Richmond City Council Budget Work Session on Finance & Administration Portfolio and Constitutional Officers - March 23, 2026

Good afternoon, everyone.

The Richmond City Council budget work session will now come to order.

And I will ask our council chief of staff after the chamber evacuation plan announcement to come forward and provide our protocol for the meeting.

Madam Clerk, if you would provide a chamber emergency evacuation plan announcement.

Upon activation of the emergency alum signal, all persons should immediately exit the building.

Please use the SIS to the left or right front of the council chamber or the east or west stairware outside the rear doors of the chamber.

Do not use elevators or escalators.

After exiting the building, security will direct everyone down 9th Street to the assembly area located inside the former public safety building parking lot.

Able persons should should assist visually in hearing the pair of visitors with exiting the building.

Madam President, all members of council are present with the exception of Councillor Robertson and Lynch.

You do have a core.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Mr.

Warren, if you would provide the overview in terms of the protocol for the meeting.

Yes, ma'am, please.

Council RJ Warren, Council Chief of Staff.

Um, try to be concise here.

Um, you have a busy schedule today.

You have this work session at one o'clock, uh, followed by uh an informal meeting at four o'clock, where you will have Docker review, an act for presentation from the CAO, and a closed session, followed by a formal meeting at six o'clock tonight, which will consist of the first initial budget public hearing.

Uh, due to today's full schedule and to make sure you all have a break in between this meeting and the four o'clock meeting, um, we're only going to do one round of five-minute questions today.

Um, and just as a reminder, your timer is only running when you are asking the question or providing comments to lead up to your question.

So if you effectively use your time, you can ask uh several questions within that five minutes.

The timer gets paused when city administration or an individual provides you a response.

Um city administration has asked me to share that the DCAO for this portfolio finance administration will be the one present at the podium, and that they will lead uh the facilitation of all questions.

So if you have questions about specific departments, please provide that to the DCAO to provide a response, and they will call up directors as necessary to provide uh expert testimony.

Uh before you today will be the finance and administration portfolio.

The presentation that's about to go up on the screen is for finance and administration.

Um, but also on your docker today is the constitutional officers, which consists of the Richmond Sheriff's Office, uh the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney, uh, Office of the City Treasurer, the General Registrar, and the Office of the Circuit Clerk Court.

And uh, even though they won't be presenting, they are in the chamber to uh answer any questions you may have.

So if you have a question for those uh those constitutional officers leadership during your five minutes, feel free to ask those.

And I believe that was the um information I need to share with you today.

Thank you, Mr.

Warren.

With that, we will get underway.

DCAO.

OD Donald, I thought would be our first up.

Is that no?

It's gonna be me, DCO Jackson.

Just want to make sure.

Yes.

Thank you.

No problem.

DCO Jackson in charge of the finance and administration portfolio.

Good afternoon, esteemed members of council.

On behalf of Mayor Vula and CAO Donnell, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present the finance and administration portfolio for the FY2020 uh 27 proposed budget.

We what I want to share with you today reflects not just numbers, but the people systems and decisions that keep the city running every day.

We recognize that there are challenges and we are actively looking for them, finding them, and most importantly, we are fixing them.

What you will see today reflects actions already taken, already taken to address those challenges and strengthen how our portfolio operates.

Thank you.

Today I'll walk you through our alignment with the mayor's seven pillars, highlight a few key accomplishments from this past year, provide a review of the proposed budget, and close out with what you can expect moving forward.

Speaking about the seven pillars, the seven pillars guide everything that we do from how we allocate resources to how we measure success.

Finance and administration plays a role in each pillar, both directly through our core functions and indirectly by supporting departments across the city.

This past year we focused on strengthening how city hall functions.

While we've made meaningful progress, we also recognize that there is more work to be done, particularly in strengthening systems and improving processes and stabilizing staffing.

Importantly, we are not standing still, is what we want to speak to today.

Where gaps exist, actions are already underway.

Completed its first reverse auction, which generated 1.7 million dollars in savings over the next three years.

Did you know that they launched a transparency dashboard and expanded access to contracting opportunities?

These are important things to highlight.

Did you know that RBA 311 and DIT advanced their advancing AI capabilities and strengthening cybersecurity?

And did you know that the finance department issued 70,000 real estate bills on time to in finance?

Those are important things to note for a thriving city hall and meaningful progress.

Departments like IT procurement and minority business play a critical role in enabling enabling supporting and thriving families and strong local economies.

From standing up a central infrastructure at social services to expanding access to small and minority owned businesses, this work creates real pathways and opportunity and growth.

Just a few highlights, I want to mention that prevailing wages wage requirements to support fair pay on city projects.

We've delivered also 57 business training classes and registered 173 new vendors.

While much of this work happens behind the scenes, the impact is very real, and it's what we will continue to build on.

And most importantly, we're listening and acting on what we hear.

From launching the community survey to improving 311 response time, residents' voices are helping shape how we operate and make better decisions.

Next, I'll walk you through the finance and administration portfolio as it relates to the mission and the teams that help carry this out.

Under this portfolio, it's really the backbone of how the city operates, covering everything from budget and finance to HRIT, procurement 311, and now minority business development.

You can think of this portfolio as the engine behind the city of city government.

While it may not always be front-facing, it powers how every department functions and how services are delivered to the residents.

At its core, this work is about responsibly managing public resources while ensuring residents receive reliable services.

That is why there was a decision to be made to bring my minority business and development into this portfolio.

We wanted to align it more closely with procurement.

We are better connecting policy to practice.

So we're not just setting goals around participation, but also tracking how dollars are spent and ensuring those outcomes are realized.

And just to provide just a little bit of context, when you look at peer cities, Richmond's model is most closely aligned to Norfolk, as both operate as independent departments that balance compliance and business development.

Now there are other localities that take a different approach.

Some are more procurement driven or compliance heavy, but overall our structure is consistent with peer practices.

And we believe that this alignment strengthens our coordination across departments and allow us to make more integrated approach to how we plan, spend, and deliver across the city.

Starting with our budget office, this team plays a critical role in how we plan, which is where we're here today, why we're here today, how we track and manage city finances.

In FY27, this proposed budget reflects just a modest decrease of $75,000 in personnel and $32,000 reductions in operations.

Now, this primary driver by uh this primary this is primarily driven by operational efficiencies and vacancies budgeted at minimum salary levels.

Now, I want to note that the current vacancy count represents a point in time, it's just a snapshot, and things are moving forward, so their steps are being taken to stabilize this department, and we're going to resume and the uh resume the recruiting process after the budget cycle.

But most importantly, what I want to note in this particular department is that despite this reduction, the core function of this team remains unchanged.

Director Brown and her team will continue to be critical in strengthening our forecasting and monitoring our expenditures.

When we think about 311, the budget includes 198,000 increase in personnel with operating costs remaining essentially flat.

Now, this increase is focused on supporting frontline to help maintain service levels and respond and respond to continued demand.

To improve response times, we are implementing several operational adjustments.

While some delays are driven by complexity of requests, the need for coordination across multiple departments, we are taking steps to improve the overall performance.

This includes reallocating staff hours to better align with call volume patterns, improve request types, and public-facing information through our request fulfillment enhancement program.

And we're also planning for future self-service options, like I mentioned earlier, chatbot, which is an AI function.

Finance.

This reflects an intentional right sizing of the department.

We're aligning resources with current operational needs while stabilizing our core function.

Many of the challenges within finance were structural, not isolated.

At the start of this administration, we inherited gaps in reporting.

We were heavily reliant on manual processes.

We've had tons of audit findings and staffing and leadership vacancies that created real operational risks.

Our intentional focus has been on stabilization, and we've made some measurable progress.

You can see that in a few key areas, as I've mentioned earlier, the $70,000 bills that were sent out.

