Charles Samuels on role as City Council president
Now in his second term as 2nd District Councilman, Charles Samuels was elected city council president last week by his fellow council members. Samuels talks about what made him run and what his new duties entail.
Update #1 — January 7th, 7:00 AM
Charles Samuels, the newly-elected Richmond City Council president, says he had no long standing aspirations for the title. It wasn’t until the November 2012 elections had passed and his predecessor, Kathy Graziano, announced she would not seek re-election, did the idea to serve as president even occur to him.
Shortly thereafter, Samuels, the second-term representative of the 2nd District, began discussing his election chances with other council members. “I just kinda put my foot in the water,” he said last week. Dipping his toes in paid off when, last Wednesday, members of City Council unanimously elected him.
“I really appreciate the trust that my fellow councilmembers have in me to do this job,” he said, adding that the unanimous vote is “very, very humbling.”
One of Samuels’s duties as president will be to name councilmembers to the body’s six standing committees.1 Once formal Council meetings begin on January 14th, it will then be Samuels’s duty to assign proposed ordinances and resolutions to the proper committees for consideration.
Samuels will also oversee appointments to openings among 55 local and regional boards,2 including current openings in the Advisory Board of Health, Arts and Cultural Funding Consortium; the Advisory Board of Recreation and Parks; and others.
In addition to running Council meetings and composing their agendas, Samuels said he will continue the efforts of his predecessor to hold bi-weekly meetings with Mayor Dwight Jones. He said doing so is “vital” to ensure that the two key bodies of the City’s government are “working together.”
When asked about any initiatives individual councilmembers might want to bring to Council’s consideration, Samuels said “everybody has projects or issues they’re very dedicated to.” He’s optimistic that the Council will address Richmond’s needs over the coming years.
“We’re really fortunate to have such a good Council now,” he said. “We’re going to have a really phenomenal four years.”
City Council will next convene on Monday the 7th for an organizational development meeting. Formal City Council meetings begin on Monday, January 14th. A schedule of 2013 meetings can be found here (PDF).
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Original — January 2nd, 7:00 PM
Earlier this evening, Councilman Charles Samuels (2nd District) was unanimously elected president of Richmond’s City Council. He replaces current Councilwoman Kathy Graziano (4th District), who had served as president for two years before deciding to step down. Council also unanimously re-elected Ellen Robertson (6th District) to serve as vice president.
In a statement, Mayor Dwight Jones said the following of Samuels and Robertson about their respective elections: “Their leadership, foresight and attention to detail will benefit all of us as we continue to work together to address issues in our city. As we enter 2013, our city is poised for great things! We have made much progress and have had many accomplishments over the past four years. I look forward to working with the entire Council as we continue to Build a Better Richmond.”
Three new council members were also sworn in as a part of this evening’s organizational assembly: Jon Baliles (1st District), Parker Agelasto (5th District), and Michelle Mosby (9th District).
Related
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Footnotes
- Each committee comprises three council members and one alternate. Those committees are: Finance and Economic Development; Health, Human Services and Education; Land Use, Housing and Transportation; Governmental Operations; Organizational Development; and Public Safety. ↩
- Although some boards have specific requirements for membership, most are open to Richmond residents. ↩
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Nathan Cushing
Nathan Cushing is a writer, journalist, and RVANews Editor.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
shared with permission:
Dear Honorable Members of Council,
A member of the new city council said that council needs to follow “not just the letter of the law, but the spirit of it.” Implicit in the councilor’s statement is the need to know the law.
In the past week there have been several press reports and blog posts containing incorrect information about the role of the city council president. These reports and posts suggest that the council president has greater authority than is actually found in the law.
Please remember what the law actually says. The city charter states that “[a]ll powers vested in the City shall be exercised by the Council except as otherwise provided in this Charter.” The only charter provision that mentions the council president states that “the council shall elect from among its members a president of the council to preside at council meetings.” (emphasis added)
The only statutory function of the council president is to preside at council meetings. Outside of a council meeting, the council president has no special statutory status or authority.
The council has adopted rules that give the council president some additional responsibilities. These responsibilities, however, are procedural and limited to such things as preparation of the agenda, assignment of papers to committees, and handling various aspects of the council meeting.
If I am incorrect, please let me know.
Sincerely yours,
C. Wayne Taylor
CityHallReview
Links: The role of City Council President
Copy: Alvin M. Anderson, alvin.anderson@richmondgov.com
Essential to a well managed government is that information flows freely from both the citizens to the government and from the government to the citizens. Moreover, citizens expect and deserve a responsive government. –Mayor Dwight Jones
As I have said from day one of my time as Mayor, we will develop our city by design not by default. –Mayor Dwight Jones
This man isn’t the transplant from Goochland with the moronic noise ordinance law, is he?
Wait does this mean we’ll have an unconstitutional city-wide noise ordinance to look forward to?