December 8 is the 342nd day of the year, and December 8, 2023 is the 8,742nd day since the end of the 1900’s. So much has happened during all this time and there’s so much left to happen as humanity itself continues to unfold. There are an infinite number of details that matter to each of us, and Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to help people understand a little more about interactions in local government. I’m Sean Tubbs, still mind-boggled by the ebbs and flows of time.
In this edition:
Both Albemarle and Charlottesville have announced they will begin enforcing laws against skill games on January 1, 2024
Albemarle County appoints a new chief financial officer from within its ranks and two other top officials join the administration
Charlottesville’s Planning Commission gets a look at the five-year capital improvement plan for the city
A quick review of open and recent procurement activities in Charlottesville
First shout-out: Charlottesville Band’s Holiday Celebration Concert
In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Charlottesville Band will close its 101st Season at the Paramount Theater in Downtown Charlottesville with their annual Holiday Celebration Concert on Sunday, December 10 at 3:30 pm.
The FREE family oriented program will feature traditional Holiday favorites, a sing-a-long, vocalist Martha McKechnie, and a visit from Santa. And maybe — just maybe — the first snowfall of the season!
As always, the Charlottesville Band will be collecting canned goods, non-perishable food items, personal care products, coffee and tea for the Emergency Food Network. Bring your entire family and celebrate the end of the year with the Charlottesville Band on December 10! Learn more at cvilleband.org!
Albemarle and Charlottesville will begin enforcing ban on skill games
The legal limbo in Virginia over devices known colloquially as “skill games” is over and localities across the Commonwealth.
Legislation passed the General Assembly in 2020 to define the video-based games as “illegal gambling devices” but an injunction was filed in Emporia Circuit Court that called enforcement into question. In October, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the General Assembly.
Since then, the devices have become commonplace in convenience stores across the region but Commonwealth’s Attorney offices in both Albemarle and Charlottesville indicated today their days are numbered.
“Enforcement of relevant provisions of law related to ‘Skill Games’ will begin in the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle on January 1, 2024,” reads Albemarle’s press release. “Civil penalties include but are not limited to seizure of the gambling device and a fine in the amount of $25,000. Criminal penalties include but are not limited to confinement in jail for up to twelve months and/or a fine of up to $2,500.”
Already at least one convenience store on Cherry Avenue has unplugged the machines.
Sumner named as Albemarle’s chief financial officer; Albrecht, Wall in place
There are several new people in key positions in Albemarle County, and three of them got a mention at the Board of Supervisors meeting this week.
Supervisors did not have to look very far to find someone to be responsible for the county’s ever-growing finances. Supervisor Jim Andrews made this announcement after a closed session on December 6.
“It is my pleasure to move the adoption of a resolution appointing Jacob Sumner as the director of finance [and] chief financial officer,” Andrews said.
Sumner has been serving in the position on an interim basis since May when Nelsie Birch left Albemarle’s government to enter the private sector. He had been in the position of Assistant Chief Financial Officer for Policy and Partnerships.
Before that, Sumner had been director of finance and management services in Hanover County. On Wednesday he thanked the Board for the appointment.
“I truly am humbled and honored to continue my service with the county,” Sumner said. “To our community, I’m part of the community. My service to you all, to the Board. The partnership with the the County Executive and the County Executive’s office and the executive team. I’m super excited to continue the work with the departments and the whole department team and our organizational leadership team.”
One major item underway during Sumner’s time in the position is Albemarle’s purchase of 462 acres of land near the Rivanna Station for $58 million. That has required the securing of short-term financing for the county. The deal has not yet closed according to the county’s property records. Learn more about the acquisition on the county’s website for Rivanna Futures.
“I cannot recall a time when an interim has done things beyond just keeping stabilized but actually moving things forward for the organization,” said Supervisor Ned Gallaway.
Earlier in that day, Sumner led the discussion with the Albemarle School Board about their request for FY2025. I hope to write up that conversation in detail as soon as I can.
