CITY OF RICHMOND

Michael Paul Williams: Richmond needs a strong City Council toocredit Moomaw -Times-Dispatch

The finger-pointing between Mayor Dwight C. Jones and one of his staunchest City Council allies says all you need to know about Richmond’s dysfunctional city government. In the aftermath of the mayor spending in plain sight on various capital projects, council members professed to be shocked — shocked! — that the city’s debt was near capacity. “I would say that there was no information given to us explaining that piece of it,” Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano, the council’s finance committee chair, said in an article in Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Richmond auditor’s job performance scrutinized in heated meeting

City Auditor Umesh Dalal’s job performance is facing scrutiny from the Richmond City Council, which has held four closed meetings about Dalal since April and is planning a fifth for Monday. It’s not clear what is prompting concerns and how widespread they are among the council members. At one point during the most recent meeting, held Tuesday, raised voices were audible in the council chambers from the adjacent room where the members were meeting.

RPS’ exceptional education director resigns, citing School Board interference

Richmond Public Schools’ director of exceptional education is resigning her position because of what she alleges is interference in her department’s work by three School Board members. Zenia Burnett, who detailed her grievances in a memo dated Monday, complained that the board members have been meddling in individual cases, recruiting parents to advocate at Special Education Advisory Committee meetings, and encouraging teachers to bypass school administrators. She said the board members also have attended Individualized Education Program meetings. “It has been disheartening for me to observe the politics that occurs at the detriment of children and their families,” Burnett wrote.

East End revitalization project receives $2.5M state grant

A major redevelopment project in Richmond’s East End will receive a $2.5 million grant from the state, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Wednesday. At an event on the lawn of the old Armstrong High School building, McAuliffe said the Richmond project will be one of the first beneficiaries of a new funding program to support affordable and mixed-income housing. “This is the first check we’re giving out,” McAuliffe said before presenting a group of city officials with an oversized check. “Well deserved. This is a community-based effort. State and local coming together to do what we need to do for our communities.”

Richmond mayor proposes moving $4.1 million from city savings to plug budget deficit

Members of Richmond City Council’s Finance Committee said Thursday they want a second opinion before dipping into the city’s emergency fund to help close a projected $5.8 million budget deficit. “It might be helpful to have some reassurance from our financial adviser,” said Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano, who chairs the committee. The deficit is the result of $3.8 million in overspending by city departments, primarily for police, fire and the jail, said budget director Jay Brown.

CHESTERFIELD

School Board hires firm to manage school construction

McDonough Bolyard Peck – or MBP – was hired for $2.3 million, with a price negotiated for additional services as needed at an hourly rate. The contract is intended to bring short-term resources to support the construction of Beulah, Enon, Matoaca and Midlothian elementary schools. At the School Board’s work session meeting, Chris Sorensen, the school system’s assistant superintendent for business and finance, touted the plan for its flexibility in staffing. “We simply didn’t have the manpower in the construction office to deliver four new schools in an aggressive timeframe, so that was the primary reason we went out in this project,” Sorensen said. “We don’t need four people the whole time. At the beginning we might need six [additional staff], at the end we might two, so this allows us to bring them off and on as needed, based on the construction schedule.” When asked by Matoaca District member Rob Thompson if the contract awardee was weighted heavily on getting the lowest price, Sorensen said that price was one of several criteria. Replacements for Beulah and Enon elementary schools are set to open in August 2018; a replacement for Matoaca Elementary and a new Midlothian-area elementary school are slated for August 2019.

HANOVER

Randolph-Macon president rejects high-speed rail plans
Tuesday’s Town Council meeting took a number of turns as Robert R. Lindgren, president of Randolph-Macon College, implored council members not to move forward with high-speed rail plans. Lindgren met with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) two weeks ago and said he found the plan that was presented to him to be “less than appealing.” According to Lindgren, the plan entails the construction of a commuter parking lot, a new train station and an 850-foot-long platform. “Picture a three story parking deck and a raised platform that’s three football fields long as close to our beautiful downtown as possible,” Lindgren said. “This is a plan that if it were to happen, will surely unalterably change the character of our historic downtown and physically divide our historic campus.”

