City Council Meeting   10/3/2011

Ms. Barfield, would you call the roll please?

Dr. Brown?

Ms. Evers?

Here.

Mr. Norris?

Here.

Mr. Huja?

Yes.

Here.

We're going to start with a couple of awards and recognitions.

First, I have a proclamation regarding World Habitat Day.

Is there somebody here from Habitat for Humanity to receive this proclamation?

I'm going to read it regardless.

Whereas the world's housing situation is a crisis in need of attention and action with 1.6 billion people living in an inadequate shelter.

And whereas on World Habitat Day, October 3rd, Habitat for Humanity International joins the United Nations and organizations around the world in raising awareness, educating and mobilizing individuals and communities to take action on the current global housing crisis while working together to ensure adequate housing for all.

and whereas Habitat will dedicate its 500,000th home in Mayuhu, Kenya and raise the walls on its 500,000th first home in Paterson, New Jersey and whereas as the international community seeks to meet critical shelter needs, reconstruction and neighborhood revitalization initiatives should occur within the framework of a comprehensive urban strategy and development plan supported by local government and its citizenry.

and whereas here in Charlottesville we suffer from a severe affordable housing crisis with more than 700 families on the waiting list for public housing and another 400 plus waiting for housing choice vouchers while more than 25% of our citizens are forced to spend greater than 50% of their income towards housing costs and whereas the city of Charlottesville is committed to increase the amount of affordable housing in the city to 15% of total housing units by 2025

and whereas advocates for Habitat for Humanity address the causes and systemic issues that perpetuate poverty housing, now therefore be it resolved that the City of Charlottesville officially joins Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, volunteers, homeowners, partners and supporters around the region in recognizing World Habitat Day.

We have a couple of awards.

First, I'm very pleased to announce that one of our newest city facilities has received a very prestigious designation.

The United States Green Building Council has awarded the City of Charlottesville's Smith Aquatic Center with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification at the platinum level.

This is the highest of four levels of certification.

This is the first LEED Platinum certified project in Charlottesville and the first LEED Platinum certified municipal aquatics project east of the Mississippi.

This accomplishment demonstrated the strong commitment of the City Council and the design team to a long-term vision of conserving energy and promoting environmentally sustainable building practices.

We want to give special thanks to Mike Mollica and Crystal Wiervold and the Public Works Facilities Department, sorry, Development Staff for their dedication to detail in obtaining this prestigious certification.

And in front of us tonight is the plaque that was awarded that I believe will be on display at the Smith Aquatic Center.

It's a very prestigious designation.

So again, thank you to Mike and Crystal and other city staff who are responsible for that award.

Next, we have an opportunity to honor and recognize one of our city staff who's a real leader in her field nationally.

The American Public Works Association this past year for the first time in its history created a comprehensive education and credentialing system for public works professionals.

At its national meeting in Denver in September, they conferred the first designations of Public Works Leadership Fellows.

This is the highest of four levels of certification and recognizes their leadership excellence in the public works profession.

And I'm very pleased to announce that our own Public Works Director, Ms. Judy Mueller, was one of the very first in the country to be so recognized.

I have a certificate for you, and let's give her a round of applause.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

I'd just like to thank both the city council and the city manager for your commitment to professional development for all of the employees.

As the mayor said, there's four levels of certification and we'll start working with our supervisors and our wannabe managers to work on the certification in the next few years.

Great.

Thank you and congratulations again.

One other announcement and I know we have a couple others from other councilors.

We recently kicked off the master planning process for the east side of McIntire Park with a successful meeting on September 26th.

We have the second in a series of master planning meetings coming up on October the 24th from 6.30pm to 8.00pm.

and I believe this will also be at the Martin Luther King Jr.

Performing Arts Center at Charlottesville High School.

The purpose of this next session, this will be an interactive meeting in which the general public as well as any groups or organizations may begin to present their ideas for use of the parkland.

The first meeting was more informational.

Here's sort of the background of the park.

Here's the parameters we're working with.

Here's how the planning process will work.

This next one is really the first chance for the public and stakeholders to get engaged and get involved in talking about the future of McIntire Park, the east side of McIntire Park.

So again, October 24th, 6.30 to 8 o'clock p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr.

Performing Arts Center.

And I want to publicly thank Brian Daley and his staff for a successful kickoff to that process.

I have two or three, depending on how you look at it.

The first is that from the Office of Voter Registration, you know, we redistricted, or we precincted, I guess they call it, in Charlottesville this year.

We had to add precincts because we had registered so many voters over the past few years

that we had too many voters in each precinct and so we needed to get more.

And so some people in the city will be voting in new places this year.

And the new voter cards will be going out this week.

Whether your voting location has changed or not, you'll be getting a new card.

So look at your card.

and it'll tell you where you're going to vote.

There'll be also probably a letter in there telling you where you'll vote.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll be hearing a lot more about this on the radio, in the newspaper, information for people about where they're going to vote just so that people are aware of those things.

I'm hoping to have some open houses in some of the new precinct locations, the voting locations.

So just wanted to give people a heads up about that.

If you have any questions about it or are concerned or just want more information, call the voter registrar's office at 970-3250 or go to the website at www.Charlottesville.org slash vote.

and we also have two more of our Our Town Charlottesville meetings coming up.

This is the City Council road trip where we go out, take to the neighborhoods with department heads and we will be in two locations in the next month.

We're going to be, let's see which one is first, the October 13th, Thursday.

will be at Greenbrier School and that's really looking at folks in the Rugby and Barracks neighborhoods.

We'll be there Thursday the 13th from 6pm until 8pm.

We'll have dinner provided and fun supervised activities for the kids.

It's all public comment so we encourage anyone in those neighborhoods to come and bring us your concerns, your complaints, your compliments, your suggestions.

and then on November 10th, also a Thursday evening, we'll be at Charlottesville High School at 1400 Melbourne Road from 6 to 8 p.m. Again, dinner and childcare will be provided and that's for that side of Greenbrier neighborhood and the Locust Grove neighborhood.

Mr. Mayor, I have two announcements.

One on the serious side and one on the fun side.

I'll start with the serious side today.

First of all, City of Charlottesville is holding a fall blood drive on Tuesday, October 4th, 12 to 5 p.m. at Hermann Key Recreation Center.

Just to remind everybody, it takes 400 donations each day for our local patients.

So it could be me, it could be my neighbors, your neighbor.

So please take part in blood drive on Tuesday, October 4th, 12 to 5 at Hermann Key Center.

and Market Street.

And second, it's definitely much more fun.

It is a Halloween party and I plan to join very soon.

On the Mall, downtown Mall, Parks and Recreation Department will be holding a safe Halloween Saturday, October 29th, 2 to 5 p.m. in Charlottesville Pavilion, starting there.

There will be free activities, games, face painting, prizes, and trick-or-treating.

and I hope you are all going to be there with your kids and let me say the date again.

I have a couple announcements.

Charlottesville City Schools is holding a series of BLAST informational sessions as part of its parent university offerings.

BLAST stands for blended learning to advance student thinking.

Parents of CHS students are required to attend one of the one hour sessions to sign documentation for the school issued computer tablets.

The last session for CHS parents is tomorrow, Tuesday, October 4th at 10 a.m. at Central Office No.

2 lobby.

This is the lower level and back of Charlottesville High School.

Additional sessions are being planned and details will be announced later.

And I would just ask that the employers that know that they have parents that need to go to this session, that they allow them the opportunity to attend this session tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock.

Only CHS students will be allowed to carry their tablets home.

Buford and Walker students will also have the same opportunity, but they won't be able to take theirs home.

They have to wait until they get to high school.

The Walker session is October 11th at 6 p.m. and the Buford session is November 9th.

and the Walker session will be at Walker and the Buford session will be at Buford at 6 p.m. And again, I just want to emphasize this is the last scheduled session.

Other sessions are being planned and details will be announced later.

I also wanted to announce an activity that's going to happen at Clark Elementary School, if I may.

They are having a remembering this Reddit

Coin Drive.

During the week of Monday, October 3rd through Friday, October 7th, they will be collecting donations at Clark Elementary School for the Dawn Reddick Benefit Fund, which has been established to help children and families in need.

Students are encouraged to bring coins in and some of the third and fourth grade students will be making announcements each morning.

Even though this is an activity that's happening at Clark, I'm quite sure the Clark family would

would invite other people in the community that would like to participate.

The money collected during the coin drive will be presented to Ms. Reddick's parents as a contribution to the Dawn Reddick benefit fund at a ceremony in her honor to be held at Clark later this year.

I also have one more announcement.

and this is an invitation from the Burley Varsity Club, Jimmy Hollins, the chair, and Donald Byers, the secretary.

Celebrating, dedicating, honoring ceremony.

The spirit's still alive after 44 years.

On October 7th at 6 p.m. at the Burley Middle School Auditorium, there'll be a special ceremony to honor the late Stephen D. Waters, an honorary naming of the Rose Hill Drive to Jackson P. Burley Drive, and to honor the late

Elmer F. Sampson, also known as Sonny, with the dedication of the band room in his name.

