City Council Meeting   12/15/2025

1. Call to Order/Roll Call

2. Agenda Approval

• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:03:01
    I call the Charlottesville City Council December 15, 2025 meeting to order.

3. Emergency Management Update

• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:03:26
    Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
  • 00:03:31
    Is there a motion to approve or amend the proposed agenda?
  • 00:03:45
    Okay, all in favor please say yes.
  • 00:03:48
    Yes.
  • 00:03:48
    All opposed please say no.
  • 00:03:50
    Motion passes five to zero.
  • 00:03:53
    The meeting today will be divided into three sections.
  • 00:03:57
    The first will be now work session where we will discuss presentations that do not require a council vote and then we'll have closed sessions, a closed session and then we will come back at six thirty for our regular business meeting and today we're going to
  • 00:04:13
    Switch it up a little bit.
  • 00:04:14
    We're going to start off with the emergency management update by John Oprende All right
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:04:35
    Good afternoon City Manager Sanders, Mayor and Council.
  • 00:04:38
    Good afternoon.
  • 00:04:39
    I appreciate the time and this opportunity this afternoon.
  • 00:04:44
    I'm John O'Brandy, the City's Emergency Management Coordinator, and though you all are all well aware of what it is that I do, I do get the question a lot, what does the EM coordinator do?
  • 00:04:55
    And so I do have a little bit of an elevator speech, if you will, that I use.
  • 00:05:00
    It's pretty much on the screen before you essentially develop and update emergency plans, train and exercise those plans, run the city's emergency operations center, and coordinate at a state, local, federal level whenever we are operating in that atmosphere.
  • 00:05:19
    And all that is to help the community withstand and recover from disruptions.
  • 00:05:25
    Two such plans are the emergency operations plan and the continuity plans that we have in the city, which are both foundational to our success.
  • 00:05:36
    The EOP outlines the city's response and recovery from incidents impacting the community at large, and then continuity plans ensure that the city's essential functions can continue despite some sort of a disruption such as a disaster.
  • 00:05:52
    And I had, when I was last before you for a work session, I gave you some brief information that I'd be exploring some of our policies and our plans, our emergency plans and procedures.
  • 00:06:03
    And so part of this is just giving you a little bit of an update of where we are on that, what my findings were.
  • 00:06:10
    And these two plans, particularly the EOP and our continuity plans, are in good shape.
  • 00:06:14
    The continuity planning just went through a cycle of revision and we had a training early in November that set the citywide continuity plan and all of the individual continuity plans for each of the departments and offices in place.
  • 00:06:31
    That revision went pretty well.
  • 00:06:33
    So though we do have some exercising and training that will go on indefinitely, those plans are at least are in place.
  • 00:06:41
    In terms of the EOP,
  • 00:06:43
    The emergency operations plan, that's in good shape as well.
  • 00:06:48
    There are some things that I have identified that I'd like to make some changes on and I'll be doing that over the next several months.
  • 00:06:56
    So specifically, I'm going to work to clarify the roles and responsibilities that are outlined in the EOP.
  • 00:07:04
    Frankly, there should be no question in the midst of an emergency, who's responsible for what.
  • 00:07:09
    The EOP does lay out those responsibilities but I think in some cases it's a little bit ambiguous so I want to tighten that up and make that crystal clear.
  • 00:07:19
    So we'll do that work.
  • 00:07:21
    In addition we're going to update what's called the concept of operations within the EOP and I want to make
  • 00:07:29
    The emergency operations that we partake in within the emergency operations center look a lot like our daily operations to the extent possible.
  • 00:07:41
    We're all human and what we do day in and day out is a lot easier to continue versus trying to try on a new structure or a new way of doing business.
  • 00:07:51
    So I'm going to align those as much as possible through that concept of operations.
  • 00:07:56
    and I'll be working with staff to do that over the next several months.
  • 00:08:01
    Some other good stuff, if you will, that I found.
  • 00:08:05
    We have a shelter operations plan.
  • 00:08:07
    That's in good shape.
  • 00:08:09
    We have a city multi-agency coordination group or MAC group that is also known as the policy group.
  • 00:08:18
    That was in existence.
  • 00:08:20
    We made some minor policy adjustments, but that group is up and running and is the leadership of the city during an emergency and run by city manager Sanders.
  • 00:08:33
    We have Resilient Together.
  • 00:08:37
    They're working and kind of leading some efforts within the community to help the community through adapting and building resilience for climate change and significant weather events that occur.
  • 00:08:51
    That lines up with emergency management in terms of preparing the community for those types of things so I've established relationships with them.
  • 00:09:00
    I actually had already had those relationships before coming here so really just kind of approaching it from a different perspective.
  • 00:09:07
    So that work continues and that's great.
  • 00:09:10
    You've established internal and externally
  • 00:09:13
    external emergency communications systems, public information and warning.
  • 00:09:18
    We have that through the ECC, through CUA 911 alerts.
  • 00:09:23
    Some work we need to do there to make sure that everyone is signing up for that, but we will continue that.
  • 00:09:28
    But that is a great system and is in place and then internally civic ready for the staff within the city so that we can make emergency notifications to staff.
  • 00:09:40
    We have a safety committee in the city.
  • 00:09:43
    I thought that was fantastic.
  • 00:09:44
    I have my offices in city space.
  • 00:09:47
    And so as people come in and out of city space conducting different activities, one that I have seen quite a bit of is the safety committee at work training our staff on being ready and resilient preparedness CPR courses.
  • 00:10:02
    And I thought that was fabulous.
  • 00:10:04
    And we are participating
  • 00:10:06
    as the Office of Emergency Management in that work as well.
  • 00:10:10
    We have a seat at that table and so that's good.
  • 00:10:13
    Local Emergency Planning Committee, that was defunct for a while, it's back up and running and has met, meets quarterly and has already met three or four times and it's being led through the Emergency Communications Center through their liaison.
  • 00:10:29
    So that's great as well.
  • 00:10:41
    So, sorry, that got slightly out of order.
  • 00:10:44
    I'll back up to that.
  • 00:10:45
    So first I want to talk a little bit about investing in our capabilities, where we're headed.
  • 00:10:51
    We are going to focus on some improvements over the next six months.
  • 00:10:57
    Beyond that as well, but I'm hyper focused over the next six months on development of the city's incident management team, training EOC staff members, and then doing some practicing training and exercise at all levels.
  • 00:11:11
    So I'd like to touch on each of those real quickly.
  • 00:11:14
    The city incident management team that we're going to establish
  • 00:11:17
    An incident management team or an IMT in the simplest of terms is simply a team that comes together that has a lot of expertise in focusing out 12 or 24 hours in the midst of a disaster and bringing a group through a planning process to prepare for managing that disaster in the future.
  • 00:11:41
    When we're in the midst of operating in the EOC with staff that's in there,
  • 00:11:45
    We are focused 10, 20 minutes, half an hour, an hour, maybe two hours down the road and we're handling that disaster.
  • 00:11:53
    If we don't focus beyond that, then we run the risk of not being prepared 12, 24 hours from now.
  • 00:11:59
    We don't have the resources that take a while to get here.
  • 00:12:02
    We haven't taken the time to figure out what resources we need to order.
  • 00:12:06
    So that incident management team is a team of experts that can focus on
  • 00:12:10
    pulling that group up to a higher level for a short period of time, bringing them through a planning process, and then leaving and writing that incident action plan while they continue to manage the operations that are ongoing.
  • 00:12:26
    So that's important ability for us to have.
  • 00:12:29
    By mid-June, my goal is to have at least 20 members, we need more than that, but at least 20 members by mid-June who have been through preliminary team training.
  • 00:12:39
    And then we're going to invest within that group.
  • 00:12:42
    We need a small number of folks that are going to be part of a regional state team.
  • 00:12:48
    And they'll travel to areas outside of the city, outside of this region, to gain some expertise and knowledge.
  • 00:12:56
    The Central Virginia Incident Management Team is a group that we will be participating with.
  • 00:13:01
    And the reason we'll do that is twofold.
  • 00:13:05
    provides that small group of folks a level of training, expertise, development, and the ability to deploy to emergencies outside of this area so that they can bring that information and knowledge and what they've learned back here to the city and then train and mentor the rest of the people on our team.
  • 00:13:27
    And then the other thing that does is that it exposes our folks to emergencies.
  • 00:13:32
    Lessons learned in other areas, other localities that they can then bring back here and share with us and we can adjust our plans and our training and our teamwork so that we have already made adjustments for that.
  • 00:13:44
    Just this past weekend I've received, as a member of the Central Virginia team, a deployment request to Washington State where there is a lot of flooding going on right now.
  • 00:13:55
    So they were looking for some team members to go out there for a couple of weeks.
  • 00:13:59
    So that's the type of deployment we might be able to take advantage of and bring that information back here.
  • 00:14:07
    My vision is for this team to be a regional team even at the local level.
  • 00:14:11
    So the city will invest in that, the county is already investing in it, the university, we can come together and share that group of IMT members so that we all can rely on each other in the midst of some sort of an emergency to develop that team at that local level.
  • 00:14:32
    Training EOC staff members within the next 30 days, departments will actually identify specific EOC members to respond in when we activate the EOC.
  • 00:14:44
    By early April, our goal is to have at least 80% of staff including those EOC members through the National Incident Management System training that's required.
  • 00:14:55
    And then most staff across the city, that's going to mean about six to 12 hours of training behind a computer.
  • 00:15:02
    It's all virtual training that they can get for that baseline level.
  • 00:15:05
    Some staff have it, others do not.
  • 00:15:07
    So we're going to bring that up to compliance.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:15:09
    And how frequent is that annually or to?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:15:13
    One time.
  • 00:15:14
    Once you're certified, you do not have to recertify.
  • 00:15:19
    The reality of that is that
  • 00:15:23
    The ICS training is something that is perishable.
  • 00:15:28
    And so that's why the training and exercise portion of drilling and doing some regular activations is going to be really important.
  • 00:15:37
    If we continue that, then that baseline training is sufficient.
  • 00:15:46
    And then there are some public safety staff that will actually go through a 24-hour course in addition to that.
  • 00:15:52
    that we're going to host here.
  • 00:15:54
    We're going to co-host it with the county.
  • 00:15:55
    It's already scheduled for mid-March, and we're going to have some public safety staff focus on that.
  • 00:16:02
    and then finally the EOC training and exercise.
  • 00:16:05
    We've got three training or exercises already planned.
  • 00:16:10
    I have an EOC workshop that's scheduled for late March and I anticipate that 90, my goal is that 90% of the EOC staff that we identify will participate in that two-day workshop.
  • 00:16:23
    Before the end of the fiscal year we'll have conducted an incident management team training or exercise that will also support the EOC.
  • 00:16:30
    And then I've applied for and then we received recently a Virginia Department of Emergency Management Technical Assistance Grant.
  • 00:16:38
    There's no match required for that.
  • 00:16:40
    It's the use of V-Dem staff to conduct an exercise here locally as well as V-Dem contractors.
  • 00:16:48
    So we're going to, in the fall of 2026, we're going to do a sheltering exercise.
  • 00:16:53
    We're actually, my guess is we'll use this Charlottesville High School to do this, but we'll actually do, we'll open that as a shelter and have DSS staff and other staff there in support of that and fully open it and exercise that opening component.
  • 00:17:13
    All right, so dropping back, I recognize that that all sounds great, but it's all stuff that's down the road at least three, six months or even longer.
  • 00:17:26
    What happens if we have to activate today?
  • 00:17:28
    So I wanted to quickly cover an example of what that looks like so that you know that we've got that covered as well.
  • 00:17:35
    Hypothetically a snow ice storm is coming in on a random Sunday.
  • 00:17:39
    It's a
  • 00:17:41
    Freezing cold, we have a wind shield.
  • 00:17:44
    It's probably much like the temperature was yesterday, only we've added ice and snow to that.
  • 00:17:49
    And then we have power outages.
  • 00:17:50
    Power outages is probably the biggest vulnerability that we have in an ice storm like that.
  • 00:17:55
    Once that power loss occurs, I contact Dominion.
  • 00:18:00
    They let me know we're looking at three or five days for some reason before we get power back on to 40% of the city.
  • 00:18:06
    We obviously have a problem, so I begin making notifications through our VOC system, and I make that first through the city MAC, or our policy group.
  • 00:18:17
    They come together.
  • 00:18:19
    We talk about the fact that we may need to operate the EOC.
  • 00:18:23
    We make the decision to activate it.
  • 00:18:26
    I send out notifications to that EOC staff, and then they will come together either virtually if possible, but in this case we don't have power in the area, so it may be that we actually have to physically come together at the city EOC over in city space.
  • 00:18:42
    The city MAC then will coordinate with the county and the university and we'll have regular meetings with that policy group so that at that regional level we are coordinating.
  • 00:18:53
    And then the EOC goes to work.
  • 00:18:55
    They come together.
  • 00:18:56
    Our EOP right now identifies that DSS has a role.
  • 00:18:59
    in opening shelters and warming centers and that they coordinate that with the county.
  • 00:19:04
    So that's what we would be running within the EOC.
  • 00:19:07
    They'd be in there.
  • 00:19:09
    We might have to put people up in a shelter.
  • 00:19:11
    We might have to put folks into hotel rooms.
  • 00:19:14
    We'll make those decisions and plans within that EOC.
  • 00:19:18
    The other thing we'll be focused on is in the midst of that, making sure that we are getting consistent and factual information on the situation and what we're doing to resolve it.
  • 00:19:28
    to the leadership, to the city manager, and then ultimately to you all as well so that you can share that with your constituents.
  • 00:19:42
    So, kind of summing that up, key takeaways.
  • 00:19:49
    These plans are in place, they're solid.
  • 00:19:52
    We're going to lean into exercising them and that's going to help us a lot.
  • 00:19:56
    We want to practice so that those emergency operations become second nature.
  • 00:19:59
    We're doing a lot of training and development over the next year and beyond that.
  • 00:20:03
    So I thank City Manager Sanders for placing a priority on it and I thank you Council for your support as well.
  • 00:20:11
    No matter how good we are though, at the end disasters are chaotic and they require a lot of time to mitigate.
  • 00:20:18
    We need individuals and the community to be prepared.
  • 00:20:22
    So that is certainly a takeaway from today.
  • 00:20:24
    Even our plans call for people to be prepared to take care of themselves for at least 72 hours.
  • 00:20:31
    Our resources and something significant will be depleted and we'll be waiting and relying on bringing in resources from outside the area.
  • 00:20:38
    So individuals must be prepared.
  • 00:20:40
    We must do the work to help them be prepared and those who feel they are prepared.
  • 00:20:45
    should be focused on knocking on their neighbors' doors and making sure that their neighbors are prepared as well.
  • 00:20:51
    So Mr. Mayor, Councilors, I know you all are very active and you're an informed council.
  • 00:20:57
    You're vital in connecting with the community and setting the tone for our response and our recovery and so I certainly appreciate that.
  • 00:21:05
    I pledge to ensure that we're giving you the information that you need to do that and I trust that you'll identify and advocate for the needs that you identify in the community through City Manager Sanders.
  • 00:21:17
    That's all I have for you today.
  • 00:21:19
    I'll take any questions now, or you obviously can contact me at any point in time.
  • 00:21:24
    But thank you very much.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:21:25
    I appreciate it.
  • 00:21:26
    Thank you, John.
  • 00:21:27
    And I'll get comments from
  • 00:21:30
    Council.
  • 00:21:30
    But as we talked before, I think that this is vital for local government.
  • 00:21:36
    Many times, the only time the public will look towards their leaders is in an emergency.
  • 00:21:43
    And so we must be prepared and show that we have our ducks in a row.
  • 00:21:50
    And so I feel confident that we do so.
  • 00:21:52
    Thank you so much.
  • 00:21:53
    I'll start with you, Michael, if you have any comments.
• • Michael Payne
  • 00:21:56
    Yeah, no questions, but just for the public, two comments and agreement.
  • 00:22:03
    I think this is really important work, and I know this is the kind of work that's easy for local governments to put on the back burner until that crisis moment happens, and then
  • 00:22:14
    You know, everyone regrets there wasn't as much planning years ahead.
  • 00:22:20
    But the comments, the first is obviously the biggest emergency planning failure we've had in recent years was August 11th and 12th, 2017, where there were failures of communication and operational planning on multiple levels.
  • 00:22:36
    And I know everyone is familiar with the HIFI report as well as other documents that made various recommendations about what went wrong and what could be improved going forward.
  • 00:22:47
    And some of that I think is addressed in what you talked about.
  • 00:22:51
    I think things like the
  • 00:22:55
    Exercise, as you mentioned, will be helpful.
  • 00:22:58
    But I think that's, you know, everyone who was in a decision-making role when that happened is no longer here.
  • 00:23:04
    So some of that institutional memory of it has faded, but I certainly think for the community it's kind of the biggest memory of what failed and I think still more to prove that we've incorporated all the lessons that we could have from it.
  • 00:23:17
    And the second comment is just in the
  • 00:23:26
    you know in the
  • 00:23:27
    information in our packet that was emailed to us ahead of time that the two largest risks that are identified are hurricanes and tropical storms as well as flooding.
  • 00:23:36
    And I just continuously always want to highlight that because I do think that is our biggest risk.
  • 00:23:43
    If we have even a tropical storm that's fairly weak that takes a path through Central Virginia, there's a high likelihood Scottsville's levee could become overwhelmed.
  • 00:23:51
    You're going to see extensive flooding in both Charlottesville and Albemarle.
  • 00:23:56
    And so not just in emergency, the kind of emergency management planning you're doing, but I hope as we think about our policy decisions across the board, we're thinking about them being part of emergency management planning, even if there is a time lag of 10 or 15 years between a policy decision we made about impervious surfaces and when that tropical storm event happens, because it is going to happen and climate change makes it more likely that it will happen, so.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:24:28
    Nance, Natalie.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:24:30
    Thank you for the presentation and for briefing us.
  • 00:24:35
    I've got a couple of just questions that you've covered lightly, but I would like kind of a little bit of an expansion.
  • 00:24:43
    Can you talk more about who comprises the team and are they people from other departments coming together?
  • 00:24:51
    Are they specific for this?
  • 00:24:52
    Kind of how big is the team and who's going to be there?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:24:55
    The incident management team?
  • 00:24:57
    Yeah, right now I am going to be starting next week recruiting for the incident management team.
  • 00:25:03
    We need at least 30 people total to fill all of the positions, all of the roles that are on that team and to provide some level of redundancy.
  • 00:25:13
    My goal is to at least get 20 up and running by the six month mark and then have a team training.
  • 00:25:20
    Ideally, that is a makeup of folks across the organization, not only public safety.
  • 00:25:27
    Public safety staff typically have the best grasp of ICS because they deal with it on a daily basis, but they are also everyone that's going to be on the front lines, and it's hard to grab them to then help manage.
  • 00:25:41
    So if we can bring other folks up to speed that may not have a frontline role in the midst of a disaster with ICS,
  • 00:25:50
    then they could participate on this team and provide a great benefit to us and free up that public safety person.
  • 00:25:56
    But we will need some public safety staff to be on it.
  • 00:26:02
    There was a second part to your question.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:26:03
    Well, you know that was how big and whose is it made of so that answered it.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:26:07
    Yeah, so I'm really trying to target some folks that are outside of public safety to balance that.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:26:13
    Great and then
  • 00:26:16
    What supplies are we going to need that we don't currently have?
  • 00:26:22
    If it's a really big disaster and there's a big state of emergency, we'll be able to get supplies from elsewhere, like big stuff.
  • 00:26:32
    But what stuff do we need now that we might need to stockpile or have on hand for something more local?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:26:38
    Yeah, that's a great question.
  • 00:26:41
    I know that they have already done some work in the Office of Emergency Management to bring in some supplies and things that are necessary to support the EOC itself and managing that.
  • 00:26:53
    I think I would probably like to continue to kind of evaluate that over time and get back to you with maybe some ideas of some of the things that we might need.
  • 00:27:03
    The reality is I've not identified anything in the last three months that jumps out at me as something that we should have and we don't.
  • 00:27:10
    We have public safety, fire department, police department, public works that have a lot of tools and equipment that they use on a daily basis for a number of different things that they will also pull together and use in the midst of a disaster.
  • 00:27:23
    So I've not found any glaring gap, but I'm sure there are some redundancies that will identify some backup equipment that might be necessary that I'm just not aware of.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:27:32
    Okay, but there's currently not a dire need for like this one type of thing.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:27:36
    Not that I've come across yet, no.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:27:39
    That's good to hear.
  • 00:27:40
    And then can you talk a little bit more about the communication with residents and the Mass Alert System?
  • 00:27:49
    How do people sign up for that?
  • 00:27:51
    What is the plan to get messages out to people as needed?
  • 00:27:55
    And just kind of a little more about that kind of community.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:27:58
    Let me back up for a split second because it just occurred to me that one thing I did identify, but I've already kind of worked on it through the city manager's office as part of the budget process, was we don't have some equipment and supplies for pet sheltering.
  • 00:28:14
    So I have put a plan together along with my assistant Brent to address that gap.
  • 00:28:23
    It's not a significant gap in terms of dollars, but it is something that we are required to do is shelter people and pets together.
  • 00:28:31
    And so we have identified that and that's in play now and being worked on.
  • 00:28:35
    and then some other things that you guys have identified in the past.
  • 00:28:39
    The meridian barriers are something that has been talked about and I think is going to be something that is discussed again.
  • 00:28:46
    So that may be something, but outside of those that have already been kind of identified in the budget process, I don't see anything else.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:28:56
    If you could just, for the public in mind,
  • 00:29:00
    Edification as well, the Meridian Barrier, what is that again?
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:29:03
    Yes, so it is a, right now when we have an event like we just had the Grand Illumination and we use public works trucks and staff to block the intersections where we need to make sure that vehicles cannot get down into a crowded area.
  • 00:29:20
    These are in place of that setup, these are barriers that we can put in place that are built to withstand a vehicle impact so we don't have to have staff every time.
  • 00:29:34
    Communication.
  • 00:29:36
    Yes, so the process for signing up for that, it's run out of the Emergency Communications Center, ECC, and if you go to CUA 911 Alerts, or you search CUA, which is Charlottesville University Albemarle, 911 Alerts.
  • 00:29:54
    That will bring up a page that guides our residents through the process of signing up for alerts.
  • 00:30:03
    And we need to be pushing this information out regularly.
  • 00:30:07
    It's an opt-in system, so people go through that sign-up process, they register their cellular phone,
  • 00:30:15
    I mean that enables us to quickly contact the ECC from the street as a police commander or fire commander contact the ECC and say we need this public information and warning to go out.
  • 00:30:29
    The ECC has that and they'll send out that information.
  • 00:30:32
    We're going to be working, we right now are in the process of putting together a plan to script some of that messaging across the city, county, and university so that it is consistent, understood,
  • 00:30:45
    and something that we can push out to the residents of all three areas with a little
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:31:00
    I assume there's probably a plan for like a website pop-up, an Instagram post, all of those other things are part of the communications process as well.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:31:08
    That's another good question.
  • 00:31:10
    I believe so, but I have to admit I am not an expert on our rave system.
  • 00:31:15
    My understanding is it will do text, it will do pop-ups, it has the capability to even
  • 00:31:21
    do some public information and warning for specific local events.
  • 00:31:26
    So we're exploring the idea of being able to communicate to a crowd of folks that might be downtown for a specific event or something.
  • 00:31:33
    But the nuances of that I would have to engage with the ECC.
  • 00:31:36
    They run that system and have them probably address that.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:31:39
    Okay, thank you.
  • 00:31:41
    That's what I've got at the moment.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 00:31:46
    I have, my first question is, as you're planning for various environmental disasters, is there any Water and Silver Authority involved in your planning as well?
  • 00:31:58
    Yes, yes.
  • 00:31:59
    Obviously their dams are upstream of us.
  • 00:32:01
    Yes, yes.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:32:02
    We want to make sure that that's taken care of.
  • 00:32:07
    Because of a number of reasons with my work with the county, I had a great relationship and a tremendous amount of respect for the engineers over at Rivanna Water and Sewer.
  • 00:32:20
    And so we went through a FEMA technical assistance program as a county and I participated in a number of different meetings and got a
  • 00:32:31
    An education and a great relationship with the staff at Rivanna Water and Sewer.
  • 00:32:36
    And so some of the work that we were doing relative to the dams, the warning systems, the warning systems at Sugar Hollow relative to the rest of the folks that live downstream from there all helped me create a good relationship with them.
  • 00:32:53
    They will be involved in our mitigation planning through the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

