Hello everyone, thank you so much for being present for the May Government Operations Stand Committee.

Madam Clerk, can you please read the announcements?

Upon 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 north or south stairwells outside the rear doors of the chamber.

Do not use elevators or escalators.

After exiting the building, security would direct everyone down 9th Street to the fenced area located between Clay and Lee Streets.

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

Public speaker guidelines.

Individuals wishing to speak during public hearings in the public comment period are generally allowed three minutes to speak.

Persons appearing before the committee are not allowed to campaign for public office, promote private business ventures, use language of a personal nature which insults or demeans any person, including comments directed at public officials or staff members that are not related to their official duties or address the question staff members directly.

All questions are to be directed to the committee chair.

Failure to adhere to the guidelines may result in speakers forfeiting any remaining time and further disciplinary action as necessary, which could include barn from attendance at future meetings of the committee for a period of six months.

Madam Chair, this concludes the announcements.

And all members are in attendance today with the exception of Ms.

Abbacher, and you do have a quorum.

Thank you so much.

If we could move on to public comment, please.

Public comment is now open.

Is there anyone present who wishes to address this committee regarding items not on today's agenda?

Madam Chair, seeing none and no one signed up to speak virtually before the 10 a.m.

deadline.

The public comment period is now closed and back to the committee.

Wonderful.

Looks like we have some minutes to approve.

The minutes to be approved are for October 22nd, 2025, held at 1 p.m., November 12th, 2025, held at 2 p.m.

and February 25th, 2026, held at 1 p.m.

for the governmental operations standing committee meeting.

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

Those minutes have been approved.

Thank you.

Okay, wonderful.

I believe we have a presentation by our director of sustainability.

Ms.

Thomas, thank you so much for being here or your representative.

Hello, good afternoon.

I'll be providing the report today.

My name is Tara Warden.

I'm the sustainability manager in the Office of Sustainability.

We have two topics to cover in this.

One is more so related to the disposable plastic bag tax and the third quarter revenue findings.

And RBA Green 2050, a quick update on where we are on the implementation of that.

So for the plastic bag tax.

Tried to answer all the questions that were provided to staff through this, and I'll note what we couldn't find in our in our reconnaissance.

The five cent tax went live in January this year.

It applies to grocery stores, convenience stores, and pharmacies.

The bag tax is split, four cents goes to the city, one cent is provided to the retailer.

It's remitted on a monthly basis to the Virginia Department of Taxation.

That tax is sent back to the city basically on like an eight-week delay.

So the findings that we have are a little bit, they lag quite a bit.

From October to December, our staff were out in the community visiting businesses and conducting pop-ups at community events.

We gave array around 5,000 bags to date, or we have given away that many bags to date.

We have distributed bags to all of the community centers.

So if you are, if you have a constituent that is inquiring on where to receive a free reusable bag.

They can pick one up at any of the open community centers.

The media campaign that we conducted to advertise that this was coming out, included a number of ad buys through BizSense, paid social advis on Facebook, Instagram next door, a paid podcast that was geofenced, and then we had some media interviews with VPM, Urban One, NCBS 6 Virginia this morning.

We also conducted our own marketing campaigns on our Instagrams, RVA Green2050.

Our staff creative staff developed a ghillie suit made out of 500 plastic bags that we use to do some guerrilla style marketing of the of the bag tax coming online.

We had fun with it.

From the revenues that we've received so far, you can see that January was a very low number.

We were anticipating around $30,000 on average.

185 is much lower than that.

But we did see it pick up in February and in March to date, we've received just over 75,000.

I'll say there was a mistake in the in the original presentation that was uploaded to the agenda.

I miscalculated it said originally 189,000 bags had been taxed.

I didn't move the zero, so it's 1.9 million bags have been taxed at this point.

The retailers have collected just over or around 19,000 during that Q3 reporting period.

We don't know exactly how many retailers are contributing to that tax.

We just get a lump sum back from the state.

We have inquired on trying to get some more specifics, but have not heard back so far.

And we should have the totals from April relatively soon.

I checked today.

They're not in yet.

For funding priorities, like I said, they're they're sort of bucketed into these four restricted fund areas.

