We will now call to order this meeting of the public safety standing committee.

I will now begin by reading the chamber emergency evacuation announcements and public speaker guidelines.

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

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

Do not use elevators or escalators.

At the 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 assist visually inheriting pay of visitors with exiting the building.

Persons which should speak during a public comment period or public hearings are generally allowed three minutes to speak.

Persons appearing before the committee are now allowed to campaign for public office, promote power business ventures, use language or personal nature, which is also demeans any person, including comments directed at public officials or staff members that are not related to the official duties or just to question staff members directly.

All questions need be directed to the committee chair.

Fail to head to the guidelines, may result in speakers fulfilling any meaning time and further disciplinary action as necessary, which can include barring from attendance at future means of the committee for a period of six months.

We will now move on to the approval of the minutes.

The minutes to be approved are from the February 24th, 2026 public safety staying in committee meeting.

If there are no amendments or corrections, then those meeting minutes stand approved as presented.

Those minutes have been approved.

Um we would now um call for the papers for the consideration.

Public comment will follow after item one, ordinance 2026 057 to accept funds of 225,388 dollars from the Department of Criminal Justice Services and to appropriate the increase of the FY26 special fund budget by increasing estimated revenues and the amount appropriate to Department of Police Police Operations ceasefire special fund for the purpose of improving community safety.

Item two, ordinance 2026 058 to amend ordinance number 2025 057, which adopted the FY26 special fund budget by increasing anticipated revenues by two million dollars from certain fines and fees collected from the safety camera program, creating a new special fund for the department of police entitled the safety camera program special fund for the purpose of funding the safety camera program envision zero action plan and item four ordinance 2026 072 to accept funds of 150,000 from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and to amend the FY26 special fund budget by creating a new special fund for the Department of Emergency Communications Preparedness and Response called the FY26 NG 911 additional funding special fund for the purpose of implementing a transcription service for radio transmission.

Those papers are before the committee and will be considered in a block.

Do we have anyone that would like to provide the committee with any description of the following papers?

Good afternoon, Chair Tramm.

Rick Edwards, the chief of police for the city of Richmond.

I'll speak to ordinance 26-057.

Uh this funding will be used from DCGS by RPD to assist in violent crime overtime.

We'll also be utilizing that to hire a gun violence analyst and send officers to additional training to combat gun violence.

Particularly, as I mentioned before, we'll have a program starting on Friday called Spring Forward, where we will have additional officers in high crime neighborhoods during RPS's spring break over that 10-day period to ensure our youth are safe and sound during that specific time period.

Happy to answer any questions related to this specific topic.

Just one question.

Chief, how many officers are you are you on staff right now?

We have 604 sworn officers.

How many?

604.

And how many supposed to have?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone from the city administration I would like to provide the committee with a description of item for item four?

What the purpose of item four?

Jackie Krotz, Deputy Director for the Technology Division, merchant communications preparedness response.

Uh this ordinance is in regards to um for us to implement a uh radio transcriptions for uh the communications officers that will convert live radio uh traffic in real time with time stamps and make it searchable.

I'm sure you have any questions for me.

Just one question.

Is there going to be since you're using AI to transcribe?

Is there going to be a human element that reviews those transcriptions to ensure accuracy?

The transcriptions is going to be able to the communication officer will be able to review the transcriptions and basically if they miss something, they can go back and they can search and pick up a word or whatever was maybe missed.

And correct it.

Not necessarily correct it, but basically reinforce what they heard.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, we would now move on to the public hearing for these items.

Is there anyone that would like to speak in support of item one, two, or four?

Stating one that would like to speak in opposition of items one, two, and four.

Seeing none of the public hearing is now closed.

Bring it back to the committee.

Did anyone from city administration provide a description for item two ordinance 2026 058?

Or was that for only 2026 057?

Yeah.

Again, Chief Rick Edwards, I can speak to 26058.

This is speaking towards specific $2 million for certain fines and fees collected from the safety camera program and creating a special fund for the Department of Police entitled Safety Camera Special Fund appropriating the fiscal year 25-26 special fund budget by increasing estimated revenues and the amount apportioned appropriated to the Department of Police's program to fund specifically the program itself, which does require is labor-intensive.

We have one full-time employee managing that program.

We have four part-time sworn officers who have to review each camera footage.

And the rest of the funding would be used to support the Vision Zero Action Plan.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you.

Do we have a motion and a second for committee?

How would y'all like to present?

I move to pass this these block of papers.

Second.

Thank you.

Item one, ordinance 2026 057, item two, ordinance 2026 058, and item four, ordinance 2026 072.

Y'all would like to move this forward for approval.

That's correct.

Okay.

Committee is wanting on the motion to forward these items to council with a recommendation to approve.

Ms.

Abu Baka.

Aye.

Chair Trammel.

Aye.

That motion has been approved.

Thank you, Nardy.

Thank you.

And now move on to item three, ordinance 2026 059 to amend city code to require the department of emergency communications preparedness and response to Route E to mark emergency 911 calls to emergency 911 calls for emergency medical services to the Richmond Ambulance Authority.

That papers before the committee.

During that process, there was approximately one minute shaved off of those times of uh calls, call volume as well.

Customer impact risks, uh callers must repeat information when we transfer calls previously.

Uh there was also some quality assurance risks noted uh by having two different agencies to process these types of calls, as well as some of the strategic uh risks as far as national standards.

Uh most of the way that we currently have the system set up is what's uh pretty much handled nationally amongst 911 centers.

So we just kind of wanted to provide those outlines and everything else was provided in the memo that was provided to council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone that would like to speak in support of item three?

Good afternoon, Chip Decker, CEO of Richmond Amos Authority.

Um I'd like to speak in support of this paper.

Um this came up, I guess just over a year ago, and we started looking at the data.

And what the data showed is that the public could better be served if the Richmond Ambulance Authority handled the emergency medical dispatch part of the um systems that uh DEC uses for call taking because they're currently using emergency police dispatch and emergency fire dispatch.

So the Richmond Amherst Authority for its existence handle the emergency medical dispatch call taking for the city of Richmond.