We've also had a strong collection rate with those bills that were sent out.

We delivered the surplus information to council on time.

We addressed issues within the RBA pay platform, and we also restarted our tax enforcement to recover revenues.

Now, at the same time, we are putting in place structural changes to sustain this progress.

We're building internal controls, we're strengthening our audit and compliance functions, we're consolidating collections, we're transitioning to permanent staffing, and we're reinforcing leadership alignment.

A key part of that work is rebuilding the team.

We are actively recruiting for both leadership and critical staff roles, with multiple positions currently posted on the city's website.

Now it's important to note that these vacancies represent operational gaps, not excess capacity.

And we are also evaluating all of these roles to ensure they align with current needs, including opportunities to reclassify where appropriate.

In parallel, we have sequence certain non-personnel initiatives to support stabilization.

This includes professional services for fiscal health assessment of the city to ensure that our offer grant is closed out most effectively, and to also augment staffing to assist with year-in closeout planning.

These efforts are aligned with staffing and systems readiness to ensure successful execution.

Many of the challenges we've experienced are tied to system limitations and manual processes, and this budget allows us to continue stabilizing operations while planning for long-term system improvements.

Overall, this year is about rebuilding, strengthening processes, restoring discipline, and ensuring we deliver accurate and timely financial information.

For HR, the 27 budget includes 111,000 increase in personnel and 309,000 increase in operating.

And that's primarily driven by the compensation study and benefit related adjustments.

This reflects our continued focus on strengthening the city's workforce, making sure we have capacity to recruit, retain, and support employees across all departments.

A key part of that effort is the compensation study.

The $500,000 investment is included in the general fund operating budget.

This will provide a comprehensive review of job classifications, compensation structures, pay equity, and market competitiveness.

It will help ensure we remain competitive in today's labor market.

Now we expect that the work will take about six to nine months following procurement process.

That work is also tied directly into how we strengthen recruitment.

Today recruitment is shared between HR business partners and talent acquisition partners, but under the new HR leadership, we're moving toward a more centralized model with clearer roles and responsibilities.

As part of that shift, we're strengthening how we measure performance by using metrics like time to fill and hiring outcomes to improve accountability.

We are starting to see some positive movement in that area in the and in our workforce numbers.

You may recall that the vacancy rate in the last report out showed that we were now around 13%, the lowest since FY23, and the turnover has declined to about 9%.

Now that said, these improvements are not yet the results of those changes underway, and we expect those efforts to further strengthen the trend over time.

Also, our new HR director was on boarded in January if you have had a chance to meet her yet, and she is primed and ready.

The existing organizational structure, she's looking at that and it's underway, so she's identifying opportunities for improvements to better align her her department so that she can help support with recruitment and retention.

Now, overall, this investment of $500,000 primarily is a one-time cost, and it will position the city to build a more competitive and equitable compensation framework while strengthening our ability to attract and retain talent.

Procurement.

Procurement plays a critical role in how the city secures goods and services through requisition, purchase orders, bids, and RFPs.

The budget includes 461,000 increase in personnel, adding capacity through two new positions and supporting two other positions.

This investment is focused on strengthening oversight, improving process timelines and better support in departments across the organization.

Ms.

Jackson, you have five minutes remaining.

Thank you.

This need is also reflected in performance challenges, including the reduction of procurement violations and increasing contract compliance.

It's addressing the areas along with findings from the recent PCART audit.

It requires that which requires stronger internal controls, clearer processes, and more consistent oversight.

Additional staffing will allow the department to provide more proactive support and improve compliance and ensure procurements are properly managed from solicitation through renewal and closeout.

For minority business development, their budget maintains six funded FTEs with no positions and reflects a modest decrease in operating, and that is driven by cost containment efforts and the completion of the initial software investment.

Importantly, this does not represent a reduction in service.

We will continue to move things forward.

Within this portfolio, MDB will play, MBD will play a critical role in strengthening how the city tracks and manages the spending with the disparity study.

Now, now that the disparity study has been adopted, the focus has shifted into implementation, particularly improving coordination between the Office of Minority Business with procurement and departments to drive more consistent outcomes.

Now, a key part of this work is embedding equity into the process at the project planning stage.

So participation goals are built into how projects are scoped, budgeted, and executed.

Now at the same time, we are strengthening policies and roles and coordination to ensure these goals are clearly defined and consistently monitored.

They're also going to improve how we track and report progress on the investments.

While no positions are added, we are taking a targeted approach focusing on high impact strategies, leveraging our partnerships, and improving coordination to expand capacity.

This work also reduced legal and compliance risks by ensuring procurement practices are consistent and well documented.

Has a num has a uh significant increase $3.3 million in operating and reflecting the city's growing reliance on technology and the need to maintain systems that are secure.

You'll note that IT operates in an internal service fund, not general fund, and they use a combination of a showback and chargeback model.

Under the showback model, the departments pay an allocated amount into what we track, and they track it, track the actuals, and then they also have a chargeback model, which is most in line with the print shop and mailroom.

From an investment standpoint, these resources are focused on replacing aging equipment, upgrading core infrastructure, and expanding disaster recovery capabilities.

Many of our systems are at our approaching its end of life and making these upgrades are essential to maintaining the continuity of operations.

And I want to wrap up with this section as it relates to risk management and how we plan for and manage risk across the city, especially in a highly litigious environment.

Because when something goes wrong here, it say workplace injury, property damage or claim.

This team makes sure people are supported in the city responds responsibly.

Now for risk management, there's an increase of 90,000 in personnel and 790, 79,000 in operations, and that's primarily driven by the actuarial projections, rising claims, and higher insurance premiums.

The investment helps ensure we are prepared, not just responding when we issue when an issue arrives, but to manage risk proactively, support our employees and protect city long-term financial positions.

As we look ahead for FY27, what you can expect from this portfolio is continued stabilization and steady progress.

We're really focused on strengthening our core operations, how we plan, how we track our performance, and how we make decisions across the organization.

You can expect expect clearer, more accessible reporting and continued investment in our workforce so we have the capacity to deliver.

So the question becomes what do you all what do all of these investments actually add up to?

What will residents and staff and counsel?

Yes.

I want to uh thank you for a comprehensive uh presentation.

No problem.

Um, and I'm sure there will be questions that will get to some of the items that were more the summary, but this has been great thus far.

Okay.

I'd like to point now to members of council for questions.

Um the first member, council member Tramell.

Just had um one question before you were cut off.

And it was about the 311 and code enforcement working together.

I think it was the last paragraph that was up there.

The last comment, the last slide I had before your time ran out.

A thriving city hall.

Yeah, 311 with code enforcement zoning systems to improve response.

Residents, I was gonna ask, how are you tracking that?

Is that gonna be all in one department or separate departments?

No, they're separate departments.

311 will be providing some support in regards to um their the code enforcement's new system.

They are going to have some integration there.

You need additional information about the integration, we'll be happy to share that with you.

Yeah, because I know that when a lot of citizens call 311, um it's kind of a mix-up with public utilities and public works.

Public utilities handles the stormwater drainage and stuff like that, not public.

That that falls under Scott Morris, the director um everybody thinks it falls under Scott Um Bobby Benson with public works, it does not fall under Bobby Benson.

So they get confused, and then next thing you know, they're calling me telling me that the ticket got cleared and it's the work has not been done.

I said because it was the wrong department.

Because Bobby doesn't handle drainage or flooding that falls under Scott.

But one good thing, Scott and Bobby do work good together when um when I know this that the citizens have called about old grown brush and there's drainage or um things that are covered up.

Um Scott will call Bobby's and then they'll work together to clear the brush so that they can open up the drain so that the water can flow through, like what's going on in Woodstock right now.

Okay, okay.

