In September, the city of Charlottesville was selected as the 2021 EPA WaterSense Program Sustain Excellence Award winner.

This is the fourth time the city has achieved this award level in the seventh year of receiving awards through this program.

WaterSense partners contribute to the program's success by enhancing the market for water efficient products, practices, and services.

We remain committed to continued progress and work and appreciate the organizations and community support.

So again, congratulations.

All right, next up we have the consent agenda.

Ms.

Consent agenda, one, minutes, September 7th, closed and regular meetings, September 15th, joint school reconfiguration meeting, September 21st, council quorum at the planning commission work session.

Number two, Resolution, Appropriating Funds for the Charlottesville Victim Witness Assistance Grant, $257,024.

Second reading.

Three, Resolution, Appropriating Funding Award for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Employment and Training, SNAP ENT, $112,708.

Second reading.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Walker.

If you'd like to address counsel, please click the raise hand icon.

Again, this is not community matters.

It's just for items on the consent agenda.

If you're on via telephone, you can press star nine and each speaker will get up to three minutes.

Okay, thank you.

I move we adopt the consent agenda as presented.

Mayor Walker, there's actually one amendment that needs to be made to the resolution concerning the city sheriff's office.

Can I suggest that amendment right now?

On page 31 of the packet where the resolution appears in the second whereas paragraph, just so you'll understand, the Sheriff's Office tells me that this proposal wound up getting changed, but not quite perfectly changed between a couple of different iterations.

so it should read whereas the Charlottesville Sheriff's Office has a total of 11 sworn positions that meet the qualification for the one-time $3,000 bonus seven are funded with compensation board funds and four are fully funded by the city and then who also qualify for the $3,000 bonus it says $12,918 in city funds will be used to cover and then the missing words are

the four otherwise approved deputies to be fair and equitable for sworn members.

All right.

I will continue to second that.

And any further questions or comments?

And my comment here is just, you know, as an HR leader, this is definitely one of those areas that we have needed to consistently look at.

The sheriff's office, they've been requesting increases, or at least there have been discussions of it and they haven't received it.

and because of the way the pay is allocated and the state's funding of some of those.

And this has come up twice, I think this year with the jail too, where some employees are comp board and others are not.

And so how do you make it fair and equitable?

And we just had this at our last meeting too.

And so we should do as much as we can as a city to make sure that, you know,

We are doing the best that we can with making sure that their employees are taken care of also.

And along with the conversation around equity, and I'm going to bring this up later when we discuss the allocations for the American Rescue funding, and I spoke with the city manager and I sent the email today, and sorry it wasn't a detailed email, but on Friday about

We gave a one bonus to employees and at that time I didn't think that that was sufficient but it was better than nothing but as employees hear and see and read in the news and newspapers that there are pockets of employees getting bonuses that we do want to look at this and make this I think a priority for how we spend

that funding, and since we have pockets of money set aside, and I know there's a lot to do with it, but the challenges that staff have had to endure with navigating COVID, it could just be right up there with making sure that the most vulnerable members of the community are taken care of.

Okay, no further.

Ms.

Mayor Walker?

Yes.

Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Mayor McGill?

Yes.

Mayor McGill?

I see, I didn't know, I see that Sheriff Brown is on here.

Yeah, no, it's, as you had stated, it's coming from the state.

And so we're just trying to make sure that it's something that can be applied to the rest of the sworn deputies as well.

And again, we went through this with the jail last week.

because it's also covering regional jails.

Yes, yes, very much so.

We were actually able to, the starting, it's kind of a compression issue.

We were able to get the starting pay somewhat adjusted last summer

But it didn't affect the pay for people that have been here for years.

And that's where it's, you know, very, very close in regards to compensation.

That's where we're trying to get adjustments made.

And we had not been part of studies for numerous years.

So we weren't giving adjustment.

We weren't given adjustments because we weren't part of the market studies.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Okay.

Next up, we have the Community Matters.

And I'll turn it over to Mr. Wheeler.

Thank you, Mayor Walker.

One of those did drop out.

But if you want to get in line, please click the raise hand icon.

Each person will get up to three minutes to address counsel on any topic.

The people we have signed up in advance are Lori Shirk,

who I do not see in the webinar, but we do have another Lori who's raising their hand, Myra Anderson I do not see, and then Jean Hyatt.

We're gonna start with the Lori who has their hand raised and see if this is the person that signed up in advance.

You've got three minutes.

Go ahead.

My name is Lori Shirk and I signed up to speak today, the morning after the last meeting because I was so upset after being verbally assaulted for my comments concerning the amount of gunfire and other violent crime occurring where UVA students live and learn.

Never in a million years would I imagine that thanking the heads of the two agencies responsible for safety of its residents and their timely professional collaboration, which has now led to a month-long reprieve and gunfire, would be met by such contempt and disrespect by Mayor Walker, as if quoting Kendi is somehow an equivalent substitution for the absence of basic decorum, dignity and respect towards constituents and colleagues.

This is a public square, and it's supposed to be a safe place where stakeholders can speak to the issues of the day.

To their elected officials, it's the foundation of representative democracy, most especially at the local level.

Sadly, here in Charlottesville, a hostile environment exists, where malice and bigotry is perceived in everything that is said and done, and the gotchaism has become the new form of governing.

and the goal is not merely to punish the person who's been ensnared.

The goal is to send a message loud and clear to everyone else, step out of line and you're next.

The result is that good people, dedicated people, qualified people in this city disengage from the process altogether as evidenced most recently with the premature departure of city manager Boyles and Major Mooney and over a dozen other city leaders in less than two years.

because the need to feel safe trumps the need to speak truth.

The city is now paralyzed, brought to her knees, not because of some noble effort to burn it down and build it back up, but because persuasion, the purpose of argument has been replaced with public shaming.

Facts are replaced with feelings.

Ideas are replaced with identity.

Forgiveness is replaced with punishment.

Debate is replaced with canceling.

And diversity is replaced with homogeneous thought.

Inclusion with exclusion.

Speaking the truth in this city comes with a cost.

And my hope is that Acting Police Chief Major Durrett can muster the courage to stand up to the oppressive environment that currently exists in Charlottesville government.

Courage to speak up about the myriad of issues that have gutted an agency's ability to ensure that basic human right of community safety exists.

Thank you.

Our next speaker who signed up in advance is Marci Garcia.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Marci Garcia and I am a UVA parent.

