Charlottesville Fire Department Captain Lance Blakey was the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine at the Blue Ridge Health District’s new vaccination facility in the Kmart parking lot last week. The city continues to move through phase 1A of vaccinations, which includes doctors, nurses, EMTs, pharmacists, social workers, and other frontline health care personnel. As of Tuesday morning, 9.2 million doses of the vaccine had been distributed in the U.S. In Virginia, 191,000 people have received their first shot, and 15,000 of those people have also gotten a second shot, which is administered around a month after the first. Virginia ranks 36th out of 50 states in the percent of the population that has been vaccinated, according to The New York Times. So far, 3,893 Albemarle County residents have been vaccinated, and 3,643 Charlottesville City residents have been vaccinated.
Freshman lawmaker Bob Good is facing calls to resign after voting to contest the 2020 presidential election. PC: Publicity photo
Off to a no-Good start
That was fast: Bob Good has been in congress for less than two weeks, and he’s already facing calls to resign. The Republican was one of the members of the House of Representatives who voted last week to formally contest the results of the 2020 presidential election in six states. That vote came on the heels of Wednesday’s deadly attack on the Capitol—later, when Democrats began the process of impeaching President Trump for his role in the insurrection, Good released a statement calling the effort “destabilizing and offensive.”
Indivisible Charlottesville held a rally outside the county office building on Friday, calling for Good to step down after his vote to contest the election. And last week, the editorial board at the Danville Register & Bee penned an op-ed to the same effect. “We hope you have taken time to watch the video of how Wednesday unfolded,” the board writes. “We hope guilt has seared a hole in your soul.”
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Quote of the week
“All of the people surprised by the events of yesterday live
outside of Charlottesville. I promise you, we knew.“
—Activist Don Gathers in a tweet about the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
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In brief
Home schooling
The Charlottesville school board voted last week to postpone in-person classes until at least March 8. Earlier in the winter, the district had hoped to return to in-person learning as early as January 19, but moved the start date back as local COVID cases continue to rise. Albemarle’s school board will meet this week to make a decision on how to handle the next few weeks.
Chased out?
Virginia state Senator and 2021 gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase was among the seditionists on the scene at the Capitol attack last week. Soon after, the Virginia Senate’s Democratic Caucus called on Chase to resign, saying she “galvanized domestic terrorists.” Many Republicans are sick of Chase, too—former Republican representative Barbara Comstock was among a handful who called on the Virginia General Assembly to expel the lawless lawmaker.
Virginia state Senator Amanda Chase joined the march to the U.S. Capitol that resulted in a riot last week. PC: Publicity photo
Vaccines for inmates
Virginia announced last week that people in state prisons and local jails would be included in Phase 1B of COVID vaccinations. The decision was praised by justice reform advocates who have watched with horror as correctional facilities around the nation have become COVID hot spots. Phase 1b also includes people aged 75 or older and frontline workers like firefighters and K-12 teachers.
Wading in
Charlottesville City School Board member Juandiego Wade announced that he’s running for City Council this year. Wade, a school board member since 2006, was awarded the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Paul Goodloe McIntire Citizenship Award in 2019. Certainly, it takes a person with real character to run for council after watching how city government has worked for the last few years.
From the beginning of April through the end of July 2020, Charlottesville had three times as many drug overdoses reported to the fire department as during the same period in 2019.
By Claudia Gohn
From April 1 to July 31 of this year, emergency teams responded to 27 opioid overdoses in Charlottesville—a 200 percent increase in cases compared to the same time frame in 2019, reports the Charlottesville Fire Department. Health professionals believe the stress of the pandemic is one factor responsible for the increase.
Other areas in the state are struggling with similar problems. Arlington County police issued a warning last week after five people died from drug overdoses in August. In Roanoke, police responded to twice as many fatal drug overdose calls this spring as they did in all of 2019, reports The Washington Post. And NPR reports that nationwide, overdoses are up 18 percent since the pandemic began.
