City Council Meeting   2/6/2023

Have we heard anything from Michael?

Hmm?

Feedback.

Jeff, are you getting feedback on your- I am, I just thought it was with voices in my head.

No.

Is that testing?

Just turn your audio off.

How's that?

Are you hearing anything coming out now?

It doesn't sound like it.

Okay.

Just get us a 12-year-old.

Okay.

You have to put it like that.

Disapproved.

All right.

So the February 6, 2023 Charlottesville City Council meeting will come to order.

Ms.

Councilor Payne has not yet arrived.

Vice Mayor Wade?

Is there a motion to approve or to amend the agenda that's been given to us?

Okay.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Okay.

We have an agenda approved.

So this motion of this meeting will be divided into three main sections.

First is a work session to hear and discuss presentations that will not require a council vote.

We'll have a closed meeting typically around 530 and the City Council Business Meeting which will begin around 630 with seating available in council chambers for up to 23 preregistered attendees and media.

Others are able to join electronically by Zoom.

Jeff Werner with obviously the City.

I'm the Historic Preservation Design Planner within Neighborhood Development.

With me is Tom Chapman, who the Executive Director of, and I typed it out wrong, but the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society.

And this is, I know you all have probably been following this for some time in the news and elsewhere and just in conversation with Sam Saunders

a month or two ago.

You just thought, all right, maybe have some things to bring to y'all's attention.

And so what, I'm going to start my timer, but kind of a three-part thing here.

I'm going to, I want to just give you that, how did we adhere, what's going on.

I'm sure you may know a lot of background, but just to, this is also for us an opportunity for folks to hear this story that maybe haven't.

Tom and the Historical Society have been

doing a lot with the research of descendants and people we are fairly certain we know were enslaved at Penn Park and then trying to get outreach to people who are their descendants.

So I'm going to let him kind of talk through some of the details of that.

It's some interesting stuff.

And then the next last piece is just kind of some of the how do things break down moving forward and then certainly, you know,

you all may have questions you may you know hopefully you have a few and we can get into those but you know I'll start with

This slide, my boss popped his head in the door and said, hey, remember, we get to show city council cool stuff.

And I was like, yeah, well, for example, walking home the other night, this is the Levy site, the quartz expansion project, and they've been doing some archaeological work there.

We uncovered this.

Now, I just happened to walk up there and talk to the archaeologists.

This is 20th century, so it's sort of the excitement is kind of ebbed on it, but it was still an interesting feature.

And there are other things that are

coming up on that.

We will keep you apprised of that.

I think a lot of people may not know is that there is evidence that John Jewett, Jack Jewett's father, was buried behind what was the Swan Tavern and it

likely that his remains are still in the ground there.

Underneath the parking lot someplace, huh?

Yes, so stay tuned on that.

So again, talking about Penn Park Cemetery this evening, and a lot of people don't know Penn Park was actually what George Gilmer named it.

It's not, as I tell people, it should be Penn Park Park, but it was part of the original 400 acres that he acquired in the late 1700s, and

of course now it's about 270 acres of that is owned by the city of Charlottesville and you can see there at the red arrow there by the 14th hole that's where the the cemetery is and there are three family cemeteries there Gilmer Craven, Hotop families and of course the the unmarked burial site that we've been looking at and you know just showing on an aerial photo

at the site.

The Gilmer House was originally where the pro shop is now, of course, the cemetery down near the 14th hole.

This is a photo from 1937, and you see where the red arrow there.

1937, yeah.

And so

And I'll go back to that in a minute.

But this is the cemetery and sort of collectively call it the cemetery at the three family sections there.

You've got the Gilmer family at the north end.

We think seven to 16 burials there.

They occupied the Penn Park.

1780 to 1812.

Middle section, the Craven family was there, 1819, 1845.

There were about 14 burials within that.

And then the south end, the Hotop family from 1860s to around 1905, 14 to 18 burials were in there.

They had a lot of families owned the property.

We think these are the only three that occupy it.

Certainly, they're the only three that established a burial site there.

so you've got the three cemeteries somewhere between 35 to 48 burials within them that we know of as you know outside of the cemetery the GPR that we did two years ago suggests possibility of over 40 unmarked graves outside the walls and go back to that 1937 photo so

There was Ben Ford of Rivanna Archeology did the work and this is one of the things he pointed out is there's in the old photo this area that is uncultivated to the east of the cemetery and you can see that that somewhat lines with where these graves are that we found.

You said it appears to be somewhat uncultivated.

So we know that this was, and again you look at the whole photo, this was a dairy farm and you can see clearly where, you know, it was cultivated in the sense of it was

A plowed meadow, right, so yeah, and so you've got this area that is showing up, and it does show up in later photographs, kind of a, all right, why didn't they touch it?

And, excuse me, so again, go back, why did we examine the site?

I got a call in sometime, I think summer 2019, a descendant of one of the families that has the cemeteries there just asking about the site.

How does the city maintain it, et cetera, et cetera.

And as I've said, I wasn't aware.

We even had a cemetery out there.

Went out, took a look, and was walking around.

And this is the east side.

So I'm outside of the Craven plot.

And I said that you know that there's graves in there.

You can see the headstones.

But when you walk around on the east side, I've done enough work with historic cemeteries that

I could tell something was going on and you can't see it it's impossible to photograph so you said here again looking down that east side but you nothing suggests physically that there are burials here but this is a good photograph that would kind of show you can see the tree there yellow and there's that same tree this is last winter

It's interesting how melting snow begins to reveal, and those are in fact where some of the graves are.

So just to sort of show how when you go out there, it's not immediately evident to the layperson that there are burials there.

So what we did, we had Rivanna Archaeology and Neva Geotechnical.

We did the ground penetrating radar that didn't disturb the site.

It's almost like a fish finder in the way it determines what it sees.

These anomalies, something's been going on.

These are images actually from Penn Park.

And from that,

They were able to kind of identify the likelihood of these 43, if you count them, but the burials again on that east side.

So that's sort of where we were, I guess November 2, 2020.

And I made a presentation to council that evening.

Tom was listening in and pinged me immediately afterwards and said hey I've got an idea and some things.

So just to help visualize quickly this is from a drone footage we did.

I went out and laid some old drawings on the ground just to kind of roughly simulate where

It appeared there might be graves.

The thing to make clear is that we don't know if everything that GPR found was a grave, and we think there may be other graves that GPR didn't find, but this, just to illustrate what we were looking at now, I think this is, yeah, so let me show you, this is

This is again, this is a drone footage that we did just flying from the Gilmer section over and kind of wanted to illustrate

how much you know how many graves are out there I think we've used this in the presentations we've made we've done a lot of talking um at the jmrl the library folks have had us in to talk so we've you know it's it's been good to help with a visual of and this image here is just again the same sheets of paper but sort of looking down that wall and

just to show that these burials are outside the wall.

They're opposite the entrance.

To be clear, and the Hotops did not own any enslaved individuals, the Cravens and the Gilmers, we know they did, but there's evidence that the

Some of those folks who had been enslaved there were likely still in the area and may have been employed by the HOTOPs.

So there's some interesting connections to explore.

So get to the point of making connections.

So one of the things we started with first was this 1804 list Ben Ford found in the Library of Virginia.

And this is Dr. Gilmer's chancery record.

I know.

So our researchers have been working with Tom.

They said, there's no way we're going to make a connection to this list.

It's just not possible we're going to go back that far.

And Sam Towler, who did a lot of the work.

So he started

And that's what Tom will show you how they did that.

So we found, you know, Jenny had a daughter, Francis Rauser, and they had a daughter, Susan Warmly, who married Alec Waller.

They had a son, John Gilmer Waller.

And this was August, I think, two years ago.

And I went, gee, I know a guy named Waller.

So I sent a note.

I think, Juan, you know, Steve.

Yeah, good friend.

I sent him a note and this was his response.

He said, wow, this is indeed John Gilmer, Waller, and Flossie.

They are his great-grandparents.

So it was this first connection and I gotta tell you that was something else that we suddenly had.

We were able to put things together.

And what, like I said, Tom's going to get into is we started to find, like, for example, there was a woman, Maria, enslaved by the Cravens.

You know, we've been sort of been able to say, all right, let's build a family tree.

And this is where we've had, you've probably seen in the news, we've had some of the descendants out there.

Stephen certainly and his family have figured prominently.

Interesting thing is we can't, I talked to Steve, I can't be certain if any of his family is buried there, but we certainly know

The people that are buried there, they knew each other.

They were part of that family.

But the thing that when Steven said, yeah, this is where my family went every year for family reunions since I was a little kid, he said, I had no idea we had a connection there.

Tom and I have talked about it a lot.

It was sort of a gut punch of how real this is, how real this site is, how important this entire site is.

and so we've spoken at the historical or at the library we have there's an international story being played right now Tom will tell you about I had a friend in Northern Virginia said hey I saw you in the Washington Post so this thing's gotten some attention which is great so the next piece I wanted to share with you is you know the research and what how we got here and how Tom

and his crew piece some of this together because I can't say enough.

When I got that call from Tom, he said, I can help you all out.

The Historical Society really has taken this and run with it.

So, Tom, you tell me if I can win the flick.

Yeah, so the family names associated with individuals, this is really based on what Sam Towler has done for us.

You know, I'm kind of here explaining what the research is, the who, what, where, when, why and how.

So you know the ground penetrating radar has provided us an indication of unmarked graves.

The research that we've conducted to date plus historical precedent and background knowledge, you know, we're fairly certain that these are unmarked graves of people enslaved at Penn Park.

So the partnership with the City of Charlottesville, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society,

Central Virginia history researchers, University of Virginia interns and students, other community members.

We're focused on identifying the descendants of the people enslaved at Penn Park to empower those voices so that they can reclaim their history and give meaning to this space.

So a brief timeline of kind of some of the research activities.

Jeff has covered some of the details for some of the family tree information, genealogy, et cetera here with what we found with some of the surnames which is one of Sam's specialties in terms of being able to breach that gap of 1860 going back before to try to understand more about the enslaved individuals who after the 1860s into the 1870 census then that was the only time that they were given surnames at least in official records for the most part.

So my timeline kind of focuses on the nuts and bolts.

So you're aware of what Jeff said with the archaeology, the ground penetrating radar, connecting with Jeff and Ben after that November 2020 update.

really just trying to determine whether historical society could play a role and I'm glad we did because I think we were playing a very important role.

So April, about April or May or 2021 Sam Taller was brought into this.

Sam worked at a Mitchie Hamlet law firm as a legal assistant from 95 to his retirement in 2020.

He was a COVID retirement.

He said, I don't want to do this zoom remote work thing.

So I'm just, I need to retire.

And he had enjoyed his work, but he didn't like the zoom aspect, but he's been very active in local history, compiled two reference books of court records, written two articles for the magazine of Albemarle County history.

one of which chronicled his mother's family, the Baileys, and all the African Americans who lived at Monticello during the levee ownership which was a very important part of his research that helped tie into the Penn Park work.

He was editor of the Central Virginia Genealogy Association newsletter for several years and a member of the Central Virginia History Researcher since its start and has done a lot of volunteer work for many regarding African American genealogy research.

So we caught Sam at the right time after his retirement and he gladly took on this project.

From that in June we were able to bring on an intern Madison Wilson from UVA Architectural School Graduate Architectural School.

She was a graduate student.

She became our Penn Park Project intern.

Jeff in July asked you all and you gladly resolved to provide some funding to help with that, so thank you.

And these funds supported Madison's work.

So her internship led to the creation of an article published in our 2021 magazine.

If you all don't have a copy, I have some here for you.

I'll hand them out a little bit.

Unmarked and Unknown, a Discovery at Penn Park.

That article complemented another article written by local historian Nancy Krause, who detailed the history of Penn Park Plantation, its landscape, and its built environment.

So Madison also helped begin to organize Sam's research and handed off this aspect of the project to another intern through UVA that we acquired through the Career Center Intern Placement Program.

So this was an unpaid position.

Her name was Aksa Atif.

It was a fully remote internship, but she did a great job.

So her job was basically to take all of Sam Towler's research and put it into a database.

So that database, it's called an Airtable relational database.

It's a free online program.

This database came to our attention from Shelley Murphy, who is a member of the Historical Society Board, but also the lead genealogy researcher for UVA with their enslaved laborers project.

and her connections with scholars at Clemson University.

Those connections came about with Shelley consulting on the newly opened International African American Museum in Charleston.

So from that we were able to connect to what is called the Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project at Clemson University where they have a cemetery that is primarily unmarked that they are trying to understand more about.

So in a couple of online meetings, we figured out how their database worked and they were gracious enough to share it with us.

So we were able to use their template structure for their database for ours.

