City Council Meeting   11/18/2019

I don't know what you're talking about.

Good evening.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Ms. Thomas, roll call please.

Mr. Signer.

Here.

I have a couple quick ones.

Click on Departments and Services and Boards and Commissions.

His number is 434-970-3656 and his email address is Jensenc, G-E-N-S-I-C, at Charlottesville.org.

Okay, any other announcements?

Thank you.

Okay, Councilor Hill.

The Personnel Appeals Board, Robert Woodside The Retirement Commission, David Swanson and Franklin Henderson The Sister City Commission, Neely Minton The Tree Commission, Tim Padolino and Roseanne Simon The Vendor Appeals Board, Brian Hurst And the Youth Council, John Kingdon Second Okay Please vote

Ms. Thomas, would you read the consent agenda, please?

I, report, Charlottesville Albemarle Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, SPCA, report.

I move that we adopt the consent agenda as presented.

Second.

Next we have the City Manager's response to community matters from the previous meeting.

And that concludes my comments for tonight, Madam Mayor.

So there are cameras that are moved around the city?

That was a group request, yes.

So I think Dr. Richardson, just in regards to that, while I understand, I think it's tricky and it's a slippery slope of sorts because there are some individuals who believe that their neighborhoods would be, or have extra surveillance opposed to others and then with there being no notification, I mean I can only imagine what the feedback would be if random cameras popped up on Park Street

Well they do have in certain areas, it's not unusual, if they request them then we'll place them there but it's just because of certain things that go on in certain areas so it's not one of those things since it's police, we can't say where they're going.

So citizens can request that cameras are put up.

And we want to do surveillance in certain areas.

Oh yeah, we need to discuss.

That's fine.

That sounds really interesting.

No, I understand.

All right.

I agree.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

and such plan shall include a cost estimate for the removal of the statue as well as options for the disposal of the statue and be it further resolved by the Council of the City of Charlottesville that staff is directed to present a plan to the Council of a new statue of the Sacajawea and other memorializations of Virginia native people with primary consultation from indigenous people on the design of the statue and other memorializations of Virginia native people.

Are there any comments?

Is that correct?

Yes, and that entire meeting is on the website?

Charlottesville.org slash streaming or the city's Facebook page.

Thank you All right next we have community matters We're rolling right along first up we have Bruce 80s and

But you could finish your thought.

Jim Shisler.

Good evening.

Good evening.

and we're the curators of the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial, which was dedicated 20 April 1966, making it the nation's first public civic memorial honoring all those who served in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Excuse me, could you just slide down a bit to make sure that they can hear you at home?

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jim Campbells.

And thank you for your time.

Peter Krebs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Myra Anderson.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm Tom Vandiver.

Labine is a member of the working group.

Thank you very much for your time.

Mary Carey Julian Talafiro Good evening Madam Mayor, Members of Council, Dr. Richardson,

It sticks with me to this day and I just hope that you'll work with us and try to get us access and I thank you for giving us the opportunity to appear before you and I certainly hope that we can come to some resolution because I think I know it'd mean a lot to me personally and it'll mean a lot to all the Vietnam veterans and with that I'll conclude and once again thank you all.

Tanisha Hudson.

Can he address that?

We'll have it addressed.

Since I still have time.

OK.

That's the only update I've got.

William Atwood.

You didn't learn that.

Thank you.

Jennifer Sessions.

I would also say thank you for the promise to remove the Lewis and Clark Memorial.

Thank you.

So it would have to be someone different if you already spoke.

So I initially was not really planning on speaking.

What's your name?

Thank you.

Alright, so we should be able to get into the next first report.

Thank you for having the courage to come up and talk about it.

Alright, so next we have the Dogwood Vietnam Veterans Memorial Alternatives Report.

Oh, it's coming on the monitor.

OK, great.

So Brennan's going to go over all the different things that we looked at trying to fix this problem.

Can you show me the emergency access point?

It's where the old wading pool was so it's on John Warner Parkway on the left side and you used to drive in and that used to be the golf course parking lot and then the wading pool parking lot and that has remained the same it's just now been fenced off and is kind of part of the skate park.