The local increase in opioid overdose calls comes despite an overall decrease in the amount of emergency calls this year, says Lucas Lyons, the Charlottesville Fire Department’s systems performance analyst. Total emergency calls in the city were down 23 percent in the period from April to July 2020, compared to the same months in 2019.
“In general, 9-1-1 calls are down because of people’s fear of the pandemic and not entering the medical system,” says the Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition’s Rebecca Kendall. “But there is an increase in Charlottesville in calls for overdose despite that.”
Virginia Leavell, chief of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad’s board of directors and director of Addiction Allies, a treatment center for people with opioid use disorder, attributes this increase to the isolation and decreased access to in-person recovery services many have experienced during the pandemic. “I think when we are looking at why there is some increase, it’s somewhat predictable, right?” Leavell says. “We’ve taken away the support structure and we’ve added a whole lot of stress.”
Leslie Fitzgerald, care coordinator for Region Ten’s office-based opioid treatment program, echoes Leavell. “The isolation, the increased depression and anxiety has led to increased use,” she says.
As a result, treatment and recovery services for people with substance use disorder remain vital. In March, C-VILLE covered how recovery groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, have transitioned online during the pandemic. Similarly, some treatment and recovery services for those with opioid use disorder have shifted online.
“It’s not the same level of support that you would have if somebody was coming into the office, honestly,” Leavell says of the virtual options. “And it makes things like urine drug screening more difficult, as well.”
But Leavell also says that telehealth services have made it possible to see new patients. This spring, enrollment in Addiction Allies’ intensive outpatient program has tripled. “Which I think speaks to both the increased stress and the increased use [of substances] during this time, but also the importance of the telehealth service delivery in order to reach people who are having transportation issues [and] childcare issues,” she says. “Everything is easier if you can access treatment from your home.”
The OBOT program has retained almost all the individuals under its care during the pandemic, says Fitzgerald. A central component of the program is medication-assisted treatment, where drugs such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone may be used to reduce dependency.
This medication-assisted treatment can be done via telehealth, Fitzgerald says, and prescriptions are sent to the patient’s pharmacy of choice or delivered by Region Ten if necessary.
Leavell says that medication-assisted treatment through telehealth, though not ideal, is safe. “When we’re talking about opioid use disorder, it is a very, very uncomfortable withdrawal,” she says. “However, it is unlikely to be lethal and the transition from using opioids to moving into medication-assisted treatment, such as the use of buprenorphine is typically fairly smooth.”
Other services combating the opioid crisis have also been impacted by the pandemic, and Region Ten offers free opioid reversal training classes, which have been moved online, and participants now receive Narcan through the mail.
Leavell emphasizes that, given the emotional and financial strain of the pandemic, it’s especially important to be aware of the causes of opioid addiction. “There’s a misconception that addiction couldn’t happen to someone like me or my family. And the reality is that it can absolutely affect anyone. It is just a matter of being prescribed an opioid and becoming physically dependent,” she says. “And if we’ve been fortunate enough not to experience that, I think we have responsibility to help those who have through no fault of their own, through making those resources accessible and being willing to talk about it.”
Correction, 8/19/20: Virginia Leavell is the chief of CARS, not the president, and buprenorphine, not Narcan, is used for medication-assisted treatment.
City Manager Tarron Richardson presented his proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 at the City Council meeting on March 2. If that sentence made you yawn, we understand—but the tail end of the hours-long council meeting represents the beginning of the end of the budget cycle, some of the more important city business of the year. Richardson’s office has been working with City Council on the budget since September, and will finalize the plan in April.
Around 20 firefighters attended the meeting in yellow T-shirts reading “staffing matters,” as a protest against Richardson’s decision not to fund nine new positions for the department. Richardson says the fire department’s hiring program was developed before he arrived, and that new hiring has to be done strategically.
