One of the guests at VPM Media Corporation’s block party in Richmond’s Historic Monroe Ward on Thursday was Mayor Levar Stoney. He had added the event to his public schedule alongside giving the new teacher orientation for Richmond Public Schools and attending a backpack drive at the Greater Richmond Convention Center — just down the road from the celebration at 15 E. Broad Street.
Stoney also gave a short speech at the nonprofit’s block party, following VPM Chief Operations Officer Meg Garner and President and CEO Jayme Swain. (Read his full speech below.)
“It is an amazing moment that the premier news, information hub of the commonwealth has chosen Downtown Richmond,” Stoney said.
Following his remarks — and with press secretary Gianni Snidle present — Stoney answered VPM News’ questions related to reviews of departments at City Hall, Richmond’s water infrastructure and accusations of credit card violations by city employees.
Editor’s note: This interview has only been edited for style, grammar and to add links to governmental websites or related news coverage. It has not been otherwise edited for length or clarity.
VPM News: What is your top achievable priority that you’d like to accomplish before you leave office?
Levar Stoney: My top achievement priority left in the next four months and so many days, is No. 1, obviously, delivering the Diamond District project with the groundbreaking. The earth is already moving over there, but I want to put the bow on top of that and make sure that is in the right spot before I leave office.
No. 2 is the delivering on the City Center project. Right for me, this is about ensuring that the city has opportunities for growth for years and years to come, and also has a stream of revenue for the future. That's very important to me as well.
What you're also going to see from City Hall as an operation and an organization, I'm going to continue to review every single department — just like I started, to leave the next mayor in a better place than when I received it. And so there'll be, there's an ongoing assessment as we speak in review of every single department. So when the next mayor gets the keys on Jan. 1, they have a City Hall that is humming on all cylinders.
Was part of that assessment searching the finance department, and if so, what was taken and what prompted that search?
What occurred with the finance department was an industry best practice, a governmental best practice, a private sector best practice: to review, audit what was at the desk of those over at the finance department. That's an ongoing matter within, inside City Hall. So once there's a full accounting of what occurred, I'm sure that the public will be the first to know.
We are heading into elections this year. With the shake-ups with the city registrar, you know, seeing that all over the news: Should people — Richmonders — be concerned when heading to the polls?
Well, you know, when I think about elections in this country, one thing I know about — whether it's the city of Richmond or the commonwealth of Virginia — our elections are secure. Our elections are fair, and you can count on your vote to get counted and counted properly.
And so if I'm a registered voter or a person who's not registered: Get registered, and ensure you make your voices heard over the course of less than 90 days.
With the situation right now at the James River, people are concerned with biohazardous material getting into the James. Why is the river still open?
And have you had any talks about that with people at the James River facilities?
The river is still open because after tests from DEQ, and also in conjunction with VDH, the levels are down from where they were when a leak occurred on one of our pipelines that cross the river.
In Richmond, we have very old infrastructure, and we're doing everything we can to ensure that that infrastructure is fortified and stays in proper working condition to deliver the cleanest water possible to all the residents, and the residents beyond the City of Richmond. But in addition to that, Richmond has an antiquated system called the combined sewer overflow. And so we're experiencing a rainstorm right now as we speak with Tropical Storm Debby hovering and basically sitting over Central Virginia.
When the water levels rise, whether it's a quarter of an inch, that means that you should not go into the river. And why is that? Because we have an antiquated, old system that's gone back 100-plus years. Cities like Lynchburg, cities like Alexandria, cities like Pittsburgh have this same system.
We love recreating on the river, but we also use the river as a way for us to provide drinking water as well. We've invested a serious amount of dollars in wastewater, our wastewater, in our treatment plants and also in the CSO fix as well. Now the problem is there's a lot more money that needs to be invested.
The commonwealth of Virginia has a goal for us. We want to meet that goal, but we cannot meet that goal without their investment. And so we're going to continue to monitor our pipes that parallel the river or cross the river, and it's our hope as we move forward that we see an investment, a major investment, from our friends in the General Assembly.
Editor’s note: Here, Stoney and VPM News paused the interview and discussed logistics for a follow-up trip to the city’s water treatment facility. The mayor then requested an addendum to his original answer, which is included below.
Can I just add, though, when we saw that there was a break in one of our pipelines, we reported it right to DEQ. And I'm glad that they closed the river down for a period of time, but it's the infrastructure that really needs attention, too, and the dollars that are solely generated from the City of Richmond will never be able to fix it totally.
We need not a Band-Aid approach, but a full-on comprehensive, holistic approach to this, and that's going to involve the Commonwealth of Virginia.
How were so many city employees able to violate credit card policies?
From my review of the matter, after talking with my senior leaders, 99% of the 300-plus employees who have access to a p-card — a purchasing card — are in good standing. A handful of individuals did violate some of those matters, I believe it's five total: a couple from the registrar's office and a couple within City Hall proper.
And when they did violate those matters, they were flagged by the procurement department, and some of those cards were suspended. Otherwise, 99% of those who have access to a purchasing card to ensure that the operations of City Hall are run efficiently are in good standing.
Mayor Levar Stoney’s VPM Media Corp. remarks
Now a few days ago, I received an email about this block party, and I'm also looking at the weather forecast as well, and I'm thinking to myself, “There's no way we're going to be able to have this block party in downtown Richmond.”
And I open the email, and I proceed to read the email, and Jayme says, ‘No, the party is on.’ And so I want to begin by thanking Jayme for her determination, in many ways than one — not just for this party, but for choosing downtown Richmond.
I am surely not the only one who believes this, but downtown Richmond is the front stage, the front door to the Commonwealth of Virginia. If you want to be seen or heard, you come to downtown Richmond. A number of localities across this state — Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Fairfax — when folks want to be seen and heard, they don't go there.
They come to downtown Richmond, and it is an amazing moment that the premier news, information hub of the commonwealth has chosen downtown Richmond.
This is indeed a milestone, and VPM is following the lead of many others from around the commonwealth and beyond who have begun to choose Richmond. Residents, families, businesses and now I can add VPM as institutions that are choosing Downtown Richmond.
So I'm here on behalf the 230,000 great people of the capital city to say to you, Jayme, your board, your employees, the entire institution, all your members throughout the commonwealth, thank you.
Disclosure: VPM Media Corp. is the FCC license holder of VPM News, which operates as 88.9 FM in Richmond, 89.1 FM in the Northern Neck (Heathsville) and 90.1 FM in Southside Virginia (Chase City). VPM also produces VPM News Update, which airs on VPM PBS.
As a newsroom, VPM News maintains editorial independence — this article went through our usual fact-checking and editing process. Station leadership did not know Mayor Levar Stoney’s interview questions ahead of time, and they did not view this article prior to publication.
Questions about this article and VPM News’ overall editorial policy should be directed to Managing Editor Dawnthea M. Price Lisco and News Director Elliott Robinson.
