March 27, 2024: Governor Youngkin replaces Ellis with Cuccinelli on the UVA Board of Visitors
Plus: Albemarle County receives $613,570 grant to help prep future of Rivanna Futures
Where to start on events that happened on other versions of March 27? History has so much to offer. In 1307, Pope Clement V banned commerce with Venice over their seizure of a papal fiefdom. In 1625, Charles I became the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Also, France. In 1794, the U.S. government established the U.S. Navy with six frigates. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, though Congress would later overrule it. And five years ago, North Macedonia became the 30th member of NATO.
What does any of this have to do with Charlottesville Community Engagement? I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m told a pattern will emerge if I can point out that nothing is truly random.
In today’s installment:
A regional economic development group has awarded Albemarle County $613,570 to help with infrastructure for a future defense and military intelligence campus
Governor Glenn Youngkin replaces a controversial figure on the University of Virginia Board of Visitors with another controversial figure
Three at-grade railroad crossings in Charlottesville will be closed next week for maintenance
A ridiculously short update on Albemarle County’s budget
And a list of various federal grants that were eliminated earlier this month when they were not included in the Continuing Resolution that averted a federal government shutdown
First-shout: ReLeaf
In today’s first subscriber-supported announcement: ReLeaf Cville seeks to help restore the amount of the city that is covered by trees. Here are some of their efforts since 2022.
• Planted over 300 trees particularly in neighborhoods with low tree cover, including 10th and Page and Rose Hill. Most recently in the Woolen Mills, working with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, the group will have planted 140 trees to help keep the Rivanna River clean. Their teenage group, the Green Team, helped with the Woolen Mills plantings
• Started a three-year Tree Preservation Program with a $189.9K grant from Virginia Department of Forestry to provide free tree care to 28 Fifeville homeowners to help preserve 48 mature trees this winter.
• Educated over 540 students about the value of trees and nature in the City and developing a Green Team of 15 teenagers every year. This group is taught about the value of trees and nature in the City. After teaching them how to approach people going door – to- door, they canvas the neighborhoods asking if we can plant trees in homeowners yards. This winter the Green Team, working with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, is removing invasive plants and plant new tree seedlings to refurbish forested areas.
• Environmental Education Summit. With a grant from Clean Virginia, in March the group held a summit with over 40 organizations involved in environmental education
Albemarle awarded funding for design for infrastructure for Rivanna Futures
Economic development officials in Albemarle County have been busy in the 22 months since the Board of Supervisors authorized the $58 million purchase of 462 acres of land around the U.S. Army’s Rivanna Station.
Last June, Albemarle County was successful in their application before the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to rezone a portion of the land for a future project called the Intelligence and National Security Innovation Acceleration Campus. The working project is called Rivanna Futures.
Today Albemarle announced they have received funding to help pay for design of some of the infrastructure required.
“Albemarle County has been awarded a $613,570 grant through the GO Virginia Region 9 Council to support the continued development of the Rivanna Futures site,” reads an information release sent out at 3:19 p.m.
GO Virginia Region 9 Council is a division of Growth and Opportunity Virginia, a program that has connections to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.
The website describes GO Virginia as “a bipartisan, business-led economic development initiative that is changing the way the Commonwealth’s diverse regions collaborate on economic and workforce development activities.”
The GO Virginia Region 9 Council consists of 23 people from the public and private sector. One of its local members is Pace Lochte, the University of Virginia’s Assistant Vice President for Economic Development. Another is Albemarle Ned Gallaway of the Rio District.
This particular award will pay for the design for road access, stormwater, site grading, and extending utilities for the first 50 acres to be developed.
“This funding moves us one step closer to making Rivanna Futures a location of choice for companies developing services and technologies that advance national security interests,” the release quotes Emily Kilroy, Albemarle’s director of economic development.
The goal is to bring the property to a higher tier under the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s characterization of available sites.
