Charlottesville City Council to consider gun buyback program

The five-member City Council will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday for a closed session with the regular session beginning at 6:30 p.m. Usually there are public presentations at the beginning of the meetings but this time Council will discuss appointments to Boards and Commissions. 

This is a very rare meeting that’s being held on an election day. Both Michael Payne and Lloyd Snook are candidates in the Democratic Primary for three seats on City Council. Will the results be known before the end of the meeting? (meeting agenda) (meeting info with Zoom link)

The consent agenda includes a lot of information: 

• The minutes of the May 23, 2023 joint work session between Council and the Planning Commission are two pages long. Take a look. Unfortunately I have not been able to listen to this meeting yet. You can watch it here if you missed it. Maybe write your own set of minutes? 
• Council will hold the second reading of the spending of $447,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding passed through the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. The money will be used for nine separate purchases to help augment patrol abilities. These include a community response vehicle for the new Community Involvement Coordinator, crime analysis software, and an Axon Cradle Point with generator for a logistics trailer for mobile responses. (staff report)
• There’s a second reading to appropriate $445,307 in grant funding from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to allow for the purchase of two generators for Charlottesville High School to serve as an emergency shelter. (staff report)
• There’s second reading of a resolution to re-appropriate $137,500 in federal housing vouchers to pay for half the cost of Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s purchase of 100 Harris Road. I did get a story out about that one. (staff report). 
• Second reading of an appropriation to receive $5 million from the University of Virginia for two streetscape projects. More on that in the next installment of this newsletter. (staff report)
• Second reading of an appropriation of $5.3 million to allow Charlottesville City Schools to purchase Albemarle County’s share of the soon-to-be-renamed Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center. (staff report)
• Second reading of an increase in utility rates. I wrote about the first reading. (staff report)
• There’s first reading of a resolution to upgrade the call alerting system at the Fontaine Avenue Fire Station. The system in place is not compatible with new systems run by the Emergency Communications Center. (staff report)

The first item on the agenda is the first reading of an ordinance authorizing Charlottesville to have a gun buy-back program as authorized by Virginia law. This item as well as the above $447,000 grant use the same language.

“As of March 20, 2023, the City of Charlottesville has seen a 150% increase in murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses in 2023 over the entire calendar year of 2022,” reads the staff report for the buyback ordinance. “Since 2019, annual violent crime offenses in the city have increased steadily year over year by a total of 59.3% from 2019 to the end of 2022.” 

Next there is an amendment to a previously approved federal grant award that has not been spent. This pertains to $20,000 from the FY2017 to FY2019 Community Development Block Grant. If approved, an existing pathway at Washington Park that is not compliant with federal law will be replaced. 

“The proposed program will fully replace these older, difficult to traverse pathways with new wider paved paths that are fully [Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant that will significantly improve access to the park for those who may be mobility challenged,” reads the staff report.

The third regular agenda item would formally transfer an $850,000 loan related to the Dogwood Properties from Woodard Properties to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. I think. Did I get this one right? Double-check me. Here’s my most recent story. (staff report) (resolution)

The fourth item is an approval of the employment contract Jacob Stroman will have as the new city attorney. He’ll make an annual salary of $208,665. (staff report) (employment contract)

Finally Council will adopt an emergency operations plan. (read the plan)

“The City of Charlottesville Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is a multidisciplinary all-hazards plan that establishes a comprehensive framework for the management of major emergencies and disasters within the City,” reads the staff report. 

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 June 19, 2023 Week Ahead. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.