So I didn't know when you brought up about zoning, I didn't know that that was together separate, because when you call 311, you say, hey, I got a I got a house that's being built with no permits and that.

Does it stay with 311?

Does it go to zoning?

Who does it go to?

All tickets are disseminated to the the department in which the issue resides.

So the intake is happening in 311, but the disbursement will be going to specifically like the DPW or the DPU or the code enforcement.

If they know where to send it.

Well, I mean, right now we have a request fulfillment enhancement program where we're trying to improve and streamline the process in regards to what goes where, the criterias and as it relates to the service ticket being open closed, so those things are in process right now to standard to make standardization there.

And is there a way that they are looked at like at the end of the month to see how many calls are coming in from which district and what issues that they're having in each district?

Each I've asked that for years.

There is reporting for all of the tickets that are out there.

There's a dashboard that's also out there for um the citizens as well as the leaders and elected body.

I believe that Mr.

Breel, if if the need to have some training on those reports and to see where things are moving in the process, we will be happy to uh provide some one-on-one training to staff so that they can see that information.

So you're saying that council members will know what kind of calls are coming in or district as far as code enforcement drainage.

Um if a ticket is created on if a ticket is created in the system, there's visibility to that ticket.

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

No problem.

Thank you, Councilmember Trammell.

Councilwoman Gidson.

I did not yet flag my, I mean I will have questions, but I haven't yet requested the question yet.

No, we had the protocol for the sessions with rotation of questions.

So yeah, to ensure, yeah, to ensure that every member um got to ask question.

Um within the work session at a timely manner where we set up a predetermined list of members' order for each work session at this moment.

You're not your second, but if you need to if you want to wave that at this time, we can move on and come right back to you after the that'd be wonderful.

Thank you.

Um council member Robertson.

Excuse me, thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um so I'm there are several questions that and a lot of my questions go back to, and I will send a copy of those questions.

Um sometimes a little difficult to try to put all these questions in the right order for me in the five-minute period to make sure that I'm calling on the right department.

But to start off, uh the department of finance, um the level of vacancies that are there currently.

What are they?

The number of vacancies currently for finance.

The snapshot says 59.

That needle has not moved significantly since the report out in earlier in mid-February.

But we have actively been posting job postings between this time.

Okay, so we have when I'm looking at the vacancies, and I'm looking at the current salary range for those vacant positions.

Um it appears to me that the majority of them are somewhere around $70,000 a year.

Is that part of the reasons why we can't fill these jobs?

I will say that the compensation study uh will provide a better insight to whether or not our salaries are on the low or high end.

I can't answer that question right now because we being a new leader here, as well as Ms.

Shelton, we're gonna have to get a feel for exactly what's happening.

We are just going through the recruitment process now.

So I don't have a definitive answer for that specifically, if it's low.

Um, and I I heard you say that this study is going to take nine months.

So my question is that these vacancies have been there for a while.

Sure.

And they fall in this income bracket that gives me concern.

The majority of the vacancies, there are a few exceptions, but the majority of them are certainly, and I'm using a medium number of 70,000.

And I'm questioning that as to whether or not that is the what is the qualifications for those kinds of jobs, and whether or not we need to be aligning that with some of the other workforce training development and so forth, and maybe we can grow a larger work pool.

Sure.

So again, we're working with HR to make that assessment and make a determination as to what should be classified and how it should be classified in regards to the needs of the department at the time.

As I mentioned in the uh, as I mentioned earlier, we're looking at every position, and if there's a need to reclassify it based off of the parameters that we have right now, we will move in that in that regard.

Okay.

Non-general funds, special fund, enterprise fund, internal service fund, capital improvement, and there are major dollars in those categories.

Can you give us some clarity as to what those funds really services that they provide or the sources of revenue for those?

Um I can give it to you more in a description and a quick describer in terms of internal service fund, like we gave you IT and risk management, those are two internal service fund type of activities.

Um, in terms of the special fund, I believe you you mentioned.

So tell me more about the internal service fund.

Those dollars, like you know, this year up to 63 million.

I don't have what you are showing right now, but again, the internal service fund are really specific to like the IT, the risk management, the health care fund.

It's covering the entire city as it relates to the needs for those specific areas, health care benefits.

We have that in internal service fund because it is a citywide need we have to uh pay for, but it's housed specifically there to keep and to track.

Risk management is the same thing as it relates to workers' compensation and uh liability insurance as well as IT.

IT provide support to specific to everyone in the city, so that is considered as an internal service service fund as well, because it's a city operation, not just specific to one area.

Okay, so I guess what you're saying to me, if I look at each one of those departments, I'll be able to track where this these funds for non-general funds are coming directly from as far as what department within your portfolio.

Can you restate that question?

I want to make sure I answer it correctly.

When you say track, what do you mean?

Yeah, because you know the clock keeps running as long as I'm talking.

So please be able to understand it.

Minute is a big minute in this.

Sorry.

Okay, so my question, my statement in response to your question was that if I look at each one of the departments, those numbers should equal what you have in your overall summary.

Um for non-departmental for special funds, enterprise fund in terms of a contribution over, yes.

There's there should be a contribution over.

So the disparity study that we had done.

Quite some time uh has passed, and we are still looking to find out the implementation strategy as to how we move forward.

Do is there something in your that you have that give us a sense of how we're gonna roll this out and make it happen?

Yeah, so I will um say that the strategy right now, in terms of the implementation is just trying to make to they have a new software in place.

So the intention behind that is uh to have the ability to track information more uh closely.

Additionally, the um team is ensuring that training is adequate for those that are are seeking to be a minority business.

I will also say that if you want a detailed framework, it's something that we probably can provide for to you at a later date, or I can bring Ms.

Foster up to maybe elaborate a little to uh help um as a teaser, if you like.

As long as you provide me with your strategy or your plan of action so that throughout the year we'll be able to determine whether or not the milestones at the last uh we talked previously about the bonding that had been done by the city to be able to go to the state uh benefits to transfer.

There was a significant borrowing of bonds to make that transaction, and we talked about the debt service on that.

Is it possible to get uh report on the status of that?

What's what is the uh debt service payments and the schedule for that?

Yes, I'll get that information to you later.

Don't have it in my pocket right now.

Sorry.

Okay, good enough.

Um, my questions are directly related to some of the reports that we've gotten.

One was in regards to the incumbents rolling forward uh from the budget to the purchasing and how we are addressing that.

How was the status of that?

I'd have to get you an answer later for that as well.

Okay, sure.

And Ms.

Robson, you have one minute left.

Okay.

Is there a policy in place to discontinue the waiver of credit card fees and what has been the cost for those fees that waiver?

The short answer is there's a process in place for credit card fee waivers.

I don't want to specifically say that I have laid eyes on the actual policy, and I will get um Miss Shelton to get that information to you.

Okay.

There's been a consistent effort on our part to look at reporting and consistent ways that those reporting and there has been challenges as it relates to the multiple tools that are used, integration.

What's the status of that?

Can you restate that question for me, please?

I'm sorry.

I heard integration reporting.

I didn't hear the first part.

Can you restate the first part?

Don't dinger for it, me not hearing.

Okay.

So we have been trying to look at uniform ways of getting reports, financial reports.

Uh-huh.

The challenge has been said that we'll use multiple tools that are not integrated.

Yes.

What's the status?

We are evaluating right now.

We literally hired someone on as a contractor to look at our reporting and our reporting needs as a whole, holistically across finance, IT uh procurement and HR and budget.

So that is the status is that it is working now, and this individual is coming in and evaluating and have and having conversations with all of those particular areas for reporting needs.

So is it possible to get a report from you?

When you speak to what we can expect, a lot of what we need to be sure of is compliance and reporting and integration of systems.

Is there a way that we can get a report that clearly shows us that to be part of your outcome in this budget?