My husband and I have lived in Virginia most of our lives.

And for the record, I am also Hispanic.

I mentioned this because of references made at the last city council meeting referring to UVA students as rich white kids.

My husband and I both work for a living and our family is neither rich nor white.

and I am not here to take sides.

I'm here for one reason only and that is to advocate for the safety of the Charlottesville community.

My child is part of this community.

For the last few years she loved living in Charlottesville until the spring when the gunshots started.

Then in August and September there were more shots.

My daughter would call me saying, Mom, I hear gunshots.

I am here in my apartment and I hear gunshots nearby.

I received these calls several times in the course of two months.

She was scared to walk alone and go out at night.

Most of you here have children.

How would you feel if you got these calls from your child to feel helpless and not know how to comfort them?

She's only one of the few people in UVA and Charlottesville who fear for their safety.

A few weeks ago, her friends were at the Kung Fu Tee when the Pizza Hut shooting happened.

This happened in broad daylight.

This isn't just something that we can ignore anymore.

No one wants their child or family member to come home in a wooden box.

And every parent, regardless of whether you're white, black, or brown, or regardless of what your nationality, gender, or creed is, every parent has every right to be concerned for their children's safety.

Stray bullets are colorblind.

I'm here with two asks.

First is that the City Council continue to support the efforts of the police around public safety as well as their initiatives.

and the second is that the Charlottesville Police and the University Police continue their collaboration in ensuring the safety of the communities that they serve.

They are severely understaffed and we thank them for their efforts and we hope that they will continue in their efforts to keep Charlottesville safe.

Mayor Walker, our number three speaker withdrew

and number four is Myra Anderson, who I do not see on the webinar, but I'll keep watching.

And so next we will go to Jean Hyatt, who's the last of our speakers who signed up in advance.

Thank you, Jean Hyatt, and I live at Meadowbrook Heights Road.

Good evening, Mayor Walker and councilors.

Thank you for your time and effort in

You'll work on city council during these challenging times.

I have a few concerns to share.

I see the city is maintaining a pedestrian mall with beautiful plantings and regular maintenance of trash and removal of litter, and that is great.

My concern is that there is a problem with considerable litter on the side streets as you enter the mall that is not often dealt with.

So as workers, residents, visitors walk to and from the mall, the litter on the side streets is less than great.

Perhaps city maintenance people could extend their care of the mall to include one block out on these side streets.

My other concerns are in the Rose Hill and Kellytown neighborhoods.

As commercial development on Preston and Rose Hill has significantly increased and with the expansion of the school population at Burley, there are many more cars on Rose Hill.

It often feels scary and a little dangerous for pedestrians crossing Rose Hill.

My suggestion is that the speed limit be reduced to 25 miles per hour instead of 35.

and that a four-way stop is placed at some intersection along Rose Hill Drive.

I would note that Rose Hill from its intersection with Rugby Avenue is reduced to 25 miles per hour as it goes north to Walker School.

And Rugby Avenue's speed limit was reduced from 35 to 25 miles per hour several years ago.

The speed limit on Rose Hill during arrival and dismissal time near Burleigh Middle School

is reduced to 25 miles per hour, a better speed.

However, at other schools like Green Bayer Elementary, the speed limit is reduced to 15 miles per hour.

Finally, I ask you to drive over to see the site of an oversized building being constructed on the corner of Rose Hill and Amherst.

The neighborhood tried unsuccessfully for several years to get the city to modify the size of this proposed building.

It is allowed by the B1 zoning as well as a special use permit.

There are many concerns about this structure, but one is that is situated too close to the backyard lot lines of the neighbors' homes.

Please walk over behind the building to see how close it is to those backyards.

It gives us a sorry example of the importance of transition zones and step backs between different types of zoning districts.

So we have 13 slots remaining for the public, and we have three hands raised right now.

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

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

Good evening, Katrina Turner.

First of all, I just want to speak again to the parents of UVA.

I would like to ask them, how long are your children going to be in this community?

Because see, you want things to change with the police while your children are going to UVA for three, four, five, however many years that they go.

Then when they leave the community, see, the police are going to be doing what they

always do to our community.

Do you want your children safe for three, four years?

We want our children safe too.

And this is what we've been asking for.

But have we gotten it?

No.

But as soon as somebody from UVA speaks up, oh, now we're going to get things done.

No, I don't care what color you are.

We all need to be protected.

Now, real quick, I want to read this statement.

You guys really thought a white trans woman, an Egyptian, and a Hispanic guy were the best qualified to be executive director over this black community, over a black native with excellent qualifications.

Now this email came from Bellamy Brown, the chair of the PCRB.

and this is talking about the other applicant for the executive director and he's talking to Heather Hill.

So I'd like to know how an applicant for this job is talking to a city councilor.

This is so disrespectful for him to talk about an Egyptian.

a Hispanic and a white trans woman.

The majority of my great nieces and nephews are Hispanic mixed with Hispanic.

I have many lesbian gay people in my family.

For the chair of the CRB to write something like this to a city council member

and disrespect, all of those applicants like that does not look right at all.

So how was he able to get the name and correspond with you, Heather, about this?

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Robin Hoffman, who will be followed by Jeff Fogel.

Hi, everybody.

I want to share my condolences to our general manager, David Dillahunt's dad died October 11th.

He was a war vet and he died too soon.

But also what was remarkable is I had tried to contact David about a new series I'm doing.

And he actually answered that morning of his dad's death, which is what I wanted to say today is all those hidden heroes that we have here in the city.

David is outstanding.

He's a quiet person.

He doesn't brag about his

contribution to the city, but it's enormous.

But I also want to say that maybe we can highlight Charlottesville Community Media Center for all those issues.

We touched on things, we collaborated on Michael Payne's campaign, senior softball series just won an award, botanical garden series,

Climate Action Series, even UVA Sports.

We had Latinx Immigration.

Sheriff Brown was on our show during COVID telling everybody about what the Sheriff's Department was doing.

We can do this.

Even our neighbor in Stanton, former Mayor Dole, she was on during COVID.

We zoomed her in and she was forthcoming about what's going on in Stanton too.

Why people are not understanding too that David takes the time to work with producers,

and he puts in the new shows himself, Mental Health Expert is new, Foodie Channel is new, and during Charlottesville Community Media Center's opening on New York Place, it was highlighted that we needed people with abilities to be able to do their shows

And so it is accessible and there are applications for the people of hard of hearing.