Hanover leaders sign off on $34 million in bonds for retirement community, $10,000 for group to help motel residents

A $34 million bond application to finance expansions at a retirement community in Mechanicsville was granted by the Hanover County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday. The panel voted to authorize its Economic Development Authority to issue the bonds to Covenant Woods, a nonprofit located at 7090 Covenant Woods Drive that plans to break ground on 40 new units along with renovations to existing facilities on July 19. Revenue bonds were issued for the project. Covenant Woods’ director of marketing and development, Beth Richardson, previously said the bonds must be repaid in 40 years.

NATIONAL

U.S. homes sell at strongest pace since 2007
Americans snapped up houses in May almost as soon as properties were listed, fueling the strongest sales rate in nearly a decade. Sales of existing homes rose 1.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.53 million, the highest level since February 2007, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. People remain intent on buying homes, despite the low inventory of properties on the market that has caused prices to rise. The elevated demand likely stems from low mortgage rates and a relatively healthy jobs picture with unemployment at 4.7 percent, even with a recent slowdown in hiring.

Why affordable housing is hard to build
In just about every political constituency in the country, there are things you can’t say and expect to get elected. You can’t endorse gun control in Tennessee. You can’t make light of climate change in Seattle. In Arlington, Va., where I live, you have to watch what you say about affordable housing. To question the suburban county’s ambitious subsidized housing goals is to risk alienating what is perhaps the most vocal lobby in town. I know that the citizens of Arlington who advocate for expanded housing opportunity don’t think of themselves as power brokers. They don’t put big sums of money into campaigns. They’re almost always quiet and polite. But they are in possession of a sacred cow, and they know how to milk it. I don’t say this as a criticism, just an observation. There are worse things for a county to be obsessed with than providing decent shelter for working people who need it. But the uniformity of elite opinion sometimes precludes constructive debate on a subject for which the best policy choices are far from clear.

ELECTIONS

Dominion helps bankroll state Democrats, Republicans at national conventions

Energy giant Dominion continues to invest heavily in an alternate form of power in Virginia: political power. The corporation gave $100,000 to the Democratic Party of Virginia in a lump sum check dated June 14, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics. VPAP said it is the largest single donation since 1997 made by the corporation to a Virginia campaign committee or candidate. Previously the company had donated $50,000 each to the inaugural committees of Gov. Terry McAuliffe and former Govs. Bob McDonnell and Timothy M. Kaine, according to VPAP.

Five mayoral candidates fail to meet ballot requirements; Tichi Pinkney Eppes disqualified for School Board

Five candidates who filed to run for Richmond mayor have been disqualified from appearing on the ballot in November, bringing the once-crowded field to eight, the city’s voter registrar said Wednesday. In addition, seven of the 58 candidates who filed to run for City Council and the School Board failed to collect enough signatures from qualified, registered voters, including incumbent 9th District School Board representative Tichi Pinkney Eppes. Registrar J. Kirk Showalter said mayoral candidates Amon M. Rayford, Nate Peterson, L. Shirley Harvey, Alan Schintzius and Chad Ingold didn’t meet the ballot requirements.

Former RPS spokeswoman dropping lawsuit in order to run for school board seat

Felicia D. Cosby, Richmond Public Schools’ former spokeswoman and a candidate for the city’s School Board, said Thursday that she will drop her $1.3 million lawsuit against the district’s superintendent and several board members. Cosby, who is running for the 6th District seat currently held by Shonda Harris-Muhammed, would not say exactly when the suit would be dropped, but said it would be before the November election. “I’m not doing this as a personal vendetta or for revenge or anything like that,” she said in a phone interview.