“To be effective leaders of change, we need two things,” said Councilor Lloyd Snook during last week’s City Council meeting. “We need vision, and we need the ability to build a team to realize that vision.”
Snook will now get a chance to lead that team-building effort. At the beginning of last Wednesday’s meeting, City Council members chose Snook as the next mayor of Charlottesville.
Snook, an experienced local defense attorney, was first elected to City Council at the beginning of 2020, and will serve a two-year term as mayor. Newly elected Councilor Juandiego Wade will be vice-mayor.
In Charlottesville government, the five city councilors choose the mayor from amongst themselves every two years. The mayor sets the meeting agenda, but doesn’t have much more power than the rest of the councilors. The city manager, who is not directly elected, runs the government’s day-to-day operations.
Snook was elected by a vote of 3-2. Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade voted for Snook, while Sena Magill and Michael Payne voted for Payne.
Magill said she supported Payne because of his ability to express complicated topics in a clear manner, and because of his ability to reach many different people.
“In my two years on council, I’ve seen firsthand that we are a divided community,” Payne said, “divided along race, class, ideology, education level.”
Payne said he hopes efforts to stabilize the city government’s operations don’t mean sacrificing the progressive vision that has animated the city for the last few years. “I’ve seen us have critical, difficult conversations that we haven’t had in years,” he said. “I’ve also seen us make real policy progress,” citing the adoption of the Future Land Use Map and the city’s affordable housing projects, which represent “one of the highest per-capita affordable housing expenditures in the country.”
“I think it’s vital for us going forward…to have stability with a mission and goal in mind,” Payne said.
Pinkston, Wade, and Snook—the coalition that joined to select Snook as mayor—have all been involved in local Democratic Party politics for years. Snook and Pinkston have served as chair and vice-chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Party, respectively, while Wade was been a school board member from 2006 to his election to council last fall.
“I’ve worked with Lloyd for many years. I think he has the knowledge of city government to handle this position,” Wade said. “I think he has the time to take on this responsibility.”
Two years ago, Nikuyah Walker was elected mayor 3-0, with Snook and Councilor Heather Hill abstaining from the vote. Snook and Walker clashed during the pair’s overlap on council; Walker called Snook “inept” during a meeting in September.
Juandiego Wade was elected vice-mayor unanimously. “Juandiego Wade has courageousness but also humility,” said Pinkston after nominating Wade, citing his long school board tenure. “I’m grateful for his leadership in the city.”
In his speech accepting the nomination for mayor, Snook emphasized the need for collaboration across city government, and said finding “a city manager who can lead Charlottesville for a decade or more” is among his top goals.
“We have a lot of smart people in Charlottesville,” Snook said, stating that he’d like to set up advisory committees of residents to advise Charlottesville on matters like transit, historic resources, and more.
“We have a good vision, we need to build our team, I’d like to be the next mayor to lead that rebuilding,” he concluded.