Posted on April 02, 2025

Mailroom staff to be retrained on proper protocols

Richmond, VA — The City of Richmond's Department of Information Technology, which oversees the City's mailroom, is informing the public about a clerical error that occurred on February 28, 2025. Due to a mailroom mistake, debt setoff letters for 226 individuals were sent to the incorrect addresses.

Information contained in those letters included:

• Name
• Address
• Claim number
• Amount due

The Department of Information Technology has verified no further impact to other individuals and has started the process of notifying those impacted. Moving forward, mailroom staff will be re-trained on the processes and protocols to make sure mail is delivered to the proper recipient.

"I take protecting privacy incredibly seriously — whether it be digital privacy or the privacy of mailed documents," said Charles Todd, Director of the Department of Information Technology. "I apologize, and I want Richmonders to know we will review our processes and make the necessary adjustments to prevent this from happening again."

Affected individuals will receive a direct communication from the City of Richmond with further details. For additional questions, call RVA311 at 3-1-1 or 804-646-7000.

Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2025

City of Richmond Launches FOIA Reading Room

Also: FOIA training mandated for Deputy Directors and Directors

To promote transparency and accountability, the City of Richmond has launched a pilot FOIA Reading Room with records pertaining to the 2025 Water Crisis. The reading room contains documents of substantial public interest that have been previously released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

"I said throughout my campaign and many times over the course of these first three months in office: Transparency is one of my core values," said Mayor Danny Avula. "The City's FOIA team has worked incredibly hard over the last several months, and now I'm asking them to do a little bit more."

"We wanted to pilot a FOIA Reading Room to promote transparency and accountability, save Richmond residents time and money, and reduce the administrative burden to staff," said Julia Holmes, the City's FOIA Manager. "My job, making sure the public has access to public records, is so important, and I'm excited for this new tool that will hopefully make it easier for folks to do that."

Whether a record is of substantial public interest and included in the FOIA Reading Room is determined in the best judgment of City officials, the FOIA manager, and subject matter experts.

"We're going to post records that are of both broad public interest and likely to be requested again. Not every record released through a FOIA request will make its way into the Reading Room, but I hope residents and reporters alike will see this as a good-faith effort towards greater transparency," said Mayor Danny Avula.

Additionally, to ensure that every City department knows the importance of timely, complete, and accurate responses to FOIA requests, all City Directors and Deputy Directors will now be required to take a mandatory annual FOIA training.

🌠 The More You Know

• Since the Water Crisis, 86 days ago, the City's FOIA team has responded to 61 water-related FOIA requests, with most of those requests including multiple sub-requests.
• 22 individuals have requested records.
• About 55 staff members have worked on at least some part of a water-related FOIA request.
• The City took the seven-day extension on 46 requests.
• The City has responded late, after the required deadline, five times.
• To date, across all requests, the City has charged requesters about $1,440.

🔎 All About FOIA

• State law requires the City to respond to FOIA requests within five business days—which doesn't include days the City isn't open, like weekends or holidays. If needed, the City can take a seven-business-day extension.
• Some records can be redacted or withheld (either partially or entirely). When this occurs, the City must provide a written response stating th specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows the withholding.
• The Code of Virginia specifies several reasons a record may be redacted or withheld. During the Water Crisis, the City cited those exemptions and withheld records that contained:
   
  • "information...which would jeopardize the safety or security of any person; governmental facility" (§ 2.2-3705.2),
  • "working papers and correspondence of the…mayor or chief executive officer of any political subdivision of the Commonwealth" (§ 2.2-3705.7)
  • "Written advice of legal counsel to…local public bodies or the officers or employees of such public bodies, and any other records protected by the attorney-client privilege" (§ 2.2-3705.1).
     
• The City can charge for the actual costs of responding to FOIA requests, including staff time spent searching for and reviewing the requested records.
• Costs are charged at lowest hourly rate of the staff member capable of fulfilling the request. The highly technical and sensitive nature of some records occasionally require subject matter experts, deputy directors, or even department directors to pull records.
• The City's FOIA team will regularly work with requester to narrow the scope of their requests. This saves the requester money and helps ensure efficient use of staff time and retrieval of information that accurately addresses the individual's request.