It was given to D EC during the last administration.

So what we found as far as call processing is that we Richmond Amos Authority is an accredited center of excellence, accredited by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch.

What this means is that all right, we audit a certain percentage of our calls.

We make sure that it's being done correctly.

We submit data to the academy, and then the academy accredits those that are worthy of being such.

Seeing none, the public hearing is now closed.

Bring it back to the committee.

So I mean, I'm I'm fine with moving this forward to the full council.

I do want to um note with it that I still think that um both sides of the house, there's there's work to come together with this.

Um I really do want to encourage everyone to remember who we're who we're doing this for, and that is the people of the city of Richmond that are calling into 911.

And I, you know, I think that this has been a long, this has been a long conversation.

Um, as Mr.

Decker said, over at least the last uh year, but really the last year and a half.

And uh I would like to see both the administration and Richmond Ambulance Authority come together and figure out what is and and maybe with you know, um with somebody from like the state from state regulator perspective that can say what is the best practice and how can we make sure that we are um responding to these calls, not just in a timely manner, but also making sure that we are coding them in a in a um the most accurate way possible so that we're not having those callbacks.

But I I don't think this is quite over yet, but I think um I I'm glad to see this move forward.

I want to thank my colleague for her comments.

Um, I know that we have been thinking we have been working on this for probably more than a year, and I know that um I know that when I get calls about um trying to the citizens calling me in reference to how come the firefighter showed up, but they're you know, we didn't, they couldn't take us to the hospital.

Um I guess the way that the call came in, it was not that this was a a medical emergency, like somebody having a heart attack or somebody um that was having a seizure.

Um it was like not really communicated to the for to the ones responding.

So I just think that you know, we've talked about this over and over.

I thought we were at a place that we were gonna definitely move this um paper afford so it would be back under the Richmond Amlamps Authority.

And that's what that's what I want to see happen because I know that um I know that those dispatches, they work hard in 911.

I I know some of them personally, and they and I appreciate them calling me, let me know that hey, we're stressed, we're on we're not paid enough money, and I can and I definitely know they're not paid enough money, especially when they the amount of calls that they get.

I can only imagine what they have to go through when they're hearing somebody screaming on the phone, like I've done a couple of times when I've witnessed a horrible accident, and um my heart goes out to them because they work hard and they're there 24-7, seven days a week, along with our police officers, firefighters, and the the Richmond Amlance Authority.

I've seen them at different events, and I don't know, like I said, I don't know how they handle it, and all of them are under paid, every one of them.

And the abuse that they take many times when they show up at the crime scene, all of them.

So I I would I definitely want to see this paper get passed.

Thank you.

Do we have a motion and a second?

And your recommendation I move this uh I move to move this to the full body.

Second.

The committee is wanting on the motion to forward item three, ordinance 2026 059 to council with the recommendation to approve, Ms.

Abu Vacker.

Aye, Chair Trim.

Aye.

That motion has been approved.

We will now move on to the public comment period.

Is there anyone here that would like to speak about items not on today's agenda?

Please approach the podium and state your name for the record.

We let them know that anybody that wants to speak, you can line up now.

This is the citizens' comment period.

I know we got a lot of people that's never been here before, and you can speak on retirees, anything you'd like to speak about.

If you are able, please form a line at the podium.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Cheryl Nietzsche.

I'm a now retired Richmond City Police Officer.

Please forgive me, I have a hearing impairment, so I'm not yelling at you if I speak too loud, let me know.

I just wanted to share with you.

I could have retired when I was 25 after getting seriously injured in the line of duty.

I not only survived a gunshot wound to the head, I came back to work six months later.

I'm now age 66.

I've had to fight to get my retirement after being fully vested.

I finally got it in 2024.

I was eligible long before that.

I'm here today to speak not only for myself, but for all public safety employees that are retired.

As I understand, Mr.

Griffith put out a report in 2022 that stated there wouldn't be another cost of living increase, probably until 2029, but we were better off waiting until 203.

No joke, many of us will be dead by then.

I get a big $96 and 34 cents a month from my city retirement.

If we were to get a 1% cola, I would get 96 cents more per month.

Our public safety offices, our firefighters, our EMTs, and all city employees invested their entire lives in a commitment to serving the citizens of the city of Richmond.

I would respectfully ask that when the budget comes up that a cola, a cost of living increase for all city employees be seriously considered.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Kathy Burrell.

I am a resident of the 9th district, and thank you, Miss Trammell, for hearing me.

I spoke before the council on March 10th.

I attended the last session of the Richmond Bike Walk Academy.

As we went around the room, as people introduced themselves, they noted why they were there, and what they hope to get out of it.

When it was my turn, I wanted to say my name is Kathy Burrell, and I need help.

Help me understand how my only child was fatally hit crossing the street, and there are no consequences for the driver.

Tell me why my child with the pink baseball hat, the pink Nikes, the backpack on her shoulder, lost her life in the streets that she trusted.

This is my Lauren.

This is a program from her memorial service.

On a street where there are four overhead lights.

Help me understand.

He was jailed for 18 months for harming a dog.

We watched daily fender benders.

We see the police come.

We see tickets written.

We see judges giving out driving school sentences.

Points on your driving record.

For my law and nothing.

Four months later.

A change in the way our laws are written to have consequences for the drivers of these pedestrian fatalities.

Mower my 126-pound daughter down with the 300-pound car is not an accident.

It is a crime.

And I need your help.

Thank you.

Kathy.

Kathy, I don't.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Um I know that you and I've talked, and you said a couple things that I do not I do not um understand as far as um the person was not charged.

It's considered an accident.

If this is what I've been told, and I'm not calling them names.

I don't want to do that of people that I've met with, but the police department or the crash team, they go through a certain I guess checkpoint type evaluation, and if the driver passes them all, um, and they see no need to get a taxology report or to pull a cell phone record, they have nothing to go to the magistrate with, so it's considered an accident.

We have our city attorney here.

Um like to have a discussion with you maybe after this, I don't fully understand.

