Thread by @socialistdogmom

not sure what to expect out of this, but we should be getting started shortly

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1101151342171697152

we didn’t get the names until yesterday, but the progress has some background on the three finalists

https://twitter.com/dailyprogress/status/1103316808960946177?s=21

the stage is set up so that all five city councilors will face the candidates, brought out individually, for 35 minute interviews. we seem to be a little behind schedule.

still waiting on a few councilors... kathy galvin has taken her seat on the stage, though. she announced earlier today that she intends to run for state delegate this year. at least that’ll keep her from running for council.

https://twitter.com/jerrymillernow/status/1103334678910640130?s=21

still missing councilor bellamy, but mayor walker is starting us off. we’ve got a very uncomfortable looking prospective city manager on the stage.

mallinoff is first. here’s the relevant portion of the daily progress article. he’s recapping his resume for us now.

he has six sisters and three children. his wife is a montessori teacher. he looks very nervous.

we now have all five councilors on stage. mallinoff is answering a question from nikuyah about engaging with the public.

he says he is “very aware” of the “horrible” two days we had in august two years ago. he says he is neither shy nor uneducated about the kind of continuing dialogue this requires

signer asks him about transparency. mallinoff says that is “fundamental.” he’s holding up a report produced in his last job, saying that kind of reporting is something he’s done his entire career. “but transparency goes both ways,” talking about internal transparency.

kathy galvin - “our community attracts investors and buyers who can afford any price” which inflates land values & assessments. have you faced this kind of situation before? can you think of ways to lessen tax burdens while still meeting our obligations?

mallinoff says “you need to not move any options off the table,” you get “boxed in” if you start off by saying “no new taxes.”
(all those angry old people from monday’s council meeting are gonna hate that!)

he says we have a good tax base and $550mil in bond capacity. “people like me” can provide you with the information and data to make informed choices.

he gives an example from falls church - they needed $120mil to build a new high school. “the community knew they had good data to benchmark their decisions” and the locality did end up raising taxes.

wes bellamy asks about public safety. “a lot of people when they think about charlottesville just think of august 11th and 12th.” he asks him how he thinks about public safety as a whole.

we’re having a minor microphone debacle.

“when people think of us they just think of august 11th and 12th and that that’s the totality of what we need in terms of public safety.”
wes asks how he plans to work with police & fire, what his vision is for public safety as a whole.

mallinoff says he’s done his research on the community. “it’s my function to ensure the 45,000 people in the community and the business associated with them” receive their services.
he says there’s no simple solution to the turnover in the police department.

he says the key is to have the best people in the job (at the police dept) and they interact well with the community. he says programs like take home police cars & pay increases are some of the solutions to losing officers to neighboring communities.

mallinoff says the key to public safety is to be “engaged with the community to provide day in and day out safety” that people are “comfortable with” so they “don’t feel they are a victim”

nikuyah asks about healing and reconciliation. mallinoff says he’s worked in similar communities re: racial makeup and says it is effective to honestly and transparently engage with the community (this is mostly buzzwords?)

he’s got a strong emphasis on data analytics.
(sidenote: is his lapel pin the google chrome logo?)

(additional sidenote: someone in the audience has “who let the dogs out” as their ringtone and let their phone ring for most of the chorus)

he says he would provide a face to city government and would be available to the public, allowing people to feel they are not left out of the decision making process.

of his time working in annapolis, he says he has experience in “town and gown” relations. there was a similar issue in anne arundel county that we have here where the county was growing around a formerly dominant city

asked if there is anything else he wants to share with the public, he says one of his strengths is building “true sincere relationships” and quotes maya angelou

on to candidate number two, tarron richardson

oooof, watching someone else’s job interview is exactly as uncomfortable as i suspected it would be.

nikuyah asks him to discuss the importance of building relationships with the community. richardson’s response is largely incomprehensible to me? “when things happen in communities, i say always start with the youth” but also business owners.

“we have to be very inclusive of everyone in the community” & mentions the importance of ensuring low/moderate income residents are served the same as higher income residents and when he talked about engaging all aspects of the community, specifically mentioned black lives matter

signer asks about transparency. richardson says he’s won the state of texas transparency award (i hope its a clear glass paperweight type award)

i forgot to share the link to the livestream! you can watch this uncomfortable experience here:

facebook.com/cvilletv10/vid…

wes bellamy asks him the same question as the previous candidate about his vision & philosophy for public safety beyond the conversations about august 12.

richardson says his community in texas has “community policing” which gives them “eyes and ears” in the community.
“we need to talk about leadership” - “if you have a strong leader in that department you should be able to move things forward.”

he’s mentioned attending HOA meetings a couple times now. charlottesville does have neighborhood associations but i can’t imagine the city manager attending those meetings?

“our community is extremely attractive,” kathy galvin says leading in to her same question as before about inflated land values & the need to raise taxes.

