Appomattox FY22 audit delayed; Charlottesville to hold public hearing to add FY22 surplus to FY23 budget
Plus: Powhatan to hire Berkley Group to conduct compensation study; Louisa to get update on algal blooms at Lake Anna
Meetings for December 19, 2022
Each week I approach this Fifth District newsletter differently. Sometimes I write this one before the Week Ahead if I can get enough of a jump start. Other times I do that one first because there’s so much to get through.
In 2022, I’ve added the routine of checking out what’s happening in all 24 of the localities in the relatively new Fifth District in Virginia. Long-time readers may know I grew up in Campbell County, and by writing that sentence, new people know it as well! I’m a first-generation American who has always been curious about how all levels of government work, and I’ve spent most of my career learning to write about processes. My aim is to educate as many people as I can about what I know.
For me, it is a thrill to have the opportunity to do this work and to expand my geographic focus to an area that I have already learned so much about in these past seven months. My parents still live in the house where I grew up, and that will end soon. This work is intended for me to help inform them about what’s happening where they are going to.
If you’re interested in this work continuing, please consider supporting my company on Patreon. A lot of the revenue for Town Crier Productions comes directly from subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. I don’t want to charge anything for this particular Substack newsletter yet, but I may add that in the coming year. My main reason for doing this is public service to build upon a career in journalism that began at Virginia Tech at a student newspaper.
Do note that these almost always end with links to work being done by journalists across the Fifth District. I look forward to getting to know them and to help spread the work of those who like me are committed to covering our government. There will be at least one more this week.
Appomattox FY22 audit delayed until January
The five-member Appomattox Board of Supervisors meets for the final time of 2022 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors meeting room at 171 Price Lane in Appomattox. (meeting info)
There’s not a lot of business on the agenda. One item will be to set a public hearing to proceed with a revised schedule and rates for personal property tax rates. One additional is to make certain that vehicles used for agricultural use are exempt.
There is a delay in the audit of Appomattox County’s books for fiscal year 2022.
“County staff received notification from Aaron Hawkins, Robinson, Farmer, and Cox Auditor, that the School Board did not obtain their GASB 75 OPEB actuarial valuation for this year,” reads the staff report. “Therefore, this will cause the financial report to not be ready for the Auditor of Public Accounts by December 15th nor the BOS meeting on December 19th."
State law requires the county to post a statement regarding this. As this is a newsletter that concerns itself with the details of local government, here is that statement in full.
"Section 15.2-2511 of the Code of Virginia requires the locality to contract for an annual audit with an independent CPA and requires the locality to submit the audit report to the Auditor of Public Accounts by December 15th. In accordance with §15.2-2511, if a locality’s audit is not completed as required by this statute, the locality must promptly post a statement on its website. Completion of Appomattox County's FY2022 audit is pending at this time. The reason for the delay is that the GASB75 information for Appomattox County Public Schools is not yet ready. Beyond this one tab, the remainder of the audit report has been completed."
For more information on this certification, visit the Governmental Accounting Standards Board website.
The rest of the meeting is a series of appointments, which I can’t delve too deeply into at this time. I am struck by how many people are in public service across the Fifth District. It’s an honor to write about all of this material each week and I’m hopeful some of you are reading along.
Supervisors will next meet on January 3, 2023 for an organizational meeting at this the only business will be electing the chair, vice chair, and Board Clerk. The audit will come back in January, too.
Changes coming to Charlottesville voting precincts; Public hearing on use of FY22 surplus
At the seven-month point of this newsletter, I realize that I write more detail about localities I’ve been writing about for years. I am hoping to get to know the others over the next several years. This week’s Week Ahead will detail five meetings from Charlottesville including City Council. There will also be two site plan reviews for big land use developments and a meeting of the Board of Architectural Review. I’ve not written that out yet, but subscribe to that newsletter to learn more whenever I get around to doing the work.
That’s a lot of meetings in a week, and my hope is to let as many people know what is happening. That’s why I call my company Town Crier Productions.
Anyway, the five-member Council will meet at 4 p.m. for a work session followed by the regular meeting. (meeting info) (agenda with materials)
Charlottesville does not elect its five Councilors by wards. Two of the current Councilors even live on the same street in the same neighborhood.
But, the city does have voting precincts and they are on the agenda at the work session for a discussion of “reprecincting.” The Charlottesville Electoral Board is planning to change some of the precinct boundaries and change two polling places.
“This will be discussion only,” reads the staff report from Registrar Taylor Yowell. “A public hearing and ordinance will be considered at a later date.”
That is the only information available to the public before this conversation takes place. There is also no advance information available on the registrar’s website. I also must confess I’ve not had a chance to write about this despite a December 5 email from James Nix, one of the three members of the Charlottesville Electoral Board.
“We are proposing to continue with nine polling places adding Jackson Via Elementary School and Charlottesville High School as replacements for Alumni Hall and Tonsler,” Nix wrote in an email to me. “The Tonsler voters will mostly be split between Buford and Jackson Via and the Alumni Hall voters will be split between Venable and Walker.”
