Uh, can I have a roll call please? Mayor? Pardon? Here. Vice mayor
joiner. Here. Councillor harris? Here. Councillor ellis
here. Councillor day here.
I don't think she councilor. Ole
ole here. Ole. Thank you. We
have a quorum. Okay. Um,
alright. Uh, sade, do you mind giving counselor stokes a phone call?
yes.
hello. Hi, councilor stokes. Hey.
so this we're, the zoom hasn't started, but we are doing roll call and then we're
gonna go into closed session. So I wanted to get your roll call.
alright. Why is it not letting me join zoom
so we have it in the back. He's working on getting you in the closed session.
okay. Alright. So, councilor stokes.
yes. Here we have a quorum. Okay.
at this time, is there a motion to allow councilor stokes to participate remotely?
I second. Alright. Motion's been made by councillor day and seconded
by councilor ellis. Uh, councilor stokes. For the record, can you state,
state where you're conducting the meeting from and why you're asking to participate
remotely? I'm at home. I, I returned back
home to help okay. At home for medical
reasons. Okay. Alright. Roll call please.
councillor harris? Yes. Mayor. Pardon? Yes.
councilor ellis? Yes. Councilor day? Yes. Councillor
oli? Yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes.
motion passes. Six to zero. Okay. Thank you. Alright.
at this time is there a motion to go into close meeting under virginia code section 2.2
dash 3 7 11 a three eight and 29
to discuss the acquisition with disposition of real property, where
a discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating
strategy of the public body. The award of a public contract where discussion
in an open session would adversely affect the city's bargaining position. And
to consult with legal counsel regarding specific legal matters,
real estate contract discussions, unsolicited offer on
city owned real estate, and 2.2 dash 3 7 11
a one to discuss and consider personnel matters including boarding commission
appointments, city clerk contract, hrha and
the beacon theater. Follow up on attorney review.
second. Second. Okay. Um,
one question. I, um, I just noticed this, um, mr. Bassett,
um, um, to talk about your, um, evaluation.
do we need to add that? No, it's in the, there's just a, there's just a, uh,
comma missing. Okay. Alright. Alright. Uh, seeing
no lights roll call please. Councilor harris? Yes.
may I? Pardon? Yes. Councilor ellis? Yes. Councillor
day? Yes. Councilor stokes? Yes. Councillor
oli? Yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes. Motion passes. Seven to
zero. Okay. Okay.
vice joiner. Is there any discussion?
uh, counselor stokes on the phone? Okay.
councilor harris? Yes. Mayor. Pardon?
yes. Councillor ellis? Yes. Councillor day?
yes. Councillor stokes. Yes. Councilor
ley? Yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes. Motion passes. Seven to
zero. Okay. Uh, certification please. Certification
pursuant to virginia code 2.2 dash 3 7 12
d, were only public business matters. One. Lawfully exempted
from open meeting requirements and two identified in this closed meeting.
motion discussed in the closed meeting. Could you ask, uh, before we do up,
can you ask, uh, councilor stokes to mute herself? 'cause we're getting a lot of feedback.
councilor stokes, are you able to go on mute?
I think so. Y'all hear me? Yes. So I'm gonna hang my phone up. We can't
hear you on zoom, but you can't all that feedback.
can you hear me? Yes. Yeah.
can you hear me? Yes. Can, can you hear us? Hello?
can you hear us? Can you hear now?
councilor stokes? Can you hear us? Yeah. Okay.
I can hear somebody. Okay. Oh, there
you go. Alright. All right. I'm ready.
councilor harris? Yes. Mayor I, pardon? Yes.
counselor ellis? Yes. Councilor day? Yes.
counselor stokes. Can you repeat the question? It's
certification. Okay. Yes. Councilor
oli? Yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes.
okay. Uh, at this time do we have a motion to appoint vice mayor joiner
to the legislative committee and councilor oli to the crater
planning district commission? Second. Second. So moved. Okay. Motion's
been made by councilor stokes and seconded by, uh, councillor
ellis. Is there any discussion seeing
no lights roll call please. Councillor harris? Yes.
mayor part? Yes. Councilor ellis? Yes. Councilor
day? Yes. Councilor stokes? Yes.
coun councilor ole? Yes. Vice mayor joiner?
yes. Motion passes. Seven to zero. Okay. And,
uh, before we get into our work session, uh, I'd like to, uh, introduce everybody
to, um, our current counselor for ward seven. Um, ms.
levia oli. Um, she comes from a background in,
uh, hr and, um, health insurance and, uh, worked
her way up, uh, the corporate ladder and, uh, has done exceptionally well. And we look very
much forward to, uh, working with her, uh, during your time here. Thank
you. Forward to learning a great deal.
, did you want happy birthday? Yep. And then also, um,
I'd also like to announce that I think it was his 93rd birthday. Is
that right? Yes. Uh, a former, uh, member of city council
and a former mayor, uh, mr. James patterson. Uh, it was his
birthday yesterday, so we wish him a happy, healthy 93rd year
and for many, many more. Hopefully we get him to that centurion level.
alright. And at this time, we'll move right into our work sessions, uh, with our first
one being from mr. Ward.
good evening mayor by spay counsel. Um, actually, kelly davis, uh,
deputy director of development will be presenting the your first two work sections.
thank, thank you, kelly.
all right. Thank you everyone. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. Yes. Great. Wonderful.
alright. Our first work session for tonight is a zoning amendment request
related to signage regulations in the city of hopewell
zoning ordinance.
uh, this is a brief agenda of the slide presentation. Primarily a
background proposed changes to development standards and the b
one district standards, and then staff recommendation. This
zoning text amendment is proposed to clarify regulations
in the sign ordinance and address existing inconsistencies between
districts. But primarily it is proposed in response to requests
that we have had from businesses and property owners for different sign,
particularly in downtown, but also in other districts as well.
think counsel has received some letters to this extent regarding
the b one zoning district, and it has also come up as a result
of a community meeting that we had with downtown
property owners. With regards to the downtown design guidelines
that are currently under development,
um, I'm go moving through this briefly given the time today, but if there are any
questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Uh, within the development
standards section of the zoning ordinance, we are proposing changes to freestanding
signs. The first change is to modify the sign area and
height requirements in the b two, b three and b four
zoning districts. The b three and b four are the most intensive
districts that we have. And, um, the sign requirements in those districts
are actually smaller than in b two, which is more of a neighborhood business district, like
around broadway and, um, city point road. So
we're making some changes to make those more consistent
and appropriate for the districts. Uh, we've also
had some requests along the oaklawn wood woodlawn one-way
pair for, uh, an additional freestanding sign
on those through lots. Council has approved some exceptions for that in the
past, going ahead and codifying that. So if we get other businesses
on through lots in the that corridor, we won't have to come to council for each
of those requests. They would be subject to the same requirements as other freestanding
signs. Um, we are also exempting small signs, four
square feet or less from the requirement that, um, all freestanding
signs be monument style. That's the style that looks like a
box or a mo a monument. Um, there's an exam, two examples on this screen
here before you basically allowing smaller signs that might be,
um, just for a small
business or a singular business that are smaller for wayfinding signage to be less,
less, um, stringent requirements. There. Also,
uh, adding additional standards for the base and
foundation. We've had some questions as to those requirements in our
ordinance, and so we're adding some clarifying language there. We are eliminating,
uh, a requirement that is pretty stringent on height to width ratio,
but instead of that, adding setbacks from the right of way to help
drive some of the, the, um, height
and width requirements in a different way.
other proposed changes to general development standards for signage,
we've started to see signs cover. This is an, this photo
is an example where window signage covers the entire window.
um, right now it was the, there's an exemption in the ordinance to
exempt temporary window signs. This is really more of a
permanent sign, so we're clarifying that that exemption, so they don't have to have a sign
permit to have window signs, but they can only cover up
to 25% window co, uh, 25% of the window.
and that's really to help with public safety, being able to see into the building.
um, and as for community appearance as well.
and then the final change to development standards is modifying and clarifying
the awning sign area requirements. There's some, um,
existing potentially typos in the ordinance that are very difficult to interpret. And,
um, so we've clarified and made that a more,
um, made those restrictions more aligned with best practices
for signage in the b one
zoning district. That's our downtown zoning district, we are increasing
the combined building signage or proposing to, these are all proposed changes
to increase the combined building signage from 50 square,
or I'm sorry, those are mixed up. Um, the from
50, the current is 50 and we would be proposing to increase it to 75
square feet. Um, projecting signs also increasing
slightly based off of the, the linear feet of building frontage.
um, that's in these are specific inquiries that we have had
from multiple property owners downtown for larger projecting signs,
um, we're also making some changes to or proposing changes to freestanding
signage. Um, the biggest change for freestanding signs,
although the size is changing, um, is not requiring that
monument style standard because we'll have the added a rb
review. Um, and this is something that has come out of those community meetings,
um, so that folks that want a smaller sign or a blade sign like
or example in this photo here, uh, would be allowed
to do that subject to a rp review. And then finally, we, we
did add flags in the last zoning ordinance amendment, but we wanted to clarify that
the flutter flags are not per permitted in downtown. And that was something
that a rb had requested as well. And with that
staff recommends approval as presented tonight. And planning commission has also
recommended approval of this. And I'll stand ready to answer any questions.
okay. Are there any questions for ms. Davis?
okay. None. Alright. Thank you very much. Thank you.
any question? Go ahead and bring up the next item.
I guess there has to be a motion.
it's for another day. Okay. Yeah.
okay. Uh, moving on to work session number two.
so we're okay? Yeah.
are you prepared for me to start? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Mm-hmm .
um, all right. So the second request is for zoning amendment
for to allow urban agriculture in the city
of hopewell. Again, the agenda for tonight briefly,
and the background here is that the city of hopewell has initiated
this. The planning commission initiated this request and directed
staff to research how to allow urban agriculture
here in the city of hopewell in a buyright manner. We've started to
see some interest in this use throughout, um, in various parcels
throughout the city. So we wanna, um, make sure that there's a pathway
to do this legally. Uh, it is in compliance with the
comprehensive plan to allow, uh, better
access to fresh fruits and ve vegetables in the city. And so
this was proposed as a way to do that.
there are some challenges for urban agriculture that you all should be aware of as
you review this ordinance. It is currently not allowed as a primary use.
so if you see a community garden, it's an, it would be an accessory use. So we do
allow you to have residential gardens or community gardens
accessory to another use, but it currently is not allowed as a primary use.
other issues are related to fencing, accessory
structures, um, water and and electric service. Also,
um, tied to, you can't have, if you don't have a legal use
as well as enforcement. Um, primarily the current concern
being that someone might fence a property for urban agriculture and
actually try to use it for more of a junkyard condition. So we wanna make
sure we're not allowing any nuisance conditions through this use.
so the first, uh, we conducted a lot
of research and actually didn't find very many good examples
in virginia, but we did find a few and, uh, came up with
the idea of adding what market garden, which you might also hear
as referred to as an urban farm or commercial garden. So I
won't re review read this whole definition to you, but the thing to
know is that this will allow, um, cultivation of
crops for sale or donation to public or nonprofit organizations.
um, and it would also allow accessory educational activities
and onsite sale and distribution.
there's some additional definitions included in that you should be
aware of as well, or that you will see in the packet, but
I'm not gonna go into detail on these tonight. Um, the market garden
use would be proposed for buyright in all
business districts, and that is the b one, b two, b three, and b
four districts. There are also
some significant use standards associated with that. This is an
amendment to the development standards to add a new section,
uh, section h, which would have use standards for these two
uses. Um, some of the, the use
standards shown here would be approval of a plan when they come to get
their business zoning approval. Uh, there's limits on the buildings
and storage that can be on site, as well as onsite limits on onsite
sales. We have some standards related to composting soil and
mulch storage. Again, trying to prevent the accumulation of
large amounts of these materials to the extent that that becomes
the primary use over the actual farm. And then
as well, we have included standards for maintenance and operations,
um, including that you have to keep the site main well
maintained and no exterior onsite equipment,
tool storage, vehicle storage, et cetera.
the second definition, or use that is being added to the
ordinance is an urban agriculture indoor. This is
a best practice that we are starting to see in zoning ordinances
to allow folks to conduct urban agriculture in buildings.
