Good afternoon, everyone.

The city council's budget work session will now come to order.

We'll ask that the chamber emergency evacuation announcement be made.

And then uh our chief of staff, Mr.

Warren will come with our process procedures for this meeting.

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

Please use the exits to the left or right front of the council chamber or the east or west stairwell 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 assist visually and hearing impaired visitors with exiting the building.

Yes, may I please Council RJ Warren, Council Chief of Staff, this is your first budget amendment work session today.

And how today we'll proceed.

This is primarily for dialogue between council members on their proposed amendments.

Each member has been provided a uh list of their individual amendments they can reference and how this is going to work is uh each member is going to be provided 10 minutes to provide the the background, the reasoning, the intent of their amendments.

If during that explanation a colleague has a question, uh we ask that colleague just to light up their microphone and the presiding officer will acknowledge them and allow them to uh ask a question of their colleague at that time.

Uh that question will not take away from your time.

Uh so if someone's asking you a very lengthy question, that won't take from your time.

Um, but when you respond, uh their clock will restart.

Um, but we're gonna see how this goes.

I'm not trying to prevent you all from speaking with one another.

And um we'll see if there's need for more time as uh explanations continue.

Um the posted amendments uh were provided on Thursday to through all of City Hall, the public, and um that is just an initial draft based on conversations today.

Uh your staff are going to see where certain amendments can be combined.

Uh, we're looking forward to city administration being here to get your reasonings and explanation.

Um maybe they will find where some of your requests are already being taken care of and could be crossed off, or maybe where some collaboration can take place.

Um again, if as you hear the explanation and the reasoning from your colleagues today about their amendments, if you wish to co-patron any amendment by your uh colleagues, I just ask that you let me know the deadline because that will help facilitate how we review amendments on Wednesday.

So if you desire to co-patron any amendment put forward by your colleagues, just let me know by the end of business tomorrow.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity.

So I guess if you're following along with our on our green sheets, is that right?

What we're using.

So um uh so all of page one is actually my attempt at being very constructive, collaborative, and helpful at finding opportunities for cuts to support whatever other goals that we all may share.

So now these cuts have not all been um you know judged or answered back by administration, but basically my tactic on finding these was to identify items in the budget where the actual from fiscal 25 um was something small and then the proposed for fiscal 27 was something very large.

And so it just seemed where there was a big disconnect between what we actually spent in 25 and what we're proposing in 27.

And so in those cases, I would flag them, and I would suggest that maybe we don't need to increase them by quite so much, and maybe there's some opportunities for savings there.

Now I don't have any feedback on any of those yet.

So I'm any of these might we might get feedback from administration that these are all crazy and terrible, but um when we get that feedback.

Yeah, but we can we can we can judge those.

So that's the interesting stuff is my goals, which start on page two, the second page.

So um when you go to the third row, um these are all proposals here that I want to submit.

And you know, to the extent anybody wants to join me in supporting them, we can discuss them.

So um row three is the suggestion that we might want to um finance that sports backers land purchase with debt instead of with the um contingency fund.

So I know the contingency fund purchased a um you know uh a note from the EDA in order to help support that transaction, but you know it we might find that it's more appropriate to finance that with a you know another form of debt, replenish the cash balance in the contingency fund, and that way in the event of a contingency, we'll have more liquidity in that fund.

So um just a proposal that I'm floating out there.

The next three are related to um 311 and customer service and making uh some of our high volume departments kind of better integrated with 311 because we do want everybody using 311 as much as possible.

It's a great service.

Um we want everyone to make sure that if they have follow-up questions, escalations that they can also turn to 311 for that.

So one of them is an extra um resource within the 311 team to integrate DPU and integrate some DPW like trash collection services.

Um and the other are to get an additional staff in each of DPU and DPW for someone who can take escalations, answer questions, the same way that we have liaisons from those departments who are fantastic at helping get us information.

I think that um a customer facing role like that would be really, really helpful for our customer support um you know, as well.

So that's the that proposal.

On to the next one.

I said um I wrote here add 10 inspectors to PDR.

Um so this was based on the department requests that they made, which you know, thanks to Councilmember Lynch, we have access to, which is really helpful for the conversation.

PDR had requested um five uh permit uh inspectors and three enforcement inspectors and two extra planners that were not in the end included in the mayor's budget.

So I actually believe that um councilmember Jordan has put in this a submission for those two planners.

So I would probably possibly amend mine to be for the eight additional ones.

Those um are the um uh inspectors for permits and enforcement, and I believe they can be paid for via application fees.

So we don't even need to cut anything to fund those.

So that'll just improve our service levels across those.

Um next one energy efficiency coordinator.

So there is an energy efficiency program that is still making its way through land use with about um six co-patrons.

Office of sustainability has offered, you know, um and requested that we make you know open up one staffer to support that.

That staffer can also help us with grants, help us with efficiency and you know, probably possibly save us more money than they even cost.

Um legal support of the city assessor.

This is probably not important this year.

I was thinking ahead to next year as when we get that double year bump, and some people with the most resources might be suing us over our assessments, and I wanted to be thinking ahead about legal support for um for our assessor's office, but I don't think that needs to be done this year, so I probably won't actually end up being pursuing that one.

The next two are leads to coding.

So there are codes for transparency where you can kind of understand where DPW funds um are going.

One of them is for forestry and urban urban forestry, and the other is for um transportation.

So in 25, we actually had them broken out, but in 26 and 27, they are not broken out.

So just suggesting that we go back to using those codes so that we can more easily actually track the different subgroups within the department.