4. Housing Budget Brief

• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:32:59
    and we do a risk analysis every five years.
  • 00:33:03
    They'll be involved in that as well.
  • 00:33:05
    So I think if that answers your question, they're involved and I feel like I have a really good relationship with them.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 00:33:12
    Of course the RWSA experienced something a couple years ago in the storm that nobody anticipated.
  • 00:33:21
    When their pumps failed because something overflowed and I don't remember all the details, the important thing is the engineers figured it out, but in the meantime it was a good week or so during which that facility wasn't processing, wasn't even listening to cleaning out water, at least not much.
  • 00:33:39
    And one of the things that that tells us is that there's always something else out there that you hadn't thought of.
  • 00:33:48
    And one of your tasks is to try to rack your brain to think of, is there something we're leaving out?
  • 00:33:55
    So you don't want to have a failure of imagination.
  • 00:33:59
    The second thing I just wanted to mention, by the way, that in my experience, and if I'm recalling the situation correctly, I have tried, my wife has tried a number of times to sign up for a CUA notification system.
  • 00:34:15
    It will not go on my home phone.
  • 00:34:17
    It doesn't work well with VOIP systems and one of the things that happens is they'll say we're going to call you and you have to pick up the phone and hit a button to acknowledge that you've received it and for some reason it doesn't get where it's supposed to get to in the VOIP system so if you
  • 00:34:37
    Talk to some people who are really experts on telephone things.
  • 00:34:41
    See if you can figure out with them why it is that that's happening.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:34:45
    I'll get some more information on that.
  • 00:34:47
    I've not heard that but I can contact the ECC and find out.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 00:34:50
    So I have no idea what's going on in Charlottesville because I don't get your alerts.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:34:57
    I did just sign up on my cell phone and it went through smoothly so that's also a perfect
  • 00:35:04
    The cell phone part works, that I guess the landlord might not.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:35:10
    And that may be, let me find out some more information.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 00:35:13
    And it's not unique to you by the way, I also find that the call back systems like at the doctor's offices, they get lost somehow, I don't know how it is, but there are other
  • 00:35:25
    There's some technology out there that surely somebody understands better than I do to say, oh, we got a problem there.
  • 00:35:32
    I will definitely look into that and get back to you.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:35:35
    Thank you.
  • 00:35:35
    Thank you for that.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:35:36
    Thank you, sir.
  • 00:35:37
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:35:38
    Appreciate your work.
  • 00:35:38
    Appreciate the questions.
  • 00:35:39
    Thank you.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:35:40
    The next item on our agenda is the city manager will present the housing budget brief.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:35:55
    All right, good evening mayor, council members of the public.
  • 00:35:58
    This is part three of three, so I'm done after tonight.
  • 00:36:04
    Budget briefs, this one being focused on affordable housing, wanted to make sure that we spent some time on this particular topic because it is a big part of your budget and in putting it together, there are a number of people in the room today who are here to help answer questions because I don't have all the answers even though people believe that I do.
  • 00:36:23
    I'm reassuring you if I told you we didn't believe that.
  • 00:36:35
    The budget drivers for FY 27 budget, as you would anticipate, are transportation, affordable housing, and schools.
  • 00:36:43
    But we always make sure we leave public safety in that list as well because it's important for the public to hear and understand that we are working on this issue at all times, even if it is not the lion's share of what makes up the budget.
  • 00:36:55
    And then the city schools item, I added public safety, therefore making it four drivers instead of three.
  • 00:37:01
    Because the school's part is to be determined, which you all should recall that you have a meeting on Thursday, a joint meeting with the school board, and that is them giving you a preview of their needs so that we begin to have the rest of the budget begin to take shape with that ask.
  • 00:37:16
    So I'm going to walk you through a series of things that we've identified that are associated with this budget that are either in the budget, being talked around the budget conversation as it stands right now, and new items that have started to materialize that are associated with things that are already in the budget, therefore projects that are stuck, getting stuck, or approaching stuck.
  • 00:37:41
    And all of them have a financial impact, which is why they are a part of this presentation.
  • 00:37:46
    So we'll look at production within the Redevelopment Housing Authority, CRHA.
  • 00:37:52
    Under construction today, you have two projects that have received funding from the city.
  • 00:37:57
    South First Street Phase Two is $6 million in it, and Sixth Street Phase One has $3 million in it.
  • 00:38:03
    And there's been a commitment of $15 million in West Haven redevelopment, of which the first $5 million was slated for this year.
  • 00:38:12
    Okay, I'm looking at Chrissy for shaking her head this year.
  • 00:38:15
    So over the next two years, there will be $5 million each for that $15 million commitment.
  • 00:38:22
    Under construction as well in Piedmont Housing Alliance portfolio, you have Kindlewood phase two.
  • 00:38:28
    We're doing the planning work right now.
  • 00:38:29
    We're waiting for the planning work to come back in regards to Park Street, Macca, which is $3.7 million and then Park Street as well for $2.25 million.
  • 00:38:39
    There's planning that's continuing to be done on 501 Cherry.
  • 00:38:43
    Today the commitment has been $3.15 million, and then Phase 3 of Kindlewood is $4.15 million.
  • 00:38:49
    These are all in your budget, already reflected items indicating the supports that we've committed to affordable housing with this particular partner.
  • 00:39:00
    And then we have additional not-for-profit arrangements that are in play.
  • 00:39:04
    VISTA 29 will receive a total of $936,000 from the city for permanent supportive housing for VISTA 29, which is the former premier circle that is being under construction as we speak.
  • 00:39:19
    and then the Carlton Mobile Home Park.
  • 00:39:21
    The $8.7 million that you see there is just in acquisition and loan servicing.
  • 00:39:25
    So that's the act of getting the property under our control and servicing the loan that was used to purchase that property.
  • 00:39:32
    It is not about construction of units.
  • 00:39:35
    That is to be determined.
  • 00:39:37
    And at this moment, we just know that this is to replace the 60 units with a significantly larger affordable housing development that will come in the future.
  • 00:39:47
    Again, already in your budget and reflected as one of the changes in your CIP for how we've had to adjust for the loan servicing terms.
  • 00:40:02
    This is your first chance of being able to see what came in during the NOFA round.
  • 00:40:10
    Even though I was on vacation last week, I did take in the
  • 00:40:13
    Public Hearing on the CIP.
  • 00:40:15
    I have a few comments to myself.
  • 00:40:18
    But just want to point out to you that even though there's an expression of we don't have a process, I take issue with that because we do have a process.
  • 00:40:27
    The process is that within the NOFA that is released, the annual affordable housing NOFA that is released each year,
  • 00:40:33
    One of the deadlines is a request for information on development projects and that is a chance for any developer who is interested in seeing if the city would consider an investment to respond to.
  • 00:40:45
    These are the three projects that responded this cycle.
  • 00:40:51
    Each of them has made a request.
  • 00:40:52
    We've identified those for you.
  • 00:40:54
    Community Services Housing has identified a request for $900,000 to produce 40 units of 40 to 60 percent AMI units.
  • 00:41:03
    which is a LIHTC rehab of a multifamily property serving persons with disabilities.
  • 00:41:09
    Brick Lane Better Communities is a hotel mixed income conversion and I think that is the Holiday Inn.
  • 00:41:15
    Yes.
  • 00:41:16
    The Holiday Inn on Emmistry conversion from the Holiday Inn to a multifamily project.
  • 00:41:22
    They're requesting 1.75 million for 192 units ranging from 60% AMI to market rate.
  • 00:41:30
    So that's something else for us to now consider.
  • 00:41:33
    And then the third request is POA, Preservation of Affordable Housing.
  • 00:41:37
    This is the partnership with the University of Virginia property on Wortland.
  • 00:41:41
    Three million dollars is requested here for 170 units.
  • 00:41:44
    This is a process of which now, me sharing this with you, our goal would be to begin to have conversations with you on
  • 00:41:53
    What do you feel about prioritizing these considerations for the budget?
  • 00:41:59
    If you would like to see them funded in the budget, that now means that myself and Ms. Hammel and others have to go and try to figure out where it fits, how it fits, what it costs, and can we determine affordability of being able to do so?
  • 00:42:11
    And if there is a reason that you can clearly indicate as to why you would not support the projects, then we would like your assistance in that so that we can notify our parties.
  • 00:42:19
    Because they have responded to the RFI, which was a part of the NOFA process,
  • 00:42:23
    and we now need to be able to respond back to them with an indication of support or not.
  • 00:42:29
    And then the note at the bottom is to indicate to you that our team has identified that because there are criticisms of the process we are going to spend a little time looking at additional steps we might take to kind of beef it up.
  • 00:42:41
    But ideally the intention was that in the NOFA round is where we would find out what other interests there may be and there's no prohibition as to who can submit.
  • 00:42:50
    They can submit whatever project that they have that's in the affordable housing arena.
  • 00:42:55
    and then they provide that information and we receive that and again we produce this particular slide or multiple slides is what the plan will be going forward.
  • 00:43:03
    We've been doing this now for two years.
  • 00:43:07
    Okay, keep going.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:43:08
    Can you clarify?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:43:09
    I knew somebody might say something.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:43:14
    The acronym you're using?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:43:17
    Acronym.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:43:18
    Nofa?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:43:19
    Nofa, Notice of Funding Availability or Opportunity.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:43:22
    Okay, got it.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:43:23
    Sorry.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:43:23
    Thank you.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:43:24
    I'll try not to do that.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:43:25
    I can say that's for the general public's information but also for my opinion.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:43:28
    Yes, and I'll just go further.
  • 00:43:30
    So what we do is in October
  • 00:43:34
    August of each year, we identify a series of opportunities where individuals can submit a request for funding.
  • 00:43:41
    And they're basically responding to requests for proposals.
  • 00:43:45
    And there's just a series of them for the CAF, the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, for the HOPS,
  • 00:43:55
    Community Development Block Grant and Environment Communities for Housing Assistance for Operating Support, HOPS.
  • 00:44:04
    Those are all individual opportunities to respond with the project requesting support.
  • 00:44:10
    The RFI, the request for interest, I thought it was investment.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 00:44:16
    Is it interest?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:44:17
    Request for information.
  • 00:44:18
    Information.
  • 00:44:19
    But it's a request for investment is really what it is.
  • 00:44:21
    So that round is a chance for individuals that are working on development projects to also say, hey, we have a project.
  • 00:44:27
    It's an affordable housing project.
  • 00:44:28
    It meets the priorities of what we understand council would like to see.
  • 00:44:32
    And we would like to have you consider making an investment to make it possible for us to move this project forward.
  • 00:44:37
    It may be a LIHTC project and in some cases it may not be.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:44:41
    Okay, and so I know currently there's no shortage of requests.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:44:46
    Yes.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:44:47
    But it is a request-based process.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:44:50
    Correct.
  • 00:44:51
    Yes.
  • 00:44:52
    And to that point, so naturally I'm not asking you to say yes, yes, no, no, yes, no, or anything like that because I have many more slides and there are other things that are not in your budget at this point.
  • 00:45:04
    These are the first three things that are not in your budget today and I have multiple things that are coming out that are also not in your budget.
  • 00:45:10
    So that's the tension in the trade-off conversation that we started earlier this year.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:45:14
    Yeah, that question was more of like for putting together our
  • 00:45:19
    housing policy for the process of like, how do we want to spend X dollars that are coming in?
  • 00:45:24
    That's a request-based process, not a city-led process.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:45:28
    Yes, I'd say that is most accurate.
  • 00:45:31
    I think part of what we're trying to get to is maybe a hybrid approach.
  • 00:45:36
    I think it's important for us to figure out ways that we can engage you all in discussions, and it may be that we have a special engagement each year
  • 00:45:45
    where you get to talk about priorities specifically.
  • 00:45:48
    Looking at results, you'll get your affordable housing presentation I think is in April when we normally do that.
  • 00:45:54
    That's when we give you the results oriented discussion as to how we've been able to reach the targets and where we've missed the mark or what have you.
  • 00:46:03
    Then taking that information and driving priorities from that so that then you could start to put out a RFI that says we're looking for projects that reach this
  • 00:46:13
    for this number of people by this date, and then no one else need apply.
  • 00:46:17
    I mean, you could always turn it into that if you wanted to.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:46:21
    And that's how we would shape.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 00:46:22
    Yes.
  • 00:46:23
    Got it.
  • 00:46:24
    OK.
  • 00:46:24
    Thank you.
  • 00:46:24
    So while you're on this page, is there a specific proposal for community services housing?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:46:30
    Yes.
  • 00:46:32
    This is the information that we receive.
  • 00:46:34
    How much more detail do we have?
• • SPEAKER_19
  • 00:46:37
    Actually, it's all available on our website.
  • 00:46:39
    All of them are full.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:46:41
    So that's what our next step is going to be, is to get you this information so that you can have a full appreciation for the ask.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 00:46:48
    And what is the website reference?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:46:50
    That's on the city's website.
  • 00:46:52
    If you go on- What website?
  • 00:46:54
    Is it NDS's page?
• • SPEAKER_19
  • 00:46:55
    Yeah, probably want to- We'll get you the link, how about that?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:47:00
    It's on the NDS page because the housing program is now back in NDS.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:47:05
    So Sam, so you had mentioned that you wanted out whether we want to include this in the budget.
  • 00:47:12
    Do you want that now?
  • 00:47:13
    No.
  • 00:47:13
    Are we going to have a work session?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:47:14
    Nope.
  • 00:47:15
    Or something?
  • 00:47:15
    We'll get the information.
  • 00:47:17
    We'll get you the details.
  • 00:47:18
    I think what Council Snook is looking at, he's interested in going to see the projects.
  • 00:47:21
    We're going to get you the link so you can do that.
  • 00:47:23
    But I need to give you more stuff to wrestle with because that's my job.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 00:47:27
    Since all three of these are new to us, at least new to me.
  • 00:47:30
    That's right.
  • 00:47:31
    That's right.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:47:31
    They are.
  • 00:47:31
    So just for clarification, because we get information on deeply affordable to 30% and less, these are proposals that private developers essentially, or quasi-public, or non-profits, that they have presented to the city to say, hey, we want to use
  • 00:47:52
    your funds for this program to help construct.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:47:56
    Right.
  • 00:47:57
    CRHA can come in through this round.
  • 00:47:58
    If there was a new development project that they were planning, this is what we would now ask them to do.
  • 00:48:03
    This wasn't always the way we've done it in the past.
  • 00:48:06
    Piedmont Housing Alliance for any new project that they would consider, we would ask them to come around, come into this round as well.
  • 00:48:13
    This is a way for us to kind of forecast what's coming.
  • 00:48:16
    Not every project is ready to go today, which is why we do this every year and we're looking for them to tell us
  • 00:48:22
    What is the status of your project?
  • 00:48:24
    When is it likely to start and to give us updates along the way?
  • 00:48:28
    And that's for planning purposes, of course.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:48:30
    Thank you.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:48:33
    All right, so here are the requests.
  • 00:48:35
    These are things that are beginning to mount up in the projects that exist today, kind of giving you now the indications as to why some of them are stuck and how we've been engaged in conversations as to ways to get them unstuck.
  • 00:48:47
    501 Cherry is a project that you've already supported, as I showed you on the screen before.
  • 00:48:51
    I think the number, if I remember correctly, was 3.15 million.
  • 00:48:55
    There is a gap.
  • 00:48:56
    There has been considerable effort to work to eliminate the gap that exists, which is why there has been no movement on the site.
  • 00:49:03
    The request that has recently come in from PHA in making this project possible is now an additional $700,000 in addition to the $1 million performance grant so that this would make it possible for the project to move forward and the increased request is in association with the proposed grocery store that would go on the property.
  • 00:49:25
    This would be still supporting the development which is right now stuck
  • 00:49:30
    Because your investment is into the residential units that will come from this project, you would now be supporting the possibility of the grocery store joining those units on site with the other features of this project.
  • 00:49:43
    but to clarify it's supporting the shell of the commercial space basically making it possible for a grocery store it is not a full commitment that there will be a store because the team that is working on that still has significant work to do and while all bets are on the idea that we would see a grocery store and many would like to see a grocery store there's not an ability to commit to that at this time but there's work in progress to the shell of a commercial space that potentially
  • 00:50:12
    That would be reserved right now for the grocery store and then could be used temporarily in place of them being there just to help fund things until they are ready.
  • 00:50:22
    So it's more or less producing what I describe as a runway.
  • 00:50:26
    Gives the food co-op a runway to continue their work without the pressure of finding the money first for a space that they can't operate in.
  • 00:50:34
    This just guarantees that a space will eventually be available should they find the need to use that space.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:50:39
    And would it be paid back or would it be a grant?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:50:42
    It will be a grant.
  • 00:50:45
    So that's one request that has now materialized.
  • 00:50:49
    In addition to that, Kindlewood phase four.
  • 00:50:52
    Kindlewood is a very complicated project.
  • 00:50:54
    I've been talking about this my whole tenure here, about how complicated this project is.
  • 00:51:00
    I could have seen that from day one.
  • 00:51:02
    And I think what we have found is that over each phase, we've had to come back to the drawing board to figure out what next, what next, what next.
  • 00:51:10
    and most of it is because we're just in a time that things are changing so rapidly and it's very expensive to do the things that we have dreamed of being able to do here.
  • 00:51:20
    We currently have $4.5 million committed in the CIP for Phase 4.
  • 00:51:25
    There is a $3 million funding gap to get to the number of units that are expected based on the original agreement.
  • 00:51:32
    We would need them to produce 131 units in Phase 4, which would give us a total of 425, which is the bottom of the range that we asked them to commit to.
  • 00:51:43
    But with no additional funding, there is an indication that they do not see being able to deliver the 425 units, so that would now be 388 instead.
  • 00:51:54
    We know that this is going to require some conversation.
  • 00:51:58
    We're reworking our work session schedule, the first wave of your work session discussions for the new year to try to make it possible for this conversation because I think the way we all look at Kendallwood is the city has deeply invested in this project, which means that it ranks differently than a lot of other projects that you have made some investments in.
  • 00:52:20
    So we need some reconciliation on are you okay?
  • 00:52:24
    Not having 425 units delivered.
  • 00:52:27
    Are you going to insist on there being 425 units being delivered?
  • 00:52:32
    And if you are going to insist, are you willing to help close the gap to make that possible?
  • 00:52:37
    Because as it stands right now, we're at a crossroads.
  • 00:52:40
    So that's me being pretty simple and trying to be accurate as to where we stand at this present time.
  • 00:52:47
    So there's more to talk about.
  • 00:52:49
    And I'm working with the team right now to try to figure out how quickly we can have the conversation.
  • 00:52:54
    And it's shaping up that we're going to do this as your first meeting in January, because it's that important.
  • 00:53:00
    To address phase four.
  • 00:53:02
    To work through this and a few other hot topic issues because time is everything and we have a number of deadlines in play and there's things that we need to make sure that you all just get the opportunity to consider and make your decisions.
  • 00:53:22
    I'm going to quickly just kind of give you a little history of where we are in history, meaning history of what the budget is made up of, but this is what you will see in our budget going forward.
  • 00:53:34
    $1.5 million is contributed annually to the CIP in support of the affordable housing grant program, which today generates $823,000 in direct grants out.
  • 00:53:46
    Each year, the Housing Operations and Program Support, HOPS program, is $575,000.
  • 00:53:53
    It also hits the street in the form of grants to nonprofit organizations that are doing housing related work.
  • 00:53:59
    And then we have administrative expenses, which is a part of your affordable housing plan.
  • 00:54:03
    That's the hybrid approach to being able to say that you have a $10 million commitment and how are the funds then divided up to support the work that you're doing.
  • 00:54:11
    But we have requests from the staff.
  • 00:54:14
    We are processing these requests now as we are building the budget for legal support, additional studies, as well as professional fees.
  • 00:54:24
    associated with tax abatement study and updates to our ADA manual.
  • 00:54:28
    Those are just things that will be part of the makeup of the budget, but I just wanted to be able to touch on that with you as well as the team has pulled together a way for me to give you a snapshot of everything.
  • 00:54:40
    There's been many references of a strike fund, Counselor Payne specifically, but other members of the Planning Commission have also grabbed hold of the idea of it sure would be nice if we had a strike fund.
  • 00:54:54
    I have not prioritized a strike fund in this current year's budget.
  • 00:54:57
    I am struggling to see prioritizing a strike fund in the new fiscal budget, but I do believe what I have offered and will continue to offer as what amounts to a strike fund is your CIP contingency fund.
  • 00:55:11
    That fund is made up of your surplus dollars and they get added to each year.
  • 00:55:15
    The point that I would suggest that you look at the strike fund
  • 00:55:19
    As a notion is it's the funding that you have available to make the decisions that need to be made at that particular time.
  • 00:55:26
    That's the strike aspect of it.
  • 00:55:28
    And it should be associated with how much money you have available and not necessarily a fund where you just simply put $5 million into it and say this won't be touched.
  • 00:55:37
    I think it's hard for me to appreciate how do I get you where you all want to go, where this community wants to go if I set aside five million and say we don't touch it because I think we always tend to find a way to come close to needing to touch it before you say we're ready to touch it because the strike isn't there for a housing project but there are other projects and other desires and other needs that come up
  • 00:56:02
    As this whole presentation was coming together, I kept scratching my head as to how much it was going to cost to get through presenting this to you, as to all the requests that have now come in before I first started imagining what this presentation was going to include.
  • 00:56:17
    What I'm saying in regards to the strike fund is that today there are funds in your CIP contingency.
  • 00:56:23
    I have not brought to you a need to spend every dollar that is in that account.
  • 00:56:27
    We have not done that before.
  • 00:56:29
    We have really tried to discipline ourselves in when we come, how we come, and why we come to ensure that there's always funds available.
  • 00:56:37
    I think what we have taken to heart in the references to the need for a strike fund is to try to see if we could
  • 00:56:43
    develop the relationships with the individuals associated with projects that are likely to come and see if we can get some indication of how much money might be needed for each of those and that way we can at least try to anticipate if one were to come online how much money is going to be needed to be able to purchase it, take it down, or enter into some kind of partnership.
  • 00:57:05
    So I'm referencing that we are acknowledging that the Silk Purse portfolio and both of the LIHTC unit projects that are expiring 2026 are things that we will not lose sight of that could become a possible priority for discussion and we will bring those back to you if we were to hear about them as being available or an interest in them shifting out of affordability and we would want to try to preserve those