A win-win because this type of research, not only in terms of providing us an immediate database, but also to organize our genealogy and research and also to follow an existing template.

that in the future for comparative purposes with other burial grounds and sites of enslavement we can possibly be able to think in terms of how we help manage information that is a lot of cross

crossing over in terms of UVA Enslaved Laborers Project, Daughters of Zion Cemetery, many other local projects that explore the history of slavery in our local region and those important stories, particularly of the local citizens who descend from these ancestors.

So from the research work done by Sam utilizing historic resources that have been compiled over the past 20 years, we're beginning to piece together these individual histories.

Jeff mentioned a couple of the last names here but also we have three particular individuals who have been figured prominently in a lot of the interviews and programs.

He mentioned Stephen Waller but also Diane Brown Towns and Lorenzo Dickerson.

So they can all trace their history back to enslaved individuals who are at Penn Park.

The most recent UVA intern we're setting the stage for the next part of this project with the descendant community so and within that air table database we have over a thousand entries so those are names of enslaved individuals the slave owners locations places you know ways in which we can be able to track who these people are from

you know pre-emancipation in terms of usually finding records with only names, first names, or even like looking at census records where they're just a tick and an age.

So giving these people names.

The next aspect of our extern internship program was in January just this past year.

We worked with the UVA architectural school on an externship program with Josephine or Joe Blount.

We brought her in.

What was that?

Yes.

Yeah, Collette's daughter.

She's been great just for two weeks.

We dumped a lot on her, and we'll talk a little bit about her later in the presentation.

Besides the funding for Madison Wilson that you very graciously provided, everything that we have done has been through unpaid volunteers and interns.

The students gained valuable work skills, were inspired by the work.

The Historical Society has contributed our paid time to this project, including myself, our programs manager, Sterling Howell.

You know, our time has been spent working with Sam, his volunteer research activities, providing guidance, also managing the interns.

In addition to the research activities, we had three public programs over the past two years to bring this information to the public's attention, also to cultivate additional research leads to connect with living descendants.

It was actually through a program we had with Sam Taller in March of 2021 for Liberation of Freedom Day where he was talking about his research on the levee enslaved

that Diane Brown Towns connected with him, saw Sam put her aunt's house in Charlottesville in a PowerPoint and Diane's like, why do you have my aunt's house in your PowerPoint?

Diane is doing a lot.

I did a podcast last Saturday.

Yeah, Diane's been great.

So the public programs, Jeff mentioned our partnership with Jefferson Madison Regional Library in June of 2021, Forgotten History of Penn Park.

with Jeff, me, and Ben Ford.

Then another one which was Penn Park Update Forgotten Not More in February of 2022 where we had also Sam and Madison Wilson and Steven Waller join us.

And then September of 2022 Nancy Krause did a program on the origins of Penn Park based on the article in our magazine.

So and all these programs are recorded and I think Jeff shared some links in the report you put together for that.

So and additionally, as Jeff mentioned, the projects garnered widespread attention in the press.

A few examples in February of 2022 with Charlottesville Tomorrow, Tamika Jean Charles did an article, Forgotten Not More.

Okay, and I'm done.

And actually, just one more thing, the most recent Al Jazeera Plus in January of 2023 just did an article and we'll actually send you that one because I don't think Jeff put it in.

Can I ask a real quick question?

So going back to the prior slide, Gibbons, there's now a Gibbons house at the university.

William Gibbons

So that's, yes.

Okay.

In fact, you'll see.

So just when the show, I mean, it's been like the, you know, the show on PBS, you know, finding your roots.

I mean, some of this stuff's just incredible.

So, yeah, it's just sort of the show, you know, from a John Craven's will, you know, there's a Maria and her sons, Edward and William.

And we know that Edward and William Gibbons are Ned and Ned Senior, Ned Jr.

William is, you know,

the son of Ned, he goes to, ends up at the university.

So, and then we have here an 1845 record, Maria, Ned, and William who are listed as Maria's children.

A will we have referenced to Ned the Carpenter in the, and one of the things that we know is that

When slaves were emancipated, they didn't move far.

They stayed nearby.

And here you have the 1870 census, Jane Craven, which was John Craven's daughter, and living next door, we have Ed Gibbons and his family.

So being able to then go, all right, I've got a household.

I've got names.

I've got dates.

In the 1867 personal property taxes it lists all the African Americans in the property tax they spent and also places that they live.

It's been I mean, it's remarkable the information that's available.

So yeah, William Gibbons married Isabella Gibbons.

And that's that university connection.

So very quickly, to just get into the next steps, this sort of a three

parties involved here.

You know, one of obviously us, the city.

We own it, that property.

We own the park.

We're the stewards of the park and of the burial site.

Then there's the descendants and both of the three families and also the individuals in the unmarked graves.

This is their family cemetery.

So what's done within the rope, so to speak, is really a

a conversation to have with them, but the city's responsibility, cutting the grass, things like that.

And then the third leg of it is this sort of ongoing research and how we, and I very intentionally wanted Tom to share with you what's gone into this because it's taken that step from the historical society to really put these pieces together.

This is not something I'm

The next step for us is also we'll have two Institute for Public History UVA interns that we're advertising for this summer to take over for where Sam is kind of left off but also kind of spark Sam in many ways plus take what the interns have done previously so it's

Yeah, so what you have, you know, again, Penn Park in the yellow, you can see that within that original 400 acres that Gilmer owned.

And so some of the things that these are just kind of the things we've been playing around internally, things that we know we need to do, been in, you know, discussion with park and wrecks and all, you know, for example, a big one is to identify and protect the burial site.

Right now we know there are unmarked graves there.

We don't know if that boundary has been defined.

We don't know if it continues further down the hill.

That's one of the things that is a discussion with the descendants because you don't want to start to disturb a site.

But at the same time, you know, I think we want to make sure that we know that the city is aware that it's on the plat D site plan, whatever.

So anything that's done in the future understands and respects that site.

I think that when we talk about people will ask me, well, are you going to put headstones up or anything?

and I repeatedly said we don't know that all of those are graves and we don't know that we know where all the graves are so it would be inappropriate to put stones or something where graves are indicated.

Additionally it's the family's cemetery and just like Oakwood and Maplewood that's theirs to determine how to memorialize individual graves.

I think the city can certainly be looking at how to present and interpret the site overall.

I think that, again, to continue that descendant research, I think something really important we need to work on is really getting to what are, again, not just the Cravens and the Gilmers and the Hotops, but these families that now have ancestors buried there.

What are their rights and privileges?

as far as that piece of land is concerned.

That's something to explore and understand.

Obviously working with Parks and Rec maintaining the site, cutting the grass, just like at Maplewood and Oakwood.

And I think something that the city, you know, this is what we're going to hopefully work towards is you do have this intact landscape.

This is not just a burial site.

This is a large

intact property that we could be doing a better job of interpreting and presenting.

We know it's along the river.

Very likely there's evidence of the Monacan occupation there.

But we also know that the people that we're talking about who were enslaved there,

lived there and worked there.

So where did they work?

Where did they live?

What was their life like there and where did those things happen?

So I think there's a responsibility but it's really a really interesting opportunity for the city to say you know we have this landscape this is something we've talked about you know

doing a better job of telling these stories and we can do that here.

I know I've got about 10 minutes left.

I really want to know from that, did you have any questions for us?

Yes.

So that's, in fact, Rivanna Archaeology did that work.

So this kind of gets to the tough question.

In order to make a determination of the boundaries,

you would have to scrape the soil back.

The GPR just can't read and we think some of the graves are just too old that there's nothing really there.

So what they did here was you remove that top couple inches and you can see where the burial shafts were.

This would be the only way to really determine what are the extent of the graves, how many, and where are they.

Obviously though

Blunt's work with us even though it was two weeks it was it was pretty profound in terms of meeting with the descendants meeting with Diane Brown Towns Lorenzo Dickerson and Stephen Waller

and working out with them some kind of guiding principles and values that kind of identifies, you know, how to move forward from that perspective in terms of not only how they approach the site but also thinking about how to put together a descendant group.

And they came up with, you know, three principles, one of which was security.

So through the process, and I want to read some of that,

Throughout the process of memorialization, the security and preservation of the burial site is of utmost importance.

Securing and protecting the site is fundamental to honoring those buried there and their legacy.

Securing the site can mean physically protecting it from damage or desecration, for example.

By the installation of a temporary barrier separating it from the golf course, the process of securing the site may also entail further defining the exact extent of the site to determine the number and the precise location of burials.

And then the second principle is respect.

Respect is a value that should steer the memorialization process in all aspects.

They believe that memorializing the grave site is an essential act of honoring and paying respect to their ancestors.

Respecting those individuals and their memory requires honoring both the sadness and the joy of the burial site, respecting both the physical space as well as its legacy and its meaning for the descendants.

Respect is also crucial to the memorialization process.

The descendants believe that the living – they are the living embodiment of their descendants, so they deserve to be – of their ancestors, sorry.

They deserve to be treated with respect and have their own stories, contributions celebrated as extensions of that legacy.

And then telling the story.

driven by the desire to articulate, interpret, and spread the cultural memory in the sense of this home place.

So it's a sense of how these stories have not been told or hidden or, you know, visibly and fundamentally not put on the landscape for a reason.

I think, you know, just so you can see in the image here that

this is the 14th T going in this direction and there's the cart path comes down and Parks and Rec's already laid out a rope in the area that we've determined this is where most likely there are burials so that at least that area is roped off but if we were to determine

I don't know how likely it is, but that burials went further, then obviously we'd want to do, you know, what's right.

But that's what we mean.

MR. What came across from and they want to definitely know that let you know that they are only a small group of people that are not organized and they do not represent the entire group of the community members that are descendants.

But they kept coming back to this idea of secure and respect.

The GPR gives us a sense that this is a burial ground, but it does not tell us as it does with, you know, the Hoetops, the Cravens, and the Gilmers that are defined by walls that we know the limits and the edges and the curiosity of, you know, does it extend beyond?

Is it under the irrigation line?

Is it under the cart path?

Is it under the 14th T?

is there something happening to their burials that they are not aware of but we have not determined through GPR study yet.

No, you don't need to do that.

I've gotten enough pats on the back.

I think that what

A couple things.

One, this is a further opportunity for us to put this list of names up there, and it's not, you know, limited to these, but these seem to be the names that come to the surface.

If someone out there, this story seems to fit, as I said, even Steve, and said, we

this had no they had no idea of a connection so but it's to you know so this one gets the word out to I think an opportunity to let you all know where we are and what we're doing let folks know what Tom and his group are doing

I think there are as we all move forward yes there's some programming and and to discuss with Parks and Rec and some additional work up I'm looking at a we're working with a company that does the lidar you know that aerial radar that willing to work with us to look at the entire park and that might you know give us some clues to where maybe there were areas of settlement on the property we're evaluating that but no nothing at this point that you all

need to do or if we're asking you to do, but to be aware of it.

This is fascinating stuff.

And this belongs to the city of Charlottesville.

This is not some obscure site in a corner somewhere.

This is a park, and this is property owned by a city.

Yeah, this is great.

We need to do this.

Anything that we can do as a counselor, as you all do your work, help with the intern type of position.

Sound like we're getting really good work from that.

Just let us know.

Again, you all are out in the community and can kind of keep the story going.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for what you all do.

I appreciate it.

Well, thank you for the opportunity.

Thank both of you all.

Appreciate it.

Next item on our agenda is the United Way update.

Ravi Respeto, CEA, to present.

By Zoom, Ms.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Yes.

I'm in a screen share, but I wasn't set up to do it, so let me know if it's difficult to follow along.

You're going to see my very busy desktop.

Wonderful.

Well, like I said, thanks for having me visit.

I'm just going to report out on what United Way has been working on over the past couple of years and the sort of strategic direction of the organization.

And then I'll get into different programs and task force that we're running.

And as I go, feel free to ask questions or you can jot them down and ask at the end.

So I'm going to go ahead and click through here.

So United Way has just completed our FY2327 strategic plan and I think it's important to note a lot of individuals in the community sort of think of the United Way as an organization that does a lot of grant funding to other nonprofits and sort of specific areas and that's certainly been true in the past but the direction that we've really moved to over the past couple of years as you can see here

is to eliminate barriers from minority and economically disadvantaged populations and enable them to achieve financial stability and thrive economically.

And we do this through coordinated service delivery among peer agencies supported by task force coalitions focused on long-term systems level change.

So through this, we may begin to eliminate dependency on these services such that individuals can thrive economically and become more financially stable.

So I'll kind of run through what that looks like.

But essentially, instead of United Way funding out grants to various nonprofits in sort of the areas we work, we now have task force coalitions where we have community level priorities that we work on together.