The new budget includes significant appropriations for affordable housing, with $4.1 million for housing in FY21 and $31.2 million in the five-year capital improvement plan, though it doesn’t include the roughly $400,000 requested by the Charlottesville Housing Affordability Grant Program. Community activism around housing “elevated it as a priority for City Council,” Richardson told us in a rare interview February 28. “And as city manager, I try to follow through with their defined priorities.”
Richardson also defended his decision to give the school district a $2.1 million budget increase instead of the $3.8 million it requested. He says the $2.1 million is in accordance with the 40 percent of new property taxes that has historically been given to schools. The school board presented a breakdown of its request at the meeting, emphasizing teacher compensation as a critical component that could be jeopardized by lack of funding.
Then there’s the Market Street parking garage, a $10 million expenditure that Richardson has explained away as “basically signed off on with the county” before he arrived. Councilor Michael Payne criticized the garage at the meeting, saying “it could be very easy for us to spend 10 million on this to meet a need that’s not exactly there.”
C-VILLE asked Richardson if declining requests from citizens all day long takes a toll on him. “It takes a toll, yes,” he said. “Do I say no all the time? I would say no. But what I try to do is make sure that we take things and look at it from a holistic approach.”
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Quote of the Week
“I want teachers to be able to afford to live in our city.”
—Charlottesville School Board chair Jennifer McKeever, addressing City Council about the school district’s unmet funding request
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In Brief
Bikers on Barracks?
On March 2, City Council voted unanimously to approve a state-funded project that will add a shared-use pedestrian and bike path to a stretch of Barracks Road. But some nearby residents objected—one speaker at the council meeting suggested that installing sidewalks and bike paths was unnecessary because there were never any walkers or bikers on the road. Perhaps that’s because there are no sidewalks or bike paths? Impossible to say for sure.
Baby steps
During the same meeting, council expressed support for a requested special use permit from developer Woodard Properties for a new apartment complex on Harris Street. The permit would allow Woodard to build 105 units; the developer indicated that 10 of those would be designated affordable housing. Without the permit, Woodard could build 50 units and wouldn’t have to keep any affordable. Mayor Nikuyah Walker wanted to push Woodard to include more cheap units, but Councilor Michael Payne backed the permit, saying blocking developments like these won’t address the deep-lying issues that have created the local housing crisis.
Honoring our ancestors
Dozens of people gathered in Court Square March 1 for a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the thousands of enslaved people, including children as young as 2, who were bought and sold there. The event, which included prayer, singing, and readings, kicked off the city’s Liberation and Freedom Day celebrations, which continue through March 9 and commemorate the arrival of Union troops in Charlottesville.
Still standing still
Nothing has changed with the Dewberry/Laramore, our local eyesore on the Downtown Mall, but apparently that’s not for lack of trying. According to documents obtained recently by The Daily Progress, the city initiated a process to conduct a structural integrity study of the building last November, a potential step toward demolishing the long-neglected property under its blight ordinance. The catch? Dewberry Capital, whose Dewberry Group website declares the half-completed wreck is “poised to become the city’s premier luxury multi-use property,” hasn’t given the city permission to enter the site.
An early morning fire on Linden Avenue. Courtesy of the Charlottesville Fire Department
Four Jaunt buses and a townhome were up in flames when the Charlottesville Fire Department received a call for service around 2:40am July 13.
Alice Facknitz, who lives in the Carlton Bridge apartment complex behind the Jaunt station and the Linden Town Lofts townhomes, says she woke to what she later learned was the sound of bus tires exploding.
“I was woken up by a loud noise and my apartment shaking as if someone in a neighboring apartment slammed a door violently,” she says. “I looked out my fourth-floor window to see a column of black smoke and flames issuing from the top of a three-story condo about 50 yards away.”
When she exited her apartment, the first responders hadn’t arrived yet. As the flames climbed up the side of the townhome and were issuing from the top, Facknitz watched the firefighters position a truck’s ladder over the flames and began extinguishing the fire.
Captain Joe Phillips was on the scene before 3am, along with at least four fire trucks, two aerial units and eventually about 40 fire/rescue workers, according to a press release.