uh, this is proposed in all of the b districts and the
m districts. And there are also
some use standards proposed with this related to
indoor uses, um, exterior storage, the
keeping of animals, the control of odors, as well as in your
commercial and mixed use districts requiring a portion of those, those
spaces to still include the retail services for
walk-in customers. So you keep that, that activated storefront.
and with that, uh, I stand ready to answer any questions. Staff
is recommending approval and planning commission also recommended approval. And
I do just wanna note that the full ordinance as it's
drafted for adoption for both this and the previous work session
are included on your, um, on the dais as well
as in the back for the public. Thank you. Alright.
are there any, uh, questions or comments for ms. Davis? Uh, vice mayor joyner?
yeah, I, I do have one comment and it just relates to the buildings. Just wanna
make sure that, that we don't have a situation and I'm sure this, you
know, you're writing the ordinance to make sure we don't have, but, you know, a hoop house
that mm-hmm . That is in use for a little while, and then they say, oh, well I'm not interested
in this anymore and it looks awful, and the plastic is torn and flying all
around. I mean, I think there are examples of that along route five,
along any virtually any corridor in the state where people,
you know, get, they think they're gonna have a nursery or whatever, and it doesn't work out.
and I'm just very concerned about in the city how it can go
wrong. Okay. Yeah. Particularly for those temporary structures,
it sounds like. Yes, yes. I'm very concerned. I will definitely take a look and make
sure that we've addressed that or, um, look at an amendment. Yeah,
I'd really appreciate that. Thank you so much. Mm-hmm . Thanks.
yeah. Um, the only comment that I have is, um, I think this is exciting. Um,
this is something actually, um, that I saw a lot of when I was, um,
out of town and, um, you know, a lot of, uh,
small towns on the west coast and it's, um, very popular.
um, and I think, you know, having an ordinance that allows this, you know, that
gives good defined parameters of which, you know, they can exercise. This, I think is gonna be
an attractive draw, um, you know, for our city. But I do agree with,
uh, vice mayor joiner that we need to make sure that, um, you know, when
we allow this, that, um, that we make sure that it's, it's managed
properly mm-hmm . Exactly. And I, I, I do support this. I think it's great.
it's great. I'll also just note that we did meet with, uh,
potential urban agriculture farms here in hopewell
to help, you know, review this and make sure that we weren't missing anything. Okay.
so we got some good feedback through that process as well. Appreciate that. Thank you so much, kelly. Thank you. Thank you.
okay. Uh, any other comments or questions? Okay. Seeing
none. Alright, we're gonna move on to number three. Uh, ms. Wilson,
uh, with the executive summary for hrha.
good evening to mayor, vice mayor, members of council. I'm lisa wilson with
the hopewell redevelopment and housing authority. And on behalf of our board of commissioners,
um, thank you for having us here this evening. Uh, for this brevity of time,
we will be providing you with an overview of hr ha's operations,
our vision, our strategic plan, and we will end it with some development
updates. So I'll be doing the first part of the presentation, and
the last part will be provided by our development consultant, mr.
vars mccoy. And I do wanna say good evening to our commissioners,
thankful for their support. And our general counsel is here, mr. Darius davenport
as well. So, thank you again. Um, can
she speak up please? Yes, I certainly can. Yes. So
if we could go back to the, uh, other, the first slide. Thank you.
so we'll start off with hr ha's vision. It's called vision 2030,
and it was adopted back in 2013 by our commissioners. It
was then revised in 2018. And it is basically the driver
for what we do at hrha. Uh, our vision statement is to
transform lives and communities by expanding access to housing
and empowering our residents to thrive. And so we are working to
achieve this vision. And we have some bullets summarized on the slide.
uh, so we're seeking to redevelop our public housing. We are wanting
to demolish in the obsolete units that we have. We're wanting to
enhance our resident services, and we definitely want to try to expand
any affordable housing opportunities in the city and even beyond.
so, um, moving on to the, uh, next slide,
uh, with vision 2030. That's basically the framework and guiding
principle for our strategic plan, which we have summarized
here. So this slide highlights our strategic plan
and what we're seeking to do over the next five years. These are
specific milestones that we're wanting to reach, and we are definitely excited
about working towards them. As you can see on the slide, we are looking forward
to adding additional units to our portfolio, increasing our
resident services enrollment. And as new units come online, we are
hoping to see some energy savings over the next, uh, couple of years
as we do some sustainable measures and have energy
efficient products, um, incorporated into our development. Um,
with this, we also recognize the importance of financial stability,
not just looking to hud for our funding, but trying to d diversify
our revenue sources. And we definitely wanna make sure we're maintaining
our reserves to keep ourselves solvent. And again, we're seeking opportunities
to grow our footprint in development. So
we go to the next slide. I'm gonna move on through, and, um, after we're finished,
if you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer them if, if that's okay.
alright. So this next slide, this is our operational snapshot.
it provides an overview of the programs we currently administer, the
number of residents we serve, and the cost to operate our,
uh, organization. I will say that 82% of our operating
budget is funded by hud. The remaining portion, we
have some state funding, tenant revenue, and other miscellaneous, uh, revenue
that helps to support our operations. Alright,
moving on through. Yep. So this next
slide provides examples of our capital projects. Hud requires
every five years that we do what's called a physical needs assessment. And that's
how we determine our capital funding, our capital, um,
planning, what projects we're going to work on and how we prioritize them.
so the assessment helps us identify what, um,
requires replacement, what requires repair, and in the order that
we do that. Uh, the good thing about this is every year
we provide the pha plan and we make it available to the
public where you can make comments and provide edits and really give input
and feedback into our capital. Um, capital structuring,
uh, some of the examples on the slide, we we're working on modernization of our units
roof replacement as needed. Um, we are replacing appliances
now with energy efficient appliances and we are very excited about
the capital plans that we have for the housing authority. Alright,
next slide. Thank you. So this is, uh, we wanted
to share some photos of some of the units that we're working on.
uh, what we're doing now is we are rehabbing our thomas rolfe
and davisville apartments because we're committed to improving the quality
of housing for our residents. Um, with me being here in this
capacity, I'm very intentional about wanting to replace and rehab
units with, uh, new appliances, new countertops, new cabinets,
new flooring, new paint. Um, so every unit as we are,
you know, ramping up our, uh, occupancy, every unit
will be rehab to look like what we see here. And this is
an actual unit in thomas roth. So we are very glad that we're able
to, to do that. Alright. Um, the next slide.
moving on down. So this is just a bit of information
as it relates to our operations and maintenance. We have some time
goals here for different, um, maintenance requests, different, um,
service requests that come up from our residents. And what we're doing
here is we're wanting to add systems and preventative
maintenance measures so we can improve our efforts with our maintenance services
and to improve, um, our upkeep with our aging units. Our
units are, are quite old, right? Move on to
the next slide. And I'm just about done. Uh, this next slide
maybe, is there one before that one maybe?
yeah, there we go. All right. So this slide here is just laying out
some initiatives we have for communications, resident engagement.
we do have some opportunity here. And these are just some things that we're planning to roll
out to improve our way of conveying important information
and to improve our engagement with our residents. We're really wanting
to get feedback so we can see how we can better serve our communities.
um, these are just some examples here. We're doing newsletters, we're working on
doing, um, text alerts. We're wanting to reengage
our resident advisory board, having, um, biweekly, bimonthly
meetings. And hopefully we'll get some really good feedback, uh, about
resident concerns so we can address them collectively. So that's what we're
looking to do. And, uh, yep, this
slide here, uh, this is just laying out our remediation
plan for any health and safety concerns that we are
running into on our properties. Um, this ties a
bit to what we're calling black substance. If there's anything
identified within the units, we do have a plan in place. We
do have a dedicated funding source to address this within our thomas
rolfe and davisville communities. So we're very glad that we do have, uh,
those resources to address that concern. Then we're coming on
down to the end. Uh, just wanted to, uh, let council know,
um, some real time challenges that the housing authority contends
with on a regular basis. Um, I do believe understanding the context
and the climate we're in as a housing authority is paramount to our operations
and it really informs our direction and strategic planning as we
move forward. So with hud's ever changing regulations, political
shifts, eroding funding, aging buildings, and
resident and landlord needs, we're making every effort to be adaptable
forward thinking. And we definitely wanna be aligned with our stakeholders
as we move the agency forward. So we're committed to transforming
housing and being the catalyst for improving our communities
here in hopewell, and we're seeking to do that in hopewell and beyond.
so I do wanna thank you, um, thank you for allowing me to
provide that information to you. And actually that's the last
bit of what I have for my part of the presentation.
um, and if we go, probably have to go down quite a bit
all the way down to our development section and I will turn it over to mr.
mccourt. Yep. Right there. I'll turn it over to mr. Mccoy and then
I'll come back if you have any questions you'd like to ask at that time too. Thank you.
alright. Good evening everybody. Good evening. Evening. Um, picking up
where ms. Wilson left off, um, been asked to just give a
summary of the development efforts of hopewell redevelopment and housing authority.
um, I'll first start off by just discussing
the, the very kind of genesis of this. Uh, a few years ago
started working with the housing authority and the first thing that was done was really to create
this vision of, you know, talking about vision 2030 that was
shared. And talk about what does that mean for development.
um, there was an understanding years ago that, you know, hud was kind of moving
in a direction that said there wasn't more public housing money
coming, it, it just wasn't coming. And so with that being said, the housing authority
began to redevelop its properties, uh, using
other funding outside of hud to do that. Uh, most
recently, uh, piper square, which was originally built
in the late seventies, uh, was rehabbed, uh, what we call
a substantial rehab. It was a $23 million project, uh, which
resulted in completely new systems within those units. So new
hvac, new, uh, plumbing, new fixtures, new flooring, uh,
new lighting, you name it. Uh, top to bottom really, uh, working throughout
the buildings as well as, uh, assigning a new, uh,
exterior to the building so that, you know, those who were to drive through piper square
today, uh, might not recognize it as it once stood.
in fact, we often get asked, did we tear it down and rebuild it? Uh,
we did not. Um, and so, you know,
next on that, uh, this council would be familiar with, uh,
the housing authority has also, uh, been working toward development
of, uh, the rendezvous apartments, uh, which is located in the highland park,
uh, highland area of the city, uh, near cavalier square. Um,
this would be a 64 unit development. And it's currently,
uh, in the pre-development phase, uh, much of its funding has
been secured in just looking for that, uh, last piece of the puzzle
to get that one started. Um, other development,
uh, is really in the early stages, um,
development, I'll say this, sometimes when we see new developments come online,
um, it seems like it just kind of happens overnight, uh, the physical part of it.
but the reality is most development takes about five to 12 years,
uh, from concept to actual completion. And, um, you
know, I think the work that the housing authority is doing,
uh, is very similar to that. The, the piper square project, uh, is
one that was began in, uh, 2018,
if I'm not mistaken. And of course it was completed in 2024.
so I always like to give people that lens to understand that there is a lot of
work that's happening behind the scenes to bring those developments to fruition.
um, unless I'll say this, that the, uh, this board
also, um, looked at, uh, the city and,
and really is always asking a question of, you know, how can, what the housing authority
does work well with what the city has done. And, uh,
one of those areas is in single family. Uh, the, the board has also been looking at
how can the housing authority, uh, work within the single family side
of things to bring more, uh, high quality, um,
single family housing, you know, for sale housing, uh, to the
city as well. Um, so yeah, I'll leave it at that and,
okay. Okay. Um, let's see.
uh, the first person that I have for a question is, uh, counselor stokes
and then myself, um, then vice mayor joyner? Mm-hmm .
okay.
uh, ms. Stokes, if you're, yep. Okay. Uh, yeah, you're on mute.
councilor stokes.
oh, I'm sorry. There you go. And we, are we unmuted? Yes, you are unmuted now.
they got new stuff up here. .
