City Council Meeting 6:30PM   3/21/2022

Greetings.

So, Brian, you said we should be finished by 7, 730.

You were just hearing my wishful thinking Okay, I got to do osmosis I got it Oh, I shouldn't be going into the meeting this tired Were you up watching some basketball or just one of those days?

I was cleaning up the some of the front beds because I realized people walking their dogs weren't quite sure that they were actual flower beds.

So, yeah, you know, you're in trouble when you see someone walking their dog and they don't have visible plastic that, you know, is like and I have a dog, so I understand.

but I now have some pink flamingos because I've always wanted pink flamingos.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Rogers, greetings.

Waiting to have a great time this afternoon.

A lot of meaty stuff.

Yeah, it's an interesting agenda.

Yeah.

Did I see that you are now meeting on Wednesday night as well?

That's a whole 48 hours.

Let me see.

Wednesday is the community budget forum.

Okay.

Yeah.

Keena, how are you?

Sena.

Keena.

No, I'm just saying the tired part, but we'll make it through.

It was a very successful birthday party.

I thought maybe you were escaping from the birthday party.

I tried to do that too, but they were already booked for the other room.

It looks like we're waiting for Michael.

Mr. City Manager, are we ready to go from your end of things?

Cana let me know when they come on, right?

Alex is doing the introduction, so whenever Alex is ready.

Thomas, will you officially call the roll?

Councillor Payne?

Here.

Councillor Pinkston?

Here.

Mayor Snook?

Here.

Here.

and my little script here tells me that Mr. Ikafuna will be introducing the presentation.

I will ask the consultants to take the platform.

Phil.

Thank you, Alex.

So the process for competitive procurement, grant scoring requirements, how you're communicating to the public, how much funding you're putting out, how that funding is getting deployed.

Is it just me or is everyone like... I apologize.

And I will hand it over to Kelly Seltzer, who's been the project manager at this project and has a better speaker than me and frankly knows more about where we're actually at.

Next slide.

Would that also include the Vibrant Communities Fund as part of the general fund?

We just looked at the CAF grant agreements, but the dollar amounts here I believe includes the Vibrant Communities Fund as well.

Thank you.

Going down, please.

Thanks.

and moving into any questions on that first set of data?

I would just recommend going forward we also try to collect refugee data because we do have a large and extending refugee population that it would just probably be a good idea if we're collecting demographic data to also start measuring our refugee

And so if you could just explain that for me once again.

Is that helpful?

Yes, thank you.

These affordability commitments are not ironclad, but generally we think that's a good protection for you to be able to recoup funds if an affordability period is about to be terminated.

Is there a way to do that to also add that if this is terminated and sold at some point, that not only do we get the initial investment back, but we also get a proportional percentage of the capital gains?

We laid some of that out in the housing plan too, I think, yeah.

Just because I think that would, one, it's, you know, if we weren't, this way we are actually getting back on top of our money, just if it's being, if it gets sold in 20 years.

Yeah.

It was free money as long as somebody is actually providing affordable housing.

I think there'll be some work to do with the city to make sure that those get papered properly early, because it might be a 20 or 40 year point when this comes due, but it still has to be papered from the beginning.

Doesn't mean you'll always win the negotiation, but you have a lot more leverage and if you lose the negotiation, you get money to be redeployed.

Sorry, I just hit me that I was starting to get deep into the weeds on this and this is not the time for that.

calling that out because there's a difference there in what we're talking about.

So I would see that just as a big missed opportunity if we're not utilizing that approach in our program.

That's not how the homeownership program is set up.

Just my two cents.

Why isn't it being set up with land trust?

There's a direct one-to-one tension there.

I apologize.

So I just do feel like it can lead to wealth creation.

requirements of the land ownership that the land trust own it longer.

And again, I think of it as like a middle rung between renting to full homeownership because obviously right now that gap is just huge to make that leap in our community.

There are absolutely ways to balance these things, and I will stop belaboring this because we got lots else to cover.

Thanks.

So I'll just leave those questions out there for discussion.

Yes.

I guess, you know, if someone could help me out with that.

I don't know if we have a pause, one slide after this or two slides after this, Callie, that we have a start at some timeline.

So it is setting up some internal need for, yeah, for tracking and monitoring.

So later in the report, do you have in there a suggestion on increased FTEs?

So I think with staff, we could kind of back into some FTEs, but

So

So these are all trades that you guys have to kind of contemplate as you set forth goals for your 10 million.

And that's

Bill, I have to tell you, I didn't hear or understand a single word in the last two minutes.

I was really trying.

That's the synopsis here, I think.

Mr. Rogers, have you heard from city staff that this feels like an actually achievable timeline with our staff capacity?

Let me ask Sam, you've been working with staff on this directly, Sam, what's your comment on that?

Keeping in mind that part of my existence here is to also be an extension of a consultant in a way, looking at processes and trying to figure out ways to improve them as well.

They're ready.

I just wanted to make sure.