And our funding model is basically around those organizations that we're working with to meet those priorities.

So we really believe that the best way we can support the community is to help coordinate those agencies to meet those strategic goals.

So the United Way's new initiative is called Envision and it's really about a more equitable Charlottesville and doing business differently, again, through better coordination of services.

And we kind of call it a new narrative because it's something that's different for United Way and we're very honest and sort of authentic about what the challenges and issues are in our community.

And the goals that we've set for ourselves are threefold.

So the first one really focuses on reducing poverty in our communities.

So our goal is to help lift 1,800 families out of poverty and we name specifically 630 black families over the next five years.

And goal two really focuses on early education.

So we want to increase by 10% kindergartners from economically disadvantaged families who pass developmental benchmarks.

and increase the number of black kindergartners who passed by 20%.

So again, embedding specific goals around equity.

And then goal three really focuses on building a more connected community through a deepened understanding of race and equity, which is sort of a theme that runs through a lot of the services and the programs that we deliver.

So giving history and context and narrative around why these goals are important, not just for the United Way, but in our community.

And some of the data just to kind of look at, I'm sure many of you've heard of the Orange Dot Report that Rich Schuyler puts out through his work with PVCC as the Dean of Self-Sufficiency, but a new report actually just came out, but based on his last report, we know that 17% of families in our region cannot afford the essentials of life.

And so many of the families we serve make about 30,000 a year for a family of four.

So they're making 150% of the federal poverty level.

We all know that it's expensive in terms of housing in our community, even if you're commuting in from one of the outlying counties.

And so we kind of estimate average rent at about $1,200 for a one or two bedroom apartment.

Childcare, if you have a small child or know a family with small children is very expensive.

It ranges in our community where from $15,000 to $20,000 a year if you have a child age zero to two.

which makes it very unaffordable for families that we would serve.

And you can kind of see what we talk about is that really doesn't leave much to get by each month, really $76 in this budget equation.

And we also talk about how the fact that poverty isn't dispersed in a really equitable way.

So you can see there on the right hand side that the percentage of families in Charlottesville region making less than 35,000 a year, 35% represent black families while only 14% represent white families.

And so really trying to bring about dialogue and conversation around these histories and why we continue to see these trends in our community.

And we look at other sort of what we call indicators of poverty.

We look at housing, for example.

So currently 24% of black families own their home versus 50% of white families.

We look at access to capital.

12.4% is the denial rate for black loan applicants compared to only 4.5% for white families.

In early education, 104% lower scores for black children than white children for kindergarten literacy assessments and 145% more likely to fail kindergarten literacy assessments for economically disadvantaged children in our community.

And lastly, we look at life expectancy, so 9% shorter lifespan for black individuals than white individuals in our community.

And some of this comes out of the report that Siri Russell worked on for the county of Albemarle.

But this gives you sort of the context of what we're working with in our community around the areas that United Way puts a lot of our efforts and energy and funding and partnerships into.

So when we look at goal one and we're looking at lifting 1,800 families out of poverty, how do we go about doing that as a single organization?

And that is really where task force coalitions come into play.

So starting in the summer of 2019, we started meeting with nine organizations that are all working around reducing poverty in the community in different areas, depending on what their agency's vision and mission was.

And so over the course of the past three and a half years, we've developed

a work plan and some very specific goals about how we wanna work together through our financial resiliency task force.

And I'll show you a diagram of the current agencies involved in this effort.

Hopefully it's large enough for you to read.

But as you can see many organizations that you're familiar with.

So City of Promise, Habitat for Humanity, New Hill for Development, the CIC, the Yohara Foundation, Piedmont Housing Alliance, Network to Work and MACA.

So each one of these agencies has been meeting every month, the director at their agency has been involved and we've developed a referral network using the network to work system that basically tags individuals that are interested in making a three year commitment to design their own financial plan to achieve what we call financial stability, which we estimate to be around 45,000 a year for a family of three.

That's one adult and two children.

and so we've also developed something called a financial resiliency matrix which sort of identifies the different levels that people have to achieve to get to different income brackets and so that's a separate document and I'm happy to send that out after this meeting for review but the group worked on that document including Kaki Demick who's now with the county department of social services at the time she was with the city department of human services

Essentially, we've identified six levels.

So a level one might be somebody who's homeless and maybe actively using services through PACHA and essentially really needing a lot of supportive services.

And the investment for an individual at that level can be quite expensive.

It's difficult to sometimes get those individuals to a place where they are financially stable.

And so when we looked at sort of the populations, we landed on what we call level three, which are individuals that are making about 20 to 30 some thousand dollars a year.

Most of them are working usually two jobs, sometimes three jobs.

They have somewhat stable housing.

They might have somewhat stable transportation or no transportation.

Their credit scores tend to be in the five, maybe 600 level.

all of them need some sort of subsidy in terms of child care and generally they're working jobs where they're making about 15 to 20 maybe dollars an hour so that's kind of the group that we honed in on a level six might be a family who is in their first home they've been able to save for down payment assistance and they're more stable space they might still be under 80 percent of the area median income but they're more stable in terms of where they're at

So our efforts focus on families in that level three space and our goal is to again get them to a level four.

Mechanically how this works is all of the agencies you see here will refer into this program.

All of the services that you see listed are those that each agency has identified

as being services that they can offer in a way that's prioritized to families that are referred into the network.

Each one of the networks, each one of the organizations has a point person and each of these point people know one another or at least have relationships with one another.

And the ideal is that we surround a person on their financial journey versus having a person have to reach out to each agency

and potentially find themselves on a wait list or not able to access the services.

So the goal is to help them navigate this entire system of resources better and also help them design their own financial plan.

So step one, if they apply and they make the commitment for three years is they go to New Hill Development and they get their credit score, they get debt to income ratio support, they do a budget, they get financial coaching and then from there they go on to

One of the agencies or all of the agencies you listed here, depending on their personal goals.

I'm just going to pause for a minute.

Nope, not at this point.

Yeah, I know I've met with some of you individually and talked a little about this and we've just launched it in January.

So it's really new.

But the other sort of overarching goal of this effort is to get a better sense of what the investment is when we work with families.

So as it stands now, one family might go to three of our different agencies, but we're not keeping track collectively of the services and that expense.

the direct expense or indirect how much staff time we're spending with families.

And we know for a fact that many families do utilize sometimes two, three, four of the different agencies that you see listed here.

So part of our goal in this sort of space of human services is to better understand what's the true cost of helping a family achieve financial stability.

And based on that investment, are families able to remain financially stable?

a lot of the families that we serve are kind of what we call the prevention line so one big life event can actually you know they dip back into into poverty and it's really tough to get back out so kind of making sure that they're able to stay above that prevention line so that's another sort of data point that we're hoping to keep track of through this sort of coordinated effort and again we've all committed to a five-year work plan so this is really just the start and what we hope to be able to share out with council in the future is what kind of an impact is this making for local families that we're serving

Currently we hope to serve 130 families a year.

The other piece just to kind of talk about sort of how the continuum of care works.

We have the city pathways emergency hotline that folks can call.

It really serves the city and the county.

As the funds start to dwindle from American Rescue Fund

we're looking at making sure that we flag for individuals that kind of fit this criteria so that we can send them over to the financial resiliency task force especially if they've been able to rely on some of those emergency dollars that aren't going to be available here in the future so this group also and this is important to note has identified that we want to prioritize a focus on black and brown families and so that's the goal

of this particular effort.

And as I said, it's a five-year effort.

So we'll be sure to share and report out as we build out this referral network.

Another program United Way runs is what we call the Family Investment Program.

And so this is our pilot program statistics that you see here.

We initially had 11 families come through and basically pretty much like the Financial Resiliency Task Force, we're looking at investing in individuals in terms of helping them meet their own financial goals.

This particular program is over a two year period and our key partner here is Habitat for Humanity.

So a family will come in and all of them are wanting to work toward homeownership.

So they're all part of the Pathways Homeownership Program that Habitat has.

A lot of what we see is families come in with bad debt, very high interest rates, particularly around student loans and transportation.

So auto loans, we have people that come in sometimes to 200% interest rate auto loans, believe it or not.

And so one of our first goals is to help them pay down or pay off those bad debts and then help them work on their credit score,

and also saving for the down payment on their home workforce development issues.

So if they're looking to go back to school or improve their job training, we would then connect with Network to work and get them going with Rich's program.

So the idea is to have that connective tissue between the agencies.

After the first two-year pilot program, you can see some of the stats that we saw.

So with a $10,000 investment, the way it works is we'll disperse dollars to families as they hit their own financial milestones.

And through that process, you can see that there was a 13% increase in high credit score and a 12% increase in monthly income.

and a 19% increase in average hourly wages.

And I think the housing numbers are even better to take a look at.

So when we started, we had six running, four in public housing and one was homeless.

And when we ended, we had three that had purchased their first home, three had purchases pending and four had moved from public housing and one was in public housing and no longer homeless.

So that kind of gives you an idea of the kind of funding programs United Way is doing.

As I said in the past, it might've been a grant made to one of the agencies that you see listed in our financial residency task force, but today it's really investing directly in families, or we'll give a stipend to one of the agencies that you see listed specifically to cover staff time and program support to be able to meet those priorities.

I'll just say that we have just started our next group of families.

So we have 20 nominations and 20 families that are pending to enter into the program.

Five of them are participants from Southwood.

And just kind of working through the system, it does take time.

It usually takes about six months to get families fully enrolled and to make sure that they have a connection with both the financial coach at Habitat that they're working with and then also a coach that's working with them at the United Way and kind of helping them through their financial journey.

And this is just one of the clients that we serve.

Her name is Kizzy.

When she came into the program, she was looking to finally have her own home.

She was renting and really struggling with the cost of, you know, rent here in the city of Charlottesville.

And so she went into the program and was able to save.

We did our match saving program where we matched money that she saved.

We got her an affordable line of credit.

She was able to go back and do continuing education.

She had some financial coaching.

Today she has, you know, started her own private cleaning business.

She's getting her medical billing and coding exam done, and she bought her first home.

So she's, you know, one of the first people to go through that pilot program.

And, you know, we stay in touch with her.

I mean, she will tell you her life has been completely transformed by having an opportunity to have that support system around her to help her meet her financial goals, which is really, really the aim of these programs.

Another sort of flagship program that we run that we launched a few years ago was called Driving Lives Forward and this is a program that we do in partnership with Carter Myers Automotive and Virginia National Bank and so I'll just kind of share with you

sort of a look at a composite of one of the families that we worked with recently.

So they had gone to Carter Myers to get a vehicle.

Based on their credit, they were going to pay about 16% interest and they could afford $2,000 down.

So that would make a payment about $443 a month.

Most of the vehicles that are sourced in this program are usually no more than five years old.

And typically we want to keep the price point no more than $15,000.

Under that scenario, she's a CNA and she works night shifts at University UVA Hospital.

Can't take public transportation, you know, obviously late at night, she really did need a vehicle, but she was referred over to Driving Lives Ford because we knew based on her budget, she really couldn't afford that $443 payment.

So using the scenario with the same vehicle, we were able to do $2,000 down payment assistance for her.

We put her at a 5% loan.

Again, we have a lot more control over the loans that

We basically privately fundraise and keep the resources at Virginia National Bank and then they administer the loan.

So give her a 5% loan and basically got her payment down to $314 over 48 months.

So it's a savings of $161 a month, which makes a significant difference for families that are going through this program.

One of the things that we struggle with the Driving Life Award is the cost of cars did go up during COVID.

So it used to be about 10,000 a car, now it's 15.

So we've had to kind of work through that.

We also know that a lot of families come without the down payment assistance.

And so Virginia National Bank has been able to help raise some private funds to help with that.

Interest rates have gone up.

And so it's been a little trickier to keep, you know, interest rates lower.

But the goal is to try to keep interest rates no more than 8%.

even with the increased interest rate environment that we're dealing with and to try to keep people's payments no more than $350 a month.

So this is a program, again, it's a pilot program we launched.

We've had some really good results.

Our goal is to help 15 families with a vehicle this year and ultimately we hope to grow it to be much larger than that and really serve any families that are being referred to the Financial Resiliency Task Force to us.

So I'm just gonna pause.

Any questions about those programs?

Nope.

So goal two, like I said, really deals with early education.

And so we look at families in terms of reducing poverty as sort of a continuum.

So it's both helping them with all of the programs I just mentioned in terms of affordable housing and transportation, but it's also making sure that their children have access to quality early education and that we support them.

with the Early Learner Scholarship Program to make sure that parents one can work because they have that subsidy and support.

And then when their kids go to preschool, they're getting what we call quality preschool so that they're prepared to pass those benchmarks when they hit kindergarten.

