Roanoke City Council approves multiple grants and appropriations including $500,000 for Virginia Museum of Transportation

Roanoke City Council unanimously approved a slate of ordinances on Feb. 3 to accept and appropriate grant funding for emergency response, homelessness services and the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Council voted to accept a $500,000 FY2024–25 award from the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Historic Resources for the Virginia Museum of Transportation and authorized the city manager to execute a memorandum of understanding with the museum and the state. "We fully anticipate that the Transportation Museum is going to continue to be a huge draw for Roanoke," Tom Cox, executive vice president of the museum, told council during the meeting.

The council also approved three U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Continuum of Care (CoC) grants: a $108,972 planning grant to support CoC planning and BRIC (Blue Ridge Interagency Council on Homelessness) coordination; a $49,070 award for a coordinated assessment system that funds a full-time staffer and manages the community prioritization list for housing resources; and a $140,422 renewal grant for the Homeless Assistance Team, which provides case management, security deposit assistance, transportation and help obtaining identification documents. The homeless assistance award requires a local match of about $54,000, which city staff said has been identified in the budget.

Council also adopted an ordinance to accept a technical rescue team grant from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM). The grant supports Region 6's Technical Rescue Team — a collaborative program with Salem Fire EMS and Roanoke County Fire & Rescue — and funds equipment and training split among the jurisdictions. Additionally, council accepted kinship support funds from the Virginia Department of Social Services to help relatives who provide foster care with material and household assistance; staff said those funds were recently used to make home repairs so a relative's home could become an approved placement.

The consent agenda and each ordinance were approved by roll call with Vice Mayor Maguire, Council members Nash, Vollison, Hagen, Sanchez Jones and Mayor Cobb recorded as voting "Aye." For the HUD CoC items, City Manager Val Marie Turner and staff described that the coordinated assessment grant will fund a staff position and that BRIC oversees regional homeless strategy. Margaret Lindsay, finance director, presented a separate monthly financial and budget report showing general property tax collections at just over $65 million through six months (about 53% of the budgeted amount) and interest earnings running roughly $760,000 above budget due to higher rates.

Council members and staff thanked museum representatives and nonprofit volunteers who spoke in support of the museum during a brief public comment period before the vote. Darnell Wood, a lifelong Roanoke resident, noted the museum's role in education and tourism and recommended approval. The measures were enacted as ordinances; the clerk read the title of each ordinance before the council's roll-call votes.

The city manager and department directors said they will administer the funds per grant terms and provide required reporting to the funding agencies. Several grants are renewals; staff said they will continue monitoring program performance and budget impacts in upcoming financial reports.