  • 00:57:33
    As it stands right now, we do have CIP contingency funds or former surplus funds.
  • 00:57:40
    Your finance director will begin the process of identifying for you the audit results tonight.
  • 00:57:46
    In the first meeting in January, you will hear the actual surplus number.
  • 00:57:51
    I guess I should say a surplus number because we're always positive.
  • 00:57:54
    But we don't know what that number is yet, but that is going to be added to what goes into that CIP contingency fund, provided the recommendation that I make to you is approved.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:58:04
    So Sam, Mallside Forest is not in the county?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:58:08
    It's in the county, but it's an affordable housing project that we think is important enough for us to not lose sight of, because it's naturally occurring, affordable housing as it stands today.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:58:19
    Would there be county regional cooperation?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:58:23
    I think that too is part of the conversation.
  • 00:58:25
    Like we have a really good connection with our peers in the county.
  • 00:58:29
    And if a project were to come forward, I think we both would try to engage in discussions.
  • 00:58:35
    I think we all know that we're more situated to try to buy something in total versus not.
  • 00:58:42
    So that might make it difficult to see where the county will join us.
  • 00:58:45
    But I think we should give them the opportunity every time.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:58:47
    Especially if it's a property that's in the county
  • 00:58:54
    For the Silk Road purse, sorry, for the Silk purse portfolio, you said we'd wait and see.
  • 00:59:01
    Is there any active engagement?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:59:03
    There's conversations.
  • 00:59:04
    I'm aware that CRHA has been in conversation with Jeremy about his portfolio and that there is a portion of it that might end up being conveyed and we are in those conversations with John.
  • 00:59:20
    I've talked to John about this a couple times.
  • 00:59:21
    And I think maintaining the relationship is really what I'm getting at as what's important at this present time.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 00:59:28
    And if we, would the idea be that if we purchase them either on behalf of one of our agencies or through the city, part of the cost of that would also be the loss of real estate taxes, right?
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 00:59:50
    And Mallside has city resident vouchers.
  • 00:59:55
    More than likely.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 00:59:59
    I would think all of them probably do.
  • 01:00:02
    I think part of what you're getting at though is that's part of the ongoing work.
  • 01:00:06
    That's the continued work that has to be done.
  • 01:00:08
    The determining what to do is where we have not yet been able to get to.
  • 01:00:13
    I also heard reference last week in the CIP, I'm kind of airing my grievances, but
  • 01:00:18
    There was a reference to us, I guess, being in some turmoil as it relates to our housing program.
  • 01:00:24
    I will push back on that notion.
  • 01:00:26
    Madeline is doing a great job carrying what is a platter, granted that she's carrying a platter right now, but we are fine.
  • 01:00:34
    We have a vacancy.
  • 01:00:35
    It's a position that we need to fill.
  • 01:00:37
    We're going to advertise and get that position filled.
  • 01:00:40
    We have had conversation about adding capacity.
  • 01:00:43
    Kelly is very good, like James, at asking for things.
  • 01:00:46
    We're going to make sure that we take serious consideration of that and working through that process.
  • 01:00:51
    But there is no turmoil, I would say.
  • 01:00:53
    We're working through a process of filling seats and making sure that we can get the capacity added to our team capable of doing some of the things that we just haven't been able to get to.
  • 01:01:02
    That's been a theme of mine this year and I'm really supportive of the idea of making sure that our housing program gets to be a little more robust, which I think is really the complaint, and not that it's in turmoil.
  • 01:01:15
    All right, I'm just going to also just point out to you the inclusion of homelessness in this is just to point out that we know that it's expensive, it's going to be a continuous process of us figuring out.
  • 01:01:33
    You all know that we purchased the 2000 Holiday Drive site.
  • 01:01:36
    We are in conversation with our partners, our key community partners on working through
  • 01:01:40
    what could become of that particular facility.
  • 01:01:45
    We've been doing all kinds of various work and supports to that community specifically led by Ashley Marshall as well as the collaborative approach to bringing in different members of our team to try to figure out softer ways to address various displays of things that have become a challenge and we're looking at programmatic improvements to some of the things that we're doing
  • 01:02:07
    including how some of the funds are being used by some of the partners.
  • 01:02:11
    We'll continue to do that.
  • 01:02:12
    I will always have to come back to you and talk to you a little bit more about homelessness specifically because it's about what are the many things that we're going to keep trying to do.
  • 01:02:21
    But as it stands right now, I'm not asking for anything else because we're focused on 2000 Holiday Drive.
  • 01:02:26
    But I can assure you that by the time we finish the program, the budget process, there will probably be some things that will have risen to the surface.
  • 01:02:36
    We included Home to Hope as a re-entry program because of course those citizens returning to the community are always subject to difficult situations and sometimes find themselves homeless and we're continuing to do our work in support of that as well as looking for even non-traditional ways of partnering with organizations that are serving this population even who have beds available.
  • 01:02:58
    There's been a recent offer for us to consider being able to partner with them and seeing if we can help
  • 01:03:04
    pull certain individuals off the street into those spaces for them to get the support that they need as a part of their transition.
  • 01:03:14
    And then we continue to do rental assistance.
  • 01:03:16
    Our Department of Human Services continue to operate the Community Resource Hotline.
  • 01:03:20
    They do housing navigation as well.
  • 01:03:23
    So our Pathways Fund is supporting various needs along the way.
  • 01:03:27
    We have a lot more things to talk to you about in the future with that.
  • 01:03:31
    and then the Commissioner of Revenue continues to support our various relief programs and I'll show you some of those details as well.
  • 01:03:38
    We have identified a real intervention that is needed as it relates to rental assistance and Kendall Woods specifically is a part of our ongoing conversations with PHA.
  • 01:03:48
    We've identified that there are a number of households that have not been able to make their rent payments and this is despite their income evaluations indicating an ability to pay from the numerical aspect of it
  • 01:04:01
    We're still seeing that individuals are not paying rent so there's something going on there and as it stands right now we have no way of knowing what that is.
  • 01:04:09
    So one of the requests was to consider a pilot program that would allow for pilot financial coaches to begin working with those households to identify what is happening within the household that is interfering with their ability to pay their rents and then we would also set up a fund to help clear the arrears for those as we work through resolving some of those issues.
  • 01:04:30
    This is the kind of work that I've done for a very long time, so I relate to what it takes to get people out of situations like this.
  • 01:04:37
    So I think this is going to be something that we're going to try to explore and figure out a way to bring back that for your consideration.
  • 01:04:42
    So just sharing with you that this is a possible future request.
  • 01:04:47
    And then the CISRAP program, that's the Charlottesville Supplemental Rental Assistance Program, that is the city's voucher program is the best way for us to describe that for you.
  • 01:04:55
    $900,000 annually, we have that included in the budget as well for FY 27.
  • 01:05:02
    You just recently, I think even tonight, might be finalizing the approval of the continuation of the program.
  • 01:05:08
    We're going to continue working with the 68 households that are at or below 30% AMI because we see that as a very vulnerable population.
  • 01:05:18
    And then the question could very easily be, do we change the number and increase it?
  • 01:05:22
    I will say at the start of this fiscal year, at the start of this fiscal year budget planning, I was thinking that that would be the ask that we would make is to increase the CISRAP program.
  • 01:05:31
    But based on the various new requests that I've already identified for you and some that I haven't told you about, I'm having difficulty identifying how to do that.
  • 01:05:39
    So we will see what shakes out by the time we get through the school's presentation on Thursday and a few more details on revenue projections that we're anticipating at the beginning of January.
  • 01:05:53
    And then I'll just walk through just for your benefit and for the public's benefit of seeing how our relief programs are working.
  • 01:06:00
    So this is the elderly and disabled tax relief program.
  • 01:06:03
    So 518 people qualify for $1.9 million.
  • 01:06:07
    As well as 206 in the rent program for $134,000.
  • 01:06:12
    Those are maximum grants of $2,000.
  • 01:06:18
    Our affordable housing, the CHAP program, 317 individuals received $610,000 in varying grants of $1,000 to $2,500.
  • 01:06:25
    And then 39 disabled veterans or spouses who received $222,000.
  • 01:06:32
    So I would suggest that we have a very robust relief and intervention program assigned to those individuals who are having difficulty with our high rate of real estate taxes.
  • 01:06:45
    And then the last is surviving spouses.
  • 01:06:46
    We just don't have any individuals that have applied and qualified for the program.
  • 01:06:50
    But if we were to have some, there are funds available, as Todd has indicated.
  • 01:06:54
    We could assist them just the same.
  • 01:06:58
    So I'm going to shift and just remind you of things that are coming up.
  • 01:07:01
    As we all know, the joint budget meeting is this Thursday.
  • 01:07:04
    So tune in for those who would like to watch us have that conversation, talking about school needs for the next fiscal year.
  • 01:07:12
    And this year I'm doing something different because I want more people to come and talk to me about the budget so that they can stop telling me I don't know what's going on.
  • 01:07:20
    So I decided we're going to talk about it on three different occasions, three nights in a row in three different places.
  • 01:07:26
    So we'll get you those details.
  • 01:07:27
    I will announce that at the next council meeting so that people will know exactly where they are.
  • 01:07:33
    I'm anticipating that these will be 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. each of those three nights.
  • 01:07:37
    and we're going to bring the budget to you in the community.
  • 01:07:41
    Last year we integrated monopoly as a part of our process and I like monopoly because I like to win and I like to use that as the visual of how you make choices on spending money so we're going to use that as a feature of how we unveil our budget and help the public share with us priorities in setting those.
  • 01:08:00
    And then I will make my infamous budget presentation on March 2nd and it will be the beginning of the end of my stress of trying to put a fiscal year budget together when we as a city punch above our weight class and I will have all the battle scars for it in trying to pull this budget together and making sure that the numbers add up because it must be balanced.
  • 01:08:23
    And then we will adopt that budget on April 9th and get ready for its beginning implementation on July 1st.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:08:31
    Yes, Sam, the meeting Thursday with the school board, is that, I know it's a work session for us, but I can't remember if we take public comment.
• • Kyna Thomas
  • 01:08:42
    I don't think so.
  • 01:08:43
    The schools do.
  • 01:08:44
    The schools usually have a section.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:08:46
    Oh yeah, that's true.
  • 01:08:47
    They did, yes.
  • 01:08:49
    There will be public comment.
  • 01:08:50
    I'm just remembering.
  • 01:08:55
    Any questions?
  • 01:08:56
    And I have others here who would love to come to the microphone and talk to you as well.
  • 01:09:00
    If there's anything specific that you want to know.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:09:06
    So what are you anticipating for that January work session about?
  • 01:09:13
    Kindlewood Phase 4.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:09:14
    So it won't be just Kindlewood Phase 4, but it will definitely be Kindlewood Phase 4 because they are on a deadline situation for moving forward.
  • 01:09:24
    So they need to have the clarity of is the unit count reduction permissible or not?
  • 01:09:30
    Is there going to be further cash invested or not?
  • 01:09:34
    And then just to have the back and forth on
  • 01:09:37
    The priority that you set out when you decided to redevelop the former property, are you getting what you wanted to get for that?
  • 01:09:46
    And if not, how do we reconcile that?
  • 01:09:48
    That's really the question.
  • 01:09:50
    But I'm imagining that we're going to have to identify additional priorities.
  • 01:09:54
    I am concerned I've been alerted by the continuum of care that by federal action our permanent supportive housing program is in peril for financial support.
  • 01:10:06
    They were going to be going to court.
  • 01:10:08
    The court item was pulled so there's no resolution now and that in itself means that there's probably going to be an interruption of funds in a bigger way and if we don't get those funds then that's going to be a loss.
  • 01:10:19
    and there's roughly 31, 32 people I think is the number that I heard that would be left without any direct assistance and I would think that that would be a priority for you to consider backfilling some portion of that until the feds settle down and resolve whatever the impact is likely to be but that would be out.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:10:37
    That's crossings one getting defunded?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:10:39
    I don't know exactly how it's spent, I just know the numbers because I was given the alarm bell on that as well as we know that we have other priorities that are coming in relation to SNAP benefits and a few of our local nonprofits appear to be having financial difficulties as well.
  • 01:10:57
    In the homeless space I should prioritize.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:11:02
    What if anything are you anticipating for the conversation around CSRAP?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:11:07
    For SISRAP I think where we are is we're comfortable with the program continuing which is why we brought the item forward.
  • 01:11:13
    As I said my thought was that we would be looking to indicate to you a desire to increase the amount of funding so therefore we could reach more people.
  • 01:11:21
    I don't think that is the case that we would prioritize at this present time because I think the discovery that we've made in regards to the number of households that have not been able to pay rent
  • 01:11:32
    Even though, again, the financial evaluation that says your income supports your ability to pay this amount and that's not getting paid is a problem and it's one that we need to try to figure out what's going on.
  • 01:11:45
    It is not Kindlewood exclusively.
  • 01:11:47
    It's happening with CRHA properties as well and those that are outside of that and the numbers are staggering.
  • 01:11:53
    How much is not getting paid?
• • 01:12:01
    Go ahead.
• • Kellie Brown
  • 01:12:01
    Just to add a little bit of additional detail.
  • 01:12:04
    So staff is planning to initiate an evaluation of the CISRAP program in the first part of this year.
  • 01:12:11
    So as Mr. Sanders said, we are recommending at this time to keep that funding at $900,000 a year.
  • 01:12:17
    We may recommend changes to the program looking into next year.
  • 01:12:23
    But there is additional funding in the program left over from last year that could potentially support an incremental increase.
  • 01:12:31
    consideration of the issues going on at Kindlewood, the delinquencies.
  • 01:12:36
    In some ways, we view that as a separate issue.
  • 01:12:39
    So the CISRAP evaluation could also include some recommendations for that, but just trying to create a distinction between CISRAP and the questions of delinquencies at Kindlewood and CRHA.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:12:53
    And I know another way of saying don't give us more money until we figure it out.
  • 01:12:57
    I have done that too.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:12:57
    But then if we wanted more money, it would come out of CIP contingency?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:13:02
    Well no because we're building the budget so we would just work it in.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:13:05
    So we would know before the budget how much we might want to adjust.
• • Kellie Brown
  • 01:13:13
    So we are not recommending at this time to add more money through the CIP for CISRAP for fiscal year 27.
  • 01:13:21
    If we come out of that evaluation at the end of this year and we identify opportunities to expand the program,
  • 01:13:27
    it would likely include recommendations that are not only about funding but also staff capacity, questions of overall management of the program.
  • 01:13:36
    Perhaps there is some opportunity to incrementally increase the scope and scale of that program and we would look at the existing sources of funding that we have, not any sort of new money.
  • 01:13:48
    Now the question of how we address delinquencies at Kindlewood and CRHA, that's kind of a separate conversation and something I think that
  • 01:13:57
    we may consider in more detail in January.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:14:06
    Obviously, you know, there could be a whole work session or discussion of it, but I think part of it is, as you mentioned, it's not just Kindlewood.
  • 01:14:15
    This is pretty much all affordable housing that uses low-income housing tax credits because it's tied, the affordability is tied to the unit itself via the assigned area median income that is determined by LIHTC, and if it's not attached to a voucher,
  • 01:14:29
    The price someone has to pay won't vary with their income.
  • 01:14:32
    It will stay stuck in the unit at that price.
  • 01:14:35
    And particularly during the pandemic, because AMI is calculated with CPI, their calculation exploded and what everyone had to pay went up, even if it didn't correspond to how much their income increased.
  • 01:14:47
    So I just know it's across the board problem we're going to have to confront.
  • 01:14:51
    And then you look at
  • 01:14:53
    The cost to bring a 60% AMI unit to 30% AMI is like $120,000 a unit just to keep up with paying the debt and associated costs with that unit.
  • 01:15:08
    Next question kind of related to that is what kick started in large part the adoption of our affordable housing plan and the 10 million dollar commitment was an intervention assessment tool that was created that estimated how many interventions, not necessarily new units, but just interventions across the board
  • 01:15:27
    would be needed to meet the existing affordable housing gap at different AMI levels as well.
  • 01:15:34
    And that's how we got to 10 million.
  • 01:15:36
    That was the estimated cost of about 3,300 interventions.
  • 01:15:41
    Obviously, that was done in 2018, 2019.
  • 01:15:42
    I think the cost of that today, if you just adjusted for construction cost inflation, would be $14, $15 million.
  • 01:15:50
    So we've already lost ground.
  • 01:15:52
    But the Housing Advisory Committee recently was discussed
  • 01:15:57
    If on their own, they updated that intervention assessment tool for current data, and that was available as a resource to kind of look at proposed investments, compare it against the interventions we need, compare it against what AMI levels it touches, which AMI levels it doesn't touch.
  • 01:16:17
    Is that something that staff would potentially be interested in having them do and utilize?
  • 01:16:22
    Because their concern was they spend the time to do it, but then there's no desire to kind of rely on that tool.
• • Kellie Brown
  • 01:16:32
    We very much appreciate the Housing Advisory Commission's interest in providing us with tools that we can use as a data point to inform investment considerations.
  • 01:16:43
    So, yes, thank you for highlighting that as an opportunity.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:16:47
    And I'll add that I needed her to say that just because I've already told them that I wanted them to update the tool.
  • 01:16:54
    Because I was curious, because I know that this was done a long time ago, and at this point it's a data point.
  • 01:17:00
    Even though we have additional analysis work, it would be great to have as much of that as we can possibly get our hands on.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:17:11
    I think part of the discussion is going to have to include that we've lost ground since our affordable housing plan was adopted just because of inflation.
  • 01:17:19
    And the pandemic was not normal inflation.
  • 01:17:21
    It was very atypical and very high.
  • 01:17:25
    So if we want to achieve our original goals, you're talking about a meaningful amount above $10 million annually.
  • 01:17:31
    So we need to be adding to it as much as we can.
  • 01:17:34
    And I'll just end with
  • 01:17:38
    All this is so important because we're a community that's very divided by income.
  • 01:17:44
    It's very divided in who has a four-year college degree and who doesn't.
  • 01:17:51
    As just one stat that I think strikes me is that the median black household in Charlottesville is at 50% of area median income, about $44,000 a year in income.
  • 01:18:02
    The median white household is more than double that.
  • 01:18:05
    In these interventions, we're talking about
  • 01:18:09
    What are investments and strategies that aren't even providing an opportunity for the average black household in Charlottesville?
  • 01:18:18
    What strategies are?
  • 01:18:19
    Who do we miss?
  • 01:18:20
    Who do we not miss?
  • 01:18:22
    What parts of our community are maybe not as vocal in attending work sessions, in planning meetings historically, who we've overlooked in our planning processes?
  • 01:18:34
    You know what we've done is there's a lot more to do but I mean the reason we're investing 10 million dollars a year is because reaching so many of our community members requires social housing and it's very expensive and it's very complex but it's the only way we're going to provide housing opportunities for them because these are housing options that don't make a profit so they're only going to exist if we do that and I think it's also important just to highlight that
  • 01:19:00
    There's a lot more to do.
  • 01:19:01
    These are very complex projects we can improve, but we've spent more per capita than any other locality in Virginia, one of the highest in the country.
  • 01:19:09
    And I think for community members who I think rightly can say we need to do more, it's not enough.
  • 01:19:14
    I think it's important to see that we've done a lot and it takes time to build, but otherwise I think it's easy to think, well, what's the point?
  • 01:19:22
    But we really have seen a transformative change in how we invest in what we do.
  • 01:19:26
    But there's a long way to go and I hope we just don't lose
  • 01:19:29
    Thank you for having me.
  • 01:19:35
    Final comment is I think I do worry we've maybe lost some backslid a little bit on planning for purchasing of land which I do think is really really important because all affordable housing development is going to start with having access to land and maybe it takes several years for the funding to come together but if they can get that land it can happen if they don't have it it never can and as you highlighted
  • 01:20:00
    We know there's some low income housing tax credit properties with affordability periods that are expiring soon.
  • 01:20:06
    And to me that's a five alarm fire.
  • 01:20:09
    That's a crisis.
  • 01:20:09
    These are hundreds of people at immediate risk of having their lives upended and never being able to afford to stay in Charlottesville again.
  • 01:20:17
    And I think we've got to prioritize being able to stop that from happening and planning for it and long term having a really coherent strategy for land acquisition.
  • 01:20:27
    and I know for the moment we've kind of abandoned the land bank idea.
  • 01:20:31
    I'm certainly open to other ways that are high impact for land acquisition.
  • 01:20:36
    The program to provide a funding gap is just not nearly expansive to fill that need of land acquisition.
  • 01:20:47
    So I do worry about that.
  • 01:20:49
    I'll just end.
  • 01:20:55
    The Carlton Mobile Home Park, just to humanize it, that was a long saga with a lot going into it.
  • 01:21:01
    One of the families there had lived there for decades in conversations people had with them.
  • 01:21:10
    You know their husband was terminally ill and dying and the last months of their life they had to worry about how am I going to prevent being homeless?
  • 01:21:21
    How am I going to have to find a place to live?
  • 01:21:23
    And that moment of their life, people who had worked
  • 01:21:27
    the jobs that keep this community running their whole lives.
  • 01:21:31
    That's what a local government has the power.
  • 01:21:32
    We have the power to upend people's lives to that extent.
  • 01:21:34
    We also have the power to help people's lives in that kind of situation.
  • 01:21:38
    And I just hope we keep that kind of human element of the importance of this in the front of our minds.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:21:46
    Thank you.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:21:47
    Natalie?
  • 01:21:48
    Thanks.
  • 01:21:49
    I really appreciate seeing all of this at once.
  • 01:21:51
    It's good to get that list of, yeah, what's coming online, what have we already invested in,
  • 01:21:55
    and kind of seeing that all together because as Michael said we have done a lot and unfortunately construction takes time so things are going to fall into place as those units get finished.
  • 01:22:11
    There is, I think you also made another really good point that this is expensive, it costs a lot of money and so we have to be on the lookout for ways that we can increase our revenue for these types of projects whether that's
  • 01:22:25
    General Fund transfers or specific affordable housing fund input.
  • 01:22:30
    So to that end, when we got our presentation back in August at the retreat, where it said that the city was at our fiscal stress limit, then we have to think about how can we bring in revenue that is outside money, which is being enthusiastic about
  • 01:22:54
    People who are interested in building additional housing, that's market rate, to make sure that the real estate taxes we generate go up to also provide more housing opportunities for people to shift and climb that ladder.
  • 01:23:06
    I know we're going to have a discussion next year about shaping locations a little differently maybe than we are now.
  • 01:23:15
    So I'm open to talking about that.
  • 01:23:17
    But in general, citywide, that's something we need to support.
  • 01:23:21
    both to create more additional units and to increase revenue that we can spend on these specific projects which are dedicated to helping people stay where they are or let them come back.

