Sanders appoints former Petersburg Deputy City Manager to Charlottesville position

Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders has rounded out his administration with the appointment of a former deputy city manager of Petersburg to an equivalent position in Charlottesville.

“Today I announced the selection of Lionel Lyons, a seasoned veteran in local government, who will join us as the deputy city manager for operations, my old job,” Sanders told City Council on Monday. 

This follows on the heels of the appointment of Eden Ratliff as Deputy City Manager for Administration earlier this month. Ratliff will oversee budget, finance, and human resources whereas Lyons will oversee Neighborhood Development Services, public works, transit, and utilities. 

“Both of these deputies will join us on the 5th here at your next meeting and I so looking forward to them getting here,” Sanders said. 

The third deputy is Ashley Marshall who now has the title of Deputy City Manager for Social Equity. Marshall was hired by former City Manager Chip Boyles just before Sanders was hired in the middle of 2021.

Lyons served in Petersburg for four years until 2021 and before that he was a senior executive assistant to the city manager of Phoenix, Arizona. He’s been a finalist for positions in Beaumont, Texas and Missouri City, Texas.  

Sanders also reported that he has formed a working group to come up with an ordinance to create a land bank. This consists of him, City Attorney Jacob Stroman, Housing Program Manager Antoine Williams, and Planning Commissioners Philip d’Oronzio and Lyle Solla-Yates. 

“We met recently to have some beginning conversations,” Sanders said. “This was initiated by Mr. d’Oronzio who has been a key proponent of this particular action. In that conversation we were able to get through a lot and left the conversation with the ability to see that there is some work that we can do and we believe that we can bring back to Council for your consideration sometime later in the summer.” 

Sanders held hold a budget forum on January 23. Here’s a link to the video.

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 January 19, 2024 edition of the newsletter and podcast. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.