There isn't a specific report right now.

We are developing that.

We are assessing it right now.

We're looking at what where the gaps are and where the issues are so that we can build upon that so that we can actually have a work plan.

So there isn't anything specific right now.

It is literally in its infancy stage.

I have a half a second.

Can you get me an outline of what you're doing to achieve that objective?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Robertson.

Councilman Breton.

Okay, I had a couple questions for the uh Department of Citizen Service and response.

Um, and I was wondering which of our budget line items um we relate to uh increasing our integrations with the departments.

So, you know, if we are working to work with DPU, more integrated, you know, to like the issue Ms.

Chandle pointed out, if we're trying to integrate with, you know, missed trash collections, if we're trying to integrate with a higher level of escalation questions, which line items um relate to that?

Is that staffing or is that uh operational costs and um and how much you know might that need?

Yeah, so that would be personnel, most specifically in terms of uh providing support to for example the um the enforcement.

So staff time is what's being used to help make decisions and determinations of the integration process.

IT or the department, the department users are the ones that are doing the heavy lift for the cost associated with the actual integration itself.

And then uh when terms of the finance department, similarly, I know that we're doing a lot of work to improve our software and systems.

Um, where would we see that investment in the budget?

Like which land can we point to?

Can I see oh, this is where we're making those investments beyond just staffing, but also in our systems and technology?

I believe the CIP has money set aside, which is in IT's budget as it relates to enhancements for the uh RBA pay.

The city finance office in terms of general fund, a majority of those dollars are specific to professional services, not necessarily specific to enhancements themselves.

Actually, I think I want to ask you to repeat that because I don't understand.

So I would find it within IT with like descriptions related to general services.

No, there is money set aside specific for enhancements for RVA pay.

There's there's a built build out specifically for enhancements for that.

Okay.

Um on the subject of uh vacancies, I would I would expect to see in the previous year if we had 50 vacancies and apartment that there would be somewhere a line item for all the temporary staffing and consulting.

And I know it's not one for one, but um, can I see by department the the temporary and external staffing numbers per department so I can try to understand how the vacancies might relate to those staffing balance?

Are you asking whether or not we're tracking temporary um temporary costs?

Yeah, temporary and external costs that are probably related to our vacancies.

There is not a direct correlation of temporary staffing to personnel.

That is a completely separate category.

If a department needs temporary staffing and they budget it for it, it could be for one-time need, it could be for because they have a vacancy.

So there's no way to have a direct correlation with that.

So, but for finance, would I see a line on that says temporary staffing for people working in finance?

Is there a line for that?

There's a line that speaks to temporary staffing.

And that's within HR or within finance.

No, there the costs associated with temporary staffing would reside in the in the department's budget.

Okay.

And so would I would I see that in this year's budget, like temporary staffing line items and for finance, for example?

You'll see the activity as it relates to that.

You'll see an account that that is labeled temporary staffing, and I don't want to make sure that I'm answering it correctly.

There's a line for temporary staffing.

Yes.

All of the accounts are set up that way.

Like in the very back of the book, you'll see all of the expenditure accounts.

Okay.

Um, I have to ask, I suppose I see finances cutting through customer service specialists.

Um, can you speak to why that decision is made?

I will defer that conversation to Miss Shelton as it relates to the decision for the positions she cut.

So Shelton, if you want to join us.

Good afternoon, Council.

Letitia Shelton, Director of Finance.

Councilman Brenton, um, I'm not quite sure where the information came from, but I'm not cutting three customer service technicians.

It's only one.

Okay.

Well, well, I see customer service specialists is going from 11 to 8, but perhaps they've been reclassified to something else.

Uh the other positions that I cut were actually finance uh regulatory technicians.

And which means to say that you're just making lots of cuts across many groups to right size all of them.

I don't understand.

Yeah.

Well, not too long ago, you mentioned that uh were we budgeting for the whole comp um vacancy rates, and that you felt that we're not gonna fill all our positions.

So I took that as a point of reference.

Um we as CO Jackson mentioned, we are restructuring the department.

And at this time, those six positions aren't needed with the restructure.

Okay.

Um I mean, I know people are gonna ask me, so I want to be able to explain that uh partly it's related to the number of vacancies that you have, the real the real the reality of filling them and restructuring.

Okay, thank you.

Um I had a question about our risk uh management.

Is it I see operations are going up?

It seems to be related to additional claims.

Does that budget literally pay out claims or is it the administration of managing claims?

It's both.

It's paying out the claims as well as the administration of the activity.

Okay.

And I had a question about our delinquent tax collection.

So I've heard we are beginning to revisit this.

What types of changes have we made and what types of changes are we going to see this year for collecting our delinquent taxes?

Yeah, so the uh new revenue director came on board at the end of last month, and we charged them with that um with that being a priority area.

We're hoping to bring forward um what our recommendation is.

He and his team has met with the city attorney's office uh to get a fundamental idea of what the program looked like versus what we want the future state to look like.

And we're hoping to move that forward in the summer of this year.

We just need to um get a few things taken care of and then bring that back forth to um to council to let to let you all know what that state will look like going forward.

Uh thank you.

I actually have a question for the Commonwealth Attorney's Office.

Um I see a proposal for seven new staffers, and so I was interested to know about the situation in the city that relates to that.

And I'm correct that that is on the docket today, yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Yes.

Oh, okay.

So you're gonna ask them that.

Yeah, she's she's here if I if I may have to ask the Commonwealth attorney about the seven new FTEs that she's requested.

Good afternoon, counsel.

Good afternoon, welcome.

My name's Coletta Genichin.

I'm the Commonwealth attorney for the City of Richmond.

And um, councilman um Brenton is correct.

My office along with the victim witness services portion of my office is asking for seven new positions to support the family justice center, which I know you've all heard me talk about over the past uh year.

Those seven positions would be split uh between two victim witness advocates and the director of victim witness services is here, Sharon Saunders.

So two victim witness applicates who would be posted at the family justice center along with um five um attorneys and support staff for the attorney.

So there would be a supervising attorney, there would be two assistant commonwealth attorneys to appear in court, and obviously you need one in court while one is in the building supporting people who are coming in, um paralegal, and then a victim witness advocate for the family justice center.

And I misspoke the other two victim witness advocates are to um support the ongoing current um victim witness office.

So that would be the seven people.

And if I can just um beg the comp councilman's um uh uh indulgence, as you all know, I believe strongly in the need for Richmond to have a family justice center.

Uh this is the 12th week of 2026.

There have already been 19 reported incidents of strangulation or aggravated domestic assault, and Chief Edwards has been very uh transparent and clear about the huge increase in those numbers because he is being um uh very diligent about how those cases are reported.

So last year there was a 11% increase in reported aggravated domestic violence and strangulation, a family justice center centrally located in Richmond, supported by the City of Richmond, supported by uh the YWCA and their CEO Rupert Murphy, and also supported by uh federal and state uh legislators would make Richmond the primary paramount protective place for women, children, and victims of domestic violence.

If I may with the chief's permission, in the past couple of days, this is what a family justice center could have prevented.

Units responded to the listed address and find a bleeding.

Are those materials that you're reading from now such that you can give us copies?

You should have them already.

Okay.

Thank you.

Because we have limited time in terms of uh questions, I want to make sure everyone because there may be other questions for you as well.

Thank you.

And I appreciate being so brisk with everybody.

I know we're trying to get through a lot of questions today.

Thank you for your offer, Mr.

Breton.

But um, everyone will have their five minutes.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Miss McGeechin.

This is um phenomenal work that you're discussing with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I hope for council support.

Should I remain in case there are more specific things?

Please.

Thank you.

Yes, please.

Councilmember Aubabaker.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um just a few questions.

I wanted to ask, where are we seeing the largest cost increases in procurement, like category-wise at this point?