Nix said Tonsler is too small with inadequate parking and Alumni Hall is not owned by the city. The Buford precinct has the fewest registered voters in the city with 2,375. The changes would see over a thousand voters moved to the middle school if they vote on Election Day.
“About forty percent of the city voters will be voting at a different location with these changes,” Nix wrote.
I will hope to write up this work session. There’s often so much to write about that I never make it to these work sessions.
The regular meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and there’s quite a lot on the consent agenda. But in the interest of consolidating time, let’s go to bulleted points:
There are minutes of the November 7 and November 21 meetings. Do you find these useful? Is there enough information within them?
Council will hold second reading of an amendment to the memorandum of agreement between Albemarle and Charlottesville related to the General District Court. (read my story about the first reading)
Council will transfer $350,000 to Washington Park Pool from the capital improvement program, This funding had been intended to be spent at Darden-Towe Park for athletic fields and lighting. A request for proposals is out for a company to use this money to repair the pool in advance of the summer.
Second reading on changes to the Police Civilian Oversight Board (staff report)
But the last item on the consent agenda is worth breaking out for further explanation for those who want the details of how infrastructure gets built and what happens when it does not.
Council will hold the first of two readings on an appropriation of $192,453.98 from bonds from the developer of the Woodland Drive subdivision.
“Whenever a developer proposes a new subdivision, the City requires the developer to post certain bonds, to guarantee that the developer will build public streets and other public facilities,” reads the staff report.
This includes stormwater management during and after construction to limit erosion.
In 2016, the city approved a site plan for work on Woodland Drive in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. In 2021, the city wrote to bondholder Atlantic Union Bank to inform them the developer did not complete work the city had expected and the city was stepping in.
“Plans were prepared to provide public improvement corrections and minimal remedial storm water design to provide a pathway to restore the project to regulatory compliance in as close accordance with the approved plans as possible,” reads the staff report.
Does this mean the work has been done? Is there any additional expense to the city? How many projects like this happen each year? How frequently does the city have to call in such bonds? Are there any projects where they could do so, but have not?
Those are all questions I have on a Sunday morning. I’ll ask them and later this week we’ll see what we get.
The regular meeting really begins with the report from interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers as well as other top city officials. I’ll have details from that in the next Charlottesville Community Engagement.
The first item under regular business is a public hearing on amending the current fiscal year with the $14.3 million surplus from fiscal year 2022. Real estates were $5 million more than budgeted, with meals taxes $3.1 million over, sales and use taxes $2.6 million over, and personal property taxes $2.2 million over budget.
Other savings have come from a city with many unfilled positions with $5.5 million not spent on salaries. In all, $22.9 million will be reappropriated as a result of this public hearing. Here’s a list:
$11,513,225 in funding for items in the current fiscal year, some of which will result in ongoing needs to fund in following years:
$1 million of this would go to add two additional buses for Route 6, which currently travels between the UVA Hospital and downtown via the Willoughby Shopping Center.
An additional $2 million to Charlottesville Area Transit for 30 minute service
$2.1 million to continue paying for firefighters hired through a federal grant
$600,000 in cash to go to pay for debt service for school reconfiguration, as well as two payments of nearly $1.95 million each for additional school-related debt service in FY25 and FY26.
$700,000 toward Meadowcreek Trail
$1 million for a fund for the City Manager’s office to use where it sees fit
$4,742,142.71 in one-time funds
$325,000 for Council Strategic Initiatives
$1 million to upgrade city’s financial software
$150,000 to address rising fuel costs
$100,000 to pay for a pilot program for translation of city services
$142,142.71 is a very specific figure for completion of the Standards and Design Manual which was last adopted by Council in December 2019.
$575,000 in direct aid to individuals and families through the Pathways Fund
$150,000 for new emergency Automated External Defribilators
$300,000 to address capital improvements at the Meadowcreek Golf Course
$2 million for raises for city employees that would be informed by the soon-to-be-completed compensation study
$6,662,547.30 to the Capital Improvement fund for contingencies
Next, there is a public hearing on granting of private drainage easements on city-owned property in Albemarle County. The agenda does not specify whether this is a public hearing or not, but the staff report states “City Council should open a public hearing for this matter.” Is this the one? The agenda and the staff report should be more clear.
The agenda also does not specifically list a public hearing for a public hearing to be held on a temporary aerial easement for construction of apartments at 1223-1225 Harris Street. Most other localities are very careful to specificity which matters are public hearings. This tells community members who may be interested that they have the right to speak about a matter. There is a decided lack of transparency in Charlottesville that has become more apparent in recent years.
Finally, there’s a second reading of a rezoning for between 60 and 72 new units at Mount View Baptist Church. Council opted to not send this back to the Planning Commission on a 4-1 vote on December 7. Read my December 8 story for background or the staff report.