No one was injured during the fire that, according to Phillips, extended through a Jaunt parking lot, a wooden fence and into the end townhouse at 1013 Linden Avenue. That home, which is in a six-unit row, has severe damage, while the second in the row has extensive water damage. The remaining four were relatively unscathed.
“At one point, the fire increased in intensity just as it looked to be under control and they deployed another ladder truck,” she says, adding that it took until 3:30am for the crew to put the visible flames out. About 30 residents were outside watching.
A Linden Town Lofts resident says a number of the onlookers had been evacuated from their apartments, and she wasn’t given the all clear to reenter her’s until about 5:00am. The fire did not damage her townhome.
The Charlottesville Fire Marshal’s Office has determined that the fire began in the mulch area behind one of the buses, and was caused by radiant heat from its exhaust system. The preliminary damage is estimated to be over $850,000, according to Phillips.
Another fire is still under investigation across the street at 1009 Linden Avenue, where a building behind the Blue Ridge Roofing Company and multiple vehicles were destroyed in April.
Updated July 14 at 9am with comments from a Linden Town Lofts resident.
Updated July 17 at 10am with the cause of fire.
Additional photos below. Click to enlarge.
Courtesy of the Charlottesville Fire DepartmentOne of the Jaunt buses. Staff photoFour Jaunt buses were destroyed by the fire. Staff photoOne townhome had severe damage. Staff photo
Charlottesville Fire Department recruit Michael Barber
When several vacancies in the Charlottesville Fire Department opened at the same time, Fire Chief Andrew Baxter (who’s been chief for a little more than a year) decided to institute a new hiring process. The in-depth application, which included a personal history questionnaire, was meant to find candidates who were not only qualified to be firefighters (although previous firefighting experience is not a requirement) but who also had leadership experience (everything from Boy Scouts to combat veterans) and who were involved in their communities.
The search began in March, and about 300 people applied for one of eight open positions. The field was eventually whittled to the top 22 “highly qualified” candidates, whom Baxter interviewed in person. The eight new hires then participated in a recruit academy, a five-days-a-week, 10-hours-a-day training academy from August 1 through graduation on October 4.
Training exercises included everything from physical fitness tests and in-class training on the science of fire and how to use equipment to applying lessons they’ve learned in a burn demonstration at the CFD’s training facility on Avon Street.
By holding the academy with all the new hires at once as opposed to training them individually, it not only allowed the fire department to imprint its values as an organization on the recruits, but it allowed the recruits themselves to form a unique bond. Baxter hopes that decades from now (he tells all recruits that he expects them to stay with the “family” for 30 years before retiring) they will still proudly look back on being part of Recruit Academy One.
Baxter says the department will have another hiring round in 2017, but says the single recruit academy model may not be sustainable because in the gaps between hiring, current firefighters often accrue overtime hours. But, he said they would possibly pursue a regional model, by teaming up with Albemarle, Orange and Louisa counties to organize a central training academy.
The graduates of the recruit academy officially went into the field on October 8. Photographer and volunteer firefighter for the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department and a career firefighter for the city of Waynesboro Justin Ide followed them through the recruit academy as well as their first few days at work. We asked the new firefighters about the training process and why they chose this public service-oriented profession.—Jessica Luck
Photos by Justin Ide
Ben Weidinger, Michael Barber and Micah Terrell work out in the bay prior to class at the recruit academy. Photo by Justin IdeRecruit Kelly Jackson holds a plank position during a workout. Photo by Justin IdeRyan Snoddy does planks for time during a workout. Photo by Justin Ide
The Charlottesville Fire Department has 91 full-time employees, three of whom are civilians. And the firefighters are stationed at three facilities throughout the city: on Ridge Street, Fontaine Avenue, and McIntire Road near the 250 Bypass. Each day there are a minimum of 19 firefighters working, including two firefighters/paramedics stationed with the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad. Fire Chief Andrew Baxter says one of the biggest challenges in the firefighting profession is that people have a simplistic view of firefighting, something akin to “Chicago Fire.” But that’s only a small piece of what they do: Last week, for example, they read to first-graders as part of Fire Prevention Week. Other tasks include performing inspections and investigations, and EMS calls make up the majority of the emergency calls they receive.
