September 10, 2024: Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA seeks new contract with Albemarle and Charlottesville for mandated animal shelter services required under Virginia law
Plus: The Charlottesville Police Department is investigating four shootings in the city Monday night
In this leap year, September 10 is the 255th out of 366 days. 2024 is now nearly 70 percent of the way through. What do these numbers have to do with this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement? I’m Sean Tubbs, wondering what answers you might have.
In today’s installment:
The Charlottesville Police Department is investigating four separate shootings in the city Monday night and there are no reports of injuries
Budget and contract negotiations continue between Albemarle, Charlottesville and the non-profit that runs the state-mandated animal shelter
Albemarle County announces the latest in Community Climate Action grants
Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders provides an update on efforts to get help for people who are living on the street
First-shout: September is a busy month for the Rivanna Conservation Alliance
In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, The Rivanna Conservation Alliance has a busy month in September and here are a few items:
This week the RCA’s new River Steward begins work with middle schools in Albemarle and Charlottesville to help students learn about the Rivanna.
A new watershed coordinator has joined the team to lead the Rivanna River Forest Health and Resilience project and to run the monitoring program.
The Rivanna Round-Up takes place on September 21 and there are many watershed clean-up activities happening all over the area. They’re also offering Round-Up tee shirts with a donation of $5 or more. Sign up here to learn more!
RCA’s executive director will attend the 2024 Rivanna River Basin Commission Annual Conference on September 27 at the Carver Recreation Center Gymnasium in Charlottesville. Tickets are only $10 for the half-day event. Register for the event here.
No injuries reported in four shootings in Charlottesville Monday night
Charlottesville Police Department report they cannot confirm at this time whether there are any connections between four separate shooting incidents in the city Monday night. All four took place within a five period.
The first took place at 2nd Street SE and Monticello Avenue near the Ix Art Park around 7 p.m, according to a post on social media at the time.
“Officers arrived on scene and located shell casings and parked vehicles have been struck,” reads the Facebook post. No injuries were known at the time and officers closed Monticello Avenue from 2nd Street SE to 6th Street SE for several hours.
Officers responded to a second incident on Michie Drive in which one unoccupied building was struck. A third incident was reported at 10:29 on Hardy Drive but a press release sent out Tuesday afternoon did not report any shell casings or property damage.
Just after midnight, several people phoned in a separate incident at Lankford Avenue and South First Street a few blocks away.
“On arrival a scene was located with casings on the road,” read a second posting on Fadebook which also announced the closure of South First Street between Elliot Avenue and Lankford Avenue.
“All of these incidents are still under investigation,” reads the press release. “If you have any information, please contact Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (434) 977-4000.”
More information as it can be gathered. Did you see anything or were you affected?
SPCA seeking new contract to provide services for Albemarle and Charlottesville
Virginia law requires localities to make sure that they offer an animal shelter for dogs that are running at large without a required tag. Many jurisdictions including Albemarle and Charlottesville contract to a third-party to carry out this mandatory public service.
The Charlottesville-Albemarle Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals runs the official animal shelter but are seeking new terms to do so.
"The [Charlottesville Albemarle Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] terminated the existing contract in March of this year and that termination takes effect in March of 2025," said Eden Ratliff, Charlottesville's deputy city manager for administration.
In the current fiscal year that began on July 1, Albemarle contributes $804,093 to CASPCA, a five percent increase over FY2024. Charlottesville is paying $317,355.
That’s about 20 percent of CASPCA’s budget according to an August 26, 2024 blog post on the organization’s website.
“Our contract, originally agreed upon in 2009, no longer reflects the current, increased cost of labor and goods, which has far outpaced inflation,” wrote Luke Waldon, CASPCA’s director of marketing and communications.”
Waldron said that private donations cover the cost of many services that are not in the contract such as clinics for people on public assistance and microchipping companion animals He also said CASPCA wants to be able to expand services and increase overall quality.
“Animal sheltering standards have advanced so dramatically in the past decade that our facility no longer meets the needs of our community,” the post continues. “We are excited to get this work started, but in order to do so, we need the City & County to cover the majority of the cost of the services we perform for them.”
Ratliff said there have been multiple negotiations to understand what the SPCA's needs are and to give city and county officials insight into how the shelter works. That includes understanding what the two localities are required by Virginia law to provide.
"It's a complex negotiation, "Ratliff said. "There's a lot that goes into it but we're continuing to be privileged to be meeting with them."
