Richmond Government Operations committee sets 2025 workplan, schedules briefings on water outage probe, audits and utilities

The Richmond City Government Operations committee met to review its charge and set a calendar of presentations and follow-ups for the coming year, with priority attention to the city's ongoing water outage investigation, utilities and infrastructure, outstanding audit recommendations and departmental staffing reports.

"The goal of this meeting is just to share out what the priorities are for the committee for the year," said Catherine Jeremy, Chair of Government Operations and Second District City Council member.

Committee members said the immediate priority is the third-party probe into the recent water outage. Adam Holt, the administration's representative from the Board of Public Works (BPW), told the committee that HNTB, the consultant retained to investigate the incident, "has been doing some of the preliminary investigation work," including interviews of plant staff and a review of treatment-plant readiness and preparedness. Holt said HNTB and the Virginia Department of Health have both been working on-site and that the administration is planning an interim briefing for council leadership and the city auditor before HNTB's final report.

Committee members discussed the timeline Holt described. The committee heard that the HNTB engagement includes a near-term update intended to land within about a 10-day to 20-day window after the firm was engaged, with a fuller draft report…