So it's easily easier to see how we're spending our money.

Uh last one on this page is money for lights at the Thomas Jefferson High School.

So this is uh one of those rare cases where I want something for my district.

This is Thomas Jefferson High School where students from all, you know, many other districts also come.

Um we don't have lights.

We it it impacts our ability to have practice our ability to host football games.

Um and so being able to fund um lights would be uh a boon for the whole community.

Now I know the RPS themselves has a lot of other competing needs like roofs and HVACs, and so they constantly are you know unable to prioritize this, but it'd be important for the community to be able to have um support for lights.

And we might be able to find some private partners to help augment that amount as well.

Um next one management services guidelines is a suggestion for some more transparency for next year.

Um the next one, the second row, uh transparency in our street safety spending.

So this is another case where we have a large bucket that I think would benefit from just breaking out what it is.

So we have complete streets and we have um safe streets for all, they add up to about 32 million dollars, and we always have to ask how much of that is sidewalks, how much that is speed bumps, how much of that is paving, how much of that is stop signs, you know.

And so I'm um recommending that it's not even a cut, it's just showing like breaking out what it is in the budget for transparency for everyone's benefit.

So, you know, next year, if you want to say, hey, let's put let's add more to the speed bump fund, there's a number you can look at that you can add more to.

Um the next one, uh green rope, dedicating a portion of complete streets to the people's budget.

So this is um I know that a large portion of our complete streets budget is related to these quick build um, you know, lighter, quicker, cheaper community engagement projects.

And given that we have a community engagement group in the people's budget, I was proposing or suggesting that we might be able to um actually put a portion um of complete streets into that department.

Um, you know, because they have a well crafted engagement machine already, it might be an opportunity to make sure that money is is being used in a in a in a way that has a lot of you know community engagement, you know, directly um built in.

Uh actually I'm gonna skip a row and go down to the next green row, uh second from the last, which is funding the people's budget.

So it says 27, but I actually meant 28.

So in the CIP for fiscal 28, um, I would like us to put five million dollars into the people's budget, which was the um amount that has always been planned for for people's budget for fiscal 28.

And so I think it's important that this year that we go ahead and put five million dollars in the fiscal twenty-eight um so that people have faith in the process.

They know that the money will be there.

So when they go through fiscal 27 and the round of um all the engagement that they're doing, everyone will have the confidence that the five million dollars that we all said would be there, you know, will already be there.

Um go back up Richmond Ed Fund.

So um this is a suggestion where um we would be able to make a donation or uh a gift to the Richmond Ed Fund in order that they can support something called the um National Yale Initiative.

And this is a teacher retention program, a teacher education program.

A lot of our best teachers choose to do this.

It's a great way to retain some of it of our best teachers where they can um learn from other professors and hone their curriculums, and it's a great way to retain teachers and we are actually working on getting a local chapter in Richmond, and we would need, and the Richmond Ed Fund is working to support the staffer that would be needed for that.

So I'm suggesting that we um make a gift to the ed fund in order that they can support that.

And then um lastly, and possibly most importantly, is um a citywide school safety um CIP investment.

And so just this past year, um DPW did a fantastic study of eight schools.

Um most of them are along the high injury network.

None of them are in my district, but there is a lot of great recommendations for transportation safety um changes that can be done around these schools.

And um I'm still working on getting the exact breakdown of exactly what the cost and investments would be to fund those programs, but um still waiting on getting that back.

But um, I would love us to go ahead and officially prioritize those school safety transportation projects within our CIP budget, whether it's this year or the next four years.

I wanted to make sure that we got that um into the plan.

I believe that uh concludes my list.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Breton and members.

Um, as was shared, I think, by our council chief of staff.

If you're desirous of um joining Mr.

Breton and patroning, you can certainly uh let RJ know that, or um uh Mr.

Breton.

So subsequently.

Okay, thank you.

Council Vice President Jurden.

Thank you, President New Bell.

I have two amendments.

Uh the first one is taken uh again from just the text of planning department's budget submission.

It's funding to FTEs to facilitate the ongoing implementation of City Master Plan Richmond 300.

Um and I'm leaving the funding for that to come from collaboration with administration on current vacancies.

So for me, I feel like this is a really important investment in addition to the code enforcement positions that council member Breton mentioned.

Um our planning department really generates jobs for other people, business for our city, and we consistently hear about support for the department from constituents and particularly support for enhancing it.

So uh that is one amendment that I would welcome any co-patrons on.

My second one has to do with the CIP for the Richmond Gasworks.

Currently they have a balance of over 45 million dollars to go towards funding new business for gas customers, these are line extensions, et cetera.

And with conversation with um the folks administer that program, that is well and above what they need for the next couple of years.

So rather than put $500,000 to augmenting that bucket, uh, I zeroed it out.

Um what I don't have is that $500,000 going towards other uses because I'm still trying to understand and work with administration on what those funds could be applied for if it is not for new business and the rules around um enterprise funds are just very specific.

So would welcome the opportunity to continue that dialogue.

Um my interest would be affordability initiatives.

Can we put more money into Metro Care, which helps folks who are struggling with their utility bills, um, that type of initiative.

So again, would welcome anyone else other than Council Member Lynch who I appreciate supporting joining in on that amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice President Jared and Council Member Gibson.

Thank you.

I wanted to emphasize my appreciation that we have this opportunity to talk about our amendments today.

I think that's a big deal.

Transparency and public engagement are really critical if we want our democracy to function.

So thank you.

