City Manager report: Charlottesville and Albemarle officials regularly meeting 

City Manager Sam Sanders has continued the practice of providing a regular report to City Council on the activities of city government. This was begun by his predecessor, Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers.

On Monday, Sanders announced the cancellation of a trip to Montgomery County, Maryland to learn more about how that community’s transit system is implementing battery-electric vehicles. The trip had been anticipated as another piece of information for Council in advance of a looming decision for how to proceed with alternative fuels for Charlottesville Area Transit. 

“That’s going to allow us to go ahead and move forward with CAT in partnership with Kimley Horn to bring forward their recommendations for the study,” Sanders said. “That will occur on January 16 during the work session.”

Sanders said a decision will not be made at that work session, and added he is hopeful a trip to Montgomery County can occur eventually. 

The city manager also announced a high-level “leadership exchange” with officials in Albemarle County. 

“This is something we’ve done in the past and every now and again it has gotten off track, and we’ve been able to bring it back together,” Sanders said. “It was an important opportunity for us to work on key matters that we have in collaboration pertaining to our respective FY25 budget planning.” 

Sanders said topics included transit, libraries, emergency management, and parks and recreation. 

Here are some other items from the written report:

• The Parks and Recreation Department is seeking responses to a survey to inform the creation of a new master plan. (take the survey) (learn more)
• Charlottesville Area Transit has announced it will create a dashboard to show ridership performance, on-time rates, and service levels in order to promote transparency.
• Construction will begin next year on an all-abilities play space called Bennett’s Village. This will be in Pen Park. 

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