The third day of the year may or may not have a special topic or issue associated with this particular 24-hour period. One way to begin each edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is to look up these bits of trivia as a way to lull the reader or listener into the narrative constructed for each edition, and this is the one for January 3, 2024. I’m the Sean Tubbs that corresponds with this day.
In today’s edition:
There’s new leadership on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors with Jim Andrews as Chair and Diantha McKeel as Vice Chair
City Councilor Natalie Oschrin introduces herself and she and the rest of Council get assignments to Boards and Commissions
City Manager Sanders gives a quick preview of some of the work coming up this year
Get ready for Albemarle’s next budget with direction from Supervisors on tax relief and staffing for fire and rescue services
First shout-out: Community Bikes
In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the staff at Community Bikes have returned to work for another year devoted to getting more people on bikes, kids and adults! That’s part of their nonprofit mission to promote environmentally-sound transportation by recycling bicycles! Here’s some of what was accomplished in 2023:
1,404 free bikes were distributed
1,780 bikes were donated and saved from landfills
288 refurbished bikes were sold
175 repairs were made at free bike clinics
Six teenagers participated in their job-training program
Nine weeks of a Summer Bike Club were held
Volunteers spent 1,572 hours devoted to the mission
To learn more, visit the Community Bikes Facebook page for recent campaigns or their website at charlottesvillecommunitybikes.org to sign up for email updates!
Jim Andrews named as Chair of Albemarle Supervisors; Diantha McKeel to be Vice Chair
Another year, another member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to serve as the body’s chair. At their meeting earlier today, the six-member body unanimously selected Supervisor Jim Andrews of the Samuel Miller District to serve as the chair.
Andrews is in the third year of his first four year term. He was nominated by Supervisor Ann Mallek of the White Hall District and expressed gratitude at getting the nod.
“I’m looking forward to the hard work ahead, lots to bring together over the course of the year,” Andrews said.
Jack Jouett District Diantha McKeel was selected as the vice chair.
“And I want to thank the folks at the dais for your support and I look forward to the year,” McKeel said. “We have lots on our calendar and our plate for this year.”
This was the first meeting for Supervisor Michael Pruitt of the Scottsville District.
“I do want to just take a moment to thank and express my gratitude for the show of trust from the Scottsville magisterial district for choosing to vote me into this role,” Pruitt said. “I’m very excited to be stepping into this role. Admittedly nervously, but I think that just means my heart is in the right place.”
After the discussion, County Attorney Steven Rosenberg called for a second vote on Andrews’ nomination to ensure that there was a motion that actually elected him as the chair. This vote was also unanimous.
“And I think that’s a positive sign that no one changed their mind in the last five minutes,” Rosenberg said to applause.
Oschrin introduces herself to Charlottesville
There were little to no debates or candidate forums for Charlottesville City Council last fall as there were three candidates on the ballot for three seats on the elected body. Newcomer Natalie Oschrin received the most votes with 8,937 ballots cast, with incumbent Michael Payne getting 8,666 votes and incumbent Lloyd Snook receiving 8,548 votes.
At the very beginning of Council’s first regular meeting of 2024, Councilor Oschrin was asked to make a few remarks.
“I ran with a vision for a Charlottesville that is more accessible, both in being able to find housing and make to it more possible to get around safely and easily especially if you don’t have or don’t want a car,” Oschrin said. “I want to congratulate and thank everyone who worked so hard over so many years to achieve the zoning rewrite. That’s a huge step in the right direction and now we can continue to build on that policy to make sure our affordability, environmental, and transit goals are met.”
Councilors also appointed themselves to Boards and Commissions.
City committees:
Councilor Michael Payne will continue to serve on the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners. The agency is in the midst of a major redevelopment campaign as well as acquiring other properties throughout the city.
Councilor Lloyd Snook will continue to serve on the Historic Resources Committee as an ex officio member.
Councilor Michael Payne will continue to serve on the Housing Advisory Committee.
Councilors Snook and Oschrin will serve on the Legislative Review Committee.