To learn more, visit the county’s website. Or take a look at this video from January:
Youngkin appoints former Attorney General Cuccinelli to the Board of Visitors after firing Bert Ellis
Within four hours on Wednesday, Governor Glenn Youngkin fired one member of the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors and then appointed a former Virginia Attorney General as his replacement.
“Ken Cuccinelli is a man of deep principle and an incredibly accomplished Virginian,” Youngkin wrote in an email that went out at 8:58 p.m. “I have full confidence he will help ensure Mr. Jefferson’s University remains a place of opportunity, merit, and academic freedom.”
In an email that went out at 4:53 p.m, Youngkin publicly notified U. Bertram Ellis, Jr. that he was being let go.
“While I thank you for your hard work, your conduct on many occasions has violated the Commonwealth’s Code of Conduct for our Boards and Commissions and the Board of Visitors’ Statement of Visitor Responsibilities,” Youngkin wrote in a letter this afternoon.
While he did not give any details, Youngkin cited provisions in §23.1-1300 of Virginia Code.
“The Governor may remove from office for malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetence, or gross neglect of duty any member of the board of any public institution of higher education and fill the vacancy resulting from the removal,” reads subsection C.
Subsection D requires a public statement from the governor and also states that the governor is the sole judge of whether a person should be removed.
Ellis is the CEO of Ellis Capital, a consulting and investment firm. Youngkin appointed him to the Board of Visitors in June 2022. Soon after, he became a leading proponent of efforts to end UVA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Ellis has previously apologized to the Board of Visitors for text messages that called for a “battle royale for the soul of UVa,” according to an account in the Charlottesville Daily Progress. He was unaware that he was subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
The Washington Post has reported that Youngkin has asked Ellis to resign, but Ellis refused.
In recent months, Ellis had become a fiscal hawk in his capacity as a member of the Buildings and Grounds Committee. In December, he was the lone vote against proceeding with a schematic design for the North Grounds Parking Garage out of concerns UVA was spending too much money. In March, he was the lone vote against adding two projects to the Major Capital Plan.
“Before the vote, I will make my stand once again to all my colleagues that I will be a no vote on any additional capital expenditures until I see a budget for 2025/2026 of at least 100 million less than what we’ve been spending,” Ellis said.
The Statement of Visitor Responsibilities for the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia was last updated on December 7, 2018.
“As the Board of the University, we are committed to effective governance accomplished through a Board culture characterized by dedication, diligence, collaboration, teamwork, candor, transparency, and accountability,” reads the statement.
Cuccinelli earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from UVA before getting a law degree and a graduate degree from George Mason University. He served in Virginia’s 37th Senate District from 2002 to 2010 and was elected as Attorney General in 2009.
“It is an honor to return to public service in the Commonwealth of Virginia as a member of the UVA Board of Visitors,” Cuccinelli is quoted in the press release. “As an alumnus who loves this university deeply, I’m committed to aggressively advancing plans to restore a culture of merit and end all forms of discrimination.”
The UVA Board of Visitors recently voted to direct the UVA administration to close the diversity, equity, and inclusion office. This newsletter has not yet been able to document exactly what was said, but if you want to hear several other stories, take a look at the podcast edition from March 14 which has all of the relevant links.
For more information on the Cuccinelli’s selection and his chances of being approved, take a look at an article on Brandon Jarvis’ political newsletter.
Railroad tracks over Shamrock Road and two other locations to close for one week beginning Monday
Three at-grade railroad crossings in the Charlottesville will be closed next week while the owner of the transportation easement conducts maintenance work.
“Norfolk Southern has planned surface track work impacting Shamrock Road, Dale Avenue, and Concord Street within the City of Charlottesville city limits between April 1st and April 5th,” reads a city press release sent out on March 17.
Norfolk Southern owns the track that runs northeast toward Washington, D.C. and southwest toward Lynchburg.
The notice did not specify where the closure applied to pedestrians and cyclists or just vehicles and a request for clarification is pending.
