Sanders provides update on his work plan as City Manager

At the July 15 meeting of the Charlottesville City Council, City Manager Sam Sanders received applause from those assembled in Council chambers when he said he is nearing a milestone.

“In 17 days it will be one year since I became city manager,” Sanders said. “And I’m still here.”

Sanders told Council nine months ago that he would develop a work plan to communicate what initiatives he has been working on. He also updated the Council on the year to date. (read the work plan) (read my story from that meeting)

“We got three collective bargaining agreements done, delivered effective July 1,” Sanders said. “That’s a big deal, being able to do that all at one time for police, fire and transit and we’re already working on number four.” 

(See also: Charlottesville’s fourth collective bargaining unit to be represented by Teamsters Local 29, March 20, 2024)

Council has also updated the pay scale and structure for city employees, adopted a new zoning ordinance, rolled out a new sidewalk priority list, and has put together an alternative public safety response initiative called ANCHOR. 

“Delivering on the things that we’ve identified that we know we need to do is more comprehensive in nature,” Sanders said. “That’s what this has been about for me, being able to figure out some of the things that we’ve talked about and not necessarily acted on, center things that we’ve thought about but not necessarily committed to, and some of the things that we have tried but maybe we didn’t try whole-heartedly and to see if there’s just another bit of energy that we could add behind some things and try to get those things moving forward.”

Sanders said he is working with other partners in the area and pointed at the rollout of the microtransit pilot that Charlottesville Area Transit is conducting for Albemarle County. He also added that the new emergency management coordinator has updated all of the necessary plans and that the city has made several purchases at 0 East High Street and at the intersection of Avon Street and Levy Avenue. 

“Both of those being high interest conversations,” Sanders said. “I’m going to leave it there and we’ll keep working on what we do next with each of those.” 

Sanders said he has finally filled all of his deputy positions and other vacancies to bring city government back to capacity. There has been work to get the city to a point where it can build transportation projects, pointing to the recent completion of the Belmont Bridge. 

“While it is a critical piece of infrastructure, it brought about a lot of conversation and I ride it over to and I am thankful that it is finished,” Sanders said. 

Sanders acknowledges there have been challenges in his first year, but he will continue to tell the truth and be honest about expectations. 

“Changing our approach is a continued priority,” Sanders said. “If we can focus on planning well, scoping projects well, we will absolutely execute well and that is what I am really, really committed to, helping this team be able to see what we can do on a regular basis.”

Sanders said much of what Council wants to do is going to be expensive and he said there will have to be a balance. He said the next year will see work to address issues with people who don’t have a place to live. Other priorities in the next year will include more work on transportation, improvements to the Downtown Mall, the parks and recreation master plan, and more. 

“And I’m here to implement Council’s vision and that is to be a place where everyone thrives,” Sanders said.

More from the City Council meeting in future editions of the newsletter. 

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