So anyway, I want to thank David very much and thank you for supporting Charlottesville Public Access TV.

And please, if you want to tell your story, we would love to hear them.

And people are remarking to me, RMC said something about me being a public

access when I went to see a concert.

So people are watching and it can be more interesting.

And if you do a series, it does become a story.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

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

Jeff, you're on with counsel.

Thank you, Brian.

Good evening.

We actually heard somebody say in the midst of her attack on the mayor that safety trumps the truth.

That's a recipe for dictatorship.

I'm sure it was quite safe in Beijing.

I'm sure it was quite safe in Berlin when the Nazis were in control.

But if that's the perception of our community, you're going to split us in half.

You can't tolerate people who were prepared to say that we're for safety over the truth.

I mean, that's unbelievable.

Really, what I also want to talk to the people so concerned about the level of shootings and attributing the reduction in shootings to the increased presence, apparently, of the UVA police.

Several things have to be kept in mind.

The truth, unfortunately, for some people, crime is down an incredible amount in Charlottesville over the last 10 years.

We presented that in our Just Charlottesville Task Force.

The evidence is all there from the planning, the criminal justice planning officer for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District.

And yet we haven't even taken account of that fact that crime is down so much.

The notion that police stop crime is a fantasy.

Police may catch criminals, but police don't stop crime.

Chief Brackney was absolutely right when she said if there's going to be a reduction in the use of weapons or violence in the community, the answer has to come from the community.

And people in the community have stepped up.

And so it's more likely that any reduction in the use of weapons in the city is a result of groups like the bug squad, not the UVA Police Department.

And so let's be smart, hopefully, about how we look at the problems that we face in the criminal justice system.

We've spent decades saying, oh, just put more people in jail, hire more cops, brutality works.

Torture works.

I mean, only the courts have stepped in to stop the police from engaging in all of those things, torture and brutality and everything else.

It doesn't work.

We need to be smart.

We also need to look at whether we need as many officers as we needed 10 years ago if crime is down as much as it is, and if we're all looking at alternatives to policing for a whole variety of situations.

So I urge the people who are worried about their neighbors, their family and others to be smart about it.

Realize that police is not going to stop this.

You need to support the community efforts that are making those efforts within the community to make sure that this doesn't happen.

Let's be smart about criminal justice.

And counsel can hear from up to 10 more additional people.

We have two hands raised.

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

Next up is Gloria Beard, who will be followed by Justin Reed.

Hello, this is Gloria.

I just need a question answered.

I asked it before, but I didn't know if anybody understood it because I never did get an answer.

Can anybody tell me what happened to Melissa Morton?

I worked with, you know, the registrar for 10 years and she was really good.

I mean, that's why I stayed.

But then all of a sudden she was gone.

She's another black person in leadership that was gone.

And I'm just curious because this year I see she's not there.

I now don't like to keep, you know, hearing stuff through the grapevine.

I want to know the truth.

So can somebody please answer that question?

What happened to Melissa?

I worked with the Register, like I said, for 10 years, and all of a sudden she was gone, so I'm no longer working with the Register because I stayed because of her, because the people they've been putting in place now, oh, you all, y'all need to check out these people they be hiring, they are not good, very disrespectful to people of color, and I'm a witness.

Our next speaker is Justin Reed.

Justin, you're on with counsel.

Hey, good evening, counsel.

Mayor Walker, good evening.

I just wanted to speak on the issue of policing.

I'm a city resident and I'm also a new dad.

I have the honor of putting my daughter to sleep each night.

And I have to say that lately I've been kind of watching the windows.

I've been more mindful of where I stand when I'm rocking her to sleep.

You know, just a few months ago, there was a shooting, one street over from where I live, and there was a shooting, two shootings within three days.

And I'm also concerned, and I just want to reiterate some points that were made earlier.

I do not want UVA parents determining how our neighborhoods are policed.

I sympathize with them, but I think, you know, they simply don't have

the knowledge to be making those types of decisions that could potentially impact negatively so many lives here in the community.

I was a little concerned when I heard that UVA police and leadership have met with parents and I don't believe that UVA police have reached out to the Tenton Page Neighborhood Association

UVA police haven't reached out too far.

There are several neighborhood associations and groups that I would expect police to reach out to before they reach out to UVA parents.

And to my knowledge, they haven't done so yet.

And so I'm concerned that this decision was made to expand policing without having these conversations first.

All right, last call for hands for this part of the meeting.

Click the raise hand icon if you'd like to speak.

We have a couple hands up.

First up is Vizena Howard will be followed by Jenny Keller.

Vizena, is it Vizena?

Go ahead.

You've got three minutes.

Yes.

Hold on one second.

I'm sorry.

Great.

I'm trying to make sure I adjust it because I'm looking at the council meeting and I don't want it to echo.

Yep.

Okay.

You can.

I just want to say that I am.

I think we lost you there.

I'm going to pause it.

Are you back?

Yep.

I'm a native of Charlottesville, Virginia and I've been here all my life and I live on Anderson Street and so it just bothers me to hear these calls as far as the parents talking about UVA because again I've been born and raised here and the shooting has always been here and so just to hear that now everyone wants to try to do something about the shooting because it's UVA that bothers me and it bothers me a lot

and it bothers me that Heather Hill was so, I'm trying to get my words together.

She was just so, she was just so sympathetic for those parents.

And I mean, what about the community, the black and brown community that has to hear the shootings and the babies, you know?

So I just think that maybe it's not all about UVA, but what about the black and brown community who lives here, who's been here, who's had

to endure all of the violence.

And I think that Nikuyah Walker has been doing an excellent job.

And I think you guys should be praising her.

And for Heather Hill not to be supportive of Nikuyah, that's a problem.

And Lloyd Snook not to be supportive, that's a problem too.

For all the councils to not be supportive of the mayor, that's a problem.

When they were supportive of other city officials that were doing

is doing terrible things.

They supported them.

But we have a mayor who's speaking up, who's trying to make a change for the black and brown community.

And no one's there to support her and rally around her.

That's a problem.

And we need to fix that.

And again, I'm sorry, but I have to go back to the UVA because where was those parents when they were having COVID parties and passing around the COVID?

and the numbers were spiked up.

I didn't hear any of those parents complaining then.

That's it.

Next up is Jenny Keller.

Jenny, you're on with counsel.

