City Council Special Meeting   1/14/2021

Do I call this meeting to order?

Mayor Walker?

Present.

Councillor Snook?

Here.

And so I'm going to open it up to my colleagues to make their statements.

I think Councilor Payne has a joint statement from the council.

It will require our collective wisdom and efforts to support our local government in the task of creating the just, resilient and equitable community we can and will be

Thank you and welcome, Chip.

Mayor Walker, are we ready to take questions or are we going to continue to hear from Council?

Councilor, is it your intention to make statements?

And I have faith that this is a wonderful chance for our city.

Thank you.

Karen Hollweg, Mr. Councillor Payne, are you going to make any additional comments?

It's been a joy to work with him not just professionally but personally as well and I know he will be an enormous asset for the city of Santon and I know all of us you know can't thank him enough for his service to the city.

And again, thank you.

Again, Mayor, Council, and all of the people of Charlottesville, thank you.

Mr. Rice, we'll take questions from the press now.

Riley, you're on with counsel.

What needs to be done moving forward?

Likewise, I think, you know, council is going to need to, you know, work with the city manager's office to, you know, create processes to have clear communication among ourselves, develop a strategic plan, more clearly communicate our policy priorities with the city manager's office and city staff and, you know, have those procedures and collaborative work really guide the process of filling vacancies and bringing stability.

Riley, do you have a follow-up question?

Yes, I also just wanted to ask, you know, I've had the pleasure of knowing Chip on a little bit of a basis, but I wanted to know kind of what drew you to elect Chip as city manager?

Sorry, I'll defer to the mayor.

And I'm hoping that those skills, along with being able to bring just a new and fresh perspective to the organization, will allow us to heal and actually be able to get some of the work that we have all promised to do done.

All of those are important characteristics.

You have one question and a follow-up.

How are you going to change to this, instead of looking regionally because the city really needs to focus internally, how are you going to change your mission with that?

So it will not be a complete change, but just a more of a difference and a way to focus towards the city of Charlottesville, but keeping the region in mind as well.

And then my second question was more for council was how difficult was going through these closed sessions and the process to get to this decision?

Go ahead.

that I think we are all very happy with and truly believe that this is a good way forward for our city and our future.

a better place as a city and get to a place where we're better able to take action on policies to take care and support our community.

You have one question and a follow-up.

Yeah, I'll just leave it there.

And then, of course, weighing it with all the many other challenges and the opportunities that we have, but we'll stay focused on things that are near and dear like planning.

You did say that there would be a job search, but in the meantime, what should we be using as a job title?

I will turn over to the mayor for that.

Yeah, Councilor Hill, you were answering that.

At this time, you know, council has reflected in the announcement that Mr. Boyle will be our city manager and that's what he should be referred to as and we are certainly empowering him with all of the duties of a city manager.

Okay, our next, oh, sorry.

you know decision was made and I look forward to having those conversations and figuring out how to make sure that we always have you know a very open and fluid democracy in Charlottesville.

You have one question and a follow-up.

How can you help bring stabilization to Charlottesville?

So that would be my first priority, working with council.

The second question?

Yes, go ahead, Cheryl.

Will you be using the same consulting firm, this is for City Council, or will you be selecting a different one?

It's time we've concluded our work with that consulting firm, so another RFP would be required, and that will be done by the future Council, I would anticipate.

You have one question and a follow-up.

Is there a training timeline that we should be aware of?

And I think we're all looking forward to having him jump right in and start going.

Thank you.

I have enabled your audio.

As somebody working as a stakeholder from the outside, does that give you a unique view of some of the things that have to be addressed first as city manager to stabilize, as the council has said, the organization and get moving forward again?

But I also think it's very, very crucial to know that my ideas will be shared with the council and we'll come to these solutions together.

Chip.

Certainly that'll be the easier conversations to have than to try to figure out why a seat is empty when there's nobody there to talk to.

You are all with counsel.