We intend to sort of bolster some of the existing programs that the city already has in collaboration with Clean City Commission and are working closely with DPW on that.

We do intend to increase our curriculum for recycling education to be used, you know, across the city through something we're calling the waste kit.

We met with Clean City Commission and identified a number of priorities that they had reported on.

One of those things is the legal tire dumping, and there's some additional business outreach and engagement that we'd like to program out related to that.

We have been working in conversation with DPW on how to better support special events and eco waste station pilot program that we mentioned last year this time.

Now with this additional revenue, we do anticipate having some more support and resources to better staff that work.

We are going to continue to work and bolster the composting drop-off program that is contracted through CVWMA, Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, and work with our friends in procurement to revisit the sustainability policy that the city has had on the books for quite some time that is probably worth looking into.

Okay, so transitioning to some updates related to RVA Green 2050.

We have this real-time tracking tool that is hosted on our website, RVAGreen2050.com.

We currently are have underway 83% of the strategies and actions included in the plan.

We have not started 17%.

And I know there wasn't a request to say like how does that track with GHG emissions.

The next GHG emissions inventory will commence next year.

We've just published the data from 2022 in 2024.

So there's a there's a lag in the reporting data, but we we can't necessarily tie the implementation update to a reduction in GHG emissions citywide at this point, but we'll provide that information as it becomes available in the upcoming years.

I will just note that this Tracy is what we call it, tracking real-time action for climate climate equity.

We received the Old Dominion Innovation Award for from the American Planning Association for Virginia just recently.

We'll receive that this summer at their conference.

Updates on ongoing and new initiatives.

You are likely familiar with some of these that are listed here.

The East End Solar Meadow is a really exciting project.

It's going through processes for uh permits right now.

Uh, the energy efficiency program that was recently approved at council.

We will be back to council for some updates in the near term.

And our work related to our energy efficiency and conservation block grant is going to be wrapping up at the end of July.

They've currently audited over 100 homes through partnership with the Healthy Homes Initiative with HCD.

And the energy study at Wickham Court is uh continuing into the summer to make recommendations on how to improve efficiencies for residents at Wickham Court.

We hosted in March a ULI Net Zero Imperative Technical Assistance Panel, a TAP, where we did uh interviews across city departments to better determine how the sustainable design standards can be improved and better implemented across city projects.

That technical report is meant to be due out in the upcoming months.

So we will be having some updates related to that coming down the pike.

And then Cool This City is our very fun program that is supported through a USDA funded uh grant, six million dollars.

To date, we've planted over 1300 trees.

We've engaged nearly 900 residents, and 46 agroforestry certificates have been earned.

That work has been notably in the media recently.

So we have some billboards up in the census tracks where the work is largely happening.

There's some bus wraps and bus stop advertisements as well as well as some social media components that are floating around the internet.

Pretty cool stuff.

And then there was a request to update around grants 2026 and beyond.

Um there are some their funding, some funding still exists at the federal level.

Um we did receive notification in December that we were not selected for two million dollar grant application through the EPA's Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling uh program, it's the EPA Swiffer grant.

That that funding had been reduced significantly.

We did receive notes back from that grant reviewer, the grant review team that it was a very good application though, that they just had restricting they had limited funding available.

Um, and then the building resilient infrastructure and community grant, that brick funding was recently uh reannounced and made available to localities at a reduced rate, but still is available.

Um, and then to note we recently received notification from the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund that we received a very small $50,000 for microgrants to youth uh in service to greening projects.

So we'll be developing that program and rolling those dollars out within we required to roll them out within six months.

So that is the goal.

And then just to note the municipal investment fund was part of a program sponsored by the EPA for the National Clean Investment Fund, where they awarded local localities in partnership with nonprofits who are doing deep research on how to produce clean energy for cities.

To note that report has recently been released, and we are pursuing some of the actions and strategies that are related to increasing increasing clean energy in the city.

That is it for the presentation, and I welcome any questions now.

I'm just referring to you for that.

Okay.

Thank you so much for this uh presentation.

Two things I think are you know especially topical right now are energy efficiency when it comes to folks' affordability to stay both comfortable and safe.