New Economic Development Director and Deputy County Executive
On Wednesday, Supervisors were formally introduced to Barry Albrecht, the county’s new economic development director.
“Obviously I’m pretty excited about starting this new position because I showed up two weeks early,” Albrecht said.
Albrecht was previously the CEO of the Central Arizona Economic Development Foundation. He had originally been expected to start on December 18, but Supervisors adopted a resolution moving that up to December 4. (read the resolution)
Albrecht will be responsible for overseeing the update of Project Enable, the county’s economic development strategic plan. He said that was one reason he took the job.
“And I’m more than excited about my study in implementing the Project Enable that you have done an incredible job,” Albrecht said. “Rarely do you see the community engagement illustrated in a strategic plan like Project Enable.”
Have you read the plan? Here it is, if not.
The third new top official is Ann E. Wall, who has been the Deputy County Executive since Monday. Her appointment was announced in September and she replaces Doug Walker who retired earlier this year.
“I am delighted to be here tonight and delighted to be in Albemarle County,” Wall said. “Just a little bit about myself, I grew up in Virginia. I have served for many years in local government primarily in North Carolina where I had various roles in organizations and various roles in cities across North Carolina.”
Wall’s last position was as City Manager of Greenville, North Carolina. That’s the home of East Carolina University.
Second shout-out: WTJU holding Classical Marathon
In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: All year long, WTJU Classical provides Charlottesville with a serene and inspiring musical oasis. The radio station now needs your support to keep this classical community vibrant and thriving!
Please tune in now through December 10 for WTJU’s 2023 Classical Marathon. It’s a round-the-clock celebration of classical music, specially programmed for your listening pleasure.
Their classical celebration also features a tremendous lineup of guest hosts from Charlottesville’s classical community, including Ben Rous from Charlottesville Symphony, Michael Slon from University Singers and Oratorio Society, Miriam Gordon-Stewart from Victory Hall Opera, Leanne Clement of Charlottesville Opera, I-Jen Fang from UVA Music, and Fiona Hughes from Three Notch’d Road. And longtime WTJU host Michael Latsko returns for a special musical mashup!
And if you’ve missed any of the shows, you can go back and listen to them here. Please consider a gift today to keep WTJU going at wtju.net!
Charlottesville Planning Commission reviews $136M capital improvement plan
There are still many more months to go before Charlottesville City Council adopts a budget for FY2025. One major step each year is the introduction of the Capital Improvement Program budget to the Planning Commission which frequently takes place the last week of November.
This year that took place on November 28 and the work session was an opportunity for Commissioners to ask questions about the budget.
This will be the first budget for City Manager Sam Sanders.
“There are a great number of priorities as you all well know and Council having adopted their strategic outcome areas in September identifying nine areas and a commitment to [Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, so ten,” Sanders said. “How to balance all of those things?”
Sanders said room has been freed up in the capital budget to make room for new items to be added. Some of you may be new to this sort of thing, so let’s recap what a capital budget does.
“The capital budget is a multi-year plan,” said Krisy Hammill, the city’s director of budget and performance management. “We do a five year plan and it forecasts spending and revenue for all anticipated capital projects.”
Hammill said there are talks about creating an informal ten year plan to better guide future investments. That’s one thing that will be discussed with Council this budget cycle.
Hammill said the capital budget also takes direction from the Comprehensive Plan. Capital budgets can have appropriations carry over from year to year while projects move from planning to construction.
“A well-planned CIP ensures that major expenditures are aligned with community expectations, anticipated growth, all while making sure that it also remains within our financial capabilities,” Hammill said.
In recent years, Council had been constrained by an approaching debt limit but Hammill said that is not the case at the moment.
“In the last few years, as you know, we’ve continued to have a very strong recovery from COVID as well as a very strong real estate market, which has contributed to the growth of our general fund budget, making our capacity not so much the issue as affordability,” Hammill said.