So some of the programs that we have now are called Go to Grow and the Early Learners Program, Early Learners Scholarship Program, like I mentioned.

Grow to Grow is something that we just launched this past year.

So I'm just gonna go down here and take you to the slide.

It's actually, excuse me, two years ago.

Let me just go down here.

Basically it's the first time we've had what we call coordinated enrollment in our community.

So essentially we have a website now, we work with the city school system, the county school system and MACA Head Start.

And essentially any family who's under the 200% of federal poverty level or lower income

can work through this program to find the best match for preschool for their child and so we have a navigator that works full-time with Unanna Way and works with families to make sure that they're getting their needs met based on you know whether they have transportation if they're a single parent household

The hours that that parent has to work, whatever financial constraints they may have.

The whole ideal is it's parent choice and parent led with a navigator helping those families be better informed about what program is gonna be the best fit for their child.

And so we are just starting our third year of this program.

Here's some of the statistics of families that we're serving.

40 of our families were experiencing homelessness 33 had a parent under the age of 19 when the child was born single parent households are over a thousand it's the most significant population of parents that we serve and 310

of the parents had less than a 12th grade education.

And you can kind of see overall how many applications we've had.

So this program is making a tremendous difference again in terms of access to quality early education.

It used to be that a family would have to go into the local school.

They would have to fill out a paper form essentially.

A lot of our families that are English as a second language would have to make sure that they could get somebody there that could help them interpret.

And the process itself was relatively cumbersome.

And so this has really changed the way that we're able to deliver

Quality Early Education to Families.

And I will just back up and say part of United Way's overall leadership in the early ed space came with a significant grant from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation last December.

And so we're now one of nine regions across the state delivering systems level early education intervention.

United Way not only oversees the Thomas Jefferson Planning District now but we also took on Augusta, Harrisonburg up to Winchester so we have over 21 counties that we now oversee with early education programs so what we just talked about coordinated enrollment we've also helped launched in the Stanton Augusta area and we're looking at getting it launched up in Harrisonburg as well this coming year so the idea is to grow out the system for our particular territory

and then other regions are doing the same.

Early education switched from Department of Social Services to Department of Education.

And so through the shift to Department of Education came this sort of statewide task force led approach to delivering services in a more coordinated way.

I'm just gonna pop back up here.

Another one of our very popular programs is called Mixed Delivery.

So it allows a parent and again, parent choice to make a high quality early ed decision.

We had 77 slots this year that we were able to fill.

We're looking at going to 127 slots.

We're also adding what we call infant and toddler slots.

So basically this allows

public funds to be given to families for private preschool slots.

So typically a low income parent couldn't afford a preschool, a private preschool opportunity for their child.

And this funding helps them have that opportunity to access those options.

And you can see again on race and ethnicity, kind of the breakdown of families that this program supports and the medium income of these families that we serve is around 30,000 a year.

So kind of the same demographic that you see us serving through our financial stability programs.

And then one of the programs that is one of our flagship programs that the city has very generously been supporting for many years is the early learner scholarship program.

Last year we were able to do 38 scholarships for families.

and those range, you know, up to $15,000 a year depending on the family's income.

So 54 families benefit, the average annual income is 28,000, which puts people at about 125% of the federal poverty level.

Again, we see this as a workforce development issue as much as it is about making sure children have quality early education.

They're placed in centers that are quality early education providers.

It's that, you know, it allows most of the families, many of whom are single family, single parent household families to be able to work.

And so again, we feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to offer this and to get funding from the city.

And then Santa Fund is a program that people kind of think is a holiday program.

You might hear about it at the holiday.

It's been around over a hundred years.

It's a partnership with the Daily Progress and WINA.

But this basically provides essentials like clothing, shoes, medicine, eyeglasses, and school supplies and books to children in our community.

We do work with all the localities, including Buckingham, and we've just added Orange County to the list.

And so we work directly with school administrators who identify children within the school that

are low income or free and reduced lunch.

And they're able to basically get vouchers and they can go shop in their local communities for items that you see listed here in a way where the child can kind of pick out what they need and they can pay for those items with the vouchers that United Way backs.

We've also developed over the past few years, drives, supply drives.

We've been working with the city school system on that with Denise Johnson.

And so we did last year, $20,000, 10,000 in the fall and 10,000 in the spring.

And then we did that again this fall.

So that's $10,000 worth of funding for supplies and things that children needed.

Denise called us and she was concerned during COVID because parents had stopped doing any kind of back to school shopping for children when they weren't in the classroom.

and so a lot of kids weren't getting sort of just the basics that they needed because they weren't in the school setting.

And so we started the school drives to kind of support that.

Sometimes the money's even been used during COVID for families that don't have internet access.

So we get them hotspots and things like that to make sure children can access online learning opportunities.

Um, with Santa Fun?

Yeah.

Yes.

There is a connection.

Yes.

Vice mayor has been helping with many things at the United Way many, many years before I got involved.

So yeah, he's a big supporter.

So I'll just briefly say impact grants, as I said, we're shifting our funding strategy, but this past year still did benefit many organizations that I've talked about today that we partner with to meet those community priorities that we put $210,000 back into these organizations.

Average grants are about $25,000 to $30,000.

Some of them we make a three-year commitment to depending on what programs they're running.

And as you can see, all of them align with our priorities around financial stability and or early education.

So in the future, we'll be doing less of this traditional grant making and more of the stipends that I talked about.

We've also launched a minority business grant opportunity with the Minority Business Alliance, the Chamber of Commerce.

So in our third year, we've given away

I think close to $100,000 in grants to minority businesses through that program.

And then this spring we'll be announcing an opportunity that will be supported by the city and the county Department of Economic Development and United Way to also support minority businesses.

It'll be a minority enterprise grant and it'll be about $10,000.

We hope to do 15 of those grants by the end of this year.

so one of our shifts is to put money back into small minority businesses since business is obviously one of the ways that you can scale economically and get ahead financially and we do work closely with the CIC so they know the program that we're offering sort of complements what they do in terms of their loan program ours is a grant program so the monies don't have to be repaid and a lot of it is to help businesses grow and then maybe

access alone program through the CIC.

So again, that's the beauty of the coordination.

We're all in conversation with one another, making sure that we're not adding a new program if it already exists and making sure any new programs that are added are those where there's gaps in the system that are needed by local individuals and families we serve.

And then lastly, I'll just talk briefly about what we call our connected community.

This is like I said at the beginning, goal three to build a more connected community through a deepened understanding of race and equity.

Some of you might've attended our community tables in the past.

So we bring people together from diverse backgrounds and have curated conversations to build community and better understand each other's backgrounds and lived experience.

We do host a weekly radio program called Envision.

This is about conversations with different black community members and leaders around what they're doing, whether it be education or business or health or arts, but having those conversations and kind of changing the narrative about members of our community that are making significant difference, which may not be people that are well known, but nonetheless are really important to the fabric of our community and to diversity in our community.

We also done a really fun coloring book that highlights different historic places in our community like their early learning center and the Jefferson School.

Those coloring books have gone out to preschool programs throughout the community.

We even did a partnership with a local restaurant so kids could color in the preschool or color in the coloring book while they're having dinner.

So different fun ways to kind of storytell and share a little bit of the history here in our community.

And then we also try to find different and interesting platforms to share information.

So we work with the Genie Film Festival and we curate different films that deal with the issues that Yonana Way promotes, which financial stability, school readiness.

We brought a filmmaker out from Oakland, California.

Her name's Clarissa and she had done a significant

Amount of work in getting funding into the early education space and had been working for many years with her local city and her locality to get funding into the programs there in Alameda County.

And so she did a documentary, she came out and shared her story.

We invited different

different partners that we work with to come and see your film and meet here.

So just kind of build that community.

And then we're also working with Virginia Public Media to bring Envision to a wider audience so that it would be something we could air throughout Central Virginia and also the Valley just to try to keep amplifying out those stories in our community.

And then I'll just like end with this because it's right on the downtown mall and it's right, you know, we worked with the city to make sure that we were able to do this mural and it's a big part of our community.

So it's right next to the Haven, Jay Johnson's a local artist.

And so this really symbolizes what Envision is all about.

It's really community members from diverse backgrounds coming together to lift up and support members here in Charlottesville to be

able not only to just achieve financial stability but to love whole lives and to have all the opportunities that everybody else might have.

And so that's really the ideal behind this image and the narrative that we're hoping to promote here in the community.

And we do have a little sign people can scan and learn more about the program and what Envision is all about.

I will end there and just say thank you to each of you I've worked with each of you and know that you care deeply about the community and a lot of the work United Way is doing so we're just you know grateful for your partnership and support and that's all I got unless you have any questions thank you

So I think I've said it before, but before I got on council, I was president of the board of United Way, and it sounds like you guys are doing even more.

So I talked to Amanda today, the current chair, and you're not slowing down a bit.

So thank you so much for all the great work that you're all doing in the community.

And I just really feel like all of the nonprofits that we have in the community,

just out there doing so much that our community would just really look and feel so much different if we didn't have these valuable community partners.

Well, I just want to underscore that, you know, none of the work is possible without each of us working together to our strengths and being able to coordinate the services that we provide.

I mean, that's really, really the key strength of the nonprofit sector.

Yeah, I really appreciated the presentation, Ms.

Buda.

Could you say a little more about how your fundraising works locally?

And it sounds like the various folks that are in the sort of wheel, the circle that you had of the different groups, I guess they do their own individual fundraising grants and I guess direct appeals.

Could you say a little more about how

Yeah, it's a good question, Brian.

So it's twofold.

We get a lot of funding for our early education efforts through the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation that I mentioned.

About 2.4, 2.5 million of our funding comes from that source.

So that's a significant and that comes down through the state of Virginia.

We do a lot of private fundraising and that comes into the form of foundation grants,

individual private philanthropy, corporate gifts, and then we still do some workplace employee campaigns, but that's a lot less of the financial model.

Most of that fundraising covers the financial stability work of the organization.

So when we talk about the task force, financial resiliency task force, we have to privately fundraise for all of sort of the backbone and convening support that

goes into keeping that effort moving forward.

The Financial Resiliency Task Force itself is developed through a work plan and a signed MOU.

So all nine agencies now have signed an MOU that kind of

break out a governance structure.

And part of that governance structure is we do have a development and marketing committee.

We have an operations committee, a program committee, and a data committee.

And the development operations committee is developing sort of as we speak our first proposal.

So the first proposal is going to be to hire a full-time financial coach that will be housed at New Hill Development and will be that sort of first point of contact when

an individual enters into the Financial Resiliency Task Force.

And so to answer your question, there'll be both private fundraising requests and foundation requests specifically for the FRTF effort that will be brought to the group by that development committee, but it will really be an effort of the Financial Resiliency Task Force.

I don't want to speak out of turn because I like I said I represent all of the agencies when I say this but I'm hoping that in the future we would consider putting in a request through vibrant communities that would benefit each of the agencies involved specifically around the coordinated services that they're offering so we're doing for at United Way Early Learner Scholarships, Driving Lives Forward, Family Investment Program

that request would reflect some funding that we needed to support those and it would be the same for each of the partners and so really putting in a joint funding request but we're also highly cognizant that we don't want to cannibalize existing efforts each one of those agency does many many many things outside of just the programs that you saw listed today as you know peanut housing alliance habitat network to work so

But we are looking at how we can coordinate better on those sort of joint funding proposals.

So I don't know if that answers the question, but you know, of course we do get locality funding at Uninaway for early learner scholarship program.

We also disperse all of the CARES Act funding.

That's very helpful.

Absolutely.

I don't have any other questions.

Thank you.

Let me say one of the things that I have appreciated and come to appreciate more having

done some things in the private nonprofit sector before going on council and then having seen over the last few years the various funding requests is I think I have a renewed appreciation for nonprofits that are able to do their fundraising from sources other than writing a grant to Charlottesville.

We get hit with a lot of requests for a lot of money and I keep thinking why aren't these folks going out and doing their own fundraising and it warms my heart to hear of the fundraising efforts that you all are undertaking and the coordination that you're undertaking.

One of the Charlottesville diseases

is the tendency to create a brand new 501c3 every time somebody gets a brainy idea.

And the result of that is often that we've got five or ten agencies or organizations that seem to be wanting to solve the same problem, but they never get to the critical mass of a size where they can be efficient and where they can

can raise money well and they can account for the money properly and all of that.

And so when folks are able to work together and there is some united part of the United Way, I think that's just wonderful.

So I've always been, our family has always been a contributor to the United Way and will continue to be so.

But as somebody on council now, I'm just

Very appreciative of the fact that you all are able to work with so many other people together.

Thank you.

No, I appreciate that, Lloyd.

And that's the name of the game.