The admission is free, and they really hope that there's a good turnout for this event.

Thank you, Ms. Edwards.

We're now going to move on to matters by the public and as is our custom when you come forward please state your name and address and we ask you to keep your comments to three minutes.

Hello.

First I want to say hello to the mayor and to council.

Hello, my name is Tia Brown and I live in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia.

I'm a member of the Believers and Achievers peer support network for ex-offenders and their families.

Our vision is a community of love, knowledge, understanding, and forgiveness that is truly a city of second chances.

To bring their vision into reality, we provide support, encouragement, advocacy, and information for ex-offenders and their families.

We meet every Thursday at 5.30pm in various locations within our community.

We are here to express appreciation for the city's support of the Reentry Summit.

The recent peer support network training held at City Space and for the Coming Home to Work program.

We are especially thankful for the leadership of Vice Mayor Holly Edwards and we hope the incoming council members will be as committed as she is.

We hope you will continue to make good on your commitment to be a second chance city

and encourage you to expand the Coming Home Work program.

We are ex-offenders intending to reach out to other ex-offenders and their families to advocate on our behalf.

Also, we would like to give a special thanks to Maurice for the books that he donated to all of us.

We really enjoyed those.

And I just want to take one second for all those Believers on Achiever Network members who are here and those who support us to just stand up to be recognized.

Thank you.

Honorable Councillors, my name is Scott Bandy.

I live on Cherry Avenue.

Once more, I return here in regards to the Woolen Mills Pumping Station.

What is eventually done and where the main housing station structure winds up will have a distant reaching impact, not just solely upon Charlottesville residents and established or potential local businesses, but the seesaw sliding relations between us and neighboring Albemarle County.

First, before going further, thank you for sticking to your guns to do what's right and right from the get-go.

However, you are not going to get off that easy yet.

The Rivanna Water Sewer Authority, as reported by Sean Tubbs of Charlottesville tomorrow last Wednesday, September 28th, is pressing for a decided option to a Department of Environmental Quality deadline at the end of this year.

No time machine exists to go back and redirect yesteryear zoning decisions to prevent what residential development exists within proximity around that pumping station.

What's consistently and figuratively been swept under the rug is some prior generation's equivalent of being left to foot the bill.

Ironically, you are now confronted with the siren temptation to commit a similar outrage.

That would be settling on and selling out for either option A or the hybrid of option E for supposedly a lower cost.

On top of that,

we have a similar ploy effect besides price tag being utilized to ditch option D that would be fractured rock substrate in the pathway of underground pipe so eerily similar to reasoning held against building the earthen ragged mountain dam

I remind you again, setting right what has either before happened purposely or unintendedly is often not an inexpensive proposition or an immediate acceptable action.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vanney.

Good evening.

Rebecca Quinn, 1044th Street here in the city.

So what have we heard recently?

One in five families in Charlottesville do not have enough money to pay for rent, food, utilities, and necessities such as daycare and transportation.

And yet, by a three to two vote, members of this council support one of the most extensive water projects ever built in this area without expressing much care for how this unnecessary expenditure will affect rate payers, including those very same struggling families.

There's no water emergency and nothing, nothing requires us to build a big new dam right now.

Despite what they said, we now know we already have abundant water for decades.

People can learn more what they said versus what we now know at www.seavillewater.info.

Is no one else troubled by the fact that building a plus 30 foot dam now will not give us new water for people?

In fact, it actually slightly reduces how much water our system will have.

Let me repeat that.

No new water for people for perhaps as long as 20 years until the uphill pipeline is built.

Plus, any water stored behind a big new dam can't be distributed to about 80% of the service area without the pipeline.

Put more clearly, we will have no increased drought security for 15 to 20 years.

This means you're making rate payers pay increased water rates to cover the cost plus interest for a project that gives people no benefit for at least 20 years.

Why?

Well, if there's no new water for people, then the only conclusion is that Charlottesville and county rate payers will be paying a lot more solely to put more water in the Mormons River.

An admirable objective, perhaps, but it shouldn't be cloaked in the guise of a water emergency.

The urban service area uses about 20 percent less water than we did 10 years ago, despite a population increase.

By itself, that means there should be more water available for the Mormons.

It's clear, though, from the flow records that Rivanna's not doing a lot that it could today.

But doing that, improving flows in the Mormons, would not further the dam and pipeline agenda.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks to me like this council does not want ratepayers to even have an estimate of the impact on rates.

Or perhaps you know the answer and are unwilling to acknowledge it publicly.

Yes, we know there are many variables that would make it difficult to project rates out 15 to 20 years.

But Rivanna did just that in 2006.

From an email obtained through a FOIA request, at the time Rivanna estimated wholesale rates would go up 5 to 6 percent each year for 15 to 20 years.

It doesn't take much math to realize our rates, wholesale rates, I mean retail rates, would go up equivalent amounts if not more.

I call on you to ask Rivanna to provide a projection of what the total cost plus interest will have on the wholesale rates.

On a related matter, you've now had at least two closed meetings, one continuing later tonight, I understand, during which you talked about the water plan cost year agreement.

I ask that you hold a public discussion session before you finalize the agreement.

We deserve to know the thinking behind the negotiations, not just the result as a done deal.

and I'd like to end on my own congratulations to Judy Mueller.

I know as a woman engineer coming up that probably even after she did that it was a tough field to get into and I greatly admire what she has accomplished as a leader in this community.

Thank you, Ms. Quinn.

Good evening, Brandon Collins, 536 Meade Avenue.

I've lived in Charlottesville my entire life.

I have a daughter attending CHS who's also lived here her entire life and appreciate the reminder about tomorrow morning I had forgotten about that.

Good thing I showed up tonight.

I wanted to also add to the believers and achievers thanks for the council's support of doing things for ex-offenders and

and getting a solid re-entry program going here in Charlottesville and particularly the Come Home to Work program.

I think it's an extremely important program and I thank you and I also ask that you make sure it gets adequate attention and funding to really make sure that this is something that's going to be extremely meaningful.

and I hope as well that you will seek as time goes by to expand the program to include more people, more people working for longer periods of time.

And I very much hope that you remain committed to being a city of second chances and not only to commit to that but also to commit to work, to make this city one of meaningful first chances.

Kind of on those lines, I know you're all very much aware of this recent study from the Chamber of Commerce, the so-called orange dot study, and it presents alarming information, but it's not new information.

I gave a speech on Labor Day and I had access to almost all that data just looking it up on my own and this is not new and yes it is alarming but it's no secret that Charlottesville maintains a permanent suffering class and many of us have called on you to take significant steps to change this.

that the Chamber of Commerce seems concerned about this all of a sudden should alarm us.

They've had their chance and if there are things they want to do that benefit their interests or they have some interest in suddenly dealing with the issues of poverty here in Charlottesville, then they can do this on their own rather than getting any funding from the city to open a business center where businesses can seek out more business.

They can do that on their own, but don't be fooled.

Their proposal that they've outlined is not going to have much of an effect on housing, living wages, the cost of living, our bills, and they're unlikely to even create any kind of substantial number of jobs.

This jobs hub should really be called a contractor's hub because that's what it is.

It's seeking to get contractors access to more business.

As we know from looking at UVA, they go to contractors to avoid paying good wages to their direct employees, so they contract out.

Those employees make significantly less.

When we increase competition for those contracts, there's not going to be any raise or increase in wages.

If anything, it will increase the amount that UVA contracts and we'll also likely encourage them to use more prison labor.

The idea of rezoning poor people's neighborhoods to make way for light industry is preposterous.

There are places here in Charlottesville where we're running out of these places, but we should be looking at ways we can reserve those places for light industry.

If we think that's a good solution for getting a lot of jobs and getting a lot of people employed, that's something we need to look at, not rezoning.

We need to reserve those spaces and maybe consider prezoning areas that aren't in people's neighborhoods.

Overall, you know, there's a lot more we could be doing and we don't need to rely on this failed trickle-down economics from the Chamber of Commerce to do it.

Good evening Members of Council, I'm Stratton Salidas and I live at 704 B.

Grave Street.

and to follow up on some of the things that have been said here, Ms. Quinn talked about the Mormons River and stream flows and the dam plan proponents are not proposing natural stream flows to the Mormons but rather unnaturally high stream flows to the Mormons which can actually scour the bottom of the stream and disrupt the ecology and

Furthermore, I think if the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority were truly interested in the health of the Mormons River, they would have increased the stream valve size which they were committed to do and have not lived up to that commitment.

That would be a step right now by which we could increase the flow to the Mormons River.

The underlying assumptions that have governed the discussion of this water plan are so wrong that they appear to be rigged.

And I know I've said this quite a bit.

The most fundamental of these assumptions is the demand projection, which is an attempt to instill a self-fulfilling prophecy of how much water and growth this community is going to experience.

We saw that the 50-year projection goes up and up and up.

and yet over the last seven or ten years we've actually seen the water use go down and down and down so and yet we're still pretending like we're going to use this extreme amount of water in 50 years

And why is that?

Why are we turning such a blind eye to the facts when we've seen otherwise?

