City Manager report: Central Water Line may be more expensive

When Michael C. Rogers became Charlottesville’s interim city manager three years ago, he soon began a practice of providing a written report about what’s happening in City Hall. Sam Sanders has been in the position since August 2023 and continued the practice.

Sanders serves on the Charlottesville Regional Airport Authority as well as Albemarle executive Jeffrey Richardson. They were joined in January by Pace Lochte as the third member. Lochte is Assistant Vice President for Economic Development at the University of Virginia. Sanders reported on traffic to one American city.

“The United flight to Chicago that started August 2023 has increased frequency due to exceptional performance with its return to our market using a larger aircraft with first class seats,” Sanders wrote in the report. “A second flight with the same larger aircraft to Chicago began in April 2024. A 3rd flight is scheduled to begin service in March with additional first-class service on a smaller, but more spacious aircraft.”

Sanders also sits on the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, an organization that is planning on building a new waterline through central Charlottesville.

“The Central Water Line project has significant escalation in budget with a new realized need to bury the line deeper [than] existing city services to avoid any unintended impacts to either infrastructure,” Sanders wrote.

According to the RWSA’s agenda for the January 28 meeting, the construction for the $47 million project is expected to begin in June and run through March 2029. Work will be split into two phases and bids for the first phase have been delayed to address comments from Charlottesville officials.

Another federal program to watch is a Clean School Bus Rebate program offered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The application window for rebates closed on January 14.

“If successful, this will provide funding support for the purchase of two additional electric school buses, expanding the electric school bus pilot to a total of four buses,” writes Kristel Riddervold, the director of the city’s office of sustainability.

That website has so far not been updated.

Riddervold said Charlottesville has also applied to once again participate in the federal Center for Heat Resilient Communities program. In 2021, Charlottesville helped provide data to something called the National Integrated Heat Health System. According to one of my stories from February 2022, thirteen volunteers took 34,401 measurements across the city on August 24, 2021, walking seven routes.

“The application contemplates the formation of a Charlottesville-specific heat working group and included letters of support for this effort from the Office of Emergency Management, Risk Management, the Department of Human Services, the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, the Blue Ridge Health District, the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, and the Local Energy Alliance Program,” Riddervold wrote.

So far, the website for the program still exists.

Before you go: This article was originally sent out as part of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter in the February 3, 2025 edition. Both are functions of Town Crier Productions. You can support the work by purchasing a paid subscription or contributing monthly through Patreon. You can also send in a check or send an email, but drop me a line first!