The length of each closure might be different due to a variety of factors including weather, equipment, failure, and use of the track by locomotives and their cars.
The Shamrock Road crossing connects the Fifeville and Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhoods. The other two crossings are in the Rose Hill neighborhood in the industrial portion.
The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority owns the east-west rail line which is not planning maintenance at the same time.
Second-shout out: Cville Village?
Can you drive a neighbor to a doctor’s appointment? Change an overhead lightbulb, plant a flower, walk a dog for someone who is sick, visit someone who is lonely? If so, Cville Village needs you!
Cville Village is a local 501c3 nonprofit organization loosely affiliated with a national network of Villages whose goals are to help seniors stay in their own homes as long as possible, and to build connections among them that diminish social isolation. Volunteers do small chores for, and have gatherings of, professors and schoolteachers, nurses and lawyers, aides and housekeepers. Time and chance come to all – a fall, an order not to drive, failing eyesight, a sudden stroke. They assist folks continue living at home, with a little help from their friends.
Cville Village volunteers consult software that shows them who has requested a service and where they are located. Volunteers accept only the requests that fit their schedule and their skills.
Volunteering for Cville Village will expand your circle of friends and shower you with thanks.
To learn more, visit cvillevillage.org or attend one of their monthly Village “meet-ups” and see for yourself. To find out where and when the next meetup is, or to get more information and a volunteer application, email us at info@cvillevillage.org, or call us at (434) 218-3727.
Albemarle County to hold fourth budget town hall tonight
The hope had been to get a story out today from the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors work session from March 12, 2025 budget work session, but breaking information published above pushed that out of the way. So that will now be in tomorrow’s edition and it will have some details on housing.
I can say that on March 19, Supervisors agreed to advertise a real property tax rate increase of four cents and an increase in the personal property tax rate. The public hearing is not until April 23, so there’s still time for me to go through everything.
The county has put on three budget town halls so far and the fourth is tonight at 5:30 p.m. at the Yancey Community Center at 7625 Porters Road in Esmont. I’ll post times for the fifth and sixth one in Wednesday’s newsletter. (learn more)
If you want to get caught up to where I am in my stories, take a look at the appropriate category on Information Charlottesville. If you want to see what one of these town halls look like, here’s the second one from Monticello High School through the magic of YouTube. There were three views when I went to see, so let’s try to get that up to six!
Local projects left out of recent Continuing Resolution for federal budget
American government is complex with multiple layers even above and beyond the local, state, and federal levels.
In Virginia as well as other states, there’s also the regional level. The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority is among many entities that put together a capital improvement plan that only includes what funding is available.
The RWSA was among many agencies across the country that had submitted requests to Virginia’s Congressional delegation for consideration for funding through one source of money.
“Congressionally directed spending (CDS) is capped at one percent of all discretionary spending, and there is a ban on congressionally directed spending items to for-profit entities,” reads a page on Senator Tim Kaine’s website.
Senator Kaine and Senator Mark Warner pool their requests which then are approved as part of Congressional approval of the federal budget. Previous awards can be reviewed at the bottom of the page here.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the RWSA Board of Directors, executive director Bill Mawyer broke the news that the agreement earlier this month to keep the federal government eliminated expected funding for RWSA and everyone else.
“We had told you some months ago that we had been approved and selected for an $880,000 Congressionally directed spending grant that our Senators Kaine and Warner had put us on the list for,” Mawyer said. “They informed us recently that none of that projects in that grant program were included in the continuing resolution that Congress recently passed so the FY25 grant list will not move forward.”
That grant was “to be used to replace deteriorated equipment at the South Rivanna Water Plant to provide clean and safe drinking water for the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia” reads a list of projects under the “Interior and Environment” category.
Applications are still being taken for FY2026 which begins the process over again.
“We’re going to try again,” Mawyer said.
Here’s a list of other projects that will have to queue up again:
The University of Virginia had sought $1.5 million for biomedical lab space associated with the Manning Institute of Biotechnology.