Well, I mentioned last time that this water plan was funded from a million dollar grant from Nestle.

Ms. Szakos expressed some, well maybe not surprised, but you said that you hadn't heard that yet.

So I hope that you've looked into that.

This million dollar grant was given from Nestle to the Nature Conservancy for developing this plan and one other somewhere in the United States for a pilot storage and diversion

projects, Nestle is the world's biggest bottled water company.

We are now currently being pushed to build a dam and as Rebecca mentioned, Ms. Quinn, if we build the dam without the pipeline and we have no money or route or design for the pipeline yet,

That water is just sitting up there at Ragged Mountain and we cannot distribute it to 80% of the system and yet we will have incurred a lot of debt.

Well, that will put Nestle in an excellent bargaining position to say, hey, we'll buy some of that water and that will help you fund your pipeline.

The other thing we could do perhaps is then have many more people

moved to the area in an effort to create a bigger customer base so we can sell that water.

And as was mentioned, until that pipeline is built, not only can we not serve 80% of our area, but in order to fill the dam, we will still be entirely dependent on Sugar Mountain, which is the best water in the area, and I'm sure Nestle would love to get their hands on that.

And let me say again that this notion of we've talked too much about this, we should not talk about it anymore, I believe is an effort to avoid scrutiny of a scam.

And people's water rates have already tripled.

Let's give the people a break.

Thank you, Mr. Slaves.

I'm here tonight representing the North Downtown Residence Association as their president.

At our last board meeting, a matter came to our attention that had all of us concerned.

In a moment, one of our new board members will speak specifically about that matter.

From time to time, organizations and neighborhood groups are not given adequate notification about public meetings and action that the city plans to take.

In general, I will say we've given pretty good notice, but, you know, I think we could be a little bit better job done.

We just ask that we be given adequate notice on public hearings, input that may be getting ready to take place.

Specifically what we're concerned about at the moment is the future of McIntire Park.

We were basically given three weeks notice about a program that was going to be done concerning the future of McIntire Park.

I personally received a postcard in the mail that notified me of it about three weeks beforehand, which did not give us adequate time for our board to prepare a meeting and discuss it on our agenda.

Supposedly this postcard that was sent out was sent out to thousands, if not tens of thousands of people.

I kind of wonder about that because I haven't been able to find anybody on my block that has received a postcard or spoken to other people in the neighborhood that haven't received it.

Also when I saw the postcard I noticed it had stamps on it, not like a meter one, which I would think if something was going out to thousands of people it would be metered.

So I can't imagine someone sitting there putting stamps on these postcards going out to all these people.

So again, I just ask that everything be done to try to let us know about matters that may be of interest to neighborhood groups and other associations in advance.

Yes, I'm speaking for the Board of Directors of NDRA.

You're sort of getting a double dose of NDRA tonight.

We have a number of concerns regarding the procedures being used to obtain citizen input into the design and planning of the east side of McIntire Park.

We appreciate the opportunity being offered to citizens to provide input, but we do not feel

we can participate effectively given scheduling, procedural and others constraints.

First, the timing of the meetings, which Mark just referred to, but let me amplify that a bit.

Those who participated in the first public meeting on September 26th found out that organizations such as ours could present our ideas at the next meeting on October 24th.

This does not give us enough time to call a meeting of our members to discuss the proposals we should make on October 24th.

The board of directors does not feel that we alone as directors should make presentations without the participation of our members.

We have a democratic organization.

Second, Charlottesville citizens should have priority.

McIntire Park is the city's park.

We feel that at public meetings regarding the design of our park, city residents should be given the opportunity to speak first.

Residents of other areas outside the city would then be welcome to comment.

And finally,

Handouts at the October 24th meeting.

Under current rules, speakers at the October 24th meeting will not be allowed to give out handouts before or during their presentations.

This limits the speaker's ability to communicate effectively.

I don't know why such a restriction is made.

At any rate, we feel that the procedures could be much better and much more user friendly.

Thank you, Mr. Repass.

That's the last person who signed up to speak.

Is there anybody else in the audience who would like to speak this evening?

Ms. Smith?

Yeah, we'll have a separate public hearing on the water supply plan.

Good evening.

Dee Dee Smith, 2652 Jefferson Park Circle.

And I just have a request of the council that you all ask your representatives on the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Board, two of whom are sitting up here, to ask the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority to

give us a projection of debt service for their total obligations, but to break it down as they did in September of 2007 for the community water plan.

If they could break it down by current debt, the debt for the five-year CIP, which includes quite a lot of wastewater projects cost,

as well as debt for the long term community water plan.

So I have for you actually what the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority did in September of 2007 as an example.

They can do this.

They've done it before.

And I think as you're going into the cost share negotiations, this would be very helpful to know what the total picture is because as you've heard tonight, it is going to be probably a bit of a shock.

to ratepayers when the total bill comes through on their water plan.

So that's just my request to you that you ask Dr. Brown, Mr. Jones, and Ms. Mueller to request a Rivanna, this kind of assessment.

And it doesn't have to be broken down by cost share.

So you don't actually have to wait until you know, because that will inform you as you go into your negotiations.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Smith.

Anybody else like to speak?

We'll now close Matters by the Public and open the meeting up to council member responses to Matters by the Public.

Who would like to get us started?

I can start.

Ms. Brown, where are you?

There you are.

Thank you for coming and for the folks who stood up when you finished speaking.

I just

You thanked us for what we've done, but I just think that your organization and the folks who are in this room, what you're doing is really important.

And the support that you're giving to your peers and to other folks in the same situation coming behind you is really important.

So thank you.

Keep up the good work.

And I personally am committed to making sure that we keep this program strong and grow it as it needs to be.

I think the water things we'll have discussions on later.

I just wanted to make a comment on David Dripa's suggestion that citizens be able to allow to give handouts in the meetings because that way they can communicate what they're trying to say.

This echoes the sentiments that have been stated, and I agree wholeheartedly with Councilor Huja that handouts should be allowed.

It seems that's an inhibition of freedom of speech in some way, and not being able to do that.

And to Mr. Bandy.

I wanted to bring up something under the business.

Dr. Brown?

I just want to reiterate my appreciation to Ms. Brown for coming to speak and for all the work that believers and achievers are doing.

It's really tremendous.

And so thank you.

And this new coming home work program is targeted at ex-offenders that are trying to successfully re-enter into our community.

We budgeted funding for five slots

to get this program off the ground.

We had 60 applicants for five slots.

I think this shows there's a real demand out there and a real desire for people to work.

They want to work.

They want to successfully re-enter.

I hope, assuming this pilot phase goes well, that we can find the funding to expand that program, given the demand that's there.

I agree on the handouts at the public meeting.

I'm not sure why we have that policy, but I hope we can certainly overturn that and allow handouts.

And I do think that Ms. Quinn and Ms. Smith both raised good questions about

Just in terms of transparency when it comes to how the decisions we're making about the bar supply are going to affect rates and affect debt service.

So I hope that this suggestion of getting a revised debt service projection and also a revised wholesale rate projection

is taken seriously.

About McIntyre Park?

Yes, sir.

All right, we'll now move on to our consent agenda, and on the consent agenda tonight we have item A, minutes of September 19th, item B, appropriation for the McIntire Park Bike, Pedestrian Bridge Transportation Enhancement Funding Grant, Phase 1 and 2, $517,500, second of two readings.

Item C, an appropriation, donation for Riverview Park improvement, $2,000, second of two readings.

Item D, an appropriation, recycled railroad steel income, $1,870, second of two readings.

Item E, an appropriation, 2012 Department of Motor Vehicles Virginia Highway Safety Grant, $30,386, second of two readings.

Item F, an appropriation 2011 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, $37,336, second of two readings.

Item G, an appropriation of sale proceeds from 409 Stadium Road, $250,000, first of two readings.

Item H, resolution, allocation of council priority initiatives funding to support annual holiday parade, $2,000, first of one meeting.

Item I, resolution, funds for improvements at Ivy Emmett intersection, $400,000, first of one meeting.

Item J, resolution, allocation of Charlottesville housing funds for its purchase of properties on 8th Street and Page Street, $140,000, first of one meeting.

Item K, resolution, plan unit development requirements, first of one meeting.

and item L, resolution, additional funding for Java Timberlake PUD, $117,000, first of one reading.

It's been moved and seconded.

Any discussion?

Hearing none, please indicate your vote.

And passes unanimously.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Oh, there he is.

Our next agenda item is a public hearing and resolution on the water supply plan.

And if I can sort of set this up, I want to be clear, what we're talking about tonight is essentially this report slash plan that's come out of AECOM, a consulting firm, that's looking at the regional water supply situation to include not only the urban service area of Charlottesville and Albemarle County,

Thank you very much.

But also, it includes water projections for Crozet, for Scottsville, groundwater.

It looks at demand regionally.

This is not necessarily the plan that prescribes specific solutions, although there are a number of solutions included as options in the plan.

This is the regional plan that talks about water demands for the next 50 years and lays out a series of ideas for accomplishing those demands and those needs.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor and Council, thank you for this opportunity to introduce this to you.

