Council gets water briefing; new electrical rate provides cost savings
Richmond's City Council met Monday night, with water the main topic.
There were three other items on the initial agenda, but all were pushed back to future dates. That included a discussion of altering residency requirements for top officials, which will now be heard on July 28, and discussion on standing up the Civilian Review Board, which was postponed yet again, this time to Sept 2.
The Organizational Development Standing Committee then received two water updates.
The first was from DPU Director Scott Morris, who shared the progress that has been made in meeting repair and reform timelines set by the Virginia Department of Health.
Morris also said the plant has a new electrical rate, which will allow DPU to pay the same whether it operates in "summer mode" or "winter mode."
The winter mode only used one of two available power sources, to provide cost savings. When that source failed on Jan. 6, the switchover to the second source did not occur. Now, both sources will feed into the plant at all times.
The second update was from Hagerty Consulting, which prepared a report about the city's communication during the first water crisis.
The city's contract with Hagerty is not to exceed $479,600, but a final amount has not yet been made public.
During a question-and-answer time, Councilor Stephanie Lynch (5th District) asked if any City Council members were interviewed for the report. The Hagerty representatives said that all nine were reached out to, and two were interviewed.
"I apologize, I didn't know that you reached out," Lynch replied.
Following the water updates, Council went into closed session to discuss a potential regional water authority. No updates were given after the closed session.
Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org.
