Richmond mayor outlines six-month progress: new CAO, public‑utilities fixes and an action plan

Mayor provided a six‑month progress report at an informal Richmond City Council meeting, summarizing personnel changes, operational reforms, and ongoing work to address the spring water crisis.

The report matters because the administration's staffing and operational choices affect daily services such as water, permitting and billing for Richmond residents while shaping the city's capacity to manage future growth.

Mayor said the first half of the administration's term has focused on assessment and rebuilding city operations. "We're a little over six months in," the mayor said, and described a diagnostic approach informed by a background in medicine: "assessing and diagnosing and treating." The mayor said building a senior leadership team has been a priority and introduced the city's new chief administrative officer, Odie Donald, who began on July 9.

The mayor listed recent senior hires and appointments: two deputy chief administrative officers (Amy Popovich for human services and Tanika Jackson forthcoming), a new communications director, a new director for public utilities, new directors for economic development, housing and finance, and a new director for an office of gun‑violence prevention, Greg Hopkins, who started June 30. "People first, people always," the mayor said of the administration's approach.

On utilities, the mayor described steps taken after the earlier water crisis. The city hired Dr. Scott Morris as director of the Department of Public Utilities and replaced much of the department's executive leadership. The mayor said the new leadership team includes five professional engineers and that, "as of July 7, Public Utilities is reporting that we've completed 80% of the actions that were on the consent order from the Virginia Department of Health." He said the city is pursuing both immediate operational changes and longer‑term capital planning in regional collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions. He added that tabletop exercises and a regional work group are planned for August.

The mayor also described administrative reforms: an employee engagement survey covering all city staff (the mayor said the 2024 survey had covered directors only), expansion of 311 hours to evenings and weekends, launch of a city newsletter and an online payments system (RVA Pay) that had early implementation issues but is being iterated. He described a forthcoming mayoral action plan built around seven pillars, with baseline metrics and public dashboards to be published this fall to track progress.

On finance and compliance, the mayor said the administration paused and reset the city purchasing card (P‑card) program after an auditor's review, reducing cards from 320 to 67 and revamping policies, procedures and training to align with best practices. The mayor said the finance department is also being reorganized, with new leadership in finance and a planned redesign of the non‑departmental funding process for the upcoming budget year.

Council members responded with praise and questions. Council Member Robertson said she welcomed additional detail on personnel and amendments to an item on the consent agenda. Council Member Trammell thanked frontline employees and raised concern about the abrupt departure of a 19‑year employee, saying she was "very, very upset" about how that separation was handled; the mayor acknowledged turnover is difficult and said the CAO will address workforce recruitment and retention. Council Member Gibson asked about the methodology for the employee survey; the mayor said the current survey covered all employees and was conducted by a different firm than the 2017 survey.

The mayor closed by inviting continued collaboration with council and said the administration will share survey results first with staff and then with council as the city develops performance targets and public reporting.

Ending: Council members thanked the mayor and administration for the update and signaled continued oversight of water operations, finance reforms and workforce issues in upcoming meetings.