One obstacle is that the SPCA's budget operates on a calendar year basis as opposed to Albemarle and Charlottesville working on a fiscal year that begins on July 1. If Albemarle and Charlottesville both end up paying additional money that may require a budget appropriation separate from the budget cycle which sees Charlottesville City Council adopting its spending plan in April and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors adopting theirs in May.
Waldron claims in the CASPCA blog post that if Albemarle and Charlottesville were to meet their legal obligation alone, the capital cost to build a new shelter would be between $10.5 million and $16 million with an annual budget of between $5 million and $8 million to maintain no-kill status.
Albemarle awards $100K in five more Community Climate Action grants
One way Albemarle County is seeking to implement elements of its Climate Action Plan is to pay area nonprofits to put some of the greenhouse gas emission reduction steps into motion. In the second round, five projects will split $100,000.
"It's important to leverage community resources and knowledge along with local government funds to help implement the Climate Action Plan," said Albemarle County Climate Protection Program Manager Gabe Dayley in a press release.
In all ten organizations filled out applications for the funds and two of them were successful for a consecutive year.
The Community Climate Collaborative will get $20,000 to hold workshops with “leadership or places of community gathering” to promote energy efficiency, conversion to electric vehicles and building systems from fossil fuel-powered ones, and waste management. The title of this project is “Accelerating GHG Reduction with Community Service Organizations.”
The Local Energy Alliance Program will receive $18,600 to provide roof repairs and other upgrades to low-income households that are participating or eligible to participate in a Dominion Energy solar program solar. The title of this project is “Solar Readiness for Low-Income Households.”
Wildrock has been awarded $11,380 to install a composting system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to food waste, and will develop an accompanying education program. This title is “Community Composting System.”
Charlottesville Community Bikes will receive an additional $25,000 for their continuing work to fix up old bicycles and distribute them to underserved communities. This title is “Bicycle Recycling, Refurbishment, and Redistribution” and this group received the same amount of funding in the first round.
The International Rescue Committee’s New Roots Farm will receive $25,000 to build on their work to electrify operations at their farm on Moore Creek just to the south of Charlottesville’s Azalea Park. This project has the title “Supporting Expansion and Electrification at New Roots Farm.” The project was awarded $20,020 in the last round.
The three other projects from the first round are:
The Autism Sanctuary received $25,0000 for Community-Based Vermicomposting
FLIPP Inc. received $18,600 for a workforce development program with the title “Solar Technician Training and Accreditation with FLIPP Accelerated Clean Energy Project (FACE)”
The Peabody School received $11,380 for a project called Piedmont Prairie Restoration, Conservation, and Education at Darden Towe Park
Second shout out: Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards walk at Preddy Creek
In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards has a mission to support rural and urban forests and to promote knowledge and understanding of the value of trees for present and future generations. Toward that goal, they offer the occasional guided tree walk.
On Sunday, September 22, Tree Stewards Carol Wise and Dana Denbar will lead 15 participants on a walk at the University of Virginia through beautiful surroundings as they discuss the history of the area as well as some specimen and native trees.
They will share information about the value of biodiversity, tree identification, and specific qualities related to each tree discussed. This is an easy to moderate walk over a gentle sloping area of paved walkways and grassy areas under a high canopy of trees.
For more information and to register, visit charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.
Sanders provides update on Charlottesville’s efforts to assist the unhoused
One of the largest social issues facing Charlottesville and other communities across the United States of America is a growing number of people who do not have a place to live. Last October, City Manager Sam Sanders said he would dedicate himself to creating a plan to address the issue.
Eleven months later, he provided an update to City Council at their September 4 meeting.
"It is complicated," Sanders said. "There is no single solution and if there is one I would have bought it by now but it doesn't exist."
Sanders said there are many issues that compound the problems that many face and the city’s work toward a strategy continues.
"I have an internal working group, I've had external community conversations going on for the past few months," Sanders said. "We are actively working with the Salvation Army and other partners hopefully to establish for the first time a permanent year-round low barrier shelter."
Sanders said the earliest that might be in place is next summer and that he would have more details in the near future. One issue is that there is not yet an entity that has the resources to operate a shelter.
"That is going to be a very costly initiative," Sanders said. "It will require a significant annual investment for us to be able to support those individuals who are outside struggling, to give them the ability to have at least that first rung available to them but a shelter is not the solution all by itself. It is just a rung on a ladder and there are a lot of rungs on that ladder."
