Transforming City Hall

The quality of services residents receive reflects how a city manages and spends public funds. City staff are doing their best, and many departments have won national awards for their incredible work. However, employees are not adequately trained, are under-resourced, and are forced to do things manually because we need more technology to streamline their jobs.

Richmond needs a City Hall that’s transparent, accountable, modern, and operational to deliver high-quality, consistent, and efficient services in your neighborhood.

I am the only candidate in this race who has worked inside City Hall and served on City Council. I’ve seen both sides of how our city works, and more importantly, I have a deep understanding of what isn’t working.

As mayor, I am committed to a City Hall that’s well-resourced, responsive, community-involved, and proactive.

Text and email updates for services and bills: Understand and pay your bills online, get building permits, and track progress on applications.

Responsive city services: Work with the new CAO and department directors to overhaul our approach to customer service so that public-facing employees are equipped with the training and resources needed to deliver high-quality, effective services.
Language access: Provide pertinent information on the city’s website in English and Spanish, recruit and retain Latino staff in front-facing offices, and work with advocates to develop a comprehensive Language Access Plan.
Digital accessibility: My administration will work with our communications team to ensure information and the website are properly designed and coded so individuals with disabilities can use them (e.g. alt text, caption videos)

First 100 Days: My administration will host three town hall meetings around the city – with one meeting in Spanish – to connect with residents, hear their concerns, and learn about the projects they want to see prioritized in the budget.

Constituent engagement: My administration will host quarterly meetings with community members to hear their concerns, learn about what’s happening in the city, and address their priorities. This will be a combination of roundtable discussions, town hall meetings, listening sessions, and stakeholder meetings with advocates modeled after a similar program Chesterfield recently launched, “Café con la Comunidad.”
Increased presence in the community: City Hall shouldn’t rely on you coming to them with every request. My administration will increase the face-time of city employees and officials at community centers, libraries, and civic association meetings to get your questions answered promptly. You should know who’s working on your behalf so we hear your ideas and concerns year-round.

Start with our front-line employees: Our hardworking front-line employees see firsthand the frustration our residents experience. They have limited resources, training, or access to the information needed to do their jobs. Modernizing City Systems starts with empowering our employees to be able to deliver
Streamline and consolidate technology solutions: Hire a new Chief Technology Office to overhaul and update our technology infrastructure, especially when it comes to how our residents engage with City Hall. This includes accessing city services and paying bills by phone, using a mobile app, and a streamlined in-person experience.

Collaborative workplace: Support our existing workforce, recruit new talent, and design an ecosystem that prioritizes two-way communication, departmental collaboration, career advancement, and innovation.

Collective decision-making: I will meet weekly with the new CAO, department directors, and other city officials to identify policy, budget, training, staffing, and legislative needs for continued improvement. This includes using Henrico’s model of reviewing and approving building permits as a team for an expedited and efficient process.
Pulse of the City Dashboard: Create a progress tracker that shows all the city services planned for the day, such as street paving, utility repairs, street/lane closures, active building permits, calls for service, top 311 issues reported, and more.
Richmond Analytics team: Establish a dedicated team that will show residents the city’s performance in delivering quality core services and achieving key goals and metrics. This team will help leadership understand and solve problems facing Richmond residents and show our progress in improving results.
Public budget website: View our approved budget and monthly financials in an easy-to-read and understandable format.
Open data portal: Restore the system I launched and codified as a gateway to access key public information such as purchases, contracts, building permits, etc.

Richmonders are tired of the persistent scandals coming out of City Hall. It is no longer tenable to continue with business as usual. The only clear path to rebuilding the trust of Richmonders is to replace our current CAO through a nationwide search for the most qualified candidate who is eager to create a customer service-focused, high-performing, transparent, and accountable government.

My search committee will consist of three categories of stakeholders:

City Council and RPS School Board.
The city managers and leaders from Henrico and Chesterfield counties.
Nonprofit leaders, small business owners, and community members.

