Click here to read the agenda.

Today’s P-I notes that the Efficiency Review will be presented to the city, and then the public, in the near future. Happy words. But I take issue with the suggestion that the two public forums were ’sparsely’ attended. I was present at the meeting at Tabernacle, and I made a rough estimate of 50 people who were very engaged in the process. So I guess if 50 people present and accounted for constitutes ’sparse attendance’, I’m kinda curious what constitutes a well-attended meeting? Interestingly, however, the article didn’t mention whether each of our City Council members submit their surveys to the Efficiency Review consultants - surveys intended to learn our elected reps’ views of core vs. desired levels of service.

Click here to read the agenda.

Click here to read the agenda. The meeting will be at Union Train Station, 7:30pm.

June 3 Agenda

Ward 4 voters: Scott Flaherty seeks to run for the Ward 4 City Council seat in addition to incumbent Brian Moore. Scott needs 125 signatures on a petition to get on the ballot for the election. Deadline is June 10 for the signatures. You can sign the petition at 13 W. Old St. (the Pottery Shop), where you can also pick up a signature page to take to an upcoming function, neighborhood meeting, etc. for Ward 4 registered voters to sign.

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Petersburg’s police dept. plan on making their budget presentation tonight at the conclusion of Council’s regular agenda.

May 20 Agenda

Per the P-I, folks called for full funding of police, full funding of schools, and a decrease in the tax rate. Once again (here, here, here, and here), the mandate seems to be: find a way to provide core services by making cuts elsewhere in the budget, liquidating assets, promoting business development, and/or ???, but not through an increase in real estate taxes. The article notes that in a similar context of rising assessments and an uncertain economy, Richmond has recently decreased the tax rate on real property.

A number of people signed up to speak at this week’s City Council meeting (May 6) to call for a shift in city management’s priorities (in relation to the proposed 2009 city budget). As such, each person had only three minutes to speak, with the result that several individuals were not able to read their statements to Council in their entirety. To read the full text of the letter prepared by Jeff Munn, click here. To read the full text of the letter prepared by Kevin Brown, click here.

May 6 Agenda

In the inbox from the OTMG: “Below is an abbreviated version of an email recently sent our councilman, who offered to then forward it to his fellow councilpersons, city manager, and mayor so they all know the kinds of questions we are asking.  The questions along with the apparent answers might find the funds in the existing budget to take care of our immediate shortfalls in Police salaries, allow for new hires, and a greater likelihood of retention.  This “letter” could also serve as a template for others wishing to communicate with their councilpersons, the mayor, the city manager BEFORE THE UPCOMING MAY 6 COUNCIL MEETING. Please EXPRESS YOUR CONCERNS!  

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In the inbox: Petitions in support of priority funding for the Police Dept. and Public School System have been placed in several locations around Petersburg.

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Per today’s P-I article of the above title (here), there is a $3 million or so difference between what’s in the proposed city council budget for the school system ($10.3 million) and what the school budget is asking for ($13.23 million). Also noted in the article: Council’s position is that the difference would have to be made via an increase in taxes (to the tune of $0.25 over the current level).

The agenda for the Apr 15 meeting and the minutes for the Apr 1 meeting still not having arrived in my inbox, I checked the city site. The agenda is up, but not the minutes. I converted the agenda info on the city site into a pdf. Click here to check the agenda out.

City Council will hold a public hearing seeking public input on whether the City of Petersburg should voluntarily grant a preservation easement, as prepared by the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources, on Battersea Estate.

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In a letter posted to this site April 1, the Efficiency Review consultants explained 1) that they were not able to proceed with their analysis until several city departments and city council representatives provided information on what they deem to be ‘core’ vs. ‘desired’ levels of service, and 2) that they were told all necessary information would be provided to them within two weeks. As of this morning: the consultants have received the required information from all city departments except the police department (which is said to be working on same), and they have received no additional core service questionnaires from city council members (only two of the council representatives have submit the requested questionnaires).

Recently the Architectural Review Board approved the placement, for one year, of a 60′X25′ trailer at 503 W. Washington St (approximately in front of the Governor’s School).  This site is owned by the Islamic Center and previously held a trailer (which burned nearly two years ago).  The trailer would house the Islamic Center.  They intend to build a permanent structure on the site. HPF has filed an appeal of ARB’s decision.  The appeal will be heard at tomorrow’s council meeting.

‘Tis now available on the city’s site, here. It’s also available on this site, here. Head’s up: the file is 37.1 MB, so it will take a few minutes to load.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, only one person questioned whether $75,000 should be doled out of the city budget to social services to help them pay the increased gas costs of a program that helps welfare folks obtain/retain employment (a program that is hard to discount in terms of importance, but the reasonable question was raised as to to what extent taxpayers are going to continue to be asked to pay ever-higher assessments to carry others on their backs, when their own salaries are not keeping up to help them with their own rising gas costs). The money was summarily allocated. Now I read in the P-I that last night there was much handwringing over whether to participate in a consortium that would result in Petersburg receiving $5331 to be used for English as a Second Language programs — cash that as I understand, would not be coming out of the city’s budget, and that other Petersburg programs cannot compete for.

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In the following letter, Mr. Walker of Berkshire Advisors (the consultants conducting the city’s Efficiency Review) explains that progress on providing recommendations has largely been put on hold until various city departments submit the information necessary to complete the analysis. He also notes that he’s been apprised that the required information will be provided within the next two weeks.

Read more >

March 18 Minutes
April 1 Agenda

Click here to watch the interview.
Click here for Dogwood Trace’s website.

The Ward 4 meeting will be April 3, starting at 6:30pm, at St. Marks on Claremont; a rep from the Assessor’s office will be attending, as will reps to discuss the new library project and South Side Train Station.

The Ward 6 meeting will be April 8, 6-8pm, at Westview School.

March 4 Minutes
March 18 Agenda