5. CLOSED MEETING (Boards & Commission appointments)

• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:23:31
    That's really all I have to say for now is we can do both things, dedicated affordable housing that has subsidy costs and allowing market rate housing to help fund all of that and increase tax revenue not just in real estate taxes but in other things that people spend in the city.
  • 01:23:49
    Thanks.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 01:23:51
    Lily?
  • 01:23:53
    When I was on the board of Piedmont Housing Alliance now a decade ago, one of the discussions that we were having at that point was suggesting that phase four of what is now Kindlewood might be something other than housing simply so that they could develop some income so that they could keep their own processes going better.
  • 01:24:16
    Has that now been abandoned?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:24:20
    Do you have any sense on that?
  • 01:24:22
    I would say yes, because I think they need the site now to be able to produce the number of required units.
• • SPEAKER_20
  • 01:24:28
    For the record, Brenda Kelly, I haven't had any recent discussions with PHA, but yes, at one point they were talking about some commercial uses, some market rate units on the site, but I don't know if there's been changes to that discussion recently.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:24:44
    It hasn't been a feature of it being anything but housing units at this time.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 01:24:49
    I wonder whether that's because it's their expectation that that's what we might want and whether we ought to have some other thoughts about, I mean just as I've tried to encourage CRHA to work in some kind of revenue generating use of some of their properties, mixed use kind of a situation, whether we ought to try to do that, encourage that out of PHA,
  • 01:25:14
    Again, recognizing that the way that the feds have structured public housing is it's always going to run a deficit.
  • 01:25:23
    And clearly, if we're going to not have it always run a deficit, either the city's got to keep anteing up money every time we turn around, or else they've got to figure out a way to make some money of their own.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:25:38
    We can get that part of the update for that conversation, though, just to be able to tell you that.
  • 01:25:41
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_21
  • 01:25:43
    I just want to clarify, there is a commercial component to phase four.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:25:46
    There is?
  • 01:25:47
    Yes.
  • 01:25:47
    Okay.
• • SPEAKER_21
  • 01:25:48
    Yeah, I just checked.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:25:49
    Okay.
  • 01:25:51
    Live.
  • 01:25:52
    There you go.
  • 01:25:53
    There is a commercial component.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:25:56
    Other comments?
  • 01:25:59
    I don't have any right now.
  • 01:26:00
    You have any?
  • 01:26:02
    Nope.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:26:02
    Just more work to do.
  • 01:26:03
    Yes.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:26:04
    Thank you all so much.
  • 01:26:05
    This is good information.
  • 01:26:07
    If there's no other comments now, we will go into closed session.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:26:19
    Pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the Virginia Code, I move that the City Council close this open meeting and convene in a closed session as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as follows.
  • 01:26:31
    Pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.23711A1 for discussion and consideration of prospective candidates to be appointed to the following boards and or committees.
  • 01:26:40
    The Board of Zoning Appeals, Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund Committee, Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau Board, Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board, Community Development Block Grant and Home Task Force, Historic Resources Committee, Housing Advisory Committee, Human Rights Commission, Local Board of Building Code Appeals, Minority Business Commission Personnel Appeals Board, Piedmont Family YMCA Board of Directors, Sister Cities Commission, Social Services Advisory Board, Thomas Jefferson Water Resources Protection Foundation,
  • 01:27:08
    The Towing Advisory Board, Tree Commission, Vendor Appeals Board, and Youth Council.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:27:14
    Is there a second?
  • 01:27:15
    Second.
  • 01:27:16
    All in favor, please say yes.
  • 01:27:18
    Yes.
  • 01:27:18
    All opposed, please say no.
  • 01:27:20
    Okay, the motion passes five to zero.
  • 01:27:22
    We will be back at 6.30.
  • 01:31:42
    I move the council meeting back to order.
  • 01:31:47
    Natalie, can you read us out of closed session please?
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:31:51
    Certainly.
  • 01:31:52
    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 and identified in the motion convening the closed session were heard discussed or considered in the closed session.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:32:10
    I'll second.
  • 01:32:12
    We vote electronically.
• • Kyna Thomas
  • 01:32:14
    Not everyone signed in yet.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:32:16
    All in favor please say yes.
  • 01:32:18
    All opposed please say no.
  • 01:32:21
    The motion passes five to zero.
  • 01:32:26
    We will take a moment of silence.
  • 01:32:32
    Before we do that we made some appointments in closed session and Councilor Oschrin will read those.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:32:39
    To the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, at large Sarah Malpass, and Affordable Housing Beneficiary, Jamala Hamilton.
  • 01:32:47
    For Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau Board, Food and Beverage Rep, Brad Ohl, and Accommodations, Zorina Yefezova, Community Development Block Grant and Home Task Force, Salithia Carr to the Rose Hill seat, and Jamala Hamilton to the Fifeville seat, Historic Resources Committee to Jennifer Trompener,
  • 01:33:05
    Human Rights Commission, Hannah Langlett and Callum McCain Von Schill, Local Board of Building Code Appeals, Robert Pinnio, Personnel Appeals Board, Rafaela Doudzai and Adam Hastings, and Sister Cities Commission are rescinding appointment as the business rep and reappointing as the Huey Tenengo rep, Kristin Patros to go.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:33:28
    Is everyone signed in?
  • 01:33:29
    If not, I'll take a voice vote.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:33:35
    Motion to appoint them?
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 01:33:38
    So moved.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:33:40
    Second.
  • 01:33:42
    All in favor, please say yes.
  • 01:33:44
    All opposed, please say no.
  • 01:33:46
    That motion passes 5-0.
  • 01:33:48
    I want to thank those individuals for agreeing to serve the city.
  • 01:33:53
    on the various committees and we will have a moment of silence please.
  • 01:34:07
    Thank you.
  • 01:34:08
    We have a couple announcements.
  • 01:34:10
    First is that there is a new technology for the downtown garages, and they have signs and things that you, you know, with these changes, but the main change is that
  • 01:34:27
    Sam, do you want to say what the main changes are?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:34:30
    Actually, I have asked Chris Engle to come on the 5th of January to go into greater details, but there is signage in the garages for people to access the QR code for being able to set up.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:34:45
    Yes, I know we have a lot of questions on that, but the website has a lot of information and we'll get more in about two weeks or so.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 01:35:02
    I will make sure that we have multiple news flashes go out so that that information is readily available.
• • Kyna Thomas
  • 01:35:08
    The system goes active tomorrow, so people who do come to the parking garages will need to sign up once they do enter.
  • 01:35:17
    They will not be able to exit without signing up.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:35:22
    And just for the public's awareness, this is a company that uses AI in order to automatically
  • 01:35:32
    Guess what your license plate and car model are.
  • 01:35:35
    And they are under several class action lawsuits, including several from state attorney generals for systematically sending inaccurate bills as well as improperly handling private information of customers.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 01:35:50
    But on a happy note, you won't have to have your little bags.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:35:54
    Right.
  • 01:35:55
    So much better than a parking lot attendant.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:35:58
    Before we move on, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank my colleague, Brian Pinkston.
  • 01:36:05
    This is his last meeting.
  • 01:36:08
    I know we still live on the same block.
  • 01:36:10
    We're still going to be friends and engaged, but I'm going to miss your input on council, my dear friend.
  • 01:36:18
    We appreciate your four years on council, your input with the Buford
  • 01:36:27
    Charlottesville Middle School and the various committees and things that you're on has just been
  • 01:36:35
    So valuable, and we're going to miss you.
  • 01:36:38
    We have a couple of things here for you.
  • 01:36:40
    We have something here for you and the Mrs. to go enjoy yourself at Cardinal Hall.
  • 01:36:45
    I know you like that.
  • 01:36:47
    And this is a plaque, so you can put it with your name tag that we had up here.
  • 01:36:55
    And just thank you, recognition for your commitment for making Charlottesville a place where all people can thrive in with great appreciation for your four years.
  • 01:37:04
    Just want to thank you, sir.
  • 01:37:05
    Appreciate your service, man.
• • Brennen Duncan
  • 01:37:13
    Is this a time for you, then?
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 01:37:14
    Yes, yes.
  • 01:37:17
    Please indulge me.
  • 01:37:24
    I had a couple of gifts.
  • 01:37:34
    This is for James.
  • 01:37:37
    It's a rubber mallet.
  • 01:37:40
    It's not a hammer, but sometimes things need a little bit of a bud.
  • 01:37:45
    So that's for you.
  • 01:37:50
    I got this for Sam.
  • 01:37:51
    Sam, this is a compass.
  • 01:37:56
    people say that we need a plan we have a really good plan and a strategic plan and not that you need that because you've already got a really strong north star but I got this for my very good friend Lloyd Snook
  • 01:38:18
    This is a remote to help you turn off your audio.
  • 01:38:28
    That's a struggle there for me.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 01:38:30
    There's one more thing I have to figure out.
  • 01:38:33
    Thank you, I think.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 01:38:35
    There's a backup one for you.
  • 01:38:44
    I did have a few notes.
  • 01:38:45
    Yes, yes.
  • 01:38:46
    So Sam, steer the city through the maze of the strategic plan.
  • 01:38:52
    It's all about the people.
  • 01:38:53
    Ultimately, you get that.
  • 01:38:56
    Lloyd, I just want to say that you've changed my view of lawyers.
  • 01:39:01
    What people may not know about you is the level of care and compassion that you have.
  • 01:39:07
    You're a deeply compassionate person who cares for everyone in the city.
  • 01:39:12
    And you've been a real friend and mentor to me.
  • 01:39:15
    Thank you for that.
  • 01:39:18
    I've got something for you.
  • 01:39:22
    I've never known a person who lives out the second commandment to love your neighbor as yourself the way that you do.
  • 01:39:39
    And thank you for your friendship.
  • 01:39:41
    It's really meant the world to me.
  • 01:39:43
    Thank you, brother.
  • 01:39:45
    I got this for Natalie.
  • 01:39:56
    Natalie, I just want to thank you for helping me to see new things, the importance every time I'm near a bicycle lane.
  • 01:40:03
    I'm always like, what would Natalie do?
  • 01:40:06
    So thank you for helping me see that.
  • 01:40:08
    Michael, I got something special for you.
  • 01:40:16
    A Virginia tie.
  • 01:40:18
    Yeah, I know how much you enjoy ties and I know that those colors will really resonate with you.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:40:26
    I certainly want to rep the University of Virginia.
  • 01:40:29
    I certainly want to rep the University of Virginia.
  • 01:40:33
    I just wanted to say, Mike... You probably paid sales tax on that tie.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 01:40:37
    I just wanted to say, Michael, that I've learned so much from you.
  • 01:40:42
    My opinion of you going in was very different than how I learned you to be.
  • 01:40:47
    It just goes to show how we can have wrong assumptions.
  • 01:40:51
    I found you to be just an amazing colleague.
  • 01:40:54
    You've been a real partner.
  • 01:40:55
    I'm really grateful for you helping me to always, like even earlier tonight, focus on the poor and the people that are marginalized.
  • 01:41:06
    I'm very grateful for that.
  • 01:41:07
    Kina, I'm almost done.
  • 01:41:11
    Oh, here they are.
• • Brennen Duncan
  • 01:41:23
    Kina, this is for you and this is for Max.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 01:41:31
    Keena, I just want to say thank you and your staff for all of the late nights and weekends, for taking care of us.
  • 01:41:38
    People have no idea what goes into the logistics of these meetings, and I thank you for that.
  • 01:41:46
    And Max, the same for you.
  • 01:41:49
    I just wanted to let you know that one of my high points of every meeting is I can always count on a really good meal.
  • 01:41:56
    And I know that's because of your care and attention.
  • 01:41:59
    And also gave something to Ashley.
  • 01:42:03
    I'm grateful to her for helping me see new things, particularly with respect to the unhoused and the marginalized.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:42:12
    Thank you.
  • 01:42:12
    Thank you, brother.
  • 01:42:13
    Appreciate it.
  • 01:42:18
    I'm sure you'll be thinking about us the first and third Mondays.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 01:42:24
    One of the things that I wanted to point out for folks who may not remember that four years ago we had no plan for how we were going to build Duford.
  • 01:42:38
    How we were going to remake Duford into Charlottesville Middle School.
  • 01:42:42
    We had put a number in the budget a couple of years out in the capital improvement plan, $50 million.
  • 01:42:50
    But we didn't know how we were going to get there.
  • 01:42:53
    And Brian, in the budget season in early 2022, basically at the beginning of his term, he jumps in and he says, OK, here's how we're going to do it.
  • 01:43:04
    We're going to cut this.
  • 01:43:04
    We're going to move this to the next year.
  • 01:43:07
    We're going to do this, this, this, this, and this.
  • 01:43:11
    And now we had a plan.
  • 01:43:13
    And that was a plan that nobody else had come up with.
  • 01:43:16
    For about 10 years we had talked about this.
  • 01:43:19
    And Brian put the plan together.
  • 01:43:21
    and then it made sense and the rest of us voted for it.
  • 01:43:25
    And I think that it's one of those things that they're not going to name the school after you or anything, but it's something that those of us who were in on things at the time recognized as a real contribution that
  • 01:43:42
    is going to make a huge difference for everybody.
  • 01:43:44
    It's making a huge difference for our sixth and seventh graders and sixth and about to be graders.
  • 01:43:52
    And it just made a big difference.
  • 01:43:54
    And it took somebody who had some fresh eyes on the problem, brand new to council, fresh eyes and a willingness to throw things up in the air and have them come out the right way.
  • 01:44:07
    So thank you.
  • 01:44:08
    Thank you.
• • Michael Payne
  • 01:44:09
    Thank you.
  • 01:44:12
    And obviously I know the thing that you're going to miss is the retirement commission and you're going to have a lot of tales to tell people about the retirement commission.
  • 01:44:20
    Oh yes, it's been lovely.
  • 01:44:21
    The work you did on it.
  • 01:44:23
    But no, I mean to just echo what Lloyd said and as you said, obviously we came in being
  • 01:44:30
    ideologically different, you know in the grand scheme of things not that different but more moderate Democrat versus myself being a Democratic Socialist and certainly we disagree and have disagreed and like everything in politics when you disagree you know you can get annoyed and grumpy I'm also grumpy all the time so but but in all seriousness
  • 01:44:52
    You know, I think you've always been open and listened.
  • 01:44:56
    You've changed my perspective on things.
  • 01:44:58
    You've helped me see things a different way.
  • 01:45:00
    And I think one of the things I always clearly saw is that every decision you made, whether agree or disagree with it, it wasn't rooted in a personal grievance or some calculation of will this be politically advantageous.
  • 01:45:14
    At the end of the day, it was rooted in what you believed was right.
  • 01:45:18
    And as Lloyd touched on, there's a lot of things behind the scenes that people in the community don't necessarily see.
  • 01:45:24
    I think you've been a part of a lot of behind the scene work on getting things like, as Lloyd mentioned, a plan for the completion of Buford renovation and a plan to approach
  • 01:45:36
    School Facility Buildings in a better way to be support for the Dogwood housing portfolio purchase to prevent displacement and long-term create affordable housing on approving a unionization plan that was more expansive than maybe some of the initial plans coming forward and environmental initiatives
  • 01:46:02
    portable housing initiatives on zoning, investments, other areas.
  • 01:46:06
    Again, people in the community maybe don't always see all this stuff, but you've played a very important role behind the scenes on all those issues.
  • 01:46:16
    Thank you.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 01:46:21
    I'll say something brief because my term on council has been brief compared to the rest of you.
  • 01:46:26
    But from the start, I was talking to Brian before the meeting started about this is a council that I've been, it's been really nice to be a part of this particular council and a lot of that has to do with
  • 01:46:41
    We're on two boards together, the MBO especially, I walked into that kind of feeling a little lost and it was good to know I had somebody on our team to kind of guide me through that right at the beginning.
  • 01:46:55
    and being on council in general.
  • 01:46:58
    Like Michael said, your decisions come from a place of doing the work and considering the angles and always being kind and open-minded and I really appreciate that example that you've set and for being part of what feels like a team.
  • 01:47:16
    Even though we do differ, we differ at the margins.
  • 01:47:18
    We're all trying to do the best for our community and I think you really exemplify that.
  • 01:47:25
    Well, thank you.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:47:32
    The next item on our agenda is Community Matters.
  • 01:47:35
    We have four pre-registered speakers.
  • 01:47:38
    The opportunity for 12 more.
  • 01:47:41
    And the first speaker is Rebecca Ellison.
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:47:49
    Good evening.
  • 01:47:50
    My name is Rebecca Ellison and I'm a City of Charlottesville resident, but here this evening representing VIA Centers for Neurodevelopment as the Director of Advancement.
  • 01:47:58
    VIA is a Charlottesville-based nonprofit that's been serving the community for nearly 30 years by providing compassionate, evidence-based services for people with autism and related disabilities.
  • 01:48:09
    We offer specialized schools, adult day programs, and early intervention, meeting individuals and their families at every stage of life.
  • 01:48:17
    VIA is a proud fiscal year 26 recipient of the Vibrant Community Fund grant.
  • 01:48:22
    I sincerely thank you for being an essential partner in our work and want to share more about the significant impact your support has had on the families we serve.
  • 01:48:31
    Many of the individuals in our program engage in challenging behaviors that displaces them from their home public school stemming from an inability to communicate basic wants and needs.
  • 01:48:41
    Through highly individualized programs, we teach communication, academic, vocational, and social skills to replace those challenging behaviors with functional communication, allowing them to build the skills they need to be active and engaged in our community.
  • 01:48:56
    This specialized care offers an equally critical service to our caregivers, relief and stability.
  • 01:49:02
    When a loved one is safely and productively engaged in a VIA program, parents and guardians are able to work, care for siblings, and attend to their own health.
  • 01:49:11
    Currently, the demand for our services exceeds our capacity.
  • 01:49:16