And so prioritized some of those requests as well.

So in terms of the cuts that we identified to fund these things, in summary, we we looked at long vacant positions, I believe, in strategic communications, in the economic development team.

We identified funding for some business retention and attraction in the neighborhood and community department.

There were some new FTEs that we identified.

And I want to emphasize there is no question that all of these positions and funding would be put to valid uses.

I talk about where the money would go to, really for us, it's just a matter of prior, how do we prioritize?

So talking about where to put the funding to, I want to start with the Richmond Virtual Academy.

And my argument for this is very straightforward.

This is a program with a higher percentage of special need students, I believe, than any other traditional school that we have in the district.

I've seen figures ranging from 20% to upwards of 30% of the students in this in this program are special needs.

That paired with the fact that their graduation rate is currently 100%.

This isn't something that we should be talking about cutting.

We should be celebrating.

This is something that schools across the country should be looking at and figuring out how they can replicate it.

And I truly believe it is a no-brainer to ensure that this program is funded.

I think that the district might open themselves up to lawsuit, to be frank, in terms of equity to target closing this program.

And I also question the math by which they determine the cost, because if this program closes, there are additional fees that the district could incur in terms of special transportation for bringing students to traditional schools in terms of the potential of having those students attend private day school, the potential of students unenrolling from the district and losing state funding.

And so I really think it is a no-brainer to uh to ensure that this program can continue.

I think the other priority that uh is critical for us as as a city, you know, is that we are in a moment where we're seeing large divestments across the country from critical services like healthcare and so many things.

Um and here in Richmond, there has been uh a good amount of news coverage about the um the wait times and the caseloads that are um uh that folks in in social services are um are seeing.

And so we put in a amendment to provide the most um priority staff that that the uh that that team has identified, the department of social services.

So at the top of their list, they had one, they wanted one FTE for social services.

Um this is a position needed to fully implement the LS uh LCSW clinical supervision program, and they've requested four FTEs for social services, those are benefit program supervisor, um, a management analyst, and three um, I think those are three of those management analysts.

It's also important to emphasize these positions are reimbursed by 84.5%.

So the net cost that we have as a city to ensure that this residents that we have who have the highest level of need um are able to receive services and um in a timely way, I believe is a no-brainer.

Um and so I think the the cut that we have associated with that are some economic development staff.

And again, it's not that those staff members in the economic development uh team are not critical, but rather this this need that we have in my from my perspective is is not something that we can deprioritize in this moment in time.

Um we've also put funding towards the custodial uh contract their the wages.

This is something that this body uh passed unanimously a resolution stating its support of funding to increase wages and benefits.

I think that the administration's um uh the administration's budget includes some of that.

It gets us part of the way there.

Um, but we've identified about you know uh the need for about another half a million to ensure that the janitorial staff get to that $20 an hour.

Um we also included funding for um immigrant and refugee and engagement.

So there's about $171,000 interpretation translation services.

I think that the need there is uh is straightforward.

Um we've also requested funding for a study to um so that we can explore transitioning the city to owned um utilities.

So that is a hundred thousand dollars that we've earmarked there.

Um the city charter does allow us to acquire, construct, own, maintain, and operate within and without the city, waterworks, gas plants, and electric plants.

Um, and given the cost that residents are seeing as they get their monthly bill from Dominion, I think that this is a um uh is certainly worthwhile.

There are many municipalities within the state of Virginia that are not um in contract with Dominion for electrical services.

Um and so I also wanted to highlight several text amendments that we've submitted.

Um I I think the one that is obviously received a good amount of attention is the is the language regarding severance pay.

Um we support amending all amended language relative to senior executive severance payments.

Um essentially, uh I think this was an unfunded mandate.

Um and we simply didn't have the dollars in the budget to fund it, regardless.

I also believe, as I've expressed before, that um that not tying severance to tenure is counterintuitive in terms of having a city hall where we have long-standing folks who understand um how the city uh how the city is run.

And so I appreciate the support that um many of uh my colleagues have have have on that item.

We've also submitted a text amendment to ensure um that the budget reflect the ordinance uh that we passed uh regarding the affordable housing trust fund.

And so um right now the the mayor's uh presented budget uh has it going into some funds that are named differently, uh the affordable housing revolving fund, the equitable affordable housing program, um, and so the text amendment is requesting that the budget language reflect uh the um the requirements based on um that uh ordinance that was I believe also unanimously passed.

Um I submitted also language for an RPS um audit.

So in the budget uh this season, there's been a good amount of discussion around with some questions regarding um regarding some of the the presented budgets that were submitted.

Um, you know, I uh uh as a former school board member have emphasized the importance of of audit services overall.

Um and so I think that it is important to see the alignment in their budget and um and in the documents that are published.

So I I think that is important that we ensure that um they are using their fiscal responsibility.

Uh RPS also has not had a full-time auditor for some time, and so I think that's important to do.

Ah, and one last note regarding audit services.

Um the uh budget amendment, I also requested an um uh funding for um for proactive audit services here at City Hall.

So um uh I reached out, I've spoken to both uh our um leaders um in the IG team and the audit team.

Um I'm looking, I I think however we can boost the the productivity of those departments is important.

This is a position I believe would be paid for itself and the findings that they would have.

And so we've also allocated, I believe it was like $130,000 to be able to fund that additional FTE, which would be tasked with not just responding to the kind of fraudulent claims that come, but would be able to be very proactive to ensure that again our our dollars and our city is working as it should.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Gibson.

We will go now to Councilwoman Robertson.