Recruits are introduced to their bunker gear, also called turnout gear, by Jess Rodzinka, second from right, lead instructor of the recruit academy. Photo by Justin IdeRecruit Michael Barber, center, receives his helmet from firefighter Kevin Pfeilsticker, while recruits Ben Weidinger and Kelly Jackson try theirs on for size. Photo by Justin IdeFirefighter Kennon Snow, left, instructs Michael Barber on how to breathe with a mask while other new recruits watch and wait their turn. Firefighters have to go through a yearly fit test to assure they are getting a proper seal on their mask. Photo by Justin IdeFirefighter Kennon Snow, left, instructs Michael Barber on how to breathe with a mask while other new recruits watch and wait their turn. Firefighters have to go through a yearly fit test to assure they are getting a proper seal on their mask. Photo by Justin Ide
Micah Terrell organizes his gear while on his first fire call for a ringing smoke detector on his first day on the job. Photo by Justin IdeMicah Terrell installs a new detector at the resident’s home for free. Photo by Justin IdeCaptain Lee James, center in yellow helmet, talks with a maintenance man, left, while Micah Terrell looks on during a fire alarm call in a high-rise residential structure. Photo by Justin IdeRyan Snoddy, left, listens to firefighter Andy Soccodato talk about fire attack techniques and the advantages and disadvantages of the 2.5-inch attack hose in a structure fire. Photo by Justin IdeRecruit Kenneth Davis puts out a car fire on the department’s training grounds under the watchful eye of firefighter Kennon Snow. Photo by Justin IdeBrandon Leonard pushes past the pain while dragging a hose to the second floor of the burn building on the training grounds. Photo by Justin IdeMicah Terrell listens to firefighter Kennon Snow during training on car fires. Photo by Justin IdeKelly Jackson bleeds a 2.5-inch charged hose line prior to bringing it into the burn building on the training grounds. Photo by Justin Ide
Recruit Academy 1
Brandon Leonard, 30
Leonard, who has lived in the Charlottesville area for 10 years, says seeing 9/11 happen as a 16-year-old is what sparked his decision to become a firefighter. He served as a firefighter in the Navy on the USS Enterprise, before moving into the firefighting profession full-time. He worked in Campbell County most recently, and says the history of the Charlottesville department is what led him to apply for a position here.
“This department’s a lot more of family than my old department, that stood out in the recruit school,” he says. “They take care of their own—that’s pretty good to see.”
One thing people might not be aware of, he says, is that firefighters work on 24-hours shifts, sleeping at the facility and eating together as a family when not out on runs. He calls the department a “brotherhood.”
“This has just been my calling the entire time. I feel at home doing this kind of work,” he says. “I get satisfaction out of the job, but that’s not what I’m here for. It’s just something I enjoy doing, I enjoy helping people.”
Kenneth Davis, 36
Davis didn’t set out to be a firefighter. Instead, he followed his music passion all over the country, eventually joining Charlottesville rock band Under the Flood, which signed a multi-album deal with Koch Records. Davis still has a foot in the music world—he works as a manager at the Jefferson Theater—but says a December 2015 ridealong with a firefighter friend changed his life. He was soul-searching and looking for the next passion he wanted to pursue and says “when I found this it clicked right away. …When you watch the news you’re always like, ‘I wish there was something I could do to help.’ This is the opportunity to do that.”
For Davis, one of the most exciting aspects of the job is the chance to keep learning. “It’s one thing to learn in the classroom and books, but getting out in the real-world environment is another thing.”
Ben Weidinger, 24
UVA grad Weidinger is no stranger to helping people, especially when it comes to the EMS side of firefighting. He grew up working in his mom’s veterinary clinic in Yorktown, and after graduating with a pre-med degree he volunteered at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital and at a free clinic in his hometown. He chose to join CFD as “a way to increase my knowledge of medicine and be physical; help people, especially while I’m young.”
