At all-day retreat, Richmond’s elected leaders focus on improving trust and transparency

Richmond’s new mayor and new-look City Council huddled together for nearly an entire day Friday for a freewheeling and occasionally frank conversation about how city government can work better.

At a strategy retreat held at Maymont, City Council members and Mayor Danny Avula discussed their respective roles and responsibilities, how they engage citizens and communicate with the public and what officials can do to think more strategically about achieving the city’s goals.

There were serious moments, such as when two new council members said the administration’s efforts to share information at council meetings can feel “performative” and light on substance. There were lighter parts too, like breathing and stretching routines and a trust-building exercise in which Council President Cynthia Newbille (7th District) tried to guide a blindfolded Avula through an obstacle course.

As the city leaders discussed new ways of doing things in a new era for City Hall, trust and transparency — both with the public and among elected officials — emerged as two key themes.

“We plan to do communications very differently,” Avula said. “We’re building our muscle in that way.”

The retreat was facilitated by Robert Dortch Jr. of the Jordan/Sydnor Innovation Group and John Martin of the Southeastern Institute of Research. The event went from 9 a.m. to about 5 p.m.

Avula attended with several of his top aides and listened as council members shared their thoughts on what is and isn’t working with Richmond’s strong mayor form of government. Several council members applauded the mayor for making himself accessible to the legislative body and sitting down for a lengthy two-way conversation.

“It’s really nice to have — at the onset of this term — everyone together,” said Councilor Katherine Jordan (2nd District).

Thad Williamson, a senior policy strategist for Avula, said it’s a “huge problem” for the council to not know what’s going on, because it means residents don’t know either.

“Treating council as fully a partner, all nine no matter what, is a different way to be mayor than I think the city has had,” said Williamson, who also worked under former Mayor Levar Stoney.

As Stoney’s eight years in the mayor’s office ended last year, both Stoney’s team and council members talked up how their collaborative relationship had meant less of the type of drama and infighting that has defined City Hall in the past. But in the eyes of some critics, that dynamic was partly a reflection of the council ceding too much of its authority to set policy, oversee government performance and insist on getting answers for constituents when things go wrong.

Avula and many City Council members campaigned last fall on bringing more accountability to City Hall. Those promises were put to the test immediately this year when a minor snowstorm caused a power outage that knocked out the city’s water treatment plant, leaving the city without usable water for nearly a week. 

Communication

The water crisis has also renewed broader questions about how the city communicates, both externally and internally.

At Friday’s retreat, Councilors Kenya Gibson (3rd District) and Sarah Abubaker (4th District) were particularly blunt as they both said communication hasn’t been good enough since they took office a few months ago.

When the council is getting presentations from city officials, Abubaker said, she’s sensed a “stifling” vibe and an unwillingness to get into deeper discussions when members ask follow-up questions.

“When we are digging into questions, the response shouldn’t be defensive in nature,” she said. “It should be that we’re all coming at this out of a sense of curiosity and a desire to deeply understand what is going on as opposed to just what you present to me in a slide deck.”

Gibson said the council’s attempts to get information about government operations have felt “somewhat feeble.”

“We’re trying to get information. I think the public is trying to get information,” Gibson said. “There’s no way for council to be proactive and be strategic without having information.”

In response to those concerns, Avula said the public nature of many administration-council conversations can at times discourage transparency because it fuels negative news coverage.

“Our media environment is brutal on our staff,” Avula said. “Over the years, what has happened I think… is this learned behavior of like, they can’t be honest about what’s happening because they’re going to get raked over the coals. It’s not good.”

Abubaker said that way of doing things isn’t working and “people are hungry for that transparency and authenticity.” Leaders should send a message to staff, she said, that if they made honest mistakes while trying to make the city better, they’ll be protected.

“If you screwed up because you have malfeasance or because you don’t care or you’re apathetic or you didn’t follow through on a procurement contract, that’s on you,” she said. “And we need to own that and say we’re going to hold those people accountable. And we’re going to hold ourselves accountable.”

“Love it,” Avula replied. 

Some of the city’s challenges with communication and focus were on display at the retreat itself. 

An extended post-lunch conversation about how trust is built and broken led Gibson to lament the “low energy” in the room and suggest moving on to more real-world topics, a pronouncement that seemed to fluster the moderator leading the discussion. At another point, Abubaker said she felt some things were still being left “unsaid” and asked how Friday’s retreat would lead to more meaningful change than past City Council retreats. 