She lost her daughter, and how many Laurens are there out there?

How many more will there be before something changes?

I just know growing up, my mother would tell me to stop doing something, and I continue to do it because there were no consequences, and it's evident by the number of fatalities that we've had for our pedestrians that something is wrong.

I don't want another mother standing here like me.

I have I don't have child.

I don't have a mother's day.

It's all gone.

Thank you.

I would like to also um maybe after this meeting have a conversation with our police chief and with our city attorney, and also with our policy analysts who can help us understand this better.

Does it come through city council through this public safety committee, or does it come to the General Assembly?

I don't have those answers, but I would promise you I will get back with you.

I promise you.

Thank you so much.

And I know my colleague is hearing you, and we want to help you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

And all the other mothers and fathers have lost their children and are not here to speak and let us know.

I did not know about this.

I I thought the person I thought, and and it maybe it can be maybe I'm missing something.

I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a judge.

I'm a mama.

I was a mother.

So I look forward to hearing a discussion.

But we can't let it continue.

Thank you.

Sorry.

I am so sorry.

It's tough to actually talk about after what I heard.

Um, before you give me my time, I want to make sure that I want to give these Richmond Finest.

Since 2007, Reva, you and I, we've been fighting to get them everything they need.

They are the number one when it comes to putting their lives on the line for the people.

So we need to give them what they need.

We need to make sure that they are equipped.

We need to give them more money so they can hire more people.

Richmond finers deserve the best out of us.

So let's give them what they need.

Good afternoon.

My name is Ezad Al Shan.

I'm the Yemeni American president Yemen American Association president.

I'm here to address the specific issues and clear facts since December.

And we've been here a couple of times about this.

Dozens of small businesses in the city have been shut down under the operation of vaporized.

As of today, still 47 stores remain closed.

Many closed for ready months, and a lot of people devastated.

I just like to ask a question to everyone in here and to all of you.

How long would it take for a person without a job and with no income to survive?

How long do they take until they go out on the street until they go to the welfare line?

How long does it take?

It's been over four months for many, maybe six months.

Families they lost their primary resources and income.

And employees have been displaced.

Multiple closures of the stores.

These are miserable facts, not opinions.

Let me be clear.

We are not here to argue against enforcement.

If there is a violation, they should be corrected and they should be cured.

But enforcement must follow a consistent and fair process.

That means clear notice.

Define expectation.

Clear and reasonable opportunity to correct the issues.

In some cases, minor and small issues that could be fixed right away.

Resulted in progress and close for the stores.

And in other issues, businesses have made corrections but remained closed without any clear path forward.

This is not enforcement issue.

This is a process.

If you allow me to finish your sound is doing two sentence.

Because when a process is unclear or inconsistent, outcomes become unpresentable.

And to create, and that creates risk, not just for the community, but every business and for the opportunities for people to open businesses in the city.

Many of us have worked across multiple jurisdictions and districts and all districts.

We worked hard.

We make sure that we are part of the American fabric.

We made sure that we did not, you know, our best.

We closed and we opened at COVID and we made sure that we served the community.

The city came up with new ruling in June.

They did not give us a warning.

They did not give us a literature.

They came to my son's store and to a lot of people in our community.

It takes 15 minutes to do inspection.

It's unbelievable that 15 minutes could result in a store closure.

They closed the store for very minor incidents, and I have that in record when they came and when they came back again to inspect.

From the moment they shut down my son's store and a lot of our people until they came in, and it took five minutes.

And all these things, no one talks about these things, no one talks about what we go through.

We have been become like a villain in the city.

And even I heard the police chief says the last time, you know, on the news that most of us don't have our papers, and I disagree with him.

In the city, you cannot open a business without getting your CO and without getting your license.

They asked me, Do you have a permit for the sign?

And I said, Yes.

They said we didn't have it on record.

But I have the permit since 2016.

And when I present it to the city, they can't turn around and they said, Well, we went to digital at 2017.

Is that my fault that they went to digital and they shut me down for the city fault?

Is it my fault to go and check for the city records and to make sure they are in order?

So please understand what we go through.

Talking to you guys in a human level.

These people are really suffering.

But yes, we got knocked.

We got stepped on.

But we will with Allah in our side.

We will stand up again.

All I can tell you is don't stop fighting for your for the people, for those business owners, because the mayor scared of the people, Miss Nriba.

When he went on TV and he says I'm gonna resume the operation on April 1st.

I tried for four months to get in touch with him.

And finally we get that meeting on the 24th.

And when the 24th comes in.

I ask Lee and specifically have everything in writing.

With emails between me and the mayor, you know, coordinator.

I told them I have 150 people that'd like to see the mayor.

The people that actually voted for him, they'd like to see him.

They told me that you cannot have more than six to eight people.

I mean, we will talk.

We will we will talk, okay?

Right, but I need to make this point.

The reason that the mayor says that he stopped because we have a council because they told me they cannot host 150 people, which is he can open any auditorium for us.

So my people said instead of having 150 people, we'll just send our counsel to speak on our behalf.

And as soon as we said he's gonna come to speak our behalf, he counseled the meeting.

Understand.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dean.

Thank you.

Brad, how are you?

Good afternoon.

Members of city council, I appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to come forth to speak about something that is very critical amongst our first responders.

Could you please state your name and for the record?

Yes, ma'am.

My name is Brad Hughes.

On March 14th, March 17th, 2014.

I was struck by a distracted driver by working on the side of the road during a crash.

Our first responders that you see amongst us behind us.

Work each and every day, sun up to sundown, rain, sleep, snow, inclement weather to do a job that they are required to do, no matter what's going on at home.

I come to you today to speak to you about an ordinance for the city of Richmond under the move over law.

This is a prevention for our first responders and drivers that are on the side of the roadway to prevent struck by incidents.

Just July 2025, the City of Richmond Fire Department was involved in an incident on I-95, where four of the members of that department were injured.

Four members.

A fine of $500 and his license suspended for six months.

Myself, this is something that I can never move forward with.

To make sure you understand the dangers that our first responders and drivers experience every single day when you're out there on the highway.

