No charges will be filed against Charlottesville’s mayor over her purchase of gift cards which she gave to people testifying at public hearings, but reforms may be coming.
The commonwealth’s attorney in Charlottesville says the official policy on using city credit cards is not clear, and he won’t enforce it.
Council member Lloyd Snook said a letter from prosecutor Joe Plantania urges elected officials to fix that. “We need to be sure that everybody on council understands that we don’t get to spend money unless council as a whole votes to spend money,” Snook says.
He proposed a law spelling that out more than a year ago when his term on council began.
“I was pushing for a policy that was more specific," he recalls. "That’s when the mayor told me that I was being a white supremacist for raising the issue, and nobody else was willing to stand up and make a fuss, so this time around there’s going to be a fuss made.”
Snook has submitted a proposal to the city manager and hopes council will consider it at a work session March 23rd.