    Every day, a student is on our wait list.
  • 01:49:18
    They miss opportunities for essential skill building and the family shoulders the burden of full-time care, often impacting the caregiver's ability to work in our community.
  • 01:49:28
    To address this, we are undertaking a capital project to expand school services.
  • 01:49:32
    The new school, once complete in late 2026, will serve up to 100 students in our Charlottesville community.
  • 01:49:40
    A special component of our school will be an intensive neurobehavioral classroom.
  • 01:49:45
    The goal of this program is to keep children facing placement in out of area residential facilities here, at home, in our community, and with their families.
  • 01:49:55
    Furthermore, our adult services offer dignity, structure, and continued growth.
  • 01:50:00
    Medicaid waivers only cover about half of what it costs for a quality program for individuals with significant disabilities, so we rely on operational fundraising and strong community partners.
  • 01:50:12
    BIA is also in the very early stages of building a residential services program to answer the question of aging caregivers of what will happen to my loved one when I am gone.
  • 01:50:22
    BIA is not just a service provider.
  • 01:50:24
    We're an important part of Charlottesville's social safety net.
  • 01:50:28
    We give some of our most vulnerable community members a voice, a future, and a safe place to learn, which allows them and their families to thrive.
  • 01:50:35
    I want to thank you again for your continued support and ask that you remain an active partner as we expand our capacity to serve more folks in our community.
  • 01:50:45
    If you're interested in learning more, I'd love to host you for a tour.
  • 01:50:48
    Councilman Pinkston already took me up on this offer about a year ago, and I'm just grateful for your support and partnership as we work to make Charlottesville an inclusive community.
  • 01:50:57
    Thank you.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:50:59
    Thank you, Rebecca.
  • 01:50:59
    I appreciate the buyer's participation in cooperation with Charlottesville City Schools.
  • 01:51:06
    I know that you all do.
  • 01:51:08
    a lot to draw people to this community because I know what you're doing is some of the more innovative things on the whole East Coast and you know so thank you all for you for your work and thinking about your residents your students beyond once they age out so you're thinking a few steps ahead so thank you yeah I'll be in touch I don't see Joy here she's the next speaker so I will go with Wendy
• • SPEAKER_17
  • 01:51:43
    Hi Wendy Gao, I organize at FAR.
  • 01:51:46
    I have spent a lot of time recently listening and talking to elders in our community about land.
  • 01:51:51
    West Main Street is built on violently stolen, unceded Monacan land and formerly black owned land.
  • 01:51:57
    Most people don't know that the flats in the standard are standing on land that used to be part of Gospel Hill.
  • 01:52:02
    People most commonly associate the UVA Hospital and Lee Street as sitting on top of Gospel Hill, but it was expansive and stretched up to West Main Street to the site that LV Collective wants to build their 11-story building on.
  • 01:52:14
    Gospel Hill was home to many freed black families in Charlottesville after Reconstruction.
  • 01:52:18
    but UVA violently destroyed Gospel Hill in the 60s and 70s to build parking lots and medical buildings.
  • 01:52:24
    There's no physical trace of Gospel Hill today.
  • 01:52:27
    What remains instead is the flats and the standard which you can see looming over West Haven from the bottom of the hill.
  • 01:52:33
    Every night over a thousand UVA students in the flats and the standard lay their heads down and go to sleep in luxury apartments on land that was stolen from free working class black families.
  • 01:52:42
    You can't talk about LV Collective without talking about Gospel Hill.
  • 01:52:46
    You can't talk about LV Collective without talking about urban renewal, Jim Crow, Reconstruction, or chattel slavery.
  • 01:52:53
    West Main Street used to exist for the community before it was an outpost for UVA.
  • 01:52:57
    There used to be a Safeway and a Reeds for people to buy food and groceries.
  • 01:53:01
    Stacy Hall, the UVA administrative building that is being used as a marker to allow the mark to be built with less affordability requirements, used to be a Sears.
  • 01:53:10
    The Lark used to be a furniture store, and all of it was affordable and for the community, but all of that has been lost.
  • 01:53:17
    The loss and transformation of all of these community fixtures into the Omni Hotel in 600 West Main and The Graduate have also meant the loss and displacement of many people who used to live and work here and be able to afford living here.
  • 01:53:30
    This isn't about supply or demand of housing or more tax revenue for the city.
  • 01:53:34
    This is about the black community of Charlottesville getting the land from under their feet literally ripped out from under them for profit and money over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
  • 01:53:45
    Tomorrow the mark on 7th Street is going to the Board of Architectural Review and an appeal will inevitably be headed to council in January.
  • 01:53:53
    You all have a work session about student housing and by-right zoning scheduled in January.
  • 01:53:57
    When that time comes, please deny the mark and do whatever you can to fix the zoning code to protect black neighborhoods.
  • 01:54:04
    We will be there, so we'll see you in the new year and we definitely will not be letting up until we get the protections that black communities in the city need and deserve.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:54:12
    Thank you.
• • 01:54:13
    Alicia.
• • SPEAKER_18
  • 01:54:18
    Good evening, my name is Alicia Linehan and I live in the county.
  • 01:54:22
    In regard to the resolution condemning non-transparent federal immigration enforcement tactics, I appreciate the questions raised by members of the council and hope to use this time to respond.
  • 01:54:33
    First, we agree that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
  • 01:54:37
    I have said that the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Amendments support passage of the resolution.
  • 01:54:45
    You have said that the Constitution precludes you from regulating how federal agents operate in this community.
  • 01:54:51
    The facts and the law bring me to a different conclusion.
  • 01:54:55
    The FBI has reported that individuals posing as ICE agents have committed violent crimes, making it necessary to confirm the identity and legitimacy of those claiming to act as federal agents.
  • 01:55:07
    There is no question that the Charlottesville Police Department can and should, indeed is required to,
  • 01:55:13
    arrest someone committing assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a crime that would be aggravated if the assailant was wearing a mask to hide their identity.
  • 01:55:23
    The resolution says the city strongly condemns using unmarked vehicles, masked agents, and unidentifiable personnel in immigration enforcement activities conducted within the city and views such tactics as harmful to public trust, community safety, and constitutional protections.
  • 01:55:40
    The resolution directs the police department to monitor any suspected federal enforcement activity in the city and when legally permissible, confirm the identity and legitimacy of individuals claiming to act as federal agents.
  • 01:55:54
    Second, from the beginning, you have expressed concern about calling attention to Charlottesville.
  • 01:56:00
    Retaliation is a common theme.
  • 01:56:03
    Now is the time to lay low and let the storm pass.
  • 01:56:08
    We need look only as far as UVA to see what conciliation and capitulation are doing to an institution founded as a place where truth could be pursued freely and recognizing that ignorance threatens freedom.
  • 01:56:21
    You've also said that things are being done quietly without publicly bragging about not helping ICE, except that the chief has publicly highlighted the limitations the city
  • 01:56:31
    has placed on its use of flock cameras.
  • 01:56:33
    He has publicly highlighted the city's refusal to enter into a 287G agreement.
  • 01:56:39
    This body is too cautious to affirm our commitment to due process, equal protection, and the rights of all individuals within this jurisdiction.
  • 01:56:48
    This body will not uphold our values as a safe, inclusive, and law-abiding community where government transparency and political safety remain paramount.
  • 01:56:57
    I'll close with this from Justice Sotomayor.
  • 01:57:00
    The rule of law is not a given in this nation or any other.
  • 01:57:04
    It is a precept of our democracy that will endure only if those brave enough in every branch fight for its survival.
  • 01:57:13
    Because if you don't, there won't be anything left when the storm has passed.
  • 01:57:18
    Thank you.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:57:19
    Thank you.
  • 01:57:21
    Who else would like to speak who have opportunity for
  • 01:57:25
    13 more speakers.
  • 01:57:27
    Anyone else want to speak right now?
  • 01:57:29
    Yes, sir.
• • SPEAKER_12
  • 01:57:34
    Good evening.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 01:57:35
    Good evening.
• • SPEAKER_12
  • 01:57:36
    My name is Paul Reeder and I live at 211 5th Street Southwest.
  • 01:57:41
    First off, I'd like to applaud the council for holding a working session on student housing development in Charlottesville.
  • 01:57:48
    This is desperately needed given that so much student housing is currently being built and that so much is currently proposed.
  • 01:57:55
    When I started investigating this subject several months ago, I was shocked at the lack of any coordination between the city and the university.
  • 01:58:04
    I hope that your working session will closely involve the university and that you can develop a joint strategy that considers both the current and future supply of housing as well as the demand for that housing.
  • 01:58:19
    Second, I'd like to correct a related but misleading statement by the Director of Neighborhood Development Services to Council at your session on November the 3rd when the student housing work session was discussed.
  • 01:58:35
    In response to a question from Councillor Pei, Kelly Brown stated that the grounds is not defined to include any of the hospital system.
  • 01:58:46
    This is not correct.
  • 01:58:48
    The zoning administrator has recently issued a determination of the boundary in the case of the 7th Street luxury student housing proposal that follows NDS's past practice of including the entirety of the old hospital up to Jefferson Park Avenue within the central grounds definition.
  • 01:59:11
    You may be surprised to hear that as nowhere is the term hospital used in the definition in the affordable housing guidelines.
  • 01:59:20
    I shall be appealing the zoning administrator's definition to the Board of Zoning Appeals and hope that you may join me in giving witness to your legislative intent.
  • 01:59:33
    Lastly, I'd like to invite all members of council to attend the Board of Architectural Review meeting tomorrow night.
  • 01:59:40
    to hear firsthand the community's opposition to the luxury student housing development on 7th Street.
  • 01:59:49
    The BAR decision will almost certainly be appealed to this City Council, so this will be a good chance to hear the arguments that have been made on both sides.
  • 02:00:01
    My apologies if that means another night away from your families.
  • 02:00:05
    I truly appreciate the service you give to our community.
  • 02:00:10
    Councilor Pinkston, I thank you for the last four years.
  • 02:00:12
    You are excused.
  • 02:00:16
    Thank you very much.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:00:17
    Thank you.
  • 02:00:19
    Who else would like to speak up?
  • 02:00:21
    Let's start over here.
  • 02:00:23
    Here in the middle, anyone else like to speak right now?
• • Kyna Thomas
  • 02:00:27
    Anyone up here?
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:00:29
    Okay, we'll close the public hearing.
  • 02:00:32
    There will be another opportunity at the end.
  • 02:00:34
    We're now going to the consent agenda.
  • 02:00:36
    Madam Clerk.
• • Kyna Thomas
  • 02:00:41
    It's a long one.
  • 02:00:42
    Yes.
  • 02:00:43
    Consent agenda number three minutes October 20th, November 3rd, November 17th and December 1 regular meetings.
  • 02:00:52
    Four resolution to amend FY 2026 contribution to the Charlottesville Albemarle
  • 02:00:57
    Convention and Visitors Bureau, $167,867, second reading.
  • 02:01:04
    Five, resolution to appropriate Virginia Department of Education Special Nutrition Program Child and Adult Care Food Program, $25,000, second reading.
  • 02:01:16
    Number six, ordinance amending the city code to define school zones for all schools and reflect their current names, second reading.
  • 02:01:25
    and I just wanted to note that you all have a physical copy of the corrected ordinance in front of you and that includes comments made from Counselor Snook that you all agreed on for the distance for signage at 750 feet.
  • 02:01:42
    Seven, ordinance granting a franchise agreement to MCI Communication Services, LLC, second reading.
  • 02:01:51
    8.
  • 02:01:51
    Ordinance Amending City Code Section 2-38, Organizational Meeting, 2nd Reading, 9.
  • 02:01:58
    Resolution to, actually there are two resolutions.
  • 02:02:01
    One is to dissolve the Regional Transit Partnership and two is to approve a Memorandum of Understanding for Administration of the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority, or CARTA, by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.
  • 02:02:18
    Number 10, resolution to grant $50,000 to the residential energy retrofit mini grant program, one of two readings.
  • 02:02:27
    11, resolution to accept Huntley Avenue and Morgan Court into the city street system.
  • 02:02:35
    12, resolution for a compromise of claim water and wastewater leak credit of $10,707.03 for the Melbourne Park
  • 02:02:48
    Owners Association, 13 a resolution for compromise of claim water and wastewater leak credit of $12,454.93 from McGuffey Homeowners Association, 14 resolution to appropriate $303,660 from the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities or BRIC grant program for the City of Charlottesville, Rock Creek Watershed Management Plan, one of two readings.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:03:19
    You were right.
  • 02:03:20
    Can I get a motion to move for adoption of the consent agenda?
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:03:27
    Second.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:03:31
    Any discussion?
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:03:34
    Similar to last meeting, I'm fine to just vote for the consent agenda, noting my opposition to item number four.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:03:44
    Same as last meeting.
  • 02:03:47
    There's no need to discuss or anything.
  • 02:03:50
    Are we doing it electronically?
  • 02:03:52
    Everyone signed in?
• • Kyna Thomas
  • 02:03:54
    It looks like everyone signed in.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:03:56
    So I initiated the vote.
  • 02:04:05
    The next item on the agenda is the City Manager's Report.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 02:04:11
    Yes sir, Mr. Mayor and members of council, members of the public, a few things in this report.
  • 02:04:16
    The first item is an update on the status of the city's use of the flock system.
  • 02:04:23
    The one year pilot ended at the end of October as was originally allowed when CPD began use of that system.
  • 02:04:32
    Chief Kochis held a series of community briefings at the end of that period, a requirement that was approved as a part of the pilot.
  • 02:04:39
    Council has since received a performance briefing and learned of the positive results in solving cases, but because of ongoing concerns for protection of data, potential for misuse by outside forces, and an inability to guarantee our local parameters will protect information from being used outside of how the local law enforcement
  • 02:05:02
    Personnel were using this system.
  • 02:05:04
    Council has requested that we not move forward with this system.
  • 02:05:10
    So that pilot has now ended.
  • 02:05:11
    The cameras are being removed.
  • 02:05:14
    And we will continue to do our responsible work just without the use of automatic license plate readers.
  • 02:05:21
    There has been a request for a technology work session so that we can dig into how systems like this and other things are becoming a part of the normal use in law enforcement activity around the country and we need to have more discussions about that.
  • 02:05:39
    So just wanted to report that publicly for public consumption that we have ended the use of flock.
  • 02:05:45
    We're not going to carry forward with that program.
  • 02:05:47
    It's not the only system, which is why we're interested in having the technology conversation.
  • 02:05:53
    And that will be scheduled in your upcoming work session series for 2026.
  • 02:05:59
    In addition to that, we are going to have what we're calling an approach to student housing work session.
  • 02:06:07
    Right now it's tentatively scheduled for January 20th.
  • 02:06:11
    It'll be a chance for council to hear more about some of the varying situations that have arisen as it relates to where we're permitting student housing, to what degree we want to have
  • 02:06:24
    The volume of student housing, the height concerns and things that have just been a part of the conversation as we have even heard this evening.
  • 02:06:31
    So we're going to plan for a work session there and staff is working to build what that work session will consist of and then turn that into a discussion point for you all.
  • 02:06:42
    An update for the public, the city manager's budget series is a new thing.
  • 02:06:47
    I've been doing budget forums since I've been in the seat.
  • 02:06:49
    We've done a budget forum for probably forever, right Chrissy?
  • 02:06:54
    But I am doing, I'm taking the series to the people.
  • 02:06:59
    So instead of everyone coming to one location, we're going to have three budget series, budget work sessions, January 13th, 14th and 15th in three different places in the city.
  • 02:07:11
    I'll be talking to my leadership team tomorrow because they're excited about the chance to join me for three consecutive nights in a room.
  • 02:07:18
    But the goal would be to make sure that we create the opportunities for the public to engage with us in the crafting of the FY 27 budget.
  • 02:07:26
    Last year I introduced the use of monopoly using monopoly money and we're going to continue to do that because it was a hit for those who were able to make it and try to use that as a way for helping individuals
  • 02:07:37
    understand what it feels like to be me when it comes to making decisions, very very difficult decisions with limited amounts of money but a whole lot of priorities.
  • 02:07:46
    And then the last announcement that I have big for me and the team is that I am happy to report that I have extended offers and they have been accepted for
  • 02:07:57
    A new assistant city manager, Evan Pilachowski, will join us on January 5th.
  • 02:08:02
    He is relocating from Manatee, Florida.
  • 02:08:05
    And another assistant city manager, Sam Roman, will be joining us on February 2nd.
  • 02:08:10
    He's relocating from Roanoke, Virginia.
  • 02:08:12
    And he has agreed to go by Roman, not by Sam, so that we can distinguish which Sam is anyone's referencing, because I'm the only Sam that matters, of course.
  • 02:08:22
    And then we have an Economic Mobility Officer.
  • 02:08:26
    Her name is Abigail Wade.
  • 02:08:27
    She joins us on January 5th as well and she is local.
  • 02:08:32
    These are the new members to the Reorganized City Manager's Office which is meant to bring capacity and a committed focus to quality and consistency.
  • 02:08:41
    Did you say Abigail Wade?
  • 02:08:42
    Yes.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:08:43
    She's no kin to me.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 02:08:45
    I was waiting for you to say that.
  • 02:08:48
    And that is my report.
  • 02:08:49
    I know he is.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:08:52
    Sorry, Sam, when is everybody starting?
• • Sam Sanders
  • 02:08:55
    January 5th for Evan and Abigail and February 2nd for Roman.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:09:04
    Great, so any other items?
  • 02:09:07
    That's it.
  • 02:09:09
    We're now at the action items.
  • 02:09:10
    The first item on the agenda is an ordinance to vacate Clark Court, a city maintained street, and it's the second reading.
  • 02:09:19
    Matt, oh I'm sorry.
  • 02:09:23
    The man.
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:09:29
    Good evening, counsel.
  • 02:09:29
    John Maddox, city attorney.
  • 02:09:31
    I'm here to present the item to Clark Court.
  • 02:09:33
    As you recall on November 3rd, the city council conducted a public hearing and following that public hearing authorized my office to enter into negotiations regarding the vacation of Clark Court.
  • 02:09:45
    From that prior meeting you'll recall that Clark Court is a small cul-de-sac
  • 02:09:49
    off of Maury Avenue, which is in turn off of Jefferson Park Avenue.