Good evening, Mayor Walker, members of council.

I really was just watching as I generally do, and I didn't have any intention of speaking tonight, but it occurred to me that I had a story I'd like to share with all of you.

As you know, this is my hometown by birth as well as by choice.

I've lived in many other communities across the United States and in Edinburgh as well.

and all of them happen to be academic communities and all of them have various struggles and challenges as well as opportunities because of being an academic as well as a residential community.

And so I just wanted to thank all of you for your varying perspectives and your commitment and your service, what you're doing for the city.

Even if you have different ideas, these diversities of opinion are really important and we're not that unique.

it's happening all over the country and I just wanted to say thank you to all of you and I wanted to share what had happened to me a few days ago when a colleague and I were taking advantage of the nice fall weather and working on a project together on our computers on the front porch and one of our Charlottesville police officers came along for a routine matter and he stopped and chatted with us and

and we had a very pleasant conversation and we asked him some questions about things we were wondering about and he answered them in a very professional and friendly manner.

And my colleague had actually had something disturbing happen to her on her porch and she explained it to him and he said, well, that's a peeping Tom issue and it's really very serious and you should call back.

And so she told me that later that evening she did and that they'd been very responsive and very helpful to her and she felt

much more secure, although it was a very troubling situation to her.

So I just wanted to share with you that things are proceeding and that I have every confidence that we as a community will work out whatever issues we have and that all of us should work together to make sure that we can make this an equitable and thriving community for everyone.

So thank you.

We have up to six more slots.

I'm sure I'll just address Ms.

Turner's comments around certain like through FOIA, the text that Mr. Brown had sent to me certainly do not condone that language, but that process was not

one that we discussed.

I expressed my frustration that some information was made available in ways that I have no idea where that was made available, but certainly know that those processes are things that we value confidentiality of from stem to stern.

And so the only comment that I did make to Mr. Brown around that process was that I felt that it was a process that went very successfully.

as it came to this conclusion.

And so I just wanted to address that concern.

And then regarding the comments of how I responded to the parents in the last meeting, I thought I was clear in that I was acknowledging that all parents, and I certainly recognize the impact that mostly this has had on those who live in this community for all of their lives.

as knowing someone whose home was penetrated by a bullet during one of the shootings in the 10th and Page neighborhood, it certainly has hit truly home for some people.

There's many children in our West Haven community that don't feel safe playing outside at night, and that is not an environment that anyone should be happy with.

And I agree that it's going to take more than traditional policing.

We voted recently just to continue providing funding to these

There are other community groups that are looking to be into these neighborhoods and making those relationships different than we know that our traditional law enforcement can, but it's not ever going to be solved by just any one route.

We're going to have to be really creative and working collaboratively to ensure that safety is paramount to especially our youth.

So, Ms.

Beard's comments, there's a board for the voter registrar, so they make the decisions on hiring counsel.

The city manager doesn't have anything to do with that, and

There was some questions around even how we were notified that that person was no longer with the city.

And I, for one, didn't know until it was brought to my attention.

So just wanted to answer that.

And the only other comment that I'll make is the comments around the

concerns UVA.

I think I've been clear the entire time that I've been here that safety and how people are treated overall is a big deal.

Countering the discussion, the point centered around UVA students over

the concerns of the community, I wouldn't call those hostile, malicious, whatever was said.

I didn't go back and listen to that previous meeting, but my recollection of that meeting was that it was centered around the chief, Chief Brackney, not working towards making changes

and that now since there was new leadership in place and their partnership that that was somehow the reason that we had arrived at this point of fewer shots fired.

And I think that's what I addressed in

the last point and of course always concerned about UVA being the center focus for any other changes that we need in the community and to understand that you would have to do a significant amount of research to under

to understand where native people would be coming from, who have been pushed out of their homes, who have had to work in low-wage jobs and not be considered, really considered at all in a lot of things, but to be of service.

And to the university and their students without taking in consideration the needs and the care and concern of the community.

And so anytime that I speak of UVA and when I talk to them, that is the direction that I am making my comments in.

Other community members who heard that are coming from that same space.

There has been no one that I've heard from that says, let the shooting imbalance continue.

and the holistic viewpoint of how you curb violence, you have to also acknowledge the humanity of everyone involved and figure out what the needs of those are in the community.

People who may be perpetuating violence and potential future.

And that should have been my comments, even though I haven't gone back and...

and listen to them.

So whether I was in this position or not has always been a concern of mine.

And I would ask the speaker to go back and listen to their comments and how they framed it.

And that might give them some insight on the reaction that was received.

And as far as any of the changes

in city government that has happened to them since then.

There is a pretty long record on the community and there are people have various opinions of those matters, but the information is out there.

And...

And I just think that'll be my last comment, as I've said throughout the entire time I've been on council, that to resolve these issues, there's been a lot of discussion about there's an increase of shooting all around the country.

which I try to focus on Charlottesville and make sure that we are, you know, like just really zoning in on like what are our issues, but the level of poverty in this system and everything that poverty creates

is something that we are going to have these type of episodes until we figure it out.

As one of the speakers said, unfortunately, this is something that we have held to deal with.

A significant amount of especially Black men who have been killed in this community since I've been aware that people

you know die and you know that's pretty significant and where people place the blame of that is again something that we could debate about for hours but if you're truly going to resolve it then you're going to have to look at a holistic

And we've seen in all the discussions across the country at every level of government that increasing jails and prisons and population, that's what happens when you over police an area.

Thank you, Mayor Walker.

I fully agree.

Are there any other comments?

We're set for a break, but I think we can probably get you through some, at least the next discussion before the 8 p.m.

break time.

All right.

So next up, we have a action item public hearing resolution, amending the fiscal year 21-22 substantial action plan and appropriating the home American rescue plan funding is the first of two readings.

Ms.

So tonight's public hearing

has one goal.

It's to serve as a forum for public comment for the fiscal year 21-22 annual action plan on the community development block grant and home investment partnership program for the special allocation of the home investment partnership program, American Rescue Plan, the home ARP from HUD.

Similar to the CDBGC funding, this is a separate set of funding from the regular annual home funding entitlement award

that the city receives every year made available from the American Rescue Plan 2021.

This funding is aimed at providing housing services and shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable populations.

Given the immediate needs faced by Charlottesville, HUD announced a allocation of $2,452,270 to the city of Charlottesville.

funds are available for expenditure up to 2030.