That refers to the city’s ability to pay back bonds through debt services. Interest rates are kept low by the AAA bond rating.
Hamill went through the proposed budget and here are some highlights.
Charlottesville is contributing funds to Albemarle County’s project to build a joint General District Court to serve both communities. A new hearing room has been added to the scope and the city’s projected share in FY2025 is $410,000 with another $201,838 in FY2026 programmed for furniture for the new space.
The city’s share is $1.788 million for a new baling facility to assist the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority with paper recycling. An engineering study for this purpose was conducted in the fall of 2021 as I wrote about at the time. (learn more on city’s Budget Explorer)
There’s $1 million set aside each year for “climate action initiatives” and City Manager Sanders said projects have not been identified. This funding may be used for local matches for external grants. (learn more on city’s Budget Explorer)
There is $100,000 set aside in FY2026 for the repurposing of the existing U.S. 250 bypass fire station which will not be demolished when the new one is built. (learn more on city’s Budget Explorer)
There is $4.217 million in FY2025 for the upgrade of Stribling Avenue to have a sidewalk and curb and gutter. Interim Deputy City Manager Steven Hicks said a consultant has been hired to help the city come up with a pathway toward building the pathway which may be built on alternating sides. More information will be available in February or March. (learn more from the city’s Budget Explorer)
There’s an additional $750,000 in city-required funding for the Fontaine Avenue Streetscape. This is to cover costs that the Virginia Department of Transportation has indicated they will not pay. (The Budget Explorer has more info on that project here)
City Manager Sam Sanders said he would add an item to his work plan to have a published sidewalk priority list by the end of the fiscal year.
The Dogwood Vietnam Memorial secured $600,000 in state grant for a safer connection to the facility in McIntire Park.
There is $2 million toward replacing the irrigation system at MeadowCreek Golf Course whose debt service will be paid for through revenues from the city’s golf fund. In other words, eliminating this expenditure would not free up $2 million for use elsewhere.
Commissioners were also briefed on affordable housing projects in the CIP. Commissioner Karim Habbab sought to recuse himself given that his work for local firm BRW Architects includes design services provided for Piedmont Housing Alliance.
Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell asked if this was necessary.
“Did you run that by legal?” Mitchell asked.
“They did not respond with a formal statement I should make,” Habbab said.
James Freas, the director of Neighborhood Development Services, said he could not offer an opinion on the matter.
Planning Commissioner Carl Schwarz is also an architect and said he’s also been contracted to do a mock-up for one of the projects, but said he felt they could still discuss the work as Planning Commissioners were not voting on anything at the work session.
Sanders said there would be a legal opinion in time for the public hearing in January.
The big project added is $15 million for Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority over three years for the redevelopment of Westhaven, or about ten percent of the project’s total cost. City Council got a small preview at a work session in October as part of a presentation of a sustainability plan created by the firm Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures
CRHA is also slated to receive $3 million in FY25 and $3 million in FY26 for redevelopment, as well as $900,000 a year to help fund supplemental housing vouchers. This latter fund has been used recently to allow CRHA to purchase single family homes across the city. Sanders mentioned during the work session that CRHA has requested a fund that will allow it to acquire more property.
Piedmont Housing Alliance has withdrawn a request for additional funding for the second phase of Kindlewood, but there is $500,000 slated in FY25 for infrastructure improvements for what had been known as Friendship Court. There is additional funding in future years for phase three and phase four.
Piedmont Housing Alliance has other funds coming its way to help subsidize construction at the MACAA site and at Park Street Christian Church. The project to build affordable units at 501 Cherry Avenue is slated to receive $1 million in FY26 and $2.15 million in FY27.
Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg asked if the 501 Cherry Avenue funding had gone through a competitive process.
“It gives me a little bit of heartburn because we lock ourselves into it before we’ve been able to weigh it against other affordable housing priorities,” Stolzenberg said.
Sanders said Piedmont Housing Alliance did submit an application through the capital investment process in 2022 as part of reform called for in the Affordable Housing Plan.