  • 02:09:53
    The cul-de-sac touches two parcels, both of which are owned by the applicant, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation.
  • 02:10:02
    The focus of the negotiations for vacating the right-of-way was first of all the securing of easements that are necessary for
  • 02:10:13
    utilities passing through the area, being able to access those in the future if needed, as well as appropriate compensation for the loss of City Street and five parking spaces that go along with the UCF as a public right-of-way.
  • 02:10:27
    An evaluation by the City Assessor, a return evaluation of $618,000 for the right-of-way
  • 02:10:34
    And so the negotiated price of $750,000 reflects a significant premium on vacating a right-of-way and for giving up five public parking spaces.
  • 02:10:45
    As such, it is my recommendation that City Council adopt the proposed ordinance vacating Clark Court.
  • 02:10:51
    Now, of course, I never get up here without some kind of wrinkle.
  • 02:10:54
    And just before I stepped up here, the applicant actually handed me a slight modification to the ordinance language.
  • 02:11:02
    They had a survey done.
  • 02:11:04
    to fully define the land that encompasses the right of way.
  • 02:11:10
    And so I'm suggesting a small amendment to the ordinance.
  • 02:11:16
    I'm essentially just saying that in the first, be it ordained, the subject street is hereby closed, vacant, abandoned.
  • 02:11:22
    The said area of the subject street being more particularly described as follows.
  • 02:11:25
    Instead of saying a 48.14 foot platted street, I'm just going to say a street designated as Clark Court.
  • 02:11:30
    running from Maury Avenue and joining the lots identified on 2025 city real estate tax max 17 parcels 91 and 92.
  • 02:11:37
    So with that amendment, I would recommend adopting the ordinance.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:11:42
    So that's a modification to what we're seeing is page 196 of our packet.
  • 02:11:47
    I believe that's, that's correct.
  • 02:11:48
    Yes.
  • 02:11:49
    Or an ordinance closing, vacating and discontinuing the public road, et cetera.
  • 02:11:53
    That's correct.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:11:54
    And so you're striking the measurement of 148.14?
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:11:59
    Yes, that's correct.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:12:00
    What was the change that they came up with?
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:12:03
    I was handed these documents five seconds ago, but I believe that the area was actually slightly longer, as indicated on the plat deed, or on the survey that was conducted.
  • 02:12:15
    And so it is just slightly longer.
  • 02:12:16
    And the applicant is here, and I can maybe ask their attorney to step up and explain that slightly.
  • 02:12:20
    That would be great.
• • SPEAKER_19
  • 02:12:20
    Thanks.
• • SPEAKER_22
  • 02:12:27
    Scott Rainey with Thorpe Pettit and representing the applicant and I had noticed just in looking over this survey one more time there's a line that's 148.14 feet there's also another small line the surveyor marks as L1 because of how short it is and it's about an extra 10 feet and so rather than specifying a different distance
  • 02:12:53
    I thought it was just easier to say it's the platted street between those two tax map parcels.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:13:04
    So I'll start with you, Michael.
  • 02:13:07
    Do you have any questions or comments on this?
  • 02:13:10
    We all kind of expressed it before, but we wanted to give you the opportunity.
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:13:16
    Just to confirm, I see it in there.
  • 02:13:21
    There's easements for the city for all public infrastructure.
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:13:26
    That is correct.
  • 02:13:30
    You see that the vacation is conditioned upon the applicant granting the city any and all easements necessary and appropriate for maintenance, replacement, or upkeep of any public utilities within or adjacent to the subject street.
  • 02:13:44
    So they're going to need to grant us those easements prior to this becoming effective.
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:13:49
    And I'll just say, I'm not saying that there's anything not allowed or illegitimate.
  • 02:13:57
    I'll just remark that the strangeness in my mind of a private entity, very closely connected to UVA, but a private entity right across the street from this parcel, having bought it after multifamily housing was approved, stopping development there.
  • 02:14:14
    unsuccessfully trying to challenge multifamily development approved down the road and then to my knowledge, at least according to the city's GIS, employees of the organization owning property directly behind what is in question tonight.
  • 02:14:31
    I will just remark on the oddness of that.
  • 02:14:35
    Again, just not saying anything not allowed or improper is happening, but
  • 02:14:38
    It is very unique in terms of what I've seen on council.
  • 02:14:41
    I will say when this first came before us, we were giving away city land for $10, I believe, which I think was particularly absurd and unwarranted.
  • 02:14:52
    And so to have it come back before us tonight for what is in the world of fair market value as determined by the city assessor and not just giving away city property for not what its value is worth.
  • 02:15:06
    I think is a far better and more reasonable outcome, the overall strangeness of the situation notwithstanding.
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:15:14
    Just for the record, the $10 was a placeholder.
  • 02:15:18
    Before we negotiated, there was never going to be a $10 price for this piece of property.
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:15:23
    Sure.
  • 02:15:24
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:15:26
    Natalie?
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:15:27
    Nothing for me.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:15:29
    Lloyd, do you have any?
  • 02:15:30
    As I recall, it has been the policy of the city for a number of years that if somebody owns property on both sides of an alley or a dead-end street or something like that where passage through is not an issue, that we have tended to honor requests to vacate that alley, for example.
  • 02:15:55
    and to sell that property to the adjoining landowners.
  • 02:15:58
    Has that been the pattern?
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:16:02
    My understanding is that it was kind of the Wild West.
  • 02:16:04
    I'm speaking just from what I've been told, I wasn't here certainly, but it was kind of the Wild West of people were making requests and some were making their way and a lot were all coming to council.
  • 02:16:12
    So I believe in 2019 council adopted a policy that really created a scoring system so which particular vacation request would reach council depending on attaining a certain score in the rubric
  • 02:16:24
    whether it met certain policy goals of the council.
  • 02:16:26
    So I think it's much more structured and there's more process behind it now.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:16:33
    And does this request fit into that process?
  • 02:16:37
    It's my understanding that it does, yes.
  • 02:16:39
    And the other point, just because it was raised by, at least in some comments to me after the meeting last time, is that one of the fundamental premises of land use law
  • 02:16:52
    is that when you're making a decision about something like this, you're making it based not on whether you like the particular applicant, but on whether the land use makes sense.
  • 02:17:05
    Is that fair to say?
• • SPEAKER_15
  • 02:17:08
    However council wants to make its decisions, it's not really for me to say what you decide generally.
  • 02:17:13
    You make decisions based on
  • 02:17:16
    The identity of an applicant is not to be favored, just on the bare facts on the ground.
  • 02:17:20
    So that's fair.
  • 02:17:21
    That's all.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:17:23
    Thank you.
  • 02:17:24
    Can I get a motion for this proposal, please?
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:17:29
    I move adoption of this resolution, this ordinance.
  • 02:17:33
    As amended.
  • 02:17:34
    As amended.
  • 02:17:35
    I'll second that motion.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:17:37
    Okay.
  • 02:17:37
    Can we vote, please?
  • 02:17:51
    The motion passes 3 to 2.
  • 02:17:53
    Thank you very much.
  • 02:17:54
    Thank you.
  • 02:17:55
    The next item on the agenda is the Derry Bridge public hearing summary presentation for endorsement.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:18:08
    Good evening, Mayor Wade, members of council.
  • 02:18:10
    Hello, sir.
  • 02:18:11
    Mike Gouder, deputy director of public works.
  • 02:18:13
    Here to talk with you about the Dairy Road Bridge project.
  • 02:18:18
    In July, we gave a public hearing at the Walker Upper Elementary School regarding this project and I wanted to report out what we heard from the public and to request your approval to continue the design process.
  • 02:18:42
    So a little background on the project.
  • 02:18:43
    So I'm just going to go through the presentation that we gave to the public.
  • 02:18:46
    There's been some work since this, obviously.
  • 02:18:48
    So I'll update you on that as well.
  • 02:18:51
    And there will be some time for questions.
  • 02:18:53
    So a little background that we gave the public on the bridge.
  • 02:18:58
    This is the Dairy Road Bridge, which was built in 1953.
  • 02:19:01
    It had a life expectancy of 50 years, which obviously is well-expired.
  • 02:19:09
    The bridge condition is currently rated as poor and has been load restricted for quite some time, since 2007.
  • 02:19:20
    So we would very much like to replace the bridge as quickly as possible.
  • 02:19:28
    Back in 2021, VDOT agreed to award us $7.2 million in state of good repair funds for replacement of the bridge.
  • 02:19:39
    I'm not sure all the background on how we got to 2024.
  • 02:19:43
    But in 2024, $8.1 million was granted by VDOT.
  • 02:19:49
    And that was increased to $12.6 million in 2025, once we'd gotten far enough down the road of design to understand the real value of the project.
  • 02:20:00
    So a little background on the funding.
  • 02:20:03
    VDOT's state of good repair program is meant to replace infrastructure.
  • 02:20:10
    in the most practical and cost effective manner possible.
  • 02:20:15
    VDOT is paying for 100% of this project currently.
  • 02:20:19
    These are state and federal funds and there are no city matching dollars currently.
  • 02:20:24
    But the funding and the scope is fixed by VDOT.
  • 02:20:29
    We did look into some alternatives as part of this project planning process.
  • 02:20:39
    The first of those would be the western alternative, so in the center of the three lines going across the bypass, that's the current bridge.
  • 02:20:48
    The one to the southeast side is our current pedestrian bridge.
  • 02:20:53
    And then the blue is the alternative on the western end.
  • 02:20:58
    So this would essentially be a way of leaving the existing bridge in place while we constructed a new bridge.
  • 02:21:04
    The challenge here is that there are significant right of way concerns there.
  • 02:21:09
    We would take property that would
  • 02:21:11
    potentially rendered people's houses unusable.
  • 02:21:16
    There's some significant utility impacts.
  • 02:21:19
    And if we were to redesign in this direction at this point, it would be about an 18 month delay.
  • 02:21:25
    We expect that overall, this would contribute to a 50% increase in the project budget overall.
  • 02:21:35
    We also looked at the Eastern alternative
  • 02:21:38
    So this essentially replaces the existing pedestrian bridge with our bridge.
  • 02:21:43
    The bullet here says the removal of the pedestrian bridge temporarily, but something would have to be done to replace it in the future.
  • 02:21:53
    There would be, again, significant utility impacts.
  • 02:21:55
    We start to get into a large transmission line pole that you can kind of see running through the southwest side of the project.
  • 02:22:05
    So Dominion overhead lines could be
  • 02:22:07
    impacted.
  • 02:22:09
    There are significant impacts on Derry Road and Gentry Lane, so that would be a right-of-way concern, and again, the redesign, about 18 months.
  • 02:22:18
    We estimate that would be a 45% increase in the project budget.
  • 02:22:26
    There's also been the suggestion of an in-place alternative, so if you were around for the Belmont Bridge replacement, people have suggested why not
  • 02:22:35
    Use half of the bridge and then switch to the other half, leaving it open for travel.
  • 02:22:41
    There are some reasons there that you can read, but really the last one is the only one that matters, which is that this bridge is too narrow to be done that way, and we need to completely remove the abutments that the bridge rests on.
  • 02:22:53
    So that's not really a viable alternative.
  • 02:22:59
    So, and again, all of those increases in value, VDOT's unwilling to pay those, so that would all be local funds that would have to cover that difference.
  • 02:23:09
    I'll talk a little bit about the detours.
  • 02:23:12
    We've got some experts here as well who can fill you in if you have any questions about them.
  • 02:23:17
    So, we anticipate
  • 02:23:19
    that the Dairy Road Bridge will be closed for 12 to 14 months.
  • 02:23:22
    I think we've really narrowed that down a little bit.
  • 02:23:25
    I don't think 14 months is likely, but of course we don't want to, we've got some contingency in there.
  • 02:23:31
    We don't want to give that away just yet, but the closer we get to fully designed, I think we can trim that down a bit.
  • 02:23:39
    All the local roadways will remain open, but there is a detour option which I'll show in a little more detail.
  • 02:23:48
    and there are some temporary movements that are gonna help with that.
  • 02:23:52
    A temporary signal at 250 Eastbound off-ramp at Rugby Avenue and we're gonna review signal timing at Hydraulic Road and 250 Bypass.
  • 02:24:02
    Part of what complicates this project is that a lot of the work has to happen overnight or nights or weekends because we have to maintain traffic flow on the bypass.
  • 02:24:13
    So here's a look at the detours.
  • 02:24:17
    The main movement detour is on the left where basically people come off the bypass, up on the off-ramp, and then continue down the on-ramp next to what is now Walker Upper Elementary School.
  • 02:24:30
    And then in the other direction, when we're having intermittent overnight detours, folks will go down Rugby Avenue to Barracks Road.
  • 02:24:41
    Of course, as I said, all the other streets and options are still open so folks can go whichever way they want to.
  • 02:24:49
    Just to give you an overview of the public hearing.
  • 02:24:53
    It was held at Walker Upper Elementary School, as I said, July 15th.
  • 02:24:57
    There were 44 people in attendance that signed the form.
  • 02:25:00
    Some might have snuck out without signing.
  • 02:25:01
    I'm not sure.
  • 02:25:03
    We had 16 official comments received.
  • 02:25:06
    14 via online forum, etc.
  • 02:25:11
    Generally, it was a pretty even split of support or lack thereof.
  • 02:25:16
    But there were a few main comments that came up.
  • 02:25:21
    Obviously, people are not pleased with the length of the closure.
  • 02:25:25
    It is an inconvenience to folks who travel across that bridge on a daily basis.
  • 02:25:29
    And one of the main things that we heard was that
  • 02:25:34
    The bridge was not visually appealing.
  • 02:25:38
    The renderings we showed at the time were pretty basic.
  • 02:25:41
    It was a basic bridge design.
  • 02:25:44
    We did reach out to VDOT, and they agreed to make some changes and to give us a little extra funding for some niceties.
  • 02:25:53
    The main element there is an architectural stone finish.
  • 02:25:57
    We want the bridge to look a little bit more like the bridges at the bypass John Warner Parkway intersection, if that makes sense.
  • 02:26:04
    So they agreed to pay for those.
  • 02:26:08
    It's a minor package, but it does make the bridge fit in a little better with what we've got in town.
  • 02:26:18
    And then the question of the length of the closure was a big concern.
  • 02:26:25
    One thing that we have looked into is trying to trim down our construction window as much as possible, and also we're working with VDOT presently to see if we can provide monetary incentives.
  • 02:26:37
    We're not quite up to the point where we need to bid the project yet, so we're still working through all of that, but we do hope to provide some incentive to speed the construction process up where possible.
  • 02:26:54
    There were some questions about the detours, and our agreement is to closely monitor traffic patterns once the detour is implemented.
  • 02:27:05
    Obviously we could make signal timing adjustments, temporary changes in signing and marking along the effective routes, and increase traffic enforcement on the neighborhood streets.
  • 02:27:19
    And then a little view into our project schedule as it stands.
  • 02:27:23
    We plan to advertise the project August 2026.
  • 02:27:29
    Construction begins December 26.
  • 02:27:32
    Closure begins February 27.
  • 02:27:33
    New bridge reopened March 28.
  • 02:27:37
    Construction complete May 28.
  • 02:27:43
    So that's all I have.
  • 02:27:45
    We also in the packet have a rendering.
  • 02:27:49
    Keena, is it possible to bring that up?
  • 02:27:53
    Oh, sorry.
  • 02:27:56
    Well, we'll see if this magically appears or not.
  • 02:27:59
    In the meantime, and this rendering would represent what the bridge would look like after our new amenities were added, the beautification package, if you will.
  • 02:28:10
    So with that, I'll welcome any questions.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:28:13
    Lord, I'll start with you.
  • 02:28:15
    Mr. Goddard, is there any place in the VDOT evaluation process for considering
  • 02:28:23
    in some numerical fashion like a cost benefit analysis for the cost of inconvenience to drivers, to the public as a whole for traffic delays?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:28:37
    None that we're aware of.
  • 02:28:38
    We have not been offered any opportunity.
  • 02:28:41
    We've mentioned our VDOT partners have been with us the whole way on the project.
  • 02:28:46
    And they've heard our concern, but they consider this a situation where to fund sort of an advanced or accelerated building process would be outside of
  • 02:29:01
    This just doesn't come to the highest level of priority for them in terms of paying for that sort of thing.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:29:07
    But they made that determination that it was too expensive without having attempted to put a monetary value as a Federal Highway Administration cost-benefit analysis might on those other costs, correct?
  • 02:29:24
    As far as I'm aware, yes.
  • 02:29:25
    So if we were to say that it costs too much
  • 02:29:31
    Is $5 too much?
  • 02:29:34
    I know you've estimated that it would cost 20% more to do the accelerated bridge construction techniques, but if you're not putting any value at all on the negatives, and the only thing you're counting is the cost of the contract, you're not really considering the value or the cost to the community.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:30:00
    That is a fair point.
  • 02:30:03
    However, some of our internal folks have done a few calculations to try and determine based on our own sort of internal figuring what that would come up to.
  • 02:30:14
    And Brennan, would you mind coming up and giving a little background on that?
• • Brennen Duncan
  • 02:30:31
    Brian Ducken, City Engineer.
  • 02:30:34
    So after you had kind of given us some of these questions, I went through.
  • 02:30:39
    And there's some assumptions in this as far as how much the value of someone's time is as they're driving.
  • 02:30:48
    And based on the travel time of the detours and those things that we were given by the consultant, Kinley Horn,
  • 02:30:56
    If we went for an overall, the longest possible duration of 14 months, you know, the value, or I guess the detriment value of that would be roughly a million dollars of travel time.
  • 02:31:13
    If we went with the two-month option... That was just a number I figured out here.
  • 02:31:20
    But I want to use that as an example here, because one, we don't think that's really reasonable.
  • 02:31:25
    But even if you use that as kind of the fastest you could possibly do this, you would still have a two-month outage, which would be about $150,000.
  • 02:31:34
    So you've got about an $850,000 delta there between a two-month option.
  • 02:31:39
    Realistically, we think that a six-month would be like if you were building this out in a field where you didn't have to deal with 250 traffic or any traffic, like the fastest you could actually build this bridge with no restraints would be about six months.
  • 02:31:55
    If you use that, that's roughly $436,000.
  • 02:31:58
    So again, you're maybe $550,000 worth of savings with using a premium of $2 million to do alternative building methods for the bridge.