Um I think particularly our vulnerable population or elderly or folks with disabilities.

Um the hotter gets outside if they're not able to cool off somewhere inside.

It's really dangerous.

So just wondering if you could speak to any of the outreach your office might be participating in to help people create more energy efficient homes so they can afford those bills to stay cool, and then also the work done at our resiliency hubs to have those as you know a site in a moment of you know extreme heat or or um other conditions.

Thanks.

Yes, both great inquiries related to the energy efficiency programs.

I am that is sort of outside my purview.

So I will ask our director, Laura Thomas to come and comment on that.

Related to resilience hubs, that work is ongoing internal with internal departments, parks and rec is involved, emergency management, and our friends' uh neighborhood and community services.

So we're aligning a strategy right now to better figure out how to pivot our community centers to a resilience hub format.

So some of that is required infrastructure upgrades, solar battery backup, and then that programming related to supporting residents that may need to have services through uh community centers like that.

Um related to other cooling strategies, though, that we are working on.

Last year we published the cool kit, which was really an internal and external like memo on how to cool down, keep your properties cool and cool projects through through different tactics.

We're expanding on that right now, and we'll be producing what's called a shade kit, which is comes from an RBA Green 2050 strategy that recommended staff to pursue a rubber stamped shade program for businesses to easily go through the permit process to uh put shade on the public right of way.

So we are working through some of those the maze of that right now, and we'll have a published document likely at the end of this fiscal year.

Hello, good afternoon.

Laura Thomas, director of the Office of Sustainability.

I have to share more about the energy efficiency question.

It is a really important topic.

Uh, as you may know, City of Richmond residents have a much higher uh what's considered energy burden than many, so the percentage of their income that is being spent uh on utilities in an average burden is six percent.

We can sometimes see up to 13% here in the city of Richmond.

So, again, just a very important topic, especially as we continue to see heat waves and things impact our community.

So, we are currently working on several elements.

Uh what was mentioned was the study in Whitcomb Court.

That's an example of the kind of work that we hope to continue, along with that program partnership with HCD and the healthy homes going in and doing energy efficiency audits, figuring out what energy efficiency and weatherization things can be done in households to provide immediate thermal comfort and reduce utility costs.

Moving forward, one of the big items that we're looking at is in response to a recent resolution passed by city council to establish an energy efficiency program for the community.

So, my office in partnership and strong partnership with DPU as well as others, such as HCD and OCWB, we will be working to respond to that resolution, which has directed us to provide you with a framework for a residential energy efficiency program, and that is due back to you all within 180 days of that passing.

So that will likely be towards like the middle of October that we come back with that framework for your review and input on how that starts to roll out.

We're also looking forward to hiring an energy efficiency coordinator in our office.

So we're in development of that job description currently that is funded for FY27.

So we'll be hiring that person to run that program, and then during FY27, we'll be developing out the rest of the programmatic details, and then an FY28, a funding request to do the actual implementation again in partnership with DPU and all these other programs and offices to make sure that it's interdepartmental and it really gets at this whole of government approach to how we're addressing this topic because it's not just a utility um issue or concern, it is a housing concern.

It is related to a lot of workforce development.

So we're really trying to create an integrated all of government approach to how we're addressing those needs.

Could you speak more about that?

I mean, I see that we've collected so far 75,000 thereabouts, which I think is below target.

But I if I heard under if I heard correctly, the eight, I'm wondering if that's because of the eight-week delay that you mentioned in terms of the reporting.

So if you could just talk a little bit more about the revenue, whether we're on track, and then also the the plans in terms of using that revenue and and that overall timeline.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Initially, we had anticipated for this fiscal year, so just January through July or June, 200 million.

No, 200,000 in revenue.

That roughly is around like $33,000 a month.

I think because we saw such a slow adoption in January that those I'm hesitant to make grand statements about where the dollars are directed because we just don't have enough data points to make those assumptions.

This is what we have right now.

If it keeps the trend line going, then we'll land somewhere around that 200,000 mark come the end of June.

With that money just from this fiscal year, we have committed $68,000 to support the curb or the composting program, drop off program that is currently supported through GPW.

Um the remaining revenue will let compound to support programs coming down the pipe.

