Governmental Operations Committee Meeting July 23, 2009 - Report from City Auditor / Presentation from Sister City Commission

Richmond City Council's Governmental Operations Committee met on Thursday July 23, 2009 in the Large Conference room on the 2nd Floor of Richmond City Hall.

Councilman Marty Jewell (5th District), the chair of the Committee was late and did not start the meeting until 4:13 PM. I heard the same joke twice before Mr. Jewell arrived, "Mr. Jewell called and said he'd be here in 5 minutes; 10 minutes ago."

Most City Council meetings start late and I've complained about it numerous times. I think it is unprofessional and disrespectful of City Employees and the Public in attendance.

City Auditor Umesh Dalal provided a report on the work of the City Auditor's Office. He discussed policy clarifications regarding the release of audit results and opportunities for "auditees" to respond. He reported Richmond Public Schools' savings based on recommendations made by the Auditor.

A presentation was given to the Committee by three members of the Sister City Commission. But most of the talking was done by Commission Chair, My Lan Tran. Ms. Tran also works for the city as Program Manager for the Office of Minority Business Development.

Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Review Blowout - Last Week

Get the City of Richmond Fiscal Year 2010 - 2011 Budget here.

Here are some assembled videos from Richmond City Council's Finance Committee review of Mayor Jones FY 2010- 2011 Budget that occurred this past week, April 7 - 9. I've broken them down by discussion topic. Hopefully that will make it easier to watch the specific items you are interested in.

Tuesday, April 7

I'll be updating these presentations as I am able to. It takes a lot of time uploading movies.

Wednesday, April 8

Community Development Block Grant [CDBG] Budget



View / Download Proposed CDBG 2010 Budget by Line Item




Thursday, April 9

Dept. of Economic Development



View / Download Dept. of Economic Development's Presentation

Information about Betty L. Squire, Council's selection for 7th District

Below are reprinted my reply's on Church Hill People's News post entitled "Council goes for Squire?"

February 4, 2009 8:02 pm

Here are the materials submitted by Mrs. Squire to the City Council.

If anyone one is interested in seeing the same materials submitted by another candidate please let me know which candidate and I’ll upload it as soon as I can. This material was publicly available at this past Monday’s Organizational Development meeting (02/02/2009) before they went into closed session.

The best thing about Mrs. Squire is her forthrightness in her application about not wanting to run for election. She wrote, “I have no intention to run. I believe that the ‘appointee’ should serve for a specified period of time only. After that time, I feel that the citizens should be able to elect a person of their choice to fill the remainder of the unexpired term.”

February 4, 2009 8:12 pm

What this whole exercise demonstrates is the Council’s comfort with conducting business behind closed doors because they feel they are acting in the citizens’ best interests. Talking to Council members before the meeting it became apparent that a few of the members don’t seem understand the important concept of “Open and Transparent Government.”

Watch the video here.

This should serve as a warning to citizens and motivate us to criticize how Richmond City Council conducts its business.