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i don’t attend many albemarle county board of supervisors meetings, but i have a feeling it’s unusual for there to be nearly equal numbers of cops & members of the general public.
this email was sent out to their mailing list an hour before the meeting was scheduled to start. it’s 1:50 and they still haven’t emerged from closed session. anybody know what the last minute closed session was supposed to be about? 
unsurprisingly, the closed session was to discuss legal options re: meeting disruptions. last week’s school board meeting in this same auditorium resulted in six arrests, sending one man to the hospital.
an hour late, the albemarle county board of supervisors is finally under way. the microphones don’t seem to be working properly. not sure what people in the back are getting out of this.
if you love public meetings as much as i do and just couldn’t get here today, don’t worry: you can watch it live from anywhere!
i’m going to get an ocular charley horse rolling my eyes during this extended back patting session for what a good job they did over the weekend of august 12th.
ann mallek, chair of the BOS, introduces the public comment period with a very patronizing speech about being respectful & following the rules. apparently if you want to show support for a speaker you should “raise your hand.”
a community member reminding the board of supervisors that “when you’re in charge, everything is your fault.” says the county school board has disgraced itself.
conduct of the school board & county police last thursday was reprehensible.
conduct of the school board & county police last thursday was reprehensible.
“it is time for an end to civility and a time for accountability,” he says. this is not “some petty squabble,” racist imagery in schools is harming children. “this should not be a difficult decision.”
this public commenter asks why albemarle county hasn’t formally ended the state of emergency put into place ahead of the anniversary of august 12th. great question!
next commenter is speaking on the topic of our local law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE. board of supervisors member diantha mckeel also sits on the jail board - they’ll vote again next week on whether to continue with voluntary ICE notifications.
last public comment for this portion of the meeting. i don’t know who this dork is, but he’s reading a comment he pulled out of a leather folio with the county police department logo on it. sit down, richard.
jeff richardson on the dais says aug 8 was when they declared the state of emergency & they haven’t met since then. says this is their first opportunity to consider that resolution. apparently the state is still under a state of emergency.
the statewide state of emergency is still in effect for another week. ann mallek says the board will reconsider the local emergency at that time. under the state of emergency, the parking lot at the county office building is closed outside public meetings.
this presentation about paying cops more is boring enough to put me to sleep but aggravating the ACAB center of my brain in a way that has me all riled up.
this cop is complaining that cops get paid less than nurses and school teachers. buddy, not only do both of those professions require advanced degrees, but they actually help people and are important, good professions.
“they’re dealing with the worst of the worst and physically putting their hands on them every day,” he says about the work of the sheriff’s office. (the presentation we just saw explicitly said the work sheriff’s office was less dangerous & warrants less pay than county police)
the report to the board of supervisors from the albemarle county school board that was on tonight’s agenda was moved to the consent agenda & won’t be presented tonight. apparently no one from the school board was available 😒
i bet this powerpoint is going to be about as good as this acronym.
i bet you’re wondering what sally the spotted salamander has to do with the economic development plan. i sure am. he promises he’s gonna explain.
i think he mixed up his personal presentation notes with the public presentation
- feedback
- internal departments
- team sport
- feedback
- internal departments
- team sport
apparently the salamander thing is a reference to a group of residents who used road flares to stop traffic on 29 to safely shepherd salamanders across the road. still not sure how that fits in here but that’s nice i guess?
if we’re being completely honest here, this is the worst powerpoint i’ve ever seen.
board member rick randolph asking the hard questions: how do you know it’s sally the salamander not sidney the salamander?
we’re told this powerpoint has “a lot of pictures” and will take about fifteen minutes.
is the county aware of all the amazing computer skills classes offered by the local public library? i personally know a librarian who could teach them to use powerpoint.
is the county aware of all the amazing computer skills classes offered by the local public library? i personally know a librarian who could teach them to use powerpoint.
i zoned out for a minute and tuned back in to hear board member diantha mckeel telling a personal anecdote about the issues she’s been having with century link in her home. this is a real roller coaster of emotions, folks.
“let’s just skip the ‘kill somebody’ part,” says board chair ann mallek, saying they often wait years before addressing road safety concerns that end up being addressed quickly after someone is killed.
back from closed session and headed into the second public comment period. chair ann mallek is giving a slightly different, but equally patronizing, version of her lecture about civility.
a community member tells the board she’d rather use her comment time to talk about the need for a county funded emergency assistance program, but feels compelled to address the events of the last two school board meetings.
next speaker addressing the board IN FAVOR of the current policy of voluntary ICE notifications. she says it “protects all of us.”
(this is not true. she is a racist old bitch.)
(this is not true. she is a racist old bitch.)
next speaker says she was anxious to come here after what happened at the school board meeting. the presence of this many police officers in the building is intimidating.
another speaker asking why the local state of emergency is still in place. “this is a needless restriction on citizens” and asks them to rescind the ordinance tonight.
chair mallek tells him “we already took care of that earlier tonight,” but this is misleading. they didn’t end the state of emergency, they said they’d revisit it next week when the statewide state of emergency expires next week.
next speaker calls for a public apology for the events of the school board meeting last week, for the county to drop the charges against those arrested at the meeting, and suspend ACPD major craig jenkins.
“guess what? we are not going away.”
goddamn right. albemarle county officials have obviously not been watching charlottesville city council meetings. they just bought themselves the same level of public engagement.
goddamn right. albemarle county officials have obviously not been watching charlottesville city council meetings. they just bought themselves the same level of public engagement.
next speaker also addressing the voluntary notifications of ICE, calling it a racist policy and urging the board to revisit the policy.
it is up for a vote by the jail board next week. diantha mckeel of the BOS also sits on the jail board.
it is up for a vote by the jail board next week. diantha mckeel of the BOS also sits on the jail board.
public comment has now ended. there are a couple of public hearings still on the agenda but to be truthful, i mostly came today for the school board report that got bumped off the agenda. it’s been a long five hours and your favorite livetweeter has a sinus headache.