So I asked City Council to take forth this initiative to put an ordinance in play for an additional substance for the move overlaw.

Thank you very much for allowing me the time to speak with you.

If there's any questions, please ask.

No, when I was injured, I was working for the Virginia State Police.

And you were responding to an accident.

I was assisting a Chestfield County officer with the 17 car crash.

And during that instant, I stepped out of my vehicle, checked on the officer who was in front of me, and I approached the rear of my vehicle.

I was struck by a distracted driver that was having a conversation with his wife and was driving too fast for road conditions.

When it's icy outside, inclement weather, we must slow down.

We must take that initiative to make sure we drive at a normal speed.

I have my policy anniversary.

Not only do I appreciate that, but I'm sure my brothers and sisters in this room appreciate it.

Because they're the ones who have to go home to their families.

Unfortunately, when they're not coming home.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I'm gonna say that being the chairperson of this public safety meeting for the past, I believe maybe 14 years.

I have never seen.

Once they realize that once you leave and you give all you give your life to this city, and this is how you're treat it.

You can't even get a cost of living race since Governor Wilder was the mayor.

That's the last time.

That was what over 16 years ago.

Then we have didn't we?

I mean, I've learned so much today that I didn't even know.

I didn't even know that we don't have this.

I mean, it's just I've never gotten emotional at a at a um public safety meeting like I have today.

What I have heard and seen, it breaks my heart.

And I know my colleague, she's right here beside me, and I know I know she's she's stronger than me because she you know, she's we need to we need to look after our people, and we're not doing a good job at that at all, not at all.

But I've heard today, and what I've seen today, and those business owners, yeah, that that breaks my heart because you know what?

They're losing, they're losing their homes, so losing our families.

All that because the mayor of this city, that's I thought would be his job to meet with them.

Not all of them, and I said that to him, not all of them, at least one or two.

Get to the bottom of it because it's not only it's hurting them, but it's hurting us too because we don't have the money coming back in.

We don't have the tax revenue, and people in my district are calling me asking me when are they gonna be open back up?

Because they depend on that store to buy the milk, the bread, the cheese, whatever.

And if they were criminals, how come they weren't locked up?

And no, I'm not taking off every vape shop on the corner.

No, I was disgusted when I saw some things, especially when I saw teenagers going up to some of these vape stores at one o'clock in the morning.

I'm wondering what are they doing in there?

But I'm saying not all of them are bad, and not all the convenience store owners are bad.

And they have reached out to council members who they are telling me have gotten no response from.

It's bad enough you don't get a response from the mayor of the city of Richmond, who I supported 100% when he was running, and I'm not ashamed to say, but I did.

But I'm very upset for the way that he is treating the citizens and the business owners at this time.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to put by comment if I was not on today's agenda?

Seeing none, the public comment period is now closed.

We will now have a presentation from C from RRA CEO Chip Decker regarding the Richmond Ambulance Authority 2025 annual report and updates.

Good afternoon, members of the committee.

Chip Decker, CEO, Richmond Amherst Authority.

So first are you doing the updates first?

Which one are you doing first?

I'm gonna do the annual report first.

Okay.

So Richmond Amherst Authority is not a city department.

We're created by city council and the state legislature.

And one of council's rules is that annually all boards and commissions need to report out to the respective committee of council.

And so I'm here to do that.

We submitted the necessary data to council, and in conjunction with our annual report, that requirement should be satisfied.

So you should have the annual report.

And I'd like to highlight three things out of it.

First, the Richmond Amherst Authority responded to just over 61,000 calls in 2025.

Would you mind using the clicker that's provided to advance this presentation slides?

I'm not there yet.

Oh okay.

Sorry about that.

Thank you.

And um out of those 61,000 calls for service, 43,000 resulted in a transport.

Richmond Amherst Authority, just like any EMS agency, only gets um reimbursement if we transport somebody to a hospital.

So 61,000 responses, 43,000 transports, with a 98.5% overall patient satisfaction score, with 85 of percent of those 98 percent being uh being uh top box or um the highest score that you can get from the uh the survey.

We use the Baldridge group as a third-party vendor to conduct patient uh satisfaction surveys, and we saw an increase in the overall patient engagement, which is that top box score compared to the previous year of 2024.

The Richmond Amments Authority received the governor's EMS Award for outstanding contribution to EMS health and safety.

We were recognized for several initiatives intended to promote the health and safety of the agency staff and the public, including our peer support program, resiliency training, and pause for paramedics program and the bystander support program.

So the the remainder of the annual report is um suitable for reading at your leisure.

Any questions about the annual report?

There's a slide up there.

I didn't even know you had it as a slide.

Yeah.

How about the other presentation?

Do you have the other one?

Yeah.

So the exam question I I was given was to tell you about leasing versus buying and how all the uh the change to leasing vehicles and medical equipment has uh impacted the ambulance authority.

So I just have a short little update as to the finances and uh what the impact of leasing versus purchasing has shown us.

So we're talking about FY26.

So the current year.

So the Richmond Amherst Authority bills about 88 million dollars a year for what we do.

The challenge is that nobody cares.

And they don't care because of the payer mix when it comes to health care billing.

For example, the federal programs, Medicare and Medicaid, pay a set amount.

So they don't care what I charge.

Those account for five seconds, 76% of the people that we transport.

Patient responsibility is about 12%.

Those are the people that don't have anything, may not even have an address.

So we're not going to get paid from them.

These are your private insurance carriers.

Only account for about 9%, 8 to 9% of the patients that we transport.

And the remaining 3% is hospital contracts.

So that's why the write-off is so big.

If we're starting with about 88 million, 58 million of it is in we call it bad debt or unpaid transports.

Because we may charge $1,800 for an advanced life support ride to the hospital, transport to the hospital.

Well, Medicaid, which accounts for 34%, will only is only going to pay us $150.

And so it's the difference between what we charge as a retail and what we're paid.

So on every call, every Medicaid call, the difference between, you know, pick it, whether whether it's a $1,000, you know, for the run or $1,800 for the run.