I can raise my hand. Can you see me raise my hand? Uh,
no ma'am. Not on that screen.
that's what I was playing with. But at any rate, um,
from the first presentation,
um, what are the plans for the relocation
of davis? That
is, what is the timeline on the relocation of davisville?
is there any plans for that community?
yep. That is a great question. Councillor stokes and I will say,
um, is to be determined
the timeframe for when things will occur with davisville. Uh,
we're doing things kind of in a sequence, so we're working on getting
the rendezvous online, which we're very excited about that. Um, as mr. Mccoy
alluded to, um, you know, we're working through some, uh, pre-development
activities once we get the rendezvous online, that will
give us the go ahead to begin looking at our plans for thomas
rolfe and davisville. So I don't have a timeframe,
uh, tonight for when that will occur, but we are
planning to have a well, uh, well thought out, well planned,
uh, relocation plan for the davisville residents,
but I thought some years back that had already been put
in place and what has caused this
slow down with davisville thomas roth court
and then to run it mm-hmm . Yep. So I don't,
I mean, yi mean you just, you know, a direct answer because
the timeframe on it and where we at now don't
match. So make it make sense.
okay. Alright. Let's see if I can try. So, um, as mr. Mccoy
alluded to, when you're working on development projects, um,
there are things that come along that you hadn't planned for. And,
you know, you have a contingency plan where you, um, may
have to change gears, the timeframe may change, some things may
have delays. You may have to re redirect your focus,
you may have to change what you had initially started to do. And it's just
in the world of development that those are the things that we contend
with as far as the timeframe for davisville and the relocation.
um, I don't have a definitive timeframe tonight because
we've had series of delays and certain things that have
impacted our development activities. So we wanna make sure
we have, um, some clear, a clear path forward
with the timeframe for rendezvous and thomas rolfe.
and then we will certainly, uh, consider davisville and the
timeframe for that. So it will kind of happen in
tandem. Like these things will be coordinated together, but, um,
you know, we'll definitely come back when we do have a solid definitive timeframe.
um, I'll definitely come back and I can relay that, but just to try to,
uh, to try to land this plane. I will say that because we've
had unexpected and different things occur with our other
projects, our other development, it did have an impact on the timing
for davisville. So do you have future plans
of making sure that the members of this city council are kept
abreast? Like maybe a 30 to 60 day report
on where you at, where, where you are with the development
of those plans? So we don't have to ask these questions years later? Yes,
ma'am. Yes. When we had a different set of expectations, and I wasn't
on council then, but I followed as a constituent,
and it, it gives me great concern, the changes,
um, and you're not being definitive with the changes, but
if you could keep us in the loop, um,
we would be on top of what is happening. So when the constituents,
the constituency, particularly public housing residents and
our tax paying people wanna know what's happening. I thought they
planned to do this, I thought this was gonna happen by this date.
if we have reports or some more communication
from him, we'd be able to properly answer our constituents, ma'am.
okay. Well thank you for that feedback. And I do agree that, um,
there should be timely and relevant communication as relates to our
project. So we're, we're committing to keep council apprised of our
updates and definitely keep you all in the loop because we want to continue
building our relationship with the city so we can work on some additional projects.
so we will be very intentional about keeping council abreast
of what, what's going on. So that's a fair, fair comment.
and I am your liaison so I can keep them abbra. Yes, ma'am.
thank you. Thank you. Um, so I have,
uh, two questions. Um, the first one is, um, you talked
a lot about, um, you have the public side, public housing side of
y'all's mission, but there's another side of y'all's mission
in attracting new development and new
housing. Yes. You know, here in the city of hopewell. Um,
so what are your plans to, uh, take advantage of the
second part of y'all mission? Um, and the reason
I'm asking is because, you know, right now we are, you know, continuing
to, um, you know, focus a lot of our decision making on
making sure that, um, we are doing things that are making us look better and
better and better. Mm-hmm . For our bond rating, um, for the bond rating agencies.
and the two of the biggest, um, factors in that is,
you know, the city's overall value. So the value of all assets within
the city. Um, and then also looking at, you know, the housing
stock. And then it also looks at, you know, median household
income. Uh, what are y'all's plans for
addressing the new housing and development piece?
yeah, so what we're wanting to do is, like I said, you know,
we're working through some of these current, uh, projects, but we're wanting to do is
really, um, engage the city. Um, since
I've joined the housing authority in this capacity, um, I would like
to have discussions, planning sessions, identify some areas
within the city that could be really ripe for development and
see, you know, how we could, um, put together a project and
deal to bring in the new housing. Uh, we do have some ideas
we've discussed with, um, our consultant, mr. Mccoy about,
you know, some areas where we could, um, could really build up,
um, some really nice projects, really nice developments. And it would include,
um, mixed use, um, possibly some retail.
um, but we do have plans and would like to, uh, discuss
those because, um, you know, ultimately we would need the city or want
the city's blessing to move forward in those areas. But we certainly
are, um, wanting to be very intentional about
bringing new housing, new development, um, to the city to help
with the, the value and to help bring up the, the asset value
and, um, just the appeal and just the overall, um,
aesthetic of the city. So we're definitely wanting to do that. We
do have some ideas, like I said, there are some, some potential,
um, areas and locations that we would like to,
uh, discuss with the city, um, you know, in the near future. So.
okay. Um, mr. Rogers, can
you get with ms. Wilson and let's get a joint meeting between the, um,
the hrha board and, uh, city council so we can start talking about,
um, you know, some of these developments and these projects? Absolutely.
and let's shoot for, you know, october timeframe. Okay.
um, no better time than the present. Alright. Um,
then the next question that I have is, um, yeah, I know that you guys have
talked here, you know, about these, um, these new projects you've talked about a little bit about
the capital and the maintenance and improving operations. Um,
and I know that there's, you know, public safety and there's security issues, um,
you know, within, uh, the housing communities and then, um, you
know, issues I think also with individuals living in units, um,
that are not on leases. Um, have you guys looked at
bringing in or, uh, researching or considering bringing in a turnaround specialist
that helps us specialize in, in housing authorities,
um, to help you guys implement, um, some, you know, best practices and
help, you know, further y'all's mission? Yeah, that's a great question.
um, mayor. Pardon? We are actually,
we're actually, um, in the process of procuring and bringing on
a third party who specializes in exactly what you described okay. Unit
terms, supporting our maintenance and really having a dedicated
resource to get our units online faster, better, and that
kind of thing. So to answer your question, yes, we are. Okay. Mm-hmm . Have you guys already
issued out that rfp or have you guys uh, spoken with the state on
who's on like their pre-approval list? I have not. Okay. And I
can certainly do that. Okay. Um, 'cause I think that that'll end up helping, saving you
a lot of time and a lot of vetting, um, and working with the, the pre-approved
list. Thank you for that. And then it also, they also have, you know, very
high standards of quality that, you know, you guarantee
that you're gonna get good quality work from these individuals. Yeah.
duly noted. Um, the folks we were talking to, you know, we
were just looking around to see, um, what kind of resources there are. Mm-hmm . This one
company, um, they work, they currently work with about four other
housing authorities. So we were looking at how to piggyback off of, um, you
know, the existing contract with them. But I will certainly follow up, uh, with the state.
um, that's eva, right. Uh, I'll
certainly follow up on that. Um, okay. Thank you. Um,
uh, hold on one second. Uh, counsel, it's my, go ahead.
is my question period up or I can still question? You can,
um, it's just, you'll be on your second round, so I have to let, uh, the other folks go first
that have their hands. Oh, okay. Dear. Thank you. Yeah, no problem.
uh, so next is vice mayor joyner and councillor day, and then councillor harris. Yeah.
and then stokes. Okay. Ms. Wilson, thank you so much for
your presentation. I do have a couple of questions going back to the communications
plan that you had. Yes. Can we go back to that and look at it? Could we
get to that slide? The communications one?
that one right there? Mm-hmm . That one. Mm-hmm . How many of these things are
in place right now? So right now, the first one
we do have the newsletters. Right? Right. We do have the rad advisory
board meetings, but they're only when we call them like, okay, we'll schedule that.
you gonna set that up? Mm-hmm . How about the resident text alert system? Is that in place now?
so we are working on that because, um, you know, we converted to a new erp,
uh, it's called yardi uhhuh . And we are, we are still learning their, the
functionality and we discovered that we have that functionality
in our existing system. So, okay. We, we haven't done it yet, but we are certainly gonna,
that's gonna be next on our, our list. And then we do work with food
distribution. Um, there's a local organization that, um, you know, delivers food
to our sites. Okay. And hrj website
portal. We're working on our, uh, website and portal now. Okay. We did
a fresh facelift of our website, and we're still working to improve
the, the portal. Okay. Yeah, I, I just would just like to say, I think that that's,
this piece is really important and I think probably leads
to most of the customer complaints, quite frankly, the
fact that people don't know what's going on or they, they hear they get misinformation,
that kind of thing. So I think the sooner the, you and, and the commissioners
can make sure that this all is in place and working would be very,
you know, very beneficial to you. The other question that I had relates to,
and, and, um, it might be, um, something from mr. Mccoy,
um, with regard to the rendezvous, you mentioned that about 92%
of the funding, you have about 92% of the funding ready, the other
8%. How, how, what kind of dollars are we talking? And
do you have confidence that, do you have confidence that you're gonna get that,
that other 8%? Yeah.
uh, yeah. I have confidence in that. I'm real, real, real glad to see you back.
I mean, you know, because I'm happy to be, we, you know, this would, we had hoped this was gonna
be, as I'm sure y'all did, this would've already been built
by now if there hadn't been, you know, some waves. But we're really glad to
have you back working on the rendezvous. Yeah, I'm happy to be back. Thank you. Good, good.
um, and yeah, I do, I I believe the, the rest of the, um, the last mile of
funding is on its way. Okay. Um, we, we had some really promising,
uh, pieces that we worked on. Right. Um, the planning commission or, or the, uh,
district planning commission has been really good. And, um, we are
on their list. They don't get funding every year. Yeah. Uh, but they work with virginia housing
to get I cut you off. Yeah. Um, thank you mr. Bessette for this. Um, can
I have a motion to extend the meeting until we complete the, uh,
public hearing? Number four. I move second. Alright.
move. Motion's been made by councilor, uh, day, or
excuse me, vice mayor joiner, seconded by councilor day. Uh, any discussion?
seeing no lights roll called police count? Councillor harris? Yes.
mayor. Pardon? Yes. Councilor ellis? Yes. Councilor
day? Yes. Councilor stokes? Yes.
councilor ole? Yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes. Motion
passes. Seven to zero. Alright. Please catch mr. Set.
thank you, mr. Such an exciting topic. , thank, but, but I do have still have one other
question. Okay. Talk to, talk to us. You know, all your funding,
most of your funding comes from hud. What are you hearing
in terms of, you know, changes
to funding? That would be, yeah, and that's my last, this is my last
question. Sorry. Sorry for this. I'm sorry. Thank you.
yeah, so it's real interesting. You know, we are watching things very closely
and you know, the thing that I watch is what's called
the, uh, you know, hud does a proration of the funding. So every year they'll say,
hey, you're eligible for 5 million, but I look at the proration percent
because that's the actual amount we get. And, um, I will say
for public housing, our prorated amount, um,
has, has decreased. Meaning they said, we'll get this amount, but the actual
amount we get is much less. Okay. For our section eight and housing choice voucher,
it has been funded 100%. So that lets me know
there is a desire and a, a wishing to
maintain our, you know, housing choice voucher rental program. Right. But not, whereas
public housing. Yeah. Okay. That is not desirable and that's just the truth. Yeah. Okay.