These funds can be used for up to four eligible activities, including the production or preservation of the affordable housing, tenant-based rental assistance, supportive services, including homelessness prevention services and other housing counseling, and the purchase or development of non-congregate shelter for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

Under the cooperation agreements of the Home Investment Partnership Program, the TJPDC members and the City of Charlottesville will consult with homelessness service providers, domestic violence organizations, public housing organizations, and other organizations and agencies in the City of Charlottesville and in the region before undertaking any activities using home ERP funding.

And we'll come back to City Council with a list of final activities for approval.

members of the consortium must agree to cooperate to undertake or assist in undertaking housing assistance activities for the home ARP program and for the cooperation agreement, excuse me, members have to agree to affirmatively further fair housing activities within the consortium.

Once again, staff will ask that City Council review and approve the home ARP project list once the home consortium members have reviewed all project recommendations.

And how long would that process be?

The planning process?

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Thank you, Mayor Walker.

If you're in the audience, you'd like to address counsel during this public hearing, please click the raise hand icon in the Zoom webinar.

Okay.

We'll close the public hearing.

Any further discussion, counselors?

All right.

Just move to the consent agenda.

No, ma'am.

Okay.

All right.

So, yeah, this is on the moving forward to the November 1st consent agenda.

Perfect.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

All right.

Next up, we have resolution appropriating American Rescue Plan funds, $1,192,836.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

I'm Chris Cullinan, the city's director of finance.

The item you have under your consideration is a resolution for appropriation from the American Rescue Plan.

This is actually the second appropriation from the city's first tranche of funds that it received back in May.

As you recall, the city received about $9.8 million in its first tranche and it's scheduled to receive another 9.8 in May of next year.

Back in July, Council appropriated just a little less than $2 million to address urgent community organizational needs arising from the impacts of COVID as we've gone along through the summer months and COVID continues to impact our community.

We continue to evaluate those needs of the community and of the organization.

And this evening, you've got a total of seven requests that address

negative economic impact caused by the public health emergency and support the public health response.

All of these requests are eligible under the ARP guidelines.

I'm not going to go through each one individually.

However, I am joined this evening by a number of my colleagues and subject matter experts in each one of these different areas should you have any questions about any of these specific items.

With that, I'll conclude

my presentation with just the comment that should Council approve this appropriation in this dollar amount, there will be about 6.6 million ARP funding remaining from that first tranche.

And so with that, if they haven't answered any questions you might have, along with my colleagues.

What's the time frame by which

you know this council or the future council will be looking at that additional the rest of this tranche where to where to allocate this one.

Correct.

I guess I would describe it as you know these funds are intended to get us through May of next year in terms of that first tranche.

We have until December 31st of 2024 to spend the entirety of it.

As you referenced, one of the eligible uses under ARP is for revenue replacement.

In the event we had our revenues impacted by COVID, and you're correct, we're currently finishing the audit and determining where we ended up and whether ARP funds might be appropriate.

Also, as we continue to live with COVID, I think there's one lesson that we've learned.

It continues to evolve over time, and our response continues to evolve.

We're reviewing requests on a rolling basis.

Okay.

And I do have some questions around

We gave this out of the CARES funding early on, and the amount of that bonus was staff.

We debated about that, and I think at the time there was an attempt to align it with what the county was doing for its employees at the time.

But I would like for us to strongly consider if

The CARES funds have been completely... Okay, so what do we have, like the additional, there's another 6 million reserves, right, from... So there is, as I mentioned, with the first appropriation with this one, there would be 6.6 million left from our first tranche of American Rescue Plan funds.

and if I could for a moment, one of the eligible uses under ARP is for what they call premium pay.

And when we initially surveyed city departments as to their requests, their needs, a handful of departments did put forward what I would call compensation requests.

They're all slightly different, some variations of those, but premium pay is what's allowed by the American Rescue Plan.

And so the guidance that I was given from the city manager back in July was that he was interested in pursuing that, but it had to be done in a holistic way, looking across the city at all possible eligible departments and all possible eligible employees, not just those who made requests for those, and all had to be equitable.

The rescue plan guidelines prioritize low income workers, and then also equity from the standpoint

of people's proportionate risk of contracting COVID.

And that's really the litmus test under ARP is that there has to be a nexus between what you are doing and your risk to COVID.

And so accordingly, folks who telework are not eligible to receive those funds.

And so since July,

in lieu of not having a human resources director nor a classification or compensation analyst, I've volunteered to try to spearhead this.

And one of the challenges that we're facing is that we're still working under the interim final rules from US Treasury.

And we were told they were going to come in August, September, we're now in October, we still haven't received those final rules.

And so we have some broad guidelines around which to work.

There are some nuances and some things that are unique to our organization that we're unclear as to how we're going to handle those.

There have also been relatively few communities that have actually implemented premium pay.

Many of them are interested, but few have actually put something forward so we have some idea of what other communities are doing.

And so I say all that to

just emphasize that it is a priority.

It's been so since we received our first crunch.

It's been communicated to department heads that this is something that we want to do.

We're looking at around those requirements of ARP as well as the guidance of being holistic and being equitable.

And so we're continuing to work on these things.

We actually just today received something from a listserv of other finance and budget folks from around the Commonwealth.

get a little bit understanding of what some other folks are doing.

So we do have the funds still available.

As I mentioned, we have 6.6 million left.

That's actually one of the items that's a little unclear as to what they mean.

They do talk about a dollar amount of

that the premium pay cannot exceed more than $13 more per hour than what they're actually receiving.

If you noted in the consent agenda, the agenda item for the sheriff's office, you saw that reference.

That was there for a reason that's called out in the guidelines.

And so it's a bit unclear as to what they mean.

I think most of what I've read is around the concept of a bonus.

I think that

and you see that again using the Sheriff's Appropriation as an example, the Commonwealth went that route.

And so from what I've seen, that seems to be the most common interpretation of what premium pay looks like.

And I think part of that is also the idea that these are one-time funds, even though we're getting them in two tranches, that these are one-time funds and shouldn't be used for

So it's, if we have a end of the year surplus,

which that is looking like it's possible.

And I know there are other factors, other things, items that we wanna consider, but it would be possible that if things are not, that we could prepare for this and if things are not covered or certain employees are not covered,

Possibly.

I'll say at this point in terms of where we are with the audit in the year end, I'll be honest, it's going to be close.