If we're only getting paid $150, that's the write-off.

Richmond Amherst Authority collects about 23% of what we bill.

That's why the biggest piece of that pie is what no one is going to pay for.

And so that actually accounts, I think, for about almost three quarters of our total budget.

From there, we go into operations non-personnel, medical equipment, supplies, tolls, vehicle maintenance, fuel, and then beyond that is administrative non-personnel, and so that's the breakup of our expenses at the Richmond Amherst Authority.

So you're able to say what is people, what are things, and the chat some of the challenges that we have.

So this is basically letting you know what the interest does.

And here it is.

This is what we're paying in interest for leasing.

So as you can see, over total interest over five years, a million bucks, and the total principal and interest over five years for ambulances and uh the heart monitors is about 18 million dollars.

So this is the inefficiency generated, you know, just by interest cost, which between the choice of leasing or purchasing.

So a subsidy we requested for next year 10 million dollars.

Pretty much what we requested this year.

The uh what's in the budget right now is 7.6 million dollars out of the general fund, plus a million dollars to purchase two ambulances in the out of capital.

Now wouldn't necessarily expect that as uh Mr.

Donald say yesterday, the subsidy proposed subsidy in the budget is five hundred thousand dollars more than we got for this year on the cash side.

Unfortunately, we had to lease ambulances this year.

That was a bit unexpected for us, which costs us about $700,000 a year.

So it doesn't quite cover the uh the lease costs that we had to pick up.

We need to get seven more ambulances for next year, but um just for age of the fleet.

We had to add ambulances this year because of longer time on task and uh call volume.

So we we still need seven ambulances yes next year.

This gets us to two ambulances.

So I got to guess come up and lease the remaining ambulances.

A million dollars is about a hundred and sixty thousand dollars short of us being able to get that third ambulance out of that million dollars.

So we're gonna see what we can do to do that to get the ambulances, and that would only require that I have to spend about a half million dollars leasing for additional ambulances to get to my seven for next year.

Price of ambulances went up 14.4% between this year and next year.

So that's a good chunk of change there.

So potential fiscal impact, $2.4 million difference between the requests and proposed subsidy, but it's off partially offset by the $1 million in the capital budget.

And uh, and so I think there's a little bit of room for some improvement moving forward if if council can see fit to do so.

Um we're looking at cuts on our side, but the reality of it is we've been forced into a place where we've taken on you know debt.

We've got these leases sitting out there that we have to service.

And the original plan for that was that the lease payments were not going to be part of our operating side, and so we were supposed to ask for that separately, and so putting the million dollars in for purchasing ambulances again took me by surprise.

So we'll see what happens from there.

Um this is back to our mind.

The biggest part of what we do, we don't get paid for.

So if and if a 911 call takes an hour and 22 minutes on average now, and Medicare is paying me, I don't know, picket 400, and Medicaid is paying me 150 dollars, then that is why I seem to be standing here way too often with my hand held out to have council help pay for you know those that can't afford to pay for it.

Federal changes coming down.

If people get ejected from Medicaid and become uninsured, then that's going to be a problem.

Prior to the Medicaid expansion, 19% of our payer mix was uh Medicaid or no 19% of our payer mix was uninsured, but a bunch of those uninsured got to move into Medicaid.

So my uninsured is only 12% now.

But if they get ejected back out, you know, it could potentially go up.

So any questions.

Thank you, Mr.

Decker.

Um, so just so I understand the million dollars for this year is to purchase, not to lease the ambulances, correct?

That is correct.

It is to purchase two ambulances, but it's just shy of now that we know what we can buy an ambulance for, it is just shy of us being able to get three.

Okay.

And then how many um leased ambulances do you have currently?

Seven.

Currently, I have let's see, uh at least those back from the city at seven.

I have seven leased ambulances currently that I'm leasing like through a financial institution.

I have 14 others, I lease at a friends and family discount from the city.

Okay.

And how many do you have that you own?

We have 35.

35.

So after this next year, the FY27 budget, if I get the seven, then I will have replaced the fleet.

I can take a year or so off from buying ambulances, and uh before I have to go in and rotating the fleet out.

Assuming you know, I got 35 ambulances, and I can get five to seven years out of an ambulance.

Is 35 ambulances the the sweet spot for RAA?

Like is that the number you're looking to achieve?

It's who you ask.

If you ask my operations chief, he wants more.

But the more is we we do two books of business.

We do the 911 side and then we do the non-emergency side.

In theory, the non-emergency side has better reimbursement.

So if we grow that side, it'll help offset the deficit in the 911 side.

So that's one of the things that we're doing now is trying to grow this side of the business.

But uh, yes, for now with the FTEs that I have allotted, we have the uh because the ambulances we got this year, we hired 24 people to ride onto them.

And by the way, we're fully staffed, so staffing is not an issue.

It's just I run out of ambulances, and so these uh seven that we just got is should take care of that.

And is the non-emergency side incorporated into your total operating and uh expenses and revenue?

It is projections, okay.

Um 58 million in bad debts and bottom bad debt.

Um are there opportunities for more efficient collections?

I know the city's asking the same questions of itself.

Um just trying to see if there's some ability to get that back.

Get that back, get more than 24 percent.

Yes.

The uh so the not a good batting average.

Right.

The uh it's absolutely isn't a few years back, the city brought in several consultants.

They said, all right, you have to you need to raise your retail rate.

So we did.

We we tripled the retail rate.

They also said, and the city agreed, is that how in the world can you be collecting so little?

You know, and said you all need to outsource, you need to get rid of your reimbursement department and you need to outsource to collect more money.

So we did that.

And so we've had for the last couple of years a very reputable company that has been managing our reimbursement.

It's just the way the payer mix shakes out.

You know, if if we had more people with insurance, we'd we'd collect more per call.

You know, in theory.

If we had fewer people that you know had addresses or you know, or that didn't have to use us for their primary health care in the city, then we'd need you know less vehicles and less people.

So we've tried, you know, doing what the city said as far as you know, we're holding the billing company accountable.

We do hard billing, and so if we don't receive any funding, then the city expects us to send that to collections.