We'd like to hire somebody within the next four months, three, four months to kick off a lot of this internal work related to expanding recycling in city buildings.

Um education and curriculum development for our residents, and many other things.

Let me turn to those slides.

There we go.

Um the illegal tire dumping is something that I think there's some support and need for, particularly on the south side.

With that in mind, though, we do not have a ton of revenue to work with.

So we're going to be working mainly on program development within the first year and program support for programs that already exist within the city.

And just a quick note everything uh Ms.

Warden said is correct.

And in addition, her team is working on the development of a live tracker because we want to establish a lot of transparency around how much we're getting in and how much is going out.

So similar to the Tracy tool, how you see a live tracker, though, there will be one specifically for this.

So you will be able to see how every penny uh is coming in and is going out.

Um we're really dedicated to that, and this is all still in development.

So we're wanting to make sure that we have thoughtful conversations with partners such as CDWMA, DPW, and others internally, the Clean City Commission, and others.

So all of that will be live and documented in a transparent manner.

Um thank you so much.

This was a wonderful presentation.

Um, just two topics I would love to cover at some other point, or maybe you know, in a follow-up conversation.

Um, I think our individuals connection to the growth and data center and if there's any sort of future-looking um work product, OOS is considering to help educate around that.

I think we hear locally a lot of pushback about the increase in the number of data centers, but do people understand what their own actions are doing to contribute to the need for or the growing market for NASA centers?

And then two, obviously, with the spike in gas prices, uh it's a real opportunity for folks to consider alternative transportation modes that maybe they hadn't in the past, but would be more greatly incentivized to now.

So just would be excited to hear some other time how you're collaborating with DOT or others locally to try and encourage people to make that more cost effective and greenhouse gas friendly choice of riding the bus, biking or walking or carpooling.

Thank you.

Great thank you.

Madam Clerk I believe we have some papers for consideration.

Yes madam chair the first item is item one ordinance 2026 076 to a main city code concerning the city's erosion and storm water management program the city's pretreatment program and for illicit discharge and connection violations this paper is before the committee.

Thank you is there anyone from administration here to summarize the paper.

Good afternoon I'm Lee Crowell with uh Department of Public Utilities.

Paper before you is to amend three sections City Code 1435 28780 and 2896 for the purpose of supplementing current civil and criminal prosecution within city code to add administrative civil penalties this request is being made to more properly align our enforcement and compliance tools with the state so that we actually have tools before us that allow a more equitable response to the types of violations that we see on a regular basis.

Right now the Department of Public Utilities is not utilizing the civil and criminal procedures available to it because those require a lot of resources from the city attorney's office and there are highly really those resources on the judicial enforcement side are highly disproportionate really to the violations that we see what we're asking is to amend the city code to allow us to do that so that meets the requirements for the state law and take some of the burden off of the city attorney's office.

Thank you I think we'll proceed with the public hearing and then bring it back to committee for questions and discussion.

Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak in opposition to this paper?

Is there anyone who wishes to speak in support of this paper.

Madam Chair seeing none the public comment period is closed and back to the committee.

Thank you committee are there any questions?

Thank you.

Can you talk a little bit about um just to illustrate a bit the types of uh violations that this would include and um and if you could share uh the you know rough amount of violations that the city sent um you know in the past couple of years just to have an idea of the the size of the the problem so the types of violations that we're talking about are across three different programs so we're first talking about construction sites erosion sediment control so you're talking about failure to stabilize construction sites so and not having silt fence in place is a pretty good example.

That's a common thing that we observe.

Sorry to say that once again.

What in place?

Silt fence.

Silk fence.

Keeps uh sediment from leaving the construction site, going into the storm system, going into the James River.

Okay.

You also have pre-treatment requirements.

So there are a number of industrial facilities that have their own pre-treatment standards before they send waste into our system.

So they have certain standards they have to meet.

So they have sort of basically they have to send us a certain slug of waste material that isn't too dirty.

And they don't meet those standards, those are violations.

And the last category of violations that you're gonna see are the illicit discharges.

Those you have where people are discharging waste directly into the James River.

Thank you.

