City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD FOUR CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. JASON N. GRAHAM, WARD ONE HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR., WARD TWO Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session June 22, 2021 Washington Heritage Museum’s Proposal for Mary Washington Monument Fredericksburg Area Museum Draft MOU: “Telling the Complete Story” Return to Pre-COVID-19 Operations The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Jason N. Graham, Matthew J. Kelly and William C. Withers, Jr. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Assistant City Attorney Dori Martin, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Memorials Chair Nancy, Washington Heritage Museum Chairman Michael Spencer, Washington Heritage Museum Executive Director Anne Darron and Fredericksburg Area Museum Director Sarah Poore. Washington Heritage Museum’s Proposal for Mary Washington Monument. Mr. Baroody introduced Mr. Spencer the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Washington Heritage Museum. Mr. Spencer said the Washington Heritage Museum wanted to present a proposal for the preservation and interpretation of the Mary Washington Monument and surrounding cultural landscape. The objective was to summarize key aspects of the draft proposal. Mr. Spencer presented a PowerPoint presentation and in that presentation he reviewed The Property, Site Restoration and Preservation, Interpretation, The Lodge? and What they are asking from the City Council. See Attachments I-II for more information. 1  Mayor Greenlaw asked if the preservation easement would include the park and Mr. Spencer said it would include a portion of the park 3.65 acres related to the 1966 easement. He said the WHM does not have plans to maintain or infringe on the parks current use. WHM main concern is the green shaded area. The donor’s intent for the easement was not to dictate what is done or to change the use of the areas. Mr. Spencer reiterated that the intent was not to change the dynamic of the park but to interpret the monument site. The easement would maintain and legally keep the land together so that it could continue to exist years from now. Councilor Kelly asked if the donor had any issues with the proposed plan and Mr. Spencer said none that he was aware of. Councilor Kelly asked if the use of the funding had changed (the grounds, and cottage) and Mr. Spencer said it had not. He said the Master Plan funding would come out of the $1 million and it could cost upwards of $150,000. The other $850,000 would be an endowment creation and interests should be able to maintain the site. The funding would not be solely used for the monument. Councilor Kelly asked about the sale of the house and Mr. Spencer said the house could be sold but all the property would have to go together which would probably prevent the sale of a house. Councilor Withers wanted to know what the $1 million would go towards and Mr. Spencer explained that $150,000 would be used for the Master Plan, the remainder would go into an endowment to generate funds and those funds would be used towards the site and landscaping and any additional money made from the endowment could be used for other things. He said before the Council made any decisions on an easement it needed to talk to the City Attorney regarding restrictions. Mayor Greenlaw shared the concerns of Councilor Withers and she wanted to know who would hold the easement. Mr. Spencer said Historic Resources or Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. could hold it. Mayor Greenlaw was concerned with issues the permanent easement could cause such as, not allowing the cutting of a tree. She said with an easement you could lose complete control of your property. Mr. Spencer said the only part of the easement that restricts the physical aspect, noted that the Master Plan would govern the physical improvements if the site. He said the Citizens Committee would address any issues with the Master Plan. 2  Councilor Graham asked if the cost of the Master Plan would include the park an if so, he was concerned, because it is currently maintained by Parks and Recreation. He did not see the benefit in paying for something that was already being taken care of by others. Mr. Spencer said if there is already a Master Plan for the parks then they would take that into consideration. Councilor Duffy said this property needed to be addressed because this was Fredericksburg and National History and the City needed to be focused on the best way to preserve it. He asked how much money might be available annually from the interest earned on the endowment. He noted there would be administrative cost that would have to be covered as well. Mr. Spencer said the WHM have volunteer committees, there are some paid staff but there was a committee set up for gardens and grounds and they could potentially move into that site. He said there would be some administrative costs and the standard cost they use is 4 percent which has worked well in the past. Councilor Withers asked had there been any cost estimates on the work needed around the monument and Mr. Baroody said in 2018 it was about $200,000 around the cemetery and the monument. Councilor Withers asked staff to get that updated because he was concerned the $1 million would not be enough. Councilor Kelly stated that the WHM focus would be on the monument, grounds, cemetery and the cottage and the City would have a say in what it wants to happen to the park. He said if the City did not accept this offer it would have to come up with the $200,000. He reminded the Council that this was a group that knows what it’s doing and he said this should be looked at as a whole project to make it a good site. Nancy Moore, Chair of the Memorials Advisory Commission stated that under the deed of gift the Memorials Commission is responsible for the oversight of the monument property. She said when they first became concerned about the lodge they asked the City to consider leasing the property so that if anything happened in the house the City would know early on. The Commission brought its concerns about the erosion around the monument to the attention of Public Works. She spoke of the dangerous stairs and the bamboo. She said if the City had been paying attention and responded this would not be a concern today. Due to the lack of response on the property maintenance, the Commission decided the property should be sold. She said the goal of the Commission was to preserve the site and get someone in the home. 3  Mayor Greenlaw said everyone was concerned for the monument and the lodge but she had never included the park in that and she said that was a wrinkle for her. City Council said more discussions needed to happen to see what options were available. The City Manager said they would bring back to City Council staff’s perspective based on conversations had to date. Mayor Greenlaw said she believed the WHM would make a great partner in maintaining the grounds and the monument and she thanked WHM for the opportunity for working with them. Councilor Withers said the Council needed to first decide if it was willing to put an easement on the property, if not, then the Council could not pursue. Fredericksburg Area Museum Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): “Telling the Complete Story”. Mr. Baroody gave a brief update of steps taken thus far and he said the Council asked the City to tell a more complete story and he said