Okay, good afternoon, everyone.

Appreciate this opportunity.

10 minutes is a short period of time to go through all of these amendments.

However, what I would like to say up front is that my amendments are more of a package focus.

I was impressed with what we've done with the baseball stadium, the level of investment, and I think this is the model for what we need to continue.

So my focus is on housing, and it's also focused on the central business district, which has been left vacant for quite some time and is not generating the level of opportunity for revenue that is needed by the city.

In order for us to remain a competitive city in this region, and even larger than that, it's going to be very important that we focus our revenues and our development strategy so that we are creating the level of transformation that will generate a significant increase in revenue and therefore be able to afford the services that we want to render, as well as look at it being competitive to live in the city of Richmond, which we are gradually losing that edge.

So under the housing initiatives amendments that I have, one has already been mentioned as it relates to the tax amendment, just to be sure that everybody knows where the money is going for the affordable housing trust fund, as well as the additional 10 million dollars in the outcoming year that have been mentioned needed to be added back into the CIP so that that won't get lost.

The commitment by ordinance for the affordable housing trust fund, 80% area medium income, 30% for those at 30% area medium income is a commitment that the board continues to live up to.

Secondly, preservation has been one of the reasons why we've not been as successful with housing in the city, because we are not investing the kind of money that is needed.

Um especially for existing single family property owners, but not only those but uh affordable housing that is transitioning out, and we haven't put money in the budget to be able to capitalize on maintaining the property.

So I have an amendment that is referred to as neighborhood displacement performance grant.

It follows the model of the performance grant that we are currently using for affordable housing, but also make it available for individual family owners, uh single property owners as well.

Um to create the designation that we need to have the kinds of inclusive communities that are necessary with the necessary facilities and infrastructure.

I am asking for an amendment to do a model neighborhood inclusive plan that can be replicated in other neighborhoods in the city, but targeting those that are most strongly facing possibilities of gentrification and the lack of inclusion.

Uh, a lot in the South Side is one of those neighborhoods that uh would certainly be considered.

The other area that we have is significant concern, and I think we're making a lot of money investments in different areas, but it's not coordinated very well, is providing services for homelessness.

I think that when we look at the total dollars and the total agencies and departments that are involved that are not coordinated together, uh, it's really time that we create a one-stop opportunity, collaborate those funds together.

I don't know that there would deem to be an additional monies, but it's possible that this amendment would not only be general fund, but also may need some capital improvement dollars.

The other opportunity that's at our doorstep that I want us to get in front of and put some money in the budget to take advantage of is the opportunity to work with our faith-based communities as this General Assembly is passing legislation to give more by right opportunities for face-based.

Richmond has a large inventory of faith base that is underutilized and have land that we want to look at ways to not only partnership with them, but initially work with the enterprise to set up this model that is needed.

And also with housing and development and building and continue to grow the city.

We have a very big legislative that we have passed that is coming back to us with a strategic plan that I believe is going to cost us a significant amount of money.

The other area that I really want us to focus on, and I think the two departments that makes a difference in the city as it relates to generating revenue so that we can remain to be a competitive place to live, is the economic development department.

And again, I want to give kudos to our staff.

The baseball stadium and what we experienced last week was a tremendous destination creation and the work that was put in there and the revenue that's going to be generated.

And I think that's a model for downtown.

And so I'm proposing that we add a significant amount of funding in the budget to jumpstart the central business district.

And that would also include a workforce hub.

Poverty should not be a reality in this city.

And if we had a one-stop workforce, I think that we could put a whole lot of more people back to work, a lot of them benefiting from our own procurement in the city.

Land acquisition is always a challenge for us with the landlocked city.

Without money being in the budget, both the economic development planning department and others tell us every day we can't do the development that we need to do in order to strengthen our bottom line in the city of Richmond because we don't have any revenue for acquisition.

And so I'm proposing that we be mindful of that.

We cannot wait to move forward with more aggressive destination concentrated development and planning in the city of Richmond.

One of the agreements that were made earlier in doing our budget discussion period was to align our capital improvement budget with small area plans that we've already spent lots of money putting together plans without an implementation strategy for several small area plans in the city of Richmond as well as the downtown central business district.

Get them started.

They've been sitting on the shelf too long, and we don't have any money in this budget to really kick them into action.

If we're going to continue to spend money on planning and not implement, uh put funding into implementation, we're wasting money.

And so I'm strongly encouraging us to do that as well.

Text amendments, uh, I only have two.

One uh Ms.

Gibson has mentioned as it relates to making sure that we are clear as it relates to affordable housing financing.

Um I think the administration has agreed to that.

I just want to make sure that it gets written up the right way legally in the budget and for the right accounts and those kinds of things.

And the other amendment is to say back to the administration when I look at your performance expectations in the budget.

I'm very disappointed when I look at the number of departments that have for performance has not been determined.

That is not acceptable.

And what I am suggesting and hoping that the council will support is an amendment that says we want to know what the return on our investment is going to be to be determined, it's not accepted.

Before implementation of this budget July 1st, we will have some expectations on what we're going to expect to get over the next year.

So that they don't give us numbers that they don't meet.

Listen, guys, nothing is perfect.

Numbers change.

We have to have a forecast.

We have to have goals.

And I am strongly recommended that unless we get some indication and to be determined is removed from this budget language, we will hold up on the implementation.

We will adopt this budget, but we want to know what we're getting over the next 12 months.

Otherwise, I think that we move forward with the development that we have promised, and that's a lot of it.