Mayor Wade will continue to serve on the Minority Business Commission.
Vice Mayor Brian Pinkston will continue to serve on the Retirement Commission.
Wade and Pinkston will continue to serve on the School Capital Projects Committee.
Pinkston will continue to serve on the Social Services Advisory Board.
Regional bodies:
Pinkston will continue to serve on the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Authority.
Wade will serve on the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Oschrin will serve on the Charlottesville Community Scholarship Program Board.
Snook and Oschrin will serve on the Darden-Towe Memorial Park Board
Wade will continue to serve on the JABA Board.
Snook will join the Jefferson Area Community Criminal Justice Board.
Payne will continue to serve on the LEAP governance board.
Oschrin and Pinkston will serve on the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board with Oschrin serving as the alternate. They’ll also both serve on the Regional Transit Partnership.
Payne is the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s choice to serve on their board, a position not up for Council’s decision.
Payne will serve as the main representative to the Regional Housing Partnership with Snook as an alternate.
Payne and Snook will serve as the representatives to the Rivanna River Basin Commission.
Pinkston will remain on the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority.
Councilors decided to appoint two of their number to the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, removing Planning Commissioner Phil d’Oronzio as the representative. Payne and Oschrin will be the representatives.
Wade will continue to serve on the Virginia Careerworks / Piedmont Workforce Board.
Wade will continue to serve as Charlottesville’s representative to Virginia First Cities with Snook as an alternate.
City Manager Sanders prepares for 2024
The first update of 2024 from City Manager Sam Sanders was light, like the rest of Council’s agenda. Sanders said the month of December is always a reflective one for him.
“Where you take a look back at what you were able to get done, get a little mad and angry and complain about what you didn’t get gone, and rest up and get ready for what you need to get done, and then you move into the New Year and you try to get it all done,” Sanders said.
Sanders said some of what has to get done this year is the continued implementation of the city’s new pay scale and classifications.
“Which is going to be a very serious process for us to go through,” Sanders said. “It impacts the entire workforce. It’s a big project and it’s been in the works for the past few months specifically. It’s going to be a very expensive endeavor but one that is necessary and one that is long overdue.”
For more details, take a look on the city’s website at the classification and compensation study conducted by the firm Gallagher last year. There was a public hearing last May.
Sanders also said collective bargaining continues with three bargaining units with negotiations underway.
“They too are going to be very expensive to make happen,” Sanders said. “We’re supportive of the process and I want to make sure that everyone understands that we do recognize it being a process. It’s not an easy process, I assure you. We’re very well aware of that but hope to be able to bring forth three contracts that we can execute and make that a part of how we move and do business in the city.”
Sanders said implementation of Council’s strategic plan will continue this year and that he hopes to name two deputy city managers next week to assist him with his work.
Second shout-out: eBike Lending Library
In today’s second subscriber supported shout-out, one Patreon supporter wants you to know that Charlottesville now has an eBike Lending Library! 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.
Albemarle Supervisors briefed on changes to tax relief program
There are less than two months before Albemarle County Executive Jeffrey Richardson will release his recommended budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. To provide direction for the document, the Board of Supervisors held a series of work sessions in late 2023 on the financial five-year plan.
The final of these sessions was held on December 13, 2023 and elected officials were asked to provide direction on property tax relief for the elderly and disabled as well as the general future of the county’s fire and rescue plan.
Supervisors began with the first item. Albemarle has had average property assessment increases of 8.4 percent in 2022 and 13.46 percent in 2023. The values for 2024 will be released soon.
“The criteria currently for the program requires that applicants be at least 65 years old or totally and permanently disabled as medically determined,” said Andy Bowman is the interim assistant chief financial officer for policy and partnerships. “Applicants need to be the title holder of the property and that property may not be used as a business.”
Bowman said there are also eligibility thresholds as well and pay-outs are based on a sliding scale. Last April, Albemarle increased the income criteria and increased the net worth cap from $200,000 to $250,000. That had the effect of bringing in 17 new eligible applicants for the program, at a cost of $40,000.