the endorsement of this MOU would help make this possible. Ms. Angela Freeman, former Diversity, Equity and Economic Advancement Officer helped to draft a job description for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and it ended up being about 6 pages and he said he realized the job was too cumbersome for one person. The job was more like three different positions, external communications and work in the community, telling a more complete story and advancing the City government as it works to be more inclusive. Mr. Baroody explained that the external work was not resolved and he would have to keep working on how to execute it. The internal work, the position had already been approved and they were working on hiring for that position. The positon of telling a more complete story he felt would be helpful if he City worked with the Fredericksburg Area Museum (FAM) and they crafted an MOU to partner in this new position. The person would be housed at FAM and would have responsibilities to advance on the City’s priority to tell a more complete story. He said it was important to interpret what happens at the corner of William and Charles Street and this interpretation must speak to what will happen inside FAM as it relates to the slave auction block. Assistant City Attorney Martin reviewed the MOU with the Council. See Attachment III for more information. 4  FAM’s Director Sara Poore said the City was committed to telling the whole story as was the Museum and it only made sense for them to join forces. She said the MOU was for two years and the Museum was committed as long as they were financially able to keep the positon as part of their staff. The position would be the Curator of African American History and Special Programs the reason for this is there was a lot of history that needed to be told. Councilor Kelly said he see the need for this. He said the City would be hiring an Assistant Director of Tourism and he would like that person to be included in on the discussion. He said he would like to know how the Civil War story would be told and would it be part of this discussion moving forward. He said the City had a port and the City was very diverse and he wanted to know if two years would be enough time to tell the stories. Ms. Poore said there would be discussions at the Board meetings about making the position permanent because she did not think two years would be long enough. She said this was such an ambitious project and they have worked diligently to streamline it to make sure they were hitting benchmarks in the two years. She said the African American Story needed a strategic plan created City wide and it would be a big component and she asked that the City, the Council and the public to be patient with them because that was the base moving forward. Ms. Poore said the City’s history was diverse and this could not be done in two years. There was currently a curator on staff and she was helping to interpret some of the other stories such as women’s history. She said there were so many stories out there. As far as the Civil War Stories she said they could partner with the National Park Service in order to get that story out. Council Devine said we have now become aware that African American history was missing in the history books and she was excited about the position. She was glad to hear the possibility of the position to be ongoing. Councilor Duffy said this was exciting work and he said we know a lot of the stories that have not been told because of their absence and he looked forward to seeing it. This community will have a lot to say about our history. He said as we talk about inclusion and equity these are important. Councilor Graham asked about the modernization of history and technology. Ms. Poore said this was an ongoing battle for museums. She said there are constant changes and they must stay on top of what was modern. She said they can make a big impact through social 5 media. The education program drew over 1400 people during the pandemic. There was always a push to keep exhibits that are not static and she encourages her staff to stay on top of the latest trends. In the MOU there was mention of a walking tour and there are many ways to engage people. Vice-Mayor Frye said these discussions were exciting and he said the City was leading the way on how to have these discussions. He said there was a lot of work lined up right now that would keep an employee busy for longer than two years and he was excited where the City was at this moment. Ms. Poore said in her field she has learned that the City has been watched on how it handled the Slave Auction Block removal. She said there were other museums around the Country who want the block to share in there exhibits. She said everything she has heard has been praise on how the community came together. She said there are not many cities that are doing what the City is doing by sponsoring a museum positon and she thanked the Council for that. She said this was a sign of commitment of the City. Return to Pre-COVID-19 Operations. Assistant City Attorney Martin explained what would happen when the City begins to return to post pandemic normal operations. She stated that the Governor was planning to let the State of Emergency expire on June 30. Locally, City staff and emergency persons have been evaluating conditions with respect to the City’s emergency order and they were moving forward with winding down the emergency procedures. Council would have to declare an end to the City Manager’s emergency and they will have to repeal the Continuity of Governance. She said once the emergency is repealed the City’s public bodies will no longer be allowed to meet virtually. See Attachment IV for more information. Councilor Graham asked to address the last three bullets on the memo because he would like to continue receiving written comments but he would like to find a way to prevent people from copy and pasting comments. Vice-Mayor Frye agreed and said it was brutal to hear the same comments over and over. Councilor Withers had questions on whether mask would be required in City Hall after June 30 and Mr. Baroody said staff had been discussing and would update accordingly. 6  Councilor Kelly said he understand the concern with the cut and paste letters but he had concerns with limiting the public and he would like to allow the public to weigh in on any unilateral responses. Councilor Graham asked whether a decision had to be made in order to have written comments submitted after June 30. Mayor Greenlaw said there needed to be an extension on the ability to allow people to write in with the understanding that cut and paste letters would only be read once. Councilor Devine said one of the issues she has noticed with letter submissions it that letters are submitted within a two-week period and sometimes the issue has been resolved before the letter is read and she said there needed to be something to address that issue. Councilor Kelly said the City should error on the side that the public comments be heard. Councilor Duffy agreed with Councilor Kelly with hearing the comments but he said those not as engaged are those who are copying and pasting but he would like people to be able to speak. Councilor Graham asked if the meeting would continue to be streamed live and Ms. Martin said it would. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 7:14 p.m. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey, MMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 7