You have in front of you a well-written staff report that summarizes the elements of this plan.

You had a meeting with three other boards three weeks ago and incorporated with that was also a public hearing where you heard summary presentations from both the Rivanna staff and the AECOM

and the team who was hired by Rivanna to do the updated water demand projections.

And the mayor set the groundwork for you that this is a different topic from the topic on choosing a solution.

The roots of what we're talking about here you might say occurred around 2002 when there was a major drought that this area remembers but also the rest of Virginia remembers as well.

And it was severe enough that it stirred the legislators in Richmond to act to require that every locality in Virginia develop this plan.

which basically gives an update, gives a lot of resource information but also gives an update where each locality in Virginia is with respect to its current water use, its projected future water use and what its supply is and what its future needs might be.

And locality for those who don't know in Virginia is defined as cities, counties and towns, not authorities.

So it is incumbent upon the city of Charlottesville to present

A provision of that law stated that two or more localities can come together if they want to and appoint someone to write a plan for them.

And those communities who did that got a little bit extra time to submit their plan, the deadline being November the 2nd of 2011.

The city of Charlottesville in 2006 adopted a resolution joining Albemarle and Scottsville and asking our organization to prepare the plan which is why we're standing before you today.

We did some initial work on the plan in 2006.

We obtained a grant from the state that helped us do some of the work particularly related to Beaver Creek and Toddier Creek Reservoir

We also worked on a drought response and contingency plan.

And that plan after a public meeting of its own that was in this room was adopted and became a drought response plan.

So today when you hear we're in a drought watch, it came from that plan.

The procedures that prescribe how we get to that point were in that particular plan.

And that plan is also incorporated into the text of the current plan that's before you.

Earlier this year, we hired AECOM Technical Services to do the updated water demand forecast that was required.

One of the things that attracted the selection committee to AECOM is they actually proposed to put a person on their team in the name of Kim Shorter, who is the national practice leader for AECOM.

Practice leader means that's her specialty.

She knows how to do it very, very well.

and AECOM has of course now finished a report.

It was presented a few weeks ago and has with a couple of minor, very minor edits that they made in the last week is ready for you tonight.

We held previous public meetings on the water demand forecast, went well beyond what was required by regulations for public input with a methodology meeting in May, meetings on the draft forecast in July, and then the public hearing in September.

The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority led putting together the rest of the draft of the other parts of the plan.

We did receive some assistance from AECOM on some of the water resource information, which is section four of the report.

And we received public comments at the public hearing in September.

We agreed at attempt by the end of September to try to respond to those.

The response did come out this morning.

and it was was sent.

I hope you've got it.

but I have extra copies if you need that.

In addition to that, from the public comments, there were a few changes, not significant in nature, but a few good changes that were made in the report.

One of your citizens commented that there were a couple sections where the, like on the riparian buffers and on archaeological sites where the city's information was not complete and we went to AECOM and found that was the case and that's been added to beef up the final report.

Thank you, Mr. Frederick.

Questions for Mr. Frederick before we open the public hearing?

We do have a few citizens who signed up to speak at the public hearing.

And again, when you come forward, please state your name and address and keep your comments for three minutes.

Hi, Councillors.

Thanks for your service.

The first thing, well, I'm Jen Downey and I live at 1014, Locust Lane.

And the first thing I have to admit is I signed the wrong paper.

So I really was supposed to be commenting on the other water plan.

Though, of course, they're related, entwined.

So do you want to hear what I have to say or would you like to hear?

Absolutely.

No, go ahead.

Thank you.

If I gave my 15-year-old permission to go to a party and later found out that not only would parents be absent, but a brewery had donated a keg to the event, I'd have no problem telling my teenager that he couldn't go after all.

Protests of, but you already said I could, would not sway me, nor any of you, I suspect.

New information is important.

There should be no statute of limitations on our communal knowledge base where the competing water plans are concerned.

New information often should change plans.

The impression I've formed of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority is one of an organization that has consistently declined to acknowledge new pieces of information that challenge its insistence that only a dam and pipeline will do.

Information about area water demand, about the amount of water that a dredging-centered plan could supply, the likely cost of the dam, and many other things.

Neither transparent nor participatory, it appears to this citizen at least that the RWSA has spent an inordinate amount of public money pushing a plan introduced to this community by the Virginia Nature Conservancy, an organization with no accountability to the public, and a million dollars of Nestle money burning a conflict of interest hole in its pocket.

The more I learn about the interconnections between parties advocating for this dam, the more unhappy I become with this council's January decision to vote in favor of the RWSA Nature Conservancy Plan.

I didn't elect those who run the RWSA, but I helped elect you.

And now I'm counting on you, my representatives, to be open and curious about new information that challenges water plan assumptions that may understandably have led you to vote for the dam plan last January.

That means not buying into the specious notion expressed by some on council and some running for council that the public simply wants to, quote, move on.

I want to assure you that I, a busy citizen with three kids to corral, a business to run, a book to finish, has absolutely no interest in seeing you hurry to finish this.

for the sake of finishing it.

There's no water crisis at the moment.

You have time to put thoughtfulness and facts over expedience.

Rushing forward at this juncture will only add to my suspicions about the dam plan and your support of it.

I'm surely not alone in this reaction.

Please do right by Seaville's citizens.

Don't commit us to an expensive plan that appears not to fit Charlottesville's real water needs and capacities until every bit of relevant information is given its due.

If you plow on with incomplete information as your guide, public displeasure is unlikely to go away anytime soon.

I know mine won't.

Thank you, Ms. Downey.

Rebecca Quinn, 1044th Street here in the city.

By regulation, the final regional water supply plan is required to include written comments, a record of the public hearing, all written comments, and responses to all written comments.

I can cite the regulation for you if you'd like.

At about 1230 this afternoon, I and others who submitted written comments received an email from the RWSA.

Attached to that email was a nine page document purporting to be responses to public comments.

Also attached was a single page noting a grand total of seven innocuous edits.

I've not had time to review completely their responses, but I and others note that some of our comments and questions, including comments and questions explicitly about the water demand analysis and about the regional plan itself, were not addressed in the nine page document.

At least in theory, all citizen comments should be fairly evaluated and, at least in theory, any citizen comment could prompt a change in the plan.

In my opinion, if you adopt the regional water supply plan tonight, prior to seeing all written comments and prior to seeing responses to all written comments, then you expressly endorse the RWSA ignoring citizen comments and I believe you would be doing the same.

Plus, you'd be adopting a plan that clearly fails to meet one of the regulatory requirements.

I don't know if there's an opportunity to put the actual adoption off until the next meeting, but I would urge that you do so.

Thank you, Ms. Quinn.

Brandon Collins, 536 Meade Avenue.

You know the various problems with this plan have been outlined over and over and over and over again particularly in the last few months.

Ms. Quinn in particular has brought up numerous violations of different regulations and I think you need to take that into consideration when you're considering the regional water supply plan.

I think the resolution or at least the background material for the resolution you're about to pass is still working with a high estimate of the demand and it does not take into consideration conservation.

So I know you're going to pass this.

It doesn't really matter what I have to say or it doesn't seem to matter what anybody else has to say, especially if comments at the public hearing are not being responded to.

But if you go ahead and do it, I think it would be nice to see language in the resolution that points out conservation and points out that we should be committed to conservation.

I know it's not necessary inside of that resolution, but having that language in the resolution would give us something to be able to hold you all accountable.

Not even sure that that's particularly possible either but you know I think that's something to consider or at least having a separate resolution that lays out just exactly what the city plans to do for conservation, for water conservation.

There's a lot of ideas we can use and I think outlining those things and seeing where they fit into a demand analysis with the water supply plan would be a helpful thing to see from you.

Collette Hall, 101 Robertson Lane.

Recently a survey was published regarding poverty in Charlottesville.

Yet if a new, and at this time, unnecessary dam is built at the Red Mountain Reservoir, the water rates will be another crushing weight, not only for those already below or at the poverty level, but also the increasingly financially burdened middle class.

The council has already voted to surrender millions of dollars in assets.

and now we are being asked to pay for it.

In the Hippocratic Oath, which most health care professionals observe, not just doctors, it states, first do no harm.

The least harmless action is to dredge and fix a very fixable dam, examined and declared fixable by an internationally reputed company of professional dam builders.

In fact, we can safely add height to this dam to increase water capacity.

Wouldn't you first choose to try medication rather than to have surgery?

At the very least, Albemarle County should be paying the city for the loss of our assets and for a new dam that they repeatedly declare they need.

The city would be fine if we repaired the present dam and dredged, even if our city population increases in 50 years to the dubious numbers that have lately been speculated.

Something is very, very wrong with this picture, so wrong that it is unconscionable.

Thank you Ms. Hall.

Yes, Mr.

I'm Matt Rody, I live at 1014 Locust Lane as well.

I just had one short question to go back to the RWSA and it has to do with the methodology and kind of going on.

I just should mention parenthetically I'm definitely opposed to the

I took one observation away from that meeting and it goes back to the question of methodology and determining what the demand that the community is going to have for water

over the next 50 years, over the next 20 years.