The largest cost increase would be shown with the personnel.

Um just across procurement in general.

Oh, across procurement.

I will uh director Almarez, do you want to speak to that point?

Good afternoon, council.

Um Renee.

Renee Almore is Director of Procurement Services for the City.

Um it's a wide variety.

And I I think we'd probably focus on um uh construction projects and um and then also components as we as we upgrade uh the water treatment system.

There are uh very very high dollar large ticket items that have just skyrocketed, I think, over the over the course of the uh several years.

So it's it's primarily construction, large construction projects, typically out of DPU that we see the most.

Um a commodity standpoint, uh, you know, I'm gonna toss something out for that reverse auction we did.

Uh we're we're trying to battle back with some of the uh some of the chemicals and some of the simple commodities that we can do, put them on reverse auctions to try to drive down drive down some of those costs, but uh in general it's uh typical typical construction.

That's where we see the the most cost coming in.

So capital expenditures around DPU in general.

It's capital is capital expenditures projects uh around DPU and DPW as well.

So but primarily primarily DPU is where we've seen it.

Okay.

Um and then in terms of um, you know, your top, let's just say like top 10 vendors, what percentage of spending um would you say that is concentrated amongst that those top 10 vendors?

I would have to really get back to you, get get you some numbers on the top 10 uh spend for those vendors.

Okay, yeah, thank you.

Um I think that's all I have for procurement.

Um in terms of office um MWBE, do we have any uh what other sort of measurable outcomes are we achieving um with MWBE and local contracting outside of participation rate in that program?

Training would be one of the outcomes that is measurable as well as um increase in suppliers participation with the city would also be a measurable outcome.

Um okay, so yeah, uh outside of participation training is another measurable outcome.

Do we have training as well as them registering as a vendor with the city would also be a measurable outcome?

Um okay.

Do we have any other benchmarks for those for those outcomes?

Are there are there any other outcomes, measurable outcomes we're looking at for that program?

Good evening, Pat Foster, direct of minority business participation.

Yes, we will be measuring revenue growth, we will be measuring uh profit, we will be measuring how many more vendors we get involved in the procurement process.

We will be looking at how many more bids will be used, and out of those bids, how many are being won by minorities?

Thank you.

Um and then kind of to go back to the topic de jour about 311.

Um, you know, I love that zoning and code enforcement will be integrated into the 311 platform.

Is there a reason why that was selected over high use categories?

Like one of the number one things that my office deals with is missed trash collection, and that is not you have to actually call to do that.

So I'm just wondering like why something like uh zoning is chosen over.

I wouldn't say that we chose zoning over the other.

I would just say that it was an alignment with what they are implementing.

So when the uh departments are implementing new technologies, it's an opportunity to leverage that time to have some synergy and integration.

So it's not necessarily we chose code enforcement over DPW.

We chose um they were just it was just in sync and in alignment with the software implementation.

So that would mean that there would need to be some sort of upgrade to DPW's software in order to have something like that integration for missed trash collection.

So I'm gonna defer just citywide related activities because it's not under my portfolio and I don't know what their plan is long term.

I would have to defer that question to DP DPW specifically.

Um that's that's fine.

I understand that.

Is there, I guess a better way of phrasing this is there a roadmap or a decision tree for how things are added, how features are added to the 311 system.

Is there a roadmap or decision tree for how things are added?

It's based on the department's wanting need that at that time things are added based off of that need.

It is also based off of again the technology when there's opportunities to leverage that technology and align it with 311 at um so a specific roadmap or outline.

I can't speak to, but when departments are asking for things to be added so that it can be tracked as a 311 item, it is being addressed at the time.

Okay.

No, okay.

Um, and then just lastly, um, you know, I know that this was in the notes, but just wanted to confirm that um we'll get um in the on March 31st.

Council should be getting a memo about um what is left in what remains unspent in the the loop program, correct?

The gap grant, yes.

Yes, that is on track to provide a report out to the finance and economic development committee, and we'll be sure to make sure that the other council members are included in that update.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

No problem.

Thank you, Councilmember Alberbacher, Councilmember Gibson.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, first question going back to the discussion about temporary workers.

Um the budget shows that in 2024, the actual spent by finance specifically and um was 1.3 million dollars in 2025, fiscal year 25, it was 1.7 million dollars.

Um, in this current budget fiscal, we're in 255,000 is allocated, which seems low to have such a substantial drop.

I'd love to understand um uh what the administration did to do that.

Um, and if we're on track to hit that 255,000 dollar budget for temporary workers.

I'm thinking about um the stay RVA program where we didn't have the manpower in order to um uh uh process all of the applications that we got for that.

Um the current budget, there's zero, it's been zeroed out, so there's no budget um allocated to that.

And I just wanted to understand that a bit more.

So it's a lot to unpack.

In regards to the prior year's budget, you're saying that there was the actuals were showing a million plus, it was trending at a million plus for temporary staffing, and that has since declined for are you saying for this up this current proposed budget, or are you saying for the in the current current fiscal year fiscal year 26 budget, it's budgeted for 255,000, and in the fiscal year 27 budget, it's been zeroed out.

Right, because the goal is to become um solid in filling all of our positions.

That is our goal to stabilize finance by filling all of our roles.

So we've outlined that specifically by saying that we we don't want to rely heavily on our contracted services or temporary services.

We want to specifically focus on filling the roles in the vacancies that you have here, and that's how it's outlined.

So is the city on track to spend 255,000 on contracted employees or uh temporary services this fiscal year?

I can say that we do have we still do have temporary services to your point, the gap grant, because we came in, leadership came in and recognized that there was a significant backlog um with the gap grant.

So we hired individuals in to fill that.

I will say that we are also looking at other opportunities to utilize the fund.

As I mentioned before, we're trying to augment our uh pre-planning for the uh upcoming budget closeout.

So to answer that shortly, yes, there is a plan for it uh to spend to what extent I can't answer that directly.

Thank you.

Um, and so the department currently has 59 vacancies.

Um and the budget recommends the elimination of seven positions or seven and a half positions.

When you do the math, each of those positions is the salary, the average salary is like $55,000.

Is it possible to see the breakdown of the roles by um by salary to understand um you know how we are being impacted by one in terms of cost and the 59 vacancies that have been budgeted as well as the um recommended eliminated positions?

Jeff, I'm clear, you want a list of all of the vacant positions.

Or you want a list of the positions that we have chosen to um eliminate.

I'm requesting a um a department salary breakdown.

Um that notes the the that also notes the the vacant position.

Filled and unfilled.

Yes.

Thank you.

Um my next question is regarding um the payment registry.

Um the city, as we know, is currently not in compliance with the C code specific to the monthly publication of the payment registry.

Um that's section 12-16.

Um I reached out to the mayor um about this, and in his memo response, he expressed that his wish was to secure the right technology to automate the publication.

And I'm wondering um, is this budgeted for in the fiscal year 27 proposal?

And if so, how much is that?

So I will refer that question because I know that there has been exchange between yourself and the mayor.

I'll refer that to the CAO to answer.

Good afternoon, council.

CA Donald, welcome to the case.

How are you doing, Councilmember Gibson?

So uh this uh issue that you are highlighting is actually one of our technology investments as a whole.

There's not an individual amount that's carved out for that.

There are a couple of things to uh bring to the council's attention in case um you might not have been aware, but this has not been uh reported appropriately since around 2019.

If you look at the 100-day report that I issue publicly is also distributed to council, it is a part of our technology infrastructure roadmap where we're gonna have to improve a ton of technology.

RVA pay is one of those.

I know you mentioned that in the past.

Uh, you'll also get some feedback from Mayor Avula, who your letter was written to uh by the middle of this week.

So you'll get some follow-up on that.