I mean, there are a lot of nonprofits doing really meaningful work, and there's only so many private resources.

I mean, there is enough to go around.

But the bigger philanthropists in town, right?

There's only so many of those folks.

So it is important to also look outside the community for funding opportunities, especially through foundation support.

And particularly for Envision, that's one of the ways that we've created some success.

We've applied for some grants through JPMorgan Chase out of New York.

recently got a grant from an organization called the Kenan Family Foundation that looks specifically to do programs designed to support financial resiliency in communities, particularly where there's an equity focus.

And so, you know, you have to have a team that has the expertise and the capability.

So there is a capacity around that.

But you also have to believe that the problem you're working to solve is incredibly meaningful, not just to our Charlottesville community, but beyond the borders of even the state of Virginia.

Anybody else got anything else?

Really appreciate the presentation.

Thank you.

All right, thank you so much.

Thanks.

Okay, so it's 525, and that's the end of our 4 o'clock agenda.

Yes.

Pursuant to Section 2.2-3712 of the Virginia Code, I hereby move that City Council close this open meeting and convene in a closed session as authorized by Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A1 for the discussion and consideration of appointing members to the following Charlottesville public bodies.

Is there a second?

Second.

Okay.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion passes.

City Council will now be in closed session.

We will return for those on Zoom.

We will return to a separate Zoom link for the meeting that we will be back about 6.30 for.

Okay, it looks like it's 6.30, and so let us reconvene.

The first thing we have to do is to certify about our closed meeting.

I do.

I move that this council certify by a recorded vote that, to the best of each council member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Second.

Okay.

Moved and seconded.

Ms.

Yes.

Motion passes.

Four to nothing.

So we're now in the business session.

We'll begin that 6.30 p.m.

business meeting with a moment of silence.

Counselors, any announcements?

I have a proclamation.

I don't know if you want to.

We'll come to that.

Okay, okay.

Come to that.

Oh, sorry.

Oh, you got one?

Just a real quick announcement.

So, thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for mentioning that, Michael.

I think that, you know, many in the community know that Eldridge was like a son to me.

He was a longtime mentor, a mentee of mine, kind of where I kind of cut my teeth in his community on mentoring from early, mid-2000s, I mean, 90s, till he graduated.

And what I learned from

him and working with the young men is what prompted me to run for school board for 16 years and to make some change there and to see him grow from a little boy to a man with a family and to have this happen and the impact that he was having was truly it was truly it hit me hard and had a lot of support over the last week and so we're ready to

to not let what happened be in vain.

And so thank you for mentioning that and prayers to his family that have to deal with this tragic loss.

Thank you.

Ms.

Magill, would you come on down?

Let me just read this to you and read it to the rest of the world.

You'll get to take this home.

I have enough boxes.

Well, you know, for some of us, you get to a certain point in your life where you say, that's a really good box.

I just want to thank you all very much.

It's been a pleasure serving with you.

I was actually going to come tonight in my pirate garb to remind you to be a little bit silly and to be a little bit weird and to embrace the weird, but I couldn't get the bodice lined up right, and it just wasn't working.

Thank you all very much.

And I want to thank everyone who stood up and put their names forward to fill my shoes for the next 10 months.

I really appreciate it.

I made a commitment

in 2007 to my family.

It's one of the reasons I ran.

And that commitment take precedence over everything else.

Amen.

And so I appreciate the community support and stepping forward to make it possible so that I can step down from this and be where my family needs me to be.

Thank you, everybody.

It's been a pleasure serving this community.

All right.

Thank you so much.

And thank you.

I said this before, I'll say it again, that one of the things that I most appreciated about you and your service on City Council was that you had knowledge about fields that I had no knowledge about, about social services, things about mental health issues and so on.

And one of the things that I think makes a good City Council

is when we have complementary interests and complementary skill sets.

And you complemented us well with both an E and an I. So thank you so much for having been with us, and we'll look forward to calling on you from time to time.

Thanks.

Thank you.

So, next item, proclamation, congenital heart disease awareness week, February 7th to 14th.

Our proclamation, whereas congenital heart disease, CHD, is the most prevalent birth defect in the United States, affecting one in every 100 births, and whereas each year in the United States, more than 40,000 babies are born with CHD, 800 babies born annually in Virginia,

with a congenital heart defect of which 400 will need surgery within their first year of life, and whereas there is no known cure for CHD as it is a lifelong disease that requires ongoing specialized care, and whereas the health and well-being of congenital heart patients is of paramount importance, UVA health systems

has performed over 53 pediatric heart transplants since 2013.

And whereas, thanks to the advancement of science and medicine, 85% of individuals born with CHD now live past the age of 18.

and whereas even with these advancements fewer than 10% of adults with CHD are receiving the recommended care that they need and whereas medical research can provide more identifiable means of the origins and symptoms of CHD and whereas it is crucial that individuals planning a family, fetal clinicians, obstetric physicians, pediatricians and all those in the medical field have a greater understanding of the potential for CHD

and whereas Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week provides the opportunity for patients and families affected by CHD to share their experiences and knowledge so that the general public may be aware of how this defect affects lives.

Now, therefore, I, Lloyd Snook, Mayor, do hereby proclaim February 7th to 14th, 2023 Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week in Charlottesville, Virginia and encourage everyone to learn more about CHD and its effects on our friends, family and community.

signed and sealed this sixth day of February.

And I understand that Casey Fletcher is with us via Zoom.

Ms.

Yes, I'm here.

Thank you.

I really appreciate you taking the time to proclaim this week, Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week.

My son was born with a congenital heart defect.

He had surgery at four days old.

One in 100 babies are born with a congenital heart defect, of which 25% require surgery in their first year of life.

Charlottesville is a center for Virginia for congenital heart disease because we are the only transplant hospital for pediatric transplants in the state.

You guys have done at UVA 19 transplants have been done in the last nine or 10 years and it's only increasing as we're able to retain some of the best transplant doctors in the region.

and so you guys are helping create awareness and bring more light to this disease that affects again one in 100 babies born in the U.S.

and we are

only improving the outcomes for these children and allowing more of these children to grow into adults and provide and give back to their communities.

So the outcomes are only improving and we'll continue to do so as we create more awareness and create more research and develop better methods for dealing with congenital heart defects.

Thank you.

Thank you for being with us.

It's an important issue.

The second proclamation, Vice Mayor.

I have a proclamation for Black History Month.

2023, whereas February has been set aside nationally.

It's a time to relearn about the contributions of black Americans to the formation of our country.

And whereas during February, we bring focus to the stories of black Americans who have

our nation and our city who have advanced the cost of freedom and civil rights strengthening our families and our community and whereas we examine our nation's history and history of Charlottesville which continues to be written

We discover countless stories that inspire us, stories of triumph of the human spirit, the triumph over cruelty rooted in ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry, and the triumph of everyday people rising above seemingly insurmountable circumstances to achieve greatly.

And whereas we commit to work with intention to address past injustices,

that have hurt the black community, racist laws, policies, and practices that were intended to displace, intimidate, and financially harm black citizens.

We acknowledge our collective responsibility to break down barriers to equity and inclusion.

And whereas as we celebrate Black History Month, we teach our children, our neighbors, and all Americans to rise above complacency and to be champions for human dignity, fairness, equity, and equality

and whereas this time to rededicate ourselves to affirming the promise of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unenable rights that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

And whereas in the city of Charlottes where we resolve to teach the true history of all our people in both public

schools and public spaces and whereas black lives do matter in Charlottesville black people are valued and vital members of the community black culture is woven into the fabric of the community and we work to attract welcome and retain a diverse population now therefore we the City Council of the City of Charlottesville Virginia hereby proclaim Black History Month

this is February's Black History Month.

We call the people of Charlottesville to join us in learning about and honoring black achievement and black experience in our community and throughout the country.

We encourage support of Black History Month programs, sign and seal this sixth day of February, 2023, J. Lloyd Snook, the third mayor.

Thank you.

And so I just want to add that also the local NAACP for the Charlottesville Albemarle branch, they have a really robust list of different things that you can do to support the African American community that you can find on their site.

So next, we have no appointments for boards or commissions for this meeting.

However, a reminder that if you are interested, the application process for the next round of appointments is open until March 10th on the City's Boards and Commissions webpage.

If you go to that website, eventually find a button where you can click on it, a link for filling out an application.

Next we come to the consent agenda.

Ms.

Consent agenda, number three, minutes, January 3rd, council meeting, January 17th, council meeting, February 2nd, budget work session.

Four, resolution, appropriating grant funds for improvements

at 10th Street Northwest and Grady Avenue, $500,106, second reading.

Five, resolution appropriating funds for the Safe Routes to School program, non-infrastructure grants, $229,803, one of two readings.

Six, resolution.

appropriating Supreme Court of Virginia behavioral health docket grant in the amount of $61,500 for operations of the therapeutic docket program.

One of two readings.

Seven, resolution considering a special use permit request for 345 US 250 bypass, the 250 bypass fire station.

One reading.

Eight, resolution, considering a critical slope waiver, request for the 345 U.S.

250 bypass, the bypass fire station, one reading.

Nine, resolution, appropriating state criminal alien assistance program, grant for 2021, reimbursement in the amount of $7,743, one of two readings.

Ten, resolution,

appropriating funds for appraisal services at Zero East High Street, $3,800.

Thank you.

We will now take public comment regarding items on the consent agenda, those eight items only.

that were just read by the clerk.

If you wish to speak on either of the public hearings or any of the public hearings coming up later on, including on the question of who we should appoint as city councilor, this is not your time.

If you are one of the six people who had preregistered, this is not your time.

So if you want to speak on one of those eight issues that were just read, each speaker will have up to three minutes.

If you are on the Zoom webinar, you may select the raise hand option.

to be placed in the speaker queue.

If you have joined by phone and wish to speak on the consent agenda, you may press star nine.

We will alternate in-person and virtual speakers.

Is there anyone in council chambers who would like to speak on one of those eight consent agenda items?

Okay.

All right.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any further questions or comments?

Ms.

Yes.

Next, we come to the City Manager's Report.

Mr. Mayor and Council, the City Manager's Report is in your packet.

There's nothing I want to particularly highlight tonight.

Thank you.

I just wanted to note that there are a number of places in this report where you note we have now hired somebody to fill this position.

I think I counted seven new hires that were detailed in there.

And, of course, that doesn't include people at a lower level who may not rise to the same level of attention.

We are making progress, and we're thankful for that.

But there remain a number of vacancies, and we're concerned about that.

Good.

Thank you.

Anybody have any questions for the city manager?

Questions about the report?

So now we come to community matters.

We have six preregistered speakers leaving ten slots for additional speakers on community matters.

Each speaker will have up to three minutes to speak and we will now open the floor to preregistered speakers.

Our first speaker is Ruth Hill.

Is she available here?

She is here.

Okay.

Ms.

Hill?

My name is Ruth Hill and I live at 389 South Boston Road in Palmyra, Virginia.

I'm here today to I guess I'm rooting for and hoping that we can get the speed cameras up in the school zones because right now it's a big problem.

It's a very big problem.

We have speeders that come through every day.

The crossing guards are constantly

trying to stop them.

We, you know, flag them down.

We try to tell them it's 15 in the school zone.

But yes, so it's become a big problem.

And even

On Monticello Avenue at Clark, where I am, they come off a 64, a lot of them, and they just keep up that speed.

The speed is down to 35 when they come off.

It's 45, then it goes to 35, then 25, and then they get to the lights.

A lot of them just seem that they don't see the light.

They don't recognize the light.

So I think this is needed.

and even my daughter works over at Buford and Johnson.

She has the same problem with the speeders.

She's had three people actually jump out of the cars to say something to her because she asked them to just motion, slow down.

I've also had people to, I mean, I've had people cuss at me, finger up.

I mean, you name it, they do it.

Thank you, Ms.

Hill.

Second speaker pre-signed up is Ricardo Mateus, if I've got the name correct.

Is it not here in the room?

Okay.

Third person up is Nicole Jones.

Is Nicole Jones here?

Okay.

We'll see whether we come back to her.

Mr. Hall, you're fourth up.

Yeah, I'm Johnny Hall from Fry Spring.

I think it's high time that we started talking about annexation, annexing UVA.

It's called for by the Virginia Code and the statute.

And it's about time that we did that so that we can defray taxes for people, real estate taxes for people in the city.

you know UVA it's got over a billion dollars in endowment and you know I've been researching and research comes before development R&D and since it is something that by law should have happened a long time ago

We should really start to entertain it as a city council and as well as the people.

I've been out campaigning for the city council and a lot of people want lower taxes.

and they feel like taxes are difficult for people to live in the city anyway because of the expenses.