And I want to see stronger housing and economic development for the purpose of generating revenue and diversifying the costs and expense.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilwoman Robertson.

Councilwoman Lynch.

Thank you, Madam President.

I'm gonna go off of attachment if you're following along at home and on the dias, the green attachment that has the amendments by member.

So I'm gonna start first with the equipment for Randolph Community Center.

This is one of our is in the heart of the city.

It is one of our most popular recreational programs in the city.

It is used by a variety of zoned schools in that area.

But just to give you an idea of how popular it was, it sold out in under an hour that programming did.

And many of our underserved communities in both Randolph and Maymont neighborhoods a variety of other areas in the city use Randolph Community Center programming.

We're only asking for 40,000.

It has equipment replacement needs that you know far exceed that, but this is basically the minimum that we came up with to do small kind of sport recreational equipment replacement for things like basketball, basketballs, nets, and other kind of gaming equipment.

So would appreciate your support on that.

This is a need that we actually identified last year.

So we had an amendment in last year for the same amount, same dollar amount, 75,000.

And that's really to meet the communication needs that particularly our seniors have.

They really rely heavily on mail at postage mail, as you all know, direct mail, and that's to help communicate things like the elderly tax relief program, um, some of the other um events that we uh hold in the city for our seniors, as well as really pertinent information that we that is delivered to them about our various programs and resources throughout the city.

Um we were told that that line item was going to be delivered last year.

It was um it was not specifically carved out as a line item.

So this year we're simply asking for that um uh denotation to happen so that they have the resources they need to do the mailings for seniors.

The um third um is encumbering again, kind of along the same lines, encumbering um funds that were already allocated towards Fonichello Um Park, and these are the remaining capital improvement funds to the tune of the we don't have a specific dollar amount.

It's between 700 and 750 and 800,000.

Um, that was allocated in capital improvement in CIP funding last year.

We're just making sure that that's carried over so that the project can be complete.

So it's it's a it's a half-done um project at this point.

We were successful in getting the Marquia Dixon imagination zone, which many of you attended the ribbon cutting for us.

We have a nice playground there, but there's about two more phases that are um in that master plan that we need to complete, and we just want to make sure that that funding is carried over.

So again, no no money, no additional money is just encumbering um the funding that was already allocated.

Fourth, and very excitingly, is an opportunity to really reimagine the Clark Springs elementary school footprint and really work collaboratively with RPS, RHHA, the city and city council to bring an affordable housing, specifically a senior affordable housing development to the footprint.

And this has been in concept and in imagination well before Clark Springs Elementary School was reimagined for Fox elementary school.

In fact, we had had several stakeholder meetings with the community and with Greta of Virginia Supportive Housing to really look at what could this space be when the school is vacated.

So it's taken us a long, you know, obviously a long journey to get to the point where we might be ready to explore putting pen to paper, like what would that actually look like.

When to do it the right way, and we've had several meetings with RPS leadership as well as community civic association uh leadership, and we want to really do it thoughtfully and engage the community in the way that it deserves to be engaged, with stakeholder input really being at the forefront in order for us to really do that and to have a thoughtful design of affordable housing and have um Clark Springs the keystone of it really have Clark Springs as an anchor, which could serve as a new open high school site.

So that's a be a big I know my shocker.

Um but in order for us to do that and have any kind of viability for the project itself, which would be we would likely be a triple P kind of model, um, hiring a consultant would really be the first step for that.

So um council member Newville, I remember or President Newville, I remember when we um toured Armstrong at one point in time, and I I remember just having stars and eyes for the project that you got going there.

Um and I kind of think of this almost like a similar to Armstrong, but allowing for the school to serve as the anchor for that particular community and um and potentially giving us an opportunity to build a new open high school for which it is not in the our current RPS facilities maintenance plans today.

So it's a win-win for both.

We get senior affordable housing, affordable housing, and potentially a new high school.

But in order for us to have any of those very far off dreams become a reality, we need some funding.

RPS has said that you know they they would love to partner with us, um, but we we need a consultant to help work all of that out.

So that's kind of where that's coming from.

Um, okay.

Um increasing uh the next one is a course I'm always gonna put in a budget amendment, increasing funding for a family crisis um fund.

As you all know, the um the number of households that are burdened from a budgetary perspective is growing ever more as the cost of living increases in what seems to be a race to the bottom.

Um and so one of the only ways that we have to equal equitably redistribute um funding for those of our uh community members that are making really less than you know 40,000 in a live and paycheck to paycheck who may not have money to pay for their utility bill, electric bills, housing, rent, et cetera, um, is this family crisis fund.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that we need um, and I think our our city partners would also agree that we need to retool and tighten up the eligibility criteria, the program protocols, et cetera, the administration of it.

Um, but in concept, it is one of the greatest, you know.

I we've I'm sure all of you have had constituents that have seen the family crisis fund really save the day for families as it relates to keeping them housed and keeping them stable in the community.

So would love to see another commitment on that uh for that for that program.

Um the last two really speak to what um the topics that we that were kind of heavy on our um agenda during the last budget meeting, and that was really digging into um vision zero and just general kind of city infrastructure funds that we have um allocated towards city infrastructure and whether or not you know the complete streets allocation of 22.1 million, I'm probably giving you the wrong um exact number there, but um, somewhere in that neighborhood was um was really the way to target the vast number of projects that we have to cover with that one um bucket item, recognizing that you know, again, to miss uh um Mr.