We're still, you know, several adjustments we have to make, but

based on what I've seen so far, it's going to be close.

But to your point about how we can compensate the workforce, as you mentioned, under CARES, everyone who works for the city receives some form of a bonus, even though CARES only paid for the public safety pieces of that.

The rest of it we made up through the general fund or whichever fund that folks were employed in.

Quite frankly, that was a risky move because at the time we were in the at the beginning of fiscal year with COVID, but it looks like that, you know, revenues rebounded sufficiently in the last quarter of the fiscal year to cover that.

And so we were able to back that play, so to speak.

Going forward, you know, that is we could we could adopt a similar strategy to figure out, you know, who's eligible under ARP.

I would say that the

number and category of employees is larger than that of the CARES Act.

So I guess that's the good news, but I think it's also of the guidance that I've seen, it's pretty clear that you can't, or it would be very heavily scrutinized and audited if we were to suddenly declare all employees of the city eligible under the American Rescue Plan.

To be very clear, it's not, your eligibility for ARP had to be relative to

your potential risk of COVID.

So again, as I mentioned, anybody who's telecommuting isn't covered by that.

Simply working for the city during COVID doesn't qualify you for that.

But as we did under CARES, we could do something where some segment of employees are covered by ARP.

Those employees are not are covered through another source.

Correct.

And frankly, that's one of the things with the art money in terms of that proportionality that I'm particularly interested in, because for some of our workforce, it's very straightforward.

Public safety, public utilities, but they never went home.

They were still working 24 hours a day, seven days a week during COVID.

In the finance department, for example, the vast majority of my folks were teleworking and continued to telework.

But I did have a few employees who would come in, say, one time per week to go out in the community or to do something in the office.

And so my question when I put on my director of finance department head hat is clearly that doesn't rise to the level of a police officer or a firefighter who was doing that

the majority of their job, but they were doing it 20% of the time.

So would they be eligible potentially 20% of whatever that amount is?

That's not clear in the guidance as to how we do that or if that's allowable.

Is it all or nothing?

And so those are some of the finer points that we kind of have to work through.

But again, if we want to be equitable and recognize the efforts of all employees, whether it was

their job full time or just some of the time while they were working.

Well, I would hope that we would start with the individuals and those departments who couldn't go home, can't work from home, and then

Of course, there are stories that we've heard some of those from individuals who could work from home, but still had to leave home, like the example that you just gave at some point.

And when this first started, no one knew

what and when you were at risk and we were still trying to get like ventilation and all of those things so at any point it could it was a risk to people whether they had to come out one day or five or seven but there was more risk and I think everyone understands that but especially the people that could not stay home

or worked from home and had no, you know, did not have the safety and comfort of being able to and still don't.

I would hope that the rest of the organization understands that, you know, prioritizing them.

But at the same time, doing any work during this very challenging time in history, I think people deserve to have their contributions to the city government and upholding it.

honored through a bonus, even if it's not equal to what those individuals who put themselves on the line.

I just had another question.

I'm pretty sure you know the answer, but the COVID testing for the employees, that's the proactive testing for people who aren't vaccinated.

It doesn't include it if an employee were to have any kind of symptom getting tested.

It includes both.

The vast majority of it is for unvaccinated employees.

That's my understanding, the way the contract and the hours are going to be constructed, there is going to be maybe an hour per day.

or per week for employees who may be symptomatic to come in and get tested.

So it's going to be, the majority of it's for unvaccinated, but there is going to be the walk-in opportunity.

Ms.

Yes, Councilor Hill, that is correct what my colleague just said.

And when we have that hour, the reason why it is segregated is to ensure that individuals who are already facing symptoms have an opportunity to test safely and those who are not

actually facing symptoms have a separate opportunity to safely test.

Thank you.

I just know in the school system, and I know it's because there's a lot of young children involved who none of them can be vaccinated yet, but they've gotten funding to be able to do this that's not coming from the local dollars.

So I'm just disappointed that we can't fall into those categories because this is a chunk here for that.

My other comment about the current allocations would just be to the

Like the ambassador program, that's a contracted program.

And if we're using, you know, staff for long periods of time, I've just said, you know, before to make sure that if they're going to be a part of the organization that, you know, they have the, especially in a risky, they are coming in contact with people.

I know that we've talked about them being in the, you know,

whatever that box thing is outside or wherever they are now, but wanting to make sure they have access to benefits and insurance and all of that stuff.

So if it becomes where this person is going to be on staff longer term, this is now the second, you know, allocation to that, that we just consider whether those, you know, whether there's a space for those employees, not through like, you know, this contracted means.

And the last thing that I want to bring up is just the last year we dedicated a lot of money to housing and we made sure that the community knew through advertisement that the human services pathway funds were there and that there were these dollars for these different pockets of housing needs.

And this time we're doing that

you know differently and I just would like for us to consider whether just making one we need to make sure that the pathway fund is sufficiently funded but it's also very different than having these pockets than if you advertise for like the housing needs that we helped with last year and in terms of re-entry

with the number of people who are supposed to be released and the superintendent talked about, you know, some law legal changes that recently occurred that there will be more people up for release from even our local jail.

But I know that it's also happening at state and federal level that we would consider a re-entry pot of housing funds again.

I think we should consider all of them again.

But definitely want to make sure that people know that

those dollars exist and that staff is not looking at it as if there is limited funding.

A couple of questions.

The first on the $500,000 for testing, obviously that's just a need, something we have to do, but just curious if that is, is the $500,000 for like a contract to do it or is it going to be a

just based on how many people are needing to come in for tests, both because they're either unvaccinated or having symptoms and want to get tested.

That's an estimate based on the cost per hour for the nurses who are going to be staffing it, the cost per test and approximately worth

We're estimating about 250 employees per week.

We're going to need testing.

Now, obviously, one of the things we hope is that number goes down, that people get vaccinated.

And as they do that, those dollars get stretched further.

So it's an estimate at best.

And like, as it mentioned, that for about six months worth of time,

Yeah, well, yeah, obviously it's just another reason why it's important to get vaccinated regularly.

for your own safety, safety of others you're working with, but could also allow us to invest more in the Pathways Fund, housing, other priorities.

The four, I know it's in the packet, but even just at a high level, what are some of the changes anticipated for that $400,000 for city facilities in terms of

Absolutely, Councillor Payne.

So the $400,000 to redo a vacant space in the Market Street garage

will actually house three separate programs that are all community facing.

