City Council Closed Session, 11:30 AM-5:00PM   6/18/2020

So I call this meeting to order.

And I'll turn it over to Dr. Richardson.

Yes, we do have

Two members of the media and one member of the public on the webinar right now.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

OK, got it.

Yeah, I got that.

Yeah, appreciate it.

Oh, OK.

All right.

I'm sorry.

Once again, we're back to talk about the CARES funding.

As we mentioned on Monday, that we spent a significant amount of time in terms of trying to put the numbers together and to provide a, we think, is a sound approach in terms of trying to deliver various things, not only to the community, but also internally

to be able to provide funding to the various things that we found that were necessary with any organization, as well as the funding that was provided to do things within the community.

And with that said, out of the 4.1 million, we budgeted for 3.7, which leaves you a contingency reserve fund for about $424,000.

And with that $424,000, we were asking to keep that due to the unexpected things that may come up between now and the end of this funding period.

As we've mentioned before, that we have to utilize or spend these dollars by the end of the year.

So with that said, I'll turn it over to Chris Cullen if you want to add anything.

Good morning, Madam Mayor, Members of Council.

For the appropriation you have in front of you, I just want to note there were two very small changes.

One was the discrepancy that Councillor Snook noted on Monday evening regarding, I believe it was the IT numbers, and then the other one was just simply under the business support and the actual appropriation itself.

It just splits it out between

business grants and the commercial district support.

After talking with Mr. Angle a little bit after the meeting, that just makes the transaction a little easier to follow and cleans up the accounting and reporting.

Okay.

Okay.

That's fine.

I just, our inboxes are really a fun place right now.

And I would just like to, and I brought this up Monday, and we've been getting a lot of feedback from our citizens about the concern that there is too many dollars being directed to other priorities and a lot of concern about

The instability that this pandemic with all its unknowns could cause and especially wanting people to be housing stable during this time and we have to understand

where those concerns are coming from.

So I just would like to know if we were able to look at that.

On the other hand, if we are talking about bringing our citizens back into

I understand the need for that.

if we've looked at it and ensured that we are allocating money to the right places is something that I hope has happened and that we don't end up in a situation where we will have wished that we would have done something differently.

I would also like to, I mean, I would like to have this kept a very, very close eye on also as we're doing it and that anything, many of this is just an estimate.

And as I put in the email, I also, any contracting services

I really want to do our best to make sure that we are employing people in our city doing those contracting services to keep our economy continuing and keeping that money within our economy.

And especially not looking at out of state.

I mean, I do understand that we have requests for proposal that we have to follow.

and that that is legally binding and that times there might be out of state contractors who meet those requirements better than our local contractors do.

I do know there was some changes in some request for proposal laws that came out July 1st, they're gonna be coming out July 1st.

But again, I don't know how much of that is gonna be focusing on local versus

Anyway, I would like really to keep a close eye on these expenditures and that anything above that we don't need is going into our emergency funding.

I also wanted to kind of clarify what we're expecting to get from VHDA in a separate

because I was under the impression we were going to be getting some money from them also to help with the homeless, with ESG stuff.

Hi, this is Kaki.

So the Department of Housing and Community Development, which is actually the organization that funnels that ESG money now.

So DHCD

has given us about $234,000 of extra money as part of our contract with the Continuum of Care.

And they started that first infusion came actually in March.

And so that money will actually you all will appropriate that money in July.

And then we're told that there's this rent and mortgage relief fund also coming.

the money is coming fast and furious and so we're not really clear initially we thought it would actually be 50 million for the state and then it got reduced to 20 million so I wonder if those things are getting combined in your history there and it looks like the planning district commission has agreed to be our administrator local administrator for those funds because the funds that will be coming for rent and mortgage relief will be distributed across all the counties in Charlottesville so

The amount we get will be very small compared to the volume of need.

So I think it will be supplemental for sure.

There will be people who will be assisted through that through rent and mortgage relief.

I will say that they're talking about the cap and the threshold to being 80% of AMI and that 80% of AMI is calculated after the pandemic.