Posted March 26, 2025

 ~ Project upgrades offer state-of-the-art communications and safer operations ~

RICHMOND, VA – The Department of Public Works (DPW) will begin construction on Phase IV of the Signalized Upgrade Project next week. Currently 463 of the city’s 490 signalized intersections have been upgraded and connected via a state-of-the-art communications network to its traffic management system. Work to complete the remaining 27 is underway. These remaining signalized intersections are operating without communications or with limited bandwidth communications. Work to integrated them into the existing Econolite Centracs© centralized traffic management software is expected to be completed by Fall 2026, weather permitting.

Benefits include:

• Creating a reliable communications network between the traffic management system and each signalized intersection
• Enhanced remote monitoring
• Coordinated signal operations for speed management and better pedestrian access
• Real time transit signal priority operations along the GRTC Pulse Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor
• Special events management
• Future emergency vehicle preemption
• Enhanced maintenance repairs

There will be intermittent lane closures during this project. Please give our construction workers extra space and slow down when you see orange cones in the work zones.

This $6.1 million project is funded through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in partnership with Plan RVA.

For more on DPW go to www.rva.gov/public-works or email askpublicworks@rva.gov

We’re Social! For updates on activities and events visit us on X (Twitter) @DPW_RichmondVA

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The City of Richmond Department of Public Works (DPW) is one of only 195 currently accredited public works agencies in the United States. DPW’s portfolio comprises a wide array of services to include leaf collection; street, sidewalk, and alley maintenance; trash collection; recycling; grass cutting; graffiti removal; parking enforcement; urban forestry; street signs; traffic signals and pavement markings and civil engineering. In addition, DPW maintains upkeep on most city buildings; issues permits for working in the city’s right-of-way; manages the RVA Bike Share program and maintains the fleet of city vehicles. DPW’s operating budget comes from the general fund of the City of Richmond.  For more information about DPW services, click here or call 3-1-1

Posted on March 27, 2025

Richmond, VA - Today, Mayor Danny Avula presented a balanced $3 billion budget proposal to City Council that addresses Richmond's most pressing needs. The Mayor delivered a balanced budget without raising taxes. This was accomplished despite having to close a $50 million budget gap, rising costs due to inflationary pressures, and fiscal uncertainty coming from Washington.

The budget represents the Mayor's vision of a healthy and thriving city with abundant opportunity, where everyone's rights are protected, and no one is left behind. This proposal takes initial steps towards realizing that vision through strategic investments in key priority areas.

"My team and I have built a balanced, $3 billion budget that reflects our shared priorities. It is a fiscally responsible plan that does not raise taxes." said Mayor Danny Avula. "And I believe that, despite the challenges we're facing, despite the uncertainty surrounding us, we can be optimistic about our City's future. Because I know that each of you - Councilmembers, City staff in the audience, Richmonders watching from home - are dedicated to this place you - and I - i love deeply."

Thriving families

• This budget increases RPS general fund support by $9.6 million over last year, bringing our total investment to a record $248.9 million

• Nearly one quarter of the general fund budget is devoted to supporting Richmond Public Schools

• $500,000 provided for the Early Childhood Care and Education Trust Fund

• $520,000 invested in the Family Crisis Fund

Thriving Neighborhoods

• Invests nearly $50 million in housing, including $10 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and fully staffing the Department of Housing and Community Development.

• Provides the City's first responders with the resources they need to protect residents, including funding for 60 additional sworn police officers, 4 new fire trucks, 16 new police vehicles, and an average increased salary of 10.3% for police officers and firefighters.

