City Council has OKed offering a performance bonus to City Manager Maurice Jones, NBC-29 reports, contingent on him fixing the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Council has accepted that as a “stretch goal” for Jones, a result of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s strong criticisms of the authority last year. If Jones takes care of those problems, he’ll get a bonus of $17k, on top of his $173k salary. Jones will present a plan to Council next month.
It actually happened—the new library really, finally opened in Crozet yesterday, Aaron Richardson writes for the Progress. Planned since I was a kid, the $5.8M new building is ten times larger than the old one. They’ve only got half of the books they intend to have ($900k in donations will help to buy another 35,000), they still need more shelves, and the elevator isn’t even finished being installed, but things will be in good shape for the grand opening, later this month.
Unfortunately, the county still isn’t funding fully the staffing of its Jefferson Madison Regional Library branches. This beautiful new building is only open for rather limited hours: 1–9 on Monday and Tuesday, 9–5 on Wednesday through Saturday, and they’re closed entirely on Sundays.
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors refused to pass a resolution recognizing Sept. 14 as Pride Festival Day, J. Reynolds Hutchins reports for the Progress, intended to coincide with the annual gay rights festival held in Charlottesville. It failed in a 3–3 vote, with Ken Boyd, Rodney Thomas, and Petie Craddock voting against it. Board members told the Progress that they didn’t vote against it because they’re against the event or even against gay rights, but rather they’re against issuing proclamations in support of every little thing, and they’re simply drawing a line. This comes on the heels of the BOS likewise refusing to recognize Women’s Equality Day last month, and last October refusing to vote in support of the General Assembly ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, which has been reliably passed by the board for years.
Here is a list of some the things that the Board of Supervisors has publicly recognized in the past five months, via proclamations, resolutions, and certificates of appreciation, all of which passed without debate:
These are item number six on the template for the report issued by county staff after each meeting: “Recognitions.” That is, these recognitions occur so frequently that it’s noted when there aren’t any (“there were none”).
Boyd and Thomas apparently regard their newfound opposition to resolutions as an utter coincidence, having nothing at all to do with their positions on civil rights. Municipal Clerks Week and Paul Wright were weighty matters, but gay rights and women’s rights? Just too trivial. (Apologies to municipal clerks and Paul.)
Two men robbed the wrong group of students. It ended badly for them. #
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