City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -1– ______________________________________________________________________________ The Work Session meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Monday, May 3, 2021, live streamed. Mayor Parham called the meeting to order at 12:02p.m. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Council Member Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr. Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith Council Member W. Howard Myers Council Member Darrin Hill Mayor Samuel Parham Absent: Vice Mayor Annette Smith-Lee Council Member John A. Hart, Sr. Present from City Council Administration: Interim City Kenneth Miller City Attorney Anthony C. Williams Clerk of Council Nykesha D. Jackson 2. PRAYER: Mayor Parham stated, “Councilman Hill will lead us in our opening prayer.” Council Member Hill led the council meeting in prayer. 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Parham led council and the citizens in the pledge of allegiance. 4. DETERMINATION OF THE PRESENCE OF A QUORUM: A quorum is present. Vice Mayor Smith-Lee and Council Member Hart is absent during roll call. 5. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA (TI INCLUDE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING/S): a. A request for the City Council to hold a public hearing April 20, 2021, regarding a proposal to purchase 703 E. Bank Street, 357 University Boulevard, and 351-53 University Boulevard, and the consideration of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a purchase agreement toward the sale of the City-owned properties. b. Request for the City Council to hold a public hearing May 18, 2021 regarding a proposal to purchase City-owned property located at 1119 High St. W and, consideration of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a purchase agreement towards the sale of the City- owned property. c. Request for the City Council to hold a public hearing May 18, 2021 regarding a proposal to purchase City-owned property located at 105, 109, 113, 115 Burch St. N and, consideration of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a purchase agreement towards the sale of the City-owned property. d. Request for the City Council to schedule a public hearing regarding a proposal to purchase and *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -2– ______________________________________________________________________________ develop nine (9) parcels of City-owned property located on Harrison St and, consideration of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a purchase agreement toward the sale of the City-owned property to Project: HOMES. e. Request for the City Council to schedule a public hearing regarding a proposal to purchase and of the City-owned property. f. Request for the City Council to schedule a public hearing regarding a proposal to purchase and develop two (2) parcels of City-owned property located on W. Washington Street and, consideration of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a purchase agreement toward the sale of the City-owned property to BLW Solutions. g. A request to schedule a public hearing and consideration of a Special Use Permit petition for a nightclub at 1706 and 1714 E Washington Street. h. A request to schedule a public hearing and consideration of a Special Use Permit petition for a car wash at 2010 E. Washington Street. i. Request for the City Council to hold a public hearing on May 18, 2021 regarding a proposed ordinance to amend and re-adopt sections 114-68 and 114-204 and to adopt sections 114-73 and 114-204 of the Petersburg City Code to establish a water and sewer connection fee payment plan program for large scale affordable housing projects. j. To schedule a public hearing for Petersburg City Public School’s FY2021-22 Budget (1st Reading) k. To schedule a public hearing for the City of Petersburg’s FY2021-22 Proposed Operating and Capital Budget. l. A request to schedule a public hearing and consideration of a supplemental appropriation for Petersburg Public Schools in the amount of $3,538,588 (1st Reading) m. A request for the City Council to hold a public hearing and consideration of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a Purchase Agreement with the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River, Inc. a Virginia non-profit corporation, (“FOLAR”); Appomattox River Soil and Water Conservation District, an independent political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia, (“ARSWCD”); and Petersburg Rotary Club (Breakfast) (“Rotary Club”) for the purchase of City-owned property located at 10 N. Jefferson Street and 125 East Washington Street. n. Minutes of the April 20, 2021, Special Regular City Council Meeting; April 20, 2021 Special Closed Session City Council Meeting and April 26, 2021, Special Closed Session Meeting. Council Member Hill made a motion to approve the consent agenda as read. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was discussion among City Council Members. Ms. Jackson stated, “The person or department that submitted the first item, ‘Item A’, it should not be April 20th it should be May 18th. Which I already have in place to be advertised for May 18th.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “And item D-H also does not have a date.” Ms. Jackson stated, “It is in the yellow sheet that has the date on there.