Qualities:

Strong experience leading a large and complex local government with a track record of delivering the basic services residents expect, need and depend on.
Experience navigating political decisions and priorities with elected officials who serve on City Council, Board of Supervisors, and School Board.
Experience in leading organizational change and creating and implementing a strategic plan that delivers on the policies.
Experience working and negotiating with unions to support the best outcome for our hard-working employees and their families.
Experience working with a growing city with newcomers and communities experiencing the persistent impacts of redlining and systemic inequities.
Experience confronting and dismantling the legacies of racist policies like redlining that have held communities of color back from access to opportunity and building generational wealth.
Communicate honestly and effectively, be accountable for mistakes, correct issues, and share plans to move forward effectively.

Priorities:

Must restore the public’s trust in City Hall. That starts with creating a culture of transparency, performance, and accountability throughout the Administration.
Lead an overhaul of internal operations to modernize and streamline how city hall delivers core public-facing services.
Lead government-wide strategies to improve engagement and communication with residents and businesses about services, operations, and bill due dates and amounts.
Expand accessibility to government services by ensuring all Richmonders including those who speak a language other than English and residents with disabilities can engage effectively and equitably with our local government.

Listen to city workers: Work with SEIU 512 leadership and frontline employees to understand their challenges in getting the job done and identify ways to improve their work environment. Investing in and updating training processes, streamlining systems, and ensuring all employees have the resources to complete their tasks. Empowering our employees will make it easier for them to serve our residents.

Clear communication and engagement: Remove the practice of residents and businesses being responsible for knowing how much they owe and by when. Clear communication and engagement about any late payments, late fees, or other negative impacts as soon as the payment due date has passed, with a clear amount owed and amounts of penalties. Residents and businesses should be available to receive timely information via email, text, and mail.

Accurate bill notifications: Halt bill collection for revenues where significant mistakes cost our small businesses valuable time and money until the problem can be fixed and corrected to move forward confidently and accurately. City Hall must make it easy to find, track, and complete any finance billing options.

Triage and rectify bills that appear to be anomalies: Communicate clearly how customers can address any billing issues or communicate possible billing errors with the City for quick resolution. Allow for a “call back” option on any city phone number where a hold time is longer than two hours for a resident or business owner to contact the city about a finance question or issue. Small business owners should not receive any more outlandish bills and fees.

Relief and forgiveness programs: In March, I proposed legislation forgiving any penalties, fees, and interest accrued from 2019 through the present day for prepared food/meals taxes. The actual amount owed would still be due, but any business that paid penalties, fees, and interest during this time could request a refund for overpayment. My administration will Implement, track, and manage programs that reduce the burden for businesses and residents for any process or calculation policies in City Hall.

Long-term planning and success: My administration will work with the Finance Department, frontline employees, and City Council to develop clear and measurable performance management goals, such as:

Number of issues with finance billing (accounts receivable) by type.
Number of days needed to correct billing issues.
Number of finance bills paid on time, online, and by mail.
Average hold time, average call time, average quality of call score.
Revenue per capita, overall, and by revenue type.
Revenue per acre, track economic investment in our city as it relates to growth in values as developed.
Number of active business licenses by type and size, number of new business licenses by type and size.

This plan will prioritize offering multiple payment options without having to come to City Hall but instead access through mobile phone, online, by mail, or in person (e.g. libraries, community centers, schools, or other public buildings).

Upgrading financial systems: Hire a Chief Technology Officer to lead the planning and strategy of upgrading the city’s systems and technologies for the seamless delivery of services and user-friendly bill payment while ensuring vital financial records are secured.
Transparency: Host bi-weekly press conferences with leadership from the Finance Department, City Council, and SEIU 512 to update the public on progress on the above-defined goals.

As a City Council member, I know first-hand the importance of working with the administration. Richmond can go further with a mayor prioritizing collaboration with our legislative body. The mayor, CAO, and City Council each play a specific role in making our shared vision for the city a reality.

Budget priorities: I will work with City Council in the early stages of the budget cycle to identify funding priorities in each district and create a budget that reflects our shared values and hard work. This will create a culture of collaboration instead of friction and outline a plan to fund city services, personnel, capital infrastructure projects, and our master plans.
Shared wins: Our victories across the city are due to the hard work of city employees and council members advocating for change. Our wins are for the city.