When Richmond Mayor Danny Avula proposed a regional water advisory group to take a deeper look at ways to strengthen the area’s water infrastructure, it was clear the City Council wasn’t fully sold on the idea.

Several Council members expressed reservations at a joint meeting with the Henrico County Board of Supervisors last month, indicating they weren’t quite ready to say yes to Avula’s vision for how the city could cooperate more closely with its neighbors after this year’s water problems.

After a closed-door City Council meeting this month, the Avula administration announced a regional work group has been established and is already meeting. But it’s more scaled-down and less structured than what the mayor originally proposed.

In a news release last week, the mayor’s office described the work group as a “a regional collaborative of water utility leaders and technical experts from the City of Richmond, Chesterfield County, Hanover County, and Henrico County.”

Asked for more detail, city spokesperson Mira Signer said the work group mostly consists of the four localities’ utility directors, who have said they already talk on a semi-regular basis because of their interconnected water systems. Those directors will be joined by their respective chief administrators as necessary, Signer said.

Avula’s original plan called for elected officials to be included in the work group, but that idea appears to have been dropped for the sake of a smaller and potentially more efficient panel.

The original concept floated by Avula also included a clear timeline for when the regional group would produce concrete policy recommendations. The mayor envisioned having initial recommendations by November that could be adopted in early 2026 as the local governments involved prepare their respective budgets.

 It’s not clear if the less-formal regional utility meetings will produce an actionable plan that would then go back to each locality for approval.

“There very well could be some concrete recommendations at some point,” Signer said.

The city release on the regional group said its work would involve coming up with a clearer structure for how and when the city provides water updates to its county partners. It will also “review proposed capital improvement plans, evaluate rate models, coordinate on potential state funding requests and conduct joint tabletop exercises,” according to the city.

“This work group builds on existing jurisdictional cooperation and is a continuation of shared efforts to strengthen the region’s water infrastructure,” the city release said.

Avula has argued that more cross-jurisdiction cooperation could help the city by having the whole region pushing together for increased infrastructure funding. Skeptical Council members seem to be prioritizing protecting city control over its own assets, and some worry a post-water crisis rush toward regional control could lead to the city getting a raw deal.

Where the talks regional go is unclear, but there doesn’t appear to be strong momentum yet behind the bigger idea of putting the water system under control of a regional authority. That move would require General Assembly approval, and state legislators don’t appear to be closely involved in the regional discussions.

Officials also announced the formation of an internal work group focused on “scenario planning” that will be led by Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald and Department of Public Utilities Director Scott Morris. The internal group will also take a deeper look at the finances behind the city’s water infrastructure, “including capital investment needs, debt management strategies, and ratepayer impacts.” Outside financial consultants are expected to help with that process, according to the city.

“These two work groups mark a critical step forward in building a stronger, more resilient water system for the region,” Avula said in the city’s release.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org