What's the capacity of that parking area?

It's still an asphalt lot so I don't know 35?

So again, back to...

I thought there was some restrictions around what we could and couldn't do in terms of access off of John Warner Parkway.

Because of the topography, because of their desire to leave the memorial where it is and not move it, and all those factors come into play, this is really the only thing that would service that need.

You've got enough length to comply with ADA and gradient?

What is the next bridge at?

What is the 250 bypass height?

That's 17 and a half feet.

I just don't want to ever create another coroner situation.

I wanted to give the veterans a chance.

I just have a quick question about traffic concerns on the turn into the, on the parkway.

If that makes sense.

So you would turn that one lane into, like it would be...

So there would just be a taper over to get into the driveway.

And you could access that coming north or south?

Yes, so currently that is past the end of the median, so if you were coming south you would be able to turn left into there.

solutions so if it were lowered and then you'd be able to, and I'd be very curious what the veterans would say.

That wasn't an option that we had discussed so I don't want to put them on the spot.

No, I don't mean.

Thank you.

Yeah, Dave Norris, would you come speak too?

Can you tell me how does that play into a memorial in terms of having ADA compliance because I'm not too sure about that.

Nobody noticed till recently, but it never was built properly.

Can I say something?

Go ahead.

I just want to say that

Staff's interpretation of ADA is that 5% or less must be attained to either be a trail or to be a pedestrian circulation path in order to be ADA compliant.

Dave Norris I was a member of the working group and

So I think that's something we can all, hopefully something we can all commit to working on.

What about what you feel was approved by a council at that time is different than where we ultimately ended up, just so I'm understanding?

So at that time we still had the waiting pool and the parking lot next to the waiting pool.

The master plan hadn't been done yet?

Thank you.

What was communication during the master plan process?

That was after my time on council.

Okay.

You said there were a number of occasions where you brought up the need to maintain access and you thought it was going to be in the final plan and I don't want to put words in your mouth.

Thank you.

Staff, are there any comments after?

We just need direction on what to do.

That's what I'm thinking.

This is more like a work session.

And if there's other sources of funds, but I would want to know what the city manager, how you evaluated

But I think it'd be more so a work session, because this is just a report.

And if creative, hold tight.

a transportation corridor.

But if it became very much more connected to the multi-use trail, it would very much become a bike headquarter that would provide alternative routes for commuting.

And that's been missed too, that deadline.

The access that they have three times a year while we're deciding is there a way to explore what that may look like, opening that up to just more days.

I mean, again, you run into the safety issues and which days are you trying to open it up?

I mean, I just think that's a conversation.

And in reality if you open that up you're going to get the skateboarders that are pulling in there and parking 24-7 as opposed to the people who probably want to visit the memorial because that place is always packed.

Maybe there could be more than three days per year of access until we figure out the rest of it.

Maybe it's ten days, you know, we could have access to the memorial.

No, but who will be responsible for having that conversation to even see if that's something?

Yeah, staff can reach back out through the working group to talk through that.

And the immediate solutions, that is something also that we would explore in the work session, is what?

And wait a minute, in terms of what?

Just the possibility, I mean...

There's really two immediate solutions.

I had them marked.

The main issue is far more significant than this adjusted access.

The 5% walkway is not the main issue.

And it makes no sense to not be able to have access to that beautiful memorial.

So that's the importance of making sure that the reports that come out of those advisory committees that we are able to look at those and see if, and I don't know if staff- And Brian Daly was on this committee before he resigned from the city and he had stated that there was never

It's very difficult to get access to it at this point.

So we're going to set up a work group to discuss this a little bit more in the future.

Thank you.

Just the $20,000 for the-

But I do think in the immediate, it's a way for us to be able to address this issue and provide

I don't even think it's going to be real noticeable.

I'm just being realistic when I think about us adding another work session in terms of all of our schedules.

They've heard the discussion and it's probably going to be a work session probably the first quarter of next year versus with this council.