Vincent's point that complete streets is not the only funding source that we have for things like asphalt alleys and public right-of-way infrastructure and speed studies and traffic safety infrastructure.

But is it enough?

Probably not.

And I think that was the foregone conclusion that we came to during our last meeting.

So with that, we were asking for $250,000 set aside specifically for asphalt alleys, which I know many of you who are in the central part of the city will appreciate because a lot of folks that drive across and through our city know that it's a uh it's it's a little off-roading if if you go through an asphalt alley.

Um, and then of course, we're asking for dedicated funding for traffic safety plans, and that's citywide, so that if there is a specific area on the high injury network or in a residential um uh street where you feel like you would like a speed table or a bump out or some other traffic safety improvement, that we have the funding um to be able to predicate that study and initiate that um that piece of infrastructure.

So um we do not have that carved out of the budget currently.

We always pull it from usually pull it from other um projects, and Bobby gets really creative in how he does that.

We always appreciate that.

He always tries um, you know, Department of Public Works tries really hard to meet all of the requests that we send their way.

Um, but this is just to ensure that we have a dedicated pot of funding as these um incidences and um various requests from our community come up.

I think that's all she wrote.

Yeah, that's it.

Thank you, Councilwoman Lynch.

We will give councilwoman Alba Bacher a moment to get settled, Councilwoman Trammel.

President, if I go over JRUK RJ, you can cut me off.

Thank you.

I had three amendments.

My amendment, the first one is um proposes to close a gap in the funds requested by RAA to pay for the replacing of the old ambulances.

RAA has been replacing these old vehicles since 2023 with the help of the city.

But this administration is not following up on promises made to council last year during the budget.

RAA makes over 65,000 calls each year and helps many of our residents who can't pay for that help.

We have to help RAA to cover these costs.

This administration is not fulfilling promises made to this council last year to support the AMLAMP services.

I'll give you a little bit of a background.

On April the 7th, 2025, during the council budget work session, RCAO, Sabrina Joy Hogg, verbally confirmed to us that the city was working on locating funds that would help RAA.

On April the 28th, 2025, during the budget work session, Sabrina or CAO Sabrina told council that AMLAMPS funding had been taken care of in the budget.

We had questions, we had answers.

In response that the city would work with RAA by getting the vehicles by getting the AMLAMPS for the RAA.

During the May 20th, 2025 meeting of RAA boards, um, Sabrina, RCAO confirmed RAA would be receiving the AMLAMPS.

On August 18, 2025, Chip Decker and RAA Treasurer Kurt Roberts met with the new CAO Odie Donald and brought the budget promises up to him after Sabrina's departure from our city.

The full amount of funds to supporting RAA has not been given to them.

Not giving the funds puts RAA at risk of losing the vehicle for the next two to three years because of the manufacturer's schedule.

And I have all the documentation, all the documentations that I've worked on since yesterday.

I have a video, I have everything that backs up to what I said that I was not lying, and I was telling the truth.

And I want to thank the president of council for setting up the meeting last Tuesday with some members, and now I have the proof that I have the documentation that I was telling the truth.

Also, um I want to give a 1.5% cola to our retirees.

Our retirees are not just in the eighth district, they're all over the city.

And they have not had a cost a cola since Governor Wilder was our mayor, and that was in 2016.

And this just breaks my heart when I hear them calling me telling me that they don't have money for this and that to pay not even for their medication, because we all know that things have gone up through the years.

And for them to give their life to this city over 25 years, maybe 30 years, and then we kick them to the curb and basically tell them that they don't matter anymore.

They do matter.

And I'm asking, I'm begging my colleagues to please help me this year to give them a colour.

Um, also there was um some money that we were all given, all council members, and I know that I had given a million dollars for a bonus.

I'd like to take that money that was given that was going to be given to the retirees as a bonus and give it to Chip Decker, the Richmond AntLamps Authority, and find the money, the 1.5 to give our retirees the money instead of giving them a bonus.

Also, I want to thank my colleague, Miss Gibson, for explaining exactly the Richmond Virtual Academy.

I too, when I got all those calls, it broke my heart when they were telling me about how much that had good they are, the teachers and the students and their um, you know, the percentage of them graduating.

And I just think it's a shame that the school superintendent will use this right here to pull on our heart strings because he knows how this council, we have a heart and soul for the for our children, for our students, and for our seniors, and for the citizens of Richmond.

And I pray that my colleagues will fund this because it is a shame that, like I said, that he used this for them to say that he was not going to fund that.

I would like to say um that colleagues so far.

What I've heard, there's a lot of good things that we're asking for, but we also know that the budget is very strict this year, very tight.

Um so we're gonna have to definitely make a lot of adjustments.

And I just hope that the three amendments that I have that they can be fulfilled this year.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Trammell.

Councilwoman Alba Backer.

Thank you.

Apologize for um my tardiness.

Uh maybe one year we will fund full-time council members' uh salary so that we do not have to bounce back and forth.

Um as everyone knows, uh I I put in a text amendment um to strike the severance language.

I don't think that we need to go over that anymore.

Um I also put in uh an amendment to go ahead and give the 3.25 across the board.

I know that um seems a little uh counterintuitive to my position last year.

Um but uh basically I think that pitting bargaining units against non-bargaining um employees is is not the right way to go about this.

If we were doing it in a more thoughtful way that was uh truly equity-based and maybe based on salary, that would be something different.

But I don't think it's good for um for how much progress we've had with the labor movement in the city to um to go about it this way.

So if that's the case, then let's just do it across the board like we did last year.

Um, and then my two CIP amendments.

