The 434 Newsletter 

Keeping You Informed
Highlighting January 2021

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At our January 12th meeting, following a public hearing, Council voted to petition the General Assembly to remove the salary caps for Council Members from the City Charter. I was the lone opponent to the proposal. This is not a salary increase but would allow Council to vote ourselves a raise up to a figure allowed by the General Assembly. 

Here is a portion of an email reply as to why I opposed this change: 

While this action taken by Council does not increase the pay of my colleagues, it does signal they are willing to increase their own compensation. I do agree this position does not offer enough compensation for the work; however, I have a fundamental conflict with representatives voting to increase their own pay. In fact, Council voted to increase compensation, prior to Covid, by 40%, and I would have opposed it then had I been a member.

We have firefighters, teachers, police officers, many of whom have seen negligible increases in pay reflected in their paycheck for years, and this Council sees it prudent to increase their compensation having this knowledge? I do not see how that is the right message to send to our employees. This should be a referendum item, voted on by the community, if they deem a raise appropriate.

I did not express directly my opposition at the meeting, but it was for this principle, and I agree with many of your perspectives. As the lone opponent to this matter, I assure you my opposition on this front will not diminish.

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Council held our Budget Retreat - a 40,000-foot view and vision-casting meeting where we discussed our priorities going into the upcoming budget.
After a lengthy discussion, Council decided to put an emphasis behind the following items:

1) Public Safety Staffing
2) Lynchburg City Schools
3) City-Wide Salary Study Implementation

In the end, I would've hoped for more of a focus on limiting the scope of government, cutting spending and taxes, as well as prioritizing Refuse Staffing/Fleet given the issues with trash collection lately, among other items.

A point I made sure to drive home at our Budget Retreat, and will continue to communicate throughout our budgeting process:

Now is not the time to impose an additional financial burden through hiking up taxes on our community. Period.

While this is certainly not the finalized budget, I am pleased there seems to be consensus behind our Public Safety funding, and I am eager to continue advocating for putting an emphasis behind conservative thought in local government throughout the budgeting process.

As a member of the Physical Development Committee, I highlighted the concerns of many in our community about the recent delays in the Residential Trash Collection at the 8 a.m. meeting on Tuesday. For some, these delays come right as their collection fees (which is nothing more than another tax) increased, only exacerbating their sentiments.

We do, however, need to appreciate those front-line workers who have been working overtime to catch up.

The issue seems to be the City sent out multiple trucks for various upgrades and were delayed upon return, thus causing issues in the trash collection process. I expressed my concerns moving forward for the timing and executions of these upgrades with the negative impact they are having in our neighborhoods.

I will continue to monitor this service and advocate wherever I can to ensure the effectiveness of its execution.

Here is a portion of an email reply to a constituent where I offered further insight into this matter: 

It is unfathomable Council would impose this additional charge on a service that is clearly not functioning. Further, this action is taken amidst this financially trying year for so many in our community. I only wish I had been elected during its debate and discussion so I could’ve truly fought against it. Council has been informed this service has been operating well recently; however, you and others have taken to writing members of Council and expressing thoughts via social media.

While the frontline workers are working overtime to manage the demand, leave it to government bureaucracy and a tax/spend Council to impose higher taxes and fees on failing services to the community. As a member of Council, I will continually fight against such proposals.

While conservatives do not have the votes to change, amend, or nullify this fee, I will do my best to express your concerns with the hopes your neighborhood receives the attention it needs. Please keep me informed as often as is necessary, and I will continue to advocate accordingly.

Just over a year ago, the majority of Lynchburg City Council denied a resolution designating our city as a sanctuary from anti-second amendment legislation coming down from Richmond. Has it really been 365+ days?

I was proud to be the first of over 150 speakers in front of 1,400 advocates who stood up and asked Council Members to honor their oath of office by supporting and defending the constitution of the United States and the Commonwealth.

The majority denied this resolution, aligning their views with Northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Hampton Roads, and Richmond.

As the new conservative voice on Council, I will always be your 2nd Amendment advocate in the Hill City.