Charlottesville dissolves Office of Community Solutions; Ikefuna no longer works for city

A man originally hired to serve as Charlottesvillle’s planning director no longer works for the city and the office he was promoted to no longer exists.

That’s according to an email sent to members of the city’s Planning Commission on Friday, June 6.

“The City Manager has decided to close the Office of Community Solutions,” said Deputy City Manager James Freas. “We will be reassigning staff from this office to other offices within the City.”

Freas also told the Planning Commission that OCS Director Alexander Ikefuna no longer works for the city. Ikefuna was hired in August 2015 to serve as director of Neighborhood Development Service. Former City Manager Chip Boyles hired Freas in September 2021 for that position and Ikefuna was elevated to the new Office of Community Solutions.

“The Office of Community Solutions works to serve as a catalyst for positive change in Charlottesville by advancing equitable access to affordable housing, revitalizing commercial districts, and applying for and administering grants to support community development initiatives,” reads the website for the soon-to-be-defunct office.

Those who work in the office will be transferred to other city departments, but the housing functions will go back to NDS where they had been prior to the creation of OCS.

“We believe integration of our Housing Division into NDS will facilitate collaboration between housing staff and planners in both the current planning (development review) functions as well as our long-range and policy development functions,” Freas wrote.

The city hired Kellie Brown last September to serve as the director of Neighborhood Development Services.

Additional information: This story was originally posted in the June 11, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’ve posted it here on Sunday as I do the Week Ahead newsletter. I needed it to explain something. If you want to support this work, take a look at this very milquetoast appeal for funding.