So if you lost your housing, you lost your job,

Your income is calculated after the loss of the job, which makes more people eligible than would be traditional.

Think back to the stimulus from 2010 and 2011.

So this is aimed at that group, not necessarily the traditionally rent overburdened group, but a sort of a newly rent, a new group that's in need of rent relief.

So we don't know what the total will be at this point.

We anticipate it will,

And I think that's some of the concerns since there are so many unknowns and we don't know how great the need will be.

People are concerned that we'll get to a point where we can assist even though we already know we probably won't be able to assist everybody.

The community that just wants to have a little bit more comfort that we are prioritizing.

the safety and well-being of our citizens who may have housing challenge.

We have a pretty good situation right now where

Let me just, Mayor, let me just go back to say, you know, I just want to answer a couple of questions that was asked or statements that were made in terms of the accountant of this.

We will keep a close eye on that as we mentioned on Monday through our budget as well as our finance teams to be able to keep a running tally of these expenditures from these various categories.

And if there is any additional funding or things come in lower than projected, we'll put back into the fund.

and also too, as the mayor mentioned, to talk about the buildings and ensure that the employees are safe.

There's a lot of things that we have to do in terms of getting our buildings, our old buildings up to speed in terms of being able to provide the safe conditions for our employees to come back to a healthy environment.

So there was a lot of factors weighed into this as well as ways that we could work

throughout this COVID situation and be able to provide our employees with options of still being able to telework and then provide the necessary services that they can remotely through our IT requests.

Then the last thing is to, like I said before, to help out the folks that are in the business community who do provide jobs and opportunities to our residents who live here as well as

to provide dollars to support our minority businesses in the community.

And I know we brought Fred up on Monday.

I'm sorry, just real quick.

Timeline, when do we feel that we'll know whether some of these dollars might be more flexible to allocate to other areas?

And then when will we also want to go ahead and exercise the contingency funds?

I would say basically within the next month and a half or two.

at the most because it takes some time to be able to go through the different processes that we have to go to be in compliance with the law, as well as to get these things in place in various parts of the city to be able to move forward.

And I'm going to say probably within the next month and a half or two that we will be able to provide you with more information.

No, I would concur with that timeframe.

I think it's gonna be, this is gonna start occupying a significant chunk of my time and various members of the lead team in terms of ensuring that we're meeting the needs of both the community and our employees and the public, as well as ensuring that we're not gonna leave any money on the table.

As you recall, the money has to be spent by December 30th.

of this year.

And so we have that deadline in mind as well, as well as just the evolving nature of this pandemic.

I think, as I said on Monday evening, I think we're still gonna be encountering some things we haven't experienced yet.

And so again, I think this is gonna continue to be a major part of a lot of our workloads.

I just asked a couple of clarifying questions about the portion that's deemed operational modifications.

It looks like we've got funding from the CARES Act for operational modifications of $1,164,000.

You've got costs estimated at $1,343,000.

So there's $179,000 that we are apparently paying from some other

from some other account or some other source.

It isn't.

What that is is basically from us in the preliminary planning of this about the appropriations that were put in there and then us slashing some of those proposed expenditures.

OK.

The questions, as I look at it, it seems that the enhanced cleaning of facilities

$287,571.

Is that something where it'll be sort of on an as needed basis?

I can answer that.

That would be correct, sir.

The other, other items, I mean, there are a lot of very specific items, dumpster services for Riverview and other parks, $2,500.

that aren't seriously an issue, but as we look at the sort of the big ticket items, the biggest ticket item is changes to the ventilation systems at $322,000.

So that was a consideration in also following suit what UVA is doing for their facilities in terms of increasing their HVAC systems capability to trap or kill viruses.

So in addition to the better filtration, the UV is one step above that to provide additional protection.

You know, it's possible that we could do the filtration and see how it works and then do the UV, which is the added expense, is a separate process or a separate project.

How soon, I mean, supposing you decided, okay, yes, July 1, we're going to put in the high efficiency filters.

Is there a

A way that you could decide, let's say by September 1, this is working or this is not working.

Yeah, I believe that we would know by fall, once the building's fully occupied, and we have changed out at City Hall, the filters to the MER-14 using existing funding currently.