“We formalized the [Notice of Funding Availability] and so we published that advance and there was a successive round of [request for proposals],” Sanders said. “One of the RFP rounds is the capital investment opportunity. No money allocated so we’re not making any commitment. Everyone applies but what we intend for that to do is inform the city of what are the sizeable projects that may be [Low-Income Housing Tax Credit] oriented.”
Sanders said the Planning Commission’s recommendation for the approval of a rezoning for the project was taken as a sign to proceed. Stolzenberg said he thought that should be a separate process.
The Planning Commission will have a public hearing on the capital improvement program at their meeting on January 9. Any feedback may be taken into consideration as Sanders crafts the final draft budget to be presented to Council in early March. Council will adopt the entire budget in April.
Catching up with Charlottesville bids and invitations
So now that we have a sense of the planning for the next five years of spending, let’s take a look at what’s already in the budget through the lens of procurement.
The city is seeking construction bids for the replacement of the fire station on the U.S. Route 250 bypass. (bid page)
RX Fire Effects LLC of Mt. Crawford, Virginia was awarded a contract for “Invasive Vegetation Control” (award)
Linco Inc. of Waynesboro won an award to improve access to the softball field at Charlottesville High School on November 20 (award)
The bid period closed on November 27 for a contractor to build a “paved cycling trail connecting Westwood Road with McIntire Park along Rugby Avenue, passing under the Highway 250 bypass bridge.” An award has not yet been made. (project info)
On November 2, the city canceled a request for bids for a project to restore a wall at Maplewood Cemetery because all of the proposals came in over budget. A new request for bids is now open and closes on December 12. (cancellation notice) (new bid notice)
The city received no bids for a project to build a bike trail through Washington Park connecting Madison Avenue to the parking lot. (cancellation notice)
The city is replacing a fuel station on Avon Street Extended and a new request for bids is out and bids are due on January 17, 2024. (bid notice)
Bids are open through December 19 for a firm to construct a new roof terrace at Johnson Elementary School. (bid notice)
Complete Coach Works of Riverside, California, has won an award to provide on-site technician services to Charlottesville Area Transit (award notice)
MOURI Tech LLC has been awarded a contract for SAP Upgrade and Implementation. (notice of award)
The city is taking proposals through December 19 for coaching, training, and facilitation services. (RFP notice)
Finally, the city is seeking proposals for a five-year contract for parking management services for the two parking garages downtown as well as four surface lots. One of the structures is owned by the city and the other is owned by the Charlottesville Parking Center, but both are operated by contract with the city. (RFP notice)
Reading material:
Richmond rail to D.C., Raleigh bolstered by federal funds, Margaret Barthel, VPM News, December 7, 2023
$729M federal transportation package will finish Long Bridge expansion, Virginia Business, Robyn Sidersky, December 7, 2023
Charlottesville City Council defers vote on 10-story Ivy Road apartment proposal, Caroline Hagood, Cavalier Daily, December 7, 2023
Gas station owners worried about skill games ban effect on business, Felicity Taylor, CBS19 News, December 7, 2023
Concluding ideas as #612 crawls to its end
This edition almost came out yesterday but I made a decision to take a break and I spent some time thanking people who have recently paid for a subscription. I love writing these notes, because it’s great to grow an audience of people who think the work I do is worth sustaining. I happen to think it is, too, and I hope to one day figure out how to write more.
My hope is to one day have a set time where this material comes out every day, seven days a week, preferably sometime in the mid-afternoon. Every single time I get a new contribution, I believe that much more its possible.
Until then, though, I can’t get material out seven days a week. How will you know what’s going on? Follow me on Substack Notes for the official source of what I’m up to.
If you do want to support this work, the Internet provider Ting will match your initial subscription!
If you sign up for Ting at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you’ll get:
Free installation
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December 8, 2023: Charlottesville PC briefed on $136M five-year capital improvement plan