So your other question was how many and the violations have been sent in the last couple of years through the city's attorney's office?

Zero.

I have no record of DPU ever sending any of these violations through the city attorney's office because of the just because how overly burdensome it is to go through the city attorney's office, the time required for these violations and having to get onto the judicial docket in order to do so.

So from the administrative burden side of going through that process, it's also highly disproportionate use of resources when we're talking about a few hundred dollars to maybe a couple thousand dollars in penalties.

So the staff time and city attorney's time would highly outweigh any sort of deterrence effect.

So how would the city determine how how are the how are these violations identified?

Through our regular inspection program.

So is there a sense then looking at the inspections done over the past couple of years, how many violations there could have been?

Um I'd only be speculating that this point I do, but it would it wouldn't be in the hundreds of cases, no.

Thank you.

Um so the line item that this revenue would be captured in, um, can you clarify which type of is it a line item for what is the specific line item that this would be this revenue potentially would be identified?

I must I assume it goes back into the general fund, but Dr.

Morris can speak more specifically to that on the line item specifically.

I don't know.

Director Morris from DPU, um, that would be under miscellaneous revenue and it would go under the stormwater fund.

Thank you.

Um, one of the changes that they um the ordinance has is just in the in the delivery um from the uh it's currently the current language notes that it would be sent as registered or certified mail, correct?

Um and so the new language would allow the city to um to send in you know via regular mail.

Um could you talk a bit about about that shift?

Yeah, so that shift aligns with what Virginia DEQ uses to send out its uh warning letters and notices of violations as well as its settlement agreements through regular mail.

So the the analysis there and to be consistent with state law, that's why we're asking for that request.

That's how we communicate with the regulated community now when we send them their permits and when they do we do regular business, and so it aligns with what the state is doing.

My my final question is um, you know, look thinking about the the uh the inspections that have happened in the past and um and the types of violations that have been protect that could have been cited had the process been less arduous.

Um does the city's website, or does the city have, you know, would you say clear uh clear documentation on um on how these individuals can properly dispose of these materials?

Uh on our current DPU webpage, we have a list of all of our current proposed um current active regulations and guidance materials, and so all those materials on how to comply with uh city ordinances and state law are available to them.

They also we go through regular um educational campaigns and pre-application meeting discussions with the applicants so that they're aware of how to do all that.

So the program in itself is highly permanent program for immersion assembly control.

So those individuals that are doing construction that gotta go through the permitting process, it outlines those requirements those standards are on our web page.

The same thing for our industrial pretreatment program.

In order to have an industrial pretreatment uh permit, you have to go through the permitting process.

It outlines all the requirements, so it's clear indication of what the requirements are for the program.

Wonderful, thank you.

Um thank you.

I appreciate you bringing this to our committee and answering the questions.

Um I would move that we recommend approval and for this to council for uh consideration.

Second, the committee is voting on the motion to forward ordinance 2026-076 to council with a recommendation to approve Ms.

Gibson.

Yes, Chair Jordan.

Aye.

That motion has been approved.

Thank you.

Let's proceed to the next paper.

Item two, ordinance 2026-089.

So a main city code concerning duty to remove snow from paved satwalks to modify responsibilities, penalties, and definitions.

This paper is before the committee.

Um thank you.

I will give the introduction to this.

Uh during our last ice storm, which seems like a long time ago, we had a number of individuals and constituents across the city, um, you know, faced with difficulty situations where they were not able to leave their home, frankly, or safely go down the sidewalk or get out and about.

And there's a lot of confusion about who is in charge of clearing the sidewalk.

Did they have to clear the sidewalk because it was ice, it was not snow?

Um this paper seeks to clarify that confusion and provide a more straightforward way for the city to interact with those who are not complying.

Would be a civil penalty civil penalty.

Another key change would be for multifamily homes where it is um three units or larger, the responsibility would shift from the occupant to the owner.

I think that is absolutely appropriate where we have, you know, property managers, et cetera, that uh, you know, should be stewards of those renting in the property and not those within who may not have the capacity to have you know shovels, etc.

stored on site.

Um, certainly heard from a lot of folks in that position.