And I wonder what involvement the CAF committee has been having with respect to LIHTC applications.

And I hope that the city council will be inclined to follow that direction.

If not, and this is a change that is being proposed, how would we think we would go about doing that as a budgeting matter?

So that's how that is going to be working going forward.

Can't hear you.

I can't hear you.

even if they don't get them.

and it sounds like from what I'm being what I'm hearing tonight is we've we've made a lot of progress using that we've gotten a lot of good work done it's been it's been successful but what we want to do now is is elevate this and maybe perhaps the words professionalize it make it a more ongoing sort of program that we're calling a CAF committee um is that deputy city manager Sanders is is that right what I'm understanding there

points that need to be made by the view, actually.

Do you have any sense about that at this point?

We are actually moving the various parts and pieces that have been left in NDS to the Community Solutions office as well for it again to be centralized.

Do you have the FTEs and the staff you need to operationalize this, do you feel like?

And then from there, try to determine what the right next step is.

So it doesn't sound like we'll have that person for the next budget cycle, next fiscal year.

There's still possibilities.

Okay.

We haven't adopted the budget yet, so there's still a chance I can get one.

Sure.

But ideally compliance is our biggest concern and that's what we've got to be able to get our arms around for going forward.

Will this hopefully address some of the timeliness issues we've had?

That has been what's been driving me since the day I stepped foot in this office.

And I guess the other issue then, would we consider as we're doing this, looking to the, I mean, obviously we're not even finished with this budget yet, but the idea then of maybe pulling out a section of the Vibrant Community Grant,

You're going into my recommendations now.

Yes.

Great minds think alike.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Kelly.

But by and large, we did not have big findings of, you know, things just not happening that you funded.

What about the housing inventory that has supposed to been created from SUPs?

So there's not that many units created from that period anyway.

But historically, the developers haven't really been dedicating affordable housing until recently.

I get the fact about the units, but were you also asking about how much money has actually gone into the fund as well?

Callie just sent us a chat saying maybe not, I don't know.

We just looked at the CAF for this analysis, what you've seen.

How much money came into the CAF from that kind of a source?

Yeah, we can, in terms of talking about the contribution to affordable housing fund by developers.

I mean, I'll pay $100,000 rather than having to have affordable units in my apartment complex.

The city has committed $46.7 million to the CAF program.

And does that then include the money that has gone to PHA and to CRHA for redevelopment, things like that?

Yeah, I think so.

Okay, so the major capital funds that we've been spending on housing are included in that 46.7, even though I suspect that the decisions to do those projects were made at a higher level than the CAF.

Especially with regard to PHA and the housing authority.

Is there someone that's overseeing or is the hack that oversees the CAF right now?

Of course, they coordinate that with staff, you know, in terms of reporting to the city council for approval.

very open and willing to adjust as it was not their own self-generated idea to have that specific role in the process.

And council ought to be able to see so there's not any question about whether we are fulfilling our commitments or not.

Heather Hill, That way we're just kind of seeing how it comes in, how it gets allocated and how it goes out.

Okay.

Heather Hill, Thank you.

Certainly.

Other counselors have other questions.

Yeah, the bottom right-hand box there.

I just wanted to clarify the light.

We recognize that some types of development will take longer, some shorter, and we'll also be realistic about what we can do on our side from the city to actually review projects quickly and expeditiously.

And I don't want us to foreclose the opportunity to have resident engagement in these processes if the timeline is too short.

deep pockets to acquire and hold land until they can do the right thing by the residents.

and the standard which between them put in about $1.1 million but more than half of the money that has been put in by developers as they spent that rather than building in the affordable units.

That's correct.

Mm-hmm.

Ideally, I think that's what we're trying to get to is to see if we can't structure a better process for all of these various activities to happen in a more organized fashion as it relates to affordable housing.

I realize what a big task I have before me, but that is the end.

We hear you, Sam.

Any other discussions for our consultants or for ourselves, for that matter?

to err as it were on the side of spending more on direct subsidy if we can.

a lot more strategic about that and think about how that could incorporate land trust, the housing authority and potentially a land bank, which is something that Richmond, Virginia and other cities have done.

Are there more pages that we cut you short of or is that it?

Thank you very much for the work.

I'd love to get a copy of these slides if I could.

We'll share one.

Should we?

So we can move on to the next one.

Let's see.

Hold on.

Pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the Virginia code, I hereby move that the city council close this open meeting and convene within a closed meeting as authorized by Virginia code section 2.2-3711A1 for consideration of prospective candidates for appointment by council to city boards and commissions Is there a second?

Thomas?

And then I know I have it in my calendar, right?

Yeah, that's why I have mine.

Okay, thank you, sir.

Music Music

First, we need to officially come out of closed session.

All right, let me read us back in.

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 exempt from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered in the closed meeting.

Thomas, would you take the vote?

Councillor Payne?

Yes.

Councillor Pinkston?

Yes.

Mayor Snook?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Wade?

Okay, the motion passes.