So it will be our Office of Human Rights, where currently they are carrying about eight cases, many of them being housing related, our Home to Hope team, who right now each advocate is working with about 40 clients alone, and also our Economic Development's Job Center.

The reason for this proposed change is because, especially with the Job Center,

and Home to Hope currently being co-located in city space along with our housing team and anyone who is utilizing that space, they actually don't have walls that go all the way up to the ceiling and they don't have doors.

So not only is there a lack of privacy for the community members that both of those programs are serving, but there's also a lack of safety for our peers and our job center professionals just because kind of anybody is walking in and anyone is walking out at any time.

And so it will provide not only COVID safety for those teams, but it also will provide a safe space for the individuals who they are working with to come to be able to have counsel and assistance

in a private room, which also many of the individuals who those teams would be working with may have higher risk for COVID complications, as well as many of them may still be uncomfortable becoming vaccinated.

And so that was the idea to propose that change.

And one of the great things that our team did here, because it was designed by Scott Hendricks, who's one of our facilities team members, is that it's flexible space.

So let's say three years from now, we may be

need to move those programs somewhere else because they've grown larger and allow another program to come in there, it is made for that.

So it is space that could be used, again, even though this is one-time funding to keep those team members safe for COVID.

Thank you.

I guess the last comment I would have is I'm definitely curious how as a council together with the city manager's office and staff, we can start thinking through with both the remaining money in the first tranche as well as the second tranche, how to sort of brainstorm

what we could spend that money on and prioritize it.

And we definitely echo the mayor's point that I really hope we can try to prioritize spending that on programs and investments that are directly going to and benefiting the community, like we really tried to do with CARES money in terms of housing, homelessness prevention, food security, the Pathways Fund, as well as investments to help people

We're going to recover economically from the pandemic, which is obviously going to have impacts that are going to last years and years.

Because I know there's still a lot of money remaining, you know, both in this first and second tranche and just how we can hit the ground running planning how we're going to spend it and definitely staff.

Bonuses and support, you know, can be a part of that.

And then it's outside of this, but it just called to mind the importance of our long overdue compensation study, looking throughout the whole organization at our compensations and discrepancies in pay.

But yeah, I hope we're able to do that.

The only question I had is I just wonder whether you have any sort of early reports or early inklings of what might be coming down the pike, say, three months from now, four months, five, six months from now, about other ways we might be asked to allocate some of this money.

I think the two big ones that we've got

Placeholders, for lack of a better term, as I mentioned before, possible revenue replacement for any lost revenues from COVID, and then the premium pay.

Those will be high six-figure, possibly seven-figure type of asks.

But other than that, I think it's simply that COVID keeps changing and evolving, and our response keeps changing and evolving, and so we're trying to

At this point, I don't have a timeline.

Okay.

We will be, you know, finishing the year-end results before the end of the calendar year.

I would think that would probably be the next time we might come back with something.

Okay.

Well, I'd just like to advocate for if there's a bonus and if we can get that information together before the end of the year and before the holidays, then I think that would be helpful.

I did have one more question with the emergency personnel, both fire and police and both former chief and current chief of those positions were advocating when the changes were made and the holiday

schedule how whether they can take time off losing days.

And I know that was something that has come up that I don't know where we're at in that process.

But I've mentioned several times in the CM discussions that we can find out if that's something that we're waiting for HR to look at.

But it's one of those things where both of those

the employees in those departments and the former Chief Brackney and Chief Smith have been advocating for at a minimum for the employees not to lose their time.

But there has been the difference in between how they were previously compensated for that time before the changes was made with the under the previous city manager leadership.

And so we can look at that again.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

So we'll just keep going.

All right, so the next step we have, it's a written report only for Rivanna authorities quarterly report.

Were there any comments or questions on that report?

Counselors, you're fine there.

All right.

Mayor Walker, can we go back just a second to the Rivanna issue?

The question was basically, where is the central water pipe project likely to run?

But we know that between 2023 and 2027, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority is projecting that they will do a replacement of the central water pipe that basically runs from the observatory water treatment plant really right all through Charlottesville.

And although they don't have the exact route indicated at this point, they say that the central water pipe project will extend

from the observatory water treatment plant along a route which may include, note there's some variation possible here, Stadium Road, JPA Extended, Cleveland Avenue, Cherry Avenue, Elliott Avenue, 6th Street, 10th or 11th Street, and East High Street to the intersection with Long Street.

The design engineering consultant is currently completing detailed surveys

of existing surface conditions and underground utilities to try to assess any conflicts and to finalize the route.

They expect the route to be finalized in the next 12 to 18 months.

Construction of the pipeline to start in 2024 would take two or three years to complete the full five miles.

That's not to say the full five miles would be dug up for two to three years.

They would do a short section and then fill it in, do a next short section, fill it in and so on.

But it should take two to three years to complete.

And so I think that answers the question that Ms.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions or comments there?

All right.

Any other items or business items for consideration?

Thank you, Mayor Walker.

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

We have 38 people in the audience, three hands raised right now.

First up is Katrina Turner, who will be followed by Greg Weaver.

She had her hand up earlier, so I'm going to come back to her.

Katrina, if you want to raise your hand again, please do.

Next up is Greg Weaver, who will be followed by Catherine Lawn.

Hi, can you all hear me?

Yep.

Hi, city council.

This is Greg Weaver at Lynn Fry Spring.

At the planning commission meeting last week, I made a comment about how not understanding the necessity of increased density in light of climate change is climate denialism.

And I urged you all and everyone to reckon with consequences of that denialism.

There are those that argue, however, that density means more cars, more traffic, and an increase in emissions.

I earnestly understand why that would be someone's gut reaction, and I think providing some facts might help dispel that way of thinking, just in case those sorts of comments have struck a chord with you and others.

Folks hear dense city and they think New York City or similar.

And when they think New York City, they think extreme traffic and vehicle emissions.

It may be a little funny to compare Charlottesville to a megapolis, but let's consider New York City.

First, it's not built for cars.

In 2019, 46% of New Yorkers didn't even own a car.

That's 3.87 million people.

Compare that to a whopping 6% of Charlottesville residents who don't own a car.

That's 2,826 people.

In fact, 41% of households here own two cars.

If you live here, you know that you can't get around easily without a car.

That's why our transportation emissions per capita is higher than New York City's, even considering New York's nightmare commuter traffic.