A session intended to help Council and the mayor define their priorities for the coming year was briefly derailed by Councilor Reva Trammell (8th District) demanding answers about the status of the city’s $10 million purchase of a former Altria property. As that was happening, Councilor Ellen Robertson (6th District) left the room and did not return. 

“We all agree on what the priorities are collectively,” said Councilor Stephanie Lynch (5th District) at one point. But, she said, “Everyone has a different idea on how to get there.” 

Explaining communications from their side, Avula and his team said it can be difficult to coordinate the logistics of when to release information to the public and the council. Giving the council an early heads up on something, said Avula Chief of Staff Lawson Wijesooriya, is essentially the same thing as making it public given how information tends to spread.

Avula said part of the answer is “not being so afraid of FOIA,” referring to the state’s Freedom of Information Act law that requires the release of most documents dealing with government business. In his previous public health and social services roles in state government, Avula said, there was sometimes a wariness of putting things in writing to avoid triggering FOIA. But he suggested officials can simply watch what they say when creating public records. 

“If I send you nine a text, I’m not going to put dumbass stuff in that, right?” Avula said to the nine council members.

Last week, the council learned that Avula’s interim director of the city’s Department of Public Utilities would be staying on permanently because his job title had changed on documents prepared for a public meeting. Avula pointed to that episode as an example of how he can do a better job of keeping the council informed.

“I should have recognized that that’s a thing that would be helpful to council because you guys are going to field questions about that,” the mayor said.

“Yes we did,” replied Lynch.

Gibson questioned whether the path to progress lies mainly in everyone getting along and prioritizing interpersonal relationships.

“Transparency is not going to happen because we like each other more,” she said, adding she’s found all her colleagues “lovely” so far. “It will happen because of the systems and policies that we create.”

City priorities

Among the commitments to emerge from Friday’s conversation was a consensus on both sides that redevelopment of the city’s Southside, particularly along the Hull Street, Midlothian Turnpike and Route 1 corridors, should be a top priority for city economic development officials. Those efforts will happen alongside development of the Diamond District, City Center and the Altria site that was purchased in the last months of Stoney’s term. 

“We cannot continue to take our time,” said 9th District Councilor Nicole Jones. “Actually, we don’t have time. We really don’t. We’re out of time.” 

Much of Southside, which was annexed from Chesterfield County in 1942 and 1970, is plagued by inadequate infrastructure, such as a lack of sidewalks and poor drainage. Today, though, it is also Richmond’s fastest-growing area and the center of the city’s burgeoning Latino population. 

For Avula, the region is key to easing some of Richmond’s housing woes. 

“If we are going to moderate housing costs and keep people in the homes that they’re in, you’ve got to build a heck of a lot more houses,” he said. “And our place to do that are the corridors of Midlothian, Hull Street, Richmond Highway.”

While the Stoney administration channeled increasing investments into Southside over the past eight years, ranging from new parks and community centers to the purchase of the Altria site, many of the city councilors who represent the area continue to express the belief that the city isn’t treating all of the districts equally.

“The 8th and the 9th, we feel like we’ve been neglected,” said Trammell. 

Economic development, said many councilors, is crucial for the city to make the infrastructure investments needed in both Southside and elsewhere. With budgets expected to be tight in the coming years, Avula said it was critical “to think about revenue across the board.” 

“There’s clearly not an appetite to increase taxes,” he said before floating the ideas of cutting back on services the city offers or reducing costs. 

“We do have to really take a scalpel to each operation to find out, ‘Can we do this more efficiently?’” he said. 

But the new City Council also appeared anxious to avoid what 1st District Councilor Andrew Breton called the economic development “boondoggles” of past years, such as the failed Sixth Street Marketplace and a deal to host a training facility for the Washington Commanders (the football team formerly known as the Redskins) that ultimately cost taxpayers roughly $11 million. 

“I think everybody recognizes that we want to grow as a city,” said Gibson. But, she continued, “when economic development comes at a cost, we have to recognize that too.” Without an analysis of how much the incentives Richmond has previously offered businesses have paid off for taxpayers, she said it’s unlikely the city will get the buy-in needed to back any more major proposals. 

With several major development projects already underway — “We can’t come off the Diamond District,” Avula noted at one point — the mayor said pushing Southside redevelopment up the priority list will likely require the addition of more staff and funding to the city’s economic development team. 

“If we need to augment that capacity, we need to find a way to put it in the budget or ultimately work together to prioritize that in the budget,” he said. 

At the end of the day, Avula said the council and the administration need to work more closely on setting and planning for high-level goals rather than having the administration simply present plans for approval.

“We don’t do this enough,” the mayor said.