Several people have asked why City Council meetings previously scheduled for July 20 were canceled.

Pursuant to the City of Richmond City Council Rules of Procedure and Order, Part II Meetings, Paragraph A(1), “Any future regular or special meeting may be canceled by the mayor, at the mayor’s discretion...”

If you read Campus Bay - A Failed Ethical Dilemma for the City Attorney, July 16, 2021, and Campus Bay Developer Takes Title to Property, July 19, 2021, you already know that the preparation for the public hearing related to Campus Bay proposed for the morning of July 20 was plagued by poor staff work, a lack of authority to set the hearing and a questionable need for the hearing at all. To avoid wasting time, I used my mayoral discretion to cancel the meeting.

But they persisted. The city manager and city attorney simply moved the Campus Bay public hearing to the evening meeting scheduled for July 20, 2021. I tried to talk them out of it, but they cited various questionable legal justifications and were unmoved. Again, I used my mayoral discretion to cancel the meeting.

Aware that we had some important items that affect City revenue that need to be acted on before we go on August break, I suggested a special meeting to address those items. We selected July 22, 2021, to provide five days before our next meeting on July 27, 2021, the last before our August break.

This time, reason prevailed, and the agenda reflects those items essential to City business and defers others that are frivolous and/or lack fully-developed staff work.

The agenda/packet for the Thursday, July 22, 2021, Special Council Meeting is available on the web.  Follow the link below to view: http://sireweb.ci.richmond.ca.us/sirepub/meet.aspx. PLEASE NOTE:  CLOSED SESSION BEGINS AT 4:30 P.M. CITY COUNCIL BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M.