There is obviously a very strong growth curve projected.

I think as long as Charlottesville is going to be listed as one of the top 20 places to live in the country, we can expect more people to want to move here.

That seems reasonable to me.

But in order to make space for those folks, and as a progressive city, we're also putting a lot of effort

into upgrading the current homes and businesses that we have.

But as we make space for all these new folks that are coming on board, all the new construction that's going to serve all these new citizens actually operates at a much higher level of efficiency.

We know that to be true.

It's in the building code.

My question becomes was that incorporated into the methodology because the information that I got at the DEQ meeting was the projection curves that were put out for the growth in water demand do not account for that increased efficiency that's mandated by law, that's in every building code, every new home, every new business that's going to be created in this community.

is going to become more efficient.

And I can only estimate, as water becomes a more precious commodity, that those restrictions are going to be even tighter on new construction.

If that has not been incorporated in the projections for demand in this community, I think that is an utterly flawed element in the current water supply plan.

I would ask the Council to consider that and ask those questions back to the RWSA.

Thank you, Mr.

Rode.

Anybody else like to speak?

Yes, DeeDee Smith.

I live in the same place as I did a few minutes ago.

I spoke at the public hearing, as you know, the other day and brought up three points, two of which were addressed in the responses to the public.

One was groundwater, which is just simply in

incomplete information that is in the regional water plan.

I don't think there are plans to add the information that I requested.

But the second one I find much more disturbing, and that is the information about the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, which of course is a city-owned asset.

It refers to the Gannett Fleming bathymetric study

which was done in 2002, is now almost 10 years old and for which there has been of course a much more recent study done that you all paid most of.

I think Rivanna actually did contribute to the bathymetric part of it because it was required.

by the state.

I believe it's every six years it's required that there be a bathymetric study.

It was a little late this time, but it is an update to that 2002 study, yet the only information recorded and reported in the regional water plan is the old information.

What was really striking about the new information is that, first of all, it was a much more comprehensive bathymetric study.

It was done at much narrower transects

much more modern technology was used.

In fact, they used two different kinds of technology when they ran into some obstacles.

It was just a much better study and showed pretty shockingly different results.

We had more water than they reported we had practically 10 years prior.

We should have had hundreds of millions of gallons difference between what they found and what was reported in 2002.

yet that is the information that is in this regional water plan.

And for you all to accept and to approve the regional water plan with this, what we know is inaccurate information makes you complicit with in fact submitting false information to the state.

And I ask you, it is again, it is your resource, please insist that the accurate information

Most up-to-date information is used before it goes to the state.

Thank you, Ms. Smith.

Only a few minutes ago did I realize that this was coming up tonight.

So my name is Francis Fife and I live at 501 9th Street Southwest.

I'm very concerned about your adoption of this water plan or whatever the procedures are and so on.

How many of you attended the hearing before the State Water Control Board channel?

Thank you, either.

No one else did.

It's the first time I've seen a real opportunity to present the whole

picture of how much misinformation and corrected information was put out.

And if you read a copy of that hearing and what people said, two-thirds of the people there were opposed to the plan, one-third in favor.

I think if you read that you would understand why we keep coming up trying to tell you that some of these things that are extremely important to this particular issue are not being taken into consideration.

If they were, you would change your minds and you would follow a different plan.

The group that I'm associated with, and they're all smart young people, I'm not one of them, I'm one of the group, but I'm not one of the smart young people, have studied harder than any group of people I've ever seen as volunteers to get this information.

There are engineers in the group, and this information that has come out is so different in a number of cases that it's appalling

between what you have previously heard and what has been developed by this group.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fife.

Anybody else like to speak?

All right, we'll now close the public hearing and open up for discussion, comments, questions.

And I know Mr. Frederick's still here.

I just wanted to ask Mr. Frederick the question of the mesometric study.

I want to clarify a bit of confusion.

What's in the regional water plan is a list of alternative water supplies and an estimate of what they could yield.

That's not a bathymetric survey.

That's taking information from multiple bathymetric surveys and applying engineering methodologies to forecast a condition in the future.

The last analysis of alternatives that's been done in this community was the one done by Gannett Fleming in 2004.

Gannett Fleming did not do a bathymetric survey.

They applied data that was previously on record on different bathymetric surveys done over time on the South Fork Reservoir.

To my knowledge, they did not do or conduct any of those surveys.

They took the data and applied statistical methods and forecasted into the future.

HDR did an updated bathymetric survey associated with a feasibility study for dredging the reservoir now one time based on current conditions.

HDR did not do a safe yield projection into the future.

And that's the reason that there is no updated safe yield projection into the future in this plan.

At the public hearing at City Space, that question was asked and at least addressed by the young woman who was with AECOM.

We received an email today along the same lines, Mr. Frederick and

And maybe you can correct, but the email essentially said that it does show that per capita, it does show reductions in per capita consumption given new requirements, new technology, but only through 2015, I think, and then beyond.

And again, I'm just stating what was in the email, and I'm asking you to verify that maybe.

and essentially saying beyond that there's no increased reductions from efficiencies.

And her point was that it does take into account what happens when old toilets, specifically looking at toilets, are being replaced and upgraded.

But it doesn't get to the point that Mr.

Rode made.

which is in all the new construction you're going to have new toilets that are much more efficient than the existing standard or the previous standard I should say.

My understanding is that what Ms.

Shorter and her firm did was

apply the efficiency standards to all new homes built based on the projections.

So additional population that's occupying new houses all applies the most efficient standard.

They did also make a forecast into the future, which

I think for my purposes, I think I understand, sorry I shouldn't talk with my mouth.

I think I understand what you're getting at with the HDR.

I think I understand what you're getting at.

But it certainly seems, that's a very valuable

set of data that we paid a lot of money for and that it should at least be referenced in the report.

And even if you want to put an asterisk next to it and say this doesn't include future safe yield projections, but to rely on something six years, eight years prior as the sort of

You know the authoritative figure regarding water availability in the South Fork Reservoir seems, it seems that we should at least acknowledge the fact that we got some updated information even if it doesn't answer every question.

So I'd like to ask if you could at least include that as a data point.

Even if it doesn't affect the ultimate projections, but at least that's the data point.

A footnote can be added to capture what they said the existing usable storage was at the time of the batchometric survey.

I just think it needs to be acknowledged.

Is that a motion Mr. Huja?

A motion on the table to adopt the water plan?

As amended.

I'd be happy to second it.

I'd also be happy if there's any deliberation necessary.

It don't seem like we have a whole lot of follow-up items to talk about.

I mean, I think we intentionally tried to give ourselves time to discuss this at two meetings, so I think we should, if there's a reason to,

I think we should.

If there's no follow-up that we're asking for, then I think that I'd be happy to second that motion and move it on.

I know for myself, I haven't had a chance to review all the information that came in today.

Okay, so we'll move it till the next, wait till the next meeting.

Yes.

Okay.

And I would just say if counselors in the coming days, once you've had a chance to read all the information we received today, if you have any follow-up questions, please try to get them to Mr. Frederick as soon as possible, or to Mr. Jones, who can get them to Mr. Frederick.

And when I got this afternoon, the email, I did go Skinswood Road and then studied.

All right.

Well, I want to thank all the members of the public who came to speak tonight.

And if anybody in the room or at home has further thoughts they'd like to add to this conversation, please feel free to contact counsel anytime between now and the next meeting.

And we will take those into consideration.

And thank you, Mr. Frederick.

Next item on our agenda is a report on Davis Field.

This is a significant addition to the city's inventory of parkland that's on the table tonight for discussion and decision.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council.

This evening before you is an item regarding the acquisition of six and a half, a little more than six and a half acres of

Land commonly known as Davis Field over on Davis Avenue in the northeast part of the city.

The land is directly adjacent to Northeast Park on kind of the northwest side of Northeast Park.

The land contains a rectangular field that has been used by the soccer organization of Charlottesville and Albemarle for a number of years.

The land also contains some steep slopes, some hardwood and forested area.

in kind of the backside of the park, not necessarily adjacent to the street.

An agreement's been reached between the city and the owners of this property to purchase the property for park and recreation purposes for a price of $750,500.

The existing current assessed value of the property is a little more than $802,000.

The specifics of the purchase agreement have been given to you tonight.

There was an update to the purchase agreement I believe it was presented by the city attorney earlier this evening that changed a couple of things in the agreement that was from your item in the original package which was the sellers have asked for a $25,000 deposit

to be paid prior to closing and a closing date of 60 days from the point that council approves the resolution.

The next step in this process would be to council's decision regarding the acquisition of the property this evening, but staff will be moving forward with developing an RFP

for a land lease for the portion of the property that contains the rectangular field, very similar in fact using the exact same process that was used for the land lease for the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club.

The lease would be intended to generate up to $120,000 in revenues over a 20-year term to ultimately reduce the costs to the city for the purchase of the property.

I have one just as a person who lives near Northeast Park.

We can certainly do that.

Other questions or comments?

Well, I want to just thank you, Mr. Daley and your staff.

I mean, this opportunity has been some time in the making.