6. Business Session

• • Brennen Duncan
  • 02:32:12
    Realistically, and Mike had started talking about this, we think we're probably going to be more in like a 10 to 12 month range when we're actually done, get closer to
  • 02:32:22
    Full design here.
  • 02:32:24
    So, you know, that's going to put us down, you know, in a 300 to $450,000 delta.
  • 02:32:32
    So again, that 300 versus a million, you know, or versus 2 million for alternative bridge design, you're, you know, you've got a delta there of like 1.4 million.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:32:46
    So I don't know about that.
  • 02:32:47
    I note on the website for the project
  • 02:32:51
    which if anybody's interested is dairyroadbridge.org.
  • 02:32:56
    It notes three takeaways from the public hearing on July 15th.
  • 02:33:01
    The first was the length of construction longer than desired.
  • 02:33:06
    And just to be clear, I have no expertise in all of this, but I did talk to some folks who have considerably more expertise than I.
  • 02:33:15
    And basically they were suggesting that 12 to 14 months is both optimistic and pessimistic.
  • 02:33:23
    The optimistic side is that there is no cost overrun, no major delay, no obstacle found that gets in the way.

7. Moment of Silence

• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:33:31
    The pessimistic side is that assuming no other delays,
  • 02:33:36
    If you were to do something with perhaps financial incentives to motivate a contractor, a contractor who's told we'll pay you X number of dollars extra if you get it done with no more than say a six month road closure.

8. Announcements

• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:33:51
    All of a sudden, human creativity is amazing.
  • 02:33:56
    I saw that there was some mention in here, perhaps in the comments that you all made to me in response to my email, that suggested that maybe something like that could be done.
  • 02:34:10
    You hadn't gotten to the bid stage yet, so maybe you could structure a bid such that it would include some incentives like that.
  • 02:34:17
    The second point that was made consistently at the public hearing was issues about making it more visually appealing.
  • 02:34:30
    It was nice to get from the website at least the notion that the bridge would be trying to mimic the Route 250 bridge over McIntyre, over the John Warner Parkway.
  • 02:34:42
    That's at least some reference because one of the concerns that people had at that meeting was you haven't given us anything that looks like a design.
  • 02:34:51
    I will tell you that the picture that's up there right now to me is appealing simply because it gets rid of the pillars and for a whole lot of reasons it looks kind of cool and kind of sleek.
  • 02:35:06
    Looking at it from the other side of course you've got the pedestrian bridge to contend with
  • 02:35:12
    and assuming that some engineers and architects and people could figure out how to make those line up so that they seem to make sense.
  • 02:35:19
    I don't care about the picture, I just care about what the reality is going to be and I assume you would figure that out.
  • 02:35:25
    And then of course the concerns about the proposed detour.
  • 02:35:30
    You know, I live in Greenbrier.