So we will, now we've established that we have a quorum, we'll begin the business meeting and let's start with a moment of silence.

Okay, thank you.

Counselors, are there any announcements before we get started on the rest of the agenda?

if you Google Charlottesville Zoom and go to that webpage.

I think we shot our water on proclamations last month.

Is there a motion for appointments to boards and commissions?

Are we doing that one now?

Yes.

Jasmine Carter-Page, Aya Fagans, Gloria Gay, Sadia Hamilton, London Pryor Williams, Rachel Rugamayo, Roman Sims, Azhar Saeed.

Thomas?

Councillor Payne?

Yes.

Mayor Snook?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Waite?

Okay, that passes 5-0.

Thomas, will you read the consent agenda, please?

First of two readings.

Mr. Dillahunt, I will turn this over to you.

Kaja Edwards, you have three minutes with counsel.

I hope you guys have a good rest of your day.

Hear, hear.

Annie, you have three minutes with counsel.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Appreciate the time and opportunity to speak.

Anybody else?

You have three minutes with counsel.

Or could I just lump it all together at a different time?

I don't know.

I'll just wait till the next.

Okay.

Okay.

Anyone else?

I see no additional hands raised.

Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Move for approval.

Thomas, will you take the vote, please?

Councillor Payne?

Yes.

Councillor Pinkston?

Yes.

Mayor Snook?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Wade?

Okay, motion passes five-nothing to adopt the consent agenda.

You're on mute.

Nothing time sensitive for me.

Nothing time sensitive for me.

Chrissy, you want to kick it off?

Hopefully I'll have better luck tonight than last week.

There you go.

Apparently, it's not going to let me go into view presentation mode, so we'll just go slide by slide if that's okay.

Yeah, so there's no way to increase the zoom on it?

Sure, I can do that.

Yes, ma'am.

Oops.

There you go.

How about that?

Mm-hmm.

Okay, so did you want me to just get started, Mr. Rogers, or did you want to?

Yes, just dab right in.

That would be required to pay the additional debt service and at the same time would draw down our additional debt service balance.

Is that right?

Incremental.

Correct.

And so we're continuing to draw down this balance to help level out the impact on the general fund.

And is that what we do on an average basis anyways?

If we issue less than $15 million, then that's going to extend things down.

Thank you.

Any questions about the process?

Would that then, is that what normally would that be in the 15 million, would that have been kind of in that 15 million category?

I'm gonna show you a slide that I think will help you put that together.

Thank you.

And we are maintaining, but still buying down a large portion of our debt service fund balance.

Mm-hmm.

And in this scenario, we have bought down our entire debt service fund balance.

Okay, your hand's still up.

Oh, is it?

I'm sorry.

and so it's not quite the mark, but it's close, close enough for the sake of this example.

Hamill, this would reflect the notion of just doing a renovation at Beaufort, the 33

And that'll make sense once we get to two more slides, I promise.

Thank you.

But before we do that, I'm going to turn this over to Kevin Roddy, our financial advisor, and let him talk to you about, you know, the importance of timing on the tax rate increases.

but we're closely watching that and we'll be back to you as soon as we learn more on that.

Because it's still a loan.

It could make your dollars go a little bit further for you.

Okay.

their future general fund surplus allocations that would be possible and then other sources that we've talked about through the General Assembly or others that could be available to help draw this down.

It's very helpful, but I have a couple of questions, but go ahead.

No, you go ahead.

Why didn't we use the urine fund surplus and op funds for the $75 million?

These were the specific scenarios that had been requested before, but we could do that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, with our year-end surplus and the potential from the schools with a 7.5, that gets us really close to the 68.

68.8, yeah.

That's without the, isn't that without the arts building?

That's what they call option two on that spreadsheet that VMDO put together.

So maybe potentially bonding a few more million to or looking for some other savings to get that difference, you know.

but yeah, our minds are heading the same direction.

Well, and there's some Department of Energy grants that are coming out right now that might be applicable to this that could save some money.

Excellent.

So if there are other questions, this might be the best spot.

Would you mind just going through your last two slides very quickly?

And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Rogers to complete the final slide.

So we offer those for your consideration.

Mr. Rogers, you said in 2024?

of improving schools and having an effective capital improvements program.

Thank you.

Is that okay with folks?

Okay.

I'll send this to council and it'll be on online by tomorrow morning as well.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for putting that together, Chrissy.

Okay, we will now, let's see.

Is our first speaker available?

We have three minutes with city council.

Thank you.

Can you hear me okay?

Yep.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Halbert.

On you up now, John, you have three minutes with counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Marshall.

William, you're on with counsel.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abrahamson.

Myra, you're on with Council.

Thank you so much.

Anderson.

Lisa Torres, you're on with council.

Good night.

Torres.

Josh, you're on with counsel.

Thanks for your consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Carr.

Andrew, you have three minutes with counsel.

And I would hope that you all please consider this and approve the rezoning.

Thank you, Mr. Shelton.

Kelsey, you're on with council.