January 28, 2025: McKeel will not run for re-election in Albemarle this year

Plus: A water main break in Stanardsville

We are now up to January 28 of 2025, and legislation from 2010 designated January 29 of every year as National Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day. According to the bill, “the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) was established in 1975 to assist working people who earn low or moderate incomes.” The first item that pops up in a search is that the Internal Revenue Service celebrates this day on January 31, 2025. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement for the first of these dates. I’m Sean Tubbs, and that’s how story ideas are generated.

In today’s installment:

• Diantha McKeel will not seek a fourth term on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors

• There’s a water outage in Stanardsville this afternoon (update: water restored at 2:50 p.m)

• The White House has ordered a temporary pause on all federal grants to ensure purity with President Trump’s executive actions

• Charlottesville’s finance director reviews the $22.4 million surplus for FY24

• Albemarle County has postponed a work session scheduled for this evening on the Comprehensive Plan update

First shout-out: Alliance Française de Charlottesville

The Alliance Française de Charlottesville promotes the French language and francophone culture through educational and cultural programs. Visit the Alliance Française website to learn more about group classes, private lessons, cultural events, and social activities for both kids and adults.

Quick correction: PVCC does offer a journalism course this spring

One rule of journalism is to make corrections when errors are made. Yesterday the top blurb incorrectly stated that Piedmont Virginia Community College does not offer a journalism course.

“We wanted to make sure that you are aware that PVCC does offer the course ‘Introduction to Journalism’ (ENG 121),” said Susian Brooks, PVCC’s executive director for marketing and communications. “We also offer ‘Introduction to Journalism II’ (ENG 122). You can find these and over 600 other courses in our Spring Class schedule.

I based my statement on this website, which is not accurate. Is it too to register? I’d gladly take an intro course again because I could use a refresher.

Anyway, happy Community College Week, PVCC!

McKeel will not seek fourth term on Albemarle Board of Supervisors

After nearly three decades as an elected official in Albemarle County, Diantha McKeel will step away from local government at the end of the year.

“While I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served this wonderful community, which I have called home for 50 years, it is time for me to step aside and make way for a new generation of leaders,” McKeel said in a statement.

McKeel grew up in Staunton and earned a Licensed Practical Nurse certification from the University of Virginia and served many years in the Gynecology, Gynecology-Oncology and Cardiology departments. She retired in 2015.

Diantha McKeel (Credit: Albemarle County)

McKeel ran unopposed for the School Board in 1997 to represent the Jack Jouett District and won three additional four-year terms. In 2013, she opted to run for the Supervisors seat when Dennis Rooker announced he would not seek re-election.

That year she ran as an independent and faced Phillip Seay and won with nearly 70 percent of the vote. She faced no opposition in 2017 or 2021, and ran as a Democrat in those years.

“Public service is an honor and a responsibility, and I thank all who answered their door when I knocked and for meeting over coffee or sharing Happy Hour!” McKeel said. “I have shown up, listened, and focused on your concerns as best I could and wouldn’t trade a minute!”

This year the Rio District and Samuel Miller seats are up for election this fall. Neither Ned Gallaway or Jim Andrews have indicated their plans.

In Charlottesville, both Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade have announced they will run for re-election to City Council this year. No other candidates have announced for the two seats.

Here is McKeel’s statement in full:

Water break in Stanardsville

There was a water main break in the Town of Stanardsville today according to the Greene County Department of Water and Sewer. Service was restored at 2:50 p.m.

“Customers who are on County water west of Lambs Lane, including all of the Town of Stanardsville and the Greene County Public Schools Stanardsville Campus, are affected by this notification,” reads an announcement sent out this morning.

Public water was out for several hours this afternoon while repairs are made. Residents were told via an electronic alert which people can sign up for here.

The Greene County Board of Supervisors meeting scheduled for 4:30 p.m. will proceed as scheduled. The five member body will begin with a presentation from a Virginia Tech group hired to review the financial model for how Greene County will pay for new equipment.

