Albemarle EDA to consider support county request for higher pay for federal employees

The Albemarle County Economic Development Authority’s Board of Directors will have a virtual meeting at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.  (Zoom link) (agenda) (meeting materials)

There are several items under new business. 

The first will be a resolution to approve the state grant recently awarded to Siller Pollinator. The funding comes from the Agricultural and Forestal Industry Development program of the Virginia Department of Consumer and Agricultural Services. The $26,000 will help the company purchase a honey-processing trailer. Both Albemarle and Fluvanna County are each providing a $6,500 local match. (read my story)

“The purchase and operation of the equipment will allow the Company to expand its product line and offerings to the public, which will generate additional tax revenue and economic activity for Virginia and Albemarle and Fluvanna Counties,” reads a resolution. 

If you’re interested in the details, take a look at the memorandum of agreement. 

The second is a resolution called “locality pay letter of support” which relates to the pay band for federal employees. There is something called a “Locality Pay Area” where salaries are adjusted upwards to be compatible with jobs in the private sector. Currently there is no adjustment for the Charlottesville metropolitan statistical area and Albemarle wants to change that to attract more people to work for the intelligence sector. 

“The effect of the LPAs is that employees working in the intelligence and national security sector in Northern Virginia, less than 100 miles from Charlottesville MSA, receive an adjustment more than twice that of Charlottesville MSA, while the cost of living in Charlottesville MSA is estimated to be only 12.9% lower than the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA,” reads a briefing from Emily Kilroy, the county’s interim director of economic development. 

The EDA’s Board will be asked to consider a letter to support a request to ask the Federal Salary Council to make an adjustment.

This third is an update on the process to update Albemarle’s economic development strategic plan as well as a preparation for the joint meeting with the Albemarle Board of Supervisors scheduled for August 14 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 241. There’s no information on this in the packet.

Then there will be an update on the Rivanna Futures project. There’s no information on this in the packet but Albemarle Supervisors rezoned land for the future defense and intelligence campus. 

Then there will be a closed session for two projects that have the code names Olympian and Julius. Olympian was discussed at a closed session on June 18 and two of the members had to recuse themselves. They were Don Long and David Storm according to the minutes. There does not appear to be a list of all of these so I am tracking them on cvillepedia.

From the closed meeting motion we learn that Project Olympian is related to expansion of an existing business in the county and that Project Julius involves the discussion of proprietary information provided by an unnamed company “pursuant to a promise of confidentiality, to be used by the EDA for the development of business and trade.”

Any guesses? 

In other meetings:

• The City of Charlottesville will hold a second virtual meeting regarding the decarbonization study that is currently underway. This meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. is not on either of the city’s calendars. You have to register to attend.
• The Fluvanna Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will meet at 4:30 p.m. Where? What will they talk about? There’s no information about either on the calendar.
• The Fluvanna Solar Ordinance Committee will meet at 5 p.m. in the Morris Room at the county administration building at 132 Main Street? What will they talk about? There’s no information about either on the calendar.

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 is from the July 15, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.