So we also have collections agencies.

So it's just the it's just the payer mix and and what people are willing to pay.

So when you outsourced your billing, did it did your it has the success rate gone up, stayed flat from when you were doing it in-house?

You don't have to like tell me the exact number, just so it has improved a little bit.

Because I went down to a bunch of FTEs, but I'm also paying a percentage to the billing company.

So what was expected was this big windfall.

Oh my goodness, it'll be all that.

It isn't.

Thank you.

So um, Chip, they never did find the money that I was told that there was money.

I guess I guess they didn't.

The money for the amuses for this year.

Oh, yeah.

Not that I'm aware of.

Not that I haven't gotten a check.

They uh so that's why we had to run out, but they were built, they were ready, they were off the line, they were Richmond Ambassador Authority ambulances.

I knew next year there was going to be a price increase.

So yes, we ran out, got VML to get us a you know some funding and lease them ourselves.

I would say that um instead of the mayor and administration coming after you all the time, won't they go after the money that's owed to the city of Richmond, like to back taxes, not only with real estate, but um I mean I could I got an issue that I could tell I have spoken about it, but it's gone nowhere, um, that they should be trying to collect the money instead of always coming down on you and and some other departments, especially in public safety, which we know with our population growing, um, over 232,000 right now, and as the chief said earlier, he only has um 604 officers, he should have 755.

But I guess after some people listen to this public safety meeting today, um, because it looks like me and my um colleagues Sarah's only two as willing to bring it up that you know who would want to even be a city employee, and you know what I forgot to say earlier, we have so many that I know that's had health issues, um other issues, you know, like family emergencies, medical, and they give their time, they still show up, and then when they retire, you get nothing, nothing.

So pushed out the door and say good luck.

So what the hell message are we sending to anybody to our our police chief who's trying to hire police officers who risk their lives every day and the stuff that they go through every single day because they never know what kind of call, just like Cheryl being shot in the head, and this is how this is how you get treated.

This is what this is what the mayor, the administration and my colleagues think of you, you you get out the door because we don't give a damn about you.

Go.

Survive on your own.

But Chip, thank you.

And like I said, I'm not finished, I could care less what people if they're mad at me for speaking the truth because you're not gonna shut me up.

I've been doing this 25 years, and the people taught me as Governor Wilder did, always put your people first, and you can't go wrong.

Listen to them, even if it's one o'clock in the morning, as I got a call one o'clock this morning, listen to them, talk to them, show them that you least care.

This is where you get treated.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we will now have a civilian review board progress update from Joseph Lowry, manager of the civilian review board.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair.

My name is Joe Lowry.

I am the manager of the Civilian Review Board, and I'd like to thank you for allowing me to give you a progress update today.

As you know, the civilian review board was established under Ordinance 2022-267.

And that establishes civilian review board.

But resolution 2025-R020 actually approved our standard operating procedures in September on September 8th of 2025.

The composition of the board is made up of eight members.

That's four appointed by counsel, four by the mayor, and all of our board members are residents is required.

But we do have a good diverse representation of the community on the board from several districts.

The initial appointments were staggered from one, two, and three-year terms, but any renewals or any additional members, they will serve three-year terms.

So after the approval on September 8th, we hit the ground running, and towards the end of the month, we started our training and preparation for the board.

That included four days of classroom instruction where the board members receive information on the purpose of civilian oversight, the standard operating procedures of the Richmond Civilian Review Board, legal training, as well as learning about specific policies of the Richmond Police Department.

We also had the pleasure of being hosted at the Richmond Police Academy, where our board members receive training on law, understanding of how investigations are done over at RPD, use of force training, lethal and non-lethal training, but not training, but understanding of it, as well as body worn camera operations and other things like that.

We ended our training with some field training where board members were required to ride along with Richmond police officers so they could get a first-hand view of what it's like for our officers out there in the field.

So as we continue to move forward as a board, we will continue with our ongoing training because policies change, and as we grow, you know, we'll have annual oversight training.

We are members of the National Association of Civilian Oversight for Law Enforcement, so we will retreat receive training from them and also stay up to date on law enforcement policy updates.

Now we came up with a meeting structure on the board.

So we meet monthly on the third Wednesday of each month at 6:30.

We establish officers on the board.

We have a chair, a co-chair, and a secretary.

To date, we've had five meetings.

So we are um busy.

And we actually reviewed our first case uh last month, and we have three cases that are pending.

So uh cases are coming before the board.

As a matter of fact, we review our next case tomorrow.

Um, although that, although that the civilian review board, we don't advertise that we take complaints.

The citizens of Richmond know that we're out there.

Um, I've been contacted, we've had um nine complaints brought to us either by telephone, email, or even letters.

Um, those complaints that did come to us that did not fall under our purview, so those citizens were instructed to um accordingly how to handle their complaints.

Now, what we've done on the board to try to simplify things.

Our review model is we have a subcommittee that comprises of three board members, and it they rotate this on a on a monthly basis or whenever we have cases.

And their responsibility is to determine if the case is eligible to go before the full board.

Was the case filed in a time timely manner by the complainant?

Does it fall under those five purviews that the board investigates?

So that's their responsibility.

For any reason that they find that the case does not go before the full board, that requires an unanimous vote by those three subcommittee members to decline it.

Once they decide, hey, this case is good, we're gonna present this to the full board.

That is presented at the next CRB meeting.

And the subcommittee will present their case and their review to the full board for discussion.

If the full board does agree, uh it requires a six to eight vote, then we will say, hey, we agree with IED's findings or we disagree with their findings.

We are required to put together a summary report out to the public within 60 days from the time we receive the report, uh the investigator file for review until we put out our public summary.

So that's a 60-day timeline.

One of the things that we want to make sure we do is that we are accessible to the community.

So we hold our meetings all over the all over the city.

We've been to City Hall, we've been to Southside Community Center a couple of times, we've been to the Power Chan Community Center.

Our last meeting was at North Avenue Library, and our next meeting for April will be at the Hickory Hill Library.

So we want to make sure that we are accessible to the public.