So appreciate the opportunity to bring this paper forward on behalf of Richmonders who've reached out for this and would like to open up to public comment at this point, and then we'll entertain questions and discussions.

Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak in opposition to this paper?

Is there anyone who wishes to speak in support of this paper?

Madam Chair, seeing none, public hearing is now closed and back to the committee.

Um, thank you.

Are there any questions?

Um, thank you for the bringing the paper.

I um I appreciate the clarification that the paper offers in terms of um how we respond in these inclement weather um times.

Um I think that I am especially thankful to see that we're no longer uh uh providing residents with the possibility of a misdemeanor charge for for this type of offense.

Um I uh would also want to understand uh or curious about the civil penalty and any and also where that is applied in the budget so we can see the impact of of these types of fines.

Um the the only other thought that I have, and I'm not sure that this is something that would be specified in the policy, but um, you know, in this last storm specifically, the ice was just I mean, it's really it was really hard.

Uh it was difficult.

The city was not able to effectively uh remove the ice without the help of the sun.

And I think that many residents would would be faced with that.

I mean, I remember looking out the window, and for the folks that were able to do it, I mean, you know, it it was intense.

So um, so I do uh I am curious if there if you considered any language that would um you know that if if the city wasn't able to to to shovel the streets, is it fair or how do we how do we approach that when um when there are times when it's just you know even the city with its equipment is not perhaps not able to to do that work.

I appreciate the question, and um I will give my response but also welcome anyone from DPW who would like to weigh in that as well.

I think you know most often what we see are um we are a struggling for words today.

Um a city where if folks see something, that's when it gets investigated, right?

We don't we aren't proactively out looking to cite people, so it's usually in complaint driven.

We are complaint driven most often, and there is flexibility in here.

The chief administrative officer may weigh penalties for violations occurring during declared state of emergency or local emergency as defined by code of Virginia.

Um, and and I do believe that um there's also flexibility.

Penalties provided by this section shall not apply to any person who is physically disabled or is 65 years or older.

Uh, I think we're all hoping not to see another ice storm.

Um, but I do think that we have seen that the city you know is responsive to extraordinary circumstances.

But if anyone from DPW would like to weigh in on that, I would welcome their approaching the podium.

And I see director Vincent doing so.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Bobby Benson, Director of Public Works.

Um good to see you all this afternoon.

Um we would like for our citizens to be mindful of is that it's much easier for them to take care of the public right-of-way adjacent to their property than it is for any municipality to take care of all of the public right-of-way.

Um, that's adjacent to everyone's property.

So we want our citizens to be aware to be as proactive as possible uh whenever we have snow or we have ice or freezing conditions, um, and they can do that simply by just putting down some sand and salt um prior to the event, uh, which is something that we try to do throughout our city streets, which makes it easier to be able to remove um the um ice and or the snow.

So we really want to be as proactive as possible.

And we do certainly support this as we feel that it is in fact a proactive um approach to code in order to get out make our citizens um more aware of what their area of responsibility is.

And Director Benson, can you remind us where fees that are paid end up within our budget as revenues?

Um I believe it goes back to the general fund, but I'll turn that over at another time.

But I believe it goes back to our general fund.

Thank you.

I want to say, like by most, largely when you go across the city, you see neighbors helping neighbors and going above and beyond.

Um, you know, this is really in my mind in response to some folks who just really refuse their obligation responsibility.

Yes, ma'am.

Um just following up in terms of the line item.

So understood that these go into the general fund, but the general fund does identify all of the revenue sources by line.

So we should be able to know which where which line item the revenue is identified in.

Councilmember uh Will Perkins' staff of the committee just wanted to clarify.

I think through prior research, we did confirm that there actually had not been any fines, at least in the most recent fiscal year.

So I'm happy to follow up with the administration to get a more specific accounting.

Um, but just to clarify there for this specific citation, there were no fines issued.

Thank you.

And I appreciate all the staff work that was done seeing best practices in other localities.

So yeah, thank you, Mr.

Perkins, and to your team and to administration for collaborating on this uh updated ordinance.

I move that the body recommend uh ordinance 2026 089 uh with a recommendation for approval.

Second, the committee is voting on the motion to forward ordinance 2026 08 and act to council with a recommendation to approve.