But right now, today there's not a specific number that is carved out for that issue because we're still evaluating what the cost would be.

There are some things that the law asks us to do that we can easily provide.

There are others, which I think you disagreed with in your response letter around redactions, which we also disagree with.

And so we have to find the appropriate way to either abide by the law or make the improvements, which you as a collective body has done uh multiple times since I've been here as a part of your uh overall administration.

So we expect to do the same here.

Thank you.

Just to be clear, so um, whether this is a standalone project or if it is part of a broader project, and I understand now you said it's part of a broader project.

It is.

Is the cost related to that broad project included in the fiscal year 27 budget proposal?

As a portion, but as I mentioned before, pretty clearly is that it has to, it is a part of our evaluation.

We don't know the total cost because we have to get to the crux of the issue.

Is it simply being able to automatically redact and that allows us to comply with the law?

Or is there a simple adjustment in the law that will allow us to easily deliver it based on the products we have now?

To give you a simple example of that uh in the city of South Fulton with open gov, we had to make some similar adjustments.

We changed the law.

It was simply two sentences in there and what was required, and it cost us about $50,000 because we were able to auto-redact.

Uh using Augusta as a different example, they had a different model, and they decided not to adjust the law, but it would have cost upwards of around 700,000 to be able to comply right now.

Right now, we're in the evaluation process.

We actually have a meeting with OpenGov later this week to understand what they can do.

So is there money in the budget for all of our technology activities?

The answer is yes, but we don't know what the full cost of this request and inquiry is at this time.

Thank you.

Yeah, I appreciate the additional context.

You know, admittedly, I'm somewhat disappointed.

Um, this is a law that's been in existence for some time.

Um we've we've all been new, but it's been over a year now.

Um, and to so to still be in evaluation uh while this this law is not being followed, does give me concern, especially given the reality that Richmond Public Schools has a uh has a check registry.

Henrico, Chesterfield, many municipalities have this type of check registry.

Um moving on.

It's not an apple to apple comparison.

And while you mention it's been over a year, I actually disagree with that.

Um put out the hundred days report after 100 days of me being here and laid out a technology roadmap.

What it did not have is a specific timeline for each one of those uh instances.

There are a ton of technology challenges that the city of Richmond faces.

Just since we've been talking, I highlighted a chest registry, which you brought up, RVA pay, which is another that has had some great progress, but it's not complete yet.

There are at least four others that we're working on.

One of them you brought to our attention, which was the FOIA library, which we actually launched recently, as well as the procurement website that we launched as well.

So there's a lot of work that has to be done, but there's also a lot of work that has been done, and we'll continue that in March to the fit to fully complete that technology roadmap.

So I appreciate you both bringing it to our attention, but also giving us the space to deliver.

The one that you're speaking of now has also been out of compliance since 2019.

So there has to be a little bit of expectation that it'll take some time for us to get it right.

Thank you, CA O'Donnell.

Next question, Ms.

Gibson.

Yes, thank you.

Um in the uh ordinance, the pay plan ordinance, um, there's language uh that allows paying uh pretty large severance payouts to senior administration.

Um the cap is uh their annual salary.

Um I I'd like to understand this the rationale behind that.

Uh also I'm hoping to understand uh, you know, has that been budgeted and how much has been budgeted for those severance payouts.

And um, and you know, given whatever that budget amount is, what is the administration's plan to ensure that there aren't budget sub, you know, shortfalls, as I understand it, this has happened in the past, um, to make sure that we're able to stay on track.

Yeah, so this is actually something that occurs in many of your best run cities around the country.

So it's a best practice that is stolen from them.

I fully believe in the case method that is copy and steal everything that works.

And so this is one of those activities.

The way you budget it will be in the same way that they do, which is you do that via vacancy savings and things of that nature, and it also gives the mayor the ability to negotiate those types of severances and things of that nature, which is no different.

But what it does do is it puts a cap on what those activities are in line with others.

I use Prince Williams, the District of Columbia.

Uh, I believe also in Rico and Chesterfield, same types of uh severance payouts for your top staff.

What it does is while also making sure that we're able to match salaries, which the council has done an excellent job of thus far, it also allows you to be best in class as a model employer.

One thing that the administration is doing is not looking at these as single issue items.

So when we look at what makes us a model employer and gets us to attract top talent, we want to look at it holistically.

You have more vacation days than just about anybody.

That's been very attractive as we've been talking and negotiating with people, especially our two most recent Richmond hires.

The uh second thing is we look at pay, which of course everybody looks at.

We look at severance.

I mean, listen, this is a tough environment to work in.

I can tell you that, you know, myself.

It's just not easy.

And so we want to be able to have as many tools in the tool belt to be able to attract people, and then them knowing that if it doesn't work out in a very politicized environment, they have protections that matters.

Thank you.

Um I I would love to see those the comparable reports.

And admittedly, I I have some concerns about payouts that are so large, particularly in a city where we really do need some consistency and staff.

And um, if someone could make, you know, a 200,000 dollar payout um by leaving, I'm I'm not convinced that that serves our residents best.

But I would look forward to seeing the analysis that your team has done to to get to that um proposal so that we could think about that more broadly.

Yeah, and not only that, I mean it's it's not just an analysis.

I can tell you from being one of the highest rated administrators in the country and one of the most sought after in the country, I can tell you I wouldn't go anywhere without an agreement to have uh a severance of at least a year.

I would tell you if you look at ICMA, because you don't have to look at our analysis, you can look at ICMA, which governs all contracts, you know, and they look at all contracts for all of their members, that is kind of the baseline is at least one year.

And so we can get you that today, and we'll distribute that to the council.

As a matter of fact, I'll send it myself.

Thank you, CAO Donald.

Thank you, Ms.

Sibson.

Council member Jones.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um thank you, Ms.

Jackson, for your presentation.

I feel like this is my first time even hearing you speak.

Yes.

Outside of me introducing myself at finance.

Yes, welcome to the podium.

I um just have a couple of questions that are pertaining to um MDB.

And I was looking through the presentation and I noted that it stated um they supported youth entrepreneurship for partnership with MBL, 57 development classes on training and local business capacity, new vendors, training of small business into integrated sustainability.

And so my question is when often we well, based off of your presentation and them now being moved under finance, it sounds like wait what you stated is that they're going to be focused on tracking and making sure.

So close to procurement and such.

Tracking as well as pre-planning, engaging with procurement on the front end of when we're doing solicitations to make sure that those specific measurements are put in place.

And also it's an opportunity for the departments and uh minority business to engage in having realistic uh targets because everybody's uh needs are different.

And so we and the the demand or what's out there in the industry may be different.

So we don't want to put an unrealistic target out there if we um if we don't have the ability to to meet that so that target.

Thank you.

And so my follow-up to that is is the reason that they were moved because procurement just noted that our largest spin is construction.

And so that's why, in order to ensure that based off of the disparity study that we are getting folks as a part of these contracts and contracting process, is that part of it's a lot of alignment, it's a better fit, as I mentioned from a peer perspective.

There are quite a few minority uh minority offices that are actually embedded in procurement specifically, but the way that the um city is outlined here at an easy transition was to move them into the finance and administration portfolio.

Great.

And then my other question was how how so how do we in in differentiating that because we we we recognize that this is contract-driven, but then from a small business perspective, how do we envision MDB, MBD?

I'm sorry, MBD.

I know I get confused too.

Yeah, because you noted again in your presentation that they partnered with MBL.

I guess I'm trying to get a sense of what is our small business going to look like and what are the goals to really strengthen like non-restaurants, but retail small business owners, entrepreneurs.

What is the plan for that?

Because I know that doesn't particularly fall in line with the I think that's a good question.

I'm gonna let Ms.

Foster come up, but I will say that one of the one of the focused concentration areas is technical assistance and trying to make sure that these small businesses have what they need.