Continuing on that theme, the CRB has an active website where residents can go on that website.

You access that via the City Council website.

They can go on that website, learn about the CRB, they can find out when our meetings are, they can read our agenda, they can read our meeting minutes.

And once we start doing those reports, once our first report is done, that will be also published on the website for the citizens to see.

Citizens can see the agenda as well as our meeting minutes.

Even though we were only in existence for a couple of months, we did have something to add to the report, what we've done and what we plan to do in the future.

We also came up with a CRB informational poster.

So that poster basically tells uh citizens who we are, um how to how to come to our meetings, type of investigations that we do, and things like that.

And those posters may be posted at a library or community center or something like that.

Now we do know that the word is getting out about the CRB.

As you know, our meetings are open to the public, and we have had an e increase in public attendance to our meetings.

They range from three folks to as many as seven, um, either in person or online, because our meetings are online as well.

The other thing is we are open to attending the district's meetings of the council members.

I sent out an email in December saying that, hey, if you want us to come in, we're willing to share with your uh members in your district, you know, who we are, what we do, you know, how folks can uh exchange, engage, I'm sorry, with the with the CRB.

Um I've learned this is a a new board for the city, and we it's always room for improvement.

So as we are uh doing our meetings and conducting our reviews, we're always looking to ways we can improve the board's processes and efficiency, um, how we can improve our case review procedures, uh data tracking and reporting.

Um, as I always tell folks that this is uh this is fluid, um, especially that being new, so things are going to change, we're gonna learn as well as laws, policies, and regulations are going to change as well, causing us to adapt.

So some of our next steps.

Um we're going to complete the pending case reviews.

We want to make sure that we issue the timely summary reports because we want to, you know, um be accountable and transparent to to the public.

We will continue to um you know be um outreach to the community, as well as evaluate our training and identify any policy or procedure improvements as we go along.

So one thing I'm happy to say is since um September, the board has been operational.

Uh our members have been trained, they're engaged with the board.

Uh, we are accessible uh to the public, and we're committed to transparency and accountability.

So I thank you.

That's pretty much my time, my update.

Um are there any questions from the from the board committee?

Thank you, Mr.

Lowry.

Um, you clearly have been busy in the short time that this has been in motion.

Um can you remind me how when you I know you're still working through these cases, but when you do have findings when the board has findings, one did do you always issue sort of a report, and how does the public learn about that?

Yeah, so we're still um we reviewed our first case, and we still are putting together a summary report for that case.

Once that summary report is completed, it goes to the city attorney's office for them to put their eyes on it.

It goes to the chief of police for him to put his eyes on it.

Once we get the thumbs up, that report is uploaded to the CRB website, so the citizens can you know read the report and see what the findings from this CRB was.

Does the um does the chief and RPD have the ability, sort of like I kind of think of you as an auditor in a way, like do they have the ability to respond to some of the findings in that report before the report itself is made public, or um how does that work?

Yes, that's that's the purpose for them, you know, the city attorney and the chief of police to put their eyes on it just to see.

Um there is um a representative from the police department that goes over the case reviews with us, and we have an opportunity to have that discussion um with that representative.

So, you know, things are pretty much in line, but if there's something was missed, or you know, there may be some additional information, then you know, the chief will have that information and say, hey, you know, include that, or this wasn't quite right, or something like that.

And then um, can you remind me of your relations the the board's relationship with the Commonwealth Attorney Office?

Um, we don't really have, and I met with the Commonwealth Attorney's Office um last year.

We really don't have any direct interaction, only because if a case involves the Commonwealth Attorney's Office, we pretty much doesn't we don't touch it until the case uh is released from the Commonwealth Attorney's Office.

So they know we exist, we've had communic um communication, but we don't work with them on a regular basis.

Great.

Thank you.

I don't really have anything.

Only thing I like to say is that thank God for the body cameras, because they tell both sides of the story, not just one.

Yes.

So thank God for them.

And that's probably one of the best things this um public safety and my colleagues did was to make sure that our police officers had those body cameras.

Yeah, and we're finding as a board that is very helpful because the board members can see um exactly what happened versus seeing it in a report.

So now they have the visual, they have the written, and you know, they can make their judgment from that.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Um, we now have a discussion item for RPD updates from Chief of Police Rick Edwards.

Hello again, Madam Chair.

I'm Rick Edwards.

I'm the chief of police for the city of Richmond.

I'll give you a quick update on where we stand uh crime-wise year to date.

Uh so we're progressing pretty well as of today.

We're 6% down in violent crime.

Our homicides are down 36%, our non-federal shootings are down 24%, and obviously that includes the mass shooting in Shaka Bottom, where seven people were injured and two were unfortunately and tragically killed.

And our commercial robberies, and this is key, uh, is 63% down.

We believe uh a part of that, as you know, as I mentioned to this body before.

Last year that was our only violent crime that was organically higher, and we believe it was driven by two main factors.

One was that we were seeing shopliftings escalate to to robberies when force or the threat of force were used.

And then almost a third of all of our commercial robberies involved vape shops.

So those are not occurring now for some of the reasons that have been discussed.

Some of them have been shut down.

Um our property crimes are flat, and an overall reduction of one percent on top of a percentage, a 12% reduction last year.

So we're fighting very good numbers from last year.

So overall pleased with where we are on the state of crime.

I'm happy to answer any questions about that or talk about specific topics you may have.

Chief, one thing.

Um you said something about that.

Um I guess the robberies are down now because of the vape shops are closed, or it has been closed.

Commercial robberies are down 63% year to date.

That was one of the few crimes that were up last year for violent crime, the only one.

Okay, but now there's um, even though they're closed because you know they can't they can't go in there and they can't sell their merchandise or whatever.

Um I know this discussion can't be held here because it's it's ongoing investigation, which I don't fully understand that because nobody was arrested.

If they were criminals or there was illegal guns in there, or this or that, or whatever, they were not they were not arrested.

I thought if you're doing something legal, you you get arrested.

Might not go to jail, but you would probably get arrested.