I really, I appreciate it. I think that's good for people to hear and understand what's going on. Thank
you so much. We appreciate you coming and thanks for the commissioners to be here. We appreciate that. Thank
you. Uh, councilor day harris, and then stokes. Aye.
okay. Um, so I had a question about piper square. Are
all the security cameras now working there? Um, I know at one time
there were some that were not, and you know, this was being brought to me by constituents
that were concerned that, you know, some of the crime may have been related to the
fact that, you know, these security cameras were not working and,
you know, if they, there were crime there that maybe having the cameras
working, you know, might have led to finding out who was, you know, causing
the crime. So I just wondered if all of those are now functioning that
are there. Yeah, that's a great question. It was unfortunate. We had some incidents
there, and at the time there were some cameras that were offline. We
had some electrical issues. We, we learned that, um,
during the redevelopment, um, parts of our project, some
of the wires were cut. Okay. And we had to have them repaired. So we've since had those
repaired. Um, out of all of the piper square cameras, there's
one camera that is still offline. And we had the manufacturer,
you know, you know how you cry, you know how they say the squeaky wheel, right?
yep. So, you know, after my, uh, many months of crying and all of that,
the manufacturer came to piper square and
the camera was defective. Okay. So we had to get it replaced. So they're
all working now though? Well, no, still waiting on the one camera.
oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. So, but other than that, other than that one, if we
were to pull it up, you'd be able to see, um, the majority of the
property. So we did have an issue, but it's since, for the most part,
been fixed. Okay. And my last question or question and
comment, um, I think I do think that the resident advisory board is,
is paramount because I do, you know, a lot of the, um, comments that
I get, you know, are just feeling like they're not being heard sometimes by
hrha. Um, when you have these meetings, are they on
a saturday? Are they in the evening? Like, when are you doing these, you know, to make
sure that, you know, people are able to attend and get there. And, because I just
think that's a, a really important piece of this communication panel that you
have here. Yeah, I agree. So with the resident advisory board,
and a lot of these things are hud driven. Hud required, um, there
is an application process that a resident, like there's a formal, you know, there's a form
you have to fill out. Right. If you're interested. Um, and certainly, you know, any
resident is welcome to join annoying. Most of the meetings
we've had, they've been during the day, during the week, um, during our business hours.
um, and the residents would, would meet and discuss, um, the issues that
were on the agenda. Um, it's a formal meeting, you know, we had, we have minutes, we record
it and all of that. But I agree, we, and that's why we're
wanting to, um, you know, establish a regular
meeting schedule so that, you know, we're hearing from the residents they're getting
together and we're having some real engagement, um, so that
we can, um, you know, keep their trust and, you know, have that comfort.
so. Right. I do, I do think that's, you know, very important. Agreed.
yeah. Thank you. Uh, councillor harris,
ms. Wilson,
what, what is, um, your concern about the problems
that the residents are having in regard to
recertification, recertification?
or are you receiving problem calls from people about
your certification? Yeah, so, excuse me.
that is a very good question. And for some folks, uh, recertification, that's
just the process where our residents would, um, come in and provide us
any updates to their, excuse me, to their income or their housing
composition or anything like that to determine if there should be any changes in
their rent or any of anything like that. It normally occurs on an annual
basis. And we have had, uh, some things,
some things to work through with the recertifications. It's tied to
a couple things. Um, we've had transition staff, we've had
turnover. We have the new system in place. So there's,
um, you know, getting acquainted with the new system, getting
our staff trained and retaining staff.
um, and as a part of that, we've had some challenges with recertifications.
and, um, you know, not to say I've been on an apology tour,
but we've been making every effort to, to rectify and make it right.
and that's, we've made some progress. Um, but, you know, we're still
working to improve that. Well
just want to comment, and I'm glad that you are seeking ways
to try to, you know, to deal with that situation because,
um, we tend to receive a lot of calls here at the council level
in regards to recertification and other things in the, in the,
uh, in the housing that you have now.
and, um, and that's concern that, that
I have myself in regards to the amount of conversation
that I received about situations that you have in the housing right now.
and, uh, one of them is the condition of the housing and
there's quite a bit of comment about the condition of
some of the housing that they're living in. And
it's not a day that go, go back to the entire seven day week
that I don't get a phone call from individuals outta housing talking about mold.
and now I understand that, uh, there's been another visit
with, uh, residents concerning mold
in piper square, and I was wondering if you were aware
of, uh, I just received a call just before this meeting tonight
about mold in the buildings,
the whole buildings from, uh, maintenance
people. And so from our mainten, I'm sorry, from our maintenance staff
yes. From the maintenance. And, uh, I was wondering if
you were aware of it, you know, and I just wanted to make you aware of it,
that that's the concern that's out there. And
that's something I think that, you know, I think you're working to deal
with it, you just said, I just think that we need to communicate
a little bit better with the, uh, residents in
regards to the fact that we are making an effort to get this thing fixed.
because now you got individuals talking about health conditions and
everything else that goes with if there is mold.
and of course over there in pipe square you got a whole lot of mold experts.
so mm-hmm. I just wanted to let you know that
you do. And, uh, so I, I'm glad that
you're on top of it. Yeah. Thank you for that feedback. Yeah.
um, may I ask a question? Yes, sir. Ms. Wilson, you and I have, uh,
worked on this situation and mm-hmm . Um,
in particular, everything that's
black in an apartment is
not necessarily mold. You, you've had, uh, mold inspectors
come out and, and, and, and in some of the
apartments where they've looked in, uh, where people thought it was mold
and it wasn't. Right. But let me ask
throughout piper square or any of the areas,
do you have retained a, um,
a contractor that does regular
inspection, uh, for mold because it is
a health hazard for people who have respiratory problems?
yeah, that's a, um, great question. And, you know, duly noted.
so what we're doing, 'cause you know, we have piper square
and then we have our public housing side, thomas roth davisville. So,
um, understanding and knowing the issues in, in both
sides, um, we're taking our courses of action for each
one, you know, as we need to. What we are gearing up to do
on the public housing side is we will be, um, procuring,
um, someone to come in and do an inspection of all the units.
um, and then we will look at any remediation plans for the
public housing side, piper square, because it is a different,
the, the funding and the structure is a bit different. So, um, we
do have plans for piper square. Um,
as of right now we're doing it on an as needed basis.
so as we are made aware of the concerns, we immediately have someone
come out and do testing. Um, but I do think it is a
good idea to consider having some regular inspections,
um, with these units. So we're looking into that. But I will say,
um, because the, the funding is different, we do have to look at our budgetary,
you know, our resources to see how we can best do that. But what I want council
to know is that, um, it is very important to me, the health
and safety of our residents. So, um, it is my hope
that we will continue to show that we are concerned
and want to get these issues addressed, um, as
soon as we can, the best way we can. Um, so that our residents
do, um, you know, they are afforded the health and safety,
um, in their homes that they should have. So it's definitely our priority
to do that.
okay. Um, ms. Stokes, um,
and I, I'd like to comment because I've experienced some,
some, some discord on
and, and I'm giving compliments
to my fellow counselors 'cause you're asking some very good questions.
but one of the things that concerned me is, yes, we have to do the
inspections and we have to do all the things
we are supposed to do, but you just can't bring
in an out of town inspection company
and expect me to allow a stranger in my house from ohio. That's
not gonna happen. And there's protocol before you even get there
that was not met at. Alright. And it,
the residents just as, uh, councilor day touched upon,
have the right to communication. Thus, the
reason hud requires the resident council,
resident council jumps it off public hearing and we know who's coming
in our home, but I know you gotta catch up inspections, but
you still gotta follow protocol and rules and respect
public housing residence and anybody else, nobody's gonna let a
stranger in their home for, I'm not from ohio on a
two week notice or a 30 day notice. And that's not the rule.
so there are things I know that has to be fixed before we can get
to where we gotta get to and the residents feel comfortable with
our leadership. Duly not, but thank you.
and that's my comment. Okay. Thank you. Alright, well thank you ms. Wilson.
thank you so much. Alright. And then, uh, mr. Rogers will
be reaching out to you on getting that, uh, joint meeting together. Yes. Thank
you. Uh, so,
uh, in the interest of charles, uh, for, uh, number four,
can you condense your, your presentation? We kind of know what's what
about we kinda go , so, and, and, and I am
just the sponsor. Mm-hmm . Pastor collier, this here okay. From city of refuge
to do, to do it. And, uh, so I'm just setting up the okay,
that's fine. Present presentation for him. That's whoever wants to do whoever does the presentation. Um,
'cause we're already at eight 15 and we haven't even gotten to the, to regular meeting. I'll be brief
. Okay. It says every pastor before sermon starts. Right.
pastor famous last words, . Just, just to, just
to set this up, if you remember last city council meeting, I did a work session
with a model from religious, uh, community services in, in new
bern. When we came back from that trip, we have gone to,
uh, community meetings, oc three, we've been to community center.
and pastor callers and pastor boggs heard that presentation. They
saw it and it resonated with them. And tonight, uh, they're here.
um, he's here. Pastor boggs is on, uh, out of town. But, um, to
talk about what, what they would like to propose similar in
hopewell mm-hmm . If that's the end. Okay. I'll try to condense it as, as quick as possible.
uh, thank you for allowing us to be here to, uh, make this, uh, brief, uh,
you know, presentation before you obviously we're city of refuge, uh, hopewell. We run
a, uh, recovery program for those that are struggling with addiction we've been in
the city since 2018, and we've come before you
to present a proposal that we have to deal with an ongoing issue
in hopewell that's been addressed, that's been spoken of briefly, which is the homeless issue.
so I'm trying to figure out how to move this, uh, move this cursor. Just
tell me which one to hit. Just, just hit, hit this arrow right here. Okay. Here we go. Down.
yep. Um, hope center missions and goals is to help
to eradicate homelessness in hopewell. That's a, that is a, that is a quite
the feat. Uh, you know, but, uh, you know, we have a great, uh, opportunity
to try to, uh, uh, deal with the real issue here, and that is to arrest
the slide into homelessness by, at risk population. We want to encourage
those that are struggling with this issue, uh, to a place of upward
mobility and to secure location for a point of entry where we can actually,
uh, speak to them and, and deal with them, uh, at a personal level, level.
and also to help to provide a personal shelter as needed.
um, and I'm still not getting this thing piece
I said, page down. Write this one. Okay, here we go.
alright. Um, presently we're looking at, uh, our partners
that help us to deal with this particular issue, which is obviously the police,
the churches, uh, hospitals, district 19 hrha
food pantry, and, uh, our local school system. And what we would do,
we, we would, uh, gather clients information and, uh, assess their
present needs and assign personal navigators to guide
these individuals through the, the process. Uh, we would collect the information
and report, uh, that data to, uh, those that are,
uh, in, in a place that need to hear this information monthly. And we would
maintain client files. Um, uh, our goal is for 25 and
26, is to provide an overnight shelter, evening meals and
clothing, uh, to have a, a center and, uh, of an administrative facility
present. We're looking at city of refuge, literally moving our entire operation
to the second floor of the st. James, uh, church educational building. Uh,
we would provide daily food and mail, uh, meal distribution, and provide,
uh, that with assistance from our partners. And we would have a clothing consolidated
and to a central facility where these individuals can get the necessary
services that they need. Um, uh, what we would look at is developing,
uh, something similar, I think that, uh, was, uh, was seen at newburn,
which was develop these pods that would prevent an opportunity for
these individuals to find the services that they need to help them, uh, gather
that upward, upward mobility. Uh, mobility. Uh, first it'd
be an education pod, uh, which, where they could pursue a ged, an eslf,
uh, vsu schools, continuing education. There would be legal
services pod, which would be, uh, pro bono legal support. There would be
judicial process. Help many of our clients that we presently deal with, with the
center, and many that are, uh, on the, you know, on the streets are dealing with legal
issues and, uh, need some help there. There would be a housing pod, which would
be landlord supportive housing and rapid rehousing, financial support,
bankers, advisors, and financial classes. This is a goal. This isn't
presently what's in place, but that would be what we would try to pursue. And then
obviously, we would try to find an employment pod for job training, uh,
research, uh, and finding employee, uh, partnerships presently,
uh, the city of refuge with community partners, uh, are
addressing the need of, of meals, uh, that, uh, we provide
meals, uh, four times a week, and we have 14 plus local
cong congregations and other partners that help to provide these meals. There
are 35 to 40 individuals that we serve in these meals, nightly with,
uh, you know, wholesome food, food that's been prepared. Uh, we have
partners that we, uh, have alongside that are schools, employers,
landlords, legal firms, banks, food pantries, and churches obviously, to
help us to meet that need. We have volunteers and professional staff that are working
together to help to provide these services. And what the benefit of
this, uh, service is to reduce the homelessness, to strengthen the families,
and to lower public cost. And, um, our startup requirements,
and I'm trying to go as quickly as possible, is to, you know, if we get
the facility that we need, is to, you know, have these set up requirements met to
build, uh, you know, to have a rental, utilities, uh, shelter, beds,
linens, appliances and furniture. Uh, again, continue to provide the
food services and clothing, set up equipment, uh, support
toolkits, and then obviously transportation to get these individuals from
one location to another as needed. And ultimately,
uh, what we hope to arrive at, which would be, you know,
joining together with the city, with the community, with churches, with
all of their entities, is to provide a process. 'cause that's really what
we need. I know that there's a real major concern about, you know, how do
we address this homeless issue without giving some type of
solution in terms of what we can do for these individuals. There's really
no hope of moving them unless you have some sort of process to provide
for them. Now, I know there's a lot of different issues that we're dealing with, with this population.