I'm also very pleased to be able to do this in the near future.

I have a little paternal interest in Northeast Park because I planned on designing it a long time back, so this will be a great addition to the neighborhood and that park.

Is that a motion, Mr. Huja?

It's been moved and seconded.

Is this, this is just one reading?

Yes, sir.

Okay, so it's been moved and seconded.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, please indicate your vote.

And it carries unanimously.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next item is a report from our friend, Dr. Frank Friedman, President of Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Every year we get an update from Dr. Friedman on what's going on up on the hill.

Thank you very much.

Another year has rolled by very quickly.

First, let me introduce two of your representatives on our board who are here tonight.

I think you all know Suzanne Morse-Mumau, who is our board chair.

She's serving her second year as chair, and Peter Kleeman.

Unable to be here tonight, Mary Lou Stovini and Sean McCord.

Those are your four representatives on our 13-person board, and I thank you for their appointments.

I'll give you a quick update, enrollment.

I think the best way to describe it is explosive growth.

I thought I'd give you a kind of five-year trend so you see what's been going on.

The year that just closed out, June 30, we had over 7,800 students in credit classes.

Go back five years, that number was 6,200.

So that's a growth of about 25%.

Fall semester, we're in right now, we're over about 5600.

Five years ago, 4100 in a fall semester, growth of about a third.

Unfortunately, and we've talked about this before,

The trend is not that way with Charlottesville.

As you know, we peaked several years ago, then we actually had a drop in enrollment from Charlottesville.

I'm pleased it's recovered.

We are exactly where we were five years ago in enrollment in Charlottesville.

This past year it was 1,053, which means you're about 13% of our enrollment right now.

and that's almost exactly where we were five years ago number wise but percentage wise the city has dropped from about 20% of our enrollment down to 13.

Why that is?

What needs to be done about it?

I think those are topics for discussion for all of us.

Looking at some specifics related to Charlottesville enrollment

Of that thousand who attended the last year, 136 were CHS students taking courses with us through dual enrollment.

And I thought you might be interested if they had to pay us tuition for the courses they took while in CHS.

And you know they do not.

They do not have to pay us tuition.

The tuition would have been $110,000.

So that's what they saved in a year through the dual enrollment program.

And if they transfer those credits to JMU or UVA, that 110,000 is more like 250,000 in their tuition when they get those credits.

So it's a very, very productive program.

And city council, the school superintendent, the school board should really be very pleased with the way that has gone.

We're also offering courses, as you know, at night at CHS.

These are just open to the public.

Last year we had 294 students attending at CHS.

Now they might not all be city residents because it's open to everybody and I don't have that data, but there's a good chance a good chunk of them are city residents.

Let me give you a couple of highlights from last year.

Most of these you probably know already.

We opened up the Kluge Moses Science Building, which we desperately needed.

As you can tell from the enrollment figures, we needed that just to play catch up on space.

But it also enabled us to expand our health care programs.

We added the licensed practical nursing program, a program in sonography,

and a program in Radiologic Technology.

Those programs bring in 52 students a year into those programs.

And now as their first graduates come through the program, we're now graduating between 150 and 200 students a year in all of our healthcare programs combined.

and I think as you know it's one segment of our economy that's still been hiring so these are very popular programs.

People know where jobs are and they know that once you get the credentials in healthcare you have a very, very good chance of getting a job locally.

Last year we also opened up the Stoltz Center for Business and Career Development.

much thanks to you for allowing us to take ownership of the old Monticello visitor center you'll be glad to know now that's the part that we use for workforce development so it's all non-credit courses uh... some of them are customized for businesses some are just open enrollment for people who want to upgrade their skills by adding that space we expanded from two thousand people a year in those programs to four thousand

That's how much difference that space provided for us and enabled us to serve the community that much better.

Just a quick note related to that.

Today, we began the first analyst boot camp.

And I know you've read about the programs that we've started to try to support what's happening with the intelligence industry, if you want to call it that, and the defense contractors.

We had 21 students in the first boot camp that started today.

That's a 10 week program.

This program was restricted to those who already had a bachelor's degree or had significant military experience in intelligence.

And that was because we were told by the various contractors they would not be hiring people unless they already had those credentials.

But the boot camp added on to that gave them the leg up in the hiring.

and that's a 10 week program and obviously we'll be tracking to see what kinds of jobs they get at the end of the 10 weeks.

I just mentioned two quick plans for next year.

Again, one I know you're familiar with, the Jefferson School.

We're so pleased with the bell ringing a couple of weeks ago and the renovation has started.

We've been talking a long time about that and we are so pleased that's moving forward.

We've put together an advisory committee for our culinary arts program.

They'll meet for the first time in a couple of weeks to help us start to put together the curriculum for that program.

and we figure a year from this January we'll be starting up the culinary arts program.

Maybe we'll have some other courses in there next fall.

We'll just see how the renovation goes.

But we're just a little bit over a year from being in there and that's really good news.

We have similar good news in Greene County.

We'll be opening up a center in Greene County next fall also and I had mentioned that to you previously.

The Board of Supervisors has provided a space at a dollar a year which is something we can afford and we're raising money now to renovate the space and get it ready for classes.

We should be in there next fall also.

So it's two big developments for us.

With that, I think I'll stop and field your questions.

I just want to make two or three comments.

First, I want to commend you for the expansion you have had, especially in the area of workforce development in the Jefferson School.

I have a question.

It may just be, well it is just kind of happenstance that these happened on the same day, your report and the notice that at the jail there was just a grant received for a culinary arts program.

I wonder if... Oh really?

And that is something we do work at.

I just have one question.

With the expansion of the healthcare, has that had an impact on the RN waiting list?

It's still quite long.

I don't have the exact figures, but we can take 100 students in the associate degree nursing program each fall.

I think this past year we probably had close to 300 qualified applicants, but we can only take 100 due to the limitations of clinical site availability.

It has been the one disappointment that I've had that we've not been able to figure out how to increase the opportunities, especially since healthcare is going to be key in our community.

The key is that with the UVA health system, with Martha Jefferson Hospital,

All of the nursing programs within Central Virginia are coming to them asking for clinical time.

Their own students at UVA but also there are many other colleges in the area that offer programs and they're really inundated with requests and it's the lack of the clinical time that holds us back in terms of the numbers of students we can accept.

That's a problem quite honestly throughout the Commonwealth and throughout the nation.

Yes, both of the hospitals work with us very well.

We've tried some things.

I don't know about the priority issue.

I can't speak to that.

But we've tried some things by expanding into weekends, expanding into evenings, trying to get more time.

And that's how we went from taking 60 students a year up to the 100 when we added the evenings and weekends.

We can continue to try.

Dr. Freeman, I was speaking to one of your students last week and he was suggesting to me that one of the barriers that might prevent more Charlottesville residents, particularly lower income residents, from participating in your educational programs is the infrequency of public transit.

And that he said it's hard when the bus only goes once an hour up to Piedmont to make it work in some people's schedules.

Do you have any immediate thoughts about that?

That might be one way of connecting more students to... We would certainly be supportive of increasing the public transit up to PVCC.

whether that would increase enrollment, I can't speculate.

I don't know if that holds individuals back.

I will say this.

I mean, many of you know I live up in Forest Lakes.

A young lady I knew in Forest Lakes did not have automobile transportation to PVCC and she needed to get there by bus.

I hate to say it, but it was over a two hour journey.

I mean she tried and she just gave up.

It was about two hours each way.

So as you get out from the city, as you can imagine, it becomes more and more difficult to get public transportation to PVCC.

How many of that impacts?

Well that has been a huge growth area.

Just as an example of the thousand city residents who took credit courses from us last year, 313 took at least one of their courses online.

So 30% were taking at least one online.

So that's been a huge growth area.

People are busy.

I mean, 80% of our students work and go to college at the same time.

They fit college in around family, around job.

So taking online courses is a major convenience factor.

And you know, it was what, five, six years ago, we really just broke into the online business.

Before you let me go, if I could just make one comment.

I know there's been discussion tonight and over the past week of the study on poverty that I know you folks have paid attention to and so has the public.

Just want to make a comment.

I've met with many of you individually and had discussions about that topic.

And without getting into the specifics of that report, what I might agree with or disagree with,

What I definitely agree with is the idea in the report that we as a community and truly we as a nation spend an incredible amount of time, energy and money helping people survive poverty.

And we need to.

That can't stop.

But it's a small percentage of time, energy and money that we spend to help people get out of poverty.

And if that report can get us to focus more on helping people get out of poverty rather than just continuing to live in poverty, then I think that report would have done great service to our community.

We're going to be having a little session on the topic really soon.

Well, that was quick.

Just for you.

No, I really would like to be there.

We've had discussions of this and I mean, you know, my feeling that the two key ingredients are education and a job.

And in that part, I think the report certainly was right on target.

And I guess my comment to that would be I've always also felt that there could be better outreach of PVCC and better outreach in the communities and better outreach in terms of really

getting people where they are and creating the opportunities and also a method that we've talked about in providing supportive services so that we really see people move to the next level in their lives.

And clearly that's one of the hopes with the Jefferson School project, that that will help increase those efforts.

