Charlottesville City Council (2020-2021): Difference between revisions

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:'''See Main Article: [[City Council]]'''
:'''See Main Article: [[City Council]]'''
:'''See also: [[List of City Councilors]]'''
:'''See also: [[List of City Councilors]]'''
*This council was preceded by the [[Charlottesville City Council (2018-2019)]]
*Preceded by the [[Charlottesville City Council (2018-2019)]]


The '''Charlottesville City Council (2020-2021)''' is the current governing body of the City of Charlottesville; The Council is composed of five members, each elected at-large by voters.  
The '''Charlottesville City Council (2020-2021)''' is the current governing body of the City of Charlottesville; The Council is composed of five members, each elected at-large by voters.  

Revision as of 12:00, 30 May 2020

See Main Article: City Council
See also: List of City Councilors

The Charlottesville City Council (2020-2021) is the current governing body of the City of Charlottesville; The Council is composed of five members, each elected at-large by voters.

Council’s configuration & power

Since 1928, the council has been composed of five councilor members, one of whom serves as mayor. Each member is elected at-large, by voters to four-year, staggered terms. Following the 2019 election, held on November 5, 2019, three new members, Lloyd Snook, Sena Magill and Michael Payne, each took their oath of office on December 19, 2019, allowing them to assumed full duties immediately on January 1, 2020 and thereby filling the seats being vacated by Mike Signer, Wes Bellamy and Kathy Galvin who each declined to seek re-election.

Organizational meeting

Mayor Nikuyah Walker was selected for a second term as the Charlottesville’s ceremonial leader at the bi-annual organizational meeting of the City Council on January 6, 2020. Walker was appointed mayor on a 3-2 vote in the new City Council’s first action of the new council term. Walker and Councilors Michael Payne and Sena Magill voted in favor of her appointment. Councilors Heather Hill and Lloyd Snook voted against it. Walker was appointed mayor on a 4-1 vote in January 2018 in the fallout of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally[1]

Council president (mayor)

Charlottesville is a city manager-weak mayor form of local government, the positions of mayor and vice mayor largely are ceremonial. The President of City Council (called mayor) is elected by the five members of Council at the beginning of each two-year Council term and serves until the next election. Nikuyah Walker, an independent, won a second term as president of the council (mayor). Councilor Sena Magill (D) was selected as vice mayor. Walker is the first mayor to serve more than one term since Satyendra Huja stepped down in 2015. Former Councilor Mike Signer served only one term.[2] Prior to the 1990's, the custom of the Council was of selecting as president of the Council, or mayor, the senior council member who had not already held the position.

Salaries

Charlottesville has one of the highest average salaries for council members in Virginia.

Issues in the city

  • Sena Magill, as a candidate in October 2019, she outlined four of the most important issues for Charlottesville:
  1. Affordable housing
  2. Transportation;
  3. Climate change;
  4. Racial equity.
To tackle these issues, she hopes to focus on the City’s zoning code, making the incumbent council’s climate goals a reality, improving the current transit system, and recognizing and addressing unconscious racial biases through initiatives like the Police Civilian Review Board.[3]
  • Michael Payne - as a candidate in October 2019 - “Top priorities for me are:
  1. Affordable housing — which intersects with so many other issues in the City;
  2. Local action on climate change;
  3. The growing economic inequality and the racial wealth gap and racial disparities in the City.”
To address escalating rents within City limits, Payne plans to spur reinvestment in and redevelopment of public housing, update the zoning code — which hasn’t been changed since 2003 — and complete the City’s affordable housing strategy. Like Magill, he sees an improved transit system as critical to mitigating climate change, alongside fossil fuel divestment and clean energy.[4]
  • Lloyd Snook as candidate in the 2019 election, noted some of the issues he considers to be most pressing include affordable housing, the achievement gap in City schools and local action on climate change.
To address the achievement gap in City schools, he advocates for increased funding to the City of Promise and Boys and Girls Club programs. With relation to action on climate change, Snook focused on divesting from fossil fuels, making changes to the transportation system and utilizing more solar panels, even in historic areas. To address affordable housing, he plans to support improved transportation, changed zoning, redevelopment of current housing and more streamlined City regulations on auxiliary dwelling units — extra units such as a basement apartment or separate small house situated on low-density property.[5]

City Officers

Council's most significant role is to enact laws, to adopt the city's operating budget and to hire the City Manager to run most city operations. Council is in charge of policy oversight and also hires the Chief of Staff/Clerk of Council, Director of Finance and the Real Estate Assessor. Council has an advisory role in appointing the City Attorney [6]and the Chief of Police. Council also has the authority to decide who sits on various city boards and commissions. As a result, City Council has significant influence in shaping city policies and programs. Among the officers and clerks who have served at the pleasure of the Charlottesville City Council (2020-2021):

City Manager

The City Manager, appointed by the City Council, acts as the City’s Chief Executive Officer. The City Council delegates broad administrative power to the City Manager subject to its review. Qualifications, powers and duties of the City Manager are provided for in the City Charter.