Ms.

Gibson, yes, Chair Jordan, that motion has been approved.

Thank you.

I believe we have one last ordinance to consider.

Item three ordinance 2026 dash 091 to amend city code concerning duties and reporting of the public utilities and services commission and concerning the conduct of affairs of the commission.

This paper is before the committee.

Thank you.

And uh this is another one that I participated on at request, or public utilities and services commission has had some issues with attendance and um achieving quorum.

So this just helps to satisfy their charge to be efficient and effective, and it removes requirements that the public utilities services commission maintain five standing subcommittees.

Those committees have been as follows water, stormwater, wastewater, solid waste, and natural gas.

It changes the definition of quorum for majority of voting members to majority of the members appointed, meaning vacancies would not count towards the required quorum member number.

And if the public utilities commission does very important work for us and is a large time commitment, as all our boards and commissions are.

So we want to make sure that when they do meet, they're able to conduct business.

Appreciate consideration of this and entertain a uh public hearing at this point.

Thank you.

Is there any anybody in the chamber who wishes to speak opposition to this paper?

Is there anyone who wishes to speak in support to this paper?

Madam Chair, seeing no one regarding this item.

The public hearing is now closed and back to the committee.

Any questions from committee?

Um, I'll entertain a motion to recommend approval and forward to full committee.

So moved.

Second.

The committee is voting on a motion to forward ornaments 2026-091 to council with the recommendation to approve.

Ms.

Gibson?

Yes.

Chair Jordan.

Aye.

That motion has been approved.

Thank you.

Our final paper is to amend city code when it and concerning 2-1202, 15-2-1202.18 for the purpose of establishing the sister cities commission and to repeal the resolution that had been adopted in 1991, and then amend the resolution as provided in the paper.

Is there anyone who wanted to speak to this from council or staff?

Thank you, Chair Turden Will Perkins on behalf of the lead patron for this, Councilmember Jones, who is also the council member appointed to the sister cities commission.

Um, sister cities commission has the purpose of helping to develop and foster affiliation and relationships with cities around the world.

Um the city maintains uh several sister city ties to cities uh across several different continents.

Um it is, however, currently established via resolution, which is rather um informal uh for a commission, and so this largely serves to codify them in city code.

The only significant change is that it does make it so that the mayor appoints two out of 13 members, whereas currently all 13 are appointees of the council, and to clarify also all current members will be able to roll forward.

There are several vacancies currently, which I think has been intentional to leave space for the potential adoption of this paper, but all current members will be rolled over to the new commission should you and your colleagues on the body choose to adopt this paper.

Thank you.

Thank you.

At this point, Madam Clerk, can you call the public hearing?

Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak in opposition to this paper?

Is there anyone who wishes to speak in support of this paper?

Madam Chair, seeing no one regarding this item, the public hearing is now closed and back to the committee.

Any questions or comments?

I have uh one thought.

Um, you know, I'm uh prepared to support the paper.

I do think that would be beneficial to uh to provide more public visibility to the learnings and the ideas that come out of the commission.

Um it would I think also be helpful for transparency to um to identify the cost of the program and uh and also perhaps to um codify, you know, there are a good number of folks leaders in the city that um travel on our way during that during that trip and um and ensuring the line of command or you know what what our processes are when um when folks are um you know a good number of folks are are not here.

Um, I'm not certain that that needs to happen in this paper, but um, but I do think that providing more visibility to um to uh you know the the learnings and the objectives and um and the overall cost that the public can can appreciate um how uh Richmond residents benefit from um uh programs like this.

Thank you.

Yes, I believe that in the past it had been a budget line item, and you know it's always interesting to see a comparison of all our boards and commissions and what the funding levels are.

So uh Mr.

Perkins, if you could take that back and provide some feedback.

Absolutely, thank you.

Okay, I move that we uh recommend ordinance number 2016 116 to the full body with approval.

Second, the committee is voting on the motion for ordinance 2026-116 to council with a recommendation to approve.

Ms.

Gibson?

Yes, Chair Jordan.

Aye.

That motion has been approved.

Thank you so much.

I believe we are now at the Boards of Vacancies program.