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “All of these are May 18th? Ms. Jackson stated, “Yes ma’am.” There was discussion among staff and council. Council Member Wilson-Smith made a substitute motion to approve the agenda as amended. The *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -3– ______________________________________________________________________________ motion was seconded by Council Member Cuthbert. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Smith-Lee, and Parham; Absent: Hart 6. SPECIAL REPORTS: a. A report on the status of the Jarratt House Stabilization Project. Kate Sangregorio, Preservation Planner, gave a PowerPoint presentation update on the Jarratt House Stabilization Project. Key points:  House was constructed in 1820 and it is the oldest structure on Pocohontas Island.  Significant owners include Native American woman named Lavinia Sampson, and the prominent African American Jarratt Family. They donated the house to the City in 1991.  The goal of the project is to protect and use the significant historic structure.  Phase One has been completed to prevent the house from collapsing.  The concern of the building came in 2014. And in 2017 a report was done on the structure.  Work began in September in 2020 and finished in March 2021.  The work was done by Daniel and Company with Virginia Masonry Restoration.  The Cameron Foundation awarded a grant in 2016 for $81,060. Two fiscal years of CDBG funding were awarded (FY2015 - $192,400; FY2019 - $197,395)  Department of Historic Resources grant in 2020 for nominating the Jarratt House to the National Register of Historic Places. ($7,500, plus a $2,500 City match) Council Member Cuthbert stated, “I do not have any questions. I want to thank everybody who is responsible for getting us to this point. This building was going in the wrong direction for a while. And thanks to City Council, Mrs. Ferrell-Benavides, Ms. Sangregorio, Mr. Lyons, and many others. This building has been pulled back from the brink of disappearing. We have now got the envelope secured and a lot of work remains to be done and you all realize that. The building will survive I am sure as long as Petersburg survives. So, I thank everyone involved, especially Ms. Sangregorio. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” Mayor Parham stated, “Thank you all for the presentation. There was tremendous work done there. We look forward to moving on to the next phase.” b. A report on proposed signage for historic properties on High Street Kate Sangregorio, Preservation Planner, gave a PowerPoint presentation update on proposed signage for historic properties on High Street. Key points:  Size of sign face is 12 inches x 8 ½ inches. It is printed on a 1/8-inch-thick aluminum plate with a UV coating.  The design was based on other historic signage in the City.  Proposed use of the old Petersburg seal at the top of the signs. Some may need to be changed to say “City” in place of “Town”.  Posts would be about 3 feet tall, with the sign face angled for easy reading.  Installed just inside the house’s property line. This prevents right-of-way infringement on the sidewalk but should not encourage visitors to walk on private property.  This will be considered on a case-by-case basis, for example, the row houses on High Street do not have yards. Some residents would prefer a fence mounted sign. *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -4– ______________________________________________________________________________  Will not be installed for every house, so they are not expected to crowd the street.  The ARB will review the amended designs at the May 12th ARB meeting.  The size falls within a zoning ordinance exemption for allowing one square foot of signage for residential properties (Article 21 Section 5.6). c. Presentation on Neighborhood Services 2021 Bradley Shupp, Property Maintenance Official, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Neighborhood Services. More key points:  Thanked Frank Poulin for taking the department to where they needed and hope to continue moving in the right direction.  If you have not read the article in the Progress-Index on Mr. Poulin then it is a must read. And thanked everyone for the tree ceremony for Mr. Poulin.  Have a total of five divisions with a total of 14 employees. Neighborhood Services is funded in part through CDBG and General funds.  They are doing an upgrade to the outdated tracking software.  All vehicles are in the process of being equipped with GPS modules. This will assist with ensuring employee safety, time tracking of inspections for CDBG employees, and assigning urgent calls to the closet inspector.  Property maintenance is dedicated to ensuring a healthy and safe environment while enhancing the well-being and livability for all citizens and visitors of the City of Petersburg.  Their goal is to obtain voluntary compliance with the provisions of the City Code by all citizens.  Neighborhood Services has closed 220 of 930 cases since July 1, 2020.  Collected $11,400 in civil fines. $47,050 in the process of being converted into taxable liens. There was discussion among City Council and staff. d. A report on the status of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program for FY2021 and FY2022. Reginald Tabor, Interim Director of Planning and Community Development, gave an overview of the Community Development Block Grant Program for FY2021 and FY2022. Key points:  On February 2, 2021, advertised request for proposals and deadline to accept proposals. (Completed)  On February 16, 2021, advertised for the public hearing. (Completed)  Conduct public hearing of need (March 2, 2021) (CDBG Staff and Citizens Advisory Board)  March 9, 2021 is the deadline for accepting proposals. (Completed)  March 30, 2021, reviewed proposals with staff (March 30, 2021) (Completed)  May 10, 2021, review & confirm recommendation from CDBG staff and community advisory board. There was discussion among City Council and staff. Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “As Mr. Tabor said and as we are aware there are two citizens on our Citizen Advisory Board. But we are supposed to have a citizen from each board on that board. And we have enough applications in. We have an application for Ward 3, Ward 1, Ward 2, Ward 7, and Ward 6. I think *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -5– ______________________________________________________________________________ the two citizens on the board cover Ward 4 and Ward 5. So, I am asking that our next City Council Meeting if we could look at those applications and the Citizen Advisory Board and a point to make this a full board.” Mayor Parham stated, “We will add that to the agenda for the 18th.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Thank you Mr. Mayor. I think that we have already done this and gone through the applications. And apparently it was not the will of council to appoint those people to the CDBG Advisory Board. And maybe there are some more applications and there is no prohibition against us reconsidering applications that we did not want to draw appointments from in the past. But I think that we have done this once. That is comment one. Comment two, I would like Ms. Jackson to address the comment by Mrs. Wilson-Smith that we are supposed to have a member from each ward. I was not aware that that was the case. Ms. Jackson, can you hear me, and can you affirm or refute that we are required to have a representative on the CDBG Advisory Board from each ward.” Ms. Jackson stated, “Yes. It says that it is one from each of the seven wards. And it is two at-large positions. There are nine members that are appointed by City Council.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Is that by ordinance? What are you looking at?” Ms. Jackson stated, “That is the information that is on the sheet that comes with each board that I create on my information sheet. But I can send that information to you so that you can see it. And it also has how many term years that they have which is a four-year term and it has the two new members that are currently on the board.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “When was that information added to the sheet? Because I think I looked at that sheet in the past and I have not seen that information on it.” Ms. Jackson stated, “On the past sheet it has the total number of appointed members at the very top.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Right. But there is nothing on the earlier version that says that it has to be one from each ward was there?” Ms. Jackson stated, “It is in the description under duties on the excel sheet. They are always on there for boards that require a certain number of members. It is on every sheet.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Well it is now but it was not in the past, was it?” Ms. Jackson stated, “Yes it was in the past.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “When did council establish that requirement?” Ms. Jackson stated, “That is a requirement of the board. I guess the resolution that was appointed years ago, and it was never changed.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Can you look up that resolution? Some things have a way of being folklore. That is the only basis for it. But I have looked at the sheet in the past and there has been no reference to this. So, for our May 18th meeting can you research that. And it may well be and there is an ordinance that may require one from each ward and two at-large from what I have heard today. If there is such an ordinance or resolution if you will include that in council’s packet for our May 18th meeting. Please.” Ms. Jackson stated, “I will add that to the next meeting, and I will include all that information with it.” *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -6– ______________________________________________________________________________ Council Member Cuthbert stated, “That is great. I sure appreciate. Thank you.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “We had two people to apply in 2019, four people to apply in 2020 and two have applied in 2021. Now we talked about this in 2020 but we did not like Mr. Cuthbert said, appoint these people. We did not appoint them without any rhyme or reason. We just did not appoint them. Nor did we appoint the people from 2019 for any rhyme or reason. These are tax paying citizens who want to help the City that they live in. We owe them the opportunity to volunteer and help. If we do not want these people on the boards, we should be able to say that you are not qualified or according to your resume this does not fit you. But to just throw people away is not good. And there are enough people on this sheet who have applied that we can fill that board. That is an important board. Mr. Tabor is meeting with two citizens to make decisions about how we are going to spend CDBG money. It should not be that way. So, I think that we have a responsibility to look at this and fill this board. That is all that I have thank you.