Chief of Staff/Clerk of Council

Formerly referred to as the City Council Clerk, the position was expanded by the Charlottesville City Council (2018-2019) under the title of Chief of Staff / Clerk of Council[8].

City Finance Director

The Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer assists the City Manager in the operational and financial aspects of all City functions and coordinates interdepartmental activities.

City Assessor

City Attorney

City Police Chief

School Board Members

The city has an elected at-large school board. Prior to 2006, members of the Charlottesville City School Board were appointed by the City Council.

City Council Standing Committee assignments (2020 – 2021)

Advisory City Council Committees

Most, but not all, of Council's standing committees are organized into specific policy areas. The committees each have a chair, vice chair and a minimum of 3 members. They consider policy areas that are directed to them by the Council. The committees report back to the full Council on their work. The standing committees have special rules for appointing leadership and members. All five Council members serve on the various Committees. City Council Committees do not replace the City Council as final decision makers on behalf of the full City Council.

Appointment of advisory boards, committees and commissions

refer to Main Article: List of Boards and Commissions

The City Council appoints various boards, commissions, and committees to support the City Council in the policymaking and decision making processes. One or two City Council members may serve on a committee as a representative of, or liaison to, the City Council.

Charlottesville City Council reviews Boards & Commissions applications on a quarterly basis after an opening has been posted for a minimum of 30 days, unless Council determines a vacancy needs to be filled sooner and a deadline is posted otherwise. Council may extend a deadline as necessary. The appointment schedule for 2020 is as follows:

  • January 6, 2020
  • March 16, 2020 (application deadline March 6, 2020)
  • June 15, 2020 (application deadline June 5, 2020)
  • September 21, 2020 (application deadline September 11, 2020)
  • December 21, 2020 (application deadline December 11, 2020)

Compensation

Committee members are not compensated for their service. City Council members are compensated for their service but do not receive any additional compensation for serving on a standing committee, ad hoc committee, or other committee.

City population

Population as of most recent census (April 1, 2010): 43,475

  • According to the current data from U.S. Census Bureau Quickfacts, the estimated population in 2018 was 48,117, which represents a 10.67% population growth since the last census.
  • The area within the city limits was 10.27 square miles, giving it a population density of about 4,600 people per square mile. Relative to local populations, Charlottesville has one seat for every 8,700 residents.
  • As for historically under-represented groups, the city has about the same percentage of blacks in council as in the general populations; in Charlottesville, blacks makeup 18.3 percent of the population [11] and 20 percent of the council.

General notes

  • Elections are non-partisan elections.
  • The council post videos of council meetings online as well as searchable databases of legislation.
  • Council does not post members’ personal financial disclosure statements or lobbying records.

City Council Regular Meeting Schedule for 2020

Regularly scheduled Council meetings take place on the first and third Mondays of each month at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall pursuant to Charlottesville City Code Section 2-41. If a regularly scheduled Council meeting falls on a holiday, then the meeting will take place on Tuesday. Council normally cancels one meeting during the summer months. In 2019, the Charlottesville City Council (2018-2019) cancelled its July 15 meeting. During the January 6, 2020 meeting, the current Council will discuss its preference for cancelling one of its summer meetings. If Council decides to cancel a meeting, the schedule will be amended to reflect the cancellation.

As of January 6, 2020, the proposed regular Council meeting schedule for 2020 is as follows:

  • Monday, January 6, 2020
  • Tuesday, January 21, 2020
  • February 3, 2020
  • Tuesday, February 18, 2020
  • March 2, 2020
  • March 16, 2020
  • April 6, 2020 - CANCELED
  • April 20, 2020 - Public hearings online
Council held its first regular monthly meeting using a Virtual Meeting platform via Livestream (view only).
  • May 4, 2020
  • May 18, 2020
  • June 1, 2020
  • June 15, 2020
  • July 6, 2020
  • July 20, 2020
  • August 3, 2020
  • August 17, 2020
  • Tuesday, September 8, 2020
  • September 21, 2020
  • October 5, 2020
  • October 19, 2020
  • November 2, 2020
  • November 16, 2020
  • December 7, 2020
  • December 21, 2020

Italics indicate an adjusted date due to a holiday.


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