Information Charlottesville

There were two oversights in this week’s Week Ahead newsletter. 

First, the Charlottesville School Board will meet at 5 p.m. in the Booker T. Reaves Media Center at Charlottesville High School at 1400 Melbourne Road. You can register to participate via Zoom or watch along on Facebook. 

Items on the agenda include an allocation from the state for a one-time bonus that comes from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Charlottesville gets $414,603.21 for the effort, and is kicking in funding of its own. 

“Charlottesville City Schools has 793.32 [full-time equivalent] instructional and support positions including custodial and nutrition workers,” reads the agenda item. “The total cost of the one-time bonus payment is $854,009.”

Full-time workers would get $1,000, and those who work fewer hours would get paid a lower bonus based on their workload. 

There will also be an update on pupil transportation. As of October 27, there were eight regular drivers and two leads, with four drivers in training. On November 9, a new bus route will start which will allow the waitlist for students to be reduced. 

The second meeting is that of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission which meets in person at 7 p.m. at the Water Street Center in downtown Charlottesville. (meeting info)

One item on the agenda is a presentation on design work for the Zion Crossroads Gateway Plan as well as recommended transportation improvements created as part of a small area plan. Another is the Regional Transit Vision Plan, which I wrote up in yesterday’s newsletter. That story was based on the plan’s presentation at the October 27, 2022 meeting of the Regional Transit Partnership chaired by Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel. 

“We’re not making a decision on this money and what we’re doing right now in the next month or two,” McKeel said. “We have the ongoing governance study that is going to be playing out over the next year. That will determine the players at the table, who wants to participate, and we have to figure out what counties want to participate and what the governance would actually look like.” 

McKeel welcomed the presence of Delegate Sally Hudson and Senator Creigh Deeds at that partnership meeting and said the word about the transit vision plan needs to get out to other representatives in the General Assembly. Legislative action will be needed for additional tax powers to pay for expanded transit. 

That Regional Transit Partnership ended with some updates from transit providers.  

• Jaunt has an alternative fuel advisory committee that last met on September 22, 2022. There are representatives from the University Transit Service, but none from Charlottesville Area Transit. There is a member of the CAT Advisory Board on the Jaunt panel. The CAT Advisory Board has not met for at least two years. 
• Charlottesville Area Transit still seeks to recruit new drivers and hope an increase in hour pay will help. There was no update on changes to CAT routes that are on hold until enough drivers are hired. 

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Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the November 3, 2022 edition of the program. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.