Newsletter — October 2022

The spookiest day of the year is almost here! In Williamsburg, we’ll be celebrating Halloween on Monday (here are some suggested guidelines) so I thought I’d send this newsletter out a day earlier to highlight the busy, busy start to 2022 fourth quarter.

• Guest Lecture for Intro to Public Policy — To kick off the month, I had the pleasure of guest lecturing a W&M public policy class (pictured above). Thank you very much to Professor Alan Kennedy and his students for welcoming me to ISC 1221. I touched on the history of younger participation in Wburg politics and the work of Council since I got elected, then we switched to Q&A around the upcoming election and other opportunities for local service. I can’t wait to see what these new students do in our community in the years to come!
• Tour of Virginia Peninsula Community College — VPCC welcomed a rockstar new President recently in Dr. Towuanna Brannon. On October 8th, the Vice Mayor and I were able to meet with her to discuss opportunities for partnership in the area. We are very fortunate to have President Brannon leading this institution of education on the Peninsula, especially as VPCC hosts our regional workforce development center.
• Discussion to Update ARB Guidelines — As many of our residents know, certain areas of the City are under special architectural guidelines. This is to preserve our unique historical atmosphere, but we recognize that allowing only certain materials or colors can also become costly. One of the things I ran on wanting to see through was an update of our architectural guidelines on allowable materials in our preservation districts. On Monday, the City Council discussed potential updates with our Architectural Review Board. They should come back to Council for official action by the end of the year.
• GIO Retreat — Easily the biggest occurrence of October was the City’s two-day retreat discussing our goals over the next two years. The City has a biannual goal process called the Goals, Initiatives, and Outcomes (GIOs). Last week, City Council convened with our department heads to decide on long-term goals in the coming years. These will be brought back in front of Council at our November meeting. Many stem from the Affordable Housing Workgroup, Neighborhood Balance Committee, and a focus on sustainability. I hope you will follow along to see our adopting the 2022–24 GIOs during the Council week of November 7.
• LWV/W&M City Council Forums — In the same Council week mentioned above, we will of course also have an election. In October, we had two City Council candidate forums, one held by the League of Women Voters and the other by William & Mary. Check out the article linked above for coverage of the W&M forum. I was also interviewed this past week on students mobilizing in the election, covered at that link. And of course, don’t forget to vote on the 8th!

That’s all, folks. It was quite a busy month of October and we will have another one in November with adopting the GIOs, holding a school board interest meeting, and an election. Thanks as always for your love and care for our community. I hope you have a wonderful November.

With gratitude,

Caleb

*This newsletter is mine alone and does not represent the full input of Council