But I'll let her speak to that a little more.

I did want to highlight just the reason why we move because I think that's important.

So being a part of economic development is I view that as kind of less being citywide, right?

It's important and it's connecting the dots, but connecting to our procurement apparatus, because you hit it on the head, is that it's connected to some of our construction and some of those activities, but even more so, just making sure that Ms.

Foster and her team's work is embedded in everything we do.

So that internal services arm of finance, administration, procurement, et cetera, they have to touch her organization.

And she's in the room now when those decisions are being made, when we're coming up with new programs.

And I'll just tell you for me, and with our first two conversations, she probably has some of the most detailed ideas of how we can interject of any no shade to the other directors of but of any of you know my one-on-one.

She was very clear on some of the things she wanted to see and could see, but she didn't necessarily have, in my opinion, a full access to everyone.

So connecting her with the internal services that connect to all of our operations was very important.

And so with that, I'll again Pat Foster, director of Minard Business Development.

I think the question that I'm hearing you ask is how are we going to continue to develop the businesses?

And having early access to what the plans are will give us early indications of what programs we need to help develop them.

So we will be working not only with internal departments, but our external friends as well, like the MBL and some of the other uh sister organizations that we have.

But business development will still be primary and of the utmost importance for us.

Thank you.

So we see this now as a more clear pathway to strengthening our minority businesses as opposed to like I'll just give an instance when last couple of years back when we had the challenges with all the small businesses and the taxes.

Like, are we saying that now you being in this actual office will also help to really strengthen the challenges that small businesses are facing when it comes to you know things things not being a one-stop shop per se?

Yeah, well, we want to still be considered the one-stop shop for small businesses, and again, part of uh getting the capacity uh to make these goals will be the development of those businesses that we will still have uh strong influences of as far as programming.

Thank you.

And Ms.

Jackson, did she and last question?

You did note, right?

I was trying to go back, but you didn't note that there wasn't any increase in positions in MDB.

Is that correct?

And we're and we do feel based off of the direction that we have enough staff to support and we are aware of how many businesses exist.

We are comfortable with the position, the staffing levels right now, yes.

And we are aware of the amount of businesses minority that exists, and we've done a ratio as well.

Foster is aware of the environment, yes.

That wasn't my question, but okay.

Okay, I'm sorry.

It's it's fine.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Jones, Vice President Jordan.

Thank you so much.

Um, I wanted to start off with just you know, kudos.

I obviously for the year in review, you have some good things to share with our constituents.

The team has worked hard this year.

Yes, absolutely.

And um, just because Ms.

Foster was just up here, you know, I love seeing the specific numbers of you know, 57 business development classes, of course, 40 across 45 training topics, 173 new registered vendors.

Um, I would say one thing I didn't see as an accomplishment, which I would love to hear a little bit about, is that we've hired a director of revenue.

And I think that is a bold step for the city.

And just wondering what sort of the plans are to increase our revenue collections.

Yes, we're excited that we have a new revenue director.

I think again, on trend with what was discussed before is filling his vacancies.

He has quite a few in terms of an accomplishment we have in for uh we have the tax enforcement um that will focus specifically on bringing in additional revenues.

There are opportunities around looking at who is delinquent with their taxes.

So those are the ways that we're gonna generate um more revenue and bringing our collection rates back up as well.

So the plan is to fill the positions to make sure that we can do a lot more enforcement in the areas that we have um that we have lagged in.

Thank you.

Um and then I just had a couple of clarifying questions.

I would say two, and then I would have a question for our registrar.

Um slide 21, you discuss strengthening forecast capacity through targeted staffing and augmented third-party support.

Can you describe what that third party support is?

Yeah, so as mentioned, we recognize that the AFRA was delayed due to leadership shifts as well as some other um areas and as it relates to reconciliation.

So the director of finance and I have had uh uh several conversations about how we can improve in that area, determining where the gaps are.

We're gonna plan for meeting with our our firm and discovering what those gaps are and then augmenting in the areas where the gaps exist.

So that that is the plan.

Okay.

What do you mean by augmented?

I mean, are you bringing in consultants, bringing bringing in a consultant that has the expertise that we may be lacking uh to ensure that reconciliations are happening uh on time to make sure that we're reporting out information on time, so it's literally looking at and evaluat where there's opportunity to not only utilize our existing staff but leverage those that have the expertise in the areas that we don't have.

Thank you.

Um on slide 24, you talk about the opportunity for joint contracting for RPS in the city.

Can you discuss that a little bit?

Slide 24.

Yeah, so you say uh joint contracting for RPS in the city as I think a procurement goal.

I'm just wondering what the areas uh you're being discussed.

I will defer to our procurement person, Director Almorez, as it relates to specific types of activities that he and the RPS team are looking at.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Renee Almore, Director Procurement Services.

Um months ago, I I spoke with uh RPS uh in terms of putting together um uh a bit of a consortium between us and Chesterfield and RICO to see what we could leverage in terms of volume buying for goods from common goods, office supplies, other things like that.

Um I've been starting to follow up on those discussions.

I think uh we're just gonna kind of focus on RPS because that's just a big that's a big you know uh group to kind of handle uh at one at one swipe and then pull them in as needed.

Beyond that, uh I had some discussions with uh uh Mr.

Robinson in uh DPU when uh we had those winter storms and the amount of uh the amount of work it took to clear out schools, areas around schools, uh what were the priorities and so on.

Uh and um we're gonna sit down and try to identify maybe a better way to manage those services with uh suppliers, vendors that could provide those services.

So it's kind of two fronts is goods and services on one side, and then some what some emergency services on the other side.

So that's what we're looking at right now.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate that.

Welcome.

Uh my last question is for our city register, if he's able to come up.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, councilwoman.

I'm David Levine.

I'm the general register on the director of elections for the city of Richmond.

Thank you so much.

And uh I know that Virginia seems to have an election every three months and it's just constant, and every time someone bumps up to a new level of responsibility, it we have the domino effect.

Um and now we have the referendum that your office is you know needing to manage.

I'm a little concerned, and I haven't you know been able to fact check this myself, but it appears that for Richmond, we're only at 2.6% of folks coming out to early vote.

Whereas in Chesterfield, they've got 4.5%, in Henrico, they have 4.9.

And what I'm wondering is do you have the resources to manage?

Let's start with this election right now, and then thinking about the full year with what may come.

Sure.

Um I appreciate the question.

Certainly, you know, I think our office is putting together all the resources that we need to be able to be able to conduct this election.

But I want to be really clear with the council, right?

We had a January special election that wasn't budgeted for, right?

And that that, you know, my budget analyst who's behind me a few rows put out expenses that we we think the cost for that was somewhere in the over 250,000.

We have this April special election, um, where again um we're seeing pretty high turnout, but we expect significant cost, and that of course was not a budgeted for election.

There is a five million dollar allocation from right the general assembly for that.

But if we use the presidential primaries of the past as any indication, we know that the likelihood that that's going to cover a lot of those expenses is questionable at best.

And then, of course, our June primary election, which was budgeted for, got moved to August.

Um, and so the first part of that will of course be in this fiscal year.

Early voting will begin June 18th.

Um, and then of course, we'll be going through into the next fiscal year.

So, to be short, I I think that we are managing as well as we can.

Um, and I think we have the ability with the folks we've got to be able to pull off the election.

Um, but certainly our budget is being stretched, and we're focusing on the statutory obligations we have, right?

Because those are the big pieces that we need to do in order to carry out the election.

Things that are perhaps discretionary in nature that might be more helpful, right?

Think about some more robust outreach, for example, right?

We're not in the same kind of position to do more robust outreach, perhaps as a result of some of these unrighteous these special elections that we've had.

Thank you.