Um, one is they're both around the Westover Hills and Forest Hill Corridor, which if anybody has driven around there or walked there in the last six months, you know it is bustling, and um that is a good thing, but it our infrastructure has not caught up with it.

So um I have put in an amendment to do a traffic study and to evaluate the whole design of the road from Forest Hill Avenue, Jank Road to Forest Hill Avenue and 47th or Prince George.

Um so for those who enjoy uh the fourth district, that would be the elementary school to basically Little Nickel.

Um again, there have been 40 apartments put online on Forest Hill Avenue.

Uh, there are three new, no, four new restaurants.

Uh there's about to be another 40 apartments and another three uh restaurants and uh two other retail businesses on West Over Hills Boulevard.

People are crossing Forest Hill midpoint and playing Frogger, and we're talking about older people, um, people with strollers and kids.

It is just and and it doesn't matter, people are still driving 40 miles an hour, even though it's 25 mile or zone.

So um that I don't I want to be proactive about this, and I do not want to wait for tragedy to strike for us to do something about that.

Uh and then along with that goes um a half million dollars for uh reconfiguring the drop off lane for Westover Hills elementary school, due to the construction on Jank Road, um, which is out of the schools um hands, and uh the city having Westover Park.

Um we need to one figure out where people are going to park in order to enjoy what will be a new amenity over there.

Um again, there's just not parking anymore because every piece of parking is getting um developed into apartments or restaurants.

Um and the school needs additional drop-off lanes for families that is not on Jank Road.

Um so uh my colleague uh school board member Hedgepath has put in an amendment on his side, and the school board has signed off on it for the funding of that um that drop-off lane, which could then also be used for parking for the park after the school is closed.

So it honestly is a great way of collaborating with the schools and thinking proactively about the needs of both the community and the schools for the future, and and we can combine efforts and make sure that we're not duplicating um duplicating work.

So those are those are my four.

Thank you, Councilwoman Over Barker, Councilwoman Jones.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

I have two amendments.

Uh the first is uh repeat of last year, it is for a splash pad, um, either well, probably at Brock Sports Complex.

Um, and as I've been listening to the many presentations just around um sustainability and all the things that we um feel that we're trying to do to make our city more uh green, more um efficient and effective and you know, climate resilient.

I think that um in a neighborhood like the South Side over Brock, where um we don't have pools because we only have two over Southside, and we don't have one in that area when we're thinking about young people being outside in 90 degree weather, this is a good way to one, also educate them and help them understand about water conservation because splash pads don't take as much water as a pool, so it's a great way to really um help them and then you know it also um if we're talking about again wanting to be a little bit more green, I think that that is a good way because we're using less water.

So that is my um first amendment, and I hope that my colleagues look around and see that again, we don't have anything pertaining to that in the district, which is why it's been an ask every year because it's something that the residents have asked me to ask for.

Um, and then the second amendment is a $300,000 ask for programming at the South Side Community Center.

And I want to just share a little bit um with my colleagues because as we've again heard all of these presentations, I've yet to hear one that is highlighted and centered around young people outside of schools.

And so I always want to make sure that when we are positioning our city to make sure that it's working for everybody, we also need to be positioned in it to make sure that it's working for our future young people who will be the people, you know, leaving this city.

Um, and Southside, um, amongst many of the beautiful centers, TB Smith, Lux, all of them, Southside is the biggest.

It is serving the most people.

We are seeing people from the first, from the fourth, from the fifth, from the eighth.

And again, that's to say it is in close proximity compared to the schools.

And so that's why a lot of the young people are coming to that.

And we've been hearing this uh major national nationwide theory of team takeovers.

Well, and I'm looking at directory because he can say we've been having teen takeovers at South Side since it's opened.

But you want to know why you don't hear about it?

Because the staff there is amazing.

And the staff knows how to rally those young people back when is 500 of them versus we need to call the police, and that has happened too.

But part of that is because they are bored, they are bored.

There is nothing for them to do.

So I'm proposing that we truly make South Side a hub for innovation, for technology, for arts, for music, and we can use it as a collective space for the entire city.

It does not have to be this is a ninth district thing.

Parks and Red Catch transportation.

We can bring young people from the fifth, we can bring young people from the eighth, we can bring young people from the third.

And we should be looking at and have a plan of action about what are we going to do over spring break.

Over spring break, there were probably 500 kids at Southside.

And we had a plan, but we didn't have a plan.

And so I would love for us to really collectively, if we are going to really talk about all the needs, and there are a lot, and I support a lot of my colleagues' amendments that are definitely plan to support.

But until we make our young people the priority of this city, and we have to show it, and not just all of these budget amendments and the things that we're asking for.

It has to be an actionable thing because part of this is yes, we're spending money in schools, we're sending money to schools, but there are a lot of young people that don't stay after school.

That after school is the community center for them.

And we don't have the resources.

It was a great moment in time.

But there was no plan of action afterwards.

And when I say that, I don't mean in a in a way that is discounting what was done.

But there was no future forward plan of how we are going to utilize these as it relates to technology, arts, innovation, and what our young people are experiencing coming to these spaces and looking for something creative, a creative outlet in something for them to do.

So I think that as we um look at what we want to invest in, again, this is not a give to a specific district.

This is a, and I've said this, right?

And I also I want to leave the leave with this caveat.

As the chair of land use, understanding that we relegate young people to schools.

But before they get to school, before they get to an after school program, before they get to any place in this city, they are Richmond City residents first.