And if we were able to get revenue from UVA into the city coffers as should be done by annexation, annexing UVA,

We would then have all the money we need to give people lower taxes and also at the same time through annexation get our Charlottesville area transit buses all the way to the airport.

We have the route already there, Berkmar Drive, and there's development out that part of the county and

Maybe as a concession we could take care of some of the private roads that are part of the neighborhood homes associations out there and be able to maintain those roads and take care of the potholes and things like that as a concession so that the people in the county would allow us to favor this kind of provision

Next up on our list of pre-registered speakers is Mark Cavett.

I see Mr. Cavett here.

Point of clarification.

Point of clarification is just not the time to talk about someone I want to recommend for the vacant City Council space.

It is not.

You'll have that opportunity later.

Last year I was in New York City.

Once you got out of Midtown, I was surprised how orderly traffic was.

No speeding, no running traffic lights.

Then I noticed why.

Manhattan uses speed cameras and red light cameras.

Maybe we need them in our city, especially since we do not have enough police officers.

Every day that I'm on the streets, I see cars, trucks, city buses, and even police cars running lights.

comment about that too is last week I saw over at Preston and McIntyre a 18-wheeler truck literally go through a yellow light when it could have stopped.

I saw the same day another 18-wheeler do the same thing over by the new Sentara building on High Street.

and I cannot begin to count the number of cars that I see continuously going through lights.

So we really need to do something.

People seem to know that there's not too much enforcement taking place these days so they just don't care and just go through.

I'm going to be sending to each of you something that may help.

Hope you will take a look at it.

I saw something on the internet just by chance this week that some new technology that maybe the traffic engineer may not be familiar with.

So hope you'll take a look at this and forward it over to them.

Last year, Mr. Freeze spoke to the Downtown Neighborhood Association.

He informed us that those areas in the ADC districts would not be rezoned.

After looking at the proposed maps, I have to feel we've been misled.

I'm sure the NDR board would like an explanation, and we're going to be inviting Mr. Freeze to meet with us in the future, and we would like to know a little bit more about some of what we saw online.

Thank you, Mr. Cavett.

The next pre-registered speaker is Kevin Cox.

My name is Kevin Cox.

I live at 311 Fairway Avenue, that-a-way.

And I am also a crossing guard.

I've spent a lot of time walking and driving in the city, and I'd like to share some comments, some thoughts about traffic in the city.

It's terrible.

Everybody can agree with that.

It's not going to get much better.

It's going to stay terrible.

We're going to have more and more cars come into the town.

And so now we need more control over some of the drivers who are creating such chaos and havoc.

The cameras, speed control cameras at the three school zones, that's a beginning.

But there's also a need for traffic control cameras at all the school zones.

And what really needed badly are cameras on the swing gates of the school buses.

Driving around school buses loading and unloading children is at epidemic levels in the city and the county.

I see it on East High.

Couple times a week at least.

Many jurisdictions now have cameras on the buses that are activated when the swing gate opens.

They record the license plate and action is taken.

So I hope you do that.

Now I want to say one other thing, though, about this.

There's been a lot of talk and a lot of publicity about how bad the situation is at the school crossings.

Well, sometimes it's really good.

Sometimes it's downright inspiring.

And I come away uplifted because so many people support the guards.

They support peace in the roads.

They want harmony.

They wave to me and they smile.

They thank me.

There are far more of them.

And I want to thank those people and encourage them.

to continue to keep on because it's their attitude that really can change what happens in the street.

We drive the way everybody else drives, right?

When in Rome, you drive like the Romans.

And if you're going to New York, well, you better drive like a New Yorker.

And it's the same in Charlottesville.

People drive on different streets, in fact, in town.

They will drive differently.

They drive completely differently on University Avenue than the same car will drive on Cherry Avenue.

We can make the whole town this way, but I really want to thank those people who are doing the right thing, who are supporting us, supporting the children, and encourage them to hang tough and stay with the program.

Thank you, Mr. Cox.

All right.

All right.

Good evening.

Thank you, City Council.

My name is Peter Krebs.

I work for the Piedmont Environmental Council and I live on Tufton Avenue, which is actually less than half a block from where Ms.

Ruth

holds her vigil every morning.

And generally speaking, if Ms.

Ruth says something, we should do it.

That's just sort of my policy.

She's won many awards, and I'm so happy to be speaking on the same issue as she is.

Specifically, I am indeed speaking on the use of speed cameras in school zones.

undoubtedly you've read verbatim word-for-word move to health equities recent community mobility assessment and the off chance that you haven't read every word I'll just point out a few of the most significant findings number one is that a whole lot of people are finding it significantly difficult to get to school

number two the most significant barrier to walking and biking in the city is concerns about vehicles and fear of death or injury and number three concerns are elevated in commuter zones and during your hours now speed is an especially important issue because it's probably the largest determining factor in deciding whether a collision leads to annoyed

injured or dead so it's really important that we get speed under control cameras don't discriminate so in many ways they're they're a pretty ideal solution but we need to be mindful of not disproportionately focusing on bi-plot communities and be sure to listen to neighborhood leaders and residents um uh also uh it um

In order to assure the most equitable and just outcomes, it's good to focus revenue on better infrastructure.

That keeps incentive and harm really aligned closely together.

You might want to consider expanding the program if it turns out to be successful.

But really, this

I think the best thing is to listen to the crossing guards and the parents who have firsthand knowledge.

I think their letter is excellent and their proposal should be supported and potentially expanded.

Finally, relatedly, I'm glad that you're paying some added attention to the 10th and Grady through the consent agenda.

Don't do that at the expense of ultimately neglecting second and Monticello.

That's also an extremely important intersection.

And I know you'll get to it when you're able to.

Thank you, Mr. Krebs.

Is there anyone else here who would like to speak on this matter?

On anything, actually.

You've already spoken, Ms.

Ruhal, so one time this.

All right.

Ms.

Hi.

I want to say, first of all, I was really, really horrified by Mr. Schmidt's passing and basically assassination.

and I just need for the city to somehow make a little bit more effort I think in you know trying to control the gun the gun carrying the gun using the assault rifles and all that somehow you know passing an ordinance or something but and I'm sorry for our loss because he was

you know helping uh everybody through the bug squad and that that's just awful uh that we uh don't have him here anymore and then also I want to support Miss Hill she's my favorite favorite favorite crossing guard for as long as I've been in Will Mills

always with a smile and always trying to and dedicated I mean she's up and going every single day that the kids are around there and it's very crowded I wish you could drive there please City Council and see how the traffic goes it's it's too it's out of control over there and

And it's out of control because people are trying to get to work.

And that's not a road that people should be trying to get to work.

But according to the way people are leaving their homes and getting to 64 and all that.

So you have to do something about the signage.

Thank you, Ms.

Hoffman.

We have one more raised hand at the moment.

All right.

Yes, good evening, councillors.

Chris Meyer, I live in Frye Springs here in Charlottesville.

First, I'd like to thank you, city councillors and the staff, for your service.

You guys have been doing a great job recently.

Mayor Snook, as you mentioned, I'm glad to see the staff being filled out and the positions.

I'd first like to comment this evening on the city budget and specifically

specifically about the increasing demand on the city schools infrastructure, especially the elementary schools.

I'm glad you've been successful in addressing the housing situation in town, and we're seeing friendship courts and South First Street buildings going up or being finished.

These are great additions, but they're also already adding to or going to be adding to the school populations.

I've seen this already at my children's school, Jacksonville Elementary, whose school is now quite full.

from more families coming from South First Street.

There's also been a significant increase of English as second language students who need extra assistance in their schools because they're obviously having to learn English.

My children's school has gone from low 20s to over 60 students who are English as second language students in a little more than two years and now account for about 20% of the school's student body.

At your upcoming meeting with the school board about the budget this week, I do hope you ask them about their capital needs in order to meet the additional students expected in the coming years and how to help support all these new English second language students.

I'd also like to note that Councillor McGill was a strong supporter of the public schools and I hope you select someone for her seat that is a supporter of the public school system.

Finally, and again related to the budget,

I'd like to support Mr. Hall's suggestion of figuring out how to get more money out of UVA.

I'm personally tired of seeing UVA Foundation and other UVA programs buying up scarcity real estate, the most recent being the small multifamily apartment development by Southern Development in Fry Springs.

Can we get some kind of payment in lieu also, just like the city has with the county?

If UVA can spend $50 million on a football training facility for a really bad football team, then they can find tens of millions of dollars to support the city budget.

Thank you, Mr. Meyer.

All right.

So the next item on the agenda is a public hearing on a lease agreement with the Omni Hotel.

Brenda Kelly will present to us.

Ms.

Kelly?

For the record, I'm Brenda Kelly with the Office of Community Solutions.

The item you have in front of you is a request to approve a lease agreement with the Omni Hotel for the lease of public right-of-way.

for an outdoor cafe area located at 212 Ridge McIntyre Road or 235 West Main Street.

This lease agreement document in front of you is not the same format as the McGuffey lease agreement we had in front of you in January.

This lease is for an outdoor open cafe area on public right of way.

Here are some items in this agreement that we would like to bring to your attention.

The original lease agreement has been in place since 2010.

The most current version of this lease agreement expired in January 2021, so currently right now we're operating on a month-to-month lease arrangement.

The lease period is for one year with a renewal provision for four additional one-year terms.

The lease rate is $5 per square foot.

This is a one-time annual lease payment.

And the Omni Hotel is responsible for all maintenance of the leased area.

Also, I wanted to let you know that this lease agreement will most likely be back in front of you in the fall, as the Omni Hotel currently has an application in with NDS to revise this outdoor patio area.

The lease agreement at that time will need to be revised to reflect the square footage and the exhibit of the revised leased area following construction of the outdoor patio area.

Representatives of the Omni Hotel have reviewed this agreement and are available virtually if you should have any questions for them.

Thank you.

Counselors, any clarifying questions?

I mean, I assume that our council has reviewed it and there's no question, Mr. Rogers, or issues?

It comes out to $2,510 a year.

Okay.

All right.

Yes.

Correct.

Any other questions?

So this is a public hearing.

Is there anyone who wishes to speak on this issue to Council?

Anybody in Council Chambers?

Going once, going twice?

No.

Okay.

All right.

With no speakers, the public hearing is now closed.

Is there a motion?

I'm happy to move for approval.

All right.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion?

Ms.

Yes.

Mayor Smoot?

Yes.

All right.

That passes 4-0.

Thank you, Ms.

Second public hearing is the re-precincting of the City of Charlottesville.

and we had the first reading on January 17th.

The second reading will take place on March 6th because of some vagaries of the election code both state and federal.

Any time we're doing this we have certain waiting periods that have to get built into the process.

So ordinarily we would have had the public hearing

on January 17th, but because of these different provisions, we're not.

We're having it tonight.

Ms.

So tonight we have the public hearing on the re-precincting in the city of Charlottesville.

Our main goal here is to reportion the voters between each individual precinct as well as retire Toddler Park and Alumni Hall as voting precincts and then bring in Jackson Viya Elementary School as well as Charlottesville High School as the new precincts.

Anybody have any clarifying questions of Ms.

Yeah, I just would recommend that if you haven't already, just when the schools are closed, a lot of times schools, they do professional development.

So just coordinate with the schools to make sure that, you know, on voting days that

that they don't have any plans for at least what voting areas.

So let me now open the public hearing.

Is there anyone in the room here who would like to speak on this issue of the re-precincting?

Okay.

All right, so the public hearing is now closed.

As I said, I think we don't actually have to do anything tonight.

Yeah, I mean, we've already worked through it.

Correct.

Okay.

And any voter, if this does pass on the 6th of March, then every single voter that is affected in the city will get a new notice.

It will be published in the Daily Progress on our website.

Great.

Okay.

The next item is the public hearing on accepting public comments on filling the City Council seat vacated by Sena Magill.

She vacated on January 12, 2023.

Let me talk a little bit about the procedure that we followed here because I think there has been some confusion

and the Daily Progress article did not help.

What happened was we had been sort of expecting we were going to get five or six applicants and lo and behold we got 20.

And the thoughts that we had had about how we would schedule everything for a meeting and

and have the chance for people to speak at the meeting and all the rest of that.

We quickly realized that we could not do that and also interview all of the 20 and also do all of the rest of the things that we need to do within the period of time that we have to act.

We have to act within the next two weeks.

So Council, not me personally,

All four of us said, let's go ahead and winnow the field down.

And so I asked everybody, please send me your four, five, six top choices, and then let's see who gets some interest and who doesn't get any interest.

and so whereas the Daily Progress said that I personally chose the people who would be allowed to continue on in the process, what I did was to count the votes cast by or sent to me by each of the other members and just to see

It was not me making decisions.

It was everybody making a decision.