Weidinger says most people are likely not aware of how much EMS (emergency medical services) work firefighters do, in that they are often the first responders to a scene and start medical treatment before an ambulance arrives.
“I would say that coming from someone who had very little experience of public service in any regard about a year and a half ago, there’s so much more to it than you would believe,” he says. “You see a firefighter and think, ‘Oh, they’re going to put out a fire.’ That’s the only thing you see, and with public education and emergency medical services they respond to pretty much everything.”
Michael Barber, 30
Every day in high school on his walk home from rugby practice, Barber would pass the local volunteer firehouse. He often wondered what it would be like to join them, and he got his chance at Lynchburg College, after discovering the school did not have a rugby club. When a student rep for the college rescue squad gave her pitch to the freshman class, Barber decided to give it a shot. One week later he had an interview, and the week after that he was voted onto the squad. The following semester he became the organization’s secretary. Still, he always thought of firefighting as a volunteer gig (after college he volunteered in Lynchburg and in Chapel Hill, North Carolina) until 2012, when he received a call from his old fire chief in Virginia. Barber was looking for a change and decided to make firefighting a full-time career, joining the Wintergreen Fire Rescue Squad.
Barber is looking forward to working with a larger department (Charlottesville’s department is three times the size of Wintergreen) that receives a variety of calls each day. Being in a less rural area allows firefighters to be on an emergency scene more quickly, and allows them to enter a structure and put out a fire quickly before it does more damage.
“I’m most excited about being a part of this new family,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what department you ever run on, once you’re part of it, you’re a part of the family.”
Kelly Jackson, 25
New recruit Jackson never had aspirations to become a firefighter. But the former personal trainer was working in the Washington, D.C., area, and a couple of her firefighter friends encouraged her to switch careers. She shrugged it off until applying on a whim one day—she sent applications to several departments, including ones closer to her hometown of Lynchburg, as well as one in Maryland near her brother.
Because she’s new to the field, she said she had zero expectations going into the recruit academy.
“It was pretty difficult because it was so much information in a short amount of time,” she says. “It took a lot of discipline and studying on our own to really soak in everything that was thrown at us.” She said the best part of the academy was getting out of the classroom and going on ridealongs; seeing what a regular day was like. What she looks forward to most is that each day on the job is different.
“I couldn’t have an office job or something that you just do the same stuff over and over and over again,” she says. “Here you never know, you could have nothing or you could never sit down all day. It’s going to be a challenge, and I like that part.”
Jason Frazier, 31
Because of his military background (he joined the active duty Marine Corps after high school and is now in the reserves) Frazier says it’s the structure of the fire department that appeals to him most. He’s spent five years attempting to join the Charlottesville department, and has gained certifications along the way.
“With a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck I landed this position,” says the Crozet native.
Frazier joined the recruit class a little later than everyone else because he just came off a nine-month deployment in Qatar.
He knew what to expect in terms of firefighting duties because he’s volunteered for three years at the Crozet department, but he says the biggest takeaway in his time at CFD is how helpful everyone has been in answering questions and showing him the way they do things.
“For me it’s more that I like the brotherhood; the atmosphere of it is not just a job—it’s something you enjoy going to every day,” he says. “It’s a second family almost.”
Ryan Snoddy, 26
Firefighting is a true family affair for Snoddy. His dad, Vernon, retired after 30 years with the Charlottesville Fire Department, and Snoddy says he aspires to live up to his dad’s reputation.
“Growing up I learned from him that patience is the key to everything,” he says. “He did everything to the best of his ability, and his actions speak louder than words.”
Snoddy’s background as a car mechanic translates well into his new profession, because of the tactile, hands-on focus of both, he says. He made the leap into firefighting to help others and because of its team mentality, and he is looking forward to continuing to prove himself in this new job and earn the respect of his fellow firefighters.