And I I do think it's that that extra that I'm talking about.

I mean, I worry that if we're not having the same amount of folks showing up, do they know?

Do they know that there is an election happening?

And I feel like almost every perhaps this is wrong, but I feel like we've had a lot of changes in voter locations, hours, and there just seems to be a constant earned confusion because things are constantly changing of when people can come and vote and where.

So just the extent that if you need a budget to make sure Richmonders know where to vote, when to vote, what's on the ballot, I want to make sure that you're making that ask and that we're here to support it and fulfill it.

No, I I certainly appreciate that.

And and I will add, you know, I certainly take your point.

I mean, it is worth noting for this election, right?

That we're just at the beginning of early voting, and there is some research that suggests both at the beginning but also toward the end of voting, where we can see some higher turnout.

You know, I will say we begin to we've begun to see enough uptick that we've actually made an additional supplemental request of ballots, right?

Because we have seen right uh a bit more of an uptick here, and of course, we've seen to your point uptick elsewhere, and and this has been a place that in many instances, right, has had high turnout before.

But I I think what I would would would also add though, just to sort of touch on this, is that for this election, right?

We have all three of our early voting locations that are active, Laburnum currently.

We have the other two satellite locations that will be two weeks and out.

We will have as a result of the new collect newly constituted electoral board, there will be a Sunday early voting, right?

That second Sunday before election day from one to five.

And it's worth noting that for this election, 70, I believe, of the 72 polling places will be the same as the last election, right?

That they would have been serving in for an election.

And so again, um, you know, happy to talk at more length with folks, but I certainly appreciate both your concerns as well as your willingness to support our office.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um before you go back, TC, just a quick question, sir.

I just want to be clear.

Um, in special elections, did you indicate that there are no funds that come from the state to cover those?

No, I just want to reiterate and I appreciate Councilman Newbill, you you you raised this, raised re raising this just for clarification for everybody.

In the legislation for the April election, right, that the General Assembly passed, there's a five million dollar right reimbursement.

Now that covers some different expenses that can include voter education that helps to deal with some of the costs associated with early and absentee voting.

But you know, when we think about reimbursements in elections, right?

And the best example we have here in Virginia is probably our presidential primary.

What we know, right, based on the past and based on that legislation is it's not it's almost certainly not going to cover all the expenses, right, for that election.

I mean, just to give you an idea, but it's again Apple's Oranges.

When we had our 2024 presidential primary, I think there was a little over 40% of funds that that state reimbursement kicked in, but 50%, 57% of the expenses, right, were at the local level.

Thank you.

Yes, DCO Jackson, you've done such a fantastic job thus far.

I I will say um when you get to be last, many of the questions have been asked, so I don't have as many questions for you.

But I do want to say before I ask questions, really thank you.

The presentation in terms of the accomplishments, um just extraordinary for me.

We don't often uh get those as much as we get the other can challenges.

We have challenges, but clearly we also have had successes.

I want to say thank you for that.

No problem.

We want it to be thoughtful in our approach and sharing information.

I know that communication for us has been difficult, but we're trying to bridge that gap.

So we appreciate that.

Well, let me just say uh job extraordinarily well done.

Just a couple of questions.

I want to make sure that I understand something in terms of uh the Office of Minority Business.

The disparity study has been completed, and thus we know what percent by category, not best effort, but what percent we can ask for in terms of MBE, et cetera.

So I will defer that again to Miss Foster in regards to answering the question.

The disparity study is done and we're in the implementation phase, but in terms of specific percentages, I think it would be best for her to respond to that.

Thank you.

Excuse me.

Uh can you repeat the question?

I mean, part of it the disparity study.

Right.

I'm I was seeing here that it's been completed.

So we know what percent uh by category, so if it's construction, if it's whatever, that we can place there, and that it's not a best faith effort.

We can say what the percent is that we're looking at the disparity study does outline that the overall disparity was about uh minority participation or receiving three percent, but we do have it broken down by industry and by minority.

Okay, thank you.

I hadn't seen it yet, so and I'm kind of waiting for that.

Thank you.

Uh DCAO Jackson, quick question in terms of ARPA.

I know we have allocated the funds.

Yes.

Um through the end of the year.

Yes.

My concern is are we on target for spending them all?

And do are we monitoring so that if we, you know, I don't want to send any back because we have such great need, and it's an opportunity.

So how are we ensuring?

Yes, so good question.

We are on track with the exception of one, which is our home buyer program.

Um we um ran into some difficulties there.

We have presented that information to the finance and economic development committee, I believe in February.

We we gave them an update.

We're also um working hard and trying to spend that specific area category because we can't make any additional adjustments.

Um, and we're presenting that um change in the guidelines for eligibility criteria for the home program.

So I can't guarantee that we're gonna spend the entire amount, but we are making extreme efforts in that specific uh category where we saw there there was a lag, but everyone else is on target.

Thank you for that.

And then I'll just hold out have some questions in terms of uh the participatory um budgeting component, and I'll just that's probably gonna be a longer response.

So I I want to say thank you, CA O'Donnell, for the work and all the staff who worked on that with the community, Ms.

Jackson.

Um, I think that was just I getting positive reports from the community.

Great.

Seriously.

Uh and so, but I will um send that question because I do want more information.

Plus, I want to get a clear sense of where we are in terms of the items that were in for this year, this current year, and then where we in terms of next year that came out of our last participatory budgeting process, which I don't see Mr.

Slats, but you know, your staff, Ms.

Great Mr.

Donald.

So I'll uh include those.

Um last this okay, really last question now, almost last year I'll send the rest through RJ.

Sure.

Um, do we have a definitive protocol for our community benefit agreements with entities?

Repeat that question again.

A um protocol, if you will, for we have communic, well, we have community benefit agreements with our um projects, initiative developers, et cetera.

Do we have a protocol?

A, that we always will have one, but B, what is some of the components that would be a part of that community benefit or those community benefit agreements?

So oh, so so yeah, we'll have the CAO respond to that.

That's a little bit out of my wheelhouse.

Sorry.

Well, first it's a great question, and the short answer is yes.

We do have the requirement and the understanding for staff is that wherever possible we input community benefits agreements into our processes.

So that number one is a yes.

Number two, is there a standard framework for each one?

Um, I believe there are three minimum requirements that I've used everywhere, and I think here we were already using two of those, and so we are trying to enhance the process a little bit, but I would also say that for each individual project or activity, they are all unique.

And so what you do with each one of those community benefits agreements will be slightly different, but just the baseline of having them when necessary and having a two to three must-haves are a part of our process.

Thank you, uh, CA O'Donnell.

And I'll submit the rest of the questions through RJ.

Um at this point, members um want to um say we have concluded this session, but uh CA O'Donnell, DCAO Jackson, all of your staff, our constitutional entities.

I see Miss McKeachin is still here, certainly our registrar, Mr.

Jewitt, our treasurer.

Just want to say thank you.

We have the uh and our sheriff, I think is back there somewhere as well.

That we have the uh presentations you've submitted.

There may be questions coming to you.

Um they will come to you through our chief of staff.

And so just want to say thank you to each and every one of you for all of the work uh that you put into um certainly preparing the reports, but beyond that, the work that you do every day in the uh entities that you represent in our city to serve our citizenry.

With that, I'd like to say thank you, everyone.

This work session now stands adjourned.

Madam President, Madam President, I'd like to say that uh I want to thank RJ and his staff for all their hard work, also um the policy analysts that we have, and also our city attorney and her staff that has worked so hard with on all these papers.

I mean, I'm looking at all this stuff, and you know, we could not do our jobs without everybody coming together, working together along with the CAO and his staff and everyone else, and plus us council members.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Tramble.

I think I thank our side of the table fairly frequently, but we definitely will be sure to um reiterate.

With that, we have a white.