But I think you're right.

That is an area that

Do you have marketing strategy for Jefferson School program?

In what way do you mean a strategy?

All right, thank you so much, Dr. Ewing.

I'm going to just leave these.

I hope you'll make our marketing department happy and take a look at those.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Have a good evening.

Next on our agenda is a report, an update on our Our Town community town hall meetings.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Ms. Vice Mayor, and members of the council.

I'd like to tell you a story with a happy ending.

Once upon a time, there was a city council candidate with a very ambitious idea.

I'm talking about you.

The city council candidate wanted to take city council meetings on the road.

When staff heard about this bold proposal, our ears certainly perked up.

When the city council candidate won the election, my boss at the time said, I think you're really going to have to start planning these things.

The city council candidate certainly seems like a hands-on person, which she has, and thank goodness she has been.

We talked and we planned.

We wanted to start neighborhoods that seemed to be absent from city council meetings, perhaps because it's kind of nerve-wracking to be at this mic up in this room and on this TV, but also perhaps because to some we needed to listen more and talk less.

And we have tried to follow through on that concept.

The plan was to reduce the barriers that might keep parents, students, our older residents, our poor residents from attending city meetings.

We had a dinner.

We added childcare and created a very casual and accessible environment.

These were truly city council meetings on the road and out of city hall.

Our first Our Town meeting was held in Tonsler Park for the Fifeville and Ridge Street neighborhoods.

The room was packed and the discussion was certainly lively and emotional.

The evening discussion ranged from lighting and safety issues to more personal issues like young people feeling uncomfortable in the park and at their schools.

There were loud voices, there were tears, handshakes and hugs.

It was a good night at Tontsler Park and I was very proud that we had started a community discussion on how city hall and neighborhoods could solve challenges and make this a better place to live.

So today we've gone to literally thousands of doors dropping off flyers.

We've eaten countless pounds of chicken and coleslaw and baked beans.

But all the walking and the eating has paid off.

Nearly 600 residents have attended the meetings.

Over 100 have signed up for our e-alerts.

City residents, city staff, and city council have devoted nine evenings to listen, challenge, and to answer.

But more importantly, some specific things have been done.

Traffic lights have been fixed, traffic and parking,

issues have been solved, parking challenges have begun to be addressed, and one thing I'm particularly proud of is we've had people that have never come to city council come to city council and apply for our boards and commissions.

On the web, we are improving our tracking mechanism and public notice site, and for the public, that is charlottesville.org forward slash our town to help residents follow our progress.

Beyond that first meeting we had at Tonsil Park, we've gone to Woolen Mills, Belmont, twice,

Burnett Commons, South First Street, Venable, JPA, Lewis Mountain, Johnson, Fry's Spring, South Downtown, North Downtown, Martha Jefferson, and most recently Kelly Town and Rose Hill.

For the public, the next stop is Barracks Road and Rugby, and that's at Greenbrier School on the 13th of this month.

That's followed by Greenbrier and Locust Grove at CHS on November 10th, and we round out the year December 8th in the Meadows neighborhood at Meadows Church.

So as we close out this process for this year, city staff would like to suggest that we have a new approach next year to continue the momentum by partnering with Celebrate250 by using the neighborhoods and city staff to assist those neighborhoods with existing community events in their neighborhoods like festivals and street fairs with marketing and funding to make their efforts even more effective.

In the neighborhoods with existing events like West Haven Day, that would be pretty easy to do, but in neighborhoods without regular events, we hope to encourage them

to start something that would enhance community in their part of the city.

We suggest using neighborhood grant funds through neighborhood development services, which is a step forward to be pivotal in the planning of these future opportunities.

And of course if there are neighborhoods yet to be visited or needed to be revisited, our town hall meetings would continue as they are identified.

Well, and I think I speak for all of us in thanking you and your staff and other folks here in City Hall for doing all of the legwork to make these events such a success.

I too will say that I was really impressed with how your office particularly took this on and really made it happen.

That first meeting I think showed the importance of going door to door and talking to people.

I think there was one meeting along the way where we didn't do quite as much of that and it was clear because not as many people came and so immediately the next meeting it was obvious that that had happened again.

So I really appreciate, I know that takes a lot of time and a lot of effort.

It's worth it because it brings people

who need to say things and to be heard into the room, so I really appreciate that.

One thing that I've been, one number that I'll say that I would like to see come up is when we've had 600 people come, which is wonderful, 100 people added to our kind of email alert list, and I know a lot of people don't have email or don't care to get more emails if they're already getting emails,

But I hope that during this process that we can increase that, because I think that the more people who are able to hear about what happens on a kind of monthly or weekly basis in the city, the more people kind of know how they can fit in, when a border commission opens up, that that might be something they're interested in.

So it's not just when it comes to their neighborhood, but from then on, they're more involved.

And one of the things that we don't know is how many of those folks were already on our email list.

Absolutely.

I'd like to comment on what a great idea I thought this is and even though I haven't been able to attend all the meetings I think they've been a really good idea and I'd like to extend the mayor's thanks to the city staff because as many, you know, a majority of the questions that are asked or comments that are brought up really ended up being replied to by the staff and so it's really a chance for the people attending the meetings to get a

Just one more question.

There are a number of issues brought at each meeting and I'm sure you follow and monitor those issues.

There is a tracking mechanism on the web.

I have to say that we're working to have more exact information on there.

The minutes will be added to the web as well, but our intent is to have a vehicle for people to be able to go at any point to say, you know, I brought up that street light on Fifth Street.

Where are they in the process of fixing it?

That's what I'd like to see happen.

Okay.

Well, your reaction certainly would be appreciated.

Jim Tolbert came up with this idea, and I think it's a good one, where we would certainly augment events and festivals that are already going on with participation, marketing, and some funds, and try to go in really to some neighborhoods that don't do anything, to have them think about making something that lives on that'll develop community within their neighborhood.

I also plan to bring things back from the League of Cities meeting.

There's a session on that doing more outreach.

I guess one thing that I'd like to see is the combining of some neighborhoods that are geographically close together because I think another goal would be to have more neighbors to meet more neighbors.

And I think the Kellytown and Rose Hill neighborhood is a good example.

Great.

Thank you very much, Mr. Ver.

That was the last item on our regular agenda.

We have two items, at least two items of other business.

Yes, I did.

I had that as a part of my bucket list that I wanted to talk about, and I'll just go into one of my bucket lists, and I'll save that for last.

We can have a little bit of discussion.

But the first thing was, I was going to ask

Ms. Barfield, if she would be so kind to arrange a meeting with a delegate, her, when his schedule will allow an opportunity for me to meet, I prefer in my office at West Haven if that was at all possible.

I've never had a chance to talk with him, so if that would be possible, that would be great.

The other thing I thought about

and this came up as a result of the wonderful presentation that Coy Barefoot did and there was footage of a city council meeting where Mitch Vanier's was there and it was just so great to see him that my bucket list request is that for the 250 celebration that there be a city council reunion and all of the councilors present and past

to have a meeting and also have a group picture that we can put in the time capsule.

And maybe that meeting will also be an opportunity for former counselors to talk to current counselors about their vision for the city and maybe some of the things that if they'd had a chance to do things differently, what they learned and just to pass that wisdom on because seeing him in that video, I really miss his presence and miss his spirit.

The other thing on my list is I hope for an opportunity to talk about the future of the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority.

Our last meeting was actually canceled because it wasn't

any business to discuss.

And we actually had a work session that Counselor Szakos actually attended.

So I want to have a meaningful conversation about what that future would look like.

And that so much is in terms of programs.

And the only thing we really do now is IV cleanup and McIntyre recycling.

But we're also talking about people and positions and just the

I think this is just a good time to even just begin to plant that seed.

And lastly, when I had an opportunity just to sit in on the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority meeting, I think you were out of town, and the discussion came up about the Willam Mills Pup Station by Supervisor Ken Boyd.

And I was

I'm just a little alarmed at that because some of the decisions that need to be made, we need to make them.

Well, there's a public meeting coming up, is it the 20th of October, Maurice, the 19th or 20th?

The 19th on the options for the pump station and with the good news being that the options that the public brought forward of

trying to make a direct route over to property held by Rivanna has come in with some reasonable estimates and so all the options will, three options that are still there will be explained in some detail and what the cost estimates are.

I have it down on the 20th actually.

But I think this is a very important point or question really which is so we'll have the public meeting on the 20th but then what's the process for council to

hash out our decision.

I know at one point we talked about having a dedicated work session.

I think we can bring it back to city council.

It's up to the council whether or not you'd like to have that happen before or after that public meeting on the 20th.

We could certainly bring it to council on the 17th or wait until the first meeting in November to bring it to council for consideration.

So we have three options that we'll be considering.

And in some ways, we already are on record unanimously as opposing option A.

And I don't see us changing that.

The option that goes over to the State Farm property, the estimates are quite expensive.

It's the most expensive of the options.

And so it kind of leaves the one in the middle.

which is probably one that everyone's, I think it's going to end up embracing.

So I think we'll just kind of see after the public meeting kind of what we need to do.