“i’m not going to over promise and under deliver,” richardson says. he says when he took the job in de soto ten years ago they were also facing rising property assessments.

both candidates so far have gently but unambiguously articulated they are not opposed to raising taxes to pay for large projects the community needs.

nikuyah asks about healing from institutional racism.
richardson says we need to be “open up front and honest” about the issues & mentions again the importance of engaging the youth.

“we need to have ad hoc committees within these communities”
we need... ad hoc committees to solve racism?

“in a city of 49,000 people, you can basically touch everybody,” that in a community this size you recognize the people you see at the store.
(he’s the city manager of a similarly sized community in texas)

sorry, i missed most of the last answer because it was entirely word salad. it’s hard to transcribe a response that doesn’t make sense - i can’t hold it in my head while i type.

given an opportunity to share anything he wasn’t asked about, richardson says no, then shares a few more things.
“i’m a dedicated public servant.”
“you’re only as good as your last project”

he emphasizes getting out into the community, talking to people, and having an open door policy. “i want to know exactly how our employees feel” and what is impacting their ability to be effective.

the third and last candidate is theodore vorhees. there is some... concerning information here.

his first government job was at the pentagon but he wanted to feel more connected to the community & took a job at the fairfax county board of supervisors.

talking about projects he did in that job that “made a difference,” the first thing he cites is helping people “retain value in their property.”

making a note to myself to try to find this guy’s college yearbook. just out of curiosity.

nikuyah asks about building relationships with the community. “absolutely there are challenges” (weak start, ted)

“i usually assume good intent,” he says people figure it quickly whether you’re a “person of action” who “lives transparency and truth,” which he says are important values for him.

“we also have to work in an ad hoc way” when “issues don’t fit conveniently in a box”
“we work for the people”
“we are going to be strongest together”

w o r d. s a l a d.

signer has to leave at 5:30 for a family obligation but asks again about transparency. vorhees says he’ll give two examples -

in durham the capital improvement plan was not sufficient, there was going to be a bond referendum.
he says the community responded that they didn’t trust the government and did not want to vote to raise taxes.

he describes the year long process of convincing the community to vote for the referendum. he’s not a strong story teller. this is obviously supposed to be more interesting than it is.

he acknowledges that he said he was going to give two examples, but leaves his answer at just the one.
wes is now asking the question about public safety.

“i’ve spoken about this already to the council,” yeah but you’re talking to us now ted.
“there is a nationwide struggle to change the model of policing in america” and there are “good models”

he says the “21st century policing model” moves the culture of policing away from the “warrior mentality” and toward a “guardian mentality”

“they want to be good. they want to do the right thing,” vorhees says of the police.
“there’s always a few folks in any organization who maybe need to seek a different type of employment,” but overall he thinks this model works.

in fayetteville all officers got unconscious bias training & “fair policing” training. he says they had difficulty about “consent searches” disproportionately being done on black motorists.

“it wasn’t helping us to build a community relationship” and it created “animosity.”
he claims they were able to change the mindset of the police.
(people of fayetteville - do you have all good cops now? big if true!)

it’s amazing ted can even talk with that boot in his mouth.
“it’s about making sure that officers are rewarded”
“you cannot forget that they are people, too”

kathy calling the community “extremely attractive” is not getting less weird with each repetition. she’s asking again about the need to raise taxes.

“that’s really a classic problem for successful communities,” vorhees says.
“when you have an unsuccessful economy... you’re having to look externally for resources.”
in a community like charlottesville, though, he says “you’re having to protect folks from rapid change.” 🚨

nikuyah asks about healing from institutional and structural racism. vorhees says he’s just taken a course on unconscious bias and he really learned a lot. (this is also a red flag...)

he says we need to spend time having “non threatening” dialogue. “when we’re forced to solve a specific problem under a lot of pressure, sometimes people are more resistant.”
“all communities benefit from more space, more time, more familiarity. familiarity breeds truth.”

he talks about the importance of getting to know people, “because you know them as a person and not as an interest”
city government should create “many opportunities and venues” but “not force people to do anything in particular”

heather asks about city/county and city/uva relationships. vorhees says cities are part of the county in NC, so it’s a little different.

more word salad response.

i cannot possibly be expected to listen to this man talk for the next however many years.

“people are concerned about you. all around the country people know what happened to you.” “it’s unfortunate that the name charlottesville is synonymous with tragedy”
“but do not despair”
OH SHUT THE FUCK UP BUDDY

vorhees: “we know what charlottesville is all about. we’re not gonna let anybody from outside the community bring us down”

i’m sitting right in the front row & i let out a loud, sharp derisive laugh when he told us not to despair even though the whole country thinks we’re a fucking lost cause or whatever. honestly fuck that guy.

vorhees approached me and two comrades after the interviews to ask why we’d had facial reactions to some of his comments.

i cannot imagine what would possess him to do that. between what he said about our city and this action, the lack of self awareness he displayed is almost impressive.

after interrupting me several times to talk about what “we” need to do, i told him, “there is no ‘we.’ you’re not getting this job.”
to which he replied, “i know.”

that sounds extremely far fetched and it was a very fucking wild interaction but when is charlottesville municipal politics anything else?