If you’ll forgive an attempt at neologism, today is the dozenth day of 2024. And as I typed that word, there are no squiggly lines to indicate that I have made something up. Does this word already exist? That is definitely not the purpose of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that exists to describe a little of what’s happening. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m very careful to not make things up.
On today’s show:
City Manager Sam Sanders names a Pennsylvania official as his deputy for administration
Two top officials in land use positions at the University of Virginia are now the chair and vice chair of the Albemarle Planning Commission
Nelson County Supervisors take the first step toward lowering speeds on Route 151 in the Rockfish Valley
Nelson Supervisors also agree to a schedule change for EMS personnel that will also require hiring more people
First shout-out: Camp Albemarle
Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for over sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”
Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Are you looking to escape and reconnect with nature? Consider holding an event where the natural beauty of the grounds will provide a venue to suit your needs. Visit their website to view the gallery and learn more!
Pennsylvania official chosen for administration position in Charlottesville
As promised at the first Council meeting of the year, Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders has named a third deputy to serve in city government. Sanders has selected Eden Ratliff as Deputy City Manager for Administration.
Ratliff will resign effective February 1 as the outgoing manager of the Borough of Kennett Township, a small division of government in southeastern Pennsylvania.
“I am excited to have Eden join the City Manager’s Office and I know he will bring an energy and enthusiasm that will support the ongoing work to stabilize the organization,” Sanders is quoted in a city press release.
Kennett Township is within Chester County and has a 2020 Census count of 8,289. The township’s geographic area covers 15.6 square miles. This Borough is not to be confused with the Borough of Kennett Square, which is also in Chester County.
According to the Chester County Press, Ratliff was hired in the summer of 2019 after a previous manager had been caught stealing $3.2 million. He alluded to this in a statement the Borough of Kennett Township sent out on Wednesday.
“Nearly four and a half years ago the Township entrusted me with the responsibility of stabilizing the Kennett Township government and professionalizing the services we provide to this great community,” Ratliff is quoted. “I am forever grateful for the trust the Board of Supervisors had in me, the opportunity to serve the public, and am proud of all that we have accomplished.”
Ratliff has also previously served as manager of the Borough of Greencastle in Franklin County, Pennsylvania and manager of the Borough of Ford City, also in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The incoming deputy is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Arts in employment and labor relations and an undergraduate degree in political science. He’s currently working toward a Master of Arts in public management from Johns Hopkins University.
There are a total of 2,560 municipalities in Pennsylvania according to Wikipedia. In addition to counties, the other municipality types are townships, boroughs, cities, school districts, and exactly one town.
Ratliff will join a Sanders administration that includes a total of three deputies including Ashley Marshall, who now has the title of Deputy City Manager for Social Equity.
Steven Hicks is currently serving as interim Deputy City Manager for Operations and an announcement is expected next week on who will that position going forward.
The new position that Ratliff will fill will oversee the city’s budget, finance, and human resources departments. He will begin work in early February.
Albemarle Planning Commission now lead by two top officials in UVA land use
The first meeting of 2024 for the Albemarle Planning Commission was initially chaired by Michael Barnes, the county’s new planning director. The first item on Tuesday was a resolution to allow White Hall Commissioner Lonnie Murray to participate in the meeting remotely due to weather conditions.
“I would like to join remotely due to the circumstances of my road being flooded out,” Murray said.
That requires a vote by the members present in Lane Auditorium. Jack Jouett Commissioner Julian Bivins asked a question first.
“For someone else who lives in a rural part of the county, is this what living in the country is like nowadays for those of us who live farther out into the reaches of Albemarle County?” Bivins asked.
“Pretty much,” Murray responded. “Particularly those of us who are surrounded by rivers.”
Commissioners voted to allow Murray to participate remotely.
No one took advantage of the public comment period so the third item of business was to select a chair and vice chair for the year.
Samuel Miller Commissioner Karen Firehock nominated Scottsville District Commissioner Fred Missel as chair, seconded by at-large Commissioner Luis Carrazana. The vote was unanimous.
“I appreciate everyone’s confidence and I really do respect this group incredibly, largely, a great deal and I’m glad to have the opportunity to work with everybody for another year at least,” Missel said.
Missel’s day job is as the director of design and development at the University of Virginia Foundation, the separate nonprofit organization that purchases real estate for UVA. Missel previously spent many years on the county’s Architectural Review Board before being named to the Planning Commission in early 2022.
Unlike the Board of Supervisors, the Albemarle Planning Commission has a seventh at-large member that represents the entire corner for a two-year term. In early 2022, the associate architect of the University of Virginia was named to serve in this position.
Supervisors reappointed Luis Carrazana to a second term at their organizational meeting on January 3. On January 9, Bivins nominated the architect to the position of vice chair and he was elected unanimously.