• $300,000 for the Trauma Healing Response Network, to reduce the impact of gun violence in our City

Thriving sustainable built environment

• $21 million for safe and complete streets initiatives

• $11 million for the Fall Line Trail

• $10.1 million for a multi-use cultural heritage campus in Shockoe

• $6 million to support the public-private investment in Brown's Island

• $2.4 million for a connection to the James River in Manchester

• $250,000 for the Neighborhood Climate Resilience Grant Program

Thriving City Hall

• Creates a new position for a Chief Transformation Officer. The person in that role will champion a performance management framework to hold city departments accountable to clear metrics

• Invests $18.6 million more in City staff

• Increases salaries by at least 3.25% for all eligible general employees

• Invests in the Finance Department and 311 to improve customer service

• Implements strategic budget reductions of $10.6 million

Utility System Enhancements

• More than $60 million in planned capital improvement plan investments to fund water treatment plant improvement projects, including $38 million proposed for next year, which is a significant acceleration in funding

• Another $207 million in the five-year CIP is planned for water transmission and distribution system improvements

• That's in addition to a series of other planned investments to enhance wastewater treatment operations, strengthening our stormwater management, improving our gas utility system, and proactively upgrading the City's combines sewer system

• The budget includes previously scheduled modest increases to water, wastewater, and gas rates

• On average, the combined increase amount to about 42 cents per day

During remarks to City Council, Mayor Avula referenced several legacy factors that represent significant revenue constraints that impact budget development. That includes Richmond's limited 62-square-mile footprint which is home to a significant share of tax-exempt properties occupied by state government entities, aging infrastructure, increased school funding responsibilities, and federal fiscal policy uncertainty.

To address these challenges while improving service delivery, the budget includes the creation of a new Transformation Manager position focused on process improvements and organizational culture change across City Hall.

Looking ahead, the Mayor also forecast an even tighter budget next fiscal year due to a planned change in the City assessment calendar. To help enhance City revenues, the Mayor also emphasized the importance of continued economic development initiatives like the Diamond District and City Center to grow Richmond's tax base.

Next steps in the budget process involve City Council reviewing the Mayor's proposal prior to final adoption later this spring.

A Note on Elected Officials Salaries

This budget also increases the Mayor's salary from $130,725 to $175,000.

The Mayor's salary has been largely fixed for two decades. The budget proposes adjusting the Mayor's salary to $175,000, which still falls well below what the 2025 salary would be if fully adjusted for cost of living increases over the past 20 years.

The Mayor's proposed salary is in line with the median pay range ($171,271) for Deputy Director salaries and below the median pay range ($188,403) for Department Director salaries based on positional pay ranges in the FY 25 compensation plan. If City Council adopts the proposed salary increase, the Mayor would be the 61st highest paid City employee.

After a 2024 change in state law, City Council voted to increase councilmember salaries by $20,000, raising the annual compensation to $45,000, effective July 1, 2025. Prior to those adjustments, Council salaries had remained flat for nearly two decades.

• Read Mayor Danny Avula's remarks as prepared.
• Download the proposed FY26 Budget.
• Download the FY26 budget factsheet.

Posted March 26, 2025

Media Photo Opportunity

Who: Richmond Department of Public Works and the Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility

What: Street Art Mural Installation and Celebration |Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Project (LQC)

When: Friday, March 28 at 11 am

Where: Mosby Street (1000 block) near Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School

Why:

• Document a pivotal community moment showcasing city youth and the positive impacts of traffic calming using public art. This vibrant, collaborative artwork aims to not only beautify the street but also contribute to a safer, more engaged neighborhood, promoting mindful driving and Vision Zero initiatives.
  
  • Neighborhood MLK art students, local city leaders, educators, council members, school board representatives, community members and volunteers will work together to paint the mural.

• This LQC project was selected as a top priority by Richmonders and one of several “Big Moves” identified in the Richmond Connects, multimodal transportation plan adopted in spring 2024

For more information go to https://www.rva.gov/public-works/lqc

We’re Social! For updates on activities and events visit us on X (Twitter) @DPW_RichmondVA

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The City of Richmond Department of Public Works (DPW) is one of only 195 currently accredited public works agencies in the United States. DPW’s portfolio comprises a wide array of services to include leaf collection; street, sidewalk, and alley maintenance; trash collection; recycling; grass cutting; graffiti removal; parking enforcement; urban forestry; street signs; traffic signals and pavement markings and civil engineering. In addition, DPW maintains upkeep on most city buildings; issues permits for working in the city’s right-of-way; manages the RVA Bike Share program and maintains the fleet of city vehicles. DPW’s operating budget comes from the general fund of the City of Richmond.  For more information about DPW services, click here or call 3-1-1