So is the three minutes?

I just wanted to say that if we are not having this conversation about what our needs are in the buildings around also employee safety and whether we're bringing everybody back into the building, we don't want to do less because in reality, no one really knows what kills this virus.

So we're going to have people back in the buildings.

We're going to want to do everything that we can do.

But I also think that we can have different conversations about how to prioritize the resources.

And if we can't safely bring everybody back in the building because we allocate the resources to a housing need,

that then we are by default making the decision that we are not going to bring all the employees back into every building.

So I hope that we're having that kind of holistic conversation and not chancing things and seeing what works or what doesn't work.

Mayor, and I would concur with that.

As part of the transition recovery team, it's a kind of a crossbreed between several different departments that are in charge of reopening.

That's a big piece of this is the ongoing infectious control in making sure that the employees not only feel safe, but they are safe.

And a big piece of the work that we're doing has to do with mitigating a lot of these things.

And so as we go through the reopening, it's not just going to the most expensive

physical change or modification to bring people back.

We're starting with things like PPE, schedule changes so that you don't have all the employees in a space at one time, but a staggered approach, encouraging telecommuting, things like that.

So the very last thing that we want to do is spend money on hard physical changes.

You know, I wish I could give you that number off the top of my head, but we have an equipment inventory that was used as the basis for this number.

And when you look at City Hall, if I recollect, you know, essentially the rooftop unit, it services all of City Hall, part of the PD, and part of the Mickey building.

What it doesn't service is the city council chambers, which would be a separate unit.

So we've been having conversations about, again, and I'll use the analogy that our facility manager gave me.

Well, Marty's trying to talk and I can't hear him.

Seven.

And you have to take into consideration, we have large rooftop package units as well as smaller units.

You know, some of the facilities that we have are actually residential properties that are used for office space.

So could I ask a question to Ms.

Demick?

She's still on.

There you are.

OK.

You had sent me a nice detailed breakdown after I had sent you an email about the other money we're spending on housing.

And I'm curious about one of the breakdowns you gave us.

I mentioned the $654,000 in CARES Act funding.

You said $324,000 of those funds would go toward the need to support people experiencing homelessness in hotels

through December, $240,000 of the funds we go to responding to emergency needs of the hotline.

That total is $564,000.

Is there another $90,000 someplace?

I have to go look at the document that I sent you on my other screen.

Oh, yes.

So the rest of that money, sorry, I get what you're asking now.

The rest of the money that we've requested for community support is for feeding programs.

I'm sorry, for what?

For feeding programs.

probably four or five agencies that have done remarkable Herculean work starting in March to fill the need even with supply chain problems and without volunteers and changing their delivery model.

And we anticipate while there's some flexibility around USDA feeding programs for the summer and maybe into the fall, depending on how the schools end up coming back, that still won't meet the need to match the families of those kids.

So the kids may get one or two meals during the school

Thank you.

You mentioned the expectation is the money for

Housing Homeless folks will not be sufficient in order to meet the goal of at least until the end of December, correct?

It really would be impossible for me to say, because the minute I say that, this afternoon we're going to get a call from someone who has $100,000 that's coming from the feds.

happening too quickly for me to be able to answer that question sufficiently or accurately.

At this point, it looks like we probably with these two sources of funds combined with what's coming from the Department of Housing and Community Development and from the county, we probably can get through October and that will fund all of the hotel rooms, staffing and security costs.

We anticipate there's a private donor who has agreed to support us, to support TJAC, frankly, after our fees available, government funds.

And we continue to be assured by the Department of Housing and Community Development that there is a third wave of housing money coming, and that that money is specifically to move people into housing, not necessarily to continue to support emergency operations costs, but to actually move people from hotels into housing.

And so our estimate for the end of December

sort of we hope or assumes that sometime in November and December that third wave actually arrives.

If it doesn't, then we'll be having a whole other set of conversations when we do our check-ins in September and October.

And with the community resource hotline, what is the current amount of money available in that?