uh, we deal with a similar, uh, kind of scenario as we're dealing with people that
are struggling with addiction. So, you know, we'd have to layer that. We'd
have to get, you know, that financial support. Obviously, when you're trying to provide, provide
services, there is a financial need there. Uh, we need the funding, the city
partnerships, and again, partnerships with businesses and other locations. And, and
we need to have a more permanent solution to the housing issue.
not just providing shelter, but also providing a transitional
option for these individuals to move from the shelter to a more permanent
residential support system. Um, we don't know what that looks like. We
have a projection, we have an idea, but this is, again, the beginning of the process.
and, uh, it's a matter of working together. And I, I guess, set all
of that to say this. We all want solutions, but solution does not
come from one entity. That's what we've learned in the city of refuge.
we need partners. We need people in the city working with us. We need
private industry working with us. We need churches and faith-based organization
working together collectively for the need of those that we're
trying to serve. Now, ultimately, you all know that a rising tide
rises all boats. And so if we can help these individuals find that,
you know, the support that they're needed, uh, and some of 'em need mental help assistance,
some of 'em need job training, some of them just need an opportunity
to see that there is a hope beyond their present circumstances
and situations. We believe there's a model there that if we pursue
with the assistance of others coming alongside of us, that we
can make a difference. Uh, you know, eradicating homelessness,
that's a lofty goal, but we can start the process, and
that's what we ultimately desire. And I know this council desires as well.
so, uh, that's sort of in a nutshell, very quickly
trying to be the honoring of your time. I'm willing to, you
know, take any questions if you have any tonight. But thank you again for letting us
present this to you tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Are
there any questions for pastor collier? I just have comment. Mm-hmm
. I'm just, I'm very excited about this. Like, I, I'm really, can they see me? My,
I'm so excited to see something. You know, they got a raise hand button on they
coming together now, so this is great. Agree. Uh,
counselor stokes, did you have anything that you wanted to say? Oh, I,
okay. Can y'all hear me? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yes.
do you have any comments on, on this? I,
I, I did. I didn't know whether I'm sitting here. ,
I told you this new stuff over here, but, um, sitting there trying to,
okay. Just let me know when I can speak now.
now, yes. Okay. I'm,
I'm impressed with what I've heard tonight. Um, I'm really
impressed with the coordination of the different
services and the landlords and the feeding and the,
that's very impressive. Um, and so
I just wanted to make that comment. Thank you, city of refuge for the work
you've putting in, and, um, just looking forward to
working with you and the different projects that you
have planned for this. I, this is something I'm very interested in.
thank you, councilor sta. Thank you. Alright. Thank you pastor callier so
much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Uh, our last one,
uh, mr. Bassett.
thank you, mr. Mayor. Uh, so what
we have here is a proposed, um, it's
kind of an omnibus ordinance that would
bring together in our code of ordinances,
uh, nuisance. Right now in our code, we only have
nuisance, uh, for the purpose of grass and weeds. Uh, otherwise
we don't have a public nuisance ordinance within the city of hopewell.
um, and you know, as I was going to draft
that for council's consideration, I noticed that
there's this whole list of related items,
uh, criminal blight, spotlight, derelict buildings, inoperable
vehicles that are all, in many cases, uh,
old using old fashioned language being unclear, but also
just existing all over in the code of ordinances. And so
this would, besides creating a nuisance ordinance beyond
grass and weeds, it would modernize the other ones and bring them all
together in the same place in the city code of ordinances. And the reason why
you would want them to all be together is that these are
all different ordinances, uh, tools
that are used by and enforced by
typically the same individuals. Like this is the building inspector and the, and
the, um, and the zoning inspector. Um,
and so that's why, you know, anyone looking for any
of these, like if, if the zoning inspector's bringing a case in
court, oftentimes what we're bringing is a case
that has a little bit of zoning violation,
a little bit of inoperable vehicles, a little bit of something else under this
ordinance. So that's the reason to, to bring them all together. I will say
with the nuisance ordinance as recommended
here in this draft, it would give the ability
for not only the director of public works
zoning, but also the building official, the chief of police and the
fireman to pursue nuisance uh, uh, enforcement
where needed. Okay. Yeah. That was just the biggest thing that
I just wanted to make sure, is that we are putting teeth in here where, you
know, we haven't really had it in the past that, you know, we can remedy
a lot of these issues that are chronic across the, the city. Yeah,
absolutely. And I mean, public nuisance is a big tool that localities
have mm-hmm . And, uh, it's, it's available to us here in the city
of hope, while we just haven't taken advantage of it. Yeah. Great.
thank you, mr. Bassett. Are there any questions for, uh, the city attorney? Mm-hmm.
okay. Seeing no lights. Thank you. Alright, now we're gonna go into
our regular meeting. I'm gonna go ahead and call this meeting to order.
uh, have a roll call, please.
mayor, I part, mayor I pardon? Here. Vice mayor joiner. Here.
councilor harris. Here. Councilor ellis. Here. Councilor
day. Here. Councilor stokes.
here. Councilor oli. Here we have a
quorum. Okay. At this time, uh, we'll have the prayer by pastor collier,
uh, followed by the pledge of allegiance, by myself. Please rise.
let's bow our heads. Father in heaven, we just come before you
today in need of your guidance and your wisdom and direction. We
thank you for the city council and for the work that they're putting in, lord, to help
this city. We pray, god, grant them wisdom, grant 'em
guidance and discernment on the things they should do. And upon those
things, they should not. And I pray, god, that you would bring unity to this council,
bring unity to this city so that those that they serve, god
would be able to receive all that they have need of. We ask your blessings upon this time,
and we ask it in christ name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
a pledge flag of the united states of america
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
okay. Uh, is there a motion to amend the regular meeting agenda
to move the city manager report, uh, to in front
of the information presentation section? So moved. Second. Okay.
uh, motions made by vice mayor joiner and seconded by councilor ellis. Is
there any discussion? Seeing no lights? Roll call please.
councilor harris? Yes. Mayor. Pardon? Yes. Councilor
ellis? Yes. Councilor day? Yes. Councilor stoke?
yes. Councilor oli? Yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes.
motion passes. Seven to zero. Okay. At this time, is there a motion to
adopt the consent agenda? I'll second it.
any discussion? Seeing none. Roll call please.
councillor harris? Yes. May I part? Yes.
councilor ellis. Yes. Councilor day? Yes. Councillor
stokes. Yes. Councilor ole? Yes.
vice mayor joiner? Yes. Motion passes. Seven to zero. Okay,
mr. Rogers, the floor is yours. Okay. Chief
taylor has his, uh, monthly report.
good evening, mr. Mayor. Good afternoon, madam vice mayor,
members of city council. I'm here to give you the september crime summary.
and our first slide, uh, is, uh, crime stats. And these
stats are through august the 31st. And,
uh, uh, murder, rape, robing, aggravated assaults.
um, we had 63 in 2024. We
had 60 in this year, so forth. So we're minus three,
which were violent crime right now with damn minus 5%.
but let's go back to, uh, I wanna talk about the murders.
and then you see in 2024, we have four. And
on your slide tonight, it's showing five. But since this
report was done, we had an additional homicide, which
takes our total to six. And the
800 block of chestnut is still under investigation.
uh, we're looking at, it was not a random act. Uh, we're getting all
the facts together to hopefully we can, uh,
bring whoever was responsible for justice. Uh,
the recent, uh, homicide on raleigh street,
uh, fortunately we was able to make an arrest
in that incident within 24 hours of it, of it being reported.
uh, so overall we have sex, but we have made tremendous
strides and making arrest on the persons responsible
for these homicides. The other, uh,
one that I want to focus on was the robberies, where you see in 2024,
we had three. In 2025 we had 12.
and as I reported previously, these, uh, uh,
there is no individual patterns or group or individuals. These are individual
robberies that things are being stolen from bikes to
phones. And we had an incident where a juvenile even, uh, stole
a car from a neighbor, and he was caught and arrested for it. So we are, we are
looking into these individual robberies, uh,
and, um, doing what we can to, to solve 'em. Um,
I'm here to report, you know, in the past the aggravated assaults had been going
up, um, reported that we at a minus 22% in aggravated
reports, aggravated assaults. I'm sorry. So that's good news.
and going to, uh, arson, burglary, larson, motor vehicle thefts,
um, property crime, I mean, at the
total, uh, property crimes, uh, it was, uh,
a total that we are down, uh, minus 26%,
uh, arson, we had three, it still remains at three.
reakfast we had 22 we're down 18 minus 18%. Uh,
larcenies was 201 and twenty twenty four, a hundred and seventy four,
and 2025, which is minus 12%. So we're minus 12%
in, in also on the larcenies. And a good thing to report is
the motor vehicle thefts. 'cause that was one of the major issues that we had in the past. And I'm
happy to report that motor vehicle thefts overall are down minus 65%.
uh, our property crime, crime total, uh, minus 23%
and total major crime is minus 23%.
moving on to my next slide, uh,
the opiate overdoses. I'm still happy to report
that since we started reporting these, uh, incidents and
from 2020 through 2025 we're in the lowest,
uh, opiate failed or non-fatal, uh, incidents that
we, when we, we started reporting this. So that's a good thing.
uh, verified shots fired. Uh, 2024, we
had 33 and 2025, we had 39. As
I continue to reiterate that, once we
get these calls of verified shops fired, we go back in the area, we knock on
doors, uh, the next day we do outdoor roll calls, uh, knock
and try to get as much information we can from neighbors to find out who,
uh, is responsible for them and also any forensic
evidence that we can, uh, collect. So we, uh,
always looking at how we can reduce these verified shot calls,
our neighborhood watch meetings. Uh, I'm gonna want to talk about these because I want
to talk about national night out. And I want to talk about, you know, we
got, uh, we got city point, we got farmingdale, we got cobblestone, we got ,
we got ward seven, uh, ward three, ward two, and ward four.
and the reason why I mentioned these, 'cause I'm gonna talk about national night out because I want,
'cause we, we gonna have this at the community center, and I want to get the information out that all
these groups that are, that I'm just reporting that they show up
and we want to get the information out that they come out for national night of.
and my next slide on hiring recruitment. Uh, currently we have 12 vacancies,
uh, and two dispatch vacancies. The two dispatch vacancies was,
uh, because we, uh, in, uh, increased staffing to increase it
to two additional dispatch positions that we're trying to fill. Uh,
four uncertified recruits are still in the academy. They started july the seventh,
and they will be graduating december the 19th. Uh,
hopefully we'll all forward will graduate. Uh, the group recruitment
team will be going to bright point community college on september 17th,
and they also will be going to virginia state university for safety there
on september 17th as well. And under the background invest
background investigation, we had 13 applicants, including one pre-certified
and two dispatch applicants are in the process and all.
officer 30th, we had a all day testing event that was held at credit academy.
we had 12, uh, candidates that participated and five
candidates passed.
next slide.
and then you can go to the next slide. Uh, downtown
community engagement. Uh, we're continuing our foot patrols downtown. Our
business checks downtown, uh, continue to interact with our ci
citizens and business owners downtown. Uh, the beacon theater overtime, uh,
that we had was scheduled for september the fifth. We're continuing traffic
enforcement on east randolph road and, uh, also on app street. And that's
continued by the police and sheriff's department. And, uh, bike patrols,
uh, are scheduled. We had, uh, some scheduled for the month of september, but
after this month, uh, we were discontinue the bike patrols because that
was, uh, focused on the spring and summer months. And we will do bike
patrols, uh, during special events and on special occasions
until spring and summer.
uh, community engagement officers, uh, we continue to have him, uh, attend
the hr ha commissioner's meetings every monthly meetings that he, he attends
and share information with hr ha staff, uh, national night
out, back again, october 7th from 5:00 pm to eight. And
we're gonna have it at the community center. Uh, the police department will
be, uh, having the grill out. We'll be, uh, cooking hot dogs. Uh,
we will have our booth set up. We'll be giving information, giveaways and,
uh, other items there for our citizens.
uh, also this, uh, event, uh, we
are working on, uh, getting this out on facebook. Uh, we have a flyer out, uh,
this week. And my focus is I'm
want to get out, get with my community engagement officers to talk once
again to the block captains to make sure they are
inform of the date and time and, and get a gauge of how many,
uh, citizens and their awards will be participated.
and in, uh, with, in the beginning stage of a, a
business watch group. And, uh, community engagement officer
has been working with city staff and they started out in the west side of the city.