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “I think that it would be a real mistake for us to start giving reasons in the public for not making appointments. Unless we want to see ourselves in defending a slander suit. And I am not interested in being included in such a suit. I think that we have to use good judgement and confidence and I am convinced that City Council has done that. I do not think that we ought to be bludgeoned into a decision in appointing anyone by a made-up requirement that we have to justify our decision. We do not have to do that. We may well have good reason and I am satisfied that we do. I do not think that we need to broadcast what we see as citizens efficiencies in public. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “Can I make one last comment. I am not budging anyone into anything. I am not a bully. I am simply saying the citizens, the people who voted us into office wants to work with the City. Now whether you want to give them the reason publicly or private everyone needs an explanation. You cannot send people away without making them feel unwanted or making them feel that their services are not needed. I am on council and I have no reason of knowing why it is that we did not choose some people. No reason at all. It is not a conversation that I will continue at that point. But the record must show that I am not forcing anyone to not anything. My motive is to be fair to everyone. To council and to the citizens. When people vote for us, we owe them an explanation. And that is all that I have. Thank you.” Ms. Jackson stated, “I would like to say that in the last three years this board has come up before council and I have stated in the board that they are ward related. All the appointments to it have to be one person from each ward. I also provided information in the past each time it did come up on the agenda because we did not have any members from each of the wards. We usually had two people to apply, and they were from one ward. We recently within the last two years had people each ward to start applying. And that was the major reason why there is no one on the board or no one was appointed. But it was stated in the past each time that it was brought up at the council meeting that it does have to be one person from each of the seven wards. I just wanted to put that on the record to make sure that everyone understood that it was sent out.” Council Member Cuthbert asked, “Ms. Jackson is that a council created obligation or is that some state or federal law that requires us to make these appointments by ward?” Ms. Jackson stated, “That is something that you can change. Based off the resolution when I did look at it in the past it is something that council created in 1985. But it is up to the will of council if you choose to change it from the amount of people or to have one from each ward. I can get with Reggie to see if he has anything in his office regarding CDBG Board. But based off the resolution it only states that the City Council back then appointed people with one from each ward. It is probably something that you can change but I can get with him and see if there is any other information than what was stated.” *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -7– ______________________________________________________________________________ Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Thank you. And thank you Mr. Mayor.” e. COVID-19 Update Darnetta Tyus, Deputy City Manager, gave an update on COVID-19. Key points:  Petersburg has 3,815 cases.  The death total is now 84.  Testing is still available at Pathways on Wednesday’s after 3pm  Scheduling is done by Crater Health Department by calling 804-862-8989.  On May 11, 2021, the Crater Health Department will host a Moderna Vaccine Clinic at Tabernacle Community Life Center on Halifax Street.  On May 11, 2021, Petersburg Mobile Clinic has now resume and will administer J & J vaccines at Crater Square, Crater Townhomes and Flagship Inn from 2pm to 5pm. There was discussion among City Council and staff. 7. MONTHLY REPORTS: *No items under this portion of the agenda. 8. FINANCE AND BUDGET REPORT: a. Presentation and discussion on the City’s Financial Policies. Robert Floyd, Director of Budget and Procurement, and Stacey Jordan, Interim Finance Director, gave a PowerPoint on the City’s Financial Policies. Key points:  Financial Policy Objectives is to contribute to the City’s ability to insulate itself from fiscal crisis, promote long-term financial stability by, direct attention to the total financial picture of the City, link long-run financial planning with day-to-day operations, provides City Council and citizens with an outline for gauging the fiscal impact against established guidelines, and to ensure that the organizational has sufficient resources.  City Manager submits proposed budget no later than April 1st of each year.  City Council holds a public hearing for interested citizens to be given an opportunity to be heard on issues related to the proposed budget.  City Council may make adjustments with at least four members of City Council’s prior approval.  City Council votes to approve the proposed budget.  The City has developed a five-year Capital Improvement Plan which will serve as the basis for planning and prioritizing the City’s capital improvement needs based on affordability and compliance with debt and reserve policies.  The capital improvements plan will only include projects with identified and known realistic funding sources. The City will identify the estimated costs and potential funding sources for each capital project proposal before it is submitted for approval.  The City will consider all capital improvements in accordance with an adopted CIP.  