And then sort of what is the, even just like a rough estimate on a monthly basis, the amount of requests coming in versus the amount of money that will be in it with these new monies coming into it?

I can get close to that answer.

We calculated that the,

Pre-COVID need per year was about $350,000 for the request that we had.

If we were to say yes to everyone who called, we would need about $350,000.

If we said yes to promoting the hotline or sharing the number with other people, which is of course what you generally want to use a hotline so that everyone has access to it, then that number would be close to $500,000 a year pre-COVID.

The only sort of estimate we have for the increased need is what happened with the community foundation.

And we went from one part-time answer of the hotline to I think we had 26 people at some point who were answering the phone line or calling people back.

During that time, we just had four or 500 calls a day coming through the various mechanisms.

I don't know how I could calculate that.

I will say the difference for us is the community foundation was doing a direct financial benefit.

So the individual who called got the money.

Our money, the Pathways money that you all generally have allocated goes directly to a landlord or utility.

So that the payment actually goes to the debt holder, not to the person who calls unless

There might be like a, well, even if there was a car repair, we would pay the car repair place, not the person.

So we anticipate that we have the money that you all recently appropriated from the Department of Human Services fund balance, which was $250,000, I believe, maybe $300,000.

that is in the existing pool.

We have about $75,000 left of what we had going at the very tail into the community foundation money.

So this combined would give us slightly less, I think, than $600,000.

Mr. Snook is better at math than I am, so maybe that number is slightly above 600.

But I think that will allow us to say yes to most people, but it will also, I will say that we'll be

providing a limited benefit.

And so we anticipate that at some point we'll say we're gonna provide $1,000 towards rent, even if your rent is considerably higher.

We have agreed that historically people have only been able to access this pool once in a year, but we've obviously suspended that some time ago because based on this crisis.

So I think we'll spend the money by December 30th, but I'm not sure if I can tell you

So far, that's the direct rent relief.

I will say that we spend probably 95% of the amount of the money that we distribute through the Community Resource Hotline is for rent.

And I think it's important for us to know that if we move to that, you know, just partial payment of rent, even though I understand trying to at least help more people, even if we can't help them, you know, meet their whole need, they're probably not going to be able to get the resources from anyone where else.

So, you know, I just encourage you all to just think about that a little bit because

You know, it may still lead to the situation that we are, you know, trying to avoid.

Most people, if they can't pay the entire amount, I know that, you know, the mortgage companies, sometimes if you don't send the full amount in, they will not accept it.

Right?

And so you have people enter into foreclosure.

and stuff, even when they attempted to make partial payments, they just hold it in the account.

So that's just something to think about.

And I'm sure landlords will still evict even if they accept the partial payment unless they're kind and understanding in this situation and we just don't know who those individuals are.

So I think it's

Thank you.

We're working on the protocols right now with the hope of reopening the new line on July 4th.

and so, or July, I think that would be July 5th.

But, so that's really helpful.

We were toying around whether we might make the decision based on household size instead of being sort of by collar.

And we've been sort of looking at other models and none of them, of course, feel sufficient or satisfying, but it's possible that we should help somebody avoid eviction completely this month and then tackle what happens next month as opposed to sort of

And then another similar question related to the food relief expenditures around $90,000.

So to be perfectly honest, this is most of the money that we're talking about for the feeding program is to reimburse for existing costs after March.

So this is not necessarily prospective.

It's going to ease the pain for them prospectively by covering costs back to March.

But it's I think it's the need is pretty dramatic for all of the feeding programs.

I will say also that the number of donors have really stepped up to the plate and to support some of these feeding programs.

And we've been all of them sourced from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and none of the sort of feeding programs that have been happening in this community can happen without their incredible support and capacity to sort of override supply chain issues.

But

but it's not gonna serve as a rescue for them that's complete and it's not necessarily gonna cover their existing need going forward.

And what I know for the community has gotten a breakdown of the expenditures for

Yes, the major ones is making sure that we do have the necessary support as well as devices and

making sure that we do have remote access to be able to do our various business throughout the city, which we don't have a lot of the connections that we need in order to have that continuity of services throughout our various facilities.