So I say that only because I want everybody to understand that the folks who are speaking to us tonight are people who have significant support on this council.

And it's not just the decision of one person.

But we had a fair degree of consensus about who the folks were who were of greatest interest to us.

I will also say that there is no official decision from us about what kinds of characteristics we're looking for.

We specifically did not make any decisions about that.

We each have our own individual thoughts, which we may express at some point, but we as Council have not decided anything along those lines.

We've got six applicants.

As I explained to the applicants, I did a randomized process to construct the order for them because as one who's always been at the end of the alphabet, I think people who were in the S's always get discriminated against by coming last, so I was going to mix it all up, so I did, random numbers.

No, I just really want to thank all of the applicants for this.

I've had to develop a friendship with a counselor in Stanton because they were confronted with the same issues that we were.

And so we both were pleasantly surprised that we both had 20.

I think that just shows that how the city has grown and how much people really want to give back to this great city.

So I'm appreciative of the 20 or the 14 that's not here tonight.

and I have sometimes said the fact that we had so many applicants tells us one of two things.

Either people think this would be a really interesting opportunity to serve or they figure if these guys can do it, I can certainly do it.

So what we are going to do is we are going to have the applicants who will speak for up to eight minutes.

Then we are going to have a public hearing and this public hearing

We're going to have people speak for two minutes at a time.

Anybody who wants to endorse one of the candidates, that's fine.

I hope that there will be positive comments rather than negative comments.

I'm much more interested in positive things that people have to say.

So public comment will come after the folks have spoken to us.

And the first one up, again by my random process, is Leah Puryear.

Ms.

Puryear, up to eight minutes.

Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to come before you and explain to you why I want to be a member of City Council.

November 1980 I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia and let me say it has been an exciting time.

I have grown professionally and personally.

I have watched Charlottesville grow.

We all have experienced difficult times, but through those times, we have all learned.

It is my hope that Charlottesville will continue to be a community that understands the importance of diversity.

For me, many talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, but for me, it is inclusion.

I work with students and families every day and they get to the door and the door is opened.

and I hope that they have gained the ability to advocate for themselves, to be a part, to be included.

As a member of council sitting on the dais, I will be at the table.

I will be included.

But more importantly, I will be respected.

I will be heard.

I will be able to participate.

I will practice effective listening.

We must listen.

We must hear what our community is saying, whether they're students, whether they're parents or other stakeholders.

In my four decades of living here, I have had the opportunity as a higher education administrator to work with some of you in this room.

We've been on boards.

We've done community work together.

As counselors, I've worked with you on budgets.

not only for the city schools but budgets for some of the nonprofit organizations that I have worked with.

I have developed relationships and these relationships will carry over.

They are relationships not only in the city but at the University of Virginia and in the county.

The three of us must work together

We must collaborate.

We must partner.

I want to be your mirror.

I want to be the new set of eyes that will look at the budget, will help you develop the budget, will help you implement the budget.

I will be the set of eyes that will look at our personnel policies, our HR strategies and help you make those strategies be the things that our city manager currently needs to fill all of the vacancies that we have to fill and I'm sure we can do that.

It is not only having a resume that checks off all the boxes.

It is having a resume where the person has done the work.

All of the things that you know of me, that you've seen of me, that you've heard of me tells you that I will roll up my sleeves and I will do the work.

Life ain't been no crystal stair, but still I rise.

I'm the salmon that swims upstream.

I show up, I show up early, and I am prepared for whatever is presented.

To be afforded the opportunity to join you on council,

allows me another challenge, another challenge that I am up for to learn all that there is to know about ordinances and zoning and budgeting and finance.

Explore new horizons, but more importantly, develop compassion and show our community

our citizens regardless of where you're from that it is more than lip service to care we must roll up our sleeves we must get in there and we have to do the work Charlottesville compassion caring critical thinking analysis

All of those things are Leah Puryear for the vacant seat of Sena Magill.

Thank you, Ms.

Puryear.

Second, Alex Bryant.

Should we go?

Wait, can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay, wonderful, wonderful.

Mayor Snook, Vice Mayor Wade, Councillor Pinkston, Councillor Payne, it's an honor to be here this evening and to be considered for the position on Charlottesville City's Council.

I'm humbled by the opportunity to serve my community and to work alongside such dedicated leaders such as yourselves.

I'm not originally from Charlottesville.

I was born and raised in Chesterfield County, which is a suburb of Richmond.

I grew up in Richmond when it was known as the murder capital of the nation.

It was a dark time and I saw a divided city that was suffering from a blight in the community and division in its members.

And I remember wanting to leave and never return.

And I did just that.

To my surprise though, the river city did recover.

Entrepreneurs flourished, young families moved back into abandoned neighborhoods, artists took over, and where monuments of hate once stood now exist monuments of love.

I regret my attitude towards the city that I'm from.

Now in the city I call home, I'm constantly reminded that the people, our citizens are the only legitimate fountain of power.

It is their energy that did what I naively believed was impossible in Richmond.

It's that same energy that will help council do what many consider impossible in Charlottesville.

Like many others, I came to Charlottesville to study at the University of Virginia.

I graduated with a degree in music.

I studied ethnomusicology, and my first job was at Monticello running the Heritage Harvest Festival.

The Harvest Festival seemed lighthearted enough at the beginning, but soon we began to tackle more complex histories and legacies such as southern food ways and culinary genealogy.

Indeed, I consider myself lucky to have worked with

many accomplished agricultural leaders and culinary historians, such as Ira Wallace, who was recently featured in the New York Times for her work saving seeds in Louisa County, Lenny Sorensen, who contributed to Netflix's High on the Hog, and Jessica Harris, who among her many accomplishments designed the dining experience at the Smithsonian African American History Museum.

This festival that I thought was about honoring Jefferson's Epicurean legacy really told the stories of who was doing the cooking and who was really doing the planting.

And it opened my eyes to the innumerable contributions African Americans gave to this country, some beginning right in the city.

Working with these influential yet humble black women and the entire community of Epicurean leaders taught me the importance of being a servant leader.

I believe that it's my duty to listen to the needs of the community and to work to address as many of those needs as we possibly can.

It's with cultural humility that I approach many issues, knowing that my privilege and experiences shape my understanding, yet that does not mean that I should not try to more fully understand these complex issues, especially the issues that have burdened some of our most vulnerable in the community for many generations.

I'm a firm believer in that by reimagining how we identify and address these issues and approach solutions with an innovative and creative mindset, we will overcome challenges that are endemic not just to the city, but to our entire country.

Fueled by our community, we can achieve the impossible.

I transitioned from my role with the festival to project management at the TomTom Foundation.

In this position I learned the important entrepreneurial tools needed for a small organization to survive and thrive and at the same time I was able to work and collaborate with leaders from across the country who are all focused on improving their small cities.

It still makes me excited today to hear about the success of one of our speakers shared in a national platform because when we worked with them all they had were problems and unlikely solutions.

They show again and again that innovation is more than a buzzword.

We worked with changemakers who were determined to improve their hometowns for everyone and were ready to fail over and over until they got it right.

I'm committed to working to address issues that will create a brighter future for everyone in Charlottesville.

Our city is in a moment of transition.

We have the opportunity to dismantle the harmful legacy of systemic injustices and build an equitable and thriving town.

But we need strong and effective leaders to make this happen.

Leaders who are willing to push the limits, try new ideas, and bring about positive change.

Leaders who are truly committed to being servants of the people.

My time at the TomTom Foundation and more recently at the XRPark Foundation also rewarded me the most amazing benefit, working hand in hand with our community.

During my time at TomTom, I worked with over 90 different organizations locally and regionally, all of them who are dedicated to building thriving, equitable small cities.

Zooming in during my time at the art park and I was able to work with community leaders to showcase and celebrate the diversity of Charlottesville and to create a public setting that fostered inclusive communities living and playing in the park on a daily basis.

I'm proud of my track record working in the community and making a positive impact where I am.

I'm confident that I have what it takes to introduce new ideas, new perspectives, and new energy to this council, and I believe that together we can create a real difference in all of our citizens' lives.

As a potential replacement for Councillor McGill, I believe I have the skills, experience, and dedication to be that leader.

It would be an honor to pick up the mantle and to continue to advocate for what drove Councillor McGill's campaign in 2019, the housing crisis, transportation, clean energy, sustainable practices, and racial equity.

I believe that this year, Charlottesville Council has a choice to make, to push towards a more equitable and inclusive and thriving city for all, or to stick to the status quo and play it safe.

In the face of challenge and uncertainty, I hope that we can rise to the occasion, even if it is the more difficult of the two options.

Before I conclude, I wish to acknowledge that I believe our council should be more representative of its constituents.

I recognize the importance of ensuring that all voices are heard and all perspectives are taken into account in the decision-making process, something I know which rings true to you four.

With this in mind, I am extremely honored to be considered amongst the other five proven, talented, and impactful candidates who are with me this evening.

I'd like to express my gratitude for your consideration, and I look forward to continuing to serve my community.

Thank you.

Next is Kristen Zakos.

Ms.

S-Z at the end of the S's even.

So good evening.

I am Kristen Sakas.

I live in Locust Grove neighborhood along with Mr. Wade.

I am a former Charlottesville City Council member serving from 2010 to 2017.

I was sorry to hear of Sena Magill's resignation, and I don't envy you the job of finding her replacement.

I was heartened to see so many great people willing to step up to offer their services.

I applied for this position because I want to be of service and I believe I have the experience to hit the ground running on February 21st to address some of the complex issues before you, the zoning rewrite, the hiring of a city manager, the annual budget and more.

But I also applied because as a citizen I care about the outcomes of the zoning rewrite, the hiring of the city manager,

the budget and all the other issues facing council this year.

As a council member I consistently voted for housing affordability, pedestrian and bicycle safety, quality infrastructure, environmental sustainability, education, employment access, criminal justice reform and racial equity.

But although it's natural to look to an applicant's positions on particular issues when making the selection

It's also important that the new member be able to work collaboratively as a member of the governing body to understand the processes and precedents and the workload that apply to public decision making and abide by decisions regardless of their own vote.

It's also important that the new council member be tuned into the community and be committed to hearing the perspective of people whose voices often go unheard by government.

I've lived in Charlottesville for almost 30 years.

I've raised two children here as well as four foster children and participated in civic, religious, educational, and musical organizations that have introduced me to a wide range of Charlottesvillians.

But I've also intentionally reached out beyond my own experiences

helping to institute city council town hall meetings across the city and by consistently attending events and meetings outside of my own close circles.

I believe I've earned a reputation as someone who tries to listen to everyone.

And as a former journalist I believe that we must also speak clearly to the public through our own communications and by being responsive to the public's questions directly through open data and through the media.

As I see it, the City Council has three important roles, probably more, but at least three.

The first is to represent the people of the city in decision making, how we tax and spend the public's money, the policies we enact, the values we reflect.

The second is to make this an equitable, livable city in the infrastructure we build and maintain, in the services we provide and support, and in the policies that can encourage or discourage

things like affordable housing, public safety, and economic vibrancy.

The third is as one of the area's largest employers.

We have a responsibility to create a welcome and supportive workplace and make sure that the city's thousand or so employees have the tools and encouragement they need to do their jobs with excellence, creativity, and respect.

Thank you, Ms.

Ekos.

Next is Kathy Galvin.

You do have a very tough decision to make.

I'm very honored to be in the company of this group of applicants, so thank you very much for this opportunity.

My name is Kathy Galvin.

I live on 712 Lyons Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia.

I've been a resident of the city for close to 40 years.

So, dear Mayor Snook, Councilors, Ms.

Thomas and Mr. Rogers, thank you for this opportunity.

By the time one of us is appointed, there will only be 10 short months within which to make three big decisions, adopt the fiscal year's budget, adopt a new zoning ordinance, and hire a permanent city manager.

I will not have a steep learning curve, and I do have a reputation for being a workhorse.

From 2008 to 2020, my colleagues and I oversaw operational and capital budgets ranging from $40 to $190 million for the Charlottesville School Division, Charlottesville City Government, and the Rivanna Water and Sewer and Solid Waste Authorities.

Much of my work on Council revolved around the review and approval of zoning changes, including adopting a new West Main Street zoning ordinance that curbed the development of massive housing structures in response to the demands of residents in adjacent historic black neighborhoods.

I also have at least 30 years of experience working with zoning codes as an architect in the planning field.

Nonetheless, adopting a new zoning ordinance is an exciting but daunting task because the public framing to date has been largely reduced to one word, density.

But we can't assume that simply increasing housing density is the be-all end-all if our goal is to increase the supply of affordable housing and raise Charlottesville area transit ridership levels.

I believe they should.

