Veteran City Council Clerk Jeanne Cox is retiring this spring, Chiara Canzi writes for C-Ville Weekly. For 27 years she’s sat in Council chambers every Monday night, taking the minutes, acting as the body’s institutional memory. (Retiring simultaneously is her husband, Buzz Cox, the director of the Department of Social Services.) Cox’s retirement comes at the same time as City Manager Gary O’Connell leaving his position after nearly fifteen years. Depending on your perspective, this is either a chance for the city to start with a blank slate in two important positions or it’s a significant blow to continuity and institutional knowledge for city government.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
-
Archive for Sideblog »
There seems to always be departures when there’s a regime change.
Yeah, everybody is jumping ship at the same time. Seems somewhat foreboding. Hope there’s nothing big that’s going to be hitting the fan in the near future.
Isn’t the Clerk of Council is appointed by the Council, and thus is technically not supervised by the City Manager? I do believe most localities do have some informal means by which the Clerk is subject to some oversight by the chief executive (the Manager) but I’m pretty sure that only Council has the ability to fire their Clerk.
In terms of big things hitting the fan, there is a problem out there, but not in the way that you’re thinking. Public entities, especially local governments nationwide are facing an avalanche of retirements in the next decade to twenty years. There’s a lot of civil servants out there that plan to leave the workforce in the not-too-distant future, and there’s not a whole lot of people in the workforce with the educational background to replace them. Younger workers have been drawn to more lucrative private sector fields in recent times. The economic downturn has slowed the process somewhat, but it’s still coming. Charlottesville will always be somewhat insulated from this phenomena to a certain extent because of UVA, but it is still something to consider.
” Younger workers have been drawn to more lucrative private sector fields in recent times.” Just out of curiosity, in what sector are those private sector jobs in the central VA area?
“… but I’m pretty sure that only Council has the ability to fire their Clerk” I haven’t heard that she was fired> Is that the truth?
” There’s a lot of civil servants out there that plan to leave the workforce in the not-too-distant future, and there’s not a whole lot of people in the workforce with the educational background to replace them.” She was what used to be called a secretary. She wasn’t even an office manager and had to deal with bookkeeping.
“The economic downturn has slowed the process somewhat, but it’s still coming. Charlottesville will always be somewhat insulated from this phenomena to a certain extent because of UVA, but it is still something to consider” By how many millions is the county’s school board trying to reduce its budget?