I'm saying the same thing, but I'm just saying because we've done it up here and I just want to make sure that we do that and make sure that we have a chance to look at all the options instead of, you know, being able to just say fund it on the dais, we're going to take a vote tonight.

Also, so that we are able to look at this as holistically as possible and it'll be open so that we are not having those kind of discussions during the budget.

There's a lot of interested stakeholders in a lot of the master plan that's going on with the park, so.

And Greenbrier, every budget cycle, those trails over there, that's been a lot of energy there, so it just may, that's a possibility, so we may want to do it earlier than later to save us some of those conversations during the budget meetings.

All right, thank you all.

What is that?

No 4x4s, man.

What is it?

T-shirt and bar, man.

Brian, are we on?

Okay.

I call this meeting back to order.

My apologies Madam Mayor.

Mr. Blair, do we need to amend the agenda if we're going to have the Social Services Advisory Board report before the...

I think you could do that by consent of counsel if you wish.

Just by a nod?

Fire on deck.

So next up we have the Social Services Advisory Board Annual Report.

Good evening.

your expertise and your knowledge and your support in all of our monthly meetings.

It was really nice to serve with you guys.

Are there any questions or comments?

Were there any recommendations in that report?

And so that's a really high priority of ours.

The other question that I had in terms of referral reporters, do you know the percentage in that other category, because it was 24%?

Yes, so the other category of 24%.

Did you have that breakdown?

Childcare providers, so there's a lot of different things that go into the other.

Just at the bottom it said government agency employees, and I was just interested especially since we're talking.

Well, I mean that could be state agency employees, it could be local, it could be federal employees, but they'd all be considered government employees.

So you would know how many come from like within the city?

We track it by what the state is tracking.

And the inadequate housing is one of the areas that what, how many kids are eventually able to be returned home if that's the, because it's not necessarily normally that there's any neglect, it's just that parents are unable to provide stable housing.

So a lot of it has to do with low income, poverty,

There was a blind referral.

How much is an intake worker?

What's the salary of an intake worker?

So the one intake worker we have now, I would have to look at his salary, current salary.

Not saying it's your fault or y'all's fault.

I'm just saying, I mean, when we look at- Well, and the intake worker is working, you know, eight to five, but then we have somebody on call.

So the training and then the blind referral process, which you're hoping to see maybe is the reductions in the number of cases that are referred.

I'm not gonna say by a hundred percent of our staff I'm not gonna I would say by 90 to 95 percent of our staff have embraced it and you know, we have a few people that are You know Holding on saying I don't understand why we have to do this kind of thing and they you know, they're coming along and

I'm not sure exactly what I want to ask, but I'm curious about when you double the effect of an agency.

There are people that I'm talking about.

I'm curious about how the implementation of it has worked, basically.

And that's back again in our request for a budget adjustment this year.

So you haven't had any increased staff with the double?

We got from the state last year to enough funding for two new benefit workers, but we didn't have enough for another supervisor.

That has not been fixed.

And they can go to United Way to bridge that gap, at least until they're well over 200%.

And has that been adequate or is that?

OK, it's not.

I was the answer.

But once they're earning 200% of the poverty level, then they fall off the subsidy.

Because I remember seeing it come back.

It's like in the 40, maybe 40,000 or so, so it's not that high.

Yeah.

I don't remember seeing that.

But that's only nine months out of the year too.

Just a little bit more context.

will change that when they tell us what their race is.

How long that process takes?

I mean, this comes in to...

Right.

That differential response, it goes through that, but it's kind of in everybody's mind how that referral process goes, and that's rather quickly.

I just found this a very helpful guide, and I was just trying to get a sense for time.

We can't do an assessment if we get three valid reports on a family in one year.

What thought is given to matching children up with a family of their own race?

So it doesn't always happen, but that's our hope.

Before I actually understood what that one phrase meant, I thought maybe that was what it was.

Wes, did you have a question?

Thank you all for your work.

You know it's buying groceries and gas and you know so I do want to make sure that we understand that it's not just handouts but it's benefiting the community also a number of times over as that money gets spent and re-spent.