Good afternoon, Chair Jordan, Councillor Gibson, Kylie Kessiger, deputy city clerk.

The report before you this afternoon captures current and projected vacancies through August.

Uh starting with the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, two vacancies for an alternate member.

We have one application from first district resident Joy Shaw.

Moving on to the city personnel board, there are five vacancies for a city resident, and we have reappointment applications from Betty Burrell, 9th district resident, and Linda Jackson Shaw, third district resident, and initial applications from Glenda Cooper, third district resident, and Rosario Miller, 7th District resident, and appointed to the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority.

Ms.

Miller's recent appointment does not disqualify her from being considered for this appointment.

However, the committee could elect to recommend approval of the reappointments of Betty Burrell and Linda Jackson Shaw and the appointment of Glenda Cooper and to continue consideration of Rosario Miller's application to the new quarterly review cycle to allow time for us to verify her availability.

For the Clean City Commission, a vacancy for a ninth district resident, and with the support of counselor Jones, we have an application from Teresa Ash.

Moving on to the Public Utilities and Services Commission.

There are two vacancies for a resident of the city who's a commercial or residential public utilities customer or authorized representative of such commercial or residential public utilities customer.

We received 19 applications, and of those we receive written support on behalf of the commission for seventh district resident Ryan Ducket and third district resident Andrew Crakey.

The report also notes the reappointment of Trieste Lockwood by Mayor Oval on February 5th.

However, that appointment does not require approval by City Council.

Sister Cities Commission, it's my understanding that there's a request to continue consideration of these vacancies pending the adoption of ordinance 2026 116, which as we just heard revises the current composition of the commission.

These vacancies will be tentatively scheduled for review by this committee at its July 22nd meeting, and that concludes the report.

Thank you.

I greatly appreciate the way that you organized that and presented the feedback we've had to date.

Welcome to entertain questions, but I would move that we vote but one that we continue the sister cities so that the mayoral appointees can be included and voted on in one meeting, and then follow your recommendation to uh fill the first three appointees for city personnel board or Betty Burrell, Ms.

Jackson Shaw, and Ms.

Cooper for Ms.

Miller for confirmation about whether or not she's still available based on her recent reappointment to Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, Clean City Commission.

We have one applicant which is supported and support that, and then just to confirm the Public Utilities Service Commission.

Sorry, can you restate those recommendations?

Uh the recommendation on behalf of the commission was for Ryan Ducket and Andrew Crakey.

Okay, on the second page, Andrew Crakey.

Okay.

I'm sorry, sir.

So Ryan Duckett, 7th district, and then third district representative Andrew Crakey.

Yes, ma'am.

And those have been that's the input from the commission based on the technical expertise and representation gaps in representation they may already have on their commission.

Understood.

It's a motion I think.

So I move to follow your recommendations as I as just stated, is there a second?

Second.

The committee is voting on a motion for the board's appointments and reappointments recommendations to council for approval as stated and to continue continue consideration of applications for appointment to the sister cities commission.

Ms.

Gibson.

Yes.

Chair Jordan.

I that motion has been approved.

Thank you.

And thank you to everyone who put in an application.

If you did not make it in this round, please continue to participate.

I mean, you do not have to be a formal voted in member to have contribution to any of these boards of commissions, and the city greatly needs your participation.

Okay.

We had a discussion item of scheduling, but considering we only have two of our members here today, I would rather postpone that conversation just to share out what that conversation was going to be.

Reconsidering the actual time of the meeting to be more conducive to those who have a working schedule, and then trying to make sure that we were not scheduling meetings in conflict with known holidays.

So we wouldn't want to meet the day before Thanksgiving, day before Christmas, etc.

So we will have that discussion for the next meeting.

And at this point, I will ask if there's a final staff report before we adjourn.

Thank you, Chair Jordan.

I'll just mention that captured the action items, and we'll get a follow-up email out to y'all tomorrow.

We do want to look ahead to June for Wednesday, June 24th.

I have on our agenda from the Department of Public Utilities to speak to their new customer information system and billing, as well as an update from the Office of Elections.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments from board members?

No.

Okay, with that, this meeting is adjourned.