Votes at a glance: Chesapeake Council adopts consent items, budget transfers and grant appropriations in 9-0 votes

Chesapeake City Council on March 18 took a series of routine financial and administrative actions, voting unanimously on consent agenda items and several regular-agenda requests. Most items were adopted by a 9-0 roll call.

Key votes at the meeting - Consent agenda (approved with an exception): Council approved the consent agenda with the exception of City Manager Item 2, which was removed for discussion. The consent agenda included multiple administrative and zoning acknowledgements and items tentatively scheduled for Planning Commission review. - City Manager Item 2 (grant authority; later discussed and approved): After a staff briefing and council questions about staffing for school-based services, council authorized the city to apply for opioid-abatement grants to support the Harbor Hope Recovery High School (see separate article for details). Vote: 9-0. - Deappropriate funds from CIBH operating budget: Council approved a request to deappropriate $3,100,771 from the FY2025 operating budget of Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Healthcare. Vote: 9-0. - Accept and appropriate DBHDS grant: Council approved accepting and appropriating $137,946 from the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to CIBH’s FY2025 operating budget. Vote: 9-0. - Transfer within health insurance internal service fund: Council approved a transfer of $7,811,020 between programs and the health insurance internal service fund for FY2025. Vote: 9-0. - Project transfer from Expressway repaving to toll upgrades: Council approved transfer of $1,500,000 from Chesapeake Expressway repaving Phase 1 to the Dominion Boulevard Veterans Bridge Toll System upgrades project. Vote: 9-0. - Closed meeting authorization: Council approved a motion to conduct a closed meeting to interview prospective candidates for airport authority, economic development authority, and the South Norfolk Revitalization Commission. Vote: 9-0.

Other procedural items - Council considered nominations for boards and commissions (Airport Authority, Economic Development Authority, South Norfolk Revitalization Commission) and scheduled interviews to be set by the city clerk. No final appointments were recorded at this meeting. - A range of city clerk and city manager items were placed on the consent agenda, including zoning reclassification acknowledgements (for example a proposed VNG compressor station and Etheridge Lakes Data Center), resignations, and grant application authorizations.

Why it matters Taken together the votes move several funding and administrative items forward quickly. The unanimous tallies indicate broad council agreement on the funding transfers, grant appropriations and procedural items. The opioid-grant authorization generated the most discussion at the meeting, with council seeking assurances about CIBH staffing and the city’s responsibilities if grants are not awarded.

For a full account of debate on the Harbor Hope grant authority see separate article.