No, I'm not talking about you talking about this.

I'm stressed.

And I know the brief time that I was on the advisory board, really brief.

But we did appreciate it.

Yes.

But now we've got three more that we have out there.

So it's just important, especially if you're going to talk about that work being able to impact how families enter the system, how they're treated once they're there, and if they get the best care.

understaffed and that you've managed to hit that kind of a benchmark with only one other city in the Commonwealth, so thank you.

and so kinship homes went up to 36% and so yeah so you know we're working on that again it's it's much less traumatic for a child to go to home that they already know the people and the blood relations they're you know we're human beings blood relations matter and so anyways we feel very strongly about that we work really hard.

And you know, that's when we talk about trauma-informed care.

Thank you.

So next up we have

The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority update and following that report it will be the Ting Internet update for public housing and so we'll be able to ask questions on them at the same back-to-back same time just make sure because we know you have

With that, our executive director, Grant Duffield, will present, and he is actually leaving us at the end of the week, so we wanted to give him a thank you for three and a half years of service.

Thank you, Mr. Duffield.

and also Wes Bellamy will be leaving our board as the council representative, so thank you.

Out of here.

How are you?

We're in the middle of a lease up with HCV and we have another 40 that will be added to the rules.

Can you explain that acronym?

Yes?

I'm just trying to understand what data is available to understand that.

Those are two different things.

I'd be curious to understand both.

Does that answer, is that adequate for you?

It's just to see the longevity of those that are, I mean, for those that you're saying are offline, I think it would be easy just to show how long that unit has been offline.

Thank you.

With that, I'm going to turn it over to Cornelius Griggs, our general contractor, who can talk a little bit more about the redevelopment process at Crescent Halls.

So thank you for your time this evening.

We should have that fiscal sustainability study in hand.

This week.

This week?

OK. All right.

So it will not include anything that's currently under development?

It will include the whole portfolio, not everything.

So it will include the stuff that you're planning to do with phase one and phase two of South First Street?

Well, that's already in the plan.

OK.

Sorry.

Why don't you speak to Crossings 2?

They want to just make sure this is a good deal both for the community and for our residents and for the Housing Authority and that it fits into our fiscal sustainability plan and so we'll be considering that in more depth next Monday.

So it looks like things are in motion in that regard.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Duffield.

Like, when I think about fiscal sustainability and I think about a housing authority, a redevelopment authority, that authority has the capacity to actually float bonds, issue bonds.

Yes.

Where are we in that trajectory from now to getting to the point where you're that independent to be able to float your own bonds and secure your own capital?

The next logical step for the Housing Authority is to engage a firm to do a study for us to determine a bonding capacity, to determine

So that's not part of this right now?

That's not part of the fiscal sustainability, but it's certainly something you can contract with the Moody's or someone to do.

So thank you, Mr. Duffield.

It would not happen.

So how much would it cost to hire a firm to determine the bonding capacity that we all are probably sure that you don't have much capacity at this time, right?

Yeah, I can find a number for you.

But I just don't know if that's the best use of funds.

I just would like to know what it would take to, what do you need to get, I don't even understand what you need to get to have that capacity.

It's going to be a challenge for us to flow bonds.

But currently, the housing authority doesn't have any extra hands to be able to do this work.

What would the cost look like?

And in their plan, we were not asking them for this, and they were receiving more money than TRHA were receiving.

This agency can, and when you can float bonds, you can expand the amount of building you do.

They can certainly take on debt, which is the same thing.

making sure that, and I know we're trying to do this through the agreement with PHA, but just understanding the needs of CRHA and making sure that the direct link that we have with them that we are considering that when we are allocating this funding source is also very important.

I would agree with that.

I'm just trying to get a sense for what are the inputs that they're going to be using to determine what that build out looks like.

Without the scope in front of me, I think that would be something that you may find useful in addressing some of those concerns.

After the redevelopment takes place, because it is different than what it is today.

Ownership of the LLC reverts to CRHA.

And that's paid for that, though.

No, I don't know.