So I that part does not, I do not fully understand, do not, but and I know you can't answer the question because I know that you have met, I know that you have they showed up at a walk that you had on the McGuire area not long ago in our eighth district.

It just showed up because it was right there in that where the convenience store is, is still running.

Um I just don't understand how we expect them not to lose everything that they got, their their families, their homes, their business, their everything.

And but they're they won't locked up.

They're still out there.

But yet there's some vape shops that are still running and still doing some of the things that they probably should not be doing.

But who's investigating them?

Who's looking at them?

I can just say there's a dual track.

Obviously, there are inspections of which Richmond Police is part of the C C E T, where those inspections occur for certificates of occupancy and other things.

And then there are criminal investigations, RPD and other agencies are investigating evolving, oftentimes unlawful marijuana distribution.

Those are two separate issues.

What the hell is going to happen when they legalize marijuana?

What the hell is going to happen?

And just like Dean stood right here and told us, did we change this, we changed that, but they don't get notified, do they?

Are they or because I don't even think we we're notified with some of the things, some of the changes that happens with the administration?

I sure in the hell don't ever see code enforcement when we give things like things that they should be investigating besides just the convenience store or the vape shops.

There's other things, but they don't go out there and look because if they did, why are they still doing what they're doing?

And it keeps falling on the police department, which I'm not happy about that, because you can only do but so much.

Yes, ma'am.

So I don't know where we go from here.

I don't know.

Like I said, they legalize marijuana.

What is going to happen in our city?

Don't know how much they're gonna be able to sell, who's gonna be able to sell what?

Is it gonna be mandated with this store, that store, this grocery store?

I mean, my God, you go in the parking lot, any grocery store, and you just get high, just going get out of your car trying to get into the store, especially if you don't do the drugs.

Yes, ma'am.

I don't know, Chief.

I don't know where we're headed.

I'll tell you that right now.

I don't know where we're headed.

You have anything, Sarah for the chief?

No.

What's the next thing, Chief?

Is that it?

Well, I know we have we discussed at your council district meeting about the car takeovers that took place on March 7th.

We were um, you know, I had a meeting at Council Member Breton's uh district where I talked to some concerned citizens specifically about that topic and reviewed it at length and uh talked about the fact that we had information that this a similar group was coming back this past Saturday on the 21st.

We were prepared.

We met with our colleagues and in Rico Chesterfield, Hanover County, and of course the Virginia State Police conducted a core coordinated operation.

We've released a press release on the the findings of that, but effectively 11 people were stopped, uh multiple uh 12 traffic violations were noted uh and cited, 10 misdemeanor arrests, one felony charge, and one two vehicles were towed, one for exhibition driving, and that's key because the new law that I think is is going to be instrumental in us addressing this problem uh long term is towing the car and being able to impound it for 20 uh 20 specific days, and that's uh Virginia Code Section 46-246.2865.

And all the costs occurring to that uh will be borne by the register owner of the car.

That's how we have to address this.

If you look on the news, Virginia Beach had one of these recently, I think it was on Sunday, car meetups, huge crowds, and seven people ended up being shot.

So it's not just the concern we have for traffic safety and the the disturbance that it has to our residents and our community, it has a propensity to escalate to violence.

So we were able to successfully navigate that on Saturday.

We'll continue to monitor and and certainly work with our partners to ensure that they don't come back to Richmond.

Chief, just for people who don't know, can you um explain the new law that allows you to impound cars for exhibition driving and how that's going to help?

Well, uh a big part of this the tools on our toolbox previously where we could cite people for reckless driving, which of course is is a class one misdemeanor and can carry up to a year in in jail for that.

Uh but reckless driving can also be just normal speeding and some other behaviors.

This this is something completely different where people are blocking intersections, they're meeting up, and then they do donuts in the middle of the intersections at high rates of speed, and it's something completely different.

It's it's um, you know, sometimes they're hanging out the windows.

There's videos all over if you look at social media in other cities where people have been struck by these cars, people have been killed by these cars because they're driving at a high rate of speed and lose control.

And uh what this this uh the statute actually cites it authorates authorizes the impound of vehicles for used in exhibition driving for up to 20 days.

Drivers are responsible for our all towing and storage costs associated with the vehicle recovery, in addition to any court imposed penalties.

So this is something also that we we have consulted with the Richmond Commonwealth Attorney's Office.

We're flagging these cases for her office so that they can give it the due attention it deserves.

Like I said, this is more serious than simply going 21 miles an hour over the speed limit.

Thank you.

Chief, was somebody hit that the other day when they were doing this over there in the first district, the person didn't get hit.

We were just lucky that our officers were not hit because when I saw the video, I just could not believe what I was seeing.

But I will say this, thank God for the video for the cameras that are up there, and I know that um that helped make some arrest, and then with some people turning over the videos to the police department and all that, and plus the citizens banded together over there in that area and said they weren't gonna tolerate that.

And you know what's gonna happen now.

Once you put this out, my people and plus in the fourth and all that, they want to start calling you and say, what about South Side Plaza?

What about the part Broadrock Park and some others like going down Richmond Highway, the um dirt bikes, the the three-wheelers and all of that on two wheels just carrying on 80 miles an hour down just Richmond Highway and also on Broadrock.

Well, that this is all similar, it's all driven by social media.

People want to film themselves doing this dangerous behavior and get clicks, and it feeds upon itself.

What's important for us and what law enforcement agencies around the country, because this is a nationwide problem, uh, have learned is that it's important to hold people accountable and make this an inhospitable place to come and and do this kind of uh takeover style events.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

There's nothing else on today's agenda other than a staff report.

And that has been provided to you by council staff.

Okay.

Did you have any one?

Uh I would only note that uh for next month on these reports to you.

Uh you have the uh requested reports, DPW on graffiti and the legal dumping.

You know what?

That just might change after today.

We might add something else or either.

This public safety meeting was just extremely just broke my heart.

It broke my heart.

But I'd like to, if you could, I'd like to see you and the city attorney after the meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nadia.

Thank you for all that you've done.

Meeting's adjourned.

Thank you.