There is a total of $1.845 million in the adopted budget for this fiscal year, a 24.7 percent increase from FY23.
In an effort to support more Albemarle property owners who may be struggling to pay growing tax bills, Bowman presented options for further relief for Supervisors to consider. One option would be to increase the net worth cap to $305,000. At least two Supervisors agreed to that increase with some suggesting that perhaps only annual income should be used as a criteria.
Supervisor Ann Mallek said when she joined the Board of Supervisors in 2008, the budget for the program was $900,000.
“The difficulty was that so few people knew about it and that we were missing huge numbers of people who just didn’t have access to this and they absolutely deserved it,” Mallek said.
Mallek did not support the idea of having a cap on the total amount of relief.
Bowman said if the amount of relief exceeded the budget, the difference would most likely come out of the Board’s reserve fund. Supervisor Ned Gallaway said with that in mind, he would also not support a total cap.
“I think the relief needs to be predictable,” Gallaway said. “I think that’s just a critical component of it I think year in year out.”
Supervisors also urged staff to find ways to tie tax relief to structures referred to as “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing.”
Staff will return to the Board with more information on changes to the program when the budget is released in late February.
View a video on the tax relief program for the elderly and disabled:
Chief Eggleston briefs Albemarle Board of Supervisors on strategic outlook for fire and rescue needs
The second topic dealt with continuing county investment in public safety personnel at a critical juncture in the community as volunteer rescue personnel levels have waned.
“We have a combination fire/rescue and [Emergency Medical Services] system in that we have our Department and Fire Rescue staff who work in partnership with our key volunteer stations throughout the county,” Bowman said. “That system has been changing in recent years.”
In recent years, Albemarle County has received three grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency under their Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program, also known as SAFER. The federal government pays for the first few years of new firefighters before funding responsibility transitions to the local government.
To hear more about the immediate future, Chief Dan Eggleston was on hand to give a sense of what his department’s future needs would be. This was in the form of a Strategic Outlook and Needs Assessment.
Supervisors adopted an updated strategic plan in October 2022. Goal #1 is Safety and Well-Being. Goal #2 is a Resilient, Equitable, and Engaged Community. Goal #6 is Workforce and Customer Service.
“We begin by ensuring that our objectives are in lockstep with the county’s strategic plan which sets a direction for our operational priorities,” Eggleston said. “Our next step involved a thorough assessment of our service performance against our standards of cover which is a Board adopted plan that is instrumental in defining the scope and the level of services that we provide.”
Those standards of cover were adopted in June 2019 and established response time objectives. In the development area, first responders have a goal of being on site within eight minutes 90 percent of the time. The rural area goal is 21 minutes, also 90 percent of the time.
Since 2019, calls for service have increased 20 percent in the development area.
“And mainly that is driven by the urbanization of our county and an aging population,” Eggleston said. “One thing to keep in mind is that this increase really across the board for both fire and EMS emergencies. At first we through that growth was mainly related to EMS but it’s across the board which really relates to the density and urbanization of our community.”
Eggleston said the number of calls for service for mental health cases is increasing.
“In fact, I just heard today at our [Emergency Communications Center] regional meeting that the number of suicide-related calls today almost match the number of cardiac arrest calls, so that’s something that all of us, the county, the city, and the University are keeping a close eye on,” Eggleston said.
Eggleston said the county has hired the equivalent of 69 full-time personnel since FY20, which in turn created higher costs for training and other support services for those in the field. He also said the county continues to follow a national trend away from volunteerism.
“The volunteers, not only in Albemarle but also across the country, have been the backbone of fire and EMS service delivery for years and their decline is hitting us hard at the current time during evenings and weekends,” Eggleston said. “It’s really important to note that this decline in volunteers is not consistent across the county. There are some of our volunteer stations that remain very strong and are in fact getting stronger by the year. But others are grappling with reduced volunteer numbers, so this difference is a crucial aspect of our challenge and we must consider it as we explore potential solutions.”
Eggleston said it takes two years to fully train someone to be a firefighter, which provides another logistical challenge.