The 1986 Three Party Agreement between Charlottesville, Albemarle, and UVA calls for the state institution to name a non-voting member to the local planning commissions. UVA’s non-voting slot on Albemarle’s Planning Commission has been vacant since Carrazana and Missel were named by the Board of Supervisors to be voting members.
Things are different in Charlottesville where one of Carrazana’s colleagues in the UVA Office of the Architect recently began his tenure as UVA’s non-voting representative on the city planning commission. Michael Joy is also an Associate University Architect and he introduced himself at their meeting on Tuesday.
‘I’m a licensed architect in the Commonwealth of Virginia and I’m very honored and pleased to be here,” Joy said.
Joy made his comments in the time period when Commissioners provide updates to the public and each other about what committees they sit on. One of those groups is the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee which is a closed-door body that consists of staff and appointed officials from Charlottesville, Albemarle County, the University of Virginia, and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority.
(This paragraph was corrected after publication)
The city’s representative is now Rory Stolzenberg who did not attend the November meeting but was present on December 15. Thanks to the posted minutes, we learn that UVA Architect Alice Raucher is the chair of LUEPC in 2024.
There were also presentations worth reviewing:
Albemarle and Charlottesville officials gave a presentation on the Resilient Together initiative to jointly work on adaptation to climate change (view the presentation slides)
Albemarle’s Chief of Environmental Services gave a presentation titled “Flood Resilience through Investments in Infrastructure” (view the presentation)
These were not public meetings so any discussions are not a matter of public record.
Let’s go back to the Albemarle Planning Commission. After selecting a chair, the group went through the list of assignments to various county boards and commissions.
“Before you in your package you’ve got 15 committees there,” Barnes said.
In his capacity at the UVA Foundation, Missel serves on the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee. In the information before the Planning Commission, Bivins is also listed as a liaison to the UVA Master Planning Committee.
“I’m not quite sure where the University of Virginia master planning committee, where it stands today,” Bivins said. “I just don’t know. So, until we have a sense of that, maybe if the vice chair knows has a sense of where that might be, but I don’t believe it’s met in a bit of time.”
Carrazana said he would seek out more information about the master planning committee’s status. Bivins confirmed his continuing appointment to the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee.
One item decided on Tuesday is who will be the liaison to the working group working on AC44, the county’s Comprehensive Plan update. Carrazana had been serving in that capacity, but Murray will be the next representative.
In the discussion, the Planning Commission and Barnes also noted that the Capital Improvement Oversight Committee has been disbanded.
The Planning Commission would go on to get a presentation on the Broadway Blueprint, an economic development planning study. More on that in a future edition of the newsletter as well as a return to the December 19, 2023 meeting on AC44.
Nelson County Supervisors officially call for a speed study on Route 151
The Nelson County Board of Supervisors has formally asked the Virginia Department of Transportation to take the first step toward reducing the speed limit on a portion of Route 151. They made a motion at their meeting on Tuesday.
The conversation began when Central District Supervisor Ernie Reed said he had met with County Administrator Candy McGarry to discuss the idea of making the road safer.
“The County Administrator and I have some discussion about moving forward on the procedure for looking into reducing the speed limit and restricting through truck traffic along Route 151 in the Rockfish Valley,” Reed said.
McGarry said the Board could vote on a request to conduct the speed study which would be the first step in reducing the posted speed limit. After some discussion, the four Supervisors present voted to formally make that request.
South District Supervisor Jessica Ligon said she wanted to request a speed study on U.S. 29 to reduce the speed limit from Lovingston south to Nelson County High School.
“It’s a big dangerous getting on 29 and we have a new business across the road from Vito’s and a lot of people are making a U-turn off of north 29 onto south 29 and that is impressive,” Ligon said.
VDOT engineer Robert Brown asked if the Board would like more information about access management options on U.S. 29 in the future. There was not a formal resolution but Supervisors had consensus to proceed.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is also conducting a study of 14 miles along Route 151 in the Rockfish Valley. In November, VDOT released a 32-page report with potential improvements to address safety concerns. (Route 151 alternatives in Nelson County available for review, November 29, 2023)
North District Supervisor Tommy Harvey was absent from the meeting.
Second shout-out: Design Develop
In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out, architectural firm Design Develop wants you to know about a new service aimed at the development community that may not be widely known yet — 3D point cloud scanning! That’s a technique that uses specialized equipment, such as 3D scanner systems, to gather a large amount of data points that represent the surface of the scanned object or scene.
The applications of 3D point cloud scanning are extensive and cover various fields, including architecture, construction, cultural heritage preservation, virtual reality, industrial design, manufacturing, and more. These applications require accurate 3D spatial information, and Design Develop’s workflow provides precise and comprehensive results, all while being more cost-effective than traditional methods.