And so we are not going to, as a city, the same amount of pressure that we are putting on city administration to fix our roads, to fix our housing, to fix our bike lanes, all of the things that we are prioritizing, prioritize our young people in that same manner.

And so that is my request, and I'm hoping that my colleagues will support me and get behind me.

And if we don't, that's fine.

I'm coming back again because I'm not gonna let it go because I'm looking for a plan, and I mean I'm looking for a plan.

So I'm cool, and I'm I just want it to be publicly stated that we have a problem.

And the problem is is that we do not know how to respond to our young people.

They are bored and they are asking us to help.

And we have an opportunity to do that.

So I'm hoping that that is something that we will all take into account.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Jones.

Um thank you for that lead-off for me with the next item that I'll be bringing forward.

It is critical that we have quality, accessible after school activities for our youth.

Failure to do that will result in their participation in activities, but they will not be the ones that we want for them that allows them to get on a path to uh self-sufficiency, self-sustainability ultimately.

And so for me, one of the ways to do that, and I have uh included an amendment for transportation and security for RPS after school programs for all of our medical schools.

Actually, I want to make sure we have quality program before, during, and after.

And then I'd like to engage their weekends as well, but we're not up to that section, but certainly um after-school programming and the uh funding that was provided in the past was provided uh, or I should say the in-kind service that equals roughly about 700,000 was provided by Richmond Public Schools to provide uh transportation and security uh for our students.

This is um an effort that has been successful to date.

It has been one that we have worked with uh next step.

They're uh approximately 150 entities that are working together to provide uh quality uh after school programming.

And so I would ask that we uh look at that and that we uh that we are clear that we must provide, we must provide quality programming for our young people.

And Ms.

Jones, I'd like STEM and steam uh as opportunities, so get the arts in there as well as you know, options for our young people because they'll they're interested in different things.

I want them to have exposure to all of those.

And so a barrier often has been transportation.

And so I want to make sure that that's no longer the case.

And so that's $700,000 request for that essential.

It's not uh just a perfunctory or that essential service for our young people.

Again, looking to ensure we have quality before classes begin during and after.

Next item, and I'll get in sequence, but Ms.

Jones had led off so well with our youth is to do with customer server, customer service representative for the assessor's office.

Um years back during COVID epidemic, the customer service position was removed from the assessor's office, and that position is absolutely needed to assist the public, especially now that City Hall is open and we want to be uh more accessible uh to the citizens throughout our city.

The opportunity here is that we have a vacancy in the council chief of staff office that will allow us to restore that position.

So we're not looking at uh requesting additional funding uh from the administration.

The next item has to do with the East End uh and we had built into the budget, and this is back in 24, 538,287 for East End Teen Center.

Uh, subsequent to that time, we have had just the greatest opportunity to have a state of the art facility, um, Lux Field, and we also have the Teen Center, Boys and Girls Center.

So that has significantly addressed our need in terms of teen centers.

We also have the Power Tan Community Center and the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Center.

What we are uh lacking in as our city is is additional um opportunity to have child care centers that are accessible, that are affordable, that are quality, and we have an opportunity, I think, to look at a couple of options or maybe more, but some opportunity to look at helping to construct new, but also looking at expanding existing so that we can begin to ensure for me.

I'm looking for universal early child care, child, but that is affordable, and you know, as I do, that it's the affordability is a challenge, and making sure that we do have affordable quality accessible uh child care uh centers that uh while located in the East End still would allow for accessibility by other through others throughout the community.

So that is those funds that would just allow us to repurpose those funds given that we now have that state of the art teen center.

Moving on, um you have heard these two.

I uh certainly join uh councilwoman Trammell.

Our retirees have not had a Cola in quite some time, and uh would am recommending that we provide a 1.5% cola and that we look at RRS as the source for those fundings, uh funding for that, uh at least initially.

And then the last item uh for me, and again, Miss Trammell uh, and I joined her, is ensuring that our ambulance authority has the resourcing, and we've uh put in 800,000 here that would allow for the leasing of um five vehicles next year, payment of leasing of seven this year, and city purchase of two so that they can get to the full complement.

This is a necessity.

This is not a nicety.

We want to make sure that our citizens have the resources available to them when you call on that line, that there's someone that we have the um the vehicles, the staffing, the resourcing to make sure that they are served and that we certainly reduce any possible loss of life because we don't have that resource.

With that, those are my um I think I covered them all.

Might want to add a few more, but not in this moment.

So members at this time, I want to say thank you to everyone for sharing your amendments.

For members who would like to co-patron with other members on their amendments, please get that uh information to RJ by tomorrow at five, which items you'd like to co-patron on.

And with that, um, the schedule you want, yes.

Just to provide some um info as we close out today.

So um thank you all for participating in this today on Wednesday, is when you all will begin having um discussions and deliberations on beginning the stages of finding consensus on these amendments.

I'll be down there at the podium to help guide you through those conversations, and at that time, city administration will have the ability to walk up as well and provide contacts or um helpful information.

And uh yes, if you have any questions, we now and Wednesday, feel free.

I'm um available to you all at all times.

Thank you.

Uh RJ also sent out our schedule for meetings, and so the next will be the work session on this week, the 15th at one.

And did every everyone is in receipt of the schedule?

Main note on your calendars.

Okay.

So with that, um, I want to say thank you for your due diligence and your commitment in terms of identifying uh amendments that will address uh many of the concerns and challenges that uh you see and have seen uh in our city and in within our districts.

And with that, I want to say this work session.

Thank you again.

This work session now stands adjourned.