Of those 69 new positions since FY20, 50 of them have been funded at least initially through the federal SAFER program. That program covers the first three years of a new position.
David Puckett is the Deputy Chief of Operations at Albemarle County Fire Rescue. He thanked the board for recent investments in personnel including a reimbursement program for volunteers as well as pay-scale adjustments for public safety.
“Fire Rescue will be fully staffed when our recruit school starts in January and employee turnover in 2023 was the lowest its been since we started recording it in 2016,” Puckett said.
Puckett said that has led to less overtime and fewer service reductions. The additional staffing has also allowed the county to transition to a no-cost mutual aid agreement with Charlottesville. He said response times for ambulances are down 10 percent and down eight percent for fire response.
“It is important to note, thought, that communities across Albemarle don’t experience these improvements the same,” Puckett said. “As an example, after adding career staff and an ambulance to the North Garden station, that community experienced a 25 percent reduction in ambulance responses Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. But other areas like the Route 29 and Rio Road area, haven’t seen any improvements in ambulance response times due to the high call demand and limited resources.”
Puckett said in general the county is able to meet the standards of cover for the rural areas, but there is still work to be done to meet the standards for the development area.
Eggleston suggested several broad options to Supervisors to consider for the future.
Option 1: “Revaluate and optimize the County’s emergency response strategies to focus on the distribution of assets and efforts to effectively address the most critical needs.”
Option 2 would maintain current service levels but “augment staffing at volunteer stations and add staff to account for increased call volume.”
Option 3: Maintain current service levels and omplement prevention and resiliency programs.
Eggleston said option 3 could involve identifying a subset of calls that may not need a full ambulance response.
“Right now about 20 percent of our calls are low acuity EMS calls so there could perhaps be a deferral to a much more proactive, preventive type program that’s a lot less costly than an ambulance that’s staffed 24/7,” Eggleston said. “This is a trend that’s coming about very quickly in the fire service and I think this is something we should explore.”
Options 2 and 3 come with additional costs, but no dollar amounts were given at this presentation. Eggleston said 52 full-time additional equivalents over the next five years would be needed to implement option 2 which would see a move to 24/7 career staffing at some volunteer stations, but not all.
Option 3 would take another nine full-time equivalents.
Supervisor Diantha McKeel noted that the Comprehensive Plan currently sets an expectation that community members in the rural area should not expect the same level of service.
“And I think we just need to be aware of that because as we’re going through and updating our comp plan, that’s a decision and policy and I just want to make sure that our comp plan matches what we are actually doing,” McKeel said.
The AC44 process continues this year and is expected to be completed by the time 2025 rolls around.
Supervisor Ned Gallaway said that more conversation is needed to go through the details, conversations that will happen during the budget cycle later this year. In response to a question about capacity, Eggleston responded that another ambulance is needed at the station on Berkmar Drive to avoid units being pulled from other parts of the county when there are multiple calls.
There will be more on this topic into the new year. One topic not explored in this story would be efforts to work with senior living facilities to provide more on-site services to reduce calls for service. The discussion covered this
Reading material:
UVA Students Give Rebuilding Plans to Ukrainian Ambassador, Bryan McKenzie, UVA Today, January 2, 2024
Juandiego Wade named mayor of Charlottesville, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), January 2, 2024
New year, new process: Zoning code will require adjustments to some projects, Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, January 3, 2024
#620 is about to go away
The word count on this edition is 3,500 as I begin to write out the final section before I sit in front of a microphone to read the script for the podcast. That’s perhaps too long, but each edition of this newsletter and podcast is the length it ends up being. Since the very beginning, this work is part of an experiment I started almost four years ago to create an online information source from scratch.
The year is starting off well, and I’m ready to cover things as much as I can. This year I am hopeful to find a way to get other people involved, either through volunteering or paying. This is a business, and so I’m very careful about bringing people on, but I’m confident that this is the year a lot of things solidify a little more.
You can help this with a paid subscription to the newsletter via Substack. If you do so, the internet company Ting will match your initial subscription. That’s a big help on my quest to keep this experiment going.
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
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