Design Develop has expertise in this workflow for their own needs and now has a dedicated team offering this service in the Charlottesville and Albemarle Area. If you're involved in the real estate, design, or construction industry, feel free to contact us for more information or a free quote.
Visit their website for an introductory video that captures the 3D point cloud scanning of the Downtown Transit Center and a booklet that will explain more!
Nelson Supervisors approve EMS schedule change to attract applicants
A focus area for Charlottesville Community Engagement this year will be the continuing reliance on paid personnel for emergency services. Last week, I wrote up a briefing that Albemarle Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston gave to Supervisors in mid-December that projected a need to hire several dozen firefighters and trained paramedics to meet a growing number of service calls.
This week, the Nelson County Board of Supervisors were asked to consider additional funding for paid fire and rescue personnel as well as a shift change to become effective on July 1.
“This item has come up just in conversation between myself, Chief [Curtis] Sheets, and also John Adkins, our emergency services director,” said Candy McGarry, the Nelson County Administrator. “Just regarding the issues that they’re having in retaining and attracting specifically Advanced Life Support and paramedic EMS staff.”
Nelson County contracts with the Wintergreen Rescue Squad for paid emergency medical services. That’s an arrangement that’s been in place since 2006.
“Two crews of 24/7 coverage in the county,” McGarry said.
Those crews currently spend 24 hours on and then have 48 hours off. The proposal is to transition to a schedule of 24 hours on with 72 hours off.
“Everyone around us, August, Amherst, Buckingham, and Fluvanna, have gone to this schedule and we are competing [for] EMTs and paramedics with those agencies,” McGarry said.
Curtis Sheets is the Chief of the Wintergreen Rescue Squad, and he apologized to the Board for coming to them outside of the budget cycle. He said he’s lost half of his staff to other jurisdictions and there are currently no qualified applicants.
“One of the things that changed about three years ago [was] when Buckingham County created their Department of Emergency Services, they chose a schedule model that was 24 hours on, 27 off, which at that time was unconventional and I for one thought it would never last,” Sheets said. “Couldn’t be sustained. Too expensive. And it stuck around and then more and more people started to pile on that schedule model.”
Chief Sheets said being able to advertise that this shift change would go into effect on July 1 would help to attract more qualified candidates. The schedule would add a fourth shift and the anticipated payroll increase is estimated at be $281,000 a year.
“The current budget for FY24 for our paid EMS program is currently about $1.4 million so that would add almost another $300,000 so it would be close to about $1.7 million in [the FY25] budget,” McGarry said.
McGarry said about half of the current budget is fueled through EMS recovery fees, which have not been updated since 2012. That prompted Supervisors to ask if those could be increased to keep up with inflation.
“The costs of goods in my office have gone up by at least 200 or 300 percent in the last few years.” said South District Supervisor Jessica Ligon, a veterinarian.
EMS recovery fees are mostly paid by insurance companies and Medicaid.
Supervisors voted 4-0 to authorize the schedule change with details on potential recovery costs to be worked out during the budget cycle.
North District Supervisor Tommy Harvey was absent.
The Wintergreen Rescue Squad asked for a loan of $100,000 to purchase a fifth ambulance for their fleet. The source is a county-run revolving loan fund for volunteer public safety companies.
“On our side of the grant program, we consider these funds to be callable notes so if an agency has some sort of crisis while we owe this $100,000, what typically would happen is that the leaders of the agencies come back together and say, hey, does anybody have the ability to make an extra payment this month?” said Chief Curtis Sheets, who has been a firefighter since 1999.
The ambulance is a 2022 Ford F-450 that will cost $235,000.
Reading material:
To Address Shortage, UVA Will Train School Psychologists, Laura Hoxworth, UVA Today, January 9, 2024
More beds at ABC: Developer claims market wants more homes, less office space,
Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, January 10, 2024
Kickstart: New City Councilor Natalie Oschrin settles in, Catie Ratliff, C-Ville Weekly, January 10, 2024
2 saved from floodwaters on Albemarle County roadway, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 10, 2024
'There’s a lot of work to be done': New Albemarle County leaders detail priorities, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 10, 2024
#624 times #624 is probably a big number
This newsletter was postponed by one day for reasons that are important to me but not important to the reader or listener, most of whom would like to just go about their business without knowing mine. However, if you do want to know what’s going on with the production cycle, then do look up my Notes page on Substack.
As the headline says above, this is the 624th edition of a newsletter that is distributed through Substack and paid for by readers and listeners who would like to keep it going. There are hundreds of you, and I’ll keep holding up my end of the bargain as long as there’s enough revenue coming in. If more revenue comes in, I’ll hire people !
Now, a haiku:
Keep this going
Ting matches first Substack fee
Then all can read more!
If you sign up for Ting at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you’ll get:
Free installation
A second month for free
A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
January 12, 2024: Two top UVA land use officials named as chair and vice chair of Albemarle Planning Commission