and they, uh, went to the local, uh, hotels
to discuss their concerns and partnership and
communicating with, with the, uh, business districts in the west side.
traffic concerns, uh, speed bumps. Um, mr. Mayor, you
brought this up at our last city council meeting, I did some research and
I also reached out to our public works director and our fire department
director. And for the sake of time, I'm not gonna go into all the details, but, uh, the, from
the public works standpoint, uh, they were not
in favor of the speed bumps. And if we go to section 33 14
obstructing the street with gate chains, et cetera, right now,
as the ordinance read, we would have to pass a ordinance to authorize,
uh, speed bumps in residential because it reads right now council may authorize
speed bumps and parks, playgrounds, and other recreational areas.
my next slide was, uh, concerns from the fire chief that he's here. I'm
not gonna read all the details, but his concerns was, uh, move
with extreme caution, uh, concern about the response times
and, uh, equipment, uh, worse maintenance issues.
and we talked about, uh, he talked about some, uh, maybe some recommendations
on narrowing the streets. And, um, once
again, uh, the issue was response time and response time is
critical. So that's a matter that, uh, city manager
can discuss further, if so, desires with the directors and yeah.
see, can we come together and, and, and make a decision? Yeah.
uh, truck route. Uh, councilor harris, you brought that up at our
last, uh, meeting and I looked into that. Sorry for the delay, sir.
uh, the concern was the 18 wheeler utilizing the street as a cut through
on, uh, reverend cw harris street. And what has
happened. I worked with the director of public works and new signs have been
posted on, uh, e on randolph road east and westbound
at randolph road and reverend cw harris street. And if you look at it, I do have
some photographs of the pictures on here. And also,
uh, new signs were posted if you, on reverend curtis harris
street for the businesses, uh, the power plant, the lawn care
that if they making that left turn onto reverend cw harris street is
sign is a sign that says no truck route. No, no through traffic there, no
truck traffic. So they, they, they are informed that
they can't make their left turn. They need to make the right and go down winston churchill.
and also, we did post this on, uh, facebook, this
updated information and my last slide on
solutions, uh, about the speed bumps. My recommendation was amend
the ordinance to allow speed bumps on city streets. Uh, if you
so desire, uh, for currently or in the future considerations.
uh, we, we'll be doing direct patrols in the location where speeding is reoccurring
in enforce the speed limit. Uh, we are utilizing
our speed trail with radar to show motors there. Speed to
tell 'em they need to slow down. Uh, we we'll have,
uh, several special operations will be held throughout the year, uh, focused
on speeding violations and, and holding these
speeders account. And our future goal, um,
it's a goal is, uh, to have a traffic safety enforcement unit
to enforce the traffic laws and, and educate the citizen, the hopewell.
and lastly, we, we talked about ski speed cameras and
unfortunately speed cameras, uh, on the virginia code, uh, only
allowed in work zones or in high traffic fatality
areas in, in the state. So unfortunately
we won't be able to do move forward with speed cameras because against
virginia code. That, uh, concludes my presentation and
I'm here to answer any questions that you may have of me. Okay.
uh, vice mayor joiner, and then myself. You just answered one of my questions 'cause
I was asking about the, uh, traffic safety division, you know, the traffic division.
that, that my question kind of goes back. Can, can you go back to
the, um, I'm just confused about the vacancies and
where we stand with the p you know, people that are in the pipeline and
that kind of thing. Can you just, I mean, I, can you clarify for me?
um, let's see. Okay. Right here. So we've
got 12 sworn vacancies, but we've got four recruits. So if
those four recruits come in, will they fill the 12? No, ma'am. No, no ma'am.
okay. It's 12 current vacancies we have. Okay. So,
okay. So the, but we, we've got people, we've got, um,
folks that are in background checks and that kind of thing. Yes. Those could potentially fill
that. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Alright. And, uh, we just had a, a final, uh,
uh, meeting with one of our, uh, applicants and
we will be offering him, uh, the, the job tomorrow.
okay. And hopefully he'll he will accept. Okay. And, um, yeah,
'cause I, you know, petersburg is up to, they've, they're fully staffed now, or
I think I saw some things there was fully staffed. I just would love to see us get a
little bit above that 12. And I know you have the same goals. I mean, it's, it's not that we
have different things we wanna get accomplished, I was just kind of confused about where we
stood on the, you know, who was in the pipeline, who wasn't. Um,
and, um, that's, that's basically it. Thank you so much. Thanks for, thanks
for, and thank you for, um, you know, for following up
in such a, in, in such a thorough manner with regard to the speed
bumps and that sort of thing. I do have one thing that does relate to traffic and that
is maplewood avenue. I thought we talked about
a while back about making, you know, that a one way street
and that kind of thing. You can barely, I could, I can barely get through.
I mean, with a car and I don't know how a safety vehicle can get down there.
we've talked about this, we have no, not made, there's nothing happening. There's
been, I don't see any action being taken. Well, and I, that's maybe not your alleyway,
but, well, uh, I, I, I want, we had a concerned
citizen, a concern about the, uh, stop sign violation and the
speeding. So that has been a focus for the last, uh,
sub couple, about a week, week and a half. Well, I know, I know. Which, I know exactly which,
I know which intersection you're talking about. And we are, thank you very much by the way. We have been focusing
on that maplewood and, uh, brown avenue and also
will, uh, those crepe myrtles. That, that, that on.
uh, I think, I think, yeah, I think there might,
I know either brown, cedar level, whatever. I know, but I think they, they had 'em cut back so we can see that
stop sign a little bit better. Exactly. Exactly. You get that right on maplewood. Yeah. But the maplewood,
you know, maplewood is just a real problem. Once you get with the parking on both sides, you just can't
barely get a piece. We still, uh, are looking at that. We'll focus in on that. Alright.
and we'll, working with public works on, appreciate that on some ideas and how we can
make that treated better. I know. Thank you so much. I know it's a, it's, I know, it's a
tough one. Thank you very much, chief. I appreciate it. I note that we will have that discussion
internally okay. Okay. To try to sub down a solution. Thank
you. Thank you so much. Um, first question that
I have is, um, I understand the concerns, um, you know,
from public works and from, uh, police, excuse me, from fire, um,
about the speed bumps. Um, but what analysis was done to find out
how these other localities, um, especially in northern virginia
and the richmond, uh, pretty much, well richmond itself are
putting these speed bumps or speed humps, whatever they're calling 'em these days. Um,
and they're not impacting their response time, or
is it really impacting their response time and they're accepting that risk?
um, that that's a free for all for anyone? Um, well,
I, I would've to do a little bit more research and work with the fire chief to get more, uh,
information and get back with you unless, uh, fire chief
can or public court can answer that. He's just excited that he has
a question that's not waste. No, I'm good to stay in my seat. . Um,
so speed, humps, speed tables, speed bumps, they all have different application
mm-hmm . Right? Um, not every situation is the same. They don't have the
same warrant. So, um, it's something that a traffic engineer can look into.
they all represent compromises to response times for the
fire chief, for police, um, that that's
something for counsel to consider. Mm-hmm . Um, relative to speed bumps, they're
probably the most abrupt, um, chief hits one, he's gonna know it, and then I'm
gonna know it 'cause his truck's gonna be in my shop. So, um, and people
will know it. They're loud. They're, they're meant, they do their job and they do it well. Um,
the other problem with, um, traffic calming measures like that, they
present challenges during snow, snow duty. Um, they tend to get ripped
right off the asphalt from the get-go. Um, so they present maintenance and replacement
challenges. Um, but that's what I know about traffic calming measures.
um, chief, do you have anything else? Yeah,
the only thing that I would add is that, you know, the nfpa, you know, the national standard on
on that just absolutely, um, recommends that they're not used
whatsoever, um, because of the impact. I mean, it's, there's been a number of studies done on
the impact to response times, whether or not other jurisdictions have decided to ignore
that data and, and choose instead to have those traffic calling measures. Apparently they, that's
what they've decided to do. But the nfp standard, you know, forbids them to
be used, uh, in regular streets, um, because of the impact to response times. And
that is based on studies and data. So, um, I'd have to go back and get all that pulled
all that for you from nfpa, but, but that definitely is the case. Um,
and, and obviously, you know, the impact to our apparatus, you know, we've, we've
had, um, axles come out from underneath an engine, uh, just because of the, the
impact of all the railroad tracks that we have in the city and everything else. So this would just add
to that problem that we have as far as just the, the, the, the condition. You know,
certainly the railroad tracks are one of the, the most, uh, impactful, I guess to our apparatus.
but this would just add something else that would again, you know, cause a maintenance issue
and, and challenges for us. That's all I had to add. Okay. I just, I'd like
to know, you know, how the, the other localities and, you know, and maybe what it is, is they're
just accepting the risk, you know, I mean, that that's a perfectly legitimate,
you know, um, argument or whatever that they're,
or position that they're willing to take. But I would just be really curious to see, you know,
especially, you know, alexandria, arlington, um, you know, richmond, what they've
just done. Um, and either, you know, just
accepting the risk or if it's something that they have found a way to work around it
without compromising, uh, their response times. I mean, I, I just, I think it's
worth, you know, the time to go through that level of analysis and research just
to find out what they're doing. I agree. I think this would be a good question for,
uh, the virginia municipal league. Mm-hmm . At the parole's board board
to, to ask, uh, to pose the question and see what other communities
are doing in state. Excellent. Yeah. So we will do that. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Great. Um,
other question is, I know on here we talked a little bit about speed cameras and I know that they're allowed
to be put in school zones. Um, like what we have, um, can, you know, the localities
designate more school zones, so if there is a well established,
um, like a private school, like a western christian school
or a broadway baptist that are on very, um, busy. Very,
yeah, busy. Thank you. Busy visible high traffic roads, you
know, can we create a school zone there and then allow
for, you know, cameras to go in, because I mean, we have some, you know, a lot of issues,
um, up and down 15th avenue, um, I think that's what a cut through on
17th or 20th, somewhere right there mm-hmm . Mm-hmm . And then of course, you know, on, on broadway.
and, um, I know, you know, personally, you know, several folks that have
had accidents, uh, where 15th and broadway come together and they're either shotgunning
through 15th to go straight, or they're shotgunning broadway
going straight through. Okay. Well, chief, I don't mean to steal your thunder,
but I think I have an answer okay. For you, mr. Mayor. Um, so it doesn't matter whether
it's a private or a public school mm-hmm . Uh, the restriction on the use of speed
cameras is just to, it has to be a intersection
that has a marked crosswalk and is within a thousand feet
of a school property. Okay. Okay. So a private school
is, yeah, a private school would, would be eligible. Okay.
there, um, you know, me per, I would love for this to
be brought back to city council. Absolutely. Um, and, you know, not just the,
you know, for these two, but let's, I look in, you know, holistically across the city
and, you know, see where, you know, there are schools that are in high traffic
areas that we know have problems with speeding, and that we can, uh,
you know, implement, uh, this. Okay. Excellent.
and I think that'll give some, uh, cause of relief for some speeding issues for the fire
chief and, uh, public works director,
but not totally yet. I still wanna see the analysis. . Um,
okay. Uh, anyone else have any, uh, questions?
okay. See you. None. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, chief. You're welcome. May I, uh, couple
of, couple of points mm-hmm . On the city manager's report, um,
hopewell was, uh, very pleased to sponsor or host rather,
a round table with senator warner on water
and wastewater infrastructure needs in the region. Among those
present, the mayors of richmond and petersburg, as well as
leadership from chesterfield and henrico county, uh,
congresswoman mcclellan, senator ed, and delegate coya,
who were, uh, were present, uh, along with 50 plus other leaders
and, and experts from around, uh, from the region. The
principal discussion was, uh, the current state of water
and wastewater infrastructure, uh, in the region, principally
about hopewell, the hopewell water renewal. Uh,
the senator suggested that leaders continue the discussion and,
uh, come back within 60 days, uh, with, uh, some
ideas of how we could work together to, uh, approach,
uh, state and federal agencies for additional water
resources. You and the vice mayor were, were present and part of that discussion. And,
and, uh, since that meeting, the mayor has,
um, uh, picked up on senator, uh, warner's, uh,
suggestion and has in, uh, reached out to the other mayors
and other leaders about, uh, coming together to explore
our collective options as a region. And so, apparently,
hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we will get together and, and see
how far we can go with that. Yeah, we, um, our, uh, lobbyist
firm, dbs, um, you know, they're taking the lead of, you know, coordinating and organizing,
um, you know, these folks, these subject matter experts that are going to be,
um, a part of this working group. Um, we've already got representatives, uh,
from petersburg, uh, from prince george hopewell,
um, let's see, colonial heights.