Louisa seeking federal funds for affordable housing project
The seven-member Louisa County Board of Supervisors meets at 5 p.m. for a closed session followed by an open session at 6 p.m. They meet in the Louisa County Public Meeting room at 1 Woolfolk Avenue. (agenda)
One interesting item on the consent agenda is worth mentioning. Supervisors will finalize authorization to purchase a new fire truck and equipment for Squad 6 with a transfer of $50,673 for remaining materials including vehicle extrication and radio equipment. (page 35)
Under new business, Supervisors will extend the time they have to invest $90,000 in a portion of a sewage treatment plant near New Bridge at Lake Anna with Lake Anna Environmental Services.. (page 42)
There are several items under information and discussion items but these aren’t available in advance in the packet. These are:
An update on the harmful algal bloom study on Lane Anna.
An update on the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation.
An update from the Virginia Department of Transportation
A quarterly update from the Louisa County Water Authority
A presentation on the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for fiscal year 2022.
Under new business, there will be a resolution to “Extend the Option Agreement for Purchase of Property Owned by Lake Anna Environmental Services.”
And another resolution will be on the approval a grant application for federal dollars for affordable housing. This would be for a project called Ferncliff Place which is described as “a mixed-income affordable housing development.” According to the application the total budget is $3.2 million with a request for over $1.4 million in federal funds.
The funding would come from a provision in the 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act.
“If successful, this application will allow the building of a two-phase residential development project that will provide 25 units to assist seniors with older, unsafe homes and missing middle-income housing for essential workers,” reads the project narrative (page 62).
A lot of the money will go to connect the housing units to public water and sewer.
Then there are seven public hearings though at least one all will be held.
The first is to amend the county ordinance to allow for Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program to operate and be administered under state regulations. (page 188)
The second is to amend the fee schedule for Community Development to alter the provisions related to applying for an application for a “no wake” buoy on Lake Anna. (page 193)
The third is to amend Land Development Regulations to move penalties from the criminal to civil legal category. (page 201)
This fourth is for a zoning application for nearly 42 acres of land from A-1 to A-2 to allow for the creation of five parcels. (page 208)
The fifth is for an amendment to a previous rezoning at Zion Town Center to increase the number of approved units from 599 to 732 units. The developer has agreed to pay $320.41 for each residential unit in a portion of the property. This will be deferred until January 3. For some reason, you don’t find this out until you get well into the packet. (page 227)
The sixth is for the rezoning at Zion Investments LLC and Crossroads Land which would bring an existing commercial building into compliance with the zoning code. (page 497)
The seventh is for rezoning for Harvest ZC Assets LLC for a very similar reason. (page 528)
Powhatan to consider reducing personal property tax rate for volunteer fire and rescue
The five-member Powhatan Board of Supervisors will meet at 6:30 p.m. for their final meeting of the year. (meeting info) (packet)
There are some items on the consent agenda worth reviewing.
Earlier this year, Supervisors asked for the previous county administrator to resign over concerns he had violated the county’s rules on salaries for personnel. Now there is a contract to hire the Berkley Group for $58,000 to update the compensation and classification plan. This will cover 136 positions and 250 full-time and part-time positions. (page 8)
There’s a resolution to allow the interim county administrator to execute a project agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation for improvements to the intersection of U.S. Route 60 and Holly Hills Road. This would add a right turn lane for eastbound traffic traveling eastbound on the highway into Holly Hills. The project had a $980,000 cost estimate in February 2022 but that has risen to $2.34 million. The original source of funding came from the Central Virginia Transportation Authority and the county and VDOT are applying for additional funds from the state through the Regional Surface Transportation Program. That outcome will be known in the spring of 2023. (page 19)
Under new business:
There are proposed changes to the incentive program for volunteers for fire and rescue that would lower the personal property tax for qualified personnel. In the past, there was an incentive to waive license fees, but those were eliminated from the code. This is estimated to cost the county $18,750 in revenue. (page 58)
There will be a discussion of taking away the search function for property owner names in the county’s Geographical Information Service in order “to provide a layer of protection against misuse.” (page 67)
There will be a discussion of the Supervisors’ by-laws and potential updates. (page 69)
Reading material from local media outlets:
Lynchburg-area legislators discuss politics over pancakes ahead of General Assembly session, Bryson Gordon, Lynchburg News and Advance, December 15, 2022
Lynchburg City Schools proposing 'aggressive' raises for teachers, classified employees, Bryson Gordon, Lynchburg News and Advance, December 16, 2022
Route 250 Bypass replacement fire station plans back in motion, Keagan Hughes, NBC29, December 16, 2022
Albemarle school board picks Rebecca Berlin to replace Oberg, WINA, December 16, 2022
Two years later, Lunenburg County cell tower still delayed, Crystal Vandergrift, Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch
Developers Found Graves in the Virginia Woods. Authorities Then Helped Erase the Historic Black Cemetery, Seth Freed Wessler, December 16, 2022 ProPublica
Police chief, former Charlotte Co. board member killed in crash on Rt. 58, WSET, December 17, 2022