The University of Virginia also sought $365,000 to assist with a program to reduce the price of teacher training to help address growing shortages.
UVA had also asked for $500,000 to expand education programs for the next generation of nurse clinicians.
Another UVA request was for just over $1 million to assist UVA Children’s Hospital in the expansion of its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Augusta County had sought $5.935 million for a new public safety radio system to replace one that is aging.
Greene County had asked for $28,000 for new Automated external defibrillator units for patrol cars in the Sheriff's department.
Greene County lost out on another $5.625 million to repair and replace water infrastructure in Stanardsville.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville had sought just over $1 million for part of the cost of redeveloping Southwood.
The City of Charlottesville had requested $2.4 million in funding to help with the redevelopment of 501 Cherry Avenue. Piedmont Housing Alliance did not include this funding in its application to Virginia Housing for low-income housing tax credits.
The Piedmont Community Land Trust, part of the Piedmont Housing Alliance, had sought $1 million to help establish a working capital fund.
ReadyKids had sought $200,000 to expand its youth mental health counseling.
The Arcadia Project in Staunton had sought half a million dollars for redevelopment of a blighted theater.
The Town of Altavista in Campbell County in the Fifth District sought $2.815 million for assistance in refurbishing the wastewater treatment plant there.
The Valley Community Services Board in Augusta County had sought $2.5 million to help build a crisis stabilization center.
The Augusta Regional Dental Clinic sought $100,000 for support for an ongoing program to provide dental care to those with low incomes.
The Augusta Health Foundation sought $3.5 million to expand its emergency room to provide additional capacity. They also sought $5.5 million to support the continuity care clinic and $7,422,000 to purchase a new electronic records system.
The Jefferson Board for Aging has asked for $409,000 to assist with its work connecting older adults and their caregivers to local services.
This is just a partial list. Before this article goes to Information Charlottesville, I will seek out comment from the various entities.
Reading material:
Retail report shows growth in central Virginia, but Charlottesville sales decline, Jacob Phillips, March 26, 2025
All-female referee crew makes history at girls high school soccer game, Maggie Glass, WVIR 29News, March 26, 2025
CASPCA reaches new agreement with Charlottesville, Albemarle County, CBS19, March 26, 2025
As supervisors debate tax rates and school funding, residents speak out, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review, March 27, 2025
#839 is a prime! #839 is a prime!
You try putting out a newsletter and customizing the bits of continuity and see if you don’t get excited every time a prime number shows up! Of course, #839 refers to this particular edition and until I defaulted to just going with history, I would see if there was anything interesting in the number I could tease out for the intro.
In any case, It’s now 4:19 p.m. and this thing is done except for this bit. I really want to get moving on the next set of stories because I have to put out a radio version tomorrow and that means I have to get the work done tonight to make sure I have enough room.
This week this newsletter crossed 4,000 subscribers. Nearly 800 are paid subscriptions. I’ve come a long way from five years ago when I was out of journalism and putting out a podcast on the pandemic.
Where will this go in the future? I have to think about that because the only way I get to 8,000 subscribers is to find a way to train people who want to write about their community. I’m only doing this because I didn’t know what else to do, which does not make for a compelling sales pitch.
That’s what I have to think about. How do I convince people that there’s a real market for this kind of information? Continue to put the work out, I suppose.
I will make one confession and one confession only at the conclusion of this edition. During some of the work day, I watch television shows that I enjoy. This is mostly on the bits that are not storywriting.
Today I got up to the episode of Parks and Recreation where Rob Lowe and Adam Scott show up, and poor Mark Brendanawicz departs. I’m reading Jim O’Heir’s oral history of the show, and it’s quite sad that the actor was just written out. The writers didn’t know what to do with him.
What do I do with this newsletter? Do I know what to do with it? Oh so many questions! Let’s end with perhaps a song that David Bowie regrets, but his character in the David Mitchell novel Utopia Avenue brings it up!