no, no. Um, we, we did, we got a representative from the capital region,
capital area regional military alliance, which, you know,
represents, um, you know, some of fort lee's interests. Um, we've also got,
um, some subject matter experts, uh, from the state, um, as well
as from the private sector. Um, we got a lot of, uh,
pe engineers, which is very exciting. Um, so, you know, they're
working on getting their first meeting, which is going to be kind of like a organization, get to know you,
uh, who you're gonna, you know, be working with. And then they're going to, you know, transition
over, uh, into, you know, a lot of virtual meetings and coming
up with those, uh, federal and state policy, um, proposals and recommendations
that we can give to, uh, delegate coyer, uh, senator ad. And then also,
um, more importantly, uh, senator warner and congresswoman mcclellan.
uh, so this is very exciting stuff, um, very, very, uh, exciting.
um, and it, like mr. Rogers said, it was a great, um,
round table discussion that we had. Excellent. Um, and, you know, we
got a lot of great compliments, um, forward, you know, the city putting their best
foot forward and, um, you know, bringing a lot of these folks together. Um, so
thank you, mr. Rogers, uh, and your, your staff for, you know, pulling
this off and, uh, you know, really shine a good light on hopewell. Okay. Next
point. Next week is our council retreat. Mm-hmm .
and, uh, our executive assistant has been in contact with you
to work out logistics. If there's anything remaining, feel
free to call her. But we will start on monday
at 11, um, am uh, at the hilton doubletree
andn in and in williamsburg. So we've, we've been in contact with
each of you about transportation arrangements,
and, uh, you also have some assignments, at least
one to read the book that we have given you, uh, which will be
discussed as a part of our, our team building, uh, at, at the,
it's a great book so far. Don't ruin the ending for me. I got 25% more to go.
okay. It's a great read, this great book. Terrific. And, um, you guys have
gotten, uh, councilor oli? The yes. The book? Yes. Excellent. Great.
yes. Mm-hmm . Uh, council and directors have been invited to
a senior leader's workshop for emergency preparedness,
uh, training on september 23rd,
uh, and by being hosted by fema and will be conducted
by fema, uh, our emergency
fema federal emergency management agency.
um, and, uh, robert, uh, williams,
our emergency, uh, preparedness coordinator, will reach out
to council members to facilitate your registration if you have not done
so already. I've done that already, and we would appreciate your, uh,
uh, your participation. And for department directors,
the message is, sign up plain
and simple. Okay. Wanna see you there. Uh, and,
um, I'll be there. And, uh, I, I think this is very important, uh,
seminar, uh, with respect to national night out.
um, it's always, uh, one of my favorite activities
for a city to do, and I hope that, uh,
uh, most of us can, can attend and be present. I
will encourage department directors as well to, to show up
and, and, uh, be present. Not much to do. Just be
available, you know, we're not doing a dog and pony pony show or anything like
that, but I think it's good for, for government to meet the citizens,
at least on that night, and, and, uh, learn a lot about what's
going on in the community and, and, uh, um,
focus on one hope. Well, moving forward. So,
uh, I hope you will attend. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
okay. Uh, moving on to, uh, information presentations. Uh,
mr. Passeth, mr. Mayor,
members of council, as you know, staff conducted a talent search for city clerk.
the city received 79 applications,
interviewed seven of those applicants, and shortlisted two of them for counsel
to conduct interviews with one of those candidates. Uh, ms.
michelle, alicia howard is here with us tonight for counsel's consideration for appointment.
okay. Alright. At this time, do I have a motion,
uh, to approve or to appoint, uh, ms. Va
sheila howard to be the city clerk for the city of hopewell.
so moved. Oh, man, you goes passed. Um, motion
was made by vice mayor joiner and seconded by councilor day. Is there any
discussion seeing no lights? Roll call, please.
councilor harris? Yes. Mayor. Pardon? Yes. Councillor
ellis? Yes. Councillor day? Yes. Councillor stokes.
you're, you're muted. Councilor stokes.
counselor ole? Yes. Vice mayor
joyner? Yes. Alright. Motion passes. Six
to zero. Congratulations ms. Howard, welcome to the team. Yes. And,
uh, we look forward
to having you up here on the d in two weeks. Yes. Looking forward to it.
thank you all so much. All thank you. And I'm looking so forward to working with
all of you. Thank you. Same here. Thanks. Same. Mm-hmm . Okay.
moving on to, uh, communications from citizens. Um, madam
clerk, do you mind reading the statement, please? A communication from
citizens period limited in total time to 30 minutes is part of the order
of business. At each regular council meeting, all persons addressing the
council shall approach the microphone, give their name, and if they reside
in, hopewell, their ward number and limit comments to three minutes.
no one is permitted to speak on any item scheduled for consideration
on the regular agenda of the meeting. All remarks presiding
all remarks shall be addressed to the counsel as a body. Any
questions must be asked through the presiding officer. Any person
who makes personal impertinent abusive or slanderous
statements or incites disorderly conduct and counsel chambers
may be barred by the mayor from a further audience before council and removed,
subject to appeal to a majority of council c rules, 4 0 5
and 4 0 6. Okay. Uh, the only person that I
have signed up for tonight is ms. April jones. Tyler,
good evening. My name is april jones. Tyler, I'm in ward two.
um, so first I would like to address you all with a question, um,
of concern. So, uh, the first question is, uh,
I've been trying to do a follow up, um, conversation with the city manager.
um, unfortunately, uh, through the secretary, I'm unable to do a
follow up. So, um, my question for you all tonight is, uh, what is the process
to do a follow up when I contact the city manager's office?
and, um, also, um, my issues
that I would like to discuss tonight is with public housing. Um,
so the first issue is I, me and my two children, um,
ages are, uh, three and four. Sorry, I'm a little nervous. Um,
three and four. Um, we have been moved into
a home that was never inspected. Um, also my lease contract was
breached. It was, um, the year dated 2024. I
received a, um, tenants rights and responsibilities until the year of
2025. Um, their ified information on the calculation
worksheet, all zeros. Um, I have passed
cockroaches, spiders, paint, pulling off the wall as of today. Um, there's been water leaks,
water leaks in my ceiling, no proper air ventilation, um,
with me. Um, there's mold in mildew present. Um,
in my bathroom, uh, my son's teacher, a nurse, uh,
wrote a letter regarding webb's bug bikes on his arms. Other tenants have been faced with
rats, ceiling falling on their couch. Similar issues. I'm also speaking up for other tenants as
well. Um, I've been trapped in my screen door a total of
six times. Um, to me this is a safety hazard. I have attended
a total of four board meetings. Nothing resolved,
um, to add, um, they will not provide me with
my project based voucher information. Um, the recertification, they had me
do, uh, required information from my kids. Daddy does not live with me. Um, also
I requested for my recertification information, um,
if I could have that in writing, that was refused to me by, um, the housing
authority. Um, I'm supposed to be transferred. Um,
and the housing authority will not provide me this information. I'm needing this information to, uh,
provide to my gss worker. They need this in order to have me,
um, transferred. And that's, um, that is all
that I have to share with you all tonight. Thank you. Okay. Um, get
our name? Yeah. We got your, your phone number here. Um, yes, sir. I'm gonna pass
this along to mr. Rogers at the end of the meeting. And I'm gonna ask him, um,
you know, to give you a call yes, sir. Or to have, uh, or to, you know, make sure
that you know someone with, um, the hopewell redevelopment housing authority
addresses all of your issues. Thank you. And I also, excuse me, I didn't mean to I'm sorry. Go
ahead. I'm sorry. Um, and I also have other at tenant information. Um, if by
any chance can I pass that along to him? Yes. As well. Mm-hmm . Um, because
they're afraid of retaliation, so I told 'em I will, you know, speak up on their behalf as
well tonight. Okay. Thank you much for your, thank you. Thank you.
okay. Uh, that's all that I had signed up for tonight. Uh, moving
on to our public hearings.
point of order, mayor. Okay. I
didn't get to vote regarding the clerk or make a discussion 'cause I had technical
difficulties. What is the process?
'cause I don't want, I want my vote and
comment recorded appropriately. Okay.
I mean, you can make, and we can just add it to the record. When do
I make it? Yeah, just go ahead and make it now.
okay. Um, on the vote for the city clerk,
my comment would've been, um,
I did not like the due process that was done
during the selection. Um, other city clerk,
I think we should have considered more, uh,
of the applications and
given some preference to our tax paying residents.
um, so my vote was no. Okay. And I wanted it
recorded as such. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm . Um, and,
uh, sade, please, uh, have my comment, uh, you know, added to
the official minutes, um, that, you know, this process,
uh, was a very thorough process in which we utilized our,
um, staff and our subject matter experts, uh, to make sure that we
were getting the best of the best. And, uh, we were not
allowing any, uh, personal, uh, conflicts of interest, uh, to
cloud our judgment. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay.
uh, let's see here. Moving on. Um, well, we do have, uh, some
folks sign up on public hearings. Did, uh, these, this is, uh,
pauletta. Jarret. Yes, sir. Did you wanna talk during
communications from citizens or the actual public hearing? Um,
I'm gonna pass her right now and I apologize. I'll speak with you later. Um,
jared's wife. Oh, okay. Okay. Mm-hmm . Okay.
um,
calm, I guess it's maybe commissioner jones harris,
I think. Okay. They were hr check. Alright. Um,
and then a mr. Michael mayo.
okay. Did you wanna speak on the public hearing or communications from, or, or communications
from citizens? Mr. Mayo's an applicant.
oh, he's an applicant. Okay. Alright. Public hearing. Okay. Just wanna make sure. Alright.
alright. We're gonna move back on to our public
hearings now. Uh, madam clerk, will you please, uh, read the statement
while mr. Rupert comes up to the mic?
oh, I'm sorry. I'll read it for you since I got it here. Uh, each person
addressing the counsel shall step to the microphone, give their name, locality
and phone number, and limit, limit comments to three minutes or less.
no person shall be permitted to address counsel a second time until all others have
been heard once. And no one shall speak more than twice on any subject in any
one meeting. All remarks shall be addressed to council as the body and not any member
thereof. No person other than the council and the person
having the floor shall enter into any discussion, either directly or through
a member of council without permission of the mayor, uh, no
question shall be asked of a council member, including the administration,
except through the presiding officer, mr. Roofer,
uh, mr. Mayor, vice mayor, members of council. Um, as you know,
back in july, I brought to you a presentation about, uh, an
increase in our, uh, ems fees. Um, as
I discussed then, our ems fees are, are far behind all of our neighbors
surrounding us. And, um, this would bring us, uh, uh,
back into, uh, up to a, a level that would, um, allow us to
get additional revenue, um, to support our operations in the fire department.
um, basically, as you can see in our draft ordinance that, um,
uh, the city attorney, uh, helped us draft, you can see that we're basically,
um, increasing it to 135% of me medicare allowables.
um, so that allows that rate to basically be adjusted each year as medicare
adjusts their rate. Um, we also discussed, um, uh, some
options for relief for our citizens. Uh, they can, uh, do an
annual subscription for $69 that allow them to not see a bill from us if they
are them or any of their household are transported, uh, on an ambulance. As
well as, uh, some relief given to them as well if, uh,
they apply for, um, uh, reduced rate. Uh, and that's based
on the poverty level that's published every year also by, uh, health and human
services. And so, uh, we, uh, that is what is presented
tonight. Um, if you'd like, I can go back through that presentation or that's
alright. Okay. Okay. Uh, we're gonna
go ahead. Well first, uh, are there any questions for mr. Rupert or chief rupert before we
open up the public hearing? Seeing no
lights? Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and open up the public hearing. I do not have anyone signed
up on this. Uh, is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on this?
no. Okay. Public hearing is now closed.
uh, is there a motion, uh, to approve the fee change, uh,
ordinance, uh, for fire ems as presented tonight? So, move.
okay. Motions made by vice mayor joiner and seconded by councillor day. Is there any
discussion? See no lights. Roll call please. Councill
harris, may I pardon?
yes. Councillor ellis? Yes. Councillor day? Yes.
