City Manager’s Report September 2022 1 UPDATES FROM CITY MANAGER MICHAEL ROGERS • Attended the quarterly meeting of the city, county and University senior leadership. This meeting is an import component for coordination between the three entities. The Mayor, Chair of County Board of Supervisors, County Executive, City administrator and the executive Vice President and Senior Vice President of the University. In this meeting there was discussion of development plans, organizational challenges, governance issues and areas where coordination would be beneficial • The Police Chief search continues. The community survey that is available through the city website was extended to August 2nd from original date of August 15. Community response has been very good and will provide critical information to frame the recruitment brochure that will be used to advertise the position. The Interim City Manager conducted three online conversations with three groups of, stakeholders, public housing advocates, business leaders and nonprofit leaders. These conversations were very useful in framing the profile for a new chief. The target is to select by the end of October or early November • Review of the proposed update and revision to the City personnel rules has begun with the Director of Human Resources and the senior staff. The new rules will be finalized this fall with a roll out in October. • Focus continues on the compensation study being conducted by Gallagher. This work will help the city address long standing issues of pay compression and lack of competitiveness of city pay. This project will be a key focus in stabilizing the city workforce and reducing turnover. • The collective bargaining ordinance was introduced at the august 15 council meeting. there was significant comment during the public comment period. there will be a public hearing on September 6. the city manager’s office will continue to receive comment up to second reading in October. • Congratulations to chief smith and his team at the Charlottesville fire department for being approved for accreditation by the international association of fire chiefs. • The city manager received presentations from the returns that worked with the PCOB under executive director Auguilar. these were outstanding presentations, one focused on developing a library as a resource for the PCOB board and the second was focused the public outreach strategy and marketing. UPDATES FROM DEPUTY CITY MANAGER ASHLEY MARSHALL • Congratulations to Police Civilian Oversight Board Executive Director Hansel Aguilar for the acceptance of his proposal regarding civilian oversight in Virginia for the annual conference: Oversight in the Old Dominion – the Past, Present and Path Forward for Civilian Oversight in the Commonwealth of Virginia. • Roy Fitch Jr. has been promoted to Employment & Financial Opportunity Manager in the Office of Equity and Inclusion. Roy will continue to lead the Downtown Job Center and will provide managerial support for the Home to Hope program and staff. • The Office of Equity and Inclusion is also excited to welcome Paul Rudacille, the City’s ADA Coordinator, to the team. While Paul has been with the city for several months, as of the beginning of this fiscal year the ADA 2 Coordinator has become a part of OEI to allow him to work not only with planning needs but to ensure the organization has critical access to his knowledge that will ensure every member of our community can access our services. • The Office of Equity and Inclusion is excited to offer a second Racial Equity Institute (REI) Groundwater Training for City Staff on August 25th in partnership with the Office of Human Rights. The session is currently full of 100 participants who will spend their afternoon embracing key truths to help them confront the reality that all our systems, institutions, and outcomes emanate from the racial hierarchy, on which the United States was built. OEI provided its first Groundwater training session in June 2022 with 86 participants including members of City Council, United Way of Roanoke Valley, and Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. UPDATES FROM DEPUTY CITY MANAGER SAMUEL SANDERS • Congratulations to the CFD on the recent notification of a 5-year renewal of accreditation. We are so proud of the achievement that continues to help our fire department stand out as a model to others. • Michael Goddard has been promoted to Facilities Development Manager in Public Works. Mike previously served as a Senior Project Manager and assumed his new duties on Monday, August 22nd. We also thank Kristel Riddervold for pulling double duty managing this division along with the Environmental Sustainability Division for a number of years. Thank you, Kristel! • Emily Irvine has accepted the position of Climate Action Specialist and joined our Environmental Sustainability Division of Public Works on August 31st. Emily will manage the implementation of our Climate Action Plan. • Our new Building Code Official, Charles (Chuck) Miller started August 29th. This position has been vacant for two years and we are very excited to finally have the added capacity within this division of NDS. • It’s official. We have dropped the interim title making Alex Ikefuna the Director of the Office of Community Solutions. Alex will continue to oversee housing programs, redevelopment, and neighborhood connections. APPOINTEES AND ELECTED OFFICIAL UPDATES • Commissioner of the Revenue – Commissioner Todd Divers (he/him) o The Commissioner of the Revenue is participating in the Statewide Commissioners and Can Food and Fund Drive with Commissioner of Revenue offices around the state. The drive runs throughout the month of August 2022. The Office is grateful to have the assistance of the City Fire Department and City Police Department. Food bins are in front of the mall side entrance to City Hall, in the City Hall Lobby, and in all the Fire Stations and the Police Department. The Commissioners office continues to work diligently to go live with an online business portal that will allow for online filing and payment of an array of business taxes. The Office will announce their go live date to the public as soon as possible. Finally, the Commissioner is working with a statewide group of stakeholders convened by the Department of Taxation as directed by recently enacted legislation to examine the processes currently used to collect local transient occupancy taxes and make recommendations for improving the efficiency and uniformity of those processes. 