City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD TWO CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. JASON N. GRAHAM, WARD ONE HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session May 5, 2020 Fiscal Year 2021 School Budget Discussion The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, beginning at 5:00 p.m. using electronic communication through GoToMeeting pursuant to and in compliance with the City Council Ordinance 20-05, an ordinance to address Continuity of City Government during the pendency of a pandemic disaster. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr., Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Charlie L. Frye, Jr., Jason N. Graham and Matthew J. Kelly. School Board Present. Chairwoman Jennifer Boyd, Rev. Jarvis Bailey, Jannan Holmes, Malvina Kay, Kathleen Pomeroy and Elizabeth Rehm. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen A. Dooley, Budget Manager Brenna Erford, Superintendent Marci Catlett, Deputy Superintendent John Russ, Director of Finance Jennifer Brody, Chief Academic Officer Lori Bridi, Chief Operations /Information Officer Mike George, Clerk of the Board Deborah Wright and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Disclosures. Councilor Frye disclosed that his spouse was employed by the Fredericksburg School System and he could participate fairly and objectively in the decision. Councilor Duffy disclosed that he was employed by the Fredericksburg School System but he could participate fairly and objectively in the decision. Fiscal Year 2021 School Budget. Assistant City Manager Whitley presented a PowerPoint presentation and in his presentation he covered the City Projected Financial Shortfall, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Reduction Plan, FY 2020 Plan ($8 million), FY 2021 Original Recommendations, FY 2021 New Plan and FY 2021 Budget Schedule. (See Attachment I for more information). 1  Councilor Kelly asked if the City would be using reserves to cover expenses for this year and next year. He said using those fund would defer and push out costs and he would like this to be a part of the discussions. Schools Finance Director Brody presented a PowerPoint presentation and she discussed Background and Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, Operating Fund Budget Overview, Operating Fund Summary and Grants Fund Budget Overview. (See Attachment II for more information). Councilor Graham asked what the effects of COVID-19 would look like on the schools budget if the schools had a delayed opening or another shutdown and Ms. Brody said she did not know what it would look like but they would have to assume it would happen. She said they probably would not have the same technology costs but they would have the stimulus funds that they could draw down if needed. Councilor Graham asked if there were any thoughts on a virtual curriculum programs available and Dr. Catlett said they had been in contact with the superintendent for the State of Virginia and they offer a program called Virtual Virginia and it has about 90 subjects across K-12 and they can use it if they are not in school for the fall. There will be no costs for those courses. She said the State was being proactive and comprehensive in how they were supporting schools across Virginia. Vice-Mayor Withers asked if the School Board or School Administration had considered pay cuts as the City was doing with its employees. Ms. Catlett said the Governor was careful not take back steps in compensating the educators. She said they would consider freezes on hiring staff. Vice-Mayor clarified that he was not speaking about teachers but the upper administration and she said they could consider that if needed. Ms. Bridi said the only additional information she could give on Virtual Virginia was the amount of time it would train the teachers as well as the students on how to use the platform. She said it was designed for secondary students and not elementary students. She could not predict what that would look like but they would do everything necessary to make sure the students and teachers were ready. Ms. Brody said there was often a lack of appreciation of the criticality of what the upper levels do in the administration. She said if it were not for them spending a tremendous amount of time when the pandemic hit, there would be a complete loss for educating the students. She said it was the administrative level that allowed them to be successful but she understood the need to 2 examine salaries continuously. Councilor Withers said he appreciate the work and he said he knew they were working hard because City staff was working hard as well. Ms. Kay stated that she was appreciative of the relationship between the schools and City Council. She said the two were making history in the way they have been working together. The City has shown that it cares about education but they have no idea what the future holds. Ms.Kay suggested as time goes on that conversations continue on FY20 and FY21 but FY22 through FY25 to provide the facilities that will be needed. She said she wanted to be ready the next time the schools need to go virtual. Councilor Duffy was thankful of the leadership of Mr. Baroody and Dr. Catlett and he said they have done a great job of identifying savings. He said his concern was that they will need to find more savings in the future and he wanted to be sure they were ready. Councilor Devine agreed the City and schools were under great leadership. She said there was a lot of work to do and she said everyone would need to look at how to move forward. She was hopeful that there would be some professional development on how to manage virtual teaching. She said none of the long term needs would be going away and they both needed to have long term planning discussions. Councilor Frye gave credit to everyone who made all this work. He spoke about all the people who came out and spoke up to the Council and School Board in regards to the school capacity issues. He also noted how thankful he was that the School Board hired Dr. Catlett as the Superintendent because he felt that someone new would not have had the internal knowledge to be able to handle the pandemic as well. Councilor Frye also said he was going to keep fighting for the alternative students as well as those who are underprivileged. Dr. Catlett said they were concerned with the alternative and underserved kids so they have put together a new initiative, the Community Outreach Committee. It has about 50 members and they will reach out to parents and students to see if they need support. Mayor Greenlaw said they cannot loose site of the vision and the long term vision. She said there was a group working on that and they will continue to identify what needed to be done. She said she appreciate the collaboration. Dr. Catlett also informed the public of another initiative that started and it was the instructional school bus that travels the same route as the school feeding truck and they were delivering schools supplies, flashcards and books to students. She asked for any type of support or donations. 3  Councilor Frye mentioned the possibility of the old hospital for CTE extended and he said would like to talk about whether it was still a possibility. Councilor Graham said he had been looking over capacity issues and there were 190 students more at Hugh Mercer and 65 more at Lafayette and he wanted to know the possibility of combining K-5 in the two schools to save on cottages. Mayor Greenlaw said there was a taskforce who would be looking at all options. She reiterated that the long term discussion would need to happen. She ensured everyone the progress had slowed but not stopped. Dr. Catlett said they have not revisited CTE because the pandemic had taking priority and they needed to attend to those. Ms. Boyd reiterated that the long range planning for the schools was critical and she felt that they were at the point in the pandemic where they could turn back to those discussions and in transition look at the possibilities they might be able to implement to save money in the short term. She said she was not sure there was much that could be done to change next year’s budget. Mr. Bailey stated that everyone was in this together and he noted that the City employees would be taking hits with pay cuts and furloughs and he was concerned with the morale of City staff. Mr. Baroody said he was not able to speak on behalf of the City employees but he did say he had never worked with a finer bunch of individuals. He spoke of the challenges of having to make cuts and furloughs. He said everyone was still focused and committed to customer service. Mr. Baroody said they were holding their heads high and working with pride. Mr. Bailey said he wanted people to know that when one hurts everyone hurts. Mayor Greenlaw said the city employees were working more than just their jobs and the teachers are working under extraordinary circumstances. She said there was a large population of students that it was going to be hard for them to learn virtually. She said although under difficult circumstances the City had to be run and kids have to be taught and it would be done. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 6:23 p.m. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey, MMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 4