“Even without any growth, Greene County has significant deferred and ongoing maintenance needs for its current water and sewer system,” reads one of the observations in the report.

Learn more in this week’s Week Ahead.

White House orders temporary pause on all grants for ideological review

The acting director of the federal Office of Management and Budget has ordered a temporary pause of all federal grants and loans to ensure they meet with new executive orders issued by President Donald Trump. (view the memo)

“Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again,” said Matthew J. Veath in a January 27 memo sent to the head of all executive agencies.

The term ‘wokeness’ is not defined in the paragraph but the next sentence said it is a waste of taxpayer money to pursue the “Marxist equity”, to support transgendered individuals, as well as programs intended to create fuel-efficient and zero-emissions vehicles.

Veath goes on to tell department heads all spending must be consistent with several executive orders including Unleashing American Energy and Ending Racial and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. The pause is to go into effect today at 5 p.m. EST.

Unleashing American Energy specifically calls for elimination of the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” and encouraging expanding mining for natural resources. Ending Racial and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing orders the elimination of any federal position related to social equity.

Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement arguing that Trump does not have the power to redirect funding that has been approved by the United States Congress.

“Donald Trump’s Administration is jeopardizing billions upon billions of community grants and financial support that help millions of people across the country,” reads the statement. “It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities.”

The Southern Environmental Law Center released a statement on Monday declaring they will be tracking what effect the executive orders have. (read the statement)

“The election was not a mandate – or green light – to contaminate our water with forever chemicals, pollute our air with hazardous emissions, or trade away our public lands to the highest bidders,” reads the statement.

Trump won 77,302,580 votes (49.8 percent) compared to 75,017,613 for Kamala Harris (48.3 percent). He won 312 electoral votes to 226 for Harris.

The impact to local programs is not yet known. The federal government has no power to tell localities what to do, but the second executive order demands a list of all “federal grantees who received Federal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or ‘environmental justice’ programs, services, or activities since January 20, 2021.”

Many such programs were created in the wake of the murder of a man named George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020. Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes after his arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill. His death triggered wide protests across the United States at a time when the COVID-19 lockdown was still in effect.

SELC’s statement points out that one program that will be affected is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Thriving Communities grantmaking program. The website for that program still states that applications are being taken.

A section of the Unleashing American Energy executive order issued on January 20, 2025 (Credit: White House)

Second shout out: Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library

The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area keeps some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order?

That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in! E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.

The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service at https://www.ebikelibrarycville.org!

Charlottesville City Council briefed on $22.4 million surplus for FY24

Localities across the United States face a very different federal government and budget season may be very different as federal funding is reviewed by the Trump administration.

On Thursday, City Council will hold a budget work session for the development of the FY26 budget. Materials for the meeting will be posted here.

Last week, they heard from the city’s finance director on money left over from the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2024.

“The fiscal year 24, the General Fund, ended with approximately $22.4 million in excess of the 17 percent of the fund balance policy,” said Chris Cullinan. “This represents approximately 9.8 percent of the adopted FY 2024 budget.”

In municipal budgeting, a fund balance is an amount of money kept in reserve in order to cover unforeseen expenses such as a disaster. Charlottesville’s policy is to keep 14 percent of the general fund and that’s one reason the city has the highest bond ratings possible.

In FY24, Cullinan said the city collected $12.5 million more than expected including $3.5 million more in real property tax revenue.

“Obviously, the real estate tax revenue is the largest city's largest source,” Cullinan said “The overall revenues for the general fund budget, we continue to see a very robust real estate market.”

Higher-than-expected interest rates brought in an additional $2.9 million.

• Personal Property Taxes were $1.7 million more than expected

• Business Licenses brought in $1.2 million more than expected

• Meals Taxes brought in $1 million more than expected

• Sales Taxes brought in $0.8 million more than expected

The city also didn’t spend as much as expected to the tune of $9.2 million, with $5.9 million of that related to vacant positions. Cullinan reminded Council that FY24 began on July 1, 2023, before Sam Sanders had become city manager.