Here are 2016 numbers.

Total emissions per capita, Charlottesville, eight metric tons, New York, 6.5.

Transportation emissions per capita, Charlottesville, 2.25 metric tons, New York, 1.85.

Traffic does not equal emissions.

More abstractly, people always exist somewhere.

It's where they exist in relation to necessities and amenities based on the infrastructure of where they exist that determines how they get from place to place, which will determine transportation emissions.

Traffic caused by density isn't inevitable.

If we transform our city around mass transit, walking and biking, and we must, and people change their transportation habits, and we must,

Those that need take a trip in their car need not be so concerned in a denser Charlottesville.

Climate denialism remains the refusal to believe that mitigating disaster doesn't require a complete transformation in the ways we live.

Here in Charlottesville, addressing the climate crisis and starting that transformation starts with density and transit.

I'm happy to provide my sources if you request some of me.

Next up is Catherine Laund.

Catherine, you're on with council.

Great.

Thanks for the opportunity to speak.

I just wanted to speak briefly on two things.

One in response to the UVA mothers who are calling in about safety.

I'm not a UVA mother, but I am a mother.

I'm a UVA professor and I live extremely close to the university.

My kids are out and about in town and I just want to say that as a as a mother and as an expert in violence, I don't feel like increased police presence is going to make my kids or my family any safer.

and it certainly isn't going to make the rest of our city safer.

But I really wanted to speak about the proposal that was made public today from the Jefferson School about the Lee statue.

I know it's not on your agenda now, but reading about this proposal is just so exciting.

I wanted to make a public comment to say that I think we have this opportunity to do something so beautiful and transformational.

to have two national experts, Dr. Douglas and Dr. Schmidt, lead a process to do something really novel and meaningful with the Lee statue.

And so I hope this proposal receives consideration and is the ultimate choice for handling the Lee statue.

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

Next up is Ange Khan.

Ange, you're on with counsel.

Thank you.

So I haven't been on.

I briefly joined in the meeting, but I'm now joining at the tail end of it.

So I'm not sure if this was addressed, but I'm wondering,

about the elephant in the room.

It appears as though folks are just dismissing the fact that we actually had a whole, I'm looking for the word, conspiracy take place within council and no one is addressing it head on.

We had a city manager who actually collaborated

with a police police association.

I just don't understand why everyone is so silent on this topic.

That's a very serious thing.

I do want to address other folks on council who stood by

and not said anything even though there was plenty of evidence that there was some collaboration there.

And lastly, I do have a question and I think it will be for Michael Payne.

My question is,

I noticed that in one of the conversations I try to look back I just don't have enough time in the day to do that but I wanted to ask your rationale for asking a policing institution to keep the same reforms that were in place that caused the firing of the chief and then also how you think

that those reforms are gonna be in place.

Like how are they gonna remain in place when clearly by the surveys that were taken, none of the current officers on the force want that.

When they clearly want to continue policing as is.

They want to harm the community.

I just don't understand, as a socialist, why would you think anything different?

Thank you.

There's obviously no easy answer or solution there.

I mean, in part, my thinking is, you know, listing out reforms that have been made over the past few years in specifics, things like the police department's relationship with Jade, goals of updating

procedures and policies in terms of discipline and accountability of officers, the strategy for how protests are engaged with, and both in whoever is in the role of interim and permanent police chief, outlining those things are clear directive from council that absolutely must be maintained and happen, having a civilian police review board that is empowered and functional as an institutional

to try to create accountability for the department and ensure that reforms continue forward.

All the policies from the two criminal justice reform working groups, listing those out, you know, having what the budget amount is to implement those and in our upcoming budget process, outlining what the budget amount and staff resources are needed to make those proposals happen and develop a plan to try to

get those to fruition and move from just suggestions into reality.

But I mean, there's no question it's going to be difficult.

And I think it is accurate that one of the tensions I anticipate that will continue to be is that there's going to be tensions from officers who don't want to see reform happen.

Our next speaker is Katrina Turner.

Katrina, you're back on with the council.

Okay, I just wanted to, okay, I just wanted to say, you know, ask the council member that supported Chick Boyle how they feel now.

because he did not even show his face tonight after he accused the mayor and community members for the reason of him quitting.

Now, he's the one that got caught up with the PBA.

He's the one that was recorded by the PBA

So I'd like to know if you all support him, then you all feel too that it was the community members and the mayor who made this man quit and not the PBA who recorded him.

So I just want to know now about your support about Chip Boyle because he knew he was wrong.

or else he would never have resigned.

So I would like to know you all's answer to how you support him now that he has quit this job because of everything that was found out about him.

Our next speaker is Robin Hoffman.

Robin, you're back on with counsel.

I just heard that story about the budget for the vaccines.

I just want to encourage people to get their vaccines.

I'm a vaccinator.

I had to come back and be a vaccinator for the last two weeks because people did not get their vaccine.

It's very clear

The data shows that those who are vaccinated don't have to get severe COVID.

There are people that will get severe COVID because they have premorbidities.

But the first thing that people sit down next to me and say is, why aren't people getting vaccinated?

And I can tell you that I'm a nurse for 45 years.

and every vaccine that was ever out there, I took because not only didn't I want to get measles, mumps, rubella, polar, smallpox, you name it.

I didn't want to give it to anybody.

And I'm 65 years old.

Nothing happened to me.

But this vaccine is a state of the art vaccine.

And the UVA data school

You can visit them.

You can get online with them.

They will tell you the facts.

So if you are in the public, if you are a police officer or any person that is helping somebody else

face to face and you're supposed to do CPR or whatever.

You have to get vaccinated, just like I had to get vaccinated all my life so that I would protect not only myself, but others.

And that's a fact.

There's no choice about it.

And so if you're not going to do that job, which entails doing CPR, then you cannot do that job.

And I don't know where it happened that all of a sudden people are talking about freedom of speech.

It has nothing to do with this disease.

In fact, the people that dismantled the CDC and the FDA during Trump's reign, I hate to say, and before that even,

You know, the agency did not protect us when the people came out in February of 2020 on these ships for the carnival cruises, and they just let these COVID sick people go from every single state in this country.

Now, just remember, if we all get vaccinated and we all wear masks by 2022, we don't, we can be out, we can be free.

And so, but again, if you are a public servant, you have to get vaccinated or don't do the job.

And that's my final take on that.