CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
                                  Wednesday, May 13, 2020
                                  Virtual/electronic meeting
                                           3:00 p.m.

       The Charlottesville City Council met in a virtual work session on Wednesday, May 13,
2020, with the following Councilors present: Mayor Nikuyah Walker, Vice Mayor Sena Magill,
Ms. Heather Hill, Mr. Michael Payne and Mr. Lloyd Snook.
      Ms. Walker called the work session to order at 3:03 p.m. and turned the meeting over to
City Manager Tarron Richardson.

      Dr. Richardson gave an overview of the City Council request for information from Board
and Commission chairpersons regarding the urgency of meeting to conduct business during the
COVID-19 State of Emergency Declaration.

        City Attorney John Blair shared his legal analysis of statutory requirements for certain
boards and commissions to meet, and reviewed legislative amendments proposed by Governor
Northam. Mr. Blair advised of the statutory requirement for the Board of Equalization to meet.
He also advised that while the Planning Commission statutorily shall meet every two months,
City Council took action on March 25th, passing a resolution extending certain deadlines for
items that would normally be reviewed by the Planning Commission. Mr. Blair noted that Boards
and Commissions in order to meet virtually would require staff resources and consideration of
certain logistical matters in order to meet desired outcomes related to public participation and the
Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Some items for consideration with virtual meetings would
be: access, equity, urgency, workforce safety, staff capacity, and technology capacity.

       Ms. Walker opened the floor for public comment. No one indicated a desire to speak.

       Council discussed individual boards and their responses regarding urgency of meetings.

       Director of Communications, Brian Wheeler, shared information about various broadcast
and meeting options, including hybrid meeting options for partial in-person meetings in
compliance with distancing requirements.

       Mr. Blair noted that public body subcommittees would also have to abide by
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, and make meetings available to the public.
Specifically for the Board of Equalization, Mr. Blair advised that Council could not mandate that
the hearings be televised, but could make a recommendation for virtual meetings. He also
confirmed that City Council could not dictate agenda items for boards and commissions.
       Staff liaisons to boards and commissions and other staff answered Council questions.

        Ms. Walker again opened the floor for public comment. The following speakers
participated:
        • Ms. Ashley Davies, City resident and Chair of Charlottesville Area Development
            Round Table (CADRe), spoke in support of moving forward with Planning
            Commission meetings.
        • Mr. Phil d’Oronzio spoke in support of the use of Zoom meetings.
        • Mr. Rory Stolzenberg spoke about the use of technology for meeting transparency.

        Mr. Blair shared information about the First Amendment as related to managing bad
actors during virtual meetings, and a level of training that would be involved for meeting
moderators.

        Mr. Wheeler advised of the need to be aware of not overlapping meetings. He also
advised that the phone participation option for City of Charlottesville Zoom meetings does
require registration in order to identify callers.

       Council agreed that meetings that have traditionally been broadcast and livestreamed
would continue: BAR (Board of Architectural Review), CRHA (Charlottesville Redevelopment
and Housing Authority), Planning Commission and City Council, following their normal
schedules.

       Ms. Walker asked that the Communications Department work out logistics for additional
board meetings: Board of Equalization, CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) Task
Force, Housing Advisory Committee, Ridge Street Task Force, Electoral Board, and Retirement
Commission.

        Council asked staff to reach out to board chairs and bring back additional information for
discussion at the May 18, 2020, City Council meeting, verifying technical feasibility of holding
virtual public meetings.

       Ms. Walker opened the floor for public comment. No one indicated a desire to speak.
       Director of Information Technology, Sunny Hwang, mentioned a request to provide
accessibility accommodations for a particular board, and advised that staff would be researching
associated costs and ways to accommodate should other boards receive requests.
       The meeting adjourned at 5:27 p.m.
BY Order of City Council                                    BY Kyna Thomas, Clerk of Council