Cullinan said the city has also used a lot of one-time money to fill gaps such as American Rescue Plan Act funds as well as previous surpluses.

“What we've discovered is when we add these monies back into departments, these departments already came in under budget already,” Cullinan said.

The surplus from FY22 was due to the rebound after the initial impact of COVID.

Cullinan said one reason why the city ends up with surpluses is that budget staff are conservative with their numbers.

“We take a very pragmatic view of things and we want to see some trends before we start making some significant changes into the kind of projections that we made on the revenue side,” Cullinan said.

City Councilor Lloyd Snook asked several questions about the assumptions budget staff make each year.

“We want to be conservative in the sense of not making ridiculous assumptions,” Snook said. “But I think we also can afford to be somewhat realistic in assuming a certain amount of growth in these numbers year over year.”

Councilor Michael Payne said he is concerned that the city has a surplus each year.

“It's concerning just in the sense that it's not conservative, it just doesn't reflect reality and kind of what's going on to create that situation which… creates a challenge because then when we're making decisions about tax rates or investments in the [Capital Improvement Program] or investments in schools, we're making decisions and just in incorrect information environment,” Payne said.

The surplus will be appropriated at Council’s next regular meeting on February 3. Cullinan said city policy will be to put the funds towards the capital improvement program contingency fund.

Watch this segment on YouTube:

AC44 work session postponed

Albemarle County has postponed a work session on the Comprehensive Plan review that was to have gone before the Planning Commission this evening. The delay will allow more members of the body to participate.

“There was a conflict with the calendar invite to the Commissioners (for 6pm) and several Commissioners were not able to accommodate the 4pm start time,” said Abbey Stumpf, the county’s director of communications and public engagement.

The seven-member appointed body had been expected to go through the Parks draft Recreation, and Open Space chapter. That will now take place on February 11 at the Planning Commission’s next meeting.

The body will still have two public hearings. For more information, take a look back at the Week Ahead from Sunday.

Reading material:

• Dick's Sporting Goods absorbs Public Lands at 5th Street Station, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 26, 2025

• Halfway there — a progress report of U.Va.’s 2030 Plan, Vyshnavi Tatta, Cavalier Daily, January 27, 2025

• Weekend plane crash in Albemarle County analyzed, Sarah Allen, CBS19, January 27, 2025

The 411 on #801

The function of government has many moving parts and this newsletter was created to present people with as many glimpses as possible into the micro and the macro and some of what’s in between. Government is a function of human beings and decisions depend on a variety of factors. I’ve always been drawn to the process and became a journalist to write about competing ideas.

I decided to return to journalism on March 15, 2020 when the COVID-19 shutdown society for a while. I wanted to document that time.

That work will continue as long as I am able to do so. The election of Donald Trump has meant a fundamental shift in how pieces fit together and that will surely involve programs in this area. There will be many stories to tell.

This newsletter has largely been one-way because as a one-person operation, I do not have the time to solicit input. However, I encourage people to write in with your thoughts and encourage people to be public with what they have to say. Human history is filled with disagreement and conflict, and the point of a democracy is to avoid violence.

I still have visceral memories of August 12, 2017 and the effect that had on Charlottesville. That indirectly led to me leaving journalism due to factors outside of my control, but I was being told I needed to tell people what to think. That is not why I do this. I want you to think, and by writing stories about competing ideas, I want each and every reader to weigh decisions before our local officials.

I often wish I could freeze time so I could go back and document the summer of 2017 and understand more of what happened. But, there is so much to write each day as the world turns.

My hope in creating this newsletter is to encourage conversation. I hope that democracy is still possible and that is why I do this work each and every day. This is an act of faith. I am grateful for supporters who are helping to keep me paying me attention.