councillor stokes? Yes. Council oli?
yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes. Motion passes. Six to
zero. Okay. Uh, moving
on to public hearing number two. Uh, ms. English.
good evening. Good evening. Evening. Janelle english, director of finance for the school
division. I'm here for, um, dr. Hackney. Um, we
have a public hearing tonight for a supplemental appropriation to amend the fiscal year
26 budget school's budget, um, by the amount of $778,650,
which is additional state and local funding. Um,
the school division's original budget was approved by city council on april 22nd, 2025.
and since then we've received an additional state grant in the amount of $40,650
for a, um, it's a school security officer grant and we must
carry over state and local funds that we've received in fiscal year 25
that were reserved to provide a retention bonus to our employees in the amount of $738,000.
so these funds will increase the total, um, school operating
fund to $72,574,676.
that's it. Okay. Alright. Are there any questions, uh, for ms. English
before we open the public hearing? Seeing no lights?
alright, we're gonna go ahead and open up a public hearing. Um,
ms. Jart, this is your opportunity if you wanna speak. Well
on this topic. I mean, like on the, on this topic? Yeah. On the
school? Yeah. On the school system. No, I don't have, all my children are, are out of the house.
okay. So this is my first time being here, so now I, I'm getting a feel of it. I'm
gonna start being more visible, um, because I just
need to be more visible. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Mm-hmm .
okay. Uh, I don't have anyone else signed up. Is there anyone the audience would like to speak on this
public hearing? Okay. Seeing none,
I'm go ahead and close the public hearing. Uh, is there a motion to
approve the resolution to amend the fiscal year 2026 hopewell
public school supplemental budget appropriation as presented tonight?
so move, I'll second it. Uh, motions made by vice mayor joiner
and seconded by myself. Any discussion? Seeing
none. Roll call please. Mayor. Pardon? Yes. Councilor ellis?
yes. Councillor day? Yes. Councillor stokes?
yes. Councilor oli? Yes. Vice mayor joiner? Yes.
motion passes. Six to zero. Okay. Moving on to public hearing
number three.
good evening again. Uh, tonight we have a conditional
use permit request to construct single family dwelling on
non-conforming lot actually consists of two, two parcels,
excuse me. Uh, 0 1 3 1 5 9 5 and 0 1 3 1 6 0 0
also identified, uh, or actually located on south 19th avenue.
the applicant is vets housing llc. This property's located
in ward five and zoned r two.
uh, the nonconformities with this particular, uh, lot are both in the
width and the total square footage. Uh, it's just smaller on both
the applicant's proposing to build a one story single family dwelling. Three
bedroom, two bath, 1,352 square foot.
a single family home, oops, lemme
back up. Just got some elevations here of
what the proposed house will look like. Uh, front and rear,
left and right. The applicant is proposing
to construct, uh, this dwelling, which is larger than the average single family
dwelling in that neighborhood. And that average size is 1075
square feet. Applicant's proposing vinyl siding, uh, it's
consistent with other homes in the neighborhood and as required by the
ordinance, the dwelling will meet all district setbacks.
staff is recommending approval of the conditional use permitt application with the following conditions
that the two lots will be combined through the administrative re subdivision process.
uh, 12 inch minimum eaves along all roof edges,
uh, 20% tree canopy, driveway of asphalt
or concrete brick or stone foundation on all four sides
along with front foundation plantings. And essentially that the
applicant will construct the home as presented to you. This evening
planning commission, uh, agreed with staff's conditions.
they recommended approval three to zero at their public hearing.
uh, the department has not received any comments and no comments were
presented at the planning commission, public hearing either. I'm
available for any questions that you may have about this application and the applicant
is also here this evening. Uh, mr. Mayo. Okay.
are there any questions for, uh, mr. Ward before we open up the, uh,
public hearing? Okay. Seeing none? Yes.
oh, I'm sorry. Yes, ma'am. I pressed it twice. Sorry, because that didn't
work. Okay. Am I done off? Hold it, that's what it is. Gotta hold it. Okay. Yeah. Can you hold
it for me? Make sure it's working okay. Now it came up okay. Okay.
I just pressed it. I didn't hold it. That's okay. Yeah, if it doesn't come, we'll just wave me down. New
person. Sorry, , I apologize. Yep. Yes, ma'am.
um, so I'm concerned about a real
lack of privacy and room
for the person who's gonna live in this house.
I, I want them to be happy because when you buy a home, there's an expectation
that you have some privacy, some safety,
uh, security, and some room to entertain
in your yard and not be interrupting other neighbors. I,
I'm just trying to understand why we
think this exception should be approved because of those reasons. That's
why the rule is there to begin with, is to provide more space
for people. So our ordinance allows
for the construction of homes, single family homes on
non-conforming lots. It's in our ordinance and it's a provision that,
uh, states essentially you can construct a house on these
somewhat smaller lots. They may not be as wide as the minimum standards or they
may be, uh, not meeting the total square footage. And
the ordinance allows to go through this process so that you as a
city council can attach certain conditions to the approval. Um,
these are, these conditions here that are listed at the end.
um, everybody up here is probably really tired of seeing
'em 'cause they come through on every single application. Um, this is pretty
much the standard that, uh, staff and, and I would assume counsel
has agreed upon as, as preferred conditions for approval. So,
um, I'm not sure if that really answered your question a
hundred percent, but as the way staff
perceives it is, as long as an applicant is meeting the requirements,
we are going to recommend approval. And in this particular case,
this applicant is meeting the requirements set forth in the orders,
they're required to meet the district setbacks, even though it might be a little shorter or
narrower a lot, they still have to meet setbacks.
does that answer your question or?
um, I'll, I'll do some more research and follow up as we have other
issues. I personally, in my neighborhood and others,
mcing houses just on,
on very small postage lots. And I, I post to stamp lots
and I, I'm not in favor of that as a whole. And
we talk about it's, it could be a first home for,
uh, a starter family home and this kind of thing. Mm-hmm
. But they turn into to rental property almost
always their rental property. They're not, it's not like we're
housing somebody who has a hardship and, and couldn't otherwise afford
a larger home or a larger space. We're turning it into rental property and,
and I, I don't like the fact that we continuously do this.
so, but thank you for explaining that you have some protocols that you've used
in the past and that this meets the standard for your protocol.
absolutely. And we can, we can discuss this further offline too, if, you know, at a later time if
you'd like more information. I would. Absolutely. Okay. Are
there any other questions or comments? Okay. I'm go
ahead and open up the full hearing. Um, mr. Mayo.
good evening. My name is michael mayo. I'm the director of vet's housing. Uh, what
our mission is, is we aim to provide subsidized housing for
our veterans and affordable housing for the public. And we believe this
project will be, um, the perfect opportunity to provide, um, a single
family home at an affordable price point for like a,
a new family, um, or a, um, someone that's looking to
retire and downsize. Um, this particular one, we are not looking to,
um, rent out in any way. Um, we typically only rent, uh,
our multifamily new construction projects 'cause we're able to capitalize on, on
our, uh, scale, uh, to get the price down. Um,
other than that though, we think this would be, you know, a great opportunity for a family to
get a home at affordable price and for the city to collect additional
revenue. Um, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.
okay. Uh, are there any questions for the applicant? Uh, yes ma'am.
can you tell me more about your veteran program? 'cause I'm very pro veteran
and so I'd like a little bit to know a little bit more about your veteran program
that you're offering. Yeah, so we're, we've partnered with, um, housing
redevelopment, you know, to, um, provide housing with their,
you know, utilizing the, the hud vash program. So,
um, we focus on with that program to capitalize on economies
of scale. We typically will only do multifamily, um, so that we can get our price down
to be able to afford to do it. Um, so on this one, since it's a single family home, just
a single lot, we're just looking to provide an affordable home for people.
okay. Uh, vice mayor jordan. Yeah, I guess my question is then
your company name seems a little bit,
so you really aren't focused on veterans at all? Not
really. I, well we are, um, that is our focus
on this particular lot. Um, we were able to get, you know, at a, um,
really great price. Um, so we went ahead, we wanted to go ahead
and develop it and, um, provide a, a nice home for someone. So, so, but you're
not working directly with any veterans groups? I mean, like, so this, this
house is not slated for a, a veteran to, you
know, a veteran to purchase or anything like that. And your multi-family
businesses, I mean, are, are you focused on, on
veterans? I mean, what, what veterans group do you partner with? Well,
we work with the, with the hud vash program. So they're the ones that provide the, the
housing vouchers, um, for, for veterans. Okay. And we are fairly
new. Our company just started this year, so we are up and coming, getting off the
ground, but we did just secure, um, a five acre, um, development
on the south side of richmond that we are gonna do all multifamily and provide
I see. Solely to veterans. Okay.
alright. Okay. Um, are there any other questions?
all right. Seeing no lights. Thank you sir. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the
audience, uh, that would like to speak on this public hearing tonight?
none. Okay. I'm, go ahead and, uh, close the public hearing.
um, I think, uh, yeah, out of respect for,
uh, councilor ley for just starting, um, and if
you're amenable to this, um, is everyone okay with just tabling this item?
so then that way, you know, you could be, you know, spun up or you do your, I have questions
too, research that you'd like to do and we can, uh, put it as our unfinished
business item at the next meeting. Thank you. Okay. Anyone stay with that s yeah.
yeah. Okay. Alright. Um, uh,
mr. Bassett, do we need a motion for that or is that good enough?
no, no. You don't need a motion to carry it over to another okay. Another meeting. Okay.
alright. So we'll do that as our first time of unfinished business at the next
meeting. Uh, public hearing number four,
I need you to drive this one. Thank you. Uh,
mayor, vice member members, members of council, thank you for this opportunity to speak on this public
hearing. Um, I'm here tonight to, um,
hold a public hearing for the sale of 6 33 epps street.
and this is, uh, this is a conforming lot, but it's a
little interesting story. So, uh, this is in b village.
there was a, a house here in the past and
through some circumstances that I'm not, uh, fully up to speed on
what happened, I believe it was a blight situation. Based on some
of the records I was able to find, the city acquired this lot, um,
lot 6 3 2 a and they, um,
they acquired this lot. And then also there's a, there's a right of way beside
it that's shown here in this picture in your calf, in your, um, your,
um, action form there, counsel action form and, uh,
incorporated that in 2017, uh,
into a larger, uh, property, this was done around the time
that the stream restoration project was done. Mm-hmm . On riverside.
and I believe that some of the acquisition of these lots was associated with that. Okay.
so one of the things that we do in economic development and tourism is, is we try to
find, um, land the city has in surplus that's not producing tax
revenue. And we, and we, uh, open that up for people to
purchase. This was, uh, actually an unsolicited offer. We, we were not
advertising this, um, but, um, mr. Nathan davenport
and his company, um, made us an unsolicited offer, which,
um, we, um, reviewed, enclosed session and
I'm here tonight to have the public hearing, uh, for the
contract approval, uh, that you have in your package. Uh, this
is for $13,000 and the applicant,
um, who will be if, if approved tonight by this public hearing,
uh, they will be working with the city attorney's office
and planning and zoning essentially to reestablish that lot
that you see there. That was, uh, incorporated in 2017
into a larger parcel. His intent is to build
a single family home for sale. And as I said, it, it
will be a conforming lot basically as it was before 5,200
square feet in b village at the end of up street. So, a little bit
of a long story, but at the end of the day, what the city's gonna get is a house back on
the lot, uh, that was torn down and a family in
there paying taxes and eating at waves and
getting coffee from the coffee shop. And there you go.
so I'm, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Okay.
are there any questions for, uh, mr. Bennett? Okay.
seeing no lights when we go ahead and open up the public hearing,
um, I don't have anyone signed up for this one. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak
on this? Alright. Seeing none
public hearing's now closed. Alright. Is there a motion to,
um, approve the contract sale? Uh,
parcel slash tax id number 0 6 6 0 6 2 5 2
mfk properties llc as presented tonight.
so move second. Alright. Motion's been made by vice mayor joiner and second by,
uh, councilor ellis. Is there any discussion seeing no
lights roll call please. Councillor harris? Yes. Mayor. Pardon?
yes. Councillor ellis? Yes. Councillor day? Yes. Councillor
stoke? Yes. Councillor oli? Yes.
vice mayor joyner? Yes. Motion passes. Seven to zero.
okay. With that our meeting automatically adjourns. Thank you very much.