The City will maintain its assets to minimize future maintenance and replacement costs.  Capital budget will be developed yearly according to the CIP.  Replacement and maintenance schedules need to be developed based on the CIP. *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -8– ______________________________________________________________________________  The City will confine long-term borrowing to capital improvement or projects that cannot be financed from current revenues.  When capital improvements or other projects are funded by issuing bonds or capital leases, it will repay the debt within a period not to exceed the expected useful life of the project.  Unassigned fund balance shall not be used for annual recurring expenditures, except for unforeseen emergency circumstances. The City shall have a minimum initial target unassigned fund balance that represents 30 days of its general fund operating expenditures. This will include the City budgeting $1,000,000 annually toward the unassigned fund balance.  Days in reserve is calculated based on a General Fund Balance of $74.72 Million at $204,725 per day. There was discussion among City Council and staff. Council Member Cuthbert asked can the policy be put back on the July work session agenda. Mr. Floyd stated that he will put it on there. There was discussion among Council Members and staff regarding the financial policy and the Rules of Council with the approval of funding for City funds and expenditures and the differences. Council Member Cuthbert asked Ms. Jackson to bring back any information on the ordinance or findings of approvals of over $100 appropriations or information on the discussion of a change and whether it was approved or not. Ms. Jackson stated she will bring back that information. There was input from City Attorney and Mr. Floyd regarding the conversation on public hearings and council approvals on appropriations over $100. 9. CAPITAL PROJECTS UPDATE: a. LED Project Update Tangela Innis, Director of Public Utilities, gave an overview of the LED Project. Key points:  The City is replacing 3,199 streetlights in a four-phase process.  The cost to the City will be approximately $503,581.36. And it will be funded in City’s Urban Allocation Funds.  The monthly savings to the City is $10,637.15 and the annual savings of $127,645.80.  The project is projected to be completed in Spring 2022. The project officially kicked off on April 27th.  In attendance at the Kick-Off was Mayor Samuel Parham, Council Member Charlie Cuthbert, Council Member Darrin Hill, Deputy City Manager Lionel Lyons, Director of Public Utilities, Tangela Innis and other City staff. As well as Anita Powell, representative from Dominion Energy and Jenni Northedge and Susan Simon and other Dominion Energy staff. Mayor Parham stated, “Thank you Mrs. Innis. It was a great day. It was something that is very near and dear in lighting up the City. I would like to thank all the City staff and Dominion Power for our kick-off event. And I noticed crews working today upgrading and updating lights. So again, thank you all for getting this off the ground. We look forward to completion in 2022.” *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 -9– ______________________________________________________________________________ Mr. Lyons stated, “We do not have all the details, but a lot of work is going on right now behind the scenes as it relates to our Park -N -Ride Structure. We anticipate coming back to you all sometime soon to give you an update within the next 30 days. Mrs. Innis and Mr. Temi who is the project manager has gotten through a big hurdle thanks to Mr. Floyd and procurement.” 10. UTILITIES: *No items for this portion of the agenda. 11. STREETS: *No items for this portion of the agenda. 12. FACILITIES: *No items for this portion of the agenda. 13. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Mr. Lyons stated, “A lot of good work. As you all are aware of the big announcement for tomorrow with the Governor’s Office. We will update you in terms of all the economic development projects. Ms. Boone and staff meet on a weekly basis to go over projects. We have been following up on a number of requests as it relates to City owned property. Finally, there is still a tremendous amount of work taking place. I sent you all an email with information on ARWA and the things going on at that site.” Council Member Hill stated, “That the City has been blessed with a lot of businesses still open during the pandemic. I, the Mayor, and other council members have gone to a lot of ribbon cutting ceremonies in the past months. We have not had a lot of businesses closing like other localities have. I have noticed that in the City of Petersburg even during this pandemic that a lot of businesses have been staying open. That is why it is so important that we give them the information. Often, we need to look at the new businesses that are open. But we must give means to the businesses that are still establishing in the area as well and see how we can still help them as well. I just wanted the citizens to know that the City is thriving and doing well. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” 14. CITY MANAGER’S AGENDA: a. City Manager’s Report Mr. Miller stated, “Yes Mr. Mayor. You all have my report. I do want to say this. I want to thank all our staff who are working hard in this great City of Petersburg. We are having a great time. I really appreciate all the work that the staff does. Whether it is fixing roads or responding to calls of service. Each staff is getting that, and we have a long way to go but we have come a mighty long way. You have a copy of my report. I just want to thank you so much Mr. Mayor and council members for allowing us to just be a part of this with you to show Petersburg the great City that it is. Thank you.” 15. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM THE CLERK: *No items for this portion of the agenda. 16. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY: *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 - 10 – ______________________________________________________________________________ *No items for this portion of the agenda. 17. PUBLIC COMMENTS: JaVonni Brustow, 118 Crater Woods Court, stated, “I wanted to know what happened to the COVID Manager Candidate that spoke to the council some time last year. I below that he was a college fellow. I think that if we had gone with him or someone else, we might have had some faster progress with COVID. I also believe that he was not going to come as a cost to the City and it would probably be less work on the assistant city manager than who is currently doing this work aside from their job responsibilities. And one of the things that could have been worked on is opening the public library. I know that the last City Manager stated that she wanted to have it open last summer by using contactless thermometers and contactless doors. But it has been about a year and I know that the library is still closed. I think that our lease is about $100,000 a year so that is six figures down the drain. I think that is something to think about in ways to get it back open sooner. During the last meeting Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith pointed out that there was an 80-year-old woman that had sewage backed up in her home. And she said that it was not discussed during the last council meeting. I wanted to state that if this were brought up that doing so would show some concern on behalf of the City. Because not addressing the issue would provoke other citizens to go straight to litigation if they had sewage problems. Because in the eyes of the citizens and looking at it says that the City shows no concern. In the event if the citizen were to try and sue it is probably a good chance that she would win. Going back to the fact the City Manager Tyrell said that we needed about $90 million dollars for water infrastructure upgrades and that would show a history of water drainage issues here and history of neglect. So, just for the sake of covering your self in the future I think that it would be a good idea to at least acknowledge it and say what is being done moving forward. And lastly months ago there was discussion on creating a process for boards and commission appointments. And I see that we are still having disagreements on that. So, I am wondering if you have any intentions on moving forward with that process. It has seemed to be fallen off since it has been introduced. And that is all that I have for right now. Thank you.” Delores Smith, 410 Mistletoe Street, stated, “The question that I wanted to know is about Social Services. How you can never reach anyone at Social Services. And I do not understand why. I wanted to know is the Social Services closed. We cannot seem to reach anyone at Social Services.” Mayor Parham stated, “We will have someone to reach back out to you to answer that question.” Ms. Tyus stated, “Let me give a number. 804-704-7981. Please give me a call so I can come to understand and have a resolution for what your challenge is.” Barbara Rudolph, 1675 Mt. Vernon Street, stated, “I also wanted to talk about the boards and commissions that Mr. Brustow mentioned a few minutes ago. My recollection is that last year out City Attorney made a PowerPoint presentation to council where he had gone and done a lot of research and put a lot of though into how the City could equitably appoint people to boards and commissions and have a set process so that we would address some of these occurring questions that come up almost every time there is a vacancy. And the council does not follow uniform policy. I do remember also that Mr. Williams presentation talked about the advantages of the City attracting people to be on boards and commissions and the talents that they have to contribute and the way that those people may become more civically involved. My impression of the whole thing is that it was really good, and I have not been able to find it since on the City’s website, so I think that it is one of those council meeting presentations that did not get posted. And I hope that it will be. I am asking that it is. And I also would like to know what is the follow up. At the time that Mr. Williams talked about it I remember that Council Member Cuthbert was really impressed, and I do not remember anyone else saying anything. It just seemed to disappear. And he made some excellent recommendations and I think that the City would be well advised to adopt to help prevent all this discussion and back and forth that happens every time there is an *Audio available upon request. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on May 3, 2021 - 11 – ______________________________________________________________________________ appointment to be made. Thank you.” Mayor Parham stated, “I just want to remind all council members that I look forward to seeing you for our closed session meeting on Thursday at 12noon via zoom. Information will be sent out.” 18. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 2:24 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor *Audio available upon request.