If that were the case, then based on census data available online, Charlottesville, which is close to twice the residential density of Illinois County's growth areas, should have close to 50 percent lower home prices than the county.

It doesn't.

That's why I agree with the Affordable Housing Plan that we must find more ways to partner with nonprofit housing providers to build more affordable housing, especially at or below 30 percent annual median income, AMI.

That's the category of greatest need that was identified in 2018 by the Housing Needs Assessment.

Similarly, if the goal is to increase cat ridership, then simply raising density alone will not lead to more people taking the bus, not when our streets are disconnected and lack crosswalks and continuous sidewalks and our transit wait times range from 30 to 60 minutes.

That's why although I appreciate the inclusion of the City's Streets That Work policy in the current draft zoning, I must agree with the comprehensive plan that we must locate, design, and develop compact, inclusive, and walkable centers at strategic locations along our corridors.

Many of our small area plans seek to do that, but they have yet to be implemented.

Building out these small area plans would also increase our block network and land capacity for more affordable housing.

In all cases, our zoning and capital investment program must make it easier to develop affordable housing within the context of healthy, livable, interconnected neighborhoods without accelerating global climate change.

by destroying sensitive natural areas.

I participated in three executive searches with my colleagues on the City Council, the Rivanna Water and Sewer and Solid Waste Authorities Board, and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

In all cases, we sought a chief executive that could listen, communicate, problem solve,

employ best practices, learn continuously, think strategically, and inspire his or her staff to execute the community's vision for the future in a timely manner.

Finally, in addition to completing these three pressing tasks, the City Council must address ongoing challenges now.

Whether it's building more affordable housing, making our streets safer for all users, investing in our public schools, or any number of Council's priorities, I believe my experience may be of use to each and every one of you as we grapple together to address these challenges together.

So thank you.

It's truly an honor to possibly once again serve this country, this country, and it is the

It's my country.

It's my city, the city that I love so much and have committed my life to for so many years, both professionally and as an elected official.

So thank you very much.

Again, you have a very, very difficult job ahead of you.

Have a good evening.

Thank you, Ms.

Galvin.

Next up is Natalie Oschrin.

Hi.

Thank you.

All right.

Mr. Mayor, counselors, staff, and citizens, hi.

My name is Natalie Oschrin, and I thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.

First, I would like to thank Councillor McGill for her contributions and leadership as champion for social services, affordable housing, and addressing housing insecurity here and at Region 10 before that.

I wish her and her family all the best.

She was elected with a mandate by voters, including by me, to pursue these worthy concerns.

I hope to address these issues and others with fresh eyes and energy as a new member of City Council.

I spent most of my childhood in the Mead Park neighborhood where I still live now.

I graduated from CHS and then UVA, afterwards moving to take a job in Charleston, South Carolina.

In high school and college, I volunteered for political campaigns at the state and federal level.

While in Charleston, I was the staff for a city councilor, getting experience at a municipal level during a time when Charleston was beginning a period of massive growth in both resident relocation and as a tourism destination.

Growth and tourism, of course, are issues that we are very familiar with for our city as well.

My graduate degree in hospitality and tourism management formalized an education in how companies and cities administer their resources and market and maintain their attractiveness.

My career in Charlottesville's hotel and event industry has been all about collaborating with small businesses to create memorable experiences for those who are in and who come to town.

And on a daily basis, I solicit direct feedback from clients asking what is your connection to Charlottesville?

Why are you coming here?

So I bring to the table the viewpoints of our business community and the visitors that we serve.

There are so many reasons why my family and I are lucky to call this area home.

However, obviously, our town is not equally rosy to all residents and we are at a critical juncture for improving the quality of life for all of our citizens and the quality of the environment in which we live.

My mission, should I be selected to serve on City Council for the rest of this term, is to champion access to work, schools, commerce and services by pushing for even more homes and mixed use areas to be built within city limits and for improved public transit, pedestrian and bike routes so that getting into a car is not the default strategy for reaching any destination.

With the passage of the future land use map and the zoning rewrite that is underway, these livability goals align with current city council policy, making steps toward addressing historical and current inequity and increasing market rate and affordable housing options for all.

I'd be committed to working well with the current councilors to move these goals forward.

I have the motivation to move past incrementalism and address problems swiftly and at a correct scale.

We have to do big things.

My generation is looking toward an uncertain future.

My peers are at the age when some of us are trying to buy houses, finish school, start families, care for aging parents, help provide for younger siblings.

But uncertainty about the future can interrupt those plans and stems from several places, from the struggle to find housing and food, a lack of faith in financial and government institutions, job dissatisfaction, a national regression of cultural norms and human rights, and a lack of visible representation

of people our own age in the decision making process, having power over our own futures.

These are not necessarily new concerns or concepts.

When my family moved to Charlottesville in 1990, the poverty rate was 22.5%.

Today it's 23%.

So for a quarter of the population, the future has always been uncertain.

We know too much to let this stand and we are too well resourced to not make big changes.

Happily, the areas where the city is best equipped to make those changes, housing and transportation policy are the areas that will have the most direct impact on improving the daily lives and the equitable distribution of resources to the citizens of Charlottesville Let's start with housing Most homes in the area are over $400,000 The barrier to entry into the housing market is so high there's no possible room for equity without intervention from the city

The Affordable Housing Plan is an extremely comprehensive and well thought out document put together with tremendous partnership and care.

I applaud the timeline set in the calls to action with subsidies in place and zoning adjustments understood and implemented within six and 18 months.

But I would even encourage that zoning updates could be bigger and approved even faster.

The 2018 Housing Needs Assessment says that the city's housing supply is limited by its small geography and built-out nature.

That's a direct quote.

I agree there's not much to be done about the geography, but I strongly disagree with calling Charlottesville built out.

Not when there are surface parking lots taking up space directly adjacent to the downtown mall, and areas like Barracks Road and Harris Street are single-story commercial.

I look around and see plenty of space even in my own backyard.

Increasing supply is the key.

The big things the city can do and thankfully is in the process of doing are upzoning everywhere and subsidizing various programs in the meantime to help people pay their rent.

The $10 million budgeted for affordable housing is a great help to the community and the pathways program has been a success in helping people keep people in their homes over a challenging past few years.

I want to see the planned cuts to the pathway program in the new budget stopped and their finances restored.

I also support the recommendation from the affordable housing plan to provide low income housing tax credits to allow locals to participate in the building process.

The second part of improving livability is transportation, and of course, they're linked.

More homes means people can live near their destinations and do not need to rely on cars as a primary mode of transportation.

I support eliminating parking minimums for all new construction, even incentivizing builders to spend less on car parking.

Parking requirements raise the overall cost of development, which is then passed to the home buyer or renter, decreasing affordability.

Every dollar spent on cars is a dollar not spent on bike lanes, sidewalks, safer streets, e-bike subsidies, traffic cameras, public transit frequency and streetscapes.

Reducing car dependency reduces air and noise pollution, improves accessibility for those who cannot drive or cannot afford cars and reduces construction costs by eliminating the need for private car storage.

By reducing parking and increasing housing, we can't just make it harder for folks to drive and then call it a day.

We have to give them alternatives that will one day feel like the natural choice.

We're all in this together, aligned on issues like housing affordability and climate change.

Of course, everyone here wants good schools.

Greater housing supply increases opportunity for equity across the board.

More homes means lower costs for tenants and buyers and less housing insecurity and the opportunity to build generational wealth.

If folks have shorter commutes, they can spend more time with their family instead of in the car going over the mountain Teachers can afford to live in the districts where they work, reducing turnover by incentivizing talented teachers to move here or stay here My hope for the next 10 months and beyond is that the city will make big steps

I have the time, energy and drive to devote to council so that we can take these aggressive steps toward access and affordability in a timely manner.

We have to be supply side progressives for housing and transit, knowing that providing the housing and transit options will address and induce demand in the direction that we shape it.

I'm asking for your vote to serve the remainder of this council term so I can join you and move forward as one for Charlottesville.

Thank you, Ms.

Oschrin.

And finally, Lisa Larson-Torres.

That's all right.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Councilors, Mr. Rogers, Ms.

Thomas, and everybody else.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.

My name is Lisa Larson-Torres.

I have lived in Charlottesville a little over 23 years.

I am not a native, but I do feel as if I cut my teeth politically here in Charlottesville, especially after the election in 2016.

There was a definite call to action and whether it would be on a larger scale or a smaller one, I, like many, felt I needed to do something.

August 2017 was another pivotal point in shaping, informing and igniting my call to action.

For the benefit of those who did not see my application, I will share that I am currently fulfilling my second term on the Charlottesville City School Board.

I am proud of the work that our board has completed in the last several years and undoubtedly there is a lot more work to do.

Ms.

McGill's announcement to step off of council was unexpected.

I am grateful for her voice and work contributions she did on council the last three years.

But with the vacancy and need for a replacement, I was pulled to apply as I felt and feel I can't offer a lot now based on my work, experience, and personal qualities that I have.

My current work with the school board and the last two years as chair have provided me with invaluable experience and point to some of my leadership qualities that would prepare me to step into this position if appointed.

Beyond what I shared on my application, I would like to take a minute or two to speak to some of my personal qualities and attributes.

They may not be job qualifications that someone would typically list on a resume, but no doubt they are qualities of a strong and committed leader.

With a little help from family and friends, I would describe myself as passionate, caring, thoughtful, a relationship builder, empathetic, deliberate, consensus seeking, and justice focused.

My daughter described me as kind, open minded, warm hearted, curious, and a good human being.

I was recently doing some light reading on Charlottesville's proposed land use map and I came across an opinion commentary piece written by Carmelita Wood in June, 2021.

In it, she provides a historical recap of how and why we are where we are in regards to housing, segregation, and zoning.

But the takeaway that tugged at my heartstrings was this question.

Are we truly committed to equity and transformation?

That right there is what guides me through my work, whether it be on the school board,

on City Council or in day-to-day actions and activities.

How will my action or lack thereof impact my neighbor and fellow citizen?

Will my actions improve life for others?

As I shared earlier, I do truly feel that the work I've been devoted to in the schools in the last five years has prepared me for issues facing council today.

There is a definite interconnectedness and intersection of the work and issues being addressed.

Many of these community challenges, if not all of them,

play out in the schools on some level, affordable housing, bike lanes and safety, budget approval, climate change and climate action plan, collective bargaining, food insecurity, gun control and violence, healthcare and accessibility, hiring a city manager, housing and rental subsidies,

Living Wages, Mental Health Supports, Pedestrian Safety, Policy Implementation, Property Tax Subsidies and Supports, Public Housing Maintenance, Rehab and Renovation, Reentry Programs, Schools, including Building Maintenance, Modernization and Capacity Considerations.

sidewalks and walkability, social services and supports, taxes, transportation, and of course the zoning ordinance.

That list is definitely not exhaustive.

I appreciate

also that some may be asking and have pointed out that I can continue my work or should continue my work on the school board.

I get that.

And whether I'm appointed or not, I am and I will continue my commitment to showing up, doing the work,

asking questions and engaging in uncomfortable conversations for the good of our community.

I do want to also quickly thank and give a shout out to the other 19 people that applied.

And please know that I am grateful for the opportunity to apply and speak tonight and to be considered for this possible appointment.

Thank you.

So those are our six finalists.

I will now open the public hearing.

As I said before, we will take people for two minutes at a pop, and again, I hope folks will keep their comments positive.

Is there anybody here?

Again, we'll alternate one here or one online.

Anybody here who wishes to speak for two minutes in support of somebody?

First, I want to comment that nobody knows except for three close friends of mine that was going to be here speaking on this tonight.

I think you need to have somebody that can hit the ground running.

And we only have two people that have previous experience on council that really have a good understanding of how things work and what's been going on in the city.

And I want to say that I feel that Kathy Galvin would be a good choice to have on council.

at this time.

She has the knowledge of the city, the understanding of architectural planning, and the great benefit of the city with upcoming zoning.

Mayor Snook, last year we spoke and mentioned phone-based code.

You told me that the current city council might consider it now.

Now we have the opportunity to have an expert on the subject on the council.

There are a lot of people in this town that are concerned with the zoning because right now you can have a situation where developers come in, pick up lots, and they've already been buying them up, buying property, and basically have a teardown situation.

And neighborhoods are concerned what could end up happening.

Mr. Rogers, Mr. Freeze have both said that character of this city neighborhoods is important to them.

But that can change with what's getting ready to happen.

I also want to mention before I run out of time that you're not going to get affordable housing, which has been the big keyword with this zoning, just by building.

New construction is expensive.

Unless you have government funding to help with that expense, you're not going to achieve real true affordable housing.

and I think Kathy Galvin could also assist with that in trying to achieve that funding.

Thank you, Mr. Cabot.

Yes, Mayor Snook.