City Council will meet Tuesday, March 19, in a business session and two work sessions.
Council's meeting will begin with a special work session at 5:30 p.m. to discuss a prospective business or industry related to economic development, as well as acquisition or disposition of real property. This session will be closed to the public as allowed by state law.
The regular business session will begin at 7 p.m., followed by a second work session. These two sessions will be open to the public.
The business session will be held in the Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building, which is located at 427 Patton St.
The work sessions will be held on the same floor, but across the hall in the Council Conference Room. In work sessions, Council reviews non-routine matters that will be voted upon in future business meetings.
River City TV, the city’s government access channel, will air the business session. Watch it live on cable (Comcast channel 10 and Gamewood channel 122) or streaming on the River City TV Facebook page.
During the business session, City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to designate the Danville Neighborhood Development Corp. as the official land bank entity for Danville.
Land banks are governmental entities or nonprofit corporations that are focused on the conversion of vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties into productive use. They are designed to acquire and maintain problem properties and then transfer them back to responsible ownership and, in doing so, create a more efficient and effective system to eliminate blight.
The General Assembly adopted legislation in 2016 to allow the creation of land bank entities. Since the adoption of that legislation, the Danville Neighborhood Development Corp. has been created to administer the land bank program in Danville.
The Danville Neighborhood Development Corp is a non-profit organization and not an official arm or division of the City. The City will not be not liable for its operations nor will the City be responsible for any debts or other financial liabilities that may incur.
A public hearing will be held prior to the City Council’s vote.
City Council also is scheduled to vote on several other matters Tuesday night:
- A grant of $56,347 from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to be used for equipment upgrades for the Danville Regional Hazardous Materials Team.
- Funding for this year’s recreation enrichment program and for the expanded summer program operated by the Parks and Recreation Department. The Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services Board will provide $55,220. The Parks and Recreation Department will provide in-kind funds of $137,624 as a match.
- Revised purchase power agreements with Turning Point Energy.
During the work session, City Council will review financial reports and hear an update on the Multi-Year Financial Planning Committee's work to date with recommendations on how to close the City's five-year funding gap.
In addition to the business and work sessions on Tuesday, a special work session will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 18, at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. This session will be a joint session with the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors and the Danville Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority.
Following an update on the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, a closed meeting will be held to discuss matters related to economic development as allowed by state law.