Portsmouth council adopts several grants and ordinances; manager reports utility billing problems and elevator contract

At its July 8 meeting, the Portsmouth City Council unanimously approved multiple budget and ordinance items, accepted state and federal grant funds and heard a city-manager report on a troubled utility-billing transition. Several adopted items were routine grant acceptances and budget appropriations; the clerk recorded each vote as 7-0.

Votes at a glance - Acceptance of a grant from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, $676,663, appropriated to the FY2026 grants fund to operate local probation and pretrial services and boardsmith — adopted 7-0. - Hazmat response cost-recovery funding, $9,234.99, appropriated to FY2026 grants fund for hazardous-material-team response capabilities — adopted 7-0. - State shared expense revenue in the amount of $152,591, appropriating $138,802 to judicial and $13,789 to general government for one-time personnel bonuses — adopted 7-0. - Ordinance amending public procurement (adding section 12-188) regarding contracts for information technology goods or services — adopted 7-0. - Appropriation of $625,000 from the behavioral health care services fund for business software and office technologies — adopted 7-0. - Acceptance of opioid-settlement funds, $24,733.62, appropriated to FY2026 behavioral health care fund for abatement purposes as defined by the settlement MOU — adopted 7-0.

City manager’s report and service issues City Manager Steven Carter reported on a problematic June 23 rollout of a new public-utilities billing system. Carter said some phone and online payments were misrouted and not posted; the city is contacting affected customers and asking them to resubmit payments where needed. He said staff have worked through the weekend and are catching up on delayed postings. Carter said the city will not assess late fees or penalties during the transition, will review accounts individually and will meet weekly with the implementation team until resolution.

Carter also introduced Kimberly Sinclair as the city’s new human-resources director, who the manager said brings more than a decade of HR leadership experience. He said the city has made an offer and received acceptance for a new chief financial officer and expected to introduce that hire at a future meeting.

Elevator replacement and other facilities notes A citizen raised concerns about an elevator in the municipal parking garage; staff said they have solicited and awarded a contract to replace all three elevators, are ordering parts and that the replacement process may take about six months because of lead times on parts for the older system.

Public-comment highlights and administrative follow-ups Speakers raised several recurring service concerns: a resident urged ranked-choice voting information, an entrepreneur asked for help finding grant resources for a new nonprofit service, multiple residents described confusing water bills from the billing transition, a resident urged action on a derelict structure at 58 Prospect Parkway and another resident urged a traffic signal at Victory Boulevard and Afton Parkway because of repeated serious crashes.

City staff told the resident who raised the derelict-property question that they will investigate the 58 Prospect Parkway case and that the manager will include a review of vacant-structure registration procedures in the report back to council. The manager also asked residents with billing questions to provide contact details so staff can address account-specific issues.