Sanders said the city is also applying more scrutiny to organizations that receive local government funding to provide services and those that aren't measuring up may not continue to receive funding. There will soon be a work session in the near future to review a range of options.
"City government can't do it all so we're going to need a number of partners to join us in that work," Sanders said.
Sanders has presented many of these options to Council in private meetings.
"From the initial conversations that we've had I think it's promising," Pinkston said.
The consent agenda for the September 4 meeting included a grant and I’ll republish what I wrote in the Week Ahead preview for September 2.
At that meeting, Council held the first of two readings on $470,805 in funding from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development that will go to the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless. Just over a quarter of the funds are from the category State Rapid-Rehousing.
The money goes to eight specific categories but there’s no specific financial break-down in the packet. (staff report) (resolution) (grant agreement with Virginia Homeless Solutions Program)
Coordinated Assessment: Funding goes to The Haven which “serves as the physical front door to the homelessness system of care.”
Emergency Low Barrier Shelter: This funding goes to PACEM for their cold-weather emergency shelters that operate at a rotating series of churches.
Rapid Rehousing and Housing Navigation: This funding goes to The Haven
Case Management: This fund goes to The Haven for “supportive services, including crisis intervention, case management, and service referrals.”
Targeted Prevention: The Haven runs this program which assists households that are two weeks or less from losing their home.
Homelessness Management Information System: This goes to the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless to run their database of people who are experiencing homelessness. Other agencies also use this data, which goes by the acronym HMIS.
Continuum of Care: The Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless gets funding for providing leadership of the overall system.
The City of Charlottesville is eligible for an administrative fee but passes this on to BRACH and the Haven. I originally reported this incorrectly but corrected the error on September 15, 2024.
Earlier this year, the city agreed to spend $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to buy property at 405 Avon Street. At the time, the staff report said one potential use would be a homeless shelter, but Sanders later backed off on that as a guaranteed use.
Meanwhile, work continues toward establishing a land bank for Charlottesville.
Sanders met with the Housing Advisory Committee in August to get an update on their work to craft an ordinance.
"We're right now taking that through a legal review and the intention would be to bring that forward to allow Council to have some time to think about establishing a land bank as an additional affordable housing tool," Sanders said.
What do you want to know about all of these issues? What questions do you have? Drop me a line or leave a comment.
Reading material for 727:
Burger Bach permanently closed at Shops at Stonefield, Destini Harris, 29 News WVIR, September 3, 2024
How Local Governments Could Make Use of Kamala Harris’ Housing Plan, Jared Bray, Governing, September 4, 2024
Albemarle Applies for 250 & Old Trail Roundabout Fundingc , Crozet Gazette, September 6, 2024
Supervisors Favor P3 Strategy for Connector, Lisa Martin, Crozet Gazette, September 6 2024
Faculty letter calls on two top UVA Health officials to step down, Maggie Glass, 29 News WVIR, September 6, 2024
UVa Health workers demand CEO's resignation, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), September 6, 2024
Jaunt changing Buckingham North Connect, Sharra Klug, CBS19, September
727 is a palindrome, mord ni lapasi, 727
And just like that I’m back from Chicago and a trip to a conference put on by the Local Independent Online News Publishers. This was the first time I’ve stepped outside of the day-to-day work to compare what I’m doing to what others are doing across the country.
So much information and I’m going to begin to write out some of it here in this space. I’m what LION classified as a “solopreneur” because I do not have a full-time employee. I met people who will be able to assist me in my growth because I’m definitely not going to stop doing this.
There will be changes in the future, but they’re a ways off. One immediate change will be asking readers what you want to see in news stories. I want to ask your feedback more often, and pay more than lip service to the Community Engagement in the title.
For today, though, I want to get this one out so I can move into the creation of the next podcast. To paid subscribers who read this far every single time, please know your faith in me is what provides the fuel that helps me through feelings of burnout.
I’m also grateful for Ting for their generous sponsorship where the initial payments of new subscribers are matched. One task I need to do is invoice them for the two dozen or so new people from August.
This is an incredibly generous sponsorship, and if you sign up for service and you are within Ting’s service area, enter the promo code COMMUNITY you’re going to get:
Free installation
A second month for free
A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
Official correction: The City of Charlottesville is eligible for an administrative fee but passes this on to BRACH and the Haven. I originally reported this incorrectly but corrected the error on September 15, 2024.
What is a land grant and how would creating one help our local homeless population?
Thanks for all your work and the information you provide for the community.
Anne McK