And then also above and beyond that, when we talk about our social services and being able to provide our staff with opportunities to perform the services through wet

Webcams, instead of having to go out and interface directly with the public or the clients that they're serving, as well as to provide that same technology in their conference rooms that they have.

So above and beyond that, too, we have to talk about our cybersecurity that we want to make sure that we have, as well as our back office system support.

And then is that bucket of business money of around $800,000, is that just grants to small businesses?

I don't know if Chris is on the list right now.

I remember with the 750, half was going to be designated towards minority business grants and half to regular business grants.

All business grants were going to be with 50 employees or less, and there would be

micro grants or loans, it's all grants, no loans, for one to 10 people businesses, and then there was above the 10 to 50 people businesses, as well as the 75 was going to be used for various hand washing stations, some advertising and signage to help

Yeah, exactly.

And the final question, is that contingency of around $400,000, would that be accurate to say that's sort of a contingency in case the cost estimates for the operational expenses run higher than is estimated just because the level of uncertainty there?

I can speak to, I think what we've estimated in the operational end is going to be pretty close.

We're making, I go back to what I said earlier, a decision to release those contingency funds for other things.

Yeah, and that's fine.

What we did to spend a little bit more on the contingency is to be able to have those dollars if something does go wrong.

And we need additional things by the time throughout this period.

Because as we talk about even with the budget, we're still uncertain time.

So just to have the additional funds on hand if something does occur.

I would just like to say that

Well, the emails and requests we've been getting from the community is to put at least 1 million into community support, which 350,000 or so takes us there.

So I would certainly

want the contingency to be used for that.

And it's difficult because obviously there's limited expenses.

But I would say if we're forced to a decision where it came down to community support versus even one of the buckets in the business support, I think the community support is a greater priority, recognizing that they're both vital.

It's just how to weigh different priorities.

In your appropriation resolution, the second be it further resolved clause says the city manager or his designee may on authorization from the city manager or his designee be transferred between categories as needed to meet unforeseen circumstances

and then I might add a clause and consistent with the council's direction.

I only say that because it sounds like you know just if you leave it as unforeseen circumstances I don't really think Dr. Richardson could realistically transfer any of these funds to the contingency if it's just you know right unforeseen circumstances is much more

You know, obviously spontaneous.

It sounds like though the council's preference is really if they're surplus funds from these other categories, we'd like to direct the city manager.

He has the authority to transfer from one category to the other, but we'd like to

Per our direction, we'd like the city manager to transfer it into the contingency reserve.

I'm sorry, from the contingency reserve fund to the community support.

And that language would give him the authority because right now, as it's worded, like I said, unforeseen circumstances.

I don't really think that's really the legal authority he would need to do with what the council seems to be asking.

I think when we motion to adopt it, I'll just leave that.

I think so.

I move we adopt

The resolution with the appropriation of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Act, the CARES funds at $4,123,776 with the adjustment in the appropriation language to read.

Ms.

Thomas, will you take the vote, please?

Ms.

Walker?

Yes.

Ms.

Magill?

Yes.

Ms.

Thank you all for all the work that you put in.

to this and all the efforts that you put in to making sure that the citizens and employees are safe during this time.

Thank you.

And thank you for taking the extra time to further explain things now publicly.

It's very helpful, and I really appreciate it.

So, Mayor Mark, I have our closed motion, and I guess we just need to make sure we know where we're going.

Are we ready then?

I'm sorry, before we do that, Mr. Wheeler, was there anyone who wanted to speak publicly?

I'll be happy to ask.

If anyone would like to raise their hand, they can click the raise hand icon in the Zoom webinar.

And we do have one person.

Good afternoon, Council.

Rory Stolzenberg.

I live on Water Street between 1st and 2nd.

I think you know why I'm here.

It's been completely radio silence from the city since Monday night.

I'm a little bit confused, and I'm eager to hear what you all have to say.

All right.

So does my motion still hold?

Is there a second?

I second.

Ms.

Thomas.

Ms.

Walker?

Yes.

Ms.

Magill?

Yes.

Ms.

Hill?

Yes.

Great.

Thank you.