3 CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE UPDATES • Office of the City Manager – Executive Assistant Terry Bentley (she/her) o The Office of the City Manager would like to remind the public that the MyCVille App is free and available for download by any mobile user. This resource is available for live reporting of issues encountered throughout the city that require attention. Examples of things to report include blocked sidewalks, overgrown trees in public rights of way, down tree, streetlights out, and general non- emergency matters to be called to the attention of city staff. • Office of Budget and Management – Director Krisy Hammill (she/her) o The Budget Office is excited to announce that a new Senior Budget Analysis will begin with the City on Tuesday August 23, 2022. Further, the Office is actively working on ensuring that the FY2023 Budget Document is ADA compliant. The Document should be returned and posted on our website by the end of August 2022. • Office of Community Solutions – Interim Director Alex Ikefuna (he/him) o Working on the CAPER (Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report) to be submitted for Council review and approval in September before submission to HUD as an annual requirement of federal entitlement programs. o Working with CRHA on renewal of the Charlottesville Supplemental Rental Assistance Program o Working with Vibrant Community Fund to establish alignment with the CAHF o Researching the potential concept for developing a Land Bank to promote affordable housing development • Office of Economic Development – Director Chris Engel (he/him) o The Office of Economic Development is pleased to announce that September is Minority Business Month in Charlottesville. The month-long series of events celebrating business diversity in the Charlottesville community will kick off on September 9th with the Minority Business Alliance 10th Anniversary Gala celebration. Please join us as we celebrate business diversity in our community. For more information on all the events, contact Ajoni Wynn-Floyd or visit https://cvilleminoritybusinessprogram.org • Office of Human Rights – Director Todd Niemeier (he/him) o The Office of Human Rights continues to receive an increasing number of incoming requests for individual support. In July 2022 the office received an average of 14 incoming contacts per day, for a total of 381 incoming and outgoing contacts related to individual service provision for the month, and a current total of 2,286 incoming and outgoing service-related individual contacts for the year. The Human Rights Commission will hold its meeting on August 18, 2022 and including in the agenda packet for this meeting will be the CY2021 HRC & OHR Annual Report. In September 2022 the Commission will be presented with an update of the ordinance for their consideration that contains revisions focused on the Office’s ability to enter a Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) workshare with the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as noted in the current ordinance. Finally, the department extends its continued thanks to interns Lily Gates and Ginny Helmandollar who have completed a year of service with the Office, and made significant contributions to the CY2021 Annual Report and amended ordinance. • Office of Equity & Inclusion | Home to Hope Program/Job Center – Lead Roy Fitch Jr. (he/him) o The Downtown Job Center is proud to announce a newly created employee relationship with Carter’s 4 Mountain, Chiles Peach Orchard, GovSmart, SAS Retail Services, and Charlottesville Remodeling. o Home to Hope recently has resumed a bi-weekly in-person, on-site peer support group. The group will meet the first and third Wednesday, from 1-2pm in CitySpace. The groups have been well received and are gradually increasing in number. The program is also advertising for an open Peer Navigator position currently on the City’s website. • Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) – Executive Director Hansel Aguilar (he/him) o The PCOB has launched its online complaints/complements portal. It is accessible by visiting https://charlottesvilleva.siviltech.com/ . Further, the PCOB in collaboration with Charlottesville Police Department is equipping officers in Fall 2022 with contact cards that provide instructions for citizens to provide those complements and complaints through the Sivil site. The program is planning on finalizing a public perceptions survey to be deployed to the community shortly. Finally, the PCOB participated in the Soul of Cville festival. CITY DEPARTMENT & OFFICE UPDATES • Charlottesville Area Transit – Director Garland Williams (he/him) o Continuing efforts to launch the microtransit service in partnership with Albemarle County o It has been 90 days since the launch of CAT’s Alternative Fuel/Zero Emissions Feasibility Study and it is time to re-engage with the consultant team and begin meeting every two weeks o Executing contract with Olson Group to conduct an emergency management tabletop exercise • Charlottesville Fire Department – Chief Hezedean Smith (he/him) o David Davies has joined the department as the new EMS Billing Specialist o Council approved ARP funds to establish three new Battalion Chief positions in support of a key recommendation for accreditation o CFD is currently recruiting 12 new firefighters to fill vacancies in the department (most resulting from promotions) o Congratulations to Lucas Lyons for winning ESRI’s Special Achievement in GIS for his outstanding data management work to support the department • Charlottesville Police Department – Assistant Chief Major LaTroy Durrette (he/him) o The Department would like to extend its thanks to the Charlottesville Fire Department, Public Works department, and the City Emergency Management coordinator for their collaboration during the August 12th remembrances to ensure public safety and to secure public spaces for those who wished to enter those spaces peacefully. • Human Resources – Director Mary Ann Hardie (she/her) o The Human Resources team has been working on trainings and has completed the first of several in-house trainings for the team focused on labor relations. The internal trainings will ensure that the department has knowledge and the ability to support our departments. Further, the Department is in the process of positing our vacancies for our: Labor Relations Manager, Deputy Human Resources Director, and our Talent & Acquisition Specialist (Recruiter). • Human Services – Director Misty Graves (she/her) o The Department of Human Services Community Based Services team has wrapped up a successful summer of programming. Our Teens GIVE Service-Learning program enrolled 19 youth and donated 5 328 total hours of service to the community and our four partner sites: Urban Agriculture Collective (Community Gardens), Rivanna Conservation Alliance, Habitat Store, and Ivy Creek Natural Area. In the Community Attention Youth Internship Program (CAYIP), 43 youth completed CAYIP Academy and 41 successfully completed the entire session: a 95% success rate. This involved collaboration from 34 host site partners. As a collective, interns completed 4479 internship hours in the community. The fall session of CAYIP is currently accepting applications and the session will run from September 19-November 13, 2022. Youth participants will have an opportunity to work up to ten hours a week for eight weeks. The stipend is 10 an hour (not to exceed $800 for the session). The deadline for applications is August 29, 2022 at 5pm and the application can be found on the Human Services website: https://www.charlottesville.gov/263/Community-Based-Services Finally, the Community Attention Foster Families team has been nominated for a United Way Caring for Community Award for the Above and Beyond Voice in Equity Award in recognition for their continued work towards being an anti-racist organization and walking that out in real time. CAFF recognizes the role white supremacy and racism plays in the child welfare system as a whole and has committed to using our space in the system to combat and call it out when we see it. Within that, CAFF has been very vocal with our community and straightforward with the families through that lenses. We believe we can’t truly support our community, families and the children we serve, any other way. We certainly know we still have to work to do and we are committed to continuing that work and are grateful for the acknowledgment. • Neighborhood Development Services – Director James Freas (he/him) o Our new Building Code Official, Charles (Chuck) Miller started August 29th. This position has been vacant for two years and we are very excited to finally have the added capacity within this division of NDS. Mr. Miller was previously the Building Code Official in Nelson County where he established an online permitting system and his experience there will be valuable as we move forward with that project with a target of having the building permit application process online by early spring, with the remaining permitting processes to follow. o Thomas (Tommy) Shifflet has joined NDS from the Utilities Department as a Building Inspector, beginning August 16. • Parks & Recreation – Director Dana Kasler (he/him) o Administration: Working on developing an Avon Yard presentation to deliver to DCMO providing additional cost analysis and historical information. o Environmental Engineering: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance (RCA) has continued to monitor our streams in light of the high levels of bacteria that were measured back in March. • Public Works – Director Stacey Smalls (he/him) o Administration: Working on developing an Avon Yard presentation to deliver to DCMO providing additional cost analysis and historical information. o Environmental Engineering: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance (RCA) has continued to monitor our streams in light of the high levels of bacteria that were measured back in March. • Social Services – Director Sue Moffett (she/her) o The Department of Social Services would like to proudly announce that seven staff members from the Division of Benefit Programs have been named in their statewide professional organization, BPRO: Tina Caldwell-Eheart (President), Tonia Alexander (1st Vice President), Bonnie Crocket (Chair-Fundraising), Blair Smith (President, Virginia Alliance of Social Worker Practitioners), Denise Wilson (TANF Committee), Mary Jane Skidmore (Legislative Committee), and Teresa 6 Booker (Treasurer). In addition, the Department continues to ensure that youth in Foster Care have an opportunity to live with relatives. While the statewide average for kinship placement is 12%, the kinship placement for youth in Charlottesville is 61%. The Department knows that youth who maintain family connection have quicker and more successful discharges from Foster Care and appreciate the efforts of our staff and partners to identify and grow these connections. • Utilities – Director Lauren Hildebrand (she/her) o The RFP period for the Decarbonization Study closed the week of August 18th and reviews are underway to select a contractor to perform the work. o With the cooler temperatures of fall quickly approaching, Utilities wants to remind residents of the different household rebates the department offers to help their homes remain comfortable during the coming colder months. These rebates include $100 for purchasing and installing a programmable thermostat and $300 for installing upgraded attic insulation. For more information on energy-saving incentives offered by the Department of Utilities, visit www.charlottesville.gov/utilities. 7