Norfolk invites public to Waterside briefing

NORFOLK

In a change of course, City Manager Marcus Jones has decided that presentations to the City Council on five private proposals to redevelop Waterside and on restructuring the Community Services Board on Tuesday will be made in open session.

Previously, Jones had planned to conduct the Waterside briefing and much of the CSB discussion in closed session, but he said he changed his mind after council members called for them to be held in public.

The calls for openness intensified after The Virginian-Pilot revealed details of one of the Waterside proposals - a $200 million redevelopment of the waterfront that would include a conference center, two new hotels and an office tower.

Jones reiterated Friday that his plans were always to make the proposals public eventually. "It's just important to get all five proposals out there now and make sure everyone understands what we're doing."

Jones said some degree of privacy will be needed once negotiations have begun with one or more developers.

"When it's all said and done, we want to make sure residents and taxpayers get the best deal possible," he said.

The city has been trying to figure out what to do with Waterside for more than three years. The aging festival marketplace began a rebirth of downtown when it was built in 1983 but is now more than half-empty and in need of repair.

At the suggestion of Mayor Paul Fraim, the city has aggressively tried to engage ideas from the public. More than 3,000 suggestions came from public hearings, emails and letters.

At Jones' behest, the city's housing authority asked developers for proposals on how they would redevelop Waterside. Five were received by the Dec. 16 deadline. Jones has set up a committee, which includes himself, to review the proposals and recommend which developer the city should attempt to negotiate with.

Jones will summarize all five proposals at the council's informal session Tuesday about 4:45 p.m. The informal session is broadcast live on Cox Cable channel 48 and is streamed live on the city's website.

Jones said his study group is likely to hire a consultant to evaluate some of the five proposals, and he likely will recommend one or more to the council by the end of March. The City Council will have the final say on which proposal is accepted.

On Tuesday, Jones also will give a presentation on restructuring the Community Services Board, a troubled agency that was rocked in 2010 by the revelation that employee Jill McGlone was paid $320,000 over 12 years even though she did no work for the agency during that time.

Although its governing board is appointed by the council, the CSB is an independent agency. Jones appointed a work group to study how it could be restructured to make it more accountable. Among the possible suggestions, Jones said, is to make it a formal city department, with administrators he would appoint.

Fraim has urged Jones to make it part of city government. The CSB has a $25 million annual budget and about 280 employees.

City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko also will brief the council on what is known about the McGlone case, as well as civil litigation against some former employees the CSB has sued seeking repayment of $320,000.

Four former employees also have sued former CSB head Maureen Womack, saying they were defamed when Womack and city officials announced at a news conference that they had been fired or forced to resign. Officials said the police and FBI would investigate whether they committed any crimes.

Councilwoman Theresa Whibley asked for the briefing on the CSB last week, saying the city has been far too tardy in publicly addressing the issue.

"This is what I was asking for, and I'm very pleased it will be held in open session," Whibley said.

She said she was also happy the Waterside presentations will be made in public.

"There's nothing that will be discussed regarding Waterside that should be kept private," she said.

Councilman Tommy Smigiel said he told Jones last week that he would vote against any resolution to go into closed session to discuss Waterside and would have walked out of the meeting if such a resolution passed.

"Marcus had already decided to hold this in open session before we spoke," Smigiel said. "I'm glad he did. This is the right thing to do."

"This is how this should have been handled all along," added Vice Mayor Anthony L. Burfoot. "We asked the public to have a seat at the table and help us decide on what we're going to do with Waterside. Doing this in closed session didn't make any sense."

Harry Minium, 757-446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com