Hello.

We can hear you.

Yeah.

obviously with a lot of transitions taking place and it certainly this is the benefit of people who are familiar with the community and who have worked in the community and live in the community and certainly care about this community and want to see that stabilization themselves and so I think that's certainly what drove some of our considerations as we as we discuss this in closed sessions.

And I think we have the right person for this very unique, challenging situation.

We were very fortunate that he was here, that he was amenable, and we're delighted that he will be our leader going forward.

And just again, we understand the importance of making these decisions with you because we're only here because of you all.

And so we fully understand that.

Is that your certain reason behind that timeline?

And that's impossible to do when you're an interim.

You know, Mr. Boyles, if he so chooses, is absolutely able to be a part of that process, but we want to ensure that the precedent is that there's always a full public process while also, again, just grappling with the reality of the situation that we find ourselves in.

Not, you know, major worries coming up day to day when we're already dealing with, you know, a pandemic and the stress and toll that that takes on people that we're able to actually move forward in the comfort of knowing that someone who fully understood that our backs were up against the wall did not attempt to take advantage of that situation at all.

One question and a follow-up.

Yeah, kind of touching on that point, how does having CHIP selected and knowing that there's going to be possibly be a vacancy in 2022, how does that help recruitment when there's a real possibility that leadership might be completely different in two years?

So hopefully by watching this press conference, doing their research, that they are the type of individual who will respect the willingness for all of us to go through this and won't look at this as another potential crisis.

Nolan, did you have a follow up?

I wanted to know what specifically you guys are planning to do to address your role and to change things moving forward.

And so we all have to figure out how to do this differently and be open to it.

And that's, you know, that's a process that takes a lot of time and work, but I think it's absolutely going to be necessary as well.

Joe, you're on with counsel.

Counsel, counselors this time, is there a framework, a series of provables for city staff and the city manager that you expect to see before the search goes on, or is it a static deadline of two years?

And so it's that balance of making sure he has enough time to get the stabilization in place, as well as making sure it doesn't go too long without public input.

Again, clearly communicating to counsel our priorities and then also working on what are the processes to execute them and support staff and giving them the resources to accomplish it.

Does this reopen that or does this have to put that away under the tumult that's been in the city staff?

If we continued on the path that we have been down, I think that is very important for the public to be able to ask and get information and insight from the city manager the same way they demanded from the five of us.

So that's been my position on that.

Okay, and Sean Tubbs, you're on with counsel.

Because you have six weeks until you, you know, traditionally the city manager produces it around that time.

Thanks.

you know, as part of the urgency of council honestly confronting the situation we're in is is that need, you know, the budget is the most important document we produce in that need to, you know, ensure that we're able to put together a high quality budget that reflects our values and I certainly think we'll be in a position to do that.

with someone departing this position, there is a lot of value in having there be some collaboration between the person departing that position and someone coming in and given just the schedule as has been laid out with our budget, it's just so critical that we do start to kind of hit the ground running and it's just really generous of both the organization and Mr. Boyles to make him available to us even if it's on a part-time basis as we go through this transition before he formally begins.

Is that going to hurt you in negotiations with the University of Virginia?

But under the current conditions, I feel like I definitely have a stronghold there.

And Brielle Ensminger, you're on with counsel.

I was wondering if like him announcing that he would be something new position expedited the process of having to find someone to replace him, which ended up being Mr. Chip.

And so that certainly was something that was weighing on council and is why we've prioritized so many meetings so close back to back, recognizing Mr. Blair's timeline in which his news would become public and more formalized.

Thank you.

Brielle, do you have a follow-up?

No, that was just my one question.

Mayor Walker.

Thank you all for joining.

Do we want to make a motion right now or no?

Sorry.

Mr. Boyles will make arrangements to qualify for office in accordance with the City Charter.

Councilor Payne?

Yes.

Councilor Smoak?

Yes.

All right.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

Thank you and welcome, Chip.