Alright, that sounds like a good path forward for now and then if something does happen between now and the 7th that calls into question the viability of that option E. Is that the one?

Option E. Option E, then we'll have to figure out our plan B.

That was it.

How could we have the same scheduling opportunity for the future of Solid Waste?

We could certainly put it on a city council agenda.

It is, I'm not sure.

Well if we do a presentation at council, I'd like to make sure that it's a time that we're not going to rush through the process because again, we're not talking about programs, we're talking about people.

And we could probably build in a couple of opportunities to talk about it as well before the end of the year.

Before we go to Mr. Huja's, I wanted to piggyback on something Ms. Edwards said about the

The Koi Barefoot presentation because he made sort of a passing comment with regard to what used to be I think it was called Buddy's, the restaurant on Emmett Street which will be demolished here fairly soon and about incorporating some kind of a historic marker or signage to talk about the role of that restaurant in the civil rights

as sort of one of the focal points of the civil rights movement in Charlottesville.

And perhaps even tying in the, you know, some kind of commemoration of Dr. King's visit to Charlottesville.

No, but there were at least three they talked about.

Right, right.

And I would think that, I don't know if you mentioned a marker at the site of the first civil rights protest in Charlottesville.

That would be another appropriate one.

This morning I understand that we are now starting the planning of eastern part of McIntyre Park which is a very important open space in our city and I am glad that Mr. Derry is here so he can comment if he wishes.

I would like to make sure that the planning process has a good design element also.

I would suggest that there ought to be a landscape architect working with the team to do the design.

This is too important a product to be left alone without professional help.

I think there ought to be some design effort in that area.

Second, related to that, is also our agenda, pedestrian bridge crosses from one end to east to west.

Again, design of that element should be done as a professional, I mean professional designer, architect or landscape architect, not just engineer.

Because engineers do know how to design bridges, but to build a good bridge

In a quality bridge I think you need more than that.

Yes, thank you.

Good evening.

Mr. Huja's comment about employing a landscape architect in the process, we actually are doing that.

We have a city as a term contract with land planning design and associates.

We've already engaged them to help provide us with the graphic assistance that's going to be necessary in finally developing the final plan.

Their staff, along with our staff, will be at the charrette meetings.

They will also be providing us with scale drawings that will allow folks to kind of move things around on, I call it the paper dolls meeting, where you're actually moving things around on the paper to see what kind of fits in the park.

We understand that we do need that level of technical expertise to assist us through that level of the master planning process.

I would like to draw a distinction that we are not doing formal design at this stage in the master plan process.

What we're doing is making decisions about how the land will be used.

And we still need that graphic technical assistance to help us do that and we've engaged them.

The second issue regarding the bridge, we're right now doing some engineering work to determine exactly where it will go.

There's some measurements that need to be taken, taking into account the topography in that area so that we have

a location that is easiest to construct and that there isn't a significant elevation change from one side of the train tracks to the other.

Because we need to make sure that our public infrastructure is well designed and not only is well designed but is elegant and beautiful.

Agreed.

Mayor Norris, the third marker was Gospel Hill, which is where the UVA Hospital is now.

Thank you very much, Ms. Szakos.

Okay, we are now going to open our meeting to one more round of matters by the public.

Is there anybody from the public who would like to speak?

Good evening.

My name is Peter Kleeman.

I live at 407 Head Street in the city.

I heard the word vision mentioned today and it reminded me that I wanted to come and request of council that the newly updated amended vision statement of city council be made more generally available on the

I guess this has been taking place over the last few months, this discussion about the vision and the changes in the vision.

And at some time before that, the vision of council used to appear on the agendas and used to also appear on this wall.

And I know that I enjoy listening to what's going on on council and mapping what's happening and how that fits in with the vision of council, the vision of our community, in fact.

So I would recommend that the

New updated vision be made generally available.

It used to actually be available on some flyers that were available at the back table in the past and some other ways that people could become familiar with that vision statement.

I think for those who are not here and can't read them on the wall, hopefully they'll be again posted, they have all this trailer on the bottom of the screen for those viewing at home and I think that would be a great opportunity to

Instead of just having the time and temperature and other meetings, there could be opportunities to point out some of the elements of the city's vision.

I think that some of what goes on in council

has issues that are conflicts among visions and I think that makes for a very good discussion as to what are the relative benefits of meeting one vision statement and what the relative costs are of not pursuing other visions.

So there are compromises that need to be made and I think that should be made open and in public.

So I hope that you will take my request to heart

But anyway, thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Klinkman.

Ms. Smith?

Well, I'm sorry.

I hate to take up your time, but I beg to differ with the response that you all got about the bathymetric study.

It just isn't fair.

When Mr. Frederick talked about forecasting into the future, it's just a calculation.

It's just a calculation based on the volume that's measured in a bathymetric study, and that is what is at issue here.

And as I sent to you, as I spoke at the public hearing, as I sent to you, and I know a lot about this issue, all that's ever referred to is a 2002 bathymetric study done by Waterways, wasn't done by Gannett Fleming,

for which they calculated an original volume and a current volume at which point you get a sedimentation rate.

That's a calculation.

That's all it is.

Then there's a usable volume that they measure.

That's above the intake.

It's just a number.

And from that they forecast.

They take the sedimentation rate and they forecast into the future.

That's when he talks about HDR didn't forecast.

They just didn't do the math.

and what we're talking about are the base numbers upon which these numbers are calculated and that's what's so very different in the HDR.

I've never once heard of Gannett Fleming using a compilation of these bathymetric studies.

There have been because they're required every so many years to do a bathymetric study and HDR was that study.

and it makes for a very different picture.

If you've got the demand going up and the sedimentation of the South Fork making the volume go down, you get a number and this number is 9.9 million gallons per day.

The whole plan was based on that number.

The fact that the demand is now lower

and the sedimentation rate is half of what they said means that number that they have to size the plan for is dramatically much less.

It's almost half.

And that's why these numbers are so important.

And if you want to go ahead and approve a plan and send to the state based on false numbers, on inaccurate numbers, so be it.

But that does, you know, you all have to know going in

That's what the deal is, so thank you.

No, thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Smith.

Rebecca Quinn, 104 Fourth Street.

The Rivanna Water and Sewer Executive Director said something very interesting and in a way he was just softening you up for his comments on responding to your comments on the water demand analysis.

He cautioned that forecasting is an inexact science and yet it is precisely a very inexact and old forecast that the $143 million dam and pipeline plan is based on.

He, some of you, and many people in the, well some people in this community are perfectly willing to accept that forecast despite what we now know based on new information.

With respect, a footnote about the HDR study is totally inadequate.

That was yet another example of obfuscation.

The point wasn't whether Gannett Fleming is or isn't a bathymetric study.

He can divert things based on terminology, but he didn't answer the question.

The point is that the safe yield of our system

based on HDR, what we know is the volume in South Fork and the sedimentation rate has not been done.

Our system, Safe Yield, they tell us 12.8 million gallons a day cited in the dam and pipeline support documents, cited in the regional water supply plan and underpinning, well underpinning the dam and pipeline is wrong.

We know from the study you paid for there's more water in South Fork, there's less sediment in South Fork.

That by itself, also taking into account the change in demand, means that safe yield is wrong.

That just, by adopting this plan with that number, it perpetuates that incorrect number.

That is the last number to fall.

in all of the assumptions underpinning the plan.

And the only reason it's there is because despite all the evidence that it's wrong, they refuse to actually account for the HDR information.

There's just no other way to say it, that that information is wrong and you will be adopting a plan with false information and doing so perpetuating this expense that we don't need to incur.

Thank you, Ms. Quinn.

Anybody else like to speak?

Pat Lloyd, 932 Raymond Road.

My husband and I have lived in the Charlottesville-Alba area since 1978, but in the city for only three years.

And my presence here tonight is probably a direct result of the first Our Town community meeting that I attended at Tonsler Park.

And I have been to maybe the last

Many, many council meetings because I'm interested in this community and I really admire what you do.

And I know that you often are faced with comments that are not always positive.

And I have no political agenda here.

I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for your public service.

I really appreciate it.

But the next time I get up

I may have an issue.

You're absolutely welcome.

Thank you.

Anybody else like to speak?

Before we end this open session, can I just make one quick comment?

I just wanted to respond a little bit to Mr. Kleeman's talking about the public display of the vision.

And I would actually like to make a formal request, at least one of me and maybe the rest of us would like to add to that.

to go ahead and put that back up on the wall here.

And I personally am a total anti-fan of the things that run along the bottom of the screens.

They drive me crazy.

I can't concentrate on two things well at once.

But I know that when the thing comes on, at least online and I assume on TV, there's this long period where it's just this empty dais.

and kind of background music, and that might be a time to put it on the screen and just leave it there or scroll it up slowly so that people can read through it.

But I think that those are two things.

Just to add to her comments.

There used to be, as you said, a piece of paper here written on the back.

We'll certainly take into consideration all those ideas.

And we were planning to put the vision back up.

All right.

We're now going to reconvene in closed session to continue deliberations on cost share allocation.