“Being a firefighter you have to be a jack of all trades,” he says. “I’m looking forward to getting to learn every day.”
J.R. Harris says his pursuit of legal fees for his wrongful termination from the Charlottesville Fire Department wasn’t about the money, but about what took place.
Photo: Martyn Kyle
A fired Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic, who found a bottle of boozeallegedly planted in his desk and a city-installed spycam to catch him with the contraband, was reinstated to his job a year ago. It took a bit longer for the city to agree to pay the $16,000 in legal fees he racked up fighting his termination. Last week, the city’s insurance company agreed to an undisclosed settlement amount, according to his attorney.
“I’m glad it’s over with and it’s done,” says J.R. Harris, who returned to work last March. “I hold no grudge.”
“We’re happy they were willing to settle,” says attorney Janice Redinger. “I applaud the city for doing that in an area of law in which they might have prevailed.”
The city is not owning up that any payment will be made to Harris. “I have absolutely no comment about a settlement,” says Assistant City Attorney Allyson Davies, who demanded to know how a reporter was aware of one. She would neither confirm nor deny a settlement to Harris had been made. “No comment,” she reiterated.
Harris, a teetotaler who had repaired the city’s fire trucks for 15 years, as well as the personal vehicles of many in the department, received a letter of termination in October 2014 that cited possession of alcohol and shoddy workmanship.
During a 10-hour hearing February 23, 2015, attended by a couple dozen firefighters in support of Harris, Redinger said her client was set up and a paper trail created to justify the termination. His immediate supervisor claimed he found a bottle of alleged alcohol in Harris’ desk, and a decision was made to install a spycam in his office.
From more than a week’s worth of surveillance, the city provided one three-minute grainy video showing Harris taking the bottle, wrapping it and removing it. Harris contends he removed it so the person who put it there wouldn’t hide alcohol in his desk again.
A year ago, Human Resources Director Galloway Beck said there’s no legal authority for the city to reimburse employees for personal legal expenses—even if the city’s actions caused the employee to require a lawyer.
Redinger filed a notice of claim, but never filed a lawsuit, which she acknowledges would have been a tough case to make. “Virginia law is not particularly employee friendly,” she says.
Harris does not report to the two supervisors who made the case to fire him, and he says things have been going well since he returned to work. “They’re treating me good,” he says. “They don’t bother me, they don’t hassle me.”
Within two weeks of Harris returning to work March 23, then-chief Charles Werner announced his retirement. He was succeeded by Andrew Baxter, whom Harris praises. “The new chief is awesome. He went above and beyond to make sure I feel comfortable.”
And Harris says his fight for his job and for attorney fees was never about the money. “I just don’t want it to happen again to any firefighter or city employee,” he says.
The Charlottesville Fire Department sent officials from Neighborhood Development Services up in their truck's bucket lift to evaluate the possible roof collapse. Staff photo
Around 2pm Monday, the Charlottesville Fire Department responded to a call about a possible roof collapse at 206 W. Market St—the site of a proposed private club.
Battalion Chief Richard Jones says the department arrived, checked the power inside the building and sent officials from Neighborhood Development Services up in the fire truck’s bucket lift to view the top of the building and evaluate whether or not the roof will collapse.
NDS will take over from there, with the help of the building contractor, according to Jones. But to an excited young boy who stopped to see the fire truck in action, he didn’t mince words.
“We’re going to go up there on top of that building and make sure it doesn’t fall down,” he said.
Josh Rogers and his business partners talked to C-VILLE about the club, Common House, earlier this month.
“The roof is completely caved in now,” Rogers says, adding that he and his team are currently meeting to discuss possible remedies. His focus is to prevent any further damage and to make sure surrounding people and businesses are protected, but in light of things, he says, “We’re obviously going to move forward after this setback.”
Charlottesville police are currently directing traffic around what the city has called an “unstable structure” and have closed Market Street from Old Preston to First Street. Second Street is being closed from High Street to Water Street.