9. Recognitions/Proclamations

• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:35:33
    I know that an awful lot of people get into Greenbrier, particularly coming from the university, by going up and across that bridge.
  • 02:35:42
    I also know that since the changes in hydraulic road and that whole realignment of things,
  • 02:35:50
    The stacking lane, VDOT even doubled the length of the stacking lane on 250 eastbound and it's still stacking way up to the 29 bridge.
  • 02:36:06
    I counted 35 cars at one point stopped in line and that's effectively doubled I think from say six months or a year ago.
  • 02:36:17
    and when I saw that y'all had done traffic counts that suggested a certain number of trips across that bridge I was thinking
  • 02:36:26
    was that before or after these changes at hydraulic road and particularly because if you do in fact, if you are in fact coming eastbound on 250 and you want to go into Greenbrier, an awful lot of people are going up to the dairy road bridge rather than trying to negotiate that left turn and waiting through three turns of the light
  • 02:36:47
    to be able to make the left turn on the hydraulic, the consequence is you're now getting a traffic backup at the top of that off ramp.
  • 02:36:57
    So the numbers in terms of how many trips per day are going to be interfered with there, and more importantly, how many trips per day are going to be put onto other inadequate roads, I think is grossly underestimated.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:37:14
    Well I just checked in with our engineer who's here with us and he did affirm that those numbers were taken before the changes to the traffic pattern there so I do think that's a concern.
  • 02:37:28
    I don't think that this project is going to be painless.
  • 02:37:30
    I wouldn't try and convince anybody of that.
  • 02:37:35
    What I would say is that we will do our very best while the project is happening to monitor and keep an eye on those traffic patterns and do what we can in terms of light timing and potentially temporary signals or changes to traffic patterns to make it as safe as it can possibly be.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:37:55
    Those are the major concerns that I had.
  • 02:37:58
    I had sent a long email to a number of folks in the city government with my concerns and I appreciate your responding in time for me to process them.
  • 02:38:08
    I didn't want to play stumpy expert here on live TV and so I'm glad to get some actual answers.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:38:17
    Your results will certainly be better when we have time to think about it ahead of time, so thank you for that.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:38:24
    Brian, any comments on that?
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:38:27
    I know that I've already asked you this question, but I'll ask it again for the benefit of the public.
  • 02:38:32
    The pedestrian bridge will stay open during the whole project, right?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:38:37
    Whole, generally, yes.
  • 02:38:39
    I would say there will probably be a few intermittent blockages just because some things might have to move through that zone that would be unsafe.
  • 02:38:47
    Generally speaking, yes, it's open for the entire project.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:38:50
    Okay, great.
  • 02:38:50
    So people can still bike and walk back and forth?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:38:53
    Correct.
  • 02:38:53
    I guess that's one of the benefits of biking and walking.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:38:57
    One of the many.
  • 02:38:57
    Okay, thank you.
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:39:01
    You may have already touched on this, but is the city or VDOT doing the project management for this project?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:39:08
    Our capital development division is through our LAP program with VDOT.
  • 02:39:12
    So it's our project managers.
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:39:16
    OK.
  • 02:39:20
    I kind of already know the answer is no.
  • 02:39:22
    But does the city have anyone who performs the role as kind of like city architect who would be involved earlier on in a project like this and having some role in the aesthetic design of things?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:39:38
    Not presently, no.
  • 02:39:39
    I would say that not formally.
  • 02:39:45
    Our team in capital development typically holds a very high standard in terms of aesthetics, but different projects, I would say, have different needs, and we try and respond to those needs.
  • 02:40:01
    In this case, the bridge is, you know,
  • 02:40:04
    went through great pains to explain the condition of the bridge.
  • 02:40:07
    It's safe today, but it won't always be that way.
  • 02:40:10
    So spending time on a Belmont bridge level design process I think would be detrimental.
  • 02:40:23
    Generally speaking, we are kind of the folks who help guide design in the direction we want it to go.
  • 02:40:33
    where we can, we do take great pains in that regard.
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:40:38
    And I know this project has advanced enough along it's not going to happen, but I do think it was something that was discussed ages ago having a more formalized role if someone's performing that kind of role, which I do think would be of value because I don't think this or every project needs that kind of Belmont Bridge community design engagement, but I think a
  • 02:41:01
    Non-engineering, non-project management type perspective on aesthetic designs that is not just free for all on what could happen, I think, can address some of the concerns the community has.
  • 02:41:13
    I mean, certainly across Virginia, certainly across the world, you can see public infrastructure projects which are not
  • 02:41:22
    going to be studied by architecture departments but are much more beautiful in very functional ways than what we've done.
  • 02:41:30
    Final question is for where the traffic is going to be rerouted, is there currently any plans for
  • 02:41:39
    addressing the increased traffic that's going to go there for what we'll do to protect pedestrian and bike safety in terms of doing things like adding speed tables or more things to slow down traffic.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:41:53
    We don't have a plan for that just yet.
  • 02:41:56
    Correct me if I'm wrong, folks who are here.
  • 02:42:00
    But I do think that's a consideration we'll be looking into as we get into the final stages of design.
  • 02:42:06
    We'll put a little more work into the detour paths and make sure that those are safe.
  • 02:42:11
    And as I said, we'll be monitoring things as it goes along to try and remedy any unsafe conditions that we notice.
• • Brennen Duncan
  • 02:42:22
    So for the main detour routes, the one kind of to the northwest is utilizing the roundabout, the new roundabout at Hillsdale.
  • 02:42:33
    That one has rapid flashing beacons where most of those pedestrians would be crossing.
  • 02:42:39
    The other direction would utilize the Rugby Avenue exit, which we've just recently installed the four-way stop there.
  • 02:42:46
    And before this bridge goes in and the detour routes would go into place, we're hoping to have the small section of sidewalk and crosswalk at that intersection as well to help deal with getting pedestrians through that intersection where there may be conflict.
  • 02:43:04
    So we do have plans that we are working on or that are already in place for both vehicle and pedestrian safety at kind of the conflict points.
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:43:14
    Well, obviously, I think that just has to be a major priority.
  • 02:43:19
    And looking through the comments, I think obviously this bridge needs to be replaced.
  • 02:43:22
    There's no question about that.
  • 02:43:23
    No matter how it's done, there's going to be a disruption.
  • 02:43:25
    There's no question about that.
  • 02:43:27
    Reading through the comments, it's like with everything.
  • 02:43:29
    I think there's some people who are like,
  • 02:43:31
    They don't want it to happen, period.
  • 02:43:32
    But I think there's a lot of people who agreed it needed to happen, knew there was going to be disruption, but were concerned about some of the basic questions about design or what's going to happen with the rerouting, what will the path of the rerouting be.
  • 02:43:46
    I'll just end by saying, like I said, I know this needs to happen, but as I read the feedback, I think skepticism from the community is completely warranted and fair when you look at the history we've had on infrastructure projects, how many are still over budget, not completed yet, things like with the Belmont Bridge pedestrian and bike infrastructure that wasn't added at the end of it when the expectation was that it would be
  • 02:44:18
    I know we've improved a lot, but I think that some of the skepticism of the community is just we have a lot of work still to do on proving we are making positive changes, which I believe we are, but that's how I interpret a lot of the community feedback.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:44:32
    And I agree.
  • 02:44:33
    That's fair feedback.
  • 02:44:37
    The history of this program is what we have to bear, but all we can do is work towards improving it, and I think we're making great progress in that regard.
  • 02:44:48
    Public sentiment doesn't come around in a day.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:44:50
    So what is being requested of us tonight?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:44:57
    There's a document in the packet.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:45:00
    Basically we're being asked to endorse the plan that we're seeing and basically the time frame that you're giving us because we're under a budget restriction so if we want to come up with some option of being able to expedite it we'd have to figure out another fund source for that so I guess that's a is that something y'all want to figure out tonight or is that a later thing or
  • 02:45:23
    What you need right now is just overall endorsement to be able to get this going, correct?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:45:28
    Yeah, what I would say is that the options as I see them are to endorse the project that we're working on now.
  • 02:45:36
    Otherwise, we'll need additional time, additional funding.
  • 02:45:40
    And it's not a path I would recommend.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:45:44
    Yeah, I wouldn't either.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:45:45
    So I have one small question before we make a motion.
  • 02:45:51
    Who rates the bridges?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:45:53
    Is it VDOT or is it federal?
• • Brennen Duncan
  • 02:46:00
    We do our own bridge inspections, but they're part of the FHWA overall program, so we do it, we send it to VDOT, VDOT sends it to the feds.
  • 02:46:10
    So there's a criteria?
  • 02:46:11
    It's a national rating program.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:46:13
    Okay, thanks, I was just curious, thank you.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:46:15
    Would you entertain a motion at this point?
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:46:18
    Yes, can I first ask one more question, Mr. Goddard?
  • 02:46:20
    In your answers to me about other things,
  • 02:46:23
    You wrote, we've reached out to VDOT.
  • 02:46:25
    One of the key takeaways from the public hearing was an interest in making the bridge more visually interesting than the provided renderings suggested.
  • 02:46:33
    We've reached out to VDOT and made the play for additional funding to this end.
  • 02:46:38
    VDOT was willing to provide $100,000.
  • 02:46:40
    And then we included a rendering of what the effect of these funds would likely be.
  • 02:46:46
    Do I understand that VDOT has approved the notion of us spending $100,000 in some further design process, or has that $100,000 already been spent to generate these renderings?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:47:00
    That $100,000 is construction value, so that goes into the materials and the construction of the bridge in a more aesthetically pleasing fashion.

10. Community Matters

• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:47:16
    I may have misunderstood this, I had thought that the $100,000 was in part to allow for some other design professional types to take a look at the thing.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:47:31
    No, that's a construction value and essentially what they're looking at is the stamped concrete treatments that I talked about as well as
  • 02:47:41
    some colorations and some different railing treatments.
  • 02:47:44
    It might help to know that the renderings that you're seeing now were not shown at the July 15th public hearing.
  • 02:47:51
    That is the result of our... Yeah, that's what you would have seen.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:47:57
    So, this is what we saw in July or this is...
  • 02:48:02
    I can't tell.
  • 02:48:03
    These are the things that were provided in the back.
  • 02:48:06
    We had no renderings in July.
  • 02:48:08
    That's what I thought.
  • 02:48:09
    So this is the new version that we think might be $100,000 more.
  • 02:48:15
    Correct.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:48:20
    I'll entertain a motion.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:48:22
    I move to proceed with bridge design as initiated with the inclusion of aesthetic treatment as approved for funding by VDOT.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:48:29
    Second.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:48:31
    Any further discussion?
  • 02:48:32
    I would like to ask whether if that were the simple motion as it was put forward Mr. Goddard would you interpret that as including the notion of being able to set as a condition for the funding of this or the bidding process some kind of incentive perhaps to to expedite the time during which the road the bridge would actually be out or do we need to specify that as something else we want you
  • 02:49:01
    to consider or VDOT to consider?
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 02:49:03
    I will certainly work on that consideration.
  • 02:49:07
    I can't agree to make that contingent on the whole process that that consideration is approved by VDOT, obviously, but yeah, we absolutely will.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:49:19
    You need funding set aside for that, correct?
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:49:22
    Well, what I'm getting at is I just want to make clear that
  • 02:49:28
    I want that effort to be undertaken and that there is still time to undertake that effort, but I want it undertaken because I don't want to just say, okay, we're willing to live with 14 months because I'm not happy about that.
  • 02:49:44
    You live not too far from there, I'm sure you would not be happy about it either.
• • Brian Pinkston
  • 02:49:49
    I guess I'm only tying a future council's hand or something.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:49:55
    We can just say we would prefer that you keep those options in mind, but it's not contingent on anything in the motion.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 02:50:00
    I guess the question is effort and guarantee.
  • 02:50:04
    Those are two very different things.
  • 02:50:10
    Because we can put forth the effort to make sure that that is discussed and worked into the arrangement provided funding is available to actually fund an incentive.
  • 02:50:21
    Otherwise, we would be short of the resources necessary to even pay the incentive.
  • 02:50:28
    We can't go back to VDOT and ask for more money.
  • 02:50:30
    We know that for sure.
  • 02:50:34
    We have an expert.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 02:50:37
    Good evening, John Oliver, Kimley Horn, Associates for the Consultant hired by the city on this effort.
  • 02:50:41
    We do a lot of work with VDOT in the city of Charlottesville and elsewhere, so we're very familiar with the VDOT process.
  • 02:50:47
    And usually the way it works is they will allow you to use some of this 12 point something million dollars as a portion of that incentive.
  • 02:50:54
    Usually those costs are recovered out of that pot of money because as the contractor finishes early, you are not paying a consultant or an inspector as long to be out there.
  • 02:51:04
    And so basically that cost savings that you're not paying an inspector or an engineer, as DDOT frequently allows, can then go to the contractor.
  • 02:51:13
    So there are some financial ways we can in our bid documents incentivize the contractor without having to come up with the city's money.
  • 02:51:23
    What those costs are and will VDOT approve, I cannot say until we involve them at that point and we have to be very close to having a detailed schedule to understand the costs.
  • 02:51:33
    But that is very common in VDOT bidding and construction process to allow that to happen.
• • Natalie Oschrin
  • 02:51:39
    And to clarify, the 12 to 14 months includes contingency.
  • 02:51:42
    It's all entirely possible it gets finished earlier anyway.
• • SPEAKER_02
  • 02:51:46
    We would fully expect that we would incentivize a contractor to say, if you finish this in less than
  • 02:51:53
    The bridge is closed to open in, I'm going to say, 9 months, 10 months.
  • 02:51:57
    We'll pick the right number.
  • 02:51:59
    If you hit that date, then you are eligible for financial incentives.
  • 02:52:03
    And on the contrary, too, there are ways to just incentivize a contractor if they say, if you take longer than 14 months, we're going to start charging you by the day.
  • 02:52:12
    Because quite honestly, at that point, too, you're paying an engineer and inspector to be out there every day because of the contractor.
  • 02:52:17
    but it's a financial balancing point when you determine the right construction length for a project, right?
  • 02:52:24
    If you wanna get your kitchen renovated and you tell every contractor that they have a week to do it, you're gonna run everybody off, right?
  • 02:52:31
    Or if someone's gonna give you an outrageous number.
  • 02:52:33
    So it's setting the wide enough window to get competition to bring prices down while not giving the contractors more time than they really need to get it done.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 02:52:45
    I want the effort to be undertaken.
  • 02:52:46
    I understand it can't be guaranteed.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:52:51
    So it's been moved properly the second for the discussion.
  • 02:52:54
    If not, if we can vote.
  • 02:53:13
    The motion passes 5 to 0.
  • 02:53:15
    Thank you all very much.
  • 02:53:18
    This is the second opportunity for public matter.
• • Sam Sanders
  • 02:53:24
    You have one additional item.
  • 02:53:26
    I'm sorry.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:53:27
    Yes.
• • Chris Cullinan
  • 02:53:33
    Good evening Mayor Wade, Members of the Council.
  • 02:53:35
    I'm Chris Cullinan, the City Director of Finance.
  • 02:53:37
    This agenda item is a report presentation of the FY 25 audit results by the City's auditors.
  • 02:53:45
    The Code of Virginia requires that localities have their accounts and records audited annually as of June 30th by the Independent Certified
  • 02:53:52
    public accounting firm in accordance with specifications furnished by the auditor of public accounts.
  • 02:53:58
    State code also requires that the state's auditor to report to the governing body at a public session.
  • 02:54:04
    Tonight, Michael Lupton from the firm Robinson Farmer Cox & Associates will present a verbal report.
  • 02:54:10
    to City Council for the fiscal year 2025, which was July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025.
  • 02:54:15
    I'm also joined tonight by Mr. Charles Clemmer, the city's comptroller.
  • 02:54:20
    Mr. Lupton is going to invite him up now to give his report, and he and myself and Mr. Clemmer will be available for any questions you might have.
  • 02:54:28
    And once we've concluded that, I'll kind of lay out the roadmap from where we go from here with closing the books on FY 25 and the next steps for the year-end appropriation.
  • 02:54:38
    So, Mr. Lupton.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 02:54:42
    Thank you, Chris.
  • 02:54:43
    Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, good evening.
  • 02:54:45
    Thank you for having me this evening.
  • 02:54:48
    As Chris noted, my name is Michael Lupton.
  • 02:54:51
    I am a partner at the Charlottesville Office of Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates, and I have had the pleasure of serving as the concurrent partner in charge of the city's audit for the last several years.
  • 02:55:05
    We issue two reports as part of the annual comprehensive financial report document.
  • 02:55:11
    Those two reports are the auditor's report and then our report over government auditing standards.
  • 02:55:18
    The rest of the document, which is about 160 pages in total, is that of city management.
  • 02:55:25
    They are the creators of that document and they are responsible for the fair presentation of that document.
  • 02:55:31
    Our auditor's report, within that report it includes the section that distinguishes management's responsibilities and the auditor's responsibilities as part of the audit process.
  • 02:55:43
    Management, as I mentioned, is responsible for the financial statements.
  • 02:55:47
    They're responsible for making sure the financial statements are materially correct and fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
  • 02:55:55
    And they are also responsible for maintaining a system of internal controls conducive to the fair presentation of those financial statements.
  • 02:56:04
    Our responsibility as the auditors is to perform the audit in accordance with our professional standards.
  • 02:56:10
    and ultimately to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to render an opinion on the financial statements.
  • 02:56:17
    There are still items we are working through to resolve and to complete as part of the FY25 audit process, but we fully expect to be able to issue and render an unmodified opinion on the financial statements.
  • 02:56:30
    The unmodified opinion is the best opinion that we can offer in our profession.
  • 02:56:34
    It is a clean opinion and it means that the financial statements as presented is materially correct in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
  • 02:56:43
    The second report that we include in the annual comprehensive financial report document is our report in accordance with government auditing standards.
  • 02:56:51
    As part of an audit in accordance with government auditing standards, we review the internal control environment for the purpose of developing our
  • 02:56:59
    our audit procedures, excuse me.
  • 02:57:02
    We do not opine on the effectiveness of those controls.
  • 02:57:06
    However, as part of that process, if we become aware of any deficiencies in the controls that we deemed to be significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, we're required to communicate those to you.
  • 02:57:17
    I'm pleased to report that as part of the FY 25 audit process, we did not deem any deficiencies to be significant deficiencies or material weaknesses.
  • 02:57:27
    With that, that concludes my report, and I welcome any questions that you all have for me at this time.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:57:33
    Thank you very much.
  • 02:57:34
    Any questions?
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:57:37
    Only one for the public.
  • 02:57:40
    The text of it will be published on the city's website December 31st, correct?
• • Chris Cullinan
  • 02:57:48
    That is the date we are shooting for.
  • 02:57:51
    We have a requirement from the Order of Public Accounts to have it in place by then.
  • 02:57:55
    We can't get an extension, but I do not want to go there, as they say.
  • 02:58:00
    So, yes, we are endeavoring to get that full report done by the end of the month.
  • 02:58:05
    And as Michael mentioned, I think we're actually up to over 180 pages now.
  • 02:58:08
    And this is one of the increasing challenges.
  • 02:58:11
    I think when I started here 10 years ago, the report was about 150 pages.
  • 02:58:17
    And so it might not sound like 30 pages, but we get new accounting standards every year promulgated by the Government Accounting Standards Board, which is commonly known as GASB, more and more things that we're required to report and show and document.
  • 02:58:31
    And it just adds time and length to this process, including that of preparing the report.
  • 02:58:37
    The number crunching audit side of things, but then we actually prepare our report ourselves which adds time to that because we have to prepare it, they have to review that, there's some back and forth in terms of corrections and so forth.
  • 02:58:49
    And so it's just the process that we go through to produce that report is getting lengthier and lengthier and while.
  • 02:58:57
    The intent is to provide more transparency to identify more long-term liabilities to more accurately depict the financial position of the city not only today but going forward.
  • 02:59:08
    I would certainly offer the opinion it's adding more and more complexity and more and more pages and more and more tables and so I sometimes wonder if in that effort to increase transparency it's not making it a little bit more opaque in terms of those additional details.
  • 02:59:21
    But with that I'll be happy to answer your question or if Mr. Lupton, you have any more questions for Mr. Lupton?
• • Michael Payne
  • 02:59:27
    That's it for me.
  • 02:59:28
    Thank you.
  • 02:59:30
    I'm good.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 02:59:30
    OK.
• • Chris Cullinan
  • 02:59:31
    So where we go from here is once the audit is finished, we have the report written.
  • 02:59:41
    We have the written opinion from the auditors.
  • 02:59:44
    We will be bringing to you sometime in January the year end appropriation for FY 25.
  • 02:59:49
    There are typically some housekeeping things that we have to do in order to close the books.
  • 02:59:54
    We'll have those for you.
  • 02:59:55
    And there will also be at that time an in-depth analysis and discussion by myself of how we got to those results, what happened during the fiscal year 25.
  • 03:00:05
    Also to the extent that there are any surplus funds available, there will be a discussion and recommendations for that as well.

11. VIII. Consent Agenda*

• • Chris Cullinan
  • 03:00:12
    So that will be coming to you in the future.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 03:00:17
    Thank you.
  • 03:00:17
    Thank you very much, sir.
  • 03:00:19
    Thank you.
  • 03:00:21
    We're now at the opportunity for the second community matters.
  • 03:00:25
    I don't think I see anyone else.
  • 03:00:27
    Anyone in the public like to speak?
  • 03:00:30
    If not, can I get a motion to adjourn, please?
  • 03:00:34
    So moved.
  • 03:00:34
    All right.
  • 03:00:35
    All right, brother.
  • 03:00:35
    Thank you.
  • 03:00:36
    All right.
  • 03:00:38
    Is that the vote?
  • 03:00:39
    Oh, all in favor, please say yes.
  • 03:00:41
    Yes.
  • 03:00:42
    All opposed, please say no.
• • Lloyd Snook
  • 03:00:44
    All in favor, please rise.
• • Juandiego Wade
  • 03:00:47
    Brian, this is perfect.
  • 03:00:49
    That's amazing.

12. City Manager Report

13. Clarke Court Vacation Ordinance (2nd Reading)

14. Dairy Road Bridge Public Hearing Summary Presentation for Endorsement